by J. W. Lucas
Her energy seemed to have returned, and I parked and went around to her side of the car to get her door, but she was quicker. I locked the car, and she took my hand in hers, this time intertwining our fingers. If the Boss’s phone call had upset her, she was hiding it well. As we approached the entrance, she looked at me and said, “Thank You for this,” and we stepped inside.
We were barely through the door when I heard the older man standing behind the podium cry out “MANDY!” as he rushed over and swept her up into a bear hug. He was rotund, and his barrel chest was straining the confines of his leather vest. His wavy grey hair hung in curls around his ears, and the rosy tint of his jowls hinted his identity. to He looked like a life-size Hummel. This must be Mr. Haberstroh.
Mandy stepped back from his enthusiastic embrace and kissed him on the cheek. He looked up at me and she introduced me as her dear friend Daryl. I offered my hand and started to say, “Nice to meet you,” but the old man grabbed me and gave me a bear hug and two hearty smacks on the back of my shoulders. I hadn’t even eaten yet, and he was performing the Heimlich.
“We are honored to have you as our guest Daryl.” I offered a weak “Thanks,” and fought back the urge to cough from his blows.
“Enjoy,” he said as he motioned to the hostess to escort us to a table.
Mandy was right, the décor was an Alpine-European mix of furniture and artwork giving it the atmosphere of what I imagined a Gasthaus in Munich looked like.
The place was crowded, and as we walked to our table, I couldn’t help but notice that we turned some heads. It was obvious from the expressions on the faces of the males in the room they weren’t gaping at me.
As I told you, Mandy wasn’t tall, but in that tight dress and heels, her legs were to die for. I pulled my stomach in and wasn’t shy with my smiles of acknowledgment to the guys.
At the table, I pulled out her chair and Mandy took a seat. I flashed a smile at the two elderly women at the table next to us, sensing their smiles and nods to me were in recognition of my chivalry. Or perhaps, they too were taken in by Mandy’s beauty and suffered a flashback to their younger days.
Our waiter approached, introduced himself, and asked if we would like a drink before dinner. We nodded yes, and Mandy quickly read the wine list and selected a glass of a Spätburgunder blend. I ordered a VO and Coke. The waiter left to get our drinks and Mandy said, “I really don’t drink, so don’t be offended if that lasts me all night.”
“No problem, I just want you to be comfortable.”
“I know, you’re thinking she’s a bartender, and she doesn’t drink. But after seeing what alcohol does to some people I hope you can understand,” she offered as an explanation.
“I do understand. Obviously, I like an occasional drink, but when I think about it, if I didn’t drink, I never would have met you!” I said.
“You’re right! I didn’t think about it like that either, but seriously, you don’t drink to excess, and I like that,” she said and laughed.
“You certainly like a variety of spirits though!” she said with a heartier laugh. “Draft beer, cognac, VO and coke!”
“I was raised to be an equal opportunity person,” I proffered in my defense and drew another laugh. So far so good I thought to myself.
The waiter brought our drinks, and an assistant placed a basket bearing a generous assortment of warm soft rolls. What I really liked was the tub shaped like a wide mouth beer stein of what turned out to be sweet butter.
I raised my glass in a toast, Mandy touched it with hers and our first date was officially underway. She set her glass down and reached over and took my hand.
“Daryl, I have a question I have to ask you.” Her look was suddenly very serious.
I nodded and held my breath. I didn’t want to get into discussing the murder and shooting.
“How old are you?” she asked.
I breathed a sigh of relief and answered, “Forty-two.
She seemed to be taking that in and I took a chance on breaking etiquette by asking “And can I assume that you are at least twenty-one?”
She let out a laugh and said, “Yes I am, and thank you for that. I’m thirty-five.” Before I could say anything, she added with a serious look, “Do you think that’s too big a gap between us?”
“No, I think that’s just perfect.” This time her smile was saying “All right!”
We munched on the rolls and butter, and she asked about my childhood and I about hers. I gave her my short version, and she looked sad. I assured her that I was well cared for and believed that the experience had made me who I was today.
Mandy said she was also an only child and grew up in Ethan Falls. When she told me that she had graduated from Bennington College with a degree in Finance, I guess the surprise showed on my face. When she said she was almost finished with her Masters’ through an online program, I was floored. I knew she was very intelligent, but I would never have guessed she was so focused on her education.
“Mandy, I mean this sincerely. What you just told me is absolutely wonderful. I’m so very proud of you,” I said.
For the first time, I saw her blush. “Other than my parents, no one has ever said that to me,” she said softly. I gently squeezed her hand and felt her palm was sweaty.
The waiter came and asked for our orders, and to be honest, I hadn’t even looked at the menu.; I don’t think I had taken my eyes off Mandy’s face for one minute. This is crazy I thought to myself, it’s only been three days since we met, and I’m fixated on how beautifuld she is.
Mandy piped up, “I will have the sauerbraten please.”
“And you Sir”?
“I shall have the same.”
He collected the menus and left. Mandy said, “You’re going to love
it.”
We chatted about typical first date things while we waited; When were our birthdays? What foods did we like? Had we traveled? We were doing well with each other I thought.
