Silver Wilderness Range Read online

  “She is no longer in Silver Wilderness. How do you explain that the meter is still running on her continuing fees and charges? Have the sinking funds sunk?”

  “We’ll be happy to refund the unused monies.”

  “You do know that there’s such a thing as a right of replevin?” Royce recalled her conversation with Lyn. “That is when the original owner repossesses the goods.”

  “It requires that the previous owner is entitled to repossess.” Her eyes were slits as they glared. “We have done nothing wrong.”

  “You’re telling me you have not wrongfully taken or detained her property?”

  Her face flushed. Blinking, her eyes appeared to have the fear of being cornered. “We don’t need to go to the bother and the costs of court. Look, perhaps we could relinquish Miss Barnaby’s home back. Return it to her. And I could speak with the Board of Directors and recommend that there be no cost for services rendered.”

  Royce studied the expressions of the administrator. She was treading water. “That is the right thing to do. We both know that.”

  “We’ll do nicely without her as a resident. The old woman is difficult. Cantankerous.”

  “I think Miss Daisy would be a convincing witness. I recall back thirty years when I was in her classes. She was very cantankerous. She held her own then in a school room. And she’ll hold her own now in a court.” Royce tipped her hat. “Good afternoon, Mrs. Austin.”

  Royce knew that Eileen Austin was now aware that the sheriff had put the administrator on notice.

  Chapter 19

  The skies were bright on one side of the mountain peak, and dusky grey on the other. A plume of clouds would soon be creeping over the summit. Royce looked down from her high vantage point. She and Chance had hiked the calm side of Wilderness mountain. The surly side was sending shoots of cool weather. It wouldn’t be long before the Colorado high country would begin to get serious frost overnight. And soon there would be flurries, and a snow-covered county.

  She didn’t mind driving in inclement conditions. She knew when the slopes gathered enough snow, and the snowmaking machines spewed out enough snow, people would be coming up to ski Crystal’s lovely slopes. The businesses in both Crystal and Timber would be teeming with customers. Usually on weekdays, the ski village would be minimally busy. Weekends and holidays, Crystal would be overflowing with visitors. Timber’s merchants would also be busy with those wanting to save money by staying the few miles away from the ski lifts. The town of Crystal often doubled their prices for those staying in the luxurious new parts of Crystal Village.

  Royce had taken her binoculars with her. As she stared down, she rotated from one part of the area, to the next. About half an acre behind the Silver Wilderness Center was thick brush and a crowded patch of trees. Royce recalled thinking she saw some small buildings, but they might have been pods kept out of sight. From atop the mountain, she looked down. Clearly visible were three pods. Probably fully loaded with the Silver Wilderness resident’s belongings.

  She rapidly descended back to the side road where she’d parked. Chase seemed disappointed that her outing wouldn’t be longer. Royce poured a bowl of water for Chance. “Climbing is thirsty work, girl.” She ruffled the fur on Chance’s head, thinking of how nice it was to have company. And they had discovered the pods.

  As they walked toward the area in question, Royce saw that the pod on the end was slightly ajar. Nearing cautiously, Royce noticed that the lock had been left open. Peering inside, everything looked uninterrupted.

  She was tempted, but thought better of the idea of looking through the items. She didn’t have a search warrant, and didn’t want to risk someone seeing her entering. Even if it had been unlocked, she would take the time to get a warrant. If she needed one. For now, she was satisfied that they had the true treasure trove with the computer’s contents.

  She did wonder why the pod’s lock was open. Perhaps, she thought, someone attempted to burgle it and lost their courage and left it. She replaced the lock and snapped it shut. It could have been someone absent-mindedly walking away after having put something in, or taken something out.

  “Come on, girl,” she called to Chance. “Let’s get back to our ride.” Walking to her vehicle, she wondered about the pods. People’s belongings. And the elderly men and women were in the Center, being drugged. Miss Daisy’s home had been spared the theft of her belongings. The Center hadn’t looted her home. They were cautiously awaiting word from the prosecutor’s office that all was fine. They weren’t going to be expecting bad news.

