Wanda started edging away from them, and Gus went in for the kill with the most important question. “So where do you get fresh herbs around here? Do you grow them?”
“Yep. Grown right on the premises in a special room off the kitchen.”
“Order up!” The cook placed a plate and a bowl on the pass-through.
Wanda looked relieved to have a reason to turn away. She slid the dishes in front of Ivy and Gus.
“You ladies enjoy.” Wanda slipped out from behind the counter, grabbing the coffee pot on her way to top off the customers in the booths.
Gus looked at her plate carefully to make sure no unwanted herbs—like hemlock—had made their way on it. Then she broke into one of the eggs with her fork and watched the orange yolk ooze out onto the plate. She used the toast to sop up some yolk as she thought about Wanda’s odd behavior. If she were the killer, why would she admit so readily to Vicky being here? But if she wasn’t the killer, then why had she seemed like she was hiding something?
Chapter 7
Gus hoped that Wanda wasn’t the killer because the breakfast was delicious. She’d hate to see the diner close down, even though she was only staying in town for a few more days.
“That was a little confusing,” Ivy said as they walked back along the street.
“Yeah, very confusing. On the one hand, she acted like she was hiding something, but on the other, she was practically pointing us toward the fact that Vicky had been there that morning.” Gus glanced at Ivy out of the corner of her eye. “By the way, good technique getting her to open up.”
Ivy blushed and shrugged it off. “I watch a lot of detective shows.”
“Maybe Wanda was acting nervous because she’s having the affair with Vicky’s husband.” Gus replayed the conversation in her mind. “Come to think of it, she did start to act funny once I mentioned him.”
“She had no qualms about pointing out the fresh herbs were grown there on the premises, and you’d think if she’d grown hemlock to poison Vicky, she might want to keep that on the down-low.”
Gus wrapped her olive-green scarf tighter around her neck. “She might not even know Vicky was poisoned. She might not be in on it. Could be just the husband.”
“But the husband didn’t touch the sandwich. Wanda said that Vicky was there alone,” Ivy said.
“Which begs the question of why the husband had a bag when he showed up at the crime scene. He might not have brought it, like you suggested,” Gus said. “He could have slipped the hemlock in after Vicky picked it up. And if he did that, then he’d want to make sure the bag didn’t get collected by the police.”
“And he’d be watching to see when she keeled over, then swoop in and grab the bag before anyone noticed.” Ivy pressed her lips together. “But then he would have had to grow the hemlock. Unless he and Wanda were in on it together.”
They’d been so engrossed in talking about the clues that they’d walked all the way to the pear tree without realizing it. The partridge was peering out from under a shrub, watching them intently. As Gus watched, a feather dropped off his wing. More feathers lay on the ground. Was the bird molting? Would that happen if a bird ate hemlock? And if hemlock was under there, who had planted it?
Maybe Kevin Smithers had acted alone. Just because Wanda had a room where she grew fresh herbs didn’t prevent Kevin from growing hemlock in his own room or even under the pear tree.
“So what do we do next?” Ivy asked.
“If this was something I was investigating as the sheriff, I’d find out where the husband was shortly before Vicky’s death and get a search warrant for the house. But since I’m not working in an official capacity, I can’t ask him, and I doubt Winters is going to give us that information.”
“Winters must have already asked him, but she hasn’t arrested him. What does that tell us?” Ivy asked.
“One of two things. Either the husband has an alibi that proves he couldn’t have slipped anything into the wife’s food that morning, or she doesn’t have enough proof to nail him on it,” Gus said.
“We need to find something that ties the killer to the murder.”
“We know the killer grew hemlock. We can’t search people’s homes, but we can easily find a way to look at the herb grow room at the café. If Wanda is involved, we might find hemlock there.”
“And if we don’t, it could rule her out, but we’d still have the husband as a suspect.”
Gus glanced at the partridge. “And let’s not forget Comfort and Joy. Comfort was very upset that I might climb that fence. I think we need to rule out our suspects one at a time, though.”
