Dying for Dinner Rolls (13 page)

Annie Mae pulled her shoulders back. “Self-defense, my ass, you just need bulk.”

“You—you’re crazy.” Scarlett jumped on top of Annie Mae, knocking her to the ground.

Scarlett clung to Annie Mae’s back. Seeing Annie Mae in trouble, I hopped on top of Scarlett. The three of us were stacked up like a monkey pile, all of our arms flailing and all of us screaming and grunting. Annie Mae freed herself from the pile. Scarlett twisted and grabbed my neck.

No one touches my neck.

Terror caused me to have tunnel vision. I pummeled Scarlett as I tried to get her hands off my throat. I grabbed her hair. A huge chunk came out in my hand. It was a scratchy, tangled, brunette mess that smelled of hair spray.

Hair extension? I tossed it aside.

Scarlett’s hands were soft and tiny, but they had a vise hold on my neck. I sucked in a breath but couldn’t swallow or speak.

Scarlett and I flipped over. I gasped for air.

The suffocating sensation overcame me. I felt lightheaded and faint.

Righting herself, Annie Mae yanked Scarlett’s hands away from my neck.

“You’re a powerful little thing aren’t you?” Annie Mae held Scarlett’s arms behind her back. “Do you get strength injections with all that Botox?”

Scarlett let out a bloodcurdling scream. “Bitches!”

“Now, now. I suggest you keep your mouth shut. If you don’t, you will see me go crazy all over you.” Annie Mae tightened her grip on Scarlett. Annie Mae panted, “And by the way, you don’t deserve to own a plant, so I’m taking yours to keep mine company.”

Sweat drenched my shirt. I was shaking as I stood, rubbing my backbone. I put my hand on Annie Mae’s arm. “Thanks for getting her off me.”

The door flew open, knocking over the chair. José ran in, gun drawn. “Freeze!”

Annie Mae kept a hold of Scarlett, both of them huffing.

Scarlett’s dress was hiked up, her one shoe was off, and her hair, what was left of it…well, not so pretty.

I pointed at Scarlett, panting, and said, “She killed Lucy.”

“Everyone stand still. Line up against that wall facing me. Hands visible.” José lowered his gun. “I need to hear what is going on, right now.”

We lined up against the back wall. Scarlett stood, back against the wall, straightening her dress.

“Scarlett is a killer. She has Lucy’s vase.” Annie Mae waved her phone in the air. “You heard it all, didn’t you?”

José held his palm facing us. “Most of it.”

“He did?” I asked Annie Mae.

“I didn’t have time to set up the recorder, so I just hit José’s number.”

“Good job.” I high-fived Annie Mae.

Scarlett held her chin up high and kept her mouth shut and her eyes on Annie Mae.

As we finished retelling José the story, Annie Mae said, “Thanks for letting us break in, or we would’ve never figured it out otherwise.”

“Letting you break in?” José stared at me and then at Annie Mae. “I approved no such thing.”

I held my thumb and forefinger close together. “Maybe I told a little white lie.”

“You need to arrest them. They’ve just admitted to a crime.” Scarlett thrust a bony finger at Annie Mae and me.

“I don’t think you’re in a position to point fingers.” Annie Mae went nose to nose with Scarlett. “You’re a murderer.”

“You’re a criminal and a pain in the ass.” Scarlett leaned in, almost touching Annie Mae.

To avoid a fight, I moved between them. I didn’t want Annie Mae getting hurt. I looked at José. “Sorry about the little white lie.”

José sucked in deep breath and looked at me. “I’ll deal with you later.”

“Arrest them for breaking into my office.” Scarlett ran over to José.

My heart raced as I spit out, “Then arrest her for murder and theft and… and…”

“Over use of plastic surgery,” Annie Mae added.

“What?” Scarlett bolted toward Annie Mae.

José held an arm up and stopped Scarlett in her tracks.

“Sorry. But, really, just look at her face. There’s a lot of fillers in there.” Annie Mae shrugged.

Scarlett stomped her foot. “I need my lawyer. Now.”

