Thirty-Two and a Half Complications

by Denise Grover Swank

  “You do know this place violates a ton of health codes, don’t you?” I whispered into Neely Kate’s ear. “How do they not get shut down?”

  “They pay off the inspector, of course.” She waved a hand. “Not to worry. Whatever germs came in here have no chance of surviving contact with the hot sauce Bill puts on his wings.”

  “That’s not all that reassuring.”

  She shook her head like I was simple-minded. “Don’t be such a worrywart. My grandma’s been eatin’ these things for years and it hasn’t killed her yet.”

  “Not for lack of tryin’,” I said, eyeing the menu board. “How many times has your grandma been to the emergency room after eatin’ Bill’s wings?”

  Neely Kate waved off my statement. “That doesn’t count. She’s got an ulcer.”

  “And she still eats here?”

  “Some things are worth the pain.”

  Before I could give her statement more thought, the person in front of us moved forward and it was our turn to order. I put in a large order of mixed wings, planning on taking most of them home to Mason. After I placed my order, I pulled out my wallet and handed my debit card to the older man at the cash register.

  He handed it back, curling his lip in disgust. “We don’t take that here.”

  Who didn’t take Visa? “But I don’t have a MasterCard.”

  His eyes narrowed into a glare. “Cash only.”

  Grumbling, I dug through my purse to find enough loose change to pay. After Neely Kate placed her order, we stood to the side with a good twenty other people waiting for their food.

  “I can’t believe this place doesn’t take debit cards. You’d think they’d lose business by being cash only.”

  She shrugged. “They’ve always done it this way. It’s what people expect. And look at this place.” She waved at the crowded dining room and the line that was steadily swelling. “They’re definitely not hurting.”

  The temperature was in the fifties and the sun was out, so we went outside and sat on a wooden picnic table. Plus, despite Neely Kate’s protestations to the contrary, I expected the ceiling to cave in at any moment.

  I ate two mild wings before closing the container to save the rest for Mason. I leaned my head back and sucked in several deep breaths, trying to get my stomach to settle. “I should have just stuck with Texas toast.”

  “Why don’t you just take the test already?” she asked.

  I shook my head, not wanting to explain myself. Propping my chin on my hand, I said, “Now let’s try and figure out whose vision I experienced.”

  “Okay.” She watched me for a moment. “Where were you?”

  “It was nighttime and I was in a dark room. There was a window divided into panes and the bottom one was cracked in an upside-down Y. There was a light shining in the window, but I’m not sure what the source could have been.”

  “Okay, what else? Did you smell anything distinctive?”

  I hadn’t actually thought about it much, so I searched my memory for the answer. “Yes,” I said after a moment, “the room was stuffy and smelled… kind of like rust and something earthy.” A strange feeling of déjà vu tickled the back of my head, and then it hit me like an anvil. “Wait. Mick—the robber—he smelled of rust and dirt. And he was in the room in my vision.”

  “So it was his smell.”

  “No.” I grabbed her hand, excited. “It was the room’s… It’s a clue!”

  Based on the way Neely Kate scrunched her face, she was less hopeful about the lead—or maybe it was just the hot wings. “What else do you remember?” she asked.

  “The room was too dark for me to see much, but the one guy was smoking and I could see part of his face. He hadn’t shaved in a couple of days. Mick was angry. He said he killed the guy because he knew too much.”

  “And what about you?” she asked. “What were you doin’?”

  “I didn’t pay much attention—I was too busy trying to absorb as many details as I could. I think I was standing.”

  “Anything else?”

  “Just that they need ten thousand more on top of my nine thousand.” I tilted my head.

  “Plus the four thousand they got from the bank.”

  I wanted to ask her how she knew how much had been stolen, but thought better of it. “So they have thirteen thousand and they need ten more. Twenty-three thousand. What in tarnation do they need it for?”

  “A car? A boat?”

  Maybe, but I didn’t think so. “I think there were at least five of them—Mick, the scruffy guy from this vision, the guy with the Batman mask, and the guy at the church.”

  “And poor Mr. Sullivan.”

