Larkspur

by Sheila Simonson

  "God, then the Huffs..."

  "And Domingo. And Professor D'Angelo." Jay touched my cheek. "I'll be back. Will you help Dennis?"

  "If I can."

  "Keep him here in front when he arrives."

  "Okay." My stomach churned. Dennis was not a mother's boy in the usual sense of the phrase, but his relationship with Denise had been strange, to say the least. I did not want him to hurt any more than he was going to have to hurt.

  Dennis drove up in the Forest Service pickup while Jay was still inspecting the gazebo. The deputy on duty blocking the lane waved him on down.

  Dennis pulled in on the grass in front of the house. The ambulance was waiting in the driveway by then, but they had not yet removed Denise's body. Ginger ran to him.

  "Where is she?" He sounded hoarse.

  I walked over to him, too. "She's in the gazebo, Dennis. Come and sit with us."

  "No, I have to see her."

  I said desperately, "Believe me, you don't want to."

  He stared at me, mute and dazed.

  "Come to the porch. Jay will be with you in a few minutes. In fact, I'll go get him."

  Ginger took his arm and led him to the porch swing. He sat and put his face in his hands. Ginger and Ma bent over him.

  "I'll get Jay."

  "Please tell me, Lark."

  I licked dry lips. "She was strangled."

  "God!"

  "We came out, because she wanted to talk to Ginger."

  "I know that."

  "Around noon she called Ginger and said we should wait until two, that a friend was coming to lunch. I guess Denise was going to serve the meal in the gazebo, because the table was set for two. But there wasn't any food. Just luncheon plates and silver, glasses, cloth napkins. The table looked untouched. She was lying behind it, and one of the chairs was overturned. I didn't go very close."

  "Why didn't you go to her, help her?"

  "It was clear she was dead, Dennis. I called the police immediately. I am so sorry."

  His face crumpled, and he began to sob. Ginger hugged him.

  Ma looked at me.

  I shook my head, helpless. "I'll go for Jay."

  I wanted to return to the back yard about as much as I wanted to kill a whale. As I rounded the corner of the house, I could see the photographers' flashes popping in the gazebo. I thought I heard Karl Holst's voice. The M.E. must have come in the ambulance. He liked to view corpses in situ.

  The ambulance crew stood on the grass looking patient. One of them was smoking a cigarette. Jay came when he spotted me.

  "Dennis?"

  "Yes. He wanted to see her."

  Jay took my arm again. He is not much of a public toucher, ordinarily. I appreciated the gesture. I probably clung.

  Jay took Dennis into the house, leaving Ma and Ginger and me out front. We stared at each other. Ginger's eyes were puffy. Ma looked very tired.

  "Are you okay?"

  Mother nodded. "There's a cat."

  "What? Oh, the white one." It was lying couchant in the shade of the ambulance.

  "I'll tell Dennis," Ginger said, still confident that Dennis could take care of anything.

  A car barreled down the lane and pulled up on the far side of the ambulance. We got to our feet, including the white cat. The ambulance driver stepped out. "Lady, you can't come here."

  It was Lydia Huff. She slipped by the man and came toward us at a half-trot, her chunky beads bouncing. "What is it? What's the matter? Is Denise...?"

  "Denise was murdered." I was past tact.

  "Where the hell are the barricades?" Jay roared from the house. He yanked the front door open and stalked out onto the porch.

  The cat padded over to Lydia and made a noise--prrrt?

  Lydia fainted. Just like that.

  She dropped where she stood. I was so unprepared I didn't even move to catch her.

  A uniformed deputy came trotting down the driveway. "Man, I didn't have a chance. She just wheeled right past me on the shoulder." He was puffing from the short run.

  Jay and the ambulance driver knelt by Lydia. "Get back up that lane," Jay snarled. "I don't want any more tourists."

  "The ambulance..?"

  "It'll be leaving soon. When it goes, put the fucking car across the entrance if you have to. Block it."

  "Okay." The deputy receded.

  "Is it her heart?" I took a step toward Lydia.

  "Pulse's strong." The driver got up and went to the ambulance.

  I knelt by Jay and straightened Lydia's homespun skirt. One of her slip-ons had come off. Blusher stood out on her cheeks like clown makeup, but she was stirring. The cat had disappeared.

