Dying For Dinner Rolls Part 14

"It's us." Annie Mae straightened her s.h.i.+rt.

"Were you at camp?" Ina asked.

"I wish. I love s'mores," Annie Mae said.

"Ina, that's not important." I had to think of a different strategy to get answers from her. I pulled out a piece of paper and wrote "Tree problem with your neighbors, Bert and Lucy Valentine." I handed it to Ina.

She slipped her eyegla.s.ses on. She read the note and nodded. "Yes. We have a tree that borders both our properties, they claim it is more on their side, but I don't think so. Anyway, they had a plumber who said the roots were breaking their pipes, and he needed to cut them. I told Bert and Lucy that I wouldn't let them do it because my Gardner said that it'll kill the tree and make it fall over on my house. But their plumber went and did it anyway."

"I've heard that once the roots are damaged, it weakens the tree. It could cause it to die and then fall," Annie Mae added.

Ina nodded. "It was trouble, that's all I knew. They could not just go and do something that may affect me. It just wasn't right. And I told them so."

"Did you threaten them?" I asked. Even though, looking at frail Ina, I found it hard to believe anyone would be afraid of her.

Ina leaned toward us, hand behind her left ear. "Say what?"

"Threaten," Annie Mae spoke loudly and articulated every letter.

Ina adjusted her hearing aide. "Oh, that's better now. Say what you said again."

I repeated the question.

"Yes. I was going to call the zoning department on them. You know they used Hardie Board on their house? That is not allowed in the historic district. They should've never gotten away with that." Ina shook a bony finger in the air.

"So, you weren't going to harm her?" Annie Mae asked Ina.

"Armor?" Ina's face scrunched up.

"Harm her," Annie Mae said.

"Say what?" Ina said.

"Never mind. Thank you for your time." I began to walk away.

Ina called after us. "Oh, and I liked Lucy. I really did. She was a nice lady, but that snake of a husband used to have a lady friend over when she was not home. That is just not right. My hearing may be gone, but my eyesight is pretty good."

Annie Mae and I stopped in our tracks.

We turned around to face Ina.

"Were you home last week, the day Lucy died?" I asked.

Ina nodded. "Yes. And I think she had forgotten her key."

"Why do you think that?" Annie Mae said.

"My kitchen window looks into her backyard. Her kitchen is in the rear of her house like mine is." Ina trailed off. "A lot of houses around here are built that way. Nice and solid, too. Not like the new houses these days that look like they'll fall apart if the wind blows."

"And you saw Lucy the same night she died?" I offered, hoping to get Ina back on track.

"Oh, yes. She must have forgotten her key. I saw her climb in her kitchen window." Ina narrowed her eyes. "At least I think it was Lucy."

"You don't know for sure?" Annie Mae enunciated loud and clear.

"It was almost dusk, not too dark but still, for me, it was a little hard to see."

"You saw a female climbing in the window?" I asked. "Although, you're not sure who?"

"It looked like Lucy, but then again, it could have been someone else. I never thought about that." Ina pulled her sweater tighter around her.

It could be one hundred degrees, like today, and old ladies still wore sweaters. Like they had broken internal thermostats always set on cold. "Is there anything else you remember?" I asked.

"No. But a while later, there were police cars all around her house. Lots of commotion." Ina's gla.s.ses slipped down her nose.

The sound of a phone ringing came from inside the house.

"Your phone is ringing," I told her.

"I better get that," Ina said.

We said good-bye and left.

Annie Mae turned to me as we left Ina's house. "I think we can safely cross Ina off the suspect list."

"Agreed." I fobbed to unlock my SUV and climbed in the driver's seat.

"That lady is too fragile to smash a spider." Annie Mae sat down.

"What about Ina seeing someone climbing in Lucy's house the night she died?"

"Who was it?" Annie Mae buckled up.

"Bert?"

"No. He has a key."

"Right. And it couldn't have been Lucy. When she left to get the dinner rolls, I remember she had keys in her hand." I bit my bottom lip. "Then again, she could've gone in her backyard for some reason and accidentally locked herself out. So she had to climb through the window to get back in."

"Yes. But what if it wasn't her?" Annie Mae adjusted her s.h.i.+rt.

"Then?"

"That leaves the killer."

