A Spirited Swindler (Midlife is Murder 1) by Clare Lockhart

Author:Clare Lockhart [Lockhart, Clare]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: PWF
Publisher: Apatite Publishing
Published: 2022-01-24T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

I almost held out my hand in greeting before remembering the filth. “Wha—hello!” I said as my mind scrambled, then scrambled some more. Had she seen me digging through the garden with my bare hands? I couldn't say I was thinking of renting the place. What reason would I have for overturning rocks?

“Can I help you with something?” she said.

“Yes, thank you. I'm looking for Beverly Foster.”

She pulled her emerald sweater closed and hugged herself. “Beverly died a few days ago.”

“Oh no,” I said. “I'm so very sorry.”

The dark-haired woman was younger than Beverly. I wondered if this was Hannah Wyatt. I looked for physical resemblances to see if they might be related. It was hard to tell. Perhaps the woman had come to look after the house—water plants, pick up mail, that sort of thing.

“Why are you looking for her?” she asked.

That was a good question, especially if she'd seen me digging in the garden. “I didn't really know Beverly.” I reached over and pinched off a dead leaf from a holly bush. “She was thinking of hiring me to look after the gardens. I said I'd come over and have a look.”

Her eyes widened. “She did? That's odd. She didn't mention it to me. I like gardening. I've never complained about it.”

Okay, so it looked like this woman lived there, too. “Oh, well, we didn't get into details. Maybe it was a surprise?”

“Not a welcome one. I don't know why she'd think we should pay a gardener to do what we can do ourselves. But that's Beverly.” She cut herself off. “That was Beverly. I won't be needing your services.”

I tried to look disappointed. “That's okay. I understand.” Actually, I understood very little, like why didn't Beverly mention someone else lived in this house? I couldn't waste this opportunity to learn more. “Beverly and I met at a funeral. That's where we got to talking about landscaping and her gardens. She said nothing about you.” I hoped I wasn’t digging too deep into her relationship with Beverly and making her any more suspicious than she might be.

“That's strange, considering it's my house.”

“Oh,” I said. “That is a rather important piece of information.”

“Yes, but I always told her to think of this as her home, too. She'd recently moved in.” Her eyes grew moist. “I don't know what I'm going to do without her.”

I was beginning to get the picture. Beverly and this woman were in a loving relationship. I wondered how that hunk of granite become so embedded if Beverly had only recently moved in.

“I'm sorry for your loss. It must be hard to imagine your future without her. I know what that's like.” I tried not to think of myself as being manipulative. I could relate to unforeseen changes in relationships.

“I'm Danielle.” She twisted a ring on her finger, then held it out for me to see. The stone was dark blue, set in a gold knot. I knew little about gemstones, but this one was big, probably near four carats if it was real.

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