by Jeri Green
What if a person couldn’t taste the bitterness?
Then he would never realize something was wrong with the bite he’d put into his mouth.
“Eustian took that bad conk on his head when he had his tractor accident. He refused to go to the doctor’s office and be checked out. Gunn and Eustian got into it over at the Spoon when Eustian complained that his food tasted like metal.
A conk on the noggin can mess up your sense of smell. Your sense of smell is critical in helping you taste food. I think Eustian lost his sense of taste as a result of his tractor accident. His face was badly injured. Delta described him as looking like a Concord grape.”
“She’s right. His face was all bruised and purple for the longest time.”
“Another clue I overlooked,” Hadley continued, “was when Anna took me for a flight over the county in her new biplane. From the air, I noticed there is a maze of roads and paths bisecting and intersecting the orchards and farms around here.
“Remember when Junior Croft tragically died?
He rode the utility vehicle to Eustian’s to get fuel for the kerosene heaters. I believe he used one of those paths connecting the Croft orchards to Eustian’s place.
I think it was the same road Rayna took to deliver the box of food that went to shut-ins last month when she was in charge of those deliveries. Eustian was old, but he was no shut-in.
“Maury has been after me to volunteer to head it in a couple of months. She showed me the list of folks I would have to deliver the boxes to and Eustian’s name was not on the list. It didn’t hit me at first. Why was the shut-in box sitting on Eustian’s counter when he wasn’t on the list of names that received deliveries? You made a special trip out there, didn’t you, Rayna?”
Rayna Croft sat in her chair, gray as a ghost, looking at the floor.
A low growl suddenly emanated from her chest.
“Yes, Hadley!” she screamed. “I did it! I did it, and I’m not sorry I did!”
Bill moved next to Rayna.
“You ground the apricot kernels up in your coffee grinder, didn’t you, Rayna?” Hadley asked.
Rayna lowered her head.
“You had me going, you know, when you suggested Teddy had come back. But that was just a ploy. You didn’t want me to use the coffee grinder, did you? You practically shooed me out of your house that night with a broom. You volunteered to help me, in spite of all the work you had to do at the orchard, to see what I knew.
“Maury told you how upset she was that Bill had offered the job of cleaning out Eustian’s house to me. You and Sandy were friends. You knew what chemicals he used to gold plate jewelry and coins. All you had to do was order some of the same cyanide solution.
“My guess is, you waited until Eustian had time to eat the food you left. You knocked on his door. He didn’t answer. The old man was probably like most of us around here. We lock our windows, but leave the door unlocked.
“It’s a habit I have that Maury continually gripes to me about. But I’ve always left the back door open. It’s just convenient.
“Anyway, you knock on the back door. It’s open. You enter the kitchen. All you had to do was place that plastic bottle under the table.
“We talked about experimenting and adding things to recipes. And Richie told me you were always saving apricot pits”
“You’re right! I hated that man. He ruined so many lives! He ruined Teddy’s! He killed Junior! My blood boils when I think of how Eustian Singlepenny’s negligence killed that boy!
“But Eustian denied putting gasoline in the oil cans. And it was his word against Teddy’s. Eustian swore it had to be the kerosene heater that was faulty. And he got away with murder! Murder! Well, if you frightened mice sitting here in this library weren’t going to do anything, I made up my mind that I surely was!”
“But why,” Hadley asked, “did it take you so long?”
“I wanted to figure out a way to do it that would bring him down when he least expected it. I’ve stewed on this problem for years. I guessed Eustian had lost his sense of taste when he gobbled up Juanita’s casseroles.
“And then, it just hit me one day when I was preparing apricot pits to grow new seedlings for the orchard. I tried pulverizing them with a hammer. I was afraid Eustian would notice the pieces. But the coffee grinder ground them to dust.
“I mixed them with the flour and made a pie crust. I baked a pie and dropped off the box on his doorstep. I knew he’d eat every crumb rather than spend money on food. It was a sure-fire plan. I couldn’t lose.”
“But you have lost, Rayna. You’ve lost Richie, your freedom, and the farm. You’ve lost everything.”
Anna cut the lights back up. Bill handcuffed Rayna and led her off to jail.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
“Do you think Rayna killed Teddy,” Hadley asked Bill.
“I don’t know. Hadley. I don’t think we’ll ever know. Rayna’s got a lawyer. She’s not saying anything.”
“Well, I don’t like to think about it.”
“Me, neither. Good thing Richie’s old enough to take over the orchards. At least there’s that.”
“Yeah. I guess. Say, Bill, are those people still wanting to buy Eustian’s place?”
“Yeah,” Bill said.
“Well, give me that key. You know I owe Beanie $250. It would probably take me the rest of my life to pay him off in baloney.”
“Baloney,” Bill said, as he laughed and handed Hadley the key to Eustian’s house.
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Hadley Pell Book 1 (Nobody’s Sorry You’re Dead)
Hadley Pell Book 2 (Nobody Knows Your Secret)
Hadley Pell Book 3 (Nobody Can Say It’s You)
Also by Jeri Green
Hadley Pell Book 2
Hadley Pell Book 3!