Lorraine sat at the end of the kitchen table in the Plym kitchen, not moving, not making a sound – nothing to show she heard what anyone was saying or that she understood the meaning of the quilt spread out over the table, except for the tears that dropped slowly down each cheek.
Mary didn’t offer her a tissue or even a napkin. She was exhausted, sore and still recovering from the terror Caleb had inflicted on her and Millie. She wasn’t sure if that had worn her out or if it was the terrible anger she’d experienced when she found out Caleb had broken into her house and then when he’d tried to stomp on Millie. That Millie had torn a hole in his leg didn’t count. He deserved it. Mary took a sip of the coffee someone had set in front of her and felt the heat, and the caffeine, revive her. The EMTs had said she’d be sore for a couple of days but she wasn’t badly hurt. They’d wanted her to go to the emergency room to be checked out, but they refused to take Millie, so she declined. They hadn’t even wanted to look Millie over, but Mary had insisted. She’d known them both all their lives, had them both in her Sunday school class and wasn’t taking no for an answer. They’d laughed, said Millie would have some tender ribs for a while but nothing was broken. Then they’d left with Caleb strapped securely to a gurney, swearing like a … well, swearing, followed by a patrol car. Dan had put both her and Millie in his car and they had headed for the Plyms’, where they all sat in the kitchen, waiting to hear what Lorraine had to say for herself. So far, she’d only cried.
Glen Manning sighed and laid the last stack of fifty dollar bills on the table beside the other stacks. ‘It’s all here. Counting the money in the box, every penny Miss Emilie took out is here.’
Mary broke down and handed Lorraine a tissue. She handed one to Cassandra as well. Her eyes looked as if they’d overflow any minute.
‘I don’t understand.’ Cassandra took the tissue, dabbed her eyes and leaned forward onto the table. She picked up one end of the quilt, looked at the edging where the careful, even stitches had been taken out and let it drop. ‘You were taking our money? You?’
Disbelief, and Mary thought grief, was in her voice and on her face. The sense of betrayal she was experiencing right now must be overwhelming but, to some extent, it was mixed with relief. Mary was certain Cassandra had suspected her brother. Not of stealing the money. She wasn’t sure who Cassandra thought had done that, probably poor Gloria, but of killing both women in his relentless pursuit of it.
Lorraine looked at Cassandra, ignoring everyone else in the room. ‘I’m sorry.’ Her voice was barely above a whisper. ‘I had to. I had to be ready to leave as soon as Miss Emilie didn’t need me anymore. I kept thinking she might need it, but if she died or went somewhere like Shady Acres and didn’t need it, or me, anymore …’ The tears flowed harder. She didn’t seem to notice. The tissue stayed in her hand, which stayed on the table, without moving. ‘I thought I was protecting her. Instead, I killed her.’
The start of surprise that went through Cassandra was visible. It seemed to almost render her incapable of speech. ‘But … I thought …’ was as far as she was able to go. Not so, her brother.
‘I knew it. You and that thieving husband of yours were in on it together. You’re going to jail, my girl. If not for murder then for grand larceny.’
Dan had been strangely silent since they’d arrived, bearing an emergency warrant to search the house. The only thing they’d searched so far was the quilt. ‘You’re getting a little ahead of yourself, Richard.’
Richard’s head snapped around at the use of his first name, his chin went up and his eyes blazed. ‘Ahead of myself? She just confessed to murder as well as theft. That sounds like jail to me.’
Dan gave Richard a disgusted look and turned toward Lorraine. He sat next to her and he covered her hand with his. ‘Did you, yourself, participate in the murder of Miss Emilie Plym?’
‘No. But if I hadn’t lied to him and hidden the money from him, he never would have taken her to the church hall that night, and she wouldn’t have died. It’s all my fault. Everything’s my fault.’
The sobs took over and she started to shudder. Dan removed his hand and looked at Mary, as helpless a look on his face as she’d seen on anyone.
