Fatal Deduction (26 page)

“What’s with everyone thinking I wouldn’t come?” I set the fruit on the counter with a bit more force than appropriate. “I wouldn’t miss Dad and Pop’s homecoming for anything.”

“You don’t visit much,” Nan said.

I bit back the facts that Tori visited less than I and that in all the time I’d owned my house, Mom and Nan had only come over once before yesterday, and that was at Christmas for about fifteen minutes. They’d barely had time to eat a couple of Christmas cookies before they made their escape. I decided they thought that I, like Madge, would probably force them to read the Bible before they left. The fact that I had a Bible on an end table open to Luke 2 and the Christmas story probably confirmed their irrational and erroneous fear.

Nan pushed away from the counter. “Mike’s in the backyard, taking inventory on how things have fallen to pieces while he’s been gone. I think I’ll go join him.”

And it was Tori and me, alone in our mother’s kitchen. Mom
was right; she did look gorgeous. Her black linen shorts were topped with a sapphire knit, its scooped neck revealing a generous amount of cleavage. Her black slides had a strip of twisted sapphire leather studded with mirrors that glittered when she moved. She wore her hair in one of those artless-looking dos that take forever to arrange, and her makeup was perfection. Dangling from her ears was what appeared to be a small fortune in diamonds, creating iridescent rainbows where the sun struck them.

She grinned at me, looking as fresh and innocent as dawn. “You won’t believe what happened to me last night.”

Did that mean she wasn’t sneaking through our house stealing my jewelry?

“I helped deliver a baby! I was just telling Nan about it.”

I started to laugh. I couldn’t help it. The image of Tori delivering a baby was more than I could take in. After all, work was involved, and so was mess. She avoided both with a determination that matched Princess’s resolve to get to the Hershey’s Kisses.

“The wife of this client of mine had her baby on the casino floor, right between two rows of quarter slots.”

“On the casino floor? Like literally on the floor?”

“Yep, and I was the midwife.” Tori laughed. “You should’ve seen me, Lib, on my knees in my Marilyn Monroe dress, catching this baby as it popped out.” She held out her hands to demonstrate. “Then out came the second baby, but the EMTs had arrived by then.”

“Twins. Two girls?”

“A boy and a girl. They named the girl—that’s the one EMTs caught—Victoria, because I helped with the delivery.”

“After you! Now that is something very special.”

Tori grinned, and I saw a real person in that pleasure, not the
creation she had made herself to be. And I was filled with relief. If she was delivering babies on the casino floor, she wasn’t sneaking around in our darkened house snitching shoeboxes.

“Where’s Chloe?” Tori asked.

“Dad assigned her and Jenna to welcome patrol on the front porch.”

Tori’s eyes lit up. “Jenna, huh? Does that mean that her daddy’s here too? Mom said she invited him.”

“Drew’s not here.” I struggled to keep my face and voice neutral. The last thing I wanted her to know was that Drew and I had had words and that I ached more than was appropriate over it.

Tori studied me for a moment, and I wondered what she saw. Then she pushed away from the counter. “I’ve got something for Chlo.”

“Oh no, Tori. I don’t want you buying any more things for her. Nothing. You’ve done more than enough already.”

She waved her hand, as if she were swatting my words away as she would a bothersome mosquito. “I’ve already bought it.”

“So return it. You know as well as I that you shouldn’t be spending money on things for Chloe. Don’t you owe a bunch to some not-very-nice man who keeps making threats?”

She glanced at me quickly, then gave a negligent shrug. “It’s nothing. It’s taken care of.”

“You paid off your debt? All of it?”
With the contents of my shoe-box?
All my ugly suspicions rushed back. “What about the puzzles?”

“They’re nothing, Libby. Just forget it, all of it.”

“Nothing? I read those puzzles, Tori. I even did the one you dropped on the Fourth. P
AY
U
P OR
E
LSE
.”

She grinned at me. “How many hours did it take?”

“This is not funny. P
AY
U
P OR
E
LSE
. Or else what? Are they going to kill you too?”

Tori gave a strange little laugh. “You’re overreacting to a bad joke.”

“A dead man is a bad joke? Give me a break! I know you’re deeply in debt, and I-I don’t want to trip over you some morning.”

“You’re crazy, Libby.”

“No, I’m not. I’m scared. For you. I’ll help you any way I can.”

She frowned. “Listen hard, Lib. I do not need your help. I do not want your help. There is no threat. None. I’ve taken care of it.” She spun on her heel and strode into the living room.

