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“HAS WYATT ALREADY LEFT?” she frowned, looking around her.
“Not yet, but he’s making a few calls. Is there something that I can help you with?” asked Beatrice.
Colleen sighed. “I’m not sure. Do you think he has any time either today or tomorrow to speak with me again about the wedding plans? I wanted to check and see how flexible the church was on some of the décor issues. If it made a difference, I could make a sizeable donation to the church. We just want things a particular way, that’s all.”
Beatrice gave her a tight smile. “I’ll be happy to ask him to get in touch with you for a good date and time.”
Colleen gave her a return smile, but she was already looking at the door. “Okay. Just see if you can tell him that it’s important that we talk as soon as possible.”
Colleen started moving toward the door and Beatrice quickly said, “I’ll do that. We’ve just had a lot going on lately. You may not have heard, but there was another tragic death here yesterday. I’m sure that Wyatt will be speaking with the family soon regarding a service. You may have known her, since you knew Gerald. Salome Hewitt?”
Colleen stiffened a little and then relaxed. “Salome Hewitt? The name doesn’t ring a bell, I’m afraid. Who is she?”
“She was a long-time employee of Gerald’s,” said Beatrice. “I thought you might have heard about her death if you were in town yesterday morning. Dappled Hills has been talking about it a lot.”
Colleen raised an eyebrow. “I can only imagine how much chatter goes on in a small town like Dappled Hills. Unfortunately, I wasn’t here yesterday morning. I’d been out late the night before and gave myself the opportunity to sleep in. Besides, I’m in Lenoir most of the time—it’s this wedding that’s made me travel over to Dappled Hills so much.”
She made it sound as if Dappled Hills was a long way from Lenoir when, in fact, it was only ten minutes away. Beatrice said, “The town is speaking even more about it because poor Salome was murdered.”
“What?” now Colleen looked aggrieved. “Look, what’s going on in this town? I thought I was planning my daughter’s wedding in this cute little enclave and the next thing I know, there are killers at every turn! The last thing that I need is for some sort of tragedy to happen on Elena’s special day. What’s going on with the local police? Can’t they find any leads at all?”
“I believe the police are working under the assumption that the crimes are related,” said Beatrice dryly. “I doubt there’s a serial killer working his way through Dappled Hills.”
“Serial killer or not, surely the police are trying to get to the bottom of it all. Or is it like so many small towns? Do you have a Podunk police department?” asked Colleen.
“Not at all,” said Beatrice, managing to keep her cool. In fact, perhaps she was doing too good of a job keeping her cool because her voice was now frosty. “I’m sure they’ll turn up a lead soon. Maybe they’ll speak with you, since you knew Gerald so well.”
Colleen gave a bored shrug of a shoulder and was looking toward the door again. “I did and I didn’t. Besides, just because I knew Gerald doesn’t mean that I’d know his employees. After all, I was going out of my way to make sure that his family and his office weren’t aware of anything. Why would I meet his assistant? Although, as I mentioned, I’m sure that I probably saw her in the office once or twice.”
Beatrice paused. “I don’t think I mentioned that Salome was Gerald’s assistant.”
Colleen’s face flushed and she turned on the defensive. “Of course you did. You told me she was his assistant.”
“No, I said that she was his long-term employee,” said Beatrice levelly.
Colleen blew out an exasperated sigh. “Well, I suppose I assumed that meant she was his assistant. Or maybe Gerald mentioned her to me and I retained her name somewhere in my subconscious. All I can tell you is that I never met her and I don’t know anything about her. I’m sorry she’s dead, but that’s the truth. Besides, if you or the police are looking for information, you’re looking in the wrong direction.”
“Where should we be looking?” asked Beatrice.
“At the family, of course! They were always squabbling about one thing or another.”
Beatrice asked, “Any family member in particular?”
“I’d focus on that wife of his. She always looked as if butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth and she was oh-so devoted to Gerald.” Colleen snorted. “That was all just a façade.”
