Spangled to Death, page 6
“Yes. Jackie removed two dolls before she left that day. They aren’t paid for. I want them back. They’re my creation.”
“Dolls?”
“The President and Mrs. Madison miniature dolls.”
“Like how big?” He held two fingers apart and asked, “Four inches?”
“Yes. Jackie also asked about Mr. Madison’s clothing and his cufflinks, which doesn’t make any sense. Nor does it that she asked about the family secret, which I can’t explain.”
“Cufflinks?”
“I have them hidden. They are inherited. I can’t see how they’re related to the investigation.”
“Everything must be taken into account. Where are they?”
“If they’ve been in your family for hundreds of years, then the missing cufflinks are yours.” I looked at Grandpa. “They should be returned to the estate if they once were Dolley’s. They’d be quite valuable.”
“We’re jumping to conclusions here, guys.” Grandpa took a deep breath. “One thing at a time.”
“You’re right, Grandpa.” I mulled it over in my mind. “However, we need to see them.”
“Now, Mr. Ott, we need to be thorough with the investigation,” Detective Erlandsen said.
“They’re safely hidden away and haven’t been seen by me for many years,” Grandpa declared. “They’re right here in the desk.” He indicated the spot. “Press down, and it’ll pop open.”
“Do it, August,” Grandma said.
“Well, all right.” Grandpa glanced at all of us, and we nodded our approval.
“I want everyone back as he does this,” Detective Erlandsen said.
I leaned in closer as Grandpa pressed into the rose and waited for the latch to pop before lifting the rose plate out. He pulled out a small jewelry box that lay at the bottom of the compartment.
“Open,” Detective Erlandsen said. He stood with his phone poised to take a picture.
Upon opening it, I held my breath as Grandpa lifted the rose plate out and then the antique jewelry box.
“Do they look like you remember?”
“Yes. Exactly the same.”
“Let me take a few pictures before they’re passed around.” Detective Erlandsen snapped a few close up pictures of each cufflink from different angles. When he finished, he said, “Done. Go ahead.”
“Here, Olivia.” He passed them to me.
“They’re beautiful,” I whispered. The cufflinks had been secreted away all these years right under my nose, and I never knew it until now. “They are like the outfit.” I was positive they were a match to the cufflinks on the James Madison doll coat.
A gold gadroon encircled all three, the two cufflinks and Dolley’s brooch. The cufflinks had sapphires, diamonds, and rubies set to look like a waving flag exactly like the pictured brooch. Unfortunately, the gadroon imprint was too tiny to read very well. I’ll look closer when the detective leaves.
“Mr. Ott? Those gems are priceless. Do you have an authentication letter or note to go with it?”
“Yes, I did once. I’m not sure where it’s at.”
“They belong together and in a safe box, preferably in the bank. Insured, also. What you decide to do with them is up to you, but I’d find a home for them. They’re too valuable to have in your home.”
“Yes, sir. Duly noted.”
“Okay. Anything else?” Detective Erlandsen said.
“Yes, I also had trouble finding my keys the other day. Max relayed the information to you about the outside camera.”
“Yes.” Detective Erlandsen jotted the information down. “Anything else, call. Here’s my card.” He handed each of us one before looking at Aaron and saying, “Keep us up to date if there’s anything else you should think of.”
“Will do.”
“Oh! Come by tonight about eight. We’ll be ready for you by then. I’ll find my way out.”
“Will do.”
“At least now we have the cufflinks in hand and know they’re safe. Grandpa, they have to be put in the safe deposit box at the bank.”
“Tomorrow, August,” Aaron said.
As soon as Detective Erlandsen left, I drew in a deep breath. “What a mess to contend with.”
“I’ll make sure that he does just that,” Grandma said with a nod. “But, what can I do to help you?” Grandma looked at me.
“You can supervise the clean-up.” I frowned. “It’s a mess.”
“Back to security,” Grandpa said. “Get the best system there is installed. We sure don’t want this happening again.”
