Barbecue and a Murder

by Kathleen Suzette

  Chapter Eight

  “What are you making today, Rainey?” Mom asked, appearing in the kitchen doorway and heading to the refrigerator.

  I was standing in front of the 1940 O’Keefe and Merritt Town and Country stove she had put into her refurbished Victorian home. The kitchen was redone with vintage appliances including a 1940 General Electric refrigerator. There was a large side-by-side refrigerator out in the garage to store the excess groceries—1940s refrigerators weren’t very roomy.

  On the front stove burner was a pot of barbecue sauce I was working on. “Hickory smoke barbecue sauce,” I said to her. “Sam suggested my cookbook needed barbecued spareribs, and I think I agree with him. Actually, barbecued anything—chicken, steaks, kabobs. I love it all.”

  “Oh, that sounds good,” she said closing the refrigerator door after pulling out a bottle of water. “Is that what we’re having for dinner?”

  I shook my head and turned to her. “No, something isn’t quite right with the sauce and I haven’t figured out what it is yet. I’m using honey for the sweetener, but brown sugar and maple syrup sound good, too. I just haven’t made up my mind which one to use for the cookbook yet.” Maggie lay on the linoleum floor near the stove, hoping for a treat while my mother’s orange long-haired tabby stretched out under the kitchen table.

  “Stop, you’re making my mouth water,” she said, leaning against the kitchen counter. “I’m so glad you moved home from New York City, Rainey. I missed you while you were gone.”

  I glanced at her. “I’ve been back eight months now, Mom. Haven’t you had enough of me yet?”

  “No, and I never will. You know I never will, but I know you want to move out. I called Lisa Allen, the realtor that’s handling the cottage and made an offer for you. You still have to go down and sign the paperwork. Actually, both of us do, but if things go right, you may be a homeowner soon.”

  I squealed with joy. “Oh Mom, thank you! I’m so excited. That house has so much potential, especially with that great big basement.”

  “You’ll have to work on the financing to convert the basement on your own, but I’ll co-sign with you for the loan on the house. As much as I hate to see you go, I want to see you in a house that you love.”

  I went over and gave her a hug. “You know I love that house, and I can hardly wait. Did you offer less than the asking price?”

  She nodded. “I offered ten thousand less than what they wanted. We’ll see if they accept it.”

  “We’ll keep our fingers crossed, then,” I said and went back to the bubbling pot on the stove and gave it a stir with a wooden spoon. I could hardly wait to be able to cook in my own kitchen. I liked things to be just so in a kitchen, and while my mother wouldn’t have cared if I rearranged hers, I just didn’t feel comfortable doing it.

  “Did you hear anything new about Pamela North?” she asked. “It’s a shame, I really think she was going places. It would have been fun to be able to tell all the summer tourists that Miss America is a native of Sparrow. Would she be a Sparrowian?”

  “I agree, it’s a terrible shame she was killed. I haven’t heard much about her death though. Let’s just call ourselves Sparrows.” I didn’t want to admit to my mother that Cade had asked me to ask around about Pamela. She would want to help and Cade would frown on that.

  “So that means you’re on the case, right?” she asked, with a glint in her eye. “I heard Cade asked you to help out.”

  I gasped. “Mom, no one is supposed to know that. How did you find out?”

  She laughed. “From your sister. Who else would I hear it from? I swear, did you really think you could keep it from me?”

  I sighed. “We need to keep it quiet, but yes, I am unofficially helping out. Cade asked me if I would ask around since I know most of the locals, but you have to keep quiet about it.”

  Her eyebrows went up. “Does this mean you two are dating? Am I going to get more grandchildren?”

  I shook my head and gave her a look. “No Mom, we are not dating. We have never gone out, and from the looks of it, I don’t think we ever will.”

  “You need to work on that. You know I need more grandchildren, and the two of you would make pretty ones. Plus, he’s got a gun and I find that kind of sexy.”

