NOT What I Was Expecting (9 page)

I studied Fry’s
face for a moment, trying to decide if his suggestion was to benefit Luke or
me.  After considering for a moment I decided it didn’t really matter.  Luke
needed people to be there for him right now.

“We could swing by
to check on you both, right CeCe?” I asked.

CeCe replied, “No
problem whatsoever.”

CHAPTER 6

Fry left to help
Luke, while CeCe and I watched the shop.  For once, I was thankful for a slow
morning.  I couldn’t seem to keep my mind on what I was doing.  When I threw a customer’s
newly purchased blouse into the garbage can and handed her Swear Bear, I knew
I’d better pull it together.  I just couldn’t stop thinking about Fry, Luke,
and his Uncle Barney.

 “CeCe,” I said, “we
should probably take some kind of comfort food with us tonight when we go to
check on the guys, don’t you think?”  I was thinking steak, potatoes, and homemade
apple pie.  Not that I could make those things, but wouldn’t it be cool if I
could and showed up with it.  “Maybe you could watch the shop this afternoon, and
I could go home and cook?” I wanted to know.

“All afternoon?”
CeCe asked shocked.  “What are planning on making?”

“Do you think the
sisters could explain how to make steak, baked potatoes, and homemade apple pie
over the phone?” I asked hopefully.

“Wow,” CeCe said
thoughtfully, obviously giving it serious thought.  “No.”

“I was afraid
you’d say that.  I know.  I can’t cook much now, but someday I’ll be a
wonderful cook,” I said with certainty.

“You’ve had a
vision, have you?” CeCe asked, smiling.

“Ha, ha,” I
responded evenly.  “Seriously, it’s in the genes.  I’m destined for culinary
greatness.  We both are.  We come from a whole family of awesome cooks. 
However, I realize it’s probably expecting too much for it to kick in over the
next few hours.”

“The sisters will
cook something for us to take.  Why don’t you give them a call,” CeCe
suggested.

“It wouldn’t be
the same as if I cooked it but better than a Bundt cake from the grocery
store.  Okay, I’ll call,” I decided.

After I hung up
with my mother I gave CeCe a tired look.

“What?” she
demanded.

“They already
heard about Luke’s uncle and put the food chain into action.  He’s going to be
inundated with casseroles,” I said.

“Maybe we can take
supplies for freezing all that food that’s showing up on his doorstep.  That
would be helpful,” CeCe suggested.

“Genius!” I
exclaimed.  “We could add a bottle of wine for him and Fry to relax with while
we pack and freeze.  He’ll be able to live on the food chain for a month.”

CeCe definitely
had her brilliant moments.  This was perfect.  We could be genuinely helpful,
plus it would give us something to do rather than sit around awkwardly trying
to make conversation.

We closed the shop
at 7:00 p.m. and made a quick stop at the grocery store for supplies before we
headed to Luke’s Uncle Barney’s house.  I was thankful that I was wearing a
black pencil skirt with a wide black belt, and a form fitting, white,
short-sleeved sweater tucked into the skirt.  The long black necklace and
high-heeled black pumps gave it just the right amount of sophistication.  At
least I could walk in with a small amount of confidence about my appearance.  I
knew I’d need all the help I could get considering the fact that my brain turns
to something the consistency of crawfish bisque whenever I see Luke.

We pulled up to
Uncle Barney’s large, two-story tan and hunter green Acadian style home.  I
loved the big porch that wrapped all the way around the house.  When I buy a
house, it’s going to have a porch like this.

“I love this
house,” said CeCe, once again mirroring my thoughts.  “I’d paint it a happier
color, though.  Maybe –,” (I knew what was coming), “pink.”

“You don’t say,” I
replied, thinking of the pink glow that comes from her room.  You can see it
all the way down the hall.  CeCe rang the bell, we heard footsteps, and then
Fry opened the door.

“Hello, ladies. 
Come on in.”  I was happy to see Fry less subdued than he was this morning.  He
peeked inside the bag.

“Beautiful,” he
announced excitedly.  “That’s perfect.”

He saw the wine in
my hand and said softly, “Manna from heaven.  Luke’s in the kitchen.  You two
can go right through the dining room, this way.  I’ve got the bag,” Fry
directed after he relieved CeCe of her supply bag.  He steered us toward the
kitchen as he said, “Luke will be glad to see something hot coming in that
isn’t in a casserole dish.”

