Murder by Artifact (Five Star Mystery Series) (20 page)

Zeller continued, “In the meanwhile, I’ll see what I can learn about your woman and her husband. This is a nice community and still not too big to mind other people’s business.”

Tony felt guilty and petty for wanting Zeller to do his work. Zeller was already doing more than he needed to. Tony mustered more enthusiasm. “Thanks, I appreciate all your help.”

With a perky, “Look forward to meeting y’all tomorrow,” Zeller ended the call.

Feeling not the least bit perky, Tony decided against calling the insurance agency where Patti worked. If one of her coworkers was involved with her personally, which was possible, he saw no sense in letting them know he was on the way. What if one of them drove Patti to the museum and killed her? The drive would be easy. The motive for killing her and doing it in such a spectacularly bizarre location, baffled him.

Maybe it was a good thing Zeller hadn’t volunteered to investigate. The puzzle kept changing, like a jigsaw puzzle he’d worked on once that was reversible. The pieces looked right, when in fact, they were upside down.

Like killing Patti instead of Doreen, who was the real intended victim?

Tony hit the intercom and spoke to Wade. “Meet me here at eight-thirty tomorrow. We’re going on a road trip to Chattanooga.”

“Yes, sir.”

Ignoring the stack of papers and files waiting for his attention, Tony cross-checked the insurance agency phone number and wrote the address in his pocket notebook. He looked up the address on the Internet before he reached for his worn atlas. Technology was all very convenient; still, he preferred paper maps. They had an almost magical quality, he thought as he ran his finger across the small map of Chattanooga.

The office would be easy to find.

He sighed.

With the true identity of their victim established, maybe solving Patti’s murder would be simple. Nothing would please him more than being able to bring her killer to justice. How many true enemies could the woman have? Arresting someone for her murder wouldn’t return Patti to her grieving father and grandmother. It would be better than twenty years of lingering questions like his cold case.

He went home dragging with him other people’s grief. At least he had something fun to look forward to; Jamie’s game would start soon. What could be more fun than watching six-year-olds play baseball?

As Theo left Ruby’s Café through the back door, she glanced across the overflow parking lot and spotted Nellie Pearl. This time the crotchety old woman was on the path that zigzagged up and over the hill separating downtown Silersville from the highway and Ruby’s. Everyone used the shortcut, even tourists. Something about the old bat’s stance attracted Theo’s attention.

Nellie Pearl stood motionless, her hands like claws reaching toward someone dressed in loose-fitting denim overalls and a long-sleeved brown shirt. Clad in her usual layers of flannel, the old woman glared at her companion, her expression hostile at best.

Theo thought that wearing flannel in a heat wave would make anyone hostile. Nellie Pearl enjoyed her argumentative attitude and could pick a fight with anyone. Still, Theo had no way of knowing if the two had encountered each other on the path or if they were companions.

Was the disagreement their normal conversational style or was there an actual problem?

The other person stood in the shadow of a small tree, its dappled shade distorting the figure standing under it. Frustrated, Theo tried to identify the person and couldn’t even be sure of the gender. Lots of the older generation still wore overalls to town. A couple even wore them to church.

The younger residents, which meant anyone under sixty, were rarely seen in them.

“Overalls” suddenly lashed out, striking the flannel-clad woman with a stick or cane. It might have hit Nellie Pearl’s arm. It certainly didn’t keep the old woman from lunging forward, fingers reaching for her companion’s eyes.

“Stop!” Theo sprinted across the parking lot, headed for the beginning of the path. As she ran, she watched the pair and fumbled in her purse, feeling for her cell phone. The two started pushing and shoving each other in earnest. The only voice Theo could hear was Nellie Pearl’s. It sounded like she was saying “won’t” or maybe “don’t.”

In Theo’s opinion, Overalls seemed to be winning the fight. Nellie Pearl never backed away from anything or anyone. She was moving away now, bent forward, her arms crossed in front, protecting her face. Overalls gave the old woman one last shove and Nellie Pearl fell sideways to the ground and landed in a heap.

Theo scrambled up the dirt trail as fast as she could. By the time she reached the old woman, Overalls had vanished over the ridge of the hill. Even if she ran, whoever it was would be long gone before she got there.

