The Queen of Cool (19 page)

She just never thought she’d be lying here
alone.

Don had been with her every time she’d been
in this building. He came to every one of her health appointments
just as she stayed with him during his surgery. They were doing
this together. Until forty-one days ago and…

Lo closed her eyes to keep from crying. As
much as she felt broken without Don, as much as she longed for him,
she was tired of her own sadness and grief. Hearing a tap on the
door, she turned to look. Her favorite nurse came in with a med
tech. The med tech went to the ultrasound machine to make sure it
was on and ready.

“
Let’s take a look, Lo,”
she said. Pulling on gloves, she warmed the ultrasound wand under
the light. “I wish you’d waited for me, Lo. Those drugstore tests
are known for giving false positives. I’d hate for you to get your
hopes up. Especially now.”

Lo closed her eyes.

“
Either way,” her nurse
said. “If you’re not pregnant today, we’ll figure out where you are
in your cycle and schedule our next step. One way or another, we’re
going to have a baby.”

She put her hand on Lo’s belly and asked her
to scoot down.

“
This is kind of cold,” she
said. “Remember Lo, we’re in this together.”

Unwilling to see that she wasn’t pregnant
again, Lo closed her eyes and imagined Don was with her. He always
whispered jokes to her when she was lying here and reported on what
was happening on the screen as if it was a thriller movie.

Lo heard a sound she’d never heard before.
She leaned up on her elbows to see her nurse beaming at her.

“
I’d say about three weeks,
Lo,” the nurse said. “How long ago did Don…?”

“
Forty-one days,” Lo
said.

“
Forty-one days,” the nurse
shrugged. “Anything’s possible. We’ve seen weirder things. Are you
sure you haven’t been with…”

“
No! What are you saying?”
Lo asked. “I can barely function let alone find some other
guy!”

“
Nothing,” the nurse said.
“Of course you haven’t. I’m sure the egg was slow in dropping or
something like that. You said you were in the hospital?”

The nurse went to Lo’s chart to read the
hospital report she’d brought with her.

“
Emergency room,” Lo said.
“They gave me sedatives.”

“
That’s probably it,” she
said. “Good thing you didn’t take these pills they prescribed. We’d
be having a very different conversation.”

The nurse smiled at Lo.

“
Congratulations Mrs.
Downs,” she said. “You’re pregnant.”

Lo flushed at the news. The medical
assistant left to get the doctor. The nurse began rambling about
how she needed to do this and that. Lo had lost almost twenty
pounds since her last visit.

The doctor rechecked and agreed with the
nurse. He had a lot of other reasons why Lo could only look three
weeks pregnant. Some of his reasons were scary – the egg was
fertilized but not growing, the baby was failing, and on and on.
They would have to follow her closely early on to make sure she
didn’t miscarry.

Lo got dressed and met the doctor in his
office. He talked and talked and talked. He gave her a packet of
material, a list of what to eat and what not to eat that was oddly
similar to what Yazmin was feeding her. She left with a stack of
paper to read, a bag full of vitamins and supplements, and
appointments scheduled every four days.

She was almost out the door when the doctor
pulled her aside to assure her that he would deliver the baby no
matter what they had or hadn’t paid. Lo wept and he patted her
back.

“
Don would do the same for
my wife,” the doctor said. “I know it. Trust us, Lo. You’re not
alone here. We’ll have a baby together.”

The office staff came out to see her off.
They hugged and congratulated her. She sat in the truck a full
twenty minutes crying her eyes out. She finally forced herself to
focus on all the information they’d given her.

The bottom line was simple.

She was pregnant, but no one thought she’d
keep the baby. Unable to even think about another loss, Lo started
the car and headed back to Fort Worth. She was getting off the
highway when she remembered that Don had visited her.

She had to use her fingers to count the
days.

He’d been here three weeks ago.

