Family Case of Murder

by Vanessa Gray Bartal

  “I suppose I could give her a call,” Lacy said, wrenching out the words.

  “Or you could go to New York for her bridal shower. I saw the invitation.”

  He couldn’t be serious. Did he know what he was asking of her? He actually wanted her to return to the scene of the crime, to the place where she had been dumped, and cheerfully support her sister and her ex-fiancé at their shower?

  “This isn’t just about Riley. It’s about you, too,” Mr. Middleton added. “You need closure, and I know you. The best way to move on and get this out of your system is to face it head on. And since I saw the invitation, I also know that it encouraged you to bring a date. I can think of two young men who are both probably in the lobby at this moment and would jump at the chance to go along and cheer you on.”

  “Let me recap here: you want me to go to New York, see my ex, make up with my sister, and choose between Tosh and Jason to invite one of them to go with me?”

  “Sounds about right,” he said.

  “I’m not sure you can ask all that from a simple case of angina,” she said.

  He chuckled. “Let’s just say we’re paying it forward for the big one. This is important to me, but, more than that, it’s important to Lucinda. She wants this, but she would never ask. I’m asking on her behalf.”

  Lacy sighed. “Okay.”

  He gave her hand a squeeze. “I bet it’s going to go better than you think.”

  Since she thought it was going to be abysmal, there was a good chance he was right. She walked back to the lobby with lead feet. Tosh and Jason were sitting on either side of her grandmother like bookends. Tosh was holding her hand and seemed to be either speaking soothing words or praying. Jason sat with his arms folded, looking sullen. She could almost hear Tosh’s solicitousness grating on his nerves. As if to confirm her thoughts, he looked up and jerked his head in Tosh’s direction.

  “Suck up,” he mouthed. Lacy smiled and took a fortifying breath. The time had finally come to choose between them, at least for this one event, and she had no idea how she was going to do it.

  Chapter 3

  Lacy waited until the morning to make a decision, hoping a good night’s sleep would bring clarity, and it did. Of course she was going to ask Tosh. There was bound to be emotional drama, and she would need all the support she could get. Tosh was her go-to person for emotional stability and understanding. Plus he knew the whole story with all the gory details. He would know exactly where and when she needed him most.

  First things first, she had to RSVP to the invitation, which she did via the internet. Perhaps it was the coward’s way out, but she had no desire to talk to her sister or Robert’s family until she absolutely had to. So she Facebooked Robert’s mother and received a pleasant reply in response. Lacy had always gotten along well with his mother, which was sort of amazing considering the woman was certifiable.

  Next there was nothing to do but invite Tosh, but he wasn’t answering his cell phone. She hated to call his office, but she needed an answer quickly in order to buy tickets, so she bit the bullet and dialed the phone.

  “Reverend Underwood’s office.”

  “Hi, Pearl, it’s Lacy. May I speak to Tosh, please?” Lacy used her kindest voice and crossed her fingers. Tosh’s secretary hated her for whatever reason.

  “He’s not available,” Pearl said before slamming the phone in Lacy’s ear.

  Gritting her teeth, Lacy called back. “Could I leave a message, please?” she asked, continuing the conversation as if they hadn’t been interrupted. She had learned with Pearl that it was best to exist in a sort of fantasy land where there were no problems. Of course she learned her lesson the hard way after she tried to confront Pearl about her dislike. The woman had burst into tears and run into Tosh’s office, accusing Lacy of bullying her. And Tosh, softhearted idiot that he was, had looked accusingly at Lacy for hurting the woman, even though Pearl was about a foot taller and a hundred pounds heavier.

  “She doesn’t have anyone else, Lacy. She gets a little caught up in her work and a little too attached to her bosses, but that means she deserves our pity and not our censure. Try to be a little nicer to her,” he had said after Pearl returned to her desk, still sniffling.

  “Nicer to her?” Lacy had exclaimed. “All I said was that I thought we got off on the wrong foot and wanted to start over. How could that possibly be misconstrued as mean?”

