Grave Doubts (A Paranormal Mystery Novel) Read online

  “You have no idea,” she countered as they approached the car. “Bud Maddox was there.”

  “Well, that must have been awkward.”

  “To say the least. I also met their daughter.”

  That statement stopped Patrick in his tracks.

  “You’re kidding?”

  “I’m not kidding, and I’ll never kid about her again. She is one strange cookie.”

  They reached the car and Patrick unlocked the doors. As they slid in on opposite sides, he stopped to look at Lee with anticipation.

  “Well, c’mon. Out with it. What happened?”

  Lee started slowly. “I went upstairs to look around.”

  “You were spying.”

  “No,” she said, in her own defense. “I was merely taking a tour of the house. I stepped into what I thought was the master bedroom.”

  “So, you were spying.” he said again.

  “No,” she replied in exasperation. “But Pauline Bates was there. And that is one weird room.”

  “Do tell.”

  “The entire room is a shrine to the feline species.”

  “Cats?” he asked incredulously.

  “Yes, of course cats. Hundreds of them. They’re everywhere. The walls. The floor. The bed. Every surface.” She looked through the windshield toward the east side of the house. “But not a live one in the place.”

  “So, she likes cats. That’s not that strange.”

  “You wouldn’t say that if you’d seen that room. It felt like a museum. She ordered me to get out.”

  “Not very hospitable, I’m sure.”

  “Not friendly at all, but it was the way she said it. And that’s not the worst of it.”

  “Oh good, I thought I was going to have to fake a horrified reaction because so far, this isn’t that weird.”

  She turned and leveled a stare at him. “She was at the graveyard.”

  Patrick looked confused. “Who? Pauline Bates?”

  “Yes. There was a woman up on the hill overlooking Diane’s grave. I saw her just before I left. She was standing alone between two trees. I couldn’t see her face, but I’d swear it was Pauline Bates.”

  Patrick merely looked at her with a blank expression. “I’m not sure why that’s significant.”

  Lee leaned towards her brother. “Patrick,” she said quietly, “Pauline Bates has never met Diane. So, why would she be at her burial?”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  The next morning, Lee put Soldier on the porch and headed for Medford, a two and a half hour drive south of Eugene. Lee had called ahead to make an appointment with her friend, Alvin McCauley, a professional colleague who ran the Foundation at Aurora Medical Center where Bud Maddox had worked before coming to Twin Rivers. They’d settled on eleven-thirty, and she hit the road feeling as if she was doing something useful for the first time in several days. Bud’s personnel file had indicated that his wife, Emily Maddox, was a nurse in Medford, but hadn’t disclosed whether she worked at the same hospital. Lee hoped to find out, along with some information about why Bud had left the medical center in the first place.

  It was almost exactly eleven-thirty when she arrived in Alvin McCauley’s outer office on the second floor. As she waited for the receptionist to announce her arrival, her eyes scanned the swanky color-coordinated interior and found a copy of the hospital’s newsletter, The RX, sitting on the side table. She picked it up and flipped through it, looking for the section she knew the Foundation would use to list donor names. As Lee skimmed the page, the receptionist returned to say Alvin would see her. Lee tucked the newsletter under her arm and entered the office.

  Alvin McCauley drew his tall frame out of a rolling executive chair and came around the large wooden desk to greet her with a warm smile.

  “Well, I can’t believe you’re finally here,” he said with a slight Southern twang. “It’s about time.”

  They shook hands and Lee gave him a friendly smile. “If I’d known how elegantly you lived, I’d have been here sooner.”

  He offered her a plush beige chair while he draped himself into a matching loveseat. “I’m lucky,” he agreed. “We moved into these offices two years ago when the new wing was built; now I’m afraid they’ll have to blast me out of them. So, what brings you down here?”

  Lee swallowed as the lies began.

  “My brother is a theater professor at the University of Oregon, and I offered to pick up something in Ashland for him. To be honest, I just needed a day off.”

