Annabelle Archer BoxSet, page 10
part #1 of Annabelle Archer Series
“I might be able to get a caterer to do a tasting for you this week. That way we can get the process started.”
“Could you?” Mrs. Boyd sounded pleased. “That would be perfect. We want a caterer who does French food well. We want this wedding to have the feel of a garden party in Provence.”
“That won’t be a problem. There are some fabulous toile linens that would be lovely for cocktails outside.”
“As long as they’re pink. We want everything to be pink.”
I winced. “Everything?”
“Everything,” Mrs. Boyd said. “Even the food needs to match.”
Great. The wedding would look as though it had been hosed down in Pepto-Bismol. I walked with my phone to the kitchen and waved my arms to get Richard’s attention.
“What are you doing tomorrow night?” I mouthed to him.
“Nothing,” he whispered back. “Why?”
I walked back to my office. “I’m certain that Richard Gerard Catering would be willing to do a tasting in your home tomorrow night.”
“He’s supposed to be wonderful, isn’t he?” Mrs. Boyd said. “Are you sure he’ll agree to such a short notice?”
“I’ll handle it,” I assured her. “I’ll have him put together a menu today and fax it over to you.”
“Don’t forget our color scheme, Miss Archer.”
I thought such rigid color schemes had gone the way of color-coordinating the bridesmaids with the punch. I heard Richard coming down the hall as I said goodbye to Mrs. Boyd.
“What are you up to, Annabelle?” He stood outside my office door, hands on his hips.
“Since you’re so gung-ho to cater, I figured you wouldn’t mind doing a tasting for Mr. and Mrs. Boyd tomorrow night.” I spun all the way around in my office chair. “It’ll give us the perfect opportunity to see how much Mrs. Boyd knew about her husband’s affair, and if Mr. Boyd had anything to do with the murder.”
Richard drummed his fingers on his hips. “And how do you expect to get this information out of them? Should I plan on putting truth serum in the food?”
“I guess I’ll just see how they react when I casually mention Mrs. Pierce. People usually give themselves away when they’re lying.”
“I’m going to go to all the hassle of throwing together a last-minute tasting just so you can see if you get a reaction?” As the doorbell rang, Richard turned on his heel and stomped down the hall. “That detective got it right, Annabelle. You should leave the investigating to the police.”
I followed him to the living room. “You might get a catering job out of this, too. It’s not a total waste.”
“Maybe you can talk some sense into her,” Richard said to Kate as he let her in. He appraised her acid-green skirt slit up to midthigh. “Maybe not.”
“Just wait until you hear what I found out about William Boyd.” Kate tossed her hot pink plaid purse on the couch.
Richard jerked a thumb in my direction.“Wait until you hear what she’s gotten us into.”
“You go first, Kate.” I perched on the arm of the couch and let Kate stretch out across the rest. Her skirt was clearly too tight to sit up in.
Richard went back into the kitchen where we could watch him through the open shutters. “I hope you don’t mind if I listen from in here. Not all of us can spend all day playing private eye.”
“Somebody is in a lovely mood.” Kate kicked off her heels.
“Ignore him,” I said. “Tell us what you found out.”
“So I went to the White House to visit Jack, that guy I used to date last year. Do you remember me talking about him?”
“The one who laughed like a girl?”
“No.” Kate propped her head up against a cushion. “The one who had a shoe fetish.”
“I think so.” I needed a chart to keep them straight.
“Anyway, I paid Jack a visit this morning. We had a great time catching up and swapping work stories. We even set a date for dinner tonight.”
“Please tell me this is going somewhere,” Richard said, his voice muffled behind a cabinet door.
“It just so happens that his office is only a few doors down from Boyd’s and he filled me in on some pretty interesting fireworks that went on last week.”
“Mrs. Pierce?” I leaned forward.
“You got it.” Kate swung her legs off the couch and inched herself into an upright position. “Jack didn’t hear anything specific, but he said Clara did plenty of yelling when she visited Boyd.”
