Death on Arrival: A Helen Bradley Mystery (Helen Bradley Mysteries Book 1) Read online

“Not that I know of. Janelle is a widow. Or was. To my knowledge, she lived alone and did some house sitting. I think she was a part-time housekeeper for one of the property rental places.”

  The local sheriff, Joe Adams, drove up cutting the interview short. Seeing Joe took away some of Helen’s unease. Joe, a well-respected officer and a friend, was in his early thirties. He was also a nice-looking bachelor who had a number of the area’s single ladies swooning. From the admiring look in Angel’s dark brown eyes, she might be one of them.

  As Helen had told Angel and Eric, she worked with him on occasion. She listened while Eric gave his report to Joe, feeling relieved that he would be handling the case after all. “I called the State Police,” Eric said. “They’re sending someone from the medical examiner’s office.”

  Joe clapped Eric on the back and thanked him and Angel for responding.

  When Eric and Angel drove away, Joe pulled Helen aside. “You okay? You look pretty worn out.”

  “It’s been a long day.”

  “And it promises to be longer.” Rain dripped from his wavy dark hair. “Do you have a place to stay?”

  “Oh.” It hadn’t occurred to her until now that she wouldn’t be able to stay in her home. “I think so. I’ll call Rosie Monahan. She’ll still be up.”

  Joe nodded. “Good idea. It’s going to take a while to deal with this mess. I’ll get forensics out here. I doubt you’ll be able to get your house back for a day or two and then there’s the clean-up.”

  Helen grimaced. “You’ll let me know when I can get back in?”

  “Sure.” He lifted off his hat and wiped an arm across his brow. “Welcome back, by the way.”

  “Thanks.” Helen glanced at the house. “Not the welcome I was expecting, that’s for sure.”

  Joe nodded his sympathy.

  “Can I use your phone to call Rosie? My battery is dead.”

  He handed her his cell. “I take it you know the number.”

  Helen nodded and smiled. Rosie was her best friend and confidant.

  Less than half an hour later, Helen was sitting in the apartment above Past Times, her favorite book store and coffee shop, in front of a warm fire, nursing a hot cup of herbal tea. Weariness and exhaustion had claimed her but sleep remained elusive. Not that she could have slept anyway. Rosie demanded to know all the details.

  Her friend sat in a matching comfy chair, a knitted shawl wrapped around her shoulders. She looked much like a book store and coffee shop owner should, at least in Helen’s eyes. A throwback from the hippy days, Rosie usually dressed in a long denim skirt, a long over-shirt and Birkenstocks with socks. Somehow her manner of dress, her thick, wavy red hair and her extra fifty pounds of weight all fit together into a dear woman who not only knew everyone, but loved them as well. Tonight she had on a long flannel nightgown with a knitted multi-colored shawl around her shoulders.

  They talked for several minutes about Janelle, but neither could come up with a motive for murdering their friend. “She likely interrupted a burglary.” Helen caressed her cup appreciating the warmth it provided. “It does no good to speculate,” she added. “Once I’m able to go through my things, I might have a better idea of what the intruder wanted. Of course, it may have been a random act. As one of the officers said, someone knew that I was out of town and decided they might find something worth taking.” She frowned. “That doesn’t make much sense either. My computers, and television. All of the electronics were still there.”

  Rosie shook her head. “Janelle didn’t have an enemy in the world. You know her. Always going the extra mile. I can’t believe she’s dead.”

  “I can’t either.” Helen closed her eyes, envisioning Janelle’s body lying just off her porch. “But it’s true.”

  After a few moments of silence, which Helen spent musing over the evening’s events and gazing into the fire, Rosie said. “Somehow I don’t think we’re going to solve this crime tonight.”

  “You’re right about that.” Helen took a sip of the now lukewarm brew.

  Rosie yawned. “Sorry. I haven’t been getting much sleep lately. Hot flashes.”

  Helen nodded and rolled her eyes in sympathy. “Now those I understand all too well.”

