Red and Perkins were there in minutes. They must have felt like they were on stage since the entire neighborhood was out on their lawns staring at Myrtle's house.
"I'll take that, Mama," said Red eyeing the gun Myrtle still clutched in her hand.
He and Perkins arrested Bianca. The deputy ushered her into the back of the police car as the neighborhood gaped at the scene.
Red walked back in briefly to tell everyone to leave the living room and go into the kitchen for a few minutes. He had to yell over the sound of the siren, which was still going off.
"Was this the toy you were trying to saddle me with?" he barked at Myrtle.
Myrtle said with a shrug, "The siren was broken until I hit Bianca with the ambulance."
"This toy stays at your house," said Red. Then he loudly said to everyone, "I'll be back in with Perkins in fifteen or twenty minutes."
Once he walked out, Miles picked up the ambulance and removed the batteries and the house was suddenly quiet although Myrtle's ears were still ringing . . . whether from Puddin or the siren, she wasn't sure.
When Red and Perkins finally joined them, Puddin was finishing Myrtle's bottle of sherry and her pale cheeks were now a blotchy red. Dusty had found an ancient beer can Red had left at Myrtle's house ages ago. He'd poured the beer over ice, which just showed how desperately in need of it he was. Myrtle and Miles had made coffee.
Red and Perkins pulled some chairs from the living room into the kitchen and got their notebooks out.
"Now would somebody like to tell me what happened?" asked Red in a tight voice.
Puddin burst out indignantly, "Came in to get my watch I done left here. An' when I came in, that woman was holdin' a gun on your mama and Mr. Miles."
Myrtle said coldly. "I've never even seen you wear a watch."
"New revolution," said Puddin, glaring at her.
"Resolution," said Myrtle.
Red broke in, "Stop it! Tell me about Bianca."
Puddin gave him a resentful look. "Done told you. Her was pointin' a gun at your mama. Dusty came in to save us." She fluttered her eyelashes at Dusty and Dusty beamed shyly at her.
"That's not what happened at all!" said Myrtle. "Dusty charged in with a hedge trimmer that wasn't even turned on and created a distraction. I smashed Jack's ambulance on Bianca's head, thereby disabling her."
Perkins said politely, "Perhaps, Mr. Bradford, you could give us your version of what happened."
Miles looked pleased. "Yes. Well, Myrtle and I were working on crosswords from a book Red and Elaine had given her."
Now Red looked pleased his gift was being used.
Miles continued, "When the doorbell rang, Myrtle went to the door and Bianca forced her way in with a gun." He paused. "Myrtle had already figured out Bianca was the murderer."
Red's brow wrinkled. "How? How did she do that?"
Myrtle said smugly, "It all started when Wanda said anger is powerful."
Red's gaze lifted to the heavens.
Perkins prompted, "Mr. Bradford?"
Miles cleared his throat. "Like I said, Myrtle had already figured everything out. She knew about Carolyn Segers, for example."
Red frowned. "Carolyn, the librarian? How on earth does she figure into this?"
"Oh, she doesn't! Not really. But she gave Myrtle information about Bianca going to Lillian's house. And then Bianca spoke about the feeding station to Myrtle at the auction."
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.