by C. C. Coburn
Victoria had become bitter and twisted over her husband’s behavior and instead of mellowing over the years had only seemed to get worse.
Not surprisingly, Beth had been completely taken aback when Victoria had berated her for kicking JJ out the first time she’d found him playing up on her. Surely, after all she’d been through with a cheat of a husband, Victoria of all people would have understood? But no, Victoria had maintained that if only she’d continued turning a blind eye to her husband’s infidelities, instead of demanding he terminate them, they’d still be to all intents and purposes, and in the opinion of the outside world, a happily married couple.
Beth hadn’t been able to begin to understand Victoria’s reasoning, but there was no way she would have let JJ back in her bed, nor the family home. Consequently, the relationship between Beth and her mother–in–law had turned from bad to worse.
So with Victoria laid up in the hospital and Suzie nowhere to be seen, Beth was left to make the funeral arrangements. Fortunately, Tilly stepped in to help and took over calling relatives and associates to inform them of JJ’s fate and that she’d let them know about the funeral just as soon as they had a confirmed date. She stopped short of telling them that JJ’s body hadn’t yet been released by the coroner and, until then, they couldn’t set a date but, in the meantime, the relatives and friends deserved the courtesy of a phone call.
Beth didn’t feel up to talking to any of them. Most already knew through the media and the grapevine anyway and Beth didn’t wish to be interrogated further.
She overheard Tilly getting rid of one of the nosy relatives by saying in a nasal tone, “I’m sorry, Mrs. Barton, but I’m only an employee of the funeral home. I can’t give you any details of Mr. Harman’s death. No, I’m sorry, Mrs. Harman is very distressed and unable to speak to anyone at present. Goodbye.”
“Thanks,” Beth breathed as she collapsed against the door to her study, from where Tilly was making the calls.
Tilly laughed and said, “Hey! I only had to cross my fingers behind my back the first time. After the umpteenth call I figured I could just white–lie away to my heart’s content.
“And you do it so well,” Beth said as she came in to seat herself on the edge of the desk. “Many more to go?”
“Nope,” she flicked the list of relatives that Victoria had managed to dictate from her hospital bed. “I don’t think too many of them will bother forking out for the airfare—and, by the way his Great Aunt June wants you to pay a thousand dollars into her bank account so she can fly first class. I jotted down her number but seem to have misplaced it. So sad, too bad. Anyway, if any of them come, I suspect it’s only to get the goss on what really happened to JJ, more than out of any feelings for him.”
Beth clasped her arms around herself. “I really want this to be over as soon as possible. I need to close this chapter in my life and move on. Does that sound too callous?”
Tilly stood and gave her a comforting hug. “Not at all. I don’t personally know of any divorced wives who’ve been left with the responsibility of organizing their ex’s funeral. It must be awful for you, like a prolonging of the agony.”
“I’m doing it for my kids, Till. They don’t deserve to have any more upsets thrown at them than they have already.” She shrugged. “Also, it’s sort of cathartic for me. Even though we were divorced, there was always JJ hanging around in the background. Once he’s in the ground, I can make a new start.”
“So you’re going for burial and not cremation?” Tilly asked as she refilled the coffee pot.
“Not my choice.” Beth shuddered. “The thought of JJ being preserved for all eternity gives me the heebie jeebies, but it was at Victoria’s insistence and I thought it might cheer her up to let her have her own way on this. Of course it would cheer me up more for him to burn to a crisp, but there you go.”
Tilly sipped her coffee and said, “I haven’t been able to get in contact with Gabe.”
“And I don’t want you to.”
“I’m worried about him. I think he’s gone out of state, but it’s strange for him not to call and let me know.”
“How can he go out of state? He’s got a brand new foal to care for and a ranch to run,” Beth pointed out.
“He’s got a couple of good ranch hands and Mac, his neighbor, always keeps on eye on things. Just what the hell did you two have a fight about, because this isn’t like Gabe at all,” Tilly pointed out. “Sit,” she commanded, “and tell me everything about your weekend, starting with your arrival at the ranch Friday night. We haven’t had much of a chance to talk, but now we’re going to.”
