While Stone and I discussed our plans for the day, we drank several cups of coffee and sifted through the paper looking for any news on the Steiner homicide case. At the bottom of page twelve, we found a short article about an investigation into the financial records at the Rockdale Baptist Church. The article was vague, and without much substance. It didn’t mention either Betty Largo or the pastor by name. It didn’t say anything about the pastor’s gambling debts, or, thankfully, how the financial indiscretions had come to be found out. Basically the article only indicated the church’s treasurer had been charged with embezzlement and fraud.
“We did good, didn’t we?” Stone asked. “Since the financial status of the church is involved, and we are members of the congregation, this investigation affects us, as well as all of the other churchgoers. As much as I hate to, I have to admit your prying and snooping paid off in this instance.”
“Yes, I agree.” I wasn’t sure I liked the way Stone referred to my efforts as “prying” and “snooping,” but I was pleased to hear him say that those efforts had been successful and beneficial to all the members of the church. I did hate, though, that my discovery implicated the pastor we had held in such high regard. Apparently, not all of our admiration for Thurman Steiner had been totally justified. But, like it or not, those implications were well founded, and we’d have to put the good of the church before all else.
“The Davidsons are due here in a few hours,” Stone said. “I don’t know whether to use the next few hours weed-eating, and sprucing up the grounds, or resting up on the hammock.”
“You just got out of bed, dear. Why would you need to take a nap this early in the morning?”
“Well, I know how exhausting it can be just trying to keep a handle on you when there’s a murder investigation going on. I can only imagine the chore it will be when you have your sidekick here to encourage and spur you on. I wonder if Randy knows what he’s getting in to. More importantly, I wonder if I do.”
* * *
“Lexie has been impulsive and unpredictable for as long as I’ve known her,” Randy told Wyatt, as the four of us sat around the kitchen table, visiting and drinking coffee laced with Kahlua. “Sheila isn’t much better, particularly when she’s in Lexie’s company.”
“I figured as much,” Stone replied. “Lexie has a knack for dragging unsuspecting individuals into her strategic plots and schemes.”
Randy gave me an apologetic look as he continued. “Yeah, I know. And I don’t mean to say there’s anything wrong with having traits like impulsiveness and unpredictable behavior, but it can, and has, led to some sticky situations.”
Wyatt nodded, with a wry grin on his face. “So I’ve noticed.”
“Hey—” I interjected, but was quickly cut off by Randy.
“Stone, as much as I’d like to tell you these impulses will fade away with time, I’m afraid I can’t. Where Sheila and Lexie are concerned, they never have and undoubtfully never will. But, don’t worry. You’ll soon get use to having to bail Lexie out of… unfortunate mishaps, I’ll call them, but you will never rest easy again, for as long as you both shall live. God knows I haven’t!”
Randy was being dramatic and chuckled at his reference to our upcoming wedding. He had a tendency to exaggerate when he was on a roll, but he soon had us all laughing as he related some of the stories he’d heard involving Sheila’s and my past shenanigans. Even I had to laugh at most of them, like the time we got booted out of Girl Scouts for starting a food fight at camp, or the incident where I fell through the ice while we were skating on a small farm pond. Sheila had gingerly walked over and helped me get out of the icy cold water. Then when she asked me what had happened, I showed her how I had stomped my foot down to check the depth of the ice, and this demonstration caused me to fall through the thin layer again. This time I was on my own, for Sheila was laughing too hard to even help me out.
Sheila went on to tell Stone about the time we’d moved her trampoline to her front yard so we could see how high we could bounce by jumping down on it off the roof of her house. Naturally, I was the guinea pig who got to attempt it first. The trajectory of my jump sent me flying through the upper limbs of a tree, crashing down in the middle of the street that ran in front of her childhood home.
“Do you remember what you said to me after ensuring I was okay?” I asked my friend.
“No,” she said between giggles. “What did I say?”
“You said, ‘This time when you jump off the roof try to come down straight on the trampoline instead of at an angle so you’ll bounce up and not out.’”
