“If we hadn't gone away together that night, Oretta would still be alive. I don't know if I could marry you now, feeling that guilt.”
The sharp crack I heard next had to be a slap.
“Ow,” Matavious yelled. Something crashed on the floor and shattered. “Damn it, Debbie, you broke the massage oil. It'll stain the floor.”
Before I realized what was happening, the closet door burst open, and a tall, skinny, naked man was staring at me with a horrified expression that would have been funny if it hadn't been directed at me. I could only imagine what I looked like to him.
The next moments, as I came out of the supply closet, were a blur. Matavious grabbing a towel and covering himself. The woman pulling on slacks and a sweater. Matavious looking for his glasses. The woman jamming her feet into her boots. Me looking in vain for a nonexistent escape route. Me finally slumping into a chair and waiting for the consequences.
“Call the police,” the Debbie-woman screamed at Matavious.
“But, darling, we don't want people to know about us.”
I breathed a little more easily. He had his reputation to lose if this got out. Maybe I'd be okay.
She glared at me, seized her purse, and slammed out of the room.
Matavious made his towel more secure around his waist. “Tori Miracle! What the hell are you doing here? How did you get in?”
“I was looking for you. The front door wasn't locked, so I came in, thinking you were here.”
“And why were you in my closet?” He'd calmed down a little. Maybe I'd get away with it.
“I thought it was the way out. By the time I realized I was in a closet, you started-well, you know-and I was too embarrassed to come out.”
He scratched his head, but he was smiling a little. I was winning him over, I thought.
“Why were you looking for me?” He sucked in his stomach. Now I knew I'd won him over.
“I only wanted to ask you some questions.”
“What kind of questions?”
“About where you were the night your wife died. But I don't have to. You were with her, weren't you?” I pointed at the little pile of ladies’ underwear Debbie hadn't had time to put back on.
He turned red all the way down to his towel and tried with one foot to push the silky pink things underneath the examining table.
“Were you going to ask your wife for a divorce?” I figured the best defense for my bad behavior would be to go on the offense.
He glanced toward the door and lowered his voice. “No,” he said firmly. “I had no intention of divorcing Oretta.”
“And what did your girlfriend think of that?”
“I'll answer that,” Debbie said from the doorway. “She didn't know. She trusted him. She was ready to give up her husband and children for him. That's what his girlfriend thought!” She threw Matavious a look that would probably reappear in his nightmares for years to come. “I could kill you.”
“Aw, Debbie…”
“Maybe I'd better go,” I said.
“Like hell you will,” Debbie said. “I called the police.”
Matavious blanched. “I told you not to.”
“And why should I care what you say?”
Caught between them, I was almost relieved when the police, in the person of Afton Finkey, arrived.
To give Afton credit, he didn't even crack a smile as he listened to the naked man and the half-dressed woman complain about me.
When they were through, he said, “Come on, Tori. I've got to take you down to the station.”
I tried a little humor. “Are you going to put me in leg irons?”
He still didn't crack a smile, and I was beginning to realize he was taking this seriously.
He didn't even talk to me in the police car.
Leaving the cruiser by the gas pump, he led me through Hoopengartner's Garage office, into the back room where the Lickin Creek Police Department was located.
Luscious looked up from the army-surplus desk, shook his head in despair, and said, “Tori, I know I asked for your help, but I didn't think you'd do something like this!”
The next hour was really dreadful. Luscious actually took me to the old Pizza Hut building where Judge Fet- terhoff had temporary offices until the courthouse was rebuilt. After a long wait, the judge listened to Luscious file a complaint against me, a court date was set, and I was released on my own recognizance. But not before the judge looked sternly at me over his half-moon glasses and said, “I've been hearing a lot of stories about you bothering people, young lady. I hope this puts a stop to it.”
In the waiting room I asked, “Can I make my one phone call now?”
Still no smile from Luscious. “You're not under arrest.
You can make all the phone calls you want-if you've got enough quarters.”
“What about my truck? I left it at Matavious's office.”
“I don't want you'uns going anywhere near his office, Tori. Give me the key. I'll fetch it later.”
I placed a call to Maggie Roy and shivered in the dark parking lot until she arrived.
CHAPTER 18
“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE NOW?” MAGGIE asked, once I was belted into the front seat of her car.
“You might say I was caught somewhere I wasn't supposed to be.”
Maggie gasped. “You were trespassing?”
“That's what the judge called it. He also charged me with breaking and entering.” I described my ridiculous adventure to Maggie.
When I was through, she said, “There are two things you need to keep in mind about Lickin Creek, Tori. First, the Lickin Creek Grapevine spreads gossip faster than the speed of light, so you can't do anything wrong and not expect to get caught.”
“I am fully aware that the news of my arrest is spreading through town, even as we speak,” I said.
Maggie laughed. “Not to mention what the gossips are saying about Matavious's affair with his married receptionist. The other thing you have to be aware of is the extent of the old boys’ network. All those good old boys who are descendants of the town's founders.” She glanced sideways at me. “Like Judge Fetterhoff and Matavious Clopper and-”
“Let me guess… Stanley Roadcap.”
Maggie nodded. “Yup. And Marvin Bumbaugh, of course. Even Jackson Clopper. They stick together against outsiders, Tori, no matter what they think of each other.”
“When you say
“Right. You've upset a lot of important people in the past few days. They aren't going to let you get away with it.” She giggled and changed the subject abruptly. “Now, tell me what Matavious looks like naked.”
“You really don't want to go there, Maggie.” I tried to speak flippantly, but I was concerned. Not only had I angered the old boys’ network, but someone was scared enough about what I'd been doing to leave the bean-bag cat on my door as a threat. Was it one of them? I was quiet for the rest of the short drive home.
“Here we are,” Maggie said cheerfully. “Going to offer me a cuppa coffee?”
“Isn't Bill waiting for you?” I asked ungraciously. I really wanted to be alone with my thoughts.
“He left for the Poconos right after the parade. To set up a Christmas reenactment camp. I'm going to join him
