What could I do to help expedite clearing my name? With Larkin on one side and Ripple on the other in Apple Grove’s police force—at least I hoped Ripple was on my side—what could I expect them to do for me? For Ivanna? And was that even legal for Larkin to work the case?
I had to make a list. Questions to ask. Things to do. People to see. I got out my phone again and started texting notes to myself through my e-mail account and wishing Elvis was here now. He had such a methodical way of dealing with evidence.
Virgil…he was on my side too, though he seemed to be unconcerned about the fact there was a real killer running around Apple Grove. Of course Virgil would defend me, but I couldn’t believe there was enough of a case to get that far. Being arrested was different from going to trial.
I contented myself with all the steps Virgil had laid out for me before I’d have to undergo a trial. A lot could happen.
Mom had been on to something yesterday.
On the tiny phone keypad, I typed 1. Who had signed the complaint so that a warrant was issued?
Jason Clark.
There was no question I had been at the scene. The dispute was how long I had been there. Had it been long enough to commit murder? Somebody had the coroner’s report which would give time of death. And I had a public alibi, having been at work in sight of many people all day. The window of opportunity—listen to my legalese—was well documented.
Which led me to 2. Mom thought that arresting me was a distraction. Jason Clark. Hmm…what did they think I’d vandalized at Ivana’s place? And I explained that the door to her place was open, so I didn’t break and enter. Wasn’t there some kind of way they could check the door and its lock, to see no one had tampered with it?
3. Follow the money.
Ruby had started that ball rolling and Martha pushed it along. I needed to talk to them too. Privately. According to my release on bail, I needed to stay within city limits and call the police desk once a day from my land line at home.
I trailed my hand along the railing of the bridge as I walked across and turned around. Just for a change of scenery I leaned over the other side on my way back. Water gushed between rocks, so clear I could see minnows darting about over pretty, multi-colored stones on the riverbed. I felt like one of those minnows on the hunt, constantly searching for the next meal, shelter, a mate, a place to nest and raise offspring before a bigger fish would come along and…
A wink of reflected light made me turn my head. In his police cruiser, Larkin rolled slowly by, window cranked down. He stared at me as he drove, like one of those silent threat scenes in noir films. It would have been much scarier if his hair hadn’t blown in his eyes.
I went to sit on a metal bench planted on the gravel path winding along the riverbank. Some green stuff poked through the winter cover of dead grass and a big dandelion swelled with buds. Maybe I dozed despite the burning chill of my thighs, but my phone chirping with a text roused me. Wow, the sky was dimming.
Adam had left me an “I love you” message a couple of hours ago. I shook off the wooziness. I hadn’t even heard that one come in.
The new message was from Addy. Patients were all done for the day, she texted. I should go back to the clinic to meet her and we’d go out for supper. I responded with “on my way.”
She was on her office computer, finishing some notes when I arrived. She printed a list of current hospitalized animals and their feed for me.
I went to work, caring for the dozen she kept. When I was a cage ahead of Two, she joined me.
“I’ll watch for this strain of flu around Apple Grove. Something’s odd about it. The other kittens don’t have any symptoms, do they?”
“Nope.” I changed the water in the bowl while Addy stroked his scruff. “The kittens are old enough to give away soon,” I said, my voice soft. I had gotten used to their antics and was a little reluctant to part with them, even though I could handpick their new humans and there wasn’t room, really, to keep them. “I started offering some soft food last week.”
“That’s good. The right way to handle things,” Addy said, smiling her encouragement. “I don’t have any pets in the house. Not since Otto, my lab, passed on three years ago. Colleen was so busy with school and I just couldn’t bear to bring in another pet.”
“You deal with animals all day. Going home to another one might feel like going home to more work.”
She took care of the last two creatures on the list, a potbellied pig on a special diet and a puppy with an infected paw. “Pets have a way of filling the empty spots.”
“Yes. Yes, they do.”
