Jolly Dead St. Nicholas (29 page)

There’d been no tape up when she, Ethel and Tina were there. She was about to ask when he made that decision but he answered the question before she had the chance.

“I called Daniel a few minutes before you arrived. I asked him to cordon off the area. Something didn’t seem right. I’m not an official expert by any means, but I saw burn patterns on the outside of the back door that suggest to me an accelerant might have been used.”

She told him about the broken alley light. “Someone could have crept up to the back of the house without being seen. It was slightly overcast last night, also, so those back yards would have been very dark even with the snow on the ground.” Large trees grew around all the houses there, providing perfect cover.

“Now that I heard what you have to say, I’m glad I called for some help.”

Adelaide got up to go. “Tell Brie I’ll drop by the boutique sometime this week with the handmade jewelry we didn’t sell at the bazaar, will you?” She’d made arrangements with Tim’s wife to sell the items on consignment in her store.

“Sure enough.” He walked her to the door. “So, are you helping Daniel out on the murder case?”

Adelaide got very jittery when people assumed she helped the police with all their cases. In this instance, however, she saw no way to avoid the admission. “I’m not convinced Douglas is guilty. I’ve made a few inquiries.”

“More than a few, from what I hear around town,” he said with a wide grin.

When Adelaide entered Carl’s hospital room she couldn’t help but smile. He was sitting up in bed demanding to go home. Ethel was trying to soothe him while a nurse explained that the doctor would have to make that decision.

“Why’s that? I know how I feel. I don’t need any tests to tell me I’m ready to get out of this place. Call my doctor now. Tell him I’m leaving. He can see me in his office next week. I’ll make an appointment.” Carl tried to get out of bed, but his knees buckled under him. The nurse, as though anticipating the collapse, was waiting to catch him. With practiced ease, she settled him back in the bed.

Adelaide moved into the room. “I see the native is getting restless.”

Ethel shook her head in exasperation. “He’s been like this since I got here. He knows about the fire at Susan’s. He’s all wound up now.”

Carl glared across the room at them. “Don’t talk about me like I’m not here, Ethel. Hello, Adelaide. As soon as Nurse Ratched here leaves, maybe I can get dressed so I can get out of here. I’m too busy to be cooped up in this place a minute longer.” He looked up at the nurse, whose nametag read
Reva
. “Are you calling my doctor?” he asked impatiently.

Ethel’s cheeks turned pink. She marched to the bedside. “Carl, don’t you dare be rude to this nurse! I was a nurse, if you’ll recall, so I know what it is like to deal with unruly patients. So unless you want
two
nurses using soft restraints on you, I suggest you cooperate.”

Carl blinked up at her, his eyes wide with surprise.

Ethel continued. “Now, you apologize to Reva this minute.” She folded her arms across her middle. She was also tapping her foot impatiently on the tile floor.

Adelaide almost felt like apologizing for something herself, in the wake of Ethel’s forceful demand.

A sheepish look slowly crept over Carl’s weathered face. He mumbled something under his breath.

“I can’t hear you, so I’m sure Reva can’t either,” Ethel snapped.

“I’m sorry, Reva. I don’t know what got into me.” Carl hung his head. He really did look confused as well as devastated by his outburst.

Reva straightened his bed covers with efficient movements. “I think I do. He may be having a reaction to some medication we started this morning. It’s for inflammation. We’ve noticed slight personality changes in a couple of other patients. I’ll notify the doctor at once so he can change the orders.” She patted Carl’s hand reassuringly before leaving the room.

Adelaide approached the bed. “Carl, can you answer a few questions about the night you were attacked?”

“I’m grumpy, not senile,” he said sharply.

Maybe I’d better get the name of that medication so I’ll be sure to never take it. He’s like a different person.

Ethel headed for the door. “I’m going to get some coffee. Would you like some, Adelaide?”

Adelaide declined.

Carl raised a hand as if to say something, but Ethel was way ahead of him. “No coffee for you. I’ll bring you some Chamomile tea.”

“That stuff tasted like lawn fertilizer!” Carl cried.

“How would you know, have you ever tasted lawn fertilizer, Carl?” Ethel asked.

Carl huffed. “Can I have a muffin, too?”

