“Lou, as I mull this over, there are a couple of things that keep me from thinking she was poisoned in her apartment. One, she was poisoned by 9:00. Wouldn’t one of her neighbors have heard someone entering or leaving her apartment? Also, in what way was she poisoned in her apartment? Evidently, she didn’t eat anything there, and she would’ve had to have eaten something in order to be poisoned there. We know that she wasn’t poisoned by any of the food on her tray. Does this mean that someone put the tray there to make us think she was poisoned in her apartment rather than at the breakfast table? And if so, who? Other than the cook and the manager, none of the employees could’ve murdered Mrs. Higgins at the breakfast table. Could it be that the murderer is one of the residents, and that she placed the trays there to divert suspicion?”
“If so, Cy, it seems to me that whoever is responsible was trying to divert suspicion to either her next-door neighbor or her boyfriend. Neither of them could have committed the murder at the breakfast table, but both of them could’ve gotten into her apartment and done the job.”
In all my years solving murders I have never known us to have more answers than questions. Why should this case be any different? Hopefully, when we questioned everyone we would find someone who disputed what someone else said. I wanted to talk to each of the five people who worked there. I wanted to know who saw who or what. And I wanted to know if anyone of them saw any of the residents walking about at any time in the late afternoon after they returned from a day out.
Lightning must have driven back on autopilot. There was no telling how long we had been sitting in the Parkway Arms parking lot before we realized where we were. Both of us were so engrossed in the case that we paid no attention to anything else until we had run out of possible solutions. I turned off the ignition, and satisfied that my lunch had taken up residence somewhere and was quite comfortable, I opened the door and lifted myself from the car.
16
Once Lou and I were again inside the monstrous apartment building, we appreciated the air conditioning we had come to love each summer and marched off to the kitchen to see if the cook was still there. Martha Carpenter was putting away the last washed dish when we entered.
“Miss Carpenter, we’d like a little more of your time, in private.”
The “in private” seemed to unnerve the woman. I tried to set her at ease.
“We’re talking to everyone. We just chose to make you first, since you seem to be coming to one of your breaks. Besides, you were the first person to see Mrs. Higgins on the day she died.”
“First or second. Margaret was in and out before breakfast.”
“Well, we plan to talk to her, too. Now, where would you like to chat?”
“Well, I don’t have an office like Margaret. Why don’t we just go to my apartment, if that’s all right with you?”
I felt relieved when she opted for her apartment instead of the great outdoors that she loves so much.
I noticed that Margaret Draper saw us as we plodded within sight of her office and stood behind Martha Carpenter as she unlocked the door to her apartment. The manager seemed concerned. I shot her a smile to soften the moment. She shot one back, saying that she didn’t buy my smile. Could it be she was afraid that Martha Carpenter was responsible for the murder, and that she, the manager, would be losing a good cook, or was it that she herself had something to hide? We would deal with her next.
The cook opened the door to her apartment, and the three of us went inside. She motioned toward facing couches and invited us to sit, just as we had done previously. As Lou and I sat, she asked if she could get us anything. I declined, wanting to get on with my questions. Miss Carpenter looked around briefly, as if wondering if she forgot something. I waited until we were comfortable before I started to ask my questions.
“Do you mind if I call you Martha?”
“That’s my name. I think it suits me.”
I wasn’t sure if she was referring to a biblical reference, or if all Marthas were supposed to look alike. It wasn’t worth taking any more time to think about, so I continued.
“So, Martha, tell me a little about yourself.”
“Well, there’s not much to tell.”
“Surely, you can tell us something.”
“Well, I’m the oldest child in a large family, developed a fondness for cooking early in life, did a lot of cooking at home, and have been a cook most of my life after growing up. I’ve been the cook here for eight years, and no one has ever complained about me.”
“And no one has complained about you to me, either. It’s just that a woman was murdered here the other day, and we need to talk to everyone to see if someone can help us. Just relax. I just want to ask you a few questions.”
“I didn’t see nothing.”
“Really? You already told me that you were one of the first two to see Mrs. Higgins on the day she died, so at least you saw a little something.”
“But I wasn’t alone with her.”
“Martha, no one is accusing anyone of anything at this point. I just want to ask you a few questions about what you saw. Now, let’s start with when you first saw Mrs. Higgins on Friday morning.”
“I think it was just after I carried some food into the dining room. I looked up and saw her sitting in one of the chairs over in the sitting room, near the front door. As you know, the dining room is open, so you can see all the way to the front door from there. Back door, too.”
“And was anyone with her?”
“Part of the time Margaret was talking with her. Part of the time she was by herself, kind of fidgety like she usually is at breakfast time.”
“So, she was restless.”
“Yeah, but not any more so than usual at breakfast.”
“Why was that?”
