A Killer Read (16 page)

Hopefully, the weatherman was right and tomorrow the thermometer would take them into the midseventies again.

Out of curiosity, she checked her mailbox before heading upstairs. Nothing. The phone rang as she pulled her nightgown over her head.

“Hi, Lizzie, it’s Mark. Hope I’m not calling too late.”

“Oh, hi. No, it’s not too late. I am sort of surprised, though.”

“I just got home from a call, so my brain’s still in work mode, I guess. I thought I’d check and see if your master sleuths had turned up anything more.”

Lizzie wished she could see his face. He sounded serious. Was this leading to another lecture? “My sleuths. You make me sound like a PI agency. Well, nothing new has turned up, in answer to your question.”

“You would tell me if that were the case, wouldn’t you?”

“You’d be the first person to know if they found the killer,” she said.

“That’s not exactly what I asked.”

“Have you found the killer?”

“I can see where this conversation is going. Nowhere. So I’ll just say good night. Which is really what I called for in the first place.”

“You did?” She pulled the neckline of her nightgown tighter.

He chuckled. “Pleasant dreams, Lizzie,” he said, then hung up before she could respond.

She sat with the phone in her hand for several minutes before finally hanging up. What had he really wanted? She hoped it was exactly as he said. But he was a cop, after all, and high school was a long time ago.

L
izzie mused about the possible outcome of the garden party as she drove to Molly’s the next morning. She truly wished that none of the students were the thief. She didn’t really know any of them very well, though, except for Stephanie, whom she was certain wasn’t the culprit. Was it because someone needed money? They stole then pawned the stuff? But according to Molly, the missing items weren’t overly valuable.

Maybe the person just wanted them… saw them, liked them and gave them a new home. That was entirely possible. She remembered a few years back when a small break-and-enter ring, comprised entirely of students from the middle school, was nabbed. Their parents couldn’t afford the assortment of laptops, DVD players and other electronics that they stole, and they were certain the owners could easily have them replaced by insurance. Therefore, in their eyes, no one was hurt. She shook her head. What a crazy world sometimes.

Whoever this thief was hadn’t taken into account the sentimental value of the items. No insurance could cover that.

Lizzie got out of her Mazda and locked it just as Sally-Jo pulled into the driveway. She waited while Sally-Jo parked so they could walk in together.

“Tell all, girl,” Lizzie said.

“All. Let’s see, it was hot wandering around that fairground yesterday afternoon, and it looked like every other fair I’ve been to over the years. And that’s quite a few. Anyway, we eventually did talk to someone who’d actually socialized with Frank Telford and his wife, Enid, just after they had married. Gilda Cruise. She’s a member of the Library Committee and staffed their bake table at the fair.”

Sally-Jo stopped and dug into her shoulder bag, producing a small object wrapped in foil. “For you. It’s Gilda’s very own special recipe double chocolate, chocolate chip cookies. They’re truly to die for. Anyway, Gilda said they’d lost touch over the years, but she did remember hearing at one point that Enid had left Frank. She thought there’d been a bit of a scandal but hadn’t heard the details. Frank seemed to turn into something of a recluse after that. She was pretty much buried in kids at that time so didn’t get too excited about any of it.”

“Thanks for the added calories. I know I’ll enjoy them, unfortunately. So, I wonder if the police know about Enid Telford.”

“They must if they checked the vital statistics records.”

“Funny that Mark didn’t say anything.”

“What, and get you out searching for her?”

Lizzie shrugged. “You’re probably right. Well done. I take it spending the day with Jacob wasn’t too much of a hardship?”

She thought fleetingly about seeing Jacob with the blonde the previous morning. Then he’d spent the afternoon with Sally-Jo. Busy boy. She longed to mention something but
thought it better to try to get some more information before tattling. Sally-Jo seemed happy enough anyway, which was the main thing.

“Not at all.” Sally-Jo smiled. “Now, what’s the plan for this afternoon? Are we supposed to be keeping an eye on anyone special? What about Troy?”

