“Take a message,” I said to Nancy.
Jean Young was on the telephone, and there was no way I was talking with her yet. Nancy sighed and walked back to her desk. I slumped lower in the chair in Arnie’s office. He had a look on his face.
“What?” I asked defensively. “What am I supposed to say to her? Your husband is running with some tramp named Bunny and intends to marry her tomorrow, so I don’t think you’ll ever see him again. Would that be good?”
“You don’t know the broad’s name. Give Jean the facts without making shit up and being so melodramatic. Let her draw her own conclusions.”
“The house,” I said. “Did you check to see who it belongs to?”
I was almost as crazy for Jean as I had been for myself when I thought Glenn was cheating on me. I had followed Harvey and Bunny back to Buxley to a beautiful house at the front edge of one of the new developments on the north side of town.
I managed to get the address and a picture of the house, but nothing more. I didn’t have any shots of Harvey with the woman. They had exited the car and walked into the house while I was parking my truck at an apartment complex across the street.
To make matters worse, I would occasionally look in my rearview mirror and watch people coming and going from the apartment building directly behind me. I thought it unusual for one building to have so much traffic on a weekday. I was shocked when I saw Barbie Cane and a man come out together, climb into a Porsche, and drive away. It was a weekday. Barbie should have been out patrolling with Glenn.
I pulled my phone from my bag and hit his speed dial number. He answered on the first ring.
“Hey, Sherlock. How’s it going?”
My heart skipped a beat to hear the tenderness in his voice. I missed him desperately. I was ok as long as I kept busy, but when I heard his voice, it took everything I had not to beg him to let me come home.
“It’s going great,” I said with a hint of sarcasm. “A dirtbag at the airport stole my bag this morning, and the man I’m surveilling chased him down and got it back for me. Now he knows who I am. I’m a pro at this private eye stuff.”
He chuckled. “You are a pro, and don’t you forget it. Did you need something, or did you call because you missed me?”
“Both. I just saw Barbie. Why isn’t she working with you today?”
“She took a personal day. Said she was running over to Patterson to see her doctor for a yearly checkup. Female stuff.”
“I’m at the Chestnut Ridge Apartments. I just saw her come out of one of the buildings with a man. Maybe mid-fifties or early sixties. Salt and pepper hair, business suit. Not much taller than her. They got into a Porsche and left.”
Glenn was quiet. Was he jealous? My heart skipped a few more beats for an entirely different reason this time.
“Are you there?” I asked.
“Just writing it down,” he said. “I’ll look into it. Now, where were we? Oh, yeah. You wanted me to tell you what I’m going to do to you when I sneak over to your house in the middle of the night tonight.”
I nearly squealed like Bunny had in the airport. “Are you serious? Are you really coming over?” I was going to kill him if he was teasing me.
“I am. I miss you. I’ll be there by two and leave by four. No one will be the wiser. And when I get there, the first thing I’m going to do is-”
I didn’t hear what he said. Harvey had walked out the front door of the house and was getting into his car.
I cut Glenn off and said, “I have to go. My guy’s on the move. See you tonight.” I hung up and pulled out after Harvey. I lost him a short time later, but saw his car in the parking lot when I finally got to Patterson and drove by his office.
“Jo, did you hear me?” Arnie asked in a louder than usual voice.
I snapped out of my thoughts and said, “Yes. No. What’d you say?”
“The house. The house is owned by Jeremy Young, and it’s leased by a corporation in Jamaica – Charles Thomas Holdings.”
“Jeremy Young? Any relation to Harvey?”
Arnie nodded. “His brother.”
“Wow. Harvey has his mistress holed up in his brother’s house, and some corporation in Jamaica is paying his brother rent. Something’s going on there.”
“It sure is,” Arnie said. “But we’re working an infidelity case, not a foreign intrigue case. Focus on Harvey and the woman. What are you going to do next?”
“I don’t know. I’ll see where Harvey goes after he leaves the office at the end of the day. If he goes home, I’ll talk with Jean tomorrow. If he goes to be with Bunny, I’ll run out and talk with Jean right away.”
Arnie nodded and stood from his chair. “Don’t call her Bunny. Stick to the facts.”
I remained slumped in the chair. I heard him tell Nancy he was going over to Parker’s to grab some lunch.
