Thirty and a Half Excuses (8 page)

Mason listened intently, showing no obvious reaction. “And then you came home and called me?”

I nodded.

“Why didn’t you call the police?”

“You very well know why. The same reason I called you this afternoon: They hate me. And not only do they hate me, but they usually try to pin whatever’s going wrong in this town on me.”

He leaned forward, resting his arms on his legs, his brow wrinkled in confusion. “Rose, you didn’t do anything wrong. How could they pin this on you?”

I shrugged. “How could they pin the break-in of my house on me? Surely you can see why I don’t trust them.”

He sighed, looking guilty. “That was a different situation. You were a suspect in your mother’s death. There’s no reason to think you were involved in anything this time.”

I wasn’t so sure.

“Did you get a good look at the guy?”

I shook my head. “No, it was dark, and he caught me by surprise.”

“Can you describe him? Was he short or tall? Did you see his hair color or any distinguishing features?”

I sighed. “Not really. He was dressed in a black long-sleeved shirt and jeans, and he was kind of hunched over when he ran toward me, so I couldn’t tell how tall he was. But he was bigger than me when he landed on top of me.” I closed my eyes trying to remember what I’d seen. “It all happened so fast. Just about the only other thing I remember seeing was a knit hat covering his head.”

Mason’s hand covered my knee, and I opened my eyes in surprise. “It’s okay. But you might remember more as it all settles in. Do you feel up to going over there with me?”

I hesitated. “I guess.”

“It’s perfectly safe.”

I knew that. Only a fool would stick around with all the commotion going on outside, even if it was the Henryetta police. The police were the reason I didn’t want to go. I was being ridiculous, and I knew it. But knowing something and feeling something are two entirely different things. Still, I wasn’t going to live my life cowering in fear. I’d left those days behind me, and I wasn’t about to pick up old habits now.

I stood. “Let’s get this over with.”

“I’ll be with you the entire time.”

His statement gave me more comfort than I’d expected it would. But he’d been the one to save me in July when Jimmy DeWade had tried to kill me, and he’d offered me comfort then too. Especially when Joe wasn’t giving it to me.

Muffy wasn’t happy that I left her behind. Mason walked next to me, keeping a polite distance. I showed him where I was standing when Muffy took off and retraced my steps. The backyard was lit up this time, and Detective Taylor and Officer Ernie were there, snooping around the back of the house.

When they saw me, Detective Taylor approached with a notebook. “What exactly did you see?”

I swallowed my resistance and told him everything I’d told Mason.

“Did you notice what direction he went?” the detective asked.

Shaking my head, I looked behind me, getting a face-full of a sheet. “No, I was more worried about Muffy after he threw her off.” I peeked through a gap in the housedresses. A couple had fallen off the line, either in the attacker’s flight or after the police’s arrival. Ernie was checking out the back door. “Was he trying to get into Miss Dorothy’s house?” I asked.

Taylor puffed out his chest. “We’re looking into that right now.”

Ernie glanced over his shoulder. “It looks like he had just gotten the door pried open before he was interrupted.” He narrowed his eyes at me.

Mason stared at the back door before glancing back at me. “I’ll walk you home, Rose.”

“I’m perfectly capable of walking home. It wasn’t like he was after me. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“That seems to happen to you an awful lot,” Mason muttered.

“Tell me about it.”

Neighbors had gathered on the sidewalk when I walked to the front of the house. Miss Mildred was front and center again, looking just as worried as she had earlier in the day. It had to be upsetting to an eighty-two-year-old woman to find her neighbor and friend dead, and then discover the police had been called to her house again. Heidi Joy and Miss Opal were there too, and there were some new faces in the crowd—the younger couple who lived down at the other end of the street and worked during the day and Thomas. He leaned against his muscle car with crossed arms, watching the commotion impassively.

“What’s going on?” Heidi Joy asked.

I looked back at the house, surprised to notice that Thomas was looking at me with interest.

“Someone tried to break into Miss Dorothy’s house tonight. Muffy must have seen or heard something, because she pulled her leash out of my hand and went back there to confront the intruder.”

Miss Mildred shot me a look of contempt. “I’ll be notifying Animal Control first thing tomorrow morning about your dog running around loose.”

