Rubbed Out (A Memphis BBQ Mystery) (22 page)

“Well, teenagers text like crazy, you know,” said Cherry. “I keep hearing on the news how they have all these texting-related injuries.”

“That’s what I hear, too. But why do you think Finn would kill his dad, and somebody he didn’t even know, and attack me?” asked Lulu.

“In my way of thinking,” said Cherry, gesturing with her wineglass until it sloshed over into her lap, “Finn knew that he was going to come into some money. It’s not easy being poor. I’ve been poor before and there was nothing genteel about it, let me tell you. Maybe he’s also got hurt feelings because his dad deserted him and his mom. You hear about these kinds of stories on the news, too.”

“But Finn probably thought his dad didn’t even have any money,” said Lulu. “After all, he wasn’t working. Dawn said Reuben was hanging out all day in a bathrobe.”

“Maybe during one of those super-rare parental
visits, Reuben bragged to Finn that his uncle had died and that he was getting a bunch of money,” said Cherry. “Reuben would have to know that Finn would go right to Dawn with that information. It would have been a great way to get back at Dawn—if Reuben were rich, that would have made her furious.”

“But Dawn said that Reuben never really saw Finn and wasn’t doing the visits he was supposed to,” said Lulu.

“Maybe she’s trying to cover up for Finn,” said Cherry with a shrug. “Or maybe she’s covering up for herself.”

“What about John?” asked Lulu. “You think Finn killed him because he knew too much? Maybe when John was sneaking around trying to dig up dirt on Reuben, he saw Finn attacking his dad?”

Cherry said, “Or Dawn was right and Finn totally misread the whole situation when he drove up that day and saw John and his mom together. Maybe Finn was trying to protect his mother. Maybe John saw
Dawn
killing Reuben and was blackmailing her.”

“What if Finn wasn’t involved at all?” asked Lulu as a thought occurred to her. “What if he thought that John and Dawn were in on it together—collaborating the way that John had wanted them to? Then maybe Finn kills John for revenge—trying to pay him back for murdering his father.”

Cherry and Lulu sipped their drinks for a minute, mulling this over.

“But then, what about you?” asked Cherry. “Y’all get along fine. Why would he do something like that to you?”

“I don’t know. I really can’t believe he’d be involved in all this. He seems like a nice kid who has had a real rough time in his life. Like he wants to play music and not have his mom work too hard. He wants a normal life. It’s hard to picture him as some kind of homicidal maniac who attacks old ladies in the street,” said Lulu.

“Sixty is the new fifty,” said Cherry. “You’re not old and I’m not, either. Maybe Finn did it out of desperation…you know. That wouldn’t make it so bad.”

“What if it wasn’t Finn, though?” said Lulu. “Right now, I want to think about other possibilities. Finn is only now coming out of his shell and starting to enjoy the big, wonderful world and I hate the thought of him having that ended by going to jail. Let’s see. What about his mama?”

“Or,” said Cherry, snapping her fingers. “What if Finn did kill Reuben? Finn had the opportunity and he’d been brainwashed for the last couple of years by his mom’s bitterness. What if Finn killed Reuben and then John found out about it and
Dawn
killed John? Maybe John came to talk to Dawn again to tell her that he’d seen Finn that night and wanted to know what they should do about it. Who knows, maybe John was trying to extort money out of Dawn for keeping quiet—he did need the cash, after all.”

“And Dawn was trying to make sure that no one
would find out what Finn had done,” said Lulu. “So she decided to murder John to keep him quiet and to keep Finn out of jail.”

“You did hear the same sound that Dawn’s cell phone makes right when you were being attacked,” said Cherry. “And I get the feeling that Dawn knew that you’d been nosing around in this case and might be getting close to the truth. So she decided to give you a huge scare.”

“It could have happened that way,” said Lulu with a sigh. “But it might not have. I wonder if the fact that I don’t like Dawn very much has anything to do with the fact that I’ve helped you come up with a solution where she’s responsible for one of the murders and behind the attack on me, too.”

