At Ben’s invitation, Janelle accompanies him to
Aunt Ida’s house for dinner.
Chapter
Thirty-nine
“You
didn’t tell me your uncle Elliot was going to be here,” Janelle whispered to
Ben as she stepped through the front door of Ida Thorne’s house.
Through the archway that led into the living room, Janelle
saw Elliot sitting on a wingback chair. An open newspaper hid all of him except
his hands, his brown trousers, and the top of his dark hair. And his shoes.
She would recognize those expensive Italian loafers
anywhere.
Ben closed the front door. “Does it make any difference if
he’s here?”
Janelle shrugged. As long as he didn’t call her babe.
She walked with Ben into Ida’s living room. Faded
wallpaper of gray and blue stripes seemed to be a good backdrop for the faded
furniture. Strands of cat hair crisscrossed the threadbare carpet, and several
fur balls lined the baseboards. A dingy fireplace was set in one wall of the
small room, with two black and white photos perched on the mantle. Behind
Elliot’s chair, another archway led into the dining room.
“That you, Ben?” Elliot said from behind the paper. “I
decided to join you and Ida for dinner tonight.”
“Yep, it’s me, and I brought a guest.” Ben smiled at
Janelle.
The paper lowered with a crinkle. “Oh.” Elliot’s handsome
face registered surprise before he smiled. “Well, hello there—Janelle.”
She tried to keep a straight face. “Hi.” Either her
kidnapping had cooled his ardor, or the fact that her dad was a private
investigator came in handy.
For once.
Ida, wearing a short-sleeved housedress that sported
garish red poppies, walked out from the kitchen doorway. She carried a roasting
pan, and two cats followed her. Janelle had only seen Ida with a hat on, but
now her hatless gray hair was combed down and curled under at her neck. Her
face was rosy as she hefted the pan to the middle of the small table that had
three place settings. The flab under her arms jiggled.
A nice little old lady. Too bad she was losing her mind.
Ben took a step toward the dining room. “Need some help,
Aunt Ida?”
She looked up, her gaze taking in Ben and Janelle. “Oh,
Nellie! How nice to see you again. I’ll have to set another place.” She bustled
back to the kitchen.
Ben glanced at Janelle. “Nellie.”
“I’m surprised she remembered. Your aunt certainly
couldn’t remember my name when I was here the last time.”
Within five minutes Janelle was seated at the table across
from Ben. Aunt Ida sat on her left and Elliot on her right. She was glad she
didn’t have to look at Elliot while she ate. Fortunately he didn’t call her babe one time. He seemed to have
forgotten all about his promise to make her the happiest little woman in the
world.
As soon as they started eating, five cats appeared,
begging for roast beef. One of them brushed up against Janelle’s ankle. Ida fed
them all as she murmured endearing phrases.
“For crying out loud, Ida.” Elliot eyed her sternly. “Get
rid of those cats! Do you know how unsanitary it is to feed animals at the
table?”
Ida pursed her lips. “Well, if you insist. I’ll lock them
in the basement.” She stood. “Come, Fluffy. Mama will give you some food.”
The cats followed her en masse as she exited the room.
Janelle
looked at Ben. “Which one is Fluffy?”
“All
five of them.” Ben grinned. “They all have the same name so Aunt Ida doesn’t
have to remember which cat is which.”
When Ida came back, the atmosphere took a pleasant turn
with small talk about the weather. As they finished the delicious dinner of
roast beef, mashed potatoes, gravy, and scalloped corn, Janelle managed to
steer the conversation to Jed’s murder. Elliot brought up his theory that Lyssa
had killed her ex-husband.
“No, not Lyssa.” Aunt Ida stuck her elbows on the table and
rested her chin in her hands. “She was always such a sweet girl. I remember
when you first brought her home from college to meet your parents, Elliot.”
Ben stared at Elliot. “You
were dating her, Uncle?”
Elliot ignored him. “Well, maybe Lyssa didn’t kill Jed,
but I know it was a woman. After all, what man would strangle another man with
a bra, for pity’s sake?”
