Act V (19 page)

He flipped on the television and
watched as that lovely announcer, Sandra Fitchwell, reported on the
woes of home invasions. He liked watching her. Maybe after he’d
used her to accomplish his goals, he’d take her out for a drink,
and whatever might follow. That would make up for not doing Juliet.
Professionalism was such a trial.

Act III

I bear a charmed life, which
must not yield,
To one of woman born…

Lay on, Macduff,
And damn'd be him that first cries, “Hold, enough!”

~~Macbeth, Act V, Scene
Vlll~~

William
Shakespeare

Chapter 15

“
This is the best barbeque
in town.” Glynnis devoured a plate of pulled pork with slaw. She
didn’t think she’d be able to eat anything, but sometimes one’s
body has a way of taking over and insisting on survival. Besides,
her perspective had changed for the better.

Brice couldn’t stop watching her. Lord,
he loved a woman who knew how to eat. There was nothing more
irritating than watching some skinny female sit down at a table and
nibble at three lettuce leaves and a celery stick only to exclaim
at how she was full and couldn’t manage another bite. Glynnis
wasn’t fat, not by a long shot, but she had the kind of curves
women were supposed to have, and Lord, those legs. “Glad you’re
enjoying it. I really would have taken you somewhere
nice.”

“
But this is where I wanted
to go.”

Brice smiled and reluctantly broached
the subject, “Glynnis, I need some help.”

“
Aaron’s
brother?”

“
Yes.”

“
Romeo and Juliet,
right?”

“
I think so. I can’t give
details yet but the crime scene fits and the background fits. It’s
like this guy is replicating death scenes from
Shakespeare.”

“
So you want me to fill you
in on
Romeo and Juliet
.”

“
I remember a lot of it, who
doesn’t? But I could use a refresher and maybe you could tell me
about some of the other death scenes in Shakespeare. It might come
in handy.”

Suddenly the barbeque lost its appeal.
She laid her fork down on the table. “Okay, but it’ll take a while.
I don’t think I’m hungry anymore. Do you want to go back to my
place and I’ll give you the whole gory business?”

Her whole demeanor had fallen. Brice
was sorry he’d brought it up. “It can wait until later. I want to
see your stage. It’s just down at the park, isn’t it?”

Her face lifted. “Do you really want to
see it or are you just being nice?”

“
What I want is to see you
smile.”

She did, as they walked three blocks to
Liberty Park.

*****

“
This is incredible!” he
told her and meant it. The scenery wasn’t elaborate but it drew the
eye so that the viewer kept finding something new with every
glance. “Did Aaron Shultz do all this?”

“
He and his
crew.”

“
Talented.”

They spent a few minutes looking at the
backstage area where actors did their costume changes in tents and
the prop storage. Then they walked over to the falls. Berry Falls
was about twenty feet of water splashing over various levels of
rocky shelves and ending in a torrent at the bottom where slippery
rocks lined the river base. On a good rainy month the water rose to
almost a foot. Right now it was barely two inches deep. Glynnis sat
down along the bank and pulled off her sandals, dangling her foot
into the cold water. Her legs were beginning to feel numb from the
short walk but she didn’t want to mention it out loud. The water
was a nice refresher. Brice tossed in a rock and sat down beside
her. “How long have you been directing?”

“
Seven years,” she said,
“since I was about twenty-six.” She blushed. “Oops, guess I just
told my age.”

“
You are but a child, my
dear.” He reached over and pulled her into the crook of his arm.
“What did you do before you directed?”

“
I worked backstage, tech
stuff, never much acting though. I was never as comfortable
on-stage as backstage.”

“
You’d be terrific on
stage.”

“
I’m not a great actor. I
tend to be very straightforward…honest. It’s hard for me to
pretend.”

He stroked her hand. “That’s a good
thing. It’s starting to get dark. Ready?”

She put her shoes back on, then, using
his shoulder for balance, she stood, steadied herself and
floundered just a little before gaining her stride. He quickly
stood and grabbed her elbow to make certain she was stable. “You
okay?”

“
I’m fine…Just had to
balance.” She took his hand and led him to the car. “I guess it’s
time we talked about that. Between here and the house, maybe you
can tell me about this unbelievably cool car. I know there’s a
story here somewhere.”

Chapter 16

Two glasses of wine sat on the coffee
table, half empty. They had stopped by the grocery store on the way
to buy wine, cheese, crackers, and Debbie Cakes. “I feel like I’m
in college again, cramming for exams,” she told him. “Minus the
wine of course.”

“
You never drank in
college?”

“
I was underage until my
senior year.”

“
Do you always obey the
rules?”

“
Don’t you? You’re a
cop.”

He reached to catch a drip of wine from
her lips with his forefinger and then sucked the drop from his
finger. “When are you going to explain?”

“
I did promise that I would
didn’t I?” She sat her wineglass down. “I probably should have
mentioned this to you before we…um…”

“
Before we ended up in bed
together?”

She flushed and smiled remembering
exactly what they’d been doing a few hours ago. “Yeah, anyway, I
think I told you that Dorsey and I didn’t break up over another
woman or anything like that.” He nodded so she went on. “We broke
up because he couldn’t see himself married to somebody who could be
physically dependent on him in a few years. Not that I really blame
him.”

“
I do. He’s an
idiot.”

She smiled. “I was diagnosed with
Multiple Sclerosis a little over a year ago.”

Everything was beginning to make sense
to Brice. “That’s why you were concerned about the tub and why you
decided to buy a house with wheelchair access?”

“
After we broke up, I wanted
to do everything I could to break my ties with Dorsey. I felt that
if I had my own house, I wouldn’t be tempted to go back to him.
This one was owned by a gentleman whose late wife was a paraplegic.
It came on the market so I grabbed it. I hope I’ll never need the
wheel chair access, but I have to be realistic. I
might.”

