Covering everything, sure. But not telling me everything. Tina didn’t say anything.
“Well, I’ll let you go.” Lisbeth said. “Please send those pictures as soon as you can.”
“I will.” They hung up, and Tina began to tell Uncle Bob what Lisbeth had said. When he couldn’t read lips, he missed so much. The doorbell interrupted her. Princess jumped up again and put her chin on Uncle Bob’s thigh. The flasher over the kitchen doorway blinked on and off. The three of them stood up to see who it was.
Hank stood on the doorstep. He smiled at everyone, then looked at Tina. “You ready to go to dinner?”
They all looked at their watches, then back at Hank. “I had no idea it was this late,” Laura said.
“I need to finish with the salad,” Uncle Bob said. “Nice to see you, Hank.” He turned to leave, Princess at his heels.
“Come in. I’ll need to go get ready.” Tina opened the door wider.
Hank stepped inside. “You look fine. Any place in particular you want to go?”
“I don’t know. Haven’t had time to think about it. I have to email Lisbeth the pictures I took of Rebecca.” They entered the living room. Tina still had the phone in her hand, so she pulled up the pictures and handed it to Hank.
“Well, well, well,” he said. “I can send them while you freshen up.”
“You know how to do that?” Laura sounded doubtful.
“Sure. Just pull up Tina’s email program, put in Lisbeth’s address and a subject, attach the photos and hit send.”
Laura shook her head. “I’m lucky I can make an occasional phone call on mine.” She turned to Tina. “You go get ready. I’ll keep Hank company. He can show me how to do this.”
Tina left them, smiling. But she soon sobered as she climbed the broad front staircase. A lot had happened since morning, and she hadn’t had time to digest it all. She remembered the look on Rebecca’s face when she approached the VW. If looks could kill, she’d be dead right now.
CHAPTER 41
By noon on Thursday, Tina and Mickey had finished with the office. Tina looked at the cleared space with great satisfaction. Not a cardboard box in sight, nor a stray piece of paper. All items had been cleared away, as well. The only things remaining on top of the biggest desk were the bulging files she’d made to organize the paperwork.
“Let’s see how everyone else is doing,” she told Mickey.
They started in the attic. One woman was working in the sewing room, and she was almost done. The rest was all cleared away.
The second floor was finished except for the master suite. Hank greeted them when they entered. There was even enough space now for all of them to stand in the room. “Another hour or so, and I’ll be finished.” He smiled at Tina. “Done with the office?”
“Yes. Onto the music room.”
“I’ll join you there when I’m done here.”
“Okay.”
“It’ll be crowded,” Mickey said.
“But it’s not so bad to start with,” Tina said. “We’ll work first on getting space clear so we can have some breathing room. We’re going to check how the basement and downstairs are now.”
They left Hank and went to the basement. Three workers greeted them, seeming happy to take a break. Tina looked around. “Looking good. I suspect it will take another day or so. What do you think?”
“Done by end of day next time we’re here,” one of the men said. “We’ve got rhythm.”
Everyone laughed. Tina said, “It looks as if the hardest part here is getting the big stuff to the dumpster.”
“True,” the only woman in the group said. “We’ve found three mangles, stretching racks for lace curtains, which are very awkward, umpteen ironing boards, all kinds of tools, even two lawnmowers, three broken washers and two dryers. I don’t understand how she even got half this stuff down here.”
“Probably people who delivered it years ago simply brought it down. Then she filled it up with more stuff she could handle by herself.” Tina glanced around one last time and headed back to the main floor.
Barry was placing a big platter into a box when they arrived in the kitchen. Tina hadn’t checked it out when they went through to the basement. “Wow, Barry, you’re really close to being done. You’re amazing.”
Barry grinned at her. “Thanks.” He looked around with a satisfied smiled. “This will be a great kitchen when it’s all cleaned up. I’m going to work on the butler’s pantry next. I figure it will take me about a day there. I may not have to wash as many dishes. I don’t think she used them much, so they’re just dusty.”
