“I’m so sorry,” he said. “I had no idea that bank was in danger of collapsing.”
“There’s no way you could have known,” I said. “I heard Harry Taylor say that this is the wettest spring this area’s seen in more than forty years. Please don’t worry about it.”
His expression softened just a little. “If you need anything, I want you to call the office. Lita will take care of it.”
“Thank you,” I said. I reached for the nylon cooler. “And please thank Rebecca for this.”
“I will,” Everett said. His face closed in again and he lowered his voice. “I heard about Jaeger Merrill, Kathleen. Please tell Maggie if the co-op has any problems. Lita will know how to find me.”
“I’ll tell her,” I said.
He nodded and left. I carried everything into the kitchen. Hercules had joined Maggie and Owen and all three of them looked expectantly at me.
I handed the canvas bag to Maggie. “See what’s in there,” I said. I put the nylon cooler on the counter and unzipped the top. Inside there was a large casserole dish. I lifted it out, took the lid off and inhaled the delicious smell of onions and spices. A small dish held Rebecca’s homemade noodles.
“There’s apple crumble in here,” Maggie crowed behind me. “And cinnamon rolls.”
I put both casserole dishes on the table, stuck the apple crumble in the oven to warm and stashed the cinnamon rolls on the counter. “Let’s eat,” I said to Maggie.
She glanced down at Owen and Hercules sitting next to her chair like two furry guardians. “You’re not even going to give them a taste?” she asked.
“Roma told me to stop giving them so much people food,” I said. “She told you the same thing or did you forget?”
She looked at the cats again. “I don’t see Roma anywhere, do you?” Owen actually looked around the kitchen much to Maggie’s delight. She made a sweeping gesture around the kitchen. “Nope. No sign of her anywhere.”
I sighed and got a couple of small bowls from the cupboard. “Number one, I’m telling Roma next time I see her.” I put a few noodles and a bit of meat and sauce into each bowl. There was no way I was giving the cats cabbage. That had to be a bad idea. “And number two, when they hack up something disgusting tomorrow, I’m calling you to come clean it up.”
I handed her the bowls and she set them on the floor, one in front of each cat. That even got her an adoring look from Hercules. Maggie unfolded her napkin and smiled sweetly at me as she reached for the noodles.
Rebecca was an outstanding cook. I’d had meals at five-star restaurants that weren’t as good as the meal she’d sent.
“Did you talk to Marcus?” I asked over my second helping of apple crumble. Owen was still by Maggie’s chair, carefully washing his face. Hercules had wandered off to do whatever it was he did after supper.
She nodded. “I did. He wanted to know how Jaeger could have ended up on those basement stairs.” She sighed. “I’d like to know that myself.”
“Maybe he picked the lock.” I didn’t add that it was something I knew how to do—depending on the lock.
“Maybe he did. He didn’t have my keys and he didn’t have Ruby’s.” She pulled one leg up underneath her and leaned against the back of the chair. “Have you ever noticed that Marcus asks you a question and then a few minutes later he asks the same question again, in a slightly different way?”
“I noticed,” I said. “I don’t know if it’s a cop thing, or just a Marcus thing.”
“It’s like he’s testing you to see if you’ll give the same answer every time.”
I set my spoon down and pushed my dish away before I ended up with a third helping of apple crumble. “So what was it he kept asking you about?”
Maggie’s cheeks went pink and she looked down at the table. “He heard about the fight I had with Jaeger.”
“You mean at the meeting?”
“No. I mean the fight.” She lifted her head and looked at me. “I didn’t tell you.”
“Why?”
“Because I was embarrassed.”
Owen had stopped washing his face and was staring intently at Maggie, as though he could feel her discomfort.
She played with the crimson and silver scarf at her neck. “I usually handle things better than this, but Jaeger got under my skin. Between the flooding at the store, the flooding period, trying to rearrange the yoga and tai chi classes and keep up with the Web site orders and deal with him trying to incite a rebellion—” She stopped, and slid a hand over her hair. “I’m making excuses.”
I shook my head. “No you’re not. You’ve been running on herbal tea and very little sleep for over a week. I’ve at least had caffeine.”
“I don’t think any amount of caffeine would have made dealing with Jaeger any easier,” she said.
There was a tiny bit of apple left in her dish. She scooped it up with her spoon, leaned over and held it out to Owen. He sniffed it carefully and instead of putting it on the floor so he could investigate it like a crime scene technician, he actually ate from the spoon.
“And, if you’re wondering if I pushed Jaeger down those stairs, the answer is no.”
“Let me guess. Marcus actually asked you that.”
She gave me a wry smile as she straightened up. “He did. He also asked if I’d given Jaeger my keys.” She held up a hand before I could say anything. “And don’t call him a dipwad. He’s just doing his job.”
“I know,” I said. “I just wish he could be a little more human when he does it.” I got up from the table and put the kettle on to boil so I could make Maggie some tea. “And I wish he’d put his focus back on those remains—whoever they are—out at Wisteria Hill. Jaeger’s death was an accident.”
Maggie stretched, stood up, and started clearing the table. “I should call Roma,” she said. “Do you think it actually is her father’s body out there?”
“That ring is his. He disappeared a long, long time ago. It does make sense.” I got a cup and the peppermint teabags I kept just for Maggie out of the cupboard. “I did a little research in the newspaper’s archives. Thomas Karlsson had a job with a landscaping company for a while—Sam’s father’s company. Maybe he was working at Wisteria Hill.”
Just then the phone rang. “Go ahead and make your tea,” I said to Maggie as I headed for the living room.
I leaned across the wing chair, and grabbed the receiver.
“Hi, Kathleen,” Roma said.
There was something flat and off about her voice. I dropped onto the footstool.
“Dr. Abbott got someone she knows who’s a forensic dentist to come look at the…remains.”
My chest tightened. “And?” I said.
“And…and I don’t know how he did it so fast but Marcus got my—Tom’s dental records.”
I knew what was coming before she said the words.
“It’s him, Kathleen. That’s my father who was buried out at Wisteria Hill.”
11
I rubbed my left shoulder, which had suddenly tightened into knots. “I’m so sorry, Roma,” I said. “Are you all right?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “All these years I thought he’d just…left. Now I find out…I don’t know.”
“I know that Eddie’s on the road,” I said. “Why don’t you come over? Maggie’s here and there’s some of Rebecca’s apple crumble.”
She hesitated for a moment. “Okay.”
“We’ll see you in a few minutes,” I said and hung up.
I went back to the kitchen. Maggie had cleared the table, stacked the dishes at one side of the sink and was drinking her tea and talking quietly to Owen.
I dropped into the chair across from her. She studied my face. “Whoever that was, it wasn’t good news.”
“That was Roma,” I said. “I have no idea how Marcus did it all so quickly, but those are her father’s remains.”
Maggie winced and shook her head. “I was really hoping it would be someone else.”