by Sarah Hualde
“What a weirdo!" Kat spat.
"He's lonely," Lydia explained her conversation with Mr. Goldberg from the weak brew to the tire tracks.
"Very lonely," Kat said.
"Did you get a picture of the tracks by any chance?" Flora was not participating with Kat's judgment of Mr. Goldberg.
"Yes. On my phone." Lydia dug in her bra and handed over the device. "Sorry, "she said when Flora's nose wrinkled.
"Mind if I print it out?" Lydia shook her head, and soon, the printer was whining through sheets of paper and slowly assembling pixels into pictures.
✽✽✽
"Well," Dr. Lawrence stood from the table. "While we're waiting for the Sheriff, I think I'll check in on Cordelia. Carrie, will you join me?"
The medical professionals were upstairs only a few moments when Dr. Lawrence called for Jacqui. His tone stirred Jacqui's internal alarm, and she hurried to the doctor's side. He stood in Jacqui's guestroom. The opened door revealed Carrie Garrett standing by an empty bed, an open window, and no Cordelia.
"Where is she?" Jacqui burst into the room, looking behind the door and in the closet.
"That's what we'd like to know," Carrie said as Jacqui leaned out the window and scanned the street.
✽✽✽
Ethan felt torn. He was halfway back to the office when his cellphone whined. He answered through the Bluetooth speaker. "What is it, Gus?"
"We've received a missing person call." Ethan listened as Gus detailed the call.
"Dear Jesus," Ethan called out for help as he cranked his steering wheel and pointed his headlights back to Ashton.
Chapter 32
"Right there," Lydia stuck her index finger under an entry on Flora's timeline. She swished back a swallow of strong black coffee and felt it charge her adrenaline. "See? Mario goes missing three days before the trash can smashers begin targeting Cordelia."
Kat squinted. Her eyes refused to process the information. "Why would that matter?"
Flora spoke louder and blushed with enthusiasm. "Not just that." She flipped the page back and forth connecting the dates. "Sometimes her street is the only one hit. Usually, her street is the only one hit."
"Again, why? The woman lost her husband, literally. She's sitting at home, praying for his safe return and plastering flyers around town," Lydia said.
"She didn't want to plaster flyers around town. I did." Flora said, "Other than reporting him missing, Cordelia trusted Ethan to do the rest."
Kat frowned. "If Thad went missing I'd be looking everywhere, handing out pictures. Calling the news. You're saying Cordelia didn't do any of those things?"
"Not as far as I know." Flora turned in response to a tiny moan from Enoch. The baby settled, and his mother zoomed back to the conversation. "She's been fairly calm about it all."
"She was like that at the morgue as well. Until she saw Mario's hand."
"The one with the missing finger?" Flora asked. Kat gasped loud enough to stir the sleeping Enoch. "You didn't know about that?" Flora's smirk widened. It wasn't like her to gloat — even her smugness radiated with kindness. "Kevin heard a rumor about a body missing a finger. I didn't know it was Mario's, at the time."
"Well, look who's holding out on us?" Kat winked.
"Yes, that hand." Lydia drew her friends back into the conversation. She studied Flora's scrapbook closer.
✽✽✽
Ivy paced in front of Ashton General Hospital. She picked the polish from her nails with her teeth and then wiped the chunks of color off her lips. Her Mema successfully cured her of chewing on her nails. Ivy hadn't bitten them for years. Even in her panic, she settled for scraping off metallic nail varnish instead of chomping through the keratin.
Ethan was on his way. She repeated the fact silently to her heart. Too worried to find words, she trusted God knew what she was thinking. Ivy only thought the name Jesus, over and over again. It's all she could manage.
The familiar truck glided to a stop. Ivy opened the passenger door and slid into the seat. She started crying before her words formed. Ethan activated the parking brake and put an arm around Ivy's shoulder, as he would have done for his daughter Joan. She fell into his half hug and blubbered.
Emily sneaked into Lucas' room during a shift change. Lucas' father didn't visit during the day, according to the nurse's station. But he'd left word that no one was to visit his son. No one other than himself. Ivy chatted up the nurses as Emily slid into Lucas' room.
