by Moure, Ana
“Sage, come back! Ben will be mad. Whatever it is, don’t touch it, okay? The last thing we want for you is to spend the rest of your life in jail.”
Prim was surprised that her stubborn sister actually listened to her for once and came back to the terrace like a well-trained puppy. She climbed back in and her eyes were big and round as if she’d just seen a ghost.
“What is it? What did you see?” Prim asked anxiously.
“It was a silver vase.”
“And?”
“And it was all covered in blood.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Midnight Casserole and Clues
By the time Primrose, Sage and Ben came in through the front door, no one felt like sleeping any more, though it was after 2 am. They went straight into the kitchen and Sage and Ben immediately slumped into the high stools, while Prim busied herself with the kettle.
“Is anyone hungry,” she asked as she kept opening and closing the cabinet doors and taking out a tea box, a jar of honey and three cups.
“It’s weird after all that food we shoved down our throats earlier, but yes, I could use a snack,” Sage said.
“Me too,” Ben said and rested his head in his palms. He looked exhausted.
“Let me see what the boys have left over.”
Prim opened the fridge and started taking out different sized plastic containers, opening the lids and sniffing their contents.
“Two-day old casserole, anyone?”
“I’ll have a bite,” Ben said and Sage nodded in agreement.
Prim couldn’t believe this was all she could offer. Normally, she would have a selection of baked goods, probably even a cake, and at least two choices of meals from earlier in the day. Now with the store opening and the unexpected visit to the Blackwaters’, her usually pristine kitchen looked abandoned and sad. The dirty dishes had piled up in the sink as her sons had left them there before going to bed. Half empty glasses of milk and orange juice were lined on the counter.
She thought she should seriously start teaching them to do some things for themselves now that she was going to be occupied at the flower shop almost daily. That could wait, but now she had to really struggle to make herself stop obsessing about the dirty kitchen. She promised herself she’ll do it all tomorrow as much as it went against her natural instincts.
Now, there were far more pressing issues than a few greasy dishes. When the kettle started whistling, she filled three cups of hot tea and carried them off to the island, where she joined the others. They needed to discuss what had happened though no one was eager to start.
“Good job on spotting that vase, Sage,” Ben said finally. “And good thing you didn’t touch it. You could have got yourself in a ton of trouble.”
“Do you think there will be fingerprints on it?” Sage asked.
“We’ll have to see. I’ll take it back to the station in a bit and send it off for tests.”
“Can we at least breathe easy that we are not suspects any more?” Prim asked and her voice was full of concern.
“Well, yes, you should be fine for now. You said you went into the bathroom just before eleven and didn’t come out until what? Fifteen, twenty minutes later?”
“That’s right,” Sage said, “But how do you know the murder happened during that period?”
“I found Philip’s watch. It had been broken during the struggle and the time read 11:07 pm. I think it’s safe to assume that the death occurred around that time.”
“Oh, good,” Prim breathed out, relieved, “I thought I was going to go mad with anxiety.”
“It would be good if we find someone who has seen you either go in or come out of the bathroom though. It would confirm your story nicely, because although you two are each other’s witnesses, you are sisters after all and family members are never considered reliable when it comes to that.”
“How would we know if anyone saw us? When are you questioning the others?”
“I’ll be bringing them one by one to the station tomorrow, so it should become clear then, but I think you can relax. There’s nothing that leads to you two from what I saw at the crime scene.”
“Does it lead to anyone in particular?” Sage asked, intrigued.
“Not anyone in particular,” Ben said, “It’s hard to say. I won’t know more before I’ve talked to everyone.”
“Is it possible that it wasn’t anyone from the house at all?” Prim said, “I mean, could it have been a burglar?”
“It’s not out of the question, though the house is pretty secluded and… I don’t know. I can’t rule out anything yet.”
“Maybe we can help,” Sage said hopefully.
“What do you mean?” Ben said and plunged his fork in the steaming casserole his wife had just placed in front of him.
“Well, we were there. We would know best where everyone was, what was said, what everyone wore, what we ate. Things like that. Seriously, Ben, the only suspicious thing we did there was that we were hanging out in the poor people’s bathroom for suspiciously too long.”
Ben smiled for what seemed like the first time in ages.
“You know what? You are right. You would know about…”
“About what?” Prim asked impatiently.
“What everyone wore. I admit, I was so busy with the crime scene that I hardly paid attention to that.”
“Sure,” Sage said, “Mr. Bluebird was wearing a green long-sleeve…”
“No, wait, wait,” Ben raised his hand, “I better tell you what I found there. There might be something else you would notice that I can’t see right now.”
“When I went into the study,” Ben began, “I immediately sent the maid downstairs and told her to join the rest of you. After all, she is a suspect too. I didn’t want anyone to be tampering with the crime scene. As soon as I saw Philip, I knew it was murder, there was no doubt about that. He had been hit on the head with a blunt object, which caused the death. Later, with your help, I realized the murder weapon must have been the silver vase we found in the flower bed.”
“It figures,” he went on, “since when I went into the study, I saw the window was open. Given that the entire incident must have played out in minutes, the killer was probably in a hurry and simply threw the vase out of the window, hoping that they could take care of it later.”
