Greed with Envy (Garden Girls Christian Cozy Mystery Series Book 15) Read online

  “There’s a crime scene van and a police car at Margaret’s house. Earlier, there was an ambulance. Andrea, Brian and I watched them carry out a stretcher.” She lowered her voice. “I’m pretty sure someone was on the stretcher, covered in a white cloth.”

  Paul shifted to the side. “That doesn’t sound good.”

  “Officer Nelson showed up.” Paul, a retired police officer, knew Officer Nelson. Both had worked at the Montbay County Sheriff’s station. “Do you think…” Gloria’s voice trailed off.

  “I’ll call the station to see what they know.” He reached for the home phone, slipped his reading glasses on and dialed the number he knew by heart.

  Gloria listened silently while Paul attempted to glean information on Margaret’s situation.

  “Uh-huh. I see. Well, I appreciate you letting me know. My wife is close friends with Mrs. Hansen and we’re both concerned. Thank you.”

  Paul disconnected the line and placed the phone on the hook.

  “Well? What did they say?”

  Paul slowly walked to the table and slid into the chair next to his wife before reaching for Gloria’s hand. “The station doesn’t have all of the details yet but it looks as if Don Hansen has died.”

  Gloria’s jaw dropped. “I…” It took several long moments for Paul’s news to sink in before she burst into tears and lowered her head in her hands. Paul wrapped his arms around his wife in an effort to console her.

  “Grams!” Ryan burst into the room and abruptly stopped. Tyler, who had followed his brother into the kitchen, stopped beside him.

  Gloria lifted her head and attempted to stifle her sobs. “Yes boys?”

  Ryan tiptoed to his grandmother’s side. “What’s wrong?”

  Gloria closed her eyes for a moment as she struggled to compose herself. “I just got some sad news, that’s all.” She patted Ryan’s shoulder. “I’ll be okay. Why don’t you and Tyler take Mally out for a few minutes and when you come back, we’ll play some board games.”

  The boys slowly walked out the back porch door with Mally. Tyler looked back once and Gloria attempted a smile as she drew in a shaky breath.

  “I-I can’t believe he’s gone,” she whispered as she stared out the window and watched her grandsons play.

  Finally, Gloria grabbed her sweater and opened the porch door. “Maybe a little fresh air will help.” The barn door was open and Gloria, accompanied by Paul, wandered across the drive.

  The sound of quick footsteps in the loft echoed in the cavernous barn. Gloria stood in the doorway giving her eyes a minute to adjust to the lack of light.

  The smell of hay and old wood lingered in the air. It had been weeks since Gloria had stepped foot in the barn. Her eyes were drawn to the large Massey Ferguson tractor parked off to one side. The tractor had belonged to Gloria’s first husband, James. Ryan and Tyler loved the old tractor and every time they visited, they begged Gloria to let them drive it.

  They had taken it around the farm a few times and were getting good at maneuvering around the sheds, the barn, and even Gloria’s vegetable garden. Tyler, now eleven, was tall for his age. He seemed more interested in his video games these days and less interested in the farm, the barn or the fort the boys had built the previous summer.

  Ryan, on the other hand, still loved to visit the farm and to help in the garden whenever he could.

  “Why don’t we play catch?” Paul asked the boys as they climbed down from the hayloft. “There are a couple mitts and a ball in the garage.”

  “Sure.” Ryan ran ahead to the garage while Tyler, Paul and Gloria followed behind. Gloria waited for Paul to pull the large wooden door across the tracks and snap the padlock shut.

  The trio tossed the ball back and forth a few times while Mally chased after it. Tyler quickly grew bored and joined his grandmother on the steps. Paul and Ryan finally put away the mitts and ball and they all headed inside.

  “I’ll pick out the games,” Tyler said as he headed to the closet and pulled out the Yahtzee and Scrabble.

  Gloria popped some popcorn and poured several glasses of juice before they all settled in at the kitchen table. While they played, she kept her cell phone on the table next to her, hoping one of the other women would call but the phone never rang.

  Finally, it was time for the boys to take a bath and get ready for bed.

  “I’ll take bath duty,” Paul offered.

