Tying the Knot

by Jeff Shelby

  Thor straightened himself and got to his feet. “I should get back out there,” he said. “We have one more song to run through.”

  Zoe stood, too. “And I should go grab Grandma.”

  Thor rejoined Luke and Jackson, which left me and Zoe alone.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You hate the band,” I reminded her. “Why are you on my couch making out with Thor?”

  She blushed. “I hate the band. That doesn’t mean I hate the individual members…”

  “But he’s preventing your grandma from performing,” I pointed out.

  “No, he isn’t,” she said. “The band is. The unit. Thor doesn’t care either way. He told me as much.”

  I just shook my head. She wasn’t making any sense.

  Something nudged my leg. I looked down and the puppy was back, this time with an empty toilet paper tube that he’d dug out of the bathroom trash.

  I pulled it out of his mouth, but not before he’d chewed one end to shreds. “You must be a retriever of some type,” I told him.

  He just looked at me, panting, and then raced off again.

  “I’m going to go and find Grandma.” Zoe followed in Thor’s footsteps, letting herself out the front door.

  I watched the door close and stood there for a minute.

  “Mom!”

  Laura was calling from the kitchen.

  I pivoted toward the sound of her voice.

  She entered the hallway, her arm wrapped around Sophia’s waist. Sunny was on Sophia’s other side, her arm supporting her, too.

  “Is everything okay?” I asked.

  Sophia nodded, but she wore a pained expression. “I think I’m having contractions.”

  “Contractions?”

  Sophia nodded. “The muscles in my stomach got all tight for a minute. I think I should probably lay down.”

  “They’re probably Braxton-Hicks,” I told her. She wasn’t even six months along, so I didn’t think she could be experiencing real contractions, especially if she wasn’t having other troublesome symptoms.

  “Do you think?” she asked uncertainly. “I’m worried.”

  “Nothing else is going on?” I asked. “No bleeding? Your water hasn’t broken?”

  Sophia looked horrified. “No. Nothing like that.” Her hand was on her stomach. “It’s stopped.”

  I tried to give her a reassuring smile. “I’m sure that’s what it was. But if you want to rest for a bit, you can use one of the bedrooms upstairs. Or you can even just lay down on the couch.”

  “The couch is good,” she said. “And maybe a drink. Something sweet. Do you have any sweet tea?”

  I didn’t. “Lemonade?”

  She nodded.

  Laura and Sunny walked Sophia to the couch. I hurried ahead of them because the puppy had decided to start digging into the couch cushions.

  “Hey,” I said sharply.

  He looked up at me, then reburied his nose.

  “There must be some food between the cushions,” Sunny said.

  “Gross.” Laura wrinkled her nose. “Will he eat it? And will he get sick? You don’t want him throwing up or getting diarrhea.”

  I knew what she really meant. She didn’t want a sick dog ruining her wedding day.

  I leaned toward the couch to scoop him up but his mouth was fastened onto something. Something metal.

  I reached for whatever it was he was after.

  It was a cell phone.

  I frowned. Someone had clearly lost it.

  I hit the home button, hoping the image on the lock screen would provide a clue as to whom it belonged to. With a house overrun with guests, it could have belonged to anyone.

  But when I pressed the lock screen, an image didn’t appear. Instead, the phone opened.

  To a string of text messages.

  My pulse quickened as I scanned the messages.

  “Mom?”

  I didn’t look up from the phone.

  “Mom?” Laura repeated. “Is everything okay?”

  I tried to answer her, but my throat was too tight.

  I nodded instead, because I couldn’t speak.

  I was holding in my hands proof of who had killed Drew Solomon.

  THIRTY SIX

  I marched out onto the front porch, the phone clutched in my hand.

  Luke and Thor were practicing a song, and Jackson was sitting by his keyboard, his hands poised to come in when needed.

  Zoe was standing there, listening, and she shot me a guilty look. So much for leaving.

