Vi Agra Falls

337 Pages·2008·1.18 MB·English

by  Mary Daheim

1
V A F
I GRA ALLS

A Bed-and-Breakfast Mystery
Mary Daheim
To Bud and Betty,
who have won the Best In-Laws in the World Award
for the forty-second year in a row.
How did I get so lucky?
Contents
1
Judith McMonigle Flynn stood on the front porch of Hillside… 1
2
So lucky I caught you!” Vivian Flynn exclaimed, displaying
considerable… 13
3
In the weeks that followed, Judith mercifully saw little of… 27
4
Judith was sweeping up dead leaves from under the camellia… 41
5
Should I get all gussied up?” Gertrude asked Judith late… 51
6
Judith was stunned. “No!” she cried. “I can’t believe it!” 69
7
Judith hurried down the front stairs as fast as her… 88
8
Judith related the brief exchange between Marva Lou
and Frankie. 106
9
Joe was in the kitchen when Judith came back into… 125
10
The rest of the day played out uneventfully. All of… 133
11
It’s not my body!” Judith cried. “Damnit, I’m not on… 148
12
Judith froze by the dining room table. “Joe,” she said… 163
13
Uncle Al answered the phone on the fifth ring. “What’s… 180
14
What?” Judith cried. 192
15
After the cousins had finished their meal of tempura and… 207
16
Renie looked skeptical. “Didn’t Vivian tell you he was dead? 218
17
That night, Judith had strange dreams. They weren’t exactly
nightmares,… 230
18
The names Mavis had given Judith rang no bells. She… 246
19
From snatches of furious insults, the battle seemed to be… 259
20
Judith’s obvious astonishment evoked a curious expression
from Terri. “What’s… 272
21
Caitlin’s expression was grim. “What should we do?” 287
22
Frozen in place under the plum tree, Judith sensed rather… 302
About the Author
Other Books by Mary Daheim
Credits
Cover
Copyright
About the Publisher
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1

