Buried Under Clutter (Tina Tales Mysteries Book 2)

by Jan Christensen

  Tina smiled. “I don’t know much about the investigation myself, even though they’ve assigned a police officer to watch me every second while I work.”

  “Oh, that must be awkward. And in such tight quarters.”

  “It could be worse.” Tina grinned. “He’s quite good looking and very pleasant.”

  Rebecca beamed. “Well, that’s good. So, what’s in the box? I feel like a child at Christmas.”

  “I picked out a sample of what I thought might interest you. I had to get approval, of course, to bring it all to you. You can keep anything you like, and I’ll take back the rest for the estate sale. We have a lot to discuss, but first, let’s see what you think.” Tina pulled the top flaps apart and reached into the box. “First up is this cookie jar. I remember it from when I was a little girl and Mrs. Blackwell would invite me in for a hermit cookie or two. How I loved them. Since it’s been in her house that long, I thought it might mean something to you.”

  Rebecca stared at the tuxedo cat and shook her head. “Since you have fond memories of the cookie jar, why don’t you keep it?”

  Tina was surprised. She’d never thought of a keepsake for herself. But it made sense. The woman had left her five million dollars, after all. And a lot of work. She shrugged away her feelings and dug out the next object. “That’s very nice of you, Mrs. Tinsdale. I’d like to have the cat. Those were better times, after all.”

  “Yes. Yes, they were. And call me Rebecca, please. Makes me feel younger.”

  “Okay. How about this?” Tina held up a yellow Fiestaware dinner plate. “There’s a whole set. You probably know this is somewhat rare now, and valuable.” She glanced around the room. “I thought it might go with your décor.”

  Rebecca held out her hand for the dish and rubbed her thumb along the rim. “You are wise for your years. I would love to own the whole set. Our mother owned it first and left it to Olivia. I got the silver tea set. I always thought it should have been the other way around. Olivia was more of the silver tea pot set type, and I more of the Fiestaware kind.”

  Tina grinned. “From the houses you each live in, I think you’re right.” She reached into the box and pulled out the most ornate silver teapot she’d ever seen in her life. “But maybe this teapot will change your mind. Again, there’s a whole set. I polished this, but it needs a professional to get into the cracks, and to do the other pieces.”

  Rebecca scowled at the object. “I don’t think so. It’s lovely, of course. But I’ve never seen it before, so it has no sentimental value to me. Olivia must have bought it on one of her trips overseas. It looks European—not British, though.”

  So Rebecca knew something about antiques. Tina glanced around again more carefully. The same items she’d seen at the reading of the will were spread about. When her gaze fell again on Rebecca, she could tell the other woman knew what she was thinking.

  “I don’t go in for antiques and such, as you can tell. I never envied Olivia her wealth, and I won’t be spending much of the money she left me. What else is in the box?”

  Tina lowered her head and reached into the box again. What was making her uneasy? Was Rebecca too good to be true? Didn’t like fancy things but knew a lot about antiques? Dressed up, expensively, with no place to go?

  The only other things Rebecca showed any interest in were some of the old pictures in tarnished silver frames. “Oh, look at these! I think I have most of them put away in boxes. It’s nice to see them framed. Here’s brother Harold. So handsome. And Olivia in Budapest. I remember her sending me a smaller one while she was still there. This was her husband, Leonard. A huge risk-taker. Went off the road in Italy and landed two hundred feet below in a canyon. Olivia was devastated. They’d been married about twenty years and never had children. I’m not sure Leonard wanted any. But he left her all that money.”

  “Do you know why she bought a house in Newport? I would have thought here in Quincy to be near you.”

  “Leonard was from Newport. That house was in his family, as a matter of fact, and Olivia had always liked it.” Rebecca ran her finger along the silver frame. “Life can be so cruel. I lost Matthew the day after our thirtieth anniversary. Olivia and I became even closer after that.”

  “You never wanted to move to Newport?”

  “No, Jenny was working in Boston by then. We’d been in this house for over twenty years and were comfortable.”

