Ellen McKenzie 04-Murder Half-Baked (26 page)

I thought about the way Grace House had looked smoldering in the moonlight. I thought about how close Marilee, Nathan, Gina, and the baby had come to being incinerated. Not only was bombing the house cruel and dangerous
,
it was stupid.
D
riv
ing
Marilee out so he could get the money made no sense at all, but I couldn’t think what other motive he
coul
d ha
ve
. I’d heard that prolonged drug use made your brains scrambled eggs. That your circuits got warped or something. So did your judgment. If that was Grady’s problem he was doubly dangerous and there was every reason to think he’d try again. A ripple of fear ran through me. The next time it might be our house that went up in flames. “Okay. What do you want me to ask her?”

“If she got her money from Grady, and if she knows where, and how, he got it. I especially want to know if he owes part of it to someone, and who that someone is. And if she has any idea of who might have told him where she was.”

“You don’t want me to ask if she still has the money?”

“What for? She’s going to say it got burned up along with everything else.”

I smiled just a little. “Yes. That’s probably just what she’ll say. If, of course, she says anything.”

“And if that’s what she says, she may be telling the truth. As a matter of fact, I don’t see how she could have gotten it out. From what Nathan said, he barely got
them
out. But Grady’s not likely to believe that and I’d love to get him off the street before he finds out where she’s at
. A
nd I’d really love to bust up that meth lab.”

Somehow the meth lab and the people who ran it didn’t scare me nearly as much as the thought of Grady throwing a gasoline filled pop bottle through my front window. And, since half the town must know by now that we were sheltering the fire victims, it seemed all too possible that Grady might pay us an unwanted visit.

I looked at my salad and my stomach rebelled. Dan had eaten only half of his huge lunch as well. Grady Wilcox was turning out to be better than the South Beach Diet any day.

“Let’s get out of here,” I said. “I’ll think of some excuse and go by the house and talk to Marilee.”

Dan nodded, let go of my hand, and pushed back his chair. He reached for his wallet but I stopped him.

“Wait. There’s something else, something I wanted to ask you.”

He waited, half out of his chair, a wary look on his face. “What?”

“If one parent signs adoption papers, is that legally binding on the other parent?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Grady Wilcox signed away his rights to this baby. He put him up for adoption. Does that mean they can take him away from Marilee?”

“Grady did
what
? Does Marilee know?”

“Everyone at Grace House knew. Gina knew; she told me. Evidently Doctor Sadler got Grady to sign everything and then was going to use that to pressure Marilee
into
do
ing
the same thing.”

Dan sat back down. Hard. “That old
…
so and so. What a rotten thing to do. But it sounds like him. He always knew best and he didn’t much care what anyone else wanted or thought. I remember one time when I was a kid
…
never mind. To answer your question, no. Marilee couldn’t be made to give up her baby on Grady’s signature alone. He gave up his rights, not hers. She’d have to be proven unfit by the courts.” Instead of pushing back his chair again, he picked up his almost empty coffee cup. “Where are you going with this?”

“What makes you think I’m going anywhere?”

He gave me the look.

“Okay, okay. Leona. I’ve been thinking about Leona. She wants that baby.”

He started to say something but I put up my hand to stop him. “You think I’m making too much of her, but I’m not. She’s obsessed with him. If the baby was adopted, Leona would be just as grief stricken as Marilee.”

“So,” Dan said slowly, never taking his eyes off me, “you think Leona
—
what?”

“I don’t know, but it’s one more reason for her to hate Doctor Sadler.”

Dan stared at me for a moment, took another sip of his coffee, made a face and put it down. He looked around, caught Ruthie’s eye, and motioned for the check. “Motives for killing the good doctor don’t seem to be in short supply, but
evidence is
.”

He
pulled
his wallet out
,
thumb
ed
through the bills
then
stopped. “Are you going back to our house right now?”

I glanced at my watch. “Yes. I have to be back at the office later, so now would be a good time. And Leona isn’t there.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I just saw her cleaning off that table right behind you. Ruthie must have called her in after all.”

Dan dropped some money on the table before he turned to me. He wasn’t smiling. “Be sure you tell Nathan not to leave her alone. We haven’t found Grady and until we do
…
I wish I could tell you that there was no way he’d find her, and even if he did, there was no way he’d try to get at her while she’s with us.
But
I can’t.” He slid his arm around me and pulled me close to him. “But I can tell you we’re looking for him. Hard. And we’ll find him. We have enough evidence to arrest him for arson and I’m going to try to get attempted murder thrown in. Hang in there with me
.
I’m not going to let anything happen to you or Susannah.”

He dropped a kiss on the side of my ear and let me go. I made myself smile up at him.

“I know that,” I said. “I’m not really scared. Just a little nervous.”

What a lie. We both knew I was scared to death. The only reason I didn’t insist that Susannah come home was because I thought she was safer at Neil’s house. Well, at least she wouldn’t end up a piece of burnt toast. But I didn’t want Dan worried about me. He had quite enough to keep him occupied.

“I’ll tell him.”

Dan looked around impatiently. “Where’s Ruthie? I’ve got to get back.”
He looked down at the money, did some mental arithmetic, and added another dollar. “This should cover it. If I’m wrong, she knows where to find me.” His attention came back to me. “See if you can find out if she has any ideas about where Mr. Wilcox may have gone to earth. That truck of his is hard to miss, but so far, we’re missing it.”