“Oh yeah, now I remember,” Sheila said. “I was very interested in seeing how successful the stunt would be, but there was no way I was going to try such an idiotic trick after seeing what happened to you.”
“I realize that now,” I said. “And do you know what, guys? I really was stupid enough to do it again! Obviously, I was a very slow learner, and Sheila was very persuasive. I won’t go into details, but suffice it to say, the second jump involved one of my many trips to the emergency room.”
“And I got grounded for a week,” Sheila lamented.
“And with good reason. See this scar?” I asked, as I pulled up my right pant leg. “It has ‘Sheila’ written all over it!”
Stone nodded at Randy, and said, “Just since I’ve been with Lexie there have been numerous trips to the emergency room. Believe me, I know all about the E.R. and all the people who work there by name.”
After several cups of coffee, and a lot of shared laughter, Sheila helped me peel potatoes and carrots for supper to go with the seven-bone roast I had in the oven. The men retired to the den to watch a baseball game on television while I explained the current situation with the death of our pastor to my dearest friend. As expected, she agreed that carrying on my own low-key investigation into the murder was reasonable. “I can’t get off work again next week, and I can’t miss your wedding for anything in the world. I’ll help you do whatever is needed to solve this crime as soon as possible so the wedding can go on as planned, without causing you any feelings of guilt or discomfort.”
“Thanks pal, but we’ve only got a couple of days until Stone and I are scheduled to tie the knot.”
“Between us, we’ve accomplished more than that in less time. If we put our two heads together we can surely come up with a plan. A fresh set of eyes never hurts, you know,” Sheila said.
“No, I don’t know about that,” I said. “Remember when we climbed a ladder and fell off the roof trying to capture a June bug to win the 4-H scavenger hunt? Remember when the people who owned the house we fell off came outside to find us lying in a pool of blood in their driveway, and we had to explain what we were doing up on their roof? It’s no small wonder we didn’t both end up in a home for juvenile delinquents.”
“Yeah, it was hard to convince them it was a June bug we were after, wasn’t it? But we’re older now. What possible harm can we come to just doing a little investigating?”
Wasn’t that the same question I’d asked myself several times before? Hadn’t I nearly come to great harm on each of those other occasions? What were the chances this time would be any different—especially with Sheila as my accomplice?
“Exactly what I thought,” I agreed. “What harm could possibly come from the two of us working together to solve a crime?”
Sheila laughed, but I wondered if this might end up being fodder for another story of our disastrous impulsive decisions in the future. A decision we might both end up regretting.
* * *
“Randy and I are going to watch an old western on TV,” Stone said as Sheila and I cleared off the dinner table. The Davidsons were our only guests at the time, but more guests would be arriving the next morning, the Friday before our Saturday wedding.
After loading the dishwasher and retiring to the back porch with our ever-present cups of coffee, Sheila turned serious and she gently said to me, “Lexie, you do realize, I’m certain, that
it is really too late to call off the wedding, whether a murder suspect is apprehended or not?”
Sheila leaned over and patted the cast on my left wrist, and continued, “I know how much you hate to risk offending anyone at your church, or even in the town of Rockdale, but you can’t disappoint and inconvenience all the many people who would be affected by postponing your wedding at the last moment. I’m sure members of your congregation will understand this terrible tragedy occurred at too late a date for you to reschedule everything. And if some old biddy is upset with you, well, so be it. She’ll just have to get over it.”
I nodded and looked her squarely in the eyes, “I know you’re right, but I so hoped this could all be settled before we exchanged vows in front of a substitute pastor. I just don’t feel right brushing off Thurman’s murder as if it was inconsequential. But I also know there’s very little I can do about it.”
“That’s right, Lexie, if you could do something about it, you would, and you are trying to, but you also have to be reasonable when it comes to all the arrangements that have already been made by you and also by those guests planning to attend.”
