Angel sat back in her chair. “That’s where Darryl was killed.”
I nodded. “Yes. I heard that you used to date.”
Angel shrugged. “For just a little while, about a year ago. He was sweet. I like the big, burly type. Used to buy me nice presents.”
“What kind of presents, if you don’t mind me asking?” I urged.
She stared off dreamily. “Got me a foot soak for my feet. He knew my feet hurt when I came home. Got me a pretty white mink coat once. That was the nicest thing he gave me, but the thing I loved the most was a gorgeous angel pin. It had diamonds for eyes and a gold halo. So cute. And he never asked for none of it back either when we broke up.”
“Can I ask what happened?”
“Same thing that always happens, except to Sadie here. She’s got herself a good, understanding man,” she grinned, glancing sideways at her co-worker. “But, most guys can’t handle what we do, get jealous and act stupid. He wanted me to quit, but I actually like working here. I make really good money.” She shrugged again. “What am I going to do? Be a doctor? Sweep floors?”
“So, you broke up, but it was friendly?” I clarified.
“Yeah, it was kind of mutual,” she related. “I mean, I’m sure he was sad about it for a while, but he got over it. I’m pretty sure he was seeing someone.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know. No one here at the club. But, someone. He started acting different,” she explained.
“Yeah, he was actin’ like an idiot lately,” Sadie agreed. “Hummin’ and smilin’ all the time. You’d think he’d won the lottery or something, kind of annoying actually.”
“But, he never told you who he was seeing?” I asked.
“No, we didn’t talk much,” Angel replied.
“She’s probably married or something,” Sadie assumed. Her eyes widened. “Oh, maybe a jealous husband killed him.”
“I don’t know. I don’t think he would’ve been with a married woman,” Angel said, adjusting pieces of her hair. “If I had to guess who killed him, I’d say his brother. He’s a creep.” Angel got out of her chair and checked her backside in the mirror. “I gotta go.”
“Thanks for the help,” I told her.
“You know, you look familiar to me,” she said as she walked by me. “You sure you don’t dance?”
“Yeah, you do look familiar. You been on TV or something?” Sadie asked.
“I was in the paper,” I admitted.
Both strippers’ eyes lit up and they smiled, immediately remembering my picture.
“Oh, my gosh, you’ve got stripper written all over you girl,” Sadie complimented. “You want to learn how to dance, you come see me. I’ll teach you everything.” Sadie laughed.
The sticky hot humidity felt like a baptism when I finally exited Via’s. Delilah the Decent felt thoroughly tainted. I looked up toward Coral Lane just in time to see Aunt Clara driving by, staring right at me with her coy smile. She’d just seen me walk right out of Via’s. I could almost hear her dialing her phone. I just wondered which relative she would call first. Probably my mother.
Chapter Forty-One
Dinner
One of the first things I did today was add minutes to my pay-as-you-go phone. As I walked down the side of Via’s, the phone rang. I almost didn’t answer, thinking it would surely be my mother or grandmother screaming about me being at a strip club. The second thought was that it was Jonathan, relating bad news about my deadline, ever present like the dark clouds of a storm at sea. As usual, I was wrong.
“I miss you,” Mike said. The clatter of dishes and voices could be heard in the background. “I’m sorry I haven’t called.”
“That’s okay. I’ve been busy,” I said.
“Jake’s been out all week with a stomach bug,” he went on. “And he’s out again tonight, but I had to call. I’ve been thinking about you nonstop.” I hesitated. A moment of silence passed between us. “Can you come by?” he asked.
“I’m having dinner with my grandparents,” I replied dully. “Besides, I’m sure I must’ve made it to the Seinfeld part of your brain by now.”
Mike chuckled. “Course not.”
“You saw the picture in the paper?” I tested.
“Why would that change anything?” he asked. “Delilah, I don’t care about any of that bullshit. I just want to spend time with you.” He sounded sincere, but I doubted my judgment.
“Maybe I can stop by after,” I compromised.
I was about to reconsider when he said softly, “I look forward to seeing you, Delilah.”
