Halloween was only a few days away, and Lurleen and I had done very little to get ready for the holiday. My favorite holiday! Normally, our yard would be fully decorated by now. Our neighbor across the street always put up elaborate decorations, and some of them were very scary. He’d done his part this year, but I hadn’t done mine.
“We’ll do all this together,” Lurleen said. “We’ll find you a great doctor’s costume for your visit to the hospital, see what the kids want to be, decorate the yard. Why don’t you plan to visit Jonathan on Sunday—that will give us time to spend the first part of the weekend on Halloween.”
I looked at Mason.
“I’ll see what Kevin says.”
Stephanie thanked us over and over and then left the house.
We sat down in Lurleen’s living room and sorted through what we now knew and what we now believed.
“Do you think she was telling us everything she knew?” I asked, “particularly about Nicole?”
Lurleen shrugged. “No way to know.”
“It seems a lot of people disliked Nicole or didn’t trust her,” I said, “like Jonathan, Stephanie, Josephine. And if Nicole did what Stephanie said she did to Crystal, why in the world would Crystal suddenly be concerned about Nicole’s welfare?”
“I asked Stephanie about that,” Lurleen said. “She told me that Crystal had come round about her husband. He was bad news, and Crystal believed Nicole when she said that all she wanted to do was expose him.”
“Nicole appears to be very convincing,” I said. “That must be why she was so good at manipulating people.”
“We have a lot of unanswered questions,” Lurleen said. “A tarot card gathering might be a great idea. Not for fortune telling but for getting people to open up a little. We could learn a ton from a meeting like that. And even if we didn’t, it might bring comfort to friends.”
“I’m not convinced the people in the book club were friends,” I said, “but an evening of comfort might be a good idea.”
Mason stood and he didn’t look happy. “A gathering sounds like a very bad idea. The people you want to invite are all suspects in a murder case. Even talking to Jonathan worries me. We have to go home, Ditie, and let Danny get some sleep. We all need to get some sleep.”
“What you really mean, chéri,”Lurleen said, “is that you want us to stop speculating and meddling.”
“Precisely,” Mason said. “I’ll tell Kevin everything we know, and you two will tell me everything you plan to do and with whom before you do anything. Understood?”
“Understood,” I said. Mason was rarely authoritarian except when someone was in danger or about to put themselves in harm’s way. I could tell by the worry lines in his forehead and the way he swept his hand back and forth over his bald head that he was angry.
We said goodbye and in the car we had the argument we needed to have while we were alone.
“Ditie, here you go again. The police are handling the case, and you and Lurleen won’t let it drop.”
“What would you have us do, Mason?” I said. “You were there when we all agreed I could have one conversation with Jonathan, and the idea of a tarot card gathering is just that, an idea.”
“You’re right,” he said and he stopped the car a block from our house. “I guess the person I’m mad at is me. The two of you make everything sound so rational, I go along with it, and then, when I step away I see the danger.”
“Do you really want me not to talk to Jonathan?”
“I don’t know, but you make it sound so simple,” Mason said, “and it is never simple. Let me sort this through with Kevin. It’s his case, and I’ll see what he says. Tell Lurleen to do nothing until I speak with him.”
“I will,” I said.
Mason pulled away from the curb, and we drove the last block to our house in silence.
Danny met us at the door. “Did you find out what you needed to know?” he asked.
“What we needed to know and more than I wanted to know,” Mason said.
“Thanks a lot, Danny,” I said. “Any calls? I didn’t get anything on my cell, but are there any messages on the house phone?”
“A couple,” Danny said. “I didn’t recognize the numbers, so I didn’t pick up.”
We ushered Danny out the door with another thank you and a plastic container full of cookies. Then I checked messages. The first message was blank but not the second one. The second one was from Ben Ash.
“Crystal gave me your home number. She wasn’t sure if you and Nicole were friends, but she thought you might be. I’m planning a memorial service for Nicole. It will be sometime in early November. I wanted to touch base with you before then and invite you to the service.”
He’d left the message sometime around eleven. Why so late, I wondered? What was so urgent about setting up a memorial service that he needed to call me that late at night?
That question got answered before I could ask it out loud. Stephanie rang my cell. “Did Ben call you? I told him you’d be up and that we’d been talking. He claims he’s devastated about Nicole and wants to plan a service to get some closure on this whole thing. Of course nothing can be done until her body is released.”
She paused.
“He left me a message,” I said, “and I haven’t called him back.”
“Good. I’d also like to plan a small service for Nicole, mainly for the people in the book club and we don’t have to wait for anything. We could do it soon—before or after Halloween.”
“Stephanie, you talk about the book club as if there actually is a book club,” I said. “We met once, and it was your aunt who orchestrated the whole thing. She selected the people she wanted there. It really didn’t have much to do with friendship or with people who enjoyed reading mysteries.”
“You’re right, Ditie,” Stephanie said, “but I think we were all traumatized by what happened at the meeting and afterward. I’d like to make up for that, and I know my aunt would as well. The best place to start seems to be with a gathering to say goodbye to Nicole. You don’t have to decide about that right now. You can think about it and give me a call.”
