Ellen McKenzie 04-Murder Half-Baked (23 page)

Water was running in the small bathroom. That was a good sign. I hoped. But it meant Leona would be back out soon, and Dan would be up as well. Pushing my coffee mug aside, I gathered up a bunch of clothes and carried them into the dining room. That table was a lot bigger and we didn’t need it. At least, not for breakfast. Which I had better get started. Eggs? Or oatmeal?

Marilee was standing in the middle of the kitchen, holding the car seat by the handle, the baby asleep in it.

“Oh.” She ducked her head, as if expecting a scolding. “I thought I’d come down. I smelled the coffee and
...”

I walked over to the hutch and took down a mug. A blue one with bright painted flowers. I filled it with coffee and handed it to her. “Cream and sugar are on the table. You might as well put him on that chair.”

Marilee did as I instructed. She acted as if she’d had a lifetime of practice in being instructed. She sat down, put milk in her coffee, and started to sip.

“I wondered
…
if the shower isn’t in use
…
do you think
…
I don’t want to leave him alone
…
but
…
”

“Dan will need to use the upstairs shower. Leona’s in the downstairs. You can use it when she’s finished. I don’t think she’ll be long. I’
d
be glad to watch the baby.” Especially now that he was asleep. I didn’t say that though. Instead I poured what was left of the coffee in the pot into my own mug and made a fresh
one
. We weren’t going to get through this morning without lots of coffee. At least, I wasn’t. I stared at the heavenly brown liquid as it began to fill the glass container and sighed. This was as good a time as any. The water had stopped running in the downstairs shower and I could hear the hair dryer I kept in there. The upstairs shower was going, so Dan would be down soon, and I had no idea when Aunt Mary, Anne, or Nathan would pop in. If I was going to ask Marilee any questions, as in—did you take your husband’s money, do you still have it, and do you realize that you’re putting us all in danger because he doesn’t seem to care what he does to get it back?
—
I’d better do it now. However, I soften
ed
my approach a little.

“Marilee,” I started as I pulled out a chair next to the baby. “I’ve been talking to Leona. I wondered
—
”

“I’m not going to get an apartment with her and that’s that.”

That took me by surprise. “Okay. I really wasn’t going to suggest it, but I’m glad
—
”

It was as if she hadn’t heard me. “I keep telling her I’m not going to, but she doesn’t listen. If I did, I wouldn’t have escaped from anything.”

I wasn’t sure how to respond, or even if I should. I wasn’t even sure what she meant. Escaped from Grady? But he’d thrown her out. Hadn’t he? And she hadn’t escaped. Grady was doing everything he could to track her down. Escaped from her life before Grady? I wondered. There was a look on her face I’d never seen before. Her mouth had hardened, and she looked more like a woman and less like a terrified child than at any time since I’d met her. Her expression was
—
what? Determined. A sort of weak, scared determination, but still, it was there, and I was pretty sure it wasn’t a new emotion. For the first time I wondered if Grady had thrown her out, as she said, or if Marilee had planned her escape.

She took her eyes off her baby and looked at me. “Leona’s a loser like my mother.”

I hadn’t seen that one coming and it gave me a jolt. “How?”

She didn’t even have to think about that one.
“I love my mom, don’t get me wrong, but my dad’s told her she’s a loser for so long, she’s just given up. It doesn’t make any difference what she does, it’s wrong.” Her eyes dropped back down to her baby and the lines around the corners of her mouth tightened. “It was the same with us kids. I’m not going to live like that anymore.” She took a deep breath but didn’t look up. “My mom’s given up on life. So’s my sister, and she’s only fourteen.”

She must have heard me catch my breath because she looked up at me. Her eyes held an expression much too hard for a girl of eighteen. “Leona’s different. She’s hit bottom so many times she’s lost count. She keeps crawling back up, but it’s usually on someone else’s back, and this time it
’
s not going to be on mine.”

Pure, undiluted shock. That was what I felt. I’d assumed Marilee was a terrified kid caught in a life spiraling out of control. I was wrong. Oh, she was terrified all right, and she had every right to be. But she wasn’t out of control. There was a core of steel somewhere in this kid and she was starting to let it show.

But she’d made some mistakes. Marrying Grady had been one of them, and I was very much afraid she was underestimating Leona. If she thought Leona was going to give up trying to get her hooks into that baby, she was making another one.

She stole another look at my face. “It’s true. About my mom.” Such a simple statement for such a terrible truth. “She’s why I married Grady. I didn’t want to be like her. I thought if I could get away
…
My father was furious, but I’d turned eighteen, and he couldn’t stop me. My mom tried to. Said I was going from the frying pan into the fire. She’s always saying stuff like that. I didn’t know what she meant. Things were great at first. Fun. Then I got pregnant.”

The hair dryer had stopped. We didn’t have much time. “Marilee, have you called your mother? Told her about the baby?”

“No.” She reached over and stroked the downy hair on his head.

