Chapter Twenty
DAISY REFUSED TO TELL THEM ANYTHING UNTIL THEY GOT BACK TO the Chickadee. They stopped at the H-E-B and picked up a plate of fried chicken, potato salad, and cowboy beans. They wanted to have a proper lunch for surviving their first Sunday at church.
Cordelia wanted to do a picnic and spread a blanket out on the concrete around the pool, but none of the chicks wanted to sit on the ground on account of not being sure if they’d be able to get back up. So they pulled chairs around a table with a pink umbrella and ate in the shade.
Arline tore into a drumstick, lips smacking as she stared Daisy down.
“I’m getting there.” Daisy scooped a dainty spoonful of beans onto her paper plate. “Just hold your horses. There’s a lot going on in the Combs camp.”
“Such as?” Belinda Sue tapped a single bloodred nail against the clear tabletop, refusing to take any food until they had a good handle on their current lead.
“Okay.” Daisy draped a napkin over her lap. “Apparently, Stewart and Martina are still very much a thing, and the reason he wasn’t there today is because they do a lot of anti–book banning work in San Antonio on the weekends. Not by his choice.”
“What do you mean, not by his choice?” Cordelia asked.
“According to Edwin, Mack Baker and Dean Hernandez cornered Stewart at the Orb one night and told him the pastor sent them to say he wasn’t welcome at church if he was going to continue seeing that purveyor of porn.
That’s what they call librarians now. Can you believe that?
For giving kids access to books. I’ll never understand.
Anyway, they told him this a week before the poisoning, and he wasn’t in church that first Sunday after the pastor turned up dead. ”
Arline dropped her drumstick. “What are you saying?”
“I’m not saying anything.” Daisy held out her hands. “I’m just passing along info.”
“It sounds like we ought to add Stewart to our suspect list.” As much as the saltwater tank and Dew Valley threw off Cordelia’s equilibrium, she couldn’t see Martina as a killer. Much easier for her to picture Stewart Combs, whom she didn’t know and had no relationship with.
“Maybe.” Daisy tapped her lips. “But I don’t think the pastor would’ve removed Stewart. Mack and Dean like to throw their weight around and act bigger than their britches.”
“The pastor wasn’t innocent.” Mack and Dean didn’t sound like good people, but Cordelia couldn’t forget how firm the pastor had been on banning her momma from church, never opening his doors or his heart, even when she was struggling to get clean.
“We can talk about this until the cows come home,” Belinda Sue said.
“But we’re not going to solve anything by arguing about the character of a man who is dead and gone.
What we need to do is establish Stewart’s and Martina’s whereabouts the night the pastor was poisoned.
Daisy, are you sure he got that bottle of wine the night he came to see you and not before? ”
Daisy nodded. “He said he got it as a gift on his way over and thought about bringing it home, but wanted to drink it with me instead. I had to decline, though, because of the rules.”
“Why don’t you pull up the community events website?” Arline asked. “The church is always doing this and that in town. Find out where the pastor was before he came here and make a list of who would’ve been with him before that.”
Belinda Sue turned to Arline, resting her cheek on her fist. “You really ought to speak up more often. You end up being the smartest of us all.”
“And I stay that way by staying quiet.” Arline grunted. “Kids these days just want to hear themselves talk. Got no respect for listening.”
Belinda Sue, Arline, and Daisy gathered around Belinda Sue’s tablet to look into community events, while Cordelia used her phone to go on the library’s website.
She hoped to find an event that crossed over with the church.
Instead, what she found proved Martina’s and Stewart’s innocence beyond a shadow of a doubt.
“Have a look at this.” Cordelia handed the phone to Belinda Sue.
The three of them enlarged a picture of Martina at a national library conference in Oklahoma the day the pastor was killed. She hadn’t returned until that Sunday afternoon. A man with a wide grin and thinning hair stood next to her with his arm around her shoulders.
“That’s Martina and Stewart.” Belinda Sue tapped the screen. “They couldn’t have given the pastor the wine. They weren’t even in town.”
“That’s what I figured.” Cordelia slumped in her chair.
On one hand, she’d formed a tentative friendship with Martina and was happy she wasn’t a killer. But on the other hand, they weren’t any closer to clearing Daisy. Trying to sort out small-town scandals from actual clues was like trying to divide oysters and clams.
