A Grave End

by Wendy Roberts

  “Barb!” I called out.

  She looked over her shoulder as she reached the driver’s door and pinched her lips together into a firm line when she saw it was me.

  “I was wondering if I could ask you—”

  “I have nothing to say to you,” she said.

  “I understand you know that Alice was cheating on Roscoe, and I was wondering if you knew who she was sleeping with?” It was a risky question because she hadn’t actually told that to Ray, he’d only been able to get that information off her when he’d done a reading.

  “I’m not a gossip, Ms. Hall, so I don’t know who’s filling your head with lies.” Barb looked around at the other shoppers walking nearby and waved to another older woman. “I’d appreciate it if you’d just leave well enough alone.”

  “You have a child. A son,” I pushed.

  “Don’t talk about my—”

  “If he was dead and his remains were missing, you’d want to give them a proper burial in a Christian cemetery, right? That’s all I’m trying to do for Alice.”

  “Alice wasn’t a Christian, and even if she was, it’s too late for her now.”

  “But not for her family. They would like to see her remains found.”

  “Alice has no family to speak of, or hadn’t you heard her father’s dead and her mother took off to Florida to shack up with another adulterer? Like mother, like daughter.”

  “Like mother, like daughter? So you do know she was unfaithful to Roscoe. It would be so helpful to know who she was with. What if that person is the one who killed Alice and not Roscoe?”

  She ignored me and when she opened the door to her van and climbed in, I stepped even closer so she couldn’t close her door.

  “Alice has a sister, Lois,” I said, my mind racing. I hurriedly added, “Lois is a Christian. She found faith while in prison and she’s looking to make things right for Alice by giving her a proper burial.”

  A number of emotions tripped across Barb’s face. I could tell she was surprised by this revelation about Lois. Considering it was a complete fabrication on my part, she had a right to also have that skeptical look on her face.

  “I heard Lois was out of prison, but I didn’t know she was back in town.”

  “She’s living in Bellingham,” I said. “Working doing janitorial services and trying to live a decent life.”

  At least those statements were true.

  “As I told you before, Ms. Hall, I have no interest in supporting you and your devil-worshipping dowsing rods.” She stiffened her spine and put her hand on her door to close it. “I’m glad Lois has gotten right with the Lord but nothing I know could possibly help find Alice.”

  “It might though,” I insisted. “If I can find out who Alice was stepping out with, that could lead me to find her body because it could connect me to her killer.”

  “No, it won’t make one bit of difference,” she said angrily. “Now, I’ve got groceries in my car and I need to get home to make a meal for my son.”

  With that, she slammed her van door shut, and I had to step out of the way or she would’ve backed right over me.

  “She’s a real piece of work, ain’t she, Beanster?”

  I turned to see Blossom unloading a shopping cart in the next stall.

  “Don’t get me wrong, she actually used to be kind of a cool lady. She even babysat me when I was younger.” She opened the trunk of her car and put a couple grocery bags in it. “She’d make milk and cookies for us and stuff, but her son was such a wack job that I think she went chasing religion to try and help him. Not that it helped.”

  “She sure doesn’t like me. All I want is to try and find Alice.” I tilted my head. “Did you hear that Alice was sleeping around while she was married to Roscoe?”

  “People say the stupidest things, don’t they?” Blossom put her hands on her hips and smiled. “Alice loved that loser Roscoe. And Alice could not lie. If she tried to fib, she’d turn beet red. If I wanted to know if I looked good in my new jeans, I’d just ask Alice. She was too polite to say no, but if she said yes and then turned bright red, I knew she was telling a whopper.”

  “That doesn’t answer my question, Blossom.”

  She sighed. “Alice didn’t have it in her to have an affair. That would require being devious and secretive.” She pointed a finger at me. “And, yes, I know about Roscoe giving her permission to get knocked up by somebody else.”

  “What? You knew that?” The look of stunned surprise on my face caused Blossom to giggle.

  “Sure. She was my friend, you know. One night she told me all about how Roscoe had bad swimmers and couldn’t get her pregnant. She was desperate to have a baby but even after he said she could get knocked up by someone else she said she just couldn’t do it.”

  “But Roscoe said she did do it and even had a miscarriage before they split up.”

  “Well...” Blossom seemed to be weighing her words. “Alice knew I used to get around and she confided in me about the arrangement with Roscoe because she wanted me to fix her up with an ex or two.”

  “And did you?”

  “I gave her a couple names and numbers of guys I knew wouldn’t have any trouble bedding her just for the fun of it.”

  “Do you think I could get those names?”

  “Not a chance.” Blossom laughed and walked around to her driver’s door. “I know those guys and I know you’d only be pointing a finger their way as if they killed Alice. Which they didn’t.” She gave me a wave. “I’ve gotta go.” She pointed at my Jeep. “And get your shit together, Beanster. Obviously, people are tired of you asking about Alice. You know how people say you can never come home again?” She smirked. “In your case I think that’s true.”

  I walked back to my vandalized Jeep and watched Blossom squeal out of the lot.

