by Marja McGraw
Doug could be another suspect. I knew he hadn’t liked Frendd coming around, and he didn’t seem to have a lot of patience. Nah, another dead end. He could talk the talk, but he couldn’t walk the walk. He was all bark and no bite. Where were all of these clichés coming from? I shook my head to clear it.
“So you’re going to stay at your grandmother’s house?” Ted asked. “You and Tammi could stay with me, you know.”
“I know, Ted, and I appreciate the offer. But I think for the next few days I’d like to be around Grandma Dolly. She’ll baby us a little bit, and Tammi and I will both feel better. Besides, I’d like to put some distance between us and this house for now.”
“Are you going to be okay to drive all the way into L.A.?” Ted sounded like he was still trying to talk her out of going to Dolly’s house.
“I’m shaky, but I’m okay. Driving always relaxes me.”
“Yeah, like driving on the freeway will relax you.” Ted was beginning to pout, not a pretty picture.
“Trust me, Ted, it will.” Chrissy was sounding annoyed. I couldn’t blame her.
“You know you can ride in with me, if you want to,” I offered.
“I know, Sandi, but I’d like to have my car there. Thanks anyway. Do you think they’ll let me pack some of our clothes and things? Or will I have to leave everything here?”
“Let me check with Detective Chase for you.” I wanted to see what they were doing on the back porch anyway. I was disappointed to see that they were about done for the time being. I still wanted to take a look at the basement.
“Detective, is Chrissy allowed to pack up some things for her and her child?”
“Certainly. Tell her she can take clothing and personal items, but nothing else.”
“Will I still have the opportunity to take a look at the basement?”
“Ms. Webster, what do you think you’re going to find down there that we haven’t already seen?” He was irritated with me.
“Probably nothing, but I’d feel better if I could do my job.” The part of me that was like my mother was shining through. I needed to see for myself.
“This crime scene is our job, not yours. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, but I just want a little peek. Not a big deal, right?” Mother was a good wheedler, too, and so was I.
“You don’t get it, do you? This is a crime scene, and we do the investigating, not some P.I. from Los Angeles.”
“I won’t disturb anything, I promise. But I need to take a look for myself. Remember, I was the last person to visit the basement before Frendd’s death. I might notice something that you wouldn’t even know was out of place.” Made sense to me, and I hoped it made sense to him.
I thought I was good at sighing, but Detective Chase could have put out the candles on a birthday cake a block away with the air he expelled. Although he was beyond irritated with me, he relented. The case I’d presented made sense.
“Hey, Jim,” he called out the back door. “You guys head back without me. I’ve got to take care of something here before I meet you back at headquarters.”
Detective Chase pulled open the trap door and turned on a flashlight. He preceded me down the stairs and pulled the chain attached to the ceiling light.
“Come on down,” he said. “But let’s make this quick.”
Chapter Thirty-two
I had no idea what I might see, but I wouldn’t feel satisfied unless I could take a look for myself.
“Did you find any evidence, Detective? Like a weapon or something?”
“I can’t discuss that with you, Ms. Webster. You know that.”
“Please, call me Sandi.” I needed to start forming a bond with this man. The use of first names always seemed to be a good beginning.
“Ms. Webster--”
“Sandi, please.”
“Ah, hell! Sandi, we didn’t find much of anything. He dropped a vodka bottle that broke on impact. In case you haven’t noticed, the floors are packed dirt down here, not concrete. Between the dirt, vodka and blood, it’s a muddy mess.” His tone was impatient, but he told me what I wanted to know.
I glanced around. There wasn’t quite as much blood as I’d thought initially. Some spatter, and a small pool where his head had rested. Still, I began to feel queasy, realizing it was a real death scene. I could still see his dead body in my mind.
“And you didn’t find anything else? Like one of the gifts he leaves for Chrissy?” I needed to move my thoughts past the blood and the body.
