Mail Carrier 06 - Post Mortem, page 10
“Your daddy didn’t pay for all the fancy stuff the camps needed. You got in on your brains. Tapper got in on Daddy’s money.” Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the young man had taken his finger and jabbed Les in the chest. “You remember that.”
On Grady’s wedding day, I remembered him saying something about how his dad should’ve been standing up in front of the church with family as well as his friend Mac.
“And he was really proud that you beat out Tapper Kline.” The boy brought up a memory that made Les smile.
Both boys snickered, breaking the somber moment that I wished I could’ve enjoyed listening to, but Tapper Kline was stuck in my brain.
Was Bruce Kline’s boy up for the grant? I blinked a few times, thinking this was a great motive for Bruce Kline. If Les didn’t get the grant, did that mean that Tapper would?
This was definitely something I was going to put on my list of things to check out.
I shifted my gaze from the two boys to across the room, where Rachel was standing next to Jeff’s casket with Bruce Kline consoling her broken heart.
My stomach curled with disgust.
Chapter 13
There was a time when sleeping through the night was something I just thought I did. Now a full night’s sleep was something I considered a luxury, and that luxury wasn’t afforded to me tonight.
I threw the covers off of me and decided it just wasn’t worth lying there. I’d have loved to say Jeff Faulkner was also on my mind and why I couldn’t fall fast asleep, but I knew that was not the case. The bead of sweat going down my spine, completely wetting my nightshirt, was telling me that my hormones were making a well-known appearance and just had to be seen.
“Mommy is going to go sit in the kitchen,” I told Buster when his head popped up from the foot of the mattress. “I’m guessing your sister doesn’t care.”
I glanced over at the pillow on the opposite side of the bed, where Rowena had curled up in her orange ball, nice and snuggly.
Buster and I walked down the hallway, and before I flipped the kitchen light on, I noticed Revonda Gail’s kitchen light was on.
In fear of her seeing me being nosy, I kept the lights off and walked over to the window to see if I could see why on earth she was up. Maybe she was getting our little scheme together. Maybe not, when I didn’t see any movement and realized she’d probably left the light on.
Buster panted next to the door, and on my way over to let him outside, I did flip on the kitchen light. He bounded out the door. While he ran around outside, I went ahead and flipped on the coffee maker. I was only up about an hour earlier than normal. I also went ahead and popped two ibuprofen because I could feel my legs waking up, and there was a tinge of ache from all the biking I’d done the day before.
Buster had come back to the door and I let him in. While the coffee brewed, I figured I might as well get a jump on the day and get ready for work. Until there were some clicks on the side kitchen window.
I stopped and listened, hearing a few more of those ticks, which sounded like they were caused by someone throwing pebbles at the glass.
“Psst, Psst! Bernie!” There was a loud whisper-type voice outside. “It’s me. Revonda Gail!”
I walked back over to the window and peeled back the kitchen blind to see her before I gestured for her to head to the back door.
“Good morning.” She came inside, her hair all flopping over her banana clip. “I saw your light came on, and I have some news I wanted to tell you before you left for work.”
Buster was too busy trying to get her attention to even care that I’d already dumped some kibble in his bowl. Rowena had yet to emerge from the bedroom.
The coffeepot beeped.
“Would you like a cup of coffee?” I asked as I opened the cabinet door to get a couple of mugs out, figuring she’d say yes.
I was right.
“After the layout, apparently the guys”—by guys I knew she meant the men from the gambling joint—“were all standing around together talking about how it was a shame for Rachel and Les to have to scrape up the money for the funeral expenses. Bruce Kline came up with the great idea of hosting a poker party tonight between all of them at the gambling joint. All the money in the pot will be donated to Rachel and Les.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me?” I almost choked on the sip of coffee.
“Nope. And they asked if I was going to come.” She gave a grin and brought her cup up to her lips.
“Of course you are. This is great.” I stood up and paced back and forth, trying to come up with a plan for how I was going to get some of my questions answered. Then it popped into my head.
“You still think Bruce did it? He’s trying to raise money for Jeff’s family.” Rovenda Gail sucked down her coffee.
“Yes. More than ever now. I guess you’ve been in the big house, so you’d know real killers, but on TV the killer has a sicko mind and more times than not goes to the funerals or has some sort of dealings with the family or investigation.” I stopped pacing. “In this case, Bruce Kline is taking all the heat off of him. He was a bully to Jeff when they were younger. Jeff owed him money. They’d gotten into an argument on the golf course, and I intend to find out what it was about from the caddy.” I gnawed on my lip and let what I was saying marinate. “Not to mention, Bruce’s son was also up for that big STEM grant to the fancy college Jeff’s son was given. And according to Jeff’s son, if Les gave up the grant, there’s a good possibility it would go to Bruce’s son.”
“How on earth are you gonna figure this out?” Revonda Gail leaned back in the kitchen chair and stared at me.
“First off, I think we need to get some of the questions answered from Bruce himself. The only way I can think to do it is through your phone.” I could see it now. “You can have me on the phone. I can hear what they are saying, and I can funnel questions to you through your earphones.”
