What had I done to make Ginnie Slappey hate me so much? And did Michael Longley mean me when he said they’d deal with her?
I knew I needed to find out, but I also knew I’d put myself in dangerous situations before, whether intentionally or not, and I wasn’t about to do that again.
I headed straight out of the school and back to the office, only to find Belle not there, a note on my desk that she’d gone to show homes to a walk-in client—we’d get those every now and then—and a pile of paperwork I’d been avoiding sitting on my chair.
So, I got to work.
Chapter 11
Why is it when there’s work to be done, the brain can’t focus on the work at hand but instead focuses on something else entirely? My brain wouldn’t focus on my realtor business, or the fact that Ginnie Slappey and Michael Longely had somehow conspired to kill Carter Trammell, and that I’d gotten in the way of their plan and needed to be dealt with. Nope, not my brain. My brain focused on food.
Tuna salad with balsamic drizzle to be exact. At least it was healthy food, which was a surprise, actually. And I couldn’t get it out of my head. I stared blankly at the paperwork sprawled out on our conference table. Closing papers, partially signed contracts, open house listing sheets, and other random documents blurred in my line of site, but none of them mattered. All that mattered was the image of Millie’s lunch board I’d caught a glimpse of earlier that morning.
Lunch Specials
Tuna Salad on Romaine with Raspberry Balsamic Drizzle, Cherry Tomatoes and Fruit Side
Sweet Tea
$6.99
My stomach growled. I considered that a spoken need, dropped the unrecognized papers in my hand, grabbed my wallet from my purse, and headed straight to Millie’s. Thankfully it was just a few steps away because my stomach hollered as if I hadn’t fed it in months the entire way there.
“Hush. We’re almost there,” I whispered to it like a crazy person.
A woman walking by glanced at me as I talked to my belly and rubbed it at the same time.
I blushed, and instantly stopped the belly rubbing. “Oh, I’m not—I’m just hungry.” Great. I just started a Lily Sprayberry is pregnant rumor for sure.
Millie smiled when I walked in. “Here for the special, right?”
“How’d you know?”
“Lily Sprayberry, you get that every time I make it. You think I don’t know your favorites? Surprised you didn’t order it at breakfast like last month.”
I handed her a ten dollar bill. “Did I really do that?”
“Did the deer eat all my flowers last week?”
“You were complaining about it, so I’m going with yes.”
“Well, there ya go.”
I laughed.
She nodded toward the entrance. I turned around and watched Clarissa Mooney walk in, and I sighed. When I flipped around to face Millie again, she rolled her eyes. “Ms. Persnickety’s here to eat,” I whispered.
“I can serve whoever I want. Maybe I don’t want to serve her.”
“Don’t be like that. Trust me. She’s not worth the hassle.”
She shrugged.
Clarissa Mooney pulled her sunglasses down to the tip of her nose and gazed at me over their rims. “Well look at you.” She eyed my plain white button down shirt, lavender cardigan and Silver brand jeans. “Don’t you just march to your own drummer, sweetheart.” She placed the sunglasses on top of her head, or more like on top of the bun of hair on top of her head.
Millie coughed.
“Heard you were at the school today,” Clarissa said.
That was interesting. How would she hear that? “I was.”
“And what brought you there?”
“Realtor business.”
“Oh, with Coach Longley?”
How would she know who I went to see? The computer system logs in the visitors, I didn’t sign a sheet. Oh, unless she got there after me, or talked to the girl in the front office and she told her. Great. “Well, if you must know, I used him as an excuse.” I smiled and touched my forefinger to my lips. “But shh, let my little marketing trick be our secret, okay? I don’t want the principal knowing I manipulate the system by pretending to have meetings I don’t have to drop off marketing materials for teachers I hear might be looking to move, mm-kay?” I nearly made myself sick with my own sticky-sweetness.
I watched as she clutched her purse straps tightly. Clarissa Mooney despised me. “Oh sweetie, bless your heart. I didn’t know your business was struggling.”
