The Forks County Sheriff’s Department, for example.
At my pull in, Ron Newson climbed out of the lemon mid-life-crisis mobile and turned a malevolent eye on my truck. Evidently, Ron knew to track me to Halo House too.
I eyed his car. Corvette tire tracks would be easy to trace for Della’s hit and run. Luke would have checked Parker’s Audi too. I’d place my bets on a Palmetto-type vehicle. Likely stolen. Or borrowed for a joy/murder ride. Thank the Lord they had stolen my Datsun after Della’s murder and not before, I thought. I’d hate to be framed for all three deaths.
But why was Ron here? I wondered if Parker sent him. Should I run from Ron, not knowing if my friends inside were safe from his son?
Nope. Couldn’t do it.
Shutting off the truck, I considered my options. Dallying with Ron in the parking lot seemed a good way for something bad to happen. I didn’t trust the man any more than I trusted his son. But I did want to hear whatever he needed to say to me. Which was urgent enough to wait in the one place he’d knew I’d show. Maybe he could tell me where to find Parker. Or give a good hint to send Forks County’s Finest in that direction.
I slipped out of the truck, fisting my keys.
Ron’s breath frosted the air as he strode across the parking lot. He had left the Corvette running.
To be safe, I paced toward the entrance, rounding away from Ron.
His faster feet cut off my approach. “Hey,” called Ron. “I want to talk to you.”
“Save it for the police. Your son accosted and tried to kidnap me last night. He’s imploding.” I glanced toward the Halo House entrance, hoping for a witness loitering under the covered walkway. Unfortunately, it was too cold for the morning greeters to stand in the vestibule, let alone outside.
“Let me explain.” Ron halted before me and waved toward the Corvette. “My car’s still running. Get in where it’s warm so we can talk.”
“No thanks. I don’t get into cars with murder suspects.” I stepped laterally to move around him.
“You’re higher on that list than me.” His arm shot out and a strong hand gripped my elbow. “Just for a minute. You’ve got time. Get in the car.”
“Let me tell you something, Ron.” I jerked my elbow back and he tightened his grip. “You know my brother ‘explained’ a woman into his vehicle. You do not want to go there with me. I don’t want your explanations. Your kid is a criminal and I will be pressing charges.”
“You can’t do this to us.”
“Your son’s not going to be president of Meemaw’s Tea. He thinks he’s a gangster. Do you know he’s carrying a pistol? It matches the tattoo on his neck.”
“A gun?” His hand flew off my arm. “You’re lying. He wouldn’t do that. Della put the stocks in his name. Parker has a future. He just needs to grow up first.”
“The way he’s going, Parker’s future will be behind bars. If he’s lucky enough to make it to prison.”
“I’ll pay you whatever you want.” Ron’s voice wavered. “He was just trying to scare you. He looks tough, but it’s an act.”
“I don’t want your money. I want to know what happened to your wife and her mother and sister.”
Ron’s face darkened.
“Did Parker kill them?”
“No,” he shouted.
His hands reached again. I sidestepped but he wasn’t grabbing for me. Instead, they grappled with an invisible neck. The hands shook, then covered his face. With an anguished moan, Ron crumpled. The polish, reserve, and sneer disappeared as the man wept.
Not knowing what to do, I waited until he pulled himself together.
Red-faced, Ron pulled off a glove and swiped at his eyes with a handkerchief. “I don’t know what Parker’s capable of anymore. He had everything he could want.”
“Except parents who paid attention to him.”
Ron’s jaw tightened. “I’ve been there for him. Cleaning up his messes. Della was busy. She didn’t tolerate his shenanigans. She’d punish him. I felt sorry for Parker. Della wasn’t motherly, but she was an amazing businesswoman, so I dealt with it.”
“You mean you paid to deal with his shenanigans. Although I don’t think gang activity counts as a shenanigan.”
He bowed his head. “He’s just a boy.”
