4 Arch Enemy of Murder

by Vanessa Gray Bartal

  “What did Grandma bake?” Lacy asked. If her grandmother was having guests, then she would have baked more than normal.

  “The cream-filled chocolate cupcakes you like so much.”

  Lacy perked up as the day suddenly looked a little brighter. “Really?”

  He nodded. “And she baked double so in case the crones ate them all there would be enough left for you.”

  “I love that woman,” Lacy declared.

  “So do I,” Mr. Middleton agreed, and they shared a smile.

  He dropped her at home, and she changed her clothes in preparation of Sean’s arrival. Riley was closeted in her room, probably planning the party Lacy said she wouldn’t have. Riley was one of those people who took the word “no” to mean “keep working on it until the answer is yes.” Lacy wondered what was going on in her sister’s head. Since she moved home, she hadn’t appeared to have any contact with anyone from her former life, and that was odd. Riley was a social creature. She had been home for three weeks and hadn’t mentioned finding a job or a future. Lacy was curious, but not curious enough to ask; they didn’t have that type of relationship.

  A tray of chocolate cupcakes lay on the dining room table. Lacy took one and rearranged the rest so no one would be able to tell. She had just taken her first bite when her grandmother’s friends arrived and began streaming into the room.

  “She’s eating again,” Rose announced.

  The rest of the group made clucking noises and shook their heads in disapproval. Weren’t they supposed to be from a time before diets and weight obsession? Sean left Gladys’s side and stood loyally by Lacy as if to protect her from the assembled group. Lacy looped her arm through his and gave it a squeeze.

  “My niece is teaching a water aerobics class at the Y,” Maya said. “I could try to get you the family discount if you want.”

  “Isn’t that for seniors only?” Lacy asked.

  “We could go together,” Maya said.

  “Thanks, but I prefer running,” Lacy said.

  Maya snorted and shook her head, turning her back on Lacy as if she couldn’t bear to look anymore.

  “I heard that Joe Anton has been skulking around the Stakely building again,” Janice said.

  “Joe’s a nice man,” Lacy said.

  “He was in prison,” Janice said.

  “For something he didn’t do.”

  “You mark my words: he’s trouble. Birds don’t change their feathers.”

  “That’s not true,” Sean piped up. “Birds molt.”

  “That’s enough, young man,” Gladys snapped. “Respect your elders.”

  “Let’s get you a cupcake, Sean,” Lacy said. “And some milk. Come into the kitchen.” She used their linked arms to tug him from the room.

  “You guys always have the good milk,” Sean said as he followed her into the kitchen. “Grandma makes me drink skim.”

  “My grandma doesn’t believe in skim,” Lacy informed him. “She says that whole milk is as close to the cow as she can get. She was raised on a dairy farm, you know.”

  “I didn’t,” Sean said.

  “I used to love to listen to her tell stories about growing up. She would set me on the counter as she rolled out dough or mixed a batch of cookies. Those are some of my best memories from when I was little.”

  “I was close to my grandpa before he died, but Grandma and I have never really clicked,” Sean said. “I think most of the time she wishes I would just go away.”

  “Oh, Sean, I don’t think that’s true. I’m the first to admit that your grandma can be hard to understand and warm up to, but I know she loves you very much.”

  He shrugged. Lacy ached for him. He was a throwaway kid, tossed aside by the people who were supposed to care for him the most. Gladys loved him, Lacy was sure. But she was prickly and set in her ways—not a lot of fun for a teenage boy in desperate need of acceptance and attention. Lacy hoped that the pain of adolescence wouldn’t alter him from the sweet and kind kid he was. He was at a pivotal point in his life. What happened in these years could tip the scales either toward good kid or lifelong screw-up. Lacy was determined that it would be the former.

  They finished their cupcakes and milk and set Sean’s work on the table. Riley emerged from her room and Sean froze, staring up at her with a look of adoration. Her sister had usurped Lacy’s place in Sean’s affections, but Lacy was okay with that. She didn’t want to be his crush; she wanted to be his friend. And Riley had actually been nice to him last time they met.

  “Hey,” Riley said, bestowing a smile on Sean that would ensure his continued devotion. “What are you guys working on?”

  “Shakespeare,” Lacy answered when Sean continued to stare unblinking and speechless at Riley.

  “Ah, well, you came to the right person. Lacy’s the biggest literary nerd I know. Me, not so much. I was better at math.” She retrieved a bottle of water from the fridge and sat at the table.

  “Sean’s good at math,” Lacy said. She nudged Sean with his elbow, and he snapped to attention.

  “I love math,” Sean said. His voice cracked and he cleared it.

  “Who doesn’t?” Riley said.

  “I don’t,” Lacy said. Math was her worst subject.

  “Jason’s good at math,” Riley said. “We should form a club.”

