by Tim Myers
I grinned at her. “Who said you were my favorite?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” she asked with a smile of her own. “Now why don’t you take me to lunch? You haven’t eaten yet, have you?”
I looked at the clock and realized that I’d missed another meal. Sometimes my schedule was so busy I literally forgot to eat. It was probably a good thing, though. With the baked goods Mom kept on hand downstairs, I could stand to skip a meal every now and then. “I’m not all that hungry,” I said just as my stomach growled loudly.
“What was that, coyotes? Come on, let’s go to The Hound Dog. I’m in the mood for one of Ruby’s sloppy burgers.”
“Why not,” I said as I stood up. “I’m not going to be able to get much work done anyway. Andrew’s a real jerk, isn’t he?”
“Like father, like son. We’ll detour the Joy property and go the back way, what do you say?”
I grabbed my jacket. “I say let’s go.”
We walked to The Hound Dog, chatting aimlessly about anything that crossed our minds, except for fences and neighbors. By the time we walked in to Elvis Presley’s voice serenading us with the grill’s name and inspiration, I felt much better. Though I loved all my siblings equally, there was no denying the special bond between Louisa and me.
Ruby, the owner of the diner, was dancing when we walked in, but didn’t look the least bit self-conscious when she saw us. “Grab a booth or a spot at the counter, I’ll be with you in a second.”
We found a booth away from the jukebox, and as soon as the song was finished, Ruby joined us. I’d been studying the vast array of Elvis memorabilia on the walls. I could swear some of it was new, though where she’d found the room to display anything else was beyond me.
Ruby handed us a pair of menus and said, “You two are eating a late lunch, aren’t you?”
I smiled. “How do you know we’re not having an early dinner?”
She laughed. “You’re right, I don’t. What can I get for you?”
Louisa ordered her burger and a diet soda. “I’ll have the same,” I said. “But make mine an iced tea.”
“Coming up,” Ruby said.
Once she was gone, Louisa looked at me steadily, then said, “So tell me about your love life.”
Oh no. Was that why she’d wanted to have lunch? I would have rather discussed the Joy men than talk about what was going on in my personal life.
“You go first,” I said, hoping that would dissuade her from the topic.
To my surprise, she said, “I’m still dating John Labott, and you know it.”
John was one of our suppliers, and he’d had a crush on Louisa forever, but he had always been too shy to do anything about it. It had finally gotten so bad that Louisa had asked him out herself.
“How is that going?”
Louisa shrugged as Ruby delivered our drinks. “When it comes to love, you never know, do you?”
Ruby said, “Amen to that. Just listen to the King.”
I waited until she was gone before I said softly, “She thinks Elvis has the answer to everything.”
“Who knows? Maybe she’s right. Enough about me, though. What’s going on with Kelly?”
“I’m not sure. Listen, do you really want to hear this, or are you just making polite conversation?”
Louisa took a sip of her soda. “Ben, have you ever known me to be polite about anything? I really want to know.”
“Okay, here goes then. We’re supposed to take her daughter Annie to the Fair on the Square tomorrow, but to be honest with you, Kelly doesn’t seem all that excited about it. I’m beginning to wonder if she’s having second thoughts. Honestly, I’m thinking about cancelling myself just to save her the trouble.”
“Benjamin Perkins, that is exactly the wrong thing to do. Honestly, do you know anything at all about women?”
I held up my hands. “Hey, take it easy on me. So what do you think I should do?”
“I think you should go ahead with your plans. If Kelly wants to cancel, she will. You know how strong-willed she is.”
I took a sip of tea, then said, “That’s one of the reasons I’m so fond of her.”
“Then give her some time, and trust her judgment. If she’s having second thoughts about anything, she’ll tell you.”
I thought about it, and realized that Louisa was probably right. Kelly was a strong, independent, and assertive woman. Until I heard otherwise, I was going to keep our date for the next day. I was saved from any other discussion by the arrival of our burgers, and it was nearly impossible to talk while eating one. After we were finished, I was glad for the chance to walk back to Where There’s Soap. At that point, any exercise I could get was worthwhile.
I hesitated when I got to the porch, and Louisa asked, “Aren’t you coming in?”
“No, I’d better do a little more checking on this fence. I want to pin Paulus down and see if Andrew knows what he’s talking about.”
“See you later, then.” I started for the Miata when Louisa called out, “And Ben, don’t worry about Kelly. Things will work out.”
“I hope you’re right,” I said. Mom had given me special dispensation to park with the customers on the grounds that I was trying to get the situation resolved, and I’d need my own transportation to do it.
I drove to Paulus’s house, but his car was gone and no one answered the doorbell. Where in the world could he be? I thought about calling Kate and asking her, but even if she knew, I wasn’t sure she’d tell me. I’d pushed her once, but I didn’t think I’d have a chance pushing her again so soon.
As I drove around town trying to think of anything I could do to help the situation, I suddenly found myself parked in front of Kelly Sheer’s law office. Now how had that happened? Was I there to check on her progress on our case, or was it for more personal reasons? Either way I had a legitimate reason to visit her, and if I could get a better read on our situation while I was there, that was fine, too.
