Amish Regrets (Amish Secret Widows' Society #4) (9 page)

Chapter 13.

But without faith it is impossible to please him:

for he that cometh to God must believe that he is,

and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Hebrews 11:6

Silvie had one more thing to do and that was to find out what she could from Miss Tobrill, the other ex-girlfriend of Carmello who was named in the will. Before she started work the next day, she knocked on Miss Tobrill’s door. There was no answer.

Silvie used the time before she started work to go back to see Mr. Winters.

“Mr. Winters, is there anyone at all who could have known about the new will?”

Mr. Winters shook his head. “Not even my secretary knew what was in it. She wouldn’t have known until after it was signed and it was ready for filing. The reason for that, was that it was such a simple will with only one beneficiary. I just filled out his details on a pro-forma and printed it out ready for him to sign.”

“Couldn’t he have signed it at the same appointment then?”

“I’m a little slow with my typing. He could’ve signed it then and there, but he said he had a busy day. I said I’d wait back for him to come after work. He agreed to meet me here just after 5 p.m.”

“No one else could see it in any way shape or form?” Silvie asked.

“I did email it to him, as a formality.”

“Email.” Silvie thought for a while and then said aloud. “I wonder who had access to his email.”

“Maybe his secretary? No, I remember now. He had two email addresses and I sent it to his private email. Every time we have a new client we have them fill out their details on a New Client sheet. I remember that he had two emails, one marked ‘personal’ and one marked ‘work.’”

“Thank you, Mr. Winters. You’ve been a marvelous help.”

All Silvie had to do now was find out who had access to Carmello’s private email. “Oh, one more thing, Mr. Winters. Can you tell me what time exactly that you sent the email?”

“I’ll look it up right now and tell you.” Mr. Winters tilted his computer screen toward him and pressed some buttons. “It was 12.30 p.m. and I put a receipt on it which tells me what time it was opened. It was read at 12.45 p.m.”

A cold shiver ran down Silvie’s spine. What if someone else read that email and found out that they were not in the new will? “Can you tell me what the email said?”

“I’ll print it out for you.”

Mr. Winters walked to the printer on the other side of the office and picked up the page as it printed out.

He handed it to Silvie and she read it out. “Attached is a copy of your Last Will and Testament. Sabrina Tildy is named as your sole beneficiary. As agreed, I will see you just after five today for signing.” Silvie looked up to Mr. Winters. “Do you mind if I hang on to this?”

“By all means. I hope it helps.”

Silvie folded the page in two. “I’m sure it will help.”

* * *

On Wednesday night at the next widows’ gathering, the ladies sat waiting for Detective Crowley.

Ettie and Elsa-May asked Silvie what she learned from visiting the ex-girlfriends, Miss Scotsdale and Miss Tobrill.

“Both of them weren’t home when I went to see them. I talked to Carmen Scotsdale’s
bruder
and he said she’s getting married soon and was off meeting the future in-laws. He said that Mrs. Liante knew about his sister’s relationship with her husband and she denies knowledge of any of his relationships.”

“Okay, not a word to Crowley that you went to see them. We’ll use that information when we need to. He won’t be happy, and if you’ve no information to give him there’s no point us saying anything to him,” Elsa-May said.

Silvie agreed and at that point there was a loud knock on the door that could only be Detective Crowley.

The detective dusted off his shoes on the front door mat before he entered the house. He took a seat on a wooden chair and shared his updates on the murder. “The business partner was telling the truth, about his father at least. His father was in a hospital in Cleveland and we have Neville Bank’s credit card records showing that he was on route to Cleveland at the time of Carmello’s death. I really learned nothing at the funeral; there were surprisingly few people there.”

“Could he have poisoned Carmello before he left?” Emma asked.

“The poison is not instantaneous; so it’s possible he could have poisoned him.”

“Look at this.” Elsa-May handed the detective the email Mr. Winters sent Carmello, with the copy of the will attached.

While the detective read the email, Elsa-May said, “Don’t you think it’s possible that someone found out that they would be left out of the new will?”

“Yes, and if it was Mrs. Liante, she knew she would have a fight on her hands in court to keep the money,” Ettie said.

“This is enough to allow me to get a warrant on Mrs. Liante’s house.”

“Wouldn’t the fact that Mr. Liante has been murdered be enough to allow you to search his house?” Silvie asked.

“Normally, depends who you go to, to sign off on the warrant. Judge Bower’s usually good for granting warrants, but he’s away ‘til next month. There’s really only Judge Peters and she’s a stickler for not invading privacy. This’ll be enough to tip her over the edge.” Crowley stared at the paper. “I will have every computer removed from the house and I’ll have the computer team go right over them. If she did this, then she’d have motive.”

“What about the other two women who would’ve been left out of the will?” Ettie asked.

“Of course, I’ll get warrants for their houses as well, but it’s more likely that it’s Mrs. Liante. Carmello might have had a computer at his home where his personal emails went. Most people are automatically logged into their emails on their personal computers, which would make knowledge of a password unnecessary. The other two women would have only been able to access his emails by password unless he had a personal computer at their place, which is unlikely as he wasn’t in a continuing relationship with either of the women.” The detective looked at each of the widows. “There’s a good chance that whoever opened this email is the same person who killed him.”

“They would’ve needed access to him pretty soon after they read it too, wouldn’t they? He sent the email at 12.30 p.m. How long does that poison have to take effect?” Emma asked.

“The poison in the dosage he was given takes three to four hours to take effect. We know that he had back-to-back appointments that afternoon until 5 p.m. The receptionist left at 4.30 p.m. and Carmello was alive when she left.”

