Chapter 10
Whispering Oaks was a long, lovely street off the main drag. I had no idea why they named it Whispering Oaks since there wasn’t a single oak tree within miles. I guess the developers didn’t think Whispering Palms had the same ring to it.
Jerry White’s house was six or seven houses down on the right. It had a huge date palm tree in front, surrounded by a circle of smaller palms. Everything looked immaculately groomed, including the house—freshly painted with bright coral trim. Whoever this man was, he certainly took care of his home.
In the five or six minutes it had taken me to get here, I hadn’t come up with a reason to talk to him. I couldn’t pretend to be selling anything, and it would look awfully strange if I walked up to his door to ask for directions. Then again, this was a senior community and maybe it wasn’t so unusual for people to get lost. I couldn’t very well sit there arguing with myself. What if Jerry was looking out his window, same as Herb Garrett. No, I had to make a move.
I got out of the car, leaned in to grab my notepad and pen, and started for his front door. Just then, the garage door opened and a small white dog came running out. Behind him was a man screaming his lungs out.
“Izzy! Get back here! Come on, boy. Get back!”
The dog was headed straight toward me and didn’t appear to be very threatening, so I ran over and got ahold of him by the collar. The man was only a few feet away and out of breath.
“Thanks so much! I thought I’d closed the door that leads to the garage when, all of a sudden, the dog escaped. I was on my way to the post office. Good thing you were in the neighborhood. I hate to think what could have happened. We have so many coyotes around here and Izzy is defenseless.”
The white dog looked at me as if to acknowledge what his owner had said. As he picked the little guy up, I got a good look at the man’s face and gasped. It was the middle-aged man with the jet-black mustache who was dining with Gretchen Morin that night in the Italian restaurant. First, Josie from the pool, now him. Maybe luck was on my side.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“Yes, yeah . . . I’m fine. I was taken back when you mentioned coyotes. I’m not from this area. In fact, I was trying to find, um, er . . .” I frantically tried to visualize the names of the other streets from the GPS and muttered “Foxfire Drive” before regaining my composure. “I was looking for Foxfire Drive and really blew it.”
“Oh, that’s just one street over. Go back to one hundred thirtieth, make your first right, and it will be there.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it. By the way—”
Before I could finish, he cut in. “Say, haven’t I seen you at . . .”
I held my breath. What if he’d seen me in the restaurant? Well, so what? He doesn’t know who I am. It’s not as if he was going to pick up a phone and call the librarian.
“The dog park! That’s where I’ve seen you. I’m there first thing in the morning with Izzy and then again around seven at night. Like clockwork. Anyway, it was you. Talking with Cindy Dolton. Didn’t see your dog, though. What kind is it? Izzy is a Coton de Tulear. People always mistake him for a bichon and get on my case for not having him groomed properly. Can you believe it? So, which dog is yours? I might have seen it.”
Oh, you’ve seen him all right, but he’s not mine and I make no claim to him.
“I don’t own a dog. I was in the park for another reason. I was talking to Cindy Dolton about my mother’s friend who passed away recently. It’s so sad. Really. Cindy shared a hospital room with the woman.”
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear about your loss.”
Take a breath. This may work. This may actually work. Go for it!
“Yes, it was so sudden. So unexpected. And if that wasn’t enough, one of the woman’s dear friends told me about this book curse. You see, poor Minnie was reading some book from her book club, and I guess she wasn’t the only one in that club to pass away unexpectedly. Some of the ladies in that club believe it had something to do with the book.”
The man beamed as if I’d just told him the Publishers Clearing House van was on its way.
“Now, I’m not one to believe in all that hocus-pocus either,” he said. “But from what I’ve heard, that book should be avoided at all costs. Get it out of the library! I’ve heard firsthand that whoever reads it will have a pretty dark cloud following them. Maybe a death cloud.”
“A death cloud?” This guy obviously watched too many Star Wars movies. Even George Lucas wouldn’t be saying that.
“You said you heard it firsthand?”
“Not directly, no. But firsthand. I overheard the librarian talking about it to someone when I went to check out some books. That person wanted her to take the book off the shelf, and she refused. Policy and all that nonsense.”
I felt like screaming, “Liar! Liar! You know the librarian. You had dinner with her the other night!” But I acted nonplussed. “A book curse, huh?”
