Hushed Up--Myrtle Clover Mystery #15

Chapter Two

The problem, thought Myrtle as she held herself stiffly in Erma Sherman's car, was that Lillian lived too far away. She'd never thought that was a problem before, but now, heading out to join Miles, it was clear it was a problem of great import. She'd had to knock on Erma's door since Red's wife, Elaine, wasn't home and Myrtle no longer owned a car.

The only good thing was Erma was unnaturally solemn and rather quiet as she drove her large boat of a car to Lillian's house.

Myrtle reveled in the silence until Erma broke it, looking sideways at her. "Did Miles say what happened to Lillian?"

Myrtle shook her head. "No. He only said she was dead. He needed to call Red and let him know."

Red would likely not look kindly on Myrtle's presence there, but he would have to understand she needed to support Miles. And, naturally, find out exactly what was going on.

"Well, Lillian and I used to talk about her health problems. Did you know she and I had some of the same ones? Our stomachs and intestines were never right. I told her she should go see my gastro doctor. Did she listen, though? She never did! Because my insides always felt all twisted up inside until I started seeing Dr. Talveston."

Myrtle hurriedly cut in. One of Erma's favorite topics of conversation was her bowels and Myrtle did not have the stomach for it, today of all days. "I'm fairly certain Lillian's sudden death wasn't a result of her intestines." Not, anyway, if Miles had been in such a rush to get off the phone with her to call Red.

Finally, Erma pulled up in front of Lillian's house, which was already cordoned off with police tape. Miles appeared to be perched in the back of Red's police car and looking rather pale. Myrtle saw Red spin around and roll his eyes when he saw his mother. He strode over to Erma's car and hissed, "Mama, what are you doing here?"

Myrtle smiled complacently at him. "I'm here to help Miles, of course. It isn't every day he comes face-to-face with tragedy."

"You can help him a lot more if you meet him over at Bo's Diner in about twenty minutes. I'm sure he'll be ready to eat by then and he likely can use a little distraction. Plus, he seems completely exhausted."

"He hasn't slept for a while," said Myrtle with a shrug.

"Oh, and give him a bottle of hand-sanitizer. He keeps wiping his hands on his trousers and saying he forgot his," said Red.

Erma clambered out of her car and hurried around the hood to stand with Red. Red's expression indicated he was not exactly pleased to see Erma there, either.

"Hi, Red," trilled Erma. "It's a terrible tragedy, isn't it?" But Erma couldn't seem to wipe an excited smile off her face. "You know Lillian and I were friends. We saw each other all the time. So feel free to ask me any questions because I can answer them. You have a notebook, don't you?"

Myrtle could always tell when Red was getting annoyed. That might be because it happened so often in her presence. A red flush rose from his neck. She suspected Red had high blood pressure, although he always brushed her off when she asked. Of course, he was always nosy about her medical visits, even though he never talked about his own. Which was completely unfair.

She had to hand it to him, though; he answered Erma very politely, although he seemed to be speaking through clenched teeth. "Do you know anything that's directly related to Lillian's death?"

Erma considered this. "Well, she had this terrible bout with her bowels. I always say you can tell a lot about a person's overall health by their bowels."

Red quickly interjected before Erma could go into excruciating detail, "Erma, Lillian's death wasn't a natural one. I'm afraid the state of her bowels had nothing to do with it."