Danielle took her place at the end of the table while Joanne brought out the rest of the food for breakfast. Removing the napkin from beside her plate and placing it over her lap, Danielle looked up the table at Walt, who smiled back at her. Faye sat to Walt’s right, and Jonah sat next to his left. The couple from Portland sat on Jonah’s side of the table, while the sisters sat across from them. The guests began filling their plates, passing the serving platters to their right after they had taken what they wanted.
As Danielle accepted a platter of bacon, she asked, “What does everyone have planned for today?”
Juanita, who was in the process of buttering a biscuit, paused a moment and looked over at Danielle and said, “Now that the rain has stopped and the weatherman promises a day of sunshine, we plan to do some exploring along the beach.”
“I’m also going to take advantage of the sunshine.” Faye spoke up. “But I plan to enjoy it from Marlow House’s patio.”
“Just watch out for those birds,” Brenda grumbled.
“I suspect those bones were fake,” Faye suggested. “Or from an animal.”
“I’m afraid they were human bones,” Danielle said uneasily. Everyone at the table paused a moment and looked her way, waiting for a further explanation.
“Brian told me last night. But I didn’t want to say anything during dinner and spoil the evening. Everyone seemed to have finally put that out of their minds—at least for a while.”
“Not me,” Brenda said. “It’s all I could think about.”
“And they are real? Are you sure?” Jonah asked.
“Yes. But they’re old,” Danielle said. “While the police obviously want to figure out where they came from—and who they belong to, I don’t think it’s as urgent as it might have been if whoever they belonged to might still be alive today had they lived out their life.”
“I bet the bird picked them up on the beach,” Tammy suggested. “I know bodies have washed up on the beaches not far from here.”
“I disagree,” Jonah said. “I don’t think they washed up on shore.”
“Why?” Brenda asked.
“If they are as old as Danielle said and they were intact, I don’t think old bones, especially fragile hand bones, would hold up in the ocean that well.”
“Jonah has a point,” Walt agreed.
“Maybe we should talk about something else over breakfast?” Danielle suggested.
Walt chuckled. “I think you’re probably right. So what does everyone else have planned for today?”
“After breakfast I’ll be locking myself in my room and working on my book. I must say staying in Marlow House has certainly amped up my creative juices,” Jonah said.
“We were kind of hoping Danielle would give us the grand tour. We haven’t been through the entire house yet,” Tammy said. “I would love to hear more about its history. And, well, I always heard it was haunted.”
“Certainly.” Danielle flashed the girls a smile. “But you might be disappointed. The haunting of Marlow House is somewhat overrated.” She turned her smile to Walt and added, “If we ever had a resident ghost, I suspect he has moved on by now.”
“You know, girls.” Faye spoke up. “I grew up in the house next door to Marlow House. I will have to respectfully disagree with Mrs. Marlow. I witnessed a number of unexplained—possibly paranormal—activities over here when I was growing up. On numerous occasions.” Faye looked over to Danielle and gave her a wink.
As Walt listened to the exchange, he felt something rub against his calves. He looked down and spied Max weaving in and out between his feet.
Didn’t you already have breakfast? Walt silently conveyed to the cat.
Max, who was now by the side of Walt’s chair, sat down and looked up. He blinked his golden eyes at Walt and meowed.
They will be here a few days…What?…You want to know what it was?…Why?…Next door?
Walt abruptly tossed his napkin next to his plate and looked down the table at his wife. “Excuse me, Danielle, do you think I can have a word with you—in the—” Walt was about to say in the kitchen but remembered Joanne was there, so he said, “—the hallway?”
“Now?” Danielle frowned.
“Yes. I’m afraid I just remembered something. It is about one of the repairmen who was supposed to be here today.”
Danielle’s frown deepened, but instead of asking any questions, she politely excused herself and walked out to the hallway with Walt.
“We don’t have any repairmen scheduled for today,” Danielle whispered when they were out of earshot of their guests.
“Max told me where the bird picked up the hand.”
Danielle cringed. “Do you have to say hand? Sounds so creepy.”
“That’s what it is. Or was.”
“How does he know where the bird got it?”
“Max saw the bird pick it up—and he saw the bird drop it. A few minutes ago he asked me what it was. He couldn’t tell from where he was sitting at the time, but he was curious, considering all the commotion over it.”
“So where did the bird get it?”
“From Pearl’s backyard. You know that rosebush someone stole from Pearl?”
“Umm…yeah…”
“And the hole they left behind?”
Danielle nodded.
“It was not the only thing left behind. The bird picked the hand up from the hole.”
“Ewww…next door? You don’t think someone stole the rosebush and left it there, do you?”
“No. But I think they disrupted the ground, and then with all the rain, it worked its way up.”
“From where?”
“I assume from under the ground.”
“I was going to go down to the station and talk to the chief anyway. I’ll tell him what Max saw.”
“Morning ,Chief,” Danielle greeted as she knocked on the doorframe of the open doorway into Police Chief MacDonald’s office. He looked up from his desk where he was working and gave her a welcoming smile and waved her in.
“Good morning, Danielle. I heard you had an interesting Easter.”
“To say the least.” Danielle took a seat facing him.
