Tangled Up in You (5 page)

Did he stop loving us, Mick?

He dropped his hands to his sides and felt the back of his skull get tight. Please stop .

Tears streamed down her cheeks. If he still loved us, why did she shoot him? Hed had affairs before. According to everyone in town, hed had lots of affairs.

He walked to his sister and put his hands on the shoulders of her fuzzy pink robe. Let it go.

Ive tried. Ive tried to be like you, and sometimes I can, butwhy wasnt she buried with her wedding ring?

The bigger question was, why had she loaded the .38? Had she really meant to kill anyone or just scare the piss out of Loch and his young lover? Who knew? Thinking about it didnt serve any purpose but to drive a person crazy. It doesnt matter now. Our life isnt in the past, Meg.

She took a deep breath. Youre right. Ill put the ring away and forget about it. She shook her head. Its just that sometimes I cant turn it off.

He pulled her to his chest and held her tight. I know.

I get so afraid.

He got afraid too. Afraid that shed fall into the downward spiral that had claimed their mother and that shed never climb out. Mick had always wondered if his mother had given a second of thought to him and Meg. If shed thought about the devastation and loss she was about to leave behind on a barroom floor. As shed loaded the gun that night, had it crossed her mind that she was about to leave her children orphans or that her actions would force them to live within the horrible fallout? As shed driven to Hennessys, had she thought about them and not cared? Have you been taking your medicine?

It makes me tired.

You have to take it. He pulled back and looked down into her face. Travis depends on you. And I depend on you too.

She sighed. You do not, and Travis would probably be better off without me.

Meg. He looked deep into her eyes. You of all people know that isnt true.

I know. She pushed her hair out of her face. I just meant that raising a boy is so hard.

He hoped like hell thats what she meant. Thats why you have me. He smiled, even though he felt ten years older than he had before walking into the house. Im not going anywhere. Even though you do make the worlds shittiest meatloaf.

She smiled, and just like that, her mood changed. Like someone reached into her head and flipped a switch. I like my meatloaf.

I know. He dropped his hands and reached into his pocket for his keys. But you like old-lady food. Meg cooked like their grandmother had. Like she was baking a casserole for a potluck at the senior center.

Youre evil and a bad influence on Travis. She laughed and folded her arms across her chest. But you always make me feel better.

Good night, he said and headed for the door. Cool night air brushed across his face and neck as he walked to his truck, and he took a deep breath and let it out. Hed always made Meg feel better. Always. And afterward, he always felt like shit. Shed have a breakdown, and when it was over, shed be fine. Never seeming to notice the broken bits and pieces shed left in the wake of her unpredictable moods.

Having been gone for twelve years, hed almost forgotten what those moods were like. Sometimes he wished hed just stayed gone.

This time she sat down and wrote:

I promise its going to be different this time, Baby. Alice Jones glanced at her young daughter, then returned her gaze to the road. Youre going to love Truly. Its a little like heaven, and its about damn time Jesus drop-kicked us into a better life.

Baby didnt say anything. Shed heard it before. The excitement in her mothers voice and the promises of a better life. The only thing that ever changed was their address.

Like always, Baby wanted to believe her mother. Really she did, but shed just turned five. Old enough to realize that nothing ever got better. Nothing ever changed.

Were going to live in a nice trailer house.

She unfolded her arms from across her chest as she looked out the windshield at the pine trees whizzing by. A trailer house? Shed never lived in a house.

And a swing set in the front yard.

A swing set? Shed never had a swing set. She turned her gaze to her mother and the sunlight shining in her blond hair. Her mother looked like an angel on a Christmas card. Like she should be standing on top of a Christmas tree, and Baby let herself believe. She let herself believe in the dream of finding heaven. She let herself believe in a better life, and for five months it had been betterright up until the night an enraged wife pumped a set of .38 hollow points into Alice Joness young body and turned the dream into a nightmare.

Maddie pushed her chair back from her desk and stood. The sleeves of her cotton pajamas slid to her elbows as she raised her arms over her head and stretched. It was a little after noon and she hadnt showered. Her good friend Clare showered and put on makeup every day before she sat down to write. Not Maddie. Of course, that meant that occasionally she got caught by FedEx looking like complete crap. Something she really didnt worry about.

She jumped in the shower and thought about the rest of her day. She had a list of names and addresses with respective relationships to the case. First on the list was a visit to Value Rite Drug, where Carleen Dawson worked. Carleen had been a waitress at Hennessys at the same time as Maddies mother. She wanted to set up a time to interview the woman and asking in person had advantages over asking on the telephone.

