Mabel, Murder, & Muffins

by Sharon Mierke

  He stood up. “We’ll feel stupid if Maxymowich already knows this, Mabel, but I’m going to go ahead anyway.”

  “Who cares if he knows? This is our own private investigation. Did you tell him about my call from Sally?” I asked.

  “Are you kidding? Trying to get in to see him is like trying to get through security at the airport. You know what that’s like. Besides, they’re more interested in breaking up a gambling ring than worrying about a murder. At least, that’s my opinion.”

  Reg left and I got ready for work. Flori phoned and said she’d bring some fresh cinnamon buns over to the shop for our coffee break. I never argue with that.

  It was a cold miserable day with on and off rain so there were very few customers. The weather governs people’s lives in Parson’s Cove. They smile when the sun shines and tend to spend money but they growl and hoard when it doesn’t.

  It was past four in the afternoon when Reg finally walked into the store. I’d almost given up hope but he looked like he’d gotten a new lease on life. At least, the furrow between his eyebrows wasn’t quite as deep.

  “Mabel,” he said, after he’d looked around to make sure we were alone. “I found something very interesting out.” He brought out his little black notebook. “Ralph Murphy never stayed on that plane either. He was lying. The only ones who boarded for Houston were Hatcher, Andrea Williams, and Sally Goodrich, and they were not on the flight they were supposed to be on either. ”

  “Really? How long were they in Denver then?”

  “Long enough for one of them to kill Grace but not long enough to dump the body in Parson’s Cove and get back in time.”

  “Unless, of course, they had someone do it for them. Don’t forget, Reg, we’re dealing with an organized crime group. I imagine they have ‘friends’ all over the country.”

  “You’re right and that would definitely remove whoever did it, as a suspect.”

  “Okay, so if Hatcher didn’t kill her, he would be really worried, wouldn’t he? When he was talking to that Mexican in Cecile’s house, he must’ve been almost out of his mind, wondering where the heck she was. After all, she’d disappeared with the money. Do you think they took a later flight because they couldn’t find Grace?”

  “That would depend if they were all together. I mean, Mabel, let’s face it, Hatcher could’ve been off by himself and the two women could’ve been together. Maybe they decided they wanted to tour around Denver so decided to take another flight.”

  “Tour Denver? After being in Las Vegas? I don’t think so. No, if Hatcher didn’t kill Grace that means, it had to be either Sally or Andrea.”

  “I thought you said it couldn’t be Sally because she wouldn’t have a motive.”

  “So, that leaves Andrea. However, she’s the one who made the phone call to Grace at Cecile’s house when I was there. Grace obviously gave her that phone number and must have wanted to keep in touch. Unless, it was for the other Grace…” I shook my head. My brain felt full of cobwebs. “This is just my gut feeling, Reg, but I’d swear that when she was standing with the gun pointed at me, she looked shocked to hear that Grace was dead. I don’t know but I’m beginning to think perhaps, I can’t rely on my intuition every time.”

  “Mabel, I never rely on your intuition.”

  “Thanks, Reg.”

  “Do you think Ralph knew about this money?”

  I shook my head. “I can’t see it. But, maybe he found out somehow. He was never around Andrea or Grace much. I don’t know, Reg, he’s such a klutz. You know what I mean? I would think the only reason he wouldn’t get on the plane would be if he thought Sally wasn’t getting on. That man has only one thing on his mind.”

  “What if he found out about the money and thought if he stole it, this Sally would be more interested?”

  “I suppose that could solve the lost money but it wouldn’t explain the murder. I think if Ralph saw blood, he’d probably faint.”

  “Okay, I guess our next move is to talk to this character and find out why he lied to you.”

  I nodded. “And, why he didn’t stay in Parson’s Cove and come back to see me like he said he would. He’s turning out to be quite the liar, isn’t he?”

  “I have a feeling he knows a lot more than he let on to you, Mabel. Any idea how I can track him down?”

