Rose Hill

by Pamela Grandstaff

  “So I’m guessing you’ve seen it before.”

  “Where did you get this coin?” Knox demanded, looking up from his magnifying glass.

  “Not telling,” Scott said, and enjoyed the angry flush that spread over Knox’s face at being talked to that way. No matter how old they got, or how much money Knox accumulated, it was always recess on the playground, and Scott was bigger and stronger.

  “It could be worth anywhere from two to four thousand dollars,” Knox said. “I used to have one in my collection.”

  “What happened to yours?” Scott asked, and Knox hesitated before he answered.

  “It was stolen.”

  “So this might be your coin?”

  “Hmmm, could be,” said Knox. “I made an insurance claim on my coin, you see, which makes it a tad awkward for me to say.”

  “Right,” Scott said. “I get it.”

  Scott held out his hand for the photos and Knox reluctantly gave them back.

  “What will happen to it now? To the coin, I mean.”

  “It’s evidence in an investigation.”

  “Theo’s murder?” Knox asked.

  “I’m not going to say.”

  “Well, if it ever gets released from custody I’d be willing to buy it.”

  “I’ll let someone know,” promised Scott. “Were you involved in any business dealings with Theo?”

  “Theo kept a small account here, for his convenience,” Knox said, with a curled lip. “But I believe most of his banking business took place in Pittsburgh.”

  “Was there any personal business between you two?” Scott asked. “Investments, real estate deals, that sort of thing?”

  “Certainly not,” Knox said. “Theo Eldridge was not someone with whom I would lower myself to do business. I believe my brother may have worked with him in the past, but you would have to ask him about that.”

  “I’ll certainly do that,” Scott said. “Sounds like there was some bad blood between you and Theo. Would you care to enlighten me?”

  “It’s common knowledge that Theo swindled my grandfather out of the glassworks property. He took advantage of a senile old man and stole it right out from under us.”

  “That sounds a lot like a motive for revenge,” Scott said. “Tell me, Knox, where were you on Saturday night?”

  Knox smirked at Scott and replied, “In DC with Senator Bayard. I’m doing some consulting for his office and he invited me to a dinner with some very senior White House officials.”

  Scott was not impressed with anyone who kissed political ass and called it work. He thanked Knox for his time and left the office, catching Courtenay applying fresh gloss to her pouty red lips.

  “Don’t be a stranger,” she told him, and waggled her gloss applicator at him as he hurried past.

  Scott went to the bookstore to see Maggie, but she was out. He figured she was at her parents’ house giving her father and grandfather some lunch, so he headed down toward the river, to their modest two-story house on Marigold Avenue. Scott let himself in when no one answered his light knock at the front door. Maggie’s maternal grandfather, Tim MacGregor, was sound asleep in his recliner in the living room, but her father’s recliner was empty. Scott assumed he was in the bathroom, because King Fitz only ever sat on one throne or the other.

  Fitz’s big shaggy red dog, Laddie, also known as “Lazy Ass Laddie,” was sprawled out on the floor in front of the heater, snoring. He didn’t wake up when Scott came in. Duke, the vet’s cat, was curled up in Grandpa Tim’s lap. Duke opened one eye and regarded Scott but did not move.

  “Hey Duke,” Scott said as he shut the front door behind him. “You better not let Bonnie catch you in her house.”

  Duke just resettled himself and closed his eye, as if he was not a bit worried about something that wouldn’t happen for a few hours yet. Grandpa Tim snored loudly, his teeth in a glass on a TV tray next to the recliner.

  Maggie was in the kitchen with her Aunt Delia and Hannah, watching a home improvement program on a small television while they ate some delicious smelling vegetable soup. Delia jumped up when Scott came in and offered him soup and tea.

  He declined the soup, saying, “Tea would be great, though.”

  Scott was amused to see Maggie’s and Hannah’s eyes were riveted to the television, where a muscular man in a tight t-shirt was helping a clueless couple build a deck on the back of their house.

  “What are you watching?” he asked them.

