NOT What I Was Expecting (23 page)

“The music’s a
little loud,” I yelled to Ty.  Wait that sounded boring.  “I love it!” I
added.  Good save, but I probably needed to remove my hands from my ears to
pull it off.  He stopped pushing me along when we reached the middle of the
dance floor (a.k.a. her living room).

I looked around. 
Not two feet from me stood Luke still wearing his hard face.  He leaned in to
yell something in my ear, but Babs intercepted by flinging herself around his
neck.

“Dance with me
Luke,” she yelled.

He didn’t look
happy, but his inner gentleman wouldn’t let him blow her off. 

“Wait here,” he
yelled, sounding way more serious than I felt was necessary. 

I turned back to
Ty.  “He’s sooo serious,” I yelled with a wave of my hand.

Ty smiled and
nodded his head in an understanding way.  “Dance?” he yelled in my ear.

I nodded and
prepared to shake my booty when the music suddenly switched to a slow, sultry
song.  Uh oh. 

“Maybe we could .
. . ,” I started to say, but it was too late.  Ty closed the space between us
in a flash and began to sway.  He wasn’t being touchy-feely, but since I didn’t
know him, this was really close. 

“Are you
interested in architecture?” Ty asked loudly in my ear, “Because tomorrow I
could show you . . . ,”

Wow!  How did he
jump back a couple of feet that fast?  Was that a dance move?  It was then that
I noticed Luke’s hand attached to the back of his neck.  He hadn’t jumped. 
He’d been yanked.  Luke still had a grip on Ty’s neck and was speaking into his
ear, so I took a step forward to find out what was going on.  Suddenly Luke
gave Ty one rough shake and released him.  Ty looked at me sheepishly, waved,
and disappeared into the crowd.

Luke was coming at
me fast.  He spun me around by my arm and steered me toward the door.  Why do
men keep steering me around tonight?  I don’t like it.  When we were alone in
the hallway, I yanked my arm away.

“What are you
doing?” I demanded.

“What am I doing?”
he asked angrily.  “I’m saving you from yourself, that’s what I’m doing.  Time
to go home.  Let’s go back to the apartment.”

“What?”

“Go inside,” he
said through clenched teeth.

“Well, I don’t
think so,” I said folding my arms, “Not until you . . . .”  Again with the
steering, except this time he was practically lifting me off my feet.  I was
really going to let him have it.

When we reached
the living room, he sat me gently on the sofa.  I immediately popped back up to
my feet with a stamp of my foot.  “Cut!  That!  Out!”  I shouted.

“Me?” he said
almost shouting, “What were you thinking?”

“Me?” I shouted,
“What were YOU thinking?”  Original.

“Why would you let
some guy you’ve known for five seconds paw you like that?” Luke asked loudly.

“Paw me?  We were
dancing!” I said, taking it down a notch from shouting but still not calm.

“I’m surprised you
could breathe in that clinch,” Luke said, which drew a gasp from me, “AND he
was nibbling on your ear.  It’s not like I was going to stand there and let him
get away with that.”

“He was NOT
nibbling my ear,” I argued.  “He was speaking into my ear, genius, and it’s not
your decision what he gets away with anyway.”

Why did I say
that?  Ty was closer than I was comfortable with, and I had wanted out of that
situation too.  Now Luke was going to think I cozied up to strangers.  Stupid,
stupid.

Luke fell onto the
sofa.  “Fine.  Go back to the party.  I guess I don’t know what you want,
Maggie.”

“I want,” I
started but then paused to go sit in the recliner.  I was suddenly very tired. 
“I want to stop getting myself into situations where I need to be rescued.” 
Deep sigh.  “Ty wasn’t really being pushy.  It’s possible I may have kind of
given him the wrong impression, just a little.”

I could see Luke
was struggling to come up with a response to that, so I decided to continue
with what was on my mind.  “I’m really not boring,” I said, as if that
explained everything.

This got a snort
of laughter from Luke.  “Boring?” he asked incredulously, “I’m not sure what
that has to do with anything, but no, you’re definitely not boring.”  Short
pause while we both mulled that over.  “What does that have to do with this?”
he asked.

“It’s possible
that it could have in some small way affected my decision to check out the
party,” I said vaguely.

Luke sat up on the
sofa.  “Is this about my
partied too hard
comment earlier?  Please tell
me that’s not what this was about.”

I did not
appreciate his tone, not one little bit.  “My life decisions are not based on
your insensitive comments, Mr. Becnel,” I said snippily.

