“Mother! Due respect to Cary Grant, this is not the time,” said Rose. “The frame that the baseball card was kept in. It was under some papers in the bottom drawer. It was empty. So now the real card and the fake card are gone!”
“I didn’t see it. I locked the place up when I left. I’ll need to get a warrant to get back in if Douglas doesn’t turn up.” He hit the table with his hand. “Dammit!”
Daisy asked quietly, “Did anyone hear Abby come into the shop? I know I closed the door. The bell should have jingled. I didn’t hear it.”
They looked at each other and Rose said, “I didn’t hear anything, but there was a lot of commotion.”
Bill said, “Are you suggesting that she was already in the building? Where? And why would she hide?”
“I don’t know. I’m just saying she’s a weird girl and I didn’t hear the bell when she came in.”
Tuesday they opened the shop at ten. Daisy walked over to the post office to check their box and came back over an hour later.
“I dropped by Brad’s to see if he’s back. Bill was in there, but no sign of Brad.”
“Did he find anything?”
“No. Nothing. In fact, the frame was gone and he’s furious. He actually had the nerve to suggest that you and I had something to do with it. I told him not to be an ass.”
“Brad probably came back and took it. How did Bill get in?”
“He got a warrant and had a locksmith let him in.”
The phone rang and Rose answered. She listened for a while and beamed. “I’d love to. Saturday’s fine. It’s black tie? Oh, what fun! I’m looking forward to it. See you at eight.”
Rose put the phone down and said, “I need to go to Nordstrom’s.”
“Black tie? Where’s he taking you? This is kind of late notice, don’t you think?”
“Who cares? It’s a big affair at the University. I need something long and elegant. And time to shop, so do you mind if I take the afternoon off? Or better yet, come with me. I’ll need a second opinion.”
“Sure, I’ll go.” Daisy sighed, “It’s probably as close to going somewhere elegant as I’m going to get any time soon. Marc’s idea of a dressing up is wearing a sports coat with his jeans. We’ll go after lunch when Tonya gets in.”
“Great. I’ll probably need shoes, too.”
“So you’re comfortable going out with Peter?”
“Yes. Why wouldn’t I be?” She looked at Daisy and said, “What, you still don’t believe Peter had anything to do with Peggy’s murder, do you?”
Daisy hesitated and then shrugged her shoulders a little. “No. Not really. If Bill cleared him, I guess I’m good with that. It’s just that I don’t entirely trust him. Bill’s right about that. He does seem to be around at the strangest times.”
“Well, I do trust him. And I’m going to a ball. Don’t you dare go raining on my parade!”
Chapter Nineteen
Wednesday, Daisy, Rose, and Angela drove to Fredericksburg. Rose parked the car in the public lot and they walked up the street to a restaurant called Sammy T’s. A small, pleasant looking woman with curly grey hair was standing outside obviously waiting for someone. Angela walked up to her and said, “Elyse?”
The woman turned and looked at her. “Angela? You made it.” She gave Angela a quick hug. “I feel like I know you already.”
“I do, too. Elyse, these are my daughters, Rose and Daisy.”
They went into the restaurant. It was cool and softly lit. The waitress showed them to a booth and took their drink orders.
“Well, here we are.” Elyse took a folder out of her bag and put it on the table. She put her hand over it protectively and said, “Maybe we should order first and then talk. The food here is rather good.” They looked over the menu, and were ready to order when the waitress came back with the drinks.
They sat a moment stirring their iced teas. Finally Daisy looked at the folder and said, “Thank you so much for meeting with us. I’m afraid this must be hard for you. I know Mother told you about the baseball card. We’re trying to figure out how it got to Old Towne.”
She and Rose told Elyse the whole story starting with the blackmail. They told her about the murder, about Brad having the card in his shop, and then finding it in their mail and, finally, having it stolen when someone broke in.
Elyse said, “Thank God you’re all right. You could have been killed. And all for a baseball card?”
