Chapter 44
“So the police confirmed everything,” Beatrice said to Annie the following day.
Annie nodded. It was Monday and she had stopped by Beatrice’s house to pick up some fabric for Ben’s Halloween costume. Beatrice had an attic full of fabric and old costumes. “Sheriff Bixby apologized for not telling me what he’d found out about the Martelino family. He said he’d only just recently found out himself. Evidently, they’re all in prison for running drugs.” Could it be true? It seems so cliché.
“I wonder if they knew they were running drugs,” Jon said. “I just read an article somewhere about how some of these families are set up.”
“By who?” Beatrice said.
Jon shrugged. “Anybody who knows their vulnerabilities or someone who has some kind of power over them.”
“I don’t know what their lives were like in Kansas,” Annie said, “but Hathaway definitely had power over them. And he out and out lied to us. I’m betting he has something to do with all of this.”
Beatrice’s jaw set. “I didn’t like the man. I don’t think he’s about helping people. He exploits them.”
“That would appear to be the case,” Annie said. “This may be a bigger story than the murder of two sisters. I have some work to do.”
“Thanks for giving us the addresses,” Beatrice said. “We can at least send them cards in prison, if nothing else. I’ve been meaning to ask you—what was the crop like at the Drummond house?”
“It was lovely. The house is in great shape on the inside.”
“Yes, I noticed that myself. I told Emma that.”
“Emma?”
“She’s the woman who actually owns the place.”
“She doesn’t live there?”
“No, she lives at Mountain View Assisted Living. She’s agoraphobic, for one thing. Evidently her daughter who lives at the place has the same problem.”
“She wasn’t at the crop. Just the woman who works for her and her friends.”
“Emma told me the most troubling thing,” Beatrice said. “She told me the sheriff had visited her and wanted to buy her place.”
“That’s interesting, but not necessarily troubling,” Annie said.
“Well, maybe she was mistaken, but I don’t think so. She said he threatened her,” Beatrice said.
“What? Surely not,” Jon said.
Beatrice shrugged. “She’s not quite right in the head, I’ll give you that. She’s had a bit of a rough life. But I think basically she’s still got it together. I don’t know why she’d think he was threatening her if he wasn’t.”
“Sheriff Bixby seems like a decent sort,” Annie said. “He’s much easier to deal with than Bryant.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” Beatrice said.
“Still,” Annie said with a tilt of her head. Her brows knit.
Beatrice had come to know and love that look. Annie was thinking and you could almost see her brain work.
“I’ve known a lot of people who seemed nice at first. Why would he threaten Emma Drummond?”
“You know, she didn’t really go into specifics and I didn’t push her. But that property is the only piece of land left to what was once a vast chunk of land—all owned by her family and the Drummonds. They probably want to build more apartments or something,” Beatrice said.
“But why would Sheriff Bixby care about that?”
“He’s married to Emma’s niece. Maybe she wants the land. I don’t know. It’s very odd.”
Annie sat back in her chair and smiled. “This community is amazing. I swear almost everybody here is related or almost related.”
“Huh!” Beatrice said. “It used to be even more like that. But with all the new people moving in, I’m not so sure who is who anymore.”
“New people like me?” Jon spoke up and grinned.
“Yes. Who are you anyway?” Beatrice said with a giggle.
Later on, Beatrice mulled over the conversation. Emma Drummond may not be all together, but she wasn’t suffering from dementia or anything like that. Agoraphobia was different. It was more of a disorder than a mental illness—at least that was Beatrice’s understanding of it. But she couldn’t understand why Emma couldn’t be treated with some kind of medicine and lead a normal life.
Maybe next time she visited, she’d find out.
Beatrice found herself looking forward to her next visit with Emma. It was comforting to have a woman around who was her age and still had it halfway together. At the same time, it brought up unresolved feelings she’d had years ago about Emma’s husband Paul. In those days, not much was known about domestic abuse and most people turned a blind eye to it. In some parts, among some social classes, it was still expected that some men would occasionally beat their wives. Beatrice couldn’t abide it, even then. And she had opened her big mouth, which sent Emma as far away from her as possible.
Yet, that might be the reason Emma was so welcoming with Beatrice these days. Had Emma really killed Paul? How would Bea ever know for sure?