No Escape Claws

Chapter 21

The police took Katy away.

Michelle retrieved the microphone that had been hidden beside the chair Katy had been sitting in. “Tomorrow I’m going to need everything that you have,” she said to Mr. P.

He handed her a brown envelope and a flash drive. “If you need anything else, Detective,” he said with a smile, “please let me know.”

Michelle turned to me. “I’ll talk to the prosecutor and the medical examiner first thing tomorrow. I’ll do everything I can to get Mike Pearson out of jail as fast as possible.” She looked toward the front door, shaking her head. “Do you really think she went there to kill Gina Pearson?”

I laced my fingers on top of my head. “I’m not sure. But I do know that she went out of her way to make it look like Mike was there.” I gestured at the flash drive. “Mr. P. got security footage from one of the Pearsons’ neighbors. The camera caught Katy heading for the house. She’s wearing a dark jacket and Mike Pearson’s cap.”

“Judge Halloran called me this afternoon,” she said. “Did you have anything to do with that?”

“I actually didn’t,” I said. “But I’m not surprised he got in touch with you. He’s that kind of person.”

Michelle nodded. “His influence can only help.”

I wrapped her in a hug. “Thank you for doing this.”

“Without all of you the truth might never have come out.” She smiled. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

Charlotte was sitting on the sofa with Mallory and Greg. They looked shell-shocked. Rose had gone to the kitchen to make tea and hot chocolate.

As soon as I’d seen the burned teddy bear I’d realized Katy had bought a new one. Not a big deal, but why had she made a point of telling Mallory she’d washed the old one three times to get the smoke smell out? In fact, why not tell Mallory the truth about the toy? It was almost as if Katy wanted everyone to see what a good parent she could be.

Who benefitted?

The problem was all we had was a lie about a teddy bear and some footage of a person who might or might not be Katy cutting across the Pearson’s backyard. As Nick had pointed out, it wasn’t enough.

We’d needed to get Katy to confess and the only way to get her to talk to us was to let her stay while we talked to Mallory and Greg.

I went over to them now, pulled the footstool closer to the sofa and sat down. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I can’t imagine how awful that was for both of you.”

Mallory shook her head. “You don’t have to apologize for anything,” she said. “If it wasn’t for you, Katy would have gotten away with killing our mom.”

“Do you really think this time would have been different?” Greg asked.

I knew he was referring to Gina going to rehab again. I nodded. “I do. I think that’s why Katy felt so threatened. Your mother loved you. She just ran out of time to show you.”

He nodded, swallowing hard.

Mallory flung her arms around me. Surprised, I hugged her back. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“It gets better,” I said. “I promise.”

Charlotte and Nick took Mallory and Greg back to their grandmother.

I helped Rose tidy up the kitchen and wash our cups. As I wiped the counter I realized she was studying me. “Do I have spinach between my teeth?” I asked. “You’re staring at me.”

“I heard what you said about Gina to those two lovely young people,” she said, as she dried the last cup. “Do you really believe this time was going to be different?”

I leaned against the counter. “Maybe Gina would have gone to rehab and it would have been no different from the previous times. Or maybe, as Gram likes to say, this time would have been the charm. I don’t know. What I do know is that it doesn’t hurt anyone to give her the benefit of the doubt.”

Mr. P. was putting the cups away. He turned and gave me a smile. “You’re right,” he said. “It doesn’t.”

• • •

I stepped into the hallway the next morning to find Alfred holding Rose’s cake carrier. “Good morning, Sarah,” he said.

“Good morning.” I eyed the large container. “Is that for us?”

He smiled. “It is. Blueberry buttermilk coffee cake.”

I gestured over my shoulder at my apartment door with one finger. “Maybe I should just slip back inside and grab a fork? You know, just to make sure the cake turned out.”

“Or maybe you should just march yourself out to the car, just to make sure it’s going to start,” a voice said behind me.

Rose. She was glaring sternly at me but I caught a hint of a smile play across her lips.

“I wasn’t really going to eat any of that cake,” I said.