Beatrice asked, “You mean that they didn’t have such a close relationship?”
Colleen said, “Let’s just say that Laura should be on the stage. Really. She could act like the adoring wife to Gerald and then the next thing you know, she’s hanging out with her boyfriend. And I use the term boyfriend on purpose. That guy must have been about twenty-five.”
Beatrice frowned. “How did you know about them?”
“Because they seem to think that if they drive all the way over to Lenoir that no one will know about their relationship! Ridiculous, but then I don’t think that Laura has a whit of common sense. I saw the two of them on more than one occasion, canoodling at restaurants or at the park. Like I said, they seemed to think that they were in Europe or something and that no one in Dappled Hills would ever find out.” Colleen rolled her eyes.
“Do you think the relationship was serious? On Laura’s side, I mean?” asked Beatrice.
“I think that Laura thinks it is. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if she’s packing up her bags right now and getting ready to elope. The merry widow indeed,” said Colleen with a sniff.
Beatrice paused. “Do you know if Laura benefits from Gerald’s will?”
“If you’re asking whether I think that Laura could have killed him to get a pot of money and freedom to run off with her young man, I absolutely do. Because Gerald, for all his faults, was a very traditional man. No prenup for him and he certainly wouldn’t have written her out of his will. Of course he left Laura money to provide for her,” said Colleen.
“So Gerald didn’t know anything about their relationship,” mused Beatrice. She added, “Because surely he wouldn’t have left Laura anything if he knew that he was being cheated on.”
Colleen just smirked at her. “I don’t know. I mean, wouldn’t that be a great motive for murdering somebody? What if your Mr. Moneybags husband found out that you’d been having an affair? What if he felt very foolish and decided to divorce you and cut you out of his will? It seems to me that that would be a fantastic reason to murder him before he could do either one of those things. As I mentioned, they didn’t have a prenuptial agreement, so Laura sure wouldn’t want to be divorced if she was at fault.”
Beatrice’s eyes opened a little wider. “Are you saying that’s what you think happened? That Laura murdered her husband when he discovered she was having an affair?”
Colleen gave that careless shrug. “Who knows? I don’t. I’m just guessing. It sure sounds like it makes sense to me. And even if Gerald and his kids didn’t get along super-well all the time, I still find it hard to believe that Mark or Joan would kill him over differences of opinion. They’re his flesh and blood. But Laura might have.”
Colleen glanced at her diamond-encrusted watch. “Okay, I’ve got to run. I sort of thought Wyatt would have wrapped up his phone calls by now, but whatever. You’ll give him the message for me?”
And she was gone, heels clicking as she went on the stone floor.
Wyatt did return a few minutes later, apologizing as he came. “Sorry about that. I should have known that one of my calls should have been pushed back until after the reception. It’s Emily Tanner—she’s just been hospitalized and I wanted to check in with her. But she can be occasionally . . .” He paused to find a kind phrasing.
Beatrice said, “Chatty. And don’t worry about it. I was just speaking with Colleen Roberts.”
Wyatt gave a small grimace. “Sorry to have you field that. Was she attending the funeral?”
“She did, or at least some of it. She was standing at the back,” said Beatrice.
“Weren’t there plenty of seats left in the pews?” asked Wyatt with a frown. “Otherwise, the ushers would have brought in a few chairs.”
“I think she could have squeezed in somewhere.” Wyatt was still frowning and Beatrice reached out and squeezed his hand. “Don’t worry; she wasn’t neglected. She might have wanted to stand for some reason. Maybe she needed to stretch her legs or wasn’t sure if she wanted to stay the entire time.” An unkinder part of Beatrice silently suggested that perhaps Colleen didn’t mind showing off a little bit in her fine clothes.
“Did she need anything?” asked Wyatt. “When you spoke with her?”
Beatrice sighed. “She wants to speak with you as soon as possible. Apparently, she wants to see how flexible the church rules are regarding décor.”
Wyatt sighed, too. “All right. Well, I’ll just have to explain the church’s position on that again. I’ll try to get in touch with her after the reception.”
