Dead Man Docking - Mary Daheim [103]
Connie had a well-ordered filing cabinet. Judith easily found the bank statements. There were three accounts in her name—checking, savings, and a money market. Judging from the canceled checks that had been filed, Connie could write on all three. Judith hurriedly flipped through the ones that went back to the first of the year. There weren’t that many. Apparently, all the household bills were paid from a joint account that Mags had probably kept in his own records.
Indeed, there were no checks made out to anyone whose name Judith recognized. There was a jeweler, an alterations shop, a furrier, a personal trainer, a masseuse, a hairdresser, and various other service and sales persons. The most recent check was dated March 17. It had been made out to CITES in the amount of one thousand dollars. The initials meant nothing to Judith.
She paused, listening for any suspicious sounds. She heard nothing. Opening another drawer, she spotted two bank-books. The first one she picked up was for Connie’s regular savings account. Since early November, there had been seven withdrawals. Two were in November, in the amounts of thirteen hundred and twenty-one hundred dollars. Gump’s was printed next to the dates. Christmas presents, perhaps, Judith thought. Gump’s was a very expensive store off Union Square. Maybe Connie had bought gifts for Mags.
There were also two withdrawals in December: Fifteen hundred dollars for NM. Judith thought through the suspect list. No one had those initials. Maybe the letters stood for Neiman Marcus. But the next and final four withdrawals occurred in December, January, February, and March. They were in the amounts of twenty, forty, fifty, and seventy-five thousand dollars—exactly what Connie was reported to have taken out of her account during that time period.
The initials next to those big sums were MBB.
Judith frowned. She couldn’t think who that might be.
Then it dawned on her. Judith might have known her as Dixie, but her real name was May Belle Beales.
Had Dixie been blackmailing Connie? It was possible, Judith thought, doing her best to put everything back in order. That might explain why Dixie had sent the note telling the cousins to butt out. But what did Dixie know that was worth so much money that Connie had to buy her silence?
A sound from out in the hallway caught Judith’s attention. Swiftly, she shut the desk drawer, hurried out of the office, and fell upon the king-size bed.
Paul Tanaka called from outside the closed double doors. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes,” Judith answered. “Come in.”
Paul entered the boudoir with a puzzled look on his face. “How did you get into the bathroom?”
“The bathroom?” Judith thought quickly. If Paul had to ask the question, there must be a problem. “I didn’t. Not yet. I thought I’d lie down first. I don’t like to take my pain pills unless I have to. The doctors are so stingy about prescribing very many at one time.”
“Oh.” Paul couldn’t quite hide his relief. “Connie forgot to mention that the door is tricky to open. It sticks. The last earthquake apparently damaged the alignment.”
“I understand,” Judith said, overemphasizing the difficulty of sitting up. “In fact, we had a small quake at home this morning. Like San Francisco, all of our houses are uneven.”
“Are you rejoining us?” Paul inquired.
“I think so,” Judith said. “I’ll walk around just a bit before I attempt the stairs.”
“I’ll wait.” Paul’s smile