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DANA WAS STUNNED LOOKING at Garth’s hands. They were covered in visible scratches.
“Garth! What on earth happened to you?”
A troubled expression slid across Garth’s face. “I...um....I didn’t want to say anything before but...”
“But what, Garth?” Dana asked, observing his hands. Instinctively, she went over to the cabinet to search for the First Aid box.
“Where did Katie put that box?” she mumbled to herself.
A loud sound coming from the clothes dryer was annoying and didn’t help with the headache she felt coming on.
Dana noticed that Katie had left the dryer on with a load of tea towels before she left. She took a peek and noticed that the load would be going for another ten minutes. Man, it made a lot of noise. She would have to have it upgraded to a more energy efficient and quieter model soon.
She finally found the First Aid box and took out a tube of Polysporin and some disinfectant. She went over to Garth and cleansed his scratches with the spray then added some Polysporin ointment. “Your hands look sore.” She could tell they were not fresh cuts but it was obvious he’d been scratched in the last twelve hours. The red marks were prominent.
“Thanks,” he said.
“Are you going to tell me what happened?”
He looked around as if to see if anyone would be listening.
“It’s all right, Garth. No one else is here except Truffles. And I promise, she won’t breathe a word. Well, not to humans, anyway.”
He grinned. “Good to know.”
“So what happened then?” Dana probed, concerned.
“Well, first of all, you need to promise you won’t breathe a word to the cops.”
“I’m sorry, Garth. You know I can’t promise that. If it’s something to do with Brenda’s death, you need to do the right thing and inform the cops.”
He sighed deeply. “Well, you’ve already seen my hands. It’s only a matter of time, I guess.”
“A matter of time?”
“Before anyone knows about what happened.”
“And what did happen, Garth?”
“I had an argument with Brenda last night.”
Dana’s jaw fell open. “You were here last night? With Brenda?”
“Well, not quite. I’d finished work about six o’clock. It was a long day. Anyway, I got back here to pick up my check.”
“I’m surprised you don’t have direct deposit like most people.”
“Well, I don’t. Trouble is, I had some trouble with the bank a while back but that’s another story. I usually just cash my checks at those check cashing pay day loan places.”
Dana raised a brow. “Oh, no. Garth, that’s awful. They charge a stiff commission.”
“I know,” he shrugged. “But what can I do.”
“Garth, is there something else you’re not telling me?”
“Yes,” he said, hesitating for a moment. He stared out the window then looked at Dana. “I haven’t always been on the right side of the law, you know.”
“You haven’t?”
“No. But when I got out of prison, my grandfather insisted I come here to Berry Cove to start again.”
“That was very kind of him.”
“It was. Anyway, he was a friend of Mrs. Barinotta and she gave me a job as a gardener and I’ve been working here ever since. She trusted me. She didn’t judge me like other people.”
Dana felt a warm feeling over Mrs. Barinotta’s kindness. It was true that everyone had some redeemable qualities. She might have been cantankerous at times to some people in the town, but she obviously had a heart of gold.
“She used to date my grandpa but she was heartbroken when he died.”
“I see.”
“So she was happy to take me under her wings to help her with her gardening. You see, Grandpa used to do it for her and he taught me everything I know. She always used to say that I looked just like him. I reminded her of him.”
“Awww. That’s so sweet.” That would explain why Mrs. Barinotta had a soft spot for Garth. So the rumors about Garth and Mrs. B were just that—rumors and nothing more, Dana thought to herself.
“Well, anyway, I heard that she left a stipulation in her will that I can stay on here to tend to her garden...”
“And Brenda wasn’t too pleased about that?”
“Well, she did some search on me and found out about my past and said she didn’t want a felon working here.”
“But did you explain her grandmother’s last wishes?”
“I did. Listen, Dana, you’ve got to believe me. I don’t want any trouble. I was at the wrong place at the wrong time when I got arrested a few years ago. My ex-girlfriend cashed some bad checks and pinned it on me.”
“Oh, no. Garth, that’s terrible. So that’s what you did time for?”
“Yeah.” His voice was quiet.
Dana’s heart tugged for him. She felt deeply sorry for him. It looked as if he’d done time for something he didn’t even do. And boy, oh, boy could she relate to having a scammy ex who abused her financially and abused her trust.
