“My what?” I asked, looking up at her.
“You know. Your psychic shtick. How you helped Milo and that rat-bastard ex-boyfriend who dumped you on Valentine’s Day with that serial killer case in Royal Oak.”
“You mean have I tuned in on this yet?” I translated, grinning at her nickname for Dutch.
“Yeah.”
“Yes. And I’ve given Duffy my impressions, for all the good it’s done,” I added moodily.
“Hey, now, come on, Abby. Don’t be like that. If Duffy is asking for your impressions then he must see value in what you’re providing him, right?”
“I suppose,” I said.
“And didn’t I hear you’d drawn a sketch for Duffy that led him to Gina?”
“Man, is there anything you haven’t heard about, Cat?” I asked with a big-eyed stare.
“I pride myself on rooting out useful information.”
“Well, the sketch I drew for Sara doesn’t look too promising. Duffy can’t make sense of the landmarks.”
“You drew a sketch of where Sara is?”
“Yeah.”
“What did it look like?”
Instead of explaining it I got up to retrieve paper and pen, then quickly drew a similar sketch to the one I’d drawn for Duffy this morning. Handing this to Cat, I watched as she looked thoughtfully at it. “Hmmm,” she said after a bit. “What is this mailbox-looking thingy over here with your name on it?”
“I have no idea.”
“And these round circles in the shape of a cross. Do you think that’s a grave?”
“If it is, then that’s one large marker. I get the impression these are stones—like large stones laid out by hand.”
“Odd…”
“I know,” I said with a shrug. “Anyway, let’s not talk about it anymore—this whole thing is giving me one serious headache.”
“Sure,” Cat said, scooting off the bed to put my sketch and pen back in my purse. “Why don’t you get some rest? I have to go back to the hotel and rescue the boys from spending time with their grandparents. You know the Coopers; it’s not a family gathering until someone’s sobbing, and Matty and Michael are no match for Claire.”
“You left the boys alone with them?”
“No. Tommy’s there. If things get bad he will just scoot them back to the room. Anyhoo, I’ve got to run. I promised to be back an hour ago. We’ll be at the hotel until tonight; then we’re heading home.”
“You’re not staying for the wed—” And I stopped myself, realizing what I was about to ask.
Cat gave me a sad look; then she shrugged her shoulders and said, “I’ll be back around four to give Ellie a supportive hug and dash off to the airport. Claire and Sam are headed out about an hour before us, thank God. I cannot wait to see the backside of them!”
“Way to put your foot down,” I said with a grin, referring to the past two months, when my mother had been living at my sister’s mansion in Boston and had steadfastly refused to leave.
“Sometimes it’s better to be clever,” Cat said with a small grin and a wink.
I walked Cat to the front door, noticing several wedding guests seated in the living room. Being a yellow-belly I didn’t really want to engage a roomful of possible hostiles, so I meandered into the kitchen, my headache coming on strong. “Viv?” I asked as I came up behind her.
“Yes, dear?”
“Got any ibuprofen?”
“In that cabinet,” she said as she took down a small vial with a weathered label and carefully extracted a tiny pinch of something brown from inside, then tossed it into the sauce.
I reached for the painkiller and a glass when out of the corner of my eye I saw Viv take another vial off the shelf. She took another pinch from the second vial and tossed that into the sauce as well.
When I’d knocked back the pills I turned to study her, curious about the vials that, I noticed, lined one shelf. Methodically she selected each vial, shook out a tiny pinch to toss into the huge saucepan and gave the meat sauce three quick stirs.
When she was finished I moved over to look at the bottles, noting that each one had a sticker with a woman’s name typed across the center. Some of the vials were clearly older than the others, as their labels looked more worn and the glass was a different size and thickness. I stared at the slightly smudged label of the first vial and said, “Donna.”
I looked to Viv for an explanation but she just bustled about the kitchen, pulling out serving plates before heading over to the fridge. I looked back at the vials and read the rest of the names: “Connie, Diane, Hazel, Carol and Edna.” I turned back toward Viv when I’d finished reading off the list, really curious now, but Viv either hadn’t heard me or was pretending not to notice.
