Polkacide (24 page)

"I guess so."

"Add to that the fact that
he hated Lou and could only get a recording contract if Lou was
dead." Peg gestured with both hands, hammering home her points.
"Plus the fact that Eddie Sr. has been acting guilty and
disappearing mysteriously. It all adds up, Lottie."

I couldn't deny her theory sounded
convincing. "But we still don't have any actual evidence, do
we?"

"We will soon enough." Peg
fluffed up her 'fro and adjusted her polka-dotted glasses.
"
Then
we'll call
the cops."

Suddenly, the front door
swung open, and Eddie Jr. charged into Polka Central. "He did it
again! That damned father of mine!"

Peg gave me a meaningful
look. "So you didn't find him, Ed?"

Eddie pawed at his brown
t-shirt, which looked even more rumpled than it had that morning.
"He's still gone! I've been driving around for the past three
hours, and I can't find a trace of him! The last time anyone saw
him was eight-thirty this morning, when he left the
urologist."

"Gee." Peg looked my way again. "I
wonder where he could be?"

"I don't know, and I don't
care." Eddie stomped off across the scuffed gym floor toward the
stage. "He's made my life miserable. I say the hell with
him."

Peg jabbed me in the side and pointed
her jaw in Eddie's direction. She wanted me to go after
him.

I knew she was right. He was
pretty worked up and could use a friend. So I nodded and followed
him, leaving Peg near the door.

Little did I know she
wouldn't be there for long. I heard the door close when I was up on
the stage, about to part the gray curtains after Eddie. When I
looked back over my shoulder, I saw she was gone.

I heard her noisy car start
up and pull away, and I wondered where she was going. She'd talked
about getting the killer before he could get her; since she thought
Eddie Sr. was the killer, had she gone in search of him? If so,
what did she think she would do when she found him?

I wondered if I should go
after her. She was in danger, whether Eddie Sr. was the killer or
not.

But she had a big head start, and I
wasn't sure if I could catch up. I had no idea where exactly she
was headed...and anyway, I had a situation of my own that wouldn't
wait.

Instead of following Eddie into the
office, I pulled out my phone and dialed Luke's number. I was
worried after the three calls he'd made during the meeting. Why
hadn't he left a voice mail message or picked up when I called
back?

And why wasn't he answering this time,
either? The phone rang and rang, and Luke didn't take the call.
What in the world was going on out there in L.A.?

Was it possible I'd be better off not
knowing about it?

Chapter 34

I talked to Eddie Jr. for a
little bit, filling him in on the drama he'd missed with Father
Speedy and the gang. It seemed to take his mind off his dad and
helped him calm down, so I figured I'd done my part.

I left him there, in charge
of Polka Central, and headed home. Back to the DeeLite Efficiency
Motel, anyway. After the day I'd been having, I really needed to
hole up in my room for a while. I also needed some uninterrupted
time with my phone so I could get to the bottom of the West Coast
situation.

When I pulled up, there was
no sign of Ghost the cat, but it was still only late afternoon. I'd
only ever seen him after dark, so maybe he'd show up
later.

Hurrying into the room, I shut the
door, yanked out my phone, and started dialing. It rang six times,
then went to Luke's voice mail. At which point, I hung up and
dialed again.

No one picked up that time,
either, or the next three. I was starting to think the only way I'd
solve the mystery of Luke's silence was to fly back to L.A. and
talk to him face to face.

Torn between worry and anger, I
dropped the phone on the dresser and went to the kitchenette. I set
about fixing a bowl of milk for Ghost, on the chance that I hadn't
scared him away for good when I'd tried to read the tag on his
collar.

Just as the milk was in mid-pour, the
cell phone rang.

As I cursed and put down the
carton, the second ring sounded. The third ring hit as I ran the
few feet from the kitchenette to the dresser.

Grabbing the phone, I
thumbed the wrong button...and got ring number four. Heart
pounding, I went for the right button, afraid I wouldn't catch the
call before the fifth ring sent it to voice mail.

But I caught it in time.
"Hello? Luke?"

The line was silent for a moment, and
I thought I'd missed the call after all. Then, I heard the sound of
breathing, and a voice.

Luke's voice. "Hey." He
didn't sound even slightly upbeat.

I lowered myself to the edge of the
bed, wondering what was coming next. "What's going on out there?
I've been trying to call you all day."

"No kidding." Something was
definitely wrong. I'd never heard him sound more down in the dumps.
"I did try to call you back."

"I was in the middle of a
meeting," I told him. "Worst meeting
ever
."

"I doubt it," said Luke.

"Doubt what?"

"That it was worse than the
meeting
I
had
yesterday." He sighed heavily. "With the
bank
." Long pause. "We're finished,
Lottie."

My blood ran cold.
"Finished?" Why was I making him spell it out for me? "With the
club?" I knew exactly what he was talking about.

At least I thought I did. "With..." He
paused and sighed again. Why such a struggle to get the words out?
"With...everything."

That
was why. "Everything?"

"I'm sorry, Lottie. We should be
having this conversation face to face. Not like this." His voice
faded, as if he'd drifted away from the receiver. And then he was
back again. "But this is how it has to be."

"So...wait. Back it up.
Start at the beginning." I gripped the edge of the bed so tightly,
my knuckles turned white. "What happened with the club? And the
bank?"

