Digging Up the Dirt Read online

  Benjy laughed. “That’s thanks to Clementine’s cooking. I have to admit my jeans have been getting a little tight around the waist. I’ve never eaten so much good food in my life.”

  Dickce felt a momentary pang. She recalled how Benjy looked and acted when they first met him, back in August. Thin, defensive, shy, and neglected. What a difference good food and affection had made in him.

  “You’re still growing,” Dickce said around the small lump in her throat. “So you eat and enjoy. Clementine has perked up considerably, I can tell you, now that she has a healthy appetite to cook for.”

  When they reached town, Dickce directed Benjy to the square. Their first stop was the best men’s store in town, where Dickce intended to find the suits, dress shirts, shoes, and ties on her list. After that they would visit another store for casual wear.

  By the time Dickce and Benjy finished shopping, nearly three hours later, boxes and bags filled the trunk of Benjy’s car and most of the backseat. Benjy appeared dazed at the amount of clothing and accessories he had suddenly acquired, but Dickce was determined that her ward was going to have a proper wardrobe for the first time in his life.

  “Don’t forget about the fitting next week,” Dickce said as she watched Benjy load the final bag into the car. “After they do the alterations we agreed on today, you’ll need to try everything on again to make sure the fit is right. You won’t need me for that.”

  “I won’t forget,” Benjy said. He brandished his cell phone. “I’ve already put the appointment in here.”

  “Excellent.” Dickce smiled. “Now, I don’t know about you, but shopping always gives me an appetite. I’m ready for lunch.”

  Benjy laughed. “I guess it gave me one, too, because I’m starving.”

  “The Farrington Hotel is two blocks away. Let’s walk, but be sure the car is locked.” Dickce waited for Benjy to check the locks, then led the way down the sidewalk toward the hotel.

  In the entrance to the dining room, Dickce greeted the hostess with a smile and inquired after the woman’s family. Once the pleasantries were finished, the hostess took them to a table in a corner that overlooked the square and left them with menus.

  “Doesn’t look like An’gel is going to join us,” Dickce said as she gazed around the room. Her eyes lit on a couple seated at a table in the far corner, partially obscured by a large ficus.

  “Now, isn’t that interesting,” she murmured, mostly to herself, while she stared at the man and woman. “She certainly isn’t wasting any time making a play for Hadley.”

  CHAPTER 7

  While she waited to be connected to Dr. Gandy, An’gel considered her best plan of attack. Would it be better for her to talk to the doctor in person, or would he find it easier to tell her what she wanted to know over the phone? She decided he would have a harder time ducking her questions if they were face-to-face. By the time he came on the line, she was prepared.

  After the doctor greeted her by name, An’gel said, “Sorry to bother you, Elmo, but I was wondering if you could work me in today. It won’t take long, I promise, but I need to discuss something with you.”

  Gandy’s voice boomed in her ear when he replied, “I can always find time for you. It’s not your back again, is it?”

  An’gel wondered if Elmo realized how loud he was talking these days. To her it was a sure sign of a hearing problem, but whether the doctor would ever admit it, she didn’t know. She replied, “No, not my back. What time should I come by?”

  “How about a quarter of twelve?” the doctor said. “Should be done with the morning’s patients by then. I’ve been cutting back, not seeing as many patients the last few months. Thinking about retiring finally.”

  Considering that Elmo Gandy was only two years younger than she, An’gel knew he could have retired years ago had he wanted to. “I don’t know what Dickce and I will do when you do retire,” An’gel said. “But if anybody deserves a chance to relax and not work, it’s you, Elmo. I’ll see you at quarter to twelve.”

  An’gel replaced the handset and sat for a moment, lost in thought about Elmo Gandy. He had been a widower for the past fifteen years, and after about seven years of widowerhood he began proposing to her and Dickce in turn. Fond as they both were of Elmo, neither sister fancied getting married after decades of happy spinsterhood. Elmo never seemed to take umbrage at the refusals, but he also never seemed to be squelched by them. The proposals came at regular intervals.

