Mom Zone Mysteries 02 Staying Home Is a Killer (11 page)

Will had left the glass door open. The people in the kitchen froze like someone had hit the
PAUSE
button on a remote control. Jeff came outside and patted Will on the shoulder. “Come on, buddy. Time to head home.”

“No, you don’t understand. We flew naked.” Will leaned over, laughing again. Aaron pushed away from the rail and strode quickly through the crowd that parted to let him through.

Zeke said, “Will, come on in. You’re confused.”

“Nope. You were there, too. You did it, too. I’m not going down by myself. Did everyone hear? We flew naked.” Will shouted the last line as Jeff maneuvered him inside. Voices, music, and laughter surged into the void of silence.

I found Mitch at the buffet, piling another helping of lasagna on his plate in the dining room. “Where’s Livvy?”

“Downstairs watching
Winnie the Pooh
.”

I grabbed a dinner roll. “Did you hear Will?”

“Yes.” Mitch glanced around the room, and I could tell he didn’t want to talk about it in the middle of a crowd. He picked up his plastic fork and I grabbed some napkins. We settled on the deserted steps leading to Abby and Jeff’s finished basement.

“When do you think they flew naked? It couldn’t have been that Monday because Will wasn’t on that flight.”

“No,” Mitch agreed. “And he’d been gone TDY before that.”

I tried to mentally reconstruct my list. “Wait. Didn’t you tell me Will hopped on a flight after he got back—on the Friday the week before Penny died?”

“Yeah. That’s right. He hopped on at the last minute. It must have been that flight and then he told Penny over the weekend.”

“So what could happen to them for flying naked?”

Mitch took long enough between his bites to whistle softly. “Stupid thing to do. I sure wouldn’t want to be in their shoes. They were out of uniform. They might get an LOR.” At my puzzled look, he said, “Letter Of Reprimand, or worse. It depends on what Briman decides.”

“Will said Penny was upset about one of his flights. If she knew that they flew naked, she wouldn’t like it, but there wouldn’t be any reason for one of the crew to kill her. An LOR is bad, but it’s not the end of a career. So that lets the crew off the hook.”

I broke off part of the roll. Clarissa looked like a better suspect all the time.

I hesitated a moment before I picked up the phone. Then I shook my head and reached for it. Just because someone had called and hung up a few times, I didn’t need to worry about answering my phone.

“Turn on the TV,” commanded Abby.

“What?” I dribbled a few Cheerios onto Livvy’s high chair tray and went to get her milk.

“I know you never turn it on in the morning. Put it on channel 2, quick.”

Still holding the milk, I clicked on the TV in the living room and found the channel.

A solemn brunette with short, tousled hair and a pointy chin stood beside the sign proclaiming
GREENLY AIR FORCE BASE
. In the background, traffic crept through the main gate. “So far officials at Greenly Air Force Base have not responded to the rumors. If a crew did fly out of uniform it would be a breach of regulations and the consequences could be grave for the pilots as well as for Greenly Air Force Base. This is Chelsea O’Mara reporting
live
from Greenly Air Force Base. Back to you, Matt.”

“Thanks, Chelsea,” said a fresh-faced kid from behind the desk. “There is a press conference scheduled for later today and News for You from Channel Two will keep you updated. Now on to the story of a hometown hero, a man who saved a chicken after a car struck it on a two-lane highway.”

I turned off the TV. “How did it get on the news so fast?” I asked. “And how did they find out?” I returned to the kitchen.

“That reporter was there at Jeff’s party. Chelsea O’Mara. Tommy introduced her to me. She’s dating him, or at least that’s what she said.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I don’t think they’ve been going out very long. Like maybe a week. I think she hooked up with Tommy to find out more about Penny and the squad. Tommy said he met her at the O Club last week. She talked to me for a long time. Actually, it was an interview. I thought she was friendly! Anyway, she wondered if I knew Penny, if I’d heard any rumors about her, stuff like that.”

“Did you tell her anything?”

“Of course not. The little tidbit she overheard about flying naked was icing on the cake. Look, I’ve got to get moving. We’re leaving for the airport in a few minutes, but I wanted you to know she’s snooping around.”

“Okay. Have a great trip.”

As soon as I hung up, the phone rang again in my hand. “What did you forget now?” I asked.

A laugh came over the line, but it wasn’t Abby’s. “To invite you to lunch. This is Irene. You were expecting someone else? Listen, I’m sooo sorry I forgot to call you. We’re having a playgroup thing at McDonald’s today?”

