The Madams of Mischief: Doom Divas Book # 1

by Sherry M. Siska

  Chapter Thirty

  As soon as I explained what happened, the Sheffield family swung into action. It was a sight to behold. Mom called Dad and told him to cancel their dinner plans. As soon as she hung up, Charli grabbed the phone and started making calls. The first one, to the hospital, confirmed that Vanessa hadn't gone in to work. After that, Charli began calling everybody she could think of that knew Vanessa. We had decided not to let on that there was a problem, so she came up with a lame story about Vanessa's toilet springing a leak and flooding her downstairs. No one questioned it.

  The last person who'd seen her, before me, was her baby-sitter. Vanessa had taken her kids over there a couple of hours early, but the woman hadn't seen or heard from her since. She promised Charli that she'd call if she heard from Vanessa.

  Mom, Dad, and Tim each took their cars and I took John's truck out to search for Vanessa. The four of us spent the rest of the night driving around town, looking everywhere we could think of. By three A.M., we'd all converged back at Charli's

  Absolutely exhausted, but unable to sleep, we sat in Charli's cozy family room and talked the rest of the night, trying to make sense of the senseless. Mom, Dad, and Tim resumed the search as soon as it began to get light out Saturday morning. I had committed to the softball game, but knew I wouldn't be able to play. My heart just wasn't in it. Not to mention the fact that I was mentally and emotionally drained.

  I slugged down another cup of coffee and drove over to the ball fields to tell the other people on my team. The folks I was playing with, local TV anchors and other DJs, were very understanding. I didn't mention to any of them what was going on; they all knew about the fire and assumed that was the reason.

  After I bailed out of the game, I resumed my search for Vanessa. No sign of the maroon T-bird anywhere. I did see Fred Thompson unlocking the door to his shop, though. I wheeled into his lot and followed him inside, anxious to hear if Zach had gotten out of jail. Fred stood beside the desk, looking at some mail. He didn't seem to have heard me open the door.

  "Hey there, Mr. Thompson. How's it going?" I said.

  He turned around, startled. "Why, hello there, Marty. How are you doing? What brings you by?"

  He folded the letter he'd been reading and stuck it in his shirt pocket. His hand trembled a little.

  "I just wanted to check on Zach, see how he's doing. Is he still over at the lake?" I couldn't bring myself to mention the jail.

  Fred looked pretty tired, like he'd been up all night, too. When I mentioned Zach, his eyes hardened and he clenched his jaw. I could see the cords of his neck straining against his green workshirt.

  "Zach's gonna be all right," he said. "That bastard's keeping him locked up all weekend, but I've got my lawyers working on it. He'll get out first thing Monday morning. Don't you worry your pretty little head about it. Okay?"

  I hated being patronized, but decided to let it slide. "Okay. Just tell him I'm thinking about him."

  "Sure thing." He pulled the letter he'd been reading out of his pocket. He looked like he was anxious to get back to it.

  I said good-bye, and started for the door. He told me to wait. "I almost forgot. I brought some stuff of yours down from the lake house," he said. "Some clothes and your purse. Figured you might need it. I know how you women are about your purses."

  I let that one slide, too. Sometimes, I'm just too damned nice. "Thank you, I really appreciate your doing that." I waited for him to get my stuff.

  He kept standing by the desk, holding the folded up letter.

  I cleared my throat. "Uh, Mr. T? If you tell me where the stuff is, I can grab it and get out of your hair."

  "Of course. Sorry. It's out in my trunk. Here, let's go get it." He stuck the letter back in his shirt pocket and went outside. I followed him to his car.

  He opened the trunk. "Here you go."

  I picked up my tote bag and clothes. "Well, I better run. Tell Zach I'll talk to him Monday."

  Fred pulled the letter out of his pocket again and immediately opened it. Must have been the one notifying him he'd won the ten million dollar sweepstakes.

  When I drove around to the side of the building to turn around, a blue van sitting behind Nancy Winslow's used car office caught my eye. I pulled over to where the van sat and parked next to it. I tried the van's doors. They were all locked. I shaded my eyes and peered inside. It was empty. I walked all around it.

  "You looking to buy a van, Marty?" Nancy Winslow's gravelly voice came from behind me.

