by Diane Weiner
“That’s the story I got.”
“And you’re pretty sure the injuries were from the fight?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“We have him on CCTV leaving the inn around 7 p.m. and returning before 8 p.m. Then he left again around midnight. We’re just confirming the injuries were sustained at the bar.”
“He lied about leaving the inn earlier?”
“Yes, he did.”
“Why? Do you think he went out, got the diabetes meds, snuck back into the kitchen and poisoned the cheesecake?”
“It fits the timeline. He didn’t leave for the bar until hours later.”
“Emily found ashes on the window ledge at Coralee’s—the dining room window ledge. And a piece of a zipper.”
“She called and told me. In the footage, Arturo is wearing a zippered ski jacket. We’d need a warrant to check, unless, of course, he cooperates.”
“Did he have access to the medication?”
“We haven’t found a link yet. Unless of course…”
“What?”
“In some countries, a lot of these drugs are over the counter.”
“You mean like in Mexico? That’s ridiculous. He’d have had to plan way in advance. Arturo’s a bit of a hot head. And why medication and not just rat poison or anti-freeze?”
“I think the killer was hoping it would appear Faith died of natural causes, like a heart attack or something.”
“Well, I don’t think he’s your guy.”
“Then why did he lie about his whereabouts? Where did he go between the time he blew up at Faith and when he was in the fight at the bar?”
“Ask him.”
“We will. Changing the subject, what can I bring for dinner tomorrow night?”
“Not cheesecake.”
While Henry was at the hospital, Emily sat at her desk with a cup of coffee she’d toted from home in the travel mug that Maddy got her for Christmas. She stared at the mug. Didn’t she read somewhere that coffee causes breast cancer? Wait. Maybe it was that coffee helped prevent cancer. Convinced it was the latter, she took a swig. She hadn’t been able to focus at home, alone with her thoughts, and hoped a change of scenery might help.
Determined to focus, she finished the last of her revisions and sent her soon-to-be-published book back to her editor. Relief. Hopefully this would do it and the book would be on its way to publication. What next? Living in Sugarbury Falls had given her no shortage of book ideas. The recent murder could easily work its way into print. She’d have to see how the case progressed.
“Knock, knock.” Nancy poked her head in. “What are you doing here so early?”
“I wanted to finish my book revisions and send it off before class.”
“That’s great. You sure put that book together quickly. Has Maddy heard from Ava?”
“Just that her father is in town now and staying with them at the house. What about Brooke?”
“She just texted me. There’s a memorial service tomorrow.”
“So soon?”
“Does seem rushed. Emily, are you okay? You look like something’s bothering you.”
“You can’t say anything. If this gets back to Maddy she’ll be worried sick.”
“You know you can trust me.”
“I got a call from my doctor. You know the mammogram I had last week?”
“Yeah.”
“I have to go for more testing.”
“Like a biopsy?”
“No, they said they needed a clearer view.”
“That happened to me. It’s not unusual. They just need a close up of a section, that’s all. They can’t tell sometimes if what they’re seeing is dense tissue, a cyst, or nothing at all.”
“Or a tumor.”
“Emily, don’t jump the gun here. Call and make your appointment.”
“Okay.” She picked up the phone. “I’ll call right now.”
Chapter 8
Emily tried to call the breast center several times but the line was busy. She promised herself she’d call tonight, knowing the center had evening hours. When she got home, Henry’s Jeep was in the driveway and she assumed Maddy was home from school by now. Emily dropped her bag on the sofa and took off her jacket.
“Maddy?” No answer. She knocked on Maddy’s door. “Honey, I was thinking we could bring food over to Ava’s before dinner. Want to help?”
Maddy took out her air pods. “What food?”
“Baked Ziti.”
“Mila doesn’t eat dairy, remember?”
“You’re right. I could make a Shepard’s pie.”
“I guess. I’ve got a lot of homework.”
“Do your homework. I’ll let you know when it’s ready and we’ll drop it off.”
Henry was flipping through the newspaper when Emily came into the kitchen. She gave him a kiss. “How was your day?”
“Okay.”
“I’m making a Shepard’s pie to bring over to Ava’s. Want to help?” Before he could answer, she handed him an armload of potatoes and the peeler.
“Guess I’ll do the potatoes,” he said.
“Peel, cook, and mash. Did you find out whether or not Arturo is a smoker?”
“I saw him today at the hospital. He admits to smoking, though he’s been cutting back. Megan pulled the CCTV footage from the night of the murder. It shows him leaving the inn shortly after he stormed off, then returning soon after. Before we left. Then he went out again around 11 p.m. Arturo says he was in his room until he left for the bar around 11.”
“So, he lied. He snuck out, got the drugs, put it in Faith’s dessert before we were done with dinner.”
“That’s the implication, but it’s a short timeline. He’d have to have known exactly where to get the drugs to get back in time. Besides, like I’ve said before, he’s a bit of a hot head. If he wanted to kill Faith, I think he’d have slugged her right there in the dining room.”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah, what? You agree?”
“If he works at the inn doing handyman stuff, wouldn’t he know Coralee had video surveillance?”
