“You need something?” she asked, her tone harsh and impatient. She started the chair rocking. “I don’t feel like making anything for anybody right now. You want something, go make it yourself.”
An’gel decided to ignore Estelle’s rudeness. She knew the woman was upset by Mireille’s death.
“I want to talk to you.” She walked closer to Estelle and stood by the bed. She sighed and stroked the beautiful Double Wedding Ring quilt that lay across the bed. Mireille’s mother had made it as a bride gift fifty years ago.
“What about?” Estelle asked.
An’gel knew the woman would rather be by herself and could sympathize with her, but Estelle couldn’t hide herself away completely when there was so much to be done.
“I wondered if Jacqueline had a chance to talk to you about any of the plans for Mireille’s service,” An’gel said. “My sister and I will be here and will be glad to help any way we can. We can pitch in with the cooking and cleaning, whatever you need.”
“Thank you,” Estelle said, her tone slightly less rude. “Jacqueline hasn’t said anything to me. I tried talking to her when she and Horace got back from the hospital but she told me she didn’t feel up to it.”
“I know she was worn out,” An’gel said. “Maybe I can call the funeral home. Which one is it?”
Estelle snorted. “Won’t do you any good. I called them this morning, and they told me they were waiting to talk to Jacqueline. Nothing’s going to happen till she’s ready to handle it.”
“I see,” An’gel said. She felt frustrated. She really wanted to do something to ease Jacqueline’s burdens, but until Jacqueline was ready, she couldn’t do anything but wait.
“What will you do now?” An’gel asked. “Will you stay on and continue to run the bed-and-breakfast?” She wondered whether Jacqueline would have any interest in it, without Mireille.
“Won’t have any choice, will I?” Estelle’s tone was bitter. “The daughter of the house will get everything, and I won’t get anything. I’ll be out of this place the day after we lay Mireille to rest.”
“Surely Jacqueline won’t make you leave,” An’gel said. “You’re family, aren’t you?”
“Too distant to matter to Jacqueline, only a third cousin once removed,” Estelle said. “With Mireille it was different. Family was family to her. Jacqueline never has liked me, and that bitch of a daughter of hers hated me. I hated her right back. She made everyone around her miserable. Never in my life saw a person as stuck on herself as Sondra.” She chuckled, and the sound made An’gel uneasy. “Look where it got her. Finally got what she deserved.”
In the face of such hatred and spite, An’gel didn’t know how to respond. An’gel couldn’t blame Jacqueline for wanting Estelle out of the house. Who would want to harbor malice like this if she didn’t have to?
An’gel turned and walked out, having decided there was no response she could make. Estelle’s mocking laughter followed her, cut off only when An’gel closed the door.
In the hall she moved to stand in front of the window. The light from the sun warmed her, and she realized how cold she was. She glanced uneasily at Mireille’s door. She knew that Estelle didn’t care for Sondra, and one could hardly blame her for that. But she had never reckoned on the sheer hatred the woman felt for the dead girl.
Had Estelle hated Sondra enough to kill her?
CHAPTER 24
An’gel decided not to linger where she was, in case Estelle came out of Mireille’s room. She didn’t want the housekeeper to catch her standing out there. She thought about climbing up to the third floor to check on Dickce and Tippy, but before she could make up her mind, Jacqueline’s door opened and Horace stepped out.
An’gel stared at him in blank surprise. She thought Horace was at work. She greeted him, and he held up a finger. Then he moved quietly down the hall to the head of the stairs, motioning for An’gel to follow him.
His voice low, Horace said, “Jackie’s sleeping, and I didn’t want to take a chance on waking her up. She’s so wore out from all this mess with her mama and Sondra. I don’t want her getting sick from it. She’ll push herself too hard and then collapse.”
Horace’s expression of concern for his wife seemed genuine, and An’gel warmed to him more than she ever had before.
“Yes, she certainly is,” An’gel replied, matching her tone to his. “I’m worried about her. There’s so much on her right now. If there’s anything Dickce and I can do to help, all you have to do is ask.”