  “Maybe it was your tone,” Tosh had suggested.

  Lacy had just looked at him, wondering if everything Pearl touched turned insane. “For the sake of our friendship, I’m going to leave now and pretend this conversation never happened.” She had walked out then and she swore she saw Pearl smiling triumphantly at her desk. Tosh had called to make amends and now they agreed to disagree by not mentioning Pearl again, which was a victory for Pearl because she knew Lacy wouldn’t tell Tosh about this conversation or her continued rudeness. Why should she when he didn’t believe her anyway?

  “Fine, what’s the message?” Pearl said, jogging Lacy out of her memories.

  “Just ask him to call me back, please. I have a question for him.”

  “Is it about money? You shouldn’t borrow money from him. Just because he has a trust fund doesn’t mean he’s your personal piggy bank,” Pearl said.

  Lacy ground her teeth together in an attempt to remain polite. Giving in to the crazy was never the answer. “It’s not about money,” she said, though she wondered if Pearl could understand her with her teeth clenched so tightly together.

  “What’s it about?” Pearl asked. “I have to have something to fill in the subject portion of the message pad.”

  Lacy couldn’t help herself. “It’s about our earlier conversation. Tell him I’m still thinking about his offer to take over as church secretary after we’re married. Thanks, Pearl. You have a good day.” This time when she hung up, she was smiling.

  She continued to hold onto her phone, doing a mental countdown until it rang. “Lacy, what did you say to Pearl?” Tosh said. “She’s freaking out.”

  “How can you tell? Isn’t that just a normal day for her?”

  “Well, yeah, but why is she freaking out? All she could say between her sobbing was something to the effect of marriage and unemployment.”

  “No idea,” Lacy lied. “I merely told her I wanted to speak with you. Why isn’t your cell on? I couldn’t even leave a message.”

  “It’s dead. I haven’t charged it for like three days because I lost my charger. I’m going to have to buy a new one. What did you want to speak with me about? It had better be good because I’m in the middle of a meeting with the bigwigs.”

  “You’re having a board meeting in the middle of the day?” she asked.

  “No, not church bigwigs, town bigwigs. The mayor, the sheriff, people like that.”

  Lacy frowned at the mention of the mayor. She knew for a fact that the man had been in cahoots with developers who threatened her over the Stakely building, but she couldn’t prove it. They had erased all traces of evidence after Detective Brenner was arrested. Lacy guessed he gave them a heads up out of spite. Whatever the reason, she didn’t trust the mayor, but Tosh already knew that, so she didn’t rehash it again.

  “I was wondering if you’ll go away with me next weekend.”

  There was a significant pause. “Um…I don’t think…I mean, my parishioners…”

  “Oh, I guess that sort of sounded like I was inviting you for a drunken Vegas weekend or something. I meant will you go to New York with me to Riley’s shower. We’ll have separate rooms. It’s all very above board and innocent. I’ll swear out a statement for your church, if you want.”

  “Wow, you’re going to Riley’s shower? Since when?”

  “Since Grandpa made me promise on his deathbed,” Lacy said.

  “He’s not dying.”

  “He’s using this request in advance of that time. And, as much as I’m dreading it, he’s right; it’s time to move on. I need to put the
past behind me where Robert and Riley are concerned. Not that it’s going to be a piece of cake, though. Which is why I desperately need my best friend by my side. No pressure.”

  “Are you kidding? I’m there. I’ve been telling you for months now to move on. To believe that I’ll actually get to be a part of that process is awesome. Of course I’ll go.”

  Lacy bit her lip as Tosh rattled on about his enthusiasm over the trip. Taking him had seemed like the obvious choice, but what if it wasn’t? Tosh believed that as soon as she moved on from Robert she would be ready to be with him. Was he picturing Lacy emotionally shattered with himself there to pick up the pieces, swoop in, and ignite a relationship?

