Murder at Blackwater Manor (4 page)

“Can we at least breathe easy that we are not suspects any more?” Prim asked and her voice was full of concern.

“Well, yes, you should be fine for now. You said you went into the bathroom just before eleven and didn’t come out until what? Fifteen, twenty minutes later?”

“That’s right,” Sage said, “But how do you know the murder happened during that period?”

“I found Philip’s watch. It had been broken during the struggle and the time read 11:07 pm. I think it’s safe to assume that the death occurred around that time.”

“Oh, good,” Prim breathed out, relieved, “I thought I was going to go mad with anxiety.”

“It would be good if we find someone who has seen you either go in or come out of the bathroom though. It would confirm your story nicely, because although you two are each other’s witnesses, you are sisters after all and family members are never considered reliable when it comes to that.”

“How would we know if anyone saw us? When are you questioning the others?”

“I’ll be bringing them one by one to the station tomorrow, so it should become clear then, but I think you can relax. There’s nothing that leads to you two from what I saw at the crime scene.”

“Does it lead to anyone in particular?” Sage asked, intrigued.

“Not anyone in particular,” Ben said, “It’s hard to say. I won’t know more before I’ve talked to everyone.”

“Is it possible that it wasn’t anyone from the house at all?” Prim said, “I mean, could it have been a burglar?”

“It’s not out of the question, though the house is pretty secluded and… I don’t know. I can’t rule out anything yet.”

“Maybe we can help,” Sage said hopefully.

“What do you mean?” Ben said and plunged his fork in the steaming casserole his wife had just placed in front of him.

“Well, we were there. We would know best where everyone was, what was said, what everyone wore, what we ate. Things like that. Seriously, Ben, the only suspicious thing we did there was that we were hanging out in the poor people’s bathroom for
suspiciously
too long.”

Ben smiled for what seemed like the first time in ages.

“You know what? You are right. You
would
know about…”

“About what?” Prim asked impatiently.

“What everyone wore. I admit, I was so busy with the crime scene that I hardly paid attention to that.”

“Sure,” Sage said, “Mr. Bluebird was wearing a green long-sleeve…”

“No, wait, wait,” Ben raised his hand, “I better tell you what I found there. There might be something else you would notice that I can’t see right now.”

“When I went into the study,” Ben began, “I immediately sent the maid downstairs and told her to join the rest of you. After all, she is a suspect too. I didn’t want anyone to be tampering with the crime scene. As soon as I saw Philip, I knew it was murder, there was no doubt about that. He had been hit on the head with a blunt object, which caused the death. Later, with your help, I realized the murder weapon must have been the silver vase we found in the flower bed.”

“It figures,” he went on, “since when I went into the study, I saw the window was open. Given that the entire incident must have played out in minutes, the killer was probably in a hurry and simply threw the vase out of the window, hoping that they could take care of it later.”

“But why does it matter who was wearing what?” Sage asked.

“I’m just getting to that. I went over to the window and noticed a piece of red fabric stuck to the window frame. The person’s sleeve must have caught on a splinter and torn off as they were tipping the vase (it was heavy) over the edge.”

“Red?” Prim asked with a thoughtful look, “Let me see. I think both Mrs. Blackwater and Mrs. Bluebird were wearing red, as well as James, Philip’s brother.”

“But couldn’t it have been just a piece of fabric left over from before the murder?” Sage mused.

“Of course it can,” Ben said, “Right now, everything is simply speculation. There was something else though. There was ash at the foot of the desk and a cigarette end kicked under Philip’s chair.”

“But he didn’t smoke!” Prim exclaimed.

“How do you know?” Ben said curiously.

“I think he was the only one in the house who didn’t smoke,” she explained, “That’s why he took off for his study when everyone went outside for a cigarette. He said he had some business to take care of. Well, apart from us that is… We were the only other people not smoking.”

“And the maid,” Sage added.

“We don’t know about her,” Prim said, “She could be a smoker, too.”

“Yeah, you are right.”

“Then, if Philip didn’t smoke, that leaves the killer who’d tossed his or her unfinished cigarette.”

“Or it leaves us with a very lazy maid,” Sage said, “who leaves ash lying around unswept for days.”

“You really have it for the maid,” Ben said, “You keep bringing her up.”

“We should be thorough, that’s all,” Sage said defensively.

“You’re right,” Ben admitted, “Listen, ladies, you’ve been of great help, but I have to get back to the office for my night shift. I think the deputy must have dozed off after waiting for me for so many hours. Plus, the sooner I sent this vase out for testing, the better. I’ll see you two tomorrow evening and please, promise you won’t be doing anything stupid on your own, okay? This is a serious case. We need to be careful.”

“We promise,” the two sisters said in unison and exchanged a discreet mischievous look. It suddenly felt like years ago when they had teamed up to trick their parents and do something forbidden.

CHAPTER SIX

Coffee and Talk of Mad Love

Sage woke up with a start and bathed in sweat. She’d just had a nightmare. She’d been stuck behind prison bars and an evil maid had been throwing cigarette ends at her. They’d burned her bare skin and she’d kept screaming she was innocent, but no one came to her rescue.

When she saw it had been just a dream, she exhaled heavily and reached for the glass of water on her night stand. Her eyes landed on the alarm clock and she almost had to look twice. How was it possible that it was almost noon? She hadn’t slept that long since her college days. Well, sure they’d gone to bed at about three o’clock last night, and she’d kept twisting and turning among the bedsheets, rewinding the past hours in her head again and again, but this was too much. She’d missed half the day already.

