Murder & Mayhem in Goose Pimple Junction (24 page)

“
I wanted to make sure
you're
all right.”

Tess
noticed Jack’s Adam’s apple wiggle up and down as he looked at her. Her pj bottoms hung low on her hips and her camisole clung tightly to her torso, showing every curve she had. She was briefly self-conscious, but her attention was soon diverted when she stood aside to let him come into the house, and she saw his companion.

“
I'm fine. And who is this?” She was delighted to see the dog.

“
Esmerelda, meet Tess. Tess, this is Esmerelda, or Ezzie, for short.
I hope you don’t mind that I brought her. I didn’t want to leave her alone all night.”

“
Esmerelda!” Tess said under her breath, as she bent to pet the
basset. “She’s a dog!”

“
Of course she’s a dog. What did you think she was—a pot-bellied pig?”

She
looked up at him, surprised at the sharp sarcasm in his voice.

“
Sorry.” He rubbed his head. “Headache.”

Tess
finally realized what Jack had said when he came in. “All night? What are you talking about? What’s going on?”

“
You didn’t call a locksmith yet, did you,” he stated, more than asked.

“
Well . . . no . . . it’s late. I thought I’d call in the morning.”

“
I figured as much. I can’t let you stay here all night alone, knowing that someone has your keys and could easily get into your house. You
did
cancel all of your credit cards though, didn’t you?”

“
Of course, but Jack . . . “

“
And,” he held up a finger to silence her. “You’d be doing me a
favor, too. Nosmo King said it would be best if someone were with me for the next eight hours, because of my head injury, so we can be of
mutual benefit to each other.”

“
But . . . “

“
And
,” he held up another finger, “I’ll sleep on the couch
. And
I brought my own pillow case,” he pulled it out of his back pocket, “so
I won’t get blood on yours.”

“
Jack . . . “

“
And
,” he held his whole hand up this time, “I promise I’ll be a total gentleman. Frankly, I’m too worn out, and my head hurts too much
to make a pass tonight.” He noticed the bat in her hand and added,
“Besides, you’re armed and dangerous.”

* * *

The next morning before Tess opened her eyes, she had a vague sense of somebody on her bed. As she slowly awakened, she felt something, or someone, pressed up against her rear. Her eyes flew open. She slowly twisted her head to see who was in her room. On her bed.

Esmerelda.

Tess had been sleeping curled in an S shape, and she woke up with Esmerelda snuggled into the bottom part of the S—right behind her thighs and up against her butt.

“
How’d you get up here?” She reached out to pet Ezzie’s velvety ears and turned over so she could snuggle up against her. The dog
rewarded her by moving to the head of the bed and planting kisses on Tess’s face.

“
You’re a stealthy little thing, aren’t you?” Ezzie’s tail thumped against the bed. “Either that, or I was out cold.” She snuggled up to her, realizing how much she missed having a dog. “So you’re the Esmerelda Jack’s been reading to.” Ezzie looked back at her innocently, with sad basset hound eyes. “That’s what I get for assuming, huh?”

After
Tess got dressed, she went downstairs and found Jack sitting up on the edge of the couch, elbows propped on his thighs, his head in his hands. He’d already folded up the blankets and sheet and stacked them neatly on the pillow.

“
Morning, Jack. How are you feeling?”

“
Hmph.” He gave kind of a snort. “I’d have to feel better to die.”

“
Do you want me to take you to the doctor?” She sat down beside him, while Ezzie sat at his feet, nudging him with her nose for attention.

“
Naw, I’ll be all right.” He rubbed Ezzie’s ears and ran his other hand over his forehead. “I could use somethin’ for this headache, though.”

“
Coming right up.” She moved quickly toward the kitchen, returning with ibuprofen tablets and some orange juice.

“
Are you okay, Tess?” He popped the tablets in his mouth and took a long drink of the juice.

“
I think so. My hands hurt like the devil, but I'm mostly unnerved about the attack . It was terrifying.” She put her hands to her face. “That sound of your head being hit—I can’t get it out of my mind. How are you?”

“
I'm unnerved that all of this is happening to you. And the fact that they're amping it up to violence. I'm worried about you.”

“
Let's talk about it some more after breakfast. I have a four-cup
coffee pot, so I could make you some coffee, or some hot tea.”

“
Thanks, coffee would be really great, if it’s not too much trouble.”

“
No trouble. Would you like to take a shower? It might make you feel better. I put some fresh towels in the bathroom; you could shower while I make some breakfast.”

“
Maybe that would be a good idea.” Holding his head, he grimaced as he stood up.

The
house was filled with the aroma of bacon and coffee filling the house by the time Jack finished his shower.

“
I followed the wonderful smells and the sound of your voice to the kitchen.” Jack came into the room, brushing his wet hair back with his fingers.

She
handed him a mug of coffee. “Breakfast is almost ready.”

He
took a sip, and pointed to the mug. “Honey, this is great coffee!”

She
rolled her eyes but couldn’t help but laugh.

“
Who were you talking to?”

She
blushed. “Esmerelda. She was telling me all of your secrets.”

“
Ezzie, you traitor!” Jack sat down, taking Ezzie’s face into his hands. “You women always stick together.”

“
Oh, don’t worry. I didn’t get much out of her.”

Tess
set a plate of scrambled eggs, toast, and bacon down in front of Jack just as the doorbell rang. “That’s probably the locksmith. I called him while you were in the shower. I didn’t expect him here so soon, though.”

