“I’ll have to go check, won’t I?” she said, knowing it to be Charlie and anxious to get off the phone. “Give my love to Diane.” Edna ended the call, glad that Albert had taken the time to visit their daughter and equally happy he wouldn’t be home until after she’d had a chance to quiz Charlie.
Chapter 23
Edna hung up just as Charlie walked into the kitchen from the mudroom. “Hello, ladies,” he greeted. Raising his chin, he sniffed the air. “Something smells good.”
Edna could see he was trying to be cheerful, but he looked exhausted. His hazel eyes were underscored by dark patches and his curly brown hair needed a comb run through it instead of fingers. “Seems like you had as restless a night as I did,” she greeted in sympathetic understanding.
“Caught a few winks, but couldn’t keep my mind off these cases,” he admitted. “Been up since five. I wanted to see Tony and then get to the office to find out what the lab people have come up with on Resnik’s computer.”
“And I bet you haven’t taken time to eat,” she said.
He grinned. “I confess, your invitation to lunch sounded pretty good.”
“Come sit.” She filled a mug and placed it on the table, returning to the stove just as the oven timer buzzed.
“Haven’t you wrapped things up yet, chief?” Mary teased while Charlie removed his tweed sports jacket and draped it over the chair back.
“Mostly, but I thought you might help me figure out the rest,” he quipped and dropped into the chair opposite her.
Taking the pies from the oven, Edna called, “Wait. I don’t want to miss anything.” A minute later, after setting a quiche on the table and plates before her guests, she motioned for Mary to help herself and spoke to Charlie. “I’m anxious to hear everything, but I think you should eat first.”
In unspoken agreement, the three fell silent while they satisfied their appetites. Edna kept her eye on Charlie and, after a second helping, when he finally leaned back in his chair with mug in hand, she could wait no longer. Beginning with the question foremost on her mind, she asked, “Did Pieter have a heart attack? Please tell me he wasn’t killed.”
Charlie reached for her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Seems to be a heart attack, but the final report isn’t in yet. Among other things, they’ll be running a test on the liquid in his glass.” He paused before continuing in a confidential tone. “I want to rule out an overdose of his medication.”
“Suicide?” Edna gasped. When Charlie waggled a hand in a “maybe yes, maybe no” gesture, she grew quiet, thinking about the possibility. Picturing the man’s stricken face, she said, “It looked to me more like he was frightened or startled.” She stopped to consider her next thought, then said, “Someone left the front door open that night. Do you think whoever was in the house could have coerced Pieter into taking his own life?”
“Not really. Tony’s story seems to line up with Jason Lyneman’s. My instinct tells me neither of them was responsible for Resnik’s death,” Charlie replied and went on to clarify. “Jason was the one in the house that night.”
Surprised at the certainty of the answer, she said, “How do you know? When did you speak to him?”
Charlie leaned forward and set his empty cup on the table before he spoke. “He showed up at the station this morning. Said he figured I’d need his statement. Very considerate of him,” the detective added with a heavy dose of sarcasm.
“So Vera was correct in thinking her nephew went to see Pieter Wednesday night,” Edna said, voicing a memory more than asking a question. She frowned at Charlie. “How did he get in? I know Vera made a key to the office for him. Did she also give him a key to Pieter’s house?”
Charlie shook his head. “According to Jason, he knew Pieter was home because he heard loud music coming from inside. When Resnik didn’t answer the bell, Jason said he wasn’t just going to go away quietly. Figuring most people hid keys in case of emergency, he hunted around. Said it took him about three minutes to find one in the carriage lamp beside the door. He opened the door and returned the key, planning to tell Pieter he’d left it unlocked.”
“That’s breaking and entering,” Mary spoke up.
“Technically, but I’m sure a good defense attorney can get him off with a reprimand,” Charlie said with more than a hint of cynicism.
“If Jason confronted Pieter about his complicity in Billy Rob’s scheme, couldn’t the stress have triggered Pieter’s heart attack?” Edna asked. She wasn’t particularly fond of the self-important lawyer and couldn’t help but wonder if he’d been responsible for the periodontist’s death, wittingly or not.
