Kay wrinkled her nose. “For some reason, a bag with a rope in it is even more sinister than the gun. What did you talk about in the car?”
“Nothing, really. I said you’re making a big mistake, what’s going on, and she just ignored me except for giving directions.”
I shivered at the thought of being forced to drive with a silent stranger pointing a gun at me.
“When we got to her room, she kicked the door shut behind her. She told me to sit in the straight chair by the table, and she tied me up. God, I sound like an idiot, letting some woman tie me up without overpowering her and getting away. But she kept the gun on me even when she was dealing with the rope. I figured at that range she couldn’t miss, and that being shot would hurt rather a lot.”
“What happened after she tied you up?” I asked.
“She asked me where the tape was, and I said I wouldn’t tell her. And we repeated that with minor variations for an hour or more. She threatened me with the gun again, but I pointed out if she shot me she’d never learn anything. She opened a bottle of Scotch and sipped it from a glass from the bathroom. Finally she sat down on the bed. She looked exhausted. The only thing she seemed able to focus on was getting hold of the tape.”
I suddenly thought of something. “Her car,” I said.
“What about it?” he asked.
“When I told Chief Johnson about my car being stolen I forgot to tell him that her car was sitting by the road to your house,” I explained. “If it's her own car he can find out who she is from the license plates. It's too old a car to be a rental. I suppose it could have been stolen, if someone else was as stupid as I was and left the keys in the ignition.”
“I've done the same thing in my own driveway,” Bob consoled. “You couldn’t know someone was lurking.”
Kay said, “Go call Ed, Louisa, and use the speakerphone so we can hear too.” I looked at her blankly. “Press the button that says speaker and when you hear the dial tone, dial,” she instructed, and sighed at me.
I went over to the phone on the kitchen counter and did as she instructed. She rattled off the phone number from memory. We listened to the ring, then to Kerry Sue’s Maddock’s perky voice saying, “Willow Falls Police. How may I help you?”
“This is Louisa McGuire—” I started.
“Hey, Louisa, how you doin’? I don’t think I've even talked to you since you moved back to town.” There was a little snapping noise. Kerry Sue had always been a gum chewer. “That sure was a shame about your folks. Did your dad suffer much?”
“I don’t believe—”
“And your mom, that was really somethin’. She just didn’t want to go on without him, did she?”
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Kay and Bob exchange a look, which I interpreted as Kay saying ‘I told you so’ regarding Kerry Sue’s mental prowess.
“Well, no, she—”
“And your husband too. We were sure sorry about your loss.” She snapped her gum again.
“Thank you, I—”
“Is it really true that he choked to death in a restaurant while some bimbo was under the table givin’ him a blow job?”
I wanted to sink through the floor where I stood. That would put me out of Bob’s sight and near the back door, where I could get in Kay’s car and either drive away and never come back, or go straight around the block to the police station and kill Kerry Sue. I finally found my voice.
“That’s what the papers said, Kerry Sue, but I certainly wasn’t there at the time.”
“Well, that’s a blessing anyway. Say, did you find your car yet?”
“No, I was hoping that you all would be doing that,” I said. “May I speak to Chief Johnson, please?”
“Ed? He’s not here. He’s out driving around somewhere.”
“I need to talk to him,” I persevered. “Can you have him call me?”
“Yeah, sure, Louisa, you bet. I'll tell him as soon as he comes in.”
“Um, this might be important, Kerry Sue. Could you call him now and have him ring me right away?”
“Why? What’s up?”
“Well, I—I thought of something that might help him find my car. And I need to tell him soon.”
“Your car that got stolen?” More snapping from her gum.
“Right. That car. Please tell him to call me at Kay’s number, not mine.”
“You’re at Kay’s? I noticed she has the store closed today. How is she?”
Across the room, Kay opened her mouth, miming a scream. I turned my back on her. “She’s fine, Kerry Sue. I have to go now. Have Chief Johnson call me soon, okay?”
“Sure, you bet. See you.” Her phone clattered down and we heard the dial tone. I couldn’t figure out what button to push to disconnect it, so I picked up the receiver and dropped it back in its cradle. When I turned to Kay and Bob, Kay had her head down on her arms and her shoulders were heaving. I wasn’t sure if she was laughing or crying. Bob’s face was a study.
“Kerry Sue will have Ed call us here,” I informed them.
Kay raised her head and I saw tears on her cheeks, but I could tell they were tears of laughter. We looked at each other, then we both shrugged. “She’s just as likely to call her Aunt Mildred as Ed,” she said.
“I don’t think she’ll have time,” I said. “I'm going over there right now and kill her.”
Bob looked alarmed, but Kay said, “Good idea. Certainly no jury of your peers would see it as anything other than justifiable homicide.”
“And who would my peers be in this case?”
“Anyone who had ever called the police station when Kerry Sue was on duty.”
“True,” I said. I made myself look at Bob. “I don’t believe I ever mentioned how my husband died.”
His expression was carefully neutral. “No reason why you should have. It must have been terrible for you.”
“It was,” I agreed, “but at least it was worse for him.”
Chapter Twenty-One
The phone rang. Since I was still beside it I picked up and said hello. Miraculously, it was Chief Johnson.
“Mrs. McGuire,” he said, “I understand you have further information about your car?”
“Not my car, the other one. The Mercedes. The gray one.”
“Yes?”
“I forgot to tell you, we saw it. It was parked off the road near the turnoff to Bob’s house.”
His voice quickened with interest. “When was this?”
“Before we found Bob,” I said. “Kay and I saw it there, and that’s why we decided to sneak up on his house, so we went through the woods and that’s how we found him in the barn.”
“So this was, what, two hours ago?”
“I guess it's been that long. At least that. It took us a while to find Bob—”
“May I ask why you didn’t call me immediately?”
I was stumped for an answer. “I, that is we—um, we were focused on retrieving my car…” I stopped, wondering how ‘my cousin didn’t want to talk to you’ would go over. Maybe saying ‘because it would have brought Kerry Sue one conversation closer to her demise’ would be better.
“I see. Well, the car isn’t there now. I've been driving in that locale myself looking for your car—”
“Thank you. How kind.”
“—and there’s no gray Mercedes beside that road.”
“Oh,” I managed. “We were hoping you could find out who the woman is from the license plates.”
“What was the number on the plates?” he asked.
I looked across the room at Kay and Bob, who were avidly following my half of this conversation. “Um, hold on,” I said, and put my hand over the mouthpiece. “The car’s not there anymore,” I hissed, “and he wants to know the license number.”
Neither of them spoke. Bob finally shook his head.
I took a deep breath and said into the phone, “I'm sorry, none of us got the number.”
“Mrs. McGuire, if you should happen to see this gray Mercedes again, it would be extremely helpful if you would get the god damned license plate number,” Chief Johnson said evenly.
“Yes,” I told him. “I will. Goodbye.” I could hear his voice still squawking from the receiver as I hung up.