“So I lose at bingo for awhile, who cares?” Joe’s voice was high pitched and she kept her head turned away, looking straight out the window.
Sarah shrugged. I feel silent, thinking.
Mother was in a tizzy when I walked into the drawing room, but I was almost too excited to notice. I was starting to think of it as my very own detective’s den. I got a paper and pencil and started writing the suspects down. So far I had Neil, Evelyn, Thomas, and the neighbor, Linda.
It was hard to concentrate, though. Mother had followed me in and sat in the wingback chair across from me, glowering until I looked up at her.
“Ella, darling,” she began. “As Sweetings, we have a duty to marry at or above our station…”
I stuck the pen behind my ear. “Is this about Rory again? Is it too much to ask you to stay out of my dating life, Mother?”
“I would if you would consider your choices carefully,” Mother said.
“That’s tactful. So you don’t like Rory because he isn’t rich? What about when we were kids? You liked him fine then.”
“His father was in good standing then,” Mother said.
Father leaned his head into the drawing room. “Jeanie, can you help me find my blue sports coat? I have a late meeting tonight. Oh, hello, Ella dear. Heard you were investigating again. Nasty business with that Stillwater fellow.”
I was relieved to see him. “I am investigating,” I told him with a smile.
“That’s another thing, darling,” Mother began. “All this running about, questioning people, acting like a detective… it’s rather unseemly.”
“I’m just asking questions,” I said, feeling defensive. I’m not interfering, I insisted inwardly, as if Garza was lurking around in my mind.
“Watch out for that plucky detective,” Father said. Hmm, was she invading his mind, too? “Also, have you given any thought to that date Mother offered to set up for you?”
“No,” I said firmly.
“No thought, or…?”
“No. I’m not going.”
Mother stood up, brushing invisible dust mites off of her white skirt. She gave me a stern glare before turning to Father. “Let me help you find that jacket, dear.”
“Making friends everywhere today, I see,” Aunt Hazel said from the love seat, after Mother’d left in a huff.
I pulled the pencil out of my hair and bit the end of it in frustration.
“I’m not trying to be disagreeable,” I told her hotly.
“Oh, I know dear,” Hazel said.
“It’s just that Mother thinks that money is so important…”
“And you don’t,” Aunt Sarah said, as she and Joe entered, followed by Livvie and Trouble.
“No, I don’t.” I sighed. “I could care less if I ate frozen pizza everyday and lived in a car.”
The Aunts smiled at one another.
“I actually did that one year,” Auntie Joe said with a laugh. “I was angry with these two and struck out on my own for a year in Southern California. It is fun, but not for you. What would you do without Girard?”
As if he was supernatural himself, Girard chose that moment to enter with a tea cart. I was actually relieved. I hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. I hopped up to grab a pastry and fix myself a cup of tea but Girard was already doing it. I grinned like one of the cats.
“Thank you, Girard! You are a lifesaver!”
When he left the Aunts were laughing at me.
“Fine, so I couldn’t live in a car for a year without missing Girard,” I told them, to more laughter.
“That’s why you keep hurting Rory’s feelings,” Aunt Sarah told me. She was dressed in a patterned skirt and a sleek top with oversized buttons and looked like she stepped off the 1969 cover of a fashion magazine.
“Because I have money?”
“No,” Sarah said. “Think about it.”
I frowned. “I don’t care if he has money.”
“He does,” Auntie Joe said.
I filed that away for another time. For now, I needed to be focused or the murderer would get away. And if that happened, Mother would have me married off to some rich snot before I could convince Girard to cater my car once I moved into it.
The phone rang. I raced to pick it up before Girard. I was hoping it would be Rory, apologizing for leaving so abruptly. But it wasn’t.
“Sweeting residence,” I answered.
“Hey, Ella,” a perky voice said, “Just the girl I was looking to talk to.”
“What’s up?” Ruby’s voice instantly lifted my mood.
“Oh, not much,” Ruby said, a bit cagily.
“You know something,” I said.
“Me? I know a lot of things. But I’m not going to tell you anything.” She paused. “Well, Garza’s on to you. She knows Evelyn asked you to investigate.”
