Lindsey made a strangled sound.
“You okay?” Tess asked her. “Let me get you some water.” She poured a plastic glass full from a small pitcher on Mrs. Ramsey’s bedside table.
“Thanks,” Lindsey said after she took a sip. “I’ll be okay.”
“We’ve had security on your room since we came to this conclusion a little while ago,” Tess told her. “And we’ll have someone here and at your house until we find the killer.”
“You’re coming home with me,” Lindsey said firmly.
“Then we’ll have an officer parked outside there.” Logan leaned forward. “Mrs. Ramsey, Tess and I have been talking about the necklace, wondering why anyone would return it.”
“Well it’s obvious, isn’t it?” Mrs. Ramsey said tartly. “I just look like a crazy old lady, don’t I?”
Logan saw Tess tense. They exchanged a look, and she shook her head slightly.
“Why would someone care if she looks like a crazy old lady?” Lindsey asked, puzzled.
“Maybe he thinks she knows something.” Logan mused.
The three women stared at him.
“But I don’t know anything,” Mrs. Ramsey insisted.
“Mama, maybe you know something, but you don’t know you know it,” Lindsey suggested.
“Well, that’s just crazy.”
“No, it isn’t,” Logan said and he sprang to his feet and paced around the room. “We’ll start with the day of the prom and work through it until the time Sam went missing.”
“If you feel up to it,” Tess said. “We’ll take it in steps. You let us know when we need to stop and let you rest, okay?”
Mrs. Ramsey folded her arms across her chest. “I’m ready, and I’m not going to need a rest. I want this creep caught.”
There was a knock on the door.
“Come in!” Lindsey called.
Gordon stuck his head in. His eyes swept the room until he saw Tess. “Just thought I’d let you know Kathy’s out of surgery.”
“Thanks, I’ll come down in a few minutes.”
He nodded and closed the door.
“Your aunt is here having surgery?” Mrs. Ramsey asked. “Oh my dear, you should be with her, not here with me.”
“She’d be upset with me if I did that instead of doing my job,” Tess assured her.
“At least go check on her, and I’ll talk to Logan.”
“Go,” Logan told her. “It’ll just take a few minutes.”
Tess left the room. Logan turned to Mrs. Ramsey and opened his notebook. “So tell me about prom night.”
She began telling him about how she’d volunteered to be a chaperone that night. “Two of my favorite students were graduating, and it was their senior prom,” she said. “Oh, I know we’re not supposed to have favorites, but Tess and Sam were two of my brightest and hardest-working students. And Tess became a sort of daughter to me after her mother died earlier that year.”
“I didn’t mind,” Lindsey said. “Losing her mom was so hard on Tess.”
“The girls decorated the venue for the prom,” Mrs. Ramsey continued, her eyes taking on a faraway expression as she remembered. “Then they went to change, and they were so pretty. It was when Sam said something to me about she felt like Second Hand Rose in her borrowed gown and a rhinestone necklace that I took off the necklace my husband had given me for our anniversary and put it around her neck myself.”
She glanced at Lindsey. “I knew it was safe with her. After all, I was right there during the dance. And even if it was valuable, well, we had security for the prom. You know, to keep problems away, the students maybe doing the usual like sneaking booze into the punch or having a fistfight and such.”
Logan remembered his own prom. “When did you notice Sam missing?”
“I saw her slip out with her date. You know, Wendell, he became an attorney. Some of the couples would do that, and we chaperones would just send one of the security we’d hired to round them up in the parking lot and send them back inside.”
“Not that security was so good,” she said, frowning. “That Gordon must have shaped up some to have gotten as high in your department as he has. We needed him a couple of times that night and couldn’t find him.”
“Mother!” Lindsey spoke up. “Don’t go badmouthing him again. It’s enough that you said that to his face a couple of weeks ago when we ran into him at church, isn’t it?”
“I’m sorry,” Mrs. Ramsey rushed to say.
“It’s the dementia,” Lindsey said quietly. “She remembers stuff from the past so vividly.”