“You’d think so. Hey, did something happen at work? You seem distracted.”
She really wanted to tell him about the mammogram, but she couldn’t risk Maddy finding out. Besides, Nancy and the nurse who called both said it was probably nothing to worry about. “I’m fine.” She stirred the ground beef in the pan. The longer she’d been vegetarian, the more she couldn’t stand the odor of meat. When it finished cooking, she drained it and left Henry finishing the potatoes while she made her phone call in the bedroom.
Her fingers shook as she pressed the numbers. “Hello, this is Emily Fox. I need to make an appointment for a follow-up mammogram.”
The receptionist seemed to have recognized the name. “Yes, Mrs. Fox. We got orders for a compression and an ultrasound. How’s Monday at 2:00?”
“Fine. Um, do you get a lot of those call backs? Does it mean…”
“It just means the image wasn’t clear for whatever reason and the doctor wants a better view. Don’t worry. It’s fairly common.”
“Thanks. I’ll be there on Monday at 2.” When she went back downstairs, steam rose from the pot of potatoes. Henry had taken out a few cans of peas and carrots.
“Everything okay?”
“Just needed the bathroom. Think we’ll have this together before dinner?”
“Yeah. What are we making tomorrow night?”
“I’m thinking vegetable lasagna and a nice salad. Megan’s bringing dessert. Maddy asked if we could invite Jessica over.”
“Great. I still can’t believe she has a sister. The miracle of DNA testing gone commercial.”
“Bizarre. Their father’s sitting in jail. What an egotist, fathering all those children and his patients thought they were getting an anonymous donor.”
“That could be your next book.”
“No, it’s open and shut. I need gray area to make it interesting reading.”
He and Emily sat in the living room. “I wonder about the owner of Smyth Haven. She’s certainly benefitting with the negative publicity against Coralee’s place.”
“That’s extreme, wouldn’t you say? And besides, she snuck in just during that window of time to poison Faith Maguire?”
“The more I think about it, maybe Faith wasn’t the target. What if Rona Smyth injected the cheesecake and didn’t care who it killed. She could have done that ahead of time.”
“You can ask Coralee if she’d ever come by the inn.”
She opened her lap top. “Let’s see what we can find out about Rona Smyth.” She googled the name and sorted through information. “She grew up here. Then she moved away and had her own restaurant about an hour away.”
“Is the restaurant still there? I wonder if she still owns it.”
Emily googled some more. “I don’t see it here. Wait, let me try something else.”
“It could have changed names if she sold it.”
“Look. Here’s an article that says the restaurant caught on fire and was burned to the ground. It says the owner decided not to rebuild and moved to Vermont to be near her aging parents.”
“There you go. She must have used the insurance money to renovate Smyth Haven.”
“The timeline looks about right. I wonder if her parents still live here.”
Emily searched the obituaries. “Smyth is a very common name.”
“Narrow it down to our county and within the past two years.”
“Here it is. Charlie and Joan Smyth died in a car accident about six months ago.”
“How awful. She said they were elderly.”
“Not so elderly. In fact, they weren’t all that much older than we are.”
“I guess age is relative. At least she got to spend some time with them before they died.”
“Do you smell something?”
“The Shepard’s pie!” She ran to the kitchen, followed by Henry and opened the oven. “Phew. It looks perfect. I’ll let it cool.”
“We can bring it over warm and they can have it for dinner.”
“Good thinking. I’ll get Maddy.”
When they got to Ava’s, Tilly the housekeeper answered the door. “You didn’t have to bring food. How kind of you. Come on in.”
Emily set the Shepard’s pie on the table. “I thought if you hadn’t made dinner…it’s still warm.”
“I hadn’t even thought about dinner yet. Poor Mila’s been crying nonstop. I just rubbed her back and got her to fall asleep. Maddy, Ava’s in her room. Go on in, she could use the company.”
A tall man in an Emory sweatshirt and jeans came into the room. “I’m Dave Maguire.”
“Emily and Henry Fox. Ava’s a friend of our daughter’s. We ate together the night Faith died. I’m sorry for your loss.”
“It was quite the shock. I’m glad I was able to get here right away for the girls.”
Emily said, “I was glad, too. I heard they’re having quite a blizzard in Atlanta. Did you fly through Atlanta?”
“Got out just in time.”
“Do you think the girls will be okay? Are you taking them back to Georgia?”
“I haven’t thought it out yet.”
Tilly said, “They’re more than half way through the school year. And Mila loves her teacher. It might be wise to let them stay here until school’s out for the year.”
“I’ve got a lot to think about. I’ve been working on the arrangements for the memorial service. Looks like we’re clear for the day after tomorrow.”
Emily wasn’t sure she’d heard right. Did the police release the body already? “That’s so soon.”
Tilly said, “I got in touch with the minister from the church we’ve been going to with the girls. He’s going to do a simple ceremony.”
Dave said, “We’ll keep the ashes in an urn for now. When we’re settled, I’ll talk to the girls and perhaps spread them over a favorite spot. Not that I know where that’d be, but Ava will have some ideas. I’m glad Tilly had connections.”
