Arsenic in the Azaleas

by Dale Mayer

  “You didn’t check out the man’s pockets? Did you move him? Touch the man in anyway? Check to see if he was alive?”

  She stared at Mack in horror. “He was in the water. Facedown but slightly twisted to the side. Dirt was in his mouth from the water washing around his face. His eyes were open. I didn’t think there was any chance he was still alive. And, no, I did not touch him. I did not go through his pockets.” She still stared at Mack. “I can’t believe you’d ask me that. Check my shoes. They are dry.”

  Upset, but not letting him get to her any further, she continued, “And then I walked back and forth. I felt like I was being watched, just kind of an odd feeling, like I had to be protective of the body, and I was afraid that somebody would come along before you got there. I had been in that area on Thursday. I had actually found the same path but starting from the house. A boy had climbed one of the big trees. I didn’t want him to come along today and see the body.” She glared at Mack. “And you said you’d be there in ten minutes. But you were thirty minutes getting there.”

  It was his turn to roll his eyes at her. “Sorry. I came as fast as I could.”

  “Yeah, right. What? A dead body wasn’t priority enough?”

  “I was getting a team together so I wasn’t the only one arriving. Also, I had to figure out exactly where you were. Your general directions were not very good.” He reached over and shut off the recorder.

  “Whatever.” She finished her coffee, rising to pick up the pot. “This is becoming quite a habit.”

  “One I hope you will break.”

  She froze, coffeepot in hand, and stared at him. “What are you talking about?”

  “Your habit of finding dead bodies.”

  “Oh.” Relief washed over her. She waved the coffeepot around slightly. “I was talking about you coming here for coffee is becoming a habit. A good one to break.”

  He grinned, chuckled and then laughed a great big belly laugh that roared through the kitchen.

  She filled his coffee cup. “It’s not that funny.”

  He gasped and tried to regain his breath. “Actually, yes, it is pretty funny. I intended to cut back on my coffee habit. But it’s worse now because I’m always here.”

  “That’s not my fault,” she protested, but it was hard not to grin. “How about you just solve these murders? That would make my life a lot easier. Although I do have a theory, if you want to hear it?”

  “What is it?”

  She broached the subject carefully, leaning forward. “You know? I’ve been giving this a lot of thought. I was thinking about the man who disappeared decades ago. I think somebody in this area probably murdered him, and I think the recently murdered two men were related to him. They were probably looking for his killer.”

  “Wow. That’s quite a theory. Any evidence to back that up?” he asked in a mocking tone but with a smile on his face, letting her know that it wasn’t a taunt, more like a casual teasing remark.

  “I’m not into conspiracy theories,” she said. “Honest. It just seems like all this has to be related. And I thought I saw a family resemblance.” She glanced over at her laptop and then back at him. “I have some photos.” At his headshake, she got mad. “I did this before you arrived, so you can’t get upset with me.”

  Mugs sat up and woofed.

  “It’s okay, boy, he’s just being difficult.”

  He glared at her.

  She sighed. “Okay. I also sent them to you. Did you get them?”

  “No, I didn’t. However, I have a lot of messages here. Some of us work for a living, you know?”

  “Some of us are trying to find a job so we can make a living, you know?” She grabbed her laptop and brought up the pictures of Robert and James that she had put side by side, in profile. “This is what I found. Do you see the resemblance in these?”

  He leaned forward and studied the images. “You know something? You could be right.” He glanced at her in surprise.

  She beamed. “So I’m not such a foolish old lady after all.”

  “You’re not old at all.”

  Pleased, she brushed past how he failed to say she wasn’t foolish either and said, “What I need is a photo of the man who went missing decades ago. Something in profile that might show features to match these two men.”

  “There should be some in the archives,” he said. “Send those to my email again. I’ll check for myself.”

  She brought up her email program, typed in his email address and sent off the photos as an attachment. When she was done, she sat back. “Can you send me the other photo when you find it?” She added the last bit hurriedly.

