by Misty Simon
“I didn’t think you would have done it on purpose. I just . . .” Gina gave a frustrated groan.
“I’m the only other person with a key to your house portion of the building door. I thought about that, too.”
Well. I hadn’t thought of that. I was going to have to put that on my list of things I needed to know. I wasn’t even sure if the door had been jimmied or if there was no sign of forced entry. And without Uncle Sherman getting any info and no time so far to grill my cousin, I might have to just go check things out myself. Carefully, of course, since I didn’t want to get in trouble for interfering.
“No one really thinks you did anything, Mama Shirley,” I was quick to say. “I just want to make sure that you didn’t see anything when you did sit outside Gina’s house until midnight, though.” I narrowed my eyes at her, daring her to lie. Going up against Mama was not my norm, but I had just realized whose car I’d seen last night sitting on the street.
I hadn’t thought about it at the moment, other than briefly, since Max had called me back to bed, but Mama’s words had triggered the memory for me.
She pressed her lips together and crossed her arms over her impressive bosom.
Mine wasn’t as impressive but I mimicked her stance. I didn’t call this formidable woman on the carpet lightly, but if she’d seen anything, I needed to know.
She broke first, surprising me. I really had thought we’d still be in our standoff for ten minutes at least.
Sighing, she tightened her arms across her chest. “No, dammit, I didn’t see anything. There was a car that went by three times, but I didn’t pull up to the curb until you left Gina’s. I only left at midnight because nothing had happened, and I was falling asleep.” She flipped her hand in the air. “I didn’t want to get dragged into the police station for loitering or sleeping in my car. That Burton seems to need more revenue lately. He even pulled me over last week for a ticket going five miles over the speed limit. He’s always waited until ten and then just given me a warning, but this time it was a real ticket, and he tried to ticket me for my music being too loud. Who doesn’t love a good polka? You tell me that.”
I was not touching that under penalty of death. Mama Shirley loved polka almost as much as she loved bingo and the stories she still taped during the day on a VCR.
“So you saw nothing except a car pull around a few times. Did it park at some point or did it appear lost?”
She shrugged, seeming to pull in on herself even more. “I don’t know. It was the third time that I really noticed it, but when I saw it was a lady, I didn’t look again. I was only on the hunt for that Craig nimrod.”
I believed her, though I wish she had seen more. “Okay, any chance you saw what kind of car it was?” Because if it was the wife, then I might be able to cast more doubt on her to block her warpath regarding Gina.
“I wish I did, but I don’t remember anything other than it had big tires for such a small car. Other than that, it was just a car. I only know the older ones, not these new-fangled things with their fancy heated seats and consoles that glow in the car like a sun. I only trust my Chevy.”
The car that had made it through six decades. Okay, then, that was not going to help. Big tires could mean anything—an SUV, a Jeep, one of those cars that people seemed to think needed big tires when it clearly didn’t. “Well, if you happen to see it again and it triggers something for you, would you mind taking a harder look?”
“Pshh. I wouldn’t know it if it tried to run me over.” She turned to her daughter. “Now that we have all that out of the way, you need to get back to the front. People need their coffee, and they need to see you going about your daily business. That Burton won’t be able to take you out of here without an uproar by the citizens of this town.”
Somehow, I didn’t think that would stop him, but I kept my mouth shut. At this point I had things to look into and a job to hopefully score.
* * *
Back at my apartment across the street, I stuffed a cookie in my mouth. I’d stolen them out of the cookie jar my mom kept in the kitchen on the first floor. No one was here today since we surprisingly didn’t have any bodies in the building getting ready to be buried. I knew that both worried and overjoyed my dad. As much as he made his living off the dead, he still didn’t like to see people die. The natural ones, the old-age ones where the person’s time was up after a long life, he was happy to make their passing as easy as possible for the remaining family. The young ones broke his heart, but he did his best job with those.