Kelly’s office was in a complex downtown near the courthouse, the main professional building for Harper’s Landing. There were three other attorneys in the building, along with two accounting firms. I walked into her office and saw that she’d hired a new receptionist. The man was in his late twenties, and I hated to admit it, but he was quite a bit better looking than I was.
“May I help you?” he asked before the door could close behind me.
“I need to see Kelly,” I said.
“Do you have an appointment?” he asked as he scowled at his computer terminal.
“No, but she’ll see me if she’s here.”
He gave me a look that conveyed how sorry he was, and how deluded I must be. “She’s in conference at the moment, then she’s due in court. If you’d like to make an appointment, I’d be happy to set you up with something late next week.”
“Tell her Ben Perkins is here to see her,” I said, fighting the urge to blow past him and tell her that myself.
If he recognized my name, he didn’t show it. “Mr. Perkins, I’m afraid I can’t interrupt her at the moment. She’s-”
Kelly came out of her office. Her long blonde hair was pulled back, and wire-rim glasses were perched on her nose. She looked great in her tailored suit, but I preferred her in blue jeans.
“Ben, what are you doing here?” I’d had warmer welcomes from people I had to collect money from.
“I need to talk to you,” I said.
“I tried to tell him you were busy,” the receptionist said.
Kelly took my arm and pulled me into an empty office, no doubt where a partner would be someday. “What’s this about?”
“What did you find out about our property line?” I asked.
She frowned. “It’s not as simple as I thought it was. There’s some doubt about the original survey. I’ll have to look into it myself on Monday.”
There was no way in the world I could wait until then. “Why not now? This is important, Kelly.”
“And you don’t think what I�
��m doing is? I’m in a meeting at the moment, and then I’ve got to be in court. By the time I’m finished, the register of deeds will be closed. I’m sorry, but I’ve got to get back in there.”
“That’s fine,” I said. “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
A handsome man about my age poked his head out of her office. “Kelly, is everything all right?”
“It’s fine,” she said curtly. “I’ll be right there.”
The man looked at me like I was unworthy to be taking up space. I was getting a great many more hostile reactions than I’d been expecting when I’d decided to visit Kelly.
He finally closed the door, and I said, “There’s no shortage of good-looking men around here, is there?”
Kelly sighed. “Ben, I really do have to go.”
“Sorry to keep you,” I said. I knew she had a practice to run, and that I couldn’t expect her to drop everything to help me. I could hope, but I couldn’t reasonably be angry if she didn’t.
As she ducked back into her office, I asked, “We’re still on for tomorrow aren’t we?”
“I’ll be there,” she said.
So that idea had been a complete wash. I tried to think of anything else I could do, but Paulus was AWOL again, Kelly didn’t have time to help, and Andrew and his father were both being stubborn mules. I’d thought Earnest Joy had been the truculent one, but Andrew had been more adamant about that fence than his father had been. So should I try to talk sense into Earnest? The poker debt that Andrew had mentioned sounded bogus to me, but I’d have to hear Paulus’s side of things before I acted.
I was pulling out of the parking space in front of Kelly’s office when I noticed my grandfather’s car parked in front of Myra’s Shoes. I pulled back in and shut off the engine. It was time to talk to Paulus about what was really going on.
He was trying on a pair of pristine white walking shoes when I found him inside. “There you are,” I said. “We need to talk.”
I swear, it looked like he wanted to run away. I just wasn’t having much luck with my people skills, even with my family.
“What about?” he asked grumpily.
“A poker debt. Does that ring any bells?”
Paulus looked at Myra a second, then said, “Do you have these in elevens?”
The slim older woman with bright white hair said, “Paulus, I told you before, they’re not going to fit.”
“Humor an old man, would you?”
She shook her head as she said, “I swear crusty old geezers like you will be the death of me someday.”
After she ducked into the storeroom, we had the place to ourselves. Paulus leaned toward me and said, “So you know.”
“Know what, that you bet our back parking lot in a game of poker and lost?”
He rubbed his chin, then looked me in the eye. “Ben, it was a long time ago. I was drinking then, pretty heavily, I might add.”
This was the first time I’d heard about it. “How bad was it?”
“I blacked out a few times,” he admitted. “I don’t remember the bet, or even the poker game, but Earnest showed me the note the next day, and my signature was on it. We were friends up until then, but that ended that. He never said another word, and I just figured he tore the chit up and threw it away. I never dreamed he’d actually try to collect on it. I’m sorry.”
Paulus looked as if he wanted to cry, and I put an arm around his shoulder. “Listen, we’ll work this out, okay?”
“I know you’re the family fix-it man. If you can make this right, I’ll be eternally in your debt, and I mean it.”
I stood. “I’ll do what I can. And thanks for coming clean with me.”
“What are you going to do now?” he asked.
“I’m going to go see Earnest Joy.”
Paulus looked like he’d rather take a beating, but he offered, “Would you like me to go with you?”
“No, I’d better handle this alone.” As I left the store and drove toward Earnest Joy’s house, I finally felt like I was doing something productive. From the hours I’d seen posted at his store, I knew he would most likely be home. I wasn’t going to threaten or bully the man—I knew neither approach would work—but I was going to tell him we were fighting it all the way.
