“I’m still trying to figure out why someone would do that.”
“Me too.” I crossed my arms and set my foot to tapping.
Luke looped an arm around my shoulder and pulled me into his side. “About what you said earlier—”
The door opened, Luke dropped his arm, and I released the breath I held.
“I’m afraid Mr. Newson and Mr. Brakeman will have to speak to you at the station tomorrow,” said Quasi. “It’s late and they are already in bed.”
“My ass,” I said. “Parker’s too young. No way he’s in bed. It’s not that late.”
Quasi’s eyebrows climbed a few centimeters.
Luke handed him a business card. “Make sure they show up tomorrow morning. And I’ll take your name too. For my report.”
“Very well.” Quasi slipped Luke’s card into his shirt pocket and handed Luke one of his own. With a quick goodnight, he shut the door.
I peered at the card in Luke’s hand and gasped. “Harry Hunt. That’s Belvia’s attorney. Not a butler. He wouldn’t return my calls.”
“He’s been avoiding me too. I’ve been dealing with his associate on the missing will. Harry Hunt wasn’t Della Brakeman-Newson’s attorney. I wonder what he’s doing at her house.” Luke tapped the card against his chest before sliding it into his polyester shirt pocket. “This is getting interesting. You want to add assault to the vehicle theft report? I’ve a feeling we’ll find your truck nearby. Maybe no malice was intended, but I’d love to get one of these Meemaw folks on a bunch of charges. It smells to high heaven of fish.”
I clapped my hands and danced on the porch. “Let’s go fishing.”
We found the Datsun abandoned on the road. Easy enough for someone from the Brakeman estate to have abandoned it and return home undetected through a span of trees. At the Forks County Sheriff’s Department, Luke and I filled out paperwork for assault and vehicle theft. Something I normally wouldn’t consider, but Luke needed the paperwork to bring in Ron and Parker. While he typed, I pondered the point of the shove and steal.
“The perp didn’t want me to see them,” I told Luke. “Maybe it wasn’t Ron or Parker, but someone else sneaking around the estate.”
“It would’ve been easier for them to sneak away than push you and take your truck. They brought notice to themselves this way.” He shook his head. “Probably it was Parker, ticked off that you were snooping. Seems like something a kid would do. Knock someone down and take a joyride. Don’t worry, I’ll get a confession out of him on this and whatever he stole from Hazel.”
“That makes sense. If Ron wanted to do me harm, he’d flatten me like he did his wife.” I bit my lip. “Whoops. Freudian slip. Ron Newson’s personality hasn’t improved since our first interaction.”
“You think Ron Newson killed his wife?”
“He and Coralee have million-dollar motives. Isn’t the spouse usually the most likely? And he’s inheriting a sweeter deal what with Belvia’s death on top of Della’s. He’s likely the largest stockholder now too. Unless that missing will changed things.”
“Ron Newson had an alibi for Della’s accident.”
“Dangit. That’s right.” I drummed my fingers on his desk. An alibi for Della’s hit and run, but not necessarily for Belvia. The entire family had been at Halo House that morning. “Have you gotten the cause of death for Belvia Brakeman yet?”
Eyes on his keyboard, Luke shook his head. “The coroner still has her. Maybe tomorrow.”
“I need some good news. Tell me y’all have a strong suspect in Della’s hit and run despite Ron’s alibi. Even if you don’t have the evidence to back it up.”
He flicked me a sad look. “Wish I could, sugar. My strongest lead is the tire marks and I’ve got no witnesses. To be honest, I’m frustrated with the sweet tea people. They’ve been no help. And of course, the family has circled their wagons.”
“Rich folks are good at covering their tracks, aren’t they?”
“I don’t know about that. But they’re smart enough to not speak to me without a lawyer present. Which means I get nothing useful in an interview.”
Exactly as Miss Belvia assumed they’d do. I understood her frustration. Frustration that led her to choose me for her witch hunt. “What about Coralee? Where was she when Della was killed? Coralee or Wally could’ve pushed me too.”
