Mourning After Read online

  "I can't get over this. What was the person looking for?" I said, still taking it all in.

  "Good question. An even better one is, did they find it?" Sheriff Evans asked me.

  “They obviously didn’t care about collectables. Am I right? I mean, they could’ve made off with a small fortune just with that coin collection.” One of the kitchen tins had been knocked over, revealing some type of gold currency.

  Where Gran’s house looked like nothing had been touched, this was completely the opposite. Could they have been pulled off by the same intruder? On the way over here, I would've said absolutely, in fact, that it was most likely, but now seeing the difference in destruction had me second-guessing that statement. I had a feeling Gran might think the same thing when she saw the mess Roseanne’s room was in.

  The sheriff’s phone rang, and he stepped outside in the hall to answer it.

  I thought of one other place where Roseanne may have hidden something. “What about the safe deposit box? She hid the key for a reason, right?”

  “Honestly, who knows at this point and when we’ll be able to find out. I highly doubt there was a beneficiary.”

  I exhaled loudly. “Yeah, me either, but we need to check it out.”

  “You’re right. I’m just … I’m just so angry about all of this.” Jake threw his hands up in the air. “Do you know how often my grandma is home alone? All the time. She’s alone ninety percent of the time at least. What if the person didn’t find what they were looking for? What if they come back and she’s here by herself, or worse, they wait for her because they think she has what they want. What if she’s not as strong as your grandmother?” Jake was on his way to getting himself really riled up. The what-if scenarios kept pouring out of his mouth.

  I touched his arm. “I know, believe me, I know.” I looked at him with as much sincerity as I could muster.

  “I know you do.” Jake went to say something else but stopped short.

  Sheriff Evans returned to the room. A handkerchief seemed to be permanently pressed to his nose in an attempt to stop it from running. “Worst time to be sick,” he was talking mostly to himself.

  “Got anything?” He looked at me hopefully.

  “No. There’s just too much stuff.” In parts of the room, you had to shuffle your feet in the clutter just to walk through.

  “Figured as much. I’m not even sure what to have processed. Maybe the door handles and dressers.” Sheriff Evans seemed to be talking to himself once more.

  From in the kitchen I could hear that Gran and Harold had come in. Gran said something about making a pot of tea, Hazel’s preference, of course. Sheriff Evans continued to talk. He was going to send a crew over tomorrow, but until then, we were going to leave the room as is.

  Gran invited Hazel to come down and stay at her place, but she was just as stubborn as Gran.

  “No one’s chasing me out of my home. Think I’m going to leave and give them the opportunity to do it again? They’ve got another thing coming!”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll stay here tonight,” Jake said to me under his breath.

  “Weren’t you already staying here?” I assumed he was staying with his grandmother while he was in town.

  “No, I rented a place at the Cozy Cabins. Thought I’d get some design work done while I’m here. The mountains help me think.”

  “Oh, nice.” Do not think about getting cozy at the cabins with him! I scolded myself.

  “I’m going to go to the bank tomorrow. See what I can find out. Do you want to come with me?”

  A peace offering.

  I’d take it.

  “Yes, I would. What time?”

  “Ten o’clock work for you? I’ve got a client conference call in the morning, but I should be off by then. I thought I would be back by now, but obviously …” Jake’s words trailed off.

  “Yeah, understandable, and yes, that time works.”

  Our little trio started to make its way back home and this time I was determined not to let Gran distract me with moving bushes or talk of capers.

  “Wait, let me give you guys a ride.” Jake jogged down the driveway to meet us.

  “No, we’re totally fine, really,” I assured him. I felt there was safety in numbers.

  “For me then. It would make me feel better.” A flash of anger was there once again. Not at me, or Gran and Harold, but at what could have happened. I put my hands up in surrender and we walked over to Hazel’s car.

  10

  The next morning, we entered the bank and I glanced around. None of the tellers bothered to look up or acknowledge us. One was refilling candy suckers for her window’s candy dish, smacking her bubble gum in the process. Two others were gossiping back and forth while counting their cash, their voices low as they whispered back and forth over their station dividers.

  “Welcome to First Federal. I’m so happy you came in to see us today!” The woman seemed to appear out of nowhere until I spotted a desk behind a low-lying cubicle wall. The woman who greeted us had on a brown business suit with a skirt that matched the carpeting and decor perfectly. Her red hair was down and as springy as her personality. The gold name tag pinned to her chest read “Patty Reynolds, Branch Manager.”

  “You’re probably just the person we’re looking for,” I said.

  “I just love to hear that!” And she sounded like she really did, if her beaming smile was any indication.

  It turned out that Patty Reynolds had been a friend of Gwen’s and had read about Roseanne's murder in the paper.

  "It's such a shame. Just think, a murder like that in our sweet little town. Did the police catch him yet? Do they have any leads? And Roseanne, bless her little heart!” Jake looked at me and I could already tell he was sick of Patty's bubbly personality. He left me to do the talking.

  "No one's been arrested yet, but hopefully they're close." I left it as vague as I could be seeing I had a feeling anything we said to Patty would be passed around the rest of the bank staff and all of their customers.