She got up, motioned Dan to move, which he did with haste, sat down and gathered Lorraine up against her and let her cry, all the time patting her on the back as she would a small child, murmuring, ‘There, there, it’s going to be all right.’ She wasn’t sure that was true, but Lorraine was partly right. A lot of what happened was because of what she did. Mary sighed. She’d had a lot of provocation.
Gradually the sobs lessened. Lorraine sat up straight, accepted the glass of water Cassandra offered and was silent.
Mary straightened up. ‘It was Caleb’s decision to kill her. Even if he didn’t mean for her to die, just to rough her up so she’d tell him where the money was, the entire blame for that is on him.’ She gave Lorraine one more pat and settled back into the chair.
Cassandra sat rigidly upright in hers, stress lines digging furrows around her eyes. Mary watched Glen, who still sat at the end of the table, his hand shaking a little as he put a rubber band on the last pile of money and logged the amount into his tablet without looking at anyone.
‘Just how did you lie to Caleb?’ Dan’s voice was still mild but there was no doubt it was time for Lorraine to tell what had happened.
‘I didn’t start out to steal anything.’
Richard snorted. Everyone at the table turned and glared at him. He subsided.
‘Miss Emilie …’ She paused, looked around the table then at her hands, which were clasped tightly in her lap, ‘Change made her nervous. She never let us change anything in her room, she had the same thing for breakfast every day, she carried the same purse and she went to the bank.’ She gave a shuddery sigh then went on. ‘Soon after Miss Eloise had her stroke, Miss Emilie wanted to know if it was the first of the month. I took her, she made her withdrawal and we went home. She put her money in her box and put the key in the dish, like she always did. That was when I got the idea.’
She stopped, sighed again and shuddered.
‘Why?’ Mary tried to make her voice encouraging. A tall order, but even though she thought she knew the answer, Lorraine had to tell them.
Lorraine looked up for a moment, met Mary’s gaze then looked back at her hands. ‘I wanted to leave. I’ve wanted to leave for years, but I don’t have any money. Caleb took it all. I thought if I could hide some, when Miss Emilie was gone, or somewhere safe, I could get away.’ She paused again. ‘It worked for a while. Caleb knew she went to the bank, but I told him she only took out her little allowance.’
The silence in the room was absolute. Even Richard seemed to hold his breath.
‘Then Richard and Cassandra came and Richard accused us of stealing. Caleb thought he meant the little bit the twins used to take out. When he found out how much money was involved he almost went insane.’
‘He thought you had the money?’ Mary had her hand on Lorraine’s, hoping it would help her keep going.
Lorraine nodded. ‘I told him I didn’t, that I thought Miss Emilie had hidden it, but I had no idea where. He almost tore the attic apart, looking for it. He even took the motion detector off the morning-room door and put it on the attic door, thinking he’d know if she went up there.’ Again she paused. ‘She never did.’
‘What about the little white clock?’ Mary squeezed her hand lightly. ‘It was Caleb who took it, wasn’t it?’
Lorraine nodded. She finally looked at each of them in turn, but it seemed to be Cassandra she addressed. ‘Caleb wasn’t always very rational. He thought he knew everything, and when he got an idea in his head no one could talk him out of it. When he couldn’t find the money anywhere else he decided it was in her box and she’d hidden the key in the clock.’ She almost smiled. ‘I kept telling him she hadn’t. The key had been in that clock for years. I didn’t know what it was but I knew there was something. I think Miss Eloise put it there years ago. But Caleb wouldn’t listen. When he found it had been donated he was determined to get it back.’ She paused, took a shuddering breath and went on. ‘I saw it in the garage on Thursday morning when we were looking for Miss Emilie. Later that afternoon, it was gone.’
‘Tell us about the night Miss Emilie died.’