She told me that her mom and dad had moved up to Stowe three years ago and had bought a cute little chalet house on a small lot. She called her parents Hansel and Gretel because of their new lifestyle and told me her mom was a homemaker all her life, Hansel had retired as a highway engineer for the State.
She said that she drove up to see them for three-day weekends once a month except during the winter, when the weather made it hit or miss. From how she described them, she came from a home that had a lot of love.
Mandy told me that when she was fifteen she was very sick, early stages of “cancer of her woman’s organs” as she described it. She had surgery knowing she would never be able to bear children. She said that was hard for her to accept at first, but she was grateful that she was alive and cancer free for the past twenty years. Her dream was to help children who weren’t as fortunate to have the family love that she was raised on. I must admit, I felt sad as I listened, and all I could think of saying when she finished was to tell her that her wish was beautiful.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a large woman headed quickly to our table. I don’t mean to insult her personal appearance or describe her approach as gregarious, but even absent six large overflowing beer steins in each hand she looked like the proverbial kellnerin plowing her way through a drunken crowd in a beer hall during Oktoberfest. Obviously, this had to be The Mrs. Haberstroh.
From a distance of ten feet she called out, “Mandy mein liebchen,” and almost lifted her off her chair as she hugged her and gave her a wet kiss on the cheek. Mandy squirmed a little; honestly, I think it was to protect herself from the woman accidentally breaking her neck. I hoped they didn’t notice my wince.
Mandy introduced me, and the woman didn’t hesitate to plant an even wetter kiss on my cheek. It had taken her only one stride to cross from Mandy’s side of the table to mine. She asked Mandy about her parents, said how much she missed them, and at just the right moment our meals arrived to save us. Mrs. H. told us to enjoy, although her tone almost made i
t sound like an order and left us, parting with the comment, “I’ll see you before you leave.”
I could hardly wait for that and looked around to see if there was a back door.
The meal was beyond fantastic. After we finished, the busboy cleared the table, and the waiter presented the dessert menu. I passed, but Mandy selected something I had never heard of, ‘sort of like strawberry shortcake,” she described it, and an extra plate and fork. “We can share.”
And we did, it was great! Even with the two of us picking at it we couldn’t clean the plate. The waiter came with the check and I left cash in the folder, I felt a generous tip was in order and the C-Note covered it.
Mr. and Mrs. H were at the podium and I prepared myself for the back-thumping and lip shower. To my surprise we were lightly hugged, hands held, told what a cute couple we were, directed to give their fond regards to Mandy’s parents, and made it out the door unscathed. As we stepped out, Mandy leaned over and gave me a thank you kiss.
It was a little past nine, and I asked if she wanted to go somewhere for a drink.
“No, why don’t we go back to my place. I’d just like to sit and talk with you.” As we drove out of the lot she remarked, “I love this car.” I followed her directions and in about fifteen minutes we were back at her place. Once inside she said, “I just want to get out of this dress and these heels. I’ll be just a minute; I picked up a six pack of light beer for you. It’s in the fridge, glasses are in the cabinet next to the sink.” She went up the stairs to her bedroom.
I grabbed a beer and glass and settled onto the living room couch. I admit to you that I was nervous. I breathed a sigh of relief, (admittedly with a dash of disappointment) when she came bounding barefoot down the stairs wearing grey gym shorts, and a matching midriff length top. Even that outfit stirred my libido. It must have been those satin smooth legs. She bounced onto the couch next to me and curled her feet under her.
“Daryl, I had a wonderful time tonight, I was nervous about it, but you made it seem so natural. Thank You.” She gave me a kiss on the lips and leaned back.
“Can we talk? I have a million questions for you, but I don’t want to upset you.”
“Sure, you won’t upset me. What do you want to know?”
“That phone call you got on the way to the restaurant, Chief it said. Who was that?”
“That was my boss in Boston; he’s the US Attorney there.”
“He said something about Washington saying that you were cleared to go forward. Are you investigating me?”
I thought for a few seconds and said “Yes. I’m investigating how in only three days Mandy Simmons has managed to capture my heart.”
She leaned over and gave me a long passionate kiss; her body pressed against mine was tempting my no one-night-stand policy to wave a white flag.
She leaned back and said, “Do you have to go to Washington?”
“No, why would you think that?”
“I don’t know, it’s just that you don’t talk about why you’re here. That phone call was pretty mysterious for an eavesdropper to hear!”
“You know why I’m here; my friend from law school needs my help. Her husband was shot, and she thought my background could help find out who did it.”
“Lindsey, right? I only saw her for a minute, but she’s a beautiful woman. Were you lovers in law school?”
I almost blurted out “I wish,” but caught myself.
“No, we weren’t lovers, just really good friends. She helped a group of us with our studies. She’s very smart.” Before she could continue her interview of me I added, “I told her what happened to you at the lounge and she was shocked and angry with the cops. She asked me to be sure that I told you that she was thinking of you. And she also said that you were one pretty woman yourself.”
“I like her already. Is she doing okay with her husband getting shot?”
“Yeah, as well as can be expected. She really loves him and is just scared to think that someone tried to kill him.”
