Murder by Christmas

  “These look and smell great. You’re still planning on giving me a baking lesson after breakfast, I hope,” Priscilla was saying to Gran as Edna approached Vinnie’s table.

  “May I join you?”

  He rose and pulled out a chair for her. “Of course. Let me just grab some rolls for us before Priscilla eats them all,” he said, loud enough for the restaurant manager to hear and smile mischievously at him. He turned back to Edna. “Can I bring you some coffee? I’m about to get a warmer. Regular, right?” he asked before moving away.

  Edna nodded. “That would be wonderful,” she said, sinking onto the chair.

  When he returned, he carried two mugs by their handles in one hand and two small plates in the other.

  “I think you just saved my life,” Edna quipped. She took a sip of hot coffee and began to feel as if she’d survive the day after all. With the fog in her head finally dissipating, she considered again whether Vinnie might have been the one to break into Laurel’s house two evenings ago. Certainly, he’d be acting furtive or nervous or guilty. Instead, he seemed friendly, relaxed and innocent.

  Tearing off a small piece of breakfast bun, she chewed slowly and tried to think of a way to broach the subject now foremost on her mind.

  Vinnie bit into his own roll with relish. He’d finished eating and sat back in his chair, coffee mug held in both hands before Edna spoke. “What time did you say you dropped Bethany off the other night?”

  “’Bout six-thirty.” He frowned. “Why?”

  She remembered very well what time Bethany caught her train because she and Albert had dropped Starling off a few times to catch that same six forty-seven to Boston. What Edna really wanted was to see if she could get Vinnie to admit being in Laurel’s back yard. Rather than answer his question, she asked another. “Did either of you see Mary at CATS that afternoon?” She purposely phrased the question in hopes of tricking him into admitting his presence at the shelter.

  He scowled as if trying to understand what she was asking. After taking a sip of coffee, he shook his head. “I already told you, I wasn’t at CATS. Bethany came by to return my bicycle and asked if I’d drive her to the train. She never mentioned Mary. Why are you asking about her anyway? Doesn’t she live next door to you?”

  Edna shrugged as if it didn’t matter. If Vinnie were lying, he deserved a Thespian award. She couldn’t tell him the real reason for her questions without alienating him, so she gave a purposely vague answer. “I haven’t seen her lately and wondered when you or Bethany might have spoken to her last. I want to ask her a few things about her Christmas Eve party.” At least that was the truth. She certainly wanted to ask Mary why she wasn’t home getting ready for her guests.

  “Oh, the party,” Vinnie said, sitting forward and picking up his empty plate. His eyes brightened. “I got an invitation. So did Codfish.” He rose. “Speaking of the old man, I’d better go get my uncle before he gets antsy and decides to hot-wire his truck.”

  Edna felt a flash of panic. She sensed he might have information important to finding Mary, but she didn’t know exactly what that might be or what questions to ask to draw it out of him. Charlie was sending someone to speak to Bethany, and Edna didn’t want to get in the way of a police investigation, but she couldn’t sit around waiting. If she couldn’t pin Vinnie down, she’d have to talk to Bethany. Edna held up a hand to delay Vinnie. “Before you go, would you give me Bethany’s phone number?”

  “Sure.” He went behind the counter to put his plate and coffee mug on the shelf of the pass-through and returned a moment later to give Edna a paper napkin on which he’d scribbled a phone number. “That’s her cell,” he said as he lifted a ski jacket off the back of his chair. “See ya later.” Still pulling on the jacket, he went out through the front door to the sound of the jangling bells.

  Edna was about to take out her own cell phone to call the young woman when she heard sounds of banging and clanging coming from the kitchen. Before she could get up to investigate, a matronly woman in a long black wool coat pushed open the double swinging doors. A black knit cap was pulled down nearly to her brows.

  “I need help unloading supplies,” she called into the room.

  Gran and Priscilla were standing before the cash register and hadn’t bothered to turn at the din. Deeply engrossed, Priscilla seemed to be showing Gran how to work the credit card machine.

