Dangerous Inheritance

by Shirley E. Watson

  Alice carried out two cups and a plate of cookies. “Lucky we had some of these chocolate chips left.”

  Cassie leaned forward and sipped the tea. It was strong and sweet. She began to feel better. Alice was looking at her expectantly.

  “I don’t really know the details. Lee had this boyfriend who turned nasty on her and she moved out to get away from him. I thought we wouldn’t hear any more about him. But when she went up to school, there he was, lying dead.”

  “In the school?”

  “No, in the parking lot. The police naturally were wondering how she happened to be there. She did explain about it, so hopefully, they’ll find what happened to him.”

  “Nasty people don’t make that many friends,” Alice said, munching a cookie. “I’ll bet he had a few enemies.”

  “Let’s hope so,” Cassie said. “I mean, I hope it was one of them and the police find them. Oh, I hope they don’t suspect my sister of anything. That would be terrible.” She added, “It certainly was strange that he was right there, though.”

  She pulled herself together enough to gather some reading material for her Dad. She was going down to see him this evening. She’d talk about the Assisted Living with him. She wanted to see if he would agree to go without any problem. If not, they would have to just take him there, she and Rob. She didn’t trust herself to be able to do it alone.

  On the way to her Dad’s house, she stopped and got pizza and soda. The evening was cool and it wouldn’t be long until colder weather came in. She hurried to keep the pizza warm.

  She entered the house and saw her father asleep in his chair again. She went into the kitchen and saw the light on the stove that indicated the oven was on. She looked inside. It was empty. She turned it off and got out a couple of plates.

  Carrying the pizza into the living room, she set it down on the coffee table near her father’s chair.

  “Dinner, Dad,” she said, and he opened his eyes.

  “That smells really good, Agnes.” (Agnes was her mother’s name.)

  Cassie put a piece of pizza on a plate and handed it to him.

  “Pepperoni, Dad. That’s your favorite, right?”

  “Is it? I’ll try it and see.” He took a bite. “That is good.”

  After dinner, she made coffee while he rinsed the plates and put them in the dishwasher. When they were sitting in the living room again, she asked him if he thought he would like to live where there was more company for him.

  “I don’t think I want anybody else to live here, Agnes.”

  She tried her best again to introduce the subject of moving. Maybe if she said it enough times, he’d get used to it? “Dad, remember I’m Cassie. I meant maybe you would like to live in a different place where you’d have people to talk to. And you’re getting a little forgetful. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

  “Why would I want to do that? You’re here and Lee and Cassie come here to see me.”

  Cassie thought it wouldn’t be easy. They’d have to just take him, she thought. It didn’t look like he was going to understand. His mind was getting confused. Just as she thought this, he suddenly looked like her old Dad again.

  “Cassie, I’m sorry I’m such a trouble to you. Maybe I should go somewhere that’s easier to take care of. What do you think?”

  “Dad, you’re no trouble. We’ll figure it out together.”

  The following day, she and Rob picked up her father and drove him to Golden Lifestyles, the nearby assisted living home they had chosen. Her father seemed to think this was a delightful outing and to enjoy the tour. He and Rob sat in the spacious living room and watched a pianist play Broadway melodies while she spoke with the director and signed papers. Fortunately, she already had power of attorney. Cassie could bring whatever he would like from home to put in her father’s room. She went back to her father and Rob and told her father that she and Rob would have to leave.

  Her father waved goodbye to them. “I’ll just stay and enjoy the rest of the concert.” Cassie kissed her father. “I’ll be back soon.” The director had told her they were experienced at easing clients in and not to worry.

  When they left, and got into the car, Cassie began to cry while Rob patted her back.

  “I felt so bad just leaving him there, Rob. My Dad!”

  “You couldn’t let him go on living in that house alone, Cass.”

  “I know. I couldn’t live with him myself. It’s really far for me to commute to work. Even if I moved in, he’d be alone all day. And it’s just getting too dangerous for him to do that. He needs someone to keep an eye on him. The director said the disease will progress.”

