Delicious and Suspicious (18 page)

Seb broke in before the conversation turned into a litany on what he should do to spruce himself up. “Look, have you got any evidence against me? Because really, that’s what this all boils down to. And I don’t think you have it.”

Apparently, Detective Bryce didn’t think he did, either. His blue eyes looked tired for a second, before he briskly stood and moved toward Seb’s door. “If you think of anything to add to your statement, call me.” His tone suggested he was far from finished with Seb.

 

 

Lulu looked at her watch. “Heavens, I’ve got to get back to the restaurant for the dinner rush!” She clucked. “Tonight’s band should be arriving any minute, too.” Thank goodness her car was in working order again. Right now, she loved Seb just as much as always, but she sure didn’t like him very much.

“Hey, Mom, do you want me to come in to work? Get some things done in the office?” asked Seb hesitantly. He didn’t seem to
want
to go in but more like he thought he
should
go in.

Lulu looked at him severely over the glasses she wore to drive with. “Not a bit. I don’t think you’re customer-ready right now. You’re not even back door ready. You look like you’ve been run over by a Mack truck, frankly. Your original plan was a better one—go to bed. Go directly to bed. Do not pass Go. Do not collect two hundred dollars.”

Seb gave a faint smile. “I used to love it when we played Monopoly.”

“That’s probably because you usually won. Even when you were a little guy,” said Lulu.

“Well, I was always good at figures,” said Seb with an attempt at a modest tone.

“You were always good at robbing the bank.” Lulu sniffed. She held her head high as she walked out the door—but turned to wink at Seb.

Lulu softened a little. “You can come in tomorrow, though. I’m sure there’re some things we can find for you to do.”

Lulu was so absorbed by meeting and greeting all her guests in the crowded dining room that she didn’t even notice she was being shadowed.

In fact, it took close to an hour before she finally glimpsed a small brunette head dodging back behind the back of a recently vacated booth. Lulu figured she’d made a colossal mistake by not staying more on top of Derrick, and she was determined to communicate more with Ella Beth and Coco. She plopped down in the booth opposite the scrunched-down Ella Beth. “Is there something you needed to talk to me about, sweetie?” asked Lulu.

Ella Beth shook her head. She clutched a bug viewer magnifying glass. “No, Granny Lulu. I’m looking for clues, that’s all. And keeping under cover. You really shouldn’t be drawing attention to me, you know.”

Lulu knit her brows. “Clues to what, honey?”

Ella Beth looked at her with some incredulity. “To the mystery, of course. The mystery of Miss Adrian’s death. I’m going to crack the case and find out who done it. This magnifying glass helps me look for clues to the killer. Dusty footprints, a torn piece of clothing, or smudged fingerprints. You know.”

Lulu didn’t want to break it to her that there were so many footprints, fingerprints, and DNA traces scattered around the dining room that she never would be able to distinguish what should be there and what shouldn’t be there. She leaned over the table and squeezed Ella Beth’s hand. “You did a great job for your last case.”

“The case of the disappearing cell phone? Yes, and that was a tough one. Daddy should never have put it on vibrate. When he called it to see where it was, it didn’t ring. It took me forever to find it for him. And don’t forget my private-investigation talent for keeping undercover. I was the brains behind the bust of Derrick at the tattoo parlor.”

Lulu said, “You surely were. So are you a solo detective, then? Where’s Coco? I haven’t seen her around tonight.”

Ella Beth shrugged. “She’s watching some TV show in the office.”

Clearly, Coco had no interest at all in playing along with her sister’s detective work. How could twins be so different?

“Have you made any discoveries with your case, sweetie?”

Ella Beth brightened. “Could we be a crime-fighting duo? Most detectives have sidekicks.”

“Well, sure. I’d be proud to call you my sidekick.”

There was a long pause. “No, Granny Lulu. I was thinking that
you
could be
my
sidekick. Since I’m the one with the detective kit and all.”

“Of course, of course. What was I thinking?” Lulu shook her head woefully at this evidence of her mental shortcomings.

“Since you’re here, this will be a good time for a secret meeting. Let’s share our findings on the case of the mean TV scout. Do you have an update to share, Granny Lulu?”

