Rubbed Out (A Memphis BBQ Mystery) (13 page)

Cherry and Lulu walked back to Lulu’s car and sat there a minute with the motor turned off. “Now what?” asked Cherry finally. “That somehow didn’t turn out the way I thought it might. If we’d surprise him by confronting him with his motive and the fact he was being sneaky, and then he’d confess right there in his driveway. We’d call Pink over and everything would be hunky-dory and Lulu and Cherry would have saved the day again.”

Lulu glanced at her watch. “Why don’t we head over to Aunt Pat’s? We can hang out on the porch with lemonades and talk about it before the lunch crowd comes in. I feel like I need to digest what John was telling us. And it wouldn’t hurt to have some blueberry muffins to digest along with it.”

Thirty minutes later, they were doing exactly that. Everything always seemed a little brighter with blueberry muffins and lemonade.

“We might have been naïve,” said Lulu thoughtfully, putting down her empty plate. “Did we really think that John was going to blurt out a full confession to us because we startled him? We don’t even know if the man was involved.”

Cherry blew out a sigh. “They always confess in the movies and on TV.”

“If they
did
it. And sometimes not even then.” Lulu stopped talking when her cell phone started going off with a “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” ringtone. “Ack! Where is it? Where is it?” She frantically glanced around her.

“Here!” said Cherry, grabbing up Lulu’s large, colorful pocketbook and shoving it at her, staring at her with wide eyes as if she’d thrown a bomb on Lulu’s lap.

Lulu went tearing through the bag, pushing aside a fat wallet, drugstore cosmetics, and an extra pair of hose and finally finding the phone. “Hello?” she asked anxiously. She felt herself relax as she heard Sharon’s voice. She mouthed “Sharon” at Cherry, who nodded and also slumped in relief at the lack of emergency.

“What’s that?” asked Lulu, trying to hear Sharon’s quiet voice on the phone. “What? If you’re out driving around, why not come over to the restaurant? You know where it is, don’t you? That way I can really hear what you’re saying. Okay, I’ll see you in a few minutes, then.”

She set down the phone on the little table between Cherry and herself. “Hard to hear in that thing.” Sometimes she worried that she was losing her hearing just the teensiest bit.

“I got swept away in your panic there, Lulu!” said Cherry, tilting back in the rocker as if she was flat worn out.

“I know. I’m sorry,” said Lulu penitently. “I can’t stand those cell phones. They startle me to death. Nobody ever calls me on them and I forget I have one. Half the time I don’t remember to even turn it on.”

Lulu’s son came out on the porch in time to hear that last bit. Ben frowned at her, which had the effect of making him look like an irritated Captain Kangaroo. “That’s exactly what I was talking about when I was fussing at you last week. I tried to call your phone and it was off. Sometimes I would actually like to be able to reach you. It might not be an emergency, it might be that I need to talk to you about something to do with the restaurant. Or that I need a ride over here. Or whatever. But if your phone’s off…” He shook his head.

Lulu sighed. “I’m sorry, sweetie. You know I forget. And really, I only carry the phone for emergencies.”

Ben said, “But emergencies go both ways, Mother. You’re thinking that you want the phone when
you
have an emergency and you need to call
us
. But what if
we
have an emergency and need to call
you
and your phone is off? It’s a two-way street.”

Lulu thumped the palm of her hand on the arm of her rocker. “You are so right, Ben! I’ve been pretty selfish and I didn’t even know I was. I’ll start keeping the thing turned on. I’m turning over a new leaf.”

Ben nodded and continued walking out of the restaurant. “You just do that, Mother. And remember to charge it at night.”

Once Ben left, Cherry said, “Okay, now that that’s all settled, tell me about the phone call. I’m kind of surprised that Sharon would call you. Actually, I’m surprised that you even knew your cell phone number well enough to give it to Sharon.”

Lulu laughed. “I didn’t. She asked for it, so I called her cell phone from mine so she could add my phone number to her contact list.”

“I guess Brody meant what he said about Sharon really needing friends and not knowing anyone in Memphis yet,” said Cherry.

“I guess so. She was real funny when I was leaving the festival for the last time. That’s when she asked for my number so she could talk to me again. I’m thinking she thought she might miss the friendship and the connection that we all share and wanted a way to reach out to us,” said Lulu.

