Buried Under Clutter (Tina Tales Mysteries Book 2) Page 5

  “Yes, that’s a good word for it. Some people like a rather, call it, stark look.”

  Jenny nodded. “I think our grandmother was a borderline hoarder. Her basement and attic were stuffed with things. She kept the rooms they lived in pretty neat, but there were a lot of knickknacks, and the kitchen was full of every utensil and appliance you could imagine. Her bedroom was pretty cluttered, too, now that I think of it.”

  “So,” Tina said, “her children went to one extreme or another. Not uncommon.” She began to wonder about the three children—Jenny, Tabitha, and Colin. Which way did they lean?

  Colin had gone back to looking through the box he’d opened.

  “What’s in there, anyway?” Jenny moved as close to him as she could.

  “Silver. Tea sets, flatware, candy and serving dishes. All tarnished. She labeled this box, so I was curious. How can you get rid of this stuff? It seems to me you have four choices. Keep it all, throw it all away, give it away, or polish it all up and try to sell it. I would guess you wouldn’t keep it, give it away, or try to sell it without polishing it.”

  “Well,” Tina said, “with all the money Mrs. Blackwell left, you could certainly hire someone to do the polishing for you.”

  “Yes.” Jenny took the two checks from her pocket and handed them to Colin. “You know anything about these? And do you know if Aunt Olivia had a financial planner? Maybe even you, yourself?

  Colin stared at the checks, looking somewhat uncomfortable. “She did ask me to help her with some investments, but she used several people, which was smart. I have no idea what these checks are for.” He handed them back to Jenny.

  “How much did she ask you to handle, Colin?” Jenny asked.

  Colin shifted from one foot to the other, hard to do in the available space. “One million.”

  Jenny gasped. Tina wanted to ask him how many millions she had, but Jenny beat her to it. “Just exactly how rich was Aunt Olivia, Colin?”

  “I don’t think anyone knew exactly. Maybe even she didn’t know exactly. She had two other financial advisors when she asked me to take on the one million. My guess is upwards to fifty million.”

  Jenny paled, and Tina pulled a chair away from the table enough for Jenny to collapse into it. “And she lived like this. How will we ever straighten it all out? And who could have murdered her? With that much money at stake, it could have been anyone.” She looked up at Colin, who met her stare with his own.

  “Yes, cousin, it could have been anyone.”

  Tina clenched her fists. Had one of them killed their aunt? She had a sudden urge to leave this house and never come back. Her mother would so approve.

  CHAPTER 13

  “I need to go see how Tabitha’s doing,” Colin said.

  Tina and Jenny had to get out of his way, and they went back to the office while he left through the front door.

  “Fifty million,” Jenny muttered. “What will any of us do with even a fifth of that? Uncle Harold, Colin, Tabitha, my mother, and me.” She stood up with a jerk. “Why did I ever agree to do this? We can just hire you to do it all.”

  Tina was startled. She didn’t like the thought of doing it without someone from the family with her.

  “I’m calling Mother.” Jenny took her cell phone from her pocket and walked out onto the front porch, pulling her face mask down. Tina trailed and pulled down her own mask.

  Tina was surprised to see Uncle Bob and Mrs. McEllen still sitting there, chatting away. And the red car still in the driveway. Colin and Tabitha had their heads together, also obviously in deep conversation.

  Jenny murmured into her phone. Tina heard mostly, “Yes, Mother,” and “No, Mother.”

  Then Jenny hung up and called another number. She asked for Mr. Rafferty. “Yes, I’ll hold,” Jenny said, then turned to Tina. “Mother says to come on home.” She moved the phone back so she could talk into it. “Mr. Rafferty. I’m glad you’re back. I hope you had a good trip.”

  Tina moved away. She didn’t think she should listen—it was both rude and unprofessional. She joined her uncle and neighbor and sat down.

  “What’s going on, kumquat?” Uncle Bob patted her hand. “You look frazzled. Almost bedraggled.”

  Tina laughed. Uncle Bob and his preposterous words. Mrs. McEllen smiled uncertainly. “I’m okay. Jenny just realized that we’re doing all this work with no one else in the family helping. She said they could just hire me to do it.”

