Last Call

by Paula Matter

  “Pam, drop the knife now.” Okay, so now I knew. I cowered behind the island waiting for Bobby Lee to pull his trigger and shoot her, but nothing happened. My heart was slamming in my chest. I listened hard, but my ears only caught the sound of my own heavy breathing. My knees felt like they were going to buckle under me.

  I slowly rose from the floor, peeking out when I got eye level to the top of the island. Pam stood with her back to the fireplace, facing me and Bobby Lee. I could just barely see Diane’s legs. It looked like she hadn’t moved.

  Oh, please God, no. I never meant to kill her.

  “Pam. Now. Last warning. Drop the knife.” Bobby Lee took a step forward, his gun still raised before him. “Pam, I will shoot if you don’t drop it.”

  I sure believed him. I’d never been more impressed with Bobby Lee than I was at that moment. Oh, hell, who was I kidding? I’d never been impressed with Bobby Lee until that moment.

  Maybe if I stood up real fast, I’d scare Pam into either throwing or dropping the knife. Or I’d make Bobby Lee suddenly turn toward me and fire his gun. Okay. I’d take the chance of standing, but do it slowly to give the chief time to adapt. No sudden moves.

  And as soon as my legs stopped shaking, I was going to stand and face the woman who’d made my life a living hell the last week. I thought I had it pretty much figured out, and I did not want Bobby Lee to shoot her before I could get answers out of her.

  “Now, Maggie, that’s far enough,” Bobby Lee said as I slowly stood.

  I ignored him and said to Pam, “You thought Jack knew you were stealing money from the club and he was going to turn you in. That was Friday night, the same night you came back behind the bar. You took one of my scrunchies. You tried to frame me.”

  Pam smirked. “I said all along that a woman could’ve done it.” She raised her arm, and I got a good look at the knife she was holding.

  Rob’s knife? It had the same type of mother-of-pearl handle. But, how—? Yeah, now that made sense too. “You swiped that from my purse.” I wanted to slap the smirk off her face. Instead, I waited for her to talk.

  “Oh, all right. I admit it, Chief, I took the knife. But I’m not the one who stabbed Jack. I’m also not the one who stabbed Dick. ” She looked over at Diane, who was still sprawled out on the floor.

  Was she implying Diane killed Jack and attempted to kill Dick? No …

  “You and JC were in on it together. You stole the knife and JC stabbed Jack. And now JC’s just waiting for another chance at Dick. Pretending to be his friend, when he’s the one who stabbed him in the first place!”

  “Don’t be silly, Maggie. My husband’s too stupid to come up with this plan, and he’s not brave enough to kill. JC’s sitting by Dick’s side waiting to see if he comes out of his coma and starts talking.” She sniffed. “No, I’m afraid I’m going to have to implicate my good friend Diane Reid. She’s the murderer. And the way she looks from here, you’re also a murderer now, Maggie.”

  No way was I ready to believe I’d killed Diane with a few hits in the dark. I wanted to keep Pam talking, and Bobby Lee seemed okay with my goading her. “Diane? Your good friend? You two can’t stand each other.”

  Her ferretty eyes bulged. “Precisely. I can’t stand any of them, any of you. But with Diane dead and Dick almost there, there’s almost nothing to stop me. Actually, it was quite clever. After Diane and I left Jack, we drove to the store. Used a lot of bleach, but we finally got all of the blood and any traces of it off of ourselves.” She smiled maliciously. “We are capable of cleaning, you know. We’d just rather have you do it for us.

  “But Dick was waiting up for Diane when she got home, wanted to know where she’d been, why she’d snuck out. After he shoved her around a bit, Diane told him what she’d done. Dick, being smarter than Diane, immediately figured out that I’d told her to leave your knife in the truck so our fine police department would find it. What Diane had failed to realize was that her fingerprints were all over the knife! Even if you didn’t get arrested, Diane would. Dick is a jackass, but he’s smarter than his wife. He must have driven Diane back to the club and made her get the knife out of that nasty little man’s truck.”

  So that explained someone being in the club at three thirty in the morning. Dick had used my code to try to set me up. Hell, he probably had a beer while he was inside. He really was a jackass.

