Faye Kellerman: The Garden Of Eden And Other Criminal Delights

“She’s always kept money there!” Meredith said. “That was her hiding place!”

Edwina chimed in, “Dammit, I kept telling her to put it in investments! Something that would grow. Mom could be so stubborn sometimes.”

“All the time!” Meredith was crying now. “I was counting on that money to pay off some loans!” She quickly gasped. “Not that I was thinking about my mother’s death to get money!”

Decker nodded but filed her words in his memory bank.

“I know what you’re saying,” Edwina said. “Losing all that cash is a complete and utter waste!”

“Exactly!” Meredith blew her nose. “Exactly.”

“I’m going to check the other drawers now,” Decker said. “Watch me, all right?” Twenty minutes of careful searching proved fruitless. He stood up, rolled his shoulders, and shook his head. “How much cash are we talking about?”

“Twenty thousand dollars,” Edwina answered.

Decker had to refrain from choking. “Twenty thousand dollars ? Cash ?”

“Can you believe that?” Edwina snarled. “It is infuriating! I should have known something like this was going to happen.”

Decker looked around. The room overflowed with flowers and plants, dozens of botanical drawings and paintings plastered all over the walls. It made Rina’s obsession look moderate.

“Tell me about this gardener,” he said.

Meredith was sobbing too hard to talk. Edwina bit her lip. “His name is Lee Kwan. He’s about seventy years old. He’s small and slight, and Mom has known him for over twenty years. I can’t believe he’d ever rob her, let alone hurt her.”

“What about the lawyer you mentioned?” Decker asked. “Mr. Mortimer. Could he have a key?”

“It’s possible,” Edwina said.

“What’s the name of the firm?” Decker asked.

“Mortimer, Dratsky, and Farrington,” Edwina said.

Decker wrote it down. “Anyone else who might have a key? Think hard!” After both women pleaded ignorance, Decker said, “I’ll need to speak with Mr. Kwan. Would either of you have a phone number or address for him?”

Edwina went over to the window and drew back the curtains. “Today’s your lucky day, Lieutenant Decker. Kwan’s truck just pulled up to the curb.”

The man seemed completely confused as to why Decker was talking to him. His dismay also could have been the result of his limited English. Kwan’s eyes were moist. “Terrible, terrible. She was nice woman.”

Edwina was right: Lee was old and slight of build, but there was muscle and sinew in his body.

“You have a key to her house, Mr. Kwan?” Decker said.

“Yes, I have key. You want the key?”

Decker said, “That would be helpful, thank you. Have you ever used it to get into Mrs. Eden’s house?”

“No, I never use it. Why would I use it?”

“Why did Mrs. Eden give it to you?”

“I don’t know,” Kwan answered. “I never ask. She give me key. I take key. You want it?” He fished it off a sizable key ring and dropped it into Decker’s waiting palm. “Here is key.”

“Thank you, sir.” Decker smiled. “Can you tell me where you were this morning, Mr. Kwan?”

The man’s eyes narrowed. “I work all morning. Three houses: one in Porter Ranch, two in Canoga Park. Why you ask where was I?”

“Just routine questions. I need the addresses of the houses.”

The gardener stared at him. Then he shrugged and said, “Yes, I give you address. I don’t see Miss Eden at all today. Maybe if I do, I can help her. Now is too late. How she die?”

“Heart attack,” Decker said.

“Yes, yes. She has bad heart. A couple times she stays outside when it’s too hot. I tell her to go inside, but she don’t listen. Only laugh. She is very stubborn.”

“That’s what her daughters told me about her,” Decker said.

“See, I tell you the truth.”

Spoken with vehemence. He was anxious but probably because he was being probed. Decker handed Kwan a blank piece of paper from his notebook. “Can you write down the addresses of the places you were this morning?”

“Yes, yes.”

“Anyone notice you at work?” Decker asked.

“They see me,” Kwan said. “I don’t know if they notice me. I’m gardener. Sometimes they see me, they wave. Sometimes no. Only Miss Eden really notice me. Only she take time to talk to me. She ask me about my children. She give me lemonade when it is hot. She pick me flowers for my wife. She ask me questions about her plants. She give me two drawing of orchid from her house because I say I like them. I don’t ask for them, she just give them to me.” His face grew solemn. “You see big green tree in the back?”

“The magnolia?”

“It is Chinese sacred tree. Once it was against the law to take it out of China. I get one for her because she is special lady. She thank me over and over. We planted it together fifteen year ago when it is fifteen-gallon tree. Now look at it. Just a year ago we build bench.” Again his eyes moistened. He scribbled on the piece of paper and handed it back to Decker. “Very special lady. I will miss her.”

“You can’t search Kwan’s house or something?” Meredith shrieked over the phone. “It’s been over two weeks since my mother’s death, and the money’s still missing!”

Decker responded in a calm voice, “I realize you’re frustrated, Ms. Eden-”

“I’m a lot more than frustrated,” Meredith broke in. “I’m pissed! Just search his house! If you don’t find it, I’ll shut up!”

“Ma’am, I don’t have any cause to search his house. Mr. Kwan was where he said he was-working all morning. All three homes verified his presence. The man doesn’t have a record, all his immigration papers are in order, he has a Social Security number, and he’s paid his taxes. As far as I can determine, he’s a model citizen.”

“His lack of record means nothing! The man had a key. He could have burgled the house when my mother wasn’t home, and the neighbors wouldn’t notice, because he worked there on a regular basis.”

“Do you have any reason to suspect that he knew about the money? I mean, as far as you know, only you and your sister were aware that the stash was there, right?”

There was silence over the line.

“Ms. Eden?”

Meredith said, “Well, even if he didn’t know it was there, he could have come earlier and seen she was dead. Then, on an impulse, he could have burgled the house and found the money. Or… or maybe Mom even told him about it.”

“Why would she do that?”

“Because my mother was a senile old woman. I don’t know. Can’t you just check out his bank account or something like that? See if he made a big deposit?”

“Not without probable cause, ma’am. No judge would issue a warrant.” Decker paused. “If you have verification of the existence of the cash, maybe your mother had insurance-”

“No, she didn’t have insurance! If she wanted the money safe, she would have put it in the bank.”

“Then why didn’t she do just that?”

“Who knows and who cares? The bottom line is it’s gone. And I know that this Kwan character had something to do with it.”

“If you really think that is the case, Ms. Eden, you might consider hiring a private detective-”

The loud click stung his ear. She had hung up on him. Decker stowed the cellular in the inside pocket of his jacket. He shouldn’t be talking on the phone and driving at the same time. It served him right for answering the call in the first place. He pulled into his driveway and turned off the motor, still thinking about the missing money. The cash could have been stolen a long time ago. Then he thought about that bit of sweater peeking out from the drawer. The cash might have been gone, but someone had been looking for the stash very recently.