Full Bloom (19 page)

Destiny walked through the back door. She paused, glanced at Wes and Annie, and then made her way to the refrigerator. She nodded at Theenie and Lovelle. “Does anybody want a sandwich?”

“How was the funny farm?” Wes said.

“It sucked; how do you think it was?”

Wes looked at Annie. “You weren’t kidding.”

Annie picked up his backpack, stepped out on the piazza, and raised it high over her head.

Wes hurried after her and reached for it. “Hey, don’t throw that,” he yelled. “My camera is in there.”

They struggled.

The women huddled at the door and watched.

Erdle staggered up the back steps. “Who’s doing all the yelling?” he asked. His eyes were red-rimmed, his words badly slurred. He took one look at Annie’s face and staggered back. “Uh-oh, she’s at it again.”

“Let me go!” Annie shouted, trying to wrestle the bag from Wes.

“Miss Annie, please stop!” Erdle pleaded. “You can’t keep acting like this. You’re only going to end up killing someone else.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

All eyes turned to Erdle. Wes and Annie stopped struggling.

Annie realized her mouth was hanging. “Erdle, what the hell are you talking about?” she demanded.

He covered his mouth as though only just realizing what had come out of it. “Uh, I need to lie down.” He stumbled toward the door.

Annie grabbed his arm. “Oh no, you don’t. Not until you explain what you just said.”

“I don’t r’member.”

“Then you’d better search your memory, because I’ll call Lamar and have you thrown into detox if you don’t finish what you started.”

He looked hurt. “You’d do that?”

“Damn right. Now, start talking.”

“I don’t want to cause no trouble,” the man said, glancing at Annie. “I could be wrong, but I thought, um . . .” He glanced down at the floor.

“What did you think?” Annie said. “That I killed Charles?”

Erdle shrugged. “I just wondered, that’s all. I mean, I knew the two of you didn’t get along. Far as I’uz concerned, he was a no-’count husband, and I didn’t much care what happened to him. ’Sides, I figured you had a damn good reason. So I kept quiet.” He looked up. “Reckon I was wrong.”

Annie was clearly stunned.

Theenie had begun picking her nails.

“I think he’s had too much to drink,” Wes said to Annie. “Why don’t I help him to bed?”

“I can make it,” Erdle said. “I’ve had a lot of practice.” He looked at Annie. “Can I go now?”

She shrugged and turned away.

He let himself out the back door.

Theenie was the first to speak. “You can’t take Erdle seriously. He’s a drunk.”

“Who else in this room thinks I murdered my husband?” Annie asked.

Theenie gave a snort of disgust. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“It never crossed my mind,” Lovelle said. “I wouldn’t have moved in if I had thought you were responsible for his disappearance.”

“I know damn well you didn’t do it,” Destiny said.

Annie looked at Wes. “And you?”

“Would I be looking for the real murderer if I thought you’d done it? Erdle is just whacked-out on booze.”

Annie went to the table and sank tiredly onto a chair. “My life sucks. I’ve got a drunk for a handyman, a crazy, senile neighbor, and a spirit in my house stealing everything.”

“Speaking of which . . .” Destiny carried her sandwich to the table. “I think I’m finally gaining Lacey’s trust. I had a long talk with her when they threw me in the rubber room. She stayed with me most of the time to keep me company.”

Theenie gasped. “You were in a padded cell?”

Destiny’s look was deadpan. “The Hyatt was full.”

“She wasn’t in a padded cell,” Lovelle said. “They only put dangerous nutso cases in those kinds of places.”

Destiny went on. “I met with a guy from the historic foundation, Mr. Hildenbiddle, this afternoon, and he gave me some interesting information. Also told me about some of your more colorful ancestors,” she said to Annie. “But you already know, because Mr. Hildenbiddle said he’d shared the information with you a long time ago.”

Annie’s face pinked. “Okay, Destiny, you insist on airing my dirty laundry, so I may as well tell it all. Your spirit, Lacey Keating, was my great-great-grandmother, and madam of the bordello which she named Passion’s Fruit. In her diaries, she claimed she got the idea because at the time there were dozens of peach trees on the property.”

“Why didn’t you tell us, dear?” Theenie asked.

“I didn’t particularly want to share that information with anyone, but I suspect a lot of people already know.”

“People aren’t going to think badly of you because of what your great-great-grandmother did,” Lovelle said. “My brother married a lesbian stripper, and nobody held it against our family.”

Theenie looked confused. “He married a lesbian stripper? How does that sort of thing work?”

