by June Shaw
She backed away while I got to a seated position, rested there a minute, and then stood.
“I’d better get out of this bedroom before I flop on that bed again.”
She had walked over here since she lived around the block and only gave me time to grab a small glass of milk and a banana for the road. I needed coffee but since we were going to the diner, I could get a cup or two there. We went in my truck because it held the tool chest, but she insisted on driving while I had my small meal and tried to wake up.
Josie’s Diner sat like a small red dot at the end of Sixth Street. Around it, most buildings appeared drab. They were barbershops, and a uniform store, and dry cleaners, and others that had been there for years. Most of those businesses bore small signs with the names of their places as the only way to tell them apart on their unpainted old cypress storefronts.
Josie’s place grabbed a person’s eye. When she’d wanted to update her diner and make it stand out a little from the others, Eve and I had suggested the bright chartreuse posts that stood on both sides of the welcoming door that we painted sunlight yellow. We designed a fairly large sign with its color matching that of the posts and JOSIE’S DINER across its center.
The inside was normally bright as well, with all the colors and lighting we had suggested, although this morning one corner of the fairly filled diner was faintly lit. I noticed right after opening the door two extra-long fluorescent bulbs above that section had burned out. There was lots of talking, and enticing scents of bacon, and powdered sugar on the beignets I saw a few customers in the crowded room eating. Mixed with the aroma of breakfast sausage and smothered onions, Josie’s food called to my attention almost as much as the two people I saw seated together under the diminished section of light.
“That’s him,” I said, elbowing Eve.
“Ow.” She rubbed her side that I’d hit. “Who?”
“I’ll tell you about it later. Come on.” I stepped ahead of her to the table at the far end of the room, right up to the man who had watched us ever since we stepped inside.
He squinted, giving me a cautious look. His small lips pushed forward in the middle and twisted toward the left. He pressed back against his chair as we neared.
“Hello, Mr. Nelson.” I offered my hand, which he looked at as though it were some creature coming to attack him. Mr. Nelson stared at it, but did not offer his. “I’m Sunny Taylor,” I said, although it was obvious my name meant nothing to him. I wanted to bring up where we had met, but I didn’t in case the man with him did not know of Nelson’s frequenting the gumbo kitchen. “You might have heard of me. I make pralines.”
Like an old-time cash register, his eyes rolled down and then just as quickly rolled up. His mouth opened without making a sound, but I could imagine it saying, “Ah.” Yes, he remembered I had brought some of them that he’d eaten at the center.
“This is my sister, Eve Vaughn. Of course you could tell we’re sisters, since we’re identical.”
Eve stood back a bit. I grabbed her hand and tugged her forward so these men would have to also respond to her.
Eve eyed Nelson’s hand, which remained on his fork instead of up accepting mine. She nodded but did not put out hers.
In case Detective Wilet hadn’t gotten any information about Nelson or his cousin that Edward had supposedly put out of business, I wanted to know more. Probably this wasn’t the time to ask Nelson about it, but I needed to learn all I could, and he was here now. Maybe I could get Nelson’s last name if that was his first. Whatever, I wanted his full name.
I reached my hand out to the man seated across from him. This person was small, pale, looking almost as frail as a china teacup. His dark brown eyes stood out. So did his hand with a surprisingly tight grip. His smile was quick.
“Hello, I’m Emery Jackobson, Nelson’s friend.” The grin he gave Nelson and the light in his eye when he looked at his eating partner suggested Nelson might not be only a casual friend. He was not this man’s cousin, either. And if I was right, Nelson and now the deceased Edward Cancienne, was the reason for this fellow losing a wife he probably shouldn’t have married in the first place.
“It’s good to meet you, Emery.” I chose not to mention what Nelson had told me about him.
“Same here.” He could give lessons in southern manners to the man seated with him.
I returned my attention to the man I had previously met. Or I hadn’t met him but had spoken to him. “And Nelson—?” I left the name hanging, anticipating another name to go with that one.
He pressed his lips tighter together until only the thin outer rim was visible.
“There are my lady friends.” Josie’s words boomed over the raised volume of other voices and noises from scraping chairs and skillets slapping on stovetops. She was standing two tables away, using a spray bottle to squirt liquid on the red tabletop and wiping it off with a dry towel. Josie was a whirlwind tall enough to clean the top of a refrigerator without needing anything to stand on. Eve and I were relatively tall, too, for being females, but we needed to look up to Josie. Her hair was blue today, clashing with her deep wrinkles that said she was a little old to dye her hair different colors, but she was her own person. On her, the cotton candy hair looked charming.
“Did you want us to fix that stool today?” Moving toward her, Eve pointed at the empty stool with the tilted seat at the counter. Whenever Josie asked us to do some fixing up in here, she didn’t care whether customers were around. That made working much better for us than if we would have to come after closing hours, but I didn’t know how people eating felt about her policy. So far, I had never noticed that anyone seemed to care.
The men I stood beside had resumed their eating. Emery poured thick, golden cane syrup on his bacon slices and the stack of French toast that was already coated with powdery sugar. The tempting dish made my taste buds dance and my mind question how he could eat like that and remain so thin.
