Death in the Garden Read online

  “Sometime in the middle of the night, or maybe early this morning, or maybe it was last night. I don’t think the police know yet.”

  He laid the sandwich on his plate. “You’re talking awfully fast. What happened? How do you know she’s dead?”

  “Where were you? I called you and left a message,” she said, suddenly remembering her phone call.

  “My phone died. It’s on the charger now. What’s going on Amelia? What happened?”

  She took a deep breath. “When Joanne and I went out to the community gardens, we found Patty Manning dead. On the ground. The officer said she’d been hit in the head with a gardening hoe.”

  “Who is Joanne?” he asked, looking confused.

  “My new friend. I met a friend at the book club. Can you believe it? I have a friend!”

  He chuckled and picked up the sandwich again. “It’s like first grade all over again, isn’t it?” Walter and Amelia had been married thirty-six years, and the two were best friends. Over the years Amelia had watched as friends and relatives divorced and remarried and she still marveled that she had been so blessed to have married who she considered the perfect man. Perfect for her, anyway.

  “Oh you,” she said, slapping his hand. “We went down to water my plants before going to get a coffee, and we found Patty’s body.”

  “I’m sorry you had to see that. So, she’s dead?” He took a bite of his sandwich.

  She sighed, then nodded. “Yes, she’s dead. It was quite shocking if you want to know the truth.”

  “I’m sure it was,” he said, nodding. “Who showed up when you called the police?”

  “An Officer Stevens had an Officer Ramirez. That officer Ramirez seemed suspicious of Joanne and me. Can you believe it? As if he thought we might have had something to do with her death.”

  He chuckled and put the sandwich back on the plate. “He’s a rookie. Kind of a smart alec, and I don’t care for him myself. I never cared for any of those new guys that showed up thinking they knew it all from day one. And believe me, he thought he knew it all. Seems like he should have mellowed over the past couple of years, but some of them never do.”

  She nodded. “That’s exactly what it felt like. Like he knew everything. I’m just glad he wasn’t jumpy and didn’t shoot at us when he saw us there.”

  He chuckled again. “You’re lucky he didn’t. I wonder who killed Patty? I don’t think anybody liked her, so I think they're going to have their work cut out for them trying to find her killer.”

  “You can say that again. That’s exactly what Joanne told the police officer. And he seemed to think that that indicated she may have killed her.” She shrugged. “That’s ridiculous.”

  “Don’t worry about it. He’s a rookie trying to prove himself. I’m sure he’ll move on once he finds someone that seems a little more likely to have committed the murder.” He picked up the sandwich and took another bite.

  She eyed the sandwich. “What kind of sandwich is that?”

  When he’d swallowed, he looked at her. “Salami, pastrami, and ham. Would you like one?”

  She wrinkled her nose, shaking her head. “No, that sounds like heartburn between two slices of bread.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. This sandwich is a masterpiece. I even put a bunch of those little pepperoncini peppers on it to spice it up.”

  “Spice it up? I can’t imagine it needed that.” She stood up and took her sweater off and hung it on the hall tree. “I don’t know who would kill Patty. Like you said, there are a lot of people that probably won’t mind that she’s gone, but somebody had to have an especially good reason to do it. I mean, can you imagine it? Beating someone to death?” She shuddered. “A terrible thing.”

  “This sandwich is tasty. You don’t know what you’re missing,” he said and took another bite. Amelia could hear the crunch of the crisp lettuce leaves on it. She glanced at the clock, it was only 11:00 a.m. and too early for lunch.

  “Joanne and I never did get to get a coffee. We stayed there at the community gardens for a bit while the police took a look around. You know what the strange thing is?”

  “No, what?”

  “Somebody broke into my locker in the storage shed and used my hoe to kill her.” She turned and looked at him, putting her hands on her hips. “I don’t understand that.”

  Walter stared at her for a moment. “What do you mean someone broke into your locker and used your hoe to kill her?”

  “Just what I said. My hoe was used to kill her.”

  “You put your name on that hoe, didn’t you? I told you not to put your name on that hoe,” he said.

  “What do you mean? What difference does it make if I put my name on my hoe?” She had been particularly fond of the garden equipment she had bought, and she’d used a label maker to label everything. It was an old habit from when she worked at the bank. All the files needed labels, and she made good use of her label maker. That habit had spilled over into her private life here at home. She labeled nearly everything.

  “Now they’ve got a murder weapon with your name on it,” he said. “Literally.”

  She stared at him. “I didn’t kill anyone. You know that, and the officers that worked with you when you were on the force know I’m not capable of murder. Right?” She ran a hand through her short blond hair.

  He nodded slowly. “I do know that. But like I said, they’ve got a murder weapon with your name on it.”

  She stared at him, taking this in. Her stomach did a flip-flop. With her husband on the police force, it had never once occurred to her that anyone would even glance in her direction when a crime had been committed. But her husband wasn’t on the police force anymore. “I didn’t do it.”

  He nodded. “When I was on the force if we had been presented with a murder weapon with someone’s name on it, the first thing we would do is focus on that person. Not many killers use label makers to mark their weapons with, of course.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him. “Well then, there’s only one thing I can do about it.”

