Map Skills Murder

by Leslie Langtry

  Inez strutted into the room like an adult supermodel on a catwalk. The first dress was white with lots of lace and a huge green bow sash around the middle. She climbed up on the pedestal to a loud, collective gasp. The girls started to get up, but we made them sit back down.

  "It's a pretty dress," I said to Kelly.

  "That one!" several girls shouted.

  "Wait!" Kelly said. "There are more. Just wait until we're done."

  This seemed to make them even crazier as they squealed in anticipation.

  "What if they can't all decide on one dress?" I asked.

  Inez retreated to the dressing room, and Zelda came back out and hung the dress up, facing out to display it.

  "They have to agree," Kelly said, as if she really thought it would be that easy.

  "By the way," I said, "can the girls all meet us at the Historical Society tomorrow afternoon?"

  I filled my co-leader in on the idea of the girls investigating the history of their houses.

  "I think so. Did you show Edna the map?"

  I shook my head. "I did put it into a plastic sleeve."

  A loud scream erupted as Inez trotted out in a green dress with white trim. It kind of looked like a birthday cake. Or maybe I was just obsessed with cake. She stood on the pedestal and turned around slowly. This dress went all the way to the floor and had a poufy skirt.

  The noise was deafening.

  "Does that mean they like this one better?" I asked.

  Kelly shrugged. "I just want to know how they had green and white dresses. We haven't even picked mine out yet."

  "About that…" I said. "I asked Soo Jin to be a bridemaid. That'll work, right?

  My best friend threw her arms around me. "Well done! I think that's a great idea!"

  Oh good. She liked it.

  "Has Rex decided on groomsmen?"

  I shook my head. "I think he's leaning toward Robert."

  "What if he picks Riley?"

  I turned very slowly to look at her. "Riley? You can't be serious."

  Riley was my former CIA handler and former boyfriend. He worked for the FBI now, and was still sending me some pretty strong signals that he wasn't over me. Rex had to know, although he was too much of a gentleman to say anything.

  Kelly should've known better, but she pressed the issue. "Why not? He's Finn's godfather, and you've known him forever."

  "Not gonna happen. It would be too weird. And speaking of weird, why is it so hard for Rex to find groomsmen?"

  My best friend put her hand on my arm. "Is that bothering you?"

  "A little." I had to admit, it did.

  Inez had left the room, and the girls were back to talking to Soo Jin about floral headbands.

  Kelly shook her head. "Not all men have a pack of friends they do everything with. Robert has a couple of friends from work, but mostly we just hang out together."

  "I guess…" I had to let this go. We had several months to go before the wedding and plenty of time for Rex to decide what he wanted to do.

  "He could just have a best man," Kelly said. "There's no such thing as unconventional anymore. After all, you have twelve flower girls."

  I nodded. "I think you and Soo Jin should look at dresses while we're here."

  I barely finished my sentence before Kelly raced over, grabbed Soo Jin, and hit the racks. Huh. I guess she was really excited about this.

  Inez came out wearing the third dress. It was a simple white slip dress, but she had a ring of white silk roses in her hair. A hush fell over the group. Did that mean they liked it? It wasn't as fancy as the others, but it was pretty.

  In this, the girls were torn. Half declared their love for the dress and the other half disagreed. Inez looked a little miffed as she stormed back into the dressing room. I took Soo Jin's place with the girls.

  "What do you think so far?" I asked as the girls crowded around.

  "I'm waiting to see all of them," Caterina said. Most of the others seemed to agree.

  "I like the first dress!" one of the Kaitlyns said, and the others nodded.

  "I liked the second one," Lauren interjected, and the two Hannahs agreed with her.

  This wasn't going to be easy. I decided to change the subject.

  "Are you guys free tomorrow? I've got a little investigative assignment for you."

  The dresses were promptly forgotten.

  "Is this about Mad Mimi's murder?" Betty asked.

  "Yes," I said. "But we're going to have to pretend it's about something else."

