“She was so beautiful,” Connie said.
“Yes, she was.”
They moved forward. They passed more displays. In each one, Karen got a little older. Missy saw herself in a few more pictures and made a mental note. Not tonight but maybe in a few days she’d ask Karen’s parents if she could make copies of these pictures. She had some herself of Karen. Saturday was Scrapbooking Day this month, she could do a whole section on her relationship with Karen.
The line hooked to the left around a wall and finally Missy laid eyes on the casket. They still had probably ten minutes of waiting to do, but she caught a glimpse of Karen when an older man got up and moved out of the way to allow the next person to pay their respects. And standing just past the casket, Missy spotted Karen’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wise.
She hadn’t seen either of them in…she couldn’t say how long. The last time might have been when she’d just gotten back to town after graduating college. She and Karen had gotten together that summer several times as they braced for the dreaded “real world” and life after college.
“I’m sorry,” Connie said. “I’ve already been up once and I don’t think I can do it again…” Her voice trailed off and tears filled her eyes.
Missy reached out and rubbed the woman’s arm. “I’m sorry.”
“Me too.”
Connie got out of line and went back outside.
Noreen waited till she was gone to say anything. “She’s a little off.”
Missy made a face. “Her friend just passed away.”
Noreen shrugged. “Yeah…”
Missy almost snapped. She felt the need to defend Connie, even though she wasn’t close with the woman.
Noreen slipped an arm through hers. “Sorry, Miss. I didn’t mean anything.”
Missy nodded and together they reached the casket. Noreen went first and made the sign of the cross, then she got out of Missy’s way.
She kneeled in front of the casket and looked at her friend. They had put a lot of makeup on Karen and her skin sagged. She really didn’t look herself. Missy’s eyes misted and she could barely see through the tears. It just didn’t make any sense. Karen had been so young. Too young to die of an infection. She was supposed to live another forty or fifty years. She was certainly supposed to outlive her parents. Missy couldn’t help but think of her own mortality. She was the same age as Karen, which meant she could just as easily die now too.
Life was so fragile. It shouldn’t have taken the death of a close friend to make her realize that. Missy vowed to take better care of herself. She could no longer pretend to be young. She’d be forty years old soon.
She touched Karen’s arm. The skin was cold. Missy told her how sorry she was and how much she missed her and how she’d see her someday in heaven.
“I love you, Care Bear.”
Missy stood and wiped under her eyes. She wanted to run screaming out of the room but Karen’s parents were right there, waiting for her with warm, teary smiles. As she stepped toward them, she burst into tears. Mr. Wise hugged her and held on for awhile. She realized the dynamic should have been the opposite. Missy should have been comforting him, not the other way around. But she accepted it. She hadn’t seen the man in so many years, but he was making her feel better.
Then it was her turn to hug Mrs. Wise. Missy couldn’t even form a sentence. What could she say?
“Sorry.”
“Oh, Missy.” The woman had aged a lot over the years. She and her husband were mid-seventies, a few years older than her mother. “It’s so good to see you.”
The woman’s voice triggered pleasant memories. Missy remembered sitting in her living room while she baked chocolate chip cookies for the girls.
“I’m so sorry,” Missy said again. The words were totally inadequate.
Mrs. Wise took off her glasses to wipe under her eyes. “It’s just horrible. I can’t believe what happened to her.”
Missy nodded. “She was too young…”
They stared into each other’s eyes. Mr. Wise thanked Missy for coming again, then reached around her to greet the couple that had been waiting behind Missy. She realized she needed to move on.
“Can we get together this week?” Missy asked Mrs. Wise. “I think I have some pictures of Karen I could make doubles of.”
Mrs. Wise spoke as if she hadn’t heard Missy. “Did she tell you what she was doing?”
Missy frowned. She didn’t know what Mrs. Wise was talking about. “She actually sponsored me. It was my first night at the Diet Club…”
Mrs. Wise shook her head. “I’d like to give that Mrs. Butterworth a piece of my mind. She created this environment where she actually encouraged people to try these dangerous diets. Karen was so easy-going, she’d go along with almost anything. But she wouldn’t have tried this diet without somebody encouraging her.”
“The one Eleanor Lyons recommended?” Missy asked, confused.
“The Lyons woman recommended this to her?” Anger lined the older woman’s face. “The police need to know that so they can arrest her then.”
Missy didn’t know what Mrs. Wise was talking about, but sensed there was a lot more to the story. Had the diet and the infection been somehow linked?
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Wise, I don’t know what diet she was trying.”
Mrs. Wise looked away, shaking her head. “It killed her.”
“What…”
“They found tapeworms inside her.”
Chapter Six
B efore Missy realized what she was saying, she blurted the words out.
“That’s impossible.”
Mrs. Wise smiled sadly. “That’s what I said.”
Missy knew she should shut up, that saying anything more wouldn’t help. But she couldn’t stop herself.
“I don’t believe it.”
Mrs. Wise did a double-take. “What do you mean?”
