Arsenic in the Azaleas

by Dale Mayer

“To offer you a part-time job,” he said in exasperation. “But why I want the added frustration, I have no idea.”

  She froze. Then stared up at him in delight. “What kind of a job? And, yes, please.”

  He shook his head, stared up at the sky for a long moment, then raised both hands in the air and said, “Whatever.” He walked around to the driver’s side, leaning in the window. “You might not like it.”

  “It doesn’t matter if I like it or not,” she admitted quietly. “I need it.” She waited for him to say more.

  “Do you like gardening?”

  She nodded. “I love gardening.”

  “My mother’s house is only a couple blocks away from you, and she can’t get out into the garden anymore. I told her that I’d come and look after it, but it’s more than I have the time for. I wouldn’t be able to pay you a whole lot… but maybe an hourly wage that we could agree on would make us both happy.”

  She grinned. “Absolutely. Give me the address, and I’ll look at it on my way home.”

  He gave her the address, watching as she wrote it down. “Don’t talk to my mom yet though.”

  She merely shook her head. “Okay, I won’t. I just want to see what kind of work I’m looking at.”

  “Good idea. And, after you do, give me a shout. We’ll discuss price.” He pulled out another card, this one with his home number on it and handed it to her. “In the meantime, stay the hell out of my case.” He glared down at her as if for good measure, then abruptly walked back into the Lifelong Insurance building.

  She turned on the engine, and in a much happier mood, she said to Mugs, “See? Like Nan said, there’s only one place to go, and that’s up.”

  Chapter 15

  Doreen decided to visit Nan tomorrow and to check out Mack’s mother’s garden today. When she finally located the address, it was within walking distance from Nan’s house. Just a couple blocks down, like Mack had said. In that sense, it would be perfect. She wouldn’t have to use the car to get to work, so the cost of gas wasn’t an issue.

  She drove past the house slowly, looking at the front yard. It had a lovely front garden with a bed full of perennial bushes with a few annuals dotted around. A nice combination of colors. And it was in decent shape. The grass needed to be mowed, and that could present a problem as she didn’t have her own lawn mower.

  Neither did she have the money to buy one. As for the weeds, well, some had definitely taken advantage and needed to be pulled. Many of the bushes were overgrown and needed to be trimmed too. She wanted to get out and wander around to the backyard, but she didn’t want to disturb his mother. Looking at the yard, she thought she saw an alleyway behind the house.

  She drove around to the back of the house, parked and got out, then looked over the short fence at the backyard. She couldn’t remember if he had said both gardens or just the front. But the back garden was in worse shape. His mother probably tried to do what she could out in the front to keep up appearances. But the backyard required more than she had to give. Like so many people who owned homes, the work got ahead of them, and catching up was brutal.

  Considering how much work Doreen had to do on Nan’s garden, she understood. In Doreen’s case, fences needed mending, the patio was overgrown with weeds, and likely the concrete blocks making up the patio weren’t worth keeping either. Not to mention the beds had to be redefined. She’d need a full-time paycheck just to get it back into shape.

  But some of it had to be done, even without money, applying a lot of physical labor.

  It would take a day or two to fix up the front yard of Mack’s mom’s house, but the back property would need a full week, and she could use some added muscle. Several shrubs needed heavy pruning. And some fallen garden logs needed to be replaced. Still, it was all doable.

  A dog barked at her side. She spun in surprise to see an older gentleman staring at her, his nose in the air, a disapproving look on his face.

  She glanced from him to the fence she’d been peering over and flushed. “I was just looking at her garden,” she rushed to say.

  His gaze narrowed.

  Flustered, she returned to the driver’s side of her car and quickly backed out the alleyway. As she came to the end of it, she realized she could have just driven forward past the older man.

  “Crap,” she muttered, still flustered. But at least she hadn’t backed into anyone’s fences on her way.

  Smack.

