Full Bloom

  She thought he sounded surprisingly sober. “Not at the moment. Something bad has happened.” She gave him the news, then said, “Lamar Tevis suspects me.”

  Erdle sighed. “Then I’m probably on the list, too,” he said. “Everybody knows I wouldn’t have given two cents for him.”

  “You weren’t even here at the time. You have an airtight alibi.”

  “I forgot. Damn, it seems like it all happened about ten years ago. But you had an alibi, too. You were in Atlanta with your mother, remember?”

  Annie didn’t respond.

  “This place is very strange,” Destiny announced two days later as she joined Annie, Theenie, and Lovelle in the kitchen.

  “You got that right,” Lovelle said. “There aren’t many places where you can find a dead body in your backyard.”

  “Must we discuss this at breakfast?” Theenie asked. “And in front of Annie to boot?”

  “I’m okay,” Annie said, staring into her coffee cup. But she didn’t look okay. Dark circles made half moons beneath her eyes, and she’d barely eaten since Charles’s remains had been discovered. “I guess everybody in town knows by now,” she said, nodding toward the folded newspaper beside her cup, where the morning headlines had drawn attention to the discovery. Jamie had called to apologize in advance, but Annie didn’t blame her for printing it; reporting the news was Jamie’s job.

  Annie shoved the thought from her mind and looked at Destiny. “What’s the problem?”

  “Some of my lingerie is missing.”

  “Oh boy,” Theenie said.

  “I’m not accusing any of you,” Destiny said hurriedly. “I already know who took them.”

  “Oh boy,” Theenie repeated.

  “Would you please stop saying that?” Lovelle insisted. “You sound like a broken record.” She leaned closer to Destiny. “Who do you think took your things?”

  “The spirit, to get my attention. That’s the way it is with dead people.”

  Annie noted the fear in Theenie’s eyes. “I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation,” she said.

  Destiny studied Annie closely. “You’re in denial. This place is haunted, and the ghost has latched on to me, and you just don’t want to hear about it.”

  Lovelle leaned closer to Destiny. “We don’t really talk about it.”

  “Oh, I get it,” Destiny said to Annie. “You’re afraid it will hurt business, so you try to sweep it under the rug. There are other things about the house you’re not proud of as well. Do you think people don’t already know? Or feel it? The air is thick with . . .” She paused. “It’s like a sexual undertow.”

  Three pairs of eyes looked at her, but nobody said anything.

  “I know damn good and well I’m not the only one who feels it,” Destiny said.

  Lovelle leaned closer. “I’ve never told anybody this, but since I moved into this house I have had a lot of sexy dreams.”

  Theenie gnawed her bottom lip. “Well, I’ll have to admit I’ve dreamed about Clark Gable a lot.”

  “Was he naked?” Lovelle asked.

  “Absolutely not! Mr. Gable is a gentleman. All we’ve done is share a few kisses.”

  Annie was thoughtful as she took a sip of her coffee. She wasn’t about to admit that her sex drive was in overdrive. And she’d certainly had her share of illicit dreams. She looked up and found the others watching her. She shrugged. “I hate to disillusion you guys, but I’m so tired by the time I drag myself to bed that it’s all I can do to brush my teeth before climbing in.”

  Destiny merely gave Annie a smile that told her she knew better.

  “I’m sorry your things are missing,” Annie told her, “but I’m sure they’ll turn up.” She gave a weary sigh.

  “Annie, honey, what’s wrong?” Theenie said. “I can always tell when something is bothering you.”

  “I’m just annoyed, that’s all. Two guys from the local TV station knocked on my door this morning and shoved a microphone in my face while I was still in my bathrobe.”

  “And you weren’t wearing makeup, I’ll bet,” Destiny said.

  Annie shook her head. “And yesterday I caught a couple of women sneaking around the backyard, no doubt looking for the grave, and the traffic has suddenly picked up because people want to see the woman who supposedly murdered her husband and buried his body in the backyard.”

