Chapter 13 #2
“Eleanor did the whole ‘thankful she’s no longer suffering’ and washed her hands of it. Mildred told me after she moved here that she’d wanted an autopsy—said it was best for her and Eleanor if they knew what Dora had died from. For their own health history.”
“Of course. If my mother had some mysterious illness that ultimately led to her death, I’d want to know what it was.”
“Apparently Eleanor didn’t feel the same.
Told Mildred she wasn’t subjecting their mother to an autopsy when it wasn’t necessary.
To just be thankful she’d passed peacefully in her sleep and was no longer suffering.
” Dorothy pursed her lips. “She had her cremated before Mildred could even get down here to view the body.”
“Well, that’s horrible. And isn’t that against Catholic rules?”
“No. The Church changed their stance on cremation back in the ’60s, I believe, but I know for a fact that Dora was dead set against it.
She was an old-school Catholic and believed your body was supposed to be put wholly into the ground in preparation for the resurrection.
But Eleanor took the disrespect a step further and scattered her ashes in the bayou. That definitely isn’t allowed.”
“And Eleanor was aware of her mother’s feelings?”
“Of course she was. Given how sick Dora was for so long, before she slipped into memory lapses, Dora told Eleanor time and again what her wishes were. I heard her say it all to Eleanor one day and Dora talked to me about it several times. She wanted to be buried next to her parents in the Mudbug cemetery. Eleanor tried to claim Dora had changed her mind, but I don’t buy that for a second. ”
I sat back in my chair and stared silently at Dorothy, understanding completely what she was trying to convey and didn’t want to say out loud.
“You think Eleanor killed her mother.”
Dorothy’s eyes widened and her eyes flickered nervously to the wall, then the cabinets, then the floor, before finally looking back at me.
“I don’t know,” she said finally. “But I’m afraid.
And it’s been weighing on me so much I can’t sleep right.
I told myself I was going to tell Mildred my worries when she came to stay with Eleanor, but I’ll admit to being a coward.
I just couldn’t work myself up to it. Kept arguing that there would be no point. Too late for an autopsy.”
“What about Mildred’s safety? If Eleanor was willing to get rid of her mother—for her inheritance I assume—then wouldn’t Mildred be a target as well?”
“I thought about that, but that nasty, so-called man Dora was married to had everything drawn up so that Eleanor had control. Dora had to ask her own daughter for more money just to keep the house repaired. I imagine if she wanted to screw Mildred out of her share, then she could easily manage it given that far as I know Mildred doesn’t have any rights except a small monthly payment. ”
I nodded. “And another death in the immediate family might finally raise some eyebrows.”
“There is that too. Anyway, I finally figured no good could be accomplished by saying anything to Mildred besides shifting my burdened conscience onto her. And Lord knows, she’s already suffered through enough.”
“I know she is in a lot of pain with her back and that it limits her in a lot of ways.”
“Mildred’s suffering started long before her back problems.”
I nodded. “Ida Belle and Gertie told me their father was a piece of work.”
“That’s putting it mildly. He was an angry, bitter, small man who delighted in taking out his many frustrations in life with a bottle and then turning them on his wife.
I remember being so confused about it all and talking to my own mother.
Dora was ten years my senior and I couldn’t understand why she was choosing to stay in that situation.
I thought older meant wiser. But mama said that some women had decided that was their lot in life and wasn’t nothing we could do to change it.
That all I could do for Dora was be her friend and help if she asked. ”
“I take it she never did.”
Dorothy shook her head, a sad expression on her face.
“When that evil man died, I thought things would change but I should have known better. Oh sure, she wasn’t being physically abused anymore, but he managed to beat her emotionally and financially with the will.
Putting Eleanor in charge of everything and giving her an allowance like she was a child.
And Mildred having no say in anything meant she was beholden to Eleanor. ”
“I knew Eleanor was the executor, but why didn’t the sisters inherit equally?”
“Eleanor was her father’s favorite. Eleanor stayed, after all. Mildred had that scholarship in her hand for all of five minutes before she was planning her exit, not that I blame her one bit.”
“Mildred said she asked Eleanor to go with her.”
“Mildred always was the kind one. Not full of herself like Eleanor. I never understood why in the world Jasper took up with Eleanor after being with someone like Mildred. The sisters favored each other in looks, sure, but in character, there was a big gap.”
“Wait—are you saying Mildred used to date Jasper?”
“Of course. They were childhood sweethearts. Couldn’t separate the two of them with a sheet of paper from middle school through high school. Until Mildred left, that is.”
“Why didn’t Jasper go too?”
“He didn’t have the option—or didn’t feel that he did. His father owned a shrimp house, but he’d had a stroke a couple years before. Never quite recovered and Jasper being an only child, he felt he had to stay and help his father.”
“Couldn’t he have hired someone to help?”
“Not back then. Margins were too low. Jasper’s mother had no education and horrible rheumatoid arthritis, so she couldn’t help out at the shrimp house or with getting a job.
And his father wouldn’t have made the same money doing something else, assuming he could even get hired with his limitations after the stroke.
I think Jasper hoped that his father would eventually get better and he’d be able to follow Mildred off. ”
“But clearly it didn’t work out that way.”
“No. Because Eleanor got pregnant.”
I whistled. “There’s one I didn’t see coming. But I didn’t think Eleanor and Jasper had kids.”
