Murder by Christmas

by Suzanne Young

  In turn, Edna speculated. Had Bethany told Vinnie the truth, or had she, in fact, gone into the house? Had she another reason for leaving town so suddenly last night? Edna didn’t voice these thoughts to the young man sitting across the table. Instead, she asked without much hope of a positive answer, “Did she say whether or not she saw Mary at the shelter?”

  He picked up his mug and took a drink, grimaced and shook his head at the coffee. “Cold,” he complained.

  Edna wondered if he were trying to stall or change the subject. “Do you know? Did she mention Mary at all?”

  He shook his head again, this time at Edna. “She didn’t, but if Mary had been there, Bethany would have felt better about going inside. She likes Mary, says she’s a good friend.” He put his hands on the table, hesitating a second before pushing himself up. Obviously, he’d had enough of Edna’s questions.

  Before she could think of anything else to ask him, Gran came out of the kitchen, speaking as she burst through the double doors. “Sorry to keep you waiting, Edna, but Priscilla wanted to start the soup. She doesn’t expect many customers today, what with the weather and all, so we made just the tomato bisque. Said between Vinnie here and his uncle, they can handle anyone who comes by. She’s decided to close early, too, so she can get to her Christmas party, so she said she won’t need me to lock up tonight.”

  “How you doin’, Gran?” Vinnie stood and picked up both his and Edna’s mugs, stacked them with his dishes and pushed his chair up to the table.

  “Fine, Vinnie. How’s life treating you these days? All ready for Christmas?” She returned the greeting and looked around and out toward the street. Not waiting for answers to her questions, she asked another. “Where’s your uncle today?”

  “Dunno. Thought he’d be here by now. Might have slid into a snow bank. The tires on that truck of his are as bald as a bowling ball. I’m gonna go check on him as soon as I wash up these dishes. I’ve been trying to get Uncle Codfish to get rid of that old hunk of metal. The rusty old thing is on its last legs, but he keeps telling me he is too, so they get along just fine.”

  Gran laughed at Vinnie’s good-natured grin, as Edna finally realized the connection. “Codfish?” She didn’t believe there could be two men in town with the same nickname. “Codfish McKale is your uncle?”

  “Great-uncle, actually,” Vinnie said with a look of pride. “Best fisherman in these parts until arthritis got too much for him.”

  “I hope you’re wrong about him being stuck in a snow drift,” Gran said. “When you see him, tell him I won’t be working tonight, will you?” Again, without waiting for an answer, she turned to Edna. “Ready to go?”

  Driving home, Edna was quiet, thinking about Mary. Where could she be? Had she seen Bethany yesterday afternoon? Expanding on the thought, Edna’s heart skipped a beat. What if Mary had seen Bethany push Laurel down the stairs? Instantly, Edna shook off the idea of Mary covering up a crime, but before she could gather her thoughts again, Gran’s voice distracted her. They had reached their neighborhood.

  “Will you come in and let me make lunch for you? It’s the least I can do for your taking the time to chauffeur me around this morning.”

  About to answer as they reached Mary’s property, Edna’s attention was diverted to a pickup plowing out the driveway. When she noticed the sign “Honeydew Home Repairs” on the driver’s door and noticed who was behind the wheel, she waved to Kevin. Having liked Tom’s nephew, her resolve to never again give her business to Norm Wilkins’ company weakened, particularly when, driving on, she saw that her own driveway was untouched. Last night’s snowfall hadn’t been as heavy as she’d feared, but although the current snow was light and gentle, it had already laid another inch or two on top of the existing six.

  She was about to reply to Gran’s invitation when a huge, box-shaped vehicle appeared around the corner, heading straight toward the Kia, halfway into Edna’s lane on the narrow road. Curiously, the driver turned the wiper speed up a notch and sprayed washer fluid across the windshield. Although somewhat erratic, fortunately, the oncoming behemoth was moving slowly. Closing in on Gran’s driveway, Edna aimed the Kia for the foot of the macadam and, stepping on the gas, swerved in off the road with less than a car length to spare as the giant vehicle lumbered by. The Kia’s engine had stalled, so Edna sat for a minute, waiting for her heart rate to slow. In the fleeting seconds of avoiding a collision and because of the other vehicle’s frosty wet windshield, Edna had seen only a shadowy silhouette of the driver.