I locked eyes with Annie Mae. "Susie."

"So Susie climbed through the window, to do what? Kill Lucy?" Annie Mae tapped her fingers on the door. "She'd have to know that Lucy was there. Remember, Lucy was not supposed to be home. She had planned to be with us all night. Until she decided to go back for the rolls."

I twisted the ring around my thumb. "I know. I'm trying to understand why Susie was there. Maybe Susie lost her lipstick during an earlier clandestine visit with Bert. And she wanted to go back and get it before Lucy found it. And that night, Lucy surprised Susie, and Susie panicked and killed her."

Annie Mae looked deep in thought as her brows furrowed. "Hmm, possible."

"Maybe Lucy had already found it." I ran through some scenarios as I clenched and unclenched my hands around the steering wheel.

"What are you getting at?"

"I'm just thinking out loud." I turned on the air, folded my arms on the steering wheel, and put my head down.

"Are you okay?" Annie Mae's hand touched my back.

"One minute, I feel like we're close, then the next, we seem a million miles away." I sat up. "I'm trying to figure out what would've happened if Lucy found Susie's lipstick."

"So, you think Lucy chose her husband's mistress's lipstick to write the fake suicide note with?"

"Oh, right. Not likely."

"Here's another thought. Susie killed Lucy then wrote the note with her own pink lipstick, and-" Annie Mae stopped midsentence. "Now that I just heard that out loud, it sure doesn't sound like a smart move at all."

I shook my head. "No. It doesn't."

"Susie seemed pretty smart. After all, even with my great acting, she figured out that I didn't really trip." Annie Mae turned her hands over.

I rubbed my temples. "We can't rule out Susie just yet. Let's think about this. She could've panicked after she killed Lucy and wrote the note with her own lipstick by mistake."

"Yeah. Maybe Lucy had it in her purse after finding it. Maybe later, Lucy wanted to confront Bert about it. But she was killed before she had a chance to. And Susie just grabbed the lipstick from Lucy's purse, not realizing it was her very own."

"Maybe." I said. "How does Bert fit into this?"

My head spun. I felt like we were going in circles.

Annie Mae held a finger up. "On the other hand, maybe he was there. And helped Susie kill her."

"Or he did it himself."

"I wouldn't put it past that jerk. Like I've said before, if a wife dies unexpectedly, it's usually the husband who did it." Annie Mae clicked her seat belt on. "Where to?"

Suddenly I felt that I had to call Andrew and ask if he'd ever kill me. It's like a medical student who studies symptoms and diseases, and then he thinks he has each one. All this detective work started to make me think that I could get murdered next.

"Give me a second. I'm calling Andrew," I said to Annie Mae as I dialed one on my phone.

Annie Mae nodded.

Andrew picked up. "Hey, hon, are you okay?"

"Do you think Bert could've killed Lucy? Or for that matter, that any husband could kill his wife?" I blurted out.

"h.e.l.lo to you, too." Andrew laughed.

"So?"

A long sigh. "You're killing me."

"That's not an answer."

"I love you with all my heart. There's your answer. I would never harm you. I can't speak for other husbands and how they feel about their wives."

"Love you, too." I ended the call.

"So?" Annie Mae asked.

I shook my hand. "This whole sleuth thing is making me paranoid. I feel like I'm losing my mind."

"Then let's stop."

"Maybe we should. Where has this gotten us so far? Almost burnt like marshmallows. Chased out of a grocery store. Oh, and Bert threatened to put a restraining order on us."

"Stellar day, huh?"

"Stellar?"

"We did get a lot of attention from the dumpster thing." Annie Mae looked in the pa.s.senger visor's mirror. She patted her hair. "I kind of liked the celebrity status."

"I could do without it."

"You know, I think we're really a great team. Too bad Bezu is missing out."

"Maybe she's better off."

My phone sounded with a text. "Looks like Cynthia came through."

"What does it say?"

I read it out loud to Annie Mae. "Revlon. Super l.u.s.trous. Fuchsia Shock."

Chapter Sixteen.

We went to the local Walgreen's, bought the lipstick, and then we called Jose. He told us to meet him in the parking lot near the Forsyth Park tennis courts.

Annie Mae and I got there just after six in the evening. Jose pulled up in a white Explorer with the words Savannah Police Department on the side.