Digging Up the Dirt

by Miranda James

  Mrs. Simpson nodded. “Yes, that’s right. She worked for Miss Callie’s family here in Memphis before she married and moved down there. She wanted Coriander to come with her.”

  “That’s what I’d heard,” Dickce said. “I’m not sure if you’re aware, though, that Mrs. Partridge disappeared forty years ago. Her husband died recently, and his brother has come back to Athena to take care of the estate. He didn’t realize his sister-in-law was gone. We all thought, frankly, she had run away with him when he left Athena because she disappeared not long after he left.”

  “I didn’t know all that,” Mrs. Simpson said. “That don’t sound like Miss Callie, though, running off after a man.” She frowned. “But Coriander can’t help you about that. She died a long time ago.”

  CHAPTER 24

  An’gel hadn’t wanted to argue with Dickce over who went to Memphis and who talked to Hadley. An’gel wasn’t eager to tackle Hadley on her own, but she knew if she insisted that her sister do it instead, Dickce would press her hard for a reason. An’gel found it easier to give in to Dickce’s plan.

  As she drove the short distance to Ashton Hall, An’gel felt apprehensive on two counts. The first was the weather. The sky had begun to darken to the west not long after Dickce and Benjy departed, and An’gel feared another storm was moving in. She prayed her sister, Benjy, and the two pets would be safe at home before anything nasty threatened.

  An’gel also felt nervous about her ability to wring the truth from Hadley. She knew all too well how good he was at evading any subject he didn’t want to discuss. She was determined that today, however, he would answer her questions.

  To her great annoyance she discovered that she was not the only visitor to Ashton Hall this afternoon. She recognized the two cars already parked near the front of the house. One car belonged to Lottie MacLeod, and An’gel reckoned that if Lottie was here, so was Barbie. The two women seemed to go everywhere together. The second car was Reba Dalrymple’s, and An’gel figured Martin would have accompanied his mother. Reba rarely went anywhere without her son in attendance.

  An’gel parked next to Lottie. After a glance at the sky she dug out an umbrella from the backseat to take with her. She rang the doorbell and waited.

  And waited. She glared at the door. She rang the bell, longer and more insistently this time. Where was Hadley’s housekeeper?

  She was about to ring the bell again when the door opened to reveal Hadley, looking more than a bit harried and disheveled.

  “Thank the Lord you’re here, An’gel.” Hadley drew her in and bestowed a kiss on her cheek. “They’re driving me crazy. Maybe you can help me get them out of the house.”

  “What on earth is going on?” An’gel asked as she followed her host down the hall. “Why are they all here?”

  “They just showed up.” Hadley spoke over his shoulder. “When I was growing up, people always called before they appeared on your doorstep. Apparently that’s too old-fashioned for this group.”

  Why had they all come? An’gel wondered.

  “At least they brought news from the hospital,” Hadley said. “Arliss is still in a coma but she’s stable. Some small progress.” He opened the door to his late father’s library and motioned for An’gel to precede him.

  Four faces regarded her as she approached the center of the room. “Goodness,” she said. “I had no idea you’d all be here when I made an appointment earlier in the day to call on Hadley this afternoon.” She hoped they noticed the slight stress she laid on the word appointment.

  “We simply invited ourselves.” Lottie giggled. “We were sure Hadley wouldn’t mind. We’ve all been dying to see the inside of Ashton Hall since he came back.”

  “I thought you said you visited Hamish frequently in his last months.” An’gel found an empty chair near Lottie. “Surely you already knew what it looked like here.”

  Lottie sniffed. “Hamish had let things go pretty badly. I was sure Hadley would have everything cleaned up. I tried to get Hamish to let me find him another housekeeper, but he insisted that nasty Mrs. Turnipseed was just fine.”

  “I was about to go to the kitchen for drinks for everyone,” Hadley said. “An’gel, what would you like?”

  “Whatever everyone else is having is fine with me,” An’gel said. She wondered why the housekeeper wasn’t taking care of the drink situation.