“My update?”

“What you’ve discovered so far,” said Ella Beth. “Because I know you’ve been working on it.”

Lulu looked startled. She needed everyone to think she was a garrulous, gossipy old lady. Or, perhaps, that she was on a mission to clear the good name of Aunt Pat’s barbeque. If everybody in Memphis knew she was trying to solve the case, she’d be running into one brick wall after another. They’d all be protecting their secrets. What if the killer tried to bump Lulu off because she knew something he didn’t want her to know? She shivered.

“Don’t worry,” said Ella Beth breezily. “Nobody else knows. Except Daddy, maybe. I’m just especially observant. After all, I’m a detective, so I notice things.”

“Well, now, that
is
a relief. Because, if I’m a private eye, I’d like to be a
private
eye,” said Lulu. “But, no, I really haven’t discovered anything, honey.” After all, she certainly wasn’t going to tell her nine-year-old granddaughter about Flo having been in prison. Or, for that matter, her uncle Seb having been there. Or her cousin Derrick’s proclivity for slashing car tires. She’d just keep those little tidbits of information to herself.

Ella Beth looked rather disgusted. “Nothing? You haven’t found
any
thing out?”

“Afraid not, sweetie. I’m a real crime-fighting dunce.”

“Well
I’ve
found out something. But you can’t tell anybody. Because we’re in the investigating stage and don’t need to scare off any suspects.”

Suspects like your mom? wondered Lulu.

“I found out,” breathed Ella Beth, after looking around her in all directions, “that not everybody was where they said they were the day Miss Adrian was murdered.”

Oh, so she did know about Derrick playing hooky. Lulu guessed that was to be expected. After all, they were living like siblings now.

“Good work!” said Lulu. “Do you think it’ll give us a clue to the murder?”

“No,” said Ella Beth. “But it might mean somebody needs to make sure Derrick’s grades aren’t dropping like crazy.”

Lulu wondered if Ella Beth might be bitter over the fact that she was at school while Derrick was skipping for days in a row. Although it didn’t seem like she was when she said, “By the way, Derrick has been really cool lately. He even helped me with my homework yesterday.”

Lulu raised her eyebrows. “Since when do you need help with your homework?”

Ella Beth shrugged. “I didn’t actually need any help. But it meant Derrick and I got to spend some time together, and he was totally pumped that he could help me out.”

“That’s really sweet of him.”

Ella Beth nodded. “And then he even drove Coco to her dance practice when Mama and Daddy were too busy. Good thing he did—Coco was fit to be tied that no one could take her. She needed to practice her routine for the next pageant.” She added thoughtfully, “One day, Coco will be a beauty queen, and I’ll be the most in-demand investigator in Memphis.”

Lulu gave Ella Beth a quick hug. “By the way,” she said, “I have something else I’d like you to investigate for me.”

“What’s that, Granny Lulu?”

“Your math book. I seem to remember your mama saying she needed you to work on homework. But all I’ve noticed is you with a magnifying glass.”

Ella Beth looked miffed. “All right. I guess I can take a break for long enough to do some math. But if I get a fresh lead, then I’m outta there.”

“Deal,” said Lulu.

“And, Granny Lulu? Did you happen to make any cookies today?”

“Sweetie, you know I wouldn’t forget about you! I made your favorite chocolate chunk cookies. And this time I didn’t even eat a one. Although they were right tempting there on the cooling rack.”

A huge grin spread over Ella Beth’s freckled face as she hurried off for the kitchen.

“Remember to share some with Coco!” called Lulu. But Ella Beth was already conveniently out of earshot.

 

 

Lulu headed back into the dining room after her tête-à-tête with Ella Beth. The supper crowd was dying down, but the night crowd was coming in—drawn by blues and barbeque. This crowd was more likely to have a side order or a dessert and a drink while listening to the band. Lulu saw Mildred Cameron entering the restaurant.

Despite Mildred’s eccentricity, Lulu really liked her. After all, she was
nice
. And nice went a long way with Lulu. Mildred looked around her tentatively, making sure no one appeared to be talking about her or laughing at her or recalling her last fateful appearance there.

