The Red Hat Society's Queens of Woodlawn Avenue

by Regina Hale Sutherland

  “I’m not throwing up anything. Except maybe that awful bacon.” I tried to joke, to lighten the mood, but Jim was having none of it.

  He opened his mouth to say something, but I was never to hear those fateful words. Instead, the doorbell rang.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  The Partnership Desk

  As I made a beeline for the front door, I glanced at the clock on the mantelpiece in the living room. It was almost one o’clock in the afternoon. Jim and I had stayed up most of the night, and then slept the morning away. I cinched my robe more tightly around me as the bell continued to ring. Maybe, if I was lucky, it was an overzeal-ous Jehovah’s Witness or some kid selling popcorn for his Boy Scout troop. I didn’t want to have to explain Jim’s presence to anyone I knew right now. I wasn’t sure I could explain it even to myself.

  I opened the door, and there stood Jane and Linda on my front porch. Drat. I peered around them to make sure Grace wasn’t there, too, to make my exposure complete.

  “Ellie! Finally.” Jane brushed past me into the living room when I opened the storm door, Linda hot on her heels.

  I knew they would want to do a postmortem on the ball, but did it have to be right now? “I’m not sure this is really a good time to chat about last night.”

  “Last night?” Jane looked at me like I’d lost my mind. “Why would we want to talk about last night?”

  Linda looked like she’d been crying. “Grace is in jail,” she said. “We just got a call.”

  “Oh, no.” The burned bacon turned to acid in my stomach. “When did this happen?”

  “Last night, evidently,” Jane said.

  “She wouldn’t let anyone call us until this morning,” Linda added.

  The thought of the fragile, elderly Grace spending the night in a jail cell sent shivers down my spine. And it was my fault she was there. Entirely my fault. I’d been so caught up in all my Cannon Ball drama that I had procrastinated dealing with the Marvin Etherington problem. And now Grace was paying the price.

  “We have to get her out of there “ I looked around the living room, not really sure what I thought I’d find that would help the situation. Then I looked down at my robe. “I’ll get dressed.”

  Only when I looked back up at Jane and Linda, their faces were a mixture of surprise and consternation, with a hint of mirth. They weren’t looking at me. Their gazes were fixed on a point beyond my right shoulder. I whirled around, and there stood Jim in the doorway, wearing nothing but his tuxedo pants. To my delight—and to my consternation since he was fifty, too—he looked like one of those sexy morning-after ads for men’s cologne.

  “Ladies,” he said. “Good afternoon.”

  I was the only one with the good grace to blush. “Um, Linda, you remember Jim.” I’d introduced them at the ball. “Jane, this is my ex-husband, Jim Johnston.”

  Jane, of course, consummate professional that she was, carried off the introduction with aplomb. “Hello, Jim.”

  Jim stepped into the room and shook hands with both of them. I was rendered speechless by the entire sequence of events, until Jim finally said, “Sounds like a friend of yours is in trouble.”

  That brought me back to my senses. I had to get Grace out of jail and I had to do it immediately.

  “Did they say where we go to get her out? Do we post a bond or what?” I took a step toward the hallway. “I’ll throw on some clothes and we can go.” Then I looked at Jim. “Can you see yourself out?”

  He looked at me like I’d grown another head. And then he frowned. “If you’re going down to the jail, I’m going with you.”

  “I’ll be with you in two shakes,” I said to Jane and Linda before grabbing Jim by the arm and towing him from the room. Once we reached the privacy of my bedroom, I dropped his arm and whirled to face him.

  “Look, I don’t need a knight in shining armor right now. The other queens and I can take care of this.”

  “Other queens? What are you talking about?”

  I only had time for the abridged version. “When I bought this house, I automatically got a spot in this bridge club. The Queens of Woodlawn Avenue. I’m the Queen of Hearts.”

  “Is that what the dining room arch means?”

  “Exactly. And now Grace, the Queen of Spades, is in trouble and I’ve got to go help her.”

  He reached over and grabbed last night’s shirt from the pile of clothes on the floor. “I’m going with you.”

