Half Past Mourning (10 page)

Nina nodded, the misery in her face almost more than Peter could bear. “Exactly, Peter.” Anger flashed in Nina’s eyes. “And she insists that it’s my fault Danny hasn’t come back, because I won’t get some kind of legal solution. My fault for trying to be true to the man I married, the vows I took. I took those words seriously. How could I walk away from them?” Nina’s voice shook, and she twisted the ring till it almost slid from her finger. She kept looking at it, drew a shaky breath, and finally went on. “But as you reminded me last night, Peter, I still don’t know the whole story. I really don’t know if Danny left me. On the surface it looks like he did, but if he went on to Daytona, or somewhere else, why would he get rid of his car? Why hide his license and that knife? Even if, as Marigold suggested, he thought the car was too noticeable, he’d need to keep it and his license till he could get new ones, whether he stayed in Florida or not. Nothing makes sense, Peter. Not the way he left after going ahead with the wedding, not the tale he gave his mother, none of it.” She raised tortured eyes to look beyond the room. “With his car and license here, I’d wonder if he’s lost his mind. But since Marigold is in touch with him...” She left the sentence hanging.

Eldon Lassiter had been silent through his niece’s recital. Peter felt rather than saw the wheelchair roll forward. “Now, don’t borrow trouble yet. I wouldn’t trust Marigold to tell the right time of day, but I can’t see her letting her precious Danny get halfway across the country without knowing every step he took. Still, Danny—well, Danny had a devious side to him. I can see him telling her one thing and doing two others the minute he was out of her sight.” The chair stopped, his knees almost touching Nina’s. “I saw several layers to Danny Wilson, and that makes me think he might have conned the bunch of us, his mama included. He could charm birds out of trees, he could explain why black was white and make you believe him, and he had the best hands on a steering wheel I ever saw. He was lovable, but he had wide streak of the rascal about him, too. I was mighty glad you and he held off getting married till you finished college. For a while, after your folks died, I was a little afraid you’d jump into a life with the boy just because you were so torn up and alone. By the time you two decided to marry, I thought you’d both got some maturity, a little living under your belt. Danny was spending more time down here. Seemed like he was working at making the museum a real attraction instead of chasing around at the car shows and events. Thought he was growing up, becoming a man you could rely on. I was feeling a lot better about you and him.”

Nina sat up straighter and squared her shoulders, a woman facing a nasty truth with as much grace as she could muster. “Did you know he had other girls, Uncle Eldon? Did you hear things about that?”

Eldon Lassiter shifted in his chair. Peter would have bet the bank the older man knew far more than he wanted to say.

“I heard he did, Nina, and I gave him a bad time over it more than once. He always said he had to keep Marigold off his back, but I had some doubts how much truth was in his excuses. But mostly, Snookie, I was worried that Danny just didn’t have the grit in him to make a good life for you. I knew he had money, so it was never a question of him supporting you properly. He was a good hand around here, and though I thought he was turning a corner, he still had a ways to go. What I worried about was how he’d put on all the charm in the world when he wanted to lead his mother down a garden path, but then afterward he’d belittle her and tell her outright lies when it suited his purpose. I don’t like Marigold. All that Southern charm and two-faced sweetness is too much for me, but I’ll tell you she deserves her son’s respect. I was always afraid he’d treat you the same way. I don’t know, maybe I was wrong, but if he loved you, Snookie, he didn’t make much effort to convince the rest of us.”

Peter suspected Nina was only beginning to come to terms with the person Danny Wilson really was. Though her first reaction might be anger at Marigold’s duplicity, he could also see disillusion and a hint of resignation in the grey exhaustion of her face. She had a long way to go before she was free of the man who’d married her, a long road to travel before she’d be willing to risk letting another man come close.

“Tinker will be coming by to see you soon, Uncle Eldon.” Nina picked up her handbag and turned to Peter. “I don’t think I want to talk to him right now or go over all of this again. Would you mind taking me home?”

Peter clasped her chilly hand in his. “I’ll take you home, Nina, but I think you could use a decent meal first. How about having dinner with me? I know you’re worn out, and I’ll bet you didn’t sleep three hours last night. Dinner and then straight home? An early night?”

Nina glanced down at her navy linen skirt and red bandana-print shirt. “I’m not presentable, not for a respectable restaurant at the dinner hour,” she insisted.