“You never know about these things. Bad juju and all of that.”
“Bad juju?” Who is he kidding? He’s beginning to sound like he just picked up the script for some old 1940s movie. “Well, I really don’t go in for all that stuff.”
“You can’t be too careful. Frankly, I’m warning anyone I see with that book. In fact, I was thinking of shooting off an e-mail to the local paper about it.”
I could understand why my mother would fall victim to this nonsense, but this guy struck me as someone who was manipulating the situation for his own good. The question remained, “Is he manipulating it to commit murder, and if so, why?”
I thanked him for his directions and took off for Mom’s. If nothing else, I’d be able to connect some dots to the names on my prized chart. The car’s air conditioner was set on maximum, but I was still uncomfortable. How do these people live here year-round? I ignored the speed limit and hoped I wouldn’t get caught. Slamming the car door shut, I raced to the front door as soon as I arrived.
A thin layer of perspiration clung to my body like Saran Wrap. I threw my bag on the couch the minute I walked into the house and headed straight for the shower. In three days, I’d gone through more shirts and undergarments than I did in a week back home. The shower was quick and I was just slipping on a clean top and shorts when Mom pulled in. With laundry in hand, I opened the door to the garage as she stepped out of the car.
“Whoa! Now that’s what I call service.”
“Hi! I thought I’d throw a load of wash in. I’m down to my last pair of—”
“Leave it there. Wait till after seven. That’s when the rates go down.”
I wasn’t about to argue over electricity rates with so much other stuff clogging up my brain. I put the laundry on top of the machine and walked back inside.
My mother wasted no time beginning her own interrogation. “So, did you get anywhere? What did you find out?”
“Sharpie markers work better than the other kind.”
“What?”
“I didn’t find out much. Remember I told you about a guy who made a huge disturbance at the pool yesterday because he was yelling about the book curse? Well, I tracked him down and spoke to him and you’ll never guess—”
“Tracked him down? You didn’t go into his house, did you? He could be dangerous.”
“No, I didn’t go into his house. Anyway, Mom, he was the guy at the restaurant. The one sitting at the table with the librarian.”
“Aha! So what did you find out?”
“Either he’s the biggest nutcase in your community, or he’s really dangerous after all. He could be using this book curse thing to cover up something worse.”
“How do you know that? Stay away from him.”
“I don’t know anything. I just have a funny feeling, that’s all. And I’m exhausted. Absolutely exhausted.”
“It’s a good thing it’s Thursday night. We can relax at the movies.”
“Movies? What movies?”
“Every Thursday night at the Stardust Theater they show a movie. It’s close. A few blocks from here, across from the sheriff’s posse station. Big beige stucco building.”
“Everything around here is stucco and beige. Did the developer find a sale on paint colors?”
“Don’t be silly. The specs for the complex stated that buildings must blend into the original desert landscape.”
“Fortunately you didn’t buy ocean-view property.”
My mother chose to ignore my last comment and continued on about the movie.
“It’s only two dollars. Tonight is Show Boat. We’ll have an early bite to eat and go. You can throw in your wash when we get home.”
“Show Boat? That movie was made before I was born.”
“Good. Something new for you to see. I’m going to get comfortable and then we’ll sit down and go over everything we’ve found out since you decided to start this investigation.”
“Decided? You mean got roped into, coerced, nagged . . .”
“Doesn’t matter. This book curse isn’t going away by itself.”
After what seemed like hours of comparing notes with my mother, I was actually glad to be going to a movie. Even if the heartthrob had been dead for decades.
* * *
The Stardust Theater reminded me of the old auditorium in my high school—upright no-nonsense seats and a strict no food or drink policy. No wonder it was only $2.00. Still, it gave my mother a short respite from all the anxiety she was feeling over the recent events.
We took our seats in the back by the aisle. I could slip out easily if I became too uncomfortable or too bored. Lucky for us we arrived early, because the place was filling up quickly. Show Boat apparently had quite the following. I was barely getting settled when my mother stood and whispered that she saw a friend of hers across the rows and wanted to say hello before the movie started.
I got up, let her out, and sat back down. The lights had started to dim, but they hadn’t opened the curtain yet to reveal the screen. Soft music was playing and people were still talking to one another. Surprisingly, there were a number of cell phones in use, too. Technology had reached this generation as well.