  Almost as if he had read her mind, Hadley said in an apologetic tone, “The beverage of choice seems to be coffee, and I’m afraid you’ll have to put up with my attempts at using the coffeemaker. My housekeeper has come down with some kind of bug, and so I’m looking after myself temporarily.”

  “I’d be delighted to help,” Barbie said crossly. “I told you I’m very good at making coffee.”

  “I appreciate your offer,” Hadley said. “But I’ll manage. I’m not going to put my guests to work. My mother would be spinning in her grave at the very thought.” He flashed a brief smile. “I’ll be back soon.” He headed out the door.

  An’gel wished she could go after him and try to get a few private words in the kitchen, but she knew that wouldn’t fly. Instead she glanced around at her fellow guests. Reba appeared to be disgruntled over something, and An’gel suspected it was because she wasn’t the center of Hadley’s attention. Martin had his eyes fixated on his cell phone. Barbie also wasn’t happy, but Lottie seemed to be in her own little world, as she often was.

  “Hadley mentioned that there was good news about Arliss,” An’gel said to break the silence. “Did one of you go by the hospital?”

  “I did,” Lottie said. “The sister and her husband were there, and I talked to them for a few minutes. I really would have loved to see Arliss, but they wouldn’t let me.” Lottie sighed. “She must feel terribly alone in that hospital room.”

  “She’s in a coma,” Reba said. “Has no idea where she is.”

  Lottie gazed at Reba for a moment. “You’re right. I guess I forgot about that.” Her gaze moved on from Reba and seemed to focus on the shelves above Reba’s head.

  An’gel wondered sometimes whether Lottie’s occasional scatterbrained episodes were real or feigned. She suspected the latter. Lottie had an odd sense of humor, and An’gel wouldn’t put it past her to behave like a ditz simply for the amusement value it afforded her.

  “What brought you and Martin here?” An’gel asked Reba. “Were you dying to see the inside of Ashton Hall also?”

  Reba cast a withering glance in Lottie’s direction. “I know perfectly well what the inside of this house looks like. I visited Hamish regularly over the years, much more often than anyone else.”

  “I suppose you knew his housekeeper then?” An’gel asked.

  “Of course. I’ve known Thomasina Turnipseed for years,” Reba said.

  Martin giggled suddenly. “Thomasina Turnipseed. Thomasina Turnipseed. What a name.” He went back to staring at his phone.

  Reba appeared not to notice her son’s interruption. “Thomasina took excellent care of Hamish over the years. Why are you asking about her, An’gel? Don’t you know her?”

  “Not really,” An’gel said. “Years ago Hamish rebuffed our attempts to visit him, and finally Dickce and I stopped trying. I hadn’t seen Mrs. Turnipseed in over thirty years, I suppose, until the other day.”

  An’gel felt a sudden tension in the room, and she glanced quickly at each face in turn. She could read nothing in anyone’s expression, however.

  “You saw Thomasina?” Reba asked.

  An’gel nodded. “Dickce and I wanted to consult her about something. Oddly enough, though, since we talked to her, she seems to have disappeared.” She checked for reactions to that statement, and though she once again felt tension, she couldn’t identify the source.

  “Disappeared?” Barbie frowned. “What do you mean, disappeared? Did she run off with some man?”

  An’gel
shrugged. “All I know is that the police wanted to talk to her about the remains found here, and when they went to her house, she was gone. Nobody seems to know where she is.”

  Reba frowned. “She has no family to speak of since her sister died. There’s a nephew, but he’s most likely in prison still. Or again.” Her lips contorted in a grimace. “He’s a terrible man. I don’t think Thomasina had anything to do with him, though.”

  “You must know her pretty well, to know all that,” Lottie said.

  “Her mother worked for us when I was growing up. Thomasina was younger than I, but I saw her frequently over the years until her mother passed away. And of course when she came here to work for Mrs. Partridge.”

  “Who are you all talking about?” Hadley asked from the doorway. He pushed a serving cart in front of him. Barbie hopped up to help him, and he rewarded her with a brief smile.

  “Mrs. Turnipseed,” An’gel said.