  But she wasn’t the only one on the porch.

  Billie and Mabel had taken a seat in the chairs outside, and Peter and Madeline were standing on the steps, listening to the music, too.

  Even Connor and Gunnar were nearby, parked on the sidewalk.

  The band finished and everyone clapped.

  “That was tremendous,” Peter said jovially. “Well done!”

  I waited until the applause stopped.

  Luke glanced at me. “What’s up?”

  I scanned the people gathered on and around the porch. Thor and Jackson were eyeing me curiously, as were Peter and Madeline. Mabel and Billie seemed mostly oblivious. Gunnar watched me, his arms folding across his chest, his brow slightly furrowed. Of everyone there, I knew he could read my body language.

  He knew something was wrong.

  I held up the phone, my eyes zeroing in on one individual.

  “You,” I said slowly. “You killed Drew.”

  There was an audible gasp, and not just from one person.

  “Killed?” Madeline said. “Someone was killed?”

  Peter’s brow furrowed. “A murder, you say?”

  Billie’s eyes widened. “Someone was murdered?” she said loudly. She clutched her chest. “Oh my goodness.”

  Connor leaped toward the porch stairs and sprinted toward his grandmother. “Are you okay?”

  “Her heart,” Madeline said as she clutched her own chest. “She has a weak heart!”

  Peter joined Connor and they both crowded around the elderly woman, peppering her with questions.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Does anything hurt?”

  “Where are your pills?”

  “Should we call a doctor? Madeline, call 911.”

  Billie swatted at them. “I am fine!” she hollered. “Leave me alone.”

  Someone bumped into the back of me, and I stumbled forward.

  “Sorry,” Sunny said breathlessly as she hurried past me and toward Billie. “I heard you from inside. Is everything okay?”

  “I’m fine,” Billie insisted. She slapped at Peter’s hands.

  “But your heart…” Connor said.

  “My heart is fine,” she snapped.

  Connor straightened. “It is?”

  She patted her hair and took a deep breath. “Of course it is.”

  “But…but…” He looked at his dad and then at his mom. “But I thought your heart…”

  “The doctors have said I’ve had a weak heart for years,” she complained. “But I’m as strong as an ox.”

  “So...you’re not on your deathbed?” Laura’s voice startled me.

  I turned around and found her standing in the doorway. She wore an expression of disbelief.

  Billie’s eyes widened and she gulped a couple of times. “Oh. Right. I mean, I do have a little bit of a weak heart. And I…I’m on heart medication…”

  Laura, speechless, just shook her head in disbelief.

  Even Connor looked dumbstruck.

  “But...I...” She stared down at the ground for a moment. “I just wanted to make certain that I saw my only grandson get married.”

  No one seemed to know what to say. I was sure that Laura would be able to think of a few things. The fact that we were all on my farm was a direct result of Billie's supposed declining health. In truth, it seemed that her health was just fine and that she'd just wanted to hurry th
e wedding along so she wouldn’t have to worry about the potential of missing it.

  I was both mildly irritated and sympathetic.

  Zoe broke the silence. She put her hands on her hips and stared at me. “You said you found the killer. Wanna tell us who it is so you can stop going around and accusing innocent people?”

  I swallowed. Somehow in the chaos, I’d forgotten I was still holding the phone.

  And still waiting to announce what I’d found.

  Every set of eyes was on me.

  I took a deep breath, and then said, “It was you.”

  All eyes swiveled in Thor’s direction.

  He blinked. “What? Me?”

  I nodded.

  “What are you even talking about?” He shook his mane of hair. “I didn’t kill him, man.”

  I held out the phone. “Oh, really? Want to explain these texts between you and Drew?”

  Thor stared at the phone in my hand. His cheeks—what was visible of them, anyway—flamed red. “That doesn’t prove anything.”

  I looked down at the screen. “You texted him. You told him to stay away from Zoe and your band.”

