While they waited at the front door, Ettie whispered, “There’s no garden; there’s just grass.”
“Not everyone wants a garden. They’re a lot of upkeep.” Elsa-May picked lint off Ettie’s black shawl and Ettie pushed her hand away.
Ettie said, “She doesn’t work outside the home, so she could easily—”
“Sh, Ettie.”
The door opened slightly and, sure enough, Marlene looked out. When a look of recognition spread across her face, she opened it wider. “Oh, it’s you.”
“Yes. It’s us,” Elsa-May said. “Ettie Smith and I’m Elsa-May Lutz. You might not remember us from when you were in the community, but we remember you.”
She looked past them. “Are you by yourselves?”
“Yes.”
“Do you want to come in?”
“Yes please.”
She opened the door wide and stood back to let them through. Then she showed them to a small sunroom. “Can I get you anything?”
“No, thank you. We’ve just had lunch.”
“Ettie and I thought we’d come and see how you’re coping now.”
She nodded. “I’m doing okay. It was a nasty shock, but I’ve got a lawyer on the job.”
“On the job of what?”
“Getting the diamond back.”
Ettie and Elsa-May looked at one another.
“We’re here to see how you’re coping after the death of your father,” Ettie said.
“Oh, yes, much better thanks. It’s nice of you to stop by. No one else has bothered.”
“And you hadn’t seen your father for many years?” Elsa-May asked.
“Yes, that's true. We had a few words after my mother died, and I said if he wanted to talk to me again he’d need to apologize, but he never did.”
“Can I ask what you had an argument about?” Ettie asked.
“We had so many it’s hard to say. I don’t think there was just one thing. The last straw that did it for me…” Marlene took a deep breath before she continued, “It was when my mother died and my father didn’t give me anything of hers. He said I’d left the community and I didn’t deserve anything.”
“Hadn’t he left by then too?”
Marlene nodded and leaned back in the couch crossing one leg over the other. “My parents left when I was a young girl and now I’m fifty two. He said he was thinking of going back and I should too. I was married to Max, and I knew Max wouldn’t want to join the Amish and I only had bad memories of it, so I was certainly never going back there.”
“That’s a shame,” Elsa-May said.
“Two of my daughters feel the same way, unfortunately.”
“Yeah, well, anyway, my mother didn’t have much and I just wanted some keepsake.”
“Did you end up getting anything?” Elsa-May asked.
“Nothing. He said I wasn’t welcome because I hardly visited them. I told him I didn’t have a car. Back then Max and I only had one car between us and he needed it for his work. We still only have one car, since I don’t have a job.”
“What kind of work does he do?”
“He’s in liquor sales and he needs his vehicle for that because he has to visit customers.”
“This might seem like a strange question Marlene, but…. Um...” Elsa-May shook her head.
“What were you going to ask, Elsa-May?”
“I’ve forgotten. Oh, that's right. I was going to ask you if you remember that competition that your mother won money in.”
“I remember her winning the competition, but I don’t know anything about it. Back then I was only seeing them every few months. I knew it caused more problems between my parents because my father wanted to do other things with that money. Mamm said it was hers and she was going to give it to me if they went back to the community. That’s what she said.” Marlene straightened her back. “Are you sure I can’t get you a cup of tea, maybe, or coffee?”
“I would like tea please and Ettie would like one too.”
Marlene smiled. “I won’t be long.”
When she was out of the room, Ettie whispered, “Why are you talking for me?”
“You would’ve made a big fuss how you didn’t want one. If we drink tea we’ll be able to find out more because we’ll get to stay longer.”
“Okay, but don’t do it again. It makes me feel like a child.”
Elsa-May narrowed her eyes. “There are bigger things at stake here than your feelings.”
Ettie breathed out heavily, doing her best to ignore her irritation with her sister.
Marlene came back and sat down. “I’ve just put the kettle on. It won’t be long.” She folded her arms in front of her and leaned back. “It was a last parting jab at me that my father gave the diamond to that silly old cow of a housekeeper. I would’ve done things for them if I’d lived closer, and if they had been nicer to me.”
“They?” Ettie asked.
“My mother and my father. Neither of them was all that nice to me even though I was their only child. Most single children are spoiled, but not me. They never really cared about me. I was just a bother to them.”
“Marlene, I don’t think that’s true.”
“You weren’t there, Elsa-May. No one knew what they were really like. They were all smiles when they had visitors and when they were out amongst other people, but at home they argued and quarrelled. It wasn’t nice to be around. Neither of them was happy. I don’t think they wanted to be married to each other.”
“And yet they remained together when they left the community,” Ettie pointed out.
“Yeah, well, they’d probably grown used to each other by then. Or it might have been a case of better the devil you know than the one you don’t. Anyway, my father probably wanted my mother to stick around so she could be an unpaid housekeeper, and to cook for him.”
Ettie looked at Elsa-May to see what she thought.
“That’s the kettle.” Marlene jumped up when whistling came from the kitchen.
“She’s not a happy person,” Ettie whispered.
