Sixteen

I stood up, hoping not to attract too much attention. Dave, who sat on the other side of the room, watched me. I was pleased to see him seated next to Addi.

I quietly left the ballroom and found Louisa outside on the stairs. “Are you okay?” I asked.

“I just needed some air.”

“Is it Seth?”

She inhaled deeply and swayed. I held out my arm to steady her, wondering if she’d had too much to drink.

“I have to sit down.”

I helped her to a bench in front of the hotel. Night had fallen while we were in the ballroom. Lights glimmered in restaurants along the green. All was well and peaceful in Wagtail.

Loki sat at her feet and insisted on attention, pawing at her. Twinkletoes jumped on my lap and purred. But Trixie maintained her distance, watching Loki with a distrustful look.

Louisa stroked Loki’s head. “I feel horrible.”

“Are you going to be sick?”

“I don’t think so. I have terrible allergies to grass and trees.” She waived her arm in a big arc. “To just about everything in nature that’s beautiful. They call it allergic rhinitis and asthma syndrome. Ugh. My heart is racing. And I’m so hot. But I meant about Seth. I’m supposed to feel sorrowful that anyone has died, but I’m not sad about Seth. Isn’t that awful?”

It was appalling. But I didn’t think I should tell her that. “I thought he was a friend of yours.”

“I knew him in college, but not terribly well. He was really my husband Tom’s friend. Seth never appealed to me. Have you ever gotten bad vibes from someone? He never did anything awful, I just didn’t like him. And then, when Tom was sick, Seth showed up one day to visit him, which I thought was very considerate. That turned out to be completely wrong. He had an agenda. When he left, I learned the real reason he had been there.”

“What was that?” I asked.

“When Tom and Seth were sixteen, they went out one hot summer night with Brenda’s brother, Wallace, who had taken alcohol from his dad’s stash and borrowed a car without permission. The three of them were loaded when their car hit another car, killing the woman who was driving. Seth had been driving, but he’d been in trouble for driving drunk before, so he begged Tom to say Wallace had been at the wheel. Wallace protested, but Tom went along with Seth’s deception.”

“Tom lied about who was driving,” I said, to be sure I understood.

“He thought they would go easy on Wallace because it was his first offense. As it turned out, they were right. Because of his age, and probably a really smart lawyer, Wallace avoided prison by participating in a diversion program aimed at rehabilitating teens.”

“Which meant Seth killed someone and got off scot-free.”

“Exactly. Wallace denied that he was the driver, but given Tom and Seth’s statements, the authorities believed that Wallace was lying to protect himself.”

“Seth visited Tom to thank him?”

Louisa laughed bitterly. “He was afraid Tom would spill their secret to clear his conscience. It was a totally self-serving, narcissistic thing to do. For heaven’s sake, Tom was dying, and all Seth could think about was himself.”

Seth had seemed so friendly. Of course, that accident had been a long time ago, probably twenty years back or more. Clearly, it still weighed on his conscience. I imagined something like that would plague a person forever. “Did you tell anyone else?”

“I told Brenda about it. And I mailed the letter that Tom dictated and signed before his death to Judge Barlow a couple of months ago. I thought Brenda should know that her brother hadn’t killed anyone.” She sighed heavily. “The driver of the other car was Judge Barlow’s daughter. He had a right to know.”

I barely heard what else she said. That information changed everything.

“There were so many things to take care of after Tom’s death, and then I threw myself into the gala.” She looked back at the hotel. “Where I should be right now instead of out here. To be honest, it had kind of gone out of my mind until yesterday when Seth helped us catch Loki. It all came flooding back.”

She stood up abruptly and wobbled a little. “I don’t dare linger out here much longer.” She smiled at me. “Joanne is probably taking roll.”

“If she gives you any trouble, send her to me. I’ll tell her you weren’t feeling well.”

“Thanks, Holly. Loki, are you ready to return and bid on something?”

He walked beside her slowly, as if he was concerned about her. I watched them trudge up the steps and inside.

Trixie jumped up on the bench next to me in the spot Louisa had vacated.

“May I?”

I looked up at Dave. “Of course. I must say, you’re quite dapper in your tuxedo.”

“I don’t get many chances to wear it.”

“I see you’re here with Addi.”

“Don’t start with me.”

“You’re very sensitive about the women in your life.”

He snorted and looked away for a moment. “Too many of the interesting women I meet are here for a week. Then they go home, never to be heard from again. It’s the curse of working in a resort town. I know most of the resident women my age. I went to school with them. It’s not easy to find the right person for a relationship.”

“Addi doesn’t live here, either.”

He shrugged. “I needed a date, and she happened to have an extra ticket. Besides, she’s kind of cute.”

I didn’t try to hide my grin. “She is at that.”

“You won’t believe this, but I bought one of her paintings a few years ago. It’s of Dogwood Lake in the fall when the leaves turn colors. I’m not much of an artsy guy, but I really liked it. I was pretty surprised to realize that the artist was Addilyn Lieras.”

“It was meant to be.”

He tilted his head, “Maybe. Who knows?”

“She’s probably wondering where you went,” I pointed out.

