Miles winced at the mention of Tippy’s absence, which apparently brought to mind the general debauchery of the book club meeting.
Rose’s eyes were huge in her face. Then she blurted, “I’m wondering if Edward might have done it. Oh, I don’t know! That sounds so wicked to say that I can’t even believe that the words left my mouth! Don’t listen to me. I haven’t slept for days and I don’t know what I’m saying.”
Myrtle said gently, “But sometimes that’s when the truth is easier to discern. Something must have made you say that. What was it?”
Rose glanced around her fearfully as if Edward might be lurking in a pew somewhere. Then she said, “He and Nell had a huge argument recently. Nell was really upset about it and didn’t want to see Edward at all. I mean, it was just a tiff, but her feelings were definitely hurt.”
“Any idea what they might have been arguing about?” asked Miles.
Rose sighed. “Edward wanted to marry Nell and Nell wanted to stay independent. Nell always said that she had no intention of marrying. She liked doing things her own way and she could be very hardheaded.”
Miles said, “Well, after spending so many years by herself, it would be hard to try to adjust your schedule to someone else’s.”
Rose nodded. “There’s that. And Nell liked her house just-so. She didn’t like the idea of Edward coming in and leaving newspapers on the floor or taking off his socks and not putting them in the hamper. She just preferred to be by herself and not have someone living with her. She liked going out to see a matinee movie with Edward or to go out to lunch with him, but when all was said and done, she wanted to keep to herself.”
Myrtle said, “Makes sense to me. Who wants to train a man at this point in our lives? But Edward didn’t see it that way, apparently?”
Rose shook her head. “I guess that’s one thing that they both had in common—being hardheaded. Edward was determined to convince Nell that she needed to marry him. He told her that they’d have this wonderful, romantic life together and could travel and stuff.”
Myrtle said, “I’ve never noticed Nell going on too many trips. She seems like a homebody to me.”
“That’s exactly it. She likes to stay at home, or at least in Bradley. She volunteers at the church and then she tinkers around her house. She had quite a routine, and she wasn’t going to be convinced by Edward to make changes,” said Rose.
Miles said slowly, “He seemed really devoted to Nell. But is he the kind of guy who could lose his temper and commit murder simply by being frustrated?”
Rose shrugged, looking uncomfortable. “I don’t know what to say to that. I really don’t want to get Edward into any trouble. There isn’t any hard evidence or anything like that, either. Just a gut feeling. My gut says maybe.”
Myrtle decided that Rose’s gut was decidedly wishy-washy.
Seeing Myrtle’s steady gaze, Rose elaborated weakly, “Edward did lose his temper at the family dinner when Mama announced her book was finished and ready for editing.”
Myrtle pressed her lips together. Clearly there would be no more forthcoming information regarding Edward since they’d known about Edward’s blow-up at dinner since the very beginning. She said instead, feeling that the element of surprise could be on her side, “On another subject, I heard from Red about what happened at your father’s house last night. I’m just so sorry.”
Rose trembled. “I know. I don’t know what happened. We all thought that Tara had run away from home.” She shook her head and said almost to herself. “I feel terrible. Like it’s my fault.”
Myrtle said gently, “Well, I remember teaching young Tara, and I thought at the time that she wasn’t much of a candidate for running away. She was a high-performing student who seemed to have friends and a very stable home life.”
Rose said in a broken voice, “The worst thing is that she and I argued the night she disappeared. I hate that was the last time I ever saw her.”
Myrtle noticed that Hubert was looking their way with narrowed eyes. But she also noticed that he was talking with Erma Sherman. And Erma, for all her many faults, was impossible to get away from.
Myrtle continued, “It was high school, Rose. These kinds of arguments happen in high school because half the population is petty and the other half likes drama. Do you remember what the argument was about?”
Rose took a deep, shaky breath and then moistened her lips. She said, “Nothing. It was about nothing. I didn’t get on the cheer squad and Tara did. That’s all. Petty, like you said.”
