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The Tessarae Inn |
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Suspicions In Scarlet Repose CHAPTER 19 Blair looked down Main Street as far as she could see. Nothing had changed. Not one thing. It was like the fantasy everyone had where your life moved on and evolved but home stayed perpetually locked in time. It was funny how much Creedyville had come to symbolize home to her. She’d never had a real home growing up, yet somehow after all these years she had found a hometown. “Y’all got all you need? Caitlin, girl, it is so good to see you back here. Maddog wanted to get up out that hospital bed and coming running over here when he heard you was back in town. Talk about wanting to fix a blue plate special for his Caitlin.” Dottie got teary eyed. “Lord, Caitlin, he is so grateful for everything. So grateful.” “Did they finish the work?” “Never seen nothing like it. Came in here and remodeled his house like they was on fire. Never seen a thing like it. All the way from Dora. Just came on in and got it all done. You got to go see it before you leave. Won’t have any trouble taking care of Maddog in that place. All fixed up for him.” “You’re not going to have to worry about that. I’ve already contracted a private nursing service for when he comes home as well as a fitness coach.” “A fitness coach?” Dottie laughed then a cloud eased across her face. “What? A nurse? No. I can…we can take care of him.” Blair reached over gently and touched Dottie’s hand. “I know you can but nothing matters more to Maddog than this place. You know that as well as I do. I want you to have all the help you need to keep this place running for him. As soon as the nursing service isn’t needed anymore, it’ll be gone with the wind but until then let me make it as easy as I can for you.” Dottie smiled. Toni strolled back into view balancing Clay Cutter on her hip. “My word, Sheri, but this child is growing like a fertilized weed. How much does he weigh now anyway? Looks like a miniature Budda.” Sheri rolled her eyes at Toni. “I have you know I entered him in the Mud Pies Festival Mr. CutiePie contest and he took first prize. First.” “I can see that. He squashed the competition.” Dottie laughed. “That he did.” Claire slammed through the diner entrance followed by Angie Briscoe. Claire glanced around, spotted them, smiled and galloped over to the booth. “Hey, Mrs. Manning, is Starr with you? And Jason, Mrs. Reynolds, is he here too?” Blair patted her on the face. “Sorry, sweetheart. They couldn’t come this time.” “Oh,” said Claire and kicked her foot. “I was just hoping…” “Well, if it helps to know, Starr is mighty mad with me for not bringing her.” Claire grinned. “Yeah?” “Told me to tell you she misses you and is going to call tonight or tomorrow.” “Way cool!” Angie put her hand on Claire’s shoulder. “Mrs. Manning is here on business this time, sweetie. Lets give them all some privacy. Want me to take Clay Cutter, Sheri?” “That would be lovely, Angie,” Sheri said. “Thanks. If he gets fussy, just bring him on back to his mama.” Angie took Clay Cutter from Toni gently. She hugged him then kissed him gently on the forehead. “He’s no trouble. No trouble at all.” Angie walked away and Toni and Dottie slid into the booth across from Blair and Sheri. “Have you thought of anything else?” Blair asked. “No,” said Dottie slowly. “I mean no one liked her but they was scared to…” Dottie glanced at Toni then took a deep breath. “They was scared to say it because they didn’t want to come across as bigots or something.” “Well, exactly why didn’t they like her?” Toni asked. “Well, it won’t because she was black. Hell, everybody was real interested in her but she earned the hate all on her own.” “How?” Blair asked. “She was pretty and knew it. She used it like a weapon, you know. She tried to prove to these women here that won’t no beauty queens how easy she could take their man, you know. Flirting with her hair and tits in their faces.” “Dottie!” “Well, it was true, Sheri, and you know it. She was purring all over Maddog then had the nerve to…” Dottie shook her head. “And poor Angie over there just ‘bout sank off the deep end. Y’all know she’s got the self-esteem of a cantaloupe. Married that handsome man and never thought she deserved him.” “Why? Angie is one of the sweetest women I know,” Blair said. “And Mike is sweet, too. They deserve each other and a happy life but Angie’s got scars not of his making but Mike bears the brunt of. And damn if Carmen didn’t sense that. It was disgraceful the way she threw herself at him. Near ‘bout broke Angie’s heart and Mike won’t even doing nothing. Ain’t that right, Sheri?” Sherri nodded her head. “And let’s not even talk about how she chased after Wes.” Sheri sat up straight. “She didn’t have a chance.” “Of course she didn’t but the question on the table was why didn’t people like Carmen and that’s why. She was an ass.” “Was she dating anyone?” Bair asked. “I mean really seeing anyone?” “Not as far as any of us have been able to figure. That’s the thing. All her flirting and stuff seemed to just be about rubbing people’s faces in their fears or their weaknesses, you know. She was just stirring the pot for the fun of it.” Toni leaned