Into the Sweet Hereafter

by Kaye George

  She nodded, picking up one snippet, then another to hold next to the basket. “It’s for a real estate company of all women. They wanted something feminine, soft.”

  “What are you putting in it? Pastels, right?”

  “Yes. So should I use yellow, blue, green? Maybe not pink.”

  “Green. That’s the color of spring. And the color of money. Anyway, Mateo’s loco. He wouldn’t mind driving all day, every day. I’d hate it. But he just got fired.”

  “Oh no.” Yolanda stuck the other spools into the ribbon drawer and kept out the light green. Raul was right, that’s what she should use. “What happened?” Her allergies weren’t too bad today, but her nose was a tad drippy. She was better off when there weren’t lilies around, she thought. She gave her nose a swipe and tossed the tissue into the trash.

  “He got in a wreck. It was totally his fault, too. He fell asleep.”

  “Was anyone injured?”

  “He said he hit a pickup and the other driver was hurt. Do you want me to get out the box of plastic grass?”

  Yolanda thought this was going to end up with an Easter feel to it, so, sure, they might as well use the plastic grass. “Yes, I’ll go ahead and get this one done, as much as I can ahead of time. We don’t have any other orders right now. It looks kind of like spring. I think that will be a nice look for them.”

  Raul worried about his cousin Mateo too much, she thought. He was a grown man, though a young one. The cousin deserved to get fired if he fell asleep and caused a wreck with the company vehicle.

  * * * *

  Thet Thura got the contact person for that crime watch group from Mateo and did some fast thinking.

  “I run a business that could help your organization,” he said when he called the contact person. “We would like to offer you free business cards for all of your members.”

  The woman on the phone, who said her name was Olive, seemed happy about that. “That would be wonderful. I’ve been thinking we could use something like that. Our budget is very small, however.”

  “All I need is a list of names and I can get them printed up in a few days. A week at the most.”

  “How soon can you pick up the list from me?”

  “I’m free tonight. Can I meet you somewhere? I’d like to get started on it right away.”

  Soon, Thet had a list of everyone in the Crime Fritzers. The stupid woman had given him the addresses and phone numbers as well. He sent Arlen Snead to Walter Wright’s apartment, but he wasn’t there. So Thet had Arlen help him start working his way through the list to find out if anyone knew where Walter Wright was. He had to get his jade back. Soon.

  5

  Tally got her chance to try to find out more about what the Crime Fritzers were up to when Mrs. Gerg called her at work on Sunday.

  “I’m terribly sorry,” Mrs. Gerg said, “but I can’t come around to collect rent tonight.”

  That was too bad. Tally was overdue on paying it. Her landlady had been collecting around the first of the month since January and it was now the fifth of June.

  Mrs. Gerg continued. “Could you possibly bring it over? After work, I mean. I don’t want you to leave work for this.”

  Tally wouldn’t have done that anyway. It was Sunday and weekends were almost always busy. She would close up at 7:00 tonight and usually would go home and decompress. Since the holidays last year, she had been closing on Mondays, so Sunday night was kind of her Friday night.

  “I can come over to your house sometime between seven-thirty and eight. Would that be okay?” She felt guilty for being late paying, so she had to accommodate her landlady.

  “Oh my, yes. I would appreciate that so much.”

  But why couldn’t she walk to Tally’s shop or house? She always walked everywhere.

  “Is everything all right?” Mrs. Gerg was extremely ambulatory. In fact, she walked miles every day hunting for yard and garage sale goodies. Tally hoped she wasn’t laid up. “Can I bring you anything?”

  “I’m all right. I don’t need anything. It’s just that…I’m taking care of someone and don’t want to leave him alone right now. I talked him into letting me take care of him for a while. Until he gets back on his feet. He just got out of the hospital.”

  Tally was dying to know who she was taking care of, but didn’t want to pry, since Mrs. Gerg hadn’t offered. Maybe she’d see when she went over there tonight.

