by Riley Adams
Lulu nodded. “I simply can’t think what Mildred would have known to get herself killed. I mean, you knew Mildred, Pink. She was just this little mousy thing.”
Pink said, “She certainly was that, but then she got interested in stuff she shouldn’t have stuck her nose into. As far as we could tell, she was researching a new book. That was a surprise to me since I didn’t know they had murders in romance novels. I mean, I’ve seen her working on that same book since I was a young man, and I never knew her to be interested in murder before.”
“This was a new book, Pink. She was done with her romance novel. Rebecca Adrian had made fun of it, you know, and I think it put a bad taste in Mildred’s mouth. How did you know she was doing research? Were there notes?” asked Lulu.
“There were notebooks full of different notes,” said Pink. “Some of them were a lot more helpful than others. As far as I could tell, she took notes on almost everything . . . weather, people who were nice, interesting names. But it only got helpful for us when we read all her thoughts about Rebecca Adrian’s murder. She made notes of who she thought might be involved and why. And, of course, you know she was interviewing people and trying to find out more information that way.”
Lulu nodded. “But—there wasn’t any information on the killer?”
Pink looked around and said in a low voice, “I think there might have been. I’m pretty sure there was something in that notebook that her killer didn’t want anyone else to find out about. Because those pages were ripped right out.”
Chapter 18
The more Lulu mulled it over, the more she became convinced that Lurleen was up to her neck in this murder. And since Seb was apparently Lurleen’s love slave, she was willing to bet that he was somehow involved in the mess.
If Lurleen had assigned Seb the task of hiding evidence, that meant that Lulu should go straight over to W.C. Handy Park right down the street on Beale. If Seb, God forbid, were in charge of concealing evidence, he would most likely revert to his childhood hiding place. Ben and Seb had spent so many summer days playing “buried treasure” there while blues bands played in the background . . . and Lulu didn’t think Seb was creative enough to think of something different.
She stuck her head in the kitchen and told Ben she was going for a walk. Then she headed out the door to the park.
The more Big Ben mulled it over, the more he became convinced. He should buy his own damned bottle of wine. He and Buddy clearly ascribed to different wine-drinking philosophies: to Big Ben, every day was a cause of celebration. He was eighty-six, after all.
He called the wine shop right off Beale to see if they had a bottle in stock.
Lulu parked the car and scanned the park. It had changed a lot in the years since Seb had been little, of course. Now the park had a stage for music venues, a concession stand to the side, and folks sitting on benches while kids ran up to the stage.
Was the tree still there even? There weren’t so many trees in W.C. Handy Park, anyway. At first, Lulu wasn’t sure she could remember where it was. She walked into the park a little ways, looking around her. More people were filing into the park around her, drawn by the crooning blues musician on the stage.
And then she saw it—just as gnarled as it ever had been, but still alive and thriving. Sure enough, there was the hollowed-out spot. Ben and Seb had had to climb up the tree to put things in it when they were kids, but Lulu was able to stand up on her toes and reach high over her head to feel inside it.
Lulu’s fingers brushed against paper, and her heart sank. She carefully lifted out the papers and leaned against the tree for support. She saw the bench nearby was empty and quickly sat down so she could read.
Lulu recognized Mildred’s prim handwriting and girlish, giggly schoolgirl observations, sprinkled with a liberal number of exclamation points. Her words were damning:
Today I really know for sure who killed Rebecca Adrian! This tells me that my instincts were right— I’m going to make a wonderful mystery writer! If I can solve crimes for real, it will be even easier to solve them on paper.
It’s clear to me now that Seb and Lurleen have set their caps for each other! Really, they must be in love. He looks at her so tenderly that it sets my heart to beating! It’s too bad, though—since he’s mixed up in murder.
How did I figure this all out? It was easy! I heard Rebecca’s cell phone ring, and then she got up from her table. She walked really, really close to where I was standing in the Peabody—but I wasn’t ready for her to see me! I still wanted to give her my comeback but not with anybody else around—I’d had enough of big scenes in front of a crowd of people. Rebecca mentioned Seb’s name when she was talking, so I knew she was talking to him.
