The Sassy Belles (13 page)

She had left us a note with the creamers on the kitchen table:
Y’all have fun, I know I will. Love you, Nanny.
I pressed the note to my chest, wishing for the simpler times when this tiny
woman was at the center of my universe and our reason for visiting her house was
just so we could spend a little time with her. Just then Harry and Sonny stepped
in through the back porch.

“Hey,” I said as I hugged Harry with one arm. I reached behind
him and grabbed Sonny’s hand and he squeezed it. Harry let go and moved across
to Vivi. Sonny leaned down and kissed my cheek. Harry didn’t even notice. Sonny
always seemed to feel my emotions. He just knew the stress I felt. He could see
it in my eyes. He was tuned in, definitely more than Harry. But the kiss? It did
make me feel better and it stirred something in me that I couldn’t quite
understand.

Vivi sat nervously sipping her over-sugared coffee, looking
like she had something to hide. Okay, she did. A
baby!
But it was not the look we were going for. I looked at her and
shook my head.

“Let’s all have a seat,” Sonny said. The kitchen windows were
open and a steady summer rain began. “Vivi, look, we gotta get a few things
outta the way. We’ve been at Lewis’s condo all morning. We’ve turned up a few
cigarette butts and some bank statements, an extra set of keys identical to the
ones found at the Fountain Mist. Except this set from the condo have a few
extra,” he said, eyebrows up.

“Do you know what they might be for?” I asked.

“They look like they might fit a safety deposit box,” Harry
answered. “Do you know about a box, Vivi?”

“No,” she said. “My relationship with Lewis was never about
such private things as what could be in a safety deposit box. Only…other private
things.”

Oh, here we go,
I thought. It was
obvious that she was just going to be playful. It was her cover. She’d be a
broken, nervous wreck on the inside, and outside, she’d be sexy and silly. She’d
been using this tactic since the ninth grade.

“As you know, Vivi, anything you tell us can be used to help us
find Lewis and make sense of all of this.” Sonny really had no patience for her
this afternoon.

“Well, if I don’t know, then I just don’t know, Sonny! The only
thing I
do
know is that Lewis is out there
somewhere—I can feel it. Maybe he’s got amnesia. Maybe he’s been kidnapped. But
we had a connection. I feel him now. I…I…just know. That’s all.” She
subconsciously placed her hand on her tummy. Maybe she did know.

Vivi started to tremble, but she took a gulp of her coffee and
continued. “Sonny, something you said does confuse me, though. You mentioned
cigarette butts. Didn’t Lewis quit smoking about ten years ago? I know he
did.”

“Yeah,” Harry answered. “It was a bet, right? With one of his
radio buddies. It was for a thousand dollars. He bet Vince Landry over the LSU
game. Bama lost that one, so Lewis had to quit cold turkey and pay Vince a
thousand dollars.”

“He did it like he was puttin’ down a glass of water,” Vivi
interrupted. “Lewis was like that.”

“Yeah, not much could shake him,” I said.

“Or defeat him,” Vivi added.

“Well,” Sonny said, “the cigarettes weren’t his, unless he was
into more than we could imagine.”

“Like what?” Vivi and I said together.

“Like cross dressing,” Sonny said in his sober baritone.

“Oh, what in hell are you talkin’ about?” Vivi seemed almost
personally insulted.

“The cigarettes were stained with lipstick,” Sonny said.
“Bonita was with us and she was the one who spotted a few butts stained in pink.
She took them to the lab.”

Dead silence fell over the room. Vivi put down her cup. The
look on her face was one of shock and surprise. I could tell this news was like
a jab to her soul.

“We’re having the butts tested now. It would help if we all
submit to a DNA test,” Harry said. “I know that seems odd, but for one thing,
Vivi, we’ll need it to prove those cigarettes
didn’t
belong to you.”

“I don’t even smoke!” Vivi exclaimed as she brushed a tear from
her eye.

“I’m sure there is a good explanation,” I said to Vivi.

“If he had a woman in his condo the night before he saw me, she
could know something. Oh, God! We’ve got to find her.” Vivi was thinking out
loud. And amazingly she was thinking of only Lewis’s safety, not the fact that
someone with a pair of hot-pink lips had been visiting with her Lewis.

And at that moment I knew she really loved him. She loved him
unconditionally and without hesitation.

I left the group sitting at the table and headed down the hall
to the bathroom. I felt a range of emotions hit me—concern for Lewis, sadness
about Harry and excitement over the prospect of the baby, for starters. I passed
the living room and the screened front porch beckoned. I never made it to the
bathroom. I sat down on the old glider and took a few minutes to let my swirling
thoughts form some sort of sense in my head.

