Luke’s mouth was hanging open as I disappeared into the hallway.
“Oh, and thanks, by the way,” I yelled as I closed the bedroom door.
As I changed into something comfortable to sleep in, I heard Luke outside my door.
“I’m so confused,” he said softly.
He’ll be alright. At least I’m not boring.
CHAPTER 17
I woke up to a snoring Peso and a beautiful morning. I slipped on a robe hanging in the closet and padded out to the kitchen. No Luke yet? I was surprised. It wasn’t early.
“Well, let’s go find you a piece of grass,” I said to Peso when he finished his breakfast. I decided against getting dressed first, so thankfully Peso took care of his business quickly.
When we returned to the apartment, Luke was fully dressed and pouring a cup of the coffee I’d made. A slow smile spread across his face when he saw me. I had a feeling it was the size 2XL robe I was wearing. Not very flattering, but I couldn’t find the one I’d worn before. It was possible I’d left it in the dryer, but it was too early to think about that right now. I tightened the belt, stood up straight, and tried to ignore him as I went to join my cup of coffee that was waiting for me on the table.
“You slept in this morning,” I said conversationally.
“I was up late thinking over what you said last night.”
“Really?” I asked unable to hide my surprise.
“No,” he said and pulled out the wicked grin.
“Men,” I said scoffed.
“I know, we can be difficult,” Luke agreed. “You look lovely this morning,” he added.
“Shut up,” I said lightly. “It was convenient.”
“Any way you want it” – my phone’s ringtone started singing.
“My phone!” I yelled, jumped up, and ran to grab my cell from my purse.
“Fry?” I asked, though it wasn’t much of a guess, since the caller ID listed the incoming caller as Fry.
“Mags! Hey, how are you? Is everything okay there?” Fry was speaking kind of fast and sounded a little excited for the mellow, low-key type of guy he usually was. “What’s going on? Anything new?”
As soon as Fry said my name, I heard CeCe pipe up behind and ask, “Is that Maggie? I thought you were going to talk to Luke? Don’t tell Maggie. Are you going to ask for Luke? Let Luke tell Maggie. It’ll be better if you tell Luke directly.”
“Um, Fry,” I interrupted after trying to listen to both of them at once. “Is something wrong?”
“Just a minute, Maggie,” Fry said before pushing a button that he obviously thought muted his end of the conversation. “CeCe, you have to be quiet. Maggie can hear you, and you’re freaking her out. And don’t let Luke hear you when he gets on the phone, or you’ll freak him out, too. Now let me handle it. I’m trying to keep them calm.”
When I heard another beep in my ear, I knew Fry was back to me. “Maggie, I got the info from Stubby, and I can tell you or Luke, either one – that’s up to you guys. But before I do, would you put Luke on the phone for a minute? I just need to talk to him about something real quick.”
Okay, now I was officially scared. I knew I could try pressing Fry to tell me what was wrong (and something was definitely wrong), but I quickly decided I’d find out faster by letting Fry tell Luke. Then Luke could tell me.
“He needs to talk to you,” I said as I passed the phone to Luke.
“Fry, what’s . . . ,” Luke didn’t get very far into his greeting before Fry apparently launched into his news. Although I was watching him closely, Luke’s face gave away nothing to indicate what kind of issue Fry divulged. Except for the occasional uh-huh and yeah, Luke just listened.
Finally, after the one-sided conversation had gone on for quite a while, Luke said, “No, don’t worry about that, Fry. I appreciate all you’ve done, but that’ll be fine until I get back. Just leave it.”
Fry said something next that caused Luke to look around for a pen and paper. After he scribbled some notes, I tried to read over his shoulder but couldn’t decipher them. Luke told Fry, “Okay, hang on a minute while I pull up my email and make sure I got it. Here, talk to Maggie for a minute.”
When I took the phone from Luke, I heard Fry and CeCe whisper-arguing on the other end.
Fry: You talk to her. If I talk to her, she’s going to expect me to tell her everything I just told Luke.
CeCe: I can’t talk to her. She’s always been able to hear it in my voice when I’m trying to hide something.
