and climb in by himself. Or maybe it was herself. That’s another thing they’ll have to find out.”
I glanced at Grady and the two of us couldn’t help but smile at our cousin, who was usually the model of composure. Burdette’s shirt and face were wet from perspiration, so I went to the kitchen for ice water while he gave the woman directions on how to reach Remeth churchyard.
“Good Lord, what a shock! I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” Burdette said. “I guess I’d better get back over there before the police come. I left Parker and three or four others who had volunteered to help clear the old place off, and they’re as curious as I am to find out what this is all about.”
“Sounds like it’s all about murder to me,” I said. “Why else would somebody dump a body in an abandoned graveyard?”
“Where did you find it?” Grady asked.
Burdette drained his second glass of water. “Over by that far corner, sort of away from the rest. There aren’t any graves around there, so you can imagine what a jolt it was to dig up a skull!”
“You can send the police over here when they’re finished with you,” I told him as he started to leave. “I have something to show them, too.”
I told them about the box that had held Ella’s cat, only I had to lie and say I’d picked it up in the woods the day before but hadn’t noticed the claw marks until last night when I went to throw it out.
“Why didn’t you say something sooner?” Grady wanted to know. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me this morning.”
“It might not mean a thing,” I said. “I didn’t want to cause a panic.”
Burdette stuffed the bandanna into his pocket. “You’ll have to admit it makes sense, though. If somebody wanted to draw Ella to the edge of that ravine, that would’ve been the way to do it.”
“Well, this is turning out to be one fine reunion, isn’t it?” Uncle Ernest said over our lunch of bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches—or lettuce and tomato sandwiches in Aunt Leona’s case. My uncle had returned from the hospital about an hour before to tell us that Ella’s condition was unchanged. The housekeeper remained in intensive care and the nurse had assured him they would call if Ella’s condition worsened. No one, including Uncle Ernest, seemed to think it would improve. “They only let me in to see her for a few minutes,” he told us, “and she didn’t even know I was there.”
“Can you think of anybody who would want Ella out of the way?” Lum asked him, and Uncle Ernest shook his head. “Strangest thing I ever heard,” he said. “I just can’t believe anybody would do such a thing.”
Uncle Ernest turned to me, “Kate, are you sure a cat was in that box?”
“You saw it,” I said. “How else could it have been shredded from the inside?” Only a few minutes before, the police had left with the cardboard box after questioning all of us about the activities at Bramblewood during the past few days. They seemed especially interested in Ella Stegall’s background.
“I never really knew much about poor Ella,” Grady admitted. “She was just always here.”
My uncle raised a bristly brow. “Beg pardon?”
“I said, Ella was just always here,” Grady told him.
“Be forty-one years come October,” Uncle Ernest said. “Came from somewhere in Virginia, she said. Had a brother there. As far as I know, he was her only kin.” He paced the living room, pulling out the contents of drawers, turning vases upside down, and I knew he was looking for his pipe. Uncle Ernest never smoked his pipe unless he was upset about something.
“It’s on the mantel,” I told him, pointing the way. “Behind that picture of Nana.” (Nana was the name we used for our Great-grandmother Templeton.)
“She hides it, you know—Ella does. Says she can’t stand the smell.” My uncle tapped his pipe to empty the bowl, and frankly, I wasn’t too keen on the odor, either.
“What on earth made you hire her?” Aunt Leona went straight to the point. “I mean, the woman couldn’t cook—even when she could see—and her housekeeping was hit and miss, to put it graciously. It couldn’t have been for her sparkling personality, and I certainly don’t remember Ella being any great beauty.”
“Leona!” Uncle Lum looked as if he wanted to smother his wife. “That’s an awful thing to say, and with poor Ella