  “Hello, Mother,” she called without turning around. “Be with you in a minute.”

  “Never mind,” Edna said, rising and gathering up her dishes. “I’ll help.” Heading toward the woman, she introduced herself and said, “You must be Faye Krispin. I’ve heard so much about you from Gran.” There was something familiar about the woman, Edna thought, turning to put her dirty dishes next to Vinnie’s on the pass-through counter. Puzzling over where she might have seen the woman before, she said, “I’ll get my coat.”

  Spinning back into the kitchen, Faye said, “Come through this way. My car’s out back. I’ll meet you there.”

  A few minutes later, Edna stepped through the door to the rear parking lot. Faye was in the process of lifting a box from the back seat of a bright blue sedan. Glancing down at the license plate, Edna saw the last two numbers were a three and a two. Now she knew why the woman looked familiar. She had nearly knocked Edna down rushing out of Laurel Taylor’s house three mornings ago.

  Chapter 17

  “What do you want to know about that wicked woman?” Faye asked once she and Edna were seated at the back table. She had said she’d be willing to talk to Edna, but not before she’d gotten the supplies out of her car and into the kitchen. The snow was still coming down, and she didn’t want to delay the unloading. As they had worked, Edna briefly explained to Faye that she’d been one of the women on the porch when Faye had stormed out of Laurel’s house.

  Looking slightly abashed, Faye said, “I was vaguely aware of bumping into someone. You say that was you?” She had stopped to look at Edna after lifting a carton of lettuce and vegetables from the car. “I do apologize, but I was rather upset. I’m afraid I wasn’t myself.”

  “No harm done,” Edna said, leaning in to pick up the last grocery bag before closing the trunk’s lid. By the time she turned, Faye had already disappeared into the building.

  Once finished, Edna followed Faye into the main dining room and was surprised to see customers occupying one of the tables and three of the stools at the counter. She realized it was the first time she’d been in the restaurant when they were open for business. Priscilla was busy preparing breakfast plates while Gran waited on the four customers. Instead of coffee, Edna and Faye each prepared tea for themselves, carrying their mugs to the table. Edna purposely chose to sit in Vinnie’s usual chair, facing the room, so Faye would look at her and not be distracted by the patrons.

  “How did you know Laurel?” Edna replied to Faye’s query.

  The woman narrowed her eyes at Edna, looking at her with obvious suspicion. Faye seemed to be as straightforward and no-nonsense as her childhood friend Gran. “Why do you want to know about her? What has she to do with you?”

  Edna thought for a minute, unsure how to answer. Hesitantly at first, but becoming more certain as she spoke, she said, “A friend of mine is missing. She was last seen leaving CATS the afternoon Laurel died. I think her disappearance has something to do with the death. She may have seen what happened. If she did, a killer may be after her … or worse.” Edna finally spoke what she had forced to the back of her mind until that moment, not wanting to bring the unthinkable into conscious thought. She could ignore her fears no longer.

  Faye’s expression turned from suspicion to horror. “I’m sorry about your friend.” Her look morphed into anger, and she went on, “As for Laurel Taylor, she was a bad woman. She didn’t deserve to die, but I can’t help thinking her past finally caught up with her.”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “I mean she’s a liar and a thief.”

  “A thi
ef?” It wasn’t quite what Edna had expected to hear, but her curiosity certainly was piqued.

  “You bet she was. She stole my brother’s life savings.”

  Edna was instantly alert. She knew enough by now to realize that the more you learned about a victim, the closer you came to unveiling a murderer. She hadn’t had much success, so far, in trying to follow Mary’s trail, so perhaps if she discovered the identity of Laurel’s killer, maybe she’d find Mary. Edna didn’t dare imagine what shape her friend would be in by this time. She’d been missing for nearly two days. “Would you please begin at the beginning and tell me everything you know about Laurel?”

  Faye slowly bounced her teabag in the mug of hot water, but her mind seemed far away. Nearly a minute passed before, twining the string around a spoon, she squeezed water from the bag and laid both it and the spoon aside. After taking a sip of the brew, she began her story.

