Dear Sophie,
In the winter, my beautiful garden is dormant and gray, except for a few lovely red berries. When there’s no snow, it’s a pretty bleak view from the great room. How can I dress it up for the holiday?
Avid Gardener in Swans Point, Maryland
Dear Avid Gardener,
Hang a wreath on the garden gate or a bench. Cluster pinecones and unbreakable ornaments on a table or in an empty birdbath. Pop a Santa hat on a little garden statue or place a couple of battery-operated lanterns where you can see them at night.
Sophie
“Baxter, you don’t think your children ate it?” I asked.
“It wouldn’t be the first time they snitched a snack. What’s the problem? There’s nothing wrong with that candy.”
We explained that it might contain blood-thinning medicine.
“Good heavens! Bethany? Bradley?” He hurried up the stairs with more life in him than he’d had since Gwen died.
Wong’s eyes met mine. “I’d bet anything Gwen gave it to Liza and Luis.”
Wolf leaned against the kitchen counter. “Maybe you’d like to tell me what’s going on?”
While Wong filled him in, I looked through the pantry again and discovered the box smashed behind big cereal boxes. “Found it! Wong, I’ll let you recover it.” I backed out of the pantry, my heart pounding.
Baxter returned to the kitchen. “The kids deny any involvement. That’s a relief! What could have possessed Gwen to do such a thing?”
I slipped out the back door by myself. Something must have happened between Gwen and the Scrogginses, and between Gwen and Liza and Luis. I couldn’t imagine why she wanted to kill any one of them. How could she have been so cheerful and happy at the cookie swap when she was waiting for Horace to die? I shuddered at the thought.
I couldn’t prove that she had moved the mirror in Edith’s house or that she had taken the cash meant for the housekeeper, but unless she had thrown it out, which was a possibility, I might find the little garden statue that was taken from Edith.
The Babineauxs had a concrete parking pad instead of a garage. But inside their back fence was a little storage shed, not unlike my own potting shed. The door creaked when I pulled it open. It was packed. Loaded to the very top with yard equipment, holiday items, beach gear, paint cans, rakes, snow shovels, buckets, and heaven knew what else.
I was about to give up when it dawned on me that Gwen had taken the statuette recently. It had to be near the front. I stood back and searched visually from left to right.
At the exact moment that I saw what might be a tiny head, someone behind me said, “You look pretty in green. Aren’t you cold?”
I turned around to see Baxter. “Thank you.” What could I say to him? He’d caught me looking in their shed. I could feel the hot flush of embarrassment rising in my face.
“What are you doing out here?”
There was no avoiding it. I told him about the strange things going on at the Scroggins home. “Someone took a statuette from their garden. I think it’s a little boy. I’m sorry, Baxter, but I suspect that Gwen was the one pulling those stunts on Edith, though I can’t imagine why. I thought if I found the little statue here, it would confirm that Gwen was the culprit.”
“A couple of days ago, I would have been offended. But I’m learning a lot that I never knew about Gwen. I think you’re in luck. Is that it?” Baxter pointed where I had been looking.
It was too high for me to reach without toppling other items, but Baxter was able to lift it out.
Edith was right. It wasn’t anything valuable. Just a little boy with angel wings, and a bird perched on his hand. “Do you suppose they need this as evidence?”
“It’s going to be pretty hard to prosecute Gwen. What do you say? Shall we return it to Edith?”
While we walked across the alley and through Edith’s garden, I told Baxter about the son Edith and Horace lost.
I knocked on her back door. She opened it, and for one moment she gazed at Baxter with horror. But when she saw what he held, she placed her hands on her cheeks.
“Gwen took it?” Edith asked.
I nodded. “It appears that way.”
“Where would you like me to place it?” asked Baxter.
Edith hustled outside and pointed to a circle of dead grass. “Right there, please.”
She thanked us. “I cannot imagine what we did to Gwen to induce such animus toward us. I had no idea Gwen harbored hatred toward Horace and me. Why would she try to poison Horace and trick me into thinking I’d lost my mind?”
A small commotion in the alley caught our attention.
Baxter and I hurried out to the alley and over to Liza and Luis’s backyard.
Nina and Wolf stood by the ladder, looking down at it.
Old and wooden, with years of paint drippings, it seemed like the same ladder. The second rung still hung on to it at a rakish angle. I bent to peer at it more closely. “I’m pretty sure it’s the same one. See how the end of this rung starts out smooth, like someone sawed it? But the bottom part of the rung splintered when Baxter put his weight on it.” I straightened up and stepped aside so Wolf could examine it.
Luis came running toward us from his house, with Liza chugging behind him.
“What’s going on?” asked Luis, breathless.
Wolf faced him. “Your wife gave us permission to search your shed. We found this ladder. Do you know to whom it belongs?”
Luis shrugged when he said, “Yeah. It’s mine.”
“I assume you’re aware that Baxter took a bad fall off the ladder?”
Luis held up his hands. “I’m just glad it wasn’t worse. I teased him about landing on his feet like a cat.”
“When did you use the ladder last?”
“About a week ago, I think.” Luis looked to Liza. “Yeah. I hung Christmas lights around the front door.”
“And it was okay then?”
Luis nodded. “No problem. I don’t understand. What’s the big deal with the ladder?”
Wolf didn’t answer him. “Did Baxter ask to borrow your ladder?”
Luis’s mouth twisted to the left. “I don’t remember. But we’re friends. He knows he’s welcome to anything in the shed that he needs. It’s not a biggie.”
“You didn’t notice the ladder missing?”
“No. We have another one. Shorter, but lighter to carry around. I bought the wooden one at a garage sale. If I’d realized how heavy wooden ladders are, I never would have bought it.” Luis crossed his arms over his chest. “This is what you were looking for? Gosh, if you had told me, I would have brought it straight to you. You think the ladder is somehow involved in Gwen’s death?”
Wolf deftly slid right over that question, too. “Could I come in for a moment? I’d like to ask you a few questions.”
“Sure. You’re welcome to take the ladder if you need it as evidence or anything.”
“Thank you.” Wolf spoke to Luis, but looked past him at Liza, who trembled, with her hands cupped over her nose and mouth.
I hurried to her side. “Are you okay?”
She nodded, but I could see that something was wrong. Her eyes were huge with fear. I wrapped an arm around her. “Could I make you a cup of tea?”
She grasped my hand. “You and Nina come inside with me.”
We followed her to her kitchen. She motioned us into a little huddle. “I have to hear what he’s going to ask Luis.” Liza grabbed our sleeves. “I’m in big trouble.”