No, I didn’t know, but I was too stunned to say anything else. I’d never met anyone so blatantly ambitious and open about it, and that included both Ricky Ray and Giselle.
I pretended to watch the game, thinking about what Tessa had said and wondering if Sabrina had been that ambitious. It also occurred to me that maybe Tessa had known her better than Carole had. Even if she didn’t know much about Sabrina, I was pretty sure she knew a lot about Mark Donavan, especially since he was, as she’d said, a big-time prospect.
“What about Sabrina and Mark? From what I’ve heard about her, they seem like an odd couple. Did they meet when they were in college?”
“Nope. When she moved here, I saw her at the first couple of games and talked to her. She didn’t have comp tickets, so she sat up in the general admission section. A couple of nights after that, we were partying with the guys at Pilazzo’s, and she came in to pick up a sub. Carole and I invited her to hang out with us. Neither one of them acted like they knew each other except in passing, but when she mentioned she’d gone to U of Raleigh, Mark moved over and talked to her about it for the rest of the night. They really seemed to hit it off after that, and she started sitting down here and running around with us all the time. They didn’t officially start dating until late May, though.”
Tessa stared enviously at my chicken basket. “That looks so freaking good. Man, what I wouldn’t give to eat about ten of those.” She popped a piece of sugar free gum in her mouth.
“Have one,” I said, offering her my basket.
“Oh, no, I couldn’t. I have to really be careful about my weight. Every little ounce shows on the camera. Plus all that sodium makes me puffy. I only eat lettuce. Sometimes spinach and cucumbers, but mainly just lettuce, and of course I have my gum.”
No wonder the girl was so thin. It’s a wonder she didn’t have rickets or something.
“Did you ever notice them fighting or her having bruises or anything?”
“Oh, no. Not a thing. I think he was actually crazy about her. He was always buying her flowers and little presents. He was so sweet and lovey-dovey with her. If anything, she was a bit stand-offish with him. It was almost like he loved her more than she loved him. It was bizarre if you ask me, especially since he’s so much hotter. He would have realized it sooner or later and found someone more suitable, looks-wise. I was sure counting on it, if you want to know the truth. I’d been working on him before she came along and thought I had a shot.”
“You were interested in Mark Donavan?”
She nodded vigorously. “Girl, of course I was. I still am! Who wouldn’t be? He’s gorgeous, already making good money, and is going to be rich and famous. He signed for a half a mill, spread over four. Tell me, how long do you think I need to wait before I make a move on him? Two or three weeks? I mean, I don’t want to be a vulture, but I don’t want anyone else to beat me to the punch, you know? I’ve waited all summer for him to wise up. I hate that she’s dead, but I don’t want to lose my shot at him.”
To say I was disgusted would be an understatement. I’m sure my loathing showed, but Tessa didn’t seem to notice. I suddenly felt like if I didn’t get away from her, I was going to literally throw up.
“I have no idea, Tessa,” I said. “None whatsoever. I really need to run, though. I need to call my sister back and I had to park all the way over by those danged tennis courts. Not to mention, I’ve got to be at work early and, uh, stuff like that. Nice talking to you. Good luck with the modeling.”
She seemed oblivious to my discomfort. “Hopefully you’ll be seeing me on TV. Listen, girl, you call me if you change your mind about the makeover. We’ll make you look so good that Harry wouldn’t even dream of hooking up with anybody else.”
I climbed over her long legs and up the stairs to the concourse. One of my folk’s neighbors caught me and chatted me up for about fifteen minutes. I finally had to lie to her, telling her I needed to run to the restroom. Which meant, of course, that I actually had to go in there. I took my time washing my hands and peeked out to make sure she wasn’t standing there waiting for me to return before I left.
I’d no sooner stepped out of the ladies’ room when a kid dressed in a Bomber’s t-shirt stopped me. He was about eleven or so, with blondish hair and blue eyes and held one of the ads for the morning drive show and the Bomber’s Last Stand extravaganza that had been distributed at the gate. It had a cheesy, bad picture of Giselle and me facing off, each of us wearing boxing gloves. I figured the kid wanted my autograph. He didn’t.