“Are you okay?” Theo stopped at Nellie Pearl’s side, her cell phone in her hand. “I’ll call for help.”

“I’m fine.” Huddled against a shrub, Nellie Pearl glared at her as if Theo was the reason she was on the ground. “Put that dang phone away.” Only the faint tremor in her voice indicated a problem.

“I guess that means you’re not hurt.” With a sigh, Theo slipped the phone into her purse and frowned as she bent over to check on Nellie Pearl’s condition. “Who was that?”

Leaves and twigs had become snagged in the old woman’s tangled gray hair and a fresh layer of dirt clung to the outermost flannel shirt. Cradling her left arm, she narrowed her eyes at Theo as if shooting her with laser vision. “Who was what?”

Theo pointed up the empty path. “Your attacker.”

“I wasn’t attacked, you stupid child. Since you’re here, be of some use and help me up.”

Still panting from the run across the pavement and uphill, Theo sighed, extending a hand. Had she really expected the old bat to cooperate or express any sense of gratitude?

Reaching her right hand forward, Nellie Pearl sank her chipped, yellowish fingernails into the flesh of Theo’s forearm and pulled hard, almost yanking the smaller woman onto her. Theo grabbed with her free hand and leaned back, finally hauling the older woman upright.

As soon as Nellie Pearl was on her feet, Theo released her and pried her arm free of the clutching hand. She glanced down at her arm. A row of half moon–shaped cuts seeped blood. She wanted to hurry to the shop and clean them with peroxide or something stronger. As dirty as Nellie Pearl’s fingernails looked, Theo was afraid of blood poisoning. Even so, she wanted some answers.

“I thought I saw you with Nelson Parker this morning at Doreen’s funeral,” said Theo. It made sense. She knew Nelson was one of the dedicated overall wearers in Silersville, and he was about the same age as Nellie Pearl.

“Did you?” Nellie Pearl’s expression gave nothing away as she dusted herself off with one hand, keeping her left arm pressed against her chest. “Spying on me?”

“No.” Theo stared at the prickly old woman, feeling childish. A wave of irritation washed through her and she hoped the old bat’s arm was broken. “If not Nelson, who?”

“Who indeed?” Without a word of thanks, Nellie Pearl retrieved her oversized canvas tote bag from a mountain laurel growing next to the path and stalked down the hill dragging it behind her. Something bulky and obviously heavy thumped with each step, crushing the tiny purple wildflowers in its path.

Theo wondered if the bag contained Ruby’s powder room decorations or a yard ornament.

Then she wondered if Tony could arrest Nellie Pearl for attempting to murder his wife with dirt.

Tony delivered Jamie to the ball field and watched his son walk over to join his teammates. In contrast to Jamie’s usual eager trot, today the little boy plodded across the grass. His shoulders slumped forward and he let his glove drag on the ground.

Although Tony was concerned, Jamie’s lack of enthusiasm wasn’t really a surprise. Tonight’s baseball game would pit Jamie’s team, Ruby’s Café Reds, against their arch rivals the Riverview Motel Tigers. In the previous two meetings, the Tigers had put enough points on the board to invoke the mercy rule.

“Dreadful” pretty much described the games. Error after error produced what had to be a pair of the most lopsided baseball scores since Abner Doubleday or Alexander Cartwright thought up the game.

The expression on Jamie’s face reflected those of his teammates. If something didn’t change, Tony thought, they were whipped before they started to warm up. The twelve little boys and girls looked like they’d rather sprawl in the grass and chase bugs than face the Tigers.

Head coach Marjorie McKenzie charged toward the team, carrying a five-gallon bucket of baseballs and a bulging equipment bag. Tony knew better than to offer to help; he was only the assistant and Marjorie had opinions as strong as her arms. Trailing behind her was her son, Arthur, nicknamed Pug for some unexplained reason.

Pug usually had one finger up his nose.

