Murder by Arrangement (Edna Davies mysteries Book 5) (16 page)

Edna was discouraged
at learning little more than she already knew, but stood to shake the young
woman’s hand. “You’ve been very kind and patient with me. Thank you for your
time.” She added with a smile, “And good luck with your career.”

Once Bobbi
disappeared from the room, Edna returned to the sofa for her tote bag. Louise
was standing, obviously waiting to escort Edna to the door, when a question
popped out of Edna’s mouth, completely unexpected. Later, she was to wonder
what made her ask.

“Do you know a
detective named John Forrester?”

Louise’s face
flushed as she groped for the chair and nearly fell backwards onto the seat.
“Why are you asking about John? What has he to do with this?”

“That’s what I’d
like to know. Do you know he was originally assigned to lead the investigation
into Gregory Haverstrum’s death and then removed the very next day?” Louise
nodded, catching Edna off guard. “You do?” Then recovering herself quickly, she
said, “Do you know why?”

The woman nodded
again, not taking her eyes from Edna’s. “When Duke heard that Bobbi was a major
player in the investigation, he went straight to the police chief and insisted
John be taken off the case.” Louise was wringing her hands now, shaking her
head. “There was a conflict of interest. You see, John is Bobbi’s father.”

Chapter 22

The news hit
Edna like a strong ocean wave. She sank back heavily onto the sofa. Many
questions buzzed in her head, but what finally came out of her mouth was, “Does
Bobbi know?”

Louise nodded.
“Oh yes. She was five when Duke adopted her. I’ve never hidden anything from
her. I didn’t initiate talks about her biological father, but whenever she had
questions about him, I tried to answer as honestly as I could. Then, John
looked us up when he moved to town four years ago. I got the feeling he was
very proud of himself for appearing on our doorstep, unexpected and
unannounced. He had the biggest grin on his face, as if to say, ‘I’m a whole
lot smarter than you.’ But, so far, I’ve had the last laugh.” She scrunched up
her nose in a smug expression. “My husband is an old boyhood friend of the
police chief.”

“Do you mind
talking about John?” Edna didn’t know why but she felt she had stumbled onto an
important piece of the puzzle she was trying to assemble. “I’ve bumped into him
several times this past week, since I’ve been trying to help young Lettie. I’m
uncertain what he’s after. I’d like to know more about him, what sort of person
he is.”

“Maybe you’d
like some coffee while we talk,” Louise Callahan said. “I know I can use a cup.”
As she took Edna’s arm and walked her to the back of the house, she added, “I
feel more relaxed in my kitchen, don’t you?”

While Louise
began brewing a fresh pot, Edna stood before double-wide glass doors, looking
out onto a flagstone patio and beyond to a large, irregularly shaped swimming
pool surrounded by a cement apron. Raised beds dotted the remainder of a
generous expanse of yard that was enclosed by a wooden privacy fence, along
which stood trellises for climbing vines. The snow had melted from most of the
gravel between the wooden planters, and Edna could tell that weeds had no
chance to take hold anywhere in this immaculate courtyard.

 “The outside of
your home is as lovely as the inside,” Edna said, turning to face Louise.

“Thank you. Duke
and I worked with an architect the first year we were married. He’d owned these
three acres for several years but had never built on them. You may have
noticed,” she said with raised eyebrows and an amused expression, “we have an
abundance of planters and pots in our enclosed half acre. Duke loves flowers of
all kinds but he excels as a vegetable gardener. It’s his passion. Not so much
in the winter months but during the rest of the year, he’s outside more than
in, once he gets home from work.”

“Do you and Bobbi
share his passion?” Edna asked.

“I, not so much.
I do some of the weeding, but Bobbi has followed Duke around, helping him tend
the beds, ever since he and I were married sixteen years ago.” She checked the
percolator and turned back to Edna. “When the sun’s out, the deck can be
pleasant. Would you like to step outside for a few minutes while the coffee
brews?”

Edna was almost
dizzy with new implications as the woman slid open one side of the glass wide
enough for them to move onto the deck.
Duke and Bobbi were both expert
gardeners, and each was associated with Gregory Haverstrum. Did they know Clem
Peppafitch, as well? Duke certainly was old enough to have taken a class from
the professor.
Another thought jumped into her head as she stepped out onto
redwood planks,
John Forrester must know Duke Callahan is an avid gardener.
Would the detective think to accuse his ex-wife’s husband of murder? Why was
Forrester so determined to investigate a two-year-old death?

