by Tonya Kappes
“Yes. And it’s all I need,” I muttered, fearing that I was right.
Marlene had been the last one with Doug Sloan that night, and she had tried to frame Sean and me. Somehow, it did backfire and now she was framing me.
I grabbed my cell to call Agnes Pearl. It was clear that she might be in danger.
“Hello?” Agnes answered.
A big sigh of relief escaped my lips.
“Agnes, its Holly Harper.” I frantically said. “Is Marlene there?”
I didn’t want to risk Marlene being there, overhearing our conversation and then hurting Agnes.
“She’s not. She went away for a couple days after she dropped me off at the hospital.” Agnes said.
“Hospital?” I didn’t recall Agnes mentioning to the Divas that she was going to the hospital.
“I just couldn’t take it anymore. I went in and had my eyes fixed.” She sounded tired. “Marlene is going to be so surprised when she comes back tomorrow night to pick me up at the hospital and they tell her I’ve gone home early.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, trying not to alarm Agnes.
“The doctors said I would be in the hospital for three days. There wasn’t anything for Marlene could do for me, so she left a note with the nurse saying she was going to visit friends for a couple days and for me not to worry because she’d be back to pick me up.”
I looked at the clock, and then at Donovan. I had twenty-four hours to get all my evidence together before Marlene attempted to show her face again. I was going to be ready for her.
“I called a cab and came home as soon as the doctor said I was healing nicely.” There was obvious pride in her voice.
“Agnes, I will be over in the morning to bring you some breakfast.” I knew Agnes had opted for one of Jim’s security systems and had the monitor put in her house.
At least that’s what Jim had told me when he was trying to sell me monitors for my shop. I wanted to get my hands on Agnes’ and see if Marlene had been up to anything.
“I’d love the company,” she said. “But my eyes still aren’t completely healed. The doctor said it could take weeks to get my good vision back.”
“Perfect.” My plan was coming together. “I will see you in the morning.”
I let Donovan in on my conversation and plan.
“While you’re doing that, I will see what I can salvage from Sean’s message.” Donovan pointed to the kitchen table where my old answering machine sat.
“But tonight, you and Willow will sleep in my guest bedroom. There is now way I’m letting you go home with that nut job on the loose out there.”
I didn’t fight him. It was the best night’s sleep I’d had in days.
Chapter Thirty-Four
“Wake up, sleeping beauties.” Donovan flicked the light on. “It’s nine o’clock.”
I was momentarily confused. I’d forgotten where I was. The bed was so comfortable compared to the bed in the furnished cottage.
I wasn’t complaining about the cottage because I loved it. I had just forgotten how nice a really good mattress could feel.
“I have a tee and sweats that might fit you.” He sat them on the dresser. Before he walked back out, he said, “I really don’t want you to go to your house so try to make those fit.”
Why in the world did I learn all those defensive moves if I can’t use them? I rolled over and looked Willow in the eyes. She nestled her snout against my cheek. Willow enjoyed a good snuggle, and so did I, but there was more investigating to do.
I threw back the covers and changed into the tee shirt and sweats he had left. It was the exact same tee shirt he was wearing when my face planted into his chest. If I recall correctly, I was trying to get away from Bernadine and her questions, only to be completely embarrassed. That shirt would be tattooed in my brain forever.
“Good morning.” I got Willow’s leash. “Come on, Willow.”
I walked her up and down Donovan’s street a couple times, giving her ample time to do her business. There were a lot of people who stopped and stared.
What? Have these people never seen a slightly chunky woman walking a pig with a beaded collar attached to a hot pink leash?
But I didn’t say anything. I didn’t plan to make this a daily walk for us. I’d probably never see these people again.
The freshly brewed coffee smelled heavenly. I couldn’t wait to get a cup. I helped myself by getting my own mug and pouring some of the fresh brew.
I pulled a stool up to the counter and watched Donovan take apart my answering machine.
“Unfortunately, the tape looks like it’s been cauterized to the roller.” He pointed into the machine with a very small screwdriver, showing me what he was talking about.
“Just salvage anything you can.” I pleaded, and then took a sip of the coffee.
There might be little hope to save some of the tape, but I wasn’t giving up hope yet.
“Why don’t you leave Willow here so you can snoop around Agnes’ house without worrying about her in the car?” He looked up, and for a brief moment, I thought I saw some real concern on his face. “Be careful and take your ePhone with you.”
“How did you know I have an ePhone?” I knew we’d never talked about it and I hadn’t told Cheri.
He pulled his ePhone out of his pocket. I had no idea he had one too. He showed me the symbol next to my phone calls that I had placed to him.
“This phone is amazing. It tells you what type of phone people are calling from.” He pushed all sorts of buttons.
I had no clue what he was doing. I had to admit, I did need to learn how to use the phone, but that was on the back burner until I got out of this mess.
“Very cool,” I said, and then I patted Willow on the head. “I need to get out of here while I have a window of time.”
With the way my luck was going, Marlene would show up early and catch me snooping around Agnes’ place.
I waved bye to Donovan. “I’ll let you know what I find out,” I yelled over my shoulder before I slammed the front door.