  Hadley frowned. “Why on earth are you talking about her? Dreadful woman. Hamish gave her a lot of Mother’s furniture for some reason, and I’m not happy about that.” He poured a cup of coffee and handed it to Reba. “He could have given her plenty of other things to thank her for all her years of service here. Mother wasn’t that fond of Mrs. Turnipseed, even though she was an exemplary housekeeper.”

  “That’s terrible.” Barbie passed coffee to Lottie. “Why would he do such a thing?”

  “Because he knew it would make me angry, I expect.” Hadley shrugged. “I was Mother’s favorite, he was our father’s.” He brought An’gel her coffee. For Martin he had a chilled can of soda.

  Hadley picked up his own cup and sat on the sofa next to Barbie, who scooted over toward Lottie to make room for him. Lottie frowned.

  An’gel had her own ideas about why Mrs. Turnipseed had ended up with the late Mrs. Partridge’s furniture, but she wasn’t about to share them with the group. Especially when she figured one of them was a murderer.

  She wondered if she had done the right thing in mentioning Mrs. Turnipseed’s supposed disappearance. One person in this room might know exactly where the housekeeper was right now. Or be impatient to track her down, if she had indeed fled of her own accord. An’gel hoped it was the latter. That would mean the woman was still alive and unharmed.

  “I still think it was an awful thing for your brother to do.” Barbie patted Hadley’s knee.

  Reba fixed Barbie with a withering stare. “Hamish had a perfect right to dispose of his property any way he saw fit.”

  An’gel was startled by Reba’s vehement statement. Had Reba nourished an unrequited passion for Hamish? That was an interesting thought. If she had been as attentive to Hamish over the years as she claimed, she might have hoped to become the second Mrs. Hamish Partridge.

  Had she now set her sights on Hadley? An’gel regarded her friend surreptitiously but she couldn’t tell whether Reba was focused on Hadley or Barbie at the moment. She would have to be more observant.

  “Yes, he did,” Hadley said. “The only thing he couldn’t dispose of as he wished was the house itself. By the terms of my father’s will, if Hamish predeceased me without children, Ashton Hall came to me.”

  “As it should have,” Barbie said. “Your father was obviously determined to keep Ashton Hall in the family.”

  “It’s a pity, though, you don’t have a child to leave it to.” Lottie held out her cup for more coffee.

  “Sadly, no, I don’t,” Hadley said. “I will have to make other arrangements.”

  An’gel heard the sadness behind his words, and she felt for him.

  “You could always marry a woman with children,” Lottie said.

  Hadley looked pained at the notion, An’gel could see, and she didn’t blame him. Lottie really was thoughtless sometimes.

  “Don’t be ridiculous, Lottie,” Barbie said.

  An’gel glanced at Reba and noticed an odd gleam in her eyes. An’gel had the strangest feeling, suddenly, that Reba wanted Ashton Hall for Martin.

  Then she scolded herself for having such an absurd thought. Even if Reba somehow maneuvered Hadley into marriage, she doubted he would ever leave his family home to Martin Dalrymple. The house could fall down around Martin and he would never notice. Or care, An’gel suspected. Reba would have to be slightly deranged even to think such a plan could have any hope of success.

  An’gel heard chimes that sounded like a cell phone. She knew it wasn’t hers. The phone continued to chime. Hadley stood and reached into his pants pocket and retrieved his phone. He glanced at the screen and frowned. He appeared to hesitate, then put the phone back in his pocket.

  “Excuse me, ladies,” he said, “and gentleman. I’m sorry to have to do this, but an urgent task has come up that I need to take care of. I hate cutting our visit short, but I really have no choice.”

  “We certainly understand,” An’gel said. She set her coffee cup on the tray. “These things happen. We’ll get out of your way, won’t we, girls?”

  “Sure,” Barbie said. “Come on, Lottie.”

  “Come along, Martin.” Reba stood and glared at them all. An’gel could tell she wasn’t happy about this turn of events.