“Well, yeah, there was a small package. It looked like he’d used old newspaper to wrap it, but it had been opened.” He grudgingly told me this part, probably not wanting to reveal much. My question alerted him to the fact that I knew a lot more than he’d given me credit for. I had a feeling that he’d already told me more than he should have.
“What was in the package?” I tried to ask him casually, so maybe he’d slip and tell me. It didn’t work.
“Sorry, but I can’t tell you that. And, to be honest, I don’t think it’s going to have any bearing on his death.”
“Ah. Probably not.” I was humoring him, and he seemed to realize that. He knew I was trying to talk him into telling me what it was.
“I do have to keep certain elements of this crime from the general public.” He sounded like he was excusing himself.
“I understand.”
I looked around the basement, trying to remember everything I’d noticed the first time I’d been there. One of the packed boxes Chrissy had stored was open.
“Did your men open this box, uh, say, what is your name, anyway?”
“Don. But you can call me Detective Chase.” He grinned, and I knew the ice had been broken. About time.
“Okay, Detective Don Chase, did your people open this box?”
“Yes.”
“Are you going to open the rest of them?” I asked.
“Does it matter?”
“I guess not. But why open one and not the others?”
His grin had disappeared. I was getting on his nerves again.
“Mrs. Knight has them taped shut. There’s no indication that they’ve been moved or tampered with and no need to go through them.”
“Did you find an empty vodka bottle sitting on a box down here?” That was the one thing that seemed to be missing. The one they’d found on the floor hadn’t been empty.
The detective raised an eyebrow. “Just the one on the floor, and it wasn’t empty. It’s been taken in as evidence. Is this significant?”
“There was an empty bottle down here, too.”
I glanced through the window space while we talked. I could see Chrissy’s nosey neighbor, Doug, watching her house from his window. I glanced back at the boxes. They were covered with dust that had only been disturbed by Frendd’s vodka bottle and the cops.
“You might want to talk to Doug Wilson from next door, Don. He seems to keep a pretty close eye on this place.”
“Already talked to him, but we’ll be having a follow-up chat. Anything else, Sandi?”
“I guess not. I’m sorry to have taken up so much of your time.” I hadn’t seen anything out of place in the basement, and I didn’t want to alienate Don any further. Time to go home. I’d return and talk to Doug myself, at my own leisure.
“Sandi, since you’ve been involved in this situation, you give me a call if you think of anything I might need to know.”
“I will. And thanks for letting me take a look around.”
I hurried back up the stairs and returned to the living room where I found Chrissy and Ted still sitting on the couch.
“Chrissy, why don’t you pack up some of your things while I go get Tammi?”
“Yeah, Ted is leaving, aren’t you, Ted?” she said, turning to face him. “So I’ll get our things together. Let me call Becky and tell her who you are so you can pick up Tammi.”
I noticed that she didn’t say anything else to Ted, but pointedly turned her back on him when she rea
ched for the phone. He stood up, opened his mouth to say something, but changed his mind and walked out the front door, lips clamped tightly together. Trouble in paradise?
She called her neighbor, and while I walked over to pick up Tammi, she put their clothes and a few toys together to take out to her car.
After skirting a hedge to reach the Wilson house, I rang the doorbell. Doug answered.
“Hi, Doug. I’m here to pick up Tammi.”
“I’ll go get her.” Doug seemed wound up and jumpy. Guess all the excitement next door was better than watching TV.
He soon returned with the child and opened his screen door to let her out of the house. I could see a woman standing back from the door watching me. I supposed she was curious about the goings on next door, too. I waved. Hesitantly, she waved back. She was an average looking woman, not tall, but not short, with blonde hair that was pulled back in a ponytail. Strands of hair had come loose, framing her slender face, and she wore glasses.
“Thanks for watching Tammi,” I called out.
“You’re welcome.” She had a soft voice, and I strained to hear her.
“Doug, if I drive out tomorrow afternoon, will you be home? And can you and your wife take the time to talk to me for a few minutes?”
