by Marja McGraw
My poker face came in handy sometimes. This particular cop was Randy, the officer I’d met at Eloise’s house, but I didn’t let on that I recognized him.
“The property owner, Eloise Neuchase, wants some work done for renovation purposes. We’re here taking a cursory look around.”
“At night?”
“Well, like I said, this is just a cursory look. We won’t be here for too long. Our friend here is familiar with what the place was like in the thirties.” I pointed at Water Boy.
Randy nodded. “Be sure to lock up when you leave.”
“We’ll take care of it,” Pete said.
Randy left and Water Boy turned to me, looking me up and down. “Did you bring the police in on this?”
“How stupid do you think I am?” I asked, sounding as indignant as possible.
“That remains to be seen,” he replied. “What do you want to know?”
“Why don’t you start by telling us how you were involved in all of this, Water Boy?” I held my arms out to indicate the business.
“There was a time when I hated being called Water Boy,” he said, “but it didn’t take long to figure out that they called me that because they thought I was young and stupid. It worked for me. I didn’t talk to people, but I did a lot of listening – and watching. Sure, I was young, but I knew the score.”
He smiled and I noticed how yellow and crooked his teeth were. He was missing a tooth on the bottom.
Thankfully, he took his eyes off of me. It seemed like he was looking inside himself for a change.
“’Water Boy, someone dropped their drink. Clean up that mess, boy. Water Boy, someone just puked in the bathroom. Go clean it up. Water Boy, go get some bottles from the supply room. Water Boy…’ Well, you get the idea. They had me doing all the grunt work. But I knew their secrets. They didn’t even notice me, except I scared some of the women.” He laughed, but it wasn’t a humorous laugh. “Me. I scared the ladies. I was just an overgrown kid.”
“You are a big man,” I said.
“Are you afraid of me?”
“Not really.”
“You should be,” he said.
“I heard that you were an enforcer in the day. Is that true?” I asked, ignoring what I thought was a threat.
“Yes. It’s true, but I’ll never admit it outside of this room.”
I glanced at Pete, and he hadn’t moved. Feet apart and arms crossed over his chest, he was leaving the questions up to me, probably a smart move on his part. Water Boy seemed to respond to little ol’ me.
“What did it mean to be an enforcer?”
“It meant that when people needed to be taught a lesson, I was the teacher. If anyone ignored my lesson, they soon bought the farm.” He narrowed his eyes and gave me the look again. “Sometimes I didn’t know my own strength.”
“Do you still insist that you didn’t kill Horace or Harley or Loretta?”
“I do.”
“But you know who did?” I asked.
“I do.”
“Then tell me who did it and why.”
“No.”
“No?” I was surprised. “I thought we were here to talk.”
“We are,” he replied, “but first I want something from you.”
“And that would be?”
“That cop, Humin, wouldn’t let up. I know he kept notes and I want the ones that pertain to me. I don’t care about the rest of it, but I’m not going back to prison.”
I bit my lip and watched him, trying to decide if I’d be taking my life in my hands if I asked the big question. What was the worst he could do? I preferred not to think about that.
“Did you murder Humin?” I asked.
He flinched and didn’t speak for a moment. “No. I’ve done a lot of things in my time, but I didn’t kill the cop. If you want to find a cop killer, you don’t need to look any farther than the one who committed the other murders.”
“You didn’t kill the three victims, and you didn’t kill the cop. Did you murder others?”
“You’ve got moxie, lady, I’ll give you that. Let’s just say I got carried away as an enforcer, as you call it, a few times. That’s what I wanted from your house. I think Humin kept a list to use against me.”
I hadn’t seen any such list, but I wouldn’t let him know it.
“Give me an example. Who did you take out? I can tell you if we found a list of names with this one on it.”
Water Boy slid off his bar stool and looked down on me.
Pete stepped forward looking very protective.
“She’s gutsy,” Charlie said. He climbed down off the stool and distanced himself from Brown.
Should I finally be frightened?
“Let’s just say, for the sake of argument, that Lester Joy was on a list. Does that name ring a bell?”
Before I could answer, the front door flew open, and Rick walked out of the supply room with his gun drawn.
“I know that name,” Rick said.
Water Boy threw me the look to end all looks. Those transparent eyes were practically shooting bullets at me. He was too old to run and too old to fight.
I held my hands out to the side, palms up, and shrugged. “What can I say?”
Rick placed both Bruce Brown and Charlie under arrest.
Water Boy turned his gaze on me again. “Fat lot of good this is going to do them. I’ll probably die of old age before I go to trial.”
I actually laughed. I couldn’t help myself. The old man had a sense of humor.
Officers took the two men away and Rick stopped to speak to me and Pete.
“We’ve been trying to nab him for a while. When he got out of prison he settled a few old scores and disappeared.”
“That’s all fine and good,” I said, “but he never told me who the killer was. I guarantee you, he’ll never talk to me now.”
“How’d you get in the storeroom?” Pete asked.