  Tally observed Molly, trying to tell if she was still feeling down, or if she was in a better mood. She thought the poor young woman was probably overwhelmed by her family situation. She was the only one in her family who was working, after all. She had dropped out of college to come home to help out her parents. Did she want to finish school eventually? Maybe she thought she would never be able to finish. Tally knew that she herself would be impatient, frantic, maybe even depressed, in the same situation

  “Are you sure about that?” the customer asked Molly, smiling, looking at the change in his hand.

  “I think so,” Molly answered. “Let me see.”

  As Molly stared at the change drawer, the customer spread her change on the counter, saying, “I think you gave me too much.” Tally could see two twenties fanned out with some ones and a sprinkling of change.

  “Oh. Sorry.” Molly scooped up the money and made the right change.

  That was a sure sign Molly was distracted, Tally knew. The till came up short on days when Molly wasn’t paying attention.

  A few minutes later, they were side by side, loading new treats into the glass display cases that had been nearly emptied out.

  Tally thought she’d try to sound her out.

  “What were you majoring in at school, Molly? I don’t think I ever asked you that.”

  Molly tilted her head at her boss, probably wondering why she wanted to know that. “I was studying for a bachelor’s in criminal justice.”

  Tally paused. “Criminal justice. That’s fascinating. Do you want to go into law enforcement?”

  Molly shook her head and continued rearranging candy pieces on the tray. “Not really. I was going after a law degree, eventually. But, the way things are going, I might not get past a BA. In fact, I might not get that far.”

  “Oh, you will. I know you will.”

  Molly smiled, obviously heartened by her boss’s encouragement. It transformed her face. But Tally felt a teensy bit bad about that. This was the employee who couldn’t make change when she started, Tally thought, whose work ethic was so poor that she took smoker breaks in the alley way too often. Now that she thought about it, though, Tally hadn’t seen Molly smoking or vaping at all for quite some time. Maybe she had given up that bad habit. And no customers had complained about getting shortchanged for ages. Maybe Molly was giving out too much change? Tally thought she would have noticed that happening, though.

  “Howie came by last night. We talked.”

  “Wonderful. Are you dating again?”

  “I guess. I missed him a lot.”

  Later, just before she left work, Tally called Mrs. Gerg, thinking that just because it wasn’t herself who needed tending, she was tied down nevertheless and might need Tally to bring her something.

  “Are you sure you don’t want me to run into the grocery store, or the drugstore, and pick up something? You have everything you need?”

  She heard Mrs. Gerg let out a soft sigh.

  “Anything at all. It’s no trouble,” Tally said.

  “Well, I guess I do need some toilet tissue. And maybe a bottle of dish soap.”

  “Paper plates?” Tally thought that providing for two might stretch her normal supplies of quite a few things.

  “Maybe. And some cups? Those big red ones?”

  “Napkins? Paper towels?”

  “Oh heavens, I don’t want you to go to all that trouble.”

 
“It’s no trouble, if you need them.”

  In the end, Mrs. Gerg gave her an extensive list and promised she would pay her for everything as soon as she got there.

  It ended up being six bags full of groceries and supplies. Tally made one trip to the front door from her car at the curb, then Mrs. Gerg came out and helped carry the rest inside. An older man sat on her beige sofa, his head bandaged, one foot in a surgical boot, and his arm in a sling. That arm rested on the doilied sofa arm. The room was filled with evidence of Mrs. Gerg’s garage sale collecting. Shelves were filled with shells, boxes, bits of jewelry, stacks of old-looking coins, and much more. When Tally didn’t get an introduction to the man, she approached him.

  “Hi, I’m Tally Holt, one of Mrs. Gerg’s renters.”

  “Walter Wright,” he said, extending his left hand to shake hers, since the sling was on his right arm. A pair of crutches lay next to the sofa.

  Realization dawned. “Glad to meet you, Walter. You’re Mrs. Gerg’s crime watch partner, aren’t you?” She was pretty sure that was the name Mrs. Gerg had told her a few weeks ago when she joined the group and started patrolling with them.

  “One and the same.” He smiled.

