Mulch Ado About Murder

by Martha Rogers

  “Of course I can. I have some errands to do this morning, but I’ll stop by your house soon as I’m done.” Surely Doris was just upset because a young man had died. I didn’t think she could have any other information that would be useful, but I would certainly try to see her before lunch.

  “I hate to leave such good company, but I need to get started on my errands. Have a great morning.” I nodded to Ben and Harry. “I’ll see you this afternoon.”

  I left them and headed for my first stop, the director’s office. Noreen Jensen sat at her desk talking on the phone. I knocked lightly on the door frame and she beckoned me into her office. A moment later she ended her call.

  “Abigail, have a seat. The executive board had a meeting this morning. That was Mr. Wentworth, the chairman on the phone. They are really upset over this . . . this murder. They know the publicity will get to some of our families, and we may be losing residents.”

  That was understandable of course, but it would take a while if they wanted to find other places as nice as this one. By then this whole matter would be cleared up and there would be no need for anyone moving. Then again, if Pete turned out to be mixed up in anything illegal, that might be just as bad. It would look like the manager didn’t do a more careful job of screening employees.

  Noreen blew out a breath and leaned back in her chair. “How can I help you?”

  I eased into the leather chair across from her. “In some ways it has to do with the death of Pete.”

  Then she sighed and leaned back. “I should have realized you would get involved. How can I help you?”

  At least she didn’t think I was meddling. “The rooms in the wing where Ellie Davenport lives have a clear view down to my house. Ellie didn’t see anything because she didn’t open her blinds until later, after the police had come. I thought maybe someone else might have seen something, maybe without even realizing it. Perhaps if I question them, they will tell me if they did.”

  Noreen stared at me a moment before whipping around to the computer behind her. “I see. I don’t know what good it’ll do, but I suppose you have Ben Martin helping you.”

  She had me with that one, but I was only doing it for the sake of all the people who live here. “Yes, I do, and Harry is helping as well. We promise we’re not getting into the way of the police.”

  “They spoke to a few of our residents and will come back later to talk with others.” Noreen clicked on a page and hit the printer icon. “But they’re rather intimidating, so they most likely didn’t get many clear answers. Also, the police have a tendency to dismiss much of what our older people have to say.”

  She had that right. Even so, I hoped they didn’t think we were too old to be reliable witnesses. So many others don’t understand that even those in their later years can be just as observant as someone much younger. If the detective didn’t send anyone back right away, Ben and I could get the jump on them.

  Noreen retrieved a sheet of paper from her printer. “Here you go. This is everyone on that wing. You can cross through the odd number rooms as they face the inner courtyard and not the outside.”

  “Thank you. I’ll be discreet as I question them.”

  “On another topic, Taryn Burns would like to move the date for the Harvest dinner and have it in a few weeks instead of closer to Thanksgiving. An activity like that may get their minds off the murder.”

  “That’s a wonderful idea.” As event coordinator for Spring Hills, Taryn could always find a way to reassure our residents.

  Then I remembered something else. “Noreen, we should include something in memory of Pete at our Sunday evening chapel services.”

  We had chapel service for those who were homebound but still wanted to attend some type of church program. Different pastors from the various churches in Springhill and our own resident retired preacher took turns conducting the service each Sunday. Even though I did attend my own church on Sunday mornings, I was in charge of planning the program each Sunday evening.

  “That’s a good idea, and I’ll leave it up to you as to what to do.” She stood. “Now, I need to make a few visits and reassure some of our older, more infirm people that they are safe here.”

  I left her office and headed for the lounge area to go over my list. First, all those room numbers not facing the courtyard were crossed off. I put a line through Ellie’s as she had already said she hadn’t seen anything. That left five others. A question mark went beside Jim Tate’s name as he’s always telling tall tales to anyone who would listen. A great guy, but he was full of himself. Then there was Helen Grayson. A level headed, retired teacher, I could get good information from her if she saw anything.

