"She didn"t seem sick or anything, did she?" I asked. "Mildred seems to have come down with something, and we aren"t sure if it"s a virus or something she ate."
Willene laughed. "I didn"t see her turning down a second piece of lemon chess pie. Seemed fine when she left here."
Edna Smith sounded hearty enough, as well. "I can"t imagine what it could be," she said when I phoned her about Mildred. "I ate the same things she did, and we only had light refreshments at UMW. Sounds like she"s picked up a nasty germ somewhere. Tell you what-Hank left early this morning to go hunting, but I"m looking for him any minute. Soon as he gets back, I"ll send him over to take a look."
"He isn"t going to find anything," Mildred said when I told her. "Whatever stuff was in me is gone now."
Gatlin brought ginger ale and soda crackers and persuaded Mildred to take some liquid. "What makes you think somebody put something in your drink, Mildred? It could be a virus, you know."
"Then why am I the only one who got sick? And it made me feel like a zombie, like I"d been given some kind of drug. Remember when I had that gall bladder operation? It was like that. Felt just like I did when I came to-only worse!"
"But why?" I smiled. "You don"t have a stash of priceless gems somewhere, do you? What would they want?"
She bit into a cracker. "There are things that might be worth more than that to certain people."
"Like what?" Gatlin asked. But Mildred wasn"t talking.
"I have to pick up Faye from a birthday party, and Lizzie will come home from Scouts at any minute," Gatlin said, glancing at her watch. I nodded in reply to her questioning look. Now that we were reasonably sure Mildred wasn"t going to bow out on us, I felt capable enough to stay until Hank Smith could get there.
The ginger ale and crackers seemed to have revived her some, for now Mildred began to fuss about her appearance. "I want to wash my face, brush my teeth...andfor heaven"s sake, let me change out of this gown." She clasped a small, age-speckled hand to her bony chest as if to cover it. "Why, Hank Smith could see everything I"ve got!"
It was a family joke that Mildred pinned handkerchiefs to the underside of her clothing so that no one would suspect she had a crease in that area. I could have told her she might save herself the trouble.
Gatlin stood, arms folded, in front of her. "Consider it done," she said, but I could tell by her voice something was up. It was. "But first," my cousin continued, "you"ll have to answer a question-just one!" She held upa warning finger to Mildred"s silent protest. "And you have to promise to tell the truth."
"For goodness" sake, have you no shame? Bullying an old woman, and as sick as I am, too!...Oh, goon, then. What is it you want?" Apparently Mildred could see she was on the losing end of this one.
"Why didn"t you tell us Otto had a girlfriend?" Gatlin asked.
"There was nothing to that." Mildred should never play poker. It was clear she was holding something back.
"That"s not what I heard," I told her. "And what would it matter if he did? Otto was a grown man. He had a right to some kind of love life."
"Maybe so, but there are those who might not agree with you."
"Mildred, we know he was seeing Sylvie Smith. Why are you being so mysterious?" Gatlin looked around for her bag as a prelude to leaving.
"I got the idea her parents disapproved," she said. "Our Otto wasn"t good enough for their precious Sylvia."
"What makes you think that?" Gatlin asked.
"You mean other than the fact that Edna told me she thought Sylvie was making a big mistake to put off going back to London?" Mildred looked almost as upset as she did that time I actually dried my hands on her freshly ironed guest towel.
"That doesn"t mean she disapproved of Otto." Gatlin kissed our patient on the cheek and started out the door. "You behave now, and do as Minda says or I"ll come back and bite you. I"ll be home soon if you need me."
The last was directed to me, but I hoped I wouldn"t have to take advantage of it.
"Was Otto still seeing Sylvie when he died?" I asked as I brushed Mildred"s thinning hair. She seemed stronger now, but I was afraid she might be too weak to walk down the hall to the bathroom, so we had done the best we could with a washrag and a basin of water.
"Hard to say, since he never brought her here." Mildred fastened the top b.u.t.ton of her clean flannel gown, gave it a final pat, and held out her arms for her robe. "He had something on his mind, though. I kind a thought it might"ve had something to do with that woman, but Otto didn"t talk to me about things like that."