“We’ll leave you to it. If you need anything, we’ll be in the music room.”
Barry nodded, and Tina and Mickey walked down the now-cleared hall and entered the music room. Mrs. Morris stood up from her position on top of the upright piano and stretched. Tina laughed. “You sneak in again?”
The cat meowed at her, then began cleaning herself.
Mickey didn’t seem at all interested in the cat. “Where do you want to begin in here?”
Tina moved a couple of instrument cases out of the center of the room. “Let’s start with the boxes along the walls. At least there aren’t too many. I wonder if she played all these instruments. Why else would she have them?”
Mickey shrugged. “Because she was batty?”
Tina stared at him, thinking that was cold. He opened the nearest box and pulled out an old, high-heeled boot. He rummaged around inside the box. “Seems like this is full of boots.”
“I guess you’d better check each one out,” Tina said.
Mickey grimaced. “Yeah. Glad I’m wearing gloves.”
Tina opened a box for herself. This one was full of costumes. She held up a golden toga. “You have some boots to match this?”
Mickey stared at it. “Probably. So, she was into theater stuff. Maybe put on plays when people visited back when she entertained?”
“Looks like it.” Tina pulled out a dress that a woman might have worn back in the eighteen hundreds. A moth fluttered upward, and Tina brushed it away from her face. “Oh. She should have stored these more carefully.” She pulled out more costumes, all moth-eaten. “What a shame. We’ll have to trash all of these.”
“Check pockets and linings first.”
“Right.” Tina looked for a pocket in the dress, but it didn’t have any. “I doubt she’d been in this box in years, so probably no clues.” She checked a couple more costumes for pockets. “It looks as if they didn’t put pockets in the costumes.”
Mickey paused before placing another boot into his trash bag. “No reason to, I guess. Never thought about it.”
“Me, either. Unless a character had to pull something out of a pocket, no need for any.” With regret, Tina began stuffing the costumes into a trash bag, her shoulders drooping. They hadn’t found anything in the house that could be a clue about who had killed Olivia in quite a while. Or if they had, they’d missed the significance.
Mickey finished looking through all the boots, and Tina finished with the box of moth-eaten costumes at the same time. The next box she opened held toy instruments. A xylophone, a small piano keyboard, a set of drums with a torn head, a half dozen kazoos, a guitar, two trumpets, a little clarinet and trombone, three small violins, castanets, a tambourine, cymbals, even a tiny accordion. “Cute.”
“What?”
Tina held up the trombone. “A whole box of toy instruments.”
Mickey rolled his eyes. “She was probably into her second childhood.”
“I’m a little surprised that these are all in a box together, and they look unused. Actually that’s a pattern here. The costumes in a box, the boots in another, and now these instruments. What’s in the one you’re going through?” Tina noticed it was one of the tall boxes.
“You’re not going to believe this.” Mickey pulled out a music stand.
“It’s full of those?”
“Yeah. You hear a lot of music drifting over to y
our house over the years?”
“Never.”
“As I said, batty.”
“I think she collected a lot of this stuff before she became a fulltime hoarder.”
“Why do you say that?”
“She was more systematic in this room. And it looks as if she stopped putting things in here, maybe many years ago.”
Mickey gazed around the room, then met Tina’s eyes. “You may be right. You’re pretty observant.”
“More that I try to think how others might be thinking. And feeling. I believe this was a favorite room. Probably the favorite room. Let’s get the boxes we’ve gone through out of here. Costumes and boots in the yard. Others on the porch. If there’s room. Actually, let’s leave all the instruments in the room as we find them for when there’s the estate sale.”
“Makes sense.” Mickey picked up the box of boots. Tina followed with the moth-eaten costumes.
When they arrived back in the music room, Hank stood staring at a tiny white grand piano that had been hidden behind a box he’d pulled away from the wall to work on.
