Dying for a Change (21 page)

“
Spring is right around the corner,” I told her cheerfully.

“
Really. What corner is that?”

The room was stifling. We were both struggling out of our coats when Pat came up, a very tall, very blond, very good looking young man right behind her. She gave me a quick hug, then looked inquiringly at Susannah.

“
This is my daughter,” I started as Pat said, “This is my son, Neil.”

Neil was instantly at Susannah’s side, helping her off with her coat, his blond head bending down toward her dark one. She looked up at him with obvious interest as she stuffed her hat in her coat pocket.

“
You can leave all that over there.” Neil pointed toward some chairs lined up against the wall. He took her arm, as well as her coat, and they walked off.

Deserted, Pat and I watched their retreating backs.

“
That didn’t take long,” Pat said wryly. “Drop your stuff on that pile and I’ll introduce you around. We’ll be starting in a few minutes.”

People stood in little groups, talking, sipping coffee from white Styrofoam cups, and nibbling at the edges of the ubiquitous cookies that always show up at meetings. Tina waved at me. Tonight her fingernails were apple green. They nicely matched her extra-tight mini skirt. She’d topped that with a voluminous blouse that contained twice as much material as her skirt and had finished the look with some sort of metal belt that clanked when she moved. I thought about Tina’s mother, probably huddled in her kitchen, muttering into her coffee cup, praying her daughter would outgrow all this. Soon.

Pat headed toward Ruthie, who was talking with a man and woman I didn’t recognize. I followed. Ruthie gave me a large grin and a squeeze on the arm as we walked up. The man favored me with a friendly smile, the heavyset woman scowled.

Pat sighed, almost imperceptibly, and started the introductions. “Ellen, this is Dr. Carl Bennington. He’s the President of The Little Playhouse group, and in his spare time is a small animal veterinarian and my husband.”

The shorter, slightly balding version of Neil pumped my hand. “How nice to meet you. You haven’t had the greatest home coming this last week, but I hope you have some fun with us.”

I pumped his hand right back, and decided instantly Jake had a new doctor.

Pat went on with the introductions. “This is Amelia Williams. She’s the Secretary for our group.”

There was an undercurrent in Pat’s voice that made me take a better look at Amelia, who still scowled from under carefully plucked eyebrows. The effects of gravity showed in her face, or maybe it was discontent that pulled down the corners of her mouth, but one too many hot fudge sundaes had created the wattles that swayed over the neck of her cashmere sweater.

“
So you’re the one that found the bodies.” She hurled each word at me. “Ruthie says you were there when they took Tom Chandler off, too. You’ve been busy since you came back to town. Any other juicy little pies you’re planning to get your fingers in?”

I found myself speechless. Who was this woman? What did she have against me?”

“
Just like your mother and your aunts, aren’t you? Can’t leave well enough alone.” Turning her back on me, she said to the group in general, “It looks like Dan Dunham finally got something right. I’ve always known Tom Chandler was no good. He’s got an uncontrollable temper, and now it’s caught up with him.” She gave a self-satisfied nod that set the wattles going and glanced over her shoulder at me with another glare.

I was nonplused, embarrassed, and furious. What had I done to be on the receiving end of all that spite? There was a tug on my sleeve. Pat, deeply flushed, pulled me away.

Amelia had quite an audience gathered round, listening intently. Carl vainly tried to change the subject. “Time to get started, everyone,” he kept saying, but Amelia wasn’t about to relinquish her place center stage. On she went, relating more of Tom’s sins, past and present.

Curious looks brushed across my back as Pat dragged me into the far corner with the coats. Tina and Ruthie were right behind, and they all immediately started to console me.

“
That vicious old bat.” Ruthie patted my arm with a little m ore force than necessary. “It’s a wonder she doesn’t choke on her own venom.”

“
I’m sorry, Ellen.” Pat, usually smiling Pat, scowled. “I should have warned you about Amelia. She’s our cross to bear.” She looked back toward the center of the room and sighed. “Poor Carl. She must have cornered him right away, and he was having such a good day.”

