Annalise was excited to see me when I walked in. “Please tell me that coffee is for me,” she joked. “It’s been so dead in here the last hour. I can hardly stay awake!”
I handed it to her. “It is for you actually!”
She looked surprised. “I was only kidding but thank you! I really do need it!” She took a sip and smiled. “Ah, liquid energy!”
I knew I needed to head out, but I had to ask her about Kent. “So,” I started. “You and Kent are pretty good friends?”
She laughed. “Yeah, he has a thing for me, but I’m not into him. I have Les and I couldn’t be happier.” She beamed and I knew it was true.
“You knew he liked you?” I asked, surprised.
“Oh yeah, he’s not real subtle, but I’m pretty sure he thinks he is.”
“He asked me how serious you and Les were the other day.”
“I’m not surprised. He tells me all the time Les and I aren’t right for each other, that we’re complete opposites. But I think that’s what makes me and Les right. We complement each other, you know?”
I did know. They were very different people. But they were the same in the right ways.
“Les doesn’t feel threatened by him or anything?” I asked.
She shrugged. “I don’t think so.” Then she smiled. “Les knows he has my heart.”
I sighed. I wanted that. Maybe one day I would have it, or maybe I’d be cursed with bad timing, bad men, and bad mistakes my whole life. I shook that thought from my head, remembering something Grandma had told me months ago. The first time you do something wrong it’s a mistake, but if you keep repeating it, it’s a decision. I was making better decisions, and eventually that would lead to better outcomes, right? I sighed again and glanced at Annalise who looked like she was daydreaming, most likely about Les. I would be that happy one day. And I believed it with all of my heart.
Grandma and I sat at Rosa’s café and sipped our sweet tea. I looked at my phone and it felt like déjà vu. “She’s late again.”
Grandma frowned. “I know. I have a feeling she’s ditching us again today.”
“Why?” I asked. “Why make a lunch date with us and then not show up? She could’ve just said she was busy.”
Grandma’s phone rang and she glanced down at it. “It’s Virginia.”
While she was on the phone, I looked through the menu. Usually at restaurants, I ordered the same thing. But here, I loved almost everything on the menu, making my decision very difficult.
“Well,” Grandma said hanging up. “I guess it’s just you and me for lunch again today. Virginia just spotted Delores going into Dr. Fernsby’s office.”
“Who’s that?” I asked.
“Dr. Fernsby, Hattie’s dentist. And apparently Delores’s.” Grandma thought for a moment. “It’s strange, though. Virginia said she saw her going in the back door. And she looked around like she was making sure no one saw her.”
“That is strange.” I answered. “But, how did Virginia even see her?”
“She and Greta were next door at the new Mediterranean place. She said it was so busy they had to park in the back and that’s how they saw her.”
Rosa came over to take our order and when she walked away Grandma and I chatted about things for a while. But the conversation came back to Delores. “Why do you think she keeps standing us up?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Grandma said, “but she’s acting very strange.”
The next day I woke up feeling off. I didn’t really feel depressed, but I didn’t feel happy either. Things were weird with Owen, the grannies and I seemed to have come to a halt with the case, and Annalise had texted me asking if I wanted to go geocaching that day. I felt bad, but I ignored her text. My world felt strange and unpredictable. Nothing felt normal or even real. I thought maybe a Mt. Dew and a Snickers would give me the caffeine and sugar jolt I needed to get my day going so I decided to run by a gas station.
As I walked out Grandma’s door and made my way to my truck, I could see there was something on my windshield. At first, I thought it was a folded t-shirt but as I got closer, I could tell it was a newspaper. My heart sank a little. Please not another code. I was so tired of this code business. And why was someone sending them to me? Just because I had found John’s body? I wanted this case to be solved. Actually, what I really wanted was to sit down with Owen and talk about things – the case, the mystery woman, us. I had really enjoyed how we had solved the last case together. It was fun to work alongside him. But this, this case felt like torture.