I rolled my eyes. “I just gave Detective Taylor and the assistant DA an admission of guilt to that very charge. Don’t you think calling the dog catcher is overkill?”

Miss Opal tsked, shaking her head. “Good heavens, Mildred. Don’t ya think we’ve got more important things to worry about?”

Mildred scowled but remained silent.

“What do you think they were after, Rose?” Heidi Joy asked, clutching the edges of her robe to her chest.

“I don’t know. But I’m sure the police will get to the bottom of it.” I didn’t ordinarily have much faith in them, but maybe they’d get things done with Mason riding their behinds.

I didn’t feel like standing outside with the crowd, so I went home and checked Muffy out again, just to make sure she wasn’t hurt, and then put on my pajamas. I was still wound up from the excitement, so I turned on the television. Hopefully it would help me forget about my strange day. I’d just started to get drowsy when Mason knocked on my door. “Rose, are you still up?”

Cracking the door open, I stayed inside. I’d stirred up Miss Mildred enough tonight without going out in my nightgown.

His face appeared in the opening. “Did you happen to lose a piece of jewelry when the thief knocked you down?”

My eyes widened. “No. I never wear jewelry.” The only pieces I owned were the diamond engagement ring my birth mother had left me, a few pieces of costume jewelry, and the crucifix necklace Aunt Bessie had given me when I was baptized in the sixth grade.

“Okay, just checking. We found a piece out in the grass, a necklace with a St. Jude’s medal with something engraved on the back, and wondered if it was yours.”

“Do you think it belonged to the thief?”

Mason shrugged. “Maybe. Or it could have been in the yard for a while, although it doesn’t look weathered. Detective Taylor thinks that it was recently dropped.”

I didn’t trust Detective Taylor to investigate himself out of a paper bag. “Do you agree with him?”

“Yeah. I do.” He shifted his weight, looking over his shoulder at her house before turning back to me. “Are you okay? Do you feel safe? I can have Taylor assign a patrol car to keep an eye on your house and the neighborhood. Do some drive-bys tonight.”

I was sure the Henryetta police would love that. “Nah. I’ve got Muffy as my guard dog. Besides, you’re probably right. I’m sure it was just a random intruder.”

“If anything else happens or you feel unsafe, promise me you’ll call 911 first. They can get to you before I can.”

I smirked. “Not tonight.”

“You’re lucky I was still working.”

“You work too much.”

He laughed. “Now you sound like my mother.”

“I’m not sure if I should feel insulted or flattered.”

“Definitely flattered. My mother is an amazing woman.”

I grinned. “Then I’ll take the compliment.” I leaned against the door. “Thanks for coming tonight.”

Mason took a step closer. “You know I’m here if you need anything. I don’t mind. But the police can do more than I can. I mean it, next time call them before you call me.”

“You’re presuming there will be a next time.”

An amused grin spread across his face. “You’re suggesting there won’t be?”

I lifted a shoulder into a half-shrug. He had a point; if history kept repeating itself, there would be.

He shook his head with a chuckle. “Goodnight, Rose.”

“Goodnight, Mason.”

I watched him drive away, and then locked the door and went to get my small jewelry box from my dresser. Sitting on the bed, I lifted the lid to the white box and a tiny ballerina with a net skirt popped up. The box was more fit for a preteen than a twenty-four-year-old woman, but Daddy had given it to me for my thirteenth birthday. I’d never replaced it for two reasons: One, it was one of the only things he had ever given me outright, without Momma’s inclusion. And two, I didn’t have much of anything to put in it. My birth mother’s ring had come in a ring box which I kept tucked in my underwear drawer. Truth be told, I hadn’t opened the ring box in several months, the jewelry box in even longer.

I sorted through the pieces until I came across what I was looking for, the dainty gold chain with its filigreed gold crucifix. Aunt Bessie had made sure to tell me it was made of real 18ct gold. Momma had rarely let me wear it, telling me it wouldn’t be appropriate to wear something so gaudy every day. As a girl, it had killed me to let it sit in the box, and sometimes I’d sneak it out of the house and put it on after I got on the school bus.

