Practicing Murder Read online

  Oh wait, there was supposed to be the cooking thing with Joze and Devin tonight. But still, it would be nice to have extra food around. And it would make things easier to have meals already prepared for the next day.

  “Could I bring a casserole around eleven?”

  Maddie checked the clock on the stove: 9:30 AM. It would give them time to finish what they’d started in Aunt Lonna’s room. She also needed to get back to reading the journal. “We’ll be here. Thanks.”

  “If you need anything else, let me know, OK, honey?”

  She wiped her face. The woman’s grandmotherly tone comforted Maddie. It reminded her so much of Aunt Lonna.

  She hung up before she had a full meltdown with the complete stranger, and ran up the stairs to her room. Pressing her back to the closed door, Maddie didn’t bother to hold in her sobs. The whole month had been a complete nightmare. The plane crash, the journal, the stalker, all of it unreal. Yet she had to face it, had to figure it out. “Aunt Lonna, why’d it have to be your flight?” She cried. “What were you involved in?”

  She fell into the computer chair at her desk. How was it possible to be so alone with a house full of people, and people who had more right than her to cry? She was only a niece. Yet she felt the pain of Aunt Lonna’s loss so thoroughly she could barely catch her breath. She’d lost more than an aunt. As she’d told Aunt Lonna many times, she’d been her real mother. The one she could always talk to. The one who understood her. The one who hadn’t abandoned her when her father died.

  A soft knock at the door quieted Maddie. “Yes?”

  Aster’s muffled voice carried through. “You OK? I thought you were going to help me in Mom’s room?”

  She couldn’t. Not now. But what could she say? “I…need a break, OK?”

  “OK. I’ll just be in there working on her desk.”

  Maddie looked to the heavens. “’K.”

  She pulled out a tissue and blew her nose. Maddie reeled from the full reality of loss with the force of a rock falling on her chest. She’d managed to keep it at bay the past week but now it crippled her with tears.

  Where was God in all this? Maybe she didn’t believe, but Aunt Lonna did. And if she was His child as her aunt claimed, wouldn’t He take care of Aunt Lonna? This was proof that if He existed, He didn’t care.

  Anger replaced grief. It burrowed even deeper in her.

  Be strong. Maddie tried to constrain the emotions welling through her body. Stop it. Fanning air into her face, she gulped in breaths. Control came in small waves. There was no changing what happened. What she could do was finish the investigation Aunt Lonna had started. It would be the final hurrah to her aunt.

  Maddie ran to the bathroom and washed her face and freshened up the light amount of makeup she wore.

  In her bedroom, she fished through the little cubbyhole built into the wall behind her bed for the journal, the musty odor of dust and old cloth emanating into her room.

  She dusted some sticky webs off the book and set it on her desk. Aster needed to know she wouldn’t be back for a while. She opened her door a hair and yelled down the hall, “Aster, I’ve got some things to do. Sorry. Can’t help.”

  Her cousin grumbled but shut the door before she responded. The journal was more important.

  After tucking a foot under her, Maddie found the last place Joze had read and fingered the page at the spot he’d stopped.

  Each page resounded with more sadness. Her aunt had been so busy, helping with church activities, going on shopping dates with friends, the business, the reunion. Her head reeled. How could one person accomplish so much?

  Several entries about the reunion showed a lot of contention. No one agreed on the venue or the price of tickets. The number of helpers dwindled over the course of months, putting a heavy load on Aunt Lonna.

  Maddie set the book on the desk and yawned. She needed a cold glass of water. Her tongue rubbed against the inside of her mouth like cotton. She threw a few college papers over the book and headed downstairs. As she turned at the bottom step, she caught a few shadows falling over the front door side light.

  The doorbell rang. Must be the lady with the casserole.

  She turned off the alarm, plastered a smile on her face, and threw the door open.

  A dark Hispanic man stood in front of her and then grabbed and pulled her. Her feet almost gave out under her as she tried to wrench out of his strong grasp. Her breath hitched in her throat, and she flailed her arms. To no avail.