  Theenie reached over and covered Annie’s hand. “I shouldn’t have hidden your rolling pin.”

  “On top of that, I got a call late last night from a member of the Red Hat Society. She canceled today’s luncheon.”

  “But you’ve already prepared most of the food,” Lovelle said.

  “I can freeze some of it,” Annie said.

  “Did she say why she was canceling?” Theenie asked.

  “She didn’t have to. I knew this was going to happen. It’s bad enough people have to read about it in the newspaper and see it on the news; that idiot Lamar still has crime scene tape stretched from one end of the neighborhood to the other. I don’t blame them for canceling.”

  “I’m sorry I complained,” Destiny said. “I didn’t get much sleep last night, and I get grumpy when I’m tired.” She gave a laugh. “It’s not like I don’t have a ton of lingerie.”

  Theenie suddenly brightened. “You don’t have to freeze the food, Annie. You can use it tomorrow evening for the Ladies Night Out group.”

  Annie gave a rueful smile. “They won’t be coming, either.” Only she hadn’t found out until after she’d spent more than one hundred dollars on two large standing rib roasts, not to mention all the other items she’d purchased. She noted the concern on the women’s faces and felt guilty for burdening them with her problems. “It’s okay,” she said. “I’m sure this is temporary.” They didn’t look any more convinced than she was.

  Footsteps sounded on the stairs and Wes entered the kitchen. His hair was still wet from his shower, but he hadn’t bothered to shave. He looked from one woman to the other. “What’s wrong?”

  Theenie didn’t hesitate. “Somebody is stealing Destiny’s underwear, and Annie has had two cancellations.” She covered her mouth and shot an apologetic look at Destiny. “I’m sorry I brought up your unmentionables. Sometimes things just pop right out of my mouth before I think.”

  Destiny shrugged, propped her elbows on the table, and leaned forward slightly, the cameo attached to her gold necklace sinking between her breasts. “It’s okay,” Destiny told Theenie. “I’m not easily embarrassed.”

  Wes turned to Annie. “Who canceled what?”

  “It’s not important,” Annie said. The absolute last thing she wanted to do was tell Wes her problems.

  Theenie suddenly brightened. “There’s still the baby shower on Saturday.”

  Annie smiled and nodded. She wasn’t one to let things drag her down for long. “You’re right. You and Lovelle need to start thinking about the decorations.” Annie knew both women got a kick out of sifting through her large cardboard boxes where she kept all sorts of decorations neatly packed and labeled; they would choose just the right items and spend hours putting them up.

  Wes turned his attention back to Destiny. “You’re missing lingerie?” he asked. “There’s a bunch of, uh, female stuff hanging over the shower rod in my bathroom. I was wondering what they were doing there.”

  “See, I told you they’d show up,” Annie said.

  “Yes, but I didn’t put them there,” Destiny replied. “The ghost did it.”

  Wes looked at her. “What ghost?”

  A sudden clatter overhead made them jump. Peaches, napping in a pool of sunlight at the window, leaped to her feet, arched her back, and hissed.

  “That one,” Destiny said.

  Annie chuckled and waved it off. “It’s just the wind.”

  “That’s what she always says,” Theenie told Wes.

  “Destiny is pulling your leg about the ghost,” Annie went on. “We obviously have a prankster in the house, don??
?t we, ladies?” Even as she said it she felt a brush of cool air on the back of her neck, making her hair stand on end and sending shivers down her spine.

  Dusk had settled in as Destiny stepped over the crime scene tape surrounding the still-gaping hole. The deputies had worked for two days, combing the area for evidence, before deciding they’d probably found all there was. Yet the garish yellow tape remained. Standing before the grave, Destiny closed her eyes and remained perfectly still. A cold wind whipped through the branches of the tall oaks, rustling the leaves and causing the gray moss to wave and shudder. Finally, Destiny knelt beside the hole and ran her fingers through the black dirt that would have made a perfect vegetable garden had Charles Fortenberry not been found buried there. Destiny let the dirt sift through her fingers.

