He couldn’t believe they were rationalizing the situation.
“Paul would’ve killed Harry if we hadn’t been standing here to witness the murder,” Roxie added. “Not that I would have testified against him if he did kill him.”
“See, our being here was a good thing!” Meg said. “We kept Paul from killing Harry.”
“Good Samaritans, huh?” Luke shook his head. They all knew things had gotten out of hand, even if they didn’t want to admit it. He pointed to Andi. “Like I said—trouble.”
SIX
Andi had no sooner placed her belongings on the dining room table than there was a loud knock on the door.
Peering through the peephole, she saw Luke standing on her welcome mat. Embarrassment over the scene at Harry’s flooded over her. “What could he possibly want now?”
Taking a moment to gain her composure, she stood with her fingers on the knob, simply breathing. Finally ready to face him, she stiffened her spine and tugged the door open.
“We need to talk.” His stoic face revealed nothing congenial. Long strides took him through her dining area and into the living room, which was more presentable than the last time he’d been inside her home. Between interviewing the reverend and spying on the board, she’d still managed to find time to unpack a few boxes and toss them into the corners.
Luke sat on the new red accent chair next to the white linen sofa. He leaned forward, his elbow resting on his thighs, his hands clasped together. She remembered that look. He was contemplating his next words. She lowered herself onto the sofa and waited. This could take a while.
“Andi . . .”
“If you came over here to lecture me about the anti-board spying and how somehow this is all my fault—”
“No lecture.”
She waited for him to continue, certain whatever he had to say would turn into a lecture despite his assurances. In her defense, she hadn’t intended to spy. Meg called her over to the tree before she knew what Roxie was doing.
Okay, I had some clue what Roxie was doing, but still . . .
“I’m not one to gossip.” He stood and walked over to the sliding-glass door where she had left the blinds pulled back. Agitated, he faced her back porch while running a hand through his thick hair. “But I think you deserve to know why Harry tries to control the property as strictly as he does. I’m not asking you to feel sorry for him, just to understand.”
Oh, great! A lecture in disguise.
“I grant you he has gone off the deep end,” Luke said as he glanced in her direction. “But when I first met him he had a soft side. I saw it only a few times, but it was there. I’m hoping he might find it again now that Valerie is free to be with him.”
Andi stifled a string of sarcastic comments.
“Harry’s wife died of cancer a few years ago. That was when I first met him. I wasn’t the property manager back then, but I was helping an associate at the board meetings. Six months after that, the company he worked for merged with another, and he was forced into early retirement to make room for younger, less expensive employees. He became an angry man struggling to maintain some degree of control over his life. His biggest mistake was running for the board. Bernice was president when he joined, and unfortunately, a role model for those who don’t want to win friends and influence people in a positive way.”
Andi felt a twinge of guilt. Then her line of vision fell on the violation letters piling up on her table, and she snubbed out that guilt like an ugly cigarette butt. “I’m sorry he lost his wife, but he has no right to make the rest of the world miserable in an attempt to lighten his own pain.”
“True. I bring this up only because I’m thinking there’s a good chance he might soften up now.”
“Not in this lifetime.”
“I just saw Harry hauling Valerie’s clothes into his condo.”
“That was fast, don’t you think?”
“Not when you consider her husband was throwing them out of their bedroom window. Harry promised to buy her a ring in the morning. Between the attempt on his life and now having someone to share his second chance with, he might change.”
Andi grabbed the throw pillow beside her and held it close to her chest. It served as a barrier between her and Luke’s insistence that she soften her heart where Harry was concerned. “And how’s that going to turn our board president into a marshmallow?”
“He’s getting what he needs—a full-time companion.”
“Don’t bet my bank account on him becoming a changed man. I can’t afford any more fines.” She stood and walked to the sliding-glass door, where she peered out to the barren porch. She should be planting pansies in pots and baking cookies in the shape of tulips, not fighting Harry. “I’m not the only one he’s harming. These fines are placing a financial burden on this entire community.”
Luke placed his hand on her forearm. “I understand how you feel and why you started the anti-board.”
His touch sent a shiver down her spine that she tried to ignore. “I didn’t start the anti-board.”
“I stand corrected.” He withdrew his hand, letting it drop to his side. “Regardless, this has gone far enough. A marriage has ended. Can you please try to rein in Roxie until we see how Harry reacts to Valerie moving in with him?”
“No one can control Roxie. And you should probably know that Meg’s started a petition to have Harry removed from the board. I won’t discourage her.” Remembering the look on Paul’s face ate at her conscience. She had to take some responsibility for the fallout since she participated in the war. “I promise I won’t wave the petition under Harry’s nose.”
“That’s fair.” He glanced about the room. “I guess I should leave you to your unpacking.”
She nodded, even though the part of her who remembered how good they had been together wanted him to stay. Forcing her mind to switch tracks, she closed the blinds and turned to follow him to the foyer.
A forced smile appeared on his handsome face. “Despite everything, I’m glad our paths have crossed again. I hope one day soon we’ll get a chance to talk about something besides the homeowners’ association.” He paused, his gaze fixed on hers. “If it’s okay with you, I’d like to get to know you again. You were an important part of my life. I miss our friendship.”
