“I’m at Margaret’s for the tea. We were almost finished. I was going to serve dessert. But Margaret received a call and then I went to the butler’s pantry. I think she’d been stabbed, Jonas. There was so much blood and clotted cream all over her.”
“You’re sure she’s dead?” He sounded as if he hadn’t wanted to ask the question, but did anyway.
She looked down at her hand where clotted cream had congealed. “I checked her pulse. There was none. It looked like a knife was missing from the set on the counter. There was so much blood,” she said again.
“If the knife wasn’t embedded . . . if the killer took it with him or her, that’s why she bled out so fast,” Jonas said, almost to himself. “You called the police?”
“Of course.”
“I’m on my way. Keep talking to me.”
She didn’t know what to say. So as Jonas got into his car and drove to her, she told him who was at Margaret’s house, what she had served, and what everyone had talked about.
Finally, when Jonas arrived, he rushed past everyone to the butler’s pantry.
Daisy had placed a kitchen stool there to sit on and guard the room. Now she rose to her feet and stepped into his arms. When she circled his neck, he held her tight.
Glancing over her shoulder, he asked, “Is that where it happened?”
Cora Sue was beside him in a minute. “In there. That’s where it happened. None of us heard anything. Wouldn’t Margaret have screamed when someone stabbed her?”
Daisy was shaking so hard she knew Jonas could feel it. She felt his deep breath when he took it. He’d left Philadelphia exactly because he hadn’t wanted to be involved in crime scenes. Now here he was . . . because of her.
Others began asking questions of him. Daniel Copeland called loudly, “Are you in contact with the police? Who’s handling this?”
Glenda said shakily, “I can’t believe she’s gone.”
Heidi asked, “Do we all have to stay here?”
Daisy knew the answers to most of their questions, but she was in no condition to give out information. With his arm around her, Jonas took her to the dining room and told her to sit.
Then he said to the others, “None of you can leave. The police will want to question each of you and take your statements.”
Daisy heard the protests.
“But I don’t know anything.”
“I wasn’t even in the dining room.”
“I wasn’t anywhere near the butler’s pantry.”
With his hand on Daisy’s shoulder, Jonas announced, “Anyone who was here in this house is going to be questioned. So make yourselves comfortable and don’t go near the butler’s pantry.”
As he was about to go to the butler’s pantry door again, Daisy could see him stop and listen. He heard the sirens and she did too. Not long after, both Detective Rappaport and Detective Willet came rushing in.
Detective Morris Rappaport began barking orders as soon as he walked into the house. Practically before Daisy could blink, he put Zeke Willet in charge of the crime scene, separated all the witnesses, and demanded that Daisy follow him to Margaret’s study. He wouldn’t let Jonas accompany her.
Her legs still felt a little bit wobbly. She sank into the first chair inside the door. It was a steel gray leather club chair, but she hardly took notice.
Instead of taking a position at the desk, Detective Rappaport pulled another club chair directly opposite her. “You’re awfully white,” he noticed. “You aren’t going to faint on me, are you?”
In spite of her resolve to stay strong, she felt as weak as one of her underbrewed teas. “Do you carry smelling salts?”
He scowled. “No, but from all that paraphernalia out there, I could probably get you a cup of tea.”
In spite of not wanting to be a problem for him, she said, “That would be good. Hot and strong.”
Rappaport took out his phone from his suit jacket, scrolled to his contacts, and quickly sent a text message. With a gentler expression he tucked his phone away. “Do you think you could answer some questions?”
Although she felt cold to her core, and somewhat removed from reality, she nodded.
Removing a small notebook and pen from his inside jacket pocket, he directed, “Start at the beginning. Tell me why you were here, your impression of everyone else who was here, and what happened.”
Daisy’s thoughts raced until she looked into Rappaport’s keen eyes and began. The first part was easy. Margaret had hired Daisy to prepare a tea service for herself and the cast members. Daisy easily gave her impressions of the service and the tea, the food they’d served, and how everyone had enjoyed it.
A patrol officer, Bart Cosner, brought her a cup of tea. “I didn’t put anything in it.”
Daisy tried to smile and thanked him. Hot and strong, she suspected. Cora Sue had brewed it for her.
Rappaport continued with questions now and then, such as “Was there any tension around the table?” “Did anyone argue?” “Was everybody at the table when the murder happened?”
This part of the interrogation was more difficult. Daisy had to remember who was where. With her head beginning to throb, she told him that she and Cora Sue and Tamlyn were at the table along with Margaret until the hostess received a phone call. Daniel Copeland had gone out for a smoke. Glenda Nurmi had excused herself to stretch back muscles. Heidi Korn stayed and Arden Botterill had gone outside for fresh air. Cora Sue had gone to the powder room but came right back.
“And Jasper Lazar?” the detective asked, looking at his notebook.
“I think he went to Rowan’s library.”
“I suppose this house has several entrances.”
“It does, including a back entrance into the butler’s pantry. But the thing is, there are steps going upstairs at the butler’s pantry too. So anyone could have taken the front stairs, gone up and around, and come back down the back stairs into the pantry.”
“And left by the back door.”
Daisy
