Larkspur (21 page)

Ginger took his arm and led him to the porch swing. He sat and put his face in his hands.
Ginger and Ma bent over him.

"I'll get Jay."

"Please tell me, Lark."

I licked dry lips. "She was strangled."

"God!"

"We came out, because she wanted to talk to Ginger."

"I know that."

"Around noon she called Ginger and said we should wait until two, that a friend was
coming to lunch. I guess Denise was going to serve the meal in the gazebo, because the table was
set for two. But there wasn't any food. Just luncheon plates and silver, glasses, cloth napkins. The
table looked untouched. She was lying behind it, and one of the chairs was overturned. I didn't go
very close."

"Why didn't you go to her, help her?"

"It was clear she was dead, Dennis. I called the police immediately. I am so sorry."

His face crumpled, and he began to sob. Ginger hugged him.

Ma looked at me.

I shook my head, helpless. "I'll go for Jay."

I wanted to return to the back yard about as much as I wanted to kill a whale. As I
rounded the corner of the house, I could see the photographers' flashes popping in the gazebo. I
thought I heard Karl Holst's voice. The M.E. must have come in the ambulance. He liked to view
corpses
in situ
.

The ambulance crew stood on the grass looking patient. One of them was smoking a
cigarette. Jay came when he spotted me.

"Dennis?"

"Yes. He wanted to see her."

Jay took my arm again. He is not much of a public toucher, ordinarily. I appreciated the
gesture. I probably clung.

Jay took Dennis into the house, leaving Ma and Ginger and me out front. We stared at
each other. Ginger's eyes were puffy. Ma looked very tired.

"Are you okay?"

Mother nodded. "There's a cat."

"What? Oh, the white one." It was lying couchant in the shade of the ambulance.

"I'll tell Dennis," Ginger said, still confident that Dennis could take care of
anything.

A car barreled down the lane and pulled up on the far side of the ambulance. We got to
our feet, including the white cat. The ambulance driver stepped out. "Lady, you can't come
here."

It was Lydia Huff. She slipped by the man and came toward us at a half-trot, her chunky
beads bouncing. "What is it? What's the matter? Is Denise...?"

"Denise was murdered." I was past tact.

"Where the hell are the barricades?" Jay roared from the house. He yanked the front door
open and stalked out onto the porch.

The cat padded over to Lydia and made a noise--prrrt?

Lydia fainted. Just like that.

She dropped where she stood. I was so unprepared I didn't even move to catch her.

A uniformed deputy came trotting down the driveway. "Man, I didn't have a chance. She
just wheeled right past me on the shoulder." He was puffing from the short run.

Jay and the ambulance driver knelt by Lydia. "Get back up that lane," Jay snarled. "I
don't want any more tourists."

"The ambulance..?"

"It'll be leaving soon. When it goes, put the fucking car across the entrance if you have
to. Block it."

"Okay." The deputy receded.

"Is it her heart?" I took a step toward Lydia.

"Pulse's strong." The driver got up and went to the ambulance.

I knelt by Jay and straightened Lydia's homespun skirt. One of her slip-ons had come off.
Blusher stood out on her cheeks like clown makeup, but she was stirring. The cat had
disappeared.

The driver returned with a blanket and some kind of smelling salts. He and Jay swaddled
her, and the driver stuck the salts under Lydia's nose. She sneezed, and her eyes fluttered open.
She focused on me. "L-lark."

"It's okay," I said stupidly.

"I thought..."

"Yes. It's Denise. Somebody..."

Jay's hand clamped on my arm. "I'm afraid she's dead, Mrs. Huff. Can you sit up?"

"Yes. I'm all right. I never faint." The light gray eyes were dull, but her voice sounded
almost normal. The blanket slid off her shoulder like a toga as she struggled to one elbow and sat
up.

Jay touched her arm. "All right?"

Lydia nodded. "Help me up."

I gave her my hand. Hers was cold. She groped for the shoe with her foot, leaning on me,
and straightened. "I'll just go sit on the porch with Mary for a moment. Sorry to make a
fuss."

Jay got up creakily, holding his side. "What brought you here, Mrs. Huff?"

"I was just driving home from town. When I saw the patrol car, I had to find out what
was wrong. She's...she was one of my closest friends." Her voice faltered. "I think I'd better sit
down." She tottered up the front steps, and Ma and Ginger helped her to the swing.

