Death Wore Brown Shorts (Happy Holloway Mystery Book 1) (6 page)

“Are you trying to prove something to her or yourself?”

“No, just always trying to improve. Can you drive me now? She sounds a wreck, and I don’t like to worry her more than she needs to be.”

“Okay.” He stood, tapping the checkbook against his palm.

“Did you find anything?”

“I don’t know. It would be easier if Paul were sitting on a fat load of cash like thousands. Instead, there’s maybe ten thousand in his savings.”

“That’s a lot to many people.”

“Maybe, but for murder?”

“It’s happened,” she said. “What’s your theory?”

He hesitated. “To be honest, I think my cousin was stealing the electronics and reselling them for a modest profit on eBay. The question is where did he get the supply?”

A
nnie pulled
her sandals off her feet and curled up on the couch. Across from her, sitting way too close to the TV, Ben stuffed his little mouth with cookies. “Move back some, Ben.”

“But this is the good part.”

“You’ll ruin your eyes.”

“You sound like Mommie.”

“We’re sisters.”

“Look, the shark is going to eat him. Watch out!”

Annie chewed a nail and surged off the couch to move closer, too. She shouted at the stupid man, and she and Ben braced for the inevitable.”

“Told you,” Ben said.

“He should have listened to us,” Annie agreed.

The front door opened, and Donovan walked in dressed in his usual—suit without the jacket. He had loosened his tie but didn’t remove it. “Hi, Annie, where’s Jane?”

“Daddy,” Ben shouted and threw himself into his father’s arms.

“She took—”

“Quinn to practice,” Ben explained, cutting Annie off. She figured Jane didn’t want to worry the little tike, so she didn’t correct him.

“Paisley is at a friend’s,” Annie added. “She’ll probably be a while, so if you want to eat, I call in a mean pizza.”

Donovan offered a half smile at her joke. “Call in, huh? No thanks. If I know Jane, she’ll have something ready to go in the oven. If we order instead, she won’t like it.”

Annie felt sorry for him. How much fight did he have to muster to eat unhealthy sometimes? Most of the baked goods Jane made were donated, but Annie managed to find cookies she and Ben had confiscated.

“Since you’re here and she’s not, Annie, I wanted to talk to you about something.”

Annie’s curiosity perked up. She and Donovan chatted upon occasion, but he wasn’t the friendliest type. When she visited their house, she and Jane spent all their time together. Donovan seemed to fade into the background, or he disappeared into his home office.

“Sounds serious,” Annie teased.

He neither confirmed nor denied. “Ben, go finish watching this in the other room. Wait, what is this show? Annie, a killer shark? That’s too violent.”

“He’s not scared. Plus, we watched Jaws a couple months ago. This one is so fake, you can’t take it seriously.”

Donovan glared at her. “If Jane found out…”

“I’ll take the fall. All right fine. Ben, we can’t watch anymore. It’s bunny rabbits and teddy bears from now on.”

Ben groaned but gathered his cookies and tramped out of the room. Annie returned to the couch and waited for Donovan to start the conversation. He yanked at his tie and tossed it on the couch. Then he thought better of it and folded the tie into his palm as he sat in one of the armchairs.

“It’s about Jane,” he began.

“She’s driving you nutsy with her strict rules?” Annie suggested.

He colored, embarrassed. “I don’t mind the discipline of how she runs the house. I work a lot, and I come from a house where my mother drank most of the time and almost never did housework. She’s changed a lot now that she’s older. Trust me when I say Jane’s order felt refreshing for the first ten years of our marriage. I’m not saying I’m tired of it.”

“Um, if this is about marriage, Donovan, maybe you should talk to a counselor. I don’t know anything.”

“No, it’s about your sister.” He kept glancing toward the door as if he expected Jane to pop in at any second and catch him doing wrong. “She’s… I don’t know how to explain it. She’s changing, Annie.”

“Can you be more descriptive?”

“I think trying to keep us all in order is getting to her, and Paisley for one isn’t making it easier. A stubborn teen, and I guess I’m not much help because I leave everything to her. I feel guilty about it. I want to help, and at the same time I don’t. Maybe I’m not capable of helping.”

Annie couldn’t believe what she was hearing. By no means did she think her sister was flawless, neither were her kids. Paisley made that clear on a daily basis. However, despite the trials any couple went through, Annie thought Jane and Donovan were perfect.

“Are you saying she shouts at you or treats you badly?”

