Snoop to Nuts (22 page)

Next was Riverville Memorial Hospital. On the way over I asked Meemaw about that mortar and pestle business and she smiled a devilish smile at me.

“Thought I’d see what he’d say. He got mad, but Tyler’s one of those people who always get mad if you ask them anything. I don’t know if he’s hiding something or not, but I’ll bet he wouldn’t take a chance using his drugstore equipment to grind up poison.”

Hunter was there ahead of us, standing outside the parson’s door. His turn on guard duty.

Parson Albertson was awake and smiling at us from his bed. He motioned us to the two chairs set at his bedside. His face was still pale. The blue gown he wore was drawn over wads of bandages on his shoulder.

“Morning, ladies,” he said, inclining his head toward us though the gesture brought a grimace of pain to his face.

We asked how he was doing and how he’d passed the night and if he needed anything before getting down to business.

Miss Amelia, back straight, leaned in from her chair to talk to him as Hunter stepped into the room and asked if he could see me outside. Miss Amelia motioned for me to go—she’d talk to the pastor.

What Hunter wanted was to catch me up to date on what he’d been doing.

First off, I had to know why he was on guard duty when he should be out hunting for a shooter.

“Be just until Sam can come on over. Accident out on the 10 he had to get to.”

He hurried on, looking first one way and then the other down the hall. “Talked to Avery over at the car rental. White Malibu rented to Jeffrey Coulter all right. Still out. Got the license number and Sam found the car parked right here in the hospital lot, where the doctors park. That’s really why I’m here, in case Jeffrey’s coming back to get the pastor.”

“I still don’t understand.” I had to be honest with Hunter. “Somehow I can’t see Jeffrey Coulter mixed up in any of this.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t either until we found a rifle in the back of the car. Being tested now. We got that shell casing Miranda found. And, Lindy, I talked to Justin a while ago. Said he was on the shooting team with Jeffrey at college. Said he was a crack shot.

“Another thing.” Hunter looked me straight in the eye. “Bethany called ’cause I asked her to check his room at your house. Cleaned out, she said. He’s gone.”

“Bethany’s really helping?”

He nodded. “Her and Justin are both calling Jeffrey’s phone every half hour. If he answers, they’re going to pretend they don’t know anything and see if he’ll say where he is. My guess is he’s on his way back to New York City.”

“How? If the car is here at the hospital.”

Hunter hesitated. “I don’t think he’s working alone, Lindy. Somebody’s helping him.”

“That’s what Miss Amelia says, too. Any ideas?”

“Not yet. Well, a couple, but no proof. Thinking of maybe asking a few locals to bring their shovels in for testing. Somebody had to dig up that hemlock. Be like soil and grasses on a car. Could tell where they were digging.”

“Miss Amelia told Tyler Perkins you wanted to test his mortar and pestles at the drugstore.”

He laughed. “Bet that went over big.”

“Let’s just say, Tyler wasn’t smiling when we left.”

Hunter went back to guarding the door and I went back to see how Miss Amelia was doing with the parson. A sheaf of papers was spread out over the parson’s bed. He was holding a paper out to her but waited until I sat back down and Miss Amelia explained what he was showing her.

“Some papers the pastor brought with him from California, Lindy,” she said, then looked back at the man with sad circles under his eyes. His white hair was standing up at the back from lying against the pillow.

“The thing is,” he said in my direction, “Pastor Jenkins called me before he died. Said he was worrying about something here with the church and wanted my advice. To tell you the truth, with Sally dying and all, I hadn’t been thinking about much of anything else from my past, so I didn’t get it straight at first. Then it all came back to me. An ugly business with Hawley Harvey and Tyler Perkins, but some other church members, too.”

He drew in a deep breath and laid a hand gently at his shoulder. “What I was worried about was the rate the church board was trying to expand the building. I mean, we were never exactly flush with money, and all of a sudden the board’s talking about a big addition to accommodate all the new folks coming in. I never saw that influx of parishioners and I was starting to worry about our financial responsibility to keeping the church going the way it was. What I did was call a meeting with Tyler Perkins, since he was board president. And all Tyler told me was not to worry, that money from investments was pouring in. When I asked what investments, Tyler just laughed and told me things were progressing and I’d be brought in on it very soon.”