Charlie rested his forearms on the table and picked up a teaspoon, toying with it as he spoke. “Jason claimed Resnik was already dead. Said he never had a chance to talk to him.”
“He didn’t call it in,” Mary admonished, raising her eyebrows. “Edna and Carol did.”
Charlie studied her for a second or two, apparently realizing she was thinking of the legal ramifications of the young man’s actions. “He said the shock of discovering Resnik drove everything from his mind except escaping from the house.”
“Didn’t you charge him with failure to report a death?” Mary said, dwelling on the legal aspects. “He had a whole night to call it in.”
“He was going to report it,” Charlie said, obviously paraphrasing Jason’s words, “but he’d already left the premises, so he first wanted to seek counsel.”
“How did Pieter get mixed up with Billy Rob Kailey in the first place?” Edna had been thinking of the bodies she’d found and, for the moment, wasn’t interested in what might happen to Jason.
Still playing with his spoon, Charlie sat back in his chair and half turned toward Edna. “The techs are still sifting through the evidence, so don’t take what I’m about to tell you as the official record. Okay?” He waited for Edna to agree and then turned his gaze on Mary.
“Whatever you say, chief,” she said with a grin. When Charlie waited silently, she answered more somberly, “Of course.”
“Pieter was broke. He needed money,” Charlie said. “It’s fairly obvious he must have approached Kailey instead of going to a bank.”
“What?” Surprised by the answer, Edna straightened in her chair. “I thought they had plenty of money. His house alone must be worth a few million.”
Charlie shook his head, but not in disagreement. “That might be but ten years ago, according to the accounts we found on the computer, Pieter’s practice wasn’t bringing in enough to pay the monthly grocery bill.”
Mary had fallen silent, staring at the cloth napkin she was slowly pulling between thumb and forefinger. Abruptly, she raised her head. “Makes sense to me.” Looking from Edna to Charlie, she explained. “Pieter spent a lot of time working with folks who couldn’t afford to pay him. Isabelle was fanatical about her charities, working with the poor and homeless, and she dragged Pieter into her causes. I remember hearing that he never said no to her. He was absolutely devoted to her and she worshipped him.” Mary shrugged. “Could be he didn’t want her to know she was driving his practice into bankruptcy. Besides that, he didn’t come from money, but she did. He’d have felt obliged to hold up his end of the finances and not feel like a ‘kept man.’ I can see it.”
Edna had heard stories about Mary’s parents raising her to believe that anyone who professed to love her would only be after her money, so she would probably be sensitive to the Resniks’ situation. “So Pieter went to Billy Rob Kailey instead of chancing that his wife would find out about a bank loan,” Edna surmised, “and the scoundrel offered Pieter a way out ... for a very steep price.”
Mary raised a shoulder in a “that would be my guess” gesture.
“You two are getting pretty good at this detective stuff,” Charlie teased, partly to lighten the dark mood that had fallen on the room, Edna thought. He continued in a slightly more serious tone. “Well, you’re right. About the time of Billy Rob’s disappearance, Pieter’
s financials underwent a sizeable growth spurt. Looks like he received a boat load of money to swap Pennyworth’s and Kailey’s dental charts and then swear to the identity of the body in court.”
“I bet he hadn’t figured on George Baxter being accused of murder,” Mary speculated.
“What’s that saying from Sir Walter Scott?” Edna asked as she went on to answer, “Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive!” She immediately thought of another question that had bothered her. “What about that body. Wasn’t it awfully convenient that Pennyworth’s corpse showed up right when Billy Rob was planning to disappear.”
“Tony cleared that up this morning,” Charlie said, resting an elbow on the back of his chair.
Mary, the hospital volunteer, interrupted. “Tony’s recovered from his concussion?”
“Pretty much,” Charlie said, “although the doctor won’t release him into our custody for another day.”
“What’d he tell you about Billy Rob?” For a flash, Edna was glad she hadn’t injured Tony seriously but then she remembered his threats and the fear she’d felt. With a shiver, she pushed the terrifying memory aside and concentrated on Billy Rob’s scheme.
