Cemetery Silk Page 10

  The two men closed in on each side of the car. One tapped on my window with a heavy flashlight.

  “Miz Sterling, will you step out of the car, please. We have some questions we’d like to ask.”

  He had raised his voice so that I could hear him through the closed window but my heart was pounding so hard I could barely understand what he was saying. I held a hand up to block off some of the blinding light from the headlights and saw the badge shining on his chest.

  “Paisley! Will you please let me out of the car!” insisted Mother.

  I unlocked the doors and Mother popped out like a jack-in-the-box. I followed slowly and motioned for Cassie to stay in the back.

  Mother had already established who was in charge.

  “Will one of you gentlemen please turn off those lights?”

  “Oh yes, Ma’am. Sorry, Ma’am,” responded the younger of the men in uniform as he hurried back to his car to do her bidding.

  I heard the door of the car behind Watson open. A familiar face emerged in the light of the mercury lamp over the garage. Mother saw him, too.

  “Andy Joiner,” she asked our local Chief of Police, “what in the wide world is going on here? Who are these louts invading my property?”

  The tall man with the badge by my side of the car squared his heavy shoulders. He obviously was not used to being called a “lout.” He started to bark out an answer, but Andy cut him off.

  “Miz Sterling, I’m sorry ‘bout all of this. These men are officers from Carlsberg County. This here is Bert Atkins, and that young man over there is his deputy.”

  The young man in question touched the brim of his hat, “Deputy Hall, Danny Hall. Sorry about the lights, Ma’am.”

  Atkins was clearly annoyed that everyone had the floor but him.

  He cleared his throat loudly, “I need to ask you ladies some questions.”

  “Well, I don’t intend to be interrogated out here in the driveway. It’s cold and I have had a long day.”

  Mother did not wait for an affirmation but turned and headed up to the house. “Come, Paisley,” she ordered, “and tell Cassandra it’s all right to get out now.”

  We all followed Her Majesty into the kitchen single file like good little serfs. We meekly obeyed her instructions to be seated around the big kitchen table or make coffee depending on who we were.

  In my mother’s kitchen the men seemed to shrink in size and importance which, I’m sure, is what she had in mind. She was, therefore, able to become quite sweet and hospitable as she poured coffee.

  “Sugar and cream?” she smiled as she handed each of the men a dainty porcelain cup and saucer and one of her best silver teaspoons.

  Cassie had found some coffeecake in the refrigerator. The sweet smell of cinnamon filled the kitchen as she warmed it in the microwave.

  I was still very nervous and scared; amazed at the way my daughter and mother were handling the situation. I was in “fight or flight” mode and throbbing with adrenaline. I still had bad memories of the abuses of men in uniform in San Romero. Sallie’s marvelous salad dressing was doing a t’our jete in my stomach.

  “Now, Bert,” smiled Mother, trying to reduce his power by using his first name. “Tell us what brings you here at this very late hour when we should all be.…”

  The big man cut in, “We’re investigating a woman’s death, Miz Sterling. You were known—you and these other ladies,” he turned and glared at me and Cassie, “to be the last ones to see her alive.”

  Now Mother was flustered. “Why, who in the world?”

  Her hand fluttered to her mouth with the same jerky motion my stomach was making.

  Atkins took a small notepad out of his pocket and thumbed through it.

  “A Miss Rae Ann Cooledge was found dead on Highway 128, in Carlsberg County, at nine nineteen PM, on the night of October twenty-two. Miss Cooledge was seen leaving your cottage at the Lanierville Motel on the night in question at approximately eight o’clock PM. The night clerk at the motel says she left alone. She drove off in an older model Monte Carlo, dark blue in color.”

  I heard Cassie whisper hoarsely, “Deep!”

  “What’s that, young lady?” barked Atkins.

  Cassie looked at me imploringly. My motherly instinct kicked in and overcame my fear.

  “My daughter really doesn’t know anything about this, officer.”

  “Chief,” he corrected as he glared at me with narrowed eyes. “Then who does, because I intend to get some answers?”

  “I do,” I answered bravely.

  Mother started to speak. I motioned for her to let me take over.

