Call Back: Magnolia Steel Mystery #3 (Magnolia Steele Mystery)

by Denise Grover Swank

  “That’s likely part of it, but there’s more,” she said, staring out the back window at the garage. “You’re living in the apartment out back, aren’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  “So she’s keeping you close.”

  I hadn’t looked at it that way. Could there be some truth to what she suggested? “I was led to believe she’s had her previous help stay there,” I said.

  “Who told you that?”

  I slowly turned to face her. “I don’t remember.” Which was true. Had Colt insinuated it? “Why?”

  “In the four years I’ve attended these meetings, she’s never once had someone living in that apartment. You’re the first.”

  The blood rushed to my feet. “What?”

  “You didn’t know?”

  “No.” Reflecting on my conversations with Colt and Ava, I realized neither had mentioned previous tenants, but neither had told me it was a new venture either. I’d just presumed.

  Why would Ava want me in her backyard? It hardly seemed like chance that a woman with boxes of articles about the Jackson Project in her attic had decided to rent her garage apartment for the first time in years to me, the daughter of the founder.

  I would worry about that later. I needed to focus on Rowena. “You said you joined the Bible study group four years ago? Did you know Rowena Rogers well?”

  “No one knew Rowena well. She kept to herself.”

  “You said she left because of a scandal.”

  Her eyes lit up. “Oh, yes. And it was quite the scandal indeed. Rumor had it she was having an affair with Karen Merritt’s husband.”

  “Christopher Merritt?”

  “Yes.” Her mouth puckered with disapproval.

  “How long ago?”

  “Three years. Word got out after he took off.”

  “After? How did it come out?”

  “Karen realized that all his late-night meetings were with Rowena.”

  “But isn’t she older than him?”

  “By nearly twenty years. Her husband was a friend of his father’s. But she received a lot of money from her husband in the settlement, and Chris was struggling to provide for his kids and a wife who wanted to look like she was more well-off than she actually was.” She shook her head. “Not that it did her much good since she ended up leaving the Bible study too. The members have standards to maintain.”

  “I’m sure they do,” I said absently. “How long ago were Rowena and her husband divorced?”

  “Oh,” her eyes lit up. “Rowena and Charles weren’t divorced. Charles was killed in a car accident fourteen years ago. Rowena sued and won a lot of money.”

  Fourteen years ago? That couldn’t be a coincidence. “I heard Rowena disappeared, but Ava says she’s still around, and I’ve actually seen her. Do you know where she lives now?”

  “Up in one of those big fancy houses in Brentwood facing Highway 65, but she’s going by her middle name and her maiden name now—Nicole Baker. Frankly, I’m surprised you saw her. I hear she rarely leaves her house.”

  “Maybe I just thought I saw her,” I said. “At Walter Frey’s funeral.”

  Her eyes widened before she grinned. “That seems unlikely. She and Walter hated each other.”

  “Why?”

  Her mouth twisted to the side before she shook her head. “I don’t know. But I do know Walter was in a mess of his own last year. Something to do with an illegal property sale. Whatever it was, Ruby Frey left the group. Ava told her she didn’t have to, but she left anyway.”

  Did that have anything to do with his partnership with Daddy and the others? There were so many leads to follow that it was hard to know where to start. But the whole apartment issue had crawled under my skin. “Do you know about Colt Austin?”

  A knowing smile lit up her face. “How do you know Colton?”

  “He’s the one who introduced me to Ava. He asked her to rent the apartment to me.” When Janine started to laugh, my stomach sank. “What’s so funny?”

  “You think Colton talked her into it?” she asked in disbelief. “Magnolia, no one talks Ava into anything. Everything is always her idea, even if the people around her don’t realize it.”

  This was exactly what I’d feared. “Do you know how Colt started working for Ava or what he did?”

  For the first time, she looked hesitant to talk. “There was a situation that needed help outside our usual sphere. I’m not sure how Ava found Colton, but he quickly had it dispatched.”

