by Morgana Best
“Until now, we’ve largely overlooked the role of those two in Paul’s murder,” she said. “Lucas could have overheard the argument, and he could have seen Linda leave. He had the opportunity to murder Paul.”
“But what about the motive?” I asked her.
“That’s what we need to find out,” she said. “And we need to find out Lila Sanders’ motive, if she had one.”
“But she arrived in town after the murder,” Maude said.
Aunt Agnes tut-tutted. “We’ve already discussed this at length. She arrived at the cottage after the murder. Who knows how long she was in town before that? That’s something we have to find out. So the first thing we have to do, is check with all the motels to find out if Lila Sanders was staying in town the night of the murder. Maude, you can call all the motels and ask them.”
Maude glowered at her.
“What if she used a false name?” I said. “Or what if she stayed in her car overnight?”
Aunt Agnes’s hand paused on its way to the toast rack. “You make a good point, Valkyrie. Still, we can only do what we can do. Maude, find out if Lila Sanders booked into any of the motels, and then describe her to them as well, just in case she did use a false name. We’ll have to find out when she actually did arrive in town.”
“How will we do that?” Aunt Dorothy asked her.
“I have no idea. Now Valkyrie, you can investigate Tom and Sarah Burris.”
“What am I supposed to do?” I protested.
“Perhaps you and Linda could go and speak to Sarah.” Aunt Agnes paused to tap her chin. “Yes, I’ve got it! You and Linda invite Sarah for coffee, and Linda, you can say it’s one ex-wife to another, or something like that. Improvise! See if you can draw her out into admitting that she killed him.”
“That’s a bit of a stretch,” I said. “She’s hardly going to confess.”
Agnes frowned at me. “You know what I mean. Just draw her out. If she is the murderer, surely she’ll let something slip. Find out if she knew that Linda was in the motel that night. Besides, you said the website was going well, so you can afford to take a few hours off to interrogate a suspect.”
All the aunts nodded. I noticed that Linda looked just as irritated as I was, but I couldn’t think of a way out of it. “All right, if you insist.”
Agnes turned to Linda. “After breakfast, call Sarah and ask her for coffee.”
“I don’t know her number,” Linda said hopefully.
Aunt Agnes left the room, and presently returned with a thick black book. She opened it, and then ran her finger down the page. “Here it is.” She handed the book to Linda. “Put this number into your phone. It’s her husband’s number for the lawn mowing business, but she usually answers.”
I hoped Sarah would not agree to meet Linda for coffee, but she did.
Within an hour, I found myself sitting in a horrid, dark little coffee shop with Linda and Sarah. I felt immensely uncomfortable, and I figured the others felt the same way.
“Sarah, as I said on the phone, I thought we should have coffee, on my behalf to apologise for the way Paul treated you. I don’t know if you knew that he treated me the same, but I had left him that day, the very day he was murdered.”
Sarah looked down at the table, and nodded. I wondered how Linda would explain my presence there, but she did not even address that issue. “I’m so sorry for what Paul did to you,” she continued. “I don’t need to tell you what an absolute hell it was living with that man. He was evil, pure evil.”
Sarah’s eyes flickered then, and it seemed to me that some of the tension left her face. On the drive to the coffee shop, Linda had told me that Sarah wasn’t a Shifter, and that Paul had told her Sarah had no idea that he was one.
Sarah looked cowered, as if she hadn’t yet recovered from her nightmare marriage to Paul. “I hope you don’t mind me bringing Pepper,” Linda said, finally giving a reason why I was there, albeit a false one. “She’s been my support since Paul was murdered. I’ve told her everything he did to me.”
Sarah nodded. She still hadn’t spoken, so it seemed to be an exercise in futility. I couldn’t see how we could possibly get any information out of her.
The waitress came over to take our orders. Sarah ordered a gluten-free triple chocolate mudcake and coffee. I was only going to have coffee, but I wouldn’t be able to resist cake if I saw someone eat it in front of me, so I ordered carrot cake. Linda probably felt the same, because she ordered coffee and Tiramisu.