“And how’d he pull it off?” Mary wanted to know.
“Billy Rob was pretty proud of his disappearing act, according to Tony,” Charlie said. “Kailey bragged about buying a boat for cash from some old guy so the purchase wouldn’t be traced. Then, he made his way down the coast to Belize where he had some basic but effective plastic surgery done, and spent the last ten years island hopping around the Caribbean. Recommended it to his brother-in-law as a ‘great getaway.’” Charlie shook his head and looked disgusted. “Apparently, Billy Rob was also extremely pleased that the statute of limitations had run out on any embezzlement charges. Said ten years was the limit for embezzlement, under Rhode Island law. He hadn’t once mentioned his wife and kids before he laughed and claimed he was home scot-free. Tony said he got so angry, he literally saw red.”
“That must have been when he shoved his brother-in-law, causing Billy Rob to slip on the drop cloth and fall against the workbench,” Edna recalled what the man had confessed to her just as Mary snorted a laugh.
“He was wrong,” the redhead said. Obviously seeing blank looks from the two across the table, she explained further. “It hasn’t been ten years since Fran reported Billy Rob missing. Won’t be for another few days. If Tony hadn’t killed Billy Rob, you could’ve arrested him,” she said to Charlie.
Tuning out the ensuing technical discussion between Mary and Charlie, Edna mulled over the information and thought how tragic the whole episode was. If Tony hadn’t pushed Billy Rob; if Billy Rob hadn’t slipped; if she hadn’t arrived at the building, distracting Tony so he forgot to turn off the nitrous oxide. “If wishes were horses …”, she thought. Interrupting the other two, she said, “It still seems pretty convenient to me, Billy Rob finding a body just when he was getting ready to vanish.”
“Tony said Billy Rob had no thoughts of disappearing until he found the body on the beach,” Charlie explained. “He was actually going to phone in his discovery when the idea began to form. Fran and the kids were visiting her parents’ for the first week of summer vacation, so he was alone. He’d been shut up in the house for three days during the nor’easter, drinking and getting more depressed about his life. Said George was wanting out of the partnership. If he insisted on dissolving their agreement, an audit would disclose Kailey’s embezzlement. Everything was about to fall apart. Billy Rob only wanted to live the good life, be happy and carefree.
“Selfish, self-absorbed,” Edna muttered.
Charlie nodded and continued. “Apparently, the last day of the storm, Billy Rob was so sick of being closed in, he walked to the end of Matunuck Beach Road. That’s when he spotted what looked like a pile of old clothes on the shore. When he got close enough to figure out it was a man, he spotted a bulge in the back pocket and pulled out the wallet. The body was already so messed up, the ID’s were the only way Kailey knew who it had been. He was on his way home to phone the police when he started thinking the corpse could very well have been him. He knew Pennyworth. Ran in the same social circles and belonged to some of the same clubs. When Kailey thought about how similar their general appearances were, his plan began to take shape.”
“Billy Rob confessed all this to Tony before he died?” Mary asked.
“Partly,” Charlie said. “Some of it we got from Resnik’s computer.”
“Did he leave a confession?” Edna asked, thinking of the document she and Carol had seen on the monitor in Resnik’s den.
“I’d call it more of a recounting,” Charlie said. “What you saw was an old file, not something he was working on just before he died. Seems that after Pieter got out of the hospital, he felt compelled to write about his role in Billy Rob’s scheme. He was scared, angry and upset, sure that Billy Rob was the driver of the hit-and-run that killed Isabelle. Pieter knew he was Billy Rob’s intended victim. Tying up loose ends and getting rid of the only witness to the fact that Kailey was still alive. The computer file date shows that Pieter hadn’t changed the document for years. Maybe he was reading it to refresh his memory, but I have a feeling he left the file open for us to find. Seeing the computer set up like that is what makes me wonder if he purposely overdosed on his medication.”
“Suppose he wanted to get caught?” Mary asked. “He might have intended to print the thing and send it to you.”