Mrs. Ramsey frowned in concentration. “Anyway, I remember Sam wasn’t the only one who went outside with Wendell that night. He ended up marrying the other girl not long after they graduated. Her name’s Muffi.”
She paused and looked thoughtful. “But after Wendell and Sam went out he came back in and she didn’t.” She looked at Logan. “She never came back in. The police talked to him later, but they said he wasn’t a suspect.”
Logan remembered his interview with the man. He wanted him to be a suspect, but he and Tess had had to take him off the list. Muffi had given him an alibi, and they hadn’t been able to poke any holes in it.
Mrs. Ramsey looked like she was tiring, but when he asked if she needed a break she refused. Lindsey stood and poured her mother a glass of water. Mrs. Ramsey sipped it and answered more questions about how Tess had become concerned about her friend and they’d gone looking for her. Tears slipped down Mrs. Ramsey’s cheeks as she described the horror of them checking the park and finding Sam’s body.
Lindsey handed her mother a tissue. Mrs. Ramsey dabbed at her cheeks. “I’m so glad Tess isn’t here to relive that night.”
Logan didn’t have the heart to tell her he doubted that night was ever very far from Tess’s memory.
By the time Tess returned, Logan felt he’d gotten everything he could from Mrs. Ramsey. He was ready to leave when she walked in.
“How’s your aunt?” he asked her.
“Resting comfortably,” she said. “They don’t expect her to wake tonight, so I’m going to come back in the morning. Gordon’s staying for a while.”
Logan watched her give her former teacher a hug, and they left. An officer stood outside and nodded to them as they left.
“We need to stop on the third floor,” she said when they entered the elevator. “Chief’s been admitted for tests.”
“Really? I know he’s been feeling under the weather.”
They checked at the third floor nurse’s station, got the room number, and went to pay a visit.
He looked up in surprise as they entered his room. “Hey, didn’t know anyone knew I was here.”
“Gordon’s downstairs with Kathy,” Tess told him. “She fell and had to have surgery. I sat with her while Gordon took care of an emergency.”
“Kathy had surgery? She seemed okay when she was here visiting me with him.” He frowned. “Gordon didn’t say anything.”
The chief gestured at the empty plastic container on his bedside table. “He and Kathy visited me earlier today. She brought me some chicken soup since I was complaining about the hospital food.”
They chatted for a few minutes. Well, Logan and the chief chatted with Logan filling him in on the latest development with Mrs. Ramsey’s interview. Tess seemed quiet. Logan figured she was worried about her aunt.
The chief’s wife walked in then with coffee she’d evidently bought from the cafeteria downstairs. Logan and Tess excused themselves, and they were nearly out the door when Tess suddenly spun around and walked back into the room.
“If you don’t mind, I’ll take this and drop it at my aunt’s house on my way home,” she told the chief. She looked at his wife. “You know how some women are about their Tupperware being returned.”
The woman rolled her eyes. “Do I ever! Lucy Vanderwell gave me such grief about leaving hers in the church kitchen after a women’s luncheon. Give your aunt my best, okay?”
“Will do.”
“Why didn’t you say something?” Logan asked as they got into the elevator. “You started to say something about suspecting Gordon of abusing your aunt, didn’t you?”
Tess nodded.
“So why didn’t you?”
“He and the chief are friends. And the chief’s his boss. I have to be very careful to have proof before I say anything.”
Logan sighed. “You did the right thing. Talk to your aunt, and you’ll know what to do.”
17
Nice service.”
Tess smiled at Logan as they stood. “Told you that you’d like it here.”
Logan glanced around as they walked to the front of the church. “And the walls stayed up.”
“Yeah. Imagine that.”
“Tess! So nice to see you!”
“This is Logan McMillan,” she introduced him. “Logan’s my partner. He’s a detective who’s transferred from Chicago. Logan, Pastor Rick ”
The two men shook hands. “Pleasure to meet you. Guess you’re not going to miss those cold winters.”
