Murder by Christmas (Edna Davies mysteries) (10 page)

Edna was only vaguely aware of Gran’s chatter as she continued to wonder what could have happened to Mary. Were Hank and Spot with her? Edna couldn’t imagine Mary neglecting her pets. Surely, Roselyn or Jake must have heard from Mary.

“Edna?” Gran’s persistent and loud calling of her name startled Edna.

“Sorry, Gran, I was thinking about our missing neighbor. What were you saying?”

“I asked if you wouldn’t mind stopping at Krispin’s on the way home. It’s only a block or two out of the way. I’d like to check that Priscilla has all the supplies I need for making soup today.” 

With her thoughts now turned on all she had to do, but not knowing how to say no, Edna agreed. Beginning to feel very anxious about her friend, she couldn’t get Mary off her mind, either. This disappearance wasn’t like her. Where could she be and why hadn’t she been in contact? Her big Christmas Eve open house was only two days away, the day Edna’s own children and grandchildren were scheduled to fly in from Colorado. She glanced at the overcast and darkening sky. The snow had begun to fall again.

Chapter 11

Krispin’s Kitchen closed between breakfast and lunch, so Gran dug in her purse and pulled out a key to the front door. The sidewalk had been shoveled and sprinkled with a mixture of sand and snowmelt, but already, newly fallen snow dusted the pavement. Whoever had cleared the walk had also been kind enough to remove the mound of snow left by the street plows, so Edna was able to park in front of the building.

Sleigh bells hanging on the back of the door clanged and jingled their arrival. The long, narrow diner was warm and smelled of percolating coffee. A counter ran along the right-hand side with a cash register at the near end. Beneath the register, a glass case displayed an assortment of locally made jewelry and other small craft items. Behind the counter, a pass-through offered a view into the kitchen.

Eight bar stools were lined up along the counter. Four booths occupied the left-hand wall and six square tables filled the middle of the room, leaving just enough space for servers to squeeze by. Edna’s first impression of the small restaurant was that it was welcoming.

Christmas decorations were homemade and minimal but clever. Wreaths of green construction paper surrounded the portholes in the double, swinging doors to the kitchen. Pasted above the pass-through window, a cardboard cut-out sleigh, pulled by eight reindeer and led by a red-nosed Rudolph, slanted upward toward the ceiling. The jolly man holding the reins waved at the room while gaily wrapped presents spilled from an overloaded bag into the bed of the large sled. The only other decoration that caught Edna’s eye was a green ceramic tree, complete with tiny, multi-colored lights, sitting on the far side of the old-fashioned cash register. A young man was sitting at a back table finishing his breakfast. Edna guessed he was the one who had cleared the walk.

“Hi, Vinnie,” Gran called, raising a hand in greeting as she walked to the far end of the counter and disappeared through swinging doors into the room beyond, leaving Edna alone with the stranger.

“Vinnie?”

Although it was a thought she’d spoken aloud, he answered. “Yes, ma’am. Vinnie Valmont at your service.” He rose and pulled out a chair, inviting her to join him. “Like a cup of coffee?”

“I’d love a coffee regular, please.” Edna replied as she removed her coat and draped it over a nearby chair before sitting. The room was warm and felt good after the bitter cold of the outside.

He picked up his thick, white porcelain mug and headed for a set of glass pots on the warming burners behind the counter. One pot had a black spout, the other was orange.

“Here you are,” he said on his return, “coffee with cream. Hope half and half is okay.” He set the mug on the table in front of her before resuming his own seat.

“Perfect. Thank you.” She wrapped her hands around the hot cup and introduced herself.

He grinned at her, raising his eyebrows. “You’re Mary Osbourne’s neighbor, aren’t you?”

She laughed in surprise. “Now, how do you know that?”

“Tell you in a minute, but I have a question first. I’m having an argument with one of the customers about ‘coffee regular’.”

Edna lifted her cup, took a sip, and waited for Vinnie to continue.

“He’s from New York and says that when he asks for ‘a regular,’ he gets coffee with cream and two sugars.”

She thought for a minute, pulling a memory from her past. “When my brother was in the army, away from home for the first time, he learned fast that ‘regular’ means different things in different parts of the country. For some, it means both cream and sugar and for others, particularly in the south and west, it means ‘black and caffeinated.’ In Rhode Island, we mean ‘cream, no sugar’ I think, because sugar is on the table along with salt, pepper and other condiments--or it used to be when I was a girl. Not the packets they have today, but real sugar in glass jars with stainless steel lids. Cream wasn’t left on the table because it would spoil.”

