To Love and to Perish

TWENTY-SEVEN


THURSDAY MORNING I HAD an appointment to show the Mercedes on the showroom floor to Mr. Linz, the owner of Simply Divine Burgers in Wachobe. He served up the best Black Angus burgers in the world. Apparently I wasn’t the only one who thought so, either. He wanted to buy the Mercedes for his daughter, a senior in high school, to drive around town. Now, that was a lot of burgers.

“It’s a 2006 Mercedes SLK 280 with just over 13,000 miles and one previous owner, a woman in her sixties.”

Mr. Linz smiled enthusiastically. Women in their sixties are not known to be aggressive drivers. I happened to know this particular woman could barely see over the steering wheel, and her keys had been confiscated by her son, who feared for public safety after his mother entered an off ramp thinking it was an on ramp, narrowly missing a head-on collision with a semi.

“It’s a Florida car, so there’s no rust. Wachobe will be its first brush with salted roads.”

The phone in the showroom rang. I ignored it, knowing Cory would answer in the garage.

“Of course, it has the red exterior your daughter wanted and a black interior.” I whipped the driver’s door open. “I’m sure she’ll like the fact it’s a convertible.” It wasn’t a practical car for our impending winter weather but who was I to break her heart? “Would you like to sit in it?”

I held my breath as Mr. Linz squeezed his Santa belly behind the wheel. He may have eaten a few too many of his own burgers. I hoped I wouldn’t need the Jaws of Life to extract him, but he seemed content enough behind the wheel, running his hand over the dashboard.

Cory appeared in the doorway between the showroom and the garage, shrugging on his leather jacket. The weather had turned colder overnight, dropping into the high forties. Tree leaves had turned yellow and red seemingly overnight, too. Fall had arrived in the Finger Lakes.

He motioned to me.

“Excuse me just one minute, Mr. Linz.” I walked over to meet Cory at the front door. He had one hand on it already, clearly eager to be off.

“Brennan called. His bail got paid. He asked me to come pick him up.”

“Who paid his bail?”

“He doesn’t know, but one of the guards at the jail said it was a bank check delivered by messenger. He thinks it might have been his father.”

“Maybe his father wants to see him again before he passes away.”

“Maybe. Anyway, I’m going to go pick him up. I don’t know if I’ll be back today.” Cory blushed. “I know we’re not supposed to talk about the case, but I’d like to at least spend some time with him.”

“Of course. No problem. Tell Brennan I said hi.”

A half hour later, I had a signed contract on the desk for $27,500. After a test drive, Mr. Linz had decided the Mercedes was perfect for his princess, and he was on his way over to the bank to get me a check right now. This sale meant Asdale Auto Imports was in the black for the year, months before year end, a first ever. Quite an accomplishment and one I had to share.

I called Ray.

“Hey, darlin.’ What’s up?”

I told him the good news.

“Congratulations. We’ll have to celebrate tonight. Do you want to go out to dinner?”

“Maybe we could celebrate at home. Danny might want to visit his father, and I’m sure he’ll have homework.”

“That’s true. We can pick something up on the way home after he visits his dad. What would you like?”

I’d like for the two of them to get along again, but I didn’t know how to phrase that tactfully. “Surprise me. Hey, did you know Brennan’s bail got paid?”

“No. Who paid it?”

“They’re not sure. Brennan thought maybe his father.”

“Gumby said the guy is going to die any day now. He could barely answer the questions they had for him. I guess he got teary, too. Maybe he did have a change of heart about Brennan.”

“Is Brennan still Gumby and Max’s number one suspect?”

“The evidence points to him, but they’re looking hard at Matthew, his mother, or Elizabeth’s involvement in possibly both James Gleason’s and Wayne Engles’ deaths. They’re meeting with Ken today to compare notes and look at his timeline for Gleason’s death. None of them have alibis for the night Wayne was killed, and, of course, we know all three of them were at the Glen when James Gleason died. But then, so was Brennan. Gumby and Max didn’t really know Brennan before, but after questioning him, they don’t figure him for a killer, either. They’re looking for a motive and opportunity with the other three. I’ve got to go, but, darlin’, your dad would be proud of you.”

I hung up the phone and looked around my shop. My dad had run it as a general garage for years, but when he passed away, I’d turned it into a foreign pre-owned but pristine sports car boutique, an image more in keeping with Wachobe’s upscale population and tourist trade, not to mention my knowledge of cars and business. It had been touch and go for the last five years or so. Today, with Mr. Linz’s check in hand, I finally felt like I had made it.

I hoped Ray was right. I hoped my dad knew and was proud of me.

_____


Ray and Danny arrived home with takeout from my favorite Italian restaurant, located in an old carriage house in the village. They brought me lasagna, Ray gnocchi and sausage, and Danny a wood-fired pizza with sausage, plus chocolate-covered cannolis for dessert. Ray knew me well.

Ray and Danny toasted my success over dinner, and we ate, chatting about our days. Their relationship seemed relaxed and back to normal. After dinner, they went outside to toss the football around while I read by the fire Ray built in our stone fireplace. Danny even wanted Ray to tuck him in, which hadn’t happened in days. Ray and I went to bed early—but not to sleep.

In the middle of the night, I awoke. The clock read three twenty a.m. Ray snored softly beside me, and for a moment, I thought that was what had awakened me. Then I heard crying. I swung my feet to the floor and moved through our bedroom, past the kitchen, across the living room, and toward Danny’s room. When I reached his door, the sobbing grew louder. I went inside, feeling for the side of his bed.

I banged my knee on the bed frame. “Oh, oh. Ow, ow.”

The crying ceased. “Jolene?”

“Yes?” I reached down to rub my throbbing knee and managed to sit on the edge of Danny’s bed.

“Are you okay?”

“I hit my knee. It’ll be all right. Why are you crying?”

“I’m worried about my dad.”

“Why?”

“They put someone new in the cell with him. A big guy. He’s a freak.”

“Your dad told you this?”

“I saw him. The guy had a visitor while I was with my dad. He said something to my dad when he passed him.”

“What?”

“I don’t know, but my dad looked scared.”

I would have to ask Ray to find out more tomorrow about all this when he went to work. Maybe he could pull a few strings and get Mr. Phillips moved somewhere safe. “Ray will look into it tomorrow, okay? It’s the county’s job to keep your dad safe.”

“Okay.”

I found his head in the dark and smoothed his hair with my hand. “Go to sleep now. Everything will be all right, don’t worry.”

But even though I’d put Danny’s fears to rest, I couldn’t go back to sleep myself. I spent the night awake, pondering Mr. Phillips’ fate.