Band Room Bash (19 page)

“I’m fine,” I mouthed at him. His body relaxed.

When my mother was finally done with her narrative, she put her hands on her hips. “Well, missy, you managed not to kill my latest grandchild.”

“The doctor said everything is fine.” I hoped she wouldn’t keep hounding me. I wasn’t up to sparring right now.

She stared at me, eyelids blinking. In a flash of perception, I realized she had been worried sick about me and the baby. Because her tongue is so sharp, I tend to forget she’s vulnerable.

“I’m sorry to worry you,” I said.

She shrugged. “Well, I should be used to it. Now, you’re going to rest tonight. I’ll take care of everything here. I’ll call you when it’s ready.” She motioned to Charlie and Sammie. “Come on, kids. Let’s cook.”

“Thank you,” I whispered. She didn’t hear me, but I wasn’t thanking just her. I was also thanking the Lord. I had a lot to be grateful for, and lately I seemed to have forgotten that.

I’d been ordered to be still and rest, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t think. I grabbed my clue notebook and pen from the nightstand.

I had a lot of clues to write down.

Carla bullies Twila. Carla was buddy-buddy with Georgia but had a fight with her the day before Georgia was killed. Carla has a fiancé named Ronnie who gave her a watch. My four main suspects have all been at the sheriff ’s office for questioning. Is Marvin in love with Connie? Coach was arrested for giving drugs to kids. Georgia dated Coach a couple of times then dumped him. Receipt at Connie’s was from a pawn shop in Baltimore. Connie had a boyfriend named Aaron Bryant who was killed in Charlottesville the day before Georgia was murdered.

As I tapped my pen on my bottom lip, my mind went back to Marvin. Maybe he had a heart attack. Shirl said he was talking to the pharmacist about heart medications.

Nothing made sense to me.

While I was staring at what I’d written, I saw motion at my bedroom door and looked up.

Abbie was standing in the doorway.

Chapter Eighteen

Abbie didn’t move. I remembered when we were little, spending nights huddled together with a flashlight under the covers during weekend sleepovers. Whispering all the secrets that little girls keep. As we got older, giggling about boys and the other girls. In many ways, she knew me better than Max ever would.

“Do you mind if I come in?” she asked.

“You have to ask?” I could hardly breathe.

She approached my bed slowly. “I wasn’t so sure you’d want to see me.”

“Why would you think that?” I put my notebook on the bed beside me.

“I figured you were mad at me. I haven’t returned your calls.”

“I was afraid I’d driven you away.” I sniffled back tears. “I’ve got such a big mouth. I’m sorry.”

“No,” she said. “I’m sorry.”

She held out her index finger, and I held out mine. We touched the tips. Our old sign of friendship. When we were little, we’d pricked our fingers, made them bleed, and held them together. Blood sisters.

Abbie is rarely demonstrative, so that meant more than any words she could say. Relief poured over me. I hadn’t ruined one of the most important relationships of my life.

“How come you didn’t answer the phone?”

“Because I went away. I had to have time to think.”

I sat back and wiped my nose with my bathrobe sleeve and pointed at the green upholstered chair next to the dresser. “If you can stay, grab that and pull it over here.”

She did, shook her shoes off, and propped her legs on the bed.

“Where’d you go?” I leaned back against the headboard.

“To the beach. I sat on the balcony and watched the waves.” She sighed. “I concluded that you’re right. I’m turning into my grandmother.”

I wiped my nose again on my sleeve. “Does that mean you’ll date Detective Scott?”

She laughed as she snatched a box of tissues from the bed stand, took one for herself, then handed the rest to me. “I don’t know about that, but I am going to deal with some of the issues in my life.” She wiped her nose. “Now what’s up with you and Max?”

I blew my nose then leaned back against the headboard. “How did you know something’s up?”

“Because of the way he told me to come up and see you.”

I explained our fight to her. When I was done I said, “Am I really that big of a grump?”

She nodded slowly. “You’ve always been kind of prickly, but right now you are

worse than you’ve ever been.”

I felt so small. “I’m going to have to apologize to him. I hope he’ll be able to forgive me.”