When the waitress left, Sarah waved her hand in front of her face. “Oh gosh, did you smell her perfume?”
Linda and I exchanged glances. “Yes, didn’t you like it?” I asked her.
“I’m very sensitive to chemicals,” she said in a small voice. “That’s why I always come here. I know what time they clean their coffee machine. If I drink coffee after the machine has just been cleaned, it makes me really sick.”
I was relieved that she was finally talking, so I hoped to draw her out. “That must be very difficult for you. Are you gluten intolerant, too?”
She nodded. “And I’m intolerant to dairy, soy, mushrooms, and onions.”
“It’s a wonder you can eat anything at all,” Linda said. “Didn’t you just order a chocolate cake?”
Sarah smiled. “Luckily for me, it’s only uncooked dairy milk that makes me really sick. I wouldn’t be able to eat cream, or ice cream for that matter, but I’m not so bad if the milk is cooked, such as in cakes. I get away with it occasionally.”
“So obviously you don’t use chemicals in your house?” I asked.
Sarah shook her head. “No, I avoid them at all costs.”
“Paul wouldn’t have liked that,” Linda said with feeling.
Sarah’s expression darkened. “No, he sure didn’t. He said it was all in my mind. That was one of the bones of contention between us. I can’t tell you how blissful it is now, married to Tom. He lets me use all the potions I like.”
I was taken aback. “Potions?”
Sarah nodded. “That’s what I call them. I mostly clean with vinegar and bicarbonate of soda, but Bella Barker mixes up potions for me to keep the bugs away.”
“How useful,” I said. “What sort of bugs? Maybe I can ask Bella to make some for the manor and the cottages.”
“Cockroaches, mainly,” Sarah said happily. “Bella mixes up sugar and bicarbonate of soda to kill cockroaches. I haven’t had a single cockroach in my house since she gave me her home-made cockroach poison.”
“How wonderful!” I said, thinking this might be a lead. “Does she do other home-made poisons?”
Sarah nodded, looking enthusiastic for the first time. “If you have any sort of problem with insects or bugs, Bella can mix up a natural poison for them. She has an extensive vegetable and herb garden. It’s just amazing what she can come up with.”
Linda nudged my leg under the table. “She sounds very helpful,” she said.
I knew what Linda was thinking. Paul had accused Bella of theft, and Bella was good with home-made poisons. Not only that, she had an extensive vegetable garden, so clearly she grew potatoes. My suspicions were now leaning more and more towards Bella.
“It must be lovely to get away from Paul and be married to a nice man,” Linda said.
“Oh, that reminds me,” Sarah said with more animation than I had seen previously. “Does Paul still have the painting of the lighthouse?”
Linda looked taken aback and took a few moments before responding. “Do you mean the huge oil painting of the lighthouse, the lighthouse here at Lighthouse Bay?”
Sarah nodded. “Yes, that’s the one! I painted it.”
Linda looked shocked. “You did? Paul told me that you were an artist, but he never told me he’d kept any of your paintings. I had no idea.”
“That was my favourite painting. I really wanted to get it back from Paul, but he wouldn’t let me have it. Could I buy it from you? I hope you don’t mind me asking.”
Linda�
��s hand flew to her throat. “Buy it? You can have it, of course. I’ll deliver it to you in person. I can’t tell you when, because I have to go back home at some point to organise all Paul’s affairs, but I’ll drive back to Lighthouse Bay and give it to you.”
Sarah burst into tears. I didn’t know what to do so I shot Linda a look. She shrugged. The waitress returned and placed our cakes on the table. “Are our drinks coming soon?” Linda asked her. “I’m sure we’d all like to have our coffee with our cakes.”
The waitress looked put out. “I’ll just make them now,” she muttered.
When she was out of earshot, I said, “They must be understaffed here.”
Linda nodded. “Sarah, sorry to make you cry.”
Sarah shook her head and wiped her eyes. “You made me happy. I’ve wanted that painting for ages. Poor Tom even tried to buy it from Paul, but he wouldn’t sell it to him.”