He was the epitome of professionalism and compassion. His three I’s of this business were tacked up on the wall for everyone on staff at Graver’s to memorize. INDULGE, INTER, INSPIRE. Indulge the family. Inter the fallen. Inspire the living to continue to live, and hopefully to use us again when it was their time.
Right now, I just wanted to be inspired with a new lead about who might have killed this man and left him in Gina’s stairwell. And how anyone had gotten in there without a key.
I truly believed that Mama Shirley wasn’t my culprit. It didn’t surprise me in the least that she’d sat out in her car to watch Gina’s house, but she wasn’t a killer. As much as she always seemed to be prepared to bean someone with her rolling pin, she would never go that far.
That left me with Drake, who thought Gina had done it, and maybe the widow. But why would Michelle kill her husband when she seemed to overlook his every transgression? Why this time?
The door to my apartment opened and closed, and I turned to find Max leaning back against the wall with his head resting against my wallpaper.
“Long day, dear?” I asked with a chuckle.
“Good Lord, I don’t know how she does that every day. I never thought I’d be so happy to be let go from a job.”
“You’re the one who offered.”
He stepped toward me. “Actually, if I remember correctly, you offered me. And I only went because I thought it would be easy to handle. A few customers, some coffee, a little conversation. But that wasn’t it at all. I’m bushed.”
“Poor baby. Good thing I turned you down to help with my cleaning jobs.”
“Yeah, I think my desk and I will be new best friends when I get back to it in ten days.”
I told myself ten days was far away. That I wouldn’t miss him too much when he went back to his regular life. I didn’t listen very well as my heart clenched at the thought of watching him leave again. “In the meantime, do we have anything planned? Gina wanted to get together to go over some things she heard today, and I should try to call this widow to see if I can clean her house for her.”
Max took another step toward me and swooped me into his arms to kiss me.
I was in a mid-breathless gasp when my phone rang in my pocket. I didn’t want to answer it, but with Gina in peril, I knew I had to. I could have been her one phone call if Burton had actually thrown her in our tiny jail. Backing out of Max’s arms, I answered the phone but kept his hand in mine.
“Hello?”
“Tallie Graver?”
“Yes, this is Tallie.” I had no idea whom I was talking to and the number had come up on the phone with no name attached, so it wasn’t one I already had in my contact list.
“My name is Michelle Johnson and you came highly recommended by Mrs. Jacobson for a job I need you to do.”
I almost squealed in glee, not just because someone had recommended me, but because Craig’s wife had called me. I’d have to send Mrs. Jacobson some flowers from Monty or give her a discount off her next cleaning.
Now I didn’t have to track Michelle down. It did cross my mind that once she saw me for whatever this job was that she would be reminded I was friends with her arch nemesis and the woman she thought had killed her husband. But I was willing to chance it. I could always put my curly hair up in a bun and wear no makeup. I’d been told by my mom that the difference in appearance was striking enough that I should never do it again.
“Yes, Mrs. Johnson. What
can I do for you?”
“My house needs an overhaul. I have things that need to be cleaned and if you have any capabilities of having furniture moved, I would be willing to raise your regular fee.”
Things moved? Already? Her husband’s body wasn’t even in the funeral home yet. In fact, I believed he was still at the county morgue and probably not even fully cold. And she already wanted furniture moved? But I wasn’t looking this huge blessing in the mouth.
“Yes, I have people on staff that I can get to help with a project like that. When would you like this done?”
“Tomorrow.” The word was sharp, but then she softened her tone. “I’m sorry. It’s been a trying day. If possible I’d like it done tomorrow, but will completely understand if you already have other houses scheduled.”
Again, I went to my mental calendar. I had three houses due to be cleaned tomorrow, two of them Letty’s that I’d agreed to take over since she was on vacation. But I might be able to put one of them off to the next day and just clean like a fiend to get everything in. I was not passing up the chance to clean this woman’s house and move whatever she thought she needed moved.
