Murder At The Bed & Breakfast (12 page)

“Why do I get the feeling the other shoe is about to drop, Sean?”

“Because it is. In the last few weeks, there have been some very strange expenditures. One was paid to a company called A-One Gold Leaf in the amount of one million dollars. I don’t know much about gold leaf other than it goes for around a thousand dollars an ounce, so that’s a lot of ounces.”

“That’s about the strangest thing I’ve ever heard. Why would she buy that much gold leaf?”

“Good question. I asked myself the same thing. I called the company and talked to the owner. I used the excuse that I was her CPA, and I needed to know the purpose of the purchase for my records. I’ve got to give the guy credit. He was completely discreet and wouldn’t tell me a thing. Usually I can unearth something, but not in this case.”

“Did you find out anything else?”

“Yes. She bought an urn that had emeralds and rubies embedded in it. I talked to the jeweler who had set the stones in the urn. It was made of 24 karat gold, and you can just imagine how expensive that alone was, plus the cost of the gems.”

“Commissioning an urn that close to Don’s death indicates to me she was going to use it for his ashes. From the way everyone said she was almost obsessed with him, I’m not completely surprised by that. Did you find out the name of the mortuary that cremated the body? I’d like to know if she said anything to them about an urn.”

“I’m one step ahead of you there, Liz. I called the Eternal Life Memorial Home. They’re the ones who handled Don’s cremation. I told them the same thing I’d told the gold leaf guy about needing to know the details, so I could keep the accounting records straight. Had better luck with them than I did the gold leaf guy.”

“What did you find out?”

“Don Messinger was cremated and Nancy picked his ashes up from the memorial home the day they became available. The director of the home was the one who took care of her, and he told me something he thought was quite strange, and I agree.”

“I’m beginning to not be surprised by anything strange this woman does. What did he have to say?”

“He said she held the urn in her hands when he gave it to her and said to it, ‘Darling, you won’t be in this one for very long. I’m having one made for you of gold, rubies, and emeralds. You deserve it.’ Guess that was the urn she had made.”

“I’m afraid to even hear the answer to this, but is there anything else?”

“Yes. She bought an antique Savonarola chair from an auction house in New York. Do you know what that is?

“I’ve heard of it, but I can’t place it.”

Sean said laughing, “Glad you’ve heard of it, because I didn’t have a clue what it was. It’s a wooden chair that’s designed in the form of an X. In times past it was used in military campaigns because it could be folded. The one she bought was from the 18
^th
century, but here’s the kicker. The auction house told me that the Savonarola chairs are so uncomfortable that most people who buy them today use a padded cushion when they sit on them. Nancy Messinger had a special cushion made for it out of silk.”

“Well, that’s understandable. If it was nothing but wood, having a padded cushion for it seems like the first reasonable thing you’ve told me she’s bought recently.”

“I don’t think having a padded cushion with diamonds is all that reasonable,” Sean said wryly.

“What?” Liz practically screamed through the phone. “Are you telling me there were diamonds in the cushion?”

“No, not in the cushion. I talked with the pillow cushion seamstress who had been instructed to enclose each of the diamonds in white gauze and attach them to the fringe on the sides of the pillow. The seamstress was pretty excited about it. She told me the diamonds were brought to her by an armed guard, and the guard was in the room with her the whole time while she sewed the diamonds onto the fringe of the pillow. He paid her and took the pillow with him when he left. She didn’t know why someone would do that, but she was happy to help. I haven’t been able to get ahold of the jeweler who sold her the diamonds.”

“Sean, I know you’ve seen a lot of things during your time as the chief investigator for Roger’s law firm, but I have to ask you this. Have you ever been involved in a case quite like this?”

“No. I don’t know what to make of it. I’m just telling you what I found out. Guess it’s up to you to figure out the relevance of it.”

“Thanks. You have a lot more confidence in my abilities than I do.”

“My other line is ringing, Mrs. Langley. Talk to you soon.”

*****

She ended the call and realized a voice mail had come in on the lodge line. She’d been so intent on what Sean was telling her she’d missed it. She pressed the replay button and listened to it.

