Mummified Meringues (17 page)

Nesbaum chuckled. “I wish I did, but I really didn’t know him or the McDonalds that well. I mean, I assume they must have had something to do with it, otherwise why would she call me and tell me to stop?”

“Good question.” Ruth slid her eyes over to Nans, who was busy inspecting the buds on a pink rose bush.

“I’m not convinced it was the McDonalds, but maybe you can help us find the killer and get the police off your back,” Ida said. “Think hard. Do you remember anything or anyone that seemed odd when you were working on the house? A stranger, or maybe something strange Earl did?”

Nesbaum pressed his lips together and cocked his head to the side. “Well, let me think. It was a long time ago, but it does stick out, as it was just so odd for them to make me stop in the middle of working. They said they didn’t have the funds to pay me to finish. I didn’t notice anything funny other than that … other than the neighbor who was yelling at Earl.”

Ida’s brows shot up. “A neighbor was yelling at Earl? Did you tell the police?”

Nesbaum grimaced. “No. I don’t really know as it has anything to do with Earl’s death. Wouldn’t want to get an innocent person in trouble with the police. I didn’t want it to look like I was trying to cast suspicion on someone else to take the heat off myself.”

“Do you know which neighbor it was and what they were yelling about?” Ida asked.

Nesbaum hesitated a second, then plunged in. “Well, as you can imagine, I was in and out of the house all day, so I saw a lot of goings on in the neighborhood. There was this one neighbor that seemed mighty peeved with Earl. Can’t say as I blame him—Earl could really get under your skin. Anyway, I heard them yellin’ and screamin’ something fierce the last day I was there.”

“What about?”

“Well, I couldn’t hear everything, but I think it was something about that life insurance Earl was trying to sell to everyone.”
 

“Oh, really?” Ida’s white brows shot up. “And who was the neighbor?”

“I don’t know the name but he lived right at the end of the street, near the drainage culvert … thing is, I
thought
I heard one of them say something about how he hadn’t heard the last of ‘it‘, but I don’t know what happened after that because I never went back.”

Ida looked at Nans. “Who lived on the end of the street back then?”

“The end near the culvert?” Nans chewed her bottom lip. “Wel,l I think that was Ron and Esther Witt.”

“They still live there!” Lexy said.

Ida’s blue eyes sparkled and she turned toward the car. “Come on, girls. It looks like we have another suspect to interrogate.”

Chapter Nineteen

“There are too many suspects now. This is getting confusing,” Helen complained once they were back in the car.

“Yeah, Mona. Did everyone on the street have a motive to kill Earl?” Ida asked.

“No. Not everyone. These aren’t real motives anyway … just the usual stuff that happens with neighbors who aren’t respectful,” Nans replied primly. “I mean, no one kills a guy because he puts the moves on your wife or because he keeps a trashy yard.”

“Or stole your money?” Helen asked.

“Well, that they do, but not the small amount that I’m sure Earl took for the insurance payments,” Nans turned to face Helen, Ruth and Ida in the back seat. “I’m pretty sure we’re barking up the wrong tree, talking to my old neighbors. None of them are killers.”

“Well, I just wish something would break in this case. It’s getting redundant,” Ruth pouted.
 

“I wish they would let us go back into Jack’s house,” Lexy said as they drove by his house, the yellow crime scene tape still sealing it off.

“Why won’t they let you in?” Ida asked. “Aren’t they done collecting clues?”

“Who knows? I can only imagine what we’ll have to do to fix the mess they left,” Lexy answered.

“Not to mention who’s going to buy it now that a mummy was found inside,” Helen pointed out.

Lexy’s stomach felt like a heavy rock had sunk to the bottom of it. Helen had a point. Would no one want to buy Jack’s house now? Would they be stuck with it? She didn’t want to have to move into Jack’s house and sell hers—the one she’d bought from Nans—because it had so many childhood memories. Lexy had images of Jack’s house sitting empty and abandoned and her never being able to repay her parents.

