It had to be You

morning.
    We’re putting a dumbwaiter from the basement to this floor. It was Mr. Brewster ‘s suggestion.“
    “It would be,“ Walker said with a smile. “Could you possibly let the others tend to this for a while? I need to ask you some questions.“
    “I’d rather supervise the move to the extra guest room. Do you have many questions or just a few?“
    “I’ll start with the first one and ask the others when you’re finished.”
    Miss Twibell looked around the room. Miss Jones and Miss Smith were settled in their chairs in the living room, enjoying watching everyone else haul things out. Mattie had even been allowed out of her room to watch as well.
    “We’ll go to my suite then,“ Miss Twibell said, leading him there.
    They sat down in the chairs facing the back window. They could see the Harbinger boys outside taking their measurements again. Mr. Farleigh was also out there picking a few daffodils that were still in bud. Jim Harbinger called out to Farleigh, “Pretty flowers.“ Farleigh smiled and held them up for Jim to see, and went back to cutting a few more.
    Miss Twibell tapped Walker lightly on the knee and asked, “What is the question?“
    “I’m sorry. That was a nice exchange of greetings. The first question is, how many visitors have you had here since Mr. Connor first arrived?”

Chapter 11

    That’s a bigger question than I anticipated,“ Miss Twibell said sourly. “We have many visitors. Too many sometimes. The ladies of Miss Jones’s and Miss Smith’s hold their knitting and crocheting meeting once a week in the living room, unless we have a crisis going on and they’re in the way. Then they cram themselves into the Smith and Jones room. I couldn’t even tell you all their names or which of the group came which week.“
    “Are they all older women?“
    “No, as the old ones die out or members move away, they take in younger women. What is the relevance of this?”
    He knew some of the older ladies might have had a serious grudge against Sean Connor but probably didn’t have the strength necessary to smother him. The younger ones might have been able to if they had some obscure reason to want to.
    He only replied, “I don’t know yet what is important to know. Who else has visited?”
    She was growing more irritable. “Mrs. Connor, of course. Early on in his stay, a few of his neighboring farmers visited. I can’t imagine it was out of affection. Just a sense of duty. Their wives probably insisted it was the neighborly thing to do. And I don’t know their names either.”
    She went on, “Another man who didn’t introduce himself, and was closeted with Mr. Connor for nearly an hour, was here several weeks ago. He must have been a lawyer. He had a bulging leather case with him, and before he left, he asked Betty and me to sign the back of a sheet of paper as witnesses after Mr. Connor signed it. A deed or something.“
    “Anyone else?“ Walker knew he was trying her patience, but needed any information he could get as soon as he could.
    “We had a handsome young man in what I call the ‘overflow’ room for a while because he’d wrenched his back badly falling off a tractor. He needed constant changing of hot packs alternating with cold packs and had no close family to help. He was a patient for only five days and had a whole string of pretty young girls visit. If I think of anyone else, I’ll let you know. I really must get back to work.“
    “One more really easy question I must ask,“ Howard plowed on. “Is the front door always locked?“
    “Not necessarily. Generally, we keep it locked. But when we’re expecting someone like the Harbinger brothers, Mrs. Connor, or Dr. Polhemus, it’s unlocked.”
    With that she swept out of the room, walking hard on her heels.
    She’d left so abruptly that Walker hadn’t even had time to perform the courtesy of standing up when she did. He remained sullenly seated when she had departed. The answer to the front door question had set him back. It wasn’t the reply he’d anticipated, and not an answer he liked.
    Anyone could have walked in when the assistants were taking down laundry, Miss Smith and Miss Jones were in their room, and Miss Twibell was in her suite. Theoretically there must have been several times that almost anybody could have arrived and departed without any of the staff or patients knowing about it.
    Perhaps even the very morning Connor died. They’d expected Mrs. Connor to arrive, but not until