Hark! The Herald Angel Screamed: An Augusta Goodnight Mystery (with Heavenly Recipes) (24 page)

“Have you seen
The Messenger
this morning?” she asked.

“Not yet,” I said. “Has something happened to Idonia?”

“No, no! Wait until you see this!” Claudia rattled the weekly newspaper in my face. At the same time, Nettie called out something I couldn’t understand, probably because she was still putting in her teeth, and I ran to help her recover the fuzzy slipper she’d lost under the azalea bush.

“I had a feeling there was something peculiar going on there,” Nettie said, panting to keep up.

“What? Where? Will somebody please tell me something?”
I trailed after them into my house where Claudia spread the newspaper on the kitchen table, smoothing it with her hand.

“Read this,” she demanded, poking her finger on what was obviously the lead story on the front page. I didn’t need my reading glasses to make out the bold headline:
LOCAL MATRON DIES IN FALL FROM BALCONY
.

Silently I read the first few paragraphs describing what had happened at the church that night. I didn’t see anything new.

“Well, we knew this already,” I said, wondering why they were so excited.

Zee leaned over my shoulder. “Skip to the obituary information at the end,” she said.

Services will be held, Sat., Dec. 22, at Stone’s Throw Presbyterian Church …
I read aloud. “Gosh, that’s tomorrow!”

“Never mind that,” Zee said. “Check out where it tells about her family.”

I cleared my throat.
Mrs. Henshaw was preceded in death by her husband, Virgil Henshaw, and a sister, Maisie Clark of Raleigh, North Carolina. She is survived by a brother, Terrance Banks, of Knoxville, Tennessee, and a nephew, Dexter Clark …

“Dexter Clark! Do they mean Dexter Clark as in
dead
Dexter Clark?”

Nettie nodded. “One and the same.”

“Whoever put this in the paper obviously didn’t know he wasn’t still alive,” Claudia said.

“So Opal’s nephew was married to the Tanseys’ daughter, Dinah,” I said. “That’s why she was so curious about the locket Dinah wore in the photograph. But wouldn’t she have known about the marriage?”

“Not necessarily,” Claudia said. “We were talking about families, holiday customs, things like that, the day we delivered the fruitcakes and Opal told me her only sister died several years ago and she rarely spoke to her brother. She didn’t mention a nephew.”

Zee frowned. “Even if Dexter married the Tansey girl after his mother died … still, you’d think Opal would’ve been invited to the wedding,” she said.

“Maybe they eloped,” Nettie suggested.

“Wait a minute!” Claudia, who had been sitting, suddenly jumped to her feet. “If Opal didn’t know about her nephew’s marriage, why did she take such an unusual interest in that picture
while we were at the Tanseys’ place that day—especially about the locket Dinah wore? Wanted to know all about it.”

“Do you remember what she said?” I asked.

“Something about her mother—or maybe it was her grandmother—having one like it. Louella told her it was a family heirloom. She hurried us out of there right soon after that. You could tell she didn’t want to talk about it.”

“Melrose must have shown the locket to Opal before he gave it to Idonia,” Zee said. “Do you remember if Opal mentioned Idonia having one like it?”

Claudia nodded. “I’m pretty sure she did … Yes, I’m positive because Louella said she guessed there must be more than one.”

“But not with two seed pearls missing in the exact places,” I said. “And that very night somebody drugged Idonia’s drink and stole it.”

“But they must’ve known about Idonia’s locket earlier,” Zee pointed out. “She swears somebody was following her while we were caroling.”

That didn’t surprise me because Idonia had taken every opportunity to show off her gift from Melrose. “It had to have been one of the Tanseys,” I said. “Do any of you know somebody who goes to their church?”

“I think Helen does,” Claudia said. “Helen Harlan. She’s a student at Sarah Bedford, works part time in the office to help with her tuition. Helen’s kind of quiet and serious—keeps to herself, but she mentioned going to Chandler’s Creek. I think she sings in the choir.”

“Do you know how to get in touch with her?” I asked. “Maybe she could give us an idea where Louella Tansey was last Sunday night.”

“Sure. I’ll probably see her tonight at the staff Christmas party … but what’ll I
say?”

“You’ll think of something,” I told her, “just let us know what you find out—”

“As soon as you can!” Zee added. “And shouldn’t somebody check with Al Evans about Idonia’s slippery boyfriend? After all, Melrose is supposed to be working there.”

“And claims to be related, too!” Nettie clicked her teeth. “You reckon Al knows what that little varmint’s been up to?”

There wasn’t but one way to find out, and I was about to volunteer when Ellis came bursting in, almost tripping over Clementine, who was stretched out in her usual place.

“I’ve left two messages! Don’t you ever pick up?” she said, then realizing we were all gathered around the story in
The Messenger
, pulled out a chair and joined us.

“You’re just in time. You’re nominated,” I told her after the others took time about telling her what we had discussed.

Ellis stooped to pet Clementine as an apology for almost stepping on her tail. “Nominated for what?” she asked.

“To see what you can find out about Melrose from Al Evans,” I said. “Surely he must have some idea what the man’s about.”