  By this time, I had slid into a pair of jeans and pulled a T-shirt over my head. “Look, Jim, I don’t mean to be rude, but I really don’t need your help.”

  He sank down on the bed and pulled on his dress shoes with no socks. “I don’t mean to be rude, either, but have you ever bailed anyone out of jail before?”

  “No.” I hadn’t thought of that. “Have you?”

  A faint blush tinged his cheeks. “A couple of times.”

  “Who?” How could I have been married to this man for more than twenty-five years and not know he’d bailed someone out of jail? And why was he blushing?

  “Let’s just say you might not know everything about my adolescence. Or Connor’s.”

  I was too stunned to say anything for a moment. Then when I started breathing again, I said, “Connor was in jail?” I didn’t know whether to be horrified or angry or both.

  Jim looked suddenly serious again. “Ellie, just because you’re the kids’ mother doesn’t mean you know everything about them.”

  I opened my mouth to protest, but he stood up and laid his fingers against my lips. “I’m not saying that makes you a bad mother. You’re a great mother. But I have been there for them, as their father. Maybe not in all the ways you think I should have been, but also maybe more than you think.”

  That shut me up for a moment. “I still don’t need you to help me bail out Grace.”

  “What are you going to use for money?”

  Okay, I hadn’t thought of that. Still, his playing the money card, so to speak, rankled. “I’m sure between the three of us, we can make bail.” Although I hated to ask Linda and Jane to pay for my mistake.

  “What’s she charged with?”

  I’d forgotten to ask. “I’m not sure. Accessory to murder, maybe? Tampering with evidence?”

  “Murder?” He stood up. “Are you telling me you play bridge with a woman who’s a killer?”

  At that moment, I almost felt sorry for him. “Grace didn’t kill anyone. She helped someone dispose of a body, the first Queen of Hearts’ abusive husband, and it was over forty years ago.”

  “How long have you known this?” He slid his keys and pocket change from the dresser, slipped them into his front pocket, and then shoved his wallet into the right rear one. It was a series of actions I’d seen him do a hundred times over the years, and the comforting familiarity of the ritual made my throat go tight.

  “Not long. They found the body weeks ago. Then I inadvertently put the police on Grace’s tail. They must have arrested her last night.” Although since Will McFarland had been working security at the ball, I wasn’t sure who had done it.

  I shoved my feet into my running shoes and grabbed my purse from the bedside table. “Grace is elderly, Jim. She really doesn’t need to be in jail. And I don’t need a lecture.”

  “Fine. Then we’d better get going.”

  I stopped short and put my hands on my hips. “Jim, you’re not going.” “Yes, Eilie, I am. If for nothing else than to be moral support.”

  Okay, I was annoyed at his high-handedness. But I also had to acknowledge how nice it felt to know that he wanted to stand beside me in this mess.

  “Besides,” he said, his lips curved slightly upward in a smile that hinted at triumph, “my car is behind yours. You can’t leave until I do.”

  I could have worked around that obstacle. We could have easily gone in Jane’s car. Or Linda’s. I had learned enough in the last few weeks, though, to know that it was okay to accept help when you needed it. Even from an ex-husband w
hom you didn’t know quite what to do with.

  “Okay, fine. You can go with us.” I wagged a finger at him. “But you’re not to take over. This is our problem to solve.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said meekly, but everything else about him—body language, facial expression—practically crowed like a rooster. I could have taken umbrage. Instead, I decided to take the gift that fate had dropped in my lap.

  “C’mon,” I snapped. “We haven’t got all day.”

  Jimnded up driving my car, since the four of us couldn’t fit in the roadster. I’d like to say I breezed into the Criminal Justice Center and whisked Grace away in a matter of minutes, but it didn’t quite happen that way. I might have thought I’d had Jim cowed into just going along for the ride, but the moment we hit the lobby of the CJC, he took over. And I let him.

