Curtain Call: Magnolia Steele Mystery #4 Page 2

  “You expected Detective Martinez to come by?” I asked in surprise.

  “Not her specifically,” Colt said. “Honestly, I expected Frasier or Bennett.”

  Detectives Owen Frasier and Brady Bennett.

  I supposed it had been shortsighted on my part not to expect it this soon. Of course they wanted to talk to me. It didn’t take much digging to figure out that Rowena Rogers had been linked to over half the people who had been killed in the last few weeks—and I was linked to them too. But it was Detective Martinez’s final dig that bothered me the most. She’d been at Momma’s funeral. While it had been open to the public, it still felt wrong that she’d been there. I felt violated. But that wasn’t the only reason it troubled me . . .

  Had she heard me shouting toward the woods after everyone had left except for me, Colt, and the funeral home staff? Had she figured out I had been shouting at my father, a man everyone presumed either dead or long gone?

  “It’s okay, Magnolia,” Belinda said, obviously reading my expression. “You’ve spent the past two days preparing for your momma’s funeral. Colt and I have discussed it, but we didn’t want to worry you.”

  “Does she really think we know something, or is she just fishing?” I asked. My shaking hand sloshed the liquid in my glass.

  Belinda turned to Colt, and he took a second before saying, “I think it’s a bluff. Talkin’ about Lila’s death was a good way to throw her off and buy us more time.”

  I shook my head. “You purposely mentioned Roy to throw her off?”

  Belinda made a face. “Hardly. I was caught off guard. But we need to make sure we’re prepared next time.”

  “Do you think we left anything behind at Savannah House?” I asked. My hand was still shaking, so I started to put the glass down. Colt stopped me, putting his hand over mine and lifting it to my lips.

  “I brought this for a reason. Take a drink. Or two.”

  I shrugged off his hand and took a healthy sip, still trying to decide what to do about him.

  Turned out I wasn’t immune to Colt’s siren abilities, but he’d betrayed me.

  For the last month, I’d told him multiple times that I was certain my father would never have willingly abandoned me, my mother, and brother. That he must be dead. Come to find out Colt had been working for my father the whole time—for the last three years, in fact—spying on Momma and Roy and me, after my return to Franklin, and reporting back to my father. He’d been coerced into it, and it was something he deeply regretted. According to him, he hadn’t reported to my father since last week, after Emily Johnson’s murder, but I still had trouble fully trusting him. I needed to prioritize my emergencies, though, and Detective Martinez and my interview at the station took precedence.

  As I lowered my glass, Colt said, “We got out of that basement in a rush, but I think we’re safe.”

  “My blood . . .” The gunshot graze wound on my arm began to throb, the pain triggered by the memory of that night.

  “Never hit the floor. It landed on your dress and then my shirt. And the gunshots weren’t from either of our guns, so we don’t have to worry about any bullets or casings being tied back to us.”

  I gave him a pointed look. “If your gun had gone off, would they have tied it back to you?” I’d suspected his gun hadn’t been in his name.

  His expression turned blank. “No.”

  I nodded. “So there’s nothing to tie us to that basement.”

  “Fingerprints,” Belinda said with a shaky voice. “My fingerprints are on the door leading to the wine cellar and staircase.”

  A worried look flashed across Colt’s face, but it disappeared as quickly as a summer storm. “Didn’t you have a wedding there a few weeks ago?”

  My lips parted slightly. How did he know that?

  Belinda was giving him the same look, and he turned sheepish. “We all know that I was working for Brian Steele.” The look in his eyes suggested it pained him to admit it.

  I was quiet for a moment. I’d been so busy over the past nearly forty-eight hours I’d barely had time to think over the details of what Colt had really done for him.

  “You’ve been there before,” Colt said quietly, staring down at his glass. “There’s a good reason for your prints to be down there.” He turned to me. “Did you touch anything?”

  “The staircase handrail. Mostly upstairs.”