  “I know he has a son going to college. He might know where his dad is. Seems to me the college wasn’t all that far from here either if I remember correctly. Let me think…” I closed my eyes and tried to dredge it back up. “Seems to me it started with an S. Sanford? Stanford? Something like that.”

  “The only college starting with an S that’s not too far from here is Stelling College and that’s about a five-hour drive away.”

  “That could be it. I wish my memory were better. You could phone and check though. I don’t know his son’s first name but how many Murphy’s would there be there?”

  Reg put his notepad back into his pocket, slapped his cap back on and said, “I’ll get back to you. While I’m doing that, Mabel, why don’t you sit down and write up a little profile on each person on that trip?”

  “Why?”

  “Do I have to say, because I said so?”

  “Gottcha. I’m going to close up now so you can reach me at home.”

  I locked the front door and walked home in the rain. During the last windy rainstorm we’d had, my umbrella decided to turn itself inside out, so I wrapped my old windbreaker around me and let the rain fall where it may. Two delinquent cats were sitting on my back step when I rounded the corner. They resembled two large smelly wet rats and their moods were as foul as the weather.

  “All right,” I said. “You don’t have to give me that look of disgust. I walked home in the rain and I’m wet too.” I opened the door a crack and they burst through. Neither one talked to me for the whole evening. Of course, when you have a few scattered around the house, it’s almost a blessing when a couple of them remain mute.

  Chapter Thirty Four

  “What’s that awful smell in here?” Flori asked. She’d phoned to see if she could come over for the evening. Jake was entertaining some of his drinking buddies and she grew tired of reprimanding them every time they said a filthy word.

  “Why didn’t you get Jake to speak to them?” I asked.

  “Hummph,” she said. “He’s worse than the rest.” She put her nose in the air and sniffed. “What stinks, Mabel?”

  “It’s those two,” I said, pointing to the two pouty cats, hiding under my mother’s china cabinet. “They didn’t come in this morning when I left for work so I left them out all day.”

  I’m sure Flori didn’t approve of my disciplinary action but she didn’t say anything. We have a rule: I don’t complain about how she trains her children and she doesn’t find fault with how I train my cats.

  “You want a glass of wine, Flori?”

  “If you still have some of Sadie’s chokecherry.”

  “Believe it or not, I still have a few bottles. I don't know what I'll do when they're gone. Surely, some of my customers must make homemade wine. I'll have to start asking around.” I went into the pantry and brought out a bottle. I almost enjoy the containers that Sadie used as much as the wine. Anything that had a cork in it, she filled with her chokecherry wine. This one was an old barbeque sauce bottle. The label read Ye Olde Hotsauce. That was such an accurate description of the contents. I might find another wine maker but none could ever replace Sadie MacIntosh. She always brought in jams and jellies to sell but sadly no one ever bought them. I didn't want to hurt the old gal's feelings so I would buy them all up myself and figured with all the free wine she gave me, I came out even.

  Flori and I sat and drank our first glass without too much conversation. Definitely, a drink meant for savoring. And a moment to remember Sadie.

  “So,” Flori said, “how’s the investigation going? Did Reg get back to you or was he just trying to appease you?”

  “No, he got back to me
. You won’t believe this but good old Ralph was lying to us. He never got back on that plane. And, you know what else Reg found out? The others didn’t get on when they were supposed to either. Can you believe that?”

  “I’ll believe anything. Especially, after I have another glass of wine.”

  “You’re supposed to sip wine. Not guzzle.” I reached over and filled her glass.

  “Thank you, Mabel. Okay, what were you saying about the plane?”

  “None of them got on the plane when they were supposed to and Ralph didn’t get on at all. What do you make of that?”

  She took a mouthful, swished it around, and swallowed. If she had any idea how it looked, she would never do it again.

  “I’d say that means that any one of them could’ve killed that nice undercover police lady cop, Grace. Or, what was her other name? Andrea?”

  “Don’t ask for any more wine, Flori. You’re starting to get tipsy.”

