| |
A few days had gone by with my progress and information limited on Kelly’s case. So when the day of Kelly’s funeral rolled around, I found myself itching to attend. After all, I was sitting at home with Laurie and Whiskers and a relatively calm to-do list.
I dressed Laurie up in a sweet little black and purple dress and threw on my own appropriate funeral attire. I felt a little weasel sneaking into her funeral and vowed, while sticking Laurie in her car seat, that I wouldn’t attempt any interviews at the funeral unless someone just needed to vent.
Investigating while at a funeral just seemed in poor taste.
The funeral home was just a short drive from house, so I wound up getting there early.
I should probably feed Laurie while I have a chance.
I crawled into the back seat and pulled her out of her car seat and let her nurse in the privacy of our vehicle.
Oh, the number of unusual places I’ve found myself breastfeeding!
The parking lot of a funeral home was certainly not in my top five list, but it ranks in at number nine.
By the time Laurie had finished up, she had somehow managed to knock the little black hair bow off. I spent several minutes digging around for it under the seats before I finally located it and put it back on her little head.
She looked fabulous as always.
I put her in her stroller and headed inside where a small crowd had already started to gather. I spotted Ryan first and went up and introduced myself.
He seemed overwhelmed. His eyes bloodshot and his young face sagged with grief. His blonde looked unwashed and kept flipping it off his forehead. In a daze, he thanked me for coming and then directed me to a television that was playing a slideshow. He was almost immediately distracted the next person in the receiving line, so I moved forward.
The slide show was full of images depicting all the wonderful characteristics of Kelly. Kelly on a mission trip in Africa, Kelly volunteering in the aftermath of a hurricane, Kelly and a girl she tutored through a big sister program, Kelly orchestrating a food drive.
Who would want to hurt this girl?
I felt sadden and hallowed. I squeeze Laurie to my chest, suddenly overwhelmed by the fragility of human life.
“I should have known you’d be here,” McNearny grumbled in my ear.
I started and whipped around, and Laurie, I swear, made a hissing noise in his direction.
At a girl! Defend your mommy!
“I should have guessed that you’d be too,” I said. “Here to pay your respects?”
“Here to keep an eye on suspects,” he said.
“Who are your suspects?” I asked, and he just grunted. “Seriously? You are not going to tell me? I hope you don’t expect me to share anything I come across if you are going to act that way.”
“Kate, I don’t expect you to share anything you find with me,” he said.
I raised a curious brow.
“Because I don’t expect you to find anything useful,” he sneered.
I fumed, ready to give him a short history of my successes—despite not having all his experience—when an older couple had made their way over to the television.
The woman said to McNearny, “Isn’t this a shame? What a shame. Did you know Kelly?”
McNearny responded sweetly, “No ma’am. I’m the officer working her case. Just here to pay my respects.”
The woman looked confused, but as the room was filling up we were ushered into the funeral homes chapel to hear the eulogy.
I walked inside, next to McNearny. “So, there is a case, right? It was a murder?”
McNearny stiffened, his entire face twitching.
I laughed. “What’s the cause of death? You may as well tell me. Galigani will find out soon enough.”
McNearny bit his lip.
“You must want to clear this fast so you don’t have to see your ex much...or is that the opposite of—”
“Ethylene glycol,” McNearny burped up.
I frowned.
“Antifreeze,” he clarified, ushering me into the nearest pew.
I made a face of disgust.
“Actually, he said. “We’re seeing this is a lot. You can buy at any auto shop and it has a sweet taste. So people don’t notice when someone pours it into their beverage.”
I grew quiet.
So if someone put this in Kelly’s drink. It had to be someone she knew. A crime of passion...
Laurie fidgeted as I sat down next to McNeary, so I bounced her on my knee to keep her entertained.
McNearny muttered to me, “I’ll admit I’m somewhat impressed how you juggle your part time PI gig and do the stay at home mom thing. That’s a pretty serious load.”
I sat up straighter. “Why, Patrick McNearny, is that a compliment?”
“Don’t let it go to your head,” he warned.
The ceremony got underway, and we both became quiet. A priest rose to speak and introduced Kelly’s uncle who provided the eulogy.
The uncle was well spoken, and he told some lovely stories that even managed to put a smile on Ryan’s face once or twice. But by the end of the service, Ryan was a complete mess.
The pastor returned to the front and informed everyone about how to line up for the funeral procession and said they would be leaving in about ten minutes.
Good, that gave me plenty of time to change Laurie.
As the room cleared, McNearny muttered to me, “You asked me about suspects –the groom is at the top of the list.”
“Hmmm...” I said. “I’m not so sure. He seems pretty in love and heartbroken to me. He hardly has a killer’s persona about him.”