  “How are things at Twin Rivers? Is it everything you hoped for?” He used his hand to flatten some wispy strands of hair pulled across a wide forehead.

  “It’s never everything we hope for, is it? But I can’t complain.”

  He crossed his long legs at the knees, exposing Argyle socks. “Well, I just remember how miserable you were in San Francisco. I guess anything would be better than that.”

  “Amen,” she confirmed.

  They continued to chat for over a half hour. Lee had known Alvin for more than ten years, but they only saw each other at conferences and rarely spent real time together. Lee became so involved in the conversation that she almost forgot why she was there. Finally, they came around to the topic of annual employee campaigns, and she thought this might be the lead-in she needed.

  “We do a large annual employee campaign,” Alvin was explaining. “And we’ve raised almost $150,000 from gift annuities and one charitable remainder trust.”

  “We’re not having much luck with the employees,” Lee admitted. “Two unions got a foothold three years ago and people are confused about their loyalties.” The conversation was going exactly in the direction she’d hoped. She phrased her next question as a statement. “You must have a strong employee committee.”

  “We have about twenty people on a steering committee. They represent most departments in the hospital. One of the vice presidents also participates, and frankly, that has made a tremendous difference.”

  Lee rested her elbow on the arm of her chair. It was an unseasonably warm day for October, even in Medford, where the temperature could get over a hundred degrees during the summer. Overhead, the fan hummed as it circulated cool air from a vent in the ceiling.

  “Say,” she said with a twist of her head, “did you know Bud Maddox when he worked here?” Her face grew warm as if Alvin would recognize the ruse.

  “Oh, sure. Bud chaired one of our sub-committees a few years ago. He and his wife were very active. I’d forgotten he’d moved to your area.”

  Lee’s heart raced. “So, he likes fundraising. I’ll have to get him involved.” She sat back to ask her next question, acting as nonchalant as possible. “Does his wife still work here? I heard she didn’t move to Eugene with him.”

  The corners of Alvin’s mouth turned down. “I think so. I don’t see her anymore. I think after Bud left, she switched to the graveyard shift in the ICU. Guess it’s easier than sleeping alone,” he said with a smile. He got up and wandered over to his computer terminal and hit some keys. “She was pretty active in our employee grants program. I assume she’s on the committee if she still works here. I don’t staff that committee though, so…let’s see.” He studied the screen for a brief moment and then said, “Well, she just made a payment last week on her annual pledge, so I guess she’s still here.”

  “Well, it’s really not important.” Lee tried to sound uninterested. “Bud is kind of an enigma around the hospital. I mean…everyone knows he’s married, but he seems to play around a lot. Do you have any idea why she didn’t move with him?”

  “I’m not really up on hospital gossip, but I heard that Bud was involved in some trouble up in the lab, an indiscretion of some kind. He left Medford when he got the job at Twin Rivers. Emily stayed here. I don’t know why.” He glanced at his watch. “Say, I have an appointment a one-thirty, but would you like a quick tour of the hospital and then some lunch?”

  He stood up. Lee was disappointed. She had been enjoying her role as
Sherlock Holmes. As she stood, she made a mental note that Bud’s wife worked the graveyard shift.

  “We can get a bite to eat in the cafeteria. We just had it remodeled.”

  They left the office and spent the next forty minutes wandering the halls of the large complex. Lee complimented Alvin on a donor wall in the pediatrics department. It was a wooden sculpture of a toy train painted in primary colors and filled with giraffes, bears, and cuddly-looking tigers. As they took the elevator to the basement for lunch, Lee made another mental note of the arrow pointing to the lab on the first floor. Over salads and vegetarian chili, they chatted about the conference they’d both attended in Dallas in September. At one-twenty, Alvin walked her to the front entrance to say goodbye.

  “Thanks for coming, Lee. Don’t make it so long before the next time.”

  “I won’t,” she replied as they shook hands. “It’s been great. You’ll have to come to Springfield.”

  “I’d like that.”

  “Can you direct me to the ladies’ room before I get out of here?”

