Murder by Yew (13 page)

Benjamin, still in the middle of the kitchen floor with his back arched and his fur ruffled, kept up his low yowl, but now he was facing the mudroom. The sound unnerved her and his change of position was frightening.

Grabbing up the cat, Edna ran for the small study off the front hall.
Nine one one.
The numbers screamed in her head. Trying not to make noise, she picked up the phone. No dial tone. The phones were still out, and there was no flash hook on her cordless that she could push to try and reconnect the dead line.

What could she do?
She must hide. Could she make it back to the kitchen and get to the cellar?
The thought sickened her. She hated the basement with its dankness and cold dirt floor, but she had no choice. That was the best place to hide if these were the same burglars who had attacked Tuck.
If they were after her belongings, they certainly wouldn’t look in an unfinished basement,
Edna reasoned.

Moving into the hallway, she heard a soft metallic sound. Someone was trying the latch, trying to open the front door. She heard a muffled thud and pictured the person hitting the door with his shoulder, softly but firmly. Stealthily.

Edna looked around her in the dark, terrified. If the person at the front door was picking the lock, there was no time to reach the cellar. They’d see her. She had to find a hiding place. Panic burned in her chest, and bile bubbled at the back of her throat.

Keeping a tight grip on her struggling cat with one arm, she backed toward the coat closet, her eyes glued to the front door as she groped behind her for the handle. Slipping between the coats, she started to close the door when Benjamin leaped out of her arms.

“
Benjamin!” She hissed, not daring to raise her voice, but he’d disappeared into the dark. She could only hope he would be safe.

Who is out there? What do they want? At this hour, they can’t be after the furniture.
The thought struck new fear into her, turning the blood in her veins to ice.

She pushed as far back into the corner of the closet as she could and sat on the floor. The darkness engulfed her, making her feel only slightly safer than she’d felt outside the closet. She fumbled the coats in front of her, hoping to create an adequate screen. Quietly, she pulled a pair of Albert’s boots in front of her to hide her feet and legs. Then, clutching her knees to her chest, she stared at the closed door and began to shake.

Fourteen

Trying to be as quiet as possible, Edna took several rapid breaths, remembering what Albert had told her about the effects of adrenaline as the body shuts down, trying to protect itself. “Your peripheral vision decreases, and you lose your hearing. Hands and feet become cold as the blood recedes from those areas, but your heart rate increases.” She could hear his voice as if he were seated next to her. “The best way to offset the effects is to breathe deeply and get as much oxygen into your system as quickly as you can.”

She pulled air into her lungs while listening for sounds, but the blood pounding in her ears made it difficult to hear outside the closet.
Was that a footstep in the hall? Where was Benjamin?

The front door must have opened, because all at once, the noise of the storm grew louder. A light shone beneath the door at her feet before disappearing again. Someone was brandishing a flashlight. They were in the hall, and she thought they were headed for the living room.

Edna didn’t know how much time passed before she heard the first sharp noise.
Was it a dog’s bark?
She pressed back against the closet wall. There it was again, closer this time.

The intruders had brought a dog to sniff her out. She wanted to squeeze her eyes shut, but she could only stare at the closet door, mesmerized.
Is there something here I can use as a weapon?
She flicked her eyes sideways, not daring to move her head, but it was impossible to see in the blackness, and her quietly probing hand found nothing but Albert’s boots. She prayed.
Please don’t hurt me.

Just then, she thought she heard the front door slam. Only a second or two must have passed before she felt, more than heard, heavy footsteps directly outside the closet. Scratching. Whining. She was certain a dog was sniffing at the closet door. They’d found her hiding place, she thought, as the door swung open. Metal screeched against metal as coats were pushed aside, and her eyes were blinded by light. She screamed, throwing up her hands to protect her face.

“
It’s okay. They’re gone.” Mary’s voice. “Hank scared them away.”

Edna felt something cold and wet in the palm of her hand.
A dog’s nose. Hank?
Still blinded from the light, she slid her arms around his neck, buried her face in his fur, and began to sob with relief.

“
You’re all right now, Edna. They’re gone.” Mary repeated.

Edna felt a touch on her arm. Letting go of Hank, she grabbed Mary’s hand like a lifeline and allowed herself to be pulled up and out of the closet. Swallowing a cry, she clung to her neighbor. When she began to feel some strength return to her legs, Edna sidled to a nearby chair and sat down, still clinging to Mary’s wrist.