“My, my, a woman gets the best sex of her life and she suddenly turns bossy on her girlfriends,” Beth teased.
Tilly laughed. “And did you get the best sex of your life, Beth?”
Beth couldn’t help the smile of pleasure spreading across her face.
“Ah–ha! I knew it!” Tilly crowed, triumphant. “So, you didn’t argue about sex, I take it? Then what did you have a falling–out about?”
Beth sighed with resignation and said, “I wanted to know more about Marina, so I looked through his study, found some photos and stuff and Gabe caught me,” she blurted.
“You didn’t! Oh, my God, what were you thinking? ” Tilly demanded.
“Obviously not much. It started with me wanting to know what Marina looked like and to try to understand why she risked her life to give Gabe a child and it ended up with me finding some letters she’d written to her unborn child and Gabe finding me snooping through his very private life.”
Tilly put her hands over her ears. “Oh. My. God. Tell me I’m not hearing this, please?”
“I’m afraid you are and I feel the worst kind of snoop. I mean I went through private letters! And he caught me!”
“No wonder he isn’t answering his phone. He’s probably screening all calls from anyone who is remotely related to, or associated with, you.”
Beth could hear the disappointment in her friend’s voice. “I know I did something terrible, Til. Unforgivable. And I have no way of knowing how to apologize to him. He literally kicked me out!”
“Hoo boy, he must’ve been mad as hell.” She reached for the phone. “Let me call him, maybe he’ll see reason if I soften him up a bit? He’s at least got to be told about JJ.”
Beth put her hand over Tilly’s stopping her lifting the phone off the hook. “No, Til, but thanks. JJ is none of his business anymore and I’d prefer to call him myself rather than send in the cavalry first.”
“So do it!”
“No, I need space and time to think about what I’m going to say to him. Once JJ’s in the ground, I’ll give him a call.”
“But the coroner hasn’t released his body yet,” Tilly pointed out.
“Yeah, which means we don’t even have a firm funeral date. Here we are ringing all these relatives and I can’t even give them a time or date yet.” She indicated the flowers spread around the house. “It could be weeks till the funeral.” And weeks till I have the chance to talk to Gabe.
That was another thing that irritated Beth about having to organize JJ’s funeral. She loved flowers, but these were hardly the usual cheerful arrangements she preferred. Her house was looking like a funeral home, all because people who didn’t want to have to attend JJ’s funeral were assuaging their consciences by sending floral tributes instead. She was going to have to take another heap of them to the hospital this afternoon when she went to visit Victoria. At least Victoria appreciated them. Of course, Beth would keep a few nice ones for herself and rearrange them into her collection of vases. She reached into her drawer and pulled out a heap of with sympathy cards. “Here, can you help me rewrite all these, so that Victoria will think all the flowers are for her.”
“You cheeky minx!” Tilly exclaimed. “I was wondering what all those blank cards were doing in the drawer.”
“It’s costing me a fortune in sympathy cards for my mother–in–law, I can tell you.
Now be careful and make sure your writing is different on every one of them. I tried copying some of the writing styles of these,” she dumped a pile of cards from the flower arrangements on the desk, “so she wouldn’t get wise, but really, she was so over the moon when I took a heap of flowers in to her yesterday that I don’t think she really cared who sent them.”
Tilly set to work copying what had been written in the old cards. She tried writing backhand and with her left hand and did curly y’s and g’s on some and circles for dots on others. “This is fun. Be sure to invite me back to help with doing this some more too.” She held her handwork up to admire it then went in search of a bouquet to place it with.
“So, has your mother been any help?” Tilly asked.
“Of course not. When I rang to tell her about JJ, she started bragging about Lydia’s latest triumph on the world’s catwalks.”
“The stick–insect walketh,” Tilly said and they both laughed. Tilly had met Beth’s sister and the two women were of the same opinion of her: too thin, too mean and too stupid to live.