Earnest’s Cadillac was parked in front of his house, so I knew he was there. The Joy family homestead was an older place. I knew Earnest could afford a much better home, but he’s stayed in the place he’d grown up. There had to be something sentimental about the man to want to do that. If I could find that part of him and appeal to it, I might not have to sue.
I couldn’t see a doorbell, so I knocked on the front door. It yielded to my touch and swung silently open. “Earnest?” I called out. “Are you there?”
There wasn’t a sound from inside, and I thought about just leaving. After all, he might shoot me and claim I was breaking in, knowing how ornery the man could be.
I’d just turned to leave when I saw flashing lights behind me. Molly Mikes jumped out of her squad car with her gun drawn. I instantly put my hands up in the air. True, this was the same curvy brunette I’d taken to the Senior Prom, but it was also an officer of the law drawing a bead on me. “Hey, it’s just me.”
“What are you doing here?” she asked as she approached.
“I’d feel a lot better if you’d put that gun down,” I said.
She shook her head. “Not happening. We just got a tip that something bad happened here. Don’t follow me in. I’ll be back in a minute.”
I knew better than to try to argue with her. I waited while she entered the house, her gun sweeping an arc as she entered. There was nobody I’d rather have looking out for me than Molly. She was smart and competent, and I’d heard from more than one source that she was the best cop in Harper’s Landing.
I must have held my breath the entire time she was inside. Six minutes later I heard an ambulance approach, and two men with a gurney rushed inside. I wanted to follow them in, but Molly had been pretty clear about my instructions. She came out a minute later and gave me a look I hoped I never saw again in my life.
“Tell me what happened,” she said in a flat, official voice.
“What’s going on?” I asked. “Is somebody hurt?”
She stared at me a few seconds, then said, “Actually, somebody’s dead.”
“What happened?” I asked. A thousand scenarios raced through my mind, none of them good for me and my family, given the current state of discord between the Perkinses and the Joys.
“I’m asking the questions right now. Ben, I’m just going to ask you one more time. What went on in there?”
“Molly, I swear I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just got here two seconds before you showed up. There’s no bell, so I knocked on the door. It swung open, so I started to go inside, and then I saw your lights. That’s all that happened.”
She shook her head. “Did you touch anything while you were inside?” she asked.
“No, not a thing.”
“Then you’re staying out here until we can process the scene.”
Another car drove up, and a man I didn’t recognize got out. He spoke to Molly briefly, and then walked inside.
“Who’s that?”
I could see in her eyes that she wasn’t sure she wanted to tell me, but finally she admitted, “That’s the new coroner. We can’t move the body until he gives us his approval.” A woman outfitted with kits and cameras came up in a police van as she spoke and went in, too.
“I can’t believe Earnest is dead.”
She snapped, “What makes you think it was Earnest? I didn’t say anything about who it was, and to be honest with you, I was kind of surprised you didn’t ask when I came back out.”
“Come on, Molly, it’s his house. Who else could it be?” Then I remembered my pretty public fight with Andrew three hours earlier. “Oh no. It’s not Andrew, is it?”
“Ben, I knew you all were battling about that fence. Does this have anything to
do with that?”
I said loudly, “How would I know? You won’t even tell me who it is.”
“You were right the first time. It’s Earnest Joy. And there’s a problem.”
“Just one?” I snapped. “I can’t imagine what it could be.”
“You might want to save the theatrics for someone who’s impressed,” she said. “It’s pretty important you keep it all in check right now.”
I took a few deep breaths, then said, “I’m sorry. So what’s the problem?”
“I shouldn’t be telling you this, but it’s pretty clear that Earnest was murdered. The worst part of it is that he’s got a bar of soap from your shop clutched in his left hand.”
That news shook me more than the murder. “Molly, you can’t honestly believe that I had anything to do with this. You’ve known me practically my whole life.”
She didn’t answer immediately, a fact that shook me to the core. When Molly finally spoke, she said sadly, “I don’t want to believe it, Ben, but I know how you can be when your family is involved. All of you Perkinses are extremely protective of each other.”
“Not to the point of murder,” I said hotly.
“And then there’s your temper. You can fly off the handle sometimes, and you know it. So give me an alibi or something else I can believe. It might help once we determine the cause of death.”
I thought about my whereabouts for the past few hours. While it was true that I’d spent some time with people who could verify where I’d been, I’d also driven around alone, certainly long enough to sneak over to Earnest Joy’s house and bash in his head.
“I can’t account for every minute of the last few hours,” I admitted. “Molly, even if I did kill him, would I have been stupid enough to leave a bar of soap in his hand? Come on, that doesn’t make sense.”
She shook her head. “I wish it were that simple, but from the blood and the way he was positioned, it was pretty obvious that Earnest grabbed that soap after he was attacked. It was still in its wrapper, Ben; that’s how we knew where it was from.”
“Wait a second,” I said. “His son Andrew was in our shop three hours ago. He could have bought some then, or slipped a bar into his pocket.”