  “So tell me about Paris.” Rosie’s brown eyes sparkled in the firelight. She was the only person with whom Helen shared her news about the wedding.

  Helen relaxed against the cushions as thoughts of how her rendezvous with JB had turned into a marriage and a glorious honeymoon. “He proposed the moment my plane arrived. Strangely enough I said yes. I didn’t hesitate for a second.”

  “Just like that? You always told me you’d never marry again, especially not another agent. I couldn’t believe it when you called.”

  “I did say that, didn’t I?” She sighed. “But there I was in the most beautiful city in the world with the man I’ve loved for years. I knew I didn’t want to go a minute more without him in my life. He feels the same way about me.”

  “How fortunate you are. A handsome man like JB sweeping you off your feet like that.” She closed her eyes and tipped her head back for a moment. Then setting her cup on the coffee table said, “I hope you took tons and tons of pictures.”

  “I did. Once I get them in some sort of order, I’ll bring them by.”

  “You’d better.” Rosie stood and collected the cups and the plate on which she’d served her homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. “And I’d better let you get to bed.”

  “I think that’s an excellent idea.”

  “I made up the guest room right after you called. There are towels on the bed and everything you’ll need.”

  Helen hugged her. “Thank you so much.”

  “You’re welcome and I’m sorry you had such a nasty homecoming.”

  “Me too. It feels like a bad dream.” She still couldn’t believe her home had been broken into. Or that her sanctuary had been violated by a murder. Maybe it had been a random burglary and Janelle had interrupted the thieves. Nevertheless, she’d look into it. Perhaps tomorrow she’d know more. In the meantime, she needed to get some sleep. She’d been awake for the better part of two days due to their flights from France to Portland.

  Once she’d showered, donned a pair of flannel pajamas, Helen climbed under the covers. She closed her eyes, hoping for sleep rather than the ruminations she expected. Despite the horror of finding Janelle’s body in her back yard and the questions surrounding the break-in, sleep claimed her almost immediately and carried her through to morning.

  Helen awoke to the murmur of voices below and the scent of coffee and pastries wafting up from the floor below. She lay in the warm bed for several minutes before checking her watch. It was nearly nine. Past Times, being one of the area’s most popular coffee shops, would be full of customers. Thinking about the coffee and goodies waiting below made her stomach growl.

  Helen tossed the covers aside and hurried to the bathroom. She’d brought in her suitcase from the car the night before and hurriedly slipped on a pair of jeans and a white long-sleeved shirt. She topped it with the blue sweater she’d worn on her drive home the evening before. The room was chilly, but Helen had no doubt Rosie’s coffee and a heated cream cheese croissant would warm her up quickly.

  As she stepped into the shop, Helen heard Joe’s baritone voice. Being one of Rosie’s regulars, he stood at the counter with a travel coffee mug in his hand. “Hey Joe,” Helen called out to him as she stepped away from the stairwell.

  “Helen.” He lifted his mug in a salute. “You’re just the person I want to see.”

  “The feeling is mutual. Why don’t you grab a couple of chairs? I’ll get some coffee and join you.”

  “Here you go, Helen.” Rosie set a drink on the counter along with a croissant. “Your favorite, an Irish cream latte.”

  “That was quick. How did you know I was coming?”

  Rosie winked. “Sound travels well in this place. I could hear a mouse walk, that is if there was a mouse, which
there isn’t.”

  “That’s good to know. I hope I wasn’t too noisy.”

  “Other than sounding like an elephant....” She chuckled. “Just teasing.”

  Helen took her items to the two corner chairs Joe had chosen. After setting her coffee and croissant on the table, she asked, “Have you learned anything new?”

  “Not much. The ME is putting time of death yesterday afternoon around three. It’s looking more and more as if she interrupted a burglary in progress.” He paused to sip his drink. “I’m thinking that whoever broke into your place was looking for something.”

  “And we won’t know what until I can check the place out.”

  “You can go over any time. Just say when and I’ll meet you there.”

  She nodded. “Can we go after we finish our coffees?”