“Hey, lady, some guy said I’m supposed to give you this. You’re supposed to read it and give me a dollar.” He handed me a folded up piece of paper.
“My name’s Parker. What’s yours? Do you like Family Feud? That’s my favorite show. I watch it every day. Do you have an I-phone? I wish I had one. My mom said I can’t get one ‘cause we have the wrong carrier and she’s not going to switch. I don’t see why not. Maybe our carrier will get the I-phones. I sure hope so.”
The kid yammered on and on as I read and re-read the note, which was written in such bad handwriting, even little Jaelyn could have done better. I finally decided that it read, “Meet me by the tennis courts at eight-thirty.”
“Do you have a boyfriend?” the kid asked. “I have a girlfriend. I have about ten girlfriends. Every girl that meets me wants to be my girlfriend. Did you know your belly’s showing? I’m going to buy a golf cart pretty soon. If you want to, I can take you for a ride on it. I’m a really good driver.”
“Great, Parker. Thanks. Here’s a dollar. You can use it to buy some gas for the golf cart. ”
I handed him a single and walked away, shaking my head. It was a little after eight, so I decided to go ahead and leave. That way, I could call Charli back, see what she found out about the modeling agency, and tell her about Tessa while I waited for Harry. I wondered why he wanted to see me before the end of the game, especially since we’d made plans to meet up at his house later. Oh well, it didn’t matter. I’d had enough baseball and definitely enough social interaction. I was actually happy to have a reason to leave.
Once outside the stadium gates, I made my way over to my car, dug up a beach towel I’d left in it, and spread out on the sliver of ground between the pine trees and the parking lot, with my back to the tennis courts and stadium wall. It was a nice night out, still cooler than usual and much less humid than normal for August.
I shivered, wishing I’d worn jeans instead of shorts and a real shirt instead of the skimpy one from Harry. I tried both of Charli’s number, but she didn’t answer, which meant she was probably outside or doing something with one of the kids. While I waited, I leaned back on my elbows and tried to see the stars, but the lights from the stadium and the shadows cast by the bushy pine trees blocked them out.
The home team must have done something great because a roar went up. I pushed up to see what was happening, but before I got all the way to my feet, suddenly it felt like my head exploded. Everything went dark.
14
When I came to, I was in a crumpled heap on the ground half underneath one of the pine trees. My head had a huge lump on the left side and it took me a few minutes to figure out where I was and what I was doing there. The lump was throbbing, but there didn’t seem to be any blood. My backpack, which I’d thought I’d left sitting on the ground, was way up under the pine tree and someone had dumped the contents out. It took me about ten minutes to locate all of the junk I kept inside it.
I finally found my phone, which had been tossed up beside the car next to mine, and which now had a cracked screen, and called Tim.
He insisted I go back around to the front of the stadium and wait. The team hired off-duty police officers for security, so he put a call in to one of his buddies who was working.
I was standing in front of the ticket office, waiting, when he called back. “Bill’s going to stick with you until Detective Winger or one of his guys gets there. I’m on my way, too. Thankfully, I g
ot cleared to drive.”
“Tim, listen, don’t call my folks or anything, okay? You know my mom. She’ll be making me move in her spare bedroom or hiring a security guard to follow me around.”
“Well, it wouldn’t be the worst plan. I’m beginning to think you’re right about this bad karma thing.” He laughed. I didn’t. “I’m kidding, babe. Just trying to lighten things up a little. Is anything missing?”
“I don’t think so. I mean, I have a lot of crap in my pack, but they left my phone, keys, and wallet.” My head was killing me and I couldn’t think. Something was swimming just out of my consciousness. But what?
The next twenty minutes were spent telling Detective Winger over and over again about what happened. The note Parker had given me was nowhere to be found. Parker was nowhere to be found. I didn’t know his last name. Also, it seemed that my description of him applied to half the middle school aged boys in Glenvar.
