Frugal Lissa Finds a Body

by Ritter Ames

  “Perfectly. I’m holding you to the promise.”

  We both laughed.

  “I love you,” I said.

  “I love you more,” he replied.

  “Impossible.”

  “Nothing is impossible.”

  We said a few more things, but they were especially quiet, to guarantee the boys couldn’t overhear us. Before we signed off, Dek said, “I’ll make sure I shave in London, so when I get home I might be scratchy, but I won’t be scruffy like I am now.”

  “I just want you home. Scruffy or scratchy is absolutely acceptable.”

  “You really do love me.”

  “I really do.” I blew him a kiss.

  CHAPTER

  EIGHTEEN

  AFTER SENDING THE LAPTOP into standby again, I remembered I needed to ask the boys if they’d opened the gate earlier, and reiterate the danger if Honey got loose. But in that same second, barking erupted from the living room and the dog raced to the side window, woofing continuously the entire time. Simultaneously, headlights flashed and turned into the driveway.

  “Honey, inside voice, please. It’s just Abby. You can move out of alarm mode.”

  Unfortunately, I didn’t convince her. Or she couldn’t hear me over the barking. A second later, Abby pounded on the front door.

  “Sorry, I was trying to get her to hush,” I said, opening the door.

  Abby ran inside. “No, she’s right to make a fuss.” She had her cell phone out and dialing 9-1-1. “Someone ran away from the side of your house.” The emergency operator connected, and she said, “I’d like to report a possible intruder. And I’d like the information about this call forwarded immediately to Detective Brian Baker.”

  She gave my address and the information about what she saw, staying on the line until sirens shrieked in the distance a few minutes later. We met the uniformed officer at the door. Abby led the way to show why she’d called.

  “I was turning into the drive, when someone dressed in dark clothes broke away from this side of the house and ran toward the back of the neighboring property,” she said, waving a hand toward the side windows that had set Honey barking. “I’m not positive about size, but I would guess a man of medium height or a tall woman.”

  The patrolman flashed his bright Maglite into every corner of the darkness and stepped closer to the window to check out the ground.

  “Looks like there could be prints here. I can call it in and—”

  “That’s okay, officer. I’ll take it from here.” I jumped when Brian’s deep voice seemed to come out of nowhere.

  As the officer returned to his patrol car, I said, “You’re here quick.”

  “I was a couple of blocks away when I got the call.” He had his own flashlight, and turned it on, blinding me for a second. He added, “Thanks for telling them to notify me, Abby, but this neighborhood is already red-flagged for my attention if any calls come.”

  “I figured it would be,” she said. “But it never hurts to be sure.”

  “No, it doesn’t.” He squatted down where the patrolman had previously, and he trained his light on the grass by the window. “I’ll get a team out here to check, but the ground isn’t particularly helpful. A month from now we’d have enough spring rain to get a good idea of shoe size, but not tonight.”

  He straightened and backed away. I assumed so that he was retreating in about the same footprints he’d made to get there. I had to hand it to him, I’d have never thought of doing the same, but at least Abby and I hadn’t messed anything up by moving close to look.

  Pointing his light into the darkness of the neighbor’s backyard, he asked, “Is there a fence anyone would jump if exiting through the rear yards?”

  “A couple of houses down,” I said. “But the way is open to the next street.”

  The light shined away from him, so I only saw him due to the residual light of the window. Honey was still barking, and I noticed the boys were up and had the curtains pulled back, staring at us.

  Brian nodded toward the house. “You two go back inside and let me make some calls. I’ll be a minute, then I’ll come in and we can all talk.”

  Oh, boy.

  In less than five minutes, I had the boys sent back to bed—though I figured they were actually hiding on the landing and trying to eavesdrop—and Abby, Brian, and I sat around the kitchen table. Honey was nearby. She was a flirt when it came to men. She loved all men. And she happily watched as Baker grilled us, though everything he asked seemed to just be filler or what we’d already covered. Nothing that seemed to warrant him calling me back into the station. Abby hadn’t even had to stop me from answering any question.