“I don’t know. That’s just the way she was early in the morning. I don’t mean she was surly, just fidgety, like she was in a hurry, which she usually was at breakfast. She was always more comfortable at lunch and dinner, especially if Russell was with her.”
“Did she seem like she was in a hurry, like she was going to meet someone?”
“Not that I know of. I have no idea what her plans were.”
“And she was the first one of the tenants down that morning?”
“That’s right, but then she was usually the first.”
“But some of the others were down before she left?”
“Oh, everyone but Russell was down before she left. He would’ve been too, if he hadn’t been sick. Oh, and Elaine Jewell didn’t come down that morning. I sent her breakfast up, too.”
“Let’s start with Mr. Cochran. Have you seen him since he’s been sick?”
“No, just talked to him on the phone.”
“Okay. Let’s move on to breakfast. So, Mrs. Higgins had given you her order and you fixed it and brought it to her?”
“No, I can tell you haven’t been here at breakfast. Breakfast is different. I serve breakfast buffet style. I cook everything, then take it into the dining room and put it in these warming trays. Everything stays plenty warm in those. All of the residents serve themselves at breakfast. It’s the other meals that I serve the food.”
“And were you there when Mrs. Higgins fixed her plate?”
“Just a few feet away. Most of the time I stay until everyone has fixed his or her plate. It lets me know how much more I need to fix for the five of us who work here, since we eat last. Sometime there’s plenty of food left, and I don’t have to fix anything, but most of the time we’re close to running out of something or other. You’d think that everyone would eat the same amount of food each day, but that’s not always true. They usually eat the same things, but not always the same amount.”
“And it was just the two of you in the dining room when Mrs. Higgins fixed her plate?”
“I’m not sure if Margaret was in the room or not, but I know nobody else was down yet.”
“So can you remember what you served on Friday morning?”
“As the others came into the dining room, did you pay any attention to what each woman put on her plate?”
“Most of our people eat the same thing every day, except for those days when I fix something special. Like on a special occasion I’m liable to fix eggs Benedict, or French toast, or crepes of some sort.”
“What did Mrs. Higgins eat on Friday morning?”
“Her usual. She loves bacon and eggs, so she loads up on those. And she loves my homemade biscuits. Well, at least she did. She seldom took sausage, fruit, or cereal of any kind.”
“Then I assume that everything she took someone else took some of it, too.”
“That’s right! I don’t think we have anything that only one person eats, no matter who or what it is.”
“Does that include the jam and jelly, or did she eat something that no one else ate?”
“I’m pretty sure at least two people ate some of everything, including the jams and jellies, but I can’t swear to that. I don’t think anyone ate any honey that morning. Russell loves local honey, but then he didn’t come down and I didn’t think to send any up with his tray.”
“Back to Mrs. Higgins, were you in the dining room the entire time she was in there?”
“No, but she was most of the way through when I went back to the kitchen.”
“Did anyone eat next to her?”
“Not right next to her, although when Hilda came in and saw that Russell wasn’t there, she sat across from Katherine. Funny thing, Hilda must have eaten a lot faster on Friday, because she left just after Katherine.”
“I thought you said you weren’t in the dining room when Mrs. Higgins left.”
“I wasn’t, but I heard Hilda call out, ‘Wait up, Katherine. I’ll ride up with you.’”
“I want you to think back, Martha. Was there ever a time on Friday morning when it was only Katherine and one other person at the table?”
“Well, yeah. At least a couple of times. Like when the second person came in, there was only the two of them. And then one time when someone got up to get more food, which some of our residents do.”
“And did Mrs. Higgins get up at any time to get more food?”
“I’m not sure, but I know she got up to get more orange juice. She always got up to get more orange juice. Everyone knows she drinks at least two glasses of that stuff every morning. It was almost enough to put a smile on her face.”
“So, can you remember who might have been at the table alone with Mrs. Higgins?”
“Just the first time, because I remember that Joanne Moberly was the second person down on Friday. Are you saying that Katherine was poisoned?”
“It looks that way.”
“But she couldn’t have been poisoned at breakfast, because she ate her lunch.”
“Actually, she could have been poisoned at breakfast. She was poisoned then or some time close to breakfast. Whatever killed her was something she ingested around breakfast time.”
“But no one else was poisoned by my food.”
“I’m not saying that she was, either. It looks like someone put poison in something that only Mrs. Higgins ingested. They could’ve put it on something on her plate or in her glass.”
“You mean someone might have poisoned her at the dining room table in front of other people?”
“It looks that way, although we don’t know that for sure. That’s the reason we’ll be talking to everyone. If someone’s not guilty, they have nothing to fear.”
“Well, that’s terrible. Who would do something like that to Katherine?”
“I don’t know. Tell me, do you know what she thought of any of the people who work here or what they thought of her?”
