Cold Case Conundrum

by Sharon Mierke

  “And what about Carly? Did he ever take an interest in her again?”

  “No, I don’t think so. I guess that first crush wore off. We were all so relieved. It wasn’t because she wasn’t a pretty girl or even a nice girl. When she was very young, she was such a sweet thing. Sometimes, she and Bobby would run into our house for a drink of water or something and then she’d hurry across the road to her house. She was never allowed to go anywhere after school. She and Bobby would have made a good couple but I don’t think I could have handled her family. They were, and still are, a rough looking bunch.”

  “How did Carly make out after her mom left?”

  Ettie shook her head. “It was a bad time for her. My heart went out to her, but what could I do? I had my hands full with my own brood. Besides, her father wouldn’t let her near anyone. Some different children’s advocate groups tried to get involved but Old Man Patterson chased them off with his shotgun.”

  “I heard that she didn’t even finish school.”

  She shook her head. “No, she left and went to work. I guess she had no choice. Poor child.”

  Flori cleared her throat. I knew what was coming.

  “But, Ettie,” she said. “No one has to take up the kind of work she’s doing now.”

  Ettie looked confused. “You mean the kind of work she was doing? Bobby told me he got a job for her at the hospital. He said that was the least he could do. Apparently, she’s been cleaning houses during the day and offices at night, besides trying to finish her schooling online. He said she barely got any sleep.”

  I could see the glow in Flori’s eyes from across the coffee table. Before I could say anything, she said, “I’ve heard she barely gets any sleep, Ettie, but I don’t think it’s from cleaning floors.”

  “Flori,” I said. “We have no proof that Carly is doing anything other than what Ettie says. If we want to accuse her of being a hooker, we should find proof before we say anything.”

  “A hooker? You mean a prostitute?” Ettie’s eyes flew open at the word. “I’m sure there’s a mistake. If her brothers ever found any men going after their little sister, they’d shoot first and ask questions later. No, I’m sure she’d never end up in that kind of life.”

  I gave Flori my best ‘see I told you so’ look and changed the subject. We never did get back on to the subject of Bobby and Carly. For one thing, I didn’t want Ettie to become too depressed about it all and secondly, if I pried too much, she might wonder what was going on. Obviously, she thought her son had done well for himself and she wasn’t worried about where he got his money from.

  Why then was I worrying?

  Chapter Eleven

  After a week or so, all the buzz about the new doctor settled down. Most of the women were still goo-goo eyed whenever he came near but there were no more bombardments of cookies and cards at the hospital.

  “Did you hear, Mabel, they say that Dr. Campbell has mostly all female patients and that he’s booked for the next six months?”

  Flori was in her favorite chair in my shop. I was in the other one and we were enjoying our first cup of coffee. Ettie said she was going to join us as soon as her Bobby left for work. I had decided to call the new doctor ‘Dr. Campbell’ because somehow every time I said ‘Bobby,’ I felt like I was talking to a little boy. Flori, on the other hand, had no problem calling him ‘Dr. Bobby.’ It’s things like these that separate the mothers from the spinsters.

  “I’m not surprised,” I said. “Women are foolish creatures. On the other hand, it’s good that Fritzy gets a break. He was getting quite cantankerous lately. The last time I saw him, he was actually rude.”

  “Mabel, that’s because you told him he didn’t know anything. You can’t tell an old doctor that.”

  “Well, it’s true. He doesn’t know much.”

  Before I could get into my opinions of Dr. Fritz, Ettie walked in. I noticed immediately that she didn’t look her usual self. Flori, who tends to be a Pollyanna, didn’t notice at all.

  “Here, Ettie,” she said and bounced off her chair. “Sit here. I’ll get a cup of coffee for you.” She gave Ettie a hug and almost lifted her onto the chair.

  “Flori,” I said. “I think Ettie can climb into that chair on her own steam.” I gave Ettie a knowing smile and a pat on her arm. “However, you might as well take advantage of it because it isn’t often that Flori gives up her chair.”

