Running on Empty (16 page)

'I'm not too proud to admit — ' Mrs. Peebly deposited the walker on the seat — 'that
question did arise.'

She slammed the door closed and turned. 'Now do you plan on moving that noisy foreign
car of yours anytime soon? I need to buy my groceries and you're encroaching on my
garage apron.'

Torn between saying, 'Yes, ma'am' and offering to shop for her elderly neighbor, AnnaLise
chose the answer that wouldn't get her run over or hit with an idle umbrella. 'Yes,
ma'am.'

She pulled her car into the right side of the garage while Mrs. Peebly backed out
the left. Leaving the Mitsubishi, she signaled the elderly woman that she'd close
both garage doors.

'I'm not making any promises about "locking" them, though,' she said under her breath.

Ignoring the umbrella, AnnaLise crossed to the other side of her neighbor's door,
where a frayed rope hung. The ropes, one attached to each door, allowed Mrs. Peebly
and Daisy — and AnnaLise, for that matter — to get the door started on its downward
journey without having to stand on their tippy-toes.

Though 'tippy-toe' might not be beyond Mrs. Peebly's abilities, even now.

AnnaLise lowered the one door and was about to do the same with Daisy's, when the
brain tickle finally scratched itself. The result was two promises that AnnaLise intended
to keep before she returned to Wisconsin. One: arrange for the garage to be wired
for electricity, with automatic openers installed. Two: ask Chief Chuck Greystone
if Ichiro Katou's cane had been found.

'I completely forgot about the cane,' Bobby Bradenham said.

'I did, too,' AnnaLise said. 'It was only when I saw Mrs. Peebly's walker that it
occurred to me.'

The two friends were sitting at Daisy's kitchen table just as they had throughout
their school days. The only difference was that margaritas had replaced Cokes and
they weren't even pretending to do homework.

AnnaLise gestured toward a blank white wall. 'Weird not having a door there, isn't
it?'

Prior to Daisy's retirement, a connection between the kitchen and the then-grocery
made it easy for AnnaLise's mother to move from apartment to cash register whenever
the cowbell on the outer door signaled a market customer. Many a meal was interrupted
in the Griggs household because someone else needed a loaf of bread or a gallon of
milk to take home to theirs.

While convenient, it did make for an unconventional living space. The Second Street
apartment entrance opened directly into the eat-in kitchen where AnnaLise and Bobby
sat. A tiny parlor completed the Griggs' portion at street-level, a staircase leading
to the second floor's two bedrooms and one bath.

'Don't tell me,' Bobby said. 'You miss the market? You hated having to jump up every
five minutes to wait on someone when your mom wasn't around.'

'It was a good way of life,' AnnaLise said nostalgically.

'Are you kidding?' Bobby exclaimed. 'Not only did you complain, but you told people
you lived in the back room of a store.'

'I did,' AnnaLise protested. 'Only now, it's the back room of a nightclub.'

'But,' Bobby said, looking a little sad, 'AnnaLise doesn't live here anymore.'

'I know.' She stared at Bobby for a moment, before mentally shaking herself. 'Sorry.
What were we talking about?'

'You asked Chuck whether Ichiro's cane had been found. What did he say?'

'He thanked me and hung up.' AnnaLise rose to replenish their drinks from the blender
on the counter.

Standing, she saw James Duende's tousled dark hair pass by the window, the rest of
him hidden by the shutters Daisy'd installed to provide privacy against Second Street's
sidewalk. AnnaLise hadn't had a chance to speak with Sheree's boarder at Sal's, so
she hoped he'd be at tomorrow's parade. Sutherton could use all the good-looking men
it could get. Dickens Hart was old, Chuck was gay, and Bobby was... well, his mother's
son.

'Interesting,' Bobby said.

'What?'

'Chuck just "thanking" you.'

For some reason, his tone made AnnaLise a little uncomfortable. And defensive of Chuck,
who shouldn't need her defending. 'I had the impression he was busy, probably with
the shooting at Dickens Hart's place.'

'Or, Chuck's embarrassed he hadn't thought about the cane himself.' Again, the mildly
critical tone, but seemingly no real concern from the mayor over the shooting of,
arguably, his town's leading citizen. At least in that one citizen's mind.

Whose future was now tied to her own. 'Have you heard any updates on Hart's condition?'

'Bullet in the fatty part of the arm,' Bobby said distractedly. 'He'll be fine, but
he's kicking up a huge fuss. Demanding an investigation, like he's the only one who's
ever been shot around here.'

Silly man. This was, after all, Sutherton.

'However, look here,' Bobby continued. 'You're absolutely right. If Ichiro was unsteady
because of his leg and toppled into the water, where's the cane?'

'Presumably somewhere in the lake or, alternatively, on the bank where he fell in,'
AnnaLise said. 'You told me at your... at Bradenham that you didn't know what was
wrong with his leg. His left one, correct?'

'Right.'

AnnaLise looked at him.

'Correct,' Bobby amended. 'And the short answer is, I still don't know. Ichiro never
made a big deal about the gimp, himself, so I didn't want to, either. After a while
I didn't even notice the cane. It was just... I don't know, part of him?'

'But since I'd just met Ichiro, I hadn't known him long enough to see past it like
you, or maybe even Chuck, could have.'

Bobby said, 'Did he tell you that apparently I was the last one to see Ichiro alive?'

