Murder by Yew (An Edna Davies Mystery #1)(59)

Dee talked on as if, once begun, she couldn’t stop. It was as though the images in her mind were coming out of her mouth. “We were going to California—Los Angeles, Hollywood. I’d finally be somebody. It wouldn’t be anything like here.”

“You could have been someone here,” Edna protested. “You would have been taken in and cared for.”

Dee looked at Edna, frowning, then laughed derisively. “So Mary must have told you about Mister Henry’s wanting to adopt me.” She said the title with sarcastic emphasis. “I should have known the idea would have come from her father. Those two men were quite a pair. Adopting me would have made it convenient for Mister Henry.” Again, the sarcasm. “He wouldn’t have had to leave his house to come sneaking into my bed.”

Edna was shocked. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that the men in this town, husbands of the holier-than-thou society women, didn’t come looking only for Mama’s favors.”

“Didn’t your mother stop them?”

“She didn’t know. Sometimes she’d get drunk and pass out before her friend was sleepy. When that happened, most of the time, the guy would just leave. As I got older, some of the men would knock on my door to see if I was willing before they’d call it a night. Mister Henry was one of the few who persisted.”

Edna put a hand over her mouth, horrified at the thought of what Dee had suffered as a child. Reaching out toward her, she said, “Why didn’t you tell your mother?”

Dee shrugged and studied her nails. “She killed herself, you know.”

Edna had thought she might be immune to any more shock, but she was wrong. “What? How …?” She could only stutter incoherently.

“Oh, not on purpose. She wouldn’t have left me like that.” Dee raised her head to glare at Edna as if daring her to disagree. “She read somewhere about making tea from the bark and branches of a yew tree. Said she wouldn’t have another baby. Couldn’t afford it, for one thing. I don’t think she even wanted me, at least not before I was born.” She smiled like a little girl. “Mama used to say, ‘Don’t know what I’d do without you, Daisy. You’re my little flower, my life.”

“Then all she wanted to do was to end a pregnancy?” Edna kept her tone soft. The story she was hearing was horrible. The injustice of it made her feel physically ill.

“That’s what she meant to do, but that’s not what happened.” Unshed tears filled Dee’s eyes. “She made the damn stuff too strong.”

“She probably had no way of knowing …”

“Exactly. She didn’t have anybody to help her know.” Dee’s voice rose in anger. “She had to do everything herself ‘cause there was nobody else. Just like I’ve had to do for myself ever since.”

“Why did you come back after all these years?”

Dee let out another bitter laugh. “Pure coincidence, honey. Ain’t life a bitch? I met Joel in Texas. He was a friend of my third husband. When Floyd died, well, there was Joel offering me his big, strong shoulder.” She snorted. “He said he lived in New York, but then he brought me here to his family’s summer cottage for our honeymoon. He wanted to surprise me. Can you beat that?” Her laugh was harsh. “Boy, was I surprised. At first, I was scared someone would recognize me and tell him about my ma. Little by little, I realized nobody knew who I was. ‘Course, I’d had stuff done to my nose and eyes and chin, and I’m not nearly as skinny as I used to be.” At this, she gave a self-conscious grunt. “But still, I thought someone would see through all that. When nobody did, it became a game, a real joke on all these folks—until Tom recognized my old wedding ring.” She looked down at her finger. “Don’t know why I even kept the thing.”

“But did you have to kill him?” Edna’s dismay at the futility of Tom’s death made her feel sick.

Ignoring Edna’s question, Dee seemed lost in a memory when she said, “He called me Daisy. Nobody’s called me that since I ran out on Bobby.” Her eyes refocused on Edna. “Tom even introduced me to his grandson as Daisy. I tell you, that boy can hear when he wants to.”

Edna was still thinking about Tom and the useless waste of his life. “Why?” was the only word she could utter.

Dee’s face twisted with hate. “He was going to spoil everything. I’d finally made it. I have money, and the holier-than-thou society is even going to welcome me into their inner circles as a member of Greenthumbs. Mama’s up there watching and laughing herself silly, I know she is. And Tom was going to take it all away.”

Shifting nervously in her chair, Edna thought she had better ease this distraught woman back onto firmer ground. “But Tom was your friend, and Bobby … it sounds like he wanted to help you.”

Dee’s laugh held no mirth. “Bobby was nothing more than my ticket out of here. That’s all men are, tickets to someplace else.” She tossed her head and frowned. “You ever been to the southwest? Arizona? New Mexico?”

Edna shook her head.

“You can go hours without seeing anyone. Once in a while, a car might go by, but there’s nothing out there.”

“Is that where you left him?” Edna thought of Dee’s earlier comment, about leaving Bobby to die.