A Haunted Theft (A Lin Coffin Mystery Book 4) (8 page)

“
W
e could have walked over
.” Viv watched the scenery go by as Lin drove her truck to the neighborhood just outside of Nantucket town.

“I thought of that, but we have the cat and I didn’t want a dog to bother her and besides, we can sit in the car and watch what’s going on.”

When they were getting close to Martha Hillman’s Cape-style house, Lin and Viv could see the blue lights of a police car flashing up ahead. Lin pulled the truck to the curb behind a line of other vehicles a few houses down from Martha’s. Small groups of people had formed here and there on the sidewalks to watch the proceedings and gossip.

“News travels fast,” Viv observed.

“We can’t get any closer with the truck. I think we’ll have to get out and walk up the street.”

“Nicky and Queenie will be fine.” Viv looked at the dog and cat. “Guard the truck, you two. We won’t be long.”

Lin and Viv approached the first cluster of gawkers. They didn’t recognize anyone they knew. Viv asked for news even though she knew the basics of what had happened. People supplied some information.

“A woman committed suicide.”

“Her lawn guy found her in the garage.”

“She worked at the cultural museum.”

“Some people think she was the one who stole that valuable basket.”

Viv asked, “When was she found?”

“A few hours ago.”

“Have they taken her away?” Lin wondered if Martha had been left in the car where she’d died as the police investigated the scene.

“An ambulance drove away about an hour ago.”

Viv nodded at the people and she and her cousin moved down the street to get closer to the house.

“There aren’t many streetlamps. It’s hard to make out who’s hanging around out here in the dark.” Lin linked arms with Viv.

As they walked, they looked from side to side trying to see who was there. When they were almost across from the house, Viv stopped short. She nodded to a spot across the street. “Isn’t that Nathan Long?”

Lin squinted. “It looks like him.”

Nathan was swaying slightly from foot to foot while speaking intently with a tall, lean woman. Occasionally, they would glance up the driveway to Martha’s house. The tall woman had a white tissue in one hand and she dabbed at her eyes every few seconds. A police officer walked down the drive towards Nathan and the woman, said a few words, and then led them up to the house.

“Huh,” Lin said. “Why are they being taken inside?”

“Maybe Nathan saw Martha earlier in the day. Maybe the police want to ask for some details.”

L
in noticed
a woman with a long black ponytail straddling a bicycle. “Isn’t that Mary Frye?” Lin and Viv walked over and said hello.

“How sad,” Mary commented. “I can’t believe it. It’s a terrible shock.”

“How did you hear?” Viv asked.

“I stopped in town to buy a water bottle. People in the store were talking about it. At first, I thought they must be wrong.”

“It’s an awful shock when someone you know dies,” Lin said.

“It’s not just that.” Mary switched off the blinking light on her handle bars. “Ms. Hillman is the last person I would ever think would take her own life.”

Lin tilted her head. “What was it about Martha that made you think that way?”

Mary looked at Lin. “She was … forceful, confidant.”

“She may have been depressed for a long time and hid it well from everyone,” Viv said softly. “I guess we don’t always know someone or what they might be feeling.”

Mary seemed to be processing what Viv said. “It doesn’t fit though.” Mary gave a shrug. “It just doesn’t fit.”

Lin took a step closer to Mary. “Who was the person who got fired recently from the museum? I know Martha let someone go not long ago.”

Something flickered over Mary’s face. “I didn’t know that someone got fired.”

Lin wanted to sigh, but took a different tack. “Maybe I’m wrong then. Didn’t someone give notice? Someone resigned?”

“Oh. Is that who you mean? She didn’t get fired. She left for a different position.” Mary nodded.

“Who was that?” Lin gave a gentle smile.

“Avery Holden. She’d worked at the museum for quite a while.”

“How did you like her? Did she work well with everyone?” Lin kept her innocent smile on her face trying to encourage Mary to be forthcoming.