  “Situation. What situation?”

  “I . . .”

  The door burst open and Ava shot me a glare. “Magnolia, what are you doing back here? You’ve been absent from your post for nearly ten minutes.”

  “It hasn’t been that long, Miss Ava.” I wasn’t even sure it had been five.

  “Are you sassing me?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “No, ma’am. Just making an observation.”

  Her attention shifted to Janine. “And what are you doing? Have you volunteered to become part of the kitchen staff?”

  “No, ma’am,” Janine stuttered, her face flushing. “I came in to see what was taking Marjorie so long.”

  “Her name is Magnolia,” Ava said, her voice dragging as though discussing this exhausted her. “And she is my staff, not yours. I will see to her.” Ava kept her hard stare on me while she stepped to the side, making it obvious that Janine was dismissed. The woman shuffled past her, nearly spilling her drink. When the door shut, Ava asked, “Did you get what you needed out of her?”

  My mouth dropped open. “What?”

  She rolled her eyes. “You’re a resourceful girl. I was counting on it. So did you get your information?”

  “Enough for now, I think.”

  “Good. The meeting will start in ten minutes. I’d like you to sit in the back and take minutes. A stenographer notebook and pen are on the breakfast table.”

  “What—”

  “Is there a problem, Magnolia?”

  I swallowed. “No, ma’am. I’m just surprised.”

  “Well, pull your jaw off the floor and resume your buffet attendant job until I say it’s time.”

  I’d have to stay late to clean if I sat in on the meeting, which would leave me with a very short window of time to get my car, but Colt and I could work that out later.

  “Yes, ma’am. I wouldn’t miss it.”

  “Good. Don’t disappoint me, Magnolia Steele.”

  I wasn’t sure how she thought I might disappoint her, let alone why I even cared about pleasing her, but I did. Maybe that was how she kept all her cronies in line. Score another one for her powers of manipulation.

  I resumed my task of refilling the quiche plate, then hurried back out to the dining room. Several guests had noticed my lengthy absence and shot me looks of pity—which was likely because they expected me to be fired.

  I ignored their stares, and my churning gut, for another ten minutes before Ava called the meeting to order.

  While everyone made their way out to the living room, I carried a few plates into the kitchen and grabbed the stenographer notebook and pen. By the time I returned, all the women had taken their seats.

  Ava stood at the front of the room, her back stiff and her hands laced in front of her. She glanced up at me and then tilted her head toward an empty chair in the back. “Magnolia will be joining us today and taking the minutes.”

  A murmur went through the room, and several women glanced over their shoulders at me.

  I took my seat and pinned my gaze on the notebook. Ava was definitely up to no good, but who was her intended victim? I was terrified I was going to end up like Carrie on prom night. Except Ava Milton wouldn’t use pig’s blood. No, I suspected her weapon of choice would be far worse.

  “What on earth is this girl doing here?” Georgine asked. I remembered her from the last meeting. She had given Ava plenty of trouble then, and her tone implied she planned on a repeat offense.

  Ava looked unruffle
d. “She’s here because I want her here. Do you have a problem with that, Georgine?”

  Georgine jumped to her feet, shooting me a look that suggested I was lower than pond’s scum. “She’s Brian Steele’s daughter. It’s bad enough that she’s serving us food.”

  The room became so quiet the ticktock of Ava’s grandfather clock was deafening.

  Ava’s eyes became small pinpricks, the only sign that Georgine had gotten under her skin. “I will repeat myself,” she said in an icy tone. “And, for the record, I loathe repeating myself. Magnolia Steele is here because I asked her to sit in the back and take notes. If you have a problem with this, Georgine, feel free to find the door.”

  Georgine stood in place, her face turning red as she clenched her hands at her sides and engaged in a staring match with Ava. Obviously Georgine was a fool—and despite her desire to make her wishes known, she didn’t have what it took to best my landlord. Sure enough, five seconds later Georgine sat down in her chair with a grunt, her back ramrod stiff.

