Rose Hill (21 page)

Scott turned to Hannah, who raised her cheek for a kiss and got one too.

“Ah, Hannah,” Scott said. “If you weren’t married to my good friend Sam, and if he wasn’t an expert marksman, I’d drag you off and have my way with you.”

“I know, I know,” Hannah said. “It’s the flat chest and big feet that draw all the men to me, like moths to a flame.”

Maggie’s face flushed as Scott dropped to his knees by her chair and took her hand.

“Get your hands off me,” she said, but she didn’t withdraw her hand from his grip.

“Mary Margaret,” he said. “Thank you for apologizing to Gwyneth and saving my job. How can I ever thank you?”

“You
better hope she stays out of my way and out of my bookstore,” Maggie replied, “or the next time I’ll make sure there’s heavy traffic before I heave her out into the street.”

Scott and Maggie left together after enjoying a huge feast of funeral reception leftovers and
baked goods from the bakery. The mood between them was warm and easy as they walked. Small talk soon descended into silence, and as they passed the veterinary clinic, with its yellow crime scene tape flapping in the wind, Maggie stopped and faced Scott.

“I want to tell you what we found at Theo’s,” Maggie said, “but I don’t want to get in trouble, and I don’t want to get you in trouble because you know.”

“Let’s go back to your place,” Scott said. “I promise to listen like your friend and not a big bad police officer.”

Scott left her apartment an hour later wondering how in the world he could keep bending the law for Maggie Fitzpatrick before he broke it completely. He also now knew why Knox might have wanted to kill his wife. Those pictures in Theo’s safe would not help him win any elections. Knox may have an alibi for the time of Theo’s murder, but he could also have hired out the dirty work. Scott couldn’t tell Sarah any of this, of course. He would have to wait until her team searched the secret room, found the photographs, and put it together themselves.

Maggie had been anxious to hear what her brother Sean had said, but Scott told her only that he had an alibi for the time of Theo’s death, and that he didn’t know where Brian was. He didn’t feel like it was his place to tell Maggie about Sean and Brad. That was Sean’s personal business, and if Maggie had read the letters, she might have already figured it out. Scott was disappointed in her use of him to transport those letters, but wasn’t eager to have yet another confrontation. He decided to leave it for now.

Ed flagged him down at the corner of Pine Mountain Road and Rose Hill Avenue and took a moment to catch his breath before he spoke.

“I know you said I shouldn’t push Tommy, and I didn’t, but he’s told me something more.”

“Good,” Scott said. “I need all the help I can get.”

“Tommy said Billy did not come right back after Theo left. It was awhile later, maybe even after his mom came home at 2:00.”

“That boy knows way more than he’s telling,”

“It’s coming out, little by little. He’s really worried about it.”

“Well, tell him he did a good thing, and let me know if he says anything else.”

“You think Billy could have killed Theo?”

“Or saw who did.”

Ed walked on a ways with Scott, and when they reached the corner of Peony Street and Rose Hill Avenue, Ed said, “I thought a lot about Brad today.”

“I did too,” Scott said.

“I don’t understand how someone as good as Brad could be taken at such a young age, and that wretched brother of his lived as long as he did,” Ed said. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

“I know,” Scott said. “It’s not fair.”

“He was nothing like Theo,” Ed said. “It’s hard to believe they were raised by the same mother.”

“Maybe that’s why their parents adopted the third and fourth after they had the first two,” Scott said. “So they wouldn’t repeat their mistakes.”

Ed nodded in agreement before the two friends parted and went their separate ways.

Sarah was on Scott’s front porch when he got home. Duke the cat was sitting next to her, keeping her company, but she didn’t seem to appreciate the gesture. He invited them both in and although Duke declined, Sarah accepted. Scott made some coffee, and put a shot of whiskey in it to help her warm up. Scott caught her up on what his team had been doing with a quick review of his notes.

“No disgruntled breeding customers so far, no sign of Willy Neff or his truck, Knox’s alibis checked out for the night of the murder and the night of Anne Marie’s accident, and Drew’s background check came out squeaky clean.”

Sarah nodded and said, “Uh huh,” in all the right places, but it didn’t seem like she was really listening. He told her Caroline had called about the secret room, but did not mention anything was known to be in it, or that anyone had been in it. Sarah didn’t get too excited, but said she would have a team search it.

He told her what Tommy said to Ed about the night Theo was killed, but she dismissed the information, saying, “That kid’s starving for attention. I wouldn’t put too much stock in anything he says. Besides, you said yourself the busboy could care less about Theo abusing his mother. They’re trailer trash, all of them.”

Sarah shrugged off his theory
that Anne Marie may have traded Knox’s rare coin for drugs, saying, “Knox has an airtight alibi; that’s a dead end.”

Sarah helped herself to more coffee and took her turn sharing news.

“Your buddy Ed checked out okay. No blood on his clothes or anything belonging to him, and no motive any more serious than the ones everyone else in this town seem to have. The owner of the diner said Theo argued with everyone, and the fight with Ed was no different from any of the others. I don’t see any point in pursuing him or Dr. Rosen, so barring any new developments it looks like we can cross them both off the list. I think we haven’t met our murderer yet. We need to focus more closely on Theo’s business deals, and my hunch is we’ll find our killer there.”

“I’ll talk to Trick,” Scott said. “Maybe he knows something.”

“They read Theo’s will today,” Sarah said. “Since it will be common knowledge by tomorrow I thought I’d give you a heads up.”

“By tomorrow, you say?” Scott laughed. “I’d say most of the town probably knows by now.”

“But not you?”

“People know I don’t like gossip, and I don’t encourage it.”

