Marcia Talley - A Quiet Death

‘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?

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.

The sun slanted through the trees, but a bit of early-morning chill still clung to the air. I regretted running out of the house so quickly that I’d forgotten to put a fleece on over my T-shirt and jeans.

Lilith had told me she’d be in her studio, so I jogged through the woods in that direction, but when I stuck my head into the studio and called out, she wasn’t there. She wasn’t on the patio either, or sitting on the dock near the water.

Lilith had telephoned from her house. I knew that because I had heard the television. Surely she didn’t intend for me to meet her there! But if her car was in the drive, I reasoned, she had to be around somewhere.

I jogged back to the house and let myself in through the kitchen door. ‘Lilith! Are you here?’

There was no answer.

I listened to the silence, made even odder by the fact that I couldn’t hear the television. ‘Lilith?’

Following the path Lilith had made through the disaster that was her kitchen, with one eye constantly on where I was placing my feet, I stepped carefully into the central hallway, calling her name. She wasn’t in the shambles of her living room, or anywhere in the wreck of the hall.

The door to the bathroom was closed. Fearing Lilith had taken a tumble in the tub, I knocked, pushed it open, but she wasn’t in the bathroom, either. ‘Lilith!’

While wending my way out of the bathroom, I was distracted by a noise. Was somebody calling my name? I high-stepped cautiously over a pile of folded towels, but didn’t see – until it was way too late – the Charmin UltraSoft 2-Ply Jumbo Pack just on the other side. My foot came down on the Charmin, slipped out from under me, and suddenly I was flying head-first across the narrow hallway. My forehead came to a sudden stop against the doorframe of what might have been, in a previous life, a linen closet, knocking me silly.

‘Damn, damn, damn!’ I shook my head, trying to dissipate the stars that were doing colorful loop-de-loops behind my eyeballs. With my fingers, I explored the knot on my forehead, already beginning to swell.

Feeling stupid, I struggled to my feet, leaning against the wall for support. I imagined my obituary: Hannah Ives, late of Annapolis, died in a tragic accident when she tripped over a twelve-pack of toilet paper. How embarrassing. Paul would never forgive me.

‘Lilith!’

This time, I thought I heard a reply. The door to the guest bedroom stood ajar, but Lilith wasn’t in among the ruins. Still massaging the bump on my head, I staggered over to the master-bedroom door and pushed on it hard, but it refused to open. ‘Lilith!’ I called.

‘I’m in here!’ Her voice, normally soft, was now only a whisper.

‘I’ve been looking for you everywhere!’ I rattled the doorknob, turned it, pushed, but the door still wouldn’t budge.

‘I was searching for the TV remote, so I started moving boxes and suddenly everything fell in on me.’ Lilith was in tears.

Oh dear, the domino effect. Having been in Lilith’s bedroom, it wasn’t hard to imagine. Borrowing a move I’d seen on a dozen cop shows, I stepped back, then rammed the door with my shoulder, but only succeeded in creating a one-inch gap. I put my lips to the opening and called out, ‘Are you hurt?’

‘I think my ankle’s broken,’ she wailed. ‘Oh, God, it hurts!’

‘I can’t get the door open, Lilith! What’s blocking it on your side?’

‘Stupid, stupid, stupid! I’m so embarrassed, Hannah!’

‘Lilith, don’t worry about that now. Can you crawl over to the door?’

A whimper. ‘No.’

‘OK. I’m going to call for help. Hang in there.’

I reached into the pocket of my jeans to retrieve my iPhone, but it wasn’t there. I patted all my pockets, front and back. No luck. I leaned against the doorframe, momentarily confused. I distinctly remembered slipping the phone into the right back pocket of my jeans when I got out of my car. Where the hell had it gone?