by Riley Adams
“Sounds good. Feel free to drop by the house—unless you’re worried about catching our law-breaking affliction over here. I’m thinking it might be an epidemic.”
Lulu was in the produce section, surreptitiously pulling off some grapes from a bunch that was way too big for one old lady, when she saw a very tall woman wearing espadrilles and looking through the Vidalia onions. She wore a huge hat and sunglasses on top of what appeared to be a black wig. Lulu didn’t know why, but she had a sneaking suspicion that this odd-looking creature was Flo.
Lulu pushed her cart a little closer and peered at the woman. She seemed completely absorbed in choosing the onions, which Lulu attributed to the dark sunglasses she wore and the difficulty inherent in seeing anything while wearing them. “Flo?” Lulu asked.
The woman shrieked and threw the onion down like it’d bitten her. Lulu shrieked, too, it startled her so badly.
The sunglasses slipped down a little on the woman’s nose, and Lulu saw Flo’s eyes looking at her in a panic before pushing her sunglasses up again. “How did you know it was me?” she hissed. “I’m in disguise.”
“I’ve no idea,” said Lulu, bewildered. “I guess I’ve known you for so long that there was something about the way you were standing there that seemed really Flo-like. Plus, you love espadrilles. And Vidalia onions.”
Flo swung her head from side to side, looking all around her. “Lulu, I don’t mean to hurt your feelings, but I can’t be seen talking to you,” whispered Flo hoarsely. “I’ll meet you later . . . at your house. Ten o’clock tonight.” Then, like an international spy (who was trying way too hard), she was gone.
Lulu hoped her visit with Derrick would be less lively than her brief conversation with Flo, which she was still trying to recover from.
She was relieved to see that Derrick actually looked pretty good, except for the tired circles under his eyes. Lulu gave him a hug tight enough to make him gasp. Everything in Ben and Sara’s house seemed very orderly. Except, of course, for Babette, who snarled and yipped angrily at Lulu’s heels as she followed Derrick into the house. Lulu rolled her eyes. Too bad Elvis and B.B. were at the restaurant with Ben. Those were the only Taylor pets that Lulu found it possible to warm up to.
Derrick explained that Sara had gone out to run a few errands. This suited Lulu pretty well, since she hoped to get a little information out of him and she had a feeling that Sara might jump in and change the subject. But Derrick, unused to hosting, was beginning to look uncomfortable. “You know what would really hit the spot right now, Derrick? A glass of iced tea. Your aunt Sara makes some wickedly good iced tea.”
Derrick relaxed and gave a relieved smile. “Sure. Should we go into the kitchen?”
Apparently Sara’s recent mindset had not been conducive to iced tea making. Derrick rummaged for a minute in the refrigerator and came out with a pitcher that had only a few drops in it. “Is this okay?” he asked doubtfully.
No, Lulu didn’t think it probably was okay. Who knew how long that stuff had been sitting in Sara’s fridge? It had an oily appearance, like nothing that Lulu had ever seen before.
“Or maybe,” said Derrick still digging down deep, “some orange juice?”
The orange juice looked like it was well on its way to meeting the same fate as the java-esque iced tea.
“Water,” said Lulu. “Water would be perfect.”
As Derrick got out the glasses, Lulu took a seat at the kitchen table. “Honey, I am so glad to see your handsome face. I was worried to death about you.”
Derrick brought over the waters. “Me, too,” he said in a voice so quiet that Lulu had to strain her old ears to hear it.
This kid wasn’t used to opening up to anybody. That was only normal, considering he was usually trying to cover up some misdemeanor. And considering the adults around him hadn’t exactly inspired confidence, either.
Lulu suddenly made a big show of looking all around her suspiciously and checking under the kitchen table. She even peered suspiciously into the fake flower arrangement (that needed dusting) in the middle of the table.
Derrick narrowed his eyes as if he were concerned that Lulu had picked this moment to finally crack up.
Lulu finally sat back as if satisfied. “We’re safe, Derrick. There are no signs of Ella Beth anywhere. And I don’t even think the place is bugged.”
Derrick broke up in laughter while Lulu beamed. She was so glad to see this boy relax.
