Pies and Prejudice (25 page)

Ella Mae was too tired to try to sort out this reasoning. She thought animals were sensitive to only full moons. “I’m glad Chewy wasn’t there today. I almost brought him because I wasn’t expecting customers. What if he’d gotten hurt?” She watched Reba sort through a variety of tea bags through heavy eyes. “I don’t suppose my mother is too concerned about what I went through, seeing as she’s not here.”

Reba stopped what she was doing. “She and your aunts are having a powwow about your trials and tribulations this very minute. A serious war council.” She smiled, obviously pleased with her choice of imagery. “I wouldn’t mess with those four, not for all the Twizzlers in Walmart.”

Ella Mae watched Reba place five teacups on the table. Just as the kettle began to shriek, her mother, Sissy, Verena, and Dee entered the guest cottage. All four women looked solemn but determined. Ella Mae’s aunts paused to give her a quick hug or peck on the cheek, but her mother hurriedly sat down next to her and seemed to be examining her for signs of trauma.

“You poor thing!” Verena exclaimed. “Do you need a few aspirin? A shot of booze? A warm washcloth for your head?”

“Having all of you here is the best medicine.” Ella Mae gazed at the faces around the table. “But I don’t see what you can do to get me out of this mess. There are no witnesses to back up my claim that someone else killed Annie, and the police might not have enough evidence to arrest me, but folks in this town are going to judge me one way or another. If they think I’m guilty, then they won’t come to the pie shop and everything will be ruined.” She swallowed hard. “I could have been just as miserable without bothering to leave New York.”

Sissy shook her head vehemently. “You didn’t have
us
in New York. And we’ve been busy. Tell her, Dee.”

Dee produced a notebook from a straw purse that looked like it had been used as a scratching post by a dozen cats. “I visited the horse owners who raised red flags in your mind at the Mint Julep Gala under the pretense that I was viewing the horse they wanted to have immortalized in sculpture. The first farm is in the clear. The horses are well treated and the trainers are good people who don’t use illegal pharmaceuticals to influence race-day results.”

Adelaide looked dubious. “Then how are they thriving in this economy?”

“Mostly as a stud farm,” Dee answered patiently. “They have an impressive lineage that dates back to the turn of the century.”

“And the other two crooks?” Verena demanded, blowing heartily on her steaming cup of tea.

Dee dropped two sugar cubes into her cup. “The Hollowells and Malones are a different story. I made a cat sculpture for one of the stable hands working for the Hollowells and a rooster piece for the Malone’s cleaning lady, and both of those folks told me horrible things.”

“Someone wanted a sculpture of their rooster?” Reba asked but no one paid her any heed.

“Those two couples would do anything to their animals in exchange for victories. Both of the staff members said that Bradford had begun coming to the farm a few days before each big race. The owners and trainers would be pretty agitated until he showed up. Afterward, they were relaxed and confident.”

Ella Mae took a sip of strong tea. “He delivered the cobra venom. The magic potion.”

“But if Knox was providing a service for these people,
why
kill him?” Sissy asked.

“Peggy told me that someone had been arguing with Knox the day before he was murdered,” Ella Mae said. “Maybe one of the owners offered to pay Knox
not
to provide the other farms with venom.”

Her mother nodded. “A feasible motive. If a competing farm repeatedly lost the chance to win their share of a big purse, not only would their profit margins shrink, but their reputation would suffer.”

Sighing, Ella Mae ran her hands through her hair. “I keep thinking about the rolling pin. Why did the person who wanted to frame me choose that object? Why not a kitchen knife?”

“Everybody in town knew you were gonna open a pie shop,” Reba said. “You were bound to put your prints on that rollin’ pin.”

“There’s got to be more to it than that,” Ella Mae insisted. An unformed idea played at the edge of her thoughts but disappeared before it could become solid, like a phantom burned away by the dawn light.

The women drank their tea in silence for a few minutes. The kitchen had grown cozy and warm—replete with the sound of the women’s mellifluous voices and the aroma of tea and roses.