  “I never found out what Jenny does for a living.” Tina started to put the items Rebecca didn’t want back in the box.

  “She works in the Senator’s office as the assistant to the Assistant. A very responsible position.”

  “She never married?”

  Rebecca frowned. “When very young, and it didn’t last a year. I’m afraid she’s not very good at picking out suitable men.”

  Tina paused before putting the cat cookie jar back in the box and closing it up. “That’s too bad. I imagine you would have liked some grandchildren.”

  “Yes. Our line is dying out. Tabitha is like Olivia—never wanted children. Colin will probably never settle down.”

  “That’s a shame.” Tina finished with the box. At least it would be a bit lighter when she lugged it to her car. “Were Colin and Tabitha close to their Aunt Olivia?”

  “All three of them were when they were younger, but as she got, shall we say, stranger and stranger, they pulled away. Except for maybe Colin. He always seemed closer to her than Jenny or Tabitha.”

  “Did he still visit her, then?”

  Rebecca stood up. “I think so, every so often. But I don’t really know. I don’t mean to rush you, Tina, but I have some things to do. It was very kind of you to think of bringing all this bric-a-brac for me to look at. I hope you’ll bring more. And of course the rest of the Fiestaware set.”

  Tina hefted the box and followed Rebecca to the front door. She’d meant to ask Rebecca more about what she wanted to do about an estate sale and getting the house cleaned, but obviously Rebecca wanted her to leave. Cars still lined the street. Tina stepped outside and turned around to say good-bye. “Are there always so many cars on the street?” she asked.

  “Why, no.” Rebecca looked puzzled. “Someone must be having a party. Of course I’m never invited to anything anymore.” She didn’t sound at all upset about it.

  Tina didn’t know what to say, so she just nodded and began walking away. Rebecca called after her, “Thanks again, Tina. Let me know when you’re close to finishing up, will you?”

  “I sure will. You take care,” Tina said over her shoulder. She heard the front door close behind her. When she reached her car around the corner, she put the box into the trunk, then sat in the driver’s seat staring out the windshield for a few minutes, thinking about her visit. Finally, she started the car and looked out the side window.

  A figure moved quickly through the unfenced back yards. Tina blinked. She could swear it was Rebecca. Sitting up straighter, she squinted at the woman and recognized the yellow cowl-neck sweater. Something was different, though. Then she got it. Rebecca’s arm wasn’t in the black sling. She moved briskly through the yard behind her house to two farther down, and went to the back door. Tina was at the wrong angle to see if anyone let Rebecca inside, or whether she just walked in.

  It took her a moment or two to decide what to do. She drove around to the next street and counted the houses until she was sure she had located the one Rebecca had entered. She grabbed her phone and entered the address into her notes app. She debated staying there for a while, but decided it would be better to leave. It dawned on her that she didn’t know how Rebecca would react if she found out Tina had seen her walking, apparently unafraid, out of her house. Without the sling.

  Should she call Hank or Lisbeth first? Hank, of course.

  CHAPTER 39

  Tina drove back around to where she’d been parked before and called Hank.

  He answered on the second ring. “Doll, how are you? What’s up?”

  His voice warmed h
er. She slumped against the seatback and forced herself to relax. “I’m fine. I’m in Quincy. Just visited Rebecca Tinsdale.”

  “That was nice of you.” She heard someone talking in the background, wondered where he was. “How’d that go?”

  “Okay. We talked quite a bit. I brought her some things I thought she might want to keep from Olivia’s. With Lisbeth’s approval, of course.”

  “Even nicer.”

  “But why I called.” She paused, staring out at the house Rebecca had disappeared into. “I had to park around the corner. I was getting ready to leave, and I saw Rebecca go out her back door, then down three houses, and I think she went inside because I don’t see her anymore.”

  “What? You saw her leave her house? This could change everything.”

  “Exactly. What should I do?”

  “Let me think.”

  She imagined his gray eyes darkening. She wished he were beside her. For some reason she needed a hug. It struck her that she might have been sitting with a murderer for the last almost two hours. After all, Rebecca had the biggest motive of anyone to murder Olivia. The biggest inheritance.

