Delicious and Suspicious (14 page)

Evelyn knit her brows. “Your sedan, honey. The one you hit the chicken truck with a little while ago.”

Flo groaned a third time and put her head back down on the table. Her muffled voice said, “I don’t remember where I parked.”

This stopped the Graces and Lulu cold. It was a huge parking lot.

Lulu said, “Do you remember if you parked on the Sears side or the J.C. Penney side?”

“No.”

“Well, surely you remember if you walked a long way to get to the food court or not. Maybe you parked right outside the food court?”

“Don’t remember.”

Lulu and the Graces looked at each other. “All right,” said Lulu. “Let’s peek right outside the food court entrance, and maybe we can see it.” Flo sprawled across the table. “Maybe one of us should stay here with Flo and the rest of us can look.”

Jeanne shifted uneasily in her seat. “Our waitress is giving us the evil eye and talking to her manager. She keeps pointing at Flo. I’m thinking we need to keep moving . . . Flo, too. Oh, somebody grab her cosmetics bags!”

The five Graces and Lulu took Flo on a forced march to the food court entrance. Flo started wailing. “I’m sorry! I don’t know where that car is.”

Lulu had endured entirely too many waterworks episodes for one day at the mall. “Buck up, Flo. We’ll find your car and get you home, and you can take a nice nap. There’s nothing to be upset about; I lose my car all the time. I always have to hit that button on my key ring and look for the headlights to blink at me.”

“Hey,” said Cherry in a hopeful voice, “Flo, do you have an alarm on your car like that?”

Flo looked balefully at Cherry and then unexpectedly upchucked in a convenient trashcan by the entrance. An ignominious end to what was intended to be an uplifting day with friends, thought Lulu.

 

 

Cherry flagged down the mall security car as it made its rounds around the parking lot. Lulu and Cherry rode through the various parking decks until they finally located Flo’s car (with a dinged front bumper). Finding the car took a while, and Flo was napping on the curb, propped against Jeanne, when they returned to the food court entrance.

Jeanne drove home with Flo in Flo’s car, so she could keep an eye on her for the afternoon. Peggy Sue drove everyone else to their respective houses and then took Lulu back to the restaurant. Lulu had never been more relieved to see it.

Peggy Sue said sadly, “Well, here we are. I’m sorry, Lulu. I thought we’d have fun today. I never would have brought you out if I’d known that Flo was going to flake out like that. Now you probably feel worse than ever.”

“It’s just very out of character for Flo,” said Lulu. “I don’t think of her as a heavy drinker.”

“She
isn’t
. That’s why a few glasses of wine knocked her on her butt. That night we were out with Miss Adrian, she hardly even touched her drink.” Peggy Sue blushed. She was probably wishing she’d been the same way. But she wasn’t going to be like Jeanne and swear off drinking. Summertime wasn’t summertime for Peggy Sue without a pretty pastel frozen beverage with a miniature umbrella sitting in it. And, in Memphis, they were barreling toward summer.

“Don’t worry about it, Peggy Sue. And don’t beat yourself up about what you said that night. Sometimes things are meant to happen. We just might not know the reason right away.”

Peggy Sue hugged her. “You are so right, Lulu. I’m going to have to get over it. I’ve bawled me a river over it.” She looked at the restaurant. “Hey, it looks like the guys are already setting up for their gig. Be ready for crowds.”

Lulu squinted at Aunt Pat’s and saw a new notice on their sidewalk sign about the blues trio playing that night. She hoped Ben had already fired up the pit. Lulu had a feeling Aunt Pat’s was going to be packed.

There was nothing like the blues to cheer a body up, thought Lulu. Morty’s voice was deeply resonant and full of regret, Buddy and Big Ben played strong and true, the bass throbbed, and the beat was contagious. When Morty played a harmonica solo, it brought down the house with applause.

Best of all, the restaurant was chock-full of people. Lulu breathed a sigh of relief to see everybody back in the dining room, listening to music and stuffing themselves with ribs, spicy corn bread, and red beans and rice. Morty winked saucily at her, and Lulu smiled back at him. Yes, sir, life was good. She sat down on the screen porch in one of the rockers and listened to the music. Both Labradors, B.B. and Elvis, came over and rested their heads against her for a rubbing. After the day she’d had, she’d happily plant her rear end in that rocker until the cows came home. Beale Street was crowded, with people jamming the street outside. They carried huge cups of beer with them as they slowly walked up and down the street, taking in all the neon lights, the music, and the scent of fine Southern cooking that wafted out the doors.