  “You’ve got five grandchildren, and that may be all you get. You’ll just have to be satisfied with them.”

  “I saw Sharon North at the grocery store yesterday,” Mom said, ignoring my remark. “She doesn’t seem to be the least bit sad about Pamela’s death.”

  I stirred the sauce again and took a taste from the wooden spoon. It was still just a little too tangy. Personally, I liked sweet sauces but sweet and spicey were popular. I made a mental note to check and see if that would fit into the theme of the cookbook.

  “Maybe she’s just trying to hide her sorrow,” I said.

  “You’re being facetious.”

  I gave her a sideways glance. “I talked to her the other day, and she said Pamela was a rather unpleasant girl. She thought she probably had a lot of enemies in the pageant world.”

  “I can see where jealousy might play a big part in those pageants,” she said and took a sip of her water. “I never really liked those things. Your grandmother wanted me to enter you and your sister in pageants when you girls were little, but I told her I didn’t feel right about it. I’m glad I didn’t. Back then, of course, the girls were more natural looking. These days I really think they make them look too grown up.”

  “I don’t think we missed anything by not being in beauty pageants. Besides, Stormy isn’t a very good dancer. We probably wouldn’t have won the talent portion.”

  She chuckled. “You’re not so great yourself. Maybe you would have gotten enough points without the talent portion. Still, it’s a shame she died. Did Cade say what he thought happened to her?”

  “I think it’s too early to know much of anything.”

  She made a tsk-tsk sound in her throat. “Maybe I need to stop in and check on Sharon. She was one of my best employees. I was so happy for her when she married Edward North, but when I saw her later, it seemed like she just wasn’t herself. I was kind of suspicious that something was going on there.”

  I looked over at her. “Like what? Suspicious of what?”

  She shrugged and thought about it. “I don’t know. She seemed quieter and not as happy as she was when she worked for me. I guess it could be my imagination. Or maybe she was just going through a tough spot in life when I saw her. As small as Sparrow is, I rarely run into her though. Seems kind of odd.”

  It made me wonder. Was there some kind of trouble in that house? I wasn’t sure I had ever met Edward North, or at least I didn’t remember meeting him. It was something else to keep in mind.

  Chapter Nine

  I drove my Toyota over to the Sparrow garage the following day. It was time for an oil change so it was the perfect excuse to take it into the garage and see if Ryan Sparks was around. It was after their regular closing time, but Luanne had said there was a nighttime mechanic. She had also mentioned Ryan’s name, and I was hoping it would be him staying late tonight.

  I parked my car at the curb and went into the office. The front counter was littered with work order tickets, new car brochures, and sports magazines. The office was the typical man’s domain. Many of the tickets were oil smudged and the smell of grease hung in the air. The office was empty, so I went to the door that led out to the garage. The door was ajar, and I gently pushed it open a bit, peering into the mechanic’s bay. I could hear clinking coming from the direction of a truck at the far end of the garage, so I walked out into the garage.

  “Hello?” I called.

  The clinking stopped and in a moment a young man stepped from behind the Ford pickup he had been working on. He smiled at me and nodded, heading in my direction. “Hello,” he said and extended a hand toward me. Before he got to me he realized his hand was greasy, and he pulled a red mechanic’s rag from his back pocket, wiping
at the grease.

  I gave him a smile. “I was hoping someone was around, I wanted to drop my car off for an oil change. I couldn’t get in earlier today, so I thought I might be able to leave it overnight?” His coveralls had a patch with the name Ryan on the chest and I knew I had the right man.

  He nodded. “Sure, we can do that. Just an oil change?”

  He headed toward the office and I followed behind him. His gray coveralls were stained with grease and smudged with oil.

  “Actually, why don’t you take a look at everything? It’s been a while since I’ve brought my car into a garage, and with it being summer and hot, it probably needs some sort of safety check.”

  We went into the office and I sat on one of the tall stools in front of the counter while he continued wiping his hands with the red rag, and then finally laid it on the counter.

