“I’m not leaving,” I cut in gently. “No one has to do anything.”
“That’s not funny, Delilah,” my mother replied, “Of course, you’re leaving.”
“No, I’m staying. I’ve decided,” I said with a smile to show that I was content.
My mom threw her napkin on the table and stood up. With finger pointed, she said, “Delilah, that’s enough. You’re coming home. That’s final. No more discussion.”
“We never discussed it, Mom,” I reminded her calmly, “but that’s okay. I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to stay, but I can’t run away again. If I do, I’ll never feel right.”
Dad laughed, and shook his head. “That’s my girl. Tough as nails.”
“I’m not brave, Dad,” I told him, as he beamed. “I’m scared more than-”
“Just a minute here!” Mom protested. “Have you forgotten that someone is trying to kill you?”
“No,” I said with a roll of my eyes.
“Then, where’s your brain?” she demanded. “The smartest thing to do is to get the heck out of dodge before he tries to fix his mistake.”
“He’d be an idiot to try again,” Sam interjected somberly.
“Mr. Tough Guy, huh?” Mom retorted. “Couldn’t save her the first time, could you?”
“That’s not fair!” I bit back.
“He’s probably the reason you want to stay so bad,” my mother continued, and turning back to him with her accusatory eyes, said, “This is your fault!”
Sam turned to me and smiled. “I didn’t tell her what to do, but I’m proud of her decision. It’s her choice, which is exactly the way it should be.”
“Geeze, Louise!” Mom exclaimed, rolling her eyes. “You’ve known this joker for what? Two minutes? And already you’re-”
Sam and I chuckled. “It’s been a little longer than two minutes,” I grinned.
Our smiles didn’t please my mother, who bolted back, “You are leaving! That’s final!”
“Mom!” I yelled. “I’ve made my decision.”
“It’s a mistake!” she shouted back. “This whole town is just one big cesspool of criminals! You’re nearly murdered! Mamma Rose is robbed! Why would anyone ever want to live here?” She stormed off.
My eyes shot back to Sam. “Mamma Rose was robbed?” I demanded. “When?”
“The same night you went missing,” he said.
“Why didn’t you tell-”
“I wanted you to focus on getting better,” he cut in. “It wasn’t important.”
“Of course, it’s important! You can’t coddle me,” I insisted, jumping up from the table and stomping down the hall toward my temporary bedroom.
“I wasn’t coddling,” Sam returned, following me. “I would’ve told you soon. It’s not like you could’ve done anything.” I raced ahead, but stopped suddenly, sending Sam slamming into my back. “What the-” We bumped heads.
“Ah,” I groaned. My gash throbbed, and I rubbed the bandage softly. “Shoot.”
“Sorry,” Sam said, reaching for me. “Are you okay?” I pointed up at a picture on the wall. It was a hand drawn pencil and charcoal image of Grandma Betty and Grandpa Charlie’s house, beachside.
“Okay,” he said, “It’s nice.”
“Raina drew this,” I told him. “I’ve seen it a million times, but I’ve never really looked at it before. Look, this is her signature. Three dots in the bottom right hand corner.”
“Weird. A triangle?”
“No, rain, drops of rain for Raina,” I told him. “We need to talk to her.”
Chapter Sixty-Eight
Mystery
The earth is 70% water. 94% of the earth’s residents are aquatic. Of all the earth’s oceans, seas, lakes, less than 5% has been explored. The largest mountain range on earth – the Mid-Oceanic Ridge – wasn’t discovered until after we landed on the moon. The earth has worlds we have yet to see.
People are like this, too. Worlds live beneath the surface.
Entering the Piggly Wiggly, we didn’t find Raina working the register. A bagger informed us that she was on her break and directed us to the back room. We hurried through the dairy aisle, past swinging double doors, and into the stock room. Raina spotted us through a glass window and met us under a tower of dog food.
“What’re you guys doing here?” she asked, her voice shaky. Her face was pale, and she wouldn’t look me in the eye. Instead of answering her question, I pulled the sand dollar out of my pocket and held it up to her. Her mouth dropped open and tears burst from her eyes.
