Grounds for Remorse

by Misty Simon

  Stepping into shoes, I hit my Gina speed dial as I flew down the two sets of stairs to the main floor. Max was right on my heels. By the fourth ring, Gina still hadn’t answered, but then it didn’t matter because I saw her standing on the sidewalk with her arms wrapped around herself and a blanket over her shoulders.

  At least she was alive. While I’d booked it down the stairs, horrible visions had flashed through my head of Craig getting in her house and killing her in her sleep. Seeing her standing there alleviated that fear at least, but it didn’t indicate what had happened.

  I didn’t even look for traffic as I ran across the street and jerked to a halt in front of her. I opened my arms and she stepped forward. But Chief Burton put an arm out between us, keeping her from hugging me. The man was the bane of my existence. He still held a grudge over the stuck-up, snobby bitch I had been for the past five years. I’d thought helping him with a double murder a few months ago might have softened him up, but that didn’t seem to be happening with the way his eyes were flinty and his stance forbidding.

  “What are you doing?” I demanded.

  “This is a crime scene, Tallie.”

  “A what? What happened?” Quickly taking in the scene, I saw no blood and no broken windows. Nothing out of the ordinary, except my friend standing on the street with a blanket around her shoulders.

  “Go home. We’re taking care of it. I need you to step back. We don’t want to contaminate anything until we have all the evidence we need.”

  “Gina?” I met her eyes. Max stepped up next to me and put a hand on my outstretched arm.

  “Don’t leave me, Tallie. Please.” Her voice quavered with distress and I wanted to punch Burton in his shiny badge.

  Instead, I glared at him and almost said the scathing words that were positively boiling on my tongue. But I did not want to make anyone even madder. I settled for taking a step back. “I’m not leaving. I won’t touch anything, but I’m not leaving.”

  Burton sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Not my problem.

  “Do you want me to call your mom, Gina?” I asked.

  “God, no, please.”

  “Can you tell me what happened? Why are the police and the fire department and the ambulance here?”

  Burton stepped between us again. “You can stay, but I’ll be asking the questions. Right now, this is a need-to-know basis and you are not someone who needs to know anything.” Burton stood with his back to Gina, fully blocking her from my sight. Kicking him would be a very bad idea, I told myself several times, while I fought down the urge to do just that.

  I tried a different tactic with the silvered-haired man who was the strong arm of the law around these parts. “Can you tell me what happened then? I live in the neighborhood and would like to know what has happened to bring everyone out before dawn.”

  He frowned at me, his bushy gray eyebrows pulling down to form a V. “There’s been a death and that’s all you need to know.”

  A death? I reeled back into Max’s arms, my brain now going to the threats Gina had made earlier toward Craig. No way would she have done that. I knew it in my heart. Plus, I didn’t even know who was dead. I wouldn’t jump to any conclusions until I had more facts.

  And then the gurney rolled past me and Max. A hand flopped out from under the sheet, the manicured fingernails masculine and way too clean. It was Craig. To say this was not good was a gross understatement.

  * * *

  I stayed with Gina until they loaded her into the back of a cruiser. They didn’t let me say anything to her, and I followed their rules because I knew that once my cousin, a cop, was involved I could get access. I would demand it, even call his mother to yell at him if he didn’t do what I asked him to do.

  Once they drove away with her, I ran back across the street and up the stairs to put on a bra and some more decent clothes. I was going to that police station and demanding to talk to her, even if she had to make her one phone call to my cell phone while I stood in the station’s waiting room.

  By the time I threw open the door to the two-story brick building a block and a half away, I could see that my job to get Gina was going to be even easier. Mama Shirley was already there raising a ruckus.

  “You get my girl out of that cell right now or bad things will happen to you. Mark my words.”

  “Are you threatening me?” Burton asked.

  She bristled, her chest inflating until she resembled a linebacker. “It’s not a threat, you buffoon, it’s a warning of what’s to come. Now, go get my girl.”