We were interrupted by a nurse who came in to stick a thermometer in the pastor’s mouth, ask how he was feeling, and check the bag of fluid going down a clear tube and into his arm. When she was gone with a cheerful “Have a nice day” to all of us, the parson took up where he’d left off.

“Well, maybe you don’t remember exactly how I ran my church, Miss Amelia. But it wasn’t with the deacons keeping me in the dark about something as important as finances. Next thing I did, I called Hawley and got the same runaround. I said I was going to take it to the people of the church—all the people. Next thing I knew the board voted me out of there and I was asked to leave as soon as I could vacate the parsonage.”

“So that’s what it was about.” Miss Amelia sat back, thinking. “We weren’t told much, just that you wanted to retire.”

He hooted then winced. “As if I was given a choice.”

“I wondered what happened. Didn’t seem like you to up and leave the way you did. Sally was a friend and I didn’t even get a phone call.”

“Well, now you know. None of it was my idea. We were told to clear out and not contact a soul or they weren’t paying off the rest of my contract.”

“So what’d you tell Pastor Jenkins?”

“Well, at first I just didn’t want to get involved with that old business again. Sally hasn’t been dead long, you see. I felt I didn’t owe anything to you people back here or even to Pastor Jenkins, who took my place. Then I started thinking it over and called him back. His wife said he was dead. Well, I heard that—then heard what happened to him, that he was murdered, why, I started putting two and two together and figured maybe, because he was asking questions the same way I’d been asking, maybe I’d better start looking into things. What I did was call a man I’d been wanting to call before I left Riverville. He’s with a church in Atlanta. I’d heard some gossip and thought I’d give him a try.

“Called and he filled me in on things going on there you wouldn’t believe. Sent me all these newspaper clippings . . .”

He picked out one newspaper clipping and held it out to me.

It was from the
Atlanta Constitution
. Dated the year before.

The pastor went on talking while I read, saying almost the same thing I was reading. A church in Atlanta had been scammed by a huge Ponzi scheme run by a couple of church deacons, getting people to invest in what they called: Private Investment Trading Platforms. Investors, who were swayed by scripture and calling on the Lord’s name, were swindled out of five million dollars.

I looked at Miss Amelia and then at the parson. “Is this what the whole thing’s about?”

The pastor shrugged. “Can find out pretty fast by having your sheriff call in the Securities and Exchange Commission to go over the church books. Should be able to tell if any investments have really been made, or if the money’s being recycled a little at a time with most of it being funneled back to the man pushing the investment club in the first place.”

“That would be who?” I asked, needing a name to latch on to.

“I’d say Hawley Harvey. He’s the one making most of the promises.”

“But Tyler’s got the red Cadillac.”

Pastor Albertson shrugged. “Could be the way Hawley keeps him from asking too many questions.”

“I don’t get how this thing works. How does Hawley pay off anyone if he’s not investing the money?”

“Same way that Bernie Madoff, up in New York City, did. Take money that comes from new investors and pay off the people who first invested—or give them enough to keep them quiet. When it gets too hot, they’re out of there. Gone with the money.”

“Or maybe they promise investors they’ll get all their money back after the church addition is in progress . . .” Miss Amelia added, then groaned. “Poor Ethelred.”

“Do you know this Jeffrey Coulter the sheriff thinks is the one who took shots at you?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Never heard of him. But if you read some of these other articles, and the sheets of Ponzi schemes I pulled off the Internet, you’ll see a lot of the cheaters had partners, or other people in it with them, and not always people in the area. Sometimes, I guess, it took money to build the scheme to begin with.”

“Money like giving Tyler enough to buy his big car and keep him quiet about the rest of the investors.” Miss Amelia’s voice showed her disgust. “Money like Jeffrey’s rich daddy could give him. And you know what? I just remembered something I wanted to tell you. Marti Floyd, the man who handled scheduling the church’s visit over to the Ag Fair barns? You remember, Lindy. I called him and he said it was Hawley Harvey who scheduled that visit. And it was Hawley Harvey who was early. So he was in the barn at the right time.”

“I remember something, too . . .” I was riffling through pictures in my head. “Jeffrey and Hawley were talking at a great rate at Parson Jenkins’s funeral. I didn’t think anything of it at the time. Just Hawley talking up anybody who’d stand still to listen. But I wondered all along why Jeffrey wanted to go to a funeral for a man he didn’t even know.”

