Finger Lickin' Dead (19 page)

“Now what makes you think such a thing, Tudy? It’s hard for me to picture Oliver as a gallivanting murderer,” said Lulu.

Tudy gave another sniff. “I told you about the way he looked all beat up that day Adam died. I know he must have gotten in a fight with him. And I was wrong to think it was about the restaurant. I mean—the fact he blamed Adam for putting us out of business was part of it. But now I know the reason that Adam was fighting him . . . because Oliver has been having an affair with Ginger! And Adam was jealous!”

Evelyn winced at her logic. “Whoa. Tudy, I just don’t believe a word of this. Remember that Adam and
I
were having a fling and Adam didn’t give a rip about Ginger anymore. In fact, he was trying to get rid of her.”

“I think he didn’t want Ginger for
himself
, but he didn’t want anyone
else
to have her, either.” Tudy’s chin was set with determination.

Lulu said, “What makes you think that Oliver and Ginger were having an affair, Tudy?” Try as she might, she couldn’t picture Oliver Hatley and Ginger Cawthorn together.

Tudy’s mouth wobbled for a moment until she regained control. “Well, you know how secretive he’s been, right? After his fight with Adam that he hasn’t even admitted to. He just seemed
sneaky
and that’s not like Oliver. The day that Ginger was killed? I’d driven out to Graceland to have lunch with Jeanne after she got off of her docent duty there. And Jeanne and I
saw
them—in a parking lot right on the side of the road.”

“Saw them doing
what
?” asked Evelyn with horror.

Tudy waved her hand around. “Saw them
talking
! Does it matter? They were
together
. And I saw her number in his cell phone, too.”

Evelyn flushed guiltily. “Oh. I gave Ginger Oliver’s cell phone number. She said she had some possible ideas for restaurant openings for him.”

Tudy shrugged. “No matter how she got the number, the results would have been the same.”

“Tudy, Oliver was in the restaurant just yesterday and Jeanne mentioned that she’d seen him with Ginger—she didn’t mention you—and he denied he’d even been there.”

“It was him, Lulu. Believe me, I know. I saw them talking together. And I totally lost my appetite after that; I called Jeanne up—she was following me—and told her we’d have to take a rain check on lunch. I went home and took to my bed for the rest of the day. I didn’t even lift my head up off the pillow.”

Lulu tried to reason with Tudy, who seemed about as stubborn as Lulu had ever seen her. “But what about Ginger? If Oliver killed Adam and was in love with Ginger, then who killed Ginger? It just doesn’t make any sense, honey.”

Tudy said, “I can tell you haven’t been watching
All My Children
lately, Lulu. If you
had
been watching the soaps you’d know that when it comes to love, all your buried passions come bubbling up to the surface. It’s clear to me that Oliver killed Ginger. Think about it—she was jolted when Adam was murdered and realized her true feelings for him. She was consumed by guilt and renewed feelings of love! So she told Oliver that they couldn’t continue seeing each other. In a fit of rage, Oliver kills Ginger.”

Lulu’s mouth dropped at this melodramatic logic. “But what about his dental appointment? Oliver says he went to the dentist that afternoon.”

Tudy’s face darkened. “Except the dentist’s office called to tell us they were assessing us with a twenty-five dollar missed appointment fee. So wherever he was, it sure wasn’t getting his teeth cleaned.”

Evelyn and Lulu both bit their lips to keep from telling Big Jack’s story. But a promise was a promise. They both tried to cheer her up by reassuring her that Oliver was devoted to Tudy and would never dream of cheating on her.

Fortunately, a nice distraction unexpectedly came their way or else Lulu would have still desperately been wracking her brain to think up something else to talk about. They were standing in line at the Chinese buffet when Tudy motioned to the back of a man’s head.

“Isn’t that Holden Parsons? Bless his heart—he’s eating at the food court. And him all used to eating at great restaurants all day for his reviews.” Tudy pulled a long face. “It makes me sad—it’s just like Oliver losing his job. Men without jobs are really like lost souls. They don’t know what to do with themselves.”

Evelyn was fully in Lady Bountiful mode now. “Let’s go over and talk to him. The poor man! Eating fast food when he used to eat out at the best places in town.”

Holden, although he was as gracious as usual, looked embarrassed at eating tacos at the food court.

