Etta pushed her trowel into the soft dirt and continued working as she spoke. "Minnie did not go for all that traditional stuff. No memorial. The funeral home is picking up her body today for cremation."
"I see. So no memorial or gathering." I put away my notebook. It seemed Etta wanted this whole thing behind her as quickly as possible.
"Was there a reason you avoided yellow roses?" Lacey asked.
Etta's head popped up from her task. "Yellow?"
Lacey waved her arm along the border of red and pink roses. "I just noticed that while there is a variety of red and pink roses in your garden, there is not one yellow bloom."
Etta scanned her gaze along the roses as if she hadn't realized there were no yellow flowers. She shrugged lightly. "I just prefer the red and pink. You two girls have a nice day." The top of her hat faced us as she pulled her flat of pansies closer and pried one free of its container. It was our cue to be on our way.
The silence in the jeep as we both tucked deep into our thoughts was nearly deafening. I had no doubt Lacey was coming to the same conclusion as me, only that conclusion seemed so wild and inconceivable it was hard to keep it solid.
"Are you formulating as many wacky theories as I am right now?" Lacey's question broke the intensely cerebral silence.
"I think so." I turned the jeep down Etta's driveway. Without giving it any more thought, I turned right to head past Weston Fielding's house. Just as I hoped, he was sitting on his porch with his binoculars and a large glass of tea. "I wonder how Etta's walks to the park have been."
Lacey peered through the passenger window and waved at Weston. "Guess there's only one way to find out."
I parked and the two of us meandered up his walkway. Weston put his tea on a wicker side table and stood from his chair ."Howdy, you two are back, I see. Been watching a lovely pair of cardinals all morning."
"That's wonderful," Lacey replied.
"What brings you two back here? Are you still working on the newspaper article?"
"Yes, just finishing up a few details," I said. "I take it things are back to normal. I know you were worried about Mrs. Derricot missing her walk to the park last Friday. Everything back on schedule?"
He nodded. "Yes, yes. Yesterday, she walked right past here at four o'clock."
"That's good to hear. She does seem to be feeling energetic these days," I added.
He chuckled. "I'll say. I can't remember the last time I saw Etta Derricot tending to her own garden. She's friendlier too, waves and says hello when she sees me." He came down a few steps so he could lower his voice. "I'm afraid she might be having a little loss of memory though," he said. "First, she couldn't remember my name, and yesterday, when she walked past to feed the birds, she forgot the bird seed. Carried a book with her instead."
Lacey and I exchanged knowing looks. "That is odd. Maybe she ran out of bird seed but didn't want to miss her time at the park," I suggested.
"Maybe. The birds didn't seem to notice anyhow. Normally, they flock toward her when she arrives. Although, she usually arrives with bird seed so that might explain their lack of interest in seeing their friend."
"I'm sure that's it," Lacey said. "You have a nice rest of the day, Mr. Fielding, and I hope the cardinals stick around for awhile."
"Thanks."
We turned around and headed back to the jeep. "I've got a plan," I said. "How about we go back to where this started, the park where the coven was holding their ceremony? Maybe it will help us gel everything together into a plausible explanation. We can go over everything we know and lay out some of our theories."
"That sounds like a great plan. Then we can pick up Lola and stop by that marvelous restaurant. I'm going in with my mind made up this time," she stated with confidence.
"Oh? Which sandwich are you going to order?"
"Not sure," she said, "I haven't made up my mind."
Chapter 34
Since it was a crisp Monday and all the little ones had been back in school for a month, Hickory Flats Park was empty, with the exception of a teen couple who seemed to have come to the park to hide from truant officers. They took off into the wilderness the second my jeep rolled into the parking lot.
Lacey laughed. "Looks like we spoiled their fun."
I parked and we climbed out of the jeep. Without talking about our plan, we both instinctively headed toward the overgrown path leading to the forest trail. It looked entirely different in daylight where instead of just a tangle of mismatched shrubs you could see different domestic plants intermingling and lending their foliage to the border. Lacey was the first to see the sunny splash of color. It was buried deep behind the dark green leaves of an elderberry shrub.
