Classic Revenge (22 page)

That was a good decision, Trish thought, trying to
swallow her own roll without grimacing.

"And why is that?" Larry asked, wiping his hands on
a napkin. He didn't reach for another.

Edna quickly filled him in on what they knew about
Mary Chavez and carefully explained their concern
about the earrings. Thankfully, Millie kept her mouth
shut about Tom, even though her lips twitched several
times as though she desperately wanted to interrupt.

When Edna finished speaking, Larry deliberately let
his glance fall on each of them. "I thought we agreed
you would pass any information on to me and stay out
of any actual snooping."

"How would we know whether we had any information to pass on if we hadn't checked Mary out first?"
Millie exclaimed indignantly.

"What you have is nothing," Larry replied, his tone
revealing exasperation. "You have nothing to tie this
Mary Chavez to Susan's death, and just because she has
earrings similar to ones owned by the late Mrs. Wiley
doesn't mean she killed her!"

"But you didn't hear her," Millie said, her eyes narrowing as she leaned forward. "She said we would never believe what she had to go through to get those earrings.
And her voice was sly and sneaky when she said it."

"Oh, Millie, stop it," Trish demanded. "You're exaggerating something awful. Her voice was friendly, as if
she was sharing an inside joke. We were all just shocked
at the sight of the earrings and probably read more into
her statement than we should have"

"Humph," Millie snorted, crossed her arms over her
chest and sat back in her chair while she glared at Trish,
"whose side are you on, anyway?"

Trish glared right back. "I'm on the side of the truth,
and we're not going to get to it if you keep embellishing."

Larry raised his hand. "Ladies, please," he said with a deep sigh. "Look, you know I understand your concern. But I've told you before how dangerous this can
be. This isn't a game. If you really believe a murderer is
on the loose, why would you intentionally put yourselves in a risky situation?"

"Because a friend of ours has been charged with murder and we know he's innocent," Edna said softly.

"You think he'll check out Mary?" Millie asked
around a mouthful of cinnamon roll. The icing had come
out as soon as Larry had left, and they were just finishing
off the plate.

Trish shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe he'll casually
look into her, but I doubt he thinks there's anything to
our suspicion."

"We have to get something more concrete," Edna
sighed. "Does anybody have any ideas?"

"Well, it's a sure bet we can't go back to the restaurant," Millie said. She thought for a moment, tapping her
fingers on the table. "Edna, you got a real good look at those earrings when Sam gave them to Susan, didn't
you?"

"Yes, I certainly did." She smiled sorrowfully. "Susan was so proud of them. She showed them to me that
very afternoon."

"Okay, then you're the one who is going to have to
verify if Mary has Susan's earrings or if they are just
similar. I don't like it, and I'm not sure you can pull it
off, but we don't have a choice."

Edna's jaw dropped.

"And just how is she going to do that?" Trish asked
with raised eyebrows.

"She'll do it by going to her house."

"Oh, of course. How silly of me to have even asked"

Millie just sat there with a pleased smile, and Trish
didn't like that twinkle shining in her eyes one bit, and
she really wished Edna would close her mouth.

"Do you think she's there yet?" Millie asked, unwrapping her hotdog.

"I don't know," Trish said nervously and glanced at
her watch. "She probably is." They were sitting at a concrete picnic table outside the neighborhood corner store.
It was a place that construction workers often sat to eat
their lunches, but Millie and Trish were alone right
now. Edna had dropped them off a few minutes before
and should now be at Mary's house.

Trish was not comfortable with this at all. "How can
you eat at a time like this?" she asked irritably.

Millie shrugged and took a huge bite. "I'm hungry.
Besides, if anything goes wrong, I'll need the energy"

"No you won't, because if anything goes wrong I'm
going to skin you alive."

Millie shrugged again. "Nothing is going to go
wrong. It's a foolproof plan."

Trish took a deep breath, leaned over, and snatched a
potato chip from the open bag in front of Millie. She
didn't have the heart to bring up the subject of Murphy's
Law.

