Merriment & Murder Page 9

  Yeah, that’s the reason.

  Chief Baedie waved his hand toward the door. “Go on. I’ve got work to do if I want to get this search warrant.”

  Grinning, the three of us hurried down the hallway and out into the cool afternoon air. I glanced over at the clinic and noticed that Thomas’ car was gone.

  “I’m hungry,” Raven said.

  I pulled out my cell phone. “It’s after two. I say we go by and see if Grams is at her house or Aunt Aggie’s house…and we grab some food. Let them know what’s going on.”

  Usually on Sundays and Mondays, Grams only opens the apothecary from ten to two, and then eight to four or five the rest of the week, depending on how busy she was.

  “Hey, there’s your granny now,” Raven said as she pulled into Aunt Aggie’s driveway.

  Grams and Henley Waller were holding hands and walking into Aunt Aggie’s house, Jinx close on their heels. It was still weird to see Grams holding hands with a guy…especially Henley. I always thought she didn’t care for him, but really she kept her distance because she didn’t want to care for him.

  Aunt Aggie, Grams, Henley, and Jinx were in the kitchen sipping coffee. I immediately headed toward the pot to pour us each a mug. There was a plate of cookies on the table, along with some fruit.

  “Well, well,” Aunt Aggie said, “look what the cat dragged in.”

  Meow! Meow!

  I laughed. “She didn’t mean it literally, Jinx.”

  “What’s new?” Grams asked when we carried our drinks to the table and sat down.

  Between bites of cookies, I filled them in on what all had transpired, and when I was done, Henley let out a low whistle.

  “That’s too bad for the Clairmont boy,” he said. “His mom was murdered by his fiancée.”

  “Maybe now I’ll be able to clean up the library,” Aunt Aggie said.

  “Hey Grams,” I said, “Beatrice Baskins is really sick. We just saw her being helped inside the clinic by her husband. I told her yesterday we could probably give her something to help alleviate her symptoms.”

  “What’re her symptoms?” Grams asked.

  “She was lethargic, sweating, pale, very shaky. She said she couldn’t keep anything down.”

  “She looked awful,” Peyton said.

  “I’ll tell ya what,” Grams said. “Run up to the store and get her some elderberry syrup. If she’s been to the doctor, I’m sure they gave her something. But everyone should have some elderberry on hand.”

  “Thanks. I’ll run it up to her later tonight. I’m sure she’s resting after her appointment.”

  “While you’re still here,” Aunt Aggie said, “tomorrow night James has invited all of us out to his restaurant for dinner. You girls included.”

  I whistled. “Things seem to be going well.”

  Aunt Aggie’s face turned as pink as the tips in her hair. “Well enough.”

  “And it sounds like it’ll be an extra special celebration,” Grams said. “If they make the arrest with Barbie, that means the B&B will be open in time for your first guest, Aggie.”

  Tears filled Aunt Aggie’s eyes. “Yeah, I guess so. I can’t believe how quickly my life has changed in a month.”

  Grams reached across the table and clasped Aunt Aggie’s hand. “I’m glad you’re back in Copper Cove.”

  “Me too.”

  Meow!

  “Yes, Jinx,” I said, “we know you are too.”

  Chapter 18

  Raven and Peyton went home to check in with their families, and I stayed at Aunt Aggie’s to help her get the upstairs ready for her guests on Wednesday. Around seven, Chief Baedie called to let Aunt Aggie know she could open her library and clean it. I took that to mean the warrant finally came through, he retrieved the dress, and Barbie was at the station being questioned.

  I’d just put the sheets in the washing machine when Grams lumbered into the laundry room grumbling.

  “What’s up with you?” I asked.

  “Glitter and sparkles should be outlawed,” she said.

  “Are you still vacuuming glitter off the floor?”

  “Your aunt put me to work cleaning the library,” Grams said. “You don’t really notice it until you go to vacuum. I don’t know how anyone has any glitter left on their clothes. It seems to have all ended up on the floor.”

  Something about that statement made me pause.

  “Did you clean the chair where Temperance was murdered?” I asked.

  Grams shuddered. “Yes. I don’t know why Aggie just doesn’t throw it away. No one is ever going to want to sit on it again.”

