A half hour later at Vanna’s house, Daisy helped the church secretary distribute the platters of deli meat and cheeses as well as potato salad, macaroni salad, and potato chips to her dining room table. Then she returned to the kitchen to the slow cooker of meatballs, where she transferred them to a serving dish.
Daisy arranged the food in an attractive design on the table out of habit and moved to the end of the table where paper products stood. She moved the Styrofoam cups to a card table with the coffee urn. Then she set the luncheon plates, the dessert plates, the napkins, and the silverware in a row so they could easily be picked up by the funeral-goers. She heard Rowan’s voice in the living room, and a couple of minutes later guests began entering the dining room. Apparently, he’d told them that lunch was served. While she finessed the position of the food on the table, she heard various comments.
One woman whispered to another, “I heard Rowan say that Margaret never would have used paper plates. He’s so right.”
Daisy wove in and out of the guests, making sure no one needed anything. She heard a younger woman say to the man with her, “Margaret was a perfectionist. I think that was because she didn’t know whether she belonged in the world of her upbringing or in the new world she’d made for herself.”
The man responded, “New York can be vicious. I imagine she carved out the life she wanted for herself. After she found Vaughn, she had it made.”
If that was true, Daisy thought, then why had someone murdered her?
Jasper Lazar, an HVAC contractor well known in Willow Creek for his expertise, had also joined the cast. His medium brown hair was dusted with silver. His hairline receded a few inches above his brow. His nose was stubby and his double chin broad. He stared down at the food on the table and raised his brows to Daisy. “Quite a difference from the food you serve, isn’t it?”
Daisy defended her friend. “I imagine Vanna had to put this together quickly. I brought an assortment of desserts that are on the table in the kitchen if you’d like some of those.”
Jasper slicked back his hair that had some length to it. His golden-brown eyes sparked at her as he agreed, “I’ll head that way.”
A short woman Daisy had seen at church now and then sidled up next to her. She was probably as old as Vanna and wore her hair blunt-cut around her face. She was plump, dressed in a plain black dress and sturdy black shoes. “Mr. Lazar is just mad at Rowan and looking for any reason at all to criticize him. That is perfectly good country-cut ham on that plate, and those cheeses came from the Stoltzfuses, who make their own.”
Daisy had often stopped at the Stoltzfus stand at the farmers’ market. “Vanna made the potato salad and the macaroni salad herself. I think she just needed to busy herself to keep her grief at bay. She wanted to feel as if she were doing something.”
The woman looked up at Daisy with a small smile. “I see you understand. My name is Gayla Mann. You’re Daisy from Daisy’s Tea Garden, aren’t you?”
“I am.”
“It’s good for Vanna to have her friends around her. She’s mentioned you a few times to me. She said you and Tessa Miller make the best teas and baked goods.”
“Have you ever tried them?” Daisy asked.
“My husband and I live on a small property out at the east end but we’re pretty self-sufficient. I don’t have much need to come into town. But now that I’ve met you, I might have to try the tea garden. I do like tea.”
As guests who had been at the funeral filled their plates and picked up a soda or a bottle of water, Daisy took the chance that Gayla was friendly enough to ask her a question. “You said Jasper was mad at Rowan. Do you know why?”
“Jasper lives in one of Rowan’s apartment buildings and is wrangling with him about repairs.”
“Doesn’t Rowan take good care of his property?” Daisy asked in a lower voice.
“I don’t know if the problem is Rowan per se. He has a management company to take care of his properties. If you don’t hire the right managers, the work doesn’t get done, or they let things slide. Rowan isn’t a handyman himself, and it’s tough finding good managers, I suppose. Jasper can do his own repairs, but then he feels Rowan should reimburse him. It can be an ongoing circle of argument and resentment.”
Argument and resentment. Daisy remembered the phone conversation that Margaret had had with Rowan.
Chapter Eight
A short time later, Daisy decided to freshen up in the powder room. It was located on the other side of the house from the reception, near the three bedrooms. After she’d washed her hands and freshened her lipstick, she unlocked the door and stepped into the hall. Once there, however, she thought she heard a woman crying. Not knowing whether to go toward the sound or away from it, she stood still for a few seconds.
Whoever was crying was in the bedroom next door to the bathroom. That bedroom door was open. When Daisy peeked in, she could see that the bedroom was decorated in lilac. The wallpaper consisted of tiny little violet flowers and the chenille bedspread, very pale lilac, complemented it. Lace curtains crisscrossed at the windows and swooped over white mini blinds. Vanna sat in a deep purple velvet bedside chair, her head in her hands.
Crossing to the older woman without hesitation, Daisy sat on the bed across from her and patted her shoulder. “I know today has to be hard for you.”
“It’s
