“Did you advise him not to do that?”
Lew squinted at me. “Of course I did. But Victor wasn’t one to listen after he made his mind up on what he wanted to do. Also, usually someone will not put all of their money and possessions in a trust to sustain a pet for the rest of its life. I advised Victor not to do that as well, but he insisted in putting everything in a trust to the dog. There is no way two million dollars could be spent on a dog’s care.”
“I don’t know. Look at all those Hollywood socialites buying their puppies designer outfits and jewels.”
Lew gave me a look. “If Tess had lived, she would have received all the remainder of the trust because she was named the sole beneficiary.”
“To use however she pleased? She didn’t have a list of instructions she had to follow as the beneficiary?”
“Beneficiaries don’t work that way. Only trustees do. After Zach’s death, the money would no longer be in a trust.”
I thought for a minute. “No other beneficiaries were named?”
He shook his head. “Because no one was named as a secondary beneficiary, all the heirs have a chance to make a grab for the money.”
“Who are the potential heirs?”
“Tess’s siblings, Debra and Sam, and her son, Derek, to some extent.
“Ultimately, it sounds to me like Victor wanted Tess to have the money. If that was the case, why didn’t he leave some of it to her right off?”
“I don’t know, and any time I would question him about it, which admittedly wasn’t often, he wouldn’t answer. Victor wasn’t the easiest man in the world to get along with, and he was adamant this was what he wanted to do with this money.”
“Was he crazy? Senile? Loony tunes?”
He pulled at his red beard. “I get what you mean. And no, I got the sense Victor, even in his advanced age, knew exactly what he was doing. He was doing what he wanted to do, and nobody, but nobody, was going to be able to change his mind.”
I thought for a minute. “So what are you telling me about Zach?”
“You might have a house guest for a long while.”
I grimaced. “My parents might, you mean.” I stood. “I need to get back to work.”
Lew picked up his hoagie. “This isn’t the last I’m going to hear from you about this dog, is it?”
“Nope,” I said and showed myself out, giving nervous Myrna a finger wave as I passed her desk.
On the way back to the library, I called my dad. “Do you mind keeping Zach for a little while longer?”
“Why? Is something wrong?”
“No more than usual. Lew’s having hard time finding a kennel for Zach.”
“It’s no trouble at all to keep him here until everything is settled.”
I heard a woofed agreement in the background. Dad laughed. “We were just at the farmers’ market picking up a few things for dinner before your mother gets home from church.”
I suspected Mom wouldn’t agree with Zach’s living arrangements, but I took Dad’s word for it. “Can you tell Mom for me? About Zach?”
“Sure, but she’s not going to like it.” There was a smile in his voice.
With Zach’s housing settled for the time being, I entered the library determined to put Tess and Jerry’s murders behind me. The police had a very good suspect in jail. Celeste had means, motive, and opportunity. No wonder Mains arrested her. If I was so confident Mains and his cronies had the right person in lockup, why did I have to keep repeating it to myself? And why couldn’t I get Celeste’s face out of my head?
Chapter Thirty-Five
For the next two days, I did what I promised myself: I put Tess, Jerry, Celeste, and the murders behind me. The only reminders were the news coverage in the local section of the Akron newspaper and the grateful look on Derek’s face when I arrived at the library each day.
The following Thursday was Halloween. Lasha was pro-holidays and encouraged (i.e., threatened) the library staff to participate. On Halloween, a costume was a requirement. Lasha felt it made us more relatable to the students. I thought it made us larger targets for ridicule, but what did I know?
As I walked across campus to the library, I noticed many of the students were in costume. Superheroes, witches, mummies, zombies, and sexy cats were all present and accounted for.
When I stepped into our office, Bobby was already at his desk. He was wearing a designer suit and his hair was slicked back. “Are you supposed to be a waiter?”
His eyes narrowed. “For your information, I’m an international spy.” He looked me up and down. “I’d hoped you’d be more creative this year.”
