Down Home and Deadly (8 page)

“Are you fishing for compliments?” I asked, laughing. “You’re as good as you were in high school. And if I remember correctly, you lettered in every sport at Lake View High.”

Neuro jumped up on the couch beside him
,
and Alex stroked her fur. Her purring vibrated the whole room.

“She’s complimenting you,” I said.

“She’s just hoping to get a cake crumb.” He ruffled her head, which she usually hated, but she p
ushed
against his hand instead of walking away.

I took his empty plate and put it in the sink.

“Want to go sit out on the porch with a letterman?” He waggled his eyebrows.

I laughed at his silliness and pushed open the back door. We had just settled into the lawn chairs to watch Mr. Persi
, my golden retriever,
bounding around the fenced
-
in yard when the cell phone in my pocket rang.

“I’ll call them back, whoever it is.” I slid it out and glanced at the caller ID. “Weird. It’s Bob.”

Alex raised an eyebrow. “You’d better take it. If you don’t, your curiosity will drive us both crazy.”

Even when I was working at the club
,
Bob rarely called me after work hours. And since the day I quit, he hadn’t called at all.

“Hey, Bob. What’s up?” Mr. Persi came over and plopped down on the porch between us.

“They came and got Lisa for more questioning.” Bob said with no preamble. He sounded so rattled
,
I wouldn’t have recognized his voice if not for the caller ID. “In the police car.”

“They took Lisa in? Why?” I glanced over toward Alex who was absently patting Mr. Persi.

“The gun belongs to her.” Bob’s voice choked up. “It’s her gun. The gun that killed J.D. Her prints were on it. On the gun.
They really think she did it.
” His words were so jumbled
,
I wondered if he even realized he was repeating himself.

I didn’t know what to say. Any platitude I offered would be just that. “Bob, you need to stay calm. I’m sure they
’ll
realize she’s innocent.” Lisa was self-centered and totally self-absorbed, but that didn’t make her a murderer.
Or was she?
My mind began to race.
H
ad something happened to make Lisa want to kill J.D? Lisa always seemed to think that if she wanted something
,
it was hers. Maybe in this case she realized she didn’t want J.D.
,
so she eliminated him. But like I’d told Debbie, surely breaking up would be easier. And less messy.

“First she married
Larry,
that abusive—” His voice choked. “Now this. Hasn’t she been through enough?”

“Her husband abused her?” Okay, I officially felt terrible. I’d have guessed it to be the other way around
,
if anything. I couldn’t imagine Lisa putting up with being mistreated. But I guess that just showed that anything was possible.

“Yes. And she’s finally putting it behind her.” He took a shuddering breath. “Jenna, would you come over to the
gym
and talk to her tomorrow? That is, if they let her come home.” I could hear the tears in his voice. “I need you to help me clear her name.”

“I’ll be there first thing in the morning, Bob. I don’t go to the diner until
noon
.”

“Thanks, Jenna. I’ll make sure she’s there. It means a lot to me to know you’re supporting her. I know you’ve had your differences, but she needs all of her friends around her right now.” He lowered his voice
,
and after years of working with him, I could easily visualize the sheepish expression on his face. “And, by the way, you know you’re welcome to use the club pool anytime.”

If I’d been the type to kick a man while he was down, I’d have made a sarcastic comment about selling more
T
-shirts that way, but I settled for
,
“Thanks. I’ll do that.”

To be honest, swimming in the lake
was getting a little uncomfortable. The weather could turn nippy without warning. Yes, I’m a wimp. But I wasn’t about to admit to Bob how much I was missing the perks of my old job.

“I’m glad we cleared that up.” He stopped speaking to me
,
and I could hear a muted conversation in the background. Then, “Jenna, Wilma said Lisa just called and they’re bringing her home now. I have to go.”

“Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” I hit the
end
key and dropped the phone in my pocket.

I looked over at Alex. “You heard?”

He nodded.

“You know it’ll kill Bob if Lisa is guilty. She’s the light of his and Wilma’s li
ves
.”

“Not to mention the boss of their lives. They shouldn’t have spoiled her quite so much. At least that’s my opinion.” Alex looked up at the moonlit sky. “We won’t spoil our kids like that, will we?”

“Not if we have five or six like you want to. Who would have time to spoil them?” I grinned at him. “Who would have time to even take care of them?” He had been teasing me about wanting a big family. A really big family.

He leaned over and kissed me softly then pulled back and caressed my cheek with his thumb. “You know what?”

I shook my head mutely as I stared into his sparkling eyes.

“As long as you’re in my family, whatever size it is will be just perfect.”

Mr. Persi barked loudly and pushed between us.

Alex laughed. “At least I have his seal of approval. I’m not so sure about Neuro.”

My cat had always been a tad neurotic—hence her name. But after Mr. Persi trotted into our lives and stayed, she quit pulling her fur out. And since Alex had been hanging around, she seemed more relaxed than ever. “Neuro loves you.”

“And
.
 
.
 
.
 
?” he teased.

“And so do I.”

“I never get tired of hearing it.”

Wasn’t that perfect? Because I never got tired of saying it.