Ivy didn't witness their conversation. She only saw Emily leave the room, trembling and tearing up. She'd followed her friend to the bathroom. Emily washed her face and dried it with a paper towel before explaining, "He's okay. He's okay." Emily's smile never sparkled as much as it did at this news. But a darkening clouded her eyes. Ivy recognized the shadow of a secret creep between them throughout their talk.
"What else?" She'd asked, blunt and direct.
Emily dodged the question by claiming she needed to use the toilet. She entered a stall and asked Ivy to retrieve her bag from the car. Ivy complied. When she returned, Emily wasn't in the restroom.
Ivy searched the nearby area. She tried to peek at Lucas. When the nurses stopped her, she asked them to page Emily. There had been no response to the multiple calls that echoed through the hospital corridors. That was over an hour prior to Ethan's return.
✽✽✽
Lydia contemplated Flora's artistic timeline of evidence. Flora cuddled Enoch on the couch. Kat led Jess as the tween fed Scout her cereal.
The baby was happy with her crowd of adoring fans. Enoch was eased by the momentary lack of attention. All the girly eyes, saving his mother's, were locked on crime scene data or Scout. Enoch cozied into his mother and relished her heartbeat next to his ear.
"Ivy should be back by now." Lydia's words surprised herself. She meant only to think them. Her brain was too busy for self-dialogue. Kat recognized Lydia's foggy expression. When Lydia spoke, again, she addressed the crowd. "Why is Cordelia a target for all these pranks?"
"That's been bothering me, too." Kat watched Jess scoop out a serving of cereal. Scout arched away from the oncoming spoon.
Scout's face turned burgundy, and she spat her cereal out at Jess. "Eww. Mom? She's stopped eating."
Kat chuckled. "She's pooping." Jess's face squished, mirroring Scout's. "How would you like someone shoving a spoon in your mouth while you're pooping?" Jess gagged. Her mother's laugh increased. "Clean yourself up." She tossed a clean baby wipe at her daughter. "Watch, when she's stopped making her poo face, we'll change her."
"We?" Kat left Jess to observe Scout's potty moment and attended to Lydia.
"I can't think of anyone rude enough to attack a new widow." Kat refilled her coffee cup and sat beside Lydia.
"She wasn't a widow, yet," Flora added.
"No, no, she wasn't. Mario was only missing." Lydia chewed on the cap of a gel pen.
“Could Mario have been living with a mistress?" Kat whispered so Jess wouldn't hear.
"For two months?"
Kat nodded. "Yes, and she's fed up with him holding on to Cordelia and..."
"She gets passive-aggressive on their trash cans?' All three women frowned. "Don't think so. Besides, Mario was wild about Cordelia," Lydia said.
Lydia flashed to her conversation with Hobo Joe. Joe had been wild about his wife, too. Then he'd gone to war and come home changed. He flipped from protector to predator, and his family suffered. Joe suggested Mario had a similar issue. Mario had even been on medication for his condition. Could he have switched in his affections for Cordelia, before he disappeared and died? It was possible. But not probable. Lydia saw no need to sully Mario's reputation by bringing it up to her friends. Still, the idea poked at her.
An intruding and pungent aroma punctuated the air. "Mom, I think she's done!" Jess hollered for help, and Kat reluctantly snagged Scout's diaper bag. "I think I'm going to puke!"
Flora pointed to her fireplace mantel. "Light that candle."
She smiled as Jess swiftly followed her advice, hoping the scent of cinnamon apples would quickly overrun the smell of poo.
Lydia's phone chimed. Ethan's face graced the small screen. The short script that followed received a sigh of reluctance in response. Lydia ended her time short with Flora and Kat. Her new destination was the general drug store.
✽✽✽
Ivy parked in front of Flora's as Lydia's tail lights blinked down the road. The engine quieted in time for her emotions to pound. Ivy silenced all her fears for the drive back to town. But in the stillness of the car, a few feet away from understanding friends, she couldn't control them.
Sobs tore from her stomach — each more wretched than its predecessor. Ivy doubled over at the door. She couldn't carry her weight. She blamed herself. All Emily's pleadings, her tears, and tormented petitions wore away Ivy's cold resilience.