  She took several deep breaths to calm her nerves before turning to Gran. “Do you recognize that car?”

  “Never seen it before. Have you?”

  Edna shook her head and, restarting the engine, drove up the slope to park in front of the garage. She accepted Gran’s invitation to lunch and forced her thoughts to matters other than automobile accidents. She spoke to herself as much as to Gran when she said, “If Mary called Kevin to clear her driveway, she might be home. I’ll phone her and maybe she can ask him to plow my drive while we have lunch.”

  Rummaging in her tote bag for the cell phone, she suddenly remembered connecting it to the charger on her desk. She’d had so much on her mind when she left the house that morning, she hadn’t grabbed the mobile. “I’ll also need to use your phone, Gran,” she said, feeling at once deflated and tired.

  Obviously pleased to have company, Gran led the way across the back deck to the kitchen door and, seating Edna at the white table, handed her a cordless receiver before tying an apron around her stout waist. “You go ahead and make your calls while I rustle up something to eat.”

  Edna first tried Mary’s home phone. A thought nagged at the back of her mind as the message machine picked up. Fighting back frustration, she left an “urgent” message for Mary to call her before she then dialed Mary’s cell number. Once again, Edna heard the recording. “Leave a message,” was all Mary said to whomever reached her voice mailbox.

  Worry was turning into anger and annoyance by the time Edna dialed her own home number to check the answering machine. After punching in the retrieval code and listening to two new messages, thoughts of Mary vanished.

  The first call had been from Charlie. “I have news. Call me.”

  The second was from her daughter. “Mother, it’s me. Diane. If you’re there, please pick up.” After a short pause during which her daughter apparently realized that Edna was not purposely ignoring her, Diane went on. “I’m at the hospital with Father. Call me back as soon as you get this message.”

  Chapter 12

  Alarmed by the urgency in Diane’s voice, Edna phoned her daughter first. “What’s going on?” she asked as soon as Diane picked up the call. “Why are you at the hospital?”

  “First, let me say that Father is okay. He’ll be fine.”

  Diane’s habit of never getting directly to the point did nothing to assuage Edna’s fright, so she spoke more sharply than she’d intended. “What happened?”

  “He fell.”

  Edna waited several seconds for some further explanation before finally taking a deep breath to control her rising agitation. How exasperating was this daughter of Albert’s. Thinking of the old family joke whereby they swapped parentage, depending on said child’s behavior, made her relax slightly and allowed her to ask with relative calm. “How did he fall?”

  “He was testing out his new brace. It’s adjustable as to the degree he can bend his knee.”

  “Yes. He explained that to me.” Edna waited a few seconds, but when Diane didn’t continue, she said, “Did he fall on the damaged knee?”

  “No, Mother, and he probably would have been okay falling on the carpeted floor, but he banged his head on the coffee table.” Diane paused, but hurried on before Edna had a chance to speak again. “Actually, the doctors don’t know if the brace was at fault or if Father fainted. Whatever the cause, he was groggy and couldn’t get up. We were alone in the house and I wasn’t able to lift him. I thought he needed
to be checked for concussion.” Diane was babbling by this point, but whether to get the story out or to absolve herself of guilt, Edna didn’t know. “I called nine-one-one,” Diane finally faltered.

  Now Edna understood. If he thought he hadn’t hurt himself seriously, Albert probably would have been embarrassed to arrive at the hospital in an ambulance--and particularly, he would not enjoy being fussed over by people he had worked with professionally for years. She didn’t voice these thoughts, but asked instead, “You said he was fine, so why are you still at the hospital?”

  “In case his fall was caused by low blood pressure or there’s a chance something might be going on with his heart, the doctor wants an echocardiogram before he releases Father.”

  “Does Albert want to see me? Do you need my help?”

  “No, Mother, that’s okay. It’s snowing again and the roads are getting slick. I don’t want to have to worry about you, too. I’ll let you know as soon as I hear from the doctor.”