I scooted the chair closer to Arnie’s desk and put my feet up. I wasn’t in any hurry to drive back to Patterson and wait for Harvey to be done with work for the day. I closed my eyes and allowed myself to think about being with Glenn tonight. I relaxed and, not surprisingly, felt myself drift off to sleep.
Nancy’s giggling broke my light slumber. I sat up and turned to see her standing in Arnie’s doorway.
“Your snoring is legend around here, but I’ve never heard it before,” she said with a smile.
“I think it only happens if I’m not lying down,” I said. “At least that’s what I kept telling myself.”
“Jean Young is on the phone again. What should I tell her? The last time she called, I told her you were in a meeting.”
I jumped out of the chair and headed for my office. “Tell her I just left.” I grabbed my bag from my desk and rushed to the front door. “Because I just did.” I flashed a smile at her and closed the door behind me.
The rain had stopped and sunshine peeked through the clouds. The drive to Patterson was always easier when the weather was clear. My spirits were better now than when I first entered Arnie’s office. The short nap had given me clarity, and I knew exactly how I was going to approach Jean to tell her about Harvey.
I pulled into my usual spot in the parking lot of the professional building and looked across the street, searching the FBI’s lot for Harvey’s car. I spotted it near the back of the lot. If he was working until quitting time, I had over two hours to wait. The thought of working a crossword puzzle that was too hard for me wasn’t appealing.
I flipped the radio to a talk station. A financial advice show had just ended and a legal show was up next. A few minutes later, a lawyer was spouting answers to callers’ questions. I couldn’t help smiling when he told a caller he had virtually no chance of winning in court. He cut the guy off and said gleefully, “Oh, yeah. You’re screwed.”
I was so caught up in his self-proclaimed marginal legal advice, I completely missed that Harvey had come out of the office and was already in his car and driving toward the lot’s exit. I flipped the radio off and started my truck.
While I followed Harvey, I considered calling the radio lawyer. He was brutally honest, and I wondered what his take would be on my situation. It couldn’t hurt to get another opinion other than Matt’s. I turned the radio back on and listened until the telephone number aired again. I kept repeating the number until I was able to jot it down at the next red light.
When I was safely on the interstate back to Buxley, and a respectable distance behind Harvey, I used the burner phone to dial the number. I gave the call screener a fake name and told her I wanted to ask a question about a possible attempted murder charge.
Either the number of calls coming in had lessened, or I was jumped to the head of the line, because I was on the air before I could get my thoughts together.
“Johnson’s Law. You’re on the air. Who’s this?”
I stammered a bit before I got my words under me. “Uh. Hi. This is Zelda Day, and I have a question about attempted murder.”
“Zelda? What kind of a name is Zelda? Where are your parents from?” he asked.
“Uh. Uh. It’s an American name. My parents are from Ohio. They were big into video games.”
“Ok, Zelda. If you say so. Do you want to attempt a murder?”
“No, I’ve already been accused of attempting one, but I wasn’t there. I don’t have an alibi, and it’s her word against mine. She says she saw me try to shoot her, but I didn’t.”
“Why would she say you tried to kill her?”
“To get me out of the way. She wants my fiancé.”
“When you get in front of a jury, who’s going to be the better liar?”
“I expect she will be,” I said. “She’s prettier and a police officer.”
“Then you’re screwed!” he said loudly.
“Listen. I really need some advice. How do I defend myself? I wasn’t there, and she’s lying. Isn’t there something I can do?”
“Were there any witnesses?”
“None.”
“Did the police test your hands for gunshot residue?”
I sat a little taller in my seat. My eyes flew open wider. “No, they didn’t.”
“Get yourself a good lawyer and have the case thrown out,” he said. “Next caller!”
I was instantly cut off. I flipped the radio on and caught the last few seconds of our tape-delayed conversation. After he ended our call, he said to the listening audience, “Prettier? Police officer? … She’s screwed! Pack your bags for a vacation in cell fourteen with your new bunkmate, Charity.”
I sulked the rest of the way to Buxley. In my heart, I knew he was right. I didn’t have a prayer of beating this if Glenn couldn’t find a way to prove Barbie not only had something to do with the murder of the officer’s wife in Youngstown, but that she also planned her own injury. I was glad he was coming over tonight. I needed to see him and talk to him.
