“How well did you know Abby?” I asked.
“Pretty well. She came over here a lot. Used to bring me leftovers when she was trying out recipes. I ate like a queen!”
“Was she married?” asked Nina. “Did she have children?”
“She had an ex-husband but no children. I think that was the one thing she regretted. She loved kids and would have been a great mom. Her ex is a good-looking fellow. I saw him come by once in a while.”
“Did you hear anything unusual around the time Oscar showed up?” asked Nina.
Eunice buried her head in her hands for a few moments. “Honey, I wish I had.” She pointed at her ear. “My hearing isn’t what it used to be. Visitors complain that I have the TV on too loud. I tell them it’s on the right volume for me and if they don’t like it, they can leave. But I guess it’s right loud for people with normal hearing. I didn’t hear a thing. I’d have called the cops if I had.” She winced and dabbed at her eyes. Speaking softly, she added, “I have hearing aids, but I don’t wear them because I loathe the stupid things. Now I wish I had worn them.”
On a whim, I asked, “Did Abby say anything about Tilly Stratford’s husband, Wesley?”
Chapter 7
Dear Sophie,
There’s a restaurant where I live that serves the most delicious macaroni and cheese. It’s so creamy! I have tried everything. Adding heavy cream, cream cheese, and soft cheeses, but I can’t get the combination quite right. Any suggestions?
Mac and Cheese Lover in Caerphilly, Wales
Dear Mac and Cheese Lover,
Have you tried using cream cheese and Colby cheese in your recipe? Colby contains more moisture and is creamier when melted. A relative of cheddar, it’s a natural for mac and cheese.
Sophie
“Now that’s an interesting question,” said Eunice. “I watch a lot of those crime shows, and I know they’ll suspect Abby’s former husband first. But if he has an alibi, they’ll sniff around the other men in her life.”
“Are you saying Tilly’s husband was involved with Abby?” asked Nina.
Eunice pointed her forefingers and waggled them. “If you ask me, Abby liked him a little bit too much.”
“They were having an affair?” I asked, trying to get to the bottom of her innuendos.
“She never said as much, but she raved about how wonderful he was and how he always made it a point to drop by the kitchen and sample the dishes she and Tilly were cooking. You girls understand what it means when another woman thinks too highly of a married man. It’s always trouble.”
“Sophie’s going to take over ghostwriting Tilly’s cookbook,” said Nina.
“Did Abby tell you about it?” I asked.
“Abby talked about it all the time. She liked Tilly, and she loved the two girls—”
“Two girls?” I interrupted.
“Only one was Tilly’s. The other was her friend.” She paused to think.
“Schuyler?” I asked.
“That’s it. Must be a family name. Abby thought they were wonderful.”
If she liked them all so much, then I had to wonder why she quit.
Eunice continued. “She was always telling me stories about them. They’re at that age when every little thing is such a big deal. When you get to my age, you’ve learned not to let the little things bother you. You have to let things go.”
“What did Abby say about the cookbook?” I prompted, hoping she’d said something helpful. Or maybe Abby had even shared the odd code.
“Mostly she was worried that Tilly’s recipes were too bland. She wanted to spice them up a little. Not so that they burned your tongue or anything. I’m very sensitive to spicy-hot foods. Never could eat ’em. But she felt that Tilly cooked a little too plain.”
It wasn’t the kind of information I had sought, but it was extremely helpful to know. She was adding spices to the recipes? Maybe that’s what the odd notations meant. Could they be her personal shorthand for spice ideas? D for dill? B for basil? That wouldn’t explain the numbers, but maybe they represented amounts? They hadn’t looked like measurements. After all, if they meant half teaspoons or quarter teaspoons, wouldn’t a lot of them be fractions? And wouldn’t there be a lot of ones?
I took out the two recipes I had brought with me. “She made notations on some of the pages that I can’t quite figure out. Three letters followed by numbers. Does that mean anything to you?”
“Sophie, it has been quite a while since I cooked. I imagine everything has changed. Do you still use measuring cups?” Eunice winked at me.
I rose and showed her the pages.
Eunice was quiet for a long moment. “Sophie, they look like codes.”
“Yes, but for what? What do they mean?”
“You’d have to figure that out. Sometimes people have a particular book, and the numbers represent pages and a line where a letter or a word is located. If you have the identical book, you can unravel the code and read the message.”
“Thanks, Eunice.”
She scowled at me. “Like this one. B C F four one seven. The B might mean chapter two. The C could mean the third paragraph. I’m not sure about the F. The four could indicate the fourth line. Are you following me? Once you know the book and understand the pattern, it’s easy to decipher.”
I didn’t want to offend her, but I hardly thought Abby was writing secret messages on the recipes. The only people who would see them would be Tilly and maybe the editor.
Nina asked, “Did you ever see Wesley Winthrop at Abby’s house?”
“I’ve seen him on TV, so I know what he looks like, but I can’t say I’ve ever seen him in the flesh. I suppose Wolf will be over here soon asking me the same questions.”
I suspected she was right about that. Leaving Nina to chat with Eunice, I tried to unobtrusively tidy up Eunice’s kitchen. I washed a few dishes and put them away.
“Leave that stuff out where I can see it,” Eunice shouted. “I don’t have enough years left to waste my time looking for things.”
I took out everything that I had stashed in cabinets and placed it all neatly on a table. I gathered empty cookie bags and old newspapers and placed them in trash bags. I wondered if Lula the housekeeper was the same age as Eunice.
I flicked the light switch by the back door so I could see where I was going and stepped outside. Holding the trash in one hand, I grabbed the railing and walked down three steps to a brick patio, where I could hear the police going about their business next door. They were being very quiet, but I overheard one of them say, “No computer, no phone, no tablet, watch, or iPad.”
If someone had said that about Eunice, it wouldn’t have surprised me. But Abby was probably closer to my age. It was odd that she wouldn’t have a cell phone or a tablet. I supposed some people still didn’t. I carried the garbage bag to the trash can. Out of curiosity, I opened the gate in the fence and stepped into the alley that ran behind the houses. It was dark and silent. A couple of houses had electric lanterns mounted near their gates. I’d have to come back during the daytime for a better look, but preliminarily I’d have said it would be an easy way to drive or walk up to a house without being noticed.