The Grave Soul by Ellen Hart

over Guthrie, she added, “I like an adventure every now and then. Gets the juices flowing.”
    At least, thought Jane, she hadn’t said anything about going into “sleuthing mode.” Jane needed to be grateful for small mercies.

 
    13
    The crack of dawn, for Cordelia, was somewhere between ten and noon. Thus, at ten after ten on Saturday morning, Jane sat in her SUV outside Cordelia’s fortress, waiting for one of the help to drag out the various trunks. Cordelia and her sister had hired a “house man,” James Merriman, when they first moved in. He was a retired actor, and though he radiated a certain gravitas, thanks mostly to his resemblance to Ian Richardson and his penchant for spouting verse, he was so beset by arthritic back problems that it was more a charity hire than actual employment. Just to be “subversive,” as he termed it, he’d taken to wearing an Edwardian butler’s uniform, a la Downton Abbey . Actual Merriman sightings were rare, as he stayed mostly in his third floor lair. On his good days, however, Jane would sometimes see him moving gravely through the house wearing white gloves and touching tables and vases to make sure they were sufficiently dust free.
    Startled by a knock on the driver’s window, Jane turned to see Cordelia, dressed in a red cape and black Cossack boots, holding up a leather satchel.
    Rolling down the window, Jane asked, “Where are the trunks?”
    â€œBolger convinced me to travel light.”
    â€œScore one for Bolger.” She unlocked the rear hatch and Cordelia tossed the satchel inside.
    As soon as Cordelia had clipped on her seat belt, Jane handed her a file folder.
    â€œWhat’s this?”
    â€œI called Dad’s paralegal last night.” Norm Toscallia was a wizard at ferreting out information quickly. “Those are background checks on Kevin, Doug, Hannah, and Delia Adler.”
    â€œCriminal background?”
    â€œEverything.” Jane pulled out onto Irving and headed back to Hennepin, where they would catch I-94.
    â€œHave you read them?” asked Cordelia, paging through the documents.
    â€œThat’s what you’re here for.” The entire stack had been faxed to Jane at the restaurant, arriving just before she’d left. “Read through them and give me the high points.”
    After slipping on her reading glasses, Cordelia silently studied the pages for the next few minutes. “So, who do you want to hear about first?”
    â€œYour choice.”
    â€œOkay, Delia. Born Delia Teresa Howell, in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1965. Father an army chaplain, mother a homemaker. Delia grew up at various army bases around the country. One brother, Thomas, two years older, also in the military. Mom and dad divorced when Delia was four. Kids stayed with the father. Delia graduated from Russell County High School, in Seale, Alabama. No college. Married Kevin Leighton Adler in 1983 at Fort Hood, Texas. She was arrested near Fort Benning, Georgia, for drunk driving in 1984 and 1986, and again in New Dresden, Wisconsin, in 1994. No other arrests. Worked half a dozen minimum wage jobs in New Dresden. My analysis?” said Cordelia, lifting a finger. “Delia had a peripatetic childhood, a drinking problem, and wasn’t much good at keeping a job.”
    â€œRead Kevin’s next.”
    â€œKevin Leighton Adler. Son of Henry Erhard Adler and Evangeline Ruth Adler, nee Carmody. Raised in New Dresden. Graduated from Richmond High School in 1980. Five months later he entered the army. He served in the first Gulf War, attained the rank of staff sergeant before he was mustered out in 1992, whereupon he moved his wife and two daughters, Grace and Kira, back to New Dresden. Started his own construction company. Inherited the Sportsman’s Tavern from his uncle, Hugh Carmody, in 1996.”
    â€œThe year after Delia died.”
    â€œNo criminal record.”
    â€œWhat