Page 39 of Lost Hours
Nolan returned to his chair. “Do you have a theory about what he was doing on these days?”
Daisy didn’t respond but twisted the tissue in her hands.
“It’s okay, Daisy,” Mina said to encourage her. “You can tell us.”
She swiped a tear from her cheek. “I don’t want to speak ill of Ernie, especially when he can’t defend himself.”
Mina leaned closer and lowered her voice. “Whatever you say will go no further than the three of us.”
She bit her lip, gnawing off peach-colored lipstick. “I thought he might be having an affair with a married woman.”
“Why would you think that?” Nolan asked.
Good thing he’d asked. If Mina had questioned Daisy, her tone of voice would’ve given away her shock at the comment and perhaps troubled Daisy.
Daisy pressed her hands out on the desk and raised her shoulders. “I don’t pay bills as part of my job, but I do open the mail when it comes in. That includes his work credit card. I happened to see the charges for a hotel in Portland on one of the statements. The date matched one of the days he was out of the office. I didn’t look any further because I certainly would never spy on him, but it made me wonder. Not only about that, but wonder why he would charge something personal on his work card.”
“And that’s it?” Mina asked. “Just one day at a hotel left you curious? Maybe he was attending a conference.”
“He would’ve told me about something like that,” she said. “And that’s not all. He took several phone calls recently on his cell phone, and when I had stepped into his office, he tried to hide the conversation from me. He’s never done that in the past, no matter who he was talking to, so I figured it could be the woman.”
Daisy twisted her hands together. “We also share a calendar, and one day I discovered he had a separate calendar on his computer. None of the events were spelled out but were listed in cryptic notations. I access his computer all the time, and he obviously didn’t want me to know what was going on. Again, out of respect for him I didn’t ask. But then the last thing was that he’d lost weight lately, and I figured he was more cognizant about his appearance and wanted to look good for this woman.”
Mina had to agree with Daisy’s assessment. These things could mean he was having an affair, and an affair could also explain other things.
“What about perfume?” Mina asked. “Are you familiar with the scent of Chanel N°5?”
She nodded. “My mom wore it. I did too for a while.”
“Has any woman come into the office wearing that scent?” Nolan asked.
“I don’t know.” Daisy tilted her head. “Not that I’m aware of anyway.”
“Do you know who he was meeting for lunch yesterday?” Mina asked in hopes that he really had gone to lunch.
She shook her head. “He said it was personal.”
Mina needed better answers, but Daisy could only speak to what she knew. “What about his daughter, Becca? Do you know if she’s out of town or on vacation? Maybe Mayor Sutton was housesitting?”
“He didn’t mention it. They’re—they were—so close he would’ve said something about her being gone.”
“When was the last time you saw her?” Mina asked.
Alarm shone from Daisy’s watery eyes. “I don’t like these questions. Don’t tell me she’s dead too?”
Mina lifted her hands. “No. No. But we haven’t been able to locate her.”
Daisy blinked a few times. “I saw her on Wednesday evening at a fundraiser for Ukrainian refugees who’ve settled in our state. She’s heading up the local committee to get needed supplies for these families.”
Mina had heard good things about their organization. “I know she’s done a wonderful job, but can you think of anyone who might want to hurt or take her?”
“This is all just so surreal.” Daisy shivered and rubbed her hands over her upper arms. “You’re talking about Lost Lake here. Our tiny little town. Who wants to hurt anyone here? I mean sure, we all have our quarrels and disagreements, but nobody wants to murder or abduct someone.”
“Any normal day I would agree with you, but a murder has occurred. Someone we all care about.” Mina let that comment hang in the air for a moment. “Becca could be the key. So can you think of anyone who disagreed with her?”
Daisy stared off into the distance, then shook her head. “There are some folks who don’t believe refugees should be coming to our country. Ernie was also a staunch supporter of the effort to relocate them here too. But again, is that enough of a reason to kill?”
A wavering smile crossed Nolan’s lips. “You can never tell what could cause a person to break and commit murder. I’ve seen some pretty bizarre threats to the president’s life over the years, and it seemed like if these people could actually get to him, they would follow through.”
