Wiped Out (19 page)

With a sigh, Charlotte set the timer on the dryer. She turned the dryer on, then stood there for several minutes, staring at the laundry room wall. How long had June and Gordon been having an affair? Her mind still racing, Charlotte felt her stomach tighten in a knot.

She should have told Judith about the brownie incident, about how June had insisted that Mimi sample one of the brownies the morning before the HHS meeting and about how Mimi had complained to Charlotte that the brownie was bitter.

“It was bitter alright,” Charlotte muttered. Bitter with the jimsonweed. And she should have told Judith about the gossip she'd heard about Gordon as well, instead of worrying what Judith or the police would think about her meddling.

Charlotte reached into her pocket for her cell phone. “No time like the present,” she whispered, as she punched in Judith's phone number. “Please, oh, please be there,” she murmured, as the phone began ringing.

When Judith answered on the second ring, Charlotte let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, Judith, thank God I got you,” she said.

“Aunt Charlotte? What's wrong? Is it the baby? Has something happened to the baby or Nadia?”

Charlotte groaned, and guilt reared its ugly head. Not once in the past twenty minutes had she even thought about little Danielle. “No, hon,” she quickly reassured her niece. “I'm not calling about Danielle or Nadia. Last I heard, your little niece was holding her own and Nadia was still sleeping. I'm calling about Mary Lou Adams's murder. You've arrested the wrong suspects, and I have to talk to you—”

Charlotte heard a noise. “Wait a second, hon,” she whispered into the phone and tilted her head forward. After listening a moment more, sure enough she heard the distinct sound of footsteps…footsteps headed her way. June's footsteps.

Now what?

Charlotte figured she had two choices. She could either play it safe, hang up, and get out of there or—“Judith, don't hang up,” Charlotte whispered. “Please just hang on and listen.”

“Aunt Charley, don't you dare—”

Without waiting for Judith to finish and praying that she wouldn't hang up, Charlotte dropped the cell phone into her pocket. With all of the real evidence conveniently disposed of, there was only one way of actually proving that June had killed Mimi.

Swallowing hard and taking a deep breath for courage, Charlotte turned, faced the doorway, and waited for June to appear.

W
ithin moments, June appeared in the doorway of the laundry room.

She knows that I know she killed Mimi, Charlotte thought, as she stared at June. Fear mingled with sudden anger, and both settled in the pit of her stomach. It was there in June's smug, amused expression as well as in the hard, knowing glint in her eyes.

But of course she knew. Only a moron would think that no one would notice the little tryst June had set up for the evening. And only a moron would think that no one would put two and two together. If Charlotte's suspicions were correct—and she was ninety-nine percent sure that they were—June was certainly no moron. Far from it. But even worse, even more terrifying, Charlotte could tell that June didn't care that Charlotte knew. Why didn't she care?

Charlotte's heart raced as she contemplated all of the reasons that June wouldn't care; she took deep, even breaths in an effort to calm down. Of all the reasons, one in particular kept popping into her head. June didn't care because she planned on getting rid of Charlotte.

Weapons? Make sure she doesn't have a weapon.
Charlotte glanced at June's hands.

As if she'd read Charlotte's thoughts, June held out her hand. Other than Charlotte's lunch bag, June's hands were empty. “I didn't want you to forget this,” June told her.

When Charlotte took the lunch bag, June crossed her arms and a sinister smile pulled at her lips. “Are you finished snooping yet?”

Shock rippled through Charlotte. She had suspected that June was deceitful and evil. She'd have to be to poison her best friend. But her brazenness was unbelievable. The woman not only thought she could get away with murder, but she intended to flaunt it as well.

Shock quickly yielded to anger, and Charlotte tightened her grip on the lunch bag. No one should get away with murder. But June would. She would unless someone did something about it. With no evidence to speak of and Doreen and George Mires in jail for the crime, the only way to trap June would be to get her to confess. June might think she was clever, but Charlotte figured if she played her cards right, she just might be able to use June's arrogance to trip her up.

