A Good Man Gone (Mercy Watts Mysteries) (10 page)

I drove away from the church with nothing, but the hairs raised on the back of my neck. A murder in the church Gavin called. Coincidence? I doubted it. Might as well go on to Aunt Tenne’s and indulge my secret desire to eat an eight-thousand-calorie-a-day diet. Aunt Tenne was a 911 operator on the graveyard shift and a woman without a hint of a social life. She was good for sympathy and snacks. Mom liked to call her a big girl, but at fifty-five she wasn’t a girl, and big didn’t quite cover it. Aunt Tenne had to turn sideways to get into her closet, which is to say she was morbidly obese. Of course, no one used those words to describe her. I’d heard plump, overweight, big boned, but I never heard fat or obese, although I imagine she suffered it plenty.

I walked up to her door and paused. Inside Aretha Franklin hit the high notes while Aunt Tenne sang along. I knocked and waited. She opened the door five minutes later. “Mercy, just the girl I wanted to see.”

“Hi, Aunt Tenne. Why’d you want to see me?”

She moved back to let me through, and I went into the living room. Aretha was singing about respect.

“I’m taking a vacation. Well earned, if I do say so myself,” Aunt Tenne said.

“Where are you going?”

“Cruise. Want to go?” She turned to grab a diet coke off an end table as she asked. Otherwise, she’d have seen my expression, and I doubt it was pleasant. She turned back around and I had a fixed smile in place. I hoped it looked genuine. The thought of cruising with Aunt Tenne brought on visions of buffets and embarrassment. I’d spend the whole time fighting the urge to smack smug faces and trying to keep my favorite aunt out of the earshot of the nastiest voices. Still, if I didn’t go, who would? She’d rather stab herself in the head than ask my mother, her sister, to go. Aunt Tenne liked to say that Mom was born with a spotlight trained on her. I agreed. I’d felt the glare of Mom’s glow plenty. No one compared to her, not even me, and I was a dead ringer for both her and Marilyn Monroe. I’d inherited the spotlight, but I hadn’t quite grown into it yet. Aunt Tenne said it got worse as Mom got older. Last year, she caused a three-car pileup when she went out for a jog. Dad bought her a treadmill, so we wouldn’t get sued.

“When are you going?” I asked.

“I’m thinking sometime this summer.”

“Where to?”

“Virgin Islands or the Bahamas. What do you think?” she asked.

“Er…I’ll have to see if I can work it out financially.”

And mentally
.

“I have brochures.” Aunt Tenne spread a dozen booklets across the coffee table and looked at me hopefully. I felt sick to my stomach.

“I’m thinking the Bahamas. Everybody goes to the Virgins,” I said.

“Just what I was thinking. Are you hungry? I’m starving.” She led me into the kitchen and I had a childhood flashback. God, I loved Aunt Tenne’s kitchen. It was snack food heaven and stuffed to the gills. Mom’s kitchen was more wine sauces and vegetables.

“What are you in the mood for?” she asked.

“Calories and lots of them.” She turned away from the cabinets and brushed the hair out of her eyes. Her eyes got me. They were the same brilliant green as Mom’s, but without the scrutiny. Mom wouldn’t adopt Aunt Tenne’s look of concern without being sure that I hadn’t done anything wrong first. Aunt Tenne thought I could do no wrong. Little did she know.

“Gavin?” she asked.

“He died.” I ducked my head and swallowed hard.

“I know. Aunt Miriam called. I left you some messages.”

“I’m sorry. It’s been crazy since it happened.”

“What was he, fifty something? That’s so young,” she said.

“Not too young to get murdered,” I said. Good, good to have the word out of my mouth, past my lips.

Aunt Tenne grasped her chest and looked around for a seat. She sat and slowed her breathing while tears rushed down her cheeks. She reached for me. I took her hand and sat on the arm of the love seat. Aunt Tenne was the only one person I knew with a love seat in her kitchen.

“Honey, sweetie pie. What happened?” she said.

