Elizabeth was speechless for a moment. “Well!” she said, while she tried to think what to say. What a perfectly horrid thing for Bradford to say to her! She looked around the room, trying to think of something to put the boy in his place. They were alone in the back parlor, the doors firmly shut, the heady scent of burning leaves and fall roses drifting through the open windows.
“I don’t know how you could say such an awful thing to your mother. After all I’ve done for you! I’ve always done what I thought was right for you, you know that. Everything I’ve done has been for you.” Now she felt on safer ground.
“Sometimes I wish you lived for someone else besides me,” Bradford said under his breath. Elizabeth believed that you should speak up if you had something to say and say it with conviction. She decided that she probably hadn’t heard him right anyway.
“You have nothing to be ashamed of,” she said in what she mistakenly thought of as her “soothing mother” voice. “Throw away that speech and forget all that nonsense. The election is in almost two weeks and I just know you’re going to win by a landslide.”
“I don’t know that I want to win anymore.”
Elizabeth saw movement out of the corner of her eye and turned quickly to look out the window. That awful blond tourist was standing right outside the window, sniffing a crimson rose, and her eyes met Elizabeth’s.
“Some people!” Elizabeth said loudly, and went to slam the window shut in the impertinent woman’s face.
“Who was it?” Bradford asked.
“That tourist staying in the Old Wrightly place. Nosy woman, and I hear she’s never been married. Maybe if she had a family of her own she wouldn’t be so interested in everyone else’s.” Elizabeth sniffed.
“Sabrina?” Bradford moved to the window and waved out the window. The woman had the audacity to wave back.
“Brazen,” Elizabeth said with disdain.
***
Sabrina continued along the stone path that meandered beside the Tittletott House through colorful flower beds. Virginia had told her that Gary was not quite ready to serve lunch yet, and had pointed her along the walkway that circled the house.
“I think we have the prettiest gardens on the island,” Virginia said.
And Virginia was right, the gardens were beautiful. Chrysanthemums and marigolds and other fall flowers bloomed in profusion in sweeping flower beds nestled under ancient trees. A solitary stone bench stood beside a pond filled with lily pads and lazy koi already dressed for Halloween in varying combinations of orange, black and white.
Sabrina stopped enjoying the garden when she heard Elizabeth and Brad’s voices coming from the open window. The Tittletotts really must learn to close their windows if they expected to have private conversations. She hadn’t eavesdropped. No, she merely stopped to smell the roses.
What did Bradford plan to say in his speech that Elizabeth was so angry about? Was Brad planning to withdraw from the campaign? Why would he do that? It sounded as if he was going to confess to something. Did he steal the silver and set the fire after all? But how could he? He was on the other side of town when the fire was set.
Sabina sighed. Since he was unable to give his speech, she might never know. Elizabeth Tittletott would probably be successful in browbeating her son into changing his mind.
Sabrina followed the path around the other side of the house, back to the front door. Hopefully, Gary would be ready to serve lunch.
Inside, Elizabeth was speaking to Virginia behind the desk.
“Hello Sabrina,” Virginia said. “I think Gary’s ready now.”
“Wonderful,” Sabrina said. “You were right, the gardens are lovely. And how are you doing, Mrs. Tittletott?”
“Fine,” the older woman snapped, the bright slash of her lips pressed together in annoyance.
I do believe I irritate the woman, Sabrina said to herself as she went into the dining room and sat at her favorite table. What a pity.
Missy brought her ice tea without asking. “Morning, Ms. Dunsweeney,” she said. Today, her shirt read: “Friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies.”
“Let me see, we’ve got,” she glanced at a note card, “fresh salmon spread on pita points with a celery relish and homemade potato chips, or fresh blackened mahi-mahi with a spicy salsa and potato and egg salad.”
“They both sound wonderful. You’ll have to explain to me what mahi-mahi is, however.”
“Dolphin.”
“Please?”
“That’s what you want?”
“No.”
“Then why did you say please?”
