Murder by Arrangement (Edna Davies mysteries Book 5) (3 page)

As usual, Mary
wasn’t the least deterred, not with the possibility of children helping out.
Ignoring Edna’s words, she smiled and stood abruptly, “I really gotta go. I’ll
call ya later.” With those words, she headed toward the mudroom and the back
door.

It was only when
Mary had gone that Edna thought she should have asked her about the Haverstrum
scandal. Of course, she’d be the one to ask. Mary always knew more than anyone
else about the comings and goings around town. Edna mentally kicked herself for
not thinking of it sooner, but she
had
been a little distracted by
Mary’s ghost story.

Chapter 3

Early the
following morning, Edna left for her hair appointment shortly after Bev and
Junie showed up. Not only were Fridays the day Housekeeper Helpers cleaned her
house, but it was also her “coiffure and cuisine” morning with her friends
Helen Tucker and Harriet Peppafitch, known to most who knew them as Tuck and
Peppa.

First, the three
women met at The Locks Shoppe in town. Typically, this meant a trim for Edna
and Peppa, both of whom kept their gray curls short. Since the root touchup on
Tuck’s blonde hair took a while before the thick tresses were swept back into a
French twist, Edna and Peppa waited for her in a nearby café. Over brunch, a
week’s worth of gossip and personal news kept them at their usual table until
the lunch crowd began to arrive, at which time the “coiff ‘n cuis” members went
their separate ways.

Edna had known
Tuck since college days when she’d married one of Albert’s fraternity brothers
from the nearby state university. The Tuckers had remained in the Kingston area
while the Davieses moved to Providence, but the two couples had kept in close
contact over the years.

“Look no more,”
Tuck’s husband, a realtor, said when Edna and Albert had begun to doubt their
ideal house existed at all. “I’ve got the perfect place for you, and it’s only
a stone’s throw from Tuck and me.”

Sadly, he died
of a heart attack two weeks before the closing. Needing a distraction from her
bereavement, Tuck had taken it upon herself to introduce Edna to the community
by way of the garden club and social events at the nearby university. At the
same time, Harriet Peppafitch had been fervently working to distract Tuck from
her grief by getting her involved in library funding and scholarship
committees, two activities of interest to Edna. Inevitably, Edna and Peppa met
and became friends, nearly as close to each other as they were to Tuck.

Peppa, one of
the mainstays of the local town, had recently retired after heading the library
for nearly forty years. She was known by everyone who grew up in the region as
the Saturday morning story lady. Her hour-long readings had been divided
between preschoolers for the first thirty minutes and older children for the
last half hour. She’d finally stepped down when budget cuts threatened the job
of her second-in-command, a forty-five year old woman who wasn’t as prepared to
retire as Peppa. Now, for a few hours a week, the former librarian kept her
hand in and her eye on the place as a volunteer.

Edna looked
forward to her Friday socializing, so it was with regret that she had to leave
that morning in the middle of Tuck’s report on the latest antics of her
three-year-old great-granddaughter.

Merging onto
Route 1 and heading north to Warwick, Edna’s thoughts turned to her own family
and stopped to dwell on her youngest child. Starling would be thirty-one in
April. She’d been dating a local police detective for over a year, but only
since Christmas, after returning from a week’s skiing trip to Colorado, had she
seemed more attentive to Charlie Rogers. Idly, Edna speculated whether or not
they might announce their engagement on Valentine’s Day.

Edna first met
the detective when Tuck had been the victim of a gang of antique thieves.
Within a day of that crime, Charlie was interrogating Edna as the prime suspect
in the murder of her handyman. Stumbling over one another during both those
investigations, Edna and the policeman had developed a mutual respect that had
grown stronger through another couple of mishaps in the last year. Despite
their rocky beginnings, she was very fond of Charlie and thought he’d make a
fine addition to the family.

Maybe
Valentine’s Day when her father is back from Florida next week
, Edna
thought and, since it was out of her control, pushed the idea to the back of
her mind as she drew closer to Irene and Matthew’s house. Turning onto their
street, she began to wonder what sort of woman her son’s newest neighbor would
be. Was she an innocent victim or a shrewd killer?