After her shower, she rubbed almond-scented lotion into her skin and put on a black dress that wrapped around and tied at the side of her waist. She pulled her hair back from her face, applied a little mascara and a deep red lipstick. She wore red sandals and slid a notebook into her slim leather briefcase. Not that she planned to use anything in the briefcase, but it gave the right impression.

Value Rite Drug was located a few blocks off Main Street next to Helens Hair Hut. Potted geraniums and yellow awnings gave the outside of the store splashes of color. The inside was stuffed with everything from Band-Aids and aspirin to wooden statues of elk, moose, and bear carved by locals. She asked at the front register where she might find Carleen and was pointed to the snack food aisle.

Are you Carleen Dawson? she asked a short woman wearing a white blouse and blue and red apron, and who was bent over a cart of marshmallows and Pop Smart.

She straightened and looked at Maddie through a pair of bifocal lenses. Yes.

Hello, my name is Madeline Dupree and I am a writer. She handed Carleen a business card. I am hoping that youll give me a few moments of your time.

Im not on break.

I know. Carleens hair was processed within an inch of its life, and Maddie wondered briefly what was up with some of the locals and bad hair. I thought we could set up a time when youre off work.

Carleen looked down at the black and silver card, then back up. True crime? You write true crime? Like Ann Rule?

That hack . Yes. Exactly.

I dont know how I can help you. We dont have serial killers in Truly. There was one in Boise a few years ago, a female one, of all things. If you can believe that.

Actually Maddie could believe it, since her friend Lucy had been a suspect, and since Maddie planned to write about the murderous rampage in the future.

Nothing ever happens around here, Carleen added and stuffed a bag of marshmallows on the shelf.

Im not writing about a serial killer.

What, then?

Maddies grasp on her briefcase tightened and she placed her other hand in the pocket of her dress. Twenty-nine years ago you worked in Hennessys Bar when Rose Hennessy shot and killed her husband, a cocktail waitress named Alice Jones, then turned the handgun on herself.

Carleen stilled. I wasnt there.

I know. Youd already gone home for the night.

That was a long time ago. Why do you want to write about that?

Because its my life . Because not all interesting true crime stories are about serial killers. Some times the best stories are about real people. Normal people who snap and commit horrible crimes.

I guess.

Did you know Alice Jones?

Yeah, I knew her. I knew Rose too, but I dont think I should talk about that. It was a real sad situation and people have moved on. She shoved the business card back at Maddie. Sorry, I cant help you.

Maddie knew when to press and when to take a step back. For now. Well, think about it. She smiled and kept one hand in her pocket and the other wrapped around the handle of her briefcase. And if you change your mind, give me a call.

Carleen slid the card into the front pocket of her blue apron. I wont change my mind. Some things are better left buried in the past.

Perhaps, but what Carleen didnt know but would find out was that Maddie rarely took no for an answer.

N o. I cant help you.

Maddie stood on the pockmarked porch of Jewel Finley, a second cocktail waitress who had worked at Hennessys at the time of Alices death. Itll just take a few moments.

Im busy. Jewels hair was in pink rollers and Maddie thought she detected the aroma of Dippity-do. Lord, did they still sell Dippity-do? Rose was my good friend and Im not goin to talk against her, Jewel said. What happened to her was a tragedy. Im not goin to exploit her misfortune.

Her misfortune? My purpose is not to exploit anyone, but to tell everyones side of the story.

Your purpose is to make money.

Believe me, there are easier ways to make money. Maddie felt her temper rise, but she wisely held back. Is there a better time for me to come back?

No.

Perhaps when youre not quite so busy.

Im not goin to talk to you about Rose, and I doubt anyone else will talk to you neither. She stepped back into her house. Good-bye, she said and shut the door.

Maddie stuck a business card in the porch screen and walked toward her Mercedes parked at the curb. Not only did Maddie not take no for an answer, she was like the damn Terminator and shed be back.

D o you know when hell be back?

That depends on if the fish are biting. Tomorrow, if its bad. Who knows, if its good. Levana Potter looked at Maddies business card and turned it over. But I can tell you that he remembers everything about that night. The wife of the retired sheriff looked up. It still haunts him. Shed found Levana digging in the flower bed in the front of her ranch-style home, and the good news was that the sheriff would more than likely be willing to talk to Maddie. The bad news was her interview would have to wait on the capricious lake trout. Did you know the parties involved?

Sure. Levana stuck the business card in the pocket of her shirt, then shoved her hand back inside her gardening glove. The Hennessys have lived in this valley for generations. I didnt know Alice much. Just chatted the few times she came into the little ice-cream and gift store I used to own off Third. Pretty thing and seemed kind of sweet. Looked like an angel. She had a little girl, I know that. After Alice died, her aunt came and took her. I dont know whatever happened to her.

