by Ava Mallory
Nate stepped forward to look at the forms. “What? You never filed the forms. You told me that you had my rights terminated and I believed you. What kind of man does that?”
Lucilla began to whimper. “I told you that you were wrong.” She looked at Nathaniel. “He's your son. How could you do that?”
“Wait a minute. I don't understand. Why would you give him your son, if he had no legal right to him?” I asked Nate.
He slumped down on a seat and put his head in his hands. Jasmine sat down next to him, grasping his leg.
“He lied,” Jasmine said. “I remember when all of that happened. Nate was in the rehab facility and Nathaniel was running around, hiring all these people to help him take Cash away from him. I was just a kid, but I remember all of it. Monica was so angry with him. They would fight about it all the time. She hated him for it.”
“You don't get to speak!” Nathaniel screamed at Jasmine. “I practically raised you. My money paid for everything for you and this is how you pay me back.”
“Stop talking, Mr. Rich,” Zoey ordered him.
Lucilla wiped her tears and asked, “Did you kill her, Nathaniel? Did you kill Jane?”
He shook his head, his shoulders heaving. “No. No. I swear I didn't kill her.”
“But, you claim to have seen who did.” I reminded him of his conversation with the reporter.
He put his head down and didn't say another word.
“Get out,” Nate said after a few uncomfortable minutes. “Everyone, get out of my house.”
Chapter Thirteen
“Is she going to go to jail for that?” Ruby asked Charlie.
“I don't think so. I think, there's been enough damage done. This Nathaniel guy sure knows how to create enemies, but why he'd choose to make his family enemies, I just don't get. What's his angle?” Charlie and I spent several hours mulling over all that had happened.
“He stole his son's child right out from under his nose and no one ever questioned it? That's ridiculous. I know I'm not a mother, but if would seem to be that if I was the parent, I would put up one heck of a stink if someone had my child for a moment, let alone years. Why didn't he fight for him? Doesn't he love his son?” Ruby couldn't understand it anymore than I did.
I sighed. I really had no idea what happened. “I guess like he said, Nathaniel wouldn't have been able to handle his son having any power or control. He's a greedy jerk. Maybe he did it to make sure that he didn't get the inheritance or anything. Who knows what his motivation was? Does it matter?”
“Why didn't he just change his will?” Tina asked. “Why go through all the trouble of virtually kidnapping this child? That doesn't make sense.”
She wasn't asking anything I hadn't already asked. Like Charlie said, people do crazy things for love and money. The key to solving Jane's murder was finding out if any had any real motive to murder her.
Charlie said what I was thinking. “Who had motive to kill her? Who would have had something to gain?”
I stared outside my screen door. “Something's not right.”
Ruby responded. “Yeah, tell me about it.”
I shook my head. “No, something here isn't right. Where's my statue? It isn't on the porch anymore.” I stood up and walked outside, believing that it would have fallen down.
Charlie looked outside. “Was it here this morning?”
“I think so. I don't remember. A lot has happened today.” I tried to think back to the events of the day, but I really couldn't recall when the last time was I'd actually seen the Betty Boop statue.
“I'll call Kitty and see if maybe she stopped by and picked it up for some reason. I mean, you haven't exactly been nice to her. Perhaps, she took it back.” Ruby said.
“That's mature of her.” I groaned. “But, could you call her and ask her. I don't want it to become a big thing later. It's easier to deal with it now.”
Ruby dialed Kitty's number. “Hi, how are you Katherine? I was wondering if you happened to stop by Mercy's place earlier today?” She shook her head. “No, don't do that. I was just wondering if you'd seen her today. That's all. Sure, we'd love to meet you for lunch tomorrow. I'll make sure that Mercy's there for sure.”
I shook my head and whispered. “No, I'm not going.”
Ruby continued speaking to her. “Yes, she'll be so happy to see you. She just needed some time to settle in. She gets cranky when she hasn't had enough sleep and she's not getting any younger, you know.”
When she hung up, I reminded her, “You and I are the same age. What was that about? I don't want to have lunch with her.”
Charlie laughed. “Just do it, Mercy. If you are going to be my date for the wedding this coming weekend, I sure as heck need you to know what you're doing. I don't need you to make me look like a fool.”
“No, you're right, you don't need me. You're perfectly capable of making a fool of yourself all by yourself.” I quipped.
“Ouch!” Charlie feigned a blow to his heart. “You're feisty when you're trying to solve a murder.”
“I'm not trying to solve anything. I just want to know the truth. What happens if they come after me or something? Right now, the only thing I'm concerned with is trying to figure out who is robbing me and my neighbors and how to get through this wedding fiasco relatively unscathed.” I explained, only half lying. I did want to know these things, but of course, I wanted to know who killed Jane and why. If it wasn't Nathaniel then who was it?