“I’ll get right back to her. That was an interesting conversation you had with Louisa.”

“You were eavesdropping?”

“I prefer to think of it as doing my job. I guess we now have two people with a motive. The medical examiner’s office called shortly before the gala commenced. “Seth died from aconite poisoning, which likely caused the cardiac death.”

“Wolfsbane?” I asked.

“Exactly. Plenty of it around here. It would appear that the killer collected some roots, made them into a fine mash, and injected it into Seth’s back, fairly close to the heart.”

I leaned back against the bench, sagging at the thought. “He was here for less than twenty-four hours.” I gasped. “It was Dovie who called him to come.”

Dave nodded. “Almost too obvious. I’ll be having a chat with her tonight after the gala. And now your little conversation with Louisa has pointed out more suspects.”

“Do you think Wallace is in Wagtail?”

“Another possibility, thank you.”

“Seth had Louisa’s room key. That’s a definite tie. But I’m not sure about a motive. I hardly think she would kill him because he wasn’t sufficiently upset about her husband’s illness.”

“I find it intriguing that Brenda quickly denied that any of the WAG Ladies had close ties to Seth. Yet her brother, Wallace, paid the price for Seth’s sin. Two more things. Seth had meringue on his clothes, and, apparently, someone slapped him before he died.”

“Brenda.” The name escaped my mouth like a hiss. “Her dog got into a berry meringue pie that Rose had made and planned to serve for dessert. And she definitely returned to the house with her dog to wash him off.”

“Brenda. Means, motive, opportunity.” Dave rose to his feet and offered me his hand. “Shall we return to the gala?”

I took his hand and stood up. We walked to the bottom of the stairs. At that moment, the doors to the hotel opened and elegantly clad people ambled out, some carrying items they had won, most accompanied by a dog or cat. The majority of them walked right by us without even noticing our presence. A few waved but hurried on their way.

We passed Oma on our way inside. She motioned to me and said something to Thomas. I followed her to a quiet spot in the lobby.

“What has happened?” she asked.

“Seth’s death was definitely murder, Oma.”

Oma grasped my hand. “No! Who would do such a thing? He seemed like a nice young man.”

“Surprisingly, there are several suspects already.”

“This is terrible. What a tragedy.”

“Come, Liesel.” Thomas gently took her elbow. “I will make you a cup of tea with rum.”

Oma nodded and walked away with him, but before they were out the door, Dave caught up to them and had a little conversation with Oma.

Holmes made a beeline for me. “Where have you been?”

“Louisa stepped out for a moment, and I went to check on her.”

“Is she okay?”

“I’m not sure.”

Holmes glanced around. “I’m going inside to see if I won my silent auction bids. Want to come with me?”

I nodded. But when we entered the ballroom, Louisa stood nearby, holding tightly on to Loki’s leash with one hand and grasping a table with the other. She appeared almost trancelike. As if she couldn’t comprehend what had happened or how to move forward.

“What’s wrong with Louisa?” whispered Holmes. “Too much to drink?”

“You go ahead, I’ll follow in a minute. I want to check on her.” As I walked toward Louisa, I noticed Dave escorting Brenda out of the ballroom. If I hadn’t known better, I would have assumed they were friends. I gave him a lot of credit for not embarrassing her. But it was apparent to me that he was taking her in for questioning. Oriana looked worried as she watched them leave. She was holding Fagan’s leash.

“Are you all right?” I asked Louisa.

She turned her head slowly. “I’m a little woozy.”

I didn’t want to offend her, but I had to ask, “Maybe you had too much wine?”

“I feel like I’m coming down with something. Hot and very tired.”

“Dr. Engelknecht was here earlier. Maybe I can find him.”

“That’s not necessary. This was all too much. Too soon after Tom’s death. Seeing Seth dead yesterday brought back so many memories of the days around Tom’s death. What I should have done. What I could have done. What things I should have handled differently.” Her shoulders sagged like she was about to wilt. “I probably ought to go back to the inn.”

I suspected I should go with her to make sure she got back safely. I asked her to sit down for a moment while I ran over to Holmes and told him what was going on. I insisted he stay.

Louisa, Loki, Twinkletoes, Trixie, and I took a Wagtail taxi back to the inn. Louisa was silent at first, but then she said, “I turned Seth down.”

“What do you mean?”

“He wanted to have a drink or a meal with me, but I was so angry with him that I turned him down. And now he’s dead. In the blink of an eye, he was gone. Forever. Never again. I should have had dinner with him. Or at least a drink or lunch . . .” She trailed off. “Why didn’t I?”

“He told me you were the girl who got away.”

Her shocked eyes met mine. After a moment they relaxed. “That’s not true. Not even remotely. He once told me he felt like he only got Tom’s leftovers. It’s a terrible way to talk about women, but I knew what he meant. Now I’m one of the leftovers.”

What she was telling me made me dislike Seth a little more. But whether he had loved Louisa was now unimportant to anyone except her. I suspected it might have been true, because I couldn’t imagine why he would have said such a thing to me. It would have been easier, though less dramatic, to simply tell me they went to college together, but he chose to tell me she was someone important to him.