Independence Day Murder Read online

  Kiley turned and looked at herself in the mirror. She started to cry when she saw her reflection. Her dark hair was plastered to her head and her makeup was running down her face. I grabbed a few paper towels and helped her dry off as much as I could. The entire experience was making me feel much more sober than I had been feeling before. I may be drunk, but I was not "bathe in the sink at the bar" drunk.

  "Tessa, tell me the truth," she said. Kiley turned and stood in front of me, shoving her face much too close for comfort. "Do you think Mandy will notice?"

  "No, I don't think she will notice at all," I said. I didn't like to lie, but I also didn't want to spend more time in this tiny bathroom comforting a girl I barely knew because she tried to take a bath in the sink.

  "Oh good," she said. "Thank you."

  With that, she dashed out of the bathroom. Tilly put her arm around my waist and together we exited the bathroom. When we came out, Rebecca was sitting on top of the bar, still buying drinks and rounds for anyone who wanted them. It was not looking good for some of these girls, so I rounded everyone up and got us all back on the bus, vowing to be done drinking for the night.

  Chapter Eighteen

  The rest of the night was still fun and I had ingested enough alcohol before I stopped drinking to guarantee a nice buzz that I could coast on. It also ensured that I could continue to monitor Mandy's alcohol consumption so that she wouldn't be too hung over the next day. Thankfully there was one recovery day between the bachelorette party and the wedding, but it wasn't a totally free day. We had appointments to get our nails done and the next night was the groom's dinner along with the rehearsal.

  Once the party bus rolled back into town, it stopped in a public parking lot downtown that was within walking distance of the Donut Hut. As the woman of the hour, I thought Mandy deserved to be dropped off at home. The rest of the girls had rides waiting for them and a few even stumbled their way back to the Loony Bin for a bit more fun before their night was over.

  I was planning on giving Max a call. He had told me that he would be waiting to drive me home, but first I wanted to make sure that the bus was in good condition. I helped the driver pick up a few things that had been left behind and I gave him a big tip for not only getting us around safely, but also doing it with a smile on his face. I'm sure dealing with a large group of rowdy women is not easy.

  Climbing down the stairs one more time, I headed toward a bench that was sitting underneath a street light. I gave Max a quick call and told him that I was ready and would be waiting for him to come. He didn't live far, so I would only have to wait five minutes or so.

  It was a nice night, so I didn't mind having to wait. It was one of those nights that didn't cool down at all, but the mugginess went away. I watched cars drive by and basked in the summer warmth as I thought about Mandy and Trevor's wedding. I lost myself in thought, making a to do list of everything that would need to get done before they could walk down the aisle on Saturday.

  "Mind if I sit down?"

  The voice made me jump and I looked over to see Rebecca looking at me. She was holding the bottle of whiskey from the bus. I gestured towards the bench and she sat down, never looking away from my face. I instantly felt uneasy.

  "I just wanted to say thank you," she said.

  "No problem, one more girl on the party bus wasn't really a big deal," I said, putting a smile on my face to mask my discomfort.

  "Not for that," she said. "For leading the police to my sister. Before, I was supposed to give her at least part of Murray's estate but now that she has been locked away, I get all of it. I can finally live my life for me. I'm free and you are the one I have to thank for that."

  As she spoke, she slowly slid towards me on the bench. I slowly stuck my hand down into my purse and wrapped my fingers around the heavy metal flashlight that I always carried with me. After Peter died, I had suddenly been scared of the dark, so I stashed flashlights everywhere. But this flashlight wasn't just good for illuminating up dark spaces. It had also come in handy as a weapon sometimes.

  "You shouldn't thank me," I said. "That is not what I did at all. I simply found a clue and made sure the police saw it too. I didn't do it for you. If I did it for anyone, I did it for Mandy. I couldn't stand to have her wedding ruined."

