Gravely Dead: A Midcoast Maine Mystery by Lawrence Rotch

Author:Lawrence Rotch [Rotch, Lawrence]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Shoalwaters Press
Published: 2021-06-25T22:00:00+00:00

* * *

Sarah switched on a few lights against the evening after Jeff hung up. They had moved on to safer topics, but she was still feeling shaky from her outburst, and she nearly went through the roof when a pounding shook the room. Eldon must have finished “tunking” the barn and was shifting his attention to her door. She ushered the young man inside, hoping he was as harmless as he seemed, and seated him on one of the dinette chairs.

Her guest drained the glass of lemonade she had handed him, and sighed comfortably. “That sure hits the spot,” he said. The chair creaked in agony.

Sarah refilled his glass. “I hear you’ve been looking into what Cathy was doing before she disappeared.”

“Me and the cops. Figure I’d better do my own looking before they frame me with some crazy charge.”

“What have you found out?”

“Not much. Cath talked to the Merlews the morning after the fire, and they said she was upset, but she didn’t really tell them anything. People saw her driving around some after that, and she got gas up at the Irving station around the middle of the day. Nobody saw her after that, but her car ended up at Pearly’s shop, which didn’t look good since my prints were on the steering wheel. I told them I’d pushed it out of the way because it was parked in front of the door, but they don’t believe me.”

“That isn’t much to go on,” Sarah replied, wondering why Cathy would leave her car at Pearly’s yard. If she had left town, wouldn’t she have taken her car? Had she been killed there? No wonder the police suspected Eldon.

“I’m still asking around at stores and places,” he said, looking discouraged.

Sarah decided to try for a happier subject. “You two must have seen a lot of Myra.”

“We used to go over once or twice a week. Cath would tidy up the house, and I’d fix up stuff, or work outside. Myra had a little patch of vegetables, and I’d work on that.”

“What did Cathy and Myra talk about?”

Eldon fidgeted. “The usual stuff. Growing vegetables, cooking. And Cath loved to hear about the old days.”

Eldon fidgeted some more. “They were death on all the development going on around here. Myra would give me hell ’cause Roy is a builder—like I could tell him what to do. He has to make a living, doesn’t he? Myra went nuts when they started the Oak Hill development. Said somebody had to fight to keep the town from being ruined, teach those rich people a lesson.”

Eldon gave her a forlorn look. “Myra made so much trouble, I wonder if some of it rubbed off on Cathy. I keep asking, but nobody’s talking.”

“She’ll turn up,” Sarah said, trying to sound as though she believed it. “Do you know what Myra meant by teaching the rich people a lesson?”

Eldon emptied the pitcher into his glass.

“I’ll mix up more,” she said.

“No sweat. I’ll get some water. The Merlews have a good well,” he said, heading for the sink.

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