“Yes.” Tina looked around for a place to set her backpack. She finally settled on moving a box off one of the desks and placing it there. “Would you please open the windows?”
“Oh, of course.” As Mickey moved around, Tina assembled one box and set it by the doorway. The widows on the side of the house were large enough to step through, so she didn’t worry about having to escape in a hurry if necessary when she blocked the door. “How are we going to work this?” Mickey asked.
Tina began to assemble another box. “I think the quickest way would be for you to scan everything that’s out in the open and throw away anything that’s obviously broken or in such bad shape that it’s of no use to anyone. I’ll pick out stuff I think the family might want or is good enough to be in an estate sale and put it in a box.” She looked around. “We can probably clean most of the surface stuff pretty quickly. Then we’ll open boxes and go through them. I think maybe you can do that while I tackle all this paperwork.” She pointed to the piles on each desk.
He shook his head.
“What? Oh, you have to watch me go through the papers. Okay.” She didn’t like it. It would slow them down.
“What about all this furniture?”
Tina sighed. “I actually forgot how much there is. Once we get rid of all the boxes, we should be able to line it up against the walls pretty much. There will have to be an estate sale, which means people come into the house to buy. When we’re done, Mrs. Tinsdale will have to hire someone else to polish all the furniture and clean up the whole place.”
Mickey looked around dubiously. “All the rooms are like this?”
“Every single one.”
He whistled. “It going to cost a lot just to get all this straightened out and cleaned.”
“Yes, it will. And when it’s empty, there will be repairs and painting to do. The whole kitchen needs to be upgraded, and the bathrooms. Floors refinished. I haven’t even looked in the cellar and attic.”
Mickey looked horrified. “If this area smells this bad after you’ve already aired it out one day, I think you’ll need hazmat masks to do the cellar, and probably the attic.”
“You’re right. We should be airing them out while we work.”
Mickey shook his head. “The attic maybe, but not the cellar. Someone could sneak in there and hide because none of us would be down there.”
“Right.”
“You want to go and open up the attic now?”
Tina thought for a moment. “Yes. Now I’m curious about it. Let’s go.”
She led the way through the mazes of boxes in the hallway and up the fortunately uncluttered stairs to the second floor. Opening the door to the attic stairway, she motioned Mickey to go first. As they climbed, she heard a scurrying noise above them. Rats? She shuddered.
“Squirrel,” Mickey said as he reached the top. “What a mess.”
Tina was confused since they’d expected a mess, but when she entered the hallway in the attic, she saw pieces of paper and cardboard strewn all over. Nesting material for the squirrels, she realized. She slumped against the wall. She hadn’t thought anything could be worse than the downstairs. What would be in the cellar? Snakes? She certainly was going to earn that five million. If she didn’t quit in despair.
She forced herself not to think that far ahead. Mickey picked his way through the litter to the first door. It was a sewing room. An old-fashioned machine in a stand sat under a window, and another, newer machine on a table had been placed near the door. A dressmaker mannequin stood in a corner, half draped with a faded, brown material. Of course, boxes were piled high all around the room. She suspected they would be filled with patterns, material, and notions. She was relieved to see the squirrels hadn’t been there. Mickey made his way to the window and, with great effort, finally got it to open partway. The room really didn’t smell too awful. The scent of fabric and must filled the air, though, so it still needed airing out.
The next room’s door stood slightly ajar, and the squirrels had been partying. The room was so crammed with boxes, Mickey couldn’t get to the window. “You’ll have to start out in the hall and pull things out to get through this one.” He frowned at the mess. “Should I leave the door open?”
“Might as well. See if you can open the window at the end of the hall, please.” Tina stepped around the trash to get to the door to another room across the hall and opened it. Huge, the room ran the full length of the house. Furnished with large, masculine bedroom furniture, the ubiquitous boxes lined the walls, but there was more open space in the room than any of the others. Mickey was able to get to the two windows easily enough, and had to catch himself when the first one opened up much more easily than he expected. “Wow. Someone was opening this regularly. And recently. Wonder what this is all about.”
