Лейганн Доббс - A Whisker In The Dark

“Now, Flora, we’ve known each other for a long time,” Millie said soothingly. “And you know you can tell me the truth.”

“The truth? I always tell the truth.” But the way Flora couldn’t meet Millie’s eyes seemed to indicate that this was not the case. My stomach swooped. Had we been wrong about her?

“Maybe sometimes you tell a little white lie or omit things,” Millie persisted. “Like when you said you weren’t out digging earlier but then admitted later on to Josie that you were in fact out there.”

Flora scowled. “I never said I wasn’t out digging . I said I wouldn’t have the strength to bash someone over the head with a shovel. You people need to learn how to listen. Why don’t you ask your boyfriend if you want the truth.”

Millie blushed.

Mom snorted.

Flora smirked.

“But that’s not the only thing you were evasive about is it?” I asked.

Flora jerked her hand away from Millie and crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not a liar. I might have a bad memory though. What, exactly, are you talking about?”

“You lied about cleaning Arlene and Earl’s room. I saw you go in there and Ed saw you acting sneaky when you came out.” I didn’t mention the part about him thinking she was hiding something in her pocket and mumbling about a map. Stealing from a guest’s room was a harsh accusation and Ed hadn’t seemed completely certain. If Flora had taken something, I wanted to give her the chance to admit to it on her own. “And you lied about not having a shovel.”

“ And you lied about taking a vacation,” Mom said. “Annabel at the travel agency said that you were looking to go to the Caribbean.”

Flora looked at Mom like she was crazy. “The Caribbean? Where in tarnation did she ever get that idea?” She turned her gaze on me. “I don’t appreciate you calling me a liar, either. And that Ed is a tattletale.”

“Well then explain all this,” I said. “Why are you being so evasive about being near the pond? What were you doing at the travel agency? Why were you sneaking around Earl and Arlene’s room? And where is your shovel?”

Flora straightened on the couch, looking rather indignant. Her eyes drifted from me to Millie and then to my mother. Her mouth worked up and down. “I… I…”

Finally, she sighed and collapsed back into the couch. “Okay, maybe I told a little lie about one of these things.”

“So you were running from the pond the night Bob was killed?” I said.

“Sort of. Well, I was near there, but I didn’t kill Bob.” Flora looked contrite and picked at the feathers in the duster. “Let me explain.”

“Okay. That’s a relief. I knew you couldn’t kill anyone anyway.” Millie patted her hand.

“When I heard there was treasure, I figured why not try to dig it up too, so I went out there with the rest of them. I was following the family members around thinking they might have a lead on the location. That’s how I ended up on the path from the pond.”

Millie and Mom scooted to the edges of their seats. “So you were there before Bob was killed? Did you see him with someone or hear them arguing?”

“No, I didn’t see him at all. It was kind of dark and… well, I don’t see as good as I used to. For all I know, Bob was already dead when I went past.” Flora blanched. “Oh dear, I hope he wasn’t flopping around and I could’ve helped him. Truth was it was a little scary out there and I was rushing back toward the house.”

“You didn’t see anyone rushing away. No one in front of you?” Mom asked.

“No.” Flora still couldn’t meet our eyes. There was something she wasn’t telling us.

“But you must’ve seen something. Sheriff Chamberlain thinks you’re the killer so anything you know would be really helpful in your defense,” Millie said.

“I didn’t see anything, I swear. If you ask me it’s one of those family members. They were all arguing with Bob.”

“Yeah, we know that. But, Flora, think hard. You must have seen something,” I said.

“Nope.” She gazed out the window.

“Okay, what about your shovel? Where did you put that? Maybe if we can give the shovel to Seth he can do some testing on it to rule you out,” Millie suggested.

Flora gave her a funny look. “ Give it to Seth? He already has it. I’m surprised he still suspects me. Seems like he could have figured out my shovel isn’t the one that killed Bob. Then again, that boy always was a little slow on the uptake.”

“You already gave him the shovel? When?” I didn’t see how she could have possibly done that in between the time we saw Seth at the town celebration and now, especially since she’d been here cleaning the whole time and Seth hadn’t stopped by. But at the celebration Seth still suspected her, so he must not have had it yet.

“Give it to him? No. I saw him take it. I put it in the carriage house with the rest of the shovels. That’s where you said you wanted people to put them.”

My brows knit together. “You did? But Sheriff Chamberlain only found six shovels, one for each of the Biddefords, besides Bob. His shovel was at the murder scene.”

Mom jumped out of her chair. “Seth just assumed all those belonged to the Biddefords, but if one of the shovels was Flora’s then that means one of the Biddefords’ shovels is missing. My guess is that is the murder weapon!”

“Which means that Flora is cleared because Seth himself said none of those shovels were the murder weapon,” Millie said.

“And that also means that one of the Biddefords really is the killer,” I said. Or could it still be Annabel? But if it was her, why would one of the Biddefords’ shovels be missing?

“But which one?” Mom asked.

“I hate to say it, but Doris said she’d do anything to get the company back on track and she also lied about them all being together that night,” I said.

“Bob argued with Carla but she seems to have an alibi,” Mom said.

“Paula also argued with Bob,” Millie pointed out. “And Paula has been trying to frame quite a few people. Flora and then Myron with the shoes. Maybe she’s the real killer.”

“I heard someone else argue with Bob,” Flora said.

We swiveled our heads in her direction. “Who?”

“Earl,” she said.

“What did they argue about?” I asked.

“It’s not like I was trying to eavesdrop. You were out shopping and I was cleaning the hallway when Bob burst into Earl’s room. They had a little bit of a tiff. I couldn’t hear too good but it sounded like something about a secret book and rubble. I figured the rubble had to do with digging, that’s why I…”

Flora’s voice trailed off and she got more fidgety with the feather duster and glanced around the room.

“You what?” I prompted.

“Okay, okay! I’ll admit it. I was lying about one thing. I didn’t clean Earl and Arlene’s room that day, but I was in there.”

“What were you doing?” Millie asked.

Flora glanced around to make sure no one else was about, then continued, “When I heard the argument about the secret book I assumed it was something about a treasure map. You know, maybe an old family book or something? I figured it wouldn’t do any harm to go in there and while I was cleaning maybe I could find this book.” Flora glanced out the window. “But when I went in it was pretty obvious where the treasure map was.”

“Wait, there really is a map?” I could practically see my mom thinking about rushing home to get a shovel. News of the map plus Millie’s coffee had sobered her up.

“Well, there was . Problem is Earl had burned most of it in the fireplace in his room. I could make out nothing but a few lines of longitude and latitude.” Flora’s expression turned sheepish. “I lied because I didn’t want you to think I stole from the room.”