Chapter 25
Dear Sophie,
I saved my childhood furniture imagining that my child would use it. It’s darling white French provincial–style furniture with gold accents. I have a seven-year-old son. Help!
Footballs and Dinosaurs in France, Idaho
Dear Footballs and Dinosaurs,
Take heart. Paint the furniture a boyish color, like navy or gray. Once the gold accents are gone, the furniture will look completely different.
Sophie
Paisley gasped. “That means something to you?”
“It’s an ancient symbol. “As I recall it means the sun. Or in some religions it is the beginning of creation and eternity.”
“Eternity?” Paisley said in surprise. “Mom knew she was dying and left us a message that she wasn’t really gone? That she would be with us in eternity?” Paisley sobbed.
Frank showed no sympathy. He said dully, “Oh, fine. Imagine that was Lark waving bye-bye. She’s still manipulating you from beyond the grave with her little surprise in the will. The woman was nuts and a control freak. There, I said it. For years I have reeled in my thoughts about her. She didn’t want you to marry me and now she’s reaching out from her grave to punish you.”
Emery stared at Frank in shock. “I must say I think you are being extremely unkind. Can’t you see that your wife is in pain about the loss of her mother?”
Frank’s hand curled into a fist. “Who are you?”
“Dr. Emery Chapman. The husband of Dulci Chapman, who was murdered in exactly the same manner as your mother-in-law.”
Frank stammered, “I . . . I’m sorry. I didn’t know. That explains why the detective came prowling around again.”
“It was in the newspaper,” Emery pointed out.
“Yeah,” Frank said, nodding. “We’ve been a little busy. I can’t say we’re reading the news much these days. I heard about it, but it never occurred to me there would be a connection.”
I thought this might be a good time to get in a few questions. “Emery, do you or Dulci have a coin collection?”
“No. I like sports memorabilia. Oh, wait! Dulci collected those quarters with the states on them for our grandchildren.”
Paisley blew her nose and nodded. “My mom did, too.” I would have to check, but as I recalled the coins were still in circulation. Could they be worth much? Had one been made with a mistake, making it super valuable?
“What about jewelry? I know Lark had some special items. How about Dulci?”
Emery’s eyes narrowed as he gazed at me. “You think they were killed in plain old robberies?”
“Was anything missing from your house?” I asked.
Emery’s expression changed to one of surprise. “I don’t know. I was so shocked and devastated that it didn’t occur to me to look for anything. You saw her, Sophie. Did they take her diamond or her wedding ring?”
I understood how he had felt. I hadn’t been close to Dulci but my own horror in finding her dead had been so overwhelming that I hadn’t noticed her rings. “I’m sorry, Emery. I didn’t pay any attention to that. Wolf would know. I think she wore a coin necklace.”
“That was one of her favorites. I gave it to Dulci for her fiftieth birthday,” he said. “Ridiculously expensive but the coin is real gold and you only turn fifty once. She was thrilled with it.”
“Did she wear it in Portugal?” I asked.
He shook his head. “She didn’t like to travel with good jewelry, except for her wedding rings.”
So much for that theory. I was fairly certain that Dulci had been wearing her coin necklace when I found her. If the goal had been robbery, it would have been gone.
Paisley reached for his hand and clutched it. “What did they do?” she asked in a soft voice. “What could the two of them possibly have done that would have angered someone enough to kill them?”
Emery held her hand as if it gave him solace. “Was Lark’s house ransacked?”
Paisley drew a sharp breath. “No. But her luggage was strewn on the floor of her closet and the laundry room was in disarray. That wasn’t like Mom at all.”
Frank’s phone rang. He glanced at it and walked away to take the call.
I whispered to Paisley, “Is the family heirloom really gone or did you hide it from Frank?”