“I wonder what they were fighting about.” I stood up and paced the room.
“The rumor around the office is that she must have threatened to tell his wife about their affair. What else could it be?”
“That would do it.” Richard heaved a chef’s knife up and it landed on the cutting board with a thud.
“No one heard exactly what they fought about, but everyone heard what Boyd said after Clara left.” Kate stood up and walked behind the couch to lean over the counter into the kitchen.
I couldn’t believe she would tease us like this. “Well, what did he say?”
“Jack said that Boyd fumed all day and stalked around the halls saying that Clara wouldn’t get away with it, and that he would shut her up once and for all.”
“Anything else?” Richard eyed Kate.
“Just that he would kill that meddling witch.” Kate grinned. “That’s all.”
“Bingo,” I said. “I think we’ve found our murderer.”
“Just because he threatened to kill her?” Richard gave a little snort. “If I remember correctly, darlings, you both made similar threats.”
“We weren’t serious.” I walked to the counter and grabbed a strawberry when Richard turned away. “But if Clara had been about to ruin our lives by exposing a secret, maybe we would have been.”
“She ruined my life for a while,” Kate said under her breath.
“People make idle threats, then get over it all the time.” Richard returned to the big, glass bowl of fruit salad and pursed his lips. He glared at me. I stopped chewing and tried to swallow the berry whole. How could he miss a single strawberry?
“Water under the ridge,” Kate said.
“Bridge,” Richard and I said simultaneously.
“Most likely a lover’s spat.” Richard moved the salad bowl to the other side of the kitchen. “They probably forgot about it long before the murder.”
I wiped my mouth on my sleeve and ignored Richard’s disapproving glare. “When was the fight?”
“That’s just the thing. They wouldn’t have had time to forget about it,” Kate said. “It happened the day before the wedding.”
I whooped. “See, I told you the tasting would be a good idea.”
“What tasting?” Kate asked.
“The one I arranged for Richard to do at the Boyds’ house tomorrow night. It’ll be the perfect opportunity to sniff out more clues.”
“This is getting much too Nancy Drew for my taste,” Richard griped.
“They won’t know we’re there to find information. Mr. Boyd could never expect us to know that he threatened Mrs. Pierce’s life the day before she was killed. I don’t think even the police know that.” I winked at Kate. “What were the chances of you dating someone who overheard all this?”
“With Kate, I’d say the odds weren’t bad.” Richard blew Kate a kiss.
“Ha, ha.” Kate turned her back to Richard and flounced back to the couch. “I wouldn’t mind getting to snoop around inside their house. It looks amazing from the outside. Not that I’m thrilled about the idea of hanging around a murderer. If Boyd did do it.”
“I’d be willing to bet that he had something to do with her death.” I tapped a finger on my chin. “And tomorrow night will be the perfect opportunity to find out.”
Richard glanced up from slicing pieces of focaccia and rolled his eyes. “What could possibly go wrong with this plan?”
17
“Everything that could possibly go wrong today already has.” Richard polished a sterling silver knife with the dishtowel tucked into the waistband of his pants, then placed it on the Boyds’ long, mahogany dining table. Everything about the room, from the floors to the walls to the claw-foot table, was dark wood.
“That’s a good thing.” I set an oversized pink-rimmed base plate in front of each of the tall chairs. “If nothing else can go wrong, then dinner will be perfect.”
“First, I couldn’t get the grade of filet I wanted. I had to settle for choice.” Richard set a ruler on the table to see if the silverware was even on both sides of the plate. “Then Party Settings delivered the wrong dessert plates. Wait until you see them. They look like hospital china, which means I’m going to have to paint the plate with raspberry coulis to cover it up. And, of course, I couldn’t find the wine that matched the pink peppercorn sauce anywhere in the city.”
“Remember that this tasting is just so they can sample your food. This isn’t the final menu for the wedding.” I patted his arm. “I think you’ve done an amazing job considering the short notice I gave you.”
