“When you’re in the office, do you open the door to the hall?”
“Usually.”
“Are you and Jessica ever there together?”
“When we can. The work seems to go faster if we are. I’d say half the time.” She shrugged. “I’m not being very precise. I’m sorry.”
“Mom.” Tyler walked into the room, saw Cooper in uniform. “Are you here to arrest me?”
With a wry smile, she answered, “Not yet.”
He smiled in return. “Mom, Mark Turner’s mom will pick us up and take us to the shooting range.”
“When?”
“Half an hour.”
“When will you be back?”
“I don’t know. Come on, Mom, let me go.”
“Will Mrs. Turner stay there?”
“Mom, she’s one of the best shots in the place.”
“Tyler, that doesn’t answer my question.”
He handed her his cellphone as he punched in the Turner number.
Looking at Cooper, Arden apologized. “Hello, Karen. Tyler tells me you’re willing to pick him up and take the boys to the range. Will you be there?” A pause. “Fine. Thank you for including Tyler.” She handed his cellphone back. “You can go.”
“Mom, can I have some money?”
Arden looked apologetically at Cooper again. “Go get my purse. It’s in the hall.”
He returned, she opened her expensive Bottega Veneta bag, plucked out a fifty-dollar bill. “You take Mrs. Turner and Mark to lunch.”
Shoving the bill in his pocket, he beamed. “Thanks, Mom.” He left the room.
“Deputy, think twice before you have children.”
Cooper laughed. “I need to get married first.”
“Think twice about that, too,” she said. “Would you like something to drink? Something hot, perhaps?”
“No, thank you.” Cooper returned to business. “You come to the church on days other than Fridays?”
“Not too often. I usually do Silver Linings’s books once a week, unless there is a special need, then I go in. The end of the month takes an extra day. The end of the year, more than that. So much paperwork. The officers of the organization can see the books any time they wish, but they cannot issue a check. All checks are under my signature because years ago before I came on board there was an officer who drew money from the account. He replaced it, but, well, this seemed a better way.”
“Yes, I can imagine.” Cooper shifted in her seat. “Do you know or suspect that any Silver Linings officer is in financial trouble?”
“No. Given the downturn, some people’s businesses are doing better than others, but no. No one’s on food stamps.” She tossed her long, well-groomed hair.
“Right.” She scribbled in her notebook. “Did your husband or does Tyler accompany you to the office?”
“Occasionally Tyler comes with me. Lou drove his Acura. He didn’t like my car, but then he rarely had to haul groceries. Sometimes I would be in the office during Silver Linings meetings. Jessica, too, since Brian is president. We would try to be there. It was easier for me to talk to the officers since everyone has such full schedules. Just being able to grab someone if I have a question is a plus. But no matter what, the checks must go out by the end of the week.”
“I see. How many people know your routine?”
“Oh, uh, Father O’Connor, my late husband, Tyler, I suppose, if he thinks about it, the Silver Linings officers, my girlfriends. A lot of people.”
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t it the usual practice if someone is going to steal checks they take them from the back of the book?”
“It is.” Arden, like all bookkeepers, knew that and from time to time would flip through the large checkbook to make sure all was in order.
“Yet these missing checks were pulled from the front. You couldn’t help but spot the theft once you returned to the office.”
“That’s why I think they were taken by an amateur.”
“They’re still not cashed.”
“I don’t understand any of this.” She looked at the tree then back at Cooper. “The fingers in my pen cup. Were they Lou’s? I really should know and I would think there’s been enough time to … to identify them.”
“That’s one of the reasons I’ve called on you: to tell you that they are your husband’s forefinger and middle finger.”
She grimaced slightly. “Whose fingers hung from the Christmas tree?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
“Deputy.” Arden’s voice was sharp. “What is this about?”
“I don’t know yet, but I will.” Cooper slowly asked, “Did Lou have heart trouble?”
“No.”
“I assume he went for annual checkups.”
Arden exhaled through her nose. “A fight. Always a fight.”
“But eventually he would go?”
“Yes, and I would double-check to see that he kept the appointment. Honestly, Deputy, Tyler is more mature about doctor’s appointments than Lou. How difficult is a checkup?”
“Well, if he learned he had a condition, say prediabetes, do you think he would have told you?”
“That’s the real question.” Arden ran her tongue over her lower lip. “No. Truthfully, no. I’d have to worm information out of him, but I could often tell when he was hiding something. Usually about money. At least I thought I could.”
“Would it be easy for him to hide medication from you?”
Arden tilted her chin upward. “He could keep it in his office or even in the car. Neither of us scanned the other’s papers, calls, emails. Sometimes, Deputy, you don’t want to know.”
“Would his doctor tell you?”
“No. He would let me know if Lou kept an appointment but nothing else. I guess they have to be private that way, same as priests in confession.”
“Yes.” Cooper took a breath. “Mrs. Higham, your husband died from taking too much Coumadin.”
“The blood thinner?” Arden’s voice raised up.
“Yes.”
“But that’s rat poison. Really, Coumadin is rat poison.” Her voice was high and loud now.
“I’m sorry to have to tell you this.” Cooper kept her voice low.
“How could that happen? How?”
“I don’t know.”
“Rat poison.” Arden’s eyes widened. “Rat poison. Lou bled to death!”
Cooper did not reveal that she had interviewed Lou’s physician, who had prescribed Coumadin. He wanted to try low doses, look for improvement, and if not, then he would discuss a bypass operation. The doctor felt certain there would be future heart problems if Lou did not take action now.
Cooper also said nothing about Pete Vavilov’s disfigurement. Both men had played football for Coach Toth in the late 1980s. Both worshipped at St. Cyril’s, giving generously to the church as well as to Silver Linings. Two successful men, well regarded, fathers of sons, and both in seemingly strong marriages. They were community leaders, and both died in their cars.
There was the remote possibility that Lou had committed suicide. No possibility that Pete had done so.
The missing fingers were the link. Cooper knew that.
Then again, so did Harry.
Tree branches moaned as they rubbed against one another. Bending low in the wind, the conifers added a whooshing sound to the dolorous moan. The wind slashed down the eastern slopes of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
With her scarf wrapped tightly around her neck, Harry stood at the base of the uprooted tree. Ugly as the morning was, she had driven the old truck to the turnaround spot, then walked to the site. Bits of snow flying off the branches stung her face.
Mrs. Murphy and Pewter carefully picked their way into the cavity, roots icy but protected in the hole. Tucker moved to the opposite side so the wind lifted up her fur. Harry also turned her back to the wind, then came round, felt it full in the face. She wanted to study the spot as it was when she first saw the skeleton.