"They wouldn't give us an
extension on the loan payment. They've foreclosed." Luke made a
sound like he was sucking in air through his teeth. "End of
story."

"Oh my God." My head sagged
forward, and I cupped my hand over my eyes. "I can't believe it," I
said, though in truth, I
could
believe it. Since stepping on the plane to fly
home and try to scare up some money, I'd known filing for an
extension was a long shot. Especially since it was going to be
our
third
extension.

But hearing someone say it
was over packed a punch all its own. I couldn't keep brushing it
aside anymore, hoping for a miracle. I couldn't keep fooling myself
that things were going to work out, and my greatest failure would
somehow become my greatest success. The fairy tale of my L.A. dance
club was over and done.

"So what now?" I moved my hand from my
eyes and looked at my image in the mirror on the dresser. "What do
we have to do now?"

"Nothing. They've taken it.
It's done." Luke's voice drifted away again, then back. "I did
manage to walk away with a few things you might want, though. A few
odds and ends. They're in the storage unit."

I frowned. "What storage
unit?"

"Your storage unit. The one..." Long
pause. "The one with all your stuff in."

It took a moment for what
he'd said to sink in. Even after it did, I didn't say anything for
a while.

Eventually, he broke the silence by
clearing his throat. "Lottie? You there?"

I didn't answer him. I was having
trouble processing what was happening. I understood it, I got the
picture, but the reality of it wasn't quite taking hold.

When I finally spoke, my voice sounded
distant to my ears. It sounded small. "You put my things in a
storage unit?"

Luke and I had lived together for
three and a half years. Things had gotten difficult, what with the
club floundering, but still. Three and a half years.

And now this. "It's like I
said, Lottie. We're finished with everything."

When my phone had been
ringing up a storm back in Polka Central, I hadn't expected this.
Bad news on the dance club front, maybe. A little stress-induced
friction, most likely. But not this.

But there it was. "I can't
believe you're doing this." My stomach was twisting, my throat was
tight. "I can't believe you're
breaking
up
with me like this."

Luke sighed. "Things haven't been good
for a long time, Lottie. You know it's true."

"What did you
expect
? We've been in the
middle of a financial
meltdown
."

"Not just that." He grunted,
like he was struggling to find the words. "We haven't
been...connecting. You've been
pulling
away
from me. I
know
you
blamed
me for the club going
down."

"That's not true. I
blame
myself
. I
always
have
."

"It doesn't matter what you
say. I could see it in your
eyes
. I can hear it in the sound of
your
voice
. I
wrestled with it for a long time, Lottie." He took a deep breath
and let it out slowly. "Then, I finally just gave up."

I stared at the face in the
mirror, as if the woman there could somehow give me guidance. But
of course she was as clueless as I was. Just as surprised,
confused, pissed off...and in denial. "We should wait till I come
home." She and I said it at the same time. "Maybe we can work
things out now that the stress from the club is..."

"No." Luke snapped out the word...then
faded again. "I'm...I'm..."

"What? You're what?"

"There's somebody else." He
said it firmly, unequivocally, leaving no room for interpretation.
His voice, which had faltered and drifted and faded, was suddenly
full of conviction. "So there's no chance for you and me. No more
chances."

Stunned, I lowered the phone from my
ear. The pressure of tears burned my eyes, and I knew I was going
to cry.

It couldn't be true. It
didn't seem real. The last time I'd seen him, there'd been no
clues...none I'd noticed, anyway. We weren't happy, but who
would
be, in the middle
of a failing business venture and impending bankruptcy?

I wondered when it had changed for
him. How long had he been out of love with me? When had he decided
to make this call?

And then there was the biggest
question, of course. The one that was foremost in my mind. "Who?" I
raised the phone to my ear and barked out the word. "Who is
it?"

Luke coughed. "I'm not going
to talk about it."

"
Who is it?
" Tears rolled down my face
as I shouted into the phone. "
Tell
me!
"

"It doesn't matter."

"How
long
have you been
seeing
her?" I got up
from the bed and started pacing across the room. "Oh, God! How long
have you been
cheating
on me?"

"It doesn't matter!" He
sounded angry, as if he had any right to be. "We are
over
! You need to
let
go
."

"Let go?
Let go?
You just
told
me about all this five
minutes
ago!" I was so
mad, I kicked over the wastebasket on my way past. The housekeeper
must've emptied it, because nothing spilled on the rug. "Sorry
for
dragging this out
for you!"

"Would you rather if I
hadn't called?" said Luke. "Would that have been
better
for
you?"

"Gee, thanks." I ground out
the words with pure hatred, even as the tears kept rolling down my
cheeks. "Thanks for calling long-distance to
dump
me after my dad's
funeral
. Thanks
for
waiting
till
I
left town
so you
wouldn't have to
do
this
face to face!
"

"That's not how it
is
, Lottie. I'm trying to
do what's right for both of us here."

"Go to hell, you coward!" I
pulled the phone from my ear, held the receiver close to my mouth,
and let loose. "I wish I'd never
met
you!"

I could hear his voice
stammering, but I couldn't tell what he was trying to say. Shouting
him down like that gave me a grim sense of satisfaction. I would've
preferred reaching through the phone and choking him, but this
would do for now.