I could tell by her expression Ellis was going to balk. “You want me to go to the funeral home? By myself? And I can never tell when Al’s looking at me. He has a glass eye, you know.”

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, I’ll go with you, but we’d better get on with it,” I said. The day was over half gone, I realized, and I still hadn’t spoken with Kemper Mungo although I had left a message earlier asking him to get in touch. No doubt he thought I wanted to bug him to tell me what he knew.

“Has anybody seen Idonia?” Ellis asked as we left. “I’ve been trying to reach her all morning.”

Nettie suggested she’d probably gone to the grocery store and Zee promised to check on Idonia on her way home, but I still felt uneasy as Ellis and I drove the few blocks to Evans and Son. If the person responsible for the other two deaths thought Idonia might know too much, our friend could be next.

Al Evans greeted us cordially and seated us on a Victorian love
seat upholstered in purple velvet. Now he shook his head and fastened his gaze on the huge decorative vase in the corner—at least that’s where he seemed to be looking. “I wish I could help you, but I declare, I don’t know what Melrose has gotten himself up to. I’m sure the police would like to know, too, but unfortunately, he didn’t see fit to tell me.”

“Do you know where Melrose lived before he came here?” I asked.

Our host pondered that silently for a minute. “Melrose spent most of his life in a small town in Mississippi working in his father’s hardware store, then later, for somebody else. After his wife died a few years ago, he moved from here to there—didn’t seem to know what to do with himself.”

“Did they have children?” Ellis asked, and Al shook his head. “No, and I think it might’ve made a difference if they had. He’s been lonely, I know, and I expect that’s why he came here to work with me. As far as I know I’m the only relative Melrose has left. Our mothers were sisters, you know. I just wish I knew what was going on.”

Suddenly he rose and went to a large metal urnlike vessel on the table behind him. “My goodness, where are my manners? Can I offer you ladies some coffee?”

I could feel Ellis stiffening beside me. “Um—no, thank you,” we chorused.

Ellis leaned forward. “He didn’t leave any word at all?”

Al Evans shook his head. “That incident with his friend Mrs. Culpepper really bothered him, I could tell. Seemed to blame himself. Of course I tried to tell him it wasn’t his fault … I just wish I knew where he was.”

I looked at Ellis and she nodded. “I know where he is—at least he was there yesterday,” I said, and told him about my experience seeing Melrose DuBois at a north Georgia outlet mall.

“Well, if that doesn’t beat all!” Al sighed. “I shouldn’t be too
surprised, though. Melrose seems to have developed some strange habits lately.”

“Like what?” Ellis wanted to know.

“Secretive little things—like he’d go off by himself and not bother to say where he was going, what he was doing.” Al shrugged. “Not that it really mattered. He’s a grown man and it’s his business how he spends his time. But I guess you could say Melrose made an issue out of not making an issue.”

“I guess we’ll have to tell the police about your seeing Melrose at the mall,” Ellis said as we left.

I agreed. I was sort of holding out for Idonia’s sake to see if he turned up. I had left another message for Kemper earlier, asking him to call my cell phone number, and when it rang, I thought the policeman was getting back to me. But it was Zee on the other end and I could tell she was trying to sound calm. It didn’t work.

“Lucy Nan, I can’t seem to find Idonia. Do you have any idea where she might have gone?”

hat time is it?” Ellis asked when I told her what Zee had said.

The clock on my dashboard said four o’clock, but then it always says four o’clock since it stopped running two years ago. I looked at my watch. It was a little after one.

“Has Zee gotten in touch with Idonia’s niece Jennifer?” Ellis said when I told her the time.

“She didn’t mention it, but surely Jennifer would know if Idonia has decided to take off to Savannah or something.”

“She wouldn’t go to Savannah. You know she wouldn’t,” Ellis said.

I did know it and so I didn’t even bother to phone Jennifer at the high school but drove straight there. Luckily, Jennifer was on her lunch break when we arrived and when we explained the situation to the school secretary, she paged her right away.

“She assured me she was all right when I phoned her yesterday,” Jennifer said when she met us in the office, “but frankly, I thought she sounded pretty stressed out. Are you sure she’s not at the house?”

“Zee rang the bell and pounded on the door and she’s tried to reach her by phone several times,” I said.

Jennifer hesitated briefly then spoke with the secretary. “I have a key to Aunt Idonia’s house. Just give me a minute to get my purse,” she told us, hurrying back to her classroom. Fortunately, we learned, the secretary had been able to find someone to take her last class.

Ellis phoned Zee as we followed Jennifer to Idonia’s and told her to meet us there. I wasn’t surprised when Jo Nell and Nettie showed up as well.

“Did you check to see if her car’s here?” I asked Zee when she skidded to a stop out front.

“Of course, but she always keeps it in the garage and I couldn’t see inside,” she reminded me.

“I told Idonia she was doing too much too soon,” Jo Nell announced as we waited for Jennifer to unlock the door, and although my cousin is the world’s greatest worrywart, this time I tended to agree with her. I tried not to think of our friend lying cold and still across her bed or crumpled on her kitchen floor, and I must’ve had Ellis’s arm in a death grip because she cried out that I was cutting off her circulation.