by Kathi Daley
It’s not at all uncommon for people I come into contact with to ask me about crimes that have occurred in the area since everyone knows that Mike’s my brother and that I’m more likely than most to have news to share. Of course, I wasn’t sure I was supposed to share the details of Anton’s death with anyone, so I simply told her that I’d heard he’d drowned at some point on Monday night and that the circumstances surrounding his drowning were still under investigation and left it at that.
“You know,” Millie said, “I spoke to Anton the day before he passed.”
“Did you?”
She nodded, “I ran into him Sunday just as I was coming out of the church. He was with a young woman who was pushing a stroller with a baby inside.” She frowned. “I’m not sure who the woman was. I don’t think Anton ever mentioned a name. Anyway, I said my hello’s and asked about the summer league that’s scheduled to start up in a few weeks. I hoped he’d join us again, but he said he was busy and didn’t plan to participate. What a shame. The man was a good bowler.”
“Did you get a look at the baby?” I asked.
“No. Like I said, the baby was in the stroller. I think she was asleep.”
“So it was a female baby?”
She shrugged. “I guess. There was a pink blanket over her.”
“And the woman Anton was with? What did she look like?”
She tilted her head to the side just a bit. “Are you looking into this? I know you do that sometimes.”
“I guess I’m just curious given what happened to Anton.”
“Yeah, I get that. The woman was blond. Petite. She was young. Maybe in her twenties. I know Anton never had children, so I’m not sure how he knew her. I guess she might have been a niece or friend of the family.”
“You said you were coming out of church when you ran into Anton. Had Anton been to services as well?”
“No, I don’t think so. I don’t know how well you knew Anton, but he wasn’t really the religious sort. It looked to me as if he was just walking down the street with this young woman and her baby and happened to be passing the church when it let out.”
“And what time was that?” I asked.
“About eleven-fifteen. Services let out at eleven o’clock, but they always run over a few minutes. By the time everyone gathers their stuff, it’s usually around eleven-fifteen when everyone actually leaves.”
I glanced down at my mailbag. “I guess I should get going. Thanks for the information. I don’t know if any of it is relevant to what happened, but it’s always a good idea to collect as much information as possible.”
“Yes. I guess asking around about what was going on in a person’s life before they died a suspicious death is a good idea. Will I see you tomorrow?”
“I’ll be here.”
After I left the home store, I headed toward the donut shop, where I learned that Anton had been seen with a young woman on several occasions during the weekend preceding his death. No one seemed to know who she was, but most speculated that she was probably a relation of his deceased wife. It seemed likely to me that if Anton was seen with this woman on several occasions, then perhaps she was the guest responsible for the second bowl of chili and the unmade bed in the guest room, but it also seemed that if she had been staying at the house with a baby, there would be evidence left behind. Babies went through a lot of diapers. If nothing else, I would think that Anton’s garbage cans would be full of items relating to a baby if this woman had indeed been staying with him.
After I left the donut shop, I’d hit the arcade, followed by the deli and the ice cream store. If I kept to the pace I’d established, I figured it would work out perfectly, and I would arrive at Mike’s office mid-morning.
“Morning, Frank,” I greeted Mike’s assistant two hours after beginning my route on the south end.
“Morning, Tess,” Frank said as Leonard came charging down the hallway at full speed.
“Does he run out to greet everyone like this?” I laughed as he practically jumped into my arms.
“No. Just you. And Tony, I guess. He’s actually real gentle with Bree, and he doesn’t much care if he greets people he doesn’t know well unless they have a dog with them, of course, and then he’s likely to come out for a peek.
“Is Mike in his office?” I asked after Leonard had moved on to say hi to Tilly.
“He is, but he’s on the phone. If you want to wave at him to let him know you are here, I’m sure he’ll be out once he’s done.”
I set today’s mail on Frank’s desk. “Any idea who he’s talking to?”
“The coroner. I’m not sure what they’re talking about, but I recognized the number when the call came through.
