Family Case of Murder (2 page)

“Mrs. Craig, Miss Steele,” the man said.

“Yesh,” Lacy replied, trying her best to chew and swallow without spitting crumbs or choking. Why couldn’t she be one of those women who took delicate, ladylike bites?

“Mr. Middleton is doing well. It wasn’t a heart attack; it was angina, sort of a warning sign and precursor for a heart attack. We’re going to talk about an exercise program, and he’s also going to need to work on his diet.” His eyes zeroed in on the tub of brownies in Lacy’s lap. She resisted the urge to try and hide them behind her back. “You can see him now, if you’d like,” he added, and Lucinda stood. She stowed her knitting in her bag and followed the doctor through the swinging doors.

Lacy opened the box of brownies and held it up to her face, inhaling as she gazed at them. Jason took the brownies and put the lid back on.

“Don’t eat your feelings, Red,” he said.

“She can eat her feelings if she wants,” Tosh said.

“I’m going to let you replay that phrase in your head so you can see how it sounds,” Jason said. He stuffed the box back into Lucinda’s bag and zipped it closed.

“You can’t dump your date, show up here, and pretend you’re the one in charge,” Tosh said, leaning around Lacy to get a direct line at Jason.

“No, it’s much better to be the one pathetically hanging around, catching crumbs,” Jason said.

“You guys are stressing me out. Give me the brownies,” Lacy said, lunging over Jason to reach for her grandmother’s bag. He caught her and pinned her to his chest.

“Fine, we’ll stop. But I’m not going to sit here and watch you eat yourself into sugar shock. Take a deep breath, okay?”

She took a deep breath and held it. He let her go and she lunged again, reaching vainly for the bag. He moved it out of her grasp with his left hand and grabbed her with his right so she was now pinned face down across his legs. And that was how her grandmother found her when she came back to retrieve her.

“Lacy, your grandfather is asking for you,” Lucinda said. Was there a hint of reproach in her tone? Lacy could only imagine what she looked like with her upper half sprawled across Jason, arms outstretched, reaching for the brownies, while her legs rested in Tosh’s lap. Add to that the fact that she was wearing a dress, and she made a ladylike picture, indeed.

Lacy cleared her throat and sat up, righting her skirt and smoothing a hand over her hair. She stood as Tosh spoke behind her back.

“And that’s what happens when you try to keep Lacy from sugar, Rookie.”

“Geez,” Jason said, and Lacy disappeared through the swinging doors.

Her grandfather wasn’t hooked to any machines, but he still looked pale and diminished somehow, and the sight of him in the bed, covered with a flimsy blanket, sent fear spiraling through Lacy’s midsection.

“You’ll do anything for attention, won’t you, Grandpa?” she asked as she poked her head around the corner of his doorway.

“You know me, Lacy. I like to be the very center of my universe,” he said. He patted the bed beside him and she perched on the edge, feeling very childlike as she climbed up.

“How are you?”

“Fine. Feeling silly, really. I told Lucinda not to call.”

“She did the right thing, and you know it. You would have done the same for her, or you would have carried her to the hospital yourself.” She bit her lip. “Have I been working you too hard? Are the renovations too much? I know I’ve been distracted with everything else I’m trying to do. I can help you more, or I can get someone else to do it.”

He held up a hand. “Now don’t start treating me like an old war horse that needs to be taken out to pasture and shot. I’m just fine. I’ve had more fun in the last few weeks terrifying contractors into submission than I’ve had the last few years of retirement. But I’m getting old, and there’s no fooling mother nature.” He took a breath. “On that note, I’m about to play the sick-old-Grandpa card and ask you a favor.”

“Anything. You know I’ll do anything for you,” she said. She picked up his hand and clasped it between both of hers.

“I want you to make up with Riley.”

She blinked at him, sure he must be joking.

“Don’t look at me like that. I know what I’m asking, but it’s not just for me. It weighs on Lucinda, more than she would ever admit. As if she would ever admit that anything was bothering her. But I know that it is, even if she doesn’t say it. She wants to see Riley again, but she won’t do it while you two are still fighting. And family shouldn’t fight like this. When push comes to shove, we only have each other.”

