IN FOR A PENNY (The Granny Series) (18 page)

Oh, Lord. Teague? He’d promised to stop by Nash’s house, but why today when Abby Ruth had talked Maggie into waltzing into Nash’s house?

Maggie studied Abby Ruth. Maybe she’d set this up.

No, her eyes were closed and her lips were moving.

“Are you praying?” Maggie asked.

“Lord’s prayer never did any harm to anyone.”

Amen to that.

“He’s on the move,” Abby Ruth said.

“He’s coming inside?” Sera asked, her eyes as round as a plumbing gasket.

“No, circling the perimeter,” Abby Ruth answered.

Maggie glanced over her shoulder. They were completely visible from the back door window. “Which way did he go?”

“Around the right side of the house.”

“Then we also go right.” Maggie nudged Sera, who nudged Abby Ruth.
They all duck-walked to the opposite side of the island. Please let Abby Ruth be right because if Teague had turned left, he would spot them through the window over the sink.

Seconds later, that same banging came from the back door.
“Talley, if you’re in there, open up.”

Maggie held her breath and watched Sera sink into a yoga ball on the floor. “Don’t get too comfortable down there. We’re about to be on the move again.”

Abby Ruth edged around the island’s corner again. “Go, go, go. He’s gone, coming around the side of the house.”

Maggie crawled, pushing the ledger with her knee, almost mowing over Sera in her haste to hide herself from the view over the kitchen sink. They all leaned their backs against the island, chests heaving. Granted, Maggie had more to heave.

It seemed like the length of time it took Hollis Dooley to get across town on his walker before they heard Teague’s car engine turn over.

By that time, Maggie was one big puddle of sour sweat and booming heart.

Barely able to form a word and still shaking, she said, “Give me a few seconds to take pictures of the ledger pages and then we better get the heck out of here in case Teague decides to come back.”

She pulled out her phone, mashed virtual buttons until the camera function finally popped up. Then she started snapping pictures one by one. Once she’d recorded everything, Abby Ruth served as lookout while she replaced the book in the drawer and slid it shut with a definitive click. When they returned to the kitchen, Sera had a warehouse package of toilet paper and an armful of soap.

“What in the world are you doing?” Maggie asked.

“You said yourself money is tight.” She hugged the Ivory against her chest. “This could last us for a year.”

Maggie gasped. “But…but that’s stealing.”

Abby Ruth patted Maggie’s arm. “Sugar, as many hygiene products as that man has stored up, he’s not gonna miss a few boxes.”

Chapter Twenty

The gals were already piling out of the truck in front of Summer Haven carrying armloads of Nash’s soap when Maggie caught sight of Angelina Broussard on the front veranda. Damn that woman. She was peeking in the windows of the house! “What in blazes are you up to?”

Angelina whirled around and waved a crumpled piece of paper in the air as she headed toward them. “Make a visit to the warehouse store, ladies?”

“Well, with three women in the house, you can never have enough bathroom supplies.” Maggie strode up the steps as if she owned Summer Haven herself. “Is there something we can help you with today or were you just window shopping?” A little grin broke on her lips at Abby Ruth’s snicker behind her.

Then Angelina thrust out her fist, revealing a crumpled tour flyer, one
Sera had painstakingly lettered and sketched. Damn her, those were works of art.

“I stopped by to inform you that hosting tours in a house that hasn’t yet been certified by the Bartell County Historic Preservation Committee isn’t allowed.” Angelina’s tone was so snippy that it made Maggie
want to form a committee to ban that committee.

“Where is Lillian?” Angelina tapped the toe of a high-heeled sandal that would have killed Maggie’s arches.

“Excuse me?” Who was this woman to tell Maggie what she could do with Lil’s home? She swallowed the sour guilt sitting on the back of her tongue that Lil hadn’t approved the plan herself.

Angelina folded her arms. “I want to talk with her directly about this.”

“She’s away visiting relatives right now.”

“I assume she’ll return home in time for the committee visit because it simply can’t be delayed.”

“Not even if one of your precious committee members is missing?” Abby Ruth stood shoulder to shoulder with Maggie on the top step.

Angelina’s mouth tightened. “I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

“And I’m afraid,” Abby Ruth drawled through her big-as-Texas grin, “that Mr. Talley is also on an extended vacation. Surely you wouldn’t think of evaluating Summer Haven without all your members present.”

“But…but…” Angelina gestured vaguely over her shoulder. “Even I can see you have a toilet sitting in the middle of the parlor. That’s simply not—”

Abby Ruth sauntered over the window and peered inside. “I don’t see a commode anywhere. What about you, Maggie?”

Joining Abby Ruth, she pressed her nose against the glass. “All I see is a velvet divan, a lovely piecrust side table and other
parlorly furnishings.”