  He gave her that long stare. “Remember? It’s official business.”

  She gave him a long stare right back. “Remember? I’m not a suspect.”

  He chuckled.

  “You have to admit I’ve been some help, haven’t I?”

  “Maybe. Or maybe you’re taking up a lot of official resources, sending me off on a wild goose chase. Maybe you’re a Photoshop magician and just made these photos look like this.”

  She stared at him in shock. “Why would I possibly do that?” She looked at the photos. “Can people do that?”

  “Way too often people do that.” He glanced at her. “You don’t actually think those models on the magazine covers look like that, do you?”

  She considered the question. “I never really gave that much thought. But I know my husband believed them to look just like that.”

  “Ouch. That would be a hard thing to live up to, because it’s not something you can live up to. Those photos aren’t real. All those images have been fixed to make the women look better.”

  She studied him. “But who determines what is better?”

  He grinned. “Exactly the problem.”

  Chapter 29

  Later that night she struggled to fall asleep. Goliath was curled up at her side and Mugs at her feet. Thaddeus roosted happily at the end of her bed. She lay in bed and stared at the ceiling—the ceiling that hid where all the clothing had been kept in boxes. She couldn’t ignore the idea that another man might be buried close by. Why else would all his belongings be stored in the attic?

  The last thing she needed was to find yet another body. But she couldn’t forget the notion. Plus she was learning she didn’t like to wait. Especially for answers. And the fact that she was waiting on other people made it much worse. Why couldn’t Mack hand over information to her?

  “Because he doesn’t have any yet, idiot.”

  She shook her head. She was tempted to go back to her chatty neighbor and ask more questions tomorrow. She sat up in bed and turned on her lamp, then reached for her laptop. She’d searched earlier, looking for a connection between the two men. It’d be easy enough for one to have had a different father with a different surname. But it still didn’t answer what the potential connection was to the first man who had gone missing. And she hadn’t found very much under his name anywhere.

  Theoretically any one of them could have owned property on this cul-de-sac too. And maybe there were more relatives than just the two men. With that thought, she searched for the family of the first dead man found, James Farley, to see if he had any sisters or somebody still living.

  She couldn’t find anything, but when she searched for family members of the man who she had just found—Robert Delaney—he had an adopted sister, although their parents were both dead.

  That was interesting too. But she needed more family information. Stuff that Mack hadn’t shared with her.

  Frustrated, she finally put everything away and lay down on her bed again. Wide awake.

  Mugs was so laid-back that he lay there with his feet in the air, snoozing away. She’d love to sleep a deep sleep like that. But this bed was more conducive to wakefulness than sleepfulness.

  Her phone rang just then. Startled, she reached for it and checked the caller ID, surprised to find it was Nan. She glanced at the clock. It was late. “Nan, are you all righ
t?”

  “Yes, dear. I just needed to hear your voice.”

  Doreen didn’t know what to say about that. “Well, I’m glad you called. I’m just lying here, unable to go to sleep.”

  “Well, rumors are circulating here, something about you finding yet another body?”

  Doreen winced. “Oh, dear, I was hoping you wouldn’t hear about that.”

  “It’s true?” Nan’s voice rose in shock. “Doreen!”

  “I didn’t mean to,” she said hurriedly. “After visiting you, I went a different way home, and I found a body in the creek.”

  “Whose body?” Nan asked suspiciously. “This really isn’t helping your reputation in the town, you know, my dear?”

  Doreen rolled her eyes. “Nan, I didn’t do it on purpose.” She could hear Nan’s heavy sigh come through the phone.

  “No, of course you didn’t. I’m sorry, dear. Could you tell me what time it was you found the body?”

  Doreen stared at her phone, nonplussed. “Nan, you want the exact time?”

  “Yes. We had a pool on how long before the body was found. Some of the bets are really close. I need to know who the winner is.”

