Ellen McKenzie 04-Murder Half-Baked (31 page)

Evidently she was
,
because she waited for a response. When she didn’t get one, she glared at both of us, pushed open the guest room door, and let it shut behind her. Loudly.

“Guess it’s my turn.” Dan stared at the closed door for a minute then went into the bathroom. I could hear the lock click. Afraid Leona would walk in on him? I sighed and returned to our room.

I was propped up in bed with Jake on my knees when Dan returned. He
wore
green and black plaid pajama bottoms and a white
T-
shirt. The same thing thousands of men wore to bed every night, but I was willing to bet not one of them looked as good as he did.

“Ready?”

I nodded. He moved Jake over, climbed in on his side and turned off his bedside light. I snuggled down and turned off mine. I loved this time, warm and safe in bed with him. Usually the evening didn’t end for a while, but tonight
…
somehow tonight all I wanted was to be held. I was emotionally and physically exhausted. I wasn’t sure how to tell Dan how I felt and I could feel myself tense up. I’d felt like this often with Brian, but for very different reasons. Never with Dan, and I wasn’t sure how to make him understand.

“Come here.”

I did, bracing myself to say something. What, I didn’t know. Only, I didn’t have to.

Dan put his arm around me and held me close. He reached up and gently pushed the hair back off of my che
e
k and
gave it a light
kiss. “This seems to be the night for tragic tales.”

“What are you talking about
?
We don’t need any more tragedy.”

I pushed myself up to lean on one elbow but Dan pulled me back down and cradled me against his shoulder.

“I talked to Anne today. She’s pretty close-mouthed about her people, and she should be. But I got to thinking about Leona’s jacket and
decided to
ask a few other questions while I was at it.”

I had to laugh. “You mean she didn’t hand over their files?”

“She politely told me I’d have to get a court order for that.”

“What did she say about Leona’s missing jacket?”

“That we don’t know if it was missing and since everything got burned up in the fire, there’s no way to find out.”

Damn. “She could have hidden it somewhere else.”

“She could have. And there may not be a bloody jacket.”

“She had motive, means, and opportunity. Aren’t those the three things you look for?”

“Proof helps. She did tell me one thing about Leona, though. Something I hadn’t realized.”

Dan’s voice changed. I couldn’t read his expression. “What?”

“Leona’s last name.”

“It’s Wilson, isn’t it?
So what?”

“It’s Wilson now. It used to be Carter.”

“I don’t understand. Why do you care what her name was?”

There was a long pause while Dan stared at the rain streaked window. Jake got up and draped himself over my legs again. I didn’t move. I just waited for whatever was coming next.

“I had a friend in high school named Kevin Carter. Hadn’t seen him in years. One day, while I was working homicide in San Francisco, I got a call. Seemed Kevin had joined the Santa Louisa police department. Only he wanted to change locations, and he wanted to do it right
away
. He asked if I could help. I made a couple of phone calls. He got a good job with the police department in Redding. Six hours drive north of here.”

A
chill r
a
n up my arms. This was leading someplace I was pretty sure I didn’t want to go. “And what does Leona have to do with Kevin?”

“She’s his ex-wife. The mother of his kids. She was arrested for child neglect. Evidently she was falling down drunk on a pretty consistent basis. Kids were two and three, something like that. Kevin was the arresting officer.” He stopped, glanced at me out of the corners of his eyes before he went on. “I found all this out later. After Kevin got full custody of the kids
,
Leona got six months in the county jail. When she got out, Kevin was gone.”

“Has she seen the kids since?”

“Not that I know about.”

I thought about the first day I’d met Leona. She’d said something about her cop husband. I got the impression that day that he’d abused her also. That she was a victim. Well, maybe she was, but not the way I’d thought. Leona was weak, more than weak. Unstable was the kindest way to put it. I thought about her losing her kids, what that might have done to her. “Adam.”

“Who?” Dan said.

“That’s what Marilee decided to call the baby. Do you think Leona could have told Grady where Marilee was?”

“I don’t know. She knows him. She and Grady lived in the same trailer park.”

“But, why? She wants
…
wanted
…
to get a place with Marilee and the baby. Telling Grady where he could find Marilee wouldn’t get that accomplished.”

“True.”

“Someone told him.”

“Also true.”

I felt hot suddenly, in need of air. Leona, Marilee, Grady, it was too much. I climbed out of bed and headed for the window. The street was empty. No Grady, no old truck, no firebombs, no police car
was
disturb
ing
the peace of this sedate neighborhood. A neighborhood where everybody carved pumpkins for Halloween and left their porch lights on, where everybody put up Christmas lights the day after Thanksgiving and had a block party every Fourth of July with a potluck dinner and boxed fireworks for the kids.
“Where’s Gary?”

“I sent him home.”

I let the curtain drop and turned back to look at him so fast I almost tripped. “You what?”

“Don’t worry. I’ve taken precautions.”

What did that mean
?
I thought about it for a moment and decided I didn’t want to know. Instead I walked over to the bed and looked down at him. “Now do you see what I mean about her? She’s
…
off.”

