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Chapter Thirteen
Arden Hinnish
February 2024
Saturday — 8:28 am
The apartment was quiet except for the soft ticking of a wall clock in the shape of a sun on the wall above the sofa. The faint noise could be heard in the kitchen as Arden filled the coffee filter with ground beans that he had delivered from the grocery store. He had given his word to Brook that he wouldn’t leave Nigel Deering’s bedside, and he would keep his promise. She had enough on her plate without adding someone else’s fate to that list who was already destined to cross over within weeks.
Arden continued to hold out hope that Nigel wouldn’t take his last breath until Sylvie was able to return home and say her goodbyes. The man was very weak, and the toll it had taken on him to hear the sounds of his only daughter being attacked in the other room had been severe. While the heavy doses of morphine for the pain kept Nigel sleeping most of the day and night, he would always ask about Sylvie during those brief moments when he was alert.
Pressing the brew button on the coffee machine, the gradual hum eventually eclipsed the ticking of the clock. Arden glanced toward the bedroom door where Carter Dunbar was in the middle of giving Nigel Deering a sponge bath. Carter had arrived at seven o’clock this morning. Arden had monitored the health aide’s schedule, and he was very prompt and efficient at his job. Carter was also empathetic to Nigel’s needs.
Arden’s phone buzzed on the counter, and he picked it up to find a text message from Bit. It was quickly followed by another from Theo. Both updates offered Arden little comfort. Sylvie had yet to awaken after the cardiac incident, and Lorena Dobbs was still on the run.
“Brook, I hope you know what you’re doing,” Arden whispered to himself.
He had started talking to himself after the death of his wife. As a matter of fact, Arden and Sylvie had a previous conversation about adopting cats from the animal shelter. It would be nice to have a kitten to take care of at home. Not that Arden hadn’t crowned himself the team’s caretaker. They all needed a little TLC in their own way.
Arden set his phone back on the counter before collecting two mugs from the cupboard. Sylvie was a tea lover, so there were many teacups to be had. Arden had discovered heavy mugs on the top shelf that had needed to be washed out from having collected a thin layer of dust. There were so many teacups that he made a mental note to buy one of those shelves that displayed the more precious ones for her birthday. He refused to even consider that she wouldn’t pull through this ordeal.
“Sylvie is a tough cookie, that one,” Arden murmured right before the bedroom door opened to reveal Carter. The man was smiling, which offered hope that Nigel would have a good day. “Is Nigel up for a small breakfast?”
“Nigel would love a cup of tea,” Carter revealed as he walked over to where he had set down his belongings. In one of the bags was a tablet that he recorded his completed tasks for the agency. Arden figured it was similar to the software that Bit had created for the team, though Bit might take offense at such a comparison. “He was adamant that you use milk and not creamer.”
“I can see where Sylvie gets her preferences from,” Arden said with a matching smile. He motioned for Carter to take a seat on one of the stools at the island. “I’ll pour you some fresh coffee after I put on the kettle.”
Sylvie had two kettles for the stovetop and an electric one off to the side. Arden wasn’t sure why she had so many, but who was he to argue about such appliances? He had offered to teach her how to use the one at the office, but she didn’t seem to have any inclination to take him up on his offer. If he were being honest with himself, he preferred it that way.
“How is everyone doing at the office?” Arden asked as he busied himself with filling the kettle with fresh water. “I know you said that you don’t know a lot of your coworkers on a personal level, but surely Erin Smith’s death has hit close to home.”
“We don’t have a workplace like that, Mr. Hinnish.”
“Arden, please.”
“The agency works as a middleman,” Carter explained as he made himself comfortable on the stool. He had his tablet in front of him and was already entering in Nigel’s vitals and other information from earlier. “We have monthly meetings, and even then, not everyone goes. It’s a terrible thing that happened to Erin, but I don’t believe that I even had a one-on-one conversation with her.”
Arden was beginning to understand why Lorena Dobbs had chosen Sylvie to insert herself into the lives of the team. Jacob had been in federal prison for quite a while with no contact with anyone from the outside. Everyone was in agreement that the arrangement between Jacob and Lorena had to have been made well in advance.
“Here you go.” Arden set down a mug of coffee in front of Carter. “Do you know if the police interviewed everyone at the agency?”
“I spoke to an officer over the phone, but I told him the same thing that I just told you regarding the inner workings of the agency. Everything is pretty much done online. I log in, I record the patient’s information throughout the day, and then I log out. I also submit my mileage to and from the patient’s residence. I’ve been to four monthly meetings in the past year, and that was mostly due to conflicts in my schedule. The last time I saw Erin Smith was about five months ago.”
An idea came to Arden after hearing Carter describe how the agency ran its business model. Maybe the officer hadn’t had enough information regarding the situation. There was also the chance that the officer hadn’t felt the need to dig deeper since they were already aware of the suspect’s name.
Everyone was well aware that Lorena Dobbs had impersonated Erin Smith to get close to Sylvie Deering. The police wouldn’t be focused on the how. They would be fixated on locating Dobbs. Add in that S&E Investigations had jurisdiction over the case and the police were now assisting the team, then it stood to reason that only so much effort would be put into the interviews.
“Carter, have you ever seen this woman?” Arden had asked the question before he had pulled up Lorena Dobb’s picture from four years ago. Bit had uploaded the photograph to their software program, and to access said program, one needed to have a triple-factor code. Once Arden had finally succeeded in locating the image, he slid his phone across the counter. “Lorena Dobbs is the woman suspected of killing Erin Smith.”
Carter had been holding a stylus in his right hand, and he stilled his motions upon studying Lorena’s features. He slowly set the writing utensil next to his tablet to draw the phone close to him.
“I know her,” Carter muttered in confusion. He finally glanced up from the display on the phone to meet Arden’s gaze and reiterated his statement in disbelief. “I know her. I mean, I met her maybe three or four months ago at a bar. She asked me what I did for a living, and we started talking about the pros and cons of working for certain healthcare agencies. This is my third one, but I like it the most due to the agency dealing with home healthcare instead of nursing facilities.”
Carter seemed to have difficulty believing that he had spoken to a murderer. Either that, or maybe he was now realizing just how close he came to being a victim himself.
“Did Lorena ask you about Erin Smith?”
“Not that I recall.” Carter was still staring at the phone as if the woman could jump out from the lighted display. “It was more about the day-to-day routine. I remember her mentioning something about liking not having to deal with coworkers, and I told her that it was the perfect job for her.”