  “Madeline Clare?”

  She gulped, eyes bouncing from one man to the other two over his shoulder. Lots of tattoos everywhere on the men’s arms and even their necks. Matching shirts. Gangsters on her lawn? “Who are you?”

  Belatedly, she noted the souped-up Dodge Challenger at the curb with flames painted along the back fender.

  He yanked her up. “RoRo. You mess on my pad, I mess on yours.”

  Maddie pulled back her foot and kicked with all her might.

  He managed to back away before she connected.

  “Let go of me.”

  With his shove, she slid to the ground but he lowered his frame until his face was within a foot of hers. “Got your card from Beth.”

  Why’d she put her address on the thing? Why, why, why? How could she have made such a mistake to hand the card to the woman? Beth was supposed to call her when he showed up, not give him the card. She flipped between rage and fear so fast her head spun.

  RoRo’s thugs stepped closer still, cigarette smoke permeating off them. He folded his hands in front of him, displaying a distorted number seven tattoo on one forearm. “What do you want with me?” He reached out to her, a sneer mucking up his face. “You’re not the usual kind I work with. But…”

  She pushed against the hard clapboard siding of the house but didn’t manage to gain more than a few inches away from him. Her voice shook and heat climbed up her neck. “I…I’m looking for information on my aunt. Your—name was in some of her paperwork and I need to know why.”

  His eyes bulged. “Your aunt, huh?”

  Was he the stalker? She melted against the splintery floorboards of the porch. Where was Joze when she needed him?

  “And who’s your aunt?”

  Please don’t let any of the cousins come out now. Maddie looked from the closed door to RoRo, straining to remember every detail. A killer? “Lonna Selby.”

  He narrowed his gaze. The men behind him shuffled from one foot to the other, watching every passing vehicle and every movement in close proximity. He stood as fast as he’d dropped to a squat. “Let me tell you what. You do something for me and we’ll talk?”

  Maddie sprung to her feet, hands out, ready to deflect another move from him. False bravado could only get her so far, but she gave it everything she had. “I don’t help drug dealers and trafficking junkies.”

  His face went dead cold. “Watch it.”

  She blinked and shrank back, fists flying into the air. As though that’d stop someone with his girth. “You’ve been stalking me?”

  His two men laughed and pushed at each other. The shorter one teased, “Girl has guts.”

  RoRo jumped at her like a bulldog jerking on the end of its chain, and she jolted backward. He gave a hoarse laugh that sent him into a coughing spell. Reaching into his oily jeans pocket, RoRo pulled out an inhaler and then sucked a couple breathes from it.

  Once he gained his composure, his narrowed gaze didn’t make Maddie shudder as hard this time.

  Now, his buddies were looking everywhere but at her as they scratched at their temples and pretended to ignore the asthmatic outburst.

  He dropped his shoulders. “You’d know if I did. You change your mind, come back to Rusk Street.”

  Movement behind the men plummeted her stomach even more until the dark head of Joze came into view. She nearly passed out from relief.

  Joze stormed up the stairs. “Sir, you need to back off now.” His hand was at his side on something at his waist.
>
  A gun? A paramedic who carried a weapon. She didn’t have time to appreciate the irony. Maddie held her stance.

  RoRo and his gang members stalked down the steps, pulling a cloud of soiled clothing and oil stench with them. “Dude, she’s something.”

  Joze’s tight form didn’t flinch when they passed.

  Unable to control the whirl of a tornado in her chest, she rushed to his side. Maddie clamped her jaw tight and held her stance until they climbed into their neon orange car with all the trimmings and drove off. Once they pulled into the street, screaming music fractured the neighborhood.

  The next second, Joze turned, eyes flashing. His own voice ricocheted around the yard almost like the awful music had. “You see what happens when you go places you shouldn’t?” His hands went to his head. “Next thing I know you’ll be working for him.”

  Well that settled it. She couldn’t tell him RoRo’s proposal for sure, now. He’d never understand if she had to do something to get what she needed from the punk.