  "Well either way, you sure made things easier for me," she said. Her red earrings were flashing in the light as she shook her hair around. There was still something weird about her earrings, but I was more concerned with the strange things she was saying rather than inspecting her jewelry. Rebecca's self-esteem problem seemed to have melted away once her title as housekeeper had been dropped.

  By now, she was so close to me that our legs were touching. Her breath smelled heavily like whiskey and I turned my face so that I didn't have to be assaulted by it. But I kept sight of her in my peripheral. There was just something about her that I felt like I couldn't trust. I darted my eyes back and forth, hoping to see Max's car round the corner soon.

  "Don't get me wrong, I am awfully sad that Murray died," Rebecca said. "You know that he didn't really love Carol, right? Well here's a secret that I hope you can keep."

  Now she moved so close that she was practically laying on top of me as I moved my body as far away from her as I could. The metal railing of the park bench was digging into my side. I pulled the flashlight out of my bag and set it on my lap, ready to strike if I needed to. In this moment, Rebecca seemed like a slippery fish, one that I just couldn't get a grasp on.

  "The secret is that Murray and I were in love," Rebecca said. Her whiskey breath seemed to float all around my face. "He left his fortune to me because he loved me, not Carol. And I loved him back."

  I thought about asking why he didn't leave Carol for her, but I managed to stop just short of that. Rebecca was seeming to come unhinged and I did not want to draw her ire.

  A car screeched to a stop in front of the bench and the door opened up. Max dashed out of the vehicle and grabbed my hands, pulling me out from under Rebecca's drunken position. Rebecca crashed down onto the arm of the bench, eliciting a loud yelp from her. Max grabbed my purse from the ground, shoved it into my arms and gave me a gentle push towards his car.

  "Go, I'll take care of her," he said.

  I walked around the car to the passenger seat. As I slid in, I could hear Max calling for a cab on his phone. Through the open driver door, I watched him in the moonlight and couldn't help but think of him as my knight in shining armor. It was such a cliche, but he just had a knack for showing up in my time of need.

  Soon enough, a Shady Lake cab pulled up behind Max's car and Max handed the cab driver some cash to get Rebecca home. Then he slid into the car and turned to me. Taking my face in his hands, he gave me a kiss before pulling back to stare deeply in my eyes. His dark eyes searched mine, looking for any sign that I had been hurt or mistreated.

  "Are you okay?" he finally asked.

  "I'm alright," I said. "Rebecca's just in a weird place in her life and she's had too much to drink tonight."

  "That's for sure," Max said. "She was drunk as a skunk. I'm just glad that she'll get home okay. I'm sure the fact that her sister is in jail really threw her for a loop."

  I was about to refute that when I stopped short. There was no sense in telling Max everything Rebecca has said. Max had even said she was drunk as a skunk plus she was obviously dealing with a lot of heavy emotional stuff. That kind of thing will make a person say crazy things.

  Besides, I was getting really sleepy and I had a lot to do tomorrow. When I had a clear head in the morning, I would think through what Rebecca had said and see if there was anything I thought Max should know.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Bright and early the next morning, my phone rang. I couldn't even open my eyes as it rang and I wondered how it could be so loud. I usually would accidentally flip it to vibrate only, so I had no sense how loud my ring actually was. Had I possibly accidentally made it louder? My head was throbbing from last nigh
t and even though I had been good with my water intake, it had obviously not been enough.

  I finally managed to find my phone and flip it open, offering whoever was on the other end a weak hello.

  "You'll never believe it," Max said without offering a hello back. "But we finally found Carol's American flag brooch that you remembered. She had about fifteen jewelry boxes, so we had to comb through them all."

  "Congratulations," I mumbled, wondering why this wasn't able to wait until later on in the morning when those of us who had attended certain festivities would be more likely to wake up without a raging headache.

  "That was the good part. Are you ready for the bad part?"

  "Sure, hit me with it," I said as I tried to rub the sleep out of my eyes.

  "It isn't missing any gems," he said. "We looked the whole thing over, even under a magnifying glass and there are no missing jewels. The gem we found matches the ones on this brooch, though. What do you make of that?"