“We got here a few minutes after Brown and positioned ourselves. By the way, there is a secret door. I saw where it was and followed him inside. I’ll show you where it’s at – later.”
Rick left with Pete and me right behind him. I locked the door on my way out, after turning out the lights.
“Talk about frustrated,” I said. “Every time we think we’re close to the answers, something happens.”
“You’ve got Marcus,” Pete said. “Do you still think he’ll talk to you?”
“I think so, but I’m not sure. If his mother finds out he’s telling me the family secrets, I doubt if I’ll hear any more of the story.”
We drove home, each of us lost in our own thoughts.
I fed the dogs, apologizing to them for the late dinner, and heated some leftover meatloaf for Pete and myself.
My cell phone rang.
Caller ID said it was Stanley.
“Hi, Stan. What’s up?”
“Felicity and I would like to speak to you and Pete.” He sounded odd, and way too serious.
“Put your phone on speakerphone and we’ll talk.”
“No, we need to speak in person. We can be at the office first thing in the morning, it that’s acceptable.”
“Why don’t you come to the house instead of the office in the morning,” I suggested.
“We’ll see you around nine o’clock.”
He hung up and I knew I was going to have a restless night. Something big was up.
I relayed the conversation, or Stanley’s side of it, to Pete.
“Do you think they’re going to quit?” I asked. “Have we put them in danger too many times? Maybe Felicity is sicker than we think.”
“Try not to think about it,” Pete said. “We’ll find out in the morning.”
Chapter Thirty-nine
Did I know myself or what? As tired as I was, I didn’t get any sleep that night. Since Felicity was retiring as a model, my guess was that Stanley was going to quit his job. What would we do without him? Would they move away? What would we do without them
? Or was Felicity sick?
Oh, Lord, I prayed, keep my friends healthy and happy.
Bright and early – well, at nine o’clock – the doorbell rang.
Bubba ran to the door with Clementine on his heels. Both of their tails were flailing around wildly. They knew who was on the other side of the door.
Our closest friends stood on the porch looking way too serious.
“Come in,” I said. “What’s going on?” That’s me. Getting right to the point.
Clem threw herself on the floor and rolled onto her back, waiting for a belly rub greeting. Stanley obliged her.
Pete sat in his regular chair and I headed for the couch.
“Why don’t we talk in the kitchen?” Felicity asked. “It’s cozier in there.”
“Sure. I’ll get us some coffee.” I led the way through the house, putting the dogs outside so they wouldn’t distract us.
I brought out four coffee mugs and set them on the table.
“May I have a glass of water instead?” Felicity seemed fidgety.
I filled a glass with ice and water and handed it to her before pouring coffee for the rest of us.
“Okay, pal, what’s this all about?” Pete had turned to Stanley.
“Well, there’s no easy way to say this.” He looked at the ceiling before glancing at his wife out of the corner of his eye.
“Go ahead, love bug,” she said. “Ask them.”
A question? I didn’t know if that was good or bad.
“You know that you two are our closest friends, right?” Stanley asked.
“Of course,” I said. “We’d do anything for the two of you.”
“Good. Then would you consent to being godparents?”
I’d been filling Pete’s mug and before I could stop it, his cup runneth over.
“Uh, what?”
Stanley grinned. “My little darling is with child.”
“What?” I repeated.
Grabbing some paper towels off the sink I started mopping up the spilled coffee.
Pete’s grin matched Stanley’s. “I do believe they’re telling us that Felicity is pregnant.”
While my husband grabbed Stanley’s hand and started shaking it, I threw the paper towels in the sink and ran around the table to sit next to my friend. I took hold of both of her hands. “All this time we thought you had the flu, and it was really morning sickness?”
She nodded, and tears ran down her cheeks. It only took a moment to realize they were tears of joy.
“I’ve always wanted to be a godmother,” I said softly. “A baby. I can hardly believe it.”
“Neither can we,” Stanley said.
“I thought you were coming over to quit your job. This is so much better. Is it a boy or a girl?”
“We don’t know yet,” Felicity said, wiping the tears away.
“I don’t want to jinx the whole thing, but you know my mother will want to be a surrogate grandmother, right? And of course Aunt Martha will want great-aunt’s rights.”
Pete laughed. “Leave it to you to think of your mother at a time like this.”
“She’d be perfect for the job,” Felicity said. “My parents passed away a long time ago, so she’s got the job. Aunt Martha? I love that lady. She’s hired, too.”
“How far along are you?” I needed details.
“Three months.”
Before I could stop myself, I leaned forward and hugged my friend tightly.
“Uh, Sandi,” she said in a strangled voice, “I can’t breathe.”
I let her go. “I’m sorry, sweetie. I’m just so excited.”
My cell phone rang. Caller ID said Private and I figured it might be Marcus. “Whoever it is can leave a message.”
“Can you picture me as a father?” Stanley was still grinning at Pete.
“Absolutely,” Pete said. “You’ll be the father that every child wishes for.”
“Let’s go for a walk,” Felicity said. “I’m too wound up to just sit here.”
