Skye’s mother had hinted that she’d be more than willing to quit her dispatcher job and become a granny nanny, but having May that involved in their lives would be a disaster. The woman was already way too obsessed with her children and grandchildren.
Hmm! An idea flashed through Wally’s head and he straightened in his seat. Maybe the answer was Dorothy Snyder. She’d worked as their part-time housekeeper before the tornado. Would she be willing to work for them exclusively and include childcare in her duties?
Skye wouldn’t like the idea of a full-time housekeeper, but it would be the ideal solution. They both had demanding professions, which left them with little energy to do double duty at home.
Wally vowed to discuss the possibility with Skye the next time he saw a good opening. Deep in thought as to how to bring up the subject, he nearly missed his turn.
He forced himself to concentrate on his driving, and shortly afterward, he swung into his driveway. Continuing past the RV, he approached the construction site and pulled the Hummer next to Beilin’s pickup.
Wally studied the structure. From here the new house looked move-in ready. He jumped out of the Hummer and strolled around the perimeter. The landscaping wouldn’t go in until the spring, so he had to avoid the large clods of dirt and chunks of debris, but the view was worth it.
He and Skye had decided to build their new home closer to the river than where the previous one had been located, and they had told the architect to include a deck running the entire length of the rear wall facing the water. Their property included several acres, which had allowed them to choose a sprawling Prairie-style ranch with a welcoming front porch and a screened-in gazebo in the back, as well as a full basement.
Having made it through one tornado, neither of them would ever consider living anywhere without a basement. The one in their old place had saved both their lives and the lives of two of Skye’s former students who had been visiting her at the time of the twister.
Returning to the front of the house, Wally took out his cell and turned up the ringer so that he’d hear Skye or his officers if they tried to contact him. Then after slipping the phone into his shirt pocket, he ran up the front steps and opened the mahogany, Craftsman-style door.
They had opted for an open floor plan that had a master suite on one side and the other four bedrooms in the opposite wing. The kitchen, great room, and dining room occupied the center of the house and there was a huge bonus room over the three-car garage that they’d initially planned to make into a home gym.
Later, the home gym had been downsized and relocated to one of the spare bedrooms. Instead, they’d decided to add a kitchenette and bathroom to the bonus space and make it an in-law suite. None of their parents were getting any younger, and with the twins, Wally suspected that once his dad returned to Texas, he would be a frequent visitor.
Stepping inside, Wally spotted the general contractor working in the kitchen and walked toward him. Beilin was a muscular man in his late forties. Usually good-natured, today he wore a frown as he and another scrawny-looking guy applied the grayish-tan paint Skye had selected.
The tile floor, covered with what looked like butcher paper, bore an assortment of splatters, and as Wally carefully stepped over them, he said, “Mr. Quinn, I’d like a word with you.”
At the sound of Wally’s voice, the contractor startled and drops of paints flew from his brush. He let loose with a stream of curses that made Wally raise his eyebrows.
Evidently seeing Wally’s expression, Beilin shrugged. “Some people call those swear words. I think of them as sentence enhancers.”
“But not around Skye or my kids,” Wally stated, unamused.
“Of course not.” Beilin told the other man to keep painting, then followed Wally outside to where the vehicles were parked and apologized. “I’m really sorry about this morning.”
“What delayed you this time?” Wally didn’t bother to hide his irritation.
“It’s the wife.” Beilin stuck his hand in one of his pockets and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. “She’s got some bee in her bonnet about our daughter being a genius and needing special attention at school.”
“And?” Wally made a mental note to ask Skye if she was aware of Beilin’s daughter.
“And I think she’s just a bright kid who should be able to enjoy kindergarten without a lot of overblown expectations.” Beilin shrugged. “I think it’s because we had such a hard time having her that Jerita wants everything about her life to be perfect.”
“That’s understandable.” Wally nodded but kept his tone firm. “Unfortunately, I have my own family to consider and if you can’t get the job done in the time you promised, we’ll need to replace you.”
