Smoked (The Alex Harris Mystery Series)

  “Did you witness any of these difficult times?” I asked.

  George Shruder shook his head. “No. Not firsthand but on the rare occasion I spoke with Maria, she would say things about teenage girls and how challenging they could be. Ellery’s a grown woman now, and from what I gather, my sister and her daughter weathered the storm.”

  I left George Shruder wondering if Maria’s harsh disciplinary style toward the teenage Ellery had continued into adulthood and whether it had finally come to a head.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  I arrived home to an empty house. I made a quick call to John. He planned on staying late to catch up on paperwork from a few other cases he was working on with the hopes he could join me tomorrow for Henry’s party. I was still trying to come up with a plausible excuse not to go over to my sister’s house, but was pretty sure my mother and my sister would never speak to me again. Plus, I loved Henry and looked forward to spending time with him, sans rat, I hoped.

  I felt restless and hadn’t been to the gym in over a week. I looked out my front window and saw Ellery’s car in the driveway at the Kravec home. I changed into comfy sweats, put on my walking shoes and went next door. A few minutes later Ellery and I set out for a long walk.

  “Your timing was perfect. I’ve been going over my mother’s accounts and other paperwork. My father is hopeless where this stuff is concerned,” Ellery said. “I guess I’ll be the one to sort through her closet and personal stuff but I can’t bear any of that right now.”

  “I can help when the time comes if you’d like,” I offered.

  “Thanks. That would be nice.”

  “Where’s your father?”

  “He and my grandmother, his mother, are making arrangements for the service. My mother wanted to be cremated and that’s fine with me and Dad, but my grandmother is making a fuss. I think she’s just heartbroken and lashing out. She always treated my mother like a daughter. They were quite close. My grandfather was a lot like my father—charming, loud, liked the ladies. I think it was a bond my mother and grandmother shared, having bad husbands.”

  We continued our walk out of my neighborhood and were now walking along the main road. “Ellery, how was your relationship with your mother?” Ellery was quiet for a minute and I feared I had overstepped my bounds.

  “Good. It was good.” And then Ellery burst into tears. We stopped walking and she bent over and sobbed. After a minute she stood up.

  “Do you want to go back?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “No. This is good. I need to walk.”

  We started to walk again. It was dark but this part of town had lots of street lights. About a mile up ahead was a small shopping area with a grocery store and a nice café. I could get Ellery something to drink once we got there.

  “We argued a lot over the years. She was really over protective of me. We argued. The day she died. We argued.”

  “You and your mom?”

  “She called me at work. Wanted to borrow money. I asked what happened to all her money?”

  “Was this money for the business?”

  “Yes. For some new products she planned to sell online. My dad refused to help. He said why should he support a business that smeared his.”

  “Well, you can’t blame him there,” I said.

  “I agreed with him. My mom had a lot of money she inherited and a pension from the university. I asked her about that but she wouldn’t say anything. I told her I wouldn’t help until I saw some business plan. She hung up on me and that was the last time we ever talked.”

  I didn’t know what to say. That was one of my biggest fears, saying something harsh to a loved one and then having something horrible happen. Luckily, my family was pretty loving but we tried each other’s patience just like in any other family.

  “You said you argued a lot with your mother. Over what?”

  “Argue is probably the wrong word. You didn’t really argue with my mother. Most of the time it was impossible to fight back. You just did what she wanted. She would wear you down. I wasn’t good at standing up for myself when I was younger and my mother’s style of parenting could be oppressive, stifling. You may have noticed I’m a bit young for my age but I’m trying to be more self confident. Mom just wanted to keep me safe. Having a boyfriend was difficult. I dated a guy for a while last year. A friend fixed us up. He was really nice, an engineer like me. We had a lot in common but my mom didn’t think he came from a good enough family. She was never nice to him and always made snide comments about his background to me. I should have just cut her off but instead I broke up with him. See what I mean? I just couldn’t stand up for myself and let a great guy get away.”

  We continued walking in silence for a few minutes. It didn’t sound as if Maria had let up on Ellery and was still treating her like a teenager.

  “Girls never wanted to have sleepovers at my house,” Ellery continued, “because we had to go to bed early, couldn’t go out, just a bunch of crap and my mom never let us have a lot of junk food. And I was hardly ever allowed to sleep over at their houses. I didn’t have a lot of friends at school as you can imagine. But I know she loved me. And I loved her. Sometimes I just didn’t like her very much.”

  After we got a sandwich at the café we walked home to find a car parked in front of the Kravec home.

  “Can I help you?” Ellery asked of a woman who sat on the front porch.

  The woman stood up and I placed her age somewhere in the mid-forties range. She was shorter than both Ellery and me but her teased hair added about a foot to her height.

  “I’m waiting for Sergei.”

  Ellery may have had a hard time standing up to her mother but she took a step closer to the woman and placed her hands firmly on her hips.

  “My father’s not here and I don’t know when he’ll be back. Can I give him a message?”

