Adeline made herself more comfortable on the swing, and Majestic jumped into her lap. Adeline seemed to be like Lurleen, a cat whisperer.
“Majestic doesn’t do that with just anyone,” I said.
“The secret is to make no sudden movements, show respect for the creature but not too much interest.”
“Ah, a cat person,” I said.
She smiled at that. “I think I was a cat in another life. I suppose that’s what I was in Jonathan’s life, a sinister black cat in the shadows who turned up when he least expected it or least wanted me around. He’d destroyed my future and I wanted to destroy his life by taking away everything that made him happy.”
She must have seen the strange look on my face.
“I didn’t run Jonathan off the road if that’s what you’re still wondering. And I certainly didn’t harm Luke, but I did witness how much Jonathan loved him and how devastated he was by his death.”
“Are you suggesting Jonathan was Luke’s father?” I asked.
“No,” Adeline said, “but he adored Luke. They were kindred souls— Luke was interested in science, experiments, all the things Jonathan loved. But no, Jonathan was not the father. I do know who his mother was—”
“Josephine Strout?” I asked.
“Yes, Josephine. How did you know?”
“Process of elimination,” I said.
“Like Jonathan,” Adeline said, “Josephine was devastated when Luke died. Unlike Jonathan, she stayed angry about it and was ready to blame someone or everyone for it.”
“How do you know that?” I asked.
“As I said, I was like a malevolent ghost, ever present but rarely seen. I had contact with workers inside the estate, and they let me know what was going on. Later, I worked there myself for a few months, but I couldn’t tolerate some of the people I had to work with. Ben Ash was a jerk, and Nate kept hitting on me. I finally left, but I didn’t go far.”
“What made you so intent on being a shadow, a malevolent ghost as you say? You were a young woman, and you could have moved on.”
“Surely you know what happens to researchers, young researchers, who are found to be corrupting data. They can never find another job. Older researchers, established ones, they can sometimes pull off misbehavior for extra money on the side or because they have enough power not to get fired. But young researchers are a dime a dozen.”
She looked at me, her dark eyes staring holes into mine. “Have you ever wanted something desperately, Dr. Brown? My work was all I ever wanted, to explore the unknown, to find cures for incurable diseases. My mother died of a rare genetic illness. It’s one reason I never married or had children. Jonathan and I bonded over that initially. His mother in-law had a painful disease, which eventually killed her. He saw how much she suffered, so at first we were good friends eager to make a difference in the world, and we were working for a man who seemed destined for a Nobel prize. Dr. Ornstein was someone who would have made a real difference if he’d lived long enough.”
“Do you have any reason to think Dr. Ornstein’s death was more than an accident?” I asked.
“None. He died after he fired me without a recommendation. I suppose you’re asking me if I was so angry at him that I might have killed him.” Her voice stayed calm. “I did not. I’m not a murderer. I didn’t blame Dr. Ornstein for what he believed. I blamed Jonathan, and I took my revenge by being ever present to remind him of what he’d done to me. He took my life’s work away from me and I wanted to make him as miserable as I was.”
“I’m sorry about what he did to you,” I said. It was all I could say.
“Now, that’s in the past, and I have work that is meaningful again,” Adeline said. “I’d never put that at risk for revenge against Jonathan. If he admitted what he did to me instead of calling it a misunderstanding, perhaps I could begin to forgive him.”
“He told me what he’d done and took responsibility for it. Maybe he’s ready to do that with you.”
She shrugged and said nothing.
“If you were around all the time as you say, you must have some ideas about what happened to the people involved. Do you?”
“Perhaps,” Adeline said, “but as I said I won’t put my job in jeopardy—I can’t do that.”
“Off the record then, do you have ideas about who might have killed Mr. Strout or Nicole?”
“It’s not clear Mr. Strout was murdered,” she said.
“He died on October 26th, a year to the day after Luke died.”
“It could have been from grief,” Adeline said. “I know every anniversary of my mother’s death makes me terribly sad.”
“It’s possible, but that wouldn’t explain why Jonathan was run off the road on that same date,” I said.
Adeline sat back in the swing. “You’re suggesting the deaths are tied together. I know most of the possible suspects are still around, Josephine, Nate, Ben, Stephanie and Crystal. Nicole would have been on that list if she hadn’t been murdered.”
“Do you have any reason to think Jonathan might have killed her?”
Adeline shook her head. “He’s not a murderer any more than I am.”
“Do you have opinions about the other people you mentioned?” I asked. “Do you think any one of them might have murdered Nicole, killed Mr. Strout, run Jonathan off the road?”