"Maybe they had a quarrel or something," I said. "Her mother would know, wouldn"t she? Did Edna ever mention it?"
"She was probably the cause of it." Mildred made a face.
"Now, don"t get me wrong... I"ve always liked Edna Smith. She"s been a good friend to me, but I know for a fact Otto wasn"t welcome in their home, and I can"t help but hold that against her."
I laid the hairbrush aside. "How do you know?"
"Oh, just things he let slip-like once Sylvie had wanted to try her hand at cooking, have him over for dinner, but Edna decided to have the kitchen painted. And another time I think they had houseguests-relatives from out of town- and Otto said he felt like an intruder."
It sounded to me like Otto needed to lighten up, but it was a little late for that. "I don"t remember seeing Sylvie at the funeral," I said.
"That"s because she wasn"t there. Doesn"t that make you curious, Arminda? Even if they weren"t on the best of terms when he died, you"d think she"d at least pay her respects."
"Maybe she was too broken up, couldn"t handle it.
" Her look told me what she thought of that. "If I live to see another day, I intend to find that out. And how do we know Sylvia Smith didn"t have something to do with the way Otto died? I wouldn"t be surprised!"
"Mildred! You can"t be serious. She and Otto might have come to a parting of the ways, but it didn"t have to be terminal." Whatever bug had taken hold of Mildred had surely scrambled her brain, I thought. Before I could ask how she meant to go about investigating, the doorbell rang, and I hurried to admit Hank Smith, Sylvie"s father.
"She seems some better," I whispered as we stood in the hallway, "but don"t be surprised at what she might say. Mildred seems convinced somebody drugged her coffee at the UMW last night."
Hank Smith shook his head and smiled. "I don"t suppose she gave you a reason?"
"Says they were after something," I said. "And she did sleep through most of the day. Whatever she had just about wiped her out, especially after losing Otto the way we did."
He gave my shoulder a sympathetic pat. "Given Mildred"s age and emotional status, an illness of this sort might sometimes bring about delusions."
But I wasn"t having delusions a few minutes later when, to give Mildred a little privacy with our family doctor, I unlocked the connecting door to the bookshop and found the room looking like somebody had picked it up and shaken it.
Chapter Eight.
Looks like a stampede of elephants came through here,"the young policeman said, running a hand through unruly brown hair. He reminded me of Paddington Bear with his bright yellow slicker and rounded tummy. I later learned his name was Rusty Echols and he was Chief Mc Bride"s nephew. Nepotism has never been a problem in Angel Heights. They just ignore it.
The lock to the front door had been forced, the chief told us later-although, according to him, a five-year-old could"ve done it. And as for fingerprints, the shop was covered in those of every book-lover in town.
On discovering the break-in, my first instinct had been to gather the books that littered the floor like scattered building blocks and put them back where they belonged before Mildred could see them. Thank goodness my few commonsense brain cells banded together to remind me this was not a good thing. Not only would I be destroying evidence, but I also had no idea where anything went. We didn"t even tell Mildred what had happened until after Hank Smith shipped her off to County General for an overnight stay-just in case, he said.
"I told you somebody slipped me a Mickey," she reminded us later from her hospital bed. "Wanted me out of the way so they could search Papa"s Armchair."
"Search for what, Mildred?" my grandmother asked. "If you"ll tell us what you think they"re looking for, we"ll put it in a safe place."
"Don"t you worry, it is in a safe place. I"ve taken care of that." In her white hospital bed, Mildred looked like a washed-out rag doll in need of stuffing. Beside her, Vesta, although close in age, seemed almost robust except for the worry in her eyes and the weariness in her face.
Vesta stood, drawing herself up to her full five feet ten inches, and gave Mildred a heaping taste of her frustration and displeasure. "Mildred Parsons, need I remind you how Otto died? And he was probably killed for a reason-by somebody right here in this town. Do you think they would hesitate to do the same to you?"
Mildred looked back defiantly-or as defiantly as she could in her position. "But they didn"t. Else I"d be dead now, wouldn"t I? Well, I"m not, I"m here...and that young doctor who was in here earlier said I could go home tomorrow."
