Perplexity on P1/2 (Parson's Cove Mysteries)

by Rose, Sharon

  “We do know Sally was at Stella’s, Flori. At least, I think we do. How could we have been so stupid?”

  “What do you mean? Sally was at Stella’s? We definitely did not see Sally at Stella’s.”

  “No, but we could’ve heard her. Remember the music? I thought it was weird that her good for nothing son was making her play that music so loud. Then, when I went back to wait for you two, I did hear something but I thought it was either the water pipes or some very wild lovemaking going on down there. That was Sally. I bet you anything she was tied up somewhere in her son’s suite.”

  Flori shook her head. “I don’t know. That seems kind of farfetched.”

  I ran over to the phone and called Reg on his cell phone. He agreed with Flori, that it was farfetched but he did what I asked anyway. He called Maxymowich.

  Chapter Forty

  “You were right, Mabel. And, I’m not going to say ‘again.’” Reg was back in my shop the following morning. No one comes in to buy anything until after eleven even on my busiest days. That’s not good for sales but, at least, we were able to speak and not worry about anyone eavesdropping. “They found Sally, tied up, in the suite under Stella’s house.”

  “Was she alive?”

  “Barely. They found Stella too.”

  “You’re kidding. Where?”

  “Galveston. She’d just returned from a Caribbean cruise.”

  “What? She didn’t tell us she was going on a cruise. Honest, Reg. She didn’t say a word. Did she know about Sally? Please, don’t tell me that she was in on all of this, too. It will break Flori’s heart if she was.”

  “Okay, I won’t tell you.” He walked over to the coffee maker. “The coffee isn’t ready yet, Mabel.”

  “Of course, it isn’t. I just walked in the door. Who do you think I am anyway? Super Woman? And, what did you mean when you said, I won’t tell you?”

  “I thought that’s what you wanted.”

  “No. I mean, that’s what I was hoping - that Stella wasn’t mixed up in this. But, you have to tell me if she was, Reg.”

  He sighed and sat down in the wicker chair. His eyes were clearer now so the fever was gone but he still sounded stuffed up when he talked.

  “No, Stella wasn’t involved. Her only sin was babying that son of hers. You could say she was implicated.”

  “Implicated? What the heck does that mean?”

  “It means that she should’ve known something was going on there. That’s what that means.” He took out his red and white handkerchief and blew his nose. “When will the coffee be ready?”

  “When I get all of my questions answered, that’s when.”

  “So, what more do you want to know?”

  “What more do I want to know? Well, to begin with, why would her son kidnap Sally and tie her up in his suite? Plus, I want to know if Stella knew what the heck was going on, and I want to know if she knew who Sally really was. I also want to know if she was leading us on so I know what to tell Flori. That woman is not going to hurt Flori, if I can help it.”

  “Well, first of all, let’s face it, Mabel, Stella thought Cecile Tucker was a drug dealer. It so happens that her son thought so too. So, when someone approached him and claimed to be Cecile’s friend and offered him big bucks to store something, he didn’t refuse. After all, Cecile was one of his suppliers.”

  “But didn’t her son know there was a person there?”

  He shook his head. “Stella thought her son was there but he wasn’t. I guess he knew if he told her he had a woman down there, she would leave him alone and not go down.”

  “I can’t believe it. We were up stairs while Sally was right below us. But what about Stella? You said she was back from a cruise?”

  He nodded. “I think her son gave her the money because he didn’t want her to find out what was going on. She went the day after you left Yellow Rose and was staying in a hotel in Galveston when they picked her up. Her son threatened her and told her not to go home.”

  “What about this Cecile? If he really is a cop, why didn’t he rescue Sally?”

  “Cecile had no idea she was there.”

  “Who was this so-called friend of his then?”

  “Ralph Murphy.”

  “What? What on earth are you talking about?”

