Hung Out to Dry: The Misadventures of the Laundry Hag, #4

by Jennifer L. Hart

  “That’d be nice.” Delivered in her thick honeyed accent the word sounded like naaace.

  I wasn’t the best with hairstyles. My own brown tresses were unmanageable and spent the majority of their time pulled back out of the way. But even I could manage a simple plait on someone else. With the elastic over one hand I started in on the left side of her head, working the tangles out slowly.

  I reached the crown of her head before she spoke. “My mama used to do this for me when I was little.”

  “Did she?” There was actually something soothing in the little feminine ritual. My mother had not been one for vanity, so I’d never been on the receiving end of such treatment. With the boys, well, they let me wield the electric razor once a month which was as much grooming as they could stand, the little beasts. “And just think, someday you are going to brush Mae’s hair like this.”

  Her shoulders shook and it took me a minute to realize she was crying. Immediately I set the brush aside. “Oh, honey what’s wrong, did I pull too much?”

  She shook her head violently. “It isn’t that.” She curled up onto her side as though warding off hurt. “How can you do it?”

  “Do what?” I asked, lost.

  “Just be a mom and nothing else.”

  I flinched, though with her back turned she didn’t see me. “I’m more than just a mom.”

  Penny went on as if she hadn’t heard me. Maybe she hadn’t. “I don’t even feel like a woman anymore, just Mae’s mother. Everything is about the baby, she’s all anyone ever talks to me about or asks about. And it’s awful, I know, but the more y’all talk about her the less I want to have anything to do with her. I feel like she’s just eclipsed me even though I’m right there.”

  Shit, I had been doing that, hadn’t I? New baby mania had set in, with all of us. Mae was new and shiny and we all wanted to be around her, her adoring fanbase. I’d treated Penny like a uterus, and left my screw up brother to see to her. Had he been overlooking her too?

  I thought about some of my own misgivings regarding a baby. The things Penny was going through were the same ones I’d been worried about and yet I hadn’t once stopped and thought about her. Caregivers needed to be cared for, too. I had Neil for that kind of support, he always made me feel like a woman. Maybe not the most graceful woman this side of the equator, but all-female, his female. A baby wouldn’t change that for us.

  “I’m sorry,” I said.

  She sniffled. “It’s just so…I didn’t know how hard it would be. Marty never really loved me. He just wanted the instant family.”

  I blanched. “Penny, I don’t think that’s the case—”

  “It is,” she insisted. “Why else won’t he have sex with me anymore?”

  Arguing with her wasn’t a good idea and I really didn’t want to hear about her and my brother’s sex life. Ick. Ick. Ick. For lack of anything better to do, I picked up the brush again.

  “I’m fat,” she sniffled. “Fat and ugly.”

  I looked her over. Yes, she still retained some of the pregnancy weight, but I thought it looked good on her. And though I knew better than to say so, Marty was not the sort of guy to be put off by a little junk in the trunk. True, he was more selective than he used to be, but when a guy starts out hitting on anyone with perfume and a pulse, that wasn’t saying much. “If you’re fat, then I’m a walking landmass,” I told her dryly.

  She actually looked at me then. “No, you’re a mom.”

  I raised a brow. “I am. And have you seen the guy who takes me to bed?”

  She smiled a little. “Yes.”

  “You’re right, I’m a mom and I’ve got a big backside. So the hell what? I’ve got more important things to worry about than what the numbers read on the inside of my jeans. So do you,” I said and when she winced I pressed on. “You’re still the same on the inside, right? Ask Sylvia to help you get back in shape if it’s important to you. She’s got this whole theory on rimming the grocery store. Personally, it sounds unhygienic as hell but different strokes for different folks, yeah?”

  A laugh, a real honest to goodness laugh escaped her cracked lips. Making a mental note to hunt for a tube of lip balm, I pressed my advantage by adding, “No matter what’s gone wrong between you guys, I know for a fact that Marty loves you. I don’t think he’s ever really loved anybody before, at least not romantically.”

  Her hair was as smooth as I could make it and I separated the strawberry blonde strands into three segments.