"I don't believe it." Lacey's top half disappeared into the plants, then she straightened, triumphantly holding up a yellow rose. "It's an English climbing rose, perfect for shrubs and exactly the type of rose we found clinging to the rug wrapped around Minnie's body. All this time we were looking in people's gardens when the yellow rose was here all along." Her enthusiasm was quickly dampened. "I suppose that makes perfect sense. Obviously, the killer wrapped Minnie in the rug wherever she committed the murder, then she carried the body along this trail to the clearing where the Wiccan ceremony had been set up."
I pointed at her. "She, you said she. So you're thinking the killer is definitely a she."
"Possibly two—shes, that is." Lacey carried the rose and we continued along the trail.
"You're right. Even someone as small as Minnie would be heavy as dead weight, especially wrapped in a cumbersome wool rug."
The particularly sharp jutting branch of a holly bush caught my sleeve. Lacey trekked on ahead as I stopped to unhook myself from the pointy plant. As I pulled my sweater free, I noticed a thick strand of silver-white yarn, rug yarn, if my thin knowledge of yarn was correct. "Lacey, come look at this."
She twirled around and headed back to the holly bush.
"Check out this piece of yarn. Didn't Minnie's rug have some silvery threads in it?"
"It sure did. A silver-white pentagram on a royal blue background. I'd say you just helped us prove our theory about the killer or killers carrying the body right along this path to the clearing. I noticed as we pulled into the parking lot, there was a sign that said the park was closed at dark and that people would be cited if they entered."
"Jackson and I were having lunch the other afternoon and we saw Nora and Aubrey setting up. They were carrying boxes of decorations to the clearing. Jackson said they had to get special permission to hold their ceremonies. But if the park closed at dark, which these days is about six o'clock, and the Apple Harvest Rite wasn't supposed to start until midnight—"
"That gave the killer a good six hours of dark, deserted park to get rid of the body. But why do you think they put the body in the trunk, where it was sure to be discovered?"
I shrugged. "Good question. Of course, it's not that easy to get rid of a dead body, otherwise more people would get away with murder. But what if they were trying to throw the police off by making them think it had something to do with Minnie's coven?"
"That might be it." Lacey took a deep breath. "Which brings me to the crazy part of my theory, and it's just crazy enough that I hope you're thinking the same thing, otherwise, you might really think I'm, you know, crazy."
"I've got a wild and crazy theory too," I said. A squirrel scurried out of the brush and temporarily startled us. We had a good laugh about our reaction.
"Boy, aren't we the brave, stealthy investigators," Lacey quipped.
We laughed again and I motioned for us to head out of the shrubs. We walked side by side. "Why don't we both say what we're thinking on the count of three," I suggested as we reached the end of the trail where the wilderness ended and the neatly landscaped park began.
"Great idea." Lacey stopped and turned to me. "I'm ready. You count. And no laughing if my theory is too wacky."
"Yep, as long as you promise the same. All right, well, we'
re not getting any younger—darn it," I muttered. "Here goes. One, two, three."
"Minnie switched places with Etta," we both said in unison. The well choreographed pronouncement was followed by shrieks and hugs. After we'd finally given ourselves enough accolades for being brilliant, we began spurting out everything that brought us to that conclusion.
"I think the first time a little seed was planted in my overly imaginative head was when Etta's cat swiped and hissed at her hand. It was like Princess didn't even know her," Lacey said as we walked back to the jeep.
"Gosh, I never would have thought of that but then I don't own a cat. I thought Princess was just being well, I guess a princess." I snapped my fingers. "That's why you mentioned how lucky Etta or, maybe we should say, Minnie, was that her cat wasn't annoying her for attention while she was gardening."
"Yep. If I'm out in the yard, Never has to be twirling around my ankles, rubbing up against me, especially if I'm involved in a task that takes my attention away from him."
