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“I saw Hadley and Arliss leaving the hotel when I pulled in,” An’gel said. “They were down the street before I could get out of the car and say hello to them. Were they dining in here?”

Dickce snickered. “Yes, they were dining. Did you think they’d spent the night here and were strolling out for fresh air?”

An’gel frowned and glanced sideways at Benjy. “Sister, I’m surprised at you. You shouldn’t say things like that.”

“It’s okay, Miss An’gel,” Benjy said. “You don’t have to worry on my account.”

An’gel looked slightly flustered at that, and Dickce snickered again. “We didn’t have a chance to speak to them either. I don’t think Arliss, at least, would have welcomed any interruption, especially from either of us.”

“No, I doubt she would have.” An’gel shook her head.

The waitress approached the table with a menu and a glass of water. An’gel inquired about the daily special and when told it was chicken and dumplings, decided she would have that and a glass of iced tea. The waitress nodded, took back the menu, and walked away.

“Let’s leave the subject of Arliss and Hadley for the moment,” An’gel said. “I have something to tell you.”

“What have you been up to?” Dickce asked. “I thought you had a lot of work to do.”

“I did, and it’s taken care of,” An’gel said. “I found the time to talk to Drew Carson.” She turned to Benjy. “He’s the chief of police here.”

“Did you call him about Sarinda?” Dickce asked.

An’gel nodded. “He didn’t tell me much, really, but I decided I would talk to Elmo Gandy and see what he would tell me about Sarinda.”

“Dr. Gandy is our family physician,” Dickce explained to a bewildered-looking Benjy. “An’gel and I have been going to him practically forever, since he first got out of medical school and came back to Athena to set up a practice.” She looked at An’gel. “What did Elmo tell you?”

An’gel glanced around before she answered. “He told me that Sarinda was definitely not an alcoholic. He thinks it was extremely unlikely that she would have been drinking bourbon, at least enough to get drunk and lose her balance coming down the stairs.”

Dickce’s eyes narrowed. “Does this mean he thinks her death wasn’t an accident?”

An’gel nodded. “He’s pretty sure it wasn’t, and he told the police that. He thinks she was most likely knocked down the stairs.”

CHAPTER 8

After lunch, Benjy headed home to unload his car while Dickce remained in town with An’gel. During the meal the sisters discussed the ramifications of the doctor’s thoughts on the death of their friend, and when they were ready to leave the hotel restaurant, An’gel had a suggestion.

“Let’s pay a call on Lottie,” she said. “I want to find out what she was doing at Sarinda’s house in the first place, and what she saw while she was there.”

Dickce glanced at the sky before she opened the passenger door and climbed into the car. “That’s a good idea,” she said, “but I don’t think we should linger in town too long. Clouds are moving in, and I don’t want to be on the road when those storms get here.”

“Agreed.” An’gel cranked the car and backed it out of the parking space. “If we catch Lottie at home, it shouldn’t take too long to find out what we want to know.”

“If she’s not at home, she’ll probably be at Barbie’s house,” Dickce said. “We can try there if we need to.”

“Yes, we can, but I’d rather talk to Lottie on her own,” An’gel replied. “Barbie has a tendency to speak for Lottie when they’re together, and I’m not in the mood for it today.”

Ten minutes later An’gel pulled into the driveway of Lottie’s two-story brick house. Though not of antebellum vintage, the MacLeod home was over a hundred years old and occupied a spacious lot with a beautifully kept yard.

An’gel and Dickce made their way up the hedge-bordered walk to the front door, and An’gel rang the bell. After a brief wait, the door opened, and Lottie’s housekeeper, Sarah, admitted them. “Miz Lottie’s upstairs. Y’all come on in, and I’ll let her know you’re here.”

“Thank you, Sarah,” An’gel said as she and Dickce followed the housekeeper into the front parlor. They seated themselves while they waited for Lottie to come down.

An’gel heard Lottie giving instructions to the housekeeper to bring in iced tea before she joined them in the parlor. Then she breezed into the room.

“Good afternoon, girls. I thought y’all might drop by sometime today.” Lottie chose a chair opposite the sofa the sisters occupied. “Isn’t it terrible about Sarinda?” She frowned.

“Yes, it is,” An’gel said. “We apologize for not calling first.”

Lottie waved away the apology. “It’s fine.”

“Finding poor Sarinda like that must have been an awful shock,” Dickce said.

“Oh, it was, it surely was,” Lottie said, her eyes closed for a moment. Then she blinked at the sisters. “At first I couldn’t believe what I saw seeing. Sarinda lying on the floor like that. It seemed like a nightmare.”

“Yes, I’m sure it must have,” An’gel said. “If you don’t mind my asking, would you tell us exactly what you saw?”