Chapter Eleven #2
“Arline don’t get out much these days and she likes her gossip.”
Vinner chuckled. “Fair enough. Tell her I said hi.”
“We will.” Cordelia rushed out the door faster than double-struck lightning before Vinner could ask more questions and start connecting dots.
If he was already suspicious of why they were asking after the pastor, it probably hadn’t been a good idea to ask him outright about the wine, but he didn’t know about the palytoxin.
He wouldn’t put two and two together. Hopefully.
At least their visit into town hadn’t been completely worthless.
Both he and Martina had pointed them in the direction of new suspects.
“You were about as subtle as a fox in a henhouse. It’ll be a wonder if Vinner doesn’t call the sheriff on the two of us,” Belinda Sue said.
Cordelia threw up her hands. “I’m doing my best here. And the trip wasn’t a total waste. He had some good ideas about where to look next.”
“I know what you’re thinking,” Belinda Sue said. “But we didn’t come here to open up a whole can of suspects. We just came to gather some additional information, but I don’t know why we’re not putting all our efforts into investigating Corbin and Edna.”
“Because he made a good point about the members of church being more likely suspects. They had direct access to him, and whoever gave him that wine must’ve been someone he trusted, or why else would he accept it?” Cordelia asked.
“Ain’t no one in the congregation going to murder the pastor because he enjoyed Daisy’s company. Half the men in that church enjoyed Daisy. That’s not a good enough reason for murder.”
Cordelia trod carefully with Belinda Sue as they got back in the car and pulled out of the parking lot.
Daisy peppered them with questions, but they decided to wait until they got back to the Chickadee so they wouldn’t have to tell it twice.
Cordelia had some thoughts, but she wasn’t ready to voice them yet.
Not until Belinda Sue had a drink in hand and loosened up some.
The rain had slowed to a dull drizzle, but it was still too nasty for cocktail hour by the pool.
They’d have to settle for tea in Cordelia’s apartment.
As they pulled onto the dirt road leading to the Chickadee, several large trucks passed them in the opposite direction with the words O’LEARY DEVELOPMENT printed on their sides.
Rocks and other roadside debris pinged against Cordelia’s car in the cloud of dust they kicked up.
All the vehicles carried large metal structures out to the small piece of land Corbin had managed to purchase before being shut down by Penelope for the rest.
Belinda Sue kept a beady eye on the trucks. “What’s that snake up to?”
“Whatever it is, he best keep it to that spit of land he calls his own,” Cordelia said.
She might’ve been willing to bargain with Corbin before she found out what his family did to Belinda Sue’s father, but she’d sooner bed down on a mattress from the side of the road than give him an inch.
“If he steps a toe over the property line, I’ll sue him into oblivion. ”
The ghost of a smile played over Belinda Sue’s face, pinkening her pale cheeks. “I still think we’ll get him another way. This is far from over yet.”
Arline was already waiting inside Cordelia’s apartment when they returned. How she entered was anyone’s guess since Cordelia kept her place locked, but it wasn’t important enough to make it an issue. They shared what they’d learned at the library and the bar.
“That wine label looked expensive,” Arline said. “I could’ve told you Vinner wouldn’t have anything like that on hand at the Orb. I’m surprised he even had Boone’s Farm.”
Cordelia paced, restless as a cat in a tin barn during a rainstorm. “I thought it was necessary to make sure. We did go there with the intention of finding information.”
Arline picked up her tablet. “I tried out the Google while y’all were gone, and Dew Valley wine can only be bought at a market up in Bramble Park. They sell it by the crate to restaurants. Individuals can’t buy single bottles.”
“Google. That’s a good one.” Belinda Sue gave Cordelia an accusatory look. “Shouldn’t you have thought of Google?”
Cordelia bit her tongue to keep from saying that being the only person under the age of sixty didn’t automatically make her a tech guru. But Belinda Sue didn’t mean to be so thorny, that was just her rosebush way, and Cordelia accepted it.
“We could take a picture of Honey and whoever else to Bramble Park and see if the store owners recognize her,” Daisy said.
“That sounds like a fine plan,” Belinda Sue said. “We’ll take a picture of Corbin and Edna too. I think there was one in the local paper a few months back. Those two stand out like crows in a cornfield. Anyone should be able to recognize the murder on them.”
“About that.” Cordelia stopped pacing and faced the chicks, who sat on her couch in a row, Arline and Belinda Sue on the ends, and Daisy—the peacemaker—between them. “I was trying to think of a gentler way to say this, but I should probably just say it.”
“Go on, then.” Belinda Sue flicked her wrist like she already knew she wasn’t going to like whatever Cordelia was about to say.
“I don’t think y’all should get so wrapped up in your personal grudges that you’re not willing to look at other suspects.
” Cordelia looked Belinda Sue and Daisy square in the eye to ensure they both understood she meant business.
“The most important thing we need to do is clear Daisy’s name.
Would it be great if we could hang our personal grudges out to dry?
Sure. But that’s not the objective here. ”
“We know that.” Belinda Sue’s lip curled. “I think Corbin and Edna did it because they’ve got the best motive. Am I wrong about that?”
“You’re not wrong, but Honey’s got motive too,” Daisy piped up, bouncing slightly on the couch cushion. “She’s real territorial, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she slipped him a little palytoxin thinking it would just make him sick enough to go to the hospital, not knowing it would kill him.”
“Honey’s a nurse,” Belinda Sue said. “She can’t be that stupid about poison.”
“And Corbin and Edna are regular CSIs?” Daisy fired back, her pert nose scrunching as if readied for battle. “What makes you think they even know what palytoxin is?”
Cordelia rubbed her brow. “This is what I was talking about.”
Managing the chicks was like herding cats. The infighting wasn’t going to help keep Daisy out of jail, but they were as stubborn as mules with a mouthful of cockleburs. They didn’t know how to let things go, even if it was to their own detriment.
If they didn’t solve this soon, the authorities would close in on Daisy, and they would all be put away for being accessories.
“The only way we’re going to get answers is if we go to Bramble Park and find out who bought the wine,” Arline said. “Until then, all the two of you are going to accomplish is raising hell and annoying me.”
Belinda Sue and Daisy fell quiet, and Cordelia shot her a grateful look.
And in the silence, while Daisy and Belinda Sue stewed, Cordelia started coming up with ideas of what to do next if Bramble Park turned out to be another dead end.