It seemed obvious that Lorraine would rather walk on hot coals than tell Dan about that night, but she didn’t have much choice. ‘Richard told him to turn off the motion detector but he didn’t.’ Her words came out stilted and forced, her eyes back on her hands in her lap. ‘We both knew she’d go looking for Willis as soon as she woke up. She might not remember she’d been in the church hall but she’d know he was missing and she’d be in a state.’
She paused again.
Dan urged her on. ‘Did she? Wake up?’
‘Yes. Caleb didn’t think I’d hear the monitor. He’d fallen asleep on the sofa, or thought I’d think he was asleep, but I heard it. He got up then slipped out the door. I watched him through the window. He went around the back then pretty soon I saw Miss Emilie go down the front walk. Caleb caught up to her. I waited and waited, but they didn’t come back. I didn’t know what to do so I went back to bed and waited. Finally, he came back. I was afraid to ask him anything. His face was … I’d never seen him look like that, so I pretended to be asleep. I don’t think he slept. I know I didn’t. Then, in the morning, Cassandra came knocking on our door, saying Miss Emilie was missing and we had to come help look for her.’
‘For God’s sake, woman, why didn’t you tell the police right then?’ Richard’s face was turning beet red again, his scathing boardroom voice back.
Lorraine looked directly at him, her face as white as his was red. ‘I was afraid to.’
Finally Mary spoke. ‘And you’ve been terrified ever since.’
Tears appeared again in the corners of Lorraine’s eyes. She blinked them away.
Dan turned to Mary. ‘Just when did you figure all this out?’
‘Last night.’
‘The answers just came to you, like a bolt from the blue?’ Richard’s tone wasn’t any less demeaning than it always was.
Mary sighed. Richard was about to learn a thing or two.
‘The morning Ellen and I came, exactly one week ago, Gloria came rushing in, saying she’d heard about Miss Emilie when someone at the church hall called her. Then Caleb came in saying it was on the radio. They both lied. I checked with the radio station yesterday. They didn’t release the information about Miss Emilie until Dan told them they could, and that was much later in the day. All Caleb could have known at that hour was there’d been an accident. That Miss Emilie might be involved was certainly possible, but that wasn’t what he said. He knew she was dead, that she’d been murdered. It was possible he hadn’t done it, but if he hadn’t, he knew who did. Gloria’s lie was more obvious.’
‘Why?’ Cassandra’s puzzled look said it plainly wasn’t obvious.
‘You had to know Gloria.’ There was sorrow in Mary’s voice as she went on. ‘No one who was at the church hall that morning would have thought to call Gloria. Only a close friend would have done that, someone who thought Gloria had a connection to the Plyms that went beyond once caring for someone who’s been dead for close to a year. Gloria didn’t have any friends.’
There was no sound in the room except that of Lorraine’s quick intake of breath.
‘Go on,’ Dan said.
‘I didn’t believe Gloria but had no evidence. There was only one other way I could think of that she’d know about Miss Emilie, and I couldn’t believe she’d murdered her. I also didn’t think she had a key to the church hall. I wasn’t sure about Caleb. The radio could have let the information slip before they were supposed to. It didn’t make sense they’d tell the same lie. Not then, anyway. I didn’t know about the money. That changed everything.’
‘Yes, it did.’ Dan nodded at her.
‘I thought from the beginning the only person who could have taken that money was Lorraine. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I didn’t see who else it could be. Miss Emilie didn’t like Gloria, Caleb scared her and Cassandra and Richard weren’t here. She loved and trusted Lorraine.’
There was a loud sob from Lorraine’s end of the table. Mary felt Millie, who was under the table, pick her head up off of Mary’s foot. The sob subsided and Millie’s head dropped back down.
‘Why didn’t you think Lorraine and Caleb were in it together?’ Cassandra’s eyes looked as if they would overflow any minute, but she seemed determined to hold it together.
Lorraine wasn’t. A steady stream of tears ran down her cheeks. ‘I’d never hurt Miss Emilie,’ she whispered. ‘Not ever.’
