Dark Waters (24 page)

Dalton high-tailed it to where Emmett stood in the doorway. ‘Can you get back in Miz Hunt's house?'

‘Yes, sir. Door's still open, I reckon.'

‘Go in, look for any oxygen equipment and bring it back here, got it? And move!'

‘Yes, sir!' Dalton said, and jogged off to the exit and his squad car.

Dalton had barely gotten out of the parking lot before the ambulance pulled in. Holly was in the room with Mrs Hunt so Emmett ran outside to show them in.

When they got back into the interrogation room, Holly had the old lady breathing more calmly, although she was still wheezing a bit. The paramedics got her on oxygen and started their business.

‘We need to explain to these boys that she ain't going to the hospital!' Emmett told Holly.

She nodded. ‘I'll handle it,' she said. And Emmett knew she could. Even dressed as she was – hair in two small ponytails on the top of her head, each ponytail a different color with one red and one blue, full gothic make-up, a Grateful Dead T-shirt tied in a knot at her waist and black leggings under a pink tutu – the girl commanded respect as well as attention. And then there was the whole lust factor. The paramedics would listen to her for one of those three reasons, and Emmett didn't really care which one.

Johnny Mac was really impressed with Janna, as though he hadn't already been impressed enough. She was beating the snot out of Early in Uno. Every time she threw down a draw two card in front of him she laughed, and Johnny Mac couldn't help beaming at her. He failed to notice the unhappy looks coming his way from Early.

When the second game Janna won was over, Lyssa, who hadn't been paying that much attention, said, ‘I want to go see my mom.' Her voice was dejected.

Early said, ‘I was real sorry to hear about Mr Turner. He seemed like a nice enough guy.'

Lyssa shrugged. ‘He was OK, I guess. And yeah, it's sad. But I'm worried about my mom. I really want to see her.'

‘Then why don't you?' Johnny Mac said.

Lyssa looked at Janna, who said, ‘My mom said Lyssa needed to stay away for a little while. But if it was my mom, I'd want to go see her, too.'

Johnny Mac looked out the glass walls of the children's pavilion at Mr Tulia, Janna's father, drinking coffee and working at what looked to Johnny Mac like a crossword puzzle. And he had an idea.

‘Janna, why don't you go keep your dad busy, while Early and I sneak Lyssa to her mom's cabin?' Johnny Mac said.

Janna grinned. ‘I'd rather be the one sneaking her in, but as he's
my
dad, I guess I'm the one to keep him busy. And I know just what to do! Watch for this signal,' she said, pulling at her earlobe. ‘When you see me do that, haul butt!'

So, OK, I wasn't going to mention to Esther Monte that Lance wasn't who he said he was, or tell her who he actually was, but that didn't mean I couldn't interview her again. By this time, she should be somewhat calmed down, I thought. So I knocked on her cabin door.

She opened it, still in her nightgown, with a robe hastily thrown on but not tied, the flimsy material showing a little more of Esther Monte than my wife would have preferred. Her hair was sticking out in several directions, mascara was smeared on her face, globs of stuff at the inside corners of her eyes, and that white stuff that cakes on your lips when you drool during sleep – all around her mouth. Being a manly man, I didn't gag.

‘Sorry if I woke you, Esther,' I said.

‘What?' She shook her head. ‘I guess.' She turned and walked into her cabin. I followed. ‘Rose gave me a sleeping pill last night, or early this morning. I think it was more for her benefit than mine.' She smiled weakly. ‘She's a good woman, that Rose. Barely knows me and yet she stayed up with me half the night.'

‘Yeah, she seems like a real nice woman,' I said. ‘Want me to get you something to drink? Some coffee?'

‘Oh, God, yes!' she said. She handed me the phone. ‘Order some, please. And some toast. I'm hungry but I can't see myself getting dressed enough to go to the dining room for breakfast.'

I called the room service number on her phone, ordered a coffee and a glass of sweet iced tea, and toast. When they questioned the existence of sweet tea, I simply said, ‘Iced tea and several packets of sugar, please.'

