Death in Detail

by Andrew Stanek

  “Did you know your aunt very well?”

  “I saw her frequently enough, but this is the first time I’ve stayed in this house for any length of time since I was very young.”

  “Let’s go back to the night of your aunt’s birthday,” Felix interjected suddenly. “Did you notice anything odd?”

  “Odd?” Henry asked. “Well, not really odd. Everything was odd about Aunt Agatha. Her moods and so forth. But I do remember that Jasper and I arrived early. We chatted for a little while. Then Stephanie arrived with Agatha. Agatha was being horrible to Stephanie, I think; the old bat always was. Gloria and Diane were late, and so was Chester. Chester was always later, though in everything he’s ever done. Agatha was going on about what a drugged up disgrace he was, and I hate to say it, but I think she was probably right.”

  “Chester was on drugs?” Alders asked.

  “Well, I don’t know that he was on any drugs that particular day. He mainly drank, but he’s done the hard stuff in the past. You know, the uppers, the downers, the injections, the stuff that goes up your nose.”

  “So he, Gloria, and Diane were late.”

  “Yes, Gloria got a ride from Diane so they arrived together. Diane said she got stuck in traffic and there was traffic, but I think it was more of well - fashionable lateness than anything. She thinks fashion is very important, and I imagine she enjoyed arriving late just to drive Auntie up the wall. It’s the same with that ridiculous scarf she wears wherever she goes.”

  “Go on.”

  “We were eating dinner, the first course. It was tomato soup, I remember, because that was Auntie’s favorite and it was her birthday. She mentioned the soup. She’d grown the tomatoes herself. I never much cared for it myself, but you have to make some sacrifices. Jasper and I got to talking.”

  “What did you talk about?”

  “We talked about Everest. Jasper, I should explain, he’s a bit of an adventurer, and he recently came back from Nepal. He climbed Mount Everest.”

  “Impressive,” Alders said grudgingly.

  “Yes, but Auntie didn’t seem to think so. We’d gotten around to talking about Everest and Aunt Agatha suddenly up and asked ‘Are you trying to impress me?’ or something like that. Just, right out of the blue. And then she launched into what disgraces we all were.”

  “Do you remember what she said?”

  “I only remember what she told me. She said I’d never be as good at business as grandfather - that’s Sebastian Virgil Bellinger.” Henry rolled his eyes. “Auntie’s father. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out she prayed to him every night, given how she adored him.”

  “Did you ever know your grandfather?” Felix interjected suddenly.

  “No. He died a very long time ago, in the forties or fifties, I think.”

  “What can you tell me about him?”

  “Well, he was a big fruit magnate. I gather that a lot of our family’s money came from him. My business, Bellinger Trading Co., is descended from a wing of his old fruit business. Oh, we don’t grow fruit anymore,” he added, seeing the odd look on Alders’ face. “We haven’t in my lifetime, but I gather that grandpa’s company used to own fruit plantations in Central America, Honduras, San Salvador, places like that. My business is focused solely on import/export.”

  “And what do you import and export?” Alders asked.

  “All kinds of things. Rare earth minerals and industrial goods from China to the United States, and heavy machinery and some electronics back to Asia.”

  “Were you aware that your aunt kept parabarbital in her medicine cabinet?”

  “No. I knew she had medicine, of course, but not that drug specifically. Now that you mention it...” He paused. “Thinking back, I remember after Aunt Agatha stormed out, we were talking about her drugs. Yes, I remember I said I hope she’d die soon - I’m not proud of it, but there it is - and Jasper said, what with all these drugs she was on, she’d probably live forever.”

  “What happened after that?”

  “I don’t really remember. Chester came in at some point, really late. I think that was before we talked about the drugs. We ate some more food and drank pretty heavily. I went upstairs to bed.”

  “One more time, Henry,” said Alders leaning forward. “Thinking back to your conversation about the drugs, was there anyone - anyone - who might have been exceptionally eager to harm your Aunt?”

  Henry threw up his hands and shrugged.

