M.urder R.eady to E.at (A Scotti Fitzgerald Murder Mystery Book 2)

by Anita Rodgers

  Like a drill sergeant drunk with power, I divvied up the tasks: Ted on clean up, Melinda and I on baking, Matt on packing, wrapping and stocking; and Ginny on crusts and batter. It was like having my own baseball team, except they baked instead of batted.

  We baked, rolled, simmered, and frosted while rocking out to classic rock on the sound system. In honor of Melinda, we played "Born to be Wild" and screamed along with the refrain. Ted played a mean air guitar, Matt had some wicked dance moves, Ginny and Melinda provided perfect harmonies and Steve was just Steve. It was the most fun I ever had on pie day.

  We finished by late afternoon — truck stocked and ready for Monday morning, back-stock packed and stored in the pantry, and the kitchen sparkled — it was so clean. We, however, did not sparkle, unless you count the sprinkles.

  While Melinda routed people in and out of the bathroom for clean-up, Ted and Steve went to the grocery store for dinner ingredients. Then we dined on the back patio. Melinda manned the grill, Ginny made the sides, and the guys did everything else. I wasn’t allowed to do anything but sit on the chaise and relax.

  Ted pulled his chair next to me and massaged my feet. "How you doing, honey?"

  I frowned. "I'm fine." His green eyes probed. "Okay, it feels a little weird to be waited on hand and foot.” I looked to my busy little bees. "You guys should hire yourselves out for parties. You could make a mint."

  Smiles and chuckles in response.

  I looked back to Ted and started to cry. "I'm sorry."

  Ted creased his brow and brushed away my tears. "For what?"

  I whispered. "I've been such a bitch to them. And they're acting like I deserve all this and I don’t."

  He hugged me. "Oh but you do, honey. You just don’t know it.” He kissed the top of my head, then smiled at me. “Good things happen if you let them. So just let them, okay?”

  <<>>

  Melinda and I stood at the front door and watched the others chatting, laughing, and making plans for their next meet up. She turned and studied me for a moment.

  I blushed and patted my head looking for foreign objects. "Still flour in there?"

  Melinda shook her head. "I just wanted to say…" I raised an eyebrow. She hugged me. "I’m glad he found you."

  I hugged her back. "You’re glad?” I laughed. “Imagine how glad I am."

  She smoothed back my hair. "All right. I'm going to say good night then." She went out the door. "See you soon, honey."

  I watched as she and Ted talked quietly, heads bent close together. He bear-hugged her, then helped her into the BMW. She gave him a mother’s smile then waved to me as she drove through the open gate. Ted stood watching the gate close then came inside.

  I blew out a breath. "What a day."

  He put his arms around me. "A good day I think." He searched my face. "Yeah?"

  I nodded and closed the door with my foot. "At least all the craziness is over." I looked up at him. His jaw tightened. "What?"

  "He'll probably be out on bail tomorrow."

  I shrugged. "Beidemeyer? So what? He won't come back here. Not if he has any sense." Ted said nothing, but his jaw clenched. I shook my head. "Oh no, you’re not going down there tomorrow, right? Ted?" The irony that Ted and I had seemed to switch roles wasn't lost on me. "Honey, please."

  Ted's expression softened, but his eyes remained flinty. "I'm going to keep an eye on things."

  I tugged on his arm. "What does that mean? Exactly?"

  He smiled and kissed me. "Nothing, honey. As long as Beidemeyer stays in line, he's got nothing to worry about from me."

  I shook my head. "He probably won’t get bail. On murder charges, they don't always let them out." Ted scoffed. "And besides that, he’s Daniels’ headache now. If there's a problem, he'll let me know. Otherwise we stay out of it, right?"

  Ted bore into me with his deep green eyes, then shrugged. He shifted gears and led me toward the bedroom. "It's your bedtime young lady."

  I lay in bed watching him undress. “You’re so pretty.”