*****

After Alex left
,
I thought about what he said about our children. We had truly come a long way since earlier in the summer when he was too busy
even
to think about a future with me.

When Carly called as I was getting ready for bed, I was still smiling. “Hello.”

“Hi.”

Her gloomy voice reminded me of the apparent fuss Mama and I had witnessed between her and Elliott earlier. “You doing okay?”

“I’m fine. I’m making a tunnel
-
of
-
fudge cake.”

“For what?”

She hesitated. “Just because.”

Uh-oh. Anytime Carly started baking random desserts, I knew we had a problem. “Yeah, right. So you and Elliott had a fight?”

“No.” Her tone was vehement. “We just disagreed about something,” she said more quietly.

“Oh,” I said dryly. “Thanks for clearing that up for me.”

“Enough about us. What about you? Are you getting excited about the wedding? Or has the murder sidetracked your thoughts?”

“The wedding is a means to an end. But I’m excited about Alex and me becoming a family.” I stroked Neuro’s thickening fur and told Carly what Alex had said earlier.

“God’s really blessed us, hasn’t He, Jen?” Her words were choked with tears. I just hoped they were happy tears.

“Yes, He has.”

We talked for a few more minutes
,
then
I told her about Bob calling.

“Don’t you know he’s brokenhearted?” she said. “I remember how upset I was when Zac was a suspect in Hank’s murder.”

“Me
,
too,” I admitted. “That’s all I can think about. It’s hard for me to feel an overabundance of sympathy for Lisa, but no parent should have to go through that.”

“And sometimes it’s hard to know where to draw the line at protecting our children from pain.”

I had a strange feeling my sister wasn’t talking about Bob and Lisa anymore. But I knew from experience that whatever was going on, she’d tell me when she was ready. And not a minute before.

*****

Gail was at the desk when I arrived at the gym the next morning.

Her solemn face lit up when she saw me. “Jenna, what are you doing here?”

“I just stopped by for a few minutes.” No need to tell her why I was here.

“Guess you heard about Lisa?”

I nodded. “Bob called me.”

“Are you going to be here for a while? I get a break in about thirty minutes
,
and we could talk.”

I shook my head. “I wish I could stay. I have some things I need to ask you, but right now I have to talk to Lisa then get on to the diner.” I headed toward the office, but she followed me down the hall.

“Did he give you any details?” She looked around to make sure no one could hear us.

“Not yet. I’ll be back to swim as soon as I get a free minute, and we can hash everything out.”

She took the hint and went back to her post. As I neared the open door to the office
,
I could hear Lisa talking to someone.

“They had to release me. I have an alibi.”

It wasn’t because I was trying to eavesdrop that I stood outside the slightly open door. It was merely that I thought it would be bad manners to barge in when she was busy with someone else.
Really.

“A
genuine
alibi or one you conveniently set up?” a man’s voice snarled.

“I told you just like I told John. Someone stole that gun. I’ve kept it here in the desk drawer for protection
,
just like you told me to.”

The man’s voice was low
,
and I couldn’t hear his words.

“Larry, I don’t know who else knew it was here or who took it
,” Lisa said. “
If I did
,
I’d tell the police
.
”

“Because we both know you’re so trustworthy?” the man roared.

Finally feeling guilty about eavesdropping, especially now that I realized she was talking to her husband, I reached up to tap lightly on the door. It burst open away from my fingers
,
and I was face
-
to
-
face with a furious man I’d never seen before. “Get out!” Lisa screamed, unnecessarily it seemed, because the man nearly bowled me over in his haste to leave.
The overpowering scent of Lisa’s perfume followed him out like a cloud.

I stared after him. I’d always heard that
L
isa’s wealthy
,
older husband, Lawrence Hall,
favored Ricardo
Montalb
á
n
during his
Fantasy
Island
years. Today he looked more like the madman Ricardo played in
The Wrath of Khan
.

“Oh
,
it’s you.”

I spun around to face Lisa. “Yes, me.” She sounded less than thrilled
,
but maybe that was more an irritated residue of the argument than it was my presence.

“What are you doing here?” she
asked
flatly.

Ironic. That was the very question I’d been asking myself ever since I started down the hallway to the office. “Your dad asked me to come by
.
 
.
 
.
to see if I can help you sort out your problems.”

“My boyfriend was murdered
,
and even though Daddy always acted like you could walk on water, I’m pretty sure you can’t do anything about raising the dead.”

Ouch. I took a step backward. Mentally I was picturing myself saying,
“
Sorry, Bob. I tried.
”

“Other than that I only have one other problem.” She glanced toward the door that Larry had just stormed out of then back
at
me. “Make that two. Your friend,
John
, thinks I’m a murderer.”

“Are you?”

Her mouth dropped open. “No.”

“Good. I didn’t think you were.”

She sat down in the office chair and stared at me.

I’d shocked her, but at least she’d stopped sniping at me for a minute. “So now that we have that out of the way, do you have any idea who might have wanted to kill J.D.?” I sat down in the chair across from the desk.

She pursed her lips and shook her head.

“I know this is hard, Lisa, but you’re going to have to help me. I just have a few questions—”