“That’s not something Karen would do.” Missy recalled her friend’s words that evening before they’d stepped inside Mrs. Butterworth’s house. She had asked Karen what the craziest diet was she’d heard about during the meetings, and her friend had said the tape worm diet. When Missy had asked her if she’d tried it, Karen had reacted almost violently. Missy could tell the thought completely grossed Karen out. Which made sense. Karen had always been as squeamish as Missy.
The air seemed to go out of Mrs. Wise. “I know. That’s what I thought, Missy. But they did an autopsy…”
Missy felt her stomach do a somersault. Now that the initial shock had worn off, she kept getting this image of worms and…
She put a hand over her mouth. “I just don’t…”
Mrs. Wise’s eyes filled with tears and pain. Missy realized now wasn’t the time to challenge the cause of death. Mrs. Wise was mourning the unimaginable loss of her daughter.
Missy hugged her. “I’m so sorry.”
“Thank you, Missy. Could you come over sometime this week? I have some pictures…”
Missy nodded and answered and went through the motions of conversation with the grieving woman, but in her mind the wheels were turning. Karen had died somehow from tape worms…and there was no way Karen Wise had willingly put tape worms in her own body. Missy had known the woman forever and knew for sure Karen would rather die than do something like that. There was just no way.
As Missy moved away from the casket and toward Noreen, who was waiting in the corner, she thought about some of the other things Karen had told her that night. Her friend had kept some things from her…
“You okay?” Noreen asked.
Missy heard the words but they didn’t register. She was thinking about Abella, Mrs. Butterworth, Eleanor Lyons, and Connie too. She was thinking that secretly infecting Karen with tape worms was the perfect way to kill her. To the outsider, to someone who didn’t know Karen like she did, it would look like Karen had just resorted to an extreme, dangerous diet because she’d been struggling with her weight her entire life.
“Miss,”
Noreen said. “You okay?”
Missy finally registered her friend’s words and her concern. She lowered her voice.
“I think Karen was murdered.”
Chapter Seven
Y ou really think so?” Noreen asked when they were back outside.
“Yes.”
“Missy, I think you should take a step back here.”
She wheeled on her friend. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Noreen held out her palms and actually took a step back. “Hey, it’s me. Your best friend, remember?”
Missy was able to calm down, just barely.
“What do you mean, take a step back?”
“Karen’s death is senseless. I feel the same way. You’re having trouble dealing with that reality, so just be careful you’re not trying to force something here.”
“Noreen, that’s messed up.” Missy started walking again toward the truck. They passed dozens of people that were on their way inside the parlor. Karen had had a lot of friends and family. “You’re saying I want Karen to have been murdered?”
“Maybe subconsciously, yes. And that way you can do something about her death. You can’t bring her back, but maybe you can find the person that did this and that will bring order to the chaos.”
Missy frowned. “I don’t know if you remember, but the last time I felt the need to do something about somebody’s death, I got you exonerated.”
Noreen looked over at her. “Don’t throw that in my face. You had a lot more reason to get involved there. You knew I was innocent.”
Missy knew her friend was right, but she was too ticked off to admit it. “Actually, I didn’t know that.”
Noreen stopped walking. “What?”
“All the evidence pointed right at you. I should have given up at least twenty different times, but I stuck with it despite the evidence.”
Noreen’s whole body stiffened, and Missy knew she’d gone too far.
“What I meant was, everybody knew Anne Baxter had been murdered and you knew I couldn’t have done it.” Noreen looked away.
Missy was about to fire back, but she’d just lost one good friend. There was no point in losing another, especially when Noreen might have had a point.
“Nor, I’m sorry.”
Noreen finally met her eye. “Missy, I really appreciate what you did for me. I’ll be forever in your debt, but at some point you have to stop throwing it in my face.”
“I’m sorry.” She smiled. “The joke has gone too far. You don’t owe me anything. I want you to know that I’ll always have your back.”
“I know.” Noreen’s body untensed. “Now before you go running off to play Stephanie Plum, let’s talk this through, okay?”
Missy smiled, grateful for her friend’s offer to help. “Okay.”
***
Back at Missy’s place, Noreen uncorked a bottle of wine and they shared some pinot. Missy walked Noreen through the entire night, doing her best to recall her conversations with Karen word-for-word.
At the end of the story, Noreen took a deep breath. “Missy, I hate to say it, but I could really argue both sides of this thing.”
“I knew you were going to say that.” Missy got up to pace. “Abella loathed Karen. Hatred is motive enough. And you heard Connie, the woman tried to get Karen fired a number of times.”
“Yeah, but that’s fired. Abella has everything she wants. She’s a bigshot attorney at a large firm, probably making several hundred thousand dollars a year. She’s got the perfect body, perfect clothes, perfect coterie. Even if she hated Karen, what does she get out of killing her? What could Karen possibly do to her?”
“Maybe Karen knew something…something that could get her fired, or something that could embarrass her, which would be the same thing.”
“Yeah, but what?”
“I don’t know. That’s what we have to find out.” Missy shrugged. “And what about Connie? You said yourself she gave you a weird vibe.”