The reception was just as elaborate as the service had been. Laura had pulled out their finest silver and there were crystal vases full of bouquets. The food was in silver chaffing dishes that certainly hadn’t come from the church. In fact, Evelyn, one of the church ladies, had told Beatrice in hushed tones that Laura had rebuffed the church meal ministry’s offer to bring in food. Instead, she’d had it catered by a place in Lenoir. But she had accepted the offer of the church ladies to help with serving, which was why they were there.
As expected, Beatrice saw no evidence of packing downstairs. The catering company had brought in chairs. She and Wyatt ate a little, spoke with the family, and then spoke with various members of the congregation. Beatrice was relieved when Wyatt suggested they head back home.
They had just settled back home and were both seriously considering short naps when there was a tap at the door. Noo-noo started barking and looking concerned. Beatrice said, “Why do I have the feeling that’s Len?” Her cell phone started ringing and she let it go to voice mail.
It was. And on the one hand, Beatrice was glad to see him because she wanted their kitchen project finished ASAP. But on the other hand, it had already been a hectic day and she’d been looking forward to a little quiet time.
“I’ve only got a little over an hour between jobs,” said Len. “Thought I’d run by here and do some work while I could.”
“That would be great,” said Beatrice, trying to inject some enthusiasm in her voice.
Wyatt said, “I might sit outside for a while and read. Are you going to take Noo-noo out?”
Beatrice nodded absently, pulling out her phone to check for a message. A few seconds later she said, “The message was from Piper.”
Wyatt quickly asked, “Everything okay?”
“She’s fine. She apparently just heard about Salome.”
Wyatt said, “I thought you might have told her about that.”
Beatrice made a face. “I didn’t want to tell her. She tends to worry about me and she has enough on her mind, as it is. I should have known she’d hear about it. Well, I expected her to hear about Salome, but I was hoping that she might not find out that I found her. I’ll take Noo-noo over there for a visit and talk to Piper in person. That should help relieve her mind.”
Beatrice put Noo-noo into the backseat, carefully buckling her doggy seatbelt that attached to her harness. Then she rolled the window down as she drove off and Noo-noo happily stuck her head out to smell all the wonderful smells on the air.
When Piper greeted them at the door, she was flushed and a little uncomfortable-looking. But she smiled when she saw her mother and bent over as much as she could to gently pat Noo-noo.
Piper straightened up and said, “Would you like to take a walk with me around the neighborhood? A very slow walk? I’ve been so restless today and there isn’t as much to do around the house . . . we’re pretty much set for the baby now, after the shower. I feel like I just need to do something. Or at least move around.”
“Of course,” said Beatrice quickly and the two women set off with Noo-noo matching their pace and walking sedately in front of them.
“Sorry I didn’t tell you about Salome,” said Beatrice in a somber voice. “I felt like that was the last thing you needed to have on your mind right now. But I should have known that you’d hear about it.”
Piper gave her mother a hug. “It’s okay. I was just worried about you when I heard. Are you all right? I feel so bad—both you and Wyatt have discovered victims of violent crimes this week.”
Beatrice sighed. “It was a shock, for sure. I didn’t expect to discover something that serious, but I did feel as if something was wrong. Posy had asked me to go over there because Salome didn’t report to work. When I got there, the back door was unlocked and slightly open.”
Piper frowned. “Were there signs of a break-in? Did someone force themselves in and then left the door open on the way back out?”
Beatrice said in a reassuring voice, “There were absolutely no signs of a break-in. I think the general public is completely safe.”
Piper gave a snort and said, “I love you, Mama, but you’re taking this Protecting Piper thing a little too far. I promise you that I don’t think there some sort of lunatic serial killer invading Bradley. These crimes have to be connected, don’t they? It’s too much of a coincidence that Gerald Carpenter and his longtime assistant would both be murdered in the same week.”