Taking a deep breath, Charlotte sent up a quick prayer for strength to do what had to be done, and another prayer that Judith was listening.

“I'm almost finished,” Charlotte finally answered evenly. “What I'm having trouble understanding is why? Mimi thought you were her friend.”

June didn't even try to pretend that she didn't know what Charlotte was talking about. She laughed. “Why did I do it?”

Charlotte nodded.

“Hmm, let's see now.” Suddenly her eyes flashed with pure venom. “Because she had it all,” June snapped, her voice rising. “She had the house, the two perfect kids, the money, the social standing, and she had Gordon. Worst of all, she didn't deserve any of it—took it all for granted, thought it was her due.” June dropped her arms and her hands curled into fists. “A man like Gordon deserves more. He deserves a woman who really appreciates him, someone who truly loves him, not some simpering weakling who doesn't have sense enough to come out of the rain.”

“But she thought you were her friend,” Charlotte repeated.

“Ha! No one, but no one was Mimi's friend. She didn't know the meaning of the word.”

“That's a little like the pot calling the kettle black, given the circumstances, don't you think?” The moment Charlotte uttered the words, she wished she had kept her mouth shut. Antagonizing June was not the way to keep her talking about the murder.

June glared at Charlotte. “There are two kinds of people in this life: givers and takers. Mimi was a taker, a selfish, silly woman who thought the world and everyone in it owed her a living.”

“The poison,” Charlotte injected, in an attempt to keep June from going off on a tangent. “You baked two batches of brownies that day, didn't you? One laced with the jimsonweed for Mimi to taste test, and another batch to serve at the meeting.”

“Well now,” June sneered. “Aren't you the clever little maid? Figured that out all by yourself, did you?” She laughed. “But then I suspected you had when you found my panties. Too bad, though, and a fat lot of good it's going to do you. In case you haven't heard, the police have already arrested Mimi's killers, and you can't prove diddly-squat. It's your word against mine.”

“No, I guess I can't,” Charlotte replied, praying that her face wouldn't give her away and wishing that she had the nerve to shake her cell phone in June's smug face.

June stepped back and motioned for Charlotte to exit the room. “You can leave now, and if you have any ideas about running to the cops, I'd think twice about that if I were you.”

Clutching her lunch bag, Charlotte took a step forward, but June held up her hand to stop her, and Charlotte tensed.

“Just one more thing.” June laughed again. “Under the circumstances, your services won't be needed any longer. You're fired! Oh, and don't expect any references either.” Again she motioned with her hand. “Now you can leave.”

Charlotte didn't waste time. Keeping an eagle eye on June, she hurried past her. With a prayer on her lips and feeling as if the hounds of hell were nipping at her heels, she hotfooted it through the kitchen, down the entrance hall, and out the front door. Too easy, she kept thinking. June had let her go too easily.

Once outside, she ran down the porch steps and jogged all the way to the van. June might be arrogant, but she had to know that there was no way Charlotte would keep her mouth shut.

Charlotte's hand shook as she unlocked the door to the van. When she finally opened it, a rush of pent-up heat hit her, and for a moment her legs went weak as a feeling of vertigo washed over her.

She grabbed the steering wheel to keep her balance and threw the lunch bag in. Ignoring the heat, she pulled herself inside, slammed the door, and hit the automatic locking mechanism. Once she heard the comforting click of the door locks, she felt a bit safer. Only then did she venture a glance back at the house.

What she saw chilled her to the bone despite the heat. June was standing in the doorway, her arms crossed against her breasts, and she was laughing! “Have a nice day,” June called out. Then she waved and burst into laughter again.

“We'll just see who gets the last laugh,” Charlotte muttered, as sweat trickled down her face. But in spite of her bravado, she still couldn't shake the feeling of imminent danger, a nagging feeling not unlike waiting for the other shoe to drop.

With a shiver of fear and trembling fingers, she jammed the key into the ignition, cranked the van, and peeled rubber.