“So that’s that,” Arline said. “Where do we go from here?”
“I think we ought to refocus our efforts on looking into Edna and Corbin,” Belinda Sue said. “They’ve had the best motive to date, and the only thing we’ve uncovered about them is that Edna had a questionable conversation with a shady gentleman near the library.”
“I’m not ruling them out, but what do you propose we do?” Cordelia asked. “There’s no way they’ll answer any of our questions or let us get close enough to find evidence.”
“I have an idea,” Belinda Sue said. “And you’re not going to like it.”
“You’re right,” Cordelia said. “I don’t like this.”
Cordelia stood next to the card stock at the local drugstore, turning the metal rack as she searched for a professional-looking invitation.
Daisy and Arline had insisted on coming along, despite it being against Belinda Sue’s better judgment.
They ended up causing a ruckus in the candy aisle, arguing over the last bag of Tootsie Roll Pops.
At least they managed to draw everyone’s attention away from Cordelia and Belinda Sue.
Though they weren’t exactly inconspicuous either.
A sixty-year-old woman in a leather catsuit was bound to stick out.
“Do you really think they’re going to buy this?” Cordelia asked.
“Of course they will,” Belinda Sue said. “Edna and Corbin like nothing more than feeling important. By the time they figure out the midnight auction is a ruse, we’ll be well clear of their property.”
It had been Belinda Sue’s idea to break into the office building Corbin had built on the speck of land he’d been able to purchase out in the brush country, not too far from the Chickadee.
At first, they’d considered waiting until the place went dark, then sneaking over.
But it never went dark. Belinda Sue figured Corbin must’ve been sleeping there, because no matter what time they drove by, the lights were on and Corbin’s truck was parked at the end of the long, dusty driveway leading up to the outpost he’d set up.
He had to have been protecting something important if he put that much effort into keeping the space guarded like that.
So Belinda Sue had come up with a plan to lure Corbin and Edna out of town with a fake midnight auction in Crystal Creek, an exclusive event attended by local leaders in business.
It took at least an hour to drive to Crystal Creek, and another hour to drive back once they figured out it was all a hoax.
Cordelia had a bad feeling about the whole thing, but Belinda Sue’s confidence in the plan gave her a boost to push forward.
And at this point, they were out of other options.
It would only be a matter of time before Honey was cleared, Archer’s suspicions would boil over, and all eyes would be on Daisy again.
“None of these are fancy enough.” Belinda Sue frowned over the display of cards. “We’ve got to be convincing if we’re going to make this work.”
Cordelia’s phone buzzed. Daisy had stopped fighting with Arline long enough to text her that Archer had just entered the store. “Dang it. I don’t need this right now.”
“Need what?” Belinda Sue asked.
“Nothing.” Cordelia pointed to a YOU’RE INVITED card off the rack with a fancy wooden mandala carved into the thick stock paper. “This one will work.”
Cordelia power walked down the aisle, hoping to make a quick getaway, and ended up running smack-dab into Archer. Because of course she did.
“Archer.” She tipped her chin. “Good to see you.”
“Is it?” He rubbed his jaw. “Because Daisy about passed out when she saw me, and you look as though you’d rather be anywhere else.”
Why did this man insist on testing her? “Fine. It’s terrible to see you. Is that better?”
“Honesty is always better.” He gave her a long, searching look, but she wasn’t taking the bait. “Wouldn’t you agree?”
“Yes.” She gave him her most prim smile.
“I heard you went to church this week.” He leaned in closer, a wicked gleam in his eye and the woodsy scent of his aftershave making her head light. “You’re not hoping God will absolve you, are you? Because it’s a little late to ask for His help.”
“It’s none of your business why I was there.” Cordelia turned up her nose. “I noticed you weren’t present. I’m assuming it’s because God already knows you’re long past saving.”
“One of these days, Delia, who you think I am is going to butt right up against who I actually am, and I hope I’m there to watch that pretty little head of yours explode.”
“And I hope you’re the one who gets stuck cleaning up the mess. If you’ll excuse me . . .” She gave him her back as she walked past, letting her hips swivel only a little.
“Just so you know, I’m still keeping an eye on you,” Archer called after her.
She spun around. “That’s called stalking. Do I need to file an official report?”
“Not stalking.” He looked her up and down, his bobbing Adam’s apple betraying his appreciation. “I just have a special interest, is all.”