Willie and I arrived at the Duffy’s seaside home later than usual. The driveway was filled with all the regular cars, plus one. Teague was there, standing on the back porch holding a bottle of beer and wearing casual clothes. I sat with Willie for a moment, gathering my strength. I wondered how long it took Aunt Clara to spread the news of my visit to Via’s, if Clark would write about it, and if I’d be able to slip out the back door unnoticed.
“Come on, Willie. Let’s just get it over with,” I said.
Teague smiled from the top of the porch. Willie bounded up the steps to greet him properly.
“You look good,” he said, “Did you sleep?”
“A little.”
“Betty invited me,” he said, “the day she drove me home, when I dropped off your Jeep and you took off.” I smirked and bit my lower lip. Oops. “Hope you don’t mind.”
I shook my head. “I don’t mind, but it feels a little like you’re stalking me, Teague.” I grinned and he held the door open for us.
“Might be,” he smiled back. Teague followed me down the hallway toward the family room.
“How was Lewis?” he asked.
I shrugged. “He was himself.”
“That bad?” As we rounded the corner, Teague’s hand made its way to my side somehow.
“It’s over,” I said, “but I did what you told me to do.” We made it to the large, open room of windows.
“Rachel’ll be fine. She dates like she’s supposed to, like you try on shoes. You just keep going till you find the right fit. Raina, well, she’ll be the death of me. But, I swear if my daughters aren’t married by the time their twenty-nine, I’ll shoot myself,” Aunt Clara was saying to Aunt Charlotte and Aunt Candy as we walked in. My shoulders dropped.
Teague chuckled. I rolled my eyes. Willie bounded from one person to the next, extracting as much attention as he could. Candy’s girls, Neisha and Nikita started playing with him right away, and asked to take him outside. Willie and I both agreed.
Aunt Clara smiled warmly, “Delilah, we didn’t hear you come in. Officer Teague, always a pleasure to see you.” The usual round of greetings and hand shaking swept across the room. After fifteen minutes of idle chatter, no one had mentioned a thing about the strip club. Maybe Clara didn’t see me.
“I don’t think they know,” Teague whispered to me, as if reading my mind. I glanced at him quickly. “About your break-in last night. You didn’t tell them?”
“No, I’ve been busy,” I said. “They’ll just make a fuss about it. Do we have to tell them?” Teague shrugged and shook his head.
Dinner was served. We sat at Grandma Betty’s enormous table, decorated in red, white and blue hydrangeas, white candles, red place mats, and of course rooster dinnerware. Stuffed salmon was the main course, but she had a myriad of side dishes to satisfy even the picky eaters at the table. Teague sat between me and Mamma Rose.
“So, Delilah, when’s the new grand opening going to be?” Clark asked mid-way through dinner.
“Tomorrow,” I said firmly.
“You’re goin’ to have your grand openin’ on a Sunday?” Aunt Charlotte questioned.
“Yes.”
The aunts exchanged glances.
“Terrific,” Clark said. “It’s about time.”
“No, that’s not terrific. That’s not good at ’all,” Aunt Clara protested. “Openin’ on Sunday is just wrong.”
“She’s going to open for business while the good folk of Tipee are at church?” Clara asked. “After all that’s happened, I’d think you’d do everything you can to restore your reputation. Not make it worse. People think you’re a building-stealing, filthy-mouthed, murdering floosy. This won’t help.”
“People are sayin’ you’re like the devil,” Aunt Charlotte said softly.
“I heard someone say she’s the bride of Satan,” Candy contributed.
“Girls!” Grandma Betty chastised.
“I can open after church is over,” I said finally. “The store will open at noon, so as not to offend all you good Christian people.”
“What a nice compromise, Delilah,” Grandma Betty praised sweetly. “Now, can we just eat our meal?”
“Wow, the Duffys in their natural habitat,” Teague whispered in my ear, “kind of scary. Let me know if you want me to get my gun.” Laughter belted out of me, so much so that the entire table turned and stared.
“So, how did the job interview go today, Delilah?” Aunt Clara asked suddenly. I recovered from my giggles and glanced over at Clara.