“I’m almost positive that this is the least amount of time I’ve ever had to pull together a formal dinner,” Richard snipped. “No other caterer would dare to try.”
“You get full marks for bravery.” I set a white plate with a scrolling pattern on top of the charger. Classic and formal, yet not boring. Richard considered matching people’s personality and tableware an art form.
“I’m not the brave one. You’re trying to catch a murderer,” Richard said. “Where do you think he is, anyway?”
We hadn’t seen anyone since Mrs. Boyd let us inside two hours earlier. I glanced at the grandfather clock in the corner. Half an hour left before we were scheduled to start the tasting.
Kate wedged an ivory taper into the crystal candelabra in the middle of the table. “Didn’t you hear Mrs. Boyd say he had a doctor’s appointment right before this?”
“I bet we have time to snoop around a little before he gets here,” I whispered.
“Snoop around?” Kate almost dropped her handful of candles. “That’s not part of the plan.”
“Mr. Boyd’s office is right across the foyer and the door is partly open.” I tugged at Kate’s arm. “If we’re going to do this, let’s do it right.”
“You’re nuts.” She pulled away from me. “What if he comes home early and we get caught?”
“Doctor appointments always run late, so there’s no way that Boyd will get here on time,” I assured her.
“What if Mrs. Boyd comes back downstairs?”
“That’s why Richard’s going to stand guard for us.” I looked tentatively at Richard.
“Leave me out of this.” Richard started out of the dining room, and I ran to catch him. “If you think I’m going to be around when you two get hauled off to jail, you’re out of your mind. I’ll tell you where I’ll be. Crawling out the kitchen window.”
“Please, Richard. Kate and I will only poke our heads in for a second.”
Richard allowed himself to be prodded across the foyer.
“After two minutes, you’re on your own,” he huffed.
“Stand out here and if you hear anyone coming, give us a signal.” I pushed the door to Mr. Boyd’s study open the rest of the way.
“Would a flare suffice or were you thinking more along the lines of exotic bird calls?”
I gave Richard my most saccharine smile. “A tap on the door will do nicely.”
We stepped into the office, and I could make out the shape of a desk in the corner. I heard Kate sliding her feet across the floor, probably so she wouldn’t trip, and I did the same. We reached the desk and Kate turned on a lamp sitting on the edge. I snapped it off.
“What are you doing?” I blinked hard, temporarily blinded by the light. So much for my eyes having adjusted to the darkness.
“How are we going to find anything if we don’t have light?”
“Let’s try this.” I felt my way over to the window and found the plastic bar that adjusted the blinds. I twisted it, and stripes of soft moonlight fell onto the desk.
“Not bad.” Kate bent over the desk and picked up a book. “His calendar.”
I took it out of her hands. “I wonder why he doesn’t have it on him.”
“Maybe he keeps one for here and one for the office. Flip to the week before the wedding.”
“What’s taking so long, girls? Hurry it up.”
I cursed Richard under my breath for making me jump. “Two more minutes.”
“I’ll give you one, and then I’m out of here,” he hissed back.
Great. No pressure. I flipped back a page in Boyd’s calendar and ran my finger down the record of meetings.
“This guy visits the doctor a lot. He had an appointment last week, too.”
“Is Clara’s name in there anywhere? Or the initials CP?”
“Not that I can find.” I scanned the pages quickly. “Feel around. Is there anything else on the desk?”
“Ugh. I think he emptied his pockets on here. Stick of gum, a few pennies, receipt, ball of lint.”
“Where’s the receipt from?”
Kate uncrumpled it. “From a pharmacy. For a prescription.”
“I wonder what he takes. Does it have a date?”
Kate unfolded it. “The tenth.”
“The day of the wedding. Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“That I can’t believe this guy picks up his own prescriptions?”
“Good point.” I tried not to sound too surprised as I took the receipt from Kate. “But he would pick it up himself if he didn’t want anyone to know about it. Mrs. Pierce died from mixing two blood-pressure medicines, right? What if the prescription Boyd had filled the day of the wedding was for one of them and he somehow used it to kill her?”
