Classic Revenge (23 page)

Mary looked at her quizzically. "Are you all right?"
she asked as she scooped up the earrings and walked
Edna to the door.

"Yes, yes, I'm okay," Edna said, clearing her throat.
"I suffer from allergies. Well, I'll see you in a couple of
weeks when the new catalog comes out"

"Okay," Mary said as she turned and locked the front
door. "I'm sorry you didn't really get to practice . . "

But Edna wasn't listening. She rushed to her car and
fumbled with the keys. Her heart was pounding; she
couldn't wait to get away from there. She happened to
look up as she was placing the bag in the back seat and
saw a black Camaro pull into the driveway. A woman
stepped out, tall and slender with hair so blond it had to
be a bottle job. The woman cast a quick look at Edna,
and then seemed to do a double-take as she glanced over
at her again.

Edna ignored her as she got in her car. Just before she
pulled away, she noticed that Mary appeared rooted to
the spot, and that her lips were drawn into a tight, angry
line as she watched the blond-haired woman approach.
Mary was probably upset at the amount of unexpected
company this morning which was going to cause her to
be very late for work.

Millie had just sat back down at the picnic table
with a bag of popcorn when Edna pulled up. "It's about
time," she yelled when Edna got out of the car. "Do you
realize how long you've kept us waiting?"

"Shut up, Millie, and get in the car," Edna said, her
voice barely audible. "Trish, you're going to have to
drive" Edna walked around the car and got back in on
the passenger side.

Millie was about to make a sharp retort when Trish
shook her head and placed a hand on her arm. "Let's
go," she said. Edna looked pale and drawn, barely able
to stand. Something had happened. Quickly, they discarded their trash and got into the car.

"Did it work?" Millie asked eagerly.

"Your plan worked perfectly," Edna said, her voice
still void of emotion, her hands clasped tightly in her
lap. "We need to get out of here. Mary is on her way to
work and she may pass this way."

Trish pulled away from the little store, her eye catching Millie's in the mirror. By unspoken consent, they
remained silent, waiting for Edna to begin talking. And
when she finally started, the story came out in a rush.
Trish was shaken at the end, but she was relieved to notice that Edna appeared herself again.

There were tears in Millie's eyes and a stubborn set
to her mouth. "Let's go tell Henry right now."

"Wait a minute," Trish said. "I think we should tell
Larry first. He'll tell us what to do, and if Henry needs
to be told now, then he can tell him."

"All right, Edna, give me your cell phone. I'm going
to see if he can meet us now"

Edna reached in her purse. "Call Joe for me too. Tell
him to meet us at Trish's house."

The story was related once again, this time with
Edna's voice and composure back in place. Joe looked
ready to explode, but he had too much dignity to tear into
his wife in public. Trish didn't envy Edna's predicament,
though. Tonight would not be fun at the Radcliffs' house.

"Now will you go arrest that woman?" Millie asked
Larry pointedly.

"I can't just go arrest her," he said, placing his elbows
on the table. "I will, however, go talk to her" He hesitated for a moment. "I hate to bring this up, but have any
of you considered that the man she did a job for could
have been Sam?"

"That's ridiculous!"

"How can you even think that?"

"You son..

"Millie," Joe said sternly, "there's no need for that"

Millie snorted inelegantly. "We're doing everything we can to do your job for you, Larry, and everything we
uncover, you turn it around to try and prove Sam's guilt.
I, for one, am sick and tired of it."

Larry rubbed his hand over his eyes. "We've been
through this a million times, Millie. An investigator has
to look at all the possibilities. I didn't say the man Mary
Chavez was talking about was Sam. I merely asked if
you had considered it. I can't afford to be blind-sided by
the facts, and, in the end, I don't think you would want to
be, either."

"Just keep your opinions to yourself then. You're in
deep jeopardy of ruining our friendship."

Larry sighed. "I'll talk to Mary this week."

The next couple of days passed uneventfully. Trish
had been able to get caught up on her bookkeeping and
had even managed some deep cleaning on her house.
Edna had worked on soothing Joe's feelings, and she and
Joe had spent yesterday with their sons. Millie's grandchildren had come over and she'd grilled hamburgers. At
least, Trish hoped it had been the grill shooting up all
that smoke from Millie's backyard.

As peaceful as the days had been, it didn't ease any of
their nerves. The phone lines burned up between them,
hoping one or the other of them had heard something
from Larry, or any news that would bring Sam's tragedy
to an end. They were that sure that Mary Chavez had
been involved in Susan's murder, and all that remained
to officially close the case was her confession.

Millie was especially anxious for someone else to be
charged with the crime-she couldn't wait to rub
Henry's nose in it, or so she said.

It was on the third day that news finally came. Trish was feeling so good about all she had accomplished that
she decided to give her torture machine another try. She
quickly changed into her exercise outfit-surely she
wouldn't be interrupted this time-and poured a sports
bottle full of water. Then she went and gently perched
on the leather bench. Patting the cold, steel frame, she
murmured softly in a sweet voice, "Now, we're going to
be friends, aren't we? I promise not to overdo it this
time and you promise not to kill me. Is that a deal?"
She figured she may as well try a little psychology on the
brainless contraption; her open antagonism toward the
blasted thing sure hadn't gotten her anywhere.

She leaned back, locked her arms across the shoulder
braces, and took a deep breath. Pressing forward with
her arms, she felt the pull immediately, but it was
manageable. She heard the click of the weights as they
rose up while she pressed. Thrilled, Trish grinned and
counted, "One ..

Then the unbelievable happened. The doorbell rang.