I had told Agnes I’d pick up breakfast for us. I hoped she liked White Castle breakfast sandwiches, because I needed a coffee. Besides, who doesn’t like White Castle?
With my coffee and sack of breakfast sliders, I was off to Agnes’.
There wasn’t a time I could remember being so excited to go to Agnes’ house. I just knew there was going to be another big break in the case today. There had to be. The deadline Noah Druck had given me was quickly approaching.
I pulled up to the curb a few houses down the street from Agnes’ house. I didn’t want to make it obvious that I was visiting Agnes.
Before I got out of my car, I called Donovan.
He answered immediately. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” I said to put him at ease,although I thought it was cute that he was worried. “I just wanted to let you know that I was here.”
“Any luck on my answering machine?” I held out a glimmer of hope with my fingers crossed.
“I did get the tape freed from the roller. I’m in the process of trying to piece it together.” He paused. “I’m afraid there’s going to be a good portion that I won’t be able to save.”
I smacked the stirring wheel. That wasn’t what I wanted to hear.
“At least something is better than nothing.” I tried to sound positive. “I’ll keep you posted about what I find here.”
I grabbed the White Castle bag and walked up to Agnes’ house. I was glad that no one was walking or driving by. Not that it would be unusual for me to be visiting Agnes. She was a divorced Diva, after all. The community was used to seeing us together, but the fewer people that noticed me, the better. Noah didn’t need to find out that I’m doing my own snooping around. He’d hear everything I had to say soon enough.
Chapter Thirty-Five
I tapped on Agnes’ screen door and even pulled on it, but it was locked. The main door was also locked, which struck me as o
dd. Agnes always kept that door open unless it was during the winter or at night, and it was neither.
I knocked louder and looked into the lead glass window next to the door, but there was no movement. No silhouette of a floating feather attached to Agnes’ turban.
I got an uneasy, almost queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. Something wasn’t right. I jogged around the back of Agnes’ house and through her beautiful garden, quickly checking the gardeners’ shed. I wanted to make sure she wasn’t in there. Agnes took pride in her yard and was constantly working on it.
That door was also locked. I turned and trotted to the back door.
“Whoa!” I grabbed my ankle as I fell to the ground.
I looked into the hole I stepped into, but there was nothing in it, just freshly dug dirt. Agnes was always moving bushes and plants around her yard.
I got up and brushed myself off. There was no way I was going to let a little twist of an ankle keep me down.
One step at a time, I stepped up onto the back porch and peeked in the door, trying to look through the eyelet curtains. The only thing I could see was sunlight shining through a cracked window.
Cracked window!
Without thinking, I dragged a porch chair under the cracked kitchen window, slid the glass up and hoisted myself through it.
Once inside, I parted the curtains and looked outside to make sure no one had seen me crawling through. Spending any time in jail for murder or breaking and entering was not in my future plans.
I thought Agnes must have had a doctor’s appointment and forgot about it. She’d probably called my house to cancel our meeting.
That might be a good thing. I wouldn’t have to sneak around to find the video monitors if she was out of the house. I slid the window closed. There was no way I was leaving the same way I’d come in.
I walked through the kitchen and fell to the ground when I saw a tiny red light shining in the corner of the wall near the ceiling. Her security camera was pointed right at me or the spot I’d been standing.
Since Agnes wasn’t home, I didn’t want anyone else to know that I was here. If I showed up on the security video, I would definitely go to jail, but the only place to roll out of sight was under the high-back antique couch.
There was no way I was rolling my whole body under there. Until I considered going to jail.
“One, two,three,” I whispered and then closed my eyes.
It took two complete rolls to make it completely into The Under. I crossed my arms over my chest and took three deep breaths. Be aware of your surroundings, I repeated over and over in my head until my eyes popped open and my adrenaline took over.
I plotted my strategy. I could roll behind the couch and crawl along the wall out of view of the camera.
I thought about the layout of Agnes’ house and I remembered exactly where her bedroom was. I guessed that the monitors were in there.
“One, two,three.” I closed my eyes again and rolled out. I ended up behind the couch.
That wasn’t so bad. Still, I was never going to do that again.
Agnes’ bedroom door was slightly cracked open. I nudged it with my head while I was still in a four-point crawl stance. My knees ached and were killing me. I felt a little like Willow, hoofing it around the house.
When I got inside Agnes’ bedroom, I pushed the door closed with my foot. It was pitch black, completely dark. I ran my hand up the door casing, feeling around the wall for the light switch and flipped it on.
“Eeck!” I screamed, and then fell back to the floor when I saw someone flailing around on Agnes’ bed.
The bed moved and squeaked across the hardwood with each thrust of whoever was in the bed.
I got to my knees and slowly extended my body to look over the footboard.
“Agnes?” I jumped to my feet when I noticed poor old Agnes Pearl hog-tied to her own bed and gagged with her purple turban.
The red feather was fluttering out of her mouth like she was a cat that just ate a bird. Her eyes were as big as saucers.
“Who did this to you?” I asked, gingerly removing the turban from her mouth.