Fry: (teeth clenched) Just talk to her.
CeCe: No. What am I going to say? No. Give it here!
Although I got the impression they thought of it as whispering, I’d heard every word. When CeCe came on the line she was all sweetness and light.
“Hey, Mags,” she began. “Whacha’ doin’?”
“Cut the crap, CeCe,” I greeted her right back. “What’s going on there?”
“Well, Maggie, I’m sure I don’t know what you mean,” CeCe assured me, all fake and innocent. “Is everything going okay with you and Luke? I hope you guys are having some fun while you’re down there and not spending all your time stressing about Luke’s, uh, predicament.”
“Is it the sisters? Is somebody sick or hurt?” I demanded. I had been able to remain calm until that thought popped into my head. After that, I started to feel a little panicky. “CeCe, tell me the truth.”
“Nobody’s sick. Nobody’s hurt. Everybody here is fine. I’m sorry . . . ,” she began.
“Maggie,” Luke said as he came back into the kitchen. “Tell Fry we got the email.”
CeCe stopped mid-sentence when she heard Luke’s voice, and then I heard her telling Fry, “They got it.”
I couldn’t take it any longer. I looked at Luke but yelled into the phone, “Will somebody please TELL ME WHAT IS GOING ON?”
Luke very calmly walked over to me, took the phone from my hand, and said, “We’ll call you back,” before he disconnected the call.
“Somebody broke into Uncle Barney’s house and trashed the place,” Luke explained as he retrieved his coffee and took a drink. “Fry didn’t say that anything was missing, but he was concerned that I’d be upset. You know, losing Uncle Barney, and then having somebody tear up his place like that.”
“Aren’t you?” I asked as I thought about how much it would bother me if I were Luke.
“I can’t deny that it’s disturbing, but at least nobody was hurt. Now that we know what they were looking for and the fact that two people have already been murdered for it, I’m relieved that nobody else was in their way.” Luke got up to refill his coffee. “I don’t like the idea of strangers going through Uncle Barney’s things, but stuff is replaceable, people aren’t.”
“Luke, I’m so sorry. What do you want to do?” I asked. I wanted to be supportive, but I wasn’t sure what we should do next, so I had no suggestions.
“Well, Fry offered to go straighten up the mess at Uncle Barney’s once the police finish with it, but I told him to leave it. I’ll deal with it when I get back. He also had news from Stubby on Jacob Parker,” Luke continued and perked up a little as he revealed the information we’d asked about from Fry’s friend. “He said the guy still lives in Phoenix and still has 2 children, a son and a daughter. The daughter lives with her father, which matches the last update her uncle had on her, but the son whose whereabouts were in question turned out to be in prison. Stubby kept digging and found out that the guy in prison has two sons living in Houston. They both have records ranging from petty theft to dealing drugs, just like their father. When Stubby ran their names by his airline connection, he was told the sons flew from Houston to Phoenix, Arizona two weeks ago. A few days later they flew from Phoenix to Cincinnati, Ohio. Two days later, they flew from Cincinnati to New Orleans and their return flight to Phoenix remains open and so far, unused.”
Luke had consulted the notes he’d jotted down when he gave me their flight itinerary, but then he looked at me expe
ctantly. “You see what this means, don’t you? We have another direction for the murder investigation to take that looks very promising for locating the actual murderers,” he exclaimed.
“And best of all,” I said after I caught a little of Luke’s excitement, “the focus of the investigation will be off you, so we can go home! We’ve got to take this information to the sheriff’s office!”
“I hope you’re right, but I still have concerns that they might not be willing to just drop me as their favorite suspect,” Luke remarked hesitantly. “Let me print the pictures of the two brothers, since they’re looking like our best bet as my competition for Murderer of the Year.”
When Luke stood and started toward the laptop he’d left in the living room, I heard a shuffling noise coming from under the table.
“Don’t back up!” I warned as soon as Luke reached the recliner in the next room. “Your little shadow is in hot pursuit. Did you know he was sleeping under the table? I didn’t even see him come into the kitchen.”
