Privy to Murder Page 7

  “I thought you looked like you needed this.” She pushed my feet aside and sat down next to me. I grabbed a spoon and started eating.

  “I could use my life back. Sanity would be good.”

  Mumsie looked at me then took another bite. “If you want to make it here in Love, you have to get everyone to realize you aren’t involved in murder.”

  “Just how am I supposed to do that?”

  “Solve it, for God’s sake. Do something. You’re dithering.”

  “Easy for you to say. You have spirit boys to help you along. But I do need to find out what’s going on, at least with Reneé. If I could talk to her she could help figure out everything.” I swallowed another bite of ice cream.

  Mumsie stopped eating and looked at me. “I know everything’s as stirred up as a hornet’s nest. But you have kids to keep you grounded. More than I had after your Dad died. I only had the spirits after you left. They kept me sane, so don’t make fun of them.”

  I watched chocolate chips swim in the melted ice cream. “I just want to just have peace and quiet.”

  Mumsie stood up, taking my spoon with her. “That’s a bunch of bull. You’d go bananas if you had peace and quiet. You’re too young to hibernate. Find Reneé. Get a life, get a job. Have some fun with that cute JT, and for God’s sake get rid of Mag. She’s much too pushy for my taste.”

  * * *

  I heard the phone ring, once. Yup, Cass’s home. She always ran for the phone before the first ring could finish.

  “Mom. It’s for you. It’s Kim.” Reneé’s sister never called me. She was too busy running her diner and her husband. I listened to her shrill voice and saw her jerky-bird movements in my head.

  “I have to see you. Come down to the diner. Reneé hasn’t been home for days now. She’s missing and you have to do something.”

  Something about rainy days and Mondays played in my head to the rhythm of the windshield wipers. I drove Sean to Rusty’s house so they could work on a scout badge project together. Sean dashed out the car door, up the driveway, barreled onto the porch and into Rusty. Rusty’s mother, Deborah, rolled her eyes, waved, and they went in.

  For a minute I sat where I was, hoping the downpour would let up. When the rain slowed down I drove to the Love Post Office. I dashed in just as the rain dumped buckets again. I mailed the two bills I could afford to pay and prayed the other creditors would wait for their money.

  Heat steamed off the sidewalk. Summer rain didn’t always mean cooler temperatures, just more humidity. My jeans stuck to me and I should have picked a sleeveless shirt. I felt my hair frizzing around my head as I stood there, looking up and down Main. Rain had slowed pedestrian traffic so I didn’t see anyone I knew. Just as well, I felt like a leper, the way people looked at me. Rumors had fluttered around town like a flock of blackbirds ever since JT dragged me in for questioning.

  I put bills out of my head. I needed to talk to Reneé’s sister. Maybe she knew something without realizing it. Did that make sense? I couldn’t follow my own logic.

  Nine in the morning. My brain felt fried and I blamed it on Brian’s call earlier.

  “Brian. How nice to hear from you,” I had lied “Why are you calling before the sun is up?”

  “I’m calling because I’ve heard the rumors and I don’t think I can allow Sean to stay in your house any longer.” Lightening flashed and thunder crashed. Static had clouded the phone line.

  “What are you talking about?” Ideas ran through my head. Was it the lack of money, the party, the murder, all of the above? Chaos blew in as if by the storm and launched herself at me with the next clap of thunder.

  “I’m talking about the murder you’ve managed to get yourself involved in and arrested for. I’m talking about my son calling to tell me that a ghost visits your house regularly. I’m talking about your crazy mother convincing my son that ghosts exist.”

  “My mother’s no more crazy than usual.” Shit, I thought. This is exactly what I was afraid of.

  “Unacceptable,” Brian said. “I will not have my son growing up in such a toxic environment.”

  “What exactly do you see as the alternative here, Brian? You and your partner don’t offer an Ozzie and Harriet home, what with Daddy and Daddy. He’s happy here and you don’t have custody.”

  Maybe not,” he said, sounding like a cat full of canary, “but the judge will get to re-think that. You’ll be notified about the custody hearing. If I were you, I’d find a good lawyer.”

  He hung up.

