Ellen McKenzie 04-Murder Half-Baked (5 page)

That was why.

“You’ve got to
…” She broke off and gave an exasperated sigh. It sounded as if Anne had a lot of practice being exasperated with Leona. But there was something else in Anne’s voice. Anger. Boiling, ro
i
ling anger. Well controlled, but there. Our sweet
-
faced, patient Anne had quite a temper.

“He’s been doin’ it again.” Leona’s announcement was made in a raspy habitual smoker’s voice and the words came out rushed. It sounded a lot like subject
-
changing to me. “You’ve got to do something, or Marilee here’s”
—
this time she waved at the girl sitting beside her
—
“goin’ to have a nervous collapse.”

Leona’s subject change worked. Anne turned her attention to the girl sitting beside Leona. She looked to be about eighteen or so and was as pretty as her companion was plain. Clouds of strawberry blond hair caught up in a clip, an oval face that reminded me of my grandmother’s cameo, a tiny upturned nose, and eyes more green than blue framed by thick lashes. Her delicate prettiness was spoiled only by the fact she was in the last stage of pregnancy. There was no happy glow of expectation on her face. Not that there should have been. The last few weeks before a baby comes are downright miserable. This girl looked not only miserable but lost. What had happened to her? She should have been in school, worrying about college classes, sororities
—
well, maybe
—
but at least football games and other college things, like passing her classes. She should not be sitting in Grace House with red
-
rimmed eyes, swollen huge with child.

“Who’s been doing what again? Not Doctor Sadler?” Anne studied Marilee closely, anger replaced with worry.

“Yeah. He was back here this morning telling Marilee how she had to give up her baby, sayin’ there’s no way she can raise it. Sayin’ a baby needs two parents. Marilee kept telling him Grady kicked her out. All the more reason to put the kid up for adoption. Wouldn’t let up.”

 
The anger was back “That
…
” she said softly. I watched, fascinated, as she dug her fingernails into the palms of her hands and clenched her teeth firmly over whatever it was she wanted to say. After a second, she took a deep breath and walked over to stand beside the girl. Anne slid her hand gently around the girl’s shoulder and gave
it
a small squeeze. “Tell me what happened. Did you tell him you didn’t want to give it up?”

The girl kept her eyes on the counter, still moving the glass around, although it no longer made wet circles. “I tried to.” Her voice was so low it was almost inaudible. Anne leaned in closer, and I found myself straining to hear as well.

“What happened then?”

“He didn’t listen. Just said he’d bring by some paperwork for me to sign and left.”

“Oh, Lord.” This time Anne didn’t look angry. She looked stricken. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here. What did you do? Call Leona?”

Marilee looked surprised. “No. I called Gina. At the bakery.”
She ducked her head, and her voice got even softer, if that were possible. “I was crying. Gina said I shouldn’t be alone in case he came back
. S
he couldn’t come right then because Rose was out someplace, but Leona could.”

Anne let her arm drop and turned slowly to look at Leona. “You were at the bakery?”

Leona flushed. “Well, since I wasn’t needed at the Yum Yum, I thought I’d stop in and see what Gina was doing.”

Gina? Ianelli’s Bakery? That Gina? How did these people know her? Could she be a resident of Grace House? She sure hadn’t impressed me as a woman who needed rescuing.
Come to think of it, she’d talked about her wedding cake, but I hadn’t seen a wedding ring. At least, I didn’t remember one. So, maybe
…

I didn’t have long to ponder Gina’s marital or mental state. Anne gave Leona one of those “we’re going to talk later and you probably won’t like it” looks and returned to Marilee. “Honey, we’ve talked about this before. This is your baby
. T
he decision is yours, not Doctor Sadler’s, not Grady’s. Do you want to change your mind and give it up for adoption?”

Marilee looked up for the first time. Her eyes gleamed with unshed tears
,
but there was a tightening around her mouth that just might be determination. She looked Anne full in the face, then back down at her swollen belly. Very softly she lifted a hand and dropped it down to caress the bulge. “No.”

Anne nodded. “I’ll talk to him. Again. Now, let’s get this kitchen cleaned up. You two ate lunch late today and Nathan will be here any minute. It’s almost time for group.”

Both Leona and Marilee got up. Leona picked up her saucer, looked at it, glanced at Anne, emptied it in the trash, and stood, holding it, looking around. Marilee took it from her, rinsed it off, picked up the other dishes, put them all in the dishwasher, and wiped down the counter where she and Leona had been sitting. She sniffed the air, glanced at Anne, and picked up a can of air spray. The artificial smell of spring flowers mixed with the oppressive smell of smoke.