I reached over then and picked up Hazel, wondering whether Viv packaged these herself, and if she did, why she would name them after women. With interest I pulled the small cork out of the bottle and sniffed the contents. The vial had no odor at all. “Hey, Viv?” I asked.
“Yes, Abigail?” she said with a small, knowing grin on her face.
“What are these?” I asked, holding up Hazel for her to see.
“My secret ingredient,” she answered.
My brows pulled together in a frown. That didn’t explain much. “Can I taste a teeny sample?”
“Help yourself,” Viv said, her grin spreading.
Carefully I shook out a tiny bit into the palm of my hand. It looked like dirt. I licked my finger and placed it on the sample, then raised this to my tongue. Hmmm. It tasted like dirt too. “Blech,” I said, and took a sip of the water. “This tastes like dirt.”
“That’s because it is, dear,” Viv said, coming over to me and taking Hazel out of my hands to replace the stopper and put it back with the others.
“What? Why would you put dirt into your meat sauce?” I asked.
“Because it’s special dirt.”
“Special dirt?”
“Very special.”
“Please do not tell me it’s fertilizer,” I said, ready to bolt to the bathroom and brush my teeth with vigor.
Viv chuckled. “Oh, I doubt that, Abby. No, this dirt was a gift from good old Mother Nature. A test of her temper and therefore worth its weight in gold.”
I cocked my head at her for a long moment as she continued to smirk at me. My intuition buzzed as I puzzled over her riddle; it was obvious she wanted me to figure out her innuendos, but my headache was making that difficult. Finally I tuned in to what my guides were telling me and I had a vision of a storm. I looked back to the vials and the lightbulb went on. “Hurricanes!” I announced triumphantly. “These are all the names of hurricanes!”
“Bingo,” she said, pointing her finger at me and giving me a wink.
I smiled at her, and secretly thanked my guides for helping me figure this out. Then something still nagged at me, and I asked, “So why do you put the dirt from hurricanes in your sauce?” I asked.
“These weren’t any old hurricanes, Abby,” she said, picking up Hazel and regarding it with a faraway look. “Hazel very nearly killed me,” she said softly. “In fact, it was the storm that Jimmy lost his parents to.”
My jaw dropped at that little tidbit. Ellie had once told me that her father’s parents were killed when he was just a boy, but I never knew the cause. “Your brother and sister-in-law died in a hurricane?”
Viv nodded, a very sad look on her face. “Yes, the house they lived in just down the street from me collapsed, and only Jimmy survived. Beth, his mother, was four months pregnant at the time. It was awful.”
I gasped when she said this. “Then I really don’t understand why you would put dirt from that awful storm into our food. Don’t you think that’s a bad omen?”
“On the contrary,” Viv said, and caressed the vial. “Hazel was the most powerful force I have ever seen. She was a category-four storm that battered at us for fourteen long and painful hours, pounded us into the ground until we begged for mercy, and some of
us she challenged on that day lost their lives to her.
“It is that strength, that resolve, Abby, that colors this dirt. That’s why I put it into the food. To feed us Hazel’s strength, and give us her fierce courage.”
“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” I whispered, realizing what Viv was getting at.
“Bingo,” she said, again and squeezed my hand. “And no telling everyone about the vials. Ellie’s daddy doesn’t go for eating the storm that killed his parents, pigheaded scamp that he is.”
“Your secret’s safe with me,” I said with a smile. “Now, how can I help?”
I worked with Viv in the kitchen for a while, putting together a garden salad and some hors d’oeuvres and peeling apples for an apple crumb dessert. I avoided the living room as much as I could, because every time I went in there I got the evil eye from the entire room. It was obvious that everyone was convinced I had something to do with Eddie’s arrest, and the only thing that kept me from fleeing the premises was the thought of what Ellie must be going through.
