Lettie ate her cold Gourmet Delight dinner and drank some sparkling water. Delighted that she hadn't eaten anything fattening yet today, she hoped she could make it through the rest of the day on low-calorie foods. She packed the cream cheese pound cake and broccoli casserole in a covered basket and carried it to her van. After parking in the Spencer's driveway, Lettie walked up the steep driveway to the side door of the house. The aroma of the beautiful spring flowers soothed her troubled mind for the time being. The doorbell was swiftly acknowledged by one of the Spencer boys. Jonathan introduced himself and escorted Lettie through the mudroom to the immaculate kitchen. He yelled for his mother and invited Lettie to sit down. He offered Lettie a cup of coffee which she declined. She was a tad bit on the anxious side and decided coffee was not the drink of choice at the moment.
"Jonathon, I was in Autumn Leaves yesterday and a girl named Blythe mentioned that a Jonathon Spencer worked there. Is that you?"
"Yeah. I started working there a few months ago. I needed some extra money."
Lettie found it odd that this strapping, hunky-looking guy would be mixing exotic teas at Autumn Leaves. Gloria entered the room and interrupted her thoughts. She was wearing a clingy black skirt and white silk blouse. Her hair was piled on top of her head, and she wore gold hoop earrings. Her black heels added to her already statuesque figure. Lettie thought that she was a bit overdressed for someone who was delivering food. She herself wore a pair of slacks and loafers which she thought was entirely appropriate for the occasion. Gloria always had refined taste in clothes every time Lettie had laid eyes on her, why not today?
"I'm sorry I kept you waiting, Lettie, I was just primping."
Primping wasn't the word. Gloria looked like she should be going to meet someone important for dinner.
"It's quite all right. I just got here."
"I hope Jonathan offered you something to drink."
"Oh, yes, he has excellent manners. He offered me coffee, but I'm a little tense for that."
"Jonathan, why didn't you offer Ms. Balfour something else to drink? You have better manners than that."
"Sorry, Mom."
"You've been taught proper etiquette, Jonathan. Now go up to your room and straighten it." Jonathan bowed his head and left the kitchen. Looking like a whipped pup. Lettie thought Gloria was being unreasonable.
"Gloria, that's quite all right. All I could drink right now is a glass of water."
"I'll get you some. I found a new brand of bottled water that is great. It tastes like it came from a crystal clear mountain stream. In fact, it's named Clear Mountain Water."
Gloria secured a pitcher and filled it from the five‑gallon dispenser located next to the refrigerator. She poured some of the water into a goblet that appeared to be made of crystal. She sliced a piece of lemon and dropped it into the water along with ice cubes.
"I really didn't need anything quite so elegant."
"Yes you do. I always like to treat everyone like royalty." When Gloria hosted bridge, she set out a feast fit for a queen. All the other bridge club members were more casual about the Wednesday gatherings.
"I've made a schedule so we won't backtrack on our route."
Lettie thought that this was being a bit extreme, but thanked Gloria for going to the trouble. She finished her water and stood up to leave. Gloria could not leave her house without washing the goblet Lettie had just emptied. She also dried it and put it back in the kitchen cabinet.
Gloria had baked a whole ham that had a crunchy looking glaze. Lettie commented on the ham which looked delicious but a tad on the overdone side. They walked back through the mudroom which was aptly named since there was a pair of muddy tennis shoes in the corner. She was surprised that they didn't have to stop to clean them before they left.
The two women made the rounds of the Covered Bridgers via Gloria's list. Their last stop was of course at Sophie's. She appeared in the back doorway as soon as they drove up. Lettie rolled down the driver's side window and waved, and Sophie announced that she would be there as soon as she gathered up her food.
Lettie was a total nervous wreck. She was going to have to return to the scene of the crime. Every time she thought about it, she could see Charlotte's limp body lying on the bedroom floor. She comforted herself with the fact that she wouldn't have to go into the bedroom.
In an effort to calm down, she decided to look at Sophie's lovely flowers that adorned both sides of the drive. She stuck her head out the window of her van and looked and smelled. She suddenly spotted the white flowers of the Lily of the Valley nestled between some daffodils. Funny, she had only noticed Sophie's roses yesterday. Today the Lilies of the Valley stuck out like a sore thumb. Such a lovely, aromatic plant killed Charlotte. Momentarily Lettie pondered the possibility that Sophie could have poisoned Charlotte. Mentally shaking herself, she noticed her stomach felt a little queasy. Sophie had no reason to kill Charlotte, but a lot of people who knew her had access to Sophie's flowers.
"Why is your head hanging out the window?" Sophie asked.
Sophie wore a denim skirt, a red checked blouse, and Birkenstock shoes. The red checks blurred into the white and Lettie's stomach churned. She took several deep breaths, and lowered her head.
