by Tracy Ellen
He stuck out a hand to Mac. “You could only be Stella’s mom.”
“Luke, meet my number one sister, Mac.”
Mac smiled and shook Luke’s hand briefly. “I think she introduces me that way so she can say Kenna is her number two sister and get away with it.” He laughed again and Mac looked back at me. Her blue eyes were twinkling mischievously under the light from the chandelier. “I was wondering where you were. Do you want some help with dinner?”
“You know it’s not Mexican food, right?” I teased, slipping my arm through hers. As she laughed and elbowed me in the side, I motioned to Luke. “Come on, Big Boy, let’s go eat. I need me some vittles.”
Within fifteen minutes, everyone was around the table and serving themselves family-style. Some people consider thirteen an unlucky number and I did consider asking Aunt Lily to leave for this reason. I settled for sitting her far away on the opposite end of the table. Luke stayed glued to my side until we were all safely seated. Poor James and Diego got the honors of being Aunt Lily’s chair partners tonight. If those two perfect examples of male magnificence couldn’t keep her speechless with wonder, nothing could.
We’d barely dipped into the soup when Jazy leaned forward to address Crooks on her right. “Okay Crookie, if you don’t want to talk about it I get it. We all get it. Otherwise, I’m shamelessly asking, do you know anything more about Cheryl you can tell us?”
Mac exclaimed, “Jazy, quit being so shy and sensitive!”
Crookie was on my left with Anna between us. He held up a hand and replied seriously, “No, Jazy is perfectly fine, Mac. A guy never has to worry about what she is thinking.” He smiled at her. “I like Jazy’s plain way of speaking.”
Everyone laughed at this understatement, even Jazy. She shrugged, comfortable in her own skin. James smiled slightly from his chair next to her and I realized I’d never seen him touch my sister, or even flirt with her. I guess being super good-looking and inscrutable is all the effort he needs to put forth with the women. Too bad he hasn’t had reasons to develop some interesting qualities in his personality to make him more genuinely appealing for the long term. I’ve concluded extreme physical beauty seems more often a curse than a blessing.
When Crookie cleared his throat and started talking, everyone stopped to listen attentively. Even Aunt Lily sat forward in morbid anticipation.
“So there are no misunderstandings, I am not a suspect in Cheryl’s murder.” Crookie’s voice cracked a little on her name. “The police routinely operate by keeping information out of the public domain for their own reasons. Please do not name me as the source where you’ve heard these details I’m about to tell you. I trust all of you.” Crookie paused and looked at James. “Well, I do not trust you since I do not know you, but it appears you are a reserved man and not a chatty type. You are not from Northfield?”
Smiling, I met Jazy and Tre’s eyes. They both adore Crookie and were openly grinning. Reggie snorted into his beer bottle.
James nodded calmly. “Correct on all accounts.”
Crooks nodded back. “Good.” He spoke to Aunt Lily down at the foot of the table, “Ma’am, I do not know you well, either, but as Anna’s aunt it stands to reason you must be a good person.”
Reggie laughed softly this time. Anna shot him an emphatic bird with her left hand while she forked up salad with her right. I giggled, and Luke squeezed my thigh under the table in shared amusement.
Aunt Lily slapped the table loudly with an open hand. The unsuspecting Diego startled. His breadstick dropped to land in his soup with a small splash. His spoon went clattering to the floor.
Diego’s eyes widened comically in dismay when Aunt Lily turned the force of her dark glare on him and shouted, “Pick it up, pretty boy! Don’t they teach you table manners where you come from?” Without taking a breath, she looked over at Crookie and sneered with a mocking gesture of disdain, “Good person, good schmerson. I’m a Christian woman and gossip is a sin.”
In the vacuum following this outburst, Crookie cleared his throat. Appearing doubtful, he nevertheless answered amicably, “Very well. Eric George?”
Luke squeezed my thigh again but when I peeked up at him, he was sitting back and listening with fascinated amusement.
Stella’s friend leaned forward and smiled shyly across the table at Crookie. “No problems, man. I’m not Christian, but say what you want. I can keep my mouth shut.”