“Cherrilyn Tucker, stop bullshitting me about researching staff issues for Mrs. Brakeman.” Luke scowled. “Watch your back with the Brakemans. You already landed in the shrubbery tonight.”
“You think Coralee pushed me?”
“Nope, I still think it was the kid.” Luke reclined in his desk chair and folded his hands on top of his head. “I want to know what he was doing with this Hazel. And why she doesn’t want to talk about it.”
“Me too. I’ve got Ada and Fred watching her.”
“I guess that’s all right.” He scooted his chair to face me. “You keep out of it though. If she complains about you harassing her, that’ll eventually get to Sheriff Thompson.”
“I hope we can get Parker. You think y’all do a lineup of hoodies? I’ve always wanted to pick a suspect from a lineup.”
“As dark as it was, I don’t think it would stand in court. You want to prosecute if it was him?”
“I don’t know. Depends on what he’s doing with Hazel.”
“Just in case she doesn’t want to file?”
I nodded.
“Good. I wouldn’t press charges for getting knocked into a bush either. But Parker doesn’t need to know that.” Luke leaned forward to plant a small kiss on my lips.
Small but potent.
I drew back and pretended to fix my cuff. Finding casserole smeared in the seam helped to keep my eyes off Luke’s.
“You want to talk about what else’s going on with you? Nobody’s around.”
Tell him I had temporary baby schizophrenia? I shook my head.
“Sug, have you considered Cody’s attorney could use Billy Branson as a witness for the defense? It could help his case. The shock of learning he might be Shawna’s half-brother placed Cody under duress. The lawyer can show circumstances led Cody into thinking Billy’s his father.”
I sighed. Luke returned to this topic more than Myrtle Jones’ stories about her 1958 trip to Paris. And Myrtle Jones had dementia. “Besides telling Shawna, you also want me to give Cody’s lawyer the information you found about her daddy?”
He nodded. “I heard Cody’s getting a new attorney.”
“The court-appointed one wanted Cody to plea out.” I closed my eyes. Belvia had understood the implications of Cody’s arrest better than I did.
Luke squeezed my knee.
I opened my eyes. “Some think this trial has more to do with making your boss look bad than with Shawna’s vanity.”
Luke lifted his hand from my knee to run it through his curls. “Politics can get ugly.”
“You heard anything about that?”
“Certainly not from the sheriff.” His half-smile didn’t hide the stress in his eyes. “And when I’m around the house, folks tend to keep their political opinions to themselves.”
“By folks, you mean Bransons. They think you’re a traitor, huh?”
“They’re aware I’m seeing you if that’s what you mean. We didn’t try hard enough to hide it.”
“Kind of hard when JB’s got the whole town spying on us.”
“JB’s got bigger fish to fry than worry about who I’m dating.”
“Yeah, the fish being my Uncle Will. JB wants his out-of-towner in the sheriff’s seat next fall. Considering my brother’s arrest has been made into Halo’s crime of the century, I’d say JB’s candidate would love to point out Sheriff Thompson’s relationship to the incarcerated in his campaign stumping. Besides that, Cody’s arraignm
ent was a joke. Everyone knows JB had Judge Ackerman in his pocket. JB’s godfather to Ackerman’s grandson. They play golf together every Thursday, for pity’s sake.”
“I know, sugar. One of the reasons I grew up hating this town was the strength of the old boy network.” Luke strummed his fingers on my knee. “All the more reason to take that information about Billy Branson to Shawna. She can’t guarantee who will reside over the actual trial. In light of that evidence, Shawna may decide the case can’t stand and withdraw her charges. She must know it’ll boil down to a he said-she said sort of battle between the attorneys. And if y’all have a good one now—”
“In light of that evidence, Shawna’ll go ballistic.” I covered my face with my hands. Luke was too forgiving of his step-cousin. And too focused on using the Branson family secret as a Hail Mary pass to solve our problems. “I’m going to lose my house and my brother.” And you. But I kept that haunting thought to myself.