  "I think we should wear disguises," Ava said.

  "I'll bring brass knuckles," Betty added.

  "No. We're going to the Historical Society in the park to research Who's There's history." I explained how each girl would look up their own address on the town plat and how we'd research it. And then I explained that we didn't need brass knuckles. Betty looked disappointed.

  "I'm thinking most of the town was owned by the Peters family. Many of you probably live on those lots. It might give us some insight into the treasure."

  A rousing cheer went up. It was decided.

  Then, Inez entered the room.

  The dress she wore was…um…bizarre. It looked like a pageant dress. Covered in green sequined flowers and marabou feathers, the gown had a mermaid skirt and faux skin-baring netting on the arms and midriff. Inez looked more like a Las Vegas show girl than a flower girl.

  The girls rushed the podium, surrounding her with oohs and ahs. No! They couldn't love this dress!

  The noise drew the attention of Kelly and Soo Jin, whose jaws dropped when they saw the monstrosity. It took them a moment to shoo the girls back to their seats on the floor.

  Inez looked like a deranged peacock. On her head was one very long feather attached to a headband. Glitter and sequins blinded us when she spun around.

  "That's it!" Emily screamed, and the girls quickly agreed.

  Kelly drove Inez back into the dressing area and had a few quick words with the manager.

  "What was that?" I asked when she returned.

  "I don't know," Kelly answered. "But I told her to pick traditional dresses."

  Soo Jin just shook her head without speaking. Apparently the sight of that horror show was too much for her. But if it looked good on anyone, it would be Dr. Body.

  After the girls calmed down, Inez returned wearing a green velvet bodice with a high lace collar and white satin skirt. This was more like it. Zelda had even pinned a sprig of holly to the dress at the sash belt.

  The girls were unimpressed. They'd seen the holy grail and had no interest in any substitutions. The rest of the morning passed with one beautiful dress after another, but not one touched the enthusiasm for the Vegas show-girl dress.

  When she was finished, Inez joined the girls. Kelly and Soo Jin helped Zelda carry out and display all of the dresses…except for one.

  "What about the peacock dress?" Lauren demanded.

  They named it. In my experience with them, that was a bad sign. Once a horse, or spider, or canoe was named, there was no going back because that was the hands-down favorite horse, or spider, or canoe.

  "That's the one we want!" Emily and Ava shouted.

  The rest of the girls agreed.

  "That dress is way too expensive," Kelly lied. "I don't think your parents would want to pay for it."

  I nodded in agreement but felt that the die had been cast.

  "Mommy said any dress I wanted," Inez sniffed, and the others agreed.

  "I'm not sure they can make twelve dresses before December, what with all that detailed work," Soo Jin attempted.

  They glared at her so hard she burst into flame.

  Okay, she didn't. But if they could have, they would have. And to be honest, having a troop of Girl Scouts with exploding laser vision would be cool.

  We were now faced with an epic dilemma. The girls had picked the ugliest dress imaginable. And they were holding firm. No one was more stubborn than my troop when they wanted something.
And they wanted this dress.

  After thirty minutes of shrewd negotiations that would exhaust the Israelis and Palestinians, the girls relented on one condition. They agreed to pick a second choice, and we agreed to let their parents decide.

  Emily had taken pictures of all of the dresses. She uploaded them and made a snapshot of the dresses together with their prices. The strange (but good) thing was, they picked the green velvet and white satin dress as second. The bad thing was, even with all the sequins, beads, and feathers, the ugly dress was a tiny bit cheaper.

  She sent the image to each girl, and after making sure they would be at the park the next day at one o'clock, we waited with them as they got into their parents' cars. It was all on the adults now.

  "I'm so sorry." Zelda wrung her hands. "That dress wasn't for them. It was for a beauty pageant. Inez saw it and demanded to try it on. I had no idea they'd like it."

  "It's okay." I sighed. "Now let's look at dresses for these two."