“Well, I know that,” she said, reaching up to pat my cheek as she bustled past. “Alfred could take you down with one hand tied behind his back.” She smiled archly. “He has a number of talents you’re not aware of.”

Mr. P. smiled at her and raised one eyebrow.

I decided starting the car was a very good idea.

Rose kept the cake on the backseat with her. Elvis sat next to her and helped guard it.

Liam pulled into the shop’s parking lot right behind me. He came around the back of his truck and took Rose’s tote from her. “Is that for me?” he asked with a smile, gesturing at the coffee cake Mr. P. was carrying.

I shook my head. “I swear you’re like one of those dogs they use in the Alps that can find people under the snow. How do you always know when there’s cake?”

“I’m psychic,” he said, bumping me with his hip as we started for the back door. “Some people can talk to the dead. I can find cake.”

“Good to know if I ever have to send out a search party for a slice of devil’s food,” I said.

He gave me that grin that had been charming women since before he could walk. Then he slung his free arm around my shoulders. “How would you like to get your sunporch back today?”

“Seriously?”

He nodded. “I have to hang that blackboard, put some hooks on the end wall and do a couple of other things, but I should be done around lunchtime.”

I hugged him. “I owe you.”

“I know,” he said. “One of these days I’m going to collect.” He tipped his head close to mine. “Be afraid,” he whispered. “Be very afraid.”

Liam finished up in the office just before lunch. We all trooped in to take a look.

“Aw, Liam, this is great,” I said, turning in a slow circle to take it all in.

The new windows had thermal shades, which would keep the heat out in the summer and in during the winter. The walls were painted a pale shade of off-white and I knew there was lots of insulation behind the new drywall. Liam had put down vinyl plank flooring and a baseboard electric heater for the coldest months.

The chalkboard was on the wall above Mr. P.’s desk, flanked by Rose’s wall sconces, which, I had to admit, looked great. The long farm-style table we always seemed to gather around was at the far end of the room, surrounded by a collection of mismatched chairs.

“You did an excellent job,” Mr. P. said. He couldn’t stop smiling.

“It’s perfect,” Rose said, clasping her hands together.

“I can’t take all the credit,” Liam said. “It would have taken a lot longer if I hadn’t had Nick’s help.”

“I live to serve,” a voice said from the doorway. Nick and Charlotte were standing there.

“This is beautiful,” Charlotte said. “You both do lovely work.”

Rose was standing just to the right of the desk, frowning at the wall. She beckoned at Charlotte with one hand. “What do you think about a bookcase right here?” she asked.

Charlotte walked over to join her. Liam was showing Mr. P. how the blinds worked.

I smiled at Nick. “Thank you,” I said. “Liam’s right. This would have taken a lot longer without you.”

“Anytime,” he said. He tipped his head toward the workroom. I followed him out. “I just came from the police station. It looked like Katy Mueller will be sent for a psychiatric evaluation.”

I’d expected that.

“It’s going to take a little time, but the plea agreement will be voided and Mike Pearson will come home to his kids. They’re going to keep him in the infirmary for now.” He shrugged. “It’s not a perfect ending, but it’s not a bad one, either.”

I nodded. “You and Rose make a pretty good team.”

Nick smiled. “I’ll try not to let that go to my head.”

Rose decided we needed to christen the office by having our cake there around what had already been doubling as our meeting table.

“Does anyone know where Liz is?” I asked as I waited for Rose to cut a slice to set aside for Avery.

Charlotte shook her head.

“All I know is that she said she had some meeting she had to go to,” Rose said. “Some kind of foundation business.”

I nodded. I knew what that meant.

Liz never did show up. “Do you need a ride?” I asked Avery at the end of the day.

“No,” she said as she pulled the vacuum out from under the stairs.

“Is your grandmother coming to get you?”

“No,” she said again.

Okay. I needed to stop asking yes-or-no questions. “How are you planning on getting home, then?” I asked, grabbing the attachment for the vacuum.

“I’m not going home.”

At the rate the conversation was happening, neither was I. Then I realized she had her earbuds in. I reached over and pulled one out of her ear.

She frowned.

