Sweet Ginger Poison

book?

He would have had enough time to inject the fish oil and steal the Epi-Pen. But how would he have even known about the Epi-Pen? Perhaps Lacey had mentioned it. But he would have also had to somehow know that Navy would be stopping by to see Cash.

And what was Danny’s motive? Jealousy? Ginger had witnessed Danny’s temper tantrums first hand. But they never lasted very long. She didn’t believe he could sustain his anger long enough to carry out such a murder plot.

Maybe somebody hiredDanny to kill Navy. That seemed more plausible. Danny was always looking to make the easy buck. Although Ginger doubted he could actually murder someone—even for money. But what if he agreed to kill Navy and then backed out? Perhaps whoever offered Danny the money was afraid he would give away their identity.

Ginger picked up the phone and called the chief.

“Chief Foenapper.”

“Chief, this is Ginger Lightley.”

He sounded as though he wished he hadn’t taken the call. “Hello, Mrs. Lightley.”

“I hate bother you so late, Chief. In fact, I’m surprised you’re still in the office. It’s nearly 10:00.”

“Yes, I know.”

“But I have something I need to give you.”

“Can’t it wait until Monday?”

“I don’t think so. It’s a gun.”

His voice perked up. “A gun?”

“Yes. It’s some sort of pistol. It belongs to Danny Iper.”

“He’s dead, you know.”

“Yes, I know.”

“Well, how did you come into possession of his gun?”

“Lacey Greendale took it from him the other night and—”

“—Lacey Greendale. I should have known.”

“Well, yes. She didn’t want it in her apartment, so she brought it to me and I put it in my safe.”

“You didn’t clean it or wipe it off, did you?”

“No. I barely touched the thing. I don’t like guns.”

“I’ll come pick it up right now.”

“Okay. But there’s something else, Chief.”

“What?”

Ginger explained her theory about Danny being paid to kill Navy, and how she thought the person who hired Danny might have been the one who killed him tonight.

“That’s not a bad theory,” he said.

“But since Lacey was Danny’s girlfriend, I’m afraid she’s in danger too.”

“That’s true.”

“So, I really wish you would send an officer over to her apartment to keep watch.”

“I’ll do that right now. See you in five minutes.”

“Thanks so much, Chief.”

**********

Ginger woke up the next morning to bright sunlight in her eyes. She checked her alarm clock. It was nearly 8:30. She had forgotten to set the alarm. Usually it didn’t matter—she was awake by 6:30, with or without the alarm.

Last night she had tossed and turned for hours worrying about Lacey and trying to unravel the mystery of the two murders.

As she sat up and looked directly into the blinding sun coming through her windows, a revelation struck her. What if Navy’s murder had nothing to do with the recipe book? What if it had nothing to do with jealousy or money?

But if those motives were eliminated, what was left? Something in Navy’s past? The only suspect Ginger knew of with that kind of motive was Addie. Her dear friend couldn’t have done it.

One of the comments in Navy’s senior yearbook had continued to nag at Ginger. But since it was clear now that Ellegora thought Addie had killed her son, Ginger would not feel comfortable going back to the house for another look at the yearbook. She wished she had spent more time studying it.

She took a shower, got dressed and walked to the public library, which was located a couple of blocks west of the square. On her way, she called the bakery. Ginger was surprised when Lacey answered. She decided she’d rather come to work than lay around all day feeling sorry for herself. And, yes, there was a police officer hanging around to protect her.

Cheryl Iper had taken the day off. Ginger made a mental note to check on Cheryl later. She couldn’t imagine what Cheryl must be going through, having just lost her son.

The library had a copy of the Coreyville High School yearbook for each year of the school’s long history. Ginger grabbed the one for Navy’s senior year and sat down at a table. She didn’t know what she was looking for. Maybe there would be a picture of the football team with one of the players staring at Navy as though he hated him. Anything. She knew she was grasping at straws.

She studied the pictures of every student in Navy’s graduating class. Then she decided to look through all the other classes as well, starting with the freshman.

She came across a girl who seemed oddly familiar. Yet she didn’t recognize the name: Molly Castorside. She started to flip to the next page, but stopped. She couldn’t take her eyes off Molly. She told herself that it wasn’t that unusual to see a picture of a stranger and think you might know them.

Ginger tried to imagine how the girl might look six years later. Then she pictured her with different hair and no glasses. No—it couldn’t be her. Or could it?

Ginger had assumed that any motive for Bull or Cash would have been related to the stolen recipe book. Cash might have decided he couldn’t trust Navy to keep quiet about stealing it. Bull could have killed Navy thinking that police would pin it on his brother—once they discovered Cash had paid Navy to steal the recipe book.

But it might not have been about the recipe book at all. What if one of the brothers had held an old grudge against Navy? After Ginger had learned what Navy had done to Addie’s granddaughter, she didn’t put anything past him.

Another thing that was bugging Ginger was the matching potted plants in Cash and Bull’s offices. Cash told her that Silvy had given him the plant. Yet Bull had one just like it. He must have had some type of relationship with Silvy. Did his brother know about it?

Then she remembered what she had seen at the funeral: Bull and Silvy had made eye contact in such a way that they seemed to know each other well. And since Bull and Cash hated each other, that seemed odd—especially since Silvy had only been in town a few weeks.

Ginger had hoped to walk out of the library with the name of the killer. How naive, she thought. She had accomplished nothing. She might as well walk to the bakery and have her breakfast coffee and cake. She was really starting to need that cup of coffee.

She was about to leave when she thought of something else she just had to look up. What werethose unusual-looking potted plants in Bull and Cash’s offices? She went to the gardening section. She’d wait a few minutes longer for her caffeine fix.

**********

When Ginger finished at the library, she hurried over to Bull Crawley’s Bar & Grill.

“I need to speak with Bull. It’s urgent.”

“Bull just left for the emergency room.”

“What happened?”

The waitress leaned in, lowering her voice. “He had diarrhea most of the night. He thought he was over it this morning, but then it hit him again. He looked very pale and weak. We madehim go to the hospital.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” said Ginger. “Look, I know you’re busy, but could I ask you one more thing?”