Murder at Catfish Corner: A Maggie Morgan Mystery (12 page)

Chapter Twenty-Three

Maggie considered
the medical records that covered her kitchen table. From her limited
understanding of Medicaid fraud, which was based on an Internet search, she had
deduced that the blue highlights represented billing for services not
performed; yellow for double billing; and pink for billing for unnecessary
services and tests.

She sipped
lemonade and asked herself, “What are you trying to prove? That Dr. Griffith
committed fraud or that somebody murdered Hazel Baker?”

Without
answering her question, she picked up her glass of lemonade, walked to the
living room, and called Vanessa Griffith. She was preparing to leave a message
when the doctor said, “Hey, Maggie.”

Surprised,
Maggie asked, “How did you know it was me?”

“I recognized
your number. That’s the only reason I answered. In my profession, unless it’s
the hospital, the nursing home, family, or friends, it’s best to let the caller
leave a message. If it’s important, I’ll call them back. What can I do for you?”

Maggie didn’t
think she fit into any of the categories Dr. Griffith had listed and wondered
why she had answered her call. “Dr. Griffith –”

“Please, call me
Vanessa.”

“Okay, Vanessa,
you mentioned that we should hang out and I was wondering what you were doing
Saturday evening. No, it’s not shopping and I know it’s short notice, so I’ll
understand if you have something planned with your husband and kids, but I
thought you might want to go to the concert in Jasper with me. My boyfriend
bailed on me and I don’t want to go by myself. I hope that doesn’t sound too
pathetic or like you’re my last choice.”

Maggie’s explanation
was half-truthful. That morning, Luke had said to her, “I love you, but I
cannot sit through one more of those concerts. Can’t Joe get someone else to
cover them?”

“Well, it is my
job,” she had answered. “He and I made an agreement at the beginning of the
series. I interview the performers beforehand and write a preview, then attend
the concerts and write a review the following week. It might sound like I’m
doing a lot, but it’s no different from how the sports guys dedicate their Friday
nights to football and basketball games.”

“I guess you’re
right and I’m sorry for being such a jerk,” Luke had said. “There are only a
couple more. It won’t be that bad.”

“There’s no need
in you going if it will make you miserable. It won’t kill me to attend a
concert by myself. I’ll swing by your place when it’s over.”

And Maggie, who
had no trouble walking into a movie theater or restaurant without a companion,
had planned to do just that. But after she spent three hours going through
medical records, she changed her mind.

“What time is
the concert?” Vanessa asked.

“Eight o’clock.
I know, it’s not dark at that time of night, so it’s not technically under the
stars, but it’s a catchy name and the concerts have been lasting a little more
than an hour, so the sky is usually twinkling by the time they’re over.”

“Let me make
sure my husband doesn’t have anything planned for that night.”

Shoot, Maggie
thought, I hoped we would be alone. “Will he want to go with us?” she asked.

“He’d better
not. Mama needs some me time.” Vanessa laughed and added, “I’ll talk to him and
call you back.”

Vanessa did call
Maggie a few minutes later and the two decided to meet for dinner before the
concert. Maggie had planned to discreetly quiz her dining companion in an
effort to ascertain a more detailed background of the doctor. But Vanessa, who drank
a couple glasses of wine with her grilled salmon, commandeered the
conversation.

“I can’t tell
you how great this is. Don’t get me wrong, I love my kids, my husband, and my
practice, but sometimes, you need to have a discussion that does not revolve
around the perfect age to potty-train or the correct way to trim your
toenails.”

“Toenails?”
Maggie asked.

“I treat a lot
of elderly patients and you’d be surprised by how many either don’t know how or
are physically unable to properly cut their toenails. It leads to ingrown
toenails, which can result in –” Vanessa slapped her own hand. “Listen to me,
talking shop.”

“I don’t mind –”

“Are you eating
that salad for my benefit?” Vanessa interrupted. “It is better for you than a
hot dog, but it’s Saturday night, live a little.” Vanessa quickly changed the
subject and asked, “So, what’s your story? Who’s this boyfriend you mentioned?”

Maggie proceeded
to tell Vanessa about Luke and to share an abridged story of her life. When
Maggie finished speaking, Vanessa tapped her temple and said, “You’re a smart
cookie. I can tell. I bet people encourage you to leave this area, don’t they?
You know, that’s what’s wrong with this place. All the smart people have left.
Well, not all of them. We’re still here.”

Maggie didn’t
have a chance to share her thoughts on the area’s so-called brain drain before Vanessa
launched into a series of complaints against her mother-in-law for feeding the
twins ice cream and white bread, her mother for buying the little girl a doll
and the little boy a truck, and her husband for leaving wet towels on the
floor.

