Stilettos & Scoundrels (24 page)

“Next time she calls and I’m with you, I’m just going to hand you the phone and you can deal with her.”

Katy laughed. They moved on from talking about the current events to
reliving
some old memories.
I told Katy about seeing my
dad last night too and how today he had lied about where he had been. Katy
,
of course
, assured me
that there had to be a good reason
. I
knew
Katy was probably right
, but it was still concerning.
I
would get to the bottom of this ev
entually, if just to satisfy my
curiosity.

Last night it
had
seemed like a good idea to avoid the wrath of
Cooper
and Dirt and not tell them about Helen. However, by the light of day
,
I
began to think maybe it hadn’t been the smartest idea. Who was
I
kidding?
I
was no detective. What if
I
really screwed something up? Or even worse, what if withholding this information did get
me
in trouble like Katy said?
I
didn’t want any legal trouble.
I
was a good girl at heart and wanted to keep it that way. At this point though,
I
figured the damage was done and
I
just needed to r
edeem my
self
by
finding out more useful information. Then
, when I
went to them with the information, they wouldn’t be so mad.

Yesterday at lunch, Katy and I
had worked together to
c
om
e up with a plan to see what
we
could find out around town about Helen and any extramar
i
tal affairs she m
ay
have been
having.
I wished I could get my
mother to help
—
she surely knew what the rumo
r mills were talking about. We were hoping we
could
identify
the person in the car with Helen the other night.
I was c
onvinced
that
finding out the identity of this person would help unlock the rest of the
mystery, or at least satisfy my
own curiosity about Helen
’s affair
. Katy wasn’t thrilled a
bout my
interfering a
nd not telling the guys what I
knew
,
but
I persuaded her to see my
reasoning. One of the first things
I
thought of was to talk to some of Helen’s friends here in town. Not that Helen was here much, but she
had
grow
n
up here.
I
figured since childhood friends were usually the people you told your secrets to, it would be a good place to start. Besides
,
when
Helen
spen
t
time here
in Alkon
, she was active in some women’s clubs
, so people knew her
.

As
I
pulled into the parking lot of the library, which was the first step in their grand scheme
, I
began t
o get nervous again. What if I
had
impeded the investigation by not telling Dirt or
Cooper
?
What if, by not sharing what I
knew,
I helped
the killer g
e
t aw
ay? But, then again, what if I
found an angle they didn’t think of
and was able to help catch the killer? I
was the queen of rationalization; this was no different from being able to justify new shoes o
ver paying the rent on time. I
needed to give Dirt and
Cooper more credit. I
was sure they were smart enough to
figure it out without my
little, tiny pieces of information. Besides they probably already knew about
Helen and would just be mad I
was wasting their time with such trivial matters.

See what a small dose of positive thinking did
, I
thought, and steppe
d out of my SUV. I
felt better
already. Now, I
just had to figure out the best way to ask Ruth Johnson, the town librarian and best hometown friend of Helen Daniels, about Helen’s
extracurricular activities. We
thought Ruth was a good place to start
, if she would tell us
anything. Besides, she really was one of the few friends Helen had here
—at least that we knew about. I
tried very subtly to
get some information out of my
mother last night, but she hadn’t been too forthcoming
. S
he thought it was none of
my
business.

“Hi
,
Ruth,”
I
said, walking up to the circulation desk wit
h a peppy smile plastered on my
face, the type showing lots of teeth,
that I
could spot as a fake from ten miles away, but
I
was hoping Ruth wouldn’t b
e as observant. Even my
mother didn’t ca
tch on to this all the time. I thought if I
turned on the charm, Ruth
might be susceptible to it. I
had even been careful when getting dressed this morning to be more conservative than normal
—no Juicy Couture sweatsuit today. Normally, I
wouldn’t care wh
at anyone thought, but since I
n
eeded information from Ruth, I wanted to do my best. I
felt
that adhering to the Junior League’s conservative preppy dress code could only h
elp
my
cause.
As a result, I
was in a khaki skirt and blue button down shirt.
I
had
borro
wed a pair of white Keds from my
mother
; I didn’t have anything like that in my cl
oset. Adding the perfect strand of pearls made
me the lady my
mom always dreamed
I would be—the younger
version of her
self
. It made
me
want to throw
up when my mother looked at me this morning as I was leaving the house; I swore my
mother’s
eyes were glistening with joy.
I felt some
satisfaction
when I saw
the look of joy turn to disapproval when she saw
my
tattoo.
It was an i
mmature
reaction,
I
knew
,
but
I still took pleasure in those small victories. I
would never be part
of the women’s club the way my
mother wanted
; it just wasn’t my
nature. But, if the ladi
es of the town would trust me more in this get-up than if I
was wearing jean
s and three-inch heels, then I would do it. I
was willing to
go that extra mile. If only I
didn’t feel so uncomfortable
, like I
was dressing up for Halloween.

