A Twist In The Tail

Ava sat in the overstuffed chair looking out the window at the storm. She looked up when I entered. ‘I hope the storm passes over quickly.’

It was almost dark and the churning sea had a rough, ominous feel. Great ambience for a murder, I thought, but refrained from saying so. The last thing I needed was another one of those.

‘Hopefully it won’t be too bad.’ I put the tea and basket down in front of her.

‘Oh, you brought muffins! How lovely.’

The thought struck me that Ava had seemed to know an awful lot about what had gone on between Tina and Charles. Since I couldn’t really ask Tina, maybe Ava would have some insight. I picked out a muffin and buttered it while Ava sipped her tea.

‘Has there been any news on the murder case?’ Ava asked the question casually. Perhaps a little bit too casually? I looked up to see a glimmer of interest in her eye.

‘The police are still looking into it, but I may have found a little clue.’ I wasn’t going to tell Ava what I’d discovered, but I wanted to feel her out and see how willing she would be to talk.

‘Oh really?’ Ava watched me over the rose dotted rim of her china teacup.

‘Well, I don’t know much, but I heard it might have something to do with a jealous lover. And you said you saw Tina...’ I let my voice trail off.

‘Oh yes I did.’ Ava nodded. ‘Tina and Charles.’

‘And Charles was the type to fool around you say?’

‘Certainly. I’d seen it happen many, many times. But who would be jealous?’ she paused and then her eyes widened. ‘Oh? You think Charles had another lover and Tina killed him because she was jealous?’

Actually I hadn’t thought of it that way. But what if Ava was right? What if I had it backwards and the jealous lover wasn’t someone who was mad that Charles was fooling around with their woman, but rather someone who was angry that Charles was fooling around on them?

‘Or Tina had a lover that killed Charles. I guess either way, jealousy is a strong motivator,’ I said.

Ava nodded her head enthusiastically. ‘Yes, that is a very good theory. Are the police going to make an arrest?’

‘That I don’t know,’ I said.

Ava nibbled on a muffin and made a face. ‘Now that would be one for the columns. A love triangle murder.’

I frowned. Hopefully Ava wasn’t considering publishing a story about Charles’s murder.

‘Such a sad thing that people want to hear about murders and affairs now instead of balls and coming-out parties like in my day,’ Ava said.

‘People certainly have become ghoulish,’ I agreed.

Ava brushed the crumbs off her fingers and stood. ‘Well, I guess things never stay the same. I’m just glad the police are onto somebody. I hate to think of the killer just wandering around in here. Now that the tea has warmed me up, I think I’ll get my old bones under the comforters. Always get so tired once the sun goes down.’ She glanced out the window and then headed toward the front stairs.

She must’ve passed Flora because I heard her asking the maid to bring her an extra blanket. To my surprise Flora agreed and said she would be there in a few minutes. With the lack of work Flora did, I figured she would’ve told Ava she was clocking out, but she hadn’t. Maybe Flora wasn’t a total loss after all.

Flora came into the parlor and flopped down in the chair Ava had just vacated. ‘Dang guests, got me running all around.’ She glanced at the basket. ‘Oh muffins, don’t mind if I do.’

She plucked a muffin out and popped half of it into her mouth. ‘I’m exhausted. Changing all those beds is hard work and I also did some dusting and now I’ve got to get that blanket. You know the dusting is hard enough, even without all that cat hair.’ Her words were barely intelligible because she was mumbling around her food.

Suddenly I realized that if Flora changed the beds, she would know if Tina had been home the night Charles was killed.

‘It must be very difficult,’ I agreed, pushing the muffin basket closer since she’d already finished the one she’d started. ‘You must be glad you don’t have to change them all every day.’

She swallowed hard and frowned at me. ‘What are you getting at? Are you saying I don’t do my job every day?’

‘No not all. Just that if the beds haven’t been slept in…’

‘Yeah, that’s right. Why would I have to change the bed if it hadn’t been slept in? Did that little tart Tina complain? I don’t see any reason to change her bed if wasn’t slept in. Well I’ll tell you, she’s a fine one sneaking off to another hotel.’ She leaned back in her chair.

‘So Tina wasn’t here one night?’

‘No. And I’ll have you know. There’s no sense in changing the bedclothes if someone isn’t here. First of all, its work that doesn’t need to be done and second, it saves on electricity, hot water and laundry detergent. I mean, its bad enough I have to clean up straw and feathers and muck.’

‘Straw?’

‘Yes, those old people with the cameras. When I went in to clean up their room it was dirty with straw and twigs and feathers. Pigs!’