  The driver returned with a blanket and some kind of smelling salts. He and Jay swaddled her, and the driver stuck the salts under Lydia's nose. She sneezed, and her eyes fluttered open. She focused on me. "L-lark."

  "It's okay," I said stupidly.

  "I thought..."

  "Yes. It's Denise. Somebody..."

  Jay's hand clamped on my arm. "I'm afraid she's dead, Mrs. Huff. Can you sit up?"

  "Yes. I'm all right. I never faint." The light gray eyes were dull, but her voice sounded almost normal. The blanket slid off her shoulder like a toga as she struggled to one elbow and sat up.

  Jay touched her arm. "All right?"

  Lydia nodded. "Help me up."

  I gave her my hand. Hers was cold. She groped for the shoe with her foot, leaning on me, and straightened. "I'll just go sit on the porch with Mary for a moment. Sorry to make a fuss."

  Jay got up creakily, holding his side. "What brought you here, Mrs. Huff?"

  "I was just driving home from town. When I saw the patrol car, I had to find out what was wrong. She's...she was one of my closest friends." Her voice faltered. "I think I'd better sit down." She tottered up the front steps, and Ma and Ginger helped her to the swing.

  Jay followed. "Will you go in to Dennis, Ginger? He's in the living room."

  Ginger nodded, wide-eyed, and went in the house.

  "Now, Mrs. Huff..."

  "For heaven's sake," Lydia said brightly. "That's Ethel White."

  We stared at Lydia.

  She half rose, and the swing creaked. We turned. The white cat had nosed around the edge of the flower bed again. It yawned and turned its back on us.

  Something clicked in my mind. Two cats, one ginger, one white, chasing each other on the Huffs' lawn. Ethelred and Ethel White. "Your cat?"

  Lydia fell back. The swing creaked again. "I don't know how Ethel got here. Of course we're only half a mile away."

  "The cat was in the back yard when I found the body."

  Lydia's gray eyes glinted.

  Jay walked to the edge of the porch and snapped his fingers. The cat ignored him.

  "That's not the way." I walked to the flower bed and squatted. "Nice Ethel." I broke off a stalk of snapdragon and wriggled it. "Nice kitty."

  She was watching the flower.

  I trailed it on the grass. "Nice Ethel."

  She crouched and began a leisurely crawl my direction.

  "Kitty, kitty."

  She pounced on the stalk and rolled. I tugged. The snapdragon shed petals all over the place.

  Fairly soon she was butting her head against my hand and sniffing my fingers. I picked her up, smoothing her coat. She was a sleek, well-fed shorthair with green eyes. Her flea collar was working loose. I showed it to Jay.

  His mouth set in a grim line. "More embellishment. Don't take it off. Let me." While I held Ethel he undid the buckle, touching it on the edges. She jumped down and stalked off.

  Jay took a baggy from his jacket pocket and slipped the collar into it.

  "Cats wander," Lydia said flatly. "We don't keep them indoors in spite of the coyotes."

  Mother said, "We once had a striped tiger that followed us home from Lake Cayuga. Remember, Lark? It took him a week."

  Lydia smiled her gratitude.

  Jay ignored Ma's cat-saga. "Did you have an a
ppointment with Denise today, Mrs. Huff?"

  "I called her around eleven. When I heard about Miguel."

  "What was her state of mind?"

  Lydia was rapidly regaining her air of command. "Really, Mr. Dodge, I'd be guessing, wouldn't I? I'd say she was relieved. Sad, of course, but relieved. If the boy committed suicide..." Her face went blank. Miguel's "suicide" didn't mean anything with regard to Denise's death. Lydia was not a stupid woman or easily discomposed, so her pause was interesting.

  "And?" Jay prompted.

  "We didn't talk long. She said she'd sent for Dennis's girlfriend. There was some nonsense about marriage. Denise wanted to set the woman straight."

  "Did Denise mention that she was going to have someone over for lunch?"

  Lydia shrugged. "She may have said something. This Ginger ..."

  "We'd like to know who Denise was expecting for lunch. The table was set for two."

  "Really, I've no idea. I know she was expecting the girl friend this afternoon."

  "She didn't ask you to lunch with her?"

