Aftermath

by Ann McMan

  “That’s precisely why I put it there.”

  “Whatever.” He retrieved the champagne and a bar towel. He reclaimed his seat and passed both across the table to Maddie. “You do the honors this time.”

  She opened the bottle and refilled both of their flutes. David reached for his glass, and she slid it just out of his reach. “Not so fast. There’s something I want to ask you about.”

  He looked suspicious. “What is it?”

  “You didn’t, by chance, have a conversation with Tom Greene today, did you?”

  “I most certainly did not. Why? Did something happen?”

  Maddie narrowed her eyes. “You might say that. Tom called Lizzy and renewed her contract for another two years.”

  David clapped his hands together. “Score. That didn’t take very long.” He seemed to think better of his dramatic response to the news and quickly adopted a sober expression. “What a surprising turnaround,” he said, with forced calm. “What do you think changed his mind?”

  “Nice try,” Maddie said. She pushed the glass across the table toward him. “David, you promised me that you wouldn’t confront Tom about his . . . hobby.”

  “I most certainly did not promise any such thing. If memory serves, you blackmailed me, and I capitulated under duress.”

  “So you admit it?”

  “I admit to nothing.”

  “Do you mean to tell me that you had no involvement in Tom’s sudden turnaround with regard to the funding for Lizzy’s position?”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “I knew it.”

  “For your information, I did not speak with Tom.”

  “You didn’t?”

  “No.” He took a healthy sip of champagne. “It was Muriel.”

  Maddie raised a hand to her eyes. “Oh, Jesus.”

  “She was very interested in the documentary evidence of your night of debauchery in Charlotte. I got the sense that she shared my concern about some of those photos being made pubic on Facebook.”

  Maddie dropped her jaw. “You blackmailed her?”

  David rolled his eyes. “Of course not. She agreed with me that you wouldn’t want people to know what kinds of questionable things you and Syd do when you’re out of town.”

  “What Syd and I do?”

  He sighed. “Work with me here, Dr. Strangelove.”

  Maddie started to get a clue. “You mean, you never told Muriel that you knew those were pictures of the two of them? And she actually bought that?”

  David rolled his eyes. “Of course she didn’t buy it. It was just a way for her to dodge the obvious bullet headed her way.” He reached for the champagne bottle so he could top off his glass. “I told her that you’d plainly had a lapse in judgment, since you were so distressed about losing the funding for Lizzy’s position. That’s why you and Syd ended up giving in to such an uncharacteristically reckless impulse and went to a drag show in Charlotte.” He smiled. “She seemed to commiserate right away—once she started breathing again.”

  “Oh, god.”

  “You’re welcome, by the way.”

  She sighed. “I guess I do owe you some thanks.”

  “Well, eureka. It’s about damn time I got some credit for something around here.”

  “And while we’re on the subject . . . I recall that I deleted those photos from my cell phone. How did you get copies of them?”

  “Duh. I emailed them all to myself as soon as I found them.”

  Maddie closed her eyes. “Of course you did.”

  “My mama didn’t raise no Luddite. Unlike you, I have a healthy respect for the efficacious applications of technology.”

  “I really need to stop underestimating you.”

  “I’ll say. You can repay me by making certain that the hunky Mr. Murphy drives down to attend our grand reopening soirée next weekend.”

  Maddie nodded. “I’ll see what I can do.”

  “In the meantime, you’ll never guess what else happened at Junior’s this morning.”

  “Illuminate me.”

  “Well . . . I was actually out there to take care of a special little somethin’ somethin’ I’ve got planned for the party, and Junior mentioned how far behind he was because of all the body work that came his way after the storm. Seems that he and Cletus just can’t keep up with it all, and people are getting frustrated with how long it’s taking to get their rides back.”

  “I’m sure there’s a point lurking in here some place,” Maddie said.

  “Hold your horses and quit interrupting, Missy. You’re about it hear it.”

  “Sorry.”

  “Well . . . shortly after Muriel watched my little slideshow, Junior came out give her the box containing whateverinthehell it was she ordered . . . probably chain lube or something. And I noticed his tattoo when he handed it to her.”

  “His tattoo?”

  David nodded. “He has a big ole U.S. Army Infantry symbol—the one with the crossed rifles? Turns out that Junior is a Vietnam vet, and very involved in the local VFW post. We started talking about all of that, and I asked if he’d knew about what happened to Henry’s dad.”

  Maddie was intrigued. “Did he?”

  “Nope. But he was all over it—especially when I told him that James was reputed to be some kind of whiz kid at fixing cars.”

  Maddie could hardly believe what she was hearing. “What did he say when you told him about that?”

