We stood there staring at the body, none of us wanting to be the one to pull back the blanket to see if he was still alive.
Then I thought I saw movement. “Did you guys see that?” I asked.
“See what?” Greta asked.
“I think I saw him move.”
We all looked down and carefully examined the body, lit up thanks to the taillights and the light shining down from the tailgate. Sure enough, it moved again.
“He’s alive!” Greta said, tugging on the blanket. “Be ready to grab him if he runs!” Greta yelled as she unwrapped him.
We all got into position, ready to grab Carson no matter which way he ran. Greta got his body free from the blanket and flipped it over his head. We all gasped. It wasn’t Carson!
24
“What are you doing?” Virginia scolded as she grabbed a dazed Bobby and pulled him from the ground.
It took a minute, but his eyes finally focused on Virginia and he started screaming. “Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me!”
His concussion must have been making him crazy.
“We’re not going to kill you!” Virginia shouted back at him. She had him by the collar of his shirt, and I was pretty sure he was almost dangling above the ground the way she had him. I had never seen her so upset. “But we should! Did you kill your own brother the way you killed that man in the sewing building?”
“I didn’t kill that guy!” he cried out. “You guys did! But please don’t kill me!”
Virginia slowly let go of him, and Bobby was able to put his feet flat on the ground. “We didn’t kill anybody,” Virginia said.
“Well, I didn’t either!” he cried. He grabbed his head, and I could tell his world was spinning. Greta reached out to steady him and helped him to the edge of the SUV so he could sit.
“You really didn’t kill him?” Betty questioned.
“No,” Bobby said, his head in his hands. “I walked in and saw him on the floor and then you guys kidnapped me. I can’t believe you knocked me out! My head is killing me.”
“We didn’t knock you out,” Greta said, bending over to get a look at the bump on his head. “You were flailing around and hit your head and knocked yourself out.”
“And you took a nice chunk out of the doorframe!” Hattie added.
Virginia didn’t look like she bought Bobby’s story. I didn’t either. “So, let’s say you didn’t kill him,” Virginia said. “Why were you there in the first place?”
Bobby was quiet and still with his face in his hands. I thought maybe he lost consciousness again. But finally, he spoke. “He wanted me to meet him there. He had some questions for me.”
“What kind of questions?” Greta asked.
“I don’t know. I never got to talk to him. We were supposed to meet on the third floor. I went up there, but he wasn’t there. I thought I heard someone on the second floor and when I went down there, I saw the body. And then you guys came in and nearly killed me!”
“How did you know him?” Virginia asked Bobby.
He looked up at her. “I didn’t know him.”
We were all growing frustrated. We needed answers.
“So, some random person asks you to meet him late at night at an abandoned building and you said yes,” Virginia said, irritation evident in her voice.
“Pretty much.”
Betty shocked us all by lunging toward him and grabbing him by the shirt. She hoisted him up off his feet. “You better start telling the truth, boy. I’ve had enough of this nonsense. Now these ladies might be all nice and sweet, but you’re dealing with me now and I don’t play nice.”
Bobby was as stunned as the rest of us. “Okay, Okay.” His voice was shaky, and it looked like the rest of him was as well.
Betty put him on the ground and Bobby stood back, brushing the wrinkles out of his shirt.
He took a deep breath. “I’ll tell you the truth. But I don’t want my mom to know.”
Uh-oh. This wasn’t going to be good.
Greta got him seated on the back of the SUV again, and Bobby rubbed his head before taking a deep breath. “I was really upset when Ricky died. He wasn’t just my brother, he was my best friend. Everybody loved Ricky. He would do anything for anybody.”
“I know,” Greta soothed. “We all loved Ricky. He had a heart of gold.”
“He really did,” Bobby continued. “And my poor mom, she was devastated. It killed me to see her so upset.” He sniffed, and Greta pulled a tissue from her pocket and handed it to him. “And those stupid cops did nothing to find his killer.”
Bobby was getting more animated now and you could see the anger well up inside him. “Every day, one of us would call down to the station and ask for an update and they didn’t have one. They would just say they were working on it.” He balled up his fists and started to shake. “Months went by and nothing! No suspects, no motive, no nothing!”
Greta rubbed his back and tried to calm him.
“If it wasn’t for Ronnie and Celeste having that baby, my mom would’ve given up on life.”
Greta smiled. “Babies will do that to you. They can give you joy when you didn’t think there was any more joy to be had.”
Bobby nodded. “He’s brought us all a lot of joy. But it still hurts that my brother is gone, and it hurts even more that he was just forgotten by the police. They just went on to their next case, and my family hasn’t had any closure.”
“So, what does this have to do with your little meeting tonight?” Virginia questioned.
Bobby hung his head. Whatever it was, he didn’t want to tell us.
Betty took a step forward, and Bobby threw up his hands to block her. “Okay! I’ll tell you!”
He sighed and looked up at us, a combination of fear and guilt in his eyes. “The cops weren’t doing anything to solve Ricky’s case, so I decided to take action myself. At the time, I just didn’t know how I was going to go about it. And then one night, everything just fell into place.”