Linda frowned. “I didn’t know that.”
Sarah nodded and continued to dab at her eyes. “It was just the other evening. Tom went over to the cottage and offered Paul a large sum of money for the painting—he wouldn’t tell me how much—and Paul flat out refused to sell it.”
“I had no idea. Paul didn’t tell me that.”
“You weren’t there when Tom spoke to Paul?” I asked her.
“No.” Linda shot me a significant look.
“What evening was that?” I asked Sarah.
Sarah looked up, shocked. “I have to go,” she said. She fumbled in her purse and deposited some money on the table. “Sorry.” She handed Linda her card. “Thanks so much for giving me my painting. Here are my contact details.”
With that, she hurried out of the cafe.
Linda looked at me. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
I nodded. “It seems as if her husband approached Paul about selling the painting on the very evening that Paul was murdered.”
“We have to tell the police.”
“And then there’s Bella, too,” I said. “That’s news about her extensive herb and vegetable garden, and home-made poisons.”
“Two likely suspects,” Linda said.
Chapter 14
Linda and I were at the police station, nervously waiting in the sitting area. A young, thin man was sitting next to us, trying to engage us in conversation. He smelled strongly of stale cigarette smoke and alcohol. His speech was slurred, and he swayed from side to side as he spoke.
When a police officer came to speak to him, he became so angry that another two police officers had to come out and take him away.
“He was a bit scary,” Linda said, but I had no chance to respond because Detective Oakes appeared at the front desk.
“You ladies have some information for me?” He looked bored, as if he would rather be anywhere else than here.
I thought for a moment he was going to speak to us over the counter, and perhaps he was considering it, but then he let out a long, weary sigh and jerked his head towards the hallway. “Come inside.”
He pressed a button and pulled a door open. We followed him down a long corridor to a dull green metal door. He opened it and indicated we should enter.
Linda and I preceded him again. He gestured to two chairs and then sat opposite us. “What do you have for me?”
“We were just having coffee with Sarah, my husband’s first wife,” Linda said, but Oakes interrupted her.
“Sarah Burris?”
Linda nodded. “She said her husband went to ask Paul about selling a painting. It was the night that I stayed in the motel, the night Paul died. It’s a long story, but I’ll just give you a summary.”
Oakes rubbed his forehead. “Yes, please come straight to the point.”
“Long story short, Sarah was an artist. Mind you, I didn’t know this, but apparently Paul kept a large painting she’d painted, and refused to let her have it when they divorced. She said that her husband, Tom, went to ask Paul to sell it that night, but Paul refused.”
“And Sarah Burris told you this just now?”
“Yes.”
“And if I were to call Mrs Burris and ask her, she would verify your words?”
“Yes,” Linda said, offended.
“I was there at the time,” I said. “I heard her say it all. And she also told us that Bella Barker, the manor’s cleaning lady, has an extensive vegetable garden and makes her own poisons.”
His eyebrow shot up. “Poisons?” he echoed.
“For bugs, cockroaches, ants, that sort of thing,” I said.
“So Sarah Burris told you both this just then?”
We both nodded.
“When you were having coffee with her?”
We nodded again.
“And how did you come to have coffee with her?”
Linda and I exchanged glances. “I just thought it was a nice thing to do since she was Paul’s ex-wife,” Linda said.
“So you knew her well?”
Linda fidgeted in her seat. “No, not well at all.”
The detective hesitated for a moment. “I see,” he said after an interval. “And Mrs Williams, have you thought of anyone else who could substantiate your whereabouts on the night in question?”
“How could I?” Linda said in an irritated tone. “I was asleep in my motel room, alone. How could anyone verify it?”
The detective’s expression did not change. “Is that all?”
Linda stood up.
“Yes.”
Detective Oakes opened the door for us and we both hurried down the corridor. I, for one, felt quite foolish.
As soon as we were outside, Linda touched my arm. “See, he thinks I did it!”
