Sweet Ginger Poison (10 page)

She stood up and was about to turn off the lamp and go
to her bedroom when she heard a faint tapping sound. Then she realized someone
was at the front door.

Ginger tiptoed over to the door and looked through the
peephole. Who could it be at this hour? It was Lacey, bundled up in a furry
hooded coat. Ginger opened the door.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Lightley. I hate to bother you so
late.”

“Don’t be silly, Lacey. Come on in here and get out of
the cold.”

Lacey stepped inside and Ginger closed the door.

“Here, let me take your coat.”

“No, that’s okay. I’m not staying long.”

“Well, okay. Have a seat.”

Lacey sat down on the couch.

Ginger sat in her chair.

“And quit calling me Mrs. Lightley,” said Ginger, in a
harsher tone than she had intended. She smiled and spoke gently. “Please. My
friends call me Ginger.”

“So…we’re
friends?
”

“Of course,” said Ginger. “Now what can I do for you?”

“Well, I’m worried about what the police chief said.”

“You
should
be. It was obvious that you were
lying.”

“So, you knew? I was afraid of that. I guess the chief
could tell too.”

“Probably. Although I didn’t share my feelings with
him.”

Lacey looked surprise. “You didn’t?”

“No. And he didn’t tell me what he was thinking
either. I didn’t say anything because I don’t believe for one second that
you’re capable of killing somebody—even Navy. I mean, I know you had strong
feelings for him. Sometimes I wasn’t sure whether you loved him or hated him.
But clearly, you weren’t
over
him.”

“I didn’t realize I was so transparent.”

“Honey, it’s written all over your face. You’re so easy
to read.”

Lacey blushed and lowered her head.

“So, what’s the deal with the panties?” said Ginger,
without emotion.

Lacey jerked as if she’d accidentally touched a hot
stove. “They’re mine.”

“I was pretty sure they belonged to you.”

“Why?”

“I overheard you talking to a young woman in the
bakery one day. You were on a break and the two of you were looking through a
catalog. You thought they were sexy, and your friend was encouraging you to buy
them.”

“I can’t believe you heard us. But anybody with that
catalog could have bought those panties.”

“I know. It was just a theory—until I saw the look on
your face tonight when the chief mentioned them. That gave it away.”

“But it’s not what you’re thinking.”

“How do you know? I haven’t told you what I’m
thinking.”

“You’re thinking I had sex with Navy in his car.”

“Well, let’s not worry so much about what
I
think
. The important thing is what the
police
think,” said
Ginger. “Let me play devil’s advocate for a minute. You could have seduced Navy
into having sex with you, and then left the panties under his car seat, hoping
Kayla would find them. Then perhaps she would confront him, they’d fight over
it, and she would leave him. Then he would come back to you.”

“I wouldn’t do that.”

“Then why
were
your panties in his car?”

Lacey took a deep breath. “Okay. What you said is a
half-truth
.
I did put the panties in his car.” She quickly added, “But I didn’t have sex
with him.”

“When did you put them in the car?”

“This morning, while Navy was in the kitchen picking
up the three-day-olds, I went out for a smoke.”

“Addie mentioned that she was upset about you taking a
break right after she had asked you to check out front and see if there were
any more cakes that needed to go.”

“Yeah, I felt bad about that. But I couldn’t stand it
any longer. I had to do it today. Navy always kept his car locked at night. And
he had a car alarm. But he never locked it when he made a
quick
stop—for
example, at a convenience store. So, I knew it would be unlocked.”

“You put them under his car seat to make Kayla
jealous.”

“Yes.”

“Well, that makes you look kinda desperate—but it
doesn’t make you look like a killer. So, you need to go tell the police your
story.”

“But there’s one problem,” said Lacey.

“What?”

“The Epi-Pen.”

Ginger’s heart sank. “Please tell me you didn’t take
it out of his car.”

“I didn’t. I promise. But the police are not going to
believe me.”

“Why not? They’ll check for fingerprints and they’ll
find yours on the door and maybe on the seat—but not on the glove box. Right?”

Lacey sighed. “That’s the problem. I
did
touch
the glove box. My fingerprints might even be on the
inside
of it.”

“Oh, no, Honey. You opened it? Why did you do that?”

“Because I had planned to put the panties in there.
Then I realized that Navy might find them before Kayla did. But I knew that he
never looks under the seats. When we were together, I always cleaned out the
car for him. He didn’t the trust ‘the car wash bozos.’ He preferred doing it
himself—at least the outside. Cleaning the interior was
woman’s work
, he
used to say. So, I figured Kayla would be cleaning out the car one day and find
them under the seat.”

“Then she would suspect him of cheating on her—“

“—and hopefully think the panties were mine since they
had the words ‘Unlace Me’ on them.”

“Oh, Lacey. This is not good.”

“I know.”

“The thing with the panties is bad enough. But you
knew which coffee cake was Navy’s favorite. And you could have injected fish
oil into the cake early this morning when you first got to work. When Addie
went out to check to see if there were any other three-day-old cakes, she found
one or two. I wonder if either of them was a Sweet Ginger Cake.”

“But I didn’t do that.”

“I know. But think about how it looks. You knew the
cake would seem extra moist, but it wouldn’t taste funny, because purified fish
oil doesn’t have a smell or taste. And if anyone else ate the cake they
wouldn’t be harmed. It would only hurt Navy, because of his allergy.”

