by Krista Davis
I let Daisy out in the backyard. A familiar banging sound came from the kitchen. I hurried back. As I expected, Mochie was picking up the side of his empty dish and letting it drop on the counter with a clank to let me know it was time for breakfast.
I laughed at him. “I wouldn’t have forgotten you. How does Pumpkin Tuna sound?” I poured it into a clean dish and set it before him. He ate it with gusto.
I fixed Daisy’s breakfast and placed it on the floor, then finally put the kettle on for tea.
When I opened the door for Daisy, she bounded in with Nina right behind her. Daisy ignored me entirely and raced to her breakfast.
“Did you hear from Wolf yet?”
“I called him. But it could take days for him to make arrangements. Don’t hold your breath.”
The phone rang just as I said that. Wolf said, “They can fit you in this morning if you can be there by ten.”
“Wow! Thanks for pulling strings, Wolf.”
“No biggie. The watch commander is an old friend of mine.”
“Any news about Patsy Lee?” I asked.
“I’m guessing you know by now who owns that house,” he responded.
“I do.”
“I’ll stop by later today if I have time. I’m hoping we’ll get Patsy Lee’s autopsy results soon.”
He hung up, leaving me mystified. It was nice of him to make the arrangement for us to see Nellie, but he’d left me with a slightly bad taste in my mouth about the little house where Patsy Lee had been the night before her death.
Nina handed me a mug of tea.
“We’re on at ten o’clock.”
She smiled smugly. “I thought so. Wolf knows everyone. To save time, we can have pie for breakfast.”
Nina was the most adaptable person I knew. I couldn’t help laughing. I cut each of us a slice of pie.
Nina flicked on the news just in time for us to see Cicely Comstock standing in front of the park. “News of Patsy Lee Presley’s untimely murder has swept the nation. From New York to Los Angeles, Patsy Lee’s devoted followers are weeping and hitting social media with their loving stories about her. Right behind me, you can see people gathering near the spot where she took her last breaths. There has been a steady parade of people bearing flowers, gifts, and, of course, pies. Police have been exceptionally closemouthed about Patsy Lee’s death. They have not yet confirmed the rumor sweeping Old Town that Patsy was being followed by the Dark Shadow, an as-yet-unidentified man known to lurk around Patsy Lee, possibly a deranged fan.”
Nina’s mouth fell open. “That’s pure craziness! Cicely overheard us talking about something else entirely and has twisted it to apply to Patsy Lee.”
“Can you believe her? I’m calling Wolf to let him know what happened. Otherwise the cops will be chasing someone who doesn’t exist.”
Unfortunately, Wolf didn’t answer his telephone. I figured he was back at work. I left a very clear message. “The Dark Shadow does not exist. Cicely misunderstood something. Call me when you get a chance, and I’ll explain.”
In the time it took for me to leave a message, Nina had managed to snarf a piece of pie and start on a second slice. Minutes later she hurried home to change clothes.
At nine forty I backed my hybrid SUV out of the garage and picked up Nina in front of her house. Traffic was scarce in Old Town at that hour on Sunday morning.
We drove past the cemetery and out toward Mill Road. It only took ten minutes to get there.
A sheriff’s deputy escorted us to a private visiting room with one table and three chairs. Nellie was already seated. The deputy remained in the room with us. I knew she was a convicted murderer, but I had a hard time imagining her lunging at us.
I wouldn’t have recognized Nellie from her photo. I had been right about the blond streaks in her hair. It had grown out gray and the cute cut in the photo was long gone. She was tiny. I was only five feet tall, but she was so delicate I felt like I could blow her over with a good sneeze. The lines in her face showed the stress of imprisonment. Still, a spark of hope flickered in her eyes when she saw Nina and me.
“Hi,” she said. “Thank you for coming.” She squinted at me. “I feel like I know you?”
I held out my hand to her. “Sophie Winston. We live on the same street, but different blocks.”