But no one did. Actually,
studiously
no one did. In the South, if someone is going to talk about you, they’ll do it only in the most loving of ways and certainly not where you can see them doing it. In fact, there was a chorus of hellos when she walked farther into the dining room. Lulu’s was one of them.

Lulu slid into the booth opposite Mildred, and Mildred looked relieved for the company. Lulu was happy to see that it was Normal Mildred and not Zombie Mildred that had come to the restaurant. Lulu had really been worried about her at the tail end of their visit the other day.

“We really missed seeing you here, sweetie. The Graces were all asking me when you were coming by, and Big Ben asked if I’d talked to you. It hasn’t been the same here without you, honey!”

Mildred blushed but looked pleased. “I missed everybody, too. And I found out I can’t write as well when I’m all holed up at home.” She shyly took out a notebook. “I think I put little bits of all of y’all in my stories.”

A waitress hovered nearby, and Lulu said, “A pulled pork sandwich with red beans and rice, coleslaw, and a couple of spicy corn muffins. That
is
what you want, right? And an iced tea?”

Mildred nodded shyly, and Lulu said softly to the waitress, “On the house, please, Maggie.”

Lulu leaned toward Mildred and said in a low voice, “I know you were worried about the police visiting you. Did you get my message about Pink?” Mildred nodded. “He just couldn’t give me much information . . . you know, he’s not supposed to. And he’s not on that case, anyway.”

Mildred said, “It went okay. I was terrified at the beginning, but that Detective Bryce is really a nice man. And it ended up being good research for my mystery.”

Lulu reflected that Detective Bryce’s innocent-looking, freshly scrubbed appearance might work to his advantage in some circumstances—like putting shy, old maid book-sellers at ease. Lulu reached over and gave Mildred’s hand a quick squeeze. “Good for you!”

“I’ve made up my mind that nothing she could say is going to make me feel bad about my manuscript or myself. Miss Adrian was . . . mean.”

“Or something,” agreed Lulu sympathetically. “She seemed to have a lot of different issues. Tony was telling the Graces, Seb, and me that Rebecca was so secretive she couldn’t even take a cell phone call without getting up and walking away. She sprang up right in the middle of a conversation we were all having. So she didn’t even have basic
manners
.”

“Detective Bryce asked me what I’d thought of her. He really was interested in my opinion about Miss Adrian.” She added, almost to herself, “I wanted to kill her.”

“You didn’t tell the police that, right?” asked Lulu. Surely Mildred had said something like, “I was furious” or “I was so mad.”

“Well, of course I told Detective Bryce that,” she said, looking puzzled at Lulu. “He
asked
me. The police
asked
me.”

Lulu sighed. Mildred’s honesty might end up getting her in trouble.

Mildred looked around her, patting her slightly greasy locks. “I was wondering—is Seb here? I was hoping to talk to him for a few minutes.”

You and everybody else in Memphis, thought Lulu. “No, honey, I’m afraid he wasn’t . . . uh . . . feeling well today. I told him to stay at home instead of contaminating the populace here at Aunt Pat’s. But I think he’ll probably be here bright and early tomorrow morning.” At least he’d better be. Otherwise he was going to be her dearly departed younger son.

Mildred drooped with disappointment. “Oh. Well, I guess I could come back and talk to him tomorrow morning before going to the bookstore.”

“Is there something you want me to ask him for you?” asked Lulu. Surely Mildred wasn’t setting her cap for Seb. If pretty Susan Meredith wasn’t turning Seb’s head, then poor Mildred didn’t have a chance in hell.

“No, that’s okay, Lulu. I’ll try to catch up with him later.” She looked like she was worried about something and opened her mouth for a second before snapping it shut again. More secrecy.

Then Mildred leaned forward in a secretive way. “But the new book? The mystery? It’s coming along really well. I’m already a couple of pages into it! I think mystery might be the way to go for me. And I’m really going to research this one and make it really accurate—what it’s like to be a suspect, and how a murderer thinks. That kind of thing.”

Lulu could only imagine how long it was going to take to complete a whole new manuscript, especially if there was research involved. Mildred’s last project had taken decades to complete. “I’m so happy for you, Mildred! See, you’ve figured out a way to make some pink lemonade out of those sour lemons you were dealt.”