If Hooks Could Kill

CHAPTER 15


I ended up passing on all three of Mason’s offers. He’d wanted me to stay—overnight—but I put him off. I was not ready to walk in my house the next morning and have to pass Barry pouring a bowl of cereal, so I convinced Mason to wait until my house was my own again.

When I finally pulled into my driveway, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was relieved to find the backyard quiet and without so much as a stray paper plate to show what had gone on there before. The kitchen was empty when I walked in. The trash had been taken out and the counter wiped clean of pizza residue. No animals rushed out to greet me. I assumed they were all sacked out somewhere, worn out from all the earlier activity. I went to turn out the light and quietly go across the house. Okay, it was more like sneak across the house.

I had my hand on the light switch when I heard one of the bedroom doors open. “Oh, you’re home,” Barry said in what I’d call feigned surprise as he came into the kitchen. I did a little double take at his attire. He had on blue plaid pajama pants and a white tee shirt. I guess he was wearing clothes, but just barely. He noticed me noticing his outfit and smiled. “Hey, I see people at the grocery story like this, but it seems to be making you uncomfortable.” He went out of the room and reappeared a moment later with jeans on.

“Jeffrey’s asleep, but he wanted me to be sure to thank you for this evening. It meant a lot to him to have the drama group over.” Barry leaned against the counter. “I’m sorry. I know I should have checked with you first. There isn’t any excuse for it. It all happened at the last minute.”

I could see that he really meant it and in the big scheme of things it wasn’t that big a deal, so I told him it was okay. I watched the tension go out of his expression. “Are you going to have tea, again?” Before I could answer he was already taking out a couple of mugs and looking through my tea stash. “How about some Constant Comment?”

“The tea is a good idea,” I said finally. “We need to talk about some things.”

“Uh-oh,” Barry said in a teasing voice. “I said I was sorry. It won’t ever happen again.” This time he made the tea. Not that it took much effort. All he had to do was drop a couple of tea bags in the mugs and fill them with water from the instant hot spigot. Immediately the air filled with the spicy orange scent.

Before I could even suggest we sit outside, he was on his way out the door carrying the mugs. “If what you want to talk about is Heather being here, I’m sorry for that, too. She realized how awkward it was.”

“It’s your life and you can do what you want,” I said setting my mug on the little glass table. The yard was so still, it almost didn’t feel like we were outside. I looked up at the night blue sky and saw some stars twinkling. Then I gathered my strength and turned toward him. “You seem okay and you’re back to work. If you moved back home, whatever you did and with whoever wouldn’t matter. What does your doctor say about you doing stairs?”

“I know you’re probably curious what’s going on with the investigation into your crochet friend’s murder. Heather talked about it a lot.” Barry let it hang in the air for a minute. I knew he was just trying to change the subject by dangling information in front of me. I wish I could say that I was strong and went right back to asking when he was going to leave, but all I could think about was sharing the information with the group the next day, and well, flaunting it in front of Adele. I’m not proud of it, but at least I was being honest.

“Did she say anything about finding the gun?” I said, doing my best not to notice that Barry’s lips had curved into a triumphant little smile. I told myself I could get back to trying to pin down when he was leaving later.

“That’s the problem, she hasn’t found the murder weapon,” Barry said. I didn’t bring up Adele’s golden triangle of guilt, but said I’d heard she’d found Dan Donahue’s gun.

“Oh, that gun,” Barry said. “Heather had it tested, and it hadn’t been fired. Not only that, Dan’s hands were swabbed and his clothing checked and there was no gunpowder residue, which should have been there if he’d fired a weapon. His gun is registered and legal, so she had to give it back to him. Even so, her gut tells her Dan killed his wife.”

Well, at least now I understood why Dan hadn’t been arrested. Adele wouldn’t be happy to hear that her golden triangle had just lost one of its corners. I asked Barry if Heather knew that something was missing from Kelly’s room. He said she had discounted it as being a robbery gone bad from the start. Then it was as if he realized exactly what I’d said.

“Are you saying you know something is missing from the room?” he said, and I nodded. This time it was my turn to have a little triumphant smile. “Well, are you going to tell me or what?” Barry said.

I explained our two trips to Kelly’s before she was killed. “Adele just about knocked over a lamp with a leaded glass shade. But when I went back there today, it was gone. Dan said he didn’t know anything about it.” Barry asked for more details about the lamp and I described what I remembered about the colors of the shade.

“Did Heather talk to Kelly’s brother, Stone?” I was going to mention that Stone thought Dan had done it, too, and might be able to help her, but Barry was already shaking his head.

“The surfer dude wasn’t even in town when it happened. Heather checked out his story about going to Denver to meet someone about his coconut energy drink. She talked to the person he’d met with in Denver and even looked at his boarding pass from Kahului Airport in Maui to Denver.”

“She thought he was a suspect?” I said surprised. “I don’t suppose you saw him. He’s adorable.”

Barry’s lips went into a straight line of consternation. “Adorable people can be murderers. Heather is very thorough. She thinks everybody is a suspect, including the neighbor woman who was trying to get Donahue to renege on letting the production use the backyard. Heather talked to the prop guys who’d been arranging all the plants, too. They said Kelly Donahue was alive when they left to go to lunch. Heather had no way to prove what they said was true, but she put them on the back burner of her suspect list. Where’s a motive?”

“Did they tell Heather they knew Kelly from before? She was a production assistant on a show they worked on.”

Barry appeared surprised. “They didn’t tell Heather about that. I’ll be sure and pass it along.” I was amazed at how much information Barry had shared and how much attention he had paid to what I’d said. It had never been like this when we were a couple.

He leaned closer and checked my expression. “You sounded kind of gushy when you talked about the surfer. Is there something going on between you two?”

I laughed. “What if there was? It’s none of your business. Remember we’re over and done with.”

“Somebody better tell Mason he’s got competition. And what was with that fake detective from L.A. 911? What was he doing coming home with you?”

I just glared at Barry. “Right,” he said. “It’s none of my business.”

“I know you were trying to change the subject when I asked when you’d be moving back home. If you can’t give me an exact date, how about a rough time frame?” Barry drank some of his tea and set the mug down. There was no triumphant smile this time.

“My doctor thinks I should avoid stairs for a few more weeks. And since we’re out of my place, it seemed like a good time to get the floors done, along with painting and a few odds and ends. You know workmen. They say it’ll take a few days and it turns into a few months.” I must have looked stricken because he said he was just joking. “I’m hoping we’ll be good to go in two weeks. If that’s okay.”

How could I say it wasn’t? So, I told him it was fine.

“This was very nice,” he said as we walked inside. “Just two friends having a cup of tea.” He was right we were two friends. But then I blurted out. “So what’s going on with you and Detective Heather?”

Barry laughed. “I’ll give you the same response you gave me when I asked about surfer dude. None of your business.”