When Bobbie Sang the Blues (6 page)

Christy nodded, still watching her sing. “Yes, she is.”

The music faded into the night as Bobbie completed her last
song and took a bow to thunderous applause. Christy, Dan, and Jack were still clapping as Bobbie reached the table. They all began talking at once, complimenting her, but she waved the words aside.

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to leave now,” she said, looking at Jack. Her eyes swung to Christy and Dan. “What about you two?”

Dan turned to Christy. “Want to go for a late-night snack?”

“Sure. Care to join us?” Christy asked Jack and Bobbie.

“No, thanks. Go have fun,” Bobbie said.

Christy thought her aunt seemed exhausted and on the verge of tears. She put her hand on her arm. “Everything will be all right,” she said.

“I hope so,” Bobbie replied, but she looked unconvinced.

“Okay, you kids run along,” Jack said, his good mood restored. “Christy, I’ll see your aunt home. Don’t worry.”

“Thanks, Jack.”

Christy’s hand slid into Dan’s with surprising ease as they walked out of the club and crossed the parking lot.

“You look very pretty tonight,” he said, his blue eyes sweeping down her black blazer and jeans. Her new black high heels clipped over the concrete as she fell in step with him. “Nice shoes,” he added and grinned at her, knowing her penchant for shoes.

“Thank you.” She smiled, pleased he had noticed and relieved he was alone tonight. She had jumped to wrong conclusions twice now, and she told herself she could change. She could give him time and space without seeming insecure. He was a good man, and she didn’t want to lose him. They owed each other a second chance, and this time she was determined not to rush things.

Tuesday

C
hristy rolled over in bed and reached up to open the drapes. A clear blue sky sent golden rays of sunshine through her window. She stretched lazily as a wonderful contentment eased over her. Glancing across at the chair that still held the clothes she had worn last night, she merely smiled. It had been late when she came in, and all she’d wanted to do was put on her pajamas and crawl into bed…and dream of Dan.

They had spent a wonderful evening together at a cozy ocean-side restaurant near Destin. They left Dan’s SUV in the parking lot of the Blues Club and drove in her convertible so they could feel the crisp breeze blow over them.

As they dined on shrimp cocktails and peach tea and then sharing a rich chocolate dessert, they enjoyed light, easy conversation. Christy explained that Eddie was Bobbie’s ex-husband, but she must have married him in his better days. Then she quickly moved on to another topic, hoping they could put the unpleasant scene with Eddie behind them.

When they returned for Dan’s car, there were only a few hangers-on at the club. Christy saw that Jack’s black SUV was gone, as well as Bobbie’s red truck. She didn’t worry about Bobbie anymore that night.

After a shower and a mug of coffee, Christy decided to go by her parents’ home to check on Bobbie. She wheeled into the wide driveway of the brick ranch-style home. Palm trees and shrubs dotted a long, grassy yard, and flower beds circled the house. Her parents enjoyed working in the yard, and they were proud of their picture-perfect home.

As Christy climbed the back steps to the kitchen door, she heard her mother’s voice.

“How dare you come here and disgrace us, Bobbie! You were out till midnight the first night, and last night it was at least one o’clock.”

Christy glanced at the garage. The door was open, and her dad’s car was gone. If the sisters were going to get into one of their rows, she suspected her mother had waited until they were alone.

“I’ve done nothing to disgrace you,” Bobbie rallied back. “Christy and Seth are glad to see me, even if you’re not.”

“I
was
glad to see you, but I hoped this time it would be different. I’ve already had three phone calls this morning to tell me about the scene you and Eddie made in that lounge. He said you stole money from him.”

“Beth,” Bobbie yelled, “you’re still so goody-goody you refuse to hear my side of a story. You were always Momma’s pet!”

“And you were always the black sheep.”

Christy shook her head, wondering why so many arguments went back to the last century, bringing up old grievances.

“At least I didn’t run off and get married when I was sixteen!” Her mother scored a hit.

