Lakeside Beauty, page 15
Piet’s father turned and marched back to his son’s bedside, returning shortly with a key on a Guinness key ring. “Is this the key to your flat?”
She took it from him and clutched it to her chest. “Yes. Thank you. What a relief.”
He nodded. “If you want to come home with us, you are welcome, of course.”
Shannon almost cried to hear the kind offer. “No, thank you so much, but I have my dog at home, and I promised to look after Caesar for Piet. I checked on him before I came here, but I’ll stop in again when I get home. He’ll be lonely.”
Mr. Van Loo put out his hand to shake hers. “We’ll be back tomorrow. I think his mother would prefer to take him home with us when he is released, but, well, Piet can be stubborn.”
His mother murmured, “he’s his father’s son.”
Shannon smiled. “I’ll just say goodnight to him and then I’ll head for home as well.”
5
Shannon’s eyes felt gummy when her phone rang early the next morning. She glanced at the clock and saw it was after seven o’clock. Since she hadn’t fallen asleep until nearly five o’clock, it felt as though she had barely closed her eyes.
She fumbled with the phone to answer it. “Hello?”
Shannon sat up when she heard Piet’s voice. “They’re letting me out this morning after the doctor signs off on it.”
“That’s brilliant. Can I come to get you, or are you going to Orono with the folks?”
“Please. I need peace and quiet, not a lot of fuss and bowls of heavy pea soup.”
“Have you let them know? Sounds like your mum is keen to have you there.”
“I spoke to them a few minutes ago to let them know I’m fine and not to come all the way down here again. I said you were picking me up.”
“You did right. Any idea when?”
“The doctor apparently makes his rounds somewhere around ten o’clock, so it’ll be after that.”
“I’ll be there, my friend. I’ll come at ten, so as soon as you can go, we’re out of there.”
5
True to her word, Shannon was at the hospital at nine-thirty, just in case. Before that, she had spent time in Piet’s flat. She ran a load of laundry to have the sheets and towels clean and fresh, cleaned the litter box, fed Caesar, dusted, and ran the vacuum around. She studied the orchids on their tiered stand with lights and decided she had better not touch them, knowing he had a complex system of misting, soaking, and humidity bowls.
Shannon ran out and picked up fresh milk, bread, and eggs to make sure Piet didn’t need to go anywhere for his essentials. After satisfying herself that she had done everything she could, Shannon headed to the hospital.
Approaching his private hospital room, she heard Piet’s voice. Shannon poked her head in and saw Sergeant Khan sitting beside the bed, taking notes.
Piet sat up, a large white pad taped to the back of his head. “I truly remember nothing else.”
Khan saw Shannon and gestured for her to come in. “You might as well join us.”
She came to Piet’s side and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “How’re you feeling?”
“Better than last night. I still have a headache, but it’s settled into a dull ache instead of intense throbbing, so that’s something, I guess.”
“Has the doctor been?”
“Not yet.”
Shannon found another chair and carried it to the side opposite of Khan, who continued with his questions to Piet. “You heard breaking glass and worried it might be the dog, so you came down to investigate. Correct?”
“Yes.” He glanced at Shannon. “I wasn’t sure if you had taken Dusty with you. I know you usually do, but I couldn’t think of another reason for breaking glass. Silly me. I should have just called the police, but I was worried that if Dusty had knocked something over, she might step in broken glass, and hurt herself.”
She squeezed his arm. “Thank you for caring so much.”
Khan continued. “You went down then and let yourself in using the spare key that you have.”
“Yes. I didn’t even get very far. I went in and I knew right away that Dusty wasn’t there. She would have barked and greeted me. It was quiet except for this noise. It took me a minute to understand what it was, and it was more the draft than anything, but I took a few steps toward the kitchen and realized the window was broken. I heard wind noise and felt the cold air. That was it. I guess someone had been standing in the hall that goes down to the bedroom and bathroom. While I stood looking at the window, they came up behind me and gave me a conk on the head.”