Tina stood looking around, dumbfounded. Unlike the other bedrooms, this one had fewer boxes piled along the walls, and none on top of the bed. The coverings looked rather fresh, although a thin layer of dust covered everything. Why would anyone sleep up here instead of in one of the bedrooms on the second floor? There was no bathroom in the attic, but this must explain the uncluttered guest bath on the second floor. She walked over to a huge armoire and opened it. A few pieces of men’s clothing hung carefully spaced on the rod. The drawers underneath held stacks of neatly folded underwear and socks. A hairbrush, mirror, and men’s jewelry box with one pair of cufflinks and a watch inside were the only items on the massive bureau. The drawers were empty. In the nightstand drawer she found a collection of poetry, some Tums, and an Old Spice deodorant stick.
Most surprising of all was the huge TV on a modern stand opposite the bed. Tina picked up the remote from the nightstand with her gloved hand and clicked the power button. ESPN in high definition popped up, and she and Mickey exchanged glances.
“Cable?” Tina murmured. “Mickey, are we in Oz?”
He laughed. “Somewhere similar, I think. I suggest we call Lisbeth and let her know about this.”
“You don’t think the police searched the whole house after the murder?”
“There was no way they could do that. They probably did look up here, but may not have realized this might help find the killer. With the boxes along the walls, like in the other rooms, they may not have picked up on what we’re noticing. I think this room should be searched by the professionals, don’t you?”
“I guess so. But they won’t tell me what they find, will they?”
“Probably not.”
“You know the last time this happened in a hoarder’s house, they opened every box. I don’t understand why they didn’t do that here.”
“Did they find anything in that house to help their investigation?”
“No. No, they didn’t. So they probably thought they wouldn’t here, either. At least in the boxes.”
Mickey shrugged. “We just don’t have the manpower to handle something like this. Or the money.” He took his cell phone out of his pocket and poked at it. “Good thing we were wearing gloves in this room. Lisbeth? Hello. I think you need to come to the Blackwell residence and see what we found. In the attic.”
CHAPTER 28
“Lisbeth say when she’d get here?”
“As soon as she can.”
Tina frowned. She wasn’t getting any work done. She could hear people moving around downstairs. Her palms itched to tear open some of the boxes in this room, or in one of the other two across the hall. But she hadn’t brought any trash bags with her. She sighed. “Let’s go downstairs and wait in the office. At least I can get something done while we wait.”
Mickey looked around, his glance lingering on the neatly made bed. “All right. Good idea.” He followed her downstairs.
In the office, without saying anything more, they each took a trash bag and began throwing stuff into them. It wasn’t hard because so much was broken or obvious junk. Tina expected the boxes to hold nicer stuff, but when she opened the first one, the only good-enough-to-keep item was a
pair of crystal candlesticks. Surprised they weren’t broken, she carefully removed them and looked for a place to set them down. When Lisbeth said, “Hello,” Tina almost dropped one.
“Didn’t mean to startle you. Nice candlesticks.”
“That’s okay.” Tina placed the candlesticks on a cleared space on the desk she and Jenny had worked at. “Let’s show you the attic.” She was disappointed to see John behind Lisbeth as she left the room and led the way upstairs.
“Jeeze Louise,” John muttered as they picked their way through the trash-littered hall in the attic. When they walked into the bedroom, all John could say was, “Wow.”
Such a great conversationalist, Tina thought as she looked around again. Lisbeth and John gloved up and began a cursory search.
“Call in forensics,” Lisbeth told John. “Nothing here strikes me, but they need to go over it thoroughly.”
John stepped out into the hall to make the call. Lisbeth turned to Tina. “You ever seen anything like this before?”
“I’ve only done one other hoarder’s house, and you know all about that one. I suspect Mrs. Blackwell had stopped coming up here. And it looks like whoever used this room hasn’t been here in several months, at least.”
Lisbeth glanced around. “True. Let’s go downstairs.”