  She froze, then closed her eyes and dropped her forehead on her steering wheel. Finally she raised her head and looked behind her. And grinned. She’d hit a harmless street sign delineating the road and alleyway. She hopped out and walked around the car to see the damage but could only find a scrape on her bumper. And it was hard to see because the bumper had been well decorated in the same manner long before she’d bought it.

  Happier, she got back in her car and drove home. She pulled into the driveway, parked and let Mugs out. He barked immediately. She looked around but didn’t see anything. “Mugs, what’s the matter?”

  He kept barking, then ran around to the rear of the house. She followed at a slower pace. In the back, she couldn’t see anything wrong, but she could hear Goliath inside the house, howling. Obviously he wanted out too. She made her way up the back steps to the kitchen door and opened it. Instantly Goliath shot out, screaming across the backyard property. Now the two of them were out there. She propped the kitchen door wide open to let some fresh air in, and, sure enough, Thaddeus flew out the door to land on the railing.

  “Thaddeus is here. Thaddeus is here.”

  “Of course you’re here. I can see you,” she said in exasperation.

  The bird cocked his head at her, and the big guy blinked. She tilted her head to the side and patted her shoulder. Instantly he hopped up. She threw her purse and keys down on the outside table and marched to the rear of the property.

  For whatever reason, both the dog and cat were howling at something in the back corner. As she made her way to them, she assessed the manpower needed to restore the back garden to its former glory. And groaned. It would take a lot of work. A lawn mower would help a lot, but again she didn’t have one.

  The fence wasn’t as bad as she had thought, if she looked past the multiple types of fencing that dotted the yard. The support posts were solid. A hammer and nails would put the sagging boards back in place. A can of paint would give it a face-lift. Part of the fence was an open-picket style, with just crossrails instead of solid wood. Several of which had fallen off. Still, she could see the neighbor’s house on the one side and out the back alley.

  Alley? That was the first time she realized an alleyway was behind the house. In that case, it would’ve been easy for somebody else to access that side of Nan’s backyard to bury the body.

  Nan’s property backed onto Crown land. One of the advantages was owning a home where you could open a gate and walk the dog for miles out on public property. Or a disadvantage if Mugs ran off.

  “Mugs! Mugs!” she called out. As she reached the back fence, she found the gate was open. “Oh, dammit, Mugs. Come on, Mugs.”

  She pushed the gate wider and stepped out. Instead of grassy fields, she found a good-size creek ran along here. She looked back at Nan’s house and the fence. “Why would you fence off the river? This is too pretty to hide.”

  What she’d thought had been an alleyway was a bit of a walking path alongside the back of all the fences, which buffered the creek edge to the fence line. Plus a little footbridge was built over the water. “Oh my, this is beautiful.”

  “Beautiful. Beautiful,” Thaddeus crooned in her ear.

  It would be even nicer to get rid of the broken-down fence to open up the view of the creek to Nan’s house. It would also allow her to see the wildlife, as plenty of small critters of all kinds would gather at the water. That would be something she’d love to watch.

  Feeling so much happier at the sight of the creek, she studied Nan’s house from here. A lot of bushes and trees
blocked the view. But, with a good heavy pruning, she could turn this backyard into something spectacular.

  She hopped up onto the little bridge and called out, “Mugs! Mugs?”

  On her shoulder, Thaddeus opened his mouth and cried, “Thaddeus is here. Thaddeus is here.”

  “I know you’re here, silly,” she said. “But where’s Mugs?”

  Suddenly Thaddeus made a great big screech and flew off her shoulder, down to the far side of the bank.

  She ran after him. “Wait, Thaddeus. What did you find? Mugs? Where are you?” She ran over the little bridge. As she put her foot on the last board, it gave way beneath her. And down she went.

  She cried out as one of her feet hit the water, her other knee buckled and her butt hit the little bridge. Taking a deep breath, she tried to assess what just happened. One foot was caught in the framework of the little bridge. She was forced to twist around, using her hands to clamber back up, afraid to put any weight on her ankle or the bridge.

