I sat at my computer not sure where to turn next. Lurleen would have known immediately where to go and what to look for.
When I’d spoken to Jonathan, he’d confessed to what he claimed was his darkest secret—ruining the career of Adeline Morgan with a lie. He’d tried to make up for that by getting her a job at the CDC. If he’d been involved with the death of Luke, wouldn’t that have eaten away at him much more than what he did to Adeline? Everyone we spoke to said he loved Luke like a son.
I suppose his confession to me could have been to hide a more horrible secret. My psychiatrist friend often told me it was impossible to know when people were telling you the truth and that sociopaths could lie better than the rest of us.
But I didn’t see Jonathan as a sociopath. I saw him as someone driven to succeed in his field of research. So driven that he stole a colleague’s work, but with a conscience that made him regret what he’d done. I suppose one good question was whether or not Adeline had forgiven him.
I couldn’t see any legitimate way to get in touch with her, but perhaps I could stay in touch with Jonathan. Maybe he could tell me more about their current relationship. Once Jonathan came home from the hospital I could bring over soup to the family. That couldn’t be considered meddling could it? I guess sociopaths weren’t the only ones who could lie when it suited their purpose.
I looked through my soup recipes and found one I knew would be delicious and appropriate for the fall, a gingered curry carrot soup. Preparing it gave me time to think. I suppose that was part of the reason I liked to cook as much as I did. It always gave me the space I needed to figure things out.
There seemed to be so many extraneous issues in the death of Nicole Ash, the assault on Jonathan and the threats to Stephanie. Was there any way to weave them together and get one solution for what looked like multiple problems? That was always the aim in medicine. Find one disease that satisfied all the symptoms. Of course, that only worked with young people, the population I worked with. Older folks could have more than one disorder and usually did. So could I fit the information into one neat package or should I consider this an old case in which multiple explanations would need to be found to create the whole picture like a jigsaw puzzle.
As Lucie said, money was often a motive for bad behavior including murder. Money and love, the two best motivators. Either of these could lead to desperate measures and then to revenge if the person didn’t get what they wanted.
We still didn’t know for sure who Luke’s mother was, but Josephine was the most likely candidate. I could imagine she might have blamed her brother for Luke’s death. After all, it happened in his hospital, and it was his surgeon who performed the appendectomy. Perhaps she could have known how to kill her brother a year later in the hospital. She’d certainly have access to him, time alone with him. Or perhaps she got someone to do it for her, someone like Nicole or Nate. But that wouldn’t explain why she’d go after Jonathan five years later to the day.
The soup needed my attention. I was finishing it up when Lurleen called.
“News,” she said. “Can I come over?”
“Yes, and you can taste my soup.”
“Great, I’m on my way.”
I toasted some home-made croutons and offered her a bowl of soup as soon as she entered the house.
“It smells delicious,” she said as she settled on a stool at my kitchen island. She took a bite. “Incroyable, comme toujours,” she said. “What’s the occasion?”
“I thought I’d take some over to Stephanie. She’ll have her hands full once Jonathan gets home.”
“Ah,” Lurleen said, looking at me with eyes that suddenly turned emerald green. That’s what happened when she stared at me with a certain intensity. Her hazel eyes became the color of the green light on a traffic signal, and the meaning was the same. It was time to get going. “You want more information—it’s written all over your face. Maybe I can help you with some of that.”
“Did Stephanie confess to murdering Nicole?” I asked.
“Only in her dreams,” Lurleen said. She hated Nicole, but she denied killing her. However, she made a very important confession about the break-in this morning.”
Lurleen seemed to be waiting for an imaginary drum roll.
“And?” I asked.
“She staged it,” Lurleen said, “because she wanted to get the police to take the threats seriously.”
“Did she make up all the threatening phone calls?”
“I’m not sure,” Lurleen said. “Stephanie didn’t admit that, but she never acted all that frightened when she told me about them.”
“I can tell you Jonathan was frightened,” I said. “He refused to tell me or the police who it was he suspected of making them until he knew his wife was safe.”
“Why wouldn’t he give you a name?” Lurleen asked.
“I wonder if he thought it was someone close to home,” I said, “and perhaps he thought he could deal with it some other way.”
“If Stephanie did make up the threats,” Lurleen said, “why would she do that?” Then she answered her own question. “Maybe to get Jonathan’s attention. She talked a lot about how distant he’d become.”
Lurleen finished her soup in silence and carried the bowl to the sink. “Can we go over things step by step?”
“Yes,” I said, “that’s exactly what I’ve been trying to do.” I looked at my watch. “We have one hour before I need to pick up the kids.”
“Then, let’s get started. Can I borrow your computer?” Lurleen asked. “I think better when I’m writing things down.”
“Be my guest.” I brought my computer out from my tiny office off the kitchen. “Here you go. Let’s start with what we know.”
Lurleen obediently typed ‘What we know’ at the top of the page.