  Fortunately, there was no rolling pin in sight, and since she was dressed in a housecoat with the edges of her nightgown hanging right below and her slippers on, I had a feeling she had no weapon on her. I left her with Max and turned around to make a phone call to my Uncle Sherman. There had to be something he could do, or maybe as the fire chief he knew what was going on.

  As soon as the ringing stopped, I jumped in. “Sherman, I know it’s early, and I’m sorry.”

  He sighed. “No worries. I’m up anyway and know what you’re calling about. I don’t know anything, Tallie. Burton told me nothing and he’s keeping close-lipped about this one, the bastard.” Frustration bristled over the line. “Don’t know why, but it might have something to do with the trouble you got into a few months ago when that socialite and your ex-husband were killed.”

  Exasperation soared through me at the statement. I’d had nothing to do with that, only in figuring out who had done the foul deeds. “Neither of which were my fault.”

  “Well, Tallie, I know that and you know that, but he was not happy you got so involved.”

  “But he can’t keep you out of the loop,” I demanded as I leaned against the wall, keeping an eye on where everyone was and half an ear cocked for what was being said in the room. Nothing much more than a stare-down between Shirley and Burton.

  “Sure he can, if it’s not a fire. I don’t need to know, apparently. That’s exactly what I was told.”

  “Me too.”

  His sigh blustered through the phone line. “Not surprising. I think we’re going to have to wait to hear more.”

  “Mama Shirley is not going to be happy with that.”

  “Mama Shirley can give them hell all she wants, but if I were you I’d stay out of this one as much as you can. Wait for Burton to announce the info, or get it from Gina once they release her. All I know is there was a dead body at the bottom of her stairs, and she was standing over it when she called the emergency line.”

  * * *

  Since no one would let me see Gina until after she was processed, no matter how much I begged and yelled and pleaded, I left Max at the station to see if he could schmooze anyone. I ran back to the apartment and picked up a few things for Gina that I hoped would fit her and then went back to the police station. They couldn’t keep her if they didn’t charge her, and I was pretty sure they weren’t going to charge her. How could they? There had to be another explanation for how Craig had ended up at the bottom of her stairs dead. And I wasn’t leaving until I had my best friend. Chief of Police James Burton could try to remove me all he wanted, but I wasn’t budging.

  I had just returned to the station with a bag of clothes in hand when Craig’s wife came storming in, demanding blood.

  Poor Suzy at the front desk could only stare at her with her mouth hanging open as the woman screeched every profanity I knew plus some I tucked away for future use. Several I’d never heard strung together quite like that before.

  My cousin, Matt, came out from the back with a lazy walk, and looked the woman over before slapping his hand on the counter with a crack.

  “How can we help you, miss?” he said in a deceptively calm tone following that loud bang.

  “It’s Mrs. Mrs. Johnson, widow to the recently deceased Craig Johnson who was killed before his time.” “Haughty” and “dramatic” were the only two words I could think of to describe her.

  “What can we do for you, Mrs. Johnson?”
Matt asked politely, yet with a slight edge. “We were out at your place and let you know we were doing everything we can to find out what happened in that stairwell. We’ll let you know as soon as we have any new information.”

  She narrowed her eyes at him and clenched her hand into a fist on the counter. I wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d slammed it down to mimic Matt. But she seemed to pull herself together. “I’d like to file a complaint against the woman who killed my husband.”

  I shrank into the corner of the waiting room, hoping she wouldn’t see me, or if she did that she wouldn’t remember me from the Bean yesterday. I wanted to hear this complaint so I could defend Gina against it.

  “We’re not even at the ‘allegedly killed’ position yet and we can’t assume anything at this point,” Matt explained, far more patiently than I would have been able to manage. “The woman you’re referring to swears that she was sound asleep and only found your husband at the bottom of her stairs with his neck twisted at an odd angle when she was going to open her shop.”