“Mr. Evans insisted he knew nothing about a note. We also questioned Mark Donavan and several of the park employees. None of them admitted to writing it. Are you sure you didn’t get confused?” Winger asked. “You were knocked out. Maybe you had a dream or a hallucination or something.”
Just then one of the officers found a baseball wedged up beside another of the pine trees.
Since a home run had gone over the fence almost exactly in the spot I’d been sitting, right when I’d heard the roar, and right before I was hit, Winger became convinced his theory was correct.
“Ms. Sheffield, it seems clear to me that you were simply hit in the head by the home run ball. You were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, weren’t you?”
“What about my bag? Someone dumped it out and threw it up under the tree. And my phone was by that other car. What about that?”
His voice was dripping with condescension. “Oh, Ms. Sheffield, I’m sure it spilt when you went down. You were knocked out, and likely have a concussion. You aren’t remembering clearly, I expect. It’s possible you’re having a stress reaction to the events of the past weeks.”
Ticked me off. We were plainly back to the way things had been previously: him not believing me, and me not appreciating it one little bit.
He advised me to see a doctor, had a private conversation with Tim and another officer, and then told me that he was sure I had nothing to worry about. Easy for him to say; it wasn’t his head that had been nearly bashed in.
Thankfully, Tim disagreed with the detective. He told me later that he’d argued with Winger about it, but hadn’t managed to convince him that I’d been clocked in the head on purpose. On the way home, Tim drove me over to see his uncle, who also happened to be my family doctor, and who said I was lucky because I didn’t have a concussion.
Once we got back to Charli’s, John and Tim went back to the stadium to pick up my car so that I’d have it to get to work the next morning. Charli and I sat on her front porch, talking over what had happened and looking through the stuff in my backpack several times, trying to figure out what, if anything, my attacker had been looking for. We’d agreed that Mom and Dad didn’t need to know, at least not yet, which is why they weren’t over there with us. I felt sure that Mom would find out before the night was over with, but I’d deal with that when the time came.
Tim and John finally joined us and the four of us replayed the events over and over again, trying to see if there was any possibility that Detective Winger was right. We all concluded that he was not and that I’d been called out of the park on purpose and knocked out deliberately. I couldn’t help but wonder by whom? And why?
Eventually, John brought up a point I’d entertained, but had discounted. “I’m not sure I want to leave you and Marty here alone for the next week. What if this is related to that other mess?” he said, referring to the horrible situation Charli, Tim, and I had been involved in earlier in the summer. “Maybe I should cancel the Cincinnati trip.”
“No, John. Don’t do that. The kids will be so disappointed. We’ll be super safe,” Charli said. “I really don’t think it’s connected to that. I think this has to do with Sabrina Lewis. Or maybe someone is jealous of Marty and Harry and is trying to warn Marty off.”
Tim stretched and stood up. “I agree with Charli. I’m convinced it has to do with Sabrina’s murder. Still and all, I’m with John on this. You two shouldn’t be alone. I don’t want anything to happen to either one of you. So, why don’t I stay here with y’all? That way John can go on to Cincy with the kids without having to worry.”
“Seriously, Tim, that’s not necessary,” Charli insisted. “We’ll be fine. You can check in on us and if anything comes up, we can call 911.”
John took a bit more convincing, but finally agreed. “Charli, Marty, you two promise me you will not get involved in this murder investigation. Leave it to the police. I don’t think I could take another scare like what happened before.”
“I promise,” Charli said, smiling sweetly at her husband. Like me, my sister has a tell-tale sign that she’s lying. I twist my hair; she tilts her head to the left. Her head was tilted so far to the left that it was almost in the next county. Uh oh.
I really wanted to know what she had in mind, but Harry drove up and pulled into his garage. “I’m going to go talk to him, let him know what happened. I’ll be just a minute,” I said.
Tim gave me a look. “I know you trust this guy, but I don’t. Stay outside where I can see y’all. I mean it, Marty. If you don’t, I’ll be over there breaking the door down. You don’t want that, do you?”