“If he’s here, then yes. I don’t know if he’s our prime suspect, but one of the items did go missing the night he stormed out of class.”

They knocked and entered through the back door. Molly waved them in and went back to her discussion with a young man dressed in torn jeans and an equally ragged T-shirt. They could hear her giving him instructions as to where a tent needed to be set up on the far right end of the stone patio.

Bob Miller popped his head through the open doorway to the hall. “Oh, good. Some bodies. Would you young ladies mind helping me out for just a minute?”

“Sure, Bob,” Sally-Jo answered for them both.

They joined him in the hallway where he’d climbed back up a tall ladder and was adjusting a camera in a small alcove. “Now, you, Lizzie, you go stand over there by that table with all those doodaddies on it”—he gestured at the Bedfordshire accent table at the foot of the stairs—“and Sally-Jo, you just take a look at that little monitor there on top of my bag. Tell me when you can see Lizzie and the table.”

“A surveillance camera. We’ve gone high tech,” Lizzie said with glee. “I didn’t know Molly had called in the professionals for this.”

Bob chuckled. “I’ve always wanted to use one of these thingies and never had any need on the job, so here we go now. OK, Sally-Jo, how’s the view?”

Sally-Jo squatted beside the open duffel bag. “Just point it a little to the left… no, I mean your right, Bob. Okay, now down just a tad. That’s got it. Why don’t you come see for yourself if this is what you have in mind?”

“Good idea.” Bob was already climbing back down the ladder. He kneeled down and peered at the small monitor and nodded. “Yep, that oughta do it. Now I’ll just move that shiny brass statue over a bit, and the camera should just blend in.”

Lizzie noticed he had a bit of difficulty pushing himself back up on his feet. She often found herself surprised at how so many folks she’d known all her life had aged almost overnight. Mama had seemed old for a long time, but Molly, and Bob, had been ageless for so long and now, here they were in their early seventies and showing some wear and tear. Not that they were old. Molly would have a fit if she heard Lizzie refer to her as such. Aging. Gracefully, in Molly’s case.

“Did you and Molly find anything useful when you went to Stoney Mills?” Lizzie asked, remembering they hadn’t spoken since their trip.

Bob cleared his throat. “Not really. I was talking it over with Jacob, and it was much the same information he and Sally-Jo found out.” He sounded sheepish. “I’m sorry, Lizzie. I could give it another try.”

“Hmm. Maybe. So are you recording this or what?” Lizzie asked.

“No, I’ll just tuck myself away with the monitor in the library. Keep an eye on things from there. I’m not part of this party anyway.”

“Just be sure to load up with eats before you tuck away,” Sally-Jo suggested.

“Oh, I intend to, young lady. I surely intend to do that. Thanks for your help, both of you. Have you seen the setup outside?”

“No, that’s our next stop, if Molly doesn’t need us to do anything,” Lizzie said. “Just let us know if you need any help.”

Bob grunted as he carted the ladder toward the door.

Molly joined them in the hall, beaming. “Oh, I’m
enjoying this already. It’s been awhile since I had a big garden party, and I do so enjoy them. How about this camera of Bob’s?”

“I think it’s a great idea, Molly,” Sally-Jo said. “You can’t argue with the camera’s eye.”

Molly nodded. “Thank you for coming early, but you know, there’s not much to be done. I’ve hired people to take care of most of it. Why don’t you just go outside and take a look. Let me know what you think or if I’m missing anything.”

She went in the direction Bob had gone while Lizzie and Sally-Jo headed back through the kitchen and outside again.

The well-groomed lawn went on for about a hundred and fifty yards and was the ideal setting for the five white-clothed round tables, each with four chairs around them. At the right side of the patio, four long tables had been arranged in a row while to the left, the young man they’d seen inside, along with a helper, was placing the poles for the tent. A bar had been set up to the left of the doorway, with yet another young man placing boxes of soda bottles behind it.

