by Jack Parker
"Yes, I know," Gracie muttered, unsure quite how to respond.
"It's so easy to think that if she had sold it none of this would've happened," Cynthia went on. "But of course that's silly. It wasn't the car's fault."
"No, Ma'am," Gracie said.
"You know, it was the funniest thing," Cynthia said. Her voice quavered a bit and her eyes had a faraway look; in her grief she'd come to the stage of rambling about whatever stray thought relating to her daughter came to mind. "That morning I thought I'd lost her extra key. To the car; I kept it on one of those valet things, you know, that you can detach easily. That way if she lost hers, or locked herself out, then she could come get the duplicate."
Gracie nodded, though she had no idea why Cynthia was saying this. She did, however, understand what 'that' day meant; Friday morning. She glanced behind her to appeal to her friends for help but they just shrugged, as puzzled as Gracie was.
Cynthia shrugged her shoulders and smiled wanly at her own failing. "But I must've just overlooked it somehow, because the next day when Barbara took me home there it was on my key ring when I unlocked the front door."
"That's good," Gracie said, unable to think of any other comment.
One of the women bustled up with a fresh cup of coffee for Cynthia. "So nice of you to come, and please tell Meaghan's friends that the card was much appreciated." The look in her eyes said she meant business, and that business was to get rid of Gracie and company.
"Yes, please thank them for Steve and myself. Tell them I'll keep them all in my prayers," Cynthia said.
"I'll do that, Mrs. Pruitt," Gracie said, patting Cynthia's hand. "I'll keep you and your husband in my prayers, too."
Gracie walked away, her friends following silently. At the front door she addressed one of the women. "It looks like the people from the church are doing everything possible to help the Pruitts but if you should need anything, please don't hesitate to call the school and I know Meaghan's friends will be glad to help."
"Thank you, I'll do that," the woman replied, though it was clear to Gracie that she didn't really mean it. "I guess someone should call and let the principal know when the funeral will be, too."
"Please," Gracie said. "A lot of us will be there. I'm sure Mrs. Baker won't say anything if it's during school hours, so just let us know. Thank you for the pie, and good night."
As they walked out they all felt as if they'd escaped from something; they heaved a collective sigh of relief as the door shut behind them. Kelly put his arm around Gracie's waist and pulled her closer as they walked to the car, though he said nothing.
"I feel smothered," Cheryl said once they got in the car. "Roll the windows down a little, Kelly; I can still smell all the cologne those women drenched themselves in!"
"I can't really blame the men for being off by themselves, but you'd think Steve would want to be with his wife," Kelly said.
Gracie reached over to lay her hand on his arm. "That's because you're a good guy; you'd want to be with your wife at a time like that."
He patted her hand briefly before returning his attention to driving. "And I'd want her to be there with me."
"Enough of this mushy stuff!" Cheryl quipped. "I felt a lot of obligation in that house, but not a lot of love."
"Those ladies wouldn't have been there if they didn't care for the Pruitts," Shawna said. "Besides, I don't think there's really anything they could do to take away their pain right now."
"I wasn't talking about the Sunday School class," Cheryl retorted. "Hey, did you notice that Cynthia was wearing Meaghan's purity ring on a chain around her neck?"
"Yeah, I did," Shawna said. "You'd think she'd throw it away or something."
"I think that's why they made up the idea that she'd been raped," Gracie said. "That way the purity ring – and its underlying promise – still counted because rape implies it was against her will."
"I think you're right. She's the kind who'd deny the truth of something just because it didn't fit in with her beliefs," Cheryl said.
"I can sort of see why Meaghan did it, though," Shawna reflected.
"Sure," Kelly agreed. "Her dad's a work-a-holic who buys her things instead of spending time with her, and her mother's too busy with bake sales, fellowship dinners, and committee meetings to pay much attention to her."
"Kelly! You're certainly showing your sensitive side tonight," Cheryl teased.
"He's right, though," Gracie said. "She wanted attention so badly she'd do anything to get it. It looks like she picked the wrong guy, always assuming we're right that it's Jake. But I just can't believe he'd kill her because she was pregnant."
