“A third person was there?” I reeled at the thought.
“Looks like it.”
“So Abby and the third person might have run off after committing murder.”
Wolf grunted. “At this point, anything is possible.”
“Wolf, the other day I saw a guy grab a soda can from a municipal trash can. It was the strangest thing. It was like he’d planned it and had done it before. He even stuck his tie in his mouth first.”
“I gather he didn’t appear to be a hungry vagrant?”
“No. He was well dressed. Typical Old Town style.”
Wolf chuckled. “Sounds like a dead drop. If you saw it happen, he’s not very good at it. It’s a classic spy move to pass on information.”
I knew CIA headquarters was only miles from Old Town as the crow flies, but I had never given it much thought. It felt sort of invasive to know spies were among us. Like someone had broken into my sweet, safe city.
My expression must have revealed my discomfort because Wolf said, “It was probably a training run. It’s nothing to worry about.”
I wasn’t so sure about that. “I think it’s creepy. It’s like something sinister is going on in our streets!”
Wolf turned and looked at Abby’s house. “Not as sinister as what went on in there.”
He was right, of course. I shuddered to imagine what the poor woman in the freezer had gone through. “Abby quit her job on Friday. Her cat turned up at Eunice’s around then, too. Do you think that’s when it all happened?”
Wolf rubbed his chin. “That’s a good bet. At this point we don’t know much. I hope the autopsy will reveal something helpful.”
He hopped into his car and drove off. As Daisy and I walked home, I pondered whether to bring a dish to Natasha’s party.
She wanted to impress her new half sister, but I was very familiar with Natasha’s insistence on serving trendy food. There would be no elegant chicken breasts or delicious simple salad at her dinner table. I could only hope she had gotten over her hot pepper stage. Even though she had said not to bring anything, I thought it wise and also very polite to bring a dish to her party.
I remembered seeing a tomato tart among Tilly’s recipes and planned to look it up when I was distracted by Nina’s new autumn decorations. The short sidewalk to her house was lined symmetrically with fall items that graduated in size. It began with large gourds, followed by flowering purple cabbages and yellow and red mums. At the very end, next to her door, were two tall urns. They were packed with orange mums, miniature pumpkins, cascading white flowers, and spiraling branches that reached upward. It was elegant and eye-catching.
Nina stepped out of her house. “What do you think?”
“It puts the rest of us to shame. That’s amazing.”
“I’m pretty happy with it. I may not have arranged it, but I selected the parts.” She followed me across the street to my house.
As I unlocked the door, she said, “You won’t believe what happened!”
For a second, I was worried. “Not another death?”
“Not that I know of. Natasha invited me to her dinner party tonight!”
“She likes you more than she lets on.”
“I thought she’d never forgive me after the pie throw-down. I’m definitely going. I can’t wait to see her sister. Do you suppose they look alike?”
“Hard to tell. I know three sisters who all have similar features. You can see they’re related. But I don’t think Hannah and I look alike.”
I located the recipe and pulled out ingredients for the crust.
“Any word on Abby’s murder?”
I filled her in on the gruesome details. While I was still talking, Nina used her phone to pull up the police sketch of the woman found in Abby’s freezer.
I was slicing juicy red and yellow tomatoes when Nina brought her phone over to me.
The woman in the freezer was older than I had expected. Squarely middle-aged, she had a broad jaw and prominent eyebrows. There was a mole on the left side of her face.
Nina read aloud. Police request assistance in identifying this woman thought to be in her fifties. She has chin-length auburn hair. She is wearing black jeans, a black Henley sweater, and a black leather jacket. Please notify Alexandria Police if you recognize her.
“I’ve never seen her around, have you?” I asked.
“I always feel like I know everyone, but evidently there are a lot of people in town who run in different circles.”
Chapter 12
Dear Natasha,
I threw a dinner party for some people I wanted to impress. One of my guests brought dessert! I thought that was highly irregular and somewhat offensive. Did she think I wasn’t capable of pulling off a nice dinner including dessert?
Offended in Sandwich, Massachusetts
Dear Offended,
You are correct to be offended. A dinner invitation implies that food will be provided by the hostess. I hope that you were kind enough to make that clear to her so she won’t make that mistake again!
Natasha
At six thirty, I changed into black slacks and a V-necked lace top with elbow-length sleeves. I pulled my hair back and pinned it into a bun. I knew towering high heels were still the rage, but I also knew I would immediately twist, if not break, my ankle if I wore them. The brick sidewalks of Old Town were charming but not ideal for stilettoes. I opted for comfortable black flats. I was short, but heels wouldn’t make me significantly taller, anyway. A pair of dangling earrings with hearts on them and I was ready to meet Natasha’s half sister.
I fed Daisy and Mochie, packed up my tomato tart, and walked across the street and down a few doors to the house that Natasha and Mars had bought together. Even though they had split up, she still lived in the house. From Mars’s comments, I gathered that they hadn’t come to an agreement yet regarding the house.
A pot of golden mums decorated each step as I walked up the stairs to the front door of the red brick house. At the very top I knocked on the door.
Natasha swung it open. “Oh. It’s you.” She wedged past me and looked out on the street.
I stepped inside and she followed. I handed the tomato tart to Natasha.
Her eyebrows lifted. “Well, this wasn’t necessary! Perhaps I’ll put this in the freezer.”
I had my doubts about freezing it, but it was her decision. “I hope you’ll enjoy it.” I had clearly irritated her by bringing it. “I take it your sister isn’t here yet?”
Natasha’s lips drew thin in disapproval. “I hope Charlene’s not one of those fashionably late types who makes everyone wait.”
“I’m sure she’ll be here soon. Have you told your mom about her?”
Natasha fingered the tight gold necklace on her throat. “Maybe you can help me decide the best course of action after we meet her. I don’t want to keep anything from my mom, but it will be such a bitter pill for her to know for certain that it was us my dad didn’t want. I always suspected as much, but my mom has always clung to the hope that he lost his way and didn’t remember where he came from.”
My heart ached for Natasha. For all her bravado, at heart Natasha was still the little girl whose dad had abandoned her and her mom. My own mother thought that was the reason Natasha had such high expectations of herself. She tried so hard to be what she thought was perfect. I guessed that could be the result of feeling rejected by the one man most children knew they could count on, no matter what. Maybe my mom was right. Natasha felt she wasn’t good enough for her dad, and that was why he left. She needed to be perfect to prove something to him and to herself.