“What are you ladies doing today?” he asked in what Lulu thought was an effort at distracting them from his tacos.

“Evelyn and Tudy were kind enough to help me look for a dress to wear for a special occasion. Floral-print dresses were apparently not going to cut it,” said Lulu.

“Sounds fancy. Where are you going?”

“Oh, Lulu and I are going to Big Jack’s fund-raiser at his lake house. Looks to be quite a shindig. The Memphis paper will even be there to write it up,” said Evelyn in a careless voice, dipping her egg roll into some soy sauce. She took a bite. “Salty!” and shook her head. But she went right back to dipping the egg roll again.

Holden’s eyes widened. “The paper will be there? I’ve been trying to talk to those guys for a week now—I want to step back into my old job now that Adam isn’t writing for them anymore. Think maybe I can somehow get an invitation?”

Lulu said, “Since you’re taking up some professional photography assignments, why don’t we see if Big Jack would have you come and take pictures at the fund-raiser for your campaign?”

Evelyn slapped the side of the table. “That’s perfect! Then you’ll have a gig and a chance to butter up the people from the paper and see if you can find out what they’re doing about the empty restaurant critic spot.”

Tudy frowned. “Won’t the paper bring their own photographer?”

Evelyn waved her hand dismissively, “They usually take three or four pictures then head off home. They’re not there to provide publicity photos. Big Jack will want good pictures of himself looking mayoral and maybe some with him standing with different local celebrities. The paper wouldn’t be taking those kinds of photos. Here, I’ll give him a call.”

A few minutes later, she hung up her cell phone, flushed with success. “It’s all set. He said it was a brilliant idea! He could use some more pictures for his mailers and his website.”

Holden crumpled up his trash and put it on his plastic tray. He beamed at the ladies. “That’s wonderful! And I’d never have known if I hadn’t seen y’all here today. Thanks, Evelyn! I’ll see you and Lulu this weekend.”

Evelyn and Lulu said good-bye to Tudy in the parking lot. “Thanks, girls,” she said, giving them huge hugs. “You just don’t know what good medicine this was for me today. I feel better just having talked to y’all.”

As she drove off, Evelyn said, “Lulu? I hate to say this, but you’re my private eye, so you need to know. After Tudy saw Oliver with Ginger, she did
not
spend the rest of the day in her bed. I saw her driving around myself—when I was on my way back home from the police department.”

Lulu felt her head start pounding. As soon as she wrapped her head around one idea, here came another to set her mind spinning. “Tudy! So . . . you think that
Tudy
might have killed Ginger? Because she was jealous or worried that she was going to take Oliver away from her?” Lulu was quiet for a moment. “Evelyn, I somehow just can’t picture Tudy pulling out a gun and blowing someone away.”

“She could do it, Lulu. Remember—Tudy grew up in Texas.”

Lulu frowned at her in puzzlement.

“
Don’t mess with Texas
—those women know how to shoot . . . and straight, too. Tudy wouldn’t spare a second thought for Ginger if she’d been messing with her marriage.”

 

 

Lulu was glad to have Big Jack’s fund-raiser as a distraction from the case. Her head was still swimming from all the suspect possibilities and she still hated to think that one of her friends was responsible for two murders.

Lulu was also glad she’d gone shopping when she saw all the gussied-up people at Big Jack’s fund-raiser. Lulu had a feeling that most of the dresses there cost more than her mortgage payment.

The party was in Big Jack’s expansive backyard, smack-dab on the lake. The caterers had put up huge tents strung with strings of white lights. The band was a short ways away (so it was easier for people to talk) playing a set of crowd favorites, judging from the dancing on the floor set up under a separate tent.

Big Jack looked to be in hog heaven. He was laughing his big, hearty laugh, shaking hands right and left, and politicking just as hard as he could. If there
had
been babies there, he’d have kissed every single one of them. He was in his element.

Lulu felt like she was in her element, too. Not being around the chichi people or the glamorous designer clothing—but the food. There were crab cakes, cremini mushrooms, roasted carrots, and pan-roasted duck. But Lulu’s favorite were the jumbo shrimp glazed with a homemade peach sauce that melted in her mouth. “Evelyn,” said Lulu with a happy sigh, “I’ve died and gone to epicurean heaven. Have you tried these shrimp?”

