Free A Body in the Backyard by Elizabeth Spann Craig

from the grocery store. There were lots of things she needed to buy for that reception and she wasn’t going to be able to carry more than one bag and her cane at the same time.
    “You can ask me all about it on the way to the grocery store and back,” said Myrtle.
    Red relaxed. “Oh, you just need to go to the store?  No problem. I thought you were going to ask me to mow that grass of yours and I’ve got too much to do with this case.” Myrtle reached for her cane and her pocketbook while Red looked out her window at the grass, which threatened to obliterate the gnomes from view. “What on earth happened to Dusty?  He’s not usually so slack.”
    “He won some kind of trip to the beach and he and Puddin have taken off for a few days,” grumbled Myrtle as they headed out her front door, locking it carefully behind them. “It’s too bad, but there’s no way around it.” She paused and then said, “What did you need to ask me about?”
    “The day of the murder, did you notice a woman hanging around our street?” asked Red. They walked across the street to his driveway and he held open the front door of the police car for her.
    Myrtle frowned. “Well, sure I did. Erma, for one. She’s always lurking around hoping to ambush me and tell me all about her latest fungal infection or something equally revolting. Elaine was hanging out in your front yard, pushing Jack in the toddler swing. Old Franny Parsons staggered to her mailbox and back about a million times. I guess she was trying to see if her pension check had arrived. And….”
    Red started up the car and backed it out into the street. “I mean, did you see a woman hanging around our street that you wouldn’t ordinarily expect to see.”
    “Like…of what description, Red?  I can’t immediately think of someone, no.” It irritated her to think that she’d let some sort of major clue slip by her.
    “Well, from what I hear, she’d have been very thin. Rough looking. Wild black hair,” recited Red.
    “Nicotine-stained hands and missing teeth?” asked Myrtle quickly.
    Red nodded, glancing intently her way as he headed toward downtown. “That’s the one. So you saw her?  What time did you see her?”
    “No, I didn’t see her,” said Myrtle quite truthfully. She just happened to know whom he was referring to, that was all.
    “Then how could you describe her if you didn’t see her?” asked Red through gritted teeth.
    “Just a guess, that’s all. I used my imagination and hit the nail on the head,” said Myrtle, not as truthfully this time. She knew this was a description of Wanda, the psychic who lived in a shack on the way out of town. What on earth Wanda would have been doing on their street, she had no idea, but it was too coincidental not to have something to do with the murder. As soon as she could catch a ride from Miles, she’d be out there getting the full story from her.
    Red looked suspicious. “I don’t recall your being particularly fanciful before, Mama. Are you sure you don’t know anything about this woman?”
    “Not a bit.” Mercifully, they were parking outside the store now and Red was helping her out the door. She got a cart and they went inside.
    Myrtle walked over to the dairy counter and piled cheese into her cart. Red blinked at her. “Mama, why are you buying all this cheese?  You won’t be able to eat it all before it goes bad.”
    “I’m hosting a reception after Charles Clayborne’s funeral,” said Myrtle. “Remember? To be a good friend to Miles, you know. Since it’s his cousin’s funeral and the service is here in Bradley and since Miles doesn’t want to host anything or really even claim the man as kin.” She moved her cart to a center aisle and pulled out a few boxes of gelatin in different colors.
    Myrtle glanced at Red. “Why are you making a face like that?”
    “This is the food you’re serving at the funeral reception?  Cheese and gelatin?” he asked.
    “Well, not together! But,