Dead to the World (6 page)

BACK HOME

Bess just shook her head. ‘Megan …’ she started, but couldn’t really find the words. Finally she said, ‘Just eat your food.’

‘Jeez, that’s what I’ve been trying to do! But then all this drama started!’ she said.

‘She’s right,’ Logan said, smiling down at Bess. ‘No more drama. I’m starved.’

Megan, who’d been eating a lot longer than the others, finished first. She got up and stretched. ‘I think I’ll save my dessert for breakfast,’ she said and turned, heading up the stairs.

Bess started to call out to remind her sister to take her plate into the kitchen, but realizing she was soon to be totally alone with Logan, she decided she could do it herself. When she and Logan finished their dinner, he helped her clean off the bar and put Alicia’s food, still only half-eaten, in foil and into the refrigerator.

‘Hope you don’t mind sleeping on the sofa,’ Bess said when they finished in the kitchen. ‘The one in the living room is more comfortable to sleep on than this one,’ she said, indicating the sofa in the large family room that was part of what they called ‘the great room,’ which included the kitchen and breakfast room. She knew she could easily put him in her brother Graham’s room upstairs, now unoccupied as Graham was living with their grandmother in the neighboring town of Codderville to give a little distance between him and Alicia – their parents using the distance as a new-fangled chastity belt. Bess thought having Logan in the downstairs living room would cause the same problems for her. She had an uneasy feeling that Logan being only a room away would be too much temptation. ‘And that way you can sleep in. We tend to make a racket in the kitchen in the mornings.’

‘Oh, I’m used to waking up early,’ he said with a smile. ‘And the sofa’s fine. Either one. I’ll go where you put me.’

‘Well, let me get a pillow and a blanket.’

He took her hand and led her to the great room sofa. ‘Can we just sit and talk for a minute?’ he asked her.

‘Sure,’ Bess said, feeling her face getting hot and wishing she had the ability to control such things.

They sat side by side on the sofa, both looking straight ahead. He had let go of her hand when they reached their destination. For a long moment, no one said anything, then Logan spoke.

‘I want you to know I was telling the truth earlier,’ he said. ‘I’ll swear on a stack of Bibles, or my mother’s head, or whatever you want me to.’ He looked at her earnestly. ‘I’ll even take a lie-detector test!’

‘I believe you,’ Bess said, staring into those sky-blue eyes.

Logan’s head moved forward and his lips pressed against hers. They were warm and tasted of the dill pickles from his hamburger. Bess could feel heat rising from her toes and engulfing her entire being. Her hand, as if with a mind of its own, touched his arm, then went to his neck. His arms encircled her, pulling her close. She could feel his heartbeat through his white waiter’s shirt, pumping hard, combining with her own heartbeat, as if they were just one heart … It was Bess’s real first kiss. And it was way better than she’d ever imagined it could be.

‘Elizabeth!’ The voice came from behind them, and they both broke away quickly and whirled around to find Alicia standing there with blanket and pillow in hand. ‘I thought I’d bring these down for Logan. It’s way past your bedtime,’ she said primly.

‘Of course!’ Bess said, jumping up from the sofa, as did Logan. They almost collided then moved quickly apart. ‘Ah, just let me fix his bed …’

‘No need,’ Alicia said. ‘I’ll do it. You run on upstairs.’

Never one to take orders from her sisters, Bess started to object, but then decided against it. ‘Goodnight,’ she said to Logan, not looking into those blue eyes, afraid she wouldn’t be able to drag herself upstairs if she did.

‘’Night,’ he said, with what sounded to Bess’s ears like longing.

Once upstairs and in her room, nightly cleansing rituals completed, Bess lay in her bed and thought about that kiss. And eventually fell asleep, a smile on her face.

JANUARY, 1942–APRIL, 1942

Edgar did what he was told, went where he was assigned, and mostly kept his head down. He had no beef with the Japanese personally, and wanted nothing more than to get the hell out of the Philippines. He performed guard duty for the army on Bataan, then on the sixteenth his battery received new orders to join the naval battalion at the Quarantine Station at Mariveles. For the next month or so, Edgar and the rest of Marine Batteries A and C were a part of this battalion engaged in constant combat with a Japanese landing force that had made it behind American lines.

Edgar was moved inland later that first month of 1942 to an area nicknamed ‘Little Baguio,’ after the elite summer resort in northern Luzon. Edgar and his fellow Marines were billeted in a tent camp situated on a flat arm of an extinct volcano southeast of the Mariveles Mountains. Edgar couldn’t help wondering which would be the easier death: the Japanese or a volcano eruption. Edgar’s creature comforts were sorely tested at Little Baguio. Although he could smell frying bacon in the commanding general’s cook tent, he and the rest of the enlisted men feasted on unappetizing and unsalted boiled rice.

