Death is Long Overdue (Phee Jefferson Book 1) (12 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

“Having a baby is like getting a tattoo on your face. You really need to be certain it's what you want before you commit.” -Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

Juliet steered Ole Blue down Main Street.  The lone stoplight in town turned red, and she slowed to a stop.  Our laughter had subsided to an occasional snort and giggle.  I wiped the tears from my eyes and glanced out the passenger window.  I spotted Clint walking into Maybe Baby, the new boutique baby store.

"Pull in to that parking spot up ahead," I said quickly.

"What's up?"  Juliet pulled the car into the parking spot a few buildings down from the baby boutique.

"I just saw Clint walk into Maybe Baby Boutique.  Doesn't seem like the type of store a guy like him goes to.  I just want to see what's up," I said and peered through the windshield of the convertible trying to catch a glimpse of Clint inside the store.

"We could just get out of the car and go in there like normal people," Juliet suggested.

"No way!" I protested. "I don't want Clint to think I am following him or anything."

"Because sitting in a car trying to spy on him isn't following him? And you say that I’m the flake?" The sarcasm wasn't wasted on me.  I shot her a look.

"I'm not spying on him.  I just want to see what he's investigating," I said innocently.  "I mean, how am I going to figure out who's committed the murder if I don't keep up with the investigation?"

Juliet snorted in disbelief.  "Well, your chief investigator just walked out the door of the store and is heading back towards his car."  Hurriedly, I sunk down in my seat so that he wouldn't spot me.  I tried to tug Juliet down next to me, but she gave me a look that said she thought I was crazy.

"Is he gone?"  I asked.  Sliding back up, I peered down the street and watched Clint's patrol car pull out.  "Let's go check out the store.  Maybe we can figure out what he was up to."

"Well, I do need to get something for the twins," Juliet said.  We hopped out of the car and headed into the store.

When I opened the door to the boutique, the chime rang out
Brahms’s Lullaby
.  A slight hint of talcum powder and lavender scented the air.  The walls were painted blue with fluffy clouds.  Paintings of cherubic-faced infants holding balloons drifted among the clouds. A beautiful rocking chair with a hand-carved back in the shape of a cow jumping over the moon sat in the corner of the store and I gravitated towards it immediately.  I touched the smooth, light wood and traced the design with my fingertips.

"This is gorgeous!" I exclaimed.  "It would be perfect for the twins' nursery."

"It's one of a kind," a voice spoke from behind me.  Turning, I faced an attractive woman with brunette hair cut into a modern bob and dark brown eyes. I recognized her.  Valerie Clark.  She was Clint's ex-girlfriend from back in high school.

"Ophelia Jefferson?"  Valerie's eyes widened.  "Oh my goodness!  You haven't changed a bit since high school."

Inwardly, I rolled my eyes since high school was the most humiliating and awkward period of my life.  Outwardly, I pasted on a fake smile and said sweetly, "Valerie Clark.  I barely recognized you!  How have you been?"

"It's Valerie Hill now.  I'm doing well."

"Oh?  You're married?" I tried to suppress the hope in my voice. Clint and Valerie had been the "it couple" in high school.

"Divorced.  I just moved back here from New York and decided to open up this boutique to try to bring a little bit of the big city to this town." Valerie gave a smug smile.

"Well, I think it's great! I'm Phee's sister, Juliet.  You probably don't remember me."  Juliet smiled and held out her hand to Valerie.  "Phee and I love this rocking chair.  You remember our brother, Rick?  He and his wife are expecting twins and this would be perfect for the nursery."

"How exciting!  Rick was a great guy.  I spent a lot of time with Clint and him.  Oh, the trouble the three of us got up to!"  She gave a throaty laugh.  "Make sure you tell Rick that Val said hello and congratulations.  If you'd like to purchase the rocker, I can have it delivered for you to their home if you would like," Valerie offered.  Turning back to me, she said, “So, Phee, still single?"

"Yep.  I'm still single." I gave a forced laugh.

"Well, sometimes you just have to wait for the right guy to come along.  Or the right guy to come back," Valerie offered.  My heart sank. She had to be talking about Clint.  I suddenly felt like a second hand pair of loafers next to a pair of Manolo Blahnik's.  There was no way I could compete against Valerie for Clint's affection.  She was beautiful and sophisticated.  I was just a small town girl who wore funny animal slippers and watched old movies by herself on a Friday night.

"Phee, let's go ahead and buy the rocker and have it shipped to Mom and Dad's for the baby shower next week,” Juliet suggested completely clueless to my inner turmoil.

"Can you take care of it and I'll meet you in the car?"  I handed her my credit card.

"Sure."  She gave me a look.  Blindly, I headed out the door with tears stinging my eyes.

Ten minutes later, Juliet opened the car door and climbed into Ole Blue.  She looked at my tear-stained face. "What in the world is wrong with you? One minute you are excited about the rocker and the next thing I know, I find you sitting in the car blubbering."

"Don't you remember? Valerie is Clint's high school sweetheart.  They were homecoming king and queen.  And she's single!" I wailed.

