Death in the Garden Page 6

  “See you later,” Joanne said as Ruth stood up and left.

  Amelia and Joanne watched her leave. “What do you think?” Amelia asked without looking at Joanne.

  “Maybe. Just maybe. It’s something to look into,” Joanne said.

  Amelia agreed. If she could just come up with a way to find the evidence she needed to clear her name, she’d be able to sleep at night again.

  Chapter Nine

  Bert Danvers lived three houses down from Amelia. She would see him out weeding his flowerbeds or mowing his lawn occasionally, and she would wave at him as she drove by, but they were anything but close. She needed a way to find out from him what she needed to know. Was he a killer? She shuddered at the thought that there might be a killer living so close to her.

  The Spring sunshine was bright the next day as she stood at her living room window looking at her own lawn. Although she enjoyed gardening down at the community gardens, she wasn’t a fan of lawn care. That job usually fell to Walter.

  “What are you doing?” Walter asked, coming out of the kitchen with a coffee cup and newspaper in hand.

  “The lawn needs mowing,” she said, turning to look at him pointedly.

  He chuckled. “But I’ve got a newspaper that needs reading,” he said, holding it up to her.

  “Well as much as I hate to put you behind on your newspaper reading schedule, the weather’s awfully nice out there. You might want to consider mowing the lawn before it rains again.” Living in Iowa they got a lot of rain in the Spring, and the lawn grew out of control if one didn’t stay on top of it.

  He chuckled again and sat down in his easy chair. “I promise to mow the lawn before it rains again. How does that sound?”

  “It sounds great,” she said.

  “So, I’ve been meaning to ask. You’re being careful about asking around town about Patty’s murder, aren’t you?”

  She sighed. “I’m being careful. Have you heard anything from Hank?” If anyone was going to hear something, it was his old partner, Hank Crawford.

  “Nothing new. He mentioned the hoe, but he said no one is talking about you being a suspect. He did wonder why you had put your name on your hoe. I told him you were particularly fond of that hoe.” He grinned without looking at her.

  “Thanks for making me look like I’m crazy.”

  He chuckled. “I try.”

  “That’s good news that I’m not a suspect, though. Hopefully they’ll get this thing sorted out soon. I think I’m going to go outside and get some yard work done.” She wasn’t going to mention that the ladies from the book club had hopes of finding the killer. He wouldn’t like hearing that.

  “Speaking of yard work, I think it’s great practice if you work on the edging so when you go down to the community gardens, you’ll have some expertise.” He said it without looking up at her, but there was a grin on his face.

  “Right,” she said slowly. “What I need is more experience weeding the lawn.”

  He shrugged. “Suit yourself. But it’s a great opportunity for you.”

  She chuckled and headed out the front door to take a closer look. She grimaced when she caught sight of the brick planters in front of the house. She’d spent so much time working on her plots at the community gardens that she had completely neglected these. There were dead leaves and weeds from the prior fall matted together in them. She went to one and sat down on the side of it and began pulling the leaves out by hand. She wished she had her gardening gloves on, but once she started, she didn’t want to stop and retrieve them from the house. She pulled out the spiny stems of dead weeds along with the leaves. Looking it over, she decided she needed to get some new flowers from the hardware store to plant in there.

  The planter was in the shade of the house and she shivered in spite of the day being warm. She dug through the dead leaves and soon had a pile of wet half-rotted leaves on the ground. She looked at them and wondered about composting. It was something she had always intended to look into but had yet to do it.

  The sound of a lawnmower starting up made her look up. Bert Danvers had just begun mowing his lawn. Bert was in his early sixties but looked older. He was balding and had a bit of a paunch. There was something about him that made Amelia think he both acted and behaved older than his years. She got up from the side of the planter and turned the garden hose on, rinsing her hands and drying them on the leg of her pants.

