by Morgana Best
“These are just the orchids for today’s show,” she said. “The show goes for a few mornings. You only bring the orchids for the next show the night before and leave them here. Then you take them back with you.”
I nodded. This orchid talk was doing my head in, but at least we had several suspects. Mrs Mumbles, Killian Cosgrove, and the antique dealer.
Alec Aldon had finished his talk and was bent over, peering at a bromeliad. Mrs Mumbles tapped Aunt Agnes on the shoulder. “Now see that man there, Alec Aldon,” she said. “I’ll bet my bottom dollar he’s the killer.”
Chapter 7
Alec Aldon turned towards us.
I stood, frozen to the spot. Had he overheard us?
Alec Aldon all but glided towards us. He had a spectral air about him. “It’s the Jasper sisters,” he whispered to us. I thought it a strange form of address. “And Miss Jasper as well,” he added with a nod to me. “Did I hear Mrs Mumbles mention my name?”
Aunt Agnes was the first to recover. “Yes, I told her I was interested in growing orchids and she said you had just given a talk on it. I missed it, I’m afraid.”
It sounded believable to me. I looked at him to see if he bought it. “It’s hard to hear in here with the rain,” he whispered.
I readily agreed. It was hard to hear him at the best of times, even with no rain.
“I heard there was a murder at your establishment this morning,” he said.
“I can’t believe word got around town so fast.” Aunt Agnes looked mighty displeased.
“Well, this is a small country town,” he said dismissively. At least, that’s what I thought he said. “Are you a suspect, Miss Jasper?” He looked directly at Aunt Agnes.
Her hand flew to her throat. “Oh my goodness me, no. Why would you say such a thing?”
He glanced around and leant forward. “I’m not one to gossip, but it is said you discovered the body.”
“Yes I did, but the police don’t suspect me,” Aunt Agnes said.
He offered a ghost of a smile. “I hope the police will find the perpetrator soon.”
“Do you know anyone who had a grudge against Mr Jones?” I asked.
Alec Aldon turned his eyes on me. “I’m not one to gossip, but there is Mrs Mumbles. Word has it, he was blackmailing her.” He shot another surreptitious glance around the room. “It’s remiss of me to repeat gossip, but Mrs Mumbles herself is one for gossip, so surely she can’t complain if someone else gossips about her, now can she?”
I had no idea whether the question was rhetorical, but I said, “No.”
“Why was he blackmailing Mrs Mumbles?” Aunt Agnes asked in a low tone.
“He was at the plant nursery one day and he caught her in the callistemon bushes with her lover.”
I gasped.
“Who was her lover?” Aunt Agnes said.
“You will have to ask Mrs Mumbles that.” Alec Aldon looked altogether too pleased with himself for imparting the information. “All I know is her lover was also a married man. Ethelbert Jones was a most unpleasant man and not known for his honesty, so I’m sure plenty of people had a grudge against him. But as for someone who had a grudge big enough to murder him, I must admit I’m at a loss. Still, if I had to hazard a guess, my money would be on Mrs Mumbles herself.”
With that he shot a nervous look around the room and tiptoed in another direction.
“I always think he looks like the Grim Reaper,” Aunt Dorothy said loudly.
Aunt Agnes grabbed her arm. “Shush! He’ll hear you.”
“He won’t know I was talking about him when I said he looked like the Grim Reaper, for goodness sake Agnes,” Aunt Dorothy said in a strident tone.
“It’s interesting that we do have a suspect now,” I said before an argument broke out, “but how does this tie in with you know who.”
“This case seems to be one with too many vines entangled,” Aunt Agnes said. “I think all we can do is investigate it as a normal murder, and that should lead us to the other matter.” She clamped her hand over her mouth, no doubt realising she had said the words ‘The Other,’ albeit in a different context.
“We need to ask Mrs Mumbles why she said Alec Aldon was the killer,” I said. “She’s speaking to those people there. Let’s wait until we get an opportunity to ask her.”