A sharp rap on the door made my stomach drop. “That’s Richard’s signal.” Kate clutched my arm. “We’ve got to get out of here.”
18
A high-pitched, warbling whistle followed Richard’s loud tap on the door.
“Is that supposed to be a bird call?” I stuffed the drugstore receipt into my shirt pocket.
“Who knows?” Kate whispered. “I’m not waiting around to see if he sends up a flare.”
I held out my arm to stop Kate from barreling through the door when I heard Richard’s voice, much shriller than usual.
“This is the most breathtaking parquet floor I’ve ever seen, Mrs. Boyd.”
I held my breath. They sounded as if they were right outside the door.
“Why, thank you, Mr. Gerard.”
“Call me Richard. Everyone does.”
Footsteps indicated they were heading away from the office door.
“If you have a minute, Mrs. Boyd, I’d love to show you the china we chose for this evening. I think of it as Martha Stewart meets Louis the Fourteenth.”
I cracked the door. “Okay, Kate. It’s all clear. Richard has Mrs. Boyd in the dining room with her back to us.”
“Where are we supposed to have been?”
“There’s a powder room under the staircase. We could be coming out of there.”
“Both of us?” Kate asked. “Together?”
“Better she thinks we’re weird than she finds us snooping around her husband’s office.”
“If you say so.”
We tiptoed past the dining room, and then made a big production of shutting the door to the bathroom and walking loudly down the hall.
“There you are.” Mrs. Boyd turned as Kate and I entered. A petite woman with dark hair cut in a thick page boy, Helen Boyd had a tight smile that seemed to blink on and off again like Christmas tree lights.
“Did we miss anything while we were washing up for dinner?” I asked.
Richard gave me a fake smile. “All we’ve done so far is review the menu.”
“I hope you found the bathroom without any problem, Miss Archer.”
I waved her concern away with one hand. “No problem at all. I love the way you’ve decorated it.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Really? Most women don’t like the fly-fishing motif.”
Fly-fishing? I should have checked out the bathroom before opening my big mouth.
“Annabelle isn’t most women.” Kate patted me on the back. “She adores fly-fishing.”
“Do you, now?” Mrs. Boyd studied me carefully. “Then you and my husband will have lots to talk about. It’s his passion.”
“You know I’m more of a beginner, Kate.” If looks could kill, I’d have been in the market for a new assistant.
“He’ll be thrilled that someone speaks his lingo. Heaven knows I don’t share my husband’s fondness for the outdoors.” She bestowed a series of her blinking smiles on us.
Richard looked at his watch. “Are we expecting Mr. Boyd soon?”
“Yes, but why don’t we get started without him?” Mrs. Boyd lowered herself into the chair that Richard slid out for her.
“Excuse us for one moment.” Richard let me and Kate walk past him into the kitchen. “We’ll be back with the first course.”
Kate waited until Richard closed the door before collapsing in a fit of giggles. “Good luck chatting with Mr. Boyd about fly-fishing.”
“Who decorates their bathroom with a fly-fishing motif?” I leaned over and let my head fall on the wooden kitchen island, glowering at Kate from my inverted position. “You’re pure evil squeezed into a Lilly Pulitzer dress.”
Richard waved his hands like a bird about to take flight. “Fight it out later, girls. You haven’t told me if you found anything in the office yet.”
“We found something all right. Show him the receipt, Annie.” Kate only used my nickname when trying to get on my good side.
I produced the slightly crumpled yellow copy for Richard to inspect.
Richard took it from me. “He fills his own prescriptions?”
“That’s what I said.” Kate wore a look of vindication as she opened the lid of the stainless-steel stock pot simmering on the stove and a savory sweet smell filled the air.
“Am I the only person paying attention here?” I snapped my fingers. “He fills the prescription, then attends the wedding. Mrs. Pierce dies of an overdose of blood-pressure medication. Hardly a coincidence.”