I dug my boot heel into the floor and swallowed back the negativity I felt rising from my tummy. I knew my momma would want me to be the better person, and dagnabit, I wanted to be, too. I wished Belle was there to play bad cop at that moment. It would have been nice to have her come back with a bit of best friend snark. “It’s not. It’s called marketing, which is what I went to college for, Clarissa.”
“What can I getcha, Miss Moody?” Millie asked.
“It’s Mooney, Millie.”
“Yeah, I know. What do you want?” She put my plastic container in a bag and handed it to me.
“I’ll have what she’s having.”
“You sure? It’s got a lot of calories. A woman your age should watch what she eats. Maybe you should just have the lettuce instead?”
I wrapped the top of the bag around my fingers and smiled. “Thanks, Millie. You’re the best. Keep the change, by the way.”
“You’re welcome, Lilybit.” She smiled as I flipped to head out the door. I wanted to give her a thumbs up so badly, but it wasn’t in good taste, and I thought I should at least give the impression I was well-mannered, even though I laughed like crazy inside.
* * *
Belle made it back to the office just after six, and shortly after I’d returned with Bo. Dylan had called and said he wouldn’t make it to my place until late, if at all, due to meetings about the case. Meetings he said he’d try to fill me in on later, if it wasn’t too late to call. I told him I’d be at work until at least ten o’clock, handling paperwork with Belle and preparing for our investment property purchase details, so he could stop by if he had a chance or needed a break. His office wasn’t far, and he’d often take breaks when he needed a breath of fresh air.
As much of a modern woman as I liked to think I was, I still had much of the old-fashioned values of the South burned into my soul. Dylan did stay the night at times, but when he did, he either slept on the couch or in the guest bedroom. Sure, sometimes we’d fall asleep on the couch together, and I loved that, but my momma taught me that no man, no matter how much he said he loved you, bought the cow if he got the milk for free, and my milk, well, that stuff wasn’t free, and that was that. So, no late night check in’s unless the matter was urgent.
Dylan understood.
Belle and I finished up our paperwork while Bo chewed on two bones and one stuffed dog bed. It took us an hour to realize the one stuffed dog bed had been chewed to bits, and we only did when Belle decided to leave and noticed the stuffing spread across most of the office floor.
She picked up the last of it under a desk high book case in the far left corner of the main space. “Wow. He’s fast.”
“You have no idea. I’m still finding stuffing from three dog beds ago around my house. The dog is a monster when it comes to eating his beds.”
She held the remains of the indestructible bed. “But this is that kind that says it can’t be eaten.”
“Lies.”
“Wow.”
“He’s got the mouth of a—I don’t know what, but something powerful.”
“The amount of drool should be an indicator of that.”
“This is why I bought a print duvet cover. The drool stains are nasty.”
“Next time you should get a fish. I don’t know what made you think a dog was the right choice.” She winked at me.
I threw my pencil at her, and it boinked her right on the forehead.
She rubbed the wound. “Ouch. Tha
t hurt.”
“You got me the chewer, remember?”
“You saw his picture. He was adorable. Who could resist those puppy eyes?”
“Obviously not you. Well, at least not enough to give him to your weak best friend.”
“I’m weak, but not stupid. I wanted a dog, but only in the favorite dog aunt sense.”
I flicked my eyes her direction and held up another pencil. “Watch it.”
She flinched and held her hands over her face. “Don’t. I’m already going to bruise.” She yawned. “I’ve seriously got to go. That client today was the worst ever. We looked at seven properties and not one was acceptable. I’m give slap out.” She finished cleaning up her side of the conference table. “I’ll finish my stuff up tomorrow.”
“I’m almost done. I’ll finish up right quick and head home.” I twirled the pencil in my hand and smirked. “I don’t want to leave before the job is done.”
“Well, aren’t you just a peach?”
“See you tomorrow.”
“If you’re lucky. You want me to lock up before I leave?”
“Nope, I got it. I’m heading out in a few anyway.”
She blew me a kiss. “Ta ta.”
“Ta ta, Miss I-Haven’t-Left-The-Sorority-And-Think-I’m-All-That.”
