Read Online Lye in Wait by Cricket McRae - Free Book Online Page B

be Debby,
would you?"
    For a moment the woman looked afraid. "Why?"
     
    Holding her hand out, she said, "I'm Meghan Bly. This is Sophie Mae Reynolds. We live across the alley there." She indicated
the direction of our house with a wave of her other hand.
    The woman's icy glare returned. "Good for you. So why are you
ripping Walter's house apart?"
    "First, tell us who you are," I said.
    The woman's head swiveled toward me. She came further into
the room, moving like a skittish cat, ready to leap at the slightest provocation. Meghan's hand dropped to her side, unshaken. A
man, short and wiry, followed the woman in, his mouth agape as
he took in the mess we'd made. Both wore jeans, he with a longsleeved plaid flannel shirt, and she with a black tank top.
    She folded her thin arms over her chest. "Okay, I'm Debby. And
this is-"
    "Jacob," Meghan and I said together.
    "What, are you two a coupla psychics or somethin'?" Jacob
asked, but the joke fell flat. His questioning eyes knew something
was wrong.
    "Don't be stupid. Walter told them about us, is all."
    Jacob shook his head. "Nuh uh. I don't think so, Debs. Somethin' happened to Walter, or he'd be here. Is he in the hospital or
somethin'?" He directed this last to me.
    I looked at Meghan and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry to have
to tell you this. Walter died the day before yesterday."
    Debby put her hand to her mouth. Her eyes filled with tears,
and she made a gurgling sound. The blood drained from Jacob's
face.
    "Would you like some water?" Meghan asked.
     
    Jacob, who had seemed paralyzed by the news, now frowned at
her words. "Water? What good would that do?"
    He helped Debby to the dark-red sofa, where she folded into a
shuddering heap, wrapping those skinny arms around herself.
    "I told you something was wrong when he didn't show," she
said to Jacob.
    He perched on the arm next to her. "How'd he die?"
    Before I could say anything, Meghan spoke. "There was an
accident."
    Debby raised her head. "What kind of accident?" she managed
to get out.
    "Well, uh, it was poison," I said.
    "Poison? By accident?" She looked back and forth between us.
    I was silent. Meghan pressed her lips together.
    "You two know more than you're telling me," Debby braced her
hands on the sofa seat as if readying to launch herself at us. "What
happened to my Walter?"
    My Walter? The phrase-and the way she'd said it-evoked an
image that made my mind reel.
    "He drank it," Meghan said.
    Jacob's brow wrinkled. "What was it?"
    "Lye," was my short reply.
    "He drank Drano? Ohmygod." Debby wrapped her pale arms
around herself again and rocked back and forth. The sofa bumped
gently against the wall. "I can't believe it. He'd say that, sometimes,
but I never thought he'd do it."
    "Do it?" I looked at Jacob. His eyes were red and his hands
trembled. "Do what?"
     
    He looked down at the woman. Took a wobbly breath. "Kill
himself. With Drano."
    "He told you he was planning to drink drain cleaner?" Meghan
asked.
    Jacob patted Debby's shoulder. "Nah. Not like you mean. He
used to joke about it. You know, like when someone says `If suchand-such happens I'm just gonna shoot myself,' only he said he'd
drink Drano. We never thought he was serious."
    "Especially now," Debby said, almost too low for us to hear. She
fumbled in her purse, extracted an orange prescription bottle. Suddenly Jacob changed his mind about the water. He hurried into the
kitchen, came back with a glassful, and helped her to hold it steady
as she gulped down the little white pill. Liquid sloshed down her
chin, but she didn't seem to notice.
    "Why especially now?" I asked.
    Debby sniffed, a horrible gurgling sound, and stuck out her
hand like a paw to be shaken. On her third finger, a sizeable diamond glittered amid a circle of smaller ones.
    "We were gonna get married."

     
TEN

    HOLY cow. As I tried to wrap my head around that one, Meghan
walked over to admire the ring. Debby thanked her and snorted