“I suppose I could give her a call,” Lacy said, wrenching out the words.

“Or you could go to
New York
for her bridal shower. I saw the invitation.”

He couldn’t be serious. Did he know what he was asking of her? He actually wanted her to return to the scene of the crime, to the place where she had been dumped, and cheerfully support her sister and her ex-fiancé at their shower?

“This isn’t just about Riley. It’s about you, too,” Mr. Middleton added. “You need closure, and I know you. The best way to move on and get this out of your system is to face it head on. And since I saw the invitation, I also know that it encouraged you to bring a date. I can think of two young men who are both probably in the lobby at this moment and would jump at the chance to go along and cheer you on.”

“Let me recap here: you want me to go to
New York
, see my ex, make up with my sister, and choose between Tosh and Jason to invite one of them to go with me?”

“Sounds about right,” he said.

“I’m not sure you can ask all that from a simple case of angina,” she said.

He chuckled. “Let’s just say we’re paying it forward for the big one. This is important to me, but, more than that, it’s important to Lucinda. She wants this, but she would never ask. I’m asking on her behalf.”

Lacy sighed. “Okay.”

He gave her hand a squeeze. “I bet it’s going to go better than you think.”

Since she thought it was going to be abysmal, there was a good chance he was right. She walked back to the lobby with lead feet. Tosh and Jason were sitting on either side of her grandmother like bookends. Tosh was holding her hand and seemed to be either speaking soothing words or praying. Jason sat with his arms folded, looking sullen. She could almost hear Tosh’s solicitousness grating on his nerves. As if to confirm her thoughts, he looked up and jerked his head in Tosh’s direction.

“Suck up,” he mouthed. Lacy smiled and took a fortifying breath. The time had finally come to choose between them, at least for this one event, and she had no idea how she was going to do it.

Lacy waited until the morning to make a decision, hoping a good night’s sleep would bring clarity, and it did. Of course she was going to ask Tosh. There was bound to be emotional drama, and she would need all the support she could get. Tosh was her go-to person for emotional stability and understanding. Plus he knew the whole story with all the gory details. He would know exactly where and when she needed him most.

First things first, she had to RSVP to the invitation, which she did via the internet. Perhaps it was the coward’s way out, but she had no desire to talk to her sister or Robert’s family until she absolutely had to. So she Facebooked Robert’s mother and received a pleasant reply in response. Lacy had always gotten along well with his mother, which was sort of amazing considering the woman was certifiable.

Next there was nothing to do but invite Tosh, but he wasn’t answering his cell phone. She hated to call his office, but she needed an answer quickly in order to buy tickets, so she bit the bullet and dialed the phone.

“Reverend Underwood’s office.”

“Hi, Pearl, it’s Lacy. May I speak to Tosh, please?” Lacy used her kindest voice and crossed her fingers. Tosh’s secretary hated her for whatever reason.

“He’s not available,”
Pearl
said before slamming the phone in Lacy’s ear.

Gritting her teeth, Lacy called back. “Could I leave a message, please?” she asked, continuing the conversation as if they hadn’t been interrupted. She had learned with
Pearl
that it was best to exist in a sort of fantasy land where there were no problems. Of course she learned her lesson the hard way after she tried to confront
Pearl
about her dislike. The woman had burst into tears and run into Tosh’s office, accusing Lacy of bullying her. And Tosh, softhearted idiot that he was, had looked accusingly at Lacy for hurting the woman, even though
Pearl
was about a foot taller and a hundred pounds heavier.

“She doesn’t have anyone else, Lacy. She gets a little caught up in her work and a little too attached to her bosses, but that means she deserves our pity and not our censure. Try to be a little nicer to her,” he had said after
Pearl
returned to her desk, still sniffling.

“Nicer to her?” Lacy had exclaimed. “All I said was that I thought we got off on the wrong foot and wanted to start over. How could that possibly be misconstrued as mean?”

“Maybe it was your tone,” Tosh had suggested.

Lacy had just looked at him, wondering if everything
Pearl
touched turned insane. “For the sake of our friendship, I’m going to leave now and pretend this conversation never happened.” She had walked out then and she swore she saw
Pearl
smiling triumphantly at her desk. Tosh had called to make amends and now they agreed to disagree by not mentioning
Pearl
again, which was a victory for
Pearl
because she knew Lacy wouldn’t tell Tosh about this conversation or her continued rudeness. Why should she when he didn’t believe her anyway?

