Chapter 12

CHAPTER TWELVE

“ A nd that’s what he said,” Maisey finished with, then took another sip of her coffee.

“He wanted her to keep her mouth shut.” Aaron rubbed his finger back and forth across his chin as he thought. “About what?”

“Yeah, and what does he want? He wants her to keep quiet, but I got the impression that’s not what he would’ve finished the sentence with. I mean, ‘because I want…’ That doesn’t sound right.”

“Nope.”

“And what about DeenaWurth?”

“I have no idea what’s going on there, but I can tell you one thing I’m going to do. That title has to have a bill of sale related to it somewhere, and I’m going to see if I can find out who sold her that car. If I can talk to them, maybe they’ll tell me who paid for it.”

“That’s not a bad idea. Shit. That’s all I need―two mysteries to solve. Why do I get the feeling that the answer to Deena’s is going to make me sick?”

“Because if there’s anything I learned at the academy, it’s that for someone to pay for a car like that for someone else, there has to be a compelling reason, and most of the time, it’s not good, especially when they’ve gone to such lengths to hide their identity. So whatever we find, it’ll probably turn my stomach too.”

“Daddy, I’m ready,” Murielle’s little voice said from somewhere near Maisey’s elbow.

“Okay. Time for school. Tell Maisey bye.”

Murielle reached for Maisey and the stepmom drew the child into her arms. “Bye, baby doll. You have a good day at school.”

“I will. Today’s pizza day! And I think today’s the day that Marty is gonna tell me that he wants me to be his girlfriend.” The little girl had been talking about Marty, last name unknown, for weeks. She apparently had a big crush on him and was hoping he’d ask her to “go” with him. Exactly where they thought they were “going,” Maisey didn’t know, but it sure wasn’t on anything that even vaguely resembled a date. Nope. No way. And Aaron would back her on that one.

Aaron stood, leaned over, and gave Maisey a big kiss. “Bye, babe. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Yep. Later. Love you.”

“Love you too. Come on, scooter butt. Let’s go,” Aaron said as he guided Murielle toward the door.

“Bye, Mama Maisey! Love you!” she said, turning to wave.

“Love you too, cutie pie.” The door closed behind the two most important people in her life, and they were gone.

Maisey picked up everything from breakfast, rinsed it all out, loaded it in the dishwasher, and got the pork chops out to thaw for dinner. She’d just bought a five-pound sack of potatoes the day before, and she’d stop at the store and get a bunch of fresh green beans to cook. It occurred to her to bring them home at lunch and start them in the slow cooker, so she made a mental note to do that.

The morning was slow, and she spent most of it in the office, completing paperwork and setting up meetings with parents and teachers for the next week. A little after noon, she headed to the store, bought a pound and a half of fresh green beans and a sandwich from their deli for lunch. She had chips and pickles at home, so she’d have a good midday meal.

It was sunny out, and she looked around. She loved the quiet neighborhood full of mostly working families or elderly people. There were no fall colors yet―it was still pretty warm outside―but it wouldn’t be long before the leaves started to turn. The door swung open by her key and she took a step inside. There was a crinkling sound, and she looked down to see a piece of paper under her shoe. As soon as she’d closed the door and deposited the shopping bags on the counter, she went back, picked it up, and turned it over. The three words there made shivers run down her spine.

Stop asking questions.

Aaron answered on the first ring. “Hey, babe. Having a good―”

“Aaron, somebody was here.”

“Here? Where’s here? At the office?”

“No! At home. I’m here eating lunch. I stopped by the grocery to pick up a few things and there was a note slipped under the door when I got here.”

“What does it say?”

“It just says, ‘Stop asking questions.’”

“Did you touch it?”

“Uh, yeah. I had to pick it up if I wanted to read it.”

“Don’t touch it again. One of our investigators might be able to pull a print from it. I’ll come and get it.”

“Okay.”

His voice was soft and warm. “Are you okay?”

“I’m a little scared.”

“Don’t be. I think it’s just somebody trying to get us to back off. Now I know I need to find out more.”

“I’ll try not to be scared, but it’s just creepy, you know? Somebody shoving a note under the door? That means they know where we live.”

“I’ll ask all the neighbors if they saw anybody. It’ll be fine, baby. I promise. I’ll be there in just a minute.”

She’d only managed to get half of her sandwich eaten when Aaron strode through the doorway. “Where is it?”

“Hello to you too,” she said with a grin.

He leaned down and kissed her. “Hi. Where is it?”

