CHAPTER EIGHT
– REEF –
“I want his fucking head on a platter right now,” I snarl the second Zale steps inside his house.
Zale frowns. “And whose head might that be?”
Maeve steps in front of me, places a hand on my chest and gives me a warm smile. Probably to soothe some of my anger, but I’m still furious as fuck.
She turns to face Zale. “Why don’t we all calm down and have a seat so we can talk this through.”
Zale narrows his eyes as he takes in my expression and then checks out his son, who is wearing a similar one as me.
“Someone better start to explain why the fuck everyone is pissed ’cause I’m guessing it has nothing to do with our neighbors across the street dying on us,” Zale snarls.
Nixie sighs and tugs on Zale’s arm. “Come on, let’s step into the living room and sit down.”
Zale follows his old lady while Maeve laces her fingers with mine and gives our joined hands a squeeze. I drag my attention to her and catch a glimpse of the warmth radiating from her eyes.
“There you are,” she muses. “Your expression turns a little homicidal when you’re angry.”
I place my free hand on the back of her neck and connect our foreheads when I whisper what has held my thoughts since the second I found out about Stoner’s muffins. “You could have eaten one and put Pickle at risk.”
Understanding dawns in her gorgeous eyes. “But I didn’t.”
“But you could have,” I insist. “There would have been blood on my hands if you did have one.”
She gives me a sad smile and brushes her lips against mine. “Let’s focus on what didn’t happen and move forward with what we know, so we can prevent it from happening again. Besides, I’m pretty sure Zale has the right to shove his fist up Stoner’s rectum.”
“Mind telling me why the fuck I’m gonna shove my fist up Stoner’s rectum?” Prez asks from behind us.
“Oops,” Maeve whispers, making the corner of my mouth twitch.
“Stoner brought his shit to the clubhouse,” I simply state.
“That motherfucker,” Zale roars. “Are you damn sure because not only am I going to shove my fist up the fucker’s ass, I’m going to add my boot as well when I take his cut and kick him off club grounds.”
“Pretty sure, Dad,” Leon says as he, and Nixie, step into the hallway to join the rest of us. “I ate two muffins because I was hungry and got sick after eating them.”
Zale whirls around to face his kid. “That’s why you were sick?”
“He puked twice when we got home and then he crashed to sleep, woke up perfectly fine this morning.” I slide my arm around Maeve’s waist to place my hand on her body and keep her back to my front when I add, “Good fucking thing my old lady had a craving for pickles because she was fucking considering those muffins too. What the fuck would have happened to her, to the baby in her belly, eh? Why the fuck would he bring that shit to the clubhouse when there’s a rule in place everyone knows and respects? No drugs. What that fucker snorts, blows, ingests, outside club grounds? Who the fuck cares? Risking your underage son? My old lady, and unborn kid? And who the fuck else during a club party? I want to tear the fucker apart, Prez. No fist or boot up his ass, but preferably some of the fireworks we bought to blow him the fuck up.”
Knocking on the front door puts a pin in the discussion for now as Zale stalks to the door and checks before opening.
“Sebastian,” Zale rumbles. “Come in. ”
“Can’t stay long,” the cop states when he steps inside and closes the door behind him. “Talk in private?”
Zale meets my gaze and states, “Kitchen.”
The three of us head that way while Nixie, Leon, and Maeve disappear into the living room.
Sebastian crosses his arms in front of his chest and leans against the kitchen counter. “First observations give the impression Gertrude died of anaphylactic shock. Stuart informed us she had a peanut allergy. According to him, his parents are early risers and go to bed around nine each evening. Appears Gertrude was in the middle of making breakfast. Toast with peanut butter, must have ingested it somehow. The scene looks as if Humphrey was shocked by stumbling into his wife lying dead on the floor, walked back a few steps and fell right into the open staircase that leads to the basement, hitting his head. He must have lived for a small timeframe because the whole basement floor was covered in bloody footsteps, handprints, and a complete mess. Medical examiner brought to the scene said the blow to the head was to the frontal lobe. Humphrey might have been alive after hitting his head, but he wasn’t in control, part of his brain couldn’t utilize the information and it was just his body moving. It explains the bloody scene without anyone else being down there. Stuart wasn’t covered in blood other than his slippers, where he stepped on some when he went down the stairs. He was already on the phone to call in the death of his mother when he went looking for his father and saw all the blood.”
“Fucking hell,” I mutter.
“What a mess,” Zale grunts.
“We’re still processing the scene and keeping all options open,” Sebastian states.
I place my hands on my hips. “It could still be possible Stuart had something to do with it?”
Sebastian gives me a tight nod. “Like I said, we’re keeping all options open until our investigation is finished. I mean, the woman made her man breakfast for decades and all of a sudden gets some on her thumb and licks it off? Even if she accidentally wiped her mouth and ingested some, it would be careless. Nothing about this makes sense. You should have seen the basement…it’s a scene straight out of a horror movie.”
“You should talk to my old lady. She spoke to both Stuart and his father last night.” I jab my thumb over my shoulder. “Shall I ask her to join us?”
“Definitely.” Sebastian pulls his notebook from the front pocket of his uniform while I leave the kitchen to get Maeve.
