Death by Donation

by Sarah Hualde

  “She’s naked,” Maddie said, flatly. Shock sucked the color from her cheeks. She searched for a towel but found only a discarded sweater on a nearby lounge chair.

  Lydia hefted the woman from the spa and laid her down on her back. The body steamed from the human crockpot in which it had been reclining. No life thudded in the woman’s wrists or chest. No spark twinkled in the bulging eyes of Della Strap.

  Maddie convulsed as she recognized the corpse. She steadied herself and used the cardigan she found to cover Della’s naked torso. No other clothes or towels were nearby.

  Lydia knelt beside Della. She panted and struggled to dry her hands on her pant legs. Ivy popped onto the scene, the still-sleeping infant resting in her arms.

  “I’ve already called Gus. He’s on his way and so is Dr. Lawrence.”

  ✽✽✽

  The doctor and the deputy did their best to assess the situation. The ambulance was called but its sirens were only for show. All people present knew they were transporting a dead body and not a person in need of medical care.

  The manager of the Sleeping Pretty Motel, Lincoln Boba, drove away lookie-loos and helped Parker secure a decent perimeter.

  It took hours. Lydia, Maddie, and Ivy sat idle on lounge chairs covered in donated quilts to help ward off shock. They spoke very little and never about Della.

  Scout woke, was changed, fed, and eventually fell back to sleep. Gus questioned each lady and then each present motel guest. Everyone but Maddie offered the same tale. They’d heard a scream and ran toward it.

  Maddie, however, had been at the pool stealing time for a smoke while waiting for Lydia and Ivy. She didn’t want to light up around Scout, so she was getting her drag in before they arrived. She was sitting at the only available table for ten minutes before she noticed Della’s blonde hair drifting among the bubbles.

  “Didn’t she think it was strange that the hot tub was going without anyone inside it?” She was asked repeatedly.

  “No. I figured the dial was stuck or that the timer hadn't run out yet,” was her answer.

  “Did you see anyone coming or going from the pool area?”

  “No. I waved at Lincoln when I bought a soda from the machine inside the lobby.” Other than him she hadn’t seen anyone that morning.

  Ivy knew that statement wasn’t true. Maddie had seen the stranger sometime that morning. But it might not have been by the pool. So, Ivy didn’t try to correct her. She didn’t want to lengthen her time spent at the motel, more than necessary.

  Gus freed them to leave the Sleeping Pretty slightly before 1 pm. “I’ve got to go tell Bill. And inspect Ms. Strap’s room,” he told Lydia.

  Lydia sent Ivy and Scout to her truck before she cornered Gus by his cruiser. “Any chance it was an accident?”

  Gus stared at her blankly. “You know better than to ask me that. And I know better than to answer you. “

  “I didn’t think so.” Gus rolled his eyes. “So, do you think she was drugged and left out in the spa or ...?”

  “Listen, Lydia, I can’t do this with you. Ethan would kick my tail, when he comes home from fishing, if I did.” He rested an arm across the top of the open driver’s side door. “However, you are a clever woman. If you think of anything that could help, please call me.”

  “Of course.”

  “Don’t go running at a suspect without me beside you. Or better yet, if you can contain yourself, let me do all the running at suspects. Got it?”

  “Got it.” Lydia made an x across her chest with her index finger. Gus chuckled.

  “Do you still have the scanner Ethan gave you?”

  Lydia nodded. “Why?”

  “You might want to keep it on. Just for a few days.”

  Gus slid into his cruiser and waved goodbye to Lydia as she stepped back from the car. His hazelnut skin lost its happy glow. Gus was all cop, now. It was eating at his typical chipper disposition. Lydia often saw the same thing happen to Ethan. Very few things smeared his happy normal. But arresting a friend for murder made the list.

  Chapter 25

  Lydia and Ivy were home only minutes when Flora texted. “I’m coming over and I’m bringing my scrapbook.”

  “Guess I’ll make the coffee,” Lydia said.

  “I’ll get out the Exersaucer and the toy bucket.”

  The Brandes family bombarded the Everett living room the moment the front door opened. Lydia smiled and greeted each of the children.