I followed her, more worried than ever.

“Hey, Chloe!” Tori called. “Come in here, sweetie. I’ve got something for you.”

Chloe appeared in the front doorway. “For me?” Her eyes were eager.

Tori nodded as she reached into the corner behind the sofa and pulled out a bulging garbage bag, the big green kind that people put leaves in. She thrust it at Chloe as everyone gathered to watch.

“Whoa!” Chloe took it with a large smile. “My own garbage bag. Gee, thanks, Aunt Tori.” She glanced at me, and I smiled. I could see her relax. Whatever her present, she might as well enjoy it.

There was a curly ribbon bow tying the bag shut, and Mom had to get a pair of scissors to cut it loose. The bag fell away revealing a green microsuede pillow, the kind that looks like the top half of an overstuffed chair.

“Cool.” Chloe nodded her appreciation as she hugged it to her chest, its arms wrapping around her sides in an inanimate hug. “It’ll go great in my daffodil room.”

“Very cool,” Jenna echoed. “Look, Chloe! It’s got speakers in each arm and a sound jack.”

Chloe pulled the pillow away to see where Jenna pointed. Her smile was glorious. “Thanks, Aunt Tori!” Chloe dropped the pillow on the sofa and threw herself into Tori’s arms.

Tori smiled smugly at me over Chloe’s shoulder, and the little dark cloud over my head grew blacker, the raindrops denser. I felt very ugly as I told myself I should be grateful instead of suspicious, but there it was, the nasty truth about Libby Keating. She expected ulterior motives.

“Wait! That’s not all.” Tori pulled a small package from her purse. She held it out to Chloe.

Chloe ripped the paper away and held the gift high for everyone to see. “An iPod! I’ve been wanting one forever!”

That was news to me, but even if I’d known, there was that pesky mortgage.

Tori pulled a rectangle from her hiding place by the sofa and held it out.

“More?” Chloe tore it open, and there was a docking station for the iPod.

“And here.” Tori handed over an envelope.

Jenna peered over Chloe’s shoulder. “ITune cards! Fifty dollars’ worth!”

“You can download to your heart’s content, kiddo.” Tori was all sweet smiles. With a wink at Dad, she added, “And legally too.”

I forced myself to smile along with them, but I felt anything but glad. What I felt was threatened and wary and distressed. When a knock sounded on the door, I was only too happy to play hostess. When I saw Drew standing there looking much too handsome in
cutoff cargoes, sandals, and a deep brown polo that was a perfect match for his hair, my eyes teared. “You came!”

He frowned. “Of course, though I usually don’t make people cry when I show up.”

The tears overflowed. “I’m just so glad to see you.” Someone on my team. Even if he was still miffed at me, he had come.

He took me by the elbow and pulled me onto the porch. “What’s wrong, Libby?”

I wanted to tell him, but my throat was too clogged with gratitude at his appearance to get words out. “Walk?” I managed.

Without a word, he turned and stepped off the porch beside me, his hand still warm on my elbow. We walked two blocks while I struggled to get my emotions under control.

“I feel so stupid,” I muttered, my eyes fixed on the sidewalk. “The last thing you need is another woman getting weepy on you.”

He stopped and put a finger under my chin, forcing me to look at him. “We both know you aren’t stupid. Opinionated, perhaps.” And he smiled slightly.

I managed a watery smile in return. “I’m sorry about that.”

He nodded, his eyes warm. “Me too.”

And just like that, things were fine between us. I gave a mental blink. Was that how it worked? You apologized and let the anger go? Was that what the Bible meant when it said, “Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry”?

“So since you’re not stupid nor given to being overly weepy, whatever’s bothering you is real. So tell me.”

I did. I told him about Tori’s gifts to Chloe and my fear that she was trying to woo my daughter away.

“I know it’s paranoid; I know it.” I sniffed. “But Tori could hurt
her so badly. She could teach her to be like the rest of the family. She could turn her from the Lord. She could turn her from me.” And I started crying again. “I’m sorry,” I blubbered, though I wasn’t certain what I was sorry for this time.

He pulled me close, just holding me. I wrapped my arms around his middle and rested my cheek in the hollow below his shoulder. I couldn’t remember the last time someone had held me like this, and it felt so good. I wanted to stay leaning on his strength forever, so I straightened away. When I swiped at my teary face, Drew pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to me.