Shaking her head
clear of these distracting ideas, Edna concentrated on the scene from the deck.
She saw that the house’s extension, a single story behind the two-story main
building, held another set of sliding doors. These ones, however, were covered
by drawn curtains.

Louise must have
noticed Edna studying them because she said, “Our mother-in-law apartment
behind the kitchen, at least it was until we moved my mother to an assisted
living complex three years ago. We have a graduate student living with us now.
She helps with the housework in exchange for free room and board. The only
thing we ask is that she not entertain here.” Louise hunched and rubbed her
upper arms. “Brrr. It’s not quite as warm as it looked. Shall we have that
coffee now?”

Seated at the
center island on swivel bar stools with enough padding on the seat and chair
back to be comfortable, Edna returned to Louise’s previous revelation. “You
said your former husband looked you up when he moved to town. I take it he
isn’t from around here, then?”

Louise shook her
head, but seemed reluctant to speak. Edna realized it was a painful subject for
the woman, so she tried to think of a simple, unthreatening question. Finally,
she said, “How did you meet John?”

Louise gripped
the coffee mug between her hands, as if to warm them. After a brief pause, she
looked across at Edna and gave a weary sigh.

“I was an
emergency room nurse at a small hospital in western Massachusetts. John came in
one evening with the victim of a gunshot.”

When she seemed
to run out of steam, Edna prompted with a wry grin, “And you fell in love with
the man in uniform?”

Louise looked
startled. “No,” burst from her lips. “Not at all. I did not want to marry a
cop. I did not want to live wondering if my husband would come home in the
evening. Besides which, he had two other strikes against him, in my book. He’s
fifteen years older than I and had already been married twice.”

Edna was
confused. “Then, why …”

“He wore me
down,” Louise cut in. She glared at Edna for several seconds, but Edna realized
the woman was not seeing her. Rather, Louise seemed to be sorting through
images inside her head. Finally, her focus came back to Edna’s face, but she
didn’t speak.

Edna decided to
push a little harder. She needed answers. Reaching across the island’s granite
surface, she rested a hand lightly on Louise’s forearm. “I promise you, I’m not
a ghoulish gossip monger. Ever since I met Rosie Beck and her daughter, I’ve
seen John hovering around. He came to my house and threatened me. Part of what
I’m asking you is should I be afraid? Is he violent?”

Louise’s eyes
grew wide. “Oh, goodness,” she exhaled. “I’m not sure. Until he showed up four
years ago, I hadn’t seen him for more than a decade. I wanted nothing to do
with him. Didn’t want to know where he was or what he was doing.”

“What was he
like when you did know him?” Edna asked. “He couldn’t have been too mean if you
married him despite his age and occupation.” She smiled when she spoke, hoping
to lighten the dark mood that had descended on the kitchen.

Louise smiled
back weakly as if in appreciation of Edna’s attempt, and the dam seemed to
break. “He’s a handsome man and can be very charming when he wants to be. After
our first meeting, he came into the E.R. regularly, sometimes escorting a prisoner,
but mostly by himself. When I’d go on a coffee break, I’d often find him
waiting for me in the cafeteria. He kept asking me out and I kept refusing.”
She breathed deeply, shook her head as if at her own folly, and took a sip of
coffee. “ I finally decided to go out with him just to make him stop pestering
me. Figured he’d get tired of me and go away.” She looked at Edna sheepishly.
“My little plan sure backfired. We were married eight months after our first
date. I was twenty-three, twenty-eight when we had Bobbi.”

“Five years
married,” Edna said. “What happened?”

Louise grimaced.
“Shortly after the wedding ceremony, John turned into someone I didn’t know.
Besides becoming unreasonably jealous and possessive, he no longer hid a heavy
drinking habit from me. He was a mean, abusive drunk.” Louise must have seen
the look of dismay on Edna’s face because she hurriedly said, “Oh, he didn’t
hit me. Sometimes, I wish he had. I would have left him immediately. As it was,
I think the verbal and emotional humiliation left deeper scars than any beating
he could have given me. There were no obvious marks to show anyone who might
listen and believe my side of things. I took it for six years, always thinking
… hoping things would get better. When Bobbi was barely a year old, John
started in on her. I couldn’t stand by and let that happen. I didn’t want her
to grow up with the kind of mental insecurity that her father would have dumped
on her.”

Edna was
curious. “He let you go? Just like that?”