  That was more than I had before, thankfully. Matt gave me a thumbs-up behind his back. Uncle Sherman might want me out of this, and I highly doubted Burton would take kindly to me solving another death in our town, but Matt seemed to be on board with giving me information. At least the police weren’t automatically charging Gina and refusing to look at anyone else. I’d be thankful for that as I continued to wait for this woman to get to the point of her visit.

  Mrs. Johnson’s hand went to her throat as she fell back a step. “You’ve just described exactly how she killed him. By pushing him down the stairs and then pretending that she had no knowledge. And my complaint will add to the evidence.” Her voice rang with conviction. “I want you to take my statement. Now.”

  I was on board with taking the statement now, as long as it was out here.

  Burton chose that moment to appear in the reception area. He gave me a hard look before turning to Matt. “Take the woman’s statement in your office. We’ll want as much information as possible. Ask if she has anything else we could work with, too, while you’re at it.” He turned to Mrs. Johnson. “We’re sorry for your loss, Michelle, and we’ll be working diligently to make sure the right person is charged, if this was indeed a crime. Please rest assured his death will be ruled as the evidence proves out.”

  A slick way to say that they might not even believe it was murder. The man could have fallen down the stairs all on his own.

  Though how he had gotten in the stair well in the first place, when I knew for a fact I had locked the door behind me when Max and I had left, I had no idea. I kept that question to myself because it might lead them to look harder at Gina, and I wanted time to talk to her before they grabbed the magnifying glass.

  We all watched Matt lead Michelle behind the counter. I was relieved when they went out of sight without her ever looking at me.

  That relief died quickly when Burton turned in my direction.

  “Tallie.” Burton stood with his arms crossed, his face a hard study in disapproval.

  I shook my paper bag of clothes at him. “Just here to deliver some clothes if Gina needs something more than a prison outfit. I’m assuming you took her clothes for evidence.”

  “You’d be assuming wrong, and you better not have gone into her house to get clothes.”

  “What kind of fool do you take me for?” I asked, then clamped my mouth shut. I shouldn’t invite that conversation. “Anyhoo, I just wanted to see if Gina was ready to go yet, and if I can take her to my house.”

  His face did not lose any of its harshness. Tough crowd here. Yes, I had helped him solve the two murders that had occurred nine months ago, and yes, I had been a pain in his ass when I was married to my departed ex-husband, but I was just Tallie now. Not Tallulah Phillips, the entitled wife of the jerk, Walden Phillips the Third, whom I still thought of as Waldo, even if he wasn’t alive to be annoyed anymore. Just Tallie Graver, divorced, cleaning woman, part-time funeral helper, and best friend to the woman who should not be sitting in a jail cell because of some guy who could not take the hint that she wanted nothing to do with him.

  We hadn’t reported the run-by flowering and now I wondered if we should have, to add to the evidence. I’d talk it over with Max once we were alone. Speaking of Max, he was pretty quiet next to me. I turned to find him with his hand over his eyes and shaking his head.

  “How involved do you plan on getting in this thing?” Burton asked, his voice low and his brow even lower. “I’d like to brace myself for more of your accidental findings.”

  “No involvement.” I raised my free hand as if in surrender. “I just want to take my friend home. I’ll let you and the illustrious police force do all the policing.” I crossed my heart with my index finger and held up what I thought I remembered as the Girl Scout pledge sign.

  All it got me was another full thirty seconds of Burton staring at me.

  “I promise?”

  “Yeah, it’s that questioning sound at the end that makes me nervous and I’m not a nervous kind of guy, Tallie.”

  I cleared my throat. “It wasn’t a questioning sound. I was trying for reassuring.”

  “Well, you didn’t do a very good job at it.” He put his hands on his hips and widened his stance. “I’ll let her go with you under the condition that you stay out of this thing. You can take Shirley home, too, since she’s back there, along with her daughter, but in a different room. I’ve found I don’t have the stomach or the time to deal with charging her with threatening a police officer with a rolling pin.”

  Good Lord, and it wasn’t even nine o’clock in the morning yet. And where had she hidden the rolling pin in her nightgown? I’d missed a lot while running to my house for clothes. I’d have to get the lowdown from Max when we were alone.

