No Accounting for Murder

Chapter 31

Chapter 31

At five o'clock on Friday, the evening shadows lent a warm glow to Carly's living room. She settled back in her easy chair, a quilt over her knees, Doc nestled on her lap. In the background, the evening news program played its opening theme song. From the kitchen, male voices bantered back and forth as the wonderful smells of garlic and frying onions wafted through the house. Carly's stomach growled and she realized she was hungry.

And well she should be. She hadn't eaten since sometime yesterday and even that was just a hazy memory. Mike and Bert were conjuring up some "gastronomic delight", to use Mike's words. She hoped it wasn't a catastrophic failure and they wouldn't leave too much mess for her to clean up.

Carly absently stroked Doc's ears, reveling in the peace and quiet of her home. After the confrontation at the hospital, the ensuing police reports, and the reporters encamped on her front lawn when they arrived home from the board meeting, sitting quietly as she waited for dinner to cook was a nice respite.

Carly opened her eyes when she felt a touch on her shoulder. Startled, it took her a moment to realize she was safe at home.

Mike's lopsided smile communicated his apology. "I'm sorry. I should have spoken first."

She smiled at him. "It's okay. Is dinner ready?"

He extracted the remote control from Carly's hand and turned up the volume on the television. "It is, but I thought you might like to see this first."

"And in local news, the Riverdale County Sheriff's Department has been instrumental in the arrest of a resident of Bear Cove suspected of murder, attempted murder, and embezzling money. And that arrest has exonerated another local resident, Denise Hanson, previously suspected of embezzling money from the private school where she volunteered. We'll have more details following these announcements from our advertisers."

Carly clapped her hands. "That is so good to hear. Of course, we knew it all along, but it's good to see the news reporting the truth."

Mike lifted Doc and set him on the floor. "Sure is." He took her gently by the arm and led her to the dining room. "And if dinner tastes as good as it smells, it's delicious."

Bert stood proudly inside the door as Carly took in the table, set for three. Mike had done her proud and the food looked wonderful. Steak and potatoes, steamed vegetables, fried onions. Perfect. She and Mike sat at their normal places at the table with Bert between them on the side. Carly cut into her steak, cooked just the way she liked it-pink and juicy. She lifted her fork to taste the first bite, savoring the flavors before chewing and swallowing.

The room went bleary before Carly's eyes and for one panic-stricken moment she wondered if the doctor was right and she was having a relapse. Then she realized her eyes were welling up with tears. Impatiently, she brushed them away, not wanting to give in to the emotion of the moment. "What about your wife, Bert? Is it too late to invite her?"

"Elaine is out of town on business, won't be back until next week. I really appreciate you letting me help out here. This is my first home-cooked meal in almost a week." He cut into his steak then shoved a large piece of meat into his mouth, closing his eyes closed as he savored the food. "I'm not a very good cook."

"You look like you are enjoying every bite." Carly smiled. If there was one thing she liked it was having people in her home for meals. "We're glad to be able to have you over. When your wife comes back, we'll have you over again, as a couple," Carly turned to Mike. "Won't that be nice?"

Mike nodded. "It sure will. But we might wait until after the kids go home. They come tomorrow, remember?"

Carly nodded, her weariness threatening to steal her enthusiasm. Right then, soaking in a bubble bath sounded real good, followed by going to sleep. She still had a lot of emotions to process which she knew would take time. And she'd been bombarded with a lot of emotions this past week-fear, death, self-defense.