I wanted to help my friend, not slink out of town. Selfishly, I also wanted to make it better between us. I didn’t know how Ellie felt about me right now, but I needed to make sure she understood that nothing that I’d gotten intuitively had been intentionally derived to hurt her.
At about three thirty, Ellie and Nina came by. Both women looked worn and tired, but each tried to put on a brave face nonetheless. Nina spotted me right away and hurried over to where I was standing in the front hall, waiting to greet her and Ellie. “Hello, Abby, how are you holding up?” she asked me kindly.
“I’m fine,” I said, bending forward to give her a hug. “I’m more worried about you two. How’s Ellie doing?”
Nina squeezed me tightly, then let go before answering. “She has her moments. Finding out about Gina was horrible. And that the police suspect Eddie…well, I don’t even know how to process that yet. Ellie’s convinced he’s innocent, and I have to say I’m with her on that one right now.”
“I wish I were convinced of that too,” I said with a frown.
“Yes, Ellie told me about your reading with her. But it’s so hard to believe our Eddie had anything to do with this,” Nina insisted.
“I know,” I said with a sigh. “The only thing I know for sure about this mess is that if Eddie had anything to do with it, he was forced into it.”
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“I’m sure Ellie told you that in her reading I saw Eddie going to jail. Then I saw that he would need a lawyer, and a good one, and the reason was because he had done something to break the law, but it was something he had not done willingly. Intuitively it felt like he was forced into a situation he had no control over, and things just got out of hand.”
Nina was looking at me with a very intense expression. After a long moment she whispered, “I never liked the way Gina acted around Eddie.”
“What?” I asked, lowering my own voice so no one would hear us.
Nina looked over her shoulder to where Ellie was being hugged and supported by her friends; then she turned back to me and, taking my hand, pulled me into the kitchen. Nodding to Vivian, she led me out to the enclosed porch. “I know it’s a little chilly out here, but at least we’ll have some privacy.”
“No sweat. So you were saying about Gina around Eddie?”
“Ah, yes,” Nina said, nodding her head. “Gina was an absolutely beautiful girl. She used to turn so many heads, and Ellie and she were quite the pair when they went out. The men would trip all over themselves to say hello to them. They used to tell me some very funny tales about their nights out together.
“Then Ellie met Eddie, and things changed. You see, Gina dated a lot of men, but Ellie was more of a tagalong. She liked being in a relationship, while Gina liked to sow her wild oats. The more time Ellie spent with Eddie, the more Gina seemed to resent it.
“And last summer, just after Eddie proposed, we had everyone over for an engagement pool party. I remember going upstairs to get some more towels for the guests when through the upstairs window I could see Gina leading Eddie by the hand out behind the garage. He seemed to be going along grudgingly, and they disappeared from my view for a minute or two. Then suddenly Eddie came storming out from that area, and Gina was trailing after him, frantically telling him she was sorry. Eddie stopped at one point and I’ll never forget what he yelled at her.”
“What?” I asked.
“He said, ‘If you ever pull a stunt like that again, I’ll tell Ellie what a whore you really are.”’
“Whoa,” I said breathlessly. “What do you think she did to him behind the garage?”
“I don’t know, for sure, but I’m pretty positive that Gina made a pass at him and Eddie turned her down flat.”
“Does Ellie know about this?”
“Absolutely not,” Nina said. “I would never tell her something so upsetting. And as far as I know, Eddie kept his mouth shut too.”
“So that’s why you don’t think he had anything to do with her death. After that incident he would have been careful to keep his distance with her.”
“That, and I saw firsthand how dedicated to Ellie he really is.”
Just then Viv poked her head out of the door. “You two gonna stay out there all day, or come in and be social?”
“Coming, Vivian,” Nina said with the smallest hint of an eye roll.
I followed Nina through the door and into the kitchen, where the aroma of Viv’s secret sauce became even more mouthwatering. “Man, Viv!” I said. “If that sauce tastes as good as it smells, count me in for seconds!”
Viv smiled ruefully at me and quipped, “And I’ll be sure not to rule you out for thirds.”
