Page 58 of Dying to Read

“Didn’t he have to report that money somewhere? Like on his taxes?” Malia asked as she stood to get anotherslice of cake.

“From what I know of estate laws, as long as the amount is less than a few million, he doesn’t have to report or pay taxes. I’m guessing he kept it under that?” Jonathon looked at Holly.

She nodded. “That was one reason he settled so quickly with the family, according to a letter that the woman’s sister wrote to attach to the court filing. She asked for it as part of the settlement. She thought he backed away from getting all of the estate because he would have had to report and pay taxes. She wanted it to be a public record of what he was doing. And it worked. The letter got our attention.”

“After he was dead,” Malia pointed out. “I don’t think it was a deterrent.”

“Unless that information forced Sally to try to hide his activities with Ruth Agee. And maybe she alerted Lizzy’s sister to move her out of the facility. To protect her from his manipulation.” Rarity met Shirley’s gaze. “Sally acted too late.”

“And someone else was on the phone talking with Sally about the problem. You said so yourself when you found the file.” Shirley stopped crocheting and laid her hands in her lap. “I’ve been thinking about this a lot. It could only be three people. Cindi Kennedy, the marketer, McKenzie Jones, the business office manager, or Marsha Graves, the social worker for the facility. I don’t think Sally would trust anyone else with her cover-up. Getting rid of a patient’s file is pretty bad.”

Jonathon held his hand up. “We still have Terrance on the board. I know you all don’t think he killed Jully, but he admitted to getting into an argument with Jully the night he died. He had found out that someone inside was turning off the security system. That thesystem wasn’t misfiring. He thought Jully was putting patients’ lives in danger. And he didn’t like how he treated George. He’d found out from the nurses that Jully was actively campaigning to limit Shirley’s visits. He didn’t want her to become suspicious of George’s position as Lizzy’s fake boyfriend to cover uptheir affair.”

“Terrance wouldn’t kill anyone.” Shirley shook her head and picked up her crocheting.

Jonathon looked over at her. “Are you sure? He was in a bar fight early in his service and he got punished for almost killingthe other guy.”

Shirley set her crochet down again. “That was when he was twenty and he was protecting a woman who was serving drinks in the bar. The man he attacked was later convicted of rape on another woman a few years later and kicked out of the service. He’s a hero,not a killer.”

“He was protecting George and the other patients during the argument with Jully. Maybe it went too far,” Jonathon said, his voice calm.

“He didn’t do it. And if he did, he would admit it. He already gave Drew enough to suspect him, voluntarily. Why wouldn’t he tell him if he didkill the guy?”

Jonathon nodded and sat back. “That was what was bothering me too. So we’re taking Terrance off the suspect list? I mean, here at least. I can’t get Drew to do that without anew suspect.”

Everyone nodded.

Rarity went back to the board and drew a line through Terrance’s name. Then she wrote three new names—Cindi, Marsha,andMcKenzie. “So what do we know aboutthese people?”

Shirley listed off what she knew about each of the three staff members at Sedona Memory Care. Then she paused. “Why isn’t Sally Ball on the possible list? She did hide evidence.”

“Oh, I have an update. Sally Ball has an alibi for the night in question. She was on a date with one of Drew’s police officer friends. So she couldn’t have killed Jully. She was working on firing him, though.” Jonathon looked up from the notes he was making in his notebook. “I’m friends with her date’s father. We were on the force here together.”

“Okay, so no Sally.” Rarity studied the information that was on the whiteboard. “We need to divide these people up and see if they have any outside-of-work connection with William Jully. We know a lot about Marsha since her foundation was hurt when William got an inheritance from the Agee estate. But the othertwo are new.”

“Well, I’m off tomorrow, so I could go talk to someone,” Malia offered as she looked around. “No one at the care facility is going to talk to either Rarity or Shirley. Everyone knows you, and there’s the issue of George. Maybe Jonathon can come with me to see if my grandmother is a good fit. And, if I miss a question, he can fill in. I’m young. I don’tknow things.”

“So you want me to play the distinguished older family friend.” Jonathon squared his shoulders. “I’ll do anything to help out our Malia.”

“Dude, don’t make it sound creepy.” Malia threw a pen at him.

He caught the pen in midair. “I don’t know what’s creepy about what I said. Anyway, it’s late and I need to work on my notes before I attend tomorrow’s writers’ group. Do we have our assignments?”

Jonathon and Malia agreed to meet at the bookstore on Wednesday at ten. Rarity was reaching out to Lizzy’s sister. And Holly was going to scan the probate records one last time. As Jonathon and Rarity headed out of the bookstore, she looked up at him. “Are you okay with the Ender case? I know you wantedto solve it.”

“No, that’s not quite true. I wanted it solved. There’s a difference. I was part of a team when I was in the force. I’m part of a team now. The detectives who hold everything to their chests like on television, they’re the ones who burn out or make mistakes and get killed on the job. We’re a community. We solve these cases together. There’s no cowboying in realpolice work.”

* * *

The next morning, the bookstore was filled with customers. Shirley and her Mommy and Me class were going strong, and surprisingly the bookstore had other patrons as well. Rarity would have heard the noise from the kids and left as soon as she came inside. Not a good sign for any future offspring. As if she’d called him, Archer came into the shop and met her gaze over the din. He made his wayto her, but Killer met him first. He jumped on Archer’s legs, asking to be picked up. And, if Rarity was reading her dog right, he also wanted to be taken far, far away from the bookstore and its current stateof craziness.

“Hey, buddy. Rarity, you look wonderful.” He picked Killer up and cuddled him.

“Now I know you’re tired. I thought you were going to take it easy for a few days.” Rarity saw the lines under Archer’s eyes and worried about him.

“Dana’s getting food to take back to the apartment. I told her I’d come and get the second book in that dragon series she liked so much.” He walked over to the new release shelf and picked a book up. “Thisis it, right?”

“You’re spot-on. What’s been going on?” She took the book and put it into a bag. When he tried to give her a card, she shook her head. “Friends and family discount.”

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