Barbara Levenson - Mary Magruder Katz 03 - Outrageous October (9 page)

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CHAPTER

TWENTY-EIGHT

I arrived at Dash’s office at two thirty. Daisy was, as usual, on the phone, but this time she interrupted her gossip spiel immediately.

“Call you later. Hello, Mary, so good to see you again. Dash tells me you’re going to give us some help. Everything’s ready for you in the conference room and if there’s anything you need, you just tell me. I’m so glad that you can help out. Dash is working too hard,” Daisy said. She took my arm and led me to the room behind the reception room.

The room was small with a bay window looking out to a garden. There was a fireplace on one wall and in the middle of the room a round maple table with four chairs around it. I guessed that this had been the dining room of the old house at one time.

A file sat on the table along with a legal pad and some pens, a carafe of water and two glasses.

“Thanks, Daisy, this is fine.”

“Dash will be here in a few minutes to introduce you to Ken Upham. I’ll leave you to read the file.” Daisy shut the heavy wood sliding door.

The file had a history of the controversy between the two neighbors. There were pictures of Ken’s property before the tree and weed removal and after showing a pleasant garden area. There was a survey showing the property line abutting Roland Behr’s property. There was a copy of the lawsuit filed by an attorney named Christian Berger on behalf of Roland and the paper showing service of process on Ken.

Apparently, no answer had been filed by Dash and I noted that the time to answer was about to run in five days. .

Just as I finished reading the file, Dash came in with Daisy hurrying in behind him. She was carrying a coffee pot and Dash had a tray of cups.

“Thanks, Mom, just put everything on the tea cart,” Dash said. He was dressed casually in khakis and a plaid shirt.

“Can I help with anything?” Daisy asked. She didn’t catch Dash’s hint for her to leave.

“Yes, you can,” I said. Is there a place with a computer where I can work?” I’ll need to draft an answer to this complaint and file some affirmative defenses as soon as I talk to Ken.”

“Of course, I’ll get an office set up for you.” Daisy bustled out, happy to have an assignment.

“You’re good, figuring out how to move Mom out of this conference,” Dash said.

“It’s not busy work. I really will need to get something drafted right away. We only have a few days left for the time to file, if I’m going to take over this case.”

“Oh, don’t worry about those deadlines. You can usually get an agreed order for an extension of time. Sometimes time heals these arguments between neighbors.”

“Or time can escalate them, too. I’ve heard that this thing could get ugly and violent.”

“Well, well, you’ve joined the Upper Valley gossip hotline. Keep this up and we’ll have to award you honorary citizenship.” Dash laughed. “How are you feeling? Over your scare about the gunshot?”

Just then Daisy opened the sliding door. Standing next to her was a heavy-set man, probably in his sixties. His hair was thinning. He had a well-muscled look, sort of like a retired wrestler. Something about him shouted cop.

“Mary, let me introduce Ken Upham. Ken, this is Mary Magruder Katz, our visiting attorney from Miami,” Daisy said.

I extended my hand and Ken shook it with a firm grip.

“We’ll leave you two alone to get acquainted,” Dash took Daisy’s arm and they moved to the door. “If you need me, just pick up the phone and dial one on the intercom line.” The door slid shut.

“Please, have a seat, Ken. I just want you to know that if you would rather that Dash continue in this case, I will completely understand. Of course, Dash will continue to be involved in whatever is happening in the case.”

“Actually, Mary, I Googled you after Dash told me about you. You’ve had a very interesting career. I think you’re over-qualified for my little annoyance of a case.”

“Thanks, but I always feel that every case is important to the people involved, so let’s talk about your position. Do you mind if I take some notes?”

“That’s fine.”

“First, let me get a little background about you. How long have you been in High Pines? I believe Dash told me that you’re retired. What kind of work did you do?”

I retired a little over a year ago from the New Haven, Connecticut Police Department. My last job there was as chief of the detective bureau. I see you are smiling.”

“It’s just that I thought of you as a cop the minute you walked in here.”

“Once a cop, always a cop,” Ken answered.

“I was pretty sure when you took the seat facing the door. Never turn your back on points of entry. True?”

“You’ve got it. My wife and I and our kids have come up here to ski for years. I usually rented a condo in High Pines for the winter months. We always talked about coming up here permanently when I retired. Right before my retirement date, the house that we bought came on the market. It was built by a couple around our age who never got to live in it. The man passed away, and his widow didn’t want to come up here alone, so we got a great deal. Property values are pretty low here compared to big cities like where you’re from.”

“Was the house complete when you bought it?”

“Mostly. I finished a few things myself. No landscaping had been done and the backyard was a jungle.”

