I sighed as I picked up the morning after the funeral. Harmony had left early this morning to take Jeremy and the girls to the airport. I wished they could have stayed longer, but Harper had dance practice and Ashlyn had a birthday party to go to this weekend.
“It’s good for them to get back to normal,” Harmony told me, a concerned look in her eyes. I hoped she wasn’t worried about me. I’d be fine as soon as the PHPD made an arrest for Angie’s murder, which surely would be soon now.
I checked my phone for the millionth time that morning. The best outcome would be a confession by one of the two ladies in custody, or maybe even both. The second best would be that one would turn on the other and have evidence to back up an accusation. Still, I had a niggling in the back of my brain that continued to tell me neither Cynthia nor Felyne committed this crime. While they had all but confessed to trying to poison Angie, poisoning somebody and bludgeoning them to death were two very different prospects. Maybe, too, it was because they were too obvious. In all the murder mysteries I’d read, it was never the most obvious suspects, but that wasn’t the only reason I was suspicious of their guilt. I knew Cynthia. She had a sharp mind that she often tried to hide by being the bubble-headed wife, which had gotten her far in life. Felyne was clearly intelligent. If either of them had murdered Angie, they wouldn’t be shouting at each other about jelly in a cafe or at a funeral. They would have kept their mouths shut and their heads down.
I sighed again. I wished I was still seeing Javi. Was that wrong? I was wishing to see a man for the information he could give me, not necessarily because I missed him. Maybe I should have been a spy instead of a businesswoman.
My phone rang, and I almost dropped it trying to answer quickly.
“What do you have?” It would be great to have this whole thing wrapped up before Harmony even got back from the airport.
“Good morning to you, too, Sunshine!” Dayna’s bright voice sang out to me.
“Good morning,” I grumbled.
“Our two suspects are quite angry, mostly at us, but also with each other.”
“Have they said anything?”
“Nope. They’ve both lawyered up. But we got the analysis back on the jelly.”
“Let me guess. Poison.”
“That’s not exactly a wild guess, given what everybody heard yesterday. But, yes, the jelly was poisoned with several complex poisonous alkaloids. And guess what we found in Felyne’s garden?”
“Poisonous alkaloids?”
“Another good guess. Essentially, yes, we found Meadow Death Camas lilies growing among the non-poisonous Blue Camas lilies. Meadow Death lilies are called the “poison onion” by Native Americans. They’re extremely poisonous and can cause dizziness, nausea, vomiting, and death if eaten in a high enough quantity. The bulb alone is extremely poisonous; it has a very bitter taste. But, when made into a jelly—”
“The sugar masks the bitterness.”
“You got it!”
“So you’re certain, then. Felyne was trying to kill Angie.”
“We’re pretty sure. It all fits. We think Felyne made the jelly then passed it along to Cynthia so that she had plausible deniability, and that it would be Cynthia’s fingerprints on the jelly jar in case something happened. When Felyne got to Angie for their meeting in the late afternoon, she saw Angie hadn’t eaten much of the jelly, so she doubled back, knocked on the back door of Angie’s home, and killed her. Maybe they fought and it was a spur of the moment type of thing, or maybe she went back specifically to kill Angie. Either way, I’m pretty sure we’re going to get a confession out of one of these ladies tonight.”
“Felyne wasn’t wearing a black cotton shirt, though.”
“That could have been from anything. Who knows?”
“Okay…nobody else was wearing black cotton either.”
“It could have been one of her own sweaters or something. She might have touched the jelly at some point and then gone into her own closet for something. We might never know.”
“I see.” I didn’t see. That seemed implausible to me, but as I had no other suspect who wore black cotton, I couldn’t really shit on her theory. “What about Cynthia, then?”
“We’re letting her go for now, but we could possibly still charge her as an accessory. From what we heard at the funeral and what others heard at the coffee shop, we believe she was not just used by Felyne, she was also in on it. We’re trying to find the people right now who overheard the verbal exchange at the coffee shop so that we can interview them.”
I still didn’t like this, but who was I to say? I was retired, not even a professional anymore. I was like a Stay at Home Mom, except I wasn’t even a mom, so I was just a Stay at Home Jobless Woman. Was that even a thing? No, I was a fan of true crime who was totally in the dark, like a cave troll or a mushroom.
Dayna heard my silence and understood it, like any good friend who’s known me for over a decade would. “Kate, this is it. We’ve got them. I guarantee we’ll have two confessions by the end of the day.”
