A Plain Malice: An Appleseed Creek Mystery (Appleseed Creek Mystery Series Book 4) (21 page)

“Why?”
I asked.

She cut into
salad. “Despite her heart trouble, Ruby was the stronger one between us. She had an inner strength that I don’t.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

The corners of Pearl’s eyes drooped downwards. “This trip, for example. That was so like Ruby. She was decisive and always knew what to do. I don’t.”

The waiter returned with our food. He set the small mushroom pizza in front of me
and despite the huge lunch I’d eaten at the inn, I was suddenly starving. The waiter placed the manicotti in front of Pearl, and she turned a light shade of green. “Enjoy,” he said with a nod and walked away.

“Can you say grace, Chloe?” Pearl asked.

“Of course.” We bowed our heads, and I said a short prayer.

I picked up one of the tiny pieces of pizza. The hot cheese burned my fingertips, but the taste was heavenly. Pearl poked at her manicotti with her fork, and her salad remained untouched.

“How else was Ruby decisive?”

Pearl placed her fork on the edge of her plate. “She always knew what she wanted. She went to nursing school, graduated at the top of her class, and worked at a local hospital for thirty years. She had a loving husband who would do anything for her.”

“No children though.”

She touched the fork with the tip of French manicured nail. “Ruby didn’t want children.
She was a career girl. It’s not like today, back in the late fifties and early sixties women chose between a career and children. It was one or the other.”

“And her husband?”

“He wanted whatever Ruby wanted. I’ve never seen a man who adored a woman so much.” She lifted her water glass. “Well, until I saw you with your Timothy. That’s how Ruby and Merv were.” Her voice was distant. “I didn’t have the same relationship with my husband. I wasn’t a career girl like Ruby, but I lost my chance to have children.”

“Your husband didn’t want children
?” I asked.

She shook her head as if trying to displace a bad memory. “
He did, but we were never blessed with a child.”

“I’m so sorry.”

She twisted her cloth napkin. “It was a long time ago. My husband died five years ago. Ruby’s husband died even longer ago. She’s been a widow for nearly ten years. She never complained even though I knew she missed Merv desperately.” Tears glistened on her face. “After her husband died, she picked up and carried on. Ruby never needed help from anyone. If I had died first, she would have been fine. I’m the one who needs someone to keep me from falling apart.”

I set m
y pizza slice down, surprised to see the pizza was half gone from the plate. “Ruby would have been devastated.”

“
Maybe.” She dabbed at her eyes with a white napkin. “This is not how she would like it to happen. She protected me. She always made the tough decisions for me when I was unable to do something myself.”

What d
oes that mean?

The waiter was back to refill our water glasses. He frowned at
Pearl’s untouched dishes. “Is something wrong with your meal?”

“Oh no,” she said quickly. “I’m not very hungry that’s all. Can I get a doggy bag to go?”

The austere waiter picked up her plates. “It would be my pleasure.” He cocked an eyebrow at the remainders of my pizza crust. “I see you don’t need a to-go box.”

I swallowed.
“Nope.”

The waiter left the table.

“I am feeling a little tired, Chloe. Is it all right if we leave as soon as he returns?”

I swallowed my bite of pizza.
“That’s fine, Pearl. I do have one more question.”

She bopped a wedge of lemon in her water glass with the tip of her spoon. “What is it?”

“Why did Earl try to talk to you at the hotel in Mount Vernon?”

She dropped the spoon, and it bounced off the edge of the table and hit the floor. “I’m so
clumsy.” She started to bend down to retrieve it.

“It slid under the table. I’ll get it.”
I bent over and slid my head beneath the table. I touched the handle of the spoon with the tip of my finger. If my arm was just a bit longer, I could have reached it. I folded my body in half and snatched the spoon for the tiled floor. In one motion, I slipped out from under the table and hit something soft with my shoulder.

As if in slow motion the
Styrofoam box the waiter had been holding flew into the air and landed on a neighboring table with a splat. Tomato sauce and spaghetti went flying. The woman sitting at the table now wore her meal and part of Pearl’s. “My blouse! This is dry clean only,” the woman cried.

I wanted to die. “I’m so sorry.
I didn’t mean to do that,” I started to babble.

The waiter wiped marinara sauce off of his cheek
with a napkin.

“
Don’t worry, Chloe. I really wasn’t that hungry,” Pearl said.

I
left the restaurant under a cloud of embarrassment and a lighter wallet because I offered to pay for the marinara victim’s meal in addition to Pearl’s and my bills. I would never be able to show my face in that restaurant again, which was a pity because the pizza was excellent. It wasn’t until we reached the Dutch Inn I realized Pearl never answered my question about Earl.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Back at the Dutch Inn, Jane and Ivy stood behind the registration desk. Cheetos hung limply in Ivy’s thin arms. “Welcome back, Mrs. Kennerwell,” Jane said. “We have your room all ready for you.” She handed Pearl a key for room seven.

Her eyes flitted around the lobby as if she were searching for someone.
“Thank you,” she murmured.

“The bus tour is still out,” Jane said.

Ephraim appeared and picked up Pearl’s luggage. For some reason, I felt like the teenager avoided eye contact with me.
What was his story?
And I still didn’t know why he was at the Troyer farm yesterday morning. However, asking him in front his mother, who thought he was at the inn working, was probably a bad idea.

“I can go up with you to you
r room and help you get settled if you like,” I said to Pearl.