“Marrying Joe Henry was the smartest thing I ever did,” Bobbie snapped. “I got a free ticket out of the Minnesota icebox to good ol’ Atlanta. But I know you never liked him.”

“I tried to like Joe Henry,” her mother said in self-defense.

“You thought that because he came from a rich family, he believed he was too good for us.”

“That’s not what I thought! I disliked the way he left you at home alone every night while he hung out at the bars. You told me yourself, remember? You called me late one night crying, saying he was having an affair with a cocktail waitress.”

“Beth, it’s useless to reason with you,” Bobbie said, the fight gone from her voice. “You’ve always believed I was nothing more than a gold digger.”

Christy listened, reluctant to intrude on a private argument, hoping they would settle their disagreement. But the argument had escalated, getting uglier by the minute, and she reached for the door handle.

“Whoa,” Christy interrupted, entering the kitchen. “You two are all that’s left of your original family. You should be grateful to have each other, not catfighting whenever you get together.”

“We aren’t catfighting,” Beth said, obviously trying to calm down at the sight of Christy. She stood in the center of the kitchen, her hands on the hips of her white jeans. “I respect the fact that you’re an adult who chooses where she goes and with whom, Christy, but—”

“You leave her out of this!” Bobbie cried, tears cascading down her cheeks. Her hair hadn’t seen a brush, and she was still in her wrinkled silk pajamas. “She and Seth are your best gifts to the world. I wish I could have been so lucky! She came to hear me sing.”

“Sing?” Beth echoed, obviously absorbing another shock. “Was that before or after you strewed pills all over the place?”

Bobbie whirled and left the room, and almost immediately Christy could hear drawers slamming shut. She was packing.

Christy faced her mother, eyes narrowed. “Mom, I think you’re much too concerned with wanting everything to look perfect. You need to show more empathy for your sister.”

“I try, but…” Beth sank into a chair, looking defeated.

“By the way,” Christy added coldly, “Eddie was the one who caused the scene with his crazy allegations. The pills some gossip told you about are nitroglycerin. She takes one daily for accelerated heartbeat. Her heart raced, and she tried to get the bottle open when they spilled. Guess she forgot her daily dose.”

Christy had never heard her voice sound so unfeeling, but she had finally lost it with her mother. Oddly, she felt relieved.

Beth stared, her mouth open. Christy wondered if the stunned expression on her face resulted from learning of Bobbie’s heart condition or hearing Christy’s tone of voice and sharp words.

Bobbie appeared in the kitchen doorway, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, her suitcase in hand. She marched toward the back door, ignoring her sister.

Christy hurried after her. “You’re coming home with me.”

Bobbie straightened. The tears had been wiped from her cheeks, and the determined expression on her face made Christy feel even worse. “No, thanks. I’ll just.

Christy hugged her. “Please.” She spoke softly. “Come home with me, at least for a while. We need to talk.”

Bobbie turned sad eyes to Christy. She looked older in the morning light. Her sparkling personality had lost its sparkle.

“Okay,” she said. She walked out the door to her truck.

Christy went to the garage and found the long post from Granny’s farm lying on a back shelf. She hefted it and lugged it to her car, thinking about the project Bobbie had promised for the Red Hat luncheon.

“You missed an interesting scene at the Blues Club last night,” Tony Panada said as he entered Hornsby’s office.

“Aw, I don’t care about them clubs. I’d rather go home to my woman.” Hornsby swatted at a fly buzzing around the office. “I’ve seen more flies this morning than all week.”

“It’s still hot weather, man. What do you expect? Listen, I’ll be out of town for the rest of the week. Keep an eye on my units. Especially the prize one.”

Hornsby shrugged. “Sure. Business or pleasure?”

Tony looked grim as he ran a hand over his bald head. “Business. Last night was pleasure.” His lips moved, but there was no smile, only a slight curl above his chin.

