Chapter Twenty-Two

The disguise Sara had planned for Greer was to go as a gray-haired cleaning person. Randal made a call, then told them that Alish wasn't in the ICU, but she had a no visitors status. Not even relatives were allowed in to see her.

Sara said, "I guess that's off, then."

Randal gave a snort. "Oh ye of little faith." He said they'd need ID badges and that was no problem. It was easy to someone with Randal's criminal past. A quick trip to an office supply store and Randal had what he needed. By the time Kate had applied makeup to Greer and Sara, and had chosen outfits for them, Randal had an ID for Greer and a visitor pass for his sister.

After Kate got through with her aunt, Sara stared at herself in the mirror. She looked twenty years older. "If this is what you wanted, all I had to do was wash my face," she muttered.

There was a lot of suppressed laughter.

Minutes later, Sara and Greer were ready to go.

"You'll go see Billy?" Sara asked Kate.

"Yes, I told you," Kate said. "I'll grill him hard. Jack will threaten to punch him if he doesn't tell us everything. Tennis, movies, all of it."

"Turn off his oxygen tube and that should do it," Greer said. She too looked older in her wiry gray wig. Kate had padded her slim body, then rummaged in the back of Sara's closet for her "fat clothes," meaning what Sara had worn when she was much heavier.

"I keep some as a reminder," Sara had said.

The clothes were too short on Greer but that added to her camouflage as a stereotype of a cleaner.

Sara turned to her brother. "If Lea is looking for something, find out what it is."

Randal grimaced. "I got it. You don't have to tell me again." His eyes twinkled. "You want me to help you to the door? Or should I get you a walker?" He held out a cane to her. It was an antique with a silver fox at its head. She did not ask where he got it.

"Help yourself!" she snapped as she took the cane. "Do your job and I'll do mine."

"I'm here to help if you need it," he said sympathetically. Randal stepped away before his sister could smack him with one of her boxing punches.

Sara practiced her hesitant walk as she went to the front door. She turned to look at them. "All of you know what to do?"

"We do," Kate said, "but Jack is going to wait for you outside the hospital. No, don't give me any backtalk. If you get caught, he'll know how to bail you out of jail. He's done it many times."

"On that happy note..." Jack said as he opened the door and they went outside.

When they got to the hospital, Sara knew she was going to have to congratulate her brother for a job well done. A man who had lots of scars and tattoos greeted Sara and Greer at a side door. He looked at Sara, bent over and leaning heavily on the cane. He seemed to fear that she might die at any moment.

Sara stood up straight, stuck the cane out like a sword, then made a few hard jabs.

The man grinned. "So you're Randal's sister?"

Sara bit her tongue on a snarky comeback. This man was probably one of her brother's companions in some crime. It was better to stay on his good side. "I am," she said.

The man gave Greer a cleaning cart to push, then went upstairs in the elevator with them. At the fourth floor, he held the door open, but he didn't get out. "You got the room number?"

Sara nodded.

"Good luck." Obviously, he wasn't going with them. He probably couldn't risk being caught.

She and Greer separated as the elevator door closed and, as Sara had predicted, no one looked at an old woman toddling about on a cane. She stepped back to let a patient on a gurney be rolled past.

Finally, she reached Alish's room and Sara went in. Against Greer's protests, they had agreed that Sara would have a few minutes alone with Alish.

It was a private room, an expensive one, and as Kate had noted, there was nothing personal in it. No flowers or cards, no photos. No funny stuffed animals to cheer up the sick person.

The woman was asleep. Sara set the cane on a chair, then went to the bedside and looked at her. Yes, this was an older version of the young woman she'd seen in her dreams. She was what Greer had once looked like.

Sara's first thought was that she was one of those rare women who looked better as she aged. That often happened with men, but not with women. Age had softened the harsh features she'd had in her youth.

Alish opened her eyes. She didn't seem in the least surprised to see an unknown woman standing there.

Sara didn't bother with preliminaries. "Did someone hurt you?"

Alish said nothing.

But Sara could see that she understood. "You and I have a connection."

Alish nodded.

"We're trying to find out—" Before Sara could complete her sentence, the door opened and in came Greer with her cart. It was too early!

Greer went to the opposite side of her grandmother's bed and stared at her, seeming to drink her in.

Sara doubted that Alish would recognize her. After all, Greer had had extensive surgery, and she was now done up like a caricature of a cleaning person. Sara started to explain who she was, but Alish raised her hand and her eyes filled with tears.

