Murder by Yew (An Edna Davies Mystery #1)(21)

“Nothing wrong with us,” Peppa said. “We’d like to know about Tom Greene though. How’s he doing?”

The receptionist looked down at her computer monitor and mumbled, “Okay.”

Edna brightened with hope. “Is he out of the coma?” she asked anxiously.

The woman behind the desk began straightening pencils beside the phone. “I can’t really give out that sort of patient information,” she said, still not looking at them.

Edna’s heart sunk. From the way Lydia was behaving, she knew at once the news was bad. The receptionist hadn’t even given them the pat as-well-as-can-be-expected answer.

“Lydia,” Peppa’s voice was soft, but her tone was one of authority. “Your family and the Greenes have been friends for as long as I can remember, so I know you’re keeping a close watch on his condition. We aren’t asking for the medical details. We only want to know if he’s out of the coma. Surely you can tell us that much.”

Lydia’s eyes filled with tears. She pulled a tissue from a pocket of her skirt and looked around furtively before answering in a low voice. “He died last night. They’ve taken his body to Providence for autopsy.” She controlled her grief with visible effort.

Peppa looked puzzled. “Why are they doing an autopsy?”

“Standard procedure for any sudden or inexplicable death,” Edna cut in, repeating something she’d learned from Albert many years ago. She said the words almost mechanically as the image of Tom’s handsome face insinuated itself into her head. Even as she spoke, she was trying to get her mind around the receptionist’s words. Tom dead? Then, feeling as if she were suffocating, she turned from the desk and headed for the hospital entrance. She needed air.

Peppa caught up with her at the edge of the parking lot, and they rode in silence back to the shopping mall where Edna had left her car. This time, Peppa drove more sedately. When they reached the salon, Edna was amazed to realize that only four hours had elapsed since she’d had her hair done. It felt like an eternity.

She didn’t remember driving away from the mall, so absorbed was she in thinking about Tom, how he’d looked, how he’d acted. His kindness. The sparkle in his eyes and the gentle way he had with his grandson. Not until she neared her driveway and saw the sign in the Sharp’s yard was her attention distracted.

For Sale. Why are they selling their home? she wondered, thinking it was barely more than twenty-four hours ago Aleda had been taken away by the police. Had the Sharps been planning to sell the house, or had this something to do with her arrest? Edna was saddened. She didn’t know the Sharps well, but she liked them. She didn’t want to lose them as neighbors. As Edna got out of the car, she made a mental note to ask Mary what she knew about the situation. Her other neighbor certainly had a finger on the community’s pulse.

Entering her own house, Edna searched for something to do to take her mind off Tom and the problems of the family across the street, but the place was spotless, the laundry was done, and the beds were made. She hadn’t had lunch, but the thought of eating made her nauseous, and she didn’t feel like working in the garden. That would keep her hands busy but not her mind.

Paints. That was it. She had planned to sketch pictures of some of the plants and shrubs she would be using for her October presentation to Greenthumbs when she had been interrupted by Norm yesterday. She thought four pen-and-ink sketches with splashes of watercolor would be an attractive way to illustrate her talk and provide interesting visuals. Maybe some artwork would make up for whatever might be lacking in the content of her talk. After listening to Dee yesterday, Edna had more confidence in her ability to draw than in her knowledge of herbs and poisons.

Finding easel and paints at the back of the coat closet, she dragged them out to the patio. On the table beside her canvas stool, she laid her pencil box and a gardening book filled with large, colored photographs. “This will do nicely,” she told Benjamin, who was grooming himself in a nearby sunny spot on the flagstones.

Propping up the book on a metal stand, she turned pages until she found what she’d been looking for, lily-of-the-valley. Drawing the delicate blooms and oval leaves was soothing, and Edna finished her first sketch quickly. When that was done, she again flipped through the book until she spotted a sculpted yew tree. Placing the book back on its stand, she clipped a fresh sheet of paper to the easel and picked up a pen.

She paused as an image formed itself in her mind. Then, as she slashed some lines on the paper, a square-shaped face with a strong jaw began to appear. Her hand was quick with the nose and eyes. She had outlined an ear and was shading hair onto the forehead when she heard a sound behind her.

“Good likeness.”

Edna whipped around to see police detective Charlie Rogers standing a few feet away. His hands were clasped in front of his stomach, and his feet were spaced apart as he leaned slightly backwards and cocked his head to one side, studying the drawing of Tom Greene. She saw his hazel eyes drop to the book opened on the table before moving up to meet her gaze. At first, she was too startled to speak, then she didn’t know what to say. She wondered what he was doing there.

Their silent appraisal of each other was interrupted, to Edna’s relief, by a woman in a navy blue skirt and stark white blouse who materialized around the corner from the front of the house. Her blonde hair was boyishly cut and very attractive with her long, lean frame. Edna watched as she approached, then looked back at Charlie.