  “It looks like you’ve had a bad accident,” Tally said.

  “You could say that. I met my match.”

  “Your match? Someone did this to you?” She wanted him to say exactly what had happened.

  “I’ll be fine. I just need to recuperate for a few days. Candy’s taking good care of me.” His face crinkled when he looked up and gave Mrs. Gerg a smile.

  Candy? Tally made her rent checks out to Candace Gerg. She’d never thought of the woman as a Candy, though. Candy returned Walter’s smile with a flirtatious look. Tally pressed her lips together to keep from smiling at them herself. Just because they were senior citizens didn’t mean they couldn’t flirt. He had to be the Fritzer who was beaten up at Yolanda’s the other night. So this is who Mrs. Gerg talked into coming to her house so she could “take care” of him. She was sweet on Walter. Tally pressed her lips tighter to keep from grinning.

  “It’s the least I can do,” Mrs. Gerg said. “He’s my partner, after all.” She picked up one of the heavy bags, full of canned goods, and headed for the basement door in the kitchen.

  “Let me,” Tally said. “I can carry those downstairs for you.”

  “Be very careful on the stairs,” Mrs. Gerg said.

  Tally lugged two bags down the steep wooden stairs to the dim concrete-floored basement. One wall was lined with shelves that held boxed and canned food. Mrs. Gerg came close behind her.

  “See how steep those stairs are? I’m always careful on them.”

  “I’m impressed with your organization,” Tally said, starting to stick the cans onto the shelves.

  “Better let me do it,” Mrs. Gerg said. “I know where everything goes.”

  When the goods were neatly stored, they both went up the stairs, Tally behind to make sure Mrs. Gerg didn’t fall.

  When they got to the living room, and Tally was on her way to the front door, a knock sounded—a loud, impatient knock.

  Mrs. Gerg opened the door and a man spoke to her, too softly for Tally to hear. She turned. “Walter? Someone to see you.”

  Walter Wright jumped up, no longer helpless, apparently, grabbed his crutches and clumped to the door. Two men stood on the porch. Walter flicked on the light and illuminated a tall man and a short one. Tally didn’t think Walter recognized either one. The short one was dark and Asian-looking. He wore a nice suit, maybe even silk. The tall, lanky one was all cowboy, the rhinestone type with ostrich boots that had probably never touched a horse, a huge hat, stubbly beard, and bulge of chaw inside his lower lip. Tally hadn’t seen anyone use chewing tobacco for a long time.

  “I need to speak with you,” the shorter man said with a faint accent that Tally couldn’t place. He brushed past Walter and came into Mrs. Gerg’s house. He was small, slightly overweight and bald. And was brazen, obviously. The taller man followed, more circumspectly, looking around the room.

  Mrs. Gerg looked on helplessly, so Tally introduced herself and asked him who he was.

  “I am Thet,” the short man said. “Thet Thura.”

  “Happy to meet you,” Tally said. “Are you with the crime watchers, too?”

  He gave her a brief glance. “I must speak with you,” he said again to Walter. “This is about what happened to you. I think I can give you some help. To recover from your injuries.”

  Tally waited for him to introduce his companion, but he was focused on Walter. “Excuse us.” Walter, looking interested, stepped outside with both of the mysterious visitors. She was sure she had never seen either one of them before.

  Tally decided to stay inside until their business was concluded, since it seemed to be private. They were only outside a few minutes before Walter came back in. He got around well with the crutches. Tally wondered if he needed them, since he was putting weight on his booted foot.

  “Sorry about that,” Walter said. “He had a question about…about our crime watch.”

  Tally wondered why they couldn’t talk about that in front of her and Mrs. Gerg. Was there something shady about the crime watch group? Were they connected with the home burglaries?

  “They want to join?” Tally asked. “Do they live here?”

  Walter shook his head and looked puzzled. “Only the Thura guy spoke to me. Actually, I’m not sure what he wanted. He said he can give me money if I know where something is. Cowwa-something. I don’t know what he was talking about.”