  "I told you, no. I called about Miguel. We talked maybe five minutes. She was concerned about her son...good God, Mr. Dodge, someone ought to inform the son. He works for the Forest Service."

  "Dennis is in the house, ma'am. That's his pickup in front of you."

  "Oh. Well, I'll go to him, shall I? The poor boy..."

  "Ginger Gates is with him. We'll see to Dennis."

  "Then if I can't be of any use here, I think I ought to go home. Bill..."

  "Mrs. Huff, you came down here of your own free will. There's an investigation in progress. I'll have to ask you to stay for a while until I have a better idea of what happened. I need to talk to you about Denise, since you knew her as well as anyone except Dennis. Right now, I want to see to the removal of her body. Will you stay?"

  "Why...well, yes. If you want me to."

  "Thank you." Jay went back in the house.

  Ma and Lydia exchanged unhappy smiles. They were sitting side by side.

  My mother was definitely beginning to wilt in her faille suit. Fortunately the porch lay in shade. "I could use a drink of water."

  Dr. Holst came around the corner of the house. "Where the hell's Dodge? Beg your pardon, ladies."

  Lydia's gray eyes narrowed.

  "In the house with Dennis Fromm." I gestured toward the door.

  Karl wheezed. He has asthma. "Tell him we're ready to move out, will you, Lark? I'll see to the ambulance crew." He stumped back the way he came.

  I entered the house again, blinking as my eyes adjusted to the dimness. Jay was in the living room. I thought he was talking to Dennis. Then I saw that Dennis and Ginger were sitting together on the horsehair settee, and Dennis was crying.

  I averted my eyes.

  Jay was talking on the phone. "Pick him up at the newspaper office. Yeah, question him before she has a chance to talk to him. And send Cowan out to the lodge. I want him to bring Domingo in."

  I cleared my throat. Jay and Ginger looked at me.

  "Okay," Jay said into the phone. "Sure, the girl, too. You've got D'Angelo? Fast work. Thanks, Kev." He hung up. He had taken his sun glasses off, and his eyes were shadowed with sleeplessness. "What's the matter, Lark?"

  "It's Karl. He says he wants..."

  "Okay." He glanced at Dennis, shoved himself to his feet, and came over to me.

  "And could we please have a pitcher of ice water and some glasses? It's hot out there on the porch."

  He frowned. "They haven't finished in the kitchen yet."

  "Why...oh, you think maybe the killer was in there?"

  "It's an outside chance. Tell the ladies half an hour and they can come inside."

  "Okay." I blew Ginger a kiss. She gave me a wan smile and patted Dennis's back. I slid back out the front door.

  Ma and Lydia were playing with Ethel and talking about the Foundation. Lydia was babbling something about a commemorative volume of Llewellyn's poetry, an art book with line drawings and tributes from friends. I thought it would probably sell as many copies as Llewellyn had had friends.

  Chapter XII

  When they brought the stretcher bearing Denise's body around to the ambulance, Dennis stormed from the house and demanded to see her. Ginger and I begged him not to, but he was adamant. He blocked the rear of the ambulance and wouldn't let the paramedics load the stretcher.

  To my horror Jay said merely, "It's his right."

  The results were predictable. Dennis threw up on the snapdragons, and Dr. Holst had to tranquillize him.

  Ginger was furious. While the ambulance drove up the lane, she sat on the porch steps and held Dennis to her. "I'm taking this man home with me right now, Jay Dodge, and don't you try to stop me."

  Jay took off the sunglasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I'm sorry, Ginger. He had a right to see his mother."

  "You could've said no. I'm going. I'll drive the pickup." She dug in Dennis's pockets and came up with the keys. Dennis was weeping quietly.

  Jay rubbed his forehead and put the glasses back on. "All right. Just one thing. When Denise called you, did you get any impression of who she was expecting for lunch?"

  "No!"

  "Come on, think. Male or female?"

  "A woman."

  "Did Denise say so?"

  Ginger was beginning to cool down. She stroked Dennis's hair, frowning. "No. I guess I just assumed it was a woman. A lady Denise's age, when she has a man call, she's apt to sort of capitalize the word friend. D'you know what I mean?"

  "Tell me."

  "Well, she would have said..." Ginger screwed up her face. "'I'm having a Friend to lunch.' What she did say was 'a friend of mine is coming to lunch.' Like that."