“But why does it matter who was wearing what?” Sage asked.
“I’m just getting to that. I went over to the window and noticed a piece of red fabric stuck to the window frame. The person’s sleeve must have caught on a splinter and torn off as they were tipping the vase (it was heavy) over the edge.”
“Red?” Prim asked with a thoughtful look, “Let me see. I think both Mrs. Blackwater and Mrs. Bluebird were wearing red, as well as James, Philip’s brother.”
“But couldn’t it have been just a piece of fabric left over from before the murder?” Sage mused.
“Of course it can,” Ben said, “Right now, everything is simply speculation. There was something else though. There was ash at the foot of the desk and a cigarette end kicked under Philip’s chair.”
“But he didn’t smoke!” Prim exclaimed.
“How do you know?” Ben said curiously.
“I think he was the only one in the house who didn’t smoke,” she explained, “That’s why he took off for his study when everyone went outside for a cigarette. He said he had some business to take care of. Well, apart from us that is… We were the only other people not smoking.”
“And the maid,” Sage added.
“We don’t know about her,” Prim said, “She could be a smoker, too.”
“Yeah, you are right.”
“Then, if Philip didn’t smoke, that leaves the killer who’d tossed his or her unfinished cigarette.”
“Or it leaves us with a very lazy maid,” Sage said, “who leaves ash lying around unswept for days.”
“You really have it for the maid,” Ben said, “You keep bringing her up.”
“We should be thorough, that’s all,” Sage said defensively.
“You’re right,” Ben admitted, “Listen, ladies, you’ve been of great help, but I have to get back to the office for my night shift. I think the deputy must have dozed off after waiting for me for so many hours. Plus, the sooner I sent this vase out for testing, the better. I’ll see you two tomorrow evening and please, promise you won’t be doing anything stupid on your own, okay? This is a serious case. We need to be careful.”
“We promise,” the two sisters said in unison and exchanged a discreet mischievous look. It suddenly felt like years ago when they had teamed up to trick their parents and do something forbidden.
CHAPTER SIX
Coffee and Talk of Mad Love
Sage woke up with a start and bathed in sweat. She’d just had a nightmare. She’d been stuck behind prison bars and an evil maid had been throwing cigarette ends at her. They’d burned her bare skin and she’d kept screaming she was innocent, but no one came to her rescue.
When she saw it had been just a dream, she exhaled heavily and reached for the glass of water on her night stand. Her eyes landed on the alarm clock and she almost had to look twice. How was it possible that it was almost noon? She hadn’t slept that long since her college days. Well, sure they’d gone to bed at about three o’clock last night, and she’d kept twisting and turning among the bedsheets, rewinding the past hours in her head again and again, but this was too much. She’d missed half the day already.
She dragged herself downstairs and into the kitchen, wrapping a terry robe over her pajamas. She was sure there would be no one in the house at this hour. She was right. The kitchen was empty, but what was shocking was that the dishes from last night were still dirty and crusted over, piled in the sink and a couple of breakfast bowls were now added to them. The counter was full of cereal boxes and dirty glasses.
So, Prim must have overslept too. Sage looked at the kitchen island, but there were none of the usual notes Prim left for her family every morning at dawn. Sage could only imagine how racked with guilt her sister must have felt before leaving for the flower shop this morning. It was so unlike her to leave a task unfinished or to allow anything less than a spotless home before she ever went out to run errands.
“Well, I guess that could be my job for a while,” Sage muttered to herself, “I could be a house maid.”
She quickly fixed herself a bowl of cereal with milk and ate it standing up and then rolled up the sleeves of her robe and got to work. She’d been living as a guest for months now. It was time she helped out around here a bit. She only hoped that she wouldn’t break any glasses or plates, but how difficult could it actually be to wash dishes?
While she’d been getting her PhD back at the University, she’d lived on takeout or quick runs to the cafeteria and the dining hall. She’d never needed to lift a finger in her entire life to do anything house-related, which now seemed embarrassing. She was not a college girl any more, hadn’t been for a long time. If she ever hoped to have a family of her own, she had to learn how to at least do the basics.
When she was finally done an hour later, she felt incredibly tired. Who knew it took so much energy to clean up a dirty kitchen? And she still hadn’t had coffee, which she needed badly even when it was a normal morning. Today, after all the work, she could practically kill for a cup.
She thought she’d go crazy if she spent another minute in this kitchen, as clean and cozy as it looked once again, so she threw on her jeans and a hoodie and headed out.
Main Street, where all the town’s life was concentrated, was only a few blocks away, much like everything else in Rosecliff. Sage could stop by the flower shop and check on Prim, but before that she would complete the most important mission. Get a serious dose of caffeine.
It was a gorgeous fall day and Sage felt her spirits lift up from the brisk walk. Fluffy white clouds traveled lazily on the horizon and the sun shone brightly over her in the deep blue afternoon sky. The wind from yesterday had died down and it was warmer than most fall days, but still the air was crisp and there was a light bite to it. Sage snuggled inside her hoodie and smiled for no reason. Sometimes just walking in this little town could make you happy.
