to try and understand what I’d seen.
In the meantime, knowing he likely hadn’t eaten, I snapped my fingers and produced a plate of apple strudel, Uncle Darling’s favorite, ignoring the frown from Atti’s direction.
As he reached for some, and Atti produced a fork and plate, I ventured into the shallow end of the pool. “Listen, Uncle Darling, can you tell me what you remember? I know it’s painful, but maybe I can help.”
Sitting back down, he grimaced. “How can you possibly help, Lamb?”
I shrugged, downplaying my interest. “I dunno. You’d be surprised, but the saying two heads are better than one is really true. So what happened?”
His breath shuddered from his chest as he shivered. I snapped my fingers again and a warm shawl appeared around his shoulders. He gave me a grateful smile and tucked it around his rotund body.
“I don’t know where to begin, Sugar, but I’ll try. Like I told those police officers and my sweet boy Stiles, we stopped to get flowers. I stayed in the car because I didn’t want to haul my big fanny through the snow. I had my earbuds in, and I was listening to some new music from a fellow drag sister, Helen Highwater, so I wasn’t really paying attention to anything. Monty was taking forever and a day, and if you know anything about my man, you’ll know he’s like molasses uphill in the winter. So I decided to check on him. I was gonna give him all sorts of what for, and then…then…”
He set the fork for the strudel down and let his chin fall to his chest.
I grabbed his hand and squeezed it for support. “I know this is hard, but did you see anything while you were in the car, Uncle Darling? Did you see the person who killed Gable go inside?”
His sigh was ragged and he covered his mouth to muffle a sob, but he shook his head. “It was snowing like somebody’d dumped a box of instant mashed potato flakes on our heads. But I also had my eyes closed while I listened to the music.” He shook his head. “I didn’t see anyone go inside. I didn’t even see the car he was driving, Hal. I should have paid better attention.”
“So he was driving a car? Are you sure? If you had your eyes closed, how do you know?”
“When he ran past me to get out of Feeney’s, I saw him get into one. I know I did,” he insisted.
My heart began to throb all over again. “Did you see what kind of car it was?”
His round face went slack with frustration under the glow of the twinkling lights in the kitchen. “Aw, Lamb, you know I don’t know cars from a hole in the wall. Now ask me about a brand of makeup, or a dress designer, and you can’t get me to shut my pretty mouth. The only thing I can tell you is it was an older car, without all the finery of the newer models. It was a sedan, maybe dark green.”
Blowing out a breath of air, I reminded myself this might take some patience. “Why does that make you think it was an older car, Uncle Darling?”
“Because it looked dull and rusty, I guess. I don’t know! By then, I was so stunned, so shaking in my pantaloons, I thought I might pass out, Hal. He had a gun. A big, long gun. I had no idea he’d just shot a hole the size of the sun in someone with it!”
His agitation began to make me uneasy and worried. When Uncle Darling gets going, there’s nothing to do but ride out the spiral. I couldn’t afford for him to spiral now.
“I should have zapped that man when I saw him running from the bathroom! Why didn’t I zap him, Lamb?”
Boy, did I know that question well. I also knew the answer. “Because you were scared, Uncle Darling. You can’t blame yourself,” I soothed.
“I froze! That’s why,” he almost howled. “It’s so unlike me, but I froze as sure as I’m standing here!”
“Andrew!” Atticus belted out, his deep voice reverberating around the kitchen as he buzzed in front of Uncle Darling’s face. “You will gather yourself this instant. There will be no meltdowns in my presence. Hal is trying to help you find the person who caused undue harm to your beloved, and we must help get justice for him. Answer the questions and do it like an adult!”
Uncle Darling