Once Charlotte was safely several blocks away, she pulled the van over and shoved the gearshift into park. Still fearful that any minute she'd see June coming after her, she left the engine running, just in case she needed to make a fast getaway.

Breathing heavily and checking the rearview mirror, she adjusted the air conditioner vent to blow on her face. Her head felt as if a jackhammer was inside working overtime. The cool air from the vent helped, but dear Lord, she was tired. And thirsty. Her mouth felt like she'd tried to chew a wad of cotton.

No time to think about that now, though. She fumbled in her pocket for the cell phone. Once she finally got a grip on the phone, she put it to her ear, and praying that Judith hadn't hung up, she said, “Please tell me you heard what was said.”

“Every word, Auntie. When I realized what you were doing, I grabbed a tape recorder, and I've got every damning word on tape. We were just lucky that you were so close to her. Now—please tell me that you've left that house.”

Charlotte's vision suddenly blurred, and she blinked several times in an effort to clear her eyes. Something was wrong, something—

“Auntie? Are you still there? Answer me!”

Charlotte nodded, then realized that Judith couldn't see her nodding. Got to answer Judith. “Yes, I-I'm parked—Oh, Judith, something's wrong. I—I feel—”

“Aunt Charlotte!”

Suddenly, with the speed of a runaway freight train, Charlotte knew exactly what was wrong. Headache…irritability…thirst…All the same symptoms that Mimi had had. But when, and how?

She gripped the phone tighter. “I—I've been poisoned,” she whispered. “She poisoned me.” And though her thoughts were growing more confused with each passing moment, she tried to think back over the day, tried to pinpoint a time that June could have poisoned her.

“Auntie, you're scaring me!” Judith cried. “Who poisoned you? Where are you?”

“The salad,” Charlotte whispered. “And the noise I heard.”

“Aunt Charley, you aren't making sense. Where in hell are you?”

“Don't curse,” Charlotte mumbled, her mind growing fuzzy. “I think I'm near Prytania and Washington. Hurry, Judith. Please hurry.”

“A
unt Charley! Wake up! You can't go to sleep!”

Charlotte didn't want to wake up. Her head still hurt. Besides, what was Judith doing in her bedroom? she wondered. And why was her bed moving?

“Go away,” she tried to whisper, but her mouth didn't want to work. Thirsty, so thirsty. And something was covering her mouth. Dear Lord, was Judith trying to smother her?

“She's coming around,” a gruff voice said, a gruff male voice. “Hey, Ms. LaRue, just take it easy now. I've got an oxygen mask on you. No-no, don't pull it off. Leave it on.”

Charlotte forced her eyes open. Above her were Judith and a doctor. Outside, a siren screamed. No, not a doctor, Charlotte decided. The man was a paramedic. “Wh-what happened?” she tried to ask, but her voice was muffled by the oxygen mask.

“You've been poisoned, Auntie. You told me you were poisoned. Remember?”

Charlotte felt as if she were wading through a fog, but the second Judith said “poisoned” it all came back. June…Mimi…the confrontation in the laundry room…the noise she'd heard downstairs…the bitter salad…

“Who poisoned you, Auntie, and what did they poison you with?”

Charlotte blinked, trying to clear her blurry vision. “June,” she muttered. “June Bryant. Same as Mimi.”

“Jimsonweed, Auntie?”

Charlotte nodded. “In my salad,” she murmured. “Should have known…salad in the garbage…couldn't eat it all.” Her voice trailed away.

 

Though Charlotte was semiconscious during the ambulance ride to the hospital, and she was conscious when she was treated for the poison, most of it was a blur. By the time she was finally admitted to a room, Hank had shown up.

“Just take it easy, Mom,” he said, as he smoothed her hair away from her face. “You're going to be just fine.”

“Where's Judith?” she asked.

Hank's hand stilled on her forehead. “Judith said to tell you that she'd be in later to get a statement from you. Right now, though, I'm pretty sure she's arresting that woman who did this.”

Charlotte nodded. “Good. No one should get away with murder.”

“Don't worry about all of that right now. Just rest.”