Laying the chain across my palm, I studied the cross. Aunt Bessie had even had my initials engraved on the back.
RAG.
Lord knew I’d been teased mercilessly about that fact when the other kids in school found out. Which incidentally was when one of the mean girls in my class noticed my necklace and asked to try it on. I’d relented—anything to fit in with my classmates—but she’d taken one look at the initials and tossed it back to me with a nasty insult.

I hadn’t worn it since.

I was done with letting people make me feel worthless. Sure it had happened in the sixth grade and Theresa Hopper didn’t even live in Henryetta anymore, but the necklace would be a reminder to stand my ground.

I lifted the chain and fastened it around my neck.

Rose Gardner was done backing down.

Chapter Seven

When I got to the nursery the next morning, Violet was waiting with her hand on her hip. “You didn’t think to call me about getting attacked?
Again
.”

I started to ask her how she knew, then stopped. Of course, it was big news, and Henryetta was a small town. It would have been more surprising if Violet
hadn’t
heard.

I waved my hand as I tossed my purse behind the counter. “It was nothing. Mason thinks someone heard that poor Miss Dorothy died and tried to break in to steal her jewelry.”

Violet’s father-in-law showed up just as she was about to give me a tongue-lashing. Giving me the evil eye—which just about screamed
We’re not done talking about this
—she turned to him with a smile.

“Thanks for letting us borrow your truck, Gary. If you want to take my car, I’ll switch with you later today.

“Don’t be silly, Violet. You’re like a daughter to Shelia and me. We’re so proud of what you and Rose have done,” Gary told her with tears in his eyes. “I don’t know what’s going on in that fool boy’s head, but I hope he doesn’t think we’re gonna turn our backs on you.”

Violet teared up as she threw her arms around his neck, and her voice broke as she held onto him for several seconds. “Thank you.”

I wasn’t sure what Mike’s parents knew, but as far as I could tell, there was plenty of blame to go round. I wasn’t happy that Mike had left Violet, but I’d also seen the misery she’d put him through with years of belittling and badgering. Still, to be fair to Violet, he’d just about squashed any thoughts she’d ever had of being anything more than a wife and a mother.

As we began to slide the flats of flowers on the pickup bed, we quickly realized it was going to take more than one trip. Gary drove the first load to the church, and I followed him in my car. After we set the first batch on the sidewalk, Gary returned to the nursery while I unpacked my gardening tools from the trunk of my car.

Violet and I had inherited our love for flowers and gardening from our father. We’d spent most of the warm weather months of our childhood outside planting, weeding, and pruning. Later, I realized it was my father’s escape from my mother’s razor-edged tongue. But as a child, spending time outside with my father was where I found most of my happiness. Since I still lived in my parents’ house, my shed was full of shovels, rakes, pruning shears, and any other tools we might need.

While I waited for Gary to return, I called Neely Kate. I had several minutes to kill, and other than a few minutes we’d seen each other at the grand opening, I hadn’t talked to her in over a week. I knew she’d be at the courthouse, but she hated her job so much she always answered, welcoming the distraction.

She answered on the second ring. “I was just about to call you. I heard about your incident last night.”

“Is there anyone in Henryetta who hasn’t?”

“Doubtful. You can tell me all about it at lunch this afternoon.”

I groaned. “Oh no. I forgot. I can’t. We got a big order to plant flowers and prune the landscape at the New Living Hope Revival Church.” I eyed the church entrance. Jonah’s car wasn’t in the parking lot, but I was still keeping an eye out for him. He made me nervous, and I didn’t want to be caught alone with him.

“I thought you just sold the flowers. I didn’t know y’all did the plantin’ too.”

“We didn’t plan on it, but that was the only way to get this job, and it’s a big one. This is more money than we’d expected to make in a month.”

“Well that makes sense, I guess, but are you planting ‘em all yourself?”

“No, I hired David Moore and Bruce Wayne Decker to help. They should be here any minute.”

She paused. “
The stoners
?”

I sighed, starting to doubt the wisdom of my plan. “I was desperate.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

My gaze focused on the front doors of the church. I could feel Rhonda’s eyes staring me down through the office window. I suspected she was gathering the rocks for my stoning later.