“Have they been married long?”
I had to think for a minute. I had never thought about it but, I did some quick math in my head and answered, “About ten years or so I think. Judge Moran is much older than Lindsey.”
“Oh? How much older?”
“About twenty years I think.”
“Twenty years!” she exclaimed. “Well, I guess that makes us really okay.”
“We’re really OK,” I answered, and leaned over and kissed her.
She leaned back and said, “That’s the first time you’ve kissed me. Thank You! Do you think whoever murdered Susan shot the Judge?”
“My gut is telling me the two crimes are related. Can I ask you some questions?”
“Uh huh,” she said grabbing a pillow from the couch and plopping it onto my lap. She laid her head down, looked up at me and said with a devilish giggle, “Interrogate me Daryl Richardson,” wiggling her feet to settle in. Interrogating her wasn’t what was on my mind as I brushed her hair away from her face.
“What do you know about Susan’s father?”
“Mr. Peterson? Susan said he was a Marine in Vietnam. He was a war hero, but he never talked about it. He got some medals for bravery, but I don’t know exactly what he did. She said he was one of those guys that would climb into tunnels and look for the enemy.”
“Ugh!” she said with a shudder. “Who would do that? Snakes, spiders. Ugh!” she said, shaking her head just thinking about that.
“A very brave man,” I answered.
“But he was just a boy then. I was at their house and Susan showed me some pictures of him in his den. He was handsome in his uniform, but he looked so young.”
“Have you talked to him or her mother since she died?”
“Oh yeah. I went to her funeral with some friends and then to their house afterward. Her parents were devastated. I heard that she was badly beaten and strangled. Maybe raped. Thank God, they didn’t have a wake or open casket. I wouldn’t have been able to handle that.”
“Actually,” she added, “I saw them only a few weeks ago at the supermarket. I didn’t know what to say to them, but I could tell from their eyes that seeing me made them sad.”
“Have you seen any pictures of Susan? She was gorgeous, so full of life, funny… “She trailed off but didn’t speak. I could see she was getting choked up.
“I’m sorry Mandy, I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“No, it’s okay. It’s just that she was such a good friend and now she’s gone.” She reached up and took my hand and placed it on her waist.” Daryl, just hold me for a minute?”
I did as I was told, for more than a minute to be honest. Her eyes closed, and she was purring.
“Daryl, if you find out that the same guy that shot your friend killed Susan, will you kill him?”
I didn’t speak right away. “I can’t answer that Mandy. I would hope that he could be arrested and face a trial.” I stopped petting her and saw she was looking at me straight in my eyes.
“If you do get the chance to kill him, please make him suffer first.”
She rolled onto her side closer to me and said, “Don’t stop, please rub my back.” I did as I was told.
We didn’t talk for a while unless you consider her purring a form of speech. She finally said “The HR manager for the hotel called me today to see how I was doing. I told her I was okay, just a little shaky. She said they wanted me to take next week off and they would pay me. She said that if I needed to talk to a doctor about what happened they would pay for that to. She was really nice on the phone.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I think I’ll just take a few days off, maybe go back on Wednesday. I can’t let this ruin my life. I thought that I would go see Hansel and Gretel, but then thought if I said anything to them about what happened they would get really upset. I don’t want that. And then I thought that if I did go up there, I wouldn’t be able to see you.”
I didn’
t say anything. She sat up on her knees and said, “You may think I’m crazy, but when I’m with you I feel safe. But I need to get away from here for a few days, clear my head. Do you know what I’m saying?”
“Mandy”, I said,” I do understand. Tomorrow’s Friday, and I have to go down to Stockbridge, I have some things I have to attend to at my house and thought I would spend the weekend. Why don’t you come with me? I just had the place renovated, a lot of work’s been done actually, and I haven’t seen it since it’s been finished.”
“Me, go to your house?” she asked.
“Yeah, it’s an hour drive from here; we can make it a long weekend.” I have three bedrooms and just had the guest suites renovated. You can have complete privacy and I think you’ll enjoy the place.”
She thought for a minute and said” Daryl, I haven’t been with a guy in a long, long time. I want it to be just perfect. Can I ask you a question?”
“What’s that?” I asked, my heart beating with excitement, and honestly, with a little trepidation for what was coming next.
“Stockbridge?”
“Yes.”
“Can we have dinner at the Red Lion? I’ve read about it in magazines.”
“Absolutely!”
“Hooray!” she yelled,” I would love to spend a long weekend with you.” We sealed the deal with a kiss.
It was almost eleven. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning, say about eleven, is that okay? I’m just going to wear some jeans, so bring what you think is right for a casual weekend.”
“Make it ten,” she said as she walked me to the door.
We kissed, and I started to leave. She tugged on my sleeve and said in a soft voice, “Daryl, I don’t think I’ll be using the guest suite this weekend.”
“I don’t think so either. Good night see you at ten.”
I drove back to the hotel thinking this has been a dream. I had to call Bernie first thing in the morning to tell her I would be arriving around noon with a guest for the weekend. That will be an interesting call.
I also had to call Lindsey to check on the Judge and let her know where I’ll be. I can’t wait to make that call either.