Addy removed her lab coat and stuffed it in the laundry basket for the service to pick up. We turned out lights and headed for my car. “Colleen’s out with friends tonight. Let’s get take-out and go back to your house,” she said. We usually took turns at each other’s home.
Back at my place, once we were set up with TV trays, drinks, and forks for when we got tired of messing with chopsticks, she got down to business.
“So, how are the wedding plans coming since we postponed dress shopping?” She dipped and twisted her head to catch a noodle dangling precariously from her chopsticks. “I have your not-surprise bridal shower nearly put together, goofy games and all.” She slurped the noodle and winked. “Plenty of rolls of toilet paper for ‘dress the bride.’”
I might have once boo-hissed the whole girly wedding stuff, especially after the last time when things hadn’t gone so well and I ended up spending a couple hundred dollars returning shower and wedding gifts, not to mention wasting money on the dress and flowers. But now…this wedding had become real, and I appreciated every little thing. My heart wept inside with gratitude for my friends. She hadn’t mentioned the date and time for the shower, since it was supposed to be a surprise. I hoped I didn’t schedule anything else on the same day. Like a date with a prison cell. “Oh, Addy. What if…what if…”
She wrapped her arms around me. We sat on the sofa and she let me cry.
There were only so many friends in my new town who appreciated my situation.
“I-I don’t even know if I’m a-allowed to get m-married while I’m su-suspected of murder.”
“Colleen said the police came and arrested you right at the store.”
I sat back and wiped my face with a brown recycled paper napkin from Lo-Mah’s. “I had a good-sized audience. At least they didn’t clap.”
Her brown eyes were wide with concern, then narrowed with empathy. “Oh, Ivy. People are grateful for what you did when Donald was murdered. I’m sure no one believes you could kill anyone. What possible motive could you have?”
“Jason Clark thinks I could. Her fiancé. Were you aware she and Stanley were—used to, I mean—date each other?”
Addy burst out laughing. “Ivanna and Stanley Brewer? No way!” She was even more in the dark than I had been. “So, what, you were jealous?” She slapped her knee. Any minute she’d be rolling on my floor.
It wasn’t really that funny. “I found candy from Stanley’s company on the floor near her hand. The police think it was poisoned and that’s what killed her.”
“Oh, no.”
“That’s why Stanley was arrested.”
She regained control of herself. “I thought the police said Ivanna’s death was an accident.”
“Just at first. That’s what they reported on the radio. They must have thought Stanley had been there.”
“And poisoned her? For what? So, like, the two of you were in collusion?” She held up my left hand. “Who’s forgetting about this? I’m so sorry, Ivy. Stanley’s kind of an odd guy, isn’t he?”
So was I. An odd girl, that was. I pulled my hand back and admired Adam’s ring. “I don’t know. Why would Ivanna’s fiancé think I’d kill her? He obviously doesn’t think it’s an accident, either. There’s got to be more to it than jealousy.” I dropped my voice. “Apparently Ivanna was about to come into money.”
“Money? Who has money around A
pple Grove? Even the people who have money don’t have cash—they have paper.”
I twisted my lips. “She deserves the truth.”
“Ivy. You’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking. Are you?”
“It worked last time, didn’t it? Ripple needed all the help he could get to solve Donald’s murder.”
“He already figured it out. We sort of got in his way.”
“That’s not how I remember it.” I pushed my tray back, stood, and peered out the front window.
“Oh, Ivy. I’ve got your back, don’t worry. You know I’ll help you do what it takes to make sure the truth comes out. Ivanna wasn’t exactly adored around here. She was almost fired a few times from Tiny’s—”
“Except the customers liked her.”
“Her outfits,” Addy amended. “And she’d hardly gotten started on the radio. Not exactly a celebrity.”
“But she was their celebrity, and I’ll always be an outsider. If I ask for a jury trial, it will probably have to be held down in Cairo.” I choked out a laugh. “You should have heard what her mother said to me and my mom when we met her last weekend.”
“You met Doralynn Pressman?”
“Yeah, you know her?” I wandered back and picked up my cold chicken lo mein.