“As far as I know she got along with all of us.”
“How long after Mrs. Higgins went back to her room did any of the other residents get up and leave the table?”
“Let’s see, I think Christine Hunt and Joanne Moberly left within a minute or two, and they left together. Of course, I already told you Hilda Winters left just a few seconds after Katherine did. And since Elaine Jewell ate in her apartment that day, and our other residents are away, that means that everyone was gone within minutes of each other, and earlier than normal.”
“And how much after that did any of the people who work here come to breakfast?”
“It was a few minutes. I doubt if anyone was expecting all of the residents to be gone so early, since that is seldom the case. You don’t think one of us did it?”
“That’s what we’re here to find out. Now, let’s move on to lunch. I believe you said that none of the residents ate lunch in the dining room.”
“That’s right! The only two I served lunch to were Katherine and Russell, and I sent both of those trays up to their apartments. Everyone else was out on Friday because it was carpet shampooing day.”
“And what time did you send those trays up?”
“Well, since they were the only two I had to prepare for I was able to send both trays up shortly after 11:30. I think I sent Russell’s first, because he was sick, and Katherine’s five minutes or so later.”
“So, the dining room was empty?”
“Well, Wally and I ate in the dining room later, but we don’t eat until 1:15.”
“What about Mrs. Draper and the two maids?”
“I can’t tell you about the maids, but Margaret got her food as I was getting mine. She took hers to her office in one of those Styrofoam containers.”
“And you and Wally were in the dining room together how long?”
“We got up about the same time. I’d say it was about 1:40.”
“And what did you two talk about?”
“The weather. The flowers. Wally worked in the flower beds on Friday.”
“And how did he seem?”
“Just like normal. Both of us are happier when the weather is good enough to get out in it. Of course we don’t like it as well when it gets too hot.”
“So, you say that both of you got up from the table about the same time. When did you go check on the trays, to see if Mr. Cochran and Mrs. Higgins sent theirs back down?”
“It was about that time.”
“And neither tray was in the dumbwaiter?”
“I saw that Russell’s tray wasn’t in there, so I decided to wait until later. I knew he was sick. I didn’t want to bother him. Since his tray wasn’t there, I decided to wait until later to check on Katherine’s tray, too.”
“And when was the next time you checked for the trays?”
“Well, when the trays weren’t there, I went ahead and washed all the dishes I had, cleaned up the kitchen, and went to my room. I didn’t get around to checking for the trays again until dinnertime.”
“Was that before or after the residents came down to eat?”
“Let me think. Um, yeah, it was after, but just a little after. When I didn’t find Russell’s, I called him. He said he’d sent it down earlier.”
“Did he mention what time?”
“No, I don’t think he did.”
“So what did you do then?”
“Well, I checked for Katherine’s tray and found out that the dumbwaiter must have been open in Katherine’s room, because it wouldn’t move.”
“I fixed Russell’s tray, sent it up, then tried to call Katherine. When she didn’t answer, I waited a few minutes, tried again, and then told Margaret about it.”
“Just one more question at this time. What all do you have keys to at Parkway Arms?”
“Just the front door and the door to my apartment. As you know, the kitchen has no doors, and I don’t keep anyth
ing locked away.”
“Speaking of locked away, do you know of any poison on the premises?”
“No, but Margaret or Wally would be the ones to ask about that.”
I knew there were other things I should have asked the cook, but I couldn’t think of anything else at that moment, so I merely thanked her for her time and told her that if I thought of anything else I would check back with her. She seemed a little unnerved by that comment, like she was hiding something. I chalked it up to the fact she was a nervous person under the circumstances, unless I found out any different.
17
We left Martha Carpenter’s apartment, not quite sure if we had learned anything that might help us solve the case. We walked up the hall until we got to the glass wall that separated us from Margaret Draper’s office. I paused at the door and she looked up and motioned for us to come in.
“Trying to learn a few new recipes, are you, Lieutenant?”
“Not me. I know my place. God gave some people a talent for cooking and others a talent for eating. In case you can’t tell, I’m one of the eating bunch.”
The manager laughed.
“You spent a lot of time with Martha. I assume you still have a lot of questions. Were they all for her, or did you save some of them for me?”
“Oh, I think I might have saved a few. I know you’re as anxious to end this investigation as we are.”
“So, you think there’s something to investigate?”
“Oh, yes. Take me back to Friday morning. When was the first time you saw Mrs. Higgins?”
“Just before breakfast. I’d come out of my office and I saw her sitting in one of our comfortable chairs, waiting for breakfast, just like she always does, or I guess now I should say did. It’s still hard to get used to the fact that she’s no longer with us. I never would have dreamed she’d go so quickly. She was with us quite a while and seemed in good health for her age.”
4 Murder at Breakfast Page 10