Drape Expectations (13 page)

“I never imagined Alanna would do that. But it's part of that long story. Barton Goodwin never recognized me as his son. He didn't acknowledge me in his will. So I would guess that's why Alanna acknowledged me in hers.”

Considering herself a good judge of character, Caprice studied Archer as he talked. Most of all, she watched his eyes. He seemed to be sincere about his grief, as well as about his surprise at being an heir. But she could be wrong. He could be a very good actor. Because if he'd known about that will, he had a very strong motive for Alanna's murder.

After a few more minutes of conversation, Caprice left Archer and mingled once more. She dropped in on the conversation the band was having, but that had been all about music and what they were going to play at the upcoming concert. Soon guests began to depart. Ace and his family were the last to leave. Caprice watched as Ace gave Twyla a hug and thanked her. She thanked him for all his help.

After good-byes all around, Caprice and Twyla were left with the housekeeping staff cleaning up. Twyla looked wrung out and Caprice understood how she felt. Funerals did that, emotionally and physically. It was good to have other people around who remembered loved ones, but it took a lot of energy to deal with them, too.

“Let's go in here,” Twyla said, motioning to the small parlor. “I need to unwind if you have the time.”

“I have the time.” They could compare notes and Caprice could possibly learn something new.

“Ace's parents are very nice,” Twyla said. “His mom put her arms around me as if she'd known me for years.”

“He comes from a good background.”

As they settled on a settee, Twyla revealed, “Ace told me a little about his family and that he felt left out when he was growing up because of his music. Nobody else understood it.”

Ace had told her that, too. She was glad he felt comfortable enough with Twyla to confide in her.

“One person I couldn't have more than a stilted conversation with was Gail Schwartz. Were she and Alanna friends?” Twyla asked.

How to delicately answer that? “They knew each other through clubs and charity organizations.”

“She seems to have a real edge. She told me she's a headhunter. Maybe her attitude comes from her job.”

Or maybe it came from a relationship with Alanna that might not have been a smooth one. Were there more details there?

As Caprice thought about her conversation with Gail in this very room, her gaze fell on the desk, the one where Alanna had taken out the photo of the little girl. She might as well just jump into a discussion about that.

“When I had a meeting with Alanna, we were in this room. Or rather we were going to talk in this room. I'd been taking a look around the house. When I came in here, Alanna was at the desk and had taken out a photo of a little girl. Do you know anything about that?”

“A photo of a little girl?” Twyla looked puzzled. “No, I don't.” She stood quickly, as if glad to have something to do, and went over to the desk. “In the drawer?” she asked.

Caprice nodded.

“I have to go through all of Alanna's things. I haven't gotten to this room yet.”

After she pulled out the drawer, she shuffled through an envelope or two and then she found the photo. She lifted it out.

Joining her at the desk, Caprice studied it with her. It was a photo of a child who appeared to be around six. She was wearing a dance recital costume, with a pink leotard and a long tulle skirt with matching satin toe shoes.

After studying it, Twyla shook her head. “I have no idea who it is.”

Caprice asked, “May I?”

Twyla handed her the photo without hesitation. After another look at the child, Caprice turned the photo over. She noticed the name of a dance studio in York on the back.

She asked Twyla, “Do you mind if I hold on to this?”

“I don't mind. If you think it will help find out who killed Alanna, I think somebody should look into it. From what I understand, the police had a warrant to go through the house, so they sifted through everything.”

“I imagine they're still talking to everyone, too. You mentioned that Gail Schwartz has an edge. She shared a rumor about Alanna with me.”

“Rumors in small towns are like grits and okra. They just seem to go together. Alanna let rumors roll off her back for the most part. She said people here started them because they were jealous.”

“That could be true, but this rumor was very personal. Gail told me Alanna had had an affair with Archer Ford
before
Barton died.”

Twyla's eyes grew big. “You're not serious!”

“Gail seemed serious. She said Alanna broke it off to save her marriage and she went to Europe for a while.”

Twyla thought about it. She seemed to be sorting through the years in her mind. Finally she said, “About seven years ago, Alanna went to Europe without Barton.”

“He didn't join her there?”

“I don't think so, but I don't know for sure. We weren't in touch while she was there. In fact, before she left, she'd simply sent me a brief e-mail saying she needed to get away for a while. When she returned, though, I came to visit, and she and Barton looked as if they'd missed each other a whole lot. Very lovey-dovey. But that's all I know. In a lot of ways, Alanna was a very private person. I don't know if she confided in anyone.”

Though Alanna
had confided
her favorite novel to Archer Ford. Did that count as a confidence? Just what part
had
he played in Alanna's life?

At some point, Caprice might have to talk to him again. But not today when he truly seemed to be grieving. No, not today. After she finished up with this visit with Twyla, she'd be grateful to go home to Lady, Sophia, and Mirabelle and delve into her pile of work.