As if by universal connection, her cell phone chirped and she glanced down to see it was her mother. The rock in her stomach grew even heavier, but she’d just pulled into the Witts’ driveway, so talking to her mother would have to wait.

“I think I’ll take the lead on this one,” Nans said, and Lexy felt some of her anxiety ease. Finally, Nans was getting back to her old self.

They all jumped out of the car and Nans marched up to the door, which opened even before she knocked.

“Mona! What a surprise!” Ron glanced behind her at the rest of them. “Oh, you brought friends.”

“You remember my granddaughter, Lexy.” Nans gestured to Lexy, then turned to the other women. “And these are my friends, Ruth, Ida and Helen.”

They exchanged greetings and then Nans explained, “We’ve been looking into the case of the mummy over at the McDonalds’ place.”

Ron shifted his weight. “Oh, right. I heard about that and I know you have a detective service now. What can I help you with?”

“Well.” Nans glanced around the neighborhood uneasily. “We’ve asked around to all the neighbors that lived here back then about Earl and such. We’re just coming to ask you now.”

“Oh, well, come on in.” Ron pushed the door wide and they all piled into the living room of the small house. It was light and bright inside. White walls, white slip-covered furniture, hardwood floors. Unlike most of the other houses on the street, this one had been nicely redone.

Ron’s wife, Esther, bustled out from the kitchen with a tray of fresh-baked lemon squares and tea, making Lexy wonder if they’d been expecting company or if they always kept refreshments on hand.

“Oh, goodie, lemon squares.” Ida peered at the tray. “Those are my favorite.”

“Take one.” Esther gestured to the sofa and chairs. “Everyone, have a seat.”

They each took a seat, balancing the lemon squares and coffees precariously on their laps.

“Now, how can we help?” Ron asked.

“The other neighbors have all mentioned the stranger. To tell the truth, I’d forgotten about him. Do you remember that?” Nans asked.

“Oh, yes, quite vividly,” Esther answered. “We saw him over by the culvert a few times. Very odd.”
 

Esther gestured out the window and Lexy looked in that direction. The Witts’ house was next to a shallow culvert lined with rocks. She remembered from her childhood that it would fill with water, creating a shallow stream when it rained. A smile tugged the corners of her lips with the memory of how she used to like to play there, despite Nan’s constant warnings not to.

“And you think he could have been the killer?” Nans’ question pulled Lexy’s attention back to the room.

Esther and Ron nodded solemnly. “Must have been. Who else would it be?”

“Tell Ron about the witness who saw him fighting with Earl,” Ida cut in.

Ron’s cheek twitched. He frowned at Ida. “Witness?”

Nans waved her hand dismissively. “Oh, the guy redoing the McDonalds’ basement … what was his name?”
 

“Nesbaum,” Ida supplied around a mouthful of lemon square.

“Yeah, that’s right. He says one day he heard you fighting with Earl. Very loudly,” Ruth piped in.

“Claims it was the day Earl died,” Ida added.

Ron’s eyes darted from Nans to Ida. “Well … I don’t …”

“Oh, I think I remember that,” Esther cut in. “I don’t know if it was the day he died. I mean, that was over fifty years ago. Who can remember? Anyway, it was about the insurance.”

“We heard about that.” Helen looked at them over the rim of her coffee cup. “So he tried to sell you insurance, too, then?”

Ron looked down at his hands, clasped tightly in his lap. “We bought it … and then I found out it was a total scam. I called up the insurance company to check on something and they didn’t have any such policy, or even know who Earl was.”

“We’d paid a good amount of money for us back then … two month’s’ salary,” Esther added.

“So you called him out on it.” Ruth said it as a statement, rather than a question.

“Yep.” Ron straightened in his chair and looked directly at Ruth. “As you can imagine, it made me very angry and I was set on getting my money back.”