  "Uh no, not really." I turned around to look at her.

  I wondered if she knew about me and Vanessa being inside her house. "It's just that this one looks like Vanessa Young's. You haven't seen her by any chance, have you?"

  Nancy studied me before answering. She had on khaki pants, a pink polo shirt, and that red floppy hat she'd been wearing a lot lately.

  "No, haven't seen Vanessa since she brought this van in Wednesday and asked me if I'd buy it from her."

  That took me by surprise. "Vanessa sold you her van?"

  Nancy sucked on her lower lip and made sort of a half smile/half grimace. "Yes. I don't usually do stuff like that. Buy outright from folks, I mean, but she was really desperate. I felt sorry for the poor kid, so I gave her a good price for the van."

  "What's she planning to do for a car?" I asked.

  "I gave her a seventy-seven T-bird as part of the deal." Nancy dropped her eyes for a split second. "Hated to see her without transportation, you know."

  "I'm sure she appreciated it. Listen, if you happen to see her, could you tell her I'm looking for her?"

  "Sure thing." She waved as I left, the rings on her tiny hands sparkling in the sunlight.

  I was almost all the way to the street when I realized she'd said Vanessa had sold her the van on Wednesday. I turned around and went back.

  She was standing by her office door, watching me. I didn't get out of the truck. It was probably the only way I'd ever have a height advantage over her. She gave me a quizzical look.

  "Nancy, you said Vanessa sold you the van on Wednesday. What time was that?"

  She dropped her eyes down and then looked straight into mine. "It was right after Warren's visitation at the funeral home. Actually, we discussed the deal there at the visitation and then right after it ended, we came over here and made the trade. Why all the questions?"

  So, it had been Vanessa who'd hit me. But why? Had something happened during the visitation that had made her go off her rocker?

  "Just trying to figure what time it was that you last saw Vanessa."

  "Is she missing?" Nancy asked. "Are you saying nobody's seen her since Wednesday night?"

  "Oh no, nothing like that. It's just something personal between Vanessa and me, that's all. Don't worry about it," I said. "Thanks, Nancy, I gotta run. Talk to you later."

  I drove off before she could ask me any more questions. I tried to keep looking for Vanessa after my talk with Nancy, but I could hardly keep my eyes open. I went back to Charli's instead, hoping one of the others had good news.

  When I walked in the house Charli, her three kids, and Vanessa's two were in her dining room staring up at the top of a tall antique pie safe. Two chairs lay on their sides, the centerpiece from the table was upside down on the floor, and two broken candlesticks lay beside it. Delbert was perched on top of the pie safe, eyes half closed, watching Charli and the kids watch him.

  "Hey, what's up?" I asked.

  Charli glanced around at me. "He won't come down. We've tried everything. I even climbed up on a chair and tried to pick him up, but he hissed and swatted at me.” She held up her arm and showed me the damage Delbert’s razor sharp claws had done.”What should we do?"

  "Nothing."

  "Nothing? You mean just let him stay up there?"

  "He'll come down when he gets hungry." Or, judging from the path of destruction, when the kids were at a safe distance. Like say, maybe, Mars.

  I picke
d up Jaelyn and gave her a kiss. "Any news on Vanessa yet?"

  Charli shot me a warning glance and put her finger to her lips. "Shh! Hey, y'all go out in the back yard and swing. Play nice, and we'll go to the pool after while," she said to the kids.

  They tore off running, screaming at the top of their amazingly loud little lungs. Charli scooped Jaelyn up. "Not you, sweet-pea. You stay here with me."

  Once the kids were outside, she told me there hadn't been any luck in finding Vanessa.

  "Tim did find the car, though. It's parked down at the Glenside shopping center in front of Kroger's. He's taking turns with Dad and Mom watching it, hoping Vanessa decides to come back to pick it up."

  "How come you have her kids?" I sat down on one of the dining room chairs.

  "Her sitter had to go to a wedding today. I told her I'd keep them until Vanessa gets back." She sat down next to me, snuggling Jaelyn into her lap.

  Delbert jumped off his perch and nuzzled my leg, meowing loudly. "See, told you," I said. I went in the kitchen to fix Delbert some food. Charli followed me.