“Hawley Harvey.” Meemaw tasted the man’s name in her mouth. “Been in town about ten years. I always wondered about that investment company of his. Never seemed to be doing as well as he claimed. Something Darnell used to say would run through my head once in a while: ‘If it quacks like a duck, and it walks like a duck, you got a duck on your hands.’ I always thought Hawley Harvey was kind of an odd bird. Trying too hard at everything.”

The parson smiled. “Guess he thought he finally found something he could sink his beak into.”

“Did you know that the people doing this, murdering Parson Jenkins and shooting at you, tried to put the blame on my grandmother here?”

“I didn’t until just now.” He looked over at her. “Think maybe you should call the sheriff? I think there’s enough to stop that Jeffrey, and maybe at least bring in Hawley Harvey.”

“Have to do something before the ground breaking or I’ll bet anything Hawley’ll be gone right along with Jeffrey Coulter and all that money before anybody sees a dime.” Meemaw was thinking hard again.

“We’ll get him on the fraud all right,” Hunter said. “But what about the parson’s murder?”

Parson Albertson raised his eyebrows. “That’s right. There’s no proof . . .”

“Unless I do something,” Miss Amelia said.

I could see she was hatching a plan and sat back to wait and see what kind of duck she came up with this time.

Meemaw wouldn’t tell me a thing. I gave up and followed orders, which began with waiting down in the lobby of the hospital while she talked to Hunter.

When she came out of the elevator, tapping gracefully across the white tiles toward me, I could see something had lifted from her heart. Her face was back to being its cheerful, customer-greeting face. Her eyebrows rose when she saw me. Something was going on and I knew I’d be better off going along with it.

“Where to?” I asked, falling into step with her as we crossed the parking lot to my truck.

“I want to go over to Hawley’s office.”

“Hunter coming? The sheriff going to meet us over there? You going to confiscate a shovel?”

“Hunter’s not coming. Last thing we want to do is put out signals we’re bringing trouble.”

“Not involve the police?” I slammed my door and started the truck, the motor taking its usual three turns to catch.

“No, ma’am. I know my customers. Last thing we want to do is give Hawley any sign we’re on to him.”

“Then what are we going to his office for?”

“You’ll see soon enough, Lindy. I want you in there with me but I don’t want you saying a single word.”

I had my role down pat. Miss Amelia’s muscle. Or her stooge. I didn’t say anything all the way over to the Alamo Building and Hawley Harvey’s financial services office, but I hoped she wasn’t about to blow the whole thing.

Hawley came out to greet us himself after his receptionist announced we were waiting in the lobby.

“Well, well, well . . .” He stuck his small hand out to take first Miss Amelia’s and then mine and shake them hard. “Good to see the both of you. Bet you’re all excited about Sunday. Going to be the biggest thing ever to hit Riverville, I tell you . . .”

He kept talking as he escorted us back to his office, which seemed a little bare for a busy investment banker. Not a single picture on the walls. A desk, two chairs, and not much else.

He saw me looking around the empty room and waved a hand. “Fall cleaning. Got to stay on top of things. Now, what can I do for you two ladies? As you might imagine, I’m running around like a chicken with my head cut off. So many plans for the ground breaking . . .”

He raised his eyebrows at first one then the other of us. “Thinking of investing in the church fund, Miss Amelia? Can’t get you into this one, but I got a lot of other fine investments I can arrange. Some paying as high as twenty percent on every dollar invested. I’ve got a bunch of brochures, but what I’d advise is this one account I keep going only for very special friends . . .”

He stopped to smile. Miss Amelia took her chance to break in.

“To tell the truth, Hawley, I’m worried about Ethelred. You know she’s got an operation coming up soon.”

His pliable face went from happy to sad—like one of those bald-headed pictures you turn upside down. “Heard. Hope everything goes well.”

“Me, too. But what she’s worrying about now is the money she’s got invested with you.”

He frowned and waited.

“She’s dead set on taking a cruise to the Bahamas and wants to get it all planned before she goes in for that operation. You know, something to look forward to.”

Again he only waited.

“She was hoping she could get her money out of the investment club today, instead of Monday.”

Hawley sat back in his chair and pulled at his bottom lip. “You know everybody’s getting their checks soon as the addition’s started and the builder gets what he needs.”