  Every step of the way, to expose the malicious crimes, it took gumption. If Miss Daisy hadn’t had the gumption to hike across the Range, her belongings would have been rifled through, and ended up packaged away inside a pod, on a hillside. Pilfered from her. Daisy had been courageous enough to sit there and watch over her home while she waited for the deputy. The home she loved, she would protect.

  Now, Royce was certain, it would be returned to her. Eileen Austin had been thoroughly stunned when the sheriff let her know that they were not only on to her, but she was being watched. And Eileen had offered to hand the home back to Daisy. Eileen Austin possessed a type of arrogance that allowed her to believe the silly sheriff would go to wherever Daisy was, and tell Daisy. Of course, the older woman would insist on the deal. All would be forgiven.

  Not so much, Royce tempered her anger. Not so flipping much. Miss Daisy was going to want to reach back and protect the financial destinies of others. And certainly, others were being plundered. Pilfered and plundered. One assumes that the word of those watching out for our elderly, was regarded as truth. There was the Elder Justice Act. Royce believed that when working with children, elderly…anyone dependent upon those in a place of trust, there would be integrity.

  As she looked out across the momentary solitude of the valley, she wished there was no need to intervene. The evidence was pouring in. Even a place where charity should win, it wasn’t. The staff, the nurses, the orderlies, the aids, those working directly with the people, were said to be loving and good. But that did not translate through the system. Those making money were priming greed’s pump. They were flooding the financials with treachery.

  Their villainy wore an unkind mask of deceit. But thankfully the noose was closing on the wickedness. Daisy had used that word, wickedness. Royce whispered to Chance, “I want my community cleaned up. For youth, for elderly, for every man, woman, and child in the community. In every community,” she added. She then scratched Chance’s head.

  She wondered how so few could have known.

  ***

  Royce had only been in her office about half an hour when Lyn phoned.

  “Colors,” Lyn squealed into the phone. “What colors did Eileen turn when you spoke to her?”

  Royce was attempting to curtail her laugher. “Lyn, I was wishing you could have been there. When I said the word replevin she went chartreus. From there her flush blinked like neon in shades of rhubarb.”

  Both women were chuckling. “I wish I would have been there. Fair to say that she didn’t think you had that word in your vocabulary.”

  “She doesn’t think I have a two-syllable word in my mind.” Royce took a moment to enjoy their laughter. She then asked, “When do you think your trial will end?”

  “Tomorrow or the next day. Then I can be there the following day. Sort of depends if the defense is interested in seeing an adjournment within the year. The defense attorney gets two words spit out per minute. His second chair is a spitfire. She would have had it done in two days. But lead is stalling. He’s pissing off the judge. Judge makes these little twirling signs to hurry the defense up.”

  “Mike’s excited for you to get here. Every time they uncover something, he calls me and says, Sheriff, it’s gonna be a slam dunk.”

  “From what he tells me, you’re now working to get evidence of physical abuse. I think we’ve got that covered. You’ve got Deputy Sunshine the Computer Man, on it. He’s
finding some things we’ll need. Also, Dr. Norman Nilson said he would testify that they were faking the diagnosis. Nothing wrong with Daisy. Just the drug overload. But of course, it would help to have others. I really like Doc Nilson.”

  Royce agreed, “He’s amazing. At seventy-seven, he’d retired twice, then opened the storefront for those that couldn’t afford some of the medical charges. He’s greatly admired. Has more energy that most of the young ones.”

  “Royce, he would be perfect to take over at the Center. He’d make it profitable enough

  without bilking people. And the patients would think he was a Rockstar.”

  “He is a Rockstar.” Royce paused, her frown deepened. “There might be something more.”

  “More?”

  “I’ve heard that some patient’s deaths were unexpected. No apparent cause.”

  “I would like that to be part of the case, but I’m not optimistic about it, Royce. Look at the way SWC covered up the larceny for so long, and with such precision. I’m guessing that any patient’s body would be without representation. They would not have had a burial. Obviously, if there was a burial, we could have the corpse exhumed. I’m guessing not.”

