Into the Frying Pan

by Sarah Osborne

  “She did mention that, but I always do my own homework before I make any major decisions. Do you mind if I ask you questions?”

  “Not at all.”

  Our waiter interrupted us to take our orders. “The usual, mesdames?”

  I nodded. The usual for me was the croque monsieur with extra cheese. Lurleen got the salade niçoise.

  “And for you, mademoiselle?”

  “Anyone who still calls me mademoiselle can bring me anything he wants. What do you recommend?”

  “The salade niçoise. is a house specialty. The bouillabaisse is also excellent. May I ask what you are in the mood for?”

  “I’ll start with the house Chardonnay and then the bouillabaisse.”

  She nodded at Lurleen. “What are your questions, Lurleen, if I may call you that?”

  “Of course. I wondered about your education.”

  Sally looked at me. “I suppose you told her I dropped out of school.” She did not sound pleased.

  “I told her what little I knew,” I said. “I’d love to hear the whole story about why you left school and what you did next.”

  For just a moment Sally lost her sweet demeanor. “You make me sound like I couldn’t cut it.”

  “Not at all,” Lurleen said. “I have been many things in my life, and I admire a woman who makes changes when those changes are necessary. I’m curious to know why you made yours.”

  Sally drank some wine and recomposed her features. “School and I never agreed with each other. I believe in practical experience. I think people misunderstood my leaving school. They thought I couldn’t take the pressure, but it wasn’t that at all.”

  The waiter arrived with our food, and for a few moments we simply enjoyed our meals.

  Sally looked at me. “It was so easy for you, Ditie.”

  “What do you mean? It was anything but easy,” I said.

  “You just studied all the time. And then Phil waltzed into your life. You made room for him, but you never seemed to care about anything but school work and Phil. I wasn’t made like that.”

  “I didn’t really care about the social stuff if that’s what you mean. But I certainly worried about whether or not I could actually become a doctor, whether I could learn everything they were throwing at us, whether I could make life and death decisions.”

  “You never showed that side of you. I wasn’t like you. I needed to have a good time. I couldn’t hole myself away as if I were in a monastery. So I quit.” Sally looked over at Lurleen. “I had to decide what I really wanted to do. I took a year off and realized medicine would never be my calling.”

  I wondered if Sally needed a break from her untrue confessions. “How’s the bouillabaisse?” I asked.

  “It’s all right.” She called the waiter over for a second glass of wine.

  Most people raved about the bouillabaisse, but not Sally. She was feeding us a lot of lies, and maybe that made her lose her appetite.

  Lurleen gave me a break, so I could eat my croque monsieur before it got cold.

  “I like someone who thinks for herself,” Lurleen said. “Tell me what happened next.”

  Sally gave her a startled look. “What do you mean?”

  “What was your calling?”

  “I worked on Wall Street for a while,” she said, “but I got tired of all the testosterone. I decided to go into business for myself. You haven’t been spreading any rumors about me, have you Ditie?”

  I nearly choked on my cheese sandwich. “Rumors? I don’t know any rumors about you.”

  “I was only kidding,” Sally said. “You know there was that big rumor that Phil organized a cheating ring in school, that he got hold of the tests ahead of time.”

  “Phil claimed that Carl started that rumor,” I said, “because he and Carl were involved with the same girl and Carl was furious about it.” I looked at Sally. “You were in Phil’s group. Did you know who the girl was?”

  This time it was Sally’s turn to have trouble swallowing her food. “You’re kidding me, right? You honestly didn’t know who it was?”

  “No.”

  “It was Harper, who else?”

  “Harper?” I stared at her.

  Phil, Andy, Harper, and I were in a study group together. There was plenty of time for mischief in that group.”

  Lurleen sat quietly during this exchange, sipping her wine, eating her salad. She smiled sweetly at Sally.

  “I guess that’s ancient history by now,” she said. “Are you married, Sally? I hope that’s not too personal a question. I just wondered if you could understand a person like me who chooses to be single.”

  “I’m not married, and believe me, I can understand a woman like you. Why give up our freedom when we can have it all?”

  “Exactement,” Lurleen said and smiled broadly at me. “Now, Ditie here, was all ready to tie the knot with Phil when he stepped away from the table. All for the best I’d say.”

  I shot her a look before I understood where she was headed.

  I took up the thread. “Sally, the last time we spoke, you seemed really pleased that Phil was getting a divorce. You asked if I still had an interest in him, and I said no. I assumed that meant you did.”

  For just a second, Sally seemed to be caught off guard, and her face fell. She twisted pain into a smile. “I was only teasing you. To be honest Phil asked me to find out if he might have a chance with you. I told him what you said.”

  “Are you planning on working for the senior Dr. Brockton?” I asked.

  “Where did you hear that?” Sally asked.

  “From Josh Nettles. He’s an internist who was at a meeting at Dr. Brockton’s house a few weeks ago.”

  “I remember him. Things got heated at the party between Carl and Phil, and I decided that wasn’t the right work environment for me.”

  “Josh decided the same thing.”