‘I believe that.’ Mary’s voice was soft. She put her hand on Lorraine’s arm and patted her gently. ‘The more I heard about your life with Caleb, the more I thought I understood why you took the money. Caleb obviously didn’t know where the money was. He would have if you were scamming together. For a while, I thought Richard was responsible. He was …’
A roar of protest came as Richard rose out of his chair and leaned on his hands. ‘How …’ His cheeks were bright red, his eyes almost bulging. ‘How could you possibly …’
‘You made it easy.’ Mary’s middle schoolteacher voice left no doubt he had, and he was about to be told why. ‘You gave us all ample reason to suspect you. Bullying, lying, thinking of no one but yourself and how you could get your hands on the money. It was hard not to consider you, and seriously. Even your sister thought you might be responsible. She made Miss Emilie’s bed back up after you trashed it, to protect you.’
For the first time since Mary met him, Richard Plym was struck dumb. His face went from red to white in seconds, and he turned to look at his sister as if he’d never seen her before. Mary was pretty sure it wasn’t with gratitude, but shock.
‘How did you know …’ Cassandra looked equally as shocked.
‘You said Miss Emilie’s bedcovers were on the floor when you looked in on her the morning she disappeared. She wouldn’t have pulled them off the bed. Neither would anyone who might have gotten her up. That had to have happened later, and the only reason I could think of was someone looking for something.’ She paused and grinned at Dan. ‘Like someone looking for a cigar box hidden under the bed. Only, I think this person was looking for money hidden under the mattress. There were only two people who could have done that.’ This time she looked directly at Cassandra and there was no grin. ‘You or Richard. I had no doubt which of you had done what.’
Cassandra’s mouth formed a small ‘Oh.’ She glanced at her brother, but he seemed to have nothing to say.
‘You need to thank your sister. She was trying to protect you.’
‘When and why did you decide it was Caleb and not Richard?’
Mary was certain Dan had reached the same conclusion she had, with the exception of where the money had been hidden, but he wanted to know what had convinced her. ‘Caleb lied too much. The first lie was the most damning, but until I checked with the radio station I wasn’t sure. They didn’t announce it was Miss Emilie dead until the afternoon. Then we were in the church hall and Caleb told me the police had messed up our sale tables. It did look as if they’d been searched, but I didn’t think by the police. There was nothing to be learned from searching them, but someone had. Caleb had a key to the church hall. It would have been easy for him to take the clock then put it back. He was in the hall, putting up new dressing-room curtains when I arrived, and he was alone. He asked me about the stuffed dog, Willis. Said Lorraine was worried about it but he seemed overly eager to find him. I couldn’t help wondering if he’d gone through everything looking for it.’
Mary stole a glance at Lorraine before she went on. She’d stopped crying. Instead, she stared at her hands that were clasped together on the table in front of her. She seemed to have retreated into herself, where nothing that was being said could reach her. Mary sighed. ‘He sounded almost gleeful when he talked about Gloria’s death. He told me how Lorraine hated her but he hardly knew her. Gloria practically lived here for two months while she took care of Miss Eloise and Caleb had done her yard for at least a year. Of course he knew her. So, why did he tell such a stupid lie? Because he wanted to distance himself from her? Gloria hung around the house a lot, even after Miss Eloise died. She also knew something was going on.’ She turned toward Lorraine, who sat very still, hand in her lap, so tightly folded the tips of her fingers had turned red. She was almost comatose.
‘Lorraine, did bank statements come to the house?’
Lorraine looked up, startled. ‘What?’
‘Bank statements. Did the sisters get them?’
‘Why, yes. I guess they were bank statements.’ Lorraine raised her head to look at Mary and blinked once.
‘But the sisters only had one account. The trust fund. Were the statements for that?’
It took Lorraine a minute, then she shook her head. ‘I have no idea. I put all that kind of thing in Miss Eloise’s desk.’