“Insensitive?” he repeated,
as if I’d said something absurd. 

“I don’t like
where this is going,” I said standing and walking toward my bedroom, “You
should sleep on it.  Think about what I’ve said.”

Luke’s mouth was
hanging open as I disappeared into the hallway.

“Oh, and thanks,
by the way,” I yelled as I closed the bedroom door. 

As I changed into
something comfortable to sleep in, I heard Luke outside my door.

“I’m so confused,”
he said softly.

He’ll be alright. 
At least I’m not boring.

CHAPTER 17

I woke up to a
snoring Peso and a beautiful morning.  I slipped on a robe hanging in the
closet and padded out to the kitchen.  No Luke yet?  I was surprised.  It
wasn’t early.

“Well, let’s go
find you a piece of grass,” I said to Peso when he finished his breakfast.  I
decided against getting dressed first, so thankfully Peso took care of his
business quickly.

When we returned
to the apartment, Luke was fully dressed and pouring a cup of the coffee I’d
made.  A slow smile spread across his face when he saw me.  I had a feeling it
was the size 2XL robe I was wearing.  Not very flattering, but I couldn’t find
the one I’d worn before.  It was possible I’d left it in the dryer, but it was
too early to think about that right now.  I tightened the belt, stood up
straight, and tried to ignore him as I went to join my cup of coffee that was
waiting for me on the table.

“You slept in this
morning,” I said conversationally.

“I was up late
thinking over what you said last night.”

“Really?” I asked
unable to hide my surprise.

“No,” he said and
pulled out the wicked grin.

“Men,” I said
scoffed.

“I know, we can be
difficult,” Luke agreed.  “You look lovely this morning,” he added.

“Shut up,” I said
lightly.  “It was convenient.”

“Any way you
want it” –
my phone’s ringtone started singing.

“My phone!” I
yelled, jumped up, and ran to grab my cell from my purse.

“Fry?” I asked,
though it wasn’t much of a guess, since the caller ID listed the incoming
caller as Fry.

“Mags!  Hey, how
are you?  Is everything okay there?”  Fry was speaking kind of fast and sounded
a little excited for the mellow, low-key type of guy he usually was.  “What’s
going on?  Anything new?”

As soon as Fry
said my name, I heard CeCe pipe up behind and ask, “Is that Maggie?  I thought
you were going to talk to Luke?  Don’t tell Maggie.  Are you going to ask for
Luke?  Let Luke tell Maggie.  It’ll be better if you tell Luke directly.”

“Um, Fry,” I
interrupted after trying to listen to both of them at once.  “Is something
wrong?”

“Just a minute,
Maggie,” Fry said before pushing a button that he obviously thought muted his
end of the conversation.  “CeCe, you have to be quiet.  Maggie can hear you,
and you’re freaking her out.  And don’t let Luke hear you when he gets on the
phone, or you’ll freak him out, too.  Now let me handle it.  I’m trying to keep
them calm.”

When I heard
another beep in my ear, I knew Fry was back to me.  “Maggie, I got the info
from Stubby, and I can tell you or Luke, either one – that’s up to you guys. 
But before I do, would you put Luke on the phone for a minute?  I just need to
talk to him about something real quick.”

Okay, now I was
officially scared.  I knew I could try pressing Fry to tell me what was wrong
(and something was definitely wrong), but I quickly decided I’d find out faster
by letting Fry tell Luke.  Then Luke could tell me.

“He needs to talk
to you,” I said as I passed the phone to Luke.

“Fry, what’s . . .
,” Luke didn’t get very far into his greeting before Fry apparently launched
into his news.  Although I was watching him closely, Luke’s face gave away
nothing to indicate what kind of issue Fry divulged.  Except for the occasional
uh-huh
and
yeah
, Luke just listened.

Finally, after the
one-sided conversation had gone on for quite a while, Luke said, “No, don’t
worry about that, Fry.  I appreciate all you’ve done, but that’ll be fine until
I get back.  Just leave it.”

Fry said something
next that caused Luke to look around for a pen and paper.  After he scribbled
some notes, I tried to read over his shoulder but couldn’t decipher them.  Luke
told Fry, “Okay, hang on a minute while I pull up my email and make sure I got
it.  Here, talk to Maggie for a minute.”

When I took the
phone from Luke, I heard Fry and CeCe whisper-arguing on the other end.

