Pecan Pies and Homicides (4 page)

Ella Mae could feel the younger woman trembling. “Of course. But can't I do something for you now?” She thought of the hostile glare Robert Morgan had given his wife as she'd left the dance floor. “Do you feel threatened?”

“Everyone here faces the same threat,” Eira said grimly. “My people and yours too. We're all in terrible, terrible danger.”

After uttering this chilling statement, Eira saw her husband beckoning and hurried away to join him.

Ella Mae watched as Robert Morgan took his wife's hand in his own and gave her a reptilian smile. His eyes were still dark with fury and Ella Mae could tell that he was squeezing Eira's hand too hard. His knuckles had gone white with the effort and her pretty mouth twisted in pain.

“That bastard.” Ella Mae pushed her way toward the couple, intent on rescuing Eira from another second of abuse, but Opal suddenly appeared in front of Robert, a waiter on her heels.

“I tracked down a platter of Thai shrimp just for you,” she said and shot a quick glance at Eira. “Mrs. Morgan, your husband will probably need something to drink. I believe the caterers made these even spicier than the previous batch.”

Releasing Eira, Robert said, “A member of your household generously offered me whiskey from Mr. Gaynor's personal supply. I was told to help myself from the decanter in his office.” He gave his wife a tight, cold grin. “Do you think you could find it for me, dear?”

Eira nodded rapidly and hurried off.

“Am I taking liberties?” Robert asked Opal, whose hostess smile had slipped at the mention of her husband's whiskey.

She recovered quickly, however. “Of course not. You're welcome to anything you find within these walls.”

Clearly appeased by her solicitousness, Robert eyes roamed up and down Opal's formfitting dress. “A man does long for the best.” His gaze lingered on her décolletage. “Your husband is a very lucky man.”

“He is. And he knows it,” Opal said, an unusual hint of playfulness in her voice.

“Traveling for three weeks,” Robert went on. “Quite a lengthy business trip. He trusts you to look after everything while he's away?”

Ella Mae saw a flash of annoyance cross Opal's face. Either Robert Morgan didn't realize that Opal ran the family business or he preferred to pretend that her husband was in charge. “We're quite accustomed to being apart,” Opal said airily. “I've heard it said that a marriage works better when one spends time away from one's spouse. For Jarvis and I, that's certainly proven to be the case. We have our personal ventures and those activities often prevent us from spending a great deal of time together, but when we do, we have a great deal to talk about.”

Robert raised his brows. “Then you subscribe to the ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder' adage? Perhaps it's true, but in my experience, distance encourages . . . indiscretion. I like to know where Eira is and what she's doing at all times. Who could blame me? She's a beautiful woman. I see the way men look at her. They'd kill to be leaving this party with her tonight. But she belongs to me.” He popped a shrimp in his mouth.

Smiling politely, Opal excused herself, saying she had to check on her other guests. Robert Morgan murmured something and continued to gorge on shrimp. He then pivoted his wheelchair to better focus on the dancers, and since Eira had yet to return, Ella Mae decided to resume her search for Suzy.

She found her friend in the dining room, filling a plate with slices of beef tenderloin, roast turkey, smoked salmon, and roasted vegetables.

“You've worked up a healthy appetite, I see,” Ella Mae teased.

Suzy paused in the middle of digging into the center of a vat of garlic mashed potatoes. “I used my gift to memorize all of the titles of the books in the Gaynors' library. That always makes me hungry. Grab some chow and then I'll fill you in while we're eating. And before you say another word, I got the book. So let's relax and pretend that we're at a party, okay?”

“You're awesome,” Ella Mae said, feeling a thrill of relief mixed with excitement. “Now that I know you have the book, I'm suddenly starving.”

Minutes later, she sat across from Suzy with her own laden plate. Taking a bite of the beef tenderloin, Ella Mae gasped. “Wow, this Cognac sauce is good.”

Suzy speared a piece of turkey. “This has a delicious cider glaze. I'm loading up on the main course because there's no way the desserts are worth the calories. After all, you didn't make them.”