Jay followed. "Will you go in to Dennis, Ginger? He's in the living room."

Ginger nodded, wide-eyed, and went in the house.

"Now, Mrs. Huff..."

"For heaven's sake," Lydia said brightly. "That's Ethel White."

We stared at Lydia.

She half rose, and the swing creaked. We turned. The white cat had nosed around the
edge of the flower bed again. It yawned and turned its back on us.

Something clicked in my mind. Two cats, one ginger, one white, chasing each other on
the Huffs' lawn. Ethelred and Ethel White. "Your cat?"

Lydia fell back. The swing creaked again. "I don't know how Ethel got here. Of course
we're only half a mile away."

"The cat was in the back yard when I found the body."

Lydia's gray eyes glinted.

Jay walked to the edge of the porch and snapped his fingers. The cat ignored him.

"That's not the way." I walked to the flower bed and squatted. "Nice Ethel." I broke off a
stalk of snapdragon and wriggled it. "Nice kitty."

She was watching the flower.

I trailed it on the grass. "Nice Ethel."

She crouched and began a leisurely crawl my direction.

"Kitty, kitty."

She pounced on the stalk and rolled. I tugged. The snapdragon shed petals all over the
place.

Fairly soon she was butting her head against my hand and sniffing my fingers. I picked
her up, smoothing her coat. She was a sleek, well-fed shorthair with green eyes. Her flea collar
was working loose. I showed it to Jay.

His mouth set in a grim line. "More embellishment. Don't take it off. Let me." While I
held Ethel he undid the buckle, touching it on the edges. She jumped down and stalked off.

Jay took a baggy from his jacket pocket and slipped the collar into it.

"Cats wander," Lydia said flatly. "We don't keep them indoors in spite of the
coyotes."

Mother said, "We once had a striped tiger that followed us home from Lake Cayuga.
Remember, Lark? It took him a week."

Lydia smiled her gratitude.

Jay ignored Ma's cat-saga. "Did you have an appointment with Denise today, Mrs.
Huff?"

"I called her around eleven. When I heard about Miguel."

"What was her state of mind?"

Lydia was rapidly regaining her air of command. "Really, Mr. Dodge, I'd be guessing,
wouldn't I? I'd say she was relieved. Sad, of course, but relieved. If the boy committed suicide..."
Her face went blank. Miguel's "suicide" didn't mean anything with regard to Denise's death.
Lydia was not a stupid woman or easily discomposed, so her pause was interesting.

"And?" Jay prompted.

"We didn't talk long. She said she'd sent for Dennis's girlfriend. There was some
nonsense about marriage. Denise wanted to set the woman straight."

"Did Denise mention that she was going to have someone over for lunch?"

Lydia shrugged. "She may have said something. This Ginger ..."

"We'd like to know who Denise was expecting for lunch. The table was set for
two."

"Really, I've no idea. I know she was expecting the girl friend this afternoon."

"She didn't ask you to lunch with her?"

"I told you, no. I called about Miguel. We talked maybe five minutes. She was
concerned about her son...good God, Mr. Dodge, someone ought to inform the son. He works for
the Forest Service."

"Dennis is in the house, ma'am. That's his pickup in front of you."

"Oh. Well, I'll go to him, shall I? The poor boy..."

"Ginger Gates is with him. We'll see to Dennis."

"Then if I can't be of any use here, I think I ought to go home. Bill..."

"Mrs. Huff, you came down here of your own free will. There's an investigation in
progress. I'll have to ask you to stay for a while until I have a better idea of what happened. I need
to talk to you about Denise, since you knew her as well as anyone except Dennis. Right now, I
want to see to the removal of her body. Will you stay?"

"Why...well, yes. If you want me to."

"Thank you." Jay went back in the house.

Ma and Lydia exchanged unhappy smiles. They were sitting side by side.

My mother was definitely beginning to wilt in her faille suit. Fortunately the porch lay in
shade. "I could use a drink of water."

Dr. Holst came around the corner of the house. "Where the hell's Dodge? Beg your
pardon, ladies."

Lydia's gray eyes narrowed.

"In the house with Dennis Fromm." I gestured toward the door.

Karl wheezed. He has asthma. "Tell him we're ready to move out, will you, Lark? I'll see
to the ambulance crew." He stumped back the way he came.