“Know her? Man, I almost had her arrested. Twice. The way she treated that Pekapoo she had…” Her jaw clenched. Addy sure got torn up over any hint of animal abuse.
“Pekapoo?”
“Pekinese poodle mix. Little companion dogs. Hers was Gusty. He had such a cute little face and sweet ears. But whenever she wanted to go off with Margaret on some trip, or some tennis tournament, she’d leave him alone. Sometimes, for days. Dogs aren’t like cats. They can’t ration their food and generally don’t train well. She’d be so upset when she came home, and he’d made a mess in the house.”
I coughed. What kind of a woman would leave a dog home alone for days? “Her daughter or neighbors wouldn’t help?”
“Apparently not.” A thoughtful expression crossed her smooth face, giving her a blank look for a minute. “There’s no love lost between Doralynn and Melody Clark.”
“Clark? Someone who’s related to Jason?”
“If Doralynn is a coldish, wanna-be social climber tornado, Jason’s mother, Melody, is a gentle, likeable southern lady, but self-centered and selfish underneath.”
I must have had skepticism all over my face, for she looked at me and laughed.
“The kind who is willing to do whatever it took to never to be hungry again.”
“Yeah, yeah. But how is Melody hungry? I got the impression the Clarks were rich.” Though come to think of it, I didn’t know why I thought that. “I guess I don’t know where that came from. No one talks about the Clarks much.”
“I don’t mean physically hungry. Melody is a widow and from what I heard, raised Jason alone. I don’t know about rich, but certainly well-enough to do whatever they want. She’s very proper, though, and wants to make sure her son has all the right opportunities. She’s always been a protective and indulgent mom, letting him have flying lessons and getting him a sports car when he graduated from high school. Prep, of course. My aunt knows someone who knows them. Besides the death of his father, his favorite teacher died at a young age, a sort of mentor/father figure, I believe. Jason took it hard. Later, he flunked out of college and then got a two-year degree. Melody is some bigwig over in Colby, at Emblem Paper Works.”
Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding…bells went off in my head. “But that’s how this whole mess started!”
9
Addy froze at my blurted statement about the paper company. I had a sudden urge to close the drapes across my black hole of a front window and pulled the cord to make them whoosh shut. I saw faces everywhere, staring, calculating how…
Addy still held her chopsticks with a dangling noodle when I turned back to her. She closed her mouth with a snap and set the chopstick down on her plate.
“Your arrest for murder started with paper?” she asked. “I thought…”
“Um…well, not exactly that.” I twisted my hands together, my engagement ring cutting into the skin of my other hand. I remembered with a grimace that I was involved in an active murder case—one that started with finding a dead body after gallantly attempting to deliver her mis-mailed wedding invitations. I wasn’t just involved—I was the accused.
I dropped back on the sofa and fanned myself, unsure what I could and couldn’t say. “It’s no secret I tried to do a good turn. It’s just that…we both, Ivanna and I, had our wedding invitations done at Emblem. And there was a mix-up. Do you think I…maybe I was the target somehow? I mean, I don’t even get why I would think that. With her invitations coming to me, me going over there…but the killer wouldn’t know…” I threw up my hands then buried my face in them.
My friend patted my arm. “Oh, Ivy. You are way overthinking things. There’s no reason anyone would want to hurt you. Is there?”
I shook my head.
Addy soothed my back. “This will work out. If anyone’s taught me that, it’s you.”
She was right. I had nothing for anyone to envy—except maybe my fiancé. No, I hadn’t been the target of anything nefarious. I considered what Addy had been through in the past. She had been accused, too, once, but of a wrong she’d been coerced into doing as a poor student putting herself through graduate school. She’d been threatened and blackmailed.
Addy leaned back and folded her hands. “I guess we probably shouldn’t be talking about the…ah, facts of the case, should we?”
I shook my head. Lo mein churned in my stomach.
“You have an attorney?”
“Virgil Toynsbee,” I choked out.