  “So?” he said gruffly. “He was harassing her.” He jerked a thumb in Zoe’s direction. “And he was harassing us.”

  “Exactly. So you took care of him.”

  “Yeah, I did,” Thor said, and the people gathered around tittered over this admission. “I told him he was a jerk. I told him to leave all of us alone. But I didn’t kill him.”

  “I don’t believe you.” My voice was remarkably calm but my insides were quaking.

  Why was he denying it when I was holding the evidence in my hand? It all made sense. He’d spent the night at Zoe’s but he’d had to come back to the bungalow at some point. Maybe he killed Drew first thing in the morning, when both he and Luke had been sound asleep. Luke was a heavy sleeper and from what I remembered about how I’d found Drew, he’d probably been so sound asleep that he hadn’t had much time to react or fight back when Thor attacked him.

  And Thor had been conveniently outside of the bungalow when I’d come down to wake them up. This felt like a planned move. After all, if he could say that he had been outside jogging or doing yoga or whatever, that at least gave him another layer of alibi.

  I never would have suspected him, based on his reaction when Luke had broken the news to him. He was a good actor; I’d give him that.

  Thor was beginning to look increasingly uncomfortable. “Look, I admit I didn’t like him. But Luke didn’t like him, either, No one did!”

  This was true. I hadn’t liked Drew, either.

  “But you were the one who killed him,” I said.

  He shook his head vehemently. “You’re wrong. Besides, I wasn’t in the bungalow when he died. I was with her!”

  He pointed at Zoe.

  “But she brought you back,” I reminded him. “That gave you plenty of time to get in there and kill him.”

  Luke had set his guitar down and was eyeing his band mate warily. “Dude,” he said quietly. “Did you do it, man?”

  “No!” Thor thundered. His voice was so loud, the windows rattled. “Everyone had a problem with that guy!” He spun around slowly, so that he was facing Jackson. “Even you.”

  Jackson chuckled. “No, I didn’t.”

  “Yes, you did,” Thor said. “And I heard what you said to him. You actually threatened to kill him.”

  THIRTY SEVEN

  “He did?”

  “You did?”

  Luke and I both spoke at once.

  Jackson gripped the edge of his keyboard. “I did not.”

  “Yes, you did,” Thor said. “I heard you.”

  Jackson gulped.

  “And I saw you Wednesday morning,” Thor said slowly. “When I was coming back from my run. You said you were dropping off stuff for the wedding.”

  I frowned. “What kind of stuff?”

  “Power cords,” Thor said.

  I looked at Jackson.

  He had originally been hired to be the DJ and had that taken away when Luke announced the band would be playing instead.

  Would he really have been so upset that he killed one of the band members?

  It sounded insane.

  But Jackson’s reaction told me it wasn’t.

  He took a few steps away from his keyboard and then made a running leap, hurdling over his keyboard.

  Everyone gasped as he sprinted off the porch.

  A small furry creature darted through my legs and I realized what the dog was doing.

  “Fetch,” I hollered. “Fetch!”

  The tiny dog chased after Jackson as he raced across the yard, the puppy and Gunnar both in hot pursuit. I followed, as did Luke and Thor and the rest of the people gathered on the porch.

  The dog got to him first. He sank his teeth into Jackson’s pant leg and held on tight with his sharp, razor-like teeth. Jackson stumbled and then fell to his knees.

  “Form a circle,” I hollered. “Don’t let him escape!”

  Jackson was on the ground, holding his leg. “My knee,” he moaned. “I think I broke my knee.”

  We crowded around him, creating a human barrier. The puppy still had his teeth firmly clamped around the pant leg.

  I clapped my hands and he looked at me, then let go of the fabric and trotted over to me.

  “Good boy,” I said as I scooped him up.

  He licked my face.

  “Why did you do it?” I asked Jackson. “Why did you kill him?”

  He made a face. “I’m not telling you anything.”

