Leaving Sinful

by Shari Hearn

  “They’re from my dad’s side of the family.”

  Bucky shook her head. “This is what we were afraid of when we warned you about that map. It can make people do crazy things. Sometimes ending in, I hate to say, insanity, or... death.”

  I shook my head. “Gertie didn’t find the map. She was reading about it, so it probably stuck in her head.”

  “Well, just in case,” Rosa said. “You remember what we said. That map is bad news. Best to give it to us and let us dispose of it properly.”

  “I’d better go check on Gertie.”

  They nodded. Bucky reached out and touched my shoulder. “We’ll check on you in the morning. Hopefully the rest of the night will be uneventful.”

  I turned and walked back to the trailer.

  Chapter Eight

  Bucky

  BUCKY WAVED TO FORTUNE as she retreated into Olive’s trailer.

  “You take care of your aunt,” Bucky said. “Her welfare is the most important thing.”

  As soon as Fortune disappeared inside, Bucky turned to Rosa and Shelby and whispered, “They found the map. It’s game on, ladies. Those three might need a stronger prodding to give it up. Care for a little slumber party to strategize?”

  “I’ll go get some Jiffy Pop,” Shelby said.

  Rosa noticed Martha staring at them. “Can I help you, Martha? Since you seem so intent on listening in on our private conversation?”

  “Uh, huh,” Martha said. “You look real concerned about that gal’s aunt.” She cocked her head. “And what did that golf cart thief say about a map to the Lost Dutchman Mine?”

  “Well, obviously that poor, old gal was mistaken,” Bucky said. “Didn’t you hear? She was sleepwalking. End of story.” She turned to Rosa and Shelby. “Come on, ladies, let’s go discuss ways to help Fortune’s poor, old Aunt Gertie.”

  As they walked away, Martha called out to them, “You don’t think that’s why someone killed Olive, do you? Because she had a map to the Lost Dutchman Mine?”

  Bucky’s stomach clenched. She turned back to Martha. “Olive died in her sleep. Also end of story.”

  The smirk Martha shot Bucky was a corkscrew to her gut.

  Chapter Nine

  AFTER WAVING GOODBYE to Rosa, Bucky and Shelby, I went inside and surveyed the mess in the living room. The contents of one of the shelving units was on the floor, a rag and dusting spray remaining on one of the shelves. The lamp next to the recliner was on, and one of the books Gertie had been reading sat opened on the chair. I walked down the hall and found Ida Belle waiting outside the bedroom while Gertie changed into her pajamas.

  “Does she normally sleepwalk?” I asked her.

  Gertie called from the bedroom, “Is that Marge’s niece, Sandy-Sue? Marge talks about you all the time, honey. She says you wear too much pink.”

  Ida Belle shook her head. “The only time I’ve seen her like this was on a vacation we all took together about six months ago. Gertie had her doctor give her a prescription for sleep meds in case she had trouble with the time change. Our first night away I found her in the rental car trying to go somewhere. Luckily, she had the wrong set of keys, but she started honking the horn and woke everyone up. She said she had to get to the prom early so she could put a stink bomb underneath the prom queen’s throne. The prom queen being Celia.”

  “Did that really happen? Did she put a stink bomb underneath Celia’s throne when you were in high school?”

  A smile crept on Ida Belle’s face. “I swore myself to secrecy for life. Anyway, for some reason, that night on vacation Gertie thought she was a teenager again. The next day she couldn’t remember a thing. She told me she was going to throw the prescription away. Maybe she didn’t. Maybe she decided to bring it and try it again.”

  Gertie walked out of the bedroom, dressed in her PJs and holding her phone. She tapped on it and held it up to her ear. “Hello, Marge, this is Gertie. We have a nice adventure planned in the desert. Be sure to bring your crab dip.” She looked at Ida Belle. “She won’t answer me.”

  Ida Belle took Gertie by the arm. “Why don’t you go back to bed?”

  “But then I won’t see her.”

  “I’ll have her wait for you.”

  “Promise?”

  “Yes, I promise.”

  “She’s been gone a long time. I miss her.”

  “I do too.”

