by Cindy Bell
“So, you knew May well?” Daniel asked.
“Quite well, we were in the same book club.” Samantha tightened her grip on the steering wheel. “I have a hard time believing that she’s gone, and in such a horrible way.”
“Yes. I told the officers I didn’t want to know the details. Poor May.”
Samantha glanced over at him. His words were sympathetic, but his tone was not. “You two weren’t close?”
“When we were kids, sure. She was older then me so she used to look out for me. We used to spend a lot of time together and were always getting into things together. But once we became adults our interests went in different directions. I tried to keep a friendly relationship going between us, but it was rather difficult, since we had nothing in common.”
“What a shame. She was wonderful to talk to.”
“Maybe to you. But to me she was always so cold. She could hold a grudge that lasted for a very long time.”
“Did you have a falling out?”
“Something like that. But it was so long ago, it’s hard to believe she still harbored it.”
“Too bad you two didn’t get to settle things before she passed.”
“I tried. That’s why I went to visit her. I wanted everything to be settled. But she was so hardheaded, she wouldn’t listen to a thing I had to say.”
Samantha parked in a space in front of the coffee shop and looked in the rearview mirror at Walt. Walt nodded and climbed out of the car.
“I have a sister, too.” Walt opened the door for Samantha. They walked around the front of the car to Daniel and Walt continued speaking. “She’s rather difficult to deal with. Her life is a total mess, and I think she’s just waiting for someone to fix it.”
“Exactly.” Daniel sighed. “She had fantasies of a man whisking her away and making her happy. Then she moved into Sage Gardens which I thought was absurd.”
“Really? I enjoy it there.” Samantha opened the door to the coffee shop and they filed in.
“It seems like a nice place, but not exactly affordable. I tried to tell her that she needed to save her money, but she never wanted to listen to me.”
“How frustrating.” Walt clucked his tongue. “There’s nothing that bothers me more than fiscal irresponsibility.”
“Exactly.” Daniel sighed and sat down at the table. “But what can you do? She had her own mind and made her own choices.”
Samantha ordered her coffee and did her best to bite her tongue. From her recent research she was fully aware that Daniel had not made the best financial decisions in his life, and yet he was trying to paint his sister as the irresponsible one. She reminded herself to keep an open mind and not predict what Daniel would say. To investigate she had to be willing to listen, and not assume.
“Did you two fight often?” Samantha asked trying to get him to open up.
“Just a spat here and there. Nothing I said to her would do any good, anyway. She still would have stumbled blindly into crisis after crisis. Not to mention the men she would date.”
“Was she seeing anyone?” Samantha leaned forward some.
“Wouldn’t you know better than me?” Daniel’s expression shifted to one of suspicion. “I thought you said that you two were friends.”
“Oh we were, but she was rather private about some things. I don’t like to pry.” She sipped her coffee to hide her face.
“I see.” Daniel continued to stare at her. “Well, as far as I know she wasn’t seeing anyone.”
“Did she ever mention a man named Reynold to you?” Walt raised an eyebrow.
Daniel coughed as if he might have inhaled some of his coffee. “Reynold?”
“Yes. Did you know him?”
“Uh, I don’t think so.”
“So, she never mentioned him to you?” Samantha twirled her cup between her palms.
“No. Like I said, we weren’t very close. Was she dating him?”
“I don’t know about dating. I think they were just friends.” Samantha shrugged. “He found her, you know.”
“How morbid.” Daniel shuddered. “I’d rather not talk about that.”
Samantha glanced over at Walt. Walt met her eyes. It didn’t take a genius detective to figure out that Daniel was lying. The question was, why?
Chapter 8
“We need to move fast, who knows when they will get back.”
“I’m aware, Eddy.” Jo shot him a look. “I work best in silence.”
“Okay, sorry.”
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a long, thin knife. She began to wedge it between the window sash and the windowsill. Eddy leaned over her shoulder and peered at the windowsill.
“Don’t do it that way, you’ll leave a mark.”
“Are you serious?” She looked over at him. “Who has experience here?”
“I’ve slipped into a few places in my time. That’s low quality paint. Unless you want to leave evidence that you were here, you need to be careful.”
She stared at him hard, then looked down at the paint. Small flakes of paint were peeled back so she had to be careful not to make it worse. She sighed and went at the lock with a gentler touch. Once she had the lock open she eased the window open.
“Good job.” Eddy nodded.
“Stay out here. I’m not going to take the chance of tripping over you.”
“I’ll be right here if you need me, Jo.” He offered her a wide smile. Jo swung her leg over the windowsill and then climbed the rest of the way in. Once she was on the other side she took a look around the living room. There wasn’t much to see. Sparse furnishings, a carpet that should have been replaced years ago, and the faint scent of cat. She cringed at the thought. Cats could be very dangerous during a break-in. She spotted the ball of fur curled up on one of the couch cushions in the living room. She was fairly certain that it hadn’t moved in hours. Still, she reminded herself to be cautious.