“We knew that before we came. What we need to do is find out something we don’t know.” Elsa-May gave a sharp nod of her head.
“Do you want some help in there?” Ettie called out to Marlene.
“No, I’m fine. I won’t be a minute.”
Marlene came back with a tray of tea and chocolate cookies.
“This looks lovely,” Ettie said wondering how she’d get through everything since they’d only just had lunch, including the large slab of chocolate cake she'd eaten.
Elsa-May nibbled on a chocolate cookie while Marlene poured the tea.
“My mother liked hot tea. That was one thing we shared. We would often sit up at night and she’d tell me stories of when she was a girl. She’d had a good childhood growing up in a family of fifteen children. There was always someone to play with and she was able to tell me many funny stories of the trouble they often found themselves in.”
“Ettie and I come from a large family as well.”
“Elsa-May was the oldest girl and that’s why she’s so bossy,” Ettie added, which made Marlene laugh.
“I suppose there are disadvantages to larger families too,” Marlene said.
“Did your parents have many Englischer friends?” Elsa-May asked when she had stopped glaring at Ettie.
“Not many at all. They didn’t go out much. The man next door seemed to come in a lot, and one or two other people visited, but that was about it.”
“If I remember correctly, they moved to that house when they left the community and they never moved again?” Elsa-May asked.
“That’s right. They had a farm and it was too much work, and I wasn’t born a boy and had no interest in working the land, so they sold the farm and that’s when they decided to leave the community too. I forgot about that. My parents wanted a boy.”
Ettie pulled a face at Elsa-May for reminding Marlene of something else to be cross about.
After Elsa-
May slurped her tea loudly, setting Ettie’s nerves on edge, she moved in her seat and said to Marlene, “Who do you think killed your father?”
Marlene’s gaze flickered to the ceiling. “I’ll leave that up to the detectives,” she finally said.
“Surely you’ve got some theories,” Ettie said studying her for any sign of nervousness.
“I think it was just a home invasion. Anyone could’ve done it.”
“It’s an unusual thing to die that way. He was an old man and he wasn’t well. If anyone wanted something they could’ve taken it. There was no need to kill him.”
“I wonder why the next door neighbor didn’t hear anything.”
“He didn’t?”
“The main detective said he didn’t,” Marlene said.
Elsa-May said, “No guns were fired. They might not have made a loud noise.”
Marlene shrugged. “I guess.”
“Why? Did your father and the neighbor have a falling out over something?”
“My father was often arguing with people. He wasn’t an easy man to get along with. That’s why my mother was sad all the time.”
Ettie was starting to get a different picture of Uncle Alfie as she thought back to his wife, Emily. She recalled that she couldn’t remember ever seeing Emily smile after she was married to Alfie.
“What things would he argue about with people?”
“Why are you asking all these questions?”
“My sister and I are trying to piece things together—”
Elsa-May butted in, “To see if your father really gave his housekeeper the diamond.”
Marlene’s face lighted up. “That’s so nice of you. I’ve never had anyone on my side apart from Max. Normally no one cares about me. That detective certainly didn’t care. He just kept telling me he couldn’t do anything to get it back for me because he wasn’t a lawyer. But I don’t have the money for court.”
Ettie nodded.
When they finished their tea, Ettie helped Marlene wash the teacups in the kitchen. Then the sisters borrowed Marlene's phone to call a taxi. When it arrived and the sisters were inside, Elsa-May said, “Well, that was a complete waste of time.”
“It was your idea,” Ettie shot back.
“Was it?”
Ettie nodded. “Anyway, it wasn’t a complete waste of time. I’d always had the picture in my mind of Alfie being how he was when he was younger. He was only a couple of years younger than me and we went to the same schul. It was a one-room building back then. From what Marlene said, Alfie had changed considerably.”
“I was thinking that too. And I think Marlene’s right about her mother never being happy.”
“That’s right; that's how I remember her.”
* * *
Ettie and Elsa-May got back home to find a note on their door.
“Open it, Ettie.”
Ettie carefully unfolded it. “It’s from Molly and Jazeel. They’re inviting us to Molly’s house on Tuesday night. They’re having quite a crowd, she says. That’s after their rededication on Sunday. I wonder if they’re doing that so everyone will know they’re a couple.”
“They saw us this morning and never mentioned a thing.”
“Perhaps they decided it since.”
“They must’ve.”
Chapter 18
The following afternoon, Ettie and Elsa-May were just sitting down to shell peas for dinner when they heard knocking on their door.
“Who could that be?” Elsa-May asked.
Snowy yapped and bounded to the door.
“I’d say that would be Detective Kelly. You should put Snowy outside.”
Ettie went to the door while Elsa-May locked Snowy outside because the dog loved to paw at Kelly’s leg.
“It is you,” Ettie said when she opened the door to see Kelly standing there. “Come in.”
Kelly walked in. “Ah good. You’ve got the hound locked outside.”
“Do you have news?” Ettie asked.
“Yes.”
“Well, sit down and let’s hear it,” Elsa-May said.