Sera dumped her soap in a rocking chair and headed their way. They made a privacy fence in front of the parlor window, and when Angelina tried to skirt by them to head for the other window, Abby Ruth caught her elbow. “Sugar, I don’t know what y’all call this here in Georgia, but where I’m from, if a body comes on our property uninvited, we call it trespassing.” Her grin went as sharp as the edges of Nash Talley’s desk. “And when that happens, we shoot first and ask questions later.”

Angelina stepped back, stumbling as her heel caught in a gap in the porch boards. “This place is falling apart. It’s surely not fit for the attention it gets.” She straightened and looked Maggie dead in the eye. “I don’t know exactly what you three are up to, but—” she tossed the balled-up flyer to the ground, “—I will tear down every one of these you’ve posted around town.”

As she stomped down the steps, Abby Ruth called out, “Y’all don’t come back now, ya hear?”

Lillian sat at a metal table surrounded by nothing but shades of brown and gray, wishing she could have visitors every day. She smoothed her pants. These unflattering khakis sure looked different without Maggie Rawls’ colorful tops. A few strategically placed rhinestones wouldn’t even hurt.

Never thought I’d see the day that I was wishing for a shirt with appliqués and rhinestones on it à la Maggie style, but then
I never realized just how much color my life had. Brown is
not
the new black.

She glanced over at the now familiar faces of the other women who had visitors this morning. The process was belittling. Being called out of a cluster of hopefuls to be handpicked to come to the visit room gave the
winners survivor’s guilt. She felt bad for those left standing alone every day. It had to be like being the last kid picked for dodge ball, only she’d never known that feeling. If these girls could have traded one week of their muted lives to be with her at a Summer Haven lawn event, she’d bet their lives would have been so different.

Maggie and Serendipity were first through the door.

Lillian’s heart did a flip. She’d put Sera on the visitors’ list this time even though she wasn’t sure if Sera would still be around. It was good to know she was sticking it out and giving Maggie a hand. That lessened Lil’s guilt a little. She motioned Sera and Maggie to the chairs in front of her.

“It’s so good to see you, girls,” Lillian said. “Sera, thank you for staying and helping Maggie with Summer Haven.”

“We make a good team,” Sera said. “Plus, now we have even more help.”

Maggie nudged Sera with her knee.

“Whatever do you mean, dear?” She glanced from Sera to Maggie. Guilt was written all over Maggie’s face as plain as if she’d used permanent marker. “Oh, Maggie, please tell me you didn’t let Teague talk you into getting a live-in handyman. You know what I think of that idea.”

“No. I didn’t, but quite frankly, I don’t think you’re in a position to tell me what kind of help
I can get. If I didn’t have help, I’d be—”

“SOL,” Lillian said.

“What?” Maggie slouched down in her chair.

“Shit out of luck,” Sera said.

Lillian nodded. “Exactly. And you’re right, Maggie. I shouldn’t expect you to run Summer Haven the way I would. I’m sorry, so just fill me in.”

“Are you saying I’m not doing a good job?”

“Maggie—”

“Because if you are, I could hop on a plane to Colorado.
Pam’s been hinting at me moving out there.”

“You wouldn’t!”

“Not if you add Abby Ruth Cady to the visitor list,” Maggie said.

“Who in the world is Abby Ruth Cady?” Lillian said.

Sera spoke up. “She’s staying with us.”

Lillian lined her sights on Maggie. “What are y’all doing? Summer Haven is not a hotel.”

Sera scooched forward in her chair. “You see, she’s a friend of the sheriff’s from his hometown. She’s a wild woman. Lord, I’d never want to piss her off. She wears blue jeans and boots that cost more than my vehicle. Anyway, she saw the Torpedo and did you know that thing is worth like a million dollars? Did you know it’s some special limited-edition car? You could have your debts done and paid for and probably be home if we could find someone rich enough to buy the darn thing.”

“No. No. No. NO! Even if I paid the entire sum today, they wouldn’t let me out of here. Daddy will not lose that car because of my screw-up, and there isn’t a car in the world worth that kind of money.”

Sera glanced at Maggie. “He’s dead. He’ll never know.”

Lillian blinked in disbelief. “It was my one promise to Daddy. I will not break it.” She hadn’t meant to raise her voice. She glanced around. Several of the inmates were looking her way.
Hold yourself together.

Big Martha stared in her direction. Had she heard?

Lillian lowered her voice. “Great…now she knows my business.”

“Who?”
Maggie started to turn, but Lillian grabbed her hand.

“Don’t look. Her name is Martha and she’s a real badass.”