“I’m sorry,” she whimpered. “I’ve kept the secret for so long that sometimes it seems like a dream.” She pulled us behind another row of tall stock shelves, where fewer people could hear if passing by, and composed herself. Teague handed her a handkerchief.
“You were right,” she said to me, “I did know him. We worked together here at the Piggly Wiggly until he got fired because of me.”
“How’d you get him fired?” Teague asked.
Raina sighed. “You guys have no idea what it’s like being the smart one.” She whispered it as if it were a bad word. “My mamma’s been micromanagin’ my life. I got this job thinkin’ I’d get some freedom out of it, but she takes all my checks and puts them directly into savings. If I want to buy something, I have to ask her, and many times she tells me I don’t need it. So, I did something really bad.” She rolled her eyes up to heaven as if making a confession.
“What’d you do?” I prodded.
“I um took some money out of the register.” She whispered.
Teague and I looked at each other with wide eyes.
“I know!” she exclaimed. “All I wanted was art supplies. They’re expensive. Reverend Bill had asked me to do a mural in the nursery, but Mom wouldn’t give me the money. I took three twenties out of the drawer. Oh, please don’t arrest me, Officer Teague!” She started crying again. Sam and I cast each other disbelieving looks.
“So, how did Darryl get involved?” I urged.
Raina wiped her eyes. “God takes bad things and turns ‘em into good,” she explained, “and that’s what happened. That night, the office manager counted my till and realized the money was missing. She called me up to the front office where everyone was clocking out. I denied it, of course.”
“Of course,” I agreed.
“Well, she was really upset,” Raina went on, “and she said she was goin’ to check the cameras. I didn’t even know they had cameras! I ‘bout had a heart attack! My life was over. I could kiss college and church and everything good-bye.” She paused to wipe her tears on her sleeve. “And then, Darryl walked over. Handed her three twenties out of his wallet, said he’d done it, and quit.”
“Wow,” I said.
“I know, right?” Raina grinned. “He saved me, for no reason at all. I know it might sound funny, but ‘cept for Jesus, I’d never known anyone to make such a selfless sacrifice, ‘specially not for me. I, well, I stalked ‘em a little bit. I just had to know him better, and we started seeing each other in secret.”
“Why the secrecy?” Teague asked.
Raina shrugged. “My family would have freaked out if they’d learned I was dating a boy like Darryl.”
“That’s true,” I replied.
“He was even more insistent about keeping it a secret,” Raina replied. “Darryl said that his family wouldn’t understand. His own brother moved in on his last girlfriend, the stripper, giving her all kinds of presents and stuff. Disgustin’. His mom is kind of a fruitcake. So, we just kept it quiet, met in secret places. It was very romantic.”
“Was Darryl involved in any criminal activity that you know of?” Teague asked.
Raina shook her head. “All he ever told me was that he had a nest egg, and that he was trying to get out of a business arrangement he was in, but that it was complicated.”
“But, he never told you what the business was?” I asked.
“No, but he made pretty good money at it, I think,�
�� she surmised. “Delilah, he was going to marry me, gave me a ring and everything.” She started crying again.
Teague turned to me, and said, “So the Duffy family picture in his room was really just a picture of Raina.”
“Yes, he was protecting her with the rest of us,” I agreed, thinking again of the schooling fish.
“He really was a good man,” Raina whimpered, “no matter what everyone says. I was only with him six months, but I felt like I’d loved him my whole life. I can’t believe he’s gone.” Raina crumbled into my arms.
Teague and I left Raina in the hands of her sister, who came immediately after I called. Leaving one sibling relationship, I thought deeply about another. Teague opened the car door for me, and smiled.
“You’ve got that thoughtful look,” he noted.
“Angel told me that Darryl had given her all those gifts, not Ronnie,” I explained.
Teague shrugged. “Maybe Darryl lied to Raina. Ex-girlfriends are a touchy subject.”
I nodded. “Yes, but if he were going to lie, he’d lie about having a relationship with a stripper in the first place. Benny said the same thing that Raina just did. It was Ronnie who gave Angel the presents, not Darryl. Is that enough to get a new search warrant? Search Ronnie’s portion of the house?”