“Fine, what’s the message?”
Pearl
said, jogging Lacy out of her memories.

“Just ask him to call me back, please. I have a question for him.”

“Is it about money? You shouldn’t borrow money from him. Just because he has a trust fund doesn’t mean he’s your personal piggy bank,”
Pearl
said.

Lacy ground her teeth together in an attempt to remain polite. Giving in to the crazy was never the answer. “It’s not about money,” she said, though she wondered if
Pearl
could understand her with her teeth clenched so tightly together.

“What’s it about?”
Pearl
asked. “I have to have something to fill in the subject portion of the message pad.”

Lacy couldn’t help herself. “It’s about our earlier conversation. Tell him I’m still thinking about his offer to take over as church secretary after we’re married. Thanks, Pearl. You have a good day.” This time when she hung up, she was smiling.

She continued to hold onto her phone, doing a mental countdown until it rang. “Lacy, what did you say to
Pearl
?” Tosh said. “She’s freaking out.”

“How can you tell? Isn’t that just a normal day for her?”

“Well, yeah, but why is she freaking out? All she could say between her sobbing was something to the effect of marriage and unemployment.”

“No idea,” Lacy lied. “I merely told her I wanted to speak with you. Why isn’t your cell on? I couldn’t even leave a message.”

“It’s dead. I haven’t charged it for like three days because I lost my charger. I’m going to have to buy a new one. What did you want to speak with me about? It had better be good because I’m in the middle of a meeting with the bigwigs.”

“You’re having a board meeting in the middle of the day?” she asked.

“No, not church bigwigs, town bigwigs. The mayor, the sheriff, people like that.”

Lacy frowned at the mention of the mayor. She knew for a fact that the man had been in cahoots with developers who threatened her over the Stakely building, but she couldn’t prove it. They had erased all traces of evidence after Detective Brenner was arrested. Lacy guessed he gave them a heads up out of spite. Whatever the reason, she didn’t trust the mayor, but Tosh already knew that, so she didn’t rehash it again.

“I was wondering if you’ll go away with me next weekend.”

There was a significant pause. “Um…I don’t think…I mean, my parishioners…”

“Oh, I guess that sort of sounded like I was inviting you for a drunken Vegas weekend or something. I meant will you go to
New York
with me to Riley’s shower. We’ll have separate rooms. It’s all very above board and innocent. I’ll swear out a statement for your church, if you want.”

“Wow, you’re going to Riley’s shower? Since when?”

“Since Grandpa made me promise on his deathbed,” Lacy said.

“He’s not dying.”

“He’s using this request in advance of that time. And, as much as I’m dreading it, he’s right; it’s time to move on. I need to put the past behind me where Robert and Riley are concerned. Not that it’s going to be a piece of cake, though. Which is why I desperately need my best friend by my side. No pressure.”

“Are you kidding? I’m there. I’ve been telling you for months now to move on. To believe that I’ll actually get to be a part of that process is awesome. Of course I’ll go.”

Lacy bit her lip as Tosh rattled on about his enthusiasm over the trip. Taking him had seemed like the obvious choice, but what if it wasn’t? Tosh believed that as soon as she moved on from Robert she would be ready to be with him. Was he picturing Lacy emotionally shattered with himself there to pick up the pieces, swoop in, and ignite a relationship?

“I should really get back to the meeting,” Tosh said. “We’ll hash out the details later. Don’t buy the tickets yet. I might be able to borrow the family jet. See you.” He hung up, leaving Lacy feeling a bit shell shocked at his parting shot. His family jet? She had seen Tosh’s house when she went to visit over New Year’s, and it had been grand. But they were all so down to earth and fun that it was easy to forget they were loaded.

Her phone rang again and she stared at it, debating whether or not to answer because it was Riley. Obviously Robert’s mother had immediately gotten off the internet and called Riley. News had a way of traveling fast. Normally Lacy would let the call go to her voicemail, but she had promised to make amends, so she pushed the button.