Pug played shortstop. The boy handled a glove like a wizard. He could catch any ball coming his way. Unfortunately, he couldn’t throw accurately for more than three feet. At the last meeting with the Tigers, he had single-handedly cost them the game. The Tigers must have hit a hundred ground balls to the shortstop. Pug fielded each of them cleanly. Then, in spite of instructions to hand-carry the ball to second base, he threw it away. Not a single ball made it to any plate before the runner. Every ball he tried to throw either dropped from his hand and landed at his own feet or sailed six feet above the first baseman’s glove and into the dugout.

That game had felt like the longest two hours in the history of the game of baseball.

Tony thought Pug would make a great catcher and suggested a change. Marjorie ran the team. Generally competent, she knew baseball and did a good job of teaching the other kids the skills they needed. She had a blind spot where Pug was concerned. She wanted her son to be a shortstop and all conversation ended there.

Like most of the team, Jamie would be happy to win, more importantly he really wanted to play. It just about killed him when it was his rotation on the pine bench.

Leaning against the fence, Tony listened while Marjorie read out the starting lineup. Tonight Jamie would play shortstop and Pug would sit on the bench. Tony felt a glimmer of hope. Maybe they wouldn’t win. At least now, they had a good chance of playing all the innings.

Theo took Chris to his baseball team’s practice. She had a couple of small things to finish up before she would go watch Jamie play his game. Returning to the shop, she parked in the front instead of taking her customary space in the back. Barely out of the van, she didn’t even make it to the sidewalk before she found herself cornered by Nellie Pearl. It seemed like every time she turned around, the old bat was there swooping into her personal space. It couldn’t have been much over an hour since their encounter on the path.

Hoping for patience, Theo sucked in a deep breath, instantly regretting it.

If the old lady’s concession to the heat was to wear fewer layers of flannel, evidently it didn’t mean she washed the ones she wore. Nellie Pearl’s sour breath and body odor seemed worse than before. The scent of camphor swirled in the air. Why she didn’t collapse from the heat was a mystery of great proportion.

Theo tried to back away and gain some fresher air. The old woman pressed closer, trapping her against the scorching hot car door. “Please give me some room.”

Nellie Pearl ignored her and leaned in. “I wanted to ask you about church.”

Theo stilled, confused. As far as she knew, Nellie Pearl would no more go into a church, except for funerals, or wear a dress than Theo herself would strip off her clothes and dance on the bar at the Okay Bar and Bait Shop.

“What about church?” Theo eyed the huge canvas bag on the ground at her feet. It looked fuller than before. Once again she was tempted to ask the old woman about her theft of Ruby’s decorations.

“I saw you this morning.” Nellie Pearl’s eyes met hers and moved away like she wasn’t quite focusing on anything. “Have you no shame at all? You brazen hussy.”

“Will you please back off?” Goaded beyond all patience, Theo reached up and pushed against the woman’s shoulders. Finally Nellie Pearl stepped back. Most of Theo’s irritation with her came from their past. As a child, Theo had been on the receiving end of too many insults to reconsider her opinion just because she was now grown up. Nellie Pearl always took delight in pointing out the anomalies of growing children, frequently drawing attention to oversized teeth or ears. She had made fun of Theo when she was just a timid little girl with thick glasses and a lisp. Now she managed to make it sound like being seen at church was on the same level as being seen going into a triplex-rated movie.

“I guess you’ve recovered from your fall,” said Theo.

Nellie Pearl narrowed her eyes. “I never fall.”

“Okay, you were pushed. Will you tell me what happened?” Maybe she could learn who Overalls was. Unfortunately, it was like talking to a wall. The blank expression on the old woman’s face could not be feigned. Nellie Pearl did not remember the incident on the hill.

Theo wondered what that meant.

“Can you believe the excitement at the Queen’s burial?” As if she hadn’t just insulted Theo and then not responded to the discussion of her fall, Nellie Pearl cackled and clapped her hands together. “Everyone in the state must have heard about it by now.”

“Word does travel.” Theo managed to say the most cordial thing she could. She edged toward the sidewalk, hoping to run into the shop for a few minutes and still get to Jamie’s game before the first pitch.

Nellie Pearl stepped into her path and held her ground, blocking Theo’s way. “You suppose your husband’s aunt knew which one she was killing?”

“Martha had nothing to do with this.” Too shocked by the accusation to think clearly, Theo stopped and stared at Nellie Pearl.