  Edna was beginning to realize that Diane had really only wanted to talk and be reassured that she had done the right thing. “I’m relieved to know you’re taking such good care of your father. Thank you, dear.”

  Diane sounded more relaxed and confident when she spoke. “You’re welcome, Mother. I’ve been enjoying his company, and Buddy absolutely adores having his grandfather to himself.”

  “Is Albert nearby? May I speak with him?”

  “They took him down for tests a few minutes before you phoned. I’ll have him call when they’re through with him.”

  Hanging up shortly thereafter, Edna took several deep breaths, allowing her nerves to settle and her adrenaline to dissolve. Reassured that Albert wasn’t badly hurt, she turned her mind to the second call of that morning.

  “Not a word,” Charlie replied to Edna’s question as to whether or not he’d heard from Mary. “The patrolman I sent over to her house said the place felt empty. You can usually tell if someone is home and just not answering the door. He didn’t even hear Hank bark.”

  “Did he go around to the kitchen door?”

  “Yep. Knocked on both front and back doors. Rang the bell. Walked around the house and looked in windows. He knows to look for Ink Spot in the window beside the back door, but he heard and saw nothing.”

  “Do you want to go inside? I have a key to her house.”

  Charlie snorted. “He could have gone in. My guy spotted the fake rock she uses to hide a house key. Saw it right off. She shouldn’t keep it so close to the door.”

  “It’s not her key in the rock.” Edna couldn’t keep the self-satisfaction from her voice.

  She nearly laughed aloud at the silence that followed her announcement. Having been threatened by a man who had snuck into her house earlier that year, Edna had come up with a plan to thwart any future intruders. Her house key was kept in an artificial rock by Mary’s back door while Mary’s key was in the bottom of a plastic green frog in the Davies’ garden. Of course, someone could probably find either key fairly quickly, but it wouldn’t open any door in the nearest house.

  “Pretty clever,” Charlie said when she explained, “but even if we had access to a spare key, we can’t go into someone’s home without permission or a warrant.” From Charlie’s tone, he might as well have added, “you should know that by now.”

  Edna remembered the truck she’d seen as they’d driven into the neighborhood. “Kevin Lockhorn was plowing Mary’s driveway. She must have called him, don’t you think?”

  “I didn’t know he was out there,” Charlie said. “She usually hires the Benton brothers down the street. Teenagers. She has a standing agreement with them, so even if she isn’t home, they’d shovel and check back later to get paid.” After another brief pause during which Edna figured he was probably making a note, he said, “I’ll give Kevin a call and find out if he heard from her.”

  Edna thought for a minute. “He might not have. It’s possible he could be plowing her out as a favor. Mary has been a family friend since her high school years.” Edna didn’t know Kevin’s personal phone number, so she couldn’t call him directly. She shuddered at the idea of phoning Honeydew Home Repairs and having to ask Norm to speak to Kevin. To Charlie, she said, “If you talk to Kevin, let me know what he says, will you? I’d like to know that someone has heard from Mary.”

  She went on to tell him what she’d learned from Vinnie and the possible timing of Bethany’s bike ride to and from the CATS shelter. She asked the detective what he thought of the young woman deciding to leave so quickly for Boston, but he seemed to agree with Vinnie that there had been no reason for her to hang around if she wasn’t working or going to class.

  “Good to know where to find her, though,” he said. “I’ll see if my contact in Boston can go talk to our young lady.”

  “Will you let me know what she says?”

  “Sure thing, Edna. Soon as I hear myself. Anything else?”

  She hesitated only a second or two. “As a matter of fact, there is. Do you think I could hire those teenagers to plow my driveway?”

  “You bet. They’re always on the lookout for odd jobs. I need to call them and find out if they might have heard from Mary, so I’ll let them know you need their services. If you haven’t been shoveled out within the next couple of hours, call me back.”

  Before he could hang up, she asked about the message he’d left. “What’s the news you called about this morning, if it wasn’t that you’d heard from Mary?”