I sure hoped so. I rubbed my temples, trying to relieve the pressure building behind my eyes.
What about Beatrice? Did they ever really look into her? How thorough were they with those contractors?
None of this was my problem anymore. I had books to read and a dog to walk, a task I had been neglecting in the past few days.
I sighed, rubbing my temples with my fingertips, which I concluded did absolutely nothing to relieve the headache that was starting.
Cynthia. It started with Cynthia, and she’s in the middle of every discussion about Angie’s murder. I wonder how she’s doing with Tony moved out? Maybe a quit visit to check on her would be a good idea!
#
I rang the bell at Cynthia’s home and was rewarded with the bark of what sounded like five little dogs, but I knew was just Sparky. Cynthia eased the door open a crack and then opened it further when she saw that it was me.
“Hi, Kate. Come on in.” She sounded weary and was wearing pajama bottoms with a black t-shirt. She clearly hadn’t been expecting visitors.
“I wanted to see how you’re doing.”
Cynthia slumped into a chair in the formal living room, and I took a seat across from her. “I’m okay. It’s quiet in the house now.” Her eyes flashed up to my face. “Thanks for coming over. That’s very nice.” Sparky climbed into her lap and petting him seemed to make her feel better.
“Have you heard from Tony?”
“He’s called several times. Says he wants to explain. I don’t know. I’m not ready to talk to him yet.”
I nodded. “I wanted to pick your brain. Every time I look around, you seem to be at the center of the action around here.”
Cynthia perked up. “You want my opinion? I mean, I do know a lot of people!”
“What’s your opinion of Beatrice?”
“Bea? Don’t let that sour face fool you. Bea can be okay. She’s hardheaded, and she really seemed to love running the HOA, but it was time for her to move on. I think she was burnt out on all the responsibility. Angie, may she rest in peace, was a great addition to the board for us.”
This was good. Cynthia was warming up. “What about Felyne?”
“Now that’s somebody you should be looking at! That woman is such a bitch! She’s SOOO dramatic.” I consciously kept my gaze even and didn’t roll my eyes. “Our contract with the pool guy is up in a little over a month now, and I thought I could throw Lars some work. I don’t need him to be rich, or anything, but getting the HOA’s pool contract wouldn’t hurt. And it’s not like the current guy is that great. I’d swear there’s times we’ve paid him to come out and clean, and it doesn’t even seem like anybody’s been there, what with the leaves and all in the pool. Anyway, Felyne was adamant about it. No way were we switching contractors. She didn’t know I was seeing Lars or anything, so it’s not like it was a,” Cynthia used air quotes, “‘conflict of interest’ as far as she was concerned.”
“Was that at the funeral?”
“Oh, no, that was the week before Angie died, when we met at the coffee shop. I just thought if Felyne, and maybe Nick, met Lars at the funeral, they’d see he’s a decent guy, and maybe he could convince them to can that other guy. That Max guy gives me the willies!”
“I recall you said something along the lines of, ‘You’re going down for that.’”
“I barely started to make the case for Lars, and she turned on me! She said I was a slut, sleeping around with all of the contractors, and that Tony is just rich white trash.”
“So you hit her?”
“I didn’t mean to. It just happened. I can’t help it if I’m a natural born fighter.” Cynthia bent her arm up and patted her bicep. “Muscles of steel! Anyway, she made me so mad saying those things about Tony. I didn’t mind about me, and I can say bad things about Tony, but Feylene? No. I don’t think so.”
“What was all the stuff about jelly?”
“I honestly don’t know. Felyne had some jelly she asked me to give to Angie when I saw her that morning. I don’t know why, but Felyne keeps bringing this jelly thing up. The woman is obsessed! I’m glad she’s still in jail. She is still in jail, isn’t she?”
“Yeah, they’re still holding her.”
Cynthia breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good. I hope that crazy bitch gets what’s coming to her!” She glanced at her phone. “Oh, shoot, Kate, I need to get dressed. I’ve got a nail appointment in just a bit. Can you show yourself out?”
As I walked away from Cynthia’s house to my car, I felt just as frustrated as when I started. I hadn’t really learned anything I didn’t already know. Maybe none of this had anything to do with Cynthia, or Fylene, or jelly. Or maybe they’d have a confession from Felyne before the night is out.
And speaking of night, I perked up when I thought about my plans for this evening. Tonight was my date with a very handsome forensic accountant.