“But, Ginger—”

“—and the only other thing you had to do was remove
the Epi-Pen from his glove box. And that glove box door has your fingerprints
on it.”

“Are you going to tell the police about all this?”

Ginger studied Lacey’s face. She looked fragile, like
a young child.

“No,” said Ginger. “Not until I absolutely have to.”

Lacey smiled. “Thanks, Ginger.”

“But I hope you know that we may both end up in jail.”

“Oh, no. I don’t want you to go to jail for
me
.
Maybe I should go turn myself in right now.”

“No. I’m sorry, Honey, I shouldn’t have said that. I
was just kidding. I’ll protect myself. If they put me under oath, I’ll tell the
truth. In the meantime, I’ll try to be legally…evasive.” Ginger wondered if
there was such a thing. “So, just go home and try to get some rest. And enjoy
your day off tomorrow.”

Lacey and Ginger stood up.

“Oh,” said Lacey, “there’s one other thing. I think it
may have been a mistake to put my grandmother’s house up for sale.”

“Really? Well, maybe you should quit referring to it
as your
grandmother’s
house. She left it to you because she wanted you
to have it. It’s
your
house. And you can do whatever you want with it.”
Lacey had told Ginger that her grandmother had left everything to Lacey when
she died. But it was only the house and a few thousand dollars. The money had been
just enough to pay for the funeral.

“I know. But you were nice enough to set me up with
your realtor friend. So, I hate to back out. She’s already spent a couple of
weeks trying to sell it.”

“Don’t worry about that, Lacey. Just give her a call.
She’ll understand.”

“Okay. I’ll call her. I thought I wouldn’t be able to
handle it—that I’d see my grandmother in every room. I’d just start crying all
over again. But now I
want
to see her there. I want to remember the good
times we had in that house.”

Ginger smiled. “I understand, Honey. Then do it. Call
Peggy tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

Ginger followed Lacey to the front door.

Lacey turned back around. “I’m sorry, but there’s one
other thing.”

“Yes?”

“Well, it’s kinda bad. But it’s not what it looks
like.”

Ginger braced for the worst.

Lacey reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a
pistol.

Ginger jumped back. “What are you doing?”

Lacey was holding the gun as though she was planning
to shoot it. “Oh, I’m sorry.” She repositioned her grip to the tip of the
handle, letting the gun dangle between her thumb and index finger. “I need to
get rid of this thing.”

“Lacey.” Ginger was afraid to ask. “You didn’t…
shoot
anybody, did you?”

“No, no—of course not. It’s not even my gun. It’s
Danny’s.”

“Danny’s?”

“Yes. I don’t know where or why he got it, but I don’t
want it in my apartment. What can I do with it? I can’t just throw it in the
trash. And I sure don’t want to turn it in to the police.”

“No, you surely don’t.” Ginger inched her way closer.
“Let me take it.” She reached out and carefully took the gun from Lacey.

“What are you going to do with it?”

“I’ll figure out something. But you can’t tell anybody
you gave it to me.”

“I won’t. Don’t worry.”

But Ginger
was
worried. A few minutes earlier
she had joked about going to jail with Lacey. Now it didn’t seem so funny.

The auditorium of Corey Acres Baptist Church was
packed on this cool, crisp Sunday morning. Ginger hadn’t seen some of these
faces in church since last Easter. Their little town had been sobered by the
murder of Navy Newcomb, making it a little harder to sleep in on the Lord’s
Day.

Ginger was sitting in her usual spot next to the other
three Domino Girls. They always made a point of getting into the auditorium
right after Sunday School to secure their section of pew number seven, left
side—next to the center aisle. The seating order had been established years
ago: Ginger on the aisle, then Jane, Ethel, and Barb.

Sometimes it was all Ginger and Ethel could do to keep
Jane’s loud mouth in check. Jane had never mastered the art of whispering. She
apparently had been sick the week they taught it in elementary school.

Elijah stepped to the podium to deliver his sermon.
Ginger thought he looked very handsome in his Oyster poplin suit. She could
remember when such attire would have been considered almost blasphemous. Those
were the days when the deacons expected to see their pastor in a dark suit
every Sunday morning.

Times had changed. And Ginger was all for it. But
maybe her feelings were more about the man than the suit.

She opened her Bible to the fifth chapter of Matthew.
Elijah had been preaching a series of messages based on Jesus’ Sermon on the
Mount. This morning he read a short passage, beginning at Verse 21.

“
Ye have heard that it was said of them of old
time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the
judgment
.”

Elijah looked up and paused, as his words continued to
reverberate throughout the auditorium.

Ginger sensed that everyone was thinking about Navy’s
killer. Was it possible that he was sitting in this very auditorium? People
seemed to be eyeing each other, considering anyone and everyone. Some had a
smug look on their faces, as though they were thinking:
the judgment
means
you’re gonna
burn
, Buddy.

Elijah went on.

“
But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with
his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment
.”

Ouch! Suddenly everyone in the congregation seemed to
realize that the sermon was about
them
. In God’s eyes, they were no better
than the killer. They could rationalize their anger—convincing themselves that
it was with
just cause
. But was it?

Ginger marveled at how quickly Elijah had changed the
people’s focus from hate toward the vicious murderer—whoever he was—to dealing
with their own demons.
Now
they were ready to hear the sermon.

Off the top of her head, Ginger couldn’t think of
anybody she was angry with. Not that she thought she was perfect. She had just
learned not to hold a grudge. It wasn’t worth it. She’d found that when she
did, she was only hurting herself.