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“DANA, I CANNOT believe you are dragging me here to break into our neighbor’s house. What if we get caught? Jeez!”
“We won’t get caught,” Dana said, turning the key into the lock of Mrs. B’s house. It was early in the afternoon. The street was quiet. Dana had knocked on the door a few times and waited patiently to see if anyone was home before trying the key. “Besides most people are at work during the day.”
“Hmm-mmm. Just like we should be. But no, we’re breaking in and entering our neighbor’s house instead—because we not only manage a respectable café, we also moonlight as cat burglars.”
“Katie, it’s not B&E—and we’re not thieves. Mrs. Barinotta gave us the spare key a long time ago, remember? She gave us permission to check the house if we suspect something funny going on in here—well, I suspect something’s funny all right.”
“She gave you the spare key. She trusted you not me.”
Dana shook her head. “When she had that stroke a few years ago she got nervous and asked us to let ourselves in to make sure she was all right—in case we don’t hear from her.”
“Yeah, well trust me, we won’t be hearing from her again.” Katie looked around nervously as they stepped into the eerie foyer of the house. It was dark inside and all the shutters were closed which was odd for the middle of the day. “Well, hopefully we won’t hear from her again...this place looks spooked.”
“Katie.”
“What? She’s no longer with us. But who knows if she was able to cross over to the other side. She was a stubborn woman, you know.”
“I know,” Dana said quietly. Even though Mrs. B was cantankerous at times, she really missed her old neighbor.
“Besides, we loaned Mrs. B a few of Grandma Rae’s baking pans in the past, remember? If anyone asks us what we’re doing here we’ll just let them know that we’re picking up Grandma’s pans.”
“I doubt they’d buy that,” Katie said as she folded her arms across her chest, glancing around. “So what are we looking for?”
“Clues.”
“Yeah, thanks for narrowing that down, cuz.”
“Come on, Katie. Don’t you find it odd that Brenda just vanished into thin air? And her gardener is also missing. I mean talk about very strange. Something could have happened to them.”
“Or maybe they got all the cash they wanted from this old house and split together to some far exotic locale.”
Dana playfully rolled her eyes and took out her purse compact flashlight. “I seriously doubt that.”
“Well, it could be true. I heard old Mrs. B didn’t like the bank much—she didn’t trust the tellers. So she stashed a whole lot of cash somewhere in the house.”
“Really? Where did you hear that?”
“From Bea’s.”
“Now why doesn’t that surprised me?” Trust Bea’s Salon to be the place for the latest news and gossip.
“Well, you never know. That salon is bewitched. People go there to perm their hair and do their nails and end up spilling the beans on all their secrets.”
“And the secrets of others.”
Katie grinned. “True.”
Katie followed Dana into the living room area then through to the kitchen. Dana looked into the garbage.
“Cuz, what are you doing?”
“The garbage can tell a lot about a person. You would be surprised at what people toss out.”
She saw a torn note in the garbage and reached in to pull out the pieces of paper. She couldn’t make sense of what it was.
“What is that?” Katie asked.
“It looks like some letter.” Dana scrutinized the pieces of paper. “But I think it’s a wrong address or something. Some junk mail, probably.”
“Well, it’s in the right place, then,” Katie said, “the garbage!”
Dana grinned.
Dana then saw a flyer on the counter. It was for an audition for a play.
“Do you think she wanted to get into showbiz?” Katie said, with longing in her voice. Katie acted for the stage for a short time until her career came to a quick end.
“Probably? I guess we all have dreams and other interests. Maybe, she studied theatre down South.”
“Maybe,” Katie looked at the torn flyer. “Mon Cherie,” she said. “I would love to get a part in that play. I saw Mon Cherie in New York.”
Dana felt a pang of sadness for Brenda. She wasn’t just a noisy neighbor. She was a young woman with dreams who probably wanted to, like Katie, make it on Broadway one day. Who knew?
Just then they heard a sound coming from the front door.
They both froze and looked at each other in horror, eyes widened.
Dana’s heartbeat pulsed hard.
They heard the sound of keys dangling from outside the front door as if someone was trying the lock to see which key worked. Then...
The door opened and they heard the sound of shoes on the hardwood floor. A man’s voice and a woman’s voice sounded. But Dana was pretty sure the voices did not belong to Brenda or that gardener guy. She’d heard their voices many times before. Who on earth was in their neighbor’s home?
“Quick hide,” Dana whispered.
“Where?”
“In here.” Dana pointed to a door near the pantry. The home was laid out similarly to theirs and she figured it had to be the broom closet.
“I am not going in there,” Katie said.
“Katie!” Dana whispered loud.
“Fine. You know how claustrophobic I can get.”
“I know. That’s why I want us to avoid jail time,” she teased.
They both managed to squeeze themselves into the small walk-in closet next to the pantry. Dana closed the door in and turned off her flashlight. It was warm in there and dark, but she didn’t want to risk confronting the intruder.
No one would think to look in the broom closet. Why on earth would they? Were they planning to sweep up after they cleaned out the place?
“What do you think they’re doing?” Katie whispered.
“I don’t know,” Dana whispered back trying hard to listen through the door.
They heard the sound of muffled voices and footsteps everywhere. Then...
The light in the kitchen was turned on. “I don’t know why she keeps the curtains closed,” the woman’s voice said.
“Maybe she likes it dark,” a man’s rough voice sounded.
“Probably.”
Dana then heard the sound of the drapes pulling. “Oh, don’t touch that,” the woman said.
“I just need to see what’s out there or if the window’s cracked.”
“Okay, but please be careful.”
“The window’s filthy. Does she ever clean it?”
“Her grandmother owned the home but died recently. I think she just moved in here and hasn’t had a chance to...”
There was a pause.
“They have a part time maid who comes in twice a week,” the woman’s voice continued. “It’s probably her day off.”
“I see. I like the place, but...what’s in here?” the man asked.
“Oh, that’s the broom closet.”
“A broom closet? I’d like to look inside,” he said.
Dana’s heartbeat pounded in her throat.
They were busted.