Mummified Meringues (21 page)

Lexy glanced around the table to see all the neighbors nodding in agreement.

Ron narrowed his eyes at Nans. “Wait a minute. Did you say you called me that night?”
 

“Yes, of course. I gave the usual signal—two-and-a-half rings. I thought that’s why you called back.”

“No, I didn’t even know you called. I was calling
you
to help me get rid of Earl.”

Nans give him a puzzled look. “Oh, gosh, I was in a bit of a tizzy. It’s not every day you have to come up with a plan to hide a body. I didn’t hear you say you thought you killed Earl, I thought you said
Paddy
killed Earl!”

“Well, I killed him after Paddy did, so I don’t see how Paddy could be the real killer.”

“I do,” Jack cut in. “Maybe Earl wasn’t actually dead. Maybe he just passed out after Paddy hit him.”

“And he got up and came to my place?” Ron asked.

“It’s possible,” Jack replied.
 

“But wouldn’t Paddy, Mary or Nans have seen him get up?” Davies asked.

Nans shook her head. “I was busy calling people and getting stuff together … why it took a good half-hour, I think, before I went outside after Paddy’s call.”

“Us, too,” Paddy and Mary chorused.

“So it’s possible he wasn’t quite dead.” Jack tapped his finger on his lips. “How did you determine he was dead?”

“Well, he looked dead and he wouldn’t wake up when we shook him,” Mary said.

“And I checked his breath with a mirror and there was no breath,” Paddy added.

“Okay,” Jack cut in “Let’s say he wasn’t dead. He gets up and goes to Ron’s. Do you know what time that was, Ron?”

“I do,” Esther cut in. “It was ten forty-five. I remember because I sprained my ankle and was watching the clock ‘til I could take my next pain pill. He made a lot of noise out there.”

“Now it’s starting to come together.” Jack nodded his head. “The timeline makes sense. Tell us what happened when Earl showed up at your place, Ron.”

“Well, he smashed into my patio table, causing quite a racket, so I ran outside and there he was, drunk … at least, I thought he was drunk. Anyway, he started picking a fight with me and I was still mad about the insurance money and all, so we got into it a bit. He was dancing all over the yard, throwing punches and yelling. I hit him and he fell face down in the ditch. It was full of water. I ran down to get him out, but he was too heavy. I thought he was dead, so I ran inside and called Mona.”

Nans grimaced. “I must have been too flustered to understand what Ron was saying, what with thinking about hiding the body and all.”

“So, then what?” Davies asked. “Did you all drag the body out of the drainage ditch and bring it to McDonalds’?”

Paddy, Ron, and Nans looked at each other.
 

Nans said, “No, actually it wasn’t in the ditch when I saw it—”

“That explains why he was all wet,” Floyd cut in.

“What do you mean?”

“When he came crashing around my fence and we got into the fight, I noticed he was wet. I thought it was odd, but you never know with Earl. I just figured he pissed someone off at the bar and they dumped their beer on him,” Floyd said.

“And what exactly happened when he came into your yard and why were
you
out there in the middle of the night?” Jack asked.

“Earl and I had an on-going feud because he didn’t keep his yard up. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he was putting up a fence, but it was well into my yard,” Floyd replied. “Anyway, I had seen him out there in the middle of the night a few times and was keeping a watch to try to figure out what he was up to. To this day, I have no idea what he was doing. I’m sure it was something suspicious, though. It looked like he was digging.”
 

“Digging?” Lexy asked remembering how the landlady had said there were holes all over the yard. Earl had been burying something secretly at night and Lexy had a good idea it must have been the money from the insurance scams. But that begged the question … who dug it up?
 

“Yes, digging.” Floyd answered. “Anyway, that night, I was out on watch and he came along and we got into it. One thing led to another and it came to blows. We were all over the backyards and ended up right in the McDonalds’ yard. The funny thing is, I didn’t even really punch him. I’d wound up and was in the middle of throwing the punch and then he just fell into it. Passed out drunk … or so I thought. But then I took his pulse and he didn’t have one—he was dead. And that’s when Mona and the others came along. I just thought they’d seen what happened and were coming over to help.”

“But they weren’t. They were coming to hide the body that Paddy thought he killed.” Davies looked at Nans, Ron and Paddy. “Didn’t you guys wonder what Floyd was doing out there and how the body got there?”

“Actually, I just thought Mona had called everyone and they’d already started to move it,” Paddy said.

“Me, too,” Ron added.

“I’d called Floyd and let it ring two and a half times. Like I said earlier, that was a signal between us neighbors and it meant to meet in the backyards. Usually, that was just for barbecues or a nightcap. We’d never met to hide a body before. Anyway, when I saw Floyd out there, I just thought Paddy or Ron had clued him in and he’d already started dragging the body down from Sullivan’s … it was only a couple houses down,” Nans said.

Wait a minute, didn’t you guys talk about the events of the evening and figure out who killed him?” Jack looked at them incredulously.

“Nope,” Nans answered for them. “We were too busy. Plus, we wanted to be quiet so we wouldn’t wake any of the other neighbors. And afterwards, we vowed never to talk about it again.”

“I guess no one felt much like talking about how they’d killed another person, even if it was Earl and mostly in self-defense,” Paddy said. “I know I didn’t.”
 

“Me, either,” Ron agreed.

“Ditto,” Floyd added.

“And it was just you four?” Jack asked.

Paddy thrust his chin toward Violet. “And Violet.”

Jack’s brows drew into a V. “I wondered about her. Where does Violet come in?”

“She showed up when we were moving the body,” Paddy said.

“I guess she must have seen us with the body and came over to help.” Nans looked over at Violet.

“That’s right. I have terrible insomnia and was out walking when I saw the commotion. I knew the folks here and Ron and Esther go to my church, so I just pitched in and helped. You see, I’d had my troubles with Earl, too.”