Ella Mae glanced at the dessert table. “I don't know. Those red velvet cupcakes and the warm chocolate bread pudding don't look too shabby. But I don't want to stick around long enough to sample either. I want to read that book. How did you get Loralyn to part with it?”

“I just asked to borrow a few volumes from her library. Specifically, I told her that I'd like to read books written by her relatives because I wanted to get to know her family better. It's the truth,” she added, loading her fork with mashed potatoes. “I'm very intrigued by both the LeFayes and the Gaynors. Talk about your colorful histories. No work of fiction could compare to a war dating back to Arthurian times.”

At that moment, Eira's dance partner entered the room. He paused, looked around, and left again. There was such misery in his glance that Ella Mae's eyes followed him as he strode from the room, his hands clenched.

Suzy noticed him too. “He must be really upset. And yet he was so happy a little while ago. Did you see the way he and that pretty blonde danced together?”

Ella Mae nodded. “I did, and though the man who just stormed out of here might have been having the time of his life, I don't think the blonde's husband was pleased.” She went on to share her observations of both Eira and Robert. “The man's a bully,” she said after she was finished. “I'm worried about Eira.”

“After we eat, I'll introduce myself to her. It sounds like she could use a friend or two, especially since she's joining our community.”

“She's not the only one who needs a friend.” Ella Mae explained her plan to open up Partridge Hill to the displaced Tennesseans.

Suzy smiled in approval. “Hey, I've got a spare bedroom. Count me in. Who knows? Maybe Eira's handsome dance partner has a brother.”

Once they were done eating, the two women didn't linger for long. Ella Mae couldn't find Eira and she was impatient to get home and spend the rest of the night reading
Lake Lore of the Americas
. Loralyn was on the dance floor when she and Suzy decided to leave, so they thanked Opal for her hospitality and drove back to Partridge Hill. The moment Ella Mae put the Jeep in park, Suzy handed her a thin book with a dark blue cover. “Call me tomorrow, okay? I'll be on tenterhooks waiting to hear about what you discover in these pages.”

Ella Mae gave Suzy a quick hug and promised to talk to her first thing in the morning. She then rushed inside, gave Chewy half a dozen kisses and twice as many treats, and changed into pajamas. She'd just hung her dress in the closet when the phone rang.

“Well, Cinderella. How was the ball?” Reba asked.

“I didn't meet a prince, but Suzy got the book we were after. And Reba, I learned some awful news about another grove.” She told Reba everything she'd learned at the party. “I need you to get in touch with my aunts tonight. I know it's late, but I'm calling an emergency meeting tomorrow. I'm done letting grief rule my life. It's time I stepped up and fulfilled my role as the Lady's voice. We'll visit my mother and then present the Elders with a course of action. Until then, here's my plan. I'm going to bring new life to the pie shop, free my mother, and take care of our people—both the new and the old.”

Reba gave a joyful holler that reverberated through Ella Mae's phone speaker. “Praise the Lord! My girl is back! I knew you'd rally. You always do.”

“Thanks for believing in me,” Ella Mae said and wished Reba good night.

It didn't take long for her to become engrossed in
Lake Lore of the Americas
. Rupert Gaynor wasn't a skilled wordsmith, but his subject matter was fascinating. She read about water spirits and sprites, devils and demons, and elementals. According to the tales, many of the water spirits were playful, fun-loving creatures. They were primarily nocturnal and avoided contact with humans, but there were instances in which they'd saved a drowning child by turning into a large turtle and carrying the child to shore.

Gaynor didn't waste much ink on these innocuous spirits, instead choosing to focus on demons and monsters. Ella Mae's eyes grew round as she read about horned water serpents. These mammoth snakes, which had thick scales and daggerlike teeth, lurked in lakes and rivers. According to legend, the horned serpents possessed powerful magic and could control the weather. Other monsters, like the water panther, were even more dangerous. A cross between a dragon and a cougar, the water panther lured men and women to the deep water and then proceeded to drown them.

