Free Murder Under the Tree by Susan Bernhardt Page B

door. “Chelsey.”
    “Chelsey, did Les have a new girl friend?”
    She looked at me kind of strange-like and shrugged her shoulders.
    “At the tea, Lola said the trays were marked for specific tables?”
    “They were. We have numbers for all the tables in the dining room. Sheila put the numbers of the tables on the trays.” Chelsey looked over at the kitchen door again. “I need to get back to the kitchen.”
    “Here. I'm going to write down my name and phone number if you remember anything else about the tea.”
    “Les told me once that something funny was—”
    Just then, the same muscular woman came out of the kitchen again and looked between Chelsey and me. She called out Chelsey's name and went back into the kitchen. “That's Sheila. She mustn't be kept waiting,” Chelsey said, with a roll of her eyes as she hustled into the kitchen. I had the feeling this wasn't the friendliest place to work.
    A minute later, Nancy came into the dining room followed by Lola. Maybe Lola had told her I was asking questions about Les and she wanted to see if I was still here.
    Her look was direct. Her sharp eyes had a warning of “back off” written in them. Then they quickly changed. Had I imagined that? “Hello, Mrs. Driscoll. Can I help you?”
    “I heard Les' autopsy results. I was wondering which foods had the peanuts.”
    She looked down at her watch. “As I told you before, it wasn't our food. This isn't any of your business.”
    “I feel like I have a part in all of this since I tried to save the man.”
    “I'm expecting a new resident in my office soon. You'll have to excuse me. Please show yourself out.”
    She turned around and left the dining room. There was more to Nancy than met the eye.
    Before I left Hawthorne Hills, I stopped off at Dr. Lee's office to find out why the food that was on Les' table wasn't saved. His office was dark.
    * * * *
    On the way home, I stopped at Goodman's and stocked up on Christmas gift wrap and bought a couple boxes of Christmas cards. I bought a scarf, similar to what Will gave to Frances' mom. It was on sale and a real steal. I tried on a few sweaters but had a hard time choosing one. I kept wondering what Chelsey had been about to tell me. Then I went into the book department and found a set of CDs called Italian for Beginners . I paid for my purchases and hurried to the car.
    As I approached our house, I saw a moving truck in Ted's driveway. I knew I should go over to welcome the new neighbors, but Will would be going back tomorrow with Andy and Rose until they all returned on New Year's Eve for Phil's gig. I could welcome whomever they were some other day.
    When I walked into the kitchen, there was a pile of games on the counter. It looked like someone wanted to spend the afternoon playing board games. The Game of Living, Evidence, Chess, and Masterbrain.
    Glancing at each of the titles made me think of Les' murder. The Game of Living: Investigating Les' murder would lead to setbacks, delays, and randomness thrown in to make everything more difficult. Foresight and focus would play just as big a part as evidence in this case. Evidence: It was done in the dining room, with peanut products, by the director, the girlfriend, the mystery writer, a resident, the doctor, or someone else. Which one? Which one? Chess: The dark side and me. Think long term before taking steps. Adapt to changing situations. Give up smaller wins for larger milestones later. Tenacity. Masterbrain: trying to divine the true nature of the murder through reasoning and logic. A hidden answer which must be brought to light.
    We started with “Living” and then went on to “Evidence.” We played until it started to get dark. Then while Andrew, Rose and I prepared dinner, Phil and Will began a game of chess.
     

 
Chapter Seven
     
    Saturday, December 27
     
    Will, Andy, and Rose left after breakfast. I looked through the travel book on Italy. I'd need to get brochures, and lots of them. I took out the