Turns out that their names weren’t even Liz and Bill and Olivia. Instead they were Joyce and Nick Pesika and Muriel Balut, and they were wanted in connection to a laundry list of crimes. The FBI had been on their track before they disappeared three years ago, and before turning up again at Happy Home under assumed names, and continuing their criminal careers, adding quite a few more crimes to the list.
“These are hardened career criminals,” Chase was explaining while he waved a forked sausage around. “Wanted in twenty different states, in connection to dozens and dozens of crimes dating back thirty and even forty years in some cases.”
“They must have felt Happy Home was a soft target,” said Uncle Alec. “Plenty of potential suspects, a doddering doc who didn’t look too close when someone died on his watch, and most of these residents pretty well off, too.”
“Yeah, they thought they had died and gone to heaven,” said Odelia. “They took millions from these people, and would have taken millions more, and plenty of lives, if Desmond hadn’t become greedy, and taken a page from their book.”
“You see, Desmond must have gotten the same idea they had. He figured Henry was pretty loaded, and so he killed him, coincidentally using the exact same MO as Bill,” said Chase, “and falsifying the man’s will in the process, also the same MO the Murder Club killers had been using on their victims. But Desmond was sloppy. And he was a blabbermouth. So they knew it was just a matter of time before he got himself caught. And if we took a closer look at Happy Home, we might get onto the Pesikas, and of course they couldn’t have that.”
“So they killed Desmond,” said Odelia, “and planted a second fake will in his office.”
“So the second will was also a fake?” asked Charlene.
“Oh, absolutely. Henry’s real will left everything to Kirsten, not Happy Home. We found it in Bill’s possession, along with the wills of most of the trio’s victims.”
“And so that bank account in the Cayman Islands?” asked Gran.
“That belonged to them,” Chase confirmed. “They had planned to cash in at some point, but greed kept them at Happy Home longer than was actually safe for them.”
“I had no idea they killed Desmond,” said Scarlett.
“Bill did that. He was the trio’s designated killer,” said Chase. “He’d perfected his technique to murder his victims without leaving any telltale signs of their violent death. He actually tried to convince me he was doing them a favor, since they were on their last legs anyway.” He shook his head. “Nasty piece of work. But then all three of them are cut from the same cloth. No remorse. None whatsoever. Just kept going on about how that ‘fat orange cat’ should be euthanized.”
I gulped when I heard that. Good thing they’d be locked up for a good long time!
“How did you figure it out, Max?” asked Brutus. “I mean, I would never have suspected these three. I thought they were being great friends to Gran and Scarlett.”
“Until they tried to murder us, at least,” said Harriet dryly.
“Well, it was something Kingman said,” I told them. “You know, about the charming confidence trickster? It reminded me of how charm can be used by criminals to trick their victims.”
“Brian was charming,” said Brutus.
“Yeah, but Brian was also very preoccupied with his three women. I just didn’t think the man had the time or the energy to also kill off a dozen of his residents and pocket their money. But when I thought about charming people, the first person I thought of was actually Liz. But then I figured she couldn’t possibly be involved, she was so sweet! But this so-called tax collector who tried to trick Wilbur had also been very sweet and kind. And then I remembered one other thing: one morning I saw Olivia steal a bread roll and a pat of butter.”
“Gran stole a bread roll at breakfast,” said Harriet. “I saw her, and she told me not to tell anyone.”
“Yeah, but Olivia did it in such an expert way. She was super-fast, you know. Almost as if she had done this kind of thing before.”
“She used to be a pickpocket,” said Brutus.
“Exactly. Her fingers simply fluttered over the plate, and next thing I knew, the bread roll and that pat of butter were gone. It was the most amazing thing. Like magic, you know. And then of course there was the fact that these murders only started three years ago. And Bob once told Gran that Liz, Bill and Olivia had been with them for three years. I think that’s what clinched it in my mind.”
I’d told Gran, who had told Odelia, and together with her husband they’d done a background check on the trio. When it turned out that they didn’t actually exist, and that the documents they used to join Happy Home were expertly-produced fakes, it didn’t take them long to figure out their true identities.
“What’s going to happen to Happy Home now?” asked Brutus. “They’re not going to close, are they?”
“No, they’ve appointed a new general manager,” I said. “And Brian is looking for another job.”