“Good idea,” Aunt Dorothy said. She marched over and stood next to Mrs Mumbles and the woman with whom she was in conversation, crossing her arms and tapping her foot impatiently.
“Honestly, sometimes I really wonder about Dorothy,” Aunt Agnes said for the umpteenth time.
The woman speaking to Mrs Mumbles appeared disconcerted and abruptly left. We hurried over to Mrs Mumbles, but not fast enough to stop Aunt Dorothy speaking.
“Mrs Mumbles, you said you thought Alec Aldon could have murdered the victim. Why did you say that?”
Mrs Mumbles’ face turned bright red. “I shouldn’t have said anything. Forget I said anything.”
She made to move, but Aunt Agnes blocked her way. “Come now, you can’t say something like that and not follow through with it.” Her tone was firm but friendly. She patted her on the shoulder. “Mrs Mumbles, Ethelbert Jones was murdered at my establishment and I’d really like to know who did it.”
Mrs Mumbles bit her lip. “All right, but you didn’t hear it from me. Ethelbert sold Alec Aldon an expensive vintage car and said it had never been in an accident. It turned out it had been, and it fell in half or something.”
“It fell in half?” I said in disbelief.
She shook her head. “I don’t know if it literally fell in half. All I know is that it had been in an accident. Alec Aldon paid a lot for it. He only had it for five weeks or so and then something really bad happened to it due to its previous accident. I don’t know the details,” she said again. “Alec was absolutely furious.”
“How long ago was that?” Aunt Agnes asked her.
“Only about five weeks or so, like I just told you,” she said with a frown. “Quite recently.”
“Didn’t Ethelbert Jones come from Nelson Bay?” I asked her. “That’s like, what, three hours from here or something. Why did he spend so much time here?”
“He and his wife used to live in Lighthouse Bay and then they moved to Nelson Bay. Ethelbert actually started the orchid group here years ago, and he comes back for the shows.”
“Is the orchid show only on once a year?” I asked her.
She shook her head. “No, they’re actually on once a month, and then the orchid society meets at night. It’s actually on tonight. He knew everyone here quite well, especially Alec Aldon, if you get my meaning.”
I tried to process the information. “I see. So the victim was well known to all the orchid people in town.”
She nodded. “Yes, and Alec Aldon was furious. They had bad words over the car. It happened just before the last monthly meeting and we could hear them yelling in the other room.”
“You heard them yelling?” I repeated. I didn’t think anyone would hear Alec Aldon yelling, let alone speaking in a normal tone.
“I know it seems Alec is quite mild-mannered, but he has quite a temper on him when he’s upset. At any rate, that day Ethelbert Jones left early. A few people told Alec he should take Ethelbert to court, but Alec said he would deal with it himself. And he probably did.” She leant across to us and winked. “Excuse me, I need to see who won the grand champion in the foliage section.”
“What’s foliage?” I asked Aunt Agnes.
Aunt Agnes shrugged one shoulder. “Beats me. Anyway, we’re not here to discover what foliage is. We’re here to discover the murderer of Ethelbert Jones. So far, we have a possible motive for Alec Aldon and a motive for Mrs Mumbles.”
“We don’t know if either are true,” I pointed out.
“That’s not the way it works, Valkyrie,” Aunt Agnes scolded me. She held up one hand and ticked off her fingers one by one. “First, we find out who had a possible grudge against the victi
m. Second, we investigate to see if there is any veracity to the allegations.”
“We’ve only got two suspects,” I said. “We need to find out more.”
“One suspect is good enough, if it’s the killer,” Aunt Agnes said.
Aunt Maude stopped peering at a pretty orchid in various shades of purple and straightened up. “The lady who takes the orchid sales money was about to say something.”
Aunt Agnes smiled. “Go and find another orchid, Valkyrie.”
We headed back to the section where the orchids were for sale. Aunt Agnes took my orchid from me and showed it to the lady. “I already bought this orchid, but I’m buying my niece another one.”
The woman waved us through. This time I chose a pretty white orchid with purple near the stem. It exuded a delightful raspberry fragrance. I hoped I would be able to care for it successfully.