“No, Chloe, you have al
ready done too much for me. This nice young man can see me to my room. I would like to rest before the tour returns.” She followed Ephraim to the elevator.

“Ivy, can you make Mrs.
Kennerwell a cup a tea and take it her room?”

“Oh that would be lovely,” Pearl murmured. “You make a nice herbal tea.”

The girl nodded and took the cat with her before mother could protest.

Jane removed her glasses.
“It’s a beautiful day to stroll in the gardens while you wait for the bus to return.”

“I might just do that,”
I said. “Thank you for allowing Pearl to come back.”

“It’s no trouble
,” Jane said. “Timothy has been doing a wonderful job on the chores around here. By the time he checks out, the inn will be in perfect shape. You’re very lucky to have him.”

“I know,” I said.

“It has been nice to have the help. My husband went home to be with the Lord two years ago.”

“I’m sorry. What happened?” I asked and immediately regretted my question.

“He was in a tractor accident on his brother’s farm.” She concentrated on her ledger to regain her composure.

My heart ached for her.
“How awful.”

She gave me a small smile. “
Ephraim does what he can to keep the inn fixed up, but I know he’d much rather be at a social or working at a barn raising than tied down to this inn, and Ivy is in school for one more year.”

“Surely,
one of your children will want to run the inn someday?”

“I’m not so sure.” She closed her
ledger. “Chloe, don’t let a
gut
man like Timothy slip between your fingers either. Appreciate the time you have with him, no matter how long or how short it may be.”

I wandered into the lounge
, wondering at Jane’s advice. Why would she think Timothy would slip through my fingers? The room was dark except for the picture windows that looked out over Jane’s gardens and onto the bending Kokosing River beyond.

A swinging door led into the kitchen. Timothy stood on a stepstool as he tightened the top hinge of a high cabinet door. He glanced over his shoulder and his face
lit up.

He finished
his task and jumped off of the stool. “How did the meeting go with the chief? You were gone longer than expected. I thought about calling you but didn’t want to irritate Greta more than necessary.”

“I
t went okay. Pearl’s here now. She just checked back into the inn.” Speaking of Pearl reminded me of my encounter with Brock. Brock had lied to upset me. He was a professional liar. The sooner he moved to Florida, the better.

Timothy dropped the screwdriver into the open tool box. “She did? Why?”

I leaned against the island. “She was afraid to be alone.”

“I can understand that.”
He closed the lid to his toolbox.

“
The chief told me something else too. Yew poisoned the milk that killed Dudley and Ruby.”

He stepped back.
“Me? She thinks I poisoned the milk.”

“Not you.
Yew. Y-E-W.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s a kind of bush. Remember when we saw Riley take those plants from the farm?”

He nodded.

“It was one of those.”

“
And Greta still thinks my father had something to do with it.”

I shook my head.
“No, but she won’t officially take him off her list.”

Timothy pursed his lips.

I tapped my nails on the island’s butcher block. “Right. I’ve been thinking about the new commercial farm that opened on the Gundy place.”

“
And?” He stepped toward me and covered my tapping hand with his own. Our fingers intertwined.

“Since the tour is gone for the rest of day, I thought I would go over there and check it out
,” I said.

“I’m coming too.
” He squeezed my hand and let go. “I only have two things left on Jane’s list and can finish those tonight.”

“She probably will have more jobs for you then.
She told me about her husband. I’m sorry I didn’t know.”

He
kissed the top of my nose. “You have a big heart, Chloe.” He grabbed both of my hands. “While I’ve been working today, I’ve been thinking about my business.”

“Oh?” I said.

His face split into a smile. “I’ve been thinking about buying a home and place for the workshop.”

“I think that’s great. I’m so happy the contracting business is going
so well, but I never doubted it would. You do wonderful work. All the men who work under you respect you. I hope you find a place that you like.”

He laughed. “Chloe,
you’re not understanding my meaning. I want to find a place
we
like, to buy a place where I can have the business and a home with you.”

“Oh.
Oh!
” My pulse quickened.
Was Timothy going to ask me to marry him in the middle of the Dutch Inn’s kitchen?
My mouth felt dry.

“
I’ve looked at a few places, and I even—”

“You have?” I squeaked.

“I have a realtor too. He’s an English guy Greta recommended. He helped her buy her house a couple of years back.”

Chief Rose knew about Timothy looking for a house
, and I didn’t.
I pulled my hands from his grasp. “Why didn’t you tell me? I knew you wanted to do this, but I didn’t know you already started your search.”

Timothy
dropped his hands. “I wanted to be sure I had all my money and affairs in order first. I wanted to su—”

“I have money and affairs too
. If we got married, I need to contribute.” I lifted my chin. “I have a good job. If
we
are buying a home, I want to be a part of the process. I’m not going to freeload.”

A muscle twitched
under Timothy’s right eye. “Being my wife is
not
freeloading.”

My breath caught when he said “wife.”

The kitchen door swung in, and Ivy entered into the kitchen. She pulled up short when she saw Timothy and me standing toe to toe. Her hand flew to cover her eyes. “I’m so sorry to interrupt.”

I inwardly groaned.

Timothy took a step back from me. “Ivy, there’s nothing going on in here. You can drop your hands.”

“I’m sorry,”
Ivy mumbled. “I came in here to make another cup of tea for Mrs. Kennerwell. She’s feeling poorly.” Ivy’s maple-colored eyes flitted back and forth between Timothy and me as if she didn’t believe Timothy’s declaration that nothing had been going on.