Mulch Ado About Murder

by Martha Rogers

  “Pete’s been on the crew for five years. He’s a—was a good worker. I’ve never had any complaints.”

  “Not even about the greens on the golf course?”

  He narrowed his eyes. “Have you been talking to Adam? He’s a perfectionist where his golf course is concerned. I think he got down on his hands and knees and inspected every blade after Pete mowed.”

  That’s why we had the best golf course in the county if not the whole northwest corner of the state. Even the Razorback golf team came over for practice on our layout. I never found any fault with it, but then I wasn’t an expert.

  “No, I haven’t talked with Adam. I know he can be a pain, but our fairways and greens always looked good to me. And Pete was always willing to take extra time to help me with my plants and shrubs.”

  Tom Kirk nodded. “Yeah, Pete was like that. He enjoyed helping people. I think that’s why he was so upset that Maria wouldn’t let him give her the money to help pay for some of her daughter’s medical expenses.”

  My head almost jerked back. “Oh, you know about that? I understand they had quite an argument about it.”

  “Pete came to me that morning and wanted me to see if there was a way to get it to Mrs. Jensen and have her give it to Maria as a bonus. I said I’d look into it, but then I never got the chance.” His fist hit the desk. “I lost me one good man, and he’ll be hard to replace.”

  “I’m sure he will.” I glanced down at my notes. Oh, yes, Pete’s background. “Do you know of any debts Pete may have had?”

  “Yes and no. He told me he got into trouble over some gambling debts he racked up in one of the Oklahoma casinos, but he took care of it with that big win he bragged about around here. I don’t know of any since then.”

  I started to mention the arrests, but couldn’t remember the details of them. I knew the corporation did a thorough background check of all employees before hiring. I’d have to go back and check that information with Harry.

  I tried another avenue. “Pete was such a good-looking man. Do you know if he had any other girlfriends besides Maria?” I cringed a little when I realized what I was doing was tantamount to gossip and hearsay, but I waited for his answer.

  “Umm, I do know he dated other staff members, but I don’t think any of them were serious until Maria. Some seemed to think Pete was a womanizer, but if so, it didn’t affect his job as a top-notch gardener.” Then he shoved back from his desk. “Sorry, I’ve said too much already. I haven’t even told the police what I’ve told you.”

  When I looked askance at him, he quickly added, “Only because they didn’t ask me specifically about other women.” Then he offered his hand across the desk. “I don’t know what it is about you, Mrs. Billings, but you do know the right questions to ask.”

  I stood and shook his hand. “Well, I appreciate your honesty.” And I did, but I sure wished I knew which staff members Pete had dated before Maria. I’d have to do more snooping with employees. Then I remembered Tillie. If anyone would know, she would. I’d have to pay her that visit I missed earlier. She’d be more likely to give me a straight answer than any of the other men on the grounds crew.

  Chapter 7

  My stomach growled to remind me lunchtime had arrived. I hurried back to my house and fixed a ham sandwich. I added some chips, a soft drink, and a handful of chocolate chip cookies to the plate and sat down to enjoy my meal before meeting Ben and Harry.

  Tillie had a stroke not long ago, but with her therapy sessions she had really improved. She is two years older than I am and has the courage and stamina of one much younger. She was also sharp as a tack, and not much escaped her eyes or ears. It should be an interesting visit.

  After eating and taking care of Mitzi, I headed out for my round of golf. I hope Ben might decide to keep our date and join me, but that was wishful thinking. I did wait, just in case, but when he didn’t show, I went on without him. If he came, he’d have to catch-up.

  I didn’t see Adam before I teed off, but when I finished nine holes and returned to the pro shop, Adam was at the counter.

  “Oh, hi, Mrs. Billings, I didn’t see you come in. Ben Martin called earlier and said he couldn’t make the golf date today. Sorry I wasn’t here to give you the message.”

  That Ben. Wonder what his excuse will be this time. Never mind him now, I needed some information. I purchased a new bag of tees. “You take such pride in everything to do with the course. I bet you’ll miss Pete taking care of it.”

