Greed with Envy (Garden Girls Christian Cozy Mystery Series Book 15)

by Hope Callaghan

  “I’m sorry,” Liz apologized. “I didn’t mean it.”

  “Don Hansen died,” Gloria said.

  “Don Hansen…you mean Margaret’s husband?” Liz set the rest of her uneaten donut on her napkin. “She’s probably set to come into some serious ka-ching. Maybe she’ll loan me some money.”

  Gloria reached over to pop her sister in the arm again but Liz was too quick and she jerked back, out of her sister’s reach.

  “I was kidding,” Liz said. “What happened?”

  Gloria briefly explained the situation. “Chad is in town to help his mother so hopefully they get the financial mess straightened out today.”

  “I feel so bad for Margaret,” Liz said. “What a terrible situation and to be questioned by the police. Surely they don’t think Margaret had anything to do with Don’s death.”

  Liz polished off the rest of her donut and stood. “I have one more suitcase to bring in.”

  Gloria waited until Liz had reached her car before turning to her husband. “I say we let Liz have the house and we move into a motel.”

  “She could stay at my farm,” Paul offered. “It’s empty now that Allie moved out.”

  “No.” Gloria shook her head. “No way. I hate to say that I don’t trust her, but I don’t trust her not to trash your place.”

  Paul grabbed the carafe of coffee and refilled his wife’s empty cup before filling his own. “Are you going to help Liz track down the golf pro?”

  “Yes, and the sooner the better,” Gloria said. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and there’s still some money left we can recoup.”

  After Liz unpacked, they ate a light breakfast.

  Paul stood. “I better get going. I’m starting the security detail job today over at the art museum.”

  The local Green Springs Art Museum was receiving a shipment of valuable exhibit items from the ill-fated Titanic. The exhibit was a feather in the museum’s cap and the museum’s curator had lined up 24-hour security for the exhibit’s ten-day event.

  The exhibit would be moving to the larger Grand Rapids Art Museum after leaving Green Springs.

  Gloria passed Liz on the porch as she walked Paul to his car. “I’ll be home for dinner.” He hugged and kissed his wife before opening the door and sliding behind the wheel.

  He nodded his head toward the house. “Good luck.”

  “Thanks. I’ll need it.” Gloria wandered back inside. Liz was nowhere in sight although Gloria could hear her humming from the back of the house.

  Mally trotted into the kitchen. Tied to each of her ears were bright red bows. “What in the world?”

  Liz followed Mally into the kitchen. “I bought some velvet bows for Fifi, Martin’s poodle, but never got to give them to her.” Her lower lip began to quiver.

  “Fifi?” Gloria had her doubts Martin even owned a dog. She’d already formed an opinion of the man who took her sister’s money and it wasn’t a pleasant one.

  The quivering lip vanished. “So when can we start hunting for Martin?”

  “Now.” The sooner the better. Gloria grabbed a pad of paper and pen from her desk and joined Liz in the kitchen. “Tell me everything you know about Martin, if that’s even his real name.”

  “Oh, it is,” Liz said. “I’ve seen his driver’s license.”

  “What if his license is a fake?” Gloria asked.

  Liz blinked rapidly. “I hadn’t thought of that, but I’m pretty sure that’s his name. Martin Heemingstar.” She spelled it out.

  “It’s a unique name,” Gloria said. “If that’s his real name it will make our job easier.”

  “And if he’s in Poughkeepsie,” Liz added. “He’s around 6’1” tall, blonde hair, a little on the shaggy side. He has a goatee and bright blue eyes. He has an amazing tan from spending all his time outside and he’s very muscular from swinging golf clubs all day.”

  Gloria jotted some notes. “Age?”

  “He’s thirty-nine but looks younger.”

  Gloria dropped the pen. “Liz! I was only kidding about the gigolo thing but I take it back. You’re robbing the cradle.”

  Liz squirmed in her chair. “I didn’t mean to. He was teaching me how to improve both my golf and tennis swing and one thing led to another.”

