Murder by the Slice (5 page)

“All in favor,” Shannon said again.

Marie, Holly, Abby, Kristina, and Irene all raised their hands. Lindsey hesitated, glancing nervously at Shannon a time or two before she finally lifted her hand, too. It didn’t really matter. The vote had already passed.

“All right,” Shannon said, not bothering to ask if anyone was opposed. “Just don’t blame me if the PTO doesn’t make as much money as it would have the other way.” She reached for her purse. “Does anyone have anything else to discuss?”

Shrugs and head shakes around the table answered the question.

“Then we’re done here.” Shannon picked up her purse and stood. “We’ll get together again on Friday. I expect a lot of progress on the preparations by then.”

She stalked out of the conference room, leaving the other women still sitting around the table.

Several seconds of uncomfortable silence passed. No one seemed to be in a hurry to get up and leave. Phyllis knew she shouldn’t say anything, but the question inside her was bursting to get out.

“I hope you’ll all pardon me for asking, but … what exactly is Shannon doing to help get ready for this carnival?”

“Making life hell for the rest of us,” Marie said. She looked over at Lindsey. “And don’t you go running to her to tell her I said that, either, okay?”

The blonde looked offended. “Hey, I don’t like Shannon any more than the rest of you do.”

“Yeah, but you’re the most scared of her.”

Lindsey tried to look defiant, but the expression dissolved into a worried grimace. “It’s just that she can be so
mean.
I don’t like mean people.”

Marie turned to Carolyn and Phyllis. “I’m sorry about the way Shannon treated you. We’re kind of used to her, or at least we ought to be. Usually she’s not quite that snippy to outsiders. She can actually be very charming when she wants to be.”

“Which is not that often,” Abby put in.

Phyllis said, “She was probably just upset because she was arguing with a man out in the parking lot before she came in. We saw them when we got here.”

“A man?” Marie asked as she sat forward. “What man?”

“I don’t know. He was a little taller than her, dark brown hair, nice-looking. He wore glasses.”

Marie leaned back in her chair. “Ah. Joel. Her exhusband.”

Phyllis put the names together. “Joel Dunston. He’s a doctor, isn’t he?” She thought she had seen the name on the directory at the medical building where her own doctor had his office.

“That’s right. He’s an
otolaryngologist.
” Marie put a sarcastic edge on the word.

“Ear, nose, and throat man,” Abby said. “You didn’t dare call him that around Shannon, though, when she was still married to him. She insisted on calling his specialty by its proper name.”

“Since the divorce she mainly just calls him a cheap bastard,” Marie said.

That brought smiles from some of the other women and a chuckle from one or two of them. Lindsey didn’t smile, though. She said, “We shouldn’t sit around and gossip.”

“You’re right, we shouldn’t,” Marie agreed with a nod. “But Carolyn and Phyllis deserve to know what they’re getting into, don’t they?”

Lindsey just grimaced and shrugged.

“This is the second year on the board for all of us,” Marie went on. “Shannon was on it last year with us, but she wasn’t divorced yet the first part of the year. She wasn’t president, either. Molly Rutherford was. Her son went on to middle school this year, so she’s part of the PTO there. Anyway, Shannon had never been on a PTO board before, and she was as gung ho as she could be. She was up here at the school
all
the time, so much that a few of the teachers complained to the principal about her interfering with their classes. You never saw anybody so full of ideas and energy.”

“It sounds like she would have been an asset to the school and the PTO,” Carolyn said.

“You’d think so, wouldn’t you? Unfortunately, she’s also got a bossy streak a mile wide, and you never met a bigger perfectionist, not only for herself but where everybody else is concerned, too. And since she was a doctor’s wife and had plenty of time and money, she thought everybody else should be as devoted to the school as she was. All those great ideas she had? She nagged other people into doing the actual work required to carry them out.”

“A master delegator, that’s Shannon,” Kristina said.

Marie nodded. “Molly tried to rein her in, but it was impossible. Shannon worked everybody on the board like dogs. Then finally, last spring, her husband got tired of her being here at the school all the time and neglecting him.”

Lindsey said, “It was so sad.”

“He had an affair?” Carolyn guessed.