Edgar, miserable and still planning his AWOL escape, paid little attention to the political shenanigans going on around him. First and foremost, General MacArthur was relieved as commander in the Philippines and sent to Australia. A General Wainwright took over from MacArthur, only to be replaced eight days later by a General King. During all these political moves, a major counter-attack to capture Japanese supplies at Olongapo was foiled by the Japanese attacking with fresh troops. The enemy struck the hospital and bombed it without mercy. The Japanese Easter offensive broke through the Marines’ front lines and on Good Friday armed barges struck the rear flanks from Manila Bay. By April, the eastern front had become chaos and General King was determined to surrender Bataan’s battered remnants. Edgar and a few other Marines became aware of this plan when they saw officers in a staff car with a white flag depart the camp and head north through streams of troops retreating south.

On April 8, 1942, a severe earthquake shook Bataan and the Marines retreated to their prepared tunnel. An hour later they heard explosions as Navy personnel blew up the
USS Canopus
, the dry dock and its other installations at Mariveles, followed by army demolition of ammo dumps and supply stores, to keep them out of the hands of the Japanese.

In preparation for their surrender, officers were told to remove their insignias of rank and rid themselves of any Japanese souvenirs or currency. Enlisted men threw their rifle bolts into the jungle and destroyed the remainder of their small arms. All remaining rations were issued. Edgar grabbed what he could, eating some of it while stashing more in his clothing for later. No one noticed as Edgar went to the jungle with a small shovel and buried his poker winnings and booty bought in Shanghai. Then, knowing his fellows had been ordered to just sit and await the arrival of the Japanese, Edgar kept walking, straight into the jungle with three handguns and a rifle he had grabbed before all were destroyed, and the few rations he had stashed in his clothing.

BACK HOME

Alicia lay in bed the next morning, worried about her little sister. Actually, Bess was ten days older than she, but because of Bess’s miniature size, she always considered her to be her smaller sibling. Bess had never even really liked a boy, and Alicia could tell that what had gone on the night before between Bess and Logan was much more than
like
. Knowing how her own heart had reacted to finding out that Graham cared for her as much as she cared for him, she was more than a little worried – she was downright scared. She didn’t know if Bess could handle this. Granted, she’d handled a lot in her seventeen years – the loss of her entire birth family, being stalked and kidnapped, among other things. But Alicia knew how tentatively she herself held on to her sanity knowing that her relationship with Graham was on the skids, and she’d only lost her family through abandonment. Not murder. Well, abandonment was pretty bad, she supposed. At least Bess had the certain knowledge that her birth family had loved her fiercely, whereas Alicia’s family …

She threw her feet over the side of the bed. No use dwelling on that, she told herself. She was loved now, of that she was certain. Mom and Dad Pugh loved her, and her sisters loved her – even Megan – no matter what the status with her foster brother/boyfriend might be.

When Bess arrived downstairs that morning – having arisen early, fixed her hair, put on make-up and donned casual yet elegant clothing – Logan was already up, bedding carefully folded and set on the ottoman. Bess was surprised at the scent of coffee coming from the kitchen.

‘You made coffee?’ she said with a smile.

‘Yep!’ he said, smiling back. ‘And good morning.’

Bess laughed. ‘Good morning to you, too.’

‘I also put out the desserts for breakfast, along with some bread for toasting, for those who prefer something savory for breakfast.’

‘You’re going to make someone a very good husband!’ Bess said, then hearing her own words, blushed.

Logan’s smile disappeared and he sighed. ‘If I’m not careful, that could be Harper Benton in the not-too-distant future.’

Bess touched his arm to reassure him, but could feel the heat emitting from that touch. She removed her hand quickly. ‘We’re going to find out what’s going on – why she’s lying. If she’s even pregnant!’ she said.

Logan sank down on the sofa. ‘Oh, she’s pregnant all right. She was in the car – must have gotten out when Tucker came in to get me. He yelled at her to get back in, but not before I saw the distinct baby bump.’

Bess sat on the sofa next to him. ‘We’ll find out who did this and why she’s lying. I promise you.’

Logan shook his head. ‘How can you find out anything? There’s no way.’

‘Yes there is,’ said a voice behind them.

‘You bet your ass there is!’ came another.

