A Deathly Rattle

by Diana Orgain

  “Hey, baby?” Jim spoke as we pulled apart.

  “Yeah?” I asked, noticing his befuddled look.

  “Um… where’s Laurie?” he asked.

  “Oh,” I said, blushing. “I kind of knew we were going to get into it tonight as soon as I whipped those pictures out… so I sent her over to Kenny’s. He’s watching her.”

  “Oh, yeah?” he said, this