Sabrina’s face was blank, and then she laughed as comprehension dawned. “Oh! I see. It’s just something we say in Cincinnati. It can mean a number of things, but in this instance I guess it means ‘what?’ You’re serving dolphin? I didn’t know—”
“Not Flipper,” Missy said, laughing indulgently. “Don’t worry. It’s the fish. That’s why they call it mahi-mahi, ‘cause people get all bent out of shape when we say dolphin.”
Sabrina sighed with relief. “That makes me feel better. I think I’ll have the salmon spread, though. That sounds refreshing.”
Missy nodded and turned to go.
“What do you think about this murder, Missy? Pretty unusual for around here.”
“It’s horrible.” Missy turned back and settled a well-cushioned hip against a nearby table. “And for it to be Rolo Wrightly! Enough to make someone cry. I used to baby-sit him and Thierry when I was in high school and I always thought he was such a good kid. Very solemn and sweet with a rare smile that would light up the room. Then he got older, and he was so good to his grandmother, always helping her with her roses. I couldn’t believe it when they found all that stolen stuff from Edie Lowry’s house in his room, and then he ran off. I guess you never really know people, though. We’re all wondering what he was doing back, and who killed him. Live by the sword, die by the sword, I guess.”
With that, Missy headed for the kitchen.
Sabrina glanced out the window and was surprised to see two policemen walking up the sidewalk to the front door of the Tittletott House.
“Uh oh. I wonder what this is all about?”
The police entered the lobby and Sabrina saw them talking to Virginia. They showed her a piece of paper, and she shook her head and picked up the phone. Hmmm.
After a few minutes, Virginia led the policemen through the office door.
Missy appeared with the food and Sabrina exclaimed with delight at the pleasing and original plate presentation. “How pretty! Is that a mango sauce used to decorate the edge of the plate? Yes, it sure is!”
“Anything else for you, Ms. Dunsweeney?”
“Do you know why the police are here?”
“Police?” Missy frowned. “Hadn’t noticed them.” Distracted, she went into the kitchen, and a few minutes later Gary, green apron still wrapped around his waist, emerged from the kitchen and went toward the lobby.
“They arrived about five minutes ago,” Sabrina called helpfully. “Virginia took them into the back. By the way, this spread is simply out of this world. You did a wonderful job.”
Looking paler than usual, Gary nodded and went in search of his wife and the policemen.
“Curiouser and curiouser,” Sabrina said.
She lingered over her lunch, but the policemen did not emerge. After about fifteen minutes, Virginia returned to the desk. No one had come up to the reception desk while she was gone, though the phone rang non-stop.
Sabrina paid her bill and went into the lobby. Virginia was shuffling papers nervously, and despite her cool blue dress, she looked anything but cool.
“Are you all right, Virginia?”
The woman about jumped out of her skin at the sound of Sabrina’s voice.
“What? Sabrina, you frightened me. I’m fine. The police have got me all worked up.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you. What do the police want?
”
Virginia looked down for a moment. “I know I probably shouldn’t be talking about it, but since you don’t know anybody…they found one of Brad’s business cards on Rolo’s body. They just came in with a search warrant. They’re searching the house right now! My God, I can’t believe this. And they’ve been asking us where we all were yesterday afternoon. They’re asking us for alibis! They didn’t actually call it that, but they asked all of us where we were from ten in the morning to three-thirty in the afternoon yesterday, though they seem more interested in the afternoon. None of us has got an alibi to speak of, of course!” Virginia shook her head, and not a hair stirred in her elaborate braided coiffure.
“Of course not,” Sabrina said. “Innocent people don’t have alibis.”
Nettie saw Rolo at just before two o’clock, she mused, and he was killed before Sabrina returned home at three-thirty. Only an hour and a half window in which a killer had to work.
