A Body in the Attic : Myrtle Clover #16

Chapter Seventeen

Miles cleared his throat. "I don't think anyone knew, Carter. Myrtle just is very perceptive."

Carter sighed. "Nice of you to try to make me feel better, Miles. But I'm well aware of how obvious I was when I was trying to get Pansy's attention. It was almost like a bad habit I'd fallen into and it kept me from seeing the big picture."

"And the big picture has Orabelle in it?" asked Myrtle.

Carter shrugged. "To be honest, I'm not sure. But it's an idea I'd like to pursue and see where it leads me. She's a nice woman and has always been very thoughtful. She'd chat with me sometimes when she delivered my mail and I was always so caught up with Pansy that I didn't really appreciate my conversations with Orabelle. I'm trying to change that now, if it's not too late."

Myrtle said, "I hope it works out. I do like Orabelle." She paused and then implemented a radical change of subject. "And I was so sorry to hear about Liam Hudson."

Carter blinked at the rapid shift in topic. "Liam Hudson?"

"You were friends, I believe."

Carter shook his head slowly. "I don't know him. That is, I know of him. But only that he's a local lawyer."

"You didn't have a recent violent argument with him?" asked Myrtle sweetly.

Carter colored again, but this time with anger. "What? Who said I did?"

"I don't really remember," prevaricated Myrtle. Old age was a useful thing when it came to excuses. People seemed to have such low expectations of one's capabilities.

"I did not have a violent argument with Liam Hudson. I barely even knew who the guy was. I probably wouldn't have been able to pick him out of a lineup. Why on earth would I have killed him?"

Myrtle said, "Well then, that's settled. It sounds like you were doing something else while Liam was killed. Right?"

"I certainly wasn't killing Liam at the time. But there I go again, not knowing when I might need an alibi. I really need to do a better job with that. I was at home with Charlie. Sleeping. And Charlie is quite the bed hog, too." He looked down and Charlie grinned up at Carter with her snaggle-toothed grin. "So that's it. Charlie is my alibi."

Carter looked glumly around him. "Well, I suppose I should be getting along home. Orabelle is definitely not here. Hope the two of you have a good day."

Charlie trotted ahead of Carter to the car and they left.

Myrtle and Miles sat thoughtfully on the bench, watching him drive off.

"I sure hope he doesn't chase Orabelle as much as he did Pansy," said Miles.

"Ditto. Although I don't have much hope considering what we just saw. He was awfully spiffy looking for his walk in the park."

Miles said, "And even dressed Charlie up."

Myrtle made a face. "Hard to make that dog pretty. But she seems sweet. I guess."

"What now?" asked Miles as Myrtle stood up and balanced for a moment on her cane.

"Now? We head back to my house to make sure the Nefarious Puddin didn't just lounge around and eat up my junk food instead of cleaning up the house."

But Puddin had apparently pulled herself together and done some cleaning before Dusty picked her up. The house, although not exactly sparkling, was definitely a lot better than it had been and even had a light, lemony scent to it.

Myrtle beamed at the dustless surfaces. "Excellent!" She did a quick walkabout and saw that, although not perfect, everything seemed a lot better than it was.