Free Murder by Arrangement (Edna Davies mysteries Book 5) by Suzanne Young Page A

and was waiting for him to show up. She
wanted me to know what had happened, in case they put her in jail. Asked if I
could go over to her place and take care of Rufus.”
    An image of
Peppa’s large but gentle and loving Rottweiler popped into Edna head. “Will you
take him to your house?”
    Tuck took a sip
of coffee and thought for several seconds, frowning as if the idea hadn’t
occurred to her. Then, she nodded. “I will if Peppa’s not released today. He’ll
be all right in the backyard, but I’d hate to think of him all alone, waiting
for her to come home. Don’t you think that would be sad?”
    Time to get
Tuck back on track , Edna thought, more confused than ever. “You said she
ran over her ex-husband last night and found a body in her driveway this
morning. His body?”
    “Of course,”
Tuck said, as if it were plain as day. “That’s the problem. Because of how
bitter she’s always been, everyone’s going to think she ran him down on
purpose.”
    Edna thought
Tuck was probably right, but didn’t say anything as her friend continued.
    “Peppa said she
remembered the car bouncing over a snow mound when she turned into her driveway
last night. She’d been out to dinner with friends and got home late. You know
she always has a glass or two of wine with dinner,” Tuck added.
    Before she could
go off on Peppa’s drinking habits, Edna said, “There’s usually a pile of snow
in the gutter after the plows have been by. I bet she gunned the engine and
swerved into the driveway. She does that even in good weather.” Having followed
Peppa home on several occasions, Edna pictured Peppa’s erratic driving habits.
    “That’s what she
said. Not about her racing the car, but about thinking the snow had been left
by the street plows. I was supposed to pick her up for church this morning, so
she thought she’d get out early and clear it away before I got there.” Tuck
paused and set her cup back on the table. “She’s so thoughtful.”
    Edna ignored
Tuck’s last remark, so horrific was the image that popped into her head. “And
instead of a pile of snow, she found the body of her ex-husband?”
    Tears filled
Tuck’s eyes and she fumbled for a pocket before realizing there were none in
her stretch pants. Edna, having already noticed what Tuck was doing, pushed up
from the table and retrieved a box of tissue from beside the sink. Resuming her
seat, she laid the box where Tuck could reach it.
    Tuck nodded in
appreciation and, having had a minute to compose herself, pulled out a tissue
and dabbed away tears before speaking again. “Peppa said she didn’t realize who
it was. Just that she saw the body of a man, so she ran back into the house to
call nine-one-one. After talking to the dispatcher, she went back out to see if
he might be alive, but the police had told her not to touch him. He was lying
face down, so she didn’t see his face until after the police arrived. The fire
and rescue truck pulled up right behind them. They were the ones who turned him
over. She was already in shock over what she had done, but then the police
asked her if she could identify the guy. She had no idea until they asked her
to look at the body that it was Clem.” As if exhausted by the telling, Tuck sat
back in her chair and reached over to stroke Benjamin’s back.
    Edna thought
about what she’d just heard as she sipped her coffee, now almost cold. She
grimaced at the mug and put it aside before looking over at her friend. “You
said you knew Clem was in town, but Peppa didn’t?”
    Slumped in her
chair, Tuck looked utterly miserable. “When she told me it was Clem, she
sounded really and truly stunned. Five years ago, when Peppa kicked him out, he
moved to Springfield to live with his father and brother. She’d told him that
she wouldn’t have anything to do with him until he stopped drinking and
straightened himself up.”
    “Is that why
they divorced? He had a drinking problem?” Edna thought back to the man