Six Feet Under

by Tonya Kappes

  “That’s strange about Danny,” I said. He’d always been a little hotheaded, but he wasn’t a bully or a thug. It made me wonder what was going on with him. Maybe a little friendly visit to Danny Shane was on the docket.

  Then my mind did that thing. It went to the what-ifs. Not that any evidence pointed to Danny, but what if he was so mad at Ben for losing the job that his revenge was to shut down Ben’s? After all, he did say that Ben’s had given him food poisoning and he told everyone he knew not to go there. Malina did say that Danny had been at The Tattered Cover Books and Inn for a couple of days fixing things up.

  “That’s it.” I ran my hand down Duke once we said goodbye to Mrs. Brown. “Danny Shane hasn’t showed up for jobs. What’s going on with him?” I whispered on the way to the Jeep. “Plus he owns those condos where Mama said she got her Botox. Maybe it’s time I start investigating that.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “What do you think your mama wants?” Poppa sat in the front seat and Duke jumped into the back.

  “You and I both know that she’s got something up her sleeve. I hope she doesn’t have a bomb she wants to drop on me about the Botox and stuff. Regardless, I think we need to go see Danny Shane tomorrow before I go back to my baking class.”

  “I’m not convinced Danny Shane is a murderer, but he’ll do anything to keep that family business going. His dad was just like him,” Poppa said.

  “I’m not saying he’s a murderer, I’m just saying he might know more than he’s leading on.” I continued, “I can just make a courtesy call to him and see what my gut says after I talk to him.”

  “Remember to always listen to your gut.” Poppa ghosted away as I pulled up to my parents’ house.

  “You are going to have to stay with Mrs. Brown all day tomorrow,” I said to Duke. “I’ve got some investigating to do.”

  Some familiar cars were lined up on the street. Ones that belonged to Tibbie Bell, Myrna Savage, Viola White, Ruby Smith, Missy Jennings, and the On The Run food truck, which meant that Jolee was there. If it weren’t the wrong night, I’d think the Euchre girl’s night in was tonight since it was the same gals that played.

  The sun was setting and it was getting darker as well as colder. All of the lights were on in Mama’s house. I dragged my old sweatshirt out of the back and tugged it on.

  “What on earth is she up to?” I asked Duke. I swear he understood me. “Come on, boy.” I patted my leg and walked up to the door.

  When I opened it, laughter and chatter filtered into the entryway.

  “There you are,” Mama greeted me with joy. “I thought I heard a car door.”

  It was a far cry from her attitude since I’d last seen her. She even had her black eye covered with makeup. Though she was still a little puffy, she looked a whole lot better.

  “What’s going on?” I dragged my hand along Duke as he ran past me into Mama’s house.

  “I thought that after last night’s horrible town council meeting, we’d move our weekly Euchre game up to today. You love Euchre and I think you need a bit of cheering up.” She twirled on her gold flats and trotted into the other room.

  I wasn’t sure if Mama used the excuse to cheer herself up or if she really was trying to cheer me up. Either way, I was glad to get out of my head for a few hours. And the food wouldn’t be bad either.

  Every week all the girls got together for our Euchre night. Everyone brought a dish, and not just any dish. It was the best they’d make all week. These women took pride in their cooking and if they could outdo each other, they’d do it.

  By the sound of my gurgling stomach, tonight was not going to disappoint. Mama’s kitchen table was filled with all the southern appetizers.

  “Myrna, is this your spicy pimento cheese?” I asked.

  I could already taste Myrna’s specialty appetizer. I used the fancy spoon in the cheese spread to put some on a couple of toast points.

  “Don’t forget the asparagus.” She grinned. I noticed the wrinkles in her smile line were smooth.

  “You look good.” I took the tongs and placed a piece of asparagus on top of the pimento cheese. “Are you using a different moisturizer?” I baited her. “This winter my skin took a hit. I’ve been looking in the beauty aisle at Dixon’s for something new.”

  She licked her lips and hesitated. “You really think I look good?”

