Mayhem & Mistletoe

by Amanda M. Lee

  That was yet to be determined. “Just ... let me do the talking. Keep your lips zipped.”

  I took a moment to scan the yard as we approached the front steps. Romeo was one of the richer communities in the county, and while Ruth’s property wouldn’t land her on the higher end of any property value lists, it was still a well-kept and charming house.

  “I can’t see Cal living here,” I mused. “Do you know when Ruth moved to this house?”

  Sabrina didn’t respond.

  “You can answer me,” I prodded. “You only have to keep your lips zipped with Ruth.”

  “I only know that she’s been here a while,” she offered. “Years. I have no idea if Cal ever lived here with her, or how long they’ve been separated.”

  “And who is this source again?”

  “Do you reveal all of your sources?”

  “No, but you’re not me.”

  “Well, you have to trust me.” She was matter-of-fact. “I know you don’t believe it, but I’m going to be a really good reporter. I know what I’m doing.”

  The fact that she’d essentially bullied me into giving her what she wanted proved that. Still, I didn’t want to encourage her. “Let’s see what we have.” I knocked on the door, my eyes shifting to the small window at my left when a curtain fluttered. I couldn’t make out a face, but when the door opened, the dainty woman in the nice skirt and top who greeted us wasn’t what I expected.

  “Can I help you?” She looked puzzled.

  “Ruth Shepperly?” I asked.

  She nodded. “Yes, but I don’t entertain solicitors. Have a nice day.” She moved to shut the door, but I extended my foot to stop her.

  “I’m sorry to disturb you. I’m not a solicitor. My name is Avery Shaw. I’m a reporter with The Monitor.”

  Ruth sighed. “You’re here about Cal. The police beat you by two hours. I’m aware of what happened to him.”

  Well, that answered that question. “He was your husband.” It was a statement, not a question, and I was gratified when she nodded.

  “Not that I want to take credit for him.” Ruth remained in the opening of the door but didn’t invite us in. “What do you want?”

  “I’m looking for information on your husband.”

  “He hasn’t been my husband for almost ten years.”

  “In the eyes of the law, he’s still your husband.”

  She bit her lower lip and fixed me with a dark expression. “I don’t know what good I’ll be to you. I know very little about Cal and what he was doing the last few years.”

  “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable. I don’t want to bring up things from your past that are difficult. But I need clarification about Cal, and you’re the best person to provide that.”

  “I don’t want to be in the newspaper.”

  “Well, I’m sure that can be … negotiated.” The last thing I needed was another source refusing to go on the record. “How about we sit down? If there’s anything you’re not comfortable sharing, then we’ll go from there.”

  She didn’t look happy at the prospect. “Or I could just call the police and have you removed from my property.”

  “You could,” I agreed without hesitation. “You should know that your marriage records are public, though. I can run with that information no matter what.”

  “Is that a threat?”

  “It’s an explanation. Cal was involved in some bad things. I need to know how he might’ve found himself in that situation. You can help me figure things out.”

  “I haven’t been with Cal in years.”

  “And yet you’re still married to him,” I pointed out. “There has to be a story behind that.”

  “Nothing that is any of your business.”

  She was tough. I had to give her that. “Mrs. Shepperly ....”

  “Oh, never mind.” She threw up her hands. “I can tell you won’t let this go. I know who you are. I’ve seen you on the news.”

  Being recognized rarely worked out for me. “Most of those stories were exaggerated.”

  “Really? I like you because of those stories.”

  Well, perhaps this time would be different. “I think we can come to a meeting of the minds here. I just need information.”

  “Fine. But be careful what you wish for.”

  Because it seemed to be expected, I kicked off my shoes in the foyer, leaving them beside a pair of rubber boots that looked better suited for monsoon season than Michigan, before following our hostess. As she led us through the house, I didn’t miss the odd look she shot Sabrina as we crossed from the foyer to the kitchen. Once I was no longer the center of attention and she’d resigned herself to answering questions, Ruth seemed to relax a bit. “I know you.”

  The statement was directed at Sabrina, which had my curiosity revving. “You know her?”

  “I’m an intern with The Monitor,” Sabrina volunteered. “They published a short article about it in the online edition the other day.”

  I made a face. “Whose stupid idea was that?”

  “Marvin thought it was a good idea.”

  Of course he did. I was going to have to give him a good kick in the nuts next time I saw him. He let his libido dwarf his brain far too often.

  “That’s not where I know you from.” Ruth gestured toward a round table in her kitchen, her eyes never leaving Sabrina’s face. “You went to school with my daughter.”

  Sabrina swallowed hard and then nodded. “Jessica. We graduated together.”

  “Sabrina Holden. I remember you.” Ruth’s expression turned kind. “You were a cheerleader.”

  I saw that coming.

  Sabrina beamed at her. “I was captain of the squad.”

  “Jessica always wanted to be a cheerleader, but she wasn’t coordinated enough.” Ruth turned to me. “What about you?”

  “Oh, I made cheerleaders cry. Sorority girls, too.” I flashed a bright smile. “Sometimes I made a game of it.”

  That had Ruth laughing. “I knew I liked you.” She steepled her fingers. “What is it you want to know?”

