Privy to Murder

by Carol Shenold

“I know a good caterer in Plano who’s looking for gigs. I could call him?”

  “Let me think about it and let you know. I don’t want to kill my partnership with Reneé right off. It still might work.”

  “Just don’t wait too long or you’ll end up trying to take care of the food yourself.”

  I laughed at her. “Right. I can see that now. One look at my cooking and they’d run screaming. Ritz crackers and cheese from a can wouldn’t go over with that crowd.”

  “Enough wine and that crew wouldn’t really know the difference. If you threw in some chocolate covered strawberries, they’d be good to go.”

  “Let’s get off this idea before I loose concentration and run off the road. Is it raining harder? I can barely see anything.”

  I struggled to fight the wind and was on the verge of pulling off the road—in spite of the risk of getting creamed. When the city limits sign slid by I saw a couple of lights.

  I dropped Cherilyn off at her house and went home, wincing at the lit-up hand as I pulled into the driveway. I wondered how Donna’s reading had gone. Maybe Mumsie had found out something I needed to know. Donna made me uncomfortable, as did her being in my house.

  I braced myself for a run inside when the rain stopped. The crescent moon peeked out from behind a cloud and a star winked at me. I winked back.

  * * *

  The next day was a washed clean one. The heat hadn’t crash-landed on top of us yet so the deck was bearable. I shivered and wished the coolness could last. Drinking coffee, I lay in wait for Mumsie, hoping to pry information out of her about Donna and anything she might have said that would shed light on the murder. I planned to meet Cherilyn for breakfast and then hit a couple of shops.

  “I can’t tell you anything about Donna. That’s privileged information,” Mumsie said. “I can’t tell you about her cards or her reading.”

  “Mumsie, for Pete’s sake, it’s not like you’re a lawyer. I don’t want to know her reading but what did she say about Mag, or Frank, or even Betty Ann?” I got up to pour cereal for Sean. He needed to eat before I took him to meet friends at the mall for a Saturday matinee. “Was there anything she said that would help me or JT to figure what the murder was all about? Mag was a nasty character to deal with, but most people don’t get murdered because they drink and have a bad mouth.”

  Cass peeked in from the green room. “Can’t you keep it down? I’m trying to sleep here. Do you even know what time it is?”

  “Almost ten o’clock. I need you to take Sean to the mall because I have to run errands.”

  Cass would have slammed a door if she’d had one. She just snorted and disappeared.

  Mumsie stood, finishing her coffee. “Now that you mention it, Donna has a strange aura about her. She isn’t a happy person but she never really came out and said what was going on, other than Mag’s death. But Amen Ka didn’t sense any grief or sorrow.”

  I poured another cup and squirted whipped cream on top. “No mourning after her mother’s horrific death? That’s hard to believe.”

  Mumsie made a face at my coffee and turned off the pot.

  I flipped the switch back on. “Not done here.”

  She raised her eyebrows, telling me what she thought of my caffeine intake but didn’t say it out loud. “The cards didn’t show much, other than change, except maybe the presence of evil, but that could be nothing more than the murder itself. I even did an expanded Celtic Cross and didn’t get anything worth talking about.”

  Why had I even asked? I was trying to avoid the entire spirit presence, pretend none of it really existed. I decided to look for a dress, though I couldn’t afford it and hated shopping for myself. It would be easier if Cherilyn went, or Reneé, to distract me while I did what I needed to do.

  The more I looked, the less I found. Cherilyn was stuck at work or I would have had better luck. Her instinct for style was legendary. I went to one last shop, The Lazy Dog, which sold clothes that looked like something Cass might wear—black, tight and shiny. I went in anyway, turned a corner and ran into a mannequin, wearing just the kind of outfit I’d wanted. It reminded me of magazine pictures with tall models and sumptuous colors. The two-piece outfit had a long, pencil-thin black skirt and a short, fitted black jacket with edges embroidered in red and turquoise. My red shell would go perfectly and so would my boots.