“Detective, how can we find out what he ate at work? Since he didn’t go out, he must have had lunch in his office. Can you go to his office and find out exactly what he ate that day? Have you done that yet?” Elsa-May asked. 

“Yes, we’ve tested everything in the office kitchen and everything in the office fridge. There’s no more we can do.”

“Was there any take-out ordered, or any take-out that came into the office that day?” Ettie asked.

The detective noted it in his book. “I’ll check all the nearby cafes and check the logs of the reception for that day. I’ll have the team go back and check for residue in all the waste-bins in every office of the suite.”

“Detective, weren’t all the waste bins in the office checked for poison when the forensic team first came in, the day they found him?” Elsa-May asked.

The detective answered, “Only the waste bins in his personal office and in the kitchen.”

Elsa-May raised her eyebrows and Silvie knew that Elsa-May was thinking that all waste bins should have been searched at the beginning of the investigation and not days later.

* * *

The next day, Detective Crowley made a surprise visit to Silvie’s house. Silvie and Sabrina sat in front of him.

“We have a development in the case. There was a lunch order that came in for Carmello’s business partner, Neville Banks. The secretary remembers that since Neville wasn’t in, Carmello ate his lunch. He was seen in Neville’s office. Traces of Aconitine were found in Neville’s office. Which leads me to believe that someone was trying to kill Neville Banks. Carmello was nothing more than an innocent bystander.”

“That means that Neville would be in danger.” Silvie said.

“That’s right, you would have no way of knowing.” Detective Crowley lowered his head. “I’m afraid last night Mr. Bank’s had a car accident. His brake lines were cut; he plowed into a tree after he lost control of his vehicle.”

Sabrina hid her face and sobbed, “Why, why?”

“We have a suspect in custody and we found Aconitine in his car. The man we have in custody is a known hit-man.”

The two women looked at him blankly until he explained, “That means he is paid to kill people.”

Both women gasped.

“I never knew of such a thing,” Silvie said.

“I’m afraid there are people like that out there,” Detective Crowley said.

“So it wasn’t Mrs. Liante or any of the other women?”

Detective Crowley shook his head. “Mr. Liante was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“Why would someone want to have Mr. Banks dead?” Silvie asked.

“Gambling. He was addicted to gambling and borrowed heavily to cover his debts. He had his house heavily mortgaged and on top of that a $300,000 personal loan, which he was months behind in. It’s evident that he also borrowed money from some very dangerous people.”

“I’ll tell the rest of the ladies tonight what you’ve found out.”

* * *

Silvie called an emergency widows’ meeting that night so she could tell everyone at the same time what she’d learned from the detective. Then they could put the matter to rest.

Before anyone said anything, Maureen began by saying, “I am positive that Mrs. Liante did it. I saw Mrs. Liante’s housekeeper, Maud, driving a very expensive looking car. I checked with the motor vehicle department and it’s registered in Maud’s own name. Mrs. Liante is not generous with money, that’s evident in her money struggles with Mr. Liante. It seems to me that Mrs. Liante paid her for her silence. Mrs. Liante probably faked that knife attack and there was no attack on her at all.”

Elsa-May said, “
Jah
, Maureen. I never believed that there was any real knife attack. I think Mrs. Liante had the housekeeper cut her here and there, to make it look as though she had been attacked. Maybe she got the housekeeper to deliver a poisoned lunch to the office and that’s why she’s been paid off with that car. I agree with Maureen, Mrs. Liante killed her husband.”

“That seems right. If someone wanted to kill her with a knife, then they’d just do it. She’d be too small from what I’ve been told of her to fend off a knife wielding assailant,” Ettie said.

Silvie was glad that she made Sabrina stay at home because all this talk might have upset her. She held up both hands. “Stop everyone. I called this meeting because Crowley found out who killed Carmello.”

A hush fell over the room.

“No one wanted to kill him at all…” Silvie said.

“That’s not true, we’ve found plenty of people who wanted him dead,” Ettie said.

Silvie shook her head. “
Nee
, just listen to me. Neville Banks was killed last night. He had his brakes in his car cut. Crowley found out that someone had been paid to kill him for unpaid gambling debts. When Neville went to visit his father unexpectedly, he had already ordered his lunch that day. Carmello ate his lunch since Neville wasn’t there to eat it. They even found the same poison residue in Neville’s waste-bin. He must have eaten the lunch in Neville’s office and thrown the wrapper, or the package, in the bin.

Elsa-May’s mouth downturned at the corners. “Carmello wasn’t murdered deliberately?”

Silvie shook her head. “They have a suspect in custody and they found the same poison in his car. The same poison that caused Carmello’s death.”

“Well, that’s that then,” Emma said. “How’s Sabrina coping with the news?”

Silvie fiddled with her apron strings. “She feels no better. Maybe even a little worse that it was all a mistake.”

“I’m not satisfied,” Maureen said. “Why does the housekeeper have a new car? I don’t trust Mrs. Liante one little bit.”

“You’ve never met her though, Maureen,” Emma said.

“I’ve a hunch. I’ve just a hunch that Mrs. Liante hired someone to kill Neville Banks to cover her tracks after she murdered her husband. Maybe it was true that Neville was a gambler and borrowed money, but what if he was just a decoy to throw the cops off finding the real killer? We know she lied about being unaware of her husband’s indiscretions.” Maureen said.

“You might be on to something, Maureen. Why don’t I pass that scenario by Detective Crowley? I’ll suggest he goes to Mrs. Liante and pretend that the hit-man whom they have in custody has given her name as the person who hired him.”

“
Nee
, that wouldn’t be right. It sounds to me that you all want Mrs. Liante to be the murderer. Why don’t you just believe that it was Neville Banks that they were after?” Emma asked.