An Uplifting Murder (29 page)

“You said ‘was,’ ” Donna said. “Are you divorced, too?”

“He died,” Josie said. She didn’t want to go into Nate’s sad history. Donna seemed to sense that. She washed Josie’s hair until it squeaked, then massaged her temples.

“Mm. You can do that all day,” Josie said.

“All good things have to end,” Donna said. “Do you want a hot or a cold rinse?”

“Hot,” Josie said. “It’s cold enough outside.”

After a warm-water rinse Donna said, “I’m going to paint something cold on your hair. It has to stay there for ten minutes, but I promise that your hair will look good. I’ll cover your head with a plastic shower cap while it sets. That’s your silk cap treatment. Do you want a magazine while you wait?”

“Thanks. I brought something to read.”

Donna set a timer and disappeared. Josie pulled her sheaf of news stories about Cody John Wayne from her purse. The first showed a photo of Cody and his wife, Renee. The small brunette smiled proudly at her husband while the police pinned a medal on his chest. Renee barely came to Cody’s shoulder. She weighed maybe a hundred pounds.

So much for my theory that Cody’s wife was the large, lumpy scarf stalker, Josie thought.

Unless he’d divorced her since then.

Josie skimmed two more stories. Neither had photos. A fourth article was two years old. It reprinted the same photo of Cody and Renee at the medal ceremony, plus high school yearbook pictures of two boys. Both had acne spots and goofy grins. Their pictures looked out of place under the headline, HEROES RUN IN THIS FAMILY: HERO’S SON RESCUES FRIEND FROM BURNING CAR.

The story was the kind that gave parents nightmares: Randy, a high school sophomore, had been driving around with his friend Tyler Dylan Wayne. Randy lost control of the car. It hit a curb and collided with a parked car. Both cars caught on fire.

Tyler suffered second-degree burns while pulling his friend from the wreckage, Josie read. Randy died in the emergency room without regaining consciousness. Tyler was in a coma, but expected to recover.

A timer dinged and Donna came back to wash out the hair solution. “What are you doing with a picture of Tyler Wayne?” she asked.

“You know him?” Josie asked.

“I know
of
him. Tyler lives in our neighborhood. Paul looks up to him, especially after that story. Paul knew the dead boy, Randy, too. I was glad Paul was too young to hang around with those boys. The newspaper said Tyler was a hero like his dad. Believe me, that kid was no hero unless you counted his heroic drinking. I wasn’t surprised that Tyler’s best friend was killed driving around with him.”

“Why didn’t someone tell the newspaper Tyler wasn’t a hero?” Josie asked.

“How?” Donna said. “The dead kid’s photo was all over the papers and television. The parents were weeping on TV. Do you think I’d call the
City Gazette
and say, ‘Ms. Reporter, you know that kid you praised as a hero? He’s a teenage drunk and so is his friend. Yeah, I know he’s dead, but the truth is the truth. The public has a right to know.’ ”

“Oh,” Josie said.

“I couldn’t do that,” Donna said. “No one with half a heart could. So Randy was buried as the poor boy who died in a fiery car crash, and Tyler left the hospital a hero who’d burned his hands while trying to save his friend. And nobody said a word to the press.

“But if I catch my son even talking to that ‘hero,’ ” Donna said, “Paul is grounded for life.”

Chapter 31

“Josie!” Alyce met her friend with a big smile. Little Justin clung to her jeans leg, and Bruiser the Chihuahua stood behind the toddler, just out of ear-grabbing range.

“Hi!” shrieked Justin.

“Hi, back,” Josie said, hugging the boy. His hair stuck out in duck-down fluffs. He had inherited his mother’s milk white skin and floaty blond hair. “You’re such a big boy.”

“Big!” caroled Justin. “I big. Big. Big.” He repeated the word as if tasting it.

“Yes, you are,” Alyce said. “Also, noisy. Sit down and play while Mommy fixes lunch. You can pat Bruiser, but nicely.”

Justin gave Bruiser’s short brown fur soft strokes with a single finger.

“Good boy,” Alyce said. “Look at him wag his tail. He likes that. Keep doing it.”

Alyce turned to her friend. “It’s so good to speak to an adult. I sound like I’m talking to my dog when I talk to my son, and vice versa. The nanny will be downstairs shortly and take him to a playdate. Is that a new hairstyle? I like it. You look like that actress, the
Catwoman
star. I can’t think of her name.”

“Halle Berry,” Josie said. “All we have in common is a hairstyle.”

“Hey, it’s closer than I get to her,” Alyce said. “I’m marooned in suburbia.”

“On a very comfy island,” Josie said.

Alyce’s huge oak-paneled kitchen was her creative haven. She enjoyed cooking complicated recipes for her family and friends in a kitchen a top chef would envy. Her cabinets and drawers were stuffed with arcane kitchen gadgets.

“Pour yourself a cup of coffee and go sit in the breakfast room,” Alyce said, “while I finish our brunch.”

Josie sat down at a sunny table set with red-checked place mats and a bright geranium.

“Now, tell me why Dr. Ted is sleeping at your place these days,” Alyce said. She held her wooden spoon like a scepter.

Josie told her the frightening story of the blood on her windshield and the footprints leading to Amelia’s window.

“And the police can’t do anything?” Alyce asked.

“There’s no crime,” Josie said. “Well, nothing big enough to concern the police. I’m praying it doesn’t. Ted volunteered to stay with us until it blows over. We took Amelia to school this morning and we’ll pick her up this afternoon. Tonight Amelia sleeps upstairs in Mom’s guest bedroom. If anyone tries anything, she’ll have to get past Ted and me both.”