  He chuckled then slid in next to me. "What are you angling for now?"

  I snuggled into his arms. "Can’t I pay you a compliment without an ulterior motive?”

  “Sure, but you’re not talking me out of going to the bail hearing tomorrow.”

  I sighed. “It’s really not necessary.”

  He held me close and kissed my forehead. "I’m going, end of story. Goodnight honey."

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Matt arrived on time, and we left for our route thirty minutes later. Ted waved good bye and blew me a kiss. He was dressed for work and said he was going in right after the bail hearing, which I couldn’t talk him out of attending. He was in a chipper mood. I guess because the thought of seeing Beidemeyer refused bail was something to celebrate in Ted’s mind. But I wondered if he had something else on his agenda — Ted was more wily than me and no stranger to subterfuge either.

  As we pulled out, I blew him a kiss then said, “Behave.” He laughed and gave me a "Who me?" expression. I let it go. Beidemeyer was in jail, Ron's case was solved and it was over. Period. End of story. In fact, I planned to call Donna so we could celebrate. So maybe Ted being happy wasn’t such a mystery after all. Except for that big red flag waving in my mind I wasn’t bothered one bit.

  Monday morning crowds clamoring for baked goods quickly turned my attention to work. Business was good throughout the day, and before I knew it the day was over. We sold out of pie and tartlets in West Hollywood, but we still cake, muffins and cookies for our stop at the Foothill station house.

  Daniels was the last in line at the window. "Hey, hey. I see the pie fairy has landed."

  I started a large coffee for him. "Hey. Any news?"

  He stuck his big face in the window and sniffed the air. "Whacha got back there?"

  I pulled a half dozen chocolate sour crème cupcakes I'd stashed for him and passed it through the window. "Sorry, we ran out of pie, but I promise the cupcakes won’t disappoint.” I’ve got some blueberry muffins for Davis too."

  He wiggled his fingers, and I dropped three muffins into a paper sack. I passed the sack to Daniels and said, "Just remember, those are for her. You wouldn’t pinch a pregnant woman’s muffins, right?”

  He made crazy eyes at me. “Give me a break.”

  I handed him his coffee, and he slapped a twenty on the counter. "Keep the change." Without moving his head he scanned the area. "Mr. B was arraigned and got bail this morning."

  I looked over Daniels' shoulder and checked the crowd, half expecting to see Fuller kicked back at his usual spot, but he was back at Hollywood Division. I toyed with mentioning Fuller's connection to Beidemeyer. I frowned. "So he's out?"

  Daniels nodded. "But we've got eyes on him. No worries." Which probably meant that a patrol car was set to drive by Beidemeyer's house twice a night. Daniels squinted at me. "If he contacts you, your first call is to me. You get me?"

  I nodded. "Like I'd call somebody else? Believe me, I don't want anything to do with him."

  Daniels put on a big goofy grin. "You have a great day too, Scotti." He made a delicate wave with his beefy hand and turned gracefully on his heel.

  I stood at the window and watched him disappear into the building. His parting words bothered me. Why would Beidemeyer contact me? He’d have to be nuts to do that. Maybe Daniels knew something he didn't care to share — and that made me nervous.

  Matt rapped on the wall between the cab and the kitchen. "We ready to roll?"

  I locked the service window and climbed out of the back. Everybody had returned to the station house and the sidewalk was empty. But I felt eyes on me as I walked to the cab of the truck. I scanned the street and looked up to the building windows but saw nary a soul. I shrugged and climbed into the truck.

  Matt gave me a playful shove. "What's the matter boss lady?"

  I glanced at him. "Nothing. Just a little wiped. Big weekend, you know?"

  Matt's face dimmed. "Yeah,
I heard."

  I reared back. "Ted told you?" The thought of Ted's family knowing about Beidemeyer made me cringe. “He shouldn’t have said anything.”

  Matt shrugged. "Stalkers. Scary stuff." He patted my shoulder. "But he's locked up now, right? All over?"