Marie shook her head. “Joel gave her an ultimatum. Either she cut back on all of her school activities, or he was leaving.”

Phyllis said, “I take it she didn’t cut back?”

“She tossed all his stuff on the lawn and told him to get the hell out, and good riddance. Joel wouldn’t back down, and neither would Shannon. They were both too proud for that. They got a divorce, and they’ve hated each other ever since.”

Lindsey said, “You can’t blame Shannon for being upset. She was married before, you know. She has an older son from another marriage. And now she’s had another one fail.”

“Oh, come on,” Marie said. “She drove Joel to it. We all know that. What else was he supposed to do? She didn’t have any more time for him while they were still married than she does now that they’re divorced.”

“They have time enough to fight,” Abby said.

Again, Phyllis couldn’t stop herself from asking a question. “If you knew she was like that, why did you make her president?”

“Hey, none of us wanted the job.” Marie laughed ruefully. “Anyway, at the end of the school year, after they broke up, we all felt sorry for Shannon. And for a while she seemed to settle down a little, like the breakup had humbled her. When we were trying to come up with officers for this school year and she said she’d be willing to take on the job of president, we thought it might be good for her. We didn’t know she was going to spend the whole summer stewing in her anger so that when school started again she’d come back as a royal bitch.”

Marie looked quickly at Lindsey, who held up her hands and said, “I know, I know, don’t go running to Shannon. I swear, you guys must think I’m the worst tattletale in the world.”

Marie didn’t deny that. She just turned her attention back to Phyllis and Carolyn and said, “Now that you know what you’re getting into, are you still sure you want to be involved with the carnival?”

They looked at each other. Phyllis shrugged and said, “It’s up to you.”

Carolyn nodded. “I said I’d do it, and I don’t like to break my word. Of course we’ll continue.”

“Good luck, then.” Marie looked around the table. “Good luck to us all.”

She didn’t have to add, W
e’ll need it.

Chapter 5

In the car on the way back to the house, Carolyn said, “I don’t remember you ever making peanut-butter-and-banana cookies for Bobby.”

Phyllis had been afraid she would catch that. At the time, she had wanted to help Carolyn, who obviously had been struggling to convince the PTO ladies that her idea for a healthy snack contest was worthwhile. So she had thrown out the first thing she could come up with.

“Well, I haven’t actually ever
made
it,” she said, “but I’ve thought about it. I’m sure Bobby would like it.” In fact she had no doubt of that. Her grandson, who was almost a year old, would probably love all the ingredients she had mentioned.

“I think I read somewhere that you’re not supposed to give peanuts to children under two or three.” Carolyn paused, then said with a tone of accusation in her voice, “You changed your mind, didn’t you? You’re going to enter the contest.”

“What? No. I was just talking, trying to help you drum up some interest in the idea. I’m not going to enter the contest. I’m just going to make a cake for the auction and maybe help with the cookbook.”

“Well, good.”

Phyllis took her eyes off the road long enough to look over at Carolyn in surprise. “You don’t want me to enter?”

“I was sort of hoping that we could work together on this without competing against each other. I might try to come up with a recipe for the contest, but I don’t plan to bake a cake for the auction.”

“Really?”

“My lands, Phyllis, have you ever known me to go in for a lot of fancy cake decorating? The proof is in the eating, not how something looks.”

Phyllis said slowly, “All right.” She wasn’t sure if she believed Carolyn or not. In many of the baking contests they had both entered in the past, presentation had been a vital part of the competition.

But come to think of it, she didn’t recall Carolyn ever baking any cakes that called for elaborate decorating. And in everyday life, whenever someone needed a cake with a name or HAPPY BIRTHDAY or some other sentiment on it, Phyllis had always been the one who took care of that.

She went on, “I guess you’ll be in the contest, then, and I’ll be in the auction. I have to admit, it’ll be nice not competing for a change.”

“Not losing, you mean,” Carolyn said.

“Ho, ho! You just couldn’t resist, could you?” Phyllis smiled to take any sting out of the words.

Carolyn changed the subject by saying, “That Shannon is really a witch, isn’t she?”

“I have a feeling Marie would spell the word one letter differently. I always feel sorry for someone like that who’s so full of anger and resentment. They must have a lot of unhappiness in their lives.”