O
n their way to Christy’s house, she and Bobbie stopped at the local hardware store. The items Bobbie needed to turn the old post into a coatrack were in storage back in Memphis.

As they entered the store, Bobbie looked at her. “The Red Hat club uses red and purple colors, don’t they?” Christy nodded. “Red hats, purple dresses.” Her aunt went up one aisle and down the other, grabbing cans of spray paint, corbels, screws, wooden pegs, and sandpaper. “If only I had my power drill. Christy,” she called across the aisle, “do you have a toolbox?”

“A small one with the basics.”

Bobbie nodded, mulling over different size nails, finally picking up an assorted box. She paused at the end of the aisle to study some wood stacked in a large box. She selected a long piece and then two more that looked one-third the size of the first. Studying the items in her basket, she nodded to herself and guided her full cart to the checkout counter.

She pulled out more bills and paid for her purchases, then
followed Christy back to the parking lot. “Okay, I’ll have something special to show the ladies on Thursday,” she announced.

After they devoured a ham sandwich, chips, and iced tea, Christy helped her aunt set up for her project in the backyard. As Bobbie laid out her assorted supplies, Christy frowned at the purple spray paint and glanced questioningly at her aunt.

Bobbie grinned. “Don’t pass judgment until you see the finished product.”

“Fair enough. I’ll leave you to your work,” Christy said, heading back to the house. As she did, her mind replayed the argument between her mother and her aunt. She felt saddened for both of them, for in her heart she knew neither meant the cruel words they had hurled at each other.

She sat at the eating bar and picked up her pen to write in her journal. Then she paused, thinking about the words she had spoken to her mother. She didn’t regret what she had said, although she wished it had not been necessary.

Her mother was a wonderful person, really, helping wherever there was a crisis, reaching out to those in the community who needed food or clothes. She had spent hours preparing and delivering meals.

Christy tried to focus on her journal, but her thoughts still centered on her mother and her aunt. It seemed to Christy that life had come easily for her mom. Beth earned a scholarship in interior
design at the University of Alabama, where she met Grant Castleman. They married when he graduated, and she helped support them while he attended seminary.

Sure, they’d moved around the country some, and she’d had to pinch pennies in the beginning, like most young wives. Then they had agreed on Florida as a permanent home, and her mother had settled into a contented world. Her father’s congregation loved him, and there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that Beth and Grant’s marriage was as solid as bedrock. Yet, through the process, Beth seemed determined to make everything perfect for everyone. Christy shook her head. One person couldn’t make the world perfect.

Christy tightened her grip on the pen and studied the column before her. “Praise Report.”
Dan!
Christy’s heart lifted as she wrote about the wonderful evening she and Dan had shared. Despite their past conflicts, they had been relaxed with one another, talked easily, and had fun being together.

The kitchen phone rang, and Christy laid down her pen and answered. The voice on the other end was shrill and tense.

“Christy, this is Roseann Cole. I’m awfully sorry to bother you, but I don’t know who else to call. I thought about calling your aunt, but I don’t know how to reach her.”

Christy frowned. “What’s wrong?”

“Eddie’s missing.”

His angry face lurched into Christy’s memory. “What happened after you two left last night?”

“We stopped at a bar, and he started tossing down rum and
Cokes. After a while, I finally persuaded him to go back to the motel. When we got back, he sat down in a chair and started working his way through the minibar, and I went to take a shower. When I came out, he was gone.”

She paused for a moment. Christy waited.

“I watched a TV program for an hour, then called the Blues Club. I spoke with Donna, and she said Eddie hadn’t come back, but if he did, she’d call me. She took my number down, but I never heard from her.

“Then around two this morning, I called the jail to see if he had been arrested. And I’ve just called the hospital. He’s not either place.” Her voice broke, and she began to sob. “I don’t know anyone here, and I don’t have a car…”

Christy felt sorry for her but didn’t know how to respond. “My aunt is here at my house. If you’ll hold on, I’ll go ask if she’s seen him.”