Khan nodded. “This is important now. Did they say anything? Maybe you heard their voice? Male or female? An accent?”
“No, nothing. One minute I’m standing looking at the broken window and the next, Shannon was kneeling beside me on the floor.”
“As you fell to the floor, perhaps you saw their shoes?” Khan suggested hopefully.
“No, I’m afraid not.”
The doctor came in then, accompanied by a nurse. “I need to see this patient, so everyone out, please.”
Khan handed his card to Piet. “If anything comes back to you, please call.”
Shannon followed the sergeant outside. “I know the officers took a pile of photos last night and there was a forensics woman there early this morning taking fingerprints from the window frame and kitchen counter. Will any of that help find who did this?”
“Unlikely. Whoever did this was careful. It looks like they wore gloves.”
“Tsk, tsk. One thing we know. It wasn’t Jason Elliot.”
“That’s true. Of course, we have no evidence that connects this to the murder of Brenda Elliot.”
“Of course, it is!”
“We would be more able to say that with certainty if we had the phone you discovered.”
“But we don’t.”
“But we don’t.” He agreed. Sergeant Khan put the notebook in his breast pocket and gave her a curt nod as he swivelled and left.
Chapter Twenty-Four
PIET STRETCHED OUT ON his sofa with his grey tabby cat stretched out on him. “It’s good to be home. Thanks for tidying up, Shannon. That wasn’t necessary.”
“Please. It’s the least I could do. The bed is all ready for you when you want. Are you sure you don’t want to go there now?”
“Absolutely not. This is perfect. I doubt if I’ll watch T.V., but I’ve got the remote here for my stereo, and I’m looking forward to just dozing. My dad’s gone to work, but he’s coming by later with some food my mom sent with him.”
Shannon smiled. “That’s what family is for. Food is the international language for caring. OK, I’ll leave you to rest, but you know I promised to keep an eye on you for 24 hours, and I’m sorry, but if you’re sleeping, I’ll need to give you a nudge to wake you up. I promise I won’t hang about trying to chat with you, though.”
“OK. Go away, then. I’ll see you in an hour.”
Shannon smiled and stroked the purring cat. “Look after him, Caesar.”
When she went back to her own apartment, Shannon was restless. “I suppose we can go for a walk, Dusty. I wish there was something I could do to make this right, but I don’t know what. Maybe I need to leave it to the police after all. I just keep making things worse.”
She leashed up her dog and bundled herself in her parka. The wind had turned bitter again, leaving any sign of spring behind. They turned left at the bottom of her street and wandered along. Dusty loved the relaxed pace and kept stopping to sniff things, which Shannon didn’t seem to mind. She turned down Thomas Street towards the Lions Club grounds where people still walked their dogs, despite the plans to remediate the lands. There had been a recent rally with a call to save the trees on the grounds after a plan to cut them down had been announced. Shannon thought she had better enjoy them while she could.
Regardless of the skeletal nakedness of the late winter trees, Shannon felt refreshed after the forty-minute walk, and it made her mind up. She got two mugs ready to make hot chocolate, deciding she’d take both mugs and the milk up with her when the hour had passed. If her friend wanted to sleep, she’d bring it back and make herself a cup, but perhaps he’d be ready for the comforting drink.
She balanced a tray with the mugs, whipped cream, and cocoa and went upstairs with it. Opening the door, Caesar greeted her, winding his way between her legs. She was well-practiced at avoiding the cat’s efforts to trip her up and she tiptoed into the living room. Classical music played softly. She stopped when Piet opened his eyes.
He swung his feet off the sofa and sat up. “Hello. You’re loaded down there.”
She went to the kitchen and set down her tray before returning to him. “Did you sleep at all?”
“Not really. Maybe dozed for a few minutes, but I slept enough. I think the headache is better when I sit up.”
“I brought the fixings for hot chocolate. Feel like a cup? Or something else?”