  “How do you know Jason is good at math?” Lacy asked, somewhat defensively. Had Riley and Jason been talking?

  “Because he won a math scholarship when we were in high school,” Riley said.

  “He did?” Lacy asked. “How did you know that?”

  “Because they announced it at the end-of-year assembly senior year. You were there because the band played. I can’t believe you don’t remember.”

  “I don’t remember much about Jason from high school,” Lacy admitted.

  “That’s right—you were too busy admiring Chester’s tuba. I wonder what ever became of him,” Riley mused. “Maybe he’s one of those geeks who turned hot and got rich. Maybe I should look him up and give him a call.” She eyed Lacy to see if the comment sparked any jealousy. Lacy had harbored a huge crush on Chester during most of high school; he had never returned the sentiment.

  “Knock yourself out,” Lacy said. “And let me know what he’s up to if you find him.”

  Riley grinned. “Well, well, well. Jason has finally trumped Chester. About time. Maybe you’re normal after all.”

  “This has nothing to do with Jason,” Lacy said. “And everything to do with the fact that I haven’t seen Chester in eight years since we graduated high school. It’s impossible to maintain feelings for someone you haven’t seen or talked to in almost a decade.” Especially someone who had never returned those feelings. Her crush on Chester had always been one sided.

  “So, for argument’s sake, if Chester came back to town and you had access to him every day, would you choose him or Jason?” Riley asked.

  “I’m not going to debate hypotheticals,” Lacy said.

  “No wonder Jason broke up with you,” Riley said. “I would, too. Why can’t you just come out and say that you love him and no one compares and you prefer him to anyone else in the world? No, instead you have to hedge the issue like it’s national security or something. You’re so weird and repressed, Lacy.”

  “Jason didn’t break up with me. And what’s wrong with keeping private things private?”

  “You know nothing about men,” Riley said.

  “You know too much,” Lacy said. They glared across the table at each other. Sean looked anxiously between them, probably upset that two of his favorite people were at each other’s throats. Lacy took a breath and forced herself to calm down. “Jason knows how I feel about him.”

  “Because of his vast powers of ESP? Because I can’t imagine you ever telling him,” Riley said.

  “Pardon me for being gun shy,” Lacy said.

  “And it all comes back to Robert,” Riley said. “Except I happen to have heard Robert’s side of your relat
ionship, and I know you were the same way with him. Getting you to show affection was like pulling teeth. Why do you think he came to me? He was starved for attention. So don’t pretend like you were a puppy, spewing love on everything in your path. I know better. You’ve always been too closed up. Goodness forbid that ice queen Lacy would ever show anyone how she’s really feeling.” She tossed her empty water bottle into the trash and stormed into her room.

  “Um, that was…wow, are you okay?” Sean asked.

  “Fine,” Lacy said. She forced a smile. The poor kid had probably already seen too much arguing and tension in his lifetime. “That was like a scene from The Taming of the Shrew, right? All that sisterly drama.” She tapped his book to try and return his attention to his assignment.

  Sean turned dutifully toward the book, but he seemed to be gearing up to say something. “For what it’s worth, you’re not an ice princess, Lacy. You’re a really nice person.”

  She allowed herself to be comforted by that until he continued.

  “But you are sort of hard to read when it comes to guys.”

  “You want another cupcake?” Lacy asked. “Because I do. I’ll be right back.” She sneaked into the dining room. She had to pass through the living room to get there, but she hoped that the women would be too engrossed with their gripe session to notice her.

  “…know what the world is coming to,” Rose was saying as Lacy passed through. “I tell you when I think that someone was in my yard after I was asleep, I could practically jump out of my skin.”

  “Are you sure you didn’t simply move it and forget to put it back?” Lacy’s grandmother asked. She often tried and failed to be the calm voice of reason among her friends.

  “No, Lucinda. I would never perch my gnome over my door and attach a bucket of water to his hands. I was drenched from head to foot, and the gnome fell off the house.”

  There was a collective gasp from the assembled group. “That’s terrible. What did you do?” Maya asked.

  “I went to the police for all the good it did. Lyle and I bought that gnome in Germany; it’s practically an antique, but did they care about that? No.”

  “Did it break when it fell off the house?” Lucinda asked.

  “No, but it could have. And that’s not the point; the point is that someone is touching our things, vandalizing our houses, and no one is doing anything about it. And it’s because we’re old. We should file a suit against the sheriff’s office. Then they would know we’re serious.”

  “I don’t think…” Lucinda began, but Gladys talked over her.

  “Maybe you should talk to Lacy.”

  Lacy froze with her hand on a cupcake, not even daring to breathe. How had she been dragged into the conversation when she wasn’t even there?

  “Her boyfriend is a detective now,” Gladys added.

  “I don’t think…” Lucinda started again. Her gentle voice was drowned out by Rose’s snort.