  “Oh, Mabel, you know that isn’t true.” She gave Ettie another hug and walked over to the counter to fix the coffee.

  “Are you not feeling well?” I asked. “You don't look your usual happy self, Ettie. I hope everything is okay.”

  “Oh, Mabel,” Flori said as she handed Ettie the cup of coffee. “Ettie looks wonderful this morning. The brisk fall air has brought out the color in your cheeks.” She gave our friend a big Flori smile.

  Ettie took a sip of the hot coffee. She looked over at Flori who was now sitting on the wooden Coke box. One of these days, I’m afraid it’s going to collapse and my friend will find herself on the floor but I don’t want to embarrass her by insinuating that she might be overweight.

  “Oh, you’re a sweetheart, Flori, but Mabel is right. I’m having a lousy day. Bobby and I had a bit of an argument this morning. I know I don’t know much about finances and things like that but he really treats me as if I were a small child.”

  “I know it’s none of my business but don’t you have any of your own money, Ettie?” I asked.

  She sighed. “I do but since Bobby is taking care of me, I feel that I should turn my checks over to him. Don’t you think I should, Mabel?”

  I can’t say I’m overly confident talking about family matters like this but she did ask my opinion.

  “Of course,” I said. “It sounds reasonable. However, I’d think you’d have to keep something for yourself. You know, for little necessities that you need once in awhile.”

  “That’s how I feel too. You see, I hand over my check to Bobby and then he gives me spending money every month.”

  “So you get an allowance.”

  “I suppose you could call it that.”

  “Does he feel you’re getting too much?”

  “Oh, no, he’s very generous. I got into trouble when I wanted to check the account where he’s putting my money. He told me he was putting money away for me so I thought I could look to see how much I had. Well, I soon discovered that it might be money for me but I have no right to see how much!”

  “Do you think he wants it to be a surprise?” Flori asked. “It’s a wonderful thing when your children give you something as a surprise.”

  Yes, I thought. I wish your children gave you more surprise gifts, Flori. I would never voice that aloud.

  “No, I don’t think so,” Ettie said. “He wouldn’t get that angry over something like that. No, for some reason, he didn’t want me seeing that statement.”

  “You must have some idea, Ettie,” I said. “Could it be that he’s used all your money up and he’s ashamed? Apparently, he’s been spending quite freely at the hospital. Maybe he’s spending your money?”

  Ettie blushed. I noticed that her hands shook slightly as she lifted the coffee mug to her mouth. We waited until she’d taken a drink and swallowed.

  She shook her head. “No, this is what scares me. I was able to sneak a look at one of the pages before he grabbed the bankbook from my hand. Unless I was seeing things, but I don’t think I was.”

  “What did you see?” This was starting to get interesting.

  Ettie had a pained look in her eyes. “I saw six figure numbers, Mabel.” She looked from me to Flori. “Where would my son get money like that?”

  “Did you ask him?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “No, he was already angry enough. I didn’t want to anger him any more. What am I to do now?”

  She put her cup on the counter. “Should I go to the police, Mabel?”

  “What will you go with, Ettie? You have to find out first how an
d where he got that money. It might be legitimate and if you go to the police, it could ruin him. He might be playing the stock market but doesn’t want anyone to know. Do you think he made friends with some of his professors in medical college? Maybe they died and he inherited money?”

  “I don’t know. When he went to college, we hardly ever heard from him. He never told us of any friends. If that were the case, why wouldn’t he just tell me?”

  It was my turn to shake my head. “I don’t know. He might not want you to know how much money he really has, Ettie. Maybe you shouldn’t worry about it right now. How about if Flori and I check it out for you?”

  Her eyes lit up. “Are you serious? You would do that for me? I’ve heard about you, Mabel. The woman who lives on the other side of me said you solved murders even. I think that’s amazing.”

  Flori, who had been sitting quietly, said, “Did she tell you that Mabel is retired? She doesn’t solve murders anymore. Right, Mabel?”

