While She Slumbered: The Murder Blog Mysteries #5

by Pamela Frost Dennis

  “Is his name Simon Richard, by any chance?”

  “Prichard. Why? Do you know him?”

  “I’ve read about him. He’s a lot like Elon Musk. No wonder she’s on the prowl. What about you? Is he your type?”

  “He’s a nice guy, although a bit odd. The more time I spend with him, the more I like him. As a friend. Definitely not my type, whatever that is. Uh-oh. She’s watching us and probably wondering why I’m in a cop car. I’d better say hi to her.”

  “And bye to me.” She set a hand on my arm. “Good work today, Katy. You’re a hero, you know.”

  I grinned, feeling gratified. “All in a day’s work, ma’am.” I climbed out, and she pulled away with a honk-honk.

  Maddie stood at the edge of my property staying in view of Simon’s windows—working a perfected red carpet pose.

  “Hi, Maddie,” I called with a wave.

  She followed me up my walk. “Good grief. What happened to you?”

  “I’m fine. My car broke down and Joann gave me a ride home.”

  “You sure don’t look fine. The side of your face is grazed pretty bad.” She pointed at my rib cage. “You have a footprint on your chest, and what’s that stuff in your hair?”

  “I fell.”

  Maddie looked genuinely concerned. “This is more than a fall.” She moved close and inspected my face. “It looks like there are some tiny pieces of glass embedded in your cheek.” She wrinkled her nose. “You smell like gasoline.”

  “It’s kerosene. It’s definitely been a rough day.” I glanced over her shoulder and saw Simon approaching. Maddie’s eyes trailed my glance, and she instantly shifted back into manhunt mode.

  She twiddled her fingers at him. “Hi there.”

  With a quick nod in her direction, he said, “I saw your arrival in a squad car. What the hell happened to you?” At that moment, Simon only had eyes for me, and I observed Maddie’s posture slump a bit. He gently touched my cheek, and her boobs literally deflated. I kid you not!

  “Looks like you’ve been in a fight. Did you win?” he asked.

  With hands-on-hips, I proudly said, “As a matter of fact, I did! I found Nina! She is alive and well.”

  “You’re kidding!” exclaimed Maddie. “That’s wonderful. Ethan will be so happy.”

  “Where was she?” asked Simon.

  “Tied up in a cabin. It’s a long story.”

  Daisy must’ve heard me, because she was barking like a maniac in the house. “I wish I could chat longer, but I gotta go feed the kids. I promise to fill you both in, later.”

  I started for the door and Simon hollered, “Hold on. I’ve had a lot of first aid training. How about you let me practice on your face.”

  “Gee, that sounds super.”

  He followed me to the door, and as we walked into the house, I glanced back at Maddie and waved. She twiddled her fingers, looking like someone had stolen her puppy. One of these days, I need to tell her that Simon and I are just friends.

  Before Nurse Simon attended to my wound, I started a pot of coffee, and fed my starving pets. While Nina’s cat chowed down on his kibble, I stroked his back. “Guess what? Pretty soon, you can go home to your momma.” He nudged his head into my hand and purred softly. “She will be so happy to see her baby.” I snapped a picture of him sitting next to Tabitha. They’ve become pals, and Tabby will miss him.

  It was going to take a few more minutes for the coffee to perk to perfection, so I made Simon wait while I took a quick shower. When I pulled off my filthy top, I was astounded at the blossoming bruises on my sternum and side. “No wonder I hurt.” Then, when dressed, I stuck my head out the bathroom door, intending to shout I was ready, and found him standing there holding two mugs of coffee.

  “I couldn’t remember if you like three or four teaspoons of sugar, so I went with three-and-a-half,” he said. “I put a straw in yours, thinking it might hurt to drink.”

  I tried a sip without the straw, and he was right.

  Simon cleaned my cheek, plucked out the bits of glass (ouch!!!), and dressed the wound. Once done, it was more of a bad scrape with no deep cuts, so he gently taped a gauze pad over it and called it good to go.

  After Simon went home, I checked my phone. The screen was littered with messages from Ruby. I leaned against a pile of pillows on my bed and called her.