He paused and looked up at us, and Greta urged him to continue. “Carson and I were at a party and there was this guy there, Jason Norris. I had never met him before, but I don’t usually go to parties. He was drinking and having fun and then he disappeared in the back. I didn’t think anything about it, Carson and I were having fun, talking to girls.”
Bobby’s face started to turn red like he was embarrassed. “But then I had to go to the bathroom. Someone told me it was in the back of the house. I went back there and started opening doors, and when I opened one of them, I saw Jason, face first on the ground. I ran up to him and flipped him over, and I knew right away he was dead. I checked for a pulse and there was nothing.”
“What happened to him?” Greta asked.
Bobby shrugged. “I assume it was an overdose. He still had a needle sticking out of his arm.”
Greta put her hand over her mouth. “That’s just terrible!”
“So how did he get from that back room to the parking lot at the lumberyard?” Virginia asked.
Bobby swallowed hard and took a deep breath. “I sent Carson a text and told him to meet me in the back room. As soon as he walked in and saw Jason, he started screaming. I finally got him quiet and I told him this was exactly what we needed to get the cops interested in Ricky’s case. We could dump the body at the lumberyard and set it all up to look just like Ricky’s death. Then maybe it would revive the case and the cops would finally catch his killer.”
Virginia summarized the end. “So, you and Carson somehow get Jason’s body outside, without anybody noticing, and you dumped his body. And then you two thought you weren’t going to get caught.”
Bobby nodded. “Everyone was so wasted, they didn’t even notice us taking him outside and putting him in my truck.”
Greta frowned. “You do realize that’s illegal, right? To move a dead body like that?”
“I know,” Bobby said. “But I had to do something! The cops weren’t doing anything!”
Betty stood next to
him to make sure he didn’t try to get away while the rest of us formed a little circle to discuss what to do next. “We need to tell Rosa,” Greta said, shaking her head. “I can understand why he did it, but it was still wrong.”
We all nodded in agreement. Virginia looked at her phone. “It’s nearly midnight. I think we should let the poor woman sleep and tell her in the morning.”
“But what about him?” Irene said, pointing to Bobby. “We can’t just drop him off at home. He could decide to run. He might have more information he’s not telling us.”
“He can stay at my house,” Virginia said. “And then we’ll all go to Rosa’s together in the morning.”
It was agreed, and we stepped back over to Bobby and Betty.
As much information as Bobby had given us, there was still something missing. “Bobby, that still doesn’t explain why you were at the sewing building tonight.”
The Grannies all turned their attention back on Bobby and he squirmed a little. “That guy stopped me outside my mom’s café this morning and told me to meet him at eleven. He didn’t say why. And obviously, I never got to talk to him.”
Was that really it? I wasn’t sure I believed him. And judging by the looks on the Grannies’ faces, I didn’t think they did either.
We climbed in the vehicle, and Bobby sat in the back with me and Hattie. Up front, Virginia made an anonymous phone call to the police telling them there was a body in the old sewing building.
As we headed back to the retirement community, my thoughts were racing. Who killed that gang member tonight? I believed that Bobby didn’t do it. But who did? And why did he want to meet with Bobby? I was more confused than ever.
Virginia parked and we all got out. I was happy to be home, but at the same time, I didn’t look forward to going into the apartment by myself.
“We have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow,” Virginia said, a firm hold on Bobby’s shirt. “Let’s meet out here at ten. Irene and Hattie, I think you two should get Nikki’s mom and sister from the airport. That way, Nikki can stay here if Geraldine needs her.”
Everyone was in agreement, and I made my way up to Grandma’s door. I felt numb inside. It was probably shock setting in—another dead body, my family coming the next day, Grandma Dean still in the hospital, and now we had to tell Rosa what her youngest son had been up to.
But somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew it wasn’t all over yet. A chill ran up my spine. I didn’t have gallstones that spoke to me, but deep down, something whispered that the worst was yet to come.
25
Morning came way too fast. I fed the cats and tried to make myself look presentable. Not only did I want to look nice for Grandma Dean’s sake when I went to visit her later, I also wanted to look put together when my mom and sister got in. How much mascara and lip gloss did it take to make your life look good?
I met the Grannies outside at 10:00am. Everyone looked exhausted except for Hattie. She was wearing a hot pink tracksuit with matching hot pink lipstick. When she turned around, I nearly died inside. In big letters across her butt was the word “Juicy.” That might have been the case several years ago, but now she looked like a dehydrated piece of fruit. When she turned back around, she caught me looking at her outfit.
“Isn’t this just the cutest! It’s Juicy Couture. All the young people are wearing it.” She spun around and modeled it for me. “I want to look nice when I pick up your family today. It’s always important to make a good first impression!”
“About that…” How could I tell her and Irene to be the polar opposite of how they normally were? Irene must have read my mind.
“Don’t worry. We’ll behave. You think we’re not used to acting ‘normal’ around outsiders?”
I just wasn’t sure what her version of normal was.
“Before we head in different directions,” Virginia announced, “I think we should all agree to meet at Greta’s house this evening. Clearly, we’re back to square one in Ricky’s case. Let’s solve this once and for all.”