“What’s wrong with my costume?” I looked down at my gypsy outfit of a gaudy wrapped skirt, peasant blouse, bangles, and beaded necklace, all of which I’d found in my mother’s closet. I completed the look with red lips and a scarf tied around my head. This was my fourth consecutive year of wearing it. Sadly, I gave the clothes back to mother every year because the pieces were staples in her wardrobe. Not as an everyday ensemble. At least I didn’t think so.
“You could have worn the frontier girl number Carmen gave you.”
“I hope to never see that dress again. And how is an international spy creative? All you did is put on a suit.”
“Did you even see what I did to my hair? It took a lot of product to get this effect.”
I rolled my eyes, but I felt relieved Bobby was joking with me after the heated Erin conversation.
“I’m glad you stopped up here before I have to go down to the reference desk.”
“Because?” I arched an eyebrow. It seemed to me Bobby was on the cusp of asking for a favor, which usually involved me picking up one or more of his library tours.
“It’s about Erin. I just want you to know you’re right. I talked to her.” He grimaced. “She misunderstood our friendship. I won’t be spending time with her outside of the library anymore.”
I winced. Erin was a good kid, and I would be sad to see her go when she graduated in the spring. I didn’t want her hurt, but in this case, it was unavoidable. “Was she upset?”
“She called me some words I didn’t know. I need to brush up on my insults.”
“I’m sorry, Bobby. Do you want me to talk to her?”
He shook his head. “Let her cool off for a few days. She’ll get over it soon enough. At least, I hope so. I feel responsible.”
“You are.”
“Gee, thanks.” He paused. “Talking to Erin was something I needed to do. I just didn’t know it. Thanks for telling me to do it.”
My jaw dropped. A Bobby thank you was so rare. Before I could say anything, he stood.
“I need to get downstairs,” he said as he left the office.
Bobby was downstairs at the reference desk, which meant I had the office to myself for most of the morning. I was updating the library’s website when there was a knock on the opened door. I looked up, half-expecting to find Bobby there to retract this gratitude, but instead found Jendy. Her purple hair stood on end, and she wore a miniskirt with leggings under her black leather jacket. The outfit was a long cry from the mobcap and gingham dress she’d worn during the festival.
“Can I come in?”
I nodded. She sat in Bobby’s desk chair and picked up the paperback romance Bobby had left on his desk. It had a picture of a burly shirtless man and a voluptuous woman staring off into the distance. She made a face. “The lady you work with reads these?”
“It’s a guy, and yeah, he does. You met him at the festival. Remember Bobby?”
Jendy curled her lip and shrugged. “Whatever works for you, I guess.”
Looks like I nipped that infatuation in the bud, I thought happily.
“Nice outfit.”
I thanked her even though I wasn’t sure her comment was meant to be a compliment.
Silence fell on the room. “Jendy, did you have something to talk to me about?”
“I know O.M. Blocken.”
I felt myself
go still. O.M. was the sister of my friend who was murdered last summer. It was a summer I’d tried to forget.
“She’s a few years younger than me, still in high school.” She made a face again. “But she’s cool. We have mutual friends. Anyway, I told her about what happened with Celeste, and your name came up. She said I should talk to you, that you could help Celeste.”
“I don’t know what I can do for Celeste now.”
“You came into Beth’s store a couple of days ago and offered help then.”
I sighed.
“I know she didn’t do it. Celeste wouldn’t hurt anyone.”
“She still cared about Jerry, and Tess was in the way.”
“Tess and Jerry were married for three years. Wouldn’t you think she’d have done something before now if she was so upset about it?”
She had a point.
“Do you have any proof she’s innocent? Does she have an alibi for either night?”
Jendy drooped. “You sound like the stupid lawyer Beth found. If she had an alibi, do you think she’d be under arrest?”
“Is she still in jail?”