I grabbed the newspaper and climbed into my truck. I wanted to toss it aside and look at it once I had sugar and caffeine coursing through my body, but I was too curious. I flipped through page after page and didn’t see anything unusual until I got to the sports section. There was an article about a college basketball game. A small section of it was circled, and off to the side was a code.
LMNMIBML
The part that was circled was about the two top scorers of the evening – Lucca Harris and Jeremy Rickles. It confused me at first because it wasn’t even basketball season. I checked the date on the front of the paper. Just like the paper Owen had gotten the other day, this one was dated a few months back.
I sent a quick text to Grandma and told her about my discovery and that I thought we needed to pay another visit to Lucca. But as I hit send, I sat back in my seat. Did we really need to visit him? Couldn’t I just hand this latest information over to Owen and let him take care of it? I sat there mulling it over and after a minute or so I came to two conclusions – 1) No, I couldn’t just hand over the information and walk away. I was in too deep. And 2) I was going to need more than just a 20 oz Mountain Dew. This called for at least a two liter.
Fifteen minutes later I sat outside the gas station with my purchases. I began to happily flood my insides with carbonated joy and my brain cells started working again. I needed to text Owen with this new development. I started to text him and realized that I hadn’t even deciphered the code yet. I reached for my purse in the passenger seat so I could grab a little notebook I had been using to jot down the codes when I noticed something odd in the car parked next to me. A woman was asleep with her head on the steering wheel. At least I hoped she was asleep.
A flash of fear ran through my body. I got out of the truck and ran around to her door. I knocked on the window and the woman didn’t move. I tried the door and it was locked. I was about to call for help when the woman stirred, lifted her head and looked at me, a dazed look in her eyes. We must have recognized each other at the same time because our mouths fell open. Delores. Before I could think another thought, she put the car in reverse and flew out of the parking lot, narrowly missing my foot. Something wasn’t right with that woman.
Grandma still hadn’t returned my text, but I sent her another one. “Be ready in five minutes. I’m coming to get you. Things are getting weirder and weirder.”
25
Grandma was ready and waiting outside when I pulled up, but she wasn’t alone. Hattie was with her.
Grandma leaned into my truck and spoke quietly. “You don’t mind if Hattie comes along, do you? We were just about to go out for a late breakfast when I got your last text.”
Well, that wasn’t part of my plan, but really, how much trouble could Hattie be? Wait a minute, Hattie could be a lot of trouble. But it was too late to object now. Grandma was already telling her she could come along.
“You don’t mind riding in the truck, do you?” she said to Hattie.
Hattie beamed. “I love trucks!”
She climbed into the middle seat, adjusted the rearview mirror so she could see herself, and put on a thick layer of lipstick. “Trucks are huge guy magnets,” she said winking at me. “Gotta be ready!”
“Aren’t you already taken?” I asked her.
“Not until he puts a ring on it. Let’s ride!”
As I drove, I told them about seeing Delores.
“She was asleep in the
parking lot?” Grandma asked.
“Yep. And she freaked out when she saw me.”
Grandma took the newspaper and looked through it while I drove to Lucca’s house. “What does the code mean?” she asked.
“Oh! I was so shocked by seeing Delores I didn’t even decipher it!”
Grandma Dean pulled the notebook out of my purse and wrote it down. Then she looked up at me. “It says ‘defeated’. What do you think that means?”
“I have no idea,” I said honestly. “Lucca’s name is circled, maybe he’ll know.”
“Half of Lucca’s name is circled,” Grandma corrected. “Jeremy Rickles is completely in the circle. Maybe Jeremey is the one we need to talk to.”
I pulled onto Lucca’s street. “I think Delores is the one we need to talk to. Don’t you think it’s weird that this is the second time we’ve gotten an old newspaper and she works at the newspaper?”
Grandma nodded. “I think it’s very strange. Have you shared any of this with Owen yet?”
Oops, I had forgotten. “I’ll send him a text as soon as we pull up at Lucca’s house.”