I followed Harvey off the exit ramp, and watched as he turned north toward Bunny rather than west toward Jean.
I made the westward turn and called Jean to ask if I could drop by.
Ten minutes later, I pulled into her driveway. She opened the door when I stepped onto the front porch and showed me into the parlor again. Her daughter was awake today and playing with large plastic blocks on the floor.
She motioned for me to sit down.
“Is it ok to talk in front of your daughter?” I asked.
I could tell Jean didn’t like me. She looked at me as though I were an idiot and said, “She’s two. She won’t understand what we’re talking about. What do you have so far?”
“Harvey picked a woman up at the airport this morning. He took her to a house belonging to his brother Jeremy. The rent on the house is being paid by a corporation in Jamaica.” I double-checked my notes. “Charles Thomas Holdings.”
Everything about her face fell. I could actually see what the word crestfallen looked like. I felt sorry for her.
“Charles is my husband’s middle name. Thomas is his brother’s middle name,” she said. “Who was she? What did she look like? Let me see the pictures.”
I was flustered when I said, “I don’t have any pictures. There weren’t any opportunities to take photos of the two of them together.”
“But you said you saw them at the airport and again at the house. Surely, you could have snapped a picture.”
There was no way I was telling her what happened with my bag. “I’m sorry, Jean. If I could have taken a few shots, I would have.” I tried to steer the conversation in another direction. “Do you know what Harvey’s plans are for tomorrow?”
“He’s flying to D.C. for a few days. He doesn’t tell me about his cases, so I don’t know why he’s going to headquarters, but that’s what he said. Do you think he’s really going somewhere else with her?”
“I have a theory,” I said. “I think you should ask Harvey what’s going on. Tell him about me. He won’t be surprised. Then listen to what he has to say. Things aren’t always what they seem, and considering the line of work he’s in, it might not be an affair.”
“Were you able to see them in the house? Do you know if they had sex?” She didn’t seem angry. She seemed defeated and tired.
I shook my head. “The blinds were drawn throughout the house.”
She lowered her head and said softly, “You didn’t tell me what she looks like.”
“That’s not important right now. Talk to Harvey before he leaves tomorrow. If you still think he’s having an affair, I’ll find out more information on the woman and get photos for you, but see what he has to say first. I have a feeling there’s an explanation for his behavior.”
I stood to leave. I wanted to tell her that I thought the woman was a high-priced call girl, and Harvey was taking her to headquarters to drill her for information on a prostitution ring. Or that maybe she was a wanted criminal – one of the FBI’s most wanted, and unbeknownst to her, Harvey was simply taking her in. I should have told her that the woman thought she was going to marry Harvey in Virginia tomorrow, but instead, he had a nasty little surprise awaiting her at FBI headquarters.
I wanted to tell her all that, but Arnie’s words to stick to the facts rang in my head. I managed to keep my thoughts to myself. He’d already cussed at me once today.
On the way back to my house, I hit my speed dial number for Smitty’s bar and ordered an order of spicy barbecue ribs for delivery to my house. It had been a long time since I’d had Smitty’s ribs, and with my recent unsolicited weight loss, an indulgence for one night wouldn’t hurt anything.
~ ~ ~
Lucille’s methane cloud had nothing on mine right now.
What was I thinking? Smitty’s ribs were heaven on a bone, and I ate far more of them than I should have. A year ago, I could have eaten the entire order without too much distress, but the eight I managed to consume for dinner tonight were trying to kill me. My intestinal fortitude had diminished since last year. Healthier eating will do that to you – that and not eating for five days.
At the moment, I was hunkered down in a chair in Roger’s space in Mama’s flea market. The dim security lighting gave me a good view of Kay Walker’s space across the aisle. Her spot was along an outside wall. Roger’s was out in the open, but a couple of tall cabinets gave me cover. I fanned the air around me with an old National Geographic magazine.
It was only nine thirty, but if kids were somehow finding their way in here, I suspected they’d do it earlier rather than later. I planned to stay here until something happened or until it was time to pick Pepper up at Chummy’s for our sleepover.
I pulled my phone out of my bag and dialed Matt. He answered right away.
“Matt Ryder.”