“Liz, it’s Mike Hadley at Serenity Center. I have some news about Nick Hutchinson. He’s in jail in San Francisco. Evidently he was arrested in a drug bust. It bothered me we hadn’t heard from him. I have friends in a few of the police forces ariybd the state, and I emailed them to see if they knew anything about him. When I got the email he’d been arrested and was in jail I emailed my friend back and asked him when Nick had been arrested. I got one of those replies that someone is out of the office until a certain date. I don’t have his cell phone or a private email address. I seem to remember your husband works for a law firm that’s based in San Francisco. He might be able to find something out. Sorry I missed you. Call me if I can help, but that’s all I know.”

She hung up the phone, trying to digest what Sean and Mike had told her. The first thing that needed to be done was to find out when Nick had been arrested. She walked downstairs to Roger’s home office.

“Hello, my beautiful wife. I heard you talking on the phone. Anything you want to share with me?”

“I want to share everything with you,” she said sitting down on the grey and rust plaid upholstered chair next to his desk. “I had a long talk with Sean, and then I had a message from Mike over at the Serenity Center.” She told him about both of the calls.

“Liz, I’ll handle finding out about Nick. Remember Jim, my friend with the San Francisco Police Department. He was the one who helped you with that tarot card murder. As I remember, he even said he was indebted to you for helping them crack a credit card scamming ring they’d been working on. I’ll give him a call. Do you want me to do anything about what Sean told you?”

“No. Renee asked me to come over to her house this afternoon and help her go through some of Laura’s papers. She thought it would be too traumatic for her mother. I think the real reason she wants me there is that it’s too traumatic for her. Anyway, let me pick her brain and see if any of this latest information about Nancy rings a bell, although since Renee’s been estranged from both her father and Nancy for quite a while, it probably won’t, but maybe I’ll get some ideas.”

“I have that meeting this afternoon with a client. Want me to fix something for dinner when I get home?”

“No. I thought we’d have coq au vin. I’ve prepped it, and I’ll put everything in the crock pot and just let the flavors blend all afternoon. I can make a salad and cook some noodles to go with it. Should be perfect when we’re ready to eat. Good luck with your client, sweetheart. See you later.”

“Liz, remember to take your two friends with you, your gun and Winston.”

“I love you, but you’re beginning to sound like a broken record. I will. Promise,” she said, walking out the door.

CHAPTER 27

Liz pressed the doorbell on the large ranch style house that Bob and Renee had recently purchased on the outskirts of Dillon. They’d previously been living in an older Arts and Crafts style home, but when Renee found out she was pregnant, she convinced Bob that their daughter-to-be would need a large yard for her toys and pets. Liz laughed to herself as she looked around the yard. Celia was only a few months old, and already one side of the yard had a swing set along with riding toys that were scattered here and there.

She smiled and thought,
not the first time a child’s been spoiled when it’s the first child for a parent who just turned fifty. I’d be willing to bet that little girl will get whatever she wants, and she’ll have Bob wrapped around her finger in no time. Hope Renee is strong enough to counterbalance Bob’s tendencies.

The front door was opened a moment later by a woman about Liz’s age. “Come in, come in, you must be Liz. I’m Camille Messinger, Laura’s mother. Congratulations on your recent marriage. I’m sorry you have to deal with all of this this during a time when you should have been enjoying your honeymoon.”

“It’s nice to meet you. I’d like to express my condolences. I am so sorry. What a senseless thing to have happen. I never met Laura, but I’m a mother, and I can only imagine what you must be going through,” she saud as she walked into the house and was greeted by Renee.

“I’m so glad you could come. I haven’t gone through anything yet. It’s so painful, and yet I know it needs to be done. I’m hoping there will be something in Laura’s papers and things that can help identify who murdered her. I keep thinking if it’s Nick, maybe there’s an angry letter in there from him. Have you found out anything?”

“Yes, actually I’ve found out quite a bit, but I’d rather get this over with first. We can talk later. How do you want to go about it?”