  “Bob--that’s my brother--Bob lives alone in a small house on the outskirts of Bloomington, Indiana.” She gave Edna a weak smile. “I guess he’s not entirely alone. He has a dog. Heidi’s a Golden, a real sweetie.”

  Edna nodded understanding before asking, “How did your brother meet Laurel?”

  “She called herself a ‘health companion.’ Two years ago, he fell and broke his wrist. He didn’t want to go to a rehab center which would also mean putting Heidi in a kennel while he recuperated, so he advertised for some temporary help. Making a long story short, Laurel was one of the women who answered his ad, and he hired her. When his wrist had healed and he was able to do for himself, instead of leaving, she stayed on. Bob’s house is small, but there’s a back room next to the downstairs bathroom off the kitchen. It had been a junk room before he had it cleaned out and converted to a bed-sitting room for live-in help. He said he got used to having someone else in the house. He liked it that Laurel would clean and cook when he didn’t feel like it. If you ask me, I think he got used to having a woman wait on him again. He’d been a widower for seven years before his accident, you know.”

  Edna didn’t know, but kept silent, waiting for Faye to continue.

  “Apparently, Laurel stayed to herself most of the time, kept to her room when she wasn’t out buying groceries or running some sort of errand for Bob. Since she was living in the house and eating his food, once he was able to look after himself, he didn’t have to pay her anything. Room and board was more than enough, if you want my opinion.”

  “Why did she stay on?” Edna asked. “Didn’t she need to earn spending money, at least?”

  Faye shrugged and took another sip of tea, wincing as she did so. “Cold,” she said, making a face and putting the mug to one side. She picked up a paper napkin and twisted it between her fingers as she continued her story.

  “Bob says she didn’t talk much about herself, but from the way she acted at times and from things she’d say now and then, he got the feeling she was hiding from someone. He supposed she wanted a place to live where she didn’t have to put stuff in her name--you know, like utilities and such.” Faye scowled. “Wish I’d known at the time. I’d have found out what was going on. Must be something wrong with a person who needs to hide out.”

  Thinking of Carol James and the situation that made her hide from mobsters, Edna didn’t agree with Faye’s conclusion, but said nothing. Evidently, Gran hadn’t filled her friend in on Carol’s plight, so Edna certainly wasn’t going to say anything. Instead, she prompted Faye to go on with her brother’s situation. “So what happened? You said Laurel stole your brother’s life savings?”

  “I have to back up to the beginning to explain,” Faye said, beginning to shred the napkin in her hands. Anger and resentment were clear in her tone. “When Bob’s wrist was in the cast, he couldn’t write, of course. Laurel made out his checks, opened his mail, things like that, so she knew what his financial situation was. Most of his savings he had in stocks and bonds. He’d had the same broker for years, recommended by his accountant, and had no complaints. The portfolio wasn’t making Bob much money, but he wasn’t losing it, either. Until she came along.” Faye made “she” sound like a hiss of disgust as her face contorted with renewed rage.

  Edna reached across the table and gently squeezed Faye’s hand, hoping to calm the woman. Faye took a deep breath and bowed her head for several seconds before taking another deep breath and smiling sadly at Edna.

  “I know my brother is partly to blame. He’s a kind and an honest man. I think that might be why he tends to trust people. His friends have never before taken advantage of his compassion, so that’s another reason I think he trusted Laurel. He hasn’t said as much, but knowing Bob, I bet he figured he could get her to open up, tell him what she was scared of, and then help her. After she took his money and ran away, he said he probably should have noticed a change in her, but he had been lulled into complacency by that time. He never thought she’d cheat him after being with him for two years.”

  “Something must have caused her to act as she did. Does he know what that was?” Edna was intrigued.

  “I’m getting to that.” Apparently, Faye wanted to tell the story in her own time and in her own way. “Somehow, Laurel convinced Bob that his broker wasn’t doing such a good job handling his money. She said she knew someone who could do better. Don’t ask me why, but instead of having his money transferred, he went along with Laurel’s suggestion and instructed his broker to send a certified check to him by registered mail.”