“And what did he do?” Ida asked.

“He denied it, of course, said it was a mistake and he wasn’t going to give me my money back as the policy was real.”

Ruth leaned forward in her chair, the coffee sloshing dangerously close the top of her mug. “Then what happened?”

Ron shrugged. “He stormed off. I assumed he went to
The Elms
bar, that’s where he usually hung out. I thought he’d be back, but I never saw him again.”
 

“We went to his house to get this so-called proof a couple of times, but he never answered,” Esther added eagerly.
 

Ron grimaced. “I guess we didn’t realize he was already dead.”

“Did you tell the other neighbors about the scam?” Ida asked.

Ron’s face turned red. “No. I didn’t know who else had bought a policy … and … well, I was embarrassed about getting taken.”

“Why would you even buy a policy from someone like him?” Lexy asked. “It sounds like he was a jerk.”
 

“Oh, he acted nice when he first moved in—all businesslike and proper. Then, after a month or so, we saw the real Earl,” Esther said. “That’s why Ron looked into the policy.

“Is that so?” Helen raised her brows at Nans.

Nans finished chewing her bite of lemon square thoughtfully. “Well, I really don’t remember exactly. I didnt have much to do with the man.”

“I can see how that would make you mad as a hornet,” Ida said to Ron. “But were you made enough to kill him?”

“Of course not!” Ron and Esther both said forcefully.

“Ida, really!” Nans said harshly. “The killer was clearly this stranger.”

Ida scrunched her face up at Nans. “But
why
would the stranger want to kill Earl and then
how
did the stranger get into McDonalds’ basement?”

Nans, Esther and Ron looked at each other. Nans finally shrugged. “Maybe he had help.”

“Could there have been more than one stranger?” Lexy asked, remembering how everyone had described the stranger differently.

“Possibly.”

Ida turned to Esther and Ron. “What did this stranger look like?”

Esther and Ron looked at Nans.
 

Nans said, “I’m not sure.
Shady
would be how I would describe him.”

“Was he tall or short?” Ida asked

“Tall.”

“Short.”

Esther and Ron spoke at the same time, then looked at each other.
 

“I guess that’s subjective,” Nans said. “Some might think him tall while others might think him short. See, Ron here is very tall, so if the stranger were shorter than he was, he would describe him as short. Whereas Esther is very short, and she would say he was tall.”

“That’s right,” Esther said. “I guess he was average.”

“What color hair?” Ida persisted.
 

None of them spoke, then Esther ventured, “I think it was dirty blonde.”

“That’s right. And he wore it medium length,” Ron added.

“And he was thin,” Esther said.

Lexy and the ladies glanced at each other. The Witts’ description didn’t really match any of the others. Maybe there
were
two strangers.

“Well, I think we’ve taken up enough of your time.” Nans stood and looked at Ida, Ruth and Helen. “We’re done here. Right, girls?”

“I guess …” Ida stood, glancing down at the Witts uncertainly. “So, you have no idea how Earl ended up dead in the McDonalds’ basement?”

They shook their heads. “Sorry, but no.”

“I think it’s fairly obvious.” Nans’ voice carried an air of finality. “It was this mysterious stranger. We need to see if we can find out more about him, but I don’t feel that it is likely given the time that has passed. I fear the case may never be solved.”

“What?” Ida followed Nans out the door. “You’re not going to just give up on finding the killer, are you?”

“Oh, no, of course not. We’ll keep digging. But not today.” Nans stopped and gestured downward toward the chipped red paint on her toes, sticking out from gold, cork-wedged sandal-clad feet. “Today, as you can see, I’m in dire need of a pedicure.”
 

Chapter Twenty

Lexy dropped Nans and the ladies off at the retirement center. As she was pulling out, her phone chirped, reminding her she had a missed call. Her mother.

Lexy hit the callback button, her stomach sinking as the phone rang.
 

Were her parents calling because of some RV problem?