“Olivia needs our help, and saying things like that isn’t doing her any good,” Aaron said. “Furthermore, we don’t need the killer to burglarize this house in search of the cufflinks.”
“You’re right. I’ll take them to the bank in the morning,” August said. He turned to Aaron and said, “Now will ya Google that woman? The more we know about a person, the better it’ll be.”
“I’m right on it.” Aaron turned back to the computer and typed in Jackie Newell’s name. As he clicked into the different websites, he relayed the information. “She owns that department store or most of the stock in it, which we already knew. Her family’s from the Virginia area. Wait a second here...” He scrolled down and read further, then turned to stare at me.
“Being a descendant leads to another question,” Grandpa said.
“What’s the family secret?” Aaron asked.
“Not only that. How do the cufflinks factor into the murder?” I wanted to know. “How come you inherited them?”
“One of my great-grandfathers was a doctor and it was Dolley’s method of payment for services rendered. She might have had a sore throat? Who knows? But that’s how I came to own them.”
“I have no idea from which side of the family Jackie is a descendant. Is she a descendant of Mr. Madison through a sibling or from one of Dolley’s sisters? I don’t have a clue.” I rubbed my chin and ran my fingers through my hair. “The question here is, what did she mean by the family secret? She asked twice if I’d heard of it. How can there be one after all of these years? Grandma, do you know what it’s about?”
Grandma glanced at Grandpa and finally said, “No dear, I’ve never heard of a family secret, but I do have a distant relative my age who never married. She’s my only living relative. We haven’t been in contact for many years. I doubt if she remembers much about me, but we played together as kids. She might know something about it.”
“Then it’s a mystery.” I raised my arms in despair. “That’s why she was so interested in the Madisons and took those two dolls. Why didn’t she just ask me a few questions about them or how long I’d known we were descendants? It sounds like she recently discovered her lineage.”
“I’m curious why she wanted the dolls,” Aaron stated. “That makes no sense, especially since she planned to purchase the house and dolls, plus the furnishings.”
“Yes, however, was she really planning to return to purchase the houses?” I asked, puzzled. “I wish I could’ve been quicker and snatched the dolls before they landed in her purse.”
“She was a shifty one, that’s for sure,” Grandpa said.
“I concur with Aaron. Why?” Grandma said.
“There’s that unanswered question. She was looking for something and thought she’d found it in the dolls, I bet.” I thought about the dolls but was still perplexed. “I’m going to have to look closely at the clothing to see if there’s something that isn’t right about them. Maybe that’s why there’s one taken from the inventory and the other on the stolen doll. It’s to see if there was a difference between the two articles.” I shrugged. “What else could it be?”
“I agree with my granddaughter. Why else take them?” Grandpa nodded.
“She should’ve started talking about being a descendant when we first made contact.”
“That gives me an idea.” Aaron glanced at Grandpa. “I wonder—no. She wouldn’t be short of money, stocks dropping or anything like that, would she?”
“Anything is possible. I think she had some kind of hair-brained idea.”
“It has to do with a secret,” I said.
“Very possible,” Grandma said.
“Good reasoning.” Aaron went back to the website and clicked out of it.
“I think she wanted money,” Grandpa said.
“The root of all evil.” Grandma embraced me. “We’ll get to the bottom of this. Just you wait and see.”
“I hope so because nothing makes any sense.” I thought of a previous message from the du Pont (Montpelier or the Madison) Estate. Since I was a descendant, they sent group emails whenever something of interest happened. “There’s also been a robbery lately at the du Pont Museum. A stolen brooch. There is also the missing cufflinks that had matched the brooch, but they’ve been missing for many years.”
“Really? Brooch? Cufflinks never recovered?” Grandma said, thoughtfully.
“They certainly couldn’t be my cufflinks. I wasn’t born in the 1700s or 1800s nor stole them,” Grandpa said, rubbing his chin. “Talk about a mess.”
“Interesting, isn’t it?” I was starting to believe my dollhouses weren’t the only reason Jackie from New York had quickly become a customer. I noticed a glint in Grandma’s eye, like she was hiding something. I’ll have to question her later. “Two months ago it happened.”