  “I bet it did.” Gloria shook her head. “You said he told you he was heading to Poughkeepsie to visit his dying mother?”

  “Yep. He called me right after he got there to tell me he made it safely. I haven’t heard from him since.”

  Gloria tapped the end of the pen on top of the table. “Did he ask you to send more money?”

  “Yes.” Liz’s look of discomfort grew. “I told him I didn’t have any and that’s the last time I heard from him.”

  “Do you know where he lives in Florida?”

  “Yes. We spent all of our time at my place. We drove by his apartment once and I wanted to stop to, you know, check it out, but he said it was a mess and he would be embarrassed to show it to me.”

  “So you have no idea where he lives.”

  “I guess not,” Liz admitted in a small voice. “The more we talk, the more foolish I look, like I’ve been taken.”

  “It happens all the time,” Gloria said. “Unfortunately, this might be a very expensive lesson for you.” She sucked in a deep breath. “Let’s start with online searches. We can also call Royal Palm Plantation to see if they can provide any useful information.”

  “I already tried that,” Liz said. “They said it’s against company policy to tell me anything.”

  “My guess is if Martin Heemingstar is his real name and he hightailed it to Poughkeepsie, he’s going to run out of money and will have to start looking for a job.”

  Liz finished Gloria’s sentence. “At a local golf course. The swankier the better.”

  “Yep.” Gloria’s cell phone began to ring. It was Lucy.

  “Hey Lucy.”

  “Hi Gloria. I’m sorry to bother you but we have a 911 crisis involving Margaret. Ruth is at work so we’re having an emergency meeting behind the post office.”

  Chapter 11

  Gloria’s heart sank. She had a feeling whatever it was had to do with Margaret and Don’s retirement and bank accounts. “I’ll…” She glanced at Liz across the table. “We’ll be right there.”

  She disconnected the call and dropped the phone in her purse. “We’re having an emergency Garden Girls meeting behind the post office. Do you want to go with me?”

  “Of course,” Liz popped out of her seat. “It will take my mind off my own problems.”

  The women hurried out of the house and Liz waited for Gloria to pull the car out of the garage before easing into the passenger seat. She reached for the seatbelt. “Won’t the girls be surprised to see me?”

  “They’ll be as shocked as I was,” Gloria muttered as she shifted into drive and swung Annabelle onto the road.

  By the time they reached the back of the post office, Margaret, Dot, Lucy, Ruth and Andrea were already huddled near the dumpster.

  “Liz?” Ruth stared at Liz. “What are you doing here?”

  “It’s a long story.” Gloria shifted her purse to her other arm. “Don’t you have to keep an eye on the post office?”

  “Kenny is covering for me but we have to hurry,” Ruth said. “He’s gotta head out for his route soon.” She turned to Margaret. “What happened?”

  Margaret cleared her throat. “Chad and I got up first thing this morning and drove to the bank to straighten out the bank accounts. We also had two of our IRA’s at the bank so I figured I could take care of all three issues in person.”

  She continued. “When we got there, George, the bank’s vice president and a personal friend of Don’s called us into his office and shut the door. I knew right then something was terribly wrong.”

  Margaret stared at her folded hands as she fought to maintain her composure. Gloria patted her shoulder. “Take your time.”

  “It’s gone.” Margaret looked up, her eyes brimmi
ng with unshed tears.

  “What’s gone?” Lucy asked.

  “All of the money in our retirement accounts. It appears Don forged my signature on my retirement accounts and cleaned them out.” Margaret fumbled with her purse latch, reached inside and pulled out a sheet of paper. She handed it to Gloria.

  “There’s a couple hundred bucks in the retirement account. The savings account has less than fifty bucks.”

  She continued. “If not for the money from the coins Don couldn’t get his hands on, I’d be flat busted broke.”

  Gloria slipped her reading glasses on and studied the paper. “On Friday, June 12th there was a withdrawal. There was another one exactly two weeks later and a third one exactly three weeks later.” She handed the paper to Margaret. “He did all this in the last few months.”

  “I’m shocked,” Dot said.