 

 

That evening, Caprice sat on her sofa with her legs stretched out, a tablet of graph paper in her hands. Mirabelle lay lengthwise between her legs. Every once in a while, from her perch on her cat tree, Sophia looked down at them disdainfully. Her golden eyes targeted Caprice now.

Caprice smiled at her. “Don't be a grump. I have plenty of love for you and Mirabelle and Lady. We're a family.” After a little wave at her cat, she returned her focus to the room design on the graph paper. Sometimes she liked to get away from the computer and just do furniture placing the old-fashioned way.

Lady, who had been sleeping on the floor beside her, looked up and gave a yip to remind Caprice she was there, too. Caprice rubbed the dog's neck. She had thought about lighting a fire in the fireplace. She enjoyed these evenings with her furry crew. But the weather had warmed up a bit and she was short on wood.

Studying the graph paper, she erased the placement of a library table, checked the measurements for a curio cabinet, and placed that there instead. She had to admit she wasn't accomplishing as much as she'd like. She was distracted by everything she'd learned at the funeral reception. What was true and what wasn't? Who were the villains, and who were the friends?

She was pondering that when her cell phone played “Here, There and Everywhere.” She'd placed it within easy reach on her mosaic-covered coffee table. She seriously thought about letting the message go to voice mail. Still, the caller could be Ace or Grant ... or Seth. She hadn't talked to Seth since the Valentine's Day dance.

But when she picked up her phone, she saw her mom's photo. Maybe her mother just wanted to know how the day had gone.

“Hey, Mom. Did you and Dad go out to dinner tonight?” Her parents often did that and called it “date night.” They needed that time together even more, now with her uncle in the house.

“No, Caprice. I'm calling about Nana. She's been taken to the hospital. She was having chest pain and we were afraid she was having a heart attack. Can you come?” Her mother's voice was unsteady and she sounded close to tears.

Caprice lifted her legs over and away from Mirabelle and swung them to the floor. “I'll be there as soon as I can.”

“Oh, honey, I'm scared.”

“I know you are. Hold on to Dad until I get there. Do you want me to call the others?”

“Will you? We're on our way, following the ambulance, and I can't even think straight.”

“Is Uncle Dom with you?”

“Yes, he is.” It seemed that was all her mother was going to say on that subject.

“Vince might be with Roz. But don't worry. I'll get in touch with everyone.”

“Thank you, honey.”

Caprice brushed her mom's thanks aside. She would do anything for her nana and her mom, and her mom knew it. “I'll say some prayers in between phone calls. You know how Nana believes in the power of a Hail Mary.”

Right now, Caprice wanted to believe in that power, too.

Chapter Eleven

By the time Caprice drove to York Hospital, she was practically hyperventilating. If anything happened to Nana...

Nothing was going to happen to Nana. If anything was wrong, the doctors were going to fix it. If only Seth could be here. She could ask him questions. He'd have contacts. Maybe she wouldn't feel so alone.

Medical emergencies with family members were always traumatic—maybe because they were such a close-knit family; maybe because they all cared so much.

Caprice drove around the large hospital to the emergency room entrance. No point parking in the visitors' garage. Nana would have to be evaluated. Then if she was admitted, they'd assign her a room. At least that's the way the process had gone when her mom's good friend Louise had been whisked to the hospital this winter.

When Caprice thought about Louise, the whole month of February seemed to flash before her eyes as she'd solved a murder and Lady had saved her life. She shook her head to concentrate on the here and now.

Before she'd left home, she'd taken Mirabelle into her spare room again. Her three furry friends seemed to be getting along, at least when she was looking. But she wouldn't take the chance of something disastrous happening when she wasn't there. She wanted Mirabelle to feel safe. Everyone needed to feel safe.

Even at this hour, the hospital was a busy place. Nikki was waiting for her in the reception area. When Caprice had called her, she'd been returning from a catering gig in York. Vince could be here already, too. He had a lead foot on the accelerator when he needed to be somewhere.

“Come on,” Nikki said. “Vince is here. Bella's on her way. Joe's going to watch the kids while she drives over here.”

The siblings had decided separate cars were best so they could come and go as they needed.

“What's happening?” Caprice asked.

“For now, they took blood, and Nana's hooked up to monitors and an IV. They said something about a calcium CT scan of her heart.”

“The blood work should show whether or not she had a heart attack,” Caprice said.

“How do you know that?” Nikki asked.

“I read a lot,” she said simply. “When Louise was in the hospital, I downloaded articles about heart conditions, since she had an arrhythmia.”

Nikki directed Caprice through doors that led to the emergency room cubicles. “I don't know how many of us are supposed to be back here. Maybe Dad and Uncle Dom and Vince will take a walk when we go in.”