Maddie smiled a little. Do you remember her name?

Levana shook her head and her white permed hair wafted a bit in the breeze. Heavens, no. That was twenty-nine years ago and I only saw her a few times. Heck, I have a hard time remembering my own name sometimes.

Alice lived at the Roundup Trailer Court.

Heck, that was torn down years ago.

Yes, I know. But I cant find any records of people who might have lived there at the same time as Alice and her daughter. In her diaries, Alice had mentioned a few women by their first names. Do you recall a woman named Trina who may have lived next door to Alice?

Hmm. Levana shook her head. That doesnt ring any bells. Bill will know, she said referring to her husband. He remembers everyone who ever lived in this town. Ill give him your card when he gets back from his fishing trip.

Thank you. Im not going to be here in town tomorrow, but Ill be back the day after.

Ill tell him, but it might be next week.

Fabulous . Thank you for your time.

On the way home from the Potters, Maddie stopped off at the grocery store and bought a roasted deli chicken and some Excedrin. Carleen had been guarded and uncooperative and Jewel had been openly hostile. Her head pounded, she was frustrated by her lack of prog ress, and she had an urge to put someone in a headlock.

With a blue basket hanging off one arm, she took her place in line at checkout number three. The next time she spoke to Carleen and Jewel, shed try a less businesslike tactic. Shed try the nice-as-pie, friendly approach. If that didnt work, shed go all Jerry Springer on their hillbilly asses.

I saw you at Value Rite earlier, a woman in the next line over said.

Maddie looked up from putting her basket on the conveyor belt. Are you talking to me?

Yeah. The other woman had short dark hair and wore a T-shirt with a picture of her grandkids on the front. Carleen said you were askin about Rose and Loch Hennessy.

Wow, word really did travel fast in small towns. Thats right.

I grew up with Rose and she had a few problems, but she was a good person.

A few problems. Is that what they all called pumping lead into two people? Maddie would call it a psychotic breakdown. Im sure she was.

That little waitress got what she deserved for messing with a married man.

Tired, frustrated, and now pissed off, Maddie said, So you think that every woman who gets involved with a married man deserves to die on a barroom floor?

The woman tossed a bag of potatoes on the conveyor belt in front of her. Well, I just mean that if you mess around with another womans man, you might get hurt. Thats all.

No, that wasnt all, but Maddie wisely held her tongue.

M addie tossed her briefcase on the sofa and glanced at the photo of her mother sitting on the coffee table. Well, that was a waste of makeup. She kicked off her shoes and put the photograph face down. She couldnt look at her mothers cheery smile when her day had been a bust.

Barefoot, she walked into the kitchen and reached into the refrigerator for the bottle of merlot shed opened the day before. She thought better of it and grabbed the Skyy vodka, diet tonic, and a lime. Sometimes a girl needed a drink, even if she was alone. While she poured vodka into a highball glass and added the tonic, the George Thorogood song I Drink Alone ran through her head. Shed never liked that song. Perhaps it was the writer in her, but the chorus was redundant. Of course when you drink alone you drink with nobody else.

Just as she slid ice and a slice of lime into the glass, the doorbell rang. She grabbed her drink and raised it to her lips as she moved through the living room. She certainly wasnt expecting anyone, and the person on the other side of the door was the last person she expected.

She looked through her peephole at Mick Hennessy, and she unlocked the deadbolt and opened the door. The late afternoon sun cut across Micks cheek and one corner of his mouth. He wore a wife beater beneath a blue plaid shirt that hed hacked the sleeves off just above the bulge of his biceps. The pale blue in the plaids matched his eyes and set off his tan skin and black hair like he belonged on the cover of a magazine, selling sex and breaking hearts.

Hello, Maddie, he said, his voice a low rumble. He held a business card between the fingers of one raised hand.

Shit! The last thing she needed today was a confrontation with Mick. She took another fortifying drink and waited for him to start yelling. Instead he flashed her a killer grin.

I told you Id give you the name of a good exterminator. He held the business card toward her. It was white, not black, and had a rat on it.

She hadnt realized shed felt a little anxious un til relief curved the corners of her lips into a smile. She took the card from him. You didnt have to come all the way out here to give this to me.

I know. He handed her an orange and yellow box. I thought you could use this until Ernies Pest Control can get out here. Its easier than hunting for a smelly carcass.

Thanks. No man has ever given me she paused and looked at the box. A Mouse Motel 500.