Nelson stuck his fork into eggs that had been scrambled with bits of mushroom, onions, and bell pepper sticking out. He kept his face and shoulder turned away so I knew he was not wanting to converse with me any longer.
“I saw you looking at that food mighty hard,” Josie said when I walked up to her. “I think you need to put something in your little belly before I can put you gals to work.”
“No, that’s okay. I ate at home,” Eve said.
“I’d like a couple of bites of something. And coffee.” I sat in a chair at the table she had just cleaned.
Eve sat with me. “I’ll have a coffee.”
“Be right back.” Josie swirled away and snapped her fingers at the teen walking around with a half-filled carafe. When the girl looked at her, Josie showed two fingers and pointed at us. The girl nodded. She grabbed two thick white mugs and carried one atop the other one to us, still gripping the carafe in the other.
“Thanks. I could never do that without dumping coffee or dropping a cup,” I said.
She set our cups down and filled them almost to the top. “You’re welcome. I’ve gotten used to it.”
On the other side of the eatery, I noticed some people’s eyes aimed at us. When I met their gazes, two of them smiled and nodded in greeting, which I did in return. Others, though, rushed their stares away. Maybe they had heard Eve and I found Edward dead. Some, like Nelson, might believe we killed him. If that was the case, I didn’t blame them for turning away from us.
I shook powdered creamer and a spoon of sugar into my coffee. Then I stirred, not so tempted by its scent or hungry for food anymore. Eve started drinking her coffee black. “This is good.” She lifted an eyebrow at me. “Weren’t you in a hurry to have a cup?”
After a little shrug, I took a sip of mine. Then while she took her time having small sips of hers, I took one big swallow after another. The liquid was warm, soothing, only not giving the relief I now sought. “I can’t until
till they find out what happened to Edward,” I said.
“Here you go.” Josie had moved up beside me. She set a plate in front of me. “Since you didn’t say anything, I got you your usual.” The plate held a fried egg that was soft in the middle but crispy, almost burned at the edges. Buttered toast sat at the edge of the plate next to three slices of bacon and two beautiful plump strawberries.
“You’re wonderful,” I told her. The colors and aromas drew me to lifting my fork, wanting to fill my stomach.
“I know. So tell some good-looking guy so he can sweep me up and marry me and pay all my bills.” Josie was gay and did not really want a guy. She flipped up a plaid towel over her shoulder. Its violet and orange colors clashed with her hair. “They’re still working on finding out who killed Edward, huh?” she asked, obviously having walked up when I’d spoken to Eve.
Eve nodded. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about who killed him, would you?”
Josie kept her lips tight. “You know me,” she said and shook her head. “I don’t know anything about anybody.” That’s what she always told people. Not taking part in gossip sessions in your establishment was a good way to stay in business.
She startled me by leaning down, her blue hair tickling my ear. “I think one of his lovers could have gotten jealous of the others.”
Before I could pull my head back to question her, she was striding away.
“Who?” Eve called to her.
Still facing forward as she moved on, Josie jerked her thumb toward the table where Nelson and Emery Jackobson sat.
Josie must have given the pair their check right before she served me. Nelson picked it up. Wearing a smile wide enough to create a big bracket of shiny, white teeth that made him look even paler, Emery reached over and snatched the ticket from him. Nelson shook his head and tugged at it as though he wanted to pay it himself, although I couldn’t imagine why since Nelson frequented the gumbo kitchen where he received some of his meals free. Then I recalled Emery also supposedly lost his business, so his income must have greatly diminished. If any of that story was true.
To my surprise, Emery placed his hand on top of Nelson’s. He tilted his head and made sweet eyes like a baby learning to accomplish that feat. The last time we got to see Eve’s little grandchild, he carried out that incredible action that tore into our hearts and made Eve plant kisses all over his face and make those goo-goo eyes back at him.
The two men stood, and we both tucked our chins, keeping our gazes away from them. I chewed a slice of tasty bacon that was cooked crisp like I enjoyed best. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw when the men were coming this way and then heading for the door.
The minute they were out, I got up. “Have some breakfast,” I said, pushing my plate toward Eve. “I’m going to get our tools.” I rushed outside, wanting to see if both men came in one vehicle or if each had their own and arrived separately. I wasn’t certain why that was important, but felt it was something I needed to learn.
They walked a few steps ahead of me. Probably hearing my footsteps or the door shutting, Nelson looked back. He eyed me with a frown.
I grabbed the small toolbox out of my truck’s cab and held it up. “We need to fix some things,” I said, not knowing why I felt a need to explain.
He didn’t respond and gave no evidence that he even heard. Nelson and Emery reached the corner and walked around it, disappearing beyond the palm reader’s little building. The sign out front that showed an open hand had lost a letter so that it read Pam Reader.
Even though I was tempted to step to the corner to see where the men went, I realized Nelson might be watching for me. And then what? He might suspect me of something? He already believed Eve and I killed Edward and at the gumbo kitchen praised me for doing it, although I’d protested we had not. Maybe he believed we were murderers, and I was stalking him. I backed off, returning inside the diner.
