Chapter 15
Dear Natasha,
My ex-husband has died. I’m not friends with his new wife, but I spent more years with my husband than she has. Much as I hate the old buzzard now, I did once love him and am devastated by his death. Is it appropriate for me to go to the funeral?
Old Buzzard’s Ex in Dead Mans Crossing,
Indiana
Dear Old Buzzard’s Ex,
You should absolutely attend the funeral. Take care not to be ugly to anyone, especially the new wife. Express your sympathy, but remember that you are no longer a member of the family, and don’t upstage the new wife.
Natasha
We could have dealt with the eerie creaking if a door hadn’t slammed shut. Nina screamed like she had seen the devil himself.
“A breeze must have caught the door,” Alex said calmly.
Holding the lantern in her hands so that the candle caused shadows to flicker on her face, Kelsey said, “It sounded like the back door.”
Jay and Alex didn’t hesitate to rush toward the rear of the house. I was right behind them. We burst into the kitchen. The door was straight ahead.
It creaked again when Jay opened it. Alex shone his flashlight around the backyard. The beam crossed the gate to the alley, which hung open, gently swinging in the soft breeze.
Alex ran out in the yard.
Jay and I followed. The three of us stopped in the alley.
I held my lantern high while Alex pointed the flashlight in both directions. “Someone was definitely in the house.”
“We’d better search it.” Jay led the way back into the yard.
“Definitely.” Alex latched the gate securely. “It’s unlikely anyone is still inside, but you never know.”
We walked back to the house, where Kelsey and Nina waited in the foyer.
I told them what we saw. “Do you think we should call Wolf?”
“No!” Kelsey’s eyes grew large. “Oh, please don’t call him.”
I tried to reason with her. “Kelsey, what do you think will happen if Alex and Jay find someone in the house? Besides, they’ll barely be able to make out anything with only flashlights and lanterns. I can tell you one thing, there’s no way I would sleep in this house tonight unless Wolf cleared it first.”
“Okay,” Kelsey whispered. “I hadn’t thought about it that way.” Kelsey murmured to Alex, “You do the talking, all right?”
* * *
Forty minutes later, Wolf had gone through the house and declared it safe.
We all reconvened in the elegant living room, which smacked of the nineteenth century. I could just imagine a family entertaining friends there by gaslight and candlelight.
Wolf sat down on a settee and bent forward toward Kelsey. “Do you have any idea who it could have been?”
She looked at Alex, who nodded.
“No.”
“Is there a possibility that you left a door unlocked?” asked Wolf.
“I don’t think so.”
“Who else has keys to the house?”
Kelsey shrugged.
“Do you keep a spare key outside somewhere?”
“No.”
Wolf always kept his cool. I often thought he would be a dangerous poker player. I suspected he was frustrated, but he didn’t show it.
“Okay. I guess we’re through here. Tomorrow in the light of day you should have a look around to see if anything is missing. If you find something is gone, let me know.”
Kelsey nodded.
We all stood to leave. I walked over to Kelsey. “Are you certain you’re okay sleeping here by yourself tonight? You’re welcome to stay over at my house.”
“Oh, darlin’, that’s so nice of you. I’ll be fine. I’ve been through much worse. Thanks for walking me home. I’ll see you in the morning, Alex.”
We left her house and turned to walk to Jay’s house next door, but he stopped us and said good night.
“You don’t even have a flashlight. Let us walk you to your door,” said Alex.
“That’s not at all necessary. Thank you for offering.”
“At least take a lantern,” I offered, holding mine out to him.
“I can see fine. Thank you for a lovely evening, Sophie.” He turned abruptly, hurried to his door, and let himself in. We heard the door lock clank. I watched the first-floor windows for the mellow glow of a candle or the beam of a flashlight but didn’t see one.
“Did anyone else think that was odd?” asked Nina.
“It has to be black as pitch in there,” I said.
Alex, who wasn’t the gossipy type at all, looked up at the second-floor windows. “He didn’t want us in his house.”
“That’s for sure!” said Wong.
Nina gasped. “I wonder what he’s hiding!”
It probably wasn’t a secret that Jay was hearing voices in his house and thought he had ghosts. But he had spoken to me about it privately as though he didn’t want others to know. I studied the building. Surely the alleged ghosts couldn’t be the reason he didn’t want us to help him find his way inside. If I thought I had ghosts other than Mars’s Aunt Faye, and I wasn’t sure about her, I would certainly want some kind of light on. But everyone was different.