Renee and her mother exchanged a look. “Liz,” Camille said, “I don’t think either one of us can do this without getting so emotional we probably wouldn’t be of much use. Renee told me you’d asked her if there was anything you could do for her. Would you go through Laura’s papers? You’ll know if something’s important. I think if either of us did it, we’d dissolve in tears.”

“Of course. I understand, and I’d be happy to do it for you. Where are her things? And do you want me to go through her clothes as well?”

Renee began to walk down the hall, indicating Liz was to follow her. “I put a pile of papers and correspondence on her desk. Why don’t you start there? When you finish with that, call me. Laura had a habit of sticking letters and things in her pockets to be read later. I’m wondering if she stuck something important in one of them and forgot about it. I know it’s a lot to ask, but I’d be forever grateful if you could check her clothes, too.”

“Certainly. Why don’t you and your mother take care of Celia or do whatever you need to do. I’ll let you know when I’ve finished with the correspondence.”

“Thanks. We’ll just be down the hall,” Renee said as she walked out of the room.

For the next hour and a half, Liz opened and read everything that was in the pile of correspondence that Renee had put on the desk for her. There was nothing unusual in the stack of papers. Magazine renewals, some past due bills from when Laura and Nick had been married, things that Laura had printed up from the Internet to be read later such as articles on nursing programs and the care of infants. Her death remained as much of a mystery to Liz as it had been when she’d first begun searching for the murderer. When she finished, she stood up and walked to the door of the bedroom.

“Renee. I’m finished with the correspondence. What would you like me to do now?”

Renee came down the hall and walked into the room. “If you don’t mind, I’d really appreciate it if you could go through her clothes and the things in the closet. It’s not very large, and she wasn’t a big clothes person, so there really aren’t many clothes in it. She wore a nurse’s uniform most of the time until the county hospital had to lay off a number of personnel due to budget cuts. I’d suggest you concentrate on the pockets. Tomorrow I’m having someone come and take her clothes to a battered woman’s shelter. Maybe they’ll help someone. I hope so. I’d like to think if she had to die, at least her life meant something,” Renee said as tears began to trickle down her face.

“Since she was a nurse, I’m sure she helped a lot of people. You probably just didn’t know about them. I’ll get started and call you if I need you.”

Liz decided if she was going to do this, she was going to be thorough, so she carefully took each piece of clothing out of the closet, checked the pockets, and hung it back up on a hangar in the closet. When she was about halfway through, she pulled a heavy winter coat out of the closet and noticed what looked like a photo album in the back of the closet. She took it out and opened it. It was clearly a family album with photographs of Renee and Laura, Camille, and a number of photos of Don Messinger from the time he was a young boy to the last one which was a photo of Renee, Laura and Don. From the looks of Renee, it didn’t seem more than a few years old.

I wonder if Renee knows about it. She’s never mentioned it. Funny Laura would have stashed it in the back of her closet.

Liz went through the pockets of the coat and ran her hands over the inside lining. She heard something crackle and ran her hand over the inside again, finding an interior pocket. She pulled out a large unopened letter addressed to Laura Hutchinson. In the upper left hand corner was Don Messinger’s return address. Liz’s heart began to race. She took a deep breath and carefully opened the letter. She read it and reread it. She put it down and stood for a moment, composing herself before asking Renee to come into the room.

“Renee, I found something I think you should see. Can you come in here?”

“What is it?” Renee asked as she quickly entered the room.

“I think you better sit down. I want to read you a letter your father sent to Laura, which I found in an interior pocket of this winter coat. It was unopened and like you said, she probably stuck it in her pocket so she could read it later, and then she forgot about it.”

Renee sat down on the bed and looked at Liz expectantly as she began to read the letter.

“My darling Laura, I don’t think I have much time left as I sense my life is coming to an end. I’ve made some very bad mistakes in my life, and I hope you and your sister can forgive me for what I’ve done to the two of you. I was wrong about Bob Salazar. He’s a good man, and I was very, very stupid to let him come between Renee and me, and yes, between you and me as well. I love you both so much. Please tell Renee how sorry I am and how much I regret hurting her and hurting you.