Authors: Jude Pittman
Mostly though, Kelly thoroughly enjoyed himself. There was nothing like being with old friends to give him the feeling of having a special place in the human race and the Grahams were more than friends. Kelly hadn’t had any contact with his dad in over twenty-five years and his mom had died the year after he and Lynda were married. Gus and Betty were all the family he had besides Jake.
It was eleven-thirty when Kelly got home. He’d decided to put off calling Krystal until morning but the light was flashing on his answering machine and when he punched the button she pleaded with him from the tape.
“Kelly, this is Krystal. I hope you don’t think I’m being a pest but I can’t stand the suspense. Did you get in touch with Stella? Call me, please. I don’t care what time it is. I won’t sleep anyhow for wondering about you.”
Smiling, Kelly reached for the telephone. Lynda had been like that. She couldn’t stand waiting.
The phone rang once and Krystal’s voice was in his ear. “Hello!”
“Hello, yourself. I got your message, so I took you at your word about being awake. I’m sorry to be so late getting back to you but I’ve just now come from Gus’ place.”
“I’m so glad you called. I’ve been holding my breath ever since you left.”
“Well, you better breathe then.” Kelly chuckled. “To answer your question—yes, I did get in touch with Stella. I met her over at the Longhorn Saloon, we danced a bit and I took her out for breakfast. You were right. She was friendly and she answered most of my questions.”
“Oh!” Kelly heard a sharp intake of breath. “Are you going to tell me what she said?”
“Of course I’m going to tell you.” Kelly crossed his fingers. “Most of it won’t be any news to you and there isn’t anything to keep you from getting a good night’s sleep. How about if we meet tomorrow morning and we can talk about it then.”
“Oh, darn. Penny and I have an exam tomorrow. I have an idea, though. Penny’s a terrific cook and she mentioned I should invite you over for dinner one night. Would that be okay with you? She’s very tactful, so after dinner I know she’ll find something to do so we can talk.”
“Sounds like a winner to me. What time?”
“How about five o’clock? That’ll give Penny plenty of time.”
“Great. I’ll have to leave about seven-thirty to make my rounds at the flea market. As long as that’s okay, I’ll be looking forward to it. You get to sleep now. We don’t want you flunking that test.”
Krystal’s musical laugh echoed back at him and Kelly cradled the phone. He couldn’t help but notice how easily Krystal gave up on getting answer to her questions. He wasn’t a psychologist, but Kelly was willing to bet it had a lot to do with her not really knowing if she wanted those answers.
Saturday morning, Kelly was up at daybreak. Saturday and Sunday were business days at the flea market and it was part of Kelly’s job to make sure all the day-jobbers were set up in the right section. They kept him hopping all morning. It was noon before he got a break and went to the cabin for lunch. Gus had left a message on the machine for Kelly to call, so he quickly threw a couple frozen burritos into the microwave and dialed Gus’ home number.
“What’s up?” he asked when Gus answered the telephone.
“Remember the license number you got from that anonymous caller?”
“Sure! What about it?”
“You aren’t gonna believe this one.” Gus chuckled into the phone.
“Don’t tell me it’s turned out that jerk was on the level.”
“Oh, the guy was on the level all right. The only problem was, he needed an eye exam.” Gus laughed again and Kelly stifled an urge to shout at him to get to the point.
“If you remember,” Gus said, “the number he gave us was LQY-464. That number belonged to a fella named Donovan Nolan. We checked Nolan out good and after he came out clean, we wrote your caller off as a crank.”
“I remember. So, now you’ve found out that he wasn’t so clean after all?”
“Oh no, Nolan’s out of it. What happened was one of those coincidences that drive cops nuts. After what you told me about Andrew Davis, I decided to do a background check and as a matter of course, they printed out his vehicle registrations and plate numbers. I nearly split a gut when the number on his BMW turned out to be LQV-464.”
“You’re putting me on.”
“Nope! I’m giving it to you straight…and I still haven’t told you the best part.”
“You mean there’s more?”
“Yep. Once I had the number, I decided to run it through our local computer—just on the off chance a man in a hurry might have a heavy foot. That’s when I hit the jackpot. One of our units wrote Andrew Davis a citation for doing sixty-five in a fifty and you’ll never guess where and when.”
“You’re not going to tell me that you’ve got him in the vicinity?”
“That’s it, son. Right on the money. He was logged in two miles the other side of Lake Country Estates at one forty-nine on Sunday morning.”
“Jackpot!”
“My sentiments exactly. I’ve already booked a flight to Houston. Mr. Davis and I are going to have us a nice, long chat.”
“Poor Krystal. It’ll hit her pretty hard if it turns out that he’s the one.”
“Yeah but if he’s a killer, she can consider herself lucky. Murderers have a habit of repeating and that little gal’s got too damn much money for her own good.”
“I’m having dinner with her tonight. It’s going to be tough trying to act like I don’t know anything’s going down.”
“Just be careful what you say. I know you’ve gotten close but you don’t really know how things stand between her and her uncle.”
“That goes without saying, Gus. As far as I’m concerned, we didn’t even have this conversation. I’d already decided not to tell Krystal anything about her uncle anyhow. She wants some answers but I figured I’d just focus on the grandmother, whom she didn’t care much for anyhow and let it go at that. Even if Andrew turns out to be the murderer, there’s still a chance the story about him and Anna will never come out.”