Wednesday morning Gracie and Shawna stood on the steps waiting for Cheryl and Kelly. The plan was to take a long stroll through the parking lot and hope that Jake had gone to lunch with someone and left his truck there; they wanted to see if it could possibly have been the vehicle that hit both Madison's and Emily's cars.
"What's taking them so long?" Shawna wanted to know.
"Cheryl probably had to clean up after Home Ec., but I don't know where Kelly is. Maybe he had to make a pit stop," Gracie said.
Shawna stuck her arm up to be seen better above the crowd and waved. "There she is, walking with Andrea. Cheryl! Over here!"
Cheryl and Andrea joined them. "We made tuna casserole today, it was gross," Andrea said.
"Yeah," Cheryl agreed. "I don't think anyone ate more than a couple of bites. I'm sure glad we're going out to lunch today."
Shawna flicked her eyes toward Andrea, obviously thinking that the polite thing to do would be to invite her to go with them. Any other day they might have. If they hadn't intended to do a little snooping they might have used the opportunity to talk to her about the cyanide, hoping she might give them some clue that fit in with their theory.
"You're waiting for Kelly, aren't you?" Andrea asked. At their nod she continued. "That's okay, I'm going to lunch with Jennifer. She doesn't want to eat in the cafeteria."
"Who does?" Shawna asked facetiously.
"I know, right? But you know how prissy she is, she doesn't want anyone to see the band-aid on her hand. It's the wrong color to go with her outfit," Andrea said.
"Band-aid?" Gracie asked. "What happened?"
"She wasn't paying attention in the chem. lab this morning," Andrea replied. "Apparently she'd spilled some acid on the counter and then stuck her hand in it and got burned. It's just a little spot, but she said it stung like crazy. Hey! There's Kelly over there, talking to Bobby." She pointed off to her right.
Gracie looked that direction and gave a little wave; Kelly began inching her direction while Bobby continued to talk to him.
"What period does she have chemistry?" Cheryl asked.
"1st hour," Andrea said. "She swears she didn't spill the stuff, but then she would say that." Andrea chuckled. "I think she's worried it'll leave a scar."
Kelly walked up and said, "Who's hungry?"
"I am!" Gracie and Cheryl replied in unison.
"You guys enjoy," Andrea said.
"You too," Cheryl said as they headed to the parking lot.
"Sorry I'm late, Bobby was bending my ear," Kelly said as they walked.
"Going on about that stupid Mustang I bet," Cheryl said.
"No, he's worried about Amy."
"I imagine so. She must feel really guilty about the wreck," Gracie said. She pointedly looked around at all their fellow students heading out to lunch. "There could be severe consequences."
"Yeah. But Bobby didn't say anything about that. He said he found her sitting on the steps when he got to school this morning. Apparently she'd had some kind of fight with her parents and didn't know where else to go."
"Maybe her mom found out she'd taken the pills," Cheryl said.
"Hmmm, could be," Gracie agreed. "That'd certainly be enough to set off the fireworks."
"On top of everything else I could see why she'd want to escape somewhere," Shawna said.
"Hey, is
n't that Jake's truck over there?" Kelly asked. "Bright red, dual-cab, V-8 engine."
They glanced around to make sure no one else was close enough to overhear.
"And a heavy-duty front bumper," Kelly continued his description as they reached the truck. He ran his fingers lightly over the front edge. "No obvious damage to this hunk of iron, but it sure could bash a taillight and not leave any traces. And look! There's a dent on the right front fender above the bumper."
Cheryl took her phone out of her pocket and snapped a couple of pictures while Gracie dug for her measuring tape.
"The dent's too high, it would've been above the place where Madison's car was hit. But the bumper's the right height."
"So let's go see what we can see on the back end," Kelly suggested.
They strolled around the truck as casually as possible, though they all felt their attention must be obvious. Shawna hung back a little acting as look-out and watching for Jake.
