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“That’s pretty low, even for you.”
“You are a piece of shit, McCrae.”
“That may be,” he said amiably. “Just don’t get in the way of my investigation.”
“Your investigation?” She snorted. “I’ve got leads on this, and I’m not going to squander them.”
“What leads?”
“Delta killed Tanner, and I’m going to prove it.”
“Leave it to the police, Ellie,” he warned.
“The police . . . meaning you and Bailey’s dad? You haven’t even been able to solve that mystery. Murder/suicide? Total bullshit, and you know it.”
McCrae’s eye narrowed. Beneath her gibes, something was going on here. “What have you got, Ellie?”
She snorted. “Thanks for nothing, McCrae,” she declared, and hung up.
* * *
“I could just pick him up at the pre-K for you,” Zora said. They were walking out of a lame romantic comedy that nevertheless had brought tears to Delta’s eyes.
“No. My mom’s picking him up today, and only people on the list at the pre-K can pick him up, which is me, my mom, my dad, and . . . Tanner . . .”
“I’m so sorry.” Zora’s hand shot out and touched Delta’s arm as they headed to their cars.
“Thanks.” Delta drew a long breath. Worry had settled in, bone deep. She needed to do something. Act. Find out why her husband had been killed. Her mind was screaming along even while she was watching the hours pass in idleness. Maybe she should check with Woody, do a little investigating of her own.
“You want to catch dinner?” Zora asked.
“No . . . thanks. I really can’t.”
“Oh, okay.” She sounded crestfallen.
Zora was being awfully nice to her, which was weird in itself. Before the film, she’d confessed that her husband had said he was leaving her. “There’s somebody else,” she said, sounding lost. “He’s apparently loved her since the barbecue, and I think he’s talking to her all the time. He always says he’s talking to someone else, but I just have a feeling he’s lying.”
“Who is it?”
“I don’t know.” She shot Delta a sheepish look. “For a while I thought it was you?”
“Is that a question?”
“No, no.” She shook her head.
“I’ve been faithful to Tanner all along. The whole time we’ve been together, even during college and med school.”
Delta cut herself off then. There’d been rumors about Tanner with Amanda and Ellie and even Zora. She’d chosen to ignore all the noise and concentrate on loving her husband and making a home with him. When Owen came along, it was easier to shove that noise aside and concentrate on being a mom. When she thought about how much she’d hated Amanda, how it had consumed her for a while, it almost embarrassed her. Even so, she marveled that she was going to meet with her soon.
But I’m over it. All of it.
As if there’d been no break since their conversation before the film, Zora said miserably, “I thought Brian was saying he was in love with Clarice Billings at first, but now I don’t know. He really hung out with Anne Reade back then, and Amanda said Clarice was too ambitious for him anyway.”
“You talked to Amanda about it?”
“On the phone last night. But maybe he thought Clarice was out of reach, and so that’s why he was with Anne, because she was gettable. Maybe he loved Clarice from afar back then, and now with his inheritance, he has more to work with, y’know? Like he could get her now.”
“He didn’t say who it was?” Delta asked.
