Murder of a Hermit, page 10
‘When we lost power completely a short while ago,’ Paul continued to Nate, ‘Miranda got pretty upset, and I said that I would take a look around outside to see if there was an obvious cause. That was when I caught him’ – he cast another resentful glance toward Percy – ‘bolting from Hope and Summer’s lawn to ours.’
Rosemarie sniffled and said meekly, ‘Oh, but you can’t blame Percy. It’s not his fault. He’s been active and energetic ever since he was a puppy. He doesn’t mean to do anything harmful. He isn’t a bad dog.’
She sounded so sad and remorseful that Hope felt compelled to try to lift her spirits. ‘Of course Percy isn’t a bad dog, Rosemarie. He’s as sweet as can be. We all know that.’
There was a disputative harrumph from Paul.
‘Hope and I sympathize with your and Miranda’s cellar and electrical problems,’ Summer said to him. ‘We truly do, because the ongoing construction and power glitches are far from ideal for us and our shop, too. But blaming Percy really isn’t fair. Yes, he chewed on the extension cord yesterday, and yes, it might have interfered with the proper functioning of the generator, but Percy has been under strict supervision today. He was with us in the boutique almost the entire afternoon. He was only outside on his own for a couple of minutes at the most, which must have been when you caught him dashing between the lawns. You didn’t see him chewing on anything during that time, did you?’
‘Well, no, I didn’t,’ Paul acknowledged.
‘That settles it.’ Summer gave a satisfied nod. ‘Percy isn’t responsible for today’s troubles.’
There was an exasperated sigh from Nate, as though the conversation had steered far from his desired course. ‘Yes,’ he remarked impatiently, ‘we can all agree that the pug is not guilty of electrocuting Carter Dalton.’
Summer drew a sharp breath. Rosemarie gave a startled little yelp. Both Paul and Austin looked at Nate in surprise.
‘So that’s what you meant before about a potential crime scene?’ Summer’s hazel eyes were stretched wide. ‘You think this was intentional? What happened to Carter wasn’t an accident?’
Nate’s sigh repeated itself, but Hope could see that this time the frustration was with himself and not with them. It was clear that he hadn’t intended to speak so bluntly. Hope found herself less taken aback at the possibility of a crime having been committed than the others. She didn’t know why Carter Dalton had been at her and Summer’s brownstone on the previous day, or why he had returned to the property today, but it seemed improbable to her that a man who was apparently determined and clever enough to break into their cellar would somehow be inadvertently electrocuted in a retention pool filled with dirty drainage water between the two lawns. Why anybody would want to deliberately electrocute Carter was equally incomprehensible to her.
‘Could this have been the cause of the power outages at our brownstone and the Larsons’?’ Hope asked Nate.
He seemed relieved at not having to reply directly to Summer’s string of queries. ‘I think that it’s a safe assumption. Regardless of any electrical issues resulting from the damage to the extension cord or the generator yesterday, it would take a substantial surge to knock out the power to both properties simultaneously for a prolonged period this afternoon. Such a surge’ – Nate motioned toward Carter and the pool – ‘would in all likelihood be strong enough.’
That resolved one of Hope’s lingering questions. She had wondered if the occupants of the attic were responsible for the power failure. The flickering, yes. The complete blackout, no. The flickering had been especially active immediately before Austin’s appearance at the boutique. The spirits must have been trying to warn her about him. It was easy to understand why. Austin had been nothing but a problem for her since his arrival. And the more she thought about it, Hope realized that the flickering had also occurred immediately preceding Gina’s arrival. Was it another indication – in addition to Gina’s suspicious wincing reaction to Austin – that the two were acquainted?
Hope looked at Austin curiously. Was there a way – surreptitiously, preferably – to find out if he and Gina were connected somehow?
Summer must have noticed her sister’s questioning gaze, because she also turned her attention to Austin, although her focus took a significantly different direction. ‘If it wasn’t an accident, was it you?’ she asked him.
Austin squinted at her, not understanding. ‘Me?’