  “Was there a lot of glitter on the chair?”

  “Tons!” Grams exclaimed. “Mostly on the ground, but some in the chair. And what’s shocking is that I’m sure they gathered some of it for evidence, and there was still so much left behind.”

  “I just put the sheets in the washer,” I said. “I’m going to run to the apothecary and grab the elderberry syrup for Beatrice.”

  “Take my car,” Grams offered.

  Meow! Meow!

  “Not this time, buddy,” I said. “You stay here and watch over everyone.”

  Meoooow!

  I rolled my eyes. “I said no. End of story.”

  I didn’t drive very often, so I was a nervous wreck when I got behind the wheel of a car. Luckily the town pretty much shuts down after six, so there weren’t any cars in front of the apothecary, and I didn’t have to parallel park. I ran inside and grabbed the elderberry syrup off the shelf. As I locked the front door, the question that had been bothering me all night about the glitter finally broke through.

  Grabbing my phone, I dialed Peyton and then Raven, telling them I was headed to Beatrice’s house, and I needed them to come with me. After I nabbed them from their houses, I did a quick drive-by at the diner to make sure Thomas’ car was there.

  It was.

  “Are you sure about this?” Peyton asked as I pulled Grams’ car into Beatrice’s driveway. “I mean, we all but offered Barbie up on a platter to Chief Baedie.”

  “Mom was on the phone with Chief Baedie when I left,” Raven said. “I’m sure it’s about Barbie and Temperance’s murder.”

  “I’m not sure about anything,” I said. “But this feels right. Grams was going on and on about the amount of glitter found not only on the library floor, but in the actual chair Temperance was found in. If there was that much glitter, that meant there had to be a struggle, which explains how Temperance got some of the glitter on her body and probably under her nails. But when Raven and I looked at the dress upstairs in Barbie’s closet, the only thing wrong with it was the missing rhinestone. The glitter in the veins running throughout the dress was all still intact. It doesn’t make sense that there’s that much glitter in the chair and still on Barbie’s dress.”

  “So your plan is to just mosey in there and ask Beatrice to see the Christmas sweater she wore to the party?” Raven asked.

  I shrugged. “Something like that. We’ll just ask to see the sweater. Heck, if she’s still as sick as she was yesterday, we could just go look for ourselves and she’d never know. She’s so out of it.”

  “And what exactly are we looking for?” Peyton asked.

  “If there was a struggle of any kind,” I said, “I’m guessing the front of Beatrice’s sweater will be glitter free.”

  “Let’s get this ball into motion,” Raven said.

  I knocked on the door, but Beatrice didn’t answer. Ringing the doorbell, I peered through the side window to see if she was around. I saw her stagger to the front door.

  “I think she’s worse,” I said as the front door opened.

  Beatrice Baskins looked worse than death if that was possible. Her skin was sallower than it was yesterday, her sweat-soaked hair was stuck to her skull, her eyes were sunken into her face, and she could barely stand on her own two feet.

  I reached out, caught her before she fell, and stepped inside the house.

  “Bea
trice,” I said, “why isn’t Thomas here taking care of you?”

  Beatrice motioned for me to move her into the kitchen. “He’ll be here shortly. He needed to be at the diner for the dinner rush, but then he’s coming home. He left me veggie broth to drink until he gets back.”

  Her voice was barely above a whisper. I had a sneaky suspicion that she was going to need more than elderberry syrup to make her feel better.

  “What did the doctor tell you?” I asked as I gently lowered her to the kitchen table.

  “He thinks it’s the flu. Vomiting, diarrhea, fever, exhaustion, dehydration.”

  I frowned. “That sounds like more than just the flu.”

  “Thomas is coming home. He’s made me veggie broth.”

  “Beatrice,” Raven said, “that Christmas sweater you wore to the party the other night, I sure did like it. Do you know where you got it?”

  Beatrice frowned and wiped at the sweat on her forehead. “The sweater? No.”

  “Do you think I could look at the tag so I could tell?” Raven asked.

  “Upstairs,” Beatrice whispered. “I can’t make it.”

  “It’s okay,” Raven said quickly. “I’ll go up and look. Which room?”