“That was code,” Noreen said.
“Code for what?”
Missy finished her wine and went to get more. She nearly tripped over Cody, who was sprawled right next to the couch.
“This dog is going to be the death of me,” Noreen said, before stepping into the kitchen to get a refill.
“Code for what?” Missy called out.
“I think she’s a lesbian.”
Missy thought about it. “Really?”
“Yeah.” Noreen came out of the kitchen with the bottle. She had refilled her own glass and poured more into Missy’s still half-full glass without asking. “I’m pretty sure.”
“How do you know?”
Noreen plopped down on the couch, miraculously not spilling any wine. “Because she checked me out.”
Missy nodded. “I did notice that.”
Noreen sipped her wine. “Which means…”
“What?”
Noreen looked at her over the rim of the wine glass as she took another sip. “Really, Miss?”
“What?” Missy had no idea what Noreen was thinking.
Noreen put her glass down. “You said you saw her and Karen arguing…”
At first the words didn’t mean anything to Missy. But then it dawned on her. It would have made sense, but Missy knew Karen. Karen liked men. All they had ever talked about were boys.
“Uh-uh. No way.” Missy shook her head. “Karen liked men.”
“Maybe she liked both.” Noreen sat back and folded her hands in her lap. “It is possible, Missy.”
Missy was still shaking her head. “We were close…she would have told me.”
“Are you sure?” Noreen asked. “You only talked, what? Once a month?”
“Once a month or more, over the last twenty years. And in middle school, seriously, all we talked about was boys.”
Noreen reached for her glass. “Okay, you obviously knew her a lot better than I did.”
Missy tipped her head to the side. “Let’s assume you’re right. And let’s say they argued over their relationship…that just gives Connie motive, doesn’t it?”
“So Connie gave her tape worm, somehow?”
“I don’t know.”
“It’s a weird way to kill somebody.”
“But the best way in Karen’s case. It would look like it was an accident, like Karen had done it to herself.”
Noreen thought it over and nodded. “So you’ve got two suspects. Anybody else?”
“I had another idea, but it seems even crazier.”
“I doubt it could be any crazier.”
Missy threw a pillow at her. “Mrs. Butterworth said someone had revealed the identities of people that were in the Diet Club…maybe she or someone thought Karen had broken trust.”
Noreen just stared, wide-eyed, at her.
Missy held up a hand. “You weren’t there. You didn’t read and sign the contract I did. These people were fanatical about their anonymity, not breaking trust, and being fully supportive of each other. It might not sound like a big deal to you, but they took this very seriously.”
“So again, somebody slipped Karen a mickey with tape worms or tape worm eggs in it—”
“Don’t say that. I’m going to puke.”
Noreen just kept going. “—because they thought she’d told tales out of school?”
“It’s just a theory,” Missy said. “I have to follow it.”
“Okay. Anybody else?”
“You mean, other than Abella and Connie and literally everybody else in the Diet Club? No, I think that’s enough for now.”
Chapter Eight
M issy woke early the next day. She’d planned on sleeping in a little bit, rising in time to get ready for Karen’s funeral. After another thirty minutes of tossing and turning, Missy gave up on trying to get back to sleep. Her mind would just not let her. So she got out of bed and figured she’d use her time wisely.
She went downstairs and fed Cody. The dog devoured her dry food and then traipsed to the b
ack door. Missy opened it and let her out. Then she went into the kitchen to get herself something. She had cereal and energy bars. She could have made herself a smoothie in the blender, that would have been the healthy option, but she was feeling lazy so instead she grabbed an energy bar. It was low-cal, low-carb, low-fat, low-everything, including taste. She choked it down, let Cody back in, and then got onto her computer.
For the next hour, she researched tape worms and the tape worm diet. Almost immediately, she realized her mistake. She should not have eaten anything before reading about tape worms. Eventually, the nausea got the better of her. Missy had to race to the bathroom.
Cody nudged the door open with her nose and came in to make sure Missy was okay.
“I thought the first two cases were difficult,” Missy said. “But this is going to be the worst.”
Cody wagged her tail. Missy petted her and rubbed her side.
Back in the living room, Missy took a deep breath and went back to her research. She didn’t have anything left to vomit, so she felt reasonably safe.
The tape worm diet was actually a thing. There were pills you could take. Apparently some quack had proposed a theory that thousands of years ago, back when we were still nomadic hunters, being infected by tape worm was actually the norm. Tape worms kept us thin and actually helped us combat other diseases and infection. Several people referred to it as a symbiotic relationship. Going onto a few diet forums, Missy found more people than she would have thought arguing in favor of the tape worm diet. All of them claimed they had experienced dramatic weight loss safely.
But how could one die from tape worms? Missy found a few articles about the dangers. The side effects were numerous, and one of them was severe diarrhea leading to dehydration. Karen had complained to her of having that recently and of course she’d run to the bathroom that night…
Missy was no doctor, but she knew dehydration was dangerous. People died from it. Was that how Karen had died?
Missy DeMeanor Cozy Mysteries Boxset Page 32