“Don’t worry, Chief.” Beilin slid a cigarette from the pack, then must have noticed Wally’s frown and put it back. “I told Jerita to do what she wants but that I wouldn’t be a part of it.”
“Okay.” Wally blew out a breath. “Just make sure you remember that and show up on time tomorrow.”
Chapter 5
Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’
Skye slid a steaming bowl of creamy chicken and wild rice soup in front of Wally as he sat at their tiny kitchen table. Opening the oven door, she took out a pan of rolls, dumped them in a basket, then fetched her own bowl of soup and took the seat opposite Wally.
They hadn’t had a chance to catch up on either his case or her meeting because Wally had been on the radio with Zelda Martinez when he’d picked Skye up from the elementary school. And he’d still been being briefed by Zelda when he’d dropped Skye at her SUV.
Then when Wally had gotten home from work, he and Skye were too busy feeding the twins and getting them to sleep to talk about anything important. Now as they ate dinner they finally had the time to discuss their respective afternoons.
Blowing out a tired sigh, Skye shook out her napkin.
Wally stopped eating, tilted his head, and asked, “Hard afternoon?”
“Eva and CJ were all hyped up after being with Grandma.” Skye swallowed a spoonful of soup. “On the bright side, Mom had the soup and rolls for us.” She pushed the large wooden bowl in his direction. “All I had to do was throw together a salad for our dinner.”
“How was your meeting?” Wally helped himself to the lettuce, tomatoes, and shaved carrots lightly dressed with a balsamic vinaigrette. “Did your intern really need you to be there?”
“Definitely.” Skye selected a golden-brown roll and broke it open. “Did you hear that Caroline Greer was rushed to the hospital with appendicitis?”
“No.” Wally frowned. “Did that happen during the parent conference?”
“I wish,” Skye muttered, then realized how that sounded and added, “I meant I wouldn’t want it to happen at all, but unfortunately it happened early enough for Caroline to call in another administrator. One who is totally inept.”
“Homer?” Wally’s eyebrows rose. “But why would she choose him? She thinks he’s a buffoon and should retire.”
“Process of elimination.” Skye explained how Homer ended up being the only admin available. “We would have been much, much better on our own. Homer insulted the parent, even though he knew she was recording him, and she immediately headed to her attorney to file a lawsuit.”
“Well, crap.” Wally ate a bite of salad, then said, “Tell me her lawyer isn’t Loretta.”
“Of course it is.” Skye tried to figure out if it would be a breach of confidentiality to mention that the woman was their contractor’s wife and that she was likely Loretta’s new paralegal.
Yep. It probably was against best practices and Skye couldn’t see any acceptable reason to disclose that information to Wally.
“Was that why the meeting took so long?” Wally asked, buttering his roll.
“That, and afterward I needed to ask Piper about a statement that Homer made
during the whole fiasco.” Skye took a sip of her water before explaining. “He said something about matters piling up that my intern couldn’t handle alone. Naturally I wanted to know what he was talking about.”
“And?” Wally waved for her to go on, his mouth full of bread.
“Dooziers.”
At Skye’s single-word answer, Wally choked and started coughing.
Earl Doozier was the alpha male of the Red Raggers pack. Although they weren’t werewolves—as far as Skye knew anyway—when riled up, they were almost as dangerous. They were a clan of loosely related troublemakers who lived along the river in the part of town mothers warned their children to avoid.
They were the folks the upright citizens of Scumble River gossiped about during their church socials and in the stands at their kids’ sporting events. But before they said a word, they made certain that none of the Red Raggers were around because no one was foolish enough to get the RRs sore at them on purpose.
The Dooziers and their kin didn’t have family trees as much as they had bonsai bushes of hereditary mutations. They may not be the smartest or the strongest, but they were like cockroaches. They’d survive the next ice age wearing only a light jacket.
