Buried Under Clutter (Tina Tales Mysteries Book 2) Read online

  Tina pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. “I’ll call Lisbeth and ask her about it.” Tina found the number. She’d put it in during the other case they were both involved with.

  Lisbeth answered on the second ring. “Yes?”

  “Jenny is still here and needs to know if you plan to notify her mother, or if she can wait to get home to do it in person.”

  “We have enough to do here for a few more hours. As long as she gets there within the next three, that will be all right. We can wait that long.”

  “Okay, thanks.”

  Tina told Jenny what Lisbeth said as Uncle Bob came in with a silver tray of martinis, Princess by his side. After everyone took a glass, Uncle Bob put the tray on the coffee table and sat down.

  An uneasy silence filled the room. Finally, Jenny turned to Tina. “I understand you’re a professional organizer. You know about the mess in my aunt’s house. I can’t imagine cleaning it out myself, or cleaning up, you know, everything where she died.”

  “Was it bad?” Laura asked gently.

  Jenny shuddered. “Horrible. Blood everywhere, and it looked as if someone had taken a baseball bat to some of the boxes and stuff in Aunt Olivia’s bedroom. The smell of blood along with rotting garbage almost made me pass out. It never smelled that bad before. Although I hadn’t been inside for years, I knew what it smelled like by standing in the doorway.” Jenny shuddered again and took a long swallow of her martini. “This is good.” She settled back against the couch pillows and closed her eyes.

  “I’m afraid Tina can’t help you.” Laura’s voice was firm. She glared at Tina as if daring her to disagree.

  Jenny opened her eyes again and took another sip of her drink.

  “My mother’s right. The police will help you locate a biohazard team to clean up the room where your aunt passed away. The state or local government, I forget which, will pay for that. You’ll probably want the team to clean up the rest. They wear special clothing and have the equipment to do the job. Your aunt’s estate can pay for it.”

  Laura smiled at Tina, looking relieved.

  “They won’t go through the boxes, though, will they?” Jenny asked. “Decide what to throw away or keep. Or even decide about all the objects lying around. My mother won’t be able to help. And I can’t imagine Colin or Tabitha helping, either. Or Uncle Harold.”

  Tina saw Laura tense up, and she wouldn’t look at Tina. Uncle Bob seemed to be following the conversation okay. Jenny’s lips were easy to read, Tina felt sure.

  “There are a couple of ways to handle this, depending on who is the executor of the will,” Tina began. She decided she needed some of the lovely martini herself and took a sip, savoring the taste of chocolate. “Yes, you can go through it all, item by item, box by box. Or you can hire an estate appraiser to look at everything and give you a price for all of it. Or you can have the appraiser have a sale right inside the house and take a percentage of the proceeds, usually around a third. Newport has several appraisers. The problem is, I’m not sure how much they’d want you to do first.”

  Jenny stared at her, wide-eyed.

  “Another way you can do it,” Tina continued, “is to have an auction, auctioning off the boxes, for example. People will bid on them without even knowing what’s inside. You won’t make a lot of money that way, and might lose a fortune. It’s going to be a tough decision, and you need to talk it over with your cousins and your mother and uncle.”

  “Thank you, Tina. All that information is very helpful.” Jenny finished her martini and stood up, a bit wobbly. Tina didn’t know if that was from the shock, the drink, or both.

  “You okay to drive?” Tina asked.

  “I’ll be fine.”

  They all followed her to the front door. Mrs. McEllen was still talking to Lisbeth and John. They stood and watched as two men carried a stretcher, black body bag on top, out the front door and down the porch steps. No one moved until they placed Mrs. Blackwell into the van. Jenny sighed loudly. Laura patted her on the back.

  “Thanks again,” Jenny said as she walked toward her car. She turned one last time. “Tina, can I get in touch with you if I have more questions?”

  “Of course.” Tina felt both reluctance to get involved and a desire to help and learn more about the strange Mrs. Blackwell.

  CHAPTER 4

  As they all walked inside, Laura said, “Don’t you dare get involved with that mess. I forbid it.”