"Let's sit on the bench for a second and sort this out," I suggested. I wanted to focus on the murder and not the road.
Lacey and I sat down. I turned to her. "First of all, there's an easy peasy motive, so big it's sitting right out in the open."
"The Derricot mansion," Lacey said. "And don't forget, it came with the Derricot fortune. Etta was leading a lush, wealthy life. Minnie had a business, but it must not have been doing so well since she was closing it up. Minnie figured she could kill Etta and just slip right into that luxurious lifestyle."
"Only she needed Grace's help," I added. "Grace knew Etta's schedule. She knew what time Etta would be in bed napping. Minnie arrived while Etta slept, then she pressed a pillow down over her sister's face. And since Etta had arthritis, she couldn't fight back."
Lacey sat up straighter. "Minnie had rolled up the rug from her shop to hide the body as they carried it to the car, Etta's car, and then to the forest clearing. They dressed Etta in Minnie's clothes and made sure a number of witnesses could attest to seeing Minnie Smithers dead. Minnie also knew two people close to her who had good motive to kill her, Wanda and Roland. Naturally, she didn't want any suspicion to go toward Etta because she had taken her rich sister's place in society. After all, what motive could rich Mrs. Derricot have to kill her twin sister, who had little to her name?"
"Only she left some rug fibers behind in her sister's car," I said. "I'll bet she was really kicking herself over that little flub."
"Yep, and this is where the camphor mystery all makes sense," Lacey said. "Grace, with her brand new diamond bracelet, a payment of some sort, had created a salve for Etta's sore joints. That's why it was on her clothes and on her corpse. Minnie thought of all the details but there were some major ones she missed."
"That's because Minnie didn't know about the private investigator with the super nose." I winked at her. "Sure wish I had a talent like that. Except for the whole every food tasting like surrounding smells part. Not sure I could handle that."
"Speaking of food." Lacey pressed her arm against her stomach. "I'm feeling a little growly."
"Yes, me too. I think we both earned lunch." We got up and headed to the jeep.
"Are you going to tell Jackson or should we first find some definitive proof?" Lacey asked. "I wouldn't want to be wrong. That would be quite the goof up."
"Good point. We should be certain first, otherwise I would never hear the end of it." We climbed into the jeep.
"That might be simpler than we think," Lacey said. "Before we go to lunch, let's drive back to Etta's house. I've got an idea. With any luck, she'll still be planting pansies."
Chapter 35
"Park down on the street and we'll walk up to Etta's house," Lacey said. "We need to take her by surprise."
Etta, or Minnie, if our suspicions were correct, was finishing up with the last few pansies as we reached the top of the driveway. "The lack of arthritis," I whispered. "Another major clue."
We tread lightly and got closer. "Good afternoon, Minnie," Lacey called.
"Good afternoon," she chirped as she twisted around to see who had greeted her. Her face blanched beneath the brim of her hat. "You again." There was plenty of anger in her tone. She pushed to her feet. "I think the two of you need to get off my property." She held her sharp planting trowel out like a weapon.
"Don't you mean Etta's property?" I asked.
Right then, the front door opened and Grace came out pointing a small handgun our direction. My muscles tensed and I reached for Lacey's hand. "Wasn't expecting them to be armed," I muttered.
"Well, they are murderers, so I suppose it wasn't too big of a stretch," Lacey muttered back.
We'd proven our theory. Now the police needed to step in. It was time to retreat. If they let us.
Lacey and I both lifted our hands to let Grace know that we were unarmed and not planning any funny business. "You're right, Mrs. Derricot," I said with a forced grin. "We shouldn't be trespassing. We are leaving right now."
Minnie rushed over to Grace's side. "They know, Grace. What should we do with them? We can't just let them go."
"You heard her," Grace snapped. "We can't let you go. You know too much. We had everything perfect. Why did you two have to nose your way into this?"
