The Diva Digs up the Dirt (18 page)

Mrs. Danvers must have been watching because she came running, her long black skirt whipping around her legs. “What have you done to him?”

Mars slid his iPhone out of a pocket and called 911.

Mrs. Danvers looked at him in horror. “He doesn’t need an ambulance!”

When Mars spoke into the phone and said he thought we had found a body, Mrs. Danvers howled and slung the back of her wrist against his phone, knocking it out of Mars’s hand. It flew through the air over the flower bed and landed next to the hand, as though the hand were reaching for it.

Mars and I exchanged a look. “I’m not going back there to get it,” he said.

“You couldn’t pay me enough to retrieve it,” said Nina.

“The rescue people can retrieve it,” I said. “That way we won’t disturb the evidence.”

“What is wrong with you people? Roscoe isn’t dead, and he doesn’t need an ambulance. You!” Mrs. Danvers pointed at Mars. “Go get the wheelbarrow from the garden shed and bring it here.” Muttering to Roscoe, she added, “Nobody has any brains anymore. Did you forget to take your medicine again? There’s nothing wrong with you except heat exhaustion. What were you thinking coming out here to walk around? Mad dogs and Englishmen, but you’re neither.”

Mars dutifully brought the wheelbarrow, sweat beading on his forehead from jogging.

Mrs. Danvers ripped it away from him and positioned it near Roscoe, who raised one hand and waved it weakly. “Stop fussing over me, Violet. Is it Audie? Can you tell?”

“Hush, you old fool.”

There was no way we could swing him into the wheelbarrow. “I don’t think—”

“That’s the trouble these days. Nobody thinks. You lift his right arm, and you”—she pointed at Mars again—“you
lift from the left. Cat woman!” She wiggled a gnarly hand at Nina. “You hold the wheelbarrow steady.”

This was going to be a nightmare. With any luck at all, we would succeed in simply lowering Roscoe to the grass. I said a little prayer that we wouldn’t drop or hurt him.

Mrs. Danvers walked to the rear of the wheelbarrow.

“Violet, tell me,” begged Roscoe in a breathy voice. “Is it Audie under the mulch?”

She paused and turned her dark eyes toward the base of the mulch pile. She flinched with the slightest flicker of shock. She glanced at me, then at Mars, as though assessing whether we had noticed the hand. In a voice so calm that it sounded fake, she said, “On the count of three.”

I did my best to get a good grip on Roscoe. There was no doubt he needed to be moved into the house, and he certainly wasn’t in any shape to walk back on his own. The guest house looked to be as far away as the main house.

But on the count of one, he passed out and fell forward. I didn’t think we could hold his weight, and I was right. Mars and I lowered him to the ground.

Mrs. Danvers fell to her knees and leaned over Roscoe, stroking his cheeks. “No! No! Don’t you die on me, you old goat!”

Fortunately, the siren of an ambulance drew near. Leaving Mars and Nina with Roscoe and Mrs. Danvers, I ran for the house. I felt certain Mrs. Danvers wouldn’t approve of me letting myself in and dashing through the cool house to the front door, but it was too hot and too far to run around the side of the house.

The ambulance arrived at the same time as Roscoe’s wife, Mindy. I motioned to them all to follow me. When we reached the terrace, they spotted Roscoe and took off, leaving me behind. Mindy ran across the grass in high heels, calling “Roscoe! Roscoe, darling!”

The doorbell rang. Assuming that no one else was in the house, I returned to the front door and opened it, only to find Detective Kenner.

“You have to be kidding me,” he said. “Isn’t it enough
that you found the incriminating evidence in the murder of Wolf’s wife? Don’t tell me there’s another murder.”

“I don’t know that there is.”
Actually, I was fairly sure. No one would intentionally crawl under mulch. Was that even possible?
“Follow me. The emergency medical technicians are here for Roscoe, who collapsed in the heat. But there’s a hand sticking out from under the mulch pile.” I led him through the yard.

Mars and Kenner nodded at each other.

“Where is it, Sophie?” asked Kenner. “I don’t see it.”

“Who are you?” demanded Mrs. Danvers.

Kenner flashed his police badge.

“We don’t need the police.” She stood rigidly, as though she thought she could stop him by simply appearing forbidding.

