Death and Honesty Read Online Free Page A

added Ocypete.
    Ellen bowed her head and murmured, “Mrs. Danvers in Town Hall evidently hadn’t heard about Lucy’s death, and told Miss Sampson to return this afternoon, when she thought I might be back. Fortunately, I did meet with her. If I hadn’t, we might never have learned about Oliver.”
    “What was Miss Sampson’s problem?” Ocypete asked.
    “Her property assessment is too high, according to her. Much too high.”
    Ocypete gathered up the property cards in front of her, tapped the edges on the table, and dealt them out into tidy stacks again. “Well, of course it is,” she said.
    “She does pay rather a lot in taxes,” murmured Selena. “I mean, we assessed her property at fifteen million …”
    “Don’t forget, we had to add a bit for the setting-aside account.” Ocypete swept her arms out in a gesture that indicated abundance.
    Selena quickly put her hanky to her nose again.
    “Oh, stop it,” snapped Ocypete.
    Selena dropped the hanky. “I don’t think eighteen million is unreasonable for a hundred acres of waterfront property and a rather large house.”
    “Rather large!” Ocypete chortled. “Eight bedrooms, five baths, a whirlpool spa, six fireplaces, a movie theater, a koi pond, tennis court, swimming pool …”
    “Girls!” Ellen rapped her knuckles on the table again. “Miss Sampson claims we’d assessed her property at twenty million, not the eighteen million we decided upon. Certainly not the fifteen million on the town records.”
    Selena and Ocypete stared at her.
    “But we didn’t,” said Ocypete finally. “The bill she received
from us was something like ninety-two thousand dollars based on our eighteen-million-dollar assessment.”
    “That’s right,” agreed Selena. “We visited her property on a rainy day last March. I was wearin’ my Wellies, I recall …”
    “Selena!” Ellen barked.
    “Go on, Ellen,” said Ocypete. “What about Oliver?”
    “I told Miss Sampson to take a seat and went upstairs to check the discrepancy with Oliver. He wasn’t at his desk.”
    “He’s supposed to be working,” grumbled Ocypete.
    “He does have quite a lot to do,” Selena said, “since he’s both the tax collector and our clerk.” Selena turned to Ellen. “Maybe he stepped out for a minute …”
    “We know he’s the tax collector, Selena,” said Ellen. “After Tillie left, we made sure he was appointed tax collector in her place. Surely you haven’t forgotten all the lobbying we did with the selectmen.”
    “He’s the only person in town, besides the three of us, who knows about the setting-aside account.” Selena looked down at her hands. “And, of course, Tillie knew.”
    “And Lambert Willoughby, her brother. He knows, of course.” Ocypete turned to Ellen. “Oliver wasn’t at his desk, you said.”
    “Since he wasn’t there,” Ellen stopped drumming her fingers on the table, “I looked up the Sampson tax bill, and, as we thought, the official bill for the town records was based on a fifteen-million-dollar assessment. The bill Miss Sampson should, of course, have received was based on the eighteen million we agreed upon.” Ellen paused and the other two stared at her. “The bill she actually received was based on a twenty-million-dollar assessment.”
    “How … ? Who … ?” Selena began.
    Ellen interrupted. “I assumed Oliver used separate file drawers for the town records and for the setting-aside account, the way Tillie did. The bottom drawer of his filing cabinet was locked, so I used the key Tillie had taped to the bottom of the bookshelf.”
    “Really, Ellen … !” said Selena.

    “I found the bill based on the eighteen million we’d decided on, copied it, and took it down to Miss Sampson.”
    “And?” Ocypete adjusted her skirt.
    “She claimed it was not the same bill she received.”
    “Oh?” said Ocypete.
    “As I said before, the bill she showed me was based on a twenty-million-dollar assessment. Not eighteen.”
    Selena