Building Blocks of Murder

by Vanessa Gray Bartal

  Jason frowned. “How do you know Sheila Whitaker?” His eyes narrowed and he leaned forward. “Did you talk to her? Did you go to see her?”

  “I did,” Lacy admitted. “But…” before she could tell him about the Stakely building, he interrupted.

  “Lacy, what do I have to do to get you to stay out of this?”

  “Get out of jail,” Lacy said. “Get out from under these charges. Until that happens, I’m not going to let it go, Jason.” With effort, she ignored his glower and pressed forward. “I think Sheila was in love with him, but wasn’t Ed McNeil married?”

  “If the rumors were true, Ed was also a real ladies’ man.”

  “Seriously? He was so…ew.”

  Jason chuckled. “I’m not going to disagree. I didn’t get it, either. I assumed the rumors were untrue because, well, ew.”

  They shared a smile as they stared at each other, the thick glass partition between them. “You want to know something crazy?” Lacy asked.

  “What?” Jason prompted.

  “You make that jumpsuit look good.” It was uncanny. No one looked good in cheap fluorescent cotton, and yet somehow Jason did.

  He laughed and Lacy watched as some of the tension eased from his face. He shook his head, disbelieving. “I’m serious,” Lacy continued. “I hope I never get arrested because can you imagine my hair with that orange? Talk about a sickening combination.”

  “Red, if you get arrested, believe me when I tell you that how you look will be the last of your worries.”

  “How bad has it been?” she asked.

  He shrugged. “Awkward, but not awful. The guys are doing their best to make it bearable.”

  “I’m sorry this is happening, Jason,” Lacy said.

  “It is what it is,” Jason said, which she interpreted to mean he was done talking about it. “I don’t suppose I could ask you one more time to let this go and leave it alone.”

  “You could ask,” Lacy said.

  “At least promise me you’ll be careful,” Jason said.

  “I promise,” Lacy said.

  “I don’t believe you,” Jason said, “because even though you try and avoid it, trouble has a way of finding you.”

  “Keegan is with me; he’s helping me.”

  “And that’s supposed to make me feel better? You and the pastor’s beefy brother spending truckloads of time together?”

  “Did you just call another man ‘beefy’?”

  He laughed and she watched a little more of the tension drain out of him. “You’re an expert at changing the subject. The fact is that I’m worried about you.”

  “And I’m worried about you,” she said. “I’ve watched television; I know what happens to cops in jail.”

  He laughed again. “Lacy, geez, what goes on in that head of yours? I’m in the safest place in the world, guarded by all of my coworkers, while you’re out there with a murderer, one you are actively trying to pursue, and you’re worried about me. Is it any wonder you make me crazy? I stay up nights just wondering what you’re going to get into next.”

  “You stay up nights because you work the midnight shift.”

  “Not anymore,” he said, the grim lines returning to his mouth.

  “You will. This is all going to get cleared up and be a bad memory soon,” Lacy said.

  “If you tell me that someday we’ll laugh about this, I’m not sure I’ll believe you.”

  “I wouldn’t go that far, but we’ll look back on it with a sense of relief that it’s over and that it didn’t last too long. I promise.”

  “I don’t think you’ve ever made me a promise before,” Jason said. He pressed his index finger to the glass.

  Lacy reached up and pressed her finger on the other side. “Now the pressure is on to make sure I keep it.”

  “Lacy,” he began, disapproval lacing his tone, but she didn’t allow him to admonish her again.

  “I should go. I’ll come back tomorrow, unless this is all over and you’re not here.”

  “I’ll see you here tomorrow,” Jason said. Lacy hated the resigned tone in his voice. As he finished speaking, another woman shuffled behind Lacy, her tiny tank top stretched tight over her ample bosom while her skirt barely reached her thigh. Jason and Lacy paused to watch while she wiggled to the empty space beside them, tottering precariously on her too-high heels.

  “Would it make you feel better if I wore something like that when I come back tomorrow?” Lacy asked, turning to face Jason once the woman was finally seated.

  Jason laughed and shook his head. “Do you actually own anything like that?”