Against one of the walls in the living room was a large, old fashioned roll up desk. If Daniel had any important documents he likely hid them in there. She walked up to it as quietly as she could so as not to rouse the cat. She was relieved to find that it wasn’t locked when she tried to open it.
Inside was a messy pile of papers and envelopes. It was going to take some time to get through all of it. It wasn’t as if she expected to find a piece of paper that detailed his plan to murder his sister, but there might be something to hint at that desire. Perhaps a letter to a friend, or a list of ways to kill someone. When she got down to the bottom of the pile she found a large brown envelope. She pulled it out and looked over the front. It was addressed to a lawyer’s office.
Jo pulled out the papers that were tucked inside the envelope. From the content of the letter she surmised that the lawyer dealt with estate planning. The letter instructed the lawyer to review the enclosed documents for the proof that he had requested. She looked through the remainder of the papers. With each new document she became more certain of what Daniel was up to. Each paper involved another doctor’s opinion of May’s mental status. None of them were favorable. He even included a few testimonies from people that might have been friends of May, that insisted she’d begun to lose her memory quite often. Inside were also some power-of-attorney forms that hadn’t been completed. It was clear to Jo that Daniel’s intention was to get May’s financial power-of-attorney or have her declared mentally incompetent so that he could have control of her finances. Jo snapped a few pictures of the documents then set the envelope back down on the desk.
Why was Daniel trying so hard to get control of May’s finances? Was he angry with her? Was he just planning for the future? Did he decide to kill her instead?
Jo began to rummage a little further through the desk. She came across a leather bound book. She opened it to see names and numbers. The numbers had dollar signs next to them. It looked like some sort of transaction record keeping. Jo began photographing the pages starting from the end. She had only photographed a few pages when her
cell phone vibrated in her pocket. When she checked it she saw a message from Eddy that Samantha was on her way back with Daniel. She made sure everything was back in place, then closed the desk. It bothered her that she didn’t find out more information, but she didn’t want to risk being arrested for breaking and entering. When she launched herself back out through the window she nearly landed on Eddy, who in a futile attempt to assist her, had reached up to steady her. He stumbled back when one of her feet struck him in the stomach.
“Watch it, Jo!”
“You’re in my way, Eddy,” she growled and grabbed his arm to catch him. “We don’t need to draw any unneeded attention.”
“I was just trying to help.”
“I don’t need your help.”
“We need to stop arguing and get out of here.”
“That, I can agree with.” She gave him a light shove towards the car. As they reached the car Jo heard Samantha’s car pull into the driveway.
“Get down.” She tugged Eddy low.
“Why? They can’t see us.”
“We think they can’t, but you never know. What if he walks this way? What if one of his neighbors decides to stroll over for a conversation? Better safe than sorry.”
Eddy sighed and huddled beside her. “My knees aren’t designed for this.”
“Stop that.” She rolled her eyes.
“What?”
“Acting as if you’re so very old. Eddy, that’s the only way you get old, acting like it.”
“Okay, then my knees aren’t screaming in pain.”
“I told you to come to yoga with me, it will help.”
“I’m not wearing one of those leotards.”
“What?” Jo laughed out loud then clamped her hand over her mouth. However, her shoulders still shook with the force of her laughter in reaction to the thought of Eddy in a leotard. “Plenty of men do yoga, Eddy.”
“Maybe they do, but not this one. I earned these bum knees.”
“Okay, suit yourself. Be old. But I can tell you that Samantha isn’t.”
“What does that mean?”
“I’m just saying.” She straightened up. “We should be clear, let’s head out.”
“Wait, why did you say that about Samantha?”
“Never mind, old man, can you see well enough to drive?”
“Oh, you’re asking for it, Jo.”
“Am I?” She smiled at him. “I’m not scared. With those knees you could never catch me.”
“Hm. Yoga might be a good idea after all.”
“I thought you might come round.” She grinned. As they drove back to Samantha’s villa she gave him an update on what she had found. “It isn’t much. We already knew that Daniel had problems with his sister.”
“I know. But the fact that he was trying so hard to get control of her finances indicates that he was up to something. It only makes him even more likely to be our suspect,” Eddy said.
“Does it?” Jo rested her head on her fist as she looked out through the window. “Why would he go to all the trouble of plotting against her if he intended to kill her?”
“Maybe the plot didn’t work, so he took an easier way out.”
“I don’t know.” Jo frowned. “It doesn’t add up to me. If he wanted her dead, he would have just killed her. It takes a lot of effort to get control over someone’s finances.”
“So maybe someone turned up the pressure on him, one of his debt collectors,” Eddy said.
“Maybe. I guess we could look into that angle.” Jo nodded.
“If you give Walt the pictures of the notebook you found he might be able to make some sense of them.”
“I will.”
“I managed to get some of Daniel’s and May’s financial records from my contact in the department and I’ve sent them to Walt. I’m sure that Walt will be able to trace his debtors and Samantha will be able to track them down.”
