by Tim Myers
My sister joined me as she took another bite of caramel apple. “She’s a little young for you, isn’t she?”
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“That girl at the table. I saw you flirting with her. What is she, sixteen?”
“I wasn’t flirting with her, and she’s got to be older than that,” I said. “I’m sure she’s at least in college. Who knows, maybe she likes the older, distinguished type.”
Louisa poked me. “More likely you remind her of her dear old dad. Face it, Ben, to women in their twenties, you’re practically invisible.”
“Hey, I’m not that old,” I protested.
“Dream on, Brother.”
Surprising us both, I leaned over and kissed my sister’s cheek.
“What was that for?” she asked.
“For being here when I needed you. Thanks.”
Louisa looked embarrassed by the display. “I didn’t do anything,” she protested.
“There you’re wrong.”
She looked at some of the rides that had been set up on the Square. “So are you up for some fun?”
“You’d have to be crazy to get on that Ferris Wheel,” I said, “let alone the Spider. They put these things together in the middle of the night. What makes you so sure they didn’t miss a bolt or two in the dark?”
“Come on, take a chance.”
I shook my head. “You go ahead. I think I’m going to take off.”
She looked longingly at the rides, then said, “Let’s go then.”
“No, I want you to stay and have fun. I’m going to be fine. I promise.”
She didn’t want to let me leave alone, but when I insisted, she finally agreed. “If you need me, just call.”
“I will,” I said, and then fought the crowd back to where I was parked. When I got into the Miata, I suddenly realized I had nowhere else to go. The only way I was going to get my mind off my hapless love life was by trying to figure out if there was anything I could do to help Molly figure out who had killed Earnest.
Maybe it would help take some of the sting out of Kelly’s rejection if I occupied my mind with something else, something more urgent than a bruised heart. I drove back to Where There’s Soap, but instead of going in, I walked around to the back where the fence stood. To my surprise, Terri Joy was standing there staring at it from the other side, her left hand testing its sturdiness.
“It’s pretty ugly, isn’t it?” she asked when she saw me.
“You could always take it down,” I replied.
She shook her head. “I would if I could, but my brother has some kind of obsession with it now. He’s claiming that he’ll fight you to the end to fulfill Dad’s last wish.”
I lightly kicked the bottom edge with the toe of my shoe. “Why did Earnest care so much about it? If it mattered all that much, he sure took his time getting around to it.”
Terri sighed. “Don’t kid yourself. I’m pretty sure Andrew was behind this from the start. He was going through Dad’s safe-deposit box at the bank and stumbled across the IOU. That was months ago, but then all of a sudden it became important to him to do this.”
I gestured toward the gopher-hole garden. “More important than his horticulture?”
She laughed. “It’s pretty hideous, isn’t it? Hey, Dad was just happy Andrew found something he liked doing. We used to watch Andrew digging from Dad’s office. That boy has developed a single-minded devotion to moving dirt.”
“I’m kind of surprised you’re even talking to me,” I said. “Terri, it’s important to me that you know I didn’t have anything to do with what happened to your father. I lost mine, too. I know how much it hurts.”
She wept without appearing to even acknowledge the tears. “I know you wouldn’t hurt him, Ben.”
‘Thanks for believing me,” I said.
Her words sharpened. “Don’t think I’m letting you off the hook completely. I still think his murder had something to do with this dispute. Just because I said I don’t think you did it doesn’t mean I’m ready to absolve your entire family.”
“Terri, I can assure you, none of my family would do something like this.”
She stared at the fence a moment longer, and I wondered what she was going to say, when I heard Andrew’s voice coming from the back of the jewelry shop.
“Leave her alone,” he shouted as he came at a trot.
“I’m fine, Andrew,” she said, turning back to look at him.
She might as well have saved her breath. As he approached us, he said, “I mean it, Perkins. I’m not going to let you bully my sister, so don’t even try it. You’ve already murdered one member of my family, and I’m not about to let you hurt another one.” He had his fists clenched, and there was a fire in his eyes. Was I going to get into a fist-fight, at my age? I wasn’t looking for a confrontation, but if that was what he wanted, I had a lot of anger and frustration I wouldn’t mind venting out on him.
Not even trying to hide the scorn in my voice, I snapped, “I didn’t kill your father. Stop being such a jerk.”
Terri stared at me a second, then turned to her brother. “Honestly, you both need to grow up. Andrew, nobody’s going to bully me, you know that. We don’t know what happened to Dad yet, so stop jumping to conclusions.”
She turned to me and added, “As for you, you’re not making things any easier. You know that, don’t you?”
Without another word to either one of us, she walked away. That seemed to take the steam out of the argument. Andrew followed docilely behind her. I kicked the fence out of frustration—much harder this time—but he didn’t look back; he didn’t even break stride.
Staring at the fence wasn’t getting me anywhere, so I walked around front and came into the soap shop through the main, and at the moment, only entrance. There were a couple of customers milling about, and Cindy sat behind the register. She was reading something, but I couldn’t tell what it was.
“Goofing off?” I asked her as I approached.