“Thank you.”

Clutching the cordless phone, Christy hurried to the backyard. Bobbie was singing in a low voice as she worked the sandpaper up and down the old wooden post.

“Bobbie, Roseann Cole is on the phone—”

“Who?” Bobbie looked up in confusion.

“Eddie’s girlfriend.” Christy repeated the telephone conversation, and Bobbie frowned and stood up, dusting off her jeans.

“He never came back to the club, and he wasn’t hanging around the parking lot when Jack and I left. We were both looking too.” She shrugged. “I have no idea. If I had to make a guess,
I’d say he went to a bar and got himself in a card game. Probably hates to go back and tell her he lost all his money.”

Christy nodded and repeated the conversation into the phone as she walked back to the house.

“I don’t know,” Roseann said, now in control of her voice. “I reckon that’s possible. I just wish he’d come back, even if he did lose his money.”

Christy tried to think of something to say but failed.

“Sorry to bother you,” Roseann added.

“No bother. Give me your phone number, and if I hear anything, I’ll call.”

“We’re staying at the Starlight Motel. And here’s my cell.” Roseann recited the number. “That’s another thing,” she said. “He hasn’t called me.”

Christy took down the cell phone number, then had another thought. “Does Eddie have a cell phone?”

“He lost it.”

Christy rolled her eyes, feeling even sorrier for this poor woman who seemed too naive to deal with a man like Eddie. “He’ll probably return soon,” she said, trying to offer some encouragement, and hung up.

She had a bad feeling about hotheaded Eddie. If the man had an ounce of sense, he would have stayed away from the Blues Club after being threatened. However, she wouldn’t put it past him to wait in the parking lot, hoping to get even with Bobbie or Jack.

With a start, she remembered Jack’s awful threat.
“If you come near her again, I’ll kill you.
”

Christy swallowed, trying to fight off the ugly fear slithering through her. She ran out the door to the backyard. “Bobbie, what time did Jack take you home?”

Bobbie stopped working on the post and glanced off in the distance. “Let’s see. We left the club right after my last number, a few minutes after eleven. We must have gotten to Beth’s in ten or fifteen minutes.”

“So he left you at eleven fifteen?”

Bobbie grinned. “No. We sat in the driveway and talked for a little while.”

Judging by the twinkle in Bobbies eye, Christy figured they’d made out right under her parents’ bedroom window. She had a better understanding of her parents’ feelings about having Bobbie in their house. What had her mother said during her argument with Bobbie?
“The second night in a row you’ve come home late…last night it was at least one o’clock…
”

“Now why are you looking at me like that?” Bobbie asked. “Jack kissed me good night. Is that a crime?”

Christy looked away, shaking her head. “I’m just working on the time frame here. If Jack left you at, say, eleven thirty and went home, he had to drive past the Starlight.” She looked at Bobbie.

“What are you thinking? That he might have run into Eddie along the way?” Bobbie fidgeted, obviously concerned.

“Bobbie, why was Eddie babbling about a vacuum cleaner?”

Bobbie sighed. “When we were married, he once hid money in a vacuum cleaner bag. That was a long time ago, and I’d forgotten it. On Saturday, I went back to the house to get some pots and pans,
a box of pictures, and my vacuum cleaner. I heard from a friend that he and his girlfriend had left Friday to go to a UT football game in Knoxville. I waited until Saturday morning and then went in, got my things, and left. It never entered my mind to check the vacuum cleaner for money.”

Christy hadn’t forgotten the way her aunt kept pulling big bills out of her purse. “From his ranting at the club, I think he hid something in the vacuum cleaner, don’t you?”

“Well, that vacuum cleaner is in my storage unit in Memphis. If he hid something in it, he should be looking there, not here.”

“But why would he hide money in a vacuum cleaner if he knew at some point you would be coming to pick up your things?”