“I have to admit, Leona has some problems. And, Ellie, you can come back to bed.”

I climbed back in. My feet were cold and I put them on Dan’s legs.

“Thanks,” he said but gathered me close. “All right, tell me about her.”

I told him about Marilee’s last confrontation with Doctor Sadler and about her calling the bakery, crying.

“Leona saw Grady’s truck heading toward the cemetery and made a big point of telling Gina.
I guess she left soon after that. She was supposed to go back to Grace House, but she could have made a detour.”

“She was on foot?”

“Yes. She could have gone looking for Doctor Sadler. She had time. I got to Grace House around two o’clock, and she was just eating lunch. That leaves almost an hour for her to make a ten minute walk.”

“It does seem as if we have to take another look at Leona. Why was she at the bakery? I thought she was working for Ruthie.”

“Ruthie gave her the afternoon off.”

Dan laughed. “I wonder why.” The laugh faded. “And Gina was there by herself?”

“I think so. Rose was away getting Sal’s lunch or something. I don’t know where Sal was.”

“And Leona knew Grady had signed the adoption papers and that Owen Sadler was badgering Marilee to sign as well?”

“Yes. Everyone at Grace House knew. Doctor Sadler told Leona she was a fool if she thought she could set up housekeeping with Marilee.”

Dan didn’t say any more.
Neither did I. We lay in the dark, close together, listening to the rain on the window and to our thoughts. Pretty soon I heard light snores and I rolled out from under Dan’s arm. Sleep seemed like a good idea, only it refused to come. I kept thinking about motives, how they were like roads on a complicated map. If you could just follow them, you could reach your destination. Or solve the crime. All the roads
o
n this
map
led back to Grace House.

The rain stopped around one o’clock.

W
eak sunshine shone through the window. I opened one eye. It looked as if the sun didn’t want to get up any more than I did. I opened the other eye and waited until I was able to make out the time. Seven o’clock. Too early to get up but too late to go back to sleep. A shower and some coffee. Maybe that would do it.

I had to go into the office but wasn’t awake enough to choose what I would wear. Clean underwear and knit pants and a sweatshirt would do for now. I gathered it all up and headed downstairs to start the coffee. I’d leave the upstairs bathroom open for Dan. Or whoever got to it first.

I was sitting at the kitchen table, coffee mug
cradled
in both hands, when Dan arrived. He still looked half asleep when he came down the stairs.

“You’re a fine woman, Ellie, my love.”

The coffee was primarily responsible for that statement. I’d remembered the creamer
,
and he poured a generous amount into his mug.

“What were you doing on the phone at two thirty this morning? Something to do with Grady?” I had just fallen into a deep sleep when the phone rang
, but instead of waiting to find out the reason for the call, I
turned over and put the pillow over my head. Grady Wilcox had robbed me of enough sleep. He wasn’t getting what was left of that night.

“No. Something to do with a bunch of kids who got high and thought it would be fun to smash a bunch of car windshields.” He paused to take another sip. “Ah. Wonderful. I don’t think they’re having so much fun now.” Another sip. “Neither are their folks.”

“Serves them right.”

“The kids or their folks?”

“All of them. What about Grady?”

“No sign of him.”

“So now what?”
I was also cranky. I needed more coffee and another four hours of sleep. I was only going to get the coffee.

“We keep looking. In the meantime, someone has to stay here with Marilee and the baby. Adam? Is that his name? I don’t want them out of this house.”

Just the thing to get my day off to a good start. I thought of my Christmas gift list, which was getting longer, not shorter. I’d left messages for the florist, who hadn’t called me back, and for the caterer, who also hadn’t called. I was scheduled for a final walkthrough on one of my escrows
. I also
needed to find out if we had loan approval on another
. And then there was
Minnie, my little very senior citizen, and her family
, whose
condo
had
termites
and had to tented and vacated
for at least three days. They were not going to be thrilled. Maybe they could get her into Shady Acres early.

I sighed deeply and took another large
swallow
of coffee.

“You all right?” Dan looked at me anxiously.

Somehow that made me feel better. “I’m fine. Just a little overwhelmed, I guess.
I don’t want to face all the stuff waiting for me at the office, I don’t want to badger the florist,
and
I don’t want to call that damn caterer one more time. I don’t want to think of Christmas shopping and especially of wrapping gifts. And I really don’t want to think of my house burning down. I hate Grady Wilcox. None of this would be happening if it wasn’t for him.”

“You’re going to blame him for the florist not calling you back and your escrow problems?”

“I would if I could think of a way.”

Dan looked for a moment as if he was going to laugh. He didn’t, probably because of the look on my face. “We’ll find him. You’ll feel a lot better when he’s in jail.”

“What if you don’t?”

“Someone’s going to find him, and it better be us. If his buddies get to him first, we’ll probably find him floating off the end of the Pismo Beach pier.”

“If that’s the case
,
be sure to get the names of the guys that throw him in. I’d like to send them a thank you note.”