  “What’s that?” he asked, looking at her with one eyebrow raised.

  “I’ll have to find the killer myself and prove that I’m innocent.”

  His eyes went wide, and then he chuckled. “Find the killer? How do you propose to do that?”

  “I’ve read plenty of mysteries in my time,” she said. “I know how to go about questioning people. Plus, I’ve got a retired police officer on my team. You’ll know exactly what to do and who to ask which questions.”

  He stared at her again. “Are you crazy? We can’t investigate a murder case. I’m not on the police force anymore and you’ve never been on it.”

  “Of course we can,” she said with a nod. “Why can’t we?”

  “Because depending on what it is you plan to do, you could obstruct justice. Accidentally, of course. You certainly don’t want that added to the fact that the killer used your garden hoe to commit the murder.” He waited for her reaction to this.

  She knew he had a point, but she wasn’t going to be dissuaded. “I don’t intend to obstruct justice. I intend to ask around and find out who the killer is. If we can present the police with a plausible suspect, then they can arrest the killer and solve the case faster than they would without our help.”

  “Wait a minute,” he said, holding a hand up to her. “There is no we. I mean, there’s a we in our marriage, but there’s no we as far as crime-solving is concerned. You just get that out of her head. I’m retired, and golfing takes up most of my time these days.”

  She gasped. “Are you trying to tell me that golfing is more important than clearing your wife’s name?”

  He chuckled. “No, I’m not trying to tell you that. But really Amelia, this is police business and as a former police officer, I can tell you that it’s annoying when people try to get in on the action.”

  “I promise you that I’m not trying to get in on the action. I just want to clear my name. How can
you tell me I’m not allowed to do that?”

  He thought about it a moment. “Okay, look, maybe it won’t hurt to ask around, but you have to be very careful about the questions that you ask. If you make the killer angry, they might come after you. It would stink if your retirement was interrupted by being killed.”

  She grinned and came back to the table and sat down. “Okay, so we need to make up a list of possible killers. Who’s at the top of that list?”

  “Besides you?”

  She narrowed her eyes at him again. “Besides me.”

  “Her husband.”

  “Why is he at the top of the list?” she asked.

  “Because the closest family members are always at the top of the list of suspects. Random killings aren’t as common as people like to think. It’s usually someone that knew the victim and had a stake in their death. Maybe she had an insurance policy that her husband stood to gain from.”

  She nodded, thinking about this. “And he probably just broke in and stole my hoe because it was convenient?”

  He nodded. “Maybe you didn’t lock up the locker like you thought you did.”

  She thought back, trying to remember what she had done. “I really think I locked it, but maybe it didn’t catch.”

  He leaned forward over the table. “Amelia, I’m not agreeing that you should do this, but I’d hate to have the police look at you seriously. You need to be careful about the questions you ask people. If you step on any toes, it can get you into big trouble. And the police aren’t going to back you up if you do get into trouble.”

  “That’s fine,” she said. “Maybe you should talk to Hank down at the station. Maybe he can fill you in on what’s going on with the investigation.”

  He nodded. “I’m sure he will,” he said. “Especially since the murder weapon has your name on it.” He looked at her, one eyebrow raised.

  She chuckled. “I wish that was funny, but the more I think about it, the more nervous it makes me. We’ve got to figure out who killed Patty Manning.”

  “And, Amelia?”

  “Yes?”

  “Stop using the label maker. My sock drawer does not need to be labeled. And neither do the other thousand and one things you’ve got labeled in this house. And you especially shouldn’t be labeling murder weapons.”

  Amelia sighed. She was just trying to be diligent.

  She sat back in her chair, thinking things over and after a moment, jumped up and ran to the kitchen where she had a small notebook she kept a list of things she needed to pick up at the grocery store. She pulled off the current list and left it on the counter near the refrigerator and went back and sat down at the table with the notebook and pen. She was going to find the killer if it was the last thing she did.

  Chapter Five

  It didn’t take Amelia long to realize she needed to sit down with Gary Manning and have a talk with him. If as Walter said, the closest relatives were the best possible suspects, then she needed to talk to him to get to the bottom of this.

  She decided to bake an apple pie and asked Joanne to go with her the next day. Joanne would provide backup in case she needed it.

  The following afternoon they drove over to speak to him. The police would have talked to him right away and let him know what happened to Patty, and they wanted to make sure he at least had a little time to process everything. Twenty-four hours would never be enough of course, but she didn’t want to drop by any earlier.

  “Do you think he did it?” Joanne held the pie in her lap while Amelia drove.

  “My husband, Walter, says there’s a good possibility that it was a close family member. I can’t remember if Patty’s children still live in town anymore. I think Gary is the best possible suspect at this point.”

  “I think their daughter lives over in Des Moines, and their son went away to college years ago and never came back. I never did hear what happened to him.” Joanne turned to her. “I don’t blame him for running away. Patty was such a nag.”

  Amelia chuckled. “You can say that again. But maybe we shouldn’t say anything negative about her, someone might decide to take a closer look at us.” She turned to look at her, one eyebrow raised.

