Diva Wraps It Up, The (25 page)

Dear Natasha,

Every year my husband wants to set up a train under our Christmas tree. It’s a nightmare. There’s no room for gifts and inevitably, something is broken, and hubby gets upset. Where can we put that thing?

Conductor’s Wife in Station 15, Ohio

Dear Conductor’s Wife,

The basement comes to mind. Toys belong in a playroom. However, it could be cute combined with a Christmas village in a seldom-used corner of a room like the nook under a curving stairway. Make it hubby’s job.

Natasha

I should have responded to Elvin’s statement right away but it took me a minute to process the meaning of what he’d said. It assumed Gwen was murdered after the cookie swap broke up and before Patty joined Baxter and the kids for dinner. How did Elvin know the exact time Gwen was murdered unless Wolf told him . . . or he was there? I stared at Elvin. Had we stupidly blundered into the killer? I’d been suspicious of him. Maybe we should make our exit as soon as we could, and pass this information along to Wolf.

Nina shoved me a box of stuffed animals, and the first one I pulled out was the Christmas mouse with glasses, like the one Edith had bought. I froze. What a stroke of bad luck. I looked at Elvin out of the corner of my eye.

He dropped the utility knife he’d been using to open boxes. It landed poorly, slicing right through the top of his running shoe. He howled and jumped backward, which flung the bloodied knife to the floor.

We surrounded him immediately. Even Daisy jumped up and ran to him.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Sit down,” barked Bernie, “and take off that shoe.”

I hurried to the back of the store in search of rubbing alcohol and bandages. Adorably outfitted for children, the bathroom provided a darling step stool under the sink. Someone had painted happy blue walls with kittens and puppies frolicking through sunny yellow flowers. I spotted a first aid kit and hydrogen peroxide on a high shelf. That would have to do.

I used the step stool to reach them, grabbed an entire roll of paper towels, and rushed back to Elvin. His big toe bled profusely.

My face must have shown my shock, because Bernie said, “It’s not as bad as it looks. Feet always bleed a lot. You know, gravity and all that.”

Bernie cleaned it up with the paper towels.

I opened the hydrogen peroxide to pour it over the wound.

“Hold your breath,” instructed Nina. “It only hurts for a moment.”

“That’s rubbing alcohol. Hydrogen peroxide fizzes but it doesn’t sting.” I poured it over his toe, glad the store had tile floors that would be easy to clean. It fizzed up, but in that brief moment, we saw that the cut was indeed not nearly as bad as it had seemed at first.

Bernie immediately applied pressure with the paper towels. “Have you got a bandage and some medical tape in that kit?”

Within minutes, we had Elvin patched up. Bernie had wrapped Elvin’s big toe so that it seemed three times its normal size.

“Does it hurt?” I asked.

“Don’t feel anything right now except that honkin’ big bandage. It will probably kill me tomorrow. And I promised Jonah I would work!”

“Maybe you can sit behind the register,” Nina suggested.

“How totally stupid of me.” Elvin smacked his own cheek. “Seems like I’ve done nothing but cause trouble since I got here.”

“What do you mean?” I closed the first aid kit.

“Aww, you know, Gwen being a high-society lady and all, she thought I was an embarrassment and didn’t want me around.”

“Well!” Nina perched on one of the boxes that hadn’t been emptied. “That’s just plain rude. Besides, Baxter loves having you here, and that’s what’s important, right?”

“I didn’t want to cause trouble in his marriage.”

“From what I gather, they had plenty of trouble long before you arrived,” I assured him. If we were ever going to get information from Elvin, now was the time—when he was partially incapacitated. In as kind and gentle a tone as I could muster, I asked, “So, what happened with the mouse?”

“I don’t know. I can’t quite figure it out.”

“Maybe we can help you.” I had to get him to talk!

Elvin moaned. “My mama didn’t raise Baxter and me to lie. It’s no use. It’s about to kill me what I did.”

“You murdered Gwen?” shrieked Nina.

I nudged her. That wasn’t going to help. If she acted hysterical he would surely shut up.

“Nah. But I found her.”

“You found her?” Now I was really confused. “Was she wrapped? You took her to the garage?”

