Cooking is Murder, A Myrtle Clover Mystery #11

Chapter Five

Louvenia and Miles headed off to the classroom (Miles trudging away reluctantly) and Myrtle hurried off to see Wanda. She was now curled up on the bench and appeared to be sleeping.

Myrtle put a hand on her shoulder and gently patted her. "Wanda?"

Wanda stirred and sat slowly up. "Find the dead man?"

"We did. And we've been dealing with the ramifications of finding him ever since, which is why this is taking so long. Red says it'll be another hour before we can leave and get your car gassed up." Myrtle hesitated. "Are you hungry?"

Wanda was always hungry. "Been a while since breakfast."

Myrtle slid her purse off her shoulder and rummaged through it. "All I've got in here are peppermints." She glanced around. "That looks like a coffee shop over there. They should at least have muffins or something." She carefully pulled out a few bills from her wallet and handed them to Wanda.

"Thanks," said Wanda, quickly taking the money.

Myrtle said, "You sure you didn't have any other thoughts about the dead man?"

Wanda shook her head. "The sight don't...."

"I know, I know. The sight doesn't work that way. I've got to get back. See you in about an hour," said Myrtle, hurrying away again, cane hitting the cement pathway with heavy thumps.

When Myrtle made it back to the holding classroom, she saw an anxious and stressed Miles and a now-tearful Louvenia.

"This is terrible, awful," Louvenia moaned. She sniffed loudly.

Miles cleared his throat, shifting uncomfortably on his feet. "The classroom doesn't' seem to be equipped with tissues."

"We're not imprisoned in the classroom, you know. It's fine for us to leave and visit the restroom for a tissue!" said Myrtle.

Miles didn't move. "Red didn't say it was all right to leave."

Miles was not a rule-breaker, particularly where the police were concerned.

Louvenia, though, with a strangled sob, stumbled from the classroom in the direction of the restroom.

Miles's shoulders slumped with relief. "Thank heaven you're back. She's been driving me crazy."

Myrtle frowned. "Surely she's not pretending to be grieving Chester. That would be disingenuous of her."

"I don't think she even disliked Chester. She simply looked at what she was doing as a business transaction. Louvenia kept quiet about Chester's underhanded dealings with the local government and Chester paid her. I think she was grieving the loss of her restaurant, mainly." Miles rubbed his forehead. "And frankly, all of her sobbing and gnashing of teeth, not to mention the flirting, is giving me a terrible headache. Do you have any ibuprofen or anything?"

Myrtle reached once again into her voluminous pocketbook, retrieving a couple of small pills and a water bottle. "Here."

Miles took the medicine, washing it down with much of the water bottle. He eyed Myrtle's bag. "I'm shocked you didn't have any tissues in that purse of yours."

"Oh, I do," said Myrtle coolly. "I was just trying to rid us of the scourge of the hysterical Louvenia for a few minutes."

"Smart." Miles sat gingerly down in a small desk. "What did you make of Louvenia's story?"

"I'm wondering if she got angry enough with Chester to kill him in a rage. She sure seemed sold on that restaurant of hers. Maybe she thought that she was just going to threaten him into giving her money again, but lost control and stabbed him."