We were silent for a moment, while I let the information soak in. “What happened to him?” I finally asked.
“He was shot behind the restaurant after work. Execution-style.”
“What does that mean?”
“They shot him at point-blank range, but they probably tried to get information out of him first.”
“Oh, my…why would someone do that?”
“You tell me.”
My heart skipped a beat. “How would I know?” He was so exasperating. “I had one dealing with him and you think I know why someone killed him?”
“For such a quiet town, it’s more than a little coincidental that your mother is murdered, someone breaks into your house and a man was murdered last night. Someone you had a dealing with.”
If he only knew about my break-in minutes earlier. “Do you think the police will figure out I knew him?”
“That depends, Rose. How well did you know him?” Bitterness drenched his words.
“You very well know I didn’t know him in the way you’re insinuating. I think I’m done talking to you, Joe.”
“Wait!” He called out, pleading, before I could hang up.
“What?”
“I’m sorry. I don’t want to fight with you. I was just worried and apparently jealous.”
Jealous? Joe jealous over me? For some reason I didn't totally believe him. Three more days rang through my head. Besides, I had to admit I liked the idea of Joe being jealous. “So where did you think I went last night?”
“I was worried you ran off and did something crazy like sleep with some guy before Monday.”
“And why do you care?” I couldn’t help asking.
He paused, then answered, soft and sexy: “Because I want it to be me.”
I couldn't stop the sharp intake of air from the instantaneous fire igniting in my gut. “Then don't make me wait until Monday,” I whispered. “Maybe we can work out some kind of compromise.”
He paused again. I had a feeling Joe was doing some conscious-wrestling. He was trying to be honorable and I was trying to drag him down. I really was wicked. I almost felt bad. Almost.
“We can talk about it tonight at dinner. Remember?”
“About that…” I glanced around my kitchen with a grimace, unsure I could have everything cleaned up by then, or if I even wanted to. “I’m not sure I can cook.”
“We’ll figure something out. I’m more interested in the company than the food.”
“Maybe we could eat at your place. I could cook there.”
He paused again. “No, that’s not going to work. My house is a wreck. A total bachelor pad.”
I frowned. He didn't have any trouble letting Hilary in there. I rolled my eyes. I didn't want to think about Hilary. “Okay, well we’ll figure it out later. See you tonight.”
“Wait, Rose, where were you last night?” He didn’t sound jealous. He sounded anxious.
“At my sister’s house.”
I could have sworn I heard him mutter “thank God” under his breath.
We hung up and I pulled out the phone book and called a cleaning company, offering to pay extra if they were there within the hour. Next, I called Violet and told her I had a slight delay. While on the phone, I noticed my Walmart receipt under the junk spread across the table. I pulled it free, looking over the items. I still had things to do today.
“Violet, how about we go to the park for a picnic? We can get food on the way. It’ll be fun. We can bring Muffy.”
The maid service arrived ahead of schedule and was immediately taken back by the state of the kitchen. An older Hispanic woman shot a look of disapproval in my direction when she noticed the hole in the hallway wall. I shrugged and murmured something about wild parties. I instructed them to throw everything in Momma’s room into the now empty boxes. In the kitchen, they could toss anything broken and put everything else away. I handed a set of keys to the women and told her to hide them under the mat outside the door. A totally obvious place, but it wasn’t like locked doors kept people out anyway.
After I got the cleaning service squared away, I called a taxi to take me to the car rental agency. They apologized over the trouble and offered me a new car, but I told them to just give me a refund on the unused days.
When I got to Violet’s house, she appeared surprised to see my old car but didn’t ask questions. We loaded the kids and Muffy into Violet’s minivan and headed to Henryetta’s new splash park.