Chapter 9. Mrs. Citron Cooperates

The next day Peter goes to Mrs. Citron’s house and knocks on the door. She opens the door and says, “Hello, Peter, please come in. It’s good to see you.”

“Hello, Mrs. Citron. I have been meaning to stop by ever since George’s funeral and tell you how sorry we all are about what happened to George. I know it must be hard to lose a son. Is there anything I can do for you?”

“No, Peter. Everyone has been so kind. My neighbors have brought me so many casseroles my refrigerator is packed full.”

“They’re trying to help the best they know-how. We were all shocked to learn George’s death wasn’t an accident.”

“I knew it couldn’t be an accident. George was afraid of heights. He would never get close enough to an open elevator shaft to fall in. I wasn’t surprised that the sheriff of ours called it an accident. He was lazy as a kid, always looking for ways to get out of work. That’s why I insisted on an autopsy.”

“Good thing you did. Otherwise we would never have known George was murdered.”

“Peter, do you think it was a robber? I don’t. George was careful not to let people he didn’t completely trust know about the valuable things Doc Arra collected. The sheriff came and told me George surprised a robber and the robber killed him. That’s what it said in the Weekly Journal too, but I don’t believe it. How could any stranger know there was anything worth stealing there?”

“You’re right. We all try not to let anyone know about the valuable things if we aren’t sure they are completely honest, just like George did.”

“I hate to imagine that someone George knew killed him, Peter, and I hate to have his murderer go free. When you are at the museum would you look for clues that might lead to the killer?”

“Yes, and I can tell you all the board members agree with you. We are still looking for clues. There is one way you can help.”

“What’s that?”

“Do you have George’s cell phone? It might help if we knew who he called recently and who called him.”

“I gave George’s phone to my daughter Laura. I don’t have any need for a cell phone. She is coming to visit me this weekend. I’ll call her and ask her to bring the phone back. Come over Sunday afternoon after church and you can take the phone if she still has it.”

“Thank you. I’ll try to stop by early enough to see Laura before she goes home.”

“Good. Would you like a piece of apple pie? I know you love apple pie and Bob Wilson brought me a big one his wife made.”

“No thank you. I’d love it but I’d better not eat it before dinner. Well, I should be going or I’ll be delaying your dinner.”

“I’m glad you stopped by, Peter. I’ll call Laura about that phone right away so I won’t forget it.”

They say their goodbyes and Peter leaves. As soon as he’s home he calls Pam. When she answers he says, “Hi, Pam, it’s Peter. I went to Mrs. Citron’s and asked for Peter’s phone. She gave it to George’s sister Laura but she’s going to ask Laura to bring it back this weekend. I’ll go get it Sunday afternoon if Laura brings it back.”

“That’s great, Peter. Bring it to the museum Wednesday night and we’ll see if the log of George’s recent calls is any help in identifying L.T. When you get the phone check to see if it’s still charged. If it’s not call and tell me what kind of phone it is. I’m sure one of the board members has the same kind of phone and can bring a charger on Wednesday.”

“I will. See you Wednesday night.”

Early Sunday afternoon Peter goes to Mrs. Citron’s home. Laura answers the door and welcomes Peter, “Glad you came before I had to go home, Peter. Mother tells me you and the board members are going to continue to look for George’s killer. I brought George’s phone. Come in and sit down while I get the phone. Mother is taking her after-lunch nap. She’ll be sorry to have missed you.”

As she hands Peter the phone she continues, “Mother and I are both happy you’re going to keep looking for the murderer. I hope having George’s phone helps.”

“It’s good to see you Laura. I didn’t have a chance to talk to you at the funeral. Thanks for bringing the phone. We found a note that George left. It has a list of people he intended to call. There’s one he identified only by the initials L.T. We are hoping the log of George’s calls will help us learn who it is. It may not be important but then again it may lead us to someone that could be involved. I want to find George’s killer as much as you and your mother. We do have to be cautious though. If the sheriff finds out we are investigating the case after he’s declared the case closed he’ll have a fit. You know him. Please don’t say anything about our continuing to investigate and ask your mother not to say anything to her friends. Before I go do you have any idea who L.T. might be?”