The doorbell rang and Beth went to answer it. Expecting more flowers, she plastered a smile of gratitude on her lips and pulled the door open wide. Except it wasn’t more flowers, it was Deputy Stevens, and he had an ominous–looking piece of paper in his hand.
“I have a warrant to search your house, Mrs. Harman. Do you mind if we come in?”
Beth was astounded. A search warrant?
She shrugged and said, “Well, sure. But there’s nothing to find here,” she assured him, following him to her kitchen.
Tilly looked up. “What’s going on?”
“This is Deputy Stevens and he’s got a warrant to search my house.”
“I’m calling your lawyer,” Tilly informed her with a glare at the deputy. “You won’t find anything here,” she told him and watched as a team with Crime Scene Unit emblazoned on their overalls followed, donning latex gloves and booties. They then spread out through her home, opening interesting–looking kits they’d brought with them, then searching through drawers, dusting for fingerprints, taking photographs. Any other time, Beth would have been delighted to see them and interrogate them about their jobs.
“But I don’t…” have a lawyer, Beth had started to say before Tilly silenced her with a glare and headed for the study, dragging her friend with her.
“Of course you’ve got a lawyer,” Tilly hissed. “I spoke to Mark Fuentes and got him up to speed in case you needed him.”
“Like I said, I don’t need a lawyer. I didn’t do anything wrong,” Beth pointed out.
“Beth, I love you, but in some things, you are completely naïve and dense. You need a lawyer!” Tilly pulled a business card out of her purse, picked up the phone in the study and dialed a number.
Before she finished dialing it, Deputy Stevens stuck his head in the door. “Would you mind telling me what this is?” In his gloved hand he held the dishtowels JJ had used on his bloodied nose. The ones she’d thrown in the trash. The ones she’d thrown in the trash that wasn’t due to be collected until tomorrow morning. Damnit!
The phone Tilly was holding clattered to the floor.
“They’re dishtowels,” Beth said as coolly as she could. “Do you have a problem with that?”
“Not ordinarily, no. However, I found these in your trash and they appear to be covered in blood. I’d like to know whose blood this is.”
“It’s JJ’s. He had a nosebleed on Friday night.”
“You didn’t tell me he had a nosebleed when I questioned you on Sunday,” he pointed out, handing the dishtowels to a member of the forensic team who placed them into a bag marked Evidence.
“It completely slipped my mind. I… I was in shock at the news you delivered and forgot about it.” Beth was aware of Tilly collecting the phone from the floor and hurriedly redialing. “Don’t say another thing, Beth. I’ll handle this.”
“It’s okay, Til, I’ve got nothing to hide. You know how JJ gets a stress nosebleed when he doesn’t get his own way.”
Tilly said into the phone, “Get me Mark Fuentes, stat! It’s for Beth Harman.”
“I’m not talking to him,” Beth told Tilly. “I’m not under arrest. Am I?” she directed her question to the deputy.
“Not if you’d like to answer some questions here, no.”
What he hadn’t said was, ‘so long as I’m satisfied with the answer’, Beth thought.
“Look, ask anyone. JJ was prone to nosebleeds when he wasn’t getting his own way. It was a reaction to stress. Ask his mother if you don’t believe me.”
“I’ll do that, ma’am, thank you.”
Oh, God, he didn’t believe her! Maybe she did need a lawyer? But wasn’t calling a lawyer admitting your guilt? That you had something to hide?
“I’m happy to answer any further questions you have, Deputy Stevens,” she said and was rewarded with a beaming smile. “But you’ll have to ask them through my lawyer. Tilly, I’ll talk to Mark now,” she said and held out her hand for the phone.
“Phew! I thought we’d never get rid of them,” Tilly said an hour later. The forensics team who’d arrived with the deputy had turned Beth’s home upside down. She was upset about the mess they’d made, even though they’d assured her they were doing their best not to empty all her drawers and closets of every single item in search of… what? There was nothing else to find connected with JJ. Not even a photo. Everything associated with JJ, every single possession of his, she’d gotten rid of long ago.
