Summer Walsh Mystery Series (3 complete cozy mystery novellas)

by Debby Mayne

  "I honestly don't know. But I do know one thing. She's a very disturbed and confused woman who needs help."

  "That's what her attorney said."

  I lifted my eyebrows. "You've spoken to her attorney?"

  He nodded. "Yes. He can't get over here until this afternoon, but he gave me her daughter's number and I called her. Apparently, she and her siblings have been trying to get their mother to go to a psychiatric care facility, but she puts up so much resistance they're having to go through the courts to do it."

  "Wow." I leaned back against the wall. "So if she did murder Ms. McClure, she'll probably get off."

  "But her children will have the ammunition they need to have her institutionalized. I told her attorney about her breaking into your apartment, and he said he wasn't surprised."

  "I hope you're not putting all your eggs in this basket."

  Vince tilted his head. "What do you mean by that?"

  "She might not have been the murderer. There are other people you need to be talking to."

  He made a face. "We know that, but I honestly think she did it." He held out his hands.

  "Maybe so, but you don't know for sure." My concern was that Vince and his associates would back off the investigation, and that would be bad for everyone—even if Agnes did kill Ms. McClure. They needed to be extremely thorough to make sure they had a strong case.

  "How about the gun?" I asked.

  "There isn't one registered to Agnes Bailey, but it's not hard for someone to get their hands on one."

  I shook my head but didn't say anything.

  "Look, Summer, her attorney said he's braced to defend her on grounds of insanity and incompetence. She's been having delusions for quite some time." He widened his eyes to drive his point home.

  "Did you hear what she said about why she broke into my apartment?" I asked.

  Vince chuckled. "She said she thought you might have murdered Ms. McClure, and she was looking for evidence."

  After we discussed how he thought she might have murdered Ms. McClure for a few minutes, I got frustrated with his determination to focus on her. Maybe I needed to do a little more investigating on my own.

  "I could argue my points all day, Vince, but I really need to run."

  "Okay, but be careful." I'd barely gotten to the door when he added, "Don't forget to have someone come in and fix the glass beside your door."

  "Of course." As I walked out, I lifted my hand and waved over my shoulder.

  The first place I headed was Ms. McClure's neighborhood. I sat in front of the house and stared for a few minutes before I decided to drive around the block to get a better look at Lester Astaire's house. As I slowed down, a car honked at me, so I moved out of the way. When I glanced up, the man behind the wheel frowned as he swerved around me and pulled into the driveway. I figured that was probably Lester Astaire.

  Instead of going all the way to the back to park in his detached garage, he stopped a few feet from the road, got out, and opened his trunk. I continued driving so he wouldn't think I was watching him. As I turned the corner, I glanced in my rearview mirror in time to see him pulling some suitcases out of his trunk. Now I was curious. Had he really been out of town? Who was that I'd seen moving around inside his house?

  Chapter 10

  After I got back to my apartment, I called Vince, but before I got a word out, he blurted, "We just got a call from Lester Astaire, the man who lives behind Essie McClure. Someone broke into his house while he was out of town for the past few days. I'm thinking it was probably Agnes Bailey."

  It now dawned on me that the person I'd seen wasn't Mr. Astaire. In fact, it was likely I'd witnessed a crime, and I was almost one hundred percent certain it wasn't Agnes Bailey. Until now, Mr. Astaire been high on my list of suspects, but he'd just fallen a few notches. I needed to get back over there and look around some more … maybe even speak with Mr. Astaire and Ms. McClure's next door neighbor Janelle.

  But first, I called someone to come over and fix the window in the apartment. He said he'd be there toward the end of the day. If I had anything valuable to protect, I would have found someone else who could get there right away, but all I had were my clothes and a few other items that could easily be replaced.

  The police were still at Mr. Astaire's house, so I drove past without slowing down. When I arrived in front of Ms. McClure's house, I saw a black BMW parked in Janelle's driveway. Normally I wouldn't have bothered her if she had company, but the timing was important. I hesitated only for a moment before I trudged over to see if she could talk for a moment.