“No way. There’s nothing illegal about giving gifts.”
“What if they’re stolen?”
“Still, it’s all hearsay-”
“But, if Angel told the truth? If she turned over the goods?”
Teague’s eyes squinted. “That’d be enough.”
I grinned widely. “Wanna go see a stripper?”
He chuckled. “Wow, you’re like the coolest girlfriend ever.”
Chapter Sixty-Nine
Cookiecutter Shark
At less than two feet, the cookiecutter shark is a dwarf compared to its intimidating shark cousins, but it still leaves an undeniable mark on its enemies. Its saw-like teeth make circular cuts into its victims, as if one has simply taken a cookie cutter hacksaw to the flesh. In the shark world, it’s a puny specimen. Still, it can sometimes be the smallest of us that are the cruelest.
Angel Jenner rented a blue and white trailer in a place called The Estates. Trailers were lined up like trees on the roadside, barely enough room between them to breathe. The dirt road through the middle had been roughed up by the rains, and the bumping caused my head to hurt as we made our way there. Teague went slowly, avoiding unwatched children who occasionally darted out without looking.
We pulled in behind a red Honda Civic hatchback, with its trunk open. Angel was stuffing a series of bags and suitcases into the car, and rolled her eyes at our arrival.
“You again?” she snapped at me. “I ain’t got time to talk.”
“Leaving, Angel?” Teague questioned. She flicked her long blond hair, and gave him a sarcastic smile.
“That’s none of your business, now is it?” she returned.
“We’re not going to stop you,” I cut in, “but we need your help.”
“I ain’t got nothing to say.”
“Darryl Chambers is dead.” I cornered her at the car. “I almost died.” I pointed to the bandage still on my head. “What else has to happen before you tell the truth?”
A brief look of sympathy drifted over her heavily made-up face. She breathed out, “See what askin’ questions and stickin’ your nose in stuff gets ya?”
I nodded. “You’re right. It’s a dangerous world, for both of us.”
Teague stepped closer. “The only way to truly be free is to tell the truth so we can end this once and for all.”
Angel rolled her hazel eyes, leaned against the car, and glanced around at the other trailers, as if looking for prying eyes. “Okay, okay,” she decided.
“Ronnie’s the one who gave you those presents, right?” I prodded.
She nodded. “Yep, I was with Darryl at the time, and he was real nice to me. But, Ronnie had an itch, I guess, and started givin’ me things. A girl like me’s gotta go where the gettin’s good, you know? Can’t be a stripper forever. Ronnie offered a little more, so I left Darryl. But, that was a mistake and a half!”
“Why’s that?” Teague urged.
“Ronnie’s a nutbag! Sure, he gave me gifts. Didn’t cost him nothin’, but they cost me! Boy has some weird appetites.” Angel cringed and folded her arms over her chest. “Rough and possessive. I was just another thing to him.”
My eyebrows crinkled together at the thought, and I was reminded briefly of Jonathan Dekker. My hand instinctively went to her arm, and I squeezed softly. The touch surprised her, but a smile eased up over her mouth. Behind the make-up, I could see she was hurting, and scared.
“So, you knew the items were stolen?” Teague asked, and she nodded. “Do you still have them?”
Angel turned and dug into her bags in the back of her car. She started handing over items to us without looking. An angel pin. A white mink coat. A foot spa. A string of pearls. By the time she finished, our arms were full.
“I don’t want ‘em no more anyways. Everything about that boy gave me the creeps.” I knew how she felt.
With the stolen items in police hands, things moved quickly. Search warrants were issued. An arrest warrant followed. The police jumped on the new discoveries while Sam and I headed back home. I expected to feel relieved, but I didn’t.
There was something very cookie cutter about Ronnie Chambers being the killer. Misunderstood kid from a broken home, high school dropout, disliked by everyone (including me and his own girlfriend). A life of crime was inevitable. Right? Still. The idea that he would kill Darryl, his own brother, crossed a line of viciousness I couldn’t imagine. Of course, I was swimming in waters that I’d never been in before and sharks abounded, even in my own family.