The reason Homer wanted Skye to handle Earl was her special relationship with the Dooziers. She acted as both their translator and advocate. And in turn, they made sure that anyone who messed with her was very, very sorry.
Finally Wally took a sip of water, regained his voice, and asked, “What has Earl done now?”
“Evidently, Cletus, Earl’s nephew and ward”—Skye checked to see if Wally was following and when he nodded she continued—“was caught making out with Iris Allen.” When Wally didn’t react, Skye elaborated, “Ginger’s daughter. You know, the cousin who doesn’t like me.”
Wally whistled.
Skye wished she wasn’t still breastfeeding because she really needed a glass of wine to deal with this mess. Now she was doubly glad that they’d made the decision to begin weaning the twins so they’d be completely on formula before she returned to work. She couldn’t handle her duties as school psychologist without merlot and a massive amount of caffeine. The one cup of coffee a day she was currently allowed wouldn’t cut it once she was back on the job.
“Anyway, Homer, living up to his title of idiot extraordinaire, suspended Cletus, but not Iris.” Skye shook her head. “That usually wouldn’t be a problem because Earl’s not exactly big on education and wouldn’t mind or maybe even notice that his nephew was off of school for a few days.”
“But?” Wally raised an eyebrow.
“But Ginger threw a royal fit and demanded that Cletus be expelled.” Skye finished her roll and wiped her fingers on her napkin.
“Why?” Wally continued to eat, but kept his attention on Skye.
“Even though Iris denies it and says she’s in love with Cletus, Ginger claimed that he forced himself on her daughter.” As Skye thought about the messed-up situation, she ate the rest of her soup. Finally, she said, “Ginger wanted to call the police and file charges, but since Iris is adamant that one, they’re a couple, and two, they were only kissing, evidently even my crazy cousin decided that wouldn’t fly.”
“Thank goodness.” Wally pretended to brush sweat from his brow.
“But Ginger wasn’t letting the matter go. She’s like a squirrel with an ear of corn. She was determined to keep at it until there wasn’t a kernel left on the cob.” Skye drained her water glass. “In response to my cousin’s nagging, Homer tried to bring in Ginger and Earl to discuss the matter. However, from what Piper tells me, he was clearly on Ginger’s side and even suggested that Cletus was old enough to drop out of school.”
“Seriously?” Wally emptied the rest of the salad bowl onto his dish.
“Apparently he hasn’t read the handbook, which plainly states that school personnel aren’t allowed to advise or encourage students to drop out of school voluntarily due to behavioral or academic difficulties.”
“Did your intern point that out to him?” Wally asked with a smirk.
“Of course she did. And in front of Earl, who promptly declared that he would be suing Homer.” Skye blew out a breath. “That’s why I suspect that Homer was trying to get Piper in trouble today.”
“So that makes two lawsuits pending against Homer?” Wally chuckled as he finished his second helping of salad. “At this rate, the parents should just band together and make it a class action suit.”
“Bite your tongue!” Skye yelped, then couldn’t help but giggle.
“I’d rather bite into that pumpkin cake your mom sent over.” Wally rose and cleared the table, then asked, “Shall we have dessert in the living room?”
“Sure.” Skye got up and went into the bedroom to check on the twins, who were sleeping peacefully.
When she returned, Wally had pieces of cake and cups of decaf on the coffee table. She settled next to him on the couch and enjoyed a bite of the decadent dessert.
After sucking every speck of the cream cheese frosting from her fork, Skye asked, “How was your afternoon?”
“Nothing new on Edie Baker.” Wally took a sip of his coffee. “Martinez thought she had something when they found a woman’s tennis shoe wedged between the door and frame of a storage shed by the Bord du Lac clubhouse, but Gerald said it wasn’t Edie’s.”
“So you’ll enlarge the perimeter, right?” Skye asked.
“Yep. Just before I came home, I called to arrange for a water search for Wednesday if the expanded search tomorrow doesn’t yield any results.”