Edna straightened her shoulders and steadied her
nerves. How Millie had talked her into this, she would
never understand. She rang the doorbell, plastered a
smile on her face, and reminded herself that she was doing this for Sam. That seemed to help-some.

Mary lived in a house that could use a little tender
loving care. The front door was in need of a fresh coat
of paint along with the iron columns spaced along the
wide front porch where a couple of potted plants cried
out for water, their wilting leaves falling to the ground.
To the left of the door, a large window faced the street,
curtains drawn, the screen torn at the bottom. Everything was neat enough, and the house was really quite
charming, but the minor repairs left undone gave the
feeling that neglect was a common thing there.

Maybe Mary and her husband were renters, in
which case the repairs were not their responsibility.
Or, more likely, if they had fallen on tough times, then
a lack of funds could delay the work from being done.
But, really, how much did a gallon of paint cost,
anyway?

Edna transferred the bag she was carrying to her
other hand and reached up to ring the bell again. At that
moment, she heard a chain sliding and the front door
opened. Edna only jumped slightly, then quickly fixed
her smile in place.

Mary stood in the doorway, an impatient look on her
face. "Yes?"

"Hello," Edna said, in what she hoped was a chipper,
friendly tone. "My name is Ed .... um, Edwina
Granger. I'm your new Avon representative in the
neighborhood." Mary's hair was pulled back into a
pony tail again, and unfortunately she wasn't wearing
any jewelry.

Mary shook her head. "I'm sorry. I'm late-"

"Oh, please," Edna said quickly, placing her hand on
the door, "I promise this will only take a minute. You see,
I'm new at this and I'm afraid I haven't been very successful. At my age, it's difficult. Who wants to buy miracle wrinkle cream from someone who's all wrinkly?
Actually, I've just started using the products, and I believe I'll look ten years younger in a month or so. But my
husband left me for a younger woman, and I desperately
need this job. I really want to practice my presentation,
and I guarantee you it won't take long. You don't even
have to buy a thing. Please?" Edna stopped and took a
deep breath, having just delivered the fastest speech in
her life. Hopefully it had sounded pitiful enough. Just in
case, she offered a weak little smile.

It must have worked. Mary sighed, but she was grinning as she opened the door wider. "How can I refuse?
Come on in, but I must warn you that I only have a few
minutes."

"Thank you," Edna gushed. Thank goodness Millie's
daughter had actually sold Avon a little over a year before and had been able to furnish enough samples, as
well as a genuine sales bag, to make Edna's story appear
true. The only problem was the catalog. There hadn't
been enough time to get an up-to-date one, so they'd had to settle for an old one. If Mary happened to notice, then
Edna's newness on the job would provide a believable
blunder.

Mary gestured to an easy chair. "Have a seat" She sat
opposite Edna on the sofa. "I haven't used Avon in a
while, but I do like their products. I won't be able to buy
anything, but you can run your presentation by me and
then leave me your number so I can order later if I
want to."

"This is very kind of you. I'm not much of a salesperson, even though the products basically sell themselves, so I appreciate your giving me the opportunity to
practice." Edna pulled out some of the samples, arranging them on the oval coffee table. "You have a lovely
home" Lovely wasn't quite an apt description. Although
clean, the furnishings were almost threadbare, and the
walls were a yellowing color of off-white. The tan carpet
would soon need to be replaced, along with the curtains,
but the most disconcerting thing was the lack of personality in the room. No pictures, knickknacks or plants
broke the austerity in the surroundings.

"Thank you. I'm sorry, I'd offer you coffee or tea, but
I honestly don't have much time. I'll be late for work."

"Don't give it another thought, dear. What do you do
for a living?"

"Well, right now I work as a waitress, but I've got applications out for office work."

"Wait .. " Edna stopped fumbling in the bag and
looked up with feigned surprise. "That's where I've seen
you before. You work at Jim's Restaurants, don't you?"

Mary cocked her head. "Yes, I do. Do I know you?"

"No, but you served me and a couple of friends recently. We were very impressed with your service," Edna said truthfully. "It takes a special talent to do what
you do, coordination, patience, putting on a smile when
you'd rather slap somebody. I certainly couldn't do it."

