Bernadine Fagan - Nora Lassiter 02 - Murder in the Maine Woods (11 page)

FOUR
TEEN

“You’re definitely staying with the case then?” Ida ventured. “When Walter called about the property we thought you might take the profit and head back to New York, especially since Vivian is out of jail and she has a good lawyer.”

“You don’t actually think I’d leave Vivian with this mess, do you? I have to find out who killed Buster. Besides, I haven’t sold the land yet.”

“Just checking,” Hannah said.

They grinned at me.

I grinned back.

That settled that.

Their nods and smiles spread around the table faster than the blueberry jam.

I added milk to my steaming hot coffee. One sip and the heat zeroed in on a nerve ending for a direct hit and I let out a yelp.

“Paste filler
doesn’t help much,” I gasped when I could finally talk.

“You’re going to the dentist and that’s that. Not another
word. Tooth filler, my big toe,” Hannah declared as she rummaged through her purse and pulled out a little black book. “Ida, call this number. Let’s get an appointment for our Nora this very day.”

My cell phone vibrated in my pocket.

Another text. Despite my tooth problem, and the fact that Great-Aunt Hannah was showing her dictatorial side, which I had to put a stop to immediately, I checked the text.

“From the jerk,” I announced, smiling as I stuffed the phone back in my pocket. “Whatshisname.” I stopped smiling long enough to say, “I have no money for the dentist, Hannah.”

“Not to worry. I’ll handle it. You can pay me back when you’re flush again.”

“What did the text say?” Agnes asked.

“Don’t tease us or make us guess,” Hannah warned, handing her address book to Ida.

“Aunt Hannah, I can’t let you pay.”

Hannah made a cutting motion with her hand. “Ah. Don’t say another word. We’re family. If you don’t take care of this now it’ll get worse. The whole tooth will crack. You’ll have a slue of tooth pieces floating in your mouth. You want that?”

I pictured pieces of enamel floating in my mouth, felt the pain, pictured me without any teeth. “Okay.”

I filled them in on Whatshisname’s apartment predicament. “That was his second text, and it said that he hadn’t heard from me and he would like to. He wants to be my friend.”

“Friend, hah. How perfect,” Hannah said with gusto. “I love it.”

“In a way, he did me a favor. When I think I might have married him, I shiver and shake.”

“It happened for the best,” Agnes said with a nod.

Cupping the phone Ida said, “The dentist has an emergency opening this morning. You can follow us. We’re going right by there. His office is behind the drug store.”

“Tell him she’ll take it,” Hannah said without giving me a chance to answer.

“Does he have sweet air?”

“Probably,” Hannah said.

“If he doesn’t I’m not going.”

Before we left, I said, “You never told me what you know about Buster’s nephews. I’m curious. That’s all.”

“Nothing much,” Hannah said. “Except Buster tried to get Lenny to help with the hunting trips, be a guide and all. Lenny wasn’t interested.  I guess that annoyed Buster.”

“And you know this how?” I asked, following them out the front door, heading for my truck.

“Rhonda told me when I ran into her in the beauty parlor a while back.”

“Do you know why the nephews moved out of Buster’s house?”

“It had to do with money. Both of them needed money,” Ida said, turning aside as a gust of wind caught the dry leaves and swirled them up and around like a mini tornado. “I think Stan wanted to buy a bus. Not sure about Lenny.”

Nick called while I was following Hannah’s teal blue ’65 Ponti
ac GTO. Since we were moving slowly I didn’t bother to pull over to answer.

“The computer specialist is coming early. Today, actually. Not Monday. Are you close by?”

“I never go far from home.”

“Can you be here in about two hours?

“I may break the posted speed laws. Do you know someone who might be willing to fix a ticket?”

“I may know a guy.”

“I have a dentist appointment first. Can you stall a bit?”

“That’s also possible. Will there be anything else, Nora Lassiter?”

“I’m smiling at you.”

“Ay-uh. I’m smiling back.”

The dental office was located behind close enough to the Silver Stream Sheriff’s Office that directions were not a problem. The dentist, a tall, thin fiftyish man with a round basketball-shaped head that didn’t seem to fit his narrow body, examined my gap with great care. Actually I thought he poked around too long and this made me wonder if he knew what he was doing. Maybe he wasn’t really a dentist. Maybe this was the dentist’s cousin. Or his plumber. Hannah never showed me a photo. I should have insisted on a photo.

Next, he lined up some lethal-looking instruments on a little tray.

Once, I saw this horror movie that featured similar instruments. And a dentist. I began to shake, not big obvious quivers, more like pre-earthquake tremors, the kind people hardly notice. I reminded myself that I was not tied to the chair like the woman in the horror movie.

“This was only a two-layer filling. Not deep at all. Shouldn’t take more than half an hour or so, probably less. I think I can do it without Novocain.”

“No. Absolutely not. I’ll need Novocain. I’m very sensitive. Actually, I’ll need extra Novocain. And sweet air.”

He stared at me with milky blue eyes, then placed something like a Q-tip on my gum. It had an awful taste.

“This will dull the needle. No sweet air. Just Novocain.”

After a few minutes, he removed it.

“Open wide.”

My peripheral vision caught sight of the gigantic needle in his hand. I hated needles. For some reason—who knows why, maybe the resemblance to something I once saw in a jungle movie—I thought of a poison dart. Reflexively, I jerked my head the teeny tiniest bit and the needle hit my tongue.

“Look what you made me do. Hold still,” he ordered. “Now your tongue will be numb and it’s your own fault.”