The sunlight came through the kitchen window and stroked it also. His hair was red. No. Golden. But it probably would be red. When he actually got hair. His skin had faded from the red of a newborn to a pale pink, more evidence he’d be a redhead. He had the same cameo
-
shaped face as his mother. I could picture him as a young boy, freckles, huge green eyes fringed with long lashes, enchanting grin, a Norman Rockwell kind of kid. Oh how I hoped he would have a Norman Rockwell kind of life
! B
ut no matter how determined Marilee was, I didn’t think his chances were very good.

Marilee must have noticed the quiet in the bathroom, because she glanced quickly at the laundry room door. “My dad’d just tell me I made my bed, now lay in it. He won’t let my mom do anything for me, either. Easier to just keep away. Besides, if she knew where I was, she’d tell my dad, and he’d probably tell Grady. I don’t want to talk to Grady.”

That was no surprise. Grady’s pursuit of her had a frantic quality that wasn’t very comforting. If he had set Grace House on fire, what was to stop him from doing it again? I wondered if I still had that fire extinguisher under the sink.

But Grady didn’t know where she was, at least not now, and the most important thing was to keep it that way. For all our sakes. The second most important was to find out why he was chasing her so hard.

I opened my mouth to ask her about the money when Leona walked into the kitchen. The sweatpants and shirt she
ha
d chosen hung on her in much the same way the nightgown had, but her hair was clean, and she didn’t smell of cigarettes.

She headed straight for the baby. “Oh, just look at the little bugger.” Her hands were out as if she were going to pick him up.

“No.” Marilee was half out of her chair. She grabbed hold of the baby seat.

“Don’t wake him.” I was right behind her. I grabbed Leona by the arm.

Leona looked as if we had slapped her. “I was just going to hold him. He wouldn’t wake up.”

“Oh, yes he would.” Marilee’s tired eyes were evidence that he’d woken up lots.

I positioned myself between Leona and the car seat, which Marilee was still holding, and tried to soften our kneejerk reaction with a smile. “Let Marilee get her shower first. And she’d better hurry; this kid seems to be on an
“
every hour I need to eat
”
schedule.”

“You mean he cried last night?” Leona looked from one to the other of us. “I never heard him.”

Marilee and I exchanged glances. I rolled my eyes. She sighed. “He cried. Can you watch him now, Mrs. McKenzie? I mean, Ellen?”

“Sure. He can sit right here and keep Dan company while he eats breakfast. You’ll need some, too, and with luck, you can eat before he wakes up. Leona, is there a clean towel in there?” I got a blank look. “Never mind. Marilee, look in the little cupboard by the washing machine. I keep extras there. Do you have clean clothes?”

Marilee looked down at herself, at the T-shirt she’d elected to wear to bed, the one that barely covered her underpants. At least she wore some. “No.”

“Here. We pulled these out a few minutes ago. They may not fit very well, but they’ll cover you until we can figure something out.”

I held out the pair of plaid knit pants and the oversized cotton shirt that buttoned down the front. She grabbed them and fled toward the laundry room door just as Dan walked into the kitchen.

He nodded to Leona on his way to the hutch for a coffee mug, picked up the cream pitcher, looked in, and looked at me. I nodded toward the table
,
where the sugar bowl and milk carton sat. Dan grinned slightly, filled his mug, ladled in a little sugar, and headed for the refrigerator. “There’s no coffee stuff.”

“I forgot to get it.”

“There’s no cream either.”

“No. But the milk’s not skim.”

He looked at me, and for a moment I thought he was going to say something. I could feel myself stiffen. Brian would have blasted me
. It
wouldn’t have made any difference if the Pope had been in the room. Dan sighed, picked up the milk carton, and looked at the label. He poured a little in his mug and headed back to the table, stopping en route to give me a quick kiss. “Get some today, okay?”

“Okay.” I wanted to hug him. Hard.

“Hey, young man.” Dan leaned over the sleeping baby as he took his first sip. “You had quite a night. Aren’t you a little small to be able to make that much noise?” The baby slept on. Dan stood over him, studying him while he sipped his coffee. “He doesn’t look very comfortable, all scrunched up like that.”

I walked over and looked at him also. So did Leona. I could feel her need to pick him up

“He
’
s used to being scrunched. He was only born yesterday.”

“But that pad thing he’s lying on looks lumpy. Can’t you straighten it out?”

The phone rang. Probably Aunt Mary. “He’s fine. And for heaven’s sake, don’t either of you touch him. You’ll wake him up.” I grabbed the phone on the fourth ring.
It was my mother.

“Yours or mine?” Dan mouthed as I answered, “U
h-
huh, probably, no, I don’t think so, oh really?”

I pointed to my chest. He grinned at me and went back to sipping coffee. Leona watched him from over her coffee mug, her eyes shifting from him to me, then back to the still sleeping baby.

“Sure, Mom. That’s great. Wonderful. Call you next week. Love you, too.”

I must have looked a little stunned because Dan set his mug down on the table. “We need to talk?”