  Tillie McIntosh might talk my arm off before I could get any really usable information, but I’d interview her anyway. Besides, she’s the community gossip and knows everything about everybody. She wouldn’t hesitate to tell me more than I needed to know and without my even asking.

  I eliminated one other name because the poor lady was blind, and her hearing wasn’t all that great either. The single person left was Olivia Wentworth, the mother of the chairman of the board and part owner. I thought I might visit with her just because she always seemed so lonely. Mr. Corbin Wentworth might complain and rant when things went wrong, but he seldom made an appearance around here to see his mother.

  She occupied a large suite at the end of the hall. Maria and another housekeeper went in and took care of her apartment which had combined two units into one. As soon as the building for memory care was completed, Mrs. Wentworth would be moving there, but for now, her son made sure she had plenty of space in the main building.

  Well, that left me with only three people who might be reliable as witnesses. I had to laugh because if the police questioned any of them, the poor officers would give up in frustration with all the other stuff they’d have to listen to. That is if the tenants would even talk to them in the first place.

  The next thing would be to see what workers were on duty around that area yesterday. Maybe some of them knew more about Pete and his personal life. I already knew about Maria Roselli, but a good-looking guy like Pete probably had other lady friends.

  I glanced at my watch. Oops, I’d have to get busy if I planned to get anything done before lunch. Harry had mentioned going to the police station, so Ben probably went with him. At least one of us should come up with some good information.

  I headed down the hall and stopped in at Helen’s room. She welcomed me with a smile and an offer of a peppermint from the bowl by her bed. After a few minutes of small talk about the weather, we got down to business.

  “Helen, I know your room looks across the lawn. Did you see Pete out there yesterday?”

  She raised her eyebrows. “I was wondering if you would get around to asking me about that. I didn’t see what happened, but I was late getting dressed yesterday, and when I opened the blinds before I left, I saw him with some woman out there.”

  “A woman? What did she look like?” That must have happened after I saw him.

  “Hmm, well she had dark hair, but I couldn’t see her face. Pete got off his mower to talk with her. She seemed really upset about something because it looked like she was yelling at him. She stomped off, and he went back to work, but that’s all I saw. I didn’t want to be late for breakfast. I remember she had on a red sweater or jacket and black pants.” A frown appeared. “Oh my, I forgot to tell the police that.”

  “Thank you. I’m sure they’ll find that out. If you think of anything else, please let me know.”

  Out in the hall I stopped and looked at my notes. A dark-haired woman argued with Pete outside. Maria had said she and Pete argued in the employee lounge, and she would have had on her uniform. Could he have had two arguments that day? That seemed weird, but it was the only explanation that fit, and who was the second woman if not Maria? I made notes of questions that needed answering. Find out what other women Pete knew. What did they argue about? How did she get here and where did
she go? Looks like I had more to chew on than I could digest for the moment.

  Chapter 6

  When I headed back toward the lobby, Jim Tate called out to me.

  “Hey, Abigail, did you get a new car?”

  “Say what? A new car? What gave you that idea Jim?”

  He shrugged. “I saw a silver Honda parked behind your house and thought maybe you bought a new one. Then I saw your white one, and it made me wonder why you needed two cars. Did you have a visitor?”

  I remembered the car I heard leaving before I took Mitzi outside to play. What if it had been the killer? Whoever killed Pete came and went in a hurry. Why, I could have been an eye-witness myself if I’d been quicker.

  Jim crossed his arms and tapped his foot.

  “Oh, I’m sorry, my mind wandered a moment. No, I didn’t have a visitor, but can you tell me anything else about the car?”

  “Not really, but it was gone when I looked out my window later and saw the police arrive.” His eyes lit up with excitement. “Say, do you think maybe that was the killer’s car?”

  Of course I didn’t know, but if I said anything Jim would tell everybody he’d seen the killer’s car. Who was I kidding? That’s exactly what he would do anyway. Maybe I could stall him. “I think it was just somebody visiting, and they had to leave in a hurry.”