  “Sounds good.” Joe shrugged off his jacket and leaned back into the deep red cushioned chair. “We need to inform Janelle’s family, but so far I haven’t found that she has one.”

  “I’ve been thinking about that.” Helen frowned. “I seem to remember her saying something about having a mother in a nursing home here in town. I don’t think there’s anyone else. She lost a daughter to breast cancer a while back. She’s never mentioned anyone else to me. Rosie couldn’t think of anyone either.”

  “We’ll check into her history.”

  Helen bit into her croissant, reveling in the flaky pastry and decadent cream cheese filling. Once she’d swallowed, she said, “I still can’t believe she’s gone.”

  “Yeah. I’d only talked to her a couple of times, but she seemed nice.”

  “Not the sort of person someone would want to murder.”

  Chapter Three

  Half an hour later, Helen surveyed her trashed house and wanted to cry. It was going to take days to straighten up the mess and put things in order. Before even starting, however, she needed to do a walk-through with Joe to determine if anything was missing. She couldn’t imagine what that might be. She wasn’t a collector of valuable antiques. She had no secret files or documents. No fancy china. No expensive jewelry—at least nothing she kept in the house. The diamond and sapphire brooch she’d inherited from her mother along with the diamond ring from her marriage to Ian had been stored away in a safe deposit box in a Portland bank.

  When she lamented these facts to Joe, he shrugged. “Maybe the intruder thought you had something important.”

  “I guess the only way to find out is to get to work.”

  “I’d like to stay and help put things away,” Joe said, “but I really should do some research on Janelle. Did you say you had an address?”

  “I think so.” Helen dug through her address file and found Janelle’s name. “I have a phone number, but no address.”

  Joe jotted down the number. “I should be able to do a reverse check.”

  His cell phone rang. “Adams, here.” He smiled. “Hi, Angel. I’ll ask her.” Holding up the phone, he said, “Angel has the day off and is offering to help you clean up the mess.”

  “That’s sweet. Tell her thanks but I really need to go through everything myself. I don’t want to miss anything.”

  Joe relayed the message and sent Helen a wave as he left.

  Helen didn’t bother to wave back. Instead, she righted her favorite rocker with its matching ottoman and sank into it. She needed to plan a course of action. The job had that overwhelming feel to it, which meant she needed to break it down into smaller tasks. Easier said than done.

  After a deep and lingering sigh, she made herself move forward into the mess. The walk-through had proven unfruitful, as did the first hour of righting the furniture and returning the dishes and pantry supplies to the cupboard. Something about the entire business troubled her, but she passed the feeling off as annoyance and frustration.

  She picked up the umbrella stand and set the four umbrellas into the tall ceramic vase half filled with stones to keep it upright. Fortunately, it hadn’t broken and the rocks were still inside. From the entry Helen made her way into the kitchen. She’d want something to eat before long and probably make some tea. After that she’d tackle the living room area. She’d leave the rooms with doors to the end so that even if she didn’t get to them today, the house would look somewhat tidy.

  Once she’d straightened up the kitchen, Helen put water on to boil while she went into the living room. She noticed that her fireplace tools were missing. Helen never used them since she had a gas fireplace, but kept them for show. Why would anyone take them, unless the CSI techs had taken them. She’d have to ask Joe. In the meantime, she began to gather up the books. She had hundreds, and nearly all of them were lying about in heaps. Oddly enough, the books looked intact as if they had been placed in piles. That’s when it hit her.

  “Oh, my,” she uttered aloud. Something had been bothering her the entire time she’d been working that morning and she’d even had inkling of it the night before, but nothing had gelled until now.

  She sat back on her haunches. “It’s been staged.” This wasn’t a savage break-in and possibly not even a robbery. Everything she’d worked with so far, even the pantry items, had been placed about rather than strewn about. Someone had wanted her and the police to think she’d been robbed and the place ransacked and that Janelle had interrupted a burglary. She now suspected Janelle’s murder may have come first and that this clutter was an afterthought.

