A Body in the Trunk : Myrtle Clover Book 12

Chapter Eight

She followed him back and she said, "You've done very good work, too. I'd expect nothing less from you, though. I'll be sure to brainstorm more projects for you to help with."

"I appreciate that," said Tarleton warmly. "Take care, Miss Myrtle. You too, Miles." He took his leave.

Miles said, "Not that I don't like Tarleton, but aren't you a bit worried about having a suspect in your house?"

"Not when the suspect is Tarleton. I've known him his entire life. Besides, I think I can take him, Miles." She looked at her watch. "Are you about ready to head over to the basketball game, so that we can talk to Adelaide and find out what's going on?"

"I don't think I'm going to ever really be ready to head over to the basketball game. And, as a matter of fact, I'd really rather not go today. It looks like rain outside," said Miles.

Myrtle paused and then said, "You do realize that the basketball game is played indoors, don't you?"

"Of course I do. But we'll still get wet on the way, both in and out. We'd probably have to stand outside to buy tickets, too. Plus, this has already been a long day. You could always go, yourself, though."

Myrtle made a face. "This might be an occasion where it would be nice to have my sidekick with me, especially during the game. Somehow I can't fancy myself sitting in the bleachers by myself at a high school basketball game."

"Unimaginable," agreed Miles. "I'll check online and see if they're playing a home game tomorrow."

Fortunately, a quick check determined that there would be a home basketball game the very next day and at the same time.

Myrtle walked Miles out. "All right, then, I'll see you tomorrow. And I'll hold off on any investigating until then, too."

That late-afternoon and evening passed rather uneventfully for Myrtle, after her previous busyness. She wrote the story for Sloan and emailed it over to him. Then she ended up calling him to make sure he'd received the email and that the article would make it into the paper the following day.

Myrtle actually enjoyed a sound night's sleep, despite all the things on her mind. That is, she enjoyed a sound night's sleep until the sound of a cat crying woke her up.

"Pasha!" she'd gasped. Throwing on her robe and slippers, she hurried to the front door and flung it open.

There she saw a very self-satisfied Pasha with some sort of dead rodent at her feet. Myrtle sighed. "I wish you had more conventional ways of giving tokens of your affection, Pasha. Some cats purr and rub against their owners or sit in their laps. You do some of that, and I wish you'd do more. Anything but dead chipmunks."

Myrtle wondered if Pasha's gift was something that could be added to Tarleton's list of things to do, but then decided that might be considered rude. She walked back in, carefully closing the door behind her, and walked into the backyard for a shovel. When she returned, Pasha's present, and Pasha herself, were gone. Pasha was clearly exasperated by Myrtle's inappropriate reaction to the present.

Myrtle picked up the newspaper and scanned the front page. Sure enough, there was her story. She smiled to herself.

She spent the next few hours waiting for the rest of Bradley to wake up. Myrtle worked on her crossword puzzle, which she was able to complete in thirty minutes. Then she had a large breakfast of scrambled eggs and sausage links, complete with a bowl of grits. Although sometimes other meals could be tricky, Myrtle had mastered the art of making breakfast.

After checking her emails, she glanced at the clock again and sighed. Still too early for the stores to be open or for people to really be about. That was annoying. She liked it when she got emails praising her articles in the newspaper.

Myrtle was startled by the doorbell, having decided that no one in town was awake. She peeked through the window beside her front door and smiled when she saw Elaine and Jack there. Jack was pulling a red wagon that was full of various plants and even a couple of small shrubs.

She opened the door and said, "Look who's here! Good morning!"

Jack gave her a hug around her legs and seemed on the point of pulling the wagon full of plants right into Myrtle's living room until Elaine stopped him. "These are outside plants, remember, Jack?" She smiled at Myrtle. "I figured it wasn't too early to come by. Jack decided to have an early start this morning."

"Well, whenever he does, he's welcome to come over and play with his Nana. Jack and I have a lot in common," she said. "The early bird gets the worm, doesn't he, Jack?"

Elaine said, "I thought I'd go ahead and get started in your yard before it gets too hot out."

Myrtle still had that uneasy feeling that she always had whenever Elaine embarked on a new hobby. They never really ended well. But Elaine was a member of garden club. With any luck, this would go better than the other disastrous hobbies had.

"That sounds wonderful, Elaine. Although I know there are a lot of gnomes out there to work around, plus the fact that the ground is probably soggy from the rain we had last night," said Myrtle.

"Oh, that's all right. The gnomes will keep Jack and me company out there. He loves them." Elaine paused. "Remind me again what the gnomes are a result of?"

Myrtle said, making a face, "Red wants to take over my bill paying. He thinks I'm not paying my bills on time—there was simply some sort of mix-up or misdelivered mail that kept one bill from getting paid."

"It would be nice if Red would take over our bill paying," said Elaine with a sigh. "I'm the one in charge of that. Well, if it makes you feel better, he hasn't said anything to me about it. Maybe he's forgotten, what with the case and all."

"Speaking of the case, have you heard anything from Red about the investigation? Any insights?"

Elaine said ruefully, "I believe that Red thinks I'm a mole. He's keeping this investigation pretty quiet because he knows I tell you all sorts of things."

"Hm. That's a pity. Well, I guess I'll just have to pump Lieutenant Perkins for information when I have my meal with him," said Myrtle a little grandly.

"Perkins? I didn't know y'all had plans. Is he ... easy to talk to?" asked Elaine. "He always seems sort of stern and quiet to me."

"He's both of those things, but once you get to know him, he loosens up a little bit. Or, at least, I hope that's true. It's nice to get little snippets of information and you'd think that would be the least Red and Perkins could do for me, considering all the cases I've solved for them," said Myrtle in an irritated tone.

Elaine said, "You know, there is one thing. I heard Red on the phone and he said something about running by to see Holt Kelly. I thought that was sort of weird. The high school principal has something to do with Neil Albert? Neil didn't even have children. But it was definitely to do with the murder and not some separate issue."

Myrtle said, "Believe it or not, I'd already found out that Holt might somehow be connected with Neil, but it's good to have it verified."

Jack was getting restless and Myrtle stooped down. "Would you like to see if we can find some cookies in my kitchen?" She glanced up at Elaine. "Is that all right? It's never too early for cookies, is it?"

"Never. I'd like one myself, if you find them," said Elaine with a grin. Once they'd had a cookie break, Elaine and Jack set out into Myrtle's yard.