I was affronted. “Why did you look at me when you said that?”
“Because looking Aisling in the eye right now is above my paygrade,” Dad answered without hesitation. “Now, we need to focus on the other stuff … not Tim’s disgusting habits. Tell us how the prop system works with the troupe, Cindy.”
Griffin and I were most definitely taken, so Cindy appeared to have focused her considerable charms on Dad. She positioned her body so her low-cut corset pumped up her breasts to unnatural heights, and batted her eyelashes. “What do you want to know?” she purred.
Dad took an involuntary step back, the heat she focused in his direction threatening to melt his generally implacable demeanor. “Um … I lost my train of thought.”
“I bet you did.” Griffin offered an enthusiastic thumbs-up. “Go get her, tiger.”
“Don’t add to this madness,” Dad warned, instinctively grabbing Aisling’s shoulders and shoving her in front of him to act as some sort of a buffer. “We were talking about props, right?”
Aisling rolled her eyes as her lips curved with amusement. “I think Dad is a fan of Shakespeare now.”
“I’ve always been a fan of Shakespeare,” Dad barked. “That has nothing to do with what’s going on here.”
“Shakespeare is wonderful, isn’t he?” Cindy’s tone was low and seductive. “The language is so … romantic.”
I thought I was going to burst from the effort it took to hold back my laughter. I knew if I didn’t get Cindy back on track that Dad would make a scene. “Go back to the props, Cindy,” I prodded. “Where are they kept when they’re not in use?”
“We have an old theater where we rent space to rehearse.” Cindy focused on me but kept shooting Dad the occasional glance. She probably recognized money when she saw it, which made Dad an even more impressive catch. “We have a few lockers there, and a closet, and we split time with two other acting troupes when it comes to rehearsals. We all work together.”
“So technically those other groups have access to the props, too?” Griffin pressed.
Cindy shook her head. “The other troupes have their own stuff. We don’t share. That’s one of the rules.”
“So only people in your troupe have access to the props,” Griffin mused. “You said the props were kept in a closet. Who had keys to the closet?”
“Um … I think only Gerald and Louis.”
“Who is Louis?” Aisling asked.
“He’s kind of our leader.” A small smile played at the corners of Cindy’s lips. “He’s a masterful actor. He actually studied under the guy who played Han Solo’s body double in Clear & Present Danger.”
“Huh.” Aisling flicked her eyes to me, something unsaid passing between us. “Is Louis here this evening?”
“Yeah. He’s here for every performance. He’s doing The Taming of the Shrew tonight, though.”
“That’s good to know.” I ran my thumb over my chin as I considered the myriad of possibilities. “What else can you tell us about Louis and Gerald?”
Cindy shrugged, seemingly losing interest in the conversation rather quickly. “I don’t know what you want me to tell you. Gerald is boring but a heckuva guy. He asked me out and everything. I almost took him up on the invitation but then that whole bathroom thing happened with Tim and I swore off men for a bit.”
“I can see why,” Aisling said. “I think I would swear off men if there was a bathroom thing involved. Er, well, I guess it depends on the man and what the ‘thing’ was. Hmm, maybe I’m saying this wrong.”
Griffin shot her a hot look – one that didn’t escape Dad’s attention – and then turned somber. “So Gerald mostly handles the props, but Louis has access to the closet, too. Anyone else?”
Cindy shook her head. “No. Honestly, no one but Gerald wants to be in control of the props. It makes him feel as if he’s part of the group because he’s a frustrated actor who doesn’t get to act. This is simply something for him to do.”
“That’s only two suspects,” Dad said. “They’re both present and accounted for, too.”
“Can I ask why you guys are so interested in the props?” Cindy queried. “I know that you’re curious about Tim’s death – it’s going to be the talk of the entire area once it hits the news tonight and tomorrow – but you don’t look like cops.”
She gave Griffin another lingering look.
“Okay,” she conceded after a beat. “This one kind of looks like a cop.”
