Gin Jones - Helen Binney 01 - A Dose of Death (23 page)

When Helen arrived back at her cottage, Tate was sitting on the front porch steps. He was up and across the front yard, opening the taxi’s back door for her before the driver could do it.

“
I don’t like this,” Tate said as the taxi was leaving.

“
What did I do now?” Helen said. “You waylaid me, not the other way around.”

“
Adam called to tell me that Jack was mugged,” he said. “I don’t like it. Things are escalating, and you’re in the middle of it.”

“
I’m not in the middle of anything except a bunch of trees,” Helen said, on her way to the front door. “No one takes me seriously.”

“
I do,” Tate said, following. “Okay, I didn’t at first, but I do now. We don’t get random muggings in Wharton. Not like what happened to Jack. I’ve had to listen to almost as many arraignments as Judge Nolan has, while waiting for my clients’ cases to be called. In pretty much all the assault cases I’ve ever observed, the assailant and the victim knew each other, and more often than not they were under the influence of something. Alcohol, drugs, hormones. That sort of thing. But according to Jack, his assailant came out of nowhere, knocked him down, and told him to leave town before he got what was coming to him.”

“
I bet the police think one of his burglary victims came after him.” Helen unlocked her front door.

“
That’s what I thought at first, and it’s definitely the simplest explanation.” Tate followed her inside, and wandered around the great room, checking out her bookshelves and inspecting the construction of her built-in desk cabinetry.

“
But not the only explanation.” Helen left her cane at the front door and went over to the kitchen. The spring air wasn’t particularly warm today, and Tate had probably gotten chilled while outside waiting for her. “What if Melissa’s killer tried to scare him into running?”

“
I’m listening.” Tate dropped onto one of the stools at the kitchen island. “Convince me it was the killer.”

Of course now when she wanted to be wrong, Tate had to go and believe her. Or at least not disbelieve her.
“For one thing, Jack’s victims were low-level jerks. Not violent. And it would take some work to have found him. Plus, they’d have to have a certain mindset to attack him physically. It’s not like Jack hurt anyone, so why escalate to assault instead of just accepting compensation for the things he took?”

“
Crime isn’t entirely rational.”

“
Okay, but Jack isn’t the only person who was assaulted and warned off.” Helen opened a can of chicken noodle soup and dumped it into a small tureen with a pouring spout. “The reporter, Geoff Loring, was too. Someone beat him up, broke his wrist, and told him to stop investigating the nursing home. Like you said, Wharton is a small town, and two muggings like this with a common thread are more likely to be related than not.”

“
What’s the common thread?”

“
Melissa. She used to work at the nursing home before she joined the agency that assigned her to me.” Helen placed the soup bowl in the microwave and slammed the door shut. “Melissa’s death and Geoff’s nursing home story could be related. Betty and Josie think Melissa might have been involved in insurance fraud while working for Pierce’s agency. She could have been killed to cover up the fraud, and then Jack became a convenient scapegoat.”

“
That’s assuming facts not in evidence, that there was a fraud scheme and she was involved with it.”

“
But it would be so perfect if it was true,” Helen said. “I can’t think of anyone I’d rather see behind bars than Pierce, and if his agency was committing fraud, I doubt their contracts would be enforceable, so you wouldn’t have to waste any more of your retirement time helping your nephew get my contract cancelled.”

“
Just because he’s a convenient scapegoat doesn’t make him guilty. Jack is a convenient scapegoat too, according to the police,” Tate said. “A lot of assaults are just a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The police could be right that Melissa was killed by a burglar, even if it wasn’t Jack. Wharton isn’t too small to have more than one burglar, even if it doesn’t have multiple muggers. You’re a wealthy woman, living in an out-of-the-way house, an appealing target for thieves.”

“
I’m tougher than I look.” Helen tried not to disprove her words as she carried the steaming bowl of soup to the kitchen island. “If you’re right about what happened, then the not-Jack burglar is casing the joint, Melissa shows up, confronts him, and he kills her. It’s possible I suppose, but it just doesn’t feel right. For one thing, where’d he get the murder weapon? Melissa was killed outside, not in here where the cane would have been at hand waiting for him to grab it. And if he managed to break into the cottage, there are more valuable things for him to steal, so why would he only take the cane.”