The same fleeting look that had flickered over Mary’s face earlier showed itself for a second and then was gone. “Sure. I liked her a lot.” Mary turned her handlebar headlight back on and changed the subject. “Will you be taking the other weaving class I’m giving next week?” She perched on the bike seat.

“I think so.” Viv smiled. “I loved the last class we took.”

Mary said goodbye and rode away on her bicycle.

“Do you think Mary knows that Avery Holden got fired?” Viv asked her cousin.

“I sure do,” Lin replied. “What do you think?”

“I agree with you. It might be time to look up Avery Holden.”

Lin watched the activity still going on up by the house. “Anton must know Avery. I’ll ask him.”

The girls stood watching for a few more minutes when a woman walking past bumped into Lin and started to apologize profusely until she recognized who she’d run into. “Oh. Lin.” Claire Rollins’s blonde curls bobbed on her head shining under the light of the streetlamp. The young woman’s face muscles were taut and her eyes looked red-rimmed. “I was driving home. I pulled over.” She waved her hand and pointed down the street. “Nathan Long called to tell me what happened.” Her trembling fingers pushed a stray curl out of her eye. “I can’t believe it. Martha killed herself?”

“It could have been an accident.” Lin knew it wasn’t, but felt the need to offer the possibility.

“An accident?” Claire blinked.

“Maybe Martha drove home. Maybe she wasn’t feeling well and passed out in the car before she turned the engine off.”

“Oh.” Claire looked up the driveway to the garage. Two police officers stood in front of the structure. “Maybe that’s what happened. Poor Martha.”

Lin remembered that Viv and Claire had never met and introduced them to one another.

“Was there a board meeting this morning?” Lin asked. “Did you attend?”

Claire turned to Lin and nodded. “Martha was there.”

“Did she seem herself?”

Claire thought for several seconds. “She seemed normal. Nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing I noticed anyway.”

Viv spoke up. “Did she seem unwell?”

“What?” Claire took a deep breath. “I don’t think so.” She returned her attention to the officials bustling in and out of the house. Without looking at Lin, Claire said, “You got the contract, by the way, for the landscaping. We voted this morning. Nathan will call you.”

“Oh, okay. Thanks.” Lin wanted to ask if Martha voted against the project, but she knew the results were probably confidential and anyway, it seemed crass to ask how the dead woman had voted. “Nathan was here a few minutes ago.”

“He left?” Claire flicked her eyes to Lin for a second and then turned back to the scene.

Viv spoke up. “The police escorted him into Martha’s house.”

Claire looked at Viv. “Up to the house? Nathan’s inside? Why?”

Viv and Lin both shrugged.

“That’s odd, isn’t it?” Claire said. “It’s a crime scene. Wouldn’t bringing people inside contaminate the evidence?”

“They took him to the house,” Viv told her, “not into the garage.”

“Oh, well, I’d better get going.” Claire seemed twitchy and jumpy. She bit her lip and blinked a few times. Lin thought Claire was trying to keep herself from crying. “I’ll see you.” Claire nodded and headed off down the street.

“She’s pretty shook up.” Viv watched the young woman walk away.

“Claire is one of my clients now. Martha was at her house the other day.”

“She was married to that old guy, what was his name?” Viv asked. “They had like a fifty-year age difference between them, didn’t they?”

Lin smiled. “His name was Teddy Rollins. It was probably more like a forty-five- year age difference.”

“The guy was ancient. Yuck.” Viv shook her head thinking of marrying someone so much older.

“Yuck probably wasn’t what Claire said when she inherited old Teddy’s billions.”

Viv’s eyes widened. “Billions?”

“Yup. Now you’re seeing things in a new light?” Lin kidded her cousin.

“No pre-nup? No kids or other relatives?”

“Nothing. Just oodles of money. The word on the street is that everything went to Claire.”

“Well, well. Claire is very clever, isn’t she?” Viv watched a newly arrived police car speed up Martha’s driveway. “Why have I never thought to find a rich boyfriend?”