This is where I used to come to talk to my great-grandmother
after she died. I know. I said
after
she died.
Mother’s house seemed filled with ghosts. And crazy people. I leaned a little to
the crazy side so it was understood that I talked to all the ghosts. It smelled
musty out there with the afternoon rain stirring the dust, and I listened to the
rain splatter on the broken sidewalk. The sound of the rain helped me clear my
head. My thoughts kept returning to Vivi’s news.
A
baby.
Under normal circumstances this would be such a happy time, but
with Lewis missing, the news had a bittersweet quality to it. I felt the tears
begin and quickly shut them off.
Change the topic,
I
told myself. But the rain kept falling and so did the tears.

My mind turned back to the information we had all just learned,
and as I thought about the lipstick-stained cigarettes, a jolt of realization
hit me.

Dallas smokes! To maintain her ultra-trim figure, of course.
She smells like an ashtray, but to cover that, she sprays fragrance all over and
it wafts through the air every time she makes a move. And, like Dallas herself,
there was nothing subtle about it.

I thought back to the conversation we’d had after the press
conference. Dallas had gotten that phone call from an anonymous source once the
news had spread about Lewis’s disappearance. Dallas said her source talked about
Lewis being at a bank. Could Dallas have met with Lewis the night before he
disappeared? If so, then why?

I wasn’t getting any answers just sitting there, so I
reluctantly left the familiar comfort of the screened front porch and returned
to the kitchen to find Vivi pacing the green vinyl floor.

“Blake, who could have been there with Lewis? Who?” Vivi said,
talking to me as if I had never left, although I had been gone for at least ten
minutes.

“I have no idea right now, but we’ll figure it out,” I said,
just sort of blowing it off. I didn’t want to let on about suspecting Dallas
just yet. I needed a little more to go on before getting Vivi all worked up.

I looked hard at Sonny to try to read his face. He looked at me
as if he wanted to believe me, but he and I both knew this case was growing
deeper and dirtier by the day. His eyes spoke all I needed to know. After all,
this was Lewis Heart we were talking about. The Voice of the Crimson Tide.

“Let’s go ahead and get these DNA tests ordered,” Harry said as
he poured himself another coffee. “I want Vivi cleared of any suspicion ASAP.”
We all did.

Who did that lipstick belong to, hot-pink and imprinted on
those cigarettes? One thing was for sure. Lewis had visited with another woman
hours before he was on his back, naked, with a cowgirl named Vivi.

12

L
ate afternoon came and dusk
settled over my college town like a curtain falling on a summer theatre
production. The early evening brought with it a much-needed deep breath. The
songs of late spring strummed along outside with a comforting rhythm, like a
symphony. Wanda Jo had called to let me know that the most recent package for
the Myrna case had arrived.

“Perfect,” I told her. “I’ll prove those Myrnas wrong once and
for all, then the Preservation Society can get to work saving that priceless old
place. Did you sign for the package or do I need to come in?”

“Of course I signed for it. I know what I’m doin’ here, now,
don’t I?” she said. “I’m goin’ home early tonight, okay? The championship rounds
of
Jeopardy!
are on and my damn tape player is on
the fritz. I’ll turn the answerin’ machine on before I leave.”

“Okay, Wanda Jo, thanks for everything,” I said. She wasn’t
asking me if she could go early, she was merely letting me know of her plans. It
was actually a comfort to have someone there at all times keeping our little
ship afloat.

Before I let her go I said, “I’ll swing by the office on my way
home and pick up the package. I’ll give you a call tomorrow once I know what we
need to do to get another meeting scheduled with the Myrnas.”

“Sounds fine to me, Blake, but now, if you don’t mind, I’ve got
to go. My show is on in fifteen minutes.”

The sun set and the rain returned, this time falling in a
sideways downpour. I drove over to the office to pick up the package before I
headed home. I parked out front along the sidewalk and ran inside the front door
to my office. It was dark and closed for the day. Wanda Jo had left the lamp
light on at my desk and the Myrna real estate package was in my chair. The large
envelope contained the original real estate offers on the old Brooks Mansion and
all the paperwork from the Historical Society and the Preservation Society and
even the National Registry of Historic Places. I knew there was a hole in this
thing somewhere and I intended to find it. There was no way we could have filed
anything with the National Registry if there was a real estate bid on the
mansion at the time. I knew the Mrynas were trying to pull something and I was
going to call their bluff.

I put the large envelope in my red Gucci satchel and headed
back to the front office and out to my car. The rain was coming down in torrents
now and I was out in it getting soaked. Hurrying around to my car door, my eye
caught Sonny standing in the door of the police station. He motioned for me to
come over. I reached in the backseat of the Navigator and grabbed my umbrella,
but it was no use, I was already drenched. I ran across the street and ducked
inside the station, my wet white blouse now clinging to my skin and hiding
nothing.