  I followed them into the bedroom. Ida Belle pulled the sheet and bedspread back on Gertie’s bed. “You go to sleep now. And when Marge comes I’ll wake you up.”

  “You’re a good friend,” Gertie said as she climbed into bed and laid her head on the pillow. “Even though you can be a bit bossy.”

  “Close your eyes,” Ida Belle said, “and count back from a hundred. When you get to one you’ll be asleep.”

  Gertie began counting. She made it to 85 before she started to drift off.

  The next morning Ida Belle and I were fixing our first cup of coffee when Gertie shuffled into the kitchen, holding her phone.

  She mumbled a good morning and retrieved a mug from the cupboard. “My goodness, but I slept late.” She brought her mug over and held it out. I filled it with coffee. “Funniest thing though, when I checked my phone it looked like I tried to call Marge last night. Several times, in fact. Why would I do that?”

  “The bigger question is why you took that stuff again. You said you’d never touch it,” Ida Belle said.

  “Touch what?”

  “Sleep meds.”

  Gertie shook her head. “I threw that stuff away a long time ago. The only thing I took last night was that last melatonin capsule in the bottle next to Olive’s bed. Same brand I use at home.” Gertie’s face blanched. “That WAS melatonin, wasn’t it?”

  I rushed to Olive’s room, grabbed the empty bottle of melatonin, and brought it to the kitchen.

  I held the bottle up. “Gelatin capsules.”

  “Making it easy for someone to substitute the melatonin with a crushed tablet of Ambien,” Ida Belle said.

  Gertie looked from Ida Belle to me. “I took an Ambien last night?”

  I nodded. “Or something like it. Maybe that wasn’t the only altered capsule in the bottle. Maybe Olive took one too. And she had sleep apnea.”

  Ida Belle shrugged. “Taking a sleeping pill with sleep apnea isn’t usually advised, but still, I’ve never heard of anyone dying in their sleep because of it. Though I guess if she was so tired and didn’t put her mask on, that might make things worse.”

  “Now, maybe we’re jumping to conclusions,” Gertie said. “Maybe the capsule I took was melatonin and I was just tired.”

  Ida Belle shook her head. “You stole a security guard’s golf cart and drove figure eights in the street, yelling how you found the map and we were all going to be rich. And you texted Marge and wanted her to bring her crab dip.”

  Gertie’s eyes widened. “Map? Did I find the map?”

  “Not that we could tell,” I said. “It was probably from reading those books about the Lost Dutchman Mine.”

  Gertie cringed. “Nobody saw me out there, did they?”

  Ida Belle snorted. “Are you kidding? I’d say half the street came out for the show.”

  I nodded. “What you said about the map must have gotten around, because so far this morning we’ve had five people show up with donuts and other goodies, trying to kiss up to us, wanting to be our best friends.”

  Gertie shook her head. “Now the target is on OUR backs.”

  The discovery of the altered melatonin complicated things. “You know,” I said, grabbing a bagel from one of the many boxes of treats, “Olive’s murder could have been unintentional. Maybe someone put the sleep med in her melatonin so she’d be out cold while they searched for the map. Maybe her body just picked that time to have a heart attack.”

  Ida Belle got up and fixed herself another cup of coffee. “Or she’d be so out of it that finishing her off would be easy. Do you think the map that Olive found in the
picnic basket was legit?”

  “Doesn’t matter. Everybody thinks it was.”

  A knock at Olive’s front door interrupted us.

  Bucky and Rosa stood on the front step.

  “Howdy, neighbor,” Bucky said. She held up a large carafe of coffee. Rosa held up a grocery bag. “We didn’t figure you’d have coffee or breakfast in the house, so we brought some over. Care for some eggs and bacon?”

  I opened the door and they stepped inside. Already it was heating up out there.

  “Actually, I bought a few things yesterday. But you’re welcome to come join us. Some of the other residents brought bagels and doughnuts over as well.”

  Rosa shot Bucky a look. “Well, that didn’t take long.”

  Bucky sighed. “I’m afraid some of the more unsavory residents of our lovely trailer park might be trying to worm their way close to the Lost Dutchman’s fortune.” She shook her head. “Sad, really. How’s your Aunt Gertie? That’s who we’re concerned about.”

