Murder by Arrangement (Edna Davies mysteries Book 5)

by Suzanne Young

The girl nodded, then looked skeptical. “What are we having?”

  Edna laughed at her granddaughter’s suspicion and thought she might have had enough seafood. “How about tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches?” she said, mentioning one of her children’s favorite meals when they were young.

  “Yeah,” Amanda nearly shouted.

  “Why don’t you go help your aunt set the table, and I’ll be there shortly,” Edna said. “I’ve a call to make first.” She then turned to Starling. “Do you have dinner plans with Charlie tonight?”

  Starling shook her head. “He didn’t mention anything. He’s probably busy with Peppa’s case, and he knows I have to drive back to Boston tonight.”

  “Tonight?” Edna was side-tracked for the moment. “I thought you weren’t leaving until tomorrow morning.” She felt a brief pang of sadness, missing her girls already.

  “I changed my mind, especially when I thought of trying to get my niece up that early. Plus, if I leave tonight, I can avoid morning rush hour.”

  Surprisingly, Amanda didn’t comment on her aunt’s implied accusation. Edna thought the girl was probably happy that she wouldn’t be rousted before dawn.

  “You’re probably right,” Edna admitted reluctantly before picking up her earlier thought. “I need to call Charlie with some information. Since you don’t have other plans, I’ll see if he can join us this evening.” Edna looked back at her granddaughter and smiled. “How would you like to make Auntie Starling’s favorite meat loaf and mashed potatoes for supper?”

  Again, the child nodded vigorously, jumped up from her chair and trailed Starling to the kitchen, while Edna picked up the phone to call Charlie and extend the invitation. When he accepted with enthusiasm, she gave him only the highlights of what she’d learned from Mrs. Rabichek’s journal. He could read the page for himself. She also decided to save her temper and tell him about John Forrester’s visit later that evening.

  She had just pushed herself up from the chair to go to the kitchen when she had another thought. Turning back to the phone, she dialed Mary’s number and asked her to join them for the afternoon’s excursion and the evening’s meal. Since Starling would be taking Amanda home after supper, Edna thought a small impromptu party would be fun for the child’s last night.

  “Pretty tragic what happened in the Great Swamp,” Mary said, after learning where they were going. “Besides the warriors, all those Wampanoag women and children were killed by the colonial militia.” She paused for a second or two before asking, “Think the old fort site is haunted?”

  “I think you’ve got ghosts on the brain.” Edna laughed.

  “Maybe so. Thanks, but I’ll skip the walk. I need sleep. Can’t get much at night, so I’m taking a nap this afternoon. I’ll have dinner with you, though.”

  “Good. Why don’t you come over around five for drinks first.”

  Chapter 11

  The trip to the Great Swamp was a success. There was very little wind blowing in amongst the trees and, although the broad path was covered with several inches of snow, it was fresh and clean. Theirs were the only footprints.

  Amanda and Starling took many photos--Amanda with a small digital and Starling with a larger, more professional camera. Although the site was mostly a nature walk with nothing that looked like ruins or an abandoned village, they did get some shots of the rough-cut granite monument and memorial plaque that had been placed there by the Rhode Island Society of Colonial Wars. On the way back to the car, Edna was thrilled to see a Cedar Waxwing with its brown, gray and yellow plumage. She was about to call it to the others’ attention when she noticed they had spotted it too. With quiet joy, Edna watched Starling give instructions to her niece.

  Bending so her mouth was close to Amanda’s ear, Starling spoke in a low voice. “See the bird in that bush with the red berries. Move really slowly so you don’t scare him, but zoom in and see if you can get a shot.”

  Amanda obeyed. It might have been a movement or a sound that frightened the bird away just as she took the picture. With a look of dismay, she turned to Starling and shrugged in exaggerated frustration.

  “No, wait,” Starling encouraged. “Look at your display. I think you caught him.”

  Dutifully, Amanda examined the back of the camera as she twisted her body to cast a shadow onto the small screen. As soon as her eyes lit up, Edna knew Starling had been right.