The Cheshire Cat cafe was empty at this hour and she was glad that she didn’t need to talk to people before she’d had her coffee. Not that she knew that many people in Rosecliff, but Prim was always introducing her to this person and that and she had started to put at least a few names and faces together. Not to mention that even if she didn’t know them, the residents of Rosecliff greeted her anyway. It seemed that everyone knew who she was. She hoped that they thought of her more as Prim’s younger sister than as the girl who solved the Pendergrass murder.
“Should I say good morning?” Dan said from behind the bar. He was just laying out a fresh round of blueberry muffins in the bakery case.
“Is it that obvious?”
“I’m tempted to say yes, but then I’m a little bit afraid of you,” Dan said with his eyebrows raised.
“Don’t worry,” Sage sighed as she took a seat at the bar, “I’m unarmed today.”
“What about last night?”
“So, you’ve heard?”
“Everyone’s heard. It’s all anybody talks about since I opened up the cafe. Plus, I’ve made it a point to tread carefully around murder suspects coming into my place of business.”
“I’m not a murder suspect, Dan,” Sage said and finally smiled a bit, “Your information is out of date. I’ve been cleared as a suspect.”
“Phew,” Dan said, making an exaggerated gesture of wiping his forehead. “And here I was, recalling where I left the closest knife.”
“Can you recall where you left the closest pot of fresh coffee? I feel like I’m practically sleepwalking.”
“Fine, let’s get you back into your usual good mood,” he teased and started pouring coffee into a large mug.
Sage realized she’d been less than friendly in most of their past interactions and guiltily wondered if she wasn’t being defensive. Wasn’t there the possibility that she might like him? Despite his snarky comments, he’d actually been really nice to her and even helped her in solving the Pendergrass mystery. He knew a lot about the town and its residents and he owned the one place that was guaranteed to teem with gossip every single day.
She grabbed the steaming mug with an almost manic expression and started gulping the refreshing hot drink.
“Hasn’t anyone taught you to enjoy the little things in the big city?” Dan said, looking at her with amusement, “My coffee is meant for savoring, not downing.”
“What are people saying?” Sage said, ignoring his comment, “About last night’s murder?”
“Only that it’s very suspicious that you always manage to find yourself at a crime scene.”
“Seriously, Dan. What are they saying?”
“Hmm, let’s see. Some people say it’s strange it hadn’t happened earlier, given the issues between him and Alex Bluebird. Before you ask, I have no idea what these issues are. Others say there’s always been something fishy about that maid they’ve hired recently. Then there are those who wonder why it wasn’t James who was killed, given all the shame he’s brought on the family. Again, no idea what they were talking about.”
“Didn’t you ask?”
“My job is to make coffee and bake scones, Sage, not interview people. Plus, I think you are forgetting I’m a man. We don’t gossip.”
“Oh, please!” Sage rolled her eyes, but decided that there was a more constructive way to continue the conversation. “So, did you know him?”
“Who?”
“Mr. Blackwater.”
“I didn’t know him that well, but from the little I’ve seen him around here, he was always buying gifts and flowers for his wife. I think even after all these years, he’s…was still madly in love with her.”
Something about Dan mentioning ‘madly in love’ strung the wrong chord with Sage. She inv
oluntarily remembered her own mad love story that had ended up costing her her entire life back at the university. She took a breath and focused on the man in front of her. Suddenly, after she’d been reminded of what men were capable of, Dan’s attractiveness seemed insulting, dangerous.
She almost got up to leave with some made-up excuse, when she heard the small bell above the front door ring and someone walk in. She turned to see who it was and almost fell off her chair, seeing it was the Blackwaters’ maid. Her name, as far as Sage could remember, was Cecile. She was talking on her phone.
“…Just coming back from the sheriff’s office,” Cecile was saying as she perched herself on the barstool next to Sage and motioned for Dan to get her a coffee to go, “No, no, don’t worry, seriously. There’s no pointing fingers yet. Just had to answer a few questions… I know, me and my bad luck… I’m telling you, no need to worry… Great, I have a hair appointment, too! Five o’clock… Super, I’ll see you there then.”
Without even turning to look at Sage, Cecile grabbed the paper cup, threw some change on the counter and stormed off.
“Wow, what was that?” Sage said, offended on Dan’s behalf.
“She’s like that. She is not from here. I guess she never found it necessary to fit in.”
“You mean like me?”
“I mean way worse than you,” Dan winked at her. “Even though you still need a bit of work, at least you come in here and bark your commands. The woman doesn’t even have the decency to speak.”
Sage looked at him, with his sparkling, playful eyes and the slightly upturned corner of his lips and she thought she shouldn’t be so quick to write him off just because he was a man.
“I have to go,” she said, standing up and carefully placing her dollar bills in the designated tray, “Here, thanks for the coffee.”
“Are you on a mission again? Can’t sit still when there’s a murder case to solve?”
“No, of course not,” Sage said with a shrewd smile, “I know better than to stick my nose where it doesn’t belong. It’s just my hair looks terrible these days and I think I need an urgent appointment at the salon.”