Charlotte nodded again, then shook her head from side to side. “Can't rest yet. Need to find out how the baby is.”

“The baby's holding her own,” Hank reassured her. “I just called a few minutes ago.”

Charlotte closed her eyes. “Good,” she murmured.

 

When Charlotte opened her eyes again, Judith was standing over her. “What time is it?” Charlotte asked. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Brian Lee standing by the door.

“It's late, about eleven. So how are you feeling?”

Charlotte frowned. “Actually, pretty good, I think. My headache is finally gone, thank goodness.”

“That was a pretty close call, Aunt Charley. What am I going to do with you? Haven't you learned yet that you can't go around conducting your own little investigations. One of these days you're going to get yourself killed.”

“Now, Judith, I really don't want to hear a lecture right now. I know you're upset with me, but I do not, as you say, go around conducting my own investigations. Can I help it if I hear things?”

“No ma'am, I suppose not, but when you hear something that's relevant—relevant to an ongoing case—you need to report it, not jump in the big middle.”

Knowing it was pointless to argue with Judith, Charlotte sighed. “So what happened?” she asked. “Did you arrest June, I hope?”

Judith nodded. “You bet. We hauled her butt in. Of course, she denied everything and demanded an attorney right off the bat. But once her attorney got there and heard the tape, and once he learned about you and your salad, he talked to her and she changed her tune. She wants her lawyer to try plea-bargaining for manslaughter. But she went too far when she tried to murder you too.” Judith pursed her lips. “I don't think the DA will go for it. And by the way, we found the remainder of your salad outside in the garbage can.”

“And?”

“And just as you suspected, there were traces of jimsonweed in it. Not a lot, mind you. But enough.”

“Not a lot,” Charlotte retorted, “because, like an idiot, I ate some of it.”

“Never mind that for now. One thing, though. Why did she suspect that you knew?”

“As best as I can figure, it was the panties.” When Judith frowned, Charlotte explained about finding the panties in the dryer.

“That's pretty flimsy,” Judith commented.

“Yeah, I suppose so,” Charlotte agreed. “But she also noticed that there was a resemblance between you and me, and she commented on it more than once.” Charlotte shrugged. “The only thing I can think of is that she found out that you were my niece, then put two and two together.”

“One more thing, Auntie. How did she get hold of your salad?”

“I was upstairs cleaning,” Charlotte explained. “And I thought I heard a noise but didn't pay it much attention. You know how those old houses creak and settle. Anyway, I figure that's when she did it.”

“But how did she get inside? You did lock the doors, didn't you?”

“Yes, Judith. I always lock the doors. But June has her own key.”

Judith nodded knowingly. “Well, why don't we go ahead and get a formal statement from you—that is, if you're feeling up to it.”

When Charlotte nodded, Brian stepped closer to the bed. In his hands were a small tablet and pen.

“Glad you're doing better, Ms. LaRue,” he said. “Just go over what happened.”

As Charlotte recounted what had happened, Brian took notes, only interrupting a couple of times to clarify a point.

“Well, guess that about does it,” he finally said. “You were lucky, Ms. LaRue—this time.” He then added, “And Judith's right. Next time you overhear something that's relevant to a case, you need to report it.”

Charlotte shuddered. “The good Lord willing, there won't be a next time.” She turned to Judith. “A couple of questions, hon, if it's okay.”

Judith shrugged. “It's okay by me.”

“Did June happen to say anything about Gordon being involved—I mean, like, did he conspire with her to kill Mimi?”

“Why are you asking?” Brian interrupted. “Do you have information that could implicate him?”

Annoyed at Brian's interruption, Charlotte shook her head. “Not really, nothing other than the fact that he and June were having an affair. And the reason I'm asking is because I work for him.”

“We know about the affair,” Judith said. “June included that in her confession. But to answer your question, she denied that Gordon Adams had anything to do with poisoning his wife. And so far, we haven't found any hard evidence to implicate him in any kind of conspiracy.”