He smiled. “A cup of hot chocolate sounds perfect. You’ll keep me company?”
“I will for a bit.” Shannon made the hot chocolate and set his down on the coffee table before sitting down across from him. “I’m so sorry this happened to you, Piet.”
He waved at her. “Stop. You’ve already apologized, and it’s not your fault.”
“It’s made me think, though. My uncle Bob was seriously upset with me, and they could have killed you. It’s been a real lesson to me.”
He took a sip of chocolate and licked the whipped cream from his upper lip. “What have you learned?”
“To leave this alone. As much as it upsets me, knowing that Jason is innocent, I have to trust in the justice system and leave it to the experts.”
“Hmm. That’s too bad.”
She stopped with her cup midway to her lips. “What? What do you mean?”
He took another sip and set his cup down. “Before this happened, I would have been glad to hear you say that, but now…”
“Now?”
“Now, I’m angry, Shannon. This is personal. Some fiend attacked me, and I’m severely upset.”
She stared at him and then took a gulp of her drink before answering. “I’m angry too, but is there anything we can do about it?”
“The last time we spoke, you had all kinds of ideas about the case. Talk to me. I’m more than ready to listen now.”
She drained her mug and set it down. “Are you sure? Don’t you need to just rest?”
“I’m done with resting. OK, I’m not going out running through the streets, but I’m well enough to talk about this. Let’s plan our next steps.”
After one last hesitant moment and a silent apology to her uncle, Shannon began. “My first choice, without a doubt, is Barry Humphrey.” She ticked off on her fingers the reasons for her speculation. “One, he had the means. He was in and out of that cottage. I know he was. For one thing, the water was turned on by someone, and Brenda told Ian that it had been the neighbour boy. He’s hardly a boy, but even during their work together on Ian’s campaign, apparently, Brenda used to belittle Barry, so although she didn’t mention him by name, Ian was sure Barry turned the water on. There’s also the census card. I think when he knew Brenda was using the cottage and needed paper to light the stove, he brought her over a stack of old newspapers, and that census card was in the stack.”
Piet nodded. “OK, he had the means.”
“More than that, he had the knowledge about plants. He’s an environmental engineer, and even before he got his degree, he used to lead nature hikes, so he would certainly be familiar with deadly nightshade.”
“I’m convinced of the means, and I guess the opportunity if he was over at the cottage regularly. But what was his motive? It sounds like her disrespecting him was an ongoing thing, so why now? What prompted him to kill her now, and more personally, why did he come for the phone and attack me?”
“The phone was obviously important. It’s possible that text messages between Brenda and him could explain why things escalated or that they arranged to meet. I’m afraid you and your hard head just got in the way.” She smiled at him wryly before going on. “The question of why now, is a good one, though. I can only imagine that maybe once Barry knew Ian had finished with Brenda, he decided to make a move on her. He’s put in the time and patience, helping her out and now he wanted to be more than a shoulder to cry on.”
Piet nodded. “Brenda was having none of it. She may have laughed at him outright. She wasn’t someone to let a guy down gently.”
“No, she wasn’t. She may even have hoped that Ian wasn’t actually through with her. We know he still came out to see her sometimes despite his new relationship. She was ambitious and would not give up on Ian that easily. In her mind, she left a decent life behind to be with him. She wouldn’t have tolerated a move from Barry in case it compromised the future life with a man she viewed as Prime Minister material.”
Piet drained the last of his chocolate. “You have me convinced, and you told Barry’s parents about the phone, right?”
She nodded. “What a reckless, stupid move that was. I just wanted to see their reaction, and Mrs. Humphrey had a reaction. She obviously told Barry. She’s in the middle of this, for sure.”
“You think she knows Barry killed Brenda?”
Shannon shrugged. “It seems like a stretch to accept that from your son, doesn’t it? She must suspect something though, because why would she tell him about the phone otherwise? She’s worried it might incriminate him.”
