CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
THE dining room was full this time of evening. Or, more accurately, afternoon. It opened at 4:30 PM for dinner and many of the residents were waiting at the doors before then. Too many of them were of the early to bed, early to rise variety in Lilliana’s opinion. While she enjoyed getting up early, she didn’t see the point of going to bed at sundown.
Lilliana didn’t think she’d ever been to supper before five o’clock. She wasn’t used to it being this crowded. By the time she usually came down, half the people had finished eating and left. Her friends, knowing her habits, often sat and waited for her even if they had finished eating. She looked over the room, searching for her quarry.
Ah! There he was, sitting at a table with Nancy, Willie, Lenny, and Mary. She wouldn’t even have to make excuses as to why she wanted to sit with him. She hurried over to the table, not bothering to join the line at the buffet.
“Why, Lilliana, what brings you to dinner so early?” Nancy asked.
Willie looked at her queerly, as if he had the same question on his mind, but wasn’t going to ask it. She was glad to see he’d graduated from the walker to his walking stick. His physical therapy must be working.
“Good to see you,” Mary said. “I was just telling Gordon that you never joined us until later.”
“Why, Gordon,” Lilliana said, “I didn’t know you were interested.”
Mary, taking it the wrong way, quickly said, “Oh, he’s not interested in you.” Her voice faltered and she turned red. “I mean, um...”
“It’s okay, Mary,” Lilliana said. She turned her attention back to Gordon. “You know, you really shouldn’t lie. Eventually, people are bound to find out.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Gordon sat rigidly in his seat, feigning indifference, but his posture gave him away.
“You have AFib, don’t you?” Lilliana said.
“What’s that?” Nancy asked.
Without taking her eyes off Gordon, she answered Nancy’s question. “It’s a condition where a person has an irregular heart beat. A condition that can lead to blood clots and strokes.”
Willie was paying very close attention now. Gordon licked his lips and glanced from one person to another until he’d gauged the reaction of everyone at the table.
“You know what they often prescribe for those blood clots?” Lilliana asked.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Gordon said.
“I think you do, Colonel Brown. In fact, Willie said he saw you getting medication for it from Kirstie at the clinic. You denied it, of course.”
Gordon was fidgeting now, his hands grasping the edge of the table, then letting go, and squirming in his seat. He looked like he had ants in his pants.
“You were the one adding Xarelto to Ruby’s applesauce, weren’t you?”
“Why would I do that?”
“Why, indeed,” Lilliana said. “That had me stumped for quite a while. It was hard to figure out a motive. But you had one, didn’t you?”
By now Gordon was leaning forward in his seat. His eyes darted toward the door.
“I thought it odd that Ruby, who had only recently moved to Rainbow Ranch Retirement Community, could have made enemies so quickly. Yes, she made quite a few of the women jealous, Nancy and Mary here being two of them.”
Nancy interrupted. “Surely you don’t think I killed Ruby? Or Mary either. I don’t think Mary could get close enough with her walker to have stabbed anyone.”
“No, Nancy. I don’t think either you or Mary killed Ruby. Women don’t usually stab people to death. Stabbing or shooting someone is much more likely to be done by a man. A man is strong enough to make sure a knife—or an icepick—penetrates through muscle. Especially a man with a military background.”
Lilliana paused to take a sip of water. “But you knew Ruby long before she came to Rainbow Ranch, didn’t you Gordon?”
His eyes widened, and he made a choking sound in his throat. “No. No, I didn’t,” he said emphatically.
Lilliana pulled a folded piece of paper out of her pocket, opened it, and lay it in front of Gordon. It was the report she’d paid for on the Internet. She tapped a finger on the marriages and divorces section. “Of course you did. You were married to her. Not for very long, judging by the date of the divorce, but married nevertheless. No wonder her daughter gave you the evil eye at the funeral. I thought she was angry with Harlan for taking pictures, but she was actually looking at you.”