  “For starters, I want to know how you ended up with Cal.”

  “That’s not an easy question to answer.” Ruth hesitated, as if lost in thought. “We met when I was in college. He was taking business classes and I was going to be a nurse.”

  “You’re a nurse?” That was interesting.

  “I work at the main hospital in Mount Clemens.”

  “It’s a noble profession.”

  “It’s a job. I like helping people, don’t get me wrong, but it’s still a job. You have to understand, when I first met Cal, he seemed like a good catch. He was driven, had big dreams about opening his own restaurant — one of those places where you can drink beer and play video games — and seemed to have a good head on his shoulders.”

  “Obviously that didn’t stick,” I noted.

  “Not at all,” she agreed. “We dated for a year before he proposed. I wasn’t expecting it at the time. I was exhausted from rotations. Until he proposed, I didn’t think I was the marrying type.”

  “I get that.”

  “But when he was right in front of me, holding up that ring, I couldn’t say no. I loved him. By that point I’d figured out that he wasn’t the best at follow-through, but I figured he would outgrow it, find the proper motivation. I thought we would have a happy life.”

  She seemed so earnest that pity bubbled up inside of me. “When did things change?”

  “There was no ‘aha’ moment. We floated along, drifting really, for years. He kept telling me about all his grand plans, and I believed him ... right up until I realized I no longer believed him. He liked to say things like that to make himself feel better. Saying he was going to do something was as good as doing it, in his book.”

  I felt I needed to move the story along a bit. “Were drugs involved?”

  She shook her head. “Well, at least not at first. The drugs didn’t become an issue until later. He was working at T
he Home Depot at the time.”

  “That’s a far cry from owning his own business,” I said.

  “We were happy for a time. He got the job after I learned I was pregnant with Jessica. That also wasn’t planned. As a nurse, I probably should’ve been more diligent — but we were both thrilled with the news.

  “When Jessica was born, Cal was really happy,” she continued. “We were already seeing cracks in the marriage, but they were the sort neither of us would admit. I think, at the time, we both assumed a child would fix things. But adding a baby to the mix never fixes a relationship.”

  “Still, Cal loved her. I loved her. Despite that, we drifted apart. Eventually we were two people sharing a house, and while I still loved him, I wasn’t in love with him. I don’t know if that makes sense.”

  “You were friends instead of lovers,” I surmised, thinking of Jake.

  “Except we had nothing in common. We didn’t even like the same television shows. I wanted to talk to him, suggest counseling, but he was going out to the bar every night. He became more belligerent when I questioned him about where he was spending his time.”

  “How old was Jessica when things started unraveling?”

  “She was about five. I don’t want you to think Cal wasn’t a good father to her. He was an excellent father. He absolutely loved everything about her.”

  “The marriage was over though,” I prodded.

  “It was. I met another nurse at the hospital, and we started talking. His marriage was disintegrating too. We didn’t have a physical affair, but we had an emotional one. We both decided to leave our spouses. When I sat Cal down to tell him, I got a good look at him.

  “I don’t know how I’d missed it,” she continued. “He was strung out ... and then some. He was sweaty, his pupils were dilated. He refused to tell me what he was on. He wasn’t even that upset when I told him I’d met someone.

  “I agreed to stay with him for a bit longer because he needed rehab. He said he would go, and I believed him. My insurance would cover for it, and I really wanted him to get the help he needed.”

  “I take it he didn’t go,” I said.

  “He did – for one day. When he left, I told him he couldn’t see Jessica unless he was clean. He got really angry but didn’t put up much of a fight.”

  I waited for her to continue. When she didn’t, I held out my hands. “And that’s it? Why are you still married if that’s how your relationship ended?”

  “It was a series of things. The man I worked with found out his wife was pregnant. He decided to stay with her because of the baby. It was a crushing blow, but I understood. At the time, I saw no reason to divorce Cal. I was still hopeful he would come to his senses.

  “Over the years, he’d drop in occasionally to see Jessica. She was always so upset when he left, always wanted to do something for him. I couldn’t cut him loose,” she continued. “After a time, I just didn’t think about it any longer. He lived his life and I lived mine. They didn’t overlap. We filed our taxes separately, filed for legal separation but no divorce. And that was that.”

  It was hard to fathom purposely living one’s life that way, but it wasn’t for me to judge. “Were you aware that he was supervising a halfway house in Detroit?”

  Ruth hesitated and then nodded. “Jessica found him. He’d gone three years without stopping in to visit. She tracked him down. When she visited, he seemed surprised. He swore up and down it had only been a few weeks.”

  “He was still using.” I thought back to the man I’d met. He didn’t strike me as strung out. He was more contained than that. “Were you aware he was selling drugs?”

  She nodded. “He never confided in me of course, but it was obvious. I’m not an idiot. Jessica is an adult, but I asked her to be careful around her father. She had to make up her own mind about him. I couldn’t keep them apart.”

  “And did she? Find out, I mean.”

  “She wasn’t thrilled with how he was living, but she couldn’t turn her back on him. She visited once a month, like clockwork. She didn’t stay long, but made sure he had a good meal and talked to him about her life. She’s always been the sweetest thing.”