"Are you all right, Lettie?" Sophie ran to the side of the van.
"I was looking at your flowers, and I saw your Lilies of the Valley and started feeling queasy." After taking several deep breaths, she slowly raised her head and stuck it back out the window. "I'm feeling a little better now."
"You know, I didn't even think about having the flower that poisoned Charlotte sitting here in my front yard."
"Between seeing the flowers and being apprehensive about going into that house again, I'm a wreck."
"I know," Sophie replied. "I can't forget Wednesday night either."
"Aren't you two a little sensitive about going back into the house?" Gloria joined in the conversation.
Sophie and Lettie twirled their heads simultaneously in Gloria's direction. How could Gloria be so cold? She sounded like Amelia.
"Gloria, I don't think you realize how awful Charlotte looked. It's not a thought I like to conjure up. Going into that house will bring back the memory more vividly," Lettie explained.
"I'm glad I didn't have to see the body, but it was awful for me too. I must admit I'm not looking forward to being back in the house either," Sophie added.
"I'm sorry. I must sound unsympathetic." Smoothing her elaborately coifed hair, Gloria continued, "I was just raised to believe that dying is a part of living. A natural thing."
"Well, the way Charlotte died was not natural," Sophie responded.
"Let's not talk about this anymore. We need to get this food to Charlotte's, I mean Jeff's, house, before I start eating it. The smell is overcoming my queasiness," Lettie joked to ease the tension. Lettie's remark lightened the mood somewhat. Sophie and her basket of food made their way to the back seat of the van. Lettie and Gloria had noticed on the way to pick up Sophie that there were several cars on or near the Downey's property, therefore, the girls had to park the van illegally. There was a discussion about who was going to the door to announce their arrival. Gloria volunteered and sauntered up the curving front walkway.
Lettie opened the back door of the van, and she and Sophie started unpacking the food. They saw Gloria being welcomed by Ingrid Swenson. Poor Ingrid, Lettie thought. No one had bothered checking on her after the night of the murder. Gloria moved back toward the van to load her arms with food as Lettie and Sophie made their way to the front doors.
Sophie and Lettie spoke briefly with an ashen-faced Ingrid. She told them that she was still devastated by Charlotte's death, but felt that she should be at the house to take care of Mr. Jeff and Ms. Amelia and the rest of the family. She moved aside so Lettie and Sophie could enter.
"We know the way to the kitchen, Ingrid." Lettie said. "Don't bother walking any more than you have to."
"I'll just stay here and hold the door for Mrs. Spencer."
"Oh, do you know Gloria?" Lettie probed.
"Yes, Mr. and Mrs. Downey entertained her and Mr. Spencer once in a while. They were here Tuesday night to play bridge."
"Are you talking about me, Ingrid?"
"Oh yes, Mrs. Spencer. I was telling Mrs. Balfour and Mrs. Lambert about your bridge game on Tuesday night."
"We'd better get this food to the kitchen, don't you think girls," Gloria remarked. Ingrid led the three women to the kitchen and supervised where the food was to go. The girls had to make a second trip to get the rest of the food and to move the van.
"People are in the family room and some are on the lanai since it is so warm. That shower this morning did make it a little humid. You ladies go ahead, and I'll tend to setting the food out." The three women knew their way to the family room. Normally the area where Charlotte entertained the Covered Bridgers, the room was probably thirty feet by thirty feet and several seating areas abounded. Approximately fifty people mingled, several of which hovered near two long tables laden with a variety of foods, an institutional size coffee urn, and soft drinks. There was no tea in the place, thought Lettie. No one except Charlotte drank the brew in this household--a good thing since more people might be dead by now. There was an attended bar near the fireplace. Amelia Williams clung to Jordan Watkins as they ordered a drink.
After last night, why should Lettie be surprised by Jordan's being here? She still felt uneasy about their coupling. Lettie's eyes swept the room for other familiar faces. She saw Jeff Downey and decided she should pay her respects. She intertwined her arm through Sophie's and suggested that she and Gloria accompany her to see Jeff.
"Hello, Gloria," rumbled a deep voice to the side of the women.
"Hello, Mr. Downey," Gloria timidly answered. "These are my friends, and we came to bring food," she hastily added.
Lettie and Sophie had puzzled looks on their faces. This handsome older gentleman obviously knew Gloria. Gloria introduced Stanley Downey, Jeff's father, to the other two women. Lettie and Sophie expressed their condolences to Mr. Downey. Gloria shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "It's been a long time since I've seen you, Gloria. Do you live in Stafford?"
Gloria gave Stanley Downey a synopsis of her life and her move to Stafford over five years ago. Lettie and Sophie both noticed that she looked uncomfortable, and they wondered how Gloria had known Mr. Downey. Lettie and Sophie excused themselves so that the two could reminisce, but Gloria retreated also.
