Angel Sleuth (17 page)

“There’s no sense in anyone else going with me. This is my concern,” said Kaitlin. She hugged Mary Jane, yelled a goodbye up the stairs to Jeremy, assuring him she would take good care of the animals and grabbed her backpack. Off to confront the local constabulary once again, a meeting she didn’t savor.

She walked, turning over in her mind what she would say to Hendricks so he would believe the urgency of her concern for Bethany. She had difficulty focusing. She hadn’t known Mary Jane and Jeremy were exploring other positions. She thought she had them with her for the entire summer. Was she happy for them? Yes. But she also felt sadness they might leave her sooner than she thought.

Officer Hendricks was waiting in his office. He pointed to the wooden chair across from his desk. The bored expression on his face said she’d better tell him a believable story.

“Shoot. And make it brief.”

She sat down and relayed what she’d heard and seen outside Mr. Toliver’s office. When she finished, Hendricks’ face remained unchanged.

“Uh, huh. And you want me to do what?”

“I want you to arrest someone, I guess. It’s your job. You should know what to do with this. Find out the identity of the guy talking to Toliver and arrest him too. For attempted murder or whatever.”

Hendricks appeared unmoved by both her story and her plea for him to spring into action, so she tried another approach—her most winning smile and a more convincing line, or so she hoped.

“I don’t mean to tell you your business, of course, but I also must tell you that Bethany left a note in my car several weeks ago asking to meet with me privately. When I showed up for the meeting, someone hit me over the head.”

“She hit you over the head?”

“No, Bethany didn’t. Someone else hit me over the head.”

“Where’s the note?” he asked. “I’d like to see it.”

She felt like an idiot. Where was that damn note?

“I’ll look for it.”

Hendricks grunted. “Find it.”

Kaitlin was sure Mac and Caroline knew something was wrong when she entered the door. How could they not? Her hair was a mess and she was sweaty and breathing hard. She must have looked like a woman possessed. She tossed her backpack on the floor inside the front door with a “Damn Hendricks!” then settled into a kitchen chair and calmed down enough to tell them about her visit to the police station without too many expletives thrown into the story.

The phone rang just as she ended the tale. Toliver was on the other end of the line.

“I just received a call from Officer Hendricks. From what he told me, it seems you got the wrong idea about something you overheard here earlier today. I’m not angry at you, but I am disappointed that you didn’t come to me first with your concerns. And, of course, horrified that you would eavesdrop on my conversation. I’ll just have to forgive that, given your state of mind.”

“My state of mind. What about my state of mind?”

She mouthed Toliver’s name to Mac and Caroline. Mac nodded and scurried up the stairs, signaling her he intended to listen on the bedroom extension.

“You should have come to me first. Isn’t that what a good ombudsman would do?” asked Toliver.

“Uh…”

“The individual in my office was Dr. Robert Sardino. He’s on our board of directors, and he was speaking about Miss Nappi. You’re quite right about that. Earlier in the day, the board examined the internship program and decided to terminate those students who were not working out well. I had to leave early to get back to ARC, so I wasn’t party to their final decisions.” He paused long enough that Kaitlin thought the connection had been broken.

“Are you there, Mr. Toliver?”

“Ah, yes. Someone just came into my office, that’s all.” Or, more likely, someone was there directing his conversation.

“As I was saying… Dr. Sardino was in the area on business in the afternoon and was kind enough to stop by and let me know the recommendations of the board. The members wanted Bethany Nappi removed from work at ARC.”

“May I ask why?”

“That’s a personnel matter. I’m not free to discuss it. Just know that the board has the welfare of the residents in mind and does only what is best for them.

“And those letters to Leda that Officer Hendricks now has in his possession, well, I thought we covered that before. As I told you when you asked me about the letters, old people, like others with mental problems, sometimes believe what isn’t true. They often think someone is taking their things when they merely forget where they placed an object.”

His tone changed from matter-of-fact, to nasty.

“I’m sure that’s happened to you, hasn’t it? You forget things from time to time, don’t you?” He cleared his throat. Again. And then again.