  “Boyfriend? He’s not her boyfriend. They broke up.”

  “They didn’t…” Lucinda started, but it was Maya who spoke overtop of her this time.

  “I thought she was dating the preacher. Not that I approve of pastors dating, mind you. But he seemed like a much more sensible choice than that football-playing boy. I don’t trust athletes. Slick hands, and all that.”

  “I thought she was dating both of them,” Janice said. “Does she know which one she’s dating?”

  The ominous silence told Lacy they were probably all looking to Lucinda for answers. “Let me get the cupcakes,” Lucinda said. A second later, she bustled through the dining room door looking harried and distressed. “Oh,” she said, stopping short when she saw Lacy.

  “I’ll help you,” Rose boomed.

  Lacy and Lucinda’s eyes met over the table with a look of panic. “Save yourself,” Lucinda whispered. “And take Sean.”

  Lacy didn’t need to be told twice. She darted out the other way, around the house, and through the back door. She didn’t give Sean a chance to ask what they were doing. Instead she gathered his Shakespeare book, her purse, and dragged him out of the house. They spent the next hour studying on the roof of the Stakely building. It was chilly, but Sean deemed it the best study session he ever had. When they cautiously returned to the house, Riley had emerged from her room and was holding court with the ladies. How does she do it? Lacy wondered. How did Riley drop out of her life, come home, hole up in her room like the Unabomber, and still manage to have four of the most critical women in the universe fawn over her? As far as Lacy could tell, none of them were plying her with questions or foisting their opinions on her, either.

  “You know, Riley, my nephew’s divorce was just finalized. I could give him your number,” Janice offered. Janice’s nephew was on his second divorce and was also in his mid-forties. Lacy watched Riley to see if she shuddered, but she kept her perky smile perfectly in place.

  “That sounds lovely, Janice, but I don’t think I’m ready to be in a relationship yet. Besides, I promised Lacy I would go out with one of her friends.”

  Janice frowned at Lacy as if she was the reason Riley was saying no to a man who notoriously wore a t-shirt that read, “Already looking for my next wife” to his wedding rehearsal dinner.

  “Grandma, I have to get up early tomorrow for chess club,” Sean said.

  “Don’t interrupt when the adults are talking,” Gladys snapped. To her friends she added, “I swear, I don’t know what to do with that boy sometimes.”

  “I think it’s great Sean loves school,” Lacy said. “He’s going to go places and do great things with that intellect of his.” She knew she should stay out of it, but couldn’t stand the thought of Sean being treated like he had asked to stop at an opium den just because he wanted to get up early for school.

  “Just like Chester Campbell,” Riley interjected.

  “Who’s that?” Rose, who was slowly losing her hearing, yelled. “Another one of your men?”

  “An old flame from high school,” Riley replied.

  “Here we go again,” Maya said, throwing up her hands in frustration. “I’m going to need nametags to keep track of your harem, Lacy.”

  Behind her, Riley beamed.

  “He wasn’t an old flame; we were in band together, and I haven’t seen him in eight years.”

  “Did you find him on Faceplace? Because I heard lots of marriages are broken up that way,” Janice added.

  “I think maybe you mean Facebook, and no, I haven’t found Chester on Facebook.”

  “But you’ve been looking, right?” Riley said.

  The other women clucked their tongues and shared looks. “Poor Pastor Underwood,” Gladys muttered.

  “No, I haven’t looked,” Lacy said.

  “Not at all?” Riley pressed.

  “Maybe years ago when Facebook was new,” Lacy admitted.

  “And you’ve been pining for him all this time. That’s sad, Lacy,” Riley said. She shook her head in sympathy with the other women.

  “Just like Barbara,” Rose said, and a hush fell over the group.

  “Who’s Barbara?” Riley asked.

  “Time to go. Sean, get your things,” Gladys said. She made an impatient shooing motion toward the kitchen as if Sean was the holdup.

  “Who’s Barbara?” Riley repeated and her words cleared the room. Suddenly all who remained were Lacy, Riley, and their grandmother.

  Lacy and Lucinda looked at each other, and Lacy knew what her grandmother was thinking. She didn’t want to lie, but neither was she ready for Riley to know the convoluted truth of her heritage. “Barbara was a friend of the group who died last year,” Lacy said.

  “How come I never met her?” Riley asked. Both girls had grown up knowing their grandmother’s set of friends as intimately as family.

  “She lived out of town for a long time and only returned last year,” Lacy said. It was all true, though she felt guilty for leaving so much out. The secrets weren’t hers to divulge, however. It was up
to her grandparents to decide when to tell Riley because Riley would surely tell her mother and then the cat would really be out of the bag.

  “I see,” Riley said. Her calculating tone told Lacy that the topic was far from dropped, but they were saved from further discussion by the appearance of Mr. Middleton who poked his head around the door with a wary expression.