The Manatee Did It

by Kay Dew Shostak

  Tamela motions for Lucy to keep her voice down, but Lucy smiles at her sleeping mother. “No worry, she’s out for a while. Matter of fact, she’ll be so upset she missed our conversation, I’ll have to relay it all to her tonight. But I’m serious, what are the police going to do? Those girls were right there!”

  Annie sighs. “Remember, the police don’t think it could be either of the girls because they were too drunk and too weak.”

  Lucy scoots her chair out to face the beach and slouches further down in her seat. “We’ll clean all this up in a minute and have our dessert, but right now this is just too comfortable.” The rest of us move our seats to face the waves as well.

  Annie divides the rest of the margarita pitcher among our glasses. “There, you get the most, Jewel. Sounds like it wasn’t a fun conversation with your husband last night.”

  This time when I start to speak it’s not nearly as hard. Maybe it’s due to the margarita, maybe the sunshine, maybe the sound of the waves, but whatever it is, my lips are loose. “No, it wasn’t fun. He hates it here. Doesn’t want to stay here—no, says he won’t stay here. Or at least won’t stay in the house. I completely understand why he’s at the top of the suspects list, not that I think he did it, but he’s so oblivious to how all of this looks. He’s such a nuts-and-bolts guy, a true engineer. Exactly who you want building bridges and airplanes, but he has no sense of the big picture. Also, he can’t lie to save his life.” I laugh and then grimace. “He can’t even pull a practical joke. There’s no way he could face a police interrogation and tell a plausible, made-up story. Just no way.”

  Laying my head back and closing my eyes, I lift my arms in a shrug before letting them fall limply at the sides of my chair.

  No one says anything for a moment, and I’m actually so relaxed I may have started to doze off. Then Tamela clears her throat. “I taught school for a lot of years. I remember many kids like your husband, honest to a fault. Didn’t have a clue how to lie.”

  “Exactly,” I slur. Hearing my slur, I sit up and smile as I shake my head to wake up. “Think I was dozing off.”

  Tamela smiles at me, but I feel a tension behind her smile. She leans toward me from across the table. “The only problem with those kinds of people is they can lie if forced into a corner. It may not be comfortable for them, but it’s not impossible. I had that happen with a student I went way out on a limb for because I just knew he couldn’t be lying.”

  Now I’m awake. “Do you think Craig is lying?”

  “Oh, sweetie, I don’t know. I just don’t want you to get too far out on a limb like I did.” She settles back in her chair, still looking troubled.

  Lucy also looks troubled as she reminds me, “He’s already lied a couple times, right? About not being at the marina, not knowing Pierson Mantelle, the inheritance…”

  Annie’s frown deepens. “And about knowing you were there at the marina that day for lunch. Sorry, but I did have to tell Aiden that. He said they’d already heard it from one of the other ladies from our lunch group.”

  “Yeah.” I smile at her. “I figured. Okay, Craig’s on the top of the list. Who else besides the college girls is also on the list?”

  Cherry points at Tamela. “Do you still have your notebook?”

  Tamela pulls it out of her seat. “Right here. What else did you find out from Ray, Annie?”

  Annie’s defensive. “Why do you think I talked to Ray? Maybe I got everything from Adam.”

  “Maybe,” Tamela says, tapping her pen against her chin. “But then what were you and Ray talking about at Antonio’s late last night?”

  Like toddlers hearing the rattle of a cookie bag, all of our heads swing to look at Annie.

  “Leaving Jewel’s house last night, I ran into him and we went for a quick drink. That’s all. I was investigating.” Her big, blue eyes flash at us. “That’s all.”

  Tamela shrugs. “Sounded like it was pretty cozy. Antonio’s can be pretty dark and the drinks pretty strong.”

  Annie is blushing. She looks down at the table. “We’re old friends. Besides, I felt sorry for him, trying to get around on that old pair of crutches.”

  “Crutches?” Lucy asks.

  “He sprained his ankle. Had it all wrapped up.”

  “Poor man,” I say. “Being a janitor is hard enough. I bet he’s on his feet all day. Hopefully he won’t lose his job. He said he really needed it.”