“What?” I asked confused.
“You did have a job interview, right?” Clara asked. “I mean, why else would you be coming out of Via’s titty bar?”
Grandma Betty’s fork dropped with a clang to her plate. Clark gasped. The twins’ mouths dropped and eyes widened. Mamma Rose shook her head. Damon Carver laughed. Candy’s hand went to her mouth, while Charlotte just went pale. Grandpa Charlie looked confused, and Clara’s husband Peter just continued eating.
“What?” demanded Grandma Betty.
“I saw her with my own two eyes, Mamma,” Clara defended. “Not more than an hour or so ago.”
“I was not there for a job interview,” I sternly stated.
“So, you were there?” Grandpa Charlie confirmed.
“Yes, but I have a perfectly reasonable explanation,” I said.
“This better be good,” Betty said, sitting back from her food as if she’d lost her appetite. Clara smirked. I seethed. I would have to tell them about the break-in in order to explain my presence at the strip club, which would mean opening a whole new can of worms that I’d hoped to avoid.
“We’re waitin’,” Clara cooed.
My stomach rumbled and churned. The whole table heard it. I breathed heavy, in and out, and started to speak. Teague stopped me with his hand on the back of my shoulder.
“I don’t know Delilah nearly as well as all of you,” he said to the waiting audience, “but I can say without hesitation that she’d never be the type of girl to take off her clothes for money. She comes from a better family than that.”
I looked around the table to see that heads were nodding in agreement.
“There are black sheep in every family,” Clara instigated.
Quickly, Teague continued, “Now, granted, she’s been in some strange circumstances lately, but she’s handled herself with the utmost grace and tact. You should be proud of her. She’s even gone out of her way to help the police. It may seem odd that you saw her at a strip club, but they do share an alley and a dumpster. It’s reasonable for the two businesses to communicate with each other, however distasteful that would obviously be for Delilah.” Unbelievably, most of the table continued to agree with him, much to Clara’s dismay.
He finished by saying, “It’s really none of our business why she was there. We all know her and know that she’d never be there for the wrong reasons. So, let’s all just ease up on her.”
“Samuel is absolutely right,” Mamma Rose capped off. “I’m sick of this bullshit. Delilah’s a good girl.”
Gasps circled the table and the eyes fell on Mamma Rose this time.
“I’m old. I can cuss whenever I want to,” she insisted. “Bullshit. There, I said it again. And, I’ve wanted to say it in church a thousand times, but I’ve never had the balls.”
Chapter Forty-Two
Whales
The Blue Whale is the largest mammal… ever. It beats every creature to have ever walked or swam the earth, including all of the dinosaurs. The blue whale lives in all our oceans; the seas belong to them. They are beautiful, musical, gentle creatures, and most of them live solitary lives. At nearly 100 feet in length and 180 metric tons in weight, the blue whale’s heart alone weighs 1,300 pounds, bigger than a jet ski. With hearts that big, it’s no wonder why they choose to stay alone.
Teague either had a big heart or a serious save-the-damsel-in-distress complex. Again, he had saved me. He snuffed the fire Clara had tried to ignite, and the strip club wasn’t brought up again, at least until we were alone.
After dinner, Teague suggested a walk. We left the crowd of Duffys behind and headed to the shore. Teague held Willie’s leash, but kept one hand in his pocket.
“Thanks for what you did in there,” I said as soon as we were away from the house. “Once again, you came to the rescue and knew exactly what to do.”
“You say it like it’s a bad thing,” he returned.
I shrugged. “Just wish I could figure out the trick. I suppose I’ll need you here every time.”
Teague smiled. “Okay.”
“No, you don’t want to be a part of that drama all the time,” I warned. “It’s life-draining.”
“If it’s the only way I can get to spend time with you, then I’ll take it,” he said. “So, tell me why you really went to the strip club.” I explained my reasons, which brought up inevitable questions about whether or not I’d asked around about Darryl.
“Well, I didn’t really ask questions as much as people sort of brought him up themselves,” I said. “Please don’t be mad.”