Bess and Logan turned to see both of Bess’s sisters coming down the stairs. ‘We’re not E.J. Pugh’s daughters for nothing!’ Megan said, grinning wide.

I waited with Miss Hutchins while the coroner examined the body and the crime scene investigator (one middle-aged woman with a small kit) took pictures and left behind little numbered plaques. At one point I got up and made a strong pot of coffee, which was gone in a flash, what with the police chief and his crew to serve, not to mention Miss Hutchins and myself. I was making my second pot when Diamond Lovesy’s heavy tread could be heard on the stairs. I left the kitchen to meet her. She looked bad – her hair uncombed, her eyes bloodshot, and she was wearing a mu-mu that had seen better days. I said, ‘Miss Hutchins and I are in the dining room. I’ll bring coffee in.’

‘Lots of it,’ she said, her voice harsh.

I set up a tray, found Miss Hutchins’ coffee thermos and filled it with the second pot, then started a third. I took the tray, laden with all the necessary paraphernalia, into the dining room. Miss Hutchins was holding Diamond’s hand, stroking it gently. They didn’t appear to be talking.

‘Here we go,’ I said, not as perkily as the words might imply. ‘Diamond, how do you take yours?’

‘Sweet and almost white – the way I like my men,’ she said, then burst into tears.

Miss Hutchins put her arm around Diamond’s shoulders, patting her madly and saying, ‘There, there,’ a lot.

I fixed the coffee for Diamond and found a box of Kleenex in the kitchen, which I brought to her. ‘Here, clean up and try the coffee.’

‘I’m sorry,’ she said between sniffles. ‘This is just so terrible! Terrible!’ She sobbed again, clutching a wad of the Kleenex tightly in her hand. She turned toward sounds emitting from the living room. ‘Is he still in there?’ she asked.

‘They haven’t moved the body yet,’ I said. ‘The coroner is still doing his thing.’

Diamond got up and moved into the foyer. I quickly followed her. ‘Diamond, you really shouldn’t—’

‘He was my partner and friend,’ she said. ‘I want to see him. I’ll need to tell his mother that I saw him. That I tried to help!’

I took hold of her arm. ‘There’s nothing you can do now to help him, Diamond. There’s nothing you could have done, period.’

‘If I hadn’t gone to bed—’

‘Just don’t go there,’ I told her.

She pulled away from my grasp. ‘I have to see him.’

I could do nothing more than follow her into the living room. The coroner had the body on a gurney supplied by – I could see the name on the side of it – Leeman’s Funeral Home: We Care. A young man stood yawning to one side, obviously the driver of the hearse I could see through the open door parked in front of the house.

Diamond went up to the body and started to touch it, but Chief Cotton was on her – as my mother-in-law would say – like a snake on a June bug.

‘Now Miz Lovesy, can’t have you touching the corpse,’ he said. ‘Not until he’s been autopsied and released.’

‘I just wanted—’

The chief shook his head. ‘No, ma’am, I can’t let ya do it. Procedure, ma’am. Nothing personal.’

Diamond nodded and stared at the body of her partner for a long moment, then turned to me. ‘I guess I’ll have that coffee now,’ she said.

Seems like my husband was the only one who got any sleep that morning. Willis is very good at compartmentalizing. Why get worked up over the dead body of someone we barely knew when there was sleep to be had? Why, indeed. I wasn’t so much concerned about Humphrey Hammerschultz – although I didn’t like the fact that someone had come into the place we were staying and killed him (unless, of course, it was Diamond) – as I was about the entirety of the situation. I had come to like Miss Hutchins a great deal in the short time I’d known her, and thought what was happening to her and her little inn was thoroughly unjustified. And I like to solve puzzles – not the kind they put in newspapers or game shows on TV, but the kind where people do ungodly things for no apparent reason. There is always a reason – mostly a stupid one – and I want to know what it is. This penchant of mine had gotten our marriage in trouble the year before, with Willis demanding that I cease and desist in finding dead bodies. As I was knee-deep in something I couldn’t let go of at the time, he ended up leaving me and moving in with his mother. We reconciled eventually with a compromise of ‘let’s see what happens next time,’ but when our foster daughter Alicia was kidnapped he was the one pushing me to get involved – not that I really needed a push.

So here we were again. He hadn’t said anything yet, but I was afraid his first words in the morning would be, ‘Pack up, we’re leaving.’