“I guess I shouldn’t have done what I did, but I had to. You understand. I didn’t have a choice, it was the only thing I could do.” Elvin chewed on his lower lip. His eyebrows formed a V over his nose, and he appeared on the verge of tears. “Gwen kicked us all out during her cookie party. I went for a walk around town, saw some sights, stopped for a beer at that Irish bar. Hey, that’s a real nice place! When I came back to the house, I wasn’t for sure if all the ladies were gone, and I didn’t want to upset Gwen, seeing as how she didn’t like me anyway, so I kind of tiptoed in through the front door. I didn’t hear anything, so I came on through to the kitchen and found Gwen lying on the floor. Not quite facedown, kinda like she fell on her side, you know? The hair on the back of her head was sticky with blood, so I guessed somebody clobbered her.” He swallowed hard. “I couldn’t feel a pulse. Her eyes were open, staring at me and lifeless, and I just knew she was dead.”

Elvin stopped and looked at me. “That mouse and the orange box of peanut brittle were lying beside her like she’d dropped them. I was afraid the kids would come home any minute and find her like that, so I stuck the mouse in her pocket and put the box back on the counter. Then”—he turned guilty eyes up at us—“I apologized to her, and slid one of those big black trash bags over her head and another one over her feet.” Anxiety filled his voice. “I cleaned up the floor with ammonia in a big hurry, but there wasn’t much blood. I remember thinking that it didn’t take a big hit to the head to kill a person. Then I carried her outside to the alley.” He sobbed. “Like a piece of trash!”

He squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his hands before he opened his eyes and continued. “I knew she was mean to folks. She could hardly stand having me around. It was as though I offended her by being alive. I guess I wasn’t fancy enough for a woman like her. She fought like cats and dogs with Sugar, and the kids heard her yelling at Baxter every day. Still, she deserved better. She was my brother’s wife, and that made her family, no matter how she felt about me.”

I perched on a box, mesmerized.

“I was afraid a dog might come along and start tearing at the trash bag. Then I remembered Natasha’s article about how to wrap an awkward present. I took the lampshade and was carrying it outside when I heard sirens. So I kind of flung Gwen over my shoulder and raced for the neighbor’s garage. I’d seen the workroom in there, and it seemed like a private place to do right by Gwen. I found a couple big boxes and wrapping paper and got her all wrapped up nice with the lampshade on her head when I saw Natasha coming. In a big rush, I carried Gwen into the garage to hide. I was afraid Natasha might come in and see me. That storage cabinet was open, so I stuffed Gwen inside and hid behind the car.”

“Eww.” Nina winced at the thought.

“But then Natasha puttered around in her workroom, and I couldn’t carry Gwen to my bus without her seeing me. And I knew the cops or an ambulance were around somewhere because of the siren. When Natasha left for a minute, I darted out. I remembered to take the black trash bags, but I forgot all about the mouse. It must have fallen out of her pocket when I was wrapping her. I figured I’d wait until late that night and then put Gwen in my bus and drive her out somewhere to bury her. Do it right, you know? There’s lots of farmland a couple hours or so down the road from here. But when I came back in the middle of the night, the garage and workshop were locked up tight. I couldn’t get in! I had to wait until morning. But you know, that alley back there is a busy place. Luis from next door must have jogged around the block about ten times that morning. Then you”—Elvin pointed at me—“came by. It was one person after another, so I figured to wait until dark. But then you found her and the jig was up. At least now she’ll get a decent burial like she deserves.”

We sat silently for a moment after he finished his story. Strangely enough, I believed him. He still could have been the one who’d whapped her over the head, though. It would have been easy to omit that part of what happened.

Bernie scratched his forehead. “What I’m missing here is why you didn’t just call 911?”

Nina gasped and clapped a hand over her mouth briefly. “You know who did it, and you were trying to protect that person.”

“I don’t know. I swear. I have thought and thought on it, but I don’t know who done her in. I . . . I was afraid it might have been somebody in the family, you know?”

There were only a few people he would be inclined to protect that way. Baxter, Sugar, and Patty. “That’s why you think it couldn’t have been Patty–because of the timing. Patty, Nina, and Liza were at my house between the cookie swap and Luis getting shocked by electricity. Those must have been the sirens you heard. So it was before then,” I said. That was a very narrow window of time.

“I get it now,” said Nina. “You thought it was Baxter or Sugar who killed Gwen. Did you think they would get away with it if you hid the body?”