“Oh, I’m sure he doesn’t. He just seemed cranky.” I did think he was cranky, but it also seemed to me that he had not discounted Linda as a likely suspect.
“Can you do a spell for me please, Pepper? A justice spell, something like that? So the police won’t blame me?” Linda was quite shaken. “Sure, come back to my cottage and I’ll see what I can do.”
The black cat was waiting for us when we arrived at my cottage. “She’s taken quite a shine to you,” Linda said.
I let the cat inside and fed her again, and I looked through my glass-encased cabinet for the right ingredients. “Okay, I have Devil’s Shoe Strings, bergamot, red brick dust, and tansy,” I said. “I only have tiny quantities, because I have to build up supplies again. I only took what I could fit in my suitcase when I left Sydney. Still, there should be enough.”
Linda looked puzzled. “What’s tansy used for?”
I handed her the little bottle of the dried green herb. “Put some in your shoe, and put the rest of it in your bath tonight. It keeps the law away. I wish I had more. I wonder where I can buy it around here?” I shook my head. “I’ll need to get some online, but it won’t arrive soon.”
“That’s all right. I’ll find some online tonight and have it sent fast. Thanks for that.”
I smiled at her. “Okay, here are the Devil’s Shoe Strings. I only have five. Mix these with Dragons Blood resin and some cinnamon, and burn them on charcoal in the middle of your room. Carry the smoke around the room. I have plenty of Dragons Blood resin and cinnamon. I bought some in town the other day. I bought some charcoal, too.”
“I don’t know how to thank you! Look, could you email me the instructions? I’m just as likely to forget it all.”
“Sure.”
“I know about the red brick dust, though. I put it in a line across my door and across the windows?”
I nodded.
“But what was that other thing you said?”
“Bergamot. Bergamot and cloves, actually. I can give you some bergamot oil, and I have plenty of cloves. You would normally use them in a floor wash to keep the law away, only your room is carpeted. Hmm, let me think. Okay, sprinkle the bergamot oil on the floor, and throw some cloves on the floor, and then vacuum the carpet. Actually, you’re supposed to use Cedar Oil with it, but I don’t have any.
I’m sure they sell it at that crystal shop in town.”
Some colour was returning to Linda’s face. “Thanks so much, Pepper! I’ll pop down there and buy some tomorrow. I’ll go and do the rest of it now. Are you looking forward to dinner tonight?”
“No,” I said truthfully.
Chapter 15
I hoped the uncomfortable evening would pay off with Lila implicating herself somehow. I was disappointed that Lucas was still out of town.
The aunts’ best silverware was on display, and the blue and gold dinner setting looked expensive. It had moulded, raised floral decorations and was gilded. It also looked old. I wasn’t too keen to eat from such ancient china. Then again, I supposed that vampires didn’t succumb to illness too easily, or did they? There was still so much I didn’t know.
Lila was clearly in a black mood, but my aunts were all chirpy. Linda looked rather nervous.
Despite my growing friendship with Linda, I hadn’t quite discounted her as the murderer. In fact, she seemed the ideal suspect. She had the strongest motive. Had they divorced, she would not have walked away with a thing, but with him dead, she stood to inherit everything and he had been a wealthy man. I also found it suspicious that she had an alibi. She had eaten in the motel’s restaurant and had been seen by many people.
Still, it wasn’t a perfect alibi because she could have slipped out during the night. At any rate, her staying in the motel would have to look better to the police than her being in the cottage with him when he died.
It was true—Linda had everything: motive, opportunity, and means.
The aunts offered everyone wine, which was in fact Witches’ Brew. This time, Linda accepted some, as did Lila. I knew the aunts were going to interrogate her without making it look like an interrogation.
“How are you enjoying your stay here, Lila?” Aunt Agnes said, after she had filled Lila’s wine glass.
“It’s okay,” Lila said. “What do you folks do around here for entertainment?”
“I thought you were here to write a story,” I said. I made my tone as pleasant as I could.
“One can mix business with pleasure,” Lila said icily.