“Could you?” Mrs. Boyd sounded pleased. “That would be perfect. We want a caterer who does French food well. We want this wedding to have the feel of a garden party in Provence.”
“That won’t be a problem. There are some fabulous toile linens that would be lovely for cocktails outside.”
“As long as they’re pink. We want everything to be pink.”
I winced. “Everything?”
“Everything,” Mrs. Boyd said. “Even the food needs to match.”
Great. The wedding would look as though it had been hosed down in Pepto-Bismol. I walked with my phone to the kitchen and waved my arms to get Richard’s attention.
“What are you doing tomorrow night?” I mouthed to him.
“Nothing,” he whispered back. “Why?”
I walked back to my office. “I’m certain that Richard Gerard Catering would be willing to do a tasting in your home tomorrow night.”
“He’s supposed to be wonderful, isn’t he?” Mrs. Boyd said. “Are you sure he’ll agree to such a short notice?”
“I’ll handle it,” I assured her. “I’ll have him put together a menu today and fax it over to you.”
“Don’t forget our color scheme, Miss Archer.”
I thought such rigid color schemes had gone the way of color-coordinating the bridesmaids with the punch. I heard Richard coming down the hall as I said goodbye to Mrs. Boyd.
“What are you up to, Annabelle?” He stood outside my office door, hands on his hips.
“Since you’re so gung-ho to cater, I figured you wouldn’t mind doing a tasting for Mr. and Mrs. Boyd tomorrow night.” I spun all the way around in my office chair. “It’ll give us the perfect opportunity to see how much Mrs. Boyd knew about her husband’s affair, and if Mr. Boyd had anything to do with the murder.”
Richard drummed his fingers on his hips. “And how do you expect to get this information out of them? Should I plan on putting truth serum in the food?”
“I guess I’ll just see how they react when I casually mention Mrs. Pierce. People usually give themselves away when they’re lying.”
“I’m going to go to all the hassle of throwing together a last-minute tasting just so you can see if you get a reaction?” As the doorbell rang, Richard turned on his heel and stomped down the hall. “That detective got it right, Annabelle. You should leave the investigating to the police.”
I followed him to the living room. “You might get a catering job out of this, too. It’s not a total waste.”
“Maybe you can talk some sense into her,” Richard said to Kate as he let her in. He appraised her acid-green skirt slit up to midthigh. “Maybe not.”
“Just wait until you hear what I found out about William Boyd.” Kate tossed her hot pink plaid purse on the couch.
Richard jerked a thumb in my direction.“Wait until you hear what she’s gotten us into.”
“You go first, Kate.” I perched on the arm of the couch and let Kate stretch out across the rest. Her skirt was clearly too tight to sit up in.
Richard went back into the kitchen where we could watch him through the open shutters. “I hope you don’t mind if I listen from in here. Not all of us can spend all day playing private eye.”
“Somebody is in a lovely mood.” Kate kicked off her heels.
“Ignore him,” I said. “Tell us what you found out.”
“So I went to the White House to visit Jack, that guy I used to date last year. Do you remember me talking about him?”
“The one who laughed like a girl?”
“No.” Kate propped her head up against a cushion. “The one who had a shoe fetish.”
“I think so.” I needed a chart to keep them straight.
“Anyway, I paid Jack a visit this morning. We had a great time catching up and swapping work stories. We even set a date for dinner tonight.”
“Please tell me this is going somewhere,” Richard said, his voice muffled behind a cabinet door.
“It just so happens that his office is only a few doors down from Boyd’s and he filled me in on some pretty interesting fireworks that went on last week.”
“Mrs. Pierce?” I leaned forward.
“You got it.” Kate swung her legs off the couch and inched herself into an upright position. “Jack didn’t hear anything specific, but he said Clara did plenty of yelling when she visited Boyd.”
“I wonder what they were fighting about.” I stood up and paced the room.
