4 Murder at Breakfast Page 13

  I stumbled to the bathroom, looked in the mirror. I have no idea why I, or anyone else, would do something like that the first thing in the morning. Other than that, my only mistake was wiping the sleep from my eyes before I looked. I was already awake enough to realize that I wasn’t about to encounter the fairest of them all. Not in my mirror. In less time than it takes to wash an unruly sheepdog I had emerged from the bathroom, not a new man, but one that had done all he could to see that he was next to Godliness.

  I stepped into my unmentionables and plopped down to spend a few minutes with God by reading my daily devotionals and spending a short time in prayer. I don’t spend as much time with God in the morning as Lou does, or at least as much as Lou did before he became such a frail individual. And since it requires no physical activity to spend time with God, I assume Lou still takes time to do a daily lesson, Bible reading, and spend time in prayer. Maybe that’s the reason Lou is smart enough never to wish ill on his next-door neighbor, or anyone else.

  I had given Sam a large number of people to check up on the day before, so I decided to give him another day before I called to see what information he had for me.

  I was ready to see what the day held for me, so I called Lou to tell him I was on my way. He had just emerged from the shower. Was this evidence that his frail body was slowing down? He apologized that he had to Wii a few extra minutes, which caused him to be later than usual, but he would be ready when I arrived.

  I opened the back door and almost stepped on a little white sack. I bent down to open the sack and had barely discovered that the sack contained two chocolate éclairs when claws came from nowhere and wrapped themselves around my wrists. Soon, an ugly face emerged, and then a body to match. I tried to push Heloise Humphert away, but she held on and we tumbled head over heels. When we finally came to a stop in my backyard, I was sitting on top of her and she was groaning. I was never more thankful for my circumference, but wished I had eaten the éclairs before we tumbled.

  She was still a little groggy from where her head hit the ground, so I took advantage of the situation, jumped up as quickly as I could without someone else’s assistance, and rushed back into the house and shut the door. I called Lou again to tell him I would be a little late, then headed off to wash up and change clothes. I was quick enough that I managed to emerge from the back door and rush to Lightning before the wicked witch got up from the ground. As I backed Lightning from my driveway, I made a mental note to install security mirrors near my front and back door.

  +++

  Lou was sitting on his front porch when I drove up. He popped up more quickly than I had ever seen him do. Maybe he was sneaking some food when he wasn’t around me. Maybe there was hope for my friend. He rushed to the car more quickly than usual, opened the door, and got in. The quizzical look on his face told me that he wanted to know what delayed me. I told him, knowing that he would laugh all the way to the Blue Moon.

  It wasn’t until we pulled up outside the diner that I realized Lou had not given me the clue of the day.

  “An oath.”

  “That’s it? That’s today’s clue?”

  “It’s the thought I had.”

  “Then it must be God’s clue for us today. Do you mean an oath as in using profanity, or an oath as in something you do before you give testimony?”

  Lou gave me the look he had given me so many times before, the “I only speak in tongues, I don’t interpret them” look.

  “I wonder if it means that this case will end up going to court. Most of the time, we get a confession out of someone. I don’t want to have to testify in court.”

  I spoke the truth. I didn’t want to have to testify under oath. What if they asked me questions to determine my character? I might end up telling them that one of my desires is to bop my next-door neighbor over the head with Lou’s Wii Fit board.

  I’d delayed breakfast long enough. It was time for us to eat, even if it meant only one of us would eat.

  +++

  I walked into the restaurant as romantically as I knew how, thankful that the early crowd had already left. I grabbed hold of the counter and pulled myself up onto my stool. I refrained from looking to see if you-know-who did it more easily.

  I looked around, didn’t see Rosie anywhere, but momentarily, the kitchen door swung open and there she was. She looked at me, and I raised and lowered my eyebrows, trying to maintain my sexy pose. And then I opened my mouth.

  “Hi ya, darling. How’d ya like a kiss?”