“Well, it’s a very valuable baseball card, as I’m sure you know.”
“I don’t really. I know it’s worth something, but it was always just Bob’s card. He was so proud of it. That was one of the happiest days of his life. He loved to tell people about meeting Mickey Mantle.
“Our son Carl never cared for baseball. But Bob and Margaret loved baseball so much. She was a regular encyclopedia of baseball trivia. The two of them could talk about it for hours. She even played Little League until the boys outgrew her. So when Bob died I gave the card to her.”
She stopped and sighed. “It’s still hard to talk about. She and some girlfriends used to vacation together. That fall a big baseball card show was being held right there in Nags Head the same week she and her friends would be there. Margie took the card with her so she could show it off. She loved telling that story as much as her dad did.”
Their lunches arrived and they ate in silence for a few minutes, giving Elyse time to recover. She finally continued the story.
“I take comfort in the fact that she was having a wonderful week. She called me every day. She was so happy. She’d run into a professor of hers who was staying at the hotel and she said it was a real eye-opener because he always seemed so stiff in class. But he invited her to lunch and they had a great conversation about philosophy. That was her major. He offered to be her mentor. She was thrilled.”
Daisy started to say something, but stopped herself. She didn’t want to interrupt Elyse’s train of thought.
Elyse took a deep breath, shook her head, and said, “And then she met someone. She didn’t say much. She never did tell me too much about the boys she dated. Not until she was ready to bring them home to meet me. She was so private that way. But I could tell she thought he was someone special.”
“Where did she meet him?” asked Rose.
“I’m pretty sure it was at the card show.”
She pushed the folder to the middle of the table. “I brought everything the police had on the case. Bob had a good friend on the force, so I was able to get copies of everything. I made this set for you.
Angela glanced at the folder and said, “So what did the police think happened?”
“They couldn’t find any trace of her that evening after she left the girls. Her best friend, Susan Murphy, couldn’t remember the young man’s name. None of them had met him. The police checked all the restaurants and bars on the island. No one had seen her that evening.
“Carl went down there and searched for her. But he had no more luck than the police. Finally, he and they concluded that she must have decided to go swimming either before her date, or with her date, and gotten in trouble and drowned. Some fisherman found her weeks later far down the island. They identified her through DNA. I still can’t believe it.”
The waitress came by and asked if there was anything else and Daisy said, “Yes. We’ll all have vodka tonic, I think.” She looked at Elyse sitting there gazing at nothing. “And go light on the tonic.”
As they sipped their drinks, Rose picked up the folder and opened it. She paged through a copy of the police report, statements from the girls, weather conditions that evening, and some pictures of Margaret and her friends. She flipped through to the back and gasped. She was looking at ‘crime scene photos’ of Margaret’s body lodged under the steps of a pier that crossed over a sand dune leading to the beach.
Elyse said, “I know. I’m sorry I should have warned you about the pictures. I insisted that the police give me everything they had because I knew in my heart
it was something more than an accident. And with what you tell me about this man having the baseball card, well, I guess I was right.”
Rose said, “Elyse, this will all go to Bill Greene, the detective in charge of the case at home. He’s a good detective. He’ll get to the bottom of this. I know he will.”
Angela added, “And in the meantime, we’ll stay in touch. I want you to know what’s happening.”
As they said good-bye outside the restaurant, Daisy said, “Elyse, where did Margie go to school?”
“George Washington University. She was so proud of that.” She turned away again and they watched as she walked slowly down the street toward her home.
Rose said, “Let’s take a walk. I need cheering up and that drink is making me sleepy. I want to be alert for the drive home.”
They walked along Caroline Street and checked out several antique stores. They stopped at the Virginia Store and got some of the hot pepper jelly Angela liked. Then they treated themselves to ice cream cones sitting in the shade of a tree outside the shop.
Rose said, “Okay. Enough eating! We’re going to hit rush hour traffic if we don’t get a move on.”