She was three weeks pregnant because they’d
made love for hours three weeks ago. She felt cold chills down her
back. She randomly wondered if she should have an abortion because
she didn’t know if it was really Don or maybe some disguised demon.
Was that why that creature Sy Monquist knew she was pregnant? Was
that Cajun man a voodoo priest? Did he know she’d made love to a
demon? She leaned her head down to breathe through her panic.

Unable to process all of it, she put it out
of her mind and finished her drive to her hideaway. She saw Mutt
standing by the garage waiting for her. She parked in the garage
and he opened her door.

“
How did it go?” he
asked.

“
Three weeks pregnant,” she
said.

“
From when Donny came?”
Mutt asked.

“
How did you…?” Lo
asked.

“
He came to see me too,”
Mutt smiled. He whistled for Truman, who was getting a drink from
the Koi pond. The dog trotted over to Mutt and jumped on Lo to say
hello. She rubbed his ears before he was distracted by some
wonderful smell in the garage.

“
He visited the girls too,”
Lo said.

“
I’m not surprised,” Mutt
said. “Hey, Truman and I are going to take the truck now. I thought
we could run back from my cousin’s house. Mindy Sue said that kind
of exercise was good for him.”

“
Sure,” Lo grabbed her
purse and other possessions from the front of the truck.

“
We’ll be back in about an
hour,” Mutt said. “Miss Lisa says the phone’s been ringing off the
hook. We’re booked solid for the rest of the month. We’re either
going to have to hire more people or pull the ad.”

“
Wow,” Lo said.

“
Miss Lisa’s happy and a
little freaked out,” Mutt said.

“
So am I,” Lo smiled at
him.

“
Oh, I forgot to tell you
before you left,” Mutt said. “I found one of Donny’s asthma things
in the engine compartment.”

“
You what?”

“
I found one of Donny’s
asthma things in the engine compartment.”

Q

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“
I didn’t spray it or
anything ‘cuz you said that’s how Donny died,” Mutt
said.

Lo held out her hand. He held up a plastic
Ziplock bag containing the Albuterol inhaler.

“
Don’t touch it, Lo,” Mutt
said. “This one’s pure evil. You can see the dark edges to
it.”

Lo peered at the red inhaler and shook her
head.

“
Well,
I
can see it. You need us Gypsies around to keep you safe,”
Mutt smiled. Smiling, Lo took the bag from him. “Are you going to
take it to the cops?”

“
Don’t you think I should?”
Lo asked.

“
I like Manrod as much as
you do,” Mutt used Manny’s high school baseball nickname. “And you
know how much I love your brother, Larry. But…”

“
You have good reason not
to trust the FWPD,” Lo said.

“
Yes, I do,” Mutt said.
“Someone burned down your house and stole your car, Donny’s car…
He’s looking for this. Donny hid it where he knew only I would find
it. You give it to them and…”

He made a gesture with his right hand to
indicate it would disappear.

“
You’re saying that even if
Manny does something with it,” Lo said. “It will
vaporize.”

He nodded.

“
It’s our only proof that
Donny was murdered,” Mutt said. “I bet it even has the asshole’s
fingerprints on it. I was careful and didn’t leave
mine.”

“
Good,” Lo said. “Where do
we put it?”

“
What about the gun
locker?” Mutt said.

“
What gun locker?” Lo
asked.

“
Donny never showed you
around this place, did he?” Mutt said. “It’s pretty tricked out.
There’s a gun safe in the concrete over in the corner under the
fifth wheel. Where did you think Donny kept his guns?”

“
As long as they weren’t at
home for the girls to hurt themselves, I didn’t care,” Lo
said.

“
I’ll show you.”

He held out his hand for the truck keys. She
tossed them over and he jumped in the truck. Faster than she could
have imagined, he hitched the fifth wheel and pulled the heavy
horse and camper trailer a few feet away from the back wall. He
jumped out and waved Lo over to the last stall of the garage. Mutt
lifted a piece of concrete to reveal a safe door.

“
I don’t know the
combination,” Mutt said. “I figured you’d know.”

“
I can try.” Lo shrugged.
She punched in Don’s usual code, their wedding date, and the lock
clicked.

