by Riley Adams
The Graces laughed. But more than likely, they agreed with her.
“Besides,” said Lulu, “I know why John was hanging out with the Graces.”
“It wasn’t because of our charm and beauty?” asked Evelyn.
“I’m afraid not. I think he wanted to keep an eye on Reuben. If he’d been harassing Reuben, like Sharon was saying, then maybe he was looking for a good time to make trouble here at the festival.”
Cherry said, “That weasel! Telling us he doesn’t like conflict. Skipping out on us because he was so sensitive. A bunch of hooey!”
“Wait. I’m confused,” said Flo, squinting her eyes and studying Lulu. “So are you saying that John hung out in our booth to sort of scope out the area? Then he found a chance to take Reuben out with a butcher knife? Doesn’t that seem kind of extreme?”
“Not to mention risky,” said Evelyn. “What if Reuben had seen him?”
“I’m wondering if maybe he did see him,” said Lulu. “Remember in the excitement of the fight? I thought that Reuben seemed to recognize someone or seemed like he was going to say something before he stopped. Maybe he’d spotted John before John slipped away.”
“Like I was saying,” said Evelyn, “risky.”
Cherry said, “You know, maybe he wasn’t really planning on murdering Reuben. Maybe he simply wanted to get back at him on a real simple level.”
“You’re right, Cherry,” said Lulu. “What if John planned some other kind of mischief for revenge? Maybe he was planning on ruining his barbeque by pouring something into the cooked meat. There’s lots of things he could have done on a much smaller scale.”
“Or maybe,” said Evelyn, “he did kill Reuben. Because he sure has done a disappearing act now.”
Lulu said, “But isn’t it funny that he came by to see us after the murder? He acted like he didn’t know what had happened.”
“Because he was pumping us for information,” said Evelyn. “Remember how curious he was about what the police were saying and how we’d found the body and all? He was on a reconnaissance mission so he could protect himself better from being discovered.”
“Yeah, and smooth things over with us so we weren’t still mad at him. Mad people might start putting two and two together and wondering why he cut out of there while that fight was going on,” said Flo.
“I say he’s dirty,” said Cherry, viciously poking at the barbeque. “And Lulu, let’s plan on showing up at his house real soon. I want to surprise him, all right.”
“Maybe surprise him enough to shoot y’all in his foyer,” drawled Evelyn.
Lulu said, “I was thinking more that we would go to his house and park in front of his neighbor’s house and wait for him to come outside. I’d rather talk to John in full view of the outside world. Just in case.”
Derrick came by the booth with the twins.
Lulu gave them all a hug. “Girls,” she said, “how about if I take y’all around the festival for a while? I haven’t had a chance to really see what all is out there.”
Coco said, “Can we see the singing contest?”
“There are judges and only the best singers keep from getting booted off,” said Ella Beth. “And the audience gets to help choose!”
“Sure thing. It sounds like a lot of fun. Maybe we can buy some slushies to drink while we watch—it feels like it’s starting to really heat up,” said Lulu.
Evelyn said, “By the way, Derrick, you know I’ve been operating as official hostess here at the Graces’ booth. We’ve had a heap of people…personal guests, of course…come through here and they’ve raved over the tee shirts. I’ve heard so many nice things said about them.”
“Me, too!” said Flo. “Everybody has said how clever they are and how much they love them.”
“And thank heavens for them,” said Evelyn. “I couldn’t have abided staying dressed up as Ms. Priscilla Presley the whole time. That getup was way too hot to wear for very long.”
Derrick’s face lit up with the praise. It was amazing, thought Lulu, how long the process of restoring a child’s self-esteem took. His mother had really done a number on him before Sara and Ben took Derrick in to live with them and the twins.
“That’s great,” he said with relief. “I felt kind of bad that we didn’t win the tee shirt contest.”
“Pooh on those judges,” said Cherry stoutly, waving around her spatula in a threatening manner. “They wouldn’t know a winning tee shirt if it came up and bit them on the behind. I’ve heard tons of compliments, too, Derrick. Thanks so much for doing that design for us.” She gave him a one-armed but enthusiastic hug.