  “Yeah. Poor Mr. Sullivan.” I tried not to think about how bloated his face was when I found him in the ditch. “So they’d have to share the money or whatever it was they were buyin’. Of course they might already have some money and be adding to it.”

  “True.”

  “Let’s go talk to Samantha Jo. You said you know where to find her?”

  “She’s livin’ with her cousin at the Lazy Dazy trailer park.”

  I whipped my head around to look at her. “That’s where Lars lives with his girlfriend.” Could the coincidences pile up any higher? “It sounds like we’re headed in the right direction.”

  We drove back through town, but Neely Kate pulled into the parking lot of the pharmacy.

  “What are we doing here?”

  “Those wings are burning a hole in my stomach, so I’m gonna get an antacid. You can wait here if you’d like.”

  I nodded. “I want to try calling Mason again.”

  “I’ll be right back.”

  I pulled out my phone and dialed Mason. This time it went straight to voice mail without even ringing. Part of me was cataloguing a whole host of terrible and dreadful reasons why he might not have answered—from being kidnapped by Crocker’s friends to him leaving me—but I knew the most likely explanation was that he’d forgotten to charge his phone and it had died.

  Neely Kate came out a few minutes later and set a bag next to me. “I got you a couple of presents,” she said as she started the car.

  “Me?” I sat up. “What are they?”

  “Open it and find out.”

  I picked up the bag and peered inside. There was a bottle of pills and several differently sized rectangular boxes. I pulled out the pills first and shook my head. “Prenatal vitamins.” My stomach knotted.

  “You don’t take any vitamins at all now, so you need something. Just in case. And they won’t hurt you if you aren’t.”

  I pulled out one of the boxes next, my breath sticking in my chest when I realized what it was. My nausea roared back to life. “A pregnancy test.”

  “You don’t have to take it now, but at least you’ll have it when you decide you’re ready. I got you several different brands. Just so you have lots of options if you don’t like the results of one. And you didn’t get seen buying it, so you don’t have to worry about gossip…or at least not any more gossip than is already brewing about you.”

  I hadn’t even thought of that part. “Thanks, Neely Kate.”

  “What are best friends for?”

  I put the bottle and the boxes in my purse. I was going to have to face the truth sooner or later. Neely Kate was right. The uncertainty was killing me and I was starting to get used to the idea. If I found out we were having a baby, I wouldn’t be devastated like I would have been a few days ago. But I still wasn’t ready.

  I took a deep breath. “Let’s go pay Samantha Jo a visit.”

  The Lazy Dazy trailer park had seen better days, although it was hard to tell in its current state. A giant sign stood in the front advertising the name of the park in faded yellow letters. A painted daisy was in the corner, only someone had added their own creative touch, giving the flower a phallic look.

  “Heavens to Betsy, I bet you ten bucks Miss Mildred hasn’t seen that. She’d bring a ladder out here and paint right over it.”
<
br />   Neely Kate laughed. “I wouldn’t put it past her.”

  We turned down the gravel road, and I sighed when I saw the state of most of the trailers. The sides were dented and covered in rust. Most driveways were lined with rundown cars and there were a few scattered motorcycles. It was hard to believe anyone lived this way.

  I checked my phone for a missed call from Mason, although I had no doubt I would have heard his ring. There was nothing other than a text from Joe.

  I saw you talking to Jonah after church. Investigating a crime on your own while the sheriff is conducting an investigation is a felony punishable by law. Think about that before you do something to get you into trouble.

  I read the text out loud and glanced at Neely Kate. “Is that true?”

  She rolled her eyes. “He’s callin’ your bluff. I’ve seen plenty of TV shows where the main character investigated a crime while the police were doing the same…and it always went just fine.”

  “That was TV, Neely Kate. This is real life.”

  “Seriously. It’s Joe. Do you really think he’s going to arrest us? And even if he does, there’s no way Mason will prosecute us.”

  While Neely Kate had a point, I wouldn’t put it past Joe to do it just to prove he could and Mason…well, he wasn’t answering my calls. What did it mean?