  Before I reached her porch, her front door opened wide, and a man walked out. I jumped out of sight as quickly as possible, hoping they didn't see me.

  Janelle was so deep in conversation, I didn't think she noticed me, so I hovered behind an overgrown shrub and watched as she spoke to the man. He appeared to be at least ten years younger than Janelle, and he was dressed in business casual clothing. Maybe he was a salesman. I couldn't hear what they were saying, so I couldn't be sure.

  He finally left after a brief conversation. I waited until she closed the door before coming out of hiding. As I approached her porch, my nerves stood on edge.

  I knocked on the door and waited about a minute before knocking again. She didn't answer. I knew she was home, so I knocked a third time. I really wanted to talk to her.

  The sound of a car engine backing out of her driveway captured my attention. I spun around in time to see her backing out onto the road. She was wearing a baseball cap with her hair tucked up into it. Our eyes made contact for a brief moment, and then it dawned on me. She was the person I'd seen darting around the neighborhood when Vince was talking to Agnes Bailey. And now I realized why she'd gotten away. She'd run into her house, leaving the police wondering how they'd lost the trail.

  I motioned for her to stop, but she didn't, so I got in position to get her car tag number. Then I called Vince and told him what had just happened. "You might want to talk to her, like soon."

  "I'll get some people right on it," he said. "Did you see the direction she was headed?"

  I gave him as much information as I had. After I hung up, I tilted my head back and tried to make some sense of everything. At first, my mind swirled with all the events, but as my thoughts slowed down, some things became clear. Janelle had been eager to provide information, and we'd acted on it, looking into everything and checking out everyone she'd mentioned. Now I realized that what she told us had been directed away from her.

  Since there wasn't anything else I could do until I heard back from Vince, I went back to Tiddly Winks. The day wasn't over yet, and I had a job to do.

  When I walked into the office, Mr. Van Houghton was waiting for me behind the desk. "Took you long enough," he said. "What have you been doing?"

  "Um …" I tried to think of something to say, but before I did, he stood up.

  "Ms. Walsh, I'm sure you have a perfectly good explanation about why you've been gone more than you've been here and why there's a broken window in the apartment."

  "Someone broke in," I explained.

  "Yes, I know. I heard from the window company after you called them." He folded his arms and continued to glare at me. "I'd already heard from a couple of the teachers here, but I figured you knew what you were doing. However, after I heard about the police showing up and then the broken window, I figured I needed to come check on things. We can't have this kind of turmoil at Tiddly Winks. The parents expect us to keep their kids safe, and if word gets out that something is going on—" He stopped and held out his hands. "We'll be out of business."

  I knew what I had to do. "I am so sorry, Mr. Van Houghton. As much as I'd love to work here, I don't think this job is right for me."

  For the first time since I'd met him, he smiled. "I agree."

  "Can you give me until tomorrow to get my things out of the apartment?"

  "No rush." He paused before adding, "Detective Yates was here when I arrived. He
told me you're helping out with a murder case. I don't want to stand in the way of the law, so you can stay in the apartment for a few more days."

  "Really?" I asked. I was surprised that Vince had told him as much as he had, but it was good for me that he did.

  He nodded. "Just do me a favor and keep a low profile. And whatever you do, don't come back into the day care center. I don't want the kids or the parents to worry."

  "It's a deal," I said. "I'll pay for the window."

  "No need. It's already taken care of." He pointed to the door. "Now go finish up whatever you're working on with the police department. You can drop the apartment key into the day care mail slot when you leave."

  There was one more thing I needed to do. "If you're still looking for a director for the center, I'd like to make a recommendation."

  He lifted his eyebrows. "And what is that?"

  "Darla is the most committed person—"

  He interrupted me. "I've already promoted her. She'll continue teaching her class for a month or so, but with the added responsibility."

  That was a relief. "Anything else you need before I leave?" I asked.