“Cufflinks and brooch.” Aaron massaged his chin. “She must’ve known about the theft. I wonder if this isn’t the secret she spoke about? Maybe this is why she came here?” He looked at me. “I wonder if the Montpelier thief is a descendant? Or maybe they were originally a set? Like a gift to someone but were later gifted to two separate families?”
“That’s entirely possible. Like splitting a set of salt and pepper shakers. That wouldn’t do, would it?”
“But the cufflinks weren’t stolen. See? Nothing is right,” I said, yawning. “Let me take another look at them before you return them to the hidden pocket.”
“Here.”
I took the cufflinks and closely studied them.
“Read the entire article, Aaron, so we can hear about it,” Grandma said.
“Here goes,” Aaron scratched his chin. “The du Pont Museum, on the Montpelier Estate, home to James and Dolley Madison, was broken into recently. The thieves stole a brooch purported to have once belonged to Mrs. Madison and given to her by her husband, the President. Mr. Madison had a set of matching cufflinks, but Mrs. Madison bequeathed them to a dear friend, Elijah Putnam, upon her death. They have never been recovered. The hope is that someday, the person who inherited them would eventually donate them to the museum.”
“They belong back in the museum,” Grandma said.
“I agree. But listen to this, the barely readable gadroon reads, ‘Polly.’” For the life of me, I couldn’t make sense of it. Who is Polly? “It doesn’t make sense, does it? Who is Polly?”
Chapter seven
After quite a while of trying to make sense out of it, Grandpa set the cufflinks back down into the hidden pocket, closing it up.
“Who on earth is Polly? As far as I know, the name doesn’t appear among her siblings or inner circle of friends and relations.” I sighed. “What a mystery. Let’s search for Elijah Putnam. We should be able to learn more about him, and then maybe Polly’s name will pop-up?” I shrugged. “Anything is worth a try. Polly could’ve been his wife or daughter.”
“That’s very possible, but I don’t ever recall hearing the name Polly associated with any of my ancestors,” Grandpa said.
“I’ll dig out the family Bible in the morning,” Grandma said. “You two will be leaving soon.”
“That’s a huge help,” Aaron said. “That should give us a documented assessment of the lineage.”
“Grandma? You look deep in thought. What is it?”
“Nothing, dear. Nothing at all. I’m just thinking about Dolley and why she’d give away the cufflinks, that’s all. She was very poor upon her death.”
“You’re right. We’ll have to research that name, but I’m pretty sure that I saw the Putnam name when digging through my ancestry DNA when I was tested through the company 23andMe,” I said. “I’ll further investigate.”
“Your father wore the cufflinks for your parents wedding and for our sixtieth anniversary photo. Aaron can wear them for your wedding. Afterward, we’ll know if they should be donated.”
“Yes, and that will be right around the holiday season. I’d like poinsettias and roses and say the vows here at home.”
“We’ve known for years that you two would marry and now it’s official,” Grandma said. She wiped her eyes dry. “You make me so happy, you two.”
“Glad to finally have you in the family,” August said. He shook hands with Aaron. “I have a Cuban cigar here waiting for you.” He got up and took it from the aerator in the room. It was a large globe. “Here you are.”
“Wow! I never thought the day would come that I’d be able to smoke one of these. Where did you get them?” He lit the offered cigar. “So smooth.”
“I’ve got my sources.”
“The cufflinks need to be put in the bank deposit box. They shouldn’t be here, that’s for sure.” I sipped from my drink. “I want to look at the pictures of the stolen brooch and jewelry again. Is there a picture of the jewelry? The brooch, in particular?” I wondered if the images would match the gems that Grandma’s Dolley doll wears.
“Come here and take a look.” Aaron got up from the chair and walked around to the side of the desk and enlarged the photo from the website image.