"We thought you wanted to talk to Jeff's father," Lettie said apologetically.
"Oh no, that's all right. I worked at his hardware store when I was in college. I really don't have any more to say to him. Let's go see Jeff." Lettie's curiosity was piqued at Gloria's behavior, but she didn't have time to think about it.
The trio headed straight for Jeff who looked as bad as he had the previous day except for his clothing. They all told him how sorry they were and made small talk. They explained that they had merely brought food and were not going to stay long. He thanked them and insisted they stay. They agreed to stay for a few minutes.
Lettie's stomach was making strange noises, and she headed to the food and drink leaving Gloria and Sophie behind. She reached her destination and spotted some miniature quiches. She picked up a plate and headed in a beeline for the chosen food. In her haste she almost collided with a woman who looked about her mother's age.
"Excuse me," exclaimed Lettie.
"That's all right. I'm sure there's enough food for all of us. I'm Elaine Downey, Jeff's mother, and you are?"
"Lettie Balfour, a friend of Charlotte's. We played bridge together. Our group made some food and I'm one of the delivery people. It's apparent that many other people had the same idea."
Jeff Downey had gotten his looks from his father. Elaine Downey was a short, plump, plain-looking woman. She introduced her daughter, Melanie, who looked much younger than Jeff.
"Were you the one who found Charlotte's body?"
"Yes, I was the one. I'm still having nightmares about it."
"I thought I recognized your name. Jeff told us about your ordeal. I'm sure that it couldn't have been pleasant for you. Pardon me for being bold, but is that Gloria Albertson talking to Jeff?" Lettie was surprised for the second time in the last hour and said, "You mean, Gloria Spencer?"
"That must be her married name. I knew her when she was in college. She worked at my parent's hardware store," announced Melanie.
"What is she doing here?" a touch of bitterness tinged Elaine Downey's voice. "Why is she bothering Jeff at a time like this?" she snapped.
It was apparent that Elaine Downey's somber stature was becoming hostile. Melanie laid a comforting arm on her mother's shoulder and told her that everything was going to be fine. Lettie was puzzled. What caused this outburst? Jeff's mother seemed as upset over Gloria's appearance at the house as she did over the death of her daughter-in-law.
"Mother, she has a right to show her condolences."
"Why would she drive all the way from Indianapolis to see Jeff at a time like this?"
"Mrs. Downey, Gloria lives here in Stafford with her husband and two children. She belonged to our bridge club also and helped with the food."
"Mother, you have to calm yourself. You will upset Jeff even more than he is."
"I can't help it. I want her out of this house."
"Mother. Please stop. If Jeff isn't making her leave, then it's not up to us." Lettie noticed that Elaine Downey's face was beet red. She was angry. Lettie decided it was time to get Sophie and Gloria. This was very difficult for her since her inquisitive side wanted to ask a zillion questions. She expressed her condolences to the Downey ladies, grabbed some quiche, and hastened across the room.
"Gloria and Sophie, we need to be going soon," she commented while chewing on a miniature spinach quiche.
"Don't be in such a rush, Lettie," Gloria responded.
Sophie concurred with Lettie. After all, they weren't immediate family members or close friends and shouldn't be intruding. They told Jeff they would see him later and started back to the front portion of the house practically dragging Gloria with them. They encountered Ingrid in the central hallway. "Thank you ladies for bringing in the food. Mr. Jeff will appreciate it so. He'll be eating high on the hog for several days. Although, I can't say much for any of our appetites lately. Even Ms. Amelia can't eat, poor thing, and she's already so thin. Oh, by the way, Mrs. Spencer, would you like the bottled water you left here the other night? I know Ms. Charlotte appreciated your thoughtfulness. Nobody will drink it around here. They're all too upset to touch Ms. Charlotte's bottled water supply."
"That's quite all right, Ingrid, I don't need it. Just throw it out." Lettie, lost in her thoughts, was relieved to get out of the house. The short drive to Sophie's did not give Lettie enough time to digest all the peculiar developments at the Downey house. She was most intrigued about Elaine Downey's reaction to Gloria. Among other thoughts were why Gloria had never told anyone that she knew Jeff and his family prior to coming to Stafford.
Sophie got out at her house and invited the others in for coffee. They declined. Lettie acknowledged that Sophie and Harold would pick her up at seven that evening.
She backed out of the driveway and immediately began questioning Gloria.
"Why in the world didn't you ever tell any of us that you knew Jeff Downey in college?"
"It never came up, and it didn't seem important. Also, I don't want Lawrence to know. He's so jealous," Gloria replied haughtily.
"Surely he wouldn't be jealous of your knowing someone in college unless there's more to it than that."
"You don't know Lawrence. Anyway, he would kill me if he knew I dated Jeff Downey."
"You dated Jeff!" Lettie said, astonished.
"Yes, I did. What's wrong with that?"