I laughed and helped her with the plates and silverware for the dinner she was preparing. There were about fifteen mouths to feed, and Viv showed me where she kept her extra flatware. “Nice stash,” I said, referring to a large drawer in a bureau crammed into the dining room that was packed full of mismatched forks, knives and spoons.
“I like to collect this stuff from all over. You never know when you’ll have a day like today with so many mouths to feed.”
I smiled, thinking of the sets she’d swiped from the country club. “Comes in handy, I suppose,” I agreed.
“It does. In the top drawer you’ll find some extra salt and pepper shakers. Make sure there’re enough to go around.”
I pulled open the drawer and saw that there were more than enough. Everyone in attendance could have their own personal pair of salt and pepper shakers—with two more to spare if needed.
While I was working on getting the buffet ready, an arm slipped around my waist and a blond head tilted onto my shoulder. “Hey, there, girlfriend,” Ellie said.
I nearly cried with relief that she didn’t seem to be mad at me, and I turned toward her and pulled her into a huge bear hug. Not trusting my voice, I just squeezed her for a moment, then got a grip and said, “I can’t tell you how sorry I am.”
“I know,” she whispered. “I’m so glad you’re here, Abs. I don’t know what I would have done if all of this had blindsided me. Thank God you told me that something big was coming. At least I had a day or two to prepare myself.”
I sighed in relief and pulled away to arm’s length. “Whatever you need from me, you’ve got it, okay?”
Ellie nodded, and I noticed the tears beginning to slip down her face. “I need you to help Duffy and find out who did this to Gina. And I need that as much for Gina’s sake as for my own. I can’t have the father of my baby and the man I love going to jail for something he didn’t do.” Ellie sobbed as she unconsciously rubbed her belly.
“I know, I know,” I said, pulling her into a hug again. “There, there, girl. I promise you I will do everything I can to help Duffy with this. It is my solemn vow to you.”
“Ellie?” a voice said from behind us, and we both turned to see petite Kelly in the doorway. “Sorry, I thought I heard you crying.
Are you okay?”
“Hey, Kel,” Ellie said, straightening up and putting on a brave face. “I’m fine. Just a little overwhelmed right now.”
“Can I get you anything?” Kelly asked, the worry on her face intense as she stepped forward to stroke Ellie’s arm.
“Some water would be wonderful,” Ellie said.
After Kelly left to retrieve the water, I said, “It’s good to have friends, huh?”
“I’m very lucky.” Ellie smiled. “Come on; let’s see if Viv is done stirring her sauce. I haven’t eaten since last night, and I think for the baby’s sake I need to.”
A short time later we all had plates loaded with food, and the talking was reduced to a minimum, due to the fact that people couldn’t seem to gobble down Viv’s delicious meat sauce fast enough. I tried eating slowly to pace myself, as I was definitely serious about digging in for seconds. The doorbell rang shortly after we began eating, and Cat came prancing in to join us.
“Hello, everyone!” she announced to the group, then padded over to Ellie and gave her a quick hug. The pair chatted for just a minute or two, and Cat gave Ellie her personal business card and said, “Ellie, if you need anything—and I do mean anything—you just call me and I will make sure you have it. I’ve already placed a call to my legal team in Boston, and they have recommended someone fabulous here in the Denver area. They’ve made the preliminary phone call to the law office of Jim Watson, one of the best criminal defense lawyers in the state. He’s willing to take the case, and all you have to do is call him at the number I’ve written on the back of my card. His initial retainer is on me; consider it a wedding gift.”
Ellie took Cat’s card and held it to her heart. “How can I ever thank you?”
“No need, Ellie. You’re like family to me, and I take care of my family,” Cat said with a wink. Just then the phone rang, and Viv hurried over to it. After saying hello she was silent for a long moment, and I noticed the color draining slowly from her face.
“Oh, no,” I said as my intuition buzzed and I felt a familiar dread come over me.
“What?” Kelly, who was seated on my left, asked me.
“Something terrible has happened,” I said as I waited for Viv to disconnect and tell us about the phone call.