Happiness Key (37 page)

Bay flopped down beside her, and she offered him the plate. He helped himself, eating out of the palm of his hand. Marsh arrived with a small cooler filled with drinks and dropped to the blanket beside his son.

“Don’t ribs take a long time to cook?” Tracy asked.

“What’s a California girl know about ribs?”

“I had a rib of celery yesterday.”

“Somebody needs to get some meat on those bones of yours.”

“Eating alone’s no fun,” she said before she could censor herself.

“I precooked the ribs last night, along with everything else.”

“You were pretty sure of yourself, if you were planning all this for me.”

“You or some other gorgeous female. I had a list.”

“You did not,” Bay said. “You told me you were going to get Tracy here if you had to kidnap her.”

“Children,” Marsh said. “There are no secrets.”

“I kind of wanted to see him kidnap you,” Bay said. “Throw you over his shoulder, like they do in the movies.”

“What kind of movies do you watch?”

Bay shrugged.

“The kind with real men,” Marsh said.

They discussed movies, Tracy’s beach music, Bay’s progress on the butterfly stroke, the mural, whether Bay was going to practice hard for the center’s youth shuffleboard team, Tracy’s new floor, and finally, once Bay went bodysurfing, Alice.

Marsh kept his eyes on his son. Tracy found herself telling him her concerns about Olivia’s father and the way Alice was being kept from the other women. She wasn’t sure why she told him, except that Marsh, for all his bravado, was a good listener. She even sensed genuine interest, though sensing
anything
genuine was a skill she hadn’t honed in the past.

“You’re a busy little bee, aren’t you?” he asked, once she finished.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I mean, you’ve got some project or other all the time.”

“You think Alice’s welfare is a project?”

“No, I think it’s a sign you aren’t the ditzy blonde you pretend to be.”

“Have you noticed the color of my hair?”

He reached over and snagged a lock, running his fingers along the length, then tugged gently. “Come closer and let me see for sure.”

She didn’t budge, so he moved closer to her. “Are you sure you’re not a blonde?”

“This is demeaning to women of the blond persuasion and politically incorrect.”

“It’s not demeaning. I’m comparing them to you, and I happen to like you. So it’s a good thing.”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why do you like me? I’m standing between you and total conquest of the key.”

“I’ve yet to figure that out.”

She smiled, and he glanced her way and smiled back. “And this is where you tell me that you’re growing fond of
me,
as well,” he prompted.

“No, here’s where I tell you that my husband was a sociopath. Plus the neighbor I once thought was charming and kind might be one, too. So you’ll have to excuse me if
these
days I’m trying not to grow fond of any human being with a prominent Adam’s apple. In fact, I’m thinking of setting up a lie detector in my living room for first dates.”

“Well, we already had our first date, but here’s what you would find out if you hooked me up now. I’m loyal. I can be trusted with money, secrets and your deepest fears. Even though I’m a lawyer, I make a point of not stepping on people, unless they’re stepping on the things I hold dear. I would rather be outdoors than indoors in any kind of weather, which is why I left Manhattan. Florida is my home, and I won’t ever be moving again. I love kids and can’t believe I married a woman who doesn’t. And when you and I finally go to bed together, I promise I’ll be as interested in pleasing you as any sane man could be under those circumstances.”

“Wow.”

His fingers moved from her hair to her cheek, and he stroked it with the back of one. “Now here’s the plan for tonight. My son’s out in the water by himself, so I’m going to go and join him. But you’re just here to have fun. No projects, no plans. You sit, unless you feel so inclined to play with us. When we’re done throwing the beach ball or dunking each other, we’ll eat. And after that, we’re just going to sit here and watch the sun go down. Nothing else. Just sit and let our thoughts have their way. Afterward you’ll go home, and I’ll go home and put my son to bed.
But when I do, I’ll be wishing for a different ending to the night.”

She was absolutely entranced. She didn’t know what to say, so she said nothing.

“Good,” he said. He kissed her nose; then he got up and took off for the water.

Tracy wondered exactly what she was getting herself into. Then she asked herself if she really wanted to know.