  Rosie turned to Lou and said, “I told you never to let him stop on the way over here.” Then she turned to me and said, “You got anything left in that bottle?”

  “What bottle? I said, ‘would ya like a kiss?’” I reached into my pocket and pulled out one of the tasty morsels that Rosie had given me the day before, and handed it to her.

  “That’s not a kiss. That’s a hug.”

  “Well, here. Have one of these. Is this one a kiss?”

  Rosie whipped around the counter, spun my stool around, plopped up on my lap without dumping both of us in the floor, wrapped her arms around me, and gave me a big smacker on the lips. Then, just as quickly, she rushed back around to the other side of the counter, and said, “Just wanted to let you know what you’ve been missing all these years. Now, may I take your order, please?”

  I sat there dumbfounded.

  Lou spoke up and said, “Give him a couple of minutes.”

  Rosie retreated to the kitchen. I started sniffing my armpits.

  “What are you doing?” Lou asked.

  “She’s the second woman who’s attacked me today. I just wanted to make sure I’m not using different deodorant.”

  “No, you smell. Just like usual.”

  “Watch your mouth, or I’ll give you the one I don’t want.”

  “You mean you want one of them?”

  “No, I mean I don’t know what I mean. I’m not used to being attacked twice so early in the morning.”

  “Or by Christmas. Cy, maybe if you order, you’ll be back to normal.”

  The thought of delicious delights removed from my mind whatever was there before. Rosie came back out, and I ordered bacon, sausage, four scrambled eggs with milk and cheese, biscuits with sausage gravy, and pancakes with maple syrup.

  “And for you?” Rosie asked, as she turned to Lou.

  “You mean after all that you still have something left?”

  “Yeah, you ordered the same way before you got sick.”

  Rosie turned to me and smiled. I gave her a high five. It stung my hand. Wow! This woman could kiss and run interference. Why didn’t she have a man?

  Two hours later I emerged from the Blue Moon a nourished man. Lou emerged, too. I’m not sure what he ordered, but I think he enjoyed both bites.

  +++

  A few minutes later we arrived at Parkway Arms. I sent Lou in first, not because he had more bounce to his step, but just in case Hazel Allnut might be hiding just inside ready to pounce on the first man through the door.

  We took the elevator to the second floor, wanting to check out Mrs. Higgins’ apartment to make sure everything was just as we left it. It was. So, after telling Lou what I had in mind, I sent him off to locate the linebacker. She was on her way to clean one of the other second floor apartments when he diverted her to Mrs. Higgins’ apartment.

  Lou opened the door, motioned for Margie Washburn to step in first.

  “Please have a seat, Mrs. Washburn.”

  “Why do you keep bothering us with questions?”

  “Mrs. Washburn, we will keep working on this case until we solve it. Now, can you tell me anything that will help us solve it sooner?”

  “No, Goodbye.”

  “Not so quick, Mrs. Washburn. I still have questions.”

  “But I don’t know anything about the murder.”

  “I’m not saying that you do, but you still might be able to tell us something that will help us solve it.”

  “I don’t
see how. I didn’t see Mrs. Higgins on Friday.”

  “What about breakfast, Mrs. Washburn. Did you see her then?”

  “Didn’t I already tell you I didn’t see her on Friday? The last time I saw her was on Thursday.”

  “What about any of the other residents? Did you see any of them on Friday morning?”

  “No, they were all gone before I came down for breakfast. I only saw those who work here.”

  “And were all five of you at breakfast?”

  “Yes.”

  “Was anyone late?”

  “We don’t have a set time to be there. We can come to breakfast as early as 8:15. But we can come later, just so long as we’re ready to start working at 9:00.”

  “Did anyone seem different to you on Friday, at breakfast, or at lunch?”

  “I didn’t pay no attention, so I guess everyone was about as usual.”

  “Okay, let’s go on to the work you did on Friday. Tell me about it.”

  “What’s to tell? We shampooed the hall carpet. I already told you that.”