  The woman picked up her coat from where it was placed on the steps and started to walk away. She turned and looked at Ellery. “Tell him Nena stopped by. Nena Connick. His fiancé.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  It took me a while to pry Ellery’s hands from Nena Connick’s throat. She clearly had grown out of her meek and mild stage.

  Once I convinced Nena pressing charges would not help the situation, I managed to get her to leave with a promise that we would tell Sergei she had come by. I got Ellery into the house and made her a cup of tea. Sergei arrived home just as she was taking her first sip and I excused myself. As much as I wanted to hear Sergei’s explanation, he and Ellery clearly had things to discuss. Plus, I planned on looking Nena Connick up and paying her a visit first chance I got.

  But that was last night. This morning I had another problem. The tornado I prayed would blow down my sister’s house overnight never happened and it looked as if I was going to have to go over there and spend the afternoon with a rat. Clearly they wouldn’t let it come to the party, would they? My sister had the same feelings I did about rodents so hopefully she would insist upon it being kept outside or in the garage while the guests were there. Or maybe take it to one of those pet-sitting establishments where people boarded their dogs.

  John had left early to do a bike ride with some Lance Armstrong types minus the drugs so I had the morning to myself. I did a load of laundry and ran the vacuum over the carpets. John and I both try to do a couple of household chores each evening so our weekends can be free for more fun stuff, but things had gotten away from me this week what with my new job as Alex Harris, PI.

  I tossed a bunch of vegetables with some spices and rice into the crock pot. After all the meatloaf this week and probably an afternoon of junk food, we would be ready for a healthy, light dinner. I still had a while before I needed to pick up Meme. John would come later, but I promised to pick up my grandmother and if I hurried, I could pay Nena Connick a visit before.

  I found her address on the Internet last night and I headed over to the apartment complex where she lived. Nena Connick lived further inla
nd, just across the border into the next town to the north of Indian Cove. Once I arrived it was easy enough to find her unit and I stood now in front of her door and rang the bell.

  “She already left for work,” a woman with a small tan dog said from the sidewalk. “She works the Saturday shift.”

  “Does she work around here?” I asked, hoping I might be able to stop by before I picked up Meme’s.

  “Not too far. She’s a waitress over at the truck stop.”

  I thanked the woman and got back in my car. The truck stop was in Indian Cove so I headed back the way I came. But before going to talk with Nena, I stopped by to see if Meme was ready. I thought my grandmother might enjoy a trip to the truck stop to talk with the other woman.

  “I’ve been ready for hours,” my grandmother said with a wave of her pudgy hand. “You wanna cup of tea?”

  “I have a better idea. Grab your coat and we’ll get our tea at the truck stop.”

  The place was packed as I guess it probably always was. Traffic never seemed to end no matter what time of day or night. As a kid, I loved stopping at these places when we would go on road trips in the summer. There was usually a small gift shop and my parents would let Sam and me pick out something to play with in the car.

  I entered the restaurant and spotted Nena immediately. Correction. I spotted Nena’s hair immediately.

  “Can I help you?” a cheery hostess asked.

  “Would it be possible to have a seat in Nena’s section?”

  The hostess craned her neck to get a better look. “Sure. Follow me.”

  Meme and I took our seats at a small booth by the window and picked up the menus the hostess had left.

  “So that’s her,” Meme said. “I wonder how long it takes her to tease her hair that high. Your mother used to love to wear her hair like that. Of course I wouldn’t let her wear it to school. The nuns would have kicked her out, but she would leave home looking normal and then go over to her friend’s house and do it up before they went to the movies.”

  “My mom? Mable Harris? Is that who you’re talking about?” I couldn’t believe my mother wore her hair like that. Not my conservative, always proper mother.

  “She was wild there for a time. She was a good girl, but she went through a bit of a rebellion and started to wear lots of makeup and wild hair. Put some peroxide in it, teased it up. And oh how she loved red lipstick.” Meme shook her head at the memory. “Then it passed and she, well, she became like she is now. I miss the wild Mable sometimes.”

  I was just wondering if I had time to pull out my cell and call my sister to tell her about our mother’s rebellious period when Nena came over to our table and Meme and I both ordered a cup of tea. Nena didn’t seem to recognize me but then she was pretty busy. I watched as she picked up an order of four plates and delivered them to a table of men. She seemed to know them but then being friendly probably helped with tips. She next took two plates to a couple next to me and then returned to our table with the tea.

  “You don’t remember me, do you? Last night. At the Kravec home?” I prompted.

  Nena’s heavily made-up face turned white. “What do you want? Did that kid send you here?”

  “You mean the young woman whose father you’ve been having an affair with? The young woman who just lost her mother? No, she did not.”

  “Keep your voice down.”

  “Can I ask you a few questions?”

  “Why? Who are you?”

  “Someone who is helping Sergei. I’m not sure if he told you but it seems his wife died under suspicious circumstances and the police think he might be involved.

  “That’s a lie!” Nena shrieked. She looked around and saw people watching her. “Just drink your tea and meet me outside in ten minutes. I have my break then.” She started to walk away and then turned back. “Sorry. Did you want anything else? We have some great lunch specials and we serve breakfast all day.”

  “Tea is fine. Thanks.”