“
You seem to be doing great
right now.” He leaned in to kiss her.

“
I am. It’s not as bad as it
used to be. The meds are good and I’m responding to them. I’m
actually a lot better now than before I was diagnosed. And I work
out pretty much every night.”

“
I can tell,” he whispered.
“Wanna go work out now?”

Glynnis let out a breath she didn’t
know she was holding and returned his kiss. “None of this bothers
you? It doesn’t turn you off.”

“
Nothing about you turns me
off, Glynnis.” He squeezed her hand. “Besides, any of us could end
up with a cane or wheelchair. All it takes is a little arthritis or
a broken bone. Timmons is an out and out fool.”

“
I like you better every
time we talk.” She stood and picked up both wine glasses, now
empty. “Would you rather have some more wine or, um…work
out?”

“
Yes.”

*****

Addison was staring at the police
services report when Brice got to work on Friday. “Brice, my
friend, it’s amazing what a little research will get you. Between
the work I did last night, while you were out making time with the
lovely Glynnis…”

Brice rolled his eyes but didn’t argue.
“Go on.”

“
Between that and this
amazing little info packet from police services, we actually have a
few leads to follow.”

“
Maybe one
more
than a few,” Brice
told him over his shoulder, walking toward the break room. “Want
some more coffee?”

“
Yeah, don’t forget the
cream.”

Brice returned with two cups, one deep
black one containing more cream than coffee. “I did a little bit of
door knocking myself last night.”

“
I’m impressed, romance and
work all in one day.”

Brice lifted one side of his mouth.
“Anyway, it seems that our Romeo and Juliet had a pizza delivery
that night from Itza Pizza.”

“
So did a thousand other
people.”

“
But I’d be willing to bet
that those thousand others had leftovers or at least a crust or a
cardboard box to show for it. Mr. and Mrs. Shultz had
neither.”

“
Did I ever mention that you
are an investigative machine?”

Brice went on. “Now, while it’s true
that our couple could have disposed of the pizza remains out back
in the dumpster, I don’t recall having that much discipline myself
at that age.”

“
No,” Addy quipped. “I
figure our boy had other pursuits in mind with his new
wife.”

“
Right. Do you think our
guy’s using a pizza delivery fake to get in?”

“
Could be. We’ll check out
the pizza place today. Of course, that don’t mean it’s actually
somebody who works there. Anybody can get hold of a box and a
hat.”

“
But it’s a
start.”

Addison surveyed his partner. “You’re
awfully cheery this morning. Is it the satisfaction of in-depth
police investigative work well done…or maybe some other kind of
satisfaction?”

Brice didn’t answer. “How about you?
What’d you find out?”

“
Hmmph!” Addy wouldn’t be
completely put off. “You may not be talkin’ now, but I’ll find out
sooner or later.” He waited to see if that would get a tidbit of
talk going. When Brice remained silent, he continued. “Okay, you’re
gonna love this. First, Andy Wofford says that there was definitely
some kind of toxin used on the boy and there were traces on the
girl’s lips too, thus the swollen lips and protruding tongue. We’ll
find out more by tomorrow. There was also some hair left on the
scene but they’re checking it against the Danning scene and will
get back to us. But here’s the best part. It seems that Aaron
Shultz may have had good reason to want his brother dead. Looks
like they didn’t get along too well.”

“
We already knew that. He
admitted to a fight the day of the murder.”
“Yeah, but it’s more than that. Turns out that Aaron and Kenny been
competing for Mama’s affection since they were kids.”

“
Nothing unusual about
that.”

“
Not until you add in the
fact that Mama thinks acting and tech work are girly professions
and has told Aaron as much to his face multiple times. According to
their next door neighbor, one Carlisle Atkinson, she made a point
of throwing the younger son’s law aspirations into Aaron’s face
repeatedly. Said she didn’t understand why Aaron couldn’t get a
real job and make her proud. Her exact words according to Mr.
Atkinson.”

“
Nothing like motherly
love.”

“
Yeah, and she had a habit
of ridiculing Aaron, implying that he was gay because of his chosen
profession. That didn’t seem to sit well with our boy since he’s
got a rep as a lady’s man.”

“
Maybe we should interview
Mrs. Shultz again.”

“
Maybe. At any rate, the
topic had apparently become a sore spot between the
brothers.”

“
Well, you have been busy,
haven’t you?” Brice mumbled over a sip of hot brew.

“
I surely have. And wait
until you find out how busy.”

“
Can’t stand the
suspense.”

“
I did some checking into
Aaron’s work history last night. You won’t believe where his name
pops up back from his college days. He spent summers working as an
intern…wanna guess where?”

“
Janico?”

“
Janico.”

“
Well doesn’t this just get
more interesting by the minute.”

*****

Aaron was back and everybody was
walking around him like he was made of fine crystal. “Aaron,”
Glynnis asked, “are you sure you don’t want to give it a couple of
days?”

“
Darlin’,” Aaron reached
down to hug Glynnis, “I’d rather be here as anywhere. At least it
keeps my head busy.”

“
Okay, but promise me you’ll
let me know if you need a break.”

“
What if I need something
else, like you right here and…”

The flirt was back. “Time to rehearse.”
Glynnis turned away from Aaron and got things started. This play
might come off in time after all.

*****

He had gone very early this morning to
use the library printer and then to have the note delivered. He’d
used a disposable mobile phone and told the delivery kid where to
pick up and drop off the package along with his pay for delivering.
Then he’d gone to work and put up with the multitude of
insufferable idiots there. He’d make it a point to be home in time
for the 6p.m. news. He could hear sweet Sandra’s voice now. This
was going to be so much fun.