  His ears reddened like they’d been sunburned, and he hesitated before answering. “Yes, it’s a shame what happened to him.”

  “He always did such a wonderful job. It sure made my game a lot better. He’ll be missed.”

  Adam’s eyebrows shot up and his apple bobbled in his throat. “Yes, he will.”

  I hefted my golf bag to my shoulder. “I’ll see you at my usual tee time day after tomorrow.” This young man had something to hide.

  He jotted down my name on the schedule and I left. A few yards away, I stopped and glanced back. Sure enough, he was staring at me, but he swirled around in a hurry to get something from the shelf when he realized I was looking. I was sure he hadn’t told me the whole truth.

  Harry was to meet me after my golf game. If Ben came with him, I might give him a piece of my mind for standing me up. Tillie would have to wait again, but then she didn’t even expect me to visit anyway.

  When I arrived home, I put the coffee on to drip and brought out the blueberry muffins I’d made last night.

  While waiting for the men to arrive, I went back over all the information gleaned this morning. Three arguments in two days, and it appeared that all three people had been angry with Pete. Two had been identified, Maria and Adam, but not that mysterious third woman. Who was the black-haired woman in the red sweater and black pants? I didn’t recall seeing anyone dressed in those colors that day, but then I hadn’t seen everyone who lives or works here or even noticed what they were wearing.

  Adam may have been upset about something Pete didn’t do on the golf course, but could it have been motive enough for murder? Adam would have the opportunity, but I couldn’t see him hitting Pete over the head. Maria admitted her argument, but Pete had been trying to do something for her, so where was her motive?

  Both Adam and Maria had opportunity with their free access to the area, but that third argument most intrigued me at the moment. If I found her, then both motive and opportunity might be discovered. Then again, that silver car couldn’t be counted out.

  Ben and Harry finally arrived. I scowled at Ben. “Where were you this afternoon?”

  “Um, I had things to do. Sorry, maybe next time.”

  Harry headed for my computer. “I have something to show you. Pete had more than one website.”

  I prepared a tray with cups of coffee and a basket of muffins and set it on the small table in the living room.

  Harry suddenly yelled out. “Here it is. Come look.”

  Ben hurried to Harry’s side. “What did you find?”

  He grinned. “I decided do a little more searching on Pete after I left here.”

  I peered at the screen. “Why, that’s Pete and one of the other attendants. Steve, I think. He’s the one who takes Ellie to the church services on Sunday evenings when he’s on duty. What are he and Pete doing with web pages?”

  Harry glanced up at me. “It’s another website similar to the one I showed you earlier, but it’s a different because this one is a blog. The other one was mostly about gardening tips, but this one is more of a blog about himself and Steve. It’s sort of a journal where people talk about different things. Blog is short for ‘web log.’” Harry scrolled down the screen.

  I leaned closer. I had seen the one earlier, but since I didn’t know about blogs, I wasn’t really sure what I was looking at.

  Harry scrolled down. “It looks like he and Steve won big in Oklahoma a while back and they’re bragging about it. Then it looks like they won again. In hi
s last entry, he and Steve are bragging about how their luck changed and how they’re going to win more in the future.”

  “Now that seems strange. I know he and Steve won big not long ago because of the way Steve went on about it, and Pete also wanted to help Maria, but why put all that on the computer?” I stepped back from the machine and reached over to get my notebook from the desk.

  “Because people like to brag and talk about their successes. He doesn’t say where they won the money except in Oklahoma.”

  Harry had scrolled down more. “Hmm, he and Steve both contribute to this blog. They both talk about the casinos and their winnings over in Oklahoma. They hint at a scheme they have for beating the house.” He paused a moment. “If you ask me, these boys are begging for trouble by posting this where anybody and everybody can see it.”

  I read through some of what appeared on the screen. “I can’t believe the arrogance I see here. Listen to this, Ben.