"Home to where?" I said. "You certainly don"t expect to go back to those rooms behind the store."
"And why not? It"s a lot safer there than at the UMW!" Mildred sat up to sip water, then lay down with a sigh. "I like where I live. It"s close to everything, and the bookshop"s right there with nothing but a door between us. I can just walk right in."
"Obviously so can anyone else," Vesta reminded her. "You"re coming home with me."
"Or me," I offered. "After all, there"s plenty of room, and I"m the only one there." Well...almost. Well...almost.
"I"ve been thinking it might be a good time to go and see Lydia," Mildred said. "She"s moved into her own place now, and she"s been after me to visit since she left here."
Lydia Bowen and Mildred had been like salt and pepper since Mildred first came to Angel Heights, and when Mildred wasn"t taking care of Otto and the rest of us-and Lydia wasn"t clerking at the Dresses Divine Boutique-you seldom saw one without the other. Vesta had once confided to me that she didn"t know how the local Methodists knew to put one foot in front of the other until Mildred and Lydia showed them how. But soon after Lydia"s husband died, a year or so ago, her older sister fell ill, and she moved back to Columbia to be near her.
"That"s a wonderful idea," Vesta said with obvious relief in her voice. I wasn"t sure if it was because Mildred would be in less danger or that she wouldn"t be staying with her. "I know how you"ve missed her, and Lydia must be lonely.... I"ll phone her tonight, and one of us can drive you over in a few days when you"re stronger."
"That"s kind of you, Vesta, but I can take care of it myself-only it"ll have to wait until tomorrow. Right now I need to sleep." Mildred gathered the sheet to her chin and closed her eyes.
I volunteered to stay the night. Since we weren"t sure what Mildred had ingested, Dr. Hank, as well as the rest of us, was concerned about a possible delayed reaction. But our patient slept the whole time except for when she was awakened periodically by nurses. Gatlin dropped by for a couple of hours after she got her family settled for the night, and in a nearby waiting room we hunkered on green plastic chairs and whispered, trying to distance ourselves from other vigil keepers who slept restlessly or thumbed through magazines. November wind blew gusts of rain across the lamplit parking lot below, where rows of wet vehicles shone in a one-color world.
"Looks like Mildred might not have been so paranoid after all," Gatlin admitted, moving a stack of dog-eared newspapers to make room for me beside her. "But where on earth did she get it?"
"She said she had only coffee and cereal for breakfast yesterday," I said, "then nothing until Edna Smith brought her supper. If Edna meant to poison her, you"d think she"d be more discreet."
"Minda, you don"t suppose she did it to herself? Otto was Mildred"s life. Maybe she didn"t feel like going on without him."
"I don"t think so-at least I hope not. She"s mad as h.e.l.l, though. I can"t see her even considering dying until she finds out who killed Otto and then yanks out his nose hairs one by one before throwing him to the alligators."
A man lying on the one sofa made an issue of turning over and resettling his raincoat about his shoulders, so I lowered my voice. "Or her her nose hairs. Mildred seems to think Sylvie might have become disenchanted with our Otto." nose hairs. Mildred seems to think Sylvie might have become disenchanted with our Otto."
"Do tell," my cousin said.
I knew better than to meet her eyes. "Give me a break, Gatlin. Don"t make me start to laugh.... They"ll throw us out of here."
"Sorry. It was just the idea of anyone being enchanted with Otto in the first place." She shifted in her chair and sighed. "So, was Sylvie at the UMW thing last night?"
"Mildred didn"t mention her, and anyway, why would Sylvie want to tear apart the bookshop? What could she be looking for?"
"I can"t imagine, unless Otto had a rare volume that"s worth a lot of money and told Sylvie about it. She collects things like that, I hear."
"The Smiths aren"t hurting for money," I said. "Sylvia could probably afford to buy it for herself."
"Depends." My cousin yawned. "Vesta says they"re having what"s left of the shortbread a.n.a.lyzed just to be sure. Poor Janice Palmer! She"ll have to find some new recipes now."