"Oh my goddess! So what? That was ages ago," Juliet gave me an exasperated look.  She started Ole Blue and pulled away from the curb.  "You are obviously overly tired and not thinking straight.  Clint obviously cares about you.  And I definitely don't think he is the type to hop out of your bed and straight into Valerie's.  Give the guy a little bit of credit.  Maybe he stopped in to just say hello to an old friend."

"But she's still pretty and didn't you hear what she said?  Waiting for the right guy to come back?"  I wailed again.

"And you are gorgeous.  I don't know why you are always down on yourself. Why don't you ask Clint about seeing him downtown today?  You might be surprised by the answer."

"But what if I don't like what he has to say?  What if he says that he's had a change of heart?" I sniffled.

"And what if he says what I am going to say? That you have finally flipped your lid! Talk to him." Juliet pulled Ole Blue up to my house.  We got out and I trudged slowly up the steps.  "Come on, PheePhee.  It'll be fine. Let's go put on an old movie, mix up a pitcher of Cosmopolitans and watch an old movie together.  I'll let you pick."

"It's one o'clock in the afternoon.  I think it's just a little bit early for cocktails."

"Not after the week we've had.  We'll have a girl's afternoon.  I'll call Wade and ask him to pick us up dinner when he gets off work.  We can camp out here tonight," Juliet suggested. "We'll eat Chinese food, drink silly girly drinks and make Wade wait on us all night.  It'll be fun."

"Alright," I said begrudgingly.  I tossed my keys and bag on the small bench by the front door.  Kicking off my shoes, I walked into the kitchen to make the pitcher of Cosmos.

"You get to pick between Katherine Hepburn and Audrey Hepburn."  Juliet walked into the kitchen holding two movies.  "Which one?"

"I feel like kicking butt, so Katherine." I added the vodka to the pitcher, thought about it and poured in a little bit more. Pouring some into a martini glass, I sipped it.  "Perfect!"
 
I placed the pitcher and two martini glasses on an old silver-plated tray and carried them to the living room. Juliet started the movie and the opening credits for
Adam's Rib
scrolled across the screen.  I sipped my drink and stewed silently.  "Valerie has a lot of nerve coming back to town and sniffing around Clint."

"Ok," Juliet said slowly.  "Assuming that she is, it doesn't mean that he's interested. I saw the way he looks at you.  He is a man on the verge." I swallowed the remains of my glass, grabbed the pitcher and poured myself another.  Juliet raised her eyebrows at me.

"Well, I just offered myself up to him and he is going to toss me aside like an old newspaper. I was a fool for thinking that he could be interested in someone like me. I'm going to just forget about Clint and move on," I declared and raised my glass in a toast.  "To moving on!"

"Let's just put that thought on hold and watch the movie.  You are turning into such a drama queen."  Juliet kicked off her shoes and stretched out on the chaise lounge.  I propped my feet onto the coffee table and stared sulkily at the television as Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy verbally sparred on the screen.

A little over an hour later, the movie was over, and Juliet was snoring gently.  I picked up the empty pitcher and started to carry it to the kitchen.  A knock sounded on the door, and I went to answer it.  Standing in the doorway was Clint.

"Howdy, cowboy!" I slurred a little.  Maybe I shouldn't have drunk quite so much of the pitcher.  I giggled.

"Phee, you didn't check before you opened the door," Clint admonished. He took the pitcher out of my hand and steered me towards the kitchen.  "I take it that Juliet stopped by."

"We decided to have a girl's afternoon!" I hiccupped and giggled again.  Clint sniffed the pitcher and shaking his head set it on the counter. I leaned against him and wrapped my arm around his neck.  "But we could let boys into our clubhouse if they promise to behave.  No Valerie's allowed in the club, though." I slapped my hand over my mouth.

Clint glanced at me sharply. "Valerie?  What about her?"

"I saw you go into her store.  But I wasn't sp...spy...following you." I hiccupped. "Juliet and I went to Nellie Jo's for a late breakfast and saw you go see her. I mean if you want to see other people, then I am not the girl for you. Just break it to me.  I'm a freakin' Super Librarian.  I can handle anything.  I gotta mask and stuff."  I hiccupped again.

"So you saw me go into Maybe Baby and assumed I went there to see another woman?  What kind of man do you think I am, Phee?" Clint demanded with a hint of anger. "For your information, I didn't go to see Valerie.  I actually went there to order a double bassinet for the twins.  Rick asked me to take care of it since he didn't have a chance to go by there. Are you actually jealous of a girl I dated in high school? That was how many years ago?"

"No...maybe....ok, yes," I admitted.  "I'm sorry, but I really wasn't following you.  We were just driving down the street and saw you go into the store.  And well....Valerie is all sophisticated and really pretty and you used to be in love with her."

"Now I'm not.  I’m also not a sixteen-year-old boy high on hormones."  He gave an exasperated sigh.  "Phee, I don't play games. I'd like it if you didn't either. And besides, my girl," Clint pulled me close to him, "is sexy and smart and funny.  Who could compete with all this?" He trailed kisses along my ears and neck.

"I'm your girl?" I asked tentatively.

"Most definitely." He leaned in and captured my mouth with his.