  “Me too,” Ruth agreed. “What did he do with all the money?”

  “I wish I knew.” Margaret’s hand trembled as she folded the piece of paper. “George swore up and down he had no idea, although he was able to give Chad and me one clue.”

  “What clue?” Andrea asked.

  “When Don took out the money, he mentioned something about a big investment deal with one of the guys at the country club. Don told George he was going to double the money.”

  “Did George question Don if you were on board with the investment deal?” Gloria had a hard time believing the bank’s vice president would let him walk away with that much cash without questioning it. Of course, the fact they were friends and the man had replaced Don may have swayed his decision, causing him to do something he wouldn’t normally do.

  “According to George he tried, but Don cut him off,” Margaret said.

  Gloria began to pace. “Perhaps the deal went bad. Don realized he’d lost all the money. He and the ‘business partner’ had a falling out at the country club which is where Don had his heart attack.”

  “If I lost that kind of money, I’d have a heart attack too,” Liz said.

  Gloria abruptly stopped. “You’re in no position to judge,” her sister reminded her.

  Liz shrugged and began studying her fingernails. “Touché.”

  “Chad and you should confront the person, if you know who it is,” Ruth said.

  “We tried. We went from the bank to the country club to see if we could find anyone who knew what was going on. We found a couple of the other senior members. Although they seemed genuinely sorry to hear of Don’s passing, they swore up and down they knew nothing about a business deal and couldn’t even remember who all was involved in the incident on the golf course.”

  “Chad was able to squeeze out a name, though,” Margaret said. “Ed Shields was one of them. Don and he were golfing partners. He was some hot shot private investor guru.”

  She went on to tell the group how Chad had tracked down Ed Shields and attempted to talk to him. He’d hung up on her son when he found out who he was.

  Margaret shoved the paper into her purse. “Phil Holt, one of the owners of the golf club, told me he didn’t want to talk, said it was bad for business and Don’s death had nothing to do with Montbay Hills Golf & Country Club.”

  “In other words, don’t start snooping around,” Gloria said.

  “Yeah. That’s the impression Chad and I got. I have a feeling there’s more to the story, something they’re trying to cover up but I don’t know how to prove it.”

  Liz, who had been silent, spoke. “I have an idea. What if Gloria and I go over there, do a little intel and see what we can find out?”

  Margaret shook her head. “It’s a member’s-only golf club. You have to jump through hoops just to step foot on the property.”

  “Oh, there’s a way around it.” Liz turned to her sister. “My connections at Royal Palms Plantation Country Club might actually come in handy.”

  Margaret, familiar with all of the top country clubs in the United States, lifted a brow. “You know someone at Royal Palms?”

  “You could say that,” Liz said. “Leave it to me. I’ll have a trial membership by tomorrow morning.”

  “What about us?” Lucy asked.

  “Once I have the trial membership, I can invite guests to join me in the clubhouse, on the golf course or on the tennis courts,” Liz said.

  “I haven’t played tennis in years,” Gloria said.

  Liz patted her sister’s back. “You’re never too old to pick it up again. If I didn’t get anything else out of my relationship with Martin, I did learn to play a decent game of tennis and golf. We’ll be on the tennis courts by noon tomorrow, guaranteed or you can throw me out of your house.”

  “Don’t tempt me,” Gloria joked. Her expression grew serious as she turned to Margaret. “Have you started working on the funeral arrangements?”

  Margaret nodded somberly. “Yes. Chad and I discussed it last night. It will be Thursday at 2:00 p.m. at Rolling Hills Funeral Home in Green Springs. I decided against a visitation. I just can’t handle it.”

  “I better go.” Margaret glanced at her watch. “Chad and I want to visit the cemetery to take a look at the family plot.”

  Margaret shuffled to her SUV and climbed in. Gloria’s heart broke for her friend. Not only was she having to bury her husband, she was discovering he may have squandered their life savings and on top of all that, the police still hadn’t cleared her name.