  “I want to be my own boss. Work with individual clients on their portfolios. Lurleen, if you’d like to follow up with me, here’s my card. I think we could have a great working relationship.”

  “I think so too,” Lurleen said with her best Southern charm. “You’re a sweetheart, if that’s not inappropriate to say. And I’m really glad you found your calling in the world of finance.”

  “So am I.”

  “I want someone who understands me and will be looking out for my best interests.”

  “Great. Then I’m your gal.”

  Sally stood up and said good bye to both of us. “I’m sorry to rush off. I have another meeting I’m already late for.”

  I stopped her as she started to leave. “I do have one more question. You and Carl were very close. Did you know he had an accounting book apparently filled with payments he was making to people?”

  Sally blanched. “Why would I know about that and what does that have to do with me?”

  “It’s just that some pages were torn out of it,” I said. “I thought you might know who Carl was paying off privately.”

  This time her face reddened. “What are you up to, Ditie? Is this really why you invited me to lunch? To see what I knew about Carl’s life and who might have killed him? I know nothing about any little black book.”

  She left us with no goodbye and no backward glance.

  Lurleen gave her five minutes to leave the building. “What was that all about?”

  “I just wondered what Sally might know about those missing pages. She obviously did know about the book. I never mentioned it was little or black.”

  Lurleen nodded. “Here’s another one of your friends I don’t like much. She didn’t even offer to pay her share—and for her it was a business lunch.”

  “I have to say, Lurleen, we got our money’s worth. Sally is not my friend by the way or your gal.”

  “Believe me, chérie, I knew t
hat after the first five minutes.”

  “I’m not sure she made one honest statement to us.”

  “You think she’s our murderer?”

  “I think it’s possible. She obviously knows more about Carl’s book than she cares to say, and I’m wondering if the girl Phil and Carl were both dating in med school was Sally not Harper. I’m going to have a serious talk with Phil.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Lurleen dropped me back at the clinic and then headed for a spa afternoon. Mason had just finished up a big case and was taking a vacation day to watch the kids.

  I got home after a busy afternoon in time to see him playing hide and seek in my backyard. It was pretty hysterical—Mason hiding behind my Crepe Myrtle, with a trunk that was half his width as Lucie pretended she didn’t see him, and Jason ran around with his bugle. Apparently, when anyone was spotted, Jason announced the discovery with his one-note bugle call.

  I brought out a pitcher of lemonade and five glasses. Lurleen and I sat on the deck until they finally noticed we were there. Mason raised his hands in surrender.

  “Drinks!” he shouted. He ran up the steps and planted a kiss on me, whispering in my ear, “How’d it go?”

  “Useful,” I said.

  “Do we have a murderer yet?” he whispered again as he poured himself some lemonade.

  “She didn’t come right out and confess, but I suspect she was the girl Phil and Carl were both seeing in med school. She claimed it was Harper, and she seemed very concerned with what Phil and Harper might be up to.”

  “That was a decade ago. What does it matter who Phil was seeing then?”

  “I’ll tell you more after the kids go to bed.”

  Jason scrambled up the steps. “I catched him every time, Mommy, every time! Didn’t I Uncle Mason?”

  “You did, my boy. Thank goodness you gave me fair warning with your bugle.”

  I gave Jason a hug and then handed him a glass of lemonade.

  Lucie came up more slowly.

  “Are you all right, Luce?”

  “Yes,” she said. “Mason showed us a bird’s nest in your big tree and I wanted to see if there were any babies in it.”

  “Were there?”

  “I couldn’t tell.”

  I led her over to the rail that looked down on that part of the yard. “Where’s the nest?”

  “Just there.” She pointed to a middle branch of my cryptomeria. It was a fir tree that had grown a couple of feet every year since I planted it and now loomed over my pergola and wooden swing.

  “Mason, can you bring out the binoculars?” I asked.

  “At your service.” He returned two minutes later with the binoculars in hand. “Let me take a look first.” He focused on the tree. “It’s a brown thrasher, Lucie, our state bird. Look right there.”

  He steadied the binoculars for her. “I see the nest, Uncle Mason.” Then she squealed. “I see the babies!”

  We all took turns and did our own count. Even Jason managed to see the babies or he claimed he did. One mother bird and two babies. Amazing.

  It was too hot to stay outside any longer.

  “Why don’t you each take a bath, and you won’t have to do that after dinner?”

  Lucie trotted upstairs, and Jason went to the bathroom the two children shared.

  Lurleen jumped up. “Let me get things started for you, Jason.” He didn’t protest, much to my surprise. Mason must have worn him out.

  “I love you,” I said to Mason.

  “What’s that all about, not that I’m complaining?”

  “You are so good with the kids.”

  “I have had practice you know with my own two.”

  I know, and they’ve turned out to be wonderful young men.”

  “You’ve only met them twice,” Mason said.

  “I’m a very good judge of character.” I saw this as a rare moment for the two of us alone. “Can I ask you a little more about your marriage? I promise I won’t bombard you with questions. It’s just that I thought you had this idyllic relationship before your wife died, and now I know that wasn’t true.”