“Tomorrow will be fine. Eight?”
“Let’s make it ten, if that’s okay. I have a headache right now and need to rest, but I’ll be ready for you at ten.”
I took down her address and we said good-bye. After doing a little dance around the room, I was stopped by Max’s hand on my arm.
“Who was that?”
“Mrs. Michelle Johnson, recent widow and needer of cleaning services and, apparently, furniture removal.” The glee in my voice should have been contagious. Instead Max frowned at me.
“You’re not really going to get involved in this, are you?”
I stared at him as if he’d grown a whole new set of eyebrows. “Of course I am. Gina is my best friend and I am not going to let the police hang her for something she didn’t do.”
“Tallie, I’m sure you can trust that they’ll do a good job. If they really thought Gina was guilty they would have picked her up today, not let her run the coffee shop and serve people while roaming free.”
“How little you know. The police are perfectly capable of doing that. And I’m not trusting Burton with this one. He didn’t exactly find the killer last time, did he?”
Max didn’t say anything at first, just stared me down with his lips pressed together.
“The answer is no, as you are well aware. And that just goes to prove that he might not be able to find the killer this time either.” Did I really have to spell it out for him? He’d been right there with me.
“If there even is a killer.” The skepticism in his voice cut me to the quick. “This Craig guy might have just fallen down the stairs on his own and died of a broken neck.”
“He might have,” I conceded. “But that doesn’t mean I’m just going to wait for them to figure it out.”
Pulling me in close again, he rested his chin on the top of my head. “I wish you would.”
Fat chance. “Unfortunately, that is one wish I can’t grant. Others, yes. This one, no.”
He sighed, but I had to give him points for not trying to talk me out of it anymore. Waldo would have ignored me and expected me to be the docile little thing I had always been since he footed all the bills. It was true that at times I had caused mischief, which was just one of the reasons Chief of Police Burton didn’t trust me. I had always toed the line, though I wasn’t doing that anymore because this was the new Tallie. I was happy that Max did not try to make me stop just because he said so.
“I have a feeling we’re in for a long night and an even longer day tomorrow. Where do we start?” he asked with a sigh.
“Thank you.” I grabbed him around the middle in a big hug. “First, I was wondering if there was any way you might be able to get a look at the books for the remodeling firm Craig co-owned with Drake.” It might have been a long shot, but I felt I should at least ask. I tipped my head up as he looked down into my eyes.
“That’s one wish I’m going to have to deny you.”
I hated to have my words thrown back at me, but it made sense.
“Unless the widow brings them to me for analysis, as she should be the new part owner and might be interested in knowing what she’s walking into.”
Bingo! “I’ll add it to my list of things to talk about while I’m vacuuming and moving furniture.” I squeezed him, loving the feel of his lean body up against mine. “You’ll help with the moving, won’t you? I know you’re on vacation, but it would really help me and I kind of promised her I had a team that’s more than just me and Letty. And Letty’s on vacation, so really it’s just me.”
His forehead cleared and he smiled. “We could drag Jeremy into it, too, since he seems to be wandering around a little lost on his vacation. We were going to go hit some balls at the batting cages, but if I have to help move, then he can, too.”
“Fantastic idea. I’ll see about a truck from Uncle Sherman and our new moving company will be in business.”
“Why do I get the feeling I’ve just signed up for far more than I’m ready to handle?”
I patted his smooth cheek. “You’ll be fine. I’m sure it’s not that much stuff, and it could be fun if you look at it correctly. Building those manly muscles, helping out a distraught widow, digging into clues to solve a murder mystery. Tell me you’ve had a better vacation.”
“We could be in the Bahamas.” He kissed my nose. “Let me know when and where tomorrow. I’m going to go talk with your brother while you handle Gina. She just walked across the street from the Bean.”
He and I trooped down the stairs and I met Gina at the back door while seeing Max off.