Lacey chuckled but it was a nervous chuckle. "Nose my way. I get that a lot. Should we run?" she said from the side of her mouth.
"Only if you're fast enough to outrun a bullet," I mumbled back.
"Just hoping she's a terrible shot."
Grace was motioning menacingly with the gun. "The two of you, stop talking and get inside the house. Now."
Minnie circled around to corral us from behind as we made a slow march toward the front steps. Grace backed up the steps, keeping the gun pointed at us.
"We're really just reporters looking for," I started.
"Shut up!" Grace barked. "Just get inside."
Lacey and I climbed the steps as if heavy weights were dragging us back down. My mind was dashing around looking for a possible escape. I was certain Lacey was doing the same. Once we were inside, that would be infinitely harder.
Lacey and I had been thinking alike and reading each other's minds through the entire investigation and that hadn't changed. I flicked a glance her direction. She nodded slightly.
I yelled and lunged forward to knock Grace off balance, while Lacey spun around and rammed into Minnie. Minnie was much older and smaller and toppled easily but Grace, tall and apparently more athletic than I would have given her credit for, stumbled back a few steps but recovered quickly. The gun stayed firmly in her hand.
Red rage spread across her face. "Get inside," Grace said in a deep, guttural sound that almost sounded like a growl.
Through the drumbeat of my own pulse thundering in my ears I heard the shriek of sirens. Tires screeched and a deep familiar voice (only more frantic sounding than usual) yelled from the bottom of the driveway. "Drop the weapon!"
I took a shuddering breath and turned around to the best sight a girl in love could see. Jackson's jaw was clamped tightly as he headed toward us. More officers swarmed the property, letting the two women know for certain that this was over and that they were going to jail for murder.
Grace dropped the gun and covered her face to sob while Minnie shuffled aimlessly around insisting she was Etta Derricot and this was her property. Two women officers were called forward to search and read them their rights. Jackson shuffled Lacey and I quickly away from the scene.
"Seems like my double trouble prediction was right. How on earth did you two end up here and with a gun pointed at you, no less?"
"We figured out the whole darn thing, that Minnie had killed Etta and then assumed her identity all with the help of Etta's assistant, Grace." I lifted my hand and Lacey high-fived it.
"Why didn't you let me know rather than take it upon yourselves to confront Minnie?" he asked. (It was a perfectly logical question for which I had no real answer, so I went with my def
ault response.)
"Where's the fun in that?" I winked at Lacey.
Lacey smiled. "You took the words right out of my mouth."
We reached the jeep. I turned to Jackson. "Yesterday, your team was still running in circles. How did you guys find out what really happened?"
"I asked the coroner to do a dental check on the victim, then we pulled dental records. It's one of the only ways to tell the difference between identical twins. The results came back that the victim was Etta Derricot and not Minnie Smithers. It was pretty easy to solve the puzzle after that. But you helped us find her accomplice. We were pretty sure it was Grace, but seeing her with a gun pointed at you just now pretty much solidified it."
He took a deep breath and without warning pulled me against him. "You're going to give me gray hairs, do you know that, Bluebird?"
"And yet you'll still look as if you belong in a magazine," Lacey said and then covered her mouth quickly. "Did I just say that out loud?" She shook her head. "Guess I haven't recuperated from our harrowing experience."
Lacey and I had a good laugh as we hugged.
Chapter 36
Lacey and Lola stopped by for muffins and coffee on their way to the airport. Edward, realizing he wouldn't be seeing Lacey anymore, lingered in the kitchen looking rather lovelorn as he watched her sip her coffee.
"I told James all about our investigation and he was impressed." Lacey reached for a pat of butter.
Lola poured cream in her coffee. "She conveniently left out the part where you two were held at gunpoint."
Lacey shrugged. "Not important to the overall scheme of things."
Edward chuckled at her comment.
I worked hard to ignore just how enamored he was with her. "Well, I'd say we make a pretty good team. Maybe next time, I'll fly to Port Danby."
Double Trouble Page 16