forward. “So you don’t think anyone here killed her?” Blair gasped. “Toni!” “Hey, look, the question needs to be asked.” Dottie clinched her teeth. “Not to my knowledge.” “Was anybody looking for her?” Blair asked quickly. “You know what?” Sheri said. “One day I was in Andrew’s hardware store buying a screwdriver and Carmen was in there. It’s like she was hiding from somebody.” “Who?” “See, that’s the thing. Can’t believe I didn’t think about this before. It was that guy on your team, Blair.” “What guy?” Toni asked. “You know the one you said Cassie was going out with and should’ve kept going out with instead of mooning over what’s his name and—“ Blair gripped Sheri’s arm. “Bryan Treyscott was here in Creedyville looking for Carmen?” “Yeah. I think. I mean I only glimpsed him and I never saw Carmen again after that. That was right before she went running to Llanview. May have even been the same day. Funny, I never thought there might be a connection until right now.” Blair glanced at Toni who stared back. If Carmen was involved with Treyscott then maybe Heather did have a motive to kill her. Damn. Blair pressed the accelerator and the Audi responded immediately. She and Toni would be home in a few hours. Neither one of them had said a thing since they left Creedyville. She glanced over at Toni who had her eyes closed. “So what do you think happened,” Blair asked. Toni opened her eyes and glanced at her as she chewed her inner cheek. “I don’t know. I just don’t know. Maybe Heather did do it. God knows she is crazy enough.” “Yeah. I guess. Something doesn’t feel right though.” “Yeah. I just can’t see Treyscott involved in all of this. I mean Carmen was pretty and all but Treyscott can have women out the wazoo if he wants them. Why would he take up with her?” “Well, he was involved with Heather.” “Oh, please. That was just career advancement. He didn’t really give two twigs about that spoiled brat.” Blair wasn’t sure about that. Toni hadn’t seen that scene at the stadium after Heather sold him out to Carl. You can’t always explain why people love the people they love but sometimes you could see the love like it was a tangible thing. What she saw shattering and breaking between Heather and Treyscott that day had taken her breath away. He may not have admitted that he loved her, he may not have wanted to love her, but he did. And the thing was that Heather loved him, too. “You know what? Dottie really hated Carmen.” Blair gripped the steering wheel and then reached over to switch on the radio. Toni cut her eye at her. “Something tells me there is more to that story and you know what it is.” Blair sighed. “I know I’ve been kind of crazy lately. The wedding stuff just sent me reeling.” “Toni, it’s going to be okay.” “I believe that most of the time but that’s not my point. What I’m trying to say is that I don’t want my craziness to make you believe I can’t be your friend. It may sound so junior high school but you’re the best friend I’ve ever had and, Blair, you can tell me anything.” Damn. Toni was the best friend she’d ever had too. She hadn’t told her everything because she thought Toni had enough on her plate. At least she thought that was the reason. “Carmen was blackmailing Maddog,” she said softly. “Claimed he tried to rape her.” Toni sat straight up in the seat. “What the hell!” “That’s what caused that sweet old man’s heart attack. Once she put him in the hospital, she came after me.” Blair glanced at Toni, whose eyes were big as saucers. “I didn’t kill her,” she said. “But you were there that night.” “So were you.” Toni nodded. “We got into a tussle. She grabbed me, Blair, and told me that RJ belonged to her. I lost it and slapped the hell out of her. She tried to jump me but then someone came down the hall and she ran off.” “That was the last time you saw her?” Toni sighed. “Yes and no. I tried to let it go, you know. I mean I paced and stewed about it but she knew stuff she shouldn’t have known, Blair. I told you that.” “What did RJ say about that?” “I never asked him.” “What?” Toni glanced out of the window and shook her head. “I didn’t want to hear the answer.” Why was Toni so freakin’ crazy sometimes? “When did you see Carmen again?” “Did I say I saw her again?” “Yeah. You said, yes and no.” Toni tightened her lips but then said, “Okay, yeah. I went up to her room. I needed to know how she knew that stuff.’ “And you had a fight.” “Would have ripped her head off probably but I saw the body and the blood through the open door.” “You saw Carmen dead?” “I didn’t know it was her, really. I just saw the red dress kind of and some blood. I didn’t go into the room. I got out of there. I was going to tell someone but then I heard this scream so I figured someone had found the body and there was no need for me to get involved.” “Why didn’t you tell me the truth?” “Why didn’t you tell me she was blackmailing you? And why were you in the ladies room with blood on your dress?” “That wasn’t blood.” “Yeah. Right. And you didn’t see her at all that night.” “I went up to her room but I didn’t talk to her.” “You saw the body?” “She was very much alive but I only heard her. I was about to knock on her door and I heard her arguing with someone. She was yelling about being able to see whomever