  “I’ll take them both with me and make sure they stay out of trouble,” I promised, hoping it wasn’t a lie in the making.

  His brow did not unfurrow. In fact, it seemed to sink even lower over his eyes. “I’m more concerned about you staying out of trouble, young lady.”

  I almost snorted. I was in my late twenties. He didn’t have to call me young and I wasn’t even sure I could be deemed a lady. Female, woman, warrior, yes. Lady? Not so much. “I’ll do my best.” That, at least, was a better promise than the others I’d made.

  He pointed his finger at me. “Your best had better be good enough.”

  I almost came back with something pithy, but screaming erupted in the back along with a series of grunts. I stood with my mouth open and my eyes wide as Gina screamed her way down the hallway, Michelle right at her back and Mama Shirley following close behind doing her own war cry. Matt must have been the one grunting, because he stumbled down the hallway clutching his stomach and hunched over.

  Chaos reigned as Gina hid behind me, Michelle tried to go through me instead of around me, and Mama Shirley caught Craig’s widow by the hair.

  “Not this time, you wretch!” Mama Shirley yelled. Matt was still trying to catch up with the trio when Burton stepped in, giving a shrill whistle.

  Everyone stopped as if someone had hit the pause button on a remote. It was a strange tableau. Mama Shirley had a hank of Michelle’s hair in her grip and had bent the woman backward. Max had stepped up and shoved himself between me and the woman. Even Matt had stopped with one hand on the wall and the other still clamped on his stomach. Someone, and I was betting on Michelle, must have socked him hard for him to still be nursing it.

  “This will stop right this instant,” Burton yelled. “Everyone back away from everyone else and then don’t move another muscle while I sort things out. If you touch each other at all I will have you all in cells before the minute hand makes it one more time around the clock, and I am not kidding.”

  I stayed where I was since I was sandwiched between Gina and Max. Gina took a step back, Max took one to the side, which put me face to snarl with Michelle. She tried to step opposite Max, but Mama Shirley hadn
’t let her hair go yet.

  “Shirley.” Burton stared her down.

  “You said not to move.”

  He grunted, which is never a good sound from him.

  She got the hint without having to be told a second time. Letting go, she stepped back and crossed her arms, giving the glaring Mrs. Johnson the evil eye. “I’ve got my eye on you, and I’ll have my rolling pin back soon, so don’t step out of line again.”

  “Shirley.” This time Burton sighed her name as if the whole weight of the world had just crashed down on his shoulders.

  “It’s truth talk.”

  “And I’m not going to give you the rolling pin back until you’re across the street and far away from this woman.”

  Now it was Shirley’s turn to grunt. “She stays away from me and mine and we won’t have an issue.” Gina’s mom shrugged, but when Burton turned to Gina, Shirley did that gesture that told Mrs. Johnson that she was watching her and mouthed the word “Beware.”

  I had a feeling this was about to turn into an all-out war if I didn’t get Gina and her mom out of here fast.

  “I’ll take them now, Chief Burton. I’ll make sure they get where they’re supposed to be.” I did not mention that the place was going to be my apartment or at least the parlor in the funeral home. We had no wakes scheduled today, so the bottom floors were empty. My brother had a few days off, which meant he wouldn’t be bustling around. My dad might be there, but he’d be on the second floor doing paperwork.

  “Keep an eye on them,” Burton said to Max. Not me, never me, but Max. Oh well, it wasn’t the worst thing that could have happened.

  Max and Burton shook hands as Max escorted us out, leaving Mrs. Johnson standing with Matt’s hand on her shoulder. I had a feeling she wasn’t going to get off without some kind of reprimand for her behavior. I’d be happy with jail time.

  Chapter Three

  Cookies were in order after we walked the two blocks back to my parents’ business. As businesses went, it wasn’t the most glamorous, or even the most profitable, but it was beautiful in a slightly gothic way.