Before I knew it, my mother and Peri were sitting side by side at the table, looking at pictures on Peri’s phone.
I stood at the counter and watched—incredulous.
Here’s the thing, I should have been surprised, but after a few moments, I heard my mom say, “Call me Judith, sweetie,” and I just chalked up another victim to Peri’s charms.
She could charm the scales off of snakes.
She could make the Internet’s Grumpy Cat smile.
“Mom?” Miles whispered as he came into the room. He pointed at my mom and Peri.
“Grandma’s here for your play,” I said.
“But she’s laughing and smiling with Peri.” Miles sounded confused. My boys love my mother, but they knew this was out of character.
“I know.”
“Our family is sort of Twilight Zone-ish,” Eli said, humming the bars from the show’s opening.
I figured the Twilight Zone music was more generous than the theme from Jaws, so I didn’t scold him.
“I’ve never seen Grandma laugh like that,” Miles said.
“Peri has a way about her,” I said.
At her name, Peri looked up and squealed, “Boys.” She was up and out of her seat in a blink of an eye and hugging the boys as if she hadn’t seen them in years instead of days. “Now, your dad and I will be there opening night, so don’t you worry about that. He can’t wait.”
Eli snorted. Jerome was a very good father, but attending things like plays and various sporting events was not his strong suit.
Peri laughed. “I know you have your doubts, but if I have to, I’ll get tough. He’ll be there or face my wrath.”
Both boys did laugh then. So did I. I looked over and saw my mother was laughing, too. For the life of me I couldn’t make the idea of Peri and wrath register.
“We’ve got to get to practice,” Eli said.
“Do you want something to eat?” she fussed.
“We’re getting pizza tonight,” Miles said. “Well, we’re getting it after they do a clean run-through on the play.”
“Well, break a leg,” she said, and kissed each boys’ cheeks. “Go say hello to your grandmother before you leave.”
The boys walked over to my mom, who was still sitting in her chair. The scene reminded me of a queen waiting for homage from her minions.
“It’s nice of you to come to town so you can see the play,” Miles said formally.
“Yeah,” Eli added.
“I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. Your grandfather will be here Friday morning, so he’ll be there, too.”
“Okay, then,” Miles said as if trying to think of something else to say. “Well we’ve got to go.”
Peri cleared her throat. “Kiss your grandmother goodbye,” she commanded.
Here’s the thing, I only remember a handful of times my mother had ever kissed me or indicated she’d like me to kiss her. I remembered even fewer times that she’d kissed or been kissed by my boys. The Mac-ish Mac’s were not overly demonstrative. And though Mom was born a Quincy, she was a Mac through and through. So were my father, my brothers, and my brothers’ wives. My Uncle Bill and I are the black sheep, and we both are prone to hugs and kisses.
But my boys obliged and kissed my mother on the cheek. “See you later,” Eli said as they fled.
“Now, let’s have a nice girls chat,” Peri said. “I way overbought lunch for me and Quincy, so there’s plenty of food. Honey sent a new dish for us to try. We’re to report back.”
Peri became the cruise director for our little lunch. I don’t know how she managed to eat while she kept up her steady stream of conversation. She told my mother all about the boys and their vacation. I was content to simply listen to her as I ate Honey’s new rice dish, which was delicious, but then Peri said, “And that whole investigation last month. I was never so nervous for our Quincy. The boys have told me about their great uncle and his problems. I understood why she was concerned. I was so proud of her. Not only did she find the murderer, but she managed to subdue him all by herself before Cal could ride in and save the day…”
My mother sat, fork halfway between her mouth and the plate, as she listened to Peri gush about my solving Mr. Banning’s murder.
“…I’d have never been able to handle myself in that kind of situation. And now she’s working with that terribly cute Mr. Macy to turn the whole encounter into a script? It’s going to be brilliant. Jerry’s interested in it, but he said it wouldn’t be right for him to produce his ex-wife’s script, but when it’s done, he said he’d read it and pass it on to someone.”