Horace started down the stairs with An’gel beside him. “I sure appreciate that, Miss An’gel,” he said. “This has all been almost more than I can take in myself, and I can’t imagine how hard it is for Jackie.”
“Have you spoken to the police recently?” An’gel asked as they reached the bottom of the stairs.
“No, ma’am,” Horace said. “I saw a cop car here when I drove up a few minutes ago, but I came in the back way and went right upstairs to check on Jackie.”
“You need to hear what Officer Bugg has to say. It’s about Sondra’s death.” An’gel steered him to the front parlor. She heard voices coming from the room. “I believe he is still in here talking to Benjy.”
Horace nodded. He strode into the room, and An’gel followed.
“Hey, Elmont.” Horace stuck out his hand as he reached Bugg. He and the policeman shook hands. “I hear you got something to tell me.”
“That I do, Horace, that I do. Coupla things, actually, and neither one of ’em ain’t good news.” Bugg looked around Horace’s substantial bulk and noticed An’gel. “Ma’am, I’m finished with this young man here, so y’all can go on about your bidness. I’ll let you know if there’s anything else I need from you.”
“Thank you, Officer,” An’gel said, frost in her voice. She did not appreciate Bugg’s tone or his choice of words. Go about my bidness indeed. “Benjy, why don’t we go up and check on Dickce and Tippy?”
Benjy nodded as he slipped around the two police officers but he stopped in front of Horace. “Mr. Mims, I know you’re busy, but I wanted to ask if you’ve heard how Lance is doing. I’ve been babysitting Tippy, and she was asking about him. Seems he usually visits her, and she wondered when he was coming.”
Oh my heavens. An’gel had forgotten all about poor Lance and his altercation with Trey last night. She felt terrible for not thinking about the young man’s welfare even once since the EMTs took him off to the hospital. She also recalled the furious look Horace had shot her way when she informed Trey she would be a witness for Lance if he decided to bring charges of assault.
“Yes, how is he?” she asked. “I’m ashamed I’d forgotten about him until Benjy mentioned him. Was he badly hurt?” She decided not to mention the circumstances. No point in riling Horace up again if she could avoid it. She wanted to question him later about other matters.
Horace looked grim. “Last I heard he was doing okay. Got a pretty hard head on him, apparently. Minor concussion, a black eye, and a bruised nose. They sent him home early this morning.”
An’gel was relieved to hear that Lance’s condition wasn’t more serious.
“You can tell Tippy that Lance won’t be coming to visit anytime soon,” Horace said to Benjy. “Even if she cuts up a fuss, I’m not having that idiot back in this house.”
Benjy flinched at Horace’s tone but said, “Okay, sir.” He moved quickly away from Horace and came to stand beside An’gel.
“That’s one of the things I got to talk to you about, Horace,” Bugg said. He cut a sideways glance at Benjy and An’gel. When neither of them moved, he sighed and went on, “You know how mamas can be when they have only one chick, and that Miz Perigord is more protective than most.” He sniggered. “Reckon she has to be, since that one chick of hers is lucky if he can find his way out of his bedroom in less than three hours.” Behind him, Sanford laughed.
Horace made a gesture with his right hand, as if telling Bugg to get on with it. The policeman sobered. �
��Well, anyways, Horace, Miz Perigord is threatening to press charges against Trey for assault.”
Horace uttered a string of obscenities, and An’gel said, “Come along, Benjy.” She wasn’t going to stay and listen to any more of that kind of vulgar talk. She thought it served Trey right and hoped that Mrs. Perigord followed through on her threat. That young man had to learn to control his temper, and this might teach him a lesson. Unless he killed Sondra, and then he’ll have a much worse lesson to learn. Her thoughts were bleak as she climbed the stairs with Benjy.
“Miss An’gel,” Benjy said, “when we get upstairs, I need to talk to you and Miss Dickce. It’s about something I heard Tippy say while she was playing a little while ago.”
Benjy sounded concerned, An’gel thought. “Okay. It’s time the three of us had a talk and shared whatever information we’ve been able to pick up.”