  “And Laurel intercepted the check,” Edna guessed.

  Faye nodded. “The day the check arrived, that woman met the postman coming up the walk. She was sweeping the porch. It’s obvious now that she’d been waiting for him. By that time, she knew all the delivery people, of course, and they were used to her signing for my brother. She told the postman that Bob wasn’t home. That was true enough.” Faye snorted derisively. “She’d sent him into the city on a fool’s errand. Had him go into the city to an Italian deli that she said had the best ingredients for a special dinner she wanted to make for him. It also happened to be near a place he could hike with Heidi off leash.” Faye shook her head sadly. “She knew he’d be gone most of the afternoon. He loved to see his dog run free. Well, sure enough, when he got home late that afternoon, she’d cleared out--bag, baggage and his life savings.”

  “How did you find her? Isn’t it a little coincidental that she ended up here in Rhode Island, near you? Did she know that members of Bob’s family live in this area?”

  “He and I talked about that. Once we found out more about her, we thought it made some sort of warped sense for her to hide close to her husband’s family.”

  More than a little confused, Edna repeated her earlier question. “How did you find her?”

  “We hired a detective. At first, Bob didn’t want to spend the money, but I told him Priscilla and I would help with some of the profits from the diner. When he found her and got his money back, he could reimburse us if he wanted to.”

  Remembering the autopsy report that indicated Laurel had been an abused wife, Edna was more than a little curious about the woman’s husband. “Did you say her husband’s family also live around here?”

  Faye nodded at the same time she must have realized what a mess she’d made of the napkin. She spoke to the tabletop as she began to sweep together shreds of paper with the side of her hand. “As part of his investigation, our private detective found out that Laurel was married and had run away from her husband about the time she answered Bob’s ad for a caregiver. She was originally from Texas, around Fort Hood, so the detective checked with the army. Sure enough, he found her marriage license and was able to trace the husband--or his family, at least. Surprised us all to learn that her in-laws live so close to me and Priscilla. Our best guess is that maybe she thought she could squeeze money out of them, too, somehow.” Faye looked up at Edna and scowled. “Who knows what sort of twisted logic runs through the head of a person like that.”

  Edna knew it was a rhetorical que
stion and paid no attention to it as she felt her excitement grow. “Who is this family?” Her head was whirling with the implications. What if Mary had learned about them and their relationship to Laurel? She would be like a bloodhound following a scent. Would she confront them? In her pursuit, could she have forgotten about everything else, including the fact that tomorrow evening was Christmas Eve and her big party?

  At that moment, the door opened to admit four new customers followed by Vinnie and Codfish. When Edna glanced up at the commotion, she saw that Gran was busy at the register and looked frazzled as she hovered over the credit card machine. Two customers, waiting in line to pay their checks, were obviously growing impatient.

  “Mother, could you please come help?” Priscilla appeared from the kitchen balancing two plates of eggs and pancakes on her left arm and holding a pot of coffee in her right hand. She, too, looked harried. Having caught her mother’s attention, Priscilla immediately turned to Vinnie and jerked her head toward the kitchen in silent appeal before serving her patrons.

  Edna and Faye had been so absorbed in the story of Laurel Taylor that they’d failed to notice the diner filling up.

  Faye immediately jumped up, dropped the shredded napkin bits into her tea mug and hurried off toward the kitchen. Left alone, Edna realized not only were the newest arrivals staring at her, obviously hoping to have her seat, but they were also brushing a layer of snow from their shoulders. She knew she would be of no help around the diner, having not a single clue of what to do, but she had plenty of work waiting for her at home. She was grabbing her coat off the back of her chair, as Vinnie came from the kitchen to bus the table.

  “Would you tell Gran to call me when she’s ready to leave? I’ll come back and pick her up.”

  “No need for that, Miz Davies,” he said. “I can drive her home.”

  Feeling relieved that she needn’t worry about Gran, frustrated that her talk with Faye had been interrupted for the time being, and anxious about the mounting snow, Edna left the café.