Black and Blueberry Die (A Fresh-Baked Mystery Book 11) (12 page)

Phyllis knew that when she had too much information whirling around inside her head, one of the best things she could do was to get away from it completely for a while. To that end, she turned off the computer monitor and retreated to the kitchen, where Carolyn had taken her chocolate cherry slab pie out of the oven and set it on the counter to cool. The smell wafting from it was still delicious.

“Oh my, that is enormous.”

Carolyn and Eve were sitting at the table drinking coffee. “I know.  It took eight cups of flour just for the crust, but wouldn’t that be great for a party? I saw one in a magazine and I just had to try it.”

Eve asked, “Where’s Sam?”

“He went upstairs,” Phyllis said. She smiled. “It’s getting on toward his nap time. In fact, it’s probably a little past it.”

“We could cut the pie while he’s sleeping,” Carolyn suggested with an uncharactically mischievous gleam in her eyes.

“Deprive Sam of fresh pie?” Eve asked. “He’d never forgive you!”

Phyllis poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down with them. “Well, it’s not like we could eat the whole thing.” She didn’t want to think about the case, so she steered the conversation to less grim topics. Eve was still full of stories about Hollywood, and she was glad to share more of them.

If Phyllis had expected any blinding revelations to come on her, she would have been disappointed. Nothing else regarding the case had occurred to her by the time Sam came downstairs and joined them, sniffing the air.

“I think that pie smells like it’s just about ready to cut,” he said.

“You can tell that by the way it smells?” Carolyn asked.

“Well...that and the way my stomach’s ready for it. Wait…that’s a pie?” He leaned slightly over the counter, looked down at the pie, pointed a finger at his midsection, and said in an odd accent, “Get in ma belly!”

Carolyn and Eve looked at Phyllis, who shook her head and said, “I’m not even going to ask.”

Carolyn stood up, made shooing motions at Sam, and said, “Get away from that pie. I’ll cut it. Although it’s really too close to supper time to be eating pie.”

“We’ll eat light,” Sam said. “Don’t forget the ice cream.”

Carolyn rolled her eyes and opened a drawer to get out a knife.

To her apparent disgust, not only Sam but also Phyllis and Eve scooped ice cream onto their slices. “This is wonderful,” Phyllis proclaimed after a couple of bites.

“It certainly is,” Eve declared. “You couldn’t find anything better at Schwab’s Drugstore in Hollywood. That’s where Lana Turner was discovered, you know.”

“Mighty good,” Sam chimed in. “You’re gonna win that contest for sure, Carolyn.”

“I don’t know about that,” she said, then admitted, “It is pretty good, isn’t it?”

Phyllis had finished and was wondering just how undignified it would be to pick up the saucer and lick it, when the doorbell rang. She knew Sam was thinking about licking his saucer, too, only he was liable to do it. She stood up and said, “I’ll see who that is.”

As she went into the living room, she looked through the front window and saw the sheriff’s department car parked at the curb. As always, that sight prompted a mixture of emotions inside her. The first thought that came to mind was that Mike had stopped by, and that pleased her.

But that was followed inevitably by the possibility that something had happened to him, and someone had come to notify her. She knew he was in a profession that wasn’t dangerous most of the time—Mike liked to tell her about deputies he served with who had never drawn their guns in the line of duty, during long careers—but it could turn that way at any second, with little or no warning. That situation had grown worse in recent years, and so there was a low-level dread always present in the back of Phyllis’s mind when it came to her son’s safety.

Because of that, a wave of relief went through Phyllis when she opened the door and saw Mike standing there on the porch, apparently hale and hearty.

He had a worried frown on his face, though, instead of his normally cheerful expression, and that instantly made Phyllis worry, too.

“What’s wrong, Mike?” she said as she stepped back to let him into the house. She knew she didn’t have to ask him in.

He followed her into the foyer and said, “It’s Sarah’s mom. She’s in the hospital.”

“Oh, dear. Is it serious?”