Teague huffed. “I’m not mad, just frustrated. You’re dealing with questionable people and one of them’s a killer. You can’t keep doing this.”
The water splashed my feet and ran up the sides of my legs. Scenes from my nightmares flashed in my head. I bounded around Teague to get away from it.
“You okay?”
“For the millionth time, I’m fine.”
“Unless they get you near the water, I guess,” he mused.
Willie barked at a passing poodle while Teague held the leash tightly. We hurried on to relieve his temptations. The sun produced a soft orange glow on the sea, making everything softer, taking the pinch off the heat.
“I’m just worried,” Teague said after a few minutes. “And I don’t get worried.”
Hearing him say that felt heavy on my heart. I believed him, but didn’t understand. A pair of pelicans swooped overhead and a jogger passed by us.
“Don’t waste your worry on me. I don’t deserve it.” I shook my head, and said, “I don’t know what to think of you.”
“What do you mean?” he asked, stopping.
I turned to him, and said, “I want to know something. Hanging from the visor mirror in your police car-” His eyes revealed his recognition. “Is that what I think it is?” My tone was accusatory, irritated, causing him to crinkle his eyebrows together and take a small step back.
I put my hands on my hips. “So, Williams has pictures of his family on his visor, but you have the pieces of an ankle bracelet,” I said, “my ankle bracelet.”
“You gave it to me.”
“What does it mean?” I urged.
“I told you,” he started. “That day’s been a bright spot in some dark places in my life. The bracelet is a reminder, my good luck charm. It’s been all over the world. When I was in the army, I took it to battle, kept it in my shirt pocket, right here.” He pointed to his chest. “And whenever life was shit, I took it out and held it. I needed to know that pieces of heaven were possible, and that maybe someday, I could have it again.”
“How could you possibly feel that way about that bracelet?”
“It’s not the bracelet, Delilah,” he smiled. “It’s you.”
This time
, I crinkled my eyebrows together and took a step back.
Teague stepped closer, and went on, “This town’s been going crazy since the news hit, that you were coming back. None more than me. Seeing you again, I was thrilled.”
He stopped to chuckle and said, “But, I was nervous. Maybe I’d taken our day and you and built you into some kind of dream. I thought that I’d see you and you’d be different. I’d feel differently. The fantasy would be broken-”
I turned away from him, but he grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back around.
“I can’t-” I started to say.
“You shattered the illusion, Delilah,” Teague told me. “You’re that girl I came to know on a beach thirteen years ago, but more. You’re even more beautiful, more brilliant than I-”
“Stop!” I ordered him, and started walking away.
“You say you don’t know what to think of me?” he continued jumping in front of me, “I don’t see why. We’re the same, me and you.”
The words stopped my feet and my heart. Had Great Aunt Laura been there, she would’ve pushed me to him, with all of her scrawny might.
“No! We’re not the same, at all. You’ve put me on this cloud. I wasn’t good enough for you then, and I’m even less worthy now. I’m not – I mean, I – I am-”
“You are the most intriguing woman I’ve ever met,” Teague finished. “You amaze me.” I closed my wet eyes and started to walk away. “Don’t walk away,” he said, reaching for my shoulder. Water closed in on my feet.
“Why not? That’s what you’ll do!” I bit back.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he said confidently. I winced. I faced him again and took a long breath. I wiped the tears from my face, embarrassed that they were there in the first place.
“You want to know about me, Teague? The girl you think you know so well?” I challenged. “I hit one of my students. My temper took over and I punched him right in the face. He-he confronted me after school and I wailed on him. Tyler Kettering just turned eighteen, lucky for me, or else I probably would’ve gone to jail. They decided not to press any charges provided I pay Tyler a nice apology fee and promise never to teach again, which was going to happen anyway – me getting fired – because I accused Tyler and his friends of cheating, which they didn’t do, after all. I made a huge mistake and topped it off with assault. Some teacher! Some amazing, intriguing woman!”
Sea-Devil: A Delilah Duffy Mystery Page 18