Part 13 (1/2)
”Just a minute,” Candace called. ”Who is it?”
”It's your mother, come to take you to lunch.”
”All right! But you'll have to open the door because my nails are wet.” When Dot opened the door Candace sat at the desk in the room, manicure supplies out in front of her. ”Green glitter polish for Christmas. Isn't it cool?” She waggled ten s.h.i.+ny nails.
Dot smiled. ”Lovely, dear. Do you need to wait for them to dry before we go to lunch?”
”Not for long. I can put fast-drying stuff on them and we can go in five minutes. I hope it isn't real cold out there because I don't want to put a jacket on yet.” Candace looked at me behind her mother and waved. ”Hi, Gracie Lee. Hi, Linnette. Do you want to borrow my nail polish?”
The thought of wearing green glitter polish made me giggle and I could hear Linnette reacting the same way.
”Not this time, Candace. My son, Ben, would think I was acting like a teenager if I came home with that on my nails. Do you have any silver? Maybe I can borrow that for New Year's Eve.” Ben wouldn't be home next week and I could get a little crazy. Besides, since I had no plans to ring in the New Year with anybody, doing a manicure with the girls might be the most exciting thing I did next week.
”Lucy has silver. I bet she'd let you borrow it,” Candace said. ”I miss Lucy already. It's not much fun without her here.”
”Well, she should be back soon. Maybe after Christmas she'll feel better and Estella will bring her back.”
”I hope so. It's too quiet alone. And I'm tired of Tina's Barry Manilow Christmas alb.u.m already.” Since I would have gotten tired of that after the first listen, I could sympathize with her. We went out to the cars, discussing the merits of various local restaurants for lunch. I had to defer to the others, because I didn't know much about Camarillo.
In the end we all piled into Dot's car and had a good time at a Chinese place not far away. They all laughed at me because I got so excited when I saw the appetizer section of the menu.
”They have crab rangoon. This is the first place I've seen out here that has it.”
Linnette gave me an odd look. ”Is it something special?”
”Yeah. They're delicious. Think of fried wontons with cream cheese and crab in them instead of meat. In St. Louis it's as easy to get as toasted ravioli.”
Linnette started to say something but Dot laughingly waved her off. ”Don't get her started on that. She described it to me once and it sounds revolting.”
I shrugged. ”Suit yourself. Maybe it's an acquired taste. There's nothing to compare it to in California so I don't try.”
Now I felt really excited about lunch. I decided to get the appetizer instead of a lunch special. That meant I'd miss the cool sectioned rectangular dish lunch came in out here, almost as large as a cafeteria tray. The food on them is different, too; the first time I ordered egg foo yung in California it seemed to have been prepared inside out. By now I've gotten used to all the differences except the lack of crab rangoon.
Everybody ordered and we chatted and drank hot tea while we waited for the food to come. Dot asked Linnette if she knew where Tracy went. ”Not a clue. She got a call and vanished. I wonder if she ever got in touch with either of the accountants Pastor George recommended.”
”There's a girl with a lot of problems,” Dot said. ”I hope she doesn't lose the house.”
”Why would that happen?” Linnette asked. ”All she has to do is straighten out the business books and wait for Frank's insurance to pay out.”
”That will cover the house payment, but what will she and those three kids do for living expenses now that Frank's gone? Her limited skills aren't going to do enough.” Dot looked troubled, and I could see that the discussion was bothering Candace as well. She had her mom's soft heart for people.
Linnette gave Dot an odd look. ”You're kidding, right? Frank Collins is probably worth a lot more dead than alive. Tracy shouldn't have anything to worry about.”
Now I felt confused, too. ”What do you mean? She's been acting like she didn't know where her next penny was coming from.”
”That's odd. Frank owned his contracting company, didn't he?”
”For what it was worth. He was always one step away from losing everything the way he stiffed his suppliers and his subcontractors.” Dot picked up her teacup as if she wanted to drown a bad taste in her mouth.
