Running on Empty (24 page)

She shook her head. 'Why?'

'Because you, practically still a baby, stood in the center of that waiting room,
your little fists clenched, and said just what you said today.'

'What did I say?'

'You said, "It's going to be all right, Daisy".' AnnaLise's mother cocked her head
and smiled. 'And you know what?'

'What?' The tears were rolling down AnnaLise's cheeks. It wasn't the way she recalled
that awful day, but Daisy's memories, however fragile or suspect, were what mattered
now.

'You were right.' Daisy picked up the discarded pillow case and dabbed AnnaLise's
tears. 'Just five years old and damned if you weren't right.'

AnnaLise Marie Griggs laughed — just a different form of release — and caught her
mother's hand. 'Hey, no cussing!'

Mama's opened at 6:30 a.m., so AnnaLise and Daisy stepped onto their sidewalk at 6:29.
A minute to lock the door and round the corner and they'd arrive just as Mama unlocked
hers. Assuming she was on time. Mama could be... well, 'capricious' might be putting
it mildly.

'Wait,' AnnaLise said. 'Let's check the garage.'

'We'll be late,' Daisy protested. 'And Wednesday is Coffee Time.'

'Every morning is coffee time as far as I'm concerned,' AnnaLise said, turning right
toward the garage instead of left toward Main Street. 'I want to see if that light
really is working.'

'And if the door stays up, too?'

'Exactly.'

AnnaLise gave the door a tug with her good arm and the thing rolled to the roof perfectly.
And stayed there, too. 'Huh.'

'Try the light,' Daisy urged. 'That cake goes fast. Sometimes people even buy a whole
one, which I think is a lot of nerve. They should order ahead.'

'Cake?' AnnaLise said. 'What cake?'

An exasperated look. 'Coffee Time, of course. I told you.' A refocusing. 'Now, try
the damn light.'

'Patience, Mother Griggs. That must be some cake, if it induces cussing.' But AnnaLise
pushed the light. On.

And the thing stayed on. She pulled the plastic dome off the nail and shook it. 'Not
even a flicker.'

Daisy nodded. 'I was right. You were viciously attacked. Now let's get some cake before
the thundering herd eats it all.'

'You are a very odd woman,' AnnaLise said, replacing the light and turning it off
before lowering the door. 'Has anyone ever mentioned that to you?'

'Daily, though mostly you, when you lived at home here.' Daisy was leading the way
around the corner and down the block to Mama's. 'See? I told you. Look at all the
cars.'

AnnaLise looked. An old Chevy Suburban and an SUV towing a trailered waverunner. The
SUV had angled in and then nosed back out, so the whole thing took up three parking
spaces and resembled a vehicular boomerang.

'Two. I think your cake is safe.'

'Three,' Daisy said pointing.

'That one's yours.'

'Oh. Well, hurry anyway. Phyllis is turning over the sign.'

AnnaLise checked her watch. 6:37 and, better late than never, Mama was indeed flipping
'Closed' to 'Open'.

A man of about forty hopped out of the SUV and pulled at her door impatiently. When
it didn't open, he pounded on the plate glass with the side of his fist and gestured
for Mama to turn the deadbolt.

With a sweeping motion of her right hand, she indicated the man should step back.
He did. One step.

Another sweep. And another step.

Framed in the door, Mama put her hands on her hips and cocked her head toward his
improperly parked vehicle, which would earn Mr. Impatience at least one ticket if
Mama decided to call the police.

He took two more paces back.

Skirting the man, Daisy put her hand on the door handle. Mama snapped the lock so
the door would open. AnnaLise caught it with her uninjured arm as Daisy entered.

'I wouldn't pound on the glass again if I were you,' she told the man. 'Mama really
doesn't like it.' She threw a look over her shoulder at the trailer arrangement. 'Or
personal watercraft.'

He bristled. 'Well then, your Mama can just kiss my―'

The scent of fresh-baked coffee cake wafted through the open door.

Ahh, yes. Coffee Time. The aroma of cinnamon, bananas, cream cheese and vanilla evoked
the memory the cake's name hadn't. And a very tasty memory, it was.

The illegal parker got one sniff and made a verbal U-turn. 'Cook. Mama should kiss
the cook.' He followed AnnaLise and sucked in a lungful. 'What is that?'

'Coffee cake.'

'And don't even think about ordering a whole one,' Daisy interjected. Then to Mama:
'AnnaLise hurt herself, so four pieces, please, Phyllis. We'll eat two here.'

Hoping that meant one apiece, AnnaLise took a booth.

'What happened to you?' Mama asked, lovingly laying a piece of cake in front of her
while steadfastly ignoring Mr. Impatience.

The poor sucker, properly chastised, stood quietly at the cash register.

'She was attacked in my garage,' Daisy said, sliding onto the bench across from AnnaLise.

The head of the guy at the register jerked around and Mama gave him a mind-your-own-business
look. He did.

The interplay reminded AnnaLise of James Duende, Sheree's 'boarder'. Who really was
the man living over the dining room? The first time AnnaLise had laid eyes on him
had been here at Mama's and now, according to Sheree, Jim was gone.

Could his disappearance have anything to do with the recent attacks? And if so, was
he perpetrator or... another victim?

'Some lunatic sent the door slamming down on AnnaLise's head,' Daisy was saying. 'She
barely escaped.'

'Good thing our girl is quick,' Mama said, sitting down next to her lifelong friend.
'Bet the fellow wasn't counting on that.'