“Did you hear,” he said, “that Ella Beth caught me going in to get a tattoo? I can’t even wipe my nose now without Ella Beth watching me and taking notes.”
“Honey, you couldn’t even have gotten a tattoo. You have to be eighteen.”
“They wouldn’t have cared,” insisted Derrick.
“I know she’s driving you nuts. She’s all set now to be a detective. But I’m glad you didn’t get a tattoo. It might look cool at your age, but it sure doesn’t by the time you get to be mine.”
Impulsively, she reached out a hand and squeezed his arm. “I’ve gotten so fond of you these last couple of weeks. I would hate for anything to happen to you. And I’m so afraid that something might.”
Derrick hunched down in his chair, and Lulu hoped that all his old defenses weren’t about to go flying up. “Why don’t you just tell me what you know? It might not even be anything that’s all that important? You’ll feel so much better not having to carry the weight of those secrets around.”
He shook his head. “The only things I know don’t make any sense. They don’t have anything to do with anything. There were some things that seemed weird to me.”
“Like?”
“Well, you know I was real upset that night before Rebecca was killed. The next day I felt a little better because I’d decided to get her back. It’s hard to explain . . .” Derrick hesitated. “It’s like, when you finally decide to do something and it’s really destructive, it makes you feel alive.” He flushed as he looked shyly at Lulu.
“There’s part of me that can understand that, Derrick. It’s like when I get really angry at somebody and I go out in the backyard with my hoe and start whacking weeds.”
He nodded. “Exactly like that. Except what I was doing wasn’t right.”
Lulu didn’t want to sound like the sanctimonious adult, so she treaded carefully. “I was hoping that when you were in your aunt Sara’s studio that the art was making you feel alive,” she said slowly.
“It does, sure. Especially the pottery. Pounding the clay is awesome. And—it’s weird, but I feel that way when I’m doing all that boring accounting work in the office.” He seemed really surprised by that realization.
“Anyway,” he hurried on, not wanting to do too much self-examination. “I’d skipped school, like you know. And I ended up at the Peabody parking deck, ready to do a number on that Cooking Channel van.”
He rubbed his eyes for a minute, tiredly. “It was different this time. Usually it’s night, and I’m sneaking around in the dark when no one is out. This time, it was the middle of the afternoon. Slashing tires only takes a minute, so it wasn’t like I was really worried about getting caught. But then it seemed like everybody I knew was at the Peabody.”
Lulu leaned closer.
“For one thing, I heard this motorcycle drive up, and it was Cherry. Anybody who saw me would have known I wasn’t supposed to be there—it was a school day and school would still have been in session. So I kind of crouched down. And she was only in there for a few minutes, then she came back out again and left on her bike.”
Lulu said, “Sweetie, I had a long conversation with Cherry. She was at the Peabody to see if Tony was there. She just wanted to spend some time with him.”
“Okay,” said Derrick, but he didn’t look convinced.
“So then I hear somebody talking on a phone, and I know it’s Seb. I crouch down really low again and wonder what the hell is going on. Seb is saying, ‘I’m not going in. I don’t care about being blackmailed. It doesn’t ma
tter.’ I’m listening real close now to hear what else is going on. Then he sounds like he’s angry about something. He says, ‘Okay, never mind. Fine. Have it your way.’ Then he just sat in his car, smoking.”
Lulu said, “Well, that actually sounds really good, Derrick. I know that Miss Adrian was trying to blackmail Seb.” Derrick raised his eyebrows and Lulu explained, “She’d known him in New York. Apparently, Seb ran into some trouble with the law up there that Miss Adrian thought he might not want us all to know about. But Seb told the police that he didn’t care if we found out about his jail time in New York or not. So what you’re saying seems like it matches what he was saying. And—if he was talking to her and then stuck around in his car, it sounds like he didn’t go in the hotel to kill Rebecca.”
Derrick shrugged, and Lulu could tell he wasn’t totally convinced. “I’ve seen enough players to know one when I see one,” he said. “No offense,” he added hastily.
“Then what happened?” asked Lulu. “Was this when Sara came to check and see what was going on?”