“So what do we do now?” Sissy said.

Verena put her cup down with enough force to shatter the sturdy ceramic, causing a flake of celery-colored glaze
to flutter onto the table. “We exert our sizable influence! I’ll whisper in Buddy’s ear and he’ll whisper into the police chief’s! They need to turn over some rocks at these horse farms and see what kind of vermin has been hiding from the law.”

“The thoroughbred owners will see the cops coming from a mile away,” Ella Mae argued. “The authorities need help. If only I could get my hands on a single piece of evidence…”

Dee watched her niece closely. “You know where to find one, don’t you?”

“Maybe. There was a bill for twenty thousand dollars on Peggy’s desk.” She closed her eyes and willed herself back to that day in the equine center. It was easier to think in this pleasant space with the support of the women she loved wrapped around her like a hand-knit shawl. “The company logo was a triangle with sunbeams shining behind the tip. Damn it, I still can’t remember the name.”

Sissy motioned for Dee to pass over her notepad. “Let’s think of synonyms for snakes. Maybe we can jog your memory.”

The women began calling out words like serpent, reptile, cold-blooded, legless, slither, viper, poisonous, rattler, and scaly until Ella Mae’s skin prickled with unease. She could almost hear hissing from underneath the table.

“Wait,” her mother declared, holding up a hand. “Was the triangle a pyramid? With the sun glinting off the capstone?”

“Yes!” Ella Mae’s anxiety was forgotten. “It looked Egyptian.”

Her mother exchanged looks with Reba, and without a sound, Reba was out the door and racing across the lawn into the main house. She returned two minutes later carrying a large tome called
Egypt: The Land and Its Legends
and dumped the heavy volume in front of Ella Mae.

As Ella Mae flipped through pages of color illustrations
and photographs, her mother lowered her face closer to the open book.

“I can smell his cologne,” she whispered almost inaudibly.

Sissy put a hand on her sister’s forearm as the atmosphere in the kitchen changed. Adelaide’s memories pressed in, crowding the small space. Ella Mae was about to ask about her father, a taboo subject, when an image in the book caught her eye. It was of a tomb painting showing a pharaoh in profile. Another view showcased the king’s headdress, drawing attention to the sacred serpent curling above Pharaoh’s brow. A caption identified the symbol by name.

“Uraeus!” Ella Mae cried. “That’s the company’s name!”

Sissy leaned over Adelaide and examined the illustration. “It’s a cobra, symbolizing the goddess Wadjet, serpent goddess of time, justice, heaven, and hell.” She looked at her niece. “For these thoroughbreds, Wadjet is
definitely
hell.”

Verena produced a cell phone and began typing on the touch screen. “Here they are. Uraeus Pharmaceuticals. They operate out of Cameroon but there’s a U.S. distributor in Atlanta.”

Ella Mae traced the cobra head with her forefinger. “I need to get my hands on that bill. What if Knox never paid up? Maybe some thugs from Uraeus came to collect their money.”

“How are
you
going to get a copy of that invoice? Break into the clinic at night?” Sissy asked.

“Not exactly. I was planning to borrow a set of keys from Chandler without him realizing it.”

Reba’s mouth formed a sly grin. “Seducin’ a man for his keys, eh? I like it. Afterward, you and I can sneak in after dark.”

Adelaide frowned. “This is not wise. Let August tell the authorities about Uraeus and both of you keep clear of the whole affair. Ella Mae, you have a business to think about.”

Ella Mae glanced at her watch and sighed. “Speaking of
which, I’d better go to bed. I have to get up early to open the shop and do the day’s baking. I just hope I have some customers after what’s happened.”

“You’ll be as stuffed as a Christmas stocking!” Verena declared exuberantly. “There’s nothing people like more than visiting the scene of the crime. Believe me, you’re going to need plenty of rest, honey. And an extra pair of hands too.”