“Rough day?” I asked. Her eyes were pinched and her face drawn.
“Just a little.” She sank into a chair at the table in the small kitchen downstairs. “Do you mind if we just hang down here for a little bit? I don’t feel like climbing all those stairs right now.”
“Sure. I think I have some cookies.” I went to the cabinet to see if that was actually true. I’d been raiding the stash pretty frequently lately.
Gina stopped me midgrab. “I’d rather have some real dinner. I’ve been living on caffeine and cinnamon rolls all day. My stomach hurts.”
Facing her, I tried to come up with an alternative to our usual pizza and wine. “Greek?”
A smile lit her face. It wasn’t a big smile, or her full-force happiness, but it was something. “Yes, please.”
I made the call to a little family-owned restaurant down the road that had the most divine food, then let Max know it would be ready in thirty minutes. After agreeing to pick it up, he said he’d be bringing Jeremy with him. Apparently, my brother was not going along with my plan to help clean out the widow’s house and needed some more convincing.
I decided I should have that conversation with Gina before my brother came through the door with the food she so desperately wanted.
“So, Jeremy is going to be here along with your food.” I didn’t have long to wait for her reaction.
“I can just get something at my mom’s.” She rose from her chair, full of energy this time, and started pacing the small room done in rose and evergreen. Nervous energy?
“Sit down. We have to come up with a plan. I got a call from the widow today. She wants me to clean out her house. I need Jeremy’s help, so I’m going to have to convince him. I might bring in Dylan, too.” My younger brother was handy with tools and landscaping. Mrs. Michelle Johnson might need his services, too. And it would be better to have more hands for moving depending on what she wanted to get rid of.
“She called you?” Fidgeting with the hem of her shirt, she avoided my gaze.
“Yes, and this will be the perfect way to get access to her house.” Enough of that; now it was time for the interrogation. “So, what happened with my brother? I asked him, and he said if you hadn’t told me yet that he wasn’t going to be the one to spill.”
I watched her walk around the small kitchen like a caged animal, but I wasn’t letting her off the hook. If this was going to be awkward I wanted to know now, so that I could start working on how to make it less awkward.
“It’s nothing,” she said, totally unconvincingly.
“It has to be something, or you would have told me by now. I’ve heard about all kinds of things over the years that were ‘nothing’—from one-time dates to the ones you walked out on before they even started. I’ve heard about second and third dates and those you ended up with longer than you had intended. So, if whatever happened with Jeremy was really nothing, you would have mentioned it and we would have had a good laugh. This is more.” I was convinced of it. She sighed, her signal that the words were going to come fast and furious. I wasn’t disappointed.
“It was one night. We ended up at a bar together after one of my more disastrous dates. He told me he’d been waiting for someone to show up. We got to talking and drinking and then he came up to my apartment. I stopped it before it went any further than a few kisses, but ever since then we’ve avoided each other. I’d like to keep it that way.” She sat down in the chair, obviously spent from the waterfall of words. “Does he know I’m going to be here? Because if he doesn’t I don’t want to be a surprise.”
“Bafflement” was a small word for what I was feeling. This couldn’t be the whole story. “A few kisses? You and he have been avoiding each other after a few kisses? You and Matt kissed years ago, and that never seemed to bother either one of you. What’s the big deal?” Although in my head I was trying really hard not to imagine my best friend kissing my brother. Not that they weren’t both adults, and I loved both of them. But if something went wrong between them, I wouldn’t know whom to console and whom to smack in the back of the head.
Her shoulders jerked up and down in a shrug that looked forced. “I don’t know why it’s different, but it was, and I don’t want to talk about it anymore. Okay?” She put her head down on the table and blew out another breath.
I knew when to back off, and with this information I could now watch them together and assess. It did explain the way Jeremy had reached out toward Gina in the funeral parlor earlier today and then dropped his hand as if he knew his touch wouldn’t be wanted.