  “Of course, I learned all this thanks to you letting JC know no weapon had been found. Took me longer than expected, but I finally convinced Diane to get the knife back from Dick. Poor dear stabbed him with it, and now here we are.”

  Her words chilled me. I knew she was a bitch, a snob, a drug addict, but never so cold and callous. But she had left out one detail. “What did you do, Pam? Steal Dick’s heart medicine and poison Jack?”

  Her arm wavered, and the gasp out of her sounded like a deflating tire.

  Whoa. The shocked look on her face was priceless. She didn’t know about the autopsy results. While I was at it, I asked another question.

  “How did you get Diane involved? What motive did she have other than wanting to be like you?”

  Pam’s smirk returned. “Oh that. When it was Dick’s turn to be quartermaster, he found out what JC had been doing, how he’d been handling two sets of books. Can you imagine? Dick Reid had the nerve to blackmail my husband. He wanted in on it. I used the money to maintain my lifestyle, my reputation. They used it to go traveling with us and to visit their god-awful grandchildren.”

  Pam dropped the knife and stepped forward. She held up her hands and spoke directly to Bobby Lee. “None of this has to do with me, Chief. I did the planning, but none of the killing. And it was no great loss. I mean, it was only Jack Hoffman.”

  I went flying around that island so fast the bitch never saw me coming.

  Thirty-Six

  “So, tell me the part about how you tackled her.” Michael poured wine into our glasses. We were sitting on the patio the next day. Late afternoon, still an hour or so before dusk. Brenda and Chris were upstairs, busy in my kitchen. Michael had cleaned the grate and preheated the gas grill while I set the table, and now we were enjoying some wine. “Tell me again. It’s my favorite part.” He leaned forward, both elbows on the table and resting his chin in his hands.

  I laughed at him and said, “Yeah, it’s my favorite part too.” I raised my glass to him and we clinked glasses. “Hey, last time we toasted each other, Sally came along and refilled our cups.”

  “Speaking of Sally, what did you decide? Are you going to go to work at the diner?”

  “Yep. Can you imagine? But Sally is positive she can teach me to cook. She spent a lot of time today showing me around her kitchen and introducing me to customers. We’re the talk of the town at the diner, did you know that?”

  “Us? More like you. You saw the newspaper’s front-page story today. Nice shot of you and Bobby Lee shaking hands.” He grinned. “Unbelievable.”

  “I know, right?” After yesterday, and then this morning’s newspaper interview, I saw the police chief in a different light. Much like how my opinion of Jack Hoffman changed the more I learned about him, how I felt I knew him better. Now, if only Bobby Lee would solve Rob’s murder …

  Michael jumped up from the table, breaking me out of my reverie. I turned to see where he was going.

  “Howdy, folks,” said Bobby Lee himself as he came around the corner and approached the table carrying a huge platter. Brenda and Chris followed him, their hands full. Michael took a bowl from Chris and set it down on the table, then led Bobby Lee over to the grill. I jumped up to grab one of Brenda’s bowls.

  “The police chief was kind enough to help me and Chris,” Brenda said and grinned at me. She reached for the bottle of wine. “So I invited him to join us for dinner.”

  I looked over and watched as Michael took hamburger patties from the platter Bobby Lee was hol
ding and placed them on the grate. Their backs were to us. I stuck my tongue out at Brenda, and Chris giggled. Crap. Not the best adult role model. Whatever.

  “He just happened to be passing and saw Chris and me carrying stuff out your front door. He came to our rescue,” she explained.

  “Well, that was nice of you. The more the merrier,” I said while looking at Chris. We moved the place settings to make room for one more. I hadn’t told Brenda about my new job yet, but I wanted to wait until Michael was at the table. While he and Bobby Lee were at the grill, Brenda filled me in on her new shop in West Palm Beach and Chris let us know that she and Heather were best friends again. Before I could find out more from Chris, Michael and Bobby Lee came back to the table.

  “I flipped the burgers, so we might as well fill our plates while they finish cooking,” Michael said. “Should be five minutes or so.”

  “Everything looks so good,” I said. I plopped serving spoons into the bowls of potato salad, macaroni salad, and baked beans. “Can’t believe all this came out of my kitchen.”