'No, he didn't. When was that?'

'You were there,' Bobby said. 'You and your mother. At Hart's Landing, remember?'

'Oh, of course.' AnnaLise was remembering Katou at his window, holding the giant cotton
swab and laughing down at them. Daisy and she departed then, but Bobby had stayed
on. 'So how did you leave it with him?'

'Ichiro?' Bobby gave her a strange look. 'Like I told you, we made plans to meet at
Sal's.'

'After he did... something.'

'Correct.'

'But we don't know what.' AnnaLise said it almost to herself.

'We may never know.' Bobby looked at the wall clock over the sink. It was in the shape
of an apple. 'I'd better go or I'll be late for dinner.'

'If I had a dime for every time you said that,' AnnaLise said, getting up to follow
him to the door.

'The more things change, the more they stay the same,' Bobby said.

A cliché, but AnnaLise knew that very little had changed for Bobby. Still living in
his mother's house at what, the age of 29?

Bobby continued, 'Ma will kill me, if dinner—'

'Gets cold,' AnnaLise finished, stepping out onto the sidewalk after him. 'But I think
you're probably safe this time. Look.' She pointed to the Mercedes parked at the corner.
'Isn't that your mother's car?'

'It... is. Now where in the world would she be?' Bobby seemed nonplussed that Mrs.
B wasn't home making their dinner.

'Maybe she decided to eat out,' AnnaLise said mildly.

'But what about...' Seeing the grin on his friend's face, he stopped. 'OK, you're
right. I'm still a mama's boy.'

'And spoiled rotten. C'mon, let's go see if "Ma" is at Mama's.'

A closed sign hung crookedly on one of the doors of Torch. 'Not open on Sunday, I
see. I'm surprised Tucker didn't want to take advantage of the holiday weekend.'

'He was serving this morning,' Bobby said, 'for the after-church coffee crowd, but
I think he realized soon after his Grand Opening that people don't go out on Sunday
night in Sutherton.'

'Tell Mama that.' AnnaLise pointed to the cars filling nearly every space in front
of her place. Visible through the big window was a line at the cash register waiting
to pay Mama, and another, for Daisy to seat them.

'This is different, though. Mama Philomena's is an institution. Sure hope if Ma is
there, she's already seated.' Bobby seemed to be weighing the inconvenience of his
mother not cooking for him with the convenience of her already having snagged a table
where he could join her.

'Seated where?' his mother's voice asked from AnnaLise's blindside. 'And have I not
asked you repeatedly not to call me that?'

'Ma... Mother,' Bobby said, turning. 'I didn't know you were there.'

'Obviously.' She turned to AnnaLise with a smile. 'I
should
be waiting dinner for him, while he is dilly-dallying with you, Little One.'

'Just like old times,' AnnaLise said, a tad too brightly. There was nothing like going
home to make you feel like a kid again. And not always in a good way. 'Did you eat
at Mama's?'

'Oh, heaven's no,' Mrs. B said, dismissing the idea with a wave of her hand. 'Such
a madhouse. I glanced in the window and saw dear Lorraine trying to deal with that
queue. I knew it was hopeless.'

As she spoke, developer David Sabatino came storming out the door of Mama's, wife
and kids scurrying after him. 'Thirty-minute wait,' he was muttering. 'Who do they
think they are?'

'New Yorkers,' Mrs. Bradenham said, shaking her head. 'So impatient.' She turned to
Bobby. 'Pizza night?'

'Sounds good,' he said, his face lighting up. 'Want to join us, AnnaLise?'

'Thanks, but no.' She restrained a shudder and hooked a thumb toward the restaurant's
door. 'I'd best eat here if I know what's good for me.'

She loved Bobby, but 'pizza night' at the Bradenham Mansion sounded like a scene out
of
Psycho
. Bobby and 'Ma' enjoying a 'slice' at their dining-room table, while AnnaLise lay
sprawled and naked in the shower down the hall, tomato sauce and pepperoni grease
slowly... circling... the...drain.

Still smiling at the thought as she entered Mama's, AnnaLise managed to conveniently
ignore the fact that she, too, was dining with Mother tonight.

Both of them, actually.

'Did you leave the garage door open?' Daisy asked AnnaLise.

The daughter paused with her key in the front door of the Griggs' apartment. It was
just after ten. 'No. I closed our side after I parked and motioned to Mrs. Peebly
that I'd get hers as well. I thought about leaving her side open, so she wouldn't
have to get out of the car again when she got back, but I figured our neighbor would
have my hide.'

'I swear that woman is losing it. She probably locked her side when she came home
and walked out mine, forgetting to close it.' Daisy said, pulling up at Mrs. Peebly's
garage door unsuccessfully. 'Sure enough.'

AnnaLise, who had followed her mother over from Mama's, peered into the garage. 'I
don't know how either of you can see anything.' She felt for the plastic globe hanging
on the wall. Amazingly, the light went on, albeit dimly. 'Hey, you replaced the battery,'
she said.

'From five years ago? Of course I did,' Daisy said. 'Just because you're gone, you
think things don't get done?'

'Honestly? Yes. But it's not just batteries. It's the whole town. I can't believe
how much has changed.'

'Life goes on,' Daisy said, moving into the shadowy garage. 'People get sick, grow
old.' She turned back toward AnnaLise and the headlights of a car turning the corner
reflected in her eyes. 'Even die.'