  “Why would you ever open the door to a gangster? Didn’t I warn you enough about him?”

  “Well, at least he’s not the stalker.”

  “How do you know for sure?”

  She flinched. “He said so.”

  “So now you believe a thug?”

  Maddie winced, her response coming out shaky, “Yeah.”

  He looked like he might kick something or punch the white column on the porch. “Maddie,” he yelled, “When are you going to start listening? Men like him don’t stop once they get a hold of you.”

  Who did he think he was? She stood her ground. “I don’t need you to lord over me and tell me what to do. You get out of here.” What’d happened to the thick relief of a moment ago? No one was going to yell at her like that again. “I mean it.”

  He balled his fists. “Fine. Get yourself killed—or worse,” he sputtered as he passed her. “See ya.”

  Before she could reason out her response, he’d jumped in his car and peeled away. Great. Devin would be furious she’d ruined the cook-off.

  She stormed up the steps. How dare—

  “You must be Maddie. Well, Madeline.”

  She froze, heat wrapping around her neck and up to her cheeks. The declaration matched the voice of the woman who’d called earlier about the food. Had the woman heard the huge fight? She squeezed her eyes shut. “Yes?” It would take more than a second to gain her composure after that blow up.

  “I’m here with the casserole.” It came out more as a question.

  Maddie spun around and waved her hand in the air. “Sorry about that.”

  Mrs. Canney’s face stayed blank. “I know what pressure you’re under.”

  An awkward silence fell between them. She put her hands out. What to say? “Can I take the dish?”

  “It’s my mac and cheese casserole.” She handed over the thirteen by nine pan stacked with a few other containers. “And there’re some green beans and a fruit salad there too.”

  They looked at each other. All Maddie wanted to do was disappear behind the door. “I—we appreciate your effort.”

  “I’ll see you at the service.” The woman scuttled away before Maddie could come up with a reply.

  Good grief. She’d offended one of Aunt Lonna’s close friends.

  21

  Nothing could take Joze’s mind off the blowout with Maddie. He stalked back and forth in his apartment, stepping over a pile of clothes to go in the wash. Now that RoRo was in the picture, the ante had been raised. Why couldn’t Maddie listen to him? If she thought he’d stay away now, she had another thing coming to her. He’d keep an eye on her even if she didn’t know about it.

  He stopped. Why was he so bent on protecting her? Let her take care of herself. He dropped onto the leather couch and picked up the remote. Staring at the black screen, he fumed. Women.

  The edge of his Bible poked out from under a towel. He eyed it then looked away but the Holy Spirit tugged on him. Fine. He pulled it out and set it on his lap. Leaning back, Joze stared at the ceiling. “Lord, she won’t let me in. Why can’t she see how dangerous this situation is?” He paused, frowning, then ran a hand over the stubble on his chin. The Bible flipped open in his grasp and he looked down at the page it fell to in Philippians. It took a moment for the verse to register as he read. What was this? God seemed to blatantly be telling him it wasn’t his job to make her listen or change. True. But… But he couldn’t argue with the Almighty. He read a few more verses. And the one she needed was not him but God.

  He sighed and set the Bible down beside him. “Is it OK with You if I at least keep an eye out for her?”

  His chest swelled with the answer. Put the emphasis in the right place. Remember that God was in control and quit trying to force her to do his bidding. Now that one was going to be the hard part. But he would try.

  Joze grabbed a quick meal then phoned his buddy down at the police station. “David, I need to get some info on RoRo. He’s stepped into my neighborhood and I don’t like it. Could you do a little recon on his current situation with the Hartford department?”

  “Man, you’re lucky I’ve got friends down there. Don’t you know how hard it is to get anything from another precinct?”

  “I’ve always been able to count on you. Why do you think I’m your friend?” Joze bantered. “You have the friends in high places I need.”

  David laughed. “If it wasn’t for the time you saved me from that chainsaw accident in my yard I don’t know if I’d put up with you.”

  “Then you won’t mind also letting me borrow your truck for a few hours, would you?”

