“Do you think it’s not natural?” Helen Louise asked, her tone sharp.
“How do I know?” I said. “I didn’t mean that I think it isn’t, only that the police are bound to ask questions anyway.”
Helen Louise still looked troubled, and I figured she was recalling the conversation we had overheard less than half an hour ago. Not to mention that confrontation earlier in the evening with Tammy Harville. Tammy, at least, had been taken home, but Deirdre Thompson had still been present. And standing not too far from where Gerry collapsed. I couldn’t suppress that thought. It was pretty coincidental that Gerry died not long after that conversation with Deirdre.
Melba leaned toward me and spoke in a low tone. “Are you thinking she was murdered?”
Jared recoiled from her. “What are you talking about?” he asked.
Melba smiled sweetly. “I’ve known Charlie most of my life, and I can read him without even trying. He’s thinking Gerry could have been murdered.”
Helen Louise, Jared, and Melba stared at me. Melba had indeed read me all too easily. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but there was simply something too convenient about Gerry’s dying like that after two nasty episodes with women who loathed her.
“Well?” Jared said.
I shrugged. “It’s probably not likely, but you can’t dismiss it completely as a possibility.”
Melba looked smug. “I knew it. I’ll bet Tammy Harville sneaked away from Milton and got in here somehow and poisoned Gerry’s drink.”
“Keep your voice down.” Helen Louise shot Melba a quelling look. “That’s how ugly rumors get started.”
Melba did not take quelling at all well, and she glowered at Helen Louise. Normally they got along fine, but we were all on edge tonight. I didn’t want to make things worse by saying the wrong thing, but I couldn’t stand there mute.
“Let’s reserve any speculation for another place and time,” I said. “Until we hear the official verdict on Gerry’s cause of death, we’d only be wasting time and mental energy.”
“I guess you’re right,” Melba said grudgingly.
“I’m ready to get out of here,” Jared said. “I’m tired, and I resent having to stand around waiting. I’m going to ask someone if I can leave.” He stepped away and headed for the door.
Melba didn’t appear pleased by his petulance or his actions. Jared’s use of the first-person pronoun had been all too obvious, I thought. He wasn’t thinking about Melba, and she had picked up on it.
Helen Louise moved closer and leaned against me. I slipped an arm around her waist. “What a horrible end to a party,” she said. “I was enjoying myself, for the most part, but now I’m tired, my feet hurt, and I want to go home and get out of this dress.”
“I know, sweetheart,” I said.
Melba eyed the dress critically. “The cleaners might be able to save it. But I wouldn’t count on it.”
Jared returned. The angry set to his mouth indicated to me that he hadn’t received the answer he wanted.
“What did they say?” Melba asked, her tone none too cordial.
Jared didn’t appear to register her irritation, being evidently too wrapped up in his own. “They’re waiting for somebody from the sheriff’s department. They wouldn’t say who, but an officer told me everyone had to remain until the deputy arrived and assessed the situation.”
I felt Helen Louise stiffen beside me, and I knew why. We both reckoned that the deputy we had to wait for was none other than Chief Deputy Kanesha Berry. Kanesha, Azalea’s daughter, investigated homicides in Athena and in the county. Our police force didn’t have a homicide detective, so the county handled murders and unexplained deaths. Any that the county couldn’t handle got turned over to the MBI, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation.
If the police here at the scene called in Kanesha, that meant they considered Gerry’s death suspicious. I wondered what they had discovered to make them suspect foul play.
Jared glanced from one to another of the three of us in turn before he spoke. “Obviously y’all know something I don’t. I guess calling in the sheriff’s department is significant somehow.”
Didn’t the man ever read the newspaper or watch a cop show on television?
I suppressed the spurt of irritation I felt at Jared’s naiveté. “Yes, it is significant,” I said. “There must be something suspicious about Gerry’s death.”
I could see from Jared’s expression of increasing unease that he finally understood the gravity of the situation.