  I nodded. "Right." I didn’t tell him that my stalker was out on bail because I was worrying about how Ted was taking it — and why he hadn’t called and told me himself. “All over.”

  Matt switched on the engine and eased into traffic. I leaned against the window, but kept my eye on the side mirror. If Beidemeyer was up to his old tricks, I hadn't spotted him. I hoped that meant he'd lost interest in me. And if the eyes on me weren’t Beidemeyer’s, they were probably Ted skulking around in his Rambo mode.

  Just before we reached Foothill, sirens screamed behind us. Matt checked the side mirror. "Whoa man. I'm not speeding." He pulled to the curb, but the cruisers sped past us, and after them, Daniels' unmarked brown sedan,

  I peered through the windshield. "Shit."

  <<>>

  My calls to Daniels and Ted went straight to voice mail. I stopped leaving messages after a while. Matt tried to reassure me, saying there was nothing to worry about, but I don’t think he believed what he was saying either. After we stocked the truck, I told him to go home. He wanted to stay, but I walked him to his car and said I'd call if I needed him.

  For a while I paced the parking pad in front of the house — checking my phone every few minutes. Nothing happened. No one called. No one dropped by. The gate didn't open of its own accord.

  I went inside and tried to distract myself with a movie, but all I did was stare at the phone, praying it would ring. When I hadn't heard from either Daniels or Ted by six, that skittering spider of fear raced down my spine, then jumped into my stomach and did a rumba. I told myself that Ted was probably swamped at work and that Daniels probably had five other cases going. I switched on the news, but it was just the usual doom and gloom of every other day — people were dying, people were pissed, and politicians sucked, but the weather was great.

  Boomer whimpered as he watched me pace. He tried to get me to play tug-a-chewie and when that didn’t work danced for cookies, but I couldn't sit still.

  I called Joe, but he didn't answer his phone either. Was no one home? Out of sheer desperation, I called Zelda. I didn't expect her to answer the call but just hearing her voicemail message would bring me some comfort.

  "Hello?"

  A sob caught in my throat. "Zee?"

  "What's wrong?" I couldn't talk for all the sobbing. "I'm on my way."

  I went to the kitchen for a cup of tea. While I waited for the tea kettle, I realized that I hadn't called Donna. I turned off the burner and called her. "Hi Donna, it's Scotti."

  "Girl, I was just about to call you. Have you seen the news?"

  I rushed to the living room and scanned for the remote. "No, why?"

  "Marika's been shot dead — with Carl Beidemeyer."

  I felt like a shit. "You know about Beidemeyer? I was just calling about him."

  Donna sucked air through her teeth. "Yeah, the police called me Saturday night. Thank you for that."

  I apologized for not telling her myself, but she shrugged it off. She was grateful that Ron’s case was solved, and he finally got some justice. I found the remote under a sofa cushion and switched on the TV. I flipped through the channels until I found a newscast displaying an aerial shot of the Tujunga Wash. I inched toward the set. Patrol cars were clustered around the entrance at Oro Vista and uniforms protected an area cordoned off with crime scene tape. The reporter summarized what was happening from the helicopter cockpit but was short on details.

  By heart was like a drum pounding in my ears. "They aren't saying what happened. Do you know?"

  Donna sighed. "Just that they found them shot dead on a hiking trail in the Wash a couple hours ago. Oh, and the police were questioning a person of interest."

  My stomach dropped. "Person of interest? Did they say who? Was there a description?"

  "No, no details." I dropped the phone and ran outside. I rushed to my car and yanked on the door handle, but it was locked. I screamed and ran back inside the house for my keys and phone. Trembling and crying, I went back to the car, but I couldn't get the key in the lock because my hands had stopped working.

  The gate slid open and Zelda drove through. She pulled up next to me and got out of the car with a puzzled look on her face. "What happened?"