“I explained all of this to Officer Hendricks, and he’s quite satisfied that Miss Nappi was never in any danger. I’m sorry to hear that someone attacked you on our property. You should have brought that to my attention. I assure you, your safety and your mental health are of concern to us here at ARC and to the local authorities.” With that, he hung up.

She heard Mac click off on the upstairs phone and then his footsteps as he returned to the kitchen.

“I think Toliver is covering for someone, and he’s doing his best to make it sound as if you’re a bit of a looney. Sounds like he has Hendricks convinced,” Mac said.

“Hendricks already thought I was demented. He figures I stole the stuff from Leda’s office, then planted it in my house. Who would do that except for a crazy woman?”

“Just to make certain that Bethany is okay, I’m going to have a talk with her parents. Her father was on the force in Philadelphia for ten years, and I met him on several occasions when I was a cop in the city, so we go way back. Let me handle this.”

She handed him the phone, and he took it into the living room for privacy. She was delighted he was willing to intercede with Bethany’s parents. He, at least, believed her.

“With all the rumors flying around about Leda, the theft at the office and her new will, my reputation is on shaky ground in this town. And just the other day, I was thinking what a wonderful place this would be for my retirement years. Now I wonder.”

“The down side of living in a small town.” Caroline reached across the kitchen table and patted Kaitlin’s hand. “Nothing much happening. People get bored and grab at the first excitement they can find. It’s not you. It’s the situation.”

Kaitlin wanted to believe her, but she wondered how long it would be before she felt comfortable walking into the café or the library or the supermarket without thinking people were staring at her or talking behind her back. Maybe it was time for her to return to Albany where she could be more anonymous. Then she remembered who lived in Albany. Zack and his woman.

Mac came back into the kitchen to report on Bethany.

“She’s off to see her grandmother, and only the close family knows where she’s going. I told Bethany’s dad what we knew, and he had a few choice words to say about the cops in this burg. The two of us are going to use our contacts with the state police to see where they’ve gotten on ascertaining the cause of death for Leda. I’ll bet they’ve stepped in because her death, Will’s beating and some other happenings in this village are related.”

Happenings? That got Kaitlin’s attention.

“What other happenings? I haven’t heard of any other happenings.”

“Be patient. I’m working on it. I turned over Tom’s note and that cross to the State Bureau for Criminal Investigations where my old trooper buddy, John Morris, works.”

Mac explained to Caroline about the cross and their suspicions Leda pulled it off the neck of whoever pushed her down the stairs. If Caroline were shocked at this bit of news, she did her best to hide it. By now, she appeared as convinced as they were that someone was responsible for her mother’s fall.

Mac continued. “Morris has been hinting that something is up in this region. Could be it’s drugs. You know, the meth lab thing.”

“You think Leda knew something about a meth lab?” A meth lab in this small burg. Kaitlin couldn’t believe it, although she knew it was possible. These mountains were a great place to hide things, especially illegal things.

“Yeah, maybe someone was stealing Sudafed from the residents at ARC and selling it back to them as meth.” Mac smiled that sly little smile of his.

Kaitlin had discovered in their short relationship that when Mac decided not to say anything, nothing she could say would talk him into sharing either information or speculation. She moved on.

“So, did Will talk to you?”

“He was very chatty,” Caroline said, “but much of it didn’t make sense. He seemed resigned to losing his aunt’s money and didn’t seem to blame me for the turn of fate that changed his fortunes. He told us he paid off all his gambling debts by taking out a second mortgage on his house, selling his cars and cleaning out his stock portfolio. His debts must have been enormous.”

Kaitlin was puzzled. “That means the people to whom he owed money were paid in full. They would have no reason to beat him up.”

Mac nodded his head in agreement.

“Will said they demanded he tell them what Leda knew, and he told them he didn’t know what they were talking about. Finally, they must have believed him, because they tossed him out of the car onto the street in front of the B and B where he had a room,” Mac said.

“Can he identify the men?” Kaitlin asked.

“He said he never saw them before,” said Caroline.

“I think he’ll recover from the beating. No permanent damage seems to have been done according to his doctors, but what he’ll have trouble recovering from is the loss of his practice in the city,” Mac said.