Aisling’s amusement was obvious. “He likes to play with handcuffs, that’s for sure.”
“Aisling!” Dad was close to losing it. He’d only gone along with the plan to this point because he thought he had no other choice. If my sister pushed things too far he was likely to storm off, and then we would be in serious trouble.
“Stop irritating your father,” Griffin ordered.
“Fine.” Aisling didn’t look happy with the prospect, but she acquiesced. “Thank you so much for your time, Cindy. I can’t tell you how grateful we are for your help.”
Cindy offered up a pretty smile. “It was no inconvenience. Although … .” She trailed off as she turned to my father. “If you want to pay me back I love seafood. There’s a nice place on Woodward, and I’d love some company.”
Dad shifted from one foot to the other as good manners and horror warred for supremacy.
“You should give him your card,” Aisling suggested. “He’ll give you a call when his schedule opens up.”
Cindy seemed happy enough with the response. “Great idea. That will allow us to plan a whole day.”
“Yes, it’s definitely a great idea,” Aisling agreed, her grin evil enough to make horror movie villains the world over stand up and take notice. “There is no limit to my great ideas.”
“YOU’RE GROUNDED FOR the rest of your life,” Dad barked once we were clear of Cindy and positioned in a spot where we could survey both Louis and Gerald from a distance. “I can’t believe you encouraged that … woman.”
“Oh, now, come on.” Aisling adopted an innocent expression, one she’d mastered at a young age when she was in the mood for Dad to spoil her. “She wasn’t so bad. She had a very impressive rack and I’m pretty sure she puts out for seafood. What more could you want?”
“I’m done talking to you for the day.” Dad held up his left hand to cut off his view of Aisling’s face as he pulled his phone from his pocket and stared at the screen.
“What is it?” I asked, instantly alert.
“The home office.” Dad slowly lowered his hand, all traces of mirth missing from his features. “The paperwork on Tim Graham just arrived.”
“Is that normal?” Griffin asked. “Do you often get paperwork after the fact?”
When Dad didn’t answer I took it upon myself to do it for him. “It’s not normal. It’s not completely unheard of either. It happens on rare occasions.”
“What does the paperwork say?” Aisling asked.
“Well, we still don’t know why there was a delay with it coming through,” Dad replied. “Your soul isn’t going to a good place, though. His list of misdeeds is … unseemly.” Dad wrinkled his nose into a sneer. “We’ve only heard the very basics when it comes to his sexual exploits.”
“Does it say ‘golden showers’ on there?” Aisling asked.
Dad fixed her with a withering look. “What did I tell you?”
Aisling wasn’t bothered in the least by Dad’s tone. “That I’m your favorite.”
“I swear you only hear what you want to hear,” Dad groused. “Sometimes I wonder if you’re even my child.”
“Oh, please,” I scoffed. “You can’t deny any of us because we’re your clones.”
“I would like to deny all of you at times, but you have a point.” Dad slipped his phone back in his pocket. “I suggest we go back to the bathroom and absorb the soul. There’s nothing more we can do here.”
I knew Aisling wouldn’t agree to that without putting up a fight … and I was right.
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“We have to at least talk to Gerald and Louis,” Aisling argued. “You can do that for me.”
Dad was immovable. “I’ll buy you a new car if you let this go.”
“I can’t be bribed.”
“I’ll buy Griffin a new car if you let this go,” Dad offered, changing tactics.
“I can’t be bribed either,” Griffin said. “Let her talk to Gerald and Louis. If we get nowhere with them I’ll switch my allegiance to you and push her to absorb the soul and be done with it.”
Dad was intrigued by the offer. “Do you promise?”
Griffin nodded. “I promise. I’m tired of being here, too.”
“Nowhere near as tired as me,” Dad muttered. “Fine. We’ll talk to those two men – and only those two – and then we’re out of here. I don’t want to risk Cindy finding me again. I’m going to have nightmares as it is.”