“I’m sure she’s delighted,” I said with a hint of sarcasm.
“Sure, what with that and the strangled musician…it’s not exactly a party over here,” Ruby told me. She said it like it was a secret but I had seen the body. I knew Hank had been strangled.
“Do you want to get lunch in a few days?”
“Yes,” I told her. “We can strategize about Max.”
“And Rory,” Ruby said, laughing.
“So was it the tie?” I asked, trying to sound breezy.
“Oh, we won’t know anything until the tox screen comes back, and you know how long that could take. So, lunch? It’s going to be crazy busy with this murder investigation going on, but hopefully things will calm down by next week. How about Monday?”
“Sure! Do you want to go to the cafe on Third?”
“Sounds perfect.”
I decided to just come out and be forthright. “So, are they doubting that the tie was the murder weapon?”
“Well, it would have taken a very strong person to do it that fast and with no one noticing,” Ruby said. Then she fell silent. “You know I can’t tell you anything about the case, Ella. See you Monday.” The line went dead.
I turned to the Aunts. “Garza thinks Hank had help being strangled.”
“What do you mean?” Hazel asked.
“I don’t know. Only that she thinks if it was just the tie people would have noticed. Plus, Auntie Joe’s spell told us that he barely put up a fight. Right? Since he was content, right? Not scared or pumped full of adrenaline.”
“Yes,” Hazel responded. “There had to be a reason he didn’t have a chance to fight back.”
I frowned. There had to be more to it than just the tie. I had to talk to the band. Maybe Hank was weaker than he looked?
“Auntie Joe, do you know any of the current band members? Would they talk to you?”
“Jimmy Sidle would. He’s their bass player. We’re friends on the internet,” she said.
“On the internet?”
“We’re witches Ella, not recluses,” Aunt Hazel said acidly.
Oh, I was sticking my foot in it everywhere today. I stood up and smoothed my skirts. I needed to think.
“Can you get in touch with him and arrange a meeting with the rest of the band?” I asked, pacing.
“I can try,” Auntie Joe said.
“Great,” I said, and gave her a hug.
“Where are you going?” Aunt Hazel asked.
“I need to think. I’m going to take a walk around the gardens.”
Outside in the fresh air, I felt a little more grounded. Roses flowered all around me. The gardeners had done their magic and hibiscus and geraniums were blooming blood red and snow white all over the back gardens. It soothed my jangled nerves.
“Too many thoughts,” Trouble said. He was perched in an ornamental maple, almost at eye level with me.
“Yes,” I told him. “There’s a lot happening right now.”
“Oh, for humans it’s a nonstop parade of events,” he said wisely. “Now, if you took several long naps a day like myself, you would have a clearer head.”
“Well, sin
ce I can’t do that, do you have any other sage advice?”
Trouble batted at a leaf until it fell to the ground.
“Tackle one problem at a time,” he finally said. “Start with the murder. It’s easier than that human relations nightmare you have going on with the mailman. Or…”
“Or?”
“Learn how to nap for twenty hours of the day. It really clears your head.”
Chapter 5
I decided to go visit Evelyn. I’d tell her what I had found out and see if I could get the neighbor to talk to me. Auntie Joe decided she would drive and chose one of the cars from the back of the garage, an old Ford Mustang convertible in cherry red.
“Do you know how to drive this thing?” I asked her.
“Sure,” Auntie Joe said. She put a few pins into her hair with one hand while driving with the other. The car jumped forward. I quickly put my pocketbook on the floor so I’d have both hands free to grip onto the glove compartment.
“This is fun!”
“If you say so,” I told her, gritting my teeth. But when the wind pulled my hair loose, I started to enjoy the feeling of air rushing over us and tried to lean back and relax. I gave the directions. Evelyn wasn’t that far from us. The way Auntie Joe was driving, we would be there in about ten seconds.
“I used to drive all the time! But we had to leave the old VW Bug in Germany when we flew back from Europe to meet you. I’m thinking of having it shipped here if Jeanie doesn’t get tired of us,” Auntie Joe said as we pulled into Evelyn’s driveway. She let out a satisfied sigh as she put the car in park.