No one spoke as they left Fredericksburg and headed back toward Route 301. They were crossing the Potomac again when Daisy finally said, “Well, there’s a mighty big elephant in the room.”
Rose stared out the window at the towering smokestacks marring the Maryland shoreline and sighed. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Well, we need to. Peter could be the professor Margaret met on vacation.”
“Or it could be someone else. There must be a ton of philosophy teachers at GW. Besides, even if Peter knew her, it’s much more likely that the man she met at the card show was her date for that night.”
“That’s true. I just think it’s strange that Peter seems to show up everywhere.”
“I think it’s strange that you latch onto Peter when it’s obvious that Brad Douglas must be the man she met at the card show!”
“You’re right. I think he must be. But you’re not going out with Brad.”
Angela said, “Quiet. Both of you. We have no evidence that Peter met Margaret Dove. He may have or not. Even if he did, the meeting didn’t sound at all sinister. And Bill feels that Peter is no longer under suspicion. But Brad having the card is very suspicious. I wonder where he is right now.”
They were almost home driving down Market Street when Angela said, “Pull over Rose and let’s see if Brad’s back in his shop.”
Rose parked the car and they all got out. The shop was locked up tight, only the glow from the exit sign could be seen inside. Angela said, “Let’s look around in back.”
They walked down the alley to the back of the building. The door was locked. Rose looked in the window next to it, but couldn’t see anything. As she turned away her foot slipped and she lost her balance. She put her hand on the window to catch herself and nearly fell over when the glass fell away and crashed to the floor inside. “Whoa Nelly! How did that happen?”
Daisy was examining the window. “It looks like someone cut the glass out and stuck it back in. See, there’s chewing gum stuck on the edge here holding the glass in place.”
Angela said, “This must be how they got in to steal the frame.”
Daisy said, “I guess. But you know what? Right now, I just don’t care. It’s been a long, sad day and I’m really tired. Let’s go home and have a little dinner and a drink. I feel the need of liquid comfort.”
While they were waiting for pizza to be delivered, Rose made a pitcher of Sangria. By the time the pizza arrived they were already a bit mellow. After the second pitcher they felt good enough to call Bill and tell him about their day.
Daisy made the call to his cell. When he answered, they put him on speakerphone so they could all tell him the story.
Bill finally shouted, “What the hell have you all been drinking? Would you please take me off speaker? I can’t hear you.”
Daisy said, “Oh, all right,” and picked up the handset. She told him about their meeting with Elyse Dove and about the loose window at the sports shop. Then she said, “We sort of promised Elyse that you’d find out who killed her daughter.”
“Well that was a dumb thing to promise. Not my case, not even my state!”
“I know.” She hung up the phone, yawned, and said, “I think aspirin and bed sounds about right. Mother, stop that. I’ll take care of the dishes. You look tired. Do you still want to walk with us in the morning? We usually leave at seven.”
“You bet. I’ll be good to go by morning.” She finished putting the plates in the dishwasher and turned to the stairs. “Rats, I forgot to bring my book. I guess I’ll have to wait to see who done it. Nighty-night, sweethearts.”
Rose said, “I’ll just let the mutts out for a minute, then I’ll be up.”
As Rose stood on the back porch waiting for the three furry friends to pee, she could smell cigarette smoke on the night breeze. Suddenly, she felt uneasy standing there by herself, in the dark. Roscoe must have, too. He hissed and ran inside. Then Malcolm and Percy barked sharply and ran in after him. Rose closed and locked the door and checked the alarm system. Then she and the boys made the rounds checking all the other windows and doors. Reassured that everything was locked up tight, but still uneasy, she made her way up to bed.
Chapter Twenty
Daisy yawned, rolled her shoulders, then groaned. “This is good. Really. Up early, brisk walk, just what I need. What did you put in that sangria, anyway?”