  “He said that, if he wants it, James has a job, and that’s not all. Cletus and Evelyn are moving out of the apartment and into town, so they can be closer to Azalea’s doctor in Galax. That means their apartment out there will be available, and Junior said he’d let James live there for free until he got back on his feet . . . so to speak.” He looked at Maddie apologetically. “I didn’t mean that the way it came out.”

  She smiled at him. “I know what you meant.”

  “So,” he said. “What do you think?”

  Maddie didn’t know what to say. If James took Junior up on his offer, that would mean that Henry would still be nearby—close enough that maybe they could still see him often.

  On the other hand, she really had no idea how James might feel about relocating to an area where he had no history and no attachments. He might prefer to take his son and make a fresh start someplace else—someplace far away from Jericho.

  And there’d be nothing they could do about that.

  There were just too many unknowns, and too much potential for disappointed hopes.

  She looked at David. “Do me a favor, okay? Don’t mention anything about this to Syd until we have a chance to find out if it’s even something James is interested in considering.”

  David looked confused. “I thought you’d be ecstatic about this. I don’t get it.”

  “David, I’m about as ecstatic as I could be about any scenario that involves losing Henry.”

  He dropped his eyes. “I know . . . I’m really sad about that, too. I just thought this was a way to make the best of a bad situation.”

  She reached across the table and took hold of his hand. “It is, and I appreciate this more than you know. I really do. And believe me, I’m going to call James tonight and see what he thinks about the idea. I just don’t want to get Syd’s hopes up until we know it’s a real possibility.”

  “I understand.”

  Maddie squeezed his hand. “Thank you, David. I mean that.”

  David looked away. Maddie could tell that he was close to tears.

  “It’ll be okay,” she said.

  He nodded without speaking.

  Outside from his customary perch on the front porch, Pete started barking like crazy. They heard him jump down from his glider and thunder off the porch—barking all the way.

  Maddie heard the unmistakable sound of an approaching car. “I bet that’s Mom or Syd. Grab another glass, and I’ll meet you outside.” She gave David’s hand a final squeeze before getting to her feet.

  He nodded and
got up, too. Then he squinted and peered out the window behind her.

  “That’s not Syd or Celine,” he said. “It’s the sheriff.”

  Maddie whipped her head around. “What?”

  David was right. The car rolled to a stop, and Charlie Davis climbed out. Maddie felt her heart lurch inside her chest. What happened?

  Pete was dancing around Charlie’s feet, and she stopped to scrub him behind the ears.

  Maddie’s panic subsided as she watched Charlie bending over to interact with the dog. Whatever it is, it can’t be too serious, or she wouldn’t be playing with Pete. Right?

  She took a deep breath and walked out onto the porch. David followed on her heels.

  “Hi there, Charlie,” she called out. “What brings you out here?”

  Charlie straightened up at once and brushed off her trouser legs. “Hi there, Dr. Stevenson—Mr. Jenkins. I’m sorry to show up like this . . . but Sheriff Martin sent me out here to ask you to come into town.”

  “He did?” Maddie was confused. “Why didn’t he just call me?”

  Charlie looked embarrassed. “It’s . . . well . . . He, um, needs you come make bail.”

  “Bail?” David blurted out.

  Maddie held up a hand to shush him. “What happened?”

  “Well, ma’am, there was some kind of fracas at the café, and . . . um . . . your, um . . . well . . . She got arrested.”

  “Arrested?” David was beside himself with excitement. “Syd got arrested? I knew this would happen . . . I so should’ve gone along. That pompous windbag mother-in-law of hers did this, didn’t she?”

  Maddie turned and glared at him.

  “Sorry,” he said.

  Maddie faced Charlie. “Who got arrested, Charlie?”

  Charlie looked down at the ground. “Well . . .”

  “Was it Syd?” Maddie asked.

  Her mind was racing ahead. She never should have agreed to let Syd meet Doris by herself. Syd was far too angry about the divorce, and far too fragile because of everything related to Henry and James.

  “No, ma’am. It wasn’t Miss Murphy.”

  Maddie was confused. “Then who was it?”

  Charlie took a deep breath. “It was Dr. Heller.”

  “What?” Maddie was incredulous.

  She jumped about a foot into the air when something loud crashed behind her.

  She swung around to see that David—who had just knocked over half-a-dozen clay pots—had collapsed into a chair, convulsing with laughter.

  “Ohmygod,” he said between guffaws. “Stanford Hopkins is in the hoosegow . . .”

  MADDIE COULDN’T REMEMBER when it took this long to drive into town.