“Hardly,” she said as she held up a book outlining different careers. “I’m trying to decide what to do with my life. Nothing all that important, just little stuff like that.”
My youngest sibling was barely past eighteen, and uncertain about her future. While the rest of us had followed the Perkins tradition of working at Where There’s Soap— either after high school or college—Cindy wasn’t sure if she wanted to spend the rest of her life making soap.
“There’s plenty of time to decide,” I said.
She shook her head. “I agreed to work here for one year after high school, since all of you did the same thing, but after that, I’m just not sure.”
I tapped the book. “So what are you interested in?”
She looked down at the book, then shoved it under the counter. “I’m not telling. You’ll laugh.”
“Are you kidding me? As long as it’s not underwater basket weaving, I won’t say a word.”
Cindy and I had a strong bond, being the oldest and youngest of the Perkins clan.
I waited, and after some hesitation, she said, “If you breathe a word of this to anybody, I’ll shave your head in your sleep.”
I ran a hand through my hair. “Okay, that’s a pretty creepy threat, but I promise to keep it to myself.”
In a low voice, she said, “I think I want to be a biologist.”
“You always were good in science, and especially chemistry. It might be a perfect match for you.”
Cindy studied my face for a few seconds. “You’re not mad?”
I smiled at my baby sister. “Now why in the world would I be mad about that? I’ve got a lot more problems to worry about right now than my littlest sister’s career path.”
She frowned. “Yeah, I heard about what happened with Kelly. I’m so sorry, Ben.”
I shook my head. “The problems I’m talking about are that fence spread across our property and my being a suspect in Earnest Joy’s murder. How in the world did you hear about wh
at happened with Kelly so fast?”
Cindy looked guilty as she admitted, “Louisa called a few minutes ago. She wanted to spread the word through the family so no one would upset you with any questions.”
“This family could teach the satellite communication industry a thing or two,” I said.
“Don’t be mad, Ben. We care about you; that’s all.”
“I know, but there are times when it can all be a little claustrophobic.”
Cindy laughed. “You don’t have to tell me that. Try being the baby of the family.”
“No thanks. I’ve got enough trouble being the eldest. If you need me to help you out down here on the floor, I’ll be up in my office.”
She looked around at the nearly empty shop. “I think I can handle it, but if a mob shows up, I’ll give you a call.”
I walked through the boutique space, past the classroom and the break room, then into the production area. It was the only way to get up and down the stairs to my office, but honestly, I usually enjoyed walking through the place on my way to my desk. My brother Bob, the man who kept our ancient line running by manufacturing the parts we needed himself, was filing the cogs on an iron wheel as I walked back into the production area.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“I’m trying to make a piece fit where it wasn’t meant to be, and it’s giving me a major headache.” As an afterthought, he added, “Sorry about Kelly.”
“Yeah, me too,” I said, hopefully burying the topic with him. Just four more offers of condolences from my siblings, maybe a word or two from my grandfather and a lecture from my mother, and I’d be out of the woods.
Bob stared at me a second, then said, “Do you want to talk about it?”
I laughed. “Not particularly.”
His relief was pretty obvious. “Good. Jessica’s been trying to get me to communicate more at home, and it’s driving me nuts.”
“If that’s your worst problem in the world, you’ve got a pretty good life. How is your wife, by the way?”
He looked around, though no one was nearby. “Can you keep a secret?”
“Absolutely. What’s up?”
He grinned broadly. “She’s pregnant. Can you believe it? I’m going to be a dad.”
I hugged him as I pounded him on the back. “That’s great news,” I said. “Congratulations. I bet Mom’s going nuts about her first grandchild on the way.”
“She doesn’t know yet,” Bob confessed.
A wave of dread swept over me. “So I have to keep this from her? Bob, she’ll kill me when she finds out I knew before she did.” My mother liked to think she was on top of everything, in our family and our business. I didn’t want to be anywhere nearby when she learned that I’d scooped her on what she would consider the most important news of her life.
“Listen, you can’t even let on to Jessica that you know. It was just killing me not telling someone, you know? When we announce it formally, you need to act as surprised as everyone else, okay?”
“I’ll win an Oscar,” I said. “Do you think I want anyone else to know that I was in on it?”
“Good. I knew I could count on you.”
“So how far along is she?” I asked.
“Two and a half months. We’re going to make an announcement in two weeks when the first trimester’s over. I still can’t believe it.”
“Congratulations,” I said, pounding his back again.
“What are you two celebrating?” my brother Jeff asked as he walked back to the shop.
I was about to make something up when words suddenly deserted me. Jeff was standing there with Molly Wilkes, but it was pretty obvious she wasn’t at Where There’s Soap investigating Earnest Joy’s murder. Molly’s luxurious long black hair was down and she was wearing a pretty dress, but that wasn’t the first thing that caught my eye. She and Jeff had been holding hands when they’d walked in. Unless I was way off, it appeared that my baby brother and my former girlfriend were out on a date.
Molly let her hand slip from Jeff’s when she saw that I’d noticed. “Hi, Ben,” she said quietly.
“Molly,” I replied.
Jeff looked like the biggest rooster on the farm. “So what are we celebrating?”
