A Family Affair

by Shannon VanBergen

  “Sugar cookies?” Irene asked.

  “Of course!” Greta answered. We were all in. Greta made the best sugar cookies.

  I walked into Grandma’s room and expected to see her disheveled and listless like she was yesterday. Instead she was sitting up, her hair and makeup perfectly done. She somehow made being in a hospital bed look glamorous. She was laughing with the nurse about something, and her eyes lit up even more when she saw me.

  “Eva,” she said to the nurse, “this is my daughter’s daughter, Nikki.”

  Yep, she was definitely feeling better. She was back to avoiding the use of granddaughter.

  Eva smiled so big it looked like her chubby cheeks would pop. “Hi, Nikki! Your grandmother is a spunky one!”

  She had no idea.

  Eva typed a few things in her computer as she spoke. “Well, Ms. Dean, your blood work looks good! The doctor will be in tomorrow to check on you. You might be able to go home in a couple of days!”

  I saw Grandma’s face drop a little. She was ready to come home now.

  I said good-bye to Eva and waited until the door closed behind her before I sat down to talk to Grandma.

  “Well, you’re looking much better!” I said to her, handing her a Cosmo magazine.

  “I feel much better. A little tired, but I’m ready to go home. How are the cats?”

  “They’re good,” I answered. I decided to leave out the fact that Kitty Purry wasn’t eating and Catalie Portman, who normally slept in my room, hadn’t left Grandma’s bed.

  “And the girls?” she asked, nodding toward the door.

  “They’re good. Crazy as always.”

  Grandma laughed, but then her face grew serious. “Nikki, I want you to promise me you’ll stay away from this case. Just leave it to the police. That’s what you’re always saying we should do anyway. This time, you’re right.”

  She reached over and took my hand. “Please, promise me you won’t let them drag you into this any further.”

  I promised her, and technically, it was a promise I wouldn’t break. I wouldn’t let them “drag” me into the case. But I would go willingly. We needed to figure out what was going on. We needed to stop whoever was killing these innocent young men.

  22

  “Where is she?” I asked, looking at the clock on Grandma’s kitchen wall. “She should’ve been here thirty minutes ago.”

  “She’ll be here,” Virginia said, restlessly moving in her chair.

  But then Irene’s phone buzzed. We were all silent as she read a text. “Change of plans,” Irene said, looking up from her phone. “Betty said shes got hung up somewhere and can’t meet until later. She says she’ll text us when she’s ready.”

  I sighed. “Well, now what?”

  “Well,” Greta said, standing. “I have some work to do. Just text me when she’s on her way over.”

  The other Grannies stood too. Irene and Hattie were whispering and laughing about something as they left. I had a feeling they were up to no good…as usual. Virginia lingered until the others were out the door, then she sighed. Her and Greta always paired off, just like Hattie and Irene. But now that Greta was throwing herself into her project, I figured Virginia must be lonely. For a minute, I thought maybe she’d ask me to grab a coffee with her or something. But it was obviously just wishful thinking on my part, because within seconds, she was heading to the door herself.

  I thought about stopping her and asking if she wanted to run out with me, but she seemed on edge.

  “I’ll see you later tonight,” she said before closing the door behind her.

  I had a weird feeling. I didn’t like the way everyone split up so easily. It was like Grandma Dean was the only thing that held this little group together. Without her, would the others even be friends?

  The clock in the kitchen was ticking loudly, and I sat down at the now empty table. I hated this feeling of loneliness. I missed Grandma Dean.

  Thoughts of Betty filled my mind. I didn’t know this woman, but for some reason, I already didn’t trust her. What could have come up that she would be here so late?

  Even though I rarely watched TV, I decided to flip through the channels to kill time. I settled on a 90s sitcom. It was a show I used to watch with my family when I was growing up, and the nostalgia filled me with peace and comfort. Worries about Betty and the other Grannies left my mind as I settled in and got caught up in the humor of the show.

  Two hours later, I was just about to fall asleep on the couch when my phone beeped. It was from Irene.