  “Did you see anyone when you were vacuuming or shampooing?”

  “By anybody, does that include those who work here?”

  “It does.”

  “Well, before I started, Wally helped me move the furniture, then he went up to help Ginny move things on the third floor. And that afternoon he helped us move things back. And then Ginny was shampooing the top part of the back steps as I was doing the lower part of the front. See, she has a little more to do than I do, because there’s a floor above where the back steps are, but we were doing the steps at the same time.”

  “Mrs. Washburn, as I understand it, other than Mrs. Higgins, you are one of three people who have a key to her apartment; you, Mrs. Draper, and Mr. Gentry. Did you by any chance go into her apartment Friday morning, or see anyone else go in there?”

  “Do you remember the part where I said I didn’t see Mrs. Higgins? No, I didn’t see nobody go into her apartment.”

  “And what time were you around her apartment door?”

  “I started working on the second floor around 9:00, and it was a little before 1:00 when I finished.”

  “But you weren’t around her door all that time. At what times were you in the hall near this apartment?”

  “I can’t say for sure, but I’d guess around a little after 10:00 and a little after noon.”

  “Is it possible that someone could’ve knocked on Mrs. Higgins door or used a key to get in without your seeing them?”

  “Well, of course someone could’ve come to this apartment before 9:00, and later, too. Probably the only time I would’ve seen anyone was around 10:00 o’clock, and anywhere from 11:45 to 12:30 or so. Of course, those are just guesses.”

  “Okay, let’s change courses a little. What did you do that morning from the time you got up until you started to work?”

  “Well, I was in my apartment the whole time until I came to breakfast, ate breakfast with everyone, then went back to my apartment. I came out about a couple of minutes to nine.”

  “So you saw no one except at the breakfast table? What about from the time you finished shampooing until you ate lunch?”

  “I put away my equipment in the basement storage area, then went to my room for a few minutes. I didn’t see no one then, either. Not until I came out.”

  “One other question, and then we’ll be through. Would it have been possible for Ginny Adams to have stopped off on the second floor and gone into Mrs. Higgins apartment without your seeing her, while she was shampooing?”

  “Absolutely not. First of all, she doesn’t have a key. Second, she was in my sight most of the time, or at least within my hearing distance.”

  “But she could have left her machine running while she entered the apartment?”

  “If she’d done that, she’d have left footprints on the carpet, and there wasn’t time for her to shampoo over them. Besides, when I finished, I walked up the front steps and spoke to her, told her I was through. She couldn’t have gone in there, shampooed over her tracks, and put her equipment away, and gotten to lunch on time.”

  “So, you walked over the steps you’d cleaned to talk to her.”

  “Is there any training for your job? No, I walked up the front steps, the steps she cleaned. I cleaned the back steps. No one walked up them.”

  “Thank you for your time, Mrs. Washburn. I’ll let you get back to work, and I’ll let you know if we have any other questions for you.”

  +++

  “What do you think, Lou?”

  “I’d say the woman was killed before the maids came on the floor, so if one of them killed her, she had to do it earlier, and she would’ve had to have gone to Mrs. Higgins’ apartment to do it. None of the people who work here were around the breakfast table when Mrs. Higgins was. While the maids were around Mrs. Higgins’ apartment around lunchtime, I don’t think either of them had a chance to slip a tray into her room. I don’t see how anyone could have slipped into the murdered woman’s apartment before 4:00. I’m just surprised no one saw anyone do it.”

  “You’d think all that shampooing would make our job easier, but so far it hasn’t. And as far as I can tell, the woman was either poisoned in the dining room, on her way from the dining room, or sometime before the maids started to work at 9:00. In other words, I don’t see how we can eliminate any suspects. Still, we must trudge on. Go find the other maid.”

  21

  Lou ushered in the third floor maid. Like everyone else, she looked uncomfortable being questioned.

  “Have a seat, Miss Adams. I’d like to ask you a few more questions.”

