Elspeth leaned over and talked to Ida in a hushed tone as they traversed one of the many plant-laden paths that wound around the flower show. “Judith Hastings is a member of the Village Protection Committee.”
“Isn’t that interesting.” Ida slowed in front of a display of begonias. “So she would have a lot of reasons to want to stop the sale of Crowley Hall.”
“Old family home, would ruin the village, she’d have to find a new place to live.” Elspeth ticked the reasons off on her fingers.
“I wonder if her voice will sound familiar to us.”
“Someone’s has to. Though it was in a whisper, so maybe we won’t be able to recognize it?”
“I say we talk to all the members of this Village Protection Committee. Do you know who the members are?”
“Yes. There’s Violet Crosby, who I talked to in the tea tent, then Adelaide Timmons, Edith Wilson, and Judith Hastings.” Elspeth thought she saw a familiar trench coat out of the corner of her eye, but when she looked back, she didn’t see anyone. “Did you see those two police officers over there?”
Ida looked in the direction Elspeth indicated and shook her head. “No. Do you think they are following us? Surely they don’t suspect us of something.”
“Probably just my imagination. Anyway, I’ve talked to Violet and Adelaide and their voices were not familiar. I guess we’ll soon find out about Judith.”
Elspeth stopped in front of a large rose display. Back home, the vibrant display of roses that twined along the front porch of her Victorian home were the envy of Mystic Notch. The roses bloomed well into the fall, and people were always asking how she got so many blooms and how they lasted so long. Elspeth always smiled and said she used good fertilizer, but the truth was that, like many things in Mystic Notch, the roses had a little bit of magical help.
Elspeth was always looking for new rose varieties for her garden. She bent down to inspect a bright orange-and-yellow heirloom rosebush called Oranges ’n’ Lemons. Such an unusual color, and it would look lovely in the side garden. Next to it, a hybrid tea rose plant in dark red with outer petals that were almost black caught her eye. Beyond that, a gorgeous climbing rose with an abundance of delicate petals shaded light pink on the inside and white on the outside climbed up a trellis.
There were roses of all colors—white, pink, red, yellow. Shrubs, vines, and even tree roses, which were really just a rosebush that was pruned and trained to grow its blooms at the top like a tree.
Ida leaned over and sniffed a pale-yellow English rose that was in full bloom. “Roses are lovely, but the smell isn’t all that strong. I prefer lilacs or lily of the valley.”
“For a flowery scent, those can’t be beat,” Elspeth said as she broke away from the roses and started back down the path. “I think I see the butterfly tent over there.”
The butterfly tent was enclosed in netting. Inside were plants both short and tall. Shrubs, flowers, and butterfly bushes with large, purple cones of flowers. Elspeth moved the netting aside as instructed by the placard next to it, and they stepped inside quickly so as not to let any of the butterflies out.
A family with two young children ran in front of them, the children chasing a bright orange-and-black monarch butterfly. Two women were huddled in the corner, heads bent together. Elspeth recognized one of them.
“That’s Violet Crosby, one of the members of the Village Protection Committee,” she whispered to Ida.
“The other one must be Judith.” Ida started toward them.
The two women were talking in hushed tones, but Elspeth could just hear the woman she assumed was Judith say, “…And we ran into Edith. She’d talked Shirley into opening the town hall so she could get a development plans for the Crowley Ha—”
Violet noticed them approaching, and Judith cut off her sentence as the two women stepped apart. Violet cleared her throat, recognition flickering across her face as she looked at Elspeth.
“Hello there!” Elspeth said. “Nice to see you again. Violet, was it?”
“Yes… Oh, I do remember now. You’re Elspeth from the tea tent?” The woman’s smile seemed a bit fake and laced with suspicion. Her eyes were a bit too narrow, the corners of her mouth not quite turned up enough.
“Yes. That’s right.” Elspeth turned inquisitive eyes on the other woman in the hopes of an introduction.
“This is Judith Hastings.” Violet gestured toward the woman who was about in her mid-sixties. She was tall with gray curly hair cut in a shoulder-length bob. Her eyes were red-rimmed—no surprise since she’d just lost her brother that morning. Seemed odd if she were upset that she would still be manning the tent, but if Elspeth had learned anything in this little village it was that the show must go on.
Violet was looking at Ida expectantly, and Elspeth introduced her, and everyone shook hands.
“Well, I must be going.” Violet exchanged a sly look with Judith then turned to Elspeth and Ida. “Enjoy the butterflies!”
“Welcome to the butterfly tent.” Judith gestured to the area, her voice a bit too cheery for someone whose brother had just been murdered. Then again, Elspeth could see a hint of grief in her gray eyes. She glanced at Ida who had her ear cocked toward the woman. Judith’s voice was not the one they’d heard on the path.
“We have all species of butterflies here. Monarch, swallowtail, peacock, tortoiseshell, and even a rare blue morpho,” Judith indicated a butterfly that had landed on a leaf, its iridescent blue wings lazily opening and closing.
“They certainly are pretty,” Elspeth said.
“And friendly.” Ida ducked to avoid a yellow swallowtail that had been aiming for the top of her head.