“Aw, how cute.” Tina bent down and opened the lid. “Well, look at this.” She pulled out an envelope with her name on it and waved it at Hank. “Should I open it?”
“Why not? I’ll call Lisbeth.”
Barry came into the room, rolling a cart with a large locked wooden box on top. “This was in the corner cupboard in the butler’s pantry. I imagine there’s silverware in here, but I can’t find a key. Maybe you found some in the office?”
“That looks heavy. We did find keys. Lots and lots of keys. Why don’t you take it into the office and see if one fits. We put them all in the roll-top desk, in the right top drawer.”
“Okay.”
Barry stayed a moment, looking around with interest. Tina carefully pulled the unsealed flap out of the envelope and removed a single piece of thick, ecru writing paper. She recognized Olivia’s handwriting. She read it to herself while Hank finished talking to Lisbeth. When he hung up, she read it aloud. “Be careful, Tina. The culprit could be standing right next to you.” She looked up at three shocked faces. Then the men looked at each other. Mickey laughed nervously. Barry appeared affronted. Hank had his inscrutable expression on again. And Tina shivered.
Tina refolded the paper and put it back into the envelope. “She liked to play games. There was no way she could know someone was going to kill her. But she was probably somewhat paranoid and suspected everyone might murder her at one point or another. I don’t put any stock in these notes and so-called clues. Do you?” She stared at Hank.
“No.”
Barry shrugged and left the room, pushing the cart.
“Did Lisbeth say when she’d get here?” Tina asked.
“Shortly. Meanwhile, let’s see what else we can find.”
“I’m going out for some fresh air.” Mickey stalked out the door.
“Wasn’t he supposed to stay with me at all times?” Tina asked.
“I don’t think he remembered that, but if he does, he’ll figure it’s okay because I’m with you.”
“But you’re now a suspect, as are Mickey and Barry.”
Hank laughed. “You’re right. Do I frighten you?”
Tina pretended to shiver. “No, but you do excite me.”
Hank laughed even louder and took a step toward her. Before he could reach her, Barry walked in. “I got the box open. You need to come see what I found.”
CHAPTER 42
Tina and Hank followed Barry to the office. “I closed the lid after I saw what was inside in case anyone came in.”
“What?” Tina asked.
Lisbeth and John, trailed by Mickey, entered the room, John looking as sour as ever, Lisbeth resigned. “I thought you were working in the music room,” Lisbeth said.
“We were, but Barry found this locked box. He just located the key and said we needed to see what was inside.”
“It looks like a silver chest.” Lisbeth took a step closer. “So, let me guess, Barry. It’s full of silver.” She sounded tired.
“Nope. The liner for the silver was taken out, and here’s what’s inside now.” Barry opened the top, and there were gasps while everyone gaped at the jumble of jewels sparkling in the sunlight from the open window.
“You think they’re real?” Tina whispered. She reached out, wanting to touch them, but quickly drew her hand back.
“They look real to me,” Barry said.
“Well.” Lisbeth came closer to the box, pulled a pair of latex gloves from her pocket, put them on, and picked up a diamond. “Of course, we’ll have to get them appraised by an expert.” She moved the diamond around so the light could catch it. Then, slowly, she put the gem back into the box and closed the lid. The key was in the lock. She turned it and pocketed the key. Removing her gloves, she said, “This changes things. Where did you find these, Barry?”
“In the butler’s pantry.”
“And Tina, you found the note where?”
“In the music room.”
“Who else is still here, and where are they working?”
Hank listed the officers. “They’re either in the attic or basement.”
“Okay,” Lisbeth said. “They can stay. The rest of you have to leave. I’m calling in forensics, and they’ll do a thorough search of the music room and the pantry. Let me see the note, Tina.”
Tina handed it to her, stunned by the turn of events. “But it was in Mrs. Blackwell’s will that I do the clean-up.”
“Doesn’t matter now.” Lisbeth turned toward to door.
They all followed Lisbeth to the hallway. “Should I leave the box here?” Barry asked.
