“Well?” Jared said.
I shrugged. “It’s probably not likely, but you can’t dismiss it completely as a possibility.”
Melba looked smug. “I knew it. I’ll bet Tammy Harville sneaked away from Milton and got in here somehow and poisoned Gerry’s drink.”
“Keep your voice down.” Helen Louise shot Melba a quelling look. “That’s how ugly rumors get started.”
Melba did not take quelling at all well, and she glowered at Helen Louise. Normally they got along fine, but we were all on edge tonight. I didn’t want to make things worse by saying the wrong thing, but I couldn’t stand there mute.
“Let’s reserve any speculation for another place and time,” I said. “Until we hear the official verdict on Gerry’s cause of death, we’d only be wasting time and mental energy.”
“I guess you’re right,” Melba said grudgingly.
“I’m ready to get out of here,” Jared said. “I’m tired, and I resent having to stand around waiting. I’m going to ask someone if I can leave.” He stepped away and headed for the door.
Melba didn’t appear pleased by his petulance or his actions. Jared’s use of the first-person pronoun had been all too obvious, I thought. He wasn’t thinking about Melba, and she had picked up on it.
Helen Louise moved closer and leaned against me. I slipped an arm around her waist. “What a horrible end to a party,” she said. “I was enjoying myself, for the most part, but now I’m tired, my feet hurt, and I want to go home and get out of this dress.”
“I know, sweetheart,” I said.
Melba eyed the dress critically. “The cleaners might be able to save it. But I wouldn’t count on it.”
Jared returned. The angry set to his mouth indicated to me that he hadn’t received the answer he wanted.
“What did they say?” Melba asked, her tone none too cordial.
Jared didn’t appear to register her irritation, being evidently too wrapped up in his own. “They’re waiting for somebody from the sheriff’s department. They wouldn’t say who, but an officer told me everyone had to remain until the deputy arrived and assessed the situation.”
I felt Helen Louise stiffen beside me, and I knew why. We both reckoned that the deputy we had to wait for was none other than Chief Deputy Kanesha Berry. Kanesha, Azalea’s daughter, investigated homicides in Athena and in the county. Our police force didn’t have a homicide detective, so the county handled murders and unexplained deaths. Any that the county couldn’t handle got turned over to the MBI, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation.
If the police here at the scene called in Kanesha, that meant they considered Gerry’s death suspicious. I wondered what they had discovered to make them suspect foul play.
Jared glanced from one to another of the three of us in turn before he spoke. “Obviously y’all know something I don’t. I guess calling in the sheriff’s department is significant somehow.”
Didn’t the man ever read the newspaper or watch a cop show on television?
I suppressed the spurt of irritation I felt at Jared’s naiveté. “Yes, it is significant,” I said. “There must be something suspicious about Gerry’s death.”
I could see from Jared’s expression of increasing unease that he finally understood the gravity of the situation.
Two police officers began to circulate through the room, taking down names, addresses, and phone numbers. While our foursome waited for one of the officers to reach us, we remained silent.
Our turn came about ten minutes later, though it seemed longer. The officer who took our details had moved on to the next group when a voice called for our attention. I recognized that voice. Kanesha had arrived.
Everyone turned to face the deputy. Kanesha surveyed the room, and I thought I saw her grimace slightly when she caught sight of me. Then she began to speak.
“Sorry to hold y’all up when I’m sure you’re ready to go home,” Kanesha said, “but we’ve got some questions about what happened. We also have to follow procedures, and I’m sure y’all understand that we want to do everything by the book. I need to talk to anyone who saw or spoke to Ms. Albritton in the fifteen minutes or so before she collapsed. If those of you who did would move to your left and those who did not will move to your right, that will be a big help.”
At first no one moved at all. Kanesha frowned. “Come on now, folks. Some of you saw or spoke to her, I’m sure. I will make this as quick as I can, but nobody’s leaving until I get some cooperation.”
After that, people began to move. Helen Louise sighed and began to move to the left. Melba went with her. I thought it had been more than a quarter hour since I had seen Gerry before she collapsed, but given the argument Helen Louise and I had heard, I knew I might as well go ahead and talk to Kanesha tonight. I felt her eyes on me—though I probably imagined it—as I followed Helen Louise and Melba. Jared, I noticed, went the other way.
“Thank you,” Kanesha said when the two groups were finally separated. “Those of you who moved to the right can go, unless you need to wait for someone in the other group. My deputies will be in here to answer questions and help you if you need anything.”
Haskell stepped into the room, now in uniform. Kanesha must have called him in. He was her staunchest supporter in the sheriff’s department. I wasn’t too surprised that she would want him to be part of this investigation.
Haskell spotted Melba, Helen Louise, and me and nodded to acknowledge us. He and his fellow deputy watched as a few people filed out of the room. Jared Carter made a move as if to leave, but then subsided. His resigned expression as he glanced at Melba made me wonder about their budding relationship and whether it would survive the stress of this night.
Kanesha left the room but was back in about two minutes. She held notebook pages, and she glanced through them. Then she looked up, and her eyes met mine.
“Mr. Harris and Ms. Brady, I’d appreciate it if you would come with me.” Kanesha indicated that we should follow her, and she led us to the dining room.
I felt Helen Louise stiffen beside me when we entered the room, and I knew she was thinking the same thing I was. Neither of us wanted to see poor Gerry Albritton still lying on the floor.
I was relieved to see, however, that the body had been removed. The table and the spilled food, however, had not been touched.
Helen Louise stopped and stared at the area where Gerry had lain. She wore a puzzled expression.
Kanesha drew us toward three dining room chairs arranged about ten feet away from the spot where Gerry died. Helen Louise and I occupied the two chairs that faced the one Kanesha took. The deputy took out a notebook and pen. She stared at Helen Louise and me for a moment, and then she addressed Helen Louise.
“Ms. Brady, when you stopped to look just now at the place where Ms. Albritton fell, it looked like something was bothering you. What was it?”
Helen Louise frowned. “Something is missing,” she said slowly. “The brandy snifter. What happened to her brandy snifter?”
SIXTEEN
I concentrated on recalling the scene. Had there been a snifter? I wasn’t sure. I didn’t remember it.
“Snifter?” Kanesha asked. “That’s a kind of glass, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it’s stemware with a wide bottom and a narrower top,” Helen Louise said. “Used for brandy, port, that kind of thing.”
“And Ms. Albritton had one?” Kanesha said. “In her hand when she collapsed?”
Helen Louise frowned. “I’m pretty sure she did.”
“It didn’t break?” Kanesha said.
“No, the carpet is thick enough that it wouldn’t, and the snifter looked like good crystal,” Helen Louise said. “There might be a stain in the carpet. Although . . .” She hesitated. “She may have drained the glass before she fell. I’m not sure.”