“Not according to the law. Was Parker at the factory the day Della died?”
“I don’t know.” Ron blinked at the sky. “I wasn’t there.”
“Right, you had an alibi. Except Donna Sharp was at the factory. Where were you?”
“Atlanta. At my golf club. This is all just a big misunderstanding,” said Ron. “Della was killed, yes. There were...issues between her and Parker. One therapist called it Abandoned Child Syndrome, blaming Della for being emotionally unavailable. I don’t know. Maybe it’s defendable. Rehab and counseling, not prison.”
I seethed. My mother had abandoned me for real and I hadn’t up and joined a gang. “I’m guessing rehab and counseling would leave you in charge of his controlling interest in Meemaw’s. Prison wouldn’t?”
“Belvia’s heart attack is making this look worse than it is.”
“Murder tends to do that.”
“No.” He held up his hands. “Coralee and Belvia had heart attacks. This is your fault. You’ve been making their deaths look suspicious. It’s not murder.”
“The police have evidence to the contrary.”
“I’m telling you she was already dead.” Ron’s voice broke. “It’s a misunderstanding. He didn’t do it.”
“Who was already dead?”
“Parker didn’t stab Coralee.” His eyes squeezed shut. “I stuck the pencil in her neck. I knew it was your pencil. I was afraid for Parker. I meant to have it out with Coralee. But I found her dead. And I was angry. With her. And you. And Parker. And Belvia, for all her machinations that created this mess in the first place. The hell she put us through.”
That’s a whole lot more than angry, I thought. Who gets mad enough to stab a dead body with a pencil?
I edged toward the sidewalk. “You need to talk to the police, Ron. Tell them about the pencil. You might have seen important clues to her murder.”
He stumbled after me. “Didn’t you hear me? Coralee wasn’t murdered. She had a heart attack like her mother.”
“Coralee was poisoned. She and Belvia were given medication that killed them. You need to tell the police what you saw.”
“You have to be wrong. Parker wouldn’t know how to use medication like that. He couldn’t have killed Belvia and Coralee.”
Sounded like Ron had thought Parker had killed Della. Ron just didn’t think Parker capable of dosing medication for a heart attack. “Is that why you were looking at Belvia’s medicine? Trying to see if Parker could have induced her heart attack?”
“No, I was looking to see if Parker had stolen any drugs from Belvia. I didn’t want the police to find out he was selling drugs from Halo House.” He sighed. “I guess that’s the least of his problems now.”
But my thoughts had spun back to the digoxin. “There’s plenty of heart meds in Halo House if you know where to look. Half the time the residents don’t lock their doors.”
Ron began to protest again, but I stopped listening. Pris had said Wally self-medicated. My looking under the couch for the pills had made Wally nervous. Wally and Pris were also about to inherit a bundle, unless Belvia had written Coralee out of the will. But that meant Wally or Pris would have also killed Coralee.
The missing will didn’t make as much sense in that case.
Before I could explore that idea, I still had a slight problem with Parker wanting to kill me. I interrupted Ron’s lamentations. “Do you know where we can find Parker?”
“He didn’t come home last night,” Ron mumbled. “I’ve no i
dea. A friend’s house? I banned his friends from the Tea Grove. He was always slinking off and I was forever kicking them out.”
I thought of Palmetto’s sneak attack at the Tea Grove. “Do you think Parker’d come here? To look for me?”
Ron shrugged.
“Look, Ron. You have to talk to the police. Tell them everything. It’ll be better for Parker in the long run.”
“What will you do?”
“I need to warn my friend and stay with her until the sheriff’s deputies get here. Parker’s looking for revenge and to fulfill his gang debt. But please talk to the police. There’s a chance your son didn’t commit murder.”
I ran toward Halo House’s front doors, wishing I’d changed my wording to, “A chance your son didn’t commit murder yet.”
After all, Parker still gunned for me. And I was bedbug crazy enough to return to the first place he’d look.