“No, she’s out on bail now. You should go talk to her. She’s at her house.”
“How do you know she’ll talk to me?”
“I’ll go with you.”
“Why do you think I will help you?”
“Because O.M. said you would.”
Her tone was matter-of-fact, and she was right. “What’s her address?” I asked.
Jendy told me, and we agreed to meet at five-thirty outside Celeste’s house.
After work, I stopped at home to change out of my gypsy outfit and into my version of suburban chic—a hoodie and jeans—instead of driving directly to see Celeste. Even with the stop, I beat Jendy there. I parked on the curb in front of Celeste’s home. The house was a small Cape Cod with bright blue shutters. From the awning, a mobile of glass beads tinkled in the cool October breeze. Up and down the street, porch lights flickered on to tell the trick-or-treaters which houses had candy. The beggars would be hitting the neighborhood at six and would continue until eight.
Across the street a mother lined up her three children, all in their Halloween best for the obligatory photographs. An engine wheezed down the street. I looked behind me and saw Jendy ride up on a motorized scooter. “Sorry I’m late,” she said. “I had to kick-start my ride.”
I could see why. The vintage scooter looked as if it could fall to pieces with the slightest impact.
Jendy led the way up the walk. She rang the doorbell, but when there was no answer, she produced a key from her pocket. “Beth had one and gave it to me when I said I’d check on Celeste after work.” We stepped inside. The house was dark. A nightlight was the only lighting in the small living room. The blinds were closed and shades were pulled over them for good measure. When my eyes adjusted, I made out the sofa and a lumpy form on it.
Jendy stepped into the room and turned on a table lamp. The form, someone, I assumed Celeste, moved under a blue fuzzy blanket. “Celeste, it’s Jendy, and I brought India with me.”
Celeste peeked out from behind her blanket. Her dark blue eyes were red and puffy. A half-empty tissue box and a mountain of used tissues sat beside her on the sofa. She sniffed. “Why?”
Jendy sat on an ottoman, and I perched on a flowered armchair that matched the sofa.
“Because she can help you. She can find out who really committed those murders.”
I stiffened. Jendy was making promises I might not be able to keep.
Celeste blinked. “How? She’s a librarian.”
Jendy told her how I’d helped find the murderer of O.M.’s sister last summer. It was the first time I’d heard the story from someone else’s mouth but that didn’t make it any less painful to remember.
Celeste pulled the blanket securely under chin. “I don’t know how that will help me.”
“I don’t know how it can either, Celeste, truly, but Jendy asked me to come here and I have,” I said.
She lowered the blanket a half inch.
“Who do you think killed Tess and Jerry?” I asked.
“I don’t know. I don’t know why anyone would kill either of them, especially Jerry.”
“You can’t think of anyone.”
“I knew Jerry was angry with Tess’s family over her uncle’s will.”
“Did Jerry talk to you about the will?” I asked, a little surprised. I’d gotten the impression from the outburst between Celeste and Jerry a few days ago that most conversations between the two were one-sided.
She shook her head. “They were in the co-op one day and arguing about it. My studio’s not far from Tess’s in the barn.”
“Do you remember what they said?”
“Tess was saying she wanted to give away part of the money. I didn’t know until later she meant to give a portion of the money to the co-op. Jerry was trying to convince her not to.”
“Did she say why she wanted to give the money away?”
Celeste reached for a fresh tissue and blew her nose. “Tess said she didn’t know why Victor left her in charge of the trust and felt she had to do something good with the money.”
Jendy whistled. “She was given two million dollars just for the heck of it. I wouldn’t mind having an uncle like that. The only uncle I have has a beer belly and runs a bait shop.”
“Did you overhear anything else?” I asked.
“Tess said she was searching her uncle’s things to see if she could find out. I think she felt bad that her brother and sister were essentially written out of the will. That or she felt bad that they were giving her such a hard time about it. Maybe if she knew Victor’s reasons for the decision, she’d feel better about it and her brother and sister would, too.”