Stella patted his hand at his answer and Eric George smiled down at the Junior Jezzie with worship in his eyes. Mac was busily soothing an angry Diego, but she and I exchanged rolling eyes and grins at Eric George’s expressive face. Luckily, Eric George missed the sight of a scandalized, angry Aunt Lily staring his way. Good thing he wasn’t sitting closer to her, or she’d snap his blasphemous spine in half as easily as one of my breadsticks.
Crookie turned to Luke last. He grinned shyly. “Anyone here knows if Anabel asked you to dinner, you must be…” Crookie paused, at a loss for words.
Mac supplied with a straight face, “Superman?”
Stella dimpled at Luke. “Steve Jobs.”
Anna’s laughter was deep. “A secret agent!”
Tre J winked. “Strong.”
Reggie, his mouth full of salad, pointed a fork at Luke and stated decisively, “Nuts. You’re brave, man, but certifiably nuts.”
We all laughed at that, but I think Luke’s cheeks were actually a little pink.
I leaned over and spoke low in his ear, “How strange, but it’s really true. Men are always right.”
Aunt Lily couldn’t contain herself and erupted, “You fools, look at him! He’s Satan incarnate!”
Eleven heads at the table swiveled in Luke’s direction to see what they’d missed. Make that twelve. I had to look, too.
Anna cried out in embarrassment, “Aunt Lily, what’s with you tonight? Please, stop! Luke, just ignore her. I’m sorry. We know you’re not Satan.”
As Anna argued over proper etiquette with her crazy aunt, I struggled to contain my laughter at Luke’s carefully blank expression. I well remember the first time I was scathingly called Delilah at age eight for encouraging a classmate to get a Mohawk within hearing range of the Behemoth. Luke’s reaction to Aunt Lily’s bizarre accusation was no reaction. But his eyes were narrowed in thought as he gazed down the table in her direction.
I squeezed his thigh. I should say, I tried to squeeze his thigh but it was rock hard, so I stroked his thigh. “In some cultures, the elderly are known to be always right, as well.” I nodded seriously when he switched his gaze to mine. “It’s a known fact she’s not an idle gossip or a sinner.”
We smiled at each other.
Tilting my head, I tapped my pursed lips while I looked him up and down appraisingly. Meeting his amused eyes once more, I nodded again. “Personally, I’d name you more of a demon versus a devil. Yes, I think Baal fits nicely.”
He raised a black brow slowly. “I thought you were a heathen?”
I scratched my fingernails up his inner thigh and warned under my breath, “Don’t be raising that brow at me at the dinner table. Where are you from, hell boy?”
Luke chuckled as I went on to answer him, “Yes, it’s true I’m not religious, but not from lack of curiosity or illiteracy.” I took a sip of wine and shrugged a negligent shoulder before meeting his eyes again. “If you aren’t fed it first with mother’s milk, the concept of faith isn’t easy to swallow when you’re older.”
He put his big hand over mine on his thigh. “My father is going to really like you.”
I laughed and looked away, confused but warmed by his words.
Everyone around us had started talking at once to rush in and fill the awkwardness, but Aunt Lily’s fanatic ways were familiar to most of us here and taken with a grain of salt.
Reggie called a halt to the chatter by dinging his wine glass with a spoon. “Can we let Bob tell us what he found out about Cheryl, please?”
Stella spoke up, smiling shyly a
round the table from on Luke’s right. “Yes, we’ll be quiet, Uncle Reg, but only if Luke will promise me something first.” I know that winsome look. She’d learned it at my knee. I watched her suspiciously. “He has to tell us all about his first date with Anabel when Crookie is done.”
Mac chuckled wickedly and dinged her glass. “Hear, hear, I second that motion.”
Luke’s easy, smiling expression as he listened to Stella’s request didn’t change by a flicker, but I felt him tense up at my side. I laughed silently into my soup. He swiftly recovered.
“I’m sorry, ladies, but you’ll have to ask Anabel about our first date.” He shrugged with a “Gee, shucks” grin. “Men never get that sort of thing right, no matter how hard we try.” He stroked his chin in thought. “I’m sure it must have been a fun, first date. When she begged me to take her out a second time, I obviously agreed.”
My family and friends laughed uproariously, even as they complained at his answer.
