“Let me see that.” Mary Ester’s bad mood just made her downright ugly. She snatched the photos from Tim’s hand.
“Not you.” He looked at me. “I think this is you, Mary Ester. I thought you said you didn’t go to the signing.”
“And you took her a coffee?” I glanced at her book. “Let me see that photo.” I grabbed it from Mary Ester and noticed it was a picture of Mary Ester handing Piddy a cup of coffee from the two she had, one in each hand.
“I want the photo.” She reached to get it back, and I pulled it up over my head like a child on a playground playing keep-away.
“Wait.” I pointed to her with the photo. “You took the coffee to Piddy, and you have access to mothballs since your parents live there. The nursing home uses them all over the place, but why would you. . .”
I gulped when I noticed her demeanor had changed.
“You know, what people say around here about you is true. You are nuts, and that’s why Richard did what he did.” She was grasping at anything to get the heat off of herself, but I wasn’t going to let a little hot seat get me flustered.
“It’s all making sense now. You are the face of the preservation committee, and you are on television for all the new buildings and construction. But who is the man Stella Jane wrote about?”
“Stop talking!” Mary Elizabeth screamed and headed to the door.
Tim ran around both of us and slammed the door with his body up against it so Mary Ester couldn’t get out.
“‘I’m not going to pretend I was an angel either. Both of us needed a good swift kick in the you-know-what.’” I whispered what Elton had told me. “Oh my.” My jaw dropped, and slowly my eyes met Mary Ester’s.
I was right.
“You and Elton had an affair at the same time Piddy and Bobby Peters were having an affair.” I blinked slowly a few times, trying to put it all together.
“Yeah. So I didn’t appreciate Stella Jane telling everyone either.” She spat. “Let me out!” she screamed at Tim.
“Call Angela, Bernadette,” he instructed me.
“Are you saying you meant to kill Stella Jane but got the coffees mixed up?” I asked, knowing deep in my bones this was what had happened. “Oh my gosh,” I gasped, finding enough strength to head over to Tim’s secretary’s desk to grab the phone.
Chapter 20
“So you mean to tell me that was it? No pulling of guns? Knives? Nothing?” Jenny asked in disbelief after I told them what had happened in Tim Crouse’s office. She looked at my reflection in the mirror as she cut my hair.
Ada Leigh had Dora Lee folding the clean towels and putting them away. Dora glanced at me a few times. I wasn’t sure if she’d told her mom or not, but there wasn’t a word mentioned about it.
“No. But that wasn’t her choice of weapon. She said she was at her parents’ here in the nursing home when Stella Jane was on the morning show. Remember?” I nudged their memories. “The other day when I was in here delivering the mail and she brought her mom in?”
“Yeah.” Jenny nodded.
“That’s right. I forgot all about that. So she did have access to mothballs here if the sheriff couldn’t find her buying them.” Ada Leigh tried to add to the clues, but I was positive Angela Hafley had already had the case all laid out.
Dora Lee excused herself when her phone buzzed and answered it.
“Aren’t you listening to Bernie?” Jenny huffed and twirled me around to cut a little more. “She said Mary Ester admitted to trying to kill Stella Jane but accidentally killed Piddy.”
“All because they were all having an affair on each other.” Ada Leigh tsked. “If they’d just not do that sort of thing.”
“It’s a shame that the book got pulled, or are you glad?” Jenny asked me.
“I don’t care that she wrote about me and Richard. Everyone knew, so it was no big secret. I think her tying all the relationships together will confuse them, but I mainly feel bad for Elsbeth. I’m worried about her future.”
“Good news.” Dora Lee walked back into the salon. “Stella Jane said her publisher really did like her new book idea. This time it’s a murder mystery, so they bought it.” Dora Lee smiled. “And it’s enough to cover Elsbeth’s expenses.”
“Oh, good lawdy.” Jenny waved her comb in the air. “We all better watch our backs in case she does a murder for hire around here for her next story.”
All of us nervously laughed.
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