by Judy Nickles
Penelope nodded. “She saw the front room when she was helping me clean on Sunday, so she knows you’re here.”
“What did you tell her?”
“I didn’t tell her anything, but that just made things worse.”
Jake set three mugs on the table and filled them. “Everybody knows everything about everybody in a town like Amaryllis. And what they don’t know, they think they should.”
“Or make up?”
Jake shook his head. “Some of them do, I guess. You’re not from a small town, are you?”
Sam shrugged.
Penelope took her mug to the back door and peered out. “Bradley will be in the thick of things. I hope he’s okay.”
“He’ll be okay,” Sam said.
“How do you know?” Penelope turned around. “Oh, I forgot. You know stuff.”
Sam nodded. “I know stuff.”
They were on their second cups of coffee when the phone rang again. “It’s not as bad as it looks,” Mary Lynn said.
Sam reached across the table and pushed the button for the speaker.
“The gin’s gone, Harry says, and the fertilizer shed, but the house is okay.”
“What about Travis and Shana?” Penelope’s voice cracked a little. Jake patted her hand.
“Harry says…” Mary Lynn stopped.
“What does Harry blessed say, Mary Lynn?” Penelope snapped after she waited what seemed long enough for Mary Lynn to go on.
“He says they’ve found a couple of bodies, but…”
The phone slipped from Penelope’s fingers, clattered onto the table, then slid to the floor. Penelope followed it.
****
“I never fainted in my life,” Penelope said, trying to sit up on the sofa where Sam had deposited her. “I just slipped out of the chair.”
“You were out like a light,” he said. “Here, drink this.”
“What is it?”
“Whiskey,” he said. “Expensive. I don’t waste it on just anyone.”
She sipped from the glass, coughed, then choked, causing Jake to pound her on the back. “She’s not used to strong stuff,” Jake said.
“You don’t have to apologize for me,” she said to her father. “Travis did enough sipping and glad-handing for both of us.”
Jake raised his eyebrows as he took the glass out of her hand and set it down on the coffee table. “I reckon Brad will come by when he knows something.”
Sam picked up the glass and finished the whiskey. “I’m not here and never have been.”
“I wish you weren’t,” Penelope said.
“Now, Nellie.”
“Things aren’t always what they seem, Mrs. Pembroke,” Sam said.
Last night it was Penelope.
“So I’ll just have to trust you, as they say in the movies?” She finally managed to sit up and swing her feet off the sofa, wishing the room would stop tilting.
“Not especially. Better let me walk behind you when you go upstairs. You need to get some rest, too, Mr. Kelley. Tomorrow could be a very long day.”
“It’s already tomorrow, son.”
“Yeah, well, get some rest.”
Sam followed Penelope upstairs but at a discreet distance. On the landing he said, “I’m sorry about all this. Can you get to your room all right?”
Penelope hung onto the railing. “Yes.”
Sam nodded, turned, and walked away down the hall.
****
Penelope couldn’t believe she’d slept at all, much less until almost nine o’clock in the morning. She hadn’t been downstairs long when Mary Lynn showed up. “I drove out there this morning. It’s a mess, at least as much as I can see of it. The police and fire departments still have the main road blocked.”
“But the house is okay, though?”
“I couldn’t see the house, but Harry said it wasn’t touched.”
“Did you see anyone…Travis or Shana?”
Mary Lynn sat down and tossed her bag into an empty chair. “No, but…”
“Where did they find the bodies?”
“Just inside the door of the gin. It fell out instead of in for some reason, and a fireman spotted…well, feet.”
Penelope considered whether she needed to make a dash for the downstairs bathroom to throw up. She took a couple of deep breaths and splashed her face with cold water from the tap, then sat down. “Do they have any idea what caused the fire?”
“Harry says the fire marshal from over at Hot Springs isn’t saying anything, but he heard some people talking about arson.”
Penelope was wondering if she could make it to the freezer for sweet rolls when Bradley knocked on the back door. “Mother.”
His face told her what she didn’t want to know. He’d had that same look the night he’d been named most valuable player by the baseball team when he was in ninth grade, and Travis hadn’t shown up for the awards ceremony. She rose and put her arms around him, feeling his body go limp against hers for the briefest moment. His hair and clothing smelled like smoke. “I guess Mary Lynn told you what we found in the gin.” A crack in his voice betrayed the professional tone he always tried to take.
She pushed him into a chair. “Yes.”
“The…bodies were sent to the ME in Little Rock, but there was a ring…”
“His college ring.” Travis lost his wedding ring on a regular basis, but the UA ring rarely left his finger. She kneaded her son’s slumped shoulders. “I’m sorry, Bradley.”
“Yeah, so am I.”
“I’ll come back,” Mary Lynn said.
“No, that’s all right, Aunt Mary. I’ve got to go file a report and make some calls.”
“Let me fix you some breakfast, Bradley.”
“Thanks, Mother, but I’d better get going. I’ll stop by later, maybe, if there’s more news.”
“Maybe there’s a mistake, Bradley. I mean, if the bodies were burned…”
He shook his head. “They’ll use DNA. I already gave a sample.”
“They could identify your father that way?”