  Gloria reached for her phone. “I’ll give Dot a quick phone call.” Dot would be one of the first to know what was going on since she owned the only restaurant in town, if you didn’t count Kip’s Bar and Grill, which mostly served munchies to the bar patrons.

  Gloria headed to the porch, cell phone in hand while Paul corralled Ryan for his bath. She settled into the rocking chair and dialed Dot’s cell phone. It went to voice mail and she glanced at her watch. It was close to closing time at the restaurant and more than likely Dot was busy so she tried Ruth’s cell phone.

  Ruth, Belhaven’s postmaster, was always a wealth of information. She loved to keep up on the town’s activities, the resident’s activities or in other words, gossip.

  “Hello?” A breathless Ruth answered on the first ring.

  “Have you heard?”

  “I haven’t been off the phone since the ambulance pulled into Margaret’s drive,” Ruth groaned. “This is awful.”

  Ruth told Gloria that she heard from Judith Arnett, another Belhaven gossip, who heard from Sally Keane, who had once been engaged to Officer Nelson, that Margaret found Don unresponsive in the garage.

  Sally told Judith the car’s engine was running and the garage door was shut. She tried shaking him and calling his name but he didn’t answer so she called 911. When the EMT’s and Officer Nelson arrived, they discovered Don had died.

  Gloria interrupted. “Did Judith or Sally mention how Don died?” Perhaps he’d had another heart attack while trying to leave the house.

  “Carbon monoxide poisoning, at least that’s what they suspect.”

  Gloria grew quiet as she thought about Don and Margaret.

  “Are you still there?” Ruth asked.

  “I’m here. Just thinking,” Gloria remembered how Officer Nelson arrived first and a short time later an unmarked police car pulled into Margaret’s drive.

  “I guess something looked suspicious to Officer Nelson so he called a detective who called the crime scene team. Has anyone heard from Margaret?” Gloria asked.

  “I drove by her house a few minutes ago. The cop cars and crime scene van are gone. The porch light and her kitchen light are on but when I knocked, no one answered,” Ruth said.

  “Maybe she’s down at the sheriff’s station,” Gloria said.

  “Let me call you back. Sally Keane is calling.” The line went dead and Gloria set her cell phone in her lap.

  Paul wandered out onto the porch. “Any news?”

  Gloria repeated what Ruth had told her and Paul listened quietly until she finished. “It’s not unusual to call a detective or the crime scene investigators. Officers treat each unattended death as possibly suspect. In other words, Joe was covering his you-know-what.”

  “That is why I think an unmarked police car showed up. It was probably a county detective, followed by a crime scene van,” Gloria said.

  “The police need to cover all angles. Although Joe is a friend and Belhaven area resident, he still has a job to do. It’s possible Don, despondent over his health or for whatever reason, became depressed and decided to end his life. It’s also possible, considering his recent health history, that he suffered another heart attack in the car. Remember…what you heard was hearsay and might not even be accurate information. Regardless, the police are required to cover all angles.”

  Gloria tapped the floor with her foot as she remembered Ruth had mentioned Margaret didn’t answer her door, which meant there was a good chance her friend was down at the sheriff’s station being questioned about Don’s death.

  Chapter 3

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nbsp; “I’m done.” Ryan flung the door open and sailed across the porch floor. Gloria shifted in her chair and smiled as she gazed at her grandson’s sopping wet hair.

  “Did you bother drying off?”

  “Yeah.” Ryan placed the palm of his hand on the top of his head and swiped it downward. Droplets of water splashed Gloria’s leg.

  “I’m hungry,” Ryan said.

  “I’m Grams,” Gloria teased. “Okay. Let’s see what I can scrounge up for you to snack on that won’t get you all sugared up.”

  Ryan, Paul and Gloria stepped back inside and she headed to the pantry and peered inside. “You can have a granola bar, an apple or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.”

  “Sandwich please.” Ryan slid onto a chair and watched as she made two sandwiches, certain when Tyler emerged from the bath he would be hungry as well. She poured two glasses of milk and Tyler, right on cue, tromped into the kitchen.

  “I made you a sandwich.”