Unfortunately for Lulu, resting and enjoying beautiful music wasn’t in the cards. Right when she thought all the oddities of the day were fading like a bad dream, Derrick bolted from the restaurant and plowed through the screen porch door, letting it slam behind him with a bang. Morty briefly stumbled through his lyrics before picking back up where he left off (although there was a short interlude of him humming).

Sara tore out after Derrick, red curls bouncing on her back. The screen door slammed again, and the Labs hid their heads under a table. The dogs’ law of physics was “If I can’t see you, you can’t see me!”

The trio kept playing, although Buddy’s eyebrows shot all the way up his black face. Lulu shook her head at him. Funny how you could communicate without words after so many years. No, there’d be no need for Lulu to run after Sara. Lulu was sure that Sara would be back any minute, because Derrick wasn’t going to be caught by Sara.

Sara, red in the face and with glittering eyes, opened the porch door. She cocked her head to the back of the restaurant in a gesture Lulu interpreted to mean that she wanted to speak with her in private. “Let’s go to the kitchen,” said Lulu. “The girls are hanging out in the office.”

Lulu did stick her head in the office for a second to see if Seb was there. Which he wasn’t. Lulu said, “Before we talk about what happened with you and Derrick, have you seen Seb at all today?”

Sara, already seething, said, “No, and I could kill him. I know I shouldn’t say that, considering, but I’m that furious. But first let me tell you about Derrick.” She leaned back against the big counter.

“Okay. Let me hear it.” Lulu winced in anticipation.

Sara softened a little when she saw Lulu’s reaction. She remembered that she had only just that morning told Ben that Lulu needed to escape from her worries about the murder, and here she was loading her down with all her anxiety and frustration. She rubbed her freckled face with the palms of her hands. “I know he’s my nephew and I shouldn’t say anything. But when he comes in with all that black on, it’s like he’s sucked all the sunshine out of the room,” complained Sara.

“It’s just a phase,” said Lulu soothingly. “He had a huge adjustment from Chicago to Memphis. Think about how different the kids must be up there.”

Sara stared gloomily out the kitchen window. “Are they? It seems like teenagers are difficult anywhere at any time. I wish he’d at least
try
to be a little more cheerful. And that goatee is so scruffy it looks like a five o’clock shadow. Today was a real disaster. Ella Beth was walking down the street today and saw Derrick going into the tattoo parlor.”

“Oh no,” sighed Lulu. “Well, do you need me to talk to him? I can give him the lowdown on how skin sags in one’s later years. That eagle tattoo might end up looking like a chickadee.”

“Well, luckily, Ella Beth told Coco, and Coco ran all the way here to let me know. Coco has a thing about tattoos, you know. I caught up with him and pulled him out of there.” Sara rolled her eyes. “Look, Lulu, I don’t want to unload on you. It’s nothing—typical teenage rebellion stuff, I’m sure. Why don’t you tell me about your day?”

Lulu paused. That was one thing she really
couldn’t
do. She’d sworn herself to secrecy. Any tales Lulu told involving Flo and a drunken ramble about the mall would be quickly analyzed for content.
Why
was Flo drinking?
Why
did Rebecca Adrian’s death affect her so badly? And Lulu had promised not to say anything. “Actually, the Graces took me shopping today. Sort of a surprise treat. It was . . . very nice.” Lulu was so preoccupied with lying that she didn’t notice Sara had turned bright red.

“Well, that’s wonderful! I’m glad you had a nice day out. Listen, don’t worry about the thing with Derrick. I shouldn’t have dragged you off the porch about it. I just get really mad, sometimes, you know? I’m trying to do the right thing by him for my sister’s sake, and sometimes I feel like he’s throwing it all back in my face.” That wasn’t the extent of the problems she was having with Derrick, thought Sara guiltily.

Ben was pulling ribs out of the brick wall pit and putting them back in as fast as he could. Considering how many years he’d been cooking, though, his multitasking abilities were very good. “You know what that boy needs?” he asked.

“I’m almost scared to ask,” said Lulu.

