The Silence of the Llamas (30 page)

“That’s right. Dot found the dogs. She was very angry and upset. She said they were going to damage the new trees she’d been planting and needed to fence them out . . .” Ellie swallowed hard. “That wasn’t it at all, was it? They must have dug something up . . .”

“Enough. . . . I’ve got the idea,” Lucy interrupted.

“And we know she had access to the spindles,” Dana said. “Lucy just saw one in the parlor. Maybe she had one in her pocket.”

“Maybe Ridley confronted her, and she stabbed him impulsively. Or he may have been trying to blackmail her. Or maybe she knew he was starting to figure her out, so she snuck up on him in the woods one night,” Maggie guessed.

“With all the animosity between Ben and Ridley, and the vandalism going on, it was easy to frame Ben. Maybe that part wasn’t even intentional but it worked out well for her,” Dana added.

“I think we need to go to the police with all this,” Lucy said. “Dot could come back any minute, to get back to work in the orchard,” she quipped. “If she sees the lights on in here, she’ll know something is up.”

“Lucy’s right. Let’s get out of here. Leave everything the way we found it,” Dana said quickly. She folded back the edges of the trunk’s false bottom and carefully replaced it.

Maggie straightened out the clothes, put them back inside, and closed the trunk again, just the way they’d found it. Dana took the album and the map and smoothed off the bed.

They checked the other rooms quickly for signs of their entry, then shut off the lamp and went back to Ellie’s house.

Back in Ellie’s kitchen they took a few minutes to strategize.

“I guess we can just go down to the police station with all this and see if Walsh will hear us out,” Lucy suggested.

Maggie sighed. “Do you have a backup plan?”

“We need to bring it to Ben’s lawyer,” Dana told the others.
“He has to work this out with Walsh and, if necessary, force him to look at this evidence. I think we should do it right away. Dot—Trudy—whatever you want to call her—might get nervous and take off. That would be very bad for Ben.”

Dana was right. They had to bring this story to light immediately. Detective Walsh wouldn’t pay much attention to them. But he would have to listen to Ben’s lawyer or some other legal authority.

Ellie had taken her jacket off but quickly put it on again. “I’ll bring it down to the police station right now. I’m very angry at Ben, but . . . I have to help him. He has no one else. I can’t turn my back on him now.”

“I’ll go with you, Ellie,” Dana offered. “I’ll call Jack and have him meet us there. He can find some way to help you, I’m sure.”

Lucy felt relieved. Detective Walsh might even try to blow off Ben’s attorney with this wild twist in the case. But Jack would find someone in authority to make Walsh listen.

Ellie and Dana gathered up the evidence—the CD from the surveillance camera, the photo album and the map from Dot’s trunk. Then Ellie locked the house and they left for the village. Ellie and Dana drove off in Dana’s car, headed for the police station. Lucy and Maggie left in the Jeep. It was late, and they were both eager to get home.

“Do you think they’ll be able to get the police interested in all this? Or will it take a lot of nagging? Dot might figure out something is up and disappear,” Lucy realized.

“It depends on getting the right person to listen to the story, I guess. I hope Jack can go over Walsh’s head somehow. That seems to be key here.”

Lucy thought so, too. “Ben will still be responsible for the criminal mischief and false police reports, but maybe he won’t be accused of Ridley’s murder now. That’s really why the police were after him, I think.”

“Yes, I think the police were pressing him on the charges they could prove and hoping Ben broke and came forward with the rest. But I never thought he killed Ridley. I just don’t think he’s that forceful a person. He’s more . . . manipulative.”

Lucy thought that was true. Her gaze was fixed on the taillights of Dana’s car just ahead on the otherwise empty road. Stars were scattered in the blue-black sky, showing through bare branches.

“So that leaves Dot,” Lucy said finally. “She is a forceful person, and probably knew how to distract Ridley’s dogs.”

“I think she did it. But it might be hard to prove unless she confesses. I think she killed her husband and came back for his remains. I wonder why she risked it, though, after all this time.”

“I wondered about that, too. She must have noticed the news about the open space laws expiring and the debate over development here. If the farm was sold to a builder, they’d bulldoze that orchard and find Mr. Hooper pretty quickly,” Lucy pointed out.