Miles glanced at Myrtle and gave a small shrug. It sounded like the type of argument a teenage girl might have.
Myrtle said slowly, “I heard that Boone wanted to date Tara and was rebuffed. I remember how close you and your brother were back then. You weren’t upset with Tara over not dating Boone, were you?”
Rose’s face again streaked with color.
Bingo, thought Myrtle.
She stuttered, “Nope, it was just a silly argument. I wish it hadn’t happened now and I’m so, so sorry that she’s dead. Miss Myrtle, I need to go now and get ready for the funeral reception.”
With that, she bolted for the sanctuary door that led out to the restrooms.
Myrtle gave Miles a look. Miles murmured, “Let’s talk about it when we leave.”
As they turned around, Boone Epps called out in a jaunty voice that didn’t fit their surroundings, “Hey, Miss Myrtle! You gonna keep that car or you wanna trade it for something else? You know that I won’t be happy until you’re happy.”
Myrtle saw Red glaring across the church.
Myrtle smiled broadly at him. “I hate to bother you on a day like this, Boone.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Don’t worry about that! A man’s gotta eat, right? I’m going to work right after we’re done with the funeral today. Believe me, I need the distraction and work is the perfect distraction . . . unless we’re too quiet.”
Hubert interjected, “He’s at that dealership all the time. Very, very early in the morning and very late at night.”
Myrtle said, “I completely understand. In that case, I’ll see you this afternoon.”
Myrtle hopped in the car with Miles. “Well, what did you think of that?”
Miles said, “I thought it was the most unnecessarily long funeral service I’ve ever had to sit through. I’m glad Rose won’t repeat it with Nell. And I’m delighted you don’t want to go to the reception.”
“Did I say that?” asked Myrtle, frowning. “I believe I simply said that we wouldn’t be able to talk with the family at the reception.”
“If you skip the reception,” said Miles in a desperate tone, “then I will pay for your lunch.”
Myrtle swung around in the front seat. “Really? Will you? I don’t think you’ve ever paid for my lunch, Miles.”
“Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures,” said Miles grimly. He paused. “I’m assuming that you’ll take advantage of this situation by choosing a nice restaurant?”
“Certainly not! I’m still craving the Bo’s Diner special. Let’s go there. It’ll be completely dead since the entire town appears to be at the funeral reception,” said Myrtle.
It was, indeed, dead there as they discovered minutes later. They found a parking spot right in the front and walked right to a table. They were served in no time as the whole staff seemed to have been waiting on them to arrive, thrilled to have something to do.
“Now,” said Myrtle, pushing back her empty plate. “On to the Rose revelation.”
Miles frowned and took a last bite of his three-bean salad. “Remind me what the Rose revelation was again? I’d gotten the impression that she was fibbing during our conversation.”
“Precisely! She acted as if she and Tara had been arguing over the cheer squad,” said Myrtle with a snort.
Miles shrugged. “It sounded like a perfectly reasonable explanation to me, considering what little I remember of high school. High school was definitely a pla
ce where cheerleading was a big deal.”
“A big deal to some people. It probably was a big deal in terms of status to Boone. But Rose never cared a bit about cheerleading. She wasn’t the most coordinated of girls. Rose was never on the cheer squad and I don’t think she likely ever even tried out. Did you notice how Rose changed color when I mentioned the possibility that the argument was over Boone’s hope to date Tara? I thought Rose would pass out for a moment,” said Myrtle.
Miles said, “So Boone and Rose were close enough back then that Rose cared who he dated? They don’t seem that close now.”
“Now they’re both adults and have different lives. But Boone still seems rather protective of Rose.”
Miles said, “Not as much as Hubert is protective of her.”
Myrtle said, “The secrets are causing the problems, don’t you see? Pearl was right. This family has too many secrets and too many alliances. It’s far too complex.” She glanced at her watch. “Do you think the reception is over now and we can go to the car dealership to see Boone? Or should we linger here some more?”