“Yes, you’re right,” Jo said.
“You agree?”
“I do.” Jo looked over at him. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“I thought maybe you didn’t have much faith in our abilities, since you decided to handle the situation with May on your own when she asked you for help.”
Jo was silent as she stared out through the windshield. It wasn’t until the car rocked to a stop at a red light that she spoke.
“It’s not like that at all.”
“Okay.” He pressed on the gas pedal as the light turned green. “What is it then? You just needed a break from us?”
“Eddy, you’re all retired. You have a stable income that you can expect to live on for the rest of your lives. I don’t have that. There are no retirement plans for thieves.”
“I figured you had some money stashed away.”
“I bet. I do. Some. But it’s not going to last forever. I need to make more, while I can, before I can’t.”
“I see what you’re saying. Still, we could have helped.”
“If I’m going to try to make a go of this as a business, then I need to be able to do things for myself. I can’t afford to split the profit, and I can’t expect you to work for free.”
“Sure you can. We’re retired. What else are we going to do with our time?” Eddy chuckled.
“Ha, if only that was true.”
“All I’m saying is we’re your friends. Any one of us would have been glad to help you.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
He pulled his car into the driveway of Samantha’s villa and turned off the ignition. “Looks like they beat us here.”
“With the way Samantha drives I’m not surprised.” Jo laughed.
“Yes, she is a bit speedy, isn’t she?”
“At times.”
They walked up to the front door and right into a spat between Samantha and Walt.
“You can’t base a hunch on something like that,” Walt said.
“Why can’t I?”
“Because you need something to back it up.”
“It’s a hunch, I don’t need to back that up.”
“Okay, okay.” Jo held up her hands. “What is this about?”
“At the coffee shop Daniel acted as if he was financially sound, not his sister. We all know that’s a lie. So that means he is probably lying about other things, too,” Samantha said.
“A lie about finances does not make him a murderer.” Walt shook his head.
“It might though. Especially if he makes a habit out of lying.” Jo sat down on the arm of Samantha’s couch. “It looks like Daniel was up to no good and attempting to get his sister declared mentally incompetent so that he could control her finances.”
“With the way he spoke about her that doesn’t surprise me.” Samantha frowned. “Even after she’s dead, he’s still trying to convince people that she was a financial failure.”
“Okay. Wait a minute. We don’t know that she wasn’t.” Walt crossed his arms. “All we know for sure is that Daniel was accused of fraud. Maybe his sister was involved. Maybe she has made other bad financial decisions. I’m going to look into both of their finances including the documents Eddy got for me and see what I can find out.”
“Good idea.” Samantha nodded.
After a long discussion about the information they’d found, Samantha said goodbye to her friends. She was just about to close the door when she remembered that she needed bread. Without it she wouldn’t be able to make the chicken sandwich she’d been looking forward to all day. As tired as she was, she decided to head back out to pick up a loaf of bread. On her way to her car she noticed Valerie walking down the street. The closer she got to Samantha the more Samantha had to fight the urge to ask her questions about May. She didn’t have to fight for long, as Valerie walked right up to her.
“Samantha, I was hoping to catch you at home.”
“Oh?” Samantha turned to face her. “Why is that?”
“I heard that you and Walt had breakfast with Daniel, May’s brother, this morning.”
�
�Just coffee. How did you hear that?”
“How was he? Poor guy. Or is he? I mean I’ve heard some rumors that he might be a suspect. Do you think that’s true?” She pulled out her phone and checked it, then tucked it back in her purse.
“I don’t know. We just wanted to offer our sympathies for his loss.”
“Please Samantha, I happen to know, that you and your little clique are always in the know when it comes to what is happening around Sage Gardens.”
“I’m not sure why you think that. I would like to know how you found out about us having coffee with Daniel, though.”
She pulled out her phone and checked it again, then looked back at Samantha. “Word spreads, you know that. Anyway, I’d better be going.”
“Wait, I have a question for you, Valerie.”
“What is it?”
“Were you and May still at odds when she died?”
“I don’t like to speak negatively about the dead.” She glanced at her phone, then up at Samantha.
“So, you didn’t patch things up?”
“I don’t know, Samantha.” She glanced at her phone again. “You know how sensitive May was.”
“I didn’t think she was sensitive at all.”
“Well, maybe you didn’t know her as well as you thought.”
Samantha clenched her teeth to hold back the words that burned on the tip of her tongue. Valerie shrugged and checked her cell phone for what seemed like the thousandth time. Samantha guessed that she was waiting for a call.
“Valerie, I just want to know if you and May were still at odds.”
“Why? What do you care? If you want me to tell you that I feel guilty that she died while we were still on the outs then fine, I will tell you. I do feel guilty. I wish I never said the things I did to her. But we were in a bit of a friendly rivalry and she was the one who criticized the decorations I put together for the Halloween party, remember?”