“Did Milton or any of the deputies ask you any questions?”Dash asked.“Take a statement?”
“Not a one,” she said.“Milton came down after the coroner had left with Henry and said we could call a company to come clean things up, and to let him know if we find a suicide note.And that was that.Even I’d watched enoughLaw and Orderto know that was all wrong.Josephine had her hands full with the funeral and the estate, so I took care of calling the cleaners and getting things presentable so she didn’t have to face that when she came back to go through things.”
“It sounds like you were a great help to all the Wainwrights,” I said.
“Like I said, they were great people.I miss them dearly.”
Dash leaned forward, his elbows propped on his knees.“In those last weeks before Dr.Wainwright died, did you notice anything different with his behavior?Anything that stood out to you as odd?”
She was quiet for a moment.“He was distracted.Sometimes I’d be talking to him and you could tell he was in some far-off place.That wasn’t like him.I knew something was troubling him, but it was never my place to pry.Those last few weeks he’d leave his supper untouched on the warmer.I’d come in the next morning and find it still there.”
“What about a woman?”I asked.“Was he seeing someone?”
Lila Mae’s lips tightened in a straight line.“It wasn’t my business to pry into his personal life.”
“We’re not asking you to,” Dash said.“But we’re looking for any avenues that could lead us to Henry’s killer.”
“I see,” she said.“Well then, since you asked I assume you know there was someone.I’d had the run of that house for a long time, and then one morning I came in to make the bed and I noticed there were indents in both pillows.And then another time I found a pair of earrings in the bathroom, and a cashmere scarf on the chair by the window.But I never saw her or met her, so I couldn’t give you a name.He was very discreet.It’s the only time since Charlotte died that he had another woman at the house.”
“Was there anything else that stood out around the time of Henry’s death?Arguments or disagreements with anyone?Or maybe conversations you overheard with Henry?”
“Nothing like that,” she said.“The only other thing I can think of is the handkerchief that was just inside the door to his study.Looked like someone had dropped it.”
“It wasn’t Henry’s?”Dash asked.
“No,” she said.“He didn’t carry handkerchiefs.This one was white and monogrammed.”
“Do you remember the initials?”
“The letter J was embroidered in blue thread.It could’ve belonged to anyone.There were people in and out of that house all the time.”
“Did you pick it up?”
“No, I left it where it was,” she said.“You might ask Josephine if she remembers.It might have been hers even.As I recall, she was always partial to a handkerchief.She and her husband came to pack up his things when they were ready to put the house on the market.”
“Thank you, Mrs.Banks,” Dash said.
She nodded, but I could see the emotional toll the conversation had on her.“I’m glad I could help.”
I closed the laptop.
“What are the chances that handkerchief got packed away in the boxes in your living room?”Dash asked.
“Let’s find out.”
Walt was at the dining room table where we’d left him.
“Have you found a monogrammed handkerchief in the boxes from Henry’s home office?”I asked.
“Not yet,” he said.“We’re cataloguing everything since our collective memories aren’t as good as they used to be.But there’s no handkerchief on the list yet.”
“Just keep an eye out for it,” Dash said.“It could be important.”
“I’ll be right back,” I said.“I’m just going to change into something more comfortable for the drive.”
Chowder looked at me expectantly.“Not today,” I told him.“You’re going to stay and supervise the Silver Sleuths.”
He didn’t seem especially excited at his new assignment and turned toward the sunroom where he liked to nap.
