Dead Weight (25 page)

Grandma kept calling and recalling someone on her cell phone, so I finally asked, ‘You calling my mom?’

‘It’s going to voice mail,’ Grandma said.

‘She has a bad habit of putting it on vibrate then forgetting about it,’ I told her.

She hit another number and I heard her say, ‘Willis? This is your mother. Things are heating up.’ She listened for what seemed a long time and then said, ‘Well, I have Megan with me, and have no idea where the other three are. Your wife and her friend Berta are God only knows where and E.J.’s cell phone just goes to voice—’ A shorter silence, then, ‘Yes, I know – vibrate. Maybe she likes it. Which means you really should move home. Anyway, I just thought I’d let you know we think we know who the killer is –’ silence, then ‘– my friend Carolyn Gable and I.’ Silence. ‘Yes, you know her—’

‘Vera, cut to the chase!’ Mrs Gable said.

‘Cutting to the chase here, Willis. Meet us at the Catholic church in Black Cat. We don’t want to try to take this guy down with Megan and her two wards in tow.’ Silence. ‘She’s babysitting, Willis.’ Silence. ‘Yes, I’m serious.’ Silence. ‘Hush! Carolyn and I have to stop this guy before he kills again!’ Then she hung up on my dad. And I thought, what the hell is going on?

‘Grandma?’ I said.

She turned around and patted my hand. ‘It’s OK, honey. Your dad will show up and take care of you and the girls.’

‘But who killed who and what has a priest got to do with it and where’s Mom? Is she OK or is she in trouble?’ I asked, sitting forward in my seat, my hands in a white-knuckled grip on the back of Grandma’s seat.

Just leave it to my mother to get killed when I hadn’t been nice to her lately. I swear she hates me.

I dropped Berta off at my house and drove to the pool to pick up Megan. I found D’Wanda, Azalea, and Donzel, but was told Megan had been picked up by Trisha and was going to the rehab center.

‘In her bathing suit?’ I asked, eyebrows arched.

‘Yes, ma’am, she didn’t have her cover-up with her,’ Azalea (I think) said.

‘OK, kids, thanks,’ I said and headed out to my car. I picked up my cell phone to call Megan and saw I had eight calls and that my phone was on vibrate yet again. I put it on ring tone and checked the messages, thinking one had to be from Megan.

Message 1: Megan: ‘Mom, where are you? Did you leave your phone on vibrate? You need to call me immediately—’

Message 2: Megan: ‘Mom! Call me! It’s like an emergency! This is Megan.’

Message 3: Megan: ‘Mother, if you
ever
get this message just know you forced me to call Grandma.’

Message 4: Vera: ‘E.J., it’s Vera your mother-in-law. Where are you? Call me on my cell phone immediately!’

Message 5: Vera: ‘E.J., it’s Vera again. Where are you? Call—’

Message 6: Vera: ‘E.J., it’s Vera – on vibrate? Whatever for? Oh, for God’s sake—’

Message 7: Unknown: ‘Hi, neighbor, this is Jim Jacobs asking for your vote—’

Message 8: Willis: ‘E.J., it’s Willis. All hell appears to be breaking loose. My mother has Megan and Megan’s babysitting charges and wants me to meet them at the Catholic church in Black Cat. Something about how they know who the killer is. Once again you’ve managed to ensnare the entire family—’

I hung up, did a 180 in the middle of Black Cat Drive, and headed for the church of Timothy Quartermyer.

MEGAN

We got to Black Cat Ridge faster than you’d think. And then we were at the church. ‘There’s her car!’ I said, seeing Mrs McClure’s Toyota hybrid right in front of the sanctuary. Mrs Gable made a quick, fast turn and slammed on her breaks, sliding in right beside the Prius.

‘Ah,’ I said. ‘Grandma, shouldn’t we call the police?’

‘No time!’ Mrs Gable said, baling from the car. ‘You call them while we go in!’

Grandma baled with her, leaving me and the girls in the back seat. I got my cell phone from the leg of my swimsuit – it fits very nicely there, what with the elastic and all – and just as I was about to call 911, the phone rang. I saw it was my mother.

‘Well, you’re alive, at least!’ I said upon answering.

‘What the hell is going on?’ Mom asked.

‘We’re at the church. The Catholic one. Grandma and Mrs Gable have gone inside to confront Mrs McClure—’

‘Trisha? What on earth for?’ Mom asked.

‘I don’t know. Something about her brother,’ I said.

‘You’ve got Trisha’s girls?’ Mom asked.