Anna’s voice was the loudest. “No fair pulling the ‘I’m a man’ card, Luke. Everyone here knows Junior won’t say squat. No offense, but she probably doesn’t even remember your first date.”
Tre J was looking at me like I had two heads. “You begged him, Bel?”
“I think she remembers.” Stella smiled at me around Luke. She asked sweetly, “Will you tell us, Auntie Bel?”
I finished my bite of soup and laid down my spoon. Ignoring the man with the straight face at my side, I smiled back. “I would love to, Stell, but it’s X-rated, so I can’t tonight.”
Jazy didn’t doubt me for a second, but raised her wine glass in grinning salute.
Stella giggled. “Oh, don’t be a hold out. It was your first date. It can’t be that bad!” She smiled quickly at Eric George. “Besides, I’m not a baby.”
“Of course it wasn’t bad. Didn’t I just say it was X rated? And of course I didn’t mean you, sweetness.” I gave a nod towards Aunt Lily slurping up her bowl of soup at the other end of the table. I made a throat-slitting motion, crossing my eyes.
Eric George laughed. I smiled at him thinking maybe he’s a keeper.
Anna muttered a “Yeah, right” on my left while Stella narrowed her eyes at me on my right.
Mac was laughing, even as she impatiently shook her head. “Stella, honey, no matter how tempting it may be to beat it out of her, you can’t force your aunt to tell. You must learn to barter.”
My niece opened her mouth for a rat-terrier rebuttal, but suddenly stopped. A small smile played on her lips. Although it might be used against me at a later date, it’s always fun to see our Stella learning the ropes. I still shot the grinning Mac a glare that promised revenge. After all, she had announced a trade secret in mixed company which broke all sorts of sisterhood rules.
Tre J and Crookie laughed together at this byplay and then she gave a little elbow to Crooks to continue.
I took the opportunity to pinch Luke hard under the table. He didn’t flinch, but his lips turned up when his gleaming eyes met mine. I hadn’t been lying. Our first date really was rated X. Luke wasn’t lying, either. I wouldn’t call it begging exactly, but it was true that I was the one to ask him for a second date first.
Luke leaned in and spoke low, “You remember every single minute, Anabel.”
With a small, secret smile, I turned away from his look of masculine confidence to give Crookie my attention.
“Here is what I know. Cheryl was found by two teens about ten o’clock last night when they went to a conveniently unoccupied farmstead to probably have sex in the barn.” Crookie had come a long ways socially in ten years. He didn’t even blush. I heard Aunt Lily revving up a deep grumble at the word “sex”, but didn’t take my eyes from Crooks. “They discovered the car with Cheryl still in the driver’s seat.”
There were groans around the table at this revelation. Tre J, being one exception to my beauty-is-a-curse rule, covered his hand with hers. She nodded encouragingly with a small smile. Her Nordic blue eyes were soft with sympathy. Crookie smiled sweetly in return.
Nibbling on a soft breadstick, I paused in speculation while marveling at the two of them together. ‘Holy Moly, the potential! Their offspring could be beautiful, kind, ass-kicking giants with monster brains- practically a new species of human.’
“Thankfully these were decent people.” Aunt Lily grumbled under her breath at Crooks words, but we all ignored her. “They called the police immediately and didn’t touch or take anything from the car. Cheryl’s cell and her purse with the cash inside were recovered. In her purse they found a receipt dated and time stamped from a Saturday morning in September. It was the fifteenth, the day after I had seen her last. The receipt was from the Northfield Bakery. The bakery owners were questioned earlier today and they remembered her even two months later.” Crookie shook his head remorsefully. “Cheryl had been terribly rude to the woman owner. She came in early, about seven in the morning on that Saturday, and bought coffee and rolls. She made a scene by claiming their crullers were stale and demanded her cash back. They do not get too many customers calling them ‘motherfuckers’ at the bakery.”
At his wry tone, we all groaned and chuckled in sympathetic disbelief. Aunt Lily shook her finger at Crookie. Watching her from my end of the table, it was obvious she was riled up. Her whole chest rose and fell with each breath.
“How dare you curse on the Sabbath? There will be NO profanity at this table!”