Chief Cotton followed Diamond Lovesy and me back into the dining room where Miss Hutchins awaited us. ‘Ladies,’ he said, ‘until we figure out what’s going on here, I need everybody to stay in place. I know that you, Miz Lovesy, and you, Miz Pugh, don’t live here in Peaceful and are gonna wanna get home, but I need y’all to stay in town until this is cleared up. And your mister, too, Miz Pugh.’

I nodded my head, knowing I had the perfect counter-attack to Willis’s possible ‘pack up’ scenario. ‘No problem, Chief,’ I said.

BACK HOME

‘Yeah, I’ve heard rumors about your mom,’ Logan said. ‘But I still don’t see what y’all can do.’

‘First thing,’ Megan said, flopping down on the loveseat, her long legs draped over one arm, ‘we confront Harper – without her brother around! If all four of us ponce on her, we’re more likely to get a true response.’

‘Gawd, Megan,’ Alicia said. ‘If she
is
pregnant, that would be kind of harsh, don’t you think? I mean, from what little I know, pregnant people are pretty sensitive emotionally.’

‘To hell with her!’ Megan responded. ‘She started this! And, Logan,’ she said, staring daggers at the boy sitting next to Bess, ‘if you’re lying to us, you’re dead meat. Understand?’

Bess jumped to her feet. ‘Megan, how dare you—’

Logan stood up and put his hand on Bess’s shoulder. ‘She’s right, Bess,’ he said. ‘You’re really sweet to believe in me so thoroughly, but Megan doesn’t, and she shouldn’t. All I can tell you, Megan, is that I didn’t do it. I never touched her, ever. I’m not saying I didn’t want to, but she was, like, real stand-offish. I always got the feeling I’d be shut out if I even tried to kiss her. So I never did. And I can swear to that on a stack of Bibles if it would help.’

‘It won’t,’ Megan said. ‘If you’d lie about knocking up somebody, then you’d be stupid enough to lie on a stack of Bibles, too.’

‘Megan!’ Bess started.

‘But!’ Megan said, raising her voice to drown out Bess, ‘I don’t think you’re stupid. And I
do
think Harper is up to something. So we’ll help you.’

‘Gee, Megs, that’s so
good
of you!’ Bess said sarcastically.

Logan pulled Bess back down to the sofa. ‘It
is
good of you,’ he said. He glanced at Alicia. ‘And you?’ he asked.

‘Yes, I’m on board,’ Alicia said, although she still had her misgivings about any relationship building between this boy and her sister. She wouldn’t be able to handle Bess being hurt the way she was hurting now. Shaking herself mentally, she asked, ‘So how do we get Harper alone?’

‘You said y’all were on the same volleyball team?’ Bess asked.

‘Yeah, last semester,’ Alicia confirmed.

‘Would she be suspicious if you reached out to her?’ Bess asked.

Alicia shrugged. ‘Could she see that well from the car last night? I mean, I was one of the ones jumping her brother.’

‘It was pretty dark in the parking lot. One of the lights burned out and Cam hasn’t gotten around to having it changed yet. You gotta call an electrician to do it because—’ Logan started.

‘We really don’t care,’ Megan said. To Alicia, she said, ‘I think we can take the chance. There was so much going on, and she never got out of the car while we were beating on her brother, so chances are she wasn’t paying that much attention.’

‘So what would I say?’ Alicia asked. ‘“Hey, Harper, I hear you got knocked up. Anything I can do to help?”’

Megan rolled her eyes. ‘Hardly. You know, just say how you’ve noticed she hasn’t been back since winter break and you wonder if she needs you to bring her some schoolwork or whatever. Ask her, you know, if she’s sick or something.’ Megan grinned. ‘That might even get a confession out of her.’

‘So I go over there or what? I don’t even know where she lives,’ Alicia said, not overly keen on Megan’s plan.

‘I’m sure Logan knows where, but I think a phone call first.’

‘Just call her up out of the blue?’ Alicia asked.

Megan swung her legs off the arm of the loveseat, straightening herself. ‘Alicia,
dear
,’ she said, ‘it’s not that big a woop, OK? You just call her up and say what I
just
told you to say! She responds. Put it on speakerphone and I’ll get paper and pen and write down the correct response to whatever she says, if you’re afraid you can’t do it!’

‘Don’t get all huffy with me!’ Alicia said. ‘I think I can handle it! It’s just that I don’t
want
to!’

‘Then don’t,’ Logan said, standing up. ‘Y’all have been great, and I appreciate the attempt, but there’s nothing that can be done until Harper’s baby is born. I’ll just try to put off marrying her until then.’

Bess jumped to her feet. ‘No! We can help! I swear we can, Logan!’