Lovelle shrugged. “Beats me.”

Destiny reached into her pocket. “I don’t know if this means anything, but Lacey gave it to me. I have a feeling it’s significant.” Destiny set a single sapphire earring on the table. Tiny diamonds surrounded the blue stone.

Annie’s eyes widened, and she reached for it.

“Don’t touch it,” Destiny said. “I’m hoping if I hang on to it a couple of days I might get some vibes. Find out who it belongs to and why Lacey seemed to think it was important.”

“Don’t bother,” Annie said. “I recognize it. It belongs to Donna Schaefer.”

Annie and Wes remained at the kitchen table as, one by one, the others drifted off to bed. Although Annie was embarrassed that the entire household had witnessed what Theenie referred to as Annie’s “hissy fit,” she was still hurt over seeing Wes with another woman.

It was no wonder Erdle had suspected her of killing Charles; she
had
to do something about her temper.

But right now she needed to accept the fact that Wes did not feel as strongly about her as she did about him. She had only been a diversion.

“Annie, I can see the wheels turning in your head,” he said finally. “We need to talk.”

She shook her head. “It’s late, and I don’t want to discuss our relationship. . . .” She paused. “Correction: what I
thought
was a relationship. I’m not going to insist that you leave tonight, but I would appreciate it if you would vacate the room as soon as possible. Preferably in the morning.”

“No.”

She looked up. “Excuse me?”

“I’m not going anywhere. Not until your name is cleared.” When she started to object, he held up his hand. “But right now, you’re going to listen to what
I
have to say.”

She crossed her arms. “Five minutes.”

“There is absolutely nothing going on between me and the woman you saw me with tonight.”

She did an eye roll. “Jeez, where have I heard that before?”

“Probably from your dearly departed husband, and by the way, I don’t appreciate being compared to him. The blonde, Peggy Aten, is my ex-partner from when I was a cop.”

Annie gazed back in disbelief. She remembered how nervous she’d been at the thought of him living there, recalled Destiny telling her Wes Bridges was not what he seemed. “You were once a cop and you never mentioned it to me?”

He shrugged. “I didn’t see the need. I got out a while back because I could tell I was getting burned-out after spending ten years as a homicide detective. I needed a change.”

“So you became a photographer?” she said, thinking it an odd choice.

Wes gazed down at his hands for a long moment, his eyes troubled. He looked at Annie, opened his mouth to say something, and then closed it as though he’d changed his mind. “I’d rather not talk about that right now,” he said. “I need to concentrate on the problems before us. I’m just asking you to trust me. And know that I have your best interests at heart.”

Annie pondered it. Trust didn’t come easy for her. Not when men were involved. But the concern in Wes’s eyes, as well as the numerous unanswered questions about her husband’s murder, told her it was best not to press him for more information.

“I wish you had told me about the cop part earlier,” she said. “I would have worried less knowing I had an expert investigating the murder. Instead of someone who made his living taking pictures,” she added.

He almost smiled. “Peggy was able to get her hands on some valuable information. You might be interested to know that Norman Schaefer never checked into his hotel the night of the murder. The night his wife claimed he was out of town.”

“Oh yeah?”

“He was supposed to be at a real estate seminar. It wasn’t listed on his expense reports, charge card, or checking account. In other words, he never showed.”

“How did this Peggy person find out all of that?”

“She has friends in all the right places. The less you know, the better. If the case was to go to court and Norm was a potential suspect, Nunamaker would naturally ask him to produce proof of his whereabouts the night his wife claimed he was out of town.”

“What do you think it all means?”

“It sounds suspicious as hell, if you ask me. But it gets even better. Norm had an oil change the week before your husband came up missing, and they recorded his mileage. A week later he had a small fender bender, and the mileage was included in the report. Had Norm attended a sales meeting in Savannah or Hilton Head, he would have put at least a couple of hundred miles on his car, only the odometer listed less than one hundred miles during that period.”

“So he never went out of town,” Annie said. “Wonder what he was doing?”

“Following his wife, maybe? I’m going to pay Lamar Tevis a visit tomorrow. Tell him what I know.”

“I’ll go with you.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” he said.

“Huh?”

“You obviously haven’t read today’s paper.”

“No.”

“You might want to take a look at the obits.” He handed it to her. “Your husband’s memorial service is being held tomorrow at two o’clock.”

“Tomorrow?” she asked, her eyes round and wide. “Does that mean his remains have been located?”

“I spoke with Lamar. Nothing so far, and Mrs. Fortenberry isn’t convinced they’ll ever be found. She said she needed some kind of closure on this and if they
do
find the remains she will have a private burial.”