“So, we need to get a look at that room off the kitchen over at Good Tidings,” Ivy said. “But it’s off the kitchen. I doubt Wanda is going to let us go waltzing into the kitchen.”
“Maybe not as customers, but I think I know another way that we can get in there.”
Mary seemed surprised when Gus and Ivy showed up at her office. The place was still loaded with mistletoe, and Gus couldn’t help but scan the area for hemlock, but she didn’t spot any of the feathery leaves or tiny white flowers that she’d seen when she searched Google.
Mary smiled at Gus. “How is your article coming along?”
Ivy frowned at Gus, but Gus poked her in the ribs. She’d forgotten to tell Ivy about her cover story.
“Good. Actually, I’m following up on something for the article and have a favor to ask.”
Mary’s gaze turned suspicious. “Of me?”
“Yes, I wanted a behind-the-scenes look at the milk and how it’s delivered, so we were hoping we could take Belinda on her milk run to the Good Tidings Café,” Gus said.
Mary’s gaze drifted from Gus to rest on Ivy. Her brow was creased in a slight frown, as if she wondered why Ivy was even there. Then her brows rose a few centimeters, and her mouth formed a little O.
“Wait a minute. I’ve heard you’re some sort of amateur sleuth, Ivy.” She looked back at Gus. “You aren’t writing an article about the village, are you? You’re writing about Vicky’s death.”
Oh-oh. Busted. Gus shifted on her feet waiting for Mary to throw them out. “You could say that.”
Mary pushed up from her desk, but instead of being angry, she looked intrigued. “And you think there is a clue at Good Tidings?”
Her interest took Gus by surprise, but she went with it. “Yes. The fresh herbs.”
“Aha!” Mary snapped her fingers and started to pace. “I knew there was something funny about Wanda, and I’d heard about her and Kevin. Of course it makes sense they would be the main suspects.”
“She told us she grows herbs right there on the premises, and Vicky was poisoned with an herb. But the room is off of the kitchen, and we need an excuse to get into the kitchen so we can try to get in that room. We figured if we went in with Belinda, that could be our excuse.”
Mary looked skeptical. “But isn’t this something that Detective Winters should be doing?”
Gus’s stomach clenched. She didn’t want Mary to refuse to help her or to tell Winters what they were up to. She wanted to solve the case herself. “Yes, but I’m a sheriff back in Mystic Notch, and I’m just following up on some of these leads. Winters and I go way back.” It wasn’t totally a lie. She just hoped Mary would make the erroneous conclusion that she was following the leads at Winters’s request.
Mary brightened. “Oh. Sure, take Belinda, then. She’s expecting me to pick her up at two-fifty.”
“Great. Thanks.” Gus turned to leave.
“So the police think the husband and Wanda were in on it together?” Mary asked.
Gus shrugged. She really had no idea what the police thought. “Well, we can’t say for sure, but it’s something to check on.”
“Indeed. Well, good luck!”
“For a minute there, I thought Mary was going to call the cops on us,” Ivy said once they were back out on the street.
“I know. I didn’t like to lie, but I had to say somet
hing to make it seem official.”
“That was quick thinking, though I do wonder if Detective Winters is on the same path as us,” Ivy said.
Gus shrugged. “If Winters is halfway as good as she used to be, she will be onto this. But maybe she has been working other angles and just hasn’t arrived at this conclusion yet.”
Ivy glanced at the watch on her wrist. “Okay so should we meet around two-thirty?”
“Sure. Wait…there’s one problem. The milking barn is almost a half mile out of town. How are we going to pick her up?”
Ivy smiled. “I’ve got you covered. I happen to have wheels. I can pick you up and then we’ll head to the milking barn.”
Gus frowned. “Your wheels aren’t propelled by reindeer or horses, are they?”
“Nope, an old AMC Pacer.”
Gus supposed a decades-old car that looked like a bubble was better than a team of sarcastic reindeer. “Good, then see you at two-thirty.”
Chapter 8
Gus spent the rest of the day picking up some Christmas gifts. She didn’t have a long list to buy for but still found a beautiful engraved silver bookmark for her sister Willa and even a catnip toy for Willa’s cat, Pandora. She was eager to visit the café and felt certain that either Wanda or Kevin was the killer.