By the time they reached the third floor, An’gel was wishing—and not for the first time—that Mireille had installed an elevator. One long flight of stairs was bad enough, but two were a bit wearisome.
An’gel and Benjy walked down the hall toward Tippy’s room. Dickce stepped out when they were a few feet away and pulled the door halfway closed. She held a finger to her lips, then beckoned them with the same finger to follow her across the hall to the bedroom where she spent the night.
“Where are Peanut and Endora?” Benjy asked in an undertone as he followed the sisters.
Dickce whispered back, “Sound asleep on the bed with Tippy.” She grinned. “She wore them and herself out, and I didn’t think anyone would mind if they napped with her.” She ushered An’gel and Benjy into the room and left her door half open.
Dickce sat on the bed, feet dangling slightly. An’gel took the chair in front of the vanity and Benjy the armchair in the corner.
“I can’t believe how much energy a four-year-old has,” Dickce said. “I swear I could take a nap myself right about now.”
“Better you than me,” An’gel said. “Benjy has something to tell us.”
“I think I know what it is,” Dickce said, “but go ahead, Benjy.”
Benjy replied, “While I was watching Tippy earlier, she was talking a mile a minute. I tuned out some of it, but I heard her say something a man yelling at her mother.” He related the rest of Tippy’s story.
Dickce nodded. “She told me pretty much the same story.”
“Did either of you ask her whether she recognized the man?”
Benjy shook his head, but Dickce said, “I did, in a roundabout way. But it was no use. The voices were too far away, even though they were loud. And when the storm hit, Tippy was too frightened and got under the covers and hid there till she fell asleep.” Dickce frowned. “Poor little thing. She shouldn’t have been on her own during a storm like that.”
“No, she shouldn’t,” An’gel said. “Her mother should have been looking after her.” She paused. “But of course, Sondra could have been killed soon after Tippy overheard the argument. Thank the Lord the child hid under the covers, or she might have been killed as well.”
“The storm was the perfect cover for the killer,” Dickce said. “Especially if everyone else was hunkered down somewhere in the house until it passed.”
“We really don’t know where anyone was, besides ourselves, Tippy, and Sondra,” Benjy pointed out. “What would happen if we asked everybody?”
“It would arouse suspicion pretty quickly,” An’gel said. “We can’t do it directly. We’ll have to get them all to tell us some other way.”
“The killer will lie,” Benjy said.
“True.” An’gel nodded. “But he might give himself away somehow. We just have to be cleverer than he is.”
“Do you think the killer is a man?” Dickce asked.
“I do,” Benjy said. “It had to be somebody pretty strong to lift Sondra up and throw her over the railing into the yard.”
“Exactly,” An’gel said. “Estelle is wiry, but Sondra was bigger than she is. And Jacqueline was in town at the hospital with her mother.”
“So that leaves us with Horace, Trey, Richmond Thurston, and Jackson,” Dickce said.
“Jackson?” An’gel said. “That’s utterly ridiculous. The poor man can hardly get himself around, much less pick up a woman and throw her over a railing. I say we rule him out.”
Dickce’s mouth set in a stern line, and An’gel recognized this sign of her sister’s stubbornness. “No, think about it. Jackson adored Mireille, and he knew what Sondra had done. If he was truly furious at Sondra, the adrenaline might have been enough to make it possible for him to do it.”
“She’s got a point,” Benjy said. “Although I’d hate to think it of him. He’s such a sweet old man.”
An’gel sighed. “I suppose you’re right. But by the same token, we can’t rule out Estelle either. She was devoted to Mireille, and I know she loathed Sondra.” She told them about her conversation a little earlier with the housekeeper.
“I vote for her, then,” Benjy said. “She creeps me out anyway. Reminds me of that old lady on The Addams Family. You know, the grandmother, although the lady on the show wears her hair down, and Estelle doesn’t.”
An’gel dimly remembered the character to whom Benjy referred, and she had to admit a certain resemblance between the fictional grandma and Estelle.