"I should've known better." Ivy knew what it was to be misplaced. Even though it was terrible to think, she hoped Emily was only lost. Ivy's heart knew better. Someone had taken Emily. She knew Ethan knew it, too. The guilt lay on Ivy's heaving shoulders.
✽✽✽
Ethan's expression left no room for delight or welcome. His wife arrived, as requested. Gus did the same. Lydia recognized the no-nonsense stance of Honey Pot's Sheriff. Work was closing in on him, and he was about to dish out orders.
Gus listened, with notepad in hand, as Ethan whispered orders and information. The tall man nodded along with the new facts and repeated directions before turning to leave. Only then did Ethan's gaze land on his trusting wife.
"I can't tell you too much." It wasn't the best start to a conversation. Lydia hated hearing those words. There were so many missing pieces, and so much she wanted to share with her husband. But he was "on the clock," and their communications would reflect it. “I talked with Mrs. Haze. Braden was the delivery boy for the drug store. I'm waiting for Isaac to return to discuss the packages. I've called him, and he understands the situation. He says I can leave you in charge of the boxes until he arrives. I've got to head back to Ashton. Something urgent has come up." With the last phrase, Lydia felt her skin prickle and chills clump on her neck. Only a dire emergency would usurp Ethan's current crises. Lydia silently prayed for her husband, and he planted a swift peck on the top of her head before walking to the door. "Please help Isaac with the parcels. And when you get a moment, text Ivy. She needs you."
Lydia wanted to ask why. She wanted to know where her husband was running off to and what was more important than the homicides Ethan was already juggling. Ethan left her needing more information. She was unsure what worried her more, the urgent something, or the reason Ivy needed her.
Isaac clomped, through the employee only door before Lydia could retrieve her phone and text Ivy. "Have you been waiting long?"
"Just got here."
"Well, follow me. Ethan deposited the deliveries behind the pharmacy counter." Lydia complied and was soon seated on the hard tile floor sorting boxes.
Mr. Isaac sat across from her. His forehead creased as he read labels. "Something wrong," she asked.
"I handed these boxes to Braden over a week ago. See look at the date." The store owner pointed to a small tidy script written in permanent black ink. "Why were they sitting at his mom's house?"
"How do your deliveries work?"
"In the summer, Braden comes at noon and collects all the day's packages. They're supposed to be delivered by 5 pm that evening. I give him quite a large window of time." Lydia sorted the bundles into groups as Isaac continued. "We rarely have more than 30 packages a day. Most go to the Senior Center. It's a simple job. Especially since his friend had a car, and he didn't need to use his bike."
It took a half hour to construct three towers of deliveries. "Can you help me get these to their owners?" Lydia nodded. She looked forward to the whitespace of driving through town. She needed a good think. "I'll deliver the Senior Center stack." Mr. Isaac patted the top package on the highest stack. "That leaves you a handful of deliveries and then that pile." He pointed to a tidy column of cardboard boxes. "They're missing addresses."
Lydia read the top label. "This one is from Victor E. Candles."
"They all are." Isaac dusted off the back of his pants and then smacked his palms against each other. "Save them for last. I'll call Victor later and tell him they're on the way."
“Why would Braden have so many from Victor's store? And none of them have an address?"
Isaac shook his head and twisted his shoulders. His bones popped and crinkled from his stretching. "I guess he was moonlighting. If you can call it that, how many candles can one guy sell? It still doesn't explain why all these packages are so late."
Lydia considered Braden's hospital stay into the equation. Isaac had a right to be upset at his deceased courier. Before the attack, Lydia witnessed Braden goofing around the Market with Lucas. He could have quickly delivered the packages during one of his afternoons at the town lawn. "Weren't you getting calls about the late packages?"
"That's another thing that stumps me. I didn't get a single phone call." Mr. Isaac shrugged before hoisting the first group of his load. He ambled toward the backdoor. Lydia followed him, armed with two boxes of candles with more awaiting her return.
✽✽✽
Kat and Flora encircled Ivy as she wept. The freshly changed Scout reached pudgy arms toward her mother. Her bottom lip trembled. The stress of Ivy's sorrow worried the baby girl. Eloise scooped up the little one, and Jess cooed happy words at her. Their distraction bought the group hug another few seconds of encouraging togetherness.
