we'll all feel better if we have a decent breakfast under our belts.'
Once Edie was in the house, Ali continued scanning the various online news Web sites. There were three that included pictures of Dave dragging her away from the Alero during the rest area confrontation. The captions on two of those identified her as an 'unidentified carjacking victim.' In the third, the usual suspect and journalistic busybody LMB, the blogger at socal copshop.com, identified her by name in the caption of a particularly unflattering photo. In it, Ali looked downright ghastly.
Knowing that some of her cutloose fans were bound to see the photo and worry, Ali decided it was time to face up to her blog and write something about what had been going on.
CUTLOOSEBLOG.COM
Years ago I remember reading a poem by Rudyard Kipling in which he said 'the female of the species is more deadly than the male.' In the last few days, I have seen this statement borne out on several different fronts.
In recent days I had the misfortune of seeing my former husband's fiancee choose to end her own life and that of her unborn child rather than face the consequences of her own murderous actions. April Gaddis took her mother's life. Then she threatened my life and my mother's as well. Days earlier, someone had referred to me as a 'Black Widow.' April Gaddis may not have been married prior to her death and she may not be directly responsible for Paul Grayson's murder, either, but I still believe the term appliesto her.
Yes, my husband, Paul Grayson, was murdered, and it turns out his death was merely the tip of the iceberg. Because there's been another Black Widow at work in Southern California for a very long time. Lucia Joaquin was in fact a widowthe widow of a known drug kingpinand a successful drug trafficker in her own right. I'm not sure how Paul got caught in her web of evil, but he did. She's dead now, too, as is her only granddaughter. They both perished when the helicopter in which they were attempting to flee crashed and burst into flames.
I owe the fact that I am writing this today to the heroic efforts of a friend of mine, a guy named Dave Holman, who has come to my rescue more than once in the last few days. Dave is a police officer in Sedona, Arizona. He's also a member of the Marine Corps Reserves. Last night I watched him work frantically to save the life of a friend of his, a wounded DEA officer, who is also in the Marine Reserves. In the past I don't believe I've ever spent much time wondering about the Marine Corps motto
I've looked at my new e-mail list. It's stuffed to the gills. In fact, my server is probably rejecting e-mails as I write this, claiming my mailbox is full and my bandwidth is over its limit. As I've indicated, I've had my hands full for the last few days. I'll get around to answering the mail when I can. Please be patient.
Ali was starting to slog her way through the mail when Chris, still limping, ambled out onto the patio. His hair was standing on end. The way he looked reminded her so much of how he had looked as a child that it made her heart melt, and it took real effort on Ali's part to keep from leaping up and hugging him.
'Where's Grandma?' he wanted to know.
'Making breakfast,' Ali answered.
'Great. I'm starved.'
Chris stretched and headed for the kitchen. As soon as he opened the back door, Ali caught a whiff of her mother's baking coffee cake wafting through the air. Ali followed her son's lead. Then, once she was inside the house, she heard the sound of a hair dryer coming from the living room, and she followed that as well.
Wielding a whining hair dryer, Edie stood over the bird's-eye maple credenza in the front entryway. Nearby, a mound of bulging black plastic bags lay stacked by the front door.
Ali spoke to her mother three times before Edie noticed her. She switched off the noisy hair dryer and then turned her hearing aids back on.
'What are you doing?' Ali asked again.
'I asked your father what to do about this water mark,' Edie said. 'Someone must have put a vase down without wiping off the bottom. Dad says to try the hair-dryer routine first. If this doesn't work, he says I should bring it home and he'll refinish the top for you there. Or else Kip will. Dad says he's pretty good with his hands.'
As far as Ali could see, the ring wasn't getting much better, but she appreciated her mother's effort more than she could say.
'And I got rid of the old dead flowers,' Edie added. 'They were falling all to pieces, dropping petals everywhere, and stinking up a storm. Hope you don't mind.'
Ali didn't mind at all. She was delighted to find that the bouquets that were to have marked Paul and April's wedding had been swept away in the flower-clearing operation along with all the condolence bouquets. The catering tables and chairs had been collected and stacked at one end of the living room.
'Your yard man,' Edie said, nodding toward the chairs and tables. 'He helped me with that. What's his name again?'
'Jesus.'
'Yes, that's it. Jesus. He said he needed to finish doing something out front, but that as soon as he's done, he'll come collect the bags of dead flowers and put them on his compost heap.'
Jesus had come back to reclaim his job, just as she had asked. Crime scene tape aside, he must have been the one who had repaired and reassembled the broken gate.
'He said I should tell you that the lawyer you sent him to was very good.'
Right then, with Marcella Johnson's big touchdown on the scoreboard, Ali was glad to hear that another of her many attorneys had turned out to be a positive for someone.
'Good,' Ali said. 'As much as I'm paying in legal fees at the moment, it's only fair that we end up with decent representation and a few wins on our side.'
'Jesus and I were having a bit of a communication problem,' Edie continued. 'As you know, my Spanish isn't all that good and I had my hearing aids turned off because the hair dryer was so loud, but I think he said a friend of his is coming over a little later. He mentioned her name, but I didn't quite catch it. Olivia maybe?'
'Elvira?' Ali asked. 'My old cook?'
'That could be it. I just didn't hear him properly.'
They had finished their breakfast of cheese baked eggs and coffee cake when the doorbell rang. When Ali went to answer it, she found that the bags filled with dead flowers had magically and quietly disappeared. She opened the door to find Elvira Jimenez standing nervously on the front porch.
'Why, Elvira,' Ali exclaimed with pleasure. 'How good to see you again. Come in.'
Elvira hung back. Ali went out and gave her a welcoming hug.
'I should not have come,' Elvira said.
'Of course you should have,' Ali said. 'Our other cook just left. If you're not working somewhere else, maybe you'd like your old job back.'
Chris appeared in the doorway. When Elvira saw him, her face broke into a broad smile, and she allowed him to lead her into the house.
'You're too skinny,' she told him, patting his belly affectionately. 'Someone needs to give you more cookies. And tortillas.'
Chris took her into the kitchen, where Elvira sniffed the air. Nodding appreciatively in the direction of the coffee cake, she held out her hand to Edie Larson.
'I believe I have met you other times when you were here,' Elvira said.
'Yes,' Edie agreed. 'It's nice to see you again. Won't you sit down?'
Elvira looked uncomfortable. Her eyes slipped from one face to another, finally coming to rest on Ali. Elvira shook her head and remained standing.