  Uncle Bob looked dismayed. “Laura wouldn’t like that.”

  Tina nodded. “Tell me about it.” She stopped speaking when Jenny stomped over.

  “He wouldn’t tell me over the phone. Wants to have a reading of the will with everyone present. I told him it would have to be at my mother’s house since she won’t leave. He said that was okay. But it will take a few days to set it up. After all this.” She plopped down in the only other wicker chair, making it groan.

  The three of them stared at her, only turning away when they heard footsteps approaching on the wooden flooring. Tina wondered if Jenny was putting on an act. Hard to tell.

  “We’re going to leave now, Jenny,” Colin said. “I’ll come back another time without Tabitha.”

  “I have some news for you both,” Jenny said. “I just realized I don’t know how the money is divided up, and I’m doing all the work. I called Aunt Olivia’s lawyer. He wouldn’t tell me over the phone. Wants to have a reading. It will be at Mother’s house when he can arrange it.”

  “I wondered about that,” Colin said. “I assumed you knew, but haven’t had time to ask.”

  “No, the lawyer was overseas. Mr. Rafferty. Do you know him?”

  Colin shrugged. “I’ve heard of him. Never met the man.”

  “Well, he’s stiff and oh-so-proper, you know.” Jenny’s lips formed a moue.

  Colin laughed. He clasped her shoulder. “Should be an interesting meeting. I look forward to it. I’ll tell Tabitha. Courage, old girl. All will be all right in the end.”

  “Oh, Colin, I love it when you go all British.”

  They grinned at each other, then Colin said goodbye and walked back to his car and drove away. Jenny stood up briskly and wiped the front of her jeans with her hands. “Well, we can collect our stuff and leave. I’m sorry I got you into all this without thinking. I guess I’m still in a bit of shock.”

  “That’s okay, Jenny,” Tina said as she helped Mrs. McEllen put the sandwich wrappers into her carrier. “At least we know more about what’s involved. I do think it would be a good idea to keep going through the desk, though, and find any more papers or checks we think are important to take to the lawyer. And I wouldn’t mind looking through the upstairs to see what’s what up there. Maybe the attic and cellar, too.”

  Jenny sighed. “You’re right about the papers. And I certainly don’t mind your poking around. Let’s get to it.”

  Uncle Bob stood up. “I didn’t leave anything in the house. I’ll go check on Princess and report to your mother, if she’s home.” He turned to Mrs. McEllen. “It was nice chatting with you, and thanks so much for the sandwich.”

  “Yes, thank you,” Tina and Jenny said together, then laughed.

  “Quite all right.” Mrs. McEllen gathered up her belongings, gave the front door a longing look, and carefully climbed down the stairs, Uncle Bob behind her.

  Jenny sighed. She seemed to be doing a lot of that, Tina thought. They went back to the office and began going through papers again. They finished with one desk, finding more checks and some correspondence they thought the lawyer might want, then pulled their chairs up to another one.

  “Look at this. Incredible,” Jenny held up a pink piece of paper.

  Something fell with a crash in another room.

  CHAPTER 14

  “What was that?” Jenny jumped up and headed for the hall, Tina right behind her.

  Tina pulled on Jenny’s sleeve. “Not so fast. We don’t know what it was.” She pulled her cell from her pocket to have it han
dy and punched in nine-one. She looked around for a weapon. A heavy cane leaned against the wall by the doorway. Tina reached for it, but Jenny grabbed it first.

  With a determined look on her face, cane raised like a baseball bat, Jenny dashed toward the sound of the noise. All was quiet as they looked into the dining room, the living room, and then the music room.

  Mrs. Morris sat licking a paw on top of a tipped-over French horn case.

  Jenny slowly lowered the cane, laughing. “I forgot she was in the house.” She crouched down. “What are you doing? Trying to make music or just scare us to death?”

  Mrs. Morris looked at her for a moment then began to lick her other paw.

  “We need to get her outside.” Jenny straightened up. “I’m not sure how to do that.”

  “Let’s see if there are any cat treats. Maybe we can entice her.”