  “Where the hell have you been all day?” she hollered.

  “Nice way to answer your phone, Grandma.”

  “Don’t you ever check your voice messages? Texts? Smoke signals? I was afraid you were dead in a ditch somewhere.”

  “I don’t check my phone when I’m in the middle of super-hero-crime-fighter duties, or don’t have cell service. Both would apply today.”

  “Oh, God. Now, what have you done?”

  Ben yelled in the background. “Are you okay, Katy?”

  “I’m fine, Ben. However, I need to ask Ruby a favor.”

  “What?” she grumped.

  “I need a ride to the hospital.”

  “What’s wrong? Are you hurt? Were you climbing on a ladder? I’ve told you not to do that when you’re alone. You could fall and break your neck, and no one would know. You should wear one of those ‘home-alone’ bracelets.”

  “Ruby. I’m thirty-two. Not one hundred and two.”

  “Anyone can fall, ya know. One of the old geezers here tripped over his cat in his kitchen, and nobody knew until he didn’t show up for breakfast. It was Waffle Wednesday, and Owen is always first in line.”

  “Is he okay?”

  “He cracked his elbow and broke a front tooth. He could’ve starved to death if he didn’t keep cookies in a bottom drawer.”

  “I doubt he would have starved to death in one night, but you’re right about anyone can fall. Can you give me a ride to see someone in the hospital? Veronica is out of commission.”

  “Did you have a car accident?”

  “No. I slid into a ditch,” I said.

  “I knew it! All day long I’ve been getting bad vibes. I knew you were in a ditch. You could’ve been killed.”

  “But I wasn’t. I need to go see someone in the hospital and I asked you first because I think you’ll want to see who I’m visiting, too. But I can ask Mom or Pop if you’re not up to it.”

  “I’m up to it, but I expect to hear the full story when I get there.”

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Sunday • July 26

  Posted by Katy McKenna

  Friday, July 17

  Part Seven

  Last Friday was a very long day!

  While I was waiting on the curb for Ruby, I spotted the boys across the street sitting in a cloud of smoke on the porch. They waved me over. I expected to find them flying high, but they were burning sage.

  “We smudged the entire house, and thought we’d burn some out here, too,” said Earl.

  Randy stood and waved the sage bundle overhead. “Purifies the air. Removes the toxins.”

  “So you’re purifying the neighborhood?” I said.

  Earl pointed at Nina’s house. “We’re were thinking about going over there and waving the sage around the yard.” He shrugged. “If Donna doesn’t like it, too bad.”

  Randy said, “What happened to your face?”

  I touched the gauze pad. “Long story short: I found Nina and got into a fight. I’ll fill you in when I have more time. My grandma is picking me up any minute now. We’re going to see Nina at the hospital.”

  “That’s awesome,” said Randy. “Is she all right?”

  “I think so, but they want to keep her overnight for observation. Oh, and those toxins across the street will no longer be in the neighborhood. One is totally eliminated—”

  Randy’s eyes widened. “Whoa. Like dead?”

  “Yup. And Donna will probably be in prison.”

  “Wow. That’s a lot to take in. Sounds like Karma caught up with them,” said Randy.

  “It definitely did for Michelle. But I don’t think Don
na deserves to go to prison, so we’ll see.”

  Randy placed the sage in a bowl and moved to the porch rail, gazing at Nina’s house. “How can Nina live there now? It’s a shambles. Just getting to the porch would be risky for her.”

  “You’re right. She’ll need to stay with me until we figure something out.”

  Ruby rolled to a screeching stop in her little red spitfire convertible and honked the horn. “Your Uber’s here,” she yelled.

  “Gotta go, guys.” As I jogged to her car, I heard Randy say, “I didn’t know her grandma was an Uber driver. Wonder how much she makes?”

  I waved at them from the car, thinking what adorable goofballs they are, then climbed in, gave Ruby a smooch on the cheek, and buckled up. “Where’s Ben?”

  “Watching a ball game with BeeGee. That dog is a sports fanatic. Go figure.” The engine idled while she stared at me.

  “Are you going to start moving, or are we going to sit here and chit-chat while your motor pollutes the neighborhood?”