  She glanced down at her designer jeans and sandals and cried out, “And these are ruined now too?” She shook her head but was much less concerned over her outfit than her missing dog. “Mugs, where are you?” She whistled for him.

  Still there was no answer from Mugs. Clumsily she stood on her feet and tried to shake the water off her sandal. But it and her jeans were drenched to her knee and covered with mud. Hesitantly she placed her weight on her sore ankle, grateful it could at least sustain her weight. Her leg was scraped by the broken slats, but her ankle didn’t appear to be sprained.

  Now that she was on the other side of the creek, she could see a small pathway, overgrown by brush. She managed to get up onto the path and followed it after Thaddeus. “Come on, you guys. Where are you? Don’t make me search for you.”

  Bedraggled and limping as she was, she hoped to heck she didn’t meet anybody. It was bad enough being Nan’s crazy granddaughter in the eyes of a few. But, if anybody saw her now, they’d have no doubt she was nuts.

  In the distance, she heard a bark. “Mugs?” She ran, although lopsided. But at least she was moving. She got a few steps down the path when she heard Mugs’s barking go up a notch. She picked up her speed, broke through a pile of brush and came to a sudden stop, staring at her crazy trio. Mugs was still barking like crazy. Goliath sat on a tree stump staring up a tree, his tail making short hard twitches. Thaddeus wandered back and forth like a bloody little soldier. Marching ten steps, turning, and marching back again saying, “Thaddeus is here. Thaddeus is here.”

  She shook her head. “What is wrong with you guys? Why did you take off?”

  Only Mugs wasn’t listening. He insisted on barking as he looked up a tree. She groaned and walked closer. She grabbed for his leash. As she looked up, eyes looked down at her.

  She shrieked and stepped back. That set Mugs off again. She hesitantly took another step forward and peered up into the foliage. “Hello?”

  “Hello” came the boy’s small voice.

  “Are you okay?” she asked. “Mugs won’t hurt you.”

  “He’s barking.”

  “Yes, he does that a lot all of a sudden.” She sighed. “I can’t seem to find a way to stop him.” She peered through the foliage to see a young child sitting on a branch way too high up for her to even reach. “How did you get up there?”

  “I climbed.”

  “You climbed?” She shook her head. “Do you need help getting down?”

  The child looked down at her and said, “You’re the crazy lady, aren’t you?”

  “I’m not the crazy lady,” she protested with a winning smile. At least she hoped it was. “I’m Doreen. I’m just a normal person.”

  The child giggled. And pointed at her leg. “But you’re wet and covered in mud.”

  “Yes, but that doesn’t make me a crazy lady,” she protested. “I fell through the slats on the little bridge back there when I was chasing after my animals. Now that I’ve got my dog and Goliath, not to mention Thaddeus…”

  At that moment Thaddeus flew up and landed on her shoulder again. He stared up into the tree. “Thaddeus is here. Thaddeus is here.”

  “I know you’re here. Stop talking, for crying out loud.” She groaned. “Okay, maybe I look a little crazy. But I’m not, honest.” Then she shrugged. Why was she explaining herself to a child?

  “Why do you call him that?”

  “It’s his name. What’s yours?” she asked, wondering if he could get down on his own.

  The child swept to the bottom branch and scampered down the trunk like a monkey. He stopped and looked up at her. “I’m Travis. And you look crazy to me.” And then, without another word, he ran full steam in the opposite direction.

  Leaving her standing with her mouth open.

  Chapter 16

  She headed for the kitchen, determined to face this room of such mystery. She had deliberately picked up simple foods at the grocery store this morning. Everybody can make a jam and peanut butter sandwich. Trouble was, she wasn’t interested in having one now. She’d bought sliced ham for sandwiches, and also she could fix cucumber sandwiches with mayonnaise too. Or a ham-and-cucumber combo sandwich. Each, she knew, she could manage.

  Just to find some success in her day had her keeping her lunch to a simple sandwich. She pulled out two slices of bread and started building. It was fun. She could see that maybe this cooking thing wouldn’t be too bad after all.