  “I think you’ll be okay. You never touched anything in the room.” He took another drink, then said, “We have to consider that there may be witnesses. People saw all three of us at the ball. Did they see us all leave? And who saw us when we came back upstairs? Maggie had blood on her dress and my shirt tied around her arm, and I was just wearing my jacket. Sure, we went out the back, but we need to have a story to explain it. Just in case.”

  “That’s easy,” Belinda said. “Magnolia got a call from the hospital, and she was so upset she ran into something that cut her arm. You didn’t want her to ruin her dress, so you used your shirt because you were in such a hurry to leave.”

  I almost commented on how quickly she’d come up with that story, but it occurred to me that she’d been living with my abusive brother for years. She was probably used to coming up with excuses. Instead, I said, “She’s going to wonder why you didn’t leave with us.”

  “How about this?” Colt said. “Brady acted pretty cold toward you at the ball, and he gave you shit for kissing me. We can say it upset you, we got into an argument, and that’s how you got hurt.”

  I gave him a stunned look. “Are you suggesting that I pretend you hurt me?”

  “No. But maybe it made you more careless. You know people lose themselves in the heat of the moment. We can say that’s why we left. That way if they compare when the hospital actually called to when we left the ballroom, we won’t have to worry about the time discrepancy.”

  I considered it for a moment. “Yeah, I guess that would work.”

  “Plus,” Colt continued, “our run-in with Brady strengthens our alibi. People planning to commit murder don’t usually take the time to talk to a jealous ex-lover. Especially if he’s a cop.”

  He had a point.

  The office door opened and I jumped, feeling guilty when I saw Tilly, Momma’s best friend and business partner, standing in the doorway wearing her bright purple dress. Just like Momma would have wanted.

  “You started drinking without me?” she asked, sounding hurt.

  “Maggie was a little too overwhelmed,” Colt said. “She’s been wound up since Saturday night, and it’s been a long, stressful day.”

  Tilly nodded, looking exhausted herself. “I never expected everyone to stay so long, but I can send them all home.”

  “No,” I said as I got to my feet. I took another big gulp of whiskey, ignoring the burn, then handed the now-empty glass to Colt. “I’m fine now.”

  He grasped my wrist, staring up into my eyes. “You’re not fine, Maggie. You don’t have to go back out there.”

  “Yeah, I do.” I shook him off, put the glass on the table since he hadn’t taken it, and looped my arm through Tilly’s.

  Colt had been right. I wasn’t fine by a long shot, but Tilly needed me. I knew she was feeling Momma’s loss as acutely as I was . . . no, if I were being honest, probably even more. She’d been around for so much of my childhood, she felt like a second mother. I couldn’t abandon her now.

  I stuck by her side for the next hour as our guests dwindled. Since I’d been mostly estranged from Momma for the past ten years, it was a gift to hear so many stories about how she’d touched people’s lives. She’d been as tough as nails, the kind of woman who never took shit from anyone, but she could be a loyal friend to someone in need.

  When the last guest finally left, Tilly started to pick up what was left of the half-empty trays of food—Belinda and Colt had already cleaned up most of them—but I grabbed the plate of deviled eggs from her hand and set it back down on the counter. “How about we have that drink?”
r />   Tears filled her eyes, and she nodded.

  My throat burned and I wrapped my arms around her back, pulling her into a tight hug. To my dismay, she began to sob.

  Belinda and Colt rushed over, and Belinda rubbed Tilly’s back as she continued to cry into my shoulder. After a good twenty seconds, she finally started to settle down, and Colt put his hand on her arm. “Let’s go sit down.”

  She nodded and pulled loose from my embrace. When he started to lead her to the sofa, she said, “Let’s sit on the deck.” Then she glanced back over her shoulder. “And don’t forget the whiskey.”

  I grinned at her through my own tears. “Okay.”

  Belinda got the bottle and put it on a tray, and I added four glasses, then held the door open so my sister-in-law could carry the tray outside. Colt had already gotten Tilly settled into a comfy wicker chair, and he was starting a fire in Momma’s fire pit with the gas starter.