 We walked into
the black and white kitchen and found Luke trying to maneuver a large casserole
dish into a tiny space in the fridge.  Not gonna happen.  The fridge was
already overrun with dishes of every shape and size.  Then I noticed the table,
counter top, and stove top were also completely covered.  Impressive.  It
seemed the food chain was even more generous than usual when murder was
involved.

Luke looked at us
helplessly.  “All this food is going to ruin.  I’ll be run out of town.”

“Not to worry.  We
came prepared,” CeCe said, placing the big bag on the floor.

Luke looked
confused.

“Do you have an
extra freezer?” I asked.

“Yeah, Uncle
Barney has a huge one in the garage,” Luke replied as he looked inside our
bags.

He began to laugh
with relief as he realized what we’d brought.

“Bless you,” he
said, giving us each a quick hug.

Wow, he’s so
strong.  I was hoping nobody saw that I was kind of flushed.  Awkward.

I turned and
walked toward the window, looking out so my face was turned away from
everybody.

“Are those flowers
in the back yard . . . ,” I asked to cover oh so casually my pink face and then
– CRASH!  My feet went out from under me, and I slammed onto the floor.

Boy, I really got
some height on that one.  I should get extra points from the judges for both
legs flying in different directions and the especially loud, slamming noise on
my dismount.  So much for looking sophisticated.

“Are you okay?”
Luke wanted to know as he rushed over to me.  “I’m sorry!  I forgot something
spilled over the side of one of the dishes.  I meant to wipe it up.  Here, let
me help you up.” 

Luke scooped me up
off the floor like I weighed nothing and put me in a chair at the table.  He
squatted in front of me, looked into my eyes intently, and asked gently, “Are
you all right?”

“No worries,” I
said weakly.  “I think my liver broke my fall.”

Luke looked down
at the floor shaking his head.  I could see his whole body shaking with
laughter, but there was no noise.

CeCe was smiling,
but she was still concerned that I might have actually hurt myself.

Luke finally
looked up with a big grin on his face, “Well good for your liver, but I’ll feel
better if you just rest for a few minutes to make sure you’re okay.”

“I’m really fine,
Luke.  Besides there’s so much packing and freezing to do, we’d better get
started,” I said hoping to divert his attention away from my clumsiness.

CeCe jumped in,
“Now don’t you worry about that.  Fry and I will get started on it.  Luke, why
don’t you take her into the living room for a few minutes and make sure you
don’t detect any brain damage.  At least, you know, beyond the usual.” 

CeCe turned and
yelled over her shoulder, “Fry, can you come here, please?”

Fry appeared
immediately.  “Did you people drop something?  I heard a big wump,” he inquired
innocently.

“That was Maggie
hitting the deck.  So I need you to help me freeze food while Luke takes her to
the living room to shake it off,” CeCe explained.

“At your service,”
Fry said.

Then he turned to
me and asked, “How many toes am I holding up?”

I looked down at
his sandaled feet, and sure enough, his two pinkie toes were sticking straight
up in the air.  How did he do that?

“Two,” I said in
amazement.

“She’s fine,” Fry
concluded since his examination and diagnosis were completed.  “But go ahead
and take a minute.  CeCe and I have got this.”

I decided a soft
chair sounded pretty good right about now.  I was still feeling a little shaken
and a lot embarrassed.  Luke walked me into the tan and brown living room and
eased me into a comfy chair.  I was hoping he’d leave me to wallow in my
humiliation, but instead he sat on the coffee table right in front of me.

He still had that
concerned look on his face when he said, “You still look a little unfocused. 
How are you feeling?  Does anything hurt?” 

My ankle had a
definite throb going on.  I really wanted to sound all brave, unfazed by
injury, and laughing in the face of pain, but the truth was my bobo hurt. 
Apparently, my inner struggle came to some kind of compromise, because the
words that came out of my mouth were, “My right ankle hurts a little, but it’s
no big deal.  I’m sure it will be fine in a minute.”

Luke reached down,
picked up my foot, slid off the shoe, and gently propped my ankle on his knee. 
He started moving my foot around slowly saying, “Does that hurt?  How about
that?  What about now?”

“It doesn’t hurt
any worse when you move it.  It just hurts,” I said carefully, trying to make
sure I didn’t whine.

“That’s good. 
Probably just a sprain.  Stay off it for a while, and you should be good as
new.”  Luke was gently rubbing my foot and ankle. 