Cherry said, “She’s coming over now?”

She was. In another fifteen minutes, Sharon was walking in through the door and surprised both Cherry and Lulu with hugs.

Sharon didn’t wear any makeup and her face was splotchy as if she’d been crying. Her pink nail polish was halfway picked off. Her black slacks and blouse were good quality, but didn’t seem new. Lulu had noticed that the clothes Sharon usually wore always looked like they had designer labels—from a few years back. Like she’d had more money to shop with at one point, but now wasn’t buying anything new.

“What’s wrong, Sharon?” asked Lulu after Sharon had sat down in a rocking chair. “You sounded upset on the phone.”

“This is going to sound so silly,” said Sharon. But her eyes were worried. “We got a phone call from Reuben’s lawyer and I learned that Brody and I were executors of Reuben’s estate. And after all the stress of the last few days, for some reason, that bit of information made me fall apart.”

Lulu nodded sympathetically. “The straw that broke the camel’s back. I guess, though, that choosing Brody would have been natural—they’ve known each other for so many years.”

Cherry said, “I’m surprised that Reuben went to the trouble to even get a will done. That’s something that organized and responsible people do, and Reuben didn’t sound so organized and responsible.”

Sharon took a few gulps of lemonade from her glass, then put it down on the table. She gazed wearily at Lulu and Cherry. “It does seem kind of out of character,
doesn’t it? But apparently, Reuben had the will drawn up right after his divorce was final.”

“He was probably in that legal mind-set at the time then,” said Lulu. “He was in a courtroom so much he decided to go ahead and knock out his legal to-do list. Does that happen to y’all? It’s funny—I’ll have something like an ordinary doctor’s appointment and it reminds me to knock out all my other health stuff. Then for the next couple of weeks, I’ll be at the dentist and the eye doctor, and whomever else.”

Sharon said, “I know what you mean. That’s probably what happened.”

“Maybe he was feeling real spiteful, too, and wanted to make sure his ex didn’t get any of his money,” said Cherry.

“Did he even have any money?” asked Lulu. “I was under the impression that he was squandering money that he had.” Or borrowing money from Brody.

Sharon sighed. “Well, he did and he didn’t. Lately, he wasn’t working and pulling in an income and he was drinking his savings up. But there was money that he knew he was going to be getting, although he hadn’t gotten it yet.”

Lulu knit her brows. “What—an inheritance or something?”

“That’s right. Reuben only had one living relative…his was a hard-living family with a habit of dying young. But he had an uncle who had done real well for himself
and always doted on Reuben. He liked to brag about this rich uncle he had and how he was going to have tons of money one day.” Sharon made a face. “Sometimes I wonder what Brody saw in Reuben, especially when I tell stories like this. But Reuben wasn’t always like that. He was worse when he drank…that’s why he was so awful lately. Because he didn’t
stop
drinking.”

Lulu said, “So this uncle—he ended up passing away?”

“Apparently so,” Sharon said. “I think he died just a week or so before Reuben in a weird coincidence. Reuben ended up getting his estate. This uncle left all the money to Reuben.”

Cherry said, “And Reuben did change his will. So who ended up being the beneficiary of Reuben’s new will?”

Sharon sighed. “His son got a large sum of money, so I guess he was trying to look out for Finn, no matter what his ex was saying. But he also left a ton of money to Brody and me.”

Cherry and Lulu stared at Sharon. “Really?” said Lulu finally.

“Well, he and Brody were good friends. And I guess he was really trying to stick it to his wife and make a point. And like I said, Reuben didn’t have any other living family. Besides, Reuben didn’t think he was going to die anytime soon, after all. But yeah—a bunch of money to us,” said Sharon with a shrug.

Cherry and Lulu quietly digested this for a moment.
Then Cherry said, “So what are you so upset about? Sounds like this should have been good news.”

Sharon groaned and put her hands to the sides of her forehead and rubbed like it hurt. The deep grooves at the corners of her mouth emphasized her unhappiness. “It’s so complicated. We shouldn’t be getting that money. Maybe we should get the money back that Brody lent Reuben to help him get by. Dawn is going to be furious—she’s really going to go berserk. And the lawyer said that he knew some of Reuben’s contracting customers were trying to sue Reuben and get their money back from unfinished projects and all. Apparently, he even had subcontractors that were demanding money from him. And then this John is seriously wanting money. Reuben’s lawyer said that he was being especially pushy—almost threatening. So I don’t really know what we should do.”