Miles groaned. “The dealership again. Now what, Myrtle? A yellow car?”
“Don’t be silly. I’ve decided that I don’t want a car after all.”
“What?” Miles’s eyes were big.
“That’s right. Who wants the trouble? Gas prices are up and down all the time. I’d have to worry about oil changes and tire rotations and flats. No, it’s much better to ask others for rides. And now Red is aware of the situation and may clear his calendar better to provide me with trips to the store. I’ll tell Boone that and thank him for his time,” said Myrtle.
“Now that you got the reaction from Red that you wanted?” asked Miles, rolling his eyes.
“He deserved it. He acts as if I’m incapable of doing anything. It’s all very annoying,” said Myrtle.
Miles said, “My only suggestion? Don’t tell Boone that you’re not buying a car until after we’ve finished talking with him.”
Myrtle wagged a finger at him. “Good point. Besides, I have a plan. First off, let’s get the black car and I’ll follow you over to the dealership to return it.”
Chapter Nineteen
THE CAR DEALERSHIP was as dead as the diner had been with most of the town apparently taking naps after all the food at the funeral reception. As Boone had promised, however, he was there. He spotted them from the showroom and raised a hand in greeting.
Miles sighed. “I’m not really looking forward to this.”
“We simply need to find more information now that Tara’s body has been found. It’s not that big of a deal,” said Myrtle.
“He didn’t seem very big on disclosing information last time,” said Miles.
“Well, now a body has been found on his father’s property. A property where Boone used to live. And it’s the body of a girl that Boone had a big crush on. He should expect some questions about it,” said Myrtle. She saw Miles make a face. “Just pretend to be on your phone if you get uncomfortable this time. You don’t have to be part of our conversation.”
“Miss Myrtle!” Boone swept up to her and gave her a peck on the cheek. “Thank you so much for coming to Mama’s service today. You know she would have appreciated you being there.”
“Where else would I have been?” asked Myrtle. “Your mama was a dear, sweet lady. Of course I wanted to be there to show my respect for her.”
Boone clapped his hands together. “Now, on to business. What are we going to do about the car?”
Miles looked anxiously at Myrtle. Myrtle, who hadn’t expected Boone to lead with the car thing immediately, quickly said, “We’re going to all be irritated at Red. Red doesn’t want me to have a car and he’s been hassling me about it since I started test-driving different models. Yes, it’s all Red’s fault.”
Miles hid a smile. Throwing Red under the bus was probably the best option. After all, it was the truth that he didn’t want Myrtle to own a car, even if Myrtle wouldn’t have let that stop her if she’d really wanted one. And considering the fact that Boone was a murder suspect several times over, Boone wasn’t likely to confront Red over the matter.
Boone made a face. “Aw. I’m sorry to hear that, Miss M. It sure don’t seem fair. Doesn’t seem fair,” he corrected hastily. “But I totally understand.”
Now he was looking up at the showroom again as if wanting very much to be back up there and continuing whatever it was that he’d been doing.
Myrtle said, “What’s not fair is what your family is going through. It sure seems like when it rains, it pours, doesn’t it? First your mother, then your aunt, and now poor Tara.”
Miles pulled his phone out and started messing with various apps.
Boone got very still for a couple of seconds as if trying to decide what was the right response. He finally said, “Reckon you heard about that from Red. But we don’t know whose body it is. For all we know, it could be some sort of historical discovery from two hundred years ago.”
“Red didn’t seem to think so. No, it sounded as if the body belonged to that poor girl.” Myrtle paused. She tilted her head to one side as if trying to dredge up an old memory. “Now, that was a long time ago but do I remember correctly that you used to date her?”
Boone shook his head and gave a short laugh. “Nope. You’ve gotten me mixed up with some other student, Miss Myrtle. Tara and I never did go out. In fact, Tara looked down her nose at most boys. She thought we were all uncouth. Maybe we were. Anyway, she was more into her cheerleading and her Future Business Leaders of America club and whatever else smart-kid stuff she was doing. If it is Tara in Dad’s yard, I don’t have a clue what she’s doing there.”
