“I’m sorry,” I said, wanting to probe deeper.
“It was a long time ago.And not having a family has made things easier for my career.”
“You mean because you move around so much?”
He looked up from separating bills, and I got the impression he was trying to remember if he’d let something slip he shouldn’t have.Or maybe that was my own paranoia that he was hiding things from me.
“New Orleans, Seattle…Grimm Island,” I said.“Those are very different places in very different parts of the country.”
He grunted and then looked out the bank of windows.“You’ve got company.”
I bit back a groan of frustration just before the doorbell rang.
Chowder lifted his head off the daybed, barked once at the ceiling, decided he’d done his duty, and lay back down.
“Let me guess,” I said.“Mrs.Pembroke?”
“Right on the money.”
“I’m surprised it took her this long.She’ll have seen the deputies, and she’ll have seen your truck, and her curiosity is louder than her arthritis.”
“You want me to get it?”
“Lord, no.She’d swallow her own teeth.You stay put.”
I went to the door barefoot and there she was, eighty pounds of nylon housedress and Aqua Net, holding a Tupperware of an unknown casserole I had not asked for and could not refuse.
“Mabel honey, I saw the police cars and I was just so worried.”
“I’m fine, Mrs.Pembroke.It’s just another case I’m helping the sheriff’s office with is all.”
“The sheriff’s office?On a Sunday?”She craned to see past me.“How are you going to find a husband when all you do is work all the time?Is that Sheriff Beckett’s truck in your drive?”
I kept my eyes on the doorframe.“It is.He’s been kind enough to help.”
“Don’t take too much help from him unless he puts a ring on it.If you know what I’m saying.”
“I, ah…” I stared at a fixed point over Mrs.Pembroke’s shoulder and held very still.
Mrs.Pembroke pushed the casserole dish into my hands.“I made too much for one person.You and your young man can have it for your supper.”
“That’s very thoughtful.Thank you.”
“And you’ll send Sheriff Beckett my regards?”She tried to peek in and look around, but I’d learned early on with Mrs.Pembroke that if you gave her an inch she’d take a mile, so I moved my body to block her view.
“I will.”
“And tell him my smoke alarm has been chirping for the last couple of nights.I tried to hit it with the broom, but those ceilings are so high I can’t reach.”
“I’ll let him know,” I said.“Thanks again for the casserole.Are you okay walking home?”
“Oh, I’m fine,” she said.“I was about to go on my afternoon walk anyway.Gladys Richardson bought one of those expensive metal yard sculptures from some artist in Charleston, and Dennis Yaeger said it looks like Satan is peeing all over her morning glories.He said it would scare the daylights out of any kids walking by.”
I knew exactly the sculpture she was talking about and had to agree with Dennis Yaeger.I drove by it on my way home and almost ran off the road.
“I figured I need to go check it out and see if she needs to be reported to the city council.The island has an image to maintain.”She looked thrilled at the possibility of reporting Gladys to the city council, and hurried off without saying goodbye.
I closed the door, and I carried the casserole into the kitchen and put it in the refrigerator and went back to the dining room.