“Sometimes, I
feel like I’m the only adult in the family.” She swirled the wine in her glass.
“I don’t mean to give you the wrong impression. I love my family. I cherish my
husband, our kids, and my mom and my in-laws, but sometimes you need to vent
and you’re easy to talk to. Has anybody ever told you that?”

“In my job, I’d
better be easy to talk to or else I’d never be able to write a story.”

Just as Maggie
leaned in to encourage Vanessa to tell her more about her husband and how he
came to be her office manager, Vanessa looked at her watch and said, “It’s fifteen
to eight. We’d better hustle or we’ll be standing in the aisles.”

Although a
couple hundred people had crowded into Jasper’s park, the women found two empty
seats side-by-side and settled in to watch the show. But Maggie didn’t have fun.
She didn’t know if the conversation she needed to have with Vanessa served as a
distraction or if she simply didn’t care for the singer’s particular brand of
pop music marketed as country. If she checked her watch one time, she checked
it twenty times.

Vanessa noticed
and asked, “Do you think it’s that bad?”

Maggie’s face
reddened. “No. I’m meeting my boyfriend later. I guess I’m a little anxious.”

Vanessa elbowed
Maggie. “Big night planned?”

“Something like
that.”

For a reason
Maggie could not understand, the crowd demanded two encores, which pushed the
concert beyond the hour and a half mark. On the walk to their cars, Maggie
suddenly snapped her fingers and said, “I almost forgot. I have something for
you in the trunk of my car. At least I think it belongs to you.”

“What is it?”

Maggie waited
until she was standing under a street light and looking into Vanessa’s face
before she said, “A couple boxes of files that came from Hazel’s house. I think
they’re medical records.”

Vanessa stood
still. “Hazel had medical records at her house?”

“I think that’s
what they are.” Maggie lifted her trunk, opened one of the boxes, and pulled
out a folder. “She had highlighted certain areas of the files.” She pointed to
a blue line and asked, “Why do you think she did that?”

“You looked at
these? They’re confidential medical records.”

“I didn’t know
that until I opened the first one.”

“How many did
you see?”

Maggie shrugged.

“My patients’
privacy has been compromised.” Vanessa skimmed the file, closed it, and said, “These
are copies, but she should have never taken them out of the clinic and you most
certainly should have never had access to them.”

“It’s not like I
went looking for them,” Maggie explained. “I had no idea what was in them when
Stella gave them to me, and neither did she.”

“Stella has seen
them, too?”

“She gave me the
boxes. She thought they contained Hazel’s insurance forms.”

“I cannot
believe this.” Vanessa clutched the folder with one hand and ran her other hand
through her hair. “Listen, I’m sorry for raising my voice. It’s not your fault.
It’s Hazel’s fault. I had a feeling she was sneaking in there. I finally had to
change the locks.”

Maggie asked,
“Why do you think she made all those copies?”

Vanessa returned
the folder to the box. “It was Hazel. Who knows why she did a number of things?
You’re the one who’s trying to figure out why she decided to hang out at a pond
in the middle of the night.”

As Vanessa pulled
the second box from the trunk, Maggie said, “I think she marked those files
because she suspected you of fraud.”

“What?” Vanessa stood
frozen with each hand on either side of the box. “Why would you make such an
accusation?”

“It’s not an
accusation. It’s an observation. I looked inside a few, well, some of the
files. There was a pattern and she made notations. Now, I don’t understand –”

“That’s right.
You don’t understand.”

“There’s no
reason to get upset. As I said, I’m not making an accusation. I’m making a
statement.”

“So, let me make
a statement.” Vanessa dropped the box onto the asphalt. “Hazel was an
embittered woman who wanted everyone to be as miserable as she was. She
resented me for not giving her the run of the clinic and for hiring my husband
as the office manager. You’re probably right. She probably printed confidential
medical records in the hopes that she would catch my husband or me doing
something illegal.” Vanessa slammed Maggie’s trunk lid. “But that doesn’t mean
you’re an innocent party. I thought you called me up for a girls’ night out,
but you just wanted to pump me for information. Believe me when I tell you that
if you ever call me again, I will not make the mistake of answering the phone.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

Maggie listened
as Edie regaled her with tales from her week at the beach.

“… and that was
the evening we went to the restaurant that served fresh shark. I was skeptical
at first, but Ben insisted I try some and it was pretty good.”

Maggie grimaced.
“You ate shark?”

“Don’t you judge
me. You eat squirrel.” Edie kicked off her shoes and rested her feet on an
ottoman. “So, what did I miss? How’s the case?”