  Tina stopped short. “You forbid it? I’m twenty-nine years old, Mom. I hate to tell you, but I make my own decisions now.” She could feel Uncle Bob’s breath on her neck. It was a wonder he hadn’t bumped into her.

  “As long as you live in my house, I have something to say about such an important matter.” Laura stomped off to the kitchen.

  “What’d she say?” Uncle Bob tugged on Tina’s arm.

  Tina turned to face him so he could read her lips. “She forbade me to get involved with ‘that mess,’ as she called it.”

  “Oh. Of course. Should have known. But you don’t want to anyway.” He looked searchingly at her. “Or do you?”

  “I don’t know. It interests me. My palms itch, wanting to get to work in there. After the biohazard people do all they can to get rid of the stench, of course. But it is overwhelming. I’d need help, and I don’t know anyone to hire here in town. Haven’t been back long enough.”

  “I could help.” Uncle Bob looked surprised as the words came out of his mouth.

  Tina felt a jolt of astonishment and pleasure run through her. She hugged him. “You’re wonderful,” she whispered in his ear. Then realizing he couldn’t hear her, she stepped back and said the words to his face and added, “I love you.”

  Uncle Bob blushed, and Tina laughed out loud. “Come on,” she said. “I’ll make lunch.”

  Laura stood by the coffee maker in the kitchen, watching it drip. When she saw them enter, she left the room, then came back with the tray filled with the empty martini glasses. She began to wash them by hand as Tina made chicken salad sandwiches. No one said a word.

  As they sat down to eat, Tina’s cell phone rang. “It’s Hank,” she said and dashed up the back stairs to her bedroom.

  Hank’s warm voice made her melt. “Doll. I just heard about your neighbor.”

  Anyone else calling her “doll” would have been slapped. Or in the case of a phone call, hung up on. But when Hank said it, she felt sexy. “I’m having a hard time believing it.”

  “I can imagine. Let me take you to dinner tonight. We can either talk about it, or I can distract you.”

  She sank down onto her bed. “And just how would you distract me?”

  “I’d think of something.”

  She bet he would. “What time?”

  “Six. I have a few things to catch up on. What are you going to do for the rest of the day?”

  “I was on my way to do some shopping when I heard Jenny scream. I’ll get some of that done and maybe go see Leslie. What things do you have to catch up on?”

  He laughed. “You know I’m not going to tell you that.”

  Sighing, she closed her eyes. She could picture his lazy, sexy smile, his gray eyes gazing at her, studying her. A shiver ran down her back. Her mother swore he was an undercover cop, but he denied it. No one else she knew could tell her what he did. He’d once said if he told her, he’d have to marry her. It had slipped out and was the only time Tina had ever seen him flustered. She knew all her friends thought he was sexy, but lots of times she just thought he was adorable. They’d known each other since first grade, and she still remembered how serious he was back then, how cute. Just lately, their relationship had progressed from good friends to something more. But he still hadn’t moved from just kissing her and rubbing her back.

  Tina sighed again.

  “Lot of sighing going on there, doll. Do I frustrate you?”

  “Oh, no, certainly not. How could you? You’re an open book. We enjoy wild, wonderful sex every night. How could
you frustrate me?”

  Now it was her time to be flustered. She was glad he couldn’t see her face. It had turned hot, but her hands were cold. She lay back on the bed and suppressed another sigh. Silence on the other end of the connection.

  Finally, he asked, “Six o’clock okay? Any place special you want to go eat?”

  She couldn’t help smiling. He’d never change. Did she really want him to? Apparently she liked him just the way he was. “Six is good. How about La Forge?”

  “Fine by me. See you then.”

  And he was gone. She felt suddenly lonely as she climbed down the back stairs. Her mother and uncle were almost finished with their sandwiches and were talking to Mrs. McEllen. Tina was surprised to see her; she hadn’t heard her come in. They nodded at each other.

  “I can’t believe there’s been a murder in our neighborhood.” Mrs. McEllen took a sip of coffee. “Why would anyone want to kill Olivia? No one ever saw her anymore.”

  Tina sat down and picked up her sandwich. “Apparently she had money. Maybe that was the motive.”

