Edit to Death : Myrtle Clover #14

Chapter Nineteen

The car dealership was as dead as the diner had been with most of the town apparently taking naps after all the food at the funeral reception. As Boone had promised, however, he was there. He spotted them from the showroom and raised a hand in greeting.

Miles sighed. "I'm not really looking forward to this."

"We simply need to find more information now that Tara's body has been found. It's not that big of a deal," said Myrtle.

"He didn't seem very big on disclosing information last time," said Miles.

"Well, now a body has been found on his father's property. A property where Boone used to live. And it's the body of a girl that Boone had a big crush on. He should expect some questions about it," said Myrtle. She saw Miles make a face. "Just pretend to be on your phone if you get uncomfortable this time. You don't have to be part of our conversation."

"Miss Myrtle!" Boone swept up to her and gave her a peck on the cheek. "Thank you so much for coming to Mama's service today. You know she would have appreciated you being there."

"Where else would I have been?" asked Myrtle. "Your mama was a dear, sweet lady. Of course I wanted to be there to show my respect for her."

Boone clapped his hands together. "Now, on to business. What are we going to do about the car?"

Miles looked anxiously at Myrtle. Myrtle, who hadn't expected Boone to lead with the car thing immediately, quickly said, "We're going to all be irritated at Red. Red doesn't want me to have a car and he's been hassling me about it since I started test-driving different models. Yes, it's all Red's fault."

Miles hid a smile. Throwing Red under the bus was probably the best option. After all, it was the truth that he didn't want Myrtle to own a car, even if Myrtle wouldn't have let that stop her if she'd really wanted one. And considering the fact that Boone was a murder suspect several times over, Boone wasn't likely to confront Red over the matter.

Boone made a face. "Aw. I'm sorry to hear that, Miss M. It sure don't seem fair. Doesn't seem fair," he corrected hastily. "But I totally understand."

Now he was looking up at the showroom again as if wanting very much to be back up there and continuing whatever it was that he'd been doing.

Myrtle said, "What's not fair is what your family is going through. It sure seems like when it rains, it pours, doesn't it? First your mother, then your aunt, and now poor Tara."

Miles pulled his phone out and started messing with various apps.

Boone got very still for a couple of seconds as if trying to decide what was the right response. He finally said, "Reckon you heard about that from Red. But we don't know whose body it is. For all we know, it could be some sort of historical discovery from two hundred years ago."

"Red didn't seem to think so. No, it sounded as if the body belonged to that poor girl." Myrtle paused. She tilted her head to one side as if trying to dredge up an old memory. "Now, that was a long time ago but do I remember correctly that you used to date her?"

Boone shook his head and gave a short laugh. "Nope. You've gotten me mixed up with some other student, Miss Myrtle. Tara and I never did go out. In fact, Tara looked down her nose at most boys. She thought we were all uncouth. Maybe we were. Anyway, she was more into her cheerleading and her Future Business Leaders of America club and whatever else smart-kid stuff she was doing. If it is Tara in Dad's yard, I don't have a clue what she's doing there."

Miles said, "But wasn't she at your party?"

For a moment, Boone's expression was unguarded and he shot an annoyed look at Miles. Miles quickly toyed with his phone again.