Greer was also crying as she took her grandmother's hand in both of hers and kissed it.

"You are here. You are beautiful," Alish said, her voice quite strong.

"I came to see you."

Sara glanced up at the camera in the corner of the room. There were machines all around. Alish had an IV in her arm, an oxygen tube at her nose, and a pulse clip on her finger. They had little time before they'd be run out of the room. "We're trying to find out who killed Derek Oliver."

Alish didn't take her eyes off her granddaughter. "I did it. I sawed his head open and removed the brain. I rolled it up in a rug."

If Greer was shocked by this, she didn't show it. "In the turtle rug."

"Yes." Alish smiled, showing protruding teeth that had not changed since she was a girl. "He was hurting you and Reid. I couldn't allow that. I had to stop him."

"And you put the jewels in his skull," Sara said.

Alish looked at her. "What jewels?"

Maybe it was the connection they had or maybe it was Greer's blasé attitude at hearing a confession of murder, but Sara was sure she was lying. "Who are you covering for? Reid?"

Instantly, Greer got angry. "You think my brother is a murderer?"

Alish reached out and took Sara's hand. "You must send her away. Protect her."

When Sara looked at the hand grasping hers, she saw a tattoo on her forearm. It was so old she could hardly make out the numbers. 4-12-44. "What is that date?"

"My wedding."

"For the husband whose grave you won't leave?" Sara asked.

Alish made no answer.

Sara felt like screaming in frustration at the lack of answers. She glanced up at the camera, then back down. "Are the dreams true? Do they come from you?"

"Yes."

Sara spoke quickly. "There were two men. Then later, one drove you to a train station. He was the nasty one. The one on the horse."

"Aran," Alish said and her grip on Sara's hand tightened.

"That's James's son," Sara said. "He ran away, but you knew where he was. Did he make a movie?"

"Yes, he did. No, he didn't."

"What does that mean?" Sara's voice showed her exasperation.

Again, Alish didn't answer.

Feeling frustrated, Sara blurted out, "Why does someone want to hurt Jack?"

For the first time, Alish's eyes showed shock, maybe even fear. "No, not him." When her eyes widened, a machine began to frantically, loudly beep. "The mark," Alish said. "The mark. This must stop." She clutched Sara's hand so hard it hurt. She was a very strong woman!

Seconds later, the room filled with doctors and nurses. Sara and Greer were pushed away. One nurse glared at Sara. "Whatever you said to her is about to kill her. Get out!"

Greer led the way through the crowd to the door, Sara behind her.

"All right," a nurse said to Alish, then turned to Sara. "She keeps saying, ‘Tell her of the mark.'" The nurse glared at Sara and Greer. "I've never seen you two before. Let me see your badges."

"Send me the truth!" Sara shouted loud enough for Alish to hear.

When Alish's machine began beeping louder and faster, Sara and Greer scurried out the door, ran to the stairs and down them before the nurse could find them. When they got outside, Jack was standing by Kate's car. He saw that they were out of breath, opened the door, and the two women slid into the back seat.

Jack didn't have to be told to drive away quickly.

As soon as they were on the highway, Jack passed a big canister of wet wipes to them. "Kate thought you two might like to remove the makeup."

"I love my niece," Sara said as she began wiping the thick, ugly foundation and the brown contouring lines off her face. Her handbag was on the floor and in it was a case of her daily makeup. She applied it.

As for Greer, she wiped away the grime, then left her skin bare.

"Ah, youth," Sara said.

Jack drove them to the Cracker Barrel in Pembroke Pines, where Randal and Kate were waiting for them.

They wanted to talk to each other but with Greer there, they said nothing but what a nice day it was.

Jack, a native Floridian, said, "It's Florida. The weather is always nice."

"Except for hurricanes," Kate said.

"Better than snow," Jack shot back.

"Skiing is nice," Kate said. "You can—"

The waitress interrupted to take their orders, and after that, they were silent.

Greer stood up. "I'm going to the restroom."

The second she was gone, Kate said to her aunt, "Tell us every word."

"Gladly." Sara spoke fast. "Alish wouldn't say if her fall was an accident or not, but she did say she killed Derek Oliver. She knew his head had been sawed open and the brain removed. But she did not know jewels had been stuffed inside."

The others were leaning forward, listening to every word.

"And yes, the dreams I've had are real."

"True dreams?" Jack said loudly.

Sara put up her hand in dismissal. She didn't have time to deal with his doubt. "It was a dream of Alish with two men, one nice and one a jerk. Later, the bad guy drove her to the train station. Alish said that was Aran."