Miles said, “But wasn’t she at your party?”
For a moment, Boone’s expression was unguarded and he shot an annoyed look at Miles. Miles quickly toyed with his phone again.
Myrtle said, “Good point, Miles. Shouldn’t you have known what she’s doing there if she ended up in your dad’s yard the night of your party?”
Boone was already backing up and moving toward the showroom and offices. “I had lots of parties, y’all. Mama and Daddy went out of town every chance they got back then. Maybe I wasn’t so well-supervised, you know? You should take that up with Daddy. Now I understand about the car, Miss M, but now that we know we’re done, I gotta take care of some business that really might lead to a sale. See you later.” In his haste to get away, he dropped a pen that he was carrying and Miles stooped to pick it up and handed it to him.
Myrtle and Miles got into Miles’s car. “All right,” said Myrtle. “Well, he was definitely not being helpful. He was, in fact, obfuscating.”
“Shouldn’t he be? Isn’t that the natural reaction when someone is hinting that you might be responsible for three deaths?” asked Miles as he drove away from the parking lot.
“You’d think he’d be more like his mother and realize that secrets aren’t healthy,” said Myrtle. She paused. “Where are you heading?”
“Home,” he said simply. “It’s time.”
“It’s time for us to talk to Hubert,” said Myrtle. “We can even stop by the store and pick up a quiche to bring with us. Because I’m going to keep Rose’s casserole for myself.”
“He has enough food to last him for weeks after that funeral reception. You know it must have been loaded with food.”
Myrtle said, “But the entire town was there. And the entire town eats a lot of food. He might be able to use a homemade quiche.”
“Homemade?”
“Homemade by somebody,” snapped Myrtle.
Miles said, “I think we should leave Hubert alone. He has had a rough twenty-four hours between finding a body found in his yard and the death of his wife. He probably wants to hide indoors and lick his wounds.”
“Precisely why we should visit him now. He’ll be off-balance and unguarded and may actually provide information about Tara or Pearl or Nell or all of them,” said Myrtle.
Mil
es shook his head. “I don’t want to. Plus, I’m starting to get a massive headache. The last thing I need is to go grocery shopping for quiches or harass widowers. Let’s go tomorrow morning. After a good night’s sleep, this headache should be gone.” He pulled up to Myrtle’s house. “Someone has been hard at work.”
And indeed, the yard was covered by Myrtle’s gnomes. Every inch of the front yard had a gnome in it.
Myrtle frowned. “Usually he doesn’t put them all in the front yard. Ordinarily, he’d scatter some of them in the side yards where they’re still visible.” Her eyes narrowed. “I have the sinking sensation that he’s trying to kill my grass so he doesn’t have to cut it.”
“Good luck with that,” said Miles. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Myrtle changed from her funeral clothes finally to something more casual. Then she took her cane and set off for a walk to clear her head and forget about dying grass and gnomes before she looked for something in the house to eat for supper. Besides, there was something she wanted to see at Hubert’s house.
When Myrtle walked up, she saw that Hubert was out in his yard watching a crew of state police going in and out of an incident tent they’d put over a portion of the yard. He raised a hand to wave at her as she stopped. It was the kind of wave you give when you really don’t think that the person is planning on coming over.
Myrtle was happy to defy expectations. She raised her hand in response and walked right up to join him.
“You’re having a very long day,” she said. She gestured to the team of police who appeared to be combing through a pile of dirt. “I’m sorry about all this.”
Hubert said, “I hate this, you know.” His eyes were bloodshot. “I didn’t sleep a wink last night with all the cops and dogs here. And it looks like tonight is going to be more of the same. The neighbors are trying not to look at my yard—at least, not so that I’m seeing them do it. I’m sure when they’re behind their curtains, they’re watching the show.”
Myrtle said, “It sure seemed like everyone at the funeral today was trying to speak with you.”
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