  “They had all their gluten-free stuff on sale,” Tracey said as she opened the rear passenger door and unloaded four grocery bags. “I always feel better when I avoid gluten but it’s so expensive to eat that way on a regular basis.” She closed the back door and hopped into the passenger seat. “What’s wrong? Why aren’t you talking?”

  “If it wasn’t for the huge amount of blood found at the scene, I’d start to believe Alice faked her own death. Nothing about this makes sense. It’s like this entire town is in on some big secret except me.” I started up the Jeep and backed out of the spot. “Something about this Alice situation is all wrong.”

  “Well, sure, because she was killed but there’s no body, and you’re working for the guy who went to prison for killing her, so everything about this is so truly wrong.”

  “You’re not helping.”

  I drove south toward home. Tracey turned on the radio and bopped along to a rap station while I seethed over everything I knew and didn’t know about the case so far. When I took an exit, Tracey turned off the radio.

  “We’re going to Bellingham? Heading to that big mall? Because I’m always in the market for new shoes.”

  “We’re not going to the mall. I want to talk to Alice’s sister.”

  I accelerated to get to the office building for Alice’s three o’clock start. We made it with only a few minutes to spare. I backed the Jeep into a spot behind the office building.

  “This is where I met up with Lois when she was about to start her shift,” I told Tracey. “She does janitorial services here.”

  “You’ve thought of different questions to ask her?”

  “Same questions but I’m hoping for better answers.”

  An older Volkswagen Beetle pulled into the spot beside me and a forties woman climbed out. She was wearing the same blue cargo pants and white polo shirt with the logo that Lois had worn.

  I jumped out of the Jeep and approached her. “Excuse me?”

  “Yes?” She looked over her shoulder in my direction but kept
walking. She had her hand on the door to the building before she stopped and eyed me suspiciously.

  “I’m looking for Lois. Do you know if she’s working today?”

  “Who are you?” She let go of the door and folded her arms. She stole a glance at the Jeep and then shook her head. “I shouldn’t be talking to you.”

  When she moved to open the door again, I pleaded with her.

  “Wait! Please,” I begged. “I’m just trying to help find her sister and I want to talk to Lois so that—”

  “You ain’t going to get nothing out of Lois,” the woman said, exhaling loudly. “Someone broke into her apartment last night and sliced her to ribbons. She’s barely hanging on at Bellingham Memorial.”

  I stood in stunned silence and could only stare after the woman’s back as she disappeared inside the building. Climbing back behind the wheel of my car, I leaned forward and rested my head on the steering wheel.

  “What is it?” Tracey asked.

  “Someone attacked Lois last night.”

  “Oh my God, is she okay?”

  “No.” I straightened and looked at Tracey with my eyebrows drawn together in concern. “She’s in the hospital. Someone broke into her apartment and cut her up. Lois’s coworker there said she was barely hanging on. I don’t know if she’s conscious, but I’d like to go see. There’s a chance that whoever killed Alice also tried to kill Lois.”

  “Don’t you think that’s up to the police?”

  I backed out of the spot and exited to the main road.

  “Definitely.” I looked at Tracey. “But we’re still going to see her.”

  We made a stop at the flower shop on the main floor of the hospital because Tracey said it was bad form to visit empty-handed. When we entered Lois’s hospital room, I drew in a sharp breath at the sight of her. She was asleep or unconscious, her head and arms were completely wrapped in gauze, and in a few locations patches of blood seeped through. A young man was sitting in a chair next to the bed with a black purse on his lap. He got to his feet when we approached the bed.

  “Isn’t it awful?” He looked distraught. “Who would do such a thing?”

  “It’s horrible,” I said. “I’m Julie and this is Tracey. And you are?”

  “Bill.” He nodded to Lois. “I’m her landlord and also her friend. She lives in my basement suite. This morning the alarm on her phone was going off nonstop so I went downstairs to check on her and I—” He choked on his words. “I found her all cut up. I thought she was dead. They said she would’ve been if I had found her a few minutes later.”

  “Did you hear anyone break in?” Tracey asked. She walked over and placed the bouquet on a bedside table.

  He shook his head. “I work third shift. When I was walking in my house this morning that’s when I could hear her alarm. She likes to get up early and is usually going out for a run when I’m coming home. When her alarm kept going off I figured maybe she went out for a jog and forgot her phone. I was beat and wanted to sleep so I let myself into her place to turn off her alarm so it wouldn’t keep me awake. I got my key and let myself in...” His shaky hand gestured vaguely to Lois. “She was already unconscious. There was so much blood.” He swallowed and closed his eyes. “I brought her purse.” He pointed to the black bag he’d put on his chair when he got up. “I thought she might need it for, you know, insurance and stuff.”

  “Good idea,” I told him. “You must be exhausted after working all night. Why don’t you go home and rest? I’ll make sure the nurses put her handbag in a locker or something.”

  “Okay. Thank you so much.”

  He looked immensely relieved to turn responsibility of the handbag over to someone else. I took the purse from him and he ran a hand through his hair.

  “Do you think she’ll be okay?”

  “I hope so,” I told him. I asked for his phone number. “That way if I hear of any updates on her condition, I’ll pass them along.”

  “Good idea.”

