On the Rocks: A Willa Cather and Edith Lewis Mystery by Sue Hallgarth

following Saturday evening. Miss Briggs was to play Brunnhilde, Miss Voorhees announced and clapped her on the back. And Miss Voorhees was to play a Valkyrie. Call me Voorhees the Viking, Miss Voorhees roared, and rolling her shoulders forward and placing a fist on each hip she began to swagger around the apple tree in front of the big house. Daggett drove off promising nothing.
    The Cottage Girls gave theatricals, too. Daggett’s wife had been once, his daughter twice. It was something to do and preferable, Daggett thought, to the moving picture shows at the Happy Hour Theatre. The movies had been installed, like the tennis courts and motor boat rides, to entertain the tourists, but they dazzled islanders, too. None more than his daughter until she saw the Cottage Girls perform Jane Eyre. Jennifer thought their costumes were lovely and said so for days. Miss Bromhall was beautiful and Miss Cobus so handsome, Jennifer’s eyes sparkled. Elizabeth said she thought perhaps the Cottage Girls were not the best influence on their daughter, but Jennifer and her best friend Alice Bright had gone on to play Jane Eyre for months until finally they read the book and announced that Rochester wasn’t so wonderful after all. Daggett wasn’t sure what they played now. They spent much of their time out of doors in the summer.
    Daggett stopped the rocker. This was no help. He couldn’t even keep his mind on the crime. The room was quiet and orderly, its pale yellows restful, but something very disorderly had happened to its occupant, and it was up to Daggett to figure out just what that was and who was responsible. He hadn’t a clue.
    What did he know about murder and murderers in any event? The rocker creaked again. He could never understand why some people chose to steal from other people, or drink more than they should, or hit one another. It’s God’s will, some people said, like war or pestilence. Other people said it was part of man’s nature. But what did that mean, for heaven’s sake? Daggett had sworn to keep the peace. His duty was to maintain law and order. That meant keeping people out of trouble. Well, he had failed. Or they had.

VII

    W ILLA TOOK E DITH ’ S hand to help her over a large fallen log, then held it for a moment, drawing her attention to their surroundings.
    “Can this be the way they came, do you think?”
    It was doubtful, Edith thought, but still possible. The log made negotiating the trail difficult, and once they were on the other side, the trail seemed to disappear altogether. Of course, this sort of thing happened all the time in the woods. Storms and high winds often rearranged the trees, fooling even hikers who knew the trails well. Willa and Edith long ago developed a routine for these occasions, the one behind stopping at the point where they lost the trail, while the other one scouted out and around. One opening in the trees looked very like another, the light slanting in the same direction, wildflowers blooming in similar clusters beneath the pines and scrub oak.
    “No sign of twigs broken or undergrowth disturbed and no sign of the trail on this side,” Willa called far off to the left.
    The noise from the brook had grown loud or soft as the trail approached and drifted away. Now its sound had almost disappeared with the trail. Willa and Edith were heading inland toward the road, the brook on their right. They had crossed it twice. Edith sat down on the log. Her left shoestring was untied. She glanced back in the direction they had just come. The trail was fairly evident there, so perhaps someone coming in from the road would not have missed it. Edith knew from experience that this was the best of numerous trails leading inland from the waterfall. They had taken it before, several times, stopping for picnics along the way. The brook afforded countless picnic spots and swimming holes. Dipping pools, Edith corrected herself. Even though Cobus built new dams every spring, none of them were