“I was helping at the gymnasium most of the day,” Virginia was saying, “getting ready for the rally. I got home around four. Brad was out at Lighthouse Beach. Usually you can’t keep him away from his office with a stick, but ever since his office burnt down he’s been out of sorts. He said he was nervous about the rally and was going over his speech. Gary was here working the desk all day. Elizabeth was helping Julie with her housework, and then she took a nap around two or so for a couple of hours. The water heater busted around one yesterday, and she and Gary spent an hour cleaning it up. Of course, she’s complaining that I wasn’t here to help clean up, but by the time I called from the school at three to tell Gary that Sid was going to play practice at your house after school, he said they had it all cleaned up…” Virginia’s voice petered out. “I know I’m babbling, but it’s all gotten to me. And now the police are questioning Brad, and he’s still so sick from that twenty-four-hour flu he came down with. He’s been throwing up all night. But his card was in Rolo’s pocket, and Nettie Wrightly said Rolo saw Brad a couple of days before he died. Why didn’t he tell anyone?”
He told Gary and Elizabeth, Sabrina thought to herself.
Virginia dropped her head into her well-manicured hands. Her shoulders shook, and Sabrina hastened around the desk to pat her on the back.
“There, there. The police are just doing their job. Everything will be all right, you’ll see.”
“Poor Rolo.” Virginia’s voice was muffled by her hands. “He was so beautiful when he was a boy. So cocky and masculine, but he loved those roses. Sometimes I thought I would marry him when we all grew up. And even after we grew up, I thought…and sometimes I thought I would marry Brad, he was so charming, and after Rolo left…” Virginia glanced up as if she hadn’t meant to say what she just said. “Anyway, Rolo was always the good one. I can’t believe he’s gone. Always before, I knew he was out there, and that if I needed to talk to him, I could…. now he’s gone.” She sobbed, her shoulders shaking silently.
Sabrina noticed that Virginia did not mention Gary as the subject of her adolescent dreams. Of course, most people never married their childhood sweethearts. Life had a tendency to smash the life and fun out of youthful fantasies.
Sabrina patted Virginia’s back, murmuring calming, nonsensical words. Virginia pulled herself together quickly, as Sabrina expected. It must be very unusual for her to lose control.
“I’m sorry.” She wiped away her tears with the tips of her pinkies and smiled.
“Sometimes you have to get it all out,” Sabrina said, returning to the other side of the desk. “Do you feel better?”
“You have a gift for listening.” Virginia smiled through her tears.
Sabrina smiled back. “I just thought of something. Did you hear that Rolo had a note on him, something about a meeting at a ‘treasure tree’? It sounds like a name a child would make up for a favorite tree. Presumably Rolo knew what it meant. Have you ever heard of the ‘treasure tree’?
“Treasure tree? I don’t think so.” Virginia’s face was calm and unruffled once more.
Sabrina and Virginia said their good-byes and Sabrina headed down the front steps.
Poor Virginia, feeling the loss of an old friend. Strange that she hadn’t known what the ‘treasure tree’ meant, when she and Rolo were so close as children.
In fact, Sabrina had the distinct feeling that Virginia had already heard about the note found in Rolo’s pocket. Why would she lie?
And if Brad had been at Lighthouse Beach yesterday, then he must have been imitating the amazing invisible man, because she was there all day and never saw him. Why would he lie about being there, unless he had something to hide?
Chapter Twenty
“Riiing, riiing,” Calvin sang as Sabrina opened the front door. “Riiing, riiing.” He rocked back and forth on his swinging perch.
“I hear it, I hear it.” Sabrina ran for the phone.
“Sabrina! I almost hung up. You really should get an answering machine. They aren’t that expensive—”
“Hello, Sally. How are you?” Sabrina relaxed when she recognized her best friend’s voice. She glanced around the kitchen and saw the police officers had made themselves at home. Stained coffee cups were piled in the sink and the plate which had held Nettie’s cookies was clean.
“I’m fine, dear. It’s good to hear your voice. How are you doing?”
“Well…there’s been a lot going on here.”
“What’s going on? You sound frazzled.”