'I don't know if it was a fellow,' AnnaLise said, forking a piece of cake into her
mouth. Still warm and topped with cinnamon and sugar pecans. Heaven. 'I didn't see
him. Or her.'

'You didn't?' Phyllis asked. 'Pretty small garage.'

'That seemed strange to me, too,' Daisy said to Mama. 'Do you think she might have
amnesia?'

'Amnesia of the
shoulder
?' AnnaLise raised her elbow and was rewarded by a twinge from the higher joint. After
meeting Tucker at ten, she had to remember to run by his father's office for that
X-ray.

'We don't know,' Daisy said. 'Maybe you hit your head when you fell.'

Phyllis added, 'Or the trauma just scared the memory out of you.'

'Important thing is you'll recover,' Daisy said.

'And finger the guy,' from Phyllis.

Daisy and Mama were starting to sound like an old married couple, finishing each other's
thoughts in spoken sentences.

AnnaLise had a thought or two of her own: 'I wondered, too, why I didn't see whoever,'
—
whomever
? — 'was in the garage. But he or she must have been in the corner, up against the
wall.'

'And pulled the door down with the rope,' Daisy said, hand over mouth.

'Whyever
did
you put that rope there?' Phyllis demanded.

'Because I'm too short to reach otherwise,' Daisy said. 'I pull to get it going and
step out of the garage before the door comes roaring down.'

'Just like it did on AnnieLeez.'

'Exactly.'

The two mother figures nodded at each other solemnly.

The chime on the door sounded and the three women turned to see Kathleen Smoaks enter,
looking like she hadn't slept. Which put her in the same category as AnnaLise herself
and her mother. Daughter swiped at a crusted mustard stain on the leg of the navy
sweats she'd pulled on when Daisy had dangled the idea of breakfast at Mama's.

'Kathleen, you poor thing,' Phyllis said, getting up. 'What can I get you?'

The guy at the cash register raised his hand. 'A coffee, to go?'

'Do you mind?' Mama demanded. 'This woman's husband was buried yesterday.'

He shut his mouth, turned on his heel, and just exited.

Daisy rolled her eyes. 'Cretin.'

Kathleen laughed. 'You both are too much. AnnaLise, you're lucky to have such joyful
people in your life.'

Joyful was one thing. Totally whacked was another. Still, AnnaLise had to agree with
the overall sentiment. She
was
lucky. 'Join us, Kathleen?'

'Well, maybe for just a moment,' she said, taking Mama's vacated spot next to Daisy.
'I'd planned to pick something up and take it on to the office, but...'

Kathleen worked at Sutherton Real Estate, which handled lakeside properties. She headed
the rental division.

'That realty can't spare you for a while?' Mama asked, approaching the table with
a coffee pot. 'They should be ashamed of themselves.'

Kathleen turned over the heavy white mug in front of her, so Mama could pour. 'Oh,
you can't blame
them
. It's me. I need to be around... people.'

Daisy touched her hand. 'How are you sleeping, dear? You look awful.'

Just what every woman wants to hear, but the observation was right on the mark.

'Pretty well, honestly. Until last night.' She gave Daisy's hand a squeeze and then
picked up her coffee. 'I know y'all are aware that Rance was not an easy person.'

'Rance Smoaks was an asshole.'

AnnaLise looked at her mother.

Daisy shrugged. 'Well, he was.'

Phyllis cocked her head. 'She's right, you know.'

Of course, Daisy was right, both about Kathleen looking awful and Rance being an asshole.
Everybody
knew
Daisy was right.

But was Daisy... 'right'? Such candor wasn't her usual way.

Kathleen didn't seem bothered. She pointed at AnnaLise, who was massaging her shoulder.
'What's wrong? Sleep funny?'

'A garage door fell―' AnnaLise started.

'She was attacked,' Daisy said. It seemed to be her new favorite word. 'Right there
on my property.'

'Oh, dear,' Kathleen said, visibly upset. 'Whatever is going on here in Sutherton?'

Kathleen had always struck AnnaLise as someone who had her head screwed on right.
Except for a blind spot, and it was a monumental one: Rance Smoaks.

May he rest. In pieces.

'It is odd, isn't it? All of these — AnnaLise made finger quotes — "accidents", I
mean.'

Kathleen, if anything, looked more upset. Almost like she was going to cry.

AnnaLise hastened to clarify. 'Though Rance's death, of course, was truly an accident.'

The other woman burst into tears.

'What in the world did you say to her?' Mama asked, scurrying over with a big square
of cake, her answer to any unhappy situation. She eased the plate in front of Kathleen
and Daisy placed a fork in the widow's hand.

'Eat,' they implored in unison.

Kathleen looked at AnnaLise.

'They're not going to quit until you do, and besides, the cake is great.'

Kathleen sniffled. 'Is it, is it... Coffee Time?' she managed.

'Yes, ma'am,' from Daisy and Mama.

Kathleen dug into the sinfully moist cake topped with cinnamon. And she didn't sit
back until the square was gone. 'Thanks, that helped. Really.'

'Always does,' said Phyllis, sweeping the empty plate away with a long-suffering attitude
that screamed, 'Why would anyone doubt me?'

'I'm sorry,' AnnaLise said to Kathleen. 'I didn't mean to imply that there was anything
suspicious about Rance's death.' She leaned forward. 'In fact, it's the one "purely"
accidental death in these last few days.'

'If you don't count Daisy de-blooding Ema Bradenham,' Mama said from behind the cash
register.

'But that didn't result in a death,' Daisy protested.

'Neither did Dickens Hart's getting himself shot, Daisy, but...'