Hushed Up--Myrtle Clover Mystery #15

Chapter Twenty

Red held his head as if it had started pounding.

"Anyway, those were all clues Myrtle needed to put two and two together," finished Miles with a shrug.

"Doesn't even have real booze in her house," Puddin muttered, shooting Myrtle a venomous look.

Red leaned forward in his chair toward Puddin and Puddin leaned backward. Red said, "Do you have any other information to add, Puddin? You or Dusty?"

Puddin considered this for a moment and then said reluctantly, "Nope."

Dusty shook his head.

"Then you can both leave," said Red crisply.

Puddin spluttered, "But her has my watch."

"If she does, which seems extremely unlikely, you can look for it the next time you're here to clean. Which is?" he looked at his mother.

"Tomorrow morning," said Myrtle immediately. She might as well get a cleaning out of this nonsense.

Puddin opened her mouth as if to contest this, saw Red's face and muttered sourly under her breath as she got up and headed for the front door with Dusty behind her.

"Now, let's try this again. Mama?" asked Red.

Myrtle took a deep breath and a momentary complacency at having the spotlight. "Bianca was angry. She was also really desperate. Lillian was planning on firing her after she said she botched an arrangement at an event. To Lillian, Bianca had done something unforgiveable and she was done with her. Lillian was a perfectionist and Bianca wasn't perfect."

Red made a face. "I guess she was desperate, considering she's a single mom and everything."

"Exactly. Bianca didn't see a way she'd be able to find another job in Bradley and she didn't want to move her son to another school district in another town after all the changes he'd already been through. So she went to Lillian's house to reason with her."

Perkins nodded. "And the conversation didn't go well, apparently."

"Lillian didn't listen to her. She was dismissive. And Bianca was frustrated, picked up the dog feeding station, and lunged at Lillian." She paused for effect and continued, "Bianca mentioned the fact an auction item was used as a weapon when she and I were speaking at the auction. And I knew no one knew that."

Red frowned. "You should have called me right when you found out."

Myrtle shook her head. "It didn't come together for me then. It was only when Miles and I were here in the quiet of the house that it occurred to me. It's when I also realized something else—that Carolyn Segers mentioned Bianca being at Lillian's house from time to time. And Bianca told Miles and me she'd never been to Lillian's."

Miles nodded.

"Plus, we'd seen Martin playing around with that silver business card case of his directly before he said he was going over to the flower shop to see his new business. The way he was fidgeting with it, it would have been easy for him to have left it on a counter or table in the back room. Bianca grabbed it, thinking it might be useful later. She planted it after she'd killed Tallulah," said Myrtle.

Perkins said, "Tallulah, living next door to Lillian, obviously saw Bianca at the house."

Myrtle said, "She either saw Bianca there or realized later that Bianca's car was there. Either way, it sounds like something that gradually dawned on her instead of something she realized right away. At the funeral, Tallulah was clearly trying to wait to speak privately with Red. Miles and I noticed it. And Bianca noticed it, too. She also noticed Tallulah was behaving oddly around her and put two and two together."

Perkins smiled at her. "Good detective work, Mrs. Clover."

Myrtle beamed at the praise.

Red sighed. "Well, all's well that ends well."

Myrtle said, "I do feel badly for Bianca's little boy. What will become of poor Tim?"

Perkins said in a steady voice, "I think he's going to be all right, even if he will have to change schools and move. The team contacted Bianca's mother and from what we understand, she's more than happy to take him in. Maybe she can even persuade the husband to pay child support."

"Or I can," glowered Red. It looked as if a phone call to Tim's dad was on his list of things to do.

Perkins stood up, "I don't think we need any other information, do we, Red?"

Red shook his head. "Not at this point. Mama, you should get some rest."

"I'm wide awake," said Myrtle, looking at him through narrowed eyes.

Perkins said mildly, "Perhaps working on the crosswords again would make for a relaxing activity. After the stress you've been through tonight."

Red glanced at the empty bottle of sherry. "I'd advise you to have a small drink, but it looks like someone eliminated that option."

Miles said quickly, "I have a bottle of chardonnay in my fridge. We could take the crosswords over there."

"Chardonnay and crosswords. I think that will work," said Myrtle.

And it did.