  “First door…on right.”

  Raven dashed out of the kitchen, and Peyton and I watched silently as Beatrice lifted a shaking hand to her mouth. The soup spilled back into the bowl.

  “Let me put that in a cup for you,” Peyton said.

  As Peyton opened up cupboards looking for a mug, I studied Beatrice. I knew if I got a confession from her, it probably wouldn’t hold up because she was so loopy she’d probably say anything. But I had to try.

  “Why did you kill Temperance?” I asked.

  “Because I knew as long as she was still alive, Thomas would always love her and not me.”

  My mouth dropped open. I hadn’t really expected her to tell me. Peyton said nothing, just poured the soup into the mug.

  “Try drinking it from the cup,” Peyton said.

  How Peyton could be so calm, I had no idea.

  Beatrice took a sip of the soup and then started to gag. Peyton ran to the counter, grabbed a bowl, and held it under Beatrice’s mouth. When she finished, Beatrice rested her face in her hands while Peyton set the bowl aside.

  “So after you left the conservatory,” I said, “where did you really go?”

  “I went to the bathroom to fix my face,” Beatrice panted. “But on the way there, I saw Temperance slip inside the library. I decided to confront her, and I was almost to the library when that dimwit Barbie came sashaying up the hallway.” Beatrice lifted her head and stared at me with glassy eyes. “I turned away and pretended not to see her. I was going to enter the library, but I heard arguing. I cracked open the door, and I saw Temperance push Barbie out the French doors and into the side yard. I closed the door and waited to see what would happen. After a few minutes, I heard the other door close. I waited for them to come out. When no one did, I looked around to make sure no one was paying attention, and slipped into the room.”

  With a cry, Beatrice clutched her stomach and doubled over in agonizing pain. I felt sorry for her, but I had to know the rest of the story.

  “And then what? You walked over to where Temperance was, saw the scarf hanging on the peg, and…”

  “And thought I’d been given a gift from above. I thought why not?” Beatrice moaned. “Here was my chance to get rid of the woman who would always stand in the way of my true happiness. And the scarf was right there. It was perfect.”

  “Only you weren’t expecting Temperance to put up such a fight, were you?” I asked.

  “No. She looked up at me from the chair where she was reading. Her neck exposed to me.” Beatrice wheezed in a pitiful laugh. “She was pretty scrappy for a rich broad. Didn’t think she had it in her.”

  Once again Beatrice turned green and started to gag. Luckily she didn’t seem to have anything left in her to come out. She rested her head on the table and moaned.

  “Didn’t you worry about your sweater?” I asked. “Surely you had to know it was ruined and you still had to get out of the house?”

  “Not really,” she whispered. “No one would ever notice but Thomas. If he cared to look.”

  “Do you have any ginger ale or anything?” I asked.

  “Refrigerator,” Beatrice gasped.

  I opened the refrigerator and was about to have Peyton dial 911 and get Beatrice to a hospital when I noticed something in the refrigerator that made my blood turn to ice.

  “Beatrice? Why do you have Death Cap mushrooms in your refrigerator?”

  “What?” Beatrice tried to focus on me, but she became violently ill again. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anything handy for her to get sick in.

  “They’re poisonous?” Peyton asked, moving away from Beatrice.

  “Very,” I said. “I read in one of Grams’ books it doesn’t even take a full mushroom cap to kill someone. Just two years ago down around San Francisco, something like fifteen people were sick from eating the mushrooms. I’m talking like they had to have liver transplants. There have been countless deaths all over the world linked to this mushroom.”

  “How can you tell it’s a Death Cap mushroom?” Peyton asked.

  “Greenish tint to it,” I bent down and sniffed. “Slight ammonia smell. It’s poisonous.”

  “But this doesn’t make any sense,” Peyton said. “I thought you said Beatrice was the killer. Why would she now be poisoning herself?”

  Movement had me looking up in the kitchen archway.

  “She’s not,” I said.

  A slow clap echoed off the high ceilings as Thomas Baskins swaggered into the room. “I see you have a little of your grandma’s abilities in you.”

  “Enough to know you’re killing Beatrice,” I countered.

  “I don’t understand,” Peyton said. “I thought Beatrice killed Temperance?”