  “It’s not the loving,” she whispered, almost to herself. “It’s the wanting. I don’t think,” she swallowed, cleared her throat and then pressed onward. “I don’t think he wants me anymore. We haven’t had sex since Mae was born.”

  I looked beseechingly heavenward. Was there any way to escape this conversation without the mental slideshow of Marty and Penny doing the horizontal mambo?

  Probably not. And undoubtedly it was as hard for her to admit as it was for me to hear.

  “Have you…?” It was my turn to clear a big old bullfrog from my esophagus. “Did you let him know what you wanted?”

  She nodded. “Mae’s changed everything between us. We don’t even have that anymore.”

  It occurred to me that under the circumstances, throwing her a baby shower was probably a bad idea. Damn, Leo was already knee-deep in preparations too, but that was the least of our troubles. “Penny, listen to me. You and Marty have both been forced to make a lot of adjustments. You have to figure out how you work together as lovers, and as parents but I promise, you can be both if the two of you want it badly enough.”

  “And if he doesn’t want me anymore?”

  I’d finished the braid and used the elastic band to hold it in place. I stood back, admiring my handiwork. I could do hair, good to know. “Talk to him, okay? Tell him how you’re feeling. But I promise, no matter what, Neil and the boys, Sylvia, and Leo we will all be here for you.”

  Her shoulders relaxed and I hadn’t realized how tense she’d been. That’s what she’d been fearing, I realized with a jolt of insight. She’d been half expecting that we would all gang up on her and run her out of town, instead of letting her keep the place we’d made for her in our lives.

  There was a soft knock on the door and the nurse poked her head in. “Visiting hours are almost up.”

  I leaned down and gave Penny a swift hug. “Okay, do you want me to stop by tomorrow morning?”

  “That’d be nice.” Another soft smile. Sylvia had been right, I was glad I’d come.

  The rosy glow left me as I met up with Neil and Leo in the waiting area.

  “How’d it go?” My husband asked.

  “Okay. I need to talk to Marty though and, um, the baby shower is off.”

  Leo’s face fell “But I have everything all arranged…”

  I tucked an arm through his. “I think there’s a way to help her and still have a celebration.”

  Neil looked from me to Leo. “She’s got that look in her eye.”

  Leo grinned. “I can’t wait to hear this.”

  Chapter Ten

  Neil dropped me off at the police station the next morning on his way to work. “Do you want me to stick around in case she tries to lock you up again?”

  I grimaced but shook my head. “I’ll sic your mother on her if she tries anything shady. And Sylvia will be by in an hour to pick me up.”

  “Text me later.” Neil planted a quick but thorough kiss on my lips and I climbed out of the Mini. A brief surge of panic flared as I watched the taillights disappear. Having one vehicle for the entire family was getting old. Sylvia helped out and there was always the camper in a real pinch, but I was used to having my own set of wheels, independence for coming and going where and when I pleased, not dropped like a tween at the mall. And speaking of which, what the hell were we going to do when Josh started driving?

  I should look into getting a beater car, something reliable with decent gas mileage. I hated car shopping though. On my budget, it wa
s depressing because the rust buckets I could afford weren’t worth having. And I was stalling.

  Taking a deep breath, I marched up the concrete steps into the Hudson Police Department.

  The uniform at the desk was unfamiliar to me. He was average height and weight, utterly unremarkable except for a pair of huge Dumbo ears that stuck out and the fluorescent light glowed through them.

  “I’m here to speak with Detective Capri,” I told him.

  He didn’t look up, his focus on the stack of paperwork thick as a Bible in front of him. His voice was flat and nasal as he asked. “Regarding…?”

  “The death of Chester Dale.”

  He did look up then, brows furrowed. His eyes were set very close together and other than the ears, he looked sort of like a number two pencil with a face. “That case has been ruled as death by natural causes.”

  I blew out a breath. “I know, but his granddaughter almost died yesterday and—” I snapped my mouth closed, wondering why I was telling him all this. “Can you just go tell Detective Capri that Maggie Phillips is here? Please?”

