Kitty showed up thirty minutes later, shaking her head but wearing a grin. “How do you do it, Marla?” she asked as she retrieved an ice cream bar from the fridge.
“Do what?” Marla asked, taking the bait.
“All you had to do was buy some big bottles of water, take them to the pickleball match and serve it to whoever needed it. The next thing I know, you’re a suspect in a murder case. Not a fictional PI or even a real consulting investigator for the police. A suspect, like in they think you might’ve killed a woman. You can no longer accuse me of being the one whose life is topsy- turvy.”
“I take it you’ve met with Rex and he filled you in on all the gory details?”
“I doubt I know the whole story. Rex doesn’t part with information that easily. But I got enough of the picture to know the police think you might’ve offed the poor woman. How did you even meet her? You’ve hardly been here long enough to develop a list of enemies.”
“I only met her Saturday before the match. And I wouldn’t even count that as meeting her. She approached me as soon as I arrived at the pickleball court demanding to know who I was and took off before I could introduce myself. She didn’t even remember Scottie’s name. Once she knew the water part was covered, she was off.”
Kitty licked her ice cream treat. “Rex wanted to know how you’d found yourself giving out water. I could only recount what you’d told me the day Scottie asked you to sub for her. Beyond that, all I could tell him was about our trip to the grocery store to purchase the bottles of water. And of course the ingredients for a couple apple pies. Apparently you told him about my being a pie-baking judge and that you’d demonstrated how to bake a pie to me, since I was never very good at that. The idea of you as a pie maker surprised him. Even tickled him a bit. He wanted to know if there was any left for him.”
“Tell me you didn’t mention my miserable attempt at a video.”
“Not exactly.” She didn’t go on.
“How not exactly?” Marla asked.
“I sort of told him we’d used your pie-baking demo as a means of producing your own video.”
“Kitty! You knew I didn’t want Rex to know about my failure.”
“It was Rex, Marla. You know how he can get you to reveal things. The part about the video was out of my mouth before I could stop it. But wait, I didn’t say a thing about how it went.”
“What about Tom Casey? Did you happen to mention him?”
“Well, I had to, once the subject of videocasting arose. I didn’t want Rex to think we’d put one together on our own.”
“No, you wouldn’t want to do that, would you?” Marla couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of her tone.
“Don’t sound so touchy. Why do you care if Rex knows you tried your hand at making your own video? All you have to tell him, if he even asks, is that it didn’t seem to be your cup of tea.” She seemed so satisfied with her reply, it wasn’t worth getting upset with her. Besides, the videocasting thing wasn’t the main point. “What did you tell him about me being a possible poisoner?”
Kitty ran her tongue along the wooden stick, drawing in all the remaining chocolate. “What do you think I said? That you’d never resort to killing another person, no matter what way, and that he and the police were wasting valuable time considering you a suspect when they should be looking for the real killer.”
Leave it to Kitty to come to her defense. She had no doubt her sister had done a great job of being justly outraged that Marla was the least bit under suspicion.
“Thanks. That’s the important part. Did he appear to believe you?”
“This was Rex I was talking to. I had no way to read his mind, but on the other hand, he was duly impressed with your help identifying Drake Elliot’s killer. He respects your judgment. If you didn’t serve water to anyone Saturday, he’ll believe it.” She blinked as an idea hit. “Did you show him that you still had all three bottles we bought?”
Marla cringed. “Don’t you remember? I refrigerated one, and we each had a glass on Sunday.”
Kitty’s shoulder slumped. “Sorry. Forgot.” A new idea hit. “But we survived. That proves there was nothing in there.”
Marla played with the idea. “How could I possibly poison an unopened bottle? Hold on. That could prove my innocence. You saw all three unopened bottles after I brought them home. I can’t remember—were you in the room when I opened the one?”
Kitty rubbed a cheek, trying to remember. “That’s right! I was out here in the kitchen when you offered me a glass. It didn’t hit me at the time, but you pulled it from a brand-new bottle in the fridge and opened it.”
Marla closed her eyes in relief. Finally, a witness. “Did you tell Rex about seeing me open the bottle?”
“Uh, no. I thought it best to answer his questions as briefly as possible. I didn’t add anything. Not my usual behavior, I know, but this was you we were discussing. And whether you poisoned another person.”
True, it wasn’t Kitty’s typical behavior, but her sister could be quite logical and reasonable when the situation called for it. “Thanks. But if that question was never asked, Rex still needs to know.”
Kitty grabbed her phone. “I’ll get right on that.”
Marla held up her hand. “Better me than you. If you call him, it will look like we’ve been discussing what you told him.”
“Which we have,” Kitty replied, perplexed.
“True, but I don’t want it to look like you changed your testimony to help me. I’ll ask him if he asked you the next time I see him.”
That seemed to appease Kitty. “Now that that’s settled, I need to get ready for my date tonight.”
“It’s ten in the morning. You already look great.”
“Some of the Prairie Harvest Flour bigwigs are in town. Hub’s taking me to a private dinner party.”
“Wow. Things between the two of you seem to be moving fast.”
