He glanced at me and then back at the road ahead of us. “You sure?”
“What do you mean?”
“Maybe you’re not telling me something because you don’t want me to know?”
“Other than the knife flying through the air for no reason? I don’t think so.”
He shook his head. “I wouldn’t put it past Delphina to mess with y’all like that, especially those two. You sure you weren’t playing along with her?”
“Jack, how do you think we could have messed around with Olivia and Thelma? We aren’t magicians. We can’t make things appear in thin air.” I adjusted the seatbelt. “Or fly through it, for that matter.” I made a tsk sound like my mother used to when I’d said something ludicrous. “You don’t have to believe any of us, but we know the truth. Besides, there’s been rumors of that place being haunted for years now.”
“I don’t believe in ghosts,” he said.
“That doesn’t mean they aren’t real.”
“Okay.” He pulled into my driveway, pacifying me with his dismissive comment.
I glanced at Austin’s dark bedroom. At least he was asleep.
“Listen, something’s come up, and we need to discuss it.”
“Okay?”
He clicked the locks on his door and the car doors unlocked. “May I come in for a few minutes?”
I checked my watch. It was almost eleven o’clock. I had no idea how it had gotten that late. “Uh, I need to be up for work in the morning.”
“It’s police business, Chantilly.”
“Oh, well then, sure. Come on in.” I stepped out of the vehicle and closed the door behind me. “What’s going on?” I unlocked the front door. “Would you like something to drink?” Cooper wandered over and rubbed up on my leg. I stooped and gave him a pat on the head.
“I’m good, thanks.”
“So, what’s going on?”
“I spoke to the hostess from the restaurant again. She said you and Bobby had an argument about something? She said Bobby was pretty upset and Delphina had to intervene.”
I pulled my left foot under my right leg and got comfortable on the couch. “If by intervene, you mean stop Bobby from being his usual self, then yes, that’s what happened.”
He didn’t take his eyes off me. “Can you tell me about the argument?”
“It...it was nothing really. He wanted to make some architectural changes to the restaurant, and I told him he’d have to get approval. I might have mentioned I wasn’t sure he’d get it but I really...I can’t remember. What’s going on, Jack?”
“We’re looking into the suspects, that’s all.”
“Are you saying I’m a suspect?”
His eyes shifted toward the hallway but then back to me. “I’m saying Bobby had issues with a lot of people in town, and someone saw him arguing with you.”
My entire body tensed. “I didn’t kill him.”
“I’m not saying you did. I’m a detective, Chantilly. This is my job, questioning everyone involved in the case.”
“And since someone said Bobby argued with me—I didn’t argue with him—I’m involved in the case?”
“You’re involved in the case because you discovered his body and because the cooks said Bobby argued with you.” He stood up and examined the photos on the wall. “I don’t think you killed him, Chantilly. But I have a job to do, and I have to do it.”
“I know.”
I relaxed on the couch after Jack left. I didn’t turn on the TV or leave a light on. I just needed peace and quiet. Cooper settled onto my chest and breathed his kitty breath in my face. I tried to relax, but I couldn’t stop thinking about what was happening to me.
Maybe the fall had done something after all. None of the women saw what I saw, and I knew it wasn’t my imagination. Too many things had been happening lately, and all of them after falling down the stairs. I could have jarred something in my brain when it smacked into the marble floor. I’d heard of things like that happening, brain shifts that caused blackouts and hallucinations. Oh dear, was that my issue? Was I having hallucinations?
So much for relaxing.
It didn’t matter, at least not then. What mattered was Bobby Pruitt’s murder. Whether Jack wanted to say it outright or not, I was on his suspect list. He said the only concern was bad timing on my part. His body temperature told the story, he said, and Bobby’s death had occurred only minutes before I’d said I arrived.
I needed to figure out who killed Bobby. For Austin, I needed to do it for Austin. The last thing that poor child needed was his mother being accused of murder. He’d already gone through so much.