“Okay! I’ll give you a call as soon as I get back from Houston. By the way, Cam has posted bail on the burglary charge. He ought to be home sometime this afternoon.”
“Good. Thanks, Gus. At least this is a break for Cam, even if it does turn out to be pretty tough on Krystal.”
Kelly finished up at the flea market by three-thirty, which gave him plenty of time to spruce up for his dinner date. He chose a light blue shirt topped off with a dark blue vest. Lynda had always told him that blues made his eyes look sexy. He kind of hoped Krystal would have the same reaction.
Dressed and ready, he grabbed the bouquet of crimson dahlias and pink roses he’d picked up from Loretta Carter’s flower stand and headed for Old Blue. Inside the pickup, he propped the flowers against the passenger door and leaned out the window.
“You watch the place,” he called to Jake before he wheeled out of the garage and headed for town.
When Krystal met him at the door, she took his breath away. Her silvery blond hair danced over her shoulders in soft waves that framed her sun-kissed face. Her mint green pullover hugged her breasts and a chain of gold coins accented her tiny waist. Kelly whistled his admiration.
“Thank you,” she said, dipping him a little curtsy. “What lovely flowers.”
“Fitting, I’d say, for two such beautiful hostesses.” Kelly handed Krystal the flowers and smiled over her shoulder at Penny who had peeked her head around the kitchen doorway.
“How are you, Penny?”
“Very good. I hope you brought appetite. Maybe too much food.”
“I’ll bet I can put a good dent in it.” Kelly sniffed the air. “I’m starved and it sure smells good in here.”
“Chinese. You like?”
“My mouth’s watering already.”
Krystal, who had taken the flowers and arranged them in a large cut glass vase, pointed toward the small living room. “Let’s sit in here while Penny finishes dinner.”
Kelly nodded and followed her down the hall. Inside, he had his choice between the armchair Gus had chosen when he questioned the girls or a cozy love seat. Smiling at Krystal, he walked over to the love seat. She followed, smiled into his eyes and sat down beside him.
“I’m glad you came,” she said.
“How could I resist being entertained by two beautiful women and from what my nose tells me, a scrumptious meal to boot?”
“I hope you don’t think I’m lazy letting Penny do all the work. I tried to help her but she shooed me out of the kitchen. I’m a terrible cook.”
“I doubt if you have much to worry about. Any man with a lick of sense would be satisfied to have you sit around and look beautiful all day.”
Krystal laughed and leaned her head back, letting it rest in the curve of his shoulder. “I suppose you’re not going to tell me anything until after dinner.”
“Of course not. You can’t expect a hungry man to carry on a conversation, can you?”
Penny appeared in the doorway and smiled at the two of them snuggled up together on the love seat. “We eat now,” she said. They rose to join her in the kitchen.
The table, covered with a yellow cloth and set with red brick stoneware, had the festive air of a party. When they had taken their seats, Penny carried in a tray stacked with four steaming bowls.
“Wow!” Kelly’s eyes gleamed. “From the looks of it, you prepared enough to feed an army. Look out, though. As good as it smells, Penny, there might not be much left when I push away from the table. What have you got here?”
Penny beamed. “This one is beef with oyster sauce.” She indicated a bowl filled with thick chunks of beef and mushrooms, sprinkled with sesame seeds. “The other two are shrimp dishes. The shrimp in chili sauce has much spice. Krissie say you like hot food.”
“Mmmm, you bet I do. What’s this?” He pointed to a bowl filled with thick patties and covered with chunks of pineapple and mandarin oranges.
“That is sweet and sour pork.”
“Well, if it tastes anything like it smells, you’re gonna have to fight me for leftovers.”
The food was wonderful. The three of them laughed and joked through the meal and when Penny gave them each a fortune cookie to go with their tea, they read each other’s fortunes amidst peals of laughter.
When the meal was done, Penny started to clear the table and Kelly grasped her wrist. “Hold it, little gal. You’ve just finished feeding me like a king and I insist on washing up. I need the exercise you know, after a meal like that.”
“He’s right.” Krystal jumped up and placed her hands on Penny’s shoulders. “You scoot into the living room and relax while Kelly and I clean up.”
“Okay, okay.” Penny laughed and put up her hands. “Adelle wants me to come, watch television. I go then. Okay?”
“Of course.” Krystal smiled at her roommate’s gracious withdrawal.
“I told you she was tactful,” she said to Kelly once Penny had left the room.
“Yeah and a great cook too,” he agreed. “What’s your preference—washing or drying?”
“Oh, I’ll just rinse them and stick them in the dishwasher. You can carry them into the kitchen for me if you’d like.”
“You’ve got it.” Kelly grabbed a couple of bowls. “Lead the way.”
“This is tough.” Kelly said after they had finished the dishes and were back on the love seat. “I’m going to have to tell you some things about your grandmother you might not like. Are you sure you want to hear them?”
“Of course I’m sure. I’ve been trying to find out what happened between my parents ever since I was a little girl. Besides, my grandmother and I weren’t close. I didn’t like her much and nothing she did would surprise me.”