Hark! The Herald Angel Screamed: An Augusta Goodnight Mystery (with Heavenly Recipes) (23 page)

“Never mind! I’ll tell you about it later. Has Idonia heard anything from Melrose?”

Ellis shook her head. “Not a mumblin’ word, the little twerp! What do you think that old fool’s up to, Lucy Nan?”

“I’m beginning to think it’s nothing good.” I told her about Melrose giving us the slip at the outlet mall. “And Augusta says she saw him in Soso yesterday, too.”

Ellis laughed when I told her about our adventurous stay with the Shackelfords, but grew serious when she learned the man whose body we had found at Willowbrook had been married to the Tanseys’ daughter, Dinah.

“But didn’t they tell the police they didn’t know him? And Preacher Dave made no bones about how he felt about the man she married. Do you think one of them gave him a shove?”

I shrugged. “Beats me, but it all seems to center on that locket. Augusta and I believe one of the Tanseys has it and that it’s important for us to find some way to get a better look at it.”

Ellis helped herself to an apple and polished it on her sleeve. “And how do we do that?”

“That’s what we have to discuss. Who’s not here? I didn’t see Nettie or Claudia.”

“Nettie’s over at Claudia’s helping her make a Japanese fruitcake for the staff party at Sarah Bedford tomorrow.”

“That’s quite an undertaking! I think I’d volunteer for something simpler than that,” I said.

Ellis laughed. “She probably didn’t have a choice being the new kid on the block. Remember, Claudia’s only been working at the college a few months.”

“Do you think everyone might be able to get together for a little while tonight? Maybe we can put some of these pieces together.”

Ellis swallowed a bite of apple. “I guess so, but what are we going to do about Idonia?”

“What’s this about Idonia?”

For a few seconds I froze, then turned to find Idonia standing in the kitchen doorway.

Ellis and I stood there looking at each other for what seemed
like minutes, waiting, I suppose, for the other one to speak. “Oh hell, Idonia, I guess the jig is up,” Ellis said with a backward glance at me. “Maybe you’d better sit down. We have something to tell you.” Ellis steered her back into the living room and switched off the television set.

“I guess we’d better start with the locket,” I said after we settled Idonia in her favorite chair. “We’re almost sure it’s the same one the Tanseys’ daughter is wearing in that photo of her on their piano. It even has the same seed pearls missing.”

Idonia twisted her hands in her lap. “Then why would Melrose tell me it belonged to his grandmother?”

Ellis sat on the arm of our friend’s chair and put a hand on her shoulder. “Maybe he thought it would make it seem even more special,” she said, forcing a smile.

“Do you think he was the one who—who stole it?” Idonia bit her lip.
“Somebody
drugged my punch, but it wasn’t him! I know Melrose wouldn’t do that to me. Besides, he seemed most upset when I told him what had happened.”

“It couldn’t have been Melrose,” I assured her. “Al Evans confirmed that he worked until after ten that night at the funeral home.”

Zee frowned. “Then who?”

“Probably one of the Tanseys,” I said, and told them what I’d learned from Martin Shackelford. “Remember that man we found out at Willowbrook? Died from a fall from the balcony out there? Well, he had been married to the Tanseys’ daughter, Dinah.”

Ellis made a rude noise. “Fall nothing! I’ll bet one of those Tanseys pushed him.”

“But which one?” Jo Nell asked. “I can’t imagine Preacher Dave or that mousy Louella doing anything that bold.”

“What about that boy—that Jeremiah? I wouldn’t put much of anything past that one!” Zee said.

Idonia sat up straighter. “Seems if Jeremiah Tansey was at Bellawood, one of us would’ve seen him.”

“Wait a minute!” I said. “Somebody had a video camera that night—remember? Genevieve wanted to get a record of the festivities and it seemed that every time I turned around, they had it in my face.”

“Ralph Snow. He filmed for a while in the schoolhouse, too, until Nettie had enough of it and ran him off,” Jo Nell said. “If any of the Tanseys were there, maybe they’ll show up on film.”

“I’ll give Ralph a call,” I offered, “if one of you will get in touch with Nettie and Claudia.” I looked at my watch. “It’s a little after five o’clock now. I’ll be serving up soup and corn bread in a little over an hour for anybody who’s interested.”

“Sounds good,” Idonia said. “But how can you manage, Lucy Nan, in such a short time?”

Ellis looked at me and smiled. She knew who would be making the soup and corn bread.

“Ralph’s going to drop his camera by in a little while,” I told them as we all gathered around my kitchen table later that evening. “Of course I had to swear in blood I’d have it back by tomorrow.”

Idonia, who had barely touched her food, shoved her plate aside. “It’s not that old locket I worry about, it’s Melrose! I haven’t heard from him since day before yesterday, and it just isn’t like him not to call. I’m so afraid something’s happened to him.”

Something
would
happen to him if I had my way, I thought, but instead, I said, with some conviction, that I was sure Melrose was just fine.

“I expect he’ll show up before too long,” Zee said. “After all, it’s only been a couple of days.”

Nettie stood as we heard a car in the driveway. “I’ll bet that’s Ralph with the camera now. I can’t wait to see what’s on that film.”