I kept my word and pulled out my phone once we arrived at Lucca’s house. I was happy to see that his car was in the driveway. I figured he’d be in class.
I started to text Owen about the code and then felt like I should tell him about Delores too. Suddenly it felt like too much to put in a text. “Call me,” I finally sent him. “I have information.”
“Okay,” I said to Grandma and Hattie. “Let’s go to talk to Lucca again.”
We knocked and rang the doorbell, but no one answered. “He’s probably still in bed,” I told Grandma, just about ready to give up.
“Well, we’ll have to wake him,” she said, pounding on the door harder this time.
Finally, a very tired and obviously just woken Lucca answered the door, rubbing his eyes and shielding them from the bright morning sunlight that was now pouring through his door.
“What do you want? Don’t you ever sleep?”
“It’s ten o’clock,” Grandma said pushing her way inside. “Where’s your mother?”
Lucca was annoyed when he saw us standing outside, he seemed even more annoyed now that we were inside. “How am I supposed to know?” he shot back.
Suddenly I wished we had some of Greta’s cookies. They had a way of disarming people and bringing them over to our side. “Do you have anything in your purse you can give him?” I whispered to Grandma. She looked at me like I was nuts. “You know, anything that might make him want to talk?”
“I got this,” Hattie said reaching into her purse. She pulled out a gun and waved it around. “It’s time to talk punk! And show some respect to your elders!”
Lucca screamed and took cover behind a chair.
“Hattie!” Grandma yelled. “Put that away! That’s not what Nikki was talking about.”
Hattie looked surprised. “It isn’t?”
“No!” I yelled as Lucca peeked out from his hiding place. “I meant like cookies or something!”
“Oh!” Hattie said smiling calmly, then giggled to herself. “My bad, young man. Come on out.”
She put the gun away and Lucca crawled from the behind the chair, no longer looking half asleep. His eyes were huge and he was shaking. “She’s nuts!” he said as he stood up next to me.
“You have no idea,” I said back.
Hattie fished around in her purse. “I probably have something for you in here. Let’s see…Oh yes!” She pulled out a bag of pills. “The orange ones are a lot of fun!””
“Hattie!” Grandma scolded again. “Do not give this young man your drugs!”
“Fine, fine,” Hattie said digging through her purse again. She pulled out a taser, a long, thin nylon rope, and a half empty bottle of honey.
“Why do you have that in your purse?” Lucca asked confused.
“Don’t ask!” Grandma and I shouted at the same time.
Hattie just giggled and kept digging.
Grandma took control of the situation by directing us all to sit down. “Lucca, we just want to talk to you for a minute.”
“And why should I talk to you?” he asked.
This time it was Grandma who put her hand in her purse and as she did Lucca flinched. “Calm down,” Grandma said pulling out a fifty-dollar bill. “Does this help?”
Lucca reached for it and took it out of her hands. “What do you want to know?”
Grandma told him about the newspaper and how his name was circled, and the word defeated had been written in code in the margins next to it. “Any idea what that could mean?” Grandma asked him.
He shook his head. “I have no idea. As a team we’re defeated sometimes, but we only lose a few games a season. We’re really good.”
“And you can’t think of any way this could be tied to John Asuza?” I asked. He shook his head no again and looked genuinely confused about the situation.
“On this particular game did anything happen? Did he maybe talk worse about you in any of his podcasts or shows?”
Lucca thought for a minute. “Not that I can think of. Can I look at the article?”
Grandma handed him the paper and as he read it, I glanced at Hattie who was still pulling things out of her purse, a mountain of its contents sitting beside her. How did she even fit all that in there?
Hattie held up a card. “I have this signed Jackie Robinson baseball card. You know, I went on a date with his brother once.” She then pulled out a set of keys. “Wow, I haven’t seen these in years! They are the keys to my sister’s house.” She looked serious for a moment. “She told me I had them and I told her I didn’t. It started a big feud between us. She had to get all new locks on her doors.”