“
Carl hates her.” Ruthie acted as if she was confiding a deeply guarded secret. I looked back over at the group. From the rigid stance of Carl’s back, that was no secret.

“
But, why me?” I asked, still shaken. “I’ve never seen the woman before.”

“
It’s your Aunt Mary,” Ruthie said.

“
My — what?”

“
Amelia likes to direct,” Pat said, distaste obvious. “People, organizations, fund raisers, she doesn’t care as long as she’s in charge. Only, she’s not too fond of work.”

“
She’s great at causing fights,” Ruthie observed.

That I could believe. “What does that have to do with me?”

“
Your Aunt Mary McGill works her tail off, gets everything and everybody organized, and won’t tolerate fights. So, when a chairman of anything gets chosen, Amelia’s out, Mary’s in.” Ruthie smiled broadly. “Our dear Amelia hates Mary, you’re her niece, so you get hated too.”

“
Mary doesn’t belong to our group,” Pat sighed, as if that was a regrettable fact “so, of course, Amelia joined. She keeps trying to run everything, but, so far, we’ve beaten her down.”

“
I’ll bet she keeps trying.” I took another look at the venomous Amelia. “What was all that about Tom? She makes it sound like he blows up all the time. Is that true?”

Pat and Ruthie glanced at each other. Ruthie replied, looking troubled. “Sort of. It’s not that he gets mad a whole lot, but when he does, he really blows.” Then she quickly added, “He cools down real fast.”

“
Tom beat up Kevin the other night.” Tina. I’d forgotten she was there, and whirled around to look at her. Ruthie and Pat stared at her also.

“
When?” Ruthie demanded.

“
How do you know?” asked Pat.

“
Who’s Kevin?” I added.

“
Kevin is Amelia’s son,” Pat answered.

“
Kevin’s a...”

“
Ruthie,” Pat warned.

“
Well, anyone who punches out Kevin is okay in my book,” Ruthie declared.

“
Will someone please tell me what’s wrong with Kevin and why Tom hit him?” I said impatiently.

“
Kevin likes to harass women.” Pat looked like she’d taken a mouthful of sour milk. “He corners you, starts off telling dirty jokes, goes onto innuendoes, makes sure you’re embarrassed, then gets explicit. It’s hard to get away from him without making a scene, and, of course, that’s what he counts on.”

“
Yeah,” Tina said. “My sister saw it.”

Tina lost me, but not Pat. “Your sister saw Tom hit Kevin?”

“
At the Blue Beetle, down by the college. Kevin was telling Nicole a joke, and Tom landed him right on the floor. Jumped right on top of him. He really punched Kevin out.” She giggled. “Wish I’d seen it. I can’t stand Kevin.” That seemed to make it unanimous.

Carl had finally gotten most of the group away from Amelia and was calling for the meeting to start, but I wasn’t quite ready to let go of this discussion.

“
Are you saying Tom’s temper is so bad he hits people on a regular basis?”

“
No, of course not,” Pat said, rather defensively. “It’s nothing more than being a little hot headed sometimes. Dan’s wrong. Tom wouldn’t kill anybody.”

“
If it wasn’t for that gun,” Ruthie said wistfully. “It’d be nice to think someone stole it from him, but how could anyone know he had one, or that he kept it in his car?”

“
I think we better sit down.” Pat sounded a little nervous. “Carl’s frowning, not a good sign.”

Tina started toward the chairs, then turned back and offhandedly said, “Benjamin Lockwood knew about Tom’s gun and where he kept it.”

“
Wait.” Ruthie grabbed Tina by the hand and pulled her through the double doors into the empty hallway. Pat and I hurried after them.

“
Okay, give.” Ruthie had Tina up against the wall like someone from a scene in an old gangster movie, flanked by an astounded Pat and a fascinated me. “How do you know about Tom’s gun?”

Maybe it was the bad light, the shock of our sudden interrogation, or just a reflection from Tina’s skirt, but her complexion took on a slightly greenish tinge. “They were talking about it,” she stammered.

“
Who was talking about what when?” Ruthie pressed.

“
Just a minute.” Pat pulled Ruthie back a little. “Tina, tell us how you know about the gun.” Her voice was calm, quiet, obviously trying to steady the thoroughly rattled girl.