That was the first I was hearing of that.
Peri clapped her hand over her mouth. “I wasn’t supposed tell you that. He said he didn’t want your first script to be scrutinized because people thought he’d got it because of nepotism. He wants you to have a brilliant career. So far the script is wonderful.”
“How do you know it’s wonderful?” I asked.
“Miles might have shown me a few pages, and I might have shown them to Jerry,” she admitted. “Are you mad?”
I wanted to be annoyed or even angry. After all, the script wasn’t nearly ready to show anyone other than Dick. But Peri looked so pleased, and I knew that she’d only done it out of love, not anything else. I sighed. “No. I’m glad you like it so far. It’s rough. Dick says we have a lot of work to do.”
She grinned. “Good. Now I don’t have to sneak around. If you show me it when you’re ready I’ll show it to Jerry. He really liked it, Quincy.”
I nodded. “Okay.”
My mom cleared her throat and set her fork down with a thunk. “Murder? You found a murderer?”
“Let me start at the beginning, Mom. Theresa, our worst employee, called in sick, so I took over her jobs for the day and accidently cleaned a murder scene. Well, you know Uncle Bill went to jail for a crime he didn’t commit, and he hadn’t even tampered with any evidence which since I’m very good at my job, I’d done and then some. I even scrubbed the murder weapon clean. I was sure I’d end up in prison, so I set out to find out who did it…”
An hour later, the lunch was over, Peri was kissing me goodbye and then turned and kissed my mom. “Judith, it was so nice to finally spend time with you. You have a lovely family. And your daughter is a very special lady. Not everyone would be so kind to their ex’s new wife.”
She left and my mother turned to me. “You went through all that and you never told me?”
She seemed hurt. That wasn’t something I expected. My mother was not the kind of woman to expect or relish confidences. I remember telling her about a boy I had a crush on when I was in fifth grade. She said, “If you want him, go after him,” and left it at that. In her mind, she’d solved my problem.
“I didn’t want to worry you,” I said, though I doubted my mother had ever been worried about anything or anyone.
“Quincy, I’m a mother. I know I’m not overly demonstrative, but that doesn’t mean I don’t worry about you and your brothers, and now my grandsons. The day you left for California on that bus…”
She just left the sentence hang there as if her emotions were too close to the surface to go on. She took a deep breath and added, “Letting you get on that bus to come to LA was the hardest thing I ever did. You and I have never understood each other, but I have always loved you and with that kind of love there’s worry. I know you’ve worried about Hunter.”
“I have. I do.” I worried that he wasn’t eating, that he was getting into trouble, that… I worried about him constantly.
“I know I don’t show my emotions as well as you, and certainly not as well as Peri—”
I laughed as I interrupted. “No one wears their emotions as well as Peri.”
She offered me a ghost of a smile as she nodded her agreement. “But I love you and I wish you would have told me what was going on in your life.”
I’d known my mother for every one of my thirty-eight years, but I’d never seen her
so open and emotional.
I took a page from Peri and hugged her. “I love you, Mom.”
She hugged me back. “I love you, too, Quincy.” She pulled back and walked toward my kitchen. “Now, come tell again. This time tell me exactly what happened.”
I did.
Then I told her about our current crisis.
“So, show me your white-board,” my mother requested. I knew it was a question because her voice went higher on the last word. But in reality it was an order. She was a doctor. Worse, she was a surgeon. She was accustomed to being obeyed.
I took her into Hunter’s room. She stared at it. “You’ve organized it well,” she said. “I can see your thought process. You’ve got an organized mind.” She said that in such a way I knew it was praise. Praise was something I didn’t receive from my mother often.
“Thank you.”
“This is what you used when you solved the murder?”
“Yes. Though the board didn’t really help me in that regards. I sort of lucked into it.”