Wanda did some shopping before she left Tampa, which meant she hit rush hour. Summer traffic clogged the roads going south, and an hour from Palmetto Grove, she was so hungry she had to stop for dinner.

Then she had a flat.

By the time the road service came and changed the tire—no way was she going to ruin her nails—the sun had gone down. She tried Ken, but cell service was spotty, and she was disconnected twice, just as she reached their voice mail. By the time she was able to try again, her phone battery was dead.

She cruised into her driveway about ten. Ken’s car was there, which surprised her. Assuming he would go back to work after he let the dog out and made himself something to eat, she hadn’t been concerned enough to find one of the last of that vanishing breed—telephone booths—to leave a message. She figured she would be home for the night before he came home for good.

All the lights were on when she walked in, and Ken was standing just a few feet from the door. Chase was on the sofa, head on his paws as if he were waiting for disaster to strike.

“Where have you been?”

She blinked at the lights. “You know where I went.”

“I know where you went this
morning.
” He slashed a
hand through the air as he spoke, an uncharacteristic gesture.

“Well, Kenny, that’s where I’ve been.” She started into her litany of woes, but he cut her off with another slash.

“You couldn’t call me? You thought that wasn’t important?”

“If you would let me finish? I tried. Twice. No cell service, then my battery was dead. And where do you get off yelling at me? You’re the one walks out of here any time of the day or night and doesn’t look back. How many nights do you think I’ve had to wonder where
you
were?”

He turned and stomped into the kitchen, but Wanda followed.

“An answer, please,” she said. “Exactly why is this so different? I wasn’t trying to worry you, things just happened.”

“You know I can take care of myself!” He spun and faced her.

“I can take care of myself, too. In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been the only one taking care of me for a very long time.”

When he didn’t answer, she gave up and stormed into the bedroom, where she stripped off her clothes, pulled on a robe and went into the bathroom to shower and brush her teeth. She was hot, tired and pissed. She had begun to hope maybe things between them were improving, but now it looked like they were moving from silent mad to yelling mad. Considering that she was bone-deep tired of mad in general, she wasn’t going to take well to this new stage. She figured their relationship might be at the very end, stage four malignant marriage. A breath short of terminal.

When she went back into their bedroom to get her
nightgown, he was sitting on the side of the bed. She was so tired she could hardly put one foot in front of the other, and she wished he had taken off for wherever, like so many other nights. The one night she didn’t want him here, there he sat.

She dropped her bathrobe and shrugged into a thin little nightie that made the hot nights and hot flashes bearable.

“If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to sleep,” she said. “I’ve had a long, hard day, and I want it over with fast.”

He got up, and she got in bed, expecting him to turn off the light and leave. Instead, he turned off the light, slid out of his clothes, letting them drop audibly to the floor beside the bed, and got in beside her.

She turned over so her back was to him. She expected him to do the same. They’d been sleeping that way for what seemed like a hundred years now. But Ken didn’t turn over. She felt him lying rigidly on his back, probably staring up at the ceiling.

“Wanda?”

“Just say it. Whatever it is, so I can get some sleep.”

“I thought I’d lost you.”

For what seemed like a long time she lay there, wondering if he had. She didn’t dare tell him. She wasn’t even sure she should speak.

“Come here,” he said, at last. Then he reached out and pulled her against him. He put one arm under her and turned a little so he could stroke her hair.

“I hope to God you never, ever, go to the place I’ve been,” he said softly.

“Kenny, if you had let me, I would have followed you there.”

“How could I ask you to?” He pulled her a little closer; then he kissed her. Lightly at first. Then harder.

She resisted for only a moment. Then she put her arms around him and held him tight as the kisses deepened. When his hands began to wander, she welcomed him. Tonight she didn’t know if their marriage was ending or beginning anew. She just wanted to be sure she gave it every chance.

She wanted to have nothing in common with Gloria Madsen. She was holding out for hope.

“Maybe she’s chained to the bed. Or maybe she’s come down with some kind of tropical fever, and that son-in-law of hers is nursing her back to health day and night, mopping her forehead and forcing cool liquids down her throat. Could be one or the other, but how are we going to find out?”