  After Belinda set the tray on a table, she started pouring drinks and I handed them out. By the time I got to Colt, he’d finished prepping the fire and was sitting on the loveseat. He set the drink down and reached out to me, and I hated myself for caving and sinking in next to him. Belinda slipped into the house and returned with an armful of afghans to throw over our laps. Leave it to my sister-in-law to think of the small details.

  We sat in silence for nearly a minute. Tilly and Belinda watched the fire in silence, and I snuggled into Colt, resting my head on his chest. His arm curled around my back and settled on my hip. It was almost comfortable enough to make me forget.

  “Lila would have hated this afternoon,” Tilly said with a laugh. “She hated when people made a fuss over her.”

  “Remember when we threw a surprise birthday party for her two years ago?” Colt asked, chuckling. “Jesus, she cussed a blue streak. I thought Belinda was going to lose her shit.”

  Belinda sat up straighter. “I confess I was taken aback since she was threatening to do vile things to the person who’d organized the party.”

  “I presume that person was you?” I asked with a grin.

  Tilly shook her head. “She would have never hurt a hair on your head, Belinda. She loved you like a daughter.”

  “I loved her too,” Belinda said in a tiny voice.

  “Hey,” Colt said in a tone that suggested he was just warming up with Lila stories, “remember when we catered that wedding at the bride’s backyard up in Belle Meade, and it started pouring down rain out of nowhere?” He turned to Belinda. “It was hilarious because Lila had been going on and on about how the bride was a total bridezilla . . . What was her name? It was some flower . . . Petunia?”

  Belinda smiled. “Poppy. And she just wanted everything to be perfect.”

  “She was a terror,” Tilly said. “Admit it.”

  Belinda made a face. “Okay, she was a terror.”

  They all laughed, and I managed a small smile.

  Colt glanced down at me. “Lila had done nothing but gripe about this bride for weeks, and then it started to rain out of nowhere—”

  Tilly lifted her hand. “No rain in the forecast at all.”

  “But Lila had personally created this immense appetizer display in an effort to placate the bride . . . and it was sitting outside.”

  I grinned. “Of course.”

  “The rest of the reception was under a tent,” Belinda said with a hint of defensiveness.

  Colt grinned. “Lila started yelling obscenities—right during the ceremony—which they were rushing through to get out of the rain. I thought Belinda and Tilly were going to crap their pants.”

  “I’d had to convince the bride that the Belles were the best, most professional caterers in Middle Tennessee,” Belinda said.

  Colt winked. “More like we were the only ones who could tolerate her.”

  A grin tugged the corners of Belinda’s lips. “Maybe.”

  “Lila recruited me to hold a plastic tarp over the arrangement until the storm moved on five minutes later,” Colt said. “But before saving the appetizers, she taught the flower girl and ring bearer a few new four-letter words.”

  Belinda held up her hand. “The videographer swore he could get those out of the video of the wedding.”

  The story was hilarious, and so true to my mother, but while I’d loved hearing so many new stories about her tonight, it hurt. I’d missed all of this, and there was no going back. That made me incredibly sad.

  Colt’s body sank into mine. “Lila was something else,” he said, his tone quieter. “Nothing will be the same without her.”

  “No,” Belinda said. “Our world will be a whole lot duller without her.”

  Tilly looked like she wanted to say something but remained silent.

  After a beat, Colt lifted his glass up. “To Lila.”

  I lifted mine too. “To Momma.” My voice broke.

  Belinda’s arm rose with her glass in her hand. “To the woman who was gracious enough to become my mother even before I married Roy.”

  Tilly lifted her glass and stared at us all as she took a big gulp. Then she said, “To my dearest friend. Who was an utter fool.”

  The three of us stared at her in shock, but she turned her attention to me. “We both know she was keepin’ secrets about the past from you, girl. She made me promise to never tell you while she was alive. But she’s dead now, and part of me thinks she willed herself to die sooner to save you.”

  My mouth dropped open in shock.

  “Tilly!” Belinda gushed.