  “Ralph Murphy was in Yellow Rose too. He found Sally before you and Flori even got there. He found her, showed her all the money, told her he’d killed Grace to get it, and asked her to go away with him. She refused so he had to do something with her. He didn’t want to kill again so he talked to Stella’s son and offered him more money than that young man had ever seen in his life.”

  I sat down on the Coke box. “I can’t get this straight, Reg. Ralph was right there in Yellow Rose when we were?”

  He nodded. “Yep.”

  “How did he happen to find Stella’s son? I mean you don’t pick a house on a street and say, I’m going to tie this woman up and leave her to die under that house. Right?”

  “Of course, not. He knew he’d killed someone named Grace Hobbs who lived in Yellow Rose. He thought she must be Cecile’s wife so he went to his house.”

  “How could he find that out?”

  “I guess the same way you did, Mabel. Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to look up numbers and addresses in a phone book. That’s when he saw you and Flori going in and out of Stella’s house. He also knew about the other house on P ½ where Andrea lived. As far as I can figure out, he thought by involving Stella, he might implicate you.”

  “How would that implicate me?”

  “Well, let’s see, Mabel. A dead body turns up in your town. You end up in Yellow Rose, visiting the woman who lives next door to Grace Hobbs, the murder victim. Some people might make a connection. Of course, he had no idea what a law abiding citizen you were.”

  “I can’t believe Ralph would think that way, Reg. We were friends. I liked him better than any of the others.”

  “Mabel, Mabel, didn’t you get the hint? He really didn’t like you. Maxymowich told me Ralph said he should’ve killed you the first time he went to your house.”

  “Really? He’s just saying that because I’m the one who fingered him.”

  “Fingered him?”

  “Yeah. You know, I pointed him out as the murderer. That’s cop talk, Reg.”

  “If you say so. Well, with some friends, who needs enemies, right?”

  “You got that right. So, he did have all the money. That lying so and so. He told me Grace didn’t have the money.”

  “I think we’re quite sure you can’t believe a word Ralph Murphy says.”

  “So, is it all figured out now? Are all the criminals in jail? But, what about that phone call, Reg? Why would Sally phone my place and how did she manage it if she was tied up in the garage?”

  “She was upstairs with Ralph and Spencer. Stella wasn’t at home. At this point, Sally had no idea what his plans were for her. She always thought she had Ralph twisted around her little finger so when he went out to get the money, Sally asked Stella’s son if she could make a phone call. She wasn’t quite sure if Ralph was telling the truth about killing Grace so she was going to ask you about it. If you told Sally that Grace was dead, she would tell you Ralph was the killer and the manhunt would be on.”

  “Did Stella ever know there was something suspicious going on downstairs?”

  He shrugged. “How could she not know something was going on? Can a woman’s love for her son be that blind?”

  “So, what was she thinking? I’m sure she didn’t think anyone was dying down there but why wouldn’t she go and check?”

  “Her son, Spencer, warned her never to go down there without his permission.”

  “Well, there’s a red flag going up if there ever was one.”

  “I don’t think she thought there would be a body there, Mabel. She figured Spencer was into something illegal but she didn’t want to know. She was afraid of him.”

  “And, Ralph left Sally
there to die.”

  “He went to check on her several times, trying to get her to go away with him but when he saw that she just wanted the money, he left and didn’t go back.”

  “How long was she there all alone?”

  “Quite a few days. Ralph did try convincing her to go with him by offering food and wine but he realized that by this time, she hated him.”

  “I don’t blame her. I’d hate him too, the jerk. I can’t believe that Stella wouldn’t go down to see what was going on when her son wasn’t here though. I sure would have.”

  He shook his head. “I’m sure you would’ve, Mabel, but not everyone’s like you. Stella lost her husband and she put all her faith in that no good son. She believed every lie he told her.”

  “Will she go to jail?”

  He shook his head. “No, but she’s pretty shook up about it. Some things are even worse than jail. Maybe the best word to describe Stella is ashamed. At least, that’s what Maxymowich tells me.”

  We sat in silence for a few minutes.