“Do you think that settling all these claims will wipe out all the money?” asked Lulu.

“No, the lawyer didn’t think so. Apparently, this uncle was really,
really
well off. But it’s all such a headache,” said Sharon. She continued absently picking off her nail polish.

Lulu said, “What do you think you’re going to do? What seems like the best thing to do?”

Sharon said, “That’s one of the reasons I’m visiting with y’all now. I’m trying to brainstorm. What I think is the best thing to do, and what I’m trying to convince
Brody that we should do, is to try to settle things with John. Like, right now. The madder he gets, the worse it’s going to be.”

“He’s plenty mad,” said Cherry. “We actually went to see him at his house. He was practically foaming at the mouth, he’s so mad about the way that construction job went. And he sure doesn’t have much money. I’m surprised he could even pay a lawyer to sue.”

Lulu said, “That’s probably why he’ll be glad to settle. Then he can drop the lawyer and doesn’t have to have an expensive court date or anything like that.”

Sharon said, “That’s what I’m hoping. I want to talk to him and be reasonable and see if we can come up with something that will make him happy. Maybe get Reuben’s lawyer to draw an agreement up for him to get money when the estate is settled. I don’t know John’s last name or where he lives, though, and the last thing I want to do right now is to talk to that lawyer again. It takes forever for him to return phone calls anyway. Since y’all have been to his house, can you tell me where he lives?” She rummaged in her worn leather purse for a small notebook and a pencil.

Lulu dug in her pocketbook for the slip of paper with the address on it and handed it to Sharon. “I’m afraid we don’t know a whole lot about John. He seems to be single, doesn’t have a whole lot of money, and is mighty angry about the state his house is in right now.”

Cherry nodded. “That’s it, in a nutshell. He’s a pretty
angry guy, Sharon. How are you going to approach him about this settlement?”

“I’m thinking I’ll run by his house. I need to assess the damage anyway. You know—make sure he’s not exaggerating what happened. Not that I think that he is,” she hurried to say, “but it seems more businesslike to at least survey the damage.”

“You should bring Brody with you then,” said Lulu. She felt a chill run up her spine, but couldn’t figure out why. “Don’t go over there by yourself.”

“Well, I know what you’re saying, Lulu. But I haven’t exactly convinced Brody that this is the right thing to do. I’m thinking this is something I should handle myself,” said Sharon.

“We’ll go with you!” said Lulu quickly. “Cherry and I would be happy to go to John’s house with you.”

“Pleased as punch!” said Cherry. “We even know the way and everything—it makes so much sense.”

Sharon’s eyes lit up with a grateful smile. “I really, really appreciate that, y’all. You don’t know how much. But this is something I need to do by myself. John will be a lot more defensive if he sees a group of us coming at him. And if I have Brody with me, he’s bound to feel even more so. No, I’m going to try to handle this myself. I’m sure that John will be perfectly reasonable.”

John, however, was
not
perfectly reasonable. John was dead.

Pink came by Aunt Pat’s the morning after Sharon’s
visit while Lulu was putting out fresh tablecloths. Lulu raised her eyebrows when she saw him. “Working an odd shift, Pink? It’s early for eating ribs. Well, not for me. But I’m up with the chickens.” She broke off when she saw how grim Pink looked. “What’s wrong? What’s happened?”

“I’ll tell you what happened, then you tell
me
what happened. There was a homicide that was discovered this morning by Sharon, your buddy in the next-door booth. It was John.”

Lulu sat down in a booth. “Ohhh. Oh, how awful.”

“But Lulu,” said Pink, and she’d never heard such a stern voice from him, “I wasn’t aware that a John even existed. And yet Sharon says she was talking to you and Cherry about him only yesterday on the front porch here.”

Lulu felt herself color. “Mercy. You’re right. I totally forgot about sharing that tidbit with you. Everything seemed to happen at once and I really haven’t seen you much since the murder happened. I’m so sorry, Pink.”

The apology seemed to smooth Pink’s ruffled feathers. “Well, you know, it was kind of embarrassing to me. Made it look like I didn’t know what was going on or all the connections in the case.”