Murder on the Ballot, Myrtle Clover #17

Chapter Fifteen

Erma nodded again, this time bobbing her head up and down so wildly Myrtle thought her eyeballs might be rattling around in her head. "Preston Cook!"

"All right. I can confirm that he is dead. Lieutenant Perkins, who has been staying locally while investigating Royce's death, is at the scene ensuring it stays undisturbed."

"I'm assuming it wasn't a natural death," said Myrtle. "That Preston didn't, for some bizarre reason, wander into Erma's yard and have a heart attack there."

Red shook his head. "I'm afraid it was definitely murder."

Erma gave another shriek that made everyone jump. "Why? Why was he in my yard?"

Red said in a calm voice, "We're going to get to the bottom of this, I promise you. Do you have any information you can give me to help me get started? Did you have any interactions with Preston recently?"

"No. No! I barely know the man." She gasped. "You don't think he had any romantic notions about me? You don't think he was going to throw pebbles at my window or something?"

Red blinked at her. Then he said in a soothing voice, "No, I don't think that was it. I didn't see any pebbles in his hand. But I do wonder why he was in your yard."

Erma grabbed her throat, eyes wild. "I don't know! I really don't know!"

Myrtle noticed that Wanda had a knowing, tired look in her eyes. She bet that Wanda had some idea what he might have been doing there.

Red said gravely, "Okay, Erma, I think we're going to be able to let you back in your house, but you're going to need to put on a pair of booties to go through your yard to get in, just in case there's any evidence outside that we need to protect."

Erma nodded. "I'll do it."

"Just make sure you don't go outside." Red's voice was stern.

Erma shook her head. "I won't!"

Red led Erma away and Miles, Wanda, and Myrtle sat at the kitchen table, looking at each other.

"What on earth was that all about?" asked Miles.

Myrtle said, "I haven't the faintest idea, but I believe Wanda does."

Wanda nodded, sadly. "That funeral."

"Where Erma was running her mouth," said Myrtle knowingly.

Wanda said, "She was being too loud an' actin' like she knew stuff."

"That's Erma's normal behavior," said Myrtle with a weary sigh. "But she can't do that when there's a murderer out and about."

Miles rubbed his temples. "Wait. Maybe I'm still trying to wake up, but I don't totally understand what the two of you are saying. Are you saying that Preston was at Erma's house to kill her?"

"She said she had important info," drawled Wanda.

Miles said, "What's hard for me to understand is that anyone who knew Erma would think that she had any important information. Like Myrtle was saying: she's always acting like she has a vital piece of gossip that really isn't. Or that her medical complaints are so important that she has to share them with everybody else. Why would Preston believe her?"

"Desperation," said Myrtle coolly. "He probably also doesn't know Erma as well as we do. He might have thought she really did know something and thought she was going to expose him. So he crept up through her backyard to do away with her and eliminate the risk."

"And she killed him?" Miles was frowning. "Self-defense?"

Wanda shook her head. "Said she found a body."