‘I need to get home—’

‘Your face is still a mess,’ Megan said. ‘Your mother will see it for sure.’

‘Then I’ll just tell her the same story we told Cam at the restaurant—’

‘Oh, for gawd’s sake, give me the damn phone!’ Alicia said.

I helped Miss Hutchins fix breakfast while Diamond Lovesy sat in the dining room drinking another full pot of coffee. The body had gone, as had Chief Cotton and his entourage. Willis wandered downstairs about a half an hour after they left. I would say he was upstairs staring out the window waiting for them to leave, but that would seem spiteful – true, probably, but still spiteful.

While I was helping Miss Hutchins with breakfast, I said, ‘I’ve been thinking about who could have done this to Humphrey, and I thought maybe a stranger came in to steal something. Have you noticed if anything’s missing?’

She flipped over great slabs of ham she had frying in a cast iron skillet and said, ‘Well, I haven’t really looked, of course. Maybe we can do that after breakfast?’

I continued cutting up a melon. ‘Sounds like a plan,’ I said.

Willis stuck his head in the kitchen door. ‘Something smells great,’ he said.

‘It’s called breakfast,’ I said.

He came all the way into the kitchen. ‘So what did the chief say? About Humphrey?’

‘He’s dead,’ I said.

‘The chief?’ he asked, eyebrows raised but a grin tickling his lips.

I poked him in the gut with the hand that wasn’t wielding the knife. ‘He doesn’t know anything as of this moment. Diamond’s in the dining room and appears grief-stricken, and we know she’s not that good an actress,’ I said, remembering her performance ‘channeling’ Miss Hutchins’ father, ‘so maybe she really is. And as far as I can tell, she didn’t have anything to add about Humphrey’s passing.’

‘Should I go in there and question her?’ Willis asked.

I shrugged. ‘Knock yourself out,’ I said. I went to the coffee machine and handed him the fresh carafe – the fifth one, and it wasn’t even eight o’clock in the morning. ‘Take this in and fill up the thermos. Oh, and here’s a mug for you,’ I said, taking one down from the cabinet. He gave a quick nod and was out the door to the dining room.

Breakfast was a relatively quiet affair. Personally, I was starving and set about stuffing my face as quickly as possible. As usual, the food was amazing: thick ham slices were layered over chunky homemade bread, a poached egg sat on the ham, and Hollandaise sauce covered it all. Not exactly eggs Benedict, but even better with the addition of her hearty homemade bread. There was also my offering of cubes of cantaloupe and honeydew melon. And more coffee, of course. By the time we’d finished I was ready to go back to bed, but knew that wasn’t in my near future.

‘So, Diamond,’ I said when I’d finally finished stuffing my pie-hole, ‘what did the chief want when he talked to you earlier?’

‘Your husband has already drilled me,’ she said, her face stony. ‘Why don’t you ask him?’

‘Willis!’ I said. ‘I’m so sorry, Diamond. You know men. Like bulls in the proverbial china shop.’

‘Absolutely no finesse,’ she said.

‘The grace of a gorilla,’ I offered.

‘The compassion of a brown recluse,’ she said.

‘The—’ I started, but Willis interrupted.

Pointing at me, he said, ‘She made me do it!’

‘Did not!’ I said.

Diamond began to laugh. Unfortunately, it got out of control, the laughter turning into hysterics. I got up quickly and moved to her side. ‘Come on, Diamond, let’s get you upstairs. You need to rest.’

‘What I need is to get the hell out of here!’ she said, pulling away from me. ‘Away from you and your crazy husband! And away from this batty old broad! It’s all her fault, you know!’ I couldn’t help looking at Miss Hutchins, who appeared to have shriveled up before my very eyes. ‘If she’d been a better daughter, her father wouldn’t be doing this! You know he killed Humphrey! We all know he did it!’

I moved away from the banshee act now in full swing from the so-called medium.

‘I really think you need to go to your room, Diamond,’ I said, in the same voice I use when chastising my children for various wrong-doings. ‘You know you can’t leave,’ I added. ‘Chief Cotton said we had to stay here until—’

Diamond jumped to her feet. ‘I can do whatever I want! And I want to get out of here!’ With that she ran for the stairs.

No one said anything for a moment, then I walked to the phone stand by the staircase, picked up the phone and dialed 911.

‘Who are you calling?’ Willis asked.

‘The chief,’ I said. ‘He needs to know what Diamond is up to.’

Miss Hutchins spoke for the first time. ‘Please tell him I’m ready to turn myself in. Miss Lovesy is right. This is all my fault.’