I slipped my mailbag off my shoulder and set it on the counter. I then walked down the hallway until I was sure Mike had seen me. I pointed to the lobby and indicated that I’d wait for him there. He nodded, and I returned to the room off the entry where Tilly was waiting for me.
“So, how’s it been being back on your old route?” Frank asked, making small talk while I waited for Mike.
“It’s been great. I’ve really missed everyone, and it’s been fun catching up.”
“I guess absence really does make the heart grow fonder.”
I sat down on the chair across from him. “It’s not that I ever really grew tired of my job. I was faced with the decision to move out to Tony’s or keep my cabin and realized I wanted to live full-time with Tony. With the weather we get in White Eagle and the fact that Tony’s home is so far up the mountain, trying to commute in the winter was never going to work. My job at the shelter is really flexible. If we get a bunch of snow, I can stay home, and it’s no big deal. With the post office, however, the motto is rain or shine, so simply calling in every time it snowed wasn’t going to fly.”
“I guess I can see that. And I suspect that having some variety in your life is good as well. I know that a lot of folks along your route really missed you after you left, but they adapted once Hannah got up to speed.”
“I figured they would.”
“How is Hannah, by the way?”
I furrowed my brow. “I’m not sure. I know the break was a bad one. I think Hannah’s going to be out for quite some time. I agreed to fill in for a few weeks, but I suspect they’re going to need to train someone else to take over. I guess I should talk to my boss about it. I’m fine filling in for a month or so, but I can’t really be away from the shelter for longer than that.”
“Is Brady still trying to juggle his veterinary practice and the animal shelter?”
“He is. It was sort of tricky immediately after the shelter’s expansion, but he’s taken on a partner at his veterinary practice and hired several full-time employees at the shelter. I think he’s making it work, at least on most days. He loves both, so I don’t see him ever choosing between his practice and the shelter, but there are times it gets to be a lot, especially when we have rescues to fit in.”
Frank leaned back and put his feet on the desk. “How’s that going?”
“Good. Kody is doing really well with his training, and Brady and Tracker are pros. The training we’re doing with the other dogs is filling the need for additional search and rescue teams in the area. I think things are moving along quite nicely.”
“I’m glad to hear it.”
I looked up as Mike walked into the lobby.
“Let’s talk in my office,” he suggested.
I nodded and got up. I figured Mike must want to talk about Dad or Secret or both; otherwise, he would have just said what he had to say in front of Frank.
“So fill me in,” he started right off. “Did Tony break the code?”
I answered that he had broken the code, which had led him to names, dates, locations, and that sort of thing. Without context, he didn’t know what all of that meant, but we were both sure Dad would know; if only he’d return our message so we could ask him.
Once I shared that with him, I shared what Millie had to
ld me about running into Anton with a young woman and a baby Sunday. I wasn’t sure if that was important, but given everything else that had been going on, it seemed as if it might be.
“So what’s going on with the coroner?” I asked after the subject of the woman with the baby was exhausted.
“He was able to determine that Anton definitely drowned and that he was alive when he went into the water. He’s been saying that the cause of death was death by drowning and that the head injury occurred before the drowning all along. I think he just wanted to confirm what he suspected.”
“So did someone hit Anton on the head with something heavy and then dump him into the water, where he drowned? Or did he slip and hit his head and then fall into the water?”
“The coroner suspects that Anton engaged in some sort of a struggle before ending up in the water. He thinks he was intentionally hit with an object like a baseball bat, which led to him falling into the water and drowning.”
“Were there any defensive wounds on Anton’s body?” I asked.
“That’s the odd thing; there weren’t any. It seems as if whoever hit Anton simply came up from behind, hit him with a baseball bat-like object, tossed his body into the water, and then left. The blow to Anton’s head might not have been enough to have killed him if he hadn’t ended up in the water, but he had been hit hard enough to knock him out at least temporarily.”
“So it sounds like killing him was intentional,” I said.