  The tea kettle whistled and Helen made herself some tea and then cleared a way to her favorite chair. She’d call Joe soon, but not before mulling things over. Sipping her Earl Grey, she went back to her original question. “Why would anyone want to kill Janelle and why kill her here in my home?”

  The phone rang and Helen let the answering machine pick it up. She wasn’t in the mood to talk with anyone.

  “Mother?” It was Kate and she sounded upset. “What’s going on? I thought you were in Europe. When did you get back and why haven’t you called me? And…and what’s this about a body being found in your back yard?”

  How in the world had she found out about that?

  Helen set down her tea. Of course. She might have known. With her son, Jason, working for the Portland Police and her history there, word was apt to get around.

  Kate was still talking when Helen snatched up the receiver. “Hi, sweetheart. I’m here.”

  “I…I…Mom, what’s going on?”

  “I was planning to call you today. JB and I got in last night and I decided to come straight home.”

  “You and JB?”

  Helen winced. She hadn’t meant to include JB and now that she had she might as well get everything out in the open. “Yes. I was going to sit down with all of you soon. Kate, JB and I were married a couple of weeks ago. We’ve been honeymooning in Europe and just got back yesterday.”

  “M…married?” As Helen had expected, Kate wasn’t taking the news well. “And you didn’t think it was important to let us know?”

  “Of course I did. I wanted to tell you straight away, but I was afraid of how you’d react so I kept putting it off. I was going to wait until I got home.”

  “I see.”

  Helen heard the hurt in her daughter’s voice. “I shouldn’t have kept you in the dark. I’m sorry.”

  “I doubt that.”

  “Kate, please try to understand.”

  “Humph. I’ve been living with your secrets all of my life. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that you’d leave me out of the picture now.”

  Helen rubbed her forehead. Not telling the family about the wedding had been a bad choice. “This isn’t the way I wanted you to find out. I thought maybe we’d have a sort of post-wedding reception.”

  “Don’t bother.”

  “Kate, you know I love you. You and Jason and the kids mean the world to me. But I have my own life and you have to admit that you’ve been a little too solicitous lately.”

  “I’m looking out for you. Someone has to. You’re not getting any younger and some of the t
hings you get yourself involved in…I mean…. You’re not a police woman anymore. You’re not a spy.” She sighed. “Oh, what’s the point? You never listen to me.”

  “If you’re referring to that ridiculous idea you had about my moving in with you....” Helen bit back her own annoyance. “Kate, I don’t want to argue with you. I appreciate that you love me and that you are concerned about my welfare, but I am your mother, not your wayward child. And I am not, despite what you might think, an invalid. I don’t need a nursing home, or assisted living or even a retirement community. I am doing just fine on my own.”

  “Then why was someone murdered in your back yard?”

  Helen winced. “I have no idea.”

  “Do you want me to come down? Joe told Jason that the place was a mess. I can bring the kids.”

  “Maybe this weekend. I was going to extend the invitation to all of you. I’d planned to tell you all about JB.”

  “All right. This weekend. We could use a trip down to the beach anyway. Just be careful, okay? And get new locks on the door.”

  “Kate.” Helen soothed. “I’m all right. Really.”

  After an exaggerated sigh, Kate said, “Shall I tell the others about you and JB?”

  “Sure. It’ll give everyone a chance to get used to the idea.”

  “Call if you need me before Friday,” Kate said.

  “I will. Love you.”

  “Love you too.”

  Helen settled the phone into the cradle and took a sip of her cooled tea. Picking up the phone again, she placed a call to Joe. The receptionist at the sheriff’s office promised to give him the message that she’d called. After taking her cup to the kitchen, Helen continued to clean. By the time the phone rang again, she’d managed to get most of the books back into the book cases. Knick-knacks, though she didn’t have many, had been returned to their respective places.

  “Hey, Helen,” Joe said. “I got your call. I’m near your house. Is now a good time?”

  “Absolutely.”

  Several minutes later, she ushered him in, glad to have the living room nearly ready for guests. “I’m glad you came by.” She gestured toward the kitchen. “Coffee?”