by Lyndsey Cole
12
By the time Leona arrived at the Black Cat Café at the end of Friday morning, all giddy from her short vacation, Annie was chafing at the bit to leave.
“I’ve got good news and bad news,” Annie told Leona. Her stomach was in knots with the thought of disappointing Leona by having to leave early.
“Me too. I’ll go first. The good news is that this is going to be a busy, busy weekend.” Leona said as she tied on a lime green apron with stalking cats. “And…the bad news is this is going to be a busy, busy weekend. I hope you’re ready for a long day.”
“I…uh…have to leave as early as possible.” Annie stuttered out her reply. “But, I managed to get plenty of pastries made ahead of time so you shouldn’t—”
“Stop right there! You need to leave?”
“Listen,” Annie mustered all her internal strength. “Something came up that was out of my control and I need to leave after lunch. “You can manage without me for one afternoon.” After all, Annie reminded herself, Leona left Annie with no advance notice, leaving a whole dinner to cater.
Leona scowled but remained silent.
Annie made sure to avoid Leona’s glaring stares during the busy lunchtime rush. Instead, her mother’s words about Sylvia shooting her husband twenty years ago ran in a loop through her brain. But, she couldn’t see how it was possible for Sylvia to be the murderer Wednesday night. She would have had to have made two trips into Dawn’s office, kill Forrest during the second trip, hide the gun in the toilet tank, then hide in the closet and send Martha the text asking for help. That was a lot to fall into place perfectly in a short window of time.
At one-thirty, before she left the Black Cat Café, Annie put a selection of muffins in a bag. The rush was over and Leona actually smiled at Annie as she left.
Annie found her note to Jason from this morning on the dining room table with his addition at the bottom. Another big problem with running the Black Cat Café was not seeing her husband before she left for work. At least he said he would take care of dinner. Since it was Friday, she could expect candles, flowers, romantic music, along with something tasty. A relaxing evening to look forward to, at least. But she had to get through the rest of the day first.
Roxy’s nails clicked on the floor as she danced around Annie. “A walk before we visit your new friends?”
At the sound of the word walk, Roxy stood on her back legs and gently rested her front paws on Annie. Annie ruffled Roxy’s ears. “Let’s go.”
The storm clouds still hovered overhead, but the rain had stopped. With her nose to the ground, Roxy followed all the new scents along the trail. A few people either jogged or walked briskly along the trail but Annie’s mind stayed on the puzzling clues surrounding the murder.
On her return home, as she came abreast of Thelma Dodd’s house, Roxy dashed up the trail to Thelma’s kitchen door, like she did the day before.
“Okay, we have time for a short stop.” Roxy gave her no choice in the matter of making a visit. “With luck, she won’t need help with her crossword puzzle,” Annie said.
Thelma saw Annie and waved from her screened-in porch. “Just let yourselves in,” she called from above. “I’ll wait right here for you.”
Roxy, of course, rushed ahead of Annie as soon as the kitchen door cracked open. Her head rested on Thelma’s knee by the time Annie entered the porch. Thelma offered Roxy a dog cookie and, like always, Roxy gently took the treat.
At the sight of Thelma with Roxy, Annie suddenly had an idea. “How do you feel about a little outing today, Thelma?”
“Well, that sounds wonderful. Where are you thinking of taking me?” Thelma’s eyes sparkled.
Annie sat in the chair across from Thelma. “Roxy and I are going to visit Golden Living again this afternoon. Since you told me you know Sylvia and Sean, I thought you might like to come along.” She lowered her voice as if she was telling a deep, dark secret. “And if you need any more encouragement, I’m bringing muffins.”
“That sounds like a bribe if I ever heard one, but I never said a bribe wouldn’t work on me.” She grinned and held out her hand. “Help me up, please.”
“I’ll get my car and be back for you in a jiffy.”
“Roxy can wait here with me and, Annie?”
Annie turned to look at Thelma.
“Don’t forget the muffins.”
