Deadly Ever After by Eva Gates (distant reading .txt) 📗

turned. Louise Jane was standing very close behind me. “Can I help you with something, Louise Jane?”

“I couldn’t help overhearing. Having trouble finding a house to buy, are you?”

I sighed. “Yeah. Finding what we like at a price we want to pay isn’t easy.”

“Aren’t your parents helping you?”

“Louise Jane, that’s none of your business.”

“I’m simply making polite conversation.”

“I need to take the dog for a short walk. Wait for me here. One of you can give me a ride into town, and I’ll come back with Connor.”

“What dog?” Louise Jane and Theodore chorused.

“Don’t ask,” I said.

The desk phone rang again. It was after closing, so I was about to let voice mail answer when I saw the number of the caller. “Hi, Mom.”

“Lucy,” my mother said. “I need a ride. Ellen isn’t here, and I was in the shower when she called, so Amos has gone on ahead.”

“When who called, and Amos has gone where ahead?”

“Evangeline called, and Amos has gone to the police station. They’ve arrested Ricky for the murder of his father.”

Chapter Twelve

As it turned out, Evangeline had overreacted. Ricky had not been arrested but rather taken down to the station to answer more questions.

“Same thing,” she said.

“It isn’t the same thing,” I said. “Not at all.”

Mom and I’d found Evangeline pacing up and down in the stark, uncomfortable waiting area at the Nags Head police station, her sharp heels beating a furious rhythm on the tiled floor. “This brings back pleasant memories,” Mom said as we went in. “Not.”

“I’m going to sue,” Evangeline said by way of greeting. “I’ll take them for everything they’re worth.”

“I’m sure threats will help,” I said.

“Why don’t you sit down, dear?” Mom guided the other woman to a hard plastic chair. “No point in getting upset.”

“You mean further upset,” Evangeline snapped. “Why shouldn’t I be upset? This is absolutely preposterous. My son is a lawyer, highly respected among his peers. His reputation is everything.” She dropped into the chair, and Mom and I took seats on either side of her. Amos wasn’t around, so I assumed he’d been allowed to be with Ricky in the role of attorney.

“Did they say why they were asking him to come with them?” I asked.

“Some silly little thing about needing to know his whereabouts last night after he left the restaurant. As if my son would creep about in the dark and bash his own father over the head.”

Mom and I exchanged glances over Evangeline’s well-coiffed head. Rich had been knifed, not hit on the head. Did Evangeline know that, and was she pretending not to? No reason for her to know, if the police hadn’t told her. She hadn’t been—gulp—at the scene, as we had been.

“We were in the bar,” she continued, “having a lovely little catch-up, and the police barged in like a bunch of storm troopers. It was most embarrassing.”

I doubted that. The storm-trooper bit. Not the Evangeline-being-embarrassed bit.

“Where’s Fluffy?” she asked.

“What?”

“What have you done with Fluffy? You didn’t leave her in your car, did you, Lucy? Not on a hot day like this.”

“She’s at my apartment. Comfortable and happy and well fed.” I didn’t add that Charles lurked malevolently outside the door, angry at not being allowed inside. I didn’t dare leave the two of them alone together.

“Did you get my feeding instructions? It’s important you follow them to the letter. She has a very delicate stomach.”

“She’s a dog, Evangeline!” Mom cried. “She’ll be fine for a few hours.”

Evangeline sniffed and decided—wisely—to change the subject. “Thank you, both of you, for coming down. I hope I haven’t disrupted your evening plans.”

“No plans,” Mom said. “Millar’s gone home. He caught an afternoon flight to Boston.”

“I was planning to go out for a drink after work with some of my library friends and James, that Englishman you met at the library yesterday morning?” I tried not to look as though I was overly interested in Evangeline’s reaction.

Something moved in her face. “There will be other times for drinks, I’m sure.”

“I guess, but I’m not sure how much longer James and Daisy will be here. Their work’s coming on well, so they tell me.”

“Isn’t that nice.” Evangeline checked her watch. “It’s nice that you associate with people from work. That young man who pretends to be an Englishman is rather odd, wouldn’t you say?”

Nice diversion. So nicely done, I was now positive she had an interest in James, someone she supposedly didn’t know. “Theodore Kowalski. He’s a bit odd, yes, but he’s a kind man and a good friend.”

“Is he the one with the rare-book business?” Mom asked.

“Yup. He donated a handsome first edition to the library restoration fund earlier in the year. It helped to push us over the top so the work could go ahead.”

“Did he?” Evangeline said. “I wouldn’t have thought he had that sort of funds.”

“He was very generous. Many of our patrons were.” I gave Mom a grin. “And anonymous donors too.”

“Good for them,” Evangeline said. “It’s important to support the arts, don’t you agree, Suzanne?”

“Universities are important also,” I said. “Do you have much contact with universities, Evangeline? Maybe some in England?”

My not-so-subtle attempt to interrogate Evangeline as to how she knew James came to naught when the door keeping us out of the main area of the police station opened. Ricky, still looking somewhat the worse for wear, walked between Detective Watson and Uncle Amos. Evangeline leapt to her feet with a cry and enveloped her son in a ferocious hug.

He pulled himself free. “Let’s get the heck out of here.”

“Keep me apprised of your whereabouts,” Watson said.

Ricky threw the detective a filthy look, grabbed his mother’s arm, and almost sprinted for the door.

Watson and Amos shook hands, and Watson went inside.

“What happened?” I asked. “Do they have anything on Ricky?”

“Later,” Uncle Amos said.

Outside, we huddled on the steps of the police station.

“I’ve changed my mind,” Evangeline said. “I’m going home. Tonight. You’re coming with me.”

“It’s okay, Mom,” Ricky said. “They can’t pin this on me. Bringing