Hearts Grove Cozy Mystery Boxed Set, page 22
part #1 of Hearts Grove Cozy Mystery Series
“Gina,” Henrietta said brightly. “What are you doing here? And what have you brought?”
“I thought you ladies might like a little pick-me-up. I’ve got my girl over there filling in for me, so I wanted to run these lattes over.”
“Oh, yum,” Olivia said, accepting the hot beverage from Gina.
“I also brought lemon scones. It’s not the season for them, but I just couldn’t take this dreary weather. I figure we all need a little bit of lemon in our lives in the winter time.”
“Agreed,” Olivia said as she bit into a scone. “These are delicious.”
“Thank you so much, Gina,” Henrietta said, accepting her own scone and latte.
“Anytime. How are you ladies doing? I saw you coming back just a little bit ago. I’m assuming you were working at the dance hall?”
They chatted about the dance, and Henrietta shared a little of her vision for the evening. As one of the sponsors, Gina was overly thrilled to hear of the fantastic details that were being put into the dance.
“I really think it has a chance at making the city some money, as well as lightening the mood.” Gina shook her head. “This news about Gerald has hit the town hard.”
Henrietta nodded solemnly. “It is so sad.”
“I mean, poor Amelia. That girl does not need this right now. Well, no one needs this, but you know what I mean.”
“Actually,” Henrietta narrowed her eyes. “I don’t. Do you know Amelia?”
“Oh sure, she and I are in a book club together. We met at the library meetings a few years back, and then joined this club. It’s been a lot of fun, but now this…I feel so bad for her.”
“I had no idea you knew her.”
“Yeah, I mean the poor thing is planning her wedding. Talk about a shocker.”
“Wedding? I didn’t know she was engaged.” Henrietta thought back to their meeting. She hadn’t seen an engagement ring, but it was completely possible that it was getting sized.
“Yep. I think they’ve been engaged about six months now? But this had to change a lot for them. Then again, she seems really in love, so I doubt she’ll postpone the wedding. But talk about a dark cloud.” Gina shook her head.
“That is so sad,” Olivia said. She’d been following the conversation like she was watching a tennis match.
“I’d better get back to the shop. The new girl does well, but I don’t like to leave her for too long. Enjoy those drinks, ladies.” She waved a hand over her head and trotted back to the front door.
Henrietta watched her go, thinking on this new information. Amelia was engaged to be married, planning a wedding, and her father had committed suicide? Bearing on whether they had a good relationship or not, it seemed unlikely that a man with that much to look forward to would take his own life.
Later that afternoon, Henrietta stood from her seat behind the cash register and stretched. It had been a slow afternoon and they’d only had two customers in three hours. She had considered sending Olivia home, but her employee had insisted that she was making headway on the book cataloguing and listing, so Henrietta had said she could stay.
She heard her phone buzz and picked it up, surprised to see a message from Ralph. He didn’t often text, preferring to call instead, but sometimes he sent a written message. It was simple and to the point, asking her to come to his office if she had the time.
When she popped her head into the back room, she caught Olivia with her nose mere inches from a page, inspecting it.
“You look much too familiar with those books.”
Olivia jumped back, startled. “I didn’t see you there. And yes, we’ve become good friends.”
“I can see that.” Henrietta looked over the stack of finished books. “You’ve made some great headway. It’s amazing what you can do when you don’t have customers bothering you every few minutes.”
“That it is.”
“I’m going to go over and see Ralph. I have a feeling it has something to do with this potential case we’ll be working.”
“Do you want me to come out to the front?”
“No,” Henrietta shook her head. “I think I’m just going to close early. You can feel free to stay until closing, or go when you’ve finished up that book. Either is fine with me.”
“Sounds good.”
“Just don’t work too hard, all right?”
“I won’t,” she said with a smile.
Henrietta took her coat from the hook and slipped it on, pulling her purse over her shoulder before heading out to her car. The drive to Ralph’s took little time, and soon she was making her way back down the hall toward the office she’d found him in the last time.
She heard voices and immediately recognized Amelia’s bright tone. So, this was about their case.
“Hello,” she said, pushing the door in.
“Glad you could make it,” Ralph said.
“Hello again,” Amelia said.
Henrietta sat and looked between them. “What is this about?”
“My father’s death was officially ruled a suicide,” Amelia said. While tears moistened her eyes, they didn’t fall this time.
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“As am I. They wouldn’t hear my side of things, saying that it’s just ‘that time of year’. It’s ridiculous. My father loved cloudy weather. Either way, I’d for sure like to hire you, Mr. Gershwin. I want you to prove that my father’s death was not a suicide.”
“Hold on there,” Ralph said, holding up a hand. “We’ll do our best to investigate your father’s death, but you need to know that we’ll go where the clues take us, no matter the outcome.”
“I understand. I’m confident you’ll find that he never would have taken himself from this world willingly.”
Her words sent a chill down Henrietta’s spine, but she appreciated the woman’s boldness.
“I, too, believe that there were too many things for him to live for. Like your upcoming wedding, for one.”