Before I called Luke to bring the cavalry, I needed to know Ada was safe. Which meant breaking my restraining order.
Which could mean going to jail-for-real-and-not-just-for-my-own-good.
Regardless, my phone was out of juice. I had to enter Halo House. I couldn’t risk using the hall phone and getting caught by the staff. Particularly when they suspected me of prank calls about the dangers of a deceased resident’s grandson. But Fred would sneak me into his room and let me use his phone. And Fred could tell me how Ada was doing. Maybe she no longer thought me a stool pigeon. Maybe we could return to being friends.
Maybe I was being naive.
Either way, I needed to warn them about Parker.
In the vestibule, I waited for Krenzer to turn her back on the front desk to commune with her coffee maker. I raced past the lobby, bypassing the exposed grand staircase to the rear hall where the elevators stood. Jamming the up button with my thumb, I bounced on my toes and waited for the slow descent. The scent of coffee and bacon drifted from the deli. A passel of folks passed, headed for coffee. I received some cheery “morning”s and one stink eye from a dissatisfied art student. The elevator doors opened. I waited again for Ray Howard to shuffle through with his walker. Before he could tell me once again about the Tokyo peep show he saw back in ’52, the doors slid closed.
I shot skyward at a gentle pace that wouldn’t upset my balance or digestion. The doors slid open. I eased past Flora Shelley—who had a granddaughter coming today or tomorrow or was that yesterday—and Maria Martinez—who’d won a bingo coupon for a tan at Get A Glo. By then, I worried Parker had enough time to breakfast, drive to Halo House, park, walk up the stairs, and hold Ada hostage while I was stuck between floors two and four.
Suffice it to say, I was more than a little anxious when I reached Fred’s apartment.
At my pounding, he opened the door wearing a t-shirt featuring a battleship and a towel around his neck. Fred stepped out, shot a look down the hall, and yanked me inside. “Girl, you know you’re not supposed to be here.”
I held up my hands. “This is too important. Parker Brakeman-Newson is on the loose. I tussled with him and his gang last night and he’s looking for me. He knows I’m friends with Ada and I’m worried all to hell. He’s packing heat and crazy stupid.”
“You think he’d do something to Ada?” Fred flicked the towel from his shoulders and wrapped it around one fist.
“He’s desperate enough to use Ada to get to me. He’s buying drugs off Hazel for his dealer to sell. The boys he’s running with...” I checked the fear in my voice. “They’re connected to an Atlanta gang. And into some serious stuff by the looks of it. Like teaching me a lesson for interfering.”
“Where’re the police?”
“I need to use your phone to call them. But I thought you could get Ada out of here. Before Parker shows. Take her to Line Creek or something. Until things die down.” I bit my lip, hating my choice of words. “Parker’s going to find me here. I planned on drawing him away. But I ran into his daddy in the parking lot and came to warn you.”
Fred blinked, then caught up. “Use my phone, then you need to get out too. Let the police handle this.”
“I will. But I needed to know y’all were safe first. Halo House should be on lockdown, but no one will believe me.”
“I’m getting Ada.”
“Call her first.”
While Fred rang Ada, I wore a path in his living room playing, “If I were Parker, where would I hide?”
Belvia’s apartment.
I burned to check it out, but I didn’t like the prize if I won that game.
However, if Parker did hide at Belvia’s, I knew someone who might have noticed. Molly. I was sure she had a key. She lived a few doors down. And if Parker didn’t have a key, he might’ve asked an unsuspecting Molly for entrance.
Fred returned the phone to its corded cradle. He glanced at me. “Not home. I think Ada’s getting coffee. Let me check the canteen and while I’m there, I’ll organize a search for Parker. Don’t you worry.”
“Please, no heroics. If anyone sees Parker, tell them to lock their doors and call the police.” I grabbed his phone. “That goes double for Ada. I’m fixing to check on Molly.”