  In the kitchen, they both looked around, and finally Tina found a box of treats buried under a large pot. “Maybe your aunt kept them there to keep the rats out.” She led the way back to the music room, realizing she was almost getting used to being in this crazy maze of a house. Even the smell wasn’t bothering her as much.

  Tina rattled the box as she entered the room. Mrs. Morris looked up. Her eyes gleamed, and she seemed interested. Tina took a treat and held it in front of Mrs. Morris’s face, then moved it away. The cat jumped off the horn case, nose in the air, sniffing. Tina backed out of the room, down the hall, and to the kitchen’s back door. Jenny stood watching with a smile on her face. Tina dropped the treat and the cat gobbled it up. She opened the door and threw several outside. As soon as Mrs. Morris cleared the entryway, Tina shut the door, then turned the dead bolt. “I’m kind of surprised that worked, but glad it did. Back to the office?” She set the box underneath the pot and followed Jenny.

  Settled into their chairs again, Jenny said, “Look at this. She paid two thousand, eight hundred and sixteen dollars for a silver candelabra. And one thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine dollars and ninety-nine cents for a set of salt and pepper shakers, also silver. You know she never used them. Then there’s this one for five thousand dollars to an Evelyn Simpson. It’s the only check I’ve seen made out to an individual, not a company.” Jenny tossed the paper onto the desk and stood up. “You can’t even pace in here. I’m going outside for some fresh air.”

  She didn’t wait for an answer, just stomped off. Tina shrugged and shuffled more papers. She felt bored, and after a few minutes, stood up and stretched. She wended her way to the front door and looked outside. Jenny was walking up and down the front sidewalk. When she got close enough to hear her, Tina said, “I’m going to look through the rest of the house. You want to?”

  “No. I do not. Take your time. I’ll just stay out here now. Let old Mr. Rafferty come sift through those papers. I’ve had enough.”

  Tina didn’t blame her. She turned around, shut the door, and climbed up the front stairs, pulling her facemask on as she went. She figured the upstairs would smell bad because they hadn’t opened any windows. Which reminded her, they needed to close them all before they left. She hoped she and Jenny could manage that.

  At the top of the stairs a hallway bisected the space, rooms with closed doors on either side. Tina braced herself to open the closest one since she didn’t know if it was the room where Mrs. Blackwell had been murdered. Her hands trembled as she reached for a light switch. A bathroom with old-fashioned white fixtures and white tiny-tiled floor, white walls. She sighed with relief. Apparently it was never used, because it was piled with boxes and some bathroom things like fancy towel racks and toothbrush holders. Other items that were generally found in bedrooms or even the kitchen littered the floor. The sink and tub were full, and the toilet lid down so more boxes could be piled there. She stood in the doorway for a moment without entering, then turned off the light and closed the door.

  That wasn’t so bad. The next room, going toward the back, was a guest room, she thought. There was the usual bedroom furniture, but again, the room was crammed with boxes and objects—lamps with frilly shades, packages of sheets, a coffee pot. The room next to that looked similar. She turned and walked down the same side of the hall and found one more bedroom at the front of the house. So, one side of the upstairs had three bedrooms and a bath.

  Tina crossed the hall and opened the door to another room. When she looked inside, her stomach seemed to sink, and she swallowed hard. A bed stood against the far wall, stripped of its coverings. It was obvious that two scatter rugs had been removed because the color of the wooden floor was darker around their outlines. One nightstand was clear of anything at all. She figured blood had spattered there and the clean-up team had trashed it all. Boxes lined the walls, but it looked as if a few were missing near the nightstand. One pair of drapes was also gone, while the other pair on the opposite side of the bed remained, dusty and bedraggled. Also missing—she could tell again by the discoloration around the spot where it had been—was a massive headboard. A huge armoire took up most of one wall, doors ajar, contents spilling out.

  She opened the closed door next to the armoire and looked into the upstairs tower room. It had been made into a sitting room that was neat and clean. Small, gaily covered chairs were spread about, a chaise lounge, a couple of side tables and drum tables. A soft, round Persian rug covered most of the floor. She looked up to see the tip of the tower overhead, the ceiling painted with clouds and angels. Spinning around slowly, she took in the whole space, bemused. Not a cardboard box in sight.