“Hmmm,” Vinnie said, taking a drink from his own mug. “The only sense all that makes is, I’d better ask each customer what he means when he orders ‘regular’ coffee.”

“That would be safest.” Edna laughed at his lopsided grin. “Now, will you tell me how you know I’m Mary’s neighbor?”

“Friend of mine mentioned you yesterday. Said you and Mary were going to get our back pay from Laurel Taylor.”

Edna nearly choked on the coffee she’d just sipped. Remembering the conversation in Mary’s kitchen from two days ago, she said, “You’re talking about Bethany Marco, if I’m not mistaken.” When he nodded, she went on. “I hope you hadn’t gotten your hopes up.”

Leaning his forearms on the table with his own cup between his hands, Vinnie lowered his head to stare into the dark liquid, so Edna couldn’t see his expression when he said, “Yeah, I heard. The wicked witch is dead.”

A bit shocked by the disrespect of his comment, she marveled at the speed of communications in small communities. “How did you hear?”

He sat back in his chair, finally looking at her. “Bethany told me when I drove her to Kingston Station last night.”

Edna thought quickly. Laurel had been found late yesterday afternoon. How had Bethany learned of it? Had she spoken to Mary? “What time did you take her to the station?”

He frowned as if puzzled by the question, but answered without hesitation. “A little after six. She caught the six forty-seven to Boston.”

Mary was seen leaving CATS at four-thirty and Bethany tells Vinnie about Laurel less than two hours later. How did she know so fast? Thinking about it, Edna thought it might have been the volunteer who found Laurel. She probably would have been on the phone to anyone else who worked or had worked at the shelter. Bethany told Vinnie who told Codfish who phoned Gran.
And so on, and so on
, Edna thought and would have smiled at the speed of small-town grapevines except for the seriousness of the event.

“One of the neighbors saw Bethany ride her bike up to Laurel’s house yesterday afternoon.” If Vinnie wondered where she had heard this news, he kept silent, so she went on, hoping to stir a response. “I’m surprised she went back after the way Laurel treated her.”

He shrugged and looked away from her toward the view into the kitchen. “Bethany gets impatient about things. She said she hadn’t heard from Mary, so she decided to go see Laurel herself.”

“I thought she didn’t want to speak to Laurel ever again. That’s why she asked Mary and me to go.”

He turned back to face her with another shrug. “What can I say? I sure don’t understand women.” His smile was crooked, as if in apology.

 “How did she know we hadn’t already gotten the money for her?” Edna felt a flash of irritation toward the young woman. If Bethany was able to speak to Laurel herself, why had she sent Mary and Edna to intercede for her?
A waste of my time
, Edna thought before her ire was replaced by a surge of hope. “Was she finally able to talk to Mary yesterday afternoon? Is that how she knew about Laurel’s death?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. All she told me was that she went over there to get what was owed her. The train ticket tapped her out, and she needed cash for Christmas.”

“Was it a last-minute decision?” Edna asked, “to go to Boston?”

“Far as I know.” Folding his hands on top of his head, Vinnie tipped back in his chair so the front two legs left the floor as he stared at Edna. “Classes are over, so when she lost her job, she decided to go home a couple of days early.”

“What time was she at the shelter?” Edna not only wanted to know if Bethany might have seen Mary, but she also thought the information would be of interest to Charlie. Bethany seemed to have been in the vicinity at the pertinent time yesterday.

Vinnie shrugged again, raising his elbows as well as his shoulders with the motion. “Must’ve been around four. Maybe a little before, maybe a little after. I dunno. She borrowed the bike from my uncle. He and I were helping get ready for supper customers at the Kitchen when she brought it back. That’s when she asked if I’d take her to the train station.”

“What did Laurel say to her?” Edna was thinking fast. Charlie should know about this. Maybe Bethany was the last one to see Laurel alive. Maybe they’d quarreled. The idea dissolved with Vinnie’s next words.

“She didn’t talk to Laurel. Didn’t see her at all.”

Edna raised her eyebrows. “How do you know?”

“She told me. Said the Perrys’ car was in the driveway. She wanted to see Laurel alone. Didn’t want to make a scene with others around, I guess.”

“The Perrys’ car?” Edna thought for a few seconds before asking, “Their car or the van?”

He shook his head. “I don’t remember. She might have said ‘van’.”

Edna felt exasperated. She needed to speak with Bethany herself, or Charlie needed to. At the moment though, Vinnie would have to do. “She biked all that way and then didn’t go inside or talk to anyone? What
did
she do?”