We all agreed, and Hattie and Irene left in Hattie’s car to head to the airport. I decided to drive separately to Rosa’s so I could head to the hospital afterward.
My stomach was sick the whole way there. Bobby rode with Greta and Virginia, and he had been quiet in the parking lot while we made our plans for the day. I couldn’t help but wonder what was going through his mind. He had to know his mom was going to be upset. And would he be arrested? So many questions hung in the air.
When we got to the café, it was nearly empty. Rosa saw us and smiled but confusion filled her face when she saw Bobby. “What’s going on?” she asked.
We asked if we could talk to her in the back and she led us back to the kitchen. As soon as her family saw us, they instinctively gathered around us.
Rosa’s voice cracked as she spoke. “Bobby, what’s going on?”
Betty and I hung back and let Virginia and Greta take control of the situation.
Greta nudged him. “Go on. Tell her.”
Bobby took a deep breath. “Mama, you’re not going to be happy about this, but just know I did everything I did for a good reason.”
Rosa’s kind face turned hard. “Boy, you better tell me right now what you did.”
As he told her the story, she got angrier and angrier. “How could you do this?” she asked when Bobby got to the end. “How could you ever think that what you did was okay?”
“You’re an idiot,” Bobby’s brother Ronnie said, taking a step toward him. “As if we all haven’t suffered enough, you had to go and bring this all up again. I can’t even look at you right now.” He bent down and picked up his son. “I’m going outside to get some air.”
Celeste gave Rosa a silent hug before heading outside to join her husband and son. Just before she reached the door, she stopped and looked over her shoulder, giving Bobby a dirty look. I could tell it would be a while before Bobby’s family forgave him. But they were a close family, they would somehow get through this.
It was silent for a moment before Virginia spoke softly. “I think we should call Detective Owen and let him decide what to do next.”
I scanned their faces. I saw fear wash over Bobby’s and sadness wash over his mother’s.
Virginia turned to me. “Would you step outside and call him?”
I nodded and went back out the front of the restaurant, not wanting to go out the back and disturb Ronnie and his wife. No doubt they were still reeling over the news, and the last thing they needed was to hear me call the police.
I stepped out onto the sidewalk and called Owen. He answered on the first ring.
“Hey,” I said, looking around to make sure no one could hear me. “I think you need to come down to Rosa’s café.”
There was silence for a moment. “Why’s that?”
He wasn’t going to be happy to hear that we solved the Jason Norris case. I gave him a quick rundown of what happened and again there was silence.
“I thought I told you to stay out of this this.” His voice was angry, and even though I could understand to a point, shouldn’t he be thanking me?
“So, are you coming or not?” I asked, just wanting the conversation to be over.
He sighed. “I’ll be right there.”
I hung up and made my way back to the kitchen. Rosa was sobbing and hugging Bobby. I could tell she had already forgiven him.
“Owen’s on his way,” I whispered to the Grannies.
I watched the mother and son grieve, and I felt like I was going to cry too. There was so much pain in their hearts. I couldn’t take it anymore.
“If it’s okay, I’m going to head over and see Grandma Dean. Are you guys going to stay here and wait for Owen?”
Virginia and Greta nodded. I looked up at Betty, and she looked panic-stricken. I could tell she didn’t want to be there any longer either.
“Do you want to come along?” I asked her. “I can drop you off somewhere if you’d like.”
&nb
sp; Betty jumped at the chance. We said quiet good-byes and Betty and I left. As soon as we got outside, we both took a deep breath. I let the humid air fill my lungs and they ached. I didn’t think I’d taken a single full breath the whole time we were in the restaurant. Judging by the look on Betty’s face, I figured she felt the same way.
“Where should I take you?” I asked Betty as we walked to my car.
“I’ll ride along to the hospital. I love their sandwiches. I’ll have an early lunch and then I’ll text Virginia to come get me. Plus, I have some work to do.” She patted her purse. “Thanks to my iPad, I can work from anywhere.”
I didn’t realize Betty had a job. “What do you do?”
She looked confused.
“Your job,” I clarified.
She laughed nervously. “Oh you know, a little of this, a little of that.”
Betty was a peculiar woman. I didn’t know a lot about her, and I had a feeling she was trying to keep it that way.
We climbed in and as I started the car, I remembered I was supposed to bring Grandma Dean a bag of things from home.
I told Betty we needed to stop by the apartment first and she said she didn’t mind. And honestly, I didn’t either. Maybe I could strike up a conversation with Betty along the way and finally learn a little something about her.
26
I wasn’t sure what to talk to Betty about, so I picked the one thing I knew about her. “So,” I said as we drove to Grandma Dean’s apartment. “You’re an Alabama fan.” That definitely got the conversation started.
“My grandson plays football there!” She beamed. “Full scholarship! I never miss a game.”
“That’s great!” I answered.
“Girl, you should see my house! The whole thing is decorated with Bama décor. Even my bathroom is decorated. I live it. I love it. I even bleed crimson.”
I thought that was something we all did, but I assumed it had another meaning to her.
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