The English Garden Mystery by Dan Andriacco

Author:Dan Andriacco
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: McCabe and Cody, modern sherlock holmes mystery, amateur sleuth, detective, Erin, Ohio, murder, flower, Shakespearean characters, Shinkle Museum of Art, covid, Deduction
ISBN: 9781804240823
Publisher: Andrews UK
Published: 2022-08-16T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen: Loved Not Wisely But Too Well

We sat there in Mac’s car for a while, thinking out loud. I was also choking on cigar fumes.

“As a general rule, the second murder at the same hands should clarify matters by making the motive obvious,” Mac said. “In this case, the opposite seems to be the case.”

“Money seems like such a good bet for the motive because the Bainbridges have so much of it,” I mused. “Goldie gets her Aunt Ophelia’s money—and her cats!—but presumably not Aunt Portia’s. And you don’t think a copycat killer would depart from the pattern of the first murder by leaving a different flower. So, what do we do now?”

“Visit Arlo Bainbridge.”

It only took me a few seconds to come up with an Arlo-as-Killer scenario: “It probably wouldn’t be a money motive, although Frank said he ‘dabbles’ in day trading, which can be as good a way to lose your patchwork shirt as any. But let’s say it’s love: Arlo has been stepping out on Portia, and Ophelia found out. He killed her to keep her quiet. Hey, wait! Maybe he was stepping out with Ophelia!” I’m on fire, baby!

Mac cocked an eyebrow. “That theory would seem to be undercut by her use of the dating app.”

“Not at all. Just the opposite! Seeing the evil of her ways, she dumped Arlo and moved on. That made her a threat to him because she could tell her sister at any time.”

“And then, after having committed homicide to keep his guilty secret from Portia, Arlo Bainbridge killed Portia?”

“Maybe she figured out that he killed her sister. Or maybe murder is habit-forming if you think you’ve gotten away with it once.”

“And the flowers?”

I waved my hands airily. “A ruse, a red herring, a distraction. Something to throw you off the scent, knowing full well it’s just the sort of thing that you would be all-in on because it’s like something in one of your mystery novels.”

“Ingenious, old boy!” Mac praised.

“I sense a ‘however’ coming.”

“However, it is almost too good to be true.”

***

“I still can’t believe it,” Arlo said. “This doesn’t happen to people like us, to Bainbridges. And I was only gone from the house a short time, maybe an hour. I went to see a man about a 1929 Duesenberg, a beautiful car in cherry shape. I was going to buy it, but now…”

His voice trailed off.

We sat in his wood-and-leather den, decorated with models and photos of classic cars.

“Perhaps someone was watching your home to seize the opportunity when you departed,” Mac suggested. “Did you notice anyone unknown to you in Stratford Court at the time you left?”

“Notice? No.” He shook his head.

“Chief Hummel says that someone called Portia the day she died on what is known as a ‘burner’ phone, meaning it cannot be traced. Do you have any knowledge of your wife receiving a phone call that day?”

“No. It must have been while I was out.” He looked at Mac hard. “Why are you here

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