Chapter 20

When we recovered from our hysterics we got down to the business of finding legal papers that would tell us what happened to the business if one partner died.

Lady Anthea looked at her watch. “I haven’t had my afternoon tea.”

“Can’t have it here,” Rick said, leading us out of the bedroom. “I’ll show you why.”

It was almost six o’clock, but because it was February the sun had begun to set. I stopped when I saw the view from the front windows, then the back. Fairy lights on the trees lining Second Street were lit on one side, and those suspended on trees along the canal glowed in the windows of the back.

“Now I see why he loves living here,” Dayle said.

“Sometimes Pop is crazy; sometimes he’s not,” Rick answered. “Sue, this view is what he wanted you to see.”

“Why?”

“He figured you’d appreciate it,” Rick said with a smile.

I looked in one direction, then the other. “It’s like magic. Anyone would.”

“I don’t know about that. Most people don’t recognize the beauty of just enough,” Rick said.

Lady Anthea looked at me, then at Rick. When we didn’t elaborate she said, “You’re certain I can’t make myself a cup of tea before we begin?”

“Uh, yeah. About that.” He walked over to the oven and opened it, pulling out two small cardboard boxes, which he put on the small breakfast table. Then he did the same with a shoe box from the microwave. “I know you use the stove top for boiling water for tea, but I’ve learned not to turn on anything electrical here.” He turned and opened the dishwasher and got out a filled shopping bag.

“Point taken,” Lady Anthea said.

We gathered around the table and each opened a box or bag. All were crammed with file folders, neatly labeled in an old-fashioned-looking font.

“This writing looks like artwork,” I said.

“Your father is a calligrapher?” Lady Anthea asked, gingerly running a finger over the writing on the closest folder.

“No, Billy B. was.”

“A true Renaissance man,” she said with a sigh, as she read the folders in her box, one by one.

“That reminds me—” I started.

“She’s no longer there,” Lady Anthea added.

“Who?” Dayle and Rick said at the same time.

“Oh, you don’t know about her,” Lady Anthea said. “A young woman came to town claiming to be Billy B.’s niece.”

“Claiming to be?” I asked, unhappy that that word was out there in the ether. I had taken the folders out of the shopping bag and was replacing them when I read labels like Payroll 2014 and Payroll 2015. “She was very upset when Chief Turner told her Billy B. had been murdered.” I turned to Rick and Dayle. “She even fainted!”

“Any actress can faint,” Lady Anthea said. “She could be anyone. Did Chief Turner ask to see her identification papers?”

I shook my head no.

“I’m surprised at him. I recall him being much more professional,” Lady Anthea said, with a tsk, tsk tone.

“I kind of wouldn’t let him,” I said awkwardly. “Anyway, when we were waiting for Dayle we saw her standing across the street.” I pointed toward the Second Street side.

“What was she doing?” Dayle asked.

“Nothing. She was just looking at Mozart’s,” Lady Anthea answered.

“Maybe she was thinking about her uncle being here—I mean, downstairs in the deli?’ Dayle asked.

“Or because she knows she’s the new co-owner!” Rick said, holding up a file folder.