Nearly Departed, Max Schlienger [the gingerbread man read aloud txt] 📗

a few details, lest he sound even more unhinged. “Elspeth always thought that her father was an artist. It turns out that he was a confidence man, and that he entrusted his daughter – Evy, not Elspeth – with a key to a safety deposit box. She was supposed to hide it until her father and his partner resolved an argument about something, but she died before that happened.” Harding said nothing, which Dennis took as a prompt to continue. “Anyway, now Elspeth is in the hospital, and I’m back at the house looking for that key.” Harding’s silence continued. “Well?” Dennis blurted.

“Dennis,” the psychiatrist replied, his voice fearful, “are you, by chance, talking about Evelyn and Elspeth Palin?”

“Of course I am! Who else would I be talking about?”

There was another moment of tense silence before Harding spoke again. “Dennis, are you safe? Where are you?”

“I’m at the house, Sam. Elspeth’s house. I said that already.” His grip tightened on the phone. “What’s going on?”

The blood rushed from Dennis’ face as his friend answered. “I didn’t make the connection before. I didn’t see how you could have possibly been involved.” Harding took a shallow breath and swallowed. “Emma Palin was a patient of mine, Dennis, up until shortly before she died. She had never gotten over the death of her eldest daughter, who was named Evelyn.”

“Elspeth’s mother?” Dennis asked. A flash of anger rose through his surprise. “You knew?”

“Dennis, please, listen to me! I swear, I had no idea it had anything to do with you!”

“What had nothing to do with me? Sam, what’s going on?”

“It was Spinner,”answered Harding. Dennis felt his knees start to weaken. “The retired detective. He accused me of perpetuating Emma’s delusions in order to extend my time with her.” The sound of Harding’s throat being cleared reminded Dennis to breathe, and he inhaled sharply before he passed out. “Spinner was a friend of the family,” Harding continued. “I was never clear on the actual relationship, but I do know that he referred to Emma’s daughter as his niece.”

The pieces fell together in a sickening, chilling cascade. “He was the partner,” Dennis whispered.

“Eric Palin’s partner, yes,” Harding confirmed. Dennis realized through a haze of panic that he had never known the paternal Palin’s first name. “It seems probable.”

“How could you not have known?” Dennis clutched the phone as though he were grabbing at Harding himself. “I told you about Elspeth! How could you not have known?!”

“It was eight years ago, Dennis!” Harding’s voice sounded almost as desperate as Dennis’ own. “If you had told me her name, I might have realized things sooner. Please understand, I never met anyone else in the family; I only dealt with Emma.”

“What, were you disappointed about losing her business? Did you set me up so that you could have Elspeth as one of your clients?”

“Patience, Dennis, please.”

“I don’t give a damn what you call them!”

“No, I meant...” Harding chuckled nervously. “I was asking for you to be patient, and I’ll explain. I had nothing to do with you meeting Elspeth.”

“Oh, god,” muttered Dennis, feeling sick. “That’s why Spinner was interested in me. He thinks that I’m trying to help you pull the same thing on Elspeth.”

Harding started to say something, but hesitated. “I think it might be more complicated than that.” Dennis listened, suppressing the urge to gag. “As I understand it, Eric and Spinner had some personal issues. A disagreement about something. From what you’ve told me, it sounds like it may have been over how to split the profits from a job they had pulled.” Harding’s words grew more rushed. “Spinner must have seen this as an opportunity to tie up loose ends, now that Elspeth is incapacitated. There’s little doubt in my mind that he plans to rob her, and clean out that safety deposit box once he has the key.”

“What should I do?” Dennis coughed. “Sam, tell me what I should do.”

“The first thing is to make sure that you’re safe,” replied Harding. “Once you’ve found the key, come over to my office, and we’ll figure out what to do next.”

“Won’t that just make him want to chase me even more?”

“No, he’s proven that he’s beyond sanity.” Dennis could easily agree with that. “And with Elspeth in the hospital, we need to think about protecting her, as well.”

“Yes, right.” Dennis squeezed his eyes shut. “I’ll find the key, get to your office, and... then what?”

“One step at a time. Let’s get you to safety.”

“Okay, yeah, that.” Dennis hung up his phone and shoved it into his pocket. He silently repeated Harding’s advice like a mantra: Find the key, get to safety. On shaking legs, he left the den, stumbling around the furniture. Find the key, get to safety. At the back of his mind, beneath the cycling words, he thought about Alena, and wondered if he’d ever get the chance to see her again. He chided himself for being so melodramatic, but the self-criticism was lost under a wave of fear and adrenaline as he stared through the front window of the entry hall, and at the blue sedan that had just pulled up outside.

Find the key, get to safety.

Out loud, Dennis whispered, “Too late.”

A tremor of electricity shot through Dennis’ spine as he stood frozen, contemplating an immediate surrender. Almost without him telling them to, his legs started moving, sending him skittering around a corner and into the kitchen. Bobo looked up from an open drawer just in time for Dennis to tackle him and pull him onto the ground.

“Have you gone bloody mad?!” the bigger man yelped, barely saving himself from getting bruised on the floor’s hardwood paneling.

“Quiet!” Dennis scrambled into a low crouch and held an insistent finger to his lips.

“Why?”

“Be quiet!” Dennis hissed again. He strained to hear anything that might signify someone’s presence. At the very least, he should be able to hear footsteps on the tiled floor of the entry hall. For the moment, the house