  “Well, I’ll deal with that when, and if, he proposes again,” An’gel said to the computer screen. She checked the clock and saw that she had about two hours before she needed to dress and head into town for her appointment. Once she was done with Elmo she could drop by the Farrington Hotel and have lunch with Dickce and Benjy if they hadn’t finished by then.

  Peanut and Endora dropped by for a visit about an hour later. An’gel stopped what she was doing and gave the animals her complete attention. Though she fussed a bit about Endora and her aloofness, An’gel was actually fond of both animals. Peanut, however, was her favorite, because he was a clever dog and learned everything quickly.

  Peanut gazed at her intently while she talked to him. “I hope you listened to what Benjy said about not digging in the flower beds. I really can’t have you making a mess of the yard.” She wagged a finger at the dog, and he barked as if to tell her he understood.

  “Good boy.” An’gel patted him on the head before she turned to look at Endora, perched on the arm of a nearby club chair. “As for you, missy, I expect you to behave, too. You’re smart enough when you want to be, so I’d better not catch you digging things up.”

  Endora yawned and then began to wash her right front paw. An’gel was not surprised at the cat’s response.

  “Okay, you two, y’all go on back to Clementine, and let me finish up.”

  Peanut barked and approached the cat. He nudged Endora with his nose, then turned and loped out of the room. The cat rose, stretched, then hopped down and ambled out of the room. An’gel smiled and went back to work.

  By the time she was ready to leave for her appointment with the doctor, An’gel had managed to get caught up with e-mail and business matters. She had to tell Peanut and Endora that they couldn’t come with her, and she apologized to Clementine for leaving them in her care. The housekeeper laughed and assured her it was no problem.

  “They’re good company when everybody else is out of the house,” Clementine said, her voice husky from decades of smoking. “You don’t be worrying about us. We get along fine.”

  Thus reassured, An’gel headed out. Twenty minutes later she pulled the car into a parking space near the building where Dr. Gandy had his office. The building stood on a side street about three blocks from the square, and once An’gel had finished with the doctor, she had only a short trip to the hotel.

  The waiting room was empty when An’gel entered. She went straight to the frosted glass window and rapped gently. The receptionist opened the window right away and smiled at her. “You can go right on back, Miss Ducote. The doctor’s ready for you.”

  An’gel thanked the young woman and went through a nearby door into a hallway. The doctor’s office lay at the end. She paused at the open door and cleared her throat.

  Elmo Gandy turned his chair to face the doorway, and his homely hound-dog face split into a huge grin at the sight of her. He rose and came around the desk to usher her to a chair. “Lovely as ever, An’gel. Now, tell me. What’s bothering you?” He perched on a corner of the desk and straightened his tie.

  Though she had rehearsed what she planned to say during the drive into town, An’gel nevertheless hesitated. She had never before asked the doctor to violate the confidence of another patient, even a deceased one, and she wasn’t sure how he was going to react. She took a deep breath. She had to know.

  “I’m personally fine, Elmo,” she said. “Except that I’m r
eally upset over Sarinda Hetherington’s death.”

  At the mention of his late patient’s name, Dr. Gandy frowned. He got up from the desk and went around to resume his seat behind it. Arms on the desk, he leaned forward and regarded An’gel. “Sarinda’s death came as quite a shock to me, too, I have to say.” He shook his head. “Poor soul.”

  “Have the police spoken to you yet about it?” An’gel asked.

  Dr. Gandy nodded. “First thing this morning.”

  “I was shocked to hear,” An’gel said, “that she had been drinking heavily and fell down the stairs to her death. I had no idea she drank like that.” She watched the doctor to register his reaction to her words.

  Dr. Gandy frowned again and leaned back in his chair. He stared at her for a long moment. “Why are you so interested in this?”

  An’gel knew she had to be completely honest with him. “I’m worried that there was something odd about Sarinda’s death. I wonder if she really did have a drinking problem.”