“They didn’t. She miscarried, but her and Jasper had already married by then.” She shook her head. “Jasper wore that same look Dora had before Bruno died. Oh, he tried to look happy and pleasant—and he treated Dora like his own mama—but I could tell he didn’t like how his life had turned out.”
“Then why not get divorced?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe he was like Dora and figured that was his punishment for taking up with Eleanor and causing Mildred a world of hurt.
I was at Dora’s house the day Mildred called Dora bawling her eyes out, telling her that Eleanor had called and told her she was pregnant with Jasper’s baby and marrying him.
She was begging Dora to tell her it wasn’t true. ”
“Were Mildred and Jasper still in a relationship?”
“Not officially. Jasper called things off when Mildred left, saying it wasn’t fair to tie her to Mudbug when she had a whole new set of options in front of her. But feelings don’t go away based on a few words, and I think both of them always thought they’d be together again at some point.”
“Good Lord. No wonder Mildred stayed gone. I knew the sisters weren’t close, but I figured it was more because of her father and that Mildred had established her own life elsewhere and didn’t want to be stuck in the past. I never realized that she’d been effectively booted from her old life and probably opted to stay away rather than stir up painful memories. ”
Dorothy nodded.
“Okay, so why are you telling me all of this?”
She frowned. “Honestly, I’m not even sure.
I guess because I don’t want anything else heaped on Mildred, but I’m also a coward and didn’t want to tell her my suspicions.
I know good and well you’ll be in the fat middle of this, especially with Gertie finding the body.
I guess I just want the truth of this sad, sordid mess to come out, although I will confess to not knowing what that is.
But to be honest, whatever happened, I don’t want the blowback on me. You don’t seem to care about that.”
“True,” I said, surprised by her blatant honesty. “But the things you’ve brought up probably can’t be proven and even if they could, what difference would it make with Eleanor dead? Do you not believe she committed suicide?”
“I don’t know what else it could have been. I saw everything Gertie did and since both Gertie and Kim are claiming that cabin was locked up like a drum, I don’t know how else to explain it.”
“But?”
She sighed. “But if you’d asked me to make a list of the top five people who I never thought would kill themselves, Eleanor would have been up toward the top. Do you know she didn’t even have a service for her mother or Jasper?”
“Seriously? Isn’t that against all Southern rules?”
“To say the least.”
“And what was her reasoning?”
“She was too overwrought to handle it. Of course, she had a ton of volunteers to take care of it for her—that’s what we do here.
But she said she could never make it through any kind of gathering and if she didn’t attend, then people would never let her live it down.
So…nothing. Both the Catholic and Baptist churches had special prayers for them but that was all we could do.
Now tell me how a woman who was so selfish she wouldn’t let an entire town grieve was suddenly so overwrought that she killed herself. ”
I nodded, considering what she’d said and wondering if I should push another theory on her, just to get her take.
Mind made up, I went forward with it. “What if Eleanor had something to do with Jasper’s death as well?”
Dorothy’s eyes widened. “You think that’s the case?”
“I don’t know. But what I do know is two people have recently died under somewhat mysterious circumstances, and both their deaths directly benefited Eleanor. You’re a perceptive woman. I’m sure you noticed that her relationship with Zion was beyond that of a business partner.”
Dorothy’s jaw flexed, and I could tell she had not only noticed but was mad as heck about it.
“I caught on to her completely unacceptable behavior. Jasper barely gone and she’s cavorting with a man that’s far too young for her. It was just wrong.”
“Did you know he’s married?”
“What?! No. I did not. If I had, you couldn’t have paid me money to go to that retreat. Here I am, still feeling like I owe Dora something because I couldn’t change her life, and Eleanor was having an affair.”
She shook her head. “I don’t even know why it surprises me. It shouldn’t, given everything else.”
“I know you don’t think Eleanor was a likely candidate for suicide, but given all you now know and suspect, could her conscience have finally been overburdened by it all? Or what if she did all that for Zion and he ended the relationship as soon as he inked that business deal?”
She considered this for several seconds.
“I just don’t know. Before I came here, I would have stuck to my guns on what I thought Eleanor was capable of, but you’ve given me more to consider.
I guess the truth is we never really know what’s going on in someone else’s mind, and unless you’re a sociopath, I suppose every person has that line that they shouldn’t cross. ”
“Maybe Eleanor crossed hers.”
Dorothy sighed and rose from the table. “I was hoping talking to you would make me feel better but I’m not sure that it has. To be honest, I think I feel even more confused.”
“Most of my work is like this.”
“So you are looking into it?”
I nodded. “I told Mildred I would. If I can find enough credible evidence against Zion and his scamming, then I can probably get Mildred out of that very, very bad contract that Eleanor agreed to. I don’t know that I’ll be able to do much more though.
As much as I hate to admit it, there’s just too little to go on at this point. ”
“If you can help Mildred, that would be a wonderful thing. Something I’d appreciate.
I know we have our difference of opinion on how things should be in this town, but I think you have good intentions.
At least most of the time. I want you to know that I didn’t call the state police and sic them on Carter.
But I will admit to calling Celia and telling her what happened at the retreat.
I was out of sorts and looking back, I should have known where she’d take things.
If that Calahan prevents Carter from doing his job, then that’s going to be a big problem for the law-abiding. ”
“I appreciate you letting me know.”
“You’ve done some good things for really good people here. I’m a big enough person and Christian to admit as much.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t go getting any ideas though. We’re not going to be friends or anything ridiculous like that.”
I held in a smile. “Of course not.”