  “Shhhh,” Maggie said.

  Delia said, “They’re watching a good looking man working on a home improvement project without being nagged into it.”

  “It’s like our porn,” Hannah said, and Delia swatted her with a kitchen towel.

  Scott sipped tea and conversed in low tones with Delia until the show ended, and Maggie turned off the television.

  “That man is too handsome to be real,” Hannah declared.

  “Your man isn’t exactly an eyesore,” Delia admonished her.

  “Your pretty easy on the eye yourself, Scott,” Hannah said. “Don’t you think so, Maggie?”

  Maggie ignored her.

  “How’s the case going?” Maggie asked Scott. “I saw Miss Albright in town earlier.”

  Hannah said something under her breath that made Maggie laugh but Scott didn’t catch it. He had found it was often better not to know.

  “You know Scott can’t discuss the case with you,” Delia said, putting on her coat, preparing to depart. Maggie hugged Delia and thanked her for bringing lunch.

  “Now you can tell us,” Maggie said as soon as the back door shut behind her aunt, but Scott shook his head.

  “Nope, I’ve been too lax already, and you two cannot be trusted.”

  “C’mon,” whined Hannah. “We can help you, Scott. I have direct connections to several key scanner grannies, and they will tell me anything I want to know.”

  “Don’t let Sarah beat you to it,” Maggie coaxed. “We can help you find out who killed Theo before she does.”

  Despite his earlier insistence that they stay out of the case, Scott planned to ask for their help, but it was nice to be begged. He liked the tiny amount of power it gave him, however briefly. Scott didn’t want to show both of them the photocopy of the threat card in case Maggie might be more forthcoming about her brother Sean when alone, so he showed them the coin photo and told them what Knox said about it. What he could remember, that is.

  “How did Knox’s coin get in Theo’s bedroom?” Hannah asked.

  “They were lovers?” Maggie suggested.

  “I don’t think so,” Scott said. “Have you seen Knox’s secretary?”

  “You mean his latest condom application specialist,” Hannah said. “The gossip on those lovebirds is smokin’ hot. They have a lot of ‘strategic planning meetings’ behind closed doors, and the cleaning lady has found some mighty interesting things in Knox’s trash can afterward.”

  “Unless Theo was involved somehow, I don’t want to know,” Scott said.

  “She could be the thief,” Maggie said. “Maybe she stole the coin from Knox and gave it to Theo.”

  “Or Knox sold it to Theo,” Hannah said, “and reported it stolen to get the insurance money.”

  “Or traded it for drugs,” Maggie said.

  They all nodded in agreement, but then Hannah asked, “Wait a minute, what about Knox’s wife, Anne Marie? Maybe she gave it to Theo as a little token of her love.”

  “I don’t think so,” Maggie said. “The gossip among the students who work for me is that Anne Marie is sleeping with a tennis player at the college; she likes ‘em young.”

  “But who likes ‘em Theo-style?” Hannah asked, grimacing. “He was so gross.”

  “Phyllis Davis,” Maggie said.

  Hannah nodded, saying, “Oh yeah, I forgot about ole Phyllis.”

  “What?” Scott asked, clueless.

  “Phyllis Davis, waitress at the diner,” Hannah told him. “Theo has been known to frequent
her trailer many a night, late at night.”

  “And early in the morning,” Maggie said.

  “How do you know that?” Scott asked.

  “They have noisy fights and noisy make up sex, and Mandy lives next door.”

  “Why didn’t I know about that?” Scott asked them.

  “Because you don’t listen to evil gossip,” Hannah said. “Plus, you’re the police.”

  “Yeah,” Maggie said. “You’re the heat.”

  “The long arm of the law.”

  “The fuzz.”

  “The pigs.”

  “Okay, okay, I get it,” Scott said. “I guess I need to talk to Phyllis.”

  Scott spent a few minutes visiting with Maggie’s father Fitz, who seemed a little vague, and was slurring his words. Scott knew Fitz took strong pain medication and also drank a bit to ease the pain of his back injury, and thinking he must be in a lot of pain, he didn’t linger.