“Aren’t they beautiful?” I sat down. “The images of the brooch and gems are clear.” I stared at the monitor. The large dropped ruby gem with the smaller gems strung with tiny starred diamond necklace looked gorgeous and fit for a queen. The rubies, sapphires, and diamonds on the brooch, patterned a flag of the United States as it would’ve looked at the time and similarly like the cufflinks. A gadroon encircled it, but the article didn’t say what the imprint read. A shiver raced up and down my spine as I further read the enlarged card next to the empty cufflink stand. “Given to Elijah Putnam, 1849.”
“What do you make of it, honey?” Aaron peered over my shoulder.
“That is her death date—1849. The picture of the cufflinks isn’t very clear, but they sure look the same.”
“I’d like to know for sure about the ancestry. Did you know that my ancestors came from Virginia?” Grandpa asked.
“Yes, a lot of Scotsmen settled in that area. It’s not unusual.” I continued studying the image. “Interesting, though.” I got up. “Aaron, it’s time for us to get going.”
“You’re right. Let’s go.” Aaron logged out of the computer.
“I suppose the forensic team needs me to walk them through the crime scene.”
“You’re right.” Aaron set his soda down. “Good night.”
“I’ll be home as soon as possible.” I kissed Grandma and Grandpa on the cheek. “Don’t worry about me.”
We grabbed our coats and walked, arm in arm, to Aaron’s car out back. I was glad Aaron would drive, since I wasn’t in the mood. As we climbed into the van, my mind was elsewhere.
“What are you thinking about?” Aaron drove swiftly through downtown. Thankfully, there was little traffic this time of night.
“Jackie, my mom and dad, Grandma, me. How does this all tie together?” I glanced at him. “We’re missing an important piece of the puzzle. Did Jackie die because she thought we had the cufflinks? That’s how I see it. Did she think the dolls held the key? Are the cufflinks part of the family secret?” I thought a moment. “The company that makes the men’s clothing allows me to order the outfits for specific presidents. The new shipment of clothes has Madison’s slightly different because the cufflinks are already drawn into the shirt sleeve cuff.”
“Painted on? That’s what she saw and wanted a closer look at. The cufflinks.” We turned onto Washington Avenue and drove across the bridge, then down Main Street and parked in the back. “Hmm. Max’s truck isn’t here. He must be out for the night.”
“I’m not thinking about that right now.” I climbed out of the car and went to the back door where we were greeted by a police officer.
“The detectives are inside,” the officer said.
“We ask you both to refrain from touching anything. We just want you, Liv, to tell us the path you took this morning when you entered the building—beginning with what you touched. Then we’ll take it from there, and you’ll be free to go,” Detective Mergens said.
“Try not to personalize it. Maybe it’ll be easier,” Aaron encouraged me.
“I’ll try.”
Aaron stayed behind as I followed the detective into the showroom. My heart pounded. My mind flashed back to the head, face down in my dollhouse. “What a miserable death. I feel so bad for her. No one deserves to die like that. No one.” I took a deep breath. “It still smells of blood.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Detective Erlandsen glanced over to us. “Just take your time. We’ll be here all night, so there’s no need to rush.”
“Okay. Give me a minute.” I blew my nose and wiped my eyes. I knew I could go through with the exercise. I took a deep breath before starting. “I entered the back way with a key, then flicked on the hall light before going into the workroom. I hung my coat and bag on the clothes tree. At least I think I did. I know I went into the workroom and turned on the light.”
“So far, two light switches.” He made a notation in his pad. “Touch anything else back there?”
“No.” I shook my head. “I had felt cold. Jackie Newell was expected at ten. There still was plenty to do to get her dollhouses ready.” I looked at Aaron, who gave me an assuring nod. “Then I walked into the showroom and turned on the lights. That’s when I noticed the feet, legs, head, face down in the Madison house.”
“Where did you walk?”
“My footprints are still in the blood, by the table. You can see them.” I looked at the floor, which was now covered with a plastic tarp. My insides curdled. I clutched my stomach. “Just a minute.” Covering my mouth, I raced to the restroom and barfed. I moved to the sink and doused my face, then grabbed a paper cup to rinse my mouth. My cheeks were flushed when I returned to the showroom. “Sorry.”