  “Pete and I won big last week at the Black Jack tables. Pete took our money, invested it and came up with double our winnings. His plan is working. We’re going to try it out on a trip to Vegas. If it works there, we’ll be on our way. We’ll show them a thing or two. If you’re interested, leave a comment below.”

  Harry pointed to some responses below the article. “These are the people who made comments about it and want to know more about their scheme.”

  Ben shook his head and leaned back in the recliner. “This looks like a dangerous road for the two of them and a good motive for murder.”

  Harry clicked on the printer to copy a few pages. “I’m thinking the same thing, and this may be bigger than either of us can handle, Ben.”

  What about me? I was in on this, too, and I’d show them. “Not so fast, let me tell you what happened this morning.” I proceeded to tell them about Pete’s two new arguments.

  Harry let out a low whistle. “Our Pete sure had his share of enemies.”

  I picked up our empty cups to take them to the kitchen. “Or just people who were angry or upset with him. I can’t see any of them as motives. I haven’t talked to anyone about who the other woman could be, but I just know he dated some of the staff other than Maria. Tillie is on my list to interview before dinner. If there’s anything to be known, she’ll know it.”

  “That’s a good idea. She may be nosy, but in this case, it’ll help.” Ben stood and stretched. “As much as I like the company, I’m going home to rest a little before I eat.”

  Harry gathered up pages he’d printed out. “You do that, and I’ll head on down to my place and do some more computer searching. I’ll see you two at dinner.”

  “I’ll go on back and find Tillie. Maybe we’ll have more to report tonight.” At least I hoped Tillie would have more information.

  They left, and I went to rescue Mitzi and take her outdoors for a few minutes. I secured her leash to a post so she could be in the fresh air but not able to run away and get into trouble. From there I hurried over to the main building.

  Carrie sat at her desk in the foyer when I arrived. She didn’t look up at my greeting, and I barely heard her response. When I asked her about Tillie, she pointed in the direction of the library.

  How strange that she wouldn’t even look at me. What could be that important? She even looked as though she wished I’d leave, so I went to search for Tillie. Sure enough, she sat in a corner chair in the library engrossed in the book she held. On closer inspection, she read one of the new cozy mysteries we get for our collection every month from a publisher.

  “Hello, Tillie.”

  She jumped and dropped her book. “Oh my, Abigail, you scared me out of my wits.”

  I picked up the book. “Sorry, you’ve lost your place.”

  “That’s okay. I know exactly where I was.” She glanced at the book, turned a few pages then inserted the book mark. She peered up at me with questions written all over her face.

  If I didn’t get right to the point, she’d be hounding me for any information I might have concerning Pete. I pulled a chair over closer to her.

  “Tillie, you’re very knowledgeable about what goes on around Spring Hills, and I need your help.”

  Her eyes opened wide. “Is this about Pete? That poor man. He may have been a gambler and a ladies’ man, but he didn’t deserve to die like that.”

  Aha! Pay-dirt. Tillie wanted to talk. Now to tread softly so her feelings wouldn’t be hurt. Last thing I wanted was for her to think we all thought she was a nosy gossip.

  “Pete was a handsome man. I’m sure he had lots of women interested in him.”

  Tillie nodded. “Oh, that he did. Love and leave ‘em was his style. Why he broke poor Taryn Burns’ heart a few months ago before he took up with Maria, that housekeeper.”

  “Taryn Burns? I didn’t know about that.” Maybe she was who Tom Kirk meant earlier this morning.

  “Oh, it was supposed to be a secret, but I saw them together several times and put one and one together and came up with a couple. That’s how I knew he was seeing Maria, too. I think he’d been seeing Carrie and one of the nurses, too. He really got around.”

  Sure she did. Tillie always seemed to be in the right place at the right time to learn all sorts of information. Then I remembered my other question.

  “Did you see anything unusual across the yard toward my house yesterday morning?”