  An’gel wasn’t happy either. She was annoyed with the other women for showing up unannounced and interfering with her plans to talk to Hadley about the past. She was also annoyed with Hadley, because she suspected he had arranged this to get rid of them all. He had been gone long enough making coffee to have asked someone to text him with an urgent task.

  The other women and Martin preceded An’gel out of the library and down the hall to the front door.

  “An’gel, hang on a moment,” Hadley said in a low voice. “Can you stay behind until the others leave?”

  An’gel nodded. She remained where she was while Hadley passed her to see the others out. Reba and Martin disappeared through the door. Barbie and Lottie were discussing something on the verandah, then An’gel heard Barbie call out Reba’s name. At that point Hadley shut the door and walked back to her.

  Before he could speak, there was a massive crash of thunder, and the rain came pounding down. An’gel was glad she had thought to bring an umbrella with her.

  “I hope they all made it into their cars before the rain started,” she said. “Though it would serve them right if they got wet.”

  Hadley smiled. “For showing up unannounced, you mean.” He laughed when An’gel nodded. “You are wicked, An’gel, but that’s one of the reasons I adore you.”

  An’gel felt uneasy at those words. Then she realized Hadley didn’t mean them as a declaration. “Why did you ask me to stay behind?”

  “I wanted to apologize for not being able to talk this afternoon,” Hadley said. “With all of them here there was no way we could have a private conversation. And since something’s come up that I need to deal with, I’m afraid I can’t talk now that they’ve gone. I hope you understand.”

  “Certainly,” An’gel said, though she still suspected that the situation he needed to deal with was manufactured to get rid of them all. “We do need to talk, though, and soon.”

  “I promise we’ll have time to talk,” Hadley said as he escorted her to the door. “Perhaps tomorrow.” He opened the door and peered out. “I hate to send you out in this.”

  An’gel looked outside. The rain seemed heavy, but the walk to her car was short, and she had an umbrella. “I’ll be fine. It’s only a short drive.”

  “If you’re sure.” Hadley gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. As soon as she was out on the verandah, he shut the door behind her.

  She grimaced at the closed door, then unfurled her umbrella. She managed to make it into the car without getting too damp, although the umbrella dripped on her. She sat in the car for a moment and watched the rain. The highway would be slick, but as she had said to Hadley, it was only a short drive.

  She drove
slowly, the windshield wipers on high, until she reached the end of the driveway. Visibility wasn’t great, but she couldn’t see any traffic on the highway. She turned onto it and drove toward home.

  She was perhaps a hundred feet from the driveway to Riverhill when she felt an impact from behind, and her car went into a skid on the wet road.

  CHAPTER 25

  Coriander Simpson was dead.

  For a moment Dickce couldn’t take it in. She realized she should have considered the possibility, but she was shocked nevertheless.

  “I’m so sorry for your loss,” she said after a moment. “I had no idea.”

  “Thank you.” Mrs. Simpson sighed. “So long ago, but sometimes it feels like just yesterday we got the news.” She kept stroking Peanut’s head, and he stared at her with his most soulful gaze. Dickce thought her hostess drew comfort from the dog’s presence.

  “Do you mind if I ask what happened?” Dickce said.

  “Not at all,” Mrs. Simpson replied. “I don’t rightly know the details, but I can tell what I do know.” She leaned forward in her chair and twisted her upper body so she could face the door. “Where is that child?” She raised her voice. “Monique, honey, where are you?”

  “I’m coming,” Monique answered, evidently from the hallway, Dickce decided, because the words were pretty clear. A moment later Monique came into the room at a slow pace, her attention focused on the tall glass of iced tea she held. She walked up to Dickce. “This is for you, ma’am. I’m going back to get Great-granny’s tea.”

  “Thank you, Monique,” Dickce said as she accepted the glass. She was grateful that Peanut remained by Mrs. Simpson’s side. She had feared he would, in his puppy-like enthusiasm, bound over to Monique and have tea and glass going everywhere.

  The child giggled before she scampered out of the room.

  “What a precious child,” Dickce said.

  “She is that,” Mrs. Simpson said. “Now you go on and drink your tea. Monique will be back soon with mine.”