“Ben Ash is a piece of work,” Adeline said. “He’s impulsive and crude. It’s hard to imagine what Nicole ever saw in him, but perhaps they were a lot alike. Nicole could be different with everyone she met. People loved her or hated her with not much in between.
“And you?” I asked. “What did you think of her?”
“I saw how calculating she could be. She pretended to be my friend, but I saw what she did to her other so-called friends like Crystal, so I kept my distance from her.”
“She was with Luke when he died,” I said, “Do you think she could have had anything to do with this death?”
“I wouldn’t put anything past Nicole. If she were still alive, I’d have bet she ran Jonathan off the road, probably in a borrowed car that couldn’t be traced to her.”
“So did you think she might have killed Luke?”
“No,” Adeline said. “I don’t see how she could have pulled that off. I know Josephine wondered about it, but I didn’t. The boy died from sepsis and not because of anything anyone did. I mean it is possible someone should have picked up on how ill he was before they did—I don’t know about that.”
“Then Mr. Strout died on the same day a year later.”
“I suppose it’s possible he was murdered,” Adeline said, “and it seemed clear that Josephine blamed her brother for Luke’s death. They rarely spoke after Luke died, and I’m sure Josephine knew enough about the medical profession to kill someone if it came to that.”
“Surely, someone would have ferreted out that information,” I said.
“That family had a way of keeping the lid on scandal. Even when Nicole divorced Don Junior and married that scumbag, Ben Ash, the papers said almost nothing about it.”
“He was around when Mr. Strout died?” I asked.
“Definitely around but he’d never have been allowed anywhere near Mr. Strout in the hospital if that’s what you’re wondering.”
She seemed to be studying me. “You’re afraid it was Josephine, aren’t you?” she said. “You like her, don’t you? I like her, too, despite how tough she seems, and I hope she isn’t the one who killed Mr. Strout. That could mean she’s the one who ran Jonathan off the road or hired someone to do it.”
“And it might mean she’s the one who killed Nicole.”
“I hope you’re wrong about all of that,” Adeline said.
“I do too.”
Adeline placed Majestic carefully on the porch floor and stood.
“Thank you for coming here,” I said.
“I knew you’d find me if I didn’t find you first. I’m not friends with Jonathan but I would like to give him something for a quick recovery. I want to let him know I’m not the one who harmed him. My car is parked up the road. You can follow me to see the car is undamaged if you like.”
I shook my head. “I’m sure Kevin Delaney has already been in touch with you.”
“Yes, he’s taken my statement about where I was the day Jonathan was hurt. He’s even suggested I might be helpful to him in the future. Shall I bring the present to you?”
“Sure.”
She left and I called Lurleen to tell her she could bring the kids home.
Adeline returned with a large house plant, an aloe plant.
“This should help him recover,” I said.
She disappeared before Lurleen showed up with the kids. We sent the kids inside to do their homework.
“That’s a beautiful plant,” Lurleen said.
“It’s from Adeline Morgan. She wanted to give Jonathan something to help him heal.”
“Heal or die?” Lurleen asked. “You’re sure it’s not a belladonna plant?”
“No, Lurleen, it’s not deadly nightshade and not hemlock either. It’s a perfectly benign plant, but you are reminding me of something. Stephanie was telling me about the days when Mr. Strout was hospitalized. She said his room was full of plants. It looked like a greenhouse, like the greenhouse he had on his estate. The hospital staff allowed it because the plants seemed to bring him such comfort and because Josephine insisted on it.”
“You’re suggesting one of those plants might have been poisonous,” Lurleen said, “something a visitor could have had Mr. Strout ingest, a visitor like Josephine.”
“I wonder,” I said.
“Mon dieu. It would have been easy enough for her to do that by offering him a cup of tea and dosing it with hemlock.”
“Yes. but there were other people who knew about plants, Nate for one and wasn’t Ben hired as a gardener?”
“I think he was,” Lurleen said, “but he couldn’t have gotten into Mr. Strout’s hospital room.”
“Not without help,” I said. “Anyway this is all food for thought in a manner of speaking. It would have been easy enough to make Mr. Strout a cup of poisonous tea.”
“It would have had to be done by someone he trusted,” Lurleen said, “but since there was no autopsy, we’ll never know.”
“We can’t do more right now,” I said. “It’s almost Halloween and we have to get ready for tomorrow night.”
“I promised I’d help Lucie and Hannah with their costumes,” Lurleen said.
“Take it easy on the Marilyn Monroe costume,” I said.