We looked over at Linda’s house, which was covered in scaffolding and guys in hard hats. When I stepped out of the car I spotted Linda, standing in the center of the chaos with a big grin on her face and a yellow hard hat on her head. I waved. She handed her hat to a tall, beefy construction worker and sauntered over to us.
“Will you look at all of this?” she said, waving at the wheelbarrows and the piles of two-by-fours. “I’ll have my addition done in no time. Not a single barrier now. No Hank Stillwater going downtown to block my permits. No Hank Stillwater screaming at me that I’m ruining his view.”
Auntie Joe’s eyes were cold. “It sounds almost as if you are gloating over Hank’s death,” she said, her voice chilly.
“Oh.” Linda’s smile faltered a bit. “Well, I feel sorry for Evelyn, of course. She and I never had any issues. But that jerk can roast for all I care.”
Auntie Joe blanched. She hugged herself.
“That’s just mean,” I told Linda. “My aunt was friends with him.”
“Yes, I could see how harsh I am being about it. Bitter, I guess. It was a long fight to get all this started. He was like my nemesis,” Linda temporized. She turned on Auntie Joe. “Listen, Miss…?”
“Call me Joe,” Auntie Joe provided with a sniff.
“Joe, I never expected to live next to a rock star. I admit in the beginning I found Hank charming. He would invite me to his gatherings. He would drop by unexpectedly with a bottle of wine. He’d get fresh and I would send him home to his wife. But he could turn on a dime,” she said, waving at the construction.
“Once I decided to enlarge the house, he was no longer friendly. The last four years have been war. And all the while I’d hear them playing loud music and sporting in the pool after two in the morning. I’m a lawyer. I have to work for my money. I slept through three depositions. I almost lost my job. And on top of it I couldn’t turn around and add so much as an apple tree to my property without an injunction.”
“Sounds like a good motive for murder if you ask me,” Auntie Joe said.
Linda’s good will drained out of her. She narrowed her eyes. “I didn’t kill anybody. But I am going to have a killer second level and rooftop deck. I’m sorry Evelyn lost her husband. But hey, maybe she wanted him gone. He had a lot of friends— if you know what I mean. Have a nice day,” she snapped and swung around, heading back towards her construction zone.
“I’m sorry, Linda,” I called to her retreating back. I raised an eyebrow at Auntie Joe. “She’s never going to talk to us again now.”
Auntie Joe glared at the woman’s retreating back. “I know. I let my emotions get away from me. I just… the Hank I knew was nothing like the man she described.”
I thought about how Hank had spoken to Thomas in the restaurant right before he died. That hadn’t seemed like the Hank Auntie Joe knew, either. People changed, it seemed. But I wasn’t going to bring that up with Joe. Not now, anyway.
“Let’s go talk to Evelyn. Try not to alienate her, too,” I said with a sigh.
Auntie Joe was thoughtful as we walked up the drive to the ornate front porch. I rang the bell. Evelyn opened the door and I saw Neil Campbell standing behind her in the foyer. Evelyn looked nonplussed.
“Did we have a meeting scheduled today, Ella?”
“No, not officially but I did want to tell you what we’ve discovered so far,” I said, glancing over at Neil.
“Still trying to prove it was me, Eve?” His cheeks were flushed.
“Neil,” she began, but he was already pushing past her towards Auntie Joe.
He stopped and smile at her. “Joe?”
“Hi Neil,” Auntie Joe said in a breathy tone.
“You look wonderful,” he told her and kissed her hand. “Exactly as I remember you. We must have dinner.”
“I’m surprised you remember me,” Joe said, her cheeks pink.
“I never forget a beautiful girl,” he said and handed her his card. “Still in touch with Sidle?”
“Yes, we were going to meet with him tomorrow at the Steak House on Cotton Avenue,” Auntie Joe told him. “I wanted to catch up and talk about Hank.”
“Grilling the boys for information? No doubt with Ella in tow. How do you know Ella?”