  “No, but I could ask her if I could borrow something. I don’t know her, but I’m pretty sure we’re bonded now by this mutual experience. Soul sisters, if you will.”

  Jason glanced at the woman again. “I arrested your soul sister last week for drunk and disorderly. I think I would prefer that you stay away from her, tempting as your offer is.”

  He was smiling, and that was her goal. She wouldn’t have been able to leave him if he had looked sad or upset. “I guess I’ll stick to my usual sweater and jeans,” Lacy said.

  “I happen to like you in a sweater and jeans, but then I haven’t seen you in anything I don’t like.”

  “I’m going to leave on that high note,” Lacy said.

  “See you, Red.”

  “See you, Jason.” She stood and walked away, leaving him smiling in her wake.

  Lacy had spent so long visiting Jason that she wondered if Keegan would be irritated. When she reached the car, however, he closed his book with a smile. “Hungry? I’m starving. Do you care if we grab some lunch?”

  “Lunch sounds great.”

  “Where do you recommend?” he asked.

  She mentally reviewed the town’s lackluster lunch offerings. “The taco place, I guess.”

  “This town has a taco place?” he asked.

  “Don’t get too excited—the owners are Italian, so I’m not sure how authentic it is. The food’s pretty good, though.”

  They made the short drive to the taco place in silence. Lacy was hungrier than she realized, feeling almost faint from not eating. “I’m sorry that took so long,” she apologized. “You must be starved.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Keegan said amicably as they stood in line. “How did it go? Did you find out any new information?”

  “No. Jason doesn’t want me to be involved in this. He’s not likely to be cooperative.”

  “No offense, Lacy, but this isn’t exactly Chicago. What’s the worst he thinks could happen to you?”

  “I could get killed. A lot goes on here. You’d be surprised by how much crime there is. Jason’s not just window dressing, he serves a purpose.”

  Keegan was looking at her with a combination of alarm and amusement and she realized how defensive she sounded. “Sorry,” she added. “I think I’m hangry.”

  “Hangry?”

  “Anger caused by hunger,” she defined. “Hangry.”

  He smiled. “You are definitely just what the doctor ordered for me this week. Good thing Tosh is leaving me to fend for myself so much so I can spend all this time with you.”

  He turned to stare at the menu board while Lacy studied him. What was he talking about with all those cryptic little remarks? Before she could ask him, someone called her name.

  “Yoo-hoo, Lacy.”

  Lacy turned to look at the interior of the crowded restaurant and saw Rose and Gladys, two of her grandmother’s friends. Gladys had her hand in the air, waving Lacy over. “Come join us,” she called.

  Lacy nodded and forced a smile. “Prepare yourself,” she muttered to Keegan. It wasn’t that she didn’t like her grandmother’s friends; it was just that she wasn’t certain about them. Sometimes they seemed as sweet as her grandmother, and other times they reminded her of the quintessential mean girl clique they had once been in high school, pretending to be nice to her face while shredding her behind her back.

  The
y received their food and Lacy led the way to Rose and Gladys. They were leaning forward, staring at Keegan so intently Lacy expected one of them to pull out a magnifying glass for closer inspection.

  “Who’s your new young man?” Gladys asked.

  “This is Keegan Underwood,” Lacy said. “Tosh’s brother.”

  The fact that he was their pastor’s brother did nothing to lessen their speculation. If anything, it increased it. Lacy felt a little bad for Keegan as the women pounced on him, questioning him about personal details of his life but, like Tosh, Keegan seemed to have a way with women. Soon he had somehow answered all their questions without revealing anything at all, and they were now smiling at him in approval.

  Their beaming smiles dimmed as they turned to look at Lacy and back again. “Does Tosh know you two are together?” Gladys asked.

  While Lacy searched her mind for a polite response, Keegan beat her to the punch. “Of course. Why do you think I’m here? One of us had to be dispatched to meet this Lacy he keeps talking about.”

  Lacy fought a groan. Did he have any idea how that sounded to these women who took more of an interest in her love life than she did? By his mischievous grin, she thought maybe he did.