  Royce confessed, “I won’t every stop looking. I’d love to get the Austins and Dr. Verner on murder one. But I’m guessing you’re correct. Mike said he’d look into it, but he also feels it’s unlikely.”

  The trinity could still go down with the murder of Alec, or for that matter, Seth Egan’s body might be found before we go to trial.” Lyn snickered, “I know, you think he’s still among the living.”

  Blushing with embarrassment, Royce rushed her speech, “As if I’m not getting enough grief from the deputies.”

  “One deputy will back you. Deputy Chance.” Lyn accepted the quieted conversation to be over. “I’ll talk with you later, sweetheart.”

  Royce hung up. She glowered down at the stack of reports. She issued a tiny chuckle. Nick had said the deputies were developing a new game. Where in the World is Seth Egan?

  ***

  “Terry,” Royce called to the deputy. “How was your evening out with Sam?”

  Her side-glance was shifty. “Can we talk in your office?”

  “Sure,” Royce said as she shut the door behind them. “Well?”

  The women sat. Terry’s look of bewilderment was obvious. “It was like a date. I mean, he held my chair. Insisted on paying.”

  “Was that so bad?”

  “Royce, I thought he was too jovial to be deep, and interesting. I told him about my twin brother dying in the war. And how the church was refusing to bury him because he was gay. I got a little emotional. But I tried to hold back my tears. And I looked over at him. He was crying, too. We talked for hours about things we have in common. The fact that although he acted jolly, for some reason I thought meant he was shallow. But he is sensitive. I think he tends to be happy in order to diffuse people’s anger, or their hurt.”

  “And it works.”

  “Yes,” Terry admitted with a shrug.

  “Are you glad that you got to know him better?”

  “Yes,” she answered with a smile. “He’s a good guy.”

  Royce returned her smile. “He is a wonderful man, Terry.”

  Terry’s lips twisted their way into an even bigger smile.

  ***

  Arriving at Gran’s cabin after seven that evening, Royce noticed the vehicle parked outside. She recognized it as being Rhonda Smith’s car.

  “We got company,” Gran exclaimed.

  “Royce, I needed to talk with you. I hope you don’t mind my dropping by.” Rhonda was seated at the table.

  “Not at all,” Royce was pleased to see her. And see how much more at ease she was from the last time Royce spoke with her.

  “Please eat your dinner. Your gran fed me, and I know you just got off work.”

  Gran began filling a plate for Royce. “You two get your talking done. Royce, I’ll feed Chance while you two have your chat.”

  “Thanks, Gran.” Royce looked across at Rhonda. “You have something that can help me?”

  “I might. Well, to begin with, my degree was in finance. I was a bookkeeper for a few years, and enjoyed it. But I had always wanted to be a nurse, so changed professions. Anyway, I know about keeping books. I knew that the numbers we’d write down were how the charges were figured. The code went directly to the billing. I began checking the amounts, and the medication. It just wasn’t adding up. My friend’s mom is in the assisted living area. So, my friend had their billing. Before I’d never taken much notice. But I took a gander at her billing, then I looked on the patient’s records. Things were off. They are overcharging Medicare. I’m sure of it. So, I’ve been keeping track, as best I can. Most of the patients are being overcharged. Procedure charges – some of them are doubled. And physical therapy is a joke. They charge when they haven’t even seen the patients. It is all charged after the records leave the wards.

  “Have you mentioned your suspicions to anyone?”

  “No. Sheriff, they aren’t suspicions. I’m a darned fine nurse, and probably a better financial person.”

  “I don’t want to get you in too deeply entrenched until we’ve got enough evidence. Rhonda, a prosecutor – D.A. Lyn Evans, from out of state, has been working with Mike Parker, our D.A. Would you agree to meet up with them? Maybe Gran would host the gathering?”

