Poisoned (The Alex Harris Mystery Series) (22 page)

I walked around my desk and put my arm around the small hunched shoulders of the young woman who had seen too much grief in her time. “Kendra, my sister and I will do everything we can to help when you get back. Not
if
—when. Your family is here and I know you need to get away and sort things out, but we’ll be here for you when you return.” I picked up my coat and we walked out into the night together. “Good luck, Kendra. Keep in touch.”

“I will, and thanks.”

Kendra pulled away from the curb and I wondered if she would ever be able to get on with her life. I also wondered if I was watching a murderer escape.

“John! That’s...perverted!” I laughed while he put the finishing touches on his jack-o-lantern. We stood in my kitchen carving the pumpkins I had bought for the front porch, finally managing to find some time to be together.

“You cannot put that pumpkin on my front porch. There’ll be young children coming to the door.”

“Well, then we’ll keep this one to ourselves. How’s yours coming?” I turned my pumpkin to face him. It was the traditional cut: triangular nose and eyes, wide, sinister mouth with lots of teeth. “Not very original are you? Here, pass me that squash. I’ll show you how to make a scary face.”

“I’ll check the pizza while you create your masterpiece.” I went to the oven and looked in. Almost done. A pesto pizza with lots of goat cheese, cherry tomatoes, basil and garlic happily bubbled in the oven. It smelled heavenly. “It’ll be ready in about ten minutes. Let me take a look at what you did.” John turned the squash upon which he had just drawn a face. “Hey, that’s not bad.”

“So what have you been up to today?”

I watched him for a few seconds trying to decide if he was just asking an innocent question or trying to bait me.

“Sam and Millie came into the office and we worked on the proposal for our meeting tomorrow morning. I think we have a good chance at getting the contract. Then tomorrow night Sam and I are taking my parents to the airport.”

“Oh, right. The big trip. Are they excited?”

“A trip to London! I should say they’re excited. Will you be able to make it tomorrow night? We’re all going to stop off for dinner first before going to the airport.”

“I doubt it. Until this case is solved, I don’t think I’ll be doing much of anything. Sorry.”

“Anything new with the investigation?” I couldn’t help myself. I just had to ask.

John went to the sink and washed his hands trying to get pumpkin slime from his fingernails. “This case should be easy. We know who all the suspects are. No matter which one turns out to be the killer, they all wanted the same thing. And I can’t think of a better punishment than eternal confinement with each other.”

“What about the poison? Any idea who could have gone out to the tool shed and taken something? Any suspicious fingerprints?”

“So far, nothing in the shed has cyanide and not a jequirity bean in sight. The mud on the welcome mat was just mud. Could have come from anywhere in the yard. Or any other yard in the area for that matter. I don’t know if I’m interrogating suspects for two crimes or one, or if I’m looking for the same person for both poisons. Though Jim thinks we’re looking for two people. The poisons do differ significantly, so he’s probably right.” John wiped his hands on a towel and leaned against the sink. “I did have an interesting chat with June.”

“Oh?” I asked hoping she hadn’t mentioned my visit.

John proceeded to go into the details of his talk with Mrs. Brissart’s sister while I listened with rapt interest.

“I asked her if she was aware of the conditions of the land.”

“You mean about the two surviving sisters inheriting?” I asked.

“Yes. She hemmed and hawed, pretending she didn’t know about it. So I explained it all, about the land being owned by her, Mrs. Estenfelder, and Mrs. Brissart, and how they must be in complete agreement for it to be sold. And if one of you should die, the land reverts to the other two. Meaning that if Mrs. Brissart had died from eating one of the cookies, May, along with Mrs. Doliveck, would be the sole owner of that sizable piece of property. Kenneth would have no claims.”

“What did she say to that?” I asked John,.

“She said that, yes, she had heard something about that when their father died and his will was read.” John looked at me and rolled his eyes. “I bet she has a copy of the damned thing somewhere in the house. Probably framed and hanging over her bed.

“What else did she say?”

“Accused me of making her a prime suspect. To which I agreed. Along with May. Then she proceeded to tell me why May would be a better suspect and I should investigate her.”