  “I bet I can guess why.” I stared at him. “You were upset about losing the gig. And he was an easy target. Thor and Luke were nice to you, but Drew? He was a jerk, wasn’t he?”

  Jackson didn’t respond but I saw something flicker in his eyes.

  “He was a jerk to everyone,” I told him. “Even to me. No one liked him. Not one single person.”

  “He didn’t deserve to play,” Jackson said bitterly. “Not here, and not with My Mother’s Baby.”

  “What?”

  “My Mother’s Baby.” Jackson glowered. “We both tried out for that band years ago. They chose him instead of me.”

  It was another piece of the puzzle that helped solve the mystery.

  I felt bad that I’d come out so strongly against Thor. But his denial had forced Jackson’s admission, and we now knew who was responsible for Drew’s death.

  And, to some degree, why.

  Gunnar cleared his throat, and I looked at him.

  “Uh, are we going to stand here all day?” he asked. He wore a hint of a smile.

  “Yeah, what do we do now?” Luke asked.

  Gunnar and I exchanged glances, and I frowned.

  “I guess we better call the sheriff.”

  THIRTY EIGHT

  “Well, this is it.”

  I glanced at my reflection in the mirror.

  I was standing by myself in my bedroom, taking stock of my appearance in my mother-of-the-bride outfit.

  The day had finally arrived, and for the first time in a week, I felt as though I could finally breathe easy.

  Drew’s killer had been caught, and it hadn’t resulted in the arrest of my son or my son-in-law.

  Just as importantly, we were completely ready for the wedding. After the drama from yesterday afternoon, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but as soon as Sheriff Lewis arrived and whisked Jackson Coates away, we’d all gotten back down to business. Sophia’s Braxton-Hicks had subsided and Sunny had taken on a more prominent role with helping out after Billie’s admission that she wasn’t nearly as sick as she’d led everyone to believe.

  Laura had taken this bit of news relatively well. For her, at least.

  “I can’t believe she lied about that,” she’d said last night, right before we’d gone to bed.

  “She really wanted to see Connor get married,” I said. “Sometimes desperate people do things that don’t make much sense to the rest
of us.”

  “I guess.” She sighed. “Oh well. Everything is planned and ready so there’s nothing we can do about it now.”

  “And the wedding will be perfect,” I told her with a smile.

  “I don’t know about perfect,” she said. “But at least we have everything we’re supposed to have for a wedding.”

  And they did. Music. Decorations. A photographer. Food.

  Mikey had outdone himself in that department, especially with the small cake and matching cupcakes he’d managed to whip up for the wedding cake. Even Laura had been delighted with them when he dropped them off before the wedding.

  Now all that was left to do was check in on Laura and then head outside, greet the guests, and wait for the ceremony to begin.

  I checked my dress one last time. It was a cream-colored sheath dress with a beaded bolero jacket. Paired with matching pumps and both a necklace and earrings, it was probably the most elegant outfit I’d worn since…well, probably since my own wedding.

  I tried not to look at myself too critically, at the small gray hairs that had sprouted near my temple, at the wrinkles that were becoming even more pronounced each time I smiled.

  Instead, I focused on the sparkle in my eyes, at the genuineness of my smile. I was truly happy: for my daughter, and for all the guests who were gathering to witness her marriage to Connor.

  I winked at my reflection and then headed toward Laura’s bedroom, where I knew she was in the process of getting ready.

  I knocked once, then opened the door.

  I looked at the two women in the room. “Where’s Sophia?”

  Sunny smiled and shook her head. “She’s a little too busy getting herself ready to help out in here…”

  I frowned. “Isn’t that her job? As maid of honor?”

  Sunny nodded. “That’s alright. I’m happy to help.”

  “I should have asked you to be my maid of honor,” Laura said gratefully.

  Sunny’s smile widened. “I’m happy to be on the sidelines. Trust me. Now here, stay still while I finish your eyeliner.”

  Laura closed her eyes and Sunny drew a thin, neat line of black liner along her top eyelid.