At two twenty-five, Gus grabbed her black down jacket and stood outside to wait for Ivy. Across the street, a snowman appeared to study her, his red scarf dangling, carrot nose twitching. It wasn’t really moving, was it?
She was more than happy to leave its scrutinizing gaze when Ivy pulled up.
The maids a-milking were situated in a large barn on the edge of Christmas Village. The barn was a tourist attraction where the maids sat on their milking stools and tourists filed inside to watch. At the end of the barn was a sampling room where they could sample the fresh raw milk.
Belinda was already waiting in the pickup area with her pail of milk. She seemed surprised to see Gus and Ivy.
“Mary was busy, so we offered to pick you up,” Ivy said.
Belinda shrugged. “Okay. As long as I’m not late. Wanda expects this milk promptly on time.”
“You won’t be late. Hop in.” Belinda hopped into the back of the car, and they drove the short distance to the Good Tidings Café.
Wanda was surprised and possibly a little irritated to see them at the back door to the kitchen. “What are you doing here?”
“We gave Belinda a ride.” Ivy shoved Belinda and her pail of milk into the kitchen. Then she and Gus slipped in behind her.
Wanda took the pail from Belinda and put it on the counter. Her eyes were trained on Gus as Gus wandered around.
“Thanks. Well, that’s it, then.” Wanda opened the door and gestured for them to leave.
Gus pretended not to notice. “This is fascinating. Really clean kitchen.”
“Thank you.” Wanda smiled, but her eyes were flat and filled with weariness and caution.
“The food smells delicious. Those fresh herbs really make the food top-notch.” Gus scanned the chopped-up food on a cutting board in the counter. She saw some green stuff that she assumed was herbs, but they were small flakes and looked dry. “You must have a big area back here to grow them in.” Gus craned her neck as if looking around the room for the herb-growing area.
“It’s just a room.” Wanda took several glass milk bottles down from a cabinet then lifted the lid off the pail and started transferring the milk into the bottles. “Now if you don’t mind, we’re kind of busy.” Wanda gestured toward the door again.
“Oh, we don’t mind. I love to see how you cook food in a restaurant,” Gus said. “I’m not very good at cooking myself.”
Wanda sighed. “We really don’t want anyone in the kitchen while we’re cooking. Health board violations and all that.”
“Of course.” Gus saw one door other than the one they’d come in through and edged toward it. “This must be the room where the famous herbs are grown.”
Wanda jerked her gaze toward the door, spilling milk all over the counter. “You can’t go in there!”
“Why not?” Gus had put her hand on the knob.
Wanda rushed over and stood in front of the door in an overly dramatic way, which obviously meant she had something to hide. Gus was starting to feel like she’d have this case wrapped up by dinner time. “We have special grow lights on timers, and there’s a delicate watering system. The herbs are very sensitive. Opening the door would be bad. Very, very bad.”
Wanda was babbling now, which only solidified her guilt even more in Gus’s mind.
“That sounds fascinating. I’ll just take a quick peek.” Gus pulled on the knob.
Wanda put her palm on the door. “No you won’t.”
Gus pulled harder. “What’s the harm, unless there’s something you don’t want me to see in there?”
All activity in the kitchen had stopped. Even the cook had stopped chopping. Everyone was watching them.
Wanda gnawed on her bottom lip. Clearly, she was nervous. “No! It’s just that the herbs are so important.”
“Good then you’ll want me to see them.” Gus hip-checked her out of the way and whipped the door open.
Gus gasped. What she saw inside the room was not what she expected.
There were no herbs. There were no grow lights or hydroponic systems dripping with water. There was a desk. A small table and chairs. A television.
And Kevin Smithers sitting at the table eating a sandwich.
Ivy crowded into the doorway beside Gus. “Wait. Where are the herbs?” Ivy asked.
Wanda sighed. “Okay, fine. You caught me. There are no fresh herbs. Happy now?”