  His voice was excited. Max loved a good mystery and a good puzzle just like I did. But somehow I just couldn't get myself to be excited. I grabbed the glass of water my mother had helpfully left on my nightstand and chugged half of it down. It had been sitting in the sun and was warm now, but I knew that it would help the headache.

  "I think maybe there is a matching piece of jewelry that you haven't found yet," I said. "Now if you don't mind, I'd like to drag myself to the bathroom to look for some medicine for the marching band that is trying to pound it's way out of my skull."

  "Sorry sweetheart," Max chuckled. "But I will see you later on today. And if you think of anything when it comes to this jewelry, you let me know alright? I love you."

  "I love you too," I said, trying not to sound miserable.

  I clapped the phone shut and put it back on my nightstand. Swinging my legs out of bed, I grabbed the glass of water and chugged down the other half. After a few false starts, I got all the way up to standing. I puttered around and made myself slip into a pair of jean shorts and an acceptable top before finding some medicine in the medicine cabinet.

  After a few deep breaths and ten more minutes of laying on my bed, I was ready to join the land of the living. I made my way down the main staircase and into the kitchen where I found my parents sitting at the small table, drinking coffee and reading the paper.

  "I'm glad to see you are up," my mom said, glancing at the clock. "I was just about to get you up. Remember you have a nail appointment with Mandy in a half hour."

  I poured myself a cup of coffee and took a long swig, feeling a little bit like I was going to vomit and a little bit like the life was being poured back into me. Looking at the clock, I realized she was right. I wondered how Mandy was feeling this morning. I also couldn't help but think of how some of those other girls felt. I had stopped drinking halfway through the night and still felt like death warmed over. Maybe I just had a low tolerance level or maybe I was just getting old.

  "Are you in there sweetheart?" my dad joked, waving his hand in front of my face.

  I laughed along with my parents before taking another drink of coffee. The morning sun rays were bathing us all in light and even though I was incredibly hungover, I realized how lucky I was to have a caring family like this one. The Schmidt family stuck together through everything and after what Rebecca had said the night before, I realized that wasn't the family experience that everyone had.

  "I'm alright," I said. "Just trying to get back to my normal self before I have to go get my nails done."

  "Well finish your coffee and I'll drive you there," my mom said. "I thought I'd see if they could fit me in for an appointment too."

  After another cup of coffee, two more cups of water and a bathroom break, my mom and I ventured out to the strip mall on the edge of town to get our nails done at Broadway Nails, inexplicably named since it was nowhere near Broadway Street.

  Mandy was already inside, looking unbelievably perky. Judging by the large sunglasses on some of the girls, I could tell I was not the most hungover of the bunch. Somehow that knowledge made me feel even better. Mandy waved me over to the chair next to her.

  "I saved you this seat," she said. "Sit down Maid of Honor!"

  I sat down and set my purse next to me. My mother took the time to catch up with Mandy's mom Sally, who was also sitting in the waiting area. Mandy had already decided that everyone in the wedding party would have light pink toenail polish so the only thing I had to do was sit back and relax as I got my toenails polished. Mandy chattered away, reliving all of the funny things from the night before. Somehow, Kiley's sink bath didn't make the highlight reel and I wondered how she had managed to get away with it without Mandy noticing.

  At one point, I almost fell asleep, but startled awake enough that the woman working on my toes smudged one. She shot a glare at me as I apologized profusely and made a mental note to give a large tip. Mandy finished her toes when I was still having mine done. While she moved over to the little table with the dryers, I closed my eyes again and thought about Carol and Rebecca.

  In some ways, I knew that not all sibling relationships were friendships. But I just couldn't fathom how the sisters could live together without being close at all. I couldn't imagine making any of my siblings work for me in such a humiliating capacity. My heart went out to Rebecca in that regard.