“I saw the pictures in the file. Tell me what you removed and where these trees were located.”

“Okay. I hired a garden expert to help me with a landscape plan. Actually, the guy is an arborist. He took the pictures in the file. That’s how I happened to have them. He suggested that we get rid of all the underbrush and take out two white pine trees near the backyard property line. White pines are pretty much weeds. They crop up on their own and choke out the better trees like the young maple. Let me show you in the pictures.”

We looked at the photos together. Ken pointed out the difference in the before and after photos. Instead of the wild look in the first photo, there was a long garden bed along the fence line. At the corner, stood the young maple tree. Ken pointed out the new pear tree he had planted on the other corner. There were masses of purple asters and yellow mums. It looked peaceful and gracious.

“When did you meet your neighbor, Roland?”

“Most of the people around us came over to welcome us, but Roland wasn’t among them. The first I saw of him was when he came over while the removal work was being done. I later learned that he questioned the workmen about what they were doing. They told him to talk with me, so he knocked on the door. My wife called me to talk to the guy. He was very rude to her. He started asking me all kinds of questions like didn’t I have any regard for nature and did I know I was killing living things; a bunch of garbage about how people from away, that’s how they refer to new people, are trying to wreck the environment. I tried to tell him that I was improving the looks of things, but he kept ranting. Finally, I told him to go home; that this is my property and I have a right to improve it.”

“What do you know about Roland? What’s his background?”

“He’s lived up here for fifty years. He’s from Detroit, I think, but he has a bit of a foreign accent, or a speech impediment or something. He keeps to himself except for some group he belongs to having to do with trees or nature or something. You’ll have to come over to see my place and we can walk around and see the front of his place which is completely overgrown.”

“Ken, according to this complaint, he’s asking you for $10,000 to plant a privacy hedge. Have you ever tried to negotiate with him? Offer him a few bucks so he’ll go away?”

“Sure, he came over again after a few days. This time he griped about how his privacy was destroyed. I asked him why he didn’t plant some things in his own yard, and he said he couldn’t afford to, so I offered him $500. He said it’d take a lot more than that. He started screaming about laws prohibiting the killing of trees. The whole thing is bizarre. I never thought he’d actually sue me.”

“Who are the other people in this group he belongs to. What’s it called?”

“I’m not sure. One of the other neighbors said the members are from various places around the area; Bridgewater, I think, and Rutland. I’ll try to find out more. I call him the ‘tree Nazi’.”

“Okay, I think I’ve got enough background. I’ll file an answer and affirmative defenses and set this down for a hearing for a motion to dismiss. I’ll let you know the court date, and I will come by and see your yard and Roland’s, if you’re comfortable with my handling this for you.”

“I sure am. You’re a hell of a lot better looking than Dash, and you ask smart questions too.”

After Ken left, I got busy drafting the pleadings. Dash came into the library and I told him he had a new helper. He was so pleased that he asked me to have dinner with him when I finished my work.

“We could run by the courthouse and file the papers and then have a quick dinner.

Tonight is a playoff game on TV. This is Red Sox Country, so everyone will be glued to their TV’s. That means I’ll have you home early,” Dash said.

“I have to go home to feed Sam and walk him anyway, so why don’t you come over? I can stop at the village store and get a few things. Then I’ll watch the game with you at my place,” I suggested.

“Great,” Dash said. I’ll take the stuff to the courthouse and pick up a couple of steaks at a market near there. You can provide the fixings.”

“It’s a deal,” I said.

As I turned my attention back to the computer, I asked myself again if I was using this legal work to stall returning to Miami. I contemplated how easily I accepted another dinner with Dash. Was I using him to fill a void in my life? Lucy was right when she said not to jump into a new relationship.

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CHAPTER

TWENTY-NINE

I really had planned to stop at the village store and gossip mill anyway. I thought Hal and Margaret might shed some light on this Roland character and his ‘hug a tree’ society.

When I walked out of Dash’s office I could see the weather had changed. The sun was setting but it was partially obscured by gathering clouds. A damp chill accompanied a whipping wind.

I moved the car down the road and parked on the green at the store. The warm smell of fresh bread enveloped me as I came through the door.

“Well, if it isn’t wrong house Miami Mary,” Hal greeted me. Three older men were gathered around the counter. I recognized John Collins from my last visit to the store. All three laughed heartily.

“I guess everyone has heard about my lack of sense of direction. Well, one empty house is as good as another as long as they’ve got furniture,” I countered, and joined in the laughter.

“How’s it going?” Hal asked. “I hear you’re going to give the courts a whirl here helping Dash Mellman,”

“How’d you find that out so fast?” I asked.