Beatrice said, “Exactly. Maybe someone thought that Salome knew something about Gerald’s murder and they wanted to get rid of her before she could say anything.” She paused. “And the fact that there was no sign of a break-in means that Salome probably knew her killer and let her in the door.”
Piper shuddered, despite the warm day. “The murderer must have been watching Salome’s house, right? To make sure that Salome’s sister and her daughter weren’t there.”
Beatrice said, “Or else they already knew Salome’s routine—that she went to work after Carla left with Jenna. Then they’d just be sure to arrive after that point, after her sister’s car was gone.”
Piper said grimly, “Who do you think could be responsible for this? Have you heard anything from Ramsay about it?”
“Not much, but then he’s been busy with the case,” said Beatrice. “But the investigation seems to be focused on Gerald’s personal life . . . his family and people who were close to him.”
Piper made a face. “That’s terrible. The people who should have loved him the most and wanted to protect him the most are the prime suspects. And poor Ramsay; I know he’d rather be at home reading literature and writing poetry or short stories or something.”
Beatrice gave her a small smile. “Usually that’s the case. But right now? Maybe he’s happy to be out of the house a little.”
Piper grinned at her. “You mean because Meadow is talking about the baby all the time? When she calls me or comes over, even I get tired about talking about the baby.”
“How have you been feeling today?” asked Beatrice. She gave Piper a wink. “See, I want to know about the baby too, it’s just that I’m being more circumspect about it.”
Piper chuckled. “I’m feeling fine, just really restless and ready for the baby to come. He’s been super-active lately. And he seems to have his days and his nights messed up. When I’m trying to sleep, that’s when he’s dancing around.”
“Maybe he’s ready to be born, too,” said Beatrice with a smile. “I can’t wait to meet him. I know he’s going to be such a special little guy because his parents are such special people.”
Piper reached out and gave her mother a quick hug as they slowly walked down the street with Noo-noo.
After their walk, Piper declared herself ready for a nap (and fortunately the baby was apparently napping, too). Beatrice headed back home and was relieved to see that Len was no longer there at the house. What was more, he’d also made quite a bit of progress in the hour since he’d arrived—or at least, it looked that way.
“I think the work was at the stage where he could move some things back,” said Wyatt.
“I’m just excited to see the fridge back in the kitchen,” said Beatrice. “That’s progress, for sure, even if we can’t use the stove yet.”
They spent a few minutes admiring the now-empty area where the fridge had been taking up residence in their living room. Noo-noo decided to take a nap while the house was finally quiet.
Beatrice asked, “I’m sad to disturb the peace and quiet of this moment, but did you have a chance to phone Colleen Roberts back?”
Wyatt nodded. “Our conversation was fine and she was very civil. I just reminded myself that she is simply trying to have the nicest ceremony possible to celebrate her daughter’s union with her husband-to-be.”
Beatrice said wryly, “Well, that’s a very generous way of looking at it. You’re a good example for me, Wyatt Thompson.”
He smiled at her, “That being said, I didn’t bend any of the rules for her. After all, the rules are there for a reason—to prevent damage to the church, excessive cleaning bills, or even avoiding fire hazards.”
“How did she take that?” asked Beatrice as she plopped down on the sofa and started feeling sleepy.
“All right,” said Wyatt thoughtfully. “Almost as if she had expected my response. I had the feeling that she was planning on broaching the topic again so wasn’t worried about temporarily letting the subject go.”
Beatrice groaned. “She’s like a bulldog. She won’t give up. And, regardless of whether she has all the various decorative stuff she wants, the wedding is sure to be lovely. All the weddings in that church are beautiful because the sanctuary itself is so gorgeous. It doesn’t need candles and decorations.”
“I’m sure she’ll come to that conclusion,” said Wyatt cheerfully.
Beatrice wasn’t so sure. Her trust in human nature wasn’t quite as well-developed as Wyatt’s was.
Wyatt said, “What should we do the rest of the afternoon?”
Beatrice said, “I don’t know about you, but I’m thinking our books and the hammock.”
“I’ll bring some pillows,” said Wyatt.