  It had been a long and stressful day, and I was getting irritable. I interrupted another rehashed question by holding up a hand and saying, “None of this seems particularly relevant, making me wonder that the whole phone call business from this afternoon hadn’t been little more than intimidation tactics to keep the pressure on me. Do you not have any suspects, Brian? Am I the best option?”

  “Sometimes people have to hear questions repeated a couple of different ways before they remember something they’ve failed to mention before,” he said. “You’re just helping us with our inquiries. You aren’t a suspect.”

  I crossed my arms and hrumphed. “Then can we get back to what happened here tonight?”

  “Nothing yet to get back to.” He looked at his notepad and rested the point of his pen on each line as he summarized, “Abby didn’t get a good view of the person. The footprints will likely be inconclusive once the crime scene folks go over them. And there was a ready ingress and egress to the next street over where a car might’ve been parked waiting. I’ll get someone doing a door-to-door for any help in identifying strange cars seen tonight, but I imagine if there was a car, it was parked away from any light and identification.”

  “Aren’t you Mr. Optimistic,” I grumbled, pulling my arms even tighter around my torso.

  “He’s just being realistic, Liss,” Abby said.

  I got up to make us glasses of lemonade, but when I moved to the refrigerator for the pitcher, I remembered the screwdriver. “I didn’t put it together at first, but there was something that happened earlier tonight that might be connected.”

  The versatile silver wonder was safely in the timeout box, and I took it back to the table. I forgot all about the drinks. In minutes, I covered the earlier event that occurred about dusk, soon after Abby left for her parents and Honey went rogue.

  “You haven’t asked your boys yet if they accidentally left the gate unlatched?”

  “No, each time I’ve been going to tonight, something happened that diverted my attention elsewhere. But I really didn’t consider they had. We installed a special double latch feature so Honey couldn’t push it open with her nose to get out. It’s always been effective at keeping her corralled, and the boys usually just scale the links like a ladder and climb over the fence, because it’s easier than messing with the strong spring on the safety part of the latch.”

  “You’re not afraid your dog might jump the fence?” he asked. “It’s only about waist high.”

  I shook my head. “Honey isn’t overly aerodynamic. No, she’s curious enough to test limits to things that hold her, for example, we don’t have doorknobs except on the outside doors. The rest of the doors close with the long door handles instead of knobs. Those handles, like the lift latches, are accessible for her to get into her mouth and push or pull. I’ve seen her nudge several with her nose, and I expect any day for her to realize she can mouth the things, pull down on the handle, and walk into any room in the house.”

  “Clever dog.”

  “Most times she’s too clever by half. But I didn’t hear her running and barking as she escaped around the house, like I would expect—though I might have missed growling. Either way, I just thought she ran out and found the screwdriver in her travels.”

  He turned the item in question over several times. “We’ll never get a
ny prints off of this since you’ve cleaned it.”

  “Sorry, I didn’t—”

  He waved away my apology. “Water under the bridge. But I’ll take it with me just in case. If your boys aren’t asleep, can you double check with them about the gate.”

  I hurried upstairs and found the boys still reading. I should have known they’d take advantage of the situation. “When I kissed you both goodnight downstairs, I told you to go to bed and get to sleep.”

  “Not sleepy,” Mac said, yawning on the last syllable.

  “We thought another book would help,” Jamey replied and pointed to his brother. “See, it worked.”

  I chuckled. “Good save.” I asked about the unlatched gate.

  “No, we’d never do that,” Jamey replied. “We always climb over. But we haven’t even been in the backyard today.”

  “Didn’t think so, but thanks. I needed to ask to be certain.” I gave each boy another kiss on the forehead and removed their books from their hands. Seconds later, the lights were off, and I pulled the door almost closed before I headed back downstairs to report my findings.

