Miss Dimple Suspects (7 page)

Dimple slowly began to relax as they drove into town. There would be salmon croquettes and applesauce for supper, with a good thick slice of Odessa’s yeast bread. Suzy was just shy. She would telephone in time and she and her new friends would have a nice time together in town.

But when Suzy called a few days later, it wasn’t at all what she expected.

“Miss Dimple, can you come? Something terrible has happened, and I don’t know what to do! Hurry,
please
! I need your help, and don’t—”

And then the line went dead.

C
HAPTER
S
IX

“Why, Miss Dimple, you look like you’ve just seen a ghost! Is anything wrong?” A blast of cold air followed Annie as she slung her jacket on the coatrack and stood in the hallway, clutching a small bag from Lewellyn’s Drug Store.

Miss Dimple replaced the telephone receiver thoughtfully. “It seems that’s what we’ll have to find out.” She hurried past Annie and shoved aside the lace curtain that covered the glass-paneled door. “Is Charlie with you? We’ll need a car.”

“She stopped at the library, but I had papers to grade…” Annie quickly reclaimed her jacket and tossed her package on the hall table. The last time she had seen Dimple Kilpatrick display such urgency was when they learned little Peggy Ashcroft was missing. The papers would have to wait.

While Dimple went upstairs for her wraps, Annie stuck her head in the kitchen to tell Odessa not to hold supper, as the two of them might be late.

Odessa poured corn bread batter in a sizzling iron skillet and shoved it into the oven. “Where you got to go this late in the day?” she demanded. “It’s gonna be dark out there before long.”

I wish I knew!
Annie thought, but she promised they would be careful. “Save us a piece of that corn bread!” she added, hearing the older teacher’s rapid footsteps descending the stairs. According to Odessa Kirby, nothing good happened outside after dark because that was when “haints” were on the prowl, and you sure didn’t want to run into one of them. Annie didn’t think it was a “haint” that caused Miss Dimple’s consternation, but it must’ve been something just as critical.

“Has something happened to Virginia?” Annie’s breathing came fast as she struggled to keep up with Dimple’s pace.

Miss Dimple gripped her handbag in front of her as if the contents might come flying out as they rushed across Katherine Street on their way to the library. “It’s Suzy, Mae Martha’s young companion.… I just had the strangest call, and I’m very much afraid something’s terribly wrong!

“Virginia generally closes at five. I hope we can catch them before they leave for home.”

Annie waved to Marjorie Mote, who was hanging an evergreen wreath on her front door. “Is something the matter with Mae Martha? What did Suzy say?”

“It’s what she didn’t say that alarms me. We were cut off before she could finish and I didn’t know how to call her back as they don’t have a telephone there.”

“She was probably calling from the nephew’s house,” Annie suggested. “What’s his name? Esau? I wonder why she didn’t phone again.”

“That’s why I want to get there as soon as we can. The poor woman was almost hysterical—said something terrible had happened and she needed my help. I tried to call the operator to see if she could reconnect us, but Florence didn’t answer.”

Probably chatting on another line or listening to someone else’s conversation, Annie thought. Florence McCrary, the local operator, admitted to being curious, but everybody knew she was just plain nosy.

“Let’s hope Virginia has her car here,” Annie said as they crossed the stone bridge in the town park and hurried past the two magnolia trees that bordered the walkway to the library. “Charlie’s mother’s using theirs. She and Charlie’s aunt Lou drove out to visit a cousin somewhere in the country.”

Charlie had admitted earlier that the two sisters had long delayed visiting their cousin Eva. Not only was she a tiresome hypochondriac, they knew she’d insist on sending them home with her awful fruitcake, but as the holidays drew nearer, they couldn’t put it off any longer. That afternoon, with a box of chocolates from Lewellyn’s and a fruit jar of Lou’s sherry-flavored boiled custard, the sisters had resigned themselves to an afternoon of listening to their cousin’s list of maladies.

Charlie dropped the book she was holding the instant they stepped inside the building. “What’s wrong? Is it Mama and Aunt Lou? They haven’t had an accident, have they?” Hurrying to meet them, she reached for Annie’s hand and pulled her into the room, still warm from the dying fire and smelling of wood smoke. “You know how Mama gets distracted when those two are togeth—”

Dimple Kilpatrick gave her a look that clearly read:
Settle down at once!
Charlie Carr had seen it often and had been on the receiving end more than once during her own experience in Miss Dimple’s first-grade classroom. “As far as I know, your mother is fine,” Dimple reassured her, “but I received a frantic telephone call from Mrs. Hawthorne’s companion this afternoon and she seems to be in some kind of trouble.