‘You,’ Summer repeated with emphasis. ‘You said that your wife was having an affair with him. You’re clearly angry about it. You were hollering at Hope and calling her names, even though she had never even met Carter. But you identified Carter immediately. You didn’t hesitate or need to deliberate for even a second. And you didn’t seem terribly upset by the sight of him lying dead in the pool. All of which makes me wonder if you were the one who put him there. Was it you who electrocuted Carter?’
Austin gaped at her. For the first time since he’d barged into the boutique, he appeared to be at an utter loss for words.
‘Summer,’ Nate reproved her, earnestly but not severely, ‘you can’t go around accusing people of criminal acts – particularly something as serious as murder – based on a whim.’
Summer offered no apology. ‘There is no whim,’ she rejoined. ‘Everything that I said is true. All afternoon Austin has been thundering furiously about the affair. The question is: was he furious enough to kill Carter?’
Austin made an aggrieved gurgling noise. His face and neck had turned a ripe plum shade of purple.
‘Summer,’ Nate began again, his manner somewhat sterner, ‘you are jumping to a considerable number of conclusions that haven’t been verified or even—’
He was interrupted by the gurgling noise as it rose in volume until it became almost a howl.
‘Have you lost your mind?’ Austin bellowed at Summer. ‘It wasn’t me!’
She responded with a dubious expression.
‘It wasn’t me!’ Austin asserted a second time, now also looking at Nate.
Nate looked back at him thoughtfully.
‘I couldn’t have done it,’ Austin argued.
Hope noted with interest that Austin’s tone had become more entreating than antagonistic. She wasn’t sure if that helped or hurt his case.
‘I was in the store with you two’ – Austin gestured between Summer and Hope – ‘when the power went out. If the power went out from a surge due to Carter being electrocuted, then I couldn’t have done it, because I wasn’t on the lawn or near the pool at that time.’
‘Is that correct?’ Nate asked the sisters. ‘Was Austin in the boutique with you when the brownstone lost power?’
Although Hope began to reply in the affirmative, Summer interjected.
‘That doesn’t prove anything,’ she said defiantly.
‘Yes, it does,’ Austin countered, his purple nostrils flaring.
‘No, it doesn’t,’ Summer retorted. ‘When you first came into the boutique, you were breathing hard and sweating heavily. I originally thought that it was because you had been running to the shop. But now I realize that you weren’t running to the shop. You were running to get away from the pool and what you did to Carter!’
Austin started to protest, but Summer cut him short.
‘And I was wrong about your sweating,’ she went on briskly. ‘It wasn’t sweat. It was water from the pool. That’s also why you were panting for air. You fought with Carter in the pool or next to the pool, and then you pretended to be upset and agitated toward Hope to conceal that you planned to kill Carter!’
‘That’s absurd!’ Austin shouted. ‘I didn’t plan to kill Carter! I couldn’t have. How could I set up an electrocution to occur later? That’s absurd!’ he cried once more. ‘I wouldn’t know how to do something like that even if I wanted to.’
‘You wouldn’t have needed to know how to do it,’ Dylan said.
They all turned to him in surprise. Dylan had been working so quietly and diligently in his examination of the body that he had momentarily slipped from everyone’s mind during the voluble discussion with Austin.
‘You wouldn’t have needed to know how to do it,’ Dylan repeated, ‘or plan anything in advance, because this man,’ he indicated Carter, ‘wasn’t electrocuted.’
ELEVEN
There was a contemplative silence, as though they all needed a moment to digest what Dylan had told them.
Summer was the first to speak. ‘So it isn’t a crime scene, after all? The death wasn’t intentional? What happened to Carter was an accident?’
Rosemarie exhaled with relief and hugged Percy. ‘Oh, thank heaven. It would have been awful if someone had deliberately committed such a terrible act.’ She shook her scarlet mop at Hope. ‘And in your backyard of all the places in the world.’
Technically, it was the side yard – both theirs and the Larsons’ – but Hope saw no purpose in correcting the point.
Austin cast an angry eye toward Summer. ‘And you were trying to blame me for it,’ he snarled. ‘How dare you! I won’t forget the accusations you made. Mark my word, you’ll pay for them.’
Summer scowled at him.