  With a grin spreading from ear to ear, the girl showed first Starling, then Edna, a nearly perfectly framed picture of the Cedar Waxwing with a red berry in his beak and wings just lifting in flight.

  “Wow. Terrific shot,” Starling said, pulling her niece into a one-armed hug.

  Nothing more exciting happened, but for Edna, the afternoon went all too quickly, and they returned home barely in time to get ready for their supper guests. As usual, Mary arrived early. She looked more rested than she had in the last few days and admitted to having had a good two-hour nap. Shortly after five, Charlie showed up with a bouquet of flowers that he’d obviously bought at the grocery store in town.

  “Pretty flowers for a pretty girl,” he said, handing the spray to Amanda with a stately bow.

  Accepting them, Amanda giggled and blushed.

  Starling bent to stage-whisper in her ear, “Say ‘thank you, kind sir’ and curtsey.”

  Amanda obeyed with more giggles and accompanying good-humored laughs from her audience.

  Starling encouraged Amanda to show her photographs to Mary and Charlie while Edna found a vase for the flowers and made an arrangement for the middle of the dining room table. Knowing her granddaughter would have a great time showing them off to her family and friends, she told Amanda that she was to take the flowers home, container and all.

  Drinks and appetizers were followed by the meat loaf Amanda made with only a small amount of guidance from Edna. It was a favorite family recipe, served with buttery mashed potatoes. Starling’s contribution was a green salad, and Mary’s offering was homemade chocolate and walnut brownies. Edna brewed tea.

  After dinner, Edna was loading the dishwasher. “Would you like to phone Lettie that you’re leaving?” she asked her granddaughter as Amanda handed her plates and glasses from the table.

  The girl shook her head. “I’ll see her when I get home.”

  Edna frowned. “I don’t understand. If she’s staying with her grandmother, how are you going to see her?”

  “She’s not.”

  Edna shook her head to see if maybe she could clear away the cobwebs and make some sense of the remark. After a brief pause, she gave up. “Not what?” she asked.

  Having gone back to the table to clear away cups and saucers, Amanda didn’t answer until she was back at Edna’s side. “Not at her grandmother’s,” the girl said as if it were obvious or as if Edna should have known. “She texted me this morning on Auntie Starling’s phone to say she was going home with her mother.”

  Odd behavior, thought Edna, wondering briefly why Rosie had changed her mind about leaving Lettie with Lily. Had Rosie thought Amanda accompanying Lettie would provide safety in numbers? Was the tension between Rosie and Lily at the root of this change in plans? Edna dismissed these ideas almost as soon as they popped into her head. She couldn’t imagine Rosie putting her daughter in the middle of a spat with her mother. Remembering the constant texting, Edna was certain Rosie simply missed her daughter and wanted her home.

  The evening passed as fast as the afternoon had and, before she knew it, Edna’s daughter and granddaughter were packing their suitcases into Starling’s ancient blue Toyota Celica and hugging her goodbye.

  Edna, Charlie and Mary returned to the living room. Attracted by the warmth of a low fire in the grate, Benjamin went to curl up in his bed by the hearth. Edna felt a bittersweet sadness, as she always did when members of her family drove off after a visit. An image of her granddaughter’s face, flushed with happiness as she settled into the car with her vase of flowers, assured Edna that it had indeed been a special e
vening for the girl.

  “How’s that ghost of yours?” Charlie’s voice brought Edna’s attention back to her present company. The detective was speaking to Mary as he sank into one corner of the sofa while she took the other.

  “Louder than ever,” Mary complained. “I hear him soon’s I turn off the late news every night. Can’t get to sleep while he’s galloping back and forth over my head.”

  “What’s happening with Peppa’s case?” Edna asked Charlie before the conversation deteriorated into another discussion of Mary’s mythical ghost. Colonial rebel on horseback, indeed, she thought with a mental shrug before another idea popped into her head. I wonder what causes it to pick that particular time, and with such regularity. She would have to ask Mary about it further, but at the moment, she wanted to know about her retired librarian friend.

  “I’m still stymied by that flower Clem was clutching,” Charlie said, rubbing one hand through his brown curls.