“Singular of focus, aren’t you?” she asked as she pointed at the piece of paper lying on the countertop. To her surprise, he put on a pair of latex gloves, pulled an evidence bag from his pocket, and carefully placed the note inside the bag. “You really think you can get prints off that?”

“You’d be surprised. I mean, it may be harder now because yours are on it, but still…”

“I only touched it with my forefinger and thumb when I picked it up. Then I laid it on the counter and haven’t touched it again. I can’t. It gives me the willies.”

“Okay. I’ll get it to one of the forensics guys and see if they can figure it out. And I know a couple of state troopers, so they might be able to help too.” Aaron hesitated for a second. “Wait. Which one is the note about? Us asking about Deena? Or us asking about Victoria?”

“Exactly. And I have no idea. Would’ve been nice if they’d been a little more specific.”

Aaron grinned. “Not that it would stop us.” Then he kissed her again. “Gotta run. I’m going to the courthouse to see if I can find a bill of sale on that SUV and then go talk to the dealership.”

“Thanks. And thanks for believing me.” She knew what kind of reception she’d get if she told her parents about the things she saw and heard. They’d tell her to quit being so dramatic. She loved them, but that was their answer to everything when it came to her.

“I always do, babe. I’ve got your back.” He smiled as he closed the door, and she was alone again. At least the scary note was gone. She hoped she never saw that thing again. It wasn’t so much what it said.

It was more about the way it made her feel.

Something was tickling Maisey’s brain, and she couldn’t figure out what it was. It took all afternoon, but she finally figured it out about four o’clock, and she decided she’d stop by the school on her way home. After digging through her files, she found the document she needed.

There were very few cars in the parking lot when she pulled up, but she could see a secretary in the office when she stepped up to the front doors. It took her almost a full minute to get someone’s attention, but when the lady came to the door, Maisey smiled. “Hey, Ophelia!” She and OpheliaStinson had gone to high school together.

“Maisey! Good to see you! What can I help you with?”

“Is Mrs. Albright here?”

“No. She’s already gone. Can I help you?”

“I dunno. I need to check on attendance records for one of my clients.”

“Oh. Well, that’s okay. Mr.Snow is here, and he’s the vice-principal. He’s the one who keeps up with attendance, truancy, sick days, all of that. Let me get him.” She left Maisey standing by the front counter, and in just a couple of seconds, she returned with a man behind her, a younger man. “Maisey, this is Mr.Snow. This is MaiseyKendall. She’s a social worker with the cabinet.” That was the short name most people used for the government agency.

“Hi. Nice to meet you, Ms.Kendall.”

“It’s Mrs.Friedman now. And it’s great to meet you too. I just need to talk to you about one of my clients.”

“I trust you have the appropriate paperwork to let me do that?”

“Yes, sir. I sure do.”

“Okay then. Let’s go back to my office. Would you like something to drink?”

“Oh, no thanks, sir. I’m fine. This shouldn’t take long.” They stepped into the office and the vice-principal closed the door. He motioned for Maisey to have a seat, so she chose the chair right in front of his desk, then pulled a paper from her messenger bad. “Here you go. I think this is what you need.”

She watched as his eyes swept back and forth across the page, then handed it back to her. “Looks good. So you need to know about DeenaWurth.”

“Yes, sir. I have this feeling that there’s something going on there, but I’m not sure what.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just some observations I made during a home visit. I can’t really be specific, you know,” she said, and he nodded. “Just some niggling notion that something may be wrong.”

“Have you met with Deena yet?”

“No. Just her mom. It wasn’t anything her mom said or did. It was environmental. And that’s all I can say.”

“Gotcha. I pay a lot of attention to my kids, and I haven’t seen any indication that she’s neglected or abused in any way.”

“Good. So what can you tell me?” She waited while he tinkered around on his computer.

“Okay, so I see no truancy issues. She’s only been out sick one day since the first of the year, and she brought a note from her mother for that. She’s been late a couple of times, but just by a minute or two.”

“Is she a good student?”

“Eh. Steady two point two GPA. She’s no Rhodes Scholar, but she’s not failing.”

Something flitted through Maisey’s mind. “Can you tell me if she had better grades and they fell, or worse and they rose?”

“Since …”

“Oh, just this school year compared to last school year.”

“Sure. Let me just…” Mr.Snow clicked around for a second or two. “Okay, yeah. They dropped.”

“When?”

“Last spring. That would’ve been about nine months ago maybe?”

Maisey did everything she could to keep her expression neutral. “Oh. Well, I guess that’s good to know. Any idea what happened?”

