Moonlight Becomes You

93

Five days later, Maggie and Neil went to Latham Manor to say good-bye to Mrs. Bainbridge.

“We’ll be up for Thanksgiving weekend with Neil’s parents,” Maggie said, “but I couldn’t leave without seeing you now.”

Letitia Bainbridge’s eyes were sparkling. “Oh, Maggie, you don’t know how we prayed that you’d be all right.”

“I think I do,” Maggie assured her. “And your caring enough to let Neil know about the bell I’d found on Nuala’s grave may have saved my life.”

“That was the clincher,” Neil agreed. “It led to my being sure that Liam Payne was involved. If I hadn’t followed him, it would have been too late.”

He and Maggie were sitting side by side in Mrs. Bainbridge’s apartment. He put his hand over Maggie’s, unwilling yet to have her beyond his reach, still living the nightmare of searching for her.

“Has everybody pretty well settled down here?” Maggie asked.

“Oh, I think so. We’re more resilient than you’d think. I understand the Prestige people have arranged to buy the residence.”

“Liam Payne will need a lot of the money he killed for to pay his lawyers, and I hope they don’t do him any good,” Neil said forcefully. “His girlfriend too, although she’s going to end up with a public defender. Realistically, I don’t think either one of them stands a chance of escaping conviction on multiple murder charges. I understand that Odile has confessed to deliberately switching medicines on orders from Liam.”

Maggie thought of Nuala and Greta Shipley, and of the women whom she had not known, all of whose lives Liam and Odile had cut short. At least I helped to stop them from killing again, she consoled herself.

“And they shouldn’t get off, either,” Mrs. Bainbridge said severely. “Were Janice Norton and her nephew Douglas involved in these deaths?”

“No,” Neil said. “Chief Brower told us that he believes that Hansen and Mrs. Norton were just involved with Liam’s scheme to swindle applicants to the residence. Even Odile didn’t know what they were up to. And Janice Norton had no idea that her nephew was working through Liam Payne. They’re up on fraud charges, not murder.”

“According to Chief Brower, Odile can’t talk fast enough, trying to get some sort of clemency,” Maggie said soberly. “She and Liam became involved when she worked in his former brokerage firm, just when he was buying this place. She had told Liam about what happened to Dr. Lane at the last nursing home, and when Liam proposed this scheme to her, she jumped at it. Dr. Lane simply isn’t a good doctor, so he was the perfect person to put in charge. Zelda Markey is a pretty lonely person. Odile made a friend of her and was able to remove herself from ever being connected to the deaths.”

“She was always chatting with Nurse Markey,” Letitia Bainbridge said, nodding.

“And pumping her for information. Odile dropped out of nursing school, but it wasn’t because she failed her courses. She knew exactly what drugs to combine to cause heart failure. Apparently several women whom Liam had targeted escaped only because Nurse Markey was so solicitous. Odile claims she begged Liam not to make her tamper with Mrs. Rhinelander’s medication, but he was too greedy. By then Nuala had decided to go into the manor provided she could have a two-bedroom unit.”

“Was it Connie Rhinelander’s death that made Nuala suspicious?” Mrs. Bainbridge asked sadly.

“Yes, and then when she found that bell on Mrs. Rhinelander’s grave, she apparently began to be sure that something terrible was going on at the residence. She must have asked some very pointed questions of Nurse Markey, who innocently reported them to Odile.”

“And Odile warned Liam,” Maggie said. Oh, Finnuala, she thought.

Bainbridge’s lips tightened. “Squire Moore’s god was money. I remember my father saying Moore actually bragged that it was more interesting to cheat someone out of it than make it honestly. Obviously Liam Payne is cut from the same evil cloth.”

“I would say so,” Neil agreed. “Liam was an excellent investment broker for the clients he didn’t cheat. Fortunately both Mrs. Gebhart and Mrs. Arlington should be able to reclaim the money they entrusted to him from Payne’s personal assets.”

“One last thing,” Maggie said. “Odile took that sketch Nuala and Mrs. Shipley had made. One of the maids had seen it and joked about it. Odile knew it could get people thinking.”

“I’m glad Dr. Lane wasn’t involved in all this.” Letitia Bainbridge sighed. “Oh, I must tell you. Our new director arrived yesterday. He seems very pleasant and comes highly recommended. He doesn’t have Dr. Lane’s charm, but we can’t have everything, can we? His wife is a refreshing change from Odile, although she has a rather braying laugh.”

It was time to leave. They would drive in tandem back to New York.

“We’ll visit you when we get back up here in November,” Maggie promised as she bent to kiss Letitia Bainbridge’s cheek.

“I’m already looking forward to it,” Mrs. Bainbridge said briskly, then sighed. “You are so pretty, Maggie, and so nice and so smart. You’re everything a grandmother would want for her grandson.” She looked at Neil. “You take good care of her.”

“He did save my life,” Maggie smiled. “He has to get some points for that.”

Fifteen minutes later they were ready to leave for New York. Her station wagon was already packed in her driveway. The house was locked up. For a moment, Maggie stood looking at it, remembering that night only two weeks ago, when she had arrived.

“It’ll be fun to come up here on vacations and weekends, won’t it?” she said.

Neil put his arm around her. “You’re sure it won’t hold too many bad memories?”

“No.” She inhaled deeply. “Not as long as you’re around to dig me up when I need help.”

Then she laughed. “Don’t look so shocked. Gallows humor has gotten me through some pretty bad times.”

“From now on, that will be my job,” Neil said as he opened the door of the station wagon for her. “Now remember, don’t speed,” he cautioned. “I’ll be right behind you.”

“You sound like your father,” Maggie said. Then she added, “And I like that just fine.”