Gus wasn’t happy. She was disappointed. The room didn’t even have so much as a cactus plant. No dirt. No sign of hemlock. Just a guilty-looking widower with mustard on the corner of his lips staring at them over a pastrami sandwich.
Gus turned to Wanda. “You didn’t want us to come in here because there are no herbs?”
Wanda fiddled with her apron. “Yes,” she said in a small voice. “I tried growing herbs in here—I really did—but there’s just not enough light, even with grow lights, and the temperature never gets warm enough. So I get dried ones.” She gestured toward the bookshelf, where a row of large plastic containers full of dried herbs sat. Gus scanned the labels. Basil, oregano, lemon balm, but no hemlock, of course.
Then again, Kevin Smithers was hiding in there with a guilty look on his face.
Gus gestured between Wanda and Kevin. “But you two are obviously up to something. Otherwise why would he be hiding in here? And I bet that something has to do with Vicky’s death.”
Kevin dropped his sandwich. “I’m not hiding! Well, I guess I am sort of hiding. We just didn’t want to take our relationship public so soon after Vicky’s death.”
“Why not?” Ivy asked. “Afraid it might look suspicious?”
Wanda rushed to Kevin’s side. “No! We just thought it was disrespectful.”
“Yeah.” Kevin stood and put his arm around Wanda’s waist. “We didn’t have anything to do with her death!”
Gus’s eyes narrowed. “Oh no? Then why did Kevin have a takeout bag from this restaurant at the scene of the crime?”
Wanda gasped. She turned to Kevin. “Takeout bag?”
“That’s right,” Gus said. “You lied to me about Vicky coming in and getting her breakfast that morning, didn’t you?”
Wanda shook her head vigorously. “No! She was here that morning, just like always.”
“And you didn’t give a takeout bag to Kevin, maybe one with something special in it?” Gus asked.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Wanda’s gaze flicked from Gus to Kevin. “Kev, what is she talking about?”
Kevin swallowed hard. “I think I know. I was there when Vicky died, except I didn’t know what was happening. I was on my way home after punching out at the tinsel factory, and I saw all the commotion. I never imagined it was becau
se Vicky had collapsed!” He glanced up at Wanda. “I’m sorry, but I heard this lady here say something about her being poisoned. I saw the Good Tidings takeout bag, and well…I thought maybe…” Kevin’s voice drifted off, and he looked at Wanda with guilt-ridden eyes.
Wanda stepped away from him. “You thought what?”
Ivy glanced at Gus and then back to Kevin. “You mean you picked up the bag because you thought Wanda was the one who poisoned her?”
Kevin nodded, his gaze down at the floor. “I was afraid there might be evidence on the bag, so I grabbed it.”
“And what was in it?” Gus asked.
“Nothing. It was empty. Not even a crumb.”
“What did you do with it?”
“I threw it away.” Kevin turned pleading eyes to Wanda. “Please don’t be mad at me. I know you’re not a killer, but when I saw her dead, and there was talk of poison, and the bag was just lying there next to her purse, I figured I’d grab it just in case. I only wanted to protect you from suspicion.”
Wanda looked undecided. But then her face softened. She hugged him and brushed the mustard off his lip. “I don’t like that you thought I might have killed her, but you risked getting caught with the bag to protect me, and that’s all that matters.”
They kissed, and Gus made a face. “You two still seem pretty suspicious to me. And I heard Vicky was seeing a lawyer. Maybe you didn’t want her to divorce you and give up all that money.”
“Money? What money?” Kevin asked.
“She had money that you’d lose in a divorce.” Gus was bluffing, but why else wouldn’t he just divorce her?
“Umm, no. She doesn’t have any money. I just couldn’t bring myself to tell her. I knew about the lawyer, though. She wasn’t seeing him about a divorce.”
“Yeah, that would have been too convenient for us,” Wanda muttered.
“What was she seeing him about?” Ivy asked.
Kevin shook his head. “It was about those birds. She had a real bee in her bonnet about that. She was going to take up some kind of action to make sure they got better treatment.”
Grievance in Gingerbread Alley (Christmas Village Cozy Mystery Book 2) Page 4