  I wrote down: Miss Ava used her badass skills to shut down Georgine.

  “Now, does anyone else have any objections?” Ava asked, surveying the room.

  No one dared to answer.

  “Very good,” she said with a tiny smile, pleased that she had won her battle. “We shall begin with old business. We raised $5,000 to donate to the Boys and Girls Club in the name of Walter Frey.” She gave a small nod.

  I wrote down: $5,000 to B&G Club in Walter Frey’s name.

  “Thank you for your generous giving. Edie, how are we doing with the meals we are providing to the Frey family?”

  Edie talked about who had signed up and criticized one of the women for delivering a subpar meal of leathery pork chops with an overly tart lemon basil cream sauce and slightly wilted kale. The woman who’d dared to serve such a disaster hung her head in shame while the other women shot her mixed looks of pity and disgust. Edie reminded several women of their upcoming deliveries and the standards they had to maintain. The last thing I wanted to do was log each and every casserole, so I put down: Two weeks of meals to Ruby Frey.

  Then Ava launched into a discussion of various odds and ends I found extremely boring. Though I doubted anyone needed a detailed record about the garden club or Sophia Regis’s bout of pneumonia, I took diligent notes while trying to stay awake. Too many late nights and early mornings at Brady’s had caught up with me, and my eyelids were heavy with exhaustion.

  I began to wonder if it was safe to move back to my apartment. Colt had removed all the cameras, and the person who’d planted them wasn’t likely to bother us before Saturday night. While I was hesitant to move back there alone, especially in light of everything I’d learned about the serial killer, I wasn’t sure where else to stay.

  “Continuing new business,” Ava said in her stick-up-her-butt tone. “I move that we remove Janine Cumberland from the group.”

  I gasped and nearly dropped my pen on the floor.

  “What?” Janine asked, barely above a whisper. “Why?” But she shot a guilty look back at me.

  “You know full well, Janine,” Ava said in an icy tone. “Would you like me to spell it out in front of everyone?”

  My skin turned cold and my hair stood on end. Ava was getting rid of her because I’d gotten her to talk—the very thing Ava had encouraged me to do. I was the reason this woman was being kicked out.

  Janine’s face paled and she shook her head. “No.”

  “Feel free to leave,” Ava said. “We’ll wait.”

  The woman leaned over and reached for her purse under her chair, but dropped it. The contents spilled out, and she dropped to the floor, her hands shaking as she scooped up her lipstick and car keys.

  When Ava’s eyes met mine, she had the satisfied look of a cat full of cream.

  Chapter 19

  Fifteen minutes later, Blanche read a Bible verse—the most cursory part of this Bible study—and Ava declared the meeting adjourned. The reverend had showed up the week before, but there was no sign of him this time. The guests grabbed their purses and vacated the premises within two minutes. But I didn’t sit around and wait to watch them leave. Instead, I headed for the refreshment table and grabbed two plates to carry into the kitchen.

  The table was cleared off, and I’d already begun putting food away when Ava walked through the door. I ignored her and continued putting the leftover poppy seed muffins into a Ziploc bag.

  “Go ahead and get it off your chest,” she said.

  Telling her how I felt would be a huge waste of my breath and my time. People like her thrived off reactions. The best way to tick her off would be to show no reaction at all.

  “Really, Magnolia. Nothing to say?”

  I turned toward her with the bag in my hand. “Actually, there is something.”

  A smug look washed over her face. “Go on.”

  “Have you considered taking the leftovers to a homeless shelter?” I asked, keeping my tone light and breezy. “It seems so selfish to not share them.”

  The gleam left her eyes. “I’ll take it under consideration.”

  “Okay,” I said. “Then I’ll just leave them on the counter. Or if you like, I can put them in a bag and drop them off myself.”

  “Now you’re babbling,” she said in a harsh tone.

  “Am I?” I asked. “I’m sorry. I’ll just quietly do my job.” I started storing the quiche in a plastic storage container.