“I was thinking of the outdoor bar-be-cue place up near the highway.” Dressed as she was in the practical skirt and blouse she’d worn to school or the prettiest party dress she owned, Peter would be happy to take Nina to the best restaurant in the county, if she’d consent to join him.

“Your friend is right, Nina.” Peter saw the speculative gleam in Eldon Lassiter’s eyes. The man’s body might be impaired, but Peter didn’t believe anything had lessened his powers of observation. “Go comb your hair and put on some fresh lipstick, Snookie. You’ll always be the best-looking girl in the place.”

A faint smile tilted Nina’s pale lips. “You’re prejudiced, Unc. I know sheer flattery when I hear it.” She nodded to Peter. “The two of you are ganging up on me, but I’m going to let you get away with it this time. I’ll just be a minute.” She took her bag and left the room.

Peter was still looking after her retreating form when Eldon Lassiter’s question stopped him short. “You willing to wait till she can put this behind her, son?”

The clutch somewhere near his heart made Peter wince. Lassiter did see more than the surface of the situation. “Pardon?” He stalled for time to make an acceptable answer.

“I lost the use of my legs, not my eyes.” The voice was low but firm. “I know when a man looks at a woman the way you’re looking at my niece he’s not thinking about her like she’s his sister. Nina’s gonna need some time. She’s been mourning that boy for the best part of two years. I figure all this stuff coming out now is going to be pretty bad on her. Give her time to get over it, Peter. She’s been growing away from Danny a little bit at a time. She was about half past her mourning for that boy before this hit her. It may set her back for a time. In the long run, it’s better if she learns Danny didn’t have a halo, but you should be ready to wait while Nina works things out for herself. You can’t force him out of her life. You willing to hold off a while?”

Peter tried the long, cool stare that worked so well for him in class, but Eldon Lassiter didn’t blink. Finally, unable to break Lassiter’s appraising regard, he nodded. “I’ll wait, Mr. Lassiter. I want Nina, but I don’t want Mrs. Danny Wilson. I wouldn’t go after another man’s wife. If she discovers he’s not the man for her, I’ll be around.”

Lassiter nodded as if satisfied. “Good enough.” He shifted in his chair as the soft patter of footsteps alerted the men to Nina’s return. As if the conversation about Nina and her future hadn’t occurred, the older man continued, “You have Danny’s T-Bird. I’d keep it locked up tight, if I were you. Sheriff Hayes was out here a bit ago. He tells me one of the fellows in our sports car club came back from a trip to see his folks and found his Jaguar had somehow gone astray. Stolen right out of the garage, if you can believe it. I don’t want to see that T-Bird vanish again.”

“The sheriff didn’t think you’d know who stole it, did he, Uncle Eldon?” Nina looked brighter, her eyes clearer and her hair in soft curls framing her face.

“No, but he wanted to know if anyone had been asking about a Jag.” Lassiter shrugged. “I know the fellow who owns it, of course. Thought about as much of that car as he does his wife and kids. He’s got to be sick about losing it. Hope Al Hayes finds the son of a gun who took it and drops him head first off the Santa Rita bridge. Anything I hate, it’s a thief.”

Peter put a cautious hand on her shoulder, mindful of her uncle’s warning to take things slowly. “You feel like you could take on some dinner now? And give me those pointers on driving the T-Bird? I’m serious about trying the next gymkhana.”

Nina laughed and Peter’s heart lifted. “You’ll need more coaching than I can give you between now and the next event. But let’s hold off on the lessons for now. I think dinner has more appeal than correcting your multitude of bad driving habits, at least for tonight.”

“Deal,” Peter agreed, and he felt the warmth of her smile fill him. His girl was going to be all right. His girl. Yes, Nina
was
his girl, she just didn’t know it yet.

Chapter 7

Mixing equal parts of concern and satisfaction, Nina regarded the man in the grey uniform on her doorstep. With a flick of a finger to his wide-brimmed hat, he stepped aside as she pushed the screen door open. “Come in, Sheriff.”

His tight lips and hesitant walk carried a hint of uncertainty. He doffed the Stetson. “Miss Nina, it seems to me we’re about due a talk. Your uncle tells me Danny’s driver’s license has turned up.” He gave her a guileless look, his faded eyes almost hidden by the fans of wrinkles weathered around them. “You want to tell me about that? I heard how it got found and who did the finding, but I’d like to hear your version.”