  He gave me his number and then hurried out. As soon as he was gone, I took his seat and began going through Lois’s purse.

  “He didn’t even ask how we know Lois,” Tracey said.

  “The poor guy’s a mess. Definitely in shock.”

  Lois’s handbag contained all the usual things. I unzipped the various compartments checking for anything that might be helpful.

  “You’re not going to hand that in to the nurses, are you?” Tracey whispered.

  “Of course I am.” I unzipped an outside pocket and took out Lois’s keys and cell phone. “I’m just going to keep these for safekeeping.”

  “Really? Oh wow.” Tracey’s eyes were huge and she frantically looked left and right to make sure there weren’t witnesses to my crime. “Do you think that’s such a good idea? I mean...”

  I hushed Tracey and placed Lois’s keys and phone into my own purse. Then I walked to the head of the hospital bed and placed a gentle hand on Lois’s shoulder, one of the few places not bandaged. I leaned in and whispered in her ear, “I’m so sorry you got hurt. I’m going to do my best to figure out who did this to you,” I promised. “You just keep fighting, okay?”

  I left her purse with the nurses, who promised to lock it away. I also gave the nurse my name and number and told her I was as close to family as she had. Which was probably true.

  “Could you please call me if she wakes up?”

  The nurse promised she would.

  Once we were back in the car I called my insurance company and made arrangements to drop the Jeep off.

  “You’re wasting no time, huh?” Tracey said. “I understand. Driving around in this thing is like driving a neon billboard of weirdness.”

  “It sure is.” I exited the onramp and merged on to the highway. “Also, Garrett is coming home tonight and I don’t want him to see it.”

  “You’re not going to tell him what happened?”

  “I will,” I told her. “But telling him and him seeing it in our driveway are two different things. He worries.”

  “Yeah, I worry about you too. I even worry about Ray. I mean, what if he actually ends up interviewing the murderer? He could grab their hands to do a reading and totally figure out that they’re the ones that did it.” She visibly shuddered. “I wish he’d back off.”

  I hadn’t thought about how much risk he was in. “I’m sure that if he does come across the killer and gives that person a reading, he’ll play it perfectly cool until he’s safe.”

  “I hope so.”

  I let Tracey turn up the radio so she could sing along and be distracted.

  Just as we got close to the body shop where I’d be leaving the Jeep, Tracey began messaging on her phone. A big smile played on her lips as she texted.

  “I don’t even want to know what you two are messaging,” I said with a smile. The rain slapped the windshield and I turned the wipers up to high. “I do know that things between you two are moving pretty fast.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with fast.” Tracey tucked her phone between her knees and looked over at me. “You and Garrett got together pretty quickly too, right?”

  “That was...different.” I frowned, remembering how we came together. A mess of need and desire while I was helping find bodies hidden by a serial killer. The case had thrown us together and ripped my entire world apart.

  “Sorry.” Tracey leaned over and put a hand on my arm. “I know that wasn’t a good time for you, but look how it ended, right? You and Garrett are like a big happily ever after romance novel or something.”

  “I wouldn’t go that far.”

  I thought about the wedge that had grown between us since my night at Wayland Canteen. Garrett acted like everything was fine, but everything was wrong and I didn’t know how to make up for that fiasco. “Garrett and I aren’t perfect. We have issues.”

  My issues.


  “That just makes you normal,” Tracey said and I hoped she was right.

  I pulled into the body shop parking lot. It was just a couple miles from home and only half a block down from Wayland Canteen. Being this close to that place caused my hands to sweat.

  After the paperwork was done, the shop gave me a loaner car and before long we were on our way. I slowed the car down as I drove past Wayland Canteen and my heart pounded painfully.

  Tracey followed my gaze out the window and noticed the pub. “It’s okay. You need to forgive yourself.”

  I was coming out of the bathroom and the guy with the beard and mustache had me in his arms. He was breathing something in my ear and holding me too close against his body.

  A few blocks later I was pulling up to Tracey’s apartment.

  “I meant what I said about forgiveness.” Tracey leaned across the console to give me an awkward hug. “It was one night. You drank too much and you lost your ring. So what? It’s not like you killed someone.”

  “That’s not all. I-I didn’t tell you everything,” I whispered. My mouth went dry as I tried to find the words to tell her what I hadn’t even shared with Dr. Chen or Garrett. “That night I—” I swallowed a thick lump in my throat. “I might have been with someone. I may have...” I shut my eyes tight and a fat tear squeezed between my lashes and tracked a line down my face. “I-I may have cheated on Garrett.”

  Chapter Ten

  Tracey sat in stunned silence as if trying to fathom the fact that her best friend could be not only a drunk but an adulterer. I sobbed quietly until a loud jagged moan escaped my lips, and finally Tracey broke the silence.

  “Look.” She grabbed my hand in both of hers and squeezed. “You would never, not ever, do something to hurt Garrett. I’ve literally watched you run into a spray of bullets to save him.”

  “B-b-but...” The word came out on a hiccup of emotion.

  “No buts.” She squeezed my hand again. “If—and this is a huge if—you did end up with someone else briefly because you were too drunk to know better, I’m going to say that doesn’t count.”