  Now heads swivel toward me, but I’m the only one still looking concerned. “What?”

  Cherry laughs. “Oh, I never did fill you in on Mr. Barnette, did I? Ray Barnette can’t lose his job unless he fires himself. He owns Plantation Services, the largest cleaning, sanitation, and whatever-else-they-do company in the whole region. They have the contract for most of the hotels and businesses. Even have the local government contract.”

  “Then why was he cleaning the offices at town hall that day?”

  Annie throws up a hand. “He started the company being a janitor, so he fills in occasionally just to see how things are going. He did get kind of agitated when I asked him what his new job would’ve been like with the marina.” Her scowl deepens. “He said he’d found out Pierson was double-dealing him and he was glad he was dead. But you know, what if Ray was this angry before Pierson died?”

  Cherry tilts her head and studies Annie. “How did he hurt his foot? You said he was on crutches?”

  Annie shakes her head. “He never really did say. Probably stepped off a curb wrong.”

  Cherry clasps her hands in front of her mouth and thinks for a moment. “Or could he have hurt it falling out of a first-floor window when he was surprised during his search of his competition’s office?”

  Lucy gasps. “At Jewel’s house! The police said it looked like the person fell leaving, didn’t they?”

  I hit my forehead with the palm of my hand. “I forgot to tell you. Craig does have another laptop for personal business. He had it with him last night when he got home. He seemed completely stumped as to why I was asking him about it. However, he did admit someone could’ve broken in to get the plans for the marina from him. Someone against the marina, not in competition for his job. I wonder if he even knows he had competition. Anyway, he had it with him last night, so I guess no one got it.”

  Annie’s voice drops to a low rumble as she points at me. “I said I ran into Ray last night? Well, he was at the end of your street, walking. He had a small canvas bag over his shoulder, and when he got in the car I saw it was empty so I asked him what it was for. He said he’d needed to bring ‘something back to someone,’ and he had to carry it in the bag since he was on crutches.”

  “I just got chills,” Lucy says. “What if he was bringing Craig’s laptop back to him?”

  We are all staring at each other. Apparently Lucy isn’t the only one with chills. We all jump and yelp when Miss Birdie pipes up, “Did I miss dessert?”

  Once the shock is over, we laugh and begin clearing the table. I deliver a stack of dishes to the kitchen and open the box of cupcakes. It smells like Karen’s bakery, and as much as I’m looking forward to a cupcake, my main feeling at the moment is aggravation.

  Nothing diminishes the pleasure of a freshly baked cupcake decorated with a glorious pile of frosting like realizing your husband might be so obtuse he’s going to end up in jail.

  Chapter 24

  “Let’s have dessert inside,” Lucy says as she comes in off the deck. “I’m making a pot of coffee, but there’s also water and iced tea in the fridge. Help yourselves.”

  Cherry had walked in with Miss Birdie on her arm, and they are looking at the collection of pictures on the far wall. I join them as the small kitchen fills with the others cleaning up. I deliver the cupcakes to the coffee table, then step over to the wall of pictures. Miss Birdie takes hold of my arm as I get close.

  “Come look at my pictures. You girls won’t believe how much fun we had here back in those days. We drove all over the beach and had fires at night. M
r. Fellows, Lucy’s father, loved to fish. All the pictures of him and his fish are on the other wall over there. Cherry, where did you move here from?”

  “The Atlanta area. Our kids were grown, and my husband’s company asked if we wanted to relocate to Jacksonville. We were delighted to find it was an easy commute to his office from here. We’d vacationed here years ago and loved it.”

  “Oh my,” Miss Birdie says. “He drives all the way to Jacksonville every day?”

  “Not anymore. He changed jobs recently and works from home, but after years of Atlanta traffic a thirty-five-minute commute with comparatively little traffic was nothing to him. I still work at the hospital on the island, but only on weekends. I’m a nurse.”

  Miss Birdie grins and squeezes Cherry’s arm with hers. “I just love nurses! They make being in the hospital almost fun, don’t you think?”

  We laugh and are pulled along by the older woman. She makes a motion with her head at another section of pictures. “See here, Jewel, there are some of the old houses downtown. I don’t believe your home is in any of these. Most were taken at the parades or during home tours… no, I don’t see the Mantelle house. Remember, you promised to let me in to see it, right?”