“I already talked to the cops. Don’t know what else I could tell ya. And Becky didn’t see nothin’. She was taking a nap when all the trouble happened.”
“Still, would you mind? I have a few questions of my own. You know, stuff the police might not have thought of since they haven’t been involved up until now.” Somehow I figured that would get to him, and I was right. He wanted to be a part of things. Maybe it would make him feel important.
“Okay, Becky won’t be here, but I’ll be home after three o’clock.”
Chapter Thirty-three
Chrissy loaded up her car and we left, with Detective Chase indicating he’d lock up the house. He said he wanted to do a little more looking around.
The drive back to Los Angeles was a lot calmer than the one I’d made earlier, to Covina. I followed Chrissy and Tammi all the way to Dolly’s house, never losing sight of them.
As we pulled up, Dolly and Bubba greeted us on the sidewalk. Dolly began to cry, and Bubba greeted Tammi with a lick and a grin. The child giggled.
“Good doggie,” she said, hugging him. “Can he stay with us tonight, mommy?”
“Not tonight, Tammi. Maybe another time. Tonight we need to get some rest.”
Dolly hustled the girls inside while Bubba and I walked home.
I opened the front door and hollered, “There’d better not be any disturbances, or I’m gonna scare the hell outta one unwanted ghost! Got it? I’m scarier than you are tonight.”
Bubba looked up at me and whined. “Sorry, pal. I wasn’t yelling at you.”
I was too wound up to go to sleep, so I heated some water and made myself a cup of hot tea. Settling in front of the TV, I turned on the classic movie station, just in time for Hold That Ghost, an old Abbott and Costello movie. Watching it made ghosts seem silly, which was exactly what I needed. I dozed off on the couch as soon as the movie ended, even though I’d intended to get up and go to bed.
Waking up around four o’clock in the morning, I knew I’d had a dream I should remember but couldn’t, and went upstairs. Bubba settled into his new spot at the foot of the bed. I quickly fell back to sleep, but it didn’t last long. I was up by six o’clock because I had too many things on my mind to sleep any later.
While Bubba left his doggie decorations in the yard, I phoned Pete on the cell phone.
When he answered, his voice sounded deep and sleepy.
“Did I wake you up?” I asked cheerfully.
“Yeah. What do you want?”
“Are you always this cranky in the morning? Never mind. Dumb question.” I remembered the first time I’d ever spoken to Pete on the phone. I’d called him about the possibility of working for me, on the advice of some cops I knew, and he’d just about taken my head off. I’d awakened him that time, too.
“Sandi, I was sound asleep. Stan and I were out late last night. I’ve only been asleep for about…” He paused, and I could picture him checking his watch. “Crap! I’ve only been asleep for two hours.”
“I’m sorry, my little sugar lump.”
He groaned. I knew that would make him crazy. I was being way too cheerful. “Little sugar lump? That’s disgusting this early in the morning.”
“Okay, how about Mr. Sunshine?”
“I’m going to get even with you when I get home.” It was a threat, but I could hear a smile in his voice.
“Okay, I’ll quit. I thought I’d call and get an update from you on your black truck search.”
“Update from me? What about your dead body? When were you planning on telling me about that little event?”
“I thought I’d give you a few minutes to wake up first. I guess Stanley told you, huh?”
“Mmph.” I took that as a yes. “Sorry, I was swallowing some water. My mouth is dry this morning.”
“Uh huh. What all did Stanley tell you? And why were you two out so late?”
“He said that Frendd had been killed, but he didn’t have any details. Wanna give me some of those elusive details?”
“Frendd climbed down into Chrissy’s basement again. Someone hit him over the head a few times and he’s dead. Now you know about as much as I do. Did Stanley tell you about Frendd’s background?”
“He filled me in. So this cop you’ve been butting heads with is his stepbrother. Do you think he might be the killer?”