Fry:
     You
talk to her.  If I talk to her, she’s going to expect me to tell her everything
I just told Luke.

CeCe:
  I
can’t talk to her.  She’s always been able to hear it in my voice when I’m
trying to hide something.

Fry:    
(teeth
clenched) Just talk to her.

CeCe: 
No. 
What am I going to say?  No.  Give it here!

Although I got the
impression they thought of it as whispering, I’d heard every word.  When CeCe
came on the line she was all sweetness and light.

“Hey, Mags,” she
began.  “Whacha’ doin’?”

“Cut the crap,
CeCe,” I greeted her right back.  “What’s going on there?”

“Well, Maggie, I’m
sure I don’t know what you mean,” CeCe assured me, all fake and innocent.  “Is
everything going okay with you and Luke?  I hope you guys are having some fun
while you’re down there and not spending all your time stressing about Luke’s,
uh, predicament.”

“Is it the
sisters?  Is somebody sick or hurt?” I demanded.  I had been able to remain
calm until that thought popped into my head.  After that, I started to feel a
little panicky.  “CeCe, tell me the truth.”

“Nobody’s sick. 
Nobody’s hurt.  Everybody here is fine.  I’m sorry . . . ,” she began.

“Maggie,” Luke
said as he came back into the kitchen.  “Tell Fry we got the email.”

CeCe stopped
mid-sentence when she heard Luke’s voice, and then I heard her telling Fry,
“They got it.”

I couldn’t take it
any longer.  I looked at Luke but yelled into the phone, “Will somebody please
TELL ME WHAT IS GOING ON?”

Luke very calmly
walked over to me, took the phone from my hand, and said, “We’ll call you
back,” before he disconnected the call.

“Somebody broke
into Uncle Barney’s house and trashed the place,” Luke explained as he
retrieved his coffee and took a drink.  “Fry didn’t say that anything was
missing, but he was concerned that I’d be upset.  You know, losing Uncle
Barney, and then having somebody tear up his place like that.”

“Aren’t you?” I
asked as I thought about how much it would bother me if I were Luke.

“I can’t deny that
it’s disturbing, but at least nobody was hurt.  Now that we know what they were
looking for and the fact that two people have already been murdered for it, I’m
relieved that nobody else was in their way.”  Luke got up to refill his
coffee.  “I don’t like the idea of strangers going through Uncle Barney’s
things, but stuff is replaceable, people aren’t.”

“Luke, I’m so
sorry.  What do you want to do?” I asked.  I wanted to be supportive, but I
wasn’t sure what we should do next, so I had no suggestions.

“Well, Fry offered
to go straighten up the mess at Uncle Barney’s once the police finish with it,
but I told him to leave it.  I’ll deal with it when I get back.  He also had
news from Stubby on Jacob Parker,” Luke continued and perked up a little as he
revealed the information we’d asked about from Fry’s friend.  “He said the guy
still lives in Phoenix and still has 2 children, a son and a daughter.  The
daughter lives with her father, which matches the last update her uncle had on
her, but the son whose whereabouts were in question turned out to be in
prison.  Stubby kept digging and found out that the guy in prison has two sons
living in Houston.  They both have records ranging from petty theft to dealing
drugs, just like their father.  When Stubby ran their names by his airline
connection, he was told the sons flew from Houston to Phoenix, Arizona two
weeks ago.  A few days later they flew from Phoenix to Cincinnati, Ohio.  Two
days later, they flew from Cincinnati to New Orleans and their return flight to
Phoenix remains open and so far, unused.”

Luke had consulted
the notes he’d jotted down when he gave me their flight itinerary, but then he
looked at me expectantly.  “You see what this means, don’t you?  We have
another direction for the murder investigation to take that looks very
promising for locating the actual murderers,” he exclaimed.

“And best of all,”
I said after I caught a little of Luke’s excitement, “the focus of the
investigation will be off you, so we can go home!  We’ve got to take this
information to the sheriff’s office!”

“I hope you’re
right, but I still have concerns that they might not be willing to just drop me
as their favorite suspect,” Luke remarked hesitantly.  “Let me print the
pictures of the two brothers, since they’re looking like our best bet as my
competition for Murderer of the Year.”

When Luke stood
and started toward the laptop he’d left in the living room, I heard a shuffling
noise coming from under the table.

“Don’t back up!” I
warned as soon as Luke reached the recliner in the next room.  “Your little
shadow is in hot pursuit.  Did you know he was sleeping under the table?  I
didn’t even see him come into the kitchen.”

