Dearly Departed by Tristi Pinkston

Author:Tristi Pinkston [Pinkston, Tristi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781072373926
Published: 2019-06-17T22:00:00+00:00

12

Ida Mae, Tansy, Arlette, and Eden hunkered down in Ida Mae’s room, sheets of paper with all their gathered information spread out on the bed. Eden reported no news yet on the new benefactor of the will; Beverly’s son Brent, the executor, had been called away on urgent business and they hadn’t held the reading yet.

“George opened up a little after he learned why we were here,” Ida Mae said. “It turns out that he spoke with Beverly the night before she died.”

Eden couldn’t wait to meet this George person.

“He said she was rambling, a little incoherent, and she sounded agitated. She kept talking about the box springs in her bed.”

“Bed bugs?” Eden suggested.

“I doubt it. This place is spotless. Well, don’t look at my dresser right now, but the rest of the place is spotless.”

Of course, Eden’s eyes flicked over to the dresser, but she didn’t notice anything particularly terrible. She certainly wasn’t one to speak—her own apartment was completely trashed. She knew her grandmother would never believe her, but she was convinced the cat got out of his cage and dirtied the dishes while the humans were gone. It was the only explanation.

“So, Beverly tells her daughter that someone’s out to get her. She tells George there’s something wrong with her box springs.” Eden thought for a minute. “A housekeeping complaint and a paranoia complex? Why don’t those seem connected?”

“Probably because they’re not,” Ida Mae said.

“Or maybe Beverly thought her box springs were out to get her,” Tansy suggested.

“Most likely, she had a couple of things on her mind,” Eden said. “But why would she tell George about her box springs, and not the housekeeping staff?”

“We don’t know that she didn’t,” Ida Mae pointed out. “George didn’t say if she’d lodged a complaint.”

Eden grabbed a pen and made a note. “Okay, let’s talk to the housekeeping staff and see if she mentioned anything. Grandma, let’s make that your job. Maybe you could pretend there’s something wrong with Ida Mae’s bed and ask if that’s a common problem.”

Arlette nodded. “I’ll do that this afternoon.”

“Now, getting back to this statement that she thought someone was out to get her.” Eden thought for a minute. “I’m having lunch with Peggy in an hour. I’ll see if I can get more information out of her. If we even had a little more to go on, it would sure be helpful.”

“How are you and Kevin coming along with the Dr. Brent mystery?” Tansy asked.

Eden sighed. “No one saw anything. Well, I can’t say that, exactly. The neighbors across the street weren’t home, so I couldn’t talk to them. But so far, we’re hitting a dead end, if you’ll pardon the pun.”

“Speaking of Kevin, just what’s going on there?” Arlette asked. “He’s a nice-looking boy, and charming.”

“I know he is.” Eden suddenly felt flustered. “And I’m not sure what’s going on. He’s a mystery, almost as much as the ones we’re trying to solve.”

“I think he’s cute,” Tansy said.

“Yeah, I do too.” Eden sighed. “But I don’t know what to do about it.

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