“That’s why you won’t make it in this field,” McNearny said, with a back to business tone in his voice. “You want to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. Believe me, I’ve been at this long enough, they don’t deserve it,”
He flung this insult in my direction and proceeding to exit the room.
Oh, no –he’s not getting away with that chide comment!
I chased after him –Laurie on one hip and dragging the stroller behind me. I caught up to him out on the hall, on look at me and I know for certain he could see that I was seething.
“You don’t get to say something so rude and then just walk away.”
“I wasn’t being rude,” he argued. “If anything I was just giving you a piece of advice. Don’t write someone off as a potential suspect just because they seem too nice or they seemed to get along with the deceased.”
“You could have just said that, then!” I snapped. “Instead you make a snarly remark that’s it inevitable for me to fail.”
“You will fail if you keep it up like this,” he hissed.
My blood pressured skyrocketed, and Laurie sensing my distress let out an angry wail. McNearny took a step back as if he was afraid of us, then we all heard a giggle coming from the other side of the door Laurie and I had just backed him into.
McNearny looked at me quizzically, and I returned the gaze. He indicated for me to step back, as if reached for the door knob.
My pulsed quickened and I looked for the nearest exit. I didn’t want to encounter danger with Laurie in my arms, and in my mom-book anything unexpected counted as danger. But McNearny didn’t wait for my approval, he flung open, and the door and there was Ryan and Merida wrapped up in a tight embrace smacking their lips together.
It was like the universe just wanted to give McNearny a win today –to give him something that would allow him to give me that look I hated so much; I-told-you-so.
Maybe Ryan wasn’t so innocent after all.
Kelly’s not even in the ground yet!
The couple broke away from one another quickly.
“Get out!” Ryan exclaimed angrily.
McNearny flashed his badge at the two of them an insisted they speak privately about what he’d just witnessed.
Next thing I know, McNearny is closing the door behind him and giving me a smirk.
Whatever! He didn’t know I’d be interviewing Kelly’s entire group of friends and relatives the next day at the homeless dining experience.
I made my way out of the building toward the parking lot. As I approached my care, I heard Mrs. Lozano’s voice.
I stopped suddenly and looked around, she was just in front of me, around the corner of the building, out of sight.
“I know I said that, Olivia, but don’t bring it up to anyone,” Mrs. Lozano said.
“I was just wondering if you were relieved,” the older woman, who appeared to be a friend of Mrs. Lozano, asked.
“My son is devastated. Relieved is not the word I would use,” Mrs. Lozano said with a sigh. “But you’re right. I did not care too much for the blonde bimbo that was about to become my daughter in law. But to say I’m relieved, well, that is a bit harsh.”
“I know, I know. Poor choice of words, I guess.”
“I’d say so,” Mrs. Lozano said. “The parking at this cemetery is just awful, and I want to make sure my car is at the front of the line. Don’t want to have to walk just to watch them dump that little tramp onto a hole.”
Adrenaline pumped through my veins.
I finally found someone who didn’t like Kelly.
Mrs. Lozano turned and before she could see me, I darted to the parking lot, out of sight. I didn’t want to be busted for eavesdropping. McNearny had a badge, he could get away with asking questions at a funeral, but I feared I’d cause more trouble than it was worth to talk to Mrs. Lozano here.
I made quick time in changing Laurie’s diaper and somehow managed to get into the line of cars before they pulled off without me.
What had I learned? Mrs. Lozano didn’t like Kelly, but was that motive to kill her?
What about Ryan? Sure, seeing him locking lips with his ex at the funeral was a major red flag, but my instincts about him hadn’t really changed. I’d let McNearny go charging down that rabbit hole for the time being.
Once we reached the cemetery, I tried to get close to Mrs. Lozano, see if I could overhear any more juicy tidbits, but she was tight lipped, standing next to Kelly’s distract parents.
Then all of a sudden, Laurie let loose a loud, ear-splitting scream. The entire crowd to look at us.
Laurie didn’t stop crying. Her little hands flailing around and batting her eyes.
It took me a moment before I realized a bug had flown right into her eye.
Oh my!
A bug in my baby’s eye!
What about her vision?
The lady next to me handed me a tissue. It took me a moment, but I finally got the evil creature out of her and squished it for good measure.
Take that!
At this point Laurie had gotten really worked up and was still wailing while the preacher was trying his hardest to be heard.
I excused myself and took Laurie back to my car.
As a new mama you best believe I was on the phone with her pediatrician less than ten minutes later while discussing the safest brand of eye drops to use on an infant and whether or not rushing her to the ER would be an over-reaction on my part.
For the record, the pediatrician told me it would be.