“The rumor around the office is that she must have threatened to tell his wife about their affair. What else could it be?”
“That would do it.” Richard heaved a chef’s knife up and it landed on the cutting board with a thud.
“No one heard exactly what they fought about, but everyone heard what Boyd said after Clara left.” Kate stood up and walked behind the couch to lean over the counter into the kitchen.
I couldn’t believe she would tease us like this. “Well, what did he say?”
“Jack said that Boyd fumed all day and stalked around the halls saying that Clara wouldn’t get away with it, and that he would shut her up once and for all.”
“Anything else?” Richard eyed Kate.
“Just that he would kill that meddling witch.” Kate grinned. “That’s all.”
“Bingo,” I said. “I think we’ve found our murderer.”
“Just because he threatened to kill her?” Richard gave a little snort. “If I remember correctly, darlings, you both made similar threats.”
“We weren’t serious.” I walked to the counter and grabbed a strawberry when Richard turned away. “But if Clara had been about to ruin our lives by exposing a secret, maybe we would have been.”
“She ruined my life for a while,” Kate said under her breath.
“People make idle threats, then get over it all the time.” Richard returned to the big, glass bowl of fruit salad and pursed his lips. He glared at me. I stopped chewing and tried to swallow the berry whole. How could he miss a single strawberry?
“Water under the ridge,” Kate said.
“Bridge,” Richard and I said simultaneously.
“Most likely a lover’s spat.” Richard moved the salad bowl to the other side of the kitchen. “They probably forgot about it long before the murder.”
I wiped my mouth on my sleeve and ignored Richard’s disapproving glare. “When was the fight?”
“That’s just the thing. They wouldn’t have had time to forget about it,” Kate said. “It happened the day before the wedding.”
I whooped. “See, I told you the tasting would be a good idea.”
“What tasting?” Kate asked.
“The one I arranged for Richard to do at the Boyds’ house tomorrow night. It’ll be the perfect opportunity to sniff out more clues.”
“This is getting much too Nancy Drew for my taste,” Richard griped.
“They won’t know we’re there to find information. Mr. Boyd could never expect us to know that he threatened Mrs. Pierce’s life the day before she was killed. I don’t think even the police know that.” I winked at Kate. “What were the chances of you dating someone who overheard all this?”
“With Kate, I’d say the odds weren’t bad.” Richard blew Kate a kiss.
“Ha, ha.” Kate turned her back to Richard and flounced back to the couch. “I wouldn’t mind getting to snoop around inside their house. It looks amazing from the outside. Not that I’m thrilled about the idea of hanging around a murderer. If Boyd did do it.”
“I’d be willing to bet that he had something to do with her death.” I tapped a finger on my chin. “And tomorrow night will be the perfect opportunity to find out.”
Richard glanced up from slicing pieces of focaccia and rolled his eyes. “What could possibly go wrong with this plan?”
17
“Everything that could possibly go wrong today already has.” Richard polished a sterling silver knife with the dishtowel tucked into the waistband of his pants, then placed it on the Boyds’ long, mahogany dining table. Everything about the room, from the floors to the walls to the claw-foot table, was dark wood.
“That’s a good thing.” I set an oversized pink-rimmed base plate in front of each of the tall chairs. “If nothing else can go wrong, then dinner will be perfect.”
“First, I couldn’t get the grade of filet I wanted. I had to settle for choice.” Richard set a ruler on the table to see if the silverware was even on both sides of the plate. “Then Party Settings delivered the wrong dessert plates. Wait until you see them. They look like hospital china, which means I’m going to have to paint the plate with raspberry coulis to cover it up. And, of course, I couldn’t find the wine that matched the pink peppercorn sauce anywhere in the city.”
“Remember that this tasting is just so they can sample your food. This isn’t the final menu for the wedding.” I patted his arm. “I think you’ve done an amazing job considering the short notice I gave you.”
