Lemon Larceny (The Donut Mysteries) (20 page)

“It was a shock,
all right.
 
I nearly collapsed when
I heard what had happened, and Meredith Pence nearly had to prop me up to keep
me from toppling over.”

“I hated not
knowing about it until hours after it happened,” Momma said.
 
“Thinking that my sister was gone, and I
knew nothing about it, has almost been too much for me to take.”

“Well, I had the
advantage on you there.
 
I didn’t
have to wait nearly as long as you did,” he said.
 
“Meredith’s on the gossip hotline around
here.
 
It probably wasn’t more than
ten minutes after Greta found her that I heard the news.”

“Had you been
working on Meredith’s place very long?” I asked.

“Most of the
morning,” he said.
 
“I left as soon
as I heard it.
 
As a matter of fact,
I’ve got to get back there sometime soon, but honestly, I haven’t been able to
bring myself to do it.
 
Meredith
deserves better treatment than that from me.”
 
He scratched his chin, and then he
added, “I’ll head over there tomorrow after I take care of your window and
finish what I started.”

“You can take
care of her first, if you’d rather,” I said.

“If I had my
druthers, I’d do exactly that, but one early visit was tough enough for me to
schedule, since Meredith’s a night owl.
 
Getting her to let me work early in the morning just about took an act
of congress.
 
Well, if there’s nothing
else, I’ll see you ladies in the morning.”

“There are no
worries about waking us up in the morning,” I said.
 
“I’m usually up by one AM.”

“I don’t get up
quite that early,” Momma added, “but you’ll be safe if you come after seven.”

“Funny, that’s the
same time I started working at Meredith’s,” he said.
 
“You both have a good evening, you hear?”

“You, too,” Momma
said.
 
After we walked Hank out, my
mother turned to find me staring at her.
 
“What is it, Suzanne?”

“Here I thought
that
I
was the crackerjack
investigator of the family, but I doubt I could have done that half as smoothly
as you just did.
 
You just somehow
managed, without asking any direct questions, to get Hank’s alibi for the time
of the murder.”

She looked
pleased by the praise.
 
“Don’t give
me too much credit.
 
There’s still a
rather broad window of opportunity there.”

“Not as much as
you might think.
 
There’s one thing
that you might be forgetting.”

“What’s that?”

“Whoever strung
that fishing line across the balusters had to remove it as well.
 
Otherwise even Chief Kessler would have
known that it was murder.”

“You know, that
never occurred to me,” she said.

“That’s why there
are two of us,” I told her with a grin.
 
“Now all we have to do is talk to this woman Meredith and confirm Hank’s
alibi.”

“Why don’t we
take care of that now?” I asked.

“I don’t
know.
 
It’s getting late.
 
Can’t it wait until tomorrow?”

“I suppose that
it could, but honestly, I’d like to chat with her before Hank gets a chance to
get her to change her story.
 
Besides, you heard Hank; she’s a night owl,” I said.

“Suzanne, do we
even know where to find her?”

“No, but I know
someone we can ask,” I said as I reached for my phone.

“Who are you
going to call?”

“I thought I’d
ask Anna Albright,” I said.

“What?
 
Are you really going to use her as a
resource while she’s on our list of suspects?”

“I know it might
sound a bit unconventional to most folks, but what have we got to lose?
 
We know from first-hand experience that she’s
a gossip, so I’m willing to bet that she can help us track Meredith Pence
down.”

“But isn’t that
tipping our hand a little?” Momma wanted to know.

“I’d like to
think that it might muddy the water a bit.”

“How so?”

“Think about it,
Momma.
 
If we’re asking her for
information, then Anna might believe that she’s off of our list of suspects,
and she might let her guard slip a little.
 
If she was the one who killed Aunt Jean, that could help us, but if
she’s innocent, then I don’t see how it could hurt to ask her for information
we need about the case.
 
Either way,
it should yield a good result for our investigation.”

“You’re
right.
 
I never thought about it
that way.
 
Go on and call her.”

I did as my
mother suggested, and after she answered the phone, I said, “Anna, this is
Suzanne Hart just up the hill.
 
Could
you do me a favor and tell me something?”

“Anything but my
age,” she said.
 
Was there a hint of
inebriation in her voice?
 
Was it
possible that she and Greta had been drinking?
 
I didn’t know, and what was more, I
wasn’t about to ask her.
 
If she was
tipsy, maybe I could use that to my advantage.

“Where might I
find Meredith Pence this evening?”

“You might find
her in your basement, but I sincerely doubt it,” she said happily.
 
“Then again, she might be up on the
roof.”

“Anna, are you
okay?”

“I’m fine,” she
said, slurring her words a little.
 
“Greta and I have been trying new wines once a week, and I finally found
one I really love.
 
Why don’t you
and your mommy come over and we’ll have a sip together?
 
What do you say?”

“As tempting as
your offer is,” I said, trying to hide the way I really felt about her
invitation, “we’re tied up at the moment.”

“Well, if you
change your mind, come on down.”

And then she hung
up on me.

“What just happened?”
Momma asked as I hit the redial button on my phone.

“I’ll tell you in
a minute.”

Anna answered,
“Hello.”

“Hey, it’s me
again, Suzanne.
 
You didn’t answer
my question,” I said, trying to hide the irritation I felt.

“Then why did you
hang up the phone?” she asked plaintively.

“I didn’t hang up,
you did,” I said.
 
I was pretty sure
what had happened, but this was no time to push it.
 
