Read Online The Big Chili by Julia Buckley - Free Book Online

thought a walk would help, but then she got it into her head that she had to see you. You’ll have to forgive her—she’s obviously still upset.”
    Harmonia stepped forward, the phone still in her hand.She was dressed for winter in a shapeless green parka with a fake-fur-trimmed hood. “I was trying to see if there was a movie playing tonight at the Old-Time Theater. Something fun that would take her mind off things. But—it’s not—quite what we were looking for. Oh, look at the sweetheart!” She knelt and began to pet Mick with enthusiasm.
    I knew what was playing at the Old-Time Theater:
Dial M for Murder
.
    â€œWell—do you guys want to come in? I can make some hot chocolate or something.”
    Pet looked at her sisters. “Could you two just walk once around the block? I want to talk to Lilah—it’s about real estate—some questions about Mom and Dad’s house. Just give me five minutes, okay?”
    Harmonia stood up and exchanged a glance with Angelica. The sisters looked like they’d had just about enough of Pet’s weirdness for one day, but they sighed and marched back down the sidewalk, like cute little salt-and-pepper-shaker people. I remembered something my father had once said, in a moment of rudeness, while observing the Grandy family at a church function. “There’s something weirdly big about each of them,” he’d whispered to me. “Angelica’s got big feet, Harmonia has huge hands, and Pet has a big head.”
    It was true. Pet’s head was large and round, although it had seemed proportional to the rest of her body until my father made me realize it was a bit—extra. My mother had once said that most celebrities had larger-than-average heads, which ended up looking just right on movie and television screens. I didn’t know if that was true, but I had always vaguely wondered if Pet would end up being a celebrity. In any case, the Grandy girls had clearly inherited their large features fromtheir father, Morton Grandy, who was six foot eight and had the largest Adam’s apple I had ever seen on a man. He had always frightened me in church, while he belted out hymns and swayed in his pew, as though he were an uprooted tree about to fall with a mighty crash onto some unsuspecting parishioner. Morton and his wife, Peggy, had retired to Florida two years ago, but I still recalled them both clearly.
    â€œWhat’s going on, Pet?”
    Pet waited until her sisters reached the bottom of the driveway. Then she turned to me, her face crumpling with agitation. “You’re the only one I can talk to. The only one who knows the truth! Did you say anything to the police?”
    â€œNo. And I’m having second thoughts about that, Pet—”
    â€œDon’t worry. You won’t have to say anything. They told me that they believe my story and they haven’t determined any reason why I might want to hurt Alice Dixon. They also don’t think that if I were going to poison her I would poison my own chili. But . . . they told me to be available for further questioning.”
    â€œOkay . . . so we probably won’t have to worry about this much longer. They brought Hank Dixon in for questioning today.”
    Pet froze. “What?”
    â€œHank. Her ex. He was looking at the house I was showing, and the police came and got him. Tammy drove home alone.”
    â€œThat is ridiculous. Hank is a good person and a loyal parishioner. He gave one thousand dollars to the Retired Sisters Fund last year!” Her face was indignant on his behalf. Women really seemed protective of Hank Dixon.
    I shrugged. “I know it’s hard to believe—but as far as we knew, everyone in that basement was a good person. So it’sup to the police to look beneath the veneers and find the truth. Find a motive, I guess.”
    Pet sighed. “This is what upsets me,