Charlie walked down the steps. “I should get going. I have meetings tomorrow. I'm afraid to ask, but what will you be doing tomorrow? Do you think you could stay away from trouble until I'm done with the meetings?”
“I don't need you to protect me and I don't get into trouble.” I informed him.
He looked over my shoulder at Ruby. “I do believe she's serious, Ruby. She thinks she doesn't find trouble. It seems to me that every time I see her, she's mixed up in one very tangled mess. Coincidence? I think not.” He turned and called over his shoulder. “Stay out of trouble, Mercy, and leave the Rich family alone. I mean it.”
“Mercy?” Ruby said in a warning tone as I contemplated lunging for Charlie's rental car to give him a piece of my mind before he drove away. “Don't do it. He's just looking out for you. He cares. Someday you're going to have to learn to accept that. I don't know why you're so resistant to love. James was a good guy. The marriage ended. It happens, but you can't spend the rest of your life being afraid of men.”
“I'm not afraid. I'm cautiously optimistic.” I said.
“Optimistic about what?” Diana walked up behind me.
“You scared me. Where did you come from?” I asked her, holding my hand over my rapidly beating heart.
“I was over at Margie's. She tells me that you and Charlie were having a lover's quarrel the other day. Was that what was happening right now too? What is going on with you anyway, Mom? Why are you so uptight?”
I sighed. She was right. I'd been unusually irritable lately and that wasn't fair. “I'm sorry, honey. It just feels like I'm getting hit from all sides.”
“Let's go inside, Mom. I'll make dinner for you and we can talk.” Diana took my hand and squeezed it gently. “You know he's in love with you, don't you?”
Chapter Fourteen
“Why are you looking at it like that? What did you expect? A hamburger joint?” Ruby nudged my shoulder to shake me out of my stupor.
“Who knew Kitty actually had some class.” I couldn't believe it. I intentionally didn't dress up for the luncheon because I figured that it would be a low key affair. Boy, was I wrong. I looked down at my blouse and jeans. “I need to change.”
“Oh, no, you don't. We're going in there and you are going to be as sweet as sugar with Katharine and her entire family. I think her kids will be here too.” Ruby grabbed my arm to prevent me from high tailing it back to her car.
“Do I have to?” I whined, but the reality was that if I intended to maintain the good relationship I'd always had
with James, I'd have to learn to live with Kitty and her tendency to annoy the patience out of me. “One hour. That's all she gets. I know my limits. Got it?”
Ruby rolled her eyes. “Did you ever stop to think that maybe somebody feels the exact same way about you?”
I pretended to consider for a moment, then said, “Nope. I'm not annoying.”
*
“Stop the car!” I yelled, tugging Ruby's arm. “Look at that! Isn't that Margie's patio set?” I pointed to a makeshift swap meet set up on the corner of a busy intersection – the only busy intersection – in the middle of town.
“I don't know. I'm sure they made more than one John Wayne covered patio set.” Ruby answered.
“Seriously? Just pull over and let me check it out.” I urged Ruby.
As we approached, I could clearly make out my statue, wind chimes, and an assortment of my neighbor's lawn ornaments neatly arranged among what I figured were other innocent people's stolen goods.
I looked back at Ruby behind me. “Can you believe this?”
Ruby was already on her phone, dialing the police. “Who steals trash from someone's yard just to sell a few blocks away?”
This lawn ornament chop shop had all the makings of the worst garage sale ever. There was no rhyme or reason to what was available for purchase and the inflated prices were enough to make me giggle. Who in their right mind would pay hundreds of dollars to sit on The Duke's smiling face?
A tall, thin gentleman, wearing a bow tie and dress shirt emerged from a blue van parked behind the tent. “How can I help you ladies?” He asked, offering a smile that was too wide for his skeletal face.
“You can help me by returning all of the items you stole from me and my neighbors.” I said staring directly into his beady little blue eyes.
His cheeks flushed. “I'm sorry? I don't understand.”
I grabbed my Betty Boop statue and held it up in front of his face. “You see this? My ex-husband's soon-to-be-new-wife gave this to me just the other day. Have we met before because I don't recall giving you permission to take a parting gift home with you, thief?”
The young man's eyes narrowed. “I didn't steal nothing. All this stuff is legit.”
“I'm sorry, but your grasp of the English language doesn't match that pathetic tie you're wearing.” If he wanted to challenge me, I was prepared to meet him toe to toe.
Ruby ended her call. “The police are on their way,” she whispered. “Don't get this guy going. What if he has a weapon?”
She had a point. What if he had a weapon or a band of other like minded thieves, anxious to prey on the first person who challenged them?