  Neely Kate pulled up next to a trailer with a stained white toilet stuck in the middle of the tiny yard. The pot was filled with dead plants. She shook her head, tsking. “At least they made an effort, sad as it is.”

  “It might look cute with live flowers,” I said, for some reason feeling the need to defend the owner. Maybe it was because I saw the clay pots scattered around the yard, all filled with more dead plants.

  “Samantha Jo is staying here, but the trailer belongs to her cousin, Carla. She was one grade ahead of me, so I know her. Let me do the talking.” Neely Kate tilted the rearview mirror down and reapplied her lipstick.

  “Gladly.” After seeing Neely Kate in action in the bar on Friday night, it was apparent she had a knack for questioning.

  We got out of the car and walked up to the front door.

  Neely Kate climbed the rickety steps to the front door while I stayed put in the yard. The steps were too narrow for the both of us, never mind that they might not hold our combined weight.

  The front door opened and I gasped.

  Standing in the threshold, squinting down at us, was none other than David, Bruce Wayne’s best friend.

  This mess was getting stranger and stranger.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “What on earth are you doin’ here, Miss Rose?” he asked.

  “I could ask you the same thing.”

  His face contorted into an annoyed grimace. “I’m visiting my girlfriend.”

  “Samantha Jo?” While she wasn’t the sharpest crayon in the box, I was sure she wouldn’t resort to seeing a pothead with no job…or at least not a pothead with scraggly hair and a scrawny body. He was nothing like the hard-edged guy she’d been with at church.

  “No.” He laughed. “Carla.”

  It was Neely Kate’s turn to gasp. “You’re dating Carla?”

  He jutted his head back. “Why do you sound so surprised?”

  “It’s just—”

  A cute redheaded woman with freckles dotting her face appeared behind David. “Neely Kate? Is that you?” she squealed, pushing past her boyfriend to nearly tackle Neely Kate with a hug.

  “Carla!”

  Carla pulled back, her eyes wide with excitement. “I heard you got hitched. Lemme see the ring!”

  Neely Kate lifted her hand in a dramatic fashion, waving her fingers to show off her sparkly quarter-carat diamond.

  “O.M.G.!” Carla squealed again, dancing in place. “It’s gorrrr-geous!”

  “Ronnie got it at the pawn shop. He got quite a deal, which is why it’s so big. And it’s not cubic zirconia either.”

  Carla shook her head, looking at Neely Kate with undisguised good-natured envy. “You are one lucky girl, Neely Kate.”

  The brightest smile broke out across my friend’s face. “I know, right?” She patted her belly, tears in her eyes. “And I’m havin’ a baby.”

  They squealed some more before Carla glanced at me, smiling. “And who’s this?”

  Neely Kate reached an arm around my shoulders and pulled me close, squeezing. “This here is my best friend Rose Gardner. Rose, this is Carla Mansfield.”

  I smiled. “Nice to meet you.”

  “Any friend of Neely Kate’s is a friend of mine.” Then Carla grabbed Neely Kate’s arm and started to tug her up the steps. “What are we all doin’ out here? Come on in and have some lemonade.”

  Neely Kate glanced over her shoulder and I nodded as Carla dragged her though the door.

  I followed them into the dark mobile home, which was filled with furniture that looked like it had been new when the trailer was…about half a century ago. The once cream and avocado tweed sofa was stained and the cushions sagged. Carla waved for us to sit as she went into the tiny kitchen and opened the refrigerator door. “So what’re y’all doin’ here, Neely Kate?”

  David sat on the chair across from me and I stole a glance at him. David had a girlfriend? I still couldn’t get over it. David didn’t seem like the boyfriend type. I couldn’t help wondering why Bruce Wayne hadn’t mentioned it.

  Neely Kate crossed her legs. “We saw Samantha Jo at church this morning and thought we’d stop by and say hello to both of y’all. I heard she’s been staying with you.”

  “She was at church? That girl doesn’t go to church.”

  “Well, she was there today.”

  Carla grimaced and shook her head. “That girl’s a hot mess.”

  “How so?”