  Now, in addition to bills I couldn’t pay, another lawyer. Now what the hell was I was going to do? I could pull off the party, but it wouldn’t be enough money, soon enough, to help. Maybe the 401K money, which would mean more penalties and taxes. I didn’t know any other answer.

  Life was like a bad novel. One of those romances where the rich heroine loses her money and family, suffers horribly, then finally then finds romance and riches. Only, I’d never had riches and didn’t seem to be finding romance.

  * * *

  Parking spaces fronted Kim Nugent’s Road-Kill Diner. Kim apparently thought the name was cute. Maybe the name was what drew in the biker types who lined the red-vinyl-and-chrome counter and clustered at chrome-trimmed tables. Kim, with her husky voice and Dolly Parton figure, kept them coming back, and it wasn’t for the cooking. She had Reneé’s curls, only bleached blonde, cascading down her back.

  Kim’s husband, Ted, was the chef, loosely speaking. Looking like an advertisement for high cholesterol cooking, he topped the scale at three hundred easy, and could rustle up greasy-spoon cuisine with the best. Top it off with beer and customers were in high cotton.

  “Hey, Tali. Be there in a mo’. Have a seat. Have coffee, tea, not me.” Kim winked and wiggled away, unable to stop flirting, ever.

  I picked a booth by the door and watched the town rush by. Kim’s newest waitress slid a coffee cup onto the table and poured some of Kim’s best, hot, eat-the-stomach-lining coffee. My request for cream sent her scurrying. Her regulars never wanted cream, and she probably didn’t know where it was. Enough by itself to earn the wrath of Kim whose lack of patience with new wait-staff was legend. I’d tried to tell her that she could be patient and train someone to meet her standards. Didn’t work.

  Kim, cream in hand, insinuated herself onto the booth opposite me.

  “Well, girl, what can you tell me? What happened to Reneé? Did that sleaze, Frank, do something to her? I hear he and Betty Ann are thick as horse thieves. Which one of them do you think killed Mag? She was a piece of work herself, with some of the pieces missing.”

  “You’re the second person who’s hinted that Reneé and Frank have a connection. What did I miss? She’s smarter than that.”

  Kim lit a cigarette. She never paid attention to the no smoking rule, and no one dared call her on it, not with her circle of biker friends.

  “Where you been? Oh yeah, Dallas. But you’re Reneé’s best friend. Didn’t she tell you? Her affair with Frank’s been on and off for years. I think she ran away. Maybe she’s afraid someone will blame her for Mag’s murder.”

  “Obviously Frank has been playing around with Betty Ann.” I took a sip of coffee and added more cream. “Why would anyone blame Reneé?”

  “I don’t know, but why didn’t you stop her? She’s your best friend, you bring her back.”

  “Kim, I don’t have that much control. Reneé didn’t tell me she was leaving. She was a better actress than I’d ever have thought at the party. I had no clue about her and Frank.” Noise clattered at me from all sides. Dishes hit dishes, ice hit glasses. Grilled cheese, eggs, hash brown odors all competed with each other for attention.

  Kim leaned forward and pointed with her cigarette. “That’s just fine Tali Cates, but you got my baby sister into this mess, so you get her out. The trouble started when you came back.”

  “Dammit to hell, Kim, I didn’t start or get Reneé into trouble. She did that all herself.”

  “W
e didn’t have murderers showing up at parties before you came back. And if she wasn’t helping you, Reneé would never be at some hoity-toity, stuck-up Maggie party in the first place. Now I gotta get back to work. You just keep this in mind. You could be in more trouble than you can handle if you don’t get my sister back.”

  The restaurant had gone quiet, and every biker eye was on me. Okay, okay, I get the hint. I told Kim I’d see what I could do but not to expect miracles.

  My life had just changed from romance to sleazy detective story, with me as the detective. Boy, was I in trouble.

  * * *

  I stepped out into bright sun. The rain had stopped. Heat rose in waves from the pavement. My clothes and hair now reeked of cigarette smoke. I stepped forward and ran smack into, wouldn’t you know it, JT.

  He bent down to retrieve his hat “Hey. Take it easy. Been drinking already this morning?” Still had a cute butt.