  But there was something callous underneath that turned my stomach. She was totally indifferent to the fact that Carol was in jail and had apparently killed Murray, who Rebecca admitted to being in love with. How could she be so upset about losing Murray while being almost gleeful about inheriting his money? And how in the world had she managed to be the one to inherit his estate?

  I had to tell Max all about that conversation. I opened my eyes but managed to stop myself before I got up. My toes twitched just enough to make the woman glare at me again. She kept working, but this time she was painting twice as fast, probably to try and get me out of there.

  That was alright because I had to get out of here and call Max. Suddenly the conversation with Rebecca from last night seemed different when I wasn't in the haze of alcohol. It suddenly felt like something I need to urgently tell Max about.

  As soon as the lady was finished, I paid my bill and left a very, very generous tip for the poor woman who deserved a better client than me. With a wave at my mother, I flew out the door and pulled out my phone to call Max. I started pacing up and down the sidewalk as it rang.

  He answered and this time it was my turn to ignore his greeting and launch into my story. I told him everything that Rebecca had told me the night before, including the odd feeling she gave me. When I was done, there was silence on the other end of the line for a while.

  "That certainly changes things a little bit," Max said. He was reining himself in and playing it close to the vest as Officer Marcus. Something that I said had sparked an idea in him, but there was no way he would tell me about it until he investigated it closer.

  "Do you think that will help the investigation?" I couldn't help but ask.

  "I can't say much yet, but I think it might," Max said. "I have to go and you should get back to helping Mandy."

  "You're right," I said. "I love you and I'll see you tonight."

  "Love you too," came the rushed reply.

  I knew not to take it personally. Max was off and running on another tangent with this murder case and he needed to follow the lead before he lost hold of it. And he was right, I needed to help Mandy. The next thing we were doing was decorating.

  Chapter Twenty

  My mother had been able to squeeze in an appointment to get her nails done but that also meant I had to wait impatiently while she finished. The rest of the bridal party left, all headed to the winery to get as much done as they could. The tasting room would be closing and as soon as it did, we had to start arranging things and setting up all of the tables. Everything had to be done tonight because there wouldn't be any time tomorrow.

  As soon as we were home, I gr
abbed the fancy dress I was planning to wear to the groom's dinner and carefully shoved it into a bag. I didn't know much about fashion, but Mandy had helped me pick out this flowy, grecian style dress that was a dark maroon color. It wrapped across my chest like a toga and helped accentuate the few assets I did have. I had been planning on having my mother bring it with her tonight.

  "I'm sorry honey, but I can't bring it," my mom said. "I could, but we have to wait to come until after your car is hopefully done at the shop and that means we might be late bringing it. I think it's best you bring it along right now."

  "That's fine, but I need your keys," I said, sticking my hand out in a way that hearkened back to when I was a teenager.

  "Oh honey, I can't do that either," she said. "Your father and I need our car so that we can go pick yours up. The winery isn't too far. Maybe you could bicycle there and we should be able to fit your bike in the back of the station wagon once we get it there."

  I grumbled to myself a little, but I was already running late. I thought about calling the Shady Lake Taxi Company, but their service was hit or miss which meant they might have someone come to get me right now or I might have to wait for an hour until Sheryl was done watching her son's baseball game. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't mind waiting. But I knew that I was already the last person to get to the winery.

  Strapping my helmet on once again, I climbed on the front of the tandem bike and pushed off. It was oddly becoming more and more normal to be riding a tandem bicycle by myself. I tried to pretend it was just a regular bicycle, which was easy enough since Trevor wasn't riding with me this time.

  In no time at all, I got to the winery. As I parked the bike, I gave myself a little pat on the back. This biking thing was getting easier and easier. Maybe I could actually get in shape for once riding this thing. Well, I'd like to buy a single bike, but it was the same idea.

  The tasting room had already closed to the public and bridesmaids and family were bustling around moving tables into the configuration Derek had devised in jail. As soon as a table was put in the right place, tablecloths and decorations were briskly added on top. It was all coming together just as we had hoped.