  “I’m sorry, Cass.”

  “I know, Rob. I appreciate your help so much.”

  “You don’t even have to ask, Cass. We go way back. Now let’s go home.”

  Cassie had been home for three hours, made herself a sandwich and soup and put in a load of laundry. Rob had left and Alice was out on a date. She’d just lifted the newspaper listing the TV offerings for that evening when the phone rang.

  She answered the phone and heard the voice of the Director of the Assisted Living Home.

  “Ms. Connor? I’m afraid we have a problem.”

  Cassie was standing in the lobby of Golden Lifestyles. She’d been tired before but now her body was pumped full of adrenaline. She’d driven fast all the way in the twilight and now it was dark out, and cool. “What do you mean he’s not here?”

  She was facing the Director who was rubbing her hands together, a gesture that was making Cassie nervous.

  “After you left, we escorted your father to his new quarters. He had a positive response to them. He told us we had a charming hotel. The aide suggested he take a rest before dinner and he thought that was a good idea. He lay down on the bed and and closed his eyes. The aide left.”

  “Yes, Dad does take a lot of naps. So what happened then?”

  The aide came back to show him where the dining room was, and he wasn’t in the room. We looked for him, thinking he was exploring around. Then when he didn’t turn up, we started to get worried. We searched the whole building. He wasn’t in it.”

  “But where did he go?” Cassie felt close to tears. “I brought him here so he would be safe!”

  “The aide who escorted your father is rather new. A good worker but he doesn’t know our facility well yet. We discovered that a door at the end of the corridor was unlocked. It should have been closed and the alarm set. It’s a new part of the building and we don’t have too many people there as yet. The aide should have checked to make sure it was all secure when he took your father to that wing.”

  “My father was an engineer. He’s clever with mechanical things. Or at least he was. She gave a muffled sob. It’s possible that he could just have let himself out.”

  “Well, we didn’t have time to go over all his records. We didn’t think he’d do this. I’m really sorry, Ms. Connor.”

  “Well, you should be. What are you going to do?”

  “We’ve already started looking for him. We’re doing the best we can to locate him. We have a large piece of property here, so he may be on the grounds somewhere, taking a walk. People do want to go out and wander around. Of course we don’t let them go alone.”

  “I just don’t know what to do, now.”

  “I would advise that you go home and wait for us to call you. We’ll work with the police and local authorities if we don’t find him ourselves. Please don’t worry.”

  “Not worry! I think I’m worrying more now than I was before. I’m going to stay at a local hotel tonight and check with you tomorrow.”

  “Very well. Just leave a number we can reach you at.”

  Cassie wearily drove along the highway until she saw the sign of a Holiday Inn. That’s as good as anything else, she thought. I can’t go any farther. And I can’t worry about anything until I find Dad.

  CHAPTER 15

  Derek lay in bed, with warm arms wrapped around him. He was a
lmost awake, but still in that comfortable state in between. He tried to roll over. “Honey,” he muttered, “Cal, move over.”

  Then he stiffened. What had he said? Cal? No, that was wrong. Cal was over, Cal was back in Texas. He loosened the arms and turned towards the girl sleeping beside him. He looked at Colleen and her eyes slowly opened and blinked at him. “What did you say?”

  Derek looked at her, really looked into those eyes. “Cal? Callie? Oh, my God, it is you. You’re Callie.” He jumped out of bed, grabbing the blanket to wrap around his naked body. He and Colleen had finally hooked up last night, after the performance. Derek had had a lot to drink as usual, and his head throbbed now. He put a hand to his hot brow and sank down on a chair.

  “I don’t get this. How can you be Callie? You don’t really look like Callie.”

  The young woman sat up, pulling the sheets around her.

  “Appearance can be changed, Derek. You know that.”

  “But how, why? Are you stalking me?”

