Down Home and Deadly

to look at us.
    “Dead man.”
    “What?” Carly peered at me, confusion knitting her brows together.
    I tried again. “A man was shot out behind the Dumpster. He’s dead.”
    I heard gasps from every corner. “Are you sure he is dead?” Marco asked weakly.
    “Yes,” I gasped out. “I think the killer is still out there. Somebody knocked me out.” My knees gave way , and they all rushed toward me.
    Carly grabbed me around the waist , and Debbie shoved a chair under me. “Call 911,” she barked to Marco , whose normally swarthy complexion looked pale and sallow.
    “I’ll do it.” Alice yanked up the cordless phone. “ Harvey ,” she yelled as she punched in the numbers.
    “It hasn’t been ten minutes since the last police officer left. Too bad they didn’t stay a little longer.” Debbie grabbed a bag of frozen peas from the huge side - by - side freezer , wrapped a towel around it , and carefully placed it against the back of my head. “Did you see anyone else parked out there? O n the edge of the parking lot? Or in the alley?”
    Before I could answer, Harvey came running in. “What’s wrong?”
    Alice shushed him as the 911 operator apparently answered.
    He glanced over at me and did a double take. “What happened?” he whispered as Alice rattled off who she was and where she was.
    “There’s a dead man in the alley,” Alice said bluntly into the receiver.
    Harvey spun around toward her. “A what?”
    “A dead man,” she mouthed and waved him away. “He’s been shot. And Jenna Stafford found the body. Yes. Jenna Stafford. She’s been hurt. Someone knocked her out.” She paused to listen. “No, she’s conscious now. She seems like she’s okay.” She listened again then nodded. “Okay.” She put her hand over the mouthpiece and glanced at us. “Lock the doors.”
    Harvey ran out to the front , and Carly stepped over to the back door I’d just come in and turned the dead bolt.
    I hugged myself , rubbing the goose bumps on my arms.
    Harvey came back in and pulled Alice to him. “Door ’ s locked out there,” he said softly.
    She nodded, still holding the phone to her ear, occasionally murmuring to the emergency operator to let her know we were all still okay.
    Marco , his arms crossed, stood in front of the sink, facing me. The fear in his eyes was like the measles, contagious and uncomfortable. I glanced away to where Debbie stood beside me, holding gentle pressure on the frozen peas at the back of my head and texting on her cell phone with her other hand.
    Carly patted my shoulder , and I covered her hand with mine. No one spoke.
    She squeezed my hand then stepped over to the stove , lifted the lid off the bean soup , and gave it an absent stir.
    “You know if you stir it much after it’s been cooking a while, it’ll be bean mush instead of soup,” Alice said.
    Carly dropped the lid.
    “No, ma’am,” Alice said into the phone. “I wasn’t talking to you.”
    A siren in the distance cut off whatever Carly might have been going to say. The wailing quickly grew louder.
    Red lights flashed through the kitchen window that faced the alley. I had a sinking feeling the ambulance crew was too late for the guy in the car. Almost immediately, blue lights mixed with the red. And still more blue lights.
    Alice nudged Harvey . “She says to go let the police in the front door.”
    Harvey hurried out , and within seconds he was back with two local officers, Seth and Ricky, behind him.
    Alice hung up the phone.
    “Jenna, you okay?” Seth asked, concern evident in his voice.
    I nodded. Debbie took the peas from my head and went to put them back in the freezer.
    “You sure?” Seth said.
    “I’ve got a little bump, but other than that, I think I’ll live.” Unlike the guy in the alley. I shivered.
    Seth and I had a history. When I first moved back to town and was trying my hand at dating, he’d asked me out —t hen promptly killed the romance when he assumed that he’d get to work out at the gym for free if we were dating. In light of the dead body out back, that little breach of etiquette didn’t stop me from being happy to see him. Or his partner, Ricky, either, in spite of the frown he wore and the notebook he pulled from his back pocket.
    “What happened out there?” Ricky asked, the hand holding the pen a little unsteady and a slight quiver in his voice. I had the distinct feeling this was his first murder.
    Seth cut him a look and brought his gaze back to me.