We headed back, and Aunt Agnes handed over twenty-four dollars to the woman. Agnes came straight to the point. “We were here before and you were about to tell us who you suspected in the murder of Ethelbert Jones.”
The woman looked taken aback, and for a moment I thought she would not say anything, but she finally did. “Yes, well, I don’t know if he did it or not, but I know Alec Aldon was angry with him over his car falling in half.”
“It really did fall in half?” Aunt Dorothy asked, but Aunt Agnes shushed her.
“Yes, we’ve heard about Alec Aldon, but you were going to tell us about someone else, weren’t you?”
“Oh yes, there were plenty of people. People supposedly saw Ethelbert Jones putting mealy bugs on Killian Cosgrove’s orchids last evening, but the one I was going to tell you about was the antique dealer in town.”
“Joyce Batson?” Aunt Agnes said.
The woman nodded slowly. “Yes, they had a terrible argument. He sold her a fake painting. He gave her a fake receipt and a fake certificate of authenticity. She hung onto it for a while and then took it to auction and it was revealed to be a fake. She was worried it would give her quite a bad name.”
“I didn’t hear any of this,” Aunt Agnes said. “How long ago was it?”
“Very recently,” the woman said. “She took it to the police or the fraud squad, whatever. I don’t really know, but he said he bought it in good faith and he had been given the fake certificate of authenticity. They had a terrible argument about it.”
“She failed to mention that when I last bought an antique from her,” Aunt Agnes said. “But then again, she wouldn’t tell her personal business to everyone.”
Someone else put their orchid on the table, so we had to leave.
“We’ve got a few suspects now,” I said. “How many is that, three, four?”
Aunt Maude appeared. I hadn’t noticed she was missing. She waved her phone at us. “I’ve got the business phone switched over to my mobile, and I’ve just had a call from a new boarder.”
“New boarder?” I echoed. “We don’t have anyone booked in, do we?”
Aunt Maude wiggled her eyebrows. “We do now! We have a new suspect. The victim’s wife has just booked in and she seems like a real nasty piece of work.”
Chapter 8
We hightailed it back to Mugwort Manor. We were all disappointed that we hadn’t found out anything more specific, although Aunt Agnes, at least, was in good spirits that we did have several suspects. What’s more, Lucas texted me to ask what I was doing and I could honestly say I was about to book in the victim’s wife. I left out the part about going to the orchid show to look for suspects.
When we pulled up outside Mugwort Manor, a woman was leaning back against her car. Her arms were crossed, and the anger emanating from her was palpable. “That must be her,” Aunt Dorothy said somewhat unnecessarily. “At least the rain has stopped.”
As we got out of the car, the woman marched over to us. She looked like an army drill sergeant. “Names!” she barked at us.
Aunt Agnes stepped forward. “I’m Agnes Jasper and these are my sisters, Dorothy and Maude. This is my niece, Valkyrie.”
“Pepper,” I said automatically.
Aunt Agnes offered her hand. The woman looked at Aunt Agnes’s hand as if it were a poisonous snake, before taking it somewhat delicately, giving it a little shake and then dropping it like a hot potato.
“I am Euphemia Jones,” she said in the same raucous tones. “The police have informed me that my husband is dead.”
“I’m so sorry for your loss,” Aunt Agnes said.
“I’ve just identified his body,” she barked. “As I had come to town, I will stay here. I know my husband paid in advance.”
“Because you’re most welcome to take his place,” Aunt Agnes said. “Not in the same cottage, of course. That’s a police investigation zone. We can put you in another cottage, the Jungle cottage.”
“At no expense to me, of course,” she snapped.
Aunt Agnes hurried to reassure her. “Of course not.”
A hint of a smile appeared on the woman’s face. “And I shall expect a substantial discount.”
“Why?” Dorothy said.
“Because my husband was murdered here, of course.” She shot Dorothy a withering glare. “Obviously.” Her lips curled back.