“
Melissa must have had it with her.” Tate frowned as he came around the island to rummage through her drawers for soup spoons. “You’re right. That doesn’t make sense.”

Helen paused in the act of reaching for soup bowls.
“Actually, maybe it does. Betty and Josie told me that Melissa used to take the patients’ walkers as a sort of hostage until they did what she wanted them to. I bet she took my cane and let me think I’d lost it, so I’d feel indebted to her when she found it. Or so I’d be desperate to negotiate with her to get it back.”

Tate took the bowls from her and placed them next to the tureen.
“That would explain why she was here the morning she was killed. She came to return the cane, and instead she stumbled across a burglary.”

“
I’m still not buying it,” Helen said. “Melissa would never have confronted a burglar directly. I’m sure she’s performed heroic life-saving procedures like CPR as part of her job, but much as I hate to admit it, she wasn’t stupid. If she’d seen someone suspicious in the yard, she’d have done the sensible thing: picked up her cell phone and called the cops. She wouldn’t have tried to stop him herself.”

“
Let’s say it wasn’t any kind of burglar who killed her, then,” Tate said. “Why would someone want to kill Melissa?”

“
Because she was annoying.”

“
You think everyone is annoying.”

“
They are. But she was even worse than most. She never stopped talking.”

“
About what?”

Helen
poured the soup into the individual bowls and gestured for Tate to eat while she tried to recreate the monologues she’d worked so hard to ignore when they were actually happening. “Melissa went on and on about how much she loved nursing, and all the years she’d worked at the nursing home, and how many people she’d cared for there.”

“
Maybe someone thought she knew something she shouldn’t, and that she’d spill their secrets. Something that wasn’t a problem as long as she was just talking to nursing home residents but could be a problem if someone outside found out about it.”

Helen thought about the things Melissa had told her about her patients.
“I have to admit, Melissa really wasn’t a malicious gossip. All her stories were about how nice her clients were and how much they loved her.” 

“
Still, she might have said something that wasn’t meant to be widely known. In which case, you might have heard whatever it was that Melissa knew,” Tate said between mouthfuls of soup. “And whoever silenced her would have a motive to come after you so you wouldn’t tell anyone else.”

“
But I don’t talk to anyone,” Helen said. “Everyone knows that.”

“
You talk to me.”

“
Lawyer-client privilege,” she said. “You can’t tell anyone about anything I say, so it wouldn’t become public knowledge. We’re both safe.”

“
It’s a little more complicated than that,” Tate said, but he had the good sense not to go into any of the details her husband would have shared with her in the same circumstances. It was one of the things she didn’t dislike about Tate.

“
What I said about Melissa being annoying is complicated too. She was supposed to be helping me, but most of the time she made things more difficult. She tripped me once, and another time she managed to spill water all over my most critical pills, completely ruining them.” 

Tate shook his head ruefully.
“Why do clients always leave out the most important facts and then wonder why I can’t help them?”

“
Melissa’s clumsiness isn’t important,” Helen said, reluctant to discuss her frailties with someone who looked like he’d never had a frail moment in his life. “I hardly even remember the incidents.”

“
What if they weren’t accidents?”

“
They had to be,” Helen said automatically, even as the possibility settled over her, causing her to shiver in a way that the hot soup couldn’t fix. “She’d have been fired if anyone found out she was intentionally endangering me. Why would she risk it?”

“
Either she didn’t think you’d tell on her, or she had some reason to think she couldn’t be fired from her current job.” Tate helped himself to the last of the soup. “She had to know you weren’t the type to keep quiet, so she must have thought her job was secure, no matter what she did.”

“
Maybe Pierce was desperate for employees.”

“
No one’s desperate enough to keep an employee who’s committing blatant malpractice.”

“
Unless the employee is more of a partner in crime than an employee,” Helen said. “What if Betty and Josie are right, that Pierce hired Melissa specifically to help him scam the nursing home patients?”

“
Then why was she endangering you? You’re not in the nursing home.”