Anna was trying valiantly to be patient. “Crookie’s not swearing, Aunt Lil, he’s repeating a story.”
Crookie ducked his head and shrugged apologetically in Aunt Lily’s direction. “Cheryl always kept her phone charging in her car, and that is how I am cleared. When she was stabbed…” At our collective sounds of shock, his eyebrows raised. Then comprehension dawned, and he rushed to clarify while running a hand through his light brown hair. “Oh, I am sorry! Yes, that is how she was murdered. Her heart was punctured by a sharp, unknown weapon- most probably a knife of some kind. I apologize again; it has been a long day. I don’t mean to sound callous, but I have had hours to become accustomed to this news.” He leaned forward to look down his right at Luke and I. “The police found her phone between the seats. They interviewed the person she called last. I don’t know who that was, but the report was they had heard strange, gasping noises. Unfortunately, that person then ended the call a few seconds later when there was no other response from Cheryl. This person had one earlier conversation with Cheryl at 7:05 AM. I was not told all the pertinent details, only that somehow those calls cleared me.” He shuddered. “I am definitely not arguing with that conclusion.”
Tre J squeezed his hand in agreement. Nobody spoke right away. Around the table, everyone seemed lost in their own thoughts. I had no clue how much he knew beforehand of Crookie’s latest details, but Luke was silent on my right. I could discern little from his closed expression. I was hoping he’d share his insights later when we could speak freely.
I turned back to my left and asked Crooks, “What time was the second call, do you know?”
Crookie’s forehead wrinkled. “Yes, it was right before seven-thirty that same morning.”
Jazy asked, “Did your friend tell you where the farm’s located? Was it out my way south of town?”
“No, I am not sure where it is located, but east off Highway 19 was mentioned. I do not know the names of the teenagers, so I have no point of reference.”
Surprisingly, James spoke up. “What would cause a woman to leave a bakery in Northfield at approximately 7:00 AM, make a call at 7:05 AM, and then drive to a deserted farm in the country east of town, only to be murdered in her car while making a call to that same person by 7:30 AM?”
Reg nodded vigorously. “Couldn’t have put it better myself. Cheryl wasn’t a country girl, that’s for sure, right Crookie?”
“That is definitely for sure. Cheryl hated anything to do with the country.”
Tre asked tentatively, “She wasn’t raped?”
Aunt Lily made a loud, snorting explosion from her nose, but before she could speak Crookie rushed to reassure Tre, “No, nothing like that happened. I was told there were no signs of an attack or a struggle. Only the single stab wound.” He picked up his fork again, sighing quietly. “That is all I know. It is no secret that my marriage to Cheryl was over. My only hope is the police catch the murderer quickly, so I can put this behind me and move on.”
After a moment of silence, I raised my glass of wine. “Here’s to peace for Cheryl and closure for Crookie.”
Everyone seconded the toast and took a drink, except for Aunt Lily who didn’t look up from her soup and salad.
Reg raised his beer. “Here’s to police proficiency. Good luck with that!”
We all laughingly cheered and took another drink.
I nodded towards James. “Your statement made a strong case for someone hijacking her out to this barn to purposely kill her, since nothing else was stolen. Or she went willingly, and was killed by someone non-threatening to her.”
“Thank you, Anabel,” James replied, expressionless as always.
I didn’t respond to his lightly mocking tone but looked out towards the living room, my gaze turned inward. “It’s interesting the killer didn’t take her phone. Having it found under the seat makes me question if the killer was aware of the last call. I wonder if it was an attempt to call for help, or if Cheryl was already making a call when the killer stabbed her and she then dropped her cell. Does anybody know how quickly you die if your heart is punctured?”
Over a mouthful of soup Tre J immediately mumbled, “Seconds to minutes, depending where in the heart you’re stabbed. It also depends if the weapon is left in, or pulled out.”
I blinked at her unhesitating answer, but then Jazy caught my interest when she said to Crookie, “Okay, I’ve been thinking. Cheryl’s killer could be the man you saw her with at Tina’s, don’t you agree?”
Crookie thought it over. “It could be him, but Cheryl,” his head shook in sad reflection, “was too indiscriminate to pin it on that particular man without knowing more facts.”
