Digging Up the Dirt

by Miranda James

“If you take a look at the website, Hadley,” Reba said, “you can see the kind of pictures we use. There is also a schedule up for this year, based on last year’s, but we can revise it if we need to. Have a look, and let us know if you foresee any problems.”

  “Thank you, I will,” Hadley said. “I do have a question for you, however. You’re talking about raising ticket prices. Haven’t they already been on sale for a while?”

  “No, the tickets go on sale usually the first of December, so we’ve got time to get this all arranged,” Dickce said. “We need to get the new prices on the website, though, right away. Will you tell Martin, Reba?”

  “Yes,” Reba said. “I’ll have him take care of it today, as long as we’re agreed on the new prices.”

  “Time for a vote,” Barbie said. “All in favor of raising the prices as discussed, say aye.”

  A chorus of ayes sounded.

  “Any nays?” Barbie asked. After a moment of silence, she continued, “The ayes have it, so the prices are approved.”

  “Don’t the rest of the club members get a say in this?” Hadley asked. “Or does the royal council have complete power?”

  An’gel saw Barbie, Lottie, and Sarinda bridle at that second question. The board could be high-handed, but the club charter gave the board the power to act in such matters. She explained this to Hadley. “The membership at large approved this as a change to the bylaws a good fifteen years ago. Most of them seem happy to leave financial matters to the board.”

  “Then that’s good enough for me.” Hadley grinned. “Is there any other business to discuss, ladies? Because if there isn’t, I really need to get back home and check in with the workers. I have to talk to the contractor about repairs.”

  “Are you sure you can’t stay a while longer and have a drink with us?” Sarinda pouted.

  Hadley rose. “I would truly love to, Sarinda, but there’s so much to do at Ashton Hall. Especially now that I have a firm deadline, and I don’t want to let the club down. I’m sure you all understand.”

  “Certainly,” Barbie said. “Let me show you out. I’ll be back in a minute, girls. Feel free to head to the kitchen. The iced tea is ready.” She laid her arm on Hadley’s and led him out of the room.

  “I’m ready for tea.” Dickce stood. “How about the rest of you?”

  “Might as well.” Reba rose, and so did Arliss and Lottie. Sarinda remained seated.

  “I’ll join you in a moment,” An’gel said. “I want to powder my nose first.” She followed the others into the hall in time to see Barbie close the front door behind the departing Hadley. She ducked down the hall toward the washroom under the stairs ahead of the others on their way to the kitchen at the back of the house.

  An’gel emerged from the washroom a couple of minutes later and walked into the kitchen. She was not surprised to hear her fellow members discussing Hadley and his appearance. She helped herself to a glass of tea. There was one full glass left on the tray, and then she realized that one member of the board was missing.

  “Where is Sarinda?” An’gel asked during a brief lull in the rhapsodies over how handsome and distinguished Hadley was. She sipped her tea. Barbie brewed it dark and strong, exactly the way An’gel preferred it.

  “Probably still sulking in the living room,” Barbie said. “I’m sure she thought Hadley didn’t pay her enough attention. Let her pout if she wants to.”

  “Yes, leave her alone,” Lottie said. “You’d think she was a teenager sometimes, the way she has these little fits of hers.”

  “I’ll go get her,” Arliss said. “Leaving her alone just encourages her to be a martyr.” She left the room, glass in hand.

  Arliss returned moments later. “She’s gone. I guess she’s having a bigger snit than we realized. I’ll call her later and make sure she’s okay.”

  “This is odd, even for Sarinda.” Dickce frowned.

  “Yes, it is,” An’gel said. “She doesn’t usually disappear like this, even when she’s having a good sulk.”

  “She was pretty fey about the whole Callie thing,” Reba said. “Do you think she knows more than she’s letting on about what happened to Callie forty years ago?”

  CHAPTER 4

  An’gel felt another frisson at Reba’s words. Had Sarinda been hinting that she actually knew what happened to Callie? If she did know, why hadn’t she spoken up before now?