  “What are you doing?” a male voice asked.

  Destiny turned and found a baffled-looking Erdle standing there. “You wouldn’t understand.”

  “Nobody’s supposed to go on that side of the tape.”

  “You plan on turning me in?” She sounded indifferent.

  “You could be destroying evidence.”

  Destiny laughed. “If those local yokels haven’t found anything by now they’re not going to.”

  “What makes you think you will?”

  “Because my methods are different.”

  Erdle cocked his head to the side, studying her closely. “Chief Tevis says you’re as crazy as a bedbug.”

  “That’s because I always steal his thunder each time he hits a dead end and is forced to call on me. And because I won’t sleep with him. Imagine that.”

  “So, were you able to get any messages from the beyond?” Erdle asked in such a way that made it obvious he didn’t believe in her abilities.

  She shook her head. “Too many people have been over it, which lessens my chances of picking up on anything. Lamar should have let me have at it first.” She regarded Erdle. “You got any idea who might have killed Charles Fortenberry?”

  “If I did know I wouldn’t tell. Way I see it, he got exactly what he deserved.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  It was late when Wes stepped out onto the piazza, slipping into his denim jacket to ward off the night chill. Moonlight peeked through the overhead branches, offering just enough light that he could make out the silhouette of someone sitting on the wicker swing. “Annie?”

  “I couldn’t sleep.” She huddled deeper into her terry-cloth bathrobe and pulled the afghan around her shoulders.

  “Me, neither.” Wes crossed the piazza. “May I join you?”

  Annie scooted to one side, and he sat down. “Would you like for me to make you a cup of hot chocolate?” she asked. “It sometimes helps me fall asleep.”

  “Aren’t you off duty?”

  She was able to make out his rugged face in the moonlight, the certain way he held his head that gave him an air of confidence. She liked that about him. That and the probing, alert eyes that not only convinced her of his intelligence but also made her feel he was always on top of things. “I like to see to the comfort of my guests,” she said.

  “Oh yeah?”

  She didn’t have to look at him to know he was smiling. “There are limits, of course,” she said, unable to resist smiling back at him.

  “I don’t think I’ve seen you relax more than ten minutes since I moved in. You’re always moving.”

  “There’s a lot involved in running this place.”

  “So what do you do for fun?”

  “Sometimes Danny and I see a movie.”

  “Is he your boyfriend?”

  “Danny?” Annie chuckled. “No, we’re just friends. I’ve known him for years.”

  “He seems protective of you.”

  “Yes.” She wouldn’t tell him that Danny sometimes carried it to extremes, that he often offered more advice than she needed. “He was there for me when my marriage hit the skids. I don’t know what I would have done without his support.”

  “Maybe he’d like to be your boyfriend,” Wes said.

  Annie caught the teasing lilt in his voice. She laughed. “Danny would be the first to tell you I’m not looking for a boyfriend.”

  Wes nodded thoughtfully. “So why’d you marry this Charles in the first place? Sorry to say it, but he sounds like he was a jerk.”

  Annie looked at him. “You ask a lot of questions; you know that?”

  “I’ve always been curious. You can tell me to mind my own business.”

  She shrugged. “Charles could be charming when he wanted, which is why he did so well in real estate.” She wouldn’t tell Wes how lonely and vulnerable she’d been when she met Charles, shortly after her grandmother’s death. She wouldn’t mention her dreams of a big family, how she’d yearned for it growing up. Those things she kept close to her heart. “It just didn’t work out,” she finally said, knowing she sounded like it had been no big deal when it really had been a big deal.

  “You weren’t married long.”

  “Two years.”

  “You got any idea who could have killed him?”

  “No. And Lamar Tevis probably won’t look too hard, since he thinks I did it. I guess he suspects the truth: that inside I’m a dangerous, cold-blooded killer.”

  “He’s probably seen you with your rolling pin.” Wes slid his arm along the back of the swing, reached for a thick strand of her hair, and rubbed it between his fingers as though testing its texture. “I think you’re dangerous.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Those big green eyes of yours, those cute freckles. A deadly combination, if you ask me.”