“I’ll try.”

“And call me right after you get back to the office. Promise.”

I smiled. “I promise.”
I started to give him a peck on the cheek when there was a crash. The metallic sound of a metal tray connecting with the floor was immediately followed by the unmistakable noise of crockery breaking.
It was finished off with a loud “shit.” Both Dan and I whirled around to look toward the kitchen. A very greasy looking Leona was standing in the doorway, staring down at a mass of broken dirty dishes. An angry Ruthie was rapidly advancing toward the blocked kitchen door and the seemingly immobile Leona. Dan and I exchanged looks and headed, rapidly, for the front door.

As I drove toward home, I realized I hadn’t mentioned Anne Kennedy. I’d told him about the will, that there would be enough money to pay cash for the new house, all the good stuff. I’d even told him Doctor Sadler was going to change his will. But I hadn’t told him Anne knew about it. I couldn’t.
E
ventually I would have to. Wouldn’t I? Damn. I would go home and see if I could get Marilee alone and carefully, gently, get a few answers. Then, before I called Dan, I’d stop by Aunt Mary’s and see what she thought.

N
athan sat at the dining room table, surrounded by piles of clothes and
stacks
of files, working on his laptop. There wasn’t a sign of anyone else.

“What are you doing home?” He blurted this out, stopped, and reddened. “I didn’t mean
…
you startled me.”

I smiled, hopefully not too brightly. “I came to pick up all of the discards for Aunt Mary’s rummage sale. Do you know where the big box is?” The living room was empty, and so was the street in front of my house. The swinging door that led to the kitchen was propped open. The kitchen, too, was empty. I listened. No crying baby, no soft voice trying to comfort it, no harsh voice telling Marilee what to do. I’d tried all the way home to come up with a good excuse for popping in, when I’d told them all I wouldn’t be there until after four. I didn’t want it to
appear to be
checking up on them, and I didn’t want Marilee to think I had made a special trip to interrogate her. The clothes seemed
like a
reasonable
excuse
, and it would get them off my dining room table. Now all I had to do was find Marilee and get her alone so
we
could talk. “Where are the girls?”

“Marilee’s asleep upstairs. The baby fussed most of the morning, and she’s worn out. Leona was on the phone for an hour or more, then said she had to go to work. She left about ten. I haven’t seen her since.”

He probably would soon. I doubted if Ruthie was in the mood for third or fourth chances. Leona was a grade F employee, and she didn’t give the impression she was trying to move up the alphabet.

“Are you going to stay until the others get home?”

“Isn’t that what Chief Dunham wants me to do?” There was a determined set to Nathan’s jaw and I didn’t think it was entirely because Dan had assigned him the job of protector of mother and baby. Nathan had already assumed that role.
“I’ve got my cell phone and plenty of stuff to do. Might just as well do it here.” He stopped and looked up at me, anxi
ety written
on his face. “If you don’t mind, of course.”

No, I didn’t mind. Except it was going to be hard to get to Marilee with him constantly standing guard, and with Leona, who would undoubtedly be here when I returned,
looming
over the baby, ready to snatch him up at the first opportunity. “Well.” I let my car keys dangle a moment, thinking. “I guess I’d better get back to the office. Have you had lunch?”

“Marilee fixed us something before she went upstairs.” The anxious look
intensified
. “I hope you don’t mind. She’s a great little cook, and she cleaned everything up.”

Nathan was going to have to get over this anxious stuff. It didn’t go with his role as protector. Besides, it made me irritable. “No, Nathan. I’m glad she did.”

I turned to go, but he stopped me. “The clothes.”

“
What?” I turned back, not realizing at first what he was talking about.

“Aren’t you going to take the clothes?”

Of course. That’s what I’d come for, wasn’t it. “Ah, yes. Do you know where the box is?”

“I put it on the back porch. I’ll go get it.”

He clicked save before he pushed back his chair and headed for the porch. I watched while he wrestled the box back into the dining room. We stuffed it with all the things neither my guests nor almost anybody else I could imagine would ever use again.

“Where’s your car? I’ll carry it out for you.”

I let him.

“I’ll be back in a couple of hours.” I took off for the two-block drive to Aunt Mary’s. I hadn’t planned on actually going there, but I wasn’t driving around with all that junk in my car either. Besides, maybe I could spot Leona. She’d have to be walking. Maybe I’d give her a ride. On the other hand, if Ruthie had fired her
—
and I’d be pretty darned surprised if she hadn’t
—
maybe I wouldn’t. She could walk off some of the bad temper I was sure was boiling over about now. Losing another job wouldn’t help her campaign to get Marilee to share an apartment with her. Besides, Marilee’s money may have gone up in smoke. And if it hadn’t
…
I wasn’t sure which was worse.

I slowed down as I turned into Aunt Mary’s quiet tree-lined street. Her white cottage sat halfway down the block, her cracked concrete driveway empty. Damn. I really wanted to get rid of these old clothes. And I would. Her front bedroom was always filled with rummage sale stuff, and her back door was never locked. I’d just lug the box into the bedroom and stash it with all the rest of the stuff.

The box was awkward but not really heavy. I got the screen door open and was in the kitchen, on my way to the hall, when I heard voices. One voice.
And it wasn’t Aunt Mary’s.