Her breath caught in her throat.
One cost of breaking up is losing your best friend. He should have thought about their long evenings watching old movies together, holding hands on long walks, and debates covering everything from politics to religion before he threw it all away.
She wanted to tell him all of that and more, but all she could say was, “You hurt me.”
“I know.” He reached up to sweep a stray strand of hair away from her face. “I’m hoping we can find a way to at least be friends again. I’ve thought about it a lot. I know it wouldn’t be easy at first, but I think that friendship is worth finding again. It was special. Maybe our mistake was taking our relationship to a level where it became serious and complicated.”
“Friends . . .”
Could my heart handle seeing him, getting closer to him, knowing we could be only friends?
She shrugged, but she knew better. Traveling that path would only break her heart.
* * *
Friday morning, Andi hit the snooze alarm and rolled back onto the bed. Remembering that the first day of spring break had finally arrived, she smiled and contemplated falling back to sleep. Instead, she stared up at the ceiling fan, allowing her thoughts to wander.
She planned to bake up a storm. The events of the previous day flickered through her mind, and she decided to leave a gift bag of chocolate chip cookies on Paul’s doorstep. If he threw it in the trash, she wouldn’t blame him, but she felt the need to do something. A sugar fix might make him feel better, even if for only a moment.
“That creep!” Jessie stormed into Andi’s bedroom, holding a cream-colored paper high in the air. “Harry taped another violation letter to the door
last night.”
“For what?”
“He’s claiming there’s litter on the back porch.”
“No there’s not!” Andi threw back the covers and charged into the living room. “I looked outside last night. The porch was spotless. Luke is my witness.”
When Andi pushed back the blinds, she found an empty milk jug, juice carton, cookie and candy wrappers, tuna cans, and a mayonnaise jar strewn across the cement, along with used napkins, crumpled tissue, cereal bits, and coffee grounds. An empty white trash bag hung over the floral-print patio chair cushion, flapping in the breeze.
A typed note, taped to the trash bag, caught her attention. She slid the door open, stepped outside, and kicked the cereal box across the patio. The aroma of decaying food wafted to her nose. “Gross!”
She peeled the note away from the bag and read, “Here’s your housewarming gift. Since you live with trash, you should feel right at home.” She folded the note and palmed it before her sister joined her.
“Didn’t you say Luke thought Harry would be a better man now that he has Valerie?” Jessie stepped out onto the porch. “This doesn’t look like a happy man to me.”
“Valerie is the one who isn’t happy, and I’m willing to bet it has everything to do with her soiled reputation and nothing to do with her sunken marriage.”
“She acted like trash so her boyfriend is throwing it on our porch?” Jessie scowled. “That doesn’t even make sense.”
Andi squeezed the note tighter, making sure Jessie could never read the message. She didn’t want her sister worrying about Harry and what he might do next because he thought Jessie was a drug-dealing hooker. Her life could depend on her mind remaining focused on her undercover assignment. “Don’t expect that man to make sense.”
“I’m tempted to pistol-whip him and make him clean it up himself.” Jessie held up an empty cracker box with two fingers, then tossed it on top of a margarine tub.
Luke was wrong when he thought Harry might lighten up on the fines now that Valerie had moved in with him—not to mention because of his brush with death. Andi shook her head. Harry wasn’t about to lighten up on the fines for any reason. He wanted her to move out and take her sister with her. He wanted the anti-board, and anyone associated with it, to go away. “I can’t believe I felt sorry for him for two whole seconds last night. That baloney brain.”
“What did you call him?”
“Baloney brain.” She shrugged. “I heard one of the kids at school say it. It’s a lot better than what I want to call him.”
“Okay. Let’s find a way to make that baloney brain pay for his crimes.”
“Wait!” Andi ran to the garage to collect one of the smaller empty packing boxes. While standing beside her sister’s SUV, she scanned the wall until she found the metal fuse box. She hid the note inside, making a mental note to destroy it after Jessie left for work that night. She seized a cardboard box and closed the door to the garage behind her.
“I bet he left fingerprints on the trash bag,” Andi yelled from the kitchen where she stopped to grab a pair of tongs. By the time she reached the back door, she had the box assembled. “You have a fingerprint kit, don’t you?”
“At the agency.” Jessie, the new legal owner of Lenny’s Detective Agency, shifted her weight uncomfortably. “Even if there are prints, it wouldn’t stand up in court. We can’t prove someone else didn’t steal his trash bag out of the dumpster.”
“We don’t have to take him to court. We just need to scare him into thinking we can,” Andi explained, realizing she sounded a lot like their father.
“Just don’t―”
“I know. Don’t cross any legal lines.” Like playing Peeping Tom. Remembering the events of the former evening made her cringe. Andi held her nose with one hand while she snatched the trash bag between the tongs with the other. Keeping her distance, she dropped the bag inside the open box, careful not to touch it and contaminate the fingerprints.
Andi hadn’t been excited about the idea of spending half of her first day of spring break helping her sister sort through the old files Lenny left behind in his office, but now she couldn’t wait to get to the detective agency. A fingerprint kit from Lenny’s Detective Agency might actually get Harry kicked off the board. At the next board meeting, she would stick around to prove to Luke that the fingerprints on the bag matched the one on Harry’s water glass.
