I closed my eyes, allowing myself at last to acknowledge my own shattered nerves. I was too darned sensitive to atmospheres and the emotions of others. I needed a stretch of quiet and solitude. Fat chance. I wondered how long the crime scene investigators would infest the place.
Someone touched my shoulder, and I jumped from where I knelt by the stove, spinning about and half rising.
Gerda regarded me with a forced smile. “A bit nervy, there, aren’t we?”
I sank back on my heels. “How’re they doing?”
“Taking forever.” With a jerky movement, she brushed unruly strands of her faded fair hair from her forehead. “Roberta’s going nutty with her camera, like always. She’s taking shots of everything from every possible angle, and they’ve got these numbered cards set up all over the place and little plastic bags, and paper ones, and tweezers. And they’re all wearing surgical gloves.”
“You mean they’re going to analyze every single cat hair? I wish them luck.”
Aunt Gerda stared at the wavering flames as they consumed the compacted sawdust pellets. “They’ve tracked mud all over the rugs.”
“It’ll come out. Come on.” I stood, turned her around, and marched her into the kitchen. The homey aroma of drying herbs surrounded us, comforting in its familiarity. I pressed her onto a chair painted bright blue. “Careful not to lean back. There’s wet rain gear.”
The kettle, which had been rumbling in an agitated manner, gave an experimental whimper which rose to a shrill scream. I scooped both it and the saucepan off the burners and began assembling mugs from one of the oak cabinets. I couldn’t remember how many people had come. Reaction, I supposed.
“Why did this have to happen!” Gerda exclaimed suddenly. “Why-” She broke off, then resumed with suppressed savagery, “He’s dead! Clifford Brody is dead. He’s been murdered. Here, in my house!”
“That just about sums it up.” But it didn’t provide the key I needed to understand her fears. I removed the cozy from the pot and poured my aunt the last of our previous chamomile and peppermint brew, then rummaged in the pantry cupboard for the bottle of emergency rum. I added a healthy dollop and handed it over.
Gerda sipped in silence for almost a minute. “Someone,” she said at last, “came into my house while I was gone, and killed him. I don’t feel safe, here, now.”
“Yes, you are.” I set down the ceramic pot in which I’d placed new herbs and boiling water, and laid a soothing hand over her trembling one. “Tell you what, though. I’ll get you a dog. A great big one with a worthwhile woof.”
Gerda sniffed. “It would scare the cats.” She looked around. “Where are they?”
“Probably hiding under your bed. Or more likely, in it. You know how they are with strangers clomping around. How about if I get you a flock of geese? They’d make even more noise than a dog.”
Footsteps approached down the hall, crossed the living room, and Owen Sarkisian strode into the brightly lit kitchen. He accepted the mug of fresh tea I handed him, and sat at the table across from Gerda. His brow puckered as he stared into his steaming mug.
“Small town.” He looked up and his brown eyes studied Gerda. “Everyone knows everything about each other, I suppose?”
Uneasiness flickered across my aunt’s face, to be replaced almost at once by her determinedly sweet, mildly reproving smile. “That’s a bit of a cliche, don’t you think? Besides, we’re larger than we seem. We have a population of nearly two thousand. Upper River Gulch is a bedroom community for everyone who wants to escape the computer industry during off hours. I would have thought that as sheriff, you’d know that.”
Sarkisian inclined his head in acknowledgment. “But there aren’t many of you who have businesses in town, are there? Dr. Jacobs tells me there’re only nine of you.”
“Eight, now,” I murmured. I measured more herbs into a stainless steel tea ball and set it into the saucepan to steep.
Sarkisian ignored my interruption. “Do you belong to any sort of business association?”
Gerda blinked. “Or course not. That would be too formal. Hugh Cartwright-he owns the Still-suggested it once, but they’re not really part of our little community.”
“The Still? You mean Brandywine Distillery? Why don’t they count?”
“They aren’t downtown. Not in our little district, I mean. And they’re a large business-well, large by our standards. We only count the ones that cluster at the intersection of Fallen Tree Road and Last Gasp Hill.”
Sarkisian nodded. “So there are a total of nine-” he shot a challenging glance at me, “-shops or offices in Upper River Gulch.”
“Unless you want to count the school, library, and post office,” I offered without looking up from the second pot of tea I prepared. “That makes three more.”
“Thank you, Ms. McKinley. I’m sure I couldn’t have figured that out on my own. Now, Ms. Lundquist,” he turned back to Gerda, “I just want to make sure I have a few basic facts straight. The victim came here, to your house, at your invitation? So you did know he was here. But then you went out and left him alone?”
“Yes, but…” Gerda’s face drained of blood.
“I’m just trying to get an overall picture.” The sheriff leaned forward, folding his hands on the table and fixing her with a compelling smile. “Why don’t we begin with why you asked him to come over, and why you then left.”
“Why I…” As abruptly as Gerda had blanched, stormy color now surged into her cheeks. “You don’t believe I did go out! You think I stayed right here and murdered him! You’re actually accusing me! Annike, I told you this was going to happen!”
Sarkisian’s eyebrows rose. “That’s a pretty strong reaction to a simple question, Ms. Lundquist.” His tone invited an explanation.
Her flush deepened. “I do not have a guilty conscience, so quit implying that I do.”
“Oh, I rarely need to imply anything,” the sheriff assured her with a misleadingly gentle smile. “I let people do that for themselves.”
And that, finally and thankfully, rendered my aunt speechless.
Chapter Three
Gerda’s silence didn’t last for long. Or rather, not for long enough. She turned on me. “He’s trying to make me say I killed Brody! He actually thinks I’m capable of committing murder!” She swung back to face the sheriff, and the look she directed at him gave that suspicion some justification. “And you’re just basing it on the circumstances of where he was found! You haven’t even gotten to motives-” She broke off, snapped her mouth closed, then regrouped her forces. “Don’t you think you ought to look at real evidence?”
Owen Sarkisian closed his eyes for a moment. “That’s what I’m trying to do.”
“I think,” I said in an attempt to diffuse the situation, “she wants you to look for exotic foreign cigarette butts with traces of outlandish colored lipstick.” I couldn’t understand what had set Gerda off like this. It was completely unlike her.
The sheriff turned a pained look on me.
“Or maybe,” I went on, hoping Gerda would take the hint and lighten up or cool down or something, “a trail of gum wrappers leading to a size nine shoe print with an unusual pattern on the sole?”
“Thank you, Ms. McKinley. Your insights are invaluable. I’m sure. To someone. Now, Ms. Lundquist, I only asked-”
“You’re trying to upset me and make me say things I don’t mean!” she accused him, still in full flare. My interruption hadn’t done any good.
A ragged sigh escaped him. “Calm down, Ms. Lundquist.”
“How can I calm down when you’re accusing me of murder!”
He spread his hands. “I’m not accusing you of anything. I only asked-”
“Then you’re stopping just short of it!” she exclaimed. “Is that how you go about your investigations, bullying people? Or,” and her gaze narrowed on him, “is this your first murder case?”
“Here, yes. Over the course of my career, not by a long shot.”