“I don’t know. I’m going to start talking to a few people who’ve been involved in this. Chrissy’s boyfriend could have done it, trying to protect her, and her neighbor might have a vested interest, too. He seems to have been concerned that Frendd would come after his wife next. And, of course, Paley is in it right up to his nasty little eyeballs. I’ll see what kind of answers I come up with after I talk to everyone. I hope Paley will talk to me now that the truth is out.”
“Don’t get in over your head, Sandi. The cops are investigating it, so don’t get in their way.”
“I won’t, but I have a few ideas about the murder. The investigators are walking in cold, and I’ve been at this for a few days. Maybe I can help them.”
Pete chuckled. “Yeah, like they want your help.”
“Like the county sheriff in Lake Tahoe wanted your help? Anyway, they’re stuck with me. Don gave in and shared a little bit with me last night.”
“Don? Who’s Don?” Pete sounded more alert.
“Don is the supervising investigator.”
“Hmm. And you’re on a first name basis with him?”
Did I detect a note of jealousy? Ha! Pete has a charisma that drives women nuts. We couldn’t even go out to dinner without the waitresses flirting with him. The proverbial shoe was now on the other foot. Good. I don’t like playing games, but this had just sort of… happened.
“Well, we spent quite a bit of time together last night. At Chrissy’s house. You know how it is. He had a lot of questions for me, and I had to soft-talk him to get a look at the crime scene.”
“Uh huh.” Pete didn’t sound convinced.
“So what did you and Stanley do?”
“We drove around looking for the black truck. I think we saw it, but traffic was heavy and we lost it. We’re going to try again today.”
“And you were looking for this truck way into the wee small hours of the morning?” I asked.
“Oh, no. Stan wanted to try his luck at the Blackjack tables, so I went along to offer moral support. I had a few drinks and watched him play.”
“Did he win anything?” I couldn’t picture Stanley gambling. It didn’t fit his personality, but what did I know? Stan the Man occasionally surprised me
“No, but he had a good time. Actually, I guess he probably broke about even. Anyway, since it was late and I’d had a couple of beers, we decided to stay at a local
motel instead of driving back to Rick’s place.” I could hear the smile in Pete’s voice again. He and Stanley had formed the most unlikely friendship. An ex-cop and a meek greeting card verse writer. What a combination.
I heard a loud commotion in the background, and Pete said, “Let me call you back. Someone’s pounding on the door. Who the hell would bother me at this time in the morning? Other than you, that is.”
Pete hung up before I could ask him to set the phone down and let me know what was going on. I hoped he’d call back before too long.
Chapter Thirty-four
Bubba and I ate breakfast, and I decided to walk over and see how Chrissy and Tammi were doing.
“Come on, Bubba. Let’s go see that sweet little girl.” He looked up at me, trying to figure out what I was saying. “You know, the one who seems to think you’re an overgrown Teddy Bear.”
I opened the front door and stumbled into Dolly. She’s such a tiny little thing.
“Oh! I was just about to ring your doorbell.” Dolly clutched her chest, a trait I’d noticed she had when anything surprised or scared her.
“I’m sorry, Dolly. I didn’t mean to frighten you.”
“It’s my fault, Sandi. I came over to borrow a couple of eggs, if that’s okay. I’m fixing pancakes. Would you like to join us?”
“I’ll get you the eggs, but I’ve already eaten. I was on my way over to your house to see how the girls are doing this morning. If you’re eating though, I’ll wait and come over later.”
“Heavens, no. We can eat and talk at the same time.”
“Then I’ll get the eggs and be at your house in a minute.”
“I’ll leave the front door open. Come on in.” Dolly turned and left. I noticed her movements seemed more spry than usual. She must be enjoying having Chrissy and Tammi at her house.
I grabbed two eggs, stuck my cell phone in my pocket in case Pete called back, and headed toward the front door. Opening it, I stepped out and reached back for the handle to pull it shut.