Derrick looked like he might float, he was flying so high from the praise. If people looked past the tattoos and the piercings and the tough exterior, they’d find a really sweet and insecure boy.
“Well,” Derrick said gruffly, “I guess I’d better head on out. I’m meeting Peaches here in a few minutes. And after we hang out here for a while, I’ve got some other stuff I need to do.”
The Graces beamed at him. Peaches was absent Grace Peggy Sue’s step-granddaughter and they doted on her. “Isn’t that nice that you and Peaches are going to hang out together,” said Flo. “Oh, I am so glad to hear that y’all are still dating each other.”
Lulu found her pocketbook and opened her fat wallet to find a little money, which she shoved in Derrick’s hand. “Here. Buy her some food and a drink. And have fun, sweetie.”
The festival was absolutely jam-packed with people. The fact that it was the weekend combined with a rare period of sunshine meant that the crowds had arrived in droves. Ella Beth and Coco had come to the festival hungry, so Lulu was soon digging in her purse again for money. They ended up eating funnel cakes, washed down with slushies.
“Mercy,” said Lulu, “I think we need to go home and brush our teeth now, girls.”
“Oh, Granny Lulu. We’ll be fine. It wasn’t all that much sugar,” said Coco.
The entire snack had been constructed of sugar.
“Look! The show’s starting!” said Ella Beth.
It was a transfixing show, and the girls and Lulu happily spent more time than Lulu even realized had passed, watching the different contestants try to claim the prize. She glanced at her watch. “Girls, it’s time for us to head back to the booth. Y’all are pretty pink and I am, too. Do you have sunscreen on?” Of course they didn’t. Ben and Sara were scrambling too much at the restaurant, and teenage boys didn’t think about stuff like sunscreen. Nor did nine-year-old girls.
“Guess what, Granny Lulu?” asked Coco, carefully skirting a tremendous mud puddle. “I can Hula-hoop one hundred and fifty times!”
“Mercy!” said Lulu again. Unfortunately, she’d somehow managed to step right in the tremendous mud puddle. There was now a squelching noise coming from her sensible sandals.
Ella Beth said, “That’s only because it wasn’t a real Hula-hoop. It was on the Wii, so it doesn’t count.”
Lulu wasn’t one hundred percent sure that she knew what a Wii was.
“Does, too! You’re jealous because you couldn’t make it go around that many times,” said Coco.
Ella Beth didn’t appear to have an answer for this. Instead, she abruptly changed the subject.
“Did you know we saw one of our waiters at the festival yesterday?”
“Did you, sweetie? I’m amazed he was able to get away with the restaurant being so crazy,” said Lulu.
Ella Beth said, “It was that waiter, Tim. You remember him. Pale and skinny? Sort of sad all the time?”
Ella Beth had fond hopes of becoming a detective when she was older. “Yes, I think I know who you’re talking about.”
Coco said, “Yeah, but when you ran up to hug him, you didn’t notice he was having an argument with that guy from the booth next to the Graces. Awk-ward!”
Lulu said quickly, “Coco…which man do you mean?”
“The loud one, the one that Auntie Flo had to drag us away from yesterday so we wouldn
’t hear him,” said Coco.
“And Ella Beth, you gave this man a hug?”
“No, no, no. I was fixing to give Tim the waiter a hug. He plays Crazy Eights with me at Aunt Pat’s sometimes. But Derrick stopped me because Tim was having an argument with that really loud guy.” Ella Beth seemed disappointed that she hadn’t been observant enough to see they’d been arguing.
“You didn’t hear what they were arguing about?” asked Lulu.
“No. Because Coco started fussing with me about whose turn it was to sit in the front seat on the way back home,” said Ella Beth.
Fortunately, before this argument was reincarnated, they were within sight of the Graces’ booth and the girls raced each other to see who could get there first. They flew right past Derrick, who was approaching with his girlfriend, Peaches. It looked to be the perfect opportunity for her to talk to him without the twins being around.
At first glance, Peaches didn’t seem like a natural match for Derrick. The girl was lovely with long blond hair, sparkling blue eyes, and the cutest clothes. She provided quite a contrast with Derrick and his dark clothes, piercings, and tattoos. Somehow, though, the balance worked.