“Dolly’s home. Why don’t we go tell her? You haven’t seen her lately.”
We left Pete and Stanley to talk and walked next door to Dolly’s house.
The door opened after one knock.
“Well, there are my girls,” she said.
She gave Felicity an odd look.
“What?” I said.
Dolly leaned forward, looking Felicity in the eyes.
“We have something to share with you. Can we come in?” Felicity didn’t need to ask.
Dolly moved out of our way. “How far along are you?” she asked.
I started to laugh. “How did you know?”
“That our little darling has a bun in the oven? How could I miss it? Look at those rosy cheeks. And that baby bump.”
“I didn’t even notice the baby bump,” I said.
“You weren’t looking for it. One glance and I knew. The bump is just starting, but it’s there.”
We spent about half an hour with Dolly before heading back to my house. She had all kinds of advice and lots of hugs for Felicity.
“I’m available for babysitting,” were her parting words.
“Now that I think about it, I noticed that you seemed to be putting on a little weight, but I thought it was because of retiring. I thought you were simply feeling comfortable with yourself. I never dreamed – “
“Neither did I. You should have seen Stan when I gave him the news. He jumped up and down, tripped on the coffee table and ended up flat on his face.”
“That’s our Stanley.” He and Felicity had both earned reputations for being a bit klutzy.
We went for a short walk before returning to the house, talking about baby stuff all the way down the street.
“Come along, peaches, we have some shopping to do.” Stanley took Felicity by the hand and picked up her purse for her.
“We have to start setting up a nursery,” she explained.
After they left, Pete and I sat in the living room.
“We never did have our talk about having children,” he said.
“No, we didn’t. We need to.”
“Soon.”
My cell phone rang again. “Guess I’d better answer that. It says Private again. I’ll bet it’s Marcus.”
Pete sighed and picked up the newspaper.
We’d have plenty of time for our baby chat.
Marcus got straight to the point. “Do you still want to talk?”
“I do. I’m not sure I want to make that long drive again. Maybe – “
“I’ll be in Los Angeles this afternoon,” he interrupted. “I have some business to take care of now that Grandfather is gone. Besides, I’d rather talk without my mother around.”
“Do you want to meet in my office?” I asked.
“I’ve thought about our meeting, and to be honest, I’d like to see the old speakeasy, the place where things started.”
The place where things started? Something about those words made me believe I’d finally be hearing the whole story. I wondered how Marcus knew the whole story. Had his grandfather bragged about the good ol’ days to him?
“If we meet there, I’ll be bringing someone with me. The woman who hired me deserves to know the truth. Horace and Harley were her distant cousins. Her father put in a lot of time researching what might have happened and trying to clear Harley and she wants to finish his job.”
Marcus seemed to be thinking it over. “On one condition. I want both of you to keep this to yourselves. Nothing can be served by the public knowing the truth after all these years.”
What about the police? I didn’t mention that to him.
The police? “Apparently the police aren’t filing charges against you?”
“No. They realize the incident with Grandfather was an accident.”
He emphasized the word accident which told me maybe it had been on purpose.
I gave him the address of the Gin Mill Grill and we agreed to meet at two o’clock.
I hung
up and called Eloise.
“Eloise, bring the key and meet me at the gin mill at two. Marcus Windsor is going to finally tell us the truth.”
“He’s going to be there?” She sounded surprised. “What about his grandfather?”
“Rusty died yesterday. He’s no longer an issue. At least, not in the sense that we’re meeting with Marcus.”
“Will your husband be there, too?”
“I doubt it. Marcus wants to keep his story quiet, and the more people we bring, the less likely he is to be forthcoming.”
“I see. Well, I’ll see you this afternoon. And, Sandi, thank you for your help. Maybe we’ll finally have a resolution to the whole sordid affair.”
I told Pete what was going on and he said he was going to run an errand, but he’d be back in time.
“No, sweetie. In this case I don’t want you there. I don’t think he’ll open up if you’re with us.”
“This whole situation has been too dicey. I’ll agree not to go in with you, but I’ll be parked across the street. I want to be nearby, just in case.”
“In case of what? What’s he going to do? Push us off the bar stools like he pushed his grandfather out of the wheelchair?”
“Not funny, Sandi. We’ve been dealing with a different type of people on this case. I don’t trust any of them. If I hadn’t been with you last night, there’s no telling what Brown might have done to you.”
“But he didn’t do anything, and Marcus has more class than Water Boy.”
“Maybe. I’ll be right across the street. End of story.”
The end of one story, but there was still another story left to be told.
Chapter Forty
It seemed like it took forever for two o’clock to roll around. Eloise and I met at one-thirty because we didn’t want to take a chance on missing Marcus. She’d left Butch at home, afraid that he’d be a distraction.
I’d picked up three iced teas at a coffee house on my way and we sat at the counter drinking the tea and eating cookies that Eloise had made – snickerdoodles, one of my favorites.
I told her the news about Felicity.
“She’s such a cute little woman,” Eloise said. “She’s so tiny that it’s hard to imagine her with a big belly.”