  Brenda laughed and shook her head at me. “Yeah, that square contraption that heats up when you turn the knobs is amazing. Does so much more than reheat pizza.” She sat down next to me, leaned over, and kissed my cheek. “You know I’m joking. Sort of.”

  I smiled at her and said, “I know you are, and I can’t wait to tell you my good news.” Because he knew what I was about to tell her, I winked at Michael. I really liked the way his dark brown eyes sparkled. I quickly turned back to Brenda. “I have a new job.”

  “That’s wonderful news!” She hugged me. “Oh, I’m happy to hear that, hon. That deserves a toast.” She raised her wineglass. “Here’s to Maggie. Congratulations on the new job, and for helping the police chief solve his case.”

  “Hear, hear!” Bobby Lee clinked my glass.

  “Daddy has some good news too,” Chris piped up. “Can I tell them?”

  “Hold on a minute, kiddo. Let’s all grab our burgers first. They should be ready.”

  We grabbed our plates and followed Michael to the grill. I suddenly wasn’t hungry. What was his good news? He hadn’t said a word to me about anything. Were they moving? Did this have anything to do with Chris and Heather being friends again? Were he and Terri getting married? Were they going back to Pennsylvania or Orlando? Time seemed to move slowly and I dreaded what was coming.

  Once we were all settled back at the table, Chris asked, “Now, Daddy? Can I tell them now?” He nodded. “Daddy got his license. He’s a full-pledged private eye,” she proclaimed proudly.

  I burst out laughing, then clamped a hand over my mouth. Oh, God. “I’m sorry for laughing, Chris. I’m not laughing at you, I swear, it’s just that it was kind of funny how you announced the news. It’s very good news and—”

  Brenda kicked me under the table, and said, “Maggie’s just happy to hear your wonderful announcement. She tends to ramble when she’s this happy. Right, Maggie?”

  “Um, yes, right. Brenda’s absolutely right.” I raised my glass and said, “Cheers to you, Michael, congratulations.” I gulped some wine.

  “I’m not finished. Daddy has more news.”

  Michael leaned over, whispered in her ear. “Oh,” she said, giggling. “Full-fledged. Got it.”

  Here it comes. The part where he announces his engagement. I took a big bite out of my hamburger and waited.

  “I do have more news. I did get my PI license, and I’ve found the perfect location downtown to set up an office.”

  That’s it? Nothing about Terri and him. I felt silly for jumping to that conclusion, then wondered why I’d even had the thought. Why I was bothered by the possibility. Whatever. I took another bite.

  “Oh! Is that your new job, Maggie?” Brenda asked. “You’re going to work for Michael at his new office? Help solve more crimes? Cool, very cool.”

  Michael burst out laughing this time while I nearly choked on my food. Bobby Lee just stared at each of us in turn, sweat running down his bald little head.

  I swallowed and said, “Don’t worry, Chief, that’s not happening. No, Brenda, my new job is at Sally’s Diner. You know the place you liked so well? I start there Friday night.”

  “Great,” Brenda said. “I bet the waitresses make good tips there.”

  Michael wiped his mouth with his napkin and arched that eyebrow of his. “Oh, it’s not waitressing.”

  Brenda frowned. “What then? You won’t make much money bussing tables or cleaning—oh, no. Are you serious? You’re going to be a cook?”

  Priceless. Her expression was priceless and everything I expected. “Yep. Sally is convinced she can teach me everything she knows.”

  Michael said, “Believe me, Maggie and I tried warning Sally, but like Maggie said, Sally’s sure she can do it.”

  “And so am I,” Brenda said, slapping the table. “Congratulations, hon. You too, Michael. Here’s to new beginnings.”

  We raised our glasses again to each other. Good news all around. Bobby Lee solving Jack’s murder, my new job, Brenda’s new shop, Michael’s new career and office, and Chris and Heather’s restored friendship. We enjoyed the rest of our meal, and after tossing paper plates, plastic forks, and napkins in the trash can, we finished off the bottle of wine.

  “Heather’s mom helped Daddy get his new office,” said Chris.

  And here we go again. “Terri helped you?”