“This is horrible,” Alyce said, and shivered. She was stirring a thick white sauce. “I don’t want to add to your troubles, but the way Mrs. Mueller describes her, she sounds like the woman in the mall video. The one the police think killed Frankie.”

“Exactly,” Josie said. She was suddenly afraid. Reciting the facts out loud made them seem worse. She wanted desperately to change the subject. “That smells delicious.”

“It’s a breakfast skillet,” Alyce said. “Roasted Yukon Gold potatoes with applewood-smoked bacon, spinach—”

“Spinach,” Josie said. “It sounded good till you got to that.”

“You’ll love it. Trust me. It’s fried, then topped with Gouda cheese. Now I’m adding poached eggs and hollandaise sauce with a little Tabasco for zip. And don’t even mention the word diet. You need comfort food. You can’t worry on an empty stomach.”

“You’re a true friend to give me brunch and rationalizations.”

“And you’re evading the subject,” Alyce said. “What are your reservations about Ted?”

“I’m grateful for his help, but I’m worried our romance is heating up too fast.”

“At the risk of sounding like my mother, love doesn’t happen on schedule,” Alyce said.

“And it’s hard to find a good available man,” Josie recited in a singsong voice. “And I’m thirty-one years old. With a daughter. And he has a good job. And he’s kind to animals. And my mother and daughter adore him. And...”

“And what?” Alyce said. “I still haven’t heard anything bad about the man.” She carried two small skillets into the breakfast room.

“Comfort food” was the right term for this dish. Josie reveled in the mix of poached eggs, smoked bacon, and roasted potatoes, with the sophisticated twist of hollandaise and a hint of Tabasco. She didn’t notice the spinach.

“You didn’t answer my question,” Alyce said. “What’s wrong with Ted?”

“I was savoring your food,” Josie said. “It’s not Ted. It’s the other men I’ve dated before him. I’ve made some bad choices.”

“I agree Josh was no prize,” Alyce said. “Once you found out about his hobby job, you never saw him again. Nate, Amelia’s dad, had legal problems.”

“Legal problems?” Josie said. “Nate did time in a Canadian prison for selling drugs.”

“But he was pardoned,” Alyce said.

“The pardon couldn’t change what Nate had become. He was a drunk. He was murdered on my doorstep. I can really pick ’em.”

“He developed the drinking problem in jail, Josie. Nate’s father has been the ideal grandfather for Amelia. You had nothing to do with Nate’s murder. Besides, how old were you when you met Nate?”

“Twenty,” Josie said.

“We all make dumb decisions at that age,” Alyce said.

“I was a grown woman when I started dating Mike the plumber,” Josie said. “In fact, I met him right here in your kitchen. He put in that pot filler over your stove.” She nodded at the tap over the burners.

“That saved me from lugging huge pots of water across the floor,” Alyce said. “Mike is a good plumber, a hard worker, and a good man. He wasn’t a bad choice.”

“I couldn’t tie myself to a man with a psycho daughter,” Josie said.

“So you didn’t,” Alyce said.

“It took me a while to figure out that Mike and I couldn’t marry,” Josie said. “Amelia would have had the worst step-sister this side of Cinderella. It hurt terribly when I said good-bye to Mike.”

“But now you have Ted,” Alyce said.

“Ted seems like a good choice,” Josie said. “Too good to be true. But I don’t know enough about him. I’ve never met his mother or his father. I don’t know if he has brothers or sisters. I don’t know if he has a temper.”

“You and Ted have been together under trying circumstances. If he hasn’t erupted in anger yet, Ted is even-tempered.”

“I’ve been on my own all my life,” Josie said. “Maybe I’m not marriage material.”

“You don’t look like someone who’s given up on men,” Alyce said. “And they definitely haven’t given up on you. If you don’t feel comfortable with Ted at your house, you and Amelia can stay here. We have two guest rooms. There’s a guard at the subdivision gate. Jake, Bruiser, and I will watch you.”

“You also have a little boy,” Josie said. “It’s too risky. We’re better off in our home, with Ted watching us and Amelia sleeping with Mom upstairs. I hate to sound like a cliché when I talk about Ted, but I need some space.”

“It used to be only men said that,” Alyce said. “Now I hear it from women.”

“I like my life,” Josie began.

“And you don’t need a man,” Alyce finished.

“I may need this one,” Josie said. “But I need time to find out. Maybe Ted staying at my house is a good test. I’m not ready to make him a permanent resident—yet.”

“Let’s call and invite him to join us for brunch,” Alyce said. “You can tell a lot about a man by the way he behaves with your friends.”

Josie dialed Ted’s cell phone. It rang four times before Ted answered.

“Josie,” he said. “What’s wrong?” He sounded harried. Josie could hear barks and whimpers in the background.

“I’m fine,” Josie said. “Do you want to join me at Alyce’s for brunch?”

“Sorry, I can’t. My partner is doing spays and neuters all morning. Chris called me into the clinic to perform emergency surgery on a beagle hit by a delivery truck.”

“Is that him whimpering? Will he be okay?”

“He’ll make it, but Buddy will be hurting for a while.”

“Sounds like you’re busy,” Josie said. “Alyce and I are safe here. How about if I meet you at your clinic at two thirty this afternoon? Then we can drive to school together to pick up Amelia.”