Louise shook her
head and sipped from her mug before replying. “I left in the middle of the
night when he was on duty. Even that was risky because he used to drive by the
house periodically. He never would’ve let me go, if he’d suspected. One of the
women in the department figured out what was going on. She’d apparently been a
friend of John’s first wife. Actually, she was the one who convinced me that I
needed to take Bobbi and get away. I packed a few days’ worth of clothes for
each of us and hid a borrowed suitcase in Bobbi’s closet. That was about the
only place I knew John would never look. I was ready for nearly two weeks and
the waiting was killing me. I was so nervous, I was certain John would sense
something was up. Then, my friend phoned at one in the morning on a Saturday
night. Said John had just been dispatched to a bar brawl and would be tied up
long enough for me to be certain he wouldn’t catch me leaving our
neighborhood.” Louise’s face twisted as if she were in pain. “I don’t often
speak of that time. It brings back too many awful feelings.”

“So you moved to
Rhode Island,” Edna changed the conversation to what she hoped would lead to
happier thoughts for the woman. “Why South County?”

Louise’s
features relaxed slightly. “I grew up here.” She perked up as more of her story
unfolded. “My father died when I was seven. I was an only child and Mother
never remarried, so she was delighted to have me move back home. It worked out
well for us both. I got a job at the South County as a floor nurse on the night
shift and was able to spend days with Bobbi. I’d feed her and get her into her
pajamas before I left for work, so it wasn’t all that hard on Mother to read a
bedtime story and tuck a tired little toddler in for the night.”

“Had you known
Duke Callahan when you lived here before?”

Louise shook her
head. “No. I met him when he was a patient at the hospital. He had been in a
terrible, seven-car pileup one cold, icy night. Duke was the worst hurt of
anyone and stayed in the hospital for two weeks. He had terrible dreams and would
wake up at night, unable to get back to sleep. On many occasion, I would sit
and talk or read to him until he relaxed enough to drift off. By the time he
was well enough to be released, we had fallen in love.” Louise paused and
looked into the distance, but Edna suspected the woman wasn’t seeing anything
in particular. Her face had taken on a serene and happy expression. After
several seconds, she seemed to snap out of whatever memory had captured her and
continued with her narration. “Duke’s ten years my senior but he doesn’t act
it. At age sixty, he’s as physically fit and vital as a forty-year-old.”

Louise stood and
brought the coffee pot to the island. She refilled both mugs before resuming
her seat.

“What about
John?” Edna said. “He didn’t come after you?”

Louise shook her
head. “Not really surprising that he didn’t. My co-conspirator in the
department helped me there, too. I heard that the chief somehow got word of my
having to run off in the middle of the night and why. My friend didn’t tell me
directly, but I’m convinced she was responsible. Happily, John never suspected
her or I’m sure he would have made her life unbearable. As it was, the chief
threatened to dismiss John as an abuser if he got near me. A year later, when I
filed for divorce, John didn’t protest.”

Edna nodded in
understanding. “For a cop accused of domestic violence, it would mean the end
of his career,” she said, adding, “He would never be able to carry a gun
again.”

Louise agreed
and said with noticeable relief. “The chief was a good man. Made it easy for me
to be free of John. And when Duke petitioned to adopt Bobbi shortly after we
were married, again there wasn’t a peep of protest from John.”

“And you say he
never struck you?” Edna was still trying to figure out if the man were capable
of physical harm.

Louise shook her
head. “I used to hear grumblings from people in the department that he might be
unduly rough when arresting someone, but he never laid a hand on me or Bobbi.
Like I said, if he had, I would have left him instantly.”

“Sounds like you
were lucky he didn’t come after you,” Edna said. “I imagine that most jealous,
possessive men wouldn’t give up so easily.”

“Absolutely,”
Louise said with a roll of her eyes.

Edna knew she
was outstaying her welcome, but there was another question she wanted to ask.
“Why did he show up so many years later?”

Louise winced.
“I have no idea. He
said
he wanted to get to know his daughter. Wanted
to be part of her life.” The woman shook her head in disgust. “After nearly
sixteen years? I found that hard to believe, but as long as he behaves himself,
I can’t complain. Bobbi is old enough and smart enough to know her own mind,
and Duke will see that no harm comes to her. He has been fiercely protective of
Bobbi since the day he met her. Even if we hadn’t married, I think he’d still
watch over her.” Louise’s expression softened when she spoke of her current
husband.

“Do they spend
time together, Bobbi and John?”

“Not much. I
think John is intimidated by Duke. Like all bullies, John’s a coward, so he
doesn’t come near the house. He shows up on campus and takes Bobbi to lunch
sometimes. I guess, even though he’s retired from the local force, he has a few
friends. However it happens, he seems to get her class schedule, so he can show
up whenever he wants without appearing to be stalking her.”