I whispered into the phone. “I forgot to tell you that I climbed a tree in Barbie’s yard last week. I wanted to look in her bedroom window to see if Glenn was in her bed, but I fell out of the tree before I could get a look. That’s not why I’m calling though. I want to know-”
He cut me off. The disbelief and irritation in his voice was clear. “You’re kidding, right? There’s only one tree on the property, and she was shot from it. If the District Attorney calls in an expert, he’s going to find your DNA in the tree, isn’t he?”
“I don’t know. Probably not. We’ve had a lot of rain.”
Matt was quiet for a few moments. I took advantage of his silence. “There’s no evidence whatsoever that I tried to shoot her. Why weren’t any gun residue tests done on my hands? That right there would have proved my innocence.”
Matt’s irritation was still clear in his voice. “You know full well the Buxley Police Department doesn’t have testing capabilities. They’re lucky if they can get fingerprints lifted.”
My voice became a little louder. “Well, you should have insisted on it that very night. We could have gone to Pittsburgh or Columbus. Now I’m screwed.”
“You wouldn’t be if you’d keep your mouth shut and stop making things harder for both of us. Quit calling radio stations.”
He hung up on me.
That went well. My stomach roiled and gurgled. A painful cramp ran through my intestines. Maybe I had food poisoning. I broke out in a sweat. I might be dying right now. That would certainly make things easier for Barbie.
I stood and fanned the air again with the magazine.
My eye caught a glimmer of light and movement in one of Kay’s cases against the wall. I hobbled over to take a closer look.
Rodents! There were three in the case. One of them carried a ring, dropped down to the bottom shelf, and disappeared. I ducked down, shined my flashlight into the case, and saw the small hole in the corner of the case. Mama’s new flea market wasn’t mouse or rat proofed!
I grabbed my camera and used the flash to take a few shots of the culprits. With no food in the cases, there had been no telltale signs of droppings.
Another sharp pain shot through my abdomen. I was definitely dying.
I limped to the women’s restroom and flipped the light on. With the case of Kay’s disappearing wonders solved, I didn’t have to worry about lights now.
There are no words to explain the next few minutes of agony and disgust. I even indulged in a few loud groans. I was never eating Smitty’s ribs again.
My heart took a jolt and I nearly jumped off the toilet when the door flew open, and in a flash, Frankie was in the doorway with her gun drawn on me.
“Hands in the air! You’re under arrest!” she yelled.
Clay stood behind her with a huge grin on his face. He clapped his hand over his nose.
My mouth fell open. Mama had rolls of toilet paper stacked in a small wicker case next to the toilet. I began grabbing them and throwing them at Frankie and Clay. “Get out!” I screamed.
Frankie howled with laughter and closed the door. I let loose with a string of every swear word I could think of – twice.
When I managed to get out of the bathroom, I actually felt pretty good. The cramps and pain were gone. So were Frankie and Clay. I was going to find out soon enough if they were friends or not. My repeat performance of having a gun drawn on me while on a commode was either already on the beauty shop gossip line or no one would ever know about it.
My phone buzzed with a text. I guess I already had my answer, because it was Pepper. I couldn’t wait to see what she had to say.
Her text was frantic. For one, it was in all caps. COME GET ME NOW ALLEY BEHIND CHUMMYS.
This wasn’t like her. She never sent texts in all caps. I left the flea market and risked a speeding ticket on my way to her.
When I reached Chummy’s, I raced through the parking lot instead of driving around the block to the alley. I nearly clipped Dee, the woman who had given Pepper a ride to work. I checked my rearview mirror to see if she was ok and saw her flip me the bird as I careened around the corner of the building and into the alley.
I slammed on the brakes and peered into the darkness. I didn’t see her, but the passenger door flew open. She jumped in, slammed the door behind her, and shouted, “Go! Go! Get out of here!”
I raced down the alley. “What’s going on? What’s wrong?”
She began sobbing and couldn’t speak. My heart raced. Something was horribly wrong. My first thought was someone had attacked her - maybe even raped her. I felt sick. A different sick than I’d felt earlier. This bad feeling went right to my core.
“Pepper, sit up. Stop crying and tell me what happened.”