Lin chuckled. “Didn’t you think John was wealthy when you met him?”

“No.” Viv shook her head. “I fell for cute, smart, and kind.” She gave Lin a mock sad face. “I wasn’t thinking.”

The girls wandered around the gawkers for another ten minutes. “You want to stay longer?” Viv asked.

“I guess not. I’m not picking up on anything.”

Viv lowered her voice. “No ghosts?”

“Nothing. Let’s go back to the truck.” The two headed down the dark street in the direction they’d come. Lin said, “Claire really seemed jumpy and shook up, didn’t she?”

“Isn’t that normal after what just happened?” Viv questioned.

Lin gave her cousin a look.

“Oh.” Viv sighed. “Maybe Claire needs to go on the suspect list.”

B
efore heading
to her first client of the day, Lin stopped at Anton’s house to see how he was holding up and to ask him about Avery Holden. When Anton opened the door, his face looked weary and drawn. Nicky rubbed against the man’s leg causing Anton to bend and pat the top of the dog’s head and Lin could see some of the tension in the historian’s body melt away. “A fine creature.” Anton praised the little brown dog.

They headed for the kitchen and sat at the long wooden table.

“How are you doing?” Lin’s eyes were full of concern.

“Yesterday was a nightmare.” Anton rubbed his temple and adjusted his black-rimmed glasses. “I barely slept. I kept thinking of Martha. I kept replaying my meeting with the police.”

“You know the police have to cover every angle.” Lin’s voice was gentle. “Talking to you again doesn’t mean they suspect you. When they talk to people, they can find out small things that can lead to the criminal.”

“That’s hard to remember when you are the one being questioned.”

Lin nodded. “Like we said last night, if it makes you feel better, talk to an attorney and get some advice.”

“I think I will.” Anton sat up. “Oh, my manners. What can I get you? Tea? A cold drink?”

Lin smiled. Even when consumed with worry and upset, Anton was the perfect host. “A cold drink would be nice.”

Anton placed a bowl of cool water on the floor for the dog and bustled about cutting a lime into slices, taking out ice cubes, and pouring homemade iced tea into the tall glasses that had sailing ships etched onto the sides. The ice cubes clinked as Anton carried the refreshing beverages to the table. He arranged cookies on a plate and put them in the center of the table. Before sitting down again, he hurried to one of the kitchen cabinets and took out a small bag of dog treats. Nicky cocked his head when he heard the rustle of the bag. Anton put two biscuits on a white plate and set it before the dog.

“If you treat him like a king,” Lin said, “then Nicky will abandon me and move in here with you.”

“I wouldn’t mind that one bit.” Anton watched the dog enjoy the treats.

“Have you talked to Libby?”

“She’s on the mainland for a few more days.”

Hearing that Libby was still away caused a momentary pulse of panic to surge through Lin’s body and she gave herself a slight shake to throw it off. She knew they could just call Libby if they needed her and Lin suggested to Anton that he ring her to tell her what’s been going on.

“I should wait until she comes back. I don’t want to bother her.”

“I think you should tell her about Martha, at least.” Lin thought Libby should be notified about the death of the island resident although she’d probably heard it on the news already. The real reason Lin wanted Anton to talk to her was so that Libby could hear the worry in his voice and offer him some comfort and advice.

“You’re right. I’ll call her.”

“Can I ask you some questions about people?” Lin watched Anton’s face. She didn’t want a discussion to cause him more upset.

“Are the questions related to what’s been happening?”

Lin nodded.

“Ask. Maybe talking about things will make me feel less helpless.”

“I don’t think Martha killed herself. I just have this strong feeling that someone made the whole thing look like a suicide. Maybe I’m completely wrong, but I feel it, Anton. When I think about Martha killing herself, I get a weird sensation like you might feel when you’re lost. But when I think that someone did this to her, I get a surge of energy that flows through my muscles. It makes me feel like I’m on the right track.”