“Loss of his practice?” asked Kaitlin.

“Yeah. Just as we were leaving, Will’s partner stopped by to visit him. We thought it was nice of him to make the drive all the way up here to see Will, but he wasn’t delivering good news. He told Will that, with Will’s gambling problem, he wanted to dissolve their partnership and threatened to report him to the New York State Medical Board for ethical misconduct,” Caroline said.

“Poor Will. First he loses his inheritance, then he loses his professional life,” Kaitlin said.

Caroline squirmed in her chair.

“Come on, Caroline. Don’t start that guilty business again. We’ve got work to do. Unless you’ve changed your mind about finding your father,” Kaitlin said.

She perked up. “Where do we start?”

“We’re going to visit Dr. Baldo. I’m just playing a hunch, but it may pay off. C’mon, Mac. You drive.”

Once they all invaded his living room, Dr. Baldo took one look at the green of Caroline Adams’ eyes and strode across the room to greet her.

“You must be Leda’s daughter. Caroline, isn’t it?” He took one of her hands in his own. “Please sit down, all of you.” Baldo was making nice, but his unusual display of manners wasn’t going to deter Kaitlin from her mission.

“You were the doctor who delivered Caroline, weren’t you? You knew Leda was pregnant. She fled here to have the baby in secrecy, and you helped her.”

Caroline’s mouth opened to form a round “O” of surprise, and Mac stopped twirling his unlit cigarette between his fingers. As for Baldo, she watched as he slid into the chair behind him and covered his eyes with one bony hand. It was several moments before he spoke.

“Yes, yes, it’s true. I helped Leda, convinced her it would be better to put you up for adoption, and located a private agency to arrange for adoptive parents. I kept her secret all these years. Robert Pippel never knew she had a child before they married.

“I always loved Leda. I even hoped she would consider marrying me after Robert’s death many years later, but she never quite got over losing him. We became good friends. I did hope, one day, if I were patient, she would see me in a different light. Now it’s too late.”

Kaitlin wanted to feel sorry for Baldo, but something about him put her off.
Sneaky
, came a whisper from within her head. The voice wasn’t hers. It sounded more like Mary Jane’s. Looking over her shoulder perhaps?

“Caroline needs to find her father. What do you know about the man who got Leda pregnant? Did she ever talk about him?” she asked.

“I don’t know much. I suspect the man might have been a prominent member of the community from which Leda came following her graduation from high school. You might begin there, although I doubt you’ll find anything.”

“What town?”

“Just south of here. Lake Woods.”

Caroline thanked Baldo for his help, and she and Mac stood up to leave. Kaitlin hung back as Mac and Caroline walked out.

“I want to talk with you. Soon. It’s about Lily’s medication.”

“I took care of that, thanks to your note and her talk with me today.”

But she wasn’t letting Baldo off the hook yet.

“There’s a bigger issue. Something is not right up there, and I think you have suspicions about it also. The police have the letters written to Leda about thefts at ARC, and I’ll bet they’re very interested in them about now considering recent events.” She was faking, but Baldo didn’t need to know that.

“Such as?”

“Such as my getting bopped on the head, Will’s beating and a threat to Caroline. Too many coincidences associated with Leda’s death. Not only were the local cops interested in your autopsy report, now I understand the state has stepped in to scrutinize it.” Another exaggeration, but a little lying was in order to insure the safety of the people at ARC. And she wasn’t talking about being their ombudsman. She was talking about being their friend.

Baldo straightened up at her words. He threw back his shoulders and drew his hands into fists as if he were prepared to fight anyone who questioned his medical expertise.

“How dare they?” he asked.

“Well, perhaps you weren’t paying attention because of personal reasons.”

She left Baldo on his front steps, his face the color of the white roses that grew along the fence surrounding his property.

Back in the car, Carolyn asked, “How did you know Dr. Baldo delivered me?”

“I didn’t. It was just a guess. Leda was so secretive about you, I thought she might want to avoid a hospital delivery. And she and Baldo go way back. Simple.”