“Well,” Grandma said to her. “She’ll be happy to hear that you found them.”
“Not really,” Hattie said. “She died in 1982.”
Hattie added the card and set of keys to her pile and Lucca handed the paper back to Grandma.
“Does anything in the article stand out to you?” Grandma asked.
“Not really,” Lucca shrugged. “It looks like Jeremy’s name is circled, and not mine though.”
“Are you good friends with him?” Grandma asked. “Any chance you could talk him into coming over here and talking to us?”
Lucca sighed. “If it will get you crazy women to leave, I’ll do anything.”
Lucca disappeared into the kitchen and we could hear him talking on the phone. Grandma looked at the contents of Hattie’s purse that were now spilling off of the chair and onto the floor. “Nikki, please go pick that up for her.”
I got on the floor and picked up a screwdriver, a pearl bracelet, and a receipt from 1979 for a place called Woolworth’s. How had the ink not denigrated by now? I handed them all back to Hattie. “Why do you have all this stuff in your purse? Don’t you ever clean it out?”
Hattie looked shocked. “Clean it out? Why would I do that? My whole life is in here – past, present and future! Look at this!” She pulled out a tiny white shoe. “This was my daughter’s first pair of shoes. And this!” She reached into the pile next to her and pulled out a black comb. “This belonged to my husband. I can still smell his aftershave when I see this comb. He used to stand in front of the mirror every morning after he shaved and showered and would comb his hair with this.” She smiled a sweet, content smile. “It’s how I keep everyone close to me, even after all of these years.”
Lucca came in and plopped down in his chair. “Jeremy lives across the street. He’ll be here in a minute.”
We sat in silence and watched Hattie take more things from her purse. She looked at Lucca. “You want a Poptart? It hasn’t expired yet.”
“What flavor?” Lucca asked.
“I think it’s raspberry,” she answered. She passed it to him along with a bottle of orange juice. “It’s the kind that doesn’t have to be refrigerated,” she assured him.
Lucca sat there, eating the contents of Hattie’s p
urse and my own stomach growled. That Snicker’s bar didn’t last me very long. Hattie heard the growl and handed me a
Poptart as well. “Geraldine, would you like some cashews?”
“Sure,” Grandma said, reaching over and taking the nuts.
While we ate, Hattie put her collections back into her purse. She was just putting in the last item when there was a knock at the door.
Lucca answered it and a tall – maybe even taller than Lucca – young man walked in. Lucca made the introductions and Jeremy came in and sat down.
“Thank you for coming,” Grandma said to him. “We have a few questions. Do you know why someone might have circled your name in this news article and left it for us?” She handed him the paper. “And does the word ‘defeated’ mean anything to you?”
Jeremy looked it over and handed the paper back. “I have no idea.”
Well, this was going nowhere fast, as usual.
Grandma wasn’t giving up so fast. “We think it might have to do with John Asuza. Did you have any dealings with him?”
Jeremy’s face got red and he fidgeted in his seat. Bingo. He knew something.
“Look, I don’t want to start any trouble okay?”
“What do you mean?” Grandma asked. “There’s no trouble to start here. Someone keeps leaving these little clues and codes for us and we’re just trying to figure out what it all means.” Grandma told him about all the other clues and how they all relate to John Asuza. “We’re just trying to figure out this one. Why would your name be circled and the word defeated be next to it?”
Lucca leaned over to his friend and looked concerned. “Did he harass you too? I didn’t know he did that.”
Jeremy sighed. “He didn’t harass me. He…he took advantage of me.”
Lucca’s face went white.
“Not like that!” Jeremy yelled out. “Geesh Lucca, don’t be gross.”
“Well what do you mean?” Grandma asked.
Jeremy clearly didn’t want to share his story, but he started to anyway. “I play this game called Merchants of the Gods and there was this metagalactic gauntlet that I really wanted but I couldn’t get.”
Crack the Code (Glock Grannies Cozy Mystery Book 5) Page 11