  “I am not.” She cleared her throat. “Isn’t that what it means? Any of them could have killed her?”

  I nodded. “I guess so. But why? There has to be a motive.”

  “Of course, and even in my drunken state, I know what the motive was. It was money. Or, love. People kill for either love or money. There are no other reasons.”

  “Or self-defense.”

  “Well, yes, but that’s not the case here.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because Grace was a cop. She wouldn’t try to murder someone, would she? So, there would be no reason for someone to be defending herself against her.”

  “I guess you’re right. Why did you say ‘herself?’”

  “What do you mean? Herself?”

  “Why do you think a woman killed her?”

  Flori took another mouthful, swished, swallowed, and thought.

  “I guess because I can’t see a man wanting to kill a woman. It just doesn’t seem right.”

  “It doesn’t seem right for anyone to kill anyone.”

  “Oh well, that goes without saying, but you know what I mean. I think it was another woman.”

  “You think Andrea could’ve killed her?”

  “Without blinking an eye.”

  I refilled my glass. Somehow, I could see Andrea doing it without blinking an eye too.

  “Did you tell Reg about the phone call? That you know who it was now?”

  “Yes, I told him. There’s another mystery. Where did Sally disappear to after she came to Parson’s Cove?”

  “You know, Mabel, I was thinking. Who says she came to Parson’s Cove? People do make long distant phone calls.”

  I sat and stared at her. Now, why hadn’t I thought of that? Of course, she could have phoned from anywhere. It just sounded like she must be in Parson's Cove. She might have only wanted to speak to me; not see me in person. For all I knew, she could have phoned from Yellow Rose.

  “Flori, that’s brilliant. You should stay perpetually wasted.”

  “Oh, for Pete’s sake, I’m not wasted,” she roared and fell back into the chair, laughing. Her wine spilled all down the front of her blouse.

  I went into the kitchen for a wet cloth to dab the wine stain, and to grab the box of tissues for her nose and eyes.

  When things had calmed down a bit, I said, “There has to be a way to check that out, isn’t there? The telephone company would know where your calls came from.”

  “Of course, they do, Mabel.”

  I poured the last of the wine into our glasses. Finally, we would be able to solve part of the mystery. Still, not the murder but, at least, the case of the missing person. This was information I would not share with Ralph. I was very upset with Mr. Murphy.

  Chapter Thirty Five

  I was barely out of my housecoat when Reg banged on my door the next morning. The cats raced to the back entrance with their tails standing straight up and squawking as if I’d been keeping them in servitude for years.

  “You cats are worse than a pack of dogs,” I said, as they clamored to reach their escape route before I did. The door opened three inches and they were gone.

  “What’s wrong with those felines of yours?” Reg asked as he stood on the step and watched them disappear into hedges and under fences.

  “This,” I said, “is what happens when we have one day of rain. I don’t even want to think what they’d do if it rained for two weeks.”

  “They’d probably murder you.” He walked into the kitchen, picked up a clean cup out of my dish rack, and poured himself a cup of coffee. After sniffing it and apparently, approving of it, he opened the fridge, took out the carton of half-and-half, and measured just the right amount into his coffee. He then reached into the cupboard, removed my sugar bowl, carefully filled the sugar spoon three times and proceeded to stir.

  “Thanks for getting my sugar spoon all wet,” I said.

  “Speaking of murder,” he said, as if he hadn’t heard me at all, “I have some more news to share.”

  “Aw,” said I. “I also have some news to share.”

  Reg sat down at the table, took a big swig of coffee, swallowed, and said, “Really? What could you have dug up overnight?”

  “It was something Flori said. You know Sally’s phone call? How we just took it for granted that she was here in Parson’s Cove? Well, she might not have been. It could easily have been a long distance call. I’m going to check with the phone company to see if they can tell me where the call came from. I mean, the call was for me so I should be able to get that information. So, what’s your news Reg?”

  “I found Ralph’s son.”

  “No way.”

  “Yep. You were right about the college. He’s at Stelling College.”