“Well, what happened to your hands? Did she scratch you?”
“I...I overheard one of her phone calls and I asked her about a piece of mail I saw on the table.”
“I piece of mail?”
“Yeah, the post guy usually hands it to me when he sees me in the front garden, instead of going up to the mail box.”
“Do you remember what the letter was about?”
“It was addressed to someone else and from that day she told me to mind my own business. She said she had a detective look into my background and told me she’d go to the cops. I told her that I didn’t want any trouble and I had no where else to go. You see grandpa didn’t have much. He rented the house he lived in before he died so it wasn’t like I had a place to go to.”
“Like she did. Good thing for her that her grand aunt owned her own home before she passed away or she’d have no where to go either,” Dana said, almost to herself. “So then what happened?”
“She got all bat crazy on me. She started throwing things at me and scratching me. Told me that the cops would believe her side of the story. Well, I high tailed it out of here fast.”
“Oh, no.”
“Oh, yeah. I wasn’t going to stay around here with a crazy woman like that.” His eyes looked sad. “I’m really sorry about what happened to her though.”
“You knew she was dead, didn’t you?”
He swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. He then nodded slowly. “I came back this morning for my tool kit and to grab my check. I was going to cash it before she cancelled it.”
“And?”
“When I got back here, she was dead.”
“But how did you know? Her body was found in the basement.”
Dana wanted to believe Garth, but there were so more holes in his story than a box of honey-glazed donuts. Some of what he said made sense and some of it didn’t. She felt bad for having a streak of doubt, as much as she wanted to believe him.
“I saw the light on in the basement. So I shouted to her that I was going to leave her key. I didn’t want anyone accusing me of coming in or stealing stuff since I had a spare key. Mrs. B left it to me.”
“I see.”
“Well, I went downstairs and I saw her there on the ground. I panicked. I didn’t know what to do. I just turned off the light and ran. Then I saw you and your cousin coming in so I went into the Garden. I knew I’d get blamed for it. I can’t go back there. I can’t go back to prison. I didn’t kill her, Dana. You’ve got to believe me.”
“I...I do, Garth. I mean I want to believe you. But you’ve got to tell the police what happened. It’s the right thing to do. Did you see anything when you got back to the house? Anything suspicious?”
“Not really. I mean, nothing out of the usual.”
“You didn’t notice any strange cars on the street or anyone walking by.”
He thought for a moment. There was a dark car that was parked nearby and when I left the house, it was gone.”
“Do you remember what type of car it was? The make or model or anything else?”
He thought hard for a moment. “I wish I could remember, Dana. Trust me.”
That was very odd. She would have thought that he was so nervous that he would have looked around to make sure that he wasn’t seen. But Dana tried to shrug it off. He panicked, right? People do irrational things when they panic.
Just then, Dana turned around and was stunned to see Troy standing there.
“How...Troy, how did you get in?”
“Katie left the door open. I knocked but didn’t hear an answer so I walked right in to make sure you were all right.”
“Oh, that darn drying machine.” The noise from the dryer was so loud, she never heard the door knock. She was glad it was Troy and not someone else.
“So you heard everything?” Dana asked.
“Enough,” he said, looking at Garth. “Why didn’t you say anything before?”
“I...I panicked.”
Troy sighed deeply. “I’m afraid we’re going to have to ask you to come down to the station.”
Garth looked at Dana then at Troy. He then did something unexpected. He sprung up out of the chair and made a run for the door.
“Garth, no!” Dana called out.
Troy ran after him. It wasn’t long before he caught him at the door. “That was a wrong move, buddy.” Troy was not impressed.
He then read him his rights.
Dana’s stomach fell.
* * *
“BUT TROY, YOU DON’T think Garth really did it?” Dana followed Troy out to the car.
Troy gave Dana a look that said, please do not mess with police business. She backed off. So much for dating a cop. Good thing she never told anyone about it. She was beginning to have doubts it would work out. He probably didn’t appreciate her telling him how to do his job.
Truth be told, Dana had let him down, only once, but once was enough. She’d been wrong about a previous suspect who’d been arrested. But that was just one time, right?
Okay, she understood his point of view, but she really believed Garth for some reason.
There was Henrietta, the mystery car, Rebecca...and who was this L. Roberts person?