  “Sure,” he said, turning around to point behind him. “It’s right down that hallway.” He indicated a short hallway that ran past the gift shop.

  “Thanks. And thanks again for your time,” Lee smiled.

  “No trouble. I’ll get up your way one of these days.”

  He turned and headed back towards the hospital’s entrance. Lee held her breath for a minute, waiting until she was sure he was gone. Then she headed in the opposite direction. The lab was tucked into the corner of the first floor with a small waiting room and no windows. A large black woman wearing wire-rimmed glasses and a white lab coat sat behind a counter window. She concentrated on a stack of papers. Behind her, Lee could see the blood draw stations. A tall, slender man in dirty overalls sat wedged in a chair with a wraparound armrest. A small woman hovered efficiently over his arm with a long needle in her hands. As she jabbed for the vein, he looked away, and Lee found herself holding her breath.

  “May I help you?” a husky voice asked. It was the woman behind the counter.

  Lee flinched. “Sorry, I don’t know how you guys ever get used to doing that,” she said, indicating the draw stations.

  The small woman in the back now held a vial filled with dark red fluid and was attaching a label to it. The woman behind the desk glanced in their direction and back.

  “Yeah, well, I think every lab technician enjoys sticking it to them, if you know what I mean.” The woman chuckled mean-spiritedly. “So, what can I do for you?” Her voice purred in an insincere sort of way.

  “I’m just passing through and have a friend who works here in the lab. I thought I’d stop and say hello.”

  “Who’s the friend?” The smile faded.

  Lee tried to look completely honest. “Bud Maddox. Is he working today?”

  The woman’s face froze for a moment, and then she laughed so abruptly she took Lee by surprise.

  “No, I’m afraid not,” she sneered. “No, I’m afraid you won’t be seeing your friend Bud Maddox today.”

  She laughed some more, taking her glasses off to rub her eyes, unaware that people in the waiting room were now staring at them. Lee wasn’t quite sure what to do.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”

  As the woman’s chuckles diminished, she looked at Lee, her small, dark eyes taking on a beady stare. When she put her glasses back on, she picked up her pencil, tapping it on the counter as she talked.

  “I’m afraid your friend don’t work here no more. He left more than six months ago, rather quickly, if you know what I mean.”

  Lee tried to appear suitably stunned. “Fired? You’re kidding?”

  The unappealing grin reappeared, exposing a set of crooked, yellow teeth. “Well, they didn’t actually fire him now, did they? But your little friend got caught doing something he oughtn’t have.”

  “Well, do you know where he’s working now?”

  “Hah!” the woman exclaimed, making several people look around. “Hopefully nowhere, if you know what I mean. That man is trouble. Sorry, I can’t help you.” With a nod, she dismissed Lee and resumed her work.

  Lee took a few steps away. Unwilling to give up, she turned back and approached the counter. Leaning toward the woman in a confidential manner, she eyed the woman’s nametag.

  “Mavis,” she said, forcing the woman to look up.

  Lee looked around the room as if she didn’t want anyone to hear. Mavis took the bait and leaned forward.

  “Bud wasn’t caught…for the same thing again, was he?” Lee whispered, giving Mavis a confidential look that included only the two of them.

  Mavis squinted, her expression betraying her suspicion. The two women remained locked in eye-to-eye combat for several seconds until Lee began to sweat. Finally, the corners of Mavis’ mouth turned into a smile.

  “My advice to you, honey, is that I wouldn’t give my friend, Bud, any personal information you don’t want others to know. And, I’d be careful how many people you tell about your friendship with him. Know what I mean?” The eyebrows lifted one last time, and then she turned and climbed off her stool, disappearing with her papers into a small office.

  Lee sighed with disappointment and turned to leave just as a toddler behind her squealed in delight. He was standing with his face pressed against a picture window, staring at a large group of birds on the lawn outside. Lee stopped and stared with him. There had to be about a hundred birds, all shapes and sizes. They milled about on a small patch of grass outside, all facing the window. It was eerie. The boy laughed and pounded on the window, but the birds ignored him. They just stood there, as if lost. Finally, the boy’s mother pulled the little boy away. A half second later, the birds took to the air en masse − as if they’d received a message of some sort that it was time to disperse. Lee left the lab feeling a familiar buzz.