“They don’t know yet,” Mike said with a shake of his head. “They’re running tests. But Sarah wants to go out to California to see her.”

“Well, of course she does. Having lost her father, she’s bound to be really worried about her mother.”

Sarah’s father had passed away about a year and a half earlier. At the time, Sarah had tried to talk her mother into moving back to Texas so she would be closer, but the woman wouldn’t hear of it. She’d been determined to continue living in California on her own. Although Phyllis had commiserated with her daughter about that, secretly she admired the decision. It took courage to live alone after having been in a long marriage. She knew that from experience. She hadn’t been able to do it, herself, but had rented out rooms in the big old house after Kenny’s death and created a surrogate family in Carolyn, Eve, and Sam.

Mike went on, “The thing is, she wants me to go with her. She’s really scared that she’s going to lose her mom, too. I don’t know if it’s really that serious, but it could be, I guess.”

“Can you get the time off?”

“Yeah, I’ve got some personal days coming. That won’t be a big problem. But...”

“Bobby,” Phyllis said.

Mike made a face and said, “He just started kindergarten a few weeks ago, and he loves it. Sure, it wouldn’t do any real harm to pull him out for a few days, and I wouldn’t hesitate to do it if I thought the situation called for it, but at this point we really don’t know much.”

“You want to know if he can stay here.”

“It’s a lot to ask—”

“No, it’s not,” Phyllis said. “This is what family is for, to step in and help whenever it’s needed. Of course I can look after him.
We
can look after him,” she added, knowing that the others would pitch in, too. “But if it does turn out to be serious...”

“Then I’ll fly back here and get him, so he can see his other grandma one more time. I hope. Life doesn’t always give us those options. Anyway, that’s the way things stand now. If you’re sure you don’t mind...”

Phyllis shook her head and said, “Of course not.” Another thought occurred to her. “Have you talked about this with Sarah, though? She might prefer that you take Bobby with you now.”

“It was actually her idea that Bobby stay with you if you were all right with it. She doesn’t want to disrupt school for him, either. Don’t worry, we talked it all out and we’re in agreement.” Mike smiled. “Anyway, you know how Sarah feels about you. She’d always trust Bobby with you, any time, anywhere. You’re almost as much her mom as her actual mom is.”

“I’m glad she feels that way. She’s like a daughter to me, too.”

“Now that that’s settled...is that fresh pie I smell?”

“It’s Carolyn’s,” Phyllis said with a smile. “Come on in the kitchen. I’ll cut you a slice.”

“Ohhh, you don’t know how much I really want to. But there’s not time. I need to get home, help Sarah round up everything Bobby will need, and then get him back over here. Then we’ll have to head for the airport and catch a flight this evening.”

“All right. I’d promise to save a piece for you, for when you get back, but with Sam in the house...”

Mike grinned and said, “I understand.” He leaned closer and kissed her cheek. “Thanks, Mom.” He turned toward the door, then stopped abruptly. “I almost forgot! What about Danny?”

“I’m still working on the case,” Phyllis said. “There’s nothing really solid to go on yet, but since you’re here...do you remember ever hearing Danny refer to his wife as Roxie?”

“Roxie?” Mike repeated, his forehead creasing in a frown. “Nooo, I don’t think so. He always called her Roxanne when he mentioned her to me. But maybe that’s what he called her when they were alone, like I call Sarah—Never mind.”

“Yes, you can keep whatever that is between the two of you,” Phyllis said.

“What does that have to do with the murder?”

“Probably nothing. Just a little puzzle. The two of them met in college, didn’t they?”

“That’s right. Danny didn’t like college much. Said the only worthwhile thing he got out of it was a pretty wife.”

“So they weren’t high school sweethearts or anything like that,” Phyllis said, even though she already knew that wasn’t the case.

“No, Roxanne went to high school over in Fort Worth somewhere, I think. She wasn’t a Weatherford girl.”

“All right.”

“When we’ve got more time,” Mike said, “you’re going to explain all this to me. I might be able to help, since I
do
work in law enforcement and all. Although by the time we get back, you’ll probably have the case solved.”