Kat's phone broke the moment and Baby Scout's wavering calmness. She tugged it from her pocket as she passed the wailing baby to her mother. Ivy rubbed the tip of her nose against her daughter's tiny bump of a nose. Kat wanted to chuck her phone across the room until she noticed the caller id.
"It's Jacqui," Flora and Ivy waited for Kat's report as Kat spoke with Jacqui. Kat's voice remained steady, but her words evoked a nervous tension. "Yes. When? What does the nurse think? Yes. Of course. Five minutes. Don't panic. Yes. Yes. On my way." Kat shoved her cell back into its regular resting place. She called for her kids and kissed them both on the head.
Flora left Ivy and Scout on the couch to walk her friend to the door. "What's wrong? Cordelia?"
Kat nodded. She leaned close to Flora's ear and spoke softly. "She's disappeared." Flora's eyes asked the question for her. "I don't think she's with Emily. But anything is possible. Pray." Flora nodded and locked the door behind Kat.
Chapter 33
Gus greeted Kat on Jacqui's front porch. His face wore the mark of two sleepless nights. "What's going on, Gus?" The deputy shrugged. "Has the whole town gone crazy?"
"Some days, I wonder." He opened the door for Kat. "I'm on my way back to the station. Please let me know if you think of anything that might help."
"With what? The reappearance and murder of Mario Muggs? The missing teen? The beatings? The assault against Hobo Joe? Or now, this, Cordelia's escape?" Gus' frown aged his tired expression.
"Yes. Any of that." He retreated to his vehicle.
Turning toward the living room, Kat found Jacqui sitting on the couch. Shoulders slumped and mouth slack, Jacqui stared at her hands. Kat couldn't remember ever seeing her look so helpless. It pained her. Nurse Carrie sat to Jacqui's left, a hand on Jacqui's back.
Carrie waved Kat toward a chair. "I don't know where she is. I haven't a clue. I shouldn't have left her alone." Carrie patted Jacqui's back.
"I was here, remember? You weren't her only guardian." Carrie turned her eyes toward Kat's. "I thought she was asleep. Deep asleep. With what Dr. Lawrence prescribed, I don't know anyone who wouldn't be zonked."
Jacqui used her fingers to grind circles into the skin of her temples. "But then, after we found the compromised medication ... we should've checked right away."
“Compromised medication? I don't follow." Kat brushed some hair behind her ear and
looked to Carrie for an explanation.
"Yes, we discovered some of her pills were fakes."
"Fakes?" Kat watched as Mrs. Jacqui's fingertips turned white. She groaned and fidgeted on the couch cushions.
Carrie restarted patting Jacqui's back but never broke eye contact with Kat. "I know, it's shocking. Dr. Lawrence took a batch to the sheriff's office. The deputy just missed him."
"How and who?"
Carrie shrugged. "We don't know. But it was more than Mrs. Muggs'. Some of Miss Rene's were fakes as well. Every prescription medication from the past three months was all suspect."
Miss Jacqui sighed. "And we left Cordelia alone. Without her proper medication. We kept sifting through pill bottles."
"Miss Jacqui, we didn't know. As soon as we realized, we checked on her. This is not your fault."
Unsoothable, Miss Jacqui launched to her feet and paced the living room. "She was distraught. We shouldn't have left her alone, at all. It doesn't matter if she was sedated or not. We flat shouldn't have left her."
Kat couldn't think of words to ease her friend's distress. There weren't any. Now that Cordelia was gone, the only thing that would calm Miss Jacqui was finding her. Kat knew Jacqui summoned her for that purpose. Without Lydia around to help her, she wasn't sure where to start.
✽✽✽
The humming of the street beneath her wheels quieted Lydia's racing thoughts. She prayed over her husband, and Hobo Joe and Cordelia and Lucas and whoever else that happened to be entangled in the town's current trauma. Lydia's stomach soured as she thought over all the last week had brought to Honey Pot.
Three packages left, in her deliveries, she swung by her house. A quick toilet break, a spritz of perfume, and a fresh cup of coffee brightened her mood. Lydia's energy returned. Deliveries were easy. Helping Hobo Joe was heavy and hard. For the moment, her objective was clean and straightforward. She'd get back to her mess of an investigation after completing her mission successfully.
✽✽✽