Fred nodded and sped out the door.
This phone business didn’t help me much. No answer from Molly. Or at Belvia’s, although I didn’t think Parker would answer if he was hiding there. I dialed Luke, who also didn’t answer. I stated something about an armed and dangerous Parker possibly showing at Halo House and sending reinforcements to the residence home. However, Luke still didn’t know about my associations with Palmetto or the subsequent stalking and abduction by Parker. He only thought I was on the wrong end of a restraining order due to my prying nature.
As a girlfriend, I’ll admit, I was a horrible communicator. And, it seemed, dishonest.
Probably needed to work on that.
As soon as I got those scary Branson babies out of my head and scary Parker off my tail. Bringing me back to “Where In the World Is Parker Brakeman-Newson?” I couldn’t lead Parker away from Halo House if he wasn’t around to follow. Ada and anybody else associated with me could be in danger.
I headed to Molly’s on the second floor. She rarely left her apartment. I had a feeling she purposefully didn’t answer the phone. But she had a key to Belvia’s. There was a good chance Parker had paid her a visit.
Thirty-Three
I sighed in relief when Molly answered the door without an armed Parker beside her. She wore another sweatsuit. Glittery kittens played with a sparkly ball of yarn. Still no pearls and suit. But she no longer appeared anxious and frazzled.
“Molly, let me in. I can’t let anyone see me.”
She glanced down the hall, then widened the door. “What do you mean?”
“Ada has a restraining order on me. I’m not supposed to be at Halo House.”
Molly drew me inside. “I thought Ada was your friend.”
“She had me arrested for trying to stop Hazel and Rosie from getting away…Never mind, that story’s too long. I need to warn you about Parker.”
“Parker?”
“Parker’s been buying and selling drugs at Halo House. He’s dangerous and I’m afraid he’ll try to hurt you.”
“Oh, my.” Molly sank onto the floral couch.
I sat beside her. “I want you to keep your door locked. If Parker shows, call for help. Don’t let him in.”
“Do you think Parker’s the one who killed poor Coralee?”
“Actually, no.”
“But who else would stab her?”
I hesitated, hating to upset her again. Molly seemed calmer. She had a right to know. “The pencil didn’t kill her. She was poisoned with the Dixie Delites I gave Belvia.”
“The chocolates?” She stilled. “Do you know who poisoned them?”
�
�Someone who had access to the candy. Considering the slew of Meemaw’s folks and Brakeman family who had trooped in and out of that apartment, there’s a host of people who had access to the box. They could have easily grabbed and returned it. The poisoning, however, narrows it considerably.”
“Oh my stars...” Her words trailed off and her eyes wandered to the picture of the sisters.
“It’s okay, Molly.” I spoke soothingly, patting her arm. I had misjudged her recovery and opted to veer from murder to a simpler crime of drugs. “I’m concerned Parker could have stolen some of your prescriptions. He sells them to a dealer who is networked in Atlanta.”
“Lord have mercy.”
So drugs might not make for a better topic than murder. “Just in case, you should check your prescriptions and let the police know if anything’s missing. In the meantime, keep your door locked and alert the front desk if Parker stops here.”
“I should check my medicine and see if anything’s missing now. While you’re here.” Her voice quivered. “Some of it was Maggie’s. I brought everything when I moved here.”
I sensed her reluctance to admit she had held on to her sister’s medicine. I knew many retirees who stored medications to save money. Except now some were selling the drugs to make cash.
“Go through it and if you think anything’s missing, tell Sheriff Will. You should sort them anyway. Anything expired is no good.”
“Please wait. I’m so worried about this. It won’t take long.”
I forced myself to smile and nod. Internally my nerves stewed and popped.
We ambled down the short hall leading to her bedroom. Inside, she stopped at her bathroom door. “This will just take a moment.”
A Composition in Murder (A Cherry Tucker Mystery Book 6) Page 25