A Manor of Murder

by June Shaw

  With a tight grip on my rod, I watched that cork, expecting it to get yanked down at any second. When it stayed in place, I glanced at Dave’s. His wasn’t moving either. Beyond our corks, a trio of turtles sunned themselves on a floating piece of branch. A great blue heron flew down and stood at the edge of the woodlands on the opposite shore. Near it, I spotted movement. A large rodent-like animal with what I knew would be two large orange front teeth was digging. It would be getting to the plants’ roots. Oilfield workers had unknowingly brought those nutria here inside pipes from another state. The creatures had multiplied quickly and chewed up so many roots it caused the loss of a lot of our wetlands.

  The slight breeze against my skin, the calming water, nature’s creatures. Dave beside me. The last traces of sunlight falling into the swamp. All of it gave me such peace from the concerns I’d been experiencing. I was ready to tell him I could stay out here all the time when I noticed the muffled sound and realized it was my phone inside my closed purse behind my chair. I gripped my pole with my knees and got my phone out.

  “Hey, you gotten everything done?” my sister asked.

  I blinked. Glanced at Dave. Glanced at my cork. Couldn’t think of what she was talking about. “Uh, have you?”

  “Yes. I went over to the diner. Josie does need a few things done in there. I ate her delicious red beans and smoked sausage. Now I’m on my way home. I’ll take a shower and then make a list of the things we’ll need for her place.”

  While she spoke, I stood and set my pole across the seat of my chair. I gave Dave the tiniest quiet kiss on the cheek and pointing, showed him I needed to go. He nodded and took my rod. I jogged around the side of the camp to the driveway, still on my phone. “I’m glad you saw about that.”

  “And I called the manor and made reservations for us to have lunch there tomorrow. We’ll get to visit Mom. Then we can change those hinges you bought.” She stopped talking. “Sunny, are you short of breath?”

  “No, I’m fine. I’ll see you in the morning.” I clicked off before she could hear me slamming myself into my truck and gunning the motor. I threw it in reverse and got on the road back to town before I noticed how dark the sky had become and called the lumberyard, hoping it was still open.

  Their phone was answered.

  “Hi, I need to get some things there,” I said and then realized a man’s voice on the other end had started speaking at the same time. His recording said they were closed but would reopen in the morning at six.

  I would need to be there right afterward. Eve was such a great business partner and a wonderful sister. I felt blessed. She had always taken up for me. She took my place in a reading class once for an important test. After our older sister died, Eve snuggled up closer to me than she ever had before. We gave each other comfort.

  If I could help it, I wouldn’t let her down. I would set my clock to get up earlier than normal to make sure I’d purchase what we needed from the lumberyard. Anticipation swept through me like a power drill pushing its way through thin lumber. Tomorrow morning, we would also get to visit with our mother. Maybe we could get her aside and manage to convince her that she had been happy with her single life, and it was still working just fine.

  But was it?

  Either way, we would be able to check out the other woman who seemed to be after the man our mother wanted as a husband.

  Chapter 15

  Up early and dressed, I was ready to speed out to the lumberyard. When I walked outside my house, a mist lit on my face and arms, wrapping me in moisture. A gray fog had rolled in last night. It sat thick and heavy, enveloping the town. I found it almost impossible to see the houses beside the roads I drove on. I squeezed my fingers around my steering wheel and leaned forward, trying to make out the road better. Knots formed in my shoulders from the strain.

  Taking the shortest route, I turned onto the street next to Bayou Bijou, instantly wishing I had not. A thick condensed soup of ghostly white swallowed the water. It took care of the air above and any land beside it. One pair of faint white orbs after another came toward me. In the eeriness, it took a second for me to realize they were headlights. A little farther along, a smaller ball of light came toward me before I heard the sound and determined it was a rider on a motorcycle who also could not see the road well and almost ran into me. I needed to get away from the water to a less-traveled street where I might be able to see where I was going. I watched for the next street sign so I would know where to turn.

  I spotted one, but by the time I did, had driven past the street. Up ahead I spotted something that brought me relief. A trio of brighter lights from a service station came through the gumbo of misty air and called to me. I pulled in close to the station and parked. Then sighed, releasing a long-held breath. My arm muscles felt fluid.

  At first, I wasn’t certain of where I was. Not that it mattered. There were lights. I was off the road. Safe. And others were safe from me.

  Two raps on my door’s window made me jump.

  “Hi, good morning. Can I help you?” The man beside my door was clean-shaven. He wore a bright, genuine smile and a blue-and-white striped cap that said Best Prices, the name of this gas station. Someone had recently spoken about this place. I couldn’t recall why.

  I opened my door. “Good morning. I’m going to get some gas, but I couldn’t even see the pumps.” Filling up hadn’t been my plan, but I was certain my gas tank wasn’t full. “I just needed to hurry and get off the road.”

  He pulled off his cap, revealing a shock of thick blond hair, and used the back of his wrist to wipe his brow. The air was cool, so he wasn’t wiping sweat. “That fog really is thick this morning. Yesterday it burned off real quick.”

  I hadn’t gotten up early enough then to notice.