“Sometimes.”

Annie swallowed. “Does she abuse you or the kids?”

His eyes rounded. “No! Of course not. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to imply that. Jane does everything a wife and mother could, and more. It’s the look in her eyes, and sometimes she cries when it’s a little matter we’re dealing with. I’m coming to the end of my tolerance level, Annie. Maybe you can convince her to talk to someone.”

Annie dropped her face into her hands. Anger boiled inside. Donovan didn’t sound worried about Jane at all. He seemed more impatient over the sufferings of his wife. Jane loved them both, and she tried to imagine what it would be like to live with Jane. From the beginning, Jane treated her with kid gloves, so Annie didn’t get the brunt of Jane’s extreme ways.

“I’ll…” she began, and her voice faltered. Jane was the one of the two of them who had it together. “I’ll talk to her when I get the chance.”

“Thank you.” He didn’t try to touch or hug her as the two of them rose to their feet. Instead, he spun away and left the room. Annie’s fears eased with him out of sight and the conversation at an end but rose again when she thought of all he said.

The moment she got a breather, she would talk to her sister—before her marriage fell apart.

S
hattering
glass woke Annie out of her sleep, and she sat up in bed. Heart pounding, throat dry, she pressed a hand to her chest and listened. The blood in her ears made it hard to hear. Was someone in the house, or had she dreamed the noise?

Annie strained to listen but picked up nothing. She’d be nuts to go back to sleep without checking it out, crazier if she called the police with a false claim. She threw the sheets aside and climbed out of bed. Creeping on bare tiptoes, she made her way to her bedroom door.

The door stood open, and Annie peered around the jam to get a view of the hall. Across and down some from her room lay her parents’ room. She just got a glimpse into it, and her heart stopped upon seeing the light.

Annie dropped to all fours like a shot. Part of her wanted to scramble back to bed. One more look to make sure, she thought and stretched to see. The view from the floor was harder, but there was the light, bobbing.

“Oh crud, oh crud,” she murmured.

To call the police or defend herself? If she didn’t at least get a weapon, she might go down before the police arrived. Annie crawled across to the dresser and reached around it to the umbrella she found in the corner. She recalled putting it in that spot because she intended to pack it away at some point. Good thing she had forgotten until now.

The gaudy promotional tool was given to Annie at a city fair two years ago. A deep purple, the umbrella lost all appeal from its size because of the gigantic golden words that read “Eat Joey’s Pizza” stamped across it. Annie should have thrown it out, but the umbrella had kept her dry one day from a nasty storm. After that, she couldn’t do it.

She held the umbrella in one hand and climbed to her feet. Her toes caught in her nightie, and she stumbled, almost landing face first on the floor. She froze when she caught her balance, hoping she hadn’t alerted the intruder. Nothing stirred.

Okay, I’m ready. Annie Holloway is not going down without a fight—hopefully!

Once she made it to the hallway, she flattened herself against the wall and crept along. The floorboards creaked beneath her feet, but she steered clear of the worst ones, knowing where they were. She found it strange the intruder hadn’t made any noise as far as creaking, and the light wasn’t as bright as she thought it should be. Maybe he covered it somehow. He was good. She’d give him that.

Annie reached her parents’ room and stood outside the door, eyes shut and fingers aching as they squeezed the umbrella.

Go in.

She didn’t move.

Go in, Annie, or go back and call the police right now.

Why was she having an argument with herself? Well, technically, she hadn’t answered herself yet.

Sanity still present.

She crouched, but all the subterfuge had sapped her of energy. Her legs wobbled, and she crashed down on her knees before sprawling across the opening. The umbrella went clattering over the heart pine floor.

“Caught,” she mumbled, waiting for a gun or some other weapon to rest between her eyes.

When nothing happened, she turned her head. The light was gone. Wait, had she been dreaming? She climbed to her feet slowly, but as soon as she did, the light appeared again. This time, Annie figured out what was going on. The light didn’t come from inside the house but just outside.

She inched toward the uncurtained window but then stopped to scan the floor. As far as she could tell, no glass littered the surface. That part she might have dreamed, or her subconscious told her someone lurked outside her house.

“Maybe I’m psychic now.”

Because she didn’t have a curtain to hide behind, she ducked to the side and peeked out before hiding. Down below, a flashlight bobbed back and forth. Annie squinted to try to make out who it was, and she gasped when she realized it was Evie.