“Your house?”
“It was the house or the farm.” I sniffed back a tear. “If Shawna doesn’t drop the charges, it’s the only way we can afford the new lawyer.”
“Darlin’, I’m sorry.” Leaning forward, he took my hands in his and pressed them to his lips. “Then don’t tell the lawyer, if you think it won’t help. That may be better anyway. If JB heard his brother could be a witness for the defense, he’d find your mother to use as a witness for the prosecution. They’d want her to discredit Billy and throw y’all off.”
It was a good thing I hadn’t eaten any of that casserole because that idea almost made me lose the little I had in my stomach.
Once again, I selfishly wished Belvia hadn’t passed and had saved me from dealing with this ordeal. I also wished she hadn’t mentioned it. That Pandora’s box of hope had opened, then slammed shut.
My brother’s future was at stake. I was losing my house. My family would never forgive Luke, despite his feelings about his stepfather. Even Todd had foolishly wrapped himself in Shawna for our cause, and God bless him, wasn’t savvy enough to resist her charms. The Bransons would also make sure Uncle Will would lose his position as sheriff, because of a dumb blunder by my idiot brother.
Everyone and everything I held dear seemed to be slipping away.
But who was I fooling? Belvia would only have granted my wish if I could find her daughter’s killer. I wasn’t a detective, just a creative thinker. All I’d done was add more suspects with motives to her list and pissed off some powerful people with my lack of nuance.
“I don’t know why I’m doing this, Luke,” I said miserably.
“Because it’s the right thing to do. Your judgment’s sometimes misguided and your quest for justice stronger than your common sense, but you always try to do the right thing. That’s one of the things I love about you, sugar.”
We locked eyes for a long moment, both of us silent. His wistful smile made my stomach knot.
I love about you. We kept skirting the issue of us, and he used Shawna to avoid speaking of the future. Maybe he was also worried about Sunday dinners at the farm, where the pecan pie would be served with a side of hostility.
If I feared having Branson babies, did he fear kids with Tucker genes? What did we have to offer besides child abandonment, unemployment, and jail sentences? Good with our hands and raising goats?
Not that I’d claim the latter.
It wasn’t until the drive home I reanalyzed his words and realized his “doing right” speech had pertained to Shawna. Whereas I’d been thinking of doing right by Belvia’s last request.
Our crossed wires could be another sign. We may be able to start our engines, but we had no map to show us how to get anywhere.
Twenty
The next morning, I nuked a sausage biscuit and eyed Todd from across my coffee mug. He appeared more dazed and confused than normal, which could mean a lot of things or a whole lot of nothing, as it was Todd we were talking about. We both needed an early start. I was meeting Coralee to help with her funeral preparations and whatever else she deemed necessary. Todd was driving his truck on the day route. Where he possibly snuck in stops for sugar with Shawna.
That thought turned my sausage biscuit to dust and my coffee to vinegar. Even if he faked their relationship, it still felt too real.
I felt pinched between a hopeless relationship with Luke and a doomed friendship with Todd. Someone needed to pay and that someone was the woman with whom Todd currently attended. The man needed to cogitate on this fact whilst toting those brown boxes.
And I admit, I wanted him to hurt like I was hurting. I had gotten that low.
“I guess you haven’t seen Cody lately,” I said. “Grandpa’s fixing to get him a new lawyer. The old one wants him to plead guilty.”
Todd dropped his spoon into his cereal bowl and looked up from the box of Honey-Os he’d been reading.
“Although I shouldn’t tell you this as you’re dating the enemy now. Did you plan on telling Cody who you’re seeing?” I took satisfaction from his stricken look and rubbed a few angry tears from my eyes. “By the way, I’m losing this house paying for Cody’s lawyer. You better start looking for a new place.”
“Baby.” Todd pushed from the table. “When did this happen?”
I held up a hand to keep him from hugging distance. “Don’t you ‘baby’ me. Save that for Shawna.”