  Jay stared at her a long moment, silent, then nodded.

  "Okay. Take him home, Ginger. I'll have to talk to him later. Call your kids."

  "What?"

  "Tammy and Larry. When the story breaks they'll be worried."

  "Oh, okay. Thanks." She bit her lip. "I'm sorry I yelled, but you shouldn't have done that to Dennis."

  Jay didn't defend himself. He and I helped her get Dennis into the passenger seat of the pickup. Ginger turned the truck around on the lawn and chugged off.

  One of the technical crew came up and asked a question. Jay answered, absently, hand on his side, and the tech went off.

  Ma and Lydia had watched the entire scene from the porch. Lydia was outraged. She stalked over to Jay. "I'm going to report you, Dodge. That was inexcusable. The boy will have nightmares the rest of his life."

  Jay stiffened, but he didn't answer her.

  Ma touched her arm. "Dennis didn't believe his mother was dead, Lydia. And he's not a boy."

  I was standing beside Jay. I felt rather than heard him expel a breath.

  He spoke to Ma, half apologetic, "I thought nightmares would be better than delusions." He turned to Lydia. "If you'll come with me, Mrs. Huff, I want your statement now."

  Lydia followed him into the house, muttering.

  "Th-thanks, Ma." I sniffed.

  Mother said wearily, "Some people don't have common sense. Come and sit with me, Lark. This is all very hard to bear." We sat together on the porch swing and didn't even talk. I have seldom felt closer to my mother.

  Jay must have taken Lydia through her story several times. It was a good hour before she came out, spots of indignation bright on her cheekbones.

  She said goodbye to Mother rather formally, ignoring me, got in her car, and backed up the lane. Jay was slow coming out to us. Maybe he had another phone call to make.

  He took us in to the living room together and went through our accounts of the afternoon almost mechanically. He dredged from my recollections the state of the table in the gazebo and the fact that the front door had been unlocked. We went over the cat's presence several times. He got me to narrow down the time of Denise's phone call to Ginger, though he was going to call Ginger later.

  He switched off the recorder.
"Okay, I guess you can go."

  Ma stood up. "That's it?"

  "For now." Jay stood, leaning heavily on the oak table he had appropriated for his recording gear and notepad. "Thanks. I'm sorry you had to deal with this. Lark..."

  I stood up, too. We had been sitting around the table.

  "Are you going to be all right?" He rubbed his forehead.

  "I'm fine. How much longer?"

  "God knows. Kev interrogated Bill Huff and D'Angelo. I want to go through those reports, and I'll have to get onto the lab again. And Karl will be doing the autopsy on Denise." His voice trailed as if finishing the sentence would take too much energy.

  "When?"

  "Maybe eight-thirty, nine. Don't wait dinner."

  "All right." I kissed his cheek. "Take care."

  When the deputy had waved me past the barricade, and I had turned the car onto the main road, Ma said, "I think I need a stiff drink. What do you have?"

  "Wine and a six pack of beer."

  "Stop at a liquor store. I don't want to go to a bar."

  I bought a bottle of gin, some tonic, and a lime, and we both collapsed on my sofa over the drinks.

  "The damned rental car is still at your store," Ma murmured into her glass.

  "Lord."

  "I'd better phone your father. He'll worry."

  "Okay. What about dinner?"

  "Ugh."

  "My sentiments, more or less. Ma..."

  "What is it, darling?"

  "I'm sorry."

  "My dear, so am I sorry. Denise was a remarkable woman, whatever her faults. Your Ginger is a remarkable woman, too. I think Dennis will be all right."

  "I hope so. He's a sweet guy."

  "So's Jay."

  "What?"

  "Don't you worry about him? He looked like hell, not to mince words."

  "Yes, I worry, but it doesn't do any good. And, as you said of Dennis, he's not a boy."

  Ma got the phone from the kitchen and settled in to tell my father all about it. I took a shower.

  The stinging hot water woke and soothed me at the same time, but I could have used another long run. I was tired but restless as Lydia's wandering cat. Lydia had driven off in such high dudgeon she forgot Ethel White. So did we. I hoped the beast would find her way home.

  Mother finished her drink while she was talking. When she hung up she looked at me. "Squeaky clean. I envy you."