Murder by Yew (An Edna Davies Mystery #1)(33)

“Maybe I’ll follow you to work before I leave Monday morning. I’ll look at them then. It’s not important enough to make a special trip.” Edna paused and squinted at the picture again before adding, “I am curious, though.”

Gesturing at the photo, Starling snorted a laugh. “You’re right about one thing. It is pretty weird that I should have a picture of your housekeeper on my wall.” The carrot in her hand must have reminded her of dinner. “Oh, no. The fish!” She raced back to the kitchen.

Edna followed more slowly and finished making the salad while Starling rescued the almost blackened fish and cooked some rice. When she finally sat down to eat, Edna realized again just how famished she was. Photographs and death were pushed to the back of her mind as she enjoyed the meal and gossiped with her daughter. After dinner, they sat in the living room with a pot of tea and a plate of sliced pound cake on the low table in front of them.

“What did Dad say about what happened last week?” Starling passed a cup and saucer to Edna before picking up her own and snuggling into the pillows in one corner of the couch.

Settled into the opposite corner, Edna sipped her drink before replying. She knew Starling was talking about Tom’s death. She hadn’t yet mentioned the police investigation and was reluctant to share her thoughts with her daughter. Savoring the tea gave her time to consider. Finally, she said, “I haven’t told him.”

“Why not?” Starling looked surprised. “I thought you discussed everything with Dad.”

Edna sighed, realizing she couldn’t talk about what was bothering her if she hid part of it. Time to ‘fess up, she thought.

“Mo-om,” Starling wailed her impatience.

“I haven’t said anything to him because I think, at the moment anyway, the police suspect me of poisoning Tom.”

“What?” Starling sat bolt upright, sloshing some of the tea into her saucer. “You can’t be serious.”

Now that she had opened the floodgates, the tight control Edna had kept over her emotions was gone, and a lump bulged in her throat. She coughed it down, not wanting to distress Starling more. “They’re still investigating, but they took samples of my tea mixes and some trash bags filled with clippings from the yew trees in front of the house.”

“Why does that make you think they suspect you? Wouldn’t that be some sort of procedure they follow?”

“It’s more of a feeling than anything they said about my being a suspect. You had to have been there.” Edna hesitated, trying to think of how to explain. “I don’t believe they think I did it on purpose, only that I was careless in choosing my ingredients.”

“When are you going to tell Dad? You’ve got to tell him sometime. Doesn’t he get home tomorrow?”

“No, not until Wednesday. He’s changed his plans and is flying to Denver to visit Grant for a few days.”

“I thought you two were going out there for Thanksgiving?”

“We are, but he was invited to tour a children’s clinic. He said Dr. Isaacs wouldn’t be around during the holidays, so he had to go this week.”

“Dr. Isaacs?” Starling set her cup on the coffee table and leaned back against the pillows again. “Phyllis Isaacs?” A broad smile lit up her face. “Wow. Dad’s hanging with pretty cool company. Have you met her?”

“Her? I thought Dr. Isaacs was a he. I thought his name was Phil.”

“The Dr. Isaacs I know, the one who runs a children’s clinic in Denver, is named Phyllis. Maybe her friends call her Phil. All I know is Jillybean’s pediatrician works with her.”

Edna couldn’t help smiling at the family’s pet name for her young granddaughter Jillian. Grant’s eight-year-old was a bouncy, energetic child, and Edna thought of a Mexican jumping bean every time she heard the nickname.

Starling and Grant were the closest of Edna’s four children, in friendship as well as in age. Mathew had been twelve, Diane eight, and Grant fourteen months when Starling was born. It had been like having a second family when the last two came along.

Five years ago, Grant’s work took him to Denver, and at first Starling seemed lost without her brother and best friend. Now she flew to Colorado at least twice a year to vacation and visit. She had even attended Grant’s second wedding ceremony, a fact that still irked Edna, since she and Albert had heard about the marriage only afterwards.

Edna realized these wandering thoughts were her way of warding off her unease at Starling’s revelation. Phyllis Isaacs, not Phil. Had Albert purposely misled her? Why would he do that? Does he have something to hide? She didn’t want to think about it right now and switched the conversation back to Starling’s earlier question. “I don’t know when, or what, I’m going to tell your father. First, I need to find out where Tom went and who else he saw that day.”

“Isn’t that what the police are doing?”

“Not if they think they’ve already got a reasonable explanation. Just in case, I want to find out for myself.”

“It sounds like you think he was poisoned on purpose.”

“Well …” Hesitating, Edna realized the idea had been growing in the back of her mind. “Nobody has come forward to say they’d been with him. If they have nothing to hide, why not come forward?”