  Phyllis was still off sick from the diner, and her mother Pauline was too busy picking up the slack for questions about Theo’s fight with Ed. Scott stopped in at the station to ask Frank to follow up with Phyllis and Pauline, and to find out if Skip had found any clue as to Willy Neff’s whereabouts. Skip had come up empty so far. The last anyone had seen of Willy was when he left Hannah’s place with Theo around 12:30 the night of the murder.

  No one they interviewed had heard the break-in at the veterinary clinic, although all the neighbors in the area heard the party in the insurance building going on until well after 2:00 in the morning. A couple of neighbors remembered being awakened by their dogs barking in the night. Scott wished people in real life were more like people on television programs, and could report something happened at “12:07 exactly” instead of “sometime after midnight.”

  Scott consulted his notes and then asked Frank to follow up with Trick on the sale of the glassworks, and with Gail Godwin, who cleaned Theo’s house, to see if she knew who had stood up Theo for dinner. He asked Skip to call in at every business in town to see where Theo went during his last day, and whom he harassed. Both officers had been putting in a lot of extra time, so Scott told them they could expect overtime wages, which made them happy. Scott really appreciated his team, and knew Frank’s family could use the extra money. He would worry about balancing the station budget later.

  Scott did an electronic background check on veterinarian Drew Rosen, which came up clean, and then called the emergency vet clinic where he used to work. His former supervisor only had good things to say about him, and the office manager said there had been no malpractice claims made about his work.

  “We miss him,” the office manager said. “We keep hoping he’ll come back.”

  Scott spent some time updating his notes and crossing things off his many lists, and then looked over the evidence again. The photo of him and his friends as teenagers, along with the threatening note, had him stumped. He knew he shouldn’t involve Ed, but he needed to ask him who had access to photos he took as a teenager.

  Scott found Ed at work, the knot on his head a little less swollen but still a lurid purple and yellow. Ed was on the phone, and did not look glad to see his best friend. It felt awkward in a way that pained Scott, but until this case was solved his visits to Ed, no matter now well intentioned, would always seem official.

  Scott waited to speak until Ed hung up the phone.

  “I don’t believe you had anything to do with Theo’s death,” Scott said. “I’m sorry I haven’t been able to keep you in the loop with what’s going on, but I can’t give Sarah any reason to shut me completely out, you understand?”

  Ed’s jaw worked a bit, but he looked Scott straight in the eye as he responded.

  “My job sometimes places me in difficult situations, too. I do understand.”

  “I need your help with something, off the record. Way, way off the record.”

  Ed looked surprised.

  “I’d be glad to help, Scott. You know you can trust me.”

  Scott showed him the photocopy of the threat card and the photo.

  “Holy cow,” Ed said, sitting down on a stool at the worktable. “This is one I took. Where did this come from?”

  Scott told him about finding it in Theo’s unopened mail.

  “So he never saw it.”

  “I don’t see how he could have.”

  “Who do you think sent it?”

  “That’s what I need help with. Who would have copies of your photos from that summer?”

  “I didn’t get multiple copies of my prints back then; I couldn’t afford it. My Dad sent my rolls of film to the place that developed the photos for the paper. My prints and negatives came back with his, and the cost came out of my delivery money. Look at the date stamp on the front and the company imprint on back of the paper; this is the original.”

  “So who had originals of your photos?”

  “Well, you, Brad, Sean, maybe your mom or Sean’s mom. My dad had some. Thing is, I don’t remember giving this photo to anyone. Doesn’t mean I didn’t, I just don’t remember.”

  “I haven’t looked for any at my house, but I don’t remember having it either.”

  “That leaves Brad and Sean.”

  “Would you have given any to Caroline or Gwyneth?”

  “Maybe Caroline, but I don’t remember doing it. I was beneath contempt as far as Gwyneth was concerned.”

  “I guess someone could have stolen it from you, without you knowing.”