He dropped his hands from his head and leaned forward, bringing the chair’s front legs back to the floor with a thud. “She said she rode around the block a couple of times, but she was getting cold, so she decided she wouldn’t wait around any longer. She just headed back to town.” He was speaking brusquely now, as if he were tired of the conversation or annoyed at Edna’s tone.

In turn, Edna speculated. Had Bethany told Vinnie the truth, or had she, in fact, gone into the house? Had she another reason for leaving town so suddenly last night? Edna didn’t voice these thoughts to the young man sitting across the table. Instead, she asked without much hope of a positive answer, “Did she say whether or not she saw Mary at the shelter?” 

He picked up his mug and took a drink, grimaced and shook his head at the coffee. “Cold,” he complained.

Edna wondered if he were trying to stall or change the subject.  “Do you know? Did she mention Mary at all?”

He shook his head again, this time at Edna. “She didn’t, but if Mary had been there, Bethany would have felt better about going inside. She likes Mary, says she’s a good friend.” He put his hands on the table, hesitating a second before pushing himself up. Obviously, he’d had enough of Edna’s questions.

Before she could think of anything else to ask him, Gran came out of the kitchen, speaking as she burst through the double doors. “Sorry to keep you waiting, Edna, but Priscilla wanted to start the soup. She doesn’t expect many customers today, what with the weather and all, so we made just the tomato bisque. Said between Vinnie here and his uncle, they can handle anyone who comes by. She’s decided to close early, too, so she can get to her Christmas party, so she said she won’t need me to lock up tonight.”

“How you doin’, Gran?” Vinnie stood and picked up both his and Edna’s mugs, stacked them with his dishes and pushed his chair up to the table.

“Fine, Vinnie. How’s life treating you these days? All ready for Christmas?” She returned the greeting and looked around and out toward the street. Not waiting for answers to her questions, she asked another. “Where’s your uncle today?”

“Dunno. Thought he’d be here by now. Might have slid into a snow bank. The tires on that truck of his are as bald as a bowling ball. I’m gonna go check on him as soon as I wash up these dishes. I’ve been trying to get Uncle Codfish to get rid of that old hunk of metal. The rusty old thing is on its last legs, but he keeps telling me he is too, so they get along just fine.”

Gran laughed at Vinnie’s good-natured grin, as Edna finally realized the connection. “Codfish?” She didn’t believe there could be two men in town with the same nickname. “Codfish McKale is your uncle?”

“Great-uncle, actually,” Vinnie said with a look of pride. “Best fisherman in these parts until arthritis got too much for him.”

“I hope you’re wrong about him being stuck in a snow drift,” Gran said. “When you see him, tell him I won’t be working tonight, will you?” Again, without waiting for an answer, she turned to Edna. “Ready to go?”

Driving home, Edna was quiet, thinking about Mary. Where could she be? Had she seen Bethany yesterday afternoon? Expanding on the thought, Edna’s heart skipped a beat. What if Mary had seen Bethany push Laurel down the stairs? Instantly, Edna shook off the idea of Mary covering up a crime, but before she could gather her thoughts again, Gran’s voice distracted her. They had reached their neighborhood.

“Will you come in and let me make lunch for you? It’s the least I can do for your taking the time to chauffeur me around this morning.”

About to answer as they reached Mary’s property, Edna’s attention was diverted to a pickup plowing out the driveway. When she noticed the sign “Honeydew Home Repairs” on the driver’s door and noticed who was behind the wheel, she waved to Kevin. Having liked Tom’s nephew, her resolve to never again give her business to Norm Wilkins’ company weakened, particularly when, driving on, she saw that her own driveway was untouched. Last night’s snowfall hadn’t been as heavy as she’d feared, but although the current snow was light and gentle, it had already laid another inch or two on top of the existing six.

She was about to reply to Gran’s invitation when a huge, box-shaped vehicle appeared around the corner, heading straight toward the Kia, halfway into Edna’s lane on the narrow road. Curiously, the driver turned the wiper speed up a notch and sprayed washer fluid across the windshield. Although somewhat erratic, fortunately, the oncoming behemoth was moving slowly. Closing in on Gran’s driveway, Edna aimed the Kia for the foot of the macadam and, stepping on the gas, swerved in off the road with less than a car length to spare as the giant vehicle lumbered by. The Kia’s engine had stalled, so Edna sat for a minute, waiting for her heart rate to slow. In the fleeting seconds of avoiding a collision and because of the other vehicle’s frosty wet windshield, Edna had seen only a shadowy silhouette of the driver.