“
Not for want of everyone trying to make me go there. Melissa and Pierce could have been trying to convince me that I really did need full-time residential care. Then once I was in the nursing home, they could bill my insurer for all sorts of things that I don’t really need, which would only make it seem more reasonable that I needed to be there, and also make it harder for me to get out again.”

“
Insurance fraud would explain a lot,” Tate said. “Co-conspirators have a falling out, tempers are frayed, violence ensues, and a head is bashed.”

“
Just another boring case, in legal terms,” Helen said. “It shouldn’t be all that difficult for you to prove, and then Jack will be out of danger.”

“
I’m doing this for you, not for Jack.” Tate took his empty bowl and hers over to the sink. “I’m acquainted with some members of the nursing home’s board of directors. I doubt they’ll say anything about such a sensitive topic over the phone, but they might talk to me in person. I’ll go see if any of them have become suspicious about anything going on at the nursing home.”

He wasn
‘t the only one with contacts. It was time to unpack her Rolodex. “I know some people in the Attorney General’s office. While you’re gone, I’ll check with them.”

Helen’s contacts in the Attorney’s General claimed to be unaware of any investigation into insurance fraud at the nursing home, and they’d sounded sincere, but they could have just been telling her the official story, keeping it secret until they had enough evidence for some indictments. In any event, if there really wasn’t an ongoing investigation, she had a feeling they’d be starting one now. The local police might not take her seriously, but these contacts knew her from the days when she wasn’t just a decrepit old private citizen but was the person in charge of the governor’s mansion. She’d even gotten a promise that if there was an investigation and if it did find any wrongdoing, they’d give Geoff Loring some of the credit, maybe even give him a couple hours’ advance notice before the official announcement. He deserved something for flushing out the story, even if it had been inadvertent.

Helen had just tucked her Rolodex back into the cabinet when she heard a car in the gravel driveway. She hoped it was Tate reporting back with whatever he
‘d found out. Her hip was bothering her, and she just wanted to get this whole thing straightened out, so she could take a painkiller and relax in front of the television. She didn’t take the pills very often because they tended to make her so sleepy she couldn’t do anything at all, but after the last few days the idea of dozing in her recliner was appealing.

Helen absently picked up her cane from where it leaned against the front door so she could let Tate inside. Too late, she realized it was Pierce standing on the front porch, rapidly scrolling through messages on his smartphone. Today
‘s cravat was more somber than usual with white dots on a black background.

“
Go away,” she told him. “I’m sure Rebecca is a very good nurse, but I don’t need her services.”

“
Rebecca quit.”

Good for her. The woman did have some gumption after all. Helen just hoped she also had a new job. If not, maybe a recommendation from the governor
‘s ex-wife would help. She’d have Tate’s nephew check it out.

“
Don’t worry.” Pierce gave the door a sudden push, jerking it out of Helen’s control, and slamming it all the way open. He picked up the messenger bag at his feet and brushed past her into the cottage before turning around to face her again. “I’ve found you a new nurse. I just need you to sign the revised contract.”

“
I’m not signing anything,” Helen said. “You need to talk to my lawyer.”

“
No time for that.” Pierce grabbed her by the elbow with his free hand, and pulled her toward the kitchen island, leaving the front door wide open.

What would Pierce do if she refused to sign his contract? He wouldn
‘t kill her, because then the contract would be worthless. Still, it might be better to just sign the damned thing and let Tate get it voided on the grounds that it was signed under duress. Now that Pierce had dragged her across the room, she was perfectly willing to swear in court that she was afraid of Pierce in a way that she’d never been afraid of Melissa.

Helen couldn
‘t count on the court to do the right thing, though. Just because Judge Nolan felt guilty about what had happened to Melissa didn’t necessarily mean she’d rule in Helen’s favor on another issue. If she could avoid signing Pierce’s papers just until Tate returned, it would save everyone a lot of trouble later. Tate should be back any minute, and as soon as he saw the front door open, even before he climbed out of his car, he’d know something was wrong. He’d do what she’d said a sane person would do when he saw something suspicious: call the police. And they’d listen to him.