Charlotte found that hard to believe, and from the look on Judith's face, she figured that Judith didn't quite believe Gordon was completely innocent either. “Another question. Other than what June said to me—what you recorded—did she offer any other reasons for killing Mimi?”

Judith shook her head. “Not really. But we did find out that she's been planning this for a long time, almost a year. And I have to say, as murders go, she was pretty devious. She covered most of her bases. Spreading rumors about Mimi having an affair with Rita Landers's husband was a stroke of genius. Then aggravating an already touchy situation between Mimi and her neighbor Sally Lawson, as well as rigging that HHS election.” Judith laughed. “She didn't admit it, but I wouldn't put it past her to have rigged that business with Doreen and George Mires as well. Too bad she didn't count on my aunt being such a snoop.”

“Judith Monroe, you take that back. I am not a snoop.” When both Judith and Brian began laughing, Charlotte said, “That's okay. Go ahead and laugh, make fun of me, but I love you anyway, even if you are a royal pain sometimes. Now—” Charlotte pushed herself up in the bed. “Hand me my clothes.”

“Whoa, hold on there, Auntie. Where do you think you're going?”

“I'm going to check on my grandniece.”

The door leading into the hallway swung open, and Hank and Carol walked in. “What's going on?” Hank asked, when he saw Charlotte sitting on the side of the bed.

“Your mother wants to get dressed and go to Ochsner to check on Danielle.”

“Mother, you can't—”

“Oh yes I can,” Charlotte shot back. “One way or another I'm going. Maddie, Daniel, and Nadia need all the support they can get right now. So either help me or get out of my way.”

For several seconds Hank stared at his mother; then, with a sigh, he nodded. “In that case, we'll all go. Just let me make a couple of calls first.”

“And not a word to Madeline, Daniel, or Nadia about any of this,” Charlotte warned them. “They've got enough on their minds without worrying about me too.”

 

It was well after midnight by the time they got to Ochsner and located Madeline and Daniel in the waiting room.

“How is she?” Charlotte asked Daniel.

“So far, so good,” he replied.

“And Nadia? How's she holding up?”

As if the very mention of Nadia's name had summoned her, the door to the waiting room swung open. Standing in the doorway with one hand gripping the door frame and the other hand gripping the edge of the door was Nadia.

“I'm okay, Charlotte, but I'll be a lot better once my little girl makes it through this night.”

Nadia's face was as pale as the white walls of the waiting room, and Daniel immediately rushed over to her.

“Aw, honey, what are you doing out of bed?” he said, wrapping his arm around her waist to lend support.

“They said I could get up and walk around if I felt like it.”

“Well at least sit down,” Daniel urged, motioning toward the sofa.

“Okay, but just a minute till I catch my breath. Then, I want to see our little girl.”

After Daniel helped Nadia over to the sofa, Judith approached him. “Hey, big brother.” She wrapped her arms around him, and for several moments, simply held him within her embrace. When she released him, she said, “I'm so sorry. I would have been here earlier, but it was impossible to get away.”

As Charlotte watched the two of them together, her throat grew tight and she was reminded of when they were children. Madeline had been battling depression over her divorce from their father, and Charlotte had been forced to step in and take over the care of Daniel and Judith. Daniel, just a young boy, had been waging his own battle, trying to come to terms with the fact that his father wasn't around any longer. He'd wanted to talk to his father, but his father wouldn't return his phone calls. Then, too, Judith had wrapped her arms around her brother, and had, in her own childlike way, tried to comfort him.

“Daddy's just mean, Daniel,” Judith had told him, patting him on the back. “We don't need him 'cause we've got Aunt Charley, and she's better than any old daddy any day.”

“Aunt Charley? Earth to Aunt Charley.”

Charlotte blinked at the sound of her name, and when she glanced up, Judith was standing in front of her.

“Are you okay, Auntie?”

“Just daydreaming, hon.”

“How about something to drink?”

Charlotte nodded. “A Coke would be great. Thanks, hon.”

“Anyone else?” Judith asked.