  It seemed to be taking Hank a long time to get back to her. Maybe he was asking someone else—Lisbeth?—about what to do. She kept staring at the back door of the house Rebecca had entered.

  Finally, his voice rumbled in her ear again. “Can you stay there, watch for Rebecca? It’s possible she might stay inside long enough for Lisbeth to get there and talk to her, catch her in the act. If she goes back home, go around to the front of the street to get the address she went to. Do not, I repeat, do not approach anyone in the other house. Or Rebecca herself. You got that, red?”

  Tina rolled her eyes. “I got it, Hank. I already have the number. It’s sixty-seven. And I came back to park where I was. I’ll wait right here and see what happens. Should I call Lisbeth if Rebecca goes back home?”

  “Yeah.”

  “And after she talks to Rebecca, she’ll tell me all about it, right? I assume she’s going to interview Rebecca. And then Rebecca will know I saw her. I’m a witness. So, I have a need to know what Rebecca had to say about it all. Thinking about this further, Hank, I don’t like it at all.”

  “You have a point. Hopefully Lisbeth can catch her going from the other house back to her own.”

  “Unlikely.” Damn, she should have handled this herself, or never snitched. “By the way, one more little detail. Rebecca wasn’t wearing the sling when she snuck through the back yards. She had it on when I visited her, though.”

  “Okay. Lisbeth will handle it so Rebecca won’t know you’re the one who saw her. She can say that while police were interviewing the neighbors, someone had seen her going to the other house.”

  “But they interviewed the neighbors a couple of weeks ago.”

  “They re-interviewed them, and someone who wasn’t home for the first round told them. Not uncommon.”

  “Hank, the person or people at sixty-seven will know that’s not true. If Rebecca talks to them, and I’m sure she will, they’ll tell her no one from the police came around again. Can you find out who they are?”

  Hank cleared his throat. “I already suspect that she went into her brother Harold’s house. He lives behind her, about three doors down.”

  “Oh.” Tina scrunched down in her seat. “Hank, I want to get out of here. I wish I’d never called you. I’m sitting in my yellow VW. If she leaves Harold’s house and glances this way, she’ll see it.”

  “You’re a civilian. You can leave. I recommend you do so. Come home. I’ll meet you at your house and take you to dinner.”

  Tina’s eyes had never left the house Rebecca had entered, and now she saw a figure come out the back door. She tried to scrunch down farther in her seat, but her knees were already up to her chin.

  “Tina? You there?”

  “Yeah,” she whispered. “Rebecca just came out of the other house.”

  “Don’t move,” Hank said sharply. “If you try to drive away, you’ll draw attention to yourself.”

  She realized that Rebecca’s angle was better coming from Harold’s house to her own, and she would probably spot the yellow VW. Tina resisted the impulse to scrunch her eyes closed and watched Rebecca look around before she started across the yards. Did she know what kind of car Tina drove? Why had she picked out one so conspicuous? Rebecca paused and seemed to be looking directly at her, but Tina was pretty sure she couldn’t make her out well enough inside the car to know for sure who she was.

  Rebecca stood as if uncertain, then walked toward her own house. When she reached her yard, she looked again at the VW, then marched resolutely toward it.

  “Tina?” Hank’s voice in her ear made her jump.

  “She’s seen me and is coming this way. What should I do?”

  “Stay put until you’re absolutely sure she’s going to approach you. If that happens, drive off. I just heard from Lisbeth. She’s about thirty minutes away.”

  “Rebecca is still walking toward me. Lisbeth won’t do me any good. She has no proof that Rebecca left her house.”

  “Take her picture!”

  “Oh.” Tina fumbled with her phone, pointed it at Rebecca and began snapping as fast as she could.

  Rebecca paused. Frowned. She seemed to realize what Tina was doing and quickly turned around and stumbled toward her back door. Tina kept taking pictures until she could no longer see Rebecca.

  “She’s gone inside. I took a bunch of pictures.” Her breath caught in her throat. “I’m driving away now. I have to put the phone down.”