  “Show time! Meet us by Virginia’s vehicle.”

  I slipped on my shoes and grabbed my keys. This was it. Time to meet Betty.

  The parking lot was fairly well lit, and I could see the Grannies several yards away gathered around Virginia’s SUV. It took me a moment but then I saw someone else with them—a very big someone else. Betty.

  Betty wasn’t overly heavy, but she was tall, even taller than Virginia. And she had a presence about her that was even bigger.

  “You must be Nikki!” she said in a thick Southern accent. Instead of her hugging me, like I expected her to do, she punched me in the arm and it nearly sent me flying backward. Betty just laughed. “You need to wrap some muscle around those bones!” She grabbed under her ribs and grimaced. “My stones are telling me you’re a carb-licker. You don’t get enough protein.”

  Hattie leaned close to me, whispering, “Isn’t that amazing how Betty does that!” I rolled my eyes. What did carb-licker even mean?

  “We’ve been out here talking,” Irene said. “And we have Betty all caught up. She thinks we should head to the old sewing building and see if the gang members are using it for an office of sorts.”

  Betty reached under ribs again. “My stones are telling me there might be clues there.”

  Oh boy. This was going to be interesting. Were the Grannies incapable of finding people who weren’t crazy? Grandma Dean needed to get back on her feet quickly or who knew who would be joining this little group next.

  “Roll Tide!” Betty yelled and took a seat up front in the passenger side of the SUV. Since that was normally where Greta sat, she took a seat in the middle next to Irene and that pushed Hattie in the third row with me.

  “Isn’t she something?” Hattie whispered to me. “I like how bold she is.”

  “Why did she yell ‘Roll Tide’?” I asked, confused.

  “She’s from Alabama,” Hattie answered, like that should explain it.

  I shook my head and shrugged, letting her know I still didn’t understand.

  “You know,” she whispered. “Roll Tide. The motto of their college football team. Their mascot is an elephant. That’s why we call her the elephant.”

  “Oh!” I whispered back, finally understanding. “I thought you guys called her the elephant because of her size.”

  Hattie looked shocked and offended. “Nikki! That’s just rude!” But then she thought for a moment. “Maybe that is why…”

  Ten minutes later, we drove into the downtown area and the old sewing building came into sight. To our surprise, there sat the familiar green lowrider. Virginia pulled over to the curb half a block away and turned off her lights. We were silent for a moment as we stared at the building, probably all wondering what we should do next.

  Then we saw movement. Someone was walking across the street, glancing this way and that. We watched them walk right up to the sewing building and pause before going in.

  “That guy seems familiar,” I said, squinting and hoping to pick up a feature or detail that would help me place him.

  “That’s Carson!” Hattie yelled.

  “Are you sure?” I asked, straining to see him.

  “Same size, same build, same nervousness about him. That’s him all right!” Hattie was excited now. “I knew he was in on this somehow!”

  “So, what now?” I asked, afraid of what their answer might be.

  “We’re going in,” Virginia said, pulling away from the
curb but leaving her lights off. “And this time, we’re all going in. But we need to park around the back so they don’t see us. We’ll park in the alley.”

  Oh no! Not the alley. The only way to get to the building was over the fence and even though I had success the last time, my earlier failure was still clear in my mind.

  Virginia pulled into the alley and turned off the ignition. We sat there in the dark, staring at the abandoned building looming on the other side of the fence.

  Virginia unbuckled her seatbelt. “Let’s do this!”

  Once we were all out, I stared at the fence. Hattie could get over it for sure and I possibly could. But could the others?

  “Stand back,” Betty said, putting some distance between her and the fence then crouching down a little. I couldn’t believe this! She was going to attempt to go over!

  She took in a deep breath as we all stood back, watching her. “Roll Tide!” she yelled, barreling forward.

  I was practically holding my breath as she approached the fence. I expected her to grab on to it and hoist herself up, but she had another plan. She crashed right into it, causing metal to bend around her and a large section of the fence to fall to the ground. She turned around, smiling. “Come on!” she half-whispered, half-yelled.

