Keeping Mum (A Garden Society Mystery) (16 page)

“So how do you think this . . . what’s her name, anyway? The woman who was Derrick’s daughter and Mike’s wife. How do you think she’s coping?” Rob asked.

Leave it to him to think of a psych angle, Cam thought.

“Probably not very well.”

“She’s the only person we know connected to both murders, right?”

“Well not exactly. They worked together,” Cam said. “Both men were part of the power in Roanoke, even if one of them was from the underworld side of it. And because the two were related, there are probably tons of people connected to both of them.”

“Worth talking to her, though,” Rob said. “I mean the police have talked to her plenty, but we haven’t.”

“Spit it out, Rob. What are you thinking?” They’d had a lovely evening the night before. A wonderful dinner of soft-shell crab, ending with crème brûlée. She didn’t want him to get cryptic now and ruin her memory of that.

“I just think that whoever committed these murders,
she
may be at the center of the reason.”

Rob pulled out his smartphone and clicked through a few folders.

“Her name is Vera. Vera Windermere-Sullivan. Hyphenated.”

“That’s quite a commitment there. Gives her a six-syllable last name. You’d think she’d pick one or the other,” Cam said.

“Yeah. I agree. She’s making a statement of it. I wonder how
she
got along with her dad.”

“It looks like she didn’t want to give up the Windermere influence, but she wasn’t willing to just stay a Windermere in spite of . . . how did Samantha put it? Marrying a nobody? I agree with you that there’s some sort of power struggle.”

Rob grinned. “I like it when you buy my conspiracy theories.”

Cam rolled her eyes. She had been doing that a lot more since she’d found herself investigating the occasional murder.

• • •

• • •

C
am texted Annie when they were approaching Roanoke, so when she got home, she found her best friend pacing her living room and cursing her dad.

“I can’t believe he’d worry me like that.”

“It was lousy of him, but at least he’s okay.”

Annie came over and hugged her. “Thank you so much for finding him. Man, if I can find a curse for Elle . . . A voodoo doll! That’s what I need.”

“Now, don’t quote me later. She’s still Cruella and all. But I think she was desperate to save her marriage. She’d been helping her brother in secret, and your dad thought she was sneaking around having an affair and wouldn’t let her explain. She was trying to get him alone so he had to listen.”

Annie scowled. “Sounds like a stupid idea I’d have.”

Cam smiled, glad she hadn’t had to be the one to point that out.

“So where’s Jake?”

“He got a call when we were still in Newport News—new lead on the murder, so they let us come back last night.”

“New lead is good.”

Annie shrugged. “He’s being sort of a butt about it. He won’t tell me anything.”

“Rob will get it out of him.”

She had dropped off Rob at his apartment before she came home, so she called him to alert him that Jake was following a new lead. When she hung up, she grinned at Annie.

“We’ll know soon.”

• • •

• • •

“S
oon” was overly optimistic. In fact, Rob wasn’t the one to tell them what it was at all. As suppertime approached, Cam’s dad called and invited her over.

“Annie’s here, too . . .” she began.

“Bring her. The more brains we have on this, the better.”

That worried her. Her dad needed something solved, and his issues, at least the sort he wanted both Cam and Annie in on, were never easy ones.

“So . . . your dad hasn’t had problems for a while,” Annie said as they drove to his house.

“I was thinking the same. I’m not looking forward to it, but he’s been a real trooper for all of us lately.”

“Especially me,” Annie said quietly, “and he’s not even officially mine.”

“Sure he is. He thinks of you as his. And sometimes that degree removed is helpful. I sure prefer
you
counseling him on his love life.”

Annie giggled. “Oh, and that’s a good set of stories!”

Cam covered one ear. She would have covered both if she hadn’t been driving. “I don’t want to know.”

“Oh, don’t be stuffy.”

“Annie, he’s my dad! Do you want to know about your dad?”

“Yeah, no . . . Okay. I’ll keep his secrets. My dad is all uptight, though.”

“He’s married to a woman who is less than forty. I suspect he has something going on . . .”

“Power,” Annie interrupted.

“Well, maybe. But . . . would you marry a much older man if there wasn’t . . . you know . . .”

“No, but you forget who you’re talking to. I find all that power stuff irritating. It’s like there’s some third person . . . or . . . maybe it’s a committee . . . in the relationship with you. If you aren’t the person with the power, then you don’t have any . . . um . . . power. But if you
are
the person with power, you have no idea if they care about you or if it’s all about the power. See?”

“I get it. Or I get how you see it. I don’t think, say . . . with Evangeline and Mr. Patrick it’s that way. She said she was tired of all the stupid games men her age played. She wanted someone past that.”

“Yeah, I bet Mr. Patrick is a tiger in the sack, too.”

Cam snorted at that. It wasn’t something she wanted to think about one of her employers, but he was such a darned cute little old man that it was also a funny thing to imagine. Just not in a lot of detail.

Cam’s dad’s house was unassuming, but a decent size. Its only real decadence was a very well-attended garden. It was something her mother, the woman who had taught Cam her love of gardening, had developed over decades and Cam now helped her dad maintain. Currently it hosted the cheery asters her mom had always favored, along with the fabulous gold and orange hearts of the crimson glory, which was climbing a trellis her dad had built. Additionally, on the porch was a very strange flowering plant that looked like a cross between an orchid and a dragon.

“Nice,” Annie said as they passed it.

“Yeah. I don’t know what that’s about. It appeared about a week ago, but it’s definitely looking worse for its time here.”

“You should ask him. Make sure it’s not a sign of dementia,” Annie said.