“She acts ugly sometimes, doesn’t she?” said Cherry with a snort. “Some folks get
better
as they get older and some get
bitter
. She’s a bitter one, for sure.”

“Well, she does have a lot to be unhappy about,” said Lulu. “Her husband treated her like crud.”

“Toward the end of their marriage. But I got the impression that they got along pretty well together for years. Until his sudden, overnight change,” said Cherry.

“Which had to do with the night that Tim and Reuben went out,” said Lulu. “Clearly the guilt from that night really messed him up.” She hesitated. “I hate to think that Tim had anything to do with this. He really seems like he’s getting his life back together. And Ben told me
he did a great job in the kitchen today…he’s pleased that he’s found another cook so easily.”

“And why would we think Tim did it again?” asked Cherry, delicately scratching the bridge of her nose, then making a face when she ended up with green goo on her finger. “I thought he was trying to convince Reuben that they needed to come clean, pay their debt to society, and start a new life.”

“Maybe Reuben tried attacking Tim,” suggested Lulu.

Cherry snapped her fingers, unknowingly spreading the oatmeal goo to other fingers. “I can believe that. Heck,
I
was even fighting with Reuben that day. That guy sure was belligerent. He could have started something with Tim, trying to convince him not to talk to the police.”

“Then Tim could have fought back and maybe even accidentally killed Reuben,” said Lulu. “But he was so upset over the hit-and-run. It seems like he’d be even more devastated if he’d been responsible for the death of a person who used to be his close friend.”

“But Reuben was a bad guy,” said Cherry, pursing her lips as if tasting something sour. “It stands to reason that Tim wouldn’t feel too bad about killing him. I bet he’d feel sorry about it, but if he was defending himself, he might not even feel all that responsible.”

“You’re probably right,” said Lulu thoughtfully. “It
wouldn’t be the same thing as running down an innocent person on the street.”

“Or sidewalk,” said Cherry.

“But can you see him killing John in cold blood? Or attacking me?” asked Lulu.

“It’s hard to imagine,” admitted Cherry.

“What about Brody and his financial problems and rocky past with Reuben?” asked Lulu.

“You know, it’s one of those things where you wonder if you can really know a person,” said Cherry. “Just because I like Brody doesn’t mean that he’s not a murderer in his free time.”

“I have a hard time thinking of any of these folks as murderers,” admitted Lulu. She got up and washed out her wineglass and put it in Cherry’s dishwasher. “Thanks for talking all this through with me. I can finally go home and go to sleep now.”

“Anytime, Lulu,” said Cherry, smiling through her green mask. “Don’t worry. You’ll get to the bottom of all this. You always do.” She added quickly, “With the help of the best sidekick in Memphis, of course.”

“Don’t y’all think Derrick has been acting funny?” Lulu asked Morty, Big Ben, and Buddy. It was the following afternoon and she’d actually ended up with a good night’s sleep after hashing things over with Cherry. She’d pitched in and waited tables for the lunch crowd since Tim was still helping Ben back in the kitchen and one of the waitresses was out sick. Now she was enjoying time on the front porch with her friends.

“You’re wondering about this again?” asked Morty. “I thought I already gave my opinion on this.”

“Funny for a regular person, or funny for a teenager?” asked Buddy.

“Well, I guess funny for a teenager,” said Lulu.

“Naw. It’s all hormonal. Are you talking about when he came in from school a little while ago?” asked Buddy.

“Yes. He acted different, I thought,” said Lulu.

Morty drawled, “He greeted us all and smiled. That’s really all you can ask for from a teenager.”

“I think that’s real good for a teenager,” said Buddy.

“Y’all are mumbling again!” bellowed Big Ben, who’d apparently forgotten his hearing aid once again. “Speak up!”

It was a good thing that Derrick had quickly disappeared into the office because they all yelled at Big Ben to fill him in.

“He’s got a secret,” said Big Ben in his booming voice.

“What’s the secret?” asked Lulu.

“If we knew, it wouldn’t be a secret,” explained Big Ben loudly.