“Don’t worry about that.” Annie headed home thinking that when Roxy walked into the retirement home with a basket of muffins hanging from her mouth, and Thelma leaning on Annie’s arm, everyone would be putty in her hands.
It was only about five minutes before Annie returned for Thelma and Roxy, the muffins safely tucked next to the driver seat. Thelma used her walker to get to the kitchen door and then relied on Annie to help her down the one step out of the house to the walk and a half dozen more steps to her car. Roxy jumped in the back and made herself comfortable in the middle of the back seat where she had the best view between the two front seats.
“Do you want me to chat with Seany?” Thelma asked.
Annie took a quick look at Thelma. “Sure. You want to renew your old friendship?” Of course, Annie wanted Thelma to butter Sean up but she didn’t want Thelma to think she was only using her to get information.
Thelma reached across the front seat and patted Annie’s arm. “Don’t worry. I don’t mind picking his brain to see if he knows anything about the murder. That is your plan, isn’t it?”
“Thelma Dodd, I can’t believe that’s what you think,” Annie said as she tried not to burst out laughing. “Am I that transparent?”
“I know you, Annie. And I’m glad to help.” She pulled her newspaper out of her coat pocket. “I brought my crossword puzzle. Maybe Seany can help me. It will be my ice breaker. A way to talk without really being too direct. Guess what the theme is today?”
“Easter?”
“Uh-huh. I think I’m going to have a good old time as long as you don’t get in my way.”
“Now that’s just mean. How could I get in your way?”
“Oh, you know, you sit next to me like I’m some kind of helpless old person and then take over the conversation by finishing all my thoughts for me. If I remember anything about Seany, he can see right through someone’s intentions. He grew up having to read people when he got shoved from one house to another.”
“I won’t interfere as long as you promise to tell me anything you learn.” Annie turned into the parking lot of Golden Living.
“Don’t worry about that.”
After Annie parked right near the front entryway, she turned to Thelma. “There’s one more thing you might be able to help me with.”
“Okay.”
“Don’t say okay yet, you don’t even know what I’m about to ask you.”
“I trust you aren’t planning to put me in a dangerous situation or ask me to whack someone with my walker.”
Annie laughed. “Now that you mention it, I like the whacking idea,” she began. “But, no, nothing like that. Would you mind talking to the manager about moving into Golden Living?”
Thelma’s face fell and her eyes narrowed. “Is this some trick to get me out of my house? My son keeps telling me it’s not safe for me to be living alone.”
“No. No. No. Nothing like that.” Annie held her hands up. “I’m trying to learn more about how people pay to live at this place. Sylvia said she’s running out of money and I think there could be a connection between Forrest’s death and some money skimming or some kind of scam.”
Thelma’s mouth fell open.
“We can skip that if you want. I don’t want you to pretend you’re thinking about moving if it makes you uncomfortable to talk about your finances.”
“I’m not shocked about what you’ve asked me to do, I’m shocked about what you think is going on. Of course I’ll talk to that manager. What’s her name?”
“Dawn Cross.”
“Oh, Annie, she’s going to regret having me across th
e table from her. I might appear to be an old, feeble woman on the outside, but I spent forty years teaching and disciplining kids. I. Have. Not. Lost. My. Touch.” Thelma opened the car door. “Get over here and help me out of this car. We need to get this show started.”
The afternoon might be even more interesting than Annie originally hoped. This last minute addition of having Thelma tag along was bringing an exciting new dimension and opening up new possibilities with her no-nonsense approach toward information gathering.
“Oh,” Annie stopped walking, “if you can, try to get Dawn to open the safe in her office. Before Forrest was murdered, Sylvia said she saw cash inside. When I got to the office not long after the murder, the cash was gone.”
“Another twist. You think the murderer cleaned out the safe?” Thelma’s cheeks were flushed pink with excitement.
“Maybe, or someone else did.”
They started walking again. Thelma held onto her walker and Annie held Thelma’s arm with one hand and Roxy’s leash and the bag of muffins with her other hand. “It’s been much too long since anything exciting happened in my life. This sure beats doing the crossword puzzle.”