“What do you think of Uncle Dom?” Caprice asked.

“I think he got caught up in a situation he didn't know how to deal with. What would you do if you married someone and he didn't like your family or want anything to do with them? How would you choose?”

“I wouldn't marry someone who didn't like my family.” Caprice was certain of that.

“We're a lot to handle sometimes,” Nikki reminded her.

Yes, they certainly were. But wasn't anybody who you cared about?

When Caprice stepped into the cubicle, her mom came over and gave her an extra-tight hug. Her dad patted her on the shoulder.

Uncle Dom said, “I'll go out to the waiting room for a while. Somebody should be there when Bella arrives.”

Caprice's dad agreed. “I'll go with you.”

Vince gave Caprice's arm a squeeze as he passed her and then stopped in the doorway. “How about coffee all around? I should be able to find some somewhere.”

“Sounds good,” Nikki said.

Caprice went straight to Nana. “What are you doing here?”

“Isn't that a good question?” Nana asked, trying to tuck wayward strands of her hair back into her bun. “Your mom and dad panicked. Before I knew it, a man and a woman were at the house taking my pulse, giving me oxygen, carrying me out on a gurney. Do you know how uncomfortable that thing is? And that ride in the ambulance. My back will never be the same.”

If this hadn't been so serious, Caprice would smile. “They wanted to bring you here quickly to figure out what's wrong. Chest pain isn't anything to ignore.”

Nana looked down at her hands, which were folded on top of the sheet. “I suppose not. I got scared, too.”

Caprice pulled the vinyl chair over and sat next to Nana, taking her hand.

Not five minutes later, Caprice's dad brought Bella into the cubicle. But he didn't step back inside.

“There are too many of us. If we make too much of a ruckus, they'll throw us out,” he assured them all.

Bella rushed to Nana and gave her a hug; then she stood on the other side of the bed from Caprice. “How come all the guys are out there and we're in here?”

Nana, who was pale, gave her a weak smile. “For the same reason women go through labor and men don't.”

“You mean there's a constitutional difference?” Fran asked.

Nana shook her head. “There's an emotional difference. You and Bella and Caprice and Nikki can sit here and tell me how worried you are. You understand when I say I'm afraid. These men of ours don't want to hear it, because they can't deal with it. At least not outwardly.”

“Now, Nana,” Fran began. “You know Nick would listen to whatever you had to say.”

“Maybe so,” Nana conceded. “But Vince and Dom . . . I don't know.”

“I think Roz is helping Vince get in touch with his softer side,” Bella suggested. “Did you watch them at dinner on Easter? He hardly let her out of his sight. I think those two are getting serious.”

“I hope it's not too soon,” Fran worried. “It's only been a year since Roz's husband was murdered.”

“Yes, but Roz and Ted were on a collision course long before that,” Caprice mused. She wasn't telling secrets out of school. Everything had come out after Ted had been murdered.

“How long do you think they're going to keep me here?” Nana asked. “I want to go home.”

“And we want you home,” Fran assured her. “But we want you well. As soon as the doctors figure out what caused that pain, then maybe you can go home.”

This was going to be a long night, Caprice suspected. She'd have to drive home in a couple of hours to check on her pets. They weren't used to being alone at night, and she really didn't know how they were going to react. Mirabelle was safe in the spare room, but she might wonder where Caprice was since she'd been sleeping on her bed lately. Although Lady had a crate in the kitchen, Caprice rarely penned her in it. However, she had erected the pet gates before she left. In the house with Sophia at night, she might get scared. What she should do was install one of those pet cams. Then she could keep track of what was happening, at least in one of the rooms.

Two hours later, the cardiologist had determined that Nana hadn't had a heart attack. But she was taken to the cardiac lab and a calcium CT scan was performed. The test results on that were good, too. However, they were going to admit Nana for observation and keep her overnight. Soon she'd be settled in a room.

The family had taken turns keeping Nana company. “You all have to go home,” she said. “They'll settle me in a room, and I'll try to get some sleep. Who knows what they have in store for me tomorrow?”

Nikki immediately said, “I'll stay. Bella needs to be with her kids. Caprice has to check on her pets. Mom has school tomorrow, and Dad and Vince have work. Nana would probably prefer that Uncle Dom not stay, so I'll stay and report what's happening.”

“I should stay too,” Caprice's father volunteered.

“And do what?” Nana asked him. “Stand guard over me? Do you think I'll get any rest with all of you around?”

Caprice had to smile, because that was probably true. If Nikki stayed, she could be a calming, quieting presence.

“I'll go, Nikki,” Caprice agreed, “If you promise to call me if anything changes. Anything at all. Text me after Nana's settled in a room and let me know if you leave.”

“I'll do all of the above,” Nikki said. She took Nana's hand. “I promise I'll take good care of her, everyone. I'll be her advocate, and I'll make sure they treat her right.”