  “I know you want to talk about Janine.”

  “What you do in your meetings is your concern.”

  She remained behind me, staying silent as she watched me work.

  I snapped the lid on the container and put it on the counter next to the refrigerator.

  “For God’s sake, Magnolia Steele,” she groaned. “I thought you had more backbone than this.”

  “What do you want from me?” I asked, letting my anger bleed through and instantly regretting it when I saw the triumph in her eyes. Well, shit. I’d already failed, but I could still turn this on her. “Why am I really living in your apartment?”

  Her confusion made my slip worth it. “You needed an apartment.”

  “You never rented it to anyone before. Why me?”

  “Why not you?”

  I could see she was regaining control of herself, but I wasn’t ready to let this go. If she wanted a reaction out of me, she was going to get it—and then some. “You rented it to me because of my father.”

  “Really, Magnolia. Given his reputation, your connection to him would more likely be a deterrent.”

  “You want me to find out about him. You asked me to look at that box in the attic on purpose.”’

  “So dramatic,” she said, clucking her tongue. “I gave you that box because I want my attic cleaned out. Have you sorted through it as I asked?”

  “No.”

  “You really are an insolent girl, aren’t you?”

  “Why did Colt start working for you two years ago?”

  “That’s none of your business.”

  “It is my business if he’s my friend.”

  She lifted her eyebrows with a smug smile. “Is he?”

  I tried to hide how much her question bothered me. “What does that mean?”

  “If you were as smart as I thought you were, you’d know.”

  She was trying to get me to turn on Colt, but I wouldn’t let her twist me into knots and sidetrack me. I decided to try a different angle. “Why do you care so much that I find out the truth about my father?”

  She looked me up and down, as though deciding whether I deserved an answer. Finally, she said, “I have my reasons.”

  “Your reasons.” I picked up the empty plates and took them to the sink. “When you told me that your business is information, I knew I’d have to pay for what I learned.”

  “And what is it that you think you’re paying?” she asked in an indignant tone.

  That was the scary part. I’d gotten piece after piece of infor
mation, and aside from my role in poor Janine’s dismissal, I had yet to pay any price. Which meant I was now beholden to Ava Milton, even if I’d never agreed to any terms.

  I opened her dishwasher and began to load it with plates as I rinsed them off.

  She stood behind me for several seconds. “Don’t you think of leaving before all of this is cleaned up. Remember that whatever personal plans you may have for later are not my concern.”

  I didn’t answer, continuing my task. The angry part of me demanded I walk out, pack up the few belongings I had in my apartment, and never speak to Ava Milton again. But another part of me said to swallow my pride and not rush into a hasty decision. My apartment represented freedom and Ava dangled answers. Was I willing to forsake either?

  She turned and left the room, leaving me in uneasy silence.

  A half hour later, I unlocked my apartment door and found Colt still asleep on my sofa.

  “Do you have any idea what time it is?” I asked as I shoved his leg.

  His body jerked and he lifted his head. “What?”

  “It’s twelve fifteen.” I crossed my arms and gave him a disapproving look. “I hope you got enough beauty sleep.”

  He sat up and rubbed his eyes. “What are you doing back already? I thought you said you wouldn’t be back until after twelve thirty.”

  “The Bible study ended abruptly, which worked in my favor since I couldn’t clean up the kitchen during their meeting like I did last week. This time I had to wait until after.”

  “Why did the meeting end abruptly?”

  “I could tell you,” I said, plopping into the overstuffed chair. “But then I’d have to kill you.”

  “Ha. Ha. Very funny.”

  To hell with all her secrecy. “She fired someone.”

  He grinned. “You? That would explain why you’re back early.”

  “No, I still have my job, which flies in the face of all reason.” I shook my head. “She dismissed one of the women in the Bible study.” I narrowed my eyes. “Did you know that their Bible study consists of reading one Bible verse and the rest of the time is spent gossiping?”