  “She’s doing better,” I said. “Why don’t you come say hello and stay for breakfast?”

  They followed me into the kitchen. “Ida Belle and Gertie,” I said, “meet Bucky and Rosa.”

  The ladies shook hands.

  “We kind of met last night.” Bucky winked.

  Gertie blushed. “Yep, I heard I made a ruckus.”

  Bucky waved her off. “You stole Martha’s stupid golf cart. She acts like she’s Kojak out there driving around in that thing. About time someone put her in her place.”

  “You couldn’t have come at a worse time, though,” Rosa said. “This is our monsoon season. And we’re smack in the middle of the desert, so our dust storms are legend. And at this time of year, it’s not a dry heat either. It’ll rain hard late afternoon and into the evening, and then we’re left with this nasty humidity.”

  “This is humid?” Gertie asked. “Tell my itchy skin that.”

  “Ida Belle and Gertie came from Sinful, Louisiana to help me sell the trailer. They’re used to muggy.”

  “Sinful?” Bucky said. “Isn’t that a fun name. Welcome to Superstition City.”

  “And why do they call it Superstition City?” Ida Belle asked.

  “Because of the Superstition Mountains and all the mysterious things that have happened there,” Rosa said. “You know, the Lost Dutchman Mine. I think Gertie referenced it last night when she said she found Olive’s map.”

  “Turns out I was sleepwalking,” Gertie said. “I can’t remember a thing about it.”

  Gertie opened several cupboard doors and found the skillets. She pulled one out. “How about I prepare those eggs and bacon you brought?” She took the bag from Rosa.

  “Let me help,” Rosa said.

  Gertie waved her off. “You sit. This will help me wake up. I’m still feeling a little groggy.”

  “Sleepwalking, huh?” Bucky asked, taking a seat. “You seemed pretty awake.”

  Gertie glanced at me. “It’s not something I normally do.” She slapped the bacon on the hot skillet. The kitchen was already beginning to smell like Sinful.

  “Did Olive take sleeping pills?” I asked.

  “Sleeping pills?” Rosa asked, her eyes widening. “Why?”

  “Gertie took one of Olive’s melatonin pills last night and we think the capsule was filled with a strong sleep medication,” I said.

  Bucky’s eyes widened, and she held her hand to her mouth.

  Rosa gasped. “The paramedics said she wasn’t wearing her CPAP mask. That’s probably why. She fell asleep before she could put it on.”

  “She normally wore it to sleep?”

  Rosa nodded. “She had bad sleep apnea, so she never slept without it.”

  “Olive didn’t have a prescription for sleeping pills,” Bucky said. “That means someone would have had to switch it out.”

  I nodded. “So who around here has a prescription for strong sleep meds?”

  “Probably quite a few of us do,” Rosa said.

  “You okay, Bucky?” I asked, noticing how she grabbed at her stomach.

  She got up from her chair. “Um... under-ripe banana. It always gets me right here.” She patted at her belly.

  “Bacon and eggs ought to cure that,” Gertie said.

  The toilet began running in the bathroom. Startled, Bucky’s body twitched.

  “It’s just the toilet,” I said, getting up. “Needs a good jiggling.”

  “Olive said she was going to call a plumber,” Rosa said. “Guess she just never got around to it.”

  The mood had changed. Bucky and Rosa’s faces reflected the sadness they were feeling about Olive. Even Ida Belle and Gertie’s moods had shifted. But then, Marge had died just several months ago, so they too were feeling the sting of a recent loss.

  The breakfast was delicious, although Bucky barely touched hers. After helping with the dishes, the two women left.

  “Did Bucky seem a bit on edge?” I asked.

  “Yep,” Gertie said, “she’s hiding something.”

  Chapter Ten

  Bucky

  GERTIE WAS WRONG. THE bacon didn’t help. Bucky could feel her stomach grumbling, guilt reaching inside and twisting her intestines as she and Rosa walked toward her trailer.

  “They seem nice,” Rosa said.

  “Nice?” Bucky hissed. “They’re up to something. Who are they, anyway? Olive never mentioned an Ida Belle and Gertie.”