  “Come on inside. You can grab a cup of coffee and sit down a bit.”

  “Thanks. I think I will.” I walked inside his small brightly lit building, glad to have shelter from the nearly invisible roads.

  He came in behind me and pointed to a coffee pot with a carafe filled with a dark blend. “Look, I just made it. Get yourself some.”

  I poured myself a cup and added creamer and sugar, recalling Eve telling me how bad sugar might be for me or at least for my waistline, and my rebuttal—all the sugar cane farmers around here needed me to enjoy some of their crop.

  “It’s kind of scary out there. I could barely see where I was going.” And I mentally patted my back. I had been frightened but experienced no thoughts of carols or hums.

  “Yeah.” His cap was back on, but he lifted it again, repeating the gestured he’d done outside, surely a long-held habit like my singing when in fear. “Almost had a wreck right out there yesterday morning. The guys got away with bumper taps.”

  “I don’t think I’ve met you,” I said to this kind man and put my hand out. “I’m Sunny Taylor. My sister and I own a remodeling and repair company called Twin Sisters.”

  His handshake was firm, his palm rough from his work. “Yeah, I’ve heard of y’all. I’m Tommy Jeansonne. Been living around here all my life.”

  His name and the name of this place on his cap that he was replacing on his blond hair brought back a story of concern. I scanned the rear wall behind his checkout counter. Advertisements of different products hung back there along with a license, and different from those things, an eight-by-ten framed picture of a young teen. The girl was pretty with hair the color of his that was set off by dark brown eyes.

  My thoughts flashed back. Big Bub had told me that Edward Cancienne knew this man’s daughter had become a hooker in New Orleans long before this man found out. How furious he must have been.

  He stood so close to me I almost bumped into him when I turned. I smelled the oil on his skin mixed with a citrusy tone that might have been aftershave. “Pretty, isn’t she?” He stared at the picture.

  “Beautiful.” I took a sm
all step to the side, getting into a more comfortable space than so near to him. “She must be about what—fifteen? Sixteen?”

  Dullness replaced the pleasure in his face. “No, she’s a few years older now, just about ready to start graduate school.” His lips smiled. Not his eyes. “She wants to be a psychologist.”

  Of course she would. The poor child had experienced such misery while prostituting in the city. Now she wanted to figure out why people like her were so taken in by the lure of such a profession.

  Her daddy appeared wilted while he stared at her face.

  “I know you’re proud of her,” I said and tossed my empty cup into a nearby trashcan. Barely glancing out through a large window, I walked to the exit door. “The fog is clearing. I’ll move my car to a pump and fill up. Thanks again for the coffee and shelter.”

  He muttered words I didn’t make out as I stepped outside. The defiled young woman’s father remained inside, maybe still watching her, remembering her innocent youth and wishing he could bring it back.

  I pumped a few gallons in my tank but didn’t need much.

  It seemed that an invisible hand with a large rag had rubbed the fog off the roads. I could finally see where I was going. I needed to center my thoughts to recall where I’d been headed.

  Large bulky trucks were pulling away from the lumberyard, probably going to some construction sites. I knew where to find almost anything I needed inside, so I went straight to get the hinges and extra screws I might need with them. While I was at it, I looked around a bit to see if I noticed anything else we might require soon. Last night Eve told me Josie wanted us to do more work at her place. I could call and ask Eve what we might need.

  Second thoughts made me hesitate. I wasn’t ready to talk to her yet. Maybe because I felt so unsettled after being around the manager of Best Prices and seeing his daughter as she must have been before men defiled her. Maybe something else.

  Chills skittered across the top of my back. I sauntered around the building, glancing at items, lifting a few tools, and adding a large crescent wrench to my purchases.

  Much of the morning had passed by the time I headed to the manor. The sun blazed and sent glitters off people’s windshields. Still, a cloak of sadness draped heavy on me. I was pulling along that young teenage girl’s misery, wishing I could take away all that had stolen her youth.

  And I believed I had told Detective Wilet what I had heard about her and her father and Edward. Now that I had met the kind, anguished man and seen his daughter’s photograph, I wished I had not mentioned anything about them.

  Chapter 16

  The manor was filled with more motion and noise than normal. Residents and staff members and people I had never seen before were moving about, their voices loud. Probably the sunny day brought out more visitors and made people lively. A few of those who lived here had been sitting on benches outside, chatting and taking in the pretty morning that had started out with nasty, thick fog.

  Even before I saw Mom, I spotted Eve standing near the counter that ran in front of the nurse and administrators’ offices. She was lifting the uneven square section of the counter and telling the secretary who normally sat back there that we would take care of that problem right after lunch.

  Seeing me, Eve said, “Good morning, sleepyhead.” If she only knew how early I woke up this morning. “You bought the things we need to take care of this, didn’t you?”

  “Of course.” Just not yesterday when you had expected me to. “I left them in my truck for now.”

  “That’s fine.” She lowered the section of wood. “I took care of putting our names on the list that says we ordered our lunches for today.”

  “Good. I’ll pay for them.” I unzipped my purse.