1) Luke died in hospital on October 26, six years ago.
2) Donald Strout Senior died one year later on October 26.
3) Jonathan was run off the road and nearly died on October 26 of this year.
4) Nicole Ash was murdered the night of the book club after she saw something that frightened her.
Lurleen looked up from her typing. “When was the book club?” she asked. “I can’t remember.”
“It was Monday, October 23rd” I said, “But she died sometime during the early morning of October 24th.”
“So not October 26, obviously,” Lurleen said. “If someone thought she was involved with Luke’s death why wasn’t she killed on the 26th?”
“That’s a good question,” I said. “Either the murderer had to kill her before they meant to or her death had nothing to do with Luke’s death. You remember that game we’d play with Jason, which of these things is not like the other?”
“Yes,” Lurleen said.
“It helped with his dyslexia,” I said. “It made him pay attention to how he was seeing letters. I like it when things fit neatly together, but maybe in this case they don’t. Let’s make a list of those things we can’t connect yet.”
Lurleen nodded and started a new list called ‘Facts that don’t fit.”
“One,” I said, “Nicole Ash was not murdered on October 26th, so perhaps she was not murdered to avenge the death of Luke.”
“Two,” Lurleen said. “Jonathan seems genuinely terrified by the threats while Stephanie does not.”
“Three,” I said, “Jonathan won’t tell us what he knows until his wife is safe, and that suggests he knows something. On the other hand, all he told me he felt guilty about was what he had done to Adeline. I wonder where Adeline fits into the whole scheme of things.”
“Is she simply a poisson rouge?” Lurleen asked.
“A red fish, Lurleen?” It took me a moment to get it. “A red herring, that’s what you’re asking. Yes, that’s a good question. I wish we could talk to Adeline. Perhaps the story of Adeline and Jonathan is completely unrelated to the murder of Nicole. But if that’s so, why did Josephine want her included in the book club?”
“Maybe she didn’t know what her role was any more than we do,” Lurleen said.
“Jonathan mentioned her as a presence,” I said, “almost like a ghost that haunted him. She’d turn up at unexpected times, so I wonder if she knows something about the history of what happened to Luke or Mr. Strout. Perhaps, that’s why Josephine wanted her present, not because she was involved with those deaths but because she might have seen or discovered something no one else saw. Then, she didn’t come.”
“Maybe it was simply what she said it was, that she was too busy,” Lurleen said.
“Or perhaps she doesn’t like cozy mysteries,” I said. “They’re not everyone’s cup of tea.”
“Ha,” Lurleen said.”Maybe we should both speak to her.”
“I can’t do that,” I said, suddenly coming to my senses. “We can tell Mason what we wonder about and he can pass it on to Kevin. That’s all we can do.”
“And I suppose this lovely soup is simply your way of being kind to a neighbor in trouble.”
“Okay, Lurleen, so I’m curious too; I admit it. I want to see how Stephanie and Jonathan interact and I’d like to see how Nate fits into the domestic scene.”
“Got it. Jonathan’s still scheduled to come home tomorrow morning.”
“Perfect,” I said. “I’m switching my half day this week in honor of Halloween. That means I’ll get off at noon tomorrow, and we can deliver the soup then. It will only get better in 24 hours.”
“Good,” Lurleen said. “I know you made a deal with Mason not to meddle, but I didn’t. I’m going to try to speak to Adeline Morgan.”
“Please don’t do that,” I said. I checked the time. “I have to get the soup in the refrigerator, clean up and get the kids. Tomorrow is Halloween, and it’s going to be a busy afternoon and evening. Lurleen, call me before you do anything impulsive.”
“Bien sûr,” she said.
It was never a good sign when she agreed to something in French, but I also couldn’t worry about that at the moment. If I didn’t hurry I’d be late getting the kids.
Lurleen took off for home, and I headed for my car.
I saw someone I didn’t recognize standing at the edge of my property, half hidden by our large magnolia. “Can I help you?”
“I’m Adeline. Adeline Morgan,” a woman said. She was a tall, attractive woman dressed in black slacks and a black turtleneck. She wore her brown hair in a ponytail. For a moment I wondered if she was casing my house.
“You look uneasy,” she said. “I was coming up to knock on your door.”
“Really? It looked as if you might be waiting for me to leave.”
She laughed an unsettling laugh, or that’s how it sounded to my ears. “No, you have that wrong. I was trying to get information and I didn’t want to bother Stephanie. I know Jonathan is coming home soon, and I thought I might drop off something for him. I thought you might know when he was getting out of the hospital.”
I looked at my watch. “Give me a minute.”
I turned away and called Lurleen. “You won’t believe who just turned up on my doorstep—Adeline Morgan. Can you pick up the kids so I can talk to her?”
“Sure. Should I take them somewhere before I bring them home?”
“Hmm. Maybe so. Give me half an hour.”
“You got it,” Lurleen said. “Should I ask Danny to come over while you talk to her?”