“I’m almost positive that this is the least amount of time I’ve ever had to pull together a formal dinner,” Richard snipped. “No other caterer would dare to try.”
“You get full marks for bravery.” I set a white plate with a scrolling pattern on top of the charger. Classic and formal, yet not boring. Richard considered matching people’s personality and tableware an art form.
“I’m not the brave one. You’re trying to catch a murderer,” Richard said. “Where do you think he is, anyway?”
We hadn’t seen anyone since Mrs. Boyd let us inside two hours earlier. I glanced at the grandfather clock in the corner. Half an hour left before we were scheduled to start the tasting.
Kate wedged an ivory taper into the crystal candelabra in the middle of the table. “Didn’t you hear Mrs. Boyd say he had a doctor’s appointment right before this?”
“I bet we have time to snoop around a little before he gets here,” I whispered.
“Snoop around?” Kate almost dropped her handful of candles. “That’s not part of the plan.”
“Mr. Boyd’s office is right across the foyer and the door is partly open.” I tugged at Kate’s arm. “If we’re going to do this, let’s do it right.”
“You’re nuts.” She pulled away from me. “What if he comes home early and we get caught?”
“Doctor appointments always run late, so there’s no way that Boyd will get here on time,” I assured her.
“What if Mrs. Boyd comes back downstairs?”
“That’s why Richard’s going to stand guard for us.” I looked tentatively at Richard.
“Leave me out of this.” Richard started out of the dining room, and I ran to catch him. “If you think I’m going to be around when you two get hauled off to jail, you’re out of your mind. I’ll tell you where I’ll be. Crawling out the kitchen window.”
“Please, Richard. Kate and I will only poke our heads in for a second.”
Richard allowed himself to be prodded across the foyer.
“After two minutes, you’re on your own,” he huffed.
“Stand out here and if you hear anyone coming, give us a signal.” I pushed the door to Mr. Boyd’s study open the rest of the way.
“Would a flare suffice or were you thinking more along the lines of exotic bird calls?”
I gave Richard my most saccharine smile. “A tap on the door will do nicely.”
We stepped into the office, and I could make out the shape of a desk in the corner. I heard Kate sliding her feet across the floor, probably so she wouldn’t trip, and I did the same. We reached the desk and Kate turned on a lamp sitting on the edge. I snapped it off.
“What are you doing?” I blinked hard, temporarily blinded by the light. So much for my eyes having adjusted to the darkness.
“How are we going to find anything if we don’t have light?”
“Let’s try this.” I felt my way over to the window and found the plastic bar that adjusted the blinds. I twisted it, and stripes of soft moonlight fell onto the desk.
“Not bad.” Kate bent over the desk and picked up a book. “His calendar.”
I took it out of her hands. “I wonder why he doesn’t have it on him.”
“Maybe he keeps one for here and one for the office. Flip to the week before the wedding.”
“What’s taking so long, girls? Hurry it up.”
I cursed Richard under my breath for making me jump. “Two more minutes.”
“I’ll give you one, and then I’m out of here,” he hissed back.
Great. No pressure. I flipped back a page in Boyd’s calendar and ran my finger down the record of meetings.
“This guy visits the doctor a lot. He had an appointment last week, too.”
“Is Clara’s name in there anywhere? Or the initials CP?”
“Not that I can find.” I scanned the pages quickly. “Feel around. Is there anything else on the desk?”
“Ugh. I think he emptied his pockets on here. Stick of gum, a few pennies, receipt, ball of lint.”
“Where’s the receipt from?”
Kate uncrumpled it. “From a pharmacy. For a prescription.”
“I wonder what he takes. Does it have a date?”
Kate unfolded it. “The tenth.”
“The day of the wedding. Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“That I can’t believe this guy picks up his own prescriptions?”
“Good point.” I tried not to sound too surprised as I took the receipt from Kate. “But he would pick it up himself if he didn’t want anyone to know about it. Mrs. Pierce died from mixing two blood-pressure medicines, right? What if the prescription Boyd had filled the day of the wedding was for one of them and he somehow used it to kill her?”
