Billy waited on the porch until Zelda came downstairs after saying goodbye to her aunt. She went to the kitchen for her purse but then couldn’t find her keys. She and Odette tore up the kitchen looking for them, when in fact he’d slipped them inside a large book on the hall table for his own reasons. They finally gave up, assuming one of the guests had picked up the keys by mistake.
When Zelda said she was due back in the evening to teach a tap class at the Y, he offered her a ride and suggested that Blue might be coming to Memphis in the morning. If she had a second set of keys, Blue could bring her back for her car. She said she thought that was a wonderful idea.
Out front of the house, he held the car door for Zelda. She tucked her skirts inside and gave him a coy little smile. Great. From the looks of it, she thought this was a date. That wasn’t at all what he had in mind.
As they turned out of the driveway, she pulled two sticks of gum from her purse. “Doublemint. Want some?”
He shook his head. “Thanks.”
She folded a stick of gum in her mouth and started chewing. “Perfect setting for the celebration. Amazing food. Odette should’ve opened a catering business instead of staying with the Lees all this time.”
She bent forward to arrange her skirt over her knees. “Uncle Saunders’s tribute was sweet. Aunt Gracie Ella and I stood at the window so we could hear. I’m sure Caroline would’ve been touched. She loved her daddy.”
“Mr. Lee will need time to work through his grief.”
She popped her gum. “Losing Caroline is going to be hard on him.”
Billy looked over. This person was not going to step into Caroline’s role. At least the Lees could afford a platoon of caregivers, and Blue actually cared about the old guy.
He sympathized with Saunders, but he also knew the other side of aging and illness. A different class of the elderly was trapped in their inner city homes, living with fear, the phone their lifeline, and 911 their only backup. He’d hammered into the heads of rookies who rode with him on patrol that the welfare of those people was a big part of their duty.
He had a duty in front of him now. How to begin?
“Would you say Caroline and Robert Highsmith were friends?” he asked.
“I don’t know about that. The only time I heard her mention Robert was when she talked about the protective order.” She cocked her head. “You’re suspicious of him?”
He shrugged. “I’m suspicious by nature.”
“Hmm. Well, I read the article in this morning’s paper. A big chunk was about your personal life. Where did the reporter get her information?”
He ducked his head. “We dated a while back.”
Zelda snorted. “You’re too old to date.”
“I was being tactful. We lived together. I made the mistake of trusting her. We talked about our childhoods one night. She used what I said in the article.”
“Trust isn’t a bad thing.”
“It is in my business. She’s a snake in the grass, but she’s also a good reporter.”
Zelda crossed her arms. “With all this, I’m beginning to think my family is cursed. Finn’s gone, Saunders is ill, and now Caroline’s been murdered. Aunt Gracie Ella has gone over the edge. I took her some cake. She thought I was Caroline.”
There was his opening. “Your aunt blames Rosalyn for Caroline’s death.”
“I’ve heard it before. Finn disappeared and Aunt Gracie Ella started accusing Aunt Rosalyn of having him murdered. She blabbed it to anyone in town who’d listen. Swear to God Rosalyn approved those shock treatments just to shut her up.”
He’d wondered the same thing. “What’s behind that?”
Zelda slipped on her Ray-Bans. “My opinion . . . it’s because Finn was gay. He wasn’t open about it, but I think Aunt Rosalyn knew. She’s a major homophobe. The thought of him becoming a lawyer and wanting to work at the firm right under her nose probably drove her nuts.
“She must have thought the problem was solved when Harvard Law came into the picture. She started pushing Finn to find a summer internship in DC or with a New York firm hoping he’d be hired. Then at Thanksgiving Finn announced he planned to come home and work at the Lee Law Firm. I thought she was going to stab him with the carving knife. Rosalyn and Gracie Ella excused themselves and went to the kitchen for dessert plates. They started shouting. Uncle Saunders said we should all leave. No pumpkin pie that year.”
“So what if Finn was gay?”
She shook her head, hair bouncing. “It wasn’t just that he was gay. As a family member, he had the opportunity to make partner. Finn was this tenacious guy. When he got hold of something he wouldn’t let go. I think Rosalyn was afraid he would challenge her control.”
A flatbed truck stacked with hay bales passed on the opposite side of the road. An ancient yellow Lincoln stuffed with teenagers followed close behind.
Zelda frowned. “I just thought of something. Monday when I was asking Caroline about the ring, another issue came up. That morning Robert Highsmith had asked for sequestered files I’m not supposed to release. He got really upset about it. I said he should talk to Caroline. Well, honey . . . when I told her that, she let me have it. She came out from behind her desk and started shouting about office procedures. She said I should keep my damned ideas to myself. I was humiliated, so I yelled back. We were pretty loud. I opened the door to leave and her assistant was standing there listening. Later in the day Caroline’s assistant came to the file room to sign out every file Robert had asked for. Twenty-three of them.”
“What was that about?”
“I don’t know.” She pressed the heel of her hand to her forehead. “It’s so depressing. The last time I saw Caroline we were screaming at each other.”
She reached over and turned on the radio. A swing version of “Blue Skies” came on. “Oh, God. That’s Caroline’s favorite song.”
“I know.”
She snuck a glance at him.
He turned onto the state road that would carry them past the diner. His next question was going to set her off. If he had any sense, he would wait until they were closer to Memphis to get into it.
“Saunders talked about giving every woman in the family a .32 derringer,” he said.
Zelda’s mouth curved down. “So?”
“The bullet that killed Caroline was a .32.”
She stared at him. “You’re accusing me again of murdering Caroline?”
“Where’s your derringer?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s not a serious answer,” he said.
“Oh, really.” She flashed him an angry look. “You got a cigarette?”
“You don’t smoke.”
She flipped down her sun visor. “You keep insulting me and I’ll be willing to start.”
He decided not to push it. Riding in a car didn’t make this any less of an official interview. If she said the word “attorney” the conversation would be over. He decided to hold his peace and let silence do the work.
A couple of miles passed before she spoke again. “You know I’ve moved three times in the last five years. The gun is packed away. Swear to God, I don’t remember where.”
“You know how to use it,” he said.
“I’m a hell of a good shot, but you know I hate guns.”
“Then why not give it back to Mr. Lee?”
She stared ahead, glassy-eyed. “Uncle Saunders gave me that gun. Me. Same as Rosalyn and Gracie Ella. Same as Caroline. Grandmother Taylor and Grandmother Lee carried derringers everywhere, even to church. That pistol means I’m a Lee.”