Chapter 7
“Oh, look at you, Chocolate Face,” Nikki said, taking Chloe from her sister’s arms. Nikki had heard the car approach and hurried down the stairs and out the front door just as Lily released Chloe from her car seat.
“We ran out of wipes,” Lily explained, squinting against the lowering sun. “I thought I had an extra pack in my bag, but as it turned out, no.”
“No worries, I’ll clean her up.”
“Ice cream,” Chloe said, a grin splitting her messy face.
Nikki nuzzled her little cheek. “I can see.”
At that moment, Phee climbed out of the car. Wearing earbuds and clutching her iPhone, she bopped her head to music only she could hear as she walked into the house.
“Taylor Swift,” Lily explained, as they headed into the house. “I swear she knows the lyrics to every song.”
“Like you did. Only it was Michael Jackson or Justin Timberlake.”
“J.T.,” Lily said, remembering. “Okay, fine.” Lily agreed, walking inside, where the air conditioning was rumbling. She dropped her bag onto the floor in the hallway next to the console table and warned, “I’m not cooking. I know it’s my night, but I figure I did my duty with Mom.”
“How is she?”
“Irascible. Picky. Snobby. Basically the same. And that country club …” Lily gave a fake shudder. “The worst. Shoot me if I ever start turning into her.”
“No chance of that.”
“I don’t know. Remember Janey Cartwright? She was in Andrew’s class, I think.” Lily paused and whispered, “God rest his soul.” Their older brother had been gone for years, but his early death still brought with it a low-level pain and grief from which their family had never quite recovered.
“Janey Cartwright? Not ringing any bells,” Nikki said.
“In high school, she smoked and drank and was always high. God knows what drugs she was on, and she dressed—well, she kind of had this whole Madonna Goth vibe going on. Fingerless gloves, skirts over jeans, thick eyeliner, and dark eye shadow, like that.”
“Okay.”
“Janey embraced it,” Lily said. “Big-time. And she was always in trouble with the police and suspended from school. I was surprised she even graduated. But I think she was a lot smarter than she acted.”
Nikki was at the kitchen sink, trying to wipe the smudges from Chloe’s face with a damp paper towel. Chloe was having none of it and wriggled in Nikki’s arms, turning her face this way and that, trying to avoid the dreaded towel. “No, Mommy. No!”
“Yes,” Nikki insisted firmly.
“Anyway, I saw Janey today,” Lily went on as she reached into the cupboard for a wineglass.
“At the country club. Good Lord, I barely recognized her. She’s turned into this …
this country club Stepford wife. A younger clone of Mavis Greenlee.
” Lily eyed her sister. “Don’t tell me you don’t remember Mavis. ”
“I know Mavis.” Mavis was a country-club mainstay, a pseudo friend of their mother’s who was also active in their church.
“No!” Chloe insisted.
“Fine.” Nikki tossed the wet towel on the counter and set Chloe onto the floor.
The minute her feet touched down, Chloe scrambled off toward the stairs, probably in search of Phee.
Mikado, who had been lying in his bed near the fireplace, struggled to his feet and took off after her, his toenails clicking on the hardwood.
Lily was opening the refrigerator door. “Janey’s blond now. Platinum.” She retrieved a bottle of blush-colored wine. “And her makeup is less David Bowie and more Doris Day, if you know what I mean.” She poured herself a glass and held up the bottle. “Want a splash?”
“Sure.” She found a stemmed glass and waited as Lily filled it. “Ooh. That’s enough. Too much.” She took a sip as Lily shoved the cork back into the bottle. “Doris Day?”
“The whole sheer makeup, fresh-faced thing … definitely not the Janey I remember. Anyway, cheers,” Lily said, clicking the rim of her glass to Nikki’s.
“Cheers.”
“How’s the work going? Figured out who killed that man, whatever his name is?”
“Billy Huber. Not yet, but working on it.”
“And how does Pierce feel about it?”
“What do you think?” Nikki kicked out a barstool and sat at the counter.
She made a face.
“That’s about right, I think.”
She nodded. “Remember, I’m ceding my chef rights to you tonight. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to have some much-needed me time.”
With that, Lily swept outside and around the corner, where, Nikki guessed, she might be sneaking a cigarette. An afternoon with Mom at the country club while trying to engage Phee and corral Chloe could turn almost anyone into making questionable choices. A smoke was the least she probably needed.
By the time that Pierce walked through the door, Nikki had managed to doctor up a box of Helper with sausage—forget the hamburger the package suggested—and tomato paste and some fresh herbs from Lily’s herb garden on the back deck.
The salad was sparse, but it did the job as far as greens were concerned, and she found a loaf of bread that she warmed in the oven.
