I love him. I will see you soon.
Love, Merry
I set the pages down on the cream tablecloth. I had to swallow down the lump in the back of my throat. “She was coming home to them.”
Celia nodded. “And I know I have to let Simon read this. Not telling him leaves him with more pain than telling will cause Victor.”
“I think so,” I said. I put the pages back in the envelope and handed it back to her. “Thank you for telling me the truth.”
“I should have told it from the beginning,” she said.
“You were doing what you thought was right,” I told her. “I can’t fault you for that. I don’t think anyone can. I do have one more question, though. Did you know Leo also received a piece of that lost mail?”
Celia shook her head. “He didn’t say anything to me.”
Nothing in her face or her body language made me think she wasn’t telling the truth. “Was it from Meredith?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” I said. “Can you think of any reason she might have sent him a key?”
A frown formed between her perfectly groomed eyebrows. “A key?”
I nodded.
“No. That doesn’t make any sense.”
“I know,” I said. I reached into my bag, pulled out a pen and a small notepad and wrote down my cell phone number. “If you think of anything, anything, please call me.”
“I will,” she said. “And I promise you I’ll call Simon and let him read the letter.”
“He’s in Minneapolis with his daughter for a couple of days,” I said. “They’ll be back Tuesday. That’s soon enough.” I got up and made my way across the room.
Levi was at another table. I waited by the door and when he turned I raised a hand. He came right over to me. I gave him my credit card and paid for our tea with a generous tip. After what I’d learned from Celia it seemed the least I could do.
It was still raining when I stepped outside. I ran through the rain back to the truck, sliding onto the front seat, shaking the water off my hair. Then I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket. Marcus would be in Red Wing until late. There was nothing he could do with what I’d learned from Celia. At least not right now. I put my phone away.
I was glad Simon and Mia were in Minneapolis for a couple of days. Because as soon as Simon read that letter he was going to suspect what I was starting to strongly suspect—that Victor Janes had killed his own brother.
chapter 16
I called Marcus as soon as I got home. It went to voice mail but he called me back about half an hour later. I gave him the information I’d gotten from Elias and I told him about the missing page of the letter.
He stayed silent until I finished talking. “I agree that it doesn’t make Victor Janes look good,” he said.
“What’s the but?” I asked, walking out into the porch with the phone.
“It doesn’t change the fact that he has an alibi. And I saw him write his name in the guest book at Gunnerson’s. He’s right-handed. Whoever killed Leo Janes was left-handed, remember?”
“So what are you thinking?” I asked as I dropped down onto the bench under the porch window. “Do you think he hired someone to kill Leo?”
Marcus made an exasperated sound on the other end of the phone. “I don’t know,” he said. “Just promise me you’ll stay away from the man until we figure this out.”
“That’s not a problem,” I said. Victor Janes had made me uncomfortable before I began to suspect he’d been involved in his brother’s death. I wanted to be around him now even less.
Roma called after supper to say they’d managed to save all of the goats and both the driver and his passenger had walked away from the accident with nothing more than a few bruises. “I had planned to check Owen’s ear when I came for dinner,” she said. “Since I didn’t get there do you think you could bring him into the clinic after you finish tomorrow? I’m sure he’s fine, but I’d just like to take one more look.”
“I can do that,” I said. We settled on a time and I said good night.
• • •
The next morning was busy. Maggie dropped off the information for the board about her auction idea, two boxes of new books were delivered, and a routine software update made all the public-access computers shut down at once.
I’d just gotten the computers up and running again when Abigail waved from the front desk to catch my attention. “Do you have a minute to talk to Lita?” she asked.
I nodded. “Cross everything,” I said, gesturing at the computer where I was sitting. “I think I have things working again.”
Abigail grinned. “You have the magical touch. The only thing I know to do is whack the side of the monitor with my hand.”
I grinned back at her. “Hey, that’s my Plan B.” I walked over to the desk and reached for the phone. “Hi, Lita,” I said. “What can I do for you?”
“Good morning, Kathleen,” she said. “I just have a quick question for you about Reading Buddies.”
“Sure, what is it?” She was looking at an invoice and luckily her question was easily answered.
“Thank you. I wish every phone call this morning had worked out so well.”
“Rough Monday?” I said.
“You’re the only person I’ve been able to actually get to talk to in person. It isn’t easy trying to change Everett’s schedule around.”
“Is everything all right?” I asked.
“You didn’t hear about Rebecca?” she asked.
My heart began to pound and I put a hand down on the counter to steady myself. “No. Is she all right?”
“She’s fine,” Lita said. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. She and Everett were at an auction on the weekend. Someone’s dog got loose and knocked her down. She sprained her knee. She’s probably going to have to be off it for a week.” She cleared her throat. “Everett is hovering.”
I struggled not to laugh. “You mean he’s driving her crazy.”
Lita did laugh. “Yes.”
“He can’t help it,” I said. “He may be driving her crazy but it’s because he’s crazy about her.”
“And Rebecca—”
“—is not the best patient,” I finished. “I’ll try to go see her tonight.”
“Your good deed for the week,” Lita said. “Thanks for the information, Kathleen.”
• • •
I took a shorter lunch break so I could leave a bit earlier at the end of the day. Hercules was sitting out in the porch when I got home. I sat down beside him. “How was your day?” I asked.
“Mrr,” he replied. Translation: “Good.”
“Where’s your brother?”
Herc turned toward the kitchen door.
“Roma wants to check his ear one more time,” I said.
He put a paw over his face.
I laughed. “Yeah, I know how he’s going to react.”
I got up, unlocked the door and stepped into the kitchen. Owen was just making his way in from the living room. I set my things on the table and bent down to pick him up. “How would you like to go see Rebecca?” I asked. “She hurt her knee and she’s housebound.”
“Merow,” he said.
“I thought we could take her some of those oatmeal cookies. There are a couple of dozen in the freezer.”
He licked his whiskers. Okay, that was a yes.
“And we’re going to stop and let Roma take a look at your ear,” I said, running the words all together. It didn’t matter how fast I said them, however; Owen knew exactly what I’d said. He immediately started to try to wiggle his way out of my arms.