“Where are you going and how are you getting there?” I wrapped my fingers around the wireless earpiece so she couldn’t snatch it back.

Avery sighed. “I’m going to the library for the Jonathan Demme film festival. Greg is meeting me here and we’re walking. We’re going to McNamara’s for supper.” She made a point of enunciating each word like I was very young or very old.

I handed her back the earbud and started for the stairs.

“Sarah,” she said.

I turned around. “Thank you for what you did for Greg and his family.”

“I’m glad you’re his friend,” I said.

She smiled then. “Yeah, me, too.”

Liz called after supper. I brought her up to date on what had happened in the last twenty-four hours.

“Michael deserves a happy ending,” she said. “He’s a quality person. In fact, I told him that.”

“Wait a minute. You talked to him?”

“Yes,” she said. “That’s why I was gone all day. I went to the prison to talk to him. There were a couple of questions I wanted to ask him about the summer he worked for the foundation.”

“Did you get the answers you were looking for?” I asked.

“Yes I did,” she said. “And I have a favor to ask you.”

“Anything,” I said. I propped my feet on the edge of the coffee table. Elvis jumped onto my lap. I started to stroke his fur.

“I’m going to see Wilson tomorrow to tell him what I’ve learned about Marie. Will you come with me?”

“Of course I will. We make a pretty good team, you know.”

“That we do, pretty girl,” she said.

We agreed to meet at nine thirty the next morning at the foundation’s offices and said good night.

I got to Liz’s office about twenty-five minutes after nine. I was surprised to find Jane Evans there as well. She looked just as surprised to see me. “You’re going to Liz’s meeting with Wilson?” she said.

“I am,” I said. Liz was at her desk, looking through some papers.

“I hope he’ll find a little more enthusiasm for this book project.”

So Liz hadn’t told Jane what we’d learned. She’d be finding out soon enough.

I saw Liz glance at the gold watch on her left arm. She turned and looked at me. “Let’s get this show on the road, toots,” she said.

I followed her down the hall. The door to the end office was partly open. Liz knocked and didn’t wait to be invited in.

Wilson Emmerson’s office was full of rich colors and dark wood. The walls were painted a buttery yellow. An oriental rug in burgundy, cream and gold covered the center of the floor. Gleaming walnut bookshelves filled the end wall. To the right were his framed diplomas and a round, wooden wall clock. Underneath them was a small cabinet flanked by two armless chairs upholstered in a houndstooth fabric. The open desk was set slightly left of center. Everything about the room said money, which I suspected was the intended message. I thought how different Wilson was from Liz. He did have that crown prince entitled attitude about him.

Wilson was seated in a chocolate-brown leather chair behind the desk and talking to someone on the phone. He glanced up at his sister but didn’t end the conversation.

I stood just at the edge of the carpet while she walked over to the desk. I knew what was coming. Liz reached over and took the phone right out of his hand. “I’m sorry,” she said sweetly to whomever he’d been talking to. “Wilson’s going to have to call you back.” She ended the call and set the phone on the edge of the desk.

“Why did you do that?” he said.

“Because we have a meeting at nine thirty and it’s nine thirty,” she said.

Wilson leaned sideways and gave me a tight smile. “Hello, Sarah,” he said.

I smiled back. “Good morning.”

He turned back to Liz. “If this is about this book project of yours, I haven’t changed my mind. I just don’t see the point.”

I noticed he hadn’t offered either of us a seat.

Liz looked over her shoulder at me. “Sarah, would you get me a chair, please?” she said, indicating the two under the clock.

I picked one up and set it in front of Wilson’s desk.

“Those chairs are there for a reason,” he said, his voice laced with annoyance.

“I don’t doubt that they are.” Liz smoothed her skirt and sat down. I stood just behind her. She was in full Warrior Princess mode, which meant I was her trusty sidekick. She folded her hands in her lap. “There is no book, Wilson,” she said.

“Well, I’m glad you listened to me for once,” he said, leaning back in his chair. He wore a fog gray sweater over a white shirt. His clothes were no more expensive than anything Liz wore, I was guessing, so why did he seem so pretentious?