“Yup, that’s me.” She literally let the door bump her bottom on the way out.
I couldn’t help but giggle.
Bo laid on the deflated, empty remains of his dog bed and snoozed while I finished up the paperwork for two clients. In no time, I’d found myself mindlessly drawing circles on a piece of notebook paper. In one circle I wrote Ginnie Slappey and in the other, Michael Longely.
Did he know she’d killed Carter, or was he simply another pawn in her game? I doubted he knew. Sure, he wanted that coaching position, that was obvious, and if it was obvious to me, it was to her, too. Ginnie had a plan, and Coach Longley was simply another pawn in her game to make that plan a success. I almost felt sorry for him.
I closed my eyes and leaned back in my chair. Bo, still lying on his leftover bed scraps, slept like the dead, snoring as if the world didn’t exist. I envied that and decided I needed to sleep, too. I began to gather my things but stopped. I wasn’t going to use any of them between then and the morning, so I just headed to the back to close everything up, make sure things were locked up back there, and turn off the coffee pot, because Belle never seemed to remember to do that, and head home for the night.
When Bo barked, I assumed it was because he woke up and noticed I wasn’t there. “Hold on Bo, I’ll be there in a minute.”
He barked again, and I finished up my stuff, then headed back up front. Bo stood alert, his body tense, his tail straight and pointed, and he bared his teeth.
All at Clarissa Mooney standing inside my office. “Now puppy, be nice,” she said.
Bo hadn’t acted like that around Clarissa Mooney in the past. She’d obviously scared him out of a deep sleep. “Bo, it’s okay. Come.”
He came and sat by my side, but he didn’t let his defenses down. Something was up. “It’s late, Clarissa. What are you doing here?”
Her eyes went to Bo and then back to me. She kept her body rigid, and held her chin up. “I’m done with this, Lily. It’s time we end it.”
“End what? Your immature handling of…of what is this even? I don’t have any idea what I’ve even done to you, Clarissa. I barely even know you.”
“You know what you’re doing, and I’m here to stop it.”
My posture stiffened along with Bo’s. “Actually, Clarissa, I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.”
She took a step forward, and Bo growled. I put my hand on his head, and I stepped slowly behind my swivel office chair. “I’d like you to leave now, or I’ll call the police.”
Clarissa was standing on the opposite side of our big conference table, the side my things were on. “You mean you’ll call your boyfriend?” She glanced down and picked up my cell phone. “With what? This?” She wiggled the phone at me. “Oh darling, I don’t think so. How about I keep this instead?” She stuffed it into her open purse and pulled out something else. “But I do have something for you, and I think it’ll look familiar.”
Bo growled again, and I grabbed a hold of his collar. “Bo. Stay.”
I focused on her hand and saw the syringe. Dear God. It wasn’t Ginnie. It was Clarissa.
I struggled to hold onto Bo. That needle would kill him, and I’d rather die before I let her kill him, but I knew she would. I could feel it in my bones. “You won’t get away with this. You’ve got the syringe in your hands. They’ll get your fingerprints from it.”
“Oh, bless your heart. Sweetie, you’re talking to a woman with a higher IQ than yours. You think I don’t know what I’m doing? Ask Bobby Yancy. You think they found other fingerprints on the one that killed your buddy Carter Trammell? Tell me, how close were you two anyway? Closer than you and the sheriff?” She moved to the side of the table, closer to me.
I tightened my grip on Bo’s collar.
“Come on. You can tell me. I won’t tell anyone what we discuss here tonight. I promise.”
I felt ill. Everything I’d eaten earlier that day wanted to come back up my throat, but I refused to let that happen. I wouldn’t show weakness, not to Clarissa Mooney.
“I hear he was close like that to Ginnie Slappey, and that’s why her husband up and left her. Now she’s got nothing, and she’s working on her next victim, but he’s just as broke as she is. Girl just doesn’t know what to do. I told her stealing money from the booster club wasn’t the way to go about, it but she didn’t listen.”