In the office, Lisbeth looked around again. “How long do you think it will take to get through all the paperwork?”
“Maybe not as long as you think. Most of it will be junk mail and periodicals. But probably several hours for each desk because I will also be sorting it all by type—bills, checks, bank and utility statements, and so on. I want to get a lot of space cleared before I begin. I think we can do that by end of the day, if nothing else interrupts us.”
“Why did you decide to look at the attic?” Lisbeth picked up an old metal train locomotive and spun the wheels.
“We decided to air it out,” Mickey said.
“I didn’t go up there the other day,” Tina explained. “I was also curious to see how much work might be involved. We talked about opening up the basement, but Mickey pointed out that someone could get inside if we did that.”
Lisbeth gave Mickey an appraising look. “Good call,” she told him and turned her attention back to Tina. “If you find anything else of interest, give us a ring.”
“Of course.” Tina sighed. At this rate, they’d never finish.
After Lisbeth and John left, Tina and Mickey went back to opening boxes and sorting the contents. She saw the police tech team go by in the hallway. She opened another carton and found a large cookie jar in the shape of a tuxedo cat. A memory flashed in her mind of reaching into that jar a long time ago and pulling out a hermit cookie. Her favorite kind. She’d forgotten that Mrs. Blackwell used to bake them and every so often offer one to Tina, who must have been around five or six, if she remembered right. Carefully, she opened the jar.
Tina was glad to see there were no rock-hard cookies inside. Instead, an envelope with her name on it lay there. She pulled it out gingerly.
CHAPTER 29
Tina unfolded the piece of paper. In a large scrawl was written, “Tina, if you find this, be sure to look inside the compartment in the violin case in the music room.”
“Bother.” Tina handed the paper to Mickey.
“What’s this?”
“I found it in the cookie jar.” She held up the cat.
Mickey gave it a bemused look, then read the message. “You think Mrs. Blackwell wrote this?”
“Who else?”
Mickey shrugged. “So, we are now on a scavenger hunt?”
“It looks that way, doesn’t it? I suppose you should call Lisbeth again. Maybe she should just stay here. She could help declutter.” Tina grinned at the thought then looked for another bare spot to put the jar on. The desk again. She wouldn’t be able to work there until even more stuff was cleared out.
After Mickey spoke to Lisbeth and read the note to her, he stuck it into the jar and replaced the top.
“Should we go look in the violin case?” Tina asked.
“Better wait for Lisbeth. I think she’ll want to watch you do that.”
Tina scowled. She took more items out the box the cookie jar had been in and threw them all away. She disassembled the box. “My trash bag is full. I’ll take it outside.”
“I’ll bring the empty boxes.”
Right. Her little shadow. She’d known this was going to be uncomfortable. She didn’t know just how annoying it would be, though. They trudged to the front of the house and placed the trash bag and boxes in the front yard.
Tina noticed several people were out on the porch and lawn eating lunch. She hadn’t realized it was so late. “Want to take a break and have lunch?” she asked Mickey. He nodded.
The late fall day was cool and crisp, but bundled up, they enjoyed the lunches they had packed. Everyone had brought beach chairs to sit on. The fresh air felt wonderful. Most of the other workers were out there, and they chattered about the interesting items they found.
She watched for Hank while they ate, but he never came out.
Back in the office, Tina asked, “Did Lisbeth say when they’d get here?” Mickey shook his head. She knew John would be Lisbeth’s shadow. She almost felt sorry for Lisbeth. Actually, thinking more about it, she felt sorrier for Lisbeth than for herself. At least Mickey was good-looking, smart, and savvy.
They worked some more in silence until Mickey asked her about a particularly hideous vase that was in good shape. Tina raised her eyebrows. “Since you asked, I’m guessing you don’t think it’s beautiful.”
Mickey laughed. “Brilliant observation. You should join the force.”
“Well, neither do I. But it could be one of those pieces that most people wouldn’t give houseroom to but is very valuable. So, put it in a box. You just never know.”