Bobbie reached for a fresh sheet of sandpaper. “He didn’t know I was coming Saturday. Or that I have a spare key. I’m no dummy. I wanted to be able to come and go when he wasn’t there. As for what he hid or why, it’s football season, and he calls the bookies and bets on games. He bets on everything. But I wouldn’t have figured him to put it in that old vacuum cleaner again.” She shook her head and began sanding the post.

Christy lowered her eyes to the post, pretending an interest in her aunt’s project. She didn’t want Bobbie to see the worry—and the suspicion—in her eyes. It sounded like Bobbie knew a lot about Eddie’s habits. And why drag along an old vacuum cleaner when she appeared to have plenty of money for a new one?

“I think I hear the phone,” Christy said, aware her aunt was watching her closely. She turned and hurried to the house.

Once inside, she paced the kitchen floor. She had to talk to
someone about this. Her first inclination would have been to call her mother, but that was out of the question after the morning confrontation. Her dad? No, he would side with her mother. Dan? She frowned, thinking it over. Not yet.

Jack. She had another reason to talk to him. She needed to know if he had seen Eddie on his way home. She grabbed the phone and dialed his number. After several rings, a lazy hello came over the wires.

“Good morning, Jack. It’s Christy.”

“I know my favorite girl’s voice.”

“I think I’ve been replaced as your favorite girl.”

A husky laugh followed her comment. “That aunt of yours is really something.”

“Yeah,” Christy replied, suddenly feeling irritated and not sure why. “Jack, did you happen to run into Eddie Bodine on your way home last night?”

“If I’d run into him, as you put it, you’d have heard about it already.”

Christy winced. “Well, I’ve heard that he’s missing. His girlfriend just called and said he left the motel last night and never returned or called.”

Jack was silent a moment. “Aw, he’s off in some bar in a card game, probably. Bobbie told me how he gambles.”

“No, Jack, I don’t think so. He hasn’t even called her.”

“Maybe he left town without the girlfriend.”

Christy considered that. “Maybe he did. But why would he?

She appeared attentive and tolerant of him, although I can’t imagine why. I don’t think he’d take off without her.”

“Who knows what he would do? From what I saw of him last night, I wouldn’t put anything past him.”

Christy wanted to say that she wished Jack hadn’t threatened him, but she held her tongue. Instead, she said, “Well, I’ll let you go. Incidentally, Bobbie is staying with me. She’s out back working on a project she’ll be presenting at the Red Hat meeting on Thursday.”

“Tell her I said hello,” he replied, his voice mellowing.

“I will.” She said good-bye and hung up, thinking that Jack Watson sounded ten years younger. Maybe his burgeoning relationship with Bobbie would prove to be a good thing. And he hadn’t encountered Eddie on his way home. Another good thing.

Through the kitchen window, Christy watched Bobbie sand the post. She had to believe her aunt was innocent in taking money from her ex-husband, even though she may have deserved it. Maybe Eddie, with empty pockets and a hangover, would return to the motel and to Roseann today.

In the meantime, Christy had other things to worry about. With a houseguest, she needed to restock the refrigerator. She picked up her purse and keys and stuck her head out the back door to tell Bobbie where she was going.

On her way to the market, she spotted Roseann Cole wandering down the sidewalk. She looked lost and confused.

Christy pulled to the curb beside her. “Hi, Roseann. Have you heard from Eddie?”

Roseann shook her head, and the mass of dark curls drooped. “No, I been asking up and down through here”—she gestured at the shops—“but no one has seen him.”

Looking at Roseann’s forlorn face, Christy felt the call to be a good Samaritan. Her fathers words were rooted deep in her soul:
“Always help someone in distress.”
This woman was obviously in distress.

“Why don’t you get in the car?” she said. “I’ll drive you around town, and we’ll make a few more inquiries. Then I can drive you back to the motel.”

Roseann seemed surprised by her offer, but she quickly opened the door and got in. Very quickly, in fact. She all but jumped in and slammed the door. “This is awfully nice of you,” she said.