  “Now is a good time while her other one is in jail,” Rose said. “Looks like he’s going to be there for a long time, too.”

  “I don’t think so,” Lacy said. “He didn’t do it, Rose. He’s going to be out as soon as the ballistics test comes back.”

  “I hope so,” Rose said sincerely. “He’s always seemed like a good boy.”

  “Lacy seems to think that this case is related to another murder that happened over twenty years ago,” Keegan said. “I bet you ladies know a lot about that one.”

  Lacy beamed at him for his brilliance. Not only would talking about the Susan Pendergast murder take the focus off of Lacy, but she might actually glean some information from Rose and Gladys. She sipped her soda while the two older ladies sat up, preening importantly.

  “It was so long ago,” Gladys began. “Who can remember every detail, although it was pretty awful. Susan was a nice girl, from a nice family. Not like her sister.”

  “What’s wrong with Sheila?” Lacy asked.

  “She was always the wild one,” Rose said. “Boy crazy, headstrong, different.”

  Lacy tried to imagine Sheila as wild and boy crazy, but the image wouldn’t form.

  “I thought when she got married she would settle down,” Gladys added. “But that didn’t last very long.” She leaned forward and dropped her voice to a whisper. “Her husband left her for another woman.”

  “Maybe the death of her sister left an indelible impression. Sometimes grief can make people do crazy things,” Lacy said. She was thinking of Jason’s parents and their total meltdown after their son’s death.

  Rose shook her head. “From what I heard, the two sisters never got along. There was bad blood between them from birth. In fact, at the time of the murder they weren’t even speaking.”

  Lacy shifted in her seat, uncomfortable with how closely the description fit her and Riley. How would she react if something happened to Riley before they resolved the issues between them? “What were they fighting about?”

  “A man,” Gladys answered. “Isn’t it always a man?”

  Rose darted a furtive glance around the crowded restaurant before leaning closer and whispering as Gladys had done. Unfortunately Rose’s hearing was going, so her whisper wasn’t exactly quiet. “And not just any man. They were fighting over the mayor.”

  “Rose,” Gladys exclaimed. She jabbed her friend in the arm and looked around to see if anyone was listening. “You shouldn’t gossip about the mayor.”

  “He wasn’t the mayor then,” Rose said, rubbing her arm and frowning at Gladys. “His father was mayor,” she continued, addressing Lacy and Keegan again.

  “Was he looked at as a suspect at the time of the murder?” Lacy asked. She didn’t bother to whisper because Rose wouldn’t have been able to hear her.

  Rose shrugged. “There were questions, but his daddy had the whole thing hushed up. Most people in town figured he did it until that other man was arrested.”

  “But he’s been our mayor since before Joe Anton was arrested,” Lacy said, aghast. Had people really voted for someone they believed could be a murderer?

  “His father was mayor,” Gladys said as if that was reason enough for his son to be elected.

  “I don’t understand why the Stakely building was closed because of the murder,” Lacy said.

  “The building had started to deteriorate,” Gladys explained. “The owner was old and unable to keep up with the repairs. Things were in sad shape—it was most likely going to close anyway. And then there was all the crime.”

  “Crime,” Lacy repeated. “What crime?”

  “Lots of thefts, break-ins, and robberies,” Gladys reported. “The town had a lot more young people then, and we were having a real drug problem at the time. For some reason all the druggies liked to hang around in the parking lot of the Stakely building. There at the end they had to have extra security. The police were working a lot of overtime trying to keep the crime away. And then Susan was murdered. If you ask me, it was high time they closed it. I wish they’d tear it down. Too many bad memories.”

  “I bought the Stakely building,” Lacy said. Rose and Gladys stared at her as if she had just announced she was moving to Mars to set up a colony.

  “Well, I think that’s great,” Rose boomed at last. “I don’t agree with Gladys. The Stakely building’s good memories outweigh the bad. It was a nice place before it fell into disrepair. Plus, this will be a good project to take your mind off your sister stealing your fiancé.”