“Yes. She’d found out that I wasn’t at school that day. The school sends out an automated phone call when a kid isn’t there. So she called my cell phone, and I told her what was going on. By that point, I was just done with it. Aunt Sara zooms up in the car and is really mad about the van tires. I was thinking, ‘Great. Aunt Sara’s going to call Rebecca and tell her, or maybe even call the cops.’ But I’m covered with grease and dirt from the van. I had to dodge behind and under it so many times that it got all over me.
“She didn’t want dirt all over the car seat in my car . . . which, of course, is really her and Uncle Ben’s car. She sent me into the Peabody to get cleaned up. She followed me into the hotel. I guess she wasn’t really sure what kind of stuff I might do. Maybe she thinks I might start tearing up the Peabody lobby. We walk into the hotel and see Rebecca there in the lobby, having a cocktail or something. She’s talking on her phone, and she sees me and Aunt Sara. I guess she’s thinking we’re going to have some kind of a big scene, so she rolls her eyes at us and walks off a little ways, standing there with her back to us and talking on her phone.
Probably when Evelyn overheard Rebecca telling the loan creditor to stop harassing her, thought Lulu.
“I go into the restroom and clean up a little bit and get a bunch of paper towels to kind of spread over the car seat to keep dirt and grease off. But, when I come out of the restroom, I see Aunt Sara shaking something into Rebecca’s drink while her back was turned.” Derrick looked more than tired . . . now he looked exhausted. “I don’t know what it was. And she never saw me, because I ducked into the restroom for a minute, then came back out like it was the first time.”
“But at that point, you didn’t know that anything was really wrong. Rebecca was still alive and well.”
“Sure. And talking on her cell phone. So I thought Aunt Sara had probably done something like put salt in her drink. But then Rebecca ends up dead a couple of hours later.” He blew his breath out in a puffy sigh. “The whole day was insane. So . . . we’re leaving. Aunt Sara has pulled out of the parking lot and is heading back to the restaurant. I’m leaving, too, and see Mildred Cameron going into the Peabody. And then I see Flo’s car pulling in, but she’s got her eyes on Mildred, who is going into the lobby. By this time I’m wondering if there was some kind of Aunt Pat’s party that was going on at the hotel that I didn’t know about.”
Lulu was now feeling like she wanted to wrap up this conversation before she discovered that Ella Beth and Coco had been at the Peabody, too. And the news that Sara had actually gone into the Peabody, when she’d said she’d stayed outside gave her a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. “Well, I’m sorry to hear about all this, Derrick, but I think everything can be really easily explained. Seb obviously was talking to Rebecca on the phone, and then decided he wasn’t going to be blackmailed and left. Cherry was trying to make moves on that cameraman, Tony. Aunt Sara might have just emptied the salt shaker into Miss Adrian’s drink, like you said. She was plenty mad at her. Mildred was on her way in to deliver the comeback she’d been thinking about. Flo . . . well, I’m not so sure exactly why she was there, but I think I have a pretty good idea. So don’t worry your head anymore, Derrick. Consider it all taken off your shoulders.”
She got up from the table to give Derrick a hug. Babette growled ominously at her. Lulu glowered but stopped when Derrick started laughing again. She fussed, “I don’t know why that animal despises me so much. I’ve given it treats, cooed at it. What more does it want?”
Derrick shrugged, still chuckling over it, and Lulu smiled back. “I guess if she’s trying to protect you from my hugs then the creature can’t be all bad. Anyway, honey, you take care. I love you and don’t want to see anything happen to you. Thanks for telling me what happened that day. I promise it’s going to work out just fine.”
“Thanks, Lulu. It’s kind of a relief to talk about it. Don’t worry; my tire-slashing days are over.”
“Well, thank the Lord for that. I couldn’t stand to have any more troubles with you, Derrick. My poor heart couldn’t take it.”
Chapter 16
“So,” said Lulu with lifted eyebrows, “your invitation to Ms. Swinger went well last night?”
Buddy had come into the restaurant with a spring in his step and now was puffed up like an elderly peacock. “She said she’d love to come over to dinner with me. And she thinks it’s the sweetest thing that I’m going to cook my special dinner of Cornish game hens. It’s regionally famous, you know.”