  “Makes it easier to snare my victims,” she said lightly, although she was uncomfortable with his fingers in her hair, stroking downward, his knuckles grazing the back of her neck. She shifted on the swing. “Um, Wes?”

  “You don’t like that?” He pulled his hand away.

  On the contrary, she liked it too much. But she had no business sitting in the dark with him and letting him touch her in a way that made her think of what it had felt like lying against him. The swing moved, and when she looked up, she found he’d slipped closer. She could feel the heat from his body. A light breeze ruffled his hair. His brown eyes looked black.

  “I have to go in,” she said. She gathered the afghan more tightly around her shoulders and made to get up.

  “That’s too bad,” he said, “because I like looking at you in the moonlight.”

  His voice was as smooth as the velvet spread that covered her bed, and his lazy-as-a-river smile tugged at her innards. The man knew what he was doing.

  “Okay, Wes, listen up,” she said, still trying to keep things light between them so he wouldn’t know he was getting to her. “I believe in saying it like it is.”

  “I like that about you.”

  “Um, thank you,” she said.

  “You’re welcome.”

  He was trying to sweet-talk her; that’s what he was doing. He’d probably sweet-talked his way into more than one woman’s heart and bed, but not this one. No sirree. She had his number, could see right through him. Wes Bridges had definitely met his match.

  “Now then,” she said firmly. “I think I know what’s on your mind, so maybe I should remind you that the absolute last thing I want or need in my life is a man.”

  He nodded emphatically. “That’s for sure.”

  He was agreeing with her? “Especially a man who only plans on hanging around a couple of weeks and is just looking for a good time.”

  “Especially that.”

  “I don’t like being tied down or having somebody tell me what to do all the time.”

  “Can’t blame you for that.”

  “I like my life just the way it is, except the part about finding my husband’s remains in the backyard and being the number one murder suspect.” She added quickly, “But I plan to clear my name and—”

  “Annie?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Could you just shut up for maybe one minut
e?”

  She blinked, and without warning he dipped his head and pressed his lips against hers. Holy cow, she hadn’t even seen it coming, and her mouth dropped open in surprise. Wes obviously took that as an invitation, because before she could unscramble her brain, he’d pulled her closer and slipped his tongue past her gaping lips. Jeez Louise, but the man knew his way around a woman’s mouth! The kiss deepened, and she grasped his jacket with both hands, feeling as though she were riding on one of those wild carnival rides that turned her inside out and upside down and made the world around her spin all topsy-turvy as though everything was out of control.

  She thought of pulling away and then decided one more minute wouldn’t hurt. His lips were gentle but persuasive, and before she knew it, Annie found her tongue mingling with his. He enveloped her in his arms, and the next thing she knew, her own arms had slipped around his neck. The afghan slid from her shoulders, and she could feel his heat seeping through her bathrobe and gown, and she was straining against him wanting more. She was sorry when he raised his head.

  For a moment they just looked at each other, and Annie mentally tried to pick up the pieces of her scattered brain and put them in order and find the part labeled logical thinking.

  “Annie?”

  She grappled for an intelligible word. “Huh?”

  “That was dynamite.”

  Dynamite? Dy-nuh-mite. Eeek! “Destiny!” she almost hissed. “It’s all her fault!”

  “I have no clue what you’re talking about, but I haven’t enjoyed kissing a woman that much in a long, long time. I think we should do it some more.”

  Annie swayed against him. “I don’t think—” But it was too late because there they were, those warm lips, stealing her self-control and turning her brain to mush again. And there she was, kissing him right back and thinking no man had ever tasted so good. And then her body went wacko: her nipples hardened and strained against her flannel gown and her stomach began flip-flopping like a fish out of water and way low in her belly she felt the flicker of something warm and sweet. That something conjured up thoughts that she had no business thinking: Wes warm and naked between her scented sheets, his big hands on her body.

  Time to stop.