I decided I’d give
him a week to stop doing that – or maybe two weeks.

For a moment, I
was afraid I had said that out loud.

Luke must have
felt me stiffen in fear, because he said, “Sorry.  Did I hurt you?”

“No, no.  It feels
good.”  I must have said that a little too dreamily, because the big smile on
his face indicated he was very pleased with himself.  Oops.

The way he was
looking at me I was afraid the next question could be embarrassing, but he
asked, “Do you want to put some ice on your ankle?”

“No, no.  Please
don’t go to any trouble.  We came over here to take care of you, not for you to
have to take care of me,” I said exasperated.

Luke stopped
rubbing my ankle and looked at me with the strangest look on his face.

“Well,” he said,
“it’s been a long time since anyone was interested in taking care of me.”  

I wasn’t sure what
to say to that, but luckily, I was saved by the doorbell.

Luke groaned,
grabbed a cushion to put under my foot, and gently placed my foot on the coffee
table.  “Please, no more casseroles,” he said softly before he headed for the
door.  “We’ll be freezing food all night.”

I swiveled in my
chair to see who was at the door.

It was Deputy Ben,
and he didn’t have food.  Whew, that was a relief.

As he and Luke
walked into the living room, Deputy Ben was saying, “So I just had some follow
up questions and wanted to see if anything else turned up over here that might
point us in a useful direction.” 

Deputy Ben gave me
a polite nod, and then recognized me from our visit to his office.

“Maggie Eastman,
right?  You were in my office with your sister Bebe, asking about a
neighborhood watch program for your mother,” he said.

“I was there with
my cousin CeCe, yes,” I nodded.  “Our mothers will be in touch with you about
that.”

I was smiling, but
I wanted to ring his neck.  Thank God CeCe didn’t hear that, the jerk. 

He turned his
attention back to Luke.  “So how long did you say you’ve been back in town?”
Deputy Ben asked with his pencil poised on his pad.

“Not long.  About
three months,” Luke answered.

“Did Barney have
any children or other close relatives?”

“None that I’ve
ever been aware of,” said Luke.

“Uh-huh,” mumbled
Deputy Ben.

There was
something weird about his tone.  Where was he going with this?

“Have you thought
of anyone that would benefit from Barney’s death or had a grudge against him?”
Deputy Ben asked with his ballpoint poised, ready to write down the answer.

“No, nobody,” Luke
responded.  “I can’t imagine anybody being that angry with him.  He seemed to
get along with everyone.”

“Yeah well, if we
can figure out the motive, we can figure out who did it,” Deputy Ben pointed
out.  “So keep thinking.”

CeCe and Fry
walked out of the kitchen. 

“Oh, Deputy Ben, I
didn’t know you were here,” CeCe gushed.  “It’s so kind of you to come by and
check on Luke.”  She was batting her eyelashes so hard at Deputy Ben I was
hoping she wouldn’t become airborne.

“Hello, Ms. Bebe.  It’s
nice to see you again.  Fry, always a pleasure,” Deputy Ben greeted everyone.

CeCe was so busy
fluttering over Deputy Ben that it took a few seconds for her to realize what
he’d just called her, but when she did, she did not look happy.

“Well, I guess
that’s all I needed to know,” Deputy Ben said.  “I’ll be in touch.”

Luke walked him
out and looked very sad when he came back.

“They really don’t
have a clue who did this or why.  I feel like I should be able to help them
figure it out, but I can’t even think straight,” Luke said.

“Finding the
killer is their job, not yours,” I said.

“She’s right,”
CeCe assured him.  “Your only job is to mourn your Uncle Barney.  If they’re
too stupid to even remember someone’s name, there’s nothing you can do for
them,” she added bitterly.

Fry had also
caught Deputy Ben’s blunder and said, smiling, “Don’t sweat it, sweetheart. 
His loss.”

Luke was lost in
thought and didn’t really seem to register any of it.

“Let’s go gang up
on this freezing project,” I said.  “Luke must be exhausted, and we need to get
out of his hair.”

That suggestion seemed
to snap him out of his brooding thoughts. “No, no,” he insisted.  “I’m enjoying
the company, but if you guys are feeling up to it, ganging up on the food
sounds like a good idea.  There’s just so much of it.”

“My ankle is
starting to ease off already.  I’m really fine, so let’s get to it,” I said
trying to sound brave and spunky.