“I don’t know. The M.E. thinks he was poisoned with something that caused an MI.”

“Something he ate?” Aunt Tenne produced a candy bar from somewhere. She ate it without noticing what she consumed. I wondered if any M&M’s were stashed in her cushions. Or better yet Ding Dongs. I loved Ding Dongs.

Once after Thanksgiving dinner, I found six Ding Dong wrappers in the guest bathroom trash can. I was incensed. We had Ding Dongs and Mom was holding out on me. I marched around the house and found Mom in the pantry.

“How come I didn’t get any Ding Dongs?”

“What are you talking about? Go entertain Grandma George,” Mom said without turning around.

“Mom.”

Who knew the word “Mom” could be so long and irritating?

“Mercy, please. Go somewhere.”

“I want a Ding Dong.”

“We don’t have any Ding Dongs. Go on now.” She looked up from the apple pie she was cutting and glared at me.

“Mom,” I repeated.

“What’s wrong, girls?” Dad said from the doorway. He leaned on the frame, his arms crossed on his chest. He smiled so his dimples cut deep into his cheeks, and I thought he was the coolest guy ever. That was before I saw Clark Gable in
Gone with the Wind
.

“Mom won’t give me a Ding Dong,” I said.

“We have Ding Dongs?” Dad asked.

“No, we do not have Ding Dongs. How many times do I have to say that?” asked Mom.

“Yes, we do. I saw the wrappers in the bathroom.”

So there. I had evidence. Try and hold out on me, we’ll see about that.

“You saw Ding Dong wrappers in the bathroom?” Mom said. She looked at Dad. His dimples disappeared.

“Well, you know, she’s bound to have setbacks, Carolina,” Dad said.

“Well, I wonder how many setbacks she’s had. Mercy?” Mom’s hands went to her hips. Her knife was pointed at me and dropped bits of crust on the floor.

“What?” I said.

“How many wrappers did you find?” Mom asked.

“Six.”

“Great, just great.” Mom covered her eyes with her free hand, and Dad took my arm. He pulled me out of the pantry into the empty kitchen. He sat me in a chair and made coffee.

“You know how Aunt Tenne was on vacation the last couple of weeks?”

“Yeah,” I said.

“Do you know where she was?”

“No.”

“She was at a weight-loss clinic,” Dad said.

“So how come Mom gave her Ding Dongs?”

Dad made me a hot cocoa. He glanced at the pantry door before adding a tiny bit of peppermint schnapps. “She didn’t. Aunt Tenne brought them with her.”

“It’s Thanksgiving. Mom made six pies and a chocolate trifle.”

“I know,” he said.

That was the moment I realized Aunt Tennessee had a problem. I was ten, she was forty and fifteen years later she was still in the dark.

I looked around Aunt Tenne’s kitchen for my beloved Ding Dongs, while Aunt Tenne chewed. They could be anywhere -- the microwave, freezer, toaster oven -- but she was better than she used to be. She confined food to the kitchen. Food used to be all over the house, including the bathroom. She lost fifteen pounds after the change.

 
Aunt Tenne munched on chips and asked through mouthfuls, “What do we know so far?”

I got two snack cakes out of the microwave and settled for them. “Not much. He was poisoned at home, but died at the hospital. He was working on a case out of state and came home in a hurry. Oh, and on his cell phone recall I found the numbers of a church and University of Lincoln student services.”

“Was he in Lincoln before he came home?” she asked.

“Don’t know, but I did run by the church on the way over here. It’s a crime scene. The cops wouldn’t tell me anything though.”

“What church is it?”

“Rockville Church of Christ,” I said.

“Oh, yes. I know that one. You know that one. Everybody knows about that one.”

“I don’t.”

“Sure you do. You have to. It was the bride who was strangled right after her wedding on Saturday.” Aunt Tenne shoveled in more chips and hiccuped.

“That’s the day before Gavin died and he called that church. It was one of his last calls. Holy shit.”

“Mercy.” Aunt Tenne frowned at me.

“Sorry. I can’t believe I forgot about that. What an idiot,” I said.