I scooted around the gurney the rescue squad had set up for Roscoe. “It’s right th—” Where had it gone? “It was about here. Mars saw it, too. So did Mrs. Danv…”—I swallowed the rest of the name—“Violet.”

She circled around Roscoe, muttering. She was only in the way of the rescue squad. Had she covered the hand so the rescue squad wouldn’t notice?

I took out my cell phone and dialed Mars’s number. When his iPhone played musical notes from under the mulch, Mrs. Danvers glared at me with fury.

“The hand is holding a phone?” asked Kenner.

“Mars’s phone accidentally landed near it,” I explained.

The rescue squad lifted Roscoe onto the gurney and rolled it across the lawn. Mindy and Mars walked alongside it, but Mrs. Danvers seemed torn. She wavered, watching Kenner bend over to brush away mulch. He uncovered the phone and seconds later, the hand.

He stood up straight. “Looks like a man’s hand.” He pulled out his phone and made a call.

Mrs. Danvers’s breathing was so labored, I feared she might be the next one to keel over. Her back straight as a board, she walked across the grass to the guest house, opened the door, and disappeared inside.

When she exited moments later, her back was still ramrod straight, but her head sagged like she’d lost her best friend. Unless I missed my guess, she already knew who was buried under the mulch. Her behavior had certainly been peculiar. Covering up the hand and trying to get rid of the police had been futile gestures at best. I couldn’t help thinking that she was trying to protect someone. Given her actions and Roscoe’s questions, I feared Audie was buried under the mulch.

The sun had shifted, and we no longer had the benefit of any shade. I fanned myself. “Unless you need us for something, I guess Nina and I will go.”

Kenner shook his head. “Afraid not. I need statements from you. I’d appreciate it if you walked to the house on that little path with me.”

“She’s the one you need to talk to.” Nina pointed in Mrs. Danvers’s direction. “She doesn’t miss a single thing that happens around here. Do you think we should dig him out of there? Is there any chance he could be alive? It looks like someone raked or shoveled it on top him.”

“That would be something. I don’t think anyone could breathe under mulch. Sophie, could I have a word?” asked Kenner.

We stopped to talk.

“Hey! I have to check the cat trap.” Nina pointed to it. “The tuna will go bad.”

I explained about the cat and the reason for our presence.

Kenner squinted at Nina. “Stay on the patio. I’ll take the tuna to the trap.” He addressed me. “Why would Roscoe and Mars be out here talking in this heat?”

“It was still cool when we arrived. But Roscoe didn’t look well.” That didn’t actually answer his question. “I can only think of two reasons. Either Roscoe wanted to show something to Mars, or they didn’t want anyone to overhear them. Nina’s right about the housekeeper. She’s up to her eyeballs in this. She must have been desperate to imagine that covering the hand would make the situation go away.”

“Why do you think she’s the one who covered it up?”

“Roscoe had fainted, and Mars was so creeped out that he didn’t want to retrieve his own phone. Nina wouldn’t have gone back there unless the cat was sitting on top of the hand. That leaves Mrs. Danvers.”

Kenner’s lips turned up in the barest hint of a smile, and the skin around his eyes crinkled. “You’d have made a good cop.” He pulled out a pad and pen. “Do you know her first name?”

How embarrassing.
“Mrs. Danvers is the name of the dreadful housekeeper in
Rebecca
. Remember the book? Alfred Hitchcock made it into a movie.”

“Yeah, I watch a lot of chick flicks.” His tone dripped sarcasm.

“Roscoe and Mindy call her Violet. I don’t know her last name.”

Two crime scene investigators arrived. Kenner spoke with them briefly, then motioned to Nina.

They retreated to the house, while I waited outside in the shade of old trees, watching the cops work from a distance.

In a matter of minutes, Mars called me. I met him, Kenner, and Nina on the terrace in the blistering sun.

“Roscoe thinks the walls have ears,” said Mars. “That’s why we were talking outside this morning. He’s been feeling poorly for the past few months. The doctors think it’s his heart.”

Kenner made some notes on his pad. “Mars, what’s your connection to Roscoe?”

“He’s backing some of my clients in their bids for political office.”

“His family doesn’t know about his heart problems?” I asked. “Why would he keep that from them? Why confide in you?”