“True. That must have been worrying her. She thought she’d seen the last of him.” Maggie had been staring out the window on the passenger side and now turned to look at Lucy. “I wonder what she’s been doing with the remains she’s found so far. Burying them someplace else?”

Speculation on that question gave Lucy a queasy feeling. “Let’s leave that for the police to figure out.”

Maggie laughed. “I never realized you were so squeamish, Lucy. It’s sort of cute.”

Lucy made a face in the dark. “Thanks . . . I think.”

•   •   •

Lucy got up the next morning almost an hour later than usual. The sleuthing adventure at the farm had worn her out, and she’d been wide-awake after telling Matt about it. She was roused from bed by the buzzing sound of her cell phone vibrating on the dresser top, signaling a text message.

She got up and checked the text. It was from Dana:

Just want to let you all know what happened last night at the police station. Big news. Meet me at Maggie’s shop around 9–9:30? Up all night and getting a slow start to my day.

Lucy had a feeling they were all having a slow start today. She quickly texted back that she would be there. When she went downstairs, Matt was still in the kitchen, putting his breakfast dishes in the sink. He kissed her cheek and handed her a much-needed cup of coffee.

“Thanks, pal,” she said, settling on a kitchen chair. “Hard to wake up this morning.”

He didn’t look as if he’d woken up on the right side of the bed, either. He had not been happy to hear that she and her friends were mixed up in another police investigation and was still wearing that grumpy, worried face.

“I just want to say one more thing about this Dot woman and what happened last night. You promised that you wouldn’t get involved, remember? When the llama was stabbed over
there? What if Dot had come back while you were in her cottage? If she’s really as violent as you all think . . . I don’t want to think of what could have happened.”

“It wasn’t smart, I know. But there were four of us. Safety in numbers?”

“Safety in dumbness, I think.” He shook his head and kissed her good-bye. “See you later. Try to stay out of any more murder investigations today, okay?”

“Yes, dear. Whatever you say.” Lucy mimicked a simpering wifely tone and gave him a matching smile. “By the way, all that stuff for Ridley’s dogs is in the back of my car. I’ll drop it at your office later.”

“After you stop in at Maggie’s shop?” he teased.

She looked down into her coffee cup. “That’s right. I need some yarn for my knitting.”

And I can’t wait to hear what happened at the police station last night.

•   •   •

Dana had sent out an all-points bulletin, and Lucy found all her friends at the shop when she arrived a few minutes after nine. Maggie ushered her inside and flipped the sign on the door to “Sorry, We’re Not Here . . . Resting Our Needles.”

“Good thing there’s no class here this morning. I want to hear all of this, without any pesky customers hanging around.” Maggie led the way to the back of the shop, where Suzanne, Dana, and Phoebe were sitting at the worktable.

“I can’t believe I wasn’t with you guys last night,” Suzanne said to Lucy as she sat down. “I miss all the fun stuff.”

“I’m glad I wasn’t there.” Phoebe shivered under her black
tie-front sweater. “Someone digging up bones . . . that is so totally creepy.”

Maggie took a seat at the head of the table. She already had her knitting out and started stitching away—fueled by caffeine and nervous energy, Lucy thought. “Okay, we’re all present and accounted for. Start from the beginning, Dana. We want to hear exactly what happened at the police station last night.”

“You’ll read about it in the newspaper, I’m sure. But here’s the inside story,” Dana began.

She and Ellie met Jack at the station, showed Ben’s lawyer the evidence about Dot, and related their theory that she was Ridley’s killer.

As they had all guessed, Detective Walsh brushed them off, claiming it was some desperate maneuver to distract from Ben’s role as the murderer.

“Which he was still unable to prove in any way,” Dana clarified. “But Jack found a police captain still on duty who was willing to hear them out. Ellie and Ben gave permission for the orchard to be searched, so the police didn’t need a warrant, which definitely saved time. A forensics team went there very early this morning to look for Hooper’s remains. They also found Dot in her cottage, dressed and wide-awake. Wearing her gardening clothes, let us say,” Dana added, glancing at Lucy. “She was just about to load some trash bags into her trunk, too . . . with more of good old Joe.”

“Thanks . . . we get the picture,” Lucy cut in. “So they arrested her for that murder, at least?”