Her tongue was hanging out as she gasped for air. I quickly untied each of her limbs, and grabbed a bottle of water that I found on her nightstand.
Once she calmed down, she began to speak.
“I don’t know,” she sobbed.
In all the years I’d known her, I had never seen Agnes Pearl cry. I’ve seen her curse a man and yell, but never cry.
“My eyes aren’t too good yet, but in the middle of the night, I heard my door open.” She took the turban and wiped at the tears that were streaming down her cheeks. “I turned on my bedside light and there they stood. Before I could get a word out, they had me bound, gagged, and tied like a pig. No offense to Willow.”
“None taken.” I rubbed her arms, trying to give her some comfort.
I was just glad that I’d broken in and found her.
“Did they say anything?” I tried to jog her memory, but she was too upset to talk about it.
She shook her head. “The only thing that got me through it was knowing you were coming over this morning.” She reached for the rotary phone next to her bed.
“What are you doing?” I asked, starting to hand it to her.
“I’m calling Noah Druck,” she stated.
“Wait.” I pulled the phone back to my chest, out of her reach.
This could be the final clue to complete the mounting evidence I already have against Marlene.
“Wait? Are you out of your mind, Holly Harper?” Agnes was back to her spry old self. “I’ve been lying here, scared out of my mind and waiting for you to find me, and you want me to wait longer? No, no, I’m not waiting any longer.”
There had to be footage on the security video of someone walking around, unless they had crawled to reach their destination like I had. That wouldn’t be Marlene’s style. There was no way she was going to take the chance of breaking a nail. I bet she’d already had the one replaced that I found under my futon.
“Agnes, I really do think Marlene is the one who killed Doug.” I sat at the edge of the bed with the phone tight against my chest. “I think she’s done something with Sean. I have a lot of evidence I need to get together and then take to Noah.”
Agnes Pearl propelled herself out of bed like she had a spring under her. “I want her found and arrested now!”
She took the turban and pulled it back over her thinning hair, over her ears, and then tucked in the unruly whispies. Not even a good hog-tying could keep her down.
She grabbed the phone from me. “I’m calling Noah.” Her arthritis-ridden index finger punched in the numbers.
“Where are your video monitors that Jim put in?” I asked, while she dialed Noah.
She shook her head, the feather slapping her face each time. “Noah, it’s Agnes Pearl, you need to come to my house as soon as you get this message.” She slammed the receiver down, got up, and motioned for me to follow her with the old phone still tucked under her arm.
“Agnes, put the phone down.” I reminded her she still had it.
She reached behind her and grabbed the phone cord that plugged into the wall. In one swift yank, the cord unraveled to a crazy length.
“Goes with me everywhere.” She patted the old thing. “That is one thing that Doug Sloan did do that was right. Got me a long phone extension. Noah should be calling any minute.”
I wasn’t going to fight with Agnes Pearl. If she didn’t want to let go of the phone, she didn’t have to.
“Ouch.” Agnes smacked into the doorframe. She rubbed her arms and continued walking into the other room. “That damn doctor said this blurriness would go away, and I can’t wait.”
“Focus, Agnes.” There really was no time to spare. We had to see what was on that video. “Where are the…”
“Monitors–right.” Agnes turned and walked out the door and right into the family room wall. “In there.” She pointed the han
d that was holding the phone toward the kitchen and rubbed her forehead with her free hand. “In the pantry.”
The pantry? That didn’t make much sense, but most things in Agnes’ world often didn’t make sense.
“Okay.” I grabbed Agnes by the arms and helped her over to her easy chair. “Sit here. I’ll be right back.”
I wasn’t a doctor, but it seemed to me that Agnes’ eyes were worse now than they’d been before. I wasn’t about to say anything. I made sure she was safe and then headed to the kitchen.
Voila! Like a shiny new bicycle, the monitor was mounted on the pantry wall off the kitchen. It looks like she’d tried to disguise it with empty cereal boxes.
There were four split frames that showed the family room, garden, foyer and the front yard. Quickly, I dialed Donovan. This was all a confusing mess to me.
Donovan answered the phone on the first ring. “Did you get the information you need?”
“Slight change in plans, but I’m not sure how to get the video footage off Agnes’ monitors. It’s completely different than the VHS tapes.” I briefly described how someone had tied Agnes up and I told him I wanted to see if it was Marlene who had done it. If she had, I’d have more evidence against her and be able to prove my innocence, and hopefully find Sean.
“Who are you talking too?” Agnes screamed from the other room.
Ignoring her, I described the equipment, and Donovan said it was likely streaming footage to a memory card or a computer server.
Donovan asked, “Why would they tie Agnes up?”
I hadn’t thought of that. It was a great question and I didn’t have an answer for it. I ran back into the family room, feeling a little like Flora with my ePhone stuck to my ear.
“Agnes, where is Marlene’s big yellow diamond?” I looked up at the mantel where I remembered seeing it last. I didn’t see it, so I patted my hand along the top of the mantel in case it was lying up there. All I came up with was dust on my fingertips.
“Who are you talking to?” She asked, and then began to yell, “Help! Noah, help!”