The next morning the rain had stopped and the sun was hiding behind the clouds, but it was there. Dora wasn’t in her yard as Nicole walked to work, but she didn’t expect her to be. With all the rain the day before, there was no need to be watering.
They had another busy morning at work. Several people with homeowner policies had problems with their roofs leaking. The company set up adjusters to go out to check the damage.
Connor came into the front office about eleven and said he was going to take his parents to lunch. His father was going to Savannah in the afternoon to play golf and take care of some business. His mother wanted to go along. Nicole wondered why they wanted to have lunch first, but she didn’t ask.
“If you need anything, Paul is still here. He said he has a lot of paperwork to catch up on.”
“I’ll be fine. Thank you, Connor.” She almost wished he wouldn’t look so directly at her. It makes me want to.... Well, I’m not sure what it makes me want to do, but something inappropriate I’m afraid.
He nodded and went out the door. She took a deep breath, finished the filing she had to do, and decided she’d head home for an early lunch. Lita told her this morning she was going to get her hair done and would be having lunch while she was out. She said there was plenty of stupe left or there were cold cuts for sandwiches.
Nicole was getting her purse from her bottom drawer when the door burst open and a woman with light brown hair holding a small child’s hand came into the office. She recognized her immediately as Paul’s wife. He had her picture on his desk.
In a condescending voice she said, “You must be the new secretary.”
Nicole nodded.
Without introducing herself, she went on. “I came to take my husband to lunch. Is he here?”
“Yes, he’s in his office.”
“We want to eat with Daddy,” the little girl said. Nicole smiled at her and realized she was a miniature version of her mother.
“I’ll let him know you’re here.” She started to pick up the phone.
“Don’t bother,” his wife waved her off. “We’ll just...oh never mind, here he comes.”
Paul came into the office. “I thought I heard your voice.” He smiled at his wife and held out his arms to his little girl.
“Hi, Daddy,” she squealed and ran to him.
“Nicole, this is my wife, Erline, and my special girl, Mattie.”
“Hello,” Nicole said to both of them.
Mattie, busy hugging and kissing her daddy, ignored Nicole. Erline didn’t bother to acknowledge the introduction, but turned to her husband. “I’m ready for lunch. Let’s go to the club.”
“That’ll be fine.” He nodded. “I’ll see you later, Nicole.”
“Yes, sir.” If Paul’s wife wanted to play formal, she could do it too. As the door closed behind the family, she decided she wasn’t ever going to be good friends with Erline. She had already chalked her up as a snob.
Deciding she didn’t care, Nicole picked up her purse and headed home for lunch.
She ate half a turkey sandwich and decided she did want some stupe. She filled a bowl and headed for the microwave. For no apparent reason, she stumbled and the soup went all over the front of her multi-colored blouse. “I wonder if I’ve always been clumsy?” she muttered aloud as she sat the bowl down and cleaned up the mess. She refilled it and made it to the microwave this time.
Of course she had to change clothes before going back to the office.
She was glad she beat Paul back to work. It was only by minutes, but that didn’t matter. She was typing away on the computer when he and his family came in.
“I enjoyed it,” he said as he sat his little girl down. “It’s always fun to spend time with my family especially since Elsie wasn’t in the picture this time.”
“Elsie went shopping this morning. I had a good time too,” his wife said and then glanced at Nicole. She frowned. “You were wearing something different earlier.”
Surprised Erline noticed the change, Nicole said, “I went home for lunch and spilled soup on my other blouse.”
She gave Nicole that snooty look which made her feel more like a klutz than she was, but said nothing else. “We’ll see you this evening, dear.” She patted her husband’s shoulder then took her little girl’s hand.
Paul picked up his mail and headed to his office.
The phones were quiet during the afternoon. Nicole had her work caught up and was looking for something to do when the door opened. She looked up to face two plain-clothed police officers. How she knew they were police she wasn’t sure, but for some reason she did.
“May I help you?” She hoped the nervousness in her voice didn’t show.
“I hope you can.” He walked up to her desk and flipped open his identification. “I’m Officer William Milo. This is Officer Trudy Collins.” Without giving Nicole time to introduce herself he went on, “Do you happen to know a young woman who walks down this street every morning and then back in the afternoon?”
“I walk to work every day. Is that what you mean?”
“And where do you live?”
She gave him Lita’s address.
He nodded. “I see why you’d want to walk. It isn’t far at all.”
“May I ask what this is about?”
“We’re just checking on anyone new to the neighborhood, Miss...”
“Lynch. Nicole Lynch.”
“Well, Miss Lynch...it is Miss, isn’t it?”
“It is.” She didn’t dare say she didn’t know if it was Miss or not. In fact, she didn’t dare say much of anything. She felt uncomfortable with these officers, but tried not to let them know it.
“So you walked to work this morning?”
“Yes.”
“And you’ve been here all day?”