  “Yeah, she’s a realtor downtown. She’s been showing me different places. While you and Bobby Lee were kicking butt last night, she called and we talked. We met today to take a look at the old bookstore. Terri’s boyfriend used to own it until he opened a bigger store in the mall.”

  Brenda kicked me again. “Ow. I mean, oh, the old bookstore. Her boyfriend, cool. Hey, that means you, me, and Bobby Lee will all be working downtown now.” I looked over at Bobby Lee. He wiped sweat from his forehead and I saw white gauze on his left hand.

  I pointed to the bandage. “What happened?”

  He squirmed in his chair and rubbed his other hand over his bald head. “Pam Nelson. She bit me.”

  Michael cleared his throat. “Um, kiddo, how about going inside to finish your homework? Grown-up talk.”

  Chris rolled her eyes but did as her father said.

  I waited until Chris was in the house, then said, “Bit you? Oh, sheesh, Bobby Lee. Did you get a tetanus shot?”

  “Yes,” he said, chuckling. “Yes, I did.”

  “When? How? Why? Well, maybe not why because we know what a bitch she is, but when did she bite you?”

  “It happened when I was putting her in the holding cell last night. Pam didn’t want to go in there. Kept saying how Diane—oh, she’s fine, by the way—was the one who killed Jack and stabbed Dick. She went on and on talking about Diane. Some garbled story about Diane being concerned about a cat and how she stopped to feed it, and clean out a litter box. Oh, and something about watering a dead plant.”

  So that’s why there was a puddle for me to step into that day on Jack’s porch with Brenda.

  “Apparently Pam and Diane broke into Jack’s house, stole boxes of notebooks. Does any of that make sense to you, Maggie?” Bobby Lee asked. He looked over at Michael. I didn’t miss the winks exchanged between them.

  “It sure does, Bobby Lee.” I blushed. I kicked Brenda this time.

  “Yes sir, it does,” she said and batted her eyes.

  I slugged down the last of my wine and said, “Well, everyone, this was very enjoyable, but I have an important errand.” I scooted my chair back and stood.

  Brenda took my hand and asked, “The cemetery, hon?”

  I shook my head, kissed her hand, and said, “No, I don’t have to do that every day anymore.” We smiled at each other, and I told them I’d be back within the hour.

  I went to Wal-Mart first and got what I needed t
here. Then on to my next stop.

  The key was still under the potted dead plant. I carried my new purchase into Jack Hoffman’s house.

  “Kitty, here kitty,” I called out. Nothing. “Come on, cat, just come on out.” I pulled the cat carrier out of the plastic bag. The noise must’ve made it curious, and it came out. I unlatched the door on the carrier and gently pushed the cat inside. I’d have to find out its sex soon and come up with a decent name.

  But for now, I just said, “Okay, cat, let’s go home.”

  The End

  Acknowledgments

  Writing this acknowledgement page may have been some of the most difficult writing I’ve done because I was afraid of leaving anyone out. Each person was instrumental in helping get this book out into the world. It’s been a long journey, so I’ll start at the very beginning and go from there. There are so many of you. There are not enough ways to thank each and every one of you.

  My son, Adam Matter, who in the third grade used his vocabulary word author in this sentence: “My Mom is an author. For real.” Mumblety years later, it became true.

  My husband, Dave, whom most people know I call The Saint. This page would be much longer if I listed all the reasons why.

  My early readers, to whom I must apologize for putting them through those awful first drafts:

  My sister Patti Peres, sister-in-law Pamela Gault Matter, Cassie Gamble, Robyn Fisler, Steve Ohnmeiss, Mary Olive Britt, Teresa Friedman, David Wilson, and Ron Williams.

  My online critique group members Donnell Bell, Annette Dashofy, Chris Eberle, and Ron Voights. My Danville critique group members Dave Freas, Martha Johnson, Pamela Lee, and Andi Hummel. My Seascape mentors Hallie Ephron, Roberta Isleib, and S.W. Hubbard. My fellow Seascape mentees Michele Dorsey and Christine Falcone.

  Jane Atkinson for helping me set goals and keeping me accountable this time.

  Fabulous freelance editors Kristen Weber Dworkin, Alison Dasho, and Ramona DeFelice Long.