  After Tally paid her rent and left, she realized Walter had never said exactly what had happened to him. He’d met “his match,” he said. Was his match a bus, a car, another person? But the paper made it sound like he was beaten at the scene of the robbery. And he did have injuries. Could he be the man on crutches who beat the Crime Fritzer? Whatever it had been, it looked like he was in good hands now.

  * * * *

  On Monday, Tally’s day off, she slept late, or as late as she could with a hungry, insistent cat batting at her nose. She uncurled, rolled onto her back, and stretched.

  “Oh, it feels so good to have all the time in the world. For one day, anyway.”

  Before she could get out of bed, her cell rang.

  “Tally?” Jackson said softly. “I have to cancel lunch today.”

  That was disappointing. But interruptions in schedules were a regular hazard of his job. She knew that.

  “See you some other time?” she asked.

  “I’ll call you tomorrow. Take care.” She heard sirens somewhere in the city, racing to the scene of something bad. Maybe Jackson was involved in whatever was going on. Nigel pricked his ears and paid close attention to the noise until it died down.

  After she fed Nigel, and then herself, she decided to get dressed and do something she rarely had the chance to do. She set off through her neighborhood, headed for Main Street. True, she walked to work many days, but she was usually concentrating on getting there quickly and going by the most direct route, the same way every day. It would be a luxury to stroll past other people’s shops and enjoy her town, pretending to be a leisurely tourist. Maybe meander to some side streets and see what was going on there. The weather was lovely; not too hot yet this early in the day.

  She hadn’t gone a block on her own street before the sidewalk was clogged with a crowd of her neighbors.

  What’s going on? she asked herself. Then she saw, through the throng, a police car at the curb. The siren she and Nigel had heard?

  “The Schwartzes were robbed,” one of her neighbors, a retired farmer, said. “They went out to have an early breakfast this morning and got home to find their back door open.”

  “What was taken?” Tally asked, trying to remember if she had locked her own back door.

  “Th
ey’re checking,” the farmer’s wife said. “They think some jewelry and a set of silver are missing.”

  The Schwartzes were middle-aged schoolteachers with two children in college. This time of year they were probably not going in to work every day. Tally assumed they could ill afford a robbery. But then, who could?

  Leaving the scene of the home robbery, she walked west on Austin Street so she could start at one end of Main Street and stroll the whole length of the shops there. The enticing smells of Catfish Haven greeted her as she turned the corner. It was too early for the sidewalks to be crowded yet. Some of the other shops closed on Mondays, but many stayed open, so the downtown would fill up soon enough. Tally took advantage of the extra space to stop and look at each shop on that side of the street. She thought she would go all the way to Elk Street, then cross over and do the other side of the street, stopping for lunch at midday.

  After four blocks she saw a crowd ahead, much like the one she’d seen at the Schwartz house. And like the one that had clustered in front of Bella’s Baskets the day the window was smashed. As she got closer, she realized it was one of the winery tasting rooms. At least it wasn’t Kevin’s place, Bear Mountain Vineyards. Yolanda and Kevin had an on-again, off-again relationship that was now on-again, to Tally’s relief. She had to see if it was another break-in and robbery. Part of the crime wave she had heard about?

  Sure enough, just like the other morning at Bella’s Baskets, shards of glass littered the pavement, and the front window was gaping open. Peering past the shoulders of the gawkers, realizing that she was a gawker herself, she could see that the window display had been emptied out. There were usually lots of bottles of wine, artfully arranged on cloth-draped boxes, and now there were bare boxes, the pieces of cloth wadded on the floor of the window. They must have used bottles with actual wine in them for display. That would be a temptation, more so than empty ones. If anyone could tell the difference.

  “What happened?” she asked the people at the edge of the group. Most ignored her. One said he didn’t know.

  Tally saw a familiar face in the gawking crowd, the young Crime Fritzer, Ira Mann. His long blond hair hung almost to the notebook he was scribbling in. A Crime Fritzer should know about the crime, she figured. She scrunched through the crowd to get next to him.