Vintage Whispers (A Cozy Retirement Mystery Book 1) (5 page)

“Do you remember what Kelly bought?” Pearl asked.

“Her first visit would be the one to recall,” Opal pointed out.

“Let’s see…an antique hammer, a washtub, and a number of other items. It struck me as strange because Oscar was a designer—as Pearl so eloquently pointed out—and his house was more of an art deco style. If I’m not mistaken, she mainly made purchases from our country corner and vintage booth.”

“We should have her purchases recorded somewhere,” Opal said.

Sales at Vintage Whispers were detailed on handwritten receipts. They couldn’t exactly use a computer and promote antiques and yesteryear’s favorite wares.

“Mary Louise, if you don’t mind my sayin’ so, it was very rude of you to try and talk to a widow about her husband’s death. I’m surprised she shopped with us at all.”

“She volunteered the information, actually.” After some additional thought, Mary Louise added, “We were busy that day. Someone else in the community had just passed, maybe Clarence’s wife. A lot of folks stopped in for planters and inspirational gifts. We handled the floral arrangement orders for Dimwit’s Florist back then. Remember?” 

“That’s right,” Opal said. “And I do recall that weekend. We hustled. We even had to call Pearl in.”

“You act like I’m your last resort.”

“Never,” Opal assured her, but she was just being nice. Pearl was a full partner, but outside of decorating and piddling, she didn’t add a lot to the store’s bottom line.

“Who told you Oscar drank himself into an early grave?” Mary Louise asked.

“You don’t want to know my sources?” Pearl was dead serious. “I have the more accurate story. Everybody knew about his problem.”

“Pearl, the four people who keep the Five and Dime’s front bench warm, chain-smoking short-stubbed cigarettes do not constitute the whole of Bristol. Trust me.” Opal’s tolerance level was definitely on the fritz.

“Well maybe not but Sheriff Littleton and I saw a lot of one another back then and for your information,
he thought
the ladies at the Five and Dime may have been sitting on some valuable details. And he promised to follow up with them, even said he would see if they had anything to add to the investigation.”

“The only contribution those girls can make is toward the town’s gossip movement.”

“Well he said…”

“My point,” Opal sang.

“Wait a minute,” Mary Louise said. “You were seeing Sheriff Littleton?”

“For a few days. Then Catherine and Mark came up with their harebrained conspiracy theory to leave us behind like forgotten children at a crowded carnival.”

“So now we’re part of the crazy faction,” Opal said, shaking her head.

“We won’t go there.” Mary Louise didn’t think conspiracy theorists were crazy. They were opinionated, yes, but mad? Not by a long shot.

“And we knew about Littleton.” Opal’s green eyes held an emerald glimmer. “We keep tabs on you.”

Truer words had never been spoken.  

“So what did Littleton say?” Mary Louise asked.

“We uh…” Pearl cleared her throat. “We avoid business discussions when –”

“Why you devil you,” Mary Louise said, removing her glasses.

“…when we’re baking,” Pearl said, blushing. “Sheriff’s wife didn’t cook so he wants to learn how. He thinks it will be an alluring quality when he gets ready to hit the dating scene again.”

“I’ve heard it all now,” Mary Louise said.

Pearl sat upright. “Wait. Now that I think about it, he mentioned there were a lot of rumors floating around the community. He said, ‘The man is dead and that’s what matters.’ And he also said everyone should let him rest in peace.”

“Oscar’s wife didn’t seem too concerned about the stories,” Mary Louise pointed out. “I thought the closed casket was a bit strange, too.” 

“That’s because they lost the body,” Pearl said in a solemn voice.

Mary Louise was taken aback. “What? How?”

“Oh Pearl, you believe too much gossip.”

“This is truth, Opal.”

“It always is,” she said, but then seemingly gauged Pearl’s expression. “You’re serious?”

“Absolutely.”

Opal then turned to Mary Louise. “How does someone lose their spouse’s body?”

Mary Louise had watched a lot of CSI shows but couldn’t recall an episode about a lost corpse. “Maybe that’s just hearsay.”

“Oh I don’t think so. The Five and Dime gals claimed Oscar’s wife kept a little house near the old Virginia Intermont campus. Kelly liked to work in her studio without interruption. She’s an artist, I think. Anyway, if she didn’t live with him, why she may have forgotten what he looked like. Kind of easy to lose someone when you—”

“I doubt that’s the case,” Opal said, stopping her before she took off on a frenzy of guesses and gossip.

“I remember taking orders for funeral sprays.” Mary Louise tried to recall the day in vivid detail but drew blank.

“You must be mistaken,” Pearl said. “They had the graveside service down at Malone’s. They don’t have a problem with mosquitoes down there so no one would’ve ordered sprays.”

Opal groaned. “And she wondered why we always took care of Dimwit’s calls.”

“Girls, this is serious stuff here. If a body was lost and no one ever mentioned finding it then who is lying in the cemetery? Kelly wouldn’t have purchased and then buried an empty coffin.”

“She might have,” Pearl insisted. “Like I said…”

“Oscar’s wife didn’t forget what he looked like for crying out loud!”

Pearl gnawed on her bottom lip. “Someone could’ve stolen his corpse. He was a famous man after all. He had a website and showed up in searches. He had good rank.” She groaned. “Whatever that means.”

Chapter Four

“Well if you ask me, it sounds like a small town cover-up.” An hour had slipped by them and as far as Mary Louise was concerned, that hour could’ve been used in a more productive manner. “No one ‘took’ Oscar’s body as a keepsake, but they may have hidden it for a reason.”