  “We can do that, no problem.” He picked up a clipboard with work order tickets on it and began filling it in.

  Ryan had a boy-next-door quality with his blond hair, blue eyes, and athletic build. I was pretty sure he had made a lot of teenaged girls swoon when he passed by.

  “How is George? I haven’t been in here in forever and I haven’t seen him around town.” George had been servicing my parents’ car since I was a little girl.

  The phone in my pocket vibrated, letting me know I had a text. I pulled it out and quickly glanced at it. Craig Strong. I shoved the phone back into my pocket. My ex-husband could wait.

  Ryan continued filling out the ticket, but his eyes went to me. “George is doing well, he usually only works during the day. I just stay late a few hours every night to keep us from having a backlog of vehicles to service. Lots of summer tourists, you know. I’ll need your contact information, please.”

  I gave him my name, phone number, and address and watched as he carefully filled it in. He had neat handwriting, but he was a slow and unsure writer. Maybe he had some learning issues, and I wondered if that was why he didn’t go to college after graduating high school.

  “That’s good to hear,” I said. “You’re Ryan? Ryan Sparks?”

  He looked up at me and nodded slowly. “Yes, I am.”

  “Weren’t you the high school football star last year? The one who scored all those touchdowns in the final game against Boise?”

  He beamed at my words. “Yes ma’am, I am. I’m still amazed that it happened the way it did. Sometimes, you’re just on a roll and you can’t be stopped. That was definitely one of those nights.” His face shone with pride at the memory.

  I nodded. “It sure was. The whole town was so proud that our hometown boy won the championship for us.”

  His cheeks went a little pink as he nodded. “Thank you. It was a great season. Are you a football fan?”

  “No, not really. But I do like to see local people do well. Say, did you know Pamela North?”

  His face clouded over and he gave one quick nod of his head. “Yes, she was my girlfriend.”

  “Oh, I’m so sorry for your loss,” I said. “I hated to hear what happened. She seemed to have a bright future ahead of her. I can’t imagine how hard this must be for everyone that loved her.”

  He averted his eyes and nodded again. “Pamela could have done anything she set her mind to. She was as smart as she was beautiful. It breaks my heart to know what happened to her. People around town are talking and they say she was murdered.”

  “I think I remember seeing pictures of the two of you in the newspaper when you were homecoming king and queen, come to think of it. I heard it was murder too, and I just can’t imagine who would want to do something like that to that poor girl.” He seemed upset about Pamela’s death, but I was expecting more emotion from him. Some people don’t show a lot of emotion openly, but I made a mental note of it just in case.

  He looked back at me, and this time his eyes glistened with unshed tears. “I keep thinking this is a nightmare and I’ll wake up. Only, it hasn’t happened yet.”

  I’ll admit his words broke my heart a little. “It does seem like a nightmare, doesn’t it? I hope the police find whoever did this.”

  His eyes narrowed. “I think I have a good idea who might have done it,” he said, his mouth forming a hard line.

  “You do? Who would want to do something so terrible to someone like Pamela?” I asked innocently.

  He gripped the pen he held tightly between his fingers, causing them to go white. “If I had to make a guess, I’d say it was her stepmother. That woman was jealous of Pamela and treated her terribly.”

  “Really? Her stepmother, Sharon North?” This was getting interesting.

  He nodded. “Pamela said Sharon was a beauty queen when she was younger, but that she never could make it to the big time. Pamela was in competition to be Miss America and that made Sharon angry. I’m sure Pamela would have made it. She had something about her that made you stop and look. And it wasn’t just how pretty she was. There was something else about her, you know?”

  I nodded. “I know she was special,” I said. “But do you really think Sharon North would stoop to killing her stepdaughter? I mean, she may have been a beauty queen, but that was years ago. It’s not as if they were in competition with each other now.”