I put up my hand. “Wait. I thought those two were like peas in a pod. Are you saying she tried to cast suspicion on her twin sister?”

“It certainly sounded like that to me. She told me that May had two sons who would benefit nicely if their mother inherited the rest of the land and was able to sell it to the developer.”

“What about her? She has a daughter with two teenagers to support and Marsha told me that she could really use the money.”

“I said as much to her and she accused me of accusing her daughter of murder. Said she was going to call the captain and have me fired.” John laughed.

“I’m very surprised that June is not presenting a united front along with May.”

“I got the same thing from May, if you can believe that. When money is involved old ties are quickly forgotten.”

“It seems their together act is just that, an act. I think either one would turn on the other if the circumstances were right. Which it seems they’re already doing.”

I thought about my visit with May. The way the woman handled the repairman, making him account for every nut and bolt, did not give credence to her usual portrayal of a wilted flower.

John finished putting the plates on the table and then leaned against the counter eating a piece of cheese that hadn’t made it onto the pizza. “They really seem to hate Mrs. Brissart.”

“Do they really
hate
her? That’s a strong word,” I asked wondering if John knew about Charles, and if I should tell him.

“Yes, I think they do, though in truth, it might be more jealousy than anything else. Mrs. Brissart was clearly Daddy’s favorite. After all, he gave her the house and surrounding land.

I stood in front of the oven, lost in my thoughts for a moment. “Too bad May and June don’t have a rose garden filled with lots of bugs in need of a quick spray. Something like that might contain cyanide, wouldn’t it?”

“Roses. Why do you ask about roses? And how do you know neither one of them has a rose garden?” John looked at me with an expression that I thought better suited to an interrogation of say, Charles Manson. I never gave John enough credit, poor guy. He was, after all, a cop. Of course he could see through my pathetic tiptoeing around.

I coughed hoping for a bit more time to think of a good lie. “Oh, the heck with it. I know Steven is into them, roses, and Trish said—”

“Alex! When did you speak with Trish?”

I opened the oven and took out the pizza hoping John wouldn’t think of getting too mad at a woman with a hot pizza in her hands. “Well, she wanted to apply at the agency so I took an application over to her.”

“And this was when?”

“This morning.”

“Sunday. Hmmm. Since when do you go delivering applications on a Sunday? Don’t answer.” John put up his left hand and counted to ten. “Okay, I’m calm. So what about the roses?
Not
that I am condoning your playing detective.”

“Well, it seems that Steven— Here, let’s take this into the living room.” I took the plates off the small kitchen table and handed them to John then walked into the living room with the pizza. After I had placed bubbling pieces on our plates, I continued. “Where was I? Yeah, right. Steven. Well, it seems he likes roses. A lot. They’re his hobby and he takes
very
good care of them. Sprays them a lot. Sprinkles stuff on them to keep them from getting these little bugs. Hmmm, this is really good if I do say so myself.” I wiped a piece of goat cheese from my chin and took a sip of wine.

“And did you just happen to see what it is that he sprays and sprinkles?”

“Well, no. I didn’t. And Trish didn’t mention anything either.”

“Where was Steven when you were interrogating Trish?”

“He wasn’t there. Trish said he went to play tennis. And I wasn’t interrogating. I told you, I brought her an application.” I licked a bit of sauce off my finger. “I mentioned seeing her father at my club and she said no way would he change clubs. So either she doesn’t know her father gambles and may be having financial difficulties or Ann at the club was mistaken.” I cut another small piece of the pizza and put it on my plate. I love homemade pizza.

“So what do we know so far?” I began again. “All the suspects were in the house and there’s really no reason to suspect anyone outside of the family, right?” John nodded his agreement with a mouth full of pesto sauce. “Okay, so we have May and June, both of whom wanted that land sold and could easily go out to the shed or look for something under their own sinks. Maybe we should find out if they have problems with rats. And May has a blender. I’m not sure about June.”

“Ah, yes. I almost forgot,” John said. “I assume you know neither women has a rose garden because you went to visit them as well. Don’t tell me you took them a job application, too.”