  “Gail Goodwin cleans my house, but I can hardly picture her as a photo thief and poison pen writer. Other than Gail and you, Sam and Patrick are the only people who come to my house.”

  “Well, think about it, and let me know if you remember anything.”

  “Lots of people thought Theo murdered Brad,” Ed said, “but who would go to the trouble of sending him a threatening letter, and why now?”

  “It’s just too much of a coincidence in the timing,” Scott said. “It has to be connected.”

  “Does Sarah think I sent it?”

  “Sarah’s not too impressed by it. She thinks it’s just a prank.”

  “Have you talked to Margie at the post office?”

  “No,” Scott said. “I’m putting that off for as long as I can.”

  Ed chuckled, saying, “I can see why.”

  Scott stopped in at the Rose and Thorn again, where Ian had just returned from school bus duty and was enjoying his first beer of the day. Instead of resenting the older man’s strong views, Scott found himself glad to have someone with whom to discuss the case. With his best friend a suspect, he needed someone to bounce ideas off of, and Ian, for all his opinionated bluster, had been a pretty good chief of police, could keep a confidence, and knew everyone involved. Scott went over his notes with Ian, and Ian gave him a few suggestions.

  “Doc Machalvie is a good doctor and an old friend,” Ian said, “but he is enough like his brother, Stuart, to bear watching.”

  “Really? I would’ve thought they couldn’t be more different. Doc is such a gentleman and Stuart’s so… ”

  “Greedy? Manipulative? Conniving?”

  “All that. Doc, on the other hand, is always going out of his way to help people, whether or not they can pay.”

  “Still, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was supplying Theo with prescriptions for imaginary ailments.”

  “For money?” Scott asked.

  “Doc likes to gamble a bit, and may have found himself in a tight spot. Or maybe Theo found out something about Doc which would hurt him if it got around.”

  “Blackmail?” Scott said. “Do you know what it could be?”

  “I might,” Ian said. “Let’s just say I once caught Doc in a place he had no business being, with a person I was surprised to see him with, doing something he wouldn’t have wanted his wife to know about. I got the feeling it wasn’t the first time.”

  This gave Scott a lot to think about. Theo as a blackmailer, on top of cheat, arsonist, and all ‘round bastard
, was not that big of a stretch.

  “You’ll have a hard time finding someone who isn’t glad Theo’s dead,” Ian said. “Most folks will think whoever did it, did the whole town a big favor.”

  Scott stopped by Doc Machalvie’s office, above his brother’s pharmacy, and found him filling out paperwork. He greeted Scott warmly and asked him to sit down.

  “I thought when I went to medical school that I’d spend most of my time healing sick people,” he said. “I actually spend most of my time referring people to specialists and filling out forms for health insurance companies.”

  Scott asked him about Theo.

  “Ah, yes,” he replied. “Someone from the county sheriff’s department was here asking about him, as well. What an awful thing to have happen, even to a fellow as unappetizing as Theo. His father was a good friend to me when I was just starting out, and I always felt it was a pity the younger son drowned and not Theo. Life is such a mystery to me. I shared his records with the deputies who came with a search warrant; do you need to see them as well?”

  “No,” Scott said. “I want to know if you had any personal dealings with Theo outside of your doctor/patient relationship.”

  Doctor Machalvie looked surprised, and more than a little offended.

  “What are you insinuating, Scott?”

  Scott felt the rebuke and it made him incredibly uncomfortable.

  “Any business dealings, investments, leases, things like that,” he said.

  “Heavens no,” Doc said. “Business deals are my brother’s forte, not my own. I personally found Theo repellant, and would not have given him two nickels for a dime. I can’t think of anyone who will miss him.”

  “I have to ask everyone this,” Scott said. “Where were you the night Theo died?”

  Doc took a deep breath and appeared to think very carefully before answering.

  “I was at home in bed with my wife,” he said finally. “I’m pretty sure the lodge meeting was the night before.”

  “It was,” Scott said.

  “Well then,” Doc smiled broadly and stood. “I guess we’re all done here and I can get back to my forms.”