3 Buried Leads (5 page)

The rest of breakfast was spent in relative silence. The conversation we did have revolved around Sarah Frank and her mysterious disappearance. “Have you heard anything?” I asked Derrick.

“Nothing more than you’ve already been told,” Derrick answered succinctly.

How did he know what I’d been told? “I think you guys know more than you’re saying,” I said.

“Why would you say that?”

That’s an evasion. When you answer a question with a question that means you’re hiding something. “Because I think it’s weird that the sheriff’s department would have a press conference at the home of a missing woman.”

“Why is that weird?” Eliot asked.

“It’s just not normal.”

“You’re the last person that should be judging what is normal,” Derrick sniped.

“See, that’s another evasion,” I countered. “I know you’re lying to me. I know you’re all lying to me. I’m going to find out what you’re hiding.”

“Shouldn’t you be focusing on your new boyfriend?” Derrick may be a master manipulator, but I was better.

“I’m a consummate multi-
tasker,” I said.

“Lucky for you,” Derrick told Eliot.

“I do feel lucky,” Eliot said finally. “She’s never boring.”

I smirked at Derrick triumphantly.

“That was a backhanded compliment,” Derrick said. “He’s saying you make him want to pull his own hair out.”

“That’s not what he said.”

“That’s what he meant.”

“It is not.”

“It is, too.”

I turned to Eliot. “That’s not what you meant, is it?”

Eliot swallowed the bite of pancakes he’d been chewing. “I meant what I said. You’re never boring.”

Derrick barked out a laugh. “See.”

I finished up my breakfast in a moody silence. If Eliot was bothered by my sudden sullenness, he didn’t acknowledge it.

The sound of the bell ringing above the door caught all of our attention, and we all turned to see who was arriving. I could only hope it was karma – and she was coming to give Derrick a good swift kick in the ass.

Instead it was my conscience coming to give me a bitter dose of reality in the form of my mother. She was heading straight towards us.

“Good morning,” Eliot greeted her amiably.

“Good morning,” my mom said stiffly. I noticed that my grandfather had come out into the main room from the kitchen. He slipped into the booth at the far end of the table and was eating his morning breakfast. My grandfather was a big guy – and he loved his food. “Good morning, grandpa,” I greeted him.

“Morning, Dolly,” he said.

My grandfather calls all of his granddaughters Dolly. I have no idea why.

“Who is your friend?”

I introduced Eliot. My grandfather hadn’t had a chance to meet him the night before. My mom had slid into the middle section of the booth and was sitting next to Derrick. She picked a piece of toast off his plate and started nibbling on it. Derrick gave her a dirty look. “Do you want your own breakfast?”

“No,” she sighed. “I’ll just have this piece of toast.”

“Maybe I wanted that piece of toast,” Derrick countered.

“You’ve had enough,” she responded.

I pursed my lips and smirked at Derrick. When he was sure my mom wasn’t looking, he shot me the finger.

My grandfather was still staring at Eliot thoughtfully. “Is he your boyfriend?”

I cast a sideways glance at Eliot. We really hadn’t defined that.

“Yes, sir,” Eliot answered for me.

“You are?” I was surprised at how quickly he had answered the question.

Eliot ignored me.

“Shouldn’t you have decided that before last night?” Derrick asked.

If my legs were long enough to reach him, I would have kicked him. “Eat your breakfast,” I admonished him.

My mom was fixing her icy glare on me again. Great.

“So, I figured we would all go over to Sally’s now.” What? I can divert, too.

“What did you do last night?” My mom’s tone was no-nonsense.

“Should we all leave now?” I ignored her question.

“What did you do last night?” She’s like a dog with a bone, I swear.

“We slept.” That’s not a lie. We did sleep.
After.

“In separate rooms?”

“Yes,” I lied.

I could see Eliot shaking his head out of the corner of his eye. He was absolutely no help.

“She’s lying,” Derrick supplied. I really hate him sometimes.

“Are you lying?” My mom’s voice had
risen an octave.

“Who are you going to believe?” That was a loaded question.

“Just leave her alone,” my grandfather chimed in. “She’s an adult. At least we know she’s not a lesbian now – even if that fellow does have some mighty long hair for a boy.”

Eliot ran his fingers through his hair self-consciously. I moved to push him out of the booth. “We’ll meet you over at Sally’s.”

My grandfather got up from the table. “I’m going to run upstairs and go to the bathroom and then I’ll meet you over there.”