He deserved better. He deserved stability and structure for a change. The last year hadn’t been much of that, and we’d only recently begun to find our place, get our rhythm, and I didn’t want that disrupted. Of course, I didn’t want that disrupted.
I’d explained that to Jack before he left. I’d even told him about Jesse and Julia Lye, and Rashid Patel, and the issues they’d each had with Bobby. I knew Del would vouch for me, but I didn’t care. I needed to figure out what happened to Bobby so there was no question in my son’s mind.
He promised to talk to Maybelle Parker, and I knew our meeting on the street would verify when I arrived, but still, I worried something would go wrong.
Because that’s how things had gone for me over the past year. Wrong. And that wasn’t because of some tumble down a few stairs.
Chapter Six
“NO, NO. PLEASE, DON’T. I won’t tell anyone. Josiah please, no.”
I opened my eyes. The room was dark, just as it was when Jack left. I grabbed my phone from the coffee table and checked the time. Three o’clock. I’d fallen asleep on the couch, Cooper lying on my chest, too, until I woke with a start from a dream. Actually, a nightmare. I jolted awake and Cooper took off for a peaceful, less jumpy place to sleep.
I’d dreamed of Agnes Hamilton. Her long hair falling from its beautifully styled up ‘do, tangling in the rope twisted around her neck. Her voice cracking as she cried, begging and screaming for help, pleading with Josiah. Oh my goodness, Josiah. Of course. Her fiancé. He’s the one. The one in black. The one who killed her.
Cooper kneaded my legs. I picked him up from my lap and set him on the small throw on the other side of the couch. “Agnes,” I whispered, as if she’d actually answer me. She wanted me to know, wanted me to see what happened to her. I knew it like I knew the sun would rise every day. I just didn’t know what I was supposed to do about it. “What can I do?”
Frustrated, I got up and walked to the kitchen with Cooper on my tail. I poured myself a glass of water, took my vitamins, shut off the light over the sink, and then shuffled to my room. Instead of doing my regular nightly ritual, I quickly washed my face, brushed my teeth, and changed my clothes. I fell into bed, exhausted. I couldn’t stop thinking about Agnes Hamilton and her fiancé Josiah. My mind raced as my body begged for slumber, but it just wouldn’t come.
I watched the clock on my nightstand hit four, four-forty-seven, and almost every minute until six o’clock when it was time to start the day. I sat up, not at all prepared for what the day would bring, and not at all rested.
__________
“DID HE KISS YOU?”
Thelma sighed. “I remember my first kiss. It was Wilbur Harris. We were walking in the park, and he told me he wanted to marry me. He kissed me, and it was the most awful thing.”
Her story surprised Del. “I thought Charlie was your first kiss?”
“Oh, heavens no. I was seven when I had my first kiss. Charlie was my second. We were in high school. I remember the day like it was yesterday. We’d been—”
“Not now Thelma. We’re getting the dirt on Chantilly.”
They joined forces to bombard me with questions about Jack Levitt driving me home after our adventure the night before. I’d considered skipping my coffee stop that morning, but after my limited sleep, I definitely needed the caffeine boost. “He basical
ly told me I’m a suspect in Bobby’s murder.”
Both of them sat there with their mouths hanging open.
Del broke the silence first. “He what?”
“I was the last one to see Bobby alive, so it just makes sense that I’d be the one to kill him, and considering the hostess said she saw us arguing, I’m a shoo-infor the murder.”
“But I was there. I saw Bobby start the argument, and I know you didn’t argue back.”
“I know, and I’m hoping you’ll say that to Detective Levitt.”
“Oh. It’s Detective Levitt now?” Thelma asked.
“It’s his job.”
“But you went on a date.”
“No, we went to dinner, with my son. That’s not a date.”
“It’s how the divorced date.” She sipped her coffee. “That’s what I read in an article in Cosmo magazine.”
“You read Cosmo?” Del snorted. “What in the devil do you do that for?”
“It’s important to keep up on the latest fashion trends.”