“I heard a softer
version of his snores when you were on the phone with CeCe.  You know, just
before you screamed for someone to tell you what was going on?  I didn’t hear
any more snoring after that, so I’m guessing that woke him up,” Luke explained
from the next room while he collected the pictures from the printer.  When he
came back into the kitchen, he was carrying the pictures in one hand and Peso
in the other.

“Oooh, let me
see!” I said excitedly. 

Luke shoved Peso
into my lap without looking up from the pictures he was studying.

“Um,” I stammered
as I adjusted Peso comfortably in my lap, “I was actually talking about the
pictures, not the Peso.”

Luke looked up and
smiled.  “Sorry,” he apologized and handed me the photos he’d just printed from
the email Fry had sent.  “Do you want me to take the Happy Napper back?”

I smiled as I
looked down at Peso in my lap.  “No, he’s fine.  It’s not that I didn’t want
him.  It’s just that I wanted to see what these guys look like.”

I turned my
attention back to the three pictures Luke had given me.  Two were mug shots,
one of each brother.  The third picture from about a year ago showed the two
brothers in shackles being escorted into a courthouse, presumably for a
hearing.  In that shot, the difference in their sizes was apparent.  That
wasn’t the only thing obvious in that picture.

“Luke!” I said a
little louder than I intended, which caused Peso to pick up his head with his
eyes still closed.  I patted his little fawn tush to let him know it was okay to
put his head back down and finish his nap.  I continued softly, “Do you know
who these guys remind me of?”

“Hoss and Little
Joe from Bonanza?” Luke suggested.  “Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. 
Barney saw them in Eliza’s kitchen the day she was murdered.  He told me and
later mentioned to Fry that he saw them there.  Even if the police think I’m
making up that part to clear myself, maybe they’ll believe Fry.”

“Luke, this is so
great!  Now you have something to show the investigators.  This gives someone
else motive and opportunity for the murders, and nobody should think you had
anything to do with it now,” I exclaimed, becoming more excited as I thought
about it.  The good news motivated me to go shower and change.  I planned to
hurry, but every time I started thinking, my motor skills slowed, so it
actually took me longer than it should have to get decent.

When I finally
emerged all put together, Luke looked up from the paper he was reading.  “I was
going to ask you if you were waiting for a new species to evolve before you
emerged.  Since you look so good, I guess I can’t say the time was wasted, now
can I?” he asked.

I smiled at him,
and he started to look back at his paper, but I saw him throw a couple of quick
glances in my direction.  The third time he turned his head he squinted his
eyes and stared at me for a few seconds.

“Let me guess,”
Luke began once he was back behind his newspaper.  “That shirt was on sale,
right?”

I looked down at
the t-shirt I was wearing.  It said, “
Holy Faux Pas, Batman! That Cape With
Those Shoes???
”

“What?” I asked.

 “
Any way you
want it”
. . . my phone sang.

Luke, who was
closest to my cell, grabbed it off the table and stuck it in my hand.

“Uh, hello?” I
answered, after I struggled for a second to remember what it is you say when
you answer the phone.  I was still thinking about the fact that Luke had said I
looked good since I chose to ignore the crack he made about the length of time
I took to get dressed.

“Maggie!” CeCe
cried on the verge of hysterics.  “Maggie!”

“CeCe, what is
it?  What’s wrong?” I asked, fighting to keep from catching her hysterics.

“Fry!  They just .
. . ,” CeCe began but stopped when she heard her call waiting beep.

“What?  Fry what?”
I demanded louder than I intended.

“Wait!  Oh my
Lord, it’s Fry!  Hold on, Maggie,” and with that, she switched to the other
call and left me standing there with my mouth hanging open.

“What’s going on?”
Luke asked looking as concerned and confused as I felt.

“I don’t know,” I
told him.  “CeCe started to tell me something about Fry, got frantic when he
beeped in on the other line, and put me on hold.  She sounded kind of
hysterical and I don’t . . . .”

“Maggie?” CeCe
yelled into the phone when she switched back to me.  “Oh, Maggie, I don’t know
what to do.  They’re going to kill him!”

Luke apparently
heard at least part of that since CeCe would have burst my eardrum if I hadn’t
pulled the phone away from my ear.

He took the phone
from my hand and in a calm, firm voice instructed, “CeCe, it’s Luke.  Calm down
and – it’s okay.  Take a deep breath.  Okay, now slowly tell me what happened.”