Page 59 of Dying to Read

“Thanks. She can’t sleep, so she’s been reading. We’ll probably be back tomorrow for another book.” He leaned on the counter. “We went to the funeral home and took care of everything. Mom is coming over to make dinner at six. Do youwant to come?”

“I don’t know. This is family time.” Rarity took Killer, who was leaning toward her.

“Mom asked me to invite you. They’re going home tomorrow. It’s now or never tomeet my mom.”

Rarity laughed, “But no pressure, right?”

“None at all. And bring the rat.” He leaned over the counter and kissed her quickly. “I’m escaping before anyone else sees me. I can’t take hearing any more old stories about my dad. Everyone loved him, but now that we know the truth, it’s gettingon my nerves.”

She wanted to tell him that people changed. That what had happened didn’t define his father. But she knew this wasn’t the time. She prayed that dinner wouldn’t be a disaster. Sometimes Rarity could only hold her tongue for so long.

As Archer left, he ran into Jonathon coming back from his sleuthing trip with Malia. He and Archer chatted a bit at the door, and then Jonathon came to the counter. “Can Katie take over for youfor a minute?”

Katie had come in for the afternoon and was shelving new books. Rarity walked over and asked her to watch the register and then met Jonathon in the back room. He had already poured himself a cup of coffee and had his murder notebook open in front of him on a new page. “I’ve got to get ready to leave for my Flagstaff group, so this needs to be quick. Malia and I finished our tour of Sedona Memory Care. And that girl should take up acting. She was amazing in her role. Her questions kept us exactly where we needed to be. We talked to all three suspects. Marsha was less than energetic about the facility. She told us that the Flagstaff center had more staffing and was better run.”

“She said that?” Rarity grabbed a bottle of water and then came back to the table. “Sally would hate hearing that she said that.”

“Marsha seems to be on an honesty kick. She told me when Malia went to the bathroom that she was considering leaving the job. She’s burned out on all the drama.” He shook his head. “Cindi, the marketer, on the other hand, painted an over-the-top positive review of the facility. I believe some of her salary is commission. When I brought up the death of Jully, she blew it off. She told me he had a heart attack. When I tried to correct her, she dumped us on the business office manager and asked her to finish the tour. She had an appointment she’d just remembered.”

“Weird.” Rarity thought about when she’d talked to Cindi. She’d been unwilling to tarnish the facility then either. But Marsha had always been ready to chat about Jully and his misdeeds. “So what did you think about McKenzie Jones?”

“Ms. Jones was business focused. She talked about the room cost and how most insurance policies wouldn’t cover the expense for long. If at all. Malia played that great. She told her that her grandmother was left well off from her lawyer husband. So the family was concerned about the best care, not the money.” He laughed as he remembered the discussion. “McKenzie was pushy about how well off Malia’s family was and the girl didn’t back down. Malia asked what a private room cost, then shrugged and said, ‘We’ll be fine.’ I’m sure they’re counting the revenue now.”

“Malia did have some drama classes, but I think she’s been learning as we keep sleuthing these cases. She’s not the shy girlI met at her first book club meeting.” Rarity glanced at the clock; she knew Jonathon was going to be leaving soon. “Did you find outanything else?”

“One thing. When McKenzie came to work at the facility, the books hadn’t added up. There was missing money in the petty cash drawer.” He leaned forward. “She reported it to Sally, her administrator, and Sally said she’d take care of it. When McKenzie came in the next Monday, the count was accurate. She told us that she does a daily petty cash count now.”

“She told you that?” Rarity didn’t follow the logic. “Why admit that someone was stealing fromthe facility?”

“She wanted us to know that the problem had been fixed.” Jonathon closed his notebook. “She didn’t tell us how Sallyhad fixed it.”

Chapter 24

Rarity got ready for dinner at Archer’s as she thought about Jonathon’s report. Of the three staff members they’d talked to, one was avoiding the discussion of William Jully entirely. One was focused on the issue of missing money and fixing the problem. And the third was ready to throw in the towel completely.

Marsha had the best motive to kill Jully. He’d taken part of his Agee inheritance from the charity she ran. He’d been inappropriate with patients, including Lizzy. And she took her job as a patient advocate seriously.

Rarity had called Lizzy’s sister and asked her to call back, but so far, no one had returned her call. She hadn’t been specific in what she wanted, so the woman might be seeing her as a spam call and ignoring the message. She’d call againafter dinner.

Cindi seemed like she was in it for herself. Could she have been the one Sally was working with to clean up the Ruth Agee mess? Probably. Rarity thought that if Marsha had been part of that, she wouldn’t have told anyone about Jully’s actions.

Then there was McKenzie, who was motivated to keep the books clean. Would she have seen Jully as a problem to the nursing home? Someone who needed to be eliminated? It seemed over the top, but she’d been the one to witness the change of wills for Ruth Agee. Had she found out that William was wining and dining his way into riches?

Rarity went back and pulled out her murder notebook. Someone needed to find out more about McKenzie Jones and what she was capable of. There was something niggling at the back of Rarity’s mind. Something with George and Shirley.

She called Shirley as she drove to Archer’s apartment in the building where he also had his hiking tour shop. When she answered, she got right to the point. “Who helped you with the financials to get George intothe facility?”

“McKenzie was a doll. She helped file for the insurance that covers most of it. I’ve got a direct deposit for the balance coming out of our retirement account. I’m lucky that George loved investing so I have a substantial amount to work with.” Shirley paused, thenasked, “Why?”

“I’m trying to put some things together. Did you and Kathy meet with her lately?”

“Kathy did. She wanted to know what the facility was costing, and what I was paying a month. And she did an accounting of her dad’s trust at the facility. I guess she was worried I was overspending, and I’d be living with her when I ranout of money.”

“I remember her saying she thought McKenzie was a mess. What was the result?” Rarity parked the car but stayed inside, wanting to finish thisconversation.

“Oh, it was hilarious. George had over a hundred thousand in his trust account. Of course, the money wasn’t his. McKenzie had deposited several insurance checks into his account rather than to the facility account since it was in his name. And then she hadn’t made the monthly payment from his account to the facility. Kathy was horrified—she worried that George would be kicked out—but McKenzie told her it wasn’t a big deal. That it was just moving numbers.”

Rarity ended the call, telling her she’d talk to her later; then she called Drew. “Do you still have the file that we think isRuth Agee’s?”

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