  An’gel decided that it might be a good idea for her and Dickce to pay Sarinda a visit soon. With coaxing, Sarinda might tell them what lay behind these cryptic questions. It might be nothing other than a bid for attention, but An’gel thought it would be better to know for sure. Perhaps they might go tomorrow.

  “I thought Hadley seemed eager to leave.” Barbie frowned. “After all these years you’d think he’d at least stay and visit with us a few minutes.”

  “Maybe Sarinda spooked him,” Lottie said.

  Arliss snorted. “Don’t be ridiculous, Lottie. Hadley probably wanted to avoid more questions about what he’s been doing the past forty years.”

  “And whether he has been married and might still be.” Dickce grinned. “You notice he never mentioned anything about a wife or a girlfriend.”

  “He’d hardly pop that into the conversation without some sort of prompting,” An’gel said. “Frankly, I don’t think he’s married. I never have thought he was the marrying kind. Variety is his stock-in-trade when it comes to women.” She glanced around at her fellow board members, all of whom except her own sister seemed suddenly fascinated by the contents of their glasses. “You can set your caps at him all you want, but Hadley will outrun you all.”

  “Fine words coming from you, An’gel.” Reba plunked her glass on the counter none too gently. “He sure did seem interested in you, or didn’t you notice?”

  “Yes, he gave you pretty marked attention.” Arliss stared hard at her.

  An’gel kept a tight rein on her temper, although she had halfway been expecting such a scene. “That was simply Hadley showing off. He has always liked to tease, and he knew it would annoy me.”

  “Call it what you like,” Barbie said. “He paid more attention to you than he did to anyone else.”

  An’gel spoke sharply. “I wasn’t aware it was a competition.” She regretted the tone immediately. Barbie and Arliss smirked at her while Reba glared. Lottie and Dickce giggled.

  An’gel would have a few words for her sister as soon as they were on the way home. She was furious that Dickce had shared in their mirth.

  “Thank you for hosting the meeting, Barbie,” An’gel said. “We must be going now, so many things to do at home.”

  Dickce set her glass in the sink after a quick look at An’gel. “Yes, lots to do, always. See you later, ladies.”

  As An’gel and Dickce let themselves out the front door, An’gel could hear loud laughter coming from the kitchen. She resisted the urge to slam the door. When they reached the car, she held out her hand for the keys. Dickce handed them over right away.

  An’gel focused her attention on driving. Unlike her sister, she preferred a more sedate pace, although to her that simply meant driving only a few miles over the speed limit, rather than ten or fifteen.

  She spent the first five minutes of the drive with a critique of Dickce’s behavior, during which Dickce remained silent. When An’gel finished, Dickce said, “I don’t care what you say, Sister, it was funny. If only you could have seen your face when Hadley paid such attention to you. You looked like you didn’t know whether to crawl under the rug or grab Hadley and kiss him.”

  An’gel did not find that amusing. “I suppose you would have kissed him, then? I wanted to slap his face.”

  “Then you should have.” Dickce appeared unperturbed by An’gel’s fit of pique. “Hadley knew, of course, that you would respond exactly as you did. That’s why he singled you out. With any of the others,
well, they would have taken it as a sign that Hadley was madly in love with them. He knew you wouldn’t believe any such thing.”

  An’gel considered that for a moment and felt her irritation begin to fade. “It pains me to admit it, but I think you’re right. They’re all man-hungry, and there aren’t that many good-looking, well-off men in our age group in Athena for them to choose from.”

  “It’s going to be interesting having Hadley back,” Dickce said. “No telling what some of them will get up to trying to entice him into either an affair or marriage.”

  “Let’s hope it doesn’t destroy the garden club,” An’gel said as she turned into the driveway at Riverhill. “If they’re all spitting and scratching at one another over Hadley all the time, we’ll have nothing but trouble.”

  Benjy stared at the disarray in the flower bed, aghast, then turned to Peanut and Endora, sitting on the lawn nearby. He eyed the dirty paws of both animals and shook his head.

  “Miss An’gel is going to be furious with you. You’ll be lucky if she doesn’t send you both back to the shelter, and me along with you.”