Phyllis thought about Danny Jackson’s impending transfer to the state penitentiary at Huntsville and hoped Mike was right about that.

When Mike was gone, she went back into the kitchen, where her friends were still sitting with empty pie saucers and coffee cups in front of them. Sam’s saucer was clean enough she knew he had given in to the impulse to lick every last bit off of it.

“We weren’t eavesdropping—” Carolyn began.

“Yes, we were,” Eve said.

“—but we couldn’t help overhearing some of that,” Carolyn went on doggedly. “Bobby’s coming to stay for a few days, isn’t he?”

“That’s right.”

Sam said, “Well, I hope Sarah’s mom turns out to be okay, but I’m always glad to have that little fella around. He’s got a whole heap more energy than I do, so he and Buck can chase each other around the backyard until they’re both worn out. I don’t mind takin’ him to school in the mornin’, either, and pickin’ him up afterward.”

“I appreciate that,” Phyllis told him. “I know having a child here can be hard on the peace and quiet we’re all used to.”

“Peace and quiet’s overrated,” Sam said.

“Anyway, you’re trying to solve a murder,” Eve added. “That’s not exactly peaceful.”

And now she would have to do it with a very active six-year-old grandson underfoot, Phyllis thought. That would be an even bigger challenge.

She hoped she would be up to it.

Jimmy D’Angelo called late that afternoon while Phyllis and Carolyn were putting supper together. They decided to keep it simple with tacos. Since they all ate pie earlier, Carolyn wanted a gluten-free supper since her arthritis was acting up.] Phyllis answered her cell phone, eager to learn what the lawyer had found out even though her earlier conversation with Mike had given her a pretty good idea what to expect.

“Took me a little while, but I was able to get Danny on the phone,” the lawyer began. “I asked him what you wanted, about whether or not he ever called his wife Roxie, and he said he didn’t. He told me he called her that one time, back when they were dating, and she asked him not to. Said it reminded her of a time in her life and things she’d rather forget.”

“Well, that’s interesting,” Phyllis said. “So she had some sort of past, despite being young.”

“Hey, who among us doesn’t?” D’Angelo said. “What’s this all about? Danny was curious, but I put him off until I’d talked to you.”

Phyllis had walked along the hallway from the kitchen toward the living room as she talked to the lawyer. She said quietly, “Brian Flynn lied about not knowing Roxanne before Danny married her. Well, not lied, really, but he didn’t say anything about knowing her and that’s a lie by omission, isn’t it? Anyway, as it turns out, they were high school sweethearts.”

D’Angelo let out a low whistle of surprise and asked, “You can prove that?”

“Yes. There are yearbook pictures of the two of them together, and I’m sure if you asked people they went to school with, they could confirm it.”

In a musing tone, D’Angelo said, “So maybe Brian wanted to start things up again with Roxanne, and she wasn’t having any of it. That could have led to an argument. Or maybe they did have something going on, and Roxanne wanted to break it off and tell Danny. That would ruin the business partnership, not to mention the friendship, between Danny and Brian.”

“Those scenarios occurred to me as well,” Phyllis said. “Brian had to know where Roxanne worked. While Danny was working late at the paint and body shop, Brian could have gone there to confront her, for whatever reason, and things got out of hand.”

“She would have let him into the salon, I’ll bet,” D’Angelo said, his voice quickening with excitement. “After all, she’d known him for years. She wouldn’t be expecting any trouble from him. That’s how he was able to get close enough to knock her out with one punch.” He paused. “This does us no good unless we can come up with something to put Brian on the scene that night. But if we can prove that’s true and that the cops overlooked it, that might be enough to get Danny’s conviction overturned and create reasonable doubt in a new trial.”

“It’s a trail to follow and see where it leads,” Phyllis said. “And we can keep following up on some other things, too.”

“Sounds good. I knew you could do this, Phyllis.”

“I haven’t done anything yet,” she cautioned.

