Elvis and the Buried Brides by Peggy Webb

Author:Peggy Webb [Webb, Peggy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: suspense, mystery, animals, dogs, family, Best Friends, series, elvis, cozy series, southern cousins mystery
Publisher: Peggy Webb
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

Sugar, Setbacks, and Secrets

Our plan backfired. Swifty has returned with food, all right, but he also came back with enough rope to lash me to the bed. The only good thing I can say about this situation is that they left Lovie and me behind closed doors long enough for her to re-stuff her bra with a potpourri of drugs.

Just as I’m celebrating that victory, plus the fact that they walk out this time and leave my door wide open, Ralph chains Lovie to the stove.

“Hey! What are you doing? How can I cook in this contraption?”

“It’s either this or eat rice,” Ralph tells her.

“Fine then. Eat rice. Get sick on rat droppings. See if I care!”

Ralph jerks open the cupboard doors and piles pots and pans within Lovie’s reach.

“Get cooking and shut up.”

Lovie shrugs her shoulders and starts cooking. This is not Lovie taking orders: this is Lovie with a plan.

The brothers stand over Lovie’s shoulder a while, watching. Finally, they nod at each other, satisfied that they’re in control, and walk outside for a kidnapper’s conference.

Lovie shoots me the V for victory sign and then reaches into her bra for her potpourri of drugs. As she dumps them into the gravy, I’m hoping she knows what she’s doing. She’s got enough stolen drugs to kill them. I’d hate to spend the rest of my child-bearing years behind bars.

Finished with her deadly gravy, Lovie dumps something from a suspicious looking bottle into the mashed potatoes and roast beef.

“In case they don’t eat enough gravy.” She winks at me, then starts melting Ex-lax. “Dessert’s going to be a real blast,” she says, and I nearly fall off the bed laughing.

When she’s melted enough Ex-lax to undo everybody in Texas, she bolts to the window, chain and all, and flattens herself against the wall.

I’m desperate to know what the Bronson brothers are saying. Lovie knows this. You can’t be best friends your entire life and not know what the other is thinking.

I wait, my mind churning with possibilities. After what feels like an eternity, Lovie turns to me and starts signing. It’s not American Sign Language. When we were little kids, we made up our own secret language. It came in handy when we wanted to tell secrets right in front of Mama or Uncle Charlie. They never did crack our code. I don’t think they tried very hard. Once I overheard Mama telling Uncle Charlie that if making up a secret language helped me cope with my daddy’s death, she was glad to play along.

See, that’s why I will never let Mama get on my last nerve. Underneath her outrageous outfits and her bluster, she’s all heart.

I wonder what she’s doing now, how she’s holding up. That kind of thinking is ready made for the blues, so I jerk myself back to the moment and pay attention to what Lovie is telling me.

They’re on the phone with the boss, she signs. Wait a minute…

With my arms lashed to the bed, I can do nothing but wait.

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