Digging Up Trouble

“How much older was he than her?”

I heard faint music playing in the background. “Ten years.”

That was a big gap when one of them was only eighteen.

She’d probably just gotten out of school. Gone from her parents’ house to Russ’s.

“I keep hearing how unkind he was. Was he unkind to Greta too?”

“She never said.”

“But you suspected, right? Isn’t that why you and Bill did the makeover? To help her because Russ wouldn’t?”

Lindsey sighed. “He treated her like a possession. Very controlling. Whenever she did something for herself, he criticized and belittled. The homeowners’ association, for example.”

“Oh?”

“Greta wanted to join because she figured it would spur Russ to do something about the yard. Only he thought it was ridiculous and refused to pay the dues or listen to the notices.

On principle, he’d said. I think it was because he was cheap.”

“Why didn’t she leave him?” I asked.

Digging Up Trouble

121

“Simple. She loved him.”

Over and over again I kept replaying the rumor I’d heard the day Russ died.

I heard his wife was hoping he’d have a heart attack when he saw the yard. That’s why she hired these people.

Was there any truth to it?

No, simply because Greta hadn’t planned the makeover.

Bill and Lindsey had.

As the daddy longlegs scampered up the screen, looking for a way out, I thought about that.

Had they wanted Russ dead? Could that have been the true motive behind the makeover? Not the lawsuit, which was the line Bill and Lindsey had fed me, but something much more sinister?

After all, Lindsey and Bill had known about Russ’s bad heart. Had they planned the makeover hoping he’d have a heart attack from the surprise?

They’d known how he felt about the HOA. They’d had to have known his reaction to a total backyard makeover.

And anticipated it?

A chill ran up my spine as the daddy longlegs found a hole in the screen and crawled to freedom.

Maybe I’d been reading too much Tom Clancy. All this subterfuge and backstabbing seemed much better suited to a spy novel.

“I just need to talk to Greta,” Lindsey said. “Get her to see reason. We were trying to help her, not harm her.”

Or were they? I couldn’t dismiss the fact that they’d both known about Russ’s bad heart. Throw in a surprise makeover and it’s a perfect recipe for heart attack.

“Whose idea was it? To do the makeover, I mean?”

I heard the low hum of a country music station come across the line, louder now in her silence. “I’m just not sure.

Let me think.”

122

Heather Webber

I let her, drumming my fingers on my stained desk blotter.

Finally she said, “You know, it was Bill. Right after Riley came to work for him. Bill was excited about helping Greta.”

I bet. Especially if he wanted Russ dead.

I knew I was jumping to conclusions.

“But twenty thousand dollars is awfully generous. Don’t you think?”

“I had sticker shock for a month, but Bill was adamant we had to do this for Greta. And for Russ too. We just knew he’d appreciate it once he set his pride aside.”

“Why Russ? I thought the whole lawsuit thing was his fault.”

“Well, Russ took a chance on Bill, trusting him with Growl, to get it going, make it successful.” She laughed.