  Doreen rested her back against the headboard. “Nan, I thought you were teasing when you first told me that.” Besides, she had been really gobbling up those marijuana cookies at the time too. “You didn’t really have a betting pool on when somebody would find the body, did you? That’s morbid.”

  “Well, we didn’t know for sure he would be dead when he was found. And you found him, didn’t you?”

  “Yes.” She frowned. “Nan, how do you know I found the missing handyman?”

  “You just said so, dear.”

  Yes, just now. But Doreen cast her mind back on their conversations to remember if she had mentioned the handyman specifically earlier.

  “Not that it matters, dear. Everyone is talking about it.” Nan went gaily onto the next subject, completely unrelated. “How’s Thaddeus?”

  Doreen brushed her hair off her face, wondering just what kind of marijuana-induced haze Nan was in. “Thaddeus is fine, Nan.” She stared at the bird perched at the end of the bed. “Why?”

  “Well, he does have a good nose. So, if you had him with you, it’s no surprise that you found our missing person.” Her voice perked up as she added, “Oh, my goodness, it’s actually a great thing. Maybe we can use you and Thaddeus and Mugs to hunt down lost people.”

  “No,” Doreen cried out. “No, Nan. Stop. That’s really not how I want people to look at me.”

  “Well, it’s better than people thinking you murdered all these men.”

  Nan was nothing if not blunt.

  “You could put yourself in my position and realize they might think you murdered all these men,” Doreen said slowly. “Nan, I found the bodies. I didn’t turn them into bodies.”

  Nan laughed. “Of course not, dear. I was just teasing. So back to when you found him again. Can you remember exactly what time it was?”

  “I phoned the authorities. I probably have a record of the call, so hold on.” Doreen looked back at her recent phone calls to when she had contacted Mack. When she came back on the phone, she said, “I think it was around 3:15.”

  “You think? You do understand that it’s kind of important to know these things. People get quite irate if we don’t have exact information.”

  “I know it was around 3:15,” Doreen snapped. She couldn’t believe Nan was doing this. “Nan, would you please stop betting on things like this? It’s very upsetting.”

  “Well, we need something to do. Rosemoor’s a small place where nothing much happens, and we have lots of time on our hands. We bet on lots of things. It just happened to be that Robert Delaney’s disappearance was one somebody suggested. We didn’t know he would end up dead, did we?” Nan paused for a moment and said, “Doreen, I hate to say it, but you sound awfully tired. You really should go to sleep. It’s after eleven, my dear.”

  On that note she hung up, leaving Doreen to stare at her phone in surprise.

  “And how am I supposed to sleep now?” she asked of the empty room. “Nan’s setting up a betting pool as to when a dead person is to be found?” She shook her head. “Oh, I feel like I fell down the rabbit hole.”

  Thaddeus straightened a bit. “Body in a rabbit hole. Body in a rabbit hole.”

  She glared at the bird as Goliath rolled out and used his claws on her belly to get comfortable and Mugs kicked out at her feet to make more room. “No, there is no body in the rabbit hole.”

  He cocked his head at her and squawked, “Are you sure? Are you sure?”

  She groaned, lying down in her bed, pulling the covers over her head. She just wanted this to be all over.

  Chapter 30

  Day 5, Sunday

  When she woke the next morning, she was surprisingly rested and in a relaxed state of mind. She sat up and stretched. Mugs wasn’t on the bed—he was lying in the open doorway to her bedroom, stretched out on his back with his feet in the air again.

  She smiled. “Mugs, are you still alive?”

  He rolled over, his tongue flopping with his movement. But he didn’t bark. There was no sign of Goliath or Thaddeus.

  She hopped out of bed and headed to the shower. When she dried off and dressed for the day, she went downstairs to start her coffee and to feed her furry and feathered family. Waiting for the pot to finish dripping, she sat at the kitchen table and opened her laptop to check her email. She found an email from Mack, which made her brighten. When she clicked on it, she read, No news yet. Still working.

  Her shoulders slumped. She had been so sure some good news would appear somewhere along the line. At least he had responded. It was always worse waiting.