J
udith McMonigle Flynn stood on the front porch of Hillside
Manor, took a deep breath of fresh summer air, and gazed
around the cozy cul-de-sac on the south slope of Heraldsgate
Hill. It was a perfect June morning with pink and white dog-
wood trees in full bloom, maple trees swaying in the soft wind,
and rosebushes bursting with new buds.
“Nice,” she said out loud. Not too warm, she thought, and
so peaceful. The only sound was the chirping of baby birds in
a nest that Mama and Papa Robin had built in the branches of a
cotoneaster bush by the east side of the house. All the weekend
B&B guests had left by eleven o’clock on this last Monday of the
month.
Judith was about to go back inside when she heard a rum-
bling noise. A plane overhead? A helicopter? A herd of stamped-
ing buffalo? The sound grew closer. She leaned on the porch
railing and saw a huge truck pulling into the cul-de-sac. It
stopped in front of the second house from the corner. Judith
went down the front steps to see the big black and red letters
on the truck’s side: grooving moving, inc.
“What’s going on?” a voice nearby called out.
Judith turned to see Arlene Rankers coming out of her house
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on the other side of the laurel hedge. “I don’t know,” Judith
replied. “Are Rudi and his girlfriend moving out?”
Arlene’s pretty face puckered into a scowl. “If they are, I
should’ve known about it. Cathy keeps her ear to the ground
when it comes to the real estate business. Surely my own daugh-
ter would’ve told me.”
Judith gestured at the two burly young men who had gotten
out of the truck. “They’re going to Rudi’s rental. I think their
lease is up about this time of year.”
“That’s right.” Arlene started across the pavement that
curved in front of the Rankerses’ house and the B&B. “Let’s
find out.”
Judith hesitated. She was as curious as Arlene, but lacked
her neighbor’s brashness in posing awkward questions. Then
again, there were times when Judith didn’t want to know the
truth. The moving van’s arrival was one of them.
“Arlene!” called a voice from farther down the cul-de-sac.
“Wait!”
Rochelle Porter, who lived on the other side of the Rankers,
hurried to the middle of the street where Arlene stood with
her head cocked to one side like a curious bird. “What is it,
Rochelle?” she asked.
Rochelle motioned for Judith to join them. “Last night I
couldn’t sleep,” Rochelle said, lowering her voice. “Gabe got a
crazy notion that he wanted some real soul food. He made chit-
lins with vinegar and some kind of hot sauce that practically set
my mouth on fire. For a black man who was raised right here in
this city and hasn’t been farther south than Disneyland, I don’t
know why that fool husband of mine comes up with these pecu-
liar cravings.” She shook her head. “I was up half the night with
heartburn. About three in the morning I saw lights over in Rudi
Wittener’s house and a big U-Haul. Rudi’s girlfriend, Taryn,
came outside, and the movers started hauling furniture from
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the house to the truck.” Rochelle gazed at the newly arrived
moving van. “Look, they’re unloading the truck. Somebody
else must be moving in.”
Arlene stamped her foot. “I’m going to strangle Cathy! She
should have told me! I’m never the last to know!”
Judith suppressed a smile. Arlene was right: she was indeed
the font of all knowledge, rumor, and gossip on Heraldsgate
Hill. Long ago, Judith had dubbed her neighbor’s store of infor-
mation as Arlene’s Broadcasting System, or more briefly, ABS.
“Maybe,” Judith said soothingly, “Cathy doesn’t know. It’s
odd to move out in the middle of the night. Why would they
do that?”
Arlene glared at Judith. “You wonder? Not as much as I do!
And,” she added, marching off toward the van, “I intend to find
out!”
Rochelle laughed and shook her head. “Arlene’s got more
nerve than a peanut merchant. I admire her gumption.”
Judith nodded. “Me, too. She’s a terrific neighbor.”
Both women stopped talking as they watched Arlene’s ani-
mated conversation with the brawny movers.
“Bus?” Arlene shouted. “What bus? The nearest stop is a
block and a half over on Heraldsgate Avenue.”
One of the men threw his hands in the air; the other stomped
off toward the ramp that had been propped up behind the van.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake!” Arlene exclaimed. “If you people
can’t speak English, at least show me your work order! My
husband’s the block watch chairman around here. We have to
know.”
With a heavy sigh and sagging of broad shoulders, the mover
who’d remained by the curb came around to the driver’s side of
the van and opened the door. He returned with a clipboard and
shoved it at Arlene.
“‘Buss’?” Arlene snapped, looking up from what Judith pre-
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sumed was the work order. “You don’t spell ‘bus’ with two
esses.”
The man tapped his finger several times on the sheet of paper.
“Oh,” Arlene said, more quietly. “That’s the person’s name.
Carry on. Or lift on. Or . . . whatever you people do.” She
headed back to Judith and Rochelle.
“Someone named Billy Buss is moving in,” Arlene announced.
“He’s from Oklahoma. There was a handwritten note attached
to the work order. I think I got the gist of it. It indicated that
Mr. Buss was anxious to be in the house by today, which, I sup-
pose is why Rudi and Tara had to move on such short notice. I
hope they got a break on their rent. I was never fond of them,
but fair is fair, after all. This Buss person sounds very demand-
ing. I hope he’s not a musician.”
“Amen,” Rochelle said with fervor. “Rudi and his violin
just about drove Gabe and me crazy as a pair of three-legged
chickens.”
Judith agreed wholeheartedly. “His outdoor practice ses-
sions, especially when he did them in the nude during the hot
weather, upset all of us, including my B&B guests.”
Arlene shot Judith a dark glance. “And that wasn’t the worst
of it,” she said pointedly.
“It wasn’t,” Judith responded with a grimace. “I’m still trying
to forget about that whole wretched episode.”
Rochelle’s smile was ironic. “You and your dead bodies. If it
wasn’t so terrible, it’d be funny.”
Judith frowned at Rochelle. “You wouldn’t say that if you
had to contend with the state B&B association. They almost
took away my innkeeper’s license after the murder involving
Rudi Wittener and his hangers-on.”
Rochelle’s expression grew somber as she put a hand on
Judith’s arm. “I know. I’m sorry. It’s just that you . . . well, you
have sort of a . . . habit of getting involved in those things.”