“It’s good to have them prepped and ready.” Skye’s chest tightened, knowing that Wally was saying he thought Edie was dead.
“On a better note…” Wally put his arm around Skye’s shoulder and hugged her to his side. “Beilin showed up at the new house around noon and was getting the kitchen painted when I stopped by to see him.”
“Yeah!” Skye clapped, then asked, “How was the color?”
“It looks great,” Wally assured her. “We can take a walk over later if you want.”
“I want to see the paint in the sunlight.”
“Then we’ll go in the morning.” Wally smiled and added, “I had a talk with Beilin, and he swore that he’d settled things with his wife and would be on time from now on.”
“Awesome.” Skye wondered if things were still settled now that Jerita was intent on suing Homer and the school district.
* * *
The next week flew by, and once again it was Monday morning. And like the previous Monday, there was no sign of Beilin Quinn’s truck at the construction site.
He’d been on time and on top of things since Wally’s talk with him. Cabinets and counters had been installed and the backsplash was up. But today, of all days, Beilin hadn’t showed up yet and the painter, who had finished the kitchen, then gone off to another job, was back, and looking for the contractor. He had knocked on Skye’s door a few minutes ago saying that he was supposed to start on the rest of the rooms but couldn’t do anything until the GC arrived.
When Skye had suggested he start without Beilin, the man had refused. It seems that the contractor had to approve each color before any work could begin. Evidently, Skye’s okay wasn’t enough.
Now she stood on the small metal porch in front of the RV, staring across their property at the construction site near the river, willing Beilin to appear. When her thoughts failed to conjure up the man, she sighed and took her cell phone from the pocket of her jeans.
Scrolling until she found Beilin’s number on her contact list, she was about to hit dial when the contractor’s silver pickup made a sharp turn into the driveway and zoomed past the RV. It came to a skidding stop in front of the new house and he jumped out of the cab.
Immediately, the painter marched up to him and put his hands on his hips. Skye couldn’t hear what w
as being said between the two men, but their debate appeared heated.
Thrilled the contractor had shown up and unwilling to get pulled into their argument, Skye stepped inside. She had been keeping an eye on the twins through the glass door and had been happy to see them contentedly sitting in their bouncy seats batting at the soft toys attached to the bar in front of them. Every few seconds they would coo at each other as if in a deep discussion.
When Skye knelt between CJ and Eva, they waved their arms and legs and babbled at her excitedly. Evidently, they were including her in their conversation.
As she played with her babies, she thought of the previous week. Edie Baker was still missing. Volunteers had looked for her via foot, horseback, and ATV but there had been no sign of the woman. A sonar search of the water surrounding her home hadn’t turned up anything nor had dragging the lake.
Today, Wally and his officers were questioning people who claimed to have seen Mrs. Baker since her disappearance. The police had already talked via telephone to dozens of folks who alleged to have information, but they reserved these face-to-face interviews for the few who seemed to be the most credible.
On the school front, Caroline’s appendectomy had had complications and she was still unavailable for consultation regarding the Jenna Quinn case. Skye had continued attempting to find another solution for the matter, but with Caroline out of action, things were at a standstill.
Jerita was indeed Loretta’s new paralegal, and with the help of her boss, she had already filed a lawsuit against Homer. Usually filing a lawsuit would take longer, but Loretta was already cognizant of the full story and facts.
Added to her prior knowledge was the fact that she had cleaned up her caseload in anticipation of having her baby, so she had all her time and attention available. Then there was Jerita, who was more than motivated to do her part for the case.
Shaking her head, Skye noticed the twins were getting drowsy, so she quickly changed them and put them in their bassinets.
When her cell vibrated in her pocket, Skye was expecting it to be either Homer or Piper, both of whom had taken to calling her several times a day since being notified of Jerita’s lawsuit. But when Skye swiped at the device’s screen she frowned. Why was Earl Doozier calling her?
Come Homicide or High Water Page 5