“
I was at the Emporium, looking for boots.” Tina stopped and eyed Ruthie as if she thought she’d be attacked at any moment.

“
Go on,” Pat encouraged.

“
Tom was there, talking to Benjamin about guns, hunting rifles or something. Tom said he had a hand gun and had Benjamin ever tried one.”

“
What’d Benjamin say?” Ruthie was trying to close in again.

“
I don’t know. I wasn’t listening. What do I care about stupid old guns?” Tina was edging toward the door but Ruthie was too fast for her.

“
What else?”

“
Nothing else.” A slight flush crept up Tina’s cheeks, replacing the light green color. “Except Dottie told Tom it wasn’t safe to carry guns around, unlocked, in cars and stuff. She was pretty insistent. Tom laughed.”

“
Dottie? Dottie was there?” It was Ruthie who asked, but we all stared at her, trying to absorb this.

“
What’s so unusual about that? There’s no place else to shop in this town.” Tina ducked under Ruthie’s arm, flounced through the double doors into the auditorium, blond hair and green skirt both bouncing in indignation.

“
What do you think?” Pat looked as confused as I felt.

“
Plain as black and white.” Ruthie certainly wasn’t confused. “I don’t know why I didn’t see it before. Benjamin killed Hank in a rage, then he stole Tom’s gun and shot Dottie because he knew she knew he knew Tom had one. The old reprobate.”

“
That doesn’t make sense,” Pat exclaimed. I didn’t say anything. I was still trying to unscramble Ruthie’s sentence.

“
Ruthie, think. Dottie was shot for some other reason entirely, not because she knew about the gun. Ellen already told us Ray knew about it, and if Tom talked so freely, probably half the town knew. No, this only means Benjamin could have taken it, nothing more.

Do you agree, Ellen?”

I nodded. Pat was right. We hadn’t proved anything, but we had removed one ‘suppose’. Benjamin knew about the gun and where to find it. If only I could remove a few more ‘supposes’.

We trailed silently back through the double doors into the auditorium. Pat looked worried, Ruthie confused. Now that her theory had been blown apart. I mulled over all this new information, wondering if it meant anything, and if so, what? I tried to sit myself on a flimsy folding chair without making a racket and almost missed Carl’s announcement.

“
There will be a memorial service for Dottie Fielding tomorrow morning at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, at ten o’clock. She will be buried in the mid-west, with her family, so we thought this would be best. I hope all of you can come and, please, tell anyone else who might not have heard. This has been a hard week for all of us, a shocking week. This is the least we can do to honor a good friend. Now, about this year’s musical.”

The arguments flew fast and furious. It seemed the selection committee wanted to do “Man From La Mancha”. Several others, led by Amelia, surprise, surprise, wanted to do “Cats”. Tempers ran high for a while, and I got caught up in the drama of the floor fight. “Man From La Mancha” won.

“
I’m exhausted,” I told Pat as the meeting broke up. “The US Senate is tame compared to this. Is it always like that?”

“
No, thank God. Only when it’s time to chose a new play or musical. I told you Amelia likes to run things. This evening you had the special treat of seeing her in action.”

“
But she lost.”

“
Yes,” Pat replied, and we both laughed.

I looked around for Susannah. She was across the room with Neil, who was helping her on with her coat.

“
Mom. You don’t mind going home alone, do you? Neil and I thought we’d go have coffee.”

“
Denny’s. It’s the only place open.” Neil peered earnestly at me. “I won’t keep her out late, so you don’t have to stay up.”

Now, that was funny. Susannah lived in an apartment with three other girls who didn’t, I was sure, keep track of her hours. I doubted if the domineering mother act would work on her any longer. Not that it ever had. However, for appearances sake, I said, “No, I don’t mind. Be careful driving.”

Promising he would indeed be careful, Neil hustled her out, leaving me looking back at Pat’s smiling face. She walked over to me.

“
That was quick. Do you think they were struck by lightning when we weren’t looking? Anyway, how about stopping by our place for coffee. I’ll even add a little something extra to it.”