“Honey, Dolly Parton wigs aren’t a fashion trend. If Cosmo ain’t saying that, it’s time to read something else.”
It was the perfect moment to mention Lonna to Del. “Oh, Jack told me you pushed him to go out with Lonna.”
The door to the café swung open.
Thelma clapped her hands and giggled. “Look, you are psychic.”
Lonna Appleton pranced through the door like she owned the place.
I whispered to the group. “I wouldn’t call me psychic because of her.”
Lonna smirked and greeted us with a condescending, “Ladies.” She strutted over, dragged a chair out from beneath our table and sat. Uninvited. “Chantilly, you’re just the person I wanted to see.” She removed her phone from her purse, tapped an app open, then held it up toward me. “I understand you were the last person to see Bobby Pruitt and are now a key suspect for the investigation. Care to comment on that?”
Delphina grabbed the phone from Lonna’s hand. “She is innocent. I was with her during that argument with Bobby. He confronted her, and she didn’t argue back at all. She was professional and courteous and said she’d do what she could to help him, and I’m sure that’s just what she did. You might could talk to the others in the barbecue competition, ‘cause they ought to be suspects, too.”
Lonna yanked the phone from Del’s hand. “Miss Beauregard, thank you for your comments.” Her voice shook ever so slightly. Lonna knew she’d treaded dangerous waters coming to Community Café like that. Delphina wasn’t above the law by any means, but the café was almost a sanctuary spot for everyone in town. It was a place of peace, comfort food, sweet tea, and conversation, unless you ticked off the owner. Then all bets were off, but the only person allowed to raise their voice or start any kind of discord there was Delphina herself.
I cringed from the glare Del shot Lonna. I actually felt bad for the woman even though she had a long wild hair up her behind about me.
I leaned toward my high school annoyance, prepared to battle her with a strong defensive strategy. Okay, I didn’t have a strategy per say, but I hoped if I was kind and firm, she’d be respectful. “Lonna, I’m happy to speak to you, if you’ll report the facts.”
She crossed her legs. “Oh sweetie, I’m all about reporting the facts, of course. And the facts are, you’re the last person to see Bobby Joe Pruitt, and you two had a confrontation the night before. So, what say you?”
“I say you’re wrong.”
Lonna’s confident stare, her raised eyebrow, and straight lined lips didn’t falter. She just kept her phone in her hand pointed toward my face.
“You’re wrong. There is no proof, just assumption, that I was the last person to see Bobby for one, and we did not have a confrontation the night before. Bobby was simply being Bobby. Argumentative and bullish, just like he was in high school, remember?” I crossed my arms over my chest, satisfied I’d tamed the bear beside me. I just hoped it worked on her, too.
It didn’t. She didn’t falter. “My source tells me you were upset when you left, that Delphina had to drag you out of here, and that your emotions were high. What about—”
Delphina slammed her hand down on the table. “That’s a bunch of podunk, and you know it. She was doing her job, and that’s it. I told you what happened. I was there. Whoever your source is is lying like a dog on a rug, and you can quote me on that.” She adjusted her pink and white apron. “Now you listen here Lonna Appleton. Your momma and me, we’ve been friends a long time, and I know she would tan your hide for acting like this without knowing everything. So you get out of my café, and you go and find the truth, and that’s what you report. The truth, not some gossip about an innocent woman you don’t like because your boyfriend’s been making oogly eyes at her.”
The rest of the patrons in the café stared at all of us. No one said a word. Lonna’s chin nearly hit the floor.
Thelma, who’d been sitting there silently the entire time, coughed and said, “I’ll make my column a testament to your innocence.” She patted my hand and whispered, “Are you sure you didn’t kill him?”
“Yes, I’m sure.” I should have elaborated, at least for Lonna’s articles sake, but I was too worried on the can of worms Delphina had just popped open, and how badly I’d hoped it would stay shut. Jack hadn’t exactly made oogly eyes at me anyway.