“Where’s the sweet air?” I mumbled.

There was a light tap at the open door, and he swiveled his round head to see who it was, and jerked the inserted needle little bit.

“You’re late,” he said.

I moaned. No one paid any attention.

“S
o what,” a man answered behind me. “You know I’ll be finished before noon. Leave me alone. I need to concentrate.”

“You could be visiting porn sites for all I know. I need those accounts done today so my receptionist can send out the bills,” he said, angling the needle down farther.

I moaned again.

“The drive too long for you now?” the dentist said.

I couldn’t turn my head with his fingers in my mouth and a needle anchored in my gum, but I recognized that voice.

Finally, he finished injecting and set the weapon down with great care, lest it should be damaged, I suppose.

I asked, “Was that Lenny?”

“Ay-uh.”

“He does computer work for you?”

“Yes.”

“You said he doesn’t have a long drive now. Where did he live before he moved back to his uncle’s?”

“Everyone knows he lived in a small apartment above the Country Store. You’re a real Ms. Busybody, aren’t you?”

I decided not to respond to that. Instead, I asked, “Does he always close the door?”

“He works better when he’s not distracted.”

“Don’t we all,” I said, watching him spin the weapon- bearing tray to the side.

“You’re not finished with the Novocain, are you? I think a little more would be good. Just to be on the safe side.”

He glared at me. “You’re the one from New York, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“That explains it, I suppose. For the record, in my professional opinion, a second shot is not necessary. It’s not a good idea and it will cost extra.”

After a little back and forth discussion, maybe some would classify it as an argument, he injected a second dose a little farther back. Then he left the room while I sat and waited for it to take effect. I stared at the picture of a
sailboat in front of me. I wished I were sailing on that boat right now. The picture frame was made of a reflective metal. If I sat up straight in the chair I could see the door across the hall. When it opened, I stretched around and watched Lenny come out. Seconds later I heard the lavatory door open and close down the hall. Without wasting a second, I hopped up and poked my head out. No one was in sight. The dentist left the building? I dashed across the hall and peeked into Lenny’s inner sanctum.

Two computers were open on the desk and one was a laptop. Oh, how I wanted to snatch that up. It might be Buster’s laptop.
If it was, I wanted to see what was on it. I could almost hear Nick telling me I jump to conclusions, but I knew there was a good chance I was right about this.

All sorts of possibilities raced through my head.
I ran into the room and quickly checked the make and model. A MacBook Pro. Expensive for a guy who needed money. Unless it was Buster’s.

I heard the faint sound of flushing and dashed out in time to see the flushee exit the lavatory.

“Have you seen the dentist?” I asked quickly as I morphed into actress mode and pretended to look around. “I’m kinda nervous. I’d like to get this over with.”

His eyes narrowed. “Nope.”

I’m not sure whether that signaled suspicion or annoyance. Heart pounding, I took a deep breath and slipped back into the room and sat in the ergonomically contoured torture chair.

I think I waited hours for the dentist to return
. Just a guess. I wasn’t wearing a watch.

The drilling was nerve-racking. Although I felt no pain, I endured the assault with a white-knuckle grip and deep breathing. Neither tactic helped. When the whole episode ended I checked in the mirror. My lips were swollen, my tongue felt as unwieldy as a loaded cement truck, and I drooled.

“Thith ith awful,” I said, panic rising with every word I uttered. “Not only a fat lip. But a lith-p.”

“The lisp is not permanent
as I’m sure you know. It’ll go down in about an hour or two,” he said, sounding superior, an I-told-you-so attitude evident in the tilt of his basketball head and the tenor of his words. “Most times it takes about that. Might be longer in your case, seeing as how you insisted on extra, and then moved your head when you were supposed to remain still. You have only yourself to blame.”

On my way out,
I opened the forbidden door. Lenny’s head jerked around at the speed of light and he shot me a withering glare. At the same time he leaned forward to block my view of the screen.

“Get out.”
                                         

“Excu-th me,” I said, backing out slowly, my gaze darting from the colorful computer screen to the natural tan tooled leather computer case at his feet. It was the same one he’d brought to the pharmacy.

“Wrong door,” I said, looking at him and not at the screen he tried desperately to hide. I didn’t need a second look. I saw two of his cards, an ace and a jack. He didn’t have to worry about me ratting him out to the boss. I could care less that he was playing card games.

“You almost finished?” the dentist
called to Lenny as I closed the door.

“Five minutes,” Lenny answered.

I was near the sheriff’s office, but instead of going there directly, I sat in my car to watch for Lenny. I wanted to see whether he brought the computer with him or left it in the office. Ten minutes later he appeared carrying the case. When he passed, I got out of my truck, intending to go to the sheriff’s office. Suddenly, Lenny was right in front of me, blocking my way.

“Waiting for me?” he asked.

Startled, I stepped aside. Immediately, I was annoyed at myself for yielding like that so I said, “Not in this life!”

With that, I headed across the street.

I breezed into the sheriff’s office with a decorative gray scarf shot through with silver covering my mouth. From the big desk on the platform that ran the length of the back wall, Miller pointed me toward the evidence room. “They’re expecting you.”

I nodded in reply. No need to speak and let him in on my secret.

Nick said hello and introduced me to Sam O’Brien.

“Hewwo, Tham,” I said through the scarf as I shook his hand.

Dammit
. I sounded worse.

To tackle embarrassment, I went into attitude mode, a familiar drill I used from time to time that involved sustaining a certain brashness. Act exquisitely brave and daring, challenge all comers.