Janelle thought of the missing bra in Helga’s office.
Maybe it was the only thing available.
Ida concentrated on Ben. “Yes, Elliot was dating your
mother. He brought her home one weekend near Christmas to meet the folks.”
“Ida, would you forgot that?” Elliot pushed his plate out
of the way and folded his arms on the table. “Good grief! You can forget
everything else, why can’t you forget that I was dating Lyssa Palmer before she
married Jed?”
“I didn’t realize that.” Ben looked at Elliot. “Mom told
me she met Dad at a Christmas party at the store. She never said a thing about
you, Uncle.”
“That figures.” Elliot blew out a breath.
“I remember that party,” Ida put in. “Those were the
heyday years for Thorne’s. There were so many people—”
“Yeah, but your mom didn’t get it quite right.” The color
in Elliot’s face deepened. “Actually Jed met her at Rosewood Manor a couple
days before the party. We had a family dinner, and I introduced Lyssa to
everyone—Mother, Father, Frank and Ida, and Jed. Evidently he decided right
then he was going to marry Lyssa, and at the party he stole her—stole my girl
right out of my arms.”
“But…” Janelle looked between Ben and Elliot. “She must
have gone willingly. I mean, she wasn’t forced to marry Jed, was she?”
“Oh, she went willingly all right.” Elliot scowled. “I was
just a college kid, and Jed was twelve years older than me—a man of the world,
the mature bachelor with a real job, making good money. She was infatuated with
him.”
“And he was infatuated with Lyssa,” Ida said.
“Do you know why?” Elliot pointed at Ida then looked at
Janelle. “Here’s some of that dirt in our family history.”
Ben’s face paled, but he kept a steady eye on his uncle.
“Jed was captivated with Lyssa because she looked like
Helga Svensson.” Elliot turned to Ben. “Did you ever notice how much your mom
resembles Helga? They could be sisters.”
Ben looked thoughtful. “Only in the fact they’re both
blonde and blue-eyed. Besides, Helga’s a lot older—”
“I always thought Lyssa was prettier than Helga, but Jed
was absolutely obsessed with Helga from the first day he saw her. He must have
asked that woman to marry him four or five times, but she just snubbed him.”
Ben pressed his lips together. He glanced at Janelle, and
she knew he was thinking about all those ads locked in Jed’s filing cabinet.
That was one mystery solved.
Elliot continued. “Even after he married Lyssa, Jed was
still obsessed with Helga. She modeled for the company about ten years, and
when she started losing her figure, Jed talked Father into making her the
bookkeeper.”
Ida stood to collect the dishes. “Frank said she was a
good bookkeeper.”
“Yeah, it worked out.” Elliot rubbed his temples. “But Jed
didn’t want her to leave the company.” He shrugged. “I don’t know why—she
couldn’t stand him.”
Ida picked up a plate. “Maybe that’s why she killed him.”
Janelle looked up at her. “You think Helga did it?”
“Ida, you are crazy.” Elliot raised his hands then let
them drop to the table. “You don’t know any of the facts about Jed’s murder.
Helga didn’t kill him.”
Four plates were stacked in Ida’s hands as she looked at
Elliot. “Well, I just thought if she hated him, she must have—”
“Everyone hated
him. You know it’s true. We all hated him. But just because you hate someone
doesn’t mean you’re going to murder him.”
Pursing her lips, Ida turned and walked into the kitchen.
“Aunt Ida’s mind seems good tonight.” Ben kept his voice
low.
“She’s crazy!” Elliot stood and entered the living room.
Janelle laid Ben’s empty salad plate on top of hers, then
picked up Elliot’s. “That’s a characteristic of Alzheimer’s, Ben. People can
remember things that happened a long time ago, but not recent events.”
“She remembered your name…Nellie.” He grinned at her.
“Don’t call me that.” But she smiled. Ben needed to think
of something other than the problems in his family history, and she didn’t mind
if he thought about her.
* * *
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