  Carla pulled an ice tray out of the freezer and put cubes into glasses. “She’s plum broke, for one thing. Lord only knows what that girl does with her salary from the bank.” She looked up at Neely Kate, an annoyed look on her face. “Paying me rent sure ain’t one of ’em.”

  “But the bank has to pay better than Wal-Mart!”

  “Not as much as you’d think, but still…” She walked into the living room and handed Neely Kate and me glasses of lemonade. “That girl doesn’t have any bills or expenses. I ain’t got any idea where she spends it all.”

  Neely Kate looked at David out of the corner of her eye, then back to Carla. “What about recreational drugs?”

  Carla’s eyebrows lifted and she shook her head. “Oh, no. She hangs out with guys who use drugs, but she says she’s keepin’ her body pure by avoiding anything that could defile it.”

  Neely Kate snorted. “I saw her grabbing a Big Boy bacon cheeseburger at the Burger Shack last week. Last time I checked, the EPA was looking into using the fat from those burgers as an alternative energy source. She can’t be trying that hard to keep her body pure.” She snuck a grin at me and whispered, “Especially with the company she keeps.”

  Carla shrugged. “That’s why she has a boyfriend.” She gave David a wink. “To help keep her supplied. Although she’s more into alcohol.”

  I tried to hide my surprise. Without a job, I wasn’t sure how David could afford to get his own pot, let alone Carla’s.

  Neely Kate took a sip of her lemonade. “I heard about the bank robbery last week. How is Samantha Jo handling it?”

  Carla shrugged her shoulders and took a sip. “Honestly, watchin’ her, you’d never know it had happened.”

  Leaning over her knee, Neely Kate asked, “She was held at gunpoint and she seems just fine?”

  Carla’s forehead furrowed. “Gee, now that you mention it, that is kind of odd.”

  “Has she been spending more money lately?”

  “Huh… She did buy a bunch of new clothes when she got sent home from the bank that day. Said she was finally planning her trip to L.A.to make it big in Hollywood. I figured I’d let it go since she’d been through such a shock.”

  The timing seemed sig
nificant and then some.

  “Carla,” I said. “Do you think Samantha Jo might have had something to do with the bank robbery?”

  “How so?” Carla asked, clearly confused.

  “Do you think she helped the bank robbers?”

  “I guess you could say so since she handed over the money.” Carla’s face scrunched up again, as though she was in pain from thinking too hard.

  “Well, I would too if some guy in a dang SpongeBob ski mask was pointing a gun at my head,” Neely Kate said.

  “The guy holding the gun on her had on a Batman mask,” I said. “The other guy wore a SpongeBob mask.”

  David burst out laughing and Neely Kate and I turned to him in shock.

  “What’s got you in stitches?” Neely Kate asked.

  “We had some of them masks at the Piggly Wiggly. That’s what got me fired. I wonder how them robbers got them since we never sold any.”

  I cocked my head to the side. “How did they get you fired? Did you steal them all?”

  “I took’em, but it wasn’t stealin’.” He shrugged. “I thought Bruce Wayne and I could wear them when we were playing paintball with the guys. You know, so we could be undercover.”

  Carla made a lovey-pouty face. “Awww… Daveypoo. I didn’t know you played paintball.”

  He leaned back, propping his foot on the opposite knee. “What can I say? I’m a complex guy. A man of mysterious ways. Just like last night.” Then he waggled his eyebrows at her.

  My nausea roared to life and I tried not to gag.

  Neely Kate seemed nonplussed. “So you stole the ski caps from the Piggly Wiggly? Why in the world would you do that?”

  “I didn’t steal them. I swear. I set them out in a display bin in the morning, but the next day a customer pointed out how screwed up the seams were. The assistant manager, Merrill, that is, was madder than hell and wanted to keep sellin’ ’em, but the manager said we couldn’t. So I pulled all of ’em. The company that sent them didn’t want them back and Merrill told me to throw them away. I figured that was a waste, so I took them home. When Merrill found out, he fired me.”

  “How could he fire you for that?” I asked, outraged.