Mickey grinned and set it carefully in his almost-full box of stuff to keep. Lisbeth stepped into the room, John following, as usual. Lisbeth looked around and said, “You’re making some progress, I see.”
“Yes.” Tina held up another cookie jar, this one in the shape of a snowman. “But having to look inside everything is slowing me down.” She took off the top and found something wrapped in bubble wrap. She pulled it out carefully and unwrapped it. Another snowman. John rolled his eyes. Tina grinned. “I bet these guys sell at the estate sale.” She placed them in her carton and brushed off her gloved hands. “I suppose we should go to the music room.”
It looked the same as when Tina last saw it, except Mrs. Morris wasn’t sitting on top of the French horn case.
Behind her, John sneezed. “There are at least five violin cases in here.” He pulled out a handkerchief and blew his nose loudly.
Lisbeth gave him a look Tina found hard to describe. Disdainful? Long-suffering? Probably both.
“I guess I’ll just have to open them all,” Tina said and reached for the first one. All she found in its compartment was some dried out rosin. The next one held a mute and rosin. And the third one had another envelope with Tina’s name on it.
Tina opened it and read the message out loud. “Be very thorough cleaning out the office and music room. If anything happens to me, I have left clues in each room. Good luck.”
“Crazy old woman,” John muttered. “Why doesn’t she just come out and say something helpful?”
For once, Tina agreed with him. She handed the note to Lisbeth. Mrs. Morris high-stepped into the room, not paying attention to the humans. John sneezed again, and Lisbeth started, then bent down to pet the cat. “Who’s this, do you know?” she asked Tina.
“Jenny said her name is Mrs. Morris. She’s an outdoor cat who seems to love this room.” Tina was surprised Mrs. Morris hadn’t objected to Lisbeth’s attention. They all watched as the cat walked toward the window and climbed up on top of the piano. There was just enough space for her to curl up and fall asleep between a bust of Beethoven, a flute case, and brass candlesticks with half-burnt candl
es in them.
Lisbeth’s cell rang. “Hello, Hank.” She smiled at Tina. Hank of course didn’t know Lisbeth was downstairs. “I’ll be right there.” She closed the phone. “Hank found something interesting. Let’s all go see what it is.”
CHAPTER 30
As they all trooped upstairs, Tina realized she should check on the other workers to see if they were doing okay or had any questions. She felt frustration rising inside her. They’d never get done at this rate.
When Hank saw Lisbeth, he said, “That was quick. How’d you get here so fast?”
Lisbeth laughed. “We were downstairs. Tina found some notes from Mrs. Oliver.”
“Really? What did they say?”
Lisbeth told him, then said, “Show us what you found.”
Hank held out a long, narrow wooden box with curved edges. “This.” He opened it. Inside was a bong, four or five hand-rolled cigarettes, and a pouch.
Tina looked at it and grinned.
Lisbeth laughed. “Mrs. Blackwell smoked pot?”
“Looks that way,” Hank said. “Or she had a nighttime visitor who did.”
“No, he would have slept upstairs.”
“What?” Hank closed the box and set it down on the cleared night table.
“There’s a masculine bedroom in the attic that looks used. Not lately, but probably within the last eight months or so. Let me know if you find anything else of interest.” She turned to leave and almost bumped into John.
“Crazy lady,” John muttered.
“You talking about me?” Lisbeth asked.
He looked startled. “No, of course not. Mrs. Blackwell. What else did she hide?”
“Good question. Let’s get back to the station so these people can continue to find out.”
Tina turned to Mickey. “I want to check on everyone, see if they have any questions. We might as well start up here.”
They walked to the bedroom next to Mrs. Blackwell’s. A tall woman was scowling at a stack of boxes that reached over her head. When she saw Tina and Mickey, she attempted to smile, but didn’t quite make it. “How on earth did a woman as old as Mrs. Blackwell get all these boxes piled so high?”
Buried Under Clutter (Tina Tales Mysteries Book 2) Page 11