Digging Up The Dirt

“I don’t believe she really thought it through at the time,” An’gel replied. “I don’t think reality, such as it was with her, set in until much later. I think she was so obsessed with having Callie out of the way, she didn’t realize Hadley wasn’t coming back. She evidently had no idea that he was in love with Coriander instead, and that they were planning to be married and live abroad.”

“Where does that Mrs. Turnipseed come into this?” Benjy gave the cat and the dog more tidbits, then held up empty hands to show them that there were no more. Peanut whimpered once, but Endora made her way to Dickce and leapt into her lap. Peanut stretched out on the floor beside Benjy and kept watch in case more treats should miraculously appear.

“I believe she saw what Reba did,” An’gel said. “Reba wouldn’t say for sure, but the woman had been blackmailing Reba for years. She also blackmailed Hamish, but she was shrewd enough not to ask for too much, evidently.”

“Then Reba must have promised Mrs. Turnipseed something to get her help with running you and Arliss off the road.” Dickce rubbed Endora’s head and smiled at the resulting purr.

“She offered her more money,” An’gel said, “though I don’t think she really had much to pay her with by this time.”

“Why did she kill Mrs. Turnipseed?” Benjy asked.

“Apparently after the woman tried to run me off the road, she demanded that she be allowed to live at Ashton Hall when Reba married Hadley.” An’gel shook her head. “That was apparently too much, finally, and Reba decided she had to go.”

“I just don’t get how all these women were so obsessed with Hadley,” Benjy said. “I guess he’s good-looking, for his age, anyway, and I obviously didn’t know him forty years ago. But it all seems whacked to me.”

“It’s whacked to me, too,” Dickce said. “The heart wants what it wants, and with certain types of personalities, not getting what the heart wants can warp a person in strange ways.”

“When we were young, women were reared with the notion that they couldn’t have a complete and worthwhile life unless they married and had children,” An’gel said. “That’s nonsense, of course. It certainly was for Dickce and me, though we had our opportunities to change that.”

“We sure did.” Dickce smiled.

“For some women, though, this whole notion is so ingrained that they will go to great lengths to be married, even if they’re not happily married. It doesn’t make a lot of sense, I know, but that’s the way it is.”

“It’s all very sad,” Dickce said. “There’s Lottie, locked away in the loony bin for probably the rest of her life. Reba is facing prison for murdering three women and trying to kill two more. So many lives ruined.”

“I wonder how Martin will cope now that his mother is no longer there to look after him,” An’gel said. “Perhaps he’ll surprise us all and manage just fine.”

“He’ll have to get a job, for one thing,” Dickce said. “I suppose he’s smart enough with computers that he can find something.”

“Let’s hope so,” An’gel said.

“You’re going to have to find some new members for your garden club,” Benjy said. “Or at least for your board.”

An’gel and Dickce exchanged looks. “I hadn’t thought of that yet,” An’gel said.

“We can always ask Coriander to join,” Dickce said with an impish grin. “That ought to liven things up.”

“I daresay it will,” An’gel replied. “I think she’d be better suited to it than Hadley. In fact, I think we should discourage men from joining altogether.”

“Maybe we should simply exclude Hadley,” Dickce said. “He was at the center of all the goings-on. With him out, things might settle down and operate smoothly again, like they did before he came back.”

“We can only hope things will be quiet for a while,” An’gel said. “We’ve got to get ready for the spring garden tour, and then there’s the historical society meeting in Natchez. I’ve had enough of murder for now.” She pushed back her chair and stood. “Now, who’s for dessert?”

Peanut barked loudly, twice, and they all laughed.

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