Amelia looked down at her hands, a sad smile on her face. “It’s hard to be excited and happy about it in the middle of such a tragedy, but I am looking forward to my wedding. But now, without my father…” Now the tears did fall.
“Don’t you worry, Miss Folsom, we’ll figure this out. Don’t you worry.”
“Thank you,” she sputtered. “It’s all so fresh, you know.”
“Of course,” Henrietta said, patting her gently on the arm. “We’ll do the best we can, and as quickly as we can.”
The distraught woman offered a weak smile to them both before taking her leave of Ralph’s office.
When they were alone, he turned to her with raised eyes. “We? I gather you’ll be helping me on the case, then?”
“Isn’t that why you invited me over here both times?”
“Yes,” he admitted, “but I also didn’t want to assume that you’d just hop on board. I mean, you do have the dance to think about.”
She laughed. “Olivia and I could decorate for that dance in our sleep,” she said with a wink. “Thankfully we won’t have to. My shop is so slow, I’d be happy for a distraction. Then again, I think of this as a priority. I liked Gerald Folsom, and I’d like to see the truth of his death come to light.
“Same here.” Ralph pulled out a yellow pad with writing all over it. “I took some notes before you came. I think the best way to do this is divide and conquer.”
“How so?”
“I’ve got Scott looking into things in his free time, but he’s been busy with cases for the local force. They have him contracted, which is the best thing for him in this slow season.”
“I agree.”
“Anyway, I’ll get working on the actual case and see if I can’t get more details from my guy.”
“How did that meeting go, anyway?”
He huffed out a breath. “It didn’t. He never showed up for his usual lunch. I got worried and shot him a message, but he said he was too busy with everything going on. Sounded cryptic to me, but we’ve got a meeting scheduled for tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll find out some good stuff there.”
“What would you like me to do?”
“I’d like you to look into Gerald’s life. See what he was up to, what his business with the lighthouse was like, things of that nature. You’re good with finding loose threads and pulling on them. I’d say pull away.”
She contemplated this and nodded slowly. “I can do that.”
“You sure you have the time?”
“I am.”
“Good. Then let me know when you hear something, and we’ll schedule an update meeting.”
She nodded, pursing her lips in a smile. They sounded so professional, and she almost felt like a real private investigator. Then again, she’d leave the real work to Ralph and do the investigation on her own.
She waved goodbye and headed out the door. First things first, she needed to see what Gerald’s life had been like, if she was going to understand his death.
4
The next morning, bright and early, Henrietta received an email with the information she’d asked Amelia for: a copy of her father’s itinerary the last few months of his life. Amelia had sent over photographs of the datebook that he used, and Henrietta had been able to establish the type of routine the man was in.
She’d noticed one thing in particular, though, a few days before his body had been found. An appointment with a local doctor that Henrietta knew, Dr. Mays. On the off chance that the man’s death would rule the patient-confidentiality precedent null and void, Henrietta set out to see Dr. Mays before his office officially opened.
She knocked on the side door he used exclusively for friends and family members and was pleased when he opened the door with a smile.
“Henrietta Hewitt. To what do I owe this pleasure?”
She smiled back, remembering the china cabinet he’d purchased from her for his wife last Christmas. “I’m doing well, Dr. Mays. May I come in for a few minutes? I know you’re busy, but I have a few questions to ask you.”
“Yes, yes, of course.” He stepped back and allowed her into his private office. Two leather chairs sat in front of his large oak desk, and she took one while he sat in a large leather office chair. It looked comfortable enough to allow him to go over his notes easily.
“What can I help you with?”
“I’m actually working on a case with Ralph Gershwin.”
“Since when did you become a private investigator?” he said with a laugh.
“Since Ralph begged me to join him,” she countered.
He laughed again and nodded. “How do I fit in to all of this?’
“We’re actually looking into the death of Gerald Folsom. We have reason to believe he was not the victim of suicide, but possibly of something more sinister.”
“Sinister?” The man leaned forward, his interest piqued. “How so?”
“I can’t really get into the details at this moment, but I do know that he had an appointment with you just a few weeks back. I know there are confidentiality rules in place, but he is dead and his daughter has hired us for this case.”
There were times when Henrietta missed living in the city. It came with many advantages in a variety of aspects, but there were times—times like this—when she was even more grateful to live in a small town.
“I’m not supposed to say anything,” Dr. Mays said, “but you do bring up a good point. He has passed, and…I’d like to help.”
Henrietta smiled in relief but kept it muted. No need to show too much excitement, lest the man rethink his decision.
“What can you tell me about that appointment? Did he seem depressed at all?”
“Quite the contrary,” Dr. Mays said. “He seemed upbeat and almost excited, if I had to name it.”
“Do you know why?”
“He’d mentioned that his daughter was getting married and he was looking forward to the wedding. He was also in excellent health—well, save for a trigger finger on his right pointer finger, but we were referring him to an orthopedist to have that taken care of.”
“Interesting. Is that why he came in?”
“Nope. It was just an annual checkup. He said he thought it was time. Said something like he was looking ahead to grandchildren, even though that was a ways off. Wanted to be healthy for them.”