  Then she caught sight of a small desk facing the front window, and she decided to see if it held anything interesting. It had only one center drawer. She pulled it open and found a pile of papers. She sifted through them until she came to a blue-covered document. She suspected it was a legal paper, probably a will. She grabbed it, and although she wanted to read it right away, she stuck it in her pocket. She needed to look through the rest of the papers and check out the other rooms, then get back downstairs to talk to Jenny. Nothing else of interest, so she closed the drawer and walked back into the bedroom. There she stood staring at the strange room. Partly neat where the cleanup crew had worked, the rest messy like the other rooms in this crazy house.

  Finally, she went to the other door in the room and opened it. She stood in shock again at the cleanliness and lack of clutter in this bathroom. She was sure this was highly unusual, but she knew not everyone followed the same pattern. She figured Mrs. Blackwell had a thing about having a clean bathroom, so she managed to keep it up.

  Tina left the suite and went down the hall to the next room, which was another bedroom in the same condition as the other guest rooms. It had an adjoining bath like the one across the hall, but also free of clutter, as if ready for guests. So, a sitting room, two bigger bedrooms and two baths on this side of the hall.

  She hadn’t seen any evidence of food being eaten up here. She slid off her mask and tried a shallow breath. Not too bad. Musty.

  Downstairs in the foyer, she slipped the document from her pocket and opened it. As she suspected, it was a will, dated two years ago. She read through it quickly. Olivia Blackwell had bequeathed one million dollars to each of her nieces, Jenny and Tabitha, and to her nephew, Colin. Two million to her brother Harold, and the remainder to her sister, Jenny’s mother. Tina wondered what the lawyer’s copy said, if it was the same.

  And now what should she do with this? Show it to Jenny? Give it to the lawyer? She stood, dithering, when the door opened and Jenny walked in. She immediately noticed the document in Tina’s hand.

  “Is that a will?” Jenny’s reached for it.

  Reluctantly, Tina handed it over. “Yes. It’s a couple of years old, though.”

  “Where did you find it?” Jenny unfolded it and began to read.

  “In an upstairs sitting room. I noticed the desk, so I thought I’d better check to see what might be in it. Mostly personal correspondence, then this will.”

  “I wonder why the police didn’t
find it. As a matter of fact, I wonder why they didn’t search this whole house.”

  Tina thought that was a good question, but all she said was, “I have no idea.”

  Jenny walked slowly into the office, sat down on one of the rickety chairs, and began to read the will again. Tina followed her and sat down, too.

  Jenny read without any visible reaction. When she finished, she put the paper down on the desk and looked at Tina. “You read it?”

  “Yes.”

  Jenny nodded. “I would have done the same. It’s pretty straightforward. About what I expected. Now, if Mr. Rafferty has the same will, I wonder why he wouldn’t just tell me on the phone.”

  “That’s another good question. I imagine there might be a rather big surprise in the will he has. I didn’t check. Was he the lawyer who drew up this one?”

  Jenny picked it up again. “Yes. And I think you’re right about the surprise.” She stood up, grabbed the will, and walked toward the door.

  “Jenny. We need to close all the windows.”

  “Oh, drat. You’re right.” She tucked the will into her pocket and moved to the front window. It wouldn’t move when she tried to lower it.

  Tina couldn’t stand next to her to help because of all the boxes. “I guess I’d better get Uncle Bob back here.”

  Jenny sighed. “I’m sorry to trouble both of you so much.”

  Tina noticed the woman looked worn out. “It’s okay. We’ll finish up as quickly as we can.”

  “Thanks, Tina.”

  Outside they saw Princess and Uncle Bob standing on the front sidewalk, talking to the neighbor from across the street. Tina had never met him, only seen him from a distance. He’d moved in after she went to college. As she approached the men, she was surprised to see the neighbor was probably in his late thirties; from a distance he looked younger. He was in terrific shape, rather short, with freckles and red hair, almost the same shade as hers. She liked his green Irish eyes.