She shook my hand and then Nina’s. “I’ve probably walked by your houses a million times. No wonder you seem familiar. Old Town seems like such a small place but between the residents, and the tourists, and the people who drive in to work every day and then go home somewhere else, the population is pretty big.”
We sat down, and I said, “Aly misses you, and Dooley is very concerned about you.”
The edges of her mouth turned down and she studied her hands. For a long moment I thought I had begun our little talk the wrong way.
“I can’t even say Aly’s name without crying.” Her forehead wrinkled up. She balled one hand into a fist and clutched it with the other hand. She took several deep breaths. “Dooley says you can help me, and I appreciate you coming, but I’m afraid that I’m a lost cause.” She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath before opening them. “When you’re in prison, the one thing you have a lot of time to do is think. Dooley isn’t the most exciting man on the planet, that’s for sure. But if I hadn’t left him, I wouldn’t be sitting here now.”
“What do you mean?” asked Nina.
“I would have changed jobs and left Grainger. If I had been smarter and stayed with Dooley instead of falling for Grainger, I never would have been blamed for his death because I wouldn’t have been in the alley that night.”
“Why don’t you tell us what happened?” I asked.
Her shoulders and entire chest rose when she took a deep breath of air. “I worked for Grainger Gibbard, making desserts at Star-Spangled Pies. I had known him for years. He was an extremely accomplished pastry chef, but was spending more of his time managing the restaurant. Grainger would come in the back and talk with me, pitching in and doing what he loved, rolling out pastry or making dough. And fool that I was, I fell for him. Please don’t think that I’m a terrible person. It just happened. Grainger was everything that Dooley wasn’t. It’s hard to explain. Dooley is kind and thoughtful. He’s comfortable, like an old sofa. Heaven forgive me for saying this, but he’s dull.”
Nellie sighed. Speaking slowly, she said, “He’s just so dull! Dooley is a creature of habit. Every day is like every other day. Of course, now I miss that! I’d love to sit out in our backyard while Dooley inspects plants for bugs. He’s something of a gardener because he wants plants to attract unusual insects. I know that sounds boring. It is! But what I wouldn’t give to go back to that life. You don’t realize how good your life is until it’s gone and you live in a cell.”
Nellie glanced over at the guard before continuing. “Grainger was the polar opposite of Dooley. He was clever and witty. You never knew what interesting thing he might do next. He wasn’t wild—I don’t want you to think that. He was exciting. Grainger was full of ideas and fun to be with. Then one day I arrived at work before dawn. I was always the first one in to get everything started, and I found Grainger lying in the alley.”
I sensed Nina getting ready to speak and shot her a quick look. I wanted Nellie to ramble and tell us everything without us steering her words or thoughts, at least in the beginning.
Nellie blinked hard. “It was horrible. I’ve been through some trying times, but nothing was as bad as that morning. It was still dark out and a single lightbulb illuminated the alley behind the restaurant. I actually tripped over Grainger. I didn’t see him sprawled on the ground. I fell over him. All I knew was that my hands were wet and that someone was lying on the ground. They say my screams woke some of the people in town houses behind the restaurant. They called the police, who found me on my knees, beating Grainger on his chest.”
“Why were you beating him?” asked Nina.
“CPR! By that time I had realized it was G
rainger, and I was trying to restart his heart.”
Nina glanced at me. “But you don’t beat someone when you’re doing CPR.”
“You do when a heart won’t start! I thought he needed a shock, a defibrillator. All I had were my two hands, so I was trying to get it beating again. The police interpreted it differently.”
“I heard Kenner was on your case,” I said.
Nellie shivered. “The mere thought of that man makes my blood run cold. He was horrible. He decided I had killed Grainger and there was no convincing him otherwise. I was doomed from the start.”
“How was Grainger killed?” I asked.
“He was poisoned and then stabbed. It had to be by someone who could bake because Grainger ate strawberry-rhubarb pie made with the leaves of the rhubarb plant. They never found the pie, but they discovered it during the autopsy. I guess he didn’t die fast enough, so the person stabbed him, too. I’m no shrink, but someone would have had to be very angry to stab him after poisoning him.”