Cam punched her softly. Her dad was not remotely near dementia.

“My girls!” he said when they went in. He hugged first Cam, then Annie. “Come see what I made!”

He led them to the dining room. There was a pan in the center filled with cannoli.

“Are we having dinner first or just dessert?” Cam asked.

“I made minestrone, too, but that isn’t as impressive.”

Annie nodded. “And it’s best to be warned not to eat too much dinner when there’s such a killer dessert waiting.”

Cam thought her dad would have laughed at that, but instead his face fell.

“What’s up?” she asked.

“Let me get the soup. I’ll tell you while we eat.”

Cam helped him bring out the bowls of soup and a sliced baguette, along with a bottle of Chianti.

“When did we become Italian?” Cam asked.

“Vivian has been teaching me.”

“She’s Italian?”

“No, but it’s fun to cook.” Then his face darkened again, so as soon as they’d all sat down, Cam looked at him intently.

“Spill,” she said.

“I was at Vivian’s earlier. She and I made the cannoli together, actually. And . . . well, the police came by. And they questioned her for a long time. And they asked her to come to the station tomorrow . . . said she should plan on spending the day. They had a ton of questions.”

“About what?”

“I guess Derrick Windermere. They found a lot of files on his computer that looked like he’d been harassing her. Threatening letters. Obscene emails. He was being horrible.”

“That’s awful. Why would he do that?”

“He was trying to convince her not to run. She has a lot of ideas for cracking down on fraud. That’s what she said was his reason. You know her degree was in tax law, so she knows a lot of tricks those cheaters use.”

“So the police think she might have been trying to stop him?”

“Something like that. I mean, they know where she was. She was the center of attention that whole time at the party. But they think maybe she could have hired someone.”

“Well that stinks.”

“See, sunshine . . . the trouble is . . . I know she didn’t do it. But I know it looks bad. And . . .” he paused.

“You really like her, don’t you?” Annie said.

“I do. I know I go out on dates a lot. But it’s been a long time since I’ve had this much fun. I just really enjoy her company and I hate to see her facing this alone.”

“So what do you want me to do?” Cam asked.

“Maybe just work a little of that magic like you did the time Annie got accused. Or last time, with that friend of yours . . .”

“You’ll notice that didn’t go so well,” Cam said.

“But you figured out the truth.”

Cam sipped at her soup, wondering how she’d somehow ended up being thought of as a private investigator by the people in her life—even her dad. She could see it was important to him, so she thought she could try.

“Do you know if Vivian knows Mike Sullivan?”

“Who?”

“He was Derrick Windermere’s son-in-law and he’s dead now, too.”

“What?”

“If I’m going to look into this, Mike Sullivan’s murder might be the easiest way to cancel Vivian out. Because I can’t imagine the two murders aren’t connected, so if she doesn’t have anything to do with Mike . . .”

“We can sure ask her. She’s never mentioned him to me.”

“Is she home tonight?”

“She is. I could invite her over here to join us for the cannoli. I just wanted to talk to you about it first.”

“That’s a good idea. Call her, and I’ll see if I can think of anything else.”

Her dad left the table to call Vivian, and Annie frowned. “Why would she be coming out as a suspect this far after the fact?”

Cam shrugged. “Dad said the police were looking at Derrick’s computer.”

“Shouldn’t they have started there?”

“Maybe it was encrypted or something, so they needed a hacker or expert.”

“I think there must be another reason.”

“You want to ask Jake about it?”

“Oh, that’ll be popular . . . right after Rob has been grilling him about . . . oh wait . . . this must be it . . . the clue he was following up on. Call Rob!”

Cam shook her head, wondering why it had taken the cogs so long to fall into place.

Her dad came back. “She’ll be here in half an hour.”

Cam debated whether she should find out what information Rob had before or after talking to Vivian, but she finally decided to wait. She didn’t want to risk setting Jake off if Rob and Jake were currently working together. She helped clean up the soup bowls and tried to be supportive of her dad while they waited.

When she finished with the dishes, she came out of the kitchen to find Annie and her dad playing Boggle. They played so dirty words counted twice, which was pretty funny.

“So, Dad, what’s with the dragon plant on your porch?”

“Oh! I was going to ask you about that. It’s Vivian’s and it’s having some trouble. I told her you could give it a look and nurse it back to health.”

“It’s tropical—Asian, I think. I’ve never seen one before.”

“But you have that fancy degree . . .”

“If I was giving a guess, it probably doesn’t want to be outside in the winter. It’s used to tropical climates. Maybe I should see if the Patricks could keep it in the summer greenhouse while we figure it out. Or maybe Henry knows something. He has a lot of eccentric clients. Maybe he’s cared for them before.”

“Oh, now there’s a good idea! She’ll be glad. She really likes it. Her daughter sent it to her, so it has sentimental value. I guess they took a trip to Nepal several years ago and this reminded them both of that.”

“I guess I can see that. Nepal, I think, means it wants a lot of moisture—super humid. But the summer greenhouse should do it. I’ll take it over there tomorrow, but for now we should probably bring it in. It won’t like these near-freezing temperatures.”

As they were moving the plant into the house, Vivian arrived. It seemed strange to see her in jeans and a T-shirt, but as it was Sunday evening, it shouldn’t have. It was just that the councilwoman was nearly always dressed like a professional.

“Cam, so good to see you,” she said.

“And you remember Hello Kitty,” Cam gestured at Annie, who punched her in the arm.

“Ha! Any word on your father?” Vivian asked.

“Yes, actually,” Cam said. “Turns out his wife kidnapped him so he’d hear her out about an affair she wasn’t having.”