Page 76 of Lost Cause
The woman sighed. “You people don’t give up, do you?”
“You seem like you don’t want to answer our questions,” Abby said. “We’re not here to accuse you of anything, we’re just gathering background information on Victor.”
“But why?” She leaned forward. “What’s this all about?”
“All we can tell you is a crime was committed on his estate,” Burke said. “We’re trying to find the perpetrator.”
The doctor’s mouth fell open. “You don’t think it’s me?”
“We’re too early in our investigation to know who it could possibly be.” Abby smiled at the woman. “So if you’d please answer our questions, you’d be helping Victor.”
Her anger melted like a chocolate bar on a hot dashboard, but she quickly squared her shoulders. “He wanted to re-create the garden his wife left in France. His gardener told him some of those plants wouldn’t grow on the Oregon coast, so he wanted information about landscaping on a coastal property.”
“But after his wife disappeared, you continued to visit him,” Burke said.
She held Burke’s gaze for a long moment without speaking. “I lost my husband to a freak car accident, so I knew the pain he was going through. True, Victor hadn’t actually lost his wife, she was just missing, but the grief’s the same. So I stopped by to see if he wanted to talk about it. Our time together helped him, and we met weekly after that. Eventually, we became friends.”
Her explanations seemed logical, but her underlying tension and argumentative behavior said she was hiding something or giving them half-truths.
“When’s the last time you visited him?” Burke paused for a moment, keeping his gaze on her. “And before you answer, please know we have the ferry logs with dates and times people arrived on the island.”
“It was last Friday. In the afternoon.”
“Can you be more specific on the time?”
“I arrived on the one o’clock ferry and left on the six.”
“Did Victor seem upset about anything at this visit?” Abby asked.
“Upset? No. Nothing unusual.” Her words were relaxed, but her posture remained stiff. “We had tea and spent most of the time comparing the aches, pains, and trials of aging.”
“You mentioned a gardener,” Burke said. “Do you know where we might find him?”
“All I know is Victor fired Juan, and he took off in a huff. I’m not sure where he went. He once mentioned moving here from California, but that was, what? Forty or so years ago, and he was in his fifties at the time. That would put him in his late nineties now. Or even over a hundred. He likely wouldn’t still be living.”
Unfortunately, Burke agreed with her. Still, they would try to find him, though his common name would make it harder. Hopefully, Abby would ask Hayden to look into him.
“Are you familiar with Cladonia arbuscula lichen?” he asked and watched carefully for her reaction.
Her face screwed up in a puzzled expression. “I am, but what does that have to do with coastal gardening?”
“I just wondered if you’re familiar with it.” Burke tried to look as innocent as he could.
She scowled. “Of course I am. I’m a botanist.”
“Does it grow on Victor’s property?”
“It does.”
“Can it be found all over the property or just in specific places?” Abby asked.
“Not everywhere,” she said. “You’ll find it only in sunny open areas with well-drained soil.”
Abby crossed her legs, but her gaze was intense. “From what I’ve seen, his land is predominantly wooded.”
“It’s sunny near the coastline.”
Just what Burke needed to hear, and he was done here. He stood. “Thank you. Your information is most helpful.”