“Where can I find Meredith Pence?”

“I suspect she’ll
be at the library closing up for the night.”

“How do we find
it?” I asked her.

“Drive
downtown.
 
It’s right beside the
fire station.
 
You can’t miss it.”

After I hung up,
I asked Momma, “Do you have any interest in checking out a book?”

“Suzanne, I
hardly think this is the time to pick up reading material.
 
Besides, my sister had more books than
you could read in a lifetime.
 
We
both shared a passion for mysteries since we were children.
 
Don’t you think you could find something
around here to read?”

“I could, but
then we wouldn’t have a chance to talk to the librarian,” I said with a grin.

Momma got it
immediately.
 
“Meredith Pence, I
presume.”

“You presume
correctly,” I said.

We got there just
as a tall, thin woman with wispy blonde hair was locking the front door.
 
“Sorry, but we’re closed for the evening.”

“We don’t need a
book,” I said.
 
“We need a second of
your time.
 
You’re Meredith Pence,
aren’t you?”

“I am.”
 
She frowned a moment before she added,
“We haven’t met, have we?
 
You
aren’t patrons, are you?”

“No, I’m Suzanne
Hart, and this is my mother, Dorothea.”

Meredith
nodded.
 
“You’re Jean’s family.
 
I’m so sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you,” my
mother said.
 
“Do you have a
moment?”

“For you, of
course,” she said as she stepped away from the door.
 
“May we chat out here?
 
No one is allowed inside after our
regular posted hours.
 
I hope you
understand.”

“Completely,” I
said.
 

She led us to a
nearby bench and then took a seat.
 
“Excuse me, but I’ve been on my feet all day.
 
This feels so nice.
 
Now, what can I do for you ladies?”

“We need to ask
you about the remodeling job Hank Caldwell is doing for you,” my mother said.

Meredith looked a
little puzzled by the question.
 
“He
does very good work, but I’m afraid that he isn’t always dependable.
 
Do you need some work done on your
sister’s home?”

“As a matter of
fact, he’s already changed the locks for us and taken care of few other things.
 
Now he’s going to replace a window.
 
I’m sorry; I’m not being very clear, am
I?
 
We’re not looking for a
recommendation.
 
We need to know if
he was at your place yesterday when you heard about what had happened to my
sister.”

Meredith frowned
for a moment, and then she nodded.
 
“Yes, he was with me.
 
When I
told him the news, I had to steady the poor man to keep him on his feet.
 
He nearly collapsed.”
 
The librarian lowered her voice as she
added straight to my mother, “I’m not sure if you knew, but he and your sister
had been dating off and on for several months.
 
I’m not one to gossip, but I understood
she broke it off for good with him recently, and he took it quite hard.
 
Her death was doubly painful for
him.
 
In his grief, he told me that
he thought that they’d find a way to work things out and eventually end up
together someday.
 
It was all really
quite tragic.”

“When did he get
to work, and did he leave at any time, say for supplies or anything like that?”
I asked her.
 
“I wouldn’t ask, but
it’s important, though I can’t really tell you why.”

Meredith smiled
for a moment.
 
“A puzzle!
 
How delightful.
 
I love those.
 
Let me see.
 
He came by a little after six, much too
early for me on most occasions, but it was the only time he could work me
in.
 
Now, did he ever leave once he
got here?
 
No, I don’t think so.”

That was a
relief.
 
Now we could mark one of
our main suspects off our list.

My joy was
short-lived, though.

“Hang on.
 
I forgot something.
 
He did step out for a bite of breakfast
around seven thirty, but he was only gone about fifteen minutes.”
 
She frowned for a moment.
 
“He asked me not to spread that around,
so I’d appreciate it if you’d keep it to yourself.
 
Hank prides himself on finishing every
job he starts without fail, though mine is taking quite a bit longer than he
originally estimated.
 
Does any of that
mean anything to you?”

It might.
 
“Where exactly do you live, if you don’t
mind me asking?”

“No, not at
all.
 
Actually, I’m just a five-minute
stroll from your aunt’s house.
 
We
used to visit each other frequently.
 
It’s such a pleasant walk.”

“Thanks so much,”
I said as I stood.
 
“We won’t keep
you any longer.
 
Thank you for
taking time out to speak with us.”

“It was my
pleasure,” she said.
 
The librarian
turned to walk away when she hesitated, and then she looked back at us.
 
“I’m dying to know.
 
Did I help at all?”

“You did,” Momma
replied.
 
“I’m sorry I can’t say
more than that right now, but your cooperation has been greatly appreciated.”

“It’s enough,
then,” she said.
 
“Have a good evening.”

“You, too,” Momma
said.

After Meredith
was gone, I turned to Momma as we walked back to her car.
 
“For a second there, I thought we struck
gold.”

“Maybe we did,”
Momma said.
 
“Don’t you find it
suspicious that Hank specifically asked her not to mention his absence from her
home?”

“Now you’re
thinking like a detective,” I said.
 
“As a matter of fact, yes, I find it very suspicious.”

“What are we
going to do about it, then?
 
Should
we go straight to Hank’s and confront him about lying to us?”

I considered that
possibility, and then I said, “If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather wait
until morning to talk to him again.
 
Let’s let him think that he’s gotten away with it until we can come up
with a way to use it to our advantage.”

“I love how
sneaky my daughter has turned out to be,” Momma said, the delight clear in her
voice.

“What can I
say?
 
I learned from the master.”