“Probably not. Although I sure miss the pizza.”
“Tess, take him by Angelo’s. Bet he can make a deep-dish.”
“I’ll do that.”
“Hope you’ll join us again, Logan. Any friend of Tess’s is a friend of ours.”
“And what am I, chopped liver?” a familiar voice boomed.
Tess tried not to stiffen. She turned. “Gordon. I didn’t expect you here this morning. How’s Aunt Kathy?”
“Just fine, just fine.” He turned to the pastor. “Kathy took a spill,” he explained as he shook hands with him. “Had surgery and should be going home tomorrow.”
Tess and Logan walked outside. Gordon followed them. “Listen, do you think you could drop by and check on her now, Tess? Chief asked me to take care of some things in his absence.”
“How’s he doing?” Logan asked.
“Just great. They’re running some tests to figure out why his stomach’s been giving him fits. I think it’s stress. ’Bout time he retired.”
Tess had intended to see her aunt after she had lunch with Logan, but when she glanced at him, he nodded. “Of course. How about I stop at your house and pick up a few things to make her more comfortable at the hospital? Maybe one of her nightgowns and a robe?”
“Sure thing. You still got your key?”
“Yes. Do you need me to feed the cat?”
He shook his head. “I put kibble down for her before I left for church.” He glanced down at his hand and showed them bright red scratches. “That’s the thanks I got for doing it. Dang cat. I’d boot her out of the house if Kathy wouldn’t give me a fit.”
He looked up as someone called his name. “There’s Tom Crandall. I need to talk with him. He’s going to do some renovations on Kathy’s shop. See you both later.”
Tess glanced at Logan. “Sorry, I know we talked about having lunch after church.”
“I don’t mind tagging along on the visit, if you don’t. I like your aunt. Then we could have lunch afterward.”
“It can’t exactly be fun to go visit someone in the hospital on your day off.”
“Being with you is fun. Doesn’t matter what we do.”
Her heart warmed. “Ditto.”
She’d picked him up in her car for church so they walked to it. As Tess got in she saw Gordon watching them as he stood talking with another man on the church steps. Frowning, she fastened her seat belt and waited until Logan did so before she pulled out of the lot.
“What?”
She shrugged. “I intended on going to see Aunt Kathy later today, but I think Gordon should be checking on her before he takes care of anything for the chief. After all, she’s his wife.”
“Won’t get any argument from me about that.”
Tess pulled into her aunt’s driveway. “I’ll be right back.”
She let herself into the house and Prissy looked up from the sofa and blinked. “Hi there. Just getting some things for your mom. She’ll be home tomorrow.”
Good thing Logan waited in the car, she couldn’t help thinking. He’d probably think she was nutty to talk to Aunt Kathy’s cat that way.
It was quick work to pack an overnight bag with the essentials she knew her aunt would want: a makeup kit, a nightgown and robe. And the quilt she’d taken last time—the blue memory one her aunt had made for her mother-in-law so many years ago. It had seemed to comfort Aunt Kathy when she took it to the hospital on the last visit.
This was going to be the last hospital visit if she had anything to say about it. The first chance she got to talk to Aunt Kathy, she was going to get her to come live with her until they figured out what to do. She hoped she could get her aunt to talk to Pastor Rick, get some professional counseling. Abusers seldom changed. Divorce—as much as Tess hated the idea—seemed the only answer.
It wasn’t her place to tell her aunt or God what to do. But something had to be done.
Logan was listening to the radio, his head resting on the back of the seat, his eyes closed.
“Hey, Sleeping Beauty, having a nice nap there?” she asked as she put the overnight bag in the back seat.
“Not asleep,” he said in a sleepy voice. “Just resting my eyes.”
“Yeah, right.”
An afternoon nap seemed to be the popular thing. Aunt Kathy was taking one when they walked in. Or perhaps it was because she was still recovering from the anesthesia from the night before.