"No damage at all back here," Kelly announced. "Boy, does he keep a lot of junk in the bed of this truck: tool box, rope, bungee cords, a bottle of oil, empty antifreeze bottle, and all sorts of sports equipment."
"And an assortment of squashed beer cans," Cheryl added.
"Guess he's into all sports from the look of it," Gracie said. "I thought he was just a football jock."
"Psst! I just saw Jake walk out the door!" Shawna issued her warning.
"Twenty-three skidoo!" Kelly said as they all instinctively turned their backs to the building and tried to move away nonchalantly.
"Twenty-three skidoo?" Gracie asked. "Isn't that what they say in those old gangster movies?"
"Seemed appropriate, somehow," Kelly said with a shrug. "I feel like I'm doing something illegal."
Gracie and Cheryl laughed a bit nervously, but Shawna said she agreed with him.
"Come on gang," Gracie said. "Let's go get some lunch."
CHAPTER 46
"Okay, the gang's all here," Kelly quipped. "Let's see if we've come up with anything new."
The girls groaned at his intended pun, but they were beginning to think of themselves as rather underhanded in their quest for the source of all the accidents.
"The meeting of Gracie's Gang will now come to order!" Gracie continued the joke. "Secretary Kelly will read the minutes of the previous meeting and we'll discuss each point in turn."
Kelly favored her with a small frown. "How'd I get elected secretary?"
"Because you took the minutes yesterday," Cheryl told him. "Thus, you're elected."
"Ha, ha," Kelly replied drily. "Okay, let's see what we've got. First item is Maggie's fall resulting in her death."
"Ken said the neighbor lady saw a light-colored car in front of Maggie's house early in the morning," Gracie said. "That's too vague to be of any use, except that it couldn't possibly describe Jake's red pick-up."
"I'm going to start a new list," Kelly mumbled. "I'll list two accidents on a page, that way I'll have room to add anything new we come up with. Light car, not Jake's. Anything else?"
"Well, Ken found one of Amy's earrings in the back yard," Gracie said. "But we know she was at the party. It's not likely she was there to make out with someone, but she could've just gone out for some fresh air and quiet."
"The rest of the points are the same, then," Kelly summarized. "Travis' fall; no change. Emily's poison ivy; no change."
"Wait a minute," Shawna said. "If we're trying to pin these on Jake we should ask Emily when was the last time she went out with him."
"That's a great idea, except how do you do that without making it sound weird?" Cheryl asked.
Shawna got a wicked grin on her face. "Listen and learn," she said as she flipped open her phone.
"Hi, Emily, Shawna here. I'm trying to win a bet; ice cream to the winner. I think there's a pattern to the girls that Jake dates, and if I'm right you're going out with him tonight."
The other three looked surprised at Shawna's unaccustomed duplicity. Cheryl gave her a thumb's up.
"Really. Well, darn, no ice cream for me! Thanks, Emily. Take care." Shawna hung up and turned to look at her friends.
"She says she's been so busy rehearsing for the upcoming play that she hasn't been out with Jake for a couple of weeks now," she told them.
"Now that's dedication," Cheryl remarked.
"So unless Jake somehow smeared her with the leaves during school hours he couldn't very well be responsible," Kelly said.
Gracie got the slightly furrowed brow that indicated she was thinking. "But anyone who knew Emily would know she's been around the stage a lot lately…"
"So maybe they planted it somewhere she'd touch it," Shawna finished.
"Ooh, planted the plant," Cheryl groaned.
"Which would mean it was done deliberately," Gracie pointed out.
"But if she knows she's allergic to poison ivy, she'd probably know what it looked like," Kelly said. "The shape's distinctive. 'Leaves of three, let it be.'"
"This is Emily we're talking about," Cheryl reminded them. "Just think of the dramatic scene she could create after she'd touched the stuff."
"She could just as easily make a scene at just seeing the leaves, and not risk touching them," Gracie said.
"Okay, Emily didn't get poison ivy from smooching Jake out in the boonies," Kelly said, making the appropriate entry on his notes. "The two-fer of damage to Madison and Emily's cars, and Madison's subsequent tumble."