“I don’t know.”
Maggie nestled onto Edie’s oversized sofa. “It’s complicated.”

“Are these
complications to blame for your gloomy mood?”

“I’m not gloomy.
I’m –” Maggie couldn’t find an appropriate word to describe her mood. “I’ve got
a lot on my mind. There’s work and investigating Hazel Baker’s death and
dealing with the aftermath of someone vandalizing my car and now Seth.”

“Seth?”

“Yeah, Seth.”

After Maggie
filled in Edie on her meetings at the gazebo with Seth, Edie said, “It’s
natural of you to wonder what would have happened if you two had gotten
married. You dated for a long time.”

Maggie pulled a
pillow to her chest. “If it’s natural, then why do I feel like I’m betraying
Luke?”

“Don’t be so
hard on yourself, Pumpkin. It’s not to the level of betrayal,” Edie paused and
added, “is it?”

“No.” Maggie
tossed the pillow onto the couch cushion. “You know me. How could you even ask
something like that?”

“It’s just,” Edie
scratched the back of her neck, “you’ve found out that the obstacle that
prevented you and Seth from being together no longer exists.”

“Who says it no
longer exists? Seth wanted to adopt when he was with Jamie. I didn’t ask him,
but he probably still wants children.”

Edie held her
hands in front of her and let the tips of her fingers touch. “I’ll give you
that, but, honey, you have to admit that Seth was the love of your life.”

“Where is this
coming from? I thought you liked Luke.”

“I adore Luke,
but this isn’t about him. It’s about you and what and who you want.” Edie
brought her hands together and cracked her knuckles. “Oh, I can’t do this any
longer. Maggie, I’ve been keeping something from you for months. Promise me you
won’t be mad at me if I tell you what it is?”

“I probably
won’t be mad. I’m never mad at you, but I can’t say for sure until I hear what
you have to say.”

“You remember
back when Kevin Mullins was first arrested for murder and I suggested you visit
Seth?” Maggie nodded and Edie continued. “I knew he and Jamie had split up.
That’s why I pushed you to talk to him.”

“How did you
know he was divorced?”

“Somebody at the
bank told me. She knew Seth and I were friends and wanted me to fix them up.
Seth is quite the catch. I saw him the other day. He’s still a cutie and I’m
glad he lost that weight he gained during the divorce and when his mom was
sick. He was looking a little paunchy.”

“You knew about
the divorce and didn’t tell me? Since when can you refrain from gossiping?”
Maggie asked.

“I didn’t know
how you would feel. I know I usually come across as pushy, but I think I drew
from a place of cautious compassion in regards to this matter. I wanted you to
come to the decision on your own.”

“If you wanted
us back together, why did you set me up with Luke?”

“A girl has to
have options. And I never said I wanted you and Seth to get back together. I
want you to be happy. Honestly, when you didn’t report sparks flying after you
met with Seth to talk about Kevin, I figured what you two had was gone. I never
dreamed he hadn’t mentioned the divorce and that you hadn’t noticed his missing
wedding band.”

“I don’t go
around looking at people’s hands,” Maggie said.

“Why not? How
are you supposed to judge their manicures and jewelry if you don’t look at
their hands? Anyway, it never came up in conversation and I felt like a fool
that day at the Dinner Bucket when you asked about Jamie. You know what else I
felt that day?”

“No. What?”

“Sad for Seth
because it was obvious that he’s still got it for you.”

Maggie returned
the pillow to her chest. “You imagined things.”

“No, I didn’t. Ben saw it, too. In fact, he mentioned it first. And you
know how bad men are at picking up on things like that. How bad they are at
picking up on anything not involving sports or food. So, if Ben noticed it, I’m
sure Luke did, too.”

Maggie replayed
every conversation between her and Seth since that day last fall when she had
stopped by the police station to gauge his opinion on the evidence against
Kevin. Sure, she thought to herself, he had made her feel uncomfortable a few
times, but only because of their history and his attitude, which she felt
frequently bordered on insulting.

“I’m not doing
this,” she said to herself. “I’ve got to quit thinking about this.”

In order to find
a diversion, she picked up Hazel’s laptop. Before she opened it, she cleared a
small stack of papers off the computer and placed them on her coffee table. As
she moved the paper, a stray receipt floated onto the floor. Maggie grunted and
lifted it off the floor, reading it in the process. When she finished reading
the list of items Hazel had purchased on the day before her death, she
continued holding the receipt in her hand. Finally, she sighed and said to
Barnaby, “Looks like I’m going back to Sassafras.”