  Enoch, wrapped snugly against his mother’s chest, was carted to the kitchen table. Ivy left a happy-to-help Eloise in charge of Scout and joined the meeting.

  Flora laid open her scrapbook and flipped to her blossoming timeline of events. “I started the day of the fire. Newspaper clippings are in manila envelopes. They are acidic and will eat at the rest of the scrapbook, so they have their own container. I also color coordinated each suspect and victim. Blue is Bill. Green is Jake. Pink, Ines. Red Glitter is Della. Anyone else?”

  Lydia laughed, quietly. She could not fathom the way Flora's mind worked. A picture of her post-it to-do lists flashed in her mind. She embraced the crafty clue tracker and settled in with her fresh coffee.

  “The mystery man,” Ivy said.

  “Who?” Flora dug through her selection of gel pens.

  “There’s a guy who keeps popping up around town. Grant believes he’s been stalking Ines. But he can’t prove it.” Ivy picked a silver pen to represent the man and handed it to Flora.

  “Perfect,” Flora said.

  “What about Maddie and Lou?” Lydia added.

  Flora pulled out orange and teal for Jake’s coworkers. She scribed their names on the page labeled KEY and Table of Contents. “Are we considering Jake’s death a murder? Or just Della’s?”

  Ivy set to making herself a long overdue sandwich. “What makes you think either of them was murdered,” she called from the kitchen. Ivy felt both Flora and Lydia staring at her before she turned around. She scooped a splat of mayonnaise onto a French roll and smeared it across the bread. “Yes, I know it’s a bit odd two cousins, strangers in a strange town, dying days apart. But are we certain they were murdered?” Again, the older women grimaced toward Ivy. “Ethan’s not here. Kat’s not here. Someone has to slow you down. Or at least say they attempted to.”

  Thankfully, Ever distracted the scowling women when he strolled into the dining room, past his mother, and straight up to Ivy. “That looks good. Can I have one?”

  “Ever Ian, I just fed you.” Flora snipped at her boy. Ivy put up a hand to calm her.

  “No sweat. I’d be happy to make you a sandwich. What do you want on it?”

  Ever inspected the condiments Ivy had set on the countertop. “I’m sure I can handle whatever you’re eating.”

  “Righto.” Ivy made two sandwiches and poured two glasses of green tea. She dined with Ever at the bar, while Lydia and Flora spoke in whispers behind them. Ivy knew they were aching to talk it all out but not in front of the B-O-Y.

  Ever was in no hurry. Estrogen abounded in the living room and Enoch wasn’t old enough to wrestle. Eating with Ivy was the best distraction, in his mind. He intended to take as long as possible before returning to the catty living room. His mother had other plans.

  “Ever, please take yourself into the other room.”

  Ever scuffed the toes of his sneakers along the tile making a horrid squeaking noise. “Babies? School? Or murder?”

  “What?” Flora spouted.

  “You’re always talking about one of those when you send me from the room.” Ever pouted until he was out of sight. Ivy imagined he was probably still pouting on the couch.

  “Yeah, you two might have a bit of an issue,” Ivy interjected as she finished eating.

  Flora and Lydia waved a dismissive hand at Ivy. “He’s just being dramatic,” Flora said.

  “Are you going to come help us or not?”

  Ivy put the plates in the sink and wiped down the countertop as rapidly as she could. Sh
e then joined her mom friends at the table. “Okay, so what do we have?”

  “Della was definitely murdered!” Lydia took the lead. “Gus all but said so. I’m betting she was drowned but she may have been knocked out first and then shoved in the hot tub. There were, also, marks around her neck. Maybe she was strangled.”

  “Why was she naked?” Flora whispered the last word, just in case Ever strolled back through the room.

  “Meeting someone?”

  “Who,” Ivy asked. Grant flashed to the forefront of her mind. She blinked hard trying to delete the image.

  Lydia pulled her coffee mug close and took a drink. “The mystery man?”

  “No way,” Ivy said. “Della’s only been in town a couple of days. I don’t see Della as especially particular, but I also don’t see her getting nude in a public hot tub with a stranger.”

  “You never can tell,” Lydia said.

  Ivy didn’t relent. “No, I bet she knew her killer. In a Biblical sense.”

  “Tell me more about the mystery man?” Flora twirled a pen in her hand.