‘Yes, they’re with me and they’re getting antsy, Mom. I think they’re hungry.’ One of them, the little one, was beginning to cry. This entire experience has convinced me that children are not in my future!’

‘I’m almost there, honey. Just hold on!’

‘Dad’s on his way too,’ I told her.

‘I know, he left me a message,’ she said.

We hung up and I considered whether or not I should call 911 as Mrs Gable had instructed. I mean, both Mom and Dad were on their way. Wasn’t that enough?

I saw Willis’s pick-up in my rear-view mirror as I turned into the church parking lot. In front of me, I saw Carolyn Gable’s Shelby Mustang, and pulled alongside it. I noticed Trisha’s Prius on the other side. The passenger side door of the Mustang opened and my daughter’s butt emerged.

‘Thank God you’re here!’ she said as Willis pulled in on the other side of me.

‘Help me get these girls out, Mom!’

I could hear them both crying. I helped unbuckle them and set them on the ground. One stopped crying, but the younger one continued to emit screeching howls. ‘Put them in the minivan—’ I started, but my daughter broke in.

‘No! Mom, I’m going in there! I’m worried about Grandma!’

‘No, young lady, you’re getting in the minivan now,’ Willis said from behind us,‘and taking these girls with you. Here,’ he said, handing the younger one his keys. ‘See how fun?’

For some reason the little one did see how fun and moved obediently into the minivan, along with her sister and a pissed off Megan.

Willis and I headed for the giant double doors of the church. ‘Maybe we should try a side door,’ I suggested, ‘just in case.’

He nodded and we moved to the nearest side, and found a door that led into the lobby in front of the sanctuary. The door opened and closed silently as we made our way through. We could hear voices coming from inside the sanctuary.

Mrs Gable was saying, ‘Trisha, dear, you really need to let me look at Timothy. I’m a nurse and he’s hurt—’

An exasperated Trisha said, ‘That was the point, for God’s sake! He’s supposed to be dead!’

‘God, Patti, what’re you doing?’

I peeked around the door jamb to see who was speaking. The man talking bore only a slight resemblance to the boy in the pictures, the first love of Kerry Metcalf Killian. Where Ray Thornton the boy had been broodingly handsome, the man was but a shadow of his former self. His hair prematurely graying, his skin sallow and loose, his stomach protruding over his belt buckle, he was barely recognizable. Unfortunately, Trisha was holding a gun, and I could see two black-clad feet sticking out beyond her. From what I’d heard Carolyn say, I could only assume that was Father Quartermyer.

I moved back into the lobby, over to a corner and called Luna. ‘Catholic church – Black Cat. Trisha’s got a gun!’ I hissed and hung up.

‘Still cleaning up your mess!’ the woman I knew as Trisha shot back. ‘The same thing I’ve been doing for fifteen years!’

‘Patti, I forgive you—’

‘Oh, shut up, Tim! I do
not
recognize you as God’s emissary, OK? You’re just Tim, and you’ve got to go!’

She aimed the gun at Tim, and before I knew what was happening, a large figure pounced from amongst the pews, knocking Trisha sideways, sending her gun flying. I looked around me where Willis had been. He wasn’t there. Instead, he was in the sanctuary, lying on top of little Trisha McClure, or should I say Patti Thornton McClure?

The gun landed near Ray Thornton. He bent and picked it up, holding it loosely in his hand.

I went further into the sanctuary. ‘Ray, why don’t you give the gun to Nurse Gable?’ I suggested.

He looked up and saw me, and shook his head. ‘No. God, I’m sorry, Tim. Has somebody called an ambulance?’ he asked.

‘I did,’ I told him. ‘And the police.’

He nodded. ‘That’s good.’

Willis had gotten up off Trisha and had her sitting on the front pew, holding on to her arm.

‘Patti, you shouldn’t have done these things—’

‘Shut up, Ray!’ she spat. ‘Just aim the gun at this asshole and let’s get out of here!’

‘Too much running, Patti. That’s all I’ve done for the last fifteen years,’ Ray said. He looked at Carolyn Gable. ‘You never did like me, did you?’ he said.

‘Like had nothing to do with it, Ray. You just had a wild streak and I was hoping you’d grow out of it.’ She shook her head. ‘Instead, looks like you just let it take you over.’

‘No, it wasn’t like that,’ he said, shaking his head, his hand gripping the gun harder. ‘Me and Kerry – we could have made it, ya know? She was helping me, calming me down. I just needed to get out of that house. Away from my dad—’

‘Shut up, Ray!’ Trisha yelled.