Anton stared at Lin.

“I’m not describing it correctly.” Lin started to explain it in a different way when Anton cut her off.

“I understand.” Anton’s looked less tense. “The spirits must be sending you these impulses. I know something similar about a woman who could see ghosts like you do. She got sensations, almost like silent messages. She knew the feelings were sent to her by the spirits.”

Lin asked carefully, “Are you talking about Liliana?”

A slight smile showed on Anton’s lips. “Yes.”

A ping of joy danced in Lin’s heart. Maybe her ability to see ghosts was expanding to receiving small messages or feelings from the spirits that would help direct her and nudge her onto the right path when trying to find clues. A smile spread over her face. “I need to be more open to such sensations and not dismiss them.”

Anton nodded. His face looked hopeful. “What questions do you want to ask me?”

“Do you know Avery Holden?”

“Of course. She worked at the cultural museum.”

“She got fired?” Lin wondered if anyone besides Martha and Avery knew that Avery had been let go from her position.

“No. She left of her own accord.”

Lin asked, “Did a different employee get fired recently?”

Anton’s lips pursed for a moment. “No one has left their position at the museum besides Avery.”

Lin told the historian what she and Viv heard when standing outside Martha Hillman’s closed office door.

Anton pushed back against his chair. “What could she have meant? What was Martha talking about? Who was she talking to?”

“Those are all things I’ve asked myself.” Lin’s forehead creased. “Can you tell me about Avery?”

“Avery is hardworking, takes her job seriously. She always put in lots of extra hours. She has a master’s degree in art history from Yale.”

“What was her position at the museum?”

“She started as an assistant curator and ended up sort of a jack-of-all-trades. Avery had a hand in every aspect of the functioning of the museum.”

“How old is she?” Lin was making mental notes about the woman.

“Mid-thirties?”

“Did she get along with Martha?”

Anton frowned. “No. They were often at odds. I always thought it was a shame. Two bright, hardworking people.” He shook his head. “They could have been a wonderful team, but….”

“But?”

“Sometimes I got the impression that they deliberately antagonized one another. Oh, it was small things, but nonetheless, it created unnecessary tension and interfered, I thought, with the smooth running of the museum.”

“Avery has a new job?”

“No. I was told that she is going to law school.”

“Where does she live?”

Anton looked blank. “I don’t know.”

Lin narrowed her eyes. “I think I should have a talk with Avery. If I can find her.”

Anton gave a vigorous nod of his head. “Yes. Then maybe you can find out the source of the animosity between the women and maybe Avery can shed light on what Martha meant about firing an employee.”

Lin had lots of questions she hoped to be able to ask Avery Holden, but she wasn’t so sure that the former cultural museum employee was going to be forthcoming with any answers. “I don’t like saying this, but there are a number of people who might have wanted Martha dead.”

“As I said before, she could be very abrasive.”

Lin looked pointedly at Anton. “Did any of the people you know hate her enough to want to kill her?”

In a weak voice, Anton said, “Possibly. Probably everyone I can think.”

Lin’s eyebrows shot up. “I wasn’t expecting that answer.”

“That doesn’t mean anyone would act on their feelings.” Anton stood up and started pacing around. Nicky sat up and watched the man go from one end of the room to the other. “People sometimes wish ill on others … on people who are mean or nasty or don’t get along with others, or cause trouble … oh, for many reasons. It doesn’t actually mean they would kill the object of their derision.”

“It sounds like Martha has a long history of people not liking her,” Lin said. “But what was the impetus now? What happened that pushed someone to kill her now?”

“The stolen basket?”

“That seems to be the key to the mess, doesn’t it?” Lin sighed and rested her chin in her hand. “Two questions to answer now. Who stole the basket and who killed Martha Hillman?”

Anton stopped pacing. “One will probably lead to the other.”

“Undoubtedly.” Lin knew she had a lot of work to do and the path to the answers just kept getting longer and more convoluted.