  Kelly and Soo Jin narrowed down their choices to two dresses. One was green velvet, like the flower girl dresses, and the other one was a simple green satin with white trim. I left the decision to them, and they were measured. By the time the whole venture was over (the green velvet won out), it was midafternoon and I was starving. I suggested a late lunch.

  "I can't," Soo Jin said. "I have to get back to the hospital."

  "Me too," Kelly said. "My shift starts in half an hour."

  We said our goodbyes, and I made my way to Oleo's—the best burger place in town. I didn't mind eating alone. Besides, it would give me a little time to think.

  The waitress took my order and dropped off an iced tea. I pulled Mehitable's diary out of my purse and started to read.

  It wasn't half bad. A little dull in some places, but interesting in others. Whenever she mentioned Eustace, it was obvious that she'd loved him and her grandparents. She'd had the usual education that any other girl had—which meant that she'd gone to a one-room schoolhouse. Once she'd hit her teenage years, she'd begun writing more. This was normal, teenage stuff, not the weird junk kids have now, like hashtags and anime. What was up with anime?

  The interesting parts of the diary start when she hits twenty-five, one year before she lost her mind.

  February 30

  Dearest Friend, Eustace is gone, and I have no one to talk to. I understand that he is busy now with his business and new family. But I miss him. Grandpapa has been very quiet of late. Grandmama is pushing me to find a suitor, but I'd rather stay here with Tinkles. She has told me that they are leaving their fortune to me. I am not quite certain what that means. And I am unsure that I like the idea. Tinkles has told me that he agrees.

  February 30? Unless I'd crossed over into another dimension, there was no February 30. Maybe Mehitable had started losing her mind early. I could understand that. I felt like I was losing my mind a little more every day. And what was that about Tinkles the llama talking to her?

  March 3

  Dearest Friend, today I churned butter. All day. I like butter. Butter is my favorite.

  Some days, her posts were better than others.

  March 15

  Dearest Friend, Tinkles has run away! I have searched the whole town and cannot find him!

  How do you lose something as big as a llama? The waitress dropped off my burger and shake. I did something I never did—put off eating. The diary did not need my sticky fingerprints all over it. Besides, it was just getting good.

  March 16

  Dearest Friend, Tinkles has been found! She was in the new park, chewing on that little log cabin. I will have to take care not to lose him again. We had a long talk and made a deal—he can chew on things outside of the house, and I won't say anything to get him in trouble. Also, I am to make him a hat. He likes hats.

  I think I should admit that I sighed a sigh of relief. I didn't know what I'd do if Philby or Martini were missing. And cats were a lot harder to find than a giant llama. My hunger got the best of me, and I set the diary aside to eat.

  Halfway through my burger, I looked to see if there was a text from Mom regarding the photo. It was a little weird that she hadn't gotten back to me. But then, the life of a senator's wife was insanely busy. I decided to give her more time.

  Edna Lou had said she thought my property was part of Eustace's farm originally. We'd have to confirm that tomorrow with the Historical Society records, but if that was true, that might explain how the map ended up in my yard.

  But then again…if Eustace couldn't find the treasure, why would the map have been in his possession? Could Mehitable have buried the map on her brother's farm in hopes he'd find the gold? Or had he found the map, and after searching and turning up nothing, did he bury it himself just to get rid of it?

  If I were him, I'd hold on to the map in hopes of someday locating the money. Even if I was completely frustrated, I didn't think I'd bury it in a box in the ground. I'd probably just put it in a file in my desk.

  It was possible that he didn't do that because he didn't want his heirs going crazy trying to find the treasure. Or he was just angry and acting illogically. If his sister Mimi had buried it on her brother's land, she could've been trying to help him out, in her own bizarre way.

  Then again, the woman was stark-raving mad. She could've done it for any of thousands of reasons that made sense only to her.

  The diary had to have some sort of clue. Granted, it ended when she went crazy. And she died years later. Still, there must be something personal about her in it. Something that mentioned a special place where she used to go. Or a peek into her personality that could explain why she went crazy.

