Death Pays a Visit : Myrtle Clover #7

Chapter Six

Myrtle put her seatbelt on as they climbed into Miles's car. "Well, what did you think? There was lots going on over there wasn't there? And I don't mean the Scrabble games we passed by."

"Well, she certainly seems like a rather difficult woman," muttered Miles as he put the key in the ignition and started the car.

"Natalie?" Myrtle snorted. "For sure!"

"No, I meant Mickey. I think she bosses Natalie around a lot."

Myrtle said, "But what is Natalie doing? Does she even have employment? Is that why Mickey referred to her as a vulture? Was she just hanging around Mickey for handouts?"

Miles gave her a startled look. "But Natalie has to take care of her mother. She's probably sacrificing a career to help out. All I'm saying is that if anyone's supposed to kill anyone, it would likely be Natalie doing her mother in."

"Natalie's mother is in a retirement home with a staff to take care of her. Whatever Natalie is doing, she's doing because she wants to for some reason. And apparently, Mickey thinks that Natalie's motives and other people's motives are monetarily-related," said Myrtle. "And you didn't think that insane old man acted as if he had a motive?"

"Which one? The one who was practically sitting on your lap in the dining room?" chortled Miles.

Myrtle gave Miles an icy glare. "I'm going to try to pretend that you didn't say that, Miles. Really!"

"Well, I have to admit that I'm curious. I haven't heard you ever mention the name 'Winston' before."

Myrtle said, "For good reason."

"And it was very intriguing to hear two people at lunch refer to you at Miss Towers."

"It simply goes to show that I've been in the area for a long, long time. And that I knew everyone, once upon a time, who lived here. I suppose that Inez must have moved away after graduation and just returned after retirement, or else surely she'd know that I married quite a while back," said Myrtle huffily.

"And why wouldn't Winston have kept up with your marital status—since he apparently was quite interested in it?" asked Miles, glancing sideways at her as they drove off the Greener Pastures property and onto the street.

"Why? Because he married someone else," snapped Myrtle. "And that's all I currently want to say about that since I'm trying to discuss potential murder suspects and a potential victim with you. Seriously, Miles!"

Miles had a rather abashed look on his face. "All right, sorry. I didn't realize it was a sensitive subject. I was waiting for you to eviscerate him completely at lunch, but you didn't do it. It made me curious."

"Let's just say that I was caught off-guard, that's all. Now, onto the ornery old man that Ruby says is mean. The one with "Fred" on his door. If we've determined that Mickey is a good pick for a potential victim—mainly on the fact that she practically stated that herself—then the old fellow could be a suspect since he obviously has some sort of grudge against her," said Myrtle. She pulled a peppermint out of her pocketbook and popped it into her mouth. She was putting her pocketbook back down on the floor of the car when she stopped and fished out a mint for Miles as an afterthought.

Miles smiled at her as he took it and somehow managed to unwrap it as he drove. "Right. So his business is his business and no one else's. Quite a character. So what I took from that, is that he had some kind of a secret. He wanted to get it off his chest so he spoke about it to Ruby who seems sweet and innocuous on the outside but is embedded with Scary Mickey who perhaps even published something about his secret in the underground newsletter that Mickey runs."