  Colleen laughed. “Stalking you? Don’t flatter yourself, Derek, my love. I recognized you right away but you never recognized me. So I thought I’d wait and see how long it took you.”

  “What did you do to yourself?” He stared at her. It had been five years, but how much could a person change in that time?

  “Well, my hair was medium brown. I just darkened it. That makes my blue eyes stand out more, I guess. And I got a nose job.”

  Derek remembered the more prominent nose that Callie had, which was now that attractive Roman shape, the mousy, limp hair and chubby figure which had changed into glossy locks and a figure that made a man’s breath come faster.

  “And you must have - err - lost weight.”

  “Yes, I did. Forty pounds, actually.”

  “Wow. Cal, you’re a knockout now.”

  “Thanks, I think. I’m still the same person.”

  Derek smiled reminiscently.

  “Yeah, we had some good times together, Cal. By the way, did you change your name, too?”

  “Colleen is my real name. People called me Cal as a nickname. Here, I use Colleen.”

  “Yeah, I knew that, but I guess I forgot.”

  “I guess you did.”

  “So, how did you end up here, then?” Derek reached over to get his jeans which were on the floor in front of him, and pulled them on.

  “I met someone, Sean, you met him, of course. He had been on a job in Texas and he offered me a job traveling with the group. So I got to see a little of the country before we ended up here. Sean wanted to stay here until the men went back to Ireland and I stayed with him.”

  Derek recalled Sean, the tall red-headed guitar player. “So I guess you and Sean aren’t an item since we ended up here.” He gestured around at his bedroom.

  “Well, for a little while we were, but now we’re just friends and business colleagues. Sean formed another group and we’re doing OK. He likes to use musicians straight from Ireland. Makes a good advertising gimmick. Of course, things change. When they go back to Ireland, we have to rethink everything. As you already know, I did get a job teaching in Boston. I’ll probably do something more with that.

  “Good for you." He rubbed his eyes. " Wow, Cal, I’m still feeling woozy. Partly from the booze and partly from realizing who you are. Wow!”

  Colleen got out of bed and went into the bathroom. Derek sat with his head in his hands. He heard the water running and then she came out with a glass and an aspirin.

  “Here. You always did have bad hangovers.”

  He swallowed the aspirin and looked up at her. “I’m as predictable as that?”

  “Well, you said it, I didn’t. You like drinking, Derek. At least as long as I’ve known you.”

  He got up and rummaged in the closet for a shirt, found one and pulled it on. He said, a little huffily, “Well, that never bothered you.”

  She shrugged. “Well, I’ve got to go” She walked over to him and put her arms around his neck, kissing him lightly.

  He looked at her. “OK, I’ll see you later.” He walked her downstairs and to the door, looking after her for a while as she walked away. He drew in a breath of the crisp morning air and thought a walk down by the shore might help.

  By the time he’d made it to the beach, the briny air had helped to clear out his head. He walked along, kicking seaweed out of the way, watching the green waves roll in and break in small foamy crescents. No big surf here. It was protected from the Atlantic by an offshore island.

  It had shaken him that he hadn’t recognized Callie, or Colleen, as she called herself now. She had let him do the singing, while she played the fiddle, so he hadn’t had a chance to recognize her voice. Why hadn’t he paid more attention to her when they were together? Well, he knew the answer was that he had done a lot of drinking, even more than now. And Colleen had faded into the background among all the groupies who surrounded the band. Wine, women and song, he thought. The prelude to alcoholism. Hey, where did that thought come in? He wasn’t an alcoholic. Yet. The voice in the back of his head grew stronger. Look at Callie, she’s doing well. How about you?

  He tried to focus in on what he had come here for. What was it again? Oh, the contest was that he had to find his heart’s desire, and he’d made it a challenge to write a song that everyone would come to hear. So, he’d start tonight and write down a few notes. No sense in throwing away some more money. Even if it came from that guy who called himself his grandfather. Hey, especially if it came from him. He’d take the old bastard for every cent he could.

