Keith wriggled happily on the red leatherette stool. He looked up at me and put his hand on my sleeve. “I went to the top of the big slide all by myself.”
Peg turned with an apologetic look.
I smiled in reassurance and spoke to Keith in a tone of respect. “There are tall slides. And tall slides. Was your slide as high as a fireman’s ladder?”
“Higher.” His dark eyes gleamed.
“High as a tall building?”
He tilted his head as he thought. “Higher.”
A muffled peal rang from Peg’s purse. She reached down and brought out her cell, glanced at it. She took a deep breath. Her voice was tight as she spoke. “Dave.” There was a mixture of eagerness and apprehension in her tone. “I hope—” She broke off, listened.
I held my hands far apart. “Tall as a mountain?”
Keith nodded vigorously. “Tall as a mountain.”
“That makes you”—I touched his shoulder—“a mountain man.”
“Mountain man.” Keith giggled in delight and repeated the words again and again.
The waitress placed our orders in front of us.
Peg held the phone between her cheek and shoulder as she cut Keith’s hamburger in half, squeezed a mound of ketchup near his French fries. “I don’t suppose I’d have to say anything today. But Dave—”
Keith picked up a half, began to eat, absorbed in his lunch.
The waitress attended to other diners, often pausing for a cheerful though quick chat. “How’s that hip doing, Rollie?” “Really like that new hairdo, Sybil.” “You got a good used Camry on the lot, Milton?”
“—I know what Susan wanted. Don’t you understand? I have no right to that money. None of us do.”
I splashed ketchup on the French fries, added salt and pepper. My Lulu burger was as delectable as I remembered, and the French fries hot and fresh. I was careful not to let mustard drip on my jade slacks.
“Of course I care about us. But we can manage without Susan’s money.” Peg crushed a paper napkin in one hand. “I’m not throwing away our future. Not unless you care more about money than you do about me.” Her eyes closed. When they opened, they shone with tears.
I helped Keith add more ketchup, wished there was some balm I could offer Peg.
“I’m sorry you feel that way.” She shook her head. “You see, I loved Susan. I have to do what she wanted.”
Peg’s hamburger was untouched. She held the phone, her face etched with despair. “I won’t change my mind.” The words were barely audible.
I knew the moment he clicked off the phone. Peg flipped shut the lid, dropped the phone in her purse, then wiped her eyes with the crushed napkin.
“Peg.” The deep voice held kindness and compassion and possibly something more.
I almost choked on my hamburger.
Johnny Cain, immaculate in his French blue uniform, dark hair neatly combed, blue eyes empathetic, stood next to Peg.
I raised my left shoulder and turned my face away from Keith, though that was no defense. If Johnny Cain glanced my way or at my very redheaded reflection in the mirror—that shade of jade was perfect—recognition would be immediate. Hopefully, I would escape his notice because of his absorption in Peg.
He bent toward Peg. “I’m sorry about your aunt. Since I was on duty, I couldn’t talk to you last night like I would have. Mrs. Flynn was always great to me. I know how much she meant to you. Anyway, I saw you and the little guy at the park.” He looked uncomfortable. “I was due to check in at headquarters and I happened to see you guys come in here and it’s my lunch break. I usually grab a chili dog here. They’re still the best in town.”
I wondered if it occurred to Peg that Johnny Cain had followed her car to town and seen Peg and Keith come into Lulu’s. Certainly the police station was right around the corner and I had no doubt he often ate here, but I didn’t believe his arrival today was a coincidence.
“Anyway”—his ears were pink—“I wanted you to know I’m real sorry about Mrs. Flynn.”
Peg swiped again at her moist eyes. Her face turned pink too, knowing he took her tears for grief at Susan’s death. “Johnny”—she reached out, touched his arm—“it meant so much to have you there Saturday night. We go back a long way.”
“I wish I could have been more help. If I’d had any idea when I stopped that car that something funny was going on, I’d have for sure tried to do something. It makes me sick to think that maybe if I’d kept following the car, I could have made a difference.” His face creased in a puzzled frown.
Keith sucked noisily on his cherry limeade.
I took a last bite of my hamburger, circumspectly opened my accommodating purse, and retrieved the ten. If I quietly caught the waitress’s eye and received my check, I could slip away without notice, no harm done. Johnny clearly had eyes for no one but Peg.
As the waitress neared, I quietly said, “Miss?”
She stopped. “Apple pie today?”
Lulu always melted a strip of cheddar on the flaky crust. I was tempted, but I didn’t want to push my luck. “No thanks. I’m ready for my check.”
She lifted the pad from her pocket. “You three together?”
I shook my head quickly. Fortunately, Johnny still talked. “…and the funny thing is, the car was headed out to the highway. I didn’t see it come back until it came over Persimmon Hill like a bat out of hell. When it stopped, there was just the redheaded woman in the car.”
The waitress slapped my check on the counter. “You got gorgeous red hair. I wish my hair was as red as yours. But yours is natural. You can always tell.” She nodded sagely.
As if on a cue, Peg and Johnny turned toward me. Peg’s gaze sharpened. Johnny’s eyes widened. His mouth opened.
I put the ten-dollar bill on the check, twirled on the stool to step down to the old wooden floor. “Thank you.” I turned away, heading straight for the door that led to a small hallway and the restrooms.
Johnny Cain called after me. “Miss, please, wait a minute. Miss…” He started after me.
I opened the door, stepped into the hallway, swiftly shut the door behind me, and disappeared.
The door swung in. Johnny stepped into the narrow corridor. At the far end was a door marked Exit. A sign warned Alarm Sounds When Door Opened. To the left was an unmarked closed door. Both restrooms were to his right. He should have arrived before I reached the women’s restroom. Instead, the hall was empty. He shook his head, approached the restrooms. Hesitantly, he knocked on the door marked Ladies.
“Almost out.” The voice was harried.
Johnny stepped back a few paces. He pulled a cell from his pocket, punched a number. “Detective Price. Johnny Cain…Sir, I’ve sighted the redhead who was in the car with Susan Flynn. She’s in the ladies’ room at Lulu’s…I’m in the hallway…Right. Yes, sir.”
“Reprehensible.” Wiggins’s roar startled both Johnny and me.
Johnny looked toward the men’s room.
“Shh.”
Johnny’s head jerked up, seeking the source of the sibilant sound.
“Precept One.” It was a piercing stage whisper.
I was astonished the hallway didn’t wobble from the force of Wiggins’s displeasure. He was too upset to remember his own rules.
Johnny turned the knob to the men’s room. The door swung in. It was unoccupied.
The door to the women’s restroom opened. A harried young mother shepherded out twin toddlers, scuffling with each other. “Stop it, Derek. Quit that, Dan.” She gripped their hands, looked around. “So she was in such a hurry she didn’t even wait.”