Lonna glanced around the room at the customers gawking at us. She slowly set the phone down on the table and stared at it for a moment. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, and I’m just doing my job.” Lonna made eye contact with me again. “I’m an honest reporter, and I’ll report what I am told. If it’s factual, and I can prove it, of course I’ll note that. If however, it’s hearsay, I’ll also mention that, but I’ll still report it, because the people have a right to know.”
I shook my head. “You do what you have to do.”
Thelma wiggled her finger in a disapproving motion. “Oh, that’s not good. That might could upset Detective Levitt, and I don’t think you want that.”
Del snorted. “Don’t matter none anyway. The minute that detective laid eyes on our pretty Chantilly, Lonna didn’t have a chance.”
Lonna’s face burned red. She stuffed her phone into her purse and stood. “I believe we’re done here.”
Delphina yelled at Lonna’s back as she pranced out the café’s door, “You’re lucky I don’t ban you from coming back.”
The ten or so people in the café still hadn’t moved. I honestly thought they were afraid to. Delphina stood and glanced around the place. “What’re y’all starin’ at?” She marched back behind the counter and got to work.
Her patrons carried on, most likely out of fear.
I buried my head in my hands. “Dear God, this is the last thing my son needs.”
Thelma patted my back. “There, there now, honey. We’ll fix this. Your momma is watching over you, and that woman won’t let a thing happen to you.”
I dragged my fingers down my face. I noticed they didn’t slide as easily as they used to, but instead got caught in a wrinkle or two. I’d aged years in a single one, and being accused of murder would only add to that, I thought. “I didn’t kill Bobby.”
Thelma continued rubbing my back, and it comforted me. “Of course you didn’t. It just looks like you did.”
“Zip it, woman,” Delphina said. She smiled at me. “We’ll fix this. The real killer is out there, and we’ll find him.”
“I’m not an investigator. I don’t have a clue how to do that.”
“Don’t worry. I got it covered. We’ll talk to the other suspects and get the truth out of one of them.”
“And just how to you expect to do that?” I asked.
Thelma squeezed my hand. “I don’t think we really want to know.”
“Well, we ain’t going to torture them, if that’s what you think. At least not like they used to back in the day, anyway.”
Thelma bit her bottom lip and her top teeth p
opped out and fell into her cup of coffee.
I glanced up at Delphina, who’s eyes bulged out of her head. We both busted out laughing as Thelma stuffed her teeth back into place.
“Quit laughin’. I need to get me some more teeth glue. Ran out last week.”
“Em hmm,” Del said.
“If you keep at it, I’m going to talk to you like this the rest of my life.” She pulled the top teeth partially out and said, “What do you think?”
It came out more like “But bo bou bhink?”
She smiled and the teeth popped out again and we all laughed.
“Thank you,” I said. “I needed that.”
Olivia walked through the café door. “Oh, my goodness, someone lit a fire under Lonna Appleton’s behind, and that woman has done lost her mind.”
I grabbed Delphina’s hand and waved it. “That would be Del.”
Olivia sat across from me and slouched her shoulders. “What happened?”
We filled her in.
“Oh heavens, you couldn’t murder someone. Lord, everyone that knows you knows that.”
Thelma sipped her coffee. “Lonna’s just trying to frame her on account of that detective having the hots for her and all.”
“He does not have the hots for me.”
They all stared at me. I shifted in my seat, and the room heated up ten degrees. “He doesn’t.”
Delphina pointed at Thelma. “And that one there’s got a genius IQ.”
Thelma smiled. “I wouldn’t say it’s genius, but it’s close. I did get all satisfactory marks in school.”
“See?” Delphina took a small notebook from her apron pocket. “Okay, who we got?”
“For what?” Thelma asked.
“For suspects?”
“Oh, that. Yes.”
I sighed and listed out the possibilities. “I hate to say it, but it could be anyone competing in the competition, and that’s a pretty large list.”
“Sixty-five booths to be exact,” Olivia said.
Thelma shook her head. “Oh goodness. That’s a lot of people. What can we do?”
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