“So, she tells him about the phone. How does he know to come here and get it last night?”
She shivered. “It’s easy to find out where I live. Maybe he even has access to town council databases since he works as a consultant for them. As far as coming here last night? Barry would have been keen to get that phone as soon as possible before I turned it into the police. He didn’t know for certain I hadn’t already done that, but took a chance, and I helped him out when I just left it in plain sight on the kitchen counter. A phone lay there and that was it. He took a chance. The man didn’t even know if I was home or not, but he may have thought he’d be in and out in no time. It’s easier to walk out the front door than climb back out through a broken window, so he headed to the door and then heard your key in the lock.”
“So, where do we go from here?”
She studied him for a moment, his face pale beneath his shock of dark blond hair hanging on his forehead and the white pad covering most of the shaved patch of his skull.
The intensity of her gaze caused him to push his dark-framed glasses further up his nose. “What?”
“Are you sure about this? You’re usually the voice of reason with your advice to stay out of things.”
“I told you; this is personal now. I’m sure.”
She chewed her bottom lip. “Maybe I’ll call Sergeant Khan first. If they’re taking him in for questioning, we stay out of it. If not, then we’ll make a plan.”
He nodded and swivelled to stretch out again. “OK. That makes sense. You connect with your police buddy and let me know.”
She felt herself flush and was about to protest the characterization of her relationship with Khan, but Piet had closed his eyes and she left it. She crossed the floor to him and bent over to remove his glasses, folding them carefully and leaving them within reach on the coffee table. He smiled but didn’t open his eyes. “I’ll be back in an hour.”
Piet’s breath was already regular, and he made a soft nasal sound that wasn’t quite a snore as she picked up the mugs and left his flat to go make her phone call.
Chapter Twenty-Five
SHANNON WAS PLANNING TO phone the police station as soon as she went back to her own flat, but saw an email from her clients about the home inspection. Worried about some findings the inspector had discovered, she took the time to read the attached report.
Scrolling through it as she called the client, she smiled. First-time homebuyers. When she had the couple on the husband’s speakerphone, she went through the items one by one. “There’s nothing here that alarms me. The house is structurally sound. That’s the first thing he mentions. He noted the ductwork in the basement as being low-hanging, but that’s an easy fix once you move forward with finishing the basement. There are different options like splitting or rerouting the duct, but the easiest is to replace the old ones with wider, flatter ducts.
She addressed all the issues found by the inspector and ended by saying the inspection was positive. “He needs to raise issues, so you feel you’re getting your money’s worth out of the inspection. He can’t just say ‘Everything looks great. Fork over my three hundred and fifty dollars, please.’”
When she finished her call with them and made plans to get together for a sign-off on the conditions, she was ready to call Khan.
Prepared to leave a message, it surprised Shannon when he answered in person. “Miss Coyne.”
She swallowed. “Hello, Sergeant Khan.”
“How are you? Is your window repaired?”
“Not yet. The glazier was here early to take the measurements, but he said it was an odd size so needs custom cutting. That’s happening today, and tomorrow he’ll come back with it. He tells me that most of the windowpanes he replaces in Port Hope are custom cuts, and not consistent sizes, even within a house. I tried to apologize, but he seemed very pleased with it. He said it makes his work interesting.”
She imagined Khan nodding and Shannon smiled when she heard him say, “I like hearing about people happy in their work.”
“I agree.”
“I imagine you are calling to find out what progress we are making on your break-in?”
“If you have anything?” She agreed.
“I wish I had good news to share, but unfortunately, we are no further ahead than the moment we arrived at your home. The perpetrator wore gloves. There are no footprints because of the interlocking brick beneath the window, and as you know, we have no information regarding the phone. We know it wasn’t Brenda Elliot’s, as hers was in the purse we collected at the scene. Before you ask, there were no incriminating phone calls or text messages on her phone. She seemed to communicate with her parents the most. There were some text messages to her husband as well.”