All she had to do was to delay signing anything and keep Pierce from closing the front door. Helen stumbled, fumbling with her cane as if she couldn
‘t move without assistance, so Pierce would be unable to let her go while he closed the door.

He pushed her into the first seat at the kitchen island, which freed him to take a step toward the front door. She needed to get his attention back on her, and that meant dropping her pretense of incompetence. She didn
‘t care if he thought she was crazy. She just needed to provoke him. True or not, being accused of fraud ought to do it.

“
You’re wasting valuable time with me, when you should be packing up and leaving town,” she said. “Everyone knows about the insurance fraud. Including the Attorney General’s office.”

Mentioning the Attorney General was what finally got him to forget about the door. He turned around, his falsely solicitous expression firmly in place.
“You shouldn’t say such things. Someone might take you seriously.”

“
They already did,” she said. “Tate is at the police station now, arranging for your arrest.”

“
I know that you’ve been under a great deal of stress.” Pierce’s voice remained calm and condescending, but he brought his messenger bag up to his chest, hugging it like a security blanket. His fingers were turning white from the tension of his grip on the bag. “Even so, you can’t go around slandering people. I understand, of course, but not everyone would, and you could get into a great deal of legal trouble.”

“
Don’t patronize me,” Helen said. “I know what you did. The only thing I don’t understand is why you killed Melissa.”

He didn
‘t even blink. He just shook his head sadly. “Melissa was right. You’re senile. I’m sure that when you’ve had the time to think about it, you’ll realize I didn’t kill anyone.”

“
There’s no point in lying now,” Helen said. “It’s just you and me, and no one ever listens to me.” 

“
You know, I hadn’t planned to kill you, but it’s starting to sound like a good idea.” He tossed his bag on the kitchen island top and flipped it open. “It doesn’t have to be that way, though. All I really want is for you to sign a few things. Like you say, no one will pay any attention when you claim I forced you to sign them.”

Tate would pay attention, Helen thought. And he
‘d make sure others listened too. No point in pushing Pierce too far. Besides, she was curious just what he was planning. Maybe the papers in his bag were just what she needed to prove that Pierce was committing fraud.

“
What do you want signed?”

“
Oh, nothing much,” he said, waving a stack of papers at her. “Durable power of attorney, health care proxy, that sort of thing.”

He really was committing fraud, she thought, fighting down the urge to slip off her chair and dance around the room in triumph. Not that she
‘d be able to take more than a step or two without falling down. Being dragged and tossed into this chair hadn’t done her hip any good.

But she
‘d been right. Or mostly right. Pierce wasn’t just after her medical insurance; he was after everything she had. With those documents, he could have her put in the nursing home against her will. Not only would everyone ignore her wishes like they were already inclined to do but they’d actually be legally required to ignore them. Pierce could take his time, generating bills for expensive medical services she neither needed nor received, and, if that wasn’t enough, he’d simultaneously be looting her personal financial assets.

“
Forget it, Pierce.” Helen’s exuberance was evaporating, and she understood how Tate felt when a promising legal case turned into a routine matter. The sheer incompetence of Pierce’s plan made Melissa’s death seem even worse; no one, not even Melissa, deserved to die in furtherance of such an inept crime.

Helen didn
‘t have to fake the fatigue in her voice as she explained, “Everything I own is in a trust. I can’t sign it over to you, even if I wanted to. Besides, I already have a health care proxy filed with my doctor, who’s a family friend. He’d be suspicious if I changed it from my niece to someone I’d only met recently.”

Pierce let the papers slip from his hands to scatter across the kitchen island. He leaned over to lay his forearms on the island
‘s top and then clutched his head between his hands. When he spoke again, his voice was too muffled to tell whether he was as distraught as he looked, or if this was just another act. “This is all Melissa’s fault. She said you’d be an easy target, and if we pulled it off, we might even get our hooks into some of your Boston contacts as well. I knew we should have stuck to what was working instead of branching out.”

