Miss Julia Renews Her Vows (27 page)

“I’m fine,” I answered, “and hope you are, too. Sam’s expecting me, though I’m surprised he didn’t apprise you beforehand of my intended visit. And James, yelling down the hall to hold your horses is no way to greet guests.” For some reason, James brought out the worst in me, but he hadn’t seen it all yet.

I went right on setting him straight. “I want you to get out here and look at these windows. With the sun shining on them, you can see a dusty glaze on every one of them. They all need a good washing, so get a ladder and everything else you’ll need and start on the north side.”

James’s smile fell away. “Right now?”

“Yes. Put your hand to the plow and get to it. A task put off is a task undone.”

“But Miss Julia, I washed them windows back in the spring, an’ I don’t never wash ’em but oncet a year.”

“This year’s different. We’ve had a dry and dusty summer.”

Before I could further encourage him, Sam opened his office door and looked out into the hall. “Sorry, I was on the phone. How are you, sweetheart? Come on in here. I’ve been waiting for you.”

“Be careful on the ladder, James,” I said. “I’ll come and check your work before I leave.” Then, walking toward Sam, I felt my heart lift at his welcoming smile.

We went into the large front room that now served as his office, and Sam closed the door behind us. “What was that all about?” he asked.

“Oh, just putting James to work washing windows. He gets away with murder around here, Sam. Idle hands and all that, you know.”

Sam laughed. “I know, but he keeps things halfway decent. Now, come sit down and tell me what’s on your mind. You’re feeling all right?”

We sat together on the leather sofa as it crossed my mind that this was the time and place that I’d planned to make my confession and throw myself on his mercy. Thank goodness, I no longer had to do that.

“I’m fine. But let me just catch you up with the morning’s developments first. I went out to Francie’s cottage at Mountain Villas because she came home from the hospital this morning. Now, don’t frown at me, Sam. I wanted to see how she was and also see if she’d changed her story again. And I wanted to see the crime scene, too.”

“Well, that’s interesting,” Sam said, “because I saw her, too, a little while ago. I’d just come out of the Skytop Hotel, where we’d had the Rotary meeting, and heard somebody calling, ‘Yoo-hoo, Sam! Sam Murdoch, is that you?’ I looked around, and there she was, sitting in the passenger seat of one of those old long Cadillacs. I walked over and spoke, and she told me she was waiting for her companion to pick up some things at the dry cleaner’s. Then she went into this long account of her troubles, but she didn’t say a word about your visit. Just that she’d heard that you’d been ill and she hoped I was managing all right because she knew how disheartening it was to have a sick spouse.”

“I guess she does!” I said, infuriated that Francie had been discussing me with Sam. “She’s had enough of them. But I’m surprised she was out and about. She sure acted helpless enough this morning. But you won’t believe who she’d hired—Etta Mae! I tell you, Sam, it shook me to see her there and to learn that Francie had practically begged her to come to work for her. And at first I thought it was a good thing. I mean, surely, rehiring the very one she’s accused of attacking her would undermine the accusation she’s made, wouldn’t it?”

Sam nodded. “I’d think it’d tear a few holes in it.”

“That’s what I thought, although I did try to get Etta Mae to leave, reminding her that she’d promised to look after Hazel Marie. Well, anyway, we left it that Etta Mae would work on until Hazel Marie gets home, but you won’t believe what I learned from the gatekeeper as I was leaving.”

“What?”

So I told him. “Now, it looks to me, Sam, as if there’s mischief afoot, and it’s all been cooked up between Francie and Lieutenant Peavey.”

“Well, I don’t know, Julia. That could be seen as entrapment, and I don’t believe Peavey would be involved in something like that. But I do think it’d be better if Etta Mae steered clear of Francie until this is settled. Let’s encourage her to find another job.”

Quickly gathering myself to switch subjects before I let on about how I’d gotten Etta Mae out of Francie’s clutches, I said, “Oh, I agree, and I’m working on it. But listen, I’ve thought of something that we’ve all let slide. I think we ought to look into this Evelyn person. That’s what I really wanted to talk to you about, because it came to me sometime in the night that she’s the mystery person in all this. Who is she? Where is she from? And all that. So I want to know if you can find out about her.”

Sam looked a little skeptical, but he said, “I guess I could try, but I’m sure the lieutenant has that information already.”

“I expect he does, so it’s even more important that we have it, too.” I sat up and turned sideways to look at him. “You and Binkie could work together on it. She needs to know everything about everybody involved in that alleged attack. If it comes down to a criminal case, Sam . . . I mean, if Etta Mae’s formally charged, if that’s what you call it, then Binkie ought to have every smidgen of information she can get.”

Not getting the enthusiasm I’d hoped for, I went on. “Look, Sam, at this point, there’re only three people we
know
about who’re involved: Etta Mae, Francie and this Evelyn. Now, even though I think it was somebody we
don’t
know—anybody can go in and out that gate—nonetheless, those three are all we have to work with. We know that Etta Mae is innocent, so that leaves the other two. Frankly, if there hadn’t been some kind of trauma to Francie’s head, I’d suspect there’d been no attack at all. But it was enough to keep her in the hospital for four days, so something happened. That leaves Evelyn, and we don’t know a thing about her.”

“Well, there’s always the possibility that Francie simply fell when nobody was there, hit her head hard enough to knock her out and just assumed it was an attack. Have you thought about that?”

That stopped me, because, like the lieutenant, I’d simply taken her word for it, especially because Francie had added a few flourishes, like hearing somebody clinking the bottles and jars on her dressing table and emitting a foul odor that lingered in her mind long enough to be associated with a helping of collards.