  “Yeah. Kim’s coffee tells you about the state of my stomach. I was afraid to eat breakfast in there.”

  “Is that a hint? We could go to the Perked Cup.”

  “No thanks, JT. I need to finish some errands.” I was tempted, but I knew he’d be after me about Reneé and the murder and what did I know? Besides, some part of him believed I had something to do with killing Maggie.

  How to destroy a potential relationship? Mix in murder.

  JT had gotten to me as a kid in high school and now, twenty odd years later, the attraction snuck into my mind again. What was I thinking? The man would like nothing better than to arrest me. Imagine what that would do to Brian’s threatened custody battle.

  My stomach sent loud signals that I was starving from no breakfast but the thought of losing the kids killed my appetite. Sean needed to be picked up by noon so I wasted the next couple of hours looking for party ideas at the mall. I couldn’t afford to spend my own money for the ball, but I had to get started. I knew I’d be reimbursed but it made me nervous to see the credit card balance soar. Since I had no clue yet where I’d be having the party, planning decorations was more difficult.

  There was also the problem of questions like: who the hell killed Maggie? Why was Reneé stupid enough to get involved with Frank? She wasn’t a foolish woman. She should have had better sense, I thought. I had only married a man who later ran off with another man after kicking me out. Who was I to judge her?

  Maybe what I needed to do was concentrate on who might have wanted Maggie dead badly enough to kill her with so many people around. She was stabbed, stabbing was a crime of passion. The murder looked up close and personal. Frank’s public fling with Betty Ann and the well-known, to every one except me, Reneé attachment didn’t help his case. With Maggie out of the way, Betty Ann had free reign. Reneé had motive, I supposed, since she had a relationship with Frank, but she was in full view all evening, which I’m sure JT knew from his interviews.

  I’d argued with Maggie and found her body, but I didn’t have that much to gain other than a party fee and jealousy seemed like a better reason for murder than money for giving a party. Maybe everyone realized how desperate I was for money.

  There was also Donna. At the funeral, Maggie’s daughter had acted like she was at the service of a distant acquaintance Had she been that numb, or was there some tension I didn’t know about? I needed to find out more about Donna Sue Tannehill.

  My cell phone scared me and I lost my grip on a vase, barely catching it in time. Sean was having lunch at Rusty’s, and Deborah would bring him home later. The boys were still involved in constructing a light-up board with all the constellations. Mumsie was working at her hospital volunteering today, so, if I went home right away I’d have a quiet house for a couple of hours.

  * * *

  Once back home, I grabbed the statement from the auto credit company I’d shoved into a corner on the bedroom desk and stared at the Walmart flyer for Sean’s new tennies. Through the window I heard the football players across the back yard on the football field. Two-a-day practices had already started, perfect for heat stroke.

  Pretty soon pecans would scatter the yard and the scent of burning leaves might fill the air. Bands and yelling fans always filled the Friday night air. I might be sitting in jail with murder hanging over my head if I couldn’t shift JT’s attention away from me and onto the real murderer.

  I shook images of the past and future from my head and turned back to trying to make sense out of the financial mess. Ever since Brian left me on the side of the road, I’d been paranoid about money. Fear of not being able to pay the doctor, dentist, buy clothes for the kids, kept me paralyzed. He had been my security and safety. When he turned into the enemy I’d moved back home and was still unable to take care of my family.

  I heard high-pitched yelling from the back of the house and jumped. That wasn’t the sound of football practice. I ran through the sliding glass doors onto the deck. Sean stood by the shed, looking down at his bike. The red bicycle had been smashed to pieces, scraps strewn around the yard.

  He looked up at me, tears streaming down his face. “Mom, who did this? Why would someone tear up my bike? See? I knew we shouldn’t come here to live. And we shouldn’t live in a haunted house. People here hate us. Dad said I should stay with him. He was right.”

  Sean ran into the house, leaving me to stare down at the ruined bike. Who the hell would pick on a kid like this? And why would they? If it was directed toward me, I’d soon have that person’s head on a platter for dinner. Nobody better mess with my kids.

