‘This is how it went down,’ he began. ‘Hoffner showed up to take me to physical therapy. He noticed that I’d taken the photocopies out of his briefcase and torn them to bits. He totally flipped out. Swore like a trucker – fuck this, screw that – then walked out, slamming the door behind him.
‘Want to know the truth?’ he continued.
Of course I did.
‘Hoffner ordered me to chill out. Said there was more money in bleeding Chandler than there was in the measly amount we might get out of the Metro settlement. He was planning to blackmail my father. Hoffner wouldn’t call it that, of course. He was always running on about manning up, taking responsibility for one’s youthful mistakes. That’s a good one! And this is my favorite: making it up to me financially, all those years of struggle without a father. Yada yada yada.’ Nick laughed out loud. ‘Hoffner’s a big-time bullshitter, once he gets going. Anyway, I told Hoffner that I didn’t need to be compensated for being deprived of a father in my formative years. I wrote Hoffner a check for what I owed him, and told him to fuck off, so he did.’
‘Where is Hoffner now?’ I asked, growing increasingly uneasy.
‘Do I look like somebody who gives a shit?’
Nick rose to his feet with difficulty, supporting himself on the cane, his hand clutching the brass knob, knuckles white, his arm trembling. ‘Come on, Hannah. Now that I’m up, didn’t you mention something about chicken tikka?’
‘Vindaloo.’
‘Whatever. Grab those wine glasses and let’s roll!’
TWENTY-FIVE
The vindaloo was still burning its way though my small intestine when I got home around eight.
Paul uncurled from his spot on the sofa and rose to meet me. ‘So, I graded exams today. How was your day?’
I gave him a peck on the cheek, then dragged him down on the sofa to sit next to me. ‘It’s all coming together now, Paul. It was Hoffner who had Zan’s letters. Although I can’t prove it, I think he called Meredith, arranged to meet her somewhere, told her he wanted money to keep his mouth shut about Chandler’s love child, something went wrong and she died. Hoffner panicked and gave the letters back to Nick at the Library of Congress, figuring if he didn’t get caught with the letters, no problem.
‘Now I find out from Nick that he’d made photocopies of some of the letters. Hoffner had a fit when Nicholas destroyed them. Why?’
‘That’s easy, Hannah. Because he still needs them, that’s why.’
‘The only thing that makes sense is that Hoffner planned, or even still plans, to blackmail Chandler. Nick even suggested that in a not so subtle way.’
I was playing with a loose thread on Paul’s ragged sweater, the one he kept rescuing from the Goodwill bag, when something occurred to me. ‘I’m going to call Jud Wilson.’
‘Hannah, it’s too late.’
‘Right,’ I agreed. ‘And I don’t have his cell. I guess it can wait until tomorrow.’
Paul’s arm snaked around me. ‘Come here.’ He kissed me and said, ‘You taste like curry.’
‘Vindaloo,’ I said. ‘Extra spicy.’
‘Ooh, hot kisses.’
‘You should experience it from my side.’
The next morning, I called Jud, left a message saying it was important I talk to him. In five minutes, he returned the call.
‘Jud, did that guy on the LC tape, James Hoffner, ever show up at Lynx News?’
‘Not that I’m aware of. Why?’
‘Is there any way to reach Chandler, other than through you?’
‘Sure. If you have his private number. Or his cell.’
‘What if you didn’t have his private number? How would one reach him?’
‘Dunno. Wait until he left the building and corner him, maybe. Or…’
‘Or, what?’
‘Go through his wife.’
‘Where’s Dorothea today, do you know?’
‘Mrs C. is always out and about. Sometimes hard to pin her down. Right now she’s flitting around town trying to wheedle donations out of businesses for a vintage hat party and jewelry sale that’ll take place next spring.’
‘Do you have Doro’s cell?’ I asked, starting to panic.
‘Nope. I can give you the home phone, though.’
‘Jud, I’m going to try to track Doro down, but I really, really need to talk to John. It’s important. Can you put me through?’
‘Sorry, Hannah. Would if I could, but he’s out of the office today. Off the radar.’
‘Damn it. Where?’
‘I don’t have a clue. When he called this morning, he said he had some sort of family emergency.’
‘Did he say what?’
‘He rarely does.’
‘Do me a favor. Call his cell and leave a message. Tell him James Hoffner is on the loose and he’s in a bad mood.’
‘Sure.’ Jud took a deep breath, puffed it out into the receiver. ‘You think Hoffner killed Meredith?
‘Of course. Don’t you?
TWENTY-SIX
I was having a gorgeous, rejuvenating early-morning soak in a tub of lavender bubbles. I had just tipped a mug of coffee to my lips when my iPhone rang, vibrating like an electric shaver on the edge of the sink. I set the mug down on the bathmat and fumbled for the phone.
‘Hannah, it’s Lilith Chaloux.’
‘Lilith, how are you?’
‘I was wondering if you are free today. I need some moral support.’
‘Why?’
‘That man, James Hoffner, keeps calling and bothering me. Nick must have given him my number, damn it.’
‘Hoffner’s a creep, but what can we do?’ Quite likely, he was a blackmailer and a murderer, too, but what good would it do to share my suspicions with Lilith? It could only alarm her further.
‘He says he has a proposition to discuss with me. I don’t want to discuss anything with him, but he says it will be to my advantage. He’s coming over today. Wouldn’t take no for an answer.’
‘Why don’t you simply leave, Lilith? Go shopping at the Queenstown Outlets for the day? I’ll be happy to join you.’
‘That will only delay the inevitable. He doesn’t give up easily.’
Lilith had hit the nail on the head. I pictured Hoffner in his green pickup truck, engine idling, waiting at the intersection of Taylors Island and Deep Point, watching for Lilith’s Toyota to appear in his rear-view mirror. ‘Do you want me to call the police? Say he’s harassing you?’
Lilith drew a quick breath. ‘It’s not harassment yet. Besides, I’m just getting back on good terms with my son, and I don’t want any setbacks in that department. Hoffner seems to have Nicholas’s ear, so, as much as I dislike the man, I don’t want to alienate him.’ She paused for a moment, the air on her end of the line filled with the babble of a television. ‘I’ve never approved of the people Nicholas likes to hang out with and I don’t suppose I will start to approve of them now.’
‘It’ll probably please you to hear, then, that Nicholas has fired the creep.’
‘The first sign of common sense I’ve seen in the boy.’
Realizing my bath was going to be cut short, I pulled the plug. There was no way I’d leave Lilith alone with Jim Hoffner, at least not intentionally. With the phone anchored to my ear, I stood and fumbled for a towel. ‘It’ll take me about and hour to get there, maybe an hour and fifteen.’
‘Oh, thank you, Hannah!’
‘My fee is high, Lilith. You might just have to paint me a picture some day.’
‘Hannah, I would be delighted!’
I drove as fast as the speed limit allowed – and at times a bit faster – making it to Lilith’s cottage outside Woolford in a little over an hour. Her Toyota was in the drive. I pulled up behind it, pocketed my iPhone which had been recharging in the console, and climbed out.