Ruth hadn’t changed any. In fact, it looked as if she still thought it was the 1950s.
I
peered over the desk, slightly expecting to see a poodle skirt and bobby socks. Ruth had on gray slacks and a pink sweater, not too far off.
And yes, don’t forget the requisite strand of pearls all of us good Junior Leaguers wear
,
I
thought to
my
self sarcastically, while fingering
my
borrowed ones absentmindedly. Ruth was one of
my
mother’s good friends, so
I
needed to be very careful
about
what
I
said to her.
My
mother was already annoyed with
me
for interfering in this to begin with. The last thing
I
needed was for Ruth to run back to
my
mom
and tell her about the whole conversation,
and
I
was sure it wouldn’t take much.
I
didn’t need
my
mother
on
my back any more than she
already was and sh
e definitely would be if I
insulted one of her friends.
Although I was a grown woman now, I
had to
admit
that
I
was still scared of
my
own mother.

“Hello
,
dear, how nice to see you,” Ruth said to
me
. “Your mother said you were going to be home when I saw her at bridge club the other night. Planning to stay long? You know, my Bobby is home too. Maybe you could get together.”

Over my dead body,
I
groaned i
nwardly. The other aspect of my
mother’s friendship with Ruth was they never stopped trying to fix Bobby
and me
up.
When we
were little
, the two women had forced us
to play together.
It hadn’t been all bad. At a young age, we
had fun
. People just change and as we grew older, we
found different likes and friends. There were five of
us
.
Me
, Katy, Bobby, Tracey Miller, and Steve Krump.
I
wasn’t sure what Steve was up to these days
,
and Tracy Miller was now Sister Tracy,
although she was the last person I
would
picture
join
ing
a convent.
M
aybe it was
penance for all the trouble we
got into as kids
; maybe
she was now paying for all of
us
. Too bad Bobby hadn
’t followed her example. As we
grew up, Bobby went from being a fun kid to one of the biggest losers in high school. He was lazy and smoked pot all day, thinking his looks and charm would get him by. Shockingly, they often did,
but I
didn’t think he really had much of either looks or charm. Part of his problem was
that
his mom always gave him everything he wanted. There was n
ever any
reason to shape up
,
and he didn’t seem like the type to undergo a complete transformation o
f
his own free will.
But I
had to be polite or I
wou
ld never get the information I
needed, so I
replied, “That sounds like a great idea, but right now I’m here working and I am really busy. Maybe I can give him a call some other time?”

Ruth’s smile faltered a little
, but only for a second. I
could tell she was a little disappointed. “You have my number then. He is staying with us until he can get back on his feet. You know, his wife recently left him, awful woman. I always knew she wasn’t good enough for my Bobby. He needs someone who will treat him right.”

Right. A
wful woman? Please! The Bobby I
knew was either stoned all the time or out chasing women. Did Ruth ever consider his wife might have had good reason to leave?
I
was sure Ruth would never see the error in his ways.
That was p
robably
part of
the reason he was
so screwed up. Even my mother agreed with me
on that one.

“I’ll keep that in mind, Ruth.”
Not in a million years
, I
thought. “I was actually hoping you could help me with something.”

“What could I possibly help you with?” Ruth asked, looking puzzled.

I
w
as still undecided as to how I
should approach
this question, since I
didn’t think casually asking Ruth who Helen might be having an affair with would be a great idea, though it sure
would make things easier if I
co
uld be that direct. Instead, I
decided to test the waters carefully. “I am sure you know I came to town to interview Senator Daniels.”