“Yes. Show me where you found it.”
The pantry was a long, narrow space filled with glass-fronted cabinets over counters on each side. In one corner, Barry opened the door to a narrow closet. “It was in here.” Upper shelves were crammed with stuff, but the bottom was empty where the cart had been.
Lisbeth stood reading the note. Finished, she folded it and put it back into the envelope. She looked around at everyone crowded into the space. “Who was with you when you read the note?” she asked Tina.
“Hank, Mickey, and Barry.”
“You read it out loud?”
“Yes.” Tina wondered why Lisbeth wanted to know. She looked at the three men. And shivered again. Then chided herself for being a fool. Mrs. Blackwell wouldn’t know who was going to be near Tina when she opened the note. Just a nutty old woman, as Mickey had pointed out.
“Okay.” Lisbeth waved her hand at the doorway. “Everyone move.” She led the way to the front hall. “John, call forensics. We need to get going on this. Do that in the office, and stand guard over the jewels until they get here. I’ll send someone to give you a ride back to the station with the jewels. Mickey and Barry, I want you to report in and write thorough reports about what happened here today. Tina, you may go home.”
Tina felt as if everything was happening too quickly. She noticed Lisbeth didn’t tell Hank what to do. “Will you come with me?” she asked him, her voice low.
“Yes. Let’s go.”
They said good-bye and left the house. Tina took in big gulps of fresh air as they walked down the cracked sidewalk, a few late autumn leaves crackling under their feet. “You think those jewels are real?” Tina asked.
“Yes. And not hidden very cleverly.”
“But if anyone knew about them, they’d probably not think to look in the silver chest. They’d think there was just silver in there.”
“Huh. Maybe you’re right. Olivia was certainly smarter than a lot of people gave her credit for.”
“Yes. Two questions. Where did she get all those gemstones? I didn’t see any that were set. And why would she want them? I just can’t picture her going into the pantry, opening that chest, and running her hands through them, cackling. Or maybe I can.”
“I suspect they were stolen.”
“What?” Tina stopped abrup
tly and stared at Hank. “But… but she was rich. She didn’t need to steal anything.”
“Oh, I don’t think she stole them. I suspect her husband may have, though.”
“You’ve looked him up, researched him.”
“Yes.” Hank had stopped with her, but now they continued walking toward her house. They reached the front steps, and he took her hand as they climbed them.
“Same argument,” she said. “He was rich. He didn’t need to steal anything.”
“The rich are some of the biggest thieves there are. They always need more money. He and Olivia lived extravagant lives, traveling. Buying stuff.”
He opened the door, and they stepped inside. Tina listened for sounds from the kitchen, but didn’t hear anything.
“You know, your mother shouldn’t leave the front door unlocked. Especially now.”
Tina stared at him. “You’re right. I’ll tell her that. She’s probably distracted. Actually, I wonder why it was unlocked. Someone must have come to the door. We all generally leave out the side door from the kitchen unless going for a walk.”
Uncle Bob came down the stairs, Princess beside him. “You’re home early,” he said when they reached the bottom. “What’s going on?”
Tina studied him. He didn’t look any better than he had the last time she’d seen him. She made sure she faced him and said, “It’s a long story. We found some stuff at Olivia’s, and Lisbeth decided that a search team needs to look at everything now.” She sighed. “They’ll probably make a bigger mess than is already there.”
Hank laughed. “Yes. You can charge the estate for more of your time.”
“I’m not doing it for the money,” she snapped at him.
He put his hand on her shoulder. “I know that. I was trying to be funny.”
“Funny Hank.” She relaxed and said to Uncle Bob, “Let’s go sit in the living room, and I’ll tell you all about it. Are you okay? You don’t look too good.”
“I’m fine.” Uncle Bob turned away before she could reply and went into the living room. He sat down in his usual chair, Princess at his feet. She stayed alert until everyone was seated, then lay down.
Buried Under Clutter (Tina Tales Mysteries Book 2) Page 17