Miss Dimple and the Slightly Bewildered Angel Read Online Free PDF Page B

that.”
    Dimple nodded. “Not something he’ll easily forget, I’m afraid.
    â€œAnd how is Odessa’s aunt?”
    Phoebe smiled. “From what I hear, Aunt Aurie seems to be a bit of an autocrat. She’s probably doing a whole lot better than Odessa.”
    *   *   *
    â€œWell, you’ll never guess what’s happened now,” Phoebe announced when everyone returned for the noon meal that day. “I ran into Lizzy Vaughn in the post office this morning. She’s in charge of the nursery department at the Presbyterian church, you know, and she told me somebody telephoned Jesse Dean Greeson at Cooper’s grocery store late Saturday and asked him to deliver a couple of boxes of vanilla wafers to the church kitchen.”
    â€œI suppose they wanted them to keep the children happy during the Sunday-morning service,” Velma said, and then frowned. “But they didn’t have a Sunday-morning service, did they?”
    Phoebe dealt out silverware with a clatter. “And that’s not all,” she continued. “Lizzy says she didn’t order them and neither did anybody else.”
    Lily shook her head. “I still don’t understand.…”
    â€œNeither did I,” Phoebe admitted, “until several people reported seeing Jesse Dean using that side door to the church at about the time Dora was killed, and apparently somebody called and gave that information to the police.”
    Miss Dimple adjusted her bifocals, as if that might help her to understand. “Does Jesse Dean remember who called in that order?” she asked.
    Phoebe explained the store was winding up their harvest sale and getting ready to close for the day. “He doesn’t even remember if it was a man or a woman,” she added, “but of course the police had to interview Jesse, since he was in the church during the time in question and could’ve easily had access to the steeple from the kitchen area.”
    Annie sighed. “Why in the world would Jesse Dean want to kill Dora what’s her name when he didn’t even know her?”
    Miss Dimple’s voice was calm. “I’m sure our Chief Tinsley is well aware of that, but it seems someone is trying very hard to make him look guilty.”
    â€œBut who would want to do that?” Phoebe asked. “And why?”
    *   *   *
    It was not until that afternoon that they learned the paper bag containing Dora’s few possessions had been found in a trash can at the depot. Inside were a pair of pajamas and a few other items of clothing, as Miss Dimple had surmised, as well as small purse containing a little less than twenty dollars and a handwritten letter to Dora from an address in Tennessee.
    â€œWhoever she was running from must not have been after money,” Chief Tinsley told them when he dropped by later that day. “They didn’t bother to take the purse, and I doubt if they saw the letter, as it was tucked into the folds of her underwear.” He sighed. “At least now we know who she is—or was.”
    â€œWell then, who was she?” Velma demanded. She still hadn’t forgiven him for getting on his high horse with her the day before.
    It looked for a minute as if he might smile, but the chief managed a businesslike expression before continuing. “Name’s Westbrook—Dora Westbrook, but the letter was addressed to a Mrs. Leonard Westbrook.”
    â€œWhere? Surely not here,” Phoebe said.
    Bobby Tinsley shook his head. “Little place called Fieldcroft, just below Savannah. Letter was sent to a street address there—Lucia Lane, I think it was. I forget the number, but we checked it out. Seems this woman—this Dora—took off a couple of days ago. Mother-in-law answered the phone when I called. Said Dora’s husband—Leonard, I presume—was frantic. Told me he’d been scouring the countryside,