“You may not have gone there because you knew the murderer was there but because you suspected there was a clue there. That means this worked. It’s like doing exploratory surgery. I go in looking for something. I tend to know where I’ll have a good chance of finding it, but I’m not sure about anything until the moment that I am sure. You organized the information and you went looking for the answers…and you found them. Maybe not where you thought, but you wouldn’t have found them at all if you hadn’t looked.”
That was actually the most convoluted thing my mother had ever said, but I knew exactly what she meant. “Thank you.”
“So, where are you looking with the forgeries?”
“I’ve talked to two of the clients. I have one more to talk to. I’m hoping I find someone who had access to all three houses.”
“And if you don’t?”
“Then I’ll just keep going over the information and adding anything new I find.”
My mother stared at my board. “These homes have security. Maybe you should check with them. See if there were any anomalies in the last few months. Any reasons why the security companies came out, even if they didn’t find a problem.”
That was a brilliant idea. “Mom, if you ever decide to give up surgery, I think you may have found your new career. Dick will be so impressed.”
“Just be careful. Though I have to confess, chasing after an art forger has to be safer than chasing after a murderer.”
“Let’s hope,” I agreed.
Chapter Five
We—by we I mean me and Dick, still impersonating an insurance investigator—checked on the first of the two different security companies. It hadn’t had any security blips.
Here’s the weird thing, my mother, the professional doctor type person, went all geeky fan-girl over my writing mentor, Dick Macy. I introduced them with a bit of trepidation, but mom practically fawned all over him. The two of them huddled together on the couch talking about screenplays and writing as I called the security firms.
I was dialing the second one when my mother announced, “I’ve always wanted to write a novel. A romance novel, with a medical mystery element.”
“Then you should. Talent needs to be fostered and honored,” Dick said with all sincerity.
“How do you know I have any talent? How do I know I have any talent?” my mom asked. It was weird to hear my mom, the poster child for self-assurance, asking that kind of question.
“I’ve read your daughter’s work. She’s brimming with it. And I’m sure the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. She must get that sort of gift from somewhere. I’m guessing you.”
My mother shot me a speculative look, and I concentrated on dialing and pretending I didn’t overhear their conversation though I was actively trying to listen.
All I managed to hear was my mother saying, “Well, she is amazing, isn’t she?”
I felt myself choke up as I got passed from desk to desk, trying to find someone who would answer my question. I finally hit on Mr. Peterson, and said, “Hold for Mr. Macy.”
Dick took the phone.
“He’s a very nice man,” my mother said.
“He is. He really believes in the script.”
“He said you’re the most talented new writer he’s ever worked with.”
“I think he’s exaggerating for your benefit, but still, that’s nice to hear.”
At that moment, Dick hung up. “Nothing there either, but they said they’d talk to the security crews and see if anyone noticed anything that didn’t fall into the criteria for reporting but simply felt weird. He’ll get back to me after he talks to them.”
“I’m sorry, Quincy,” my mother said. “I guess that’s it for my short-lived detective career.”
“Oh, mom, don’t write your career as an investigator off just yet. I can’t tell you how many dead-ends I’ve bumped up against. This wise mentor I have,” I shot Dick a smile, “talks about writing crap drafts. When I work on the script, I don’t have to worry about it being perfect. As a matter of fact, I have permission to write utter crap because—”
Dick interrupted. “Because you can fix crap, but you can’t fix a blank page.”
My mother laughed a teenaged girl sort of giggle that felt oddly disconcerting coming from her.
“I’ve decided that investigating is sort of like that,” I said, wondering what alien pod-person had taken over my mother’s body. First Peri, now Dick. “You have to give yourself permission to follow leads that take you to a brick wall, because eventually, you might find a clue that creates a door in the wall, or you might find an entirely different path.”
“That makes sense,” my mother agreed.
“And who knows, the security companies said they’d talk to their employees. Maybe someone will have something for us.”