  I looked at the tag and nearly fainted until I realized another price was written in, seventy-five percent off. Even then, it was pricy, but I talked myself into it.

  I picked up a mocha latte with an extra shot of espresso and started home. I turned down the road I’d skipped the night before, hoping the rain hadn’t created a lake or anything else I couldn’t navigate in the truck. No flooding. The rocky road jarred every bone, tore apart my shocks. It led straight to the area where I’d had the close encounter with the skunk.

  I parked and got out to look around the area on foot, even though I thought I’d found the most significant piece of evidence with the knife. But what if I’d missed something? I can’t say I was eager to face off with another angry four-legged critter. Maybe the rain had scared it away. Every noise in the underbrush made me look around in case another skunk was lying in wait.

  Listening to the birds, I scanned the meadow where the tables and the dance floor had been. Bits and pieces of trash still lingered, a napkin, soggy tissue from a gift bag. Something glinted in the light next to one of the trees. Half buried in the mud lay a camera like the disposable ones we’d had on the tables. I reached to touch it up but remembered JT’s reaction after I moved the knife. I picked up my cell phone instead. I left a message with the dispatcher and kept walking.

  In the distance I heard voices, too far to even distinguish the gender of the speakers. They rose and fell, then abruptly stopped. I then heard a yelp and splash. Must be from Mag’s pool. I ran, wondering if one of the dogs had jumped in the pool. I pushed through the shrubs at the far end of the patio.

  The noon sun glinted off the glass tables around the patio. The flagstone expanse had been scrubbed recently, or the rain had washed it clean. A towel lay on one of the lounges but there was no sign of anyone. I had run for nothing.

  I glanced at the house and the bushes around the patio. No one. Silence. I looked back at the pool and saw someone at the far end, floating, too still, too limp, and face down. A woman, blonde. I was looking at a dead body. Again.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Shit, shit and shit. Now what?”

  I dragged my cell phone out, dialed 911 and told dispatch what I’d found. My heart drummed like the rat-tat of a woodpecker. Blood swirled into the water around her, reminding me of the shower drain in the movie Psycho.

  I should tell someone. I ran to the back of the house and pounded on the door and pounded. My head swam.

  Donna answered, looking as out of breath as I was. I heard a noise from the room behind her. Her eyes narrowed. She clutched at her skimpy robe and yelled, “What the hell are you doing here, pounding on the door like a crazy person?”

  She scowled as I explained.

  “Do you find dead bodies everywhere you go? Are you trying to destroy my entire family? Is Frank next?” She pushed past me. Her bare feet slapped on the tiles as she went to look at the pool, then started back toward me. “What have you done this time? You are such bad luck, even your mother says so.”

  I backed up. Her spewed hostility physically pushed me away. She’d turned into a harpy. How could I have earned such hatred from someone I hardly knew?

  Donna kept coming. I hit the back step with my heel and sat, hard, rattling my whole body. She continued screaming as if I were still standing. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you had something to do with this, just like I think you had something to do with Mag’s murder.”

  “Donna,” I said, as evenly as I could. “Where’s Frank?”

  She took a breath. “What difference does that make?”

  I scrambled from the step and held up my cell phone. “We
need to call him, let him know what’s happening. The EMT’s and police are on the way. What’s Frank’s number?”

  “What? You called the police? You stupid bitch, why didn’t you tell me? You are the dumbest excuse for person I’ve ever met. I have to get dressed. You stay there. I’ll be back.”

  I stared after her.

  I found Frank’s number in my palm pilot. His receptionist said he was out of the office but she would let him know there was an emergency at home. Her voice was so matter-of-fact it sounded as if he had daily emergencies.

  Sirens screamed in the distance. The trucks came closer, sending grackles and sparrows flying into the air. A fire truck and ambulance roared and flashed into the driveway, followed closely by a police car, driven by JT

  He exploded from the cruiser. “Tali. What the hell are you doing here?”

  “Remember, I called you from here about the camera? I came out here to find my address book from the other night in case it hadn’t fallen apart in the rain. I heard a noise, came to look and this is what I found.”

