The Pumpkin Muffin Murder

by Livia J. Washburn

  Detective Largo stood in the open doorway between the master bedroom and bath, keeping an eye on Phyllis and Carolyn at the same time and jotting down in a notebook a list of everything they picked up. Phyllis gestured toward the peppermints on the vanity and asked, “Is it all right if I take some of these for Mrs. Powell? She must like them, too, the way they’re all over the house.”

  Largo shook her head. “All the peppermints stay where they are, except the ones we’ve already collected as evidence. If they’re sugar free, they might be considered potential murder weapons.”

  “You’re joking,” Phyllis said.

  “I never joke about evidence.”

  Or probably about much of anything else, Phyllis thought. Surely Detective Largo wasn’t dour and humorless all the time, but she took her job seriously; that was for sure.

  She checked all the things Phyllis and Carolyn gathered for Dana, then nodded her head in approval as they were packed away in a couple of suitcases Carolyn found in a closet. “You shouldn’t need to come back over here,” Largo said, “but if you do, be sure to check with me first.”

  “Mrs. Powell was released on bail,” Phyllis reminded the detective again. “She could have come back here to stay. Would you have tried to keep her out of her own house?”

  “That would be different. Since she’s not here, I’d like to preserve the scene in its current condition as much as possible.”

  “It’s not a ‘scene,’ ” Carolyn said. “It’s someone’s home.”

  “It was home to two people,” Largo shot back, “until one of them was murdered.”

  She left unsaid the part about the other one being the killer, but Phyllis could hear it in Largo’s voice anyway.

  The detective escorted them back downstairs and through the living room. As they went out, Phyllis looked once more at the mantel over the fireplace. Several large, framed photographs of Dana and Logan sat there, all of the two of them together, including a wedding picture. It made a pang go through Phyllis’s chest. Their marriage, like so many others, had started out full of hope and love, and over the years it had turned into something else. Phyllis thanked God every day that she and Kenny hadn’t ended up like that. They had loved each other just as much at the end as they had at the beginning, which in this world made them very, very lucky.

  “Good-bye, ladies,” Detective Largo said as Phyllis and Carolyn started down the walk. She didn’t sound sad to see them go.

  They put the suitcases in the trunk of Phyllis’s car and drove away. “That woman is positively infuriating,” Carolyn said, and Phyllis had no doubt that she was referring to Isabel Largo.

  “She probably feels the same way about us. The way she sees it, she’s just doing her job.”

  “You’re so fair-minded, I figured you’d defend her,” Carolyn said. “I can’t, though. I think she and all the rest of the authorities are trying to railroad Dana. They don’t care if she’s guilty or not. All that matters to them is whether they think they can get a conviction.”

  “I’d hate to think that was true,” Phyllis said, but as a matter of fact, the same thought had crossed her mind earlier as they were driving over here.

  “You think that just because Mike is honest and devoted to his job, all of the authorities are. But it’s not true, Phyllis. I hate to think about how many innocent people have been convicted because of the sheer, blind stubbornness of the police and prosecutors.”

  Phyllis had heard people argue the exact opposite, that no one would be arrested in the first place if there wasn’t a good reason to think they were guilty. As in most things, the truth probably lay somewhere in between, she thought.

  In this case, though, she believed that Carolyn was right. Dana was innocent, but the police weren’t going to try to prove that. With that thought in her mind, Phyllis turned left when they reached the interstate. As she accelerated out onto the highway, Carolyn asked, “Where are we going?”

  “Remember I said I needed to make another stop on the way home?”

  “Oh, yes, of course. Where?”

  “That’s just it. I don’t know exactly where I’m going.”

  Carolyn frowned. “What does that mean?” They were speeding past the area where shopping centers had sprouted on both sides of the highway in recent years. “There’s not much else out in this direction.”

  “I know. But that doesn’t mean there couldn’t be.”

  That statement appeared to puzzle Carolyn even more. But she just sat back and muttered, “All right, I suppose you’ll explain when you’re good and ready.”

  They passed what Phyllis still thought of as the new high school, even though it had been there for a number of years. As they continued west, open fields began to line the highway on both sides.

  She asked Carolyn, “Can you watch on your side for official signs posted out in the fields?”

  “Official signs?” Carolyn repeated. “What’s going on here, Phyllis?”

  “One of Logan’s real estate deals had to do with the building of a big mall somewhere out here,” Phyllis explained. “I’d like to find the spot.”

  “Why?”

  “I just want to have a look at it, that’s all.” Phyllis couldn’t explain why she felt that way, but she thought some instinct was telling her that it might be important.

  She spotted what she thought looked like official signs on a long stretch of undeveloped property on the south side of the highway. Taking the next exit, she turned left under the highway and started back up the frontage road the other way.

  “This could be it,” she said.

  There was no traffic on the frontage road at the moment, so she was able to stop when she drew even with the first of the signs. In big letters, it announced ZONING CHANGE APPLIED FOR. Under that in smaller print was a phone number that could be called for more information.