“You’re giving yourself too much credit,” she said. “There never was a book.”

A frown creased his forehead. “What are you talking about? You’ve been working on the damn thing for weeks.”

Liz crossed one leg over the other. She was wearing a pair of red peep-toe slingbacks that had to be at least three inches high. “No, I just told you that was what I was doing. What I was really doing was trying to figure out who framed Rob Andrews.”

For a moment Wilson didn’t so much as blink. He just stared across the desk at Liz. “Rob Andrews?” he finally sputtered. “He stole money from the foundation. No one framed him.”

“Did you know Marie kept two sets of minutes from the board meetings?”

“That’s ridiculous,” he said, making a dismissive gesture with one hand.

“You know how exacting she was, how meticulous. She couldn’t just throw away the original minutes or her notes. That’s not who she was. No matter what you told her to do.”

My heart began to pound in my chest so loudly I wasn’t sure I’d heard Liz’s last words correctly.

“I don’t know what you’re insinuating,” Wilson said.

Liz adjusted the scarf at her neck. “I’m not insinuating anything. I’m just stating the facts. Marie was working under your instructions. You stole money from the foundation. You’re the embezzler. You set up Rob Andrews but you got Marie to do your dirty work just in case. I know you were having an affair.” Her tone was conversational, unemotional, as though she were discussing the weather or asking for a refill for her tea.

“You’re getting old and senile, sister dear,” he said.

“And you didn’t cover your trail nearly as well as you think.” She looked at him for a moment. “Mama should have made you wash a few dishes,” she said. It was the first spark of anger I’d seen from her. She shifted in her seat. “Sarah would you open the door, please?”

I nodded, crossed the rug and opened the office door. Two police officers and the prosecuting attorney were waiting there. Michelle was standing off to one side in the hallway.

“The police have a lot of questions for you,” Liz said. She got to her feet and walked out of the office. I followed. We stood next to Michelle as Wilson Emmerson was led away. Unshed tears shone in Michelle’s eyes.

Liz turned to her. “I am profoundly sorry. I know it doesn’t fix things, but I will use every resource at my disposal to make sure everyone knows that Rob Andrews was not a thief.”

Michelle nodded. “Thank you,” she said, her voice raspy with emotion. She hesitated and then threw her arms around Liz. I saw Liz swallow hard. Michelle gave my arm a squeeze and then she was gone.

I wrapped my own arms around Liz’s shoulders. “How did you figure it out?” I asked.

“Do you remember that bracelet in the box?” she said, turning her head to look at me.

I nodded.

“Wilson bought the same bracelet for his wife, Mary Anne. When our mother was alive he would buy the same gift for her and Mary Anne because it was easier. He used Marie. He used the fact that she was in love with him.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. I couldn’t imagine what it must have felt like to realize what her brother had done.

“When I went to see Michael yesterday he admitted he’d always suspected Wilson was having an affair with Marie based on the way they interacted at the office—small things, really: the way Marie would fix his tie or tell him he needed a haircut, how they seemed to have little inside jokes no one else got. It was the last piece of the puzzle. That and the money trail Channing’s accountant uncovered.”

She shook her head. “The irony is Michael was most likely in jail because he was willing to take the blame for something he hadn’t done to protect someone he loved, while Wilson was willing to let someone else go to jail to protect the only person he loved—himself.”

I linked my arm through hers and walked her back to her office. Jane was standing in the open doorway. Seeing the police lead Wilson out of the building had to be a shock but it didn’t show in her face. “Do you want to send out a press release?” she asked. I remembered Liz saying once that when things were at their worst Jane was at her best.

Liz took a deep breath and let it out. “Yes, I do,” she said.

“I’m going to need a few details,” Jane said.

“You can have them all, my friend,” Liz said. She turned to me. “Thank you for riding shotgun.”

“Anytime,” I said. “Call me if you need anything.”

She nodded. “I will.”

I started for the door. “Love you,” I said.

This time I didn’t get the usual answer. “Love you, too,” she said.

I swallowed down the sudden lump in my throat and kept walking.