  “Okay, Ma’am, you can start by telling me who you are.”

  “I am Paisley Sterling DeLeon, Mrs. Sterling’s oldest daughter.”

  “Do you reside here in Rowan Springs?”

  “My home is in New York. My daughter and I are visiting.”

  Cassie had relaxed back into her chair now that she was off the hook. She was smiling tentatively at the younger officer who was falling rapidly under her spell.

  “Andy here tells me you’ve been here several weeks. That’s kind of a long visit.”

  Mother looked at Chief Joiner with raised eyebrows. “Andy, have you been spying on me?”

  Andy smiled back sheepishly. “No, Miz Sterling. My youngest works at the Rainbow Bakery. She told my wife that your daughter has been coming in the past few weeks for that dark bread nobody else likes.”

  “Pumpernickel,” said Mother with a smile. “She loves pumpernickel.”

  “Ahumm! May I interrupt here to finish my investigation?”

  Wow, I thought, if Atkins could finish the investigation by asking a few questions, he must not think we had anything to do with poor Deep’s death. I began to relax a little, too.

  “Now, Miz DeLeon, may I ask what you were doing in Lanierville?”

  I thought as fast as I could and decided to go with at least some of the truth.

  “I’m a writer. I’m working on a family history. My mother’s cousins lived in Lanierville and I went up there to get some local color.”

  “And I suppose Rae Ann Cooledge was local color?”

  “No, she is the niece of.…”

  “I know who she is. I want to know what she was doing with you.”

  Man, this was getting difficult. Cassie was looking stricken again, and Mother was dying to pull the Grande Dame act and throw them out. I felt that we really should be as cooperative as possible.

  “Officer.…”

  “Chief,” he grumped.

  “Chief, the truth is, she was just telling us about some of the funny things that happened in her aunt’s coffee shop.”

  “Yeah, pie stories,” offered Cassie lamely then found something very interesting in one of the buttonholes on her sweater.

  “I’ve been in Molly’s plenty of times and never saw anything funny. Runs the place like a drill sergeant, Molly does. Can’t much funny happen there.”

  “I guess young people have more of a sense of humor than we older folk, Chief,” offered Mother with one of her best smiles.

  “Well, Rae Ann sure ain’t laughin’ now.”

  Mother’s smile drooped at one corner as she turned pale.

  “Please ask the rest of your questions, sir. We are all tired, and I would like very much to retire for the night.”

  “Very well, did you, any one of you,” he glared at all of us in turn, “give Miss Cooledge anything of an alcoholic nature to drink?”

  “Of course not! All she had was a Perrier,” I replied heatedly.

  I couldn’t figure out where in the hell this was headed? What had happened to Deep?

  “A what?”

  Cassie jumped up, opened the refrigerator door and took out a cold bottle. “This is a Perrier.”

  She extended the bottle to the Chief and sat down again. Danny Hall watched her with a silly, smitten grin on his face.

  Atkins turned the bottle around in his big hands and
looked carefully at the label. I could tell from the way he was squinting that he needed to put on his glasses.

  “Looks like one of those wine coolers to me. You sure this doesn’t have any alcohol?”

  “Try it. See for yourself. Here, let me get you a glass.”

  I got up and took a fruit juice glass from the cupboard. I noticed that Cassie had given him one of the flavored drinks that she likes and I could not abide. I wondered how the Chief would like it.

  He unscrewed the top and poured about half a glass. He sniffed it tentatively before he downed it all.

  “Ugh! Jeesus! How in the world do they get the horse to stand still long enough to pee in that little bottle?”

  He wiped the back of his hand across his mouth and made a face. Then he realized what he had said and in front of whom and turned bright red.

  I felt sorry for him, and besides, I was getting over my fear and becoming intensely curious about what had happened to Deep.

  “As you can see, Perrier has no alcohol whatsoever. And as a matter of fact, Rae Ann had much the same opinion about the taste as you do. Why did you ask the question?”

  Andy Joiner decided this scene was going on too long and took over.