He turned to Nate. ‘Are her lies considered to be a crime? Can you charge her with something?’ Before Nate could reply, the angry eye snapped back to Summer. ‘I should sue you. That would teach you a lesson. You can’t drag my name through the mud by calling me a murderer when he’ – Austin motioned toward Dylan – ‘said that I couldn’t possibly have done it.’
‘I didn’t say that.’
As they had a minute earlier, everyone looked at Dylan.
Austin frowned. ‘Yes, you did. You said that Carter wasn’t electrocuted.’
‘That’s correct,’ Dylan confirmed matter-of-factly. ‘You couldn’t have electrocuted him, because he wasn’t electrocuted. I never said, however, that you didn’t kill him in a different manner.’
At the inference that the death had indeed involved foul play, there was a dismayed mewing from Rosemarie. It sounded like a cowed kitten compared to the enraged roar that emanated from Austin.
‘So now you’re trying to blame me, too!’ Austin exploded. ‘Why? What do you have against me?’
Dylan didn’t raise his voice or grow heated in return. Both his tone and expression remained placid. ‘I have nothing whatsoever against you as it relates to the deceased. As it relates to Hope and Summer, I believe that you owe them an apology for your inappropriate choice of language and irrational amount of yelling. To tell the truth, I’m surprised that one of them hasn’t waggled a finger and slapped a curse on you by now.’
Summer twitched her nose and smiled.
There was also a hint of a smile from Nate, although he kept it commendably restrained.
Rosemarie’s dismayed mewing was replaced by nodding approval. ‘Isn’t Dylan gallant?’ she cooed to Percy. ‘He’s defending the sisters’ honor.’
Anyone who wasn’t well familiar with Rosemarie might have thought that she was being facetious, but Hope knew that she meant it in earnest. Rosemarie – aside from having a sizeable soft spot for Dylan – was an incurable romantic and, regardless of the fact that she had been divorced twice and had additionally suffered through several other failed relationships, she still wholeheartedly believed in quixotic fairy tales and chivalrous heroes riding to the rescue in dreamy storybook endings.
Austin apparently didn’t share Rosemarie’s tender, starry-eyed notions, because he responded to the criticism of his yelling by yelling some more. ‘That proves it!’ he shouted at Dylan. ‘You’re in cahoots with them! I’ve seen how you and that one’ – it was Hope’s turn to receive his angry eye – ‘look at each other. You’re in her bed, aren’t you?’
Dylan’s lips curled with amusement. ‘I wish.’
This time Nate’s smile wasn’t suppressed. Even Paul gave a chuckle.
Their laughter only added to Austin’s irritation. ‘You’re all against me!’ he fumed. ‘You’re setting me up to take the fall! You’re corrupt and crooked and—’
His agitation was so great that his speech rose in pitch and became almost incomprehensible. When combined with the smiles that she had evidently witnessed from her husband and Dylan and Nate, Miranda Larson mistook it for merriment.
‘I heard your voices and watched from the window at how much fun you were having,’ Miranda said, as she approached them from the side of her brownstone, ‘so I decided to head out and join you. It’s much better than sitting indoors, alone in the semi-dark, waiting for the electric company to call me back with a further update. Am I correct in assuming that you’ve lost power, too?’ she asked Hope and Summer.
Summer nodded and started to inquire if she had received any useful information from the electric company up to that point, but the subject was forgotten the moment Miranda got close enough to the pool to see the body.
‘Gracious, that isn’t fun at all,’ Miranda corrected herself gravely. ‘Poor Carter. What on earth happened to him?’
Nate instantly resumed his professional demeanor. ‘You know this man?’
‘Certainly I do. Why wouldn’t I?’ Miranda responded, as though the question was more astonishing to her than the discovery of Carter Dalton lying dead on the lawn. ‘Carter is a member of my book group.’ Her brow furrowed. ‘Although I don’t know why he would come here. We don’t usually meet in the city. We most often get together at his place up on the mountain.’
‘Ha!’ Austin cried with an air of vindication. ‘I told you he wasn’t a hermit and had a house on Bent Mountain.’