  “She did,” Thomas said. “And for that, I’m killing her.”

  “The mushrooms aren’t in season,” I said. “How did you come across one so quickly?”

  Thomas smiled and walked to the counter. His eyes flickered over to Beatrice and he grimaced. “I knew her death would be slow, but this is just torturous to have to deal with.”

  “Where?” I demanded.

  “I’ve been dabbling in horticulture for a while now,” he said. “You’d be amazed at what you can grow and keep alive in the right temperatures.”

  “And so you’ve been growing them to feed Beatrice one day?” Peyton asked.

  “No. I originally thought I’d kill Temperance. Pay her back for the pain and humiliation she caused me when she dumped me.” He shook his head. “God I loved that woman.” His eyes flashed with rage. “Or maybe I thought to feed it to Granger eventually. Not only has he been stealing my customers, but he stole my woman.”

  “You were already married!” I cried.

  Thomas shrugged.

  “But instead you used it on Beatrice,” Peyton said.

  “I had one cultivating already, and so I figured now was the perfect time after what she did. I just sliced off a tiny bit here and there so there’d be no detection. The morning after the murder, I made an omelet for Beatrice’s breakfast. Symptoms can show as soon as six hours or so. By the time you girls stopped by, she was already dying.”

  “And then you gave it to her in the vegetable broth?” I asked.

  “Yes. Again, just a tiny sliver. Then I took her to see the doctor. Played the concerned husband.” He glared over at Beatrice, but she was too far gone to see. “I wasn’t going to feed her any more, just wait another week for the poison to do its work. It’s already attacked her liver and kidneys. The damage is irreversible. She’s all but a walking corpse.”

  “My gosh!” I gasped. “You’re a horrible monster!”

  I looked up and saw Raven in the doorway. Putting her finger to her lips, she motioned for me to not give her away. Which was hard t
o do, because Jinx was sitting at her feet! There was no way he should be here. I’d left him at home!

  “Why, Thomas?” Beatrice gasped out. “I loved you.”

  “Why? Why?” Thomas screamed as he whipped out a gun from his pocket. “Because you killed the only woman I ever loved!” Thomas’ crazed eyes met mine. “Where’s the other one? The freaky looking girl with the purple hair and nose ring?”

  “It’s just me and Peyton,” I said. “Raven stayed home.”

  Meow! Meow!

  Thomas whirled and my heart dropped as Jinx appeared in the doorway. “What’s a cat doing in here? I’m allergic!”

  Thomas bolted forward, lifted the gun, and I screamed for Jinx to run. But instead of running, Jinx gave me a wink and swished his tail behind him. Tiny black spots danced over my vision, and I was sure I was about to faint…when Raven suddenly stepped into the doorway, the A Christmas Story lamp in her hand. Lifting the lamp, she swung at Thomas like a candy-starved kid taking on a piñata.

  One swing and Thomas was on the ground.

  Bolting into action, Peyton and I ran for Thomas as Raven kicked the gun into the living room. I plopped down on him as hard as I could…feeling good with myself when I heard him grunt and the air leave his body.

  “Someone should probably call—”

  I didn’t even finish the sentence. Sirens blared from outside, and a couple seconds later the door burst open and Chief Baedie and two policemen piled in.

  “I already took care of that,” Raven said.

  Chapter 19

  “Hurry, Brynn,” Peyton said as we crossed the street to Aunt Aggie’s house.

  Aunt Aggie was having an intimate New Year’s Eve party, and Peyton, Raven, and I were excited to finally meet Chef Granger’s grandson. He’d moved to Copper Cove the day before, and tonight he and his dad were coming to the party.

  Brandon Powell waved at us from Aunt Aggie’s porch. He and Peyton had been spending a few hours together during the Christmas break, and I was thrilled to see Peyton happy. It had been a rough week and a half around town.

  Beatrice Baskins had died on the way to the hospital. When I phoned Grams and told her what Beatrice had consumed, she immediately got on the phone with the doctor and begged him to give Beatrice an intravenous milk thistle injection to try and counter the poison, but it didn’t do any good in the end. Beatrice’s organs had already shut down. Thomas’ arrest went from attempted murder to murder.