Миранда Джеймс - Digging Up The Dirt

She wondered if she had done the right thing in mentioning Mrs. Turnipseed’s supposed disappearance. One person in this room might know exactly where the housekeeper was right now. Or be impatient to track her down, if she had indeed fled of her own accord. An’gel hoped it was the latter. That would mean the woman was still alive and unharmed.

“I still think it was an awful thing for your brother to do.” Barbie patted Hadley’s knee.

Reba fixed Barbie with a withering stare. “Hamish had a perfect right to dispose of his property any way he saw fit.”

An’gel was startled by Reba’s vehement statement. Had Reba nourished an unrequited passion for Hamish? That was an interesting thought. If she had been as attentive to Hamish over the years as she claimed, she might have hoped to become the second Mrs. Hamish Partridge.

Had she now set her sights on Hadley? An’gel regarded her friend surreptitiously but she couldn’t tell whether Reba was focused on Hadley or Barbie at the moment. She would have to be more observant.

“Yes, he did,” Hadley said. “The only thing he couldn’t dispose of as he wished was the house itself. By the terms of my father’s will, if Hamish predeceased me without children, Ashton Hall came to me.”

“As it should have,” Barbie said. “Your father was obviously determined to keep Ashton Hall in the family.”

“It’s a pity, though, you don’t have a child to leave it to.” Lottie held out her cup for more coffee.

“Sadly, no, I don’t,” Hadley said. “I will have to make other arrangements.”

An’gel heard the sadness behind his words, and she felt for him.

“You could always marry a woman with children,” Lottie said.

Hadley looked pained at the notion, An’gel could see, and she didn’t blame him. Lottie really was thoughtless sometimes.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Lottie,” Barbie said.

An’gel glanced at Reba and noticed an odd gleam in her eyes. An’gel had the strangest feeling, suddenly, that Reba wanted Ashton Hall for Martin.

Then she scolded herself for having such an absurd thought. Even if Reba somehow maneuvered Hadley into marriage, she doubted he would ever leave his family home to Martin Dalrymple. The house could fall down around Martin and he would never notice. Or care, An’gel suspected. Reba would have to be slightly deranged even to think such a plan could have any hope of success.

An’gel heard chimes that sounded like a cell phone. She knew it wasn’t hers. The phone continued to chime. Hadley stood and reached into his pants pocket and retrieved his phone. He glanced at the screen and frowned. He appeared to hesitate, then put the phone back in his pocket.

“Excuse me, ladies,” he said, “and gentleman. I’m sorry to have to do this, but an urgent task has come up that I need to take care of. I hate cutting our visit short, but I really have no choice.”

“We certainly understand,” An’gel said. She set her coffee cup on the tray. “These things happen. We’ll get out of your way, won’t we, girls?”

“Sure,” Barbie said. “Come on, Lottie.”

“Come along, Martin.” Reba stood and glared at them all. An’gel could tell she wasn’t happy about this turn of events.

An’gel wasn’t happy either. She was annoyed with the other women for showing up unannounced and interfering with her plans to talk to Hadley about the past. She was also annoyed with Hadley, because she suspected he had arranged this to get rid of them all. He had been gone long enough making coffee to have asked someone to text him with an urgent task .

The other women and Martin preceded An’gel out of the library and down the hall to the front door.

“An’gel, hang on a moment,” Hadley said in a low voice. “Can you stay behind until the others leave?”

An’gel nodded. She remained where she was while Hadley passed her to see the others out. Reba and Martin disappeared through the door. Barbie and Lottie were discussing something on the verandah, then An’gel heard Barbie call out Reba’s name. At that point Hadley shut the door and walked back to her.

Before he could speak, there was a massive crash of thunder, and the rain came pounding down. An’gel was glad she had thought to bring an umbrella with her.

“I hope they all made it into their cars before the rain started,” she said. “Though it would serve them right if they got wet.”

Hadley smiled. “For showing up unannounced, you mean.” He laughed when An’gel nodded. “You are wicked, An’gel, but that’s one of the reasons I adore you.”

An’gel felt uneasy at those words. Then she realized Hadley didn’t mean them as a declaration. “Why did you ask me to stay behind?”

“I wanted to apologize for not being able to talk this afternoon,” Hadley said. “With all of them here there was no way we could have a private conversation. And since something’s come up that I need to deal with, I’m afraid I can’t talk now that they’ve gone. I hope you understand.”

“Certainly,” An’gel said, though she still suspected that the situation he needed to deal with was manufactured to get rid of them all. “We do need to talk, though, and soon .”

“I promise we’ll have time to talk,” Hadley said as he escorted her to the door. “Perhaps tomorrow.” He opened the door and peered out. “I hate to send you out in this.”

An’gel looked outside. The rain seemed heavy, but the walk to her car was short, and she had an umbrella. “I’ll be fine. It’s only a short drive.”

“If you’re sure.” Hadley gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. As soon as she was out on the verandah, he shut the door behind her.

She grimaced at the closed door, then unfurled her umbrella. She managed to make it into the car without getting too damp, although the umbrella dripped on her. She sat in the car for a moment and watched the rain. The highway would be slick, but as she had said to Hadley, it was only a short drive.

She drove slowly, the windshield wipers on high, until she reached the end of the driveway. Visibility wasn’t great, but she couldn’t see any traffic on the highway. She turned onto it and drove toward home.

She was perhaps a hundred feet from the driveway to Riverhill when she felt an impact from behind, and her car went into a skid on the wet road.

CHAPTER 25

C oriander Simpson was dead .

For a moment Dickce couldn’t take it in. She realized she should have considered the possibility, but she was shocked nevertheless.

“I’m so sorry for your loss,” she said after a moment. “I had no idea.”

“Thank you.” Mrs. Simpson sighed. “So long ago, but sometimes it feels like just yesterday we got the news.” She kept stroking Peanut’s head, and he stared at her with his most soulful gaze. Dickce thought her hostess drew comfort from the dog’s presence.

“Do you mind if I ask what happened?” Dickce said.

“Not at all,” Mrs. Simpson replied. “I don’t rightly know the details, but I can tell what I do know.” She leaned forward in her chair and twisted her upper body so she could face the door. “Where is that child?” She raised her voice. “Monique, honey, where are you?”

“I’m coming,” Monique answered, evidently from the hallway, Dickce decided, because the words were pretty clear. A moment later Monique came into the room at a slow pace, her attention focused on the tall glass of iced tea she held. She walked up to Dickce. “This is for you, ma’am. I’m going back to get Great-granny’s tea.”

“Thank you, Monique,” Dickce said as she accepted the glass. She was grateful that Peanut remained by Mrs. Simpson’s side. She had feared he would, in his puppy-like enthusiasm, bound over to Monique and have tea and glass going everywhere.