That was code. He really means he’s going to sit on the toilet upstairs until he’s sure we’re all gone and then get caught up in some work task that conveniently keeps him from helping us.

He disappeared into the kitchen. He really wouldn’t be a lot of help anyway. He would probably be more of a hindrance, barking out orders and directing everyone else to do things until everything resulted in a really large clusterfuck.

My mom was still regarding Eliot and
I suspiciously. “What?” I turned to her in exasperation.

“Nothing,” she pursed her lips.

“Just let it go,” I grumbled.

“You let it go,” she countered.

The whole family devolves into middle school comebacks sometimes. Luckily for us, things didn’t have a chance to sink to any new lows because there were raised voices emanating from the kitchen.

The other customers in the restaurant were looking beyond the swinging double doors curiously. Derrick and I pushed through the doors and followed the ruckus. Eliot and my mom were a few paces behind.

The voices were loud – and familiar.

“What the hell are you doing? Is this some type of whorehouse?” My grandfather was bellowing from the top of the stairs.

I raced up the stairs to see what kind of situation had suddenly evolved. I was shocked to find my aunt Sally cowering on the floor. She was shirtless – and she was trying to cover herself.

“What’s going on?”

“I was painting,” Sally gasped; reaching for the tarp she had placed on the floor to protect it from the paint.

“Naked! She was painting naked,” my grandfather was beside
himself with disbelief.

“I didn’t want to ruin my clothes,” Sally said lamely.

I felt a warm body move in behind me and turned to see Eliot taking in the scene with a small smile.

“Like I said, you’re never boring.”

I left my mom and grandfather to deal with the naked painting incident. This is why you don’t live in a place where you have no privacy – or where family can just wander in unannounced.

“Why didn’t you lock the door?” I heard my mom ask disgustedly. She’s always practical.

“I didn’t think I needed to,” Sally answered.

“You know he needs his bathroom time after breakfast,” my mom countered.

“I forgot.”

Derrick, Eliot and I descended the stairs and exited the restaurant through the back door. When we got outside, Derrick and I burst out laughing. Eliot watched us curiously.

“I take it this doesn’t’ surprise you,” he said.

“It’s not even the weirdest thing Sally has done all week,” Derrick answered truthfully.

Eliot and I followed Derrick to Sally’s house – which was only a few blocks away. When we pulled up to the house, Eliot seemed surprised. “Why would she move out of this house and into a small apartment?”

Sally’s house was beautiful. It was an older, yellow farm house that she had spent a lot of time fixing up and decorating.

“I don’t know. Maybe she’s scared of Steve.”

“Why would she be scared of him?” Eliot looked surprised.

Describing Steve is difficult. He’s one of those guys that comes across as amiable, but after talking to him for a few minutes you realize that he’s got a lot of old world attitudes. He believes women should cook, clean and shut the hell up. Most women believe that he should just shut the hell up.

“Wouldn’t she have known that he was like that before she married him?” Eliot seemed confused.

“She did, but I think she thought she could change him,” I offered lamely.

“Well, that’s pretty stupid. You can’t change someone. They are who they are. You either accept that, or you move on.”

“Is that a warning for me?” I asked him curiously.

“No, it was just a reminder to me,” he teased.

We got out of the car and joined Derrick on the front lawn. No one else had arrived yet.

“We’re fifteen minutes early,” Derrick said. “Do you think we should just go inside and start getting stuff?”

“I don’t know,
“ I shrugged. “Is Steve here?”

Derrick nodded his head towards the pickup truck in the driveway. “His truck is here.”

We opted to wait until someone with at least a semblance of authority arrived. Thankfully, Marnie and my mom were only a few minutes behind us.

“What are you waiting for?”
Marnie chastised us. “Don’t just stand there. Start moving stuff.”

“We weren’t sure if we were allowed to go in the house,” Derrick argued.

Marnie waved Derrick’s protests off disinterestedly. “Come on.”

We started following my mom and
Marnie up the porch steps when the side door swung open. Steve was standing in the door with one of his brothers – and they didn’t look happy to see us.

“What are you doing here?”

“We’re here to get Sally’s stuff,” Marnie challenged him.

“Well, then you’re going to be disappointed.”

I saw Derrick and Eliot exchange furtive looks. They clearly sensed this was going to turn into more of a battle than anyone else had anticipated.

Marnie
wasn’t going to be dissuaded, though. She and Sally fought like cats and dogs – or like sisters that were only eleven months apart in age – but she wasn’t going to put up with any of Steve’s bullshit. “Get out of the way.”