“Ava was living with you, right?”
“Yeah. The high school was much better. Of course, that all changed when it became convenient to ruin my reputation and sever my custody arrangement. Everything was fine until I objected to her moving the girls out of state.”
Henry said, “How are Mila’s seizures doing?”
“She hasn’t had any since I’ve been here. She never had one while I was with her, but, of course, that wasn’t often. Even when I was supposed to take her for a weekend, half the time she was too sick to visit. She barely knows me.”
Emily said, “You’re her father. It won’t take long to bond.”
Tilly said, “Mila is upset, of course, but health wise she’s doing okay. Do you all want to stay for dinner?”
“No, thanks,” said Emily. “Maddy has a lot of homework. Let me know if you need anything and keep us in the loop about the memorial service. Ava knows how to reach us.”
Chapter 9
Henry stopped by the hospital in the morning. He was going to put in a couple of hours, only because one of the doctors was on vacation. Normally he kept the weekends free.
Pat came up behind him. “Still on for tonight, right?”
“Of course. Are you up for a game of Scattergories after dinner?”
“Always.”
“I thought you weren’t working today?”
“I had to fill out the paperwork releasing Faith Maguire’s body. The ex is very anxious to get her cremated. It gives me a bad feeling.”
“Yeah, what’s the rush? I met him last night and he already has a memorial service planned for tomorrow.”
“They were divorced, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Maybe he gets an insurance payout or something.”
“There was a custody issue. Maddy’s friend said something about how the mother severed custody ties before moving here.”
“Think he did it?” asked Pat.
“Killed his ex-wife? He wasn’t in town until after it happened. By the way, did you identify which diabetes drug killed her?”
“Yeah.” He showed Henry the report. “This one. It caused her blood sugar to tank.”
“It’s a common medication. I’ve prescribed it myself a few times since moving here. It’s quick acting.”
“If we didn’t test for it specifically, it wouldn’t have been detected.”
“I don’t think Arturo Rivera is guilty. His actions that night are suspicious, but my gut tells me he isn’t a murderer.”
“Even though security cameras have him making a side trip right before the murder? A side trip he lied about?”
“Emily thinks maybe the owner of the new place, Smyth Haven, should be considered.”
“I’m sure Megan and Ron have all the angles covered. By the way, is it just the four of us tonight? Megan’s making dessert and asked me to find out if I saw you how much to bring.”
“Maddy’s half-sister is coming, too. And she might be bringing a date.”
“So weird how Maddy connected with her, isn’t it? That fertility doctor’s in jail, right?”
“Yeah. What an ego. Fathering all those kids himself like that. Jessica found out through a DNA test, one of those they market nowadays. Shortly afterwards, the story broke.”
“It’s nice that she moved here.”
“That was meant to be. She came to meet Maddy, and had just gotten her teaching degree. There happened to be an opening at the school here, which almost never happens.”
“It’s good she’s got family. I mean, not that you and Emily…”
“I know what you mean. See you tonight?”
“We’ll be there.”
******
While Henry was at the hospital, Emily went for a jog around the lake. The weather wasn’t perfect, but it was a little warmer than it had been an
d it wasn’t snowing. She was so sick of the treadmill; she was willing to go out in a blizzard about now.
Rona Smyth. Her restaurant burned down, and she moved here to be with her parents, who died shortly afterwards. She must have used insurance money to renovate the place. As she came around the corner, she ran into her neighbor, Rebecca, walking her dog.
“Emily, I haven’t seen you running out here in months.”
“Cabin fever, I guess. I smell spring around the corner.”
“Abby and I are going skiing later. It’ll be probably the last time this season, even with the artificial snow.”
“Did you hear about the murder?”
“Yeah.”
“What can you find out about the owner of Smyth Haven?” She knew Rebecca’s job involved tracking sensitive information that she wasn’t able to talk about.
“I can find everything. Want to come inside?”
“Sure. Where’s Abby?”
“Shooting engagement photos. She’ll be back soon.”
Emily followed her into the cozy cabin. Abby’s photography decorated the wall over the fireplace. “Coralee is beside herself with the murder, even though it wasn’t her fault. I had this idea that maybe her competitor, Rona Smyth, might be guilty.”
“You just pulled that out of your head?”
“No. A guest at Coralee’s says he saw someone peeking in the dining room window the night of the murder. There were ashes and a cellophane wrapper on the ledge and on the ground.”
“And?”
“And Rona Smyth smelled like a chimney when I visited there.”
“You know that she’s not the only smoker in town, right?”
“Yeah, but she made a comment about her doctor telling her to watch her sugar. If she’s taking oral diabetes meds, she had access.”
“You know for sure she’s diabetic?”
“No. Not for sure. And there were the galoshes by the umbrella stand.”
“What about them?”
“They were still damp, and there was a reddish mud on them. Coralee has mulch outside the windows. The snow was melted enough the other day that the mulch may have been exposed.”
“Let’s take a look.” She opened her laptop. “Spell the name.” She typed some more. “Looks like she grew up here. I’ll check the childhood address.”