“
I knew you’d know it,”
Mutt said.

Lo pulled open the door. Peering inside the
door, she saw three stacks of hundred dollar bills wrapped by a
rubber band.

“
I wondered where Donny
left the money,” Mutt said.

“
What is this?” Lo
asked.

“
Safety net,” Mutt said.
“He told me he put some cash away so you and the girls would never
go hungry. Poor Donny. He never thought you didn’t know about all
this.”

Mutt laughed. They heard a sound and both
wrenched around to look. When Mutt stepped around the fifth wheel
to see who was there, Lo dropped the Albuterol in the safe and
grabbed a stack of hundreds. She stuffed the money in her purse and
closed the gun locker.

“
Hey there,” Mutt
said.

Noting Mutt’s unsure and protective tone, Lo
changed the safe’s entry code and shifted a piece of the cement
back into place. No one needed to know this was there. She felt the
cold, wet nose of their new dog, Truman. She’d been so focused on
the Albuterol, she’d forgotten all about him. Standing, she grabbed
Truman’s collar and came out.

Mutt was talking to Detective Will Wallace.
Will’s hat was in his hands and he wore a razor-thin beard along
his jaw line today. She could tell by Mutt’s posture that he wanted
Will to leave.

“
I don’t know what to tell
you, son,” Mutt said. “Mandy’s not here.”

“
What were you doing back
there?” Will asked Lo when she appeared.

“
Getting the dog,” Lo said.
“Have you met Truman?”

Will took a step toward Lo and Truman let
out a low growl. Mutt snapped his fingers. Truman stopped growling
and came to his side.

“
Just a puppy,” Mutt said.
“Sorry to be short with you, son. But I have to take my truck in
for some service. I usually do it myself, but I don’t have the
tools for this job.”

Mutt got into the truck and moved the fifth
wheel back into place. He jumped out to unhook the truck.

“
Will you tell Mandy I
stopped by?” Will asked. “I’d really like to talk to
her.”

“
Sure,” Lo
smiled.

Mutt, Truman, and Lo watched Will get back
in his sedan and leave the driveway.

“
I never liked that boy,”
Mutt said. “How can you trust a man who spends all his time on some
fancy beard?”

Lo laughed.

“
Congratulations, Lo,” Mutt
said. “You know nothing would have made Donny happier than having a
son with you. I’m glad it finally happened.”

“
A son?” Lo
asked.

Mutt smiled at her. He and Truman got into
the truck and pulled out of the garage. She waved to them and
closed the garage doors. She made the quick trip up the stairs and
into the kitchen. Biting her nails, Mandy was standing by the
sink.

“
Was that Will again?”
Mandy whispered.

“
It’s the third time he’s
been here to talk to you,” Lo said. “Have y’all talked?”

“
He left me a
few messages saying we needed to talk,” Mandy shook her head. “I
think it’s pretty selfish that he’s here trying to work out
our
relationship
when Dad just died.”

“
You won’t know what he has
to say until you talk to him,” Lo hugged Mandy.

“
Loving people is a lot of
work, Lo,” Mandy said. “I don’t think I’m up for it.”

“
Can I help?” Lo
asked.

Mandy shook her head. Lo gave her another
hug.

“
Did you hear we’re booked
out through the end of the month?” Mandy asked. “Lisa wants you to
come out to the warehouse and go over some numbers with
her.”

“
Wanna come?” Lo
asked.

“
I’ll come with you to keep
you company,” Mandy said. “But finances are pretty hard for
me.”

Lo laughed.

“
Why are you laughing?”
Mandy asked.

“
You used to be really
great at math,” Lo said. “Before some boy told you that pretty
girls didn’t do math and no math girl ever got married. You were a
total math rock star.”

“
I was?” Mandy
asked.

“
You were,” Lo said. “I
think Lisa’s really pretty. Don’t you?”

“
She’s not as pretty as
you,” Mandy said. “But, yeah, she’s pretty.”