  Chapter Nine

  Sean draped himself over the back and arm of the couch, and spilled onto the floor. Mumsie looked out the bay window, tapping her foot. Cass sulked in the armchair opposite. I paced. Rain had started again. Thunderstorms weren’t all that strange for North Texas, but any moisture during August was an event to remember.

  “We have to be more careful with everything,” I began. “Lock the doors and pay attention to what’s going on. I don’t know what kind of idiot would take apart and scatter a bike, smashing pieces like that, but I don’t want to run in to them.”

  When I’d called the police earlier, JT had come over and said there was nothing he could do. There was no way to prove anything since we didn’t see the act, no witnesses. Said some kid most likely tore up the bike on a whim. It didn’t feel that way to me. It felt angry and vindictive.

  “Why would anyone do something so mean?” Cass asked. “Sean hasn’t done anything to anyone. I don’t get it.”

  A clap of thunder rattled the window. Mumsie hunched her shoulders. “Mean people are out there. If you ever catch their attention, you’re in trouble. The way bad spirits will latch on to a house. This is what Amen Ka meant when he warned me that trouble was coming.”

  “He was a little late, wasn’t he?” I was so tired of Amen Ka I could scream. It was bad enough that I was losing my mind and seeing ghosts. I refused to look to spirits for answers that always came too late to help. “Think he can find a way for me to keep Sean with me? Brian throws enough money at the court, he’ll get whatever he wants.” Damn. I shouldn’t have said that.

  “What do you mean, Mom? Does Dad want me to come? visit?” He sounded half excited, half fearful.

  “Never mind, dear, your Dad’s busy right now. We talked about you visiting after school starts.” Not exactly the whole truth.

  I turned my back on the rain and pretended be enthusiastic. “It’s time for us to think about something else besides broken bicycles. Why don’t we go get pizza and see a movie? Forget all the problems.”

  Cass pointed to the window. “Mom. It’s raining like Noah’s flood out there. Why would you want to go out in it? I’m going to stay home and watch a video.”

  “Same here,” Mumsie agreed. “No video but I have a great book on aligning your Tarot reading with astrological signs.”

  “Sounds riveting. Sean, are you going to chicken out on me?“

  “It’s awful wet out there.”

  “Hey, think about i
t. Pepperoni Pizza. And all the Spider-Man movies are at the Dollar Cinema.

  Sean lit up. I was so ready for an evening of mindless comic book entertainment.

  * * *

  We joined a smaller-than-usual crowd at the Love That Pizza, scarfed too many slices and scurried through the rain into the dollar movie.

  Kids settled in to watch a super hero sweep across the screen—and as many adults. We bought drinks and scooted into aisle seats in the middle row, right next to JT and Laurel. I wasn’t certain who looked more shocked. JT simply looked smug, sandwiched between two women. Sean concentrated on the screen. I tried not to pay attention to whether JT and Laurel cuddled. Was he thinking about how he could prove I was a murderer?

  Laurel and JT left after the first movie. I held on tight for Spiderman’s implausible flight as he sped through the city, rooftop to rooftop, saving the innocent. I could use a super hero to fight the evil in my life.

  After the movie we dashed for the car. Clouds pelted us with bursts of rain. I decided to take FM 1127 back to the house and avoid the middle of town.

  I concentrated on the road, not on the lightening snaking its way across the horizon, or on the car behind me with its bright lights on—must be a truck. The wind fought for control of the car. Dark, wet country roads always made me nervous, so why had I decided to take this one? Because I was stupid.

  More lightening set the clouds on fire, followed by thunder that rolled and slammed against my eardrums. Hail pounded us, white pebbles thrown across asphalt. Our turn-off was just ahead.

  “We’re almost home, Sean,” I said, but he’d dozed off. Just as well. I slowed for the turn. The lights behind me grew brighter, blinding me. I reached to adjust the mirror and something slammed into the car, pushing us sideways across the ground, tilting us down the embankment.

  I yanked on the emergency brake and pounded the brake pedal even as we plummeted into the muddy creek. Sean woke up screaming. The window on his side erupted into spider webs when we side-swiped a tree. We came to rest in maybe six inches of water. I smashed my shin into something as we slammed to a stop. My head crushed the steering wheel and already my neck hurt. I strained to see Sean, but everything was dark.