“They would see my earphone cords.”
“You don’t have the cordless kind?” I asked.
“No. That’s for rich people.”
“Fine. I can stop by the general store on my route and grab some for you. I’ll drop them off during my loop.” It was a brilliant idea. “You’re going to have to wear your hair down. You will have your phone in your pocket with me on the other end. I will be able to give you the questions to ask them, and I will be able to hear their answers.”
“This is great!” Revonda Gail got up and put her mug in the sink.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“Bed. I’ve been up all night thinking about this murder and how I was going to help. Couldn’t stop my running brain.” She told me about something I knew all too well.
“You seem awfully hyper to be going to bed.” I couldn’t help but notice she appeared wide-awake to me.
“I'm hyper all the time. Here it’s so quiet, which can be worse at night.” She shrugged. “In the big house you never sleep. I mean, they say lights out, but it is like a slumber party every night of the week.” She pushed on the handle of the screen door, swinging it open.
Buster darted out around her. She jerked around with her eyes big.
“It’s fine. He can run around in the yard.” I walked over to the coffeepot and poured myself another cup. “Call me on your way to the gambling joint tonight so we can get connected.”
“Don’t worry. I will.” Revonda Gail disappeared into the darkness of the early-morning hours.
I stood in the kitchen and leaned my hip against the counter, both hands around my mug, thinking about all the clues I’d gathered about Bruce Kline and his motives for killing Jeff Faulkner. As much as I really wanted it to be about the money, I just wondered if it was truly about the boys.
I’d do just about anything for Grady, short of murder. But some parents would do that, and I’d put Bruce Kline in that category.
Buster scratched on the screen door, and I let him in.
“Okay. Here’s your food.” I led him over to his bowl. “You eat while I get ready for work.”
There was a knock on the front door. Buster darted away from his bowl and into the family room, where he stood at the door with his tail wagging.
“Revonda.” I gripped my mug with one hand and swung the front door open with the other. There stood Julia with sweet baby Clara in her arms.
Chapter 14
“Julia, get in here.” You couldn’t imagine my surprise at seeing Julia holding Clara at the front door this early. “It is so early.”
I reached for Clara once they walked into the house.
“Good morning, sweet angel.” I couldn’t stop kissing little Clara’s round cheeks. It made her giggle, which put a delight into my heart.
“Sorry, we just stopped by. I probably should’ve called or texted.” Julia set down the baby bag with Clara’s name stitched on it and helped me take off Clara’s little jacket.
“Isn’t that the cutest?” I didn’t mean it as a question. More of a statement. “She’d look cute in anything.” I snuggled her tighter and headed back to the kitchen. “I just made some coffee. Let me get you a cup.”
My eyes widened after I said that, realizing the doctor had told Julia to limit her caffeine when she was pregnant with Clara. But was I supposed to pretend not to know about what Grady told me?
I turned around, and though I didn’t mean to, I looked straight at her belly.
“I know Grady told you I’m pregnant. We are pregnant.” Her smile told me they were okay and put a relief in me. “Yes. I’d love to have a cup with you. And I’ll fix it while you play with Clara.”
I’d take full advantage of loving on Clara but knew that Julia was here for something. If she was here, she obviously needed my attention.
“We will be right back, Mommy.” I took Clara down the hall with me and into the guest bedroom, which had really turned into Clara’s room, and got Grady’s old Johnny Jump. “She loves this thing.” I held Clara in one arm and the Johnny Jump in the other hand.
“She does.” Julia was sitting at the table with the two mugs filled. Steam rolled off of both of them. I handed Clara to her so I could clamp the Johnny Jump in between the kitchen and family room door.
“I wanted to stop by before you went to work because I wanted to tell you that even though Grady told you we were shocked, we still do want and love the baby.” She bounced Clara on her leg a couple of times before I took the sweet baby and placed her in the contraption, where she immediately started to bounce up and down.
“I’m so glad you did.” I joined her at the table then pointed to the coffee. “So what’s the latest pregnancy dos and don’ts?”
When she had been pregnant with Clara, there were so many things she couldn’t eat or drink. Things like fish or caffeine. When I had Grady, there were hardly any restrictions, and he turned out perfect in my eyes.
“A little caffeine is fine. But back to why I am here so early.” She ran her finger along the rim of the coffee mug. “When Grady came home and told me you’d come by the school to see him, I heard what he’d said, and I was just so embarrassed how we both reacted to the news. I do want this baby. Grady and I both want this baby,” she clarified.
“Let me stop you right there. Your life is your life. You and Grady decide what's good for you and Grady. I love you too. I love Clara. I love the baby in your belly before I even know this baby, but you two have to decide what's best for your family. And I know that you are going to love this baby as much as you love Clara, though it may not seem that way. You will. You have no reason to explain anything to me.”
I could see my words put a little bit of relief in her mind. Her shoulders softened, her jawline relaxed, and the audible heavy sigh told me a weight had been lifted off her chest.