“No. But it looks like… Hang on.” More clicking. “Okay, during that time, she got into a couple of fights. Nothing horrible. Just enough that she had to do detention. Hmmm. Wonder what that’s about?”

“And no fight since?”

“No. None.”

She let out a heavy sigh in pretense. “Okay, well, that really tells me little to nothing, but it’s good to know. Maybe I can have a talk with her sometime.”

Mr.Snow nodded. “Thank you for caring about your clients. I think you’re the only social worker who’s ever come by to talk to me about a kid.”

“That’s a shame. But you do realize, we’re spread pretty thin.”

“So I’ve heard.” Maisey stood, so Mr.Snow did too, and he held out his hand. Maisey shook it politely. “Please let me know if I can help you with anything else.”

“I will. Thank you so much for your time. I’ll see myself out.” Maisey made her way out of Mr.Snow’s office and to the main office.

“Mrs.Friedman, huh? I didn’t know you got married,” Ophelia singsonged.

“Yeah. Aaron Friedman. He’s a deputy. I met him when…” She couldn’t help but shudder a bit. “When my coworker was…” It was impossible to say the words.

Ophelia’s eyes flew open wide and she gasped. “Oh! Yes. I remember that. Oh, I’m so sorry. She was your coworker?”

“Yes. It was a senseless tragedy.”

“It sure was. Well, it was good to see you. Hope I see you around again.”

“If you’re still here in a few years, you will. My stepdaughter is only in first grade, but she’ll be a student here eventually.”

“Great! I’ll look forward to that.”

Maisey made her way to the car, deep in thought. Deena’s grades had dropped not long before Victoria had come to the school to speak. Then they’d leveled off. That was no coincidence.

When she pulled up to the house, Aaron’s truck was already there. She stepped inside to find him seasoning the pork chops. “Sorry. I stopped by the school and I found out some interesting things.”

“Well, I found out some interesting things at the courthouse,” he said, sprinkling herbs on top of the meat.

“Good. We’ll have plenty to talk about after dinner then. The beans are cooking. I’ll get the potatoes ready and I’ll let you know when they’re about done so you can put the meat on the grill.”

“Sounds great, baby. Murielle’s in her room working on her homework. I’ll work on it with her after dinner.”

After a minute to tell Murielle hello, Maisey went to work on the potatoes, scrubbing them. What could’ve happened at about that same time that would make Deena’s grades drop? They didn’t completely stall out, and she wasn’t absent a lot, so it couldn’t have been too horrible. Still, it was something.

Dinner was delicious, and after they’d watched a TV show they all liked, it was time for Murielle to go to bed. As soon as she was asleep, Aaron was back, and they took the coat and went out onto the deck. “Okay. You said you went by the school. What did you find out?”

Maisey nodded. “Yeah. I happened to think I should check on Deena’s attendance and grades. She’s not truant. Only missed one day for sickness this year and had a note. But last year, her grades took a nosedive and she got into a couple of fights at school.”

“She’s failing?”

“No. They just dropped. She’s still passing, although barely.”

“And what were the fights about?”

“The vice-principal had no idea. But there’s something there. This all happened around the same time that Victoria came to the school.” She took a sip of her tea. “So what did you find out?”

“I pulled the title information for the Lincoln. Her name is the only one on it. No one else. But get this: There’s no lien against it. There would be if she’d financed it somehow, but she didn’t. That tells me somebody paid for the whole thing.”

“Who would do that?”

“I dunno. Is there any record of the family coming into money? Like someone died and left an insurance policy or property?”

“No. Nothing that I can tell. It’s like the whole thing just… happened. Went to bed poor, woke up rich.”

A funny look passed over Aaron’s face. “Went to bed poor… woke up rich.”

“What?”

“Who went to bed poor and woke up rich, Maise?”

“I dunno.”

“Think.”

“I don’t… Oh, shit.”

“Yeah. Went to bed poor, woke up rich. But why? Why would VinceSkidmore hand DeenaWurth enough money to buy a car? And the family has that big TV. Those aren’t free. They’re not even cheap.”

It hit Maisey like a freight train. “Victoria. She said she didn’t really know what had happened. She didn’t see anything. Do you think she saw something? Skidmore and Deena?”

“I guess it’s possible.”

“Wait. Will said she told him she had to go back to the school to talk to the principal. She did see something! And she was going back to the school to talk to the principal! Aaron, we’ve got to find out for sure what Deena was fighting with someone about.”

“And I know just who to ask.”