Jo Nell frowned. “What if we don’t find anything there? Then what?”

“Then we’ll have to figure out some way to get our hands on that locket,” Ellis said.

ow, what do you call this apparatus?” Augusta asked the next day, inspecting Ralph Snow’s camcorder without daring to touch it. We had eaten an early breakfast of oatmeal, cinnamon toast, and freshly squeezed orange juice and the camera sat on the kitchen table ready to be returned to its owner.

“A video camera,” I said, “only it records sounds and voices as well. I promised Ralph I’d have it back before noon as he’ll be going out of town for Christmas.”

Augusta laughed and clapped her hands. “Mickey Mouse!”

“What?”

“Mickey Mouse. Cleveland Tarver.”

I shrugged. “I guess you’re going to explain that,” I said.

“Cleveland Tarver. I was assigned to him for a brief period during the war. He was a widower going through some difficult times just then. His only son was in the service overseas and his daughter-in-law and grandson came to live with him for a while—sweet little boy about three—Sonny, they called him. The son’s wife was constantly worried, of course, so Cleveland bought this camera—a movie camera they called it then. With it she recorded Sonny’s activities so his father wouldn’t miss so much of his
childhood, and once in a while they would show cartoons on their home screen—most were about Mickey Mouse.” Augusta smiled. “How Sonny loved watching them … and so did I!”

“What happened?” I asked, expecting the worst. I knew Augusta was referring to World War II as that had been her last period on assignment as a guardian angel until recently.

“What happened to whom?”

“To Sonny’s father, and to—Cleveland—what’s-his-name?” I asked.

“Sonny’s father came home after the war and went on to become a physician, I believe. Cleveland eventually married again and lived well into his nineties.” Augusta examined her cup and seemed surprised that it was empty. “Any more of that coffee?”

I rinsed our dishes in the sink and put them into the dishwasher. All this chasing around and worrying was starting to get to me. I could use a little Mickey Mouse myself. “Augusta, what are we going to do? We seem to have come up against a brick wall and I don’t know where to go from here. Ellis is right. We have to find out who has that locket!”

Augusta wiped off the table in one wide, circular swoop, and it gleamed as if it were new. “I was hoping something would turn up on that camera last night, but that doesn’t mean any of those people weren’t there.”

“We know that Preacher Dave was in the vicinity, and Ellis was going to phone the fabric shop where Louella works and make up some story to find out if she was working there that night, but then we realized the drop-in at Bellawood was on a Sunday and they wouldn’t have been open then,” I said.

“Then where do you think she might be on a Sunday night?” Augusta asked, teasing Clementine with a doggy treat.

“Well … I suppose she could’ve been at her church, especially since her husband’s the minister. But he was at Bellawood parking cars, so they must not have had a service.”

“Maybe not a proper service, but there could have been choir rehearsal or some other kind of meeting,” she said. “Do you know anyone who belongs to that congregation?”

“Not right offhand,” I said, “but I’ll ask around. Frankly, Jeremiah’s the one who concerns me. I wish I knew where he was the night Idonia’s locket was taken.”

Augusta stood at the window as if she might find an answer somewhere in the clouds. “I’m sure the boy keeps company with someone. Perhaps some of his companions might be able to help.”

“According to Kim who does Nettie’s hair at the Total Perfection, Jeremiah hangs out with that bunch at the Red Horse Café and I’m not about to go in there! And even if I did, I doubt if they’d tell me the truth.”

I remembered how Kemper had reacted when I first mentioned Jeremiah that morning at Willowbrook. “We’ve heard nothing more from the police about their investigation into what happened to Idonia. I guess Opal’s death sort of put it on the back burner, but I think I’ll give Kemper Mungo a call. They may or may not know about the Tanseys’ connection to Dexter Clark, but I have a feeling the police know a lot more about what goes on with Jeremiah Tansey than they’re letting on.”

Augusta rode with me to return the camcorder to Ralph Snow, and afterward I dropped by the library to return a couple of her books and check out enough mysteries to last her until after the holidays. “I don’t know what to do about Idonia,” I confessed on the way home. “She’s worried about Melrose DuBois—afraid something’s happened to him, when I know good and well he was alive and kicking when we saw him in Georgia yesterday.”

Augusta was reading the jacket copy on one of the mysteries. “If it were you, would you want to know the truth?” she said, setting the book aside.

I considered the question. “Yes, I think I would. But Idonia’s
been through a rough time, Augusta. She seems especially fragile just now. Do you really think I should tell her?”

“She seems an intelligent person to me, and she’s certainly mature enough to deal with adversity. I believe your friend might consider it an injustice to be treated in any other manner.”

“In other words, you think it’s insulting to protect her?”

“Idonia’s free to make choices just as you are, Lucy Nan. I’m sure she’s capable of facing the situation if necessary.”

I wasn’t so sure about that, but I didn’t have time to think on it longer because we reached home to find two cars parked in our driveway, and Nettie, wrapped in her old brown sweater, scuttling over from next door, house shoes flapping.

My first thought was that something was wrong with Idonia. “What’s going on?” I asked Zee, who happened to be the first person I reached.