  “So what did you find out? Does he know where his dad is?”

  Reg stopped and took a drink.

  “You don’t have to stop to drink, Reg. Tell me what he said.”

  “Yes, I do have to stop. It’s the perfect temperature right now.”

  He took another swallow just to irritate me.

  “He gave me his dad’s cell number and his home address. Other than that, Daniel has no idea where he might be. He said his dad has contacted him only once since he got back from the trip. From the sounds of it, I’d say he’s not too close with his pa.”

  “So? What did Ralph have to say?”

  “I’ve called several times but he’s got his phone turned off.”

  “What about Captain Maxymowich? Did he already talk to Ralph's son?”

  “Nope. I asked the lad and he said nobody talked to him. He didn’t know anything about the murder at all. He said he took it for granted that his dad was phoning from home but he couldn’t say for sure.”

  “I guess he could be home then, couldn’t he?”

  Reg nodded. “I’ll keep trying his cell. The last time I phoned, I left a message. Gave my number and your number and asked him to call.”

  “Did you say why you wanted to talk to him? You don’t want to scare him off, Reg.”

  “I know that, Mabel. I said that you were worried because you didn’t know where he was. That you were really nervous after the murder and wanted to know if he was okay.”

  I laughed. “I’m sure that will have him calling in right away.” I took my coffee and sat across from Reg. “You want a rhubarb pecan muffin?”

  “Sure took you long enough to ask.”

  The Sheriff was on his second muffin when Flori burst through the door.

  “Did you find out where Sally is?” she asked. Her face was red and she was out of breath. At least, she was dressed. She had on her coral pink pantsuit with matching headband. In fact, she’d even taken the time to put on makeup.

  “You must really want to know if you don’t even say hello first, Flori. And, by the way, you look like a big spring flower today.”

  “Why thank you, Mabel. Although I don’t know if I like the word ‘big.’” She stood with her hands on her hips. “Well?”

  “I haven’t phoned yet
. Sit down and I’ll bring you some coffee. Want a muffin?” I didn’t wait for an answer. Flori says ‘no’ but always has one so I put two in the microwave. Reg was almost finished his second one. “Reg has news. He has Ralph’s cell number and his home address.” I plopped the muffin on a plate and poured coffee for her. “He left a message for Ralph to phone either him or me.” I took a swallow of my tepid coffee and smiled. “So, don’t you think we’ve made some progress?”

  Flori shrugged. “I’ll feel better when I know where those two are.” Her eyes filled with tears. “I dreamt last night that Sally was dead.” She reached down the front of her coral pink top and took a tissue out to wipe her eyes and nose.

  “Flori,” I said. “Do not put that soggy tissue back in your bra. My goodness, can’t you buy clothes with pockets. Look how you’re embarrassing Reg.”

  Reg, however, was carefully removing the mushroom shaped top off one of the extra muffins I’d left on the table and apparently hadn’t heard or seen anything.

  He looked up when he saw us watching him and said, “All right, if you want me to contact the telephone company, I will.”

  Easy to tell Reg is a married man.

  Chapter Thirty Six

  It was Monday morning and even though it wasn’t eight yet, the sun was high over the horizon. Only one day of rain and what a difference - the grass had turned from dusty brown to emerald green and flowers, once drooping, were lifting their heads heavenward again. It was a wonderful day not to have to go to work.

  It has been a few years since I made the announcement, I was going to take every Monday off. It was one of the better decisions that I've made in my life. It makes me feel like I have a long weekend every weekend. There was really no reason to stay open that day anyway. The only reason I always went was that I didn’t know what else to do. If I were going to sit in the store all day and do nothing, I might as well sit at home and do nothing. Flori did find it upsetting at first because she was so used to coming and having her morning coffee with me or as a second thought, maybe there was something wrong with me. Of course, she as well as all the other folks in Parson's Cove grew used to the idea and before you knew it, other establishments were doing the same until eventually Monday was a day everything on Main Street remained closed except for the Post Office and Main Street Café.