“And,” said Lulu, “I found out from Leticia that alcohol is not a problem for her. We were all just making assumptions about her because she was a choir member. She likes her wine just fine.”
Buddy looked vastly relieved.
But Big Ben looked morose. He apparently had his ears turned on since he spoke in a normal volume. “I guess this means you’ll be opening the Domaine Vincent Dauvissat Chablis Les Preuses? If a first date isn’t a special occasion, I don’t know what is.”
“Well, now, I’m thinking that this isn’t really the best time to uncork that particular bottle. Opening a bottle with that degree of magnificence might give a lady the wrong idea. She might worry that I’m hurrying into a significant relationship too fast. It might make her want to put on the brakes.”
Big Ben brightened. “That’s true. I think it would be much better for those of us at this table to share the bottle. We could celebrate your good fortune in having such a wonderful dinner partner tomorrow night.”
Buddy frowned. “A first date isn’t a reason for celebration. Putting too much stock in something that could so easily go haywire could set me up for some bad karma. I’ll tap into the bottle another time.”
“Hope I’m not dead by then,” muttered Big Ben. He thought for a minute. “Don’t you think serving Cornish game hens might give her the wrong idea, too? That’s pretty fancy stuff.”
Buddy looked startled. “You know, I didn’t think of that. Maybe I should stick with my special meatloaf. I think it’ll fit the bill just fine.”
Lulu said, “Mmm! That sounds absolutely delicious, Buddy.”
“But what,” said Buddy thoughtfully, “if the lady doesn’t like meatloaf?” They all groaned. “I’m just saying! Sometimes people are funny about meatloaf. It’s a different consistency. So I’ll ask our resident food guru. Lulu, what do you think might make a special, but not too special, meal for my date?”
This was one of Lulu’s favorite kinds of questions. Just the process of mulling over menus was fun—there were so many flavor combinations to go with. “We know she likes pork,” said Lulu. “After all, she eats it every time she comes into the restaurant.”
“That’s a fact. But maybe that means she’d like something a little different on her special evening out.”
Morty groaned. “I think you’re overthinking this, man! I remember my days of wine and roses. All I needed for my dates with the pretty la
dies was a great bottle of wine, some flowers for the table, and a serenade I’d provide my own self. Who even cared what we were eating? It was all about the love.”
Buddy carefully ignored him. “I do have some black-eyed peas I picked up from the farmers’ market yesterday. They’d make a good side.”
Lulu nodded. “Mmmhmm. Makes me hungry just thinking about it. Put them in a bowl full of water tonight; refrigerate them overnight so they’ll be in good shape tomorrow.”
Buddy nodded. “And cook them with? Lots of bacon?”
“Oh, honey, yes! Bacon makes everything better. Buy that yummy smoked bacon. Bacon and red onions and garlic.”
Big Ben said, “Don’t forget a little hot sauce. I do love hot sauce in my black-eyed peas.”
“So that’s the perfect side. We’re all in agreement?” Buddy asked.
They all nodded.
“But then what to go with it?” Buddy had an edge of exasperation to his voice. Lulu figured he must really like that lady.
“Buddy, we’ve talked about food before! Didn’t you tell me you had a great recipe for country fried steak?”
Buddy considered this. “It’s absolutely delicious. I make it with a nice gravy and mashed potatoes. And the black-eyed peas on the side.” He hesitated. “Will it be too messy, though?”
“I think Leticia will love it. If she doesn’t mind the mess of barbeque, I don’t think some meat and gravy is going to bother her much,” said Lulu. “It sounds like a down-home, tasty meal for someone who isn’t trying to show off too much but wants to make something memorable.”
After a while, being at Aunt Pat’s ended up being more of a strain. Lulu usually loved cracking jokes with her customers. And she was a whiz at remembering orders and getting the orders to the right tables. Today, though, she couldn’t seem to focus. When one of the tables asked about the coleslaw they didn’t get, Lulu realized that her mind wasn’t at Aunt Pat’s at all. It must be somewhere at the Peabody. She walked back to the kitchen, looking for the missing coleslaw.