  I paid my bill, and once I got home, I spent the rest of the day reading the diary, from front to back, taking notes as I went. There were a lot of stories of everyday chores, which made it kind of fun to read, especially if you were really into butter.

  Mimi never explained, but I got the impression that her grandparents weren't into hiring servants to help around the house. Mimi must have picked up the slack. And wrote endlessly about it. There were ten whole pages dedicated to embroidering a llama on handkerchiefs. She didn't mention making hats for Tinkles. I wondered how he felt about that. After all, a deal was a deal.

  At some point, I called Edna to confirm our meeting tomorrow with the troop. Then I ordered pizza and invited Rex over for dinner. I needed to know if we could even use the cabin, and I was curious about Ike Murphy.

  "Pizza?" Rex said as he walked in the door. "You spoil me."

  I agreed. "I really do. You don't deserve me."

  As we ate, I told him about the flower girl fiasco and that my bridemaids had selected their dress. In order to get the intel from him regarding the murder from earlier, I'd need to start it off by talking about his favorite subject…the wedding.

  He pushed aside his empty plate and poured us each another glass of wine. "I'm going to ask Robert to stand up for me."

  I nodded. "That's good news. Are you going to have another groomsman?"

  Rex sighed. "I would be happy with only one."

  "That's not how this works," I pointed out. "There are rules. You told me you wanted a traditional wedding. I have two bridemaids, so you need another groomsman."

  Rex ran his hands through his short black hair. "It's not that easy. I can't ask the guys at work, because I don't want them to feel pressured. And I don't have a group of men I hang out with, because I hang out with you."

  Riley popped into my mind. I popped him back out.

  "What about your father?"

  Rex had been estranged from his parents for some time. I'd only recently brought them back together. And I liked his dad. Mike Ferguson was a large, loud man with a happy demeanor.

  Rex reached for another slice. "I don't know about that. I mean, who has their dad in their wedding party?"

  I shrugged, letting him off the hook. "Okay. One will do."

  My fiancé leaned forward and kissed me. He was happy. Now to mor
e interesting subjects.

  "Is the cabin still a crime scene? When I took Edna Lou home, I suggested bringing the troop back tomorrow to work on a historical project."

  His eyebrows went up. "Really?"

  "Of course. I asked her if she knew the history of my property, and she said she thought it was part of Eustace's farm originally."

  That got his attention. "You know, that might explain why the map was on your property."

  "Then she suggested I bring the girls in to research the history of their homes. It's a great idea. I'm sure I can find a badge or something to fit that."

  He nodded. "That does sound like a fun idea. And educational."

  "The only problem would be if the cabin is still roped off as a crime scene," I ventured.

  Rex thought about this. "I think we wrapped the investigation. The forensics team from Des Moines was able to come down today and collect evidence. But…"

  "What?"

  "It's not clean. By that, I mean that it's a mess from the investigation."

  I shrugged. "I'll clean it up in the morning."

  "It's a big job."

  "I can handle it." Time to bring the subject around to murder. "Ike Murphy was murdered, right?"

  He sighed. "Yes. Definitely murdered. And we have the weapon. An axe."

  "Any idea why?"

  "Merry…"

  "I thought we were going to work together on solving Mehitable Peters' murder. What if they're linked?"

  He rubbed his eyes. "I'm not sure how they can be linked, since they died more than one hundred years apart. Suspects from Mimi's murder would be dead by now. Even Edna Lou and her cousin are too young to have lived during that era."

  "Come on! Two axe murders." Okay, so I was reaching with that one. "It makes sense that they are linked."

  Rex didn't answer.

  I tried something else. "I knew a lot of Murphys growing up. But Ike is much older than me. I had no idea he existed."

  Rex looked at me for one long moment. "Okay, you're probably going to find out anyway. Ike Murphy lived in Who's There all of his life. For the last ten years, he's been a crossing guard and vice president of the Historical Society. He didn't have many friends, besides his cousin Edna Lou. And she's our prime suspect."