“Do you get a charge out of exaggerating everything?” Tracy put her pie plate into Wanda’s new dishwasher. The dishwasher was one of Janya’s garage sale finds, and Tracy had paid Handy Hubbies to install it last week. Wanda had invited them both for lunch and a slice of her famous Key lime pie to thank them.

“How do you know I’m exaggerating?” Wanda asked. “We haven’t seen hide nor hair of the woman in so long, I’m not sure I’d recognize her anymore.”

In the weeks since Sherrie had suggested a granny cam, things had deteriorated at Alice’s. Now the women almost never caught a glimpse of her. And Olivia, whose attendance at the center had become more inconsistent,
seemed increasingly unsure of herself. When Tracy tried to talk to her, she had little to say, as if she were afraid she might make a bad situation worse.

“If Alice’s health really is declining, that could account for everything,” Janya said, although she sounded as if she didn’t believe her own words.

Tracy knew illness was a possibility, but the whole situation seemed suspicious to her. “When he sees me now, Lee barely nods in my direction. A couple of times I’ve tried to signal I want to talk to him, but he avoids me.”

“It was bad enough we let poor old Herb die alone….” Wanda shook her head. “We didn’t learn what we needed to from that?”

“Trust you to put this right on the table. Okay, next time I’ll plant myself in front of his car and wave until he stops.”

“
If
he stops,” Janya said. “If I was waving, he would charge, like a bull at a red cape.”

Since closing the door on Darshan once and for all—a scene she had related to her friends—Janya had seemed more confident and assertive. Nowadays she was out-spoken about her dislike of Lee. Tracy thought Lee charging anyone was an exaggeration, yet she couldn’t ignore the other women’s fears. Something just wasn’t right at Alice’s cottage.

“I’ve talked to Ken about Alice.” Wanda poured detergent into the dispenser, closed the door and turned the dishwasher on. “There, doesn’t she purr pretty?”

“It came from a very nice house,” Janya said. “Many bedrooms.”

“Only the best secondhand furniture need apply. But Ken says since Alice already suffered one stroke, this
could
be the aftermath of another.”

Even if that were true, the setup still didn’t seem right
to Tracy. If Alice was ill, then Lee had to know the neighbors would be happy to help. Instead, he was shunning them all, even her.

“I really wonder if we ought to make a complaint,” she said.

“Staff at Adult Services are underpaid and overworked, the way they are all over the country. Ken says there’s no way to guarantee a thorough or quick investigation.”

Tracy still wasn’t ready for the granny cam.

“You could always just go on in and look around,” Wanda said. “You have a working key.”

“Unless he’s changed the locks.”

“He’s a Realtor. He knows that would raise a red flag. The place is for sale. He knows somebody might need a quick look.”

“If he
has
changed them and I complain, he’ll know I was trying to get in.”

“I guess you need a good excuse.”

“Smoke detectors,” Janya said. “Is that something a landlord might provide for tenants?”

Tracy winced. “Great. I never thought about smoke detectors. Another strike on the landlady front.”

Wanda snapped the dish towel at Tracy; then she dried her hands. “Janya’s got an idea there. You’re worried about fires all of a sudden. Let’s say somebody told you if there’s ever a fire at one of our houses, you could lose everything.”

“Lost everything already, remember? Been there, done that.”

“You still have this property. Makes you that much more worried, since it’s all you got.”

“I guess my insurance agent could have mentioned smoke alarms.”

“There you go.”

Tracy continued to think out loud. “I could run out and buy a couple, then wait until Lee leaves the house….”

“I’ll save you a trip to the dreaded Wal-Mart. I’ve got a couple extras out in the utility room. Ken’s been to one too many fires. He stocks up.”

“This doesn’t sound bogus? It’s believable?”

“It’s all we got right now.”

Janya glanced at the clock over the door, a bright pink plastic tulip surrounding a black-and-white dial. “I must go, but Tracy, I advise you to be careful. You may think I’m wrong about the plants, but if I’m not, Lee’s a violent man.”

“I agree. Let us know if you’re going in,” Wanda said. “I’ll come, or I’ll watch your back.”

Tracy smiled. “Is that how cops’ wives talk?”