I thought about a lie I could come up with when Bob said, “I think I’ve finally got that part right.”
Jeff looked at us both like we’d lost our minds. Trying to keep my voice as casual as I could, I asked, “So what are you two up to?”
I could see that Molly was searching for the right words when Jeff said, “We just went to the Fair on the Square, and now we’re going out to lunch.”
I looked at her and asked, “Is it really a good idea to be dating a suspect?”
She frowned. ‘That’s not fair, Ben.”
Jeff said, “I’m not on her list. I have an airtight alibi.”
“Believe me, there’s no such thing, little brother.”
Jeff smiled. “Yes there is. I was having a late lunch with Molly when Earnest was murdered.”
“Okay, maybe I was wrong,” I said. “That would be hard to refute.”
Jeff nodded, then said, “Hey, I’ve got a great idea. Why don’t you call Kelly and we can make it a foursome for lunch?”
I could see that Molly didn’t think any more of that idea than I did. Fortunately, I had the perfect answer. It had the added advantage of being the absolute truth. “She just broke up with me about an hour ago,” I said.
Jeff’s smile faltered, and Molly looked at me with a surprised expression. She said, “I’m so sorry, Ben. Are you all right?”
“I’d be lying if I said it didn’t sting a little, but I’ll be fine,” I said.
Jeff’s strut was gone as he said, “You could still go out with us. We don’t mind.”
The last thing I wanted to do was tag along with my little brother while he dated my ex-girlfriend, but I was saved from answering by Bob. “Sorry, but I need his help here. Why don’t you two run along?”
They both nodded, and as they left, I saw Molly turn back and look at me a second before leaving.
I picked up a wrench and slammed it on the worktable after they were gone. “Can you believe that? What is he thinking?”
Bob picked the wrench up and moved it out of my reach. “Ben, you were dating Kelly, and you know how long he’s had a crush on Molly. It’s got nothing to do with you.”
“So you knew about them?” I asked. “How long has this been going on behind my back?”
Bob shook his head. “Let me get this straight. You started going out with somebody else, but you didn’t want Molly to date anyone, is that about right?”
It sounded pretty petulant when he said it, but I wasn’t going to just roll over and accept it. Then I realized how childish I was being. Bob was right. I’d made it clear to Molly that I was pursuing a relationship with Kelly, so why shouldn’t she date my brother?
“Maybe I’m being a bit unreasonable,” I admitted.
Bob laughed. “You think?”
“It’s just going to take me some time to wrap my mind around this,” I admitted. “Now how can I help you?”
“You’re kidding, right? No offense, Ben, but this is pretty delicate work. I need to do this by myself, okay?”
“I understand,” I said. “Thanks for bailing me out.”
He grinned. “That’s what family is for.”
I nodded, and as I walked upstairs to my office, I said, “And congratulations again.”
“Thanks,” he said, adding the biggest smile I’d ever seen on his face in my life.
I walked upstairs to my office and shuffled papers around on my desktop, not really accomplishing anything at all. I knew I should be focused on Earnest Joy’s murder, but I couldn’t keep from thinking about my little brother dating Molly. I knew he’d had a crush on her for years, but I couldn’t believe she’d actually start going out with him. Then again, why not? Bob was right. I had made my feelings clear enough. But while Moll
y and I had enjoyed dating, it had evolved more into friendship as the spark died to an ember’s glow. She’d had a tough time when I’d started dating Kelly, but she’d accepted it. Now I was going to have to do the same thing. I looked down into the store and saw an older man and woman shopping together. They were laughing and holding hands like a couple of kids. I’d been searching my entire life for what they’d apparently found. I even thought I’d discovered it a time or two, but it never seemed to work out for me.
“Enough, Benjamin,” I said aloud. “No more moping about, no more pity party. You’re a grown man, or at least you pretend to be. Get on with your life.”
My pep talk was interrupted at the end by the intercom. It was a hands-free system that allowed us to communicate throughout the shop without bothering with the telephone receiver.
Cindy said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know anybody was there with you.”
“I’m all by myself,” I admitted.
“But I thought I just heard you talking to someone.”
I laughed. “I was trying to cheer myself up,” I admitted.
“You’re so weird,” Cindy said with real affection in her voice.
“Did you want to call me about that, or did you need something else, littlest sister?”
“You’ve got a phone call,” she said.
“Who is it?” I asked as I reached for the receiver.
“It’s Kelly,” she said after a moment’s hesitation.
I pulled my hand back. “Tell her I’m not here,” I said. The last thing in the world I wanted was to talk to her.
“Sorry, I can’t do that. I already admitted it. You might as well take it, Ben. It’s not going to get any easier.”
Blast it all, she was probably right. “Okay. Thanks.”
“I’m here for you, Ben. We all are.”
As the intercom cut off, I reached for the telephone. “Hello?”
“Ben, this is Kelly. We need to talk.”
I tried to keep my voice level. “I thought we just did.
From the way we left things, it didn’t feel like there was much left to discuss.”
“It’s about the message you left on my machine about you being a suspect in Earnest Joy’s murder. Maybe it would be better if you found another attorney to help you out on this.”
