Mom Zone Mysteries 02 Staying Home Is a Killer (9 page)

I tracked Mitch down to the Hole where he was dropping quarters in a box to pay for a Dr Pepper. A burst of laughter sounded from one of the tables across the room as I hurried in the door. “There you are. I’ve been looking all over for you.” Livvy leaned over almost horizontal and fell from my grip into Mitch’s arms. I dropped her car seat on the floor and realized the room was silent.

I looked over at the group in the corner. Rory and Aaron looked quickly away. Rory had a barely suppressed smile on his face, but Aaron’s face was red, with embarrassment or anger, I couldn’t tell which. “I’ve got to run. Don’t lose Pink Girl. See you tonight,” I said and gave them both a quick kiss and flew out the door. Mitch was heading home for a few hours of sleep before a night flight. He planned on sleeping while Livvy took her afternoon nap.

I zipped over to Clarissa’s house, breaking every speed limit on base, especially the fifteen-mile-an-hour limit in base housing. There was definitely something going on with Rory and Aaron, but I didn’t have time to think about what it could be as I wheeled into Clarissa’s driveway. Only four minutes late, I rang the doorbell with my elbow and gripped the plastic bins in my arms. Clarissa grabbed the lids out of the top bin and ushered me directly upstairs. She dropped the lids on the floor and said, “I’ll be across the hall. Call if you need anything.”

I worked steadily for a while opening, sorting, and stacking the accumulation of stuff we all seem to attract, a sea of memories and junk lapping at our closets and attic doors, but unlike the ocean, it only seemed to swell, never retract. Most of the things in the boxes belonged to General Bedford: worn professional papers, photographs of pinning-on ceremonies, and books on management, war, and leadership.

I stopped and wiped the glaze of dust from one photo. A petite, plump woman with a bob of highlighted hair stood on one side of General Bedford fastening on his new rank, major, it looked like, on his shoulder while on the other side a colonel adjusted the new rank. Must be General Bedford’s first wife, smiling up at him. Rumors said that severe asthma caused her health problems, but General Bedford took a job in Southern California, despite the poor air quality. She hadn’t survived to the next assignment, Greenly. Bedford stayed single for four months, then married Clarissa, which had the rumormongers spinning so fast around base that it made some of them dizzy.

In the picture, General Bedford looked straight ahead, his craggy face set and serious, unaware of his wife’s smile. I wondered what would attract a woman as young and beautiful as Clarissa to a rather crusty man like Jackson Bedford. I set the photo down beside a stack of catalogues and printouts from online auctions. A photo of a gold cross dominated one auction printout. The cross had a blue stone at the center and a loop on top so it could be suspended on a chain.

“Would you like a Coke?” Clarissa held out a Caffeine Free Diet Coke.

“Sure,” I said and popped the top on the can. “I need to ask you about a few things.”

She pushed up the sleeves of her white sweatshirt with
Princess
emblazed across it in sparkly letters and leaned against the door frame.

“Just check through these piles and make sure you want to keep everything.” She picked at the piles, barely looking at the photos and plaques in General Bedford’s pile. She pulled out a doily from another stack. “My mom made this. I’ll find a place for it downstairs.” She smoothed the wrinkles. “She taught me how to make them. I should try it again and see if I still remember.” Her hands raked through nail polish, cosmetics, and lotions. “Trash these. God, look at that eye shadow. I hope I never wore that!” She tossed the blue eye shadow in a large garbage bag I’d left at the foot of the bed.

I opened the last box, a jumble of high-heeled, pointy-toed shoes and boots.

“Here, I’ll look at that stuff.” She took the box.

I asked, “Do you need any of this where it’s easily accessible?”

She glanced around the room and shook her head.

“Do you want everything back in the closet or do you want to sort it and put the less used items somewhere else, like your attic?”

“The closet’s fine.”

“Okay, I’ll group similar things together and put them in labeled bins.” I might as well have been talking to the walls. Clarissa didn’t seem to care what I did with her stuff. Of course, most of the heaps mushrooming around the room belonged to General Bedford. Did Clarissa have her things already unpacked somewhere else in the rest of the house, or did she travel light?

“About General Bedford’s things. It would be a good idea for him to look through them,” I said.

“Just pack it away,” she said shortly.