Judith laughed. “Indeed they are! Why, they’ll come and land right on you if you stand still enough.”
Elspeth stood still, holding her arm out. A small, silvery-white butterfly with dark dots on its wings drifted over and landed on her bare arm, its touch light as a feather.
“We have butterflies in all states here. Some are in their cocoon.” Judith gestured to a bush that had an ugly brown cocoon suspended from the bottom of a leaf. “And some are still caterpillars.” She turned to gesture toward a fat, striped caterpillar on a leaf.
“All phases of life and death,” Ida said. She really knew how to set the conversation up to go in the desired direction.
Not wanting to miss the opportunity Ida had provided, Elspeth plastered on her most sympathetic face and said, “Speaking of death, I believe condolences are in order.”
Judith blinked, looking startled. “Oh, you mean my brother. Thanks so much.” She looked away, her voice softening. “We were close as children but not so much now. Still, it’s a blow.”
“I hear you live here on the estate. Wasn’t he a big part of your life?” Ida asked.
Judith scowled. “I live in the caretaker’s cottage. It wasn’t like I lived in the house with him. Not that I would want to with that new wife. Still, it’s the only home I’ve ever known.”
“Then you must be terribly upset to have to move.” Elspeth spied a flutter of tan just outside the tent. Was that the woman detective? She craned her neck to see, but no one was there.
“How did you know about that?” Judith’s voice was laced with suspicion.
“It’s hardly a secret,” Ida said as a peacock butterfly, its colorful spots standing out against its plain brown wings, landed on top of her snow-white coif. Her eyes angled upward as if searching for it. “The whole village is abuzz about the sale.”
“I suppose it is. Yes, it is a disappointment to have to move.”
“Maybe now that your brother can’t go through with the sale, the hall will fall to you?” Elspeth ventured.
Judith shook her head. “Doubtful. I believe it would go to my niece, Angie, but it depends on John’s will.” She drew in a deep breath.
“Of course. We don’t know how those things work over here,” Elspeth said, hoping that she would keep talking and enlighten them as to what she knew about the will.
“Same as for you, I suppose. Oh, of course we have all the family lineage stuff and so on, which used to be more formal back in the day. These days, inheritances are more modern. Though Celia has been hinting that there will be a big change to the family, so who knows what will happen.”
“A change? Well, John was selling the hall to travel, so that would be a big change.” Elspeth wondered if that was it, though. The sale was not a secret, so why would Celia have to hint?
Judith pressed her lips together. “I suppose that could be it, but she had a glint in her eye that tells me something else was afoot.”
“Surely you don’t suspect…” Ida let her voice drift off with the insinuation.
Judith watched a small brown-and-orange butterfly flit from one flower to another. “Who knows what she would do. She doesn’t seem that upset. Oh, she’s putting on a good show and all. Turning on the waterworks and vowing to enter John’s orchids in the contest so he can win posthumously. If you ask me, she’s only interested in hanging around the judging tents so she can see Derek.”
Ida and Elspeth exchanged a glance. Elspeth had been worried that she wouldn’t be able to get any information out of Judith, but the woman was spilling her guts like she’d guzzled down one of the special teas Pepper St. Onge made back in Mystic Notch.
“And just who is Derek?” Ida asked.
Judith jerked her attention from the butterfly to Ida. “Oh dear, now listen to me prattling on. I really shouldn’t be talking out of school. Derek is some sort of natural healer. You’ve probably seen him around, waving his hands over the flowers. If you ask me, that’s all bunk.” She made a face expressing her opinion of natural healers. “But Mrs. Crosby certainly believes in it. She has him come in before the show opens every morning to give her prize petunias special spiritual vibes.”
Interesting.
“So Derek was here early this morning?” Elspeth asked.
Judith nodded. “Oh yes, I saw him myself. Violet is very determined to have the most vibrant petunias.”
“So then you were here early too?” Ida asked.
“This morning? Oh, no, actually, I got here only a few minutes before the show started, but Derek was already well into his routine.” Judith lightly stroked the wings of a monarch that had landed on a nearby trumpet vine with the tip of her finger.
Elspeth glanced down at the woman’s shoes. She had on canvas sneakers with a water stain covering three-quarters of the tips. Of course, that could have happened anywhere. This was a plant show, and things were constantly being watered, and Elspeth’s shoes had a water line from the dew-soaked grass. But still… a splash from throwing something in the koi pond would have done that too. Except John was likely killed an hour or so before the show opened, and Judith had said she wasn’t here, though Elspeth sensed she was being evasive about that.
“Did you see or hear anything unusual?” Elspeth asked. “The koi pond isn’t too far from here…”
“I should say not!” Judith looked affronted. “If I’d known what was going on there, I would certainly have stopped it.” Her eyes narrowed. “You ladies ask an awful lot of questions. Maybe you should leave.”
Just then, Ida’s stomach growled. “That’s not a bad idea. I’m starving. What do you say we grab some lunch, and then afterwards we can interrogate the rest of the… er… I mean, check out the rest of the show.”
“Good idea.” Elspeth followed Ida out of the tent. She could feel Judith’s narrow-eyed glare all the way out.