“I don’t know,” Aisling countered. “I think you guys would make a cute couple. She definitely doesn’t look as if she eats people, so she’s better than some of your other dating options.”
Dad was at his limit. “How far do you want to push me, Aisling?”
Aisling shrugged. “I guess we’ll have to play it out to see.”
Nobody – with the possible exception of my sister – was looking forward to that.
Okay, maybe I was a little curious. Sometimes I picture Dad as one of those cartoon characters with steam coming out of his ears when Aisling really puts some effort into agitating him. It’s almost always amusing. This was no exception.
9
Nine
Aisling, now completely sober, headed in Louis’s direction first. She seemed keen to focus her energy on him, although I had no idea why.
Dad, Griffin and I followed in her wake, keeping a close watch on her, but otherwise letting her lead the way.
“I have no idea why she is the way she is,” Dad grumbled, shaking his head. “She was such a sweet little girl. Now she’s a loudmouthed bully. It’s … distressing.”
Griffin cast him an annoyed look. “She’s still sweet.”
“You’re both wrong,” I corrected. “She’s never been sweet.”
Now it was my turn for Griffin’s glare. “She’s sweet when she wants to be. She’s also tough. You guys made her how she is, and it drives me crazy when you complain about her attitude because you’re the reason she is how she is.”
“Oh, I think that’s a convenient excuse,” I argued. “She is the way she is because she’s hardwired that way.”
“She’s not hardwired,” Dad countered. “She was an extremely sweet child. She used to come into my office every night with a book and we would read together. She always wore these pink pajamas with feet on them in the winter.”
I stared at him for a long moment. He was clearly feeling nostalgic, although he appeared to be remembering things differently than me. “She wore the pink pajamas because Mom bought them for her. She hated them.”
“She did?” Dad wrinkled his forehead. “I don’t remember that.”
“She wanted blue or green, like we got,” I supplied. “She always hated it when Mom made her wear girlie colors.”
“Yes, I recall the pink coat incident,” Dad lamented. “It was lost on a zoo trip. Your mother wasn’t happy, although she didn’t give me much grief about it.”
“That jacket wasn’t lost,” I said. “You just bought her a new one because she hated it.”
“I … .” Dad looked as if he was going to argue, but then shut his mouth. “Fine. I spoiled her and I’m half the reason she is the way she is. Are you happy?”
“I’m perfectly happy with that,” Griffin replied. “I like her the way she is.”
The look Dad shot Griffin was hard to read.
“You do,” Dad said after a beat. “That often makes me wonder if you’re somehow mentally deficient.”
“Not last time I checked.” Griffin’s tone was dry. “I haven’t been tested or anything, but you’re the only one who has ever complained.”
Dad heaved out a sigh. “I know you think I’m talking bad about her … .” He trailed off, uncertain.
“You are talking bad about her.” Griffin wasn’t one to back down from an argument. He used to be frightened of my father. Now it was more as if he found my father amusing, which didn’t sit well with Dad but served as a source of constant amusement for my brothers and me.
“I’m not,” Dad corrected. “She’s just … so annoying sometimes. No, don’t look at me that way. I love the kid. I would never say otherwise. She’s a pain in the ass, though.”
Griffin looked as if he wanted to argue, but instead he cracked a smile. “She is a pain in the ass. You wouldn’t love her half as much as you do if she wasn’t who she is, though. Don’t bother denying it. I see the way you look at her.
“You’re annoyed when that fast mouth of hers is pointed at you, but you’re often amused when it’s aimed at her brothers, and you’re always secretly happy when she goes after her mother,” he continued. “You really like it when she goes after Angelina. I’ve seen your face when that happens. That’s pride, not annoyance, reflected there.”
Dad tried to cover for Griffin’s bullseye. “I think you’re exaggerating.”