  While I opened the can, I told her about seeing Fred and about my conversation with Nancy.

  "Nancy lied," Charli said immediately. "I saw Vanessa driving her van Thursday morning. When I came over to pick you up for the funeral, she was sitting at the stop light right behind me."

  "She lied? I wonder why?"

  "Obviously, she wants you to think that Vanessa was the one that hit you. Which means Nancy probably did it."

  "You think she knew I was spying on her and Steve?"

  "That's exactly what I think. I think she believes you know something incriminating about her and now she's out to get you." She looked worried. "Be careful Marty. Nancy's pretty scary. Plus, she might have been the one that set the fire. And killed Warren."

  "I will. Be careful, I mean. Too many bad things have been happening the last few days." I yawned and stretched. "Listen, do you mind if I take a nap here? I've gotta work six to midnight tonight and I'm beat. I don't want to fall asleep on the air."

  "Six to midnight? I thought you go on the air at seven."

  "I do. I gotta be there at six, though. Prep time."

  "Tell you what. I'll take the kids swimming, get them out of your hair. John's not due back until tonight. You'll have the place all to yourself."

  After they left, I wandered around for a few minutes, trying to find the best place to lay down. Charli's house is like everything else in her life - perfect. The boys share a huge room, almost as big as my whole apartment. It's a boy's fantasy land come to life: sturdy pine furniture, sports posters, a train set, and shelves lined with toys and books.

  Jaelyn's room is fit for a princess. A white iron day bed shares space with a white wicker chest, dresser, and rocking chair. The comforters and draperies have a pretty violet and ivy print. Her shelves hold antique dolls and toys.

  I wandered into the master bedroom, by far the nicest looking room of the three. An off white tone-on-tone print sofa and chair sit at one end, in front of a fireplace and wet-bar. The rest of the room contains heavy oak furniture: dresser, chest, two night stands, and -- the best part -- a king-sized bed covered with a soft down comforter.

  I turned the radio on and adjusted the volume so that it was playing softly, kicked off my shoes, and stretched out on the bed. Within seconds, I was asleep. About two hours later the kids burst into the room and woke me up.

  "Aunt Marty, guess what," Mark screamed directly into my left ear, "it started fundering so we had to leave. Mom tooked us to get ice cream! We bringed you back some. And we rented a movie, too!"

  The other four climbed up on the bed and started bouncing and screaming. I groaned and sat up.

  "Stop it y'all! All this rolling around is making me sea-sick." I grabbed Jaelyn and tickled her, making her squeal and giggle.

  Charli stood in the doorway, calmly watching. "Ice cream is in the freezer when you get hungry." She clapped her hands together with some sort of cupping action. Bomp! Bomp! "All right you little monkeys, let's go put that movie on. Aunt Marty needs to rest."

  The kids jumped off the bed and ran screaming and hollering down the hallway, headed toward the playroom. All except for little Jaelyn. She gave me a toothy grin and a slobbery kiss before toddling away.

  "Sorry we woke you up," Charli said, after they left. "I'm going to do a load of laundry. Do you want me to wash those clothes you had on last night?"

  "That'd be great. Let me go get them." I reluctantly climbed out of the bed and went down the hall to the kids bathroom. My canvas duffel bag sat next to the tub. I'd stuck my dirty clothes inside the duffel. I dug them out and handed her my shorts and the Wynonna t-shirt I'd had on when Vanessa locked me in the shed. A few cobwebs clung to the shirt.

  "Wait," I said, "there's some papers in there! In the back pocket of my shorts.

  Charli pulled the shorts out of the bag and retrieved the two pieces of paper. She glanced at the first one and handed it to me. "Where'd you get these?" she asked.

  "They fell out of that shoe box Vanessa was carrying when she pulled the gun on me." I looked at the paper she'd handed me. "What are all these numbers on here?"

  Charli held up her hand. She was reading the other one, a newspaper clipping. She sat down on the edge of the tub and began shaking her head while she read. Suddenly, her eyes got wide. "This is incredible. Here, read it." She handed me the clipping.

  I sat down next to her and read it. She watched me anxiously, barely able to contain herself from talking about it. When I finished reading it, our eyes met and we just sat there staring at each other, shaking our heads, not quite believing what we'd read.