  “What the hell happened to your face? The last time it looked like that, you were learning how to ride a two-wheeler, and you did a face-plant on the sidewalk.”

  “You will not believe this, but I found Nina today, and—”

  “What?” she shouted. “Why did it take you so long to tell me?”

  “I wanted to tell you in person.”

  “I’m all ears.” She shifted into first gear and hit the gas.

  My tale ended as we pulled into the hospital parking lot. At the lobby reception desk, the on-duty volunteer escorted us to Nina’s room. Before allowing us in, he checked to see if Nina was awake and wanting guests, then ushered us into the room.

  Nina’s face lit up when she saw us. She held out her hands and I grasped them, getting drawn in for an embrace. “My dear, dear friend. You saved my life.” She pulled back. “Your poor, pretty face.”

  “It’ll heal.”

  “I hope there won’t be a scar,” she said. “Maybe a doctor should look at it.”

  Ruby stepped closer to the bed. “It’s such a relief to see you alive and well, Nina. You had us all worried. I can’t begin to imagine what you’ve been through.”

  “Thank you, Ruby. The truth is, I slept through most of it. In fact, I’ve slumbered through the last few weeks or so. I feel like Rip Van Winkle.” She motioned to the visitor chairs. We pulled them close to the bed and sat. “It started with taking medicine for a cold that was coming on. Colds have a tendency to turn into bronchitis for me, and twice led to pneumonia. The daytime medicine makes me feel cruddy and shaky.”

  “I remember when you came for brunch and you’d taken cold medicine. You were jittery.”

  “Makes my heart race, too. I do fine with the nighttime stuff, probably because it knocks me out. Obviously, Donna was very, uh, generous with the SleepWell and I must’ve been too dopey most of the time to realize it.”

  “That’s putting it mildly,” I said.

  She shrugged, shaking her head. “With all the commotion in the house, maybe she thought I was better off asleep. I don’t know what I was thinking when I agreed to her plans to update the house.” She paused. “No, I do know what I was thinking. I thought she meant updating with trending paint colors, and a good cleanup in the yard. You know. Trim the bushes, prune the trees.” She stifled a choked sob. “My garden. Decades of love and work, not to mention money spent, gone in a matter of days. I can’t begin to tell you how devastated I was when I saw it. I wanted to die right then and there.”

  “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know if you knew about that,” I said.

  “One day, when Donna wasn’t home, I managed to get to a window to see what all the noise was about. I cried and cried.” I gave her a tissue to catch the tears dribbling down her cheeks. “Why she did that, I’ll never know. It was as if she just wiped out my life in one fell swoop.”

  “She told me that’s what families want these days,” I said. “A low maintenance yard.”

  “Utter bullshit,” said Ruby. “Your yard was like a fairytale. What child wouldn’t love to live in that?”

  Nina smiled. “I often thought if I had grandkids, how they would have loved playing hide and seek in the garden.”

  “Katy never gave up on you,” said Ruby. “In fact, when you’re feeling better, we have some crazy stories to tell.”

  I patted Grammy’s arm. “Ruby, her boyfriend, Ben, and my best friend Samantha, helped, too. Even the boys across the street.”

  Nina shook her head. “I didn’t know, although I have a couple foggy recollections of you, Katy.” She sighed. “You were in my bedroom, but I thought I was dreaming.”

  “You weren’t dreaming.

  She sipped a few swallows of water. “My mind is still reeling from what took place after you left the cabin. I’ve never been so frightened in my life.”

  “But first—how did Michelle get you to the cabin?” I asked.

  “Donna asked Michelle that question, too. She said she slipped into the house in the wee hours of the morning and rousted me out of bed. I was so dopey I thought she was Donna. I just walked out to the car with her and wound up at the cabin. It’s hard to believe that I did that.”

  “You were probably practically sleepwalking,” I said. “Although getting you through the torn up yard had to be a challenge for Michelle.”

  Nina went on. “After you left the cabin, Katy, Donna was hysterical. Begging for my forgiveness. She kept screaming at Michelle, Why did you do this to my aunt? Michelle was gagged and trying to talk, but couldn’t, so Donna pulled the panties out of her mouth, and the woman went wild.”