  “The police asked me the same thing,” the doctor said. “I will tell you what I told them. Ordinarily I wouldn’t tell even you this, An’gel, even though I know you have Sarinda’s best interests at heart.” He paused.

  An’gel nodded. “I understand that you wouldn’t want to violate a patient’s confidentiality, even once that patient was dead.”

  “Yes,” the doctor said. “Normally I wouldn’t share this, but I don’t want to see Sarinda’s name blackened, have her labeled an alcoholic when I know damn well she wasn’t one.”

  Dickce couldn’t tear her eyes away from the table in the corner. “Just look at them,” she muttered.

  Benjy looked up from the menu he had been perusing with great interest. “Who are you talking about?” He glanced around.

  “That table in the far corner,” Dickce said in an undertone. She picked up her own menu and stared at it. “The silver-haired man and the redheaded woman. See them?”

  “Yes,” Benjy said. “Who are they? I don’t think I’ve seen either of them before.”

  “Hadley Partridge,” Dickce said. “And Arliss McGonigal. Hadley has come back to Athena after being gone for forty years. Arliss is a friend of mine and An’gel’s. She’s a member of the garden club board.”

  “Is there anything strange about the two of them being together?” Benjy asked, obviously puzzled. “I guess they know each other, right?”

  Dickce grimaced. “They do, and I wonder just how well they know each other.” Every time she glanced over at their table, Dickce saw Arliss touching Hadley, and Hadley didn’t appear to be bothered by it. There was an air of intimacy between the two, and Dickce found it unsettling.

  Exactly why she found it unsettling, she refused to consider. She thought Arliss was behaving in a slightly brazen manner.

  “Why don’t you go over and say hi to them?” Benjy asked.

  Dickce stared with suspicion at his bland expression. Then she laughed as the humor of the situation struck her. Here she was, dining with an attractive young man sixty years her junior, and she thought Arliss brazen for dining with Hadley, a man roughly her own age.

  She decided she had better come clean with Benjy about Hadley Partridge. “All the women in town were in love with him forty years ago,” she said. “Even An’gel and I were both a little smitten with him. He was always the handsomest and the most charming man we all knew. He dated lots of women but he never would settle down with any one woman. We all thought he was carrying a torch for his brother’s wife, and that’s why he wouldn’t commit to anyone else.”

  “Sounds like an old movie,” Benjy said. “You said he was back in town after forty years. Why did he leave? Didn’t he ever come back for a visit?”

  “The story was that he left because his brother threatened to kill him if he didn’t leave his wife alone. Hadley never did get along well with Hamish,” Dickce said. “Hamish wasn’t easy to live with, and they all lived together at Ashton Hall.”

  “That’s the old house down the road from Riverhill,” Benjy said. “Didn’t you tell me the guy that owned it died recently?”

  Dickce nodded. “Yes, Hamish Partridge. That’s why Hadley came back, apparently. Hamish left everything to him.”

  “What about Mrs. Partridge?” Benjy asked. “Is she still living?”

  “That’s what’s so mysterious,” Dickce said. “Callie left town right after Hadley did. Most of us thought she ran away to be with Hadley, but at the garden club board meeting yesterday Hadley swore to us he never saw Callie again once he left Athena.”

  “Now it really does sound like an old movie,” Benjy said.

  The waitress arrived to take their order, and they both decided on the day’s special, chicken and dumplings. The waitress noted their orders, removed the menus, and left them.

  “They won’t be as good as Clementine’s,” Dickce said. “But they’re still pretty good.”

  “Nothing’s as good as Clementine’s cooking.” Benjy leaned back and patted his stomach. “I’m proof of that.” He grinned.

  “Look,” Dickce said in a low tone. “They’re getting ready to leave. I wonder if they’ve seen us.”

  Benjy turned his head, and Dickce watched as Hadley, courtly as ever, pulled back Arliss’s chair for her and extended his arm when she stood. Arliss leaned against him and looked up into his face with what she no doubt thought—Dickce guessed—was a seductive glance. Dickce was pleased to note that Hadley appeared unaffected by the lingering gaze. The couple left the dining room without a glance in Dickce’s direction.