“
Who was it? Did you see them?” Edna looked up at her neighbor’s tall, shadowy form.

“
They must have run out this way when we came in the back. The mudroom door was wide open, and so was this front one. The rain was soaking the floor, so I shut it before we started looking for you.”

Edna couldn’t see her expression in the darkness, but Mary’s voice quavered with some of the fear she herself was feeling. Then Mary knelt beside Edna and, with her flashlight, picked out puddles of muddy water on both the wood floor and the rug. The largest spots were in the entryway, but the tracks traveled down to the living room, and some could be seen on the floor just inside the kitchen.

When Mary silently panned the light down the hall for the second time, Edna turned to put a restraining hand on her arm. “What brought you out at this hour? Were you walking in the storm? Oh, Mary, I’m so glad you were.” Edna wanted to laugh and cry at the same time.

Mary played her light on the stairs leading to the rooms above. “I was in bed. Hank woke me up, so I went to check the windows ‘cause of the rain. That’s when I saw lights in your driveway. I didn’t see any headlights, but they might have turned off the car by the time I got to the window. It looked like two people carrying flashlights. One headed this way. You know, like he was walking around to the patio. I thought I’d better come over and check. Are you okay?”

Edna put up her hands, shielding her eyes against the light Mary aimed at her face. “Yes. Yes, I think so. Just shaky. Did you call the police?”

“
Couldn’t. Phone’s still out.” Mary stood and turned, slowly playing the beam up and down the hall again. “What did they want?”

As light reflected off various objects, Edna noticed that Mary was holding a gun at her side. Her index finger pointed along the barrel as she held the weapon in her right hand, close to her leg.

“
Would you have used that?” Edna didn’t know if she was more horrified at the thought of somebody being shot or of Mary carrying a gun.

“
Don’t know. I’ve only used it for target practice before now.” She brought the pistol out from behind her leg, still aimed at the floor. “Don’t worry. The safety catch is on. I know what I’m doing.” Edna heard pride in her voice as Mary continued. “Tom taught me about guns after Father died. We used to practice together at the range.”

Incredible, Edna thought, how little I really knew about Tom—or Mary, for that matter. Aloud, she said, “We need to call the police. My phone is still out, but there’s a cellular in my car.” She started to rise.

Mary put a hand on her shoulder and gently pushed her back onto the chair. “I’ll go. Where are your keys?”

“
It’s not locked. The side door to the garage is open, too. It seemed so safe around here.” Edna said, feeling she needed to excuse her carelessness, then added ironically, “Please be careful. We don’t know if they’re still out there. Maybe you should take Hank with you.”

“
No. I think he’d better stay with you. I’m pretty sure whoever broke in here tonight is long gone.” Mary pointed the light to a spot near Edna’s chair and said, “Hank, come.”

The big Lab had remained standing in front of the closet. At Mary’s command, he came and sat beside Edna, momentarily placing a paw on her thigh. She rubbed the dog’s head, murmuring, “Good boy.” When she looked up, she caught only a glimpse of Mary, wrapped in an olive green rain cape, slipping out the front door.

As Edna waited for Mary’s return, Benjamin startled her by jumping into her lap. She hadn’t seen him approach in the darkness. Hank made no noise, nor did he move from his spot beside her. She hugged the cat, happy to know he was okay, while Benjamin nudged her chin with his head and purred loudly. Then, as quickly as he’d appeared, the ginger cat stiffened and leaped into the blackness as the front door burst open.

“
I got through. Patrol car’s on its way,” Mary said, slamming the door behind her.

Edna waited for her pulse to slow after this latest fright and felt the phone being thrust into her hands.

“
Battery’s low.”

“
Oh, no. Not now.” Edna took the phone and asked Mary to shine the light on the small handset so she could dial Starling’s apartment in Boston. While she waited for a response on the other end, she looked up toward Mary’s silhouetted form. “Albert takes care of charging our cell phones. He must not have checked it before he left Thursday.”

On the fourth ring, Starling’s answering machine kicked on, and her voice asked that the caller leave a message. Considering it was sometime between three and four in the morning, and knowing what a sound sleeper her daughter was, Edna didn’t worry that Starling hadn’t picked up the phone herself. “It’s your mother, dear. I’m fine. I just wanted …”

Several shrill beeps sounded before the phone went dead. In the dim light, Edna watched with frustration as the light faded away on the little monitor. Not wanting to accept what she feared to be true, she shook the phone and pressed the redial button before putting the receiver to her ear again. Nothing. She hit the side of the phone against the palm of her left hand and again poked
redial
. It was no use. Communication with her family was cut off.