  Tyler started to sit next to his brother before he changed his mind and walked over to Gloria, who was leaning against the kitchen counter. “I love you Grams.” Her eldest grandson wrapped his arms around Gloria.

  Tears burned the back of her eyes. “I love you too,” she said as she held him close. “Thank you for coming to stay with us.”

  Ryan shoved his chair back, hopped out of his chair and raced across the kitchen floor. “I love you too Grams.”

  “I love you both to the moon and back.” She glanced at the Tupperware container, full of raisin oatmeal cookies she’d baked the day before. She pulled them from the top of the fridge, opened the container and placed a cookie on the corner of her grandsons’ plates. “I guess one little ole cookie won’t hurt.”

  As the boys munched on their bedtime snack, they discussed what they wanted to do the following day. Jill wouldn’t be picking the boys up until late afternoon. Since it was Sunday, church came first. What to do after church was up in the air and she thought she would let the boys decided.

  “We can do whatever you like,” Gloria said. “Within reason,” she added.

  Tyler took a big bite of sandwich and chewed thoughtfully. “Can we go bowling?”

  “Perhaps,” Gloria said.

  “What about fishing?” Ryan asked.

  “That’s for you and Grandpa Paul to do without me.” Gloria didn’t hate fishing, she just didn’t like it. It was, for lack of a better word, boring.

  “I have an idea,” Gloria said. She remembered seeing a flyer advertising a big top circus coming to the grounds of Belhaven’s flea market. “Let me check something.”

  Gloria rummaged through the stack of junk mail in the corner of her kitchen counter where she found the bright purple flyer tucked under the pizza delivery menu. “Here it is.” She slipped her reading glasses on. “There’s a circus over where they have the flea market. It’s today and tomorrow.” She peered over the rim of her reading glasses. “Would you be interested in the circus?”

  “Yes.”

  “No.” Ryan shook his head.

  “Why not?”

  “Well…” Ryan kicked at the table leg. “I don’t want to get trampled by an elephant.”

  Tyler snorted. “You’re not going to get trampled by an elephant.”

  “Plus they stink,” Ryan added.

  “I can’t argue with you there,” Gloria said. “They have candy and other goodies at the circus.” She hadn’t been to the circus in decades, not since her children had been young and from what she could recall, there were some things she liked about it but others she didn’t, namely the unique smells.

  Paul strolled into the kitchen. “You didn’t tell me we were having cookies.” He reached inside the Tupperware container and pulled out a cookie. “Have you decided what you’re doing tomorrow?”

  “I’m leaning toward taking the boys to the circus since it’s close to home.” Gloria wanted to stick close to town in case Margaret needed her. Not only that, she hadn’t gone bowling in years and fleeting images of throwing out her back or worse, making a fool of herself, crossed her mind. “Would you like to go with us?”

  “No thanks.” Paul broke off a piece of cookie and popped it into his mouth. “I’m not a fan of clowns.”

  “Me either.” Ryan rested his chin on his hand and stared glumly at his empty plate.

  “It’ll be fun,” Gloria said. “You’ve never been to the circus and you need to give it a chance.”

  “I guess.” Shoulders slumped; Ryan picked up his plate and carried it to the dishwasher. “If I have to.”

  The boys placed their dirty dishes in the dishwasher and headed to the spare bedroom. Gloria followed behind. She tucked each of them into the twin beds and listened as they said their prayers.

  “Dear God. Thank you for letting me spend the night with Grams. Please don’t let her be sad and cry again. I pray for Mom and Dad and Mally and even Tyler. Amen. Oh and I pray the elephants don’t trample me at the circus tomorrow.”

  Gloria, touched by both Ryan’s earnest prayer that she wouldn’t cry again and his fear of being trampled by an elephant, tugged at her heartstrings. She smiled as she leaned down and kissed her young grandson’s forehead. “Thank you for remembering me. I’ll protect you from the elephants,” she promised before moving to the other bed to pray with Tyler.

  Tyler’s prayer included one for his “Grams” and for his parents, plus Mally.

