Keeping Mum (A Garden Society Mystery) (10 page)

Finally, about twenty minutes before her alarm made it mandatory, she climbed out of bed and turned on her coffeepot. She realized as she did so that the magical forty-eight hours had passed for Annie’s dad, but she tried to convince herself the missing medication was a good sign. Annie would be devastated if that wasn’t true, and Cam didn’t want to watch her friend go through that.

Cam was on autopilot as she went through her morning routine. She poured coffee, took a shower, put in her contacts, then put on some makeup. But when she was done, she couldn’t remember having done any of it. In fact, when she pulled her car into a parking spot near the Patrick Henry, she didn’t even remember going out to her car. She was just suddenly there.

At least this was her chance to talk to Evangeline, who usually arrived early, often before her husband. Cam thought she was too social to get very much done when other people were present, so this was a strategy to have some time when being social wasn’t an option. Cam felt a little guilty about stealing that time, until she got to Evangeline’s office and found she wasn’t there, but a light was on a few doors down.

“Mr. Patrick?” Cam called.

“Oh! Cammi. You startled me,” he said when she reached his office.

She wondered if his hearing was going, as she hadn’t made any effort to be quiet when she got there.

“Is Evangeline coming in this morning?”

“I’m afraid not. She seems to be a little under the weather.”

“Oh, no. Nothing too serious, I hope.”

“No, I don’t think so. She can’t even really put her finger on the symptoms. She just doesn’t feel herself.”

“Do you think she’s well enough for a visitor?”

“She planned to sleep in, but if you waited until ten thirty or so, I’m sure she’d be delighted. She may even have slept off this . . . well . . . whatever it is.”

He smiled and turned back to his paperwork, so Cam left him to it. She had a few tasks she could complete to kill the next hour and a half until she could go out to visit Evangeline, so she got to work, too.

• • •

• • •

T
he day was rainy and miserable, and Cam drove carefully because the wind seemed to be blowing things about and she didn’t want them to scratch the finish on her car. She made it out to La Fontaine, the Patricks’ house, without incident, and hid her head under a jacket as she ran for the front door. Thankfully, the porch was covered.

“Mademoiselle Harris!” Giselle, the housekeeper, greeted Cam with her faux French accent. “’ow lovely to see you.”

“Sorry to just drop in, dripping even. I was hoping Evangeline felt well enough for a visitor?”

“Oh, well I hope so, as she already has one. But he should be gone in the next fifteen or twenty minutes. Should I let her know you’re waiting?”

“No, don’t disturb her. I’m not expected and don’t want to interrupt other business. It’s just . . . Mr. Patrick said she didn’t feel well.”

“Yes, I suspect she led him to believe that. She is planning a surprise, I think. Of course I’m just guessing, based on the guest, but sometimes husbands and wives need to be a little bit sneaky to do things for each other.” She smiled.

“I can just use my laptop in the study, if that’s okay,” Cam said.

“Of course it is. You know your way around.”

It was true. Cam had spent a lot of time there, not all of it pleasant. There’d been two murders at the home the previous year as part of a big event the Roanoke Garden Society was hosting. Still, the house had also been home base for the RGS for a while, so she was very comfortable there. And she had an ulterior motive she could act on, so long as she was going to be left alone in the study for a while.

She went in the study and set up her laptop, then scanned the room for a spot where investment records might be hiding. She tried to tune her ears so she’d hear if anyone was coming, then carefully began opening file drawers.

Somebody very meticulous—Evangeline, if Cam was to judge by the handwriting, had set up the system. It was very clear where files pertaining to home repair, purchases, charity, insurance, and pet care were. The absence of investments, given the organization, told Cam she was just in the wrong drawer, so she went to the next one.

This drawer was full of various folders, and all of them indeed seemed investment related.

“Bingo,” she whispered, and began thumbing through.

There were prospectuses and quarterly reports, but the most important information she gleaned was that all of it seemed to be coordinated through a company called Entwhistle Investment, a large local firm Cam thought was run by the same Entwhistle who had been at the fund-raiser. She didn’t have time to look through everything, but she couldn’t see any part of the portfolio the company hadn’t handled.

She slid the drawer shut and went out to fetch a cup of tea to drink while she worked. In the entryway before Cam ever reached the kitchen, Evangeline was saying good-bye to a man in a very expensive suit. He looked familiar. Cam squinted at him and knew he’d been at the fund-raiser, but it took a minute to realize who he was. Melvin, the man Senator Schulz didn’t care for.

“Cam! How long have you been here?” Evangeline said when she turned around and spotted her.

“Just about ten minutes. I hoped to talk to you, but I didn’t want to interrupt.”

“Oh. Well, I appreciate that.” Evangeline wasn’t exactly terse, but it also wasn’t the friendly tone she usually used. It must have been a big surprise she was planning.

“Was he at the fund-raiser the other night?” she asked as Evangeline shut the door.

“He was. That’s Melvin Entwhistle.”

“Oh! Now that I hear the name, I remember him being on the guest list.”

It seemed auspicious that his name was also on the files Cam had just been looking at. The rule of three meant he had to be important in some way. So Evangeline had a project going that required her investment banker, and her husband didn’t know about it. She wondered if Evangeline was liquidating something so she had cash for a gift, or if she was making a surprise investment. She suspected the former, but realized it was none of her business, so she didn’t let on that she knew what the man’s field was.

“So would you like tea while we talk?” Evangeline asked.

“That would be perfect.”

Evangeline took the time to let Giselle know what they wanted and then led Cam to the library.

“Are you investigating murders again, Cam?” Evangeline teased.