“It’s right there in the manual. I’ll get you those detectors. The sooner you find out nothing’s going on in there, the happier we’ll all be.”

Tracy left with the detectors and a full stomach. At home, she set the smoke detectors beside the sink and worried about what she should do next.

She didn’t have more than a few minutes to consider. The mail truck passed. On the way outside to see what was in her box, she saw Lee’s car pull out of Alice’s driveway. Normally she wouldn’t have been able to get to his car before he was gone, but he stopped, then got out to retrieve a package on the ground beside the mailbox. She had just enough time to get out to the road and no time at all to think about what she was doing. When he saw her bearing down on him, she thought he was actually going to leap in and leave without acknowledging her.

He didn’t. He opened his car door and stood behind it,
like a knight behind his shield. Unfortunately, she was more and more afraid Lee was nobody’s knight.

“Hey, long time no chat,” she said. “How are you?”

His smile was anorexic. “On my way out for a while.”

She glanced in the car and saw Olivia, but not Alice. She smiled at the girl, who smiled back, then looked straight ahead.

“I’ll just keep you a minute,” she promised, casting about for a way to penetrate his defenses. “I talked to Maribel last week. Her optimism about the market is always higher than mine. How’s yours?”

“Attitude is everything.”

“Have you had any responses from the flyers you sent about Happiness Key?”

“They only generated a couple of calls, and none of those went beyond the first inquiry.”

“Bummer, huh?”

“I’ll continue to talk it up.”

His initial flush of interest in the sale and in Tracy had faded. This was as obvious as his desire to get in the car and speed away. Since she had complete faith in her own attractions, she was even more suspicious.

“Has Olivia told you what an asset she is painting our mural at the center? We miss her when she’s not there.”

He looked as if he were casting around for something to say that wouldn’t put her in her place. Under the veneer of good manners, he was fuming.

“Summer is a good time for a child to be a child,” he said stiffly. “Sometimes she likes to hang out at home and unwind.”

Tracy was not that clueless. “I imagine she’s needed at home.” She pulled as much warmth as she could from a rapidly diminishing supply. “We haven’t seen Alice for
some time. We’re all worried. Isn’t there some way we can help you?”

“I wish, but she’s very fragile and confused. She’s under doctor’s orders to rest and stay calm, which means visitors are out of the question. She needs quiet, familiar surroundings, no challenges.”

“Lee, is it just the teeniest bit possible you’ve misunderstood what the doctor wants? I’m sure he doesn’t expect you to wear yourself to a frazzle. And why would he isolate her? We could come and sit with her when you need us. We’re not strangers. I think Alice would find us comforting.”

A muscle throbbed in his jaw, but that made sense, since his teeth were clenched so tightly. “I know what the doctor wants,” he said, once he’d unclenched them enough to release the words. “The moment she’s ready for company, I’ll let you know.”

She smiled, glad for the first time in months that she’d been trained to smile anytime it might benefit her. “Be sure you do. In the meantime, we’ll stay out of your way.” That last part was true enough. If the neighbors were going to find out what was going on, they would have to do it without him around.

He relaxed a little. “It’s a difficult time. I’m sorry if I sound rude. But sometimes the best thing anybody can do is nothing.”

“I am so sure you’re right.” She nodded in emphasis. “And hey, I’m the queen of doing nothing. But I’ll be right here when you need me.” She stepped back from the car. “I know you’re taking good care of Alice. You take care of yourself and Olivia, too, please. We’re all rooting for you.”

The moment the crunch of oyster shells under his tires was no longer audible, Tracy took off for home. She
grabbed the bag of smoke detectors, but she knew better than to think that ploy would work if Lee came back while she was inside. He’d just warned her off. She could pretend she had simply forgotten to mention the detectors, but he would see right through that.

Still, what choice did she have? Wait another week and try it? Who knew what the situation would be at that point? She was more convinced than ever that something had to be done quickly.

She took a moment to dial Wanda before she left for Alice’s, but she got a busy signal. It was too early in the day for seduction, but Wanda often called her children and grandchildren. Hopefully Tracy would be in and out before Wanda hung up. She tried Janya, but there was no answer, and Tracy gave up. She didn’t have time to rally the troops. She had to go, and go right now.