  “Do you think you could make the coffee now, Mabel? I haven’t had a cup all morning.”

  “Is that why you look so terrible? Where’s Beth?”

  “I let her sleep in. Guess I’ve been keeping her awake all night with my coughing and snoring.”

  I made the coffee, all the time wondering how I would go about telling Flori about Stella. Flori, I knew, would understand. She knew what it was like to have sons and to love them. She also knew what it was like to have stupid sons. Thank heavens none of them turned out to be like Jake but I’ll tell you, there were a few times when the pendulum could’ve swung either way. Even during that time, Flori never gave up hope and she always stood behind them.

  We were half way through our first cup when she walked in. Somehow, I could tell by looking at her that she already knew.

  “Flori, you’ve heard the news? They found Sally and she’s alive.”

  “I heard. I also heard that she was right there in Stella’s house. You were right all along, Mabel. I’m never trusting another person as long as I live.”

  “Don’t say that, Flori. There are lots of people you can trust; it’s just that most of them live in Parson’s Cove. And, even then, you can’t trust most of them.”

  “I made such a fool of myself.”

  “No, you didn’t. And, don’t be too quick to judge Stella, Flori. She trusted everything her son told her. It was a case of a mother’s blind love. That’s all it was.”

  “I might be like that if it weren’t for you, Mabel. I might, mighten I?”

  “No, you wouldn’t be like that because Jake wouldn’t let you. Don’t forget, Stella doesn’t have a cranky bossy husband to tell her what she should do. Nor to give her son a good thrashing.”

  Flori started to sniff so I got up and forced her to sit in my chair. I retrieved the box of tissues. She wiped her eyes even though no tears had formulated yet; then, she wiped her cheeks and blew her nose. This was all in preparation for the downpour. Reg and I sat quietly and started our second cup of coffee, waiting for the cloudburst to finish.

  “How did you hear about it, Flori?” I asked.

  She made one last hiccough and said, “Jake told me. He went down to the restaurant this morning. Everyone is talking about it. Well, not that they knew Sally - they’re just saying that a friend of ours – yours and mine, Mabel, - hid this woman in her house and left her to die. I never even met Sally.”

  I turned to Reg. “I think you should stop sharing information with those two deputies, Reg. They’re a couple of old gossips.”

  “Speaking of sharing information,” Reg said, “Scully is coming in this morning to see you. He has something to share with you.”

  “With me? What?”

  “Oh, you’ll see.” He heaved himself up. “Well, I better get over and say my farewells to all those city cops.”

  He went out the door, singing, “So long, it’s been good to know you...”

  I filled Flori’s cup. She hadn’t looked this sad since her whole batch of dill pickles turned bad.

  “I think in a few weeks you should try to contact Stella, Flori. She’ll need someone to talk to.”

  “Do you really think so?” She cradled her cup against her breast. “We seemed so much alike, didn’t we?”

  I smiled. “Only on the scale, Flori. Only on the scale.”

  Scully came in just before noon. I’d almost forgotten about him. Esther had entered about two minutes before he had. I decided that it was time to settle things with her and what better time than when there’s a deputy in the room.

  “So, Esther,” I said. “I guess you’ve heard we solved the murder case.”

  “Oh, right. I like how you say ‘we,’ Mabel. Like you’re the great detective here.” She sniffed and pushed her glasses back up her nose.

  “Maybe I am. Did you know it was my idea to check the dandruff on Andrea’s clothing and that proved Ralph was the killer?”

  “Mabel, everyone knows you’re a busybody, causing more trouble for the officers than what you’re worth. I’m sure they could have figured it out without your little input.”

  “I don’t think they feel that way, Esther. Right, Scully?”

  Scully was standing behind a counter and looking like he wished he could be anywhere else in the world. He blushed, cleared his throat and said, “Whatever you say, Mabel.”

  “Thank you, Deputy. And while the Law has a representative here, I’d like to question you about something, Esther.”