“Okay, so I killed her,” Gordon snarled. “She deserved it, leading me on, then dropping me like a hot potato. Said I was boring, except when I had night terrors. Then she said she didn’t like being wakened in the middle of the night. Could I help that? After I served my country like a decent citizen? And then she went off and married someone else right away.”
“But why now?” Lilliana asked. “You’ve been divorced for a number of years. Why pick this time?”
“Because I was watching her every day, flirting with half the men who live here. Ignoring me like she never knew me. I couldn’t stand it. I couldn’t stand another man putting his hands on her, kissing her, dancing with her. It was eating me up inside. If I couldn’t have her, I wanted to make damn sure neither could anyone else.”
Lilliana shook her head. There was a perverse logic to what Gordon was saying. But that didn’t make it acceptable. And there was one other thing. “But why Miguel?”
“Why do you think? He found out about me and Ruby when I was sleepwalking. I must have babbled about being married to her before I came to. He took me back to my apartment, but I couldn’t take the chance he’d tell anyone.“ He gave Lilliana a piercing stare.
“I’m going to call Chief Cartwright.” She pulled out her cell phone to do it. Now that Gordon had confessed in front of several witnesses, the case against him would be foolproof.
Gordon rose to his feet and roared, “I won’t go to jail!” and charged out of the dining room.
Lilliana jumped up and ran after him. Behind her she could hear the scrape of a chair, followed by the thump thump of Willie following her. He’d never be able to catch up leaning on his walking stick, not yet recovered from his hip replacement surgery, she thought. So she was surprised when he was right behind her as they exited the building and saw Gordon climbing into the community’s van.
“Quick, give me your car keys,” Lilliana said to Willie.
He dug in his pocket and pulled out his key ring. Lilliana held out her hand, palm up, and he dropped the keys into it. “Wait here,” she ordered and ran for the parking lot.
She could hear the growl of the van’s motor behind her as Gordon started it up. She only hoped he wouldn’t be out of sight before she could follow him in the Town Car. Panting from the run, she got to Willie’s car, unlocked the door, and slid in behind the wheel. The Town Car purred to life, and she headed back to where Willie stood. The tires screeched as she pulled up in front of the portico. She leaned over and opened the passenger side door. “Hop in.”
Willie didn’t exactly “hop” into the car, more like dropped into the seat, then swung his legs inside, followed by pulling his walking stick into the car beside him. The door had barely slammed closed before Lilliana pressed the gas pedal to the floor. The car tilted right as she swung it around the little traffic circle on squealing tires. And had to immediately wrench the steering wheel in the opposite direction as Gordon went not down the driveway to Main Street, but veered off into the desert.
“What is he doing?” Lilliana lifted her foot off the gas as she zigzagged around the cacti and boulders in her path.
Meanwhile, Willie pulled out his cell phone and punched buttons. “DeeDee,” he said into the phone. “Tell Cartwright to get out to the old folks home pronto. Gordon Brown has stolen the van and is driving off into the desert.”
Lilliana kept her eye on the cloud of dust up ahead while Willie gave DeeDee the specifics. She hoped the chief would catch up soon.
While driving on the roads had been a relatively simple task even after several months of not being behind the wheel, Lilliana had never driven off-road before and was finding it a challenge. An exhilarating challenge of course, but she was afraid she’d lose Gordon because she couldn’t go fast enough to catch up with him. While she was cautious about damaging Willie’s car, not to mention Willie, Gordon apparently had no such qualms regarding the Rainbow Ranch van.
“Do you have any idea where he’s going?” she asked Willie.
Willie shook his head. “As far as I know, there’s nothing out this way except more desert. And the Mae West peaks. There’s no way to get through those without going on foot, so he’ll either have to stop or circle around them.”
Lilliana pursed her lips and nodded. At least there was a natural barrier to slow Gordon down. She gritted her teeth as they bounced through yet another rut in the desert. She eased off the gas. Gordon careened through the landscape, widening the gap between them.
“Punch it!” Willie urged her.