  “Phillips?” His furrowed brow relaxed and he snapped and pointed at me. “You’re the laundry hag, right.”

  “That’s me.” I offered a wan smile, hoping that my notoriety would help him get the lead out. Hehe, pencil lead. A choked sound escaped as I strangled the laugh. Okay, I really needed to get some sleep if I thought that was funny.

  He eyed me for a second, his tone sounding more nasal with his enthusiasm and I saw him crane his neck to catch a glimpse of my hands. “I heard about you. You blew up that building.”

  “Just the basement,” I corrected, shooting glances toward the hallway. “Is the detective even here?”

  “And set fire to the Valentino residence.” He continued. “You know, you should see someone about those arson tendencies.”

  Enough was enough. “I’ll just go wait in her office. Don’t worry,” I added when he made a motion to follow me out from behind the desk,” I know where it is. Just let her know I’m waiting to speak with her. Kaythanksby.”

  I said the last in a rush as I scooted past him with a wave. He stepped toward me, but then resumed his vigil as the doors opened to five police officers, each hauling in a bedraggled looking juvenile.

  “We caught them down by the convenience store, spray painting obscenities on the cinderblock walls.” The lead officer said.

  Juvenile delinquents to my rescue. I bee-lined toward Detective Capri’s office. This early in the morning the stationhouse was relatively quiet. Hudson wasn’t a hotbed of crime, but any city so near a major metropolis like Boston was bound to pick up some of the criminal flotsam discarded by the urban sprawl.

  Capri’s office was as disorganized as I remembered it. Heaps of papers and file folders fanned out on every horizontal surface. A graveyard of Styrofoam coffee cups on the windowsill. The woman swore she had a system, but for the life of me I couldn’t see it as anything but clutter.

  I sat in the chair opposite her desk and planned what to say as the cheap plastic clock on the wall ticked away the minutes. Somehow telling her Neil had made me come didn’t seem like the way to start. Accusing various members of the Dale family of attempted murder was going to be dicey no matter how I phrased it. They had motive, and I’d seen their rage firsthand.

  Going off the word of Aloysius Finn and his cronies when the Hudson PD considered Chester Dale’s death to be ruled as natural was ludicrous. I’d gotten in over my head before with very little proof and didn’t want to give Capri the opportunity to remind me of my past mistakes. If I was going to help Sarah, I needed to tread lightly and choose every word with the utmost care.

  The door opened and Detective Capri came in. Her hair was cut short in an unflattering bob, not pulled back in the severe bun she used to wear. She had on her standard pantsuit, which did nothing to accentuate her femininity. I figured that was the point, she wanted to go into a situation without having her gender be an issue for her male counterparts. It would be an idiot criminal who took her on, thinking she was the weak link.

  “What can I do for you, Mrs. Phillips?” If she was surprised to see me, the good detective didn’t let on. She had the best poker face I’d ever seen.

  “I’ve been working with Sarah Dale, helping her clean out the estate on the edge of town. She’s had some…issues lately.”

  “What sort of issues?” Capri sat down, her back ramrod straight. I was almost tempted to take a picture of her and text it to Kenny and Josh as an example of excellent posture, but I doubted my oh look, something shiny observation would help the current conversation.

  “There was a potential break-in last week.”

  One brow lifted. “Was anything taken?”

  “She wasn’t sure. Trust me when I say her house looks like your office on acid. Someone could have searched the place while she was out for her morning ride and she wouldn’t have noticed.”

  Capri leaned back in her chair. “I would know if anyone took something from this office.”

  “Yeah, well, Sarah is different. Not so good with the attention to detail, which is why she hired us.” Not even under pain of death would I say the word psychic out loud. I had enough stacked against me. “And then there are her aunts and uncle. None of them are happy about her inheriting the house. They are contesting Chester Dale’s will.”

  Capri steeples her fingers, her expression neutral. “How do you know this?”

