And that’s how highly he prizes the work I do for him, that cranky reporter’s voice in the back of Sunny’s head said. I can be replaced by some kid off the street.
She sighed. “Of course, I’ll be available if some catastrophe happens.” Somehow, she knew one would. “And I still get my paycheck while I’m doing this, right?” Sunny could have kicked herself as soon as the words were out of her mouth. At the very least, she should have tried to stick Ollie for time and a half.
“Of course,” he said.
She took a deep breath. “Then I agree.”
“So you’ll have one week from today to answer Mr. Barnstable’s suspicions,” Dr. Reese said.
Sunny shook her head. “One week from tomorrow. I’ve got to arrange coverage for the office, besides getting things set up.” She stifled a yawn. Not to mention catching up on some of the sleep I’ve been cheated out of.
Ollie had a self-satisfied smirk on his face, looking more like himself than he had since his accident. Dr. Gavrik hissed angrily into her boss’s ear, but while Reese looked as if he’d just swallowed a very unpalatable pill, he wasn’t raising any objections. Mike looked honestly worried, while Nesbit just stroked his trademark mustache with an expression Sunny had seen on Shadow’s face—the cat who ate the cream.
“What do you say we get a move on, Dad?” She was just as glad to get out of there.
By the time Sunny and Mike got home, they just beat her wake-up alarm. She dashed up the stairs to turn it off, then came down to the living room and sat in an armchair, closing her eyes. The good thing was, she was already washed, dressed, and fed. The bad thing was, she really missed those hours of sleep she’d lost. If she kept her eyes closed, she might not be able to open them.
A heavy weight landed in her lap. She opened her eyes to find herself almost nose to nose with Shadow. He had a paw on each collarbone, his gold-flecked eyes peering worriedly into hers.
“Are you concerned because I’m upset, because we’ve been running around so early . . . or because you’re afraid I’ll forget to feed you?” she asked with a laugh.
Shadow relaxed against her, his deep purr rumbling against her T-shirt.
“Right,” Sunny said, running a hand along his back. “Feeding it is.”
A moment later, Mike came into the room, a cup of coffee in his hand. “Figured you’d need this to fuel your way into town.”
“Thanks, Dad.” Sunny gratefully accepted the cup and took a sip. Hot and sweet, with lots of milk. Between the caffeine and the sugar, it should keep her going until she got the office coffeemaker percolating.
Mike hovered over her chair. “You won’t be doing this alone, Sunny. I’ll beat the bushes and see what I can find out about Gardner. I can ask Helena to do the same.”
“Leave Mrs. Martinson to me,” Sunny told him. “She’s not exactly fond of your old buddy Gardner.” She put the cup on the end table and reached up to catch his hand. “And thanks again, Dad. I always knew I could depend on you.”
With that, she devoted herself to lowering the level of coffee in her cup without scalding her mouth. Then she rinsed the empty cup in the kitchen sink and set out some food for Shadow. But as Sunny went to the front door, she was surprised to find Mike right behind her.
“It’s still early,” he said, heading for his own pickup. “Figured I’d hit the track and get a jump on the day.”
He waved as he headed out for the old high school, Sunny going to downtown Kittery Harbor. When she arrived at her office, she found Will Price leaning against the door in full uniform. His blues looked good on his long limbs and wiry build and even seemed to diminish the sunburn on his strong features. Although he was taller than Sunny, his relaxed posture put them almost on a level. Too bad those gray eyes with their brownish-gold flecks held such an enigmatic expression as he straightened up, his arms still folded across his chest.
“So,” he said, his voice mild, “I arrive at work today, and they tell me that I’ve been detailed to an unofficial investigation with you at a local nursing home.” His eyes, so disturbingly like Shadow’s, looked hard into Sunny’s. “What have you fallen into this time?”
“I didn’t fall, I was pushed.” As she unlocked the door and let Will in, Sunny briefly described the scene in Ollie’s room. Just the memory of the early hour made her yawn.
“So Barnstable thinks this is a suspicious death, but nobody else agrees with him.”
“I’ll be the first to admit it might turn out to be natural causes,” Sunny replied. “On the other hand, are the doctors responsible for the guy going to admit anything? And you know Frank Nesbit.”
One of the reasons that Will had been called back to Elmet County was the suspicion on the part of a lot of citizens that Nesbit was keeping the county safe—and himself reelected—by fudging the local crime statistics. Assaults became harassment, felonies fell to misdemeanors. Now, after years of a spotless record, Nesbit had a murder on his books thanks to Sunny. If Ollie hadn’t held his feet to the fire, the sheriff would probably have ignored Gardner Scatterwell’s passing, except maybe to press some flesh at the wake.
Still, Will wasn’t about to jump on Ollie’s bandwagon. “I understand Gardner Scatterwell was a stroke victim.”
Sunny nodded. “He was recovering from a stroke, staying at Bridgewater Hall for therapy.” She hesitated, remembering how easily Gardner had tired. “I wouldn’t say he was in the best of shape, but he looked all right when I left them yesterday evening, and Ollie says he was fine at lights-out. Then, somewhere between three and four a.m., Gardner died. We’ll have to get the gory details from Ollie. I didn’t want to ask him any questions with the doctors watching over my shoulder.”
“We’ll also have to try and persuade the family to go for an autopsy.” Will made a face. “That won’t be easy. Legally, this isn’t a suspicious death. I’ll bet the facility will issue a death certificate. Do you think we’ll get any help from any of the relatives?”
“As far as I know, the next of kin is a nephew, Alfred Scatterwell,” Sunny said. “Gardner kind of ragged on him as the family’s ‘all-purpose heir.’ Alfred is also a bit of a cheapskate. I heard him moaning about the expense of rehab at Bridgewater Hall, especially since he claimed the place had a high mortality rate. He wanted Gardner to move somewhere less pricey.”
Will’s expression didn’t get any more cheerful. “So he’s unlikely to go for the expense of a private autopsy, especially if it might delay his inheritance.”
Sunny shrugged and spread her hands in a gesture of hopelessness. “Them’s the breaks. But it might give us something in the way of a money motive.”
“I’d be happier with a little more in the way of facts. We don’t even have a clear idea of cause of death.” He frowned, thinking. “We’ll have to dig into Scatterwell’s life, see if we can find other people with motives, and then find out if they had the opportunity get to him at the facility.”
“I can tell you he was a ladies’ man,” Sunny offered. “The way I heard it, he fell in love with someone every six weeks or so.”
Will nodded. “He liked grand gestures but could change his mind pretty quickly. I know that from personal experience.”
“He got in some kind of trouble with the law?”
“No, this was about money. Remember? I mentioned meeting Scatterwell while doing some fund-raising for Saxon Academy.”
Saxon Academy had been the “snob school for boys” during Sunny’s high school days. If you went out with a guy from there, you were assured of a well-heeled date, at least. Not that Sunny had ever snagged a Saxon guy. Getting to know Will, she’d discovered that he’d gone to Saxon, a couple of years ahead of her. Practically speaking, he might as well have been on another world.
“Hey,” Sunny said with a grin, “they turned my old school into a community center. Too bad we didn’t have any well-heeled donors with school spirit.”