“
Greed does lead people to take unnecessary risks.” Helen finally heard the familiar—and just this once, eagerly anticipated—sound of a car coming up the far end of her gravel driveway. She pushed herself to her feet and thumped her cane more loudly than necessary, to keep Pierce’s attention on her and away from the sound of the approaching vehicle. “How long had you been scamming the nursing home patients before Melissa joined you?”

“
A couple years,” he said, straightening slowly and running his hands down his face. A finger snagged on his cravat and undid its neat folds, leaving it a wrinkled lump. “I was so careful not to take much from any one patient. Until Melissa came along. She knew which patients would know immediately if the billing was excessive, so we had to remain cautious with them, but she also knew which patients never looked at the billing or had anyone else do it for them, and there was practically no limit to the padding we could do there. Even after her cut, I made more in the six short months with Melissa than I’d made in the entire two years before that.”

“
So that’s why you killed Melissa,” Helen said. “Geoff Loring started nosing around, asking about Melissa and talking about a big story. You thought he’d figured out what you and Melissa were up to. You blamed Melissa for not covering her tracks better, so you killed her, hoping that would be the end of it.”

“
I didn’t kill Melissa.” He sounded genuinely surprised by the accusation.

“
Yes, you did.” She’d seen him lie often enough that she wasn’t willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. “And then later, when Geoff kept poking around at the nursing home, following up on his suspicions about you and Melissa, you assaulted him to get him to drop the story. You even threatened Jack so he’d run away too, and everyone would think it was proof of his guilt, and they’d close the case without looking into anyone else’s motive.”

“
Geoff Loring was a problem, and I took care of it. I didn’t need to kill Melissa. Or do anything about Jack. He was doing a pretty good job all by himself of convincing the police of his guilt.”

The tell-tale thunk of Tate
‘s car door slamming startled Pierce. “Who’s that?”

“
No one.”

He glanced frantically around the cottage, as if looking for a place to hide.
“Melissa didn’t say anything about a silent alarm.”

“
I just had it installed,” she said, omitting the fact that it hadn’t gone live yet. “Marty Reed designed it.”

Pierce looked at the door, and then apparently deciding he
‘d never get there in time to escape, he took up a position on her left side, with his arm around her shoulder. It would look like he was just being friendly and supportive, but it also had the effect of preventing her from getting up and running—or at least hobbling—away from his control.

“
You’re going to tell the responders that everything is okay,” he said. “Tell them that you tripped the alarm by mistake and we couldn’t figure out how to disarm it.”

“
Then what?”

“
It depends on you. Sign the papers, and keep quiet, and everything will be fine.”

She didn
‘t have to see his face to know he was lying. She could feel it in the grip he had on her shoulder, the tension of his body beside her. If she sent Tate away, Pierce would kill her, like he’d killed Melissa, and if that weren’t bad enough, he’d probably find a way to implicate Jack. She’d have to be as much of a fool as he obviously thought she was to believe otherwise.

“
I am
not
an incompetent fool.” Her cane was in her right hand, out of Pierce’s line of sight. She adjusted her grip on her cane, sliding her hand down the shaft until she could hold it like a baseball bat. 

“
What?”

“
I am not a fool, and I am not an easy victim.” She flipped the cane up to thwap Pierce’s hand on her right shoulder. When he let go of her, she was able to get a few inches’ distance from him. She knew she couldn’t outrun him, not once he got over the surprise, so she had to find some way to slow him down. The cane wasn’t strong enough to do any damage to his legs, but it might be enough to give him a bit of a concussion.

She reinforced her grip on the cane with her left hand, and, with a moment
‘s regret that she hadn’t taken her husband up on his frequent offers to teach her to play golf, she swung the cane at Pierce’s head.

Even as she dropped the cane, Pierce fell back against the island, obviously dazed. She didn
‘t know how long it would take for him to recover, and she was going to need reinforcements before that happened. She knew she was being a little foolish, but she couldn’t quite make herself call out for help, not in front of the man who’d banked on her vulnerability. Still, she wasn’t foolish enough to risk the possibility that Tate wouldn’t have noticed the open front door. Pierce thought there were people responding to an alarm out there, so she just needed to foster that impression. She limped toward the front door, shouting “We’re in here!” as she went.