by J A Whiting
“They made you angry?” Angie asked.
Roberta put a hand on her ribs and adjusted her position in her chair. “Some of the men on the team didn’t get along. Two of them actually. One was always picking at the other one, and there were times when the picked-on one blew up. They had words, hurled insults and curses at each other. I’d had enough. I told them to stop it, to stop acting like children. I didn’t want their mutual antagonism to influence the quality of the painting work. I felt like they were spending more time picking at each other than getting the work done, the work we were paying for. I lit into them one day. I told them not to come back if they couldn’t control themselves. I spoke to the owner about them. We didn’t want those two creating an atmosphere of discord in our home.”
Angie knew who Roberta was talking about. “How did the men take your criticism?”
“Not well. One of them stormed out. He told me to do it myself. Can you imagine?”
“How about the other man?”
Robert said, “He looked angry, but he didn’t say much. He went back to work. The other one never came back. I assume the owner assigned the one who stormed out to another team. We didn’t get anyone to replace him so the project took longer than it was supposed to. I can’t blame the company. The employees have to behave professionally. Unfortunately, some workers don’t understand the kind of behavior that’s expected.”
“Did the painters go in and out of the house through the front or back doors?” Chief Martin asked.
“The back. They came in through the French doors in the kitchen,” Roberta said.
“Do you know the names of the men who were arguing with each other?”
“Dave? I don’t recall the other man’s name. Dave was hard to talk to, he seemed shy or annoyed, I could never tell which one it was. He didn’t seem to mingle with the others. At lunchtime, Dave would go for a walk. He never ate with the other painters.”
“You stayed at home during the painting?” Angie asked.
“Lincoln and I had to take time off from work to stay home. We didn’t want people in the house without one of us around. We wanted to keep an eye on the workers. I didn’t want them free to wander wherever they felt like going.”
“Do either of you know the other targeted people?” Chief Martin asked.
Roberta and Sally exchanged looks.
“We don’t know them,” Roberta said. “We never crossed paths with any of them.”
Sally shook her head.
“Did you have any issues with any of your friends recently?” the chief asked Sally.
“No, no issues.”
“How about with your patients or colleagues? Were there any disagreements or disgruntled clients?”
“Nothing was wrong,” Roberta said. “There weren’t any problems at work. Everything was fine.”
20
Angie, Courtney, and Chief Martin sat in the living room of Dennis and Carol Leeds’s house. In her forties, Carol was short and trim and had chin-length blond hair and blue eyes. Her manner was friendly and open and when the two sisters and the chief arrived, she’d made them drinks and put out a platter of cheese, crackers, and nuts.
The chief’s friend, Solana’s Chief of Police Benny Peterson, asked them to visit with the Leeds’s to answer some of the couple’s questions and to see if they had anything new to say.
Angie felt like a bundle of nerves, but had no reason for her unease. She’d talked with Dennis before and thought he was honest and forthcoming so there was no reason to feel antsy about the visit.
“Is there anything new with the case?” Dennis asked.
“The leads are being investigated.” The chief tried to reassure the man who found the package bomb in his mailbox.
“It seems like a lot of time has passed and nothing has come out of it. No one has been arrested. Are we supposed to live in fear for the rest of our lives?” Dennis was testy about what he perceived as slow progress in finding the bomber.
“Investigations take time,” the chief told the man. “It may seem like nothing is happening, but I assure you the case has the utmost priority. It appears that a lot of time has passed, but it’s only been about ten days.”
Dennis blew out a breath. “We’d just like it solved. Get the freak behind bars so we can stop worrying about every little noise we hear.”
“Has anything new come to mind since we last spoke?” Angie asked. “Any little thing you might have remembered that might be helpful?”
Dennis’s shoulders slumped. “I think about it all the time. What if I had handled the package? What if I hadn’t come home early that day and Carol picked up the mail? One of us could have been killed. It’s a very sobering thought.” Dennis had dark circles under his eyes and the wrinkles around his mouth looked deeper. Angie thought he must be having trouble sleeping.
“Have you thought back over the days and weeks prior to receiving the package in your mailbox? Does anything stand out that might point to someone who was angry with you?” Courtney had taken the chief’s example and had a small notebook in her lap where she was writing a few notes.
“Nothing. I haven’t had any issues with anyone.” Dennis looked to his wife.
“I haven’t either,” Carol said.
“What about the guy across the street?” Dennis brought up Dave Hanes. “He was watching me when I was getting the mail. He was in his driveway. I saw him out of the corner of my eye.”
“There’s nothing that points to Dave Hanes,” the chief said.
“Did you talk to him?” Dennis wanted to know.
Chief Martin nodded. “We did. Several times. So have the detectives on the case, as well as Chief Peterson and his officers.”
Dennis rolled his eyes. “I don’t trust him. Don’t take him off your list of suspects.”
“Why don’t you trust him?” Courtney asked.
“He seems odd. Can never stop what he’s doing to talk to the neighbors.”
“He might be shy,” Courtney said. “He might feel that he won’t know what to say. He inherited the house from his parents. It might take him time to feel comfortable in the neighborhood.”
