“Do you know what she talked with Mrs. Van Orner about?”
Lisa stiffened slightly. “No. They don’t tell me their business.”
“But you have an idea.”
“How could I have an idea? They don’t tell me nothing.”
“Miss Yingling said you were the last one to speak with Mrs. Van Orner before she left the house yesterday.”
“I guess I was,” she said unhappily.
“Did she seem angry or upset about anything?”
Lisa shook her head. “She was always kind to me. I told her Amy was causing all kinds of trouble, and she said I shouldn’t worry about it. She said Amy would be gone soon.”
“And that’s all?”
“Yes, she seemed like she was in a hurry, and she left right after that. Miss Yingling came asking after her a few minutes later and was real surprised that she’d left without her. I was, too.”
“So she must have had something on her mind that distracted her. Can you think of what it might have been?”
Lisa stared at Sarah for a long moment, as if trying to judge her intent, and then she shook her head.
Sarah knew she was lying. She reached over and laid her hand on Lisa’s arm. “You’ve been in charge of this place for a long time. I’m sure you know everything that goes on here. You’re not being disloyal to talk about it now, and you might help us find out who killed Mrs. Van Orner.”
Lisa’s dark eyes widened. “
Sarah wanted to bite her tongue. “Well, they don’t know for sure,” she hedged quickly.
“Miss Yingling never said nothing about murder. She said Mrs. Van Orner died real sudden, that’s all.”
“That’s all she knew then. As I said, we aren’t really sure yet.”
“What do they think killed her then?”
“She may have eaten something that . . .” Sarah gestured vaguely.
Lisa’s eyes widened with horror. “She was
“It’s possible.”
“Not from something she ate here. She never ate nothing here. She and Miss Yingling, they was always real careful not to use up our supplies. She’d hardly drink a cup of coffee here.”
“Did she drink any yesterday?”
“Not that I know of. She was pretty busy. No, if somebody poisoned her, it was probably somebody at her own house.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because that’s where she ate her food, isn’t it? She didn’t get no poison here.”
“Do you keep anything here that could be poisonous?”
“You mean like rat poison?”
“Yes, or . . .” Sarah pretended to think. “Or medicines. Some medicines can be dangerous if you use too much.”
“We keep Lydia Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound, of course. When you’ve got a houseful of females, you need to be prepared for female complaints. We’ve got Dr. Morse’s Indian Root Pills, I think, and I know we’ve got some Pine Toothache drops. I used them myself last month.”
“Mrs. Van Orner mentioned laudanum to me when Amy first came here. I remember because I told her I didn’t like to use it because it passes through the milk and makes the baby sleep too much.”
“Oh, yes, I think we do have some.”
“Could you check and see?”
Lisa frowned. “I told you already, it don’t matter. Mrs. Van Orner never got poisoned here.”
“I know, but could you check anyway? Just to be sure? We don’t want anyone here to be falsely accused of anything.”
This was something Lisa could understand. “I never thought of that! I’ll check right away.” She jumped up and went to the pantry. Reaching up to the top shelf, she pulled down a small wooden box that contained an assortment of patent medicine bottles and started sorting through it. “Here it is.” She pulled out a small brown bottle and held it up. Then she shook it and looked at it more closely. “That’s funny.”
Sarah felt the hairs on her arms prickling. “What?”
“It’s empty.”
FRANK HAD READ THREE NEWSPAPERS AND FELT NO BETTER informed than he had been before. He looked up automatically when the coffee shop door opened and was surprised to see Sarah. For a minute, he thought she might have brought someone for him to question, but she was alone. He rose from his chair and pulled out another at his table for her. “That didn’t take long.”
“There was a bottle of laudanum at the house, but it’s empty. Miss Biafore is certain it was nearly full the last time she noticed it. She would have bought more if she knew someone had used the last of it.”
“So that could be what killed her. Did you find out where her purse was?”
“Not for certain, but Miss Biafore said she usually just laid it on the table in the hallway. She wanted the women who lived there to think she trusted them.”
“But you don’t know for sure?”
“No. I’ll have to ask Miss Yingling and Mrs. Spratt-Williams if they remember.”
“Either of them could be the killer, you know.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Miss Yingling is the one who convinced Mr. Van Orner to let you investigate, and I can’t think of any possible reason why Mrs. Spratt-Williams would want to kill her friend.”
“Just because you can’t think of it doesn’t mean it isn’t there. What did that girl Amy have to say for herself?”
“I didn’t see her. She’s gone.”
“What do you mean, she’s gone?”
“I mean she packed up herself and her baby and left this morning.”
“Where did she go?”
“They don’t know. She didn’t even tell anyone she was leaving. Lisa—Miss Biafore—thinks she may have gone back to Mrs. Walker’s house.”
“Why would she go there? Mrs. Walker was going to give her baby away.”
“I didn’t say she did. I said that’s all Lisa could think of. I don’t think Amy had any money of her own, and if she had family, why didn’t she go there before? Nothing else makes sense.”
“What about the other women in the house?”
“I talked to both of them, but they’re too frightened to be much help. They don’t remember anything that happened yesterday or even who was in the house. They never noticed Mrs. Van Orner’s purse or who she talked to. I can’t imagine either of them would want to kill her. Without her, they don’t have any hope at all.”
“You’re probably right, and Amy running away doesn’t look good for her,” Frank said.
“But we still don’t know any reason why she’d want Mrs. Van Orner dead, and if she did have one, wouldn’t she stay around to benefit from it?”
“Maybe she’s afraid of getting caught.”
“When Miss Yingling came over last night to tell them the news, she didn’t say Mrs. Van Orner was murdered, only that she’d died suddenly. It’s possible nobody would have ever figured out she was poisoned. Why run away until there was real danger?”
“I don’t know, and I don’t think we’ll figure out the answer until we find Amy.”
“And if she killed Mrs. Van Orner, we may never find her.” Sarah sighed. “What should we do next?”
Frank flinched inwardly at the “we,” but he had to admit he still needed her help. “Would Mrs. Spratt-Williams see you?”
“I’m sure she would. She may not even know Mrs. Van Orner is dead yet. I think a condolence call would be in order in any case. I can even express concern about the future of Rahab’s Daughters. The women at the rescue