José read Scarlett the Miranda rights then cuffed her. After he called his precinct, he turned to Annie Mae and me. “Good job solving the murder. But about the matter of breaking in…”

The next evening

Bezu placed a ladle in the chili. Next to the pot of chili was a plate stacked with cornbread. A container with butter sat next to a glass pitcher of iced tea. “I don’t want this conversation to get as ugly as ten miles of bad road, but we have to talk about how y’all almost got killed trying to be detectives.”

“We were on our first case. And it was quite a success.” Annie Mae spread a hunk of butter on top of her cornbread and then poured chili on top.

“I wouldn’t exactly say that.” José stretched his arms behind his head.

“But we caught a killer. It doesn’t matter how we went about it, right?” I filled my glass with iced tea.

“It does.” José let out a deep breath. “Where do I begin? You committed several felonies. Including breaking and entering.”

“Scarlett’s office?” Annie Mae asked.

“And trespassing,” José said.

“Where?” I asked.

“The construction dumpster is not public property, and you two entered it then nearly got fried. Let’s just say there are a slew of wrongs there.”

“Oh.” Annie Mae looked down at her plate.

José leaned his elbow on the table. “Impersonating an officer.”

“I forgot about that.” Annie Mae put a bite of food in her mouth. “We couldn’t really hear your answer because of a siren, so I can claim that as just a miscommunication.”

José continued, “And committing fraud.”

“We never did that,” I said, picking up my fork.

“Not you, exactly. But our resident actress. Remember the fall in the Red and White?” José twisted a grin as he inclined his head toward Annie Mae.

“It wasn’t like we were trying to extract money from anyone. We were just trying to get information.” Annie Mae wiggled her fork in the air. “And we succeeded.”

José reached over, plucked a piece of cornbread, and put it on his plate. “What I’m trying to say is I love you girls, and you almost got yourselves killed. Putting yourself in danger is inexcusable.”

“We never thought we’d end up with a gun pointing at us. Scarlett seemed so prissy. Who knew she was packing?” Annie Mae held her hands up.

I shrugged. Andrew and my mom were sick at the thought of someone with a gun aimed at me. However, they were glad we’d avenged Lucy’s death and that Annie Mae and I were safe.

Bezu straightened her back in her chair. “I agree with José. You two were not using the good sense God gave you.”

“And that needs to be the end of whatever that was.” José held the palm of his hand facing us.

“But we put a murderer behind bars.” Annie Mae put another spoonful of chili in her mouth.

“Breaking the law is breaking the law. Thankfully, you don’t have any charges against you. I’m sure if it was anyone else but me coming to your rescue at Susie’s house, you would have been taken into custody.” José buttered his cornbread.

“That would have been a hoot if we were thrown in jail—even better, in the same cell as Scarlett.” Annie Mae wiped her mouth with the linen napkin. “I can’t wait to visit her in a few months.”

“She’s a murderer. Why in the Lord’s name would you want to see her?” Bezu asked.

“Not her per se. Her face. Can you imagine what she will look like after a few months with no cosmetic injections and such? I bet she will age ten years in the span of a few weeks.” Annie Mae giggled. “That I want to see.”

“Scarlett spent the night in jail. The judge is setting her bond today. With all the evidence, she should be there a long time,” José said.

“Wasn’t it cool, too, that the vase turned out to be from the Ming dynasty?” I tore off some of my cornbread then plucked it in my mouth.

“The Ming Dynasty. Absolutely amazing,” Bezu said.

“Once the news showed a picture of the vase, a museum expressed interest in purchasing it. It’s worth over twenty million,” Annie Mae said.

“You can’t make that kind of money in fifty lifetimes,” José said.

I added, “Even better, if they acquire the vase, they would have a plaque displayed next to it with Lucy’s name in her memory.”

“Now that is super neat.” Annie Mae put her napkin on the table.

“Even better, after taxes, the money will be split between Lucy’s church and the humane society, per Lucy’s will. And she ended up leaving them way more than she ever thought, not knowing about the vase and all,” I said.

“That cheating scum, Bert, was left with the house,” Annie Mae said. “Too bad he got anything.”

“Good or bad, he was her husband,” Bezu said. “So he should have been left something.”

“A pile of garbage would have been better,” Annie Mae said.

“The Blue Belle Shoppe is temporarily closed, although I heard rumors that Zachary’s family wants to buy it and let him run it,” I said.