  “I don’t see how anything I have to say can help you.”

  “Well, let me ask, anyway, and we’ll see if I think so after we’ve finished.”

  “Tell me again about Friday.”

  “What about Friday?”

  “Let’s start with Friday morning. Tell me what you did and who you saw.”

  “I shampooed the carpet on the third floor. I didn’t see anyone other than Wally and Margie.”

  “Let’s start earlier than that. What did you do when you got up?”

  “You mean other than murder the dead woman?”

  I laughed. “Yeah, other than that. Of course feel free to tell me how you murdered her.”

  “I used a corkscrew. It took a while. Made me late for breakfast.”

  I motioned for her to continue.

  “We’re not to be seen by the residents until after they’ve eaten breakfast and returned to their rooms. Don’t ask me why. I don’t know. So, Margie, Wally, and I pretty much hang out in our rooms, because the only doors that lead outside are within sight of the dining room.”

  “So, you arrived at breakfast late.”

  “I think I was the last, but just by a few seconds, judging from the food on everyone’s plate. Wally was just sitting down with his food, and Margie was still at the buffet when I got there.”

  “Did anyone seem out of sorts?”

  “You mean different in some way?”

  “Yes.”

  “No.”

  “So, you ate. Who left the table first?”

  “I’m not sure. I think Margaret, but I’m not sure. I think I was next to last. Since Martha has to wait to clean and wash the dishes, she’s always the last one to leave.”

  “So what did you do when you left the dining room?”

  “I went back to my room for a minute, and then up to the third floor to wait for Wally. See, on the day we shampoo the carpet, we have to move furniture, and Wally has to help us move it. He starts with Margie on the second floor, so I do some of my vacuuming while I wait on him, so I won’t be too far behind Margie. She usually finishes a few minutes before I do.”

  “And did she on Friday?”

  “She finished before I did on Friday. I don’t know how long before. My guess is about ten minutes, since most of the time she runs at ten minutes or so ahead of me, because Wally helps h
er first. Plus, she’s more experienced at this than I am.”

  “That’s fine Miss Adams. Let’s move on to something else. Did you see anyone before you ate lunch?”

  “I ran into Wally in the basement. He’d already come in and cleaned up for lunch, but after he did he ran down to the basement to check something. Neither of us were down there more than a couple of minutes.”

  “Speaking of Wally, everyone here is single, and he’s the only man. Does he have anything going with any of the women here?”

  “Well, first of all, Wally isn’t the only man. Russell’s a man too, and for his age he’s kind of cute. But no, Wally’s gone through a divorce, and he’s not interested in another relationship right now.”

  “How do you know? Did you try to get him interested in you?”

  “No, and no one else hit on him, either.”

  “Answer this for me, Miss Adams. Do you think that Mrs. Washburn would’ve been able to use her key to get into Mrs. Higgins apartment while she was vacuuming or shampooing the hall carpet.”

  “Could she? Of course. But did she? I seriously doubt it. Even if she did go in there, she wouldn’t have had time to murder the woman and sneak away. Remember, Lieutenant. I was always right above her, or just out of sight. Anyone in her place would’ve been afraid to sneak in and murder someone, when they knew that someone else was right nearby. My guess is that whoever did it, did it before 9:00 or after 4:00.”

  “But she died with her noon meal right in front of her.”

  “Well, then I wouldn’t have a clue who it could have been. Maybe she died of natural causes.”

  “Miss Adams, we know that she didn’t die of natural causes. So tell me, who do you think did it?”

  “I don’t know, but it had to have been someone she saw on Friday. Either someone did something to her while she was down at breakfast or someone went in through the front door before Margie started vacuuming or after the carpet dried. That means it was either someone with a key or someone she let in. But that doesn’t make sense either, because Mrs. Higgins would’ve screamed. I don’t see any way that someone could’ve gotten in there at lunchtime. I think you’re wrong there. ”