I was still waiting for her to get off the phone, and I saw Lurleen Ashton come in. I thought that was really weird! Why would Lurleen be at the Peabody? But then I noticed her looking over to where Rebecca was and then hurrying in front of her table. Her back was facing me, but now I know she was shaking something into her drink! Of course, I didn’t understand this at the time, but soon this would all be clear to me.
Rebecca finished her phone call and sat back at her table. She took a big gulp of her cocktail, then she made a face and stopped drinking it. Lurleen had gone off a ways and was sitting down, kind of watching from a distance. She wasn’t close enough to hear, though. I went right up to Rebecca’s table and gave my comeback—and didn’t her face turn red! I was giddy, I was so happy.
So then I turned to walk out the door with my head held high. I saw Lurleen at the front desk, which I thought was weird. And then, when I left, I saw Flo’s car there. Then I saw Seb’s car. Why was everybody there? When I got in my car, I saw Lurleen hurry out and get in Seb’s car. Ahhhhh, I thought! He looked at her so lovingly but she scarcely even looked at him—just seemed like she was fussing at him as he started up the car and left.
When I found out later that Rebecca was murdered, I wasn’t too sorry. After all, she’d been a mean, hateful thing. But I was worried at first. Really worried. What if the police thought that I had done it? I didn’t need to go to jail. It was too bad there had been that awful scene at Aunt Pat’s. And what if someone had seen me at the Peabody? After a while, though, I decided the police really weren’t going to arrest me. And I got a great idea—start writing mysteries. I was so excited to be a detective and solve my first case! And I knew who the suspects were, of course.
Lulu had tried to make me feel better by telling me that Rebecca Adrian was rude to everybody. That Tony was telling the Graces and Seb that you could be having a conversation with her and she’d spin around and walk off to take a phone call.
So Seb knew that. And I think he called Rebecca so that Lurleen could have a chance to poison her drink. Wait until I tell Detective Bryce! This will be great publicity for my book.
An icy voice from behind her said, “Seb, you fool. When I told you to destroy the journal, I meant for you to burn it or flush it or put it in the river. What the hell were you thinking to hide it at a public park?”
Lulu froze. Lurleen Ashton had a cold blankness in her eyes as she sat down next to her on the bench. The gun she poked into Lulu’s leg was very, very real.
Seb quickly sat next to Lurleen on the bench. “Lurleen, what the hell? This is my mother.”
“I know who she is,” snapped Lurleen. “And don’t play innocent with me. You don’t want to be caught, either. Did you enjoy your time in jail? No? Then shut up while I figure out what I need to do.”
Lulu cleared her throat to speak, since Seb didn’t seem inclined to. “This was all a mistake wasn’t it, Lurleen? I’m sure your mama didn’t raise a killer. But you’ve always wanted to win, haven’t you? I remembered the other day how you’d had a private coach so you could make the varsity squad. You just meant for Rebecca Adrian to get a little sick, right? Then she’d make a derogatory report on our restaurant and be a lot more receptive to the barbeque at Hog Heaven.”
“Sur
e. We could use more business. Our barbeque is a ton better than Aunt Pat’s, but you’ve been around for so long that nobody even thinks about the quality of the food anymore. All they’re thinking is, ‘Oh, we’re hungry for barbeque. What’s that place we always go to? Aunt Pat’s.’ But if there was some kind of food scare, like salmonella or something, then maybe they’d start looking for someplace else to go. And Hog Heaven is right there waiting for them to wake up.”
“But something happened, didn’t it? A kink in your plan.”
“What happened is that I had no idea the woman had some kind of underlying health issue. I mean, God, look at her—she was in her twenties and looked strong as a horse.” The thought that Rebecca had a weak immune system seemed to irritate Lurleen even more—like Rebecca was guilty of false advertising.