“I heard a softer version of his snores when you were on the phone with CeCe. You know, just before you screamed for someone to tell you what was going on? I didn’t hear any more snoring after that, so I’m guessing that woke him up,” Luke explained from the next room while he collected the pictures from the printer. When he came back into the kitchen, he was carrying the pictures in one hand and Peso in the other.
“Oooh, let me see!” I said excitedly.
Luke shoved Peso into my lap without looking up from the pictures he was studying.
“Um,” I stammered as I adjusted Peso comfortably in my lap, “I was actually talking about the pictures, not the Peso.”
Luke looked up and smiled. “Sorry,” he apologized and handed me the photos he’d just printed from the email Fry had sent. “Do you want me to take the Happy Napper back?”
I smiled as I looked down at Peso in my lap. “No, he’s fine. It’s not that I didn’t want him. It’s just that I wanted to see what these guys look like.”
I turned my attention back to the three pictures Luke had given me. Two were mug shots, one of each brother. The third picture from about a year ago showed the two brothers in shackles being escorted into a courthouse, presumably for a hearing. In that shot, the difference in their sizes was apparent. That wasn’t the only thing obvious in that picture.
“Luke!” I said a little louder than I intended, which caused Peso to pick up his head with his eyes still closed. I patted his little fawn tush to let him know it was okay to put his head back down and finish his nap. I continued softly, “Do you know who these guys remind me of?”
“Hoss and Little Joe from Bonanza?” Luke suggested. “Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Barney saw them in Eliza’s kitchen the day she was murdered. He told me and later mentioned to Fry that he saw them there. Even if the police think I’m making up that part to clear myself, maybe they’ll believe Fry.”
“Luke, this is so great! Now you have something to show the investigators. This gives someone else motive and opportunity for the murders, and nobody should think you had anything to do with it now,” I exclaimed, becoming more excited as I thought about it. The good news motivated me to go shower and change. I planned to hurry, but every time I started thinking, my motor skills slowed, so it actually took me longer than it should have to get decent.
When I finally emerged all put together, Luke looked up from the paper he was reading. “I was going to ask you if you were waiting for a new species to evolve before you emerged. Since you look so good, I guess I can’t say the time was wasted, now can I?” he asked.
I smiled at him, and he started to look back at his paper, but I saw him throw a couple of quick glances in my direction. The third time he turned his head he squinted his eyes and stared at me for a few seconds.
“Let me guess,” Luke began once he was back behind his newspaper. “That shirt was on sale, right?”
I looked down at the t-shirt I was wearing. It said, “Holy Faux Pas, Batman! That Cape With Those Shoes???”
“What?” I asked.
“Any way you want it” . . . my phone sang.
Luke, who was closest to my cell, grabbed it off the table and stuck it in my hand.
“Uh, hello?” I answered, after I struggled for a second to remember what it is you say when you answer the phone. I was still thinking about the fact that Luke had said I looked good since I chose to ignore the crack he made about the length of time I took to get dressed.
“Maggie!” CeCe cried on the verge of hysterics. “Maggie!”
“CeCe, what is it? What’s wrong?” I asked, fighting to keep from catching her hysterics.
“Fry! They just . . . ,” CeCe began but stopped when she heard her call waiting beep.
“What? Fry what?” I demanded louder than I intended.
“Wait! Oh my Lord, it’s Fry! Hold on, Maggie,” and with that, she switched to the other call and left me standing there with my mouth hanging open.
“What’s going on?” Luke asked looking as concerned and confused as I felt.
“I don’t know,” I told him. “CeCe started to tell me something about Fry, got frantic when he beeped in on the other line, and put me on hold. She sounded kind of hysterical and I don’t . . . .”
“Maggie?” CeCe yelled into the phone when she switched back to me. “Oh, Maggie, I don’t know what to do. They’re going to kill him!”
Luke apparently heard at least part of that since CeCe would have burst my eardrum if I hadn’t pulled the phone away from my ear.
He took the phone from my hand and in a calm, firm voice instructed, “CeCe, it’s Luke. Calm down and – it’s okay. Take a deep breath. Okay, now slowly tell me what happened.”