I hung up, but before I could tell Mason what was going on, Lurleen called.
“I spoke to Stephanie. She thinks our idea of a tarot card reading and gathering might be the perfect sendoff for Nicole. She told me about Ben Ash wanting to have a memorial service for Nicole. Did he call you?”
“Yes,” I said. “They both called me. Two people who seemed very angry at Nicole now want to hold memorial services for her, and I don’t get that.”
“Stephanie said she wouldn’t be caught dead, so to speak, at Ben’s service,” Lurleen said. “She claims all he’s done is cause trouble for the family, and she’d like to head off his service with a gathering of her own. I recommended something in the afternoon, so Mason won’t get upset or worried about us.”
“He’ll still be worried, Lurleen,” I said, “and probably with good reason. One of the people at the book club could be a murderer.”
Lurleen paused. “He has a point,” she said at last. “I’ll talk to Stephanie in the morning.”
We hung up and I told Mason what Lurleen had told me.
“Two memorial services being urgently arranged in the dead of night,” Mason said.“Don’t agree to anything. Don’t call Ben Ash back and don’t make any decision about a memorial service with Stephanie. I want to sleep on all this. I’ll talk to Kevin and see what he wants to do.”
“I agree, Mason. I won’t do anything, but I can’t vouch for Lurleen.”
“It’s late,” Mason said, “ and not a good time for a lengthy discussion with her.”
“I’m taking Jason early for his first chess club meeting, and she’s taking Lucie to school so our paths might not cross otherwise.”
“I’ll take Jason to school,” Mason said. “I guess I forgot to tell you—I’ve agreed to help run that club when I can. It’s early enough in the morning that I should be able to pull it off most of the time.”
“That’s wonderful,” I said. I gave Lurleen a quick call about the change in plans. I could take Lucie to school and Lurleen could get her beauty rest.
“Maybe we can start thinking less about murder and more about happier life events,” Mason said.
“Like Halloween. Have you picked out your costume yet?”
Mason didn’t bother with an answer. He took my hand, led me upstairs. “I’m thinking of needing fewer clothes, not more.”
The evening ended more pleasantly for Mason and me than it started. We’d both pay for it at work the next day but it was worth it.
* * *
Mason woke up before I did. “You can sleep a little longer,” he said. “I’ll get Jason up and going.”
One of the many joys of being married was having someone to share the load. I set my alarm for half an hour later than usual, turned over and was fast asleep in seconds. I didn’t hear a sound until my alarm blared in my ear.
Lucie was in the kitchen, dressed and ready to go when I finally made it downstairs to check on her. “Uncle Mason said I should let you sleep. I got myself some breakfast. Do you want something, Mama?”
“More sleep but I don’t think you can give me that.”
I went back upstairs, showered and dressed in time to get Lucie to school before the first bell rang.
She seemed very happy to have the time alone with me in the car.
“Tell me everything, Mama.”
“Luce, at this point I don’t think I can tell you anything. Mason is going to talk to Kevin Delaney, who is the detective on the case. Kevin will decide what happens next. If I can share any information I will.”
“You sound so serious, Mama,” Lucie said.
“It is serious, Lucie. Someone died, someone else got hurt, and we don’t really know what’s going on.”
“Okay, I get it,” she said. “I’ll stop asking questions for a while.”
“Thanks, honey, you’re growing up.”
“Of course, I can’t promise that Hannah and I won’t talk about Nicole’s murder. She’s already asked me a million questions.”
“Maybe you can say it’s a police matter and let it drop.”
“I’ll try.”
“Are you and Hannah going to dress up for Halloween?” I asked.
“We are way too old for that, Mama,” Lucie said. Then she hesitated. “Maybe we could dress up and hand out candy. Could Hannah come to our house? She says no one comes to theirs because their driveway is too long. And they still don’t have a gardener, so it looks kind of creepy.”
“I would think that’s what kids want on Halloween,” I said.
“Older kids maybe, but not the little ones with their parents. Hannah said she’d have a lot more fun with us.”
“Fine. Maybe we can make an exception about a school night and she can stay over.”
“Thanks, Mama. Can she come right after school?”
“That’s okay with me, but I can’t pick her up until I’m done with work.”
“Her granddad will bring her.”
“Great. I haven’t seen him in ages. If he’s around when I get home, I’d love to say hello to him.”
That seemed to be settled, and it was nice to have one part of the next few days in order. I dropped Lucie at school and headed for work.
Lurleen called me on my cell seconds before I reached the clinic.
“I know you’re busy but this can’t wait. Stephanie called, urging me to help her with a gathering for Nicole. She won’t go to whatever Ben intends to do. I know it’s all pretty weird. Suddenly everyone loves Nicole now that she’s dead.”
“Mason said we should do nothing until he’s talked to Kevin.”
“Fine,” Lurleen said, “except that Stephanie is coming over today to talk.”
“Let her talk. You can listen but don’t make any commitments, okay?” I asked.
“I’ll try.”
“Great. Gotta run. If I can I’ll call you at lunchtime.”