  “Poor Margaret. If we can’t get her money back, maybe we can at least clear her name and give her some closure on what exactly happened to Don. Something isn’t adding up and I think at least one person at the country club knows something,” Gloria said.

  “I agree,” Ruth said. “I’ll keep my eyes and ears open here at the post office. Don’s death has been the talk of the town all morning.”

  Liz turned to Andrea. “I’m sorry I missed your wedding. I bet you were a beautiful bride.”

  “She was,” Gloria said. “I’m glad Brian and she decided to hold a ceremony and reception here in Belhaven. Niagara Falls ain’t got nothin’ on an old fashioned small town wedding.”

  “You got married in Niagara Falls?” Liz perked up. “You didn’t happen to swing by Poughkeepsie, New York while you were there, did you?”

  Gloria snorted. “We’ll deal with your dilemma just as soon as we help Margaret.”

  “I know you will,” Liz said. “I’m not leaving town until you do.”

  Chapter 12

  Gloria was chomping at the bit to do something to help poor Margaret and the next couple of days dragged by. She was also dreading Don’s funeral.

  Surprisingly enough, Liz wasn’t in Gloria’s hair. She was content to head out during the day, visiting friends who still lived in the nearby Dreamwood Retirement Community.

  Gloria suspected her sister was up to something else, but she was being secretive with her telephone conversations and whenever Gloria caught her on the internet, she quickly closed out of whatever she was doing so her sister couldn’t see.

  Gloria offered to help Liz track down Martin but Liz had a sudden change of heart and didn’t seem interested any longer. She even went as far as to assure Gloria she would be leaving to return to Florida soon even if she wasn’t able to track down Martin or her money.

  When pressed, Liz finally confessed the rental was only for a month, which struck terror into Gloria’s heart. A month of living with Liz was the same as a lifetime of living with Liz.

  Paul didn’t seem to mind either way. Of course, he was gone all day and the only time he saw Liz was in the evening and sometimes not even then if Liz was out running the roads.

  Gloria talked to Margaret several times and it appeared the investigation into Don’s death had stalled. Detective Givens was keeping the investigation open and the only thing he would tell Margaret was they were still following up on several leads.

  Detective Givens was new to the local police force and Paul didn’t know him so he wasn’t able to get insider updates on the status. Gloria thought
about calling Allie, Paul’s daughter, who worked as a dispatcher at the Montbay County Sheriff Department but decided against it.

  She would save calling on Allie for when she was in a real pinch for information. Gloria still hadn’t started digging around into Don’s suspicious death, partly because Margaret had her hands full with the funeral arrangements and finances and she didn’t want to stick her nose in where it didn’t belong.

  In other words, there might be nothing to investigate. Don could have decided to swallow a bunch of pills to end his life and just to make sure he followed through, decided to start his car and sit inside his garage with it running after he passed out.

  Gloria had started canning tomatoes from her garden and gingerly set the last jar on the kitchen towel when Liz breezed in, waving a piece of paper. “I’ve got it.”

  “Got what?”

  “The invitation for trial membership at Montbay Hills,” Liz said. “I had to pull a few strings at Royal Palms and Dreamwood’s public golf course, but I finally got it.”

  “I need to talk to Margaret to see if she wants us snooping around,” Gloria said. “The funeral is this afternoon.”

  Paul planned to work half a day at the museum and return home so he and Gloria could attend the funeral together.

  “I almost forgot,” Liz said. “Well, regardless, I’d like to check out the tennis courts, plus I need to practice my tennis swing.” She clasped her hands and made a swinging motion. “You can go with me.”

  “I told you I haven’t played tennis in years.”

  “It’s like riding a bike. You’ll pick it up fast.”

  “I suppose…” Liz had a point. If Paul and she decided to head south for the winters, she might like to take up tennis or even golf. They seemed to be among the more popular sports for retirees. “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt.”

  Paul arrived right on time and after eating a quick lunch, he changed into his suit. Gloria slipped into a navy blue dress she’d recently purchased. Liz strolled into the kitchen wearing a bright cornflower-colored dress and sparkly purple pumps.