by Sandra Balzo
‘It is,’ I said. ‘And I’ll tell you all about it when I get my coffee. Can I buy you a cup?’
‘I already have some.’ Sophie squinted at me. ‘What are you up to?’
I was embarrassed. ‘Nothing, I just . . . well, I know living in Brookhills is expensive.’
Sophie shrugged. ‘It is, but I watch my pennies. I budget for coffee most days. I play tennis when it’s nice so we can be outside and don’t have to rent courts. I go on Red Hat outings that are inexpensive.’ She patted my arm. ‘You don’t have to worry about me. I do damn fine for an old broad.’
Caron came out from behind the counter with three cups and a pot of coffee. She warmed up Sophie’s coffee and then poured cups for herself, Sarah and me. ‘OK, now give.’
I decided to summarize and then take questions. ‘Rachel married Ted to get away from her family. Then she got pregnant. She and Emma Byrne were lovers and Rachel knew that if she had a baby, she would never be free of her mother.’
‘Eve Whitaker is a controlling bitch,’ Sophie said. ‘Always was, always will be.’
‘You know her?’ I asked.
‘Sure. We used to play tennis. She cheated.’
Caron looked puzzled. ‘I don’t get it. Ted was Rachel’s . . . what do they call it? A beard?’
‘Apparently so. Rachel didn’t have the nerve to tell her mother she was gay.’
Sarah looked impatient. ‘Listen, if Maggy tells this, it’s going to take all day. Fact is, Rachel and Emma wanted to run away with the baby, but they knew both Ted and Rachel’s mother would try to find them. So Rachel planted evidence to make it seem like Ted was cheating on her, then she planned to disappear. A convenient body turned up, but it wasn’t dead so they killed it.’
I had nothing on Sarah, summarization-wise. She was a master.
‘Oh!’ I said, remembering. ‘That guy who knocked me down when he came out of the dumpster. I bet that was Gretchen’s boyfriend and he was looking for her.’
‘Gretchen?’ Caron asked.
‘She was the woman I saw outside the dental clinic on Saturday. It was her body they used. According to Emma, Gretchen’s boyfriend beat her up when he found out she was pregnant, so she left him. She was probably sleeping on that mattress out there.’
‘Until she was killed on it,’ Sarah muttered.
Caron put her hand over her mouth. ‘That’s why the sheriff’s deputy was looking around back there this morning. I thought he was checking the lock.’
A rash of dumpster break-ins, no doubt.
‘The mattress and the paint cans back there will be evidence,’ I said. ‘Plus the coat and the draperies that were dumped at the Hamilton.’
Seeing Sophie and Caron’s puzzled faces, Sarah took up the story again. ‘Rachel was supposed to meet Roger Karsten at the Hamilton, but she didn’t go there. Instead she went to help Emma with the body. She knew, like everyone else in Brookhills, that Roger would only wait for a few minutes. By the time they got there with the body, he was long gone.’
‘That’s why Emma cancelled the tour that night.’ I told Sarah. ‘The one you were supposed to go on originally. They needed the place to themselves.’
I shook my head. ‘You should have seen Emma’s face when I told her Rachel’s body had been found in Lake Michigan. She was absolutely shocked. I thought it was because she thought Ted might be involved.’
‘Bet she sure as shit was trying to figure out how that body got from the hotel basement to the lake,’ Sophie said.
A godawful sound erupted from beside me.
‘Are you snoring?’ I asked Sarah.
She sat up straight, startled. ‘Of course not. Just resting my eyes.’ She stood up and looked at me. ‘I do need to get going, though. Need a lift home?’
We walked out to the Firebird. ‘That was a short visit,’ I said. ‘Need your morning run?’
She snorted. ‘You kidding? Ted and Emma were my running partners. Ted was suspected of killing his wife. Emma is going to be charged with her murder. I’m lucky I got out unscathed. All that exercise is hazardous to your health.’
Chapter Twenty-one
‘You know, truisms are really . . .’ I searched for the word.
‘True?’ Pavlik guessed. It was Saturday again, a full week since Rachel’s visit to me, and we were sitting on the couch in my living room. We were being careful with each other, but I thought we were both trying to act like we had before a week of hell had gotten between us.
‘True. Yes.’
‘Like what?’ He pushed a lock of hair out of my eyes.
‘Take your pick, but “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” is the one I was thinking about. Rachel is her mother. She just doesn’t know it.’ I rubbed at my forehead.
‘Headache?’ Pavlik had me turn around and lie down face-up with my head in his lap. Then he started to massage my temples. ‘Feel good?’
Good? To paraphrase Mae West, it was so good, it was bad. Very, very bad. I had a hunch it was ‘bad’ for Pavlik, too.
‘Great,’ I replied. The word came out a half octave higher than my usual pitch. I cleared my throat. ‘I mean, it’s wonderful. Don’t stop.’
‘OK.’
Judging by the hitch in his voice, he was finding the rubbing pretty pleasurable, as well. ‘By the way,’ Pavlik said, kneading his thumbs into the little notches by my shoulder blades. ‘It turned out that Gretchen had been pregnant. Apparently she miscarried when she was beaten up.’
‘Did you pick up her boyfriend?’
‘We did, but it’s going to be pretty hard to prove anything at this point.’
‘It’s so sad. The woman had nothing. It was like she was invisible.’
We were quiet for a few minutes.
‘Have you seen Eric?’
‘He and Ted came over for dinner last night.’ I worked my shoulders a bit. Pavlik gave a little groan. ‘I’m glad they’ve had some time to spend together. Ted’s still pretty shook.’
‘He’s lucky you got there when you did.’
‘You think they would have killed him?’
‘Unless the hole she was digging in the back was for a pool. And they would have killed you, too.’ Pavlik leaned down to kiss me on the lips.
I sighed, admittedly happy to be alive. ‘Eric’s pretty charged up about being a hero.’
‘He’s quite a kid.’ Pavlik ran his hand down my bare arm. The weather had turned nice again and I was wearing a sleeveless shirt and shorts. The window next to us was open, a warm breeze lifting the curtains.
I knew the changeable Wisconsin spring was just waiting to betray us. My daffodils would stick their heads out one day and be buried by a blizzard the next. It was worth taking the risk, though, to enjoy the sunshine while it lasted. To trust, even if they got snowed occasionally.
No idiots, my daffodils.
I twisted around to kiss Pavlik.