“You are?” I knew Irene from spouse coffees. I was never sure if she was making a statement or asking a question.

“Yeah, today? Can you make it?”

“Okay. I don’t know if I can, but thanks for letting me know.” I had a mountain of laundry waiting for me after the breakfast dishes were cleaned.

“The one on Falls Avenue? Eleven-thirty?”

I spent the morning washing and folding laundry and trying to pick up the house. Forget actual cleaning. I never got past the first step of picking up so I could clean. I tossed a toy drum, a grandparent gift—what were they thinking?—into the toy box and turned to find Livvy bent over the laundry basket, grabbing neatly folded shirts and tossing them on the floor.

“Help,” she explained proudly.

I sighed. She loved to help. I picked her up and headed for the changing table. “McDonald’s time!”

Livvy sat inside the ball cage with her straight back pressed against the wall, her eyebrows drawn together as she observed the other kids jumping and bouncing in the balls. She looked like an anthropologist absorbing the unknown customs of another culture.

Irene pushed her fluffy bangs off her forehead and said, “She’s so cute, isn’t she? Serious. Will she get in there with the other kids and play?”

“There’s too much going on right now. She’s taking it all in. She always does this. She’s got to check everything out.”

“Well, I wish my boys would slow down like that.” Jill, the squadron commander’s wife, sat beside me in her sweats and T-shirt. She’d just finished teaching her step-aerobics class. I’d been surprised to see her. From her attitude, I thought she held me personally responsible for the murder in the squadron last year. Never mind the fact that I didn’t commit it, just revealed who did. But today she’d actually smiled and asked about Livvy.

“Bang! Bang!
Bang!
You’re
dead!
” Shouts rained down from the tunnels above us. Then high-pitched screams resounded off the walls and glass enclosing the play place.

Jill tilted her head back and shouted, “Brandon! You’d better stop that right now!” I thought she’d add, “Give me fifty push-ups!” She didn’t, but that voice would motivate flabby people to get moving.

Jill finished her salad and pushed the container away. I looked down at french fries scattered across the paper in front of me. I gathered the last few, dipped them in ketchup, and ate up, resisting the twinge of guilt.

“So what’s the deal with the naked flight?” Irene asked. “I saw it on the news this morning…” Her voice trailed off and she shrugged.

Jill rolled her eyes. “I don’t know anything. But if they did it, then they’re in trouble.” She stood and angled her tray to slide the empty food wrappers into the trash. Topic closed.

I looked across the table to the woman Irene had brought with her, Ballard Nova. She doubtfully examined her Quarter Pounder through her half glasses.

“Don’t come here much, do you?” I finished off the last of my Diet Coke. She was probably in her early fifties and had a halo of frizzy gray hair, pale skin, and dark blue eyes. In her dark brown tunic and skirt, she didn’t look like the usual sweatshirt-jeans-and-tennis-shoes-wearing mom that pushed through the glass door to the play place, balancing a tray stacked with Happy Meals.

“No.” Her wind-catcher earrings swayed as she shook her head.

Irene pulled the band of her pink sweatshirt over her ample hips and said, “I don’t know why I bother to bring the kids, you know? They don’t like the food that much…” She gestured to the table beside us that held hamburgers and chicken nuggets abandoned with only a few bites out of them. “Next time maybe we should meet in the afternoon and get an ice cream or soda while they play? Does that sound okay?”

I liked Irene, but her tentative conversation style grated on me after a while. How did she make a decision when there wasn’t a group to follow?

“Fine by me,” said Jill and that settled the matter.

Irene smiled at Ballard and said, “Before everyone leaves—Ballard, will you tell them about the group? I ran into Ballard at the post office and practically dragged her here. I want everyone to know about the Pathway group. I love it and I think everyone else will, too. Won’t they, Ballard?”

“They’ll have to see for themselves. Anyone is welcome at our meetings on Sunday night.”

“Pathway group?” asked Jill. “What is it, a support group?”

“In a sense, but we’re more than that.” Ballard put her hamburger down and removed her glasses. They dangled on their chain and clinked against a string of brown beads with white designs. She laced her fingers loosely together on the table, almost like she was about to pray. She made eye contact with each one of us and smiled gently. “Through extensive studies of ancient texts, I’ve found a path to inner joy and peace. We gather to study ancient wisdom and encourage each other on our different journeys.”