“They took her into custody, and she just gave a full
confession to Hooper’s death, which she claims was an accident during one of their fights. She was an abused wife. There are reports on file about domestic violence,” Dana quickly added. “She also confessed to killing Ridley.”

Dana turned to Maggie. “It was pretty much the way we guessed. Ridley was wandering around one night and saw her digging. His dogs got away from him and found one of Hooper’s bones. He recognized her and figured out what she was doing. Instead of going to the police with his suspicions—who Ridley hated and maybe even feared—he went out one night and confronted her. She said that jabbing him with the spindle was very impulsive. But she did admit that since she actually does have some health aide training, she knew landing a blow in his neck could be fatal. She also had some meat in her pocket, to distract the dogs, so I’m not sure about that part of her story.”

“Look at my skin. . . . I’m covered in gooseflesh!” Suzanne held out her arms for everyone to see.

“I have my own gooseflesh. I don’t need to look at yours, thank you very much,” Maggie said.

“That is like a scene from a Harry Potter movie or something,” Phoebe decided. “Those two ghouls, meeting in the woods. Battling in the middle of the night.”

Lucy agreed. “We already figured that Dot must have come back when she heard the whole area would be open to development. How did she disguise herself so well? Wasn’t she afraid people would recognize her?”

“She took a chance, I guess. But she’s been gone about thirty years. You saw her old pictures. She looks much different
now and even dyed her hair white, to age herself more. She always wore baggy men’s clothing to hide her figure,” Dana added. “She was worried that when the open space laws expired, the farm might be sold for development. But she had even more reason to fear being found out. When she left Plum Harbor and moved to Vermont, she remarried and had a son. Her married name is Pendleton, and her son, Eric Pendleton, is in public office and running for Congress. She was terrified that the discovery of her first husband’s remains would ruin his life and his career.”

“So she was trying to protect her son. That’s why she took such a big risk. That’s interesting,” Maggie said. “And it makes sense, too.”

“Why did it take her so long to find those bones, if you’ll excuse me for asking? I mean, you said she had a map and everything,” Suzanne cut in.

“The police asked her that, too. She was pretty annoyed by that herself. She thought it would be a quick job. Everything seemed to fall into place for her so easily when she came down from Vermont. The Kruegers were just moving onto the farm and had the cottage for rent. They needed help with the orchard. It was apple-picking season, and they knew next to nothing about running that part of their farm. Dot knew it all, of course. She knew that orchard like the back of her hand. But in thirty years the topography had changed. Her map didn’t match the orchard that well, or she hadn’t marked the spot clearly. She just couldn’t find the site of Joe’s remains as easily as she expected.”

“Could you imagine making a map of your husband’s
bones and carrying it around for thirty years?” Suzanne stared around at the others, wide-eyed. “I think I saved the movie ticket stubs from my first date with Kevin . . . but I don’t even know where they are now.”

“It does seem very ghoulish,” Maggie agreed, “but practical. Dot is clearly a very realistic, pragmatic person and I suppose she wanted to be prepared in case she needed to return and retrieve Joe’s remains someday. Maybe she only meant to bury them there temporarily but didn’t have a chance to dig them all up when she was forced off the farm.”

They were all quiet for a moment, considering Maggie’s explanation. Suzanne had brought some muffins from the bakery, but only Phoebe had appetite enough to eat one.

Maggie was the first to speak and turned to Dana. “One more question, if I may. What did she do with the bones once she found them? Did she say?”

Lucy felt her coffee catch in her throat and gulped it down. She glanced at Dana, not really wanting to hear the answer but unable to resist.

“That is a good question, Maggie. Remember her patient, Mrs. Foley?”

“The invalid with MS?” Maggie replied quickly.

“The same. Turns out that Elizabeth Foley is an invalid and does have MS. But she’s also Dot’s sister. She helped Dot make Joe Hooper disappear years ago by driving his car up to Maine that night and letting it roll off an old dock. She was helping Dot again, providing another cover story and, let us just say, storage for her former brother-in-law’s remains . . . until other arrangements could be made.”

“That’s like a Hitchcock movie or something,” Phoebe said. “We just saw
Rear Window
in my film studies class. Raymond Burr was carrying his wife around in a suitcase. There was even a dog digging up her bones in the garden.”