“I’ll dress Hannah respectfully. I need to pick up a blond wig, which will really make the outfit.”
“A blond wig,” I said. “We talked about the fact that someone could have worn a wig as well as a mask to frighten Nicole. The neighbor described her as tall with a brown ponytail. The person couldn’t do anything about being tall, but she could have worn a wig. After talking to Adeline I can’t see her being the one to frighten Nicole, which means it was most likely Josephine.”
Lurleen nodded. “That makes a lot more sense than thinking Adeline was involved.”
“You liked her when you met her?” I asked.
“Yes,” Lurleen said and then she paused. “You know I met her at a tarot card reading, don’t you?”
“I do and I know why you didn’t tell me about it,” I said. “Who was there and did you learn anything from it?”
“Let’s see. Adeline, Stephanie, Josephine and me. Crystal did the readings privately. Most of us were happy with the reading we got but not Josephine as I recall. She seemed upset, but she wouldn’t tell us why. I’m sorry, Ditie, I should have told you regardless of your reaction.”
“Yes, you should have, and I will try to be less judgmental about the whole process. Can you help the kids get ready while I run the plant over to Stephanie?”
“Sure.”
I planned to leave the plant on the porch with a note and bring my soup over when I had more time to talk. But Stephanie must have seen me drive up. She opened the door before I could leave.
“Oh goodness,” she said. “This is beautiful. An aloe plant, isn’t it?”
“You know your plants.”
“If you grew up in my father’s home, you had to know about plants. Is it a gift from you?”
“No, it’s from Adeline Morgan. She wasn’t sure you’d welcome her if she stopped by.”
“She’s wrong about that,” Stephanie said. “Jonathan and I had a long talk about Adeline. Once he told you what he’d done, he could tell me. I thought Adeline was some long lost love of his, or maybe not so long lost. She kept popping up, and I assumed the worst. I was very relieved to hear the truth.”
It was now or never to ask the question I’d been wanting to ask. “Speaking of the truth, are there really threats being made against you?”
Stephanie said nothing for a moment; then she asked how I knew.
“Lurleen said you’d confessed about the break-in. It made me wonder about the other threats.”
“You’re right. I made up all the threats. I wanted Jonathan to take me seriously and care about my welfare and I thought if we went into hiding somewhere he’d have to spend time with me.”
“That was a dangerous way to try to get his attention,” I said. “Since he was honest with you, maybe you should be honest with him.”
“I’ve already told him the truth. But I didn’t make up all the threats because someone really did run Jonathan off the road.”
“Does Jonathan have any ideas about who that might be?” I asked. “Do you?”
“No,” she said.
I couldn’t tell if that was the truth or another lie.
“Stephanie, you mentioned that before your father died in the hospital his room was full of plants. Did you recognize any of them, any that might have been dangerous to him?”
“That was a long time ago. I remember a nightshade plant that I think came from Dad’s own greenhouse. He said having his own plants around him would make him heal faster, so yes that was there.” She paused and looked stricken. “You think someone poisoned him with that plant?”
“I think it’s possible.”
“You know Jonathan wondered the same thing. He even did some investigating recently. He said he had some ideas about what might have happened.”
“Did he tell you who he suspected?”
“No, he refused to tell me that. I urged him to stop looking into ancient history. I wanted to get him away from whatever he was worrying about, so that’s part of the reason I invented the threats. I wanted to keep him safe and then the accident happened.”
She invited me inside, but I said I had to get back to my kids for dinner.
“You know how lucky you are to have the family you do?” she asked me.
“I do,” I said. “This is none of my business, but did you and Jonathan choose not to have children?”
“No. We tried but it never happened. Jonathan was so happy to have Luke in his life. That seemed to be all he needed and after Luke’s death he wouldn’t even consider a child. He didn’t care how lonely I was.”
“I’m sorry. They are a great joy in my life,” I said.
Stephanie nodded. “I’m not sure I really needed children. What I needed was Jonathan and he was so devoted to his work, he never seemed to think about me. Maybe now with his almost dying that will change.”
“I hope so.” I left and climbed into my car. Something about my conversation with Stephanie troubled me. Was it possible Stephanie had forced her own husband off the road in order to get his attention? She’d admitted to making up the threats, and I wondered how far she’d go.
But, she’d have no way of knowing how seriously he might be injured and why would she choose October 26th to commit that act? Stephanie was desperate for her husband’s love and attention, but it didn’t make sense she would have taken such a risk and on that particular day. No, it seemed to me it had to be someone who knew the significance of that date. That still made Josephine a primary suspect.