“And I think this family is full of a bunch of complainers who can’t seem to help themselves,” Griffin said. “At first I was turned off by all the fighting. It made me nervous, and with so many men running around making their opinions known, I couldn’t help feeling uneasy.
“I know that’s what you wanted at first. I’ve gotten to know you over the months and I see why,” he continued. “You can talk as big as you want, but you all love her.”
“Of course we love her,” I said. “She’s our sister.”
“And she’s my daughter,” Dad said. “Are you really saying there was a time you thought we didn’t love her?”
To my utter surprise, Griffin gave it a few minutes of thought. “No,” he answered after a beat, shaking his head. “That doesn’t mean you weren’t overbearing. I was a little worried about her at first, thinking perhaps you were oppressing her or something. It didn’t take me long to realize that’s simply your way.”
Dad barked out a laugh. “You thought we were oppressing her?”
“Yup.” Griffin didn’t appear ashamed in the least to admit it. “You were giving her grief after that wraith attack and I’d just found out you guys were different and I was trying to wrap my head around it. You were talking over her and she was upset, and I remember thinking that you didn’t see her. It made me sad.”
Dad’s expression turned somber. “I’ve always seen that kid. I haven’t always made the best decisions where she’s concerned – that was out of ignorance, not malice, mind you – but I’ve always seen her. She was upset that day because of you.”
“She was upset that day because of Detective Dinglefritz,” I corrected, dusting off the old nickname. It still made me smile, especially when Griffin scowled. “I believe you had sex with her and then took a break to think things over. That’s why she was upset.”
It was obvious the last thing Griffin wanted was to be reminded of that incident. “I can’t believe you brought that up.” His irritation was evident as it practically rolled off him in waves. “I mean … that was so long ago.”
“That was six months ago,” Dad complained. “It wasn’t long at all.”
Griffin squared his shoulders, as if signifying he was ready to go to war. “I needed time to think about what you guys were telling me. How would it have been for her if I stayed for six months and then took off?”
I held up my hands to ward off a potential fight, but apparently Dad wasn’t in the mood to play nice.
“I don’t believe you needed to have sex with her before you made your decision,” Dad gritted out. “You could’ve told her you needed to think before the sex.”
Even though he wasn’t talking about my sex life, my cheeks burned at Dad’s expression. I
knew it was difficult for him to discuss the situation, but that didn’t stop him from plowing forward.
“That’s the part that frustrated me,” Dad said. “That’s the part that made me want to throw you through a window.”
Griffin balked. “I didn’t mean for that to happen. I just … couldn’t stay away from her. It was like there was something chemical happening in my brain.”
“More like in your pants,” Dad seethed.
I stepped between them, sensing trouble. “You guys, this is not the time or place for this. Griffin obviously came back. He and Aisling made things work. Why are we arguing about this?”
“I don’t know,” Dad replied. “I just … Aisling drives me nuts and I was looking for a distraction. I didn’t mean to go down the road I did.”
“I accept your apology,” Griffin said.
Dad made a face. “That wasn’t an apology.”
“It was in my head.”
“Well, then you need to have your head examined. In fact … .”
Aisling picked that moment to pop into view. She’d been so far ahead I thought we’d lost her. Instead it appeared she’d zeroed in on our quarry and was ready for the next phase of our operation. “What are you guys talking about?” She was understandably curious.
“Nothing,” Dad answered hurriedly. “We were talking about the Tigers’ chances this year now that they’re in rebuilding mode.”
“Oh, well, they’re going to suck regardless.” Aisling licked her lips. “Louis is right over there. I think we should just go right up and talk to him. There’s no reason to drag things out.”
“That’s what I believed about this entire night,” Dad muttered.
Aisling ignored him. “If we can’t get the answers we want from him, we’ll head over to Gerald. After that, if we’re still without answers I’ll acquiesce to your demands, suck up Tim and call it a day.”
“I still can’t believe I’m letting you bully me into doing this,” Dad complained.
Now & Grim: A Grimlock Family Short Page 8