  She held up a hand to tell me to stop. “I already took care of that. When I called in to make our arrangements, I paid for our meals with a credit card.”

  “That was sweet of you.” I wouldn’t offer to repay her since she always refused when this happened. She definitely had more money than I did, although with our business growing as it had been, finances were looking much better for me and also increasing for her. If money came through for the work we did at Edward’s house. If not, we might both be in trouble.

  I glanced at the rear doors. The first two to the left were shut. The nurse’s door was open. She was checking in a filing cabinet in her office.

  “And you came up with ideas for ads we could place in the paper, right?” Eve asked as we moved on.

  Concern spiked through my scalp. My thoughts fell to yesterday fishing with Dave when I was supposed to be taking care of a couple of things. Getting hinges and screws for this place had been one of them. I knew I had forgotten something else. Writing ads.

  Eve’s clear blue eyes opened wider, expectation showing in them, the smile on her lips saying she knew I had taken care of business. She could count on me.

  “I know of some things we could put out to advertise our business more,” I said. Certainly words for them would come to mind when I was in a quieter place, like my home. “I’ll let you know about them later.”

  “Okay, great.” She squeezed my hand, letting me know I had done a good job and making me feel worse for having forgotten. “The work Josie wants us to do will take a few days, so we can schedule that in. We’ll just need to grab another job or two to fill in the time we had put aside to take care of Edward’s place.”

  I nodded toward the administrator’s office. “She’ll want us to remodel her office fairly soon and then I’m sure we’ll get more calls as soon as we get new ads out.”

  My twin grabbed my hand. “Sunny, you sounded so short of breath when I talked to you on the phone.” Concern pinched the skin between her eyes into folds. “You need to get checked out.”

  “No, I’m fine.”

  She squeezed my fingers. “I want to make sure you’re okay, sis.” The cry in her voice and concern in her eyes let me know she was thinking about our older sister.

  I nodded, squeezed her hand back, and let go. “Look,” I said, noticing a man walking alone beyond her that I had never seen here before and raising questions in my mind.

  “He looks familiar. Who is he?”

  “Emery Jackobson. He and that fellow Nelson were eating together at Josie’s Diner. I believe they’re a couple. Edward supposedly made him lose his wife and put him out of business and made him start drinking again.”

  “But if you’re correct, Emery never should have married a woman in the first place.”

  “Right. I’ll check the sign-in sheet to find out who he’s here to visit.” I stepped closer to the counter. The notepad that every visitor was supposed to sign sat front and center. As usual, we seldom signed in when we came here. Probably most regulars didn’t either, although those sticklers for following rules would provide the date, time, and resident they came to see.

  I skimmed through today’s page but didn’t see the name Emery or Jackobson. Feeling the secretary’s stare, I signed in for both Eve and me with the time and that we were visiting Mom and eating here. When we moved on, I no longer saw the man in question.

  “Hello, Daughters.” Our mother wore a large smile as she strode toward us.

  We smiled back, both putting our arms out to hug her.

  Instead of reaching out for us, she turned back and grabbed the hand of someone else. “You remember Mac,” she said, having him step forward. He had held back a moment to let a woman struggling with her walker move past him.

  “Yes. Hello,” I said to him, and Eve nodded. Struggling with my feelings about the man with our mother, I reached my hand out. He took it with his hand that wasn’t gripping his walking cane. Eve did the same with him.

  Mom’s expression had withered a little while she watched our hands. I got the feeling she wished that instead of shaking his, we would have hugged him since we did that with h
er.

  “It’s lunchtime,” she said, her words abrupt. Surely she was annoyed because we hadn’t shown more interest in the gent standing beside her. “I don’t have any time to sit and visit with y’all.”

  A snub, a shove from our mother. Oo, that hurt.

  Maybe the way we’d hurt her?

  Mac faced her. “Miriam, I’ll leave you three to chat together the few minutes you have left before our meal.” Although her mouth opened as though she was ready to protest, he stepped away.

  She spun around toward us. “You two don’t have to be so cold to him. He really is a sweet gentleman, and no matter what you think—” She stopped herself from saying more, but I and surely Eve knew what she was about to express. Whether we liked it or not, our mother was going to marry him.

  She would. That fact sat on my brain. It slowed my heartbeat. Tugged at my heart.

  I swallowed. “I’ll try to behave better.”

  “Me, too.” Eve nodded at her.

  Mom gazed at us with steady eyes as though studying us, possibly seeing us for the first time. “Thank you. I would appreciate that.” She pulled herself up straighter. The tan knitted strap that held the pouch with her medicine blended with her tan dress, making it almost invisible. “Was there any special reason for a visit from you two at this time? You know they really have started serving lunch.”

  “Yes, we know,” Eve said and grinned. “And we know you’ll head up to your room for a nap right afterward.”

  “I will,” Mom said.

  “We’ve been wanting to come and have lunch here, so we finally made reservations ahead of time.”

  Eve spread her hands. “We’re eating with you.”

  “But there’s no room for anyone extra at my table.”

  “We know,” I assured her, “but the table next to yours will have two people out today. We’ll be taking their places, and that way we’ll still be close to you.”