“You can’t take all the blame. He does have that Cunningham arrogance thing going on, and he should have told you these things despite your grumpiness.” She smiled. “But he adores you. You guys will get it straightened out.”

“I hope so.”

“Trust me.”

I sat forward and rubbed my aching back. Abbie helped me rearrange the pillow behind me. “That’s better,” I said. “Now will you tell me why you won’t date Detective Scott?”

Abbie’s lips narrowed, and I raised my eyebrows at her.

“All right, all right. I’ll tell you. Then I want to let it go for a while, okay?”

“Fine.”

“It’s not that I don’t like him. Not at all. In fact, the opposite is true.”

“Okay. . .”

“Eric was the one who told me that my husband was cheating on me. They worked together, you know.”

I nodded.

“When I couldn’t take it anymore, Eric tried to talk me into staying with the marriage. But enough was enough. My ex just couldn’t be faithful. When I walked out, Eric was mad. It was like a good ol’ boys’ club.” She paused and rubbed her eyes. “I thought he was my friend. I thought he’d support me.”

“You felt like he was judging you?”

“Yes. And then he ended up going through a divorce himself.”

“Did he apologize?”

“Yes, he did.” She swallowed. “I refused to forgive him. . . . At least I refused then.”

“And now?”

She took a deep breath and met my gaze with a quick smile. “Now I’m ready to do the right thing. Whatever it is that God wants me to do. Walking in God’s love instead of selfishness sometimes means doing the very thing we don’t want to do. In my case, that’s leaving the past behind.”

Abbie’s words struck me like a physical blow.

“Did I say something wrong?” she asked. “Your face is all scrunched up.”

I shook my head. “No. You said exactly the right thing. That’s what the Lord has been trying to get through to me.” I snatched my Bible off the bed stand and opened it to 1 John 3:18.

“Listen to this, Abs. ‘Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.’”

She smiled. “That’s it, exactly.”

She took the Bible from me, put it back on the nightstand, and picked up the notebook. “Now I want to hear about your mystery. Maybe I can help.”

I grinned at her. Abbie had helped me solve Jim Bob Jensen’s murder by providing me with an essential piece of information she had gained from researching her crime novels. I was glad for her help.

She flipped my notebook open. Her eyes widened, and she glanced up at me. “Wow. I’m impressed. This is much more detailed than your last list.”

I felt absurdly pleased by her remark. “That means a lot coming from Ms. I-Outline-My-Books-in-Gory-Detail.”

She grinned. “Does Max know you’re investigating?”

“Yes. He said he can’t stop me.”

“I believe that.” She leaned back and studied my notebook. Then she laid it on her lap and steepled her fingers. “To sum it up, Marvin might have just had a heart attack and it wasn’t a murder attempt at all. He’s possibly involved in a drug scheme. He’s also in love with Connie. Connie stands to inherit Nettie’s farm now that Georgia is dead. Oh, and her boyfriend is dead, too, so maybe she murdered two people. Either Georgia or Connie was pawning Nettie’s belongings, and Marvin might have been in on it. Maybe he and Connie murdered Georgia with poison.

“Then there’s Coach Smith. Besides giving kids drugs, he was dating Georgia, and she dumped him. Carla is a selfish control freak who wants to be better than she is.” Abbie flicked the pages with her fingernail. “I wonder how many of them knew about the drug and/or cheating scheme?”

“That’s a good question.” I sighed.

“Love and greed are powerful motives,” Abbie said.

An hour later, we were seated at my dining room table finishing up a meal of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, and corn pudding. That wasn’t going to help my waistline, but I enjoyed it. Since I came downstairs, Sammie had been glued to my side and insisted on sitting next to me at dinner. Charlie had been eyeing me while he continued his usual chattering. Tommy and Karen were at work.

Ma was beginning to clear the table with Abbie’s help when someone knocked at the front door. Charlie scampered to get it.

I heard a familiar man’s voice and Charlie’s higher pitched one jabbering excitedly.

“Hey, look. It’s that policeman,” he announced as they walked into the dining room.

At that moment, Abbie entered the room through the kitchen door holding an apple pie. Her eyes connected with Detective Scott’s. I was afraid she would drop the plate.