“Thanks.” I mopped my cheeks and blew my nose. So feminine and attractive, to go with my red eyes. I was about to shove the handkerchief into my slacks pocket when he held out his hand.

“You don’t want this back.”

He wiggled his fingers in a give-it-here gesture. Slightly embarrassed, I returned the handkerchief, and he slid it back in his pocket.

“Feeling better?”

I nodded. “But there’s more.”

He reached for my hand and started walking again. “So tell me the rest.”

This time I told him about the missing jewelry and the puzzles.

“And then there’s the body. Mick.”

“What makes you think he has anything to do with Tori?”

I confessed how I’d found one of the puzzles on Mick’s body.

“And I thought my life was complicated,” he said as we stopped at the walk to Mom and Dad’s. We’d made a large square, arriving back where we’d started. He’d held my hand the whole way, and he gave it a little squeeze. “Don’t worry. We’ll figure something out.”

Those six words untied the knots in my stomach, and ribbons
of hope unfurled in their place. My little black cloud faded away, and the Light was once more visible. God had sent me a lifeline.

Drew and I had just stepped onto my parents’ porch when Tori’s limo pulled to the curb. The driver gave a single beep.

Tori appeared in the doorway and gave a wave. “Be right there.” She turned to Drew. “Hey, handsome.”

“Hi, Tori. Nice to see you.”

“But nicer to see Lib?” She stared pointedly at our clasped hands. I immediately tried to pull away, but Drew tightened his grip. In some indefinable and slightly scary way, I felt he was making a statement, but I was unsure what he meant. Was it merely
“Don’t pick on Libby; it’s not nice?”
Or was it more personal? I was afraid to speculate. Too much hope could swamp me.

Tori pushed the screen door open, and Drew and I stepped into the crowded living room. Mom saw us immediately. She turned to Dad, spoke to him, and led the way to where we stood with Tori. Again I tried to pull my hand free, and again Drew held tight.

“Well, Drew, I’m so glad you came,” Mom said with more enthusiasm than she’d shown me. “When Libby showed up with just the girls, I thought you were going to let us down.”

“I’d never let Libby down like that,” Drew said quietly.

My breath hitched in my throat.

“Dad,” Tori said, “this is Drew Canfield, Jenna’s father. Drew, my father, Jack Keating.”

Drew had to drop my hand to shake Dad’s. “Nice to meet you, Jack. This has got to be a good day for you.” When he released Dad, he casually laid his hand across my shoulders.

“You’ve got that right. Home with all my girls.” He smiled at Mimi, Tori, and me, and I realized he was truly glad to see all of us.

“Hey, Dad!” Jenna wore a smile as she crossed the room, and I could feel Drew’s great delight that his girl was so happy. “You should see all the stuff Chloe got from Aunt Tori!”

“Does that mean it’s what you want too?” He smiled so she knew he was teasing.

“Of course. Oh my gosh! Look out there! It’s a limo.”

“Pretty, isn’t it?” Tori asked as we all studied the sleek black auto. My van, parked in front of it, seemed especially disreputable.

“You should see the inside,” Tori went on. “There’s a bar with all kinds of drinks and snacks. There’s a fresh flower in a vase every day. And the seats—well, you just sink into them.”

“What’s it doing here?” Dad asked.

“It takes Tori back and forth to work,” Mom said with pride.

“Sweet,” Chloe said.

“Very sweet,” Jenna agreed.

“Impressive,” Dad said.

“Want to ride home with me in it?” Tori asked the girls. “There’s plenty of room.”

I tensed, and Drew gave my shoulder a light squeeze.
Don’t overreact
. I did my best to relax, to see no threat, just a loving aunt offering a good time to her niece.

“Oh boy, do we!” Chloe’s face glowed.

Jenna just stared at the limo and nodded, a huge smile creasing her face. “Has it got a sunroof?”

“So we can stand and wave as we drive past!” Chloe’s eyes glowed. “Mom, you can take my pillow and stuff, right?”

“Sure. I’ve never ridden in a limousine, so you’ll have to tell me all about it.”

“It’s much cooler than the van.”

Talk about stating the obvious. “That wouldn’t be hard.”

A car pulled up behind the limo, and we watched a slight man with a developing paunch and lots of moussed dark curls climb out. All my bright ribbons of hope tied themselves in the familiar knots of fear. I took an involuntary step backward, coming up against Drew. He leaned down and whispered for me alone, “It’ll be all right.”