Wolf and Wong said good night, but I noticed that they took their time getting into their cars.
“I’m off then. Are you sure you two will be okay walking back by yourselves?” asked Alex.
“It’s not even a full block,” I said. “Nina and I will be fine. Besides, there are two cops sitting right there.”
“What time is the Widow Haberman meeting with you tomorrow?” asked Nina.
Alex was silent for a moment. “Did you want to come?”
“Yes! Could I?” Nina asked enthusiastically.
Alex planted a kiss on her cheek. “No.” He kissed me as well, but on the lips. “Thanks for dinner, Sophie. See you tomorrow.”
Alex took off at a leisurely pace, as though he was enjoying the quiet night.
When Nina and I walked away, I noticed that Wolf and Wong didn’t turn off our street until we were within yards of our homes.
“Do you feel like a time traveler?” asked Nina.
“A little bit. Especially in the Haberman drawing room.”
“Sophie, I’m going to come right out and say it. Were you out of your mind to put Kelsey and Alex together?” asked Nina.
“What are you talking about?”
“The Widow Haberman will be looking for her next husband very soon. You handed her another Hollis, except much better looking.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Consider yourself warned,” said Nina.
“Have you been talking with Trula? She’s very bitter about Kelsey marrying Hollis.”
“For heaven’s sake, Sophie! No one likes a husband thief.”
“No, they don’t. You’re right about that. And on the surface at least, that’s the way it appears. But don’t you feel just a little bit sorry for her?”
“I do! She’s had an awful life. Assuming that any of that wild story is true. For all we know, she was a perfectly average child who grew up in a nice suburb and her parents are still alive and living in the same Cape Cod with a white picket fence. But you’re my best friend, and I’m telling you that she’s willing to find solace in Alex’s arms.”
I laughed aloud. “Really? You don’t know Alex better than that? Mr. Straight-Laced? I happen to know for a fact that lawyers cannot sleep with their clients. It’s considered unethical, like shrinks sleeping with their patients. Alex may be sympathetic to her, he might even buy her lunch, but there’s no way he will succumb to whatever siren-like charms she presents to him.”
“Hmm. I suppose he is stronger than Mars in that respect.”
“Oh! That’s a low blow.” Mars and Natasha had set up housekeeping together shortly after our divorce. A lot of people thought Natasha had stolen him from me. Of course, I knew what was happening in our marriage. Mars and I had put so much energy into our work that we seldom saw each other and drifted apart. We all coped with life’s unfortunate twists in our own ways. Call me naïve, but I preferred to imagine that Natasha had been available when Mars and I split. “I thought you were my friend.”
“I am. But you’re not listening to me. Beware of Kelseys dressed as damsels in distress.”
That made me laugh. When we reached my house, the kitchen was immaculate. We found Mars, Bernie, and Francie lounging in the backyard by the fire drinking Nina’s cocktails.
Nina and I settled into chairs around the fire.
Bernie poured drinks for us. “What took you so long?”
Nina launched into a detailed explanation.
Mars said, “Jay thinks Hollis was murdered. He’s a pathologist. I have to believe he knows what he’s talking about.”
“Jay and my husband have known each other since their med school days. Sometimes he makes me a little nervous,” Nina chuckled, “because he’s so proper. I’ve never seen him truly relaxed like we are now. He’d be sitting up straight and wearing a bow tie. But he has a brilliant mind.”
“Have you spoken with Wolf about this?” asked Francie.
“He’s concerned,” I said. “I gather there are two big issues. Why are the bees inside the house dead while the outside bees are mostly alive? And how did Hollis manage to inhale enough of the pesticides to kill him unless there was some kind of foul play?”
Bernie relaxed on a chaise with his feet up. “He had a drink and took a sleeping pill before he went to bed. Some of those sleeping pills are pretty powerful. Could she, or someone else, have sprayed bee spray directly on him while he slept? Or would that wake a person?”
“Did you say, ‘Or someone else’?” I asked. “You’re thinking Kelsey is having an affair?”
“It wouldn’t be the first time the December half of a May—December romance bit the dust for that reason.” Francie looked up at the stars. “Maybe he was waiting for her in the house tonight and panicked when he heard voices.”