I cut my eyes to him and said haughtily, “No, I did not. But in June’s case it might not be such a bad idea. I think she could use the money.”

“So what’s this about a blender?”

“Well, it seems May has a blender. And it’s been used recently,” I said brightly.

“I have a blender,” John countered, “and I used it two nights ago to make a fruit shake. What does that tell you about me?”

“That you’re self sufficient and can take care of yourself.” I placed a greasy kiss on his cheek.

“Seriously, Alex, what is all this about May having a blender?”

“I managed to get a look at it and did see something suspicious in that rubber thingy around the base, but I couldn’t tell whether or not it was Jequirity bean goo or not.”

“So that’s what all this is about. And how exactly— No. Don’t tell me,” John put up his hands. “I do not want to know how you managed to take the woman’s blender apart. Some things are better left unsaid.”

“Suit yourself.”

“Who else have you been bothering?”

“Did you know June and Mrs. Brissart have had a feud going on for fifty years over some man named Charles? Seems Mrs. Brissart stole him from June and June’s never forgiven her. And when Charles died, his sister wrote to June telling her how much Charles had still loved her?”

“No, I didn’t know any of this,” John said with a look that was either annoyance or embarrassment. I couldn’t tell. “How did you find all this out? Please tell me you’re not reading their mail.”

“No. Marsha brought it up and I asked several people to verify it.” I smiled sweetly.

“Like who?” This time John’s voice was full of annoyance. I could definitely tell the difference.

“Well, like Trish, and May and June. And May actually threw me out, she was so mad,” I said with pride.

“I don’t suppose you’ve had time to talk with anyone else since last I saw you?” John asked with sarcasm. “Which, by the way, was this morning.”

“I do have a business to run, John, but I did manage to talk with April and Larry. Not what they pretend to be at all,” I said indignantly.

“Maybe you should just stick to running your business. I hear you do it quite well.”

“Why, thank you.”

John shook his head. “So go ahead, tell me. Were they at Trish’s?”

“Well, no. But they live close. Relatively close. So I stopped off there.”

“With job applications, I suppose, in case his newest invention doesn’t fly?”

“Rotate. Actually, I wanted to see one of his inventions. I’m thinking about redoing my closets. I could really use some space in there. And he’s got this nifty little—”

“Okay, Jessica Fletcher, what did you find out?” John poured some more wine and took a sip, a hint of a smile beginning to tug at the corners of his lips.

“Nothing really, except April, despite the happy act, doesn’t seem to be all that thrilled to be living with Larry. She feels cheated he’s never amounted to much, at least his inventions haven’t which is probably the same thing.”

John heaved a heavy sigh and pulled a few pillows off the sofa. “I don’t know. I am baffled, I’ll admit. Unless one of them spills the beans, no pun intended, we may never know which one or ones are guilty. We’ve got officers out looking at all the places where one might be able to find a selection of poisons, and we’re doing background checks on everyone.”

“Oh! I almost forgot. Kendra stopped by my office tonight. She quit her job and is leaving town. Did you know this?”

“Well, no. I did not,” John said and suddenly he looked so tired.

“Aren’t you concerned? She could be a murderer.”

“Not really. I’ve interviewed her extensively. And also her family and friends and co-workers. She didn’t kill him,” John said nonchalantly. He undid his tie and kicked off his shoes. I started to get up to clean the mess when he reached for me. “Now, come here and I’ll tell you all about my inspiration for that pumpkin over there.”

Any amorous notions John hoped to pursue were quickly dashed by the ringing of the phone.

“Hello,” I said into the receiver and passed the phone to John.

“I’ll be right there.”

“Who was that?” I asked as I watched my romantic evening fly out the window.

“The station. They’ve arrested May.”

Of course I insisted on going with him and to my delight May asked that I sit with her during this ordeal. John argued, but when May refused to talk unless I, a friendly face, as she currently described me, could be present, John relented. Who was I to refuse?

I reached into my coat pocket and pulled out a small bag of M&Ms. This was going to be better than watching a movie. I started to tear it open when John gave me the evil eye and I discreetly put the bag back in my pocket.