When Good Bras Go Bad (Myrtle Crumb Series) (9 page)

             
“What play?”

             
“
Macbeth
.
They’re puttin’ it on at school, and she’s got one of the lead roles.”

             
“Huh.”

             
“Guess I’ll see you opening night.”

             
Mrs. Granger shook her head
.
“I doubt it
.
My car’s on the fritz.”

             
“I’ll be happy to come by and pick you up.”

             
“We’ll see.”  She went back in the house and shut the door.

DIVIDER HERE

             
On
Sunday, Cooper and I had lunch at Carol’s Café before going to see “Mousetrap.”  We’d ordered
chicken salad
sandwiches and iced tea and were waiting for the waitress to bring our food when I decided to ask Coop about what had been on my mind nearly all week.

             
I leaned across the table and kept my voice down
.
“If you have a suspect you think is coverin’ for somebody else, how do you make ‘em fess up?”

             
Coop sighed
.
“So you think Sunny’s covering for the school thief?”

             
“Maybe
.
How do I make her roll over on ‘em?”

             
“I’m not sure you can
.
It’s not a good idea to get wrapped up in investigations where your family might be concerned
.
If you were on the force, somebody else would be handlin’ this case.”

             
“So you’ve said.”

             
“Why don’t you just turn it over to Brody?  He knows what he’s doin’.”

             
“If it was your granddaughter, would you turn it over to Brody?”

             
The waitress showed up with our food then, so Coop didn’t have
to answer
.
He didn’t have to anyway; I already knew
.
He wouldn’t turn it over to Brod
y any more than I was going to.

             
Me and Coop both got
the
chicken salad (Carol
is famous for her
good chicken salad, but her meatloaf ain’t fit to eat)
so the waitress didn’t have to ask whose was whose
.
She
set our plates down, gave us a big toothy smile and moseyed off.

             
“Speakin’ of Sunny,” Coop said, “is she still mad at you?”

             
“No, not really
.
We’re not
back
to
where we used to be yet, and she didn’t come for her usual Saturday visit; but things are better than they were when this week started.”

             
“I’m glad to hear it.”

             
I told Coop about goin’ over to Alicia Granger’s house
.
He closed his eyes and shook his head.

             
“Here’s the funny part,” I said
.
“Mrs. Granger thought Matlock might be a drug dog!”  I laughed.

             
Coop stared at me wide-eyed and in mid chew
.
He swallowed
.
“Are you serious?”

             
“Yeah
.
I got a big kick out of it, and I think Matlock did, too.”

             
Coop blinked
.
“Was
she
serious?”

             
“Well, she didn’t seem to think it was as funny as I did, but—”

             
“Stay away from there.”

             
“What?”

             
“Stay away from that house,” Coop said
.
“That woman might be a dope dealer.”

             
“Well, wouldn’t that be all the more reason to—”

             
“No!”  Coop looked around and then lowered his voice
.
“No
.
I don’t want you to go there anymore
.
It could be dangerous.”

             
I smiled and patted his hand
.
“I have too much going on right now to investigate that mess.”

             
“So you won’t go snoopin’ around tryin’ to make a drug bust?”

             
“No drug busts
.
I promise.”  You’ll notice, though, that I didn’t promise not to go back to the house
.
I was still bound and determined Alicia’s mama was gonna see her in that play.
Maybe that was part of Alicia’s problem—maybe that’s why she stole—maybe she was tryin’ to get some attention from her mama.

             
Coop
came in for a few minutes after he brought me home from the play. Matlock seems to have taken a shine to him. Me and Coop talked about the play a bit and then he said he had to get home and get ready for work the next day. And, no, I didn’t get no “good-bye kiss.” It was only our second date after all. Do you expect him to be takin’ liberties already? All right, I sort of expected a peck on the jaw or somethin’ and was disappointed he didn’t, but like I told you, it was only our second outing.

He
had barely got out of sight of the house before Tansie came knocking on the door
.
I opened the door and let her in, and then I sat down in the recliner and kicked off my shoes.

             
“How’re you, Tansie?” I asked
.
That was my way of tellin’ her to say what she came to say and go home so I could get out of the dress I was wearin’
.
I was tired, and I wanted to relax.

             
“I doubt I’m doin’ as well as you are,” she said
.
“I’m not being squired around by the sheriff.”