I turned around and took another look at Adeline. She carried a wallet-sized purse, nothing large enough to contain a gun. “I think we’re good.”
“Okay, I’ll get the kids, and we’ll drive around looking at Halloween decorations. I’ll call before I bring them home to make sure the coast is clear.”
“What was that all about?” Adeline asked.
“I needed to pick up my kids, but I have a friend doing it for me.”
“Lurleen?” she asked.
“How do you know Lurleen?”
“I met her at a tarot card reading a couple of days ago at Crystal’s. She didn’t mention that to you?”
“No, she didn’t,” I said. “She probably knew I wouldn’t approve.”
Adeline laughed. “I’m a scientist, but these readings are a lot of fun. I’ve been to them before with Crystal. She only goes as far as anyone wants her to go. It’s not all fortune telling hooey. Mine are always about issues I need to resolve.”
“I can’t believe Lurleen went to another tarot card reading and didn’t tell me.”
“Lurleen mentioned you wouldn’t like the idea she came, and we all agreed we’d keep it more or less a secret. It wasn’t a problem for me because I hadn’t met you yet. However, I know plenty about both of you and what you’ve done in the past. I even know you want to talk to me, so here I am saving you the trouble of tracking me down.”
I’m sure I blanched. “How could you know that? Did Lurleen call you?”
“No, I haven’t spoken to Lurleen since our tarot card session. I have connections the same way you do. You spoke to a friend of yours at the CDC. Turns out she’s a friend of mine as well and she let me know you called her. I think she thought I should know someone was asking about me. Long story short, I’m here and we should talk.”
“We’ll sit on the porch if you don’t mind,” I said. “It’s a fall day, so we should be comfortable.”
“You sound as if you don’t want me in your house,” she said. “I don’t mind, not with everything that’s been going on.”
“Do you have a problem with dogs?” I asked.
“No problem.” Adeline settled herself on the porch swing and I let Hermione out. Majestic followed behind.
Hermione wandered over, sniffed Adeline and settled at her feet. A good sign. Majestic jumped up on the porch railing as if he, too, considered Adeline to be worthy of his attention.
“My pets seem to approve of you,” I said.
“But you’re still not sure,” Adeline said.
I started to shake my head and then shrugged. “Jonathan told me what he’d done to you years ago. It sounded pretty awful and I wondered if you had really forgiven him.”
“You wondered if I might have run him off the road?” she asked. “If I wanted revenge I would have taken it long before now. Jonathan helped me get the research job I have now at the CDC, and I wouldn’t jeopardize that for anything.”
“So all is forgiven?” I asked.
“I don’t know if I can say that. He stole a lot more than my discovery. He stole years from my life. No one would hire me as a researcher until he managed to help me get the position I’m in now. I believe he really is sorry for what he did, but the damage was done.”
I nodded. “Why are you here?” I asked. “You could have called Stephanie to get the information about when Jonathan was coming home.”
“Stephanie and I don’t speak. She got this idea that Jonathan and I had something going on. It wasn’t true but apparently she continued to believe it.”
“Wait,” I said, “Stephanie thought you and Jonathan were involved with one another?”
“Yes, if you can believe that,” Adeline said. “Jonathan was never my type and he loved Stephanie. I think she imagined it because I’d turn up from time to time and he’d act very uncomfortable when I did. He also works long hours, and it can be a lonely life to be married to a research scientist.”
“I’ve heard that before,” I said. “What do you mean you’d turn up from time to time?”
Adeline didn’t talk for a moment and patted Hermione on the head. “I had nowhere to go when I got fired, and I couldn’t believe what Jonathan had done to me. He destroyed my career before it even began. I followed him to Atlanta when he moved here. I spent years hovering around him and his family, like a phantom. All I could get were menial jobs as a lab tech or a pharmacy assistant, and I wanted him to know how much suffering he’d caused me.”
“Did you ever threaten him?”
“No. It was better for him to see me unexpectedly from time to time. I did some part-time work on Mr. Strout’s estate and that unnerved him even more. Of course, he couldn’t say anything or he’d have to explain how he knew me, and I never spoke to anyone about how I knew him.”
“Did it help you to get revenge in that way?”
Adeline shook her head. “I don’t think revenge ever really makes you feel better. A simple apology, an acknowledgment from him about what he’d done might have brought me some satisfaction, but he never did that. Even now, all he can say is that it was a misunderstanding. I didn’t handle it well. I suppose you could say I stalked Jonathan for years. I was the shadow that should have been his conscience. I’d pop up and he’d freak out. That’s probably why Stephanie thought we were having an affair.”
“I’m sorry, but I need to ask this again,” I said. “You really weren’t having an affair? A child turned up and we have no idea who the mother might have been.”
“You mean Luke, that poor precious boy who died? He wasn’t mine. I’d never have given a child away to be raised by someone else. I can tell you whose child it was, and I can tell you a great deal about that family if you want to hear.”
“I want to hear.”