Surprisingly, Mary blushed slightly. "Thank you. It's
not hard, really. I'm just doing it until I can find something better."

"So, you like office work?" Edna had emptied the
bag of samples some time ago, but she was managing
to make herself look busy. It was important to keep
Mary talking, and there wasn't a lot of time.

"I love it. I lost my last job because the accountant
was convicted of embezzling. I was the one who discovered the problem and told my boss, but it was too
late. The losses were so great that the company couldn't
stay afloat. Of course, I got a glowing recommendation,
I had been there for fifteen years, but it's not easy finding another position at the same rank and rate of pay I
was at"

Edna shook her head sympathetically. It was a true
sentiment, actually; she felt the poor woman was delusional. If, in her mind, her skills were as great as she
thought they were, it would be very difficult for anybody to teach her anything or give constructive criticism. There was also the possibility that Mary Chavez
was a pathological liar.

Mary glanced at her watch. Uhh, thought Edna, I'd
better hurry this along. "You know, Mary, there's another reason I remember you. In our latest catalog, there
is a necklace and bracelet set that I think matches those
gorgeous earrings you were wearing when I met you. I
believe my friends and I even commented on them that
night. I know you said you weren't interested in buying
anything right now, but I absolutely adore jewelry. I was thinking of buying the necklace if I could find earrings
to match. Where did you get yours?"

Mary frowned and reached for her bare ear lobe. "Oh,
I know which ones you're talking about," she said, her
expression clearing. "I didn't buy them. They were a
gift well, a payment, sort of. I did some work for a guy
who promised to pay me, but when I finished he said he
didn't have any money. I threatened him, and he gave
me the earrings to shut me up." A shiver ran up Edna's
spine at the cold look on Mary's face. She was smiling,
but there was no humor in her expression at all. "I'm going to sell them eventually, probably for more than he
owed me"

It was all Edna could do to act natural and continue
speaking. "Good for you. Would you mind terribly if I
look at them again? I might be in the market to buy
them when you're ready to sell."

Mary hesitated. "Well ... sure. In fact, I think I'll
wear them today. It reminds me of the jerk and how I'm
going to get even with him someday," she confessed
with a grin. "I'll go get them, but I'm afraid I'm going
to have to get going. Maybe you could come back some
other time."

"Oh, of course-I'm sorry I've kept you so long. I'll
start picking up this stuff." Mary left the room, and Edna
quickly cleared the coffee table by sweeping everything
into the Avon bag with her arm. She then sat quietly
and forced her breathing to remain natural. In a few
seconds, she would know whether Susan's missing
earrings were in the possession of Mary Chavez. She
didn't even want to think about what job Mary had done
to have received them as payment. That statement
could be analyzed later with her friends.

Mary walked back in the room with her purse slung
over one shoulder and her keys in her hand. She held out
her other hand to Edna. "Here they are. I'll be right back.
I have to lock the back door," she said, dropping the glittering studs into Edna's hand.

Edna felt the room spin around her as she stared at
the earrings, the brilliant diamonds twinkling. Her eyes
began to burn, and her hands started shaking. She
wanted nothing more than to make a mad dash for the
door, into the protection of her car, and rush to the police station where she could hand over the earrings. She
couldn't leave them with Mary! They didn't belong to
her; she had no right to them. Sam had lovingly given
them to his wife, the wife who had been murdered for
no apparent reason.

Edna felt her heart squeeze tight, the pain and anger
ready to lash out as she tried to control her emotions.
Common sense eventually prevailed as she realized that
leaving with the earrings would destroy all evidence
tying them to Mary. She clutched the earrings tightly,
said a silent prayer promising Susan the earrings would
soon be returned to Sam, and then laid them gently on
the coffee table.

"They're pretty, aren't they?" Mary's tone was breezy
and friendly.

Edna gripped the bag in her hands tightly and fixed a
smile on her face as she turned. "Yes, they're pretty.
Thank you for letting me see them. I'll be off now"
Edna's voice was husky and she could have kicked herself.