“I was here all morning. I walked home for lunch and then came back. Why?”
“Do you go home for lunch every day, Miss Lynch?”
“Most of the time.”
Paul came into the office. “What’s going on here?”
“We’re just asking some questions, sir. And what is your name?”
“I’m Paul Cottingham. May I ask why you’re questioning my secretary?”
He ignored Paul’s question. “Can you verify that Miss Lynch was here this morning, sir?”
“I most certainly can.”
“And what time was she here?”
“She was here when I came in at nine o’clock and she was still here when my wife picked me up for lunch around eleven-thirty or quarter to twelve. She was here when we got back about one-thirty.”
The officer looked back at Nicole. “I thought you said you went home for lunch.”
“I did. I left right after Mr. Cottingham. I ate my lunch and came back. He hadn’t returned when I got back, but he came in a few minutes later.”
“I don’t want to be rude to the police, but you need to tell us why you’re asking all these questions,” Paul said.
“We’re just checking up on something which happened up the street. We thought Miss Lynch might be able to help us.”
“What happened?” Paul and Nicole asked almost in unison.
The police ignored the question, but Detective Milo said, “When we asked the neighbors about a stranger in the area, they told us about seeing Miss Lynch walking up and down the street for the last few days.”
“Well, sir, if anything illegal is going on during the day, I assure you Miss Lynch has nothing to do with it. She’s here every day at eight-thirty and sometimes earlier and she leaves at five.”
“Can you vouch for her evenings, Mr. Cottingham?”
“Of course he can’t,” Nicole butted in. “But my landlady can. Her name is Carmelita Mancini.”
The police officer wrote the name down. “Then let me thank you for your cooperation.” He nodded at Paul and they walked out the door.
“I wonder what that was all about?” Nicole asked when the door was closed. “When I went home for lunch I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.”
“Could be anything. I wouldn’t worry about it. You know it doesn’t involve you.”
“Thanks for vouching for me, Paul.”
“Not a problem. I only said what I know is the truth.” He changed the subject. “Do you happen to have the Mercer file? I need to make some changes on it.”
“Yes. Your father left it on my desk.” She handed it to him and he disappeared into his office.
On the way home at five, she was surprised to see several police cars parked in Dora’s driveway and yellow crime scene tape around part of the front yard. She started to go to the door to find out what was going on, but changed her mind. She didn’t want to be around police officers any more than she had to. They asked too many questions and she was afraid they would ask her something she didn’t know how to answer. She’d wait until she got home to satisfy her curiosity. Lita would probably know what had happened.
As she came through the front door, she heard voices in the living room. She hesitated. She wasn’t sure if she should interrupt them, but she wanted to know what had happened at Dora’s house.
She stuck her head in the living room door and was surprised to see a woman who looked to be in her early twenties sitting on the sofa. She was crying and Lita was comforting her.
She started to leave, but Lita saw her. “Nicole, come in. Let me introduce you to Janice Hildebrand.” Nicole nodded and Lita went on, “Something horrible has happened.”
Janice Hildebrand looked at her. “My mother has been attacked in her house. I found her this afternoon.”
“Is she alright?” Nicole asked.
Lita shook her head. “She’s in the hospital, Nicole.”
Janice looked at her with haunted eyes. “My mother is in a coma.” She began to sob. “My dear sweet mother. How could this happen?”
“I’m so sorry. Do you know what happened?”
“She was beaten, dear,” Lita said.
“Somebody beat her almost to death,” Janice said between sobs. “I found her on the living room floor. I heard them say they thought someone had used a baseball bat.”
“Oh, no. How horrible.” Nicole dropped to the chair in front of the sofa. “I can’t believe this.”
“Let me get some tea.” Lita stood. “I think we all could use a cup.”
Janice looked at Nicole. “Mother told me how you would stop on your way to work and talk with her. She likes you, Nicole. She thought you were someone special.”
“She was very nice to me. I like her too.” When she said nothing, Nicole went on, “Do they have any idea who hurt your mother?”
“No. They seem to think it was a robbery gone bad. Maybe someone on drugs who was looking for money. Mother’s purse was dumped on the kitchen table and there was no money in it.” She paused. “You didn’t happen to see anyone around the house as you walked to work, did you, Nicole?”
“No, and I looked at the house because I wondered if your mother was going to work in her flowers this morning.”
“She loved those flowers.”
“Yes, everyone says how much she enjoyed gardening. We often chatted in the morning and I missed her when she wasn’t there today.”
Lita came back with a tray, a teapot, and three cups. “Maybe this will help you feel a little better.”
“I’ll have a little, but I need to get back to the hospital. I only left because the police insisted I come to see if there was anything missing besides the contents of Mom’s purse. I want to be sure they’re doing everything they can for my mother at the hospital. I don’t want her lost in the shuffle.”
Nicole didn’t say anything. Could the police have visited her today because they thought she had something to do with the attack?