  “Yes.” I nodded.

  Come on, Myrna, I thought, tell me about the Botox.

  “Or did you get it from Tiny Tina’s? I know she’s got a new cosmetics line down there.” I reached over and put a few fried dill pickles on my plate.

  “Well,” she leaned into my shoulder and whispered, “there’s this new party, kinda like the one that Katy Lee has with that clothing line.” She reached over me and took a couple of the shrimp and grits.

  “Shabby Trends?” I asked, pretending I didn’t know.

  “It’s not clothes. It’s Botox.” She smiled and pointed to her lips. “Your mama and I went to get a little for only twenty-five dollars. She had a little reaction, but I didn’t.” She rolled her eyes Mama’s way.

  “I saw that she had that black eye.” I pretended Mama hadn’t said a word to me. “Of course, Edna printed it on the front page of the Chronicle so everyone would assume she and Frank Von Lee had an argument.”

  “Wasn’t that a shame?” Myrna tsked. “Your mama wasn’t there when he died, so I don’t know why they think she was.”

  “Myrna, do you know something?” I asked. “It doesn’t look good for Mama, and if you do have some information I’d like to know it. Any information can be helpful even if you don’t think it could be.”

  “Your mama was pitching a fit after her eye swelled up and blackened. She was going to go back over there and give them a piece of her mind. Alone,” she muttered uneasily. “I told her that there’s no way I was going to let her go alone. You know those condos are a little fishy. We went and she demanded her money back. They told her since it was cash only, they didn’t offer money back. Then she said that her daughter was the sheriff and she was going to report them. That’s when they got a little antsy.”

  “They did?” I drew back and acted like it was no big deal they were there.

  “Her threats worked. They gave her money back and told her to come back and they’d fix the botch.” Myrna laughed. “Leave it to your mama to get a bad batch of Botox. Especially when she needed it for Frank Von Lee. Bless her heart.” Myrna lovingly glanced at Mama, who was on the other side of the room talking. “Nothing has gone right for her with this Frank thingy. First she wears herself out cooking to make sure each pot pie tastes the same as the next. Then she goes and gets Botox so she can look good, only it’s all messed up. Then Poor Frank up and gets himself killed. Poor shame.”

  “It sure is. Say, do you know the number of the apartment?” I asked.

  So as not to seem so interested, I continued to put more food on my plate.

  “I thought you’d never ask.” She grinned. “You could stand to get those elevens done.”

  “Elevens?” Never in a million years did I think Myrna Savage would give me beauty tricks.

  “These two lines you have between your eyes.” She reached up and touched the top of my nose. “They look like an eleven. I had one.” She dragged her nail between her brows. “It might cost a little more, but you’ll look a lot better. Or,” she let out an audible sigh, “you could get bangs. That’d do it too.”

  “Elevens. Good to know. Thanks.” I nodded. “What’s the apartment number?”

  “Twenty-two. Two, two. Twenty-two.” She made sure I remembered. “Tell ’em I sent ya. Maybe they’ll give me a discount next time.”

  “Twenty-two. Got it.” I reached over the Crock-Pot. “Y’all have outdone yourselves. Are these Dr. Pepper meatballs?”

  “They sure are.” Pride s
howed on her face. She smiled, line-free.

  With my plate full and a Diet Coke in my hand, I made my way into Mama’s fancy family room where she’d set up the Euchre tables.

  Jolee, my partner, was sitting with Ruby Smith and Viola White.

  “Any news about you-know-who?” Jolee asked about Mundy.

  “No,” I said and shuffled the cards, dealing them out to the four of us and waiting to see if any of them wanted me to pick up the red nine on top of the discarded pile of cards.

  Each of them knocked their finger on the table. In Euchre talk, they were passing on the nine. I flipped it over and now they had the opportunity to call a trump suit. Each of them passed, but not me. I never passed when I could call a trump, even if I didn’t have the highest cards.

  “Spades is trump,” I called the suit.