“Welllll”—Elvin licked his lips—“if there wasn’t a body, there wouldn’t be a murder.” He wrinkled his nose. “And to be perfectly honest, I was moving pretty fast. I didn’t take a whole lot of time to think on it first.”

“But what about the mouse’s glasses? I thought Kat found them in the living room.”

Elvin shrugged. “I didn’t know they belonged to the mouse when she showed them to me. I figured they went with one of the kids’ toys.”

I mused aloud. “I was so sure the glasses in the living room meant that Gwen had been banged over the head with the deer-head candlestick. Did you clean up the living room?”

Elvin seemed surprised. “No. Gosh, we ate dinner and were hardly in the living room that night. It wasn’t until after you found her that I spent any time in there.”

“Did the police fingerprint that room or anything?”

“They came back to search, but I wasn’t there, so I don’t know what they did exactly.”

Bernie stood up. “Is it too late to call Alex?”

Elvin certainly needed a lawyer. Even if he had told the truth and he hadn’t murdered Gwen, I was fairly sure there were laws about moving corpses. Not to mention that he needed to tell the police what he had done. “I don’t think Alex can represent Elvin if he’s representing Baxter.”

Elvin gazed up at us, desperate. “Maybe he could recommend somebody? I don’t know what to do.”

I phoned Alex, who gave us the number of a friend of his. Nina went out to pick up coffee for everyone, and while we waited for the lawyer, Bernie and I finished setting out the new toys.

Nina, Alex, and his lawyer friend arrived at the same time. The attorney was a pudgy guy with glasses and a friendly smile.

Nina passed out coffees, assuring us they were decaf. I was so dead tired that I would have welcomed caffeine.

Alex sipped coffee and introduced his friend as a fellow attorney. “Elvin, you’re under no obligation to hire him.”

Elvin appeared frantic. “No, no, no! I need help. I have to get this off my conscience! It’s the worst thing I ever did in my life.”

The lawyer spoke with him privately. When they were through, they emerged from the stockroom in back and the lawyer said, “Come by my office tomorrow morning, and we’ll discuss your options.”

Bernie called a cab for Elvin. Since Daisy was with me, Alex offered to walk me home. Nina winked at me when she and Bernie stepped into the cab.

The stroll home was beautiful. Most of the Christmas lights had been turned off, though a surprising number still sparkled gently in the night. Most of the homes followed the tradition of a single candle in each window and they warmed the night with their soft glow. Snow drifted down gently on the sleeping town. Not a single car drove by.

Alex held my hand in his very warm one. “You don’t really think I have something going on with Sugar, do you?”

“Why would you say that?”

He chuckled. “I saw you across the street. And Sugar is the kind of woman who doesn’t realize how much she aggravates other women. I’m glad we have a few moments together. I need to apologize for breaking off a date and then forgetting lunch.” He stopped walking and kissed me gently.

“How come you can help Sugar but you can’t represent Elvin?”

“First of all, they’re different matters. Besides, everyone involved signed a waiver saying it was okay. Baxter loves Kat. He wants the custody straightened out, too.”

“Sophie, there’s something I’ve been wanting to discuss.”

Uh-oh. My danger antennas zoomed up. So much for a romantic walk in the snow. We strolled on.

“I don’t want you to be upset with me when I take on clients. I knew that you had been, for lack of a better word,
involved
with some murder investigations, but I didn’t realize that we might butt heads. You understand that I can’t talk to you about my clients, right? After all, if you were a client, you wouldn’t want me discussing your business with anyone else.”

“I understand completely. It just surprised me that you couldn’t even tell me who’d hired you.” I slipped in the crucial words, “Within an hour of the corpse being found.”

“You just don’t miss a beat. But that doesn’t mean the client is guilty. People watch all the crime shows on TV. They’ve wised up, and they know they need lawyers, especially when it’s a family member who was murdered.”

“So what you’re saying is that we have to coexist on parallel planes, working toward the same goal but not sharing any information.”

We reached my front door. “You can share anything you like. But I’ll pick and choose. Nothing about my clients, of course, but for instance, I might tell you that I happen to know Horace’s secretary, Phyllis, has been to see him every day, while his wife, Edith, didn’t visit him until yesterday.”