Nine
“That’s what this picnic was about?” The languorous feelings in my body vanished. I sat up straight and stared at my tumbler of wine in horror. “You were trying to get me drunk. You just wanted to be with me so I would tell you about Mack Murphy’s murder.”
To his credit, Lionel didn’t deny it. He sat up and shrugged. “It was worth a shot. Besides, I don’t know why you’re complaining. You liked the food, the location, and the wine.”
He was right. All three had been great until I realized they weren’t due to my sparkling personality and sex appeal. There’s nothing more deflating than knowing an attractive guy was only interested in one thing and it wasn’t your body.
“I remember you telling me that I could have asked about Mack instead of trying to deceive you.” My voice rose, and I jabbed a finger at him. “Why not follow your own advice?”
He emptied the rest of the wine into his tumbler and put the bottle in the basket. “I would have if I thought it had a chance in hell at working.” His eyes met mine with a frank stare. “Honestly, if I hadn’t done all this, would you have answered my question?”
“I’m not answering your question now,” I huffed.
“What if I said please?”
I shot him a scathing look.
“Okay,” he said. “How about I give you one of these?” He pulled a DiBelka bakery box out of the basket and opened it. Inside were two large, whipped-cream-topped chocolate éclairs.
Okay, I was tempted. Chocolate éclairs were my favorite. I couldn’t help wondering how Lionel knew that particular Achilles’ heel. Somehow I didn’t think my mother’s friendly stories about her daughter included dessert preferences.
Wincing more than a little, I said, “I don’t think so.”
Lionel grinned. “How about you get one of these and I’ll also throw in a ride on Elwood?”
An image of Elwood’s happy camel face sprang to mind, and I caved. “Oh, fine. I found Mack’s spare key under the welcome mat and let myself in.” I grabbed my éclair and took a big bite. Every nerve in my body quivered with pleasure. Yeah, I sold my secret for dessert and the promise of a camel ride. Sue me.
Lionel leaned forward. “What else?”
While I chewed, I considered how much I should tell him. “Mack is a slob. His clothes are everywhere. Only his office and the kitchen were clean.” Lionel glared at me. I decided to throw him a bone. “He also had nine thousand dollars in cash under his mattress. I don’t think the tooth fairy left it there.”
That got his attention. His eyes narrowed. “What did you do with the money?”
“I put it back where I found it.”
Lionel gave me a strange look.
“What’s wrong with that?”
He leaned back with a frown. “I talked to Sean earlier. The deputy didn’t find any money in Mack’s house.”
As far as I was concerned, the Indian Falls Sheriff’s Department couldn’t find their own houses without a road map. “Did they look in the right place?”
“I don’t know. After Sean ran into you, he realized he’d forgotten Mack’s house keys. He had to go back to the sheriff’s office for them.”
I licked the filling from the éclair while contemplating Mack’s money. It was possible that Deputy Sean was slightly more competent than I’d given him credit for. If so, he would have tossed the mattress. I thought Sean was a jerk, but I didn’t think he was a crooked cop who would keep the money for himself and lie about finding it. That meant that during the time he’d gone back to town and returned, someone else had gone into Mack’s house and stolen the money. The question was who. Then again, Sean might be completely incompetent, and the money might still be sitting in the bedspring bank.
We shoved everything back into the basket, and Lionel drove us back to town. I had him drop me off at Annette’s salon since I had no idea what time Louise’s daytime programs ended. No way was I going to witness my grandfather and Louise feeling frisky. Besides, Annette and I had unfinished business.
“Don’t forget about my camel ride,” I said, hopping down from the truck. “You promised.”
Lionel gave me a smile that said riding Elwood wasn’t the only thing he was promising. With a wave, he drove off.
Monday apparently wasn’t a busy day for Shear Highlights. Annette was in the middle of the salon wielding a blow-dryer on the only customer, a vaguely familiar twenty-something woman. Annette smiled and motioned for me to take a seat. I did and flipped through a magazine while I waited for her to finish. I looked up when Annette and her dark-haired client headed for the cash register. The newly styled woman stopped dead in her tracks. I looked around for the cause of her distress. Considering the lack of options, I had to assume it was me.