  For the next half hour, everyone made chitchat without mentioning Frank Von Lee or Mama’s involvement. No one made mention of Mama’s face or the awful photo Edna had printed. They didn’t even mention the Culinary Channel at all.

  Until...

  “I’m tired of everyone beating around the bush.” Viola White’s eyes gazed over the top of her cards that she held up in front of her face. She’d opted for a cream turban with her hair tucked up underneath. A necklace with large gold balls the size of eggs wrapped around her neck.

  Viola was a substitute. She didn’t have a regular partner and tonight she was Ruby Smith’s partner. Both old. Both wealthy.

  I sucked in a deep breath, waiting for what Viola was going to say and if Mama would end up kicking her out. I threw down the jack of spades, the highest of the round we were playing, hoping to pull out more trump cards. Viola threw a nine of hearts, which told me she had no trump in her hand, while Jolee dropped the queen of spades. Ruby’s eyes went back and forth between her cards and the cards played before she finally gave up the jack of clubs, the second highest card in the round.

  “And what would that be, Viola?” I asked.

  “What on earth do y’all think about Polly Parker marrying Mayor Ryland?” Ruby arranged her cards and rearranged them again.

  “Money, honey. Chance Ryland has a boatload.” Viola’s mouth quirked with humor.

  She seemed to have a deep secret about the mayor and his wealth. Of course I couldn’t help but wonder what that was.

  “If I were Pete Parker, I’d take that girl and give her a good whoopin’. I just can’t hold my tongue no more.” Viola dragged her long nails down the black feather boa wrapped around her neck, her turquoise rings really standing out against the black. “I know you really like the Parkers, Ruby, but that’s ridiculous.”

  Relief swam through my veins and I eased back in my seat, thankful they didn’t bring up Frank, Mama, or me being taken off the case.

  “I agree.” Ruby took the break to pull out her lipstick and circle her lips with the bright orange color. “There are plenty of women his own age to do that to than that poor girl.”

  “I can’t even imagine what she sees in his wrinkly body,” Jolee threw in her two cents.

  There was a collective snicker around the table.

  “Can you imagine in a few years when her boobs’ll still be all perky and up here,” Viola flattened her hands under her chin, “and she’s pushing him in a wheelchair?”

  “Or worse,” Ruby’s eyes shifted side to side with an evil grin on her face, “her visiting him along with her mama and daddy in a nursing home.”

  The two women laughed and cackled as I threw more cards, ending the first game in our Euchre round, giving me and Jolee the first win in the set.

  “He is very mature looking.” I thought it was time to give a little positive spin to it. “She’s going to need a caterer.” I rose a brow toward Jolee.

  She looked at me, but in a through-me kind of way.

  “Hmm.” Her lips twisted. “That’s an idea.” The thought brought a smile to her face.

  “She works for you, so she’s going to need jewelry.” I threw the conversation toward Viola White. “You know her wedding will be in all the social papers.”

  They all knew that when you made it into the societal page of the Chronicle, you were Cottonwood royalty.

  “Remember when Tiny Tina’s was mentioned in there after that celebrity passed through and stopped to get a quick massage,” I said. “She was booked for two years after that.”

  “You might be onto something.” Ruby tapped the edge of her card on the table in front of her before she threw it in the middle to take the next trump. “I wonder if she’s going to have an outdoor wedding because I have all those cute chandeliers that can be repurposed into romantic hanging lighting. It’s in all the wedding magazines.”

  “It’s settled then.” I threw down a trump to get the game finished. They followed suit. “Viola will host an engagement party for Polly. Jolee will do the food. Ruby can bring her chandelier idea. We’ll make Polly think it’s her idea as we present them to her.”

  “You’re a genius.” Ruby reached over and patted my hand. “You are a great sheriff.”

  “All joking aside,” Viola drummed her nails on the table, “I’m not happy Mayor Ryland took you off the case without a full council vote.”

  “Unfortunately, the law does state that the mayor can govern over the department if there’s a conflict.” I raked in all the cards and handed them to Jolee so she could shuffle and deal.

