Murder by Yew (An Edna Davies Mystery #1)(18)

“Our husbands were fraternity brothers.” Edna clutched the door handle as the car spun left onto Main Street. She wondered if Peppa had seen the green Honda as they’d pulled out of the parking lot into the path of the other car.

“Tragic about Nip,” Peppa said, “to die only six months before retirement. Next month would have been their fiftieth anniversary, you know.”

“Yes, I do know. Albert said there wasn’t a thing anyone could have done, Nip went so quickly.”

“Should have changed his diet years ago.” Peppa careened left onto a side street without signaling. Edna closed her eyes, not wanting to see how close the oncoming car was to her passenger-side door.

As they traveled down the meandering two-lane road away from the center of town, traffic thinned considerably, and Edna was able to relax a little. “Nip was the one who found our house for us, you know,” she said, keeping one hand on the door’s armrest in case Peppa took another sudden turn. “One of the reasons this area appealed to us was because of the Tuckers. Nip suffered his heart attack only two weeks before we moved in.”

They drove in silence for a few minutes before Edna attempted a lighter topic of conversation. “Is your husband retired?”

Peppa glanced at her with an unreadable expression, then stared silently at the road for a few minutes before responding. “I’m divorced,” she said finally.

“Oh. I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” Edna felt her face flush. Why hadn’t Tuck mentioned this, she wondered. And just what does she think we have in common?

“Happened years ago. I’m over it.” Peppa momentarily turned her head away, muttering something under her breath that Edna thought sounded like “some ditch.”

Whatever she was thinking made Peppa press even more heavily on the gas pedal. The old Mercedes sped along the tree-lined road until Peppa swung left, barreled though an opening and onto a dirt track. As the vehicle straightened, Edna twisted to look out the back window.

“Did you see that? The post is down. It looks like someone sideswiped the stone wall.”

“Didn’t notice.” Peppa raced up the quarter-mile drive toward the main house. Branches from large oak and maple trees created a canopy over the road, and a tangle of underbrush crowded both sides, making it seem as though they were driving through a tunnel. As soon as they broke out of the foliage and she saw the house, Edna reached out to grab Peppa’s arm. “Stop the car. Something’s wrong.”

Six

Peppa slammed on the brakes, spinning dirt and gravel as she stopped fifty feet from the house. Tuck’s light blue Lincoln was parked a few feet away in the grass beside the drive. “What do you mean, something’s wrong? Looks okay to me.”

“Tuck would never park on the lawn. Besides that, the car is too far from the house and the driver’s door is wide open.”

“Is that all?” Peppa looked at Edna and laughed. “She was probably unloading groceries and forgot she left the door open. Happens to me all the time.”

“Why didn’t she pull up to the house, if she was unloading groceries? And why is she parked on the lawn?”

“Obvious. She was leaving room for us.” Peppa reached over and patted Edna’s shoulder. “It’s fine. I see nothing wrong.” That said, she gave the Mercedes some gas and stopped within a foot of the front step, the hood mere inches from the juniper bush growing next to the side railing.

The way she parks, no wonder she doesn’t think anything’s wrong, Edna thought as she pushed open the passenger door, finally releasing her grasp on the inside handle. She noticed the car’s front bumper was overhanging some asters planted at the base of the juniper.

Peppa came around behind the car, head down as she dropped her keys into the pocketbook swinging from her arm. Edna grabbed her wrist before she could reach the portico. “The door’s ajar. I have never known Tuck to leave her front door open.”

“No, not usually.” Peppa sounded annoyed as she snapped her purse shut. “But this morning, she’s expecting us. She obviously wants us to walk in, since the kitchen’s in back.” From her tone, Peppa might as well have added, “you ninny.”

Edna felt chastised, but a sense of unease continued to plague her. After a moment’s hesitation, she hurried up the few steps after Peppa, who had pushed the door wide and was entering the foyer. Busy looking at the windows, trying to decide what else seemed out of place, Edna didn’t notice Peppa had stopped short just inside the door. She bumped into the stocky woman, propelling her forward into the large anteroom where she stumbled and nearly fell headlong onto the parquet floor.

While Peppa was regaining her balance, Edna saw what had made her trip. “It’s Tuck!” Dropping to her knees beside the still form on the hardwood floor, she pressed her fingers to the side of Tuck’s neck, seeing as she did so the blood in Tuck’s hair.

“I feel a pulse, but it’s weak.”

“What happened?” Peppa leaned forward over their friend.

“I have no idea.”

“Looks like she fell. Maybe she hit her head on something.”

Examining Tuck’s scalp, Edna spoke her thoughts aloud. “She’s on her face, but the blood is on the back of her head. See?” She pointed to a dark spot high on the right side of Tuck’s skull, trying to stay calm. She wouldn’t do her friend any good by panicking.