  Puddles, Gloria’s cat, wandered in and leapt onto Tyler’s bed. “And I pray for Puddles and that he won’t wake me up in the middle of the night.”

  Puddles loved to sleep with the boys when they stayed, which was more like playtime for him as he attacked their toes under the blanket or chewed on their hair while they were sleeping. The cat had long since forgiven them for the time they tried to give him a bath in the toilet.

  Gloria kissed Tyler’s forehead and patted Puddles. “Behave yourself,” Gloria warned her cat, who began to purr loudly as he cuddled up next to Tyler.

  Mally, who managed to finagle her way into the room, jumped onto Ryan’s bed and sprawled out next to him.

  Gloria flipped the bedroom light off and turned back as the soft glow of the dining room light shone through the open doorway. “Goodnight boys. I’ll see you early in the morning for Sunday School.”

  Paul was still in the kitchen when she wandered out. “Dot called. They just closed the restaurant and plan to have an emergency meeting of friends there.”

  “Did you tell them I was with Ryan and Tyler?” Gloria asked.

  “I did.” Paul pulled his wife to him and held her close as she placed her cheek against his chest. “I also told them I would send you down as soon as you tucked the boys in for the night.”

  Gloria lifted her head and gazed into his eyes. Paul leaned down and gently kissed Gloria’s lips. For a moment, she thought about telling them she couldn’t make it and she would see them all tomorrow. “I don’t have to go,” she said when the kiss ended.

  “Yes you do,” Paul said. “If not, you’ll keep us both up all night long, wondering what happened.”

  “True.” Gloria took a step back. “You know me too well.” She stepped over to the door, grabbed her car keys and purse and then dropped her cell phone inside. “Hopefully I won’t be too long.”

  Paul walked her to her car and waited for her to climb in before closing the door behind her. “If you don’t come back in an hour or so, I’ll send a search party out,” he teased. His expression grew serious. “If Margaret is there, please tell her how sorry I am to hear about Don.”

  Paul and Gloria knew all too well what it felt like to lose a spouse. It had been a long and painful period in Gloria’s life after James’ unexpected death while she went through the stages of grief, the sadness, the loneliness, the heartache and finally, the loss of self. After being married for many years, it had been a difficult adjustment.

  As time passed, Gloria wondered if she was meant to spend the rest of her years a widow and the
n without warning, God intervened and Paul entered her life. Married for less than a year now, they were still working through the honeymoon phase and learning to adjust to life together.

  Right around the time they married, Paul had officially retired from the sheriff’s department although he still did a little moonlighting on the side. Security detail mostly, but she secretly suspected it made him still feel useful and “in the loop.”

  Paul’s daughter, Allie, had recently joined the sheriff’s department and worked in dispatch. She had also just moved out of Paul’s farmhouse and into Green Springs where she was closer to work. Gloria thought it was a smart move, although it meant that Paul’s place sat empty now.

  Occasionally, on weekends, they would drive to his farm and spend the night, but for the most part, they’d gotten into the habit of staying at Gloria’s farm. It was closer to town and closer to Gloria’s friends.

  “I’ll tell Margaret,” Gloria promised her husband as she started the car. The drive into town was a quick trip. During the drive, Gloria prayed for her friend. She prayed for Don and for the rest of his family.

  She turned Annabelle onto Main Street and parked between Ruth’s van, aka spy mobile and Lucy’s Jeep. Andrea’s truck was parked nearby. The last vehicle she noticed was Margaret’s SUV.

  Gloria hurried out of the car and darted across the sidewalk. The front door to the restaurant was locked so she tapped on the large front window.

  Dot, who was carrying a pot of coffee to the center table where the friends had gathered, hurried to the front to let Gloria in. “I’m glad you’re here.” She motioned Gloria inside and then locked the door behind her. “Margaret wanted to wait until you arrived to explain what happened.”

  Gloria followed Dot to the table and made her way over to Margaret. She hugged her tight. “I love you.”

  Margaret clung to Gloria, her head buried in her friend’s shoulder. “I love you too.” She finally lifted her head and gazed around the room. “I just came back from the sheriff’s station. Based on the questions they asked me, they think I had something to do with Don’s death.”