  “I can vouch for that,” Sabrina said solemnly.

  I pushed my agitation with the intern out of my mind. She had some explaining to do herself. That was for another time. “Were you aware of any of your husband’s associates?”

  “No. I didn’t want to know those people. I had no interest in setting one foot in that world. In fact, in recent months I’d been exploring divorcing him without Cal’s consent. I didn’t want to go down there and see how he was living. I just wanted it to be over.”

  “Well, now you don’t have to worry about that,” Sabrina said. “He’s dead. All your problems are solved.”

  I shot her a quelling look before drawing Ruth’s attention back to me. “Were you familiar with a man named Beau Burton?”

  Ruth furrowed her brow. “The name sounds familiar.”

  “He was arrested some time back for dating a series of rich women and scamming them out of their money. The charges were dropped.”

  “Oh, right.” Ruth bobbed her head. “I know who you’re talking about. I do know him. He’s a friend of my brother Ray. They used to spend a lot of time together.”

  I straightened in my chair. “Ray Bennett?”

  “Do you know Ray?”

  “I’ve met him.” The new information seemed unlikely to be a coincidence. “How often do you talk to your brother?”

  “Not often. He comes around every six months looking for money. I don’t give it to him. He’s not exactly what I would call a good guy. Apparently, I’m surrounded by them.”

  “Did Cal and your brother ever spend time together?”

  “They did when we first got married. They would go to the bar and have beers together. I wouldn’t call them close, though.”

  “And yet somehow they all overlap in this,” I mused, rolling my neck. “Do you think Ray sells drugs?”

  Ruth looked taken aback. “I’ve never known him to. I guess anything is possible. Ray always told me that he didn’t want to go to jail on a drug charge because prison sentences are always longer for things like that.”

  I had no idea if that was true. “When was the last time you talked to your brother?”

  “It’s been a good seven months or so now. I’m hoping he got the message that I won’t be giving him any money. All I care about is cutting ties with that sort of thing. I want to look forward, not back.”

  I pressed the heel of my hand to my forehead, considering. “Did the sheriff’s department tell you anything about Cal’s death? Did they give you any information regarding the investigation?”

  “No, but I didn’t really ask. All they said was that he’d been shot, most likely over drugs, and that they would be in touch with further information.”

  “Have you told Jessica?”

  “Not yet.” Ruth turned sad. “I’m not even sure what to tell her. He was a good father at one time. She’s going to be crushed.”

  “Do you think she knew what her father was doing?”

  Ruth shook her head. “No, and I don’t want you bothering her. She had no idea what Cal was capable of. She thought he was a man with a drug problem and nothing more. Don’t you dare track her down.”

  “I don’t want to hurt your family,” I promised. “I’m just trying to figure this out.”

  “Figure it out without her. Whatever Cal was up to, my daughter wasn’t part of it. As for my brother, I have no idea what scam he’s running these days. You’ll have to ask him.”

  That’s what I intended to do.

  24 Twenty-Four

  Ruth had given me a lot to think about and Ray was on top of that list. With that in mind, I headed for Eliot’s shop.

  “I told you I would come through.” Sabrina was smug in the passenger seat, tilting her head as though picturing herself in front of a news camera giving a report. “I’m going
to make a great reporter.”

  She had an interesting ego. On one hand, I was impressed with the way she put her boot heel to my throat and applied pressure to get what she wanted. That was reminiscent of something I would’ve done, though I probably wouldn’t have been so overt about it when I was her age. On the other, she’d discovered the information in a way that I hadn’t envisioned.

  I was still trying to wrap my head around that.

  “You didn’t mention that you knew Cal Shepperly,” I said as I navigated the highway. “That might’ve been helpful to know sooner.”

  “I didn’t know Cal Shepperly. I knew Jessica Shepperly. And it wasn’t as if I knew she was the dead guy’s daughter until I started researching him.”

  I cast her a sidelong look. “How did you know to research him?”

  “I saw the notes on Mr. Fish’s desk. He took them while talking to you.”

  That made sense and still .... “Are you saying that you went through Fish’s notes without approval?”

  “He had them out.”

  That earned a smile. “Well played.”

  “I wouldn’t have had to make a move like that if you would’ve included me.”

  “I’m not exactly what you would call a team player.”

  “You work with Mr. Kane.”

  “I live with Eliot ... and don’t call him Mr. Kane. It’s creepy.”

  “It’s respectful.”

  I fought the urge to yell at the car in front of me when the driver didn’t use a turn signal. “Tell me about Jessica,” I prodded. “Were you surprised when you put it together and realized who her father was?”

  “The only way I managed to do that was by going through all those old White Pages listings. I wasn’t sure who he was until I heard Mr. Fish and Marvin talking. I didn’t realize you went back to the halfway house last night.”

  “I was there twice yesterday.”

  She seemed surprised. “Were you shot at both times?”

  “Nope. Just the once.”

  “I guess that’s good.” She tapped her fingers against her knee, showing off a bit of restless energy. “I wasn’t exactly friends with Jessica in high school. I was a little nervous her mother was going to say something about the fights we used to have.”