As gently as I could, I asked, “Were you upset with Grainger? Had he broken off your relationship?”
“Not at all. Grainger and I were getting very serious. We had talked about marriage. I knew it would be hard on”—she paused and swallowed hard—“Aly. But other kids do fine with divorced parents. And she thought Grainger was cool. He was very sweet with her.”
I looked Nellie in the eyes. “I know this will be hard for you, but I have to ask you this. Do you think Dooley might have murdered Grainger?”
“That’s what my lawyers thought. Honestly, I can’t imagine Dooley having the grit to do something like that. He’s such a timid person.”
Even timid people could be pushed to the edge. Jealousy was a powerful motivator.
“Dooley told you I left him?” she asked.
I nodded.
“Did he tell you why?”
“He said you left him for Grainger.”
Nellie studied her hands. “He likes to omit the real reason.”
Chapter 14
Dear Natasha,
I’m so impressed by the pie dough you make on your show. I struggle with pie dough. Can you share some tips that I can try when my dough won’t cooperate?
Dough Dunce in Tipton, Oklahoma
Dear Dough Dunce,
When you’ve made a mess of your dough, there’s nothing you can do except start over.
Natasha
“Dooley doesn’t like to talk about what led to our divorce. He’s fine with letting people think it was all my fault. You see, Dooley was having an affair.”
Nina and I exchanged a glance. The odds of Dooley having an affair were almost as remote as little Aly murdering Grainger. “With whom?”
“He never told me. He denies it to this day. But I knew. Someone was blackmailing him. I found a letter.”
Dooley had said that he was out of money because of legal fees and the private investigator he’d hired to pursue Nellie’s case. But that might be another reason he was low on funds. Could he still be paying someone to keep quiet? Or was it moot now that Nellie knew the truth?
Nellie’s eyes glistened with tears. “Dooley is a decent guy. Not the most handsome. He’ll never be a movie star, and he’ll never be wealthy, but he’s kind and gentle. The last thing I ever expected was that he would cheat on me. I was so foolish. I guess it can happen to anyone. When I found the letter, I was in shock. The person was demanding thousands of dollars. I think Dooley would have done anything to keep it quiet. He didn’t want me to know about it. He was right to be worried about me finding out. It destroyed our marriage. He never even told me who she was. Maybe that was the honorable thing to do. I’m still not sure about that. If I knew, would it have made a difference? Would I have stayed with him? At least I would have known who my competition was. In the end I had to leave him. How could I trust him anymore?”
“Did you find out who was blackmailing Dooley?” asked Nina. “That might lead us to his mistress.”
“No. I felt so betrayed. And when Dooley denied everything and refused to tell me her name, I had to move on. How could I live that way?”
I was a little bit confused. “But you sound as if you would like to take Dooley back.” I hastily added, “If you could.”
“Oh, I would!” She looked from me to Nina. “No one else loves me enough to be trying to help me get out of here. Not any of my friends or my brother. Only Dooley and Aly! Everyone else has given up on me. Dooley may have had an affair, but that kind of devotion is rare. He would have to come clean to me, of course.” She shook her head. “But I would be an idiot not to go back to him. No one will ever love me like he does.”
“Was Grainger involved in an argument with anyone?” asked Nina.
“Not that I know of. I still think it had to be someone who bakes. Grainger would never have knowingly eaten rhubarb leaves. Everyone knows that they’re toxic. In court a psychologist testified that the use of a knife often indicates rage and a personal connection to the victim.”
Clearly, that didn’t help Nellie’s defense. “Did Grainger have an issue with any of the employees? Had he fired anyone?” I asked.
“There was a server’s assistant, a busboy, who was fired. Gosh, I haven’t thought about Remy in a long time. He was into bodybuilding and could easily have overpowered just about anyone.”
Uh-oh. How many Remys could there be in Old Town in the food industry? “Remy Tarwick?” I asked.