While his obvious attraction to her made her pulse race, he could also fire her up like no one else.
Then there was the small matter of being on opposing sides of his daddy’s murder.
As long as he suspected Daisy, she couldn’t give him an inch.
His loyalty was to the law, but hers was to the Chickadee, and no amount of chemistry would change that.
“Feel free to shove your interest.” Unable to leave on such a sour note, lest he think he got the better of her, Cordelia reached deep into her well of good Southern manners to tack on a “Have a nice day.” She marched out of the store, too riled up to wait for Belinda Sue to make up her mind about a card that probably wouldn’t fool the Abernathys anyway.
Daisy wandered out next, twirling a gummy worm around her finger as she sucked on the head. “What’s got your tail up, Miss Cordelia?”
“Why does Archer have to provoke me every time he sees me?” Cordelia pushed crescent-shaped indents into her palms. “It’s like he can’t help himself.”
Daisy gave her a grin that was a shade too feline for comfort. “He likes getting a reaction out of you. I suspect he’s about the only one who can make you throw a fit like that.”
“I’m not throwing a fit.” Cordelia ground her molars together. “I just don’t like to argue and that’s all he seems to want to do. No wonder our date was such a disaster.”
“I think your date was a disaster because he tried too hard to impress you and ended up fumbling the ball.” Daisy nudged her shoulder. “Not that he knew anything about the palytoxin or Dew Valley, but were you feeling comfortable before that?”
Cordelia let her thoughts wander back to that night.
The drive over had been good. Easy. Like she could just be herself around him.
All that went out the window as soon as they pulled up to the restaurant though.
She appreciated the effort he’d taken, but it felt like she’d been asked to dance when she didn’t know any of the steps.
She clammed up and Archer stopped being himself.
It had disaster written all over it from the get-go.
“Welp.” Cordelia lifted her hands and dropped them back by her sides.
“Oh, honey.” Daisy rubbed her back. “It’s not too late to fix this. You’ve just got to tell him you don’t need all them bells and whistles.”
“Why don’t I? I’m not a simple woman.”
“Who called you simple?” Daisy peered around like she expected a culprit to show themselves. “You never got the chance to be comfortable with someone seeing your worth, so you still feel like you need to do something to earn it. Ain’t nothing simple about that.”
Cordelia gave her a wry grin. “Are you psychoanalyzing me now?”
“Just calling it like I see it.” Daisy leaned against the car, chewing thoughtfully on her gummy worm. “Archer’s a good egg. You ought to trust him.”
Cordelia raised an eyebrow. “Trust him with what really happened to his daddy?”
Daisy shrugged. “I think he might end up surprising you.”
Considering it was Daisy’s freedom on the line, she should’ve put more stock in the advice, but Cordelia wasn’t willing to take a chance on maybe being surprised by Archer. They’d gone way too far down the rabbit hole, and their only way out at this point was through.
The entrance to the drugstore flew open and Belinda Sue came running up the sidewalk like the devil himself was on her heels. Arline walked casually a few feet behind her. People out for their daily errands turned to stare at Belinda Sue as she frantically waved her arms.
“Go on, now. Get in the car.” Belinda Sue dove into the back seat, grabbing Arline’s caftan to pull her in, and slammed the door shut. “Let’s get a move on.”
Cordelia checked her rearview mirror as she backed out. “I’m going to pretend there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for why we’re rushing out of here like the law is on our tail.”
“You know how you were going to buy the invitation with cash so there wouldn’t be a paper trail leading to us after the break-in?” Belinda Sue asked.
“Yeah?” Cordelia bit her lower lip, already guessing where this was going.
“When you took off on me, I sort of had to steal the card.”
“Okay.” Cordelia breathed deeply through her nose. “I’ll leave a few dollars on the counter the next time I stop in for cough syrup. Anything else I should know?”
“I’ve been banned from entering Parson’s Drugstore for life,” Arline said.
“I don’t even want to know,” Cordelia said.
“It’s not the first time.” Arline pulled out a cellophane-wrapped box containing a Cherry Blossom body mist and matching shower gel. “And they didn’t catch me with this.”
“The good news just keeps coming.” Cordelia turned toward the dirt road that would take them back to the Chickadee, hoping their plan would work. The quicker they could be done with this nonsense, the quicker she could get back to tracking down what remained of her sanity.