“It would be a partial, but it would be close enough.”
“Close enough.”
He nodded. “Close enough,” he repeated, almost automatically.
He reminded her of an old, old man as he shuffled out the back door. “My poor little boy,” she whispered.
“I’m really sorry, Pen,” Mary Lynn said.
“Bradley had so many unresolved feelings about his father. Travis was a prize rounder, but he was Bradley’s father, after all.”
“How about you?”
Penelope shrugged. “He was my husband for sixteen years and the father of my only child.”
“But you don’t still have any feelings for him.”
“I think I stopped loving him the night Bradley was born, when he never showed up at the hospital until the next afternoon…with lipstick on his shirt collar.”
Mary Lynn muttered something that Penelope didn’t understand and figured she didn’t want to hear anyway. “Like I said, he was a rotten so-and-so, but he didn’t deserve to die like that. Nobody does.” She bent to pick up Abijah who was bumping her leg with his wet nose. “I guess the other body was Shana’s, and that’s a blessed shame. She was so young. Young and full of dreams and stupid. Sometimes she reminded me of myself at that age.”
“You were never stupid, Pen.”
“I married Travis Pembroke, didn’t I? Then I stayed with him even after…well, at least I got out of the whole mess in one piece. And I have my son.”
“Yes, there’s that,” Mary Lynn said. “If anything happened to Harry, I wouldn’t have anything left.” She shook her head. “But it just wasn’t meant to be, I guess.” She reached for her purse. “Listen, I’m going to…”
The phone rang. “Get rid of her,” Sam’s voice said. “And I mean now.” He hung up.
Mary Lynn waited for Penelope to explain the one-sided conversation, and when she didn’t, she finished her sentence. “
I’m going to go home. Call me if you need anything—some company or just an ear to listen.”
Penelope squeezed her friend’s hand. “Thanks, Mary Lynn. I didn’t mean what I said about you not being my best friend anymore.”
“I know that. You take care now.”
Almost as soon as Mary Lynn’s car was out of the drive, Sam pushed Shana Bayliss through the back door. Penelope’s mouth dropped open. Hair matted, peaches-and-cream complexion hidden under a layer of grime, and wearing a torn T-shirt and dirty jeans, Shana stared blankly ahead, seemingly unaware of her surroundings.
“Where…” Penelope began.
Sam shook his head. “She’s going to need some first-aid.” He pointed out the younger woman’s scratched and bleeding arms.
“She looks dehydrated, too,” Penelope said, going into nurse mode. She took a bottled sports drink from the refrigerator, opened it, and set it in front of Shana, who didn’t seem to notice. “Honey, drink up, and then you can go get a shower and wash out those places on your arms.” She folded Shana’s fingers around the bottle. “Come on, Shana, you can do it.”
“You’ve got to keep her out of sight,” Sam said.
“I’ve got ten people coming in on Thursday,” Penelope sputtered. “I can’t…”
“You’re the only one who can.”
“Aren’t you being a little dramatic?”
Sam’s voice, close to her ear, was hard. “Listen to me. Shana Bayliss’s life isn’t worth the price of a bad bottle of booze if you don’t wise up.”
An icy finger of panicked fear ran through Penelope’s body. “I don’t have any place…”
“I’ve been over this house with a fine tooth comb, and I know the basement is finished out. It even has a full bath.”
Penelope gasped. “You…you went snooping around my home?”
“Oh, get off your high-horse, Mrs. Pembroke. You don’t have any choice in the matter.”
“My son…”
“Doesn’t need to know anything right now. He’s in this thing up to his neck, and so are you.”
“In what thing? We haven’t…”
“You’re Pembrokes, aren’t you? What happened out there last night was no accident, and the responsible parties are very good at tying up their loose ends—like leaving no witnesses behind. I’d put her somewhere else if I could, but right now, there’s no other choice.” He glared at her. “So are you going to play ball?”
Penelope nodded and tried to speak, but she couldn’t get any words past her dry, closed-up throat. She glanced down at Shana, who had drained the bottle. “Come on, honey, let’s get you cleaned up.”
Sam’s voice followed her. “Take her in your bathroom, then lock the bedroom door from the outside, and come back down. We have to talk.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
“Shower off, then soak yourself,” Penelope told Shana. “I’ll lay out some things on the bed for you. We’re close enough to the same size that you won’t get lost in my stuff.” She took peroxide and first-air cream from the medicine cabinet. “Use this on your arms and anywhere else you’re scratched up. Then lie down and see if you can get some sleep.”
Locking the door as Sam had instructed, she pocketed the key and returned to the kitchen. “She’s soaking.”
Sam motioned her to a chair. “This is how it’s going to be,” he said.
“No negotiations?”
“None.”
“What about Daddy?”
“I’ll take care of him.”
“I don’t like the sound of that.”
Sam’s lined face looked older than it had last night, his eyes darker and more dangerous. “Mr. Kelley seems an adventurous sort. He won’t object to a little all expenses paid trip somewhere interesting.”
“Where?”
“You can tell people he went to Florida, but that’s not where he’ll be.”
“Why did he go?”
“A friend from his army days invited him to visit in his new condo.”
