The Queen of Cool (6 page)

“
Were the journals here?”
the Fire Inspector asked.

Lo nodded.

“
An accelerant, well
kerosene, was poured everywhere. The fire was lit from a burning
cigarette set in a matchbook on a pile of books,” he said. “Right
here.”

Lo nodded as if she understood, but there
was no way to understand. To keep from fainting, she retreated to
the first floor and found only more destruction. The demolition of
her home and her life was methodical and complete.

She was about to leave when she remembered
something. Spinning in place, she started down the stairs to the
basement.

“
Ma’am!” the Fire Inspector
yelled. “Mrs. Downs? It’s not safe down there.”

Lo stopped in her tracks.

“
There’s no ventilation,”
the Fire Inspector said. “Stay right there.”

In a few minutes, two Firemen appeared. They
dropped a Fireman’s jacket on her shoulders and gave her a mask.
They helped her with the harness for the oxygen tank. When she was
ready, they followed her down the stairs. The destruction below
ground felt almost worse than upstairs. The basement had been a
private, family space. They’d laughed, played, and loved down
here.

Everything was broken.

“
The video games, X-Box,
PlayStation, Wii… all that’s gone,” Lo said. “So’s some of my gym
stuff – weights, dumbbells. How did they get this stuff out of here
without anyone noticing?”

“
There are tire tracks
through the backyard,” the Fire Inspector appeared wearing the same
gear she was wearing. “We think they pulled a truck up in your
backyard and loaded up.”

Lo went into a storage room. Paint cans had
been opened and spread on the floor. The cleaning supplies were
splashed around the room.

“
Can you get the other
side?” Lo pointed to a metal storage shelf.

The nearest fireman took the opposite side
of a metal shelf. Together they moved it away from the wall. Lo
slipped in behind. She pressed one place then another until a panel
popped open, revealing a fireproof safe. With the Fire Inspector
taking pictures, Lo opened the panel and opened the safe. She
hooted when it opened.

Like a greedy child, Lo feasted her eyes on
the organized sanity of the safe. She took out a reusable grocery
bag from the back pocket of her jeans and filled it with the
contents of the safe. She didn’t take the time to look at what was
there. She wanted to have possession of it before someone took it
away from her.

When the safe was empty, she led the group
through the basement and out of the house. Without comment, she
laid the items out on the front grass. After the Fire Inspector
took his photos, she packed up and shook his hand. They left in
Lisa’s SUV.

“
What did you get?” Lisa
asked.

“
What exactly,” Lo
said.

“
You must know what’s
there,” Larry said.

“
Our passports, birth
certificates, insurance, the girl’s baby books, stuff like that,”
Lo said. “One of Don’s journals. Oh, and his precious watches were
in there.”

“
And?” Lisa
asked.

“
I don’t know,” Lo said. “I
opened that safe and… For a brief moment, I felt like Don was right
there with me. Whatever those bastards were looking for is here, in
this mess of stuff. I just know it.”

Lo fell silent. She was so quiet that Larry
turned around in the seat to look at her.

“
What?” Larry
asked.

“
Don was murdered,” Lo
said.

Q

CHAPTER FOUR

Saturday morning—9:25 a.m.

Days: 14

“
You’ve got to love a woman
with a shovel in her hand,” Don said.

Lo looked up from her digging to smile at
him.

“
Why are you digging up my
perfect lawn?” Don asked.

“
Your
perfect lawn?”

“
Listen, missy, I’ve spent
a lot of time and money creating this tiny piece of perfection,”
Don said. “Do you see a weed? A dandelion? Do you notice the
height? This lawn is green, gorgeous, and exactly one inch
tall.”

Like a farmer, Don hitched up his jeans to
emphasize his point. Lo smiled at his antics.

“
Your
lawn?”

“
After all of
the time, money, and effort I’ve put into it,” Don said. “I believe
I can legitimately claim this tiny piece of heaven as
mine
.”

“
I
thought
I
was your tiny piece of heaven,” Lo
laughed.

“
You have a shovel in your
hand, darling,” Don said. “I’d never call you tiny with a shovel in
your hand.”

“
Why?” Lo stuck the shovel
into the grass again.

“
Because you might be
digging my grave,” Don said.

Lo laughed.

“
Are you digging a grave,
Lorraine?”

“
I’m starting
a garden,” Lo said. “We have so much of this stupid… I mean
perfect
grass. I thought I’d take out a tiny bit and grow
something nice.”

“
Like what?” Don crossed
his eyes to infer her insanity.

“
Vegetables,” Lo said.
“Flowers; maybe some of those Rose bushes you like and maybe even a
Koi pond.”

“
Little lady, carp are for
catching and eating.” Don put his hands on his hips.

“
Very funny,” Lo
said.

“
Hi Dad,” Alisha came out
of the house with a flat of plants. At twelve years old, her speech
was blurred by a mouth full of braces. “Did you hear we’re going to
grow our own strawberries?”

“
And radishes.” Mandy
trotted after Alisha.

“
In my grass?” Don
asked.

“
Will you ladies excuse us
for a moment?” Lo asked.

She grabbed Don by the arm and dragged him
through the house. Knowing something good was going to happen, the
girls trailed just far enough behind to hear but not get caught. Lo
opened the front door and pushed Don out.

“
See all of this?” Lo
said.

“
All of what?”

“
This grass.” Lo’s arms
moved in Vanna White motions to demonstrate the front
yard.

“
I see it,” Don scowled.
“Are you digging graves here too?”

“
How about if we agree that
this is your grass?” Lo’s arms swept across the grass
again.

“
I get to do with it what I
want?” Don said.

“
You have my permission to
do whatever you’d like,” Lo said.

“
What about the grass
across the street?”