Continuing her own thoughts, Miranda took no notice of Austin. ‘And lately, a lot of our meetings have been at Gina’s.’
There was a collective exclamation of surprise from Hope, Summer and Rosemarie.
‘Gina?’ Summer immediately asked Miranda. ‘Which Gina are you talking about?’
‘Which Gina?’ she echoed, the furrow deepening. ‘Gina Zaffer, of course. How many Ginas are there in the area?’
That was precisely what Hope and Summer wanted to know. They turned questioningly to Rosemarie. She sniffled.
‘Is Gina Zaffer Madam Gina?’ Summer pressed Rosemarie when she didn’t offer any further response.
The sniffle repeated itself. It sounded disappointed and also slightly aggrieved. ‘Gina never mentioned a book group to me. I would have joined it if she had.’ Rosemarie frowned down at Percy, who looked up at her and yawned. ‘I don’t know why she didn’t tell us about it. I’m sure that I’ve told her how much we enjoy going to the library and choosing between the new arrivals.’
Although it wasn’t a direct answer, Hope and Summer took it as sufficient confirmation that the two Ginas were in fact one and the same. The sisters exchanged a glance. What an odd coincidence that Gina would be in the same book group as both their neighbor and the man who had broken into their cellar.
‘Wait a minute,’ Hope said, with a sudden realization. ‘Why didn’t you recognize him yesterday, Miranda?’
‘Recognize who?’ she asked.
‘Carter.’
Miranda blinked at her, puzzled.
‘Yesterday you came to the boutique and told Summer and me that it looked as though a man was trying to break into our cellar.’ Hope pointed at Carter. ‘That man.’
Miranda turned to Carter and studied him more closely. ‘The raincoat seems familiar,’ she mused.
‘You mentioned the man’s large coat – or cloak – to us,’ Hope reminded her, ‘as part of his overall strange appearance. But I’m wondering why you didn’t realize then that you knew him, especially considering that you were thinking about contacting the police to report his suspicious behavior?’
The furrow reappeared in Miranda’s brow, the more so as she looked up from Carter and found everyone looking intently back at her, including Nate, who had taken a small notepad out of his pocket and begun jotting down information.
‘Well, I don’t know,’ Miranda murmured. ‘It’s rather confusing.’ Her voice grew flustered and increasingly squeaky. ‘Maybe it was the drizzle and mist that interfered with my view. I remember seeing the man from the window of our brownstone as I was watching for the contractor to arrive. I was worried that with the rain, the construction crew wouldn’t come, and then there would be even more water in our cellar. I must have gotten distracted by everything that was happening and didn’t match the man with Carter.’ She added a touch defensively, ‘It’s a substantial distance from our brownstone to yours, particularly in poor weather.’ She turned to her husband for support. ‘Wouldn’t you agree, Paul?’
‘It is a substantial distance,’ he concurred. ‘Plus, there are the boxwoods along the side of the property, which obstruct a clear line of sight.’
Miranda nodded at him. ‘Don’t forget that you saw him yesterday, too, and you didn’t recognize him, either.’
‘But I wouldn’t have recognized him,’ Paul replied, ‘regardless of the distance or weather conditions, because I never met Carter.’
‘You never met him? I thought you had. Weren’t you with me at Gina’s when she had that get-together?’
Paul shook his head.
Miranda blinked at him with the same puzzlement that she had at Hope a minute earlier. ‘I could have sworn that you and I went as a couple. It was a large group of people. I distinctly recall Carter being there. Others, as well…’
Out of the corner of her eye, Hope saw Austin shift his weight. She looked at him. Austin’s furtive gaze was on the ground as he moved restlessly from one foot to the other. He had a pained expression, and he was peculiarly silent. Either his shoes were pinching his toes and causing him significant discomfort, or – more likely in Hope’s opinion – Austin had also been at Gina’s for the get-together that Miranda was referring to. Hope wasn’t startled by the discovery. On the contrary, it simply confirmed her previous suspicions that Gina and Austin knew each other. She did wonder, however, why Austin – and similarly Gina when they were in the boutique – seemed to want to keep their acquaintance a secret.