She
went to the door, but instead of the locksmith, she brought John Ed back to the kitchen with her. The chief was a big man with a beer belly hanging over his belt. Baggy pants were held up with a big buckle shaped like a pistol. His bottom teeth jutted out in front of his front teeth, and he had big ruddy cheeks and dark eyes. He reminded Tess of a bulldog.

“
I’s lookin’ fer ya, Jack. Didn’t know you two had dinner before sayin’ grace.” John Ed stood in the doorway looking at Jack with a smirk on his face.

Jack
started to translate for Tess, but she stopped him with a hand up. “Thanks, but I’ve got that one.”

Jack
scowled at the chief. “We haven’t been, John Ed. I came by to make sure Tess was all right, and she invited me for breakfast. Not that it’s any of your damn business.”

“
Well, I wanted to talk to ya both anyway, might as well be together. I got the straight and skinny from Skeeter when I went in this mornin’. Sorry I missed all the commotion last night. You hurt bad?”

“
We’re fine,” Jack said through clinched teeth.

“
’Sides checkin’ on ya both, I wonted to see if either a y’all could fill me in on why Mizz Tess here,” he nodded in Tess’s direction, “keeps gettin’ into mayhem.”

“
I don’t reckon we can help you, John Ed. Tess is the victim here, why aren’t you out findin’ who did this, instead a harrassin’ her?”

“
Got any enemies, Tess? Owe any money? Witness to a crime somebody dudn’t wont ya rememberin’? Anythin’ goin’ on in yer life
I shouldoughtta know ‘bout? Involvement with the mob?”

“
The mob, oh please,” Tess looked up at the ceiling as if praying for patience. “No, Chief. Nothing. I have no idea why these things have happened.”

“
Seems a might strange we don’t have ‘ny trouble ‘roundcheer till you happen into town.”

“
John Ed. Tess told you. I told you. We have no idea why this
happened.” Jack spoke slowly, with exaggerated patience, as if trying to reign in his temper. “You got your stupid head on today? Why do you want to keep on huntin’ where there ain’t no stink?”

“
Boy, you can put your boots in the oven, but that don’t make ’em biscuits.”

“
Just what exactly does that mean?” Tess asked.

“
It
means
. . . “ Jack glared at John Ed, “ . . . that he thinks we’re lyin’.”

The
phone rang, and Tess went to answer it. “You’re saved by the bell, Chief. Or maybe I am. I was getting ready to say something
I shouldn’t.”

The
two men stared each other down while she talked. She hung up a minute later, saying, “That was Lou. She wanted to know if I had seen you, Jack. She went over to your place to check on you, and when you didn’t answer, she got concerned.”

“
How long you say you been here?” John Ed asked, suspiciously.

“
John Ed, you’re wastin’ daylight. You keep asking questions we’ve already answered.”

“
She add grumpy to your eggs, Jack?” John Ed smiled a disingenuous smile.

“
No, John Ed, whoever hit me over the head gave me a dose. Now why don’t you get out there and find out who did it?” Jack’s voice was getting louder and angrier. His attempt to keep impatience at bay was failing. He put his palm on his forehead. Ezzie stood next to him and gave a low growl, her eyes fixed on John Ed.

“
I never figured a basket hound fer a guard dog.” He shook his head in disbelief. “I see everthin’ in this job. Well . . . I’ll let myself out.” He turned to leave the kitchen.

Tess
followed to see him out anyway, and as she did, she saw Jack mouth, “
Basket
hound?” She shrugged and went with John Ed to the door.

When
she came back, she found Jack writing on a piece of paper from a pad she kept by the phone.

“
Hope you don’t mind,” he said, indicating the paper he was using.

“
Of course not. Did you have a sudden urge to make a grocery list?”

“
No,” he said absentmindedly, continuing to write. Finally he looked up. “I think I know why these things are happenin’.”

She
took a bite of her cold eggs. “You do?” She took Jack’s plate to the microwave to reheat the eggs and then did the same with her plate.

Jack
waited until she got back to the table to speak.

“
Well, are you going to tell me?”

“
I want your undivided attention.” He set the pencil and paper aside. “What’s new in the life of Mary T?”

Tess
looked at him, puzzled. “Town? House? Job? There’s a lot new in my life.”

“
Now narrow it down,” he prodded, taking another mouthful of eggs. “Mmmm . . . Good eggs, by the way.”

“
Jack, are you going to tell me, or are we going to play twenty
questions all day?”

“
Okay, okay. You recently found somethin’.” She stared at him blankly. “The key. Last night when we were talkin’ about it bein’ connected to Lou’s daddy’s murder . . . I think we were right. All of the stuff that’s been happenin’ has got to have somethin’ to do with the key. Martha Maye said Lou didn’t want to know who the killer was. Maybe somebody else doesn’t want
anybody
to know.”

“
But who would know that John Hobb had tried to tell his wife about something in a trunk before he was murdered? And who knows
I have, or had, a trunk key?
Had
being the operative word, because it doesn’t matter anymore. Whoever took my purse took all of my keys. The trunk key, too—it was on my key ring.”

“
Au contraire, mon cherie.” He reached into his shirt pocket and held up the key with his thumb and forefinger. “Voila!”

She
sat there looking at him with her mouth open, so he added, “Remember? Last night at the diner. You showed the key to Martha Maye. Then I took it from her, and you were engrossed in talking and eating, so I stuck it in my pocket.”