Cam felt a little guilty that that seemed to be the only time she came to visit with Evangeline, though of course that wasn’t true—they had work they did together often. But this scenario still felt strangely familiar.

“I’m more interested in the kidnapping, honestly. But it’s possible the two are related.” Cam had told her employers earlier about the kidnapping and the importance for discretion.

“I wondered. It seemed like too much for two big things to happen at the same time unless they were related.”

“The police think maybe one of them was the target and the other an unfortunate witness.”

Evangeline nodded.

“And if Derrick Windermere was the target, there is a long list of investors who lost their shirts with him. Did you know Mr. Patrick was on that list?”

“I did. Melvin was beside himself when he came to explain what had happened with that investment.”

“Was he? Does Mr. Entwhistle handle other clients who lost a lot in that deal?”

“I imagine so. He was quite persuasive when he asked us to invest—said it was a great opportunity. I doubt we’d be the only people he’d do that with.”

“Interesting.”

“Of course, Melvin’s very good at what he does. He always tells us to keep our portfolio diverse, so it wasn’t as bad as it might have been. And I think the loss was nothing compared to some of Derrick’s shadier deals. I mean, this was just an effort to get a green energy company off the ground. He has development projects that are much longer shots than that.”

“But you haven’t been invested in any of those?”

“No. With Neil’s age, Melvin strongly recommends we don’t take huge risks. He has younger clients who might, but we tend to want financial security.”

“So do you think somebody who lost a lot on a Windermere project might have killed him?”

“Money is a powerful motivator,” she said.

Cam was thinking reputation might be even more powerful. Windermere had bilked a lot of rich people out of a lot of money, but he’d used Melvin Entwhistle, a trusted local investment banker who had formerly had an impeccable reputation, to do it. Griggs had seen an argument between Windermere and Entwhistle that night. But for Cam’s own interests, Entwhistle didn’t seem like the kind of man who would kidnap a former senator.

Still, she liked it as a lead and decided to pass it on.

“How well do you understand our local politics?”

“Oh, there I’m only a pretender.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “Actually, I’m a Democrat. So I just keep my mouth shut.”

Cam laughed. She happened to be an independent, but could see why a Democrat would keep her opinion to herself in the social circles Evangeline circulated in.

“Just from observation, can you see any reason, political or otherwise, for getting Alden Schulz out of the way for a while?”

“The only political angle I can think of is removing support from Jared, and his primary rival is probably going to be Chad Phillips—I could see a motive there.”

“Was he at the fund-raiser?”

“Heavens, no. He couldn’t be seen promoting Jared when he plans to run. There were some Chad supporters there—Melvin, even, but I suspect they want to play nice on both sides so they aren’t stuck with no influence after the election.”

That was one of the reasons Cam hated politics.

“What about Vivian Macy?” she asked.

“See, she can afford to be there. She knows there’s no overlap in support at all between Jared and herself. I think she was there to needle him.”

“You may be right, there. I’ve heard Chad Phillips’s name, but hadn’t realized he was interested in the same seat.” That wasn’t strictly true, but Cam liked to let people she talked to feel like they were the experts.

“And he would have loved Alden’s support, but I think Jared did an internship for Alden or something—there’s a personal connection.”

“So Senator Schulz never would have supported Chad anyway?”

“Probably not, at least not against Jared—unless of course, the man made some huge, scandalous mistake. But Chad may not know that. Alden supported him for county commissioner, after all. And Chad strikes me as the kind of man who doesn’t always do all his homework. Relies on charm, so he may not know Alden’s commitment to Jared.”

That gave Cam a lot of food for thought, so she thanked Evangeline and decided while she was out this direction, she would brave checking in with Samantha, too. She could use a debriefing of the event as her excuse, since the fund-raiser had been Samantha’s baby.

• • •

• • •

C
am hadn’t been to Samantha’s house since the day she’d rescued her from the most bizarre situation she’d ever encountered. She felt sure she was having a PTSD episode when she knocked on the door, in spite of the gorgeous display of helenium lining the walk—their orange and yellow heads dancing in the breeze. Normally, without her impending visit playing on her nerves, Cam would have found them quite cheerful, since the sun was peeking through the clouds and the rain was finally evaporating. Thankfully, Samantha looked pleased to see her.

“Well, come in! Come in! You got that car you were saving for!”

“I did. The pageant this summer gave me the rest of my down payment so I could finally buy it.”

“It’s lovely—looks fast!”

Cam laughed. “Want a ride?”

“Oh, maybe sometime, but today is too miserable. You come in and have some lunch. Francine?”

The housekeeper poked her head out of the kitchen.

“Cam is joining me for lunch. Could you set an extra place?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Francine said.

Cam noticed nobody had waited for her answer, but it was okay. She had to eat. What she wasn’t looking forward to was the subject of murder. She’d accused Samantha of murder not long ago, so she thought admitting she was looking into another one was going to bring up a lot of old baggage for the two of them.

Samantha was the most connected person she knew, though, so if anyone could help her sort out the players, especially the financial ones, it was Samantha.

“This is the most awkward conversation,” Cam said. “But I think I should just dive in. I’m not sure how I’ll manage it otherwise.”

“Well, okay.”

“I’m trying really hard to help Annie find her dad, and I need some help figuring out the politics and finances of the people involved.”

“Now why would that be the most awkward conversation you’ve ever had?” Samantha asked, pouring sweet tea.

Cam couldn’t believe Samantha wasn’t leaping to conclusions about Cam as an investigator, but since she wasn’t, Cam wasn’t going to point it out. She felt like she’d just dodged a bullet.