“I’ll ask Reva,” Ethel replied with an evil grin as she breezed out of the room.

Adelaide suppressed a smile.

Carl groaned, leaning his head back against the pillow. “I’ll starve if she has her way.”

His breakfast tray was still sitting on the over-the-bed table, which was pushed off to the side. Adelaide examined the remnants. “Looks like you had eggs, toast, bacon and orange slices. Not bad for someone who is starving.”

Carl sighed. “I’m outnumbered. What do you want to know?”

“Take me back to Monday night. When you entered the alley, what did you see?”

Carl answered immediately. “Not much. It was snowing. So quiet and peaceful. One of the lights was out, though.”

“Did you hear anything?”

He closed his eyes. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Think hard. Try to put yourself back in the alley. It was cold, your footsteps made crunching noises in the snow. Your nose was cold. Were you wearing gloves?”

Carl’s eyes jerked open. “I heard footsteps behind me in the alley. I turned around but couldn’t see anyone. It was so shadowy back there it was hard to see anyway, even with snow on the ground.”

“Someone was following you?” Adelaide sat down in the chair next to his bed.

“I guess. I turned a couple of times but the alley was empty behind me. Whoever it was must have been hidden by the trees or ducked behind the garages. I understand they found my wallet in the funeral home parking lot.”

Adelaide wanted to keep Carl thinking about those moments before he was hit. “Think back again. You thought you heard something. You looked but didn’t see anything. What
did
you see?”

Carl closed his eyes again. She could tell he was taking himself back to that moment. “I squinted into the dark, straining to see. I passed that big cedar tree in Dora’s side yard. The hedge along their double lot that connects their property to the Engler’s double lot looked like it was encased in ice. I was cold. I remember thinking it was time for a new pair of deerskin gloves.” Again his eyes flew open. “There was a rush of air behind me. Before I could turn around I was hit. There was a whooshing noise as I was hit again. I heard—”

“What, Carl. What did you hear at the moment you were hit?”

“A sigh or a sound like it. It sounded breathy, delicate.”

“Did you smell anything?”

He closed his eyes again. He seemed to fold in on himself as though exhausted. Finally Adelaide realized he’d fallen asleep.”

Adelaide’s next stop was the ICU where Susan Hatfield lay in a coma. She looked through the glass at the woman, feeling a twinge of regret.

She opened up to me but I didn’t believe her. At least she didn’t think I believed her. How do I live with that if she doesn’t make it?

At Susan’s bedside was Douglas Underwood. Her hands looked freshly bandaged. She had red burn marks on her neck and face which didn’t look much worse than kitchen burns.

Looking around the waiting area she saw James sitting on one of the well-worn sofas. He was dressed casually today, in a pair of black slacks and a white sweater.

She sat down beside him. “What’s the prognosis for Susan, do you know?”

He closed the Bible he was reading. “She has extensive lung damage. Her burns aren’t that bad except for her hands, which are second degree.”

“Has anyone called Eric and the rest of her family?”

“Her son is on his way. I believe her brother who lives in Marietta is on some kind of business trip, but he’s coming home as soon as he can get a flight.”

“What about her parents?’

“I’m not sure. Her sister, Mary, is ill, apparently. Coming to the funeral just about did her in. The other brother, Keith, probably won’t come unless things deteriorate, since he just returned to Tucson.”

“What is Douglas doing here, James? I’m surprised they let him in.”

James’s face got a little more florid. “Well, we sort of bent the truth. We told them he was her clergyman, which is technically true.”

“I doubt if you fooled anyone. Their relationship is pretty much public knowledge by now.”

Just then Eric Hatfield came striding down the hallway, his face looking pinched with tension. He passed them by without speaking, going straight to the nurses’ station. He was dressed in a pair of jeans. His open parka revealed a blue sweatshirt underneath.

The nurse pointed toward Susan’s room. Eric’s voice carried to the waiting area. “Why is he in there? He’s not family. He has no right to be here.” Without waiting for an explanation, he nearly ran to his mother’s glass-encased room, flinging open the door “Get out of here before I throw you out!”

Alarmed, Adelaide jumped up, hurrying toward the commotion. James was on her heels.

