“Gemma’s just hanging, right, Gemma? We’re going to try for some skating and sledding later. Will you go tell Gray to come down?”
Gemma shot Eve a warning look, then dashed to a staircase on the side of a spacious, open-concept entrance and living area. Light from the stained glass scattered over old wooden plank floors like jewels.
“This is a beautiful home, Ms. L’Page,” Peabody commented, head swiveling to take in the high ceilings, arched windows, massive fireplace.
“Thank you. We just love it. We’re still tweaking a few things. Please sit.” She gestured to high-backed chairs near the roaring fire, settled herself on a curvy sofa with carved wood trim.
“It was a church pre-Urbans. A nondenominational church and a community gathering place. It served as a shelter and a hospital during the wars, and was abandoned after for some time.”
“You were able to save some of the original features.”
“Some, and some we reconstructed. My husband’s an architect, and he simply fell in love with the building. His father had bought it, mostly for sentiment as he’d worked here, as a medical, during the Urbans.”
She was trying, Eve observed, to be polite, not to show nerves. So Eve let Peabody chat her up.
“My father and my brother are carpenters. They’d really appreciate what you’ve done here. How long have you lived here?”
“This is year three. We don’t count the year before that as it was full of workers and we only stayed occasionally. Sort of camping out. Gray.” Toya got to her feet when her husband came in, Gemma all but glued to his side.
He was tall like his wife, gym-fit, with a striking face with features that made Eve think of exotic islands with grass skirts and tiki huts.
“Is there a problem?”
Eve stood. “We’d like to ask you a few questions in connection with an investigation.”
He gave his sister a narrow stare. “Gemma.”
“I didn’t do anything! And it was a scavenger hunt. I wasn’t stealing. Plus, they’re Homicide. I looked them up before I went to get you. Somebody’s dead, and we sure as hell didn’t kill anybody.”
“Homicide?” Toya wrapped her long, elegant fingers around Gray’s arm.
“Anthony Strazza.”
“Oh God. We heard about that. It’s terrible. Just terrible.”
“Did you know Dr. Strazza or his wife?”
“We never met his wife. Sit down, Toya.” Gray tugged her down on the couch, glanced at his sister. “Gemma, go ask Pauline to make coffee.”
“You’re just trying to get rid of me.”
“I am getting rid of you. Go ask Pauline to make coffee.”
Gemma rolled her eyes, but stomped off.
“She’ll have heard anyway,” Gray said, “or she’ll look it up. I don’t know how we can possibly help your investigation.”
“You knew Dr. Strazza?”
“He operated on my great-grandfather,” Toya told them. “Last winter after he fell and broke his hip, and his wrist. He was out walking the dog, in weather much like this, and he slipped and fell. Late at night, and no one heard him calling for help for more than an hour. I absolutely believe Dr. Strazza saved his life. I met him at the hospital—or we did. and I took Poppy in for follow-ups a few times.”
“You’ve never socialized?”
“Not really. I realized we’d attended some of the same events and functions. And it turned out we have some mutual acquaintances.”
“Could you give me those names?”
“Did she read you the Revised Miranda?” Gemma demanded as she rushed back in. “She’s supposed to, and if she hasn’t—”
“Look, kid,” Eve interrupted. “Nobody here is under arrest or under suspicion. A man’s dead and a woman’s in the hospital recovering from a brutal attack. My job is to find out who did that to them. I’m going to do my job, so stop showing off.”
Gemma sulked, but she shut up and sat down beside her brother, who disguised a laugh with a cough. “You should go on upstairs, sweetie.”
“I know what happened. I looked it up. Besides, Junie’s mother was there that night.”
“Who is Junie, and who is her mother?” Eve demanded.
“I don’t have to say.”
Eve shifted back to the adults. “If I could have those names,” she began.
“Junie Wyatt. Her mom’s Catherine Frummon. You guys don’t know her mom,” Gemma said to her brother and Toya. “Junie mostly lives with her dad.”
“Abbott Wyatt,” Toya supplied. “They’ve been divorced for years, as far as I know.”
“Okay. Anything else?” Eve asked Gemma.
“Junie said her mom went whacked after it happened because Oh My God! She was there, and she could’ve been attacked or murdered. Like that. It’s always all about her mom with her mom. And she said how Dr. Strazza’s wife probably did something stupid so Dr. Strazza got killed because she thinks his wife is stupid and a gold digger and a trophy. Junie’s mom is a bitch.”
“Gemma!”
Gemma looked around her brother, at her sister-in-law. “If you knew her, you’d say the same. I’m not going to lie to the police. That’s a crime.” So saying, she smiled. “Right?”
“I can’t argue.”