parts.
There were books to be put back as well. At least the evening had been a success. Mrs. Shedd and Mr. Royal were both still smiling about the money the store had taken in. If we kept these events happening, maybe we could pull the bookstore back from the brink of disaster. I was running on autopilot by then and was relieved when I got home.
When I walked in, Samuel was in the kitchen grilling a cheese sandwich for himself. The scent of browning butter reminded me that I had forgotten all about eating again. Spatula in hand, he turned toward me.
“I’m not planning on staying here forever,” he said.
“I know,” I said. I wanted to give his sandy hair a reassuring ruffle, but he was too big for that. “There’s no reason to move out until you find the right situation.”
He flipped his sandwich on a plate and offered to make me a cup of coffee. He didn’t have to say it, but I knew what the offer meant—that I looked like a zombie. He was a professional barista, and making a cup of coffee was an art for him.
I might have been coffeed out from the black-eye and subsequent red-eyes I’d had at work, but I knew if I said no, it would hurt his feelings. I sat down at the kitchen table and watched as he set up a cone filter over a mug and poured in freshly ground coffee and boiling water. The fragrance of the brewing drink overrode the buttery smell of his sandwich.
“Barry came by,” he said. I could hear Samuel swallow from across the room, a sure sign he was uncomfortable about the subject. “He said he’d forgotten some stuff.” Samuel left the statement hanging as if to ask if it was okay that he’d let Barry go through the house. I told him it was fine. “He left that,” Samuel said when he brought the cup of coffee to me. I hadn’t noticed the key sitting on the table until Samuel pointed it out. It was all alone, no note. Somehow more than anything else, seeing the key meant
“I’m sorry,” Samuel said in a low voice, seeing how I was staring at the key. It was an odd feeling having him trying to console me. I’d always been the one offering sympathy when he’d had a setback.
The doorbell interrupted us. Samuel went to answer it, and a moment later, he returned with Mason. He took one look at me and appeared concerned.
“Don’t even say it. I know how bad I look.”
Mason had a supportive smile. “You look fine, just a little tired. No worries. I’m here to take care of everything.” He appeared too refreshed, too happy. He eyed my coffee and Samuel offered to make him a cup. There was definitely something different in Mason’s vibe. He hugged me in greeting and then joined me at the table and started talking about dinner.
I saw Samuel glance over from his coffee preparations. There was disapproval in his expression. I suppose it did look like one guy out and another one already taking his place. Samuel brought over Mason’s coffee and sat down with us. He began to eat his sandwich while Mason launched into how to handle the sheriff’s detective.
“What happened now?” Samuel asked, clearly distressed. Mason answered for me and told Samuel what he needed to know—that there was nothing to worry about. “They’re just rattling cages, looking for someone to blame. I don’t know how that halfway house is run, but I’m pretty sure if he was a counselor, he wasn’t a prisoner of the place. If they were going to try to pin it on anybody, I’d think it would be the nanny.” He told me again that if they contacted me to refuse to say anything until I talked to him.
I was too tired to mention my thought that someone might not have wanted me to hear what Miles had to say.
In the midst of it, my other son arrived. Peter surprised me by giving me a hug. He was usually more standoffish. He was older than Samuel and so wrapped up in his career as a talent agent that I’d barely seen him lately. I realized Samuel must have called him. I noticed Peter hadn’t brought his girlfriend with. He’d brought her over once and I don’t think I made the best impression.
“Sorry about the detective,” he said. His comment surprised me because Peter had been so open about not liking Barry. His somber expression disappeared when he held out his hand to Mason. If Peter had been rooting for me to be involved with anybody, it had always been Mason.
The three of them began talking, and even with the coffee, their words began to swim in my tired mind. Somewhere in it all, I put my head down on the table and went to sleep on my folded arms.
I awoke in the dark and for a moment didn’t know where I was. Then my room came into focus. I was still dressed, on top of the covers, with an afghan draped over me. Cosmo was cuddled next to me and the two cats were on the pillow next to my head. Blondie was in her chair. Vaguely, I remembered the three of them helping me across the house. I rolled over and went back to sleep.
BY MORNING, I FELT ALL BETTER. NOW THAT MY mind was clear, all kinds of issues surfaced. I realized I had no idea what had happened to Miles beyond that he was dead. I kept thinking about his phone call to me and wondering if it was related to his death. I shuddered when I realized that when I’d called him back, he was probably already gone. Were Miles’ and Robyn’s deaths related? Since they were brother and sister, it seemed likely. It also seemed likely that if their deaths were related, there was a good chance their parents were involved. Hadn’t Annie said Miles was still hoping for a relationship with his parents, but it was a Pandora’s box they weren’t going to open. Maybe they or someone acting for them had decided to make sure that box never got opened.
I was sure the nanny had more information and regretted that I hadn’t gotten a phone number from her. But then I knew where she would be that morning, I thought, getting up.
After a quick shower and a fruit smoothie, I was out the door on the way to Tarzana Park. I left my car in the parking lot and headed for the playground, hoping she hadn’t varied her schedule. Sure enough, Annie was on the bench with her crocheting out and the two kids were busy in the sandbox with trucks and pails. As soon as she saw me, she started to apologize. She hadn’t meant to sic the sheriff’s detective on me. All she’d done was answer their questions about seeing Miles. As soon as they’d heard Adele and I were with her, they wanted to talk to us. I shrugged it off. Getting questioned was no longer a big deal for me. Now it was my turn to talk.
“What happened to Miles?” I said as I sat on the bench next to her.
She’d been keeping an upbeat demeanor, but she let it down as she began to talk. She’d gotten a call the morning after we’d been there. The director of the halfway house had been concerned when Miles didn’t show up for breakfast. They checked his room and found him unresponsive and called the paramedics. She said they’d found the crocheted doll I’d brought. Annie hesitated. “The doll’s body was cut open and there were some pills hidden inside it. The director wanted to know where the doll came from. . . .” She let it hang in the air.
“You can’t think I put drugs in the doll.”
“I don’t know what to think. I just told the detective what I knew—that you’d helped with the crochet group and had brought him the doll.”
“I certainly didn’t put anything in the doll, and the Hookers checked out the doll to see how it was made. If it had been cut open and sewed up, one of us would have noticed,” I said. “I think someone tried to make it look like there were drugs in the doll. I wonder who else had access to his room.”
“The director admitted that although they try to keep track of visitors, it’s possible for a counselor to bring somebody in without signing in.” Annie stopped to regroup, and it appeared she was having a hard time keeping it together. “I know he was upset about his sister, but he has been doing so well. I don’t believe he threw away all his hard work and went back to drugs, even though the detective told me they are treating it as a self-administered accidental overdose.”
“Overdose of what?” I said and she shrugged.
“They wouldn’t say. Maybe they don’t know until they do all their tests. They did say if they find the person who gave him the drugs, they’re going to charge them with something.”
I sat down on the bench beside her. I didn’t know Miles other than seeing him during the crochet group, but I had to agree with her that he seemed to be doing okay. “He did seem to have a purpose helping the other residents. But if he didn’t backslide, what happened?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “Oh, there was something else the director told me. He said he’d found a bunch of broken picture frames on the floor. The photographs seemed to have been removed and cut up in confetti.”
I felt a shiver go through me and told her about the photograph he’d shown me. “Miles said Robyn was strange about it. Then he called me and left a message that he’d remembered something about the photograph.” My voice dropped as I said how sorry I was I had missed his call. I stared at her intently. “Do you know who was in
