“Withdraw the charge? Why would she withdraw the charge? The man abused her, sullied her, dirtied her. He’s probably the one who killed her. He should be the one to die.”
Uh oh. I had woken him up. “If she was going to withdraw the charge, maybe that meant she…she was mistaken.”
“No, there was no mistake. She definitely wasn’t a virgin.”
Tess and I looked at each other. What made him an expert on virgins? Unless the two of them… I said, “I know how you feel. Marriage is a sacred union and should be treated as such.” When he didn’t respond, I said, “It must have been awful for you. How did you hear about…Elise?”
“Mr. Hoffman called me at about 1 a.m. from her apartment. Of course I rushed right over there.”
“Do you have a car?”
“No, it’s only about a mile. I ran all the way. I couldn’t believe it was true. I hoped it was just a bad dream.”
“And you had been here studying the evening before?”
“I…you sound just like a detective.”
Now I had really woken him up.
“I’ll bet Detective Johnson asked you that question.”
“Yeah. I guess I was upset that he would consider me a suspect.”
“Did he say that you were a suspect?”
“No. He said Dr. Pappas had probably done it.”
“He said that to you?” Tess asked, astounded.
“Yeah. I bet he did it, too. That guy’s a dirty…skunk.”
I didn’t want to argue with Ted about Mark, so I said, “I heard that you and Elise were talking about getting married.”
“Who told you that?”
Woops. “Maybe I misheard. But you have been going together for a while, haven’t you?”
“Since September. I…wanted to marry her, but she hadn’t agreed. Sometimes I got the idea she thought I wasn’t good enough for her. But she who casts the first stone…I was willing to take her, in spite of her transgressions.”
Big of you. “What are you studying?”
“Right now, liberal arts.”
“And what do you want to do when you…graduate?” I almost said, “…when you grow up.”
“I plan to go on to graduate school and study to be a minister.”
Chapter 15
Mark and I arrived at the farm early because I wanted to be present when Donna got there. At first, Mark didn’t want to go, but I gave him the old “we’re all in this together” speech and he finally acquiesced. He hadn’t seen Sandra in over a week and it was time they talked to each other.
One of the devious reasons I had invited Donna was to attempt to strike a spark of jealousy in Sandra. If Sandra became aware of the fact that Mark had his groupies, she might value him more. I also wanted to come up with a plan of action that everybody in the family could agree on and I figured that Donna could make suggestions and would also stick up for Mark, in case Sandra or Albert had any doubts about him.
Technically, Mark was violating the rules laid down by Burt about not talking to anybody connected with Elise, but this was a family gathering and he wouldn’t be alone with her so I had justified this meeting to myself.
Mark drove King and me in his car. He said it was an old car and he didn’t mind getting dog smell and dog hair on the back seat. When we arrived at the farm we released King to run off with her playmate while Mark and I went into the house. I was glad to see that Mark and Sandra hugged each other, although they didn’t kiss. At least they were acting civilly. Winston was happy to see Mark and promptly asked him about his car. We busied ourselves with food preparation.
Albert said, “Tell us about Donna.”
“As you know, she was Elise’s roommate,” I said. “She was also the one who discovered Elise. I’m hoping she might have some information that might lead to the killer.”
“Haven’t the police already questioned her?” Sandra asked.
“Yes, but the detective in charge of the investigation is young and I’m not sure he’s doing a thorough job.”
“Don’t trust anybody under 50, is that it?” Albert said.
“Couldn’t Donna be a suspect?” Sandra asked.
“That’s a possibility, of course, but she doesn’t seem to have a motive, except…” I looked at Mark, wondering how much I should say.
“Except what?” Albert prompted.
“Except that Donna appears to have a crush on Mark and she was upset when Elise filed the charge again him.”
“That’s hardly a motive for murder,” Sandra said, coldly.
“Probably not,” I agreed, quickly.
Mark wisely kept silent. Perhaps it wasn’t such a good idea to talk about his groupies. Maybe getting Sandra together with Mark and Donna was a mistake. Sandra knew about Elise’s phone call to me so there wasn’t anything else we could say to convince her that the harassment charge had been false. And we certainly didn’t want her to start picturing Mark carrying on with other women.
I decided to mention something that might be in Mark’s favor. “The Bethany paper states that the autopsy showed Elise probably hadn’t had sex before she was murdered. Since she was found without any clothes on…”
“It still may not have been a lover’s quarrel,” Albert said. “Although the front window was broken, as I recall, indicating forced entry. But didn’t you say her boyfriend didn’t believe in sex before marriage?”
“Yes.”
“Then by backward reasoning, it could have been him. And he could have covered the murder by breaking the window.”
“Here comes a car,” Sandra said.
We watched through the large front windows as a car that had just appeared out of the woods came slowly along the meandering driveway past acres of lawn to the house.
“That’s Donna’s car,” I said.
I went outside to meet her and to try to prepare her for what lay ahead. She pulled to a stop beside Mark’s Toyota.
“Your directions were great, Mrs. Morgan…or I should say Dr. Morgan,” Donna said as she got out of her car. “I only went astray once and I immediately recognized my error and turned around.”
She wore a skirt and sweater and was dressed more formally than the rest of us. She looked wholesome, but Sandra was prettier, if a grandmother can be permitted an opinion. And Elise had been too.
“I’m retired,” I said. “Why don’t you call me Lillian? Everybody else does.”
“Oh, I couldn’t do that. Here, I brought some rolls.”
“That was nice of you.” I usually baked rolls from scratch so she had infringed on my territory, but she was a guest and didn’t know any better. I led her along the narrow sidewalk to the front door, quickly going over the names and relationships of the people present. We went inside and into the kitchen, the center of activity, where I introduced her to the people she didn’t know.
Mark formally shook hands with her, acting very professorial in front of Sandra. Albert shook hands with her and welcomed her to his home. Sandra said hello from the stove and didn’t shake hands. Winston asked her if she had new tires on her car.
We sat down to eat at the round table just off the kitchen. With just six people it was a lot easier than carting food into the formal dining room. And that applied to getting seconds, also, which I allowed myself one meal a week. Donna got seated between Albert and Mark, more or less by accident since we didn’t have place cards.
The conversation while we ate started off as small talk. Albert asked Donna how he liked Mark’s class.
“Dr. Pappas is great,” Donna gushed. “Advanced Physics is tough but he explains everything so clearly.”
“I wish he’d explain it to me,” Sandra said. “I almost flunked beginning physics in college.”
“Do you want to be a scientist?” Albert asked Donna.
“Well, I’ve been told I have an aptitude for science. And that more women should go into it.” She paused, reflecting. “But I’d like to become a writer.”
“What do you like to write?” Mark asked.
“I write short stories and poetry. But if I could do what I really wanted I would be a lyricist.”