“So, you
did
put the sachets in with him!” Lexy said.

Violet nodded.

“Okay, so then you all dragged him to the McDonalds’ basement and started making that secret room?” Davies scrunched up her face. “Why would the McDonalds even agree to that?”

“Well, they were part of our core group. We do everything to help each other out. So, of course they said yes,” Esther said.

“Plus they owed me a favor,” Nans added.

“Oh?” Davies brows shot up.

“Yes, their oldest got into some trouble and I was able to use my connections to hush it up. It’s private and not pertaining to this case, so I’d rather keep the details to myself, if you don’t mind,” Nans said primly.

“Fair enough … for now,” Jack replied.

“So, anyway,” Nans continued. “The McDonalds agreed to call Nesbaum and tell him his services were no longer needed. Then, we all got to work.”

“So, just the five of you redid the basement and made that room?” Lexy asked.

“Seven,” Nans answered. “Ester and Mary helped, too.”

“And you did all the work yourselves?” Jack asked.

“Yep, Paddy and Ron are tradesmen and they knew just how to do it. They supervised and we all got it done in thirty-six hours.”
 

Jacks brows crept up. “And nobody else in the neighborhood noticed what you were doing?”

“Nope, we kept it quite hush-hush. The work was done under the cover of darkness and all.”

“What about the smell?” Davies asked. “The body had to have started to smell.”

Nans wrinkled her nose. “He did start to smell, especially toward the end. Violet suggested we cover him with lavender sachets. She ran home and got a bunch of them, then she crawled right into that space and laid them all around.”
 

“Took her time and did a nice job, too,” Paddy added.

“It didn’t work so well, though. The body stunk up the place,” Floyd said.

“That’s right. Lois tried to cover it up by cooking those spicy foreign dishes.” Esther laughed at the memory.
 

“We ate that stuff for weeks!” Nans said.

“Wait, didn’t you say someone’s septic system flooded?” Lexy asked.

“Oh, we just made that up when you started asking around in case anyone talked about the smell,” Nans said.

“Well, that explains why Ed Johnston didn’t know anything about the septic system,” Lexy said.

“Oh, right,” Nans shrugged. “Ed wasn’t part of our little clique. He didn’t know anything about what we were doing, so I never talked to him about the plan to cast suspicion away from us.”

“So, you guys got together and made up a plan to lie to me, then?” Lexy looked at Nans. “When I started trying to find out about the mummy, I mean.”

Nans cheeks turned pink and she looked at her lap. “Yes, dear. I’m sorry, but I felt it was best to protect all of us.”

Lexy nodded. That explained a lot about Nans’ recent, odd behavior; why she wasn’t interested in discussing the case, why she and the Witts had lied about Nans being there and even her secret meeting with Violet.
 

“By the way, your glasses are at the Witt’s,” Lexy said. “Even though you said you hadn’t been there … I saw them on the table in the living room. Esther tried to cover for you and claim they were hers.”

Nans turned a deeper shade of red and so did Esther.

“Thank you, dear,” Nans said meekly.

“I think it’s amazing that all these years, no one has said anything.” Davies shook her head. “You guys never talked to each other about it? Not even once?”

“Nope,” Nans said. “And it turns out no one even missed Earl. We all vowed never to speak of it again, and as far as I know, we’ve all kept that vow.”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

“No wonder the McDonalds wanted to leave everything in the basement when they sold me the house,” Jack said. “I thought I was being a nice guy and helping out some elderly folks and I was really helping them keep a body hidden!”

“Oh, they didn’t want to sell the house with that body in there,” Nans said. “But they had to. Charlie had that problem with his hip and the property taxes were killing them. They were mighty nervous to hear a police detective bought it.”

“I’ll bet,” Jack said.

“That’s why I was sent over to make sure you didn’t poke around too much,” Nans said.

“Oh, and here I thought you just wanted to be friends,” Jack said, acting hurt.

Nans flushed. “Well, at first I was just making sure you didn’t have plans for the basement. But once I got to know you, I really did want to be friends.”

Davies looked down at her notes. “Well, I’m not sure what to make of all this. I was trying to find the murderer to make sure the Feds didn’t prosecute the wrong person and I’m not sure I like what I found.”

“Oh, that’s right.” Nans turned sorrowful eyes on Floyd. “It sounds like Floyd actually killed him. He won’t have to go to jail, will he?”

“I dont know…” Davies looked at Jack.

“I think—” Violet started.

“Well, I’m not so sure it was Floyd,” Jack cut in. “The way Floyd mentions him just falling, it could have been one of the blows he received earlier which caused some kind of blood clot or brain swelling and he just happened to die in front of Floyd. He was walking around like he was drunk, but he might have had a concussion from when Paddy hit him.”

“Or maybe even from his fight with Ron,” Lexy suggested.

“So, which one of us really killed him, then?” Floyd asked.
 

“Maybe they can figure that out through the autopsy,” Nans suggested. “But I hate to think of any one one of us going to jail. If one goes, we all go. Isn’t that right?”

Everyone murmured their agreement.

Violet spoke up, “I must tell you—”

She was interrupted by the door whipping open. A tall man with a gleaming FBI badge nestled on the hip of his black dress pants stepped in.
 

“No one is going to go to jail,” he said. “At least not for killing Earl Schute. Because you’re not the ones that actually killed him.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

Everyone stared at the man. He was tall and broad-shouldered, his face worn with lines, his dark hair graying at the temples. Lexy could tell he’d been on the job for a while and he meant business.

“What? Of course we killed him.” Floyd broke the silence, sounding almost indignant.

“Yeah, we buried him. He was dead. I saw it with my own eyes,” Ron added.