“He needs to hunt some turkeys,” said Ben, thumping his spatula against a baking sheet.

Sara’s brow furrowed. “Wearing
what
, Ben? He’s only got the black shirts and baggy black pants.”

“I’ve got plenty of extra camo! He could borrow some of mine.”

Lulu tactfully decided not to bring up the fact that Derrick was thin as a rail. And that Ben . . . wasn’t.

“And really,” added Sara, “I’m not sure it’s a great idea to arm Derrick, Ben. Especially considering that scene he and I had.”

Sara quickly changed the subject. “Hey, how is Flo doing?” Lulu shifted uncomfortably. “The last time I saw her, she was really apologetic about forgetting Derrick at the Peabody. It sounded like she’d really had a run-in with Rebecca. Which,” she added wryly, “wasn’t hard to do.”

“Oh, I think she’s fine,” said Lulu, crossing her fingers behind her back. “You know—the whole thing is wearing on all of us.”

“I’ll say,” said Sara. “My initial reaction to hearing Rebecca Adrian was dead was a ‘ding-dong, the witch is dead,’ type thing. And now I feel really guilty about it all.”

Lulu looked at her searchingly. How guilty was guilty? Guilty because she’d harbored ill feelings about someone and they ended up dying? Or guilty because she had something to do with it? Lulu said, “Well, you have nothing to worry about. You were driving me over there so I could apologize to the woman, so you were playing an important role in reconciliation, after all. And don’t worry about Derrick. He’s having a rough time adjusting to a new place, that’s all. And seventeen is a difficult age. Things will turn around, you’ll see.”

Sara grinned. “Now you forget all about my ramblings, Lulu. Please go back out on the porch and enjoy the blues. You deserve a break. I think I might, too. I’m going to go ahead and take the girls home and try to make up with Derrick.”

Ben scooped some ribs and baked beans into a takeout container and handed it to Sara. “Here, bring some food home to him. That’s definitely the way to a boy’s heart.”

Lulu happily retreated to the porch with a bowl full of sliced peaches sprinkled with some brown sugar and pecans. The sweetness of the treat and Morty’s soft voice soothed her. She rocked and let the crooning blues music wrap around her like a blanket until the restaurant closed down for the evening.

 

 

Lulu had high hopes that a day ending peacefully would somehow carry over into the following morning. But dashed hopes were all that were in store for her at Aunt Pat’s.

“All right! Where’s my brother?” demanded Ben. He looked ferociously mad, which did not jive with his Captain Kangarooish appearance. “He wasn’t here yesterday, and now he’s not here again this morning. I’ve got to get some food ordered, or we’re going to have to shut down from lack of supplies.”

Lulu knit her brows. “It couldn’t be all that bad, Ben.”

“But it is. Otherwise, our customers are going to be placing orders, and the waitresses will be saying, ‘Oh sorry—we’re out of ribs. And coleslaw. And corn bread. But we do have some great sweet tea and baked beans.’” Ben’s face displayed a rainbow of colors, none of which indicated a clean bill of coronary health. No wonder Sara said yesterday that she could kill Seb. Considering Ben’s rage, Seb better watch his back or else he might be kicking the bucket himself.

Lulu was already calling Seb’s cell phone. It went immediately to voice mail. “Seb? It’s Mother. I need you to get yourself to work right away. We need inventory from our vendors, and it’s too expensive to have it overnighted. Call me.”

Ben was in orbit. “And now we can’t even get in touch with him!”

“All right, all right. Let me look at the computer and see if I can place the orders. It can’t be all that hard. I know we have some software to help us out,” said Lulu.

“I’d have done the ordering myself, but I assumed that Seb was taking care of it. Since it’s his
job
and everything,” said Ben with more than a touch of bitterness in his voice. “And now it’s time for me to fire up the pit and get some ribs smoked. I don’t have time to worry with the inventory.”

“Just hustle back into the kitchen, Ben,” said Lulu, propelling him out of the office. “I’ll see what I can do with the business end of things.”

The business end of things quickly made Lulu extremely vexed. She’d found the inventory list (which indicated some shocking shortfalls) and pulled up the software that helped them place their orders from the vendors. The only problem was that the computer was offline. She couldn’t seem to connect to the Internet. Indeed, the entire machine seemed to have been possessed by the devil. An exorcism was clearly needed.