The sisters had dressed and spent twenty minutes cleaning up the grime off the porch when Jessie’s phone chirped. She emptied the dustpan filled with eggshells into one of their own garbage bags and checked the number. “Back in a minute. I have to take this,” she said, retreating back inside the condo.
Andi scanned the porch for any remnants of debris, then looked down at the stuffed bag. “I have to throw you in the dumpster, don’t I?” She couldn’t ask Jessie to do it. Her sister would tease her endlessly for being afraid of a big metal box.
With the stench of garbage still lingering in the air, she resisted dragging in a deep breath for courage. She grabbed the bag with a fist, then stepped lightly through the condo and out the front door. Nearing the dumpster, she glanced back over her shoulder. None of the neighbors were watching. None that she could see, anyway.
“I can do this,” she mumbled beneath her breath. “I can do this.” Fear crept over her shoulders and down her spine as she lifted the latch and opened the gate in the fence surrounding the trash bin. “I can do this.” She stood, facing the dumpster, determined to carry out her mission “There’s no dead body in there.”
She took one hesitant step forward, lifted her free hand, reached for the lid, and . . . “I can do this. I can do this. I can’t do this!” She threw the bag on top of the metal lid. It landed with a resounding thump. The echo inside mocked her. Shuddering, she slammed the gate shut and turned to find a police cruiser entering the complex.
After following the cruiser, Andi found Luke standing in the grass, near an ambulance in front of Helen’s building. The second police cruiser came to a stop across the street behind the first one on the scene. Half a dozen neighbors stood on the sidewalk or in the grassy common area, including Roxie and Meg. Word traveled fast on Euphoria Lane.
“What’s going on?” Andi quickened her steps.
* * *
The scent of Andi’s strawberry shampoo enticed Luke’s senses as she drew close. Taking in the sight of her shorts and floral blouse, he was reminded of picnics they had once shared in the park. He missed those lazy, carefree days. Their only worry then was passing the next college exam. The past faded, however, when Roxie and Meg rushed to join them.
“Something happened to another board member,” he said, watching the EMTs roll Helen’s body out of her condo on a gurney.
“Is she alive?” Concern furrowed Andi’s brow.
Helen lifted her hand to her forehead, answering her question.
“If she’s not alive, she’s a zombie,” Meg said, waving to Helen.
“I vote for zombie.” Roxie chuckled, then coughed on her cigarette smoke.
Andi gazed up at him quizzically. “What are you doing here so early? I thought you walked the property only once a week.”
“I called him.” Roxie tapped her cigarette, causing a chunk of ash to separate and float through the crisp morning air. “How else are we going to find out what the police know?”
“Sorry, ladies.” He crossed his arms. “The officers asked me questions, but didn’t answer any of mine. Although they did call it a crime scene.”
“Then we know more than you do.” Roxie puffed her zebra-print-clad chest out with pride. “See those medical students?” She pointed to two young men speaking with one of the officers. “Helen stumbled out of her condo carrying one of those shots for people who are allergic to stuff. She couldn’t breathe and was too out of it to treat herself. Those med students said she would have died if they hadn’t found her.”
“EpiPen,” Meg said in a quiet voice. “Helen carries an Epi
Pen. She must have been too disoriented from the lack of oxygen to give herself the shot.”
Andi watched the EMTs loading Helen into the ambulance. “What is she allergic to?”
“Peanuts,” Luke, Roxie, and Meg answered together.
“You would have to be new to Euphoria—or deaf—not to know.” Roxie guffawed. “She broadcasted loud and clear at every pot luck that she couldn’t eat any cookies containing peanuts.”
Meg kicked at a stone with the toe of her tennis shoe. “Helen is always careful about what she eats. I bet someone slipped peanuts into something in her kitchen. She wouldn’t have suspected she was having an allergic reaction until it was almost too late.”
Andi’s gaze traveled the crowd. “That’s one murder and two attempted murders. No one can argue the fact now that someone is trying to kill off the board.”
On the other side of the street, the angry cowboy spit on the asphalt, then strode off. His scowl warned, “Stay out of my way.” Not that you would want to stand too close. He spit chewing tobacco like an automatic sprinkler.
Luke had heard that murderers often returned to the scene of the crime, especially when the police were investigating. Sort of a twisted version of an artist watching his work being admired in a gallery. “What do you ladies know about Mr. Decker?”
“Keeps to himself,” Meg said, waving to Dinah and Carla, the new members of the anti-board standing on the corner. “Unless he’s received a violation letter, then he’s threatening to kill the board. You already know that.” Her eyes twinkled. “You don’t think he tried to kill Helen, do you?”
Luke lost sight of the cowboy when he slipped between two buildings. “Of course not. I was just wondering.”
Andi’s expression said she didn’t believe him. Once upon a time, he swore she could read his every thought—at least those not concerning her sisters. She tuned him out when the conversation turned to family.
“I can tell you one thing,” Andi said. “I’m glad I’m not on the board.”
Euphoria Lane Page 9