“I’ve been waiting to talk to you about Danny’s disappearance for almost two years, Sheriff Hayes.” Nina closed the door and led the sheriff over to the two armchairs beside the coffee table.

Al Hayes hitched up the sharp crease in his pants and sat, legs crossed, boots gleaming, and crisp uniform fading into a smoky blur in the evening light. “I reckon I might have given Marigold Wilson’s version of the situation a little more weight than I would have if it had been someone else telling it. And I wouldn’t be troubling about it now, two years later, if Eldon Lassiter hadn’t brought me up kinda sharp with his speculatin’ about that license turning up in such a funny way. May be some perfectly simple explanation, but doggone, I just can’t think what it would be.”

“It was in Danny’s car. Uncle Eldon told you that too, didn’t he?” Now that the sheriff was willing to listen, Nina pressed to give him all the information she could.

“I know that a yella Thunderbird, maybe Danny’s and maybe not, comes into this thing, but I’d like to know how you figure that particular car just had to be Danny’s.” He held up a cautioning finger. “Now, Miss Nina, I got to admit I can’t see any way for his driver’s license to have landed in another, identical, little gas buggy that’s not his own, but I’m talking legal proof here, and I have to nail the facts down good and tight. So how would you know, without having the factory numbers in your hand, that this is the same toy car that Danny went off to get right after your wedding? Tell me that, young lady, and let’s see if we can make some sense out of this pile of maybes and what-ifs.”

Nina leaned forward, concentrating, intent on making the sheriff understand how positive she was. “Have you looked at the car, Sheriff?”

He shook his head, a hint of skepticism narrowing his eyes. “Those little sports cars are all about the same to me, four wheels and a speed-happy driver herding them. Give me a good truck or a solid station wagon any time.” He stretched his boots out before him. “So tell me what I’d see if I looked at this particular edition of Detroit madness. What would make it Danny’s car more than anyone else’s little yella toy?”

Nina opened the drawer in the coffee table to take out the steno pad and pencil she kept there. For a moment she closed her eyes to recall exactly how that star-shaped flaw looked. Then she made a careful sketch. “Just after Danny got the T-Bird, he was showing it to some of the guys at Uncle Eldon’s shop. They were horsing around, like they were kids, and a ballpeen hammer fell off the rack. It hit that metal disk in the center of the T-Bird’s steering column and left a ding in it, a perfect star shape. Danny was furious, his brand-new car banged before he’d had it a week. But then, after he cooled off a little, he laughed about it and said at least he’d be able to pick his car out of a whole flock of canary yellow T-Birds. The star made it unique.” She tore the sheet of paper from the pad and handed it to the sheriff. “The car that Peter Shayne is driving, the yellow Thunderbird where Danny’s license was hidden, has that same star-shaped mark, and in the same place. That’s something that should convince you. And if you find the dealership where Danny bought the car—in San Antonio, I think—you should be able to find those numbers so you can check them, as well.” Nina sank back in her chair. “I don’t need to see the numbers, Sheriff Hayes. I drove that car enough to know it from a dozen just like it. Peter Shayne’s car once belonged to Danny. I knew it before Peter found the license. That was just reinforcement, for me.”

The sheriff took the page she offered and studied it a moment before folding it and putting it into his pocket. “I’ll look that car over, Miss Nina, I will indeed. Right now I have one of my deputies talking to the dealers in the area. Don’t know if he got down the list as far as San Antonio yet, but he will. I suspect all of that is by way of tying up the details. My gut feeling, pardon the expression, is that you’re right as rain. It is Danny’s car. And that leaves me wondering what the boy was driving when he pulled out of here, and what he meant by leaving his license behind.”

The sheriff stood and picked up his Stetson. “I’m asking the questions I should have asked two years ago, young lady. You don’t have to remind me I’m more than a little behindhand in doing so. You were entitled to more consideration and attention through all of this. We may be slow starting out of the gate on this investigation, but I won’t rest till I can tell you what happened to that young husband of yours.” He held out a hand and she took it. “It may be his mama has the right of it and he just up and took off, not ready to be a married man, and if that’s so, there’s not much we can do about it except see he does the responsible thing by you. Lawyers make a good living taking care of that sort of legal matter. But if there’s any reason to think Danny Wilson didn’t leave Santa Rita by his own choice, then, Miss Nina, that’s the sort of trouble my people take care of. And we’ll get some answers.”