  “I should really get back to the meeting,” Tosh said. “We’ll hash out the details later. Don’t buy the tickets yet. I might be able to borrow the family jet. See you.” He hung up, leaving Lacy feeling a bit shell shocked at his parting shot. His family jet? She had seen Tosh’s house when she went to visit over New Year’s, and it had been grand. But they were all so down to earth and fun that it was easy to forget they were loaded.

  Her phone rang again and she stared at it, debating whether or not to answer because it was Riley. Obviously Robert’s mother had immediately gotten off the internet and called Riley. News had a way of traveling fast. Normally Lacy would let the call go to her voicemail, but she had promised to make amends, so she pushed the button.

  “Hello.”

  “Hey, Lacy. Rita told me you’re coming to the shower. That’s great.”

  Riley was using the tone, the overly cheerful one that told Lacy she wanted something, so she decided to cut to the chase. “What do you want?”

  “Can I borrow your sapphire necklace?”

  “The one Robert gave me for my twenty-fifth birthday?” Lacy clarified.

  “Yeah, I guess. The teardrop one.”

  “Sure. You know what? You can actually just keep it.” Take all my leftovers; I’m done.

  “Seriously? That sounds great. So the weekend is shaping up to be huge. It’s a family event, so none of my friends are going to be there. They’re planning a shower for later.” She paused and cleared her throat. “Are you going to have a shower for me for our side of the family? Because Mom can’t do it; that’s tacky. It should be you, don’t you think?”

  “Absolutely,” Lacy said. “I would love to. Are you still into Mariachi music? Because I know of a great band, and I should book them now.”

  “Oh, ha, ha. Funny. Yeah, if you do live music, it’s going to have to be a string quartet, only I’m planning to get one of those for the wedding, so that might be a little redundant. We’ll talk.”

  “Super. I am really exited for that conversation.” The good thing about Riley was that sarcasm was lost on her, freeing Lacy to use it as often as she wished.

  “Good. We’ll talk about it next weekend. And, hey, we’ll find someone for your plus one. Robert has lots of single friends.”

  “What? I said I was bringing someone,” Lacy said.

  “We thought you were kidding. You joke a lot.”

  “Why would I kid about that?” Lacy said.

  “Well, you know. Mom said you’re still really hung up and bitter about the Robert thing. I didn’t think you were seeing anyone.”

  “That doesn’t mean I don’t have friends. I’m bringing a friend.”

  “Who is she?”

  “He, it’s a he. His name is Tosh. He’s the pastor of Grandma’s church.”

  Riley snickered and tried to turn it into a cough. “How old is he?”

  “Twenty eight.” For the second time that morning, Lacy had to grit her teeth to keep from lashing out. Her jaw was really starting to ache.

  “Okay,” Riley said. “I’m sure he’s as cute as any of your other friends ever were, and I’m sure he’s very nice. I look forward to meeting him.”

  “I should go,” Lacy said, hanging up without waiting for Riley’s goodbye. Years of knowing her sister had taught Lacy to read between the lines. She knew what Riley really meant was that she was expecting Tosh to be some sort of super geek, as geeky as all the other guys Lacy had liked before Robert. But Tosh wasn’t a geek. He was sweet and kind and handsome. And loaded. Maybe it was shallow, but she had a sudden and desperate longing for the Underwood family jet.

  As far as her own inheritance went, being an heiress was no longer a slack job. She rose early and worked on paperwork or met with contractors or renters until late into the evening. Renovating the Stakely building was even vaster than she had originally thought it would be, but it also gave her a purpose, and she liked that.

  Just as she was beginning to get in a groove and make some headway in her never-ending pile of tax documents and legal contracts, her phone rang again. This time she didn’t have to look at the caller ID because Darth Vader’s theme from Star Wars alerted her to the fact that it was her mother. And there was no sense in trying to dodge her call. Lacy had tried and failed before. Her mother would keep calling. And calling. And then she would call Lacy’s grandmother. And Lacy’s friends. One night she had called both Tosh and Jason after Lacy didn’t return her call a second time in a row. Yes, Lacy had definitely learned better than to dodge her mother.

