Rubbed Out (A Memphis BBQ Mystery) (15 page)

They all thought this over for a minute. Then Sharon added, “Maybe it’s not even the money that would motivate Dawn. Maybe she was ready to take revenge on Reuben. He’d made her life pretty miserable lately, after all. She’s clearly been unhappy since the divorce, too—she’s gained a lot of weight and has all these health problems now.”

“Taking revenge on Reuben would be one way of relieving frustration, I guess,” said Cherry.

Lulu said, “I was wondering if y’all knew someone who works for me at the restaurant. It seems that he’s connected somehow to Reuben. Or that he was.” Lulu described the waiter, Tim, to Brody and Sharon.

Brody seemed to instantly know whom they were talk-ing about. “Oh, sure. He used to be a friend of Reuben’s. Reuben would share pictures online that showed them at different stuff together. Their wives were friends first—maybe they worked together. Then Reuben and him got to be buddies. I think he was Reuben’s best friend…locally anyway. I was real close to Reuben, but I didn’t live in Memphis most of the time that I knew him.”

“Do you think that he could have had something to do with Reuben’s death?” asked Sharon. She sounded
hopeful, but who could blame her, considering that she was a suspect herself.

Cherry said, “But why would he be? That’s what I don’t understand. Why would a friend of his be considered a suspect? It’s not like he was in the will or anything, right?”

“Were they still friends?” asked Lulu. “Were Reuben and Tim still going out and doing things together?”

Brody said, “Since I’ve moved to Memphis, I’ve not seen Tim around Reuben at all. Not a single time.”

“So, what’s the next step, Sherlock?” asked Cherry as they finally got back in the car.

Lulu sighed. “As much as I hate to say it, I need to be talking to Tim. I don’t know what the connection between Tim and Reuben was, but there had to be one. Whatever their relationship was, it apparently went sour. I’d sure like to know why.”

“You’re going back to Aunt Pat’s then?” asked Cherry.

“I sure am. You want to hang out at the restaurant today? I’m planning on making some lemonade pie and you can share it with me,” said Lulu.

“You know I’d love to…especially with that pie. I guess you’ll have to share it with the twins or Derrick instead, though—I’ve got to spend time at my other hangout today,” said Cherry with a grin.

“You’re a docent at Graceland today?” asked Lulu. “I tell you, I’ve slap lost track of the days lately.”

“Murder has a way of making that happen,” said
Cherry breezily. “But yes, it’s my day to docent and you know I wouldn’t miss it. I never can get enough of Graceland.”

“Are you going dressed up in your Rock and Ribs Elvis costume?” asked Lulu innocently.

“No way!” said Cherry, shaking her head vehemently. “Between those shoes and that wig, I was hot and tired at all times. Nope, I’m wearing my old lady shoes with the comfy insoles and my hair pulled back in a ponytail. Comfort all the way!”

Lulu dropped Cherry off at her house and then headed to Aunt Pat’s. The lunchtime crowd was dying down and it was nearly time for the kids to arrive from school. She spotted Tim, who dropped his gaze as soon as he saw her glancing his way.

Lulu walked over to him and said in a quiet voice, “Tim? I wanted to talk to you for a while. Is now a good time?”

Tim’s pale face got even whiter, making a stark contrast to his too-dark hair. “Now? No, not right now. I’ve still got a couple of tables I’m waiting on.”

“Okay,” said Lulu. “What’s your schedule like today? Will you still be here for the supper shift?”

Tim nodded, still avoiding Lulu’s gaze.

Lulu repressed a sigh. The last thing she wanted to do was scare Tim off before she could even talk to him. “All right, so you’ll be here for a while, then. If you don’t mind, could you come and find me after your tables
leave? I’m going to be on the front porch…and we can talk in the office when you’re ready.”

Tim nodded again, mumbled something about needing to get an order to a table, and hurried off.

Lulu watched him go. Was he shy? Tired? Anxious? Or did he have something to hide?

