One Grave Less

catalog.”
    Gerda paused again. She had stopped twisting her ring and had her hands neatly folded in front of her. “I wasn’t going to mention anything, even though I know I should have. She shouldn’t have been going through people’s mail like that. But I thought it would be better to just let it pass. Then she died. Drowned. I heard about it when I came in this morning. I didn’t know if it was important, but I thought I ought to tell someone.”
    “You did the right thing,” said Diane. “Was there anyone in the hallway or nearby who might have been with her?”
    Gerda thought for a moment. “I don’t recall anyone.”
    “How did she get in?” asked Diane.
    “With a key,” said Gerda. “I just assumed that all the board members have masters.”
    Hardly. Diane would never give masters or submasters to the board members. Only she, Vanessa, and Security had that level of keys.
    “How many people in the mailroom have a key to it?” asked Diane. She knew that only Gerda and Andie were supposed to have mailroom keys.
    “Just me and your assistant. And mine hasn’t gone missing. I don’t give it to anyone. When I’m off, Andie opens the door for my assistant.”
    “What was Madge wearing?” asked Diane.
    “Wearing?” said Gerda, as if she didn’t understand the question, or perhaps thought it to be strange.
    “Was she dressed casually, or dressed up?” said Diane.
    “Oh, she was fairly dressy in a casual kind of way. She wore black slacks, a rust-colored blouse, and a black shirt jacket,” she said.
    “What about her shoes?” asked Izzy.
    Diane and Neva suppressed smiles.
    “She had on a pair of Naughty Monkeys,” she said.
    Izzy sat very still with an expression on his face that said from now on he would leave all fashion questions to Diane and Neva.
    Gerda didn’t notice Izzy’s blank stare and went on speaking. “I noticed because my daughter wears them and I thought they were kind of young for Ms. Stewart. They were very pretty, though. Open toed, multiple animal prints in yellow, red, and orange. Low sling heel. Perhaps I shouldn’t say this, but I thought she was dressed young. She was not vulgar, mind you—she was tasteful and she looked nice—her clothes just, well, looked young.”
    “What about her makeup?” asked Diane.
    If Gerda thought the questions odd, she didn’t show it.
    “Nice. Professionally done. It was really the best I’ve seen Ms. Stewart look. We take some of the quilting classes together at the museum and I see her regularly,” she said.
    “Would you say she was dressing better, dressier, younger than usual?” asked Diane.
    “Yes. She was that day. But the change was fairly recent. I was in class with her last week and she looked like she usually did. That’s not to say she looked bad. She was a good dresser. Just different. Not dressing to be noticed. That’s what my daughter would have said about her.”
    Gerda paused and pressed her lips together. “They are saying it was an accident,” she said. “It was, wasn’t it?”
    “There’s no evidence at all that says it wasn’t an accident. Anytime something unexpected happens to someone, we have to ask a lot of questions that may seem irrelevant. It’s one of the things we do here,” said Diane.
    She could almost hear Izzy shouting in his head: No, it’s not! It’s not supposed to be. You are supposed to let the detective ask the questions . And he was right. She didn’t look over at him.
    Gerda glanced around the room as if just now realizing that this was her chance to get a look at the dark side.
    “Were there any other things you noticed about yesterday?” asked Diane.
    Gerda looked back at her. “No, that’s all I can remember. I’ll let you know if I think of anything else.”
    “Thank you,” said Diane.
    She stood and so did Gerda. Diane escorted her back to the door and let her out. Thanking her again for coming to them, and telling her that Chief Garnett might want to speak with her, but it would be all right.
    “So,” said Diane as she sat back down, “was Madge into something, or was this just Madge being Madge? Have any of you changed your mind about this being an accident?”
    Izzy shook his head. “I still think it was an accident. This new info is suspicious, but still nothing to say the woman was murdered. Do they look like monkeys?”
    Neva patted his arm. “No, but they are flashy and kind of cool.” She looked at Diane. “I have to agree, but . . .