“What about these catalogues and eBay printouts? Yours?” I asked as I held up one titled
Byzantine Gold Cross, Sixth Century A.D.

Clarissa pursed her lips. “Jackson’s first wife.” She paused, eyed the black trash bag, but then sighed and said, “Store it.”

A little Rebecca-type anxiety going on here with Clarissa and the first Mrs. Bedford? Did Clarissa have the exquisite cross tucked away in a jewelry box? “It’s beautiful,” I said. “Did she buy it?”

“I’ll never know. Jackson stored most of her stuff.”

Maybe Clarissa’s interest in art wasn’t so unexplainable. She wouldn’t be the first trophy wife who felt like she had to live up to or surpass her predecessor. Clarissa pulled out three pairs of boots with heels so high my toes hurt just from looking at them. “Good shoes for work,” she explained and added them to the doilies.

“You said you’re in sales, right?” She must have to dress up.

“Medical equipment sales.”

“Do you have to travel?”

“I’ve got the northwestern territory for Medivar. It covers three states, so I’m gone every other week.” We were getting almost chummy so I asked, “Do you ever think about quitting?”

She gave a bitter laugh as she fished a red stiletto out of the box. “No way. I want my own money. I’ll never rely on a man.” She found the mate to the red shoe, looked up, and caught my expression, which must have been surprise.

“Hey, I’m not the typical commander’s wife. I don’t care. I don’t want to be on every committee.” She grabbed her small pile of things and left. I slapped a lid on the first box. I was beginning to like Clarissa Bedford.

I finished packing the boxes I’d brought, noting the contents of each bin on my inventory list. I squinted at the remaining piles, trying to estimate how many more bins I needed. Probably six. I cleaned up what I could and told Clarissa I’d be back on Wednesday to finish.

On my way home I swung into the gas station to fill up before I left the base. The price was usually a little cheaper on base. I pushed the correct buttons and got the gas pumping while I gathered my coat collar closer to my neck to keep out the chilly wind.

“Hey, girl. Haven’t seen you in a while.” Tessa Jones stood on the other side of the pumps replacing the gas cap on her green Volkswagen Beetle. “How are you doing? Got the little one with you?” Tessa worked in the Orderly Room at Mitch’s squadron. One of Livvy’s biggest fans, Tessa always wanted to hold Livvy.

“No, she’s with Mitch. I’ve been doing one of my organizing jobs.”

“That’s great! Who are you working for?” Her Louisiana accent blurred the edges of her words, and the syllables rolled together in an almost musical rhythm.

“Clarissa Bedford.”

Tessa pursed her lips together and shook her head. “You better watch out. That lady has a vicious temper.”

“She’s been fine to work for.” Her physical perfection was intimidating. I could never look as good as she did, but she’d been civil, even nice.

“Yeah, well, don’t get on her bad side. Keep your distance from General Bedford. I saw her one day—well, heard her—up at the Mansion. You know, the bank is right next to the Mansion and they share that parking lot?”

I nodded and removed the nozzle from the Cherokee.

Tessa continued, “I was on my way to lunch and I couldn’t find a park by the bank. I had to park all the way over by HQ. I was sitting in my car filling out my deposit slip when I heard this woman yelling, ‘I don’t want you spending any more time with her.’ I looked out the window and there they were, yelling across the top of the car in front of me.”

“Did anyone else hear?”

“No, no one else was in the parking lot. Anyway, General Bedford laughed and said, ‘It was a business meeting. Penny and I were deciding which photos should go to the exhibit.’”

“How did you hear that? Was he yelling, too?”

Tessa looked a little embarrassed. “I rolled my window down an inch so I could hear, okay? I mean, I wasn’t going anywhere while they were arguing, was I? So I was stuck. And I was curious, too.”

“They were arguing about Penny?”

“Yeah, timid, little Penny. I couldn’t believe it,” Tessa said.

I ripped the gas receipt off with red, chapped fingers. “Do you have time to grab a cup of coffee or something? I’m freezing.”

“Sure. I finished at the gym early. I’ll meet you at the BX.”

An Everything In Its Place Tip for Organized Closets

As you empty your closet:

• Now is a good time to vacuum, dust the shelves, and clear any cobwebs from the ceiling corners.
  
• Throw away wire hangers and purchase hangers that don’t damage the lines of your clothing. Options range from inexpensive plastic hangers to more pricey plastic and wood ones. Don’t forget you’ll need hangers for pants, too. Using a single style of hanger will give your closet a neater appearance.
  