“That’s him! He got into a brawl with a customer. Remy deserved to be fired. You can’t have that sort of thing going on in any business.”
“Do you think he might have taken it out on Grainger?” asked Nina.
“He seemed like a nice guy up until that happened. I didn’t know him well enough to assess his character.” Nellie’s face brightened. “No one ever mentioned him as a potential suspect. I think Kenner just homed in on me because I was there. But my presence was valid. I had to be at work to start baking.”
“Is there anything else you would like to tell us? Anything you feel might have been overlooked?” I asked.
“The timeline doesn’t work.” Nellie spoke with full confidence. “The restaurant closes at two in the morning. By the time everyone is out and everything is cleaned up, it’s at least two thirty or two forty-five. So I figure Grainger must have been attacked after he locked up for the night and was leaving, probably between two thirty and three in the morning. I tripped over him when I arrived at five thirty. That means he was out there for at least two and a half to three hours before I came along. It makes no sense whatsoever that I would have lurked in the alley, waiting for him to lock up the restaurant, so I could stab him. In the first place I couldn’t have known if he was leaving with a bunch of people. He often did, although he was alone that night.”
She paused as if to collect her thoughts. “It’s remotely possible, of course, that Grainger’s killer called him and made an arrangement to meet him there, but surely Grainger would have thought a meeting at that hour was peculiar and would have told him to come in during restaurant hours. That makes sense, doesn’t it?”
Nina and I nodded.
“Secondly, if I had been waiting for him in the alley, then I would have known he was there, and I wouldn’t have tripped over him. Nor would I have tried to revive him. If I had meant to kill him, I would have done it on a day when I had an alibi or on a day when I was off so someone else would have found him. I certainly wouldn’t have taken a chance at pretending that I was trying to resuscitate him.”
“No alibi?” Nina asked. “Nothing at all?”
“Are you kidding? I used to get up just before five in the morning, hop in the shower, and rush to work. I had left Dooley and was living in a tiny apartment with Aly. But it was a night when Aly was with Dooley, so I was home alone. It’s not like there’s a lot going on in Old Town at that hour. Sure, there are always a few early birds out on the street, but I wasn’t paying attention. I don’t know who might have been out the
re. I was thinking about work, not about providing an alibi for myself. Who would have ever thought I would need one? The way I see it, when Grainger was murdered, I was at home deep asleep.”
“So the case against you was based on what the police saw when they arrived on the scene?” I wondered if she had touched the knife before she tried to resuscitate him. In an effort to not sound accusatory, I simply asked, “Were there fingerprints on the knife?”
“The knife was never found. There’s another glitch in their theory. They maintained that I baked him the pie, watched him eat it, and then when he didn’t die, I followed him out into the alley and stabbed him. Then, they said, I unlocked the door and went inside the restaurant, where I washed the knife and returned it to its rightful place before the police arrived.” Nellie shook her head. “There are ridiculous holes in their story! They crafted it to suit the scenario they wanted to believe.”
I felt certain they would have collected knives from the restaurant and tested them for blood. It was notoriously difficult to wash off.
“I don’t know what Dooley told you about Nina and me.” I tried to smile at her. “We’re not trained investigators. Not by a long shot. We have solved a few murders, but they have generally been around the time of the incident, not years later. I don’t know if we can help you at all.”
Nina’s eyes grew large, and I could see that she was afraid of what I might say.
“But we’ll look into it.”
“Oh, thank you! Thank you so much. You’re my only hope.”
We said goodbye and assured her we would be in touch, probably with more questions.
We were silent in the car on our way home until Nina announced, “I believe her.”
“If it hadn’t been Kenner who was in charge of the investigation, I might have more doubts about Nellie’s innocence.” But I had dealt with the man. He was intimidating and manipulative. Besides, Nellie made some very good points. “Seriously, Nina, how many murderers would stop to wash the knife? You would have to be completely nuts and extremely comfortable that no one would discover you. Besides, if the knife was from the restaurant and replaced, that would indicate the killer was familiar with the restaurant.”