Alice’s keys in her pocket, she took off the way she’d just come. The street was deserted. Lee hadn’t dropped a hint about where he was going, but she hoped his destination was somewhere across the bridge. Maybe Olivia needed school clothes, or they needed a good grocery shopping, since they hardly left the house anymore. She told herself that if Lee just needed bread or milk, he wouldn’t have taken Olivia with him for the trip.

On the other hand, maybe he wouldn’t have taken Olivia if he wasn’t planning to be back home in a matter of minutes….

She sped up so much that she almost slammed into Alice’s door. Stopping just in time, she flipped open the screen door and jammed the key into the doorknob, praying as she did that Lee hadn’t changed the locks.

He hadn’t, most likely for all the reasons Wanda had suggested. Or possibly because he believed Tracy was just a ditz with a key ring.

Inside, the house was not as clean as she remembered, although nothing seemed out of place. A healthy Alice would never have allowed dust in corners, or streaks on the glass doors of the cabinet that held her dance trophies. The lilac smell was fainter now, as if the plug-ins were overdue to be changed. The aquarium looked murky enough that Tracy hoped the fish had written their last will and testament.

“Alice? It’s Tracy. I’m here to install a new smoke alarm.”

The air conditioner came on with a whine, and she jumped at the noise, her heart pounding harder.

“Jeez, Wanda,” she muttered, “if you hear me screaming over here, come quick.”

Pretty sure she knew which room Olivia and Alice shared, she started down the hall and knocked on the closed door at the end.

“Alice?” She listened. “Alice, it’s Tracy. Are you all right?”

No one answered.

She stopped, heart nearly in her throat now. The last time she’d checked a renter’s bedroom, she’d discovered a corpse. She closed her eyes. All she had to do was put her hand on the doorknob and turn it. Then all she had to do was open her eyes and take one good look. Still she couldn’t make herself move. She hadn’t forgotten how it felt to find Herb.

“Okay, here I go. It’s like sex. It’s got to be easier the second time. Everything’s easier the second time.” The pep talk didn’t work. “I’m doing this for Alice. No matter what I find, it’s got to be better than not knowing.”

She still wasn’t moving.

“Lee could be on his way back home by now.”

That did the trick. She forced herself to turn the knob.
Then she pushed the door open and stuck her head inside. She screwed up her face in anticipation of the worst. She took one step in, then another.

Alice was lying in bed, as Herb had been, but Tracy could see she was breathing. Slowly. Maybe too slowly. But regularly.

Her whole body sagged; then she remembered she didn’t have time for relief.

“Alice?” Tracy crept over to the bedside. The room was small, the spreads on the twin beds frilly and girlish, as if chosen to please Olivia. Alice was curled up on her side, her hands under her face in an attitude of prayer.

She moaned and made an attempt to sit up.

“No, it’s just me, Tracy. Don’t get up, it’s okay. I just wanted you to know I came in to put up smoke detectors. My insurance company insisted.”

Alice’s eyes were wide open now. “Lee?”

“He and Olivia just left. I don’t want to bother you. I’ll be out in a jiffy. You don’t even have to tell Lee I was here. In fact, please don’t.”

Alice stared at her. Her eyes were unfocused and seemed to grow more so as Tracy watched. Her eyelids drifted down again, but before they closed, she exhaled two words. Tracy couldn’t hear clearly, but she was very afraid Alice had just said, “Help me.”

Tracy put her hand on Alice’s shoulder. “Alice? What did you say? Help you? Help you do what?”

Alice moaned.

“Alice, do you need something? What can I do? I’ll do anything. Are you afraid? Are you being mistreated?” Tracy realized she was babbling, but now she really was frightened.

Alice didn’t respond. Her breathing slowed again.
Tracy tried shaking her a little, but Alice was deeply asleep once more.

Tracy straightened. What did she know that she hadn’t before? That Alice wasn’t well? Lee had told her as much. That things had reached such a serious state the woman needed help? But Lee claimed help was exactly what he was giving her. He said he was following the advice of Alice’s doctor, and how could Tracy refute this? What had she seen that proved things were anything but what Lee said they were?