“She’s my niece,” Auntie Joe said, and hugged me.
“I see,” he said. He studied my face and then smiled brightly, as if seeing the resemblance between us. It was there, though it was slight; Joe and I had similar cheekbones.
“Well, I might be there. If not, you call me,” he told Joe seriously. “It’s been too long.”
He kissed her again and then left us alone with Evelyn, who was openly glaring at Auntie Joe. She let us in and closed the door behind her. The room felt like it was full of electricity as the two women squared off.
“Would you like some tea?” Evelyn asked us stiffly.
“No,” Auntie Joe answered. “We just came to catch you up and then we’ll get out of your hair.”
“I know you, of course,” Evelyn said. “Oh, not be face, but by reputation. Neil told me about Hank’s old girlfriend who did all sorts of crazy stunts.”
“You dive off one cliff in Ibiza…” Joe said airily.
“Why are you here?”
“I cared about Hank too, Evelyn. I want to bring his killer to justice,” Joe said.
“And I want to find his killer without all his old girlfriends popping up out of the woodwork,” Evelyn said.
I was shocked by the transformation. This Evelyn wasn’t made of glass. She was tough.
“Old? You’re not exactly Ella’s age either, Evelyn. I’m not here to fight with you. I just want to help you get your justice,” Auntie Joe said.
“I should hope not,” said a familiar voice from the other side of the door.
Evelyn moved to open the door and Detective Garza was standing there. Dressed head to toe in a fitted pinstripe suit, she looked like a fashionable gangster. “I distinctly remember telling you to stay out of my way.”
“Actually you told me to stay out of things,” I said sheepishly.
“And are you?” Garza asked.
Uh oh. How to answer? Luckily Evelyn answered for me.
“I asked Ella to look into things,” she told the detective. She held her hands up in apology. “I’m sorry, Detective, but sometimes the police spend an awful lot of time trying to blame the spouse. I was ho
ping Ella could look into other suspects for me…to help.”
The look Garza gave Evelyn could have vaporized stone. It was gone in a flash as Garza’s face snapped back to neutral. She turned to me and I fought the urge to cringe.
“Well,” she asked. “What did you find out?”
“Not much,” I answered. “Probably nowhere near as much as the police force…I mean you guys are the professionals, after all. Just that I’m pretty sure Hank was surprised but not really able to fight back…”
“Ruby told you about the drugs? I’ll have her badge,” Garza growled.
I crowed…inwardly. “No, no! Ruby didn’t tell me anything. She wouldn’t risk her job.”
“Then who? Who told you?” The detective was turning an unattractive shade of red.
“You,” I breathed. “Just now…”
“Go home, Miss Sweeting,” Garza said through gritted teeth. “Take your aunt with you. I’ll talk to Mrs. Stillwater and see that she understands the damage your interfering could do to my case.”
“Let’s go, Ella,” Auntie Joe said, tugging at my arm. I let her lead me outside and past the detective’s car.
“She doesn’t like me. I don’t care what Ruby says,” I told Auntie Joe.
“I think she just wants to do a good job without our help. Let’s go home. I’m starved and I miss the cats. We can start putting things together after we talk to the rest of the band tomorrow.”
We were both quiet on the ride home. Auntie Joe was probably just enjoying the drive but I was lost in possibilities.
So Hank had been drugged. That made sense. It fit. But how? Who? With what? Oh, every time we got a little piece of information it led to more questions. I turned the questions over and over again in my mind on the short ride home.
Auntie Joe pulled into the driveway and handed the keys over to Girard, whose face was scrunched up with worry for the car. He waved at Eric, the guy who detailed all our cars, to take the keys. When the convertible was safely in the detailer’s hands, Girard relaxed, but only slightly.
“Hi Girard,” Auntie Joe said, ignoring the man’s perturbation that the car had been damaged. “What’s for dinner? I’m starved.”
A Spell of Murder: An Ella Sweeting Aromatherapy Magic Cozy Mystery (Ella Sweeting: Witch Aromatherapist Cozies Book 2) Page 4