  The lawns in the neighborhood didn’t have front yard fences, and so she walked across the lawns until she got to Bert’s yard. She stood there waiting for him to catch sight of her, and when he didn’t notice her after a minute, she moved to his side so he could see her. He jumped, startled, and smiled at her.

  Shutting off the lawnmower, he looked at her. “Well, how are you, Amelia?”

  He wore a white tank top and khaki pants. It wasn’t the wisest choice since the bottoms of his pants were already turning green from the freshly cut grass.

  “Hello, Bert,” she said, nodding. “I’m doing fine. How are you doing on this beautiful day?”

  He looked up at the sky, closing one eye in the bright sunlight. “It is a beautiful day, isn’t it?”

  She nodded. “It is. I was just doing a little cleaning of my planters in front of my house and I saw you start up your lawnmower. It’s been ages since I’ve spoken to you. How have you been?”

  He nodded, glancing at the planters in her yard. “I’m doing fine. Just fine.”

  She nodded again, trying to come up with something to say. She didn’t want to be obvious about what she wanted, but she needed to know. “Say, did you hear about what happened to Patty Manning?” She cringed inwardly at the abrupt nature of the question, but she didn’t know how to bring it up casually.

  Bert frowned. “I did. I just can’t imagine what this world is coming to when someone as kind and sweet as Patty turns up murdered.”

  Amelia’s eyes widened. Kind and sweet? He might have been the only person on the face of the earth that wasn’t related to Patty that thought that of her. She cleared her throat. “Yes, it’s a shame isn’t it? I hope the police are able to find her killer quickly.”

  He nodded, frowning. “I just don’t understand it. How could someone get away with something like this?”

  “Did you know Patty well?”

  He hesitated, his hands gripping the handle of the lawnmower. “Well, I guess you could say I knew her. This is a small town after all, and I guess we all know a lot of our neighbors, don’t we?”

  She nodded taking note of the fact that he seemed to be avoiding her question. “We certainly do. I just wondered if you were close to her. It has to be such a terrible shock to everyone that knew her well.”

  He was quiet a moment before answering. “I like to think of myself as a friend of hers.” He smiled sadly.

  “Oh, I’m sorry for your loss then,” she said, nodding sympathetically. “I didn’t realize you were close to her.” Would he say more?

  He looked up at the sky again for a moment, then back at her. “You know what I think?”

  She shook her head. “No, what do you think?” She could sense he was about to say something important and she focused her attention on him.

  “I think the police should take a really close look at her husband. That Gary Manning, I never have trusted him.”

  “Oh? Why do you say that?” she asked, crossing her arms in front of herself. She hoped he knew something substantial that she could tell Walter about. He could relay it to the guys down at the station and she would be off the hook.

  “He used to own that used car lot years ago. Do you remember it?”

  She nodded. “Yes, we bought a Chevy Chevette from him some thirty years ago.”

  “Yes, and I bet it was junk. He sold junk. My wife and I bought a Toyota from him and it never did run right. I tried to get my money back on it, and he refused to do it. Anyway, I happen to know that the two of them argued all the time. Fought like cats and dogs.” He nodded for emphasi
s.

  “Really? I had no idea,” she said thoughtfully. “How do you know that they argued all the time? Did Patty tell you that?” Maybe Patty’s secret admirer hadn’t been a secret to her.

  He shrugged and looked away. “You hear things. Small town and all, you know. But honestly, there’s just something about him.” He turned back to her. “And one time, I saw Patty at the grocery store, and she seemed upset. I stopped and asked her if she was all right. She said she was fine, except that her husband was an idiot. She said that. Said he was an idiot and said they had argued about something, but she didn’t say what.”

  Maybe it was true that the two of them were close if she was confiding in him, she thought. “Oh? How long ago was that?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe five or six years ago?”

  “I suppose she would confide in a friend about something like that,” Amelia said, hoping he would continue.

  He stared at her blankly. “Yes, I suppose we weren’t nearly as close back then as we later became. But she was so upset that day, broke my heart to see her that way.”