True to her word, she grabbed a pitcher of sweet tea and headed to the front porch. Her feet were hurting her just the slightest bit, and she thought back on how much she’d been standing up lately. Especially at the festival. She must have walked for miles to get to the Graces’ booth and back—and then there were the times she walked the twins around, too.

As soon as she plopped down in a rocking chair and poured herself a glass of tea, she saw Morty coming onto the porch. “Oh good!” she said, smiling at him. “I was hoping a friend could come by and talk with me. I need to be distracted. My feet are bothering me today.”

Morty said, “Welcome to the club. I must have ruined mine from years with the blues band.” He settled down in the rocker next to hers and stretched out his legs with a sigh. They both rocked quietly for a minute, enjoying the sound of the ceiling fan and the murmur of voices from Beale Street.

Morty said, “Anything new?”

Lulu gave a short laugh. “That’s right—you wouldn’t know. Oh, mercy, Morty. It’s been such a day.” She filled him in on what had happened to John.

Morty gave a low whistle. “This sure sounds like trouble, Lulu. Don’t you think you better back off? Seems like whoever the murderer is might be going after people who know too much.”

“That might be. After all, John had hinted that we should be investigating elsewhere,” said Lulu. “Maybe he was murdered because of what he knew.”

“Somebody is desperate, I’ll bet,” said Morty. “That’s when all kinds of bad things start happening. They’ve got to be bound and determined to keep anybody from knowing what they’ve done.”

Lulu looked behind her and said in a soft voice, “You spend a lot of time here, Morty. What’s your opinion of our waiter, Tim?”

“He’s a good guy,” said Morty with a nod. “Always remembers my name. He even knows what I usually order. And I’ve seen him play with the twins before—that’s not in his job description, but it’s only because he’s being nice. Why? Are y’all having problems with him?”

Lulu shook her head. “Not really. But he somehow might be connected to some of what’s going on.”

Morty said, “I did notice one thing recently, though. He was on the phone here at the restaurant—the one in the break room, you know. I was on my way past the break room to the restroom and I happened to see him. He was real anxious. In fact, I thought he was fixing to cry.”

“When was that, Morty? Can you recollect?” asked Lulu.

“I want to say that it was a couple of weeks ago,” said Morty. “I don’t have any clue who he was talking to, of course. In fact, when I saw how upset he was, I wanted to hurry past as fast as I could so that he wouldn’t think I was trying to be nosy.”

Could Tim have been talking to Reuben then? What was the problem between the two men?

Morty glanced at his watch. “Isn’t it about time for Derrick to come back from school? Today was the day he was bringing his new friend, Finn, with him for me to show him tips for playing the trumpet.”

“Was that today? I’m so messed up with time lately. Yes, he should be in any minute—” She broke off as they heard voices approaching the restaurant. “That’s likely him now.”

A moment later, Derrick came onto the porch with Finn. Finn smiled at them, but shifted from one foot to the other as if he felt uncomfortable. It must have been catching, because Derrick suddenly seemed uncomfortable, too. Discomfort was definitely a teenage affliction, but Lulu knew a pretty good cure. “Y’all want some bread pudding? I made some last night.”

Their hopeful faces gave her the answer and she scooted off to the kitchen to warm the pudding and serve it with vanilla ice cream. When she got back, Morty was making small talk with Finn as if the boy were an accomplished professional musician and they were swapping
trade secrets. And Finn was eating it up as fast as he ate up the bread pudding. Morty was holding his trumpet like an old friend and playing it intermittently while Finn tried mimicking him. This went on for nearly an hour until Morty started looking worn out—still happy, though. Lulu could tell that he thrived on sharing his love of music with an aspiring musician.

She was about to gently interrupt and redirect Finn when Derrick said casually, “Granny Lulu, you seem like you need to put your feet up for a while. Have you had a long day?”

The question had the effect of stopping her in her tracks. She hadn’t planned on mentioning the murder to the boys, but the innocent inquiry threw her off track. Her eyes widened helplessly at Morty.

Morty was apparently not in the mood to tread lightly. “There was a man named John who was at the festival and hung out in the Graces’ booth some. Unfortunately, he just died.”