  Dickce would have given a lot to have heard the conversation between the two. She couldn’t wait to tell An’gel about seeing Arliss and Hadley together.

  “Do you think Miss An’gel is going to join us?” Benjy asked.

  “Doesn’t look like it,” Dickce replied. Then she glanced over Benjy’s shoulder to see her sister advancing toward them. “No, I was wrong, because here she is.”

  An’gel reached them, and Benjy jumped up to pull out a chair for her. An’gel smiled her thanks, and Benjy reseated himself.

  “I saw Hadley and Arliss leaving the hotel when I pulled in,” An’gel said. “They were down the street before I could get out of the car and say hello to them. Were they dining in here?”

  Dickce snickered. “Yes, they were dining. Did you think they’d spent the night here and were strolling out for fresh air?”

  An’gel frowned and glanced sideways at Benjy. “Sister, I’m surprised at you. You shouldn’t say things like that.”

  “It’s okay, Miss An’gel,” Benjy said. “You don’t have to worry on my account.”

  An’gel looked slightly flustered at that, and Dickce snickered again. “We didn’t have a chance to speak to them either. I don’t think Arliss, at least, would have welcomed any interruption, especially from either of us.”

  “No, I doubt she would have.” An’gel shook her head.

  The waitress approached the table with a menu and a glass of water. An’gel inquired about the daily special and when told it was chicken and dumplings, decided she would have that and a glass of iced tea. The waitress nodded, took back the menu, and walked away.

  “Let’s leave the subject of Arliss and Hadley for the moment,” An’gel said. “I have something to tell you.”

  “What have you been up to?” Dickce asked. “I thought you had a lot of work to do.”

  “I did, and it’s taken care of,” An’gel said. “I found the time to talk to Drew Carson.” She turned to Benjy. “He’s the chief of police here.”

  “Did you call him about Sarinda?” Dickce asked.

  An’gel nodded. “He didn’t tell me much, really, but I decided I would talk to Elmo Gandy and see what he would tell me about Sarinda.”

  “Dr. Gandy is our family physician,” Dickce explained to a bewildered-looking Ben
jy. “An’gel and I have been going to him practically forever, since he first got out of medical school and came back to Athena to set up a practice.” She looked at An’gel. “What did Elmo tell you?”

  An’gel glanced around before she answered. “He told me that Sarinda was definitely not an alcoholic. He thinks it was extremely unlikely that she would have been drinking bourbon, at least enough to get drunk and lose her balance coming down the stairs.”

  Dickce’s eyes narrowed. “Does this mean he thinks her death wasn’t an accident?”

  An’gel nodded. “He’s pretty sure it wasn’t, and he told the police that. He thinks she was most likely knocked down the stairs.”

  CHAPTER 8

  After lunch, Benjy headed home to unload his car while Dickce remained in town with An’gel. During the meal the sisters discussed the ramifications of the doctor’s thoughts on the death of their friend, and when they were ready to leave the hotel restaurant, An’gel had a suggestion.

  “Let’s pay a call on Lottie,” she said. “I want to find out what she was doing at Sarinda’s house in the first place, and what she saw while she was there.”

  Dickce glanced at the sky before she opened the passenger door and climbed into the car. “That’s a good idea,” she said, “but I don’t think we should linger in town too long. Clouds are moving in, and I don’t want to be on the road when those storms get here.”

  “Agreed.” An’gel cranked the car and backed it out of the parking space. “If we catch Lottie at home, it shouldn’t take too long to find out what we want to know.”

  “If she’s not at home, she’ll probably be at Barbie’s house,” Dickce said. “We can try there if we need to.”

  “Yes, we can, but I’d rather talk to Lottie on her own,” An’gel replied. “Barbie has a tendency to speak for Lottie when they’re together, and I’m not in the mood for it today.”