“He’s a sweet kid. I bet he’ll do a great job,” Annie Mae said. “I wonder if he could get me the silver windup clock and candle?”

“I’m sure he could.” I grinned.

“Looks like we made the front page of the newspaper, our pictures and a great article and all.” Annie Mae slid the Savannah Morning News to me as we sat around Bezu’s dining room table. “I think I should’ve at least gotten that hundred-dollar candle as a reward. But I did take her plant I named JC; after all, I couldn’t let him die in her office. Plus, my plant Marvin Gaye needed a friend.”

I grinned. “Solving Lucy’s murder was reward enough for me.”

Bezu looked at the newspaper. “You’re celebrities. What a good photo of both of you.”

“You did take a great picture,” José added.

“I do photograph well.” Annie Mae patted her hair. “Now I have so many people calling me, acting like I’m the queen bee of Savannah. It’s great. This has to be a boon for my dating life. Speaking of dates, Tadcu is picking me up for the movies soon. I think your mom is coming with. She wants to see the movie, too.”

“Good. They really think you and I are quite the team. And my girls absolutely loved that I solved a crime like Nancy Drew.” I smirked. “To them, I’m a hero.”

“What about the boys?” Bezu asked me.

“They thought the whole episode was kind of cool. Except for the gun pointing at me. We didn’t tell the girls about the gun. They’d have nightmares, mostly because of what happened to their grandfather.” I filled my glass with iced tea.

“No kidding. It gave me nightmares thinking of you and Annie Mae putting yourselves in such danger.” Bezu wrung her hands. “Don’t ever go and do that type of fool thing again. Y’all acted like you had no sense.”

José cleared his throat. “They sure stirred up the city. Getting stuck in a burning dumpster will go down in our unofficial police department history book of stupid people predicaments.”

Looking over at me, Annie Mae lifted an eyebrow and smiled. “José, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

José stood and stretched his arms. “You know exactly what I’m talking about.”

I said to José, “Fine. So maybe we did have a little unorthodox way of going about the investigation. We got the job done. And that’s what counts.”

“I agree,” Annie Mae said. “We made a great team and put a killer behind bars.”

I sipped on my iced tea. The cool, lemon-infused liquid tasted great.

“I’m just glad that your makeshift detective days are over,” José said.

“Andrew and Tadcu feel the same way you do, José.” I chuckled. “My mom, well, she just rattles off stuff in Korean at me while shaking her hands. Which I think means that she’s happy I’m safe but thinks I was crazy getting involved.”

Although I still grieved for Lucy and my father, I knew at least Scarlett was paying for her crime. My dad’s murderer was still out there, I felt that finding the second crossword puzzle meant I was somehow closer to finding my father’s killer.

The doorbell rang. Bezu let in Tadcu and Yunni.

Yunni wore white Capris and a blue, sleeveless top, her hair up in a loose bun. Tadcu wore a pressed, white, short-sleeved shirt and khaki slacks. His hair was slicked back.

We all said our hellos.

“We’re a little early. I hope we didn’t interrupt anything,” Tadcu said.

“Not at all. We were just having some chili and catching up. Please, join us.” Bezu lifted two plates.

“No, thank you. I already ate. Also, I want to get ice cream at Leonardo’s after the movie.” Yunni winked. “So I could check in on grandson, too.”

“Mom, I don’t think Timmy needs any checking up on, but I know he’d love to see you.” I took a sip of tea.

“Oh, here is extra paper for you. Nice picture of both of you.” Yunni waved the paper at Annie Mae and me.

“Thanks.” I took the paper from my mom and put it in my purse.

“I’ve got to go. It was nice seeing everyone again.” José looked at Annie Mae and me. “No more breaking and entering.”

“We actually didn’t break anything. But we did enter and look. No crime in that.” Annie Mae tapped José on the arm. “Right?”

My phone signaled a text. I read it out loud: “Dog lost. Can the Chubby Chicks Club find him for me? I will pay big money.”

José stood and put his hands in the air. “I’m out of here.”

Bezu shook her head and walked out of the room.

Tadcu and Yunni both stared at Annie Mae and me as though we had lost our minds.

Annie Mae said, “What type of dog and how much?”

I shrugged. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to call them back, huh?”