“Just a little murder to keep me occupied.” Sabrina forced herself to keep her voice light so she wouldn’t upset Sally.
“Dear Lord, murder? Who?”
Sabrina smiled at Sally’s indignant tone. She knew her friend would be taking the issue up with God in her nightly prayers. “A man named Rolo Wrightly.”
“One of the natives?”
“Yes.”
Sabrina hadn’t realized her voice was shaking until she heard the sympathy in Sally’s voice. “It’s okay, honey.”
“Anyway,” Sabrina said briskly, “the police are still here. I imagine they’ll discover the identity of the murderer before too long.”
“Well, you’re certainly making up for lost time, aren’t you?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ve acquired a life! You didn’t have one while your mother was alive. She wouldn’t let you. I swear your father died just to get away from her.”
“Sally!”
“It’s true. She was a selfish, domineering alcoholic who never gave one thought to your happiness. Only her own. Whenever you would try to go your own way, she’d have one of those awful convulsions and have to go to the hospital. You never wanted to be a teacher. Your mother told you how much you wanted to be a teacher so many times that you finally believed it yourself. What do you want to do with the rest of your life?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never thought about it.”
“Well, think about it! How are you feeling? And don’t try to throw me off track by telling me about your dishwater knee or your runner’s ear. You’ve turned into a flaming hypochondriac ever since your surgery.”
“I have not! I feel fine. Just peachy. Are you coming to visit?” Sabrina asked, in an effort to change the subject.
Sally was easily diverted. “I think I might. The weather’s been abominable. And, humph, I’ll be at loose ends shortly. Last night, I told Leanne Taylor to go jump in the river after she scheduled me to go visit child molesters in the state mental hospital. I mean, has she lost what little mind she ever possessed?”
“Did she really?” Sabrina asked, amused despite herself. Sally had a long and varied history with the local civic clubs. Most everybody she worked with loved her spirit and her dedication, but there were a few who didn’t…and those people (with fragile egos, all, Sabrina thought protectively) hated Sally with a passion. It was just that Sally tended to take over in a not very subtle way.
“Yes, she did, the female Hun. Anyway, I’ve got some stuff to take care of—can
I bring the kitties?—but if you’re still going to be down there in a couple of weeks…”
“Sally, I’d love to see you. I’ve got the cottage for another three weeks and of course you can bring the kitties. We’ll figure out some way to keep Calvin and the cats apart.”
Calvin, hearing his name, squawked loudly.
“Is that Calvin? You give him a big, fat kiss for me.”
“I will.”
After Sabrina hung up, she stroked Calvin’s back with her finger. Officer Tozer had been waiting for her when she arrived home. The police had found the murder weapon, and Officer Tozer wanted to know the last time she’d seen them.
The pruning shears were hanging in their usual place in the shed, but smudges of blood still clung between the blades and the handles were wiped clean of prints.
***
The children began arriving soon after, and Sabrina put aside her worry and spent a happy two hours directing a play that was taking on a life of its own. The children, naturally, were curious about the murder. They kept trying to sneak around the side of the house to watch the police. Sabrina noticed that Sid and Terry weren’t talking to each other, and she asked them to stay afterward for a few minutes after sending the other children home for their dinners.
“Terry, I know this must be hard on you. I expect you never met your uncle?”
“He left a couple of years before I was born,” Terry said, looking every inch a Wrightly with his bushy black hair falling over his bright eyes. His gaze avoided Sid, who was fidgeting beside him.
“The police have been coming around my house, asking all kinds of stupid questions. My family didn’t do anything!” Sid stared accusingly at Terry.
“Of course not,” Sabrina said. “A lot of time, people say things they don’t really mean.” She looked at them both squarely. “I think it’s very important for you two to support each other through this. I know this is hard for both of your families, but it needn’t affect your friendship. Does that make sense?”
Both boys shuffled their feet and glanced at each other sideways. In that look, Sabrina saw something in Sid that she hadn’t noticed before. It had been so fleeting, but—
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