“The only thing that I ask is that if you do need anything, please do not hesitate to ask me. Like I said, if you need me to keep Clara today, Monica will do my route.” Then I gave her another option. “If you and Grady need me to quit working because you need a babysitter and you don't want Clara to go to the day care, then I can do that too.”
“No, no, no.” Julia shook her head. “Bernie, you have been more than a mother-in-law to me, and you’ve been more than a grandma to Clara. I appreciate that. Luckily I do have a babysitter that's going to come to the house, because I know even though Mac said I can work from the house, I cannot get anything done with Clara there. She's been catching everything coming and going at the day care, as you know, which is fine since the doctor said it will help build up her immune system. I love the day care. It's just I can't get anything done when they send her home sick. The in-home babysitter will help.”
I was happy to see just how much having a family of his own had really matured Grady. Julia too.
“Mac has been so wonderful, and he has been paying me for any of the time off. He doesn't know I'm going to have another baby, so I’m going to tell him this morning. I was sorta hoping he was here.” She gave a slight grin.
“You know better than that. Already as it is, Harriette has started the rumor that we are getting married, because a couple of nights ago, he did have me over for a romantic dinner,” I gushed.
“Well, Grady and I want him in the loop since he is like a father to him and has been the only grandfather Clara knows.” She was right. Mac had really upped his skills in the granddad arena when Clara wasn’t even his grandchild.
He was always wanting to keep her with me or stop over with presents. He even brought little gifts to work for Julia to give her.
“I’m glad you feel that way about him. In a sense it’s silly, because Mac and I aren't married, but I feel like I need to tell him everything.” It was odd how I did feel this connection with him.
Julia looked over at me and smiled. She couldn't stop grinning from ear to ear, and she tried to stop it by putting her hand to her mouth.
“No, I think it's a wonderful thing. I think that you know I never saw you and Richard together. I’ve only seen the relationship you and Mac have. From day one when you were just friends after I’d come to meet you when Grady and I were in college to last year when we had Clara. You two have really weathered the storm into an amazing relationship like the one that one day I hope Grady and I will have formed.”
I loved hearing those words come out of Julia because I'd always hoped that people could truly see the feelings that I had for Mac.
Chapter 15
Vince Caldwell must’ve been hiding from me. On my first loop, I didn’t see a soul at the nursing home. He’d probably had enough of me due to the competitive nature he’d had to endure during our putt-putt experience yesterday.
“I’m going to grab my LLV for the third loop,” I told Monica Reed when I went back for the second-loop mail. “And I’ve got a favor.”
She was working the counter when I got back. I grabbed her a Coke and me a Coke. I took a minute to drink it while she waited on customers.
“What’s that?” she asked and weighed the customer’s package before she input the address to where it was going.
“Do you think you could get someone else to cover the counter tomorrow, and you take my shift?” I asked.
“Sure. What do you have going on?”
I didn’t figure on her asking me any questions. Then my morality went out the window, and I lied.
“I’m watching Clara.” Maybe I could not make it a false and actually see if Julia would let me keep her.
I didn’t want to say to Monica how I was planning on staying up all night to listen in on the gambling joint and then coming up with the entire plan for me to present to Sheriff Angela Haffley on why Bruce Kline needed to be arrested for the murder of Jeff Faulkner, so yeah, I stuck with the lie.
“Awww,” she gushed. “You’re the best grandmother.”
“Yep. Gotta go.” I couldn’t look at her. “I’ll be back to get the LLV.”
“I’ll make sure it’s actually going to start for you.” I was happy to hear her say that, since I’d not tried to drive it since it didn’t start the other morning, though Colvin Batty had told me he’d fixed it.
I was happy to see that Iris was at the bakery when I stopped in to drop off her mail.
“Well, last night was a bit uncomfortable with Ranger and Bruce.” She looked through her mail. She took the mail back into the kitchen and had me follow her.
“It was. I wish I’d stuck around, because Revonda Gail said they told her they were going to do a charity type of poker game tonight for the members.” I watched Iris walk over to the new creation she was working on.
It was so amazing how she just knew how to decorate a cake. She picked up the spatula and scooped out some of her homemade frosting then effortlessly glided it over the top of the dark-brown cake before she started to spin the plate and move around the cake in the same motion.
“Revonda is going to wear some earphones so I can give her the questions we need answered from Bruce. But I need to talk to Jessie Anderson, the kid who was the caddy for the foursome, so I can get his take on what happened.” It was all about building the case.
“See that basket over there?” She pointed the spatula over to the counter where the silent auction basket from the fundraiser was sitting. “The bidder paid for the basket but said to give it to someone in need. I’m more than happy for you to take it to the high school and tell Jessie Anderson it was donated to a caddy. Who doesn’t want a free celebration cake? But the catch is that I’ll need a photo of him holding it.”
“You are a genius.” I was giddy with glee. “This would be perfect. It would definitely give me an opportunity to ask him what the fight between Bruce and Jeff was about.”
“Take it. And text me the photo.” Iris went back to icing the cake. “I’ll send the photo to the local paper and Lucy Drake. This would be right up her alley. That way if the kid says anything about you questioning him, you have a good reason you were there.”