He broke eye contact first, shifting his gaze to Max and then to me. “I’m sorry to interrupt. I’d like to talk to you, but I can wait outside until you’re done eating.”

I had visions of him huddled in a dark, cold car while we sat inside eating apple pie and drinking coffee.

“I’m done.” I stood slowly to my feet. “Let’s talk now. How about we go into the living room?”

Ma burst out of the kitchen with coffee mugs, which prompted Abbie to plunk the pie on the table. She whirled around and went back into the kitchen.

“What is he doing here?” Ma asked nobody in particular. “Trish has to rest. No more cops and robbers for her today.”

Detective Scott smiled. “I won’t keep her long.”

Ma’s fisted hands rested on her hips. “Well, I should hope not. I’m sure she’s already helped you plenty. You need to solve the crime so she can have some peace before this baby comes.”

I looked over at Max, whose expression was resigned, then I looked at the detective. “Let’s go get this over with.”

Max accompanied us with his hand on the small of my back. When we got to the family room, Detective Scott eyed me with drawn cheeks and a wrinkled forehead. “How are you?”

“Doing well. Everything is fine.” I pointed to one of the overstuffed chairs.

“Thank you.” He settled into the chair’s depth, reached into his shirt pocket, and pulled out his small notebook and a pen.

I sat on the sofa, and Max sat next to me.

“I was very concerned about you earlier today,” Detective Scott said. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Me, too,” Max breathed.

I put my hand on his leg, and he put his arm on the sofa behind me.

Detective Scott shifted in the chair. “I want to know what happened from the time you walked into the school.”

I told him. Then I mentioned running into Tommy in the hallway.

As I spoke, Max’s body stiffened. He looked down at me. “Tommy was there?”

“Don’t worry,” Detective Scott said quickly. “Tommy is no longer a person of interest. Neither are any of the other students. In fact, after the first day or two, they weren’t suspects. We just needed information from them.” He paused and eyed me. “That’s between you and me.”

I felt like a load of bricks was lifted off me. Max did, too—I could feel his body relax.

He removed his arm from around me. “In that case, perhaps I should go get the kids ready for bed. Will you be okay, Trish?”

I nodded.

When he was gone, I focused on the detective. He was studying his notes, then he looked up. “Did you speak with anyone else?”

Sherry. I felt panicked, wondering how he was going to react when he found out that his daughter was still trying to solve the mystery. My foot starting wiggling in response to my nerves.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Sherry and I talked before we went to the band room.”

We were interrupted by Abbie, who walked into the room carrying a tray on which were two mugs and two plates holding thick wedges of pie.

“We thought you guys might need something.” She set the tray on the coffee table then straightened and met his gaze. “You look tired.”

“I am.”

“I know this has got to be difficult.” She took a deep breath. “When you get done with this case, why don’t you give me a call?” She quickly leaned down and kissed my cheek. “I’m going home now. I’m glad you’re okay.”

As she walked from the room, Detective Scott followed her with his eyes. They shone with a mixture of hope and anxiousness like a teenage boy’s. However, once she was out of sight, the expression disappeared, and he turned to face me.

“So, what about Sherry?”

“She was looking for Tommy. He’s avoiding her because of you. It upsets her.”

The detective’s jaw tightened. “What did she say?” I told him, leaving out the part about Sherry wanting to kiss Tommy. That fell under the topic of too much information and meant nothing to the investigation. He didn’t seem surprised by what Sherry told me, which made me wonder if she was correct. Elissa was helping her brother.

He tapped his pen on his leg. “I’m going to walk through the whole thing with you again. From the time you pulled into the parking lot.”

I nodded and felt a sudden admiration for him. His personal feelings and obvious weariness weren’t deterring him from his job. I could learn a lot from his self-discipline. I took a deep breath and answered his questions as he prompted me. He was particularly interested in the conversations I’d had.

When I was done, a tiny grin played on his lips. “Now, is there anything in that notebook of yours that you’d like to share with me?”

I couldn’t believe he wanted to know what I thought. I retrieved it from my bedroom. He flipped through the pages and even jotted something down. I tried not to let my sense of satisfaction show, but when he smiled at me, I think he knew how I felt.