”Well, that's over now. To have his contractor's license as a sole operator, the state and his subs would have made him carry insurance to protect the business if he died. It would have to be in an amount big enough to cover any debts the business held, and pay a healthy sum afterward.”
This had me thinking in a way that made it hard to enjoy the hot, crispy crab rangoon that came to the table just then. I imagine it was actually as good as Missouri crab rangoon, but I got too busy mulling over things in my mind to enjoy it.
While we drove Candace back to Rose House, she and Dot discussed the rest of the week. ”Maybe you can come get me after I get off of work tomorrow night. It's so quiet without Lucy. I'd rather be at your house with my Dixie dog and you and Daddy.”
”That sounds like a good idea. If you're there you can keep your father from sneaking Dixie and Hondo Christmas cookies.” The mental picture of Candace as the cookie police made me grin in the back seat. It sounded like a job she could really warm up to.
When we got back to Rose House Kirsten was standing on the front porch. Her forehead was creased with worry. ”Good, you're back. Something weird is going on and I'm trying to decide whether to call the police.”
”What happened?” The feelings of unease that I'd had at lunch came roaring back.
”Estella Perez called here about ten minutes ago in a panic. She demanded that I tell her where her sister was, that she had to have her back right away because of a medical emergency. She was sure that Lucy had come here.”
Dot looked as worried as Kirsten. ”How could Lucy have gotten from her sister's house to here? It's got to be ten miles.”
”And Lucy's sick besides. When Estella took her home with her she looked like she was coming down with the flu or something.”
”Was she feverish?” One of my growing concerns today made me ask the question even though Linnette and Dot looked at me strangely.
”Flushed, maybe but it was more her complaint that she just hurt all over that made me think she was getting something nasty,” Kirsten said. ”But I still can't understand how her sister could think she made it all the way here.”
Candace had been silent through our conversation but now she gave a long low sound that was almost a moan. ”I promised not to tell but now I've got to tell. Matt has a motorcycle. He came by Lucy's work with it one day. I bet he found her and took her away on his motorcycle.”
Dot looked at Candace in dismay. ”Call the police, Kirsten. In fact, let Gracie Lee give you the direct number for Ray Fernandez. I think he will want to hear all this.”
Dot was right, but my biggest concern was finding Lucy right now. If my suspicions were right the last thing she needed was a trip on the back of a motorcycle.
Chapter Nineteen.
Dot knew Estella's address and had no problems, since Lucy was missing, in giving it to me. She and Kirsten pretty much figured that confidentiality was out the window at this point. I knew that if Ray thought we were heading to Estella's he would order us away, so I had Kirsten make the call to him. She had the most complete information anyway. We left Lucy there with her and drove back to Rancho Conejo.
”Knowing that Matt has access to a vehicle changes everything. Maybe we've been too quick to defend him,” Linnette said.
”I hope not. I still don't think that Matt having a motorcycle means he is a murderer. In fact I think it could explain why he's looked so uncomfortable all along. He wasn't supposed to have a vehicle.”
”We can pray you're right, Gracie Lee.” After that we were mostly silent on the quick drive. Since the church parking lot wasn't all that far from the address Dot gave me, I dropped Linnette off at her car. ”Are you sure you won't just join me and go home? It's probably the smartest thing to do,” she said as she got out of my car.
”I know it's the smartest, but I'm not going to leave Dot by herself over there and she insisted on going.” I also needed to see this through to a conclusion somehow, and had the feeling that might happen very soon.
I pulled up right behind Dot, who was standing by her car. Ray hadn't arrived yet. ”Do we wait here or go knock on the door?” Dot asked.
”I don't know. We don't want to spook her, but she shouldn't leave, either. Maybe we can offer to help look for Lucy.”
We agreed on that and went to Estella's front door. She nearly slammed it in our faces once she saw who stood there outside her small ranch-style house. It looked like it could be one her family had lived in before the accident that changed all their lives. Small and tidy, it could have used a coat of paint over the aging stucco.
”What do you want? This really isn't a good time for a visit right now,” she said, glaring.