  “I got a preliminary back on Laurel Taylor from the medical examiner. Her neck was broken when she fell down the stairs. The M.E. found signs of a struggle, so that leaves out accidental death. She had bruises on her upper arms where someone grabbed her. Looks like someone slapped her hard on the side of her face, too. According to the report, there’s a pretty clear handprint. The lab work won’t be back on poison in her system for a while yet, but it’s possible someone either held her by the arms and pushed her backwards or the slap might have caused her to step backwards and fall. The autopsy should be able to tell us which injury happened first.”

  “Oh, my.” Edna was stunned by the thought of Laurel being attacked or pushed to her death.

  “That’s not all,” he went on. “Report says she had older injuries. Broken forearm, maybe as old as two or three years. Couple of broken ribs, older than the arm fracture. Her collar bone has been broken, too, at some point. She’s been beaten more than once as an adult. None are from childhood.”

  “A battered wife?” Edna’s stomach clenched at the thought.

  “All the signs point to it, but we won’t know for sure until we find her next of kin, or someone who knew her before she moved to town. We might be able to get hospital records once we find out where she came from. I’m working on that, but I haven’t turned up anything so far. I’m on my way back to the house now to look for her papers, see if I can find an address book or something.”

  By the time Edna finished speaking with Charlie, Gran had lunch ready and placed bowls of chicken soup on the table. She went back to the counter for a basket of hot, cheesy buttermilk biscuits before sitting down opposite Edna. As the aroma of the bullion rose from the steaming dish, Edna realized how hungry she was.

  Breaking open one of the biscuits, Gran said, “I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation. Did I hear you say Laurel Taylor was a battered wife? Is that who you were talking about?”

  “Yes.” Edna raised her spoon toward her mouth. She didn’t want to discuss something so unpleasant during lunch. She also wanted time to absorb the news herself. “Everything looks and smells so good. Thank you for lunch.”

  Gran took the hint. The women ate in silence for several minutes before she put aside her spoon to select another biscuit from the basket. “What did Charlie say about Mary? Has he heard from her?”

  Having finished only half her meal, Edna’s appetite vanished with the question. “No, he hasn’t. So far, the only thing we know is that one of the neighbors saw h
er rushing away from CATS late yesterday afternoon. Vinnie’s friend may or may not have seen Mary at the shelter, but she’s gone home to Boston for the holidays.” Unable to stop a rising fear, Edna looked across the table at her hostess. “I’m really getting worried about Mary. I’ve got to find her and make sure she’s okay. She’s never disappeared like this before.”

  With a vigorous nod of her head, Gran slapped the table on either side of her soup bowl, palms down. “What can I do to help?”

  Turning to look out the window at the deck, Edna noticed the snow hadn’t let up. “I don’t want to be out in this weather longer than necessary, so we should have a plan.” She pushed aside her half-empty soup bowl and picked up the tote bag she’d set on the chair beside her. Rummaging inside, she pulled out a small notepad and a pencil.

  “You’ll probably need a bigger sheet of paper than that,” Gran said, her tone edged with excitement as she rose and gathered up the lunch dishes. After depositing them in the kitchen sink, she grabbed the electric kettle and filled it from the faucet. “Tea will help, and I’ll get some paper from Carol’s computer room. She keeps a stack of it next to her printer.” Minutes later, she returned with a thin sheaf of letter-sized paper and a plastic cup full of pens, pencils and markers which she plunked down on the table as she removed the bread basket. At that moment, the kettle began to whistle. Gran turned to make the tea while Edna selected a sheet of paper.

  “I think we should stop at Mary’s house first. I don’t know what we’ll find, but we’ll look for anything out of the ordinary.” As she spoke, Edna began her list.

  “Where are her pets?” Gran asked. She poured boiling water into a teapot, covered it with a cozy and opened an overhead cupboard that held an array of mugs.

  “Good question.” Edna thought for a minute before she brightened. “Why don’t we go pick up your kitten at Perry’s Clinic. At the same time, we can check with Doctor Jake and Roselyn. If Hank and Spot aren’t with Mary, she’d probably have left them at the clinic. At any rate, they might at least have heard from her.”