  As she turned a corner near the main entrance, she almost bumped into Alvin McCauley, who stood talking to an elderly woman dressed in a lab coat. Perhaps he never made it back to his office.

  “What are you still doing here?” he asked in surprise.

  Lee gave a nervous laugh. “I…uh…decided to get my camera and take a picture of that donor wall in the pediatrics department.” She tapped her purse as if the camera were inside. “I think my CEO would love it.” She touched Alvin on the shoulder as she moved past him. “Thanks again, Alvin. I’ve got to run. I’ll be in touch.”

  Lee made it to the car without further mishap and climbed in, her heart racing. If anyone had said a year ago that she would be masquerading as a detective, she would have laughed. Patrick had inherited all the imagination in the family. She only had a good head for numbers and the ability to multi-task. The art of lying just wasn’t in her repertoire of skills. Yet, here she was stepping in and out of character with apparent ease. Maybe she shared more with her brother than she thought.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Lee sat back against the car seat and began to sort through information gleaned at the hospital. Bud had been asked to leave Aurora Medical Center because of an indiscretion, but he hadn’t been fired. That would explain why Robin’s personnel search had turned up empty. Mavis had also clearly implied that Bud couldn’t keep a secret. Hospital personnel were required to abide by a strict code of patient confidentiality, but the tone of her voice indicated something more egregious than that. Perhaps there was more to learn from Bud’s wife.

  Emily Maddox worked the graveyard shift, which meant she slept during the day. Since it was only one forty-five, Lee decided to waste an hour browsing through stores in the historic town of Jacksonville while she practiced her approach to Bud’s wife. Besides, she needed time to unwind. The flock of birds outside of the lab had reignited her anxiety.

  Lee spent the next hour and a half wandering in and out of quaint shops. At three o’clock, she called the Maddox home and asked Mrs. Maddox for an audience. It was almost three-thirty when she pulled onto Remington Stre
et, past a row of upper-middle class homes painted in a multiplicity of Victorian colors. The Maddox home sat in a cul de sac with a short white fence encircling the front yard and a dry creek-bed running along the east side. A dark green Explorer peeked out from the garage.

  Lee had called with the excuse that she was writing an article for the hospital newsletter on employee campaigns. Mrs. Maddox had reluctantly agreed. Lee hoped the questions she’d practiced in the car would lead to a conversation about Bud, but the acid in her stomach told her she lacked real confidence.

  She parked the car, slipped the copy of The RX she snatched from Alvin’s office into her satchel, and made her way up the path to ring the doorbell. A stocky woman with dark shoulder-length hair that was overdue for a dye job answered the door. She was dressed in a purple nylon running suit and clutched a wooden spoon in her hand, tipped with some kind of red sauce. Her only notable features were a large, unattractive mole in the center of her left cheek and dark eyebrows that had probably been a uni-brow in her youth.

  “Mrs. Maddox?” Lee spoke in a clipped, professional manner, adding a short, but warm smile.

  “Yes,” the woman hesitated, eyeing her carefully.

  “I’m Rebecca Moore.” Lee had picked the name of a college friend hoping it would roll off her tongue more easily. “I called earlier. I’m from the hospital.”

  “You’re doing a story?”

  “That’s right. Alvin told me you’ve been involved with the hospital’s employee campaign. He suggested I talk with you about an article I’m working on.” She lifted up the copy of the newsletter to illustrate her point. “I’m sorry for the short notice, but as I said on the phone, my deadline is tomorrow.”

  The woman was slow to react, and Lee felt the pulse in her neck throb as she struggled to maintain eye contact.

  “I had originally interviewed Mavis in the lab,” she added quickly, “but when I wrote it up, she really hadn’t given me much.”

  The woman’s face relaxed as a small smile crept up the corners of the rigid mouth.