  Exactly how close had they become? Amelia tried to remember how long Bert’s wife had been deceased, but she wasn’t sure. “Well, hopefully the police will question him. I hear they usually look at family members first when there’s been a murder.”

  He nodded. “Yes, and it usually is a family member. You mark my words, the police are going to be making an arrest soon and it will be her husband, Gary Manning.”

  Amelia studied him a moment. Was it true that he was sending her flowers and cards? She needed to find out, and she wondered if somebody at the flower shop would tell her if it was so.

  “I just hope the police are able to get the killer off the streets quickly.” She waited, hoping for more.

  “You and me both,” he said. “I don’t know what happened to this little town. It used to be so much safer. Do you remember? We didn’t have to worry that a killer might be walking the streets.”

  Amelia did remember. It seemed that lately there was more talk of break-ins, although there hadn’t been a murder in what seemed like a long while. She hoped this wasn’t a sign of things to come, and she hoped that it turned out that it had been someone that was related to Patty. The thought made her feel like she was safe as long as the murder occurred as a result of a family argument. And as long as the police got the killer off the street, that was all that counted.

  “I do remember. Hopefully, the police will get things straightened out soon and get the killer arrested.”

  He nodded. “I believe they will. I believe they’ll see the truth and they’ll arrest Gary Manning.”

  Amelia took this in. She needed more information but was afraid to press. She’d let it go a day or two and try again with him. “Well Bert, I’m going to let you get back to your lawn mowing, I’ve got to finish the planter in front of my house. It’s been nice talking to you. Stop by once in a while and say hello.” She wished she had gotten something more concrete from Bert, but she didn’t want to make him think she had her eye on him. She really hoped this was a family squabble gone wrong anyway.

  He smiled and nodded. “I sure will. You have a great day.”

  Amelia turned and headed back to her house. Could Gary have killed his wife? It was certainly a possibility, but she hoped it wasn’t him for some reason. It just seemed sad that a spouse would commit murder.

  Chapter Ten

  That afternoon, after Amelia had cleaned out the planters in front of her house and Walter had mowed the lawn as he had promised, she was lying on the couch reading the first book club novel that she was excited about. An Agatha Christie novel was just what she needed. When the group had met last, they had exchanged phone numbers and there was now a group text discussing both Patty’s murder and the new book they were reading. For some reason, Patty’s death seemed to pull them all together as a group. She marveled at what a difference a few days had made and tried not to feel bad that Patty’s death was what had brought about the change.

  She had just begun reading chapter four when she was interrupted by the doorbell. She stood up, placing a bookmark between the pages so she wouldn’t lose her place, and went to the door.

  “Hi Amelia,” Nora said brightly. “How are you this afternoon?”

  Amelia was surprised to see Nora and Martha from her book club standing on her doorstep. “I’m fine. How are you ladies today?”

  “We want to come in and talk to you about the murder,” Martha said. She peered over her shoulder into the house. “We can come in, can’t we?”

  Amelia smiled and stepped back. “Of course you can,” she said.

  They entered the house and looked around at the living room. “You have a nice living room here,” Martha said. “I like blue.”

  “Thank you,” Amelia said. “Can I offer you two ladies some tea?”

  “Tea would be great,” Nora said with a grin. “I love tea.”

  “Why don’t we go into the kitchen then?” Amelia suggested. The visit was completely unexpected, but Amelia wasn’t unhappy they had come by. Of all the book club members, she liked Nora and Martha the most, along with Joanne, of course.

  She filled the teakettle with water and put it on the stove, turning the burner on. Then she turned to her guests. “Have a seat at the table. What kind of tea would you like? I’ve got English breakfast, orange spice, and a strawberry green tea.” She went to the cupboard and opened it, taking down the boxes of tea and brought them over to the table.