Evelyn said, “No, I fixed myself a vegetable plate. I’m not ordinarily a girl who loads up with a lot of greens, but these creamy collards are the best things I think I’ve ever put in my mouth. Aunt Pat’s barbeque aside, of course.”

Lulu nodded, “Oh, Aunt Pat’s recipes are marvelous—but this food is
special.”
She walked to a buffet area lined with chafing dishes to see what other wonders were being offered. She bet she could figure out that peach sauce for the shrimp. It wouldn’t work well for the barbeque restaurant, but she sure would love to serve it for a party.

A few hours later, guests finally started leaving. Lulu and Evelyn had already taken off their heels and were chatting and people watching. Lulu was about as stuffed as she’d ever been.

Holden walked up to them, beaming.

“How did the photography go tonight, Holden?” asked Lulu.

“It looked like it was going
great
to me,” said Evelyn, after taking a swallow from her wineglass. “Every time I saw Holden, he was taking a picture of Big Jack with some bigwig or other. And Big Jack’s grins made him look like the cat that ate the canary.”

Big Jack sauntered up in time to catch the end of what Evelyn said. “Amen to that. I
did
eat some canaries. This has been my most successful fund-raiser ever. And Holden, great job recording the moments. I should have some fantastic pictures for my campaign flyers.”

Holden smiled modestly. “It
did
seem to go well, I have to admit. Everybody acted like they wanted to pose.”

Evelyn laughed. “Well, of course they do! They’re all gussied up and look like a million dollars. After all the money they spent on manicures, pedicures, and dresses and hair, they
want
it memorialized for all time!”

“It surely went much better than my last gig. Oh, sorry, Lulu.” Holden’s bald head turned pink.

“Taking the pictures for Aunt Pat’s didn’t go well?” asked Lulu, surprised. “I didn’t think that would be a problem.”

“It wasn’t! At least, taking pictures of the restaurant and downtown Memphis wasn’t a problem. But then I took some snapshots of
people
—you know, like we talked about. For the wedding party to see before they hired me? Some people just flat-out told me that they didn’t want their picture taken. Maybe if folks aren’t looking their best, they’re not as wild about having their picture taken.”

Holden fidgeted a moment, then said, “And taking pictures can make more trouble than just complaints from unwilling subjects. Before we even talked about my taking pictures professionally, Lulu, I followed Ginger around for a couple of days to try to take some pictures of her.” He gulped. “She’d just irritated the stew out of me the day before and I thought I’d tail her and see if I could irritate her back by maybe catching her in some sort of compromising moment or doing something bad. Maybe even something illegal.”

Lulu took a deep breath. “When you were taking these pictures . . . were they right before her murder?”

“Not
right
before, but I did snap some from that day. But then I went off to lunch after that, so I didn’t see anything that would help the police out.” Holden looked like he couldn’t decide whether that was a good thing or not. “I mean, the last thing I took was her talking to Oliver in that parking lot.”

Lulu said sharply, “You actually
saw
the two of them together?”

“Saw them? Yes—I even took a picture of them. I thought it was kind of weird to see them together. I didn’t think they weren’t friends or anything. And it didn’t exactly look much like a friendly discussion. They were waving their hands around, their faces were red, and Ginger looked like she was yelling.”

Big Jack interrupted loudly, “You know, Holden, I bet you totally misinterpreted what you saw. They were probably just shopping at the same place and started talking in the parking lot. And maybe it looked like they weren’t getting along because they were talking about Adam—Oliver wasn’t Adam’s biggest fan and maybe Ginger was singing his praises like she’d been doing at the funeral. But it doesn’t mean that Oliver was about to shoot Ginger.”

Holden said quickly, “No, of course it doesn’t. Like I said, it wasn’t even at the time of the murder—and it was on the other side of town. I just thought it was odd seeing them together, that’s all.”

“Shouldn’t you turn the pictures over to the police?” asked Lulu hesitantly. “They’d want anything that might help them piece together Ginger’s last day.”

Big Jack said with a big laugh, “Which sounds like a good thing to do, Holden, until you think about what you just said. You were irritated with Ginger so you followed her around with a camera to take pictures and irritate her back. And you were with her the day she died. Might want to rethink turning them in, you know?”