Annie’s face drained of color, and her emerald eyes looked as though they’d turned to stone. “And she didn’t bother to
tell
me? She thinks she can just plan a memorial service for my deceased husband and not
tell
me?” Tears filled her eyes; Annie was suddenly furious. “I don’t believe it.”

“Come with me, Annie,” Wes said, getting up from his chair. She looked dazed as he pulled her up. “We’re going for a walk. We’re going to practice what’s called anger management. And at this moment you look like the perfect candidate.”

Annie waited until he’d slipped on his denim jacket before going into the living room and pulling her lined windbreaker from the coat closet. “I hope none of my neighbors see me lurking in the night,” Annie said as she and Wes stepped outside. “They’ll think I’m looking to break in and kill somebody in their sleep. I’ll be hauled off to jail again.”

“You do look pretty dangerous in that Mickey Mouse jacket.”

“Theenie, Lovelle, and I went to Disney World last year. They chipped in and bought me this.” She tossed him a dark look. “Don’t try to cheer me up; I’m still mad as hell.”

“You have every right to be. I’m just trying to teach you ways to deal with it better. Before you discover where Theenie hid the rolling pin.”

Annie sucked in the cool night air as they crossed the piazza and cleared the front steps, passing the fountain where the cherubs stood in repose. They crossed the yard and started down the sidewalk. Streetlights lit the way, and tall oaks, their massive roots jutting through the sidewalk, formed a high canopy over the cobblestone road that the residents of the historic district had refused to let the city replace with asphalt.

“I’m going to Charles’s memorial tomorrow, Wes,” Annie said after they’d walked a while.

“I figured as much.” But he sounded worried. “I think you should maintain your distance with the woman; avoid her altogether.”

“Eve Fortenberry has never liked me.”

Wes tried to match strides with Annie, but she was walking fast. “I’m going out on a limb here, but I’ll bet she likes you less since you were arrested for her son’s murder.”

“Let her think what she likes. She has suspected me of doing something to her son since he first turned up missing.”

“I wonder why?”

Annie shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe it was easier for her to think I’d done something to him than to imagine him leaving without even telling her or contacting her in all that time.

“And now it’s easier for her to hate me than to . . .” Annie paused and shrugged.

“Accept the death of her son?” Wes finished for her.

“Yeah.”

They walked in silence. After a while, Annie felt the tightness in her stomach dissolve, and the muscles in her neck and shoulders no longer felt like rubber bands pulled tight enough to snap. She continued to breathe in the night air. Here and there she caught the unmistakable scent of gardenia, another reminder that winter had somehow escaped them. Wes had been right to get her out; the air had cleared her head, and she felt, oddly enough, rejuvenated.

“Better?” he asked as if noting the change.

“I must be. I no longer feel like driving to my mother-in-law’s and slicing all of her tires. I think I’m even beginning to feel sorry for her. Just don’t tell anyone; I don’t want to lose my edge.” She realized they had walked quite a distance. “We should turn back,” she said.

“Getting tired?”

“Not really. I’ve caught my second wind. I should do this every night. But that would make it seem like exercise.”

They turned around and headed for the house. Wes took her hand. “I forgot to ask. How was your evening with Danny?”

“We had a good time,” she said, trying to keep her tone light. She didn’t want to have to think about Danny right now. She looked at Wes, noted how dark he looked in the moonlight. Mysterious. “I’m, uh, sorry I lost my temper earlier. I haven’t always had a temper. I don’t even know when I got it.”

“You’ll work it out.”

They’d arrived at the house. Wes released Annie’s hand once they reached the front steps. “How does hot chocolate with marshmallows sound?” she said.

Ten minutes later Annie carried two steaming cups of hot chocolate, piled high with marshmallow topping, to the kitchen table. She’d put out a small plate of chocolate chip cookies that Theenie had made a few days before.

Wes and Annie sipped their cocoa in silence, but she felt his eyes on her. “You’re staring.”

“I can’t help it. You look so pretty with your cheeks flushed from the walk and your hair all mussed. Like you just spent the last hour or so making love,” he added, and drained his hot chocolate.

Annie felt something stir inside of her. The attraction she’d felt for him before had intensified into full-blown lust. And something else she wasn’t ready to put a name to. She finished her hot chocolate and carried both cups to the sink, where she rinsed them and stuffed them into the dishwasher. She heard Wes get up, and a few seconds later he slipped his arms around her waist and kissed the back of her neck.