“Ginnie Slappey is stealing money from the booster club?”
She laughed. “’Course she is, and when her little boyfriend, Carter Trammell, found out, he insisted she stop, but she couldn’t.”
I kept my grip tight on Bo’s collar, and my eyes focused on Clarissa Mooney. I wanted her to keep talking. I knew I didn’t have plans with Dylan, but I hoped he’d at least decide to take one of his little breaks and say goodnight or something.
A girl could hope, right?
“What do you mean, she couldn’t?”
“She couldn’t stop stealing money, because I’d already found out, and I made her steal money for me, silly.”
“You made her steal money for you?”
“I sure did. Why wouldn’t I?”
“Why would you? Everyone knows you’re rich. You don’t need the money.”
“’Course I don’t need the money.” She laughed, but it wasn’t a joyful kind of laugh. It was evil and snarky, and it sent chills down my spine.
Bo felt it too, because his neck tensed, and I had to tighten my grip on his collar even more. Poor pup, but at least the sweat on my hand kept my grip from being too tight, not that it would matter. Bo was all kinds of stronger than me. If he wanted, he could break loose any second, and we both knew it. He was waiting, waiting for the right moment, or for my release, and we both knew that, too.
“Sweetie, I made her take money for me because I could. You see, weak women will do anything, and Ginnie Slappey like you, she’s weak. Now, unfortunately, poor Bobby Yancey, he’s a victim of circumstance, and I feel a little bad about him, but that’s just the way it is.”
I shook my head a little. “I don’t…I don’t understand.”
“Of course you don’t, because you’re of a certain social class, and you wouldn’t. Let me explain. I feel I owe you that. You see, Bobby is a janitor, and well, I’m rich. I’ve spent many years and a lot of money on lessons for my son—you know my son, Tanner, right?”
“I saw him on my home video.” I made sure she saw the displeasure and disgust on my face.
“Oh, that yes. Well, that wasn’t my idea. I just went along because it was funny, and I have a good attorney. We won’t have a mark on our records, you’ll see.” She laughed. “Well, actually, you won’t, but that’s okay.” She waved her hand.
> I wasn’t about to tell her that I had video cameras in my office, too. If she was so rich, she’d probably equated that richness to smarts, but sadly, she was obviously mistaken. Whatever she’d planned to do to me would be on video, and she’d spend the rest of her life in jail for it. I would be dead, but justice would prevail, that I was sure of.
“Anyhoo, we invested a lot in training Tanner to be an excellent lacrosse player so he could get a scholarship and go to a Division One school, and then this janitor’s son comes along and without an ounce of training, he just steps in and takes over the number one spot on the team like he owns it, and I’m supposed to be okay with that?” She huffed as if that was totally unacceptable. “I think not. Y’all may be okay with that kind of thing, but not me. I do not live like that.”
“So, what, you ruin his chances by framing his father for murder?”
“A momma’s got to do what a momma’s got to do.”
“And you used Ginnie Slappey to do this how?”
“Oh sweetie, she was just a means to an end, kind of like you. She was doing the nasty with your buddy, and I found out, and I told her husband, and I also told your buddy she was stealing the cash, which, by the way, she was stealing so she could have a little nest egg for when she left her husband for your friend, and well, that just set the whole thing a flame, and the fire just went from there.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“Of course you don’t get it. You’re too young to understand.”
“Humor me.”
“One thing led to another, and your friend got upset, told her he was going to report her, after dumping her, of course, and she told him she couldn’t stop because I’d found out, but he didn’t seem to care. He threatened to call us both out, so well then, I just had to kill him.”
I nodded.
She chuckled. “Now you’re getting it. I told Ginnie to get a hold of the potassium chloride, which of course she did, and I have to admit, a desperate woman will do what she needs to, and I got it done. I’ll spare you the details, but she looks adorable in a nurse’s uniform, let me tell you. And you can find anything online these days. Did you know it’s easy to transfer fingerprints? Why, you can do it to just about anything if you take your time.”
Lily Sprayberry Realtor Box Set Page 47