Two police officers began to circulate through the room, taking down names, addresses, and phone numbers. While our foursome waited for one of the officers to reach us, we remained silent.
Our turn came about ten minutes later, though it seemed longer. The officer who took our details had moved on to the next group when a voice called for our attention. I recognized that voice. Kanesha had arrived.
Everyone turned to face the deputy. Kanesha surveyed the room, and I thought I saw her grimace slightly when she caught sight of me. Then she began to speak.
“Sorry to hold y’all up when I’m sure you’re ready to go home,” Kanesha said, “but we’ve got some questions about what happened. We also have to follow procedures, and I’m sure y’all understand that we want to do everything by the book. I need to talk to anyone who saw or spoke to Ms. Albritton in the fifteen minutes or so before she collapsed. If those of you who did would move to your left and those who did not will move to your right, that will be a big help.”
At first no one moved at all. Kanesha frowned. “Come on now, folks. Some of you saw or spoke to her, I’m sure. I will make this as quick as I can, but nobody’s leaving until I get some cooperation.”
After that, people began to move. Helen Louise sighed and began to move to the left. Melba went with her. I thought it had been more than a quarter hour since I had seen Gerry before she collapsed, but given the argument Helen Louise and I had heard, I knew I might as well go ahead and talk to Kanesha tonight. I felt her eyes on me—though I probably imagined it—as I followed Helen Louise and Melba. Jared, I noticed, went the other way.
“Thank you,” Kanesha said when the two groups were finally separated. “Those of you who moved to the right can go, unless you need to wait for someone in the other group. My deputies will be in here to answer questions and help you if you need anything.”
Haskell stepped into the room, now in uniform. Kanesha must have called him in. He was her staunchest supporter in the sheriff’s department. I wasn’t too surprised that she would want him to be part of this investigation.
Haskell spotted Melba, Helen Louise, and me and nodded to acknowledge us. He and his fellow deputy watched as a few people filed out of the room. Jared Carter made a move as if to leave, but then subsided. His resigned expression as he glanced at Melba made me wonder about their budding relationship and whether it would survive the stress of this night.
Kanesha left the room but was back in about two minutes. She held notebook pages, and she glanced through them. Then she looked up, and her eyes met mine.
“Mr. Harris and Ms. Brady, I’d appreciate it if you would come with me.” Kanesha indicated that we should follow her, and she led us to the dining room.
I felt Helen Louise stiffen beside me when we entered the room, and I knew she was thinking the same thing I was. Neither of us wanted to see poor Gerry Albritton still lying on the floor.
I was relieved to see, however, that the body had been removed. The table and the spilled food, however, had not been touched.
Helen Louise stopped and stared at the area where Gerry had lain. She wore a puzzled expression.
Kanesha drew us toward three dining room chairs arranged about ten feet away from the spot where Gerry died. Helen Louise and I occupied the two chairs that faced the one Kanesha took. The deputy took out a notebook and pen. She stared at Helen Loui
se and me for a moment, and then she addressed Helen Louise.
“Ms. Brady, when you stopped to look just now at the place where Ms. Albritton fell, it looked like something was bothering you. What was it?”
Helen Louise frowned. “Something is missing,” she said slowly. “The brandy snifter. What happened to her brandy snifter?”
SIXTEEN
I concentrated on recalling the scene. Had there been a snifter? I wasn’t sure. I didn’t remember it.
“Snifter?” Kanesha asked. “That’s a kind of glass, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it’s stemware with a wide bottom and a narrower top,” Helen Louise said. “Used for brandy, port, that kind of thing.”
“And Ms. Albritton had one?” Kanesha said. “In her hand when she collapsed?”
Helen Louise frowned. “I’m pretty sure she did.”
“It didn’t break?” Kanesha said.
“No, the carpet is thick enough that it wouldn’t, and the snifter looked like good crystal,” Helen Louise said. “There might be a stain in the carpet. Although . . .” She hesitated. “She may have drained the glass before she fell. I’m not sure.”