Dickce giggled. “I see what you mean, Benjy. I hadn’t thought about it before, but Estelle could be a character right out of that show.”
“Be serious.” An’gel frowned. She herself had a rather dark sense of humor on occasion, but this was not one of them.
“What about the man Tippy heard yelling at her mother?” Benjy said. “What about Lance Perigord? Wasn’t he in the house last night, too?”
“Why do I keep forgetting that young man?” An’gel shook her head. “Yes, he was here, too. Although I really can’t see him harming Sondra. She was his ticket out of St. Ignatiusville.”
“He’s not exactly a deep thinker,” Dickce said in a wry tone. “If Sondra made him angry, he might not stop to think about lashing out at her.”
“She falls and hits her head on a sharp corner or something in her room.” Benjy nodded. “Then he panics, the storm hits, and he drags her out to the gallery and tosses her over the railing.”
An’gel could envision the scene all too easily. She wondered if that was what really happened. Whether it was Lance who was responsible or someone else remained to be determined, but it seemed like a plausible scenario.
The quiet was shattered a moment later by the sound of Peanut barking frantically across the hall.
CHAPTER 25
Benjy shot up from his chair, out the door, and into the hall before either An’gel or Dickce rose from their respective perches. Peanut kept up the barking until the sisters reached the hall. Then the dog fell silent.
The door to Tippy’s room stood wide open, and An’gel and Dickce hurried inside. They found Benjy rubbing the dog’s head and talking to a small mound under the bed covers.
“It’s okay, Tippy, it’s gone. Peanut didn’t mean to scare you.”
The mound moved, and a small face peeked out from beneath the cover. “You pwomise?” Tippy said solemnly.
“I promise,” Benjy said. “That old spider won’t scare you or Peanut anymore.”
Tippy remained still a moment longer, then evidently decided to take Benjy at his word. She crawled out completely from under the covers and slid to the floor beside her bed.
An’gel felt weak in the knees. Her heart was still racing, and she was annoyed with Peanut. A spider, of all things! A moment later she saw the humorous side of it as she pictured the dog and a spider confronting each other, and neither of them being happy about it. She started laughing.
“Why are you waffing?” Tippy demanded.
Dickce poked An’gel in the side to stop her laughing and answered for her. “My sister laughs when she’s afraid of something, like spiders. When she laughs, she isn’t afra
id anymore.”
Tippy considered that a moment and then giggled. “I don’t wike spiduhs, but I’m not as scared of them as Peanut. He’s a siwwy doggie.”
“Yes, he can be silly,” Benjy said.
“Where is Endora?” An’gel asked. She didn’t see the cat anywhere. Then she spotted another small lump under the bedclothes when it started to move. A moment later the Abyssinian wiggled out. She yawned and stretched.
“Endowa was napping,” Tippy explained. “She’s not siwwy like Peanut. That siwwy ole spiduh didn’t bodder her.”
“No, I’m sure it didn’t,” Dickce said. “Endora is a brave cat.”
An’gel was mightily relieved that everything was calm again. When she first heard Peanut barking, she feared that someone had come into the room to harm Tippy. The child was all too vulnerable if left on her own for even a brief period. An’gel was thankful that Peanut had been with Tippy.
“My heart is finally back to its normal pace,” she muttered to Dickce. “I don’t know about you, but I was terrified there for a moment.”
“I was, too,” Dickce admitted. “We have to protect this child.”
Tippy, evidently unaware of their muted conversation, was rooting around under her bed. She emerged shortly with her teddy bear. “Wance musta hid unda de bed. Siwwy bear.”
“Yes, he is silly,” Benjy said. “I bet he hid under there when Peanut started barking at the spider.” He winked at the sisters over Tippy’s head.
An’gel figured the bear must have been knocked off the bed by one of the animals.
“I’m hungwy,” Tippy announced. “So is Wance.”
“I’m hungry myself,” Dickce said. “We’ll go down and get something to eat in a minute. First, though, why don’t we brush your hair and make you look all pretty.”
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