I put the assorted magazines, lip balm, flowers and hand lotion on the bedside table. “At least you got some sleep. They told me you weren’t eating or drinking at home either. You made yourself sick.”
She made a humphing noise in her throat. “People get sick when they’ve lost the only person left in the world who matters to them. Now that Lizzie’s gone, it’s just me, Dae. You don’t know what that feels like yet. I know you think you do because you lost your mama, but believe me, this is much worse.”
“I believe you.” I drew up a chair, and noticed Tim hovering at the edge of the room, inside the doorway. “Do you think you could answer a few questions for me?”
“What kind of questions?” she barked. “I’ve been asked so many questions. I wish people would just let me die.”
I sat down and covered one of her hands with mine. It was so cold. “You don’t really mean that. I know Miss Elizabeth is gone, but you still have friends.”
She sniffed and turned her face away from me. “Friends? No one who cares. It was only me and Lizzie. Now it’s just me. How do I go on like that, Dae? There’s nothing left for me but rattling around in that big old house.”
I tried to divert her by bringing out the goodies I’d brought with me and offering to have Trudy come and do her hair. I knew what it was like to feel as though there was nothing left that mattered. There was nothing anyone could say to make it better.
Eventually I brought out the chocolate pudding cups that had been near the bottom of the bag. We sat eating them with plastic spoons for several minutes, not really talking, enjoying our pudding. When we were finished, Miss Mildred handed me her empty cup and smiled. “You’ve always been a good girl, Dae. Everyone is proud of you. You make a very good mayor too, especially being a woman and all.”
I thanked her, setting all the goodies aside and not minding that I was a good mayor considering I was a woman. It was time to say what I’d come to say. I took a deep breath and plunged into it. “Miss Mildred, did you kill your sister?”
“Don’t be stupid, Dae. I understand what they think. I don’t care. I know I didn’t kill Lizzie. They can think what they will.”
“It’s not that simple. You could go to jail or a hospital for the rest of your life unless we can prove you didn’t kill Miss Elizabeth.”
“I don’t know that I care. But if I did, what would I have to do to prove I didn’t kill Lizzie?”
“You can tell me again how you came to have her purse.”
“Lizzie brought it to me after she died. She said she needed me to keep it safe. You know how she felt about losing her purse. It was a big worry for her. I told her I would. She left.”
“Did she walk out the door?”
“Of course. How else would she get out?” Miss Mildred looked at me like I was the one who was crazy.
“If she was really a ghost, she could go through the door,” I explained.
“No self-respecting ghost in Duck would be such a show-off.”
I heard Tim snicker behind me. Miss Mildred told him he’d always been a problem child who had a hard time keeping his attention on anything. I brought her back to my questions by asking, “What did Miss Elizabeth look like? Was she pale? Covered in sand?”
“Don’t be vulgar,” she snapped. “My sister would never come to call on me in that manner. She didn’t have a hair out of place. She looked as neat as a pin in her black dress with the pink hearts. You know, I gave her that dress for her birthday three years ago.”
Only Miss Mildred could conjure up the image of neat ghosts. I felt sure if I were ever lucky enough to see my mother again, she’d be untidy. She had never been a neat person.
“What about Wild Johnny Simpson?” Tim stepped forward out of the shadows created by the light coming in through the narrow window. “Did you see him when he was here thirty years ago?”
Miss Mildred looked flustered. “To my knowledge, Johnny never came back after he left Lizzie. That was right after Gary Bentley steered the ferry into shore and wrecked it back in 1945. About the time the war was over.”
Leave it to someone from Duck to notice that a ferry wrecked before thinking about World War II. I gave Tim a stern frown, but he kept questioning. “Johnny was here at the Blue Whale right before it closed. You didn’t know anything about it?”
“Even if he had been, why would I know? You’d have to ask Lizzie about that.” Miss Mildred turned her head and closed her eyes. “I’m tired now. Please leave, both of you.”
To add to her plea for solitude, a nurse came in and shooed us out. I told Miss Mildred I’d try to come back again. When I got Tim out in the hall, I gave him a hard time. “What were you doing in there? She’s very fragile. She can’t take that kind of agitation.”
He shrugged. “I was asking questions about the murder investigation. You were tiptoeing around it like a little cat. We need to get the truth from her.”
“You think she killed her sister and Wild Johnny?” I thought I said it with sufficient scorn to make him back off. I was wrong.
“I think it’s possible. You sounded like you did too in the car. Let’s face it, thirty years ago, Miss Mildred was still teaching school. She was capable of killing the man who’d rejected her for her sister. It happens.”
“Never mind.” I held out my hand, not explaining that I wasn’t serious earlier about Miss Mildred killing Wild Johnny. “I need the keys for the squad car.”
“I can’t do that, Dae. Only officers of the law can drive that car. I guess you’ll have to stay here with me during my shift.” He grinned and sat down in the chair by Miss Mildred’s door.
“You forget, Officer Mabry. I’m not only the mayor of Duck, I’m also a fully deputized auxiliary police officer. Hand over the keys. Someone will be here to relieve you later.”
He fished the keys out of his pocket and reluctantly handed them to me. “I’m glad I’m not in love with you anymore. Shayla isn’t half as contrary.”
I smiled. I had no words for his defection to my friend. I knew it wouldn’t last. That was probably the worst part about his infatuation with me. He kept dating other women and then using me as a fallback when he broke up with them. It wasn’t very endearing.
Traffic was building on Duck Road by the time I got back home. The weather was a little overcast, but it wouldn’t be summer if we didn’t have a lot of rain.
I’d thought about Miss Mildred the whole way back, but I didn’t have any new ideas. I felt certain she believed she’d seen her sister’s ghost. I believed her, but it was unlikely Agent Walker would share that belief.
What else could’ve happened? I knew she didn’t kill Miss Elizabeth. Whoever killed her knew the sisters enough to torment Miss Mildred and throw her to the police as a suspect. With her health and mental state being so delicate, Miss Mildred couldn’t possibly stand up to that storm. She was already bowed and broken from the winds of fate blowing across her.
I wanted to tell Kevin what had happened, but he wasn’t answering his cell phone. I had to relieve Gramps at Missing Pieces, so I couldn’t make the detour to the Blue Whale. It would have to wait until later.
Missing Pieces was packed when I got there. There was a bus full of tourists on the boardwalk, creating a stir in the shops that fronted the sound. Gramps told me he’d already sold a few pieces. “Nothing important,” he said. “Don’t get that thundercloud look on your face. I know what to sell and what not to sell.”
“It’s not that,” I told him, stepping behind the counter. “I’m not happy at all with my interview with Miss Mildred.”