Great. Either my deodorant had stopped working or this woman thought I was a potential murderer.
I said, “Hi,” and gave her a friendly smile. No serial killer here.
The woman didn’t smile back as she made a dash to the counter. A minute later, she bolted out the door.
“What’s with her?” I asked.
Annette shrugged and took the seat next to me. “I don’t know. She was fine until you got here. Have the two of you had a problem or something?”
“I don’t think we’ve even met.” I threw the magazine I’d been reading onto the glass coffee table. “Do I know her? She looks kind of familiar.”
“Her name’s Danielle Martinez.” Annette kicked her feet up onto another chair. With a relieved sigh she said, “Danielle moved here a little over a year ago. She works at the Lutheran church doing secretarial stuff. I heard that her family lives in Galena and that Danielle moved here to get away from them.”
I scrolled back through my memory trying to decide why she looked familiar. Nothing. Not that it really mattered. For all I knew she reminded me of someone on television.
Annette arched her back and asked, “So what’s up? Do you finally want that haircut?”
“No, I’m avoiding going back to Pop’s place. He had a date there when I left. Three is most definitely a crowd.”
“Hey, your grandfather’s dates are keeping me in business. They keep coming in asking me to help them look their best.” Annette peered out the front window. “Where’s your car? Did you park at the rink?”
I was tempted to say I walked, but Annette would never believe I’d chosen using my feet over driving. Besides, the town’s grapevine was probably already in high gear. Annette was going to find out anyway, so I told her, “Lionel dropped me off.”
Annette’s eyes widened, and her mouth formed a perfect circle. “Now I think I see.”
The problem was, she didn’t. “It’s not what you think,” I said. “He took me on a picnic to try to weasel information out of me about Mack’s murder. Speaking of which…”
I debated how to approach Annette. Finally, I blurted, “When I was at Mack’s place, I found a note you wrote him about the money he owed you.”
Annette’s smile disappeared. “I’d forgotten all about that,” she said, not meeting my eyes. “When Mack started avoiding my phone calls, I wrote that note and left it under his windshield for him to find. I hoped he’d give me back the money and settle the matter.” She looked up and shrugged. “You know me. I don’t like being angry with anyone.”
“Is that why you threatened him?”
Annette looked away.
“Annette, what information did Mack have that was so important you had to threaten him? Was he blackmailing you or something?” Maybe asking for fifty thousand dollars?
“No. Of course not.” Annette sprang out of her chair and walked over to the front desk. She opened the scheduling book and began flipping pages. “Why would Mack blackmail me? I just didn’t want Mack going around town badmouthing me because I insisted he give back my deposit. You of all people should know how gossip spreads in small towns. I don’t like my business being used as dinner conversation, and I let Mack know it.” Annette grabbed a pen
. “So do you have time to get that haircut before you go back to the city? I can fit you in any day this week. I figure you’re going to be going back soon, and I want to make good on that promise.”
I blinked, trying to adjust my brain to the change of subject. “There’s no rush. I think I’m going to be here a while.”
Annette looked up from her book. “You’re staying in Indian Falls?”
I nodded. “For now. This morning Doreen recommended I pull the listing until the murder is solved. So I’m stuck here until then.”
“Go back to Chicago, Rebecca.” Annette’s eyes met mine. They contained no hint of her typical laughter or carefree attitude. At this moment Annette looked deadly serious. “You’ve worked too hard at creating a life of your own to stay here. Your grandfather will look after the rink until this mess is over. Let me give you a haircut, then pack your bags and drive back to the city. Trust me, it’s the best thing you could do for yourself.” Annette closed the book on the counter with a bang. “I have to do some inventory in the back, but you think about what I said and let me know about that haircut.”