  “What did the wife look like?” Meme asked when Nena left.

  “Like Mom. Not as old, but, well, normal style for a woman her age.”

  “Do you think the husband was serious about this one? Looks like he needed to stir things up a bit.”

  “I’m guessing Sergei was having a bit of fun and Nena was just one of a long line of Nenas. Sergei liked to play around. I’m sure it wasn’t serious.”

  Turns out I was wrong, at least to hear Nena’s version of the affair. Meme and I sat on a low brick wall that ran along the side of the restaurant while Nena paced in front of us.

  “He kept telling me as soon as he could we would be together. Move in together. But I haven’t even seen the guy in about two months. Whenever I call we talk for a while but he can never get away. Says he’s busy.”

  “Did he ask you to marry him?” I asked a pacing Nena. “You said you were his fiancé.”

  “Marry? No, not exactly, but we were leaning toward it, I could tell. His wife was driving him crazy with that blog of hers. She kept making references to unsanitary conditions at an area butcher. She never said the name but you could tell it was Sergei’s shop. He was furious. Said if she didn’t knock it off, he would fix her good.” Nena stopped pacing and looked at me. “Not that he would hurt her. Not ever. He wasn’t like that. He’s a big guy but hitting on women isn’t his style. Trust me, I know.”

  “So what did he plan to do then?” Meme asked.

  I watched Nena as she walked in front of me, back and forth. She had on a black uniform with a tan apron tied around her waist. She was on the small side except for the hair, which was medium brown with flecks of highlights, and big.

  “Do? I don’t know exactly. Probably make up some rumors about her too. He never really said.”

  “Were you two together all the time before he started telling you he was busy?” I asked.

  “At first, yeah. He’d come over whenever I wasn’t working, but lately…” Nena shook her head. “I guess he’s been kinda occupied with work and trying to keep the business going with all this nonsense about the place being dirty. I’ve been working a lot of extra shifts. I gotta get a new car. I kinda had it out with him the last time we talked, which was last week. Gave him an ultimatum and that’s why I went over there last night. He hasn’t called since we had our fight. But now with the wife dead, I saw it as a good time to firm things up between us, you know?”

  Yes, I was beginning to see. Nena gives him an ultimatum and next thing we know the wife is dead. Things were starting to look bad for Sergei Kravec, but the more I thought it over, things didn’t look too good for Nena either. “By the way, did you know about Mrs. Kravec’s allergies?”

  Nena gave a disgusted grunt. “Only that Sergei had to pull weeds or something, to keep her from getting in contact with the stuff. And I guess she couldn’t eat certain foods, too. A real pain.” Nena started to run a hand through her hair but it got tangled in hairspray and too much teased strands. She patted it back in place and looked at me. “I gotta go. My break is just about over and I need to pee.”

  We watched Nena walk back into the truck stop and then I helped Meme up.

  “Things don’t look too good for the butcher,” Meme said, “but you know, that Nena sounds like she was fed up with him and her threats weren’t working. Maybe she decided it was time to take matters into her own hands.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Of course Meme was right. Nena must have been sick and tired of Sergei dragging his feet and decided to give Maria a push to the afterlife. But where would she have gotten the poison ivy? She lived in an apartment, though granted, anyone could walk into the woods and collect the stuff. How long would it take to gather up enough to kill Maria Kravec? Maybe Nena had been stockpiling the stuff for a while. But why? She only gave Sergei the ultimatum a week ago. But even so, that didn’t mean the woman wasn’t fed up long before.

  I pulled my car in front of my sister’s house and turned it off. “By the way, Meme, what did you
get Henry?”

  “I got him some toys for his new pet and a new board game for himself.”

  I shook my head. “Don’t encourage him. We’re hoping he’ll get tired of it and Sam can give it away when he’s not looking.”

  A minute later we walked into a pirate-themed house. My sister had pulled out all the stops and there was even one of those bouncing things in the back yard shaped kind of like a pirate ship.

  Henry came running over as soon as he saw me. He wrapped his arms around me and then I hoisted him up. How much longer would I be able to pick him up? And how much longer would he want me to?

  “Auntie, you came!” he said into my neck and then gave me a big kiss on my cheek.

  “Of course I came. I’ve been looking forward to it all week.”

  “Do you want to go up to my room and meet Scopes?”

  “Hey, little man,” John said, as he came to my side. “I’ll go up with you. Auntie is a bit nervous about rodents. How about if I take a picture of Scopes with my phone and we can show her.”

  I mouthed a thank you to John and then went into the kitchen where the grownups held reign. My mother was sitting at the kitchen table and after I got a glass of sparkling water for both myself and Meme, I took a seat.

  “Everything sure looks good,” Meme said. “Samantha did a good job and the kids are sure having a swell time.” We all glanced out the window at a backyard filled with children. I caught a glimpse of my niece, Kendall, and blew her a kiss.

  “Forget about the party,” my mother said with annoyance. “What are you two up to?” she asked looking first at me and then at Meme. “I know for a fact, Alex, you picked up your grandmother quite a while ago. Where have you been?”