Chapter Eighteen

Back in Copper Mill, Kate stopped by Town Hall and hurried to Skip’s office, intending to ask him about Ellen.

“Hey, Mrs. Hanlon.” A wide smile cracked his face as she stepped in.

“Hey, yourself.” Kate couldn’t help but smile at his enthusiasm. “Sorry to bother you, but did you happen to get Ellen’s name and address when she called about her mother yesterday?”

Skip frowned. “Sorry, Mrs. Hanlon, but she never called me.”

“Then how?” Kate bit her lip. “Never mind.” Ellen probably decided to check at Kate’s first, since Claire seemed to gravitate there.

“Say, Mrs. Hanlon, I thought you’d like to know; we got the guy who broke into the pharmacy.”

“Really? Who was it?”

“Do you remember that guy at the diner the other day?”

“Troy Eaton?”

“Yeah, but that isn’t his real name. It’s Charlie Mayer, and he got picked up late yesterday on charges of embezzlement.”

Kate’s heart sank to the vicinity of her appendix. “Are you sure it was him?”

“Yup. I can’t believe I had him right under my nose and let him go—even gave him money to help him get away. I...um...would appreciate if you didn’t tell the sheriff that.”

“Don’t worry.” Kate sank onto the chair in front of Skip’s desk. “I can’t believe this.”

“Fred identified him as the guy who came in to fill some prescriptions on Monday.”

“That’s not surprising, since he told us he needed medication for his family.”

“Right, but the medications he bought after he conned the money out of us were pretty much the same ones that got stolen Tuesday night.”

“That doesn’t make sense, Skip.” Kate rubbed her forehead to ease away the beginnings of a headache. “Why would he steal the same medications he’d purchased the day before?”

Skip shrugged and splayed his hands. “Maybe he was just getting the feel of the place. He walks around checking the place out and then puts the piece of shingle under the windowsill so he can come back later and get more stuff.”

“I don’t buy that.” Kate didn’t want to admit she’d been wrong about Troy, aka Charlie. “He was in Chattanooga when the pharmacy was robbed.”

“That’s what he claims. Sheriff Roberts talked to him last night. He’s got no alibi.”

“Did he have the stolen medications with him?”

“Nope.”

“Then how?” Kate stopped. The conversation was going nowhere. “Where is he now?” Kate needed to see for herself if Troy and Charlie were one and the same. True, she’d suspected that things weren’t what they seemed with Troy, but she still couldn’t, or wouldn’t, see him as a criminal.

“In jail.”

“Here?”

“No, ma’am.” Skip picked up a folder from the basket on his desk, apparently wanting to get back to work. “Police picked him up in Chattanooga.”

She sighed. So much for talking to Troy or Charlie—at least today. Maybe she could drive to Chattanooga on Monday.

Kate thanked Skip and headed for the Copper Mill Library. With the sun shining and blossoms in full spring regalia, Kate decided to leave her car in front of Town Hall and walk across the green. Breathing in the fresh blossom-scented air and loving the feel of the sun on her winter-white skin, Kate tried to work through her disappointment regarding Troy. She knew she should accept what Skip had said about him, but for some reason she couldn’t.

Maybe her pride kept her from admitting she’d been wrong. Or maybe the Lord was urging her to keep believing in the young man. Either way, Kate needed to do some serious thinking and praying. A little research wouldn’t hurt either.

The short walk to the library invigorated her and got her back on track. At the library Kate found Livvy in the break room.

“Kate! It’s good to see you.” The friends hugged, and Livvy gestured to Kate to have a seat. “You look like you’re feeling much better.”

Kate laughed. “I am, thanks to you.”

Livvy poured Kate a cup of coffee.

Kate sighed. “I’m afraid I have some bad news.”

“What?”

“I just came from the deputy’s office, and Skip told me our friend Troy Eaton has been arrested.”

“Oh no. He seemed like such a nice kid. What did he do?”

Kate relayed the information Skip had given her. “I’m not ready to write him off yet. I’m planning to visit the jail in Chattanooga and see for myself.”

“Good for you.”

“I’m hoping to spend some time on a computer today.” Kate set her coffee down. “I need to see what’s up with this Charles Mayer guy. Maybe something will tell me whether he is or isn’t Troy Eaton.”

“I’ll help if I can.” Livvy drained her cup. “Sam came by earlier and told me about the town hall meeting tonight.”

“Yes, I talked to him too. I also went out to the campground this morning.” Kate brought her friend up to date on her visits to Ash Grove Campground.

“And you actually brought Aleeda to your house?” Livvy sat back. “What does Paul think about that?”

“He’s fine with it.” Kate smiled, thinking about how flexible her husband was. “I knew he would be.”

“Danny’s good that way too, but I’m not sure he’d be too happy about my bringing someone home to live.”

“Well, it’s not permanent; just until she can find a job and get back on her feet.”

“I’ll let you know if I hear of anything.”

“I’d appreciate that.” Kate sipped her coffee. “Oh, and you’ll never guess who visited again yesterday.”