As Edna pulled
into the driveway and got out of the car, a blonde woman was mounting the two
steps to the front door. Even if Rose hadn’t been carrying a small pink
suitcase, Edna would have recognized her. The previous evening, Edna had
skimmed through some of the online news about the Haverstrum scandal. Included
in the reports had been several photos of the dead man’s wife, so Edna
immediately recognized the woman. Rose
Beck
, Edna reminded herself that
the woman had resumed her maiden name. Her hair was longer, worn straight and
pulled back into a loose ponytail instead of stylishly curled as in her old
photographs, but she was still beautiful enough to turn heads. She huddled into
a black, thigh-length woolen coat against the day’s chill, and focused large
blue eyes on Edna as she approached.

“You must be
Rose.” Edna removed a glove and held out her hand.

The woman’s grip
was firm and cool as she greeted Edna with a gentle smile. “Rosie, please,” she
said, then wrinkled her nose as if momentarily smelling something sour.
“Mother’s the only one who calls me Rose. Besides that, I thought it sounded
too pretentious when I started working in a greenhouse, and I wanted to avoid
any confusion as to whether someone wanted to order the flower or speak to the
florist.” She gave a short laugh and her expression returned to one of
pleasure. “You must be Irene’s mother-in-law.”

As if hearing
her name, the hostess herself opened the door, preventing any awkwardness that
might have ensued had the two strangers been kept on the stoop for long. “I
thought I heard someone at the door. Come in. The girls won’t be home from
school for a couple of hours yet, so we have lots of time to visit.”

Their initial
conversation was about the recently unpredictable weather and Irene’s prettily
decorated table with red roses and white baby’s breath. “An early sweetheart
present from my husband,” Irene said, as she ladled butternut squash soup into
blue Peter Pots bowls and passed a platter of mini croissants filled with tuna
salad. A comfortable silence, which fell as the women began to eat, was broken
only by murmurs of how good the food was. When appetites had been somewhat
sated, Rosie addressed Edna.

“It’s very kind
of you to drive Lettie to her grandmother’s. Valentine’s Day is one of the
busiest times of the year for event planners, as I’m sure you can imagine. With
all the weddings we’re working on, I didn’t know when I could get free to make
the trip myself. Lily won’t take her car out of the garage if she even
thinks
the weather’s going to be bad.”

“I’m looking
forward to meeting your daughter,” Edna replied, ignoring the bitter-sounding
comment about Rosie’s mother. She concentrated on laying her spoon on the plate
beside her soup bowl, wondering how to approach the subject of the husband’s
death, when Irene spoke up.

“Lettie’s such a
nice girl. She and Amanda have really hit it off, and in such a short time.
You’d think they were soul mates.”

 Rosie’s eyes
sparkled with genuine pleasure for the first time since they’d sat down. “Yes.
Lettie’s grades have already improved. She seems happy at her new school.”
Growing more serious, she said, “Her friendship with Amanda has a lot to do
with it.”

Edna recognized
an opportunity. “Has she been very unhappy?”

When Rosie
turned to Edna, anger flickered in her eyes for an instant before she lowered
her lids and looked down at the twisted napkin in her hands. She took a slow
breath before lifting her head. “My daughter has been sweet and cheerful since
the day she was born.” Pausing for a moment, Rosie studied Edna’s face first
and then Irene’s. Taking another deep breath, she gave a curt nod as if making
up her mind to something.

“Look. I realize
you know who I am, and I’m pretty sure you read at the time, or at least heard
rumors that I was a suspect when my husband died. Two years ago, I moved to
East Providence to get away from the distrust and suspicion on everyone’s face.
I figured a new community would mean a clean start, but the neighbors soon
found out who I was and it started again. People either glaring or turning away
so they didn’t have to look at me.” Her voice grew stronger as her anger
quickened. “I thought I could take it. I thought everyone was being cruel only
to me, but Lettie began to notice. She’s so young and innocent. She doesn’t
understand.” Rosie’s voice faltered when she added more quietly, “Then I
learned she was being taunted and bullied by the kids in school, and my heart
broke.” Rosie bent her head again, but not before Edna saw the wetness in her
eyes.

She thought
Rosie could use a moment to recover and might also like to know that she wasn’t
alone in that sort of treatment. “May I tell you about my move to South County?
It was probably around the time you left the area.”

Rosie dabbed at
her eyes with a crumpled napkin before looking up. Her brow wrinkled as if she
were wondering what Edna’s move had to do with her difficulties, but she merely
nodded.