  “I don’t know. If you forced me to name someone, I’d say Chester was probably the most likely. He’s always strapped for cash. He doesn’t have a job - he flunked med school, and like I said, he likes to drink and do some more expensive drugs than alcohol. Diane’s got pretty expensive tastes as well, and you heard her - she really wanted that diamond necklace. Jasper’s always been an adventurer and he can probably use the cash for his next vacation up a mountain, and Agatha was always so horrible to Stephanie I don’t know how she could stand it. The only person I can’t see killing her is Gloria. Gloria and Agatha always got on a little better than the rest of us did with Auntie, even if they didn’t get along so well that night.”

  Alders sighed. “Well, thank you, Mr. Bellinger. I think that’s all for now.”

  “One more question,” Felix said suddenly. “Have you ever seen this object before?”

  He reached onto the mantlepiece and took down the gold-and-jade clock that had been given to their Great-Uncle Horace by the Duke of Baden. Henry turned it over a few times in his hands, staring at the highly polished golden surface.

  “Well, I’ve probably seen it before. I think it’s been there for years, but it doesn’t mean anything to me. Auntie mentioned it once or twice.”

  “Thank you,” Felix said. “That’ll be all. If you could send in whoever wants to come next...”

  Henry nodded, stood, and left.

  “What was that business with the clock?” Alders asked, when he had gone. “What’s it got to do with the investigation?”

  “Absolutely nothing,” Felix said, carefully placing the clock back on the table and producing a case and a small brush from his pocket. “However, it will give us a sample of Henry’s fingerprints.”

  “Brilliant,” Alders said appreciatively as Felix dusted the thing.

  “Not brilliant enough, maybe, since I don’t think I’ll have time to properly dust this before the next person comes in. I can say one thing, though. Henry’s story about Agatha’s birthday dinner was very interesting. Stephanie said that the day afterwards, Agatha declared she thought someone was trying to kill her. I suspect that when they were sitting there, at that dinner table, and Jasper mentioned the drugs - that was the moment when the idea to poison Agatha entered the killer’s head. Whoever it was started the very next day.”

  Alders started to nod.“So you think that they talked about the drugs at dinner. The killer gets up from the table and goes and steals the pills, intending to poison Agatha. The next morning, Agatha notices the pills are gone and starts only eating food she has prepared herself.”

  “But Henry said it was the same day she had a fall, and her condition began to worsen,” Felix pointed out. “Coincidence?”

  “I think I’m with you on this one,” Alders said, shaking his head. “There are no coincidences in murder.”

  Chapter 6

  Gloria sat down in front of Alders and Felix and looked fearfully from one to the other.

  “It’s horrible, isn’t it?” she said. “I can’t imagine anyone killing Aunt Agatha.”

  “Is that so?” Alders asked, allowing some skepticism to creep into his voice. “We’ve heard that your Aunt Agatha might not have been so well liked by her family.”

  “Well, I suppose you could say that,” Gloria said, considering. “She could be very, very cruel sometimes, but they were only words. I don’t think anyone would kill her over it.”

  “So you don’t think any members of the family, for example, would want to do her harm?”

 
; “No, I don’t think they’d really want to harm her. I mean, some of them used to talk about wishing she were dead sometimes, and that was horrible, of course, but it was only after she said things that were just as horrible to them.”

  “What about the money?” Alders asked pointedly.

  Gloria gulped and looked around the room nervously.

  “Well, I mean, it’s only money, isn’t it?” she said. “It’s not as important as family.”

  “I understand Agatha was not your real aunt.”

  “No, but of course I always called her Aunt Agatha, ever since I was very small.”

  “Could you please tell us how you came to be included in her will?”

  “My father and Aunt Agatha were very old friends. They met doing charity work in Eastern Europe, I think, and discovered that they lived close together back here. Aunt Agatha never married, so I think she used to look on me as like her own daughter.”

  “Your father was a Colonel, I believe?” Felix asked politely.

  Gloria gave him a small smile. “Not really. He was a Colonel in the Salvation Army.”