  “That reminds me,” Edna said, rising to fetch Mrs. Rabichek’s journal from her office. Returning, she handed Charlie the volume she’d flagged for the Christmas Rose entry.

  “Have you asked Peppa?” she said, resuming her seat. “Maybe it was a peace offering. Perhaps that particular plant had some special meaning for the Peppafitches when she and Clem were married.”

  Charlie shook his head in answer to her question. Opening to the marked page, he read in silence for a minute or two before closing the book and laying it on the sofa between Mary and himself. “Doesn’t tell me much more than when we talked this morning about possible blistering near his mouth, except for the specific poison,” he said, bending forward to pull a notebook and pen from a back pocket in his slacks. He wrote briefly, then looked over at Edna as he replaced the notebook and sat back. “I’ll tell the M.E.’s office about ranunculin, but I’d bet they’re already on top of it.”

  “Has Peppa gone home?” Edna asked, still concerned for her friend. “I promised Tuck I’d try to smooth the waters between the two of them. I also want to take one of my casseroles to Peppa. She probably isn’t in much of a mood to cook for herself.”

  “She left with her lawyer late this afternoon,” Charlie said.

  “Tuck said she’s been charged with murder. Can that be right, if you haven’t even gotten autopsy results back yet?”

  Charlie shook his head. “Peggy King took her to the station to answer questions. She couldn’t be interviewed at home because we needed to process the scene without people tramping up and down the driveway.”

  “Did Peppa mind very much … being taken away, I mean?”

  Charlie laughed. “I doubt it. Ask me, I’d say she wanted to see how many of our personnel she’d recognize. You know how she loves attention from her Saturday morning kids.”

  Edna nodded. Knowing Peppa, Charlie was right. “I’ll phone her first thing in the morning.”

  “Wanna stay over with me tonight?” Mary turned to look at Edna. She had been staring into the fire, seeming to pay little attention to the conversation going on between Edna and Charlie.

  “I’m sorry,” Edna said with a shake of her head. “I’m too tired tonight, and I’ve a lot on my mind right now.” And not just about Peppa, Edna thought as the memory of John Forrester’s visit popped into her head. Looking disappointed but not defeated, Mary picked up the journal on the seat next to her. Unlike her normally curious self, she seemed to tune out the conversation once again as Edna told Charlie about Forrester showing up on her doorstep.

  “What did he want?” Charlie had turned to study the small log fire and appeared to be only partially interested in hearing about the retired detective.

  “He threatened me.”

  “What?” Charlie’s head jerked back to glare at her, eyes widening in surprise before his face relaxed into a smile of incredulity. “You must have misunderstood. John wouldn’t threaten you. Fact is, I can’t imagine Gentleman John intimidating anyone.”

  “I did not misunderstand.” Edna was adamant. “He told me in no uncertain terms that I was to stop asking questions about Gregory Haverstrum’s death or else.”

  “Why are you so interested in that old case?”

  “Because his wife is still living with suspicion hanging over her head, and that same doubt is having its effect on their daughter. That same daughter is Amanda’s new best friend.”

  Understanding sparked in Charlie’s eyes, but he asked anyway, “Just like when Tom was poisoned and the town’s people thought you did it. Is that what’s going on in your head?”

  Edna nodded, not trusting herself to speak as she thought of her old handyman and friend. Tom had been Mary’s friend, too, since their high school days. She perked up at his name. Putting the book back down on the settee, she looked from Charlie to Edna. “I don’t think Tom would haunt my attic.” Then, after a few seconds’ pause during which two pairs of eyes stared at her, she added, “Do you?”

  Chapter 12

  Monday morning, Edna woke early, feeling rested and refreshed. The sky was still dark as she lay in bed, planning her day, but the forecast was for sunshine and warmer temperatures. She’d phone Albert and see how the fishing trip was going. She’d thought about calling him the previous evening after Charlie and Mary left, but it had been nearly ten o’clock and, after the day’s events, she’d been too tired both mentally and physically. She’d merely trudged up the stairs and fallen into a deep sleep.