Edna glanced
quickly toward her daughter-in-law. She’d never spoken of her misadventure to
anyone in the family except Starling who had played a part in the drama. She
wondered what Irene would make of the story. Giving a mental shrug, she decided
she’d deal with the family fallout later. At the moment, she thought only of
bringing some comfort to Rosie Beck. “Two months after Albert and I moved into
the retirement home of our dreams, I was suspected of poisoning our handyman.”

If her words
were meant to shock, they succeeded. Not only did Rosie’s eyes grow wide, but
Edna heard a sharp intake of breath from Irene’s direction.

“Oh, my
goodness,” Irene said, raising both hands to her cheeks in surprise. “I never
heard about this. Does Matt know?”

Edna shook her
head. “I didn’t want the rest of the family to worry. It’s in the past. Will
you keep this our secret?”

Irene reached
over and gently squeezed Edna’s wrist. “Of course. I’m so sorry I didn’t know
at the time. If nothing else, I would have offered you my shoulder to lean on.”
In her usual fashion, Irene attempted a light mood.

Appreciating her
daughter-in-law’s support, Edna smiled and patted her hand. “I’ve always been
able to count on you, dear. If events had gotten more serious, I would
certainly have called you.”

Irene settled
back, but kept a cautious eye on Edna’s face, as if uncertain what to expect
after this initial jolt.

Edna took a deep
breath as she tried to decide where to begin. She realized at once how
difficult it was going to be to relive the experience, not only for what she’d
gone through, but also because she’d lost a good friend. For several seconds
she thought of Tom Greene and felt again the stress of those seemingly endless
days during which she’d been certain she’d be charged with murder and thrown in
jail.

“What happened?”
Rosie’s question, with curiosity, anxiety and impatience all rolled into those
two words, made Edna realize that she’d drifted back in time while the other
two women were waiting intently for her to explain.

She gave them an
edited version of how her handyman had been rushed to the hospital in a coma
from which he never emerged. The taxine in his system came from the yew bush,
two of which Edna had been pruning the day her handyman died. He’d last been
known to visit Edna where he’d had tea and cookies, both containing ingredients
out of her herb garden.

“I’ll never
forget the feeling of isolation when my new friends and neighbors made up all
sorts of excuses to avoid coming to my home. If they did visit, they refused to
eat or drink anything and left as soon as politely possible. I don’t know what
was worse, the police questioning me or the silent accusations of everyone
around me.”

Rosie’s head
nodded in slow agreement with Edna’s description of the helplessness she’d
felt. Sudden tears filled her eyes and threatened to spill over. “I know,” she
said in an unsteady voice. “It isn’t fair. I was never arrested.” She emitted
an unsteady sigh. “There are times I wish they
had
charged me.”

“Oh, no, Rosie.
Don’t ever say that,” Edna urged.

“Were
you
arrested?” Irene, still wary, studied Edna’s face.

“No, dear.
Fortunately, the real killer was caught before it came to that. I had a narrow
escape, though.” Thinking to offset the startling news for Irene, Edna added,
“It’s when and how I met Charlie Rogers for the first time.”

Before Irene
could respond, Rosie spoke. “The police never formally said Gregory didn’t
commit suicide, so the insurance company refused to pay me his life insurance.
They also never said he was murdered, but the reporters all implied it, so it’s
hanging over my head.” She was playing with her spoon and looking at neither
Edna nor Irene. It was almost as though she were speaking to herself.

“Is the case
still open?” Edna asked.

“It’s what they
call a ‘cold case.’ Not officially closed but I don’t think anyone’s been
working on it.” Rosie paused before adding, “Until recently, that is. The first
detective who questioned me at the time showed up several weeks ago.” She
sighed as she gazed across at Edna. “I called his department to complain, but
they told me he retired last year. Whatever he’s doing has nothing to do with
them, so I don’t know why he’s asking questions again.” Her mouth twisted in a
bitter smile. “I feel like I’m his pet project and he has nothing else to do.”

“Maybe he
discovered new evidence.” Edna had read that there had been at least two other
suspects, but she wanted to hear what Rosie had to say. Suddenly realizing how
painful the retelling must be for her, Edna hurriedly asked, “Do you mind
discussing it?”