“Damn, Theodora,” Delaney groaned, holding her stomach. “You never disappoint.”
“Very tasty,” Mamie agreed, standing up and going to the sliding glass door, throwing it wide open. “Except for the fact that it feels like it’s a hundred degrees in here.” She threw a glance in Indigo’s direction. “Don’t stress,” she told her granddaughter. “The screen’s shut. None of your precious animals are in danger.”
“Thank you, Mamie,” Indigo responded. “But it isn’t hot in here.”
“That’s because you’re four,” Mamie said. “And I don’t wanna hear from any of the rest of you, either. It’s coming for you,” she warned. “You, too, Jordan, you stick around with this one long enough.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Jordan replied, not sure what else to say. When Delaney almost choked on a mouthful of ice cream, he threw her a dirty look.
The slight breeze that came through the screen was cold, and it brought the kittens into the room, their noses upward as they caught the scents carried in on the evening air.
“So, I hear you were at the bowling alley the day it flooded,” Mamie said, looking at Indigo.
“Me and Jordan went to play but we couldn’t.”
“Butch has needed new plumbing for a long time. That building is at least as old as the dirt it’s sitting on. I know Glory was after him long before she took off for Europe. I guess it finally caught up to him. I hear there was so much damage done that he’s not sure he’ll be able to reopen.”
Indigo licked the last bit of vanilla ice cream from her spoon. “You mean there’s not gonna be any more bowling?”
“Well, I don’t know that for sure. What I do know is that Mr. Henry quite liked your idea about the hockey rink.”
“Did you hear about that, Laney?” Indigo asked.
“No,” Delaney shook her head. “Tell me.”
“I thought it would be good if they froze all the water in the bowling alley. Then Jordan could teach me how to skate and we could play hockey.”
“Wow,” Delaney said pushing away her ice cream bowl. She pulled her long sleeves down even further so they were covering her hands, then she crossed her arms over her chest. “You guys have been watching a lot of hockey, haven’t you?”
“It’s so much fun.”
“It was actually something Gramps started. He was watching TV when we were there one Wednesday. They were showing some replays of an Avalanche game, and it sparked Indigo’s interest immediately. We decided to watch a game one night. I thought she’d ask to turn it off after a few minutes, but she didn’t.”
“The girl is hooked,” Theo said, smiling at Indigo.
“Oh, no, Antee,” Indigo told her, looking very serious. “Hooking is a bad thing.” Theo couldn’t help but laugh.
“The rest of us thought it was funny,” Jordan said, leaning over to kiss Theo’s cheek.
“I think you must have quite a bit of pull with Mister Henry, Indigo Blue.” Mamie took a sip of her coffee, ignoring the joke. She looked over at Jordan, then at Theo. “He called me up and asked me if I could come and see him the other day. Turns out he had some questions about property taxes. Butch’s property in particular. He said he had some things to talk to Glory about, and you know what that means.”
“Nobody does anything in this town without talking to Mister Henry and Glory first,” Delaney stated, hugging herself a little tighter.
“Interesting.” Jordan stood up and started clearing the table. “I wonder what Gramps is planning?”
“I bet you’re going to find out sooner rather than later.” Mamie put her napkin on her plate and pushed herself away from the table. “I think I’ll head on home now. Indigo, why don’t you run and shut that door. Delaney’s lips are turning blue.” Indigo did as she was told. “Would you like it if you could play hockey?”
Indigo turned to look at her grandmother. “That would be so amazing.”
Mamie stood up and gave Theo a pointed look. “So much better than ballet.”
Delaney waited for Mamie to walk out of the room before she quietly said, “There it is.”
“Could’ve been worse,” Theo said with a shrug.
“So much worse.”
“Indie, let’s go say goodbye to your grandma. Then it’s bath time.” She turned to Delaney. “Will you stay a little longer if I promise to loan you a sweatshirt?”
“Sure,” Delaney said, standing up. “I’ll meet you up there. I’m freezing my ass off.”
Theo and Delaney sat at the top of the stairs. Theo wanted to make sure she could hear Indigo in the tub, but she didn’t want Indigo to hear what she and Delaney were talking about.
“I went in and started the autopsy today. All murders are brutal. This one was exceptionally so.”
“Ashley said she was raped.”
“I’m surprised she had that information. I’ll have to talk to Ames. Somebody in his department has loose lips.”
“Then I probably shouldn’t tell you she knows Mina was strangled then.”
“Damn it. None of that has been shared with the public yet. She was both of those things. Actually, I think she might have been raped more than once. Her left ankle was badly broken. He tried to break the right one, too, but he didn’t quite get the job done.”
“Does it make you feel any better to know Ashley didn’t have that information?”
“Only a little.”
