“He. . . um. . .” Revonda Gail looked at me for some help.
“Iris, we were talking about a job. Revonda needs a job. She’s got skills in the food industry.” Not that I was asking Iris to give Revonda a job, but you would’ve thought that was the intent of my statement.
Iris’s eyebrows drew together in an angry frown.
“But we can discuss that later. What was it you were saying about Angela?” I asked and got up to fix her a cup of coffee without asking if she wanted one. I already knew she did.
Iris shifted her scowl from me to Revonda, then back to me. Rowena jumped up on the table to get what she knew Iris had for her.
“How long you staying in town?” Iris reached for her purse. She unsnapped it and pulled out a bag of the animal treats she made and sold in her bakery for our four-legged friends.
“I’ve got no plans.” Revonda pushed back her hair and appeared to be avoiding any and all real answers.
This made me cautious. Iris got those feelings, so I turned to Iris to see if she had that look about her. Nothing.
“Fine. I don’t mind talking in front of you. Besides, as sure as I’m sitting right here at this table, I know Lucy Drake will have it all over her coffee chat this morning.” Iris rotated the loose watch on her wrist and looked at it. “We have about another hour until she comes on, and I can’t wait to see what she has to say.”
“You need to start from the beginning,” I told her and quickly refilled everyone’s coffee cup before I sat back down.
“It all has to do with that darn Piddy. If I would’ve thought of it, I would’ve killed her myself since Angela Hafley dragged me in at one in the morning to answer questions. Questions that she’d ask a suspect.” Iris took a pause and a drink before she started back up. “Can you believe she has the gumption to think I killed Piddy? I told her that if I wanted Piddy dead, I’d have killed her a long time ago and probably would’ve knocked her over the head with my pie plate.”
Revonda Gail must’ve thought what Iris was carrying on about was funny because coffee shot out of her mouth like a cannon and across the table, hitting Iris in the face.
“What on earth is wrong with you, Revonda Gail?” Iris jumped up and grabbed my dish towel from the sink. “I swear, you need to go back to where you come from.”
“Came.” Revonda shrugged.
“What?” Iris snarled.
“You said where you come from. The proper grammar. . .”
“I don’t give an iota about proper grammar. I need Bernie here to figure out who on earth killed Piddy Satterly before I get sent to the big house.” Iris quickly forgot what Revonda had done and put her focus on me.
“How is Bernadette going to do that?” Piddy asked.
“I guess you don’t know, but Bernie here has become a real-life Columbo of Sugar Creek Gap. Angela Hafley has even asked her to join in on a few unsolved murders recently.” Iris pulled open the junk drawer and rooted through it until she found a pen and a pad of paper that was supposed to hang on the refrigerator by the magnetic strip on the back of it.
She put the pad of paper on the table in front of me and slapped the pen on top of it.
“Write. Clues or something,” Iris demanded and went back to her seat.
“Why on earth does Angela think you did it? We were at the game.” Then my jaw dropped when I realized I was at the game and Iris had decided to stay back.
“Mm-hmm.” She pointed at me and shook her finger. “That right there.”
“What?” Revonda Gail looked between us with a confused look. Our awkward pause made Revonda tsk. “Really? You can trust me. Trust me,” she emphasized.
“And why should we do that?” Iris asked.
I picked up the pen. There were a few things I could write down about Iris and others I’d seen with my own eyes in the last twenty-four hours.
While Revonda and Iris hashed it out, or technically argued about why Iris should talk openly in front of Revonda, I made a list of reasons Bobby Peters, Lucy Drake, Elton Satterly, and Iris might have had for wanting Piddy dead.
“What are you doing?” Iris had leaned over the table and looked at what I was writing.
“I’m doing what you asked me to do.” I shook my head.
“But I’m on the list.” She dug her fingernail into the pad of paper and made an indent.
“And you have a valid reason to have wanted Piddy dead.” It was not a big secret. “I’m not saying you did it because I know you didn’t.”
“How do you know that?” Revonda Gail chimed in but was met with some colorful words from Iris. Revonda shot even more colorful words back at Iris.
“Honestly, you two.” I put the pen down and got up.
“Where are you going?” Iris really didn’t ask as much as protest.
“I’m going to get ready for work. I work on Saturdays.” In reality, I hated working Saturdays, but right now anything was better than listening to these two.
“What about my problem?” Revonda Gail asked.
“If you think your problem trumps my problem, you’ve got another thing coming.” Iris wasn’t letting up on poor Revonda Gail. “Bernadette Butler is my best friend.”
“Listen.” I’d literally had it up to my ears with these two. “I’m going to go get my shower. Revonda Gail has a problem, and you have a problem. Why don’t you two tell each other your problems and maybe figure out a way we can all work together. So when I come out all fresh and clean with my work uniform on, we can have one last cup of coffee before I go to the post office.”
My words were met with some grunts and groans, but I didn’t pay any attention to them.
I took a little longer than usual in the shower, not because I didn’t feel like being around them but because I was lost in thought about who could’ve really killed Piddy.
Iris had stayed at the bookstore when we marched to the game with the crowd. She still would’ve killed Piddy a long time ago, but Iris cared too much about her pie plate to waste it on Bobby Peters and his lady friend.
Elton had a good reason to have killed her. Elton Satterly was a very proud man, from what I recalled. It would be easy to find out about him. He loved to gamble, and I was sure I’d once heard the older men at the nursing home say something about him joining them one time.
It was something I’d ask Vince about this morning.
Then I thought about Lucy Drake. She was so proud of the reputation she thought she had as the big radio DJ, she figured she was safe from any local gossip about her. I could only imagine what she said to poor Stella Jane about her little appearance in the book, but why would she be tied to Piddy?
Stella Jane.
I quickly finished up in the shower and wrapped myself up in my robe.
“What about Stella Jane?” I rushed down the hall to find Revonda Gail and Iris with their heads butted together, writing away on the notepad.
“What?” Iris jerked up and looked at me.
“Huh?” Revonda’s nose curled.
“What did I miss?” I wagged my finger between the two of them.
“You ain’t gonna believe it.” Iris’s lips curled into a big smile.