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

she’d
met at Lily’s. Yes, she could see that he might have been a recovering
alcoholic from his thin frame and deeply lined skin, but he’d also looked fit
and healthy.
    “That’s right.”
Tuck looked up at Edna. “She told me she hasn’t heard from him in all that
time, that she didn’t want to know anything about him unless he was sober. I
told her he hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol since the night of that near-fatal
accident five years ago last Christmas. She asked me how I knew, and I had to
confess that I’d run into him at Lily Beck’s last November. He’s been living
above her garage for the last six months.”
    Edna thought of
how gentle and friendly Clem had seemed, but didn’t interrupt Tuck to say she’d
met him at Lily’s, too.
    “Peppa asked me
why I hadn’t told her, and I said because he asked me not to. He wasn’t ready
to face her. I don’t know what he was waiting for, but I respected his wishes.
Peppa thinks I should have been loyal to her, not to Clem, so she hung up on
me. You know how stubborn she can be. Now she’s not speaking to me and I don’t
know what to do. Will you go see her and make her understand my side?”
    “Before I do
that, I need to know why you didn’t tell Peppa. I thought you two were the best
of friends. Why so loyal to Clem?”
    “Because he was
as much a friend as Peppa, at least at one time.” Tuck gave a deep sigh. “Clem
was a botany professor at the university. Nip hired him when we built our herb
garden off the kitchen patio,” Tuck said, speaking of her deceased husband.
“The two men hit it off so well, that’s when we started seeing Clem and Peppa
socially. So, you see, I really knew Clem before I met Peppa. She’s one of my
best and dearest of friends, but I also feel a great deal of loyalty to Clem,
particularly since he was trying so hard to reform.”
    Edna was
wondering what she ought to do when she heard the shower go on upstairs. “My
girls are getting up. Will you join us for breakfast. I need some time to
absorb what you’ve told me. Perhaps later we can discuss what I should do.”
    Tuck shook her
head and rose to her feet. “Thanks, Edna, but I can’t stay. I need to go see
about Rufus.” She paused, looking more baffled than usual. “Do you think the
police will let me near the house?”
    Edna followed
her friend to the hall, promising to talk to Peppa, if she could, but after
Tuck had gone, it was Lily who came to Edna’s mind.
    Has anyone
told her that her handyman is dead?

 
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 9
     
     
    “Who were you
talking to?” Starling said, entering the kitchen ten minutes later and looking
around the room as if expecting to see someone else.
    “Helen Tucker,”
Edna said abstractedly. “She left while you were in the shower.”
    Leaning back
against the edge of the kitchen sink, coffee mug in hand, Edna had been mulling
over Tuck’s news. Before she could explain further, Starling surprised her.
    “Was she here
about Peppa’s accident last night?”
    “How did you
know?”
    “I had a text
from Charlie on my phone this morning. He asked me to call him when I got up.
He told me Peppa might have killed her ex-husband. Isn’t that awful?” Starling
paused as she poured herself a cup of coffee and then looked over at Edna.
“Actually, it’s you he wants to talk to and as soon as possible, so I invited
him to join us for breakfast.” She looked anxious, as if Edna might object,
given the horrifying news of the morning. “You don’t mind, do you?”
    Knowing her
daughter conspired to spend as much time as she could with the police
detective, Edna nearly laughed at Starling’s transparency. “Of course not,” she
answered, although she knew a reply hadn’t been necessary. “What are you making
us for breakfast?”
    Starling choked
on her coffee, as if she’d swallowed a too-hot mouthful, and Edna did laugh
this time. She knew her daughter to be a willing and adequate cook, but since
her