‘What did you do with them after she died?’
‘The same thing. I put everything in her desk.’
Lorraine’s blank look was replaced by something else. Fright.
‘Did it occur to you the withdrawals would be on the statements?’
Mary didn’t think it possible for Lorraine’s face to get whiter, but it did.
‘No.’
Mary sighed. Lorraine didn’t handle money. Her name wasn’t even on Caleb’s accounts. Had she ever written a check?
‘I’ll bet Gloria knew what was on those statements, and she knew it was being depleted. I’d thought all along she wouldn’t have spent so much time with Miss Emilie, for free, if she didn’t think there was some way to make it pay. She’d seen Miss Emilie pitch a fit that afternoon, trying to find her dog. She probably saw the clock at the rummage sale and recognized it. Anyone who’d ever handled it couldn’t help but know something was inside. I don’t how much Gloria figured out, but she knew a lot of money was involved. I think she was watching the house that night, knowing Lorraine would give Miss Emilie a sedative and that when she woke she’d likely try to find the dog again. She planned on being ready to step in and rescue her. Just how, I don’t know, but she had a key to the house. She didn’t have to go in. Miss Emilie came out. Then Caleb took charge of her. Only, they didn’t go back in the house. I think Gloria followed them and watched them go into the church hall. Caleb came out alone. I think she thought Caleb had the money so, instead of telling the police what she saw, she tried a little blackmail. It didn’t work out so well for her.’
Mary turned toward Richard. ‘You thought Gloria had the money. That’s what that lunch at the Yum Yum was all about. It must have come as quite a shock when you learned you’d been sleeping under it all this time.’
The red was back on Richard’s face, but he didn’t say anything.
‘How did you know Lorraine hid the money in the quilt?’ Dan asked.
‘That took me longer than it should have.’ She looked over at Lorraine, who ducked her head, and sighed. ‘I used to watch my grandmother quilt. She’d tell me stories while she sewed. How the slaves hid things in the quilts they made – money they weren’t supposed to have, fake passes or papers that said they were free. Pioneer women did also. So did women in the south when Sherman made his march to the sea. They hid money, jewelry, important papers. Women have been doing it for a long time. I should have suspected as soon as I saw Richard’s quilt. The edges were bunchy, the edging not smooth. The rest of it was Lorraine’s neat, exacting stitches.
‘I really didn’t think Miss Emilie had hidden the money. She might have once, but not eleven times. Whoever took it did. Hid it eleven times. Someone made out the note she carried to the bank, and someone she knew and trusted helped her put some money in her box every month while taking the largest portion themselves. That same person took the note out and destroyed it. There was only one person who could have done that. Lorraine.’
‘Why?’ Cassandra spoke for the first time. She looked at Lorraine, who seemed to have retreated back into her shell, so she turned to Mary. ‘Why destroy the note?’
‘Because Caleb was looking for the money everywhere and Miss Emilie’s purse was one of the first places he’d look. Lorraine convinced him she didn’t have it, but if he found the note he’d think she wrote it. Miss Emilie didn’t know how to type, let alone work a computer. By this time, Caleb was convinced Miss Emilie had put the money in her box, but he couldn’t find the key. I wondered why he didn’t just break into the box, but he couldn’t. Too many people knew about it to pry it open. So, where was the key? In the clock. Only, it wasn’t.’
Lorraine finally spoke. ‘He was furious when he found out it was an old safe deposit box key.’ There was a trace of a smile but it didn’t last long. ‘And when the real key showed up and he heard the box only held a small amount of money, he went ballistic. That’s when he decided it was in the dog.’
‘Yes.’ Mary thought about the chain of events that had led Caleb to the wrong conclusion, one that had almost gotten her and Millie killed. ‘He knew I’d given Dan the key to the box, and I guess he overheard me tell Dan I knew where the money was. To him that meant I had the money and the dog. He was badly mistaken. Lorraine, where did Caleb go after church on Sunday? He left the community room right after Richard did. Was he home when you returned?’