Pity she’d forgotten about those dishtowels.
There was a sticky moment when they found JJ’s bags he’d left in her garage. Beth explained how he’d left them there Friday night in expectation of moving back in with her. She was hoping it would confirm her story she’d told them about JJ’s finances and how he’d claimed he had nowhere to go. They bundled up the luggage and took them with them. Beth hoped they didn’t find anything incriminating her in them. Of course anything incriminating JJ in his own downfall was fine by her.
The other sticky moment was when one of the team handed over her vibrator to Deputy Stevens. He’d looked at it curiously, turned the box upside down as if expecting it to reveal something other than what it was.
“Hey! That’s mine!” Tilly said, taking it from him.
“Really?” the deputy asked, glancing at the package it had come in. “It’s addressed to Mrs. Harman.”
Beth placed her hand on Tilly’s, giving it a squeeze in place of saying, ‘thanks for trying’.
“It’s mine,” Beth confessed. “So what?” She was over them prying into every part of her life. Every nook and cranny of her home, especially her kids’ rooms.
“We’ll have to take it as evidence.”
“What the hell for?” Beth demanded. “It’s none of your business. It hasn’t even been removed from its box!”
Ignoring her, the deputy placed it in an evidence bag.
Beth crossed her arms and fumed for the rest of their visit.
Finally the police departed and Beth and Tilly set to work trying to put the house in order before the children were due home from the sitter Tilly had organized so Beth could make the funeral arrangements in peace.
Beth sure didn’t want her mother seeing the house turned upside down. Ellen was arriving in the morning, having decided to fly in from Miami, “To help out with the children, dear.”
If Ellen really wanted to help out, Beth could do with her not coming at all. She didn’t need her mother’s histrionics right now. All she needed was her sister to show up too and that would put a total damper on her celebrating JJ’s demise.
“How about you come to our place for dinner tonight?” Tilly asked. “I think you’ve had your fill of emotional tension for the day and Chris wants to thank you personally for what you did for us.”
“He already did thank me on Friday night,” Beth pointed out.
“Beth,” Tilly said and Beth could hear the exasperation in her voice. �
�Just come to dinner, okay? Don’t argue, don’t make excuses. I’d feel safer and happier if you guys were close by.”
“Why do you need to feel safer? I’m the one who’s under suspicion for murdering my ex.”
Tilly sighed. “I don’t like the way this is looking for you, hon. I just want you near, where we can protect you.”
“Protect me from what?”
“Do I really have to spell this out for you? If those thugs didn’t get any money out of JJ, then what makes you think they won’t come after you?”
“But if Deputy Stevens was worried about them coming after me, he’d have offered some sort of police protection, wouldn’t he?”
Tilly just looked at her.
“Oh…” Beth said as realization dawned. “He doesn’t believe me, does he?”
“I don’t think so. So how about you pack the kids’ sleeping bags and pillows and a bag for you all and come stay with us at least for tonight?”
Beth chewed her lip. A chill went through her. What if Tilly was right? And how dare Deputy Stevens not believe her! “Okay, if you insist. And if you’re sure it’s alright with Chris?”
“I do and it is,” Tilly assured her. “Let’s go pack.”
But things went from bad to worse at Tilly’s as they watched the evening news, after putting the children to bed. JJ’s murder was again the lead story and, worse, there was an interview with someone who recognized Beth from the truck stop. The woman claimed she’d seen Beth pass an envelope full of money to an unidentified man. The news item inferred that Beth had paid off the unidentified man to bump off JJ! And then they showed footage from the security camera at the truck stop, revealing when Beth had handed over an envelope to Chris the very same day that JJ had been murdered.
“What the—?” Chris exploded as he watched himself smile and tuck the envelope into his top pocket.
Beth glanced at Tilly. Her face was white with fear. “That wasn’t what was in the envelope, Tilly.”
Tilly patted her leg. “I know, hon. It was those articles wasn’t it? On impotence? I found it in Chris’s pocket. Trust me, he won’t be needing counseling anymore.”