Murder by Yew (An Edna Davies Mystery #1)(64)

“Hurry,” Mary said, bending into the opening. “They might have heard the shot. We’ve got to get out of here.”

“Come in, and shut that door.” Edna used her body as best she could to shield the shivering boy from the worst of the rain. “If they heard you, the first thing they’ll do is look out the windows. Let’s wait a minute or two.”

Mary stepped quickly through the bulkhead, closing the overhead cover and playing a small flashlight over the steps before sitting next to Edna.

“What are you doing here?” they said in unison.

“You first,” Edna hastened on before Mary could speak. “How did you find us?”

Mary shone the light on Edna’s forearms, wrapped around Danny who, despite his shivers, was leaning forward to pat Hank. “Everyone in town’s looking for him,” she said softly. “I went home thinking you might have an idea where he could be, and I saw the pad you left on the table. When I rubbed the top sheet with the side of my pencil, I saw you had drawn a picture of Dee, so this is where I started looking for you.” She sounded pleased with her detecting skills.

“What made you rub the writing pad?”

“I don’t know.” Mary shrugged. “It was something I’ve seen on TV. When I noticed you’d been doodling something, I wanted to see if I could make out what was the last thing you drew on the pad.” Edna could hear the smile in Mary’s voice when she added, “It worked.”

“She’s Daisy Farwell, you know.” Edna knew they had to get back to the business at hand. They could congratulate themselves once they were all safely away from this house.

“Who’s Daisy Farwell?”

“Dee. Dee Tolkheim is your long-lost school friend.”

“No way.” Mary’s voice had risen in amazement.

“Shhh,” Edna warned, then whispered, “Well, she is, but I’ll explain how I discovered it later. How did you know where she lived? I thought you only met her the other day at my house.”

“I didn’t know Mr. Tolkheim’s second wife, but Mother and Father were friends of Joel Senior and his first wife. We used to come here for lawn parties in the summertime.”

Of course, Edna thought, the families would have run in the same social circles. “But what made you come around the house? What brought you to the bulkhead?”

“I didn’t see your car when I got here, but I knocked on the door anyway to ask Dee if she’d seen you. A little guy answered the door. Looks kinda like Woody Allen.”

Edna stifled a laugh. Now that she mentioned it, Shoes did bear a slight resemblance to the actor. Rubbing Danny’s cold arm to keep some circulation going, she said. “Dee probably moved my car while I was waiting for her in the living room. That explains why it took so long for her to make tea and why Zach didn’t realize she had company.”

“What are you talking about?” It was Mary’s turn to sound confused.

“Never mind. I’m just thinking out loud.”

“Well, the little twerp wasn’t going to let me in. Said Dee wasn’t home, but I heard her voice, so I pushed past him and found her in the living room talking to some guy with a big black mustache. Guess if she didn’t want me to know she was home, she’d have kept her voice down. She didn’t look pleased that I’d busted my way in. Said she hadn’t seen you, didn’t know where you were. That was really strange, because your bag was leaning against the wall behind her.”

Edna smiled into the darkness. “You are very clever, Mary Osbourne,” she said, reaching out to pat the woman’s shoulder.

Mary hurried on, her tone filled with pleasure. “I pretended to leave, even drove out the gate in case anyone was watching. My Jeep’s on the other side of the fence beside the road. I don’t think they can see it from the house, not unless they look out from upstairs. I put a leash on Hank and brought him with me. He’s really the one who found you.” She reached out a hand and rubbed the lab’s head. He was squatting awkwardly on a narrow step between the two women. “Now it’s your turn,” Mary said looking over at Edna. “Did you bring Danny here?”

“No.” Edna was shocked and hurt that Mary would think such a thing. “I came to find out if Dee … Daisy had seen Tom’s appointment book. Now I know she did. He must have added her name to it for a Thursday afternoon visit.” The thought came to Edna in a flash, and she whispered excitedly to Mary. “That’s what Danny’s been trying to say all along—Daisy, not David or Davies, but Daisy.”

Thinking of the woman upstairs, Edna hugged the boy to her as a renewed sense of urgency swept through her. “We’d better get out of here. They’ve probably had enough time to stop worrying about the sound of your shot, if they even heard it, but they’re certain to come into the basement to look for Danny and me soon.” She eased the boy off her lap, still speaking to Mary. “We’ve got to call the police. Do you have a cell phone?”

“No, but there’s a convenience store not far from here. They’ll have a phone. We just need to get to my Jeep.” Pushing aside the bulkhead cover, Mary climbed out with Hank scrambling alongside her before she turned to lift Danny from Edna’s arms. She’d bent again to grab Edna’s hand and help her out when Hank uttered a low growl.