  Jane, Linda, and I sat on a bench for a really long time after Jim disappeared down a corridor to retrieve Grace. I wanted to confess to them and receive absolution for landing Grace in this mess, but I couldn’t, so we sat in silence as my stomach wound into tighter and tighter knots. Finally, a lifetime later, Jim returned with a pale, tired Grace by his side.

  “race!” I almost tripped over my own feet in my haste to reach her. “Are you okay?”

  “You’re here.” She smiled at me, tiredness etching her wrinkled face. “Good. I’m ready to go home.”

  I looked at Jim. “What about bail? Is it taken care of?”

  Grace patted my hand. “Calm down, Ellie. I’m free to go. The DA may file charges later, but for now, I’ve confessed everything I know. I’m glad I decided to do it.”

  “I don’t understand,” I said to Grace. “I thought you’d been arrested.”

  “No, no. I came down here on my own last night. Thought it was time to tell the truth. And I knew if you were around, you’d try to stop me. So I waited until you were at the ball.”

  We were all standing around in a semicircle. Beyond Grace and Linda’s shoulders, I could hear arguing and a scuffle as someone was hauled through the lobby. Jane and Linda moved back a little, and between them I could see the man causing the ruckus behind them. He was resisting the officer who was trying to guide him toward a corridor at the opposite end of the lobby, and he was spitting out invectives with a strong French accent.

  “This is not to be permitted,” the man shouted, just as I realized who it was.

  “Henri?” I hadn’t meant to call out. His head whipped around, and then he spied me across the lobby.

  “Eleanor! You must help me. These men think I’m some kind of criminal.”

  I stepped toward him, and then a hand caught my arm. Jim’s hand. “Ellie,don’t.”

  I looked up at him. His eyes were filled with concern. “It’s okay.” Then I walked across the unforgiving tile toward Henri and the police officer.

  “Henri? What’s going on?” And then I realized who the officer was. “Will?”

  Poor boy. A light leapt into his eyes at the sight of me, and then he quickly masked it. “Ellie? What are you doing here?”

  I nodded back toward the bench. “My friend. Grace Davenport. We thought she’d been arrested.”

  Will’s gaze followed my nod. “No. One of the guys told me Mrs. Davenport came in last night, wanting to come clean about Marvin Etherington. Since it wasn’t urgent she ended up having to wait a while to give her statement.”

  “Will they arrest her later?”

  “We don’t take too kindly to murder, even ones committed forty years ago.” Will shrugged. “They’ll pass her case on to the DA. I doubt they’ll charge her with anything after all this time. Maybe a misdemeanor. Unlawful disposition of a body, or something like that.”

  “Thank heavens.”

  Will looked a little shamefaced. “Well, I might have blown my investigation a little bit out of proportion. To get your attention.” He blushed. “Actually, I wasn’t even assigned to the case.”

  Henri snorted. “What about me? What about this miscarriage of justice?”

  Will twisted Henri’s arm a little harder so that he gave a little grunt of pain. “This guy, on the other hand, may not see daylight for awhile. He’s bilked people out of enough money to qualify for some state-run hospitality.”

  I took that for police-speak to mean that Henri had been perpetrating fraud of some kind and would wind up in jail. Another shiver crawled down my spine, but this time it was one of revulsion. What had I ever seen in this man?

  Then I felt Jim’s presence at my back. “Everything okay here?”

  “Fine. Just fine.” I turned to Henri. “Aw revoir, ma chère. And thanks for the check.” Boy, was I glad I had already cashed it. Then I looked at Will. “Thank you. For everything.”

  “No hard feelings?” he said, looking young and eager once more.

  I smiled. “No. No hard feelings.” I turned around, took Jim’s hand in mine, and started walking back toward Grace.

  “Ellie! Wait! You cannot just leave me here,” Henri called as we walked away.

  “C’mon,” Will said to Henri. “You’re going to booking.” I didn’t turn around again as Will hauled him away. Instead, I hurried back to Grace.

  “Officer McFarland says he’d be surprised if the DA charged you.” I slipped my hand out of Jim’s and held it out to Grace. “So let’s get you home.”