“
That grass belongs to the
golf course,” Lo said. “We can let them worry about its perfection.
This space, however…”

Lo walked backward onto the front-yard
grass.

“
This is premium grass
ready to receive all of your love and ministrations,” Lo
said.

“
What about the
neighborhood association?”

“
Your perfect
little bit of heaven, in the form of
front-yard
grass will
make them very happy. They call it curb appeal.”

“
Well…” Don hitched his
pants again. He made a show of looking from Lo to the grass and
back at Lo. Glancing back, he spied the girls peeking out the front
door. “There’s only one question left.”

“
What’s that?” Lo crossed
her arms and tried to look stern.

“
Where’s my shovel?” Don
laughed.

The girls squealed with laughter. Smiling,
Lo hugged Don to her. He made a fuss of kissing her neck then
shooed them back into the house.

“
What’s the plan?” Don
asked.

“
Well…” Alisha began
detailing her plan for their backyard farm.

“
Lo
!” Lisa had called
her name a few times from the house. She touched Lo’s arm to get
her attention.

Lo looked out from under the baseball cap
she was wearing. She’d been turning over the vegetable garden. This
garden bed held beautiful soil. She wanted to make sure it was
ready for the two-year-old seed packets she’d haggled over with the
manager of Marshall Grain.

“
Are you with us today?”
Lisa asked.

“
Just thinking,” Lo said.
“What’s going on?”

“
Manny, you know, Manny
Rodriguez?” Lisa asked. “He’s here to talk to you. Should I let him
back?”

“
Why would Manny Rodriguez
be here to ask me questions?” Lo dug the shovel in.

“
He’s a police detective
now,” Lisa said. “He wants to talk to you, you know, about
Don.”

Lisa nodded.

“
Should I send him back?”
Lisa asked.

“
He’s back.”

Manny’s voice came from the corner of the
backyard. Uncomfortable, Manny tucked a piece of jet black hair
into his modern pompadour. Putting his hands on his sturdy hips, he
opened his cowboy sport jacket showing a Fort Worth PD badge on his
belt and a gun in a side holster. His white teeth gleamed under his
trimmed mustache.

“
I heard voices and…” Manny
said.

“
I’ll bring some iced tea.”
Lisa went up to Manny. Tapping his chest with her index finger, she
said, “You better be nice. Lo’s very fragile.”

“
Yes, ma’am,” Manny
said.

Lo shook her head at Lisa. She picked up a
shovelful of dirt and turned it over. She worked for a few minutes
before Manny cleared his throat.

“
Lorraine?”

“
Manuel?”

“
You want to maybe sit down
so we can talk?” Manny asked.

She looked over to see he was indicating the
garden bench by the Koi pond. She stuck her shovel in the soft
earth and joined him.

“
Why are you here?” Lo
asked.

“
I’m the lead detective on
this case,” Manny said. “You may call me Detective
Rodriguez.”

“
Not a chance,” Lo
said.

Manny laughed.

“
I hate seeing you like
this,” Manny said. “I don’t know if I would have believed it if I
wasn’t right here looking at you. You were always so fierce, so
strong.”

Lo shrugged.

“
Are you eating?” Manny’s
eyes surveyed Lo’s protruding cheekbones and jutting
chin.

“
Yazmin came this week,” Lo
said. “She’s been feeding me. She left some if you’re hungry. I’m
not very hungry.”

“
Did you really try to
throw yourself on that fire?”

“
Are you asking as
Detective Rodriguez? Or Manny, my old boyfriend, the father of my
godchild?”

Manny nodded and looked into the Koi
pond.

“
Are these the fish from
your Hillcrest house?” he asked.

“
If they are?”

“
I heard they were missing.
That’s all,” he said. “Good to know they found a loving home. How’d
you get them?”

“
Bolt cutters,” Lo
said.

“
I wondered who cut the
lock,” Manny nodded. “And why. Good reason.”

“
The big ones are from
Hillcrest,” Lo said. “The smaller ones were here. They’re getting
along pretty well.”

“
Listen…” he
started.

“
Manny, if we’re going to
do this,” Lo said. “We need to do it right. I’m really struggling.
I can’t guarantee I’ll be around for more questions.”

With a nod, Manny reached into his pocket
and pulled out a digital recorder. He introduced himself and read
Lo her Miranda rights. In the middle of “the right to an attorney”,
Lisa came out with iced tea. Unwilling to let Lo face the questions
herself, Lisa sat down next to her on the bench.

“
State your name,” Manny
said.

“
I’m Lorraine Ames Downs,”
Lo said. “Most people call me Lo.”

“
First, you should know
that a missing person’s report was filed for you yesterday,” Manny
said. “Ms. Alisha Downs called the FWPD to report her mother
missing. A couple of uniforms checked and informed Alisha that Sue
Ellen Carr was at her home. Ms. Downs stated that her mother was
Lorraine Downs. If they didn’t do their job, and find her mother,
she’d come back to Fort Worth and personally make their lives a
living hell.”

“
Alisha was always such a
pistol,” Lo said.

“
You’ll promise to call her
when we’re done?” Manny asked.

“
I should have called her
and Mandy before,” Lo said. “I just… haven’t been myself. How did
you find me?”

“
We went out in Junior
High?” Manny laughed. “I haven’t been here in years. The place
looks great.”

“
Don did all of this,” Lo’s
eyes filled with tears. “For me.”

Manny’s hand went to her leg in support.
When Lo cleared her throat, he said, “Let’s just get through
it.”

Lo nodded.

“
Did you kill Don?” Manny
asked.

“
Manuel Rodriguez!” Lisa
jumped to her feet. Lo pulled on her hand to get her to sit
down.

“
He’s a police detective,
Lisa,” Lo said. “He has to ask me questions. Most of the time,
people who are murdered are killed by a family member.”