“What is she doing?” Annie whispered.

Evie clutched her blouse close to her throat, but Annie figured it was more nerves than anything that made her do so. She doubted the night was cold because her A/C system whirred, producing air.

Annie raised a hand about to tap on the glass, but Evie disappeared behind a tree. The light winked out when she must have turned a corner of the house. Annie spun on her toes and ran back to her room. She yanked on the shorts and simple top she had worn earlier that day and then stumbled down the stairs to the first floor.

Pausing to listen first, she pressed her ear against the back door. Nothing stirred out there. She didn’t bother peeking through the window because the back yard was always much less illuminated than the street. The street was almost pitch black because of few lights in the residential area. Most of her neighbors and Annie installed outside lights to help, but few included motion censors in her block.

Annie opened the door and eased out. She squinted in several directions but saw no sign of Evie. Where had she gone? If she disappeared from the left side of the property, perhaps she crossed the yard. Yet, that was in the opposite direction of her own house.

Annie left the deck and walked as fast as she dared. No sense turning her ankle and getting stranded out there until morning. Okay, she was being dramatic, but still.

She broke through a bundle of trees and spotted the flashlight up ahead. The light winked out, but this time moonlight allowed her to see a bit better. A figure who must be Evie moved from tree to tree, pausing at each location to hide and peek out. Annie followed until they reached the end of her property and broke through to Stacy’s street.

“We shouldn’t be out here,” Annie whispered, knowing Evie couldn’t hear her.

Evie cut across Annie’s path when she doubled back into the trees. If the woman weren’t so preoccupied, they would have bumped into each other. Annie froze, holding her breath. Evie passed inches away, and Annie spotted the small package beneath her arm.

What’s that?

Ahead of her, Evie slid to a halt in the dirt and muttered something that sounded like a curse. She darted behind a tree and waited. Annie leaned around another to try to see what Evie saw. Stacy stood at her front door as if waiting. She danced from foot to foot and then walked inside.

Evie started to move, but Stacy appeared again. This time, Stacy walked off her porch and stood at the foot of the steps. Robert’s door opened, the retired army sergeant, and he appeared. Was everyone awake in the middle of the night?

Robert didn’t look at Stacy or speak to her, although it had to be impossible not to see her. He climbed into his car, started it up, and pulled out of the drive. Both Annie and Evie watched him drive by. If he turned his head, he might have seen Annie because she forgot to hide. Instead, Robert kept peering into the rearview mirror.

Moments later, Stacy climbed into her car and drove out the way Robert did. Annie began to wonder if everyone suspected everyone else, so they were all out sleuthing. She laughed at the thought but then sobered recalling someone was a real killer. This wasn’t a game.

She waited while Evie seemed to consider if she should proceed. After a few moments, Evie ran from the trees along the side of the road. A straight shot led her onto Stacy’s porch. Maybe on instinct or because she had been there before and knew Stacy’s carelessness, she tried the door and found it unlocked.

Evie reappeared not five minutes after she entered Stacy’s house, and the package was no longer under her arm. While Annie couldn’t be sure, she thought Evie looked calmer, almost relieved. Before Evie could reach the spot where Annie hid, Annie turned toward her home. Was Evie trying to incriminate Stacy or just getting rid of some terrible evidence that could link her to the murder?

Annie couldn’t think of any reason for Evie to dislike Stacy. Sure, Stacy said whatever popped into her head, and sometimes she insulted others without realizing it. Her focus tended to be more on romance. Aside from being a horrible gossip—like most of the women Evie knew—Stacy seemed harmless.

A twig snapped behind Annie, and she froze. She glanced over her shoulder but saw nothing. Too late, she realized she should have allowed Evie to pass her so Evie wouldn’t catch up and suspect Annie saw what she had done.

Annie tried to catch sight of the flashlight, but she saw nothing but the vague shape of trees. For all she knew, Evie might have elected to go by way of the street to get back home. Should she wait a little longer or pick up her step?

Another snap jarred her to her core, especially when an odd metallic sound followed it. Annie’s heart skipped a few beats. She swung around and started running. A branch smacked her cheek and stung.

My imagination—it’s just my imagination!

She tripped over a root and fell. Thank goodness for grass but not for the dirt in her mouth. Spitting it out, she climbed to her knees and prepared to stand. Something grabbed one of her ankles. That wasn’t a figment of her imagination. She screamed, jerked free, and ran for all she was worth.