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

“Welcome to the wonderful world of jealousy, he thought. For the price of admission, you get a splitting headache, a nearly irresistible urge to commit murder, and an inferiority complex. Yippee.” -J.R. Ward, Dark Lover

Clint's kiss left me a little breathless.  "I've got to get back to work.  I just came by to check on you.  Next time, you need to check before you answer the door.  Okay?"

"I will.  Before you go, I have something to show you. I came up with a list of suspects for you."  I walked over to the table and handed him the list of people I had written down that morning. "These are all the people that came to Duane's lecture.  He had all sorts of mushrooms there, poisonous and edible.  It would have been easy for someone to come by, pick one up and take it with them."

"Well, this saves me a step.  I was going to head over to the library this afternoon and grab the sign in sheet from Wade.  The bad thing is that Duane gave talks all the time and there is no guarantee that they learned about this lethal mushroom at one of his talks or if they were like your uncle and just ran into him in the woods and struck up a conversation."

"Maybe, but you'll check out the names on the list won't you?  I already marked my mom and Shari off the list.  I can vouch for them.  Juliet and I did a little investigating of our own. I think Mike Johnson might be in the clear.  He went to the lecture to learn a little bit about wild plants to try to bond with his grandson. I know Joey's been trying to earn his scout badges. It’s all he talks about when he comes in the library with Nellie."

"What kind of investigating did you and Juliet get up to?"  Clint asked.

"We just went and talked to Nellie while we had coffee.  You know she knows everything about everyone in town.  The C.I.A. could take lessons from her.  I asked her how Mike had liked Duane’s presentation. Nellie told me he liked it but mostly went to learn a little bit before the camping trip.  Did you know that Huey Long was a famous midget wrestler?"  I thought that little bit of gossip might surprise him.

"Yep, sure did." He tapped his badge.  "This is why I make the big bucks as a deputy sheriff.  I am more than just a pretty face.  I even investigate every now and then."  He chuckled.

"It was news to me," I pouted.  "I guess I need to go to Nellie Jo's more often to keep up with what's going on in town.  Who knew we had a star in our midst?  Did you know that Carla was cheating on Chris?  Nellie told us that Carla was messing with Sheriff Dawes. Maybe Sheila decided to kill Carla as payback for messing with her man."

"That little piece of gossip isn't all true.  Sheila and Jaime were going through a rough patch a while back.  Carla wanted Jaime on her side with the town council.  She tried to seduce him, but Jaime put the brakes on her little plan.  I was in the office when he told her that he wasn't interested.  I thought the windows were going to shatter when she slammed out of his office," Clint said.

"That makes me feel better.  Sheila and my mom are friends, and I've known Jaime and her forever.  Nellie also let it slip that Grant and Carla were messing around," I said.  "I'm going to figure out a way to ask Grant.  We've always been close, but I guess not as close as we used to be.  I thought he hated Carla."

"Oh, hell no! Absolutely not!  You aren't going to ask Grant anything." Clint's voice was emphatic and his arm tightened slightly around me.

"Jealous?" I teased and kissed him lightly.

"Actually, this time, no.  I'm actually worried about keeping you safe which I am starting to realize might be a full-time job.  I might be wrong, but Grant has an interest in you which ties him to Huey and Carla.  He was friends with Duane and admits he spent hours out in the woods as kids with him.  Phee, I know he's your friend but let me do a little bit more checking into what he's been up to the past few years since he left town."  Grant's face was stern and I realized how serious he was.

"Grant wouldn't hurt a fly.  He and I practically lived in each other's homes growing up.  There is no way he could kill anybody!" I protested.

"Just give me a day or two to check him out. Listen. I've got to get going.  I'll stop by again this evening when I get off work."  He gave me one last kiss and headed towards the door.  "And lay off the Cosmos!"  The door shut and I locked it behind him.

"Was that Clint?" Juliet said.  Her voice was groggy from sleep.

"Yes. He stopped by to check up on me."

"Guess he isn't quite as interested in Valerie as you thought," Juliet said wryly.  She trudged into the kitchen.  "I need coffee.  Wade should be here soon with dinner and to help with bodyguard duty." She scooped coffee into the percolator, added water and plugged it in.

"Jaime wasn't cheating on Sheila, by the way.  Clint cleared that rumor up.  He said that he was going to do a little checking up on Grant." I pulled cream and sugar out for the coffee.

"Why?  Does he think Grant has something to do with the murders?" She poured coffee into our mugs.

"He said he just wants to check him out since he knows me and that ties him to Carla and Huey.  I think he's stretching, but maybe he just doesn't want to admit he is jealous."  I took a sip of coffee and grimaced.  Juliet made coffee so strong that it ate the enamel off my teeth. I added a second scoop of sugar and poured in more cream.

"He might be right," Juliet said.  "Think about it.  He moves back to town about two months ago.  Maybe had a fling with Carla and she dumped him.  There's his motive right there."

"To kill Carla, but why would he kill Huey?"  I shook my head at the thought that Grant could be the killer.

"I don't know, but I think you should let Clint do the investigating.  Real life isn't like your books, Phee," Juliet gently admonished me.

"No, you're right.  Books are better!"