“Brian tells me you invited him to dinner last night. That was nice. He said he had a great time.”
Danielle shrugged. “I should have invited him earlier. I didn’t even think about it.”
“Why should you think about it?” the chief asked.
“He doesn’t really have any family.”
He chuckled. “You and Brian have come a long way.”
Danielle leaned back in the chair. “He’s no longer trying to send me to jail. At least, not at the moment.”
“He said you put on an amazing dinner last night. This morning he was singing your praises. Keep feeding him, and I imagine he won’t be so anxious to lock you up.”
Danielle rolled her eyes. “Way to a man’s heart—and the path to freedom—food. Who knew?” She chuckled and then asked, “So how was your Easter?”
“It was good. The boys and I spent it with my sister and Bruce. Sissy had an Easter egg hunt for the boys. I think Eddie felt too cool to look for eggs, but once Evan started filling his basket with them, he changed his mind. Probably helped that Sissy didn’t use real hardboiled eggs. She hid those plastic eggs and put money and chocolate inside.”
Danielle laughed. “Heck, I would be all over that. Money and chocolate.”
“So, what do I owe the honor of this visit? I assume it’s to see what’s going on with those skeletal remains that fell out of the sky.”
“Yes, it does.”
“We still don’t have any idea where they came from, but—”
“I know.”
“And we may never know for sure—”
“No. I didn’t mean I know you have no idea where they came from. What I meant, I know where they came from.”
The chief sat up straighter in his chair. “You do?”
Danielle nodded. “Max was sitting in the big tree in our side yard.”
MacDonald slumped back in his chair. “Max? Your cat? The one who wants to bite me?”
Danielle nodded again. “Yes. He was watching this big bird digging around in a hole in Pearl’s yard. I assume you know about the rosebush that was taken from her backyard. Brian went over to talk to her about it. Anyway, Max saw the bird pull something out of the hole where the rosebush had been. He flew off, over our yard, and then dropped it. Max saw the entire thing.”
The chief groaned.
“What’s wrong?” Danielle frowned. “I thought this would help. Brian told me it was going to take weeks before the tests are finished on the bones, and because they were so fragile and old, he wasn’t sure how much you could learn by the tests. But this way, if there is a body that went with those hand bones, you might be able to find it in Pearl’s yard.”
“The problem being, I don’t think Pearl Huckabee is going to let us just go digging around in her yard.”
“Can’t you just get a warrant? After all, the skeletal remains of a hand were found there,” Danielle argued.
“And just how are we supposed to get a search warrant?”
Danielle considered the question a moment and slumped back in her chair. “I see what you mean. I don’t imagine a judge is going to approve a warrant based on a cat’s deposition.”
MacDonald chuckled. “I don’t think so.”
“Gee, if I had known earlier, I would have claimed to have seen the bird coming over from Pearl’s house. But that’s not going to work now,” Danielle said glumly.
“I suppose I could stop over at Pearl’s this afternoon and tell my own white lie.”
“About what?” Danielle asked.
“Brian went over to Pearl’s cousin’s house to question him about the missing rosebush, but he wasn’t home. One of the neighbors said he’d left and claimed he was heading out of town. And the car he was driving, it wasn’t a truck, like Pearl saw leaving down the alley. In fact, according to vehicle registration, he doesn’t own a truck. From what I understand, he’s still not back.”
“So what kind of white lie?” Danielle asked.
Police Chief MacDonald stood alone on Pearl Huckabee’s front porch, waiting for her to open the door. He glanced around, noticing the muddy area off to the side of the house between Pearl’s property and Marlow House.
“Police Chief MacDonald?” Pearl coolly greeted him when she answered the door a moment later.
“Morning, Mrs. Huckabee.”
Pearl glanced at her watch. “It’s more like afternoon. Why are you here? Is this about whatever trouble went on next door? Didn’t I tell you all, Frederickport is asking for trouble letting those Marlows run an illegal motel out of their home.”
“Umm…no…actually, I’m here about your missing rosebush,” he explained.
Pearl opened her front door a little wider and stepped out on the porch with the chief. “Are you here to tell me you caught the culprit? Do you have my rosebush? Was it that scoundrel cousin of mine?”
“Umm…no, ma’am. Officer Henderson has been trying to contact your cousin, but he has been out of town.”
“Yes. He already told me that. So why are you here, then?”
“I was wondering if I could go in your backyard and have another look at where they took the rosebush.”
“Why would you want to do that?” She frowned.
“I would just like to take a personal look at the crime scene.”
“Are you saying Officer Henderson did not do a thorough investigation when he was here?”
“No. Of course not. In fact, he is one of our best officers. I just thought a second pair of eyes on the scene might give a new perspective on who might have taken your rosebush.”
“I’m already fairly certain who took it. And I don’t see how you digging around in my garden is going to accomplish anything helpful. Plus, we had quite a rain last night, and I had a pipe break. It is a mess in the backyard. If there was any evidence, it has been washed away.”
“But I would still—”
“I really am busy,” Pearl interrupted. “I don’t want you going back there. You will just end up tracking mud all over. Now good day.”
Pearl stepped back into her house and slammed the front door shut, leaving the police chief once again alone on the front porch.