  “Yes, ma’am, I did.”

  She lets go of Cherry’s arm and turns fully toward me. “I know it looked like I slept through everything that was said out there during lunch, but I heard some things.” She lifts her free hand to touch my cheek. “I hope you stay here, Jewel Mantelle. That family, and this island, is lucky to have you—now act like it!” She grins and pinches my cheek.

  “Ow,” I say with a laugh. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had my cheek pinched.” Bending over to hug her, I whisper, “Thank you. I’ll remember that. Want a cupcake?”

  She pulls away. “Just one? That’s an awfully large box. I bet my daughter told you I have a sweet tooth. Let’s go sit down.”

  Once she’s seated, I walk into the kitchen and pour myself a cup of coffee. Back in the living room, Tamela is already scribbling in her notepad. “Okay, people we’re still checking on that are involved some way are Craig Mantelle, Ray Barnette, Sheryl-Lee King, the girlfriend and her friend. Wait, what about Pierson’s wife? Weren’t we going to check on her?”

  “I did. Just a minute.” Lucy is bent over the coffee table cutting one of the coconut fudge cupcakes in half. “I want to try one of the other flavors in a minute,” she says as she puts the half on her plate and sits down. “Okay, I knew his mother played tennis with a friend of mine in Ponte Vedra, so I called Paula and talked to her this morning.” She flips back in her book to a previous page. “Turns out Pierson’s wife also plays in that league. Her name is… here it is, Saundra. She checked and found out both Leigh Anne and Saundra canceled practices for this week. Apparently the two of them are pretty tight. I actually got both of their cell numbers.” She looks up, then around the circle of us. “Can anyone think of a reason why we should call them?”

  We all focus on our cupcakes as we think. Cherry says, “I don’t think we’re doing this detective thing right. Feels too muddled, don’t you think?”

  Annie speaks with her mouth full of chocolate. “Not that many murders for us to practice on, you know.”

  “That’s a good thing, right?” I say. They all nod, but I’m not sure they’re being sincere. After all, none of their husbands are at the middle of the case.

  Miss Birdie had excused herself while we were talking. Now she comes out of the door on the left side of the room. She leaves the door open, and we can see a large bedroom behind it. She has put on a lightweight peach cardigan that matches her outfit, and her purse is hanging from her arm.

  Pointing at the table, she instructs her daughter. “Pack up a half dozen of those cupcakes. Mimi Potts is expecting us.”

  Lucy stands up. “Mimi Potts, Leigh Anne’s mother?”

  “Yes. Isn’t that a good place for us to get some answers about Pierson’s family? I called Mimi, expressing my condolences on the death of her grandson. Told her I wanted to stop by with some friends. Girls, are you coming with me? If you are, then you need to shake a leg!”

  Cherry and Tamela begged off as they had plans for the afternoon. I tried to get out of going since I don’t know the poor woman and I’m not really good in situations like this. I never know what to say. However, Miss Birdie said I was most definitely going to pay my respects as I was practically family to her friend. She also said something about me needing to learn what it meant to be Southern. Plus, she pointed out that I’d bought the cupcakes.

  So here I am walking up the pine straw–stained sidewalk toward a small, rundown ranch house. We’d arrived in two cars and parked out by the road, but there are no cars in the driveway, which surprised us all.

  Annie whispers, “Wouldn’t you think there would be more people here?”

  “Maybe everyone came yesterday,” Lucy says. “I haven’t been in this neighborhood in years. It’s looking a little worse for wear, isn’t it?”

  “It’s not in the best area, and it never was very nice,” Annie says. “Some of the houses look abandoned, but some look like folks are working on them. Amber says you can get a good deal in this area if you’re willing to do some renovation.”

  Lucy rings the doorbell, and we listen to see if it works. After a second push with no accompanying sound, Lucy knocks on the crooked screen door. We hear a voice, and then the wooden door behind it is slowly pulled open. The little old woman on the other side is wearing a light pink housecoat, and her gray hair is cut short. She grins and pushes on the screen door. “Come in! Come in! Law, it’s been ages, Birdie! Who are these pretty young women you’ve dragged to an old woman’s door?”