“I knew you knew.”

“What’s her name?” I said.

“Who?” she asked.

“The bride.”

“Oh, yeah. Simple, no no, it’s Sample. Rebecca Sample. I think she was about your age, twenty-five or twenty-six. Maybe she was from Lincoln or went to school there,” said Aunt Tenne.

“I didn’t think of that. I knew I came here for a reason.”

Other than the snacks, that is
.

“I’m so sorry about Gavin, sweetie.” Aunt Tenne wiped her eyes again. “He was like family. Have you called your parents yet?”

“Yeah. They’re coming home as soon as they dock and get a flight.”

“When’s that?”

“Tomorrow, I think.” I polished off my cakes and scanned for a second helping.

“Then there’s no reason to get excited.”

“What do you mean?” I lowered my eyes.

“I mean, there’s no reason to keep after this. Tommy will take care of it,” she said.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said as I spotted another snack cake.

“I suppose you went to that church to find religion.”

“Not exactly.”

“I know you loved Gavin, but let Tommy handle it or the police. That’s what they’re there for,” said Aunt Tenne.

“You know what Dad thinks of that.”

“I know, I know. He’s sure the whole system has fallen to pieces without him. Well, let me tell you, it hasn’t. Besides, Chuck’s on it.”

“Please.” I rolled my eyes.

“You know he’s good, even Tommy thinks so.”

“I guess. Wait a minute. Chuck said he caught the bride case. How’d you know?” I asked.

“I saw him on the TV. He said a very eloquent, ‘No comment’.”

“Chuck’s on the case. Chuck’s on the case.”

“Mercy?” Aunt Tenne knitted her eyebrows.

“Give me a second,” I said.

She got up and put a pizza in the oven. I let my mind wander in an attempt to connect the dots. It was a slow process, given my sugar-saturated brain.

“Chuck answered the phone,” I mumbled.

“What’s that, sweetie?” asked Aunt Tenne.

“I called a number off Gavin’s recall and Chuck answered.”

“So what?”

“It wasn’t his phone, and he said as much. He wouldn’t tell me whose phone it was, but he kept asking where I got the number. Gavin called the church and then he called that number. I bet it was that bride’s phone. It was left at the crime scene.”

“Wouldn’t that be in an evidence locker?” she asked.

“Detectives check out evidence all the time.”

“Sounds good to me. You want a Coke?” she asked.

“Sure. And there was an S missing from Gavin’s files. Sample was probably a client. I can’t wait to tell Dad.”

“The sooner, the better. One thing I know is you are not supposed to be rummaging through crime scenes,” said Aunt Tenne.

“I didn’t rummage. I was picking up clothes for Dixie.”

“With a detour through Gavin’s files?”

“Yeah, well, you know how it is,” I said.

“Yes, I do know, and I want you to let it alone. Don’t you have some nursing to do?”

“You sound like the cop at the scene.”

“What did he say?” she asked.

“He told me to go thread some wieners,” I said.

“Couldn’t have put it better myself.” She laughed and fresh tears appeared at the corners of her eyes. “How’s Sharon handling it?”

“Not well,” I said.

“Anything I can do?”

“Maybe you could come over and stay with her for a while tonight. I have some stuff to do.”

“I will, but it better not be Gavin stuff. Go see Pete or something.”

“Pete. Oh crap. We’re supposed to have dinner. I have to go,” I said.

“What about my pizza?”

“Eat it for me. I’ll see you later.”

I went out Aunt Tenne’s front door and walked towards my truck when someone tapped me on the shoulder. “Ahhh!” I jumped away and turned around to find Aaron, a friend of Uncle Morty’s, standing there.

“Hi, Mercy,” said Aaron.

“What the hell are you doing here? You scared me to death,” I said, clutching my chest.

“My car broke down.” Aaron looked at me with the guile of a newborn calf, and I resisted the urge to slap my forehead. Aaron had a way of turning up when least expected. I can’t say I ever desired his company, but I sure spent plenty of time with him.