“I wish I had been smart enough to hide it from him. The very day she died, when he took the kids home, I should have gone through the house and hidden things, but I was, I don’t know, in a state of shock? I’m just now beginning to think more clearly. I don’t have it. I swear. Mom’s murderer could have taken it, or it could have been Frank, or Bennett. They weren’t anything I would wear––”
“They?” I asked.
“There were three pieces, all in the same box. You could tell they were old because of the way they had been made. There was a ring set with a huge stone, and two brooches containing large emeralds meant to look like clovers. I think my grandfather’s father may have made them.”
“You’re sure they’re gone now?” I asked. “Could your mother have hidden them somewhere?”
“Anything is possible. I didn’t even know about them until almost a year ago. I was helping Mom set the table for Christmas Eve dinner. She had stashed the box in a nook, like a little hiding place, behind a drawer. It fell over and I couldn’t get the drawer to shut, so I pulled it out and there was the box. I didn’t recognize it so I opened the box. And there were these three amazing pieces inside.”
“You asked her about them?”
“That’s when she told me they were very valuable heirlooms that she had inherited from her father when he died,” said Paisley.
“Did you ever mention them to anyone outside of the family?” I asked.
“I don’t think so. But that doesn’t mean Frank or Bennett didn’t blab about them.” Paisley waved at someone.
I turned to see her uncle Cal.
“Paisley, darlin’.” He reached out for her. “How are you holding up, sweetheart?”
She let go of him and wiped her tear-stained face. “Uncle Cal, you can’t even imagine how awful everything has been. So many problems and I keep wanting to turn to Mom and ask her advice, but she’s gone.” Her voice went up in pitch on the word gone.
He gathered her in his arms again and patted her back. “You can always come to your uncle Cal, darlin’.”
She pulled away. “Do you know anything about a valuable family heirloom? A couple of brooches and a ring?”
“First I’ve heard of them. But you know your grandfather was a jeweler. I imagine he had some very fine pieces.”
“I can’t find them anywhere. Oh! Where are my manners? Dr. Emery Chapman, this is my father’s brother, Cal Bickford.”
The two men shook hands.
“The Realtor, I believe?” asked Emery. “I have heard of you.”
“I always like to hear that. My best clients come from word of mouth. I was very sorry to hear of your wife’s passing,” said Cal.
“Thank you. It was such a shock. Paisley and I were just comparing the similarities in Lark’s death and that of my wife.”
“Oh?”
At that point, I excused myself and returned to focusing on the festival.
At noon Nina showed up with Humphrey. Her hair was a mess, and she looked like someone had put her through the ringer. “Are you okay?” I asked.
“No. Bernie very kindly accompanied me over to my house this morning and what did we find? Someone broke in.”
“I thought you had those things put on your doors so no one could get in,” I said.
“I did. I need sustenance. Can we go to lunch?”
“Sure.” I was getting hungry myself.
Nina decided on a little shop with outdoor tables. It was a beautiful day for sitting outside in the sun. The skies were a clear blue and there wasn’t even a hint of humidity in the air. She ordered a cheeseburger with the works, but I went with spiced shrimp and coleslaw, while Humphrey ordered hush puppies and fried catfish. When they brought our iced teas, sweetened for Nina and Humphrey and plain for me, she told me what had happened.
“Somebody broke through a window and climbed in. Wolf said whoever it was knew exactly what he was doing because he came prepared with gloves and knocked all the little shards down so he wouldn’t cut himself. The police came to fingerprint again but we all knew they wouldn’t find a thing. Bernie had to go to work but Humphrey had the day off, so he came to be my bodyguard.” She smiled at him.
The only adult in the world who might be less helpful than me in a dangerous situation was Humphrey. I thought fondly of the time he had jumped on someone and ridden piggyback in an attempt to subdue him. “What did he take?” I asked.
“That’s the stupidest thing! As far as I can tell, he didn’t take anything. He rummaged through closets and drawers. The house is a wreck.”
Humphrey nodded. “It will take her days to straighten it all out.”
“What about the coin collection?” I asked.