  “Isn’t she fun?” Hattie said to me as we walked up the alley.

  Whatever she was, she definitely wasn’t quiet. I looked around to see if there were any signs someone had heard all the commotion. Everything was dark and silent.

  When we got to the building, I showed the Grannies where the fire escape was and told them how it led to a bedroom on the second floor.

  “I’m not sure I can fit in that window,” Betty said, peering up.

  “I don’t think I can either,” Virginia added.

  Greta pointed to something. “Look, there’s a door back here. Let’s try to get in that way.”

  “I’ll get it unlocked,” Hattie said, strutting over to the door. “I’m an expert at this.”

  She gave the handle a little shake. “Do any of you have a hairpin?” We all shook our heads no. “Paper clip?” No again. “Credit card?” We had all left our purses in the vehicle. She let out a frustrated sigh. “You guys would never make it on Let’s Make a Deal.” I had no idea what that meant, but the other Grannies just rolled their eyes.

  Hattie jiggled the knob again, then reached down and pulled something out of her pant leg. It was a knife. “I’ll just use this,” she said, sliding the blade between the door frame and the door itself. When she hit the lock, she pushed down with the blade and turned the knob at the same time. The door popped open. She closed the blade and pulled up her pant leg, revealing a strap that she tucked the knife back into.

  She stood up, beaming, and motioned inside the building. “After you!”

  Hattie moved aside and Virginia stepped in first, turning on the flashlight on her phone. We all walked into what I assumed used to be a storage room. Shelves and old, dusty boxes lined one side of the room. The floor was covered in trash and empty bottles, much like the front of the store had been when Grandma Dean and I were there the other night.

  Virginia opened a door and it led into a room I instantly recognized. It was the room where Grandma said they used to do alterations. “I know where we are,” I said to the Grannies. “Follow me.”

  I moved in front of Virginia and led the Grannies to the door that led upstairs. I paused before I opened it. “You sure this is the right thing to do?”

  Virginia took a step forward. “Positive. I’ll even go first.”

  Her courage and determination left me awestruck for a moment. And suddenly, I was filled with a little bit of her boldness. I let her pass me, but I got in line right behind her as we went up the creaky steps. We stopped at the top and listened. Nothing but silence.

  She slowly opened the door and peered in, then she motioned for us to follow her in. We entered the kitchen and glanced around. It looked exactly as it had when I was here last time, except it was dark now, with only the light from Virginia’s phone to light our way.

  I followed her through the kitchen and into the living room, and there we all stopped as she swept her light across the room. I saw the fireplace, the windows, the furniture, and then we all froze. There was a body on the floor.

  Fear took hold of me and I had a flashback of being in this same room, thinking I was going to die, or worse, Grandma Dean. Greta took my arm, and we all moved forward together toward the body. When we got right up to it, Virginia looked at us for reassurance then turned her light onto the victim. I was afraid to look at first. I didn’t want to see Carson, a young man with his whole life ahead of him, dead on the floor.

  Hattie pushed past us a little to take a closer look. “Interesting,” she said. “That’s not who I thought it would be.”

  Hattie’s words made me glance down. It wasn’t who I thought it was going to be either.

  23

  It suddenly felt like all the air left my lungs and I couldn’t get any back in. It wasn’t Carson, dead on the floor. It was the guy who had threatened me. The gang member who had upset Grandma so much that she later had a heart attack.

  Hattie bent down to take a closer look then stood back up. “That’s the guy we saw arguing with Carson at the gas station. He’s been strangled.”

  The Grannies and I all looked at each other. Carson was our killer. And he was here, in this house.

  Suddenly, we heard footsteps on the floor above us and then on the stairs. “Carson!” Greta whispered in a panic.

  “Quick,” I said, pushing past them. “Let’s hide in the bedroom.”

  The Grannies followed me, not having time to formulate a different plan. Once in the bedroom, I tried to steady my breathing. My heart was pounding so hard I was sure the other Grannies could hear it.