  After listened to what the boys said, Brian replied, “I’m going to work off the assumption the two incidents are tied together. Whether they’re tied to the murder, too, isn’t clear, however.”

  “If you get a suspect, a search may uncover more tools matching this in a set,” Abby suggested.

  “A definite possibility,” he replied. “I’ll have someone at the station search the internet, too, and see if anything like this pops up. In a kit or otherwise. We might be able to discover where it can be purchased locally and get a lead on a suspect.”

  “Or Honey could have picked it up in any yard while she was running free,” I added. “And it will lead you in a wrong direction.”

  Brian nodded again, but his voice held a note of warning. “Still, this could have been something someone was planning to use to break into your house. It absolutely could be used for that purpose. Maybe the suspect came back after full dark to try to find it again. The dog barking and Abby arriving at the same time came together for the perfect storm. If the suspect hadn’t ran, would you have even noticed anyone there?”

  “Probably not,” Abby agreed. “And Lissa was in here trying to hush Honey because she hadn’t dreamed of anyone on the other side of the wall.”

  “Honey has barked like that before when the Lofton’s cat was on the windowsill, or when neighbor kids cut through yards,” I said. “I never thought about anyone actually standing there, but I certainly will in the future.”

  Brian put the screwdriver and his notepad into an inside jacket pocket and rose from the chair. “I’ll request a patrol car make more frequent sweeps in this neighborhood, but that’s really all I can do. If you decide you want to stay somewhere else—”

  “No.” I shook my head. “If someone was trying to break in, an empty house offers an open invitation. If they were trying to get to me and the boys, Honey’s already proven tonight she’s the best alarm system around. Besides, I know this house better than I would know any generic motel chain. I know the house’s squeaks and moans. I’ll feel much safer here than anywhere else.”

  “Still, I need to warn you—”

  “I got it, Brian. You’ve done your duty.” I turned to Abby. “But if you’d rather stay with your parents...”

  “Not on your life.” She looked at the wall clock. “It’s almost ten. Does Mrs. G watch the late news, Lissa?”

  “Usually. She likes the late-night comics, too, though I think she naps during most of the shows.”

  She started to speak to Brian, but he was ahead of her. “I’ll go by her place to make sure everything is locked down tight and see if I notice any footprints in her flowerbeds.”

  “Thank you.”

  He tipped an imaginary hat. “That’s my job, ma’am.”

  As he pulled away from the curb for the short hop back to Mrs. Glover’s driveway, I said, “He’s actually a little charming when he talks to you, Abby. Look out, or you may have a weeble-wobble suitor before you can get back to Dallas.”

  “Ha! Don’t scare me.”

  CHAPTER

  NINETEEN

  WE TALKED NEARLY ALL night. Something about worrying someone might try to break in kept the adrenalin pumping through our veins. Each previous clue and hypothesis was analyzed and revisited. Everything either of us could remember that anyone said. About four in the morning, when we were finishing our second cup of cocoa to combat the million Cokes and coffees we’d already consumed, we both hit the wall.

  “It’s just as well,” Abby said, following me up the stairs with Honey awake again and trailing at our heels. “I think the last couple of things we talked about were actually based on delusions.”

  “A valid point.” I waved a hand toward the dog. “Do you want her to sleep on the floor in your room?”

  Abby shook her head. “She’ll be more likely to go to sleep if she’s with your or the boys.”

  “Don’t kid yourself.” I laughed. “This dog can go back to sleep with the blink of an eye.”

  “As long as she’s awake and barking if she hears any stranger come by again.”

  I’m not sure both Honey and I weren’t asleep before the light blinked off, but I was the one awake again when the seven o’clock alarm sounded in the boys' room in what felt like a minute later. I dressed quickly and knocked on their door.

  “Still want cinnamon toast this morning, Mac?” I asked when I poked my head in the room.

  “Yes. Thanks for remembering, Mom.”