  It sounded lame, but it was all I could think of at the moment. He gave me one of those “Come on now” looks and shook his head.

  “Jim, did you see anything else?” Maybe I could get him to thinking in another direction.

  “Nope, just noticed the car when I was adjusting my blinds.” He turned back to his room then stopped. “Um, I heard Pete and Maria had a thing going. Is that true?”

  Now how was I to answer that? I sure don’t believe in spreading gossip. “Well, she told me they dated.” And that was the truth.

  He slapped his thigh. “I knew it. Pretty gal like that is bound to have a good-looking fellow interested in her.” Jim laughed then whistled on his way to his apartment.

  Why do men think every woman needs a man in her life? I’d done just dandy for the past five years without one, thank you very much. Still, it was kind of nice having Ben pay attention to me. Then I remembered my mission and walked back up the hallway toward Tillie’s room. That’s when I spotted the tape over the linen closet door lock.

  Maria must have forgotten her keys again or hadn’t found them. Noreen wasn’t going to like that, and it wasn’t like Maria to be so careless. I didn’t have time to investigate since I still had other names on my list.

  The next name on the list belonged to Tillie. I turned toward her apartment, but then I remembered I had told Doris I would come by her place before lunch. Tillie would talk my arm off, and it wasn’t like she wouldn’t be around whenever I found the chance to find her. Friendship with Doris was more important, and she wouldn’t have said anything to me if it wasn’t important.

  Doris sounded upset and if I neglected her, she would get her feelings hurt and perhaps not confide in me. Since she was usually so quiet, she must have something important to tell me. But then, if I didn’t catch the others I wanted to question, they’d be off to lunch and not be back in their rooms for a while.

  I sighed. Making my decision, I walked down toward Doris’s cottage four houses around the curve from mine. All ten of the independent living cottages formed a large semi-circle at the edge of the wide expanse of lawn down from the main building.

  As I strolled to Doris’s, I thought about the others. Besides Harry, Ben, Bessie, Doris, Clara, and me, two other singles and two couples lived there. My sleuthing instincts went into gear, and I analyzed the other occupants.

  The Stewart’s had been out of town all week and didn’t even know about Pete yet. Charlie Lewis lived next door to me. I crossed him off. As a former pastor, he was almost like the shepherd of our flock in the cottages. Always looking out for us and taking care of us.

  That left the Clays and Edna Burbank. Edna wasn’t as big as a minute, so I couldn’t see her as a killer, and the Clays were a nice couple. Didn’t know them very well since they weren’t involved in any of the same activities I was. Ora Mae Clay did have a sense of humor and was quite the comedienne as evidenced by her participation in many of the programs Taryn arranged. Ernest was a like a Teddy Bear and everyone liked him.

  Guess that eliminated everyone who lived in these houses, but I might go ahead and question them later. I turned off the walk toward Doris’ and realized she had a great view of the golf course and tennis courts.

  When I knocked, she peeped through a slit in the door. “Oh, thank goodness, it’s you, Abigail.” She slipped the chain off and let me inside.

  “I hope you don’t mind herbal tea. You always drink coffee at breakfast, but I don’t even make coffee, so it would probably taste worse than usual.”

  I perched on one of her barstools. “Tea is fine, Doris.” I decided to simply wait for her to get up her courage and tell me what bothered her.

  She poured the beverage and set it on the bar with a plate of lemon cookies. Ah, a lady after my own heart. I picked up two of them and placed them on a napkin. Doris chewed on her lip.

  Finally, she leaned toward me. “I don’t know if what I saw means anything or not, but I have to tell someone, and I’m afraid the police will want to keep questioning me if I tell them.”

  Her gaze darted from side to side as though she expected someone to jump out from the walls, and her hands shook as she held her cup.

  “Oh, Abigail, it was awful. I never said anything to anyone because it’s none of my business, but now it takes on new meaning.”