• Decide if you’ll store all the clothes in the closet or if you’ll rotate your out-of-season clothes to another area. If you don’t have room in other closets, check with dry cleaners in your area. Some dry cleaners offer storage services, but make sure of the price and pickup policy.
  

Chapter Ten

A
few minutes later, my fingers, wrapped around my cup of hot chocolate, had returned to their normal color. “So General Bedford acted like the whole thing was a joke?”

“Yeah.” Tessa picked up her brownie and said, “Good thing I did my workout today.” She chewed a bite and added, “Love these things. I can’t come in here without getting a cup of coffee and a brownie. Anyway, Bedford laughed, but that seemed to make Clarissa furious. She hit the roof of the car with her fist and said, ‘I can’t believe you can’t see it. I don’t want you spending time with her. Ever! I hate that woman.’

“Then Bedford said, ‘You have nothing to worry about.’ He sounded exasperated. Then he convinced her to get in the car and they drove off.”

“Are you sure it was Clarissa he was talking to?” I asked.

“There’s not that many women walking around the base who look like they left their tiara at home. It was her.”

“I don’t know. I just can’t see Clarissa being jealous of Penny.”

Tessa sipped her coffee and said, “I couldn’t either, but I talked to Marilyn. She’s a friend from church who’s a civilian and works up on the third floor in Bedford’s office. She said Penny had been to see him the week before and they talked a long time about the exhibit stuff. Marilyn said when Penny got on the subject of art it was like she came alive and they could hardly pry General Bedford out of there for his next meeting.”

“I suppose that’s true. Penny loved preserving finds and displaying them. She felt after all the work and money went into finding things it was just as important to take care of them.” As Will had said, it was one of her passions. Could an intellectual attraction be as strong as a physical attraction? Maybe Clarissa wasn’t so far off the mark after all.

Tessa ran her finger around her plate, picking up the last crumbs. “Anyway, Marilyn said Clarissa showed up the next time Penny had an appointment with General Bedford. Clarissa pitched a fit right in the hall in front of General Bedford’s office.” Tessa shook her head again. “That was one jealous woman. At least, she was jealous of Penny.”

“What day was this?”

Tessa thought a moment, then pulled out her checkbook. “It was Monday.”

“I wonder if Will knows what time she left their house. Do you think he would know what her schedule was?” Abby pulled another piece of Thai chicken pizza onto her plate and studied my timetable for Monday, the day Penny died.

I hooked my foot around an empty kitchen chair and drew it closer, then propped my feet up on it and blew out a breath. From the time I’d walked in the door from Clarissa’s house, I hadn’t had a spare moment as I fed, bathed, and tucked Livvy into bed. With Mitch night flying, I’d planned to order a pizza, but Abby insisted she’d whip one up and bring it over when she realized I was by myself. “You don’t have to do that. Let’s just order one,” I argued.

“I don’t mind,” she said. “I like to cook. And it’ll give me something to do since Jeff is studying for his class tonight.”

I sprinkled more Parmesan cheese on my second slice. Abby was right. Her pizza was better than takeout. “I doubt Will knew Penny was coming out to the base that day.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.”

The phone rang and I picked up the cordless handset, our only phone since Thistlewait still had our other one. “Hello.” Silence. After a moment, I clicked the
OFF
button. “Hang-up.”

“Sales call,” said Abby. “I hate those.”

Abby’s finger traced down over the names of the flight crew. “You know, Jeff said something the other day about Zeke and Rory.” She stared intently at my kitchen cabinets, then shook her head. “I can’t remember exactly what it was, but it was something they were bragging about. In fact, I don’t think they told Jeff what they’d done, just hinted.”

I chewed slowly. The seasoning on the pizza had just the right blend of teriyaki and ginger. After swallowing, I said, “I tried to ask Rory about Penny, but he stonewalled me. Then I saw him with Aaron at the squad. It looked like Rory was giving Aaron a hard time. There’s definitely something going on there, but is it related to Penny?”

The phone rang. Again, a dial tone buzzed in my ear. “I’ve got to get an answering machine.” I punched the
OFF
button. It rang again. We waited through ten rings before silence filled the kitchen. I looked at the list again, trying to focus.