  “Can we add blueberries and pecans too?” Jamey asked.

  “Sounds like a good combo to me. See you downstairs in five minutes.”

  I’d planned on letting Abby sleep, since Honey would be around when I took the boys to school, but she arrived in the kitchen, dressed in jeans and a Billy Joel concert t-shirt a minute ahead of my sons.

  “I didn’t realize you went to see him his last tour.” I pointed the serving spoon at her shirt.

  “I’ve seen him every time he’s come to Dallas. I even made the trips before I took the job down there, when I was still in college and you lived in Europe.”

  “Something else I missed.”

  “While you were eating great food every night and seeing new places every day.”

  “Hey, it wasn’t all fun and games.”

  “But you can’t say it was ever boring,” she said, plucking two blueberries from the plastic container and popping them into her mouth. “Don’t worry. Someday you’ll be on stage with him.”

  I laughed. “In your dreams.”

  “No, in yours.”

  She reached for another berry and I slapped her hand away.

  “So what else are you serving at this elegant bed-and-breakfast?” she asked, grinning.

  “Cinnamon toast is in the oven, and coffee will be done in a minute. The boys probably want orange juice, but they’re having milk instead.”

  The boys wandered in, looking a little bleary-eyed, and took places at the table. Honey arrived a second later and stood at the back door.

  “Will one of you boys—”

  “Yeah, I will.” Jamey shambled to let her out and left the door ajar for her return.

  Abby did a double side-nod toward the door. “Is that wise?”

  “Probably not, but we are all creatures of habit here.” Honey returned just then and Jamey got up again to close the door. “Lock it too, please,” I said.

  He nodded and worked in silence.

  Honey took up her snoring station in the middle of the living room floor. As we got ready to leave, I patted her shoulder and told her to come with us.

  “We’re taking her to school?” Mac danced in his excitement.

  “No, we’re taking you to school, but Honey’s going to run with Abby and me today.” I grabbed her leash from the hook by the door.

  “She’ll be in the car when you pick me up after kindergarten?” he asked
.

  “Most likely.”

  “Yay!

  But Jamey was practical. “If Aunt Abby is in the front with you, and Mac and I are in the back, where’s Honey going to sit?”

  “She’ll fit between you on the drive to the school, then she can have the whole backseat.”

  “We’ll have white dog hair on our jeans.”

  Abby cruised back into the room, after having gone upstairs to retrieve her purse, and said, “Oh, that’s great. Dog hair will get you a girlfriend by lunch time. We women love sensitive men with dogs.”

  The boys looked at each other but didn’t scowl. Interesting.

  We made the school run, and the car reentered regular traffic when I said, “I know we planned last night to go to Pete Jenkins’s fish store, but it’s too early for it to be open.”

  “Is there somewhere besides the library where I can get Wi-Fi?” She reached into the huge purse at her feet and pulled out her laptop. “I did a quick check of the legal databases before leaving the office, and found Carlisle ran a real estate trust, and several newer clients lost money in the last six months because of projects involving the trust. Veteran clients had past gains to level things out long term, so just lost money on paper—not in real money like the newbies—but a couple of the clients sued, and there are pending court cases in Missouri.”

  “You want to keep looking for more?”

  “Uh-huh. I really didn’t do a deep dive the first time. I had too much to take care of before I left Big-D, so I only skimmed the surface of the data. I want to log in today and see if I can find any connection between Carlisle and the people you talked to yesterday. And I don’t want to do it at your house in case Brian wasn’t being completely truthful last night about not seeing you as a suspect.”

  “That’s why I did my searches at the library yesterday,” I said. “Was it a mistake too? I did it on Mac’s card because I didn’t have mine, but now that may have been a good thing, right?”

  “It’s not a wrong thing either way,” she said. “I just like to use very public—and busy—computers and Wi-Fi whenever possible. And he could have a difficult time getting a search warrant on your kid’s library card.”