She released the shoulder braces and the weights fell
with a loud clang. Frustrated beyond measure, Trish
contemplated ignoring whoever was at the door. She
didn't need superhuman powers to know it had to be either Millie or Edna. But if what they had to say was important, she would never forgive herself. That didn't
mean she had to like it, though.

Marching angrily to the door, she swung it open.
"Can't I get a minute's peace around here?" She shouted
before she realized it wasn't one of her friends, after all.
Larry Thompson stood on her front porch, staring at her
as if she had lost her mind.

Trish winced and covered her mouth with her hand.
"Oh, Larry, I'm so sorry. I thought you were Millie. Come on in." She ushered him in, still apologizing, her
face a bright red.

"You and Millie are that good of friends, are you?"

Trish chuckled as she sat across from him. "Actually,
we are. She would have come back with a sharp retort
and then marched on in. So, what can I do for you?"

Instantly, Larry sobered. He took a deep breath and
leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table. "I was
hoping I could get all three of you together, and Joe too"

Trish's eyebrows raised but she didn't say anything.
This didn't sound like it was going to be good news.
"Millie's daughter is still over at her house. Do you
want me to call her?"

Larry thought for a moment and then shook his head.
"No, you can fill her in later. What about Edna and Joe?"

"I'll call them," she said, reaching for the phone. After a few minutes she hung up and shook her head.
"They're not home. Larry, is something wrong?"

Larry raked his fingers through his hair. Trish was
getting worried. Something must be terribly wrong.
"There's been ... um, a development"

Oh no, she prayed silently, her heart sinking to her
toes, please don't let him say they've found more evidence against Sam.

"Would you like something to drink?" Trish was
stalling. She didn't want to hear whatever it was Larry
had to say. It wasn't good, of that she was certain.

"No, I'm fine. Look, there's no easy way to say this. I
went over to Mary Chavez house. I was going to question her, to threaten her with a search warrant if she
couldn't explain the earrings." His gaze held hers firmly.
"She's dead, Trish."

It took several seconds for Larry's words to register. "What did you say?" she asked, her voice sounding
weak even to her own ears.

"I'm afraid it's true. It looks like a suicide."

Trish jumped up from her chair and started pacing.
"That's ridiculous!" Her mind was racing. Mary was
dead? No, it didn't make sense. Edna hadn't said a word
about Mary's being depressed or full of despair. And as
sensitive as Edna was, she would surely have noticed.
They had all seen her just a few nights ago, too. Mary
had been friendly and smiling with them, and then when
Sam had seen her she'd evidently still had enough passion to be angry about losing her job. Angry people
didn't commit suicide, did they? No, the ones who killed
themselves were people who decided they couldn't go
on, were listless, felt hopeless ... Trish leaned against
the kitchen counter and buried her face in her hands.
Here she was trying to rationalize a totally irrational behavior.

"When did Mary die?"

"I don't know for certain. The medical examiner will
give us a pretty accurate time. A neighbor told me that
her husband is a truck driver. We're trying to track him
down now."

"Who is `we'?"

"I was out of my jurisdiction. I called the San Antonio
Police Department, and then I called Chief Espinoza. He
wants to see all of you as soon as possible. He has a few
questions." Larry's voice was flat and matter-of-fact.

"What did you tell Henry?"

"I told him the truth-or most of it. I only told him
about you seeing Marywearing the earrings."

Trish nodded, grateful he had left out the details of
their snooping. "Why do you think it was a suicide?"

"There's a bullet hole in her head and a gun in her
hand."

Trish glanced out her front window again and then
resumed pacing. Was Michelle ever going to leave?
Trish wanted desperately to tell Millie what had happened to Mary, but she wasn't about to march over
there and blurt it out in front of Millie's daughter. She
didn't even know how much Michelle knew about her
mother's escapades. To add to her frustration, Edna still
wasn't home, either. She had hit the redial button on her
phone enough times to cause blisters to erupt.

Trish plopped down on the sofa where she had a
clear view of Millie's house. She was half afraid that
Henry would drive up wanting to talk to them. She had
told Larry they would all go over to the station early tomorrow, but that might not satisfy Henry. He was going
to want to know what their interest in Mary had been,
why they believed she had a pair of Susan's earrings,
and, for good measure, he'd probably yell at them
some.

Movement across the street caught her attention.
Michelle was giving Millie a hug on the front porchfinally! She waited until Michelle had driven off before
she practically flew out her front door and started
across the street. At the curb, she saw Edna and Joe turn
onto the street and she waited until they pulled up alongside her.

"Hi," Edna called out as she rolled down her window.
"Want to come over for some coffee?"

"Can you come with me for just a minute?"

Edna's eyebrows rose. "Where?"

"To Millie's. It's important." Joe looked at Trish a moment, and then he nodded and backed up his car into
Millie's driveway.

As soon as Millie let them in, Trish said, "I've got
some horrible news"

"What is it?" Edna's eyes rounded as she looked at
Trish with concern.

She proceeded to tell them what Larry had said. "I
told him that we'd come by tomorrow to talk to Henry'
,she concluded. "They don't know exactly when it happened. The medical examiner is working on it. I guess
they'll talk to her fellow employees at the restaurant to
find out the last time she was at work. You may have
been the last person to see her alive, Edna."

"Well, not the last person. Didn't I tell you? When
I was leaving, a woman drove up," Edna said, and she
briefly described the woman. "I don't think Mary was
too happy to see her."

"I wonder who she was," Trish mused. "It might be
helpful in establishing a time line. We'll tell Henry
about her tomorrow."

Joe spoke for the first time. "I'll go with you. Sam's
attorney may be interested in this latest development.
Besides, if Henry decides to lock you three up, you'll
need someone there to post bail."