“I know I’ve said this before, and you don’t agree, but I often find out important things related to a case by listening to gossip, even encouraging it,” she said. “You might want to rethink that stance.”

Scott had received this lecture from Sarah many times, and was tired of it.

“If I acted on every piece of gossip going around this town, everyone would be in jail for something,” he said, but she ignored him as she got out her notes.

“Gwyneth gets the properties in town, the leases, stocks, and half the trust, which adds up to several million dollars. Here’s where it gets interesting. Caroline gets the lodge plus the surrounding land, the other half of the trust, and a load of stocks, but all of hers will be held in trust, so she can’t liquidate the assets. Why do you think that is?”

“A lot of the Eldridge properties were placed in trust back in their great grandparents’ day,” Scott told her. “For instance, Theo also had rights to the lodge and surrounding land, but only for the duration of his life, and under the terms of the trust he wasn’t supposed to develop it. Caroline is kind of a ‘give it all to the poor,’ un-materialistic person. Looks like he gave her only the untouchable assets so she wouldn’t be able to break them up, sell them, or give them away. If something happens to Caroline, it all goes to Gwyneth. Unless some bastard child of Theo’s shows up demanding a share, when there aren’t any more Eldridge heirs, it all goes to the college.”

“How do you know all this?”

“From Ed. It’s his business to know everything.”

“So Caroline gets the untouchable stuff and Gwyneth gets the Rose Hill board game Theo created. She’ll get to play with people’s lives just like he did.”

“Gwyneth is only interested in being important, and Caroline is much more interested in charitable works, so they should both be happy.”

“It’s easy to be charitable and un-materialistic with a multi-million dollar trust fund as a safety net,” Sarah said.

“Yeah, but she’s a nice kid,” Scott said, munching on some cookies Bonnie had sent home with him.

He offered one to Sarah but she declined with a disgusted curl of her lip.

“So what does she do with her time?”

“Caroline? She drifts from cause to cause, still kind of looking for herself.”

“How old is she?”

“She’s in her early thirties,” Scott calculated.

“Wow. You’d think she’d have found herself by now.”

“Is that it?” he said, standing so she’d get the clear hint he wanted her to leave.

“No, actually, there’s something I want you to investigate.”

Scott sat back down.

“Theo left a considerable amount of money to someone named Ava Fitzpatrick. Is she any relation to your chubby friend Maggie?”

Scott’s mouth fell open in surprise.

“I’m guessing the answer is yes,” Sarah said.

“She’s Maggie’s sister-in-law.”

Scott was trying to remember all Maggie had said about the photographic shrine Theo had created in the secret room, and the details of the loan Theo had made to Brian.

“And how will Ava’s husband feel about this?” Sarah asked, with a raised eyebrow.

“He won’t know. He disappeared about seven years ago and no one’s heard from him since.”

“Was there an investigation?” she asked.

“Yes,” Scott nodded. “I don’t know all the details. I worked in Pendleton then.”

“Look into it for me. Theo’s murder could have been a crime of passion.”

New questions were racing through Scott’s mind. Did Theo buy off Brian to have Ava all to himself? Or did he lure him away and kill him? Did Ava have a relationship with Theo after Brian left? Scott couldn’t imagine that beautiful woman with Theo.

“So, what about Ava?” Sarah asked. “Did she divorce him?”

“No,” Scott said. “Ava will never divorce Brian. They have two kids together.”

“So she’s just waiting for him to come back? How pathetic.”

“She’s Catholic,” Scott said. “She is also very much beholden to the Fitzpatricks, and his mother still expects Brian to come back.”

“Any idea what Ava’s relationship was with Theo?”

“I didn’t know there was one,” Scott said. “Jesus, I feel like I need to get over there.”

“You better
remember you’re a police officer, not a friend, and anything you hear you share with me.”

Scott stood and walked to the door, so she couldn’t mistake his meaning.

“Find out everything for me,” Sarah said as she put on her coat, “so I won’t have to upset Ava with my evil, gossip-loving, county sheriff’s investigator ways.”

“All right,” Scott said. “I’ll call you tomorrow if I find out anything.”

Sarah stopped on his front steps and looked like she wanted to say something else, but Scott quickly closed his door so she couldn’t.

After Sarah left
, Scott put on his coat, left by the back door, and jogged down the snow-covered alley that divided the backyards of Sunflower Street and Pine Mountain Road. When he knocked on the back door of the bed and breakfast, Patrick opened it, but stood like a wall, blocking the entrance.

“She’s not in any state to talk to the police, Scott.”

“How about a friend, Patrick?”

“But you aren’t her friend right now, are ya, pal? You’re a cop, and unless she’s being arrested for something, she’s not available to you.”

“Any clue why she was in the will?”

“No comment.”

“Patrick.”

“Thanks for stopping by, Scott. I’ll let Ava know you were concerned for her, as a friend.”

“I really do want to help if I can.”

“Thanks again, Scott, I’ll tell her.”

Patrick backed into the kitchen, shut the door, and Scott could hear the deadbolt lock being set. He saw Maggie peeking out the window of the family room and she shrugged at him, mouthing, ‘sorry,’ before dropping the curtain.

The Fitzpatricks had closed ranks.

Scott left the porch and walked on down the alley to the junction where it created a “T” with the alley behind the service station and the Dairy Chef. He stood there a moment, trying to decide which way to go. Everyone he wanted to talk the case over with was either a suspect or related to one.

“Pssst,” he heard, and turned around a couple times before he saw Hannah, crouched in the bushes behind the Dairy Chef.

“What are you doing in there?”

“Meet me inside,” she said in a loud whisper, and disappeared backward into the parking lot.

Scott took the long way around the bushes through the side parking lot.