“Excuse me a moment.” Kanesha got up and went to talk to the other officers. Two of them began to examine the carpet carefully while Kanesha came back to resume questioning us.
“I understand you performed CPR on Ms. Albritton,” Kanesha said. “Tell me everything you did.” She looked at Helen Louise.
“All right.” Helen Louise drew a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. “I had just started talking to Deirdre Thompson and Betty Camden when I saw Gerry moving in our direction. Next thing I knew, she stumbled into the table and knocked it over. I’m pretty sure she had the snifter in her hand. She went down with the table and was lying prone beside it.”
“Did you see her take a drink from the snifter?” Kanesha asked.
“Yes, during the couple of seconds, at the most, that I looked at her,” Helen Louise said.
“Did she choke or cough?” Kanesha asked.
Helen Louise considered the question. “No, I don’t think so. Like I said, it was a really brief glance.”
“Okay then, please continue,” Kanesha said.
“After she fell, I think everyone froze for a few seconds, we were all so shocked. I could see she wasn’t moving. I thought at first she’d only been stunned by the fall, but then I realized she might need help. I knelt beside her. I had to turn her over, of course. Charlie helped.”
“Take a moment and visualize the scene,” Kanesha said. “Do you remember seeing the snifter then?”
Helen Louise nodded slowly. “Yes, it had rolled several feet away, I think. But I barely noticed it. I was concentrating on Gerry and getting her turned so I could do CPR. Once we had her in position, I started. Charlie did chest compressions.”
Kanesha turned to me. “How about you? Do you recall seeing the snifter?”
“No, I don’t,” I said. “I didn’t actually see Gerry fall. I heard the noise she made when the table toppled over, but by the time I saw her, she was on the floor. If the snifter rolled several feet away like Helen Louise said, it was probably out of my line of sight.”
Kanesha nodded. “How long do you think you worked on her?”
“I can’t really say,” Helen Louise replied. “Five minutes, maybe as many as ten. We worked on her until the EMTs arrived, so however long it took for them to get here.”
“Were people standing close to you while you performed CPR?” Kanesha asked.
“I think so,” Helen Louise said. “You know what people are like when something happens, nobody wants to miss anything. But I was focused on what I was doing, so I didn’t think much about it.”
“I agree,” I said. “I was aware of the people crowded around us, but I didn’t have time to think about it. I didn’t waste energy on trying to get them to move back. I had to focus on what I was doing, because it’s been years since I performed CPR on anyone.”
“So anyone could have picked up the snifter and taken it away while everyone else was watching the two of you trying to revive the deceased,” Kanesha said.
“Wouldn’t someone have noticed the snifter being carried away?” I asked. “A champagne flute would be much easier to conceal under a jacket. A snifter would cause at least a small bulge.”
“People were distracted,” Kanesha said. “The person who removed it counted on that.”
“Probably so,” I replied. “Since the snifter disappeared, it must be important. Why steal it unless Gerry was poisoned? Right?”
Kanesha nodded reluctantly. “Poison is certainly a possibility, although we won’t know for sure until the toxicology report.”
“When could someone have put poison in the snifter?” Helen Louise asked.
“That’s what I have to try to find out,” Kanesha said. “I’ll be questioning everyone, and I want to find moments when she might have set it down somewhere, and if she did, for how long.”
“And who was in the room when she did,” I said.
Kanesha nodded. “I want you both to think back to the times you saw her tonight and whether she had the snifter with her.”
“We will.” Helen Louise and I exchanged a look. We were both thinking, I was certain, that we needed to tell Kanesha about the confrontations that Gerry had with Tammy Harville and Deirdre Thompson. I didn’t like bearing tales, but if it turned out that one of these women murdered Gerry Albritton, she should be held accountable. I didn’t see how Tammy could be responsible, though, unless she sneaked away from Milton and came back to the party without his being aware of it.
“We think there are some incidents at the party tonight that you need to know about,” I said.