  I sipped my tea then asked, “What does, Doris?”

  “The argument I saw and heard.”

  I raised my eyebrows. Another argument? It seemed to me like more than a few people had been angry the past few days.

  Doris bit her lip again. “I decided to walk down to the tennis courts last week for my daily walk. On my way back, I came by the golf course. I spotted two men out on the first tee. They were gesturing and shouting at each other. I could only hear a few words but it had something to do with being owed what was theirs and not being fair. When I got near, one of them saw me and quieted down. I did hear him say, ‘You’ll do this over and do it right. This course deserves the best.’”

  Hmm, this was interesting news. “Who were the men?”

  Her hand clasped the base of her throat. “When I got to them, I saw that it was Pete and Adam, that young man who works in the pro shop and makes out the schedules.”

  Pete and Adam? Then I remembered how protective Adam could be of that golf course. With so many of the city officials of Springhill playing here, Adam wanted it in the best condition possible. He was probably angry with Pete for not doing a good job. But Pete always took such great pride in his work. I wanted to write this down, but that might cause Doris to clam up. I’d have to rely on my memory for this one.

  Doris went on. “I thought Adam was going to hit Pete. In fact, he had his hand raised, but backed off when he saw me. I turned my head and almost ran to my house. When I peeked out through my window, I could still see them up there going at it.”

  I patted her hand. “Thank you for telling me, Doris. This could be important.”

  “But, Abigail, they saw it was me. What if Adam killed Pete? He knows I saw them arguing, and if I tell the police, he’ll know who told.”

  “Now, Doris, I don’t think you have to worry. Adam wouldn’t hurt you.” I pondered that a moment. If Adam was capable of killing Pete, he might be angry enough to harm Doris.

  “But just in case, I’ll ask Harry to keep an eye on your place. He can stop by here and walk with you to meals. And you can call me if you want to go anywhere else.” I squeezed her hand and offered my usual tried and true solution. “Let’s pray about it.”

  We bowed our heads, and I held her hands. “Lord, I come to you this morning seeking Your hedge of protection about my
friend Doris. Keep her safe and remove her fears. We know Your love and power will work to all that is good for Doris. In Your name we pray. Amen.”

  She sat back with relief. “Oh, thank you. I know the Lord will take care of me.” Doris jumped up. “Won’t you stay for lunch?”

  I hated to say no, but more important things needed my attention, and this new information needed to be added to what we already had. “Thank you for the invitation, but I have some business to take care of. I’ll see you at dinner.”

  I left and headed back to the main building. Good thing it had been Doris who had seen the altercation. If it had been Bessie, she would’ve marched right up there and tried to stop it. Clara would’ve shouted at them and then called Noreen Jenson to report it. Of course, the latter may have kept Pete from being murdered. As Alice would say, things were getting “curiouser and curiouser.”

  I arrived at my cottage and stopped. I added Adam to my mental list of people to question, and that made three different people arguing with Pete. If he had that many upset with him, we’d have our hands full trying to figure out what happened.

  I’d see Adam this afternoon at the pro shop when I checked in for my golf round. I glanced at my watch. Since Ben and Harry hadn’t returned, I decided to question the grounds manager even though they were to take care of questioning the men. I had thirty minutes left before everyone stopped for lunch. Maybe I could catch him down at the garden center.

  The walk ate up four precious minutes, but I found Tom Kirk in his office. I rapped on the door frame, and he beckoned me in.

  “I figured I might be seeing you or one of your friends soon. With Pete found in your flower bed, I knew you’d want out to find out who did it.” His grin spread across his face, and his words were like butter melting on a hot biscuit.

  If he thought I was just a meddling old woman, he had another thought coming. “Why wouldn’t I be interested in Pete’s murder? It took place beside my cottage. How well did you know Pete?” Now that sounded like a dumb question. Exactly how much did he actually know about his own employees?