“Not off the top of my head but I’ll think about it while I’m driving home. I’ll call your business number if I think of who it might be. I have a local phone book at home.”

“That’s good. If you think of someone, call between 5:00 and 5:30 if you can. I am usually in the office then doing paperwork before I go home. I want to take the call personally. Well, goodbye and thanks again.”

After picking up George’s phone Peter calls Pam and tells her it’s an Apple phone and completely dead. Pam says, “I know Joe has an Apple phone. I’ll call him and have him bring a charger on Wednesday. See you then.”

Wednesday evening the board members gather in the dining room and plug George’s phone into the charger. Then Pam says, “Let’s give it a good charge. We can do other things while it’s charging. I am going to the clinic to check the partly open file drawer. The sheriff dismissed it but I want to be sure it’s nothing. Let’s meet here in an hour and check the phone log together.”

Pam goes to the kitchen, finds a pair of rubber gloves, takes them with her to the clinic and takes the elevator to the second floor. She puts on the rubber gloves and goes to the filing cabinet with the partially open drawer. She notes it’s labeled ‘1975-1980’. She opens the partially open drawer and sees it’s filled with folders with names in alphabetical order. She thinks, ‘these are Doc Arra’s medical records for those five years. That’s an interesting filing system. Each family’s records are in a perfectly aligned row with the father on the left followed by the mother then the children. Wait a second. There’s a gap in the Ericsson family row. That could be a missing record. None of the other family sets have any gaps. Someone must have removed one of the files from the Ericsson family set. It’s probably someone who wanted their medical file for a new doctor. Still, it’s suspicious that only that one record is missing.’

Pam removes the set of records for the Ericsson family being carefully to handle it only by the edges. She looks at each record briefly. Then she decides to take the set down to Doc’s old office where she can sit down, read the records and make notes.

When she reaches the first floor she sees Mary and says, “Mary would you help me with something? I found a set of family medical records in that file drawer that was partially open. One of the records is missing and I want to see if we can figure out whose file is missing. I lived away so long I don’t remember all these people.”

“Sure, Pam, let me see whose family records you have. Do you know how old they are?”

“Yes, they are from the period 1975 to 1980 and the family name is Ericsson. Be careful in handling these files. There could be fingerprints we don’t want to disturb.”

“That’s probably Sheriff Ericsson’s family, probably his grandfather’s family from that long ago. Let me look at the names and dates. I’ll be careful not to touch the files with my fingers.”

After looking at each of the names and the ages of the people Mary offers, “Yes, I think these are Sheriff Ericsson’s grandfather’s family. I didn’t know them when I was a young girl but I think this son named Elliott could be the sheriff’s father. Everyone calls the sheriff’s father Buddy, a nickname. I don’t know his given name so it could be Elliot. Sorry, I don’t know who the missing file could be. It must be a brother or sister of Elliot or maybe the missing file is the sheriff’s father and Elliot is an uncle. You know who would know for sure, Maxine Lafleur, Doc’s old nurse. She’s still around but she must be in her late 80s by now. If her memory hasn’t gone she would remember whose file is missing. She would have been the one that filed these records.”

“Thanks, Mary. If you know Maxine could you go see her and see if she remembers?”

“Yes, I believe I heard she’s in the nursing home south of town. I can go see her Saturday morning when she’s as alert as possible.”

“Great, let’s go back to the dining room after I return these files to the filing cabinet. George’s phone must be charged by now.”

They gather in the dining room and Pam takes the phone off the charger and gives the charger back to Joe. She opens the log of recent calls and reads, “Here’s his calls to Peter and Joe and some other numbers without names. They are not this area code so we’ll have to do some research to identify them.”

Sam offers, “Write the numbers down Pam and I’ll do the research. I promised I’d help with the investigation and this is something I can do when I’m not fishing this week.”

“Thanks, Sam. I’ll give you the list. We’ve made a little progress tonight and both Mary and Sam have things to follow up before we meet next Wednesday. Shall we lock up and call it a night?”

“Good idea, I still have work to do on my sermon for Sunday and some ideas came to me while I was here. I want to get them on paper before I forget them,” adds Joe.