  “Come to think of it, I did. There was a gray car behind your house near your car. I thought maybe you had a visitor. Pete was mowing out there when Taryn stopped him and they argued something fierce. He turned away and she followed him.”

  Now this was getting somewhere. “What was she wearing?”

  “Hmm, I believe she had on a red sweater and black pants. I saw her later in the game room and that’s what she had on, but she left just after that. Said she had the day off.”

  Bingo. My mystery woman was Taryn. “What happened then?”

  “Oh, Olivia Wentworth popped in. You know how she’s always roaming around. I asked her what she needed, and she said she couldn’t find her dining room. Well, I decided to help her and then forgot all about Taryn and Pete.”

  Well, pooh. No new information, but now I did have a name for the second woman seen with Pete. “Umm, what do you know about Steve?”

  “Oh, he and Pete were gambling buddies. They were always talking about some scheme to strike it rich at the gaming tables. I think they went over to the casinos just about every week-end they were off. He used to play poker too.”

  Now how did she know all that? I’d just found out that myself. I hesitated to ask, but didn’t have to worry about that as Tillie kept on talking without any prompting.

  “Sometimes I think the employees around here think we’re all old and senile. It’s amazing what you can learn in this building if you watch and listen. I may be weak in the body from my stroke, but my eyes and ears are as good as they ever were. Pete would come in at lunch and talk with Steve once in a while. One time, Steve was helping me by moving a piece of furniture when Pete stopped by, and they talked about a poker game. I sat over in the corner quiet as a mouse pretending to be interested in a book I picked up.”

  Tillie had a lot more going on in her brain than any of us gave her credit for. She may talk a person’s arm off, but she knew how to get information. “Reading a book was a smart idea.”

  Tillie grinned. “I thought so too. Anyway, Steve talked about winning big at the casino last month and wanting his share of the money, but Pete told him they’d have to wait on that. He had plans to use what they had and make more. Steve got a bit angry at that, but Pete calmed him down.”

  So, Steve had issues with Pete, too. Seems to me Pete had made a lot of enemies in the past few weeks. A glance at my notes reminded me that we had a full plate of suspects and little time to digest all the information. However, I could cross off Steve because he was on vacation according to the staff schedule posted in Noreen’s office.

  I couldn’t believe Tillie kne
w so much that was going on in the main building. Maybe I’d better spend more time up here. A lot happened that some of us didn’t have any idea about. Tillie must be the source of all Bessie’s knowledge too.

  Tillie probably had more to say, but I should get back to check to make a record of all she told me. Before she could offer to tell me more, we heard quite a commotion from the area of the main entrance. Tillie was out of her chair like a shot and grabbed her walker before I could even think to move. That woman may be recovering from a stroke, but she could get around when she wanted to.

  Chapter 8

  When we entered the lobby, Maria and Noreen were in a heated discussion. Maria sobbed, and Noreen looked fit to be tied.

  “I’m sorry, Mrs. Jensen, but my keys just disappeared. I had them when I put my things away in my locker, and then I had that argument with Pete. I don’t know what happened to them after that.”

  “Why didn’t you report it immediately instead of telling Carrie you left them at home?”

  “I . . . I thought maybe I’d been mistaken about having them with me. I was so upset with Pete’s murder, I couldn’t think straight. I searched everywhere at home and couldn’t find them, so I don’t know what happened or where they are.”

  Noreen shook her head. “This is not good. If anyone took them or found them or stole them or whatever, it could be real trouble for all of us. I don’t want to fire you because we’re shorthanded as it is, but if we don’t find those keys, I may have to. In the meantime, I’ll issue you another set.”

  “Yes, ma’am, I understand. I’ll look everywhere around here and at home again.”

  Noreen nodded and turned to leave. She spotted me and shook her head again. “I guess you heard all that.”

  “Yes, I did. It’s strange how the keys disappeared on the same morning Pete was murdered.”

  “I don’t know what to think. I know you’re talking to the residents, so maybe you could add this to your list. Maybe someone saw her keys and picked them up but forgot to turn them.”