  Derek felt his appetite awakening, so by the time he had arrived back at the house, he actually felt quite hungry. He went around to the diner and ordered scrambled eggs and a tall glass of tomato juice. Coffee also, lots of it. He tried to think of what kind of music he would write, but nothing seemed to be coming. Or maybe too many things swirled in his brain with nothing he could grab onto. He would try to write something down later.

  The waitress came by. “Want anything else, hon?” When he shook his head no, she looked at him more closely. “Was that you I heard at the Gunk Hole last night? Singing? Sure looked like you if it wasn’t.”

  “Yeah, that was me. I was sitting in. Colleen made me get up with her.”

  “Oh, yes, lovely girl, Colleen. So pretty and such a beautiful voice.”

  “She didn’t sing last night. She let me take the stage.”

  “Yes, I missed her singing, but I enjoyed yours, hon. You really have a talent. Maybe you should do it professionally.”

  “Other people have told me that. Thanks.”

  The waitress walked away and Derek wondered if people were taking him for an amateur who was good enough to attempt a song but not really good enough to be someone who belonged on the stage. The thought made him feel depressed. He looked out the window and watched the traffic passing by on the Main Street. It was a fairly busy little town, even in this off season. Of course, a lot of these were the people touring around to see the changing leaves and visit craft festivals in New England. Even off the beaten track, people would find you. Now all he needed was to have something worth finding himself.

  He was at a loose end after finishing the breakfast. It occurred to him that he might call his cousins and see how they were doing. This would never have crossed his mind before, but they all seemed to be thrown together into this weird challenge. He dialed Lee’s number. The phone went to voice mail and he left her a message saying hello, how are you. Of course, she was probably either at school or working at her waitress job. He was out on Main Street with nothing much to do.

  He sat down on the edge of one of the raised flower beds that ranged along the street and thought about school. He wasn’t thrilled about the idea of taking any more courses. He had learned to read music, but hadn’t done much writing. He felt that he’d learned all he wanted to in college already. What he needed to do was keep on playing, singing, learning by doing and writing, writing, writing. The thought of having created a
song was a pleasant dream in his mind, but he put it aside and got up. He strolled to the street that led down to the sea and looked at the shimmer in the distance. Maybe he would go there or maybe not. It was a good way away, at least a mile. He went home to take a nap. Plenty of time yet.

  CHAPTER 16

  Cassie woke up in a strange room. She looked around, groggily. Where was she? It came back very slowly that she was in a hotel room. Dad had gone. She forced back feelings of dread, dragged herself out of bed and went into the bathroom. It was a nice, clean bathroom with toiletries. If things hadn’t been so awful, she’d have appreciated that. When you didn’t have a lot of money, you really took pleasure in things others would take for granted. It had been a long time since she’d been in a hotel. She wished that she was staying there because she was on a long-awaited vacation. But that wasn’t the case. The shower was hot and the towels soft. She couldn’t help being aware of her surroundings but her heart was heavy. If only the circumstances were different. She wasn’t ready to lose her Dad. Besides Lee, he was all she had.

  She went down to the free breakfast buffet rather than going next door to IHop. The $10,000 in her account gave her the security to know that at least, she could pay for it but why waste money? There weren’t many people in the room as it was still early, but they were trickling in. She helped herself to yogurt, toast and tea and took comfort in the sound of normal people talking. One man had a deep voice like her Dad. They’d find him, they had to.

  As she left the room after breakfast, her cell phone rang.

  “Cassie, what’s going on?!”

  “Rob! How did you hear so fast? I haven’t even called Lee yet.”

  “I tried calling the Assisted Living place last night, thinking you were there and they seemed agitated. I asked for your Dad and they hemmed and hawed. They finally said to try you at the Holiday Inn. So what’s going on?”

  “Oh, so you don’t know. Dad disappeared yesterday.”

  “What? How could that happen?” Rob sounded shocked.