Poisoned Secrets

Maggie stared back at the door as the older woman closed it. Edwina was wonderful and kind. She’d been lucky to find someone like her in Seven Oaks, in the very building she lived in. She felt so alone here without any family and friends. And now with Vicky across the hall, seeing her every day but not being a part of her life, the loneliness was even more evident.

“Ready?” Kane headed toward the back of the house and the steps that led to the basement.

“I’m not sure if I want to find something missing or not.” Maggie followed him down the stairs.

“We’ll know shortly and deal with it either way.” Kane unlocked the door to the large storage area and let Maggie enter first.

The huge room was partitioned into cages where the tenants could store their belongings they didn’t need in their apartments. Kane crossed to the far wall to the cage next to hers.

“This is an extra one I have in case someone needs more space.” He searched for the key to the cage, and when he found it on his ring, he reached for the padlock.

After unlocking the chain link entrance, Kane advanced inside. Maggie came up beside him. With a deep scowl, he swung around and stared at the padlock then back at the stacked boxes.

“What’s wrong?” Apprehension washed over Maggie as though she had been caught in a sudden downpour.

“Someone has been in here.”

FOUR

“How can you tell?” Maggie scanned the boxes in the cage in the storeroom and didn’t see anything that looked out of place. Everything was neat, piled around the perimeter in orderly rows two deep.

Kane pointed to three of the boxes that were in back with four on each side of them. “Because I stacked the back row four high and the second one three exactly. One’s missing.”

“Are you sure?” The implication meant the intruder probably had been after something he’d thought was in the apartment.

“Yes.” His jaw hardened into a firm line.

She gestured to his key ring. “Is that the only key to the padlock?”

“Edwina has the other one.”

“Would she have a reason to take one of Henry Payne’s boxes?”

“No, and they were heavy. She can’t lift anything over ten pounds. I can’t see her taking a box for any reason.”

“Then that means someone picked the padlock.”

“Or took Edwina’s key.”

The damp chill in the cage seeped into her bones. “Who has a key to this room?”

“Only the tenants in the building.” Kane walked to the storeroom’s entrance and checked the lock. “This looks okay.”

Not liking the idea that one of the tenants took Henry’s possessions, Maggie moved to the cage’s padlock. She bent down and examined it. “Has this always had scratch marks on it?”

Kane inspected it, too. “No. It’s brand-new. I didn’t have a padlock for this cage until I needed it for Henry’s possessions.”

“Picking a lock isn’t easy. Maybe it was a burglar who knew what he was doing.” She hoped that was the case and not something tied to the murder and the people at Twin Oaks Apartments.

“Then how did he get in here?”

She shrugged. “With a key, or he picked that lock, too, and it doesn’t show.”

“I’m glad I’m getting added security on the doors into the building.”

But that wouldn’t help if the culprit was someone in the building. The very idea chilled her. “Someone probably read about the murder and saw an opportunity to steal from a dead man. You know how some robbers read the obits and see when a person’s funeral is then go rob him when everyone is at the service.” She wanted to believe that, but in her heart she knew that wasn’t the answer. Maybe Henry had something valuable one of the tenants decided to steal.

“I suppose that could be the case, but…”

“That might also explain why the burglar came to my apartment. Maybe he didn’t know I’d moved in. I’ve only been here a short time. You hadn’t advertised in the paper about renting the apartment yet.”

“Yeah, but his funeral was weeks ago, so the thief certainly took his time. And I didn’t put these boxes in here until the police were through.”

“The police didn’t release the apartment until recently.” Am I grasping at straws? Trying to convince myself it isn’t a neighbor? Maggie hooked her hair behind her ears.

“I guess it’s a possibility…” Frowning, Kane shoved his hand through his hair. “Since Henry didn’t have any close relatives or friends for that matter, who’s to know what’s missing exactly.”

“That’s sad that he didn’t have anyone.” Maggie leaned against the wall, her exhaustion catching up with her.

“You didn’t know Henry. I don’t feel sorry for him.”

The brief flash of anger that descended over Kane’s features took Maggie by surprise. He didn’t usually show his emotions like that. What had Henry done to him to cause those kinds of feelings? “Then why did you rent to him?”