  With a sense of pride, she cut her sandwich into four triangles, placed it on a plate, put on the teakettle to make a cup of tea and sat down at the table to enjoy what she had made. She took the first bite when Thaddeus landed on the table beside her.

  He cocked his head and said, “Thaddeus is here.”

  “Thaddeus is here,” she joined him. “I wish you would stop saying that all the time. Please.”

  He opened his beak and to shut him up she reached for a piece of cucumber still on the cutting board and held it up to him. He looked at it, snagged it in his beak and laid it down on the table where he broke it off into little pieces and pecked away at the center, then lifted the food with his foot, and ate it.

  But at least he ate it. So that was good. Or maybe it was not good. Were birds supposed to eat cucumbers? She had no idea. She grabbed her laptop and pulled it toward her and quickly checked. Yes, cucumbers are allowed. Good.

  She glanced around to see Goliath, sitting on the chair beside her, studying the ham left on the cutting board.

  “Oh, no you don’t. That is for me, for another sandwich. And I might just need a second one.” She was starving.

  She hadn’t had very much to eat since she’d arrived in town. And she really wanted a full meal. The thought of making it herself was daunting. Most of her earlier attempts while at the apartment had ended up in the garbage. And she couldn’t afford to waste food then or now. When she counted that cost of ruined food against what the restaurants charged, she’d chosen the restaurant more times than not over the last six months.

  But she didn’t know very many restaurants here in Mission. And, if she could just learn to cook for herself, it’d be that much cheaper. She picked up the second quarter of her sandwich and studied it with a smile. “This was easy. So surely I can find something else just as easy to fix too.”

  She set up a search on her tablet for easy meals for new cooks. And she munched away on her sandwich and studied the recipes.

  “They don’t look that hard.” She chose one with a chicken breast and vegetables. When she finished her sandwich, she rose, walked to the fridge and studied the package of chicken. It was too much for one meal, so she opened it, put one piece on a plate, added the spices the recipe called for, putting it in a quart-size zip-bag, placed it back in the fridge, and froze the rest. She’d done her first step to getting dinner ready. Good. Next step was to clean up her lunchtime mess. Something else she never had to do while married.

  She turned to see Goliath running off, a big piece of ham hanging out his mouth. And Mugs i
n chase.

  “Mugs! Come back.”

  But the dog not only had a chance to chase the cat but ham was his prize. No way would she be able to call him back from that. She took advantage of both of them being gone to quickly pack up the rest of the ham and put it back in the fridge. As she turned around, she caught Thaddeus working away on a large bit of cheese. She lifted the package, dumped the little bits and pieces on the table for him and wrapped up the rest.

  “I can see that keeping food away from you guys will be as much of a challenge as not burning it,” she scolded. “You might be cute and fluffy, but you can sure destroy a block of cheese fast.”

  As she turned around after closing the fridge, Goliath sat there, staring at her with a grin lighting his eyes.

  “Oh, no you don’t. You had your share, and that’s all you’re getting.”

  But the cat didn’t move.

  And she wondered out loud, “Unless Mugs got the ham away from you. Did he?”

  Feeling stupid but unable to help herself, she opened the ham and handed down a little piece. The cat grabbed it delicately and swallowed it.

  She stared at him. “Did you even chew that?”

  Silence. Not even a purr.

  She gave him another tiny piece and wrapped up the ham, put it in the fridge and slammed the door shut. She glared at him. “That’s it. I have to eat too.”

  Resolutely she walked to the table and finished packing up the rest of the food. Thaddeus had started working on the lettuce. She ripped off a couple pieces, laid it on the table, packed it up in its bag and collected the bread too. She didn’t think he’d gotten to the mayonnaise, but who knew?

  She returned with a wet cloth to the table, wiped it down, brushing the crumbs onto her plate. She surveyed the clean area with a smile. “There. That wasn’t so hard.”

  She dumped the contents of the plate into the garbage, then went back to the sink, where she washed her plate. She could almost get used to this. It was kind of boring and tedious work, but it was doable.