“Well, yes, that’s what I heard, but I thought—”

“Can’t make exceptions, Miss Amelia. Why don’t you go back and tell Miss Ethelred she’ll get her money right along with everybody else. Best I can do for you. You understand, it wouldn’t do for me to play favorites.”

Miss Amelia stood reluctantly. “I can see what you’re saying, Hawley. But I have your word she’ll have that check in her hands by Monday?”

He nodded as hard as a man can nod. “And you can tell her for me, she’s going to be greatly pleased by the numbers she sees on that check. Did better than expected.”

“Well, thank you for your time, Hawley.”

I almost couldn’t believe the wide smile she gave the man.

“Oh, I was just wondering. Selma doing the flowers for the ceremony?”

He nodded. “Kind of her. That garden’s going so good. Guess you could say I’m kind of a horticulturist myself. Know a thing or two about flowers. Worth all the effort we put into that garden. Why’d you ask?”

“You hear that’s where the killer dug up the spotted water hemlock? Selma found a big plot of it down by the river, roots half dug away.”

Hawley Harvey said nothing for a long minute. “You don’t say. The board thinks it’s somebody at the pastor’s last church had a grudge. Nobody here would do a thing like that.”

“Seems they did,” Meemaw said quickly. “And to try and put the blame on me, why, I don’t think I can ever forgive a person who would do a low-down thing like that.”

Hawley Harvey’s face went through a whole display of emotions. When he settled on suspicion, I was hoping against hope he’d forget himself and blurt out something.

He didn’t. “Sounds kind of like a threat, Miss Amelia. I sure hope you don’t think I’d have anything to do with murdering people. Why, you know I’ve always held you in the highest esteem. One of the Blanchard family. Even if it is just by marriage, still one of the most respected families in the county.”

Miss Amelia smiled a cold smile. “I saw you talking to Justin’s friend at the parson’s funeral, that Jeffrey Coulter? You know him?”

Hawley made a face and shook his head. “Talked to a lot of people. Always do. That’s my business, talking.”

“Just thought I’d ask,” she said from the doorway, an icy smile lifting her lips. “Oh, and I understand the sheriff’s picking up shovels from anybody who gardened over there at the parsonage.”

“Shovels? What for?” He thought a minute. “Tell the sheriff I don’t own a shovel.”

I could tell he thought he’d outsmarted Miss Amelia, and maybe the sheriff, too. Couldn’t prove he’d used the shovel, even if they found traces of hemlock on it. Could have been anybody.

“Well, I suppose just about every citizen here in Riverville could say the same thing, am I right, Hawley?” Miss Amelia asked.

“Suppose so.”

“Then we’ll see you Sunday at the ground breaking. I’ll be making something special for the buffet table. Hope you like it. Had you in mind when I came up with the recipe.”

He didn’t go into his effusive thanks and looking forward to it and all the things he would normally have said. I thought I saw him grab at his stomach as we walked out. He sat down hard and fell into deep thought.

If nothing else, Meemaw had given Hawley Harvey a few things to worry about.

Out in the truck, I couldn’t help but worry Miss Amelia had given Hawley a kind of heads-up, let him know we were on to him. What else would the man do but take off as soon as he could, if that’s what the plan was?

When I told Meemaw my fears, she gave me a self-satisfied smile. “Hunter’s over talking to Tyler Perkins now. The man might be a smug son of a gun, but he’s not a crook. That checkbook’s going to be lost and the funds in the bank frozen. We’re figuring Jeffrey and Hawley were planning on taking the money and running as soon as the ground breaking was over but now they have to wait.”

“They’ll run anyway, as soon as they realize the sheriff’s on to them.”

“Not without the money. And until they go, they haven’t committed fraud.”

“Anything on Jeffrey? He’s probably long gone, I’d imagine.”

“Ha. Without the money? He’s the seed man. Set Hawley up to begin with. I know people, Lindy. That boy’s hanging close until his share of the money’s in his hands.”

“What about the parson’s murder? I thought you didn’t want Hawley getting away with it. If he’s arrested for the Ponzi scheme, he’ll never confess . . .”

She gave me a look dripping with tolerance. “Don’t you worry. I’ve got that covered. You just go along with everybody else Sunday at the celebration. No matter what happens, Lindy, you follow my lead.”