Murder for a Rainy Day (Pecan Bayou Book 6) (15 page)

"His ex-wife Sasha Holman was having an affair."

"How do you know this?"

"I happened on the information by accident," I said.

"Did she say he was the kind of fellow who would threaten her or abuse her?"

"I don’t think he was too happy about it. She did mention he had a temper. The man she’s having an affair with is married. Holman was pretty hard up for money and could have been threatening to expose her."

"And how is it you're having these conversations with this woman?" my dad asked.

"She's Benny’s new waitress."

My father smiled. "Ah, the secret life of pie. It’s hard for me to believe a guy who got his jollies painting smiley faces everywhere would work a blackmail scheme."

"Still though, we have to consider Holman was the mastermind behind the animal thefts."

"Mastermind? That’s a little strong, don’t you think? This guy was her ex-husband, correct?  Even if he did try to blackmail her lover, it doesn’t mean they would even care, and who cares if a divorced waitress is having an affair? She can sleep around all she likes. She doesn’t have a position where people question her morals like the president of a church congregation."

"No, but the person she's having the affair with…." I continued.

"You're telling me she was having an affair with Drummond Struthers?"

"No. Baxter Digby."

My father's eyebrows went up. "I’ll be doggoned. Is that right? Digby is as slimy as they come around here. You know Mrs. Thatcher bought a house he had listed and had to correct his math at the closing. Seems he made a few errors that accidentally increased his commission."

"It doesn’t surprise me," I said. "I also heard he has a reputation for being controlling. Even if he’s cheating on his wife, any woman he loves would need to live up to his expectations."

My father scratched his head as he thought about everything, putting together the facts. He pulled out his notebook.

"So the first person I need to talk to is Mr. Baxter Digby, a pretty good suspect at this point in the investigation."

The air in the house felt thick and putrid, and I was starting to feel nauseous.

"You know Dad, don’t worry about me waiting in the car. I think I'll call Aunt Maggie to come pick me up. I've had enough of crime-solving for the day."

He reached over with the back of his hand and felt my cheeks. "I think that's a right fine idea, darlin’. I'll take it from here, junior detective." I was never so happy to breathe the fresh, albeit overheated, Texas air as my father walked back into the home of Connor Holman.

I decided before going to the car, I would take a quick walk into the backyard to check on the herd of artificial animals whose eyes had all silently watched the murder of their kidnapper. Would the owners put the animals back up before the storm? I just hoped Charlie Loper’s glove would remain secure until his fingers could be repaired and the horse’s reigns could be reattached, so he would not go flipping off the rest of Texas. 

The rain started to sprinkle on the waiting herd. Not wanting to get soaked, I went out the gate and slid into the car. After calling Aunt Maggie, I started the motor and pushed the air conditioning knob up to high. As I glanced up at the house I began to feel so sorry for Connor Holman. He was killed in his own home. His ex-wife never had a kind word for him, and had already moved on to another man.

Like so many people, Holman wanted his little place in the country. Maybe it was a place reflective of his own childhood, or maybe it was a place from his dreams. His paintings inside showed so many scenes of simple country life. If I had known about his work, I might have bought something. It was such a shame his talent and creativity were now bleeding out in a dark red puddle.

Where was Connor’s family? Sasha never mentioned anything about parents being in town.  I was so lucky to have family members both older and younger than myself to lean on. Family always chases away the bumps in the night, the forks in the road and the demons of loneliness. Connor was all by himself. I was too late for him in life, but I could help him out in death.

I had spent the better part of this week trying to catch our local thief and now wanted to help him. Maybe I was getting drunk on the mommy Kool-Aid the hormones in my body were producing. Connor was not my child, but he was somebody’s. Somebody held him and loved him the way I longed to hold my own child.

I extended the passenger seat back and rested as I waited for Aunt Maggie. It was amazing   just last week the sky above was blue and warm. I thought about all those years ago when hurricanes would blow in off the Gulf of Mexico with no warning. Those were before the days of Doppler radar and hurricane hunters. I relaxed in the seat and found myself drifting.

"Hello Miss Happy Hinter." I was standing in the old Pecan Bayou Gazette building, before the fire destroyed it. Standing in front of me was Eula Jean Smith, the victim of the Gazette fire.

"Hi Eula Jean," I answered.

"I wanted to thank you. You solved my murder when people barely knew I was missing.  That's what happens when you're an old lady. You get forgotten."

"That's not true. Ruby asked about you."

"Yes. Ruby is good one. Still, though, I had a way of getting left out. I loved filing for Rocky. Such a handsome man. Can't believe he's still single."

"Don't you mean single again?"

"Yes. I suppose you're right."

"I made trouble, you know. That's what lead to my death. Don't make the same mistake."

"Is that your message?"

"What makes you think that?"

"Because each person in my dream is dead and has and brings some cryptic message for me."

Eula Jean walked to the filing cabinet and pulled out a drawer. "Eula Jean? What is your message?" Eula Jean began humming a creepy little tune as she sorted files.

"I think that's where you will get into trouble."

"What trouble?"

"Being left behind."

"Okay, I'll come over there." I started walking towards Eula Jean.

"You need to learn to stay with the action. That's why it took you so long to figure out it was me in the fire. You miss the most important details. You’re running out of second chances."