“What texts do you study?” I asked.

“Many ancient works contain great insight. One of the greatest is the Bible. ‘The unfolding of your words gives light. It gives understanding to the simple.’ Psalm 119, verse 130. The Koran also contains valuable knowledge.” Ballard’s singsong voice indicated she’d said this many times. “If we are to come together as people and understand each other, then we must understand each other’s beliefs. It is only in unity that there is peace.”

“We meet at Ballard’s orchard. It’s just beautiful out there, isn’t it, Ballard?” Irene jumped back in the conversation, her voice a jarring note compared to Ballard’s even monotone. “She’s got tons of great natural products. And the best part is she grows them herself. That’s how I found her. I’m using her facial cream? Doesn’t my skin look so much smoother?”

Jill smiled for about a nanosecond and I remained quiet. Sometimes “no” is the hardest word for me to pronounce, so I decided to keep quiet instead of making a weak half promise to go to her group.

“Penny liked her products, too.” Irene sensed our reluctance and pressed, trying to convince us. “Penny came to the group to babysit for us at first. She loved kids, you know? But she ended up liking the products, too. She swore the hand cream was the best she’d ever used.”

“That’s great,” I said and glanced at Livvy, who had ventured into the center of the ball cage after the other kids left. She was tossing the balls in the air as fast and as high as she could, her cheeks flushed with exertion. I asked Jill, “Would you keep an eye on her? I’m going to get a refill.”

“Sure.” Jill didn’t look any more interested in Ballard’s group than I did. She pulled her coat on and yelled, “Brandon! Kyle! Time to go.” She turned back to me and said, “I know it will take them five minutes just to get to the top of the slide. You’ve got plenty of time.”

The door to the playroom shut and muffled the kids’ shouts. I entered the main seating area of the restaurant and went to stand in line for a refill. I glanced back through the windows to check on Livvy. Balls were still flying and she was smiling. I took a step to the ice machine, but a construction worker in a tattered coat clomped in front of me with his heavy boots and shoved his cup under the ice dispenser. His two-way radio attached to his dirt-streaked jeans jolted out static and garbled words. He moved on to the fountain drinks and I stepped up to the ice machine shaking my head. He reached for the Coke nozzle at the same time as a woman in a long coat and heels. A small name tag clipped to her coat lapel had her name and
VERNON REALTY
printed on it. The construction worker stopped, stepped back, and waved her toward the drinks.

I rolled my eyes. What was I, invisible? This was not the first time this had happened to me. It seemed if you picked up an infant car seat or shepherded little kids around, you became unimportant. I’d seen the gaze of salesclerks slide over me in stores. “Just a mom, no big deal. She can wait,” seemed to be their thoughts.

I jabbed my cup under the ice dispenser and filled it. As I stepped over to the drinks and filled my cup, I heard a crisp British accent behind me. I waited for the Diet Coke to fizz down and glanced over my shoulder.

“Look here, I’m telling you I don’t have it.” Victor Roth leaned across a nearby table, his face tight and unsmiling. There was tension and fear on Victor’s face. I turned back to the drink dispenser and heard him say, “Ellie Avery might.”

What? I looked again.

“Look, I don’t care who’s got it. You said you’d get it and we want it,” replied the man with his back to me. In my quick glance all I could see of him was the back of his head. Clumpy brown hair stuck out from under a blue baseball cap and crept over his collar.

I tilted my head and twisted my cup around. Victor said, “I said I’d try, but she died before I could get it from her.
I don’t have it.
I’m telling you, I think she gave it to this Avery woman. It was in the paper. Penny went to her house before she died. Penny wouldn’t leave something like that at her house. She’d find some place else to hide it or give it to someone to keep for her.”

An Everything In Its Place Tip for Organized Closets

As you replace your clothes in your closets, there are many ways to arrange items.

• Color—this is a good option if you’re looking for new ways to mix and match clothing.
  
• Outfit—use this system if you’re always running late. It will be easy to grab the whole outfit without hunting through your entire closet.
  
• Use—put the clothes your wear the most in the most accessible place. If you wear business suits every day, those should be front and center. Likewise, jeans and casual shirts, if your life allows a more relaxed dress code. Don’t forget to make workout wear handy, too, since you’ll probably use (or intend to use!) it several times a week. There’s no “right” way to arrange your clothes. You may have to experiment a bit to find the system that works best for you.