  She threw the phone into the passenger seat, turned on the ignition, and pulled away from the curb. Her hands were shaking so badly she didn’t dare try to drive and talk. All she wanted to do was get out of Quincy. As fast as she could.

  CHAPTER 40

  Tina pulled into her driveway with a huge sigh. She grabbed her purse and phone and clambered out of the VW to dash up the back stoop into the kitchen.

  Uncle Bob stood at the sink, shredding lettuce. Princess waged her tail when she saw Tina and stood up to nudge Uncle Bob with her long nose. He looked down at her, then saw Tina and grinned. “You’re home. Hold on a second.” He put down the lettuce, wiped his hands on the green towel he’d tucked into his waistband, and reached for his hearing aids on the top of the refrigerator.

  Tina plopped her purse on the small desk in the corner of the kitchen, and they both sat down at the table.

  “Where’s Mom?”

  “She’s in her bedroom, resting. How’d your visit go with Rebecca?”

  Tina took a deep breath. “I think I’d better tell both of you about it together.” She turned her head toward the back stairway. “Mom!” She heard the floor creak above, so knew her mother had heard her. “She’s coming.”

  Uncle Bob nodded. “I expect she would. You almost blasted away what little hearing I have left.”

  Tina grinned. “Sorry.”

  Laura appeared on the last step. “You’re home. How’s Rebecca?” She sat down with them, absently patting Princess on her head.

  “She’s fine. Actually, she’s quite spry.”

  “What do you mean by that?” Laura frowned. “You sounded sarcastic.”

  “Meant to be. I saw her leave her house out the back door and apparently walk over to Harold’s place.”

  “What?” Both Laura and Uncle Bob exclaimed together.

  “Without her sling, which she wore the whole time I was visiting.”

  They both stared at her. “You better begin at the beginning.” Laura fingered her necklace, obviously agitated.

  As Tina told them what happened, they both became more and more disturbed. Finished, she checked her phone for the pictures she’d taken and flipped through them. Laura drummed her fingers on the table. Tina handed her the phone, and Laura looked at it, muttering, “I don’t believe this. She’s fooled everyone for years. I wonder if Jenny knows.”

  “Good question.” Tina said. She
jumped a little when her phone rang.

  Princess put her chin on Uncle Bob’s leg. “I don’t have to answer that,” he told her, giving her ears a rub.

  Tina took the phone from Laura. “Lisbeth.” She pushed Talk. “Hello.” She put the phone on speaker so at least her mother could hear. She hated that Uncle Bob would be left out and would have to find out what was said later on. Usually it was an edited version.

  “Tina, I’m on my way back to Newport. I thought you’d want to know what Mrs. Tinsdale had to say for herself.”

  “I appreciate that. I’m not feeling too safe right now. I assume Hank told you I have pictures? I just looked at them, and they clearly show Rebecca outside, without her sling.”

  “Yes. Please email them to me as soon as we hang up.”

  “Will do. What’d she tell you?”

  “She says she can make it to her brother’s house once in a while without having a panic attack.”

  “Jenny never mentioned this when we talked about her mother’s agoraphobia.”

  “She says Jenny doesn’t know.”

  Tina wasn’t sure she believed that. “What about the sling?”

  “She said she felt more comfortable walking in the yard without it. She had it back on when I was there.”

  “Uh huh. Right now you’ll understand if I don’t believe a word she says.”

  Lisbeth remained silent for a few moments. Then she said, “I also visited Harold Rankin. He said the same thing about Rebecca being able to visit him occasionally. I’ve assigned a couple of officers to go back and interview the neighbors. See if anyone else has seen Rebecca out and about. We didn’t ask about that the first go ’round.”

  Tina cleared her throat. “You now know that Rebecca could have murdered her sister. You now know that she lies and could have made up the attack. Does she have proof of a sprained shoulder? Any other physical proof she was attacked?”

  Tina saw her mother frown at her, then raise her eyes heavenward.

  “I’m afraid I can’t get into that with you. Patient confidentiality. But believe me, we are covering everything.”