  “Well, I did mention that I might not get too involved in solving cases anymore. Yes, I did say that, Flori.”

  “No, Mabel, you didn’t say you might not get too involved. You said you wouldn’t get involved at all.”

  “Oh, my goodness!” Ettie exclaimed. “I don’t want you to do something you don’t want to, Mabel.”

  I laughed. “I did say I was going to retire from solving murder cases but since this is only trying to figure out why your son is so secretive about his money, it’s really different.”

  “Maybe it’ll turn out to be a murder case, Mabel.”

  “Flori, no one has been murdered.”

  “At least, not yet,” she said.

  Chapter Twelve

  The first person I wanted to call was Reg Smee. He would have contacts that I didn’t. This whole case was getting strange. How could our new doctor, who came from such a poor family, have put himself through medical school and still have thousands of dollars in the bank? Perhaps not thousands - perhaps hundreds of thousands. I didn’t like the fact that he was abusive to his mother either. She was such a sweet person. If he didn’t want her around, why invite her to live with him? Maybe he was using her as a tax write-off.

  Reg straggled in about three. I use the word ‘straggled’ because it looked like he’d been doing hard physical labor since six a.m. without any coffee breaks.

  “Wow, what happened to you?” I asked. Not that I wanted to think negative thoughts, but it seemed to me that Reg had not only put on more weight, he’d lost a little more hair. There were a few extra worry lines running from the bridge of his nose to the top of his forehead too.

  He limped over to the chair and sat. I handed him his coffee. As soon as I saw his SUV pull up, I’d poured the coffee and fixed it up just how he liked it.

  “Thanks, Mabel.” He took a good-sized swallow, which took the level down about a third. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.” He took another gulp. “I have to get out of this job.” He looked at me with pleading eyes. “What am I going to do?”

  “I don’t know, Reg. I don’t know anything about being a mayor. I’m sure you have no choice until the next election anyway. What does Beth say? Does she want you to give up?”

  “I’m not giving up; I’m trying to save my life.” He glared at me but I knew the expression wasn’t meant for me personally. “I can’t work with those people down there. I’d rather work with criminals. They have more sense.”

  “What now? Surely there can’t be something to complain about all the time.”

  “Are you kidding? People come in every day to complain. No one is satisfied with anything or anyone. I went over to the jail at noon just to get away from everybody.”

  “Why don’t you go home for lunch?”

  “Because that’s where they think I go. Beth phoned while I was at the jail and said there was a car parked outside the house waiting for me to come home.”

  “Well, I’m sorry, Reg. I thought it would be the perfect job for you.”

  He sighed. “I did too. I’d give anything to work a murder case again.”

  “Do you want to help find out what makes our new doctor tick? Or, maybe I should say, find out what makes our new doctor such a rich man?”

  “Mabel, I thought we talked about that. You can’t do background checks on everyone who seems to have more money than you think he should.”

  “I know Reg, but what if his mother wants to know.”

  “His mother doesn’t know where his money came from?”

  “Not came … comes from. He not only put himself through to be a doctor but he’s a rich man now. All through college he rented apartments, never stayed in the dorms, and I’ll bet you anything he drove a new car.”

  “Why does his mother want to know?”

  “Because he takes her monthly checks and puts them into an account for her. He gives her so much money a month. She’s fine with this but when she found the bankbook with her account in it, he got angry and took it away. Before he grabbed it, she saw a six figure amount.”

  Reg whistled under his breath. “Well, either she has a big pension coming in or he’s involved in something illegal.”

  “Aha. That’s my sentiment exactly. Now, how do we go about checking up on this man?”

  “I’ll see what I can do.” There was a spring in his step as he headed for the door that wasn’t there when he arrived.

  Before he went out, I said, “Do you think we should ask Sheriff Jim to check into it too?”

  “Nah, he’s busy.” There was a twinkle in his eye. “It’ll give you and me something to do.”