Peaches gave Lulu a big hug. Lulu said, “Have y’all had a good time at the festival?”
“We sure have,” said Peaches. “Derrick was sweet to buy me some food. I’m stuffed!” Her rosy cheeks dimpled in a smile.
Derrick grinned and said, “It wasn’t exactly food technically.”
“Half food, half drink? A fried Coca-Cola,” said Peaches, grinning back at him.
“What?” asked Lulu, making a face.
“A fried Coke. They said it was really just Coke-flavored batter with more Coke, whipped cream, and cinnamon on top. You wouldn’t believe how good it was,” said Peaches.
She had that right.
“Well, sugar, I’m tickled that you enjoyed it. And you go home and really scrub those pretty teeth of yours.” said Lulu. “Your grandmama will have our hides if we conspired to get you cavities. So y’all are still making the rounds here, right? Lots to do, lots to see. And no rain right now, so that’s a good thing.”
“Don’t jinx us, Granny Lulu,” Derrick said, peering apprehensively at the big clouds overhead.
“Before y’all go on your way, I was wondering if I could ask you something about yesterday, Derrick. Now, don’t get all concerned on me”—Derrick’s face had quickly clouded up as if thinking he’d done something wrong—“it’s something the girls mentioned to me about our waiter.”
“Oh,” said Derrick, nodding, “that guy with the real dark hair. He’s got to be dyeing it. What’s his name…Tim.”
“That’s right. The girls say that y’all saw him yesterday,” said Lulu.
“We did. Ella Beth was going to run up and give him a hug because they play cards together on the porch at the restaurant or something. But I stopped her because he and another guy were arguing about something,” said Derrick.
“Thanks for putting the brakes on her. Did you hear what the men were arguing about?” asked Lulu.
“Not a whole lot. Actually, I was trying to listen in because they were so focused on each other and the other guy was so mad that they didn’t even notice us—didn’t even see a little girl running at them. I thought that was weird. The other guy, not Tim, was saying that Tim wasn’t returning his messages or coming to his door.”
Lulu said, “This guy that Tim was talking to, what did he look like?”
Derrick described a short, bald man. Reuben.
“What did Tim say when Reuben…that’s the other guy, Derrick…complained about him not returning his messages?”
“Tim said he’d moved. And that he’d been busy. But then he said that he was tired of ‘living his life like this.’ Then that other guy, Reuben I guess, pulled him off by the arm to talk somewhere else.” Derrick shrugged. “That’s all I heard.”
Lulu gave him a quick hug. “That’s very, very helpful, Derrick. You were very observant to have seen and heard all that.”
Peaches’ blue eyes grew wide. “Are you investigating another case? Gran always talks about you being a gifted detective.”
Lulu clucked. “Well, I wouldn’t say that. I wouldn’t say I was investigating or anything. I’m just poking around, checking things out.”
“Is that because Cherry is in trouble?” asked Derrick, concerned. “I don’t think she’s really a serious suspect, but she did have an argument with that Reuben,” said Lulu.
“Sounds like he was arguing with absolutely everybody,” said Peaches. “Maybe it’s not such a bad thing that he’s not around anymore.”
Derrick and Peaches were off to explore more of the festival, and Evelyn offered to drive the twins back to the restaurant since she was leaving. Lulu decided she’d stay put at the booth and visit for a while. Morty, Buddy, and Big Ben arrived at the Graces’ booth, so there was suddenly a lot of activity…and hugging. Morty and his friends comprised the Back Porch Blues Band, and now in their eighties, they’d had a relationship with both Lulu and Aunt Pat for decades. They were loyal regulars at the restaurant and played on the screen porch there quite a bit, too.
“I hear there’s some cooking to be done,” said Buddy. “Maybe there might be some eating, too?”
“What I can’t figure out,” said Big Ben, “is why the best cook at the whole festival isn’t cooking.”
“Shoot,” said Morty, “you know that wouldn’t be fair, Big Ben. If Lulu were to start cooking up Aunt Pat–style barbeque, the other guys wouldn’t even have a shot at winning. It all has to be fair, you know. Besides, the rules say that professional cooks can’t compete.”