  “Miss Cooledge was found dead last night—a hit and run. Apparently she got a flat tire and pulled over to change it. She’d been drinking heavily and passed out in the right lane of the two lane road. Somebody came along going too fast to stop, or maybe didn’t see her at all. It’s pretty dark out there at night,” he explained. “Anyway, they ran flat over her. Broke her neck. She had massive head injuries. Died instantly.”

  I heard Cassie moaned softly, like a lost kitten. Poor Deep. I felt like crying, too.

  “The thing is,” said the Chief, “she was underage. Anybody that gave her, or sold her, alcohol contributed to her death. We’ll never catch the driver of the car. There won’t be any damage to the vehicle because she was lying flat. If it was a pickup truck, or something bigger, like your vehicle maybe, the driver might have thought he’d only run over a dog or a possum. That’s probably why he didn’t stop. But if we catch the sumbitch that made her drunk, we can put him in jail.”

  Mother had a steely smile on her face now, nothing droopy about it.

  “I can assure you that we neither had in our possession, nor did we purchase any alcoholic beverages. We did not offer anything to Miss Cooledge other than that which you yourself just tasted. But I must admit I am surprised to hear that she was underage. She seemed so mature. How old was she?”

  “She had a fake driver’s license that made her out to be twenty-two, but Molly says she was only seventeen,” answered Danny Hall.

  My God, she was younger than Cass!

  “Have you interviewed her husband? Maybe he knows something,” I asked.

  The Chief started to say something nasty about not needing to be told how to handle his investigation, but he sagged back in his chair. I could tell he was just as tired as we were.

  “Well, Ma’am, the boy she was living with is not her husband. His name is Steve Wolzinsky. He’s from Detroit. Met her on the road when she picked him up hitchhiking on the way to her aunt’s. They decided to pretend they was married so Molly wouldn’t kick him out and they could both work at the restaurant. He’s no good, a punk. Not even very broken up about her death, but I don’t think he had anything to do with it.”

  “How did you know Rae Ann had been drinking? Have you already done a autopsy?”

  “No, I don’t imagine there will be an autopsy. Our medical examiner is in the hospital himself right now. Besides, the cause of death is pretty cut and dried.”

  Deputy Hall spoke up for the second time. “Rae Ann smelled like a moonshine still, Ma’am.”

  He ignored a baleful look from his superior and went on to explain.

  “And there was an empty pint of Jack Daniels in the front seat of her car. She’d been drinking, all right. If she hadn’t gotten run over, she might have killed somebody else. That is, if she could have fixed that flat and driven off.”

  “Gentlemen, I think we can let these ladies go to bed now.” Andy Joiner stood up and carried his cup and saucer over to the sink like his wife had trained him to do.

  “You’re finished, aren’t you, Bert?”

  The big man pushed his chair away from the table. “I reckon so. I guess I need to apologize to you ladies for comin’ in on you like this. I suppose we’ll never know who gave that poor girl enough booze to fell an ox, but I sure would like to string ‘em up. I get awful tired of people mixing alcohol and gasoline, especially the young ones.”

  Atkins stood up and pulled his short uniform jacket back down over his lean belted waist. He was younger than I had originally thought. In spite of his weathered and craggy face, he was probably no more than five years older than I. He definitely lacked Rafe’s refined and handsome elegance, but somehow I felt drawn to him. I could tell that he had been there, done that, and seen it all. It had aged him before his time. He was a tired, gruff, old warrior who was sick of the fight. I had a sudden desire to put my arms around him and make it better. Fortunately, I controlled myself.

  We accompanied the police to the porch door and watched them walk back to their cars. Chief Atkins turned at the edge of the driveway to ask one more question. His face glowed an eerie green in the reflection of the light from the mercury lamp.

  “I don’t suppose you know where Rae Ann Cooledge got a new fifty dollar bill, do you?”

  “What do you mean?” My quivering voice sounded like it was coming out of a kazoo.

  “One of the doctors in the emergency room found a fifty dollar bill tucked in her, umm, in some of her underclothes. Do you know anything about it?”

  Mother spoke up in a clear firm voice, “I’m afraid we know nothing about a fifty dollar bill, Officer.”

  “Chief!”

  “Good night, Chief. Have a safe drive back to Lanierville.”