  She must call Peppa, too. Edna wondered how her friend was feeling about her ex-husband. In the year and a half Edna had known the woman, Peppa had vaguely referred to her marriage only twice, and each time had been clouded with anger or disgust. The memory of Peppa’s scornful remarks about Clem prompted Edna to get out of bed, shower and dress. She knew from past experience that the only way to rid her mind of unpleasant musings was to get busy. As a result, shortly after six, she was in the kitchen making breakfast.

  By seven, she had finished a plate of scrambled eggs and oatmeal muffins, completed the daily crossword puzzle and swallowed the last of her second cup of coffee. Still too early to phone either Albert or Peppa, she went to her office and sat at the computer. After checking for messages, she decided to do more research into the Haverstrum and Beck families.

  Wanting more background information, she decided to research Gregory Havstrum’s mistresses. She searched first for Farren McCree. The image that appeared was of a strikingly pretty woman. Her red-gold hair was shoulder length and waved attractively around her face. Above high cheek bones, her deep blue eyes were slightly almond shaped. This was the woman with whom Gregory betrayed his wife, then threw over for a teenager. Edna wondered what Bobbi Callahan must be like. She couldn’t help feeling that Haverstrum had either been very shallow or extremely insecure not only to carry on an affair while he was married to a woman as lovely as Rosie, but then to toss aside another attractive, mature woman for someone barely out of high school. Realizing she was getting side-tracked, Edna forced her thoughts back to Farren McCree.

  The woman had been several years older than her married lover. She also claimed to be Rosie’s best friend, but had carried on an affair with that friend’s husband, or so the news reporters alleged. Both wife and mistress were employed at the same place at the time of Gregory’s death. Edna wondered if Farren still worked at the local greenhouse.

  Taking a small notebook and pen from her top desk drawer, Edna wrote down the shop’s name and address. She’d visit the place today, she thought, going to the business web site to find that they would be open from ten until four. At the nursery, she would use the excuse that she needed to decide on which annuals to plant in the back patio pots this spring. She wouldn’t need to buy, she’d only be looking for future consideration. She would ask for Farren, claiming that a friend had recommend the shop and the woman. If Farren had left the company’s employ, certainly someone would know where she had gone, and Edna would simply have more work to do to track Farren down.

  Edna wondered what
she could say to the woman or if Farren would talk to her at all about something that had taken place two years ago. The thought brought John Forrester’s face to mind, and Edna shuddered as she speculated on whether or not he was currently hounding Farren and Bobbi as well as Rosie and Lily.

  Edna next searched for Bobbi Callahan. According to the news reports, Haverstrum had hired the young woman as a general office assistant. Edna entered Bobbi’s name into the computer’s search box and found a LinkedIn page. Again Gregory had chosen a woman who would turn heads. With platinum blonde hair, Bobbi resembled Rosie more than Farren, but her eyes were brown instead of the deep blue of Gregory’s other women. According to the brief background summary that the young woman had posted, Edna read that now, at age twenty-one, Bobbi would receive a bachelor’s degree in May and, in the fall, would begin her first full-time teaching job at a nearby elementary school.

  Edna also knew from online reports that Bobbi had applied for the job with Haverstrum because of the flexible hours which allowed her to work around her sophomore class schedule. Reports further revealed that although Duke Callahan was a wealthy man, he wanted to instill a sense of responsibility and accomplishment in his daughter, and so encouraged her to earn anything over and above the college tuition that he provided. As an assistant, Bobbi performed tasks from opening the mail, fielding phone calls and typing up contracts to picking up Gregory’s dry cleaning. “Go-fer,” Edna muttered as she wondered if Bobbi had been enamored of the man who was at least fifteen years her senior, if she was flattered by his attentions, or if she played up to the letch in order to keep a convenient and well-paying job.

  Eight chimes from the grandfather clock brought Edna out of the depths of those meanderings. Since she had an address with which she could begin looking for Farren, she’d go to the nursery first. If she found the woman, Edna would simply play her approach by ear. Enough time had been spent pondering the anticipated meeting when she knew absolutely nothing about Farren’s personality. Edna decided she needed to get on with her day and stop dwelling on unknowns. Picking up the phone, she dialed Albert’s cell number.