  I fought the urge to squirm under her unyielding stare. I didn’t do anything wrong, except for trying to pass expired coupons at Walmart, but I figure the bastards had it coming. “Sylvia and I were there when they confronted her. So was Detective Finn from Boston P.D. He’s the one who chased them off.”

  Her eyes grew harder and I realized she must have thought Finn had been mucking about in her backyard. “He wasn’t there to pee in your pool. He’s a friend of the family. Well, technically his grandfather, Aloysius Finn is, though he’s in a nursing facility, so the detective stopped by to pay his respects. For his grandfather.”

  She looked at me as though I’d sprouted a second head. “Sorry, I guess that was more detail than you needed.”

  To her credit, Detective Capri didn’t laugh in my face for being a babbling nitwit. “Do you think there’s some controversy over the estate?”

  “Yeah, one of the aunts flat out told Sarah that she was never supposed to be included in the will. I got the feeling that they thought they could bully her into handing over whatever they wanted. And now Sarah’s in the hospital from carbon monoxide poisoning. I just thought you should know.” I finished lamely.

  Capri leaned back in her chair. “It is possible. People tend to go nuts when there’s an inheritance involved.”

  “Right.” I nodded, shocked that she actually believed me.

  “It’s also possible that the furnace broke down and was emitting carbon monoxide all on its own. I’ll look into it.”

  I waited for a moment but she didn’t say anything else. “You believe me?”

  She nodded. “It’s worth a few phone calls and maybe a conversation with Sarah Dale if only to put her mind at ease.”

  “Okey dokey then.” I pushed up off the chair. That had gone better than I expected. I turned and had my hand on the doorknob when she called out.

  “Mrs. Phillips?”

  “So close,” I breathed. Then, pasting on a bland expression I turned back to her. “Yes?”

  Capri had also risen and strode around her cluttered desk to stand near me. “I just wanted to say, I regret that I didn’t do more to help you last time you came to me. I can imagine what it cost you to walk through my door today and ask for assistance and I appreciate it. Please keep me informed of any new information you come across.”

  Well, how about them apples? “I’ll do my best.”

  She smiled, a little grimly. “You always do.”

  Sylvia drove me home. The Dale estate was still being aired out so we couldn
’t work and with nothing better to do, I thought I’d have a little heart to heart with my idiot brother.

  “Go easy on him, Maggie,” Sylvia said as she pulled up into her driveway. “He really might be clueless about what’s been going on with Penny.”

  “No worries, I’m not going to stake him out on an anthill or anything.” At least that wasn’t my go-to plan.

  Marty was in the middle of packing up Mae’s stroller when we entered Sylvia’s house. “Um, hi, I was just gonna take Mae to the park.”

  “Are you cheating on Penny?” I blurted.

  Sylvia smacked her palm against her forehead. “So much for taking it easy.”

  “What?” Marty appeared totally confused.

  “Have you been screwing around on Penny?” I repeated.

  “No!” He was totally indignant. “Why do you keep asking me this?”

  “I’m just gonna go,” Sylvia chucked her thumb at the door. “Somewhere else.”

  “Can we borrow your car?” I asked before she made her escape. “I really don’t want to take the baby to the park in the death trap.”

  Sylvia handed me her keys and I went to move the car seat to the Prius.

  “Did I say you could come with us?” Marty asked as I took Mae from him.

  “Nope, but you were about to.”

  “Was not,” he grumped.

  Mae squirmed like she always did and I had to catch each flailing limb and pop her pacifier back into her mouth to keep her from shrieking. “Was too. Make yourself useful and put the stroller in the trunk.”

  Marty muttered about overbearing pain in the ass relatives but did as I’d instructed.

  I slid behind the wheel and waited for him to climb into the car. “Are you coming?”

  “Are you going to tell me why you accused me of cheating?” he countered.

  “Eventually.”

  Marty got in the car.

  I drove to the nearest municipal park. It was a perfect summer day and plenty of other families were out enjoying nature. Some rode bikes, others played Frisbee. There was a game of pick-up basketball at the far edge of the parking area. Marty got the stroller set up and loaded himself down with the diaper bag while I retrieved Mae.