  With her first cup of coffee and her animals in tow, she stepped onto the back veranda and surveyed the massive garden. Now that the dead body was gone, she really needed to get something done out here. With all the chaos going on, Mack had postponed any work in his mother’s garden. But there was no reason Doreen couldn’t get started on Nan’s garden.

  She walked through the backyard while Thaddeus strutted behind her, thankfully silent. Mugs was rolling in something. Too late to stop him now. With a groan, Doreen expected that he’d probably need a bath afterward. Surprisingly Goliath was acting well behaved and calm.

  The weeds were heavily overgrown here in the backyard. Doreen shook her head. Even the planned additions to the garden had gone awry. Irises had grown into massive clumps, and other bulbs were mixed in with each other. The hyacinths were done, and the tulips were almost done. There could be bulbs planted all throughout the place. Nan had been nothing if not passionate about bulbs. Doreen would have to sit down, draw out her plan for the garden, so she could relocate a lot of these bulbs. That way, they’d have more room to grow.

  A whole bed designated for the bulbs would be nice, especially if she could coordinate the colors, putting in summer-blooming shrubs for when the bulbs were done. As she looked at the yard, she realized there’d once been grass in the middle. It needed either new sod or some topsoil and seed.

  As she walked along, she thought maybe just an application of nitrogen would help it. Most of the garden could be salvaged, but it would take a massive amount of labor. Her labor.

  With her now empty coffee cup in her hand, she walked around to the front yard, drawing the animals with her. A few hours a day would bring this garden back into shape. Nan had poured her love into the small front garden, and it showed.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw a woman at the side of her house. Wondering if it could be that nosy Ella, Doreen headed that way, where mostly moss and ferns grew in the shade. She didn’t see anybody there but found the ground was spongy. Soft. She wondered if there was a water leak in the area. It seemed really damp. But then she spied the neighbors’ hose, dripping steadily in a stream toward her place.

  That explained that. She tossed the end of the hose back on the neighbors’
lawn and then returned to her backyard for one last look—finding no sign of Ella—and Doreen decided that she’d get started on her gardens today. She went inside, made some toast, and ate it as she formulated a plan for her morning.

  She went upstairs to put on her work jeans—the comfy and durable ones from Nan’s closet that looked like capri pants on her since she was a good five inches taller than Nan. Afterward she grabbed a pair of Nan’s garden gloves off the back veranda. With what tools she could find, she headed out to the front garden. Less work to be done here. Then she’d work in the back garden a little bit too.

  She happily got down on her knees in the dirt and grass and quickly pulled up the weeds out front, waving at several of the neighbors who appeared outside for no other purpose than to see what she was doing. To Mugs she said, “They’re probably looking to see if I find another body.”

  Mugs barked, then gave her an open-mouthed tongue-licking grin.

  She glared at him. “That wasn’t meant to be funny.”

  With Thaddeus settled on the front porch railing and Goliath asleep on one of the porch steps, Doreen spent the next couple hours pulling weeds, trimming shrubs and generally getting a handle on Nan’s front garden. Doreen glanced up to see her chatty neighbor walking toward her. Ella had a smile on her face. Doreen settled back on her heels and smiled. “Good morning, Ella.”

  Ella’s smile widened. “Good morning. I see you’re cleaning up Nan’s garden.”

  Doreen wanted to make a snide comment about that being obvious but held back. She was just hot and cranky. Then Mugs growled low in the back of his throat. “Hush, it’s fine, Mugs.” He sat down beside her but didn’t relax. He really was taking to the guard dog role. Even Thaddeus flew onto a rock at Mugs side. And as if to not be outdone, Goliath stretched out on the grass, his tail twitching in short sharp snaps.

  As the neighbor woman approached, Ella said, “I heard you found another dead body.”

  Something was off in her tone. Doreen studied her and gave a small nod. “I did, indeed. But don’t make it sound like I do this as a habit. I’d be happy to never find another one ever.”