A deep sadness sunk into Henrietta’s stomach at these words. It sounded more and more like Gerald Folsom never would have killed himself. He appeared to be a man who had a lot of things to look forward to.
“Did the police talk to you?”
“You could say that.”
“Why do you say it like that?” She sensed some hostility in his response.
“I tried to tell them just what I’m telling you, but that new detective,” he made a face, “it was like he was so interested in wrapping up his first new case in town, he’d rather not hear anything that contradicted his theory. I wanted to explain the situation, how Gerald had made the appointment himself and all that he’d talked about, but the man said it wasn’t important. Hearsay or something. Nonsense, if you ask me.”
Henrietta nodded solemnly. It seemed this new detective was going to continue creating waves, unless he was checked in one way or another. Then again, this was only his first case. Hopefully, he would begin to understand that things didn’t always go like they did in the big city—if that’s, in fact, where he was from.
“You’ve given me a lot to think about, Dr. Mays. Thank you so much.”
“You’re welcome. Like I said, I tried to tell them that they had it wrong, that Gerald would never kill himself, but they made it sound as if he couldn’t have done anything else.”
Henrietta had no information to that statement and merely shrugged her shoulders. “I suppose only time will tell at this point.”
“I hope you can find justice for Gerald. He was a good man and didn’t deserve to die in such a way—no matter at whose hand.”
“I agree.” She thanked him and left, her mind lost to the thoughts of the new detective as well as the facts she’d just gleaned from the doctor. There was no way that Gerald had sunk so low in the course of a few weeks, was there?
“I tell you, he’s going to ruin this town.” Ralph’s voice rose and Henrietta shot him a look that said Calm down, now. “Sorry.” He held up a hand, as if to stay her admonition.
“What happened, exactly?”
They were out to dinner in a seafood restaurant that overlooked the water, the long rays of the sun sparkling off whitecaps in a tumultuous sea. After her successful meeting with Dr. Mays, she’d called up Ralph to deliver the information, and he’d asked her to dinner instead.
Not one to pass up an excellent meal or Ralph’s company, Henrietta was glad she’d gone but was wondering if this conversation was better suited to the privacy of the Gershwin offices.
“I went to meet up with Ken. You remember old Kenny, right?”
She nodded, taking another bite of her flaky halibut.
“We always meet up in that deli. Anyway, he came in and said this young upstart is ruining everything.”
“Who is he?”
“Name’s Abraham Paige. Comes from none other than Chicago and thinks he’s God’s gift to law enforcement.”
She shot Ralph a look, and he relented. “All right, so maybe I’m reading into it a little. Or a lot,” he added after another look from Henrietta. “Either way, he’s putting a stop to the department’s ‘small-town ways’ or however he’s stated it.”
“Such as?”
“Ken said that he’s pushing to close cases as quickly as possible—as if that wasn’t the goal to begin with—and he’s got this whole new list of best practices.”
“Sounds like it could be helpful.”
The look Ralph shot Henrietta was chilling, to say the least. “No, it’s putting a stop to some very helpful procedures that have worked well for this department. We’re not Chicago. We’re not even Seattle, and we’ll never be. But all okay. You’ve got to find things that work for your area, and this kid doesn’t know what he’s doing.”
“You can’t say that, Ralph.”
“Look what he did with Gerald Folsom’s case.”
She shrugged. While that was true, she didn’t want to jump to the conclusion that everything this new detective did would be bad for the town. Perhaps there was something to be gained from a new perspective. Still, she wouldn’t bring that up to Ralph just yet.
“Perhaps we should give him the benefit of the doubt.”
“Yeah, well, we’ll see. I don’t know how much I’ll be able to get from Ken these days now. Seems like the dictator is cracking down on information.”
“I was never sure that it was a good idea for you to know what you did, or how you did.”
“Not you, too.” Ralph rolled his eyes as he finished off his salmon.
“Either way, I did find out some interesting information at Dr. Mays.”
“What’s that?”
She shared what she’d learned from Dr. Mays, and Ralph agreed that it was compelling evidence.
“See? If that youngster would have listened to what Doc was saying, he might have changed his mind on Gerald’s death. He’s being short-sighted.”
“He may be, but perhaps he just needs time to adjust. To learn, you know?”
“Maybe.” Ralph didn’t sound like he held out much hope for that reality, though.
Ralph paid their tab, and they put on their coats to head out. Just as they reached the door, Henrietta heard her name as it was called out across the restaurant.
“Oh no,” Ralph said, reaching for her arm. “Let’s pretend you didn’t hear him.”
“Ralph,” she chided, looking back as Mayor Rickey Lawrence wove his way through the maze of tables toward them. “It’ll only be a minute. You can go on without me if you want.”
He merely looked at her, but any reply was cut off when the mayor caught up with them.
“Henrietta Hewitt, just the person I was looking for.”
“Good evening, Rickey,” she said. “You out with Lois tonight?”
“Yep, she’s over there picking the clams out of her clam chowder.”