  “Some guy has been trailing Ines,” Ivy said.

  “What if he’s not following Ines? What if he’s following Della?” Lydia’s right eyebrow arched with her new thought trail.

  “And of course, she’s mostly with Bill and Ines.”

  Flora began drawing diagrams underneath her KEY chart.

  “Grant said he was here before Jake pulled into town, remember?” Ivy said. “So, Jake and Della can’t be his focus.”

  “We need to figure out, exactly, when he got to town and who he is following,” Lydia said.

  Chapter 26

  The sun set without the three mothers noticing. Eden trolled through the kitchen. Each time she was handed a box of dry cereal and sent back to the living room. Enoch ate a few times and Eloise fed Scout mashed bananas and rice cereal. Ivy’s stomach rumbled. She ignored it, as did Flora and Lydia. But the continuous chirping of Lydia’s phone was too annoying to be ignored.

  Lydia snatched it up, read a text, and dialed an unknown number. “Is everything okay?”

  Flora and Ivy strained to hear the other end of the call to no avail. Lydia hurried through her portion and poured it out to her friends. “That was Joe. He says he just brought a tray of finger sandwiches to the Sheriff’s office and that Gus has Ines Justice in custody.”

  “What?”

  “Why?”

  “For the murder of Della Strap.”

  Flora’s phone rang as well. “That’ll be Kevin. He’s home. Which means I need to go. I’ll try to come back, once the kids are asleep. If you think it will do any good.”

  Lydia gazed at the ceiling lost in deep worry. “Good?”

  “I mean unless you think Ines really did kill Della Strap?”

  Ivy spoke first. “There’s absolutely no way!”

  “I agree.”

  ✽✽✽

  Ivy tucked Scout into bed. A fresh storm was gaining momentum outside. It didn’t sound like it would be as bad as the previous ones. Still, Ivy was determined to err on the side of caution and shower as soon as Lydia was out of hers. Snuggling with Scout calmed Ivy’s tensions but it created an unavoidable silence.

  In the quiet, her thoughts turned to Grant. She pondered how he was handling being alone with Bill, his aunt in jail, and the drama tornado Della dead. Suddenly, panic swished in her stomach. Was Grant safe? The only way she’d ever know was if she texted or called him. Ivy wasn’t about to do that.

  Grant made it obvious he disapproved of Ivy. She didn’t blame him. She had hoped he’d think better of her than she thought of herself. But she didn’t begrudge him his thoughts about her. Her heart ticked in a weird rhythm. She stroked Scout’s back to match its beating.

  Lydia would know what to do. But why was she always in need of Lydia? How was she ever going to move out and take care of herself and Scout if she constantly needed Lydia to rescue her and set things straight? Ivy forced her self-pity aside. There were more important things to tackle.

  ✽✽✽

  Lydia rushed through her shower and dialed Ethan. She wanted to talk with him but was terrified she’d spill information about her new investigation. Her joy at hearing Ethan’s voicemail message was speckled with guilt. The less Ethan knew about Honey Pot’s newest round of homicides the less able he would be to tell her to stop playing detective.

  Now that Ines was involved Lydia felt like she didn’t have a choice but to dive headlong into the fray. Joe calling to let her in on the latest developments was all the sign she needed. She wasn’t going to waste time pretending she wasn’t already involved. She was cannonballing right into the middle of the mess.

  Ivy’s tears surprised her when she returned to the dining room table. Among post-it pads and Flora’s timeline supplies, Ivy leaned on her elbows and dabbed her eyes with napkins. Lydia slid into her chair and wrapped an arm around Ivy’s shoulders. “Seeing a dead body is very unsettling, isn’t it?”

  Ivy snorted. “It’s not my first body.” Another disturbing memory assaulted Ivy. She wept all the more. Lydia held her tightly, confused. She waited.

  Ivy cried until her eyes were bloodshot. She blew her nose and retreated to the sink. Ivy washed her face in cold water and pulled a clean dish towel out of its drawer. She returned patting her face dry. “I’m worried.”

  “About Grant?”

  Ivy’s pink eyes glistened. “Yes. But...”

  “Don’t worry how I figured it out. Your interest in Grant is obvious. And endearing. So tell me, what exactly is worrying you?”