  “What? I don’t have time to fiddle diddle around here. I have things to do this morning. Not everyone is like you, Mabel, able to sit around and do nothing all day.”

  “In that case, I’ll get right to the point: what about that threatening phone call you made to me?”

  “Threatening phone call? What nonsense are you talking about? I haven’t called you in years and I don’t plan on ever phoning you in the future.”

  “Come off it. You know very well you phoned me right after I got home from my trip.”

  “And why, pray tell, would I do that?”

  “Because you were jealous, Esther. You were jealous because you never get to go anywhere. And don’t deny it, I’d recognize your voice any day.”

  Esther’s eyes bulged and her glasses slid down her nose.

  “I’ll have you know,” she said. “I did not make any phone calls to you. If I had, I would admit it. In fact, I would brag about it.”

  “Well, if you’re so innocent and so smart, who did phone and threaten me?”

  Scully coughed and stepped out from behind the counter.

  “Uh, the reason I came over, Mabel, has a bit to do with that phone call.”

  I stared at him.

  “What do you mean? A bit to do with it?”

  “Well, it’s like I know who made the call.”

  “You know who made the call and it wasn’t Esther? How long have you known this little secret?”

  His face had now changed from red to crimson red. He looked down at his feet and started tapping the bottom of the counter with his toe.

  “I guess you could say I knew from the beginning.”

  “From the beginning? Are you telling me that you knew who left that horrid message and you haven’t come forward? That I’ve been having all these nightmares about Esther and it wasn’t even her?”

  Scully’s face turned even redder, which I never would’ve believed possible, and he hung his head.

  “Sorry, Mabel, but it was me.”

  “Pardon me? You’re mumbling.”

  He raised his head. He didn’t need to say a thing.

  “You? You made that horrible threatening phone call, Scully? A member of our own police force? How could you?”

  “It wasn’t a threatening call. I can tell you what I said. You just didn’t hear it properly.”

  “Why didn’t you come forward and say something? Everyone in the police station heard it.”

 
“Yeah? Well, that’s why I didn’t say anything. I was hoping you’d let it blow over. You think I was going to admit it with all those cops there? They would’ve laughed their heads off. And, what do you think Maxymowich would’ve thought? He would’ve been humiliated. I’m sorry, Mabel, I was too ashamed to say anything.”

  “So, what was the message, Scully? Where do you come off thinking that it wasn’t a threat to my life? I distinctly heard you say that I should go away and that everyone in Parson’s Cove thought I was wicked and should go to jail. I remember it like I heard it yesterday.”

  I ignored Esther’s cackling and the tears running down her face.

  “I didn’t say that at all. I said how nice it was for you to get away to Las Vegas and that everyone in Parson’s Cove wished they could get away like that. Then, I asked you to bring your pictures over to the jail, that we were dying to see your life in the big city and that we’d better watch out or you’d leave again. That’s all I said. Maybe in different words but that’s what I meant.”

  “But, you said ‘wicked.’ I heard it.”

  “Yeah. So? Don’t you know what that means, Mabel? It means ‘awesome.’”

  “Wicked means awesome. Now, that’s a new one. How long has Reg known this?”

  “Since this morning. He made me promise to come over right away and apologize.”

  I walked over and hugged him.

  “You’re forgiven.”

  “Just like that?”

  “Just like that.”

  I turned to Esther, who was leaning up against the wall, gasping for air.

  “You can stop laughing now. It was an honest mistake. If it makes you feel any better, Esther, I’m almost sorry it wasn’t you. You have no idea what punishment I had all lined up.”

  “I expect an apology, Mabel. I’m sure you’ve told everyone in town that I was the one who did this, didn’t you?”

  “No, I don’t think I told everyone. Most people just assumed it was you. However, to show there’s no hard feelings, I’ll make sure to tell a few people that it was Scully. Will that make you happy?”

  “No. I’ll see that you pay for this until I breathe my last breath.”

  With that, she opened the door and walked out.