  She put her hand in mine, and then our strange little posse moved toward the entrance. I said a little prayer of thanksgiving, because things could have turned out so much worse.

  That evening, when the excitement had died down and Jane and Linda had gone home, I remained at Grace’s house. Jim had left a couple of hours earlier when the hospital paged him. I was grateful for a few minutes alone with Grace.

  I’d ordered her to bed with instructions to rest while I fixed us some soup and crackers. Then I carried the food on a tray to her room, just as Jim had done for me that morning. After the events of the day, it seemed like a lifetime ago.

  “Why did you do it, Grace?” I asked when she was settled back against her pillows and eating. “Why did you go to the police after all these years?”

  She set her spoon down on the tray. “Maybe I just thought it was time.” She must have seen from the frown on my face that I didn’t believe her, because she added, “Maybe you convinced me that the truth should be told.”

  I still didn’t think she was telling the whole story. “Why did you do it? Really?”

  “Because I didn’t want you to get in trouble.” Her vehement response wasn’t at all what I’d expected.

  “Me? Why would I get in trouble?”

  “When I told you the truth, I made you a party to the crime. I made my choice long ago to keep the secret and take any consequences that came with that decision. But you didn’t.”

  “You gave yourself up for me?” I wasn’t sure anyone had ever shown me that much loyalty in my whole life except for my mother.

  Grace shrugged, trying to downplay the gravity of her decision. “What were they going to do to an old woman like me? Put me in jail?”

  “But they might have. You didn’t have to do that.”

  “You still don’t understand, do you?”

  “Understand what?”

  “What it means to be one of the Queens of Woodlawn Avenue.”

  I didn’t know what to say. Most people spent their entire lives searching for that kind of loyalty, and I had inadvertently stumbled into it at my lowest point. Talk about your blessings in disguise. Underneath those red hats were the answers to my prayers.

  I took Grace’s hand in mine and lightly squeezed her fingers. “I think I’m beginning to,” I said. “Now, eat your soup.”

  Later, after she’d finished her meal and I’d cleared away the dishes, I broached another difficult topic while perched on the edge of Grace’s bed.

  “I hope you’re not disappointed in me for taking Jim back.”

  Grace leaned back against the pillow and sighed. “Did I ever tell you how I met my
second husband, Fred? The one who took me to the Cannon Ball?”

  “No. I don’t think so.”

  “I met him at a bridge tournament. I’d gone alone, so I signed up at the partnership desk.”

  “Partnership desk?”

  “Tournaments always have them. For folks who don’t have someone to play with. They match you with someone at a similar skill level.”

  “And they matched you with Fred?”

  Her dreamy smile was contagious, and I felt my own lips curve as the power of memory lit Grace’s face from within.

  “We didn’t do so well in the tournament, but we did just fine for the next fifteen years. Until…”

  “Until what?”

  Her smile faded. “He had an affair.”

  Again, Grace had managed to surprise me. Hadn’t she told me that she’d buried all three of her husbands with a smile on their faces?

  “What happened?”

  “It didn’t last. He came back home, tail between his legs, but I wouldn’t have any of it.”

  “But—”

  “Then I went to another bridge tournament. I was single once again, so I signed up at the partnership desk.”

  “Is that how you met your third husband?”

  Grace laughed. “No. That’s how I wound up reconciling with Fred. You see, they assigned us as partners again.”

  “And you played bridge with him?”

  “By the end of the tournament, we were doing a lot more than playing bridge.” Her smile reminded me of the one I’d been wearing when I’d awakened this morning.

  I twisted the bedspread between my fingers, wanting to ask a question but not wanting to intrude on a personal matter. Finally, I screwed up my courage and said, “And did he ever cheat on you again?”

  Grace looked me in the eye. “Not that I know of. But Ellie, there are no guarantees.”

  “I know.”

  “Sometimes, if the cosmic partnership desk keeps throwing the same guy in your path, someone may be trying to tell you something.”

  Grace was giving her blessing to my reunion with Jim, but she was also warning me. Nothing was for sure. I just had to take the hand I was dealt and play it the best I could.