As soon as the door quietly closed behind them, Dawn appeared. She frowned when she saw Roxy in the lead but quickly replaced her displeasure with a smile when she saw Thelma.
“Hello, Annie,” Dawn’s syrupy-sweet voice said a bit too loudly. “Is this your friend you mentioned yesterday?”
“As a matter of fact, it is. Thelma Dodd, this is Dawn Cross, manager here at Golden Living.”
“Come, come. Follow me. Thelma and I can chat in my office while you take your dog to the sunroom.” Dawn waved her hand, gesturing them to hurry up.
“That sounds nice, but first I am planning to visit with a couple of my friends that live here,” Thelma said.
Dawn stopped dead in her tracks. “Who would that be?”
“Sylvia May and Sean Woodman. Annie promised to bring her therapy dog back for a visit and I decided to tag along. I hope that’s all right?” Thelma had a sweet expression on her face. Annie covered her mouth and pretended to cough to mask her choked laughter.
Dawn nodded. “Of course.” Dawn also covered her mouth, but not before Annie caught the frown that replaced her fake smile.
Of course Dawn couldn’t say no to a prospective customer, Annie thought. Her, of course, certainly wasn’t an expression of happiness with Thelma’s plan to visit with her friends.
“And Annie brought muffins for my friends,” Thelma added. “From the Black Cat Café.”
Dawn’s eyes traveled to the bag and she swallowed. Annie had no intention of offering her a muffin.
“I’ll bring Thelma to your office after our visit,” Annie said as she tightened her grip on the muffin bag.
“What a lovely building,” Thelma said. They walked down the hallway behind Dawn, her voice loud enough for anyone to hear. “I can’t wait to find out how Sylvia and Sean like living here.”
Dawn’s shoulders tensed and Annie didn’t miss the flinch. It was unlikely that Thelma would receive a glowing report from her two friends and Dawn just confirmed that she knew it. She would have her work cut out on her sales pitch when Thelma finally sat down in the manager’s office.
13
The sunroom was not as cozy on this dreary Friday afternoon as it was with all the sunshine streaming in the day before. But despite the change in weather, one thing remained exactly the same: Sean’s wheelchair was parked in the same corner and his face held the same miserable glare.
Marvin was the first to spot Annie and he came right over. “What’s in your bag?”
“Hello, Marvin. How about you bring Roxy around to visit everyone and then I’ll share what’s in my bag.” She handed him the leash without waiting for a reply.
Sylvia was sitting with Martha but she looked up when Annie rested her hand on her shoulder. “I brought someone with me today.”
Sylvia’s forehead creased, then her eyes widened “Thelma? Thelma Dodd?”
“Hello Sylvia. Annie kindly invited me to come visit with her today. Can I join you?”
“Of course.” Sylvia quickly rose and pulled up a chair for Thelma. “I suppose you heard about what happened this week?” she asked as she helped Thelma get comfortable.
“I certainly did.” She looked at Sylvia and Martha. “My son thinks I shouldn’t be living alone anymore and I thought Golden Living might be an option. But…”
Sylvia checked over her shoulder, leaned close to Thelma, and lowered her voice. “You should be concerned. When I moved in, I was assured that my money would last until I died, but now Dawn Cross says I have to move out at the end of the month.” Her eyes filled with water but she blinked them away before any spilled out.
“Oh, dear. That’s awful. What are you going to do?” Thelma asked, her voice full of concern for her old friend.
“I have no idea, but that’s not even the worst of it. There’s something else you probably don’t know unless Annie told you; I’m a suspect in this terrible murder.”
“Sylvia, that’s the worst thing I’ve heard in ages. You were always the sweetest person in our group. Is it because of that, uh, problem with your husband?”
Sylvia twisted her hands in her lap. “I don’t know. There’s so much that keeps ending up on my plate—I was hiding in the office at the time of the murder, the murder weapon, my past—do you know what I think?”
Martha, Thelma, and Annie all leaned inches away from Sylvia.
“I think someone is framing me. Someone that wants me out of here.”