  “No, they weren’t in competition now, unless you counted competition for Pamela’s father’s attention. Her father thought Pamela hung the moon. And Sharon was jealous of that, too. Plus, she had failed to live out her dreams as a beauty queen. There was just always this tension in that house, and Sharon was so mean to Pamela. She spoke hatefully to her, and when Pamela wanted to do something, Sharon wouldn’t allow it unless Pamela begged.”

  “Really?” I said thoughtfully. “Jealousy can be an ugly thing. Some people can’t keep it under control.”

  He nodded. “Sharon North was someone who couldn’t keep it under control. Sometimes, she would make Pamela scrub the bathroom with a toothbrush before she would allow her to go out. She said it kept her humble. She said it was good to be humble.”

  I looked at him wide-eyed. “Really? With a toothbrush?”

  If that was true, it was a side of Sharon I had never seen.

  “You don’t really know Sharon North, believe me. Pamela would cry and cry when her father was away on business trips and her father was gone away more and more the last couple of years. That left Pamela alone to deal with Sharon. And she never came out on top when she had to deal with Sharon.”

  Cleaning the bathroom with a toothbrush seemed extreme. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe him, but it just sounded far-fetched and I was having trouble wrapping my mind around it. “I hate to hear somebody had to live with that kind of thing. Did Pamela ever express that she was fearful of her life?”

  “No, she never said anything like that. But every time her father was getting ready to leave on a business trip, Pamela would have anxiety about how Sharon would treat her while he was gone. She had to go to the school nurse sometimes, the panic attacks were so bad.”

  “Wow, did she see a doctor for anxiety?” I asked him.

  “No, she didn’t want her father to know, and it’s not like Sharon was going to tell Edward that Pamela needed to see a doctor for anxiety. Sharon also wouldn’t allow Pamela to have any money to buy things. Not even her school lunch,” he said bitterly. “Her father set aside an allowance for her, but then Sharon wouldn’t give it to her while he was gone. She said Pamela had to make her own lunch and bring it to school in a paper bag. I usually just ended up buying her lunch every day.”

  I lifted an eyebrow at that. I tried to imagine a beauty queen carrying a sack lunch to school. It would bring a lot of unkind words from other students, especially other beauty pageant contestants. The image Ryan was painting was of an insecure, jealous woman and wasn’t something I remembered about Sharon from when she worked for my mother. But, people changed. And jealousy was an ugly taskmaster. Sharon may have changed far more than I could have imagined.

  Ryan finished filling out the work order
with the estimate for the work I’d requested and I signed it. He seemed sincere, but he was still a suspect in my mind. Still, I would have to ask around and see if I could find out anything more about Sharon North. With the lack of feelings about Pamela’s murder, she was at the top of my list of suspects.

  “Thanks, Ryan,” I said, slipping down off the stool and headed out of the garage.

  I remembered the text Craig had sent me, but I ignored it and texted my Mom, asking her to pick me up from the garage.

  Chapter Ten

  Craig had texted and called me relentlessly the night before. After the seventh call came in, I finally answered it. He promised all he wanted was a few minutes of my undivided attention. My first thought was, forget it. But then I hoped that if he got a chance to say what he needed to say, maybe he would leave Sparrow, and my life, permanently. Last month he had turned up out of the blue and told me he was dying of an inoperable brain tumor. I felt bad for him, but I didn’t want him back in my life even for a short period. But apparently he was intent on speaking to me and I realized that allowing him to do so might be the fastest way to get rid of him.

  That was how I found myself sitting in a corner booth at the local pizza joint with Craig seated across from me. I hoped he would make it quick, so I could get out of there and leave him behind once and for all.

  He smiled at me and for the first time I noticed the dark circles under his eyes. “Rainey, I’m so glad you agreed to meet with me after all. Did you want to place an order?”

  The waitress showed up with her order pad just as I was getting ready to protest and tell him I didn’t want to eat with him. I just wanted to get this thing over and done with.

  “We can order a medium Hawaiian pizza to share like we used to?” Craig suggested quickly.