  “Mimi, it sure is good to see you again. Hate the circumstances, though,” Birdie says as we all file in.

  Mrs. Potts closes the door, which makes the dark room even darker and the air more stale, if that’s possible. She practically falls into a big, dark recliner and points Birdie to a matching chair beside her. The other three of us take the couch. Birdie tries to sit politely on the edge of the chair, but it sucks her in so that her feet are in the air, sticking straight out. Annie’s eyes light up, and she looks like she’s going to laugh right out loud.

  Lucy nudges her with her elbow and clears her throat. “Momma, are you okay?”

  “Sure am,” she says as she arranges herself. “This is right comfortable, isn’t it, Mimi?”

  “Best thing since sliced bread,” Mimi says, and then she points to the box I’m holding. “What’s that?”

  “Oh, some cupcakes. Would you like one? You don’t know me, Mrs. Potts. I’m Jewel.”

  From the depths of her chair, Birdie speaks up. “Jewel Mantelle. She’s married to that boy C. J. what would stay with Corabelle in the summers. Remember, Mimi? Jewel here just moved into the house.”

  “The Mantelle house? The big one?”

  “Yes, ma’am. Can I get you a cupcake?”

  “Oh me, oh my!” She cackles as she leans forward. Her chair leans with her so it looks like she might fall out. “Wait’ll Leigh Anne finds out about you!”

  I clear my throat and smile deciding to not say I’ve already had the pleasure of meeting her daughter. “I’m so sorry about your grandson, Mrs. Potts.”

  She sits back. “Yes, that is sad. But I ain’t seen him in years, so…” She shrugs. “I will take one of them cupcakes. There are some paper plates in the kitchen if you don’t mind.”

  Lucy and Annie leap up to help me with what is clearly a one-person job.

  In the kitchen, we huddle around the small table, where we find a stack of paper plates and some other food offerings. Annie shakes her head, then yells, “Mrs. Potts, okay if we put some of this food in here away so it won’t spoil?”

  “I’d be obliged,” the older lady yells back.

  Lucy starts opening the cabinets looking for containers. “I told you Leigh Anne wouldn’t be staying here. Think her mother even knows
where she is? I wonder if she’s already gone back home to Ponte Vedra.”

  Annie hands me a roll of Saran Wrap. “If she’s not seen Pierson in years, she probably hasn’t seen his wife either. This may not help our investigation, but at least we’re doing a good deed.”

  “Things are really pretty clean in here. You think she has some help?” I ask as I look around at the worn appliances, torn linoleum, and faded paint.

  “Possibly,” Annie says.

  I’ve decided on taking her a piña-colada cupcake, so I carry that out to Mimi on a paper plate. “Here you are. They’re from Karen’s Bakery and are delicious. Can I get you anything to drink with it?”

  “No, hon. I still have some coffee. This is mighty nice of you. I wish my Leigh Anne were here. I know she’d love to meet you. She always dreamed of living in that house. When she was a girl she’d sit outside it for hours, just a-dreaming.”

  “I did get to meet her. She came by the house one day.”

  Mrs. Potts scowls. “Now she never told me that.”

  “Does she usually stay here with you when she visits?” The question is out of my mouth before I even know I’ve formed it.

  With a light yellow frosting mustache, Mrs. Potts shakes her head. “No. She usually stays over at the Bellingtons’.” She takes another big bite, and I back away with a smile.

  “I’ll go help them finish up.” Bellingtons’? That sounds so familiar.

  Annie and Lucy are waiting around the corner for me with excited grins. They pull me into the kitchen. Annie says, “You did good! You sounded just like a detective.”

  “Who are the Bellingtons? It sounds familiar.”

  “We were there Wednesday. Charlotte Bellington, remember? The inn her son and daughter-in-law run. They’d be around Leigh Anne’s age; maybe they’re friends.”

  Lucy looks around. “We’re done in here. So now what?”

  Annie says, “I need to get home and change for Florida Friday. Y’all going?”

  “What is it?” I ask as we walk back into the living room.