A sharp rap on the door made my stomach drop. “That’s Richard’s signal.” Kate clutched my arm. “We’ve got to get out of here.”
18
A high-pitched, warbling whistle followed Richard’s loud tap on the door.
“Is that supposed to be a bird call?” I stuffed the drugstore receipt into my shirt pocket.
“Who knows?” Kate whispered. “I’m not waiting around to see if he sends up a flare.”
I held out my arm to stop Kate from barreling through the door when I heard Richard’s voice, much shriller than usual.
“This is the most breathtaking parquet floor I’ve ever seen, Mrs. Boyd.”
I held my breath. They sounded as if they were right outside the door.
“Why, thank you, Mr. Gerard.”
“Call me Richard. Everyone does.”
Footsteps indicated they were heading away from the office door.
“If you have a minute, Mrs. Boyd, I’d love to show you the china we chose for this evening. I think of it as Martha Stewart meets Louis the Fourteenth.”
I cracked the door. “Okay, Kate. It’s all clear. Richard has Mrs. Boyd in the dining room with her back to us.”
“Where are we supposed to have been?”
“There’s a powder room under the staircase. We could be coming out of there.”
“Both of us?” Kate asked. “Together?”
“Better she thinks we’re weird than she finds us snooping around her husband’s office.”
“If you say so.”
We tiptoed past the dining room, and then made a big production of shutting the door to the bathroom and walking loudly down the hall.
“There you are.” Mrs. Boyd turned as Kate and I entered. A petite woman with dark hair cut in a thick page boy, Helen Boyd had a tight smile that seemed to blink on and off again like Christmas tree lights.
“Did we miss anything while we were washing up for dinner?” I asked.
Richard gave me a fake smile. “All we’ve done so far is review the menu.”
“I hope you found the bathroom without any problem, Miss Archer.”
I waved her concern away with one hand. “No problem at all. I love the way you’ve decorated it.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Really? Most women don’t like the fly-fishing motif.”
Fly-fishing? I should have checked out the bathroom before opening my big mouth.
“Annabelle isn’t most women.” Kate patted me on the back. “She adores fly-fishing.”
“Do you, now?” Mrs. Boyd studied me carefully. “Then you and my husband will have lots to talk about. It’s his passion.”
“You know I’m more of a beginner, Kate.” If looks could kill, I’d have been in the market for a new assistant.
“He’ll be thrilled that someone speaks his lingo. Heaven knows I don’t share my husband’s fondness for the outdoors.” She bestowed a series of her blinking smiles on us.
Richard looked at his watch. “Are we expecting Mr. Boyd soon?”
“Yes, but why don’t we get started without him?” Mrs. Boyd lowered herself into the chair that Richard slid out for her.
“Excuse us for one moment.” Richard let me and Kate walk past him into the kitchen. “We’ll be back with the first course.”
Kate waited until Richard closed the door before collapsing in a fit of giggles. “Good luck chatting with Mr. Boyd about fly-fishing.”
“Who decorates their bathroom with a fly-fishing motif?” I leaned over and let my head fall on the wooden kitchen island, glowering at Kate from my inverted position. “You’re pure evil squeezed into a Lilly Pulitzer dress.”
Richard waved his hands like a bird about to take flight. “Fight it out later, girls. You haven’t told me if you found anything in the office yet.”
“We found something all right. Show him the receipt, Annie.” Kate only used my nickname when trying to get on my good side.
I produced the slightly crumpled yellow copy for Richard to inspect.
Richard took it from me. “He fills his own prescriptions?”
“That’s what I said.” Kate wore a look of vindication as she opened the lid of the stainless-steel stock pot simmering on the stove and a savory sweet smell filled the air.
“Am I the only person paying attention here?” I snapped my fingers. “He fills the prescription, then attends the wedding. Mrs. Pierce dies of an overdose of blood-pressure medication. Hardly a coincidence.”