“It’s still there. My husband keeps it in a hidden safe. Whoever broke in didn’t find it. All the coins are still there.”
“But that doesn’t make sense. Why bother to break in?”
“Wolf says they’re usually looking for drugs like bottles of prescription pills. We disappointed the burglar there. Aspirin and melatonin are about all we have. But if it was someone after that kind of thing, wouldn’t he have taken some booze with him? Nabbed a necklace or a bracelet?”
Our food was delivered, and Nina wasted no time biting into one of the tallest cheeseburgers I had ever seen. I peeled my shrimp and noshed on one.
“So good,” Nina said. “I needed that after this morning. Here’s the thing. I’ve been thinking about this. The burglar didn’t find what he wanted. What if he was looking for me?”
For all of thirty seconds I lost my appetite. As the horror of what she’d said subsided, logic returned. “Why would he want you?” She started to say something, but I held up my finger to stop her. “And if he was the one Muppet barked at, then why would he dare to break a window, making noise that Muppet and neighbors might hear?”
“And why trash the house?” asked Humphrey.
“Might I remind you that the Colonel next door doesn’t have very good hearing. If he had gone to bed, he would have taken his hearing aids out and wouldn’t have heard a thing. Not even his dog, Winston, or Muppet barking. And here’s the other thing. You keep asking me what happened in Portugal.”
Finally! Maybe we could get to the root of the situation.
“Something did occur to me, but it didn’t happen in Portugal. It happened right here in the airport. Clearly, you know my husband flies a lot for his job. So when we had to wait for our plane, because everyone has to arrive so early now, my husband strode right into one of those areas for frequent fliers. It’s an upgrade when you accumulate a lot of miles. And the woman working behind the bar said, ‘Hi, Dr. Norwood. Where are you off to today?’”
She took another bite of that enormous burger. I rued my decision to eat coleslaw. It probably had more mayonnaise and maybe even the same number of calories as half her juicy burger.
“Mmm,” Nina murmured. “So good! So we took our drinks to a table near the bar and that was when Lark came in. And the woman working behind the bar said, ‘Good afternoon, Mrs. Bickford, what can I get you today?’”
I ate my shrimp, which were loaded with Old Bay spice and delicious. I waited for her to continue.
“Don’t you see?” she asked.
“No,” I said.
“That makes me feel better. I didn’t either,” said Humphrey.
“That’s why it took so long to come to me. It didn’t strike me as anything unusual. But then I wondered why would people at the airport know Lark by name? That woman certainly didn’t know who I was.”
Maybe Nina was onto something. “You’re saying that Lark traveled a lot, like your husband.”
“Exactly. Do you know why?”
“No,” I said.
“I don’t, either. She was basically a stay-at-home mom who volunteered all over town and threw those fabulous dinner parties. So what was she doing traveling so much?” asked Nina.
It was a good question. “Paisley said she traveled a lot even when Paisley and Bennett were young. Some lady, a Mrs. Gurtz, used to stay with them. I met her briefly. She seemed very nice.”
Nina finished the last morsel of her burger. “Let’s find this lady and ask. And we should track down Bennett. Maybe he knows something Paisley doesn’t.”
We were waiting for our check when Natasha pulled up a chair. She sat down and sighed. To most people, she would have looked chic with her flawless makeup and shining hair cut in the latest shoulder-length style. She wore a thick oatmeal-colored sweater with dramatic sleeves, a matching knit oatmeal skirt, and shiny patent leather oatmeal high heels that would have caused me to fall in two steps. I would have looked like an oatmeal snowman in that outfit. It was made to be worn by someone like Natasha.
But I could tell she was feeling lower than a snail. Tears welled up in her eyes. “I’ve done it. Cal Bickford has a pocket listing for my house.”
“Pocket listing? What’s that?” asked Nina.
“The house is for sale, but it won’t be offered to the general public yet. Hence the word pocket. Cal has several interested buyers. He’s showing the house this afternoon.”