Yankees and foreigners know nothing about sweet tea, one of the wonders of the modern world. For those of you who remain uninformed, sweet tea is when you put the sugar in the tea pitcher while the tea is still hot from steeping, stir it till the cows come home, then serve it over ice. It's a kind of sweet you can't get just pouring sugar into a glass of already iced tea.

While we waited, I asked her, ‘Are you feeling better this morning?'

She sighed heavily. ‘I guess,' she said. ‘I still can't believe he's dead.' She looked up at me with large, dark brown eyes swimming in tears, and said, ‘Why? What did he ever do to anyone? He was nice to everybody! He was even nice to Rose's in-laws, for Christ's sake! And he treated all the kids like they were his own! He adored Lyssa. I really thought – I mean, I thought—' She gulped back a sob. ‘I thought I'd finally met the one!' And she burst into tears and fell face-first onto my last clean shirt. To my shame, all I could do was think about the mascara and eye-boogers and the mouth gunk.

When the knock came at the door, I managed to extract her and stand up to answer it. I'll admit I was weak enough to glance down at my shirt. It was a God-awful mess.

At the door was the steward with our order. He brought in the tray and laid it on the small dressing table. ‘My condolences, Ms Monte,' he said, which just got her started up again.

I whisked him out of the cabin and sat back down on the bed and began patting her back. ‘Esther, you gotta buck up. There are questions that have to be answered.'

Rubbing her eyes with her fists, like a little kid, she finally looked up at me and said, ‘Like what?'

First I handed her the cup of coffee and some sweetener and added sugar to my tea, stirring it with my finger since the steward hadn't seen fit to bring an iced-tea spoon – or any utensil for that matter.

Finally answering her question, I said, ‘Like, did anyone have a problem with Lan—'

‘I just told you! He was nice to everybody! And everybody loved him!'

‘Well, somebody didn't!' I said. She looked at me like I'd just stepped on her puppy. Which I suppose I sorta had. ‘I'm sorry, Esther, but the man's dead. And somebody poisoned him.'

‘Could the poison have been meant for someone else?' she asked. ‘Like Crystal?' Then her eyes got real big. ‘Yes! Can't you just imagine how many people want to kill Crystal? Like Lucy Tulia, for one!'

‘Lucy?' I said. ‘Why in the world would Lucy—'

‘Because Crystal was after her man, that's why!' Esther said.

‘What makes you say—'

‘Because I saw Crystal coming on to Mike! And I heard him flirting back, that's why!'

‘When was this?' I asked her.

‘Right before Josh went missing,' she said. ‘You and Jean had gone to your cabin early – I think Jean was sick of us, and who could blame her?'

‘Oh, no, I don't—'

‘Please,' she said and gave me a look. I shut up. ‘Anyway, Vern and Crystal had gone back to their cabin, which just left Lucy and Mike and Rose and me. We three ladies went to the bathroom together—'

‘Yeah!' I interrupted. ‘Why do y'all do that?'

She gave me another look, which I guess I deserved, and went on, ‘—which left Mike alone. I was the first one to come out and Mike wasn't at the table. Then I heard his voice by the entrance to the club right there?' she said, and I nodded to show I knew where she meant. ‘And I looked and saw Crystal with him. Vern must have gone to sleep and she'd snuck out. Her back was to the wall, her arm was extended around Mike's neck, one knee up rubbing his thigh, and he was leaning forward, one arm supporting himself against the wall, and the other, well, it appeared to be wandering.'

‘Shit,' I said.

‘Yeah, I know,' Esther said. ‘I was hoping that like you and Jean, those two were an exception to the rule.'

‘What makes you think Jean and I are?' I asked out of curiosity.

‘Have you ever seen the way the two of you look at each other?' she said, then laughed slightly. ‘I guess not. Hard to see the look on your own face.'

I nodded. ‘Glad you noticed. I think we are definitely an exception to the rule. So,' I said, clearing my throat, ‘did they notice you?'

‘Not until I said, “Cut it out!” in a loud whisper. I could see Lucy and Rose coming out of the bathroom.'

‘So what happened?'

‘Mike turned white and moved away and Crystal just laughed, patted his junk and moved away. The girls didn't see her.'

‘Patted his junk?' I repeated.

‘It means—'

‘I know what it means. It just seems kinda—'

‘Gross? Yeah. Even Mike seemed taken aback by it.'