  “Regardless,” Ruby chimed in, “all of us are here for you and if you need anything, you know we’ll drop whatever we’re doing.”

  Jolee smiled at me from across the table.

  “I’ll keep that in mind.” I smiled back.

  “You know,” Jolee shuffled the cards into a bridge, “our sheriff is a mighty good baker. In fact, she’s been taking a baking class.”

  “You never know. I might be trying to get a job down at the bakery if I’m out of work soon,” I joked.

  “Are you baking a cake for a certain someone?” Ruby asked.

  “Oh, spill. How does Finn feel about you not taking lead on the case?” Viola followed up.

  “First off, no. I’m learning to bake for me. Secondly, Finn and I both want what’s best for Cottonwood.” I had to be very political.

  “Are you two being nosy?” Mama walked up behind me and put her hands on my shoulders. “I, for one, am thrilled to have this extra time with my baby.”

  “Me too, Mama.” I reached up and patted her on the hand. “Me too.”

  As much as Mama drove me crazy, I knew she always had my back. Even though she’d rather go to jail over a murder charge than have people find out she had Botox, I was going to have her back. Maybe it was time to get the elevens done.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  It was actually a very nice day, I thought to myself on my way back to the house. It was the first time in a long time that I’d actually taken a few hours to enjoy myself. Even though I wasn’t a big shopper, the laughter and storytelling going on between me and Jolee was a lot of fun and the surprise Euchre game mama had thrown together was also enjoyable.

  But tonight when Finn stopped by, now that was something I was really looking forward to. Only there was one thing on my list that had to be done: calling the people on Mundy’s class list. If I really wanted to give Finn some solid evidence about why I thought Mundy killed Frank, then I needed some eyewitnesses to Frank and Mundy’s volatile relationship.

  “Boo,” Poppa teased as he appeared in the kitchen.

  Duke jumped up at the ready to play toss with him. I’d just grabbed a beer and retrieved the papers I’d printed off from the library with Frank’s class list.

  “What are those?” Poppa asked.

  “Names of the students in Frank Von Lee’s class.” I sat down in a kitchen chair and tapped the papers. “Mundy was in this class.”

  “He was?�
�� Poppa’s ghost somehow kicked the ball Duke had dropped at his feet and Duke shot off down the hall. “That’s a connection.”

  “I found it today.” I looked up at him. It started to feel like old times.

  At this very table when I was a teenager and even in the academy, Poppa and I use to banter back and forth about his cases. It was something I loved to do.

  “Mundy not only got kicked out of Frank’s class, Frank had a restraining order against him. Just a few weeks ago, the restraining order was re-filed, which means that Frank had reason to keep Mundy a good distance from him.”

  “I hope you’re going to go and confront Mundy, because if Frank was to show up at the diner and Mundy was there, he’d be in violation of the order.” Poppa raised a good point.

  “I really don’t think it’s a coincidence that Mundy called Ben to see if Ben needed help.” I recalled how Ben told me that he’d been searching for a chef to help out so he could focus his time on Frank’s visit.

  “It wasn’t like it was a big secret that Frank was coming.” Poppa looked over my shoulder and at the paper. “I guess you better use that fancy laptop of yours to look these people up. If we can get even two of them to confirm the tension between teacher and student, it’s enough evidence to make Mundy a suspect.”

  “The restraining order is enough.” I dragged my laptop in front of me. I took a big swig of my beer before I got started.

  I used the police database to see if any of them had criminal records. It wasn’t unusual for chefs to get into some sort of fight in their career and get arrested for something really stupid. Poppa had arrested Ben once. There was a customer who complained and insulted his food. Ben didn’t take the criticism very well, and the customer called the sheriff’s department. Poppa didn’t have a choice but to put Ben in the pokey for a few hours until he calmed down.

  “I’m hoping the restraining order wasn’t just because Mundy lost his cool.” It did tickle my brain that Frank Von Lee would use something so silly to put a restraining order on Mundy, though it did help Mama’s case.