I made a face at him and headed across the street. I hadn’t planned on going inside anyway, but I was tempted to do it simply to annoy Tim. Knowing him, though, there was a good chance that he really would break down Harry’s door if I did. I decided not to risk it.
Harry met me at the end of the driveway. He hugged me tight to him and kissed me, long and deep. “I heard what happened. Are you okay?”
“My head is killing me, but I’ll live. Sorry about missing the end of the game. Did y’all win?”
“No. You saw how bad I sucked. Everybody else’s still playing like crap too. And of course, with Mark still out, we don’t really have much of a shot anyway. He didn’t even dress or sit on the bench with us. He hung out in the players’ lounge, watching franchise games on the big screen. I think they might be getting ready to send him up to the Zippers. Maybe we’ll both get called up. Of course, I’d really miss you if that happened.”
“I’d miss you, too, Harry.”
He kissed me again, this time even harder and more possessively. “You look super gorgeous in that shirt, by the way. When I saw you sitting up there in the stands with Tessa, it made me so proud. I wanted to show you off to all the other guys, make them jealous. Tell them to look at my girl. You are my girl, aren’t you, Marty?” he barely whispered that last question.
I wasn’t sure what to say to him. I wanted to say yes, but it scared me, in a way. He was rushing too fast. I liked him, but we had only known each other for a few days. Luckily, I didn’t have to answer because he pulled me to him and kissed me again.
“Wanna go inside?” he whispered, rubbing my back in a particularly dangerous way.
I backed away before I forgot what kind of girl I am. “I would, but I’m really tired and my head is about to burst. Rain check?”
He started to say something, then stopped, pursed his lips together, then finally smiled.
“Sure. How about I meet you out at the lake after you get off work Friday? We have that early game for the kids. I’ll be done by three. We can take the bikes and ride, have another picnic, and camp out since I don’t have a game Saturday and you’re off too. That will be a blast, don’t you think? Give us some private time to get to know each other. Don’t worry. I promise I’ll behave. I’ll be a perfect gentleman.”
Of course I didn’t want to. I made the mistake of looking at his eyes. My level of enthusiasm increased exponentially. “Sounds good. I’ll grab us a coup
le of subs, if you want. What else should I bring?”
“Nothing but your own sweet self. I’ll take care of everything. You don’t worry about bringing anything other than the subs. Plain ham and cheese on wheat for me. I like my sandwiches plain, my beer cold, and my women beautiful.”
He chuckled at his little joke, before kissing me again. “I guess you might want a change of clothes and something to sleep in. I’ve got a tent, sleeping bags, pads, all that stuff. I’ll bring dinner. Steaks and potatoes, maybe some corn to roast.”
“Sounds great,” I said, before making my way back across the street to Charli’s and John’s. And, yep, lots and lots of hair twisting occurred.
15
I kept my trip to the lake with Harry on Friday to myself, mainly because when I went back over to Charli’s, Tim went off once again about the “loser” guys I kept hooking up. I made a couple of catty remarks back about his being interested in Carole solely because of her looks. That led to another argument, then he left, both of us equally ticked off. I knew I’d have to tell him about the trip eventually, but I figured last minute was best. Otherwise, I’d be hearing about it for two days.
After Tim left and John went to bed, Charli and I opened the sofa bed and put fresh sheets on it. While we worked, Charli filled me in on her plans to purchase the business.
“It really is a great opportunity,” she said. “I need this. I feel like I’ve lost a part of myself. This makes perfect sense. The boys go back to school next week and Jaelyn will go to pre-school every morning at the church down the street. Mrs. Conner told me that when her son was small, she converted one of the back rooms into a nursery and playroom for him. The shop is only open Tuesday through Saturday, from ten until six. I’m going to hire someone to work part time and I’ll do the rest. The only thing is that I’ll need someone right now. Can you help me? Just on Saturday and maybe a couple of afternoons next week?”
The Doom Diva Mysteries Books 1 Page 54