  Phyllis drove slowly and saw several more of the signs. The property stretched for at least a mile. That was too big even for a mall, but Phyllis recalled Ben Loomis saying that some of the property around the actual mall site was going to be developed, too. In fact, they came to a sign that read PAD SITES AVAILABLE. WILL BUILD TO SUIT. LOOMIS REALTY. There was a phone number on that sign, too.

  Carolyn stared at it for a moment, then said, “You think Logan was killed because of this mall development business.”

  “I think there’s a lot of money tied up in this,” Phyllis said. “People sometimes do things they might not otherwise do when there are fortunes to be made or lost.”

  “I suppose you’re right about that. What are you going to do?”

  Phyllis took a little notebook out of her purse and wrote down the number of Loomis Realty, as well as the phone number that was on the signs announcing the potential zoning change and several other numbers that might be important.

  “I’ll do the only thing I can,” she said. “Keep asking questions.”

  Chapter 30

  The questions would have to wait, though, until after they got back to the house with the things they had picked up for Dana. When they reached the house and carried the bags in, Eve reported that Dana hadn’t come down from her shower and nap.

  “The poor dear must have been exhausted,” she said.

  Phyllis nodded. She was glad that Dana was getting some rest, but at the same time, a worry nagged at her. The strain of everything that had happened had taken a terrible toll on Dana. She had been depressed, stressed out, driven to distraction, and stricken by grief over Logan’s death, despite her suspicions of him. She probably felt some guilt, as well, because her last conversation with him had been an angry one, the argument on the bridge at the park. People under that much pressure had been known to take desperate measures and end their own lives, just to make the pain stop. Phyllis didn’t want that happening.

  “If she doesn’t come down in a little while, I think I’ll go up and check on her,” she said.

  “You’re worried about her mental state, too?” Carolyn ask
ed.

  “That’s right.”

  “Let me do it. I don’t mind disturbing her to make sure she’s all right.”

  “Let’s give it a little while longer,” Phyllis suggested. “I don’t want Dana to think that we don’t trust her.”

  “Well . . . all right. But I’m going to worry about her.”

  “So am I,” Phyllis said.

  As it turned out, though, they didn’t have to worry for very long, because Dana came downstairs about twenty minutes later, barefoot but wrapped up in the thick robe Phyllis had loaned her. Her hair was a little tousled from being damp when she lay down for her nap, but her color was better and she looked more rested. Phyllis was glad to see that.

  “The shower helped, didn’t it?” she asked.

  “Yes, it did,” Dana said. She ran her hand over the fleece robe. “So did this. It’s so warm and comfortable, I couldn’t help but go to sleep. Thank you, Phyllis.”

  “We’re just trying to help.” Phyllis paused. “Unfortunately, that means I need to ask you some more questions.”

  Dana’s smile slipped a little. “Of course. Just give me those suitcases. I’ll go upstairs and get dressed and be back down in a few minutes.”

  Sam had come out of the kitchen, trailed by Bobby. He reached for the suitcases and said, “Let me get those for you. Men are beasts of burden by nature, I reckon.”

  He carried the suitcases upstairs with Dana following him. Phyllis turned to Bobby and asked, “Are you and Sam still working on the bookshelves?”

  “Yeah. He says we’ll have ’em ready in a few more days.”

  “I’m sure you will.”

  “Can I stay here when Mama and Daddy come back from Cal’fornia?”

  The question took Phyllis by surprise. “Don’t you want to go home and sleep in your own bed and be with your parents again?”

  “No, I like it better here.”

  Eve laughed. “You’re doing your job, Phyllis. You’ve thoroughly spoiled him.”

  Phyllis didn’t think she had been that lax with Bobby. But maybe she had. She said to him, “You know you don’t really want to stay here. You’d miss your parents too much. And you’ll enjoy being back in your own room and having all your own things around you again.”

  Bobby thought it over and then shrugged. “Yeah, I guess so. But it sure has been fun stayin’ here.”

  Phyllis smiled at him. “It’s been fun having you here, too.”

  “Can I have a snack?”

  “Maybe a little one.”

  Bobby hustled off to the kitchen. Phyllis would have followed him, but Sam came back down the stairs just then.

  “Miz Powell was glad to have some of her stuff back,” he reported. “She said to thank the two of you again.”

  “She may not be so grateful when she hears what we found going on at her house,” Carolyn said.

  Sam frowned, but Carolyn didn’t offer any explanations and neither did Phyllis. They would go over the whole thing when Dana came back downstairs.

  She did so about ten minutes later, dressed in a pair of brown slacks and a cream-colored blouse. Her hair was brushed and she had put on a little makeup. She looked better than Phyllis had seen her since before all this began.

  Dana went into the living room with Phyllis and Carolyn, and as they all sat down, she said, “All right. Ask me anything you want to. I’ll tell you the truth, Phyllis. Clearing my name is the only way to put all this behind me.”

  Phyllis began, “Well, before I ask you anything, I should tell you that someone was at your house when Carolyn and I got there. Detective Largo and some other officers were carrying out another search.”

  “What?” Dana’s eyes widened and then began to blaze with anger. “She had no right to do that!”

  “She said she had a search warrant. I’m sure Ms. Yorke could get a copy of it if you’d like.”