  He made a harsh sound that might have meant “farewell” and climbed in his cruiser. Deputy Hall waved vigorously at a tired, dispirited Cassie, who did not even notice. Then they were gone.

  Mother locked the screen door and the kitchen door behind us as we trooped back inside. I turned to face her.

  “I hope your lie about the fifty dollars doesn’t come back to haunt us.”

  “Well, it’s too late now, so stop worrying. I just wanted them out of here. And besides, how in the world could we explain it?”

  She looked tired and drawn. I decided to drop it. I could not have done any better. I did not do any better!

  “You’re right, of course,” I agreed. “Damn! What a mess.”

  She sat back down at the table. “There’s really no mess, Paisley. Don’t make a mountain out of a mole hill. It’s unfortunate that Rae Ann is dead. I am really sorry, believe me, but it has nothing to do with us. She didn’t even buy the liquor with our money.”

  “That’s right! You’re right! Thank God for that.” I sank down in my chair. I was tired to the bone. “And it was just a strange coincidence that we saw her that same night.”

  “That’s right, dear.”

  Cassie had been drawing absent-mindedly in some spilled sugar on the tabletop.

  “What I don’t understand is how she could have gotten falling down drunk in just a little over an hour.” Cassie must have been really tired because she went on to confide, “The few times I’ve gotten that plastered it’s taken me all night.” She looked up, “I really mean a few times, one or two at the most, honestly, Mom.”

  “Never mind that, Cassie, you’re right. No wonder they thought we offered her a drink. It is hard to get drunk in an hour without getting sick.”

  Mother got up, opened the refrigerator, and took out some milk.

  “Look, we could stay up all night, discuss this sad event ad infinitum, and make ourselves sick.” She poured the milk in a pan on the stove. “Or we can have a glass of warm milk, get a good night’s sleep in our own little
beds, and feel like human beings in the morning. I’m for the milk. What’ll it be for you, Paisley?”

  “Milk.”

  “Cassie.”

  “Milk.”

  “Good.”

  Chapter Eleven

  The warm milk relaxed me not at all. That night after learning of Rae Ann’s death, I lay awake in my soft, warm, cozy bed and shed a river of tears for one poor lost little soul lying on a cold hard slab in the morgue. Someone named Betty had borne her but she was really nobody’s daughter. A daughter is someone’s beloved child. She has ribbons in her hair and shiny patent leather shoes on her feet. She is tucked in bed each and every night with her Pooh bear to keep her company. She has braces on her teeth and takes piano lessons. And she stays in touch with home all the rest of her life because she is loved.

  Rae Ann had a cheap, black plastic trench coat and dreams fueled by daytime television. She longed for love and romance but was forced to substitute a quick and ugly grope from a stranger for a loving caress. My heart ached for her and what she never knew. I was sorry that I had been repulsed by her behavior. As long as there are children alone and lost in the world, we are all responsible for them.

  Most of all, I was ashamed that I felt such an overwhelming sense of relief that she had not used my fifty dollars to buy the liquor that killed her.

  I got up around three AM to go to the bathroom and get a drink of water. I started crying all over again when I used my Wonder Woman glass. I wondered foolishly if Rae Ann had ever had one. Did she have Bugs Bunny bedroom slippers or a Mickey Mouse hat? I blew my nose hard and forced myself to quit being maudlin.

  I turned off the bathroom light and looked out the window at the autumn night. I stood there shivering for a moment. A thought was skirting the edges of my mind trying to get noticed.

  Last night at the motel I had known something was wrong, but I had been thinking egocentrically. I had thought that someone would harm us by damaging Watson, when all the time it was Deep who was in harm’s way. I tried to shrug the feeling off. It was too close to Halloween to play witch. Cassie would go off the deep end if I told her. She was way too interested in all that New Age, crystal gazing, Tarot reading, Wicca stuff in the first place. I certainly didn’t want to encourage her by admitting to any precognitive knowledge of Rae Ann’s death. It was not that anyway. It was just a feeling. What I was feeling now was frozen. I ran and jumped into bed like I was ten years old. Some time later, I fell asleep and mercifully, did not dream.