"Nothing, I'm just surprised. How did you two meet?"
"We met in Muncie. I decided to go to Ball State instead of staying in Indianapolis and going to school there. Since my family doesn't have much money, it was hard financially for me to go out of town. However, I always made good grades, and I got a scholarship that paid my tuition, but I had to work to help pay for housing and miscellaneous expense. I got a job at the Downey's hardware store."
"Is that where you met Jeff?" Lettie interrupted.
"That's right. Of course, he worked there, since his parents owned the store. He was a senior in high school, and he kind of showed me the ropes in Muncie. At the time, I was a rather plain-looking young lady who wore glasses. Remember when I told you about being arrested. Well, I sort of looked the hippie type. You know the grungy look. I was the epitome."
"You don't wear glasses now."
"Contacts, my dear. I wouldn't be caught dead without them. Well, anyway, I had a monumental crush on Jeff. His family sort of became my home away from home. I would eat with them every Friday night. It not only gave me something to do, but I could be around Jeff until he went out with his friends. Melanie and I became friends. I guess because I was older and that made me seem exciting to her. Well, even though she was younger, she was a very sexy looking young lady. She encouraged me to fix myself up."
"How was that?"
"She could tell I had a crush on Jeff, so she sort of suggested that if I started wearing makeup and nicer clothes that maybe he would notice me. It was a sort of Pygmalion thing. I got a new hairdo, scoured used clothing stores for stylish clothes that I could repair, and started wearing makeup."
"Did he notice?"
"I guess he noticed right away according to Melanie. However, he was going with someone from his high school. They eventually broke up, and he asked me out. Well, we'd been friends, so we didn't have any trouble establishing a relationship."
"Tell me. What happened?"
"Nothing exciting, but we dated seriously for about four months. Then I started getting bored with the relationship. You see, I had never really dated steadily before, so I decided if could attract someone like Jeff I could hook someone else."
"I don't mean to be rude, but why does Mrs. Downey seem to hate your guts?"
"She hates me? How do you know that?"
"Today I thought she was going to have a stroke when she saw you talking to Jeff."
"Well, Jeff is the apple of his mother's eye. He is very close to her, and Melanie is closer to her father. I dumped Jeff, and I heard through mutual friends that he took it pretty hard. I also lost my job over the situation. After all, I couldn't work there with Jeff. Mrs. Downey became very hateful to me. No more Friday evenings at their home."
"Was that the end of it?"
"Pretty much. I was lonesome again, because I had depended on the Downey family for support. I also was without employment. After my first semester, I went back to Indianapolis and went to Butler and lived with my family. I met Lawrence while he was in dental school in Indianapolis."
"It seems unreasonable to me that Mrs. Downey would hate you."
"You don't cross anyone in that family. By making her precious son so unhappy, she blamed me because he flunked a number of his classes that semester."
"Jeff flunked classes? I can't believe it. He seems so intelligent."
"It didn't have anything to do with intelligence. I guess he never had anyone dump him before. After all, he was handsome, was president of his class, and had money. All the girls always fell all over him."
Lettie drove into the Spencer driveway while trying to assimilate this information. Lawrence Spencer came out of the house to greet the women. Lettie had never really been around him much, but saw him on the occasions when the Covered Bridgers played cards at Gloria's.
"Where have you been?" Lawrence said angrily.
"You know we were going to take food to the Downey's house."
"Well, it took you long enough. I told you I wanted to go to the movies this afternoon. Now we've missed the first showing. I wanted to go early so that I could watch a golf tournament on television later."
Gloria seemed to be evoking anger in everybody today. Lettie concluded that Lawrence Spencer was overreacting.
"Excuse me," Lettie reintroduced herself to Lawrence and continued. "It took longer than we thought to pick up and deliver all the food. It wasn't Gloria's fault."
Gloria scrambled to get out of the van, while Lawrence glared at her. Lettie would have to get the rest of the story, so to speak, at a later date. She thought it odd that the Downey and Spencer families socialized and thought it would be uncomfortable for Jeff and Gloria to be around one another. However, since so much time had passed, it probably didn't bother them.
Lettie had a lot to think about on her drive home. She concluded that Lawrence Spencer seemed to be as much of a bully as Gloria had said. After his behavior this afternoon, she could understand why Gloria didn't want Lawrence to know anything of her background.
The strange coupling of Jordan Watkins and Amelia Williams continued to be of particular interest. Apparently, their relationship was closer than Alvin Crabtree thought. If Jordan was at the Downey's home lending moral support to Amelia, then Lettie surmised that they were pretty darned close. There was still the unexplained visit of Jeff Downey to Hickory Creek Park earlier in the day. What could have been so important to take him away from his family on this day?
She could hardly wait to talk to Mitch this evening. As she unlocked the door, she heard the phone ringing.