“A little wine, a little vodka. Maybe a little more vodka than absolutely necessary,” replied Rose as she rubbed her temples. “I think it’s the fruit. Booze and fruit really don’t mix.”
“Okay, I’ll go with that. It was the fruit.”
They were walking slowly along the path. Malcolm and Percy were close behind, dragging their tails and sitting down for a breather every few minutes.
“Come on you two. If I can keep going, so can you,” said Daisy. “We probably shouldn’t have given the dogs quite so much fruit.”
“You’re right. We shouldn’t have. We should take them home right now and let them sleep it off.”
Angela, who was bouncing along the path well ahead, called back to them, “Move it, girls. It’s a beautiful day. Get with the program!”
“Oh my God, how does she do it?”
They finally reached their turn around point. Angela, wearing tennis whites and a bright turquoise headband, was jogging in place waiting for them. “Well, you two clearly inherited your father’s metabolism. Let’s go. Walk it off.”
As they turned into the lane leading to their house, they met Abby Wentworth jogging toward them. “You girls are out early.”
“Just barely. I wish I felt as energetic as you look. Have a good run,” said Daisy as she watched Abby run by. She turned to Rose and said, “How the hell does she do it? She even carries those walking weights. Lord, I can barely carry my arms!”
“She’s young.”
“Not all that young. She must be twenty-eight or so.”
“Well, she’s younger than I am! I have to believe youth gives her an edge or I’ll have to admit that I’m a complete mess physically.”
When they got to the house, they met Roscoe sauntering up their driveway with something trailing out of his mouth. He walked up to Daisy and dropped it at her feet - a sprig of ivy. “A present? For me? Well, thank you, Roscoe.” She picked it up and said, “Where did you get this? Ooh, and what did you drag it through?”
Rose said, “Must have been from the fence behind the garage. That’s the only ivy we’ve got. What’s with those two?”
She looked at Malcolm and Percy who were at the gate to the backyard. They were hopping up and down and growling. Angela walked down the driveway and opened the gate. The dogs raced along the fence that separated their yard from Ron Tucker’s. They stopped short at the rear of the garage and really lost it, howling like their lives depe
nded on it.
Rose stomped into the yard and said, “What is your problem? No more fruit for you. And my head aches, so quiet.”
Daisy stood next to Rose looking at the ivy Roscoe had dropped. She said, “Rose, I don’t think it’s the fruit that’s upsetting them. I think it’s the ivy. That looks like blood on it.”
Mrs. Hudson came out on her porch and called loudly, “What on earth is going on over there? Is everything all right? Your dogs are waking up the neighborhood.”
At that moment Angela, who had gone over to the dogs to settle them down, let out a terrified scream. Her legs seemed to give out and she thumped down onto the grass pointing to the back of the garage.
“Mother, are you all right?” They ran over to her. Angela was shaking and said, “Look.”
Daisy and Rose turned to see a body wedged into the small space between the garage and the fence. Rose felt for a pulse and drew her hand back quickly. She said, “Well, we found Brad Douglas and he is most definitely dead.”
Chapter Twenty-One
“This is too much! I can’t believe it. Another body. You can’t swing a dead cat around here without tripping over one!” Daisy was sitting in the kitchen with her mother and Rose while crime scene techs swarmed over the yard.
Rose said, “Exactly.” She looked over at her mother who had been holding Percy tightly and staring blankly out the window. “Drink your tea, Mother. I put lots of sugar in it.”
Angela sat down and picked up her cup. “I’m fine, girls. It was just such a shock to see him there. But I’m good now. I just don’t want to think about it.” She picked up the Bostwick Bulletin started paging through it.
“Look at this.” She was staring at an article in the paper. “It seems the bobber has moved on to College Park.”
Daisy said, “You must have scared him off. Go Angela!”
“But I wanted to catch him, not scare him off someplace else. Really! This just burns my toast.”
Daisy said, “Toast. I could eat toast. I’m hungry. What is Bill doing, anyway?”
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