Even Seth agreed that when a family member was hospitalized, another family member should be his or her advocate and be there as much as possible. She and her family would take turns. They would protect Nana and speak up for her if she didn't feel up to doing it herself. But knowing Nana, she'd ask about every little pill, every little service, and every little beep.

That was Nana.

 

 

When Nikki called Caprice the next morning, Caprice found out that Nana was having more tests.

Nikki said, “There's no point coming to the hospital when she's not in her room. I'm going home now. Mom took a personal day and is staying here. She'll call you as soon as Nana's settled back in her room or we know something. Distract yourself with solving Alanna's murder.”

Taking her sister's advice, Caprice was determined to do just that.

Even though she'd been around Alanna a few times, she hadn't gotten a sense of who she really was. She thought about Muriel Fink, Barton's former secretary, who had been extremely upset and seemed to be grieving deeply. Maybe she'd been like a mother figure to Alanna? Who knew? But that was the point. So Caprice decided to visit her.

After taking Lady on a good long walk that let Sophia and Mirabelle have some time alone together, she returned home and carried Mirabelle to the spare room again. Mirabelle seemed to like being closeted by herself, and Caprice wondered just how much Alanna had put her in that utility closet. That wasn't fair, she supposed, but cats were good companions. They were social animals, even though people thought of dogs in that way. The only time cats preferred being closeted in a room alone was when they wanted to feel safe ... or if that had been their way of life. Caprice suspected it was a little of both for Mirabelle.

After filling Lady's Kong toy with kibble, and giving Sophia a dab of cream, she headed out.

When Caprice had looked up Muriel Fink's address in an online directory, she'd found an
M. Fink,
who lived at an address near Country Fields Shopping Center. Caprice decided not to call first. Sure, she might get there and nobody would be home. However, after being part of three murder investigations, she'd decided face-to-face contact was usually best. Plus a phone call about something like this was always complicated. An unexpected visit usually produced more information.

As Caprice parked her Camaro at the curb in front of Muriel's house, she assessed the one-floor ranch-style home and calculated that it was even smaller than Bella's. As she'd learned while talking with her sister at the hospital, Bella and Joe were coming closer to the decision to list their house and look for something bigger. They'd been pricing possibilities online, unlike Grant, who was sporadically touring houses that could possibly suit him.

Thinking about Grant right now would muddle her thoughts.

She climbed out of her car and walked to the front door. Daffodils poked up out of the ground in front of the living room's picture window. Blue and yellow crocuses were blooming on the other side of the porch.

She rang the bell.

When Muriel answered the door, she looked as if she were dressed for an exercise class in pale green knit slacks and shirt. In her late sixties, Caprice guessed, Muriel's gray hair framed her face in an attractive short cut, and her blue eyes sparkled with curiosity as she eyed Caprice speculatively.

“Miss Fink, I'm Caprice De Luca. I was a friend of Alanna's.” She was using that term loosely. “Maybe you recognize me from the funeral?”

Muriel studied her again. “Why, yes, I think I do,” she responded with a Southern accent thicker than Alanna's and Twyla's. “You were sitting in the front row with Mr. Richland. And Alanna's sister.”

“That's right,” Caprice agreed. “Could I talk to you for a few minutes?”

“What about?” Muriel asked, obviously not going to allow a stranger to set foot in her home without a good reason.

“I'm trying to figure out who might have wanted to do Alanna harm. Unfortunately, Mr. Richland is a suspect, and I'd like to give the police other avenues to pursue. Could we talk?”

At that explanation, Muriel opened the screen door. “I just returned from my yoga class. The place is a mess.”

“I promise I won't look around,” Caprice assured her with a smile.

As Caprice entered the living room, she realized Muriel must not know what a mess was. True, there were folded towels on a corner of the sofa, and a newspaper spread over the coffee table. A coffee mug rested on a side end table and a pair of shoes lay by the recliner. But the room was bright with rose floral fabrics on a cream background. A porcelain vase holding a few daffodils sat on a clover-shaped occasional table at the plate glass window.

“I became quite emotional at the funeral, I'm afraid,” Muriel admitted. “When you get to my age, losing one more person just seems to be too much. Barton's sudden heart attack and death was a shock. Now Alanna's murder. It was all just too much.”

“I understand,” Caprice assured her.

“Please sit,” Muriel said, motioning to the sofa. “Would you like a cup of tea? I just put water on to boil.”

“That would be lovely. My nana and I share tea at least once a month.”

“How about orange spice?”

“Sounds good.”

Ten minutes later, they were both seated on the sofa, mugs of tea in their hands. They'd been making small talk up until then, but now Caprice said, “I'd like to know more about Alanna. I staged her house to sell, but we talked mostly about business.”