  I leaned closer in my seat, picturing the scene in my head.

  Nina glanced up at the ceiling. “Oh, my. I could hardly believe the things she said.” She held out her cup. “Would you pour me some more water, dear? I’m so thirsty.”

  I did, and after a few sips, she continued her story.

  “It turns out that Michelle murdered Donna’s husband all those years ago. Ran him off the road. Can you believe it?”

  “What a horrible shock for Donna,” I said.

  Her lips puckered, and she teared up. “She drove straight at him, and he swerved and went off the cliff. He was a louse, but he certainly didn’t deserve that. She... She...” Nina broke into sobs, and I embraced her, feeling her delicate shoulders quiver spasmodically.

  “Is that when Donna strangled Michelle?”

  “No. I wish she had, though, so I wouldn’t have heard what she said next. It was as if that woman came unhinged, just screaming about how she had done what she had to do so they could be together.”

  “What else did she do? I mean, what else could she have done? She killed Donna’s husband and was going to kill you.”

  “That dreadful woman murdered Linda. My sister.”

  I pulled back to see her anguished face. “Why?”

  Ruby said, “If this is too much for you to talk about, Nina, we understand.”

  “No. I can talk about it. I need to talk about it.” Nina shook her head, looking desolate. “Linda had been sick for a long time, and Donna moved in to take care of her. I think I told you that.”

  “I remember,” I said.

  “Michelle was tired of waiting. Tired of being kept in the shadows. So, one day while Donna was grocery shopping, she slipped into the house and…and…smothered Linda. With her pillow.”

  “Oh my God. That’s so awful,” said Ruby.

  “My sister was suffering terribly, and I know she wanted to be gone because she’d asked me to help her die. But assisted suicide was illegal, and I was afraid I’d wind up in prison.” She laughed ruefully. “I heard Michelle say something along that line about me. You know, giving me death with dignity.”

  “But you’re not dying.”

  She patted my arm. “You’re damned right, I’m not.”

  “Then what happened?”

  “Donna stood over Michelle, clutching those wretched panties in her f
ist while Michelle confessed her sins—as if she was proud of the things she’d done.” Nina drew a deep, ragged breath. “After that woman told Donna she’d killed her mother. Donna…” She gazed at her hands that were twisting her top sheet into a knot. “Donna went berserk and screamed, ‘I’m going to kill you!’”

  Nina shrugged. “In that terrible moment, her despair and rage took over any rational thought. In the blink of an eye, she wrapped the panties around Michelle’s neck and kept jerking on them. Tighter and tighter. I begged her to stop, but she didn’t hear me. She was out of her mind making these horrible guttural sounds—almost inhuman. Michelle struggled hard.” Nina covered her mouth, shaking her head. “Her feet thumped the floor. Over and over. All of this was happening just an arm’s length from me. I managed to get to my feet. I tried to pull Donna away from Michelle. But I knew I was too late when Michelle’s feet stopped banging the floor.” Nina sighed. “It’s a lot to process, as they say, these days.”

  She dropped her hands to her lap, staring down at them, as silent sobs wracked her chest. Then, finally, she spoke again, and that’s when I knew she was a survivor with a lot of life still to live. “You know. If ever there was a time to have dementia, this would be it.” She gazed at us with a tiny smile. “Probably going to need some therapy.”

  Ruby stood. “Will you two excuse me? I have a quick call to make. I’ll just be out in the hallway.”

  “I hope this wasn’t too much for her to hear,” Nina said.

  “She’s a tough lady.”

  “So is her granddaughter. Katy, you risked your life to save mine.”

  “Donna would have taken care of you. Although I must admit, I had my suspicions about her.”

  “The chief told me you never stopped trying to find me,” she said.

  “I had a gut feeling. Intuition. That’s all. One thing I’ve learned over the years is to trust my intuition. Every time I don’t, I usually regret it.”

  Ruby returned. “I realize we don’t know each other well, Nina, but I have a proposition for you, and I won’t take no for an answer.” She laughed. “I guess that means it’s not a proposition.”