I needed to keep them here. If they took off, the chances of getting all of my neighbor's things back would fly right out of my hands. I needed a distraction big enough to keep them occupied, but not so over the top that they'd consider upping the ante and turning their petty theft ring into a kidnapping or worse.
“Mercy?” Ruby watched me as I thought about my next move. “Don't do anything dumb.”
“I won't,” I answered. “I have a plan.”
Ruby groaned. “I don't want to go to jail.”
And, they say I'm dramatic!
I walked behind the young man and started gathering all the items I recognized as belonging to my neighbors. Without saying a word, Ruby followed closely behind me and helped me carry things.
“Here, hold my wind chimes and Helen's gnome and Margie's frog.” I piled them into Ruby's arms.
“Hey, you can't do that unless you plan on buying all that stuff!” The young man yelled.
I could see flashing lights coming in the distance. I hoped they were for us, otherwise Ruby and I would have had to run with that stuff in our arms and hope that Mr. Bow tie didn't catch us.
He looked behind him and groaned. “You called the cops?”
Ruby smiled. “Sure did, Buttercup.”
The young man called out, “Lisa, wake up. We have to go. These broads called the cops.”
A young woman emerged from the back of the van, her hair in her face. “Why are you yelling?” She asked as she brushed her hair back. I recognized her immediately.
“You're that cookbook girl!” I exclaimed, pointing at her so that Ruby could take a good look at her.
“My friend paid you for that cookbook and you stole stuff from me?” I dropped what I had in my hands and went running toward her. She owed me one whopper of an explanation.
“Run!” The bow tied thief yelled.
“Don't run!” I yelled in response, but it was too late. The girl was halfway up the block before I reached the van, but I was still desperate to retrieve all the items that went missing because of these two, so I did the next best thing. I jumped in the van and started the engine.
Ruby stopped at the passenger side door, shrugged, and got in. “I don't know what you're doing, but I have to see how this ends.”
I moved forward, tugging on the tarp that covered the stolen goods. The young man with the bow tie stopped running. I could see him contemplating whether or not to stay and fight for his van or to run before the cops got there. He chose the latter.
I put the van in reverse and gunned the gas, bringing the tarp down over the tables filled with stolen goods and jumped out as the police finally arrived.
The police officer stepped out of his vehicle, his hand covering his weapon and shook his head. “Mercy, what in the holy...”
I stopped him. “They stole this stuff. Catch them!”
Ruby pointed down the block. “The two kids that ran right past you. Get them!”
*
“You did what?” Tina had asked the question three times since Ruby and I returned to my house. “That is way too cool. I need to start hanging out with you two.”
Diana set a bowl of popcorn down on the coffee table. “No, you don't. My mom forgets that people are dangerous sometimes.”
She had a point, but it sure did feel good to catch a bad guy every once in a while.
“So, last night you find a missing little boy and today, you caught a couple of thieves. What's next?” Tina asked. “Are you still going to try and figure out who killed the accountant?”
I didn't know how to answer that question without starting a riot. Both Diana and Ruby had asked me to leave that situation alone. They both claimed that it was none of my concern and they were probably right, but I still couldn't shake the feeling that I was somehow responsible. Not knowing whether or not I could have saved that poor woman's life will haunt me for the rest of my life if the case is not solved.
“You're hesitating,” Ruby said. “Please, don't tell me that means you plan on investigating further.”
I shrugged. “Okay.”
The three of them asked at the same time, “Okay, what?”
“Okay, I won't tell you,” I offered.
They immediately began to argue their feelings, but I had my reasons, so I sat back and let them go on and on, all the while knowing just how I planned to find out who was responsible.
I got up, grabbed Barney and his crate and walked out the door.
“Where are you going, Mom?” Diana asked.
“I'll be back soon.” I said.
“Mom!”
“Mercy, where are you going?” Ruby ran behind me.
I turned to her and said, “Call Charlie and tell him to meet me at the Rich's in two hours.”
“No, I'm going with you.” She protested.
“Ruby, please, just do what I asked. It will be fine. I know what I'm doing.” I urged her.
Chapter Fifteen
“I'm sorry. Come again?” Tanner asked.
“You have young ears. I'm sure you heard me. Can you do it?” I asked.
He sat back, his hand to his chin. I'm sure he was trying to figure out an angle that would make him look good and would boost his ratings. From what I understood, his last investigative report ended in a lawsuit that his network had to dole out hundreds of thousands of dolla
rs for to get the story to quietly go away.
“Alright, I'll do it, but you have to make sure there's no way I could get into any kind of trouble for this.” He said.
“Trust me.” I offered.
“That's just it. I don't know if I can trust you, but if what you're saying is true, this could be a really juicy story.” He said.