Luke listened for a minute or two then said softly, “Okay, CeCe, it’s going to be all right. Where are you right now?” He continued to listen before he ordered, “Go home. No, CeCe, I don’t want you to talk to anybody, understand?”
The tension that showed on Luke’s face didn’t affect his calm, reassuring voice, but it was there.
“No,” he calmly told CeCe again. “I don’t want you to call anyone or go anywhere except home. Didn’t you say you were in Fry’s car? Do you have a key to his car?” Luke paused for a second and then said, “Everything is going to be okay. I want you to get Fry’s keys, go out to his car, and drive to your house. Yes, right now,” he encouraged her calmly but firmly. He was quiet for a while as he listened to CeCe talking.
“No, don’t hang up. Put us on speaker phone and leave the phone on the seat next to you while you drive. We aren’t hanging up. We’re right here.” Luke was quiet for another moment.
“You’re doing great, CeCe. Are you out of the driveway? Good. Do you see any other cars on my street going in either direction? That’s great, CeCe, you’re doing just fine. And there’s still nobody behind you? Great. No, I’m going to take care of it, CeCe. How close are you to your street now? Okay, good just keep going. You’re doing fine.”
I listened to Luke try to keep CeCe calm as he talked her home. I knew that he needed me to keep quiet while he took care of CeCe’s problem. I didn’t know what had happened, but I knew it was something awful, and whatever it was, it had happened to Fry.
While Luke calmed CeCe as she drove home, he walked through the condo and grabbed his duffel bag, socks, and shoes. He put them on as he spoke to CeCe but stayed on the phone with her.
I got the impression that when he finished getting ready he was out of here, so I grabbed the keys to the little blue jellybean car from the front hallway (to make sure he couldn’t leave without me) and ran to slip on my shoes. I grabbed the overnight bag I’d bought and raced back into the kitchen where I found Luke collecting the pictures Fry had emailed, as well as the cylinder with the print of Marianne’s Garden.
“Now lock the door behind you and don’t open it until I get there. You’re safe now CeCe, and I’ll take care of everything, so try to stay calm. And CeCe, reme
mber — no police.” Luke listened to CeCe’s response before adding, “I’m hanging up now but call back if you need to. I’m on my way.”
Luke pressed the button to disconnect the call and said, “They’ve got Fry. He and CeCe went to Uncle Barney’s house, even though I told him not to. Apparently they left to go over there right after they got off the phone with us earlier,” Luke explained as he looked around for his wallet. “These guys pulled up and grabbed Fry. Then they called CeCe on Fry’s cell and told her no police or Fry’s dead. They want me to come back. Apparently, they’ve been picking up the local gossip in Oakman and found out the police want to talk to me, because I left town right after Barney’s death. These guys must think I left town with Ms. Eliza painting, or at least I know where it is since I lived there with Barney. They told CeCe they need to talk to me. They want me to be at Barney’s house when they call at nine o’clock tomorrow morning, and what do you think you’re doing?” Luke asked as I handed him his wallet. I’d grabbed my purse and headed toward the door as I held his keys in one hand, my overnight bag thrown on my shoulder and Peso’s leash with him attached in my other hand.
“I’m coming with,” I explained as I opened the door.
“Maggie, I think you and Peso would be safer here, and I don’t want . . . ,” he tried to tell me.
“I’m — coming — with,” I said more slowly, since he obviously hadn’t understood me the first time. “And you don’t have time to argue, so come on. You can tell me again what’s going on once we’re in the car.”
Luke mumbled something under his breath as he took the keys I held out to him, and I closed the door behind us.
Once we retrieved the car and were on the way to Oakman, I asked Luke to start from the beginning and tell me exactly what CeCe had said.
He explained that two men matching Hoss and Little Joe’s description had grabbed Fry and crammed him into their car in Uncle Barney’s driveway. After they tore out of there, they called CeCe’s cell. They told her she had until tomorrow morning to get Luke back into town. If she called the police or if Luke wasn’t home to take their call tomorrow morning, they said they would kill Fry.
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