“Would you like—”
“I’m fine thank you,” Kelly said cutting Ettie off. He sat down on a chair in the living room and waited until Ettie and Elsa-May were seated. Then he said, “It’s about the diamond.”
The sister leaned forward, and said as one, “Yes?”
“First of all, it wasn’t a pink diamond after all. It’s a dirty pale yellowish color.”
“So it’s not worth a lot?”
“Not that much and it’s got big black inclusions within the stone, bringing the value down even further.”
“Did you find out if there was a competition?”
“We haven’t been able to find a competition and we've got bank account records, both Alfred’s and his late wife's, and we can’t find a record of that amount going into either of their accounts.”
“What’s the diamond worth?”
“It might have been sold for around twenty thousand. Not saying it was worth that, but that’s what they might’ve paid. We’ve got no reason to believe that there’s any connection linking the diamond to the murder, and we can’t find that Bruno Gillespie had anything to do with the murder.”
“Well, what evidence did Uncle Alfie have about him?”
“We don’t know that he had anything. All we’ve got is Jazeel’s word for that, and he’s going by something Alfie told him, which might not have even been true.”
Elsa-May drew her eyebrows together. “Then why say it if it wasn’t true?”
“Mrs. Lutz, you come from a place in your head where you think everyone tells the truth. I’m here to tell you that that’s simply not so. The man might have been boasting to his nephew to look like a hero, or so he’d appear larger-than-life in his nephew’s eyes.”
“Where does that leave us?” Ettie asked.
“We can forget that the diamond had anything to do with his death. We’re still investigating it though, but I figure it’ll only lead us to a dead end. Don’t worry, we’ll leave no stone unturned and we will find out who did this to the poor old man.”
“How about the drug dealers? How are you getting on with investigating them?” Ettie asked.
“She means the people who bought the drugs from Joe Mulligan.”
“We’re fairly certain we’ve located them. We just need Mulligan to give us a positive ID. Then we’ll bring them in for questioning.”
“You know, I might have a hot cup of tea if you don’t mind,” Kelly said.
Elsa-May pushed herself to her feet. “Coming up.”
“That cat you patted yesterday at Molly Miller’s house...”
“Yes. I remember.”
“He’s wild.”
His eyes opened wide. “He didn’t appear to be.”
“He doesn’t like anyone, not even his owner.”
He chuckled. “I noticed everyone was looking at me strangely when I patted him.”
“Well, that’s why. He always attacks people. Except you, for some reason. And he tried to follow you when you left.”
“I have a fondness for cats.”
“Do you own any pets?”
Detective Kelly shook his head. “In my line of work it wouldn’t be fair. I’m hardly ever home.”
While Ettie sat and chatted with the detective, she wondered whom else she could find out about. “Have you talked to Dave, Uncle Alfie’s neighbor, lately?”
“Not in the last couple of days. Why?”
“He didn’t see anyone coming or going the night Alfie was murdered?”
“Not a thing. He was fast asleep.”
Chapter 19
Jazeel quickly slipped into the house before Tom could run away.
“Thanks for coming early to help,” I said as he gave me a quick kiss on the cheek.
“How are you feeling today, Molly?”
“I’m fine. I’m looking forward to having everyone over here.”
“It was good
of you to invite Max and Marlene.”
“Well, I thought it wouldn’t hurt since Marlene is your cousin. She’s part of the family. I remember her a little bit from my days in the community, but she was a lot younger than I.”
The bishop had told us we could marry in two months. We had decided we would move into my house after the wedding and then Jazeel would lease his, since my house was on a much nicer street. Jazeel said he’d build a big enclosure in the back yard for Tom to roam free in.
“Could you help by chopping the parsley finely?”
“Sure.”
Every time I saw a large knife I was reminded of Jazeel’s Uncle Alfie, whom I’d known as a girl.
Days later.
* * *
When everyone had arrived at my lovely dinner party, the first I was to have with Jazeel after we’d officially returned to the community, Ettie stood up and clapped her hands. I stared at her wondering what was going on. This was my dinner!
Ettie began, “I’m glad everyone’s here together tonight and remembering Alfie. Marlene, you were very upset by the way your parents always treated you, and made you feel that they wanted you to have been born a boy.”
A few sniggers were heard.
“It’s true,” Marlene said in a large voice.
“You were also upset that your father never let you have any keepsakes from your mother. And when you found out he gave the one thing you were hoping for to the housekeeper you became enraged.”
“I didn’t kill him,” Marlene said.
I looked at Ettie, wondering what she was doing. All I'd wanted was to have a nice get-together. I’d even locked Tom in the spare bedroom so no one would scare him. I’d gone to a lot of trouble.
Ettie’s face scrunched and the wrinkles in her face deepened as she turned and looked right at Marlene’s husband, Max.
“That’s right Marlene, you didn’t kill your father, because you didn’t have to. Your husband did that for you,” Ettie said.
Max jumped to his feet. “I did not! What are you saying?”
“Ettie, why are you saying these things?” Marlene stood and grabbed hold of her husband’s arm.
Who Killed Uncle Alfie? Page 9