She even cut up slices of apples and bananas for Chloe.
It wasn’t exactly an epicurean delight, but it sufficed.
Lily had relented and set dinnerware on the table, then added a vase of cut flowers she’d snipped from the garden.
“Hey,” Pierce said and kissed Nikki on the cheek. “This looks so … uptown.”
“Looks can be deceiving.” She nodded to the empty box on the counter. “Don’t expect too much. Embellished, but pre-packaged.”
“Smells wonderful.” He wrapped his arms around her waist and whispered against the back of her neck, “And so do you.”
“Take it upstairs!” Lily called from the dining area.
“What’s this all about?” Nikki asked as he released her.
“I thought maybe I was too hard on you earlier,” he admitted and picked up a slice of apple.
“Those are for your daughter.”
“She won’t mind.”
Nikki nodded just as a rush of tiny footsteps on the stairs heralded Chloe’s arrival. “Daddy!” she screamed, her lips, a vibrant red color, split into a wide, delighted smile. Iridescent green eye-shadow covered her eyelids, and black mascara was thick over her usually pale lashes.
Pierce scooped her off her feet and, as he had done earlier in the day, twirled her in the kitchen, while Mikado padded over for some attention. “What happened to you?” he asked his daughter, and she giggled.
“Phee made me pretty!”
“You’re always pretty,” he told her as he placed her on her feet. “You don’t really need any makeup.” He gave Mikado a few pats on the head, and the dog’s tail wagged slowly.
“Why don’t you let Phee know that dinner’s ready,” Nikki suggested to her daughter. “Wash your hands.”
Pierce added, “And maybe your face,” but Nikki shook her head.
“Let it be.”
“She looks like she’s auditioning for Ru Paul’s Drag Race.”
“At two?”
Lily chimed in, “Almost three, and you know they start early these days.”
Nikki found the nearly empty bottle of wine and held it up in offering, but Pierce shook his head and opted for a beer.
“I’ll finish it.” Lily swept the bottle from Nikki’s hand just as she heard the pounding of little footsteps, the girls returning, with Chloe leading the way.
“I see you’ve been practicing your art,” Lily said to her daughter as Phee scraped back her chair and Nikki placed Chloe in her booster chair.
When Phee didn’t respond, Lily touched her daughter on the arm, then motioned to her ears. “Not at the table.”
Reluctantly, the girl took out her AirPods.
“Not at table!” Chloe repeated, shaking her head. “No, no, no!”
“She’s such a little ‘ruleser,’” Phee said, sending Chloe a just-stop-it glare.
“And after you put all that effort into making her look special,” Lily chided.
Pierce settled into his chair and said, “I hate to ask what a ruleser is.”
Nikki warned, “Don’t.”
Too late.
Phee, still sending Chloe dark looks, explained. “It’s a little twit who loves to tell someone else what the rules are!”
“Okay, okay.” Lily waved her wineglass.
“Let’s eat,” Pierce said, deliberately changing the subject. He passed the casserole to his niece and said to Nikki, “This looks great.”
“Restaurant quality.” Lily smiled before burying her nose in her glass.
Nikki ignored her sister, her mind moving past the meal to hover on questions about Billy Huber’s murder. What had the police discovered? Were there any serious suspects? Who would gain from Billy’s death? What about witnesses? With an effort, she took the first bite.
Restaurant quality?
Hardly.
Epicurean?
Not a chance.
But it was nice that Pierce could enjoy her efforts.
With the dog under the table and Jennings atop the back of the sofa so that he could watch them, Nikki made sure Chloe managed to eat rather than just play with her food.
She tried to bring up Billy Huber, but Pierce deftly changed the subject every time she mentioned his name. She had to let it drop.
For now.
After the table was cleared, the dishwasher loaded, Chloe was bathed and wrestled into pajamas, was read two bedtime stories, and finally fell asleep on her back, her little lips moving slightly, reddish curls splayed around her head.
Nikki kissed her clean little forehead and whispered, “Sweet dreams,” as she tiptoed out of the room.
The house wasn’t completely quiet, as Lily and Phee were watching television in their room and Pierce was in his den on the phone, but the day was winding down.
Nikki climbed the stairs to her office, where she went through her notes and, for what seemed the dozenth time, perused the pictures she’d taken of the Huber place, with its mountains of junk.
Had Billy Huber had any girlfriends? she wondered. Maybe one with a jealous husband? Or was there someone who held a serious grudge against him? A friend? More likely, an enemy? Maybe someone who would gain by his death? Who had motive and opportunity?
She heard Pierce on the stairs and Mikado’s paws scraping the floor as the dog followed him. “Thought I’d find you up here,” he said as he entered her study.