“There isn’t anyone to call,” Pat sobbed. “Richard and Lisa are all I have, and now Marjory won’t talk to us, either.”
“That’s on you, Mother,” Lisa said, speaking for the first time since she’d arrived. “I told you and Daddy you should have told Aunt Marjory the truth and thrown yourself on her mercy, but no, you had to try to be all tricky and cheat her out of Gramma’s money.”
An awkward silence followed.
“I’m so sorry,” Pat said finally, looking at Lisa. “I didn’t know what to do.”
“Would you like to talk about it?” Aunt Beth said softly.
“I can’t,” Pat said, looking at each of them in turn. She started crying again. Her normally pink cheeks were turning a purple-red. Harriet was thankful Jorge and Tom were lingering in the kitchen and Jane had chosen to join them there.
“Mom,” Lisa said, raising her voice. “These people might be able to help us fix things with Aunt Marjory. Come on-it’s our only chance.”
“It might help,” Mavis coaxed.
Pat continued crying. Harriet held out a box of tissues, and she took several, blowing her nose noisily. She shuddered and took a deep breath.
“Richard was about to go to jail,” she said finally.
Harriet looked at her aunt, but Beth was waiting patiently for Pat to continue. Lauren made the circular motion with her forefinger that meant “get on with it.” She kept her hand beside her leg so only Harriet could see it.
“If we could come up with more money, Richard could buy back time,” Pat finally continued.
“What?” Lauren sounded confused.
“It’s because of the kind of crime,” Lisa explained in a matter-of-fact tone. “Dad took other people’s money. He pled guilty to avoid a trial, and the feds said if he could pay any of it back, they would reduce his time.”
“So if I rob a bank, but they get the money back, I do less time?” Lauren asked.
Harriet swatted at her and put a finger to her lips, motioning for her to hush.
“Was he trying to get other people to give him money?” she asked Pat.
“No! He wanted to get my inheritance from Marjory, and then we were going to leave.”
“Mom,” Lisa said. “Tell the truth.”
Pat went through her sighing and sagging and crying and nose-blowing again.
“Richard was trying to get my inheritance, but Lisa and I were going to tell Marjory what he was doing and beg for her mercy. We were planning on sending Richard to the store, and then while he was gone, I was going to ask Marjory if Lisa and I could live with her. Richard sold the house, our house, to buy time. He had it sold before he even talked to me about it.”
“How could he do that?” Harriet asked. “He didn’t forge your signature, did he?”
“No, it turns out I was never on the title.”
Mavis gave a little gasp.
“When he started making money,” Pat continued, “he bought a bigger house in a nicer neighborhood for me and Lisa, as a surprise. He said he was going to have my name put on the title after he gave it to me, but we got busy moving and then somehow never got around to it. He already had it sold before he told me about going to jail. He’d been hoping he could raise enough money that he wouldn’t have to do any time, but that was foolishness. He could have sold ten houses, and he still couldn’t have paid all the money back.”
“Was he embezzling from his company?” Harriet asked.
“Worse,” Lisa said.
“What could be worse than that?” Lauren asked.
“It was investment fraud,” Pat said.
“Like a Ponzi scheme?” Mavis asked.
“Exactly like that,” Pat said. “This is so embarrassing.” She put her hands over her face.
Mavis went over and put her arms around the sobbing woman.
“You’ll get through this,” she soothed. “You don’t have to solve it all right now. Let’s let it rest for tonight. We’ll eat a nice dinner, and then everyone can get a good night’s sleep, and you can start making a plan tomorrow.”
“I’ll show you where the bathroom is. You two can freshen up,” Aunt Beth said and led them past the half-bath and on upstairs to the main bathroom.
“I call Harriet,” Lauren stated when Aunt Beth came back down alone.
“What?” Harriet said.
“I call you-as a roommate. Someone has to give up their room when your aunt invites those two to stay here. It’s probably going to be me, so I choose you to double up with. Don’t worry-there are two more air mattresses upstairs. You have the biggest room, the chimney passes through your bedroom wall, so your room is the warmest and you have your own bathroom so I don’t have to share with those two.”
Harriet looked at Aunt Beth.
“We can’t make her go back to the shelter given the shape she’s in,” her aunt said.
“She could be the murderer,” Harriet protested. “For all we know, she just bought herself a big insurance pay- out.”
Aunt Beth’s shoulders sagged.
“Didn’t think of that, did you?”
“She had no reason to kill the other guy,” Mavis said.
“She might be a copycat killer,” argued Lauren. “Someone else killed Duane, and Pat decided to go for the insurance money by killing Richard and making it look like the first guy did it.”
“Sounds a little far-fetched,” Mavis said.
“I hope so,” Harriet said.
“Everyone ready for dinner?” Jorge asked as he came into the living room. “We’ve got burgers and fries ready in the kitchen. Everyone can come fill their plates.”
Pat and Lisa came back downstairs and joined everyone in the kitchen. Jorge was a master of presentation. He had cut tree-shaped slices of cheddar cheese using one of Harriet’s cookie cutters and placed them on the burgers. Detective Morse had cooked the semi-frozen French fries in two large iron skillets. Tom had put together a plate of sliced tomato, lettuce, and pickles and set out ketchup and mustard.
“Oh, this looks lovely,” Pat said as she assembled her burger on her plate.
“We haven’t had a normal meal in days,” Lisa said.
“Eat your fill, chiquita,” Jorge said. “We have plenty.”
Pat and Lisa filled their plates first, followed by Mavis and Beth. When they were safely in the dining room, Harriet filled the detective in on what had been revealed.
“I’d be surprised if it turns out Pat killed her husband, but you never know,” Morse said. “I wish we knew more about the first vic.”
“I might have something,” Harriet said, and explained about Duane’s cell phone.
“Given the circumstances, I’m going to overlook the fact that you tampered with evidence, including removing it from the scene. Next time a murder happens anywhere in this county, stay away from it. Can you promise me that?”
Harriet retrieved the phone and handed it to Morse.
“I promise, never again,” she said.
“I believe you mean that-at the moment, anyway. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you’re probably right about the other campers destroying evidence. If you hadn’t taken the phone when you spotted it, who knows where it would be now.”
“The young alcoholic at the camp had taken Duane’s quilt at some point,” Harriet said. “And someone else had taken one of the spare quilts we’d given Joyce and covered Duane’s body with it. When Tom and I were there, right after they found Duane, they all claimed they either hadn’t been in the men’s room or they had only taken a quick look, but clearly someone covered Duane. I can’t imagine him taking a spare quilt when he had his own new one in his usual sleeping space.”
“We better join the group before they come looking for us,” Lauren suggested. Harriet, Tom and Jane followed her to the dining room.
Dinner was a strained affair. Harriet racked her brain for a topic that didn’t relate to the house Pat no longer