  Chapter 27

  Flora arrived back at Lydia’s in time for the juiciest bits of information. “And then, I saw Della and Bill kissing.”

  “Was Grant with you then,” Lydia asked.

  “No, but I went to get him. I didn’t believe I’d seen things correctly. We hid under the bed.”

  Flora tilted her head. “Oh, really?”

  “They came out of the bathroom before we could sneak up on them. We hid and they talked. They were suspicious but vague. Bill was saying it wouldn’t be much longer.”

  “Until what?”

  “No clue.”

  Enoch stretched and burbled. A tiny whine squeezed from his sleeping lips. “I’ve got to feed him. Let’s retreat to the living room.” Flora led the group to the couch.

  “When do you think you’ll be able to see Ines,” Flora asked. She tucked Enoch under her shirt and covered them both up with a thin nursing blanket.

  “I thought it might be nice if I brought her and the office breakfast tomorrow,” Lydia said.

  “That would be very nice.” Ivy smothered her chuckle but her dimples gave her away.

  “Great,” Flora said. “I’d love to hear what she has to say.”

  “Until then, I think it’s all just guessing.”

  “Isn't’ that all it ever is? Until we stumble upon some tiny fact that gets one of us threatened?” Flora swayed as she fed Enoch.

  ✽✽✽

  Flora stayed with Scout and Enoch at Lydia’s when Lydia brought breakfast to the sheriff’s office. Kevin’s day off couldn’t have come at a better time. He had their older children and would treat them to a matinee on Main Street while she watched the babies. Her scrapbook supplies stretched the entire dining table in neat and orderly piles.

  Lydia’s police scanner was mounted on the breakfast bar and gave off a steady stream of static. Flora acted as a home base. As long as Ivy and Lydia called in every hour, she had nothing to worry about. She jotted down notes and added to her timeline while keeping the babies fed and happy.

  Lydia dressed in her favorite outfit and sported her favorite gray boots. Her outfit from the day before, still damp from pulling Della from the hot tub, lay bundled on the floor of her garage. She wasn’t going to try washing it.

  She knew, sadly, from experience, that the smell of death never left one's clothes. Though sleep had eluded her much of the night, she walked wi
th pep and energy. She was in her element, on the hunt, and on her way to get a box of coffee and baked goods.

  Ivy felt contrary. Her dark circles sagged heavily under her eyes. She donned her favorite pullover hoodie and best tennis shoes. With a clip, she twisted and secured her hair atop her head.

  She didn’t look forward to seeing Bill, since her last awkward one-on-one with the bereaved. Ivy hoped he was with his fiancée at the station. It would save her a lot of undue stress to avoid a confrontation with the professor.

  Confronting Grant the day after his abandonment was already tying her gut into knots. She dawdled, lingering in her goodbye hug to Scout. Flora prayed over her and dried Ivy’s eyes with a tissue.

  “You’re going to be okay. If you get there and have any kind of weird feeling, turn around and come home. If you can’t bring yourself to face Grant, I completely understand. We’ll get to him later.”

  “Nope. It’s better to get it over with. Now. Thanks.” One more swift kiss on Scout’s head and Ivy took off toward Ines’ in Ethan truck.

  ✽✽✽

  “Good morning, everyone,” Lydia chimed through the front door carting a drink carrier.

  Gus met Lydia in the middle of the tiny office. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m bringing you and your prisoner coffee.”

  “How did you know,” Gus asked. Lydia’s left eyebrow peaked. “Okay. But she’s not my prisoner. She’s just a person of interest. In fact, she can leave whenever she wants. As long as she stays close, she can go home. She just doesn’t want to.”

  “Can I talk to her?”

  Gus shrugged and helped himself to a coffee. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea. But hey, bring her a muffin and see what happens. Remember, you promised to keep me in the loop.”

  “Got it.”

  Gus selected a treat and returned to his desk. “Fifteen minutes,” he called behind him.

  ✽✽✽

  Ivy’s pulse rocketed when she pulled into the gravel driveway. She wished she was anywhere but at Ines’. Though she repeated that she didn’t care what Grant Justice thought of her, she still took ten stolen seconds to smear on some lip gloss.