“Hey, Blake, I’m sorry to make you run through the rain. I
thought you’d just do a U-turn and drive up to the curb out there.” I caught his
eyes drop to my chest and a shy smile curled his lips as he spoke. “What are you
doing at work this late and in this flood?”

“I had to pick up a package on that real estate case I’m
working on—you know, with the old Brooks Mansion?”

“Oh, yeah,” he said, going over to a small closet in the hall
and grabbing out some hand towels. “I heard about that case. Maybe it was Harry
who mentioned it. He’s helping you on this one, right?” he asked, rubbing the
towels over my shoulders and down my back.

“No, he’s so busy with the campaign and, well, I can handle
this myself.” I was getting lost in his touch and his height over me and his
cologne and…

“Oh, I have no doubt about that,” he said, smiling. “I’m
positive there’s nothing you can’t handle by yourself.” He kept talking and as I
took the towels and dabbed my wet face, the rainwater dripping off my hair and
running down my neck.

“I called you over to tell you how much I appreciate your
dedication on this case with Lewis. You are my strongest ally on this. Your
passion is in the right place and I think we make a good team for Vivi. I wanted
to make sure I told you that, I just had no idea you were gonna go for a sprint
in the monsoon.”

“No big deal, it’s just water. I’ll dry.” I was rubbing the
towels through my hair. “And thanks. Sonny, I feel the same way about you on
this. We do make a good team.”

I looked up at him and smiled. His eyes were so tender and his
face was soft and sweet, still boyish with all those freckles. Sonny was the
chief investigator for the force. He was a suit and tie guy, not in a uniform.
But he carried his gun in his holster on his hip. He was so tall with broad
shoulders and big hands. He wasn’t like Harry, always slick in a Hugo Boss
monochromatic suit. No, Sonny was more like a khakis–and-tweed-sport-coat kinda
guy. Usually in a dark-hued classy tie and a light-colored button-down shirt. He
was a man’s man. Rugged and tough, but tender and emotional when the time was
right. Was the time right, right now?

I stepped away from him, realizing my shirt was now see-through
as it clung to my body, and my pink sheer bra was very visible. I knew I wasn’t
hiding much as Sonny kept glancing down. We were alone in a nasty thunderstorm
and just a dim light on at his desk. He took the towels back and reached down
and gently grasped my hand and began dabbing my fingers, then moving up to my
neck just under my cheeks, he rubbed my skin softly. He was dabbing and sliding
the little white cloth down my neck, then he began to glide the towel to the
front, inching toward my chest into the collar of my wet blouse, which was open
down to the third button.

Looking down into my eyes, he said, “I guess you better take it
from here.” I wanted him to keep moving, but I instinctively held his wrist as
he let go. His skin was warm and his touch was sweet and tender. I knew I had to
step back. My heart felt stuck in my throat. The chemistry we had always had was
still there, more than ever now that we were adults. I was scared at what I
thought could happen between us, and I was ashamed at myself for what I wanted
to happen.

“Let me get you something else to put on,” Sonny suddenly said,
realizing the room was getting hot in so many ways. I could see him looking at
me with intensity. The tension between us was building and I felt my pulse race.
I was sure he could see my heart pounding under my wet blouse. I wanted
something to happen but I knew it was very wrong. I just couldn’t help being
excited and I could see Sonny’s face flush red as he turned to head up the
hall.

“I keep an extra set of clothes back here in my office closet.
Never know when I might need to change after looking for bodies and criminals.”
He walked down the hall to his office and I followed him without even thinking.
Sonny was always the caretaker. That’s why I always felt so safe with him. Not
that I needed caretaking, but I sure liked it. He opened his office closet and
took a white button-down dress shirt off the hanger and handed it to me.

“Here’s my shirt and you’ll find some little white plastic bags
under the sink in the bathroom for your wet things.”

“Thanks Sonny, you’re so sweet. I could have made it home and
changed. But this will be much more comfortable,” I said.

“Well, it’s the least I could do, seeing as how I made you get
all wet.” He smiled with his cocked eyebrow up. I smiled and shook my head at
his little innuendo and took the shirt. He had been that way since I had known
him and his comments always made me smile. I felt desirable around him. So
feminine. I headed into the bathroom and changed out of my soaked blouse and bra
and returned to Sonny’s office with the white plastic bag full of wet clothes.
Sonny’s shirt came down past my hips to the top of my thighs, and smelled like
his Stetson cologne. It began to make my head spin as I was now enveloped in
“Sonny.” My head told me I needed to leave but my body kept telling me to
stay.

“I better go, I’ve got a lot to do tonight. What are you doing
here so late anyway?” I asked, trying to ignore my body.

“Oh, I’m here waitin’ on DNA results on that pink lipstick from
those cigarettes. I think that’s gonna tell us a lot. I wanna be here when it
comes in.”

So dedicated,
I thought.