“You’re too kindhearted, Phyllis. Someone like that ought to be slapped a few times. Then maybe she’d start treating people decently.”

“That usually doesn’t work. People just slap back.”

“I suppose you’re right. Well, maybe we won’t have to deal too much with Shannon as long as Marie’s there to act as a buffer.”

“I’m a little surprised the two of you are friends from church.”

“Because of the age difference, you mean? Marie’s mother and I were in the same Sunday school class. You might remember her. Pamela Hoffman?”

Phyllis shook her head.

“They moved here while Marie was in high school, so neither of us ever had her in class,” Carolyn went on. “Pamela and I were friends for a long time, until she passed away. I got to know Marie because I saw her so much at the rest home, you know, while I was visiting Pamela there.”

“She seems nice. A little harried and plainspoken, maybe, but most young people are these days.”

“Yes, she has a lovely family. Russ is some sort of engineer, or works with computers, or something. I never can keep things like that straight.”

Neither could Phyllis, so she knew exactly what Carolyn meant.

They got back to the house a few minutes later. As Phyllis pulled into the driveway and pushed the button on the remote control unit to raise the right-hand door on the two-car garage, Carolyn said, “I’ll get started on a handout for the parents. We’ll need to let all of them know about the contest and the auction as soon as possible. You’ll print them for me, won’t you, Phyllis?”

Even though Phyllis was far from being any sort of expert with the computer, she was better at such things than Carolyn. And that was one area where Carolyn didn’t mind acknowledging Phyllis’s superiority.

“Sure, I’ll be glad to.”

“I can pay you for the paper and ink… .”

“Don’t worry about that. It’s for a good cause.”

Sam was at the workbench in the rear of the garage. Phyllis brought the Lincoln smoothly to a halt several feet short of where he was standing. He was cutting a piece of wood with the table saw and finished what he was doing as the two women got out of the car. Then he turned, pushed his safety goggles up onto his forehead, and said, “Hello, ladies. How was your meeting?”

“It went fine,” Phyllis said. She lingered there, unsure why at first.

“I’ll get started on that handout,” Carolyn said again as she opened the door that led from the garage into the kitchen. She went into the house and pulled the door closed behind her.

“That’s a nice thing you’re doin’, helpin’ out Carolyn that way,” Sam said. “Not to mention helping the kids at that school with the funds the carnival will raise. Anything I can do to help?”

Phyllis smiled. “How are you at cake decorating?”

“Well, I can use a caulk gun. Sort of the same principle, isn’t it?”

“I suppose so,” Phyllis said with a laugh. “What about healthy snacks?”

“I can eat ‘em. As long as they’re not
too
healthy, like broccoli or cauliflower or things like that.”

“I was thinking more of peanut-butter-and-banana oatmeal cookies made with applesauce.”

Sam smacked his lips. “Sounds good.”

“Maybe I’ll come up with a recipe some time. Not for the contest, though.”

“Why not?”

“I’m not entering the contest,” Phyllis explained, “and Carolyn’s not going to make a cake for the auction.”

“Again, why not?”

“Because we’re not going to compete against each other.” Phyllis added, “And before you can ask, that’s the way Carolyn wants it. She’s not good at decorating cakes, and she knows it.”

Sam nodded and drawled, “A man’s got to know his limitations. And I reckon Carolyn does, too.”

“That’s from a movie, isn’t it? That line about knowing your limitations? I’ve heard you say it before.”

“Yeah, Clint Eastwood says it in one of those Dirty Harry movies. I can’t remember for sure which one. Might’ve been the second one,
Magnum Force
. The famous line from the first one is ‘Do you feel lucky, punk?’ And ‘Go ahead, make my day,’ comes from the fourth one,
Sudden Impact
. So, yeah, it was probably from
Magnum Force
.”

“What about the third one?”

“
The Enforcer
? Nobody remembers much of anything from it or the fifth one,
The Dead Pool
.”

She patted him lightly on the arm. “You maybe watch a little too much TV, Sam.”

“More than likely.” As Phyllis started toward the kitchen door, he went on, “I really would like to help out with the carnival, though. Maybe I could build some of the booths. I’m pretty good with my hands.”