  “Really?” Mrs. McEllen raised her eyebrows. “Why didn’t she fix up that house, then? And the yard?”

  “I guess she didn’t want to spend the money on that. Have you been inside her place lately?”

  Mrs. McEllen shuddered. “No. Not for several years. Let’s see. Last time was maybe four or five years ago. She saw me in my yard and asked me in. I was shocked, I’ll tell you, by all that clutter. She needed some help putting boxes on top of other boxes. She needed me to hand her up some cartons so she could stack them. Had this rickety old stool to stand on. I was scared to death she’d fall and break a leg or her hip. But she managed. Didn’t even say thank you, just walked me to the door and opened it. Last time I ever even saw her, let alone was inside her house.”

  “Had you known her long, Mrs. McEllen?” Tina asked.

  “Oh, forever. We both moved in when we were in our early thirties. I was raising my family. Didn’t understand why she needed that big house, being a widow and all alone. But we used to have coffee together once in a while. Her nieces and that nephew would come visit. She kept the yard nice back then; mowed it herself. Planted shrubs and flowers. Even painted the trim on the house one time, which was quite a job with all those windows.” Mrs. McEllen drew in a deep breath. “I don’t know what happened to her. Gradually, we stopped having coffee. I’d invite her over, but she stopped accepting, and stopped asking me to her place. It really was sad. And now to be murdered.” Mrs. McEllen drew in another huge breath and let it out noisily.

  Laura started clearing the table. “What did you tell the police? You saw something?”

  “Oh, yes. I was letting my cats out this morning and saw someone on Olivia’s back porch. It wasn’t quite light yet, but I could see the outline of someone at the door. Maybe six o’clock, a little later. When I stand on my back stoop, I can see into her yard, you know. Anyway, I saw this person going into the house. I thought it was very strange. Time of the morning, the house dark, Olivia practically a recluse. But it didn’t look as if the person broke in or anything. Just walked in.” Mrs. McEllen stared off into space. “Could have been the murderer.” Then she looked right at Tina.

  CHAPTER 5

  Mrs. McEllen’s pale blue eyes looked icy as she started at Tina. “The person I saw was about your size,” she said, her voice expressionless.

  Tina watched the color drain from her mother’s face, and Uncle Bob looked as if he’d swallowed something sour.

  “You can’t think Tina went into Ms. Blackwell’s house. Why on earth would she?” Laura practically sputtered.

  “I’m just sayin’. Could have been anyone. I’m pretty farsighted now, but I couldn’t make out whether it was even a man or a woman, boy or girl. Just size and shape.” Mrs. McEllen took the last sip of her coffee and stood up. “I imagine we’re all behind on what we were going to do today, so I’ll go now. Thanks for the coffee.”

  Laura stood and let Mrs. McEllen out the back door. There was a gate in the low fence between their properties, and Tina knew Laura was watching until Mrs. McEllen passed through it.

  “What a day,” Laura said as she sat back down at the kitchen table.

  “Unusual.” Uncle Bob chuckled. “Can’t remember another like it.”

  Laura studied him a moment. “You’re enjoying this.”

  He laughed again. “Most excitement I’ve had since Vietnam.”

  “You’re impossible.” Laura shook her finger at him.

  Uncle Bob turned serious. “Look, none of us liked Olivia. We hated the anomalous way she kept her property. You’re allowed say you’re glad she’s dead, Laura. Maybe now someone will move in and take care of that cockamamie pile next door.”

  Tina’s stomach clenched, even as she smiled at Uncle Bob’s usual wacky choice of words.

  “You shouldn’t talk that way,” Laura insisted. “The woman was murdered.”

  “Well, there is that. Unsavory. But she was a ludicrous old woman. Now we know she was rich, it’s not so surprising, is it?”

  “You didn’t think she was so unsavory back when you first moved in with me.”

  Uncle Bob no longer looked amused. “She turned sour for me pretty damned quick.”

  Tina sat as still as she could. Rarely had she seen Uncle Bob angry, but he sure looked as if smoke would come out of his ears anytime. She never knew Uncle Bob had once had more than a passing interest in Olivia Blackwell.