Reba cleared the teacups and set them gently in the sink. “I have a feelin’ we might end up with a very special volunteer tomorrow.” Refusing to say anything further, she coaxed Ella Mae to head upstairs, promising to walk Chewy before letting him back into the guest cottage for the night.

Ella Mae complied and crawled into bed. She closed her eyes and pictured Chewy racing over the wet grass and pine needles, envying her little dog his freedom. She could only hope to find a similar escape in her dreams.

Ella Mae jerked awake a few minutes before midnight. She turned over and tried to go back to sleep but couldn’t. After stroking Chewy’s fur for a bit, she drank some water from the glass on her nightstand and then stood up and walked to the window, her eyes lifted toward the sky.

The Milky Way was spread out like the train of a wedding dress and the edges of the galaxy glowed indigo before eventually giving way to black. The new moon was an insignificant sliver, its illumination weak in comparison to the twinkling stars.

Sliding a window open, Ella Mae invited a waft of floral scents into her bedroom. Wild rose vines, jasmine, and oleander clung to her white nightgown, infusing her with tranquility.

Groggy once more, she began to turn away from the window when a white yellow light glowing above the back garden caught her attention. The beam was too wide to have come from a flashlight and it pulsed like a giant’s heart.

“What on earth?” Ella Mae whispered, more fascinated than alarmed.

It was at that moment that she became aware of a figure dressed in a white robe and cowl standing on the garden path. The figure raised both arms, beckoning to the radiant mass hovering above the circle of Luna roses.

As Ella Mae watched, the light began to descend toward the stone bench and the bush in the center of the circle.

Two more figures were present. From their shapes, Ella Mae assumed that they were a man and a woman. They stood immobile, hand in hand, focusing on the tight buds of the Luna roses.

The cloud of light throbbed and shifted and Ella Mae recognized the source of illumination. Gripping the windowsill in astonishment, she stared as hundreds of fireflies drifted downward. Within seconds, they completely obscured the surface of the rosebush. A blinding light shot from the core, reminding Ella Mae of the orb she’d seen the night of the celebratory dinner at Le Bleu with her mother and aunts.

She blinked once and the flash was gone. The man and woman were lowering forearms that had been raised to shield their eyes and were now gazing directly ahead again.

The fireflies began to rise. No longer glowing with surreal luminescence, their blinking lights were weak and sporadic. They climbed toward the rooftop and then lazily dispersed like a crowd of spectators leaving a stadium.

What they left behind, however, was a rose unlike any Ella Mae had ever seen. Infused with golden light, the single bloom sparkled in the dark garden. Its petals flickered like a candle flame, beautiful and dangerous.

Though she knew nothing of this flower, Ella Mae sensed that it had the power to change a person. Perhaps it could heal a wound. Perhaps it could create one too.

With a nod of the head, the robed figure invited the couple to step forward. After a brief hesitation, they touched
the rose at the same time. The second their flesh made contact with the fiery petals, the light captured within was immediately snuffed out, plunging the garden into shadow.

Ella Mae strained her eyes, searching for the human shapes below. She saw a flash of white robes and then, nothing.

“Am I dreaming?” she wondered aloud and stood at the window for several more minutes. But the garden felt deserted.

Ella Mae climbed onto the bed next to Chewy. He raised his head and sniffed her fingertips, his eyes half-mast. Rolling onto his back, he let all four paws dangle in the air and instantly drifted back to sleep, his mouth curved into a contented smile.

She kissed the top of his head and then looked outside once more. There was no movement, no color, not even a glint of lingering light.

“What the hell goes on in that garden?” she murmured, her words stretched out by a wide yawn. “I’ll find out tomorrow. Tomorrow,” she whispered and then snuggled up against her dog.

As much as Ella Mae wanted to hang around Partridge Hill so she could ask her mother what had transpired in the garden the night before, she needed to get to town to do her week’s shopping and make dozens of piecrusts for the pie shop’s freezer. The day passed in a flash and her mother was out by the time she got back home.