Before I could say anything, Annette gave me a tight smile and brushed past me, disappearing into the back room. That left me alone in the front of the salon, confused and strangely depressed. For the second time today, I had been made to feel like I wasn’t welcome in my hometown. My mother’s best friend, the woman who had held me together during Mom’s death, couldn’t get me out of town fast enough. Worse than that, I wasn’t sure I believed everything Annette just told me.
Walking through town toward Pop’s house, I tried to get my mind off of Annette’s strange behavior by contemplating what Lionel had told me earlier. Mack’s money was missing—maybe. A tiny voice inside my head suggested I go back to Mack’s place and make sure Deputy Sean hadn’t made a mistake. Going there was the only way to find out for sure, right?
I debated the issue until my grandfather’s blue two-story house came into view. The sight of its lawn stopped me in my tracks. Smack in the middle was a four-foot-tall scarecrow wearing a Santa Claus suit and a sign around his neck that read merry christmas. I blinked twice. Somehow I’d stepped into a festive holiday episode of The Twilight Zone.
“Pop?” I peeked cautiously inside the living room. It was empty. Automatically, my eyes drifted toward the stairs. No way was I going up there, at least not until I knew my grandfather was alone. I dropped my purse on the floor, flipped on the television, and plopped onto the sofa.
At three thirty in the afternoon there wasn’t much on besides bad talk shows and soap operas. I surfed until I found the Food Network and watched a woman stuff root vegetables up a chicken’s butt. Cooking was a hobby of mine, and the show made me homesick for my Chicago kitchen.
I fell asleep as the show’s host put the chicken in the oven. The sound of my cell phone ringing made my eyes snap back open. Half comatose, my hand dangled over the couch, I felt around in my purse and came up with the phone.
“Hello?” I said, trying to clear away the haze of sleep.
“Rebecca?”
I bolted upright.
“Rebecca, where in the hell are you and why haven’t you called?”
It was my boss, Neil Capezio, and wow, did he sound unhappy.
“Hi, Neil. How are you doing?” I did my best to sound professional.
“How do you think I’m doing?” I held the phone away from my head to prevent hearing loss as his voice boomed, “You left a note on my desk telling me you had a family emergency. It said you’d be gone a week. It’s been eleven days. As your boss, I deserve to know what you’re doing and when you’re coming back.”
At the word “boss,” I let out the breath I’d been holding. A couple of weeks ago, I ran into Neil just after he’d been stood up by his date. He asked me to join him for dinner, and I felt sorry enough for him to say yes. Since then he’d been hounding me for another date and hinting around the office that I was his girlfriend. Eek.
Oozing sweetness, I said, “I shouldn’t have left a note like that, but your cell phone was off.” A convenient circumstance since at the time I hadn’t wanted to talk to him.
“And yours has been off since you disappeared.”
“Sorry,” I said. “I had to come to Indian Falls to handle some family problems. I was hoping they’d only take a couple of days to fix. Only I’ve run into a snag and I need to extend my vacation time.”
“What you need is to come back to Chicago. Look, I understand family is important to you. It’s important to me too. My brother…well, things have been complicated here, too.” His voice quavered for a second, then took on its normal barking tone. “Regardless, I need you at your desk handling files.” His voice lowered and got all whispery. “Eleven days is too long without seeing your smile. I need you here. Things have been really hard for me lately.”
Neil’s attempt at romance made my skin crawl, but the genuine panic at the end made me ask, “What’s wrong? Did something happen at the office?”
“No. I’d like to talk to you about it, but not over the phone. It’s complicated.”
If there was one thing I understood it was complicated. “I don’t know when I’ll be back. Things here are a little more complicated than I thought they would be. I hope you can understand and maybe”—I crossed my fingers—“allow me to take a leave of absence for a while. I would hate to come back to Chicago and not have a job waiting for me.”
Silence.
I bit my bottom lip and waited as Neil breathed heavily on the other end.
Finally, he said, “I’ll think about it and give you my answer in a day or two. Until then, good luck with everything. I’ll be thinking about you.”