A few minutes later she’s rattling off the details of what happened last night when Stuart showed up at her doorstep. Sebastian writes it all down and asks her a few more questions before he puts his notebook away.
“Stuart is currently giving his statement down at the station. We’ll know more after they’ve processed the scene and the medical examiner is finished with the autopsy.” Sebastian checks his watch and meets Zale’s gaze. “Fucked up way to start New Year’s Eve. Are you going to stay here or head to the clubhouse?”
“Haven’t made up my mind yet. My old lady and I were gonna stay at the clubhouse and then this shit happened. My kid, Reef, and his old lady are staying home, though,” Zale tells him.
Sebastian turns to me. “Call if you notice anything out of the ordinary. Stuart mentioned he was staying at the apartment above the garage. The house will be locked up later today to secure the crime scene until the investigation is complete.”
“We’ll keep an eye out,” I assure him.
“Do you really think he could have killed his parents and made it look like an accident?” Maeve asks the question I’m sure everyone in here is thinking about.
Sebastian shrugs. “We’ll see where the evidence takes us.”
“Cut the political reply, what does your gut tell you?” I question. “You’ve seen the place and talked to Stuart.”
He pushes away from the counter. “Stuart seems too…I don’t know, I can’t put my finger on it. He’s too focused and detailed about his own actions, forces out a tear or two, keeps an eye on everyone when they were walking in and out of the house.”
“I thought he was stalking me when I was taking the long drive to move here,” Maeve blurts. “The guy gave me the creeps when I talked to him at a gas station, and then he appeared at a hotel I was supposed to stay the night at, and when I finally got here he was right across the street.”
“He turned out to be Gertrude and Humphrey’s son,” I state. “Could have explained it was sheer coincidence.”
“Yeah, but then he mentioned he overheard the phone call I had with my mother,” Maeve grumbles.
“Why would he admit to overhearing a phone call?” Sebastion questions.
Maeve absently rubs her belly and I pull her closer when she says, “Gertrude was rattling about starting families, how women should stay home to take care of their husbands, pop out kids and all. He excused himself for overhearing and the conversation because I’m pregnant and that’s basically the reason my ex dumped me. All while Stuart’s ex dumped him because she didn’t want kids and he did. It’s also why he showed up at his parents’ place…he needed a roof over his head with his ex throwing him out of the house.”
“Interesting,” Sebastian mutters.
“Interesting indeed,” Zale rumbles and hands Sebastian his phone. “Check this out, and don’t give me any shit. With what happened to Maeve we let Scout run a background check on her ex, but also on Stuart, just to make sure everything was a coincidence. Nothing out of the ordinary, but I asked Scout to run it again this morning ’cause Reef told me someone was looking through the window last night when he had a good time with his old lady. They suspect it was Stuart ’cause when Reef chased after the person, they heard a door slam and then the lights went on at Gertrude and Humphrey’s place.”
“Everything seems to pile up when it comes to Stuart. His ex was reported missing yesterday by her sister who hasn’t seen or talked to her in a few days,” Sebastian muses. “Wonder if the last contact was before she dumped Stuart. No wonder the fucker didn’t mention anything about why he was currently living with his parents. Maeve, when did you see Stuart for the first time?”
Her eyes briefly meet mine. “The day before I got here, which would be…six days ago?”
“When did he say he arrived?” I wonder.
“Christmas,” Sebastian grunts.
“We arrived after Christmas,” Maeve muses.
Sebastian takes a step toward the door. “Right. Well, I’m going to see what his official statement will be. If you remember anything else, or if shit happens across the street or whatever, call me.”
“Will do,” I rumble.
We say our goodbyes and when the front door falls shut, it’s Maeve who whispers, “What if Stuart did kill his parents?”
“Then his ass will land in jail,” Zale says and walks past us to head to the living room.
We follow behind him. Nixie and Leon get to their feet when we walk inside.
“What did he have to say?” Nixie asks.
“Gertrude died of anaphylactic shock. She was fixing breakfast for her husband, peanut butter on toast, she must have ingested some. Humphrey came down, saw her body, freaked, and fell down the basement stairs. Either one tragic accident following the other or a double homicide.” Zale shrugs. “Up to the authorities to find out.”
“That’s absurd,” Nixie states with outrage. “Gertrude wouldn’t simply have ingested something she’s been allergic to all her life. It doesn’t make sense. She fixed her husband’s breakfast all her life and all of a sudden she licks some off her thumb?”
“Their deaths are a tragedy. Let’s give them some dignity and let the authorities handle it,” Zale calmly tells Nixie and pulls her into a hug. “Nothing we can do anyway except for keeping an eye out. Maybe they will detain Stuart overnight with everything we told Sebastian, give them some time to check details and the statement he made.”
“What a mess,” Nixie grumbles and pulls back to tell Zale, “Did you want to stay at the clubhouse for the party tonight? I’m not sure I feel all that festive.”
“Why don’t we all swing by the clubhouse,” I suggest. “Get out of here for a few hours to get our minds focused on something else, and then decide who will stay home or at the clubhouse.”
Leon eagerly agrees and excuses himself to get dressed. Maeve and I do the same and a half hour later we get into the SUV and drive off.