House of Blues

was that phone?"
    " In the hall."
    In the house. So she had touched something. "Did
you call anyone else?"
    " My son Grady. But he wasn't home."
    "Would you like to call him again?"
    " I left a message." She looked around, as
if she expected Grady to be in the car.
    The obvious explanation, it seemed to Skip, was that
the argument had escalated, someone had pulled a gun—probably
Dennis—and shot Arthur. Then Reed and Dennis had fled with their
daughter.
    "Excuse me a minute," she said, and radioed
for a district car to check Reed and Dennis's house.
    She turned back to Hebert. "Do you know anywhere
else they might go?"
    "Not really." She looked uncomfortable.
    "Are you sure?"
    " Well, Dennis's parents live here. But they'd
never go there. Why would they?"
    "What's their address?" When she had it,
she radioed for a check there as well.
    " Do you know," she said when she was done,
"if Dennis carried a gun?"
    "I know he didn't. He and Reed were dead against
guns."
    "So Reed didn't either."
    " No."
    "What about your husband? Did he keep a gun
around the house? In case of intruders?"
    Skip heard running footsteps and looked up to see a
young man approaching, his face white, hair disheveled. "Mother?
Mother, what's going on?"
    " Oh, Grady." Sugar got out of the car,
extended her arms and fell against her son, letting out what she'd
been holding in. She sobbed against him for a while and then she
said, "Oh, Grady, I was only gone twenty minutes."
    " What happened?"
    Briefly, she told him. Getting out so she could hear
the woman, Skip listened carefully, but it was the same story Sugar
had told before.
    She found Grady a weedy young man, tall and too thin,
as if he smoked a great deal and ate little. He had on a white shirt
so old it was gray, and a pair of jeans that had been worn a few
times since their last washing. He wore glasses and his hair was
greasy. Skip introduced herself, staring at his face, assessing him.
Like his mother, he looked bewildered, still putting pieces together.
    "What happened here?" he asked. "Where
are Reed and Dennis?"
    "Maybe you have some ideas."
    "Me? Why would I?"
    " What did your mother's message say?" Skip
wasn't sure why she asked the question; it was something about the
breathless, pale way he'd arrived.
    "It said, 'Your father's been murdered. Come as
soon as you can.' "
    "Did it really?" She found it hard to
believe Mrs. Pretty-in-Pink had been so cold.
    " Well, it got my attention." Grady smiled a
little nervously, aware he was apologizing for his mother.
    " Perhaps you can help us."
    But he glanced at Sugar, who was now weeping quietly.
"I think I need to call someone to help with Mother."
    " I'm afraid you can't use the phone till the
investigations finished. We don't seal homicide scenes, but we won't
be out for a long time."
    "Oh, God, she's going to need a place to stay."
He turned to his mother. "Mother, did you call Nina?"
    Hebert shook her head.
    "I'm going to get her to come over." He
left in as much of a flurry as he'd arrived in.
    Glad to get out, probably, Skip thought. Something
about him didn't strike her as intensely filial.
    She and Sugar got back in the car. "How are you
feeling?" she asked.
    "Kind of numb. I wish Reed were here."
    " Tell me about her."
    Sugar looked dumbstruck. "Tell you what?"
    "What she's like. Where she'd go if she needed a
safe haven."
    " A safe haven?" Sugar pondered, as if
unsure what the words meant. "That just isn't Reed. People would
come to her to be safe."
    " Does she have friends?"
    " Nina. The woman my son's calling. She works for
us at the restaurant—she's kind of Reed's assistant."
    " You mean her secretary?"
    " Oh, no. I mean her right-hand woman. She was
Reed's maid of honor."
    " Does Reed have other friends?"
    Sugar thought. "Not really. She's pretty busy
with Sally and Dennis and the restaurant and everything."
    " How about Dennis?"
    "Oh. Well. His business partner. They run a
nursery—Dennis likes plants. Like his mother-in-law."
    "Ah, you like plants."
    " Flowers. I paint them."
    " Tell me something, Mrs. Hebert. If you were
someone outside the family, how would you describe Dennis and Reed?"
    "A lovely, hardworking young couple. Absolutely
devoted to their little girl. Arthur would never give Reed credit . .
. Her eyes flashed and her voice started to rise, but she stopped. "I
guess that's family business."
    Skip let it go for now. She could afford to be
patient; before she was done, every secret the Heberts had,