“Sheesh,” Dennis said. “He’s been living here for at least six months. How much time does he need to feel comfortable?”
“Everyone is different,” Angie explained. “Everyone has different fears and worries and insecurities.”
Carol agreed. “Some people take longer than others to settle in. Maybe the neighbor has always had low self-esteem and feels awkward around others. It’s no reason to suspect him.”
Dennis sighed. “I don’t care who the culprit is. I only want him found, tried, and convicted. Then I can rest easy again.”
“That is law enforcement’s goal as well,” Chief Martin said.
Courtney asked, “Was there anyone who recently lived in the neighborhood who got into disagreements with the other people who lived here?”
Dennis was about to shake his head, but thought of something. “There was a guy who lived around the block with his girlfriend. He was big, not heavy, but muscular. He didn’t seem to work, was always around during the day. He didn’t seem to do much. The girlfriend worked and she did everything outside, too. She mowed the lawn, painted the fence, shoveled in the winter. Anyway, the guy was always having disputes with his neighbors. One family put one of those basketball hoop stands at the end of the cul-de-sac and this guy told them they had to take it down. He started an argument with the neighbor on one side saying their fence was too far over into the girlfriend’s yard. All kinds of stuff like that. He was a troublemaker. A day didn’t go by when he wasn’t all up in arms about some crime someone had committed down that way. The people on that street couldn’t stand him. They were happy when he moved away.”
“Do you know his name?” Courtney asked.
“Tom. I don’t know if I ever heard the last name. I can find out for you.”
“Do you know where Tom moved to?” Chief Martin asked.
Dennis rubbed his chin. “Let’s see. Revere? I can find out the details if you want. The girlfriend still lives here. I heard she got sick of him and she kicked the guy out.”
After another twenty minutes of discussion, the meeting drew to a close and the investigators left the house. The chief was heading back to the center of Sweet Cove and offered to drop Courtney back at the Victorian. Angie had borrowed Jenna’s car and was heading to the museum bake shop so they decided to get-together later with the chief to go over some of the details of the case.
As Courtney and the chief drove away, Angie was about to get into her car when Carol Leeds came out of the house and called to her.
“Do you have a few more minutes?” Carol asked while she looked back to her front door.
“Sure. Shall I come back in?” Angie asked.
“Um. Do you mind if we sit in your car?”
A shiver of nervousness slipped over Angie’s skin. “Okay. We can do that.”
When the women were settled in the front seats, Carol said, “Dennis is working in his office. If we talked inside, he’d hear us. I’d rather talk privately.”
Angie nodded.
“Dennis is having a hard time with what happened. He can’t sleep, he rants about the bomber, he’s anxious and moody. I suggested he see the doctor, but he keeps putting it off.”
“Would you like one of us to speak with him?”
“Oh, no.” Carol blinked. “That isn’t what I want to talk about.” The woman looked to her house to be sure Dennis wasn’t coming out. “I work as an emergency room nurse at the hospital in Sweet Cove. I’ve been there almost twenty years.”
Angie searched Carol’s face. “Did something happen when you were at work?”
“One evening, I was working the late shift. I don’t usually, but a friend asked if I could cover for her and we switched shifts that day. A guy came in. He’d been stabbed. It wasn’t bad, the wound was on the upper arm near the shoulder. He needed stitches. I described his injury and explained the need to have it stitched. Well, he became so angry. He called me names, said I didn’t know anything, that I was trying to hurt him. He was irrational. He grabbed for my neck, but I was able to twist away from his grasp.” Carol paused and ran her hand across her forehead. “Anyway, an officer came in with a few of the doctors. They’d heard the commotion and rushed to my aid. I left and didn’t go back to the room.”
“Did he leave the hospital without getting the care he needed?’ Angie asked.
“He did. I was coming out of another treatment room and almost ran into him. He was leaving. When he saw me, his face got all distorted with anger. He leaned down and whispered, “Carol Leeds. Watch your back. I’ll find out where you live.”
A cold shiver ran down Angie’s back.
“You think this man might be the bomber? When did this happen?”
“It happened about a month ago. I don’t know if this man is responsible for leaving that package bomb in our mailbox, but you asked if Dennis or I experienced any problems with someone so I thought I should tell you. I haven’t told Dennis. I knew he’d be furious that the guy had done this. And I don’t want to tell him now because he’s been so upset by the bombs.”
“Can you tell me the man’s name?” Angie’s heart raced.
“I can’t.” Carol shook her head. “I could lose my job if I told you. There are regulations regarding patient privacy. But I thought if I told you about the incident, you could tell Chief Martin or Chief Peterson and they could speak with the hospital administrators. The administrators might be able to tell law enforcement the man’s name.”
“Good idea,” Angie said. “I’ll pass the information on to Chief Martin.”
“I don’t want Dennis to get wind of this. Chief Martin won’t ask him anything about it, will he? Dennis is upset enough already.”
“I’ll tell the chief that you want to keep Dennis from hearing about it, but at some point, you’ll probably need to tell him.”
“I know.” Carol glanced at the house. “He’s taking all of this so hard. I’m afraid for his health. Why did any of this have to happen?” Some tears gathered at the corners of her eyes and one rolled down the woman’s cheek.