This time Dan did laugh. He put his mug down on the table, pulled out a chair, and took my hand. “We could elope.”

“Don’t tempt me. Besides, that wouldn’t solve who killed Doctor Sadler.”

“No. It wouldn’t. But
…
”
H
e put my hand down, patted it, and picked up his coffee. “
H
ow about, you give me the caterer’s number and I’ll call him. He’ll call back the chief of police.”

“Would you?” I couldn’t believe it. Brian would never have even thought of such a thing. “You’d actually do that?”

“Sure.” He smiled at me over his mug. “It’s my wedding too.” He took a sip and gave me a very serious look. “But you’ll have to be
okay
with whatever he and I decide.”

“As long as its not creamed chicken on toast.”

“Not a possibility. Now, let’s figure out who’s going to stay with Marilee this morning.”

“I can’t.”

“Do you have an appointment?”

“No. Well, sort of. I have three escrows I have to close before next week.
I want to get all this settled before Christmas so I can get married.”

“Is the new Grace House one of the escrows?”

“No. But
finalizing
this interim occupancy, getting the permits from the city,
scheduling
the inspections that I’m responsible for
…
all that is.”

“I like your priorities. So, who can we get to stay here?”

“I don’t know. Nathan said he could come right after lunch, but he
has
obligations until then.”

“Gina?”

“No. Gina can’t leave the bakery.”

Dan quit sipping coffee to look at me. “You know, Ellie, I really don’t think I can take her to the station. There’s got to be somebody.”

“I’ll stay with her.”

I hadn’t heard Leona come in, but there she was, trailing around in that medieval looking nightgown, heading for the hutch and the coffee mugs. You would have thought she’d done this every morning for the last year.

“No.” Dan and I
spoke
in unison.

“Why not?” Leona took her full mug, pulled out a chair, and sat down. “Is this cream?”

She picked up the pitcher, poured a generous amount into her mug, stirred, and with the same spoon helped herself to sugar. I could see brown drops on top of the sugar bowl and around the rim. I watched with what I hoped was an impassive face. Dan watched also, then looked at me with a grin he didn’t even try to hide.

“I just love incentives, don’t you?”

I thought about throwing the sugar bowl at him.

Leona blew into her coffee mug.

“Grady might know where Marilee is.” Dan erased the smile and turned a serious face to Leona. “If he came calling, you’d be no match for him.”

“Neither would Gina.
But
I could get to a phone, which is about all anyone could do.”

Dan and I looked at each other. I made a face at him that I hoped said, “Do something,” but before he could, Marilee appeared carrying Adam in one arm, the empty baby carrier sw
in
g
ing
from the other. Amazing what a couple of days can do. She held him crooked into her arm as if she’d been carrying babies for years. Set
ting
the carrier down close to the last remaining chair
, she
walked over to the hutch. She didn’t even hand
Adam
off to me while she poured herself a cup of coffee.

“What about Grady?” She set the mug on the table
,
pulled out the chair and carefully sat down, looking at each of us in turn, eyes wide with anxiety. “What’s he up to now?” She looked down at the sleeping baby and cuddled him a little closer.

“We think Grady set the fire.” Dan’s voice was even, matter of fact, as if he didn’t want to upset her. He didn’t.

“Of course he did.” The fact had been accepted from the beginning. It was what he might do next that filled those green eyes with fear. “He’d do anything to get at me.” She set her cup down and stared at Dan. “Does he know where I am?”

“We don’t think so, but we don’t know
.
”

Dan looked over at me. His raised eyebrow and slight head jerks made it clear that he wanted me to do something, but what? He looked at Marilee, stared at her actually, then looked back at me. I got it. I was to ask her about the money.

“Now?” I mouthed it, jerking my own head at Leona, raising my own eyebrow.

He nodded. Okay. If that was what he wanted. I turned to Marilee, reached out and patted the baby gently, smiled brightly, and took a deep breath.

“Marilee, you know that Dan is trying to keep you safe.” I thought I’d start out gently, with a positive statement. And that was as positive as it got for the moment.

“Get Grady and put him in jail. That ought to do it.”

I tried again. “They’re looking. Marilee, just why do you think Grady wants to find you so badly?”

“Don’t know.” She looked down at Adam and bent over a little to adjust his blanket.
Avoiding me?

“Could it be because of the money?”

Her head jerked up. She looked at me, then her
gaze shifted
to Dan. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yes, I think you do.” I tried to sound gentle but at the same time firm. It had never worked with Susannah; I wasn’t at all sure it would work with Marilee, but it was worth a try.

It didn’t. She shook her head, still looking only at the baby. “I don’t have any money.”

“But you did.”

“What if I did?”

Firm was getting easier. Gentle was getting harder. “If you did, and that’s why Grady is trying to find you, then we need to know. Before he burns down another house, like maybe this one.”

Tears dripped down on the baby. “I needed that money. Grady wasn’t going to do anything for the baby, and I had to have something so I could get away.”

“How much was it?”

Marilee wiped a tear out of her eye but ignored the question. Gentle was wearing very thin.

“Do you still have it?”