"They ate all the soup and corn bread, and Hank says he finished off the rest," I said.
"How convenient," Gatlin said.
"Oh, get real! We"ve known them forever. Dr. Hank sewed up my knee when I fell off my bike and set my arm that time the rope swing broke."
"And nursed me through a nasty flu and about a million throat infections. I know. I don"t even like to think it, but somebody wanted Mildred out of the way last night, and they didn"t care how they went about it."
"If what Mildred says is true, they didn"t find what they were looking for. But she claims it"s somewhere safe."
Gatlin frowned. "And what and where would that be?"
I shrugged. "Beats me. She"s not telling."
We looked in on Mildred to see if she was breathing, and I tucked the covers around her; then Gatlin walked with me to the snack machine, where I bought my supper-a pack of crackers and a cup of disgusting coffee. "By the way, Irene Bradshaw says her mother was one of the Mystic Six," I told her. "She says she remembers the quilt they made but doesn"t know where it is."
"Aunt Pauline. I think I remember her. Does Irene know who the other four were?" Gatlin bought a candy bar and pressed it into my hand. "Dessert," she said.
I thanked her and stuck it in my purse. "The other three," I said. "Annie Rose was a member, too." But I didn"t tell her how I knew, or that my guardian angel had pointed it out to me. The psychiatric ward was right around the corner.
Mildred seemed much better the next morning, so after I helped her with breakfast and brought the morning paper, I left her in the charge of the nurse with the soap-and-water brigade. The doctor who had admitted her was due to make his rounds before noon, at which time we expected him to discharge her, and Vesta planned to shanghai Mildred to her place for a couple of days, until she felt like traveling.
Augusta seemed not to have noticed I"d been gone, as she didn"t look up when I let myself in by the kitchen door that morning. She sat at the table with a mug of steaming coffee and a stack of cookbooks in front of her, and now and again she"d murmur and smile, then make a note in her ever-present scribble pad.
"Coffee"s still hot," she said without turning around. "And I expect you could use some breakfast, too. That hospital food hasn"t improved a lot since Florence Nightingale walked the corridors with a lamp. You haven"t eaten, have you?"
"No, but right now I"d rather sleep," I said, and did. I didn"t even bother to ask how she knew where I"d been.
I woke to the aroma of something that hollered Eat me! Eat me!, and I could guess by the smell that whatever it was had more calories than I wanted to know about. Augusta was at it again.
Surely there"s no dieting in Heaven, I thought. If there were, it wouldn"t be Heaven.
A fan of thin, fragile pastries under a snow of confectioner"s sugar on Vesta"s rose crystal platter beckoned from the center of the old library table. I broke off a crisp, golden finger of one and let it dissolve in nutty sweetness on my tongue.
"Are we having a party?" I asked, reaching for another.
Augusta stood by the window making a great to do with a whispering of leaves and the graceful dance like arcing of her arms. When she stepped aside I saw that she had turned my great-grandmother"s big wooden bread bowl into an autumn work of art. Ears of dried corn, winter squash, cotton bolls, and nuts rested in a jaunty nest of red and gold from sweet gum, hickory, and maple. Now she studied it for a minute, shifted it about half an inch on the window seat, and turned her attention to me. "Sleep well? I hope you"re rested."
I nodded, licking sugar from my fingers. "Mmm...what is this?"
"Some recipe I found in one of your old family cookbooks. Like it? It really was quite a nuisance to make." Augusta smiled at me like a child with a secret and swept into the next room to settle by the fireside, her skirt spread in a celestial circle around her. Today she wore a simple gown that seemed to have been woven into a swirl of cosmic colors in plum, rose, and the green of an ancient forest.
"Okay, what is it?" I asked, going along with her game.
"Nondescripts." She looked up at me from her seat on the ottoman, and a tawny gold strand of hair fell across her face. For some reason, it made me smile.
"Whose was it? Where did you find it?"
"In one of those recipe books. It was from some kind of woman"s club, I think. Daisy Delights Daisy Delights, it was called. I believe Daisy was the name of the club."
"But whose recipe whose recipe?" Angel or not, I was ready to shake her.