Killerfind by Sharon Woods Hopkins Page A

She stopped and
groped around inside her purse, finally locating the instrument after upturning
the purse on to the passenger seat. Just as she answered, the phone quit. Crap .
     She didn’t recognize the number, so she tried
calling back. She didn’t leave a message after hearing a generic phone company
pre-recorded message. Probably a wrong number .
    The phone rang again. Before she could speak, a
bubbly sounding Ricky said, “Hey, girlfriend, what are you doing?” Ricky was
perpetually cheerful.
    “Putting everything back in my purse, since I had to
dump it out for a call I just got and no one was on the line.” Rhetta stuffed
everything back in her bag and sat back, relishing the now frigid air blasting
out of the vents.
    “Hope you didn’t cuss too bad.”
    “I want you to know I didn’t cuss at all,” Rhetta
said. She didn’t count crap as a cuss word.
    “Right. Listen here, my friend, we’re having a big
barbeque and get-together at Jeremy’s mother’s swanky place this Saturday. She
just got a pool installed and we’re going to break it in. I’d love for you and
Randolph to come.”
    “Isn’t September a little late for a pool party?”
Rhetta wiped a tissue across her sweating brow, and reconsidered. “I guess it
wouldn’t be, not when it’s a hundred plus outside. What am I saying?”
Perspiration continued to drip down her nose. Since she also felt her back and
neck sweating in spite of the frigid air, she knew she was experiencing that
perk of being forty-plus. As Ricky chattered on about the event, Rhetta
wondered when Mrs. Spears moved into the house. She’d have to ask Ricky when
she paused to breathe. According to Ricky, after losing her home Mrs. Spears
had rented a two-bedroom duplex, which was a far cry from owning a luxury home
and getting a new pool.
    Ricky was still prattling. “The pool was supposed to
be finished two months ago, but the company was way behind after its huge
spring sale, so they finally got hers finished right before Labor Day.”
    Rhetta started to decline, since she didn’t like
Jeremy, and Randolph didn’t like pools. However, she’d never met Mrs. Spears,
so curiosity prevailed and she accepted the invite. Randolph would mutter and
fuss that he wanted to spend the weekend doing anything else but sitting around
a pool. He never swam in them, claiming there were too many possibilities of
swimming in substances other than water.
    “Sure, that sounds like fun.” Liar . “What
time and where?”
    Ricky rattled off the address and Rhetta tapped it
into her phone. “What can I bring?” She immediately thought about heading to Primo
Vino! to pick up a couple of bottles of local wine. Randolph didn’t drink
anymore, but she was sure everyone else there would partake.
    “Mrs. Spears is having the event catered, so I’d say
you probably don’t need to bring anything. Except if you want to stop at Primo
Vino! ”
    Rhetta laughed. “Who knows who so well now?”
    “ Ciao .” Ricky signed off before Rhetta had a
chance to ask her about Mrs. Spears’ new fancy digs. Oh, well, she’d find out
this weekend.
    Rhetta placed the phone on the console and pulled
out on to Kingshighway. Hmm. I guess Mrs. Spears is recovering financially
since losing her husband and her home. Maybe Mr. Spears had a big life
insurance policy. A catered party and a new pool? She recognized the
address as being one of the stately older homes near Southeast Missouri State
University. How did the widow Spears get a loan to buy another house so soon
after the foreclosure? Rhetta knew she couldn’t have gotten a loan—unless
Jeremy had signed for her. He might have. He was single, and had a decent
income, if she remembered more of Ricky’s details about him. However, Ricky had
commented that Jeremy wasn’t making money on his project yet, and couldn’t have
financed the subdivision without help from his California investors. His credit
couldn’t have been good enough to buy a half