Lorraine shook her head. ‘Poor Gloria. But she shouldn’t have tried to blackmail him.’ She turned to Dan. ‘What happens now?’
‘If you mean to Caleb, he’ll sit in jail until he goes to trial. You don’t get bail if you’re accused of murder.’
‘What about me?’ There were a lot of questions in those three words, and Mary didn’t think Lorraine was going to like any of the answers.
‘You’re going to jail.’ Richard sounded adamant, but not quite so arrogant.
‘You won’t be going right away,’ Dan said, while glaring at Richard. ‘I don’t have a warrant for your arrest, and that may take a while.’
‘There won’t be a warrant. I’d have to bring charges against her, and I’m not going to.’ Cassandra’s voice was soft but emphatic.
Richard started to sputter, but Cassandra coolly cut him off. ‘Richard, we have an agreement. I’ll buy out your share of the house, and that will be in cash. You’ll get half of whatever is in the trust fund and half of the money Lorraine … safeguarded. If you even think of trying to press charges, I’ll hold up anyone getting anything out of this house or the trust fund for years in court, and I can do it. So, for just once, shut up.’
Richard’s mouth was going in and out like a fish out of water, but he was silent.
Dan addressed Cassandra. ‘You’re not going to press charges?’
‘No.’
‘Well, if you’re not, neither am I. Caleb is a different matter. I’ve already charged him with two cases of first degree murder and one of attempted murder, so I guess I’m no longer needed here. Glen, let’s get all this money back in your bank.’
Richard started to sputter again but Dan stopped him. ‘This money is the property of the trust. After it’s settled, I suppose at least half of it will belong to you but, in the meantime …’ He turned to Cassandra. ‘Is that agreeable with you?’
She didn’t suppress her smile. ‘It’s just fine.’
‘Ellen says you’re going to keep the house and turn it into a bed and breakfast.’
Cassandra nodded again.
‘You’re going to do what?’ Mary wasn’t completely surprised. She’d thought Cassandra had something in mind.
‘Turn it into a bed and breakfast. I’ve already been to the city council and it looks promising.’ She turned to Lorraine. ‘I’m staying on for a little while. If you want to stay in the apartment until you can find a place to go, you can.’ She paused. ‘You were going to use that money to go where?’
Lorraine’s expression was guarded. She probably hadn’t expected this. ‘I didn’t really know. Maybe to Seattle to be near my son. I haven’t seen him in years and I’ve never seen my grandkids. You’re really not going to press charges?’
‘I’m really not. We’ll call your son tomorrow. Do you have any money? I won’t charge you rent but a salary …’
Glen had all the money stuffed in his briefcase and now stepped in. ‘Lorraine is legally entitled to half of whatever is in Caleb’s account. This is a community property state. She won’t starve.’
Lorraine hadn’t expected that either. ‘There’s money?’
‘Quite a bit. Caleb was many things, among them loath to let loose of a dime. There are quite a few of them in his bank accounts. Come into the bank tomorrow and I’ll go over it all with you.’
Glen headed for the door.
Dan pushed back his chair, getting ready to go as well. ‘Mary, your car is in back of the pet shop. Want a ride?’
She did. Millie seemed ready to leave as well. After all, dinnertime was getting close.
Mary had one last question for Cassandra. ‘Did you mean it when you offered to help on one of my events?’
Cassandra broke into a smile for the first time in … had she even seen her smile? ‘Every word.’
Mary smiled back. ‘Good. I’ll call you tomorrow. The Friends of the Library are having a book sale in a few weeks and we need to get started on it. The Parks and Rec people are raising money for a new soccer field, and we’re having an organizing meeting next week. I’ll count on you.’ She smiled, gathered up Millie’s leash and followed Dan out the door.