  “Delilah said they were from her dad’s side of the family. What’s wrong with you? What I’m more concerned with is how did sleeping pills end up in Olive’s melatonin capsules? I think whoever killed her put it there.”

  Bucky’s stomach clenched again. “I think they’re wrong about that. Maybe the melatonin went bad and affected Gertie in a weird way.”

  “I suppose it’s possible.”

  “Yes, it’s possible.”

  “But it would make sense,” Rosa said. “If Olive took some strong sleep med, anybody could just come in and put a pillow over her face and that would be it. She’d be so conked out she couldn’t fight them.”

  “Pillow?” Bucky asked. “Who said anything about a pillow?”

  “Well, I’m just speculating,” Rosa said.

  Bucky stared at Rosa. The anonymous letter she had received mentioned “we,” as if she were there with someone else and they killed Olive together. Could that someone be Rosa?

  “What’s wrong?” Rosa asked. “Why are you looking at me that way?”

  Should I ask if she was with me that night?

  Are you crazy? And let her know you woke up with Olive’s pillowcase at your feet?

  “You don’t look so good,” Rosa said.

  Bucky rubbed her belly. “I don’t trust any of those three. Especially the two newcomers. They’re from a place called Sinful? That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. No, Fortune found the map and called in some map guides to help her steal our treasure.”

  “You don’t think Olive sent her the map, do you?” Rosa asked.

  “No,” Bucky said, “she hated that little tramp. She wouldn’t want her to have it. That’s why we have to make sure they hand it over to us. We owe it to Olive.”

  Chapter Eleven

  IDA BELLE WATCHED THROUGH the kitchen window as the two ladies left. “Bucky’s calling someone.”

  “I don’t like it,” Gertie said. “That wasn’t an under-ripe banana causing Bucky’s stomach pains. Those were guilt pains. She’s hiding something.”

  Ida Belle turned away from the window. “She’s on her way back.”

  I rushed into the living room and opened the door just as she was about to knock.

  “Oh my goodness,” Bucky said, “I almost pounded on your boob. That wouldn’t have been very neighborly, now, would it?” She chuckled then continued. “Rosa and I were talking and wondered if the three of you would like to join Shelby and us for a little poker game? We’d always get together for poker on Fridays. Just us Four Amigas.” Bucky sighe
d. “Now it’s just us Three Amigas. Anyway, what do you say? Feel like some poker?”

  “And tequila,” Rosa called from the street. “Don’t forget the tequila.”

  Bucky’s trailer was exactly where I wanted to snoop around. “Sounds like fun.”

  “Five, then. We’ll get a couple pizzas delivered.”

  She walked back to Rosa and they waved goodbye. I shut the door and rejoined Ida Belle and Gertie. “We have a poker date.”

  Ida Belle smiled. “Good. It’ll give us a chance to snoop around her place. You brought a few of Marge’s pistols, didn’t you?”

  I nodded.

  “I’m definitely going armed,” Gertie said. “Especially since they think I found the map.”

  Ida Belle took a seat at the kitchen table. “About that... You don’t suppose you really did find a map and just can’t remember it, do you?”

  “I hope not.”

  “Tell us everything you do remember about last night,” I said.

  Gertie furrowed her brow. “I remember going to Olive’s room and getting the melatonin pill, then coming in here to get some water to take it with. I noticed a photo of Olive on the fridge and decided to look at it, but when I removed the magnet the photo slid between the counter and the refrigerator. So I pulled the refrigerator out.”

  She chewed her bottom lip. “I think I saw a recipe card and pulled that out too.” She looked up at the refrigerator and pointed to a recipe card stuck on the door with a magnet. “I must have put it on the fridge.” She shrugged. “Then I sat in the chair and started reading one of the books on the Lost Dutchman Mine. I remember feeling really tired but trying to keep myself awake because I was getting into the book. After that, I don’t remember a thing.”

  Ida Belle pounded her fist on the table and then stood. “I want the...” She pursed her lips, let loose a string of cuss words before continuing, “who did this. Not only to Olive, but to Gertie. She could have crashed into something with that cart and hurt herself. And that map is key to finding whoever is responsible.”