"The missing son," Kate said. "So she knew where he went. Sorry. Go on."

"I assumed he was going to LA so I asked if he'd made a movie. Alish said, ‘Yes, he did. No, he didn't.'"

"Cryptic," Randal said.

"Very," Sara answered, then leaned farther forward and lowered her voice. "Alish was calm through all of this, but when I asked if someone wants to hurt Jack, she flipped out. The machines started beeping and Greer and I were ordered to get out. We—"

"Greer is coming," Kate said, and they sat up straighter.

"Murders only happen when she is here," Randal said quietly.

"Anything else?" Jack asked Sara quickly.

"I told her to send me the truth."

"Through email?" Jack asked.

"In a dream." Randal was looking at his sister in curiosity. "With the brooch."

"Yes," Sara said as Greer took her seat.

"What did I miss?" Greer asked.

"I just told them of our visit with your grandmother," Sara said. "What were your impressions?"

"I don't believe she killed anyone. I think she foresaw what was going to happen and got me out of the country."

"But she knew details," Sara said.

"Obviously, she did see the body," Greer said. "That it was so violently mutilated reinforced her need to get me out quickly."

"Why you and not Reid?" Kate asked.

"I don't think he was there. Now that I know a bit more, I think he was probably with Rachel. That gave him an alibi, but I had none. Could someone please tell me what's going on with these jewels?"

No one said a word.

After a long silence, Sara looked at Kate. "So what did Billy have to say?"

Greer gave an eye roll but she didn't ask any more questions.

Their orders came and after the waitress left, Kate said, "Oh, but Billy is a good actor! His tone was ‘I didn't tell you about when I played tennis? How remiss of me. I was frightfully good at it.'"

"He got the frightening part right," Sara said.

"But of course you persisted." Randal gave his daughter a look of pride.

"Yes, I did. Billy finally admitted to denuding the house of furniture, and yes, Derek Oliver was blackmailing him about that. Billy said he didn't tell us because he didn't think it was important."

"What about the movie bit he and Barbara did?" Greer asked.

"He seemed genuinely surprised at that, and I had to listen to several minutes of his telling me that those little sketches were part of why he was such an interesting host. But he didn't remember one that was specifically about Valhalla. However, he did say that maybe he wrote it, so it was an original piece."

Jack was typing out a text on his phone and they looked at him. "Just asking how my little brother is doing."

Randal gave a sigh. "So, not much new information from Billy. But I didn't expect much."

"Sorry," Kate said. "But now we know Billy isn't to be trusted."

Sara looked at her brother. "What did you find out from Lea?"

"She's been searching for a safe."

That got everyone's attention.

"She said that she'd never found her husband's will, and after we discovered his papers, she remembered hearing about a safe. She was looking for it."

"So why didn't she tell you what she was up to?" Sara asked.

"You are an advocate of independent women but this woman is supposed to ask a man's permission to look for something?"

They turned to Sara for her response.

Sara gave a small smile. "I stand corrected. Did she find one?"

"No," Randal said. "She figured it would be in the nursery or the Palm Room but she's found nothing."

"We are running out of time," Kate said softly. "Everyone is a suspect. Lots of motive and opportunity, but nothing for sure."

Jack's phone buzzed and his face lit up. "I asked my brother if he knew of any connection to Valhalla and Vikings. He sent me a photo." He passed his phone to them. It was a picture of a gorgeous young man, shoulder-length blond hair, in the costume of a Viking, complete with horned headdress.

Troy had written This is my dad. He was an actor before he began directing and producing.

Kate was the first to speak. "Maybe we need to look for movies Harry Adair was in, not ones he directed."

Sara said, "My guess is that he'd be uncredited, as one of the chorus, so to speak. Like in Ben Hur with a cast of thousands."

Jack's phone buzzed again and his eyes widened, but he put his phone away and didn't speak, nor did anyone ask what the message was.

Greer understood. It was private, not for her. She stood up. "I think I'll go to Gil's house."

"Take my car." Randal handed her the keys. "I'll go back with them." It was obvious that he didn't want to leave the group.

Greer thanked him, then left.

When she was gone, Jack showed the text he'd received from Sheriff Flynn.

Prelim. Poison. Looks like suicide.

"Rachel killed herself?" Kate asked.

Jack frowned. "How'd she break into the house? How'd she know where we live? Why did she kill herself?"

No one had an answer.