She looked peaceful . . . so peaceful. Tess set the overnight bag down on the floor beside the bed and drew out the quilt. She spread it over her aunt and gently tucked it around her shoulders.
Tess watched her aunt stir, then her eyes fluttered open. She focused on Tess. She saw the recognition in her aunt’s eyes, saw the corners of her mouth try to lift in a smile and Tess could see the metal wiring inside.
Then her aunt’s gaze fell on the quilt, her eyes went wide with fear and a horrible strangled sound came from between her wired jaws.
Logan watched Tess try to hold her aunt down and calm her, but it didn’t seem to be doing any good.
He joined her at the bedside and pressed the call button to summon a nurse. Then he got out of the way, so she and Tess could talk to Kathy.
“I’m going to contact the doctor and see if he’ll order a sedative,” the nurse said and hurried out of the room.
Tess pulled up a chair and sat beside her aunt, holding her hand and stroking it while she murmured to her.
The nurse returned with the shot and Logan left the room. Tess emerged a few minutes later, looking drained.
“The nurse said Aunt Kathy would probably sleep for a couple of hours.”
“Do you want to stay, and I’ll go get you something to eat?”
“That’s really sweet, but no. I think I’d like to get out of here for a while. I need to think.”
He put his arm around her and led her down the hall to the elevator. “You think too much. Try to turn that brain off for a few hours and let’s just relax.”
“It was just so weird,” she said on the ride down. “She woke up and looked happy to see me. Then she looked scared to death. Logan, she looked scared to death. And she tried to kick off the quilt. That’s her favorite. Why would she do that?”
“I don’t know.” Logan had glanced at the doorway when Kathy began reacting hysterically in case she’d seen someone she was afraid of—like her husband. But no one had been standing in the doorway.
“I don’t get it,” Tess said, shaking her head as they walked out of the hospital.
“You’re upset,” he said. “Let me drive.”
She handed him the keys and got into the passenger side. When she didn’t ask where they were going once he started the car, he knew how upset she was. Tess always loved talking about where they were going to eat.
He drove them to a little dive she’d shown him outside of town. She claimed the fried shrimp was the best
she’d ever eaten, and he’d had to agree with her. They sat outside on the deck overlooking a small pond the owner had stocked with ducks.
Gradually, she relaxed as they shared some smoked mullet spread on crackers—a local favorite she’d claimed belied the unglamorous name of the fish—and drank large glasses of sweet tea mixed with lemonade. The shrimp were perfect, golden brown and crispy, served with cole slaw and French fries. They ate until they were stuffed.
Logan wanted the mood to stay relaxed, but had to ask a question that had been bothering him. He reached across the table and took her hand, lacing her fingers with his. Again, she didn’t try to avoid his touch. So far so good.
“Are we okay?” he asked quietly.
She stared at him, puzzled. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Where do you see us going?”
“Going?”
He grinned at her. “I’m crazy about you, you know that?”
She eyed him warily. “I think you’re just crazy.”
Logan laughed and squeezed her fingers. “You know I’m not. I’ve never been saner.”
“We haven’t known each other that long. We don’t know that much about each other.”
He just looked at her. “I know everything I need to know. But if you need more time . . .”
Tess pushed her bangs back. “I can’t even think right now. So much is going on. How can you think about stuff like this?”
Logan reached across for her other hand, and after a moment, she put hers in it. “My friend said, ‘Life is too serious. Lighten up.’ His death, Sam’s, well, I think they should be a lesson to us to live life now, don’t you?”
“Oh, it’s easy to say,” she said with a big sigh. “Not so easy to do.”
The server came to clear the table and tempt them with dessert. Logan had tasted their Key lime pie and wasn’t leaving without a slice. Besides, he knew once it arrived, Tess and her sweet tooth wouldn’t be able to resist sharing it.
A few minutes later, she put her fork down and pushed back from the table. “Why couldn’t you be selfish and refuse to share?”
He laughed and got to his feet. “C’mon, let’s go for a walk on the beach.”
Scraps of Evidence: Quilts of Love Series Page 14