Forgetting about potential damage, Lilliana pressed the accelerator to the floor again, fighting to catch up with the fleeing felon. The Lincoln lumbered ahead, but it was a car designed for luxury, not racing. She wasn’t sure whether she was gaining on Gordon or losing ground.
Her ears pricked up the sound of a siren. A glance in the rear view mirror showed a second cloud of dust behind her, this one moving at least as fast as Gordon’s. In a few minutes, Chief Cartwright’s SUV caught up with them, then passed the Lincoln. Obviously he’d driven off-road before and his vehicle was much more suited to the terrain than the Town Car was. Lilliana breathed a sigh of relief and lifted her foot slightly from the gas pedal.
A few minutes later she caught up to where Cartwright had cut the van off. He had his gun drawn as Gordon climbed out with his hands up.
The chief kept his weapon trained on him as he announced, “Gordon Brown, you’re under arrest.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
AS usual, the library was dark this time of night. After dinner, Lilliana had finished the Inspector Lynley novel she’d been reading and decided to exchange it for a new book. She flipped on the light switch and began to head toward the shelves when she spied Willie. He was sitting in one of the floral fabric chairs that flanked a small table at the far end of the room. He looked like he’d been crying.
After carefully closing the library door, Lilliana trod to the opposite end of the room and sat in the chair next to his. She covered his hand with her own. “What’s wrong, Willie?”
He brushed at his cheeks with the back of his hand. “I can’t believe after all these years I found Ruby again. And then she was murdered.” His voice caught.
“Do you want to tell me about it?”
Willie started to shake his head, then stopped. “I suppose I owe you that much.”
“You don’t owe me anything. But it might make you feel better to talk about it.” Lilliana’s heart ached for the big black man, so strong to all outward appearances, but underneath as vulnerable as any other human being.
He sucked in a breath that filled his chest, caused his shoulders to rise, then let it out in a sigh. “I told you how we met before.”
Lilliana nodded encouragement.
“I worried about Ruby, so I got to stopping by once or twice a week. Just to make sure she was okay, you know?” He paused and waited to see if Lilliana understood.
She thought she did. “And?”
“And we got to talking. If Jamal was there, I’d leave pretty quickly, unless he was drunk or asleep. But he wasn’t home often. Ruby was so vivacious, so full of life.” Guilt flowed across his face. “Those were rough years in my marriage. I was working the night shift most of the time, so I slept days. Lashonda was busy with the kids and half the time was asleep when I got home. We didn’t have much time for talking.”
Willie had never talked about his family before. Somehow she’d never pictured him with a wife and children. Of course, she herself rarely mentioned Charles or Anne. She’d assumed Willie’s family situation was the same as hers. Someday they’d have to talk about that, but now didn’t seem to be the right time.
“You know what a flirt Ruby could be. Well, when she started flirting with me, I couldn’t help but respond. I’m no Denzel Washington, so when a pretty woman like Ruby finds you attractive, it’s hard to resist. Pretty soon we were doing more than talking.
“Fortunately for my marriage, I got put on days not too long after that. I had no excuses to go back to her place, no more DV calls in the middle of the night. I always wondered what happened to her.”
“And all these years later,” Lilliana said, “she came back into your life. I suppose you thought you could pick up where you left off.”
“I was hoping,” Willie said. “But then she was killed, and I knew our prior relationship would come up.”
“Especially if it was no longer prior.”
Willie nodded. “That’s why I tried to make it seem like I’d only found out she was here in the past day or two before the murder. I didn’t want Cartwright prying into our relationship and thinking of me as suspect number one. Of course, my lying didn’t help that situation.” He made a face.
“No, it didn’t. But it all worked out in the end.” Lilliana had another question for Willie as long as he was in the mood to talk. “Why did you go back to speak with Coretta after the memorial service?”
Willie scrunched up his face trying to remember what she was referring to. It cleared after a minute. “Oh. I wanted to ask her if I should make Harlan erase the photos from his camera. I couldn’t see why he was taking them anyway.”