  “Strawberry green tea?” Martha asked. She waved a hand. “I’m old-fashioned, I don’t drink green tea. I’ll take the orange spice.”

  Amelia grinned and went to her cupboards and got out three teacups with saucers. “I’ve got some tea biscuits if anyone’s interested?”

  “Are they those thin slightly sweet, crackery things?” Martha asked.

  She nodded. “They are. And they’re pretty tasty dunked in tea.”

  “Oh, I’d love tea biscuits then,” Nora said. “I love anything sweet.” She laughed. “You might be able to tell that.”

  Amelia grinned at her. Amanda was a bit soft around the edges, but she had the spunk and energy of a teenager. She put the sugar bowl and some milk on the table as well, in case they took their tea with either. When the water in the teakettle came to a boil, she poured some into each of the cups.

  “So, what’s on your minds?” she asked, waiting for them to put their tea bags into their cups.

  “I think Gary Manning murdered his wife,” Martha said knowingly. She swirled the tea bag around in the water. “It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

  “What makes you say that?” Amelia asked, wondering if what Bert had said was true.

  “He used to own that used car dealership years ago,” she said. “You can’t trust used car dealers. It’s a known fact.”

  Nora reached across the table and got a strawberry green tea bag and placed it into her cup of water. “I was just a kid when that car dealership was open. But my parents bought a used Volvo from them. It broke down out on the highway when my dad was driving to work. He was so angry when he got home! You should have seen him. His face was bright red. He had to walk home in the middle of the day in the summertime. He cussed Gary up a storm.”

  Amelia added an English breakfast tea bag to her own cup. “Really? Walter and I bought a car from him years ago, and we never had any issues with it.” She shrugged. “I guess sometimes you never know what you’re getting when you buy a used car.”

  “Especially if you bought it from Gary Manning. I’m telling you, he’s the murderer.” Martha removed her tea bag and added sugar and milk to her cup.

  “I hope it’s not him,” Amelia said. “I hope that the killer turns out to be somebody that just wandered through town. I hate to think someone we know is the killer.” She had been going over things in her mind, and in the end, she decided she wanted the killer to be a stranger. Not that she had a choice, of course,
but it made her feel better to think this was a random killing.

  “Unfortunately,” Martha said, stirring her tea. “It’s going to be someone we know. Who comes to Gabardine unless they have family or friends here? He did it.”

  “Is there any reason, besides the fact that he sold you a bad car, that makes you think he’s the killer?” Amelia asked her. She stirred sugar into her own cup of tea.

  “I happen to know that the two of them fought all the time.” Martha nodded knowingly. “Mark my words, he’s the killer.”

  “How do you know they argued?” Amelia asked, hoping for more proof than hearsay.

  “Once, back when the old hospital was open, she was in the emergency room with a black eye.” She looked at her knowingly. “Her husband did it. I was there with a nasty migraine that night and I saw her.”

  Amelia was shocked by this. She had never heard that Gary was violent. “Did she tell you that? That it was her husband that did it?”

  She shook her head. “No, but she didn’t have to. She sat there quiet as could be and wouldn’t look up. And you know how unusual that was for Patty. Gary paced back and forth there in the emergency room demanding that a doctor see her immediately. He said she had accidentally opened the cupboard door and hit herself in the eye with it. I don’t believe it. I didn’t believe it then, and I certainly don’t believe it now. I think he’s a violent man.” She nodded.

  “What an awful thing to do,” Nora said, picking up her cup of tea and taking a sip. “If he did it, he deserves to go to prison forever. Maybe even be put to death. Does Iowa have a death penalty?”

  Amelia wasn’t sure if Iowa had a death penalty, and the thought that Gary might have been abusing Patty made her sick. She had never liked Patty, but she wouldn’t have wanted to see her hurt that way.

  “Iowa doesn’t have a death penalty, but they should. They should reinstate it just for Gary Manning,” Martha said and took a sip of her tea.