“I hear there’s trouble afoot, too,” said Big Ben in what he apparently thought was a whisper. “I know if Lulu is on it, then the case will be sewn up in no time.”
“I bet Pink is kicking back and relaxing, knowing that Lulu is on the case,” agreed Buddy.
Lulu sighed. “Y’all are sweet, but I have a feeling Pink is probably hoping I don’t get involved. You know how trouble always springs up when I do.”
“Sure enough,” said Buddy, “but the mysteries end up getting solved, don’t they?”
She couldn’t really argue with that.
“So we’ll mosey on next door and I’ll introduce Big Ben and Buddy to Sharon and Brody,” said Morty. “And if we happen to hear anything that might be a clue, we’ll hand it over.”
“I sure do like the idea of being a spy,” said Buddy. “I could use that kind of excitement in my life right now. Life has been kind of on the stale side lately.”
Big Ben, on the hard-of-hearing end of the scale, bellowed, “What’s that?”
“I said life was boring,” hollered Buddy.
Morty snorted. “I doubt that. You’ve got a lady friend.”
“Well, that’s right. But it seems like we do the same stuff all the time. Wave at cars on the front porch. Eat the free samples at the Costco. Go to the early bird specials at the cafeteria.” Buddy shrugged. “We’re in a rut.”
“What you need to do,” said Morty, jabbing his finger in the air, “is to shake things up a little bit.”
Buddy made a face. “Sure, that all sound s like a wonderful idea. But you know how it is when you get into a rut. In some ways it’s sorta comfortable there. It takes a bunch of effort to mess with a routine. Bunches of effort. And I’m an old guy.”
“It doesn’t have to take too much effort,” said Lulu. “Our Derrick squired Peggy Sue’s granddaughter around the festival. You should see if Leticia would join you later after you’re done cooking. Y’all don’t go to festivals every day, after all. And there’s stuff to see here—food to eat, people to stare at. I think you could have a fun time.”
“Maybe,” said Buddy in a considering voice. “Of course, that would involve calling Ms. Swinger on the phone. And I forgot to bring one today.”
Morty immediately held out his phone to him. He shrugged. “Okay, okay, y’all.
I guess I can try something different. I’ll give her a call once I’ve put in some cooking time.”
Morty, Big Ben, and Buddy walked next door, and after a few minutes they returned with Brody, who came over to join Lulu and the Graces. Brody’s eyes were tired, his clothes were rumpled, and he generally looked like he’d been through the wringer. “Hi, y’all,” he ventured. “Guess you didn’t know what you were getting into when you ended up with a booth next to my team.”
They gave him a hug. Lulu said, “Brody, it’s not your fault. This all has been a nightmare for you, I know.”
He nodded, drawing in a deep breath. “I know Reuben and I were fighting with each other yesterday. But we used to be close friends. I hate that this has happened to him.”
Cherry said, “Want to have a seat, Brody?” She gestured at a table with her spatula. “I’m going to take a break myself.”
“I’ll watch the grill,” said Flo. “And I’ll add that I’ll be ready to see the end of the barbequing, too!”
Brody smiled, then suddenly got serious. “One of the reasons I came by is to thank y’all. You’ve been a really good friend to us, regardless of how everything started out with that big argument between us and Reuben. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that we’ve got extra hands helping us out right now, for one.”
Lulu waved her hands dismissively. “Well, that’s nothing to do with us. Morty, Buddy, and Big Ben are the helpful ones.”
“We’d never have known them if it hadn’t been for you, though,” said Brody. “You’ve got real decent friends.”
“I’ll second that,” said Cherry, holding up her beer. “To friends!”
They toasted friendship and then Brody continued, “You’ve been super nice to Sharon, too. You probably don’t know how upset this whole situation has made her. First she was upset by Reuben’s behavior, which had changed so radically. Then, of course, she was upset right after that by the fact that Reuben ended up dead and that she and I are suspects…it’s been a nightmare. You’ve been great friends to her and really talked her off the cliff a couple of times when she felt down over everything. Thanks.”
