Sweet Ginger Poison 13

Ginger was sitting in the living room in her robe with the Saturday edition of the Coreyville Courier in one hand and a pencil in the other. It was nearly her bedtime, but she was determined to get the crossword puzzle finished. In tomorrow’s paper there would be another one, and she hated to fall behind.

She glanced up at the TV occasionally, when a story caught her interest. But Channel 7 News made no mention of Navy. When the sports segment came on, she clicked the remote to turn off the TV.

She stood up and was about to turn off the lamp and go to her bedroom when she heard a faint tapping sound. Then she realized someone was at the front door.

Ginger tiptoed over to the door and looked through the peephole. Who could it be at this hour? It was Lacey, bundled up in a furry hooded coat. Ginger opened the door.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Lightley. I hate to bother you so late.”

“Don’t be silly, Lacey. Come on in here and get out of the cold.”

Lacey stepped inside and Ginger closed the door.

“Here, let me take your coat.”

“No, that’s okay. I’m not staying long.”

“Well, okay. Have a seat.”

Lacey sat down on the couch.

Ginger sat in her chair.

“And quit calling me Mrs. Lightley,” said Ginger, in a harsher tone than she had intended. She smiled and spoke gently. “Please. My friends call me Ginger.”

“So…we’re friends?”

“Of course,” said Ginger. “Now what can I do for you?”

“Well, I’m worried about what the police chief said.”

“You should be. It was obvious that you were lying.”

“So, you knew? I was afraid of that. I guess the chief could tell too.”

“Probably. Although I didn’t share my feelings with him.”

Lacey looked surprise. “You didn’t?”

“No. And he didn’t tell me what he was thinking either. I didn’t say anything because I don’t believe for one second that you’re capable of killing somebody—even Navy. I mean, I know you had strong feelings for him. Sometimes I wasn’t sure whether you loved him or hated him. But clearly, you weren’t over him.”

“I didn’t realize I was so transparent.”

“Honey, it’s written all over your face. You’re so easy to read.”

Lacey blushed and lowered her head.

“So, what’s the deal with the panties?” said Ginger, without emotion.

Lacey jerked as if she’d accidentally touched a hot stove. “They’re mine.”

“I was pretty sure they belonged to you.”

“Why?”

“I overheard you talking to a young woman in the bakery one day. You were on a break and the two of you were looking through a catalog. You thought they were sexy, and your friend was encouraging you to buy them.”

“I can’t believe you heard us. But anybody with that catalog could have bought those panties.”

“I know. It was just a theory—until I saw the look on your face tonight when the chief mentioned them. That gave it away.”

“But it’s not what you’re thinking.”

“How do you know? I haven’t told you what I’m thinking.”

“You’re thinking I had sex with Navy in his car.”

“Well, let’s not worry so much about what I think. The important thing is what the police think,” said Ginger. “Let me play devil’s advocate for a minute. You could have seduced Navy into having sex with you, and then left the panties under his car seat, hoping Kayla would find them. Then perhaps she would confront him, they’d fight over it, and she would leave him. Then he would come back to you.”

“I wouldn’t do that.”

“Then why were your panties in his car?”

Lacey took a deep breath. “Okay. What you said is half right. I did put the panties in his car.” She quickly added, “But I didn’t have sex with him.”

“When did you put them in the car?”

“This morning. While Navy was in the kitchen picking up the three-day-olds, I went out for a smoke.”

“Addie mentioned that. She was upset that you took a break when she had asked you to check out front to see if there were any more cakes that needed to go.”

“Yeah, I felt bad about that. But I couldn’t stand it any longer. I had to do it today. Navy always kept his car locked at night. And he had a car alarm. But he never locked it when he made a quick stop—for example, at a convenience store. So, I knew it would be unlocked.”

“You put them under his car seat to make Kayla jealous.”

“Yes.”

“Well, that makes you look kinda desperate—but it doesn’t make you look like a killer. So, you need to go tell the police your story.”

“But there’s one problem,” said Lacey.

“What?”

“The Epi-Pen.”

Ginger’s heart sank. “Please tell me you didn’t take it out of his car.”

“I didn’t. I promise. But the police are not going to believe me.”

“Why not? They’ll check for fingerprints and they’ll find yours on the door and maybe on the seat—but not on the glove box. Right?”