She sat up and wiped her nose with the back of her hand. She was still crying but managed to say, “You know the new operations manager at Chummy’s? Tony Lucas?”
I nodded my head. “Sure. He’s the creep who’s been hitting on you ever since you started working there.” Tony must have forced himself on her. I felt my face flush with anger. “Did he touch you? Did he hurt you?” I hit the brakes. “Oh, we are so going back there, and I’m giving him exactly what he deserves.”
“No!” Pepper yelled. “No, he didn’t touch me. He didn’t hurt me. He’s dead. Someone killed him.”
I pulled the truck over to the side of the road. We were stopped under a streetlight, and I could see Pepper’s tear-streaked face, her smeared mascara making the tracks more visible.
“Why did you leave Chummy’s? Does anybody else know he’s dead? Are you telling me you found his body?”
She didn’t speak. She looked down at her lap, reached into the right pocket of her Chummy Burgers and More shirt, and pulled out a small gun.
My eyes bugged so far out of my head, they ached. “You killed him?” I yelled. “Where did you get a gun?”
She began sobbing again. I pulled out onto the street and raced for home. When I turned onto Clark Street, Pepper said frantically, “No! We can’t go to my house or yours. You have to get me out of town.”
I shook my head hard enough for her to see. “No. We have to call Sergeant Rorski and tell him about the body. You have to tell him what happened.”
“I can’t. I was alone with him in his office when he was killed, and I have the murder weapon with my fingerprints all over it. I have no way out of this, Jo, and unless we figure something out right now, I’m going to prison for murder.”
I wanted to throw up. She had handled this wrong at every turn. And now, here I was, already wanted for attempted murder, and I was aiding and abetting a murder suspect.
“If we talk to Sergeant Rorski right now, we can probably still get out of this ok,” I said. “We just need to tell the truth.”
“No!” she screamed. “Don’t you see? No jury in the world will believe me when I say I didn’t do it. Everyone who works there knows he hits on me and that I can’t stand him. Everyone will testify I killed him.”
I was yelling at her now. “What do you want me to do? You’re going to get me sent to prison right along with you. You’ve already made me an accomplice.”
She began sobbing again – harder this time.
I instinctively drove to the interstate and headed for Patterson. Getting out of town for the night suddenly seemed like a good idea.
My heart sank even further when I remembered Glenn was coming over tonight, and now I wouldn’t be there to see him. It occurred to me the unpleasant incident in the flea market was a sign of what was to come, and it wasn’t good. Pepper and I had both just been flushed down life’s toilet.
When Pepper regained control, she said, “Take the exit for Treenhorn Lake.” She sounded confident – almost as if she had a plan.
“Do you know someone there?” I asked. “That’s not a good idea. I don’t think we should see or talk to anyone right now.”
“Do you remember Grandpa Frasier talking about ice fishing at Treehorn Lake?”
I nodded. “Yeah. So what?”
“He had a small one-room cabin up there. It belongs to me now. We’ll go there.”
“What do you mean Grandpa had a cabin and you own it now? How did you get it?”
“I bought it from him. When he got too sick to do much of anything, I used to sit with him. He told me he wanted to sell the cabin and asked if I wanted to buy it. We didn’t tell anyone. Grandpa said it was our secret. I only paid him five hundred dollars for both the cabin and the property.”
My jaw dropped. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “It’s probably worth a small fortune by now.”
“That’s what I’m hoping. I never told Buck about it. It’s my insurance toward the kid’s college tuition.”
If my jaw dropped any farther, it would be on the floor of the truck. “You never told Buck?”
“If he knew, he would have sold it a long time ago – probably for a new cab. I want it for college for the kids. He’s on the road so much, and he never sees the bills, so I pay the utilities, insurance, and taxes on it, and he’s none the wiser.”
I swear, sometimes I didn’t know my sister at all. This wasn’t the first big secret she’d ever kept from me.
“If you’re planning to hide there, will Mama guess where you are and tell someone or come looking for you?”
“No. No one knows I own the property. No one.”
I exited the interstate at the Treehorn Lake exit. I didn’t want to scare her, but it would only be a matter of time before Sergeant Rorski or someone in the District Attorney’s office ran a check of all her records and discovered she owned the cabin. They’d send a SWAT team for her.
That didn’t leave much time for me to prove her innocence.