  He knelt on the ground in front of the two miscreants, who stared at him as if they had no idea what he meant. Benjy pointed to the flower bed and the five azaleas the two had dug up. “Miss An’gel planted those today, and I can’t figure out what the heck possessed you to do this.” He shook his head. “I guess I should have kept you inside with me and not let you run loose. You’ve both been really bad.”

  Peanut hung his head and whimpered. Endora looked at Benjy and meowed, as if she were apologizing. She moved closer to Peanut and rubbed her head against his. The Labradoodle whimpered again.

  Benjy had to suppress a laugh at these examples of contrite behavior. He couldn’t be angry for long with Peanut and Endora. They were behaving the way animals do, and animals got into mischief. But he also knew Peanut was smart, and that if he scolded the dog, Peanut would remember and not dig in the flower bed again.

  “Listen, here, Peanut.” Benjy waited until the dog raised his head to look at him. Benjy pointed to the azaleas and the holes in the bed. “This is a bad thing. Don’t do this again. Bad, bad, bad.”

  Peanut whined, and Benjy scratched the dog’s head. “I know you’re sorry, and now you know better.” Peanut barked.

  Benjy turned his attention to the Abyssinian. “Now, Miss Endora, I figure you were the ringleader in this little escapade. I’m not sure it does any good telling you not to get Peanut in trouble again, but at least don’t get him in trouble digging up the flower beds, okay?”

  Endora gazed up at him a moment, uttered one quick meow, and rubbed against the dog again.

  “Okay, you two.” Benjy stood. “I’m going to try to get these back in the ground before Miss An’gel and Miss Dickce get home. I don’t want them to get upset seeing the mess you made. But I am going to have to tell them what you did. Understand?” He waited a moment while the two animals stared at him, then he patted each one on the head. “You can sit and watch me undo your bad work.”

  He turned to the flower bed and examined it for a moment. There were distinct holes where each azalea had stood, and if he worked quickly enough he ought to be able to get them replanted before the sisters returned from the garden club board meeting. They had been gone only about an hour, he reckoned. He knelt in the bed and set to work while the two responsible for the mess watched quietly.

  The soil was still soft from the watering Miss An’gel gave it when she finished planting the bushes earlier. He wasn’t sure at first that he would like the feel of the damp dirt on his hands, but after a few minutes he began to enjoy the process of restoring the plants to the earth. Growing up in Los Angeles, he’d never had the chance to do any kind of gardening, and he began to understand the attraction it held for his two benefactors.

  When he finished with the last azalea, he got to his feet and stepped back to examine his work. He hoped Miss An’gel would be pleased. He felt a momentary doubt. Perhaps he should have waited until the sisters returned and let them supervise him. No, he decided, he had done okay, and if Miss An’gel wanted them moved at all, he would do it for her.

  Peanut barked suddenly and stared toward the driveway. He trotted several feet away from Benjy and stopped, still focused on the driveway. Benjy knew that meant the dog had heard a car, and moments later the sisters’ Lexus came into view.

  Benjy stared down at his filthy hands and his dirt-encrusted jeans and sighed. He had hoped to get cleaned up before he had to face the sisters but that wasn’t going to happen. He trudged forward with Endora beside him. When they reached Peanut, the dog accompanied them to meet the sisters at the garage in back of the mansion. “Time to face the music, kids,” he informed the animals.

  After dinner in the kitchen that evening, Benjy excused himself when the sisters declined his offer to clear the table. He went off to his apartment over what had once been the stables with An’gel’s reassurance that he had replanted the azaleas perfectly. When he was gone, the subject turned to Peanut and Endora and their misbehavior earlier in the day.

  “They’re mischievous children,” Dickce said tartly. “Honestly, Sister, one would think you’d never been around house pets in your life.”

  An’gel glowered. “Dogs, yes. Cats, no. I wouldn’t be surprised if Endora was the ringleader. She’s so sly, and she loves to irritate me.”

  Dickce snickered. “You’re getting paranoid over a cat that weighs less than five pounds. It’s because Endora likes me better, isn’t it? That’s why you’re always claiming she’s got it in for you.”