She dragged herself downstairs and into the kitchen, wrapping a terry robe over her pajamas. She was sure there would be no one in the house at this hour. She was right. The kitchen was empty, but what was shocking was that the dishes from last night were still dirty and crusted over, piled in the sink and a couple of breakfast bowls were now added to them. The counter was full of cereal boxes and dirty glasses.

So, Prim must have overslept too. Sage looked at the kitchen island, but there were none of the usual notes Prim left for her family every morning at dawn. Sage could only imagine how racked with guilt her sister must have felt before leaving for the flower shop this morning. It was so unlike her to leave a task unfinished or to allow anything less than a spotless home before she ever went out to run errands.

“Well, I guess that could be my job for a while,” Sage muttered to herself, “I could be a house maid.”

She quickly fixed herself a bowl of cereal with milk and ate it standing up and then rolled up the sleeves of her robe and got to work. She’d been living as a guest for months now. It was time she helped out around here a bit. She only hoped that she wouldn’t break any glasses or plates, but how difficult could it actually be to wash dishes?

While she’d been getting her PhD back at the University, she’d lived on takeout or quick runs to the cafeteria and the dining hall. She’d never needed to lift a finger in her entire life to do anything house-related, which now seemed embarrassing. She was not a college girl any more, hadn’t been for a long time. If she ever hoped to have a family of her own, she had to learn how to at least do the basics.

When she was finally done an hour later, she felt incredibly tired. Who knew it took so much energy to clean up a dirty kitchen? And she still hadn’t had coffee, which she needed badly even when it was a normal morning. Today, after all the work, she could practically kill for a cup.

She thought she’d go crazy if she spent another minute in this kitchen, as clean and cozy as it looked once again, so she threw on her jeans and a hoodie and headed out.

Main Street, where all the town’s life was concentrated, was only a few blocks away, much like everything else in Rosecliff. Sage could stop by the flower shop and check on Prim, but before that she would complete the most important mission. Get a serious dose of caffeine.

It was a gorgeous fall day and Sage felt her spirits lift up from the brisk walk. Fluffy white clouds traveled lazily on the horizon and the sun shone brightly over her in the deep blue afternoon sky. The wind from yesterday had died down and it was warmer than most fall days, but still the air was crisp and there was a light bite to it. Sage snuggled inside her hoodie and smiled for no reason. Sometimes just walking in this little town could make you happy.

The Cheshire Cat cafe was empty at this hour and she was glad that she didn’t need to talk to people before she’d had her coffee. Not that she knew that many people in Rosecliff, but Prim was always introducing her to this person and that and she had started to put at least a few names and faces together. Not to mention that even if she didn’t know them, the residents of Rosecliff greeted her anyway. It seemed that everyone knew who she was. She hoped that they thought of her more as Prim’s younger sister than as the girl who solved the Pendergrass murder.

“Should I say good morning?” Dan said from behind the bar. He was just laying out a fresh round of blueberry muffins in the bakery case.

“Is it that obvious?”

“I’m tempted to say yes, but then I’m a little bit afraid of you,” Dan said with his eyebrows raised.

“Don’t worry,” Sage sighed as she took a seat at the bar, “I’m unarmed today.”

“What about last night?”

“So, you’ve heard?”

“Everyone’s heard. It’s all anybody talks about since I opened up the cafe. Plus, I’ve made it a point to tread carefully around murder suspects coming into my place of business.”

“I’m not a murder suspect, Dan,” Sage said and finally smiled a bit, “Your information is out of date. I’ve been cleared as a suspect.”

“Phew,” Dan said, making an exaggerated gesture of wiping his forehead. “And here I was, recalling where I left the closest knife.”

“Can you recall where you left the closest pot of fresh coffee? I feel like I’m practically sleepwalking.”

“Fine, let’s get you back into your usual good mood,” he teased and started pouring coffee into a large mug.

Sage realized she’d been less than friendly in most of their past interactions and guiltily wondered if she wasn’t being defensive. Wasn’t there the possibility that she might like him? Despite his snarky comments, he’d actually been really nice to her and even helped her in solving the Pendergrass mystery. He knew a lot about the town and its residents and he owned the one place that was guaranteed to teem with gossip every single day.

She grabbed the steaming mug with an almost manic expression and started gulping the refreshing hot drink.

“Hasn’t anyone taught you to enjoy the little things in the big city?” Dan said, looking at her with amusement, “My coffee is meant for savoring, not downing.”

“What are people saying?” Sage said, ignoring his comment, “About last night’s murder?”

“Only that it’s very suspicious that you always manage to find yourself at a crime scene.”

“Seriously, Dan. What are they saying?”

“Hmm, let’s see. Some people say it’s strange it hadn’t happened earlier, given the issues between him and Alex Bluebird. Before you ask, I have no idea what these issues are. Others say there’s always been something fishy about that maid they’ve hired recently. Then there are those who wonder why it wasn’t James who was killed, given all the shame he’s brought on the family. Again, no idea what they were talking about.”

“Didn’t you ask?”

“My job is to make coffee and bake scones, Sage, not interview people. Plus, I think you are forgetting I’m a man. We don’t gossip.”

“Oh, please!” Sage rolled her eyes, but decided that there was a more constructive way to continue the conversation. “So, did you know him?”

“Who?”

“Mr. Blackwater.”

“I didn’t know him that well, but from the little I’ve seen him around here, he was always buying gifts and flowers for his wife. I think even after all these years, he’s…
was
still madly in love with her.”

Something about Dan mentioning ‘madly in love’ strung the wrong chord with Sage. She involuntarily remembered her own
mad
love story that had ended up costing her her entire life back at the university. She took a breath and focused on the man in front of her. Suddenly, after she’d been reminded of what men were capable of, Dan’s attractiveness seemed insulting, dangerous.