  “Hi, Mom.”

  “I wanted to know what you have on tap for Riley’s shower.”

  “Well, seeing as how I just learned thirty seconds ago that I’m supposed to give her one, I would say it’s pretty much all wrapped up. Just have to decide between these color swatches for the ice sculpture.”

  “Don’t be sarcastic, Lacy. I hope you didn’t take that tone with Riley. She’s been very stressed lately.”

  “Mom, she’s an event planner. She throws parties in the Hamptons and Manhattan for a living. How stressful can it be?”

  “Robert’s family is challenging, and she’s trying to make a good impression.”

  Lacy could empathize with that. Robert’s family was challenging, and trying to make a good impression on them was like trying to figure out what juggling acts might impress a blind man. Lacy was beginning to feel a glimmer of sympathy for her sister until her mother continued.

  “And I do hope you’ll take care of her next weekend when you’re there.”

  “Riley’s a big girl, Mom. She doesn’t need my help.”

  “She’s your little sister, Lacy. It’s your responsibility to take care of her, especially near those people.” Those people being Robert’s crazy relatives.

  And who will take care of me? Lacy wanted to say, but she didn’t because it would fall on deaf ears. Riley had always been her mother’s favorite, just as Lacy had always been a Daddy’s girl. “Is Dad there?”

  “No, he’s out.” Her mother’s terse tone told her that her parents were still having problems, and she sighed.

  “Mom, what’s up with you and Dad?”

  “Nothing. Everything is fine. Just take care of your sister. I have to go. We’ll talk about the shower later.”

  “Super,” Lacy said, not masking her sarcastic tone. It didn’t matter, though; her mother had already hung up. And now she had a new item to add to her agenda for the dreaded weekend. Not only did she have to make amends with Riley, but she also had to protect her from Robert’s loony bin of a family. Things were so bad; could they possibly get any worse? Lacy was beginning to learn that anytime she asked herself that question, the answer was always a resounding yes.

  Chapter 4

  The next few days went well for Lacy. The third floor renovations of the Stakely building were on schedule, she was due to meet with her new prospective tenant after she returned, and Tosh was excited about the weekend.

  That was why it was all the more disappointing when he called on Tuesday, sounding glum.

  “Mrs. Rae’s appendix ruptured,” he said with no preamble.

  “Isn’t she like ninety?” Lacy asked.

  “Ninety four,” he said.

  “Shouldn’t her appendix be desiccated by now?”

&nb
sp; “I’ll make sure and ask her when I get to the hospital. The point is that it ruptured and there are complications. They’re talking a lengthy hospital stay.”

  Now Lacy felt bad for making fun of her, but she felt even worse when she realized what he was saying. “You’re not going, are you?”

  “I can’t leave her right now. Her family lives far away, and they’ve basically told me that they expect me to visit her every day in the hospital.”

  “But this is Tuesday and we’re not leaving until Thursday. She could make a miraculous turnaround between now and then.”

  Tosh sighed. “I’m sorry, Lacy. It’s not going to happen. You’re going to have to take him.”

  “I doubt he can get off work at this late date.”

  “‘No, Tosh, you’re irreplaceable. I don’t have someone standing in the queue, waiting to take your place.’ That was the correct line there, not ‘I doubt he can get off work at this late date.’”

  “Any other time I would be glad to nurture your fragile, fragile ego with meaningless platitudes, but this is an emergency, Tosh. What am I going to do? I cannot show up at this weekend alone.”

  “He’ll go,” Tosh said. “Trust me; he’ll go.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I know because he’s not an idiot and he realizes this is the chance he’s been waiting for. He’ll go because it’s what I would do for anything less than a church-related emergency. Why must I be such a caring pastor? Curses on my giant, soft heart.”

  If his intent was to make Lacy laugh, then it worked. Even if there were a few self-pitying tears mixed in with the laughter.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, and he sounded miserable now.

  “It’s really okay. I’ve been looking for a loophole out of this whole best friend thing; this may be it. Goodbye forever, loser.”