“Cherry, it’s not like you think.”
“Tell me how it’s not, Todd. You kissed her and you liked it. She’s been in my house with you doing God knows what.” I waggled a finger. “And keep whatever that is between you and God because I do not want to know. Actually, keep it out of my house.”
“We’re not doing anything—”
“Told you I didn’t want to hear it.” I swiped another tear. “Although I guess I’m losing the house anyway.”
“Shawna’s not all that bad. Never thought I’d say that,” he amended quickly. “But I’ve seen a whole new side of her. Not that I’ve traded loyalty or anything. I’m still hoping our dating will help y’all out. But she’s been more interesting than I thought. I should tell her you’re losing the—”
“If you tell her one gol’darn thing that has anything to do with Cody, I will never forgive you.” I stomped to the door.
“Wait a minute.”
“Never is a helluva long time, Todd. Think on that,” I hollered and slammed the door.
I took my bad mood to Halo House. Ada and Fred had possession of the fountain seats and assessed my demeanor before I opened my mouth.
“Who tee-teed in your grits, Christine?” said Ada. “You look like hell.”
“It’s Cherry. I had a rough night and a rougher morning.” I glanced up the grand stairway. “And I need to see Coralee first thing, which is a heavy cross to bear this early.”
Fred handed me his cup of coffee. “Here, I haven’t had a sip. You need it more.”
I fell on them both, relishing their hugs. If only I could move into Halo House. Friendships here were easier, the breakfasts tastier, and the coffee free-flowing. Luke could even have conjugal visits.
I’d heard that was popular at Halo House too.
“What’s the matter?” said Fred. “Man troubles?”
“I’ve got man troubles, roommate troubles, and family troubles. But I’m also worried about Hazel. Did you know the young guy stealing from her was Parker Brakeman-Newson? Della’s son?”
“Dadgum,” said Fred. “I knew that kid was trouble.”
“Are you sure he was stealing from Hazel?” said Ada.
“He took something from her purse. Saw it with my own eyes. Ada, why do you keep backing off this issue? You’re acting as cagey as Hazel.”
She blinked at me through her glasses and shrugged.
“The innocent old woman act won’t work with me. What do you k
now about Parker and Hazel?”
“Nothing.” She folded her arms. “Except you keep hounding Hazel and I don’t like anybody hounding nobody.”
Fred glanced from Ada to me. “I’ll talk to Ada, hon. You better get if you’re meeting Coralee. She’s already here.”
Ada glared at Fred. “I don’t need a talking-to from you or Christine.”
“You need something, Ada. Honesty for a starter. Parker’s no good. At his house last night, someone accosted me and stole my truck. Probably Parker.” I held up my hands, calming their anxious questions. “I’m fine, truck was nearby. Was bringing them a casserole. But someone doesn’t like me asking questions.”
“Asking questions about what?” Ada stuck her tiny fists on her bony hips. “You need a dose of honesty too, girl. Fess up. Why are you really helping Coralee?”
“To get her off Molly’s back.”
“Who’s Molly?” asked Fred.
“Belvia’s old assistant, remember? She lives here. Y’all need to form a welcome committee or something. I think Belvia was her only friend.” I took Fred’s coffee and started toward the staircase. “See y’all in class later. We’re working on perspective again today.”
“With models?” Fred said hopefully.
“With a ruler.”
“Not if you want to keep your students,” muttered Ada.
Pris answered Belvia’s door. She wore a sloppy ponytail and circles beneath her eyes. “My mom said you might come. But I can make up an excuse if you want to back out now. I wouldn’t blame you at all.”
“That bad?” I waved off her worry and stepped inside the door. The room had changed from reception area to dining room. The table from the kitchen had been dragged into the middle and all available seats made a wide ring around it. “Interesting look. Y’all planning on a big family meal? I’d think the Tea Grove would give you more room.”
A Composition in Murder (A Cherry Tucker Mystery Book 6) Page 15