  “Oh, come on. Last time you left junk all over it.”

  “No, I didn’t. That was from your brother. Don’t pin that one on me.”

  David scoffed. “Whatever. You know where the keys are. But have it back by seven. I have a date tonight.”

  Joze whistled between his teeth. “Nice. It’s about time.”

  They sent verbal shots back and forth at each other before hanging up. Joze called a couple other police friends and lined up a few extra surveillance drives past the Clare residence at the steep cost of an all-expense paid baseball party at his house next week.

  One last call. He dialed Mrs. Mathers. This frequent flyer, as they called them in the medical field, was like a grandma to him. And he’d been making EMT stops at her place for the past two years. Her health issue? Loneliness. One of the main diagnoses for several of the senior citizens in the town who called on a regular basis. When she picked up, he said, “Hello gorgeous.”

  She gave her usual giggle.

  Joze loved the old woman even at her most medically non-compliant moments. “Did you take your diabetic meds at ten?”

  “Yeah, yeah. And I remembered to eat with that other pill that keeps making me sick.”

  He laughed. “Good. I’m on a special job right now, so I won’t see you for a few days. Don’t make my buddies have to show up. I’ll give orders for a few extra IV drips if you do, you hear.”

  She snorted. “You’re going to use my fear of needles against me, huh?”

  “I do what I’m forced to do.”

  “Fine. But if you stopped by, it’d make my day.”

  He settled into the cushions. “Wish I could.”

  They hung up.

  Joze went back to pacing. RoRo was a dangerous element in the mix of everything. His name popped up on Joze’s radar over and over with his church ministry to the poor of Hartford. Nothing good ever came of knowing RoRo. His hands played a nervous beat against his pant leg. Maddie couldn’t become a victim of the brute man. Joze couldn’t let it happen. He’d better get back over to the Clares’, even if he had to work at a distance.

  Four hours and three bags of popcorn later, Joze squashed the last paper bag and dropped it into a plastic trash bag on the floorboard of his friend’s old restored pickup. He held the small binoculars to his eyes and peered through the woods beside Maddie’s house.
Good thing not all the trees were in full blossom. It made it a bit easier to see through them to the far side in the blinding sun of the spring day.

  All the accusations from Maddie against Todd, all the denials from his friend circled in his mind. What was the full truth? Maddie held rigid to her statements. It was in her eyes too. Something fearful which had never been there before. Who would hold so tight to something even at the expense of losing another person if it wasn’t true? And she’d lost him.

  He put a hand over his mouth. But what of Todd’s side of the story? Joze took it apart piece by piece. It could be a lie. He had a tiny gap in his story. One that Joze couldn’t smooth out of the picture no matter how small and insignificant it seemed at the time.

  Betrayal lit at the corners of his mind. Todd may actually be guilty. He could have hurt Maddie. What was the truth? Years that they could’ve been together had been wasted if Todd had tried to harm her.

  Picking up his phone, Joze found his friend’s number in his contacts and his thumb hovered over it. Todd had to answer. He had to.

  As the phone rang, he fiddled with the buttons on the door.

  No answer. At the beep of the answering machine, Joze drew his mouth closer to his phone. “Todd, call me.”

  Why was it when he wanted answers the most, he had to wait?

  He dropped the phone onto the cream-colored pleather seat beside him. He’d wait…because now his future depended on it.

  A car passed, and he returned to watching the street. One of the neighbors passed again. He’d seen them coming and going all afternoon.

  He needed to stretch. As he climbed out, he patted his side. Gun. Concealed carry license all in good standing. He’d better get a look at the neighbor’s drive where the perp had parked last night. But how could he get over there to check without being noticed? Across the street were more trees. He’d have to chance a violation ticket to get in there and walk down ’til he reached a safe location to check it.

  Looking both ways, he crossed the street, glanced back and forged deeper into the woods. No trespassing signs didn’t litter the trunks of the trees. That was good. There was less of a chance of getting the police called on him. Maybe it was the reason the perp felt safe parking there.