  We heard the footsteps in the kitchen and then, from the bedroom door, we could barely make out a silhouette of a man standing in the living room. I heard whispering behind me and then, to my surprise, Virginia and Betty popped up and ran around me. Betty had a blanket in her hand that she must have grabbed from the bed. I heard yelling and then a thud.

  The rest of us ran into the living room to see Betty straddling a squirming body wrapped up like a burrito. She stood and, using all her strength, picked up the prisoner. He was thrashing inside the blanket, but she somehow managed to keep a hold of him. “Let’s get out of here,” she said, strain in her voice. We all turned and ran out and as I made it to the kitchen, I heard a terrible thump.

  I turned around to see that the floundering body was now limp, and Betty was about to drop him. “What happened?” I asked, running over to help her.

  Virginia got to her before I did and reached up and grabbed half of his body before it hit the ground.

  Thanks to the little bit of moonlight coming in through the windows, I could see the lines of worry on Betty’s face. “He was flailing around, and I wasn’t paying attention to how close I was to the door frame when I walked past it. He hit his head pretty hard.”

  Obviously, he was out cold. Virginia shined her line on the wood, and I could see, just above where Addie had been measured on December 4th, 1973, there was a chunk missing. Part of me wanted to find a pen and scribble in Carson’s name and the date.

  Greta ran her hand along the chipped piece of wood then looked at the motionless body. “We didn’t kill him, did we?”

  A sense of panic washed over us all. “Roll Tide!” Betty yelled, and we all turned and ran down the stairs, Virginia and Betty carrying the body.

  When we got to the SUV, Virginia yelled for Greta to open the back and as soon as she did, Virginia and Betty threw the body inside. Then, for the second time in a week, I heard the tires squeal as Virginia backed out of the alley in a hurry. Only this time, I wasn’t in the vehicle.

  “Wait for me!” I cried out as I watched the Grannies drive off without me. I tried to chase after them, but I wasn’t fast enough. It felt like the w
eight of every cinnamon roll I’d ever eaten was suddenly weighing me down. I was out of shape.

  I stopped a block away, bent over and gasping for air. What was I going to do now? My phone was speeding away from me, tucked into a cup holder in the back of Virginia’s SUV. Suddenly, I heard squealing tires again and looked up to see the vehicle flying toward me in reverse, the red taillights swerving a bit as Virginia tried to stay to the center of the street. It came to a violent stop right next to me.

  “Get in!” Virginia yelled out her window. The Grannies opened the door and I climbed in, making my way to the third row and getting my seatbelt on as quick as I could.

  “You’re lucky we came back for you!” Irene said in a huff. “I told them just to leave you!”

  Wow. Thanks, Irene.

  We barreled out of town and soon were on a country road. We traveled down the road a bit, and finally, Virginia pulled over. She looked back at us. “I think we’re far enough out. Should we check on him?”

  We all climbed out and met at the back of the vehicle. As soon as Virginia opened the tailgate, the body fell out.

  “Oh my goodness!” Greta cried out, bending over and placing her hand on top of the blanket. “I’m so sorry this is happening to you.”

  “He can’t hear you,” Irene said. “He’s out cold.”

  “Besides,” Hattie said. “He killed that gangbanger and most likely he killed Ricky too. He deserves all this and more.”

  We stood there staring at the body, none of us wanting to be the one to pull back the blanket to see if he was still alive.

  Then I thought I saw movement. “Did you guys see that?” I asked.

  “See what?” Greta asked.

  “I think I saw him move.”

  We all looked down and carefully examined the body, lit up thanks to the taillights and the light shining down from the tailgate. Sure enough, it moved again.

  “He’s alive!” Greta said, tugging on the blanket. “Be ready to grab him if he runs!” Greta yelled as she unwrapped him.

  We all got into position, ready to grab Carson no matter which way he ran. Greta got his body free from the blanket and flipped it over his head. We all gasped. It wasn’t Carson!