Do-It-Yourself 3 - Plaster and Poison by Jennie Bentley

Author:Jennie Bentley [Bentley, Jennie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780425233450
Publisher: Berkley
Published: 2010-10-15T04:00:00+00:00

13

My refrigerator didn’t yield anything resembling salad fixings, so Mom decreed a trip to Shaw’s Supermarket was in order. We all put our winter coats back on and headed out into the frigid December air. By now it was starting to turn dark—the days are short up north, and we were nearing the winter solstice—and crisscrossing Main Street, holiday decorations were lit up. Stars and bells and greenery were strung from building to building, high above the street. One long strand of lights with a blinking snowflake six feet tall was fastened to the wall above Derek’s window, and I could only imagine how light it must be inside the loft. Hopefully they turned the displays off at night, or sleep would be impossible during the month of December.

After getting the ingredients for a lovely Caesar salad, as well as a couple of packages of refrigerated breadsticks from Shaw’s, we headed for the B&B with our bags, since Kate’s kitchen was likely to yield the salad bowls and baking pans my kitchen lacked. Also, it was closer, and the temperature was dropping. We were well below freezing at this point; the average temperature in Maine in December being right around twenty degrees Fahrenheit. Noel, poor guy, was practically burrowing into his coat, his nose bright red and dripping.

When we got there, Kate was sitting at one of the dining room tables talking to an older man with thinning, gray hair and the face of a bulldog, jowly and droopy, with bags under his eyes and sagging skin. The eyes were sharp, though, and shrewd. He was wearing the blue uniform of the state police, with lots of bars and insignia on the chest and shoulders. I didn’t need Kate’s introduction to know who he was.

“This is Reece Tolliver. He’s come down from Augusta to help with the investigation into Gerard’s murder. Reece, this is Avery Baker, her mother Rosemary, and Noel Carrick. Rosemary and Noel are staying with me while they’re in town.”

“Nice to meet you all,” Chief Tolliver said, assessing me with what I can only describe as a cop’s eyes. Steady and penetrating, giving nothing away. “You’re the one that’s been working on the carriage house.”

I nodded.

“And these are your folks.” He moved his attention to Mom and Noel, who stepped closer together. It was hard not to. I bet Reece Tolliver got confessions out of a lot of people simply by fixing them with those steady gray eyes. There was something in them that just made you want to start babbling. “In from California, are you? ”

Noel nodded. “Santa Barbara.”

“And you got here yesterday.”

“We got to Waterfield yesterday. We spent the night in Boston.”

“So you never had occasion to meet the victim.”

Noel and Mom both shook their heads.

“Not to our knowledge,” Mom added. “At least I’ve never known anyone with that name.”

Reece nodded. “We’ll be checking your whereabouts,” he said. “And you . . .” He moved his attention back to me; I swallowed and stood up straighter.

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