by Melissa Rees
"Don't look like that. You should have to listen to the two-hour lecture on the way home about what fools we are."
"I bet he’s been rehearsing for days." Miss Pettybone groaned. Picking up her hairbrush, she ran it through her hair. Sighing, she gazed in the mirror.
“What's the matter with you?" Lynn demanded. "You have not been yourself since, you know, the last night."
“What's wrong with me? Nothing really. I was thinking deep thoughts about love." Miss Pettybone informed her friend, half joking.
"Love, from you? This I would like to hear." Lynn scoffed.
"Not me being in love." She corrected Lynn. "I was thinking about Otis Keel."
"Ah, Otis Keel. I feel bad that he died at the hands of the person he loved most. Irony, I guess."
"Maybe just bad judgment on his part." Miss Pettybone pointed out.
"You think you can choose whom you fall in love with?" Lynn asked, interested. She had never known her friend to speak so openly of that particular emotion.
"I think you can be careful who you associate with in order to limit the chances of falling in love with the wrong person." Miss Pettybone pointed out.
"Really? Do you think you may be in love with Eli?"
Miss Pettybone glanced at her friend of thirty years and smiled. "You would like that, wouldn't you?"
"I would like you to experience love. And I'm not talking about the puppy love you felt for Lester."
"Well, I hate to disappoint you. However, I'm not in love with Eli. I like him a great deal, though."
"What did your parents do to you to make you such a realist about romance?" Lynn asked, unhappily. "I mean, I understand them calling each other by their last names. That was cute. That was their way of showing respect. But to make you think about the men around you in terms of calculating emotions, well, that's just wrong."
Miss Pettybone laughed at her friend's disgust with her love life. "Nothing is wrong about being responsible about your life, Lynn."
Lynn shrugged and asked. "Are you okay with everything else?"
"I feel bad about Louise and Mildred. That's a given."
"I know you really well, Loraine. You have something else on your mind." Lynn probed.
"You really want to know what's on my mind?"
"Of course."
"I find I rather enjoyed sleuthing."
"Really. Me too," Lynn said, sitting down on the bed. "Although, after all of this, the only time I will be allowed to travel will be with Edgar," she finished unhappily.
Miss Pettybone placed the brush back on top of the dresser and turned towards the windows.
"I don't suppose Beatty will ever have another murder," Lynn said, glancing at her friend.
"Probably not." Miss Pettybone agreed.
Lynn walked to the door. "Eli said to tell you that breakfast is waiting and that he is taking us to the airport. He said we should be ready in an hour."
"I'll be ready."
"I'll miss Savannah and Shadowleaf," Lynn said as she walked out.
Miss Pettybone sighed and grabbed her suitcase out of the closet, then prepared to pack.
Chapter 50
Miss Pettybone yawned as she stepped off the plane behind Lynn. The heat from the tarmac rose up in waves to greet them. Mississippi in August, Miss Pettybone thought, is hotter than Hades. They walked into the slightly cooler airport. She sent a concerned glance at Lynn.
Lynn had been silent on the flight home. Of course, she probably wasn't looking forward to Edgar's lecture all the way back to Beatty.
Which is why Miss Pettybone had called Dwight. She figured she could fill him in, get a ride home and miss Edgar's, what was sure to be, well-rehearsed speech.
"Do you see them?" Lynn asked, glancing at Miss Pettybone.
“No, not yet. Are you all right?"
“I'm fine, but it just seems like such a letdown coming home, going back to work. "
“I know what you mean."
"So did you and Eli work things out?"
"I don't know what things you're talking about." Miss Pettybone said, looking away from her friend.
Lynn glanced at her friend aggravated. "Fine, don't tell me."
"Do I ask you about what happens between you and Edgar. Never."
"That's just because you're not interested," Lynn pointed out. "I, on the other hand an interested in your love life."
Miss Pettybone decided that changing the subject was in order. She searched the airport for Dwight. "Have you talked to Billie June?"
"She's asked for a vacation when we get back."
"Tough being the boss," Miss Pettybone said, thinking of Billie June gossiping.
"Miss Pettybone, is that you?" Lester Schwantz yelled, as he rushed up, grabbing Miss Pettybone by her arm.
"You know very well it's me," Miss Pettybone said, frowning at Lester, shaking his hand off her arm. "What are you doing here?"
“I'm headed for Memphis, a bank conference. Did you ladies just get back?"
"You know we did, Lester. Nothing happens in Beatty that you don't know about." Miss Pettybone said.
"That's true." He agreed, smiling at Miss Pettybone. "Have you heard about the murder?"
"Lester, we solved the murder." Lynn said searching for Edgar's bald head.
"Not that murder," Lester snapped glaring at Lynn, willing to blame her for Miss Pettybone’s involvement in, what he considered to be, the Savannah fiasco. "I heard about what happened in Savannah," he said, reaching over to pat Miss Pettybone’s arm.
Both women turned towards Lester and stared.
"What murder?" Miss Pettybone demanded.
"Someone walked right into Kroger and shot Minnie Stover. Shot her three times in the chest. Sheriff's been interviewing everyone in town."
"Our Kroger and our Minnie Stover?" Miss Pettybone asked, shocked.
"Yes, happened night before last. She was working the three-to-eleven shift. No one was in there except her. You know how quiet it gets in Beatty at night. No one saw a thing. Well, they are calling my flight. See you when I get back, Loraine." Lester promised.
Miss Pettybone raised her eyebrows at Lynn. "That's horrible. Who would want to kill Minnie Stover?"
"I can't believe she's dead. She was only in her late twenties, early thirties," Lynn said slowly.
"Isn't she married to that Owen boy?"
"Divorced." Lynn said, watching her friend.
"I heard that she ran with the bar crowd out of Benton."
"I heard that too." Lynn agreed.
"Another murder," Miss Pettybone said, contemplating another adventure.
"We could maybe check with Minnie's mother and see if she knows anything," Lynn suggested, looking at her friend.
"We could do that. That girl Eva too. I believe I heard Minnie was friends with her." Miss Pettybone agreed, slowly, her eyes meeting her friends.
"I doubt Dwight will tell us anything."
"I think we can count on Dwight not telling us anything." Miss Pettybone answered. "Still, it wouldn't hurt anyone if we just asked around about Minnie."
“And we do have a certain amount of experience with murder investigations," Lynn said.
Miss Pettybone grabbed Lynn's arm and began rushing towards the baggage department. Stopping abruptly, Miss Pettybone turned to Lynn. "Are you ready, Doctor Watson?"
“I’m ready, Miss Marple."
Coming Soon
Miss Pettybone’s Pudden’s Murder…
Miss Pettybone’s Corpse Lane…
Miss Pettybone’s Free One Dead Husband…
Miss Pettybone’s Dead Men Don’t Polka …
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
&nbs
p; Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