  She decided to ride in with Charlie, since she’d had the two glasses of champagne, thinking it was in everyone’s best interest if only one member of the family ended up behind bars today.

  It was a struggle, but she convinced David to remain behind.

  He was furious at Michael for not calling to let him know what all had transpired, until he realized that the ringer on his cell phone had somehow gotten turned off. He found five voice messages and seventeen texts—all escalating in intensity—from the distraught chef. Furthermore, when he finally checked, there were even two messages on the house phone—a clear indication that Michael had tried to call while David was out in the barn conducting his hooch hunt.

  Charlie was mostly silent during the ride downtown, but Maddie was able to extract some additional information from her about what had happened at the café.

  As it turned out, Syd, Celine, and Doris had all been picked up and taken to jail by the sheriff’s deputies, but only Celine and Doris were being held for bond. As near as Maddie could tell, Doris was pressing charges against Celine for assault, and Nadine was pressing charges against Doris for the destruction of personal property that ensued in the . . . food fight?

  Jesus.

  Apparently, Syd just got caught in the crossfire.

  Good god. This whole thing’s surreal.

  Of all the experiences Maddie never thought she’d have with her mother, heading to the county jail to post bail for her had to top the list.

  What on earth was her mother even doing at the café? And how did she get so entangled with Doris Simon?

  Assault? Celine?

  The woman was a poster child for self-control. Her maddening inability to express strong emotion had always been one of the hallmarks of her character. It used to drive her father nuts.

  It just made no sense.

  Maddie rubbed her forehead. She never should have had champagne so early in the day. Now she was getting a headache.

  “Are you okay, Dr. Stevenson?”

  Maddie raised her head and looked at Charlie. The young deputy had both hands gripping the steering wheel, and her eyes were fixed on the road ahead. They were now about three miles from the sheriff’s office.

  “I’m okay, Charlie,” she replied. “I’m sure you can imagine that all of this is a pretty big shock.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Charlie said. “I was worried about coming out there to tell you about what happened, but Sheriff Martin said he really wanted me to be the one to do it.”

  “Why do you think he sent you?”

  Charlie shrugged. “Maybe he thinks I know you better because of Henry and . . . um . . .”

  “Roma Jean?” Maddie offered.

  Charlie seemed embarrassed. “Yes, ma’am.”

  “It’s okay. I’m glad Byron sent you out to the house.”

  Charlie glanced at her. Her blue-gray eyes looked surprised. “You are?”

  Maddie nodded. “Sure. I know that you and Roma Jean are close, and she’s like family to us.”

  Charlie nodded, but didn’t say anything.

  Maddie gave in to an impulse and pressed her point. “Charlie? I am right that you and Roma Jean are close, aren’t I?”

  “I hope so,” Charlie replied. After a moment, she added, “I like her a lot.”

  “I do, too,” Maddie agreed. “And I’m sure you know that I care a lot about what happens to her.”

  Charlie looked at her again. “So do I, Dr. Stevenson.”

  Maddie thought her tone was defiant, but in an appropriate way.

  “That’s good,” she said. “That tells me that I can trust you not to take advantage of her friendship, or to push her into things she might not be ready for.”

  “I’d never do something like that.” Charlie’s expression was so earnest and open that Maddie had no doubt of her sincerity.

  Maddie smiled at her to try and put her at ease. “I’m sure you never would, Charlie.”

  They reached the edge of town, and Charlie turned right onto the road that would take them to the county courthouse and jail. They pulled into the parking lot, and Maddie could see Michael standing outside the building next his Rover and talking on his cell phone—to David, no doubt. He waved when he saw her and walked toward the car.

  Maddie unfastened her seat belt and turned to her chauffeur. “I can’t thank you enough for the sensitive way you handled this, Charlie. I’ll always be grateful to you for that. I think Byron knew what he was doing when he picked you to be the one to fetch me. I think you’re a person of integrity.”

  Charlie seemed to understand that Maddie was thanking her for more than the ride into town. “I’ll do my best not to ever let you down.”

  In the few seconds that elapsed before Michael reached them and yanked open her car door, Maddie became convinced that Charlie would always live up to her promise.

  MADDIE ADDED A third teaspoon of sugar to her coffee, feeling confident that neither of her companions would have the temerity to protest. They were finally back at home, seated around the big kitchen table. Maddie asked Michael to keep David corralled so she could talk with her two felons in private.

  “Okay,” she said. “Which one of you wants to go first?”

  Syd and Celine both started talking at once.

  Maddie quickl
y held up a hand. “One at a time, if you please. I already have a headache, and I just shelled out five-hundred bucks for the privilege of getting to tell you both what to do.”

  Her mother grumbled something under her breath.