  "Since we never set up direct deposit, we'll mail your check for the small amount of time you worked. Leave your address."

  "Just send it to the address on my application."

  "Will do."

  The first thing I did was go to the apartment to change into some jeans. It was so much easier to move around when I was comfortable. I'd barely gotten dressed when my phone rang. It was Vince.

  "Excellent work, Summer. Not only did we catch Janelle before she left town, we picked up her partner."

  "Partner?"

  "Yes, apparently, she was in cahoots with Ms. McClure's son-in-law, David Harris."

  "Stop being so cryptic, Vince. What's going on?"

  "Can you meet me for dinner?" he asked. "I think I owe you a meal, and I can tell you all about it then."

  "Why not now?" I asked.

  "Don't you have work to do at Tiddly Winks?"

  "No, I'm officially retired from the day care business?"

  He laughed. "Why am I not surprised?"

  "Are you still at the police station?" I asked.

  He hesitated for a few seconds and then sighed. "Yes."

  "I'm on my way." I clicked the OFF button before he could tell me no.

  As I drove, I went over the conversations I'd had with Janelle Bradford. She clearly didn't like Ms. McClure, but she never gave us any reason she might want to kill the woman.

  Vince greeted me at the door of the station. "You really need to reconsider going back into law enforcement, Summer," he said. "Your instincts are the best I've ever seen. If you hadn't been in the right place at the right time, solving this case would have taken quite a while longer."

  "That's only if you solved the case."

  He grimaced. "We would have solved it … eventually."

  "So tell me about it," I said. "Did she confess?"

  "What do you think?" He made a funny face. "Of course she didn't confess. We got that statement from Ms. McClure's son-in-law when we picked him up. When he realized we were suspicious, he told us all about how Janelle offered to 'take care of business' and he'd give her a share of the money after the insurance and estate money came in." He shook his head. "He thought that since he wasn't the one to actually pull the trigger we'd let him off."

  "I assume they're both in custody," I said.

  "Of course they are. There's more."

  "Do tell," I said.

  "Mr. Astaire called to let us know someone had broken into his house, but nothing was missing. The only thing he saw out of place—besides the door being unlocked—was a gun he hadn't been able to find in quite some time. When he got home, it was lying on the coffee table."

  That was probably when I saw someone in his house. "Have you gotten fingerprints off the gun?"

  "Yeah, that's the crazy thing. Janelle's prints were all over the gun. She didn't wear gloves or try to wipe her fingerprints off the handle."

  "She probably didn't think you'd check her or the gun for fingerprints."

  "I'm sure that's the case. Ms. McClure's son-in-law gave her the other gun to leave in the garden, hoping that would throw us off. Janelle's fingerprints weren't on that one, so she must have worn gloves."

  "How about Ms. McClure's children? Did her daughter know about her husband's involvement?"

  Vince shook his head. "No, and neither did her twin sons who are … I mean were good friends with Mr. Harris. They're still in a state of shock over it."

  "I can imagine."

  "Her daughter, the one married to David Harris, is fuming mad and making some threats of her own. It took some time for us to let her know she needed to be quiet and not say anything she might later regret." His expression became more pensive. "It's a very sad situation."

  "I agree. I've seen this kind of thing before, and it's never pleasant."

  He looked at me with admiration. "What will it take to convince you to come to work for us?"

  I shrugged. "It's not going to happen, Vince. I have to find something that doesn't consume me."

  "Good luck with that," he said with a smile.

  I grinned. "I don't believe in luck."

  "How about dinner tonight?"

  I glanced at my watch and saw that I still had time to get back to Nashville before it was too late. Even though Mr. Van Houghton said I could stay in the apartment a while longer, I really needed the comfort of home. "I think I'll take a pass on dinner, but thanks."

  "Be safe, Summer. Give me a call next time you're in Atlanta."

  "Will do."

  Before I turned the key in my ignition, I called Mom. She answered on the first ring. "Are you okay, Summer?"