‘And you, too, Patti. I needed to get you away from Dad. So he’d stop—’

Trisha pulled away from Willis and ran at Ray. ‘Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!’ She flung herself on him, Willis right behind her. He grabbed her as she grabbed Ray. And the sanctity of the sanctuary was broken by the echoing sound of a gunshot.

MEGAN

I heard this loud noise come from the church, and since I figured there wasn’t a car inside backfiring – like they always say they think it is on TV – I figured it had to be gunshot. I told the girls to stay put, rolled the windows up high enough so they couldn’t fall out, but low enough for them to get some of the cooler night air, and ran inside.

At first all I could see was Mrs Gable holding a gun. Then Grandma sitting on Mrs McClure. Then I saw Mom on the floor with my dad, and blood all around.

‘Daddy!’ I screamed and ran over to them.

We all heard sirens coming into the parking lot.

‘Oh my God!’ I said, and started crying.

‘Go to the door and lead the cops and paramedics in here!’ Mrs Gable said. ‘Now, girl!’

I jumped up and ran outside. I was waving my arms for the emergency vehicles when I noticed the minivan was gone. Yes, I said gone. I got a head rush and sort of fell down. When I opened my eyes my future husband, the father of my children, was leaning over me. ‘How are you doing?’ he said, taking this plastic mask off my face.

‘OK?’ I said. ‘Oh! My dad—’

‘We’ve got him in the ambulance now. Were you missing something?’ he asked, grinning at me, and even though I was lying down, my knees got weak. I looked past him at Mrs McClure’s little girls. ‘Oh, God! I thought they’d been kidnapped!’ I said, sitting up.

The big one said, ‘Me drive, Meggie!’

That’s when I noticed my mom’s minivan on the other side of the parking lot wrapped around a tree.

‘Seems she moved the gear shift out of park into neutral,’ the man of my dreams said. ‘The natural incline moved the car.’

‘I shouldn’t have left them—’

‘You’re damn right you shouldn’t have!’ my mother said from behind me. ‘What were you thinking?’

‘I was thinking I heard a gunshot and that maybe you or Dad were hurt! And I guess I was thinking right!’ I said.

Then my mom hugged me. Well, that shook me up. ‘Is Dad OK?’ I asked her, peering around for my future husband who seemed to have deserted me.

‘Good thing he doesn’t wear earrings,’ Mom said.

‘Huh?’

‘She shot off his earlobe.’

‘Ewww!’

THIRTEEN

W
e were gathered at Ken Killian’s house. Chairs had been pulled in from the dining-room table and the kitchen table to accommodate the crowd: Ken and his boys, Berta, Luna, Vera and Carolyn Gable, all four of my kids, and Willis – with a sporty bandage covering his ear – and me.

When Luna started to talk, Willis said, ‘Speak up!’ and pointed to the bandage. She rolled her eyes and spoke up.

‘OK, to start from the beginning: this is what I’ve pieced together. I’ve interviewed Ray Thornton and he confessed to throwing the matches at the butane tank at the trailer that night, Berta – or should I call you Rosalee now?’

‘I think I’ll go with Rosie,’ she said, smiling at Ken and his boys. ‘That’s what Kerry used to call me at school. I remember now.’

‘OK, then, Rosie. He said he didn’t think there was a leak. He said Rosie told him there was, but he didn’t believe her. According to Ray, Kerry got pissed at him and left with Tim, who was also mad that he was throwing matches around. Kerry’s brother went with them. Which means only you, Rosie, and Ray and his sister Patti, who we now know as Trisha McClure, were there when the trailer blew up. Ray said he was so drunk he just ran, and he didn’t stop running until he passed out. He woke up the next day in the woods and made his way home, not remembering what he’d done until he heard about Rosie’s mom dying in the trailer and Rosie missing. He had no idea why she ran away. But in talking to Trisha – or Patti – jeez, everybody involved with this has too many names! – anyway, Trisha said she told Rosie that if she ever breathed a word of this—’

‘She was going to do horrible things to me,’ Rosie/Berta whispered. ‘She said she’d do anything to protect Ray, that he was the only person she could turn to, and she wasn’t going to let some trailer trash like me get in the way. The things she said – I can’t even say out loud what she was going to do. It was so horrible.’

‘You’re remembering?’ I asked, grabbing her hand.

She nodded her head. ‘Some of it,’ she said.

‘You may get it all back,’ Carolyn Gable said. ‘It’ll just take some time.’

Berta looked up, tears in her eyes. ‘I don’t know if I want it all back,’ she said.

‘So you ran away?’ Luna said.