Lulu said, “I hope he’s not getting into any trouble. Everything has been looking up lately. He’s dating that sweet Peaches and he’s helping us with our restaurant website and social media stuff that always gives me such a headache. And I thought he was done with his old friends and was hanging out with a nice group of kids.”

Morty said, “Well, we know he’s making new friends, too.” Lulu studied him questioningly and he said, “You know—Finn. He’s hanging out with Finn some, too.”

Of course, she’d been debating last night whether Finn might be a murderer. She sure hoped this case was
going to wind up soon. She hated wondering if people might be killers.

“Speaking of, did you get my friend’s jacket back to him last night?” asked Morty.

Lulu made a face. “I did. But then I had a little scare while I was doing it.” She told her friends about the cell phone ringtone.

“Lulu, I guess you know that probably half the people in Memphis have the same ringtone, right?” asked Buddy. “I actually do a bit of texting myself, since the young people like to communicate that way. So listen to this.” He pulled out his phone and pushed some buttons and his phone made the same sound that she’d heard at Dawn’s house.

Lulu shivered.

“It’s the default ring for the phone for texts,” Buddy explained.

“Or else Buddy has a secret second life as a hardened criminal,” said Morty, grinning. “Do you go around mugging people at night?”

“Beats trying to get tips from playing gigs,” said Buddy with a sniff. “Anyway, all I was trying to say is that it’s a clue, I’ll give you that. But it’s not a really
specific
clue. There might be more than one suspect who has the same ringtone.”

Big Ben yelled, “What are you talking about?”

“Doesn’t matter,” yelled back Buddy. “You don’t have a cell phone!”

“So have you got any other clues?” asked Morty. “Something a little better?”

“Well, Tim did tell me yesterday, right here on this porch, that he noticed Brody’s truck around the time that I was attacked,” said Lulu, frowning.

“Now that sounds like a clue to me!” said Morty.

“What?” bellowed Big Ben.

Buddy said, “It might not be much of a clue, either. Lots of people have the same truck. Did it have the same tags?”

“Apparently, it’s a real distinctive truck,” said Lulu with a shrug. “Tim seemed pretty sure it was Brody’s.”

“Mumbles and mutters!” yelled Big Ben.

“Lulu said that Brody’s truck was seen around the time she was attacked!” said Morty loudly, enunciating the words carefully.

Lulu caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye and quickly put her finger to her lips. It was Brody, coming through the porch door. They all froze, staring at him, but Brody was determined to act normal and as if he hadn’t heard anything. If he hadn’t heard them talking about seeing his truck, though, then he was even deafer than Big Ben.

“How are you doing today, Brody?” asked Lulu. “Are you here to eat or to visit?”

“I’m actually a customer today. Sharon seemed kind of tired this afternoon and didn’t look like she was up to
doing any cooking, so I thought I’d run by and pick up supper for both of us,” said Brody.

“I guess it’s pretty tiring, being in charge of an estate like that,” said Lulu.

“Yes, and we’ve got to try to figure out what to do with the stuff in his house. We’re going to have to get Finn and Dawn over there to see if they want any of those things. Maybe Finn can wear some of Reuben’s clothes, but I kind of doubt it. Sharon and I went through some of the stuff yesterday—things we didn’t think anybody would want. It’s a lot of work. No wonder she’s so tired out. And of course the police keep talking to us,” said Brody. “Just trying to do their jobs, but it’s exhausting, too.”

He talked to them a few minutes before going inside the dining room to pick up his take-out order.

“Whew!” said Buddy. “That was close!”

“Oh, he heard us talking,” said Lulu. “He must have.”

“I wouldn’t think a thing of it,” said Morty. “I bet you anything that he and Sharon are doing the same kind of talking about all the suspects in these murders, too.”

“Except the suspects aren’t around them when they are,” said Lulu with a sigh. The dining room door opened again and this time Derrick came out, holding a paper in his hands. “Everything okay, sweetie pie?”

“I had something I wanted to show you guys,” said Derrick, clearing his throat, both nervous and excited at the same time. “I got Uncle Ben and Aunt Sara to come
out, too, since things are pretty slow right now in the dining room.”