“It’s just a matter of time. You want me to ask Danny how his wife and Brian got along? Maybe he noticed something suspicious?”

Phyllis thought about it for a second, then said, “No, not yet. Danny’s already under a lot of stress. There’s no point in giving him something else to worry about when it might turn out to be nothing.”

“Okay.” D’Angelo laughed. “I’m supposed to be the kid’s lawyer, but here I am askin’ you what to do. Must be the fact that you were a schoolteacher. Back where I went to school, the nuns were the last word on everything. I figure God sometimes asked
them
for advice, instead of the other way around.”

“Well, of course, whatever you think is best—”

“No, no, I’m good with that. We’ve got a little time to play with yet.”

But only a little, Phyllis thought as she said goodbye.

••●••

A short time after that, Mike and Sarah showed up with Bobby.

“Where’s Buck?” the youngster asked as soon as he was in the door.

“Out in the backyard,” Sam told him, pointing with a thumb toward the rear of the house. “You want to go see him?”

“Sure!”

The two of them headed down the hall in that direction while Mike set a small suitcase on one of the chairs in the living room and Sarah gave Phyllis a hug.

“I can’t thank you enough for looking after him,” Sarah told her mother-in-law.

“We’re happy to do it,” Phyllis assured her. “You have plenty on your mind right now. You need to be able to go see about your mother without having to worry about anything else. Have you heard any more than when Mike was here earlier?”

“She was having chest pains bad enough to send her to the emergency room, and they put her right into the hospital. The last I heard, they were doing tests, trying to see if it’s her heart or something else.”

“Well, she’ll be in our prayers, dear. You all will. Just let us know what’s going on, and don’t worry about Bobby.”

“Thank you.” Sarah hugged her again, then said to Mike, “Let’s go say goodbye to him.”

“It’s gonna be rough being away from the little fella,” Mike said. “At least it’s not the first time.”

A couple of years earlier, an ear infection had prevented Bobby from flying when his parents went to California to see Sarah’s father. He had stayed with Phyllis then, and he had spent nights here in the old house on several other occasions.

Phyllis followed her son and daughter-in-law onto the back porch. Bobby was out in the yard in the fading light, throwing one of Buck’s rope toys around while Sam watched from the porch. The Dalmatian raced after the toy every time, grabbing it and running around to keep it away from Bobby. The boy had to chase the dog to retrieve the toy and throw it again. Both of them seemed to be having a great time.

Bobby ran back over to the porch when Sarah called him. He started to get a little tearful when it sunk in on him that his parents were leaving him here and going somewhere without him. That was tempered by the fact that he would get to stay with his grandmother, Sam, Carolyn, Eve, and Buck.

“Will I still go to school?” he asked.

“One of us will take you and pick you up every day,” Phyllis promised.

“Probably me,” Sam added. “And I might just bring ol’ Buck with me when I come to pick you up.”

“So the kids at school can see him?” Bobby asked, brightening up a little.

“That’s right.”

“That’d be cool!”

He hugged Mike and Sarah goodbye, then stayed out in the yard with Sam and Buck while the others went back inside.

“Oh, this is hard,” Sarah said. “But I think it’ll be better all around, at least until we find out more.”

“The important thing is to do whatever you can for your mother and let us take care of things here,” Phyllis told her.

Mike said, “I wish this hadn’t come up while you’re dealing with that business about Danny.”

“It’ll be all right.” Phyllis smiled. “I’ve learned how to multi-task.”

And if any situation fell into that category, it would have to be taking care of her grandson and solving a murder at the same time!

••●••

Bobby ate supper with them after Mike and Sarah were gone. Tacos turned out the perfect choice since they were one of Bobby’s favorites. Carolyn even made some guacamole to go with them since he loved it so much.

After supper, Sam offered to play a board game with Bobby. That freed up Phyllis to do some more online research concerning the case.