Eve was chewing when I reached our table with a toolbox. “Great bacon,” she said after swallowing. “But your fried egg isn’t so good, since it’s gotten cooler.” She shoved my plate back to me.
My appetite was mostly gone, but I eyed my egg with its yolk runny now that Eve had cut into it. I ate the final slice of bacon with a few bites of toast. “I didn’t see what they came in,” I told her.
“Maybe they walked.”
I hadn’t considered that, but there were a couple of older houses and apartment buildings in the area. “That’s possible.” I left what I knew my meal and Eve’s coffee cost plus a tip on our table. “Let’s go fix that stool.”
She touched the side of her face. “I forgot to tell you. Someone I work out with at the gym told me Edward was gay. Not that that means anything.”
I looked back at the place where two men I believed were also gay just sat. Was that a coincidence? Just gossip or an assumption of something more?
Three people from the right of the barstool with the tilted seat had left, giving us more space to work. We apologized to others sitting around, but they said they weren’t bothered.
“I like to see a gal work with tools,” the postman with the big belly said. He rode in a truck to deliver our mail.
“Well, there you can see two for your money,” Josie said, slapping his ticket down in front of him. “And hire them sometime. You could get to watch them use all kinds of tools.” She gave us a wink. Josie knew we could use more orders to help our business thrive.
We only needed to use electric screwdrivers to remove the bent metal plate under the seat. We had known what we needed here, so had purchased another plate. We took little time to screw it in and make certain the seat was balanced.
“All done,” Eve told Josie. “Anything else you need?”
“No, I don’t. Girls, y’all are so quick. Send me your bill.”
I waved that thought away. “Just give us some nice, warm goodies to eat next time we come back,” I said, and she grinned. “And get us a couple of fluorescent bulbs right now. We’ll go change those burned ones.”
With our heights, we didn’t need a ladder but could stand on the chairs Nelson and Emery had used. The table had already been cleared and spray cleaned. I checked the floor beneath the table and chairs before getting up, thinking I might find some bit of paper that might shed some light on the two who’d been here. Only a small piece of biscuit lay against the wall.
Standing on one the chairs, Eve loosened the edge of the light’s plastic cover and let it hang from the opposite side from me. I twisted out one long burned bulb and then the other. She gave me the new ones. In no time, we had those bulbs enclosed with the yellowing plastic cover that had been used here for years. Getting more thanks from Josie, we wiped off the chairs and left.
I drove straight to Detective Wilet’s office. Soon we sat across the desk from him, the stench of burned coffee again in the hall we’d passed through. Papers lay strewn across his desktop. “Okay, so what is your new information regarding Edward Cancienne’s case?” He had his pen out and was ready to write.
“He was gay,” Eve said.
“So?” He didn’t jot her words.
I spread my hands. “We don’t care about that, but we believe he had two or possibly more lovers around here. One of them was probably Emery Jackobson.”
The detective quirked a thick brow. “Wait, hadn’t y’all told me that Edward caused Jackobson to go out of business?”
Eve leaned forward, hands clasped. “If those men were involved together, that certainly would have also been a reason for Jackobson’s wife to leave him.”
Dark eyes swerved from one to the other of us. He watched us while voices and quick footsteps sounded from another room. With a sudden motion, he bent over and wrote. His notes were quick before he faced us again. “And if word leaked out, and Emery Jackobson lost his family, then what? It would have been a reason for him to kill Edward?”
/> I wiggled my index finger like a pen. “It also made him lose his business. Don’t forget that.” I watched but did not see the officer making another note. “I don’t even know what kind of business he had.”
“He owned a machine parts shop. The oil slump with prices dropping so much is what caused it to close, just like so many other companies down here.”
“Oh.” I lowered my hand.
He set down his pen. “If I would decide to pursue these things you suggested, is there anywhere in particular you believe I might look?”
Eve got to her feet first. “Go eat at Josie’s.”
“And we,” I said to my twin once we walked outside, “are going to go check on our mother. Maybe we can take her out for an early lunch. We need to find out what’s going on now with her and her fellow.”
“And his daughter,” Eve said, lips compressed and down at the corners.
Yesterday Mom went to eat with them. Now if she wouldn’t come with us, I couldn’t imagine the deep disappointment.
Chapter 8
I pulled in at the manor, turned right on the lot, and took my time driving along it, slowing behind a few of the parked cars. “Do you recognize anyone from Edward’s funeral?” I asked Eve.
“So that’s why you’re going so slowly.”
“Yes, let’s see if we can tell if that fellow Carl that we saw arguing with Edward at his house and then in the hall at the funeral parlor is here.”
“It would help if we could remember what he drove.” But neither of us could. She stared out the window on her side where people had parked. We passed beyond a dirt mount holding a blooming crepe myrtle covered with profuse pale pink flowers. Eve pointed beyond it at the parked truck and older model car with a dented rear fender. “Maybe Mom’s beau drives that car.” She looked at me and shook her head. “I have no idea what he drives.”