“Okay, but what does this have to do with Lake Havenwood?” Ella Mae rubbed her eyes and sighed. It was getting late. The wind was whistling outside and Chewy was sound asleep at the foot of her bed, encouraging Ella Mae to snuggle under her comforter. She felt warm and drowsy and it was tempting to turn off the lamp and surrender to sleep, but she couldn't give in to the feeling.

Throwing aside the blankets, she moved to the window and stood there, uncomfortable in her thin cotton nightgown, and stared out into the dark garden. Even in the dead of night, it was easy to picture her mother moving among the plants, a pair of pruning shears in one hand and a basket in the other. Ella Mae could see her dressed in her favorite straw hat and waterproof clogs, murmuring to the flowers as bees and butterflies hovered above the magnificent blooms.

On impulse, Ella Mae threw open her window. Chewy raised his head and growled in alarm, but she whispered softly, telling him to go back to sleep. The cold air rushed into the room but Ella Mae ignored the discomfort it caused. Hugging herself, she closed her eyes and breathed deeply. All she could smell was wet grass and wood smoke. And then, she caught the faintest hint of roses. It was subtle, but the perfumed air served to drive the drowsiness away. Shutting the window, Ella Mae climbed back into bed and continued reading.

“Here it is!” she declared thirty minutes later and tried to slow her pace as she read Gaynor's introduction to Lake Havenwood. He didn't identify the lake by name, but Ella Mae knew it by the way he described its size, shape, and the island in its center. She knew it was the lake she'd dipped her feet into, swam in, and rowed boats on for most of her life.

“Listen to this, Chewy,” Ella Mae said to her snoring terrier. “Gaynor writes that this beautiful lake surrounded by blue green hills is quite unique. He says that it is a place of great power and greater peril. I don't like that second bit. He claims that a magical object resides at the bottom of the deepest part of the lake. This object is guarded by a fearsome . . .” She turned the page, eager to read the next sentence, and frowned. Flipping back to the previous page, she shook her head. “No, no, no. This can't be. The pages jump from one-twelve to one-seventeen. Someone's torn out two pages!”

Sliding the book under her lamp, she gently pressed the open pages as flat as they'd go and peered into the gutter. A pair of ridges was still embedded in the gauze glued to the spine, proof that two pages had been meticulously cut from the book.

“Damn it!” Ella Mae swore and Chewy groaned in his sleep as if in sympathy.

Fighting a wave of despair, Ella Mae kept reading, but whatever secrets Rupert Gaynor had been about to share concerning Lake Havenwood's enchanted object and its guardian were gone. In his concluding paragraph, however, Gaynor confirmed Ella Mae's theory that obtaining a Flower of Life was the key to freeing her mother and renewing the magical powers of her people.

“‘Seeds from the original Flower (as described in the Gilgamesh legend) were entrusted to a select group of water nymphs.'” Ella Mae read the words aloud, absorbing each and every one. “‘The seeds were planted in oceans and lakes across the world and were cared for by the nymphs. These lovely and lethal women were also tasked with helping or hindering those seeking the Flower. A Flower of Life was only given to the pure of heart during times of dire need and could be used to restore their health, magic, and vigor.'”

Closing the book and switching off the lamp, Ella Mae lay back against her pillows and gazed out at the night sky. She wondered what Gaynor had written about the dangers lurking beneath the surface of Lake Havenwood.

“I must find the Flower,” she whispered to the bright, high stars. “And figure out what monster I'll face when I do.” She reached down and stroked Chewy's fur. “I'd better work on purifying my heart, because all I want to do at this moment is strangle the person who cut out those two pages.”

• • •

The next morning, Ella Mae called Suzy from the pie shop to report her findings. Suzy gave a little shriek when she heard about the damage the book had suffered.

“All book vandals should be struck by lightning,” she said heatedly. “It sounds like someone took a straight edge to those pages. But why?”