Newspaper archives yielded a number of sports section stories about high school football games in which Brian Flynn had played. He’d been the quarterback, and evidently quite a good one. But he had been injured in the last game of his senior year. There were no mentions of him playing in college or even being offered college scholarships, so Phyllis thought he’d probably been hurt badly enough that it ended his playing career.

That must have been quite a letdown, to be so close to potential success, only to have it taken away through no fault of your own.

Phyllis had hoped to find more photographs showing Brian and Roxanne together, but she wasn’t able to locate any. Still, the one yearbook photo was enough, as far as she was concerned.

There was nothing else online about Brian. Like most people, it seemed that he’d led an unremarkable life.

Phyllis hadn’t ruled out some connection between Roxanne’s job and her death, so she searched for mentions of Pauline Gibbs, too. That turned up nothing. Phyllis cast her memory back, came up with the name of the woman who had been upset about the way Roxanne cut her hair, and searched for Shelley Dawson.

That produced quite a few results, mostly mentions in newspaper stories about various business deals and society functions in Fort Worth. She was married to Arthur Dawson, and evidently they were partners in a very successful commercial real estate company. They had handled the development of several high-end shopping centers in some of Fort Worth’s best areas. Phyllis wondered fleetingly if the Dawsons might have some connection to the planned housing development out by the farm house owned by Danny and Roxanne Jackson, but there was no mention in any of the stories about them being involved in residential real estate.

There were, however, several photographs of them at various black-tie affairs, usually sitting at tables with other expensively dressed couples. The Dawsons both appeared to be in their forties. Arthur was a handsome, dark-haired man, while Shelley, in a less charitable era, would have been described as horse-faced. She wore clothes and jewelry well, though, and her fair hair looked to be stylishly cut as far as Phyllis could tell. She wasn’t as unattractive as Desiree Chilton had made her sound, although her husband was definitely the better-looking member of the couple.

Then Phyllis found another picture of them and frowned slightly in surprise. This photograph had been taken at some ballroom or banquet, too, but they weren’t sitting at a table this time. Arthur Dawson was standing in front of an ornate fountain, and next to him, seated in a wheelchair, was Shelley. Her husband’s left hand rested on her right shoulder as they both smiled at the camera.

Earlier, Phyllis had toyed with the idea that Shelley Dawson might have been so angry over what she regarded as a bad haircut that she had gone to the salon and gotten into an altercation with Roxanne, an argument that had turned fatal. That seemed awfully unlikely now. Roxanne might have opened the door and let Shelley into the building, but how could Shelley have mustered up the physical ability to beat another human being to death?

Phyllis checked the date on the photograph of Shelley in the wheelchair. It had been taken more than a year earlier. She might have been in the chair because of some sort of injury, Phyllis thought, an injury she had totally recovered from by the time Roxanne was killed.

But the photograph had been taken at a benefit auction to raise funds for muscular dystrophy research, Phyllis saw, and a quick check of the other stories about the couple revealed that the Dawsons seemed to be heavily involved with that charity. Probably because Shelley had been stricken with the disease herself but hadn’t let that stop her from having a successful career in business. Phyllis found another newspaper article about her that went into detail about that very subject. Shelley had been unable to walk by the time she was twenty-five years old.

That ruled her out as a possible suspect. There was still a faint possibility that the threatened lawsuit had angered Pauline Gibbs enough to cause another argument between her and Roxanne, but Phyllis sensed that this whole line of inquiry was slipping away from her. Her instincts told her she was going to have to look elsewhere to find Roxanne’s killer.

Carolyn came into the living room and said, “I’ve never seen a more cutthroat game of Chutes and Ladders in my life.”

Phyllis looked over her shoulder. “You mean Sam and Bobby?”

“That’s right. They’re playing at the kitchen table.”

“Is Sam letting him win?”

“Not as far as I could tell. That man is too competitive for that.”

Phyllis hid a smile.
Pot, kettle. Kettle, pot
, she thought. No one was more competitive than Carolyn when it came to her recipes. Of course, Phyllis reminded herself, she had gotten caught up in the thrill of a cooking contest quite a few times herself...