  I fell into her arms sobbing. "Beidemeyer is dead, and I’m terrified that Ted's involved."

  Chapter Forty

  It took a while for Zelda to calm me down enough to explain what happened. My stomach roiled with acid and I couldn't stop shaking. I kept imagining Ted in prison or worse and I felt like I was coming apart.

  Zelda forced me into a chair. "Scotti you have to get hold of yourself."

  Tears wouldn’t stop falling. "What if they arrest him? What if they charge him?" I covered my face with my hands. "This is all my fault."

  Zelda put her arm around my shoulders. "You don't know if it's Ted they're questioning."

  I flailed my arms. "Then where is he? Why hasn't he called me back? Why isn't he here?" I grabbed gobs of my hair and pulled it to stifle a scream. "The office is closed, nobody's there but dispatch. And they haven’t seen Ted at all." I whispered, “He never came into the office today.”

  My phone rang and we both jumped. I ran toward it but then stopped and stared at it like it was dangerous. Zelda nudged me out of the way and answered the phone. "Hello? No, it's Zelda. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Will do. Bye."

  She blew out a big breath, put her arm around me and walked me to the sofa. "What's happened? Zee?"

  "That was Joe. Ted's in custody."

  I clutched her arm to keep from drowning in the panic that threatened to pull me down into its dark hole. "He's under arrest?"

  Zelda forced me to sit. "He called Joe because he doesn't know any criminal attorneys. Joe sent Dan over there."

  I jumped off the sofa and grabbed my keys. "Let's go." I yanked the front door open. "Come on, what are you waiting for?"

  Zelda put a hand on my shoulder. "Go where? They won't let you see him. If they're questioning him, the only person he can see is Dan. You know that. Besides, Joe is already there. He'll call us when he knows something."

  I threw my keys across the room. "I can't just sit here. Not knowing." I dragged my hands through my hair. "What am I going to tell his family?" I rubbed my forehead. "Ted's in jail because of me. I'll probably never see him again." I buried my face in my hands. "What have I done?"

  Zee held me while I cried. Then I stared at the wall. The not knowing was the worst because it made me imagine all the terrible things that could be happening. Could the man I loved have killed these two people? I saw how he looked at Beidemeyer. I saw the fury, the menace in his eyes, the bulging veins, and the fists poised for attack. Had the control he claimed to have gotten away from him? I pushed that thought away. I had to believe Ted wouldn’t go that far. And I couldn’t imagine Ted hurting a woman. I was letting myself spin into hopelessness and I had to stop.

  Zelda opened a can of tomato soup and made bologna sandwiches but I couldn't eat. She tried to make me lay down but I couldn't close my eyes without seeing Ted in a jail cell. Why didn’t I just leave it alone? Why didn’t I listen to Ted? How would I live with myself after this?

  I watched the news non-stop but they just kept repeating the same details. When they got tired of repeating themselves they spotlighted Beidemeyer's background – an Iraq veteran with a spotless record. They speculated on whether it was murder or suicide but there was no information on the murder weapon so what was there to speculate about? In a breaking news segment they reported on the affair between Marika and Beidemeyer. Proudly they aired a clip of reporters ambushing Beidemeyer's wife. The poor woman looked horrified as she tried to shield her face from the camera while they shouted questions at her. When she loc
ked herself inside her house the report ended.

  Zelda called Steve to see if the family had heard anything. Like us they were upset and worried but Steve told me I shouldn't blame myself. Which only made me cry again. Zelda took the phone from me and told Steve we’d stay in touch and call if we heard any news. After she hung up the phone, Zelda opened a bottle of wine and we drank and watched the news — huddling on the sofa together.

  Finally, Joe called. Dan had gotten Ted released and he was bringing him home to me. I ran outside and paced the parking pad. The pain of waiting felt like razor blades ripping me up inside. Every car that approached gave me hope then let me down when it passed. I cried. I pulled on my hair. I bit my nails down to the quick.