“But that’s hardly our fault,” Aunt Dorothy said haughtily. “We didn’t murder him. It’s not as if he slipped in the shower and cracked his head and died. It’s not as if we gave him food that poisoned him to death. It was hardly negligence on our part that someone disliked your husband sufficiently to stick an orchid stake through his head.”
“Hush, Dorothy,” Agnes said. “Mrs Jones, we will give you a ten percent discount. We will refund you ten percent of what your husband has already paid.”
Euphemia clutched her handbag to her chest. “I want twenty percent.”
“You are welcome to stay elsewhere,” Aunt Agnes said in an even tone. “You don’t need to stay here, and I’m afraid bookings cannot be refunded under any circumstances.”
The woman frowned and then said, “Fifteen percent, but I want it now.”
Aunt Agnes sighed long and hard. “All right.”
“I need a rest. It’s been a long day. Show me to my cottage now, if you would.”
“We will need you to sign some forms first,” Aunt Agnes said, “and then Valkyrie can show you to your cottage.”
Euphemia Jones did not hide the fact she was looking around, and then she shot into the living room. “You have a good collection of antiques here,” she said.
“Thank you,” Aunt Agnes said. “I’ve been collecting them for many years.”
“Many years,” Aunt Maude said with a snicker.
Aunt Agnes made to pinch her arm, but Aunt Maude slapped her hand away.
“My husband was a penny-pinching man and wouldn’t allow me to have any antiques,” she said. “That reminds me—do you have packets of tea, coffee, and sugar in the rooms? And fresh milk?”
“Of course,” Aunt Agnes said. “The rooms are stocked with breakfast cereals, dairy milk and plant milk. Is your taste the same as your husband’s?”
“I should think not,” she said with a snort. “Do you replenish this food every day?”
“If you wish,” Aunt Agnes began, but the woman cut her off.
“I do wish,” she said. “Just because my husband left me all his worldly goods doesn’t mean I can start throwing his money around.”
A light bulb went off within me. Motive! “Was your husband wealthy?” I said, trying not to appear too interested.
“Yes, very wealthy,” she said. “He wasn’t a nice man. I thought about leaving him, but he always said if we got a divorce he’d make sure I didn’t get anything. He said he could afford the good lawyers, you see.”
“I wouldn’t tell the police that if I were you,” Aunt Dorothy offered. “They might think of you as a suspect.”
The woman snorted once more, making her sound like an angry horse. “Why would they suspect me? I’m an honest person. I have not
hing to hide.”
Everything happened in such a rush I hadn’t had time to think things through, but now I was starting to sort things out. This wasn’t just a murder investigation—we thought the suspect might have been murdered in connection with The Other. I looked at Euphemia Jones in a new light. “Your husband hated pets,” I said.
She looked at me. When she didn’t speak, I continued, “Does that mean you will get yourself a pet now that he’s gone?”
I hoped she wouldn’t take offence at my words. “I do like pets myself, but they cost too much money. They cost too much to feed and then there are the vaccinations and all the vet bills. If you have a cat, you have to buy cat litter and if you have a dog, you have to take it for a walk, and if you become ill, you have to pay someone to walk the dog. Pets are too expensive. I do like pets, but they cost too much money.”
I was a little confused. “But won’t you have a lot of money now after you get the proceeds of the will?”
She shook her finger at me. “I know the youth of this world are spendthrifts, but just because you have money doesn’t mean you should spend it all. A penny saved is a penny earned.” She continued to shake her finger in my face. “And by the way, you’ll need to take my plants and cushions from my car to my cottage. I didn’t want to leave the plants at home and have someone water them, and these are my favourite cushions. You’ll need to pay for the dry-cleaning, of course. I might decide to stay here longer, at the same discount, naturally.”
I had come to the conclusion that the woman wasn’t any more pleasant than her husband. Aunt Agnes ushered her into the office while Aunt Dorothy, Aunt Maude, and I stood in a huddle. “Did you think she did it?” Maude said.
“She certainly stands to inherit a lot. Not that I think she’ll spend any of it,” I said, raising my eyebrows. “And do you think she has anything to do with The Other?”