“Good. He’s the wisest man I know. You’re in good hands.” She went back to her plate and gobbled up the rest of her meal.
As I registered what Addy said about Virgil, and how it made sense that everything would work out, my stomach went back into proper digestion mode. I picked up a noodle with my fork—no way would chopsticks ever be an extension of my fingers—and dangled it into my mouth to chew and swallow. “I never dreamed my good deed would lead to my being accused of murder. Ivanna’s wedding is—was—the week before…before mine. Is. My wedding will be. Has to be.” Misery rebuilt. I let my fork clatter on the plate once again.
“Hey, girlfriend!” Addy scooted over and shook my shoulder. “None of that. We have a duty to each other. Our lives will be changing big time soon. We promised to be there, remember?”
“Of course. How can I be so selfish when you’re about to become an empty-nester?”
She grinned. “When you’re about to fill yours. Hard to consider being alone. I don’t think I ever have been.”
The sight of her plaintive expression marring her pretty complexion, brows drawn tight, and drooping lips beat back my feeling of woe. I hadn’t minded being alone, but not everyone could handle it. “Listen, we’ll always be buddies, able to tell each other anything. Almost anything. No one’s will ruin that. Being alone doesn’t mean you have to be lonely. You’re still young.”
She sat up and gave me the evil eye. “None of that. No matchmaking, please!”
“Besides, I’ll be too busy working magic on Mom.” I sat back and grinned. “Not that she needs much help.”
“Oh?”
“It’s pretty early, but I’ll let you know when I need you to help out. So, what else do we need to do for Colleen’s graduation party?”
We spent another hour on the joys of her newly-minted adult daughter ready to spread her wings after high school. Adam was letting us use Mea Cuppa after hours for a party for her, but it would be later, a combination graduation/going off to college deal.
Addy put her hand over her mouth to catch a yawn and I couldn’t stop myself from following. She put on her coat in preparation to leave.
“Let’s get together again on Saturday,” I said as we walked to the door.
“After work
, yes, let’s.” Addy faced me and bent to give me a quick hug. “Thanks. Not just for listening, but for letting me be here for you. Sometimes…a person just needs to be needed.”
“Do I understand what you mean. You keep me sane.” At her laugh, I amended, “Saner.” I wasn’t quite ready to be alone and kept the conversation going with another thought. “So, Colleen’s getting a class ring after all?” The topic had been an after-school discussion at the shop for nearly a week—whether she should spend the money on one or not.
“I told her it was a good keepsake and that I’d pay for it. I’ll march my credit card over to the jewelers tomorrow. Friday already.” She yawned. “And, say, I promise to keep my ears open about any…gossip. About anything.” She clenched her fist and smacked it into her other palm. “And make sure nobody gets away with slandering my bestie. Now I gotta run. See you.” She winked and took off.
I needed all the ears I could get. And sympathy.
Isis glided from the shadows and wound herself around my ankles before going to drink from her bowl. She regarded me with her glinting eyes, reflecting light from the dim back door bulb. I blinked reflexively when she did. She chortled for no reason before padding back up the steps.
Up and down…up and down. I wasn’t used to so much turmoil. I had led a boring life with my messenger business when I lived in Maplewood and had been Stanley’s fiancée for all those years. That was how I’d always identified myself, I realized. As belonging to someone else. First, as Geneva’s daughter, then as Stanley’s fiancée. Stanley had done me a huge favor when he chickened out of our wedding. I’d been able to make a clean break, move away and start over.
My relationship with Adam was different. We belonged to each other. Ivanna wasn’t getting in my way of finding true happiness, dead or alive. I’d been content as a single businesswoman homeowner, just like Addy. And happiness was relative. Adam was a big part of my happiness, but he didn’t make me happy or unhappy. I was in charge of that myself. What made me happy now was knowing I had a lot of people who believed in me and appreciated me. Virgil, and Addy, Adam, Elvis, and Mom…we would all pool our resources to make things right.
Meow Matrimony Page 8