“I know I do,” I agreed. “I don’t think I really seriously let myself consider postponing the wedding because I knew the ramifications of such a decision. I believe in the back of my mind, I always planned on going ahead with the wedding this Saturday, no matter what happened with the murder case. I tried to convince myself the wedding would have to be canceled if a suspect weren’t apprehended, even though I knew it wasn’t feasible. I just hoped and prayed the killer could be caught quickly and make it all a moot point.”
I’m not sure if I was admitting this to my friend or to myself, but I realized it was true. Stone had told me the decision of whether or not to cancel the wedding was up to me, and that he’d back me no matter what I decided. In the back of my mind I wouldn’t even let myself dwell on the idea of postponement from that moment on.
Our conversation was a reminder of how much joy Sheila had brought to my life. She always knew what to say to bring me out of a blue funk, and exactly when to say it. She stood by me no matter what happened in our lives, and we’d never had a cross word between us. I marveled now at how youthful she looked, as I did nearly every time I saw her after several months apart. Despite the fact she was the same age as me, she managed to keep her body lean and fit, and had the kind of face that never seemed to age.
Sheila, who was four or five inches taller than me, at about five-foot-seven, had dark brown hair that had been somewhat frizzy as a child, but now hung straight and silky to her shoulders. The only concession to her age was a small silver patch of hair, about a half-inch wide, running down the right-hand side of her head. I found it totally endearing and was glad she didn’t opt to keep it colored, as I might have done out of pure vanity.
“I guess it’s settled then?” Sheila asked, bringing me out of my reverie.
“I think it probably has been all along.”
“So, what’s on our agenda for tomorrow?”
“We’ll have a busy morning. We need to pick up the flowers at the florist’s shop in the afternoon. I’ve got to purchase all the miscellaneous groceries, as well, such as the ingredients for the punch, the nuts, butter mints, and other refreshments, and the paper products we’ll need. I should have had the grocery shopping already done, but I’ve been too preoccupied.”
“Are we spiking the punch?” Sheila asked with a sly grin.
“Is there any other way to serve punch? I think we might all need a healthy dose of rum by Saturday afternoon.”
“Amen to that! The wedding is scheduled for three o’clock. What all will we have left to do on Saturday morning?”
“Not too much,” I assured her. “We’ll just have to get the final details worked out and the gazebo and back patio all decorated and ready. The rental tables and folding chairs will be delivered around nine Saturday morning, and Stone and Randy can probably help out by getting them set up. Then there will be some minor details to take care of, but all in all, the day shouldn’t be too hectic or time-consuming. But this is your vacation, and I don’t expect you to work the entire time you’re here. You’ve been pitching in since you got here.”
“Well, we came a couple of days early so I could serve as your minion, as you have done for me on several occasions. I’m willing and able to do anything I can to help, so you can forget the vacation nonsense,” Sheila said as she stood up and motioned for my coffee cup. “Sit out here and relax, and rest your bruised and battered body while I go in and pour us a refill.”
“Thanks, pal! I’m so thankful you’re here!” I handed her my cup and settled back into the cushion on my outdoor lounge chair. I felt better knowing the wedding was going to take place as planned, with the blessings of my dearest friend. I was sore and exhausted, but having Sheila here helped give me the burst of energy I’d needed. With her assistance, getting everything ready would be a lot of fun, not a taxing chore like it would be under other circumstances.
When Sheila returned with fresh cups of coffee, we turned the conversation toward more light-hearted topics. She told me what her two sons were currently doing, and how her job as a financial consultant was going. I told her about Wendy’s job as the county coroner’s assistant, and about her budding romance with Stone’s nephew, Andy. Then we reminisced about our younger days and all the hair-raising experiences we’d shared, and some more of the predicaments we’d found ourselves in.
Finally, we got back to the subject of Pastor Steiner’s death. I related everything I could remember to her about the case that I hadn’t already told her, and all about my on-going amateurish involvement in the investigation. It was nice to have someone to talk to who wouldn’t chide me about the risks I took in order to obtain as much information as I could. Sheila had seen me take a lot of foolish risks before, and was not above doing the same. I knew no matter what situation might arise, I could trust her to go along with my hair-brained ideas and still have my back.