The comment made Edna speculate. “I wonder if that’s why he hung onto the dental records he used in court. Sort of like wanting to be found out, but not giving himself up.” She turned again to ask Charlie, “Did he have much more to say about Billy Rob’s plan?”
Charlie nodded. “He described how Gilford Pennyworth’s body got into Salt Pond.”
Mary leaned forward, pushing her empty plate to one side. “Yeah. Billy Rob must’ve dumped him there?”
“Obvious, huh?” Charlie gave her a sheepish grin.
She laughed. “Not hard to guess.” She back and looked pleased with herself. “Only way the body could have ended up there. Can’t see Pieter toting the body up to the pond. Once Billy Rob knew who it was, he dumped the body.” She frowned in thought briefly, then added. “After that, he probably offered to forget Pieter’s loan in return for a simple swapping of dental records.” She watched Charlie’s face, looking pleased with herself.
“Pretty good reasoning,” Charlie said, giving Mary her due before turning to summarize for Edna. “We learned about Kailey finding the body and planning his disappearance from Pieter’s report,” he said. “Tony’s information was mostly what Billy Rob bragged about after he left town, which must have been after he tried to run down Pieter and ended up killing Isabelle.”
“Why didn’t Pieter go to the police back then?” Edna wanted to know.
“For complex reasons,” Charlie said. “According to Pieter’s account, Billy Rob knew the Resniks habitually walked in the evenings and the nearly-deserted lanes they took. That was the main reason for Pieter’s belief, but he had no proof. Remember, he’d just identified a dead man as Kailey. To go after Billy Rob, Pieter would have had to confess to his complicity in the fraud and to committing perjury at George Baxter’s trial, and Resnik was terrified of going to prison.”
“So he sent an innocent man to jail instead,” Edna said, feeling more sympathy for Tony Somner and less charitable toward Pieter Resnik than she had previously. “What a sad, sad story,” Edna said.
“There’s a silver lining,” Charlie said, sounding cheerful for the first time since their discussion began. “Pieter left a will with the other documents on his computer. He left his entire estate to be split between George Baxter and Fran Kailey, including the house and everything in it. He apologized for his part in the betrayal and admitted to the cowardice of his actions.” The detective shook his head. “I can’t stop thinking that he finally reached the point where he could no
longer live with himself. I believe Billy Rob showing up pushed Pieter over the edge.”
The three friends sat in silence for a few minutes. Edna was wondering if Mary and Charlie felt as emotionally drained as she when the detective suddenly raised his wrist to glance at his watch. “I’ve gotta get back to work,” he said, rising and picking his jacket off the chair. “Thanks for lunch, Edna. No, don’t bother,” he added as she was about to get up. “I’m sure these critters can show me the way out,” he laughed as Hank and Annie jumped up from a seemingly deep sleep and rushed over for food or affection or both.
“I’ll go out with them,” Mary said, rising from her own chair. “These pups need a walk.” As she bent to scoop up Spot and follow the others through the mudroom, she said to Edna, “Wait on the cleanup. I’ll be back to help with the dishes.”
But Edna needed to move around and there wasn’t much to straighten up from the simple lunch, so by the time Mary returned, the kitchen was spotless and Edna had just made a fresh pot of tea. Setting it and a plate of coffee cake slices on the table, she said, “Where are your pets?”
“Left ‘em in the house. I was only coming back to help clean up, but another cup sounds nice.”
“I’m glad it does,” Edna said, taking Charlie’s chair across from Mary. “I don’t feel like being alone just yet.”
“Me, either,” Mary agreed.
The two friends were so absorbed in rehashing their thoughts on the week’s events that they weren’t aware of Albert’s arrival until he was standing in the doorway to the front hall. His voice startled them.
“Well, I see you two are keeping busy,” he said, smiling and walking over to kiss the top of Edna’s head before nodding a greeting toward Mary. “Gossiping about anyone I know?”
Ignoring his remarks, Edna rose and gave him a hug, wondering if he’d overheard anything that would make him curious. “It’s good to have you home, dear. Sit and I’ll get you a cup of tea, plus a surprise I made for you this morning.”