"My, don't you sound pretentious in your role as secretary," Cheryl said with a grin.
"We're trying to do this logically, so I just want to be precise," he defended himself.
"Jake's bumper is the right height," Gracie re-capped their lunchtime fact-finding excursion.
"But there's no corresponding damage to it, at least that we can see," Kelly said.
"I've got pix of both dents, um, in Emily's car and Jake's truck," Cheryl said. "Let's download them and compare them side-by-side."
"What can you tell by doing that?" Shawna asked as Cheryl began working at Gracie's computer.
"Don't know," Cheryl said. "But it's easy enough to do. Okay, I've got 'em both up on the screen."
Everyone stood up to look.
"They're just dents, I don't see anything odd," Shawna said.
"The dent on Jake's fender is sort of sideways, and Emily's is horizontal," Gracie muttered.
Kelly leaned in for a closer look. "See how round the impression is on Emily's car – it almost looks like it was hit with a baseball bat."
Cheryl enlarged the photo. "Looks like it tapers just a little too, like someone hit it with the middle of the bat instead of the end."
"She could've run into a post of some kind, like in a gate," Gracie said.
"Then the diameter would be the same," Kelly said.
"Wasn't there a bat in the bed of Jake's truck this afternoon?" Cheryl asked.
They all looked at each other for a moment, wondering if this was the piece of information they were looking for.
"I think so," Kelly said. "But if we could walk by and see it in there so could anyone else. Anyone could've 'borrowed' it to bash the two cars. But then a bat's not exactly a restricted item, lots and lots of people probably have one."
"That would make it easy to point the finger of suspicion at Jake, too," Gracie said. "But it's hardly enough to prove he did it. On to the next item, Kelly."
"Serene's desk failure, 4th hour, after lunch," Kelly read. "How'd us amateur sleuths do at finding out who all sits at that particular desk during the day? I saw Richelle there 2nd hour."
"Amy sits there 3rd hour, and Bobby's there 6th," Shawna said.
"It's empty during 1st hour," Gracie said. "Or maybe whoever sits there wasn't here today."
"5th hour it's Carter," Cheryl supplied. "Amy doesn't date anybody and I don't think Richelle's ever been out with Jake."
"Jake wouldn't have anything to do with Bobby, and as far as I know he's not friendly with Carter, either," Kelly said.
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"Which means that Serene is the only person who sits at that desk that's even remotely connected to Jake," Gracie said.
"Yeah, but it still seems like a long shot that it could've been meant for Serene," Kelly insisted. "If it'd been 1st hour I might believe it. Next up is Tony Fletcher's trip over the rock. Gracie thinks it was meant for either Tanya or Meaghan."
"Or the third girl that was there," Shawna said. "The one Jenifer didn't recognize. Tell us again how she described her?"
"The only thing she said was the girl was quiet and had long brown hair. Oh, and she came in with Meaghan," Gracie said.
"Who could that be? Do any of Jake's girlfriends match that description?" Kelly asked.
"Madison's hair is a light brown, but she wears it short," Gracie said.
"Serene has long brown hair, but you could hardly call her quiet," Cheryl said.
"Same thing for Emily," Shawna said. "Okay, her hair is auburn, but it's long and it could be mistaken for brown if you weren't paying attention."
"Brittney's the quiet type and her hair is long," Gracie said. "But it's black, and even ditzy Jennifer should be able to see the difference."
"I can't think of anyone else that qualifies," Shawna said.
"I still think Tony put that rock there himself," Cheryl said firmly. "It's the kind of thing a little snot like him would do."
"So nothing conclusive there," Kelly confirmed. "What about Andrea and the cyanide? I saw you guys talking to her today, did you ask about it?"
"No, we were hoping she'd go away so we could snoop around Jake's truck," Gracie said.
It was Cheryl's turn to look pensive. "Didn't Ken say she 'ingested' the poison?" At Gracie's nod she continued. "That means 'eat' or 'drink', right?"
"I don't think it gets absorbed through the skin," Kelly said.