  Laura turned to Tina and said, “Uncle Bob and Olivia were quite an item back in the day. He never did tell your father and me what happened. Suddenly, they just stopped seeing each other. Even stopped speaking.” She turned back to Uncle Bob. “Want to tell us what that was all about now? It’s been years.”

  Tina held her breath. Her mother rarely brought up her father, who had been killed in an auto accident when Tina was small. Walking home from his office on Broadway, someone had run him over. The driver didn’t stop, and was never found. She’d love to know more about him, and about Uncle Bob’s and Laura’s past. But they never seemed to want to talk about it. As her mother put it, the past was past.

  “She got clingy. Never saw anything like it. Seemed to be a rather independent person for a woman her age. I admired her living in that big house by herself. But after a while, she wanted to know what I did every minute of the day. Got jealous if I talked to another woman. She began to collect stuff and didn’t put it away, left it laying around. Back then she had a cleaning lady, so at least the place was clean. When I told her I didn’t want to see her anymore, she was furious.”

  “Why on earth wouldn’t you tell Wesley and me about it?”

  Uncle Bob shrugged. “I don’t like to speak ill of anyone. Now I’m glad I got out of the relationship when I did.” He patted Princess and stood up. “Enough excitement for an old man for one day. I’m going to take a snooze.”

  Tina and Laura watched him slowly climb the winding back stairs, Princess following, until they couldn’t see him any longer.

  “Wow,” Tina said. “This place is full of secrets. Now you know how I feel when you keep them from me.”

  Laura stood up. “It doesn’t make any difference how they make us feel. Sometimes they’re for the best.”

  Tina decided it was best for her to let her mother have the last word, so she watched Laura go up those stairs, then stared out the kitchen window. She could see Mrs. McEllen standing on her stoop, looking at Olivia Blackwell’s house. Talk about secrets. That old Queen Anne must hold a bundle. Tina’s hands itched again. She admitted to herself she’d love to dig into it all.

  Her cell rang. She didn’t recognize the displayed number but answered it anyway.

  “Tina? This is Jenny. I’ve been thinking about Aunt Olivia’s house. I really need your help.”

  CHAPTER 6

  “Hi,” Tina said. “What can I do?”

  Jenny hesitated. “I just talked to Tabitha and Colin—my cousins. I’m drivi
ng home, so haven’t told my mother yet. But I don’t think my cousins are going to help at all with the house. They indicated it was my mother’s responsibility since she was close to Aunt Olivia. Colin said he bet Aunt left all her money to some weird charity, or to my mother.”

  Tina stood up to get herself another cup of coffee. She considered putting some brandy or something in it, but had never done such a thing before, so decided against it. “First thing you have to do is find out who the executor is. But saying the family inherits, what about your uncle?”

  “I can’t see Uncle Harold mucking around in that house. He was vague about helping, so I know he’ll weasel out of it when asked.”

  “Do you have some idea about what you want to do?” Tina stood at the sink, watching Mrs. McEllen. She hadn’t moved.

  Jenny sighed again. “I know my mother will want me to go through every box and container in that house. She’ll be afraid there are valuable things that will need rescuing.”

  “And she would probably be right,” Tina said.

  “You think so?” Jenny sounded surprised.

  “Yes. It’s common. Might be cash, jewelry, or something rare. You’ll have to flip through every book in the house to make sure there’s no money between the pages.”

  “Oh.” Jenny’s voice was so faint, Tina barely heard her.

  “Tell you what, Jenny. I’ll be frank. It’s going to be a horrible, long, drawn-out process. If the biohazard people can clean it up good enough so it’s safe and doesn’t smell too horrible, I’ll help. But I’m going to charge a lot. Since apparently your aunt was very rich, the cost can be taken from her estate.”

  “That’s okay. That’s good.” Now Jenny’s voice was stronger, hopeful. “I’m almost home. I’ll be in touch.”

  “I’ll be here.” Tina hung up. Her mother was going to kill her. Perhaps she should go out on the back stoop so Mrs. McEllen could be a witness.