             
“Maybe not, but I notice the mailman always brings your packages right up to the door.”  I was tryin’ to be magnanimous
.
Ever since the
Easton
boy said that word to me, I notice I’ve been tryin’ to be that way a lot
.
Maybe folks’ll start saying, “
That Myrtle Crumb sure is magnanimous
.”  It dawned on me Tansie was saying something
.
“Hmmm?”

             
“I said it’s just because my mailbox is a little on the small side
.
”

             
“It might be your satin robe that’s a little on the small side, at least
where
your chest
is concerned
.”

             
“The robe show
s a bit of décolletage, I suppose, but it’s by no means racy.”  Still, I think Tansie looked pleased at the thought of the mailman bringing packages to her door just to get a glimpse of her “décolletage.”

             
“How’s Melvia?” I asked
.
“I haven’t seen her for a few days.”

             
“She’s fine…getting more like our mother every day.”  She rolled her eyes
.
“I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.”

             
I figured if Tansie took after their daddy, then Melvia bein’ more like their mama was probably a good thing
.
I kept my mouth shut, though; you know, bein’ magnanimous and all.

             
“Bettie says you’ve been workin’ at the school.”  She leaned forward and put her hand on my chair
.
“We didn’t know you’d fell on hard times, dear.”

             
So that Brandon Easton had been running his mouth to his grandmother and who knew who else
.
Not that he’d have to tell anybody else
.
Telephone, telegraph and tell-Bettie-Easton if you need to get the word out.

             
“I’ve been
volunteering
at Sunny’s school for a few days,” I said
.

             
“Is that right?  Well, you know, don’t you, that we M.E.L.O.N.S. would be here Johnny-on-the-spot if you should need anything?”

             
I faked a smile at her
.
“Yes, I do know; but isn’t it fortunate that I have enough money and time that I’m able to give of myself to my granddaughter’s school?”

             
“Yes,” said Tansie
.
“Yes, I suppose it is.”  She sat back and took her hand off my chair.

             
“Speaking of M.E.L.O.N.S.,” I said, referring to the stupid group Bettie had founded calling us Mature El
egant
Ladies Open to Nice Suggestions, “are we having a meeting soon?”

             
“Actually, that’s the other reason I’m here
.
We’re having a Halloween
soiree
on
Saturday after Halloween.”

             
“Great!”  I said it was a stupid group, and it has a stupid name, but I’m all for parties
.
“What are you takin’?”

             
“I thought I’d bake a chocolate cake and swirl a spider web design on the top with vanilla icing.”

             
“That sounds good
.
How about I make a cheese ball?”

             
“All right
.
Do you think you can shape it like a brain?  You know, to be in keeping with the Halloween theme?”

             
No, I thought; but I
said
I’d see what I could do.

DIVIDER HERE

             
When Sunny got to the house Monday morning, I had still-warm-from-the-oven blueberry muffins waiting for her
.
I heard Faye toot the horn goodbye before I heard Sunny come through the door
.
I hoped that meant things were better between Faye and Sunny, too
.
That was the first morning I’d heard Faye toot the horn when she dropped Sunny off
.
I hadn’t had much of a chance to talk with Faye, but I knew she was as tore up as a toddler with a two-wheeled tricycle over Sunny gettin’ suspended.

             
“Mornin’,” I said, wonderin’ if I was about to lose whatever ground we’d regained.

             
“Mornin’, Mimi.”

             
“Have a seat and get you a muffin.”  I followed my own instructions
.
“We need to talk.”

             
Sunny draped her jacket over the back of a chair and sat down
.
“About what?”

             
“About Alicia Granger.”

             
Sunny commenced rolling her eyes and huffin’ and puffin’.

             
“Is she poor?” I asked before the young ‘un blew my house down.

             
The huffin’ and puffin’ stopped
.
“Huh?”

             
Risking the walls caving in, I huffed a breath of my own before tellin’ Sunny about goin’ over to Alicia’s house on Friday.

             
“The place was shabby as all get-out,” I said
.
“And when I asked her mother about the play, she said she couldn’t come because her car was broke down.”

             
“So you think Al steals because she’s poor?”

             
“I don’t know
.
Maybe
.
If she is the one doin’ the stealin’, maybe it’s for attention
.
Her mama didn’t even know Alicia has the lead in the school play
.
Didn’t seem to care, either.”

             
Sunny’s appetite finally got the better of her, and she grabbed up a muffin
.
“
So, w
hat?  You want me to question Al?  Spy on her or somethin’?”

             
I shrugged and peeled the paper off my own muffin
.
“Whatever you wanna do
.
I wanna get her mama to that play.”