We talked about other ideas, none of them were overly inspired. Then all talk of the investigation was cut short when the boys came in after dinner.
“I said everyone needed a night off to mentally prepare for tomorrow,” Miles said.
“Yeah, everyone but Miles.” Eli elbowed his brother. “He’s going to worry and fret all night.”
“How about a game of Trivial Pursuit,” my mom suggested. “Maybe everyone here could use some time to not think about what’s going on in their lives.”
“Only if it’s Disney Trivial Pursuit,” Miles said.
Eli turned to Dick and stage-whispered, “Grandma kicks everyone’s butt at the regular kind.”
The doorbell rang and I went to get it. I got that shivery feeling when I saw who was there.
It had been so many years since anyone inspired that kind of feeling. It was a warm, mushy feeling that was mixed with a healthy dose of lust.
“Cal. I wasn’t sure I’d see you tonight.” I thought my voice sounded sort of husky.
Rather than a greeting or waiting for an invitation to come in, he stepped inside, kicked the door shut and swept me into his arms and kissed me in the least chaste kiss I’d ever had. “I need you,” he whispered.
“I need you, too.” That was an understatement. I wished like anything that I could strip his clothes off right here and have my way with him. But my mom, Dick, and the boys put a damper on that impulse. “But you’re going to have to settle on being needed to partner with me at Trivial Pursuit. The boys, my mother, and Dick are all waiting to play.”
He groaned. Actually groaned. As if the thought that he couldn’t haul me off to bed was the worst news he’d ever received.
I felt terribly desirable.
“I know it’s not quite the same, but since you’re here, come on. Mom will be happy to get to spend time with you.”
And thus the end-all, be-all game of Disney Trivial Pursuit began.
The boys paired up against Mom and Dick and me and Cal.
It was a no-holds-bar, no-mercy-shown game.
In the end the boys won.
“I feel I get to claim s
ome of the credit, since I obviously did a superb job training them in all things Disney,” I said.
“By that faulty logic, I get to claim credit for you solving Mr. Banning’s murder or get to claim it when you solve the forgeries mystery, since I raised you to be such an intelligent, inquisitive woman,” my mother joked.
Most days I’d be marveling at the thought of my mother joking and helping me with an investigation. But right now, I simply cleared my throat wildly as my mother spoke, hoping Cal couldn’t hear her.
The teasing and gloating continued, but I glanced at Cal who seemed to be annoyed. More than annoyed, to be honest. I knew my throat-clearing hadn’t been loud enough to cover my mother’s statement.
“I really have to go,” Dick announced. “I’ll talk to you, Quince. Don’t get up. The boys will see me out.”
The boys were aware of the sudden tension in the room and quickly agreed.
That just left me, my foot-in-her-mouth mother, and my very angry boyfriend.
My brilliant, insightful mother didn’t seem to realize she’d just made a faux pas, because she forged ahead and added, “So, Cal, when are you going to make an honest woman of my daughter.”
This time I groaned, and it had nothing to do with unrequited lust. “Goodnight, Mother. Tell Cal goodnight before you immediately walk down the hall to my room.”
My mother looked from me, to Cal, whose face had turned an ever deepening red, then back to me. “I don’t know what I said, but I do know it’s time to follow Quincy’s advice. Goodnight, Cal. It was so good seeing you again.” Then she kissed his cheek.
I’m pretty sure my career-oriented, very serious mother had been replaced by a game-playing, kissing-people, gumshoe-assisting pod-person. Seriously, that was the only explanation for the way she was acting this visit. I mean, I’d officially seen her kiss and hug more times today than I’d seen my whole life prior to today.
She left and presumably headed to my room.
I waited for Cal to say something.
He was silent a little too long. As if he were fighting to stay calm…and losing.
Finally, with a tight, pinched quality to his normal Sam Elliot sort of voice, “You’re investigating the forgeries?”
Dusted (A Maid in LA Mystery) Page 6