she wanted. I mean she was flat out screaming. It was really unnerving. I was already pumped up, you know. I backed away because to be honest I wasn’t sure what would have happen if we had come face-to-face. Two women on the verge--” “So you didn’t see her?” “No.” “Where did the blood come from?” “It wasn’t blood, Toni. I don’t know what unnerved me so much but for some reason I just didn’t want to be around her or her room. I wanted to get away from there. I backed off and bumped into a food tray table thing in the hallway. There was left over cherry pie or jam or something and it spattered on my dress.” “That’s a pretty lame story, Blair.” “I know. That’s why I didn’t even try to tell you.” “Bull. You didn’t trust me.” “Like you didn’t trust RJ?” “About as much as you trusted Todd?” Blair glared at Toni and then whipped her head around. She didn’t want to think about the tears she saw in Toni’s eyes. Todd figured that if he was in the real world he’d be drunk by now. Of course, this wasn’t the real world. It was some kind of play world or something--surreal. He sipped his beer and leaned on the bar of Ray’s. The bartender cut his eye at him and then shifted his gaze back to RJ. Todd studied him for a second. He name was Jacque Baptiste and his skin was the color of walnuts and his hair was chestnut, blonde, auburn and gray and covered his head like a poodle cap but his arms were the size of a tree trunks and he had a torso that one of those women writers would call rippling. And Todd was also pretty sure given the vibe radiating off of him that Baptiste had a Magnum 45 or a AK47 or a M16 within easy reach behind the counter. Whatever. He just wanted to get the hell out of there. As far as the could tell all they had learned so far was that people believed Carmen was trouble, Carmen actually was trouble, and Carmen left after Terrence Toomer got on the wrong side of a local bookie and disappeared either into the wind or into the grave. No one was sure which. All of this happened not long after RJ split as well. Nobody heard a word from Carmen after she left. Not one word. Nobody. Baptiste leaned forward on the bar top. “The fact of the matter, Randall, is that Tucker was right to choose you to look after the Carmen he knew. He just didn’t really know her, man, is all.” RJ drained his glass. “She was his sister. And I—“ “Tucker was near ‘bout the finest brother I ever knew. None of us is all one thing or the other. We good some,” Baptiste glanced over at Todd, “and we bad some. A mix usually. But in that family Tucker seemed to get all the good and Carmen got all the bad.” “I was so young, man.” “Not sure being older would have made any difference. The problem was that after Tucker nobody on this earth ever had a chance of looking after Carmen except maybe Playerman.” “Who?” “You know Playerman. That boy they hung out with. They must’ve told you about him. The three of them was thick as thieves after he moved here ‘round the time they went into upper school. He and Tucker went off to school together but Tucker didn’t last too too long before the troubles came.” “Why was Tucker in prison?” “He never told you?” “He didn’t seem to want to talk about it and they take everything else away from you in there, so I respected his right to hold his own business close.” Baptiste refilled RJ’s glass. “Ain’t that the truth. I hear it was robbery. Actually tried to hold up a damn bank. Some crazy shit, you ask me.” “Do you have any idea if anyone had a grudge against him?” “You mean mad enough to kill him?” “Yeah.” Baptiste shook his head. “To this day none of us know who would go after him. Just don’t make no sense. Of course that bank shit didn’t make no sense either unless he needed the money for something for Carmen. Which he probably did ‘cause I never seen anyone have so much and always need more. He’d have done just about anything for her.” “Can you think of anyone who might know something about what happened to Tucker?” “Playerman might. I mean he and Tucker left here together and went to Baton Rouge. Not long after that Playerman’s people moved away from here and as far as I know he never came back here. But he and Tucker was tight.” “Do you remember his name?” “Was a long time ago. I hear he did all right for himself though but none of us would know that for a personal fact. Got to give that to Tucker. He tried to keep the ties not just to Carmen but to the rest of us as well. I guess that's why she came back here after Tucker went up.” “Can you think of his name?” “Funny name but Playerman is all I can remember. Hear he’s playing ball somewhere up your way though.” “Ball?” “That’s why they called his Playerman because he was always so good at them games. Hear he went pro. Football I think. Never was my game so I didn’t pay no attention but people say he done all right.” “Treyscott?” Todd asked. Baptiste looked at him as if he had forgotten he was even there. But then he nodded his head. “Yeah, that was the name. Something like Boyd or Bo Treyscott.” Or Bryan, thought Todd. Damn. The key had been right under their noses all this time.
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Suspicions In Scarlet Repose FAN FICTION SLIDESHOWS
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