  "Well, I was the one to open your aunt’s safe deposit box. She hadn’t wanted to put a beneficiary on it, but oh no, I told her she just had to. In fact, I've made it a bank-wide policy. We're not going to have a bunch of boxes sitting here unclaimed, no siree, not on my watch." Patty winked at me.

  I smiled politely while Jake seemed to be distracted, looking at the gated vault door.

  It looked very much like the door to a jail cell, with the big, heavy main vault door opened and pushed to the side and just the metal gated door left securing the safe deposit boxes. Back when it had been my job, I was always terrified I would get locked inside. Not that anyone ever had, but a couple of the bank’s filing cabinets were back there as were all the hard copies of customer applications. Seeing it was a fire-safe spot, a lot more than the bank’s money was stored inside. From time to time, I’d have to file something close to quitting time and I’d have to remind everyone where I was so no one would accidentally close me in for the day. The vault had a time-delayed lock, and I wasn’t sure there was anyone local who would’ve been able to spring me out before sunrise. I shuddered again as I thought about it.

  Jake looked to me. “Are you okay?"

  "Yeah, I'll tell you about it later." I waved my hand away to confirm that it really was no big deal.

  “Let's just head over here to my desk, and we will pull the box’s card and see what we've got. Okey dokey?”

  Jake retrieved the little red packet with the key in it from his pocket and handed it over to Patty. On the back, it was apparent that the box had only been accessed one time, since only one date and set of initials had been listed.

  "Oh yes, I remember she clearly didn't want to add a beneficiary, but look at her now. She's probably in heaven thanking me." Patty smiled as if that was just the greatest thing ever. I was pretty sure that if Roseanne was in fact in heaven, she wasn't smiling at Patty right now. Jake laughed, and I knew he agreed with me.

  “Let's
see here, shall we." Patty used her key to unlock the filing cabinet and pulled it open, revealing a stack of cards that looked to be organized numerically. She went to the seven hundred tab and pulled the cards toward the front of the drawer until she found the one numbered seven hundred fifteen. Patty pulled out the vanilla-colored card and flipped it over. Using the tip of her ballpoint pen, she pointed out the beneficiary section. "Right here. It took her a while to think of someone and then she named a Mr. Jake Levin.”

  Jake's eyes widened. "She did? That's me."

  Patty nodded. “Yes, so it is. Would you like to access the box?" Patty had already extended the tip of her pen to Jake and using her fingernail, pointed to where he needed to initial and sign on the card, which he did. Then Patty signed beside him and made note of the date and her initials on the back of the red envelope.

  "Would you like to take the box into one of the side rooms or stay in the vault?” Patty smiled encouragingly.

  "One of the side rooms." I answered for Jake rather abruptly. He gave me another side look as if questioning if I was seriously all right.

  "Just trust me,” I replied.

  "Okay, side room it is.” The three of us made our way over to the vault, where Patty used the key that dangled from her stretchy, rubber wrist keychain to unlock the metal door. We followed single-line down the aisle of safe deposit boxes, which made a square around the perimeter. In the middle of the room was a waist-high countertop where I imagined clients could look at their safe deposit box. I was sure that was what Patty had meant by keeping the box in the vault. Or at least that's the way it had worked when it was my job. Just outside of the vault was a small hallway that led back into the lending offices, but before you made your way through to the offices, there was a small room with a table and two chairs. Patty flipped on the fluorescent light and showed us inside.

  "Just let me know if you two need anything. I'll be right at my desk.” She gave a little one finger wave and walked away.

  “That woman is a pill,” Jake said after she was out of earshot.

  “Oh yeah, big time.”

  The box wasn't very large, only about the size of a shoebox, and it didn't seem very heavy either. Not that Jake would struggle with such a small object. I had to correct my thoughts and remind myself to stay focused on the present and not on Jake's muscular physique.

  "Okay, what do we have here?”

  “The moment of truth.” Could this box hold the smoking gun?

  Jake unclipped the metal clamp and flipped the lid open, letting it rest behind the box on its hinges.

  "Military medals?” he said with surprise. I peeked over his shoulder. The box had four medals—two crosses, an eagle, and a star—all with various colored ribbons.

  “Did one of your family members serve in a war?"

  "My grandfather, Roseanne’s father, did. World War II. I thought my grandma would have kept his medals, but maybe not.”

  “Maybe she inherited them after he died?”

  “She must have.”

  I looked in the box again but other than the four medals, it was empty. I couldn’t hide my disappointment.

  “Clearly this wasn’t what the intruder was looking for.” My voice sounded flat.

  “Doesn’t look like it.” Jake’s spirits weren’t much higher.

  “It’s just so odd, isn’t it? Why go to the trouble of getting the safe deposit box for these medals when she kept all the other valuables in her room?”

  "I don't know. Beats me. She could be a bit eccentric."

  "You want to take these with us and ask your grandma about them?"

  “Yeah, good idea. Let's do that."

  Neither one of us had thought to bring a tote with us or anything to take the contents of the safe deposit box out with us. That was probably because neither one of us thought that we’d be able to access it. We used my purse instead.