Derrick’s brows knit. “Just died? What happened to him?”

“Well, he was murdered,” said Morty. “And Sharon from the tent next to the Graces? She discovered him.”

Derrick said something along the lines of what a crazy couple of weeks it had been…but Lulu’s eyes were on Finn. His face was white and his fingers gripped the arms of the rocking chair he was sitting in.

While Derrick asked Morty more questions, Lulu leaned over to speak quietly to Finn. “You okay? Did you know John?”

He quickly shook his head, looking away. “I didn’t really know him, but I did know who he was. I’d seen him around at the festival, that’s all.”

Lulu could swear for some reason that she saw anger in Finn’s eyes.

Morty noticed the stress on the young musician’s face and said, “Okay! Let’s get back to the music, Finn. Want to play a few more minutes? Then I’m probably going to have to take a break until next time.”

Finn’s face lit up at the mention of a next time. “Sure. I was sounding better, wasn’t I?”

“I’ll say. If you want to try this again after school later this week, I’m game.”

Finn tried to act nonchalant, but couldn’t pull it off. “Okay. That’d be great!”

Sara stuck her head out the door from the dining room. “Lulu, I hate to bother you, but could you step in and help me wait on the tables for a while?”

“Of course.” Lulu stood up and smiled at Morty and the boys. “Y’all have fun out here.” She followed Sara inside. “We’re low on help this afternoon?”

“Well—we
weren’t
. It’s a funny thing. One of our waiters apparently left before his shift was over.”

Lulu stopped walking and Sara turned to face her. “Which waiter?”

“Tim.”

By suppertime, they’d gotten another waiter to fill in for them. Lulu was actually relieved to leave the restaurant—an unusual thing. But when your feet were already hurting, waiting tables wasn’t exactly the best thing for them.

Back home, Lulu breathed a sigh of relief. Her little home was almost as comforting to her as the restaurant…and today, it was even more so. The rooms were cozy with dark hardwoods and old wooden furniture, cheerful scatter rugs, and puffy white curtains. Tonight, though, it was her oversized sofa that was the coziest. She’d managed to grab a bite to eat in between tables at the restaurant, so now all she wanted to do was lie back on the sofa. She wasn’t usually too much of a TV person, but tonight she had this urge to find the most mindless show on the air and watch it until she fell asleep. Which, the way she was feeling right now, wouldn’t take very long.

Lulu took off her lace-up shoes, stretched out on the sofa, pulled a crocheted blue-and-white blanket over her
legs, and fumbled with the remote as she looked for a likely candidate for mindless viewing. Just her luck—every single one of the shows was mindless tonight. She settled for a reality show where the participants all seemed to be competing for the opportunity to travel around the world for a year. She felt her eyelids growing heavy.

Lulu jumped at a noise. Was that a knock on her door? Or had she dreamed it in her half-awake state? She lay there, frozen, eyes wide, waiting to see if there was another one.

There was.

Lulu raised herself up on the sofa and stared at the door. Who on earth would be out knocking at her door—it was after nine o’clock. She didn’t have the kind of neighbors who would come by asking for eggs or giving her peaches at that time of night. She stood up and walked quickly over to the back door and peered out the side window next to the door. There was a thin curtain over the window, but she could still see through it—when the light was on, that is. Now all she could see was the outline of a man.

She flipped on the porch light and peered through the curtain again. It was Tim. He had his hands shoved down in his pockets and was staring at the window. “Tim?” she hollered, since the door was pretty thick. “That you?”

“Yes ma’am,” came Tim’s serious voice. “It sure is.”

“Isn’t it kind of late to come calling? What happened
to you earlier tonight? You and I were going to talk at the restaurant.” Lulu felt uneasy about this unexpected visit in the light of recent events.

“Yes ma’am, it is kind of late and I’m sorry about that. I’m sorry about cutting out of Aunt Pat’s earlier, too. I’m sorry about a lot of stuff, actually.” And with that, Lulu’s jaw dropped open as the man burst into tears right there on her front porch.