A Tale of Two Biddies Read Online Free Page B

could move, Richie’s eyes met mine. “Tell him, Bea! You saw what happened. You were right there.”
    One of Hank’s eyebrows lifted. “Were you?” he asked me.
    “Right there? Sure I was. But . . .” I went over the scene again in my head.
Chaos
just about described it, and in that chaos . . .
    “Richie came by carrying the cooler,” I explained to Hank. “He talked to Mike Lawrence, but—” When I saw the way Richie’s eyes lit as if he was ready to glom on to that bit of info and convince Hank to slap the cuffs on Mike, I was quick to add, “But by the time Richie fell in the water, Mike was already gone. I’m sure of it.”
    “You’re not sure. You can’t be sure.” Richie gave me a testy little click of the tongue. “If you were, you’d tell Hank how you saw somebody push me.”
    “But I didn’t,” I told Richie, then turned to Hank. “I can’t say if it did or didn’t happen. I can say I didn’t see it. But then, I was scrambling, just like everyone else. I didn’t realize Richie was in the water until he called for help.”
    “It was pretty confusing.” Luella confirmed my version of the story. “There was a lot going on, and a lot of noise.”
    Hank took this in, then glanced at Kate. “You have anything to add?” he asked, and when she didn’t, he closed his eyes for a second—no doubt praying for strength—and asked Chandra the same thing.
    “I think we have a mystery on our hands,” she announced.
    A muscle twitched at the base of Hank’s jaw. “That’s not what I asked.”
    “But it’s true. I can feel it.” Chandra swayed like a snake charmer. “The aura of the island has changed.”
    “And there’s a disruption in the Force.” Hank’s sarcasm wasn’t lost on anyone, not even Chandra.
    “You shouldn’t ask for the truth if you can’t handle it,” she snapped.
    “You shouldn’t start talking nonsense,” Hank shot back.
    And I stepped forward before things could get any more out of hand. See, Chandra and Hank had once been married, and as strange as it seemed when they started in on each other like this, I knew they still ended up in bed together once in a while. This did not mean that they were inclined to be friendly at other times. Like this one. In fact, Hank went out of his way to make fun of Chandra’s belief in all things woo-woo, and because he did, Chandra took every opportunity she could to throw her oddball theories in his face.
    “How about we all just sleep on it,” I suggested, taking in not only Chandra and Hank, but Richie, too. “I bet after we’ve all had a chance to warm up and relax, we’ll remember more of what happened. That would be good, wouldn’t it, Hank?”
    He got my message. If there was any hope of us escaping Richie’s crazy talk and Chandra’s New Age babble, it was time to put the subject to rest. “Yeah, yeah.” Hank headed out of the gazebo. “I’ll keep all this in mind,” he told Richie, even though none of us standing there believed it was true. “And if any of you remember something, feel free to stop by the station and let me know.” Hank didn’t waste a moment, and a few seconds later he roared out of the park in his SUV.
    “Proof!” Richie puffed out a breath of annoyance. “How can I have proof when I was the one getting pushed? Bea, are you sure—”
    “I’m not sure of anything,” I said. “I wish I was. I wish I could help.”
    “Well, here’s something that will help.” Margaret Defarge had obviously been listening to the entire exchange. She stepped out of the shadows behind Richie, and how she happened to be so well prepared, I can’t imagine, but Margaret had a thermos in her hands. She poured and handed a cup of steaming liquid to Richie.
    “It’s tea, dear,” she said when he accepted the cup and downed it. “And there’s plenty of sugar in it. It’ll warm your insides and that will help clear your head. Then you’ll remember that the next time there’s a great