Part 16 (2/2)
”Do you still have them?”
She sighed and folded her hands in front of her. ”A few I think. I took most of them in Brookbend... a most unsettling experience.”
”And they didn't make you sick?”
”Certainly not! Why would Irene give me something that would make me sick? Frankly, they were most helpful. I wish I'd known about them earlier.”
”Do you think you might spare a couple? I think I ate something that disagreed with me last night. My stomach's giving me fits.”
”My goodness, Arminda, why didn't you say so? They're over there in my purse.... Let me see.... I'm sure I didn't take them all.” Mildred dug in her pocketbook and brought out a flat cardboard box. ”Here they are! Good, I thought so. You may have the rest.”
I thanked her and tucked the box into my pocket, then turned to find Gatlin holding up two fingers in a victory sign behind Mildred's back. Surely the medication was harmless if Mildred had continued taking it with no bad results. Also, the pills were the kind you punch out from a foil packet, and I didn't see how they could have contained anything like a strong narcotic, but it wouldn't hurt to have the remaining ones checked out.
”I don't guess Mildred knows about Otto's leaving his share of the shop to you?” I whispered as I helped Gatlin sort through boxes.
She shook her head. ”I'm letting Vesta take care of that. And we had talked about adding a tearoom, so that's no surprise. Also she'll be getting an annuity, so financially, she'll be okay.”
”From Vesta?”
”Well, yes, but as far as Mildred's concerned, Otto arranged it in his will.”
”I never knew Otto was so thoughtful,” I said.
My cousin laughed. ”Neither did Otto.” She stood and stretched. ”So what now?”
”About the bookshop or Mildred?”
”Neither, silly! What do we do about you? About somebody who obviously doesn't have your welfare at heart. It's all because of that pin you found when Otto died-I know it is! Somebody thinks you're getting a little too close, and they want you out of the way before you find out any more.”
”It's the quilt,” I said. ”I keep coming back to that old quilt.”
”Then let's find the d.a.m.n thing! What about that woman in Georgia? The one whose grandmother had it last?”
”Peggy O'Connor. She pretended she didn't know what I was talking about, but she was lying through her pearly whites.”
Gatlin thought about that. ”Then let me have a go at her. I'll set her straight.”
”But what if she's the one trying to stop me?” I said. ”Come to think of it, all the bad things started to happen after I paid her a visit.” But somehow I couldn't imagine the ladylike grandmother lurking in the underbrush until I biked past, or trussing me up like a turkey and dragging me across the floor... unless she had an accomplice.
I remembered a car like Peggy O'Connor's on Water Tower Road the day I was forced to jump from my bike, and, according to Gert, a visitor fitting her description had been nosing around Minerva Academy the day the framed alma mater came up missing. ”There's something peculiar about that woman,” I said.
”What can she do over the telephone?” Gatlin said, and held out her hand for the number.
I stood and watched while my cousin made the connection. What if Peggy O'Connor was was behind Otto's murder and all the rest? What if she was outside right now, looking in the window, waiting for just the right moment to strike again? ”She's probably gone to church,” I said. behind Otto's murder and all the rest? What if she was outside right now, looking in the window, waiting for just the right moment to strike again? ”She's probably gone to church,” I said.
But Gatlin waved me quiet. I listened while my cousin introduced herself in her ”sorority rush” voice, then explained why she was calling.
Her expression changed from tea party polite to an icy pre-attack calmness. ”I don't think you understand, Mrs. O'Connor. We have an urgent situation here, and we're appealing to you for help....”
Gatlin shook her head at me. The ”urgent situation” didn't look hopeful. ”I can understand why your grandmother didn't want to talk about the quilt, but it's only a bed covering-it isn't cursed! That was a long time ago, and now we need to put those secrets to rest....” Gatlin's voice could cut stone.
”I'm sorry you feel that way, but we know from Mamie Estes that Flora was the last one to have it. Can't you at least tell us where it is?”
When Gatlin held the phone away from her and stared at it as if it might explode in her hand, I knew our last hope had hung up. ”Still cranky from Halloween,” Gatlin said. ”Broomstick splinters up her a.s.s.”
I giggled, although our predicament wasn't a bit funny. Gatlin always could make me laugh at the most inappropriate times, like when old Mr. Scruggs used to get up to lead the singing at Sunday night church services, and Gatlin would grab her neck and cross her eyes. Poor Mr. Scruggs had a prominent Adam's apple and his eyes were a little off focus. Vesta got to where she finally quit making us go.
We were still laughing a few minutes later when David came in with the sandwiches, the two girls trailing behind him. He shoved books aside on the table for our lunch and pulled up a chair for Mildred.
”I'm hungry. Let's eat!” Faye grabbed for the food as her dad unfolded the sack and handed out the sandwiches, tucking a paper napkin in his younger daughter's dress. Gatlin poured milk and coffee from thermoses she'd brought from home.
”I'd like to contribute to the meal,” Mildred said, ”but I'm afraid my cupboard is bare. I haven't had a chance to go to the store yet.”
”We'll have to take care of that,” I told her. ”If you'll make up a list, we'll go right after lunch.”
Mildred nodded agreeably. She didn't know, of course, that my offer came with strings attached. I had a question for Mildred Parsons I didn't think she could dodge.
Lizzie dipped a french fry in ketchup. ”Did they find the person who tried to hurt you, Minda?”
”Not yet, honey, but I'm sure they'll find them soon,” I said, wis.h.i.+ng I could believe it.
”Hurt you? Why? When did this happen?” Mildred had started to take a bite of her sandwich and now held it in midair. ”Are you all right?”
”I'm fine except for a few b.u.mps on the head,” I a.s.sured her. ”Tell you about it later.”
”I wish they'd hurry and lock up the maniac who's doing this,” my cousin said later as she dropped me off to get my car. ”I'm afraid to turn my back on you!”
”Sounds like it was the same person who tried to flip me over the cliff,” I said. ”And Hugh Talbot was after something that day I found him checking out the window on the back porch.” I reminded her about the man's suspicious visit.
Gatlin pulled beside my car in the driveway of the Nut House and looked around as if she expected somebody to jump out at us from behind the nandina bush. ”Do you think Hugh might've killed Otto?”
”The police don't seem to think so. He's over at the academy almost every day, but he swears he wasn't there the night Otto was killed.”
”How about Wordy Gerty?” Gatlin turned to me, eyebrows raised.
”Come on, Gatlin-Wordy Gerty? She was at that Movies 'n' Munchies thing at the church. Even Mildred remembers seeing her there. Besides, how could the woman try to run herself down? Even Gert couldn't manage that.”
”Could've been Hugh...” Gatlin drummed on the steering wheel. ”I'm sure it has something to do with that old school.”
But Hugh had stepped in to save me from a nasty free fall. Hadn't he? And I didn't really think he'd try to run over his sister, no matter how badly she got on his nerves.
”It could've been just about anybody,” I said, digging my car keys from my purse. ”I think I'm going to live in a closet-one with thick walls and no windows. You can slip food under the door.”
”We're going to find that quilt, Minda,” Gatlin said. ”If that O'Connor woman thinks I've given up, she needs a refresher course in b.i.t.c.hing 101. I'm holding Vesta in reserve.”
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