  Gran chuckled. “You tell Lyn to bring us chocolate. I’ll be pleased to host.” Gran continued on, “Why that Lyn is such fun. She a chocolate heiress. That’s what I was saying about her bringing chocolate. Evan’s Chocolate, and all. Anyways, her favorite thing to say is that the second-best use of a pair of lips is kissing and the first is eating Evan’s Chocolates.” Gran sputtered. “You’ll like her.”

  Rhonda quickly agreed, “Yes, that would be great. I have always been concerned about the patients, but I trusted everyone. I wanted to trust them. I didn’t even tell Amber about my concerns. However, I’m telling you that she mentioned a couple of problems. Well, a couple patients that give the staff problems. She pointed out that some of them had marks. Bruises. When she informed me, I mentioned it to Eileen and Larry. They both said it was probably when they were being turned. Or they hit themselves.” She glanced away. “Eileen then turned it on me, saying surely I didn’t want to blame any of the nurses. But the nurses wouldn’t have done it.”

  “Please be careful. And I’ll try to get to Amber in the next day or two. Just let it slide for now,” Royce cautioned her. “Please don’t say a word to anyone.”

  The sheriff accompanied Rhonda out to her vehicle. Rhonda confessed, “Royce, I’m hoping that I didn’t allow anyone to be harmed. I was taught not to question. I hope no one suffered because I didn’t protect them.”

  “People are trusting. It’s difficult to believe people hurt other people. You’ve done the very best you could. And the fact that you’re helping now, shows that you’re in no way culpable. And I appreciate it.”

  When Rhonda pulled out of the driveway it was with a sense of peace, rather than the urgency when she left the cabin last time.

  Royce muttered to the darkening sky, “How could we not have seen? How could it be so invisible?”

  Chapter 20

  Coordinating the various scenarios, one at time, produced confusion. Royce jotted down a dozen mental road maps. She sped through each one – time after time. Clearly, she believed that there were three members of the staff implicated: Administrator Eileen Austin, Larry Austin, and Dr. Melvin Verner. Proving each of them had knowledge and participated in the elder abuse, and elder financial abuse, was the problem. They each could have pointed to one another. Or blamed odd man out - Alec. The information on Alec’s computer seemed to reflect clearly that each of the three, although perhaps not conspiring, had knowledge and had colluded.

  Could one of the final three be flipped? The trinity didn’t seem to be the dealing type.

  Lyn had taken a morning flight
to Denver, flew a commuter plane to Crystal, and rented a car to drive to Timber City. She called Royce and told her that she was on the edge of town.

  Royce was relieved that Lyn would be able to sort the legalities. At least, Royce believed Lyn and D.A. Mike Parker would figure out the various jurisdictional charges. Certainly, the Medicare fraud would fall under Federal authority. Beyond that, all that mattered, was Silver Wilderness would be cleaned up. And that residents would be cared for and safe.

  Rhonda and Amber were clearly now ready to provide their testimony. They would put their jobs on the line. Deputy Sam had talked with patients, and garnered their trust. He had a stack of signed papers, ranging from small complaints, to major accusations. Accompanying bruises and injuries were photographed.

  When Lyn drove into the parking lot, Royce noticed the striking woman as she was dragging her sizable wheeling briefcase behind her. Royce met her at the door.

  They embraced quickly. “You look wonderful.”

  Lyn replied, “And you look exhausted. Let’s talk.” She followed the sheriff to her office, closed the door, and both women sat. “Royce, I’ll be taking everything I got to Mike’s office now. We chatted earlier, and we think we’ve got a great case.”

  “I hope you have a strong legal case on the elder abuse. I have nothing conclusive on Alec’s murder.” Royce’s face expressed her fatigue, and her sagging shoulders told of her discontentment. “I’m disheartened about my lack of ability to put the pieces together. I’m relatively certain that the three are involved, and they aren’t going to break. They won’t turn. That means we’re stuck with questions. Did one do it, and was it a conspiracy? And which of them might have been conspiratorial?” Royce poured coffee, and placed a mug in front of Lyn. “I’m completely stymied.”

  “Anyone we can exclude?” Lyn grabbed her legal notepad and began writing. “Of the three, could any one of them be duped? What about Dr. Verner?”