Chapter 13
“I have always maintained there is no such thing as a coincidence,” Sheila said as we sat on the back porch the next morning. “Even though you’ve decided definitively to go ahead with the nuptials, I still think we should look further into the murder investigation. Don’t you? If nothing else, I know having the killer arrested, or just a suspect in custody, would make you feel better about the whole situation.”
“You bet it would!” I answered enthusiastically. I couldn’t help but feel some excitement at Sheila’s comments. I was hoping she’d feel enthusiastic about my investigation because I’m not one to give up easily, and I still wanted nothing more than to see the killer brought to justice. Despite his shortcomings, I still considered Pastor Steiner a friend, and a fine gentleman, and I wanted justice served on his behalf.
Stone and Randy were establishing a fast friendship and shared an interest in fishing. Hoping for a mess of crappie, they’d gone to Smithville Lake with Detective Johnston, so Sheila and I would be left to our own devices for most of the morning. That was scary. The very thought sent a shiver up my spine, and I’m sure it gave Stone and Randy reason to pause, as well.
I set my cup down as I listened to Sheila thinking out loud. “I find it extremely odd that Steiner’s daughter, Paula, would take out a five-hundred-thousand dollar insurance policy on her father just weeks before his death. I also find it strange his son, Teddy, would need money so desperately right at the exact time of his father’s death. Don’t you?”
“Yes, the timing in both instances seems almost too coincidental.”
“Didn’t you tell me that Stone’s nephew is buying a mastiff puppy from Paula?”
“Yes. As I told you, Andy is purchasing a cattle ranch and inheriting a golden retriever named Sallie. He’s buying this pup from Paula to be a companion for Sallie on the ranch. Why do you ask?”
“Well, I was just thinking. Who’s to say I’m not in the market for a mastiff puppy myself?”
“You? You’ve got to be kidding! You’ve never owned a dog in your life, Sheila. You don’t like being tied down to a pet because it interferes with your traveling. You wouldn’t own a goldfish, much less a two hundred pound mastiff!”
“True, but Paula Bankston doesn’t know that. I thought we could drop by her house on the pretense I’m interested in purchasing one of her pups. After asking some benign questions about the dogs, we can bring up the death of her father. Who knows what we might learn that has been overlooked by the authorities? And I might even be persuaded to ask some rather blunt questions about the insurance policy, because, after all, I don’t really care if I piss her off or not. I have nothing to lose.”
Sheila seemed very pleased with herself for coming up with this idea, and I had to admit it had a lot of promise. I wasn’t particularly concerned whether I pissed Paula off either. If she had anything to do with her father’s death, then she deserved to be upset, and if not, she shouldn’t hesitate to tell us what she knew and be glad to help in any way she could.
“I’ll give her a call,” I said. “Maybe we can stop by her house on our way to Pete’s Pantry.”
* * *
“Good Morning Paula! Are you doing okay?” I asked, as the door opened at the Bankston residence. “I know how tough a week this has been for you, so I really appreciate you letting my friend come over and take a look at the puppies.”
Paula nodded. She had very little emotion in her voice and an almost vacant expression on her face, as if nothing going on around her was even registering. I introduced Paula to Sheila, and she took Sheila’s outstretched hand and gave it an unenthusiastic shake.
“Please come in,” Paula said. “Tiny and her puppies are in the basement.”
Unfortunately Moose wasn’t in the basement and bypassed Paula and Sheila to make a beeline for me. He growled and firmly grasped the bottom of my jeans with his teeth. He then began to snarl as he thrashed his head back and forth, tearing at the denim fabric. At least I’d come prepared this time and worn an old pair of raggedy jeans I’d accidentally tie-dyed with Clorox bleach while cleaning all the toilets at the inn.
Jeanne Glidewell - Lexie Starr 04 - With This Ring Page 16