  “It wasn’t true, Ditie. I told you about the one affair that ended when she got the diagnosis of breast cancer. I suspect there were others. I was so consumed with work, I just didn’t see what was going on at home. When she got sick, then everything changed—my priorities and hers.”

  I stood up and put my arms over his shoulders. I rubbed his bald head. “I’m sorry it was rough.”

  That was about all the sharing Mason could take for the moment. “Tell me about the lunch,” he said.

  When I finished he shook his head. “I have to say, Ditie, you aren’t making medical students sound like a terrific group of people.”

  “I know, but we’re talking about a very small group—Phil’s group to be specific. My other friends were great. I could spend a day on them, but that wouldn’t help us solve this murder. I have to talk to Phil again.”

  “I want to be present when you do—not because I’m jealous of him—but if he knows more than he’s saying, I want to be there.”

  “I agree. Will the investigators tell me to stay away?”

  “Not if I’m with you. I’ll talk to them about it. See what you can set up?”

  I called Phil, and he answered on the first ring.

  I asked how he was.

  “I haven’t been arrested if that’s what you mean. They say I can go back to New York in a few days.”

  “Could we meet before then? I have some questions.”

  “Like what? Am I guilty of murder?”

  “No, Phil. I’d just like to talk to you before you go.”

  “Now’s not a good time.” He sounded nervous.

  “Someone’s there with you, is that it?”

  Phil was silent.

  “Call as soon as you’re free,” I said. “We need to talk.”

  “All right.”

  I hung up the phone and suddenly felt panicked. I seemed to be having one of Lurleen’s intuitive moments. Mason saw how agitated I’d become.

  “What is it, Ditie?”

  “I don’t know. Probably nothing. Phil’s not alone, and he sounded—I don’t know—scared maybe? I just got to thinking—if he isn’t the murderer and if he is still a target, then maybe he’s in danger. He sounded as if he couldn’t speak freely. I think I need to call Danny.”

  Lurleen walked into the kitchen with a well-scrubbed little boy. “Did I hear Danny’s name mentioned? Is he joining us?”

  Mason nodded at me. “I’ll fill her in.”

  Lurleen followed him into the living room, and I heard them speaking quietly for a few seconds.

  “How’s my boy?” I said to Jason. In the last few weeks, he no longer ran around with his cape and superheroes. I kind of missed those days.

  “Can I read to you?”

  “What do you mean, Jason?”

  “I can read now, Mommy.”

  “You’ll have to show me.” Together we walked into the family room. Mason and Lurleen were seated outside on the front porch.

  We found a book Jason and I both loved—Where the Wild Things Are. I turned the pages and Jason read to me. Mostly, I suspected he’d memorized it the way I had. When he forgot we said the words together. Lucie joined us.

  She saw that I thought Jason was pretending to read. “No, Aunt Di, Jason really can read. Show her!”

  Lucie pointed to a word, and Jason pronounced it clearly.

  “When did this happen?” I asked.

  “It was supposed to be a surprise,” Lucie said. “Lurleen and Jason and I worked this summer to get Jason ready for kindergarten.”

  “You don’t have to be reading in kindergarten,” I said.

  “It can’t hurt,” Lurleen said as
she joined us. “And besides Jason pretty much did it on his own, didn’t he Lucie?”

  “He did.”

  “You are all full of surprises!” I said.

  Jason grinned.

  “Lucie, you two want to read some more, while Lurleen and I fix dinner?”

  Lucie nodded.

  Once we were out of earshot, I asked Lurleen about Danny.

  “Phil told him to take a break, which meant someone was coming over. He’s going to check on him now.”

  “Good. I may be overreacting, but I’ll feel a lot better knowing Danny’s there.”

  “If it is just a one night stand you’re interrupting, Phil will be annoyed.” Lurleen said and smiled.

  “I don’t care if Phil’s annoyed as long as he stays alive.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  I tried to keep myself occupied in the kitchen. It was too hot to eat a heavy meal, so Mason agreed to grill hot dogs and hamburgers. Lurleen and I worked on a fruit salad and shucked corn she’d bought from the Dekalb Farmer’s Market.

  I waited for the phone to ring saying Phil was safe and I’d sent Danny on a wild goose chase. Lurleen could see how anxious I was.

  “Danny’s in five o’clock rush hour,” she said. “You know how Buckhead is at that hour. He won’t even be close.”

  “If that’s supposed to make me feel better, it isn’t doing the trick. Maybe I’ll call Tommy. He’s lives five minutes away from the Whitley.”

  Before Lurleen could stop me, I had Tommy on his cell.

  “You’re going to think I’m crazy, but are you at home?”

  “I am,” Tommy said. “Josh and I are deciding what to do this evening.”

  “I have an idea for you. Would you mind going to the Whitley for a drink and calling up Phil Brockton while you’re there?”

  “What’s going on, Ditie?”

  I explained my irrational worries to him as best I could. He responded that he’d never seen me in this state before. He was clearly skeptical, but he and Josh agreed to head to the Whitley anyway.