  Joanne laughed. “It’s your name on the murder weapon.”

  “Don’t remind me,” she said as she pulled up to Gary’s house and parked. The house was one of the largest on the block and was neatly kept. She turned to look at Joanne. “Ready?”

  Joanne nodded. “As ready as I’ll ever be. Maybe we should have brought a gun. Does your husband still have a gun, or did he have to give it back when he retired?”

  Amelia grinned. “He has his own and I don’t think we should be carrying a gun with us. It will look like we expect trouble.”

  “Don’t we expect trouble?”

  She shook her head and opened the car door. “Nope. We aren’t going to have any trouble.” She hoped she was right.

  They got out of the car and headed up the walkway. Joanne rang the doorbell as they waited on the stoop. “This pie smells so good,” she whispered.

  When Gary opened the door, he looked surprised to see them. “Well, hello Amelia, Joanne.” His eyes went to the pie in Joanne’s hands. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

  Amelia thought that was an odd question considering his wife had just been found dead a little more than twenty-four hours earlier. “Gary, we heard about Patty’s death, and we thought we’d stop by and offer our condolences. I baked an apple pie for you.”

  He gave her a sad smile. “That’s very kind of you ladies. Would you like to come in?”

  Amelia and Joanne followed him into the living room and took a seat on the couch. He took the pie into the kitchen and when he returned, he sat on the loveseat across from them.

  “It’s such a terrible shame about Patty,” Joanne told him. “I’m so sorry.”

  He nodded. “It’s still hard for me to believe. I don’t understand how this could have happened.”

  “When was the last time you saw her, Gary?” Amelia asked.

  “Early yesterday morning. She was going out to the community gardens to tend to her plots, and then she was going to run by the grocery store.” He sat back on the loveseat and looked up at the ceiling a moment. “None of this makes sense. How do you begin an ordinary day, only to have it turn out so unordinary before it’s over?”

  Amelia shook her head. “I wish I could answer that for you. I don’t understand it, either. Did she happen to mention anything odd going on in her life? Anything unusual?”

  Gary looked at Amelia, their eyes meeting. “Unusual? No, she didn’t mention anything unusual. Why do you ask? Does Walter know something? He still has contacts at the police station, doesn’t he?”

  Amelia hesitated, her hands in her lap, twining her fingers around the strap of her purse. “No, Walter doesn’t know anything. I just wondered is all. I don’t mean to pry, but I wondered if there was something unusual going on in her life that might indicate what happened to her. It’s just such a shock.”

  “A shock,” Joanne echoed. “You never expect someone that you know to end up dead like that.”

  He nodded slowly and glanced away. When he looked at them again, he said, “no, I don’t think there was anything unusual going on. Although, do you ladies know Susan Potts?”

  “Yes, she has a plot down at the garden and I guess I’ve known her a number of years, although not well,” Amelia said. She crossed her legs and hoped Gary had some information that might be helpful.

  He hesitated. “Well, she has two plots down at the community garden, but she wanted more. She argued with my wife, insisting that she give her more garden space. For free.”

  “Why would she ask for more garden space for free?” Amelia asked. It didn’t make sense to her that she would ask for the garden plots for free. There were plenty of open spots, but they had to be paid for.

  “Because they weren’t being used. She argued that since they weren’t being used, she should allo
w her to use them for free.” He shook his head slowly. “It didn’t make any sense to me why she would think she should get it for free. The rent money goes to pay for the water, as well as the ground space, and it’s not like anybody else was going to pay extra to cover her part of the water bill for the gardens.”

  The fee for the garden plots was inexpensive, and Amelia agreed, why would Susan think she should get additional plots for free? “So, they argued?” she asked.

  He nodded. “Yes, it seemed like nearly every day when Patty came home, she was complaining about Susan Potts.”

  “Did Susan ever threaten her?” Joanne asked.

  He thought about it a moment. “Well, I don’t think she came right out and threatened her, but she would get very angry with Patty. She said she was being tight with the resources and demanded that she allow her to plant another plot. A couple of months ago, Patty went down there and saw that one of the barren plots had been raked over. She accused Susan of planting seeds in it without paying for the spot.”

  “And did she?” Amelia asked, surprised. She couldn’t imagine someone wanting an extra garden plot so desperately that she would just go ahead and plant seeds in it when she had been told she couldn’t have it unless she paid for it.

  “They got into an argument over it, but Susan denied doing it. Patty told her that if she watered the spot and seeds came up, then she was going to kick Susan out of the community garden.”

  “And did she?” Joanne asked. “Did she water the plot and did seedlings come up?” Amelia glanced at Joanne. She was sitting on the edge of her seat waiting for the answer.

  He chuckled. “She did, but about a week after she accused Susan of planting those seeds, the ground had been torn up again. She thought Susan waited just long enough for the seeds to sprout beneath the surface of the soil to be able to see them in the dirt when she dug them up. Another day or two, and they would have sprouted above the ground and Patty would have kicked her out.”

  Amelia stared at him. “Really? And did Patty accuse her of doing it?”