  “Tali,” JT shouted. “If you don’t start telling me the truth I’ll …”

  “Arrest her? She probably killed my mother and Betty Ann, you know.”

  I turned to confront a transformed Donna. Back was the demure, fragile kid with the French braid, skirt down to the ankles and high buttoned blouse.

  Donna continued in a soft, scared voic. “I found her out here, trespassing. Take her away, JT. She has no business here. There’s no telling what she might do and I’m here all alone. I called Frank.”

  JT sighed. “Donna, you are not exactly alone but I’m sure this has been a shock. Now why don’t you go back to the house while we do our job?”

  She looked disappointed, then her eyes sparked like a vulture spotting a meal. “Don’t you need me to give you a statement about her? This is like an episode of CSI, isn’t it?”

  JT watched Donna grow horns right in front of him. “No. It’s not. It’s more like a human being is dead here and we have to find out what happened. This is not a show for your entertainment. Go inside.”

  She stared at me. “Why doesn’t she have to go inside?”

  “Do what I said or I’ll find a reason to haul you to jail.”

  Donna escaped to just inside the back door before she turned around to watch the EMT’s haul Betty Ann’s body out of the water and up onto the side of the pool.

  I felt weak-kneed again and sidled over to one of the chairs.

  “You stay right there. I’m going to go look and I’ll be back. The crime scene crew is on it’s way, such as it is. Don’t call your friend at the newspaper, either.”

  I sat, frozen, watching, waiting. My second dead body.

  JT came back. “What am I supposed to do with you? Do you know how suspicious this is, you here in the middle of the day, for no reason? Do you realize that your story makes you look stupid, which you’re not.”

  He watched the guys work, then turned back to me. “Donna won’t drop this, you know. She’ll spread the story and the whole town will be talking about you even more than before. Finding bodies won’t help grow your business.”

  “I know. Everything I’ve touched lately has turned to shit. I didn’t kill Betty Ann, or Mag for that matter.”

  “I have all your information, imagine that. Now, tell me, in detail, what happened.”

  I filled him in. He let me go, with the usual warning not to leave town.

  “I still want to talk to you in private, so I’ll be over later. I’ll make sure the boys get hold of that camera you found.” JT looked at me the way a father looks at a half-witted child.

  When Donna saw that I was leaving, she flew out of the back door, yelling at JT that he shouldn’t let me run away, I was a killer, psychotic, dangerous.

  I walked back to the truck, wishing I’d never decided to come back to the ranch. It seemed I made things worse for myself no matter what.

  I climbed in and sat. If I simply sat still and quiet long enough would time and life stop, pause, return to normal, whatever that was? What if everything continued to accelerate, spirit apparitions became everyday, murder overwhelmed my life?

  Heat filled the car, wilted my hair the rest of the way, pushed me to start the car and the air. If JT really planned to come over I had to go home, remove the imagined odor of murder.

  * * *

  If JT wanted lunch, I could do chicken Caesar. I caught myself preening in the mirror after my shower. What was I thinking? This wasn’t a date. He could hardly stand to deal with me. He wouldn’t care what I wore, how I looked.

  Tali, pull it together. Don’t pretend to be the teen-ager you haven’t been in too long to remember.

  Nevertheless, I dried my hair, put on perfume, just in case. Mumsie was off to one of her interminable class meetings. Sean went out to play with friends.

  Shadows had grown long across the yard by the time JT showed up. He looked tired, his tan a little grey, as if death didn’t set easily on him. We went out on the back deck to sit with tall glasses of sweet iced tea and watch the sun set behind the football field. Not a romantic beach but nice for Love, Texas. In the country, you take what you can get.

  He gulped his tea. “Donna’s turned into a piece of work. I can’t believe that girl. No concern about Betty Ann and murder, just her own entertainment.”

  “Any idea what could have happened? Do you think it was really murder? Couldn’t Betty Ann have fallen, hit her head or something?”

  JT shook his head. “No idea what actually happened, could be an accident, or not.” He changed the subject. “I hear Reneé is back. How is she?