“Because they could have some bearing on Gerry’s death,” Helen Louise added.
“Okay, I’m listening,” Kanesha said.
Helen Louise looked at me, and I interpreted that as her wish for me to do the talking, at least initially.
“Do you know Milton and Tammy Harville?” I asked.
Kanesha’s expression turned grim. “Yes, I do.”
“If you know much about them,” I said, trying to choose my words as diplomatically as possible, “you know that Tammy is really possessive of Milton. She is always suspicious of interactions he has with other women.”
“I’m aware of that, yes,” Kanesha said. “Go on.”
“Tammy made a nasty scene tonight when Gerry came downstairs to the party,” I said. “In front of many witnesses, so I’m sure you’ll hear about it from other people.” I paused briefly. “She called Gerry a whore and told her to say away from Milton. Otherwise she wouldn’t live to regret it.”
“I see. How did Ms. Albritton react?” Kanesha asked.
“Completely cool and collected,” Helen Louise said. “She asked Milton to remove Tammy from her house. Actually, Milton got really angry first and told Tammy she had to stop this kind of behavior. He threatened her with Whitfield.”
“Did either Mr. or Mrs. Harville return, to your knowledge?” Kanesha looked from Helen Louise to me.
“No,” I said, and Helen Louise answered the same.
Kanesha wrote in her notebook, but whatever she noted didn’t take long. She looked up when she finished. “You said some incidents occurred. How many?”
“Two,” Helen Louise replied. “There is a den at the back of the house on the right side of the hall where guests left their coats. There is also a bathroom attached to the den. I went back there—sometime after the incident with Tammy and Gerry—but as I neared the door I could hear two voices from inside the room. The door was open about a foot, maybe a little more.”
“I had been trying to find her in the crowd,” I said, nodding toward Helen Louise. “I saw her heading down the hall and followed her. We both stood in the hall and listened. We should
n’t have eavesdropped, but I think we were both so surprised by the conversation we simply stood there and didn’t move.”
“Did you see who was talking in the den?” Kanesha asked.
“Gerry and Deirdre Thompson.” Helen Louise paused, looking uncomfortable.
Kanesha prompted her. “And what were they saying that could have a bearing on Ms. Albritton’s death?”
Helen Louise looked at me. I nodded, and she continued. “Deirdre Thompson was complaining to Gerry about the flyers that Gerry had put—or had someone put—on every front door in the neighborhood. Gerry was advertising that she was looking to buy houses in the neighborhood.”
“She was a real estate agent?” Kanesha asked.
“Yes, had her own agency, I think. Though I’d never heard of her or her agency until she moved into the neighborhood a couple of months ago after coming back to Athena after some time away. I’ve seen two or three for-sale signs in the neighborhood with her name on them.”
“So apparently she was looking for houses to sell, as well as to buy,” Kanesha said. “Go on—Mrs. Thompson was complaining, you said.”
“Yes, she was pretty unpleasant about it,” I said, taking over from Helen Louise, “but Gerry gave back as good as she got. Gerry didn’t seem at all intimidated by Deirdre Thompson. In fact, toward the end of what we heard, it sounded to me like Gerry was threatening Deirdre.”
“Yes, Gerry made it sound as if she knew things about Deirdre’s past that Deirdre wouldn’t want getting around,” Helen Louise said.
“Right after that is when we walked away,” I said. “So if Gerry told Deirdre what she knew about her, we didn’t hear it.”
“We met Stewart, who was looking for Gerry, to thank her for the invitation to the party. He and Haskell were heading home because Haskell had to be up early tomorrow,” Helen Louise said.
“While we were talking to him,” I said, “Deirdre came down the hall behind us and ordered us out of her way.”
Kanesha made more notes while Helen Louise and I waited. I clasped Helen Louise’s hand in mine and gave it a gentle squeeze. We were both tired and ready to be out of this house. I hoped Kanesha didn’t have many more questions for us.
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