Hoping her message had been recorded, Edna pushed herself out of the chair. She felt as alone as she had ever been in her life and realized with a shock that she had better start doing something about her predicament. Nobody else was going to. With that thought came the understanding of how much of her security and well-being she had left to those around her, particularly Albert. Now, it seemed as if her entire world were falling apart.

In her husband’s absence, she was the next line of defense for herself and their home.
If they think they can get the better of me, just because Albert’s not here, they have another think coming,
she thought. With a growing anger, she straightened her back and looked at Mary’s indistinct form. At that moment, she wanted light, needing to see clearly. “Let’s get some hurricane lanterns from the kitchen,” she said.

Mary and Hank stayed close as Edna lit several lamps and carried one to the hall table. She was about to lead the little parade back into the kitchen when she heard cars crunching up the broken-shell driveway and opened the door to two uniformed policemen.

Both men exceeded six feet by an inch or two, but Willis Russell was as blond and slender as Zeb Grayson was dark and burly. Each man carried a large flashlight with a beam so strong that it shed more light in the hall than did the kerosene lamp. Once they’d introduced themselves, the men entered the house and immediately began directing rays of light over the walls and down the hall toward the living room.

“
What’s this?” Russell’s beam picked out the easel.

“
Looks like Tom Greene,” Grayson said, surprise in his voice.

The sheet of paper, which Edna was certain had been secured over the portrait, lay on the floor, and Tom looked back at them, seeming almost alive in the light that shone on the drawing.

“
Good, isn’t it?” Mary said.

Even in the dimly lit hallway, Edna saw the look that passed swiftly between the two policemen and felt her face redden. “These men aren’t here to admire my artwork,” she said to Mary. “Would you gentlemen like to come into the kitchen? I have more lanterns in there, and the light’s a little better. We can sit down.”

“
You want Hank to search and secure the place first?” Mary spoke to the officers.

Grayson smiled as he squatted beside Hank and rubbed the dog’s head. “I know this big guy. Used to go fishin’ with Tom and him. I think if anyone was still in the house, he’d have flushed ‘em out afore now.”

Officer Russell was shining his light around the floor. “If you two ladies will wait here, Zeb and I will see what we can make of these prints on the floor. Oh, and we’d better have your shoes and slippers.”

While she waited in silence, watching the men slowly follow the muddy tracks through to the kitchen, Edna wondered where Mary had put her gun. She turned toward the living room and considered the easel. There was no mud at that end of the hall, but it looked like water spots on the rug, as if rain had dripped from someone’s coat.

She lifted the lantern from the hall table and held it before her as she walked slowly down the room, studying the floor. Drops of water led to the easel, where bigger splotches formed puddles in front of the wooden frame. One corner of the paper lying next to the easel was wet.

“
What are you doing?” Russell had come up beside her. “We need you to stand aside, Mrs. Davies.”

She ignored him, frowning at the floor. “Why would there be water here but no mud?”

He lifted his hat by the brim and scratched his head as he looked at the wet spots. “This confirms what Zeb and I were just talking about. Looks like whoever was here took off their shoes when they came in, so’s not to make any recognizable tracks. Either that, or sometimes they’ll tie plastic baggies over their shoes. Seen it done before. Only recognizable foot impressions we’ve found seem to be Mary’s, Hank’s or yours. Looks like someone saw this easel standin’ here and came over to see what it was. Water trail stops right here.”

Grayson appeared behind his partner. “No signs of a break-in. Either the door was unlocked, or they had a key.”

“
I put the spare back when I came over this afternoon,” Mary announced to the room.

Grayson frowned at her. “Spare?”

“
Yeah, the extra key. Edna keeps it in one of those hidey things that looks like a rock. It’s out behind the bench in the rock garden. Want me to show you?”

Instead of answering, Grayson turned to Edna. “You keep a key out in the garden?”

“
Yes, but it’s well hidden.” She noticed the look that passed between the two men and felt her neck start to burn.

“
Who else knows about it?”

“
Only my cleaning women.”

The sky was brighter by the time the uniformed officers finished their inquiries and checked to see that the spare key was, in fact, safely in its place in the imitation rock behind the wooden bench. Before leaving, Russell asked Edna if there was anyone she could stay with or someone who could move in for a few days until her husband got home.