  “Haven’t talked to her much or seen her in person yet. She and Frank evidently had a long-term relationship I wasn’t aware of.”

  “Interesting timing,” JT said. “She leaves just after Mag is killed, comes back just as Betty Ann dies. Leaves the way clear for her, doesn’t it?”

  “JT Bellows, you stop trying to implicate her. She wouldn’t do it. If murder was on her mind, why would she leave and then come back? That’s the kind of thing you see on Dumbest Criminals.”

  “Or dumb like a fox. You’re too trusting, especially when it involves your friends. Frank seems like a perfect candidate to me. I don’t think you had anything to do with it, really. A high school rivalry rarely ends up in murder twenty years later. On the other hand, the whole other-woman situation does.”

  “What? Like you, me, and Laurel?”

  “We’re not married or having affairs.”

  “Bet that doesn’t matter to Laurel. You realize the entire football team has seen us out here and will spread it around?”

  “Let’s give them something to gossip about.” JT rose, grabbed my hands and pulled me out of the chair.

  I stood there, like a dummy, and let him kiss me, more than once, enjoyed it, feeling the tingle race through me. As we moved in closer, ready to carry things further, a car door slammed, then the front door opened.

  “Mother! What do you think you’re doing, and with a cop, in front of the entire town?” Cass shrieked her way past the sliding glass doors and onto the deck. She pointed her finger like an accusing judge. “Do you realize the whole pep squad is practicing and watching you two? And Marcie Davis is there. She’ll spread this around for everyone to hear. My family has succeeded in humiliating me once again.”

  “You know, JT and I don’t care about the pep squad. We’re both adults and not accountable to you. So you’d better have a damn good reason for screaming at me.”

  “Well, they’re all talking and calling us sluts, and I’m tired of it. This isn’t helping.” Cass threw herself into the glider, almost swinging off the deck she landed so hard.

  JT and I sat down again. “They? Who would they be?”

  Cass muttered into the cushion. “You know, that Donna. She says you killed her mother. I think it’s ridiculous, but you aren’t helping people’s opinion of us.”

  I sat down next
to her. “I thought you and Donna were friends, hanging out.”

  “Yeah, that was once. She’s weird. She thought I was after her boyfriend. I’ve never even met her boyfriend. Wouldn’t know him if he knocked me over.” Cass turned over and sat up. “Besides, you’re changing the subject. You know Daddy’s mad at us. What if he found out you and JT were necking? He already says bad stuff about all of us to Sean.”

  My voice rose to a shriek. “The man has a boyfriend! He has no right to tell Sean anything.”

  JT stood up. “Um, maybe I should leave now. I’m not helping here.”

  “No, you’re not and yes you should.” I turned back to Cass, ready to continue the argument, find out more.

  Chapter Sixteen

  JT left. Cass sulked, refused to talk to me. I quizzed Sean when he came in from watching the pep squad practice.

  “Come help me load the dish washer. How was practice?”

  “Boring to watch but some of the guys were there too, and we messed around on the opposite end of the field.”

  I gathered up trash to take out. “See anything interesting?”

  He grinned at me. “Smooth, Mom. We didn’t see you and JT on the deck. If I promise never to watch you does that mean we can go to American Eagle for school clothes?”

  “I think you’re a little too smart for a ten-year-old kid. Does it bother you, what people are saying?”

  “Almost eleven. And I don’t listen to stupid people who don’t know what they are talking about. JT doesn’t bother me. It’s not like you and Dad are getting back together.”

  “Okay. But you will have to get used to shopping somewhere else. Maybe there’s a good thrift store or consignment shop around.”

  Sean looked at me as if I’d massacred his best friend, or at least his pet kitten. “You’re kidding, right? You want me to wear some other kid’s clothes? What if he sees me at school and knows they’re his old things? Forget it—no way.”

  “Sorry, babe, can do one of the big discount stores or we can look for name brand stuff at a consignment shop, your call. Remember, the better the price, the more clothes we can get.”