A Toast to Murder by Elizabeth Spann Craig

Author:Elizabeth Spann Craig
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: small town cozy, cozy mystery humorous, cozy mystery humor, southern cozy, cozy mystery short, cozy mystery with cats, senior sleuths cozy, senior sleuth cozy mysteries, senior sleuth mysteries
Publisher: Elizabeth Spann Craig
Published: 2024-04-09T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Myrtle hurried inside, bolting the door behind her. Then she picked up her phone and called Serenity Springs.

Isabella answered right away. From what Myrtle could hear, it was very quiet in the winery. But then, it was a Monday in the early afternoon.

“Isabella? It’s Myrtle Clover, Elaine’s mother-in-law.”

“Mrs. Clover! Nice of you to call.”

Myrtle said, “Well, I had something of an ulterior motive. I thought I might come by tomorrow morning so that we could do our talk for the paper.”

“That would be perfect, Mrs. Clover. I’ll be here. Will you be taking pictures, too?”

Myrtle hadn’t really thought about this. But she had a phone that was supposed to take fairly decent photos. “Yes. Pictures will complement the article, won’t they? What time should I slide by?”

“Anytime. Like I said, I’ll be here.”

Myrtle said, “I’ll shoot for late-morning. See you then.”

The next morning, Myrtle had a big breakfast of grits, eggs, and toast. After a couple of cups of coffee, she worked on her crossword and the sudoku. She was trying to be very careful about calling Miles too early. She’d called him after she’d spoken with Isabella, and they’d made some rough plans. It was nine-thirty, and she was chomping on the bit to get started, regardless of telling Isabella that she’d be there in the late-morning. But Miles had seemed on the verge of cranky yesterday, and she wanted to make sure he’d had enough sleep last night.

Finally, Miles tapped at her door at ten-thirty. Myrtle was pleased to see that he appeared well-rested. He was wearing his customary khaki pants and a button-down shirt.

“Your carriage awaits,” he said with a grin.

Myrtle smiled back at him as they walked toward the car. She was relieved to see there was no sign of Erma.

Miles saw the direction of her gaze. “Were you able to rid yourself of Erma fairly quickly yesterday?”

“Not quickly enough. But I was able to eventually foist her on Tippy.”

Miles quirked an eyebrow as they got into his car. “What has Tippy done to you?”

“The kidnapping, remember? And the forced labor. I’m totally happy to sort clothing and volunteer, but doing things on Tippy’s timetable is annoying.”

Miles smiled. “I’m just imagining Tippy as a kidnapper.”

“She would actually make an excellent criminal mastermind. She’s very organized and thinks everything out. If Tippy were a murderer, we’d have a tough time getting evidence against her. Anyway, she’s very aggravating. I didn’t want to go over to the church.”

Miles started up the car. “On the upside, you were able to talk to Julia there. So perhaps Tippy did you a favor.”

“That was totally accidental. At any rate, Tippy is much better with Erma than I am. And she likely knows more about grass.” The last was a complete fabrication, but Myrtle was ready to talk about other things.

Miles said, “So the article you’re writing on Isabella is going to be a puff-piece, I guess.”

“Well, it’s certainly not going to be hard-hitting journalism. The idea is to get people over to Serenity Springs, poison or no poison.

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