He glanced over at them, grinned and held a bottle of tonic water in greeting. Lizzie recognized Dwayne Trowl from her class. She walked over to the bar.

“Why, Dwayne. Nice to see you. Is this a part-time job?”

“Yes’m. I tend bar off and on for Carleton Caterers. Have been for some time now. This and pizza delivery for Big Mike’s Pizzas.”

“Good for you.”

“Yeah, I’m trying to get enough money to go to chef’s school in Birmingham.”

Lizzie tried to hide her surprise. “You like cooking?”

“Oh, yeah. It’s a good job. There’s a lot of opportunities if you’re a big-time chef, not like a short-order cook at all. Like cooking someplace like here. Or at some big hotel. You know, the family roots go back to food and the land. Back to my grandpops.”

Dream big
, she thought. “Well, I hope you get there, Dwayne. And taking the GED is a large step.”

“Oh, I’m counting on that, ma’am.” He went back to unpacking bottles.

Lizzie spotted Sally-Jo walking in the flower garden at the back of the lawn. She joined her, and they followed the stone path that led back through the sculpted shrubs and around a large pond. Brightly colored koi of all sizes swam close to the surface, snapping at flies that landed periodically.

“This is absolute heaven,” Sally-Jo said. “All it needs is a swing of some sort.”

“Come with me,” Lizzie said and led her even farther into the garden, through an arbor of gracefully entwined tree branches draped with hanging Spanish moss, to another smaller lawn area with a covered swing set placed to one side. Bunches of autumn-colored flowers bordered the space, giving way to a water feature with three levels of waterfalls, tumbling to a small pool.

“Wow! It gets even better,” Sally-Jo exclaimed.

“I find it really soothing. Let’s sit a minute and enjoy the view and the silence,” Lizzie suggested.

They got the swing moving and sat, each deep in thought. Lizzie remembered how she loved to wander through the gardens and spend many an afternoon by herself, swinging in solitude, hiding out from reality, she supposed now. It had been a retreat when she needed to get away from the strain of trying to get her mama to talk to her, to become part of her life once more. Even as a teenager, Lizzie would often call Molly and ask if she could come over. She was never refused. And she’d often start out the visit in the backyard, by herself, mellowing out, then end it in the kitchen sharing a glass of milk and freshly baked molasses cookies with Molly.

It never seemed odd that even though Molly had a live-in cook and housekeeper, she often baked and tidied the rooms
herself. That was Molly. In fact, Lizzie had learned the fine art of polishing the silver tea service from Molly. Even though Lizzie didn’t own one. It was the sharing of the task that she’d enjoyed.

Sally-Jo broke the silence. “You’ve spent a lot of time here, haven’t you?”

“Yes. It was like a hideout for me.”

“I meant at Molly’s in general.”

“That, too. For the same reason.”

“That’s what I needed, a hideout from my five sisters.”

“Hectic, was it?”

“Hectic and noisy. And I could never get any privacy nor have much of my parents’ time and attention. We were always sharing everything.”

Lizzie sighed. “I’ve often wished I’d had a sister or two, but I can’t really imagine what it would be like, especially that many.”

“Well, it was fun a lot of the times, but I often longed to just be alone. I really enjoyed going off to college, partly to get away. And then, inheriting Aunt Pearl’s house was a dream. Of course, part of it belongs to my sister Janice, but I’m paying her monthly, like rent. So she’s happy. And Auntie’s summerhouse went to Donna and Carleen, while her money went to the others. It was an interesting way of divvying her estate, but then again, she was an interesting woman. I think we got the house because we visited her the most often.”

“She sounds like a very thoughtful person.”

“She was.” Sally-Jo was silent for a few minutes. “I think I’d like to get a swing like this for my backyard. It would be lovely to have on a hot, sultry evening.”

“Especially with a certain lawyer swinging by your side.”

“Exactly.” She made a face at Lizzie. “Now, don’t you think we’d better get back and see if there’s anything that needs doing?”