Mars shrugged. “Maybe he thinks they’ll push him into retirement. Yesterday he mentioned a couple of times that his son, Audie, was eager to take over the company.”

“How dare you. Audie would never hurt Roscoe.”

The voice caught me by surprise. From the shocked
looks on their faces, no one else had realized that Mrs. Danvers had positioned herself upstairs near an open window to listen.

One of the cops shouted to Kenner. He cast a critical gaze at us. “I’m going to need someone to identify the body. Single file on the little path, please.”

We returned to the mulch pile, Mrs. Danvers close behind us.

The body had been uncovered. If Roscoe had heart problems, would he survive if this was the death of his only child?

Bracing myself for a gruesome sight, I swallowed hard, looked at the corpse, and gasped.

Heath, from Troy’s crew, lay on the ground. He was grimy from the mulch, but there was no mistaking the attractive guy I met two days ago. Toned muscles strained at the sleeves of his T-shirt. Bits of mulch and twigs stuck in his sandy hair. I guessed him to be in his late forties. What struck me the most was the lack of blood or obvious injury. If he hadn’t been grubby from the mulch, he would have looked like he had died of natural causes.

“Any of you know this guy?” asked Kenner.

Mrs. Danvers didn’t say a word.

I nodded. “I only met him once, but I’m pretty sure it’s Heath. He was supposed to be working with the crew in my backyard, but he didn’t show up for work yesterday.”

“Heath?” Kenner frowned at me.

Nina removed her hands from her mouth. “I concur. It’s Heath.”

“Dad!” Audie raced over to us from the house, Cricket followed more slowly, tottering on high heels again.

“Is it Dad? Is he okay? I got a call…” Audie stopped talking, and his forehead wrinkled when he saw the body. “I don’t understand. That’s Heath Blankenship. What’s he doing here?”

“Who is Heath Blankenship?” Kenner asked Audie, but he couldn’t take his eyes off of Cricket, who was busy trying to dislodge a heel from the soil. Carrying her shoes, she ran to join us.

“Violet called Audie. We came right away,” said Cricket.

I assumed she was used to men acting like fools around her, but she appeared startled to see Kenner. Her voice soft, she said, “Tommy Lee?”

Tommy Lee?
So what if Kenner wasn’t my favorite person?
I
was a terrible and insensitive human being—I never once wondered what his first name might be.

She stretched out her arms and hugged Kenner. “I can’t believe it’s you!”

There was no mistaking the sadness in his eyes. “Good to see you, Cricket.”

When Cricket finally turned her attention to the man on the ground, she squealed and flipped her fingers over her mouth. “Heath! I never thought I’d see him again, much less like this! What happened?”

Audie stared at Heath. “I can’t imagine what he’s doing here. He worked for our company a few years back. He’s a little older, I guess, but it’s him.”

I’d seen him in the woods during the party. If he worked for the company once, he must have seen friends there. Maybe he mingled. “Do you think someone invited him to the party?” As soon as the words left my mouth, I realized that I should have left the questioning to the cops.

Audie grunted cynically. “Not a chance. Where’s Dad?”

Violet’s jaw tightened. She glowered at Mars, Nina, and me as though we had caused their troubles. “They took him to the hospital. There’s not a thing wrong with him except heat exhaustion.” She stalked away, toward the house.

“Keep to the path!” yelled Kenner.

Violet ignored him. Audie jogged after her, pelting her with questions about Roscoe.

Cricket lingered, her attention on Kenner. “You haven’t changed a bit.” She tossed her copper hair back self-consciously.

He actually smiled. I didn’t think he was capable. “You’re as beautiful as ever.”

I was beginning to feel like the rest of us were intruding on something private.

She tilted her head a bit. “You old flatterer. I’m so glad that you’re on this case.”

“Cricket!” Audie shouted to her from the terrace.

“I have to go. We’ll catch up later. Okay?” She touched his elbow in a familiar way, then took off at a jog, keeping to the little path, her high heels still in her hands.

In a low voice, Kenner said, “You three can go now, too. I know where to find you.”

Mars, Nina, and I had been dismissed.

Mars held out his hand. “Could I have my phone back, please?”

“Nope.” Kenner didn’t even bother to look at him. “It’s part of the crime scene.”