“And your darling Seb was going to be the one to go through with it. We had a plan for him to slip the poison into the food at Aunt Pat’s. But for whatever reason, he chickened out at the last moment. Apparently, he’s more into drugs and fraud than inflicting bodily harm.”
Lurleen curled her lip at Seb’s criminal shortcomings.
“So then you were forced to take matters into your own hands, right? Over at the Peabody.”
“She’d left, but I figured there was still plenty of time to slip her something. After all, I didn’t want her to die. The police were never supposed to be involved in this. She was only going to get really sick and think: ‘Oh. Aunt Pat’s barbeque must have done it.’ Then we’d be in business.”
“But nothing really went according to plan, did it?” asked Lulu. “You went in there and were able to mess with Rebecca’s drink pretty easily. But then you saw Mildred there.”
“No, I never did notice her. She saw me there, though.”
“She made some kind of a comment to Cherry about pigs visiting pigs. I wondered if she’d meant the fuchsia pig you used for drawing customers over to Hog Heaven. I guess she wasn’t a fan of yours. I know what she thought of Rebecca,” said Lulu.
Lurleen made a face. “I didn’t even know the woman. But I guess she was part of that rabid pack of Aunt Pat’s fans who believe I commune with the devil under every full moon or something.”
“And you also saw Flo there, right? At the front desk.”
“Yes, she was there, planning to see Rebecca Adrian. I’d already slipped Rebecca the poison in her cocktail. She took a big chug of it before she could taste how bad it was. She looked like she had an upset stomach right away, so she headed right off to the elevator as soon as Mildred finished talking to her. I was getting out of there when I saw Flo coming in, and I had to make an excuse fast as to why I was there. So I acted like I was checking at the front desk to see if my sister was there. Then I left with Seb.”
Seb looked surprised, then frowned. “Oh, I see. So that’s why you were suddenly so interested in Pickle, Mother. You were trying to catch Lurleen out in a lie.”
“Great. Just great. So you fouled that up, too,” said Lurleen. “No wonder your mother figured out I was involved.”
Lurleen was getting more agitated, so Lulu cut into the conversation. “What happened with Mildred exactly?”
“Well,” drawled Lurleen. “She was murdered.”
Lulu tried hard not to let Lurleen’s shocking lack of feeling rile her up. “Yes, but how did it come about? She set up one of her meetings with you, right?”
“She did. I guess she was trying to play detective, so she was ready to ask all kinds of questions about what I’d been doing at the Peabody. Apparently, she’d seen me leaning over Rebecca’s drink, although my back was facing her, so she wasn’t positive I’d put something in there or not. But no one else knew I was on the scene except for Flo, and she didn’t even think twice about the explanation I’d given her.”
“So you strangled Mildred,” said Lulu with a shiver.
“I didn’t want to,” said Lurleen, rolling her eyes. “For heaven’s sake, you’d think I was some sort of crazy killer. The whole Rebecca thing was an accident—basically a prank gone wrong. I didn’t deserve to go to jail for something like that. But Mildred was one of those snoops who was determined to make trouble. She was acting like she was a detective, trying to solve the case. Nosy. I tried just to warn her off. I sent her that letter. But she was still interviewing suspects at her bookstore. Then she seemed convinced it was me. She was going to expose me, and I was going to end up in jail. I had to stop her. Just like I have to stop you,” said Lurleen calmly.
Seb gave Lurleen a stony stare. Lulu was most disturbed by the way her son seemed to have already accepted that Lurleen was going to shoot and kill his mother and then dump her body somewhere. He was going to be seriously piqued over it, but that was his only reaction. “What was Seb’s involvement in all this? How did it come about?”
Seb looked at his mother balefully. “Simple. I came back to Memphis, started dating Lurleen, and got mixed up in her crazy plan and cover up.”
“Not that simple, Seb. Your drug addiction had a little something to do with it, too, you know. The fact that I have some connections that can keep you in your drug of choice for a while. Although I didn’t realize how weak you were. I thought you would actually be able to slip out of the office and put a little something in the woman’s food. After all, you wanted to get back at her for the blackmailing attempt just as much as I wanted to get her sick to get bad publicity for Aunt Pat’s.” Lurleen looked disgusted.