  "It makes sense though," I said as we were driving back to Hazel's.

  "What does?"

  “That your aunt would've left you as a beneficiary. If she was going to pick anyone, it just makes sense that it was you."

  "Yeah, I guess you're right. I'm just surprised that she listed someone to begin with.”

  “True, but at least when push came to shove, she chose you.”

  “Thanks, I guess.” Jake laughed and started the drive back to Hazel’s.

  I had the most horrible deja vu experience as we followed an ambulance and we both turned into Pleasant View.

  I looked at Jake. “Tell me this can't be happening."

  Jake stepped on the gas as we raced to keep up.

  I was relieved when the ambulance cruised past Gran’s house, but the feeling was short-lived when it made a sharp turn into Greta’s driveway next door.

  Jake parked at the curb, and we got out of the truck, making sure to give the EMTs plenty of room to back up. Daniel answered the door and ushered the paramedics inside.

  "Do you need any help?" I shouted to him after the paramedics entered and he was still standing by the door.

  Daniel shook his head. "I don't know. I just got here. She's unconscious." In the light, you could barely make out the bruising on his right cheekbone from where he took a punch the morning before.

  I bit my bottom lip. Jake and I wouldn't be any help to the EMTs and we both knew that. We stood on the sidewalk facing Greta's house and just waited. Jake took my hand in his gave it a little squeeze. I closed my eyes and said a little prayer that Greta would be all right. Other neighbors came out onto the lawn, or peered out of their windows, but it wasn’t anyone I recognized. Gran said she would take a nap, at my insistence, and Harold had said he would stay and keep watch. But now, looking at Gran’s house, I saw that Harold’s car was no longer in Gran’s driveway, and the garage door, which previously had been open, was now shut. I’d bet any amount of money Gran had talked Harold into taking her out somewhere. Hopefully it wasn’t the casino. Gran and Hazel both loved to gamble, but all those clanging bells and the smoky environment wouldn’t help her head injury. I hoped she at least had the common sense to realize that.

  My attention was drawn to the front door. Greta was still unconscious when the paramedics brought her out in record time.

  “She's breathing, but weakly,” Daniel said. The EMTs had put an oxygen mask on Greta's face. Daniel scrambled into the back of the ambulance after they loaded her. He looked at me, his eyes full of fear. It was a feeling that I knew all too well. He poked his head out of the back door. "Lock up, will you?"

  "Yeah, of course." Jake answered for the both of us.

  “You need us to call the police?" I added. That would've seemed like an unusual question to anyone who wasn't familiar with what had been happening at Pleasant View.

  “No, I don’t think it’s like that,” meaning it didn’t look like she had been assaulted. I knew Greta said she wasn't feeling well yesterday, but I couldn't believe her health had deteriorated that rapidly to render her unconscious. It was scary.

  “Good heavens, these aren’t your grandfather’s medals.”

  We had just finished talking about Greta, and Hazel put on the tea kettle when Jake showed her the medals.

  “They’re not?” Jake and I said in unison.

  “Those are Nazi medals. Your gramps fought on the other side in World War II.”

  “Well, obviously. I knew that.” Jake wasn’t the only one that felt like a total idiot. If you looked close enough, there was even a swastika on one of them.

  “Neither one of us looked close enough.” It was a weak excuse, but it was the best I had. “Are they valuable?”

  “Some of them, I’m sure. I just keep my Jerry’s in the bottom of my jewelry box. I always thought they were more of a sentimental value than anything else.”

  “I wonder what Roseanne was doing with them and why she had them in a safe deposit box?” With no additional papers or documentation, we had no way of knowing if we’d ever be able to track down the history. />
  "Do they keep registries of awarded medals?" I was really just thinking aloud.

  "I believe they do in the U.S., but I'm not sure about other countries." It was Hazel who replied.

  Jake was already on his phone, I presumed doing a Google search. "Yeah, there seems to be databases." He turned to show me the phone screen, which showed the pictures of soldiers with the medals they had been awarded displayed underneath them. He used the tip of his finger to scroll up on his phone to demonstrate just how many soldiers there were. This was going to be an impossible search if we went about it this way. First off, who knew the person was even included in this database, and second, we had no way of knowing if all the medals belonged to one person.

  “This feels impossible,” I said.

  “I know, but it’s the best lead we’ve got.” Jake then turned to his grandma. "You mind if we use the laptop? I think that's going to be easier to search than my phone."

  “Help yourself. It's on the end table in the living room.”

  Jake brought the laptop over to the dining room table while I started to look up German WWII medals on my phone.

  “I’ll get us a snack,” Hazel announced. It tuned out that by snack, Hazel had meant a gourmet plate of deliciousness. Purple grapes, dried apricots, salted cashews, prosciutto, goat cheese, and assorted crackers were all laid out in a cheese and charcuterie plate form. It reminded me so much of Biltmore, and I said as much.

  “Just like our picnic.” Jake stopped typing and looked up at me. “I had a really great time there, you know, with you. Thank you.”

  "I know. Me too.” That one look sent butterflies dancing in my tummy, but I pushed them aside so I could focus on the research instead.