“Why,” I said, in some wonder that I’d not given credence to that possibility before, “it could’ve happened that way, couldn’t it? And as I’ve always said, Francie has a way of dramatizing everything that happens to her. And being brutally accosted in her own home, robbed and strangled—of which, I remind you, there was no evidence—certainly makes a better story than tripping over your own feet and knocking yourself out. And, of course, she does have that gouty toe, so it makes sense that she wouldn’t be steady on her feet.”

“I think we’ve solved it, Julia. That’s probably what happened, and absent any further evidence than Francie’s sense of smell, Lieutenant Peavey will think so, too.”

“I hope you’re right,” I said, but not sure he was. “Just in case, though, will you look into Evelyn? For my own peace of mind if nothing else?”

“Sure, I can do that. I’ll talk to Binkie and see what she already has, then ask around a little.”

“Oh, thank you, Sam. Now,” I said, getting to my feet, “I better check on James, then I need to get on home.”

Sam stood up, too, then put his arm around me. “Is that all you wanted to talk about? Isn’t there something else you want to tell me?”

“Well, my goodness,” I said, forcing a smile while fear coursed through me that he’d guessed—or worse,
known
—my original intention. “I’ve said an awful lot. Wasn’t it enough?”

“I thought you might’ve made a special trip over here to tell me you love me.”

I laughed then, in great relief. “I do love you, Sam Murdoch, more than you know.” And that was the honest truth, if I’d ever told it.

“Oh, by the way,” I said, turning back to Sam as we walked out onto the porch, “Hazel Marie and Mr. Pickens will be home any time now, so I’ve asked Etta Mae to come on over so she’ll be here when they get back.”

Sam smiled indulgently. “You’re still looking after Etta Mae, aren’t you?”

“I guess I am, but really, Sam, Hazel Marie may need more help than we can give her.”

“I’m hoping she won’t need a professional nurse.”

“Well, I am, too,” I said, “but Etta Mae’s not exactly a nurse. She’s more of a helping hand, a companion, you might say. I’m really concerned that Hazel Marie will start doing too much and get in trouble again. And because Etta Mae desperately needs a job, Lillian and I thought this would be a good way to put her to work and keep an eye on Hazel Marie at the same time. It’ll only be until this thing with Francie is settled and she can get her old job back.

“And Sam,” I went on, avoiding his eyes as I lingered in the shade of the porch before heading home, “I don’t want to worry you, but the other night at Mildred’s—right when Dr. Fowler was talking—I had a bad turn. I thought I was going to be sick, but I never got sick, just a sickly kind of feeling. It may have been some leftover symptoms from the bug I had the first of the week. And actually, Emma Sue had a little spell, too. We were both down with whatever it was at the same time, you know. So anyway, that’s another reason I asked Etta Mae to stay over.”

“I’m worried about you, Julia, and so is Lillian. She kind of hinted around that you’ve not been yourself lately. I wish you’d go on and see Dr. Hargrove.”

“I’m going to. It’s time for my annual checkup, anyway, which Lillian’s been reminding me of. I’ll make an appointment for, maybe, Tuesday.” That was in case I had to be ill Monday night.

Sam took my arm, saying sternly, “See that you do. And if you don’t, I’m going to put you in the car and take you myself.”

James suddenly popped his head around the corner of the house, calling out, “I’ll take her, Mr. Sam, anytime you want me to.”

Sam started laughing as I murmured, “Oh, for goodness’ sakes.” Then, in a louder voice, I said, “James, pay attention to what you’re doing. You fall off that ladder, and it won’t be me who’s going to the doctor.”

I turned back to Sam. “Now everybody in town’s going to think I’m on my last legs. Make him keep on with the windows, Sam. Well, I better get on back in case Hazel Marie calls. She usually does about the time Lloyd gets home from school. Will you be coming soon?”

“Not too much longer. I still have a few things to wrap up. But listen,” Sam said, thinking of something else, “you never did tell me how it went at Mildred’s last night. What did you think of Dr. Fowler?”

“Oh, don’t ask,” I said, waving my hand as if the man were of no consequence. “He talked about the most inappropriate things, although Emma Sue kept whispering to me so much that I couldn’t hear half of them. But I’ll tell you, Sam, she is up in arms about him and his enriching sessions—now that she knows what
enriching
means. She wants the pastor to close him down, but on the other hand, she’s fascinated with what he’s teaching.” I smiled at him like a conspirator. “She got Helen Stroud to buy his books for her because she doesn’t want anybody to know she has them.”

Sam smiled, too. “Emma Sue’s a caution, isn’t she? But if she’s so interested, why does she want to stop the sessions?”

“Because the church is not the place for such talk, and I’m inclined to agree with her. The things he said, Sam, you wouldn’t believe. And what he recommended! My word, the man is out of his mind. I didn’t tell you, but Emma Sue and I left before he finished. It was just too much.”

Sam laughed. “If that’s the case, I can’t wait till Monday. He didn’t get into details with us, so I have something to look forward to.”

“Oh, you,” I said, trying to make light of what was heavy on my heart. “And if he does, you just keep in mind where you are: in the Lord’s house, listening to the most graphic and infelicitous discourse on his ideas of what a marriage should entail.
And,
” I said, drawing myself up in indignation, “he doesn’t even know what he’s talking about because he’s not married himself.”

“Well,” Sam said, putting his arm around me, “maybe that’s why we ought to be there. To straighten him out, because we know all about it. Don’t we, sweetheart?”

“Shh, Sam,” I cautioned, unable to keep from smiling, “James’ll hear you.”

Sam laughed. “Maybe we’ll teach James something, too. Anyway, we’ll go together Monday night and find out whether Dr. Fred can tell us one thing we don’t already know.”

“We’ll see.” I turned away and started down the steps. “Don’t work too late. Hazel Marie and Mr. Pickens may be coming in, and, of course, Etta Mae’ll be there.”