  I thought I’d leave this up to Reg instead of asking Nathan to get involved. There were still places Reg could look without getting into trouble. He had old friends in every police department in the country.

  Flori didn’t come over that evening because she was a grandmother again and she and Jake were going up to the hospital to see the new baby. It was also the first time one of her daughters-in-law had given her permission to come and stay after she returned home to help with the baby, and Flori was walking on air. Jake Jr.’s wife didn’t have any family so she was happy to have such a wonderful mother-in-law.

  The next day was Sunday and I was getting bored at home. It was a warm day and the cats were outside enjoying it. I watched as Dr. Campbell left about eleven and I assumed he was going to the hospital to check on his patients. I wondered then what Ettie was up to. There was no need for the two of us to sit around doing nothing. I also thought it was a good time to take my car out for a run. Who knew? Snow can arrive early in my part of the country.

  Ettie opened the door almost before I’d finished knocking.

  “Hi, Mabel. I was just thinking about you and wondering what you were doing.”

  “Did your son head off to the hospital?”

  She shrugged. “He doesn’t tell me. He’s been quite grouchy ever since the incident with the bankbook. I don’t know how I’m going to spend the rest of my days with him.”

  “Let’s not think about it right now, Ettie. Do you want to go for a drive in the country?”

  “With you and Flori? Who will we go with?”

  “Not with Flori because she’s at her son’s place. And you will come with me. I do drive, Ettie.”

  She had such a shocked look on her face that I had to laugh. I had an idea. “Would you like to take a drive out to your farm?”

  “Oh, Mabel, I would love that. Could we really go all the way there? It’s over an hour’s drive, you know. I would love to show you my house and I’m sure there are some vegetables we can bring back. We always have a huge garden. The boys plant enough potatoes to last for the winter.” She turned back into the house. “Just a moment and I’ll get my purse and a sweater.”

  “Did you want to leave a note for your son?” I asked before she locked the door.

  She shook her head. “No, I don’t want to lie and if I say where I am, he won’t be too happy.”

  “Won’t he be
worried if he gets home and you’re not here?”

  “Oh, I’m sure I’ll be home before him. He lives at the hospital.”

  We scurried through her yard and headed to my garage. As we were backing out, Ettie said, “This is wonderful. I couldn’t think of anything I’d like to do more. Oh, I wonder how the boys are doing out there.”

  “You can phone them. Why don’t you call and talk to them?”

  “I don’t have a phone. Bobby has a cell phone but there’s no phone in the house.”

  “Ettie, you’re welcome to come over and use my phone any time you want.” As I was saying this, I was thinking what a jerk her son Bobby was. Surely, with all his money, he could buy his mother a cell phone.

  “Are any of your other sons married, Ettie?”

  Talking about her other family seemed to cheer her up and she chatted about her children and grandchildren all the way there. Neither of the two sons living on the farm were married but both her daughters were and they each had three children.

  “I know that’s why Bobby didn’t want me out on the farm,” she said. “He thought all I’d be doing would be looking after the house and cooking for those boys.” She laughed. “I guess he was right about that. At the time, it felt so right to go with him into Parson’s Cove. As I told you, Bobby and I were very close when he was small. I guess I thought I might get close to him again but perhaps too much time has passed. We’re really like strangers now.”

  The drive in the country was scenic and restful. There were very few vehicles on the road so we could relax and look at the countryside. Leaves were turning red and gold. It looked like some giant hand had reached down with a paintbrush. The time slipped by quickly.

  I pulled off the highway and drove down a gravel road. The scene changed. The massive pine and fir trees mixed in with the colored leaves of the oak, aspen, and willow no longer surrounded us. Wild grass and low brush grew on both sides now. Here and there, farmers had cleared the land and we would see a patch of corn. It wasn’t as high as the corn I was used to seeing. Some corn grows over eight feet, but this was perhaps five with empty patches. I could see where it would be difficult to eke out a living. Cows stared idly at us as we drove past. Dust rose up from my tires and billowed out from under my car.