“Virginia, I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to drive if you will.” She glanced at her friend, who was already gathering her wraps. “We need to get there as soon as possible.”

After banking the embers in the stone fireplace and replenishing the water bowl for Cattus, the library cat, the four of them drove through the darkening December day through the outskirts of town and into the country, dust billowing like russet smoke behind them.

“Should we stop first at Esau’s?” Charlie asked as Virginia turned onto the narrow rutted road that led to the hill where the artist lived.

Miss Dimple frowned. “I don’t see his truck there, but we might find his wife at home. Maybe she can tell us something.”

Annie jumped out and hammered on the door, but no amount of racket brought anyone to answer her. “I guess nobody’s home,” she said, rejoining Charlie in the backseat. “Suzy must’ve gone back up the hill to Mae Martha’s.”

“I wonder why she telephoned you?” Charlie said, addressing Miss Dimple. “If it was an emergency, why not call Doc Morrison or the sheriff?”

“Don’t forget, Suzy is a relative stranger in this area,” Dimple reminded her. “She probably didn’t know who else to call … and she had my telephone number. Remember? You gave it to her yourself.”

Charlie remembered. “Still, you’d think she’d first go to Esau or his wife, or even that fellow, Bill …

“Well, maybe not Bill,” she added when Annie shivered and made a face. “He did look kinda like one of Odessa’s ‘haints.’”

“We’ll find out soon enough,” Miss Dimple said a few minutes later as they bumped into the clearing behind Hawthorne’s rustic house.

A galvanized bucket holding sprays of greenery, still with the strong scent of cedar and pine, sat on the stoop by the door. “Strange, I don’t see Max,” Miss Dimple said, pausing at the top of the steps.

“Probably inside with Suzy,” Annie said. “I can hear him barking.

“Suzy! Mrs. Hawthorne! Anybody home?” she called, and was soon joined by the others. When no amount of knocking or hollering brought a reply, Miss Dimple found the door unlocked and stepped boldly inside.

Max immediately threw himself upon them and began whining and racing frantically back and forth to the door that led to the studio.

Miss Dimple knelt and spoke softly to the animal while calmly stroking his head. “It’s all right, Max … shh … we’re here now … here to help. What is it, Max? Show us.”

With the German shepherd leading the way, the four women walked to the closed door of Mae Martha Hawthorne’s studio, where Dimple Kilpatrick wasted no time in turning the knob. “Mae Martha?” The room was in darkness and she called out while switching on the light.

“Oh!” Charlie stumbled backward into Virginia, who reached out for Annie to keep from falling. “Oh! Is she…” As if in a daze, Charlie watched Miss Dimple kneel by the woman who lay on the floor, her gray hair dark with blood that had been collected in a pool beneath her head. It didn’t take long to see Mae Martha Hawthorne was dead, had probably been dead for some time.

“Someone please get the dog away.” Dimple found it an effort to speak calmly as Max attempted to get nearer and began to bark in such a manner it broke her heart to hear him. “Take him outside—hurry.”

“Should we phone for the doctor or the police?” Virginia asked, although it was obvious a doctor would be no help here. While Annie coerced the dog out the way they had come in, the others took in their surroundings.

“It looks like the poor thing fell and hit her head,” Virginia said as Dimple got to her feet. But Dimple shook her head. “What would she have hit it on? The injury seems to be in the back. There’s nothing nearby—and look how she’s lying. Look closely.”

Do I have to?
Charlie thought, but she complied. The woman lay on her back with her arms by her sides as if she had merely lain down for a quick nap. Her eyes were closed and if it weren’t for the dark stain congealing beneath her and her mouth had not been open in such a grotesque position, it might appear as if she were asleep. Charlie took a deep breath and looked away. “It doesn’t seem natural that she would’ve fallen like this.”

“Someone moved her, arranged her this way,” Miss Dimple said. “Possibly her companion.”

“But where is she now?” Alarmed, Virginia looked about.