No one paid attention when the front door opened. The heavy screen clanged
,
and
the sound of footsteps was only partially muffled by the thin carpet. A young man entered. Tall, pleasant looking, dressed in Chino’s and a Land’s Ends V-neck blue sweater over a turtleneck, he looked as if he should be teaching math in an Ivy League college instead of standing in the kitchen of a home for distressed women. But he obviously belonged because he shifted a pile of files he carried and beamed a greeting at everyone.

“You forgot to lock the front door again.” He said it in an offhand way, as if it were a regular occurrence, then he also sniffed the air. “Who’s been smoking? Oh.” He frowned as he looked at Leona, who ignored him, then at Anne, who shrugged slightly. “Leona, second- hand smoke is not good for the baby. Or Marilee. You know the rules.”

“Yeah, I know. I forgot. Won’t happen again.” Leona dropped her eyes
and
star
ed
at the Formica countertop
. H
er hands were clenched fists.

The young man
—
I assumed this was the expected Nathan
—
looked as though he wanted to say a lot more about the smoking but didn’t.

“Good news. I think I’ve got a line on another computer we can use and
…
” He stopped, looking at me as if just notic
ing my presence
. He nodded and gave me an encouraging smile. I wondered if he, too, thought I was a new resident. Well, the way I was dressed, maybe he did. Aunt Mary was right. I should have worn pantyhose.

“Where is everyone? Has Janice gone? Is she all right?” He looked closer at Marilee. “What’s been going on?” Cheerfulness was replaced by anxiety.

“Doctor Sadler paid us another visit this morning.” Anne’s tone seemed deliberately mild.

“Damn.” He sat the files down on the table and walked over to Marilee
,
who was still standing at the sink. He took the dishtowel out of her hand and hung it on a hook shaped like a cow’s head before he touched her on the arm. “Are you all right?”

Marilee put one hand on her back and
retreated
a little, not meeting his eyes. “Fine.
I’m fine.”

Nathan turned to Anne, who gave an almost infinitesimal shrug. He turned back to Marilee. “He was at you again to put the baby up for adoption?”

“Yeah.” If Marilee pushed herself any f
a
rther back into the counter she’d end up in the sink. Evidently Nathan noticed, because he stepped away from her.

“One of these days, I’m going to kill that old man,” he muttered
.

“Nathan,” Anne said in a warning tone. “Marilee’s going to do just what she planned. We’ll talk about it later. And, no, Janice isn’t gone. They won’t have room for her until tomorrow. But Ian had a slight fever, and Margaret
—
”
Anne paused and glanced over at me
,
“
s
he’s one of our volunteers
—
drove them to the doctor. They should be back soon. But we have to complete our plans to move them. We’re not set up
to
…
oh, Gina. There you are.”

It was the Ianelli
’s
Bakery Gina. She stood in the doorway, holding a large pink bakery box and a sack of what might have been rolls, looking from one to the other of us. Her eyes lingered on me longest, the surprise in them not hidden.
“Why, hi.” She smiled at me and then walked over to the counter
, where she
set down the pink bakery box and the sack. “I brought some potato rolls that
…
uh
…
Sal made today and a fudge cake for dinner. I thought the kids would like some.”

This was addressed to Anne, but then she turned to me. “I didn’t expect to see you here. I thought
—
”

“I am. And no, I’m not. I’m here to see Anne. About real estate.”

Gina blinked a couple of times. “What?”

Anne started to laugh. “Oh, did you think
…
Ellen’s not
…
she’s our real estate agent. She’s going to find us a bigger house and then sell this one.”

“Ellen and I already met.”

“Really? Where?”

“Over her wedding cake.”

“She’s getting married?” Leona looked appalled.

“Well, yes.” Anne had a “what does that have to do with anything” look.

“Not a good idea
.
” Leona really looked at me for the first time.

“To the police chief,” Gina went on.

“
Really
not a good idea,” Leona stated. “Cops are notorious for beating up their wives. I oughta know. My first husband was a cop. He even stole my kids.”

“What did your second husband do?” Marilee’s words came out soft and didn’t sound as if she cared much.

Leona didn’t say anything for a moment. “He drank. And when he finished drinking, he beat me up. Oh, you mean what did he do for a living? Construction. He ran all the heavy equipment. Then one day he’d had too much beer with lunch. He dropped the crane on someone. Broke the guy’s back. Killed him.” She paused, her hand creeping toward a pocket where a package of cigarettes bulged. Her fingers touched them, but she left them where they were. “They fired him. Now, there’s a no-brainer. Only he didn’t think so. He came home and tried to break mine. Went to jail for that one. Got ten years. For the guy he dropped the crane on. Not for what he did to me.” There was a whole lot of bitterness in that statement. It didn’t sound as if Leona’s life had been much fun. And it showed. I took another quick look. She probably had been pretty once. But not now. She looked dour and unkempt. And sad.