“I guess that’ll work.”
“It will if you make it work. A friend drove him to Little Rock to catch a plane, which will explain why his truck is out back.” He leaned toward Penelope. “Look, he’ll have so much fun he won’t want to come home.”
“How long will he be gone?”
“I don’t know. Where is he now?”
“Uptown, probably having coffee with the Toney Twins at the Daisy Café, but you can’t just snatch him. That would cause a lot of talk. And he has to take his medications with him.”
“He can pack up when he gets home.”
“What else?”
“Shana isn’t here. You haven’t seen her. As far as you know, she died in the fire, and her body’s in Little Rock with the medical examiner. You don’t know anything except what you read in the paper.”
“Which won’t be out until Wednesday.”
“Right, I know that, and the delay works to your advantage.”
“If you say so.”
“You said she can wear your clothes, and I’ll help you take anything downstairs that she’s going to need.”
“It needs cleaning.”
“Well, that’s your department.”
“Who are you, Sam?”
“Don’t worry about it. Now, here’s the rest. After your guests leave on Sunday night, I want you to pack for at least a week.”
“Where am I going?”
“I don’t know yet, but you’ll have Shana with you.”
“What about Abijah?”
“He’ll be fed.”
“And have a clean litter box?”
“Right.”
“Who…”
“I’ll work it out, but I promise he’ll be treated like royalty.”
“Which he is.”
Sam smiled just a little. “Right. This is important. Shana’s life depends on you playing your part—and maybe yours does, too.”
“Bradley…”
“Is all right. He’ll be all right. But you can’t tell him about Shana, and you can’t mention you’re leaving on Monday. Understand?”
Penelope nodded.
“Good. Now, I’ll clear out on Wednesday night so you can clean my room. You need to stay out of downtown and away from people as much as possible, so if there’s anything you need, make a list.”
“All the grocery shopping is done, but Shana may need some toiletries. You don’t share those like clothes.”
“Have her make a list.” He pushed back from the table. “Now I’m going to go round up Mr. Kelley and bring him back to get ready to leave.” He put a hand on her shoulder. “Look, it’s going to be all right.”
“You’re not one of the bad guys then.”
“I told you things aren’t always what they appear to be.”
She nodded. “Okay. I hear you.”
****
Penelope found Shana wrapped in a terrycloth robe and sitting on the loveseat by the window. “I brought you a sandwich and a salad. You need to eat something.”
“Why are you being so nice to me, Mrs. Pembroke?”
Penelope twisted her mouth. “Was I ever not nice to you?”
“No, but that was before…”
Penelope shook her head. “Eat. Then I want you to make a list of any personal items you need…toothpaste and so on. You’re going to be here a while.”
“Why?”
“According to Sam-whoever-he-is, you’re hiding out. Do you happen to know from whom?”
“No.” Shana picked at the salad, then took a bite and chewed.
“What happened last night?”
“I’m trying to remember, but it’s all a blur.”
“Okay, we’ll talk about that later. How did you get hooked up with Sam?”
“He found me in the woods this morning…I think.”
“You spent the night there?”
“I must have.” Shana took a bite of the sandwich. “This is one for the books, isn’t it? The ex-wife looki
ng out for the mistress?” Her eyes filled with tears.
“I was out of the picture a long time before you came along, and besides…” Penelope stopped. No point rubbing the obvious in Shana’s face.
“I know. I was the last in a long line of bimbos.”
“Well.”
“I was leaving next week anyway.”
“Voluntarily?”
“I could tell he was losing interest in me.
“Don’t blame yourself for that. Travis went through women like some men go through golf balls.”
“I blame myself for moving in with him to begin with. I was taught better.”
“What are you going to do now? I mean, after you don’t have to hide out here.”
“I’d planned to go back to Ohio, a little place near Cincinnati where I grew up. My parents thought I was still working in the library and just dating Travis. Last week I wrote them that we’d broken up, and I needed to get away.”
“You’re going to be staying in the basement,” Penelope said. “Don’t worry, it’s finished. I had it done when Bradley was in high school so he’d have a place to bring his friends. There’s a bathroom with a shower and a small refrigerator that just needs to be plugged in. The sofa makes into a bed, and at one time, we got television reception down there. I’ll have Sam carry down the set from Daddy’s bedroom.”
“Won’t your father want it?”
Penelope struggled to speak past the lump in her throat. “Sam’s going to stash him somewhere.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Oh, Daddy will be fine. He’ll have the time of his life.” But I’ll worry about him ever blessed second he’s gone.
“Couldn’t I just go home to Ohio?”
“I suppose you could bring it up with Sam.”
Someone tapped on the door. “It’s me.”
Penelope opened the door. “Did you find Daddy?”
“He’s downstairs packing. I’ll drive him to Little Rock tonight.” He glanced past her at Shana, who sat with her head down. “Miss Bayliss, I’m going to have to ask you some questions later, so I want you to try to organize last night’s events in your mind. Write them down if you have to.” He turned back to Penelope. “Come show me what you need carried downstairs.”
****
Penelope was still sitting with Shana in the basement rec room when Sam came down just after nine that night. “Your daddy’s on his way.”