  "I'm just fine. By the way, is the garage apartment still available?"

  She gasped but quickly regained her composure. "Of course it is. Why?"

  "I'll be there in about five or six hours."

  "For good?" she asked, her voice laced with hope.

  "I'm not sure about that, but I'll be there a while."

  "I'll have some hot soup ready when you get here."

  "Thanks, Mom. See you tonight."

  When I got to the apartment, I loaded up my car and called Mr. Van Houghton. "I won't be needing the apartment after all. I'm leaving for Nashville now."

  "I'll come back there and get the key."

  He arrived a few minutes later. I extended my hand, and he shook it.

  "I'm so sorry things worked out this way," I said, "but Darla really is the right person for the job."

  "Yes, I know that now. About the bonus—"

  "Don't worry about it," I said. "If you want to pay anyone a bonus, it should be Darla."

  The look on his face let me know that wasn't going to happen. "Have a nice life, Summer," he said. "Goodbye." Then he walked away and didn't even turn around.

  "Goodbye," I whispered softly.

  Epilogue

  Dad was the one who opened the door when I arrived. "This one didn't last long," he said with a chuckle as he came in for a hug. "Can't wait to hear all about it."

  "There's not much to tell," I said.

  "Oh, I bet there's plenty to tell." He took a step back and motioned for me to go to the kitchen. "Your mother's so excited she can't stop talking about all the things she wants to do with you."

  "I wasn't gone that long," I said. "Nothing much has changed."

  "Oh, trust me, it has. Your mother and I have both finally come to terms with the fact that you're not going to be in that garage apartment forever."

  "I'll be there a while."

  "Yes, but I'm sure that'll last until some new adventure comes along."

  Dad was right. I loved being near them, but I was an adventure junkie, and the safety net of their warm home could only keep me satisfied until I was struck with the urge for excitement and change.

  As soon as Mom saw me, she ran toward me with open arms. "
I am so glad you finally came to your senses. Sit down. I'll get you some soup."

  I sat down at the kitchen table with the best mom and dad an adult daughter could have. Dad kept after me until I finally gave in, and they listened as I told them about what had happened in Atlanta.

  Dad shook his head. "It all sounds so familiar."

  "You didn't say a word about your job at the day care center," Mom said. "Was there anything you liked about it?"

  I shrugged. "It was okay, but I'm clearly not cut out for that line of work." I told them about Darla as they both nodded.

  My phone rang. I was tempted not to answer it, but when I saw Vince's name on my caller ID, I had to see what he wanted. I excused myself and left the kitchen to talk in privacy.

  "Just wanted to make sure you made it home safely," he said. We chatted for a couple of minutes about my uneventful drive back to Nashville. Finally, he said, "I've spoken to the chief, and he said to remind you—"

  "I'm right where I need to be now," I said, "but if I ever decide to be a cop again, I'll let you know." Then I remembered some of the questions I'd thought of on my way back to Nashville. "What's the latest on Janelle? Has anything come to light since I left?"

  "She's in custody, but she's still not talking."

  "How about Agnes Bailey?"

  "She's in a hospital being evaluated."

  "How about Mr. Astaire? Has he said anything about cutting down that tree?"

  He answered that and other questions, until I finally wound down. "Anything else you need to know?" he asked.

  "No, that's it."

  "You're a good detective, Summer. Thank you for being part of this case. I really enjoyed getting to know you … and um … hanging out with you."

  After we hung up, I sank down into the closest chair. The heady feeling I had when working on that case made me nervous. If I didn't watch out, the temptation to go back into law enforcement would be too much to resist. I closed my eyes and thought for a few minutes before I rejoined my parents in the kitchen. They both glanced up at me when I walked in.

  "I've decided to look into culinary arts," I announced.

  Mom and Dad exchanged a look of disbelief before Mom turned toward me. "That's an excellent idea, Summer. Have a seat and let's talk about it while you finish your soup."