“Do you need me to wait with you? I mean, do I need to be here,
too?” My body was still speaking instead of my head. Wait there all night with
Sonny, in his big dress shirt and wearing no bra?
Smart,
Blake, really smart.
Not a good idea, especially when I had so much
work to do, being in the middle of both of these incredibly stressful cases. I
squirmed and tried to shut my body up.

“As much as I would love for you to be here, I’m okay and it
sounds like you have a full plate for tonight.” The heaviness of the moment
lightened as I turned to leave. “Besides, Harry called and I told him the
results were coming in late tonight. He said he’d be swingin’ by in a few.” I
took a deep breath, realizing Harry did not need to see me in Sonny’s shirt. I
sped things up.

“Oh, okay. Well, I better get going so y’all can work and I can
get going on my file.” I swallowed hard, not wanting to leave the security of
Sonny but knowing I needed to. I reached up and hugged him around his neck and
he held me around my back, pressing me to him tightly.

“Thanks again for the shirt. Y’all call me when you get the
results, okay?” I said, releasing him.

“Will do. Don’t work too hard,” he said with a smile. It was a
tender, awkward moment. We both felt something was happening but the timing was
off. I smiled and headed back to the front of the station. As I reached for the
door, I turned back and looked at Sonny leaning in his office doorway, hands in
his pockets and smiling at me. Something stirred in me that I hadn’t felt in a
long time. It was prickly and uncomfortable and soothing and intoxicating all at
the same time. I breathed in a deep breath.

Outside, the rain had stopped and the street was dark as I made
my way back across the lot to my car. On the short drive home, Sonny’s cologne
kept drifting under my nose, wafting around my face. It made me feel good. I
caught myself smiling.

At home I changed into my loose cotton shorts and kept Sonny’s
shirt on. The lights were dim, the ceiling fans turning slowly as I made my way
to the bed with my file. Opening the envelope, I spread all the papers and my
notes out all over my bed and made myself comfortable. I tried to concentrate
but the smell of Sonny was all over me, and I didn’t want to lose it. I began
sifting through the evidence, the real estate files and my own petitions. None
of it was making sense. Everything looked legitimate but their dates weren’t
coordinating with the petitions and I knew I must be missing something. I was
going over everything with a fine-toothed comb, but I knew I would need more
information and that would have to wait until I could call for additional files
in the morning. I was pretty confident I could string it all together with just
a tad more info. Besides, I was fidgeting and restless, wrestling with the
essence of a certain favorite cop.

* * *

It was later that evening and when I decided I needed to
stretch and take a breather. I walked into the bathroom and put my hair up in a
ponytail. Home was dark and cold that night. The house was so quiet.

I’m usually pretty independent. I’m the one people turn to in a
crisis. But tonight’s damp air, along with all the thoughts swirling in my head,
not to mention Sonny’s cologne drifting over me, had left me a little lonely,
and I felt drawn to go back to Meridee’s. I was a little emotional and seeking
some comfort and Meridee’s is my port in a storm. If I was going to spend the
evening alone, I wanted to do it somewhere safe, and Meridee’s was just the
ticket. I knew it would relax me and that’s just what I needed. I changed into a
pair of sweatpants and a warm sweater, then hopped in my car for the short drive
to Mother’s.

Her house was dark and a little damp. Someone had left the
kitchen window open from earlier today and the feel and smell of the rain had
crept inside. With Harry and Sonny working and Vivi safely tucked in for the
night, we were all separated for the first time since Lewis had gone missing. I
think we all needed a break.

I walked down the hall and switched on the lamp that sat on the
old phone table and opened the linen closet. Never very organized, Meridee’s
towels and sheets were all thrown mish-mash around the closet, crammed in here
and there. I knew she kept a box of pictures and old love letters from her
beloved Frank on the back of one of the shelves, and I felt like reading them.
With my marriage to Harry feeling very tenuous, I thought it would feel good to
read those letters and remind myself of the real love that Frank and Meridee had
for one another. I knew it would remind me that that kind of love really did
exist.

I shoved my hand between the jammed linens until I felt the
hard side of the box. I pulled it out and sat on the old tapestry carpet right
there in the hallway. I didn’t even know what I was looking for. Evidence that
passionate love was a real thing? Maybe I was just needing the comfort of
Meridee in the middle of all this. I was suddenly swimming in a memory from one
of my favorite summers—one that I like to call “the summer of the voices.”

That summer was so extraordinary we had to title it. One hot
August day, my friends and I were playing in the cool, damp basement at
Mother’s. It was after my grandpa Frank had died and the Ouiji board was in its
heyday. Right in the middle of our game, we heard the ceiling creak and crack,
but we thought we were alone. We ran upstairs to explore the house. Finding no
one, we returned to the basement and our game when…it spoke.

“Blake.”

Something said my name.

“Did you hear that?” my friend Kathleen asked.