  Alders fought to conceal his surprise as he scribbled the information down in his notebook.

  “So,” Felix continued softly, “your father and Agatha met doing charity work.”

  “Yes, but this was about fifty years ago, back when Aunt Agatha still traveled around the world. My father and Aunt Agatha did lots of charity work in all sorts of places, Africa, India, Asia, and so forth. My father was very religious, of course, and he believed charity was important. That’s why he joined the Salvation Army. My mother died when I was very young, so when Aunt Agatha finally stopped traveling and settled down here, I stayed with her when my father was abroad. I spent a lot of time here when I was younger. I will also say, Aunt Agatha said some awful things in her last few weeks and you’ll probably hear a lot of unkind remarks against her, but there was a time when she was a very nice person.”

  “Despite her obsession with the past?”

  “Yes. I wouldn’t say she was obsessed with the past. I’d say she thought family was very important. That’s why she kept talking about her father and her uncle and so on.”

  Felix signaled to Alders that he was done with his own questioning. Alders nodded and continued his line of questioning.

  “What do you do, Ms. Crownover?”

  “I’m a charity worker. I’m a full time manager at the Great Redmond All Faiths Food Bank.”

  “Following in your father’s footsteps, then you’d say?”

  “I suppose you could put it like that.”

  “Did you know that Agatha kept a supply of parabarbital in the medicine cabinet?”

  “No, I didn’t, and when I heard your friend say that she’d been poisoned, I think it was just about the worst moment in my life. I still don’t think I can quite believe that she was murdered, but I don’t believe Aunt Agatha would have poisoned herself, either. She definitely wasn’t that kind of person.”

  “How long have you been staying here in the house?”

  “Since Aunt Agatha’s birthday a few weeks ago. I had only thought I’d stay the one night, but the next day Aunt Agatha nearly had a bad fall, and then she had trouble standing up and she was shaking. I’d never seen her like that before. Sometimes, she’d have difficulty getting around and moving on her own and so forth... the number of times I saw her clinging onto Stephanie’s arm.. but she could always stand on her own.”

  “What time of day would you say your Aunt had her fall?”

  “Oh, I don’t know. It must have been after lunch.”

  “You mentioned your Aunt Agatha’s birthday. We’ve heard there was some disagreement between Aunt Agatha and everyone else that evening.”

  Gloria gave a very faint smile. “Disagreement is a kind way of putting it. Aunt Agatha was feeling a little cranky. I think it was because Diane and I arrived late - Diane was giving me a ride, you see, but there was dreadful traffic. Aunt Agatha could never suffer anyone arriving late, particularly not when she thought the occasion was important, and she probably thought her own hundredth birthday was very important. We were eating soup and Jasper and Henry were talking about something or the other. Diane asked Henry a question about his love life, then Jasper talked about climbing Mount Everest. Henry was saying something about his business when Aunt Agatha started saying the most perfectly horrible things to all of us. I don’t know why she did. Stephanie said she was just scared.”

  “Scared?” Alders asked.

  “Of dying. Oh no, I don’t mean murder. At the time, I’d never imagined she’d thought of anything that awful. I mean, she had turned one hundred. When you’ve turned one hundred, I imagine you’ve got to know you can’t have all that many years left. Aunt Agatha was always used to being in control of a situation, to make things work out in her favor, and I think this was one problem she realized she wouldn’t be able to snap her fingers and make disappear.”

  “You’ve said quite a lot about what other people said at dinner,” Felix cut in suddenly. “What did you say at dinner that night?”

  “Me?” Gloria looked shocked. “I don’t think I said anything after I greeted Aunt Agatha.”

  “Why not?”

  “Well, I arrived late for one thing. It’s not very polite to interrupt a conversation, is it?”

  “Diane arrived just as late as you did and you said she was speaking,” Alders pointed out.