My mouth started to form a protest, but before I could say anything, I heard a click and the line went dead. Damn! I was pretty certain I hadn’t just lost my signal. Something told me I’d also lost my job. Promising to get back to someone was how Neil politely ushered a rejected client out of his office.
I went to the kitchen to drown my sorrows in diet soda. Not that I especially liked my job, but I needed it. No check meant no rent, and no rent led to no apartment, which would leave me sleeping in a cardboard box.
“Rebecca.” A robe-clad Pop cleared his throat and shuffled into the kitchen with a red-faced Louise trailing behind him. Unless Siegfried and Roy made them magically appear in the living room doorway, they had both come from upstairs. Ick. Ick. Ick.
Pop gave me a big smile and cheerfully said, “I didn’t hear you come in.”
I didn’t want to know why he hadn’t heard me. Don’t ask, don’t tell was a good way to live. “I was just having a soda,” I said in a strangled voice. “Want to join me?”
Louise’s eyes widened, and she shook her head. “I have to set up for the card party. I’ll see you there, Arthur?”
My grandfather’s head tilted to one side. “I don’t know. Don’t bother saving me a seat.” He sat down across from me.
Louise stood there for a moment in her frilly pink shirt and tan skirt as if waiting for Pop to say something more. When he didn’t, she let out a tiny high-pitched giggle and waved as she walked out the door.
Pop blew a strand of hair off his forehead. “Wow, I thought she’d never leave.”
I gave him a hard look. “You invited her upstairs. To a woman it implies that she’s welcome to stay as long as she wants.”
“Huh. I hadn’t thought about it quite that way.” He pushed out of his chair and padded over to the fridge for a beer. “How was your picnic with Lionel?”
I frowned. “Men are scum.”
Pop smiled. “I guess my date was better than yours?”
“Mine wasn’t a date since Lionel isn’t interested in me like that,” I said through clenched teeth. “Lionel only asked me to lunch because he wanted to grill me about Mack’s murder.”
Pop nodded. “I heard you were poking around town asking questions. Find anything interesting?”
I rested my
chin on my hands. “Mack’s house key. I kind of let myself into his place yesterday. Turns out Mack had a lot of money stashed under his mattress. Only thing is, the money wasn’t there later when the cops tossed the place. Either they missed seeing it, or someone went in after me but before the cops.”
Pop gave a low whistle. “You think the thief slipped Mack those pills everyone is talking about, don’t you? You do realize going into that house alone was stupid. You could have been killed.”
I hadn’t thought about it quite like that. Okay. Maybe going back to Mack’s wasn’t such a good idea after all.
Pop sat down at the table across from me, took a swig of beer, and looked me square in the eyes. “You know what I think? I think we need to go back to Mack’s house and make sure the money ain’t there.”
“We?” What we?
Pop bobbed his head. “You don’t think I’m going to let you go alone. That would be dangerous. You need some muscle, and I’m volunteering for the job.”
I glanced at Pop’s toothpick arms. There might still be a muscle in there somewhere. Shaking my head, I said, “I’ve been caught once at Mack’s house. There’s no way Sean will buy that I just wanted to see where Mack lived a second time. If he catches me again he’ll arrest me, and you’ll go to jail, too.”
“I don’t mind. Chicks dig dangerous men behind bars. Betty Jean would bake me a cake with a file if I asked, and she makes a great carrot cake with real cream cheese frosting. None of that store-bought crap. Might not be so bad.”
“Well, I’m not going to risk it. Breaking into Mack’s is off.” At least until Pop went to bed. Then I might change my mind.
“What we need is an alibi.” Pop snapped his fingers so loud I was afraid he’d broken a bone. “I know. We’ll go to the card party at the center tonight. That’ll give us an alibi. Once everyone’s seen us, we’ll cut out and head to Mack’s place. Old people have bad memories, so no one will be able to say when we left. It will be dark when we get to Mack’s house, which means none of the neighbors will ever know we were there.”