  The last part was said during one of those strange and collective lulls that sometimes happens in a public place so that seemingly everyone in the restaurant turned to stare at Lacy.

  Gladys jabbed Rose again. “Rose, Lucinda said not to mention that because it makes Lacy sad, especially since Riley got engaged. We don’t want Lacy to start eating and get chubby again.”

  Lacy happened a glance at Keegan, expecting to see pity, but instead she saw amusement. He was eating with forced concentration to try and hold back a laugh.

  “That’s true,” Rose said, rubbing her arm where Gladys had poked. She was going to have quite a bruise in the morning. “She’ll never get a man if she gets big again.”

  “Now that’s just not true,” Keegan said. “I think Lacy could get a man no matter what size she is.” He finished his last bite and rested his arm on the back of Lacy’s chair.

  “Maybe so,” Gladys said, tipping her head as she studied Lacy. “She does have a string of them, and she’s not exactly what you’d call thin.”

  “She has a nice figure,” Rose belted. “Lots of curves. Men like that. They only pretend to like those stick-thin women. When it comes right down to it, men want a woman with childbearing hips. Lacy has those.”

  From her peripheral vision, Lacy caught the man at the table beside her staring speculatively at her hips. She was always at a loss about how best to deal with her grandmother’s friends. She didn’t want to be disrespectful, but she had to make them stop talking about her as if she were a pig at market.

  “I think men are looking for more than childbearing hips,” she said at last, whispering in a vain attempt to get Rose to lower her voice.

  No such luck, though. Rose and Gladys exchanged a look, one that seemed to agree about Lacy’s naïveté. Finally it was Rose who spoke again. It seemed to Lacy that she was yelling now, but maybe mortification made everything seem louder.

  “Face it, Lacy, when it comes right down to it, for men, it’s all about sex.”

  Chapter 14

  “If someone created a pill that could erase your memory, they could make a lot of money.”

  Keegan laughed as he maneuvered the car out of the restaurant’s parking lot. “It wasn’t that bad.”

  “You’re j
ust saying that because it wasn’t about you. I don’t know why my grandmother’s friends are under the delusion that my life is their business, but somehow they feel the need to make commentary on it at every opportunity. I mean, my grandmother doesn’t do that. She doesn’t butt in, ask nosy questions, or offer unsolicited opinions. Why do her friends?” Lacy picked up the newspaper and fanned her flushed face. She couldn’t remember the last time she had been so embarrassed.

  “Maybe it’s their misguided way of trying to show you they care. Or maybe they’re just bored and lonely.”

  “Or the third option—they know exactly what they’re doing and like to see me squirm.”

  Keegan shrugged. “Before witnessing that little scene I might have disagreed with you, but I’ve never seen such an old woman yell ‘sex’ so loudly before.”

  “Thanks for getting me out of here,” Lacy said. While she had stared dumbly at Rose, trying to think up a reply, Keegan had said their goodbyes and gotten them outside.

  “So that’s the big mystery, huh? The reason you won’t date my brother or the other guy. You were jilted for your sister.”

  “Don’t try and put it delicately to spare my feelings,” Lacy said.

  “I wouldn’t,” Keegan replied. “I believe in dealing with things head on, at least when it comes to other people. Besides, if you keep tiptoeing around the facts and your resulting feelings, then you’re never going to move on. Call a spade a spade—the miserable loser dumped you and broke your heart.”

  There was a little part of Lacy that did feel relieved to have things so blatantly laid on the table. “You know what the worst part is, though? It’s that the situation is too complex for me to just get over. I feel like if he had dumped me for a stranger, I could grieve and then move on. But since he dumped me for my sister, the grief never goes away. I’m confronted with it every day. And then I have to add in her betrayal. Sometimes it seems like I’m never going to get over it.”

  “Do you want to?”

  “Of course I want to,” Lacy said.

  “I know you want to in the rational sort of way that we’re always supposed to want to get over things and move on. But don’t you think there’s a little part of you that’s enjoying being the wounded party, that’s enjoying wallowing in your misery? It’s not often that you get to be the victim not only of a man, but of your rival sister.”