Well Read, Then Dead(92)
I scattered some strawberries and green grapes among a few pieces of flatbread covered with garlic cheese and put a handful of mixed nuts in the middle. Bridgy took glasses out of the cabinet and started pouring sweet tea.
“Fine for me. Better check with Augusta. See what she wants.”
Augusta requested ice water and lemon, which was a better idea than the Buffalo Trace I thought she might want.
We settled around the coffee table. After all that ice cream, I really didn’t want to eat, but I did want to delay telling Augusta the bad news.
I was reaching for a few nuts when Augusta said, “Plenty of time to eat after you tell me what you found out about them wreckers. Did they kill Delia?”
I stopped in mid-reach and told her what we’d learned about Bucket Hat and his crew. I emphasized that Ophie, Bridgy and I had worked hard but the answers we were finding didn’t point to the wreckers.
When I was done, I took a long time sipping sweet tea and waited for Augusta’s disappointment to rain down on me.
Augusta leaned her head against the back of her recliner and closed her eyes. Bridgy and I sat stone still.
When Augusta opened her eyes, she leaned forward.
“You gals have stood up for Delia and that’s a kindly thing. You found her locket, her kitty, and you proved to me that those wreckers weren’t her killers. Not much more you can ask of friends, but I’m inclined to want one more favor.”
I had tears in my eyes. “Miss Augusta, you name it. We’ll do it.”
“I need you to take a close look at Josiah and Edgar. Would they have killed their aunt for a bit of inheritance?”
Bridgy looked frantic, and I signaled “calm yourself” with the palm of my hand. If what Skully told us was true, there was no inheritance for the nephews, but they didn’t know it. I decided this wasn’t the time to tell Augusta about Delia’s husband.
“We’ll take a look. In fact, we’ll start tomorrow.”
Bridgy picked up a flatbread and promptly dropped it cheese-side-down on the coffee table. By the time we cleaned the mess, she was less flustered.
“What would help us to look into the nephews’ intent is to know for sure if Delia holds one or more deeds down in the Ten Thousand Islands. They might be valuable enough to lead someone to commit . . . a crime.”
Augusta leaned her head back and closed her eyes again. She stayed that way for so long that I feared she’d fallen asleep. Finally she looked at us.
“Sorry. I was remembering . . . the old days. Me and Delia were born in the Ten Thousand Islands. So was my mother and both of Delia’s parents. The family that connects us comes from all around Chevelier Bay. Delia’s mama was born down on Lostman’s River and she had family livin’ here and there all the way north to Rabbit Key. Them islands was a hard place to live. Between the skeeters and the gators, there was hardly room left for people. That’s how my mama used to tell it. Wasn’t far wrong.
“But it was good farming land. A family could grow limes, sugar, anything needed a lot of water. Mostly, if you loved the animals, the birds and the fish, it was a happy place to grow up ’cept for the storms and floods. And the poverty.
“The old ones always talked about how Florida had its own money crash a few years before the big one in 1929. Took its toll on families. Before he come to the islands to marry mama, my father’s family had three generations on the mainland around Punta Rassa working the cattle ranches. When times got hard, my older brothers went back there looking for any kind of work. Lots of folks moved to Miami, others as far north as Jacksonville.”