Lilliana chuckled. “I found out why. It appears as if our Harlan is somewhat of a social media personality. He has a Facebook page called What’s Up Rainbow Ranch where he posts photos and little news items, including the African Violet Club meetings, and some gossipy things. Half the town has liked the page and comments on his postings.” She stopped and reflected on the irony of a crabby senior citizen being popular online. “You didn’t approach Harlan about the photos, though, did you?”
“No.” Willie shook his head. “Coretta said Harlan wasn’t the one she was angry about. Since you’d already told me Miguel was ready to leave, I didn’t press her for who made her angry.” He stopped for a sharp intake of breath while his face twisted with pain. “I should have. If only I’d known about Gordon, I could have stopped him from murdering Miguel.”
“You can’t blame yourself for everything, Willie. You didn’t know Gordon. Coretta did. If anyone should have told Chad Cartwright about Gordon, it was Coretta.”
“Still...”
She squeezed Willie’s hand. “You did the best you could. Stop blaming yourself.”
“I suppose you’re right.” Willie fought back a yawn. “Sorry. I haven’t been sleeping much lately.”
“Understandable,” Lilliana said. “Why don’t we both head back to our apartments and get some rest?”
LILLIANA entered the library and started setting up for the African Violet Club meeting. It was her turn to be the hostess, and she’d brought some lovely scones she’d bought at Pulaski’s Gourmet Grocery, which had just reopened to great fanfare. As she arranged the scones on a plate, she thought about how the residents of both the town and the retirement community had welcomed Jaclyn and filled her store with shoppers. She’d sold so much, she’d confided she might run out of chocolate before the next shipment arrived.
Lilliana had appreciated the heads up on that and stocked up with several varieties of gourmet chocolate. Some people might have bunkers of dried food and bottled water put away in case of natural disaster or the zombie apocalypse, but as far as Lilliana was concerned, she could survive on chocolate and Earl Grey tea until help arrived.
She added a jar of lemon cream to the tray of scones, along with a plastic knife to spread it with. Then she set up the paper plates and cups. Lastly she opened the jug of iced tea and poure
d some for herself while she waited for the others to arrive.
Kirstie popped her head inside the door. “I’m glad I caught you.”
“Hello, Kirstie.” Lilliana was delighted to see her. “Have you decided to raise African violets?”
Kirstie laughed. “No, Mrs. Wentworth. I have a black thumb. Every plant I’ve ever owned has died.”
Lilliana thought she’d have to give her one of her new red-flowered plants as a gift. While there was quite a lot to learn about raising show-quality plants, almost everyone could at least keep an African violet alive, often blooming with cheery flowers.
“But I do have something to tell you,” Kirstie said. “I’ve decided you were right. I am going to press charges against Tony. The chief says he’ll probably be in jail for a while. And I’ve already got an order of protection, just in case.”
“Oh, Kirstie, I’m so happy for you,” Lilliana said. “Maybe now you can date our handsome police chief.”
Kirstie blushed. “I don’t think so, Mrs. Wentworth.”
“Why ever not? As far as I know, he’s available. And you certainly are now. I think you’d make the perfect couple.”
“There’s only one problem. I have a date with Biff Buckley tomorrow night,” Kirstie said.
“Buckley?” Not the man Lilliana would have picked for her, but she supposed as long as Kirstie was happy, that’s all that mattered. And Buckley wasn’t really a bad sort. She smiled. “Well, you two have a good time. And be sure to tell me how it goes.”
“I will, Mrs. Wentworth.”
Frank showed up behind Kirstie, carrying his tools again to give the demonstration that had been interrupted a few weeks ago. “Excuse me.”
“I’d better go back to the clinic,” Kirstie said as she backed out of Frank’s way. “I’ll talk to you later.”
“Be happy, Kirstie,” Lilliana said.
“What was that about?” Frank asked as he started laying out his tools on the end of the table. The ice pick was notably missing.
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