Knowing Lepcheck, I doubted that.
“Did she ever find anything?”
Celeste shrugged. “That was the last I heard of it.”
Jendy leaned forward. “Do you think that’s why she was killed?”
“I don’t know,” I said.
I stayed for a few minutes longer before making my excuses. Jendy stayed behind to microwave Celeste a cup of soup. I was surprised nineteen-year-old Jendy would spend Halloween night in with Celeste instead of out with her friends. She was what Ina called “a good egg.”
As I pulled into my driveway, Templeton’s black figure sat in my kitchen window for the whole street to see, as if he knew this was his night to shine. Ina was on the white resin chair on her front porch. A large plastic bowl of candy sat on her lap. Theodore, my brother’s cat and Ina’s ward, sat at her feet. He wore a pirate hat and a black patch over his left eye. He didn’t move and his other eye was closed, so I assumed he was sleeping as a form of self-preservation. At least Ina hadn’t put a peg leg on the poor creature as her original plan included.
Chapter Thirty-Six
After the quick stop at home to grab my own bowl of candy, I drove to my sister’s house. Carmen and Chip lived in a Dutch colonial house just three blocks away from me. As it would be Poppy and Lilly’s first Halloween, Carmen invited the family over to see the girls and Nicholas in their costumes.
My dad’s van was in the driveway when I pulled in. Nicholas was on the front porch. He wore a policeman’s uniform.
“Hello, Officer Tuchelli,” I said.
He giggled and patted the holstered toy gun on his hip. “Daddy’s taking me trick-or-treating.”
“That sounds fun.”
He nodded. “We are going to where the rich people live so we can get the king-size bars.” He held a finger to his mouth. “Shh, Mom’s not supposed to know. She thinks we are staying in our neighborhood.”
“Your secret’s safe with me.” I stepped into the house.
Nicholas skirted around my legs and pulled his gun on his grandmother. “Stick ’em up!”
“Carmen, how can you a let a child have a gun?” Mom asked. My mother was a black cat for the holiday. She had a black nose and white
whiskers painted on her face and a headband of cat ears on her head.
“First of all, it’s a toy, and second of all, his father gave it to him.” Carmen scowled at her husband as she adjusted the girls’ costumes. Chip, in fireman garb, slunk out of the room. He was a pretty smart guy.
I paused to take in the twins’ adorableness. Poppy was dressed as a peapod, and Lilly was dressed as a carrot. I also noted Zach was dozing on Carmen’s hearth as if he belonged there. He was even in costume in the form of a superhero cape.
Nicholas saw me looking at the girls. “Peas and carrots. Mom said it’s cute. I don’t get it.”
“Not much to get,” I said. “But it’s most definitely cute. You’re cute, too.”
“Eww. Policemen can’t be cute!”
“Oh, yes, they can.” I tickled him.
He chortled. “Don’t make me throw you into the big house!”
Carmen arched an eyebrow at our mother. “I wonder where he’d have learned that phrase.”
Dad, who was dressed as a farmer in bib overalls, a red bandana around his throat, and blacked out teeth, reached over the arm of the couch to wiggle Lilly’s ear. She smiled. “Please, let’s not fight.” He picked Lilly up and deposited her on his lap. Rolling the wheelchair a little closer, he plucked Poppy from the couch and plopped her down beside her sister.
Nicholas left the room. Maybe he and Chip were going to work on a map of the best houses to hit in Stripling.
Mom looked around frantically. “Where’s the camera? Aren’t they darling?” She found her digital camera and started clicking pictures of Dad and the girls.
Carmen turned to me. “Where’s your costume? I told you to wear a costume.”
Carmen was dressed in an adult-sized onesie. Her bobbed hair was separated into two pigtails, and a dusting of freckles was drawn on her face with eyebrow pencil.
Murder in a Basket (An India Hayes Mystery) Page 20