“The countess?”

Kate filled her in on the last surprise visit from Claire. “I still don’t get her daughter. She couldn’t wait to get away from the house. Something is going on with those two, that’s for sure.”

Livvy’s eyes lit up. “You’ll be happy to know I was able to do some research on Claire this morning. I found info about her family in England.”

“That’s great!”

Livvy rinsed out her coffee cup. “I have the printouts on my desk. Let me grab them, and we’ll go upstairs and work at a table in one of the conference rooms.”

Kate followed her up the staircase and sat down at one of the long wooden tables.

Livvy pulled out a family tree and several papers she’d printed out. “Claire is the fourth daughter of Count Jonathan Newton of England. Claire Newton married an American soldier named Harold Gardner. They had one child named Ellen.” Livvy spread out her hands. “That’s as far as I could go. There’s nothing here about Ellen getting married. I did find a Harold Gardner living near Pine Ridge, but he died six months ago.”

“Hmm. Ellen didn’t mention that he’d died.” Kate examined the papers. “This obituary lists Ellen’s name as Gardner. Apparently Ellen never married. Either that,” Kate mused, “or she’s divorced or widowed and took back her maiden name.”

“Hmm. It’s not much, but it’s more than we had before.”

“Thanks to you. At least we have a last name. I can call some real-estate agents and rental places.”

“Already done. There are no Gardners living in the area as far as I can tell, but I have e-mails out to some key people who are checking for me. If they live around here, we’ll find them.”

“Unless they’re using another last name.” Kate rested her arms on the table. “Ellen isn’t very forthcoming with information.”

“She did tell you about Claire’s background,” Livvy reminded her.

“True, but I suspect that was only because she had to explain Claire’s remarks about being a countess.” Kate placed a hand on Livvy’s arm. “Thank you so much for looking into this for me.”

“No problem, Sherlock. That’s what sidekicks are all about.” Livvy handed the printouts to Kate. “I’d better get back to work. Call if you need me.”

Kate headed over to the computer bank and found an open computer. Since it was so quiet, she thought she might have time to research the window at St. Lucy’s as well as Troy Eaton, or Charlie Mayer.

Looking up Troy Eaton proved to be quite a task. The search brought up hundreds of entries, but nothing that led to the Troy Eaton she’d met. One Troy was a student from a university in Australia. Another was a seventy-year-old mystery writer living in Florida. Kate eventually gave up when nothing seemed to match their Troy.

On Charles Mayer, however, Kate found a number of articles, all pertaining to his alleged embezzlement of funds from Valley Trust and Mortgage in Pine Ridge. She glanced through several newspaper articles and examined a series of photos. She still didn’t think Charles looked like Troy, but it would be easy to bleach one’s hair and shave off a mustache. And she had to admit the eyes looked similar.

Apparently, Charles Mayer, thirty-one, had worked for Valley Trust for five years and had recently transferred to the new location. He’d worked his way up to assistant CEO. The stealing of funds had begun shortly after he’d started there. The CFO, William Bennett, found the discrepancy and confronted Charles, who denied everything. Kate recalled Sheila’s comments about Charlie having possible money problems.

Charlie disappeared before he could be arrested. Kate checked the dates and remembered that Ned Castile and Charles Mayer had disappeared around the same time. Could there be a link between them? It was definitely something to pursue—maybe Ned was affiliated with Valley Trust in some way as well. She’d have to read through her files on Castile’s disappearance to see if there was any connection.

Kate printed off several articles to read in more depth later on. Nothing she’d read changed her mind. She’d still be going to Chattanooga on Monday.

SINCE THE LIBRARY was still quiet and Kate had a little more time, she decided to research the stained glass from St. Lucy’s. Looking up the church itself would give her some perspective as to when the glass art was done and who the artist might have been.

The church had been built in 1860. Frank Cotter was listed as the stained-glass artist. Since she hadn’t heard of him, Kate typed his name into the search engine and stared in amazement at the results. Frank Cotter, who had worked in Europe to restore some of Michelangelo’s paintings, came to the United States and achieved much success using the master’s works as his inspiration to create glass art.

Though Cotter had never achieved the fame that Louis Comfort Tiffany or Frank Lloyd Wright had, he’d created stained glass for churches all over the world. A single piece of Cotter’s work would bring around two hundred thousand dollars at auction. Kate was fully impressed. If her search results were correct and Cotter had done all of the dozen stained-glass windows at St. Lucy’s, they were sitting on a gold mine.

She needed to let Lucas know so they could get an art appraiser to authenticate her findings and make certain their insurance covered any future losses.

Kate then read three different articles on restoring antique stained-glass art to reinforce her techniques. She printed off her research, stuffed it in the folder Livvy had given her, and went back to the parsonage, excited to spend the rest of her day restoring the exquisite stained-glass window to its former glory. Fear that she wouldn’t be able to replicate the master’s work worked its way into her mind. She shook her head to dislodge the thought. No, she probably couldn’t recreate the masterpiece, but she could repair it in an acceptable manner.