“Dawn?” Martha asked.
Sylvia nodded. “She wants me out so she can get someone new in and steal their money.” Her voice was strong and assured with that statement.
“So, if I move in,” Thelma said, “I could be her next victim.” She rubbed her hands together. “Dawn Cross won’t know what’s coming,” she said with glee.
Sylvia frowned before the meaning of Thelma’s words sank in. She leaned as close as possible and put her arm around Thelma’s shoulders. “You always did have that rebel streak. I admired that quality and wished I could be more like you.”
“Are you kidding? You’re the one who let that no-good abusive husband know what end of your gun he didn’t want to be looking at. That took more guts than anything I ever did.”
“I was desperate. If I didn’t shoot him, he would have killed me. But now it looks like he has come back to haunt me.”
Annie took a quick peek around the room to make sure Marvin and Roxy were doing their job. Marvin was trying not to look bored but he stood tall and still, with a slight grin on his face, as Roxy enjoyed all the attention from various men and women.
Another resident caught her attention as he pushed himself toward Annie and her friends.
“Thelma Dodd? Is that you?”
The whole room became silent. Was it so unusual for Sean to leave his corner and talk to someone, Annie wondered.
Thelma turned her head as Sean Woodman approached. “Seany? It’s been ages. How are you?”
Sean’s eyes darted nervously to each pair of eyes staring at him. “Would you like to visit in my apartment?” He nodded his head toward the door out of the sunroom. “It’s next door and I find it a bit too crowded in here for my taste.”
Thelma pushed herself off the seat and Annie lined up her walker for her to follow Sean. She whispered in Thelma’s ear, “Good luck bringing a smile to his face.”
Marvin sat down in the seat vacated by Thelma and handed Roxy’s leash to Annie. He eyed the bag in her lap.
“Should we go to your apartment, Sylvia?” Annie asked with a hushed voice. “I brought some muffins but I don’t have enough for everyone in here.”
Martha stood first. “Good idea. I can make tea while we do some brainstorming.” She stared directly at Marvin. “It’s high time you share some of your snooping details so we can get Sylvia out of this terrible predicament.”
> Marvin’s mouth flopped open like a peeping chick begging for a morsel of food.
Annie moved the open bag under Marvin’s nose. His mouth snapped shut and he followed Martha. Annie and Roxie stayed even with Sylvia as they left the sunroom.
“Do you think Thelma will get anywhere with her old friend?” Annie asked Sylvia.
“You mean Shady Sean? If anyone can get him to talk, it’ll be Thelma. She has a way about her that you just can’t ignore. The real question is whether what he tells her is true or not.”
“I hadn’t thought of that.” Annie chuckled. “Maybe she can get him to put his guard down while he helps her with her crossword puzzle. Today she’s planning to use it as the ice breaker with Sean.”
Sylvia’s forehead creased. “She had a plan to talk to Sean all along?”
“Yup, she’s helping me do some digging around to see if we can find out what happened to your money and to Forrest.”
Sylvia’s eyes opened wide with fear. “You think Sean had something to do with all that?”
“Marvin told me that Forrest was about the only person Sean talked to, so I think he knows something.”
“Now that you mention it, they were chummy.” She stopped with her hand on her apartment door. “Forrest showed up a lot and visited with different people, especially Sean. I always thought he was being kind, but maybe he had another goal in mind.”
Exactly what Annie was beginning to think; another goal which might have been connected to the missing money but ultimately got him murdered instead of making him rich.
Sylvia walked into her apartment ahead of Annie.
“It’s about time you got here,” Marvin said with his typical impatient tone. “What’s in your bag?”
“Hold your Easter bunnies.” Annie opened the bag and set it on Sylvia’s small table. “It will be easier if I put everything on a plate.”
Marvin tried to reach into the bag but Annie slapped his hand away. “Not so fast.”
Marvin slumped into a chair and sulked like a two-year-old.
“So, Marvin, what can you tell us about Forrest and Sean?” Annie held the plate of muffins just out of reach as an obvious bribe.