Well, shit, I thought. I was not happy. Now I was going to have to interrogate Mike, and I had begun to think of him as a sorta friend. Shit.

Since Holly seemed to have such a calming effect on Elizabeth Hunt, Emmett decided to let her do the interview. Back in the closet where they kept the stationery was also where they kept all the seldom-used equipment they'd purchased over the years. Emmett remembered, when he first signed on with the sheriff's department, Milt showing off some of the goodies stored there. One of the goodies was a communication system: a mic and an ear bud. So when Dalton was back with Mrs Hunt's canister of oxygen and her cannula, Emmett made him sit with her while he took Holly to the bullpen.

‘This,' he said, showing her the ear bud, ‘goes in your ear so you can hear me. What I want to do is give you questions to ask her; and then you repeat them to her. And I'll hear the answers through the interrogation room's audio system.'

‘You go in the break room and talk in the walkie,' Holly said, ‘so I can see if I can hear you.'

He nodded and moved to the break room. Staring out the window in the door, he pushed the button on the hand-held walkie and said, ‘If you can hear me hold up three fingers.'

Looking through the glass-topped door of the break room he could see her with three raised fingers. ‘If you can hear me, give me the one finger you'd like to use the most.'

Grinning, Holly held up her middle finger.

‘Well played, Miss Humphries,' he said into the walkie. ‘Well played.'

Johnny Mac, Early and Lyssa went to the outdoor part of the children's pavilion and waited until the pavilion babysitter was looking the other way, then jumped over the fence onto the deck. They scurried around the deck to a door which led to the food court, which was quite close to the corridor that led to the pool area. Janna's dad's back was to them; she glanced their way, then quickly back to her dad, and tugged on her earlobe. They hustled through the door and into the pool area, home free.

The kids hurried through the pool area, down the long promenade to the elevator that took them down two floors to the doorway that led to their cabins. They were quiet and watchful as they made their way towards the cabin Lyssa shared with her mom. So quiet that they were able to hear a conversation going on at the open door of a cabin a few doors away. They slowed on hearing it.

‘I love you,' a man's voice said.

‘I love you, too, baby,' a woman's voice said.

Lyssa whispered, ‘That's Mrs Weaver!'

‘That's not their cabin,' Johnny Mac whispered back.

‘I know!' Lyssa whispered again, wiggling her eyebrows.

Crystal Weaver must have heard them, because the door to the cabin closed with her on the outside. ‘What are you little hellions doing out on your own?' she said, grabbing Johnny Mac by his shirt front. ‘I thought your daddy was going to keep y'all under lock and key? Does he even know y'all are off on your own
again
?' She fairly shouted it all, spittle flying everywhere.

‘Let me go!' Johnny Mac said, pulling away from her grasp on his shirt.

‘Oh no you don't, you little bastard!' she yelled, and grabbed him by the arm.

Lyssa jumped on Crystal's back and began hitting her with her fists. On seeing this, Early gained the courage to try a fairly ineffective karate chop to the arm Crystal was using to hold onto Johnny Mac. As ineffective as it would have been in any other situation, Crystal was not a terribly physical woman, and it was enough – added to the monkey on her back – to make her let go of Johnny Mac and begin swatting at Lyssa, who had begun pulling her hair. The red tresses came off in Lyssa's hands and she fell to the ground.

All this happened just about the time Johnny Mac's father, the sheriff, rounded the corner from Lyssa's mom's cabin.

I heard all sorts of noise coming from around the corner and coulda sworn some of the voices sounded like kids. I had a bad feeling as I rounded that corner. And I was right. A well-stacked blonde with short, spiky hair stood over Esther's daughter Lyssa, while Early and my son tried to pick the little girl up. Lyssa had something fuzzy in her hands that I didn't immediately recognize.

‘What's going on here?' I said to the blonde. She turned to face me, and I recognized her. ‘Crystal?'

‘I thought you were going to keep these brats locked up? Look what they've done!' she said, touching her head as a tear sprang to her eye.

‘Dad! Listen—'

‘Don't even start, John!' I said. ‘Lyssa, is that Mrs Weaver's . . . ah, hair?'