Angie’s mind was in a whirl and she realized that this was the reason she was so nervous when she arrived at the Leeds’s house. She was able to sense Carol’s worry.
The man at the hospital could very well be the bomber, and he must have targeted Carol.
21
Tom, Mr. Finch, the four sisters, and the two cats gathered in the backyard to go over some plans for changes to the carriage house. Tom, with Euclid and Circe strolling behind him, walked the future periphery of the carriage house to show the new footprint.
“The addition would go straight off this way, then like this. I can put stakes in the ground to give you a better idea of what it would look like.” Tom handed Jenna a measuring tape and they created the invisible addition by measuring the length of the sides and hammering the stakes into place. The cats sat in the middle of it.
“What do you two think?” Tom asked the felines.
Euclid and Circe trilled.
“It doesn’t take up much of the yard,” Finch observed.
“And the way you’ve positioned it,” Angie said, “the big tree doesn’t have to come down.”
Ellie held an architect’s sketch of the carriage house showing the addition. “It’s a smart design. It gives Mr. Finch a first-floor two-bedroom apartment and there’ll be an additional two-bedroom apartment on the second floor that can be rented out.”
“It’s the most bang for the buck,” Tom told them.
“I like it.” Courtney stepped inside the area that would become the addition and walked around imagining the layout. She turned to Finch and smiled. “Come in here, Mr. Finch, and see how you like it.”
Finch obliged the young woman, and Courtney held his hand as she showed him his new apartment.
“Here’s the front door.” Ellie pointed out where it would go. “You walk straight into your living room. There’s a gas fireplace on the left wall.”
Courtney and Finch moved about the space at Ellie’s direction pretending to see everything she described.
“The kitchen and dining space is open to the living room. There’s a hall on the right that leads to the bathroom and the two bedrooms.”
“It’s beautiful, Mr. Finch. I think you’ll be very happy here.” Courtney smiled.
Ellie looked again at the plans and sketches. “There’s also an optional sunroom off the kitchen.”
The cats trilled when they heard about the sunroom.
“Oh,” Courtney’s voice was excited. “You should definitely go for the sunroom. You can set up your art desk in there. There’ll be great light for drawing and painting.”
“We can do the other option, too,” Tom said. “We can make a larger apartment in the carriage house, but it would be on the second floor.”
Finch glanced around at the stakes in the ground and didn’t speak for a few moments. He brushed at his eyes and turned around. “Are you sure you want to add on to the carriage house?” he asked the sisters.
“We’ll do whatever suits you,” Ellie told the man. “It’s your choice.”
“There’s another option we haven’t discussed.” Tom removed some papers from his back pocket and unrolled them. “We could also add on to the Victorian at the back of the house.” As Tom strode across the lawn to the rear of the mansion, the cats raced ahead. “We could make the addition right here off the family room. It would be similar to the addition off the carriage house, but it would be a little bigger. The other nice feature is that you would have direct access to the house. You wouldn’t have to go outside in the rain or snow. There’d be no chance of slipping on the ice when you leave your place and go into the main house.”
Courtney whooped. “What a fabulous idea. Your apartment will be right off the family room. It would be so convenient, especially
when you’re watching the babies.”
“We’d have to move the patio and the pergola a little further back, but that’s no big deal,” Tom said. “It’s a very large yard. The space won’t be missed if we use some of it for the addition.” He handed the design sheet to Mr. Finch and when the older man was done examining it, he passed it to Courtney, and it went around the group so everyone could take a look.
“What do you think, Mr. Finch?” Courtney asked him.
Finch’s lower lip trembled slightly. “I think it’s perfect.” He looked to the sisters. “Would you be okay with adding directly onto the house?”
The sisters all spoke at the same time, saying the same things.
“It’s the best choice. It would be wonderful to have your place attached to the main house. A first floor apartment will be helpful as you get older and we’ll only be steps away from you.”
As Finch was surrounded by hugs, the gentle man brushed at his eyes. “I am truly blessed.”
Angie, Courtney, and Mr. Finch went into the kitchen while Tom left to go to a renovation site, Jenna returned to the jewelry shop, and Ellie tended to some B and B guests.
As Angie put on water for tea and Finch took three cups from the cabinet, Courtney brought a notebook over to the kitchen table.
“I’ve made a spreadsheet and a map.” She removed a large piece of paper from the notebook and spread it over the tabletop. “I know the police are doing this, but I wanted to do it, too, so I could visualize the details.”
Euclid and Circe listened from the top of the refrigerator.
“What is it, Miss Courtney?” Finch adjusted his glasses.
“The map shows the places in Solana Village where the package bombs were placed. I was looking for a pattern or some connection between the locations. See? The red triangles indicate the places where the victims are located.”
Finch and Angie gazed at the map.
“Were you able to discover any links between the sites?” Finch asked.
“No. If we go by location alone, there doesn’t seem to be a pattern or a connection,” Courtney told them. “I also made this spread sheet that lists the victims, their addresses, the family members, their occupations and places of employment, clubs or groups they belong to, and miscellaneous details that don’t fit into any particular category.”