“You think so? I like him, true. Our senses of humor are in sync. And he knows so much about so many things and so many people. And either he is well off or he has a healthy expense account. I like going to plays and concerts and eating at great restaurants. Plus, he’s not bad to look at. But I’m not in the market for either a new husband or even a serious relationship. I’m still in recovery mode from Gardner Lovejoy’s peccadilloes.” Even though Kitty had been divorced for a number of years, her former husband’s taking up with another woman still rankled.
“Just let me know if things change and you want this Hub guy to move in and me to move out,” Marla said. She rather liked living here with Kitty, but she preferred not to trip over a live-in boyfriend. Kitty might trust him, but she didn’t need to court potential leaks to the media.
Rex showed up around noon, bringing with him deli sandwiches for the two of them. Kitty was already ensconced in her room getting ready for the evening’s activity. “I’ve now talked to both your sister and Scottie Richards. Scottie sends her apologies for not getting back to you as soon as she returned from Chicago. She told me she was exhausted from a weekend of catching up with relatives and partying.”
“She just texted me with that same apology. Tell me you didn’t chide her for being so slow with her thanks.”
“Okay, I won’t. I merely hinted that a text was the least she could do, but not until after I’d learned what she knew about your role in this murder case.”
“Did she already know about Eloise Wallace’s death?”
“Hard to keep that out of the news, even though Goodhue’s been attempting exactly that.”
“Did she confirm my story about why I was there?” Marla asked, when he hadn’t already brought it up.
“Yeah. I still can’t believe she had the gall to ask you. She barely knows you. Apparently, and don’t be offended, she’d asked several other people to step in for her before she got to you.”
“That really cheers me up,” she joked.
“Actually, it helped your case. Showed you hadn’t inserted yourself there on purpose. As you told me before, you were simply helping out a friend—rather, an acquaintance.”
“Now that you’ve talked to both my sister and Scottie, am I cleared of suspicion?”
He folded his hands and then ran one of them down a pants leg. He was wearing khaki slacks today. Stalling? Not yet ready to give her good news? Or just drawing out the suspense? The latter didn’t sound like Rex, but as it turned out, he was simply picking his words.
“Both women swore you’d never attended a pickleball game before, let alone met Eloise Wallace. Both also confirmed that your only role there was the dispensing of water for the players if they needed additional hydration beyond whatever their individual water bottles contained. Despite the fact neither actually saw you there, it would appear you had nothing to do with the murder. I could be a hundred percent sure with direct witness testimony, which is the crux of my problem.”
“Just ask the team if anyone got water from me,” she said.
“Which I intend to do. But Goodhue also wants you to participate in those interrogations.” He stared at her. “You see my dilemma? You can’t be part of those questions until we know for sure you’re clear.”
“But I am clear! Kitty was with me when I bought three large bottles of water and helped me put them in the service wagon she loaned me. She also saw that I brought all three unopened containers home.”
He cocked his head. “She didn’t mention that part.”
“Did you ask her directly if she saw me arrive home with three unopened bottles?”
“Un, no.” He scratched his head. “How did I miss that? I’m thorough in my questioning.”
Marla tried to picture the scene, Rex interrogating Kitty. “Did she receive any calls or texts during your meeting?”
He scrunched up his brow. “Come to think of it, yeah. That guy you said she’d been seeing. She got all excited about some event he invited her to and asked if we were done.”
Marla nodded. She might only have been in town a short time, but her familiarity with her sister’s habits had already returned.
“I’m sorry, Marla. That shouldn’t have happened. I’m better than that. It’s just that Kitty …”
“Is Kitty? I understand. But does that information help my case?”
“It goes a long way,” he replied. “Show me the three unopened bottles, and you’re exonerated.”
She was afraid he’d say something like that. “I can’t. We opened one the other day and drank some of the contents. It was just there sitting in the fridge, and we both were thirsty,” she rushed to say.
“Why are you making this so difficult for me?”
“More for myself than you,” she said. “But she can swear to seeing me return with three unopened bottles and to hearing me open the one. Surely that’s conclusive enough evidence?”
Rex rolled his eyes. “I need to interview Kitty again. Where is she?”
“Getting ready for her hot date tonight. You know, that event she got so excited about earlier?”
“Can you get her to come out here?”
“Now?”
He narrowed his eyes. “The sooner I talk to her, the sooner we can move ahead with this investigation.”
Marla found Kitty just toweling off from her shower. It took some convincing to get her sister to appear in a terrycloth robe without makeup, but Kitty finally agreed to talk to Rex after several less than subtle reminders from Marla that she might be headed to jail if Kitty didn’t substantiate her story.
Once Kitty arrived in the kitchen to chat with Rex, Marla excused herself and went to her room.
He knocked on her door ten minutes later, and she invited him in. “Would you believe she actually accused me of doing a shoddy job of clearing your name?”
“She doesn’t like her beauty prep to be disturbed by anything, even when it comes to proving my innocence. But she did verify the condition of the bottles, didn’t she?”
“Yes. I wish you hadn’t opened that one, but she swears she saw you do it and that it had been full and unopened at the time.” He checked his watch. “It’s just early afternoon. We still have time to track down most if not all of the team.”
“Now? Just like that?” she asked, not having anticipated starting so soon.
“I have to make a call to Goodhue to get his blessing, then we’re off.”