I entered the house again, blinking as my eyes adjusted to the dimness. Jay was in the
living room. I thought he was talking to Dennis. Then I saw that Dennis and Ginger were sitting
together on the horsehair settee, and Dennis was crying.

I averted my eyes.

Jay was talking on the phone. "Pick him up at the newspaper office. Yeah, question him
before she has a chance to talk to him. And send Cowan out to the lodge. I want him to bring
Domingo in."

I cleared my throat. Jay and Ginger looked at me.

"Okay," Jay said into the phone. "Sure, the girl, too. You've got D'Angelo? Fast work.
Thanks, Kev." He hung up. He had taken his sun glasses off, and his eyes were shadowed with
sleeplessness. "What's the matter, Lark?"

"It's Karl. He says he wants..."

"Okay." He glanced at Dennis, shoved himself to his feet, and came over to me.

"And could we please have a pitcher of ice water and some glasses? It's hot out there on
the porch."

He frowned. "They haven't finished in the kitchen yet."

"Why...oh, you think maybe the killer was in there?"

"It's an outside chance. Tell the ladies half an hour and they can come inside."

"Okay." I blew Ginger a kiss. She gave me a wan smile and patted Dennis's back. I slid
back out the front door.

Ma and Lydia were playing with Ethel and talking about the Foundation. Lydia was
babbling something about a commemorative volume of Llewellyn's poetry, an art book with line
drawings and tributes from friends. I thought it would probably sell as many copies as Llewellyn
had had friends.

When they brought the stretcher bearing Denise's body around to the ambulance, Dennis
stormed from the house and demanded to see her. Ginger and I begged him not to, but he was
adamant. He blocked the rear of the ambulance and wouldn't let the paramedics load the
stretcher.

To my horror Jay said merely, "It's his right."

The results were predictable. Dennis threw up on the snapdragons, and Dr. Holst had to
tranquillize him.

Ginger was furious. While the ambulance drove up the lane, she sat on the porch steps
and held Dennis to her. "I'm taking this man home with me right now, Jay Dodge, and don't you
try to stop me."

Jay took off the sunglasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I'm sorry, Ginger. He had
a right to see his mother."

"You could've said no. I'm going. I'll drive the pickup." She dug in Dennis's pockets and
came up with the keys. Dennis was weeping quietly.

Jay rubbed his forehead and put the glasses back on. "All right. Just one thing. When
Denise called you, did you get any impression of who she was expecting for lunch?"

"No!"

"Come on, think. Male or female?"

"A woman."

"Did Denise say so?"

Ginger was beginning to cool down. She stroked Dennis's hair, frowning. "No. I guess I
just assumed it was a woman. A lady Denise's age, when she has a man call, she's apt to sort of
capitalize the word friend. D'you know what I mean?"

"Tell me."

"Well, she would have said..." Ginger screwed up her face. "'I'm having a Friend to
lunch.' What she did say was 'a friend of mine is coming to lunch.' Like that."

Jay stared at her a long moment, silent, then nodded.

"Okay. Take him home, Ginger. I'll have to talk to him later. Call your kids."

"What?"

"Tammy and Larry. When the story breaks they'll be worried."

"Oh, okay. Thanks." She bit her lip. "I'm sorry I yelled, but you shouldn't have done that
to Dennis."

Jay didn't defend himself. He and I helped her get Dennis into the passenger seat of the
pickup. Ginger turned the truck around on the lawn and chugged off.

One of the technical crew came up and asked a question. Jay answered, absently, hand
on his side, and the tech went off.

Ma and Lydia had watched the entire scene from the porch. Lydia was outraged. She
stalked over to Jay. "I'm going to report you, Dodge. That was inexcusable. The boy will have
nightmares the rest of his life."

Jay stiffened, but he didn't answer her.

Ma touched her arm. "Dennis didn't believe his mother was dead, Lydia. And he's not a
boy."

I was standing beside Jay. I felt rather than heard him expel a breath.

He spoke to Ma, half apologetic, "I thought nightmares would be better than delusions."
He turned to Lydia. "If you'll come with me, Mrs. Huff, I want your statement now."

Lydia followed him into the house, muttering.

"Th-thanks, Ma." I sniffed.

Mother said wearily, "Some people don't have common sense. Come and sit with me,
Lark. This is all very hard to bear." We sat together on the porch swing and didn't even talk. I
have seldom felt closer to my mother.