“Sally is not leaving me,” Steve argued.

“Then you’re going to be disappointed,” my mom chimed in.

“A woman does not leave her husband,” Steve countered. “I am the head of this house and what I say goes.”

I sucked in a breath. Uh-oh.

“The head of the house,”
Marnie laughed. “You’re barely third in line.”

Steve opened the door wider and stepped out onto the porch to bar
Marnie from going any farther. I saw Derrick tense beside me. Crap.

Eliot took a step forward, and Steve and his brother were suddenly focused on him. He does make an imposing sight.

“Why don’t we just talk about this?” I could tell he wasn’t exactly interested in getting in a brawl. At least not yet.

“Why don’t you go home and braid your hair,” Steve countered.
His brother high-fived him for his cleverness. Sometimes I wonder if their mother and father were also brother and sister.

“What is it with this family and my hair?” Eliot turned to me.

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I like it.”

The truth was
, I found it sexy as hell. I didn’t think now was the time to tell him that, though.

“Can you two stop flirting with each other and focus on the present,” Derrick snapped.

I still wasn’t sure what the big deal was. It’s not like Steve and his brother were some immovable, trained military force.

Eliot seemed to read my mind. “They’re not the only ones,” he said. “There are at least two more people in the house.”

“How do you know?”

“Someone keeps peeking out from that side window,” he gestured toward the picture window that was shrouded in curtains. “And someone is pacing in front of that upstairs window.”

Whoops. I hadn’t noticed that.

“So much for your vaunted powers of observation,” Derrick scoffed.

Eliot turned to Derrick. “Are you armed?”

“No. Are you?”

“No.”

“Nothing in your car?”

“I didn’t think I would need anything. This was just supposed to be a simple family dinner.” Eliot seemed calm, but I could tell that his muscles were tensed and ready for action.

“Nothing is ever simple with Avery,” Derrick reminded him.

“I should realize that at this point,” Eliot ceded.

“How did this become my fault?”

Everyone turned their attention back to the front porch. Steve was regarding Derrick and Eliot, while steadfastly trying to ignore my mom and Marnie. That wasn’t going to win him any points.

“You don’t have any jurisdiction here,” Steve reminded Derrick.

“If I feel that anyone’s life is in danger, I do,” Derrick countered.

I had noticed that Eliot was slipping away from both of us and making his way towards the front of the house. I wanted to follow him – but something told me that was a bad idea. I merely watched as he disappeared around the front of the house. Thankfully, Steve’s attention was still fixed on Derrick.

“If you don’t want anyone to get hurt, then you’ll leave,” Steve growled.

“Just let us get her clothes,” Derrick suggested.

“No.”

I focused my gaze on Steve’s brother, who was still standing inside the kitchen – on the other side of the open door. I saw his attention turn to something inside of the house, and he walked away from the door. Eliot.

Derrick must have realized what was going on, too, because he was determined to keep Steve’s attention on him. He took five steps forward, moving in front of his mom and my mom, and squaring himself in front of Steve. Steve wasn’t a big guy, but Derrick is fairly miniscule for a man. He’s only 5’5” tall – and Steve had almost six inches on him.

“Steve, let’s not make this an ugly scene.”

“It’s too late for that,” Steve scoffed. He turned to see if his brother was still standing behind him. The look of shock that washed over his face when he saw Eliot step into the doorway would have been comical in any other situation. “How did you get in my house? Where are my brothers?”

“They’re taking a nap,” Eliot said smoothly. God, he’s so hot.

Steve made a move to attack Eliot, but Eliot didn’t look worried. He easily sidestepped him, grabbing Steve’s arm and twisting it behind his back. “Settle down, Otis,” he admonished.

Steve cried out in pain, trying to twist out of Eliot’s iron grip. It was a fruitless fight. Derrick moved forward to Eliot’s side. “You didn’t kill anyone, did you?”

“No. They’re all sitting in the living room.”

“Sitting?”

“You’d be surprised how quickly some people will just do what they’re told,” Eliot countered.

After taking in the scene in front of us for a full minute, my mom turned to me. “He’s handy to have around.”

She turned back to Eliot and flashed him the first warm smile I’d seen her direct his way since she’d met him.

“I told you they would like me,” Eliot smiled in my direction.

“They still don’t like your hair,” I shot back.

“You leave that boy alone,” my mom admonished me. “His hair is beautiful. You should learn to be less judgmental.”

What the hell?