Figuring it was okay, I took out my iPhone to check my e-mail. I was busily scanning messages when I overheard the conversation behind me. Women’s voices. Seniors maybe, but far from elderly.
“No one expected her to break a hip and then die in the hospital. Who would think—”
“We were only trying to help. Nothing else was working. For goodness sakes, she even refused to wear one of those alert things in case of a fall. And she refused to have safety bars put in the shower. Said they were for old people!”
“We really should tell the sheriff’s department. What if someone saw us there?”
“SHH . . . no one saw us. Besides, people are pointing to that book curse and you’re pretty well covered.”
Moving my shoulders back, I tried to feign some sort of a stretch so I could turn my neck and see who was talking, but the minute I leaned back, my mother poked me in the arm. She had returned to her seat and I jumped. I figured it was a great opportunity to see who was behind us. It wasn’t. One of the ladies dropped something and the two of them bent down to look. My mother was oblivious to all of this.
“Good thing I managed to find you, Phee. It’s getting even darker in here. You’ll have to meet Gloria Wong. She used to live in the house behind me but moved in with her daughter. We had a lovely chat.”
Before I could say anything, the theater went pitch-black and an announcement was made to turn off all cell phones. Great. Really easy to turn it off in the dark. I fumbled around until I was satisfied my ringtone wasn’t going to ruin the overture.
Unfortunately, I never got a look at the ladies seated in back of us. And while Magnolia and Gaylord were singing love songs, I was repeating the dialogue I overheard, pausing every now and then to linger on the words “We were only trying to help.”
For a long movie, it wasn’t as agonizing as I thought it would be. It seemed to fly by in no time with rich melodic songs, some terrific dance routines, and a heartbreaking romance to boot. I swore I could hear people sniffling at the end. Too bad I couldn’t hear those women behind me.
The minute the houselights came on, I stood and turned around. It was too late. Whoever was sitting in back of me had already blended into the crowd headed for the exit.
“Phee”—my mother pulled on my arm—“don’t you want to stay and watch the credits?”
At this point, it didn’t matter, so I sat back down and stared at the screen. We were the last few people to leave the theater, and I quickly found out why my mother didn’t race out the doors like everyone else.
“The parking lot is a madhouse and half these people can’t drive. No sense rushing so someone can put a dent in your car.”
“I see your point. The rental company would charge me a fortune.”
We took our time getting to the car. Then we waited while a lineup of vehicles pulled onto the street. It was slow going as we drove the two miles to her place. Apparently everyone living in the vicinity of my mother’s house had decided to see that movie.
“Mom,” I said as we waited at a red light, “you’re not going to believe the conversation that was going on behind me when you went to talk to your friend Gloria.”
I then proceeded to tell her what I had overheard. “What if it was Jeanette sitting behind us? I suspected she was up to something that first night with the carbon monoxide leak. It seemed too contrived. As if she wanted to make herself appear like a victim, too. If it was her in back of us, she all but admitted to killing Edna Mae.”
“Anyone can admit to anything sitting in a dark theater. Too bad you didn’t turn around to get a better look.”
I forced myself to keep my mouth shut.
The light finally turned green and we moved along. There were two SUVs in front of us, each competing for the slowest speed on record. By the time we turned onto my mother’s street, we were still following one of them. It slowed down when it got near to our house, and I kept a good distance behind.
“Mom! Look! That’s the beige SUV we keep seeing in front of Jeanette’s house. At least I think it looks beige.”
“See who’s getting out!”
It was Jeanette. She got out and walked in front of the vehicle just as her garage door opened.
“She must have taken the garage door clicker with her,” my mother said.
“Uh-huh.” As Jeanette entered the garage, the driver of the SUV started down the street. I hit the high beams to get a better look at that car. Sure enough, WEST VALLEY HOME MORTGAGE SOLUTIONS was as visible as could be.
“Do you want me to follow that car, Mom?”
“Are you nuts? It will look too obvious. People are always calling the sheriff’s station to report someone is following them. Especially at night. Lucinda once called, but it turned out to be the newspaper guy on his delivery route. Of course, that was daylight. No, you’ll think of something else.”
Yeah, sure I will.
I lowered my headlights and took my time pulling into the driveway. I could have kicked myself for listening to my mother. Now I was left with a nagging question—Who was driving the beige SUV?