A Body in the Backyard: #4

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

Not this again. "I know. But if I find out who's responsible for these killings, then I won't be in danger anymore, will I? Can't you help me out?" 

The appeal seemed to sway the woman. She sighed. "Don't know if it's important. But that Peggy? She had a past with that Charles." 

"Charles Clayborne? Your cousin? She used to be involved with him romantically, you're saying?" asked Myrtle. She remembered seeing Peggy crying at Charles's funeral. 

"Used to be. Still wanted to be," said Wanda coolly. 

"But she was practically telling me she didn't know who Charles even was!" 

"Came to his funeral, didn't she?" asked Wanda. "Cried over his body, too." 

That she had. "And you're saying that she still wanted to get back together with Charles?" The two seemed like an odd match to Myrtle. Charles, slick as he was, was still a fairly attractive man. Peggy was pleasantly plump and looked older than her thirty-six years. 

Wanda nodded. "That's what I heard. She was trying to hitch back up with him and he wasn't wanting to. Hurt her feelings." 

Hurt feelings were understandable. But would that be enough to kill someone? And she certainly hadn't appeared to know anything about her father's death. It was hard to picture Peggy being responsible for killing her own father. Could there possibly be more than one murderer afoot?  

Her thoughts were interrupted by Lieutenant Perkins. "Mrs. Clover? Could I speak with you for a few minutes?" Myrtle had forgotten that she was probably a person of interest to the state police. How many times could you have a body in your backyard without attracting attention?  

They stepped off to the side and the sergeant with Lieutenant Perkins flipped to a fresh page in his notebook and looked at Myrtle expectantly. He had such an eager expression on his face that she felt sorry to have to dash his hopes. 

Which she did almost immediately. "Lieutenant Perkins, I would love to be able to help you out. But I'm like the little monkeys who saw and heard no evil. I'm completely useless to you. As far as I can tell, I had a body in my backyard for hours and had absolutely no idea that it was there." 

Lieutenant Perkins retained his same thoughtful expression, but she did see the sergeant's face fall.  

Perkins said, "So when you returned from the funeral service, you didn't notice there was another victim in your yard?" 

"No. Wish I had, though." Myrtle could tell her irritation at that fact was seeping into her voice. 

"There appeared to be a small memorial set out in the yard that was directly under the victim. Could you give me an idea when you set that out?" asked the police officer. 

"It's probably not going to help you out much. I put those flowers out there early this morning; right after the sun came up. Clearly he was murdered sometime after the flowers were placed outside, but I already knew that he was still alive this morning." Myrtle abruptly slammed her mouth closed. He wouldn't have spoken to Peggy Neighbors yet, and if she filled him in, it was going to make her look nosy again. The police warnings did wear thin after a while. 

But her comment hadn't escaped notice. "How did you know that Lee Woosley was still alive this morning?" he asked. The sergeant was beginning to look excited again and had his pencil poised once more over the notebook.  

Myrtle sighed. "Lee's daughter, Peggy Neighbors, talked to him on the phone this morning. She told me about it a few minutes ago."  

As expected, Lieutenant Perkins gave Myrtle a disapproving look. Before he could offer her his standard police warning, Myrtle decided that the interview was entirely too one-sided and that she needed to turn the tables. "It looked like someone had smacked Lee on the back of the head with a shovel-is that right? Could a woman have done it?"