Lacey sighed. “That’s the problem. I did touch the glove box. My fingerprints might even be on the inside of it.”

“Oh, no, Honey. You opened it? Why did you do that?”

“Because I had planned to put the panties in there. Then I realized that Navy might find them before Kayla did. But I knew that he never looks under the seats. When we were together, I always cleaned out the car for him. He didn’t the trust ‘the car wash bozos.’ He preferred doing it himself—at least the outside. Cleaning the interior was woman’s work, he used to say. So, I figured Kayla would be cleaning out the car one day and find them under the seat.”

“Then she would suspect him of cheating on her—“

“—and hopefully think the panties were mine since they had the words ‘Unlace Me’ on them.”

“Oh, Lacey. This is not good.”

“I know.”

“The thing with the panties is bad enough. But you knew which coffee cake was Navy’s favorite. And you could have injected fish oil into the cake early this morning when you first got to work. When Addie went out to check to see if there were any other three-day-old cakes, she found one or two. I wonder if either of them was a Sweet Ginger Cake.”

“But I didn’t do that.”

“I know. But think about how it looks. You knew the cake would seem extra moist, but it wouldn’t taste funny, because purified fish oil doesn’t have a smell or taste. And if anyone else ate the cake they wouldn’t be harmed. It would only hurt Navy, because of his allergy.”

“But, Ginger—”

“—and the only other thing you had to do was remove the Epi-Pen from his glove box. And that glove box door has your fingerprints on it.”

“Are you going to tell the police about all this?”

Ginger studied Lacey’s face. She looked fragile, like a young child.

“No,” said Ginger. “Not until I absolutely have to.”

Lacey smiled. “Thanks, Ginger.”

“But I hope you know that we may both end up in jail.”

“Oh, no. I don’t want you to go to jail for me. Maybe I should go turn myself in right now.”

“No. I’m sorry, Honey, I shouldn’t have said that. I was just kidding. I’ll protect myself. If they put me under oath, I’ll tell the truth. In the meantime I’ll try to be legally…evasive.” Ginger wondered if there was such a thing. “So, just go home and try to get some rest. And enjoy your day off tomorrow.”

Lacey and Ginger stood up.

“Oh,” said Lacey, “there’s one other thing. I think it may have been a mistake to put my grandmother’s house up for sale.”

“Really? Well, maybe you should quit referring to it as your grandmother’s house. She left it to you because she wanted you to have it. It’s your house. And you can do whatever you want with it.” Lacey had told Ginger that her grandmother had left everything to Lacey when she died. But it was only the house and a few thousand dollars. The money had been just enough to pay for the funeral.

“I know. But you were nice enough to set me up with your realtor friend. So, I hate to back out. She’s already spent a couple of weeks trying to sell it.”

“Don’t worry about that, Lacey. Just give her a call. She’ll understand.”

“Okay. I’ll call her. I thought I wouldn’t be able to handle it—that I’d see my grandmother in every room. I’d just start crying all over again. But now I want to see her there. I want to remember the good times we had in that house.”

Ginger smiled. “I understand, Honey. Then do it. Call Peggy tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

Ginger followed Lacey to the front door.

Lacey turned back around. “I’m sorry, but there’s one other thing.”

“Yes?”

“Well, it’s kinda bad. But it’s not what it looks like.”

Ginger braced for the worst.

Lacey reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a pistol.

Ginger jumped back. “What are you doing?”

Lacey was holding the gun as though she was planning to shoot it. “Oh, I’m sorry.” She repositioned her grip to the tip of the handle, letting the gun dangle between her thumb and index finger. “I need to get rid of this thing.”

“Lacey.” Ginger was afraid to ask. “You didn’t…shoot anybody, did you?”

“No, no—of course not. It’s not even my gun. It’s Danny’s.”

“Danny’s?”

“Yes. I don’t know where or why he got it, but I don’t want it in my apartment. What can I do with it? I can’t just throw it in the trash. And I sure don’t want to turn it in to the police.”

“No, you surely don’t.” Ginger inched her way closer. “Let me take it.” She reached out and carefully took the gun from Lacey.

“What are you going to do with it?”

“I’ll figure out something. But you can’t tell anybody you gave it to me.”

“I won’t. Don’t worry.”

But Ginger was worried. A few minutes earlier she had joked about going to jail with Lacey. Now it didn’t seem so funny.