"Betsy?" Maggie was now sitting in the car next to me. "You must've fallen asleep. I knew this was a bad idea. Come on now, I'll take you back home. It's just awful what happened in there. You’ve pushed yourself too far. Let's just keep take care of you and baby and get you into bed."

As I opened the passenger door of Maggie’s ancient station wagon, the car radio was blaring in the background.

Residents of coastal areas should plan to hunker down or evacuate before the storm hits. Residents of central Texas should also have storm supplies at the ready. Once the storm hits land, it can turn into some nasty thunderstorms and tornadoes headed for our region. For that reason Mayor Obermeyer strongly suggests residents move to the storm shelter in Nolan Ryan Middle School. Evacuees from the Houston area and other Gulf Coast communities will be directed to the high school gym. Please make your plans now, and be prepared for this weather system.

"Here they come. The people from the big bad city," Maggie said.

"I like city people," Danny said.

"Yeah, well wait until they find out we only have one movie theater that only shows one movie at a time," Aunt Maggie joked, her eyes never leaving the road.

"I like city people," Danny said. "My doctor is in the city."

"I like city people, too." I agreed with Danny. I had married one after all. I turned my cell phone off when we went into Connor Holman’s house, but as I pulled it out of my purse, I saw I had missed a call from Leo. I put in his number.

"Sorry. I was a little busy," I explained.

"Is it the baby?",

"No. I went with my dad somewhere."

"Where?"

"Um. That’s not important right now. I know you have a lot going on over there."

"Where, Betsy?" When I didn’t answer him right away he repeated his question.

"Where?"

"To arrest Connor Holman," I confessed.

"You what? I thought we discussed this. Just tell me the man went peaceably, and there was no danger to our baby. "

"Uh. Yeah. You cold say he was pretty peaceable."

"Thank goodness."

I couldn’t believe I had just gotten away with that one.

"And by the way, I decided to stay with Aunt Maggie, at least for tonight."

"Sounds good to me. I’ll come by later. You’ll have everything you need there and I’ll have…"

"Someone to keep an eye on me?"

"That too. The storm is coming, Betsy, and the idea of you being with Maggie and Danny is a great one." The radio in the background began to echo his forecast.
The storm is moving at about 75 miles per hour. It’s expected to make landfall on Galveston Island by early Thursday. From there it is predicted to move towards our area. As the storm lessens over land, there is still a chance of heavy thunderstorms, winds and tornadoes.

"Betsy, are you in a car?" Leo continued. "I hear the radio."

"Oh yes. Aunt Maggie and Danny picked me up from Connor Holman’s house. My dad didn’t want me in there with the crime scene."

"You mean he had those animals in his house?"

He would not be very happy to know I had just found another body. When we got married I sort of promised Leo I would slow down discovering dead people.

"Betsy? Are you still there?" Leo asked.

"Connor Holman was dead when we got there," I blurted out.

"Good grief. Are you telling me you and your dad found him?"

"Yes. But we didn’t know he would be dead. You see, I convinced Dad to let me go along to arrest Holman because I got this threatening phone call and we needed to hear his voice so I could identify him."

"That’s it. Go home. Do what every other person in Pecan Bayou is doing right now. Get ready for the storm. Oh yeah, and get ready to have our baby. You have plenty to do now, and you certainly don’t need to have a ride along with Officer Judd."

He was right. I knew he was right. 

"I’ll do that. I promise. I’m done. Totally done."

"I'm just glad you're okay. Thank goodness your father was with you this time."

That was it? That was all I was going to get for being nine months pregnant and stumbling onto a crime scene? Something was up.

"So Betsy, you remember me telling you about the guy I met when we flew into the hurricane? The storm chaser?"

The plot thickens. "Yes…" I said warily.

"You're not going to believe this, but he invited me to ride along and chase storms that trigger off of Ezra with him. Isn’t that great?"

"And you said no, right? For a minute there I thought you were going to tell me that you planned to be driving around chasing after tornadoes and putting yourself in further danger."

"Well it's not like I'm going to fall out of a plane or anything. Storm chasers almost never get injured. They can see what's coming from miles away."

"And they have the uncontrollable urge to get as close as they can to shoot YouTube videos," I added.

"These guys are pros Betsy. They all have families just like me, and they’re not going to put their own lives in danger. These storm chasers have been doing this for years. Actually it's pretty safe." If I could only believe that.

"So, what are you trying to say, Leo?"

"I have this idea that maybe I could just ride along with Nate for a couple of hours during the storm. Not the whole storm, but just a couple of hours. What do you think?"

He did not want to know what I thought. I wanted to be supportive of him. This was Leo's passion, aside from me, of course. How could I stop him from pursuing something as exciting is this? Then there was that little issue of my own jumping into danger catching thieves and stalking cheating real estate agents while pregnant. What’s good for the goose…

"Just for a couple of hours?" I asked.

"That's all. I promise."

"Fine. But you had better be here when our baby makes his or her appearance into the world."

"Wouldn't miss it," he said, trying to reassure me.

"I spoke to Zach and Tyler and the camp is preparing for the storm. I also spoke to my mother, and she volunteered to go pick them up."

That was the best news I'd heard all day. I was beginning to like Leo's mother, Gwyn, more and more. I hadn't thought of asking her to pick up the boys at camp. "That is wonderful. Thank your mother for me. Better yet, I think I’ll do it myself when I see her in person."

"And Betsy?"

"Yes?"

"You know I love you, don't you?"

"Yes. We’re two of a kind, you and me."