Letters in the Attic(56)
Annie went over to him. “I’m sorry, Ian. I was pretty short with you a few minutes ago.”
“I didn’t mean to say anything to upset you. Forgive me?”
She shook her head. “No, forgive me. It’s been, uh … an interesting evening. But, no, you haven’t done anything wrong. I’ve just let all this business with Susan and everything else get to me more than it should. That’s no excuse to take it out on you.”
“I think you’ll feel a lot better with some of this great food in you. I know I will.” He stood up, offering her his arm and a warm smile along with his forgiveness.
“Um, Ian—I really need to make a quick call. Will you wait for me just a minute? I promise I won’t be long.”
He looked puzzled but agreeable. “I’ll be right here when you’re ready.”
She hurried into the deserted hallway and punched a telephone number into her cell phone.
“Stony Point Police.”
“Chief Edwards? This is Annie Dawson. I’ve decided I don’t want to press charges. If you’ll just take care of things with Roy, I’d appreciate it very much.”
“OK, Mrs. Dawson, if you’re sure. You have every right—”
“I have every right to remember I need a little grace myself sometimes. I don’t see any reason to drag all this out any longer, do you?”
“No, ma’am. I’ll take it from here.”
Annie exhaled, feeling the tension inside her suddenly dissipate. “Thank you. Thank you very much.”
She hung up the phone, put it back into her purse, and then returned to the banquet room. Ian smiled as she approached him. She took his arm, and they got in line to be served.
16
Annie picked up the letters that lay on the floor in the entryway. As she did every morning these days, she made sure there weren’t any unaddressed envelopes in the stack. Since Roy’s confession at last night’s banquet, only the first note was unaccounted for, and that one still troubled her.
Who had sent it? Why had he—or she—stopped after the first one? And what connection did this person have with Susan?
As she went through her daily chores, Annie asked herself those questions again and again. Again and again she kept coming back to Sandy Maxwell. She was Susan’s cousin. She was the only tie to Susan in Stony Point. There had to be something she knew, something she wasn’t saying, about Susan.
Where had Sandy been living at the time of Susan’s death? She had never said anything about that, or about how she had found out that Susan had drowned. Had she searched for Susan as Annie had done? If so, what else did she know?
Annie put away the vacuum cleaner and picked up the telephone.
“A Stitch in Time. This is Mary Beth. How can I help you?”
“Hi, Mary Beth. It’s Annie.”
“Oh!” Mary Beth’s voice dropped conspiratorially. “He’s here. I was about to call you.”
“Tom Maxwell?”
“His other job canceled on him, so he came by to finish up the cabinets today.”
“That’s perfect. I really need to talk to Sandy for a little while, and I don’t want him finding me there again. Not after what happened on Tuesday.”
“What happened on Tuesday?”
Annie laughed unsteadily. “After the meeting was over, I ran into him outside the hardware store. He told me straight out to stay away.”
“Or what?”
“He didn’t exactly say what he’d do, but judging by his tone of voice and the look in his eyes, it wouldn’t be pretty.”
“Did you tell the police?”
“No.”
“Annie!”
“He has every right in the world to ask me to stay off his property, doesn’t he?”
“Then maybe you should do just that.”
“It’ll be OK. As long as he’s at your shop, I can talk to Sandy for a few minutes. I just need to ask her a few more questions; then I won’t go back.”
Mary Beth exhaled heavily. “Do you have your phone with you? It is charged up?”
“I’m good to go. You just make sure to give me a call if he leaves there.”
“Will do. Be careful.”
Annie hung up the phone and got herself cleaned up. After she had checked her cell phone one last time, she drove over to Sandy Maxwell’s.
It was a beautiful day out, even if it was on the colder side of crisp. Hoping Sandy would be out in her garden, Annie didn’t go up to the front door. Instead, she walked past the old oak where the swing had been and around the side of the house.
Sandy was spreading pine needles over one of her immaculate flower beds, mulching them before the real winter weather set in. She looked up when she heard the crunch of Annie’s steps in the brown grass.