Chapter Seventy
Post-Storm
Just like there is calm before a storm, there’s a peace that settles afterwards, like all that’s violent and heavy and loud falls away leaving only the beach. Soft waves topple like falling feathers. The sand is cool to the touch, packed down and easy to tread on. The bulky mass of water beyond even seems to be resting placidly, perhaps just waiting for the next uproar. The hushed aftermath is typically short-lived, but intoxicating, easy to get lost in.
“Tomorrow, we’ll go shopping,” my mother declared. We’d sat down to dinner at Grandma Betty’s long table, but we all no longer fit. With the addition of Sam and my parents, the kids were moved to their own table in the kitchen. Sadly, ‘kids’ included Rachel and Raina, though I think Raina was happy to be set apart. Neisha and Nikita gladly moved to what they deemed ‘the girls’ room’ and dinner suddenly became adults only, not that it would’ve mattered.
“Shopping?” I asked.
“If you insist on staying here,” Mom continued, “you’re going to need a few things for that sparse place of yours, unless you intend on living like that bum friend of yours for however long.”
“Six weeks,” Clara confirmed.
“Don’t hold your breath, Clara,” Mom shot back. “Never know what could happen in six weeks.”
“His name is Henry, Mom,” I told her. “He may be homeless, but he’s no bum.” Teague’s phone rang, and he quickly excused himself from the table. He answered it while walking into the family room.
“What’s the difference?” Charlotte asked me.
“He doesn’t have a home, Charlotte,” I explained, trying not to sound sarcastic, “making him homeless. But, he’s not a bum or someone who avoids work or leeches off of others.”
“Oh,” she said, face still confused.
“Besides, he spouts poetry,” I told the table.
“Like a rapper?” Clark asked.
“No, like a poet,” I said, “Anything from Shakespeare to nursery rhymes. He’s amazing.” Teague appeared in the hall, holding the phone at his chest, and he motioned for me to follow him. I excused myself, and met him in the hall.
“It’s Lewis,�
� he told me. “He has some news.” He pulled me into the family room where we could be alone and he put Lewis on speaker.
“Go ahead, Detective Lewis,” Teague told him.
“We’ve interviewed Ronald Chambers,” he explained, “and he confessed to the murder of his brother and your attempted murder, Ms. Duffy.”
“Wow, just like that?” I asked
“I happen to be a very good interrogator, Ms. Duffy,” Lewis replied. “It took several hours of experienced police questioning to break him, but he spilled like bag of beans.”
“What did he say, exactly?” I prodded.
“Concerning you, Ms. Duffy, he claims that he finished the Rose Duffy house early, drove by the church and saw that you were leaving from Bingo. He raced back to the store and waited for you to arrive. He knocked you out, put you in the back of his truck, and took you to the marina. Chambers borrowed a friend’s boat, fellow by the name of Mel Sanders, we’re checking on him now. And, well, you know the rest. Said he drove the boat out passed the point, far enough into the ocean for someone who couldn’t swim, dumped you in, and raced to get back before anyone discovered the loot in his truck.”
“Did he say anything about the duffle bag?” Teague questioned.
“Yes, said he used an old gym bag that Darryl carried his football gear in,” Lewis read off. “Satisfied?” Teague and I looked at each other, and shrugged.
“Why?” I asked. “Why’d he do it?”
Lewis breathed out heavily. “He killed his brother because he screwed him. Ronald thought he could force Darryl to continue with their business, but Darryl refused. You, Ms. Duffy, you just pissed him off. Imagine that. He found out that you had been asking questions about him and his brother, following him around, and he worried that you’d get to the truth.”
“So, what’s going to happen now?” Teague urged. “Arraignment or bail?”
“We have seventy-two hours before we officially charge him. We’re going to use it,” Lewis said, “especially since it’s a weekend and all. Once we seize all his stolen assets, I don’t see how he’ll be able to post bail, not that the judge will grant it in the first place. He’s going to sit.”
Sea-Devil: A Delilah Duffy Mystery Page 28