Cooking is Murder, A Myrtle Clover Mystery #11

Chapter Seventeen

Myrtle phoned Miles early to fill him in. He came right over and poured himself a cup of coffee. He and Myrtle sat down at her kitchen table.

Miles looked morose. "A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety."

"Would you stop quoting Wanda?" asked Myrtle, glaring at him.

"I thought I was quoting Aesop," said Miles. He gave a big sigh. "I'm sorry about Louvenia. I rather liked her, even though she could be a bit hyper," he said. "But at least your cooking is off the hook."

"My cooking was never on the hook. Food doesn't make people appear intoxicated." Myrtle sighed. "What an abrupt and tragic ending to our cooking class."

Miles said, "And I suppose Louvenia isn't our killer, after all. Considering she was murdered, too."

"It would seem that way, but remember that we've got to look past what things seem and find out the truth. It could be that someone knew that Louvenia had killed Chester and murdered her out of revenge," said Myrtle.

Miles snorted. "And who loved Chester enough to kill someone out of revenge? It seems like he rubbed everyone the wrong way. Hattie was probably closest to him and she's hardly devastated by his death."

"That's true," said Myrtle thoughtfully. "It looks as if we're back to the drawing board. Are you sure you didn't notice anything unusual at my party?"

"I noticed a lot that was unusual at your party," said Miles. "That sauce, for one."

"You know what I mean." Myrtle glared at him.

Miles said, "I thought it was unusual for Louvenia to be drunk at a party, also, but we've already gotten to the bottom of that mystery. I thought it was unusual that Hattie was in attendance and that she was relatively pleasant. She always seems sort of hostile and sullen to me."

Myrtle considered this as she bent down to rub Pasha, who had suddenly jumped through the open kitchen window and was now rubbing against her legs. "Maybe Hattie was just happy to get a break from the funeral planning and estate stuff for a while."

"Or maybe she was looking for an opportunity to murder Louvenia," said Miles dryly.

"Good point. Who else was at my party that could be considered a surprise guest?" asked Myrtle. "Felix never misses a chance to hobnob with local voters, so no surprises there."

"Amos," said Miles. "He practically invited himself to your dinner party."

"That's true. He was decidedly hinting at it. And no matter what he says, I can't believe that he was as laid back about losing his health, his wife, his job, and his home as he claims. Maybe he angled for an invitation so that he'd have a chance to kill Louvenia," said Myrtle.

"Yes, but why Louvenia? She had nothing to do with his accident."

"But she might have known something about Chester's death. Maybe she returned to the classroom and saw something ... or realized later that something she'd seen or heard was significant. And we know Louvenia's proclivity for blackmail. She probably figured it was an excellent fundraising opportunity for that new restaurant she wanted," said Myrtle.

Miles sighed. "I was actually starting to look forward to that restaurant. Louvenia could really cook. Okay, so the most unexpected guests were Hattie and Amos."

"Which doesn't really mean anything. We're just guessing. Are you positive you didn't see anything?" demanded Myrtle.

"I didn't see anyone pouring antifreeze in anyone else's drink," said Miles coldly. "And, if you remember, I was fairly busy scraping melted plastic off the stove. Are you sure that you didn't see anything? It is your house."