Murder by Arrangement (Edna Davies mysteries Book 5) by Suzanne Young

to
her family and friends, she told Amanda that she was to take the flowers home,
container and all.
    Drinks and
appetizers were followed by the meat loaf Amanda made with only a small amount
of guidance from Edna. It was a favorite family recipe, served with buttery
mashed potatoes. Starling’s contribution was a green salad, and Mary’s offering
was homemade chocolate and walnut brownies. Edna brewed tea.
    After dinner,
Edna was loading the dishwasher. “Would you like to phone Lettie that you’re
leaving?” she asked her granddaughter as Amanda handed her plates and glasses
from the table.
    The girl shook
her head. “I’ll see her when I get home.”
    Edna frowned. “I
don’t understand. If she’s staying with her grandmother, how are you going to
see her?”
    “She’s not.”
    Edna shook her
head to see if maybe she could clear away the cobwebs and make some sense of
the remark. After a brief pause, she gave up. “Not what?” she asked.
    Having gone back
to the table to clear away cups and saucers, Amanda didn’t answer until she was
back at Edna’s side. “Not at her grandmother’s,” the girl said as if it were
obvious or as if Edna should have known.  “She texted me this morning on Auntie
Starling’s phone to say she was going home with her mother.”
    Odd behavior ,
thought Edna, wondering briefly why Rosie had changed her mind about leaving
Lettie with Lily. Had Rosie thought Amanda accompanying Lettie would provide
safety in numbers? Was the tension between Rosie and Lily at the root of this
change in plans? Edna dismissed these ideas almost as soon as they popped into
her head. She couldn’t imagine Rosie putting her daughter in the middle of a
spat with her mother. Remembering the constant texting, Edna was certain Rosie
simply missed her daughter and wanted her home.
    The evening
passed as fast as the afternoon had and, before she knew it, Edna’s daughter
and granddaughter were packing their suitcases into Starling’s ancient blue
Toyota Celica and hugging her goodbye.
    Edna, Charlie
and Mary returned to the living room. Attracted by the warmth of a low fire in
the grate, Benjamin went to curl up in his bed by the hearth. Edna felt a
bittersweet sadness, as she always did when members of her family drove off
after a visit. An image of her granddaughter’s face, flushed with happiness as she
settled into the car with her vase of flowers, assured Edna that it had indeed
been a special evening for the girl.
    “How’s that
ghost of yours?” Charlie’s voice brought Edna’s attention back to her present
company. The detective was speaking to Mary as he sank into one corner of the
sofa while she took the other.
    “Louder than
ever,” Mary complained. “I hear him soon’s I turn off the late news every
night. Can’t get to sleep while he’s galloping back and forth over my head.”
    “What’s
happening with Peppa’s case?” Edna asked Charlie before the conversation
deteriorated into another discussion of Mary’s mythical ghost. Colonial
rebel on horseback, indeed , she thought with a mental shrug before another
idea popped into her head. I wonder what causes it to pick that particular
time, and with such regularity. She would have to ask Mary about it
further, but at the moment, she wanted to know about her retired librarian
friend.
    “I’m still
stymied by that flower Clem was clutching,” Charlie said, rubbing one hand through
his brown curls.
    “That reminds
me,” Edna said, rising to fetch Mrs. Rabichek’s journal from her office.
Returning, she handed Charlie the volume she’d flagged for the Christmas Rose
entry.
    “Have you asked
Peppa?” she said, resuming her seat. “Maybe it was a peace offering. Perhaps
that particular plant had some special meaning for the Peppafitches when she
and Clem were married.”
    Charlie shook
his head in answer to her question. Opening to the marked page, he read in
silence for a minute or two before closing the book and laying