“Surely you don’t think Suzy had anything to do with this?” Annie had returned and now stood in the doorway. They could hear Max still barking outside.

“For heaven’s sake, why didn’t she stay? Call for help?” Charlie said, her voice quaking in spite of her.

“She did,” Miss Dimple answered. “She called me. I think she must’ve found her soon after this happened—probably tried to revive her—and realizing it was useless, left her in this position and went somewhere—probably Esau’s—to telephone me.”

“But if this wasn’t an accident, then
somebody
must have done it,” Annie said. “Why? Why would anybody want to do this to Mae Martha?” Her voice rose and her eyes filled with tears. “She was so
nice
!”

“If this companion—this Suzy—didn’t do it, then who did?” Virginia asked. “I think we should get out of here
now
.”

“And I think you’re right!” Annie said, but Miss Dimple seemed in no hurry, and instead took her time looking over the room. The studio smelled of oil and turpentine, and paintings lined the walls just as they had before. What seemed to be a newly finished scene of two rabbits nibbling near a rustic fence entwined with what appeared to be muscadine vines sat on an easel nearby.

Charlie spoke softly. “Her last painting.”

Miss Dimple nodded. The painting was serene and lovely, just as the artist had been. “I don’t see anything that might’ve been used as a weapon … at least nothing obvious.” She shook her head. “I can’t imagine where Suzy has gone.”

“Unless…” Charlie looked from one to the other. “Unless somebody killed her, too! We haven’t even looked in the other rooms.”

Annie groaned. “Okay. This is really getting scary. Can we please leave now?”

“But what if Suzy’s been hurt?” Charlie pointed out. “What if she’s been locked in a closet or something? We have to look.”

But the rest of the house proved to be empty and silent except for the ticking of the grandfather clock that stood against the living room wall. Only embers remained of what had been a wood fire in the big fireplace, now mounded with gray ashes. Dimple remembered Suzy telling her she always built the fires as Mae Martha was too frail to lift the heavy logs.

“We can telephone from Esau’s,” Annie began. “Surely somebody’s home by now. I hate to be the ones to tell them.”

“I believe it might be best to report directly to the sheriff in town.” Miss Dimple spoke with finality. “Let’s leave things as they are for now.”

Annie glanced at Charlie who shrugged. She didn’t like to argue with Miss Dimple. Besides, she was usually right.

“What about Max?” Virginia asked as they stepped outside to be met with the dog’s frenzied capers. “We can’t just leave him here. Who would take care of him?”

“I guess we’ll have to take him with us,” Charlie said, glancing at Virginia. “I’d offer to keep him myself, but you know how much traffic we have on Katherine Street and there’s no way to fence him in.”

“He could stay in my room tonight if Miss Phoebe wouldn’t mind,” Annie offered, “but there’s really no place for him there.”

“Oh, I wish there were! He reminds me of my Bear.” Stooping, Dimple again calmed the dog with a few murmured words and offered her hand for him to lick.

“Well, I suppose that leaves me,” Virginia said. “He can sleep at my house tonight and have the run of my fenced-in backyard tomorrow, but I’m afraid he’ll be lonely with no one there all day.”

Charlie agreed. “Poor Max! He needs a family.”

Miss Dimple thought she knew of the very one but, of course, she would have to ask them first.

Max didn’t need any coaxing but immediately jumped into the backseat with Annie. Charlie, however, took her time joining them.

“What are you looking for out there?” Annie asked her. “It’s too dark to see a thing.”

“I thought I might catch a glimpse of Suzy,” she said as she climbed into the car. “Do you think she could be somewhere out here in this cold?”

“Well, if she is, she’s had plenty of opportunity to show herself.” Virginia put the car in second gear as they started down the hill. The yellow glow of the headlights cast eerie shadows in the dark trees ahead. “What makes you so sure that Chinese woman had nothing to do with Mrs. Hawthorne’s death?” she said, leaning forward to better see the narrow road in front of them. “Why, she might be just waiting for us to leave.”

“Then why call and ask for my help?” Miss Dimple paused as Virginia braked to keep from hitting a small animal, probably a raccoon. “I think I know why the young woman is avoiding anyone with authority, and if I’m correct, she has good reason to be afraid.”

Charlie spoke up. “I’d be afraid, too, if I’d been the one to find Mae Martha like that, but I wouldn’t waste a minute before calling the police.”