  “You know how stubborn she could be,” Tilly said.

  “She’s right,” Colt added. “Lila Steele was one of the most stubborn people I ever met. She claimed it was her Sweet Briar, Alabama roots, but I never believed it. She could have been born in Buckingham Palace, and she would have turned out just as ornery.”

  Tilly held her now-empty glass out, and Colt refilled it with a larger pour than Belinda had given her before. She took another drink, then sat back. “You ready to hear the ugly truth, Maggie Mae? Because once you hear it, there’s no turning back.”

  No. I wasn’t anywhere near ready, but then again, I’d never be ready to have the rest of my childhood memories ripped to shreds.

  Chapter 3

  “Your momma knew how much you worshipped your daddy, and she never wanted you to find out the truth about him.”

  I took a breath. “What truth is that?”

  “First, your daddy was unfaithful.”

  I didn’t react. I’d already known about that. Sure, Rowena could have lied about their affair, but I’d believed her.

  “If your momma had one weakness, it was good-lookin’ men, and your daddy was mighty handsome back in the day. Lila Brewer was tough as nails with the rest of the world, but your daddy was her kryptonite. He made her do stupid things.”

  “Like what?” I asked, thinking about the good-looking man sitting beside me.

  “All through college, since the day I first met her at our freshman orientation, your momma had big plans to go into publicity in the music industry. She was fixing to move to L.A., but then she met your daddy at the beginning of her senior year, and they got serious real quick.”

  I shook my head. “Her degree was in communications. The few times I’d asked her what she’d planned to do with it, she’d told me she’d wasted her time on a worthless piece of paper. Why didn’t she go to L.A.?”

  “Your father. He’d decided that Nashville was booming and he had a better chance of making real money here.”

  “And Momma agreed?”

  She pushed out a breath. “We all have our vices, and turns out your father was hers.” She gave me a sympathetic look. “Sorry, Maggie, I know how much you loved your daddy.”

  My stomach threatened to expel the half sandwich I’d eaten earlier. I had to be careful about what I said to Tilly. She had no idea what I’d unearthed, and it would be safer for her if she went on not knowing. She might not have new information, but I was willing to listen to her ve
rsion to see if she knew something I didn’t. “I’ve come to realize that I viewed Daddy through the eyes of a child,” I finally said, trying to keep the bitterness out of my voice. Rowena Rogers had told me the same thing the afternoon before she was murdered . . . probably by him. “I’m an adult now, and my eyes are wide open.”

  She studied me, the flames in the fire pit jumping between us. She looked like she was trying to gauge how much I could handle.

  “I want the truth, Tilly. No matter how bad. I need the truth. All of it.”

  She nodded and took another drink. “I was never a fan of your daddy’s, and it’s safe to say he wasn’t a fan of mine. He may have snowed your momma, but he never fooled me. After we graduated college, your momma and daddy lived together in a little house in Leiper’s Fork. I’d gotten a job at the Grand Ole Opry Hotel in lower management, but your momma was struggling to find something, and her mother—God rest her soul—was givin’ her a fit. She’d racked up nearly eighty thousand in student loans, and she was working at Target.”

  I winced.

  “So I got her a job at the hotel. It didn’t pay much, but it was better than Target. Your daddy didn’t like it because he thought I was a bad influence on her.”

  Belinda chuckled. “It was usually the other way around.”

  “Right?” Tilly laughed. “He claimed the drive was too far, and he wanted her closer, but we both knew that was a load of poppycock. Especially after she saw him at one of the hotel bars with a woman.”

  “Was it a client?” I asked.

  “He claimed as much, but when your momma asked later about how much she’d invested, he said she’d decided to use someone else because of Lila’s reaction to her.”

  “I take it she threw a Lila fit,” Colt said.

  “Something like that,” Tilly conceded with a wry grin.

  “Are you sure it wasn’t a client?” Belinda asked. “I know the Opry Hotel is huge, but it still seems pretty stupid of him to take the chance that Lila would see him.”