Bran New Death

Which was what I was doing after the crapstorm that was Leatrice Peugot. I looked up from her stack of books to find Isadore staring at me with a weird, focused look. Should I befriend her, I wondered? I might need an ally at the bank if my uncle’s finances were as twisted as I feared.

I smiled. She grabbed her stack of books and shuttled awkwardly to the checkout desk. Lizzie, who had noticed the interaction, snickered, and I gave her a dirty look. “What are you, Miss Charming all of a sudden?” I said.

The teenager made a face and bent back over her magazine.

After the bank teller left, Ha

The girl nodded, her gaze sliding back to the magazine. I got a feeling she felt awkward with tiny, wheelchair-bound Ha

“Lizzie is a talented photographer,” I said to Ha

Ha

Lizzie agreed to bring her camera back to the library to show Ha

“So next time, bring your camera with you here and show Ha

“Sure.” She stood and picked up the magazine. “I have to go to Golden Acres now,” she said, and left.

Ha

She was one of those people who asked just the right questions at just the right moment. “Who feels like the killer to you?” she asked.

“If I had to guess this moment, I would say Junior Bradley.”

“Why?”

“He was the last known person to have a violent confrontation with Tom.”

“Hmm. I wouldn’t get attached to that one theory, though, right?”

“I won’t. I’ll keep looking.”

“Merry, I know you worry that I have Tom on a pedestal, and that I don’t know much about life, but I know more than you might think. Tom was upset about his father’s disappearance, yes. He and Dinah were arguing a lot in the last few months. But there were other things going on in his life, too, something from a long time ago that he had just discovered was not quite as he thought it was.”

“What does that mean?”

“I don’t know,” she said regretfully. “He looked ashamed, and wouldn’t tell me what had happened.”

He knew about her hero-worship of him, probably, and didn’t want to tell her unsavory details that might damage how she saw him. I thought for a long minute. “Was there anything else you were talking about at that point?”

“I was, uh . . . wait! I remember!” Her small face was turned up into the light, long lashes fluttering as she closed her eyes. “We got into a conversation about parents, and I was telling him how much I appreciate mine. I don’t know what I would have done in my life without such a great dad. Tom looked . . . ashamed.” She cocked her head to one side. “I don’t know why.”

“Maybe he was ashamed of something to do with Rusty?” I thought about it. Had Rusty’s hasty disappearance had to do with his own son?

“There’s something else,” Ha

“What is it, Ha

“Tom was working for someone, doing something he wasn’t proud of, but he needed money, he said.”

This sounded promising. “What was it?”

“He was following someone for a lawyer. But he wouldn’t tell me who he was following.”

“What lawyer? Andrew Silvio, maybe?” I asked, but she just shrugged. Were there any other lawyers in Autumn Vale? Was I limiting myself by only considering this town? I remembered my conversation with Silvio, who told me about a lawyer in Ridley Ridge with whom Melvyn was working on the lawsuits between him and Rusty. “He didn’t give any indication who he was following, or why? Or what he found out?”

She shook her head.

“Can you think of anything else at all?”

“No. I’m going to ask around, though. I see lots of people every day, and no one will think twice about me asking questions, because everyone knew how I felt about Tom.”

The wistfulness in her voice about broke my heart. “Be careful, Ha

“I’m not helpless,” she said with a frown.

“I know you aren’t. Just be careful.” I stood and said, “Is there somewhere here I can change my clothes? I have to go bake muffins, and a skirt suit just doesn’t cut it, so I brought jeans and a T-shirt with me.”

A few minutes later, dressed down for baking, I decided to call Shilo. I stood out on the street and held up my cell phone. Not working today. I eyed the sky, noting the low ceiling of clouds that obscured the ridge above Autumn Vale, and wondered if that had something to do with the spotty reception. Dinah had suggested Wi-Fi for better cell reception, but I wasn’t sure that would help me. In truth, I didn’t really understand anything about it. I’d need her to write that stuff down so I could ask an Internet representative without sounding like an idiot.

I walked toward Bi

While Bi

But first, I’d drop in at the bank and look around. Autumn Vale Community Bank was a squat, two-story redbrick building on the corner of Abenaki and Mohawk Road. It had dentilated ornamentation at the top and a rounded corner where the glass door was. It was a charming, old building, and the plaque attached read that the bank had been in existence since the early 1800s. I stepped inside. There were only two wickets—the old-fashioned kind like out of an old movie, with brass bars and a marble countertop—and a manager’s office at the back, with Simon Grover’s name in gold, Gothic lettering.

Isadore Openshaw was at the only open teller’s spot, and I approached the wicket. She would have to speak to me there. She looked up and I smiled. Her expression soured, like she had a tart candy in her mouth, which was, by the way, ironically coated with powdered sugar.

“Hi, my name is Merry Wynter, and I just thought I’d stop in to introduce myself.”

“What can I do for you?” She had a surprisingly husky voice, scratchy, as if it wasn’t used often.

“Well, I would like to inquire about my uncle’s affairs here. I’m not sure if he had an account with you?”