“You just said
ass
and you know what
SOL
means? What is this place doing to you?” Maggie withdrew her hand and rubbed her temples. “Geez, Lil, you’ve only been in here a short time and you’ve lost all your color, gained a potty mouth and some interesting acronyms. I’m afraid you’ll be a Hell’s Angel by the time you get out of here.”

“I’ll be me. I’m just trying to stay below the radar, and if a few potty-mouth remarks are needed, I can do that.” Lillian breathed, trying to release the panic in her chest. Daddy’s car wasn’t up for grabs, no matter how bad things got. “Now, let’s get back to our pleasant visit.”

“Pleasant?” Maggie bit out. “We come in here and you want to chitchat about the weather, about the house. Honey, I miss you like there’s no tomorrow, and I hate that you’re in this place, but we’ve got some pressing things to discuss.”

“More pressing than Summer Haven?”
Lillian tsked. “I doubt it.”

“Well t
hen, let’s start with your ring sitting in a pawnshop somewhere in Atlanta.”

Maggie certainly wasn’t feeble about throwing jabs. “Desperate times call for desperate measures.”

“But your wedding ring meant everything to you.”

“Well, Harlan’s sack of scratcher tickets wasn’t netting me much and I couldn’t sell
everything
in the house. Don’t worry about the ring. Just take care of the house, okay?”

“We also need to talk about Nash Talley,” Maggie said, “and this whole thing about you being charged with taking way more money than what it cost you to bury Harlan.”

“It would’ve saved all of us a lot of trouble if I’d just stuffed Harlan’s sorry ass in one of those godforsaken lottery bags or buried him out in the back flowerbed. I bet that two-liter brand would’ve held him just fine. And he’d have made excellent fertilizer, he was so full of sh—”

“Four mil,” Maggie
mumbled. “And, yes, it would have, but all that aside. Nash dropped out of sight.”

“So?”

“So, Sera and I went to see Warner Talley, but he’s about lost all the marbles he had.”

“Not all of them,” Sera said. “He sure knew a beautiful woman when he saw one.”

“True.” Maggie’s smile was secretive and a little sad.

Lillian watched the interaction between Maggie and Sera and her heart shrank. It made her feel small as a grain of sand to be left out of the inside joke. “Where is all this going? Is there even a point?”

“There is. Nash is up to something. I know it. And I plan to get to the bottom of it.”

“Have you been out to check Momma and Daddy’s graves?”

“Of course I have.”

“Flowers are there?
Everything in place?”

Maggie nodded.

Lillian let out a breath. “Well, then Nash is around somewhere. He promised to take care of that for me. He’s always been good to his word.”

“I don’t think he’s as good as you think, Lil. I’m going to get to the bottom of it,” Maggie said.

Lillian shook her head. “What are you going to do? Break into his house?” A light chuckle escaped her, but it frittered out at the unwavering look on her best friend’s face.

“It’s not breaking and entering if we’ve got a key,” Maggie said.

Lillian lunged forward and asked in a hushed tone, “How did you get a key to Nash’s house?”

“His dad gave it to Maggie,” Sera said. “He’s sweet on her.”

“Well, it’s not right. Leave Nash be. He helped me through a very difficult time and I do not want you treating him like the bad guy.”

“But, Lil, I’m almost certain he took more than you think.” Maggie glanced at Sera for support.

“It does look that way,” Sera said.

“What do you mean?”

“Lil,” Maggie said, “haven’t you wondered—really wondered—why the government accused you of taking so much money?”

“Well, I just figured with penalties and interest—”

Maggie’s head shake was jerky. “No, ma’am. I’d bet you dollars to doughnuts that man kept depositing Harlan’s checks after your funeral debt was covered. Sounds about right doesn’t it—five years and ninety grand?”

“But…but how?”

“Did you ever receive any of Harlan’s checks?”

“No, because I…”

“Because you set it up for that money to go directly to Nash, right?”

Lillian’s head felt loose on her neck, but she tried to nod.

“I have a feeling Nash never told the Social Security folks Harlan was dead.”

Lillian pushed her hair behind her ears and grabbed one of Sera’s hands and one of Maggie’s. “I appreciate all you’re doing, but let it go. Please just concentrate on taking care of Summer Haven. It’s the most important thing. As much as I’d like to spend time with you, I’d hate for you two to get into trouble and end up my roommates.”

Maggie’s voice rose. “But if he did something wrong, he should be paying for it too.”

“It doesn’t matter. No matter what you think Nash has done, it won’t change me being in here. Let’s just bide our time. If he’s done something, he’ll get his. That’s for the big guy upstairs to handle. Not us.”

“It’s bigger than just you, Lil,” Maggie said.

Maggie looked tired, and Lillian knew that was her fault.
I’m so sorry, Maggie.