Inside the room, monitors beeped and a ventilator hissed as Susan lay still as death. Several IV bags hung from various poles around the bed, their tubes snaking across the sides of the bed to ports now attached to her arms. She slept on, oblivious to the chaos brewing around her.

Eric stood on one side of the bed; Douglas rose to his feet on the other. Adelaide thought they looked like two alpha males facing off over a coveted prize.

“I don’t want to cause any trouble,” Douglas began.

“Then leave now,” Eric said through clenched teeth.

“I love your mother, Eric.” Douglas seemed to be beseeching Eric to accept what he was saying.

“Don’t you dare say that. You’re the reason she’s lying here. You seduced her away from my dad, then killed him. I should tear you apart right now and save the court system some money.” He moved around the end of the bed toward Douglas.

Adelaide stepped forward. “Don’t, Eric, please!”

James stepped between the two other men. “Not here. Not now. Let the police do their job, Eric.”

Eric glared at Douglas. “If you don’t leave right now,
I’m
calling the police. I’m going to get a restraining order to keep you away from my mother. If you ever try to see her again, I’ll kill you!”

James took hold of Douglas’s arm. “Let’s go, Doug. All this turmoil isn’t good for Susan. You want what is best for her, I know. Right now, that’s probably to spend time with her son. Other family members are probably coming in, right Eric?” He looked up at the young man.

“My uncle will be here in a few hours. Get him out of here, Reverend Preston, now.” Eric’s eyes were gleaming with anger and unshed tears.

Adelaide breathed a sigh of relief when Douglas allowed James to escort him from the room. By then several nurses as well as a security guard were in the hallway, ready to intercede.

Adelaide stepped aside. When Douglas passed her by he said softly, “I love her. I love her. I would never do anything to hurt my beautiful Susan.”

Adelaide went to Eric’s side. “I understand she has severe lung damage from the smoke. I’m so sorry, Eric. If there’s anything I can do—”

Eric interrupted her, his eyes still blazing with anger. “I’m having her transferred this afternoon to the OSU Medical Center in Columbus. The paperwork is being prepared now.”

Adelaide wasn’t surprised. Eric was a student at Ohio State University. Of course he’d want his mother close by.

Eric scowled at her. “I want my mother as far away from this town as possible. Quite frankly, I don’t appreciate you sticking your nose into things either. I’ve heard about how you’re going around saying you don’t think Underwood is guilty when it is plain as day he killed my father. This is an ICU room. You’re not family. Get out.”

He gave her the coldest stare she’d ever received. In fact, it sent an involuntary chill up her spine. Dumbfounded by the hatred she saw in the young man’s eyes, Adelaide left the room without looking back.

The police station was extremely busy when Adelaide walked in around lunch time. Judy Hess was arguing with a scrawny teen who was handcuffed to the chair beside her desk. Judy’s face was flushed, her lips compressed into a straight line. “Explain those cans of spray paint in your backpack that just happen to be the same color as the ones used on Mr. Fletcher’s lions last night why don’t you?” She was typing very fast on a computer keyboard. The teen now sat in sullen silence, glaring at Judy belligerently.

It looks like at least one crime has been solved. I wonder what color those hideous lions are now. Should I ask? Wait, there’s an evidence bag on Judy’s desk with two cans inside. Oh boy, looks like neon orange. I’ll bet Lloyd’s livid.

“What’s so funny, Mother?” Daniel said as she entered his office.

She didn’t realize she was smiling. She wiped the grin off her face before sitting down in the chair opposite his desk. “I see Judy has solved the lion-painting caper.”

Daniel smiled. “Lloyd offered a thousand-dollar reward. We had more leads than we could count, but they all pointed to the same kid. He didn’t have a chance. She arrested him in the lunch line at the high school.”

“Well, I’m not here about that. I’m here about Susan Hatfield. I understand an arson inspector is coming today.”

He raised an eyebrow. “How do you find things out so fast?”

“I have my sources.”

“Okay, yes. In fact, he’s at the Hatfield place right now.”

“I suspected the fire was intentionally set all along.”

“I’m sure you did, Mother. Maybe you should be sitting in this chair instead of me.” The smile he sent her way didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“I’m sorry, Daniel. I’m a little bit frazzled. I just witnessed a harrowing scene at the hospital in Susan’s room. Douglas was there when Eric arrived. It was terrible.”