A Myrtle Clover Christmas

Chapter Six

Myrtle was already sweeping through the door with Miles trailing behind her. Glynis's house was quite large by Bradley standards. She had the feeling it was ordinarily quite neat, as well. Now, however, Edgar had clearly already left his mark. There were empty beer cans on the coffee table, shoes scattered around the living room, and sofa pillows on the floor.

"Housekeeper's day off," muttered Edgar with a rusty-sounding laugh.

Myrtle and Miles perched on the sofa, and Edgar pulled a chair up.

There was a quiet pause in the conversation before Edgar said, "Uh, nice of you to come by. Too bad about Glynis."

He didn't seem very upset by his sister's sudden demise. Myrtle said, "Were you up very late last night? When did the police let everyone leave?"

Edgar considered this. "Oh, it was probably a couple of hours or more. Were you there?"

"Miles and I were in attendance, yes. However, because we'd discovered your poor sister, we spoke to the police first and were able to leave soon after."

Edgar's eyes opened wide. "What? What were you doing out in the woods?"

"Miles and I were attempting to thank Glynis for hosting us at the reception."

Edgar snorted. "On her smoke break? Y'all were pretty brave. As I remember it, Glynis wasn't one who liked being interrupted when she was trying to smoke. Especially if she was already mad. And she was, because she'd had that big blowout."

"With your daughter and her new husband," said Myrtle.

Edgar chuckled. "Yeah. But you know, Glynis would take on anybody. And she never did care if it was in public or not. I remember she launched an attack at me when we were eating out at a restaurant years ago. I never saw it coming."

"Did the two of you get along well?" asked Myrtle. "I didn't teach your sister."

Edgar had a look on his face that indicated Glynis had gotten off easy by not having Myrtle teach her English.

"We got along okay. I don't usually live here, of course, so it's not like we spent a lot of time together. I mean, we squabbled a lot growing up, but that's pretty typical, ain't it?" He corrected himself quickly as Myrtle's eyebrows knit together. "Isn't it?"

"She'd invited you to stay with her during your visit to Bradley?" asked Miles. "That was nice."

Edgar blinked at him with surprise, as if he'd forgotten he was there. "Well, you know, it's Christmas and everything. I guess I'm the prodigal brother or something. Even though Glynis was kind of crusty, she was really happy to see me. Took me right into the house and gave me the warmest hug I ever got." He glanced around the palatial home. "I'm thinking about redoing the house, though. Making it more like something I'd like to live in. I'm definitely going to put a Christmas wreath on the door. I love the holiday, but Glynis was sort of a grinch."

Myrtle said, "You're planning on staying here?"

"Sure, why not? I like changing things up a little bit. Maybe I'll settle back down here for a while. I could get used to this place." He glanced around him at the tall ceilings and stately furniture.

"Glynis left her house to you?" Myrtle quirked an eyebrow.

Edgar grinned at her. "Well, you can't take it with you, can you? I figure Glynis would have remembered her old brother. She told me once, years ago, she'd make sure to take care of me."

"How many years ago?" asked Myrtle.

Edgar had to think about this. "Gosh, it's been a while. Maybe it was even before I had Faith."