“Seems like it. At first, I thought that Anton might have been out with friends when he got into a tussle with someone and ended up hitting his head and falling overboard, but a single blow to the head from behind tells a different story.”
“Did Anton have drugs or alcohol in his system?”
“None at all,” Mike answered.
“So if Anton was with this young mother Sunday morning, and he was dead by Monday night, are we thinking that she’s involved in some way?”
Mike frowned. “I’m not sure. He was seen with this woman Sunday, but we know he was alive Monday and that he shared his dinner with someone. It might have been the same woman, but there isn’t any way to know that for certain at this point, and the woman Anton was with was described as young and petite. That doesn’t sound like the sort of person who would be capable of hitting a man over the head and dumping him into the lake.”
“I guess that’s true.” I paused to think things over. “You said that the dirty dishes on the counter in Anton’s home didn’t have prints clear enough to be lifted, but what about DNA?”
“We’d need someone to match the DNA to even if we could pull enough to get a clear reading.”
“You have Anton’s body, so you can match his DNA to any DNA you might find on the dishes. If you’re able to get a sample that doesn’t match Anton’s, maybe you can match it to Secret.”
Mike nodded slowly. “You’re thinking that if the woman with the baby is Secret’s mother, then maybe she was still around Monday evening even though Dad had brought the baby to me Monday morning.”
“It’s a thought. I know it seems unlikely, but it would be nice to eliminate the link between Secret and Anton just so we know for sure.”
“Yeah,” he agreed. “It would be nice to know for sure. I’ll see what I can come up with.”
Mike and I chatted for a while longer, but I really needed to get back to my route, so I said my goodbyes. I promised to call Mike first thing if Tony heard from Dad or someone associated with Dad, and Mike promised to call me right away if he found DNA to test against Secret’s DNA. I had no reason to think that the baby who’d been with Anton Sunday was the same baby my dad had delivered to Mike Monday, but I realized I was never going to be able to relax until all these mysteries were solved and Secret was reunited with her mother, assuming, of course, that her mother was still alive to be reunited with.
Chapter 8
When Tilly and I arrived home, Tony had a bottle of wine chilling, a tray of cheese, olives, and fresh fruit he’d prepared sitting on the patio table, and a happy baby just waiting to be hugged and cuddled.
“Wow, I think I could get used to this,” I said, settling into a comfy chair on the patio overlooking the lake after changing out of my uniform and into shorts and a tank top.
“It’s a gorgeous day,” Tony commented. He poured me a glass of chilled sauvignon blanc, setting it on the table next to my lounge chair since I currently had Secret in my lap.
“She sure is happy today.” I smiled as the baby smiled and cooed.
“She’s been in a good mood all day. We even went for a walk.”
“A walk? Really? Do we have a stroller?”
“A front pack which works even better for a walk around the lake with the dogs.”
“Where did you get a front pack?” I was pretty sure Tony didn’t have any other babies in his life.
“Bree stopped by this afternoon. She wanted to visit with Secret and wanted to bring me additional supplies.”
I frowned, wondering what Mike would think of his very pregnant wife making the trip up the mountain alone.
“Not only did she bring me a front pack for walks, but she brought some more clothes and additional diapers and formula,” Tony added.
“That was nice of her, but I could have picked everything up and saved her the trip.”
“I think she wanted to visit with Secret,” Tony pointed out. “She actually sat with her for a couple hours while I got some work done. It was really very helpful.”
“Yes, I guess it was. And Bree does have a new assistant, so she’s able to take time off from the bookstore, but I’m not sure Mike wants her driving around on her own.”
“She’s pregnant, not sick or injured,” Tony pointed out.
I knew he was right. And Bree was really good at knowing and respecting her body. When she felt the need to rest, she rested. I really wasn’t sure why I was worrying.
“Did you hear from Dad?” I asked.
“No. But I figure it might be a few days. We aren’t sure that your dad’s even monitoring the message board on a daily basis.”