“I think you’re right,” Pearl eagerly agreed. “In these parts, if it waddles like a duck, it’s usually a pigeon with dirt caked underneath its wings.”

Opal reluctantly said, “I sort of agree. Parts of Bristol are known for the occasional cheating spouse, gossipmongers who wag their tongues like false flags, street drugs, and too many rumors about all of the above. Put all of that together and you could have a recipe for tampered evidence.”

“Yes, but those things only happen on one side of the line. And that’s on the Virginia side.” Pearl twisted her mouth. “Or is it the Tennessee side?”

“We have very different opinions of our town,” Mary Louise argued. “Where else can you live and shop in two states all within the same hour?” 

“Why don’t you give Sheriff Littleton a call and see how they left things with Oscar’s death?” Opal suggested, staying on point.

“Maybe I should,” Pearl said, accepting the challenge. “Let me grab my purse. I have his business card tucked in a side pocket. I kept his number just in case I ever needed him.”

“Don’t you mean, in case he ever needs you?” Opal waggled her eyebrows. “For recipes, of course.”

Pearl shooed her away and disappeared inside. Meanwhile, Romantic Rob and his shadow, a man about half his size and double his age, took a seat on the far end of the porch.

Mary Louise closed her eyes and inhaled the fresh mountain air. The last thing she wanted to do was discuss a suspicious death. Oscar was considered somewhat famous and everyone probably had an opinion about the man and his demise.

“What are you thinking?” Opal pried.

“I’m considering my son’s trickery. He wanted us to give assisted living a try and maybe it isn’t such a bad thing.” She rolled her head to the side and opened her eyes. “Just when we thought we wouldn’t have anything to do, a mystery falls in our laps.”

“We can’t stay here. A place like this would take everything we have saved. Besides, I enjoy my life. I like working at the shop and going on antique hunts. Plus, I’d like to get another tiny house development underway. Quite frankly? I’m not done yet.” Opal patted Mary Louise’s hand. “And neither are you.”

About that time, Pearl rushed to the porch again. Mary Louise sat upright. “What’s the matter?”

“I just talked to Sheriff Littleton. He said he’d have to call me back.” She paled. “He’s in the middle of processing Johnny Beaufort for Oscar Leonardo’s murder!”

“What?” Mary Louise had known Johnny B for most of his life, but Johnny and Opal were close friends and neighbors.

“Johnny didn’t kill anyone.”

“I’m with Opal. He doesn’t have enough ambition to swat at a fly, much less kill a five-foot-ten man made of muscle and steel.”

“Oscar was tough stuff sure enough,” Pearl said. “But being tough didn’t stop him from dying. From getting killed, I mean.”

“Johnny didn’t kill anyone and we don’t know what happened to Oscar.” A beat later Opal firmly added, “Guilty until proven innocent isn’t fair judgment for a man who supported our business all these years. Let’s try and remember who our friends are in their time of need.”

“It doesn’t make sense. They wouldn’t run in the same circles.” Johnny made his living getting the locals soused and Oscar supposedly didn’t drink—unless he really drank himself to death. Had he gone to Johnny’s on a suicide mission?  She shook her head. No. That didn’t make sense at all. A sober man wouldn’t view alcohol as a potential death route. Opposing views and beliefs weren’t exactly a good formula for murder.

Johnny B didn’t have motive. He might have had opportunity, depending on where Oscar actually died, but he didn’t have a reason to want the man dead.

Pearl looked distraught. “I’m so upset by all this. I mean, I thought Oscar was smarter than he looked, or maybe dumber, depending on when you saw him…” She took a few ragged breaths. “Not that anyone would know. It would be hard to make a decision on his intelligence or any of his other attributes since his corpse is missing and all.” She sniffled. “Do dead men even have attributes?” Before anyone responded, she added, “Sure they do. Even a cadaver would have certain undeniable characteristics.”

Opal groaned. “Good grief, honey. Calm down.”

Pearl stared at her cell phone as if she couldn’t believe the device had been used to transmit such horrible news. “Anyone could see that Oscar’s wife only had an agenda. She made him take out a large life insurance policy.” Pearl slapped her hand to her mouth. “Do you think she and Johnny B were planning to split the money and run off and get married? Maybe they were having an affair. Maybe…”

“Apparently Pearl hasn’t seen Johnny’s girlfriend,” Opal said.

“Or Oscar’s widow,” Mary Louise suggested.

“None of that matters. Exterior beauty doesn’t mean a person has a golden heart or giving soul.”

“Johnny’s sidekick is as sweet as honey straight from the jar. As for Johnny?” Opal stood. “He didn’t kill anyone.”

“Shh,” Pearl whispered. “This is all confidential information.”

“No one heard me.”

Rocking Red, an Amazonian woman with ivory skin and ice-blue eyes slowly turned her head. Pearl forced a smile. Red didn’t return the gesture. She was a strange one and apparently liked to follow around the new residents as an intimidation tactic.

“Where is Johnny now?” Opal asked.

Pearl cupped her hand at the side of her mouth and whispered, “He’s on his way to jail.”

“I can’t sit here and do nothing,” Opal announced, making her way to the door. “I need to make a few phone calls. Are we still on for tonight?”

Pearl crossed her arms and didn’t budge. “I’ve waited all day for Bingo Bonanza.” She glanced at her phone. “And it starts in eight minutes.”

Mary Louise grabbed Pearl’s shoulders and steered her to the entrance. “You’ll have plenty of time to show off your new daubers. Right now, however, we have some unfinished business down at the store. We’re sneaking out.”