  “What were they after?”

  “Well, I don’t know, specifically, but I have a feeling they took some of the candy from the bowls scattered around the house.”

  “Because they think that’s how I killed Logan,” Dana said. “By switching his regular peppermints for sugar-free ones. It’s crazy! Who would even think about murdering a person like that?”

  “Someone did,” Phyllis pointed out. “The medical examiner was certain that Logan’s low blood sugar brought on his heart attack. Did you know about all his medical problems, Dana?”

  “Of course I did,” she replied with a shrug. “I’m his wife.” She drew in a deep breath. “I was his wife.”

  “Did anyone else know? Every time I saw Logan, he looked and acted like he was as healthy as a horse.”

  “That’s what he wanted everyone to think. It was all part of his image. You couldn’t really call it macho. But he liked for people to think he was a hard-driving businessman. He said that gave clients more confidence in him. And he tried to live the life, too, working long hours, skipping meals. . . . That was why he had to have the peppermints to keep him going.”

  “So if you knew all that, you would have known that switching them out for sugar-free ones might hurt his health,” Phyllis pointed out.

  “I suppose so. I never really thought about it, though, because I didn’t want to hurt him.” Dana swallowed hard. “Even when I began to suspect he was cheating on me, I didn’t want to hurt him. I just wanted him to stop. I . . . I would have forgiven him. I would have gone on.”

  Phyllis didn’t doubt that. In nearly every relationship, there were moments when a person had to just forgive something and go on, in order to save what they had.

  Seeing the shine of tears in Dana’s eyes, Phyllis waited a moment for her to compose herself. Then she said gently, “So you’re sure no one else knew about Logan’s medical condition?”

  “You mean other than his doctor, and a few people who work in the doctor’s office?” Dana shook her head. “I wouldn’t think so. Logan wouldn’t have told anyone. I’m certain of that.”

  “He must have,” Carolyn blurted out. “Otherwise how did the real killer know what to do?”

  Phyllis had already thought of the same thing. Dana’s answers were just pointing even more suspicion right at her.

  “I don’t know what to tell you,” Dana said miserably. “It’s the truth.”

  There was another answer somewhere, Phyllis thought, another way of looking at things so that they made sense. It was just that she couldn’t see it yet.

  She switched tacks by saying, “What about Logan’s business? Did he confide in you about it?”

  “Oh, to a certain extent. I didn’t know all the details about every deal he was working on, of course. I mean, I have my own job, and that takes up a lot of time.” Dana wiped at a tear that had trickled out of her right eye. “I hope I can get back to my class soon. I . . . I miss the kids. I want to know how they’re doing. We have benchmark tests coming up, and I need to be there to help them.”

  Phyllis and Carolyn both nodded in understanding. As stressful as the job of teaching could be, as maddening as the students sometimes were, the good teachers always felt a bond with them. If not, what was the point of getting into that line of work to start with?

  “Maybe you will be,” Phyllis said. “Maybe some new information will come to light.”

  Dana shook her head. “I don’t know what it would be.”

  “What about something connected with that new mall on the west side of town?”

  “You know about that?”

  “Why wouldn’t we?” Phyllis countered.

  “Well, Logan was trying to keep it as quiet as he could until everything was set. He swore me to secrecy every time he mentioned it. He was afraid that someone would—I don’t know—horn in on it.”

  Like Ben Loomis, Phyllis thought.

  “And he was afraid it would all fall through because of the zoning problem,” Dana continued.

  “What zoning problem?”

  “The property isn’t zoned for a mall.
The zoning will have to be changed, and not all the members of the Planning and Zoning Commission are in favor of it.” Dana gave a hollow laugh. “Logan said it was going to be an expensive proposition to change their minds, but that it would be worth it in the long run.”

  Phyllis leaned back in the chair where she was sitting. “You mean that he hinted he was going to bribe them?”

  “I shouldn’t have said that,” Dana replied quickly. “I don’t know that’s what he meant. But I’d heard him say things before . . . about other projects . . . about greasing the wheels of the process, and I just assumed that was what he meant.”

  Phyllis thought that was very likely, and if it was true, then it opened up the proverbial new can of worms. If Logan had been involved in crooked land deals in the past, and was mixed up in a gigantic one now, then surely a motive for murder could be buried in that morass of corruption.

  “You have to tell Juliette Yorke all about this,” Phyllis said. “This could establish reasonable doubt by itself.”

  “And ruin Logan’s reputation as an honest businessman,” Dana said. She shook her head. “No. I shouldn’t have even said anything to you. It’s bad enough that he’s dead, and, yes, I was angry with him before he died, but I love him, and I won’t see his name dragged through the mud.”

  Carolyn said, “It’s too late for that, Dana. It’s your life at stake, and that’s worth more than Logan’s reputation.”

  “That’s my choice to make; no one else’s.” Phyllis heard the rock-hard stubbornness in Dana’s voice.

  “There’s no point in arguing about this now,” she said. “Anyway, it’s just a starting point. We still don’t know how anyone involved in the mall deal could have known about Logan’s illness, if he was as secretive about it as you say.”