“If he gave it to us to use for emergencies, he should be monitoring it,” I pointed out.
“I suppose. Your dad might still call or email today. I sort of suspect that he’ll set up a secure chat room so we can have a conversation without the risk of anyone else looking and listening in.”
I hoped Tony was right. “I wonder how he’ll let us know about the chat room.”
“He knows how to contact me via my secure server, so I’m sure he’ll reach out and set up a time for us to log on. If we don’t hear from him in a few days, we can try something else to reach him.”
“I just hope he gives us enough notice so Mike can be here as well. He’ll be mad if Dad contacts one of us and he isn’t able to be involved.”
“I’m sure your father will be sensitive to that. He did leave Secret with Mike. It seems he trusts him to keep things quiet.”
“Yeah, but he called me and not Mike about Theo. I think he knows Mike has a testosterone-fueled protective instinct when it comes to Mom.”
Tony chuckled. “Testosterone-fueled protective instinct?”
I was about to respond when Secret let out a screech. “She’s reaching for Tilly,” I said.
“She’s clearly interested in all the animals, and she seems to be fine with looking at them from afar, but it’s different with Tilly. She seems to feel more of a bond and tries to reach for her.”
“Tilly’s a girl. She has a nurturing instinct.” I watched as Tilly wandered over and put her head on my lap next to the baby I was holding. Secret reached out, grabbed a handful of fur, and pulled, but Tilly didn’t seem to mind in the least. In fact, it appeared she was enjoying the encounter a great deal.
“I think Tilly is going to be best buddies with our baby when we have one,” Tony said.
I looked toward the man I loved. This was the first time he’d brought up the subject of us one day havin
g a baby of our own since we’d been married. He knew I wanted to wait a minimum of a year before we even started to talk about it, and he’d respected that, although I had been thinking about it quite a lot as of late.
“She’s going to be a wonderful doggy nanny,” I agreed. I glanced down at Secret. “I always thought I wanted a boy, but Secret sure is sweet.”
“She really is,” Tony agreed. “But I think you’ll find that a baby boy will be just as sweet. I’m sure we’ll love and adore our baby, whichever sex he or she turns out to be.”
I smiled at Tony and then reached out to take a sip of my wine. “So, what are you thinking of having for dinner?”
“I have all the ingredients for linguini with broccoli and pine nuts, or we can barbeque those pork chops we have in the freezer.”
“The linguini sounds good.” I looked toward the herb garden Tony had planted shortly after buying the house. It was just coming back after the winter freeze, and I knew that it wouldn’t be long before the scent of the herbs Tony cultivated would bring a wonderful smell to the patio. “In fact, as nice as this is, I have a feeling once the sun goes behind the mountain, it’s going to get chilly.”
“Yeah, it’s not quite as warm today as it has been. I guess we can go inside, and I’ll start dinner.”
Tony grabbed the wine and cheese tray while I carried Secret inside. I’d just settled her into her car seat, which had been set up on the table so she could be part of the group as we cooked when my cell dinged, letting me know I had a text.
“The text is from an unknown number telling me to tell you to check your email.”
“It might be your dad.” Tony looked conflicted. “Should I make dinner or go downstairs and check my email?”
“Check your email. We can have cereal for dinner if we need to.”
As it turned out, the text was from Dad, who’d sent Tony an email on his secure server as we suspected he would. The email contained a link with instructions to log on and access the link at eight o’clock. It was seven-thirty now, and it took a good twenty minutes to drive from White Eagle up to our home on the lake, so I called Mike and filled him in. He assured me that he and Bree would leave right away and would be at our place as soon as they could get there. They’d already eaten, so Tony made us sandwiches while I gave Secret a bath and slipped her into her jammies. Hopefully, she’d be ready for bed before the chat with Dad got underway. If not, I was sure Bree would look after her, but it probably would be best if all four of us could be in on the conversation since, with Dad, you never really knew what sort of surprises he had up his sleeve.