  “Yes, well, Diane has never exactly been polite, has she? I guess you wouldn’t know, but Diane is always a bit jumpy. She’s the type who doesn’t ask permission to do things, lives wild and goes clubbing with her friends in the big city. I don’t think she minded as much, but I’m not really part of the family so I never felt as comfortable speaking in front of everyone else.”

  “Speaking of Diane, what about the diamond necklace that she was talking about?”

  “Oh yes, Auntie was wearing that on her birthday. It’s a beautiful thing, I understand why Diane wants it. It’s lovely and golden with a huge, sparkling diamond hanging in the center of it. I think it belonged to Great Aunt Martha - meaning Agatha’s Great Aunt, not mine. Still, it’s only a trinket. There are more important things in life, aren’t there?”

  “Can you think of anyone who might have wanted to take this necklace?”

  “Oh, I would have thought Diane for sure, it’s exactly the sort of mischief she’d get into - not that she means any harm by it, but then she was the one who found out it was missing. That means she can’t have stolen it. Well, I would have thought it would be one of the girls for sure, Stephanie or one of the maids. Some people get all silly over pretty things, don’t they?”

  “That they do,” Felix said softly. “What can you remember about the conversation at dinner that night?”

  “Well, I’d prefer not to go back over what Aunt Agatha said... she was in a dreadful mood, I could see that much immediately. Afterwards they started talking about her and I think Henry said how much he’d like it if she died. I know he wouldn’t really kill her, of course. I still can’t believe this whole thing isn’t one big misunderstanding somehow.”

  “Sadly, I think that’s increasingly unlikely, Ms. Crownover,” Felix said politely. “Do you remember anything remarkable in the days that followed the party, anything about Agatha, perhaps, or anyone behaving strangely?”

  “No, not really, though Aunt Agatha started making her own food more than was entirely normal, I suppose. Aunt Agatha always liked to make her own soups and side dishes and so forth sometimes. It was a hobby. I remember working the garden with her when I was little. What struck me was that she kept working at it even though her health was worsening. She did seem to get better after about a week, but then she got much worse. In fact, she was hardly able to get out of bed. I remember a few days ago Stephanie telling me she’d gone out to mail a letter and I was astonished. There’s a drop-off mailbox at the end of the street but in her state, I couldn’t believe she’d walk
ed so far. Come to think of it, that must have been the letter she sent you, Mr. Green.”

  “In all probability it was,” Felix answered kindly. “I think it might be productive if I knew a little more about the family history, as of course this investigation centers around the family. Would you be able to tell me a little about Agatha’s past, her relationship with her siblings and family and so on?”

  Gloria went red in the cheeks. “I could, of course, Mr. Green, but I don’t think it’s really my place. If you want to know more about the family, you should ask Stephanie. Stephanie has been living with Auntie for years and years now, and I’m sure Agatha told her all about the family history. It’s all told in portraits and objects hanging around the house. Auntie used to tell me about them, but I think I’ve forgotten.”

  “Like this, for instance?” Felix asked slyly, handing her a small metal trophy from the mantlepiece.

  Gloria looked at it. “Yes, this is exactly the kind of thing Aunt Agatha would have had a thousand stories about if you cared to listen. It’s sad that they’ve all gone with her.”

  “Very sad,” Felix agreed. “One last question, Ms. Crownover, am I right in thinking you are not married?”

  Gloria reddened further and stared down at her own, bare ring finger.

  “Yes, you are,” she said, in an overly level tone.

  “Thank you very much for your time, Ms. Crownover. If you would be so good as to send in whoever is waiting next to speak with me.”

  Alders thanked her as well, and Gloria left the room. When the door had shut behind her, Alders turned to find Felix dusting the small metal globe for prints.

  “Another trick,” Alders said appreciatively. “Any matches yet?”

  “I won’t know until I lift these prints properly and have some large images of them,” Felix said. “It’s difficult to tell.”

  “What did you think of Gloria?”

  “Difficult to say. She said Agatha cared deeply about the family, but she is not a member of the family. I wonder how that made her feel. Agatha seems to have been fond of telling people they did not live up to the legacy of their ancestors, not surprisingly.”