“Daisy stopped in today,” John said. “She hopes you’re gonna stay a while. I think she’s got her matchmaker’s hat on.”

“Well, sooner or later I have to get back to my real world, so I think Daisy better change her hat,” I said. “What’s the soup of the day today?”

“It’s my hottest chili. I heard that the weather was going to get blustery,” Hal said.

“Give me a container and some of that potato salad and a loaf of that great smelling bread. Do any of you guys know Roland Behr, or anything about the club he belongs to? Something to do with the environment?”

“He’s lived up here forever, but he keeps to himself. His wife died a few years ago. She used to be involved in the Community Church, but Roland doesn’t participate in much except hunting. He loves to shoot; practices in his yard all the time. At least that’s what I hear,” Hal said.

“He’s the guy suing Ken Upham, isn’t he?” John Collins asked. “Isn’t it about Ken’s trees? Hey, Hal, how would anyone know what old Roland is doing in his yard? It’s so overgrown you can’t see a damn thing. I hear Ken started calling him the ‘tree Nazi’.”

“What about this club or organization of Roland’s? Anyone here belong to it?” I asked.

“I don’t know what it is. Just that they meet at Roland’s; a lot of guys from other towns. Sometimes some of them stop in the store for coffee, but they don’t talk much. There are a lot of different groups around here that preserve land. There’s the Vermont Land Trust, and other small land trust groups that work to keep developers from buying up the farm and timber land. There are groups that try to keep timber companies from taking out too many trees. You name it and there’s some group for it,” Hal said.

I gathered up my food purchases and headed for the car. By the time I pulled into Lucy’s driveway, rain had started pelting the windshield. I dashed for the house, started a fire in the fireplace, walked Sam around the yard as fast as possible and set the table in front of the sofa for dinner for two.

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CHAPTER

THIRTY

We had just finished coffee and were enjoying the baseball game on the wide screen TV when the phone rang. I rushed to the kitchen to answer guessing it was a wrong number. Instead I heard the emotional voice of Madison, Sherry Yarmouth’s roommate.

“Is this Mary Katz? This is Madison. I talked to you this morning about Sherry.”

“Yes, of course, Madison, have you heard from her?”

“No, nothing and I’m so worried. I called Brett, her brother. He’s in New York doing an internship. He hadn’t heard from her. I thought maybe she went to visit him. He said he’d call their mother. I didn’t want to be the one to do that. To tell you the truth, I’m a little scared of Lillian. I met her when I visited Sherry last summer.”

“Do you know if Brett talked to her?”

“Yes, he called me back and said Lillian would be up here in the morning. He said she already knew Sherry was missing and had a plane reservation and a hotel booked. I thought maybe you called her.”

“No, I haven’t talked to her. I really thought Sherry would have surfaced by now.”

“Here’s the scary part. I told Brett I would call the campus security and the Hanover Police, but he said I was not to do that. I told him you were up here and that you had seen Sherry last Friday. I asked if it was okay to call you and tell you about Lillian. He said it was fine. He should be here soon. He left New York a few hours ago. Why shouldn’t I call the police?”

“Lillian must have her reasons. Maybe she knows where Sherry is. Did Sherry ever mention a guy named Conrad that she met at some bar with a funny name?’

“No. Not that I can remember. I’m really scared, Mary.”

“Just get some rest. I’ll call Lillian and you can give Brett my phone numbers when he gets there. He can call me even if he doesn’t get in ‘til late.”

When I hung up, Dash was standing at the kitchen doorway.

“Is something wrong, Mary? I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. I just wanted to make sure nothing was wrong in Miami,” Dash said.

“One of my client’s children attends college at Dartmouth, and her daughter, Sherry, has gone missing. I had lunch with her up at Dartmouth last week. I may have some important information so I need to call Lillian. She’s my client and she’s flying up here tomorrow.”

“Is there anything I can do? Are the police looking for this girl?”

“Not yet. Lillian told Sherry’s roommate not to call them.”

“You know Jimmy Parsons, the town sheriff over here, is a friend of mine. Maybe he can help.”

“Isn’t he the same guy who never solved Carolyn Brousseu’s murder? I don’t want to do anything until I talk to Lillian. I need to call her right away and then maybe go up to Dartmouth and meet with Sherry’s brother.”

“I understand. I’m going to get out of your way. Thanks for dinner and let me know if I can help. I’ll phone you about the court date for Ken’s case.”

“Thanks for understanding, Dash. I feel like I’m kicking you out,” I said as I walked Dash into the front hall. He shrugged into his rain jacket and turned and before I knew what was happening, he put his arm around my shoulder and kissed me. It was a soft sweet kiss, and I felt—nothing.