“Stupid of her to have written the wrong date,” Laura said.
“It was certainly careless,” I said, “but it’s the kind of thing one does automatically most of the time. She slipped up there, and analysis of the signatures on those purchase orders will probably prove that Peter didn’t sign them.”
“With Peter out of the way, they must have thought they were in tall cotton then,” Melba said. “But along came Reilly.”
“Right,” I said. “Reilly, who was a finance person. He evidently caught on to the fact that something was hinky, to use Frank’s term.” I smiled at my son-in-law. “Instead of going to the president or to the VP for finance, he decided to try a little blackmail.” I recalled the incident I had witnessed, when Cassandra came storming out of his office. I figured that was when he tried to put the pinch on her.
“In the middle of it all, the ex-brother-in-law shows up,” Sean said. “Looking for the family heirloom jewelry that Reilly stole.”
“That man really was a piece of work,” Alex said, her nose wrinkled in disgust.
“Amen to that,” Melba said in a decided tone. “Honey, you just don’t know how nasty he could be.”
“He paid for it,” I reminded her. “Porter Stanley forced him to turn over the jewelry, of course. He had been shadowing Reilly for several days. Melba noticed him sitting in a parked car on the street in front of our building. Reilly never saw him, until I brought them face-to-face.”
“Why did they kill Stanley?” Helen Louise asked.
“Because he knew they’d killed Reilly,” I said. “He followed Reilly into the library that night and saw the murder. I don’t imagine Stanley shed any tears over the dead brother-in-law, but Reilly had evidently boasted to him about his blackmail scheme. With Reilly out of the way, he attempted to carry on with the blackmail for himself.
“Cassandra went to meet him at his hotel and shot him. She found the jewels and took them, but she made the mistake of giving Margie one of the rings.”
“And Margie let me see it,” Melba said. “Really silly of her.”
“They didn’t know anyone else knew about the jewels, you see,” I said, “but it was still a dumb thing to do.”
“I can’t imagine working with Cassandra and not wanting to bash her over the head with something,” Laura said. “How could she get away with being nasty to people for so long?”
“Because they were terrified of her.” I shared the incidents Melba had told me about, when Cassandra sought revenge on coworkers. “They were afraid, even as a group, if they complained about her, she would do something terrible to them. Poor Delbert Winston hemmed and hawed when I asked him to look for some files, and he told me later he was too scared of Cassandra to do as I asked.”
“Nasty,” Helen Louise said. “So she was the one behind the pranks against Reilly? And the threats to you?”
“Yes,” I said. “The woman couldn’t stand to be thwarted. She wanted to keep Reilly riled up, and then they decided he had to die.” I shivered suddenly. “I’m not sure whether they would have really come after me again, after that failed attempt with the gunshot, but I don’t want to think about it.”
Haskell finally spoke. “You were the only one who figured out the truth about Peter Vanderkeller, though.”
“The more I thought about it, once I started digging into the budget and all those invoices and so on, I just had this feeling that Peter didn’t go away voluntarily. I can’t explain it,” I said with a shrug.
“We’re all thankful, Dad, that you did figure it out before those terrible women could harm you.” Laura blew me a kiss. If she didn’t have trouble getting up and out of chairs, due to her advanced stage of pregnancy, I knew she would have come to hug me.
“I’m thankful, too,” I said. “Because I want to be around a long time. I’ve got grandchildren to spoil, after all.” I looked at Helen Louise. “And a beautiful woman at my side.”
Diesel sat up and meowed enthusiastically. We all laughed. Dante woke up in Stewart’s lap and barked.
Sean stood. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m ready for another round of dessert. Dibs on the cheesecake.”
“Not if I get there first.” Frank jumped up and headed for the kitchen. Sean took off after him. Their wives exchanged amused glances.
“I’ll go make the coffee.” Stewart handed Dante to Haskell. He turned to me. “By the way, Charlie, Haskell is moving in.” He winked at me, and Haskell’s face reddened slightly.
“Welcome to the family,” I said with a big smile.
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