  “If Endora were more like Diesel, I wouldn’t have a problem with her. He’s a much nicer cat, with better manners.” An’gel thought with fondness of the Maine Coon that belonged to their friend Charlie Harris.

  “Diesel is a wonderful cat,” Dickce said, “but Endora is a sweet girl. You need to pay more attention to her instead of making a fuss over Peanut all the time.”

  “Perhaps you’re right,” An’gel said. “I guess I take after Mother when it comes to felines. You know she wasn’t all that fond of them.”

  Dickce smiled at the thought of their beautiful mother who had always had at least two or three dogs in the house. “No, she wasn’t. She was definitely a dog person, but she let me have cats, as long as it was one at a time.”

  An’gel nodded. “Yes, she did, and you wouldn’t let me have much to do with them either.” She shrugged. “Back to the present. Benjy said he gave them both a stern talking-to about digging in the flower beds. Peanut is smart, and I don’t think we’ll have a problem with him bothering the beds again. Unless Endora takes it into her head to dig.”

  “Of course she’s going to dig.” Dickce spoke tartly. “She’s not always going to use the litter box indoors.”

  An’gel decided it was time to change the subject before they got deeper into a discussion of Endora’s sanitary habits. “Enough of that. I’m curious about Sarinda and the way she behaved at the meeting today. Didn’t you think she was odd?”

  “Odder than usual, certainly,” Dickce said. “Probably her same old pattern of trying to get more attention.” She drained the last of the red from her wineglass and looked about for the bottle.

  “Maybe,” An’gel said, “but I’m uneasy. There was an undercurrent in that room today, once Hadley claimed he has no idea where Callie is.”

  “Don’t tell me you’re starting to think foul play was involved.” Dickce shook her head before reaching for the wine.

  “No, I wouldn’t go that far,” An’gel said, “but I’d certainly give a lot to know where Callie is right now. Aren’t you curious about her?”

  “Yes,” Dickce said after a sip of wine. “I always liked her, and I was sorry when she disappeared like that. It would be good to know that she’s alive and well and happy somewhere.”

  “I’m going to call Sarinda
,” An’gel said. “If she won’t answer my questions over the phone, I’ll insist that she allow us to come talk to her tomorrow.”

  “Fine with me.” Dickce stood and began to clear the table. “You do that, and then you can help me here.”

  An’gel went to the phone on the nearby counter and punched in Sarinda’s number. She waited for Sarinda to pick up, but instead the call went to voice mail. She left a brief message, then ended the call.

  The phone rang a few minutes later as An’gel placed the last utensil in the dishwasher. She glanced at the display and saw that it was Lottie MacLeod calling. She grimaced. Lottie loved chatting on the phone, and An’gel wasn’t in the mood for an hour-long conversation. She was tempted not to answer, but good manners prevailed.

  “Hello, Lottie, how are you?”

  “Oh, An’gel, it’s terrible, I’m in total shock. I had no idea Sarinda was such a heavy drinker in private. It goes to show how little we really know each other, doesn’t it? Poor thing. She must have been lonely. She reeked of bourbon when I found her.” Lottie sobbed into the phone.

  “What on earth are you talking about?” An’gel asked, bewildered from the gush of words. “Has something happened to Sarinda?”

  Lottie sobbed again, then said, “She’s dead. I found her ten minutes ago at the bottom of the stairs.”

  CHAPTER 5

  An’gel went numb with horror. Lottie’s words began to sink in. Sarinda Hetherington was dead. She didn’t want to believe it. Surely Lottie, who got hysterical over the least little thing, was mistaken. An’gel felt her common sense return. Lottie had got it wrong.

  She spoke sharply into the phone. “Listen to me, Lottie. Have you called 911 yet? Sarinda may need help.”

  “She’s dead, I tell you. Dead, dead, dead.” Lottie chanted the last three words, and An’gel would have given anything to be able to shake the woman back to reality at that moment.

  “Did you call 911?” An’gel noticed that Dickce looked alarmed. “Sarinda fell down the stairs,” she said in an aside. Dickce sank into a chair and stared at her sister.