“It wasn’t that easy for me,” groaned Seb. “I told you that already. That’s why I decided not to go into work that day. I told you on the phone that morning that I didn’t want any part of it.”
“Well, because you knew about the plan and everything, you’re as guilty as I am, Seb. I hope you know that. You’re an accessory. And you’ll be named an accessory in the bookstore woman’s death, too. You knew what the plan was ahead of time. You even took the kid’s jacket so we could plant some evidence against him.”
Lulu’s heart skipped a beat. She had not wanted to believe that Seb would have anything to do with poor Mildred’s death. “Tell me you didn’t have anything to do with that.”
Seb didn’t say anything.
Lurleen said, “Your baby boy had plenty to do with it, and don’t let him tell you otherwise. He knew that Mildred had seen not only me at the Peabody, but Seb in the parking lot. You see, after I found out that Seb had chickened out at the restaurant, I asked him to go ahead and try again at the Peabody. I figured it would be much easier for him to make an excuse to see Rebecca. After all, they’d dated each other. Or Seb could say something to her about the blackmailing again. But he chickened out of that, too.”
Lulu said, “So when Derrick heard you talking on the phone in the parking lot, you were actually talking to Lurleen; telling her that you weren’t going to go in. That you didn’t care about the blackmailing.”
“Which meant that I had to come over to the Peabody on some trumped up reason. Rebecca looked like she was in such a black mood that I don’t think she ever even noticed that I was there. But I saw Flo there and had to give her an excuse, so it was just as well that I’d come prepared with a story. When I told Seb that I was going to try to sneak something into her drink, he said the cameraman had mentioned that she always wandered away to take her cell phone calls. Finally I got him to help me out. He called Rebecca from the parking lot so she’d leave the table for a minute.”
“And Mildred saw both of you at the Peabody. Which wouldn’t have been significant at all, except for the fact that Rebecca was murdered. So she wanted to talk to both of you.”
“She wanted to talk to both of us. First Seb went, the day before Mildred died. He was trying to figure out what exactly she knew. That way, if it really wasn’t anything important, we could let it slide. But he found out, by chatting the crazy thing up a little bit, that she knew about me being there. And she knew that I had been leaning over Rebecca’s drink. So it was clear that we were going to have to take car
e of that. I didn’t even know she was at the Peabody when I was there. Seb knew the plan, but he had the stupidity to go drink and drive right before we were going to go through with it. But he’d have been right there on the scene if he hadn’t been at 201 Poplar.”
Now Seb could no longer meet his mother’s eyes.
“So I had to do the job myself. And then you came in, Lulu. You just couldn’t stop nosing around, could you? I had to clock you. I looked around real quick to make sure I’d planted Derrick’s jacket that Seb had gotten for me and that I hadn’t left anything else behind. Then I got the hell out of there.
“And now,” said Lurleen, “we’ve got you on our hands again. I’ve stopped believing that Seb can be any help at all to me. Obviously I’m going to have to take care of this myself.”
Seb said in a quiet voice, “Lurleen, let Mother go. She’s not going to tell anybody about this. Are you, Mama?”
“I absolutely am,” said Lulu in a deadly serious voice. “As soon as I get away from you, I’m calling the police. I can’t believe the two of you and all the misery you’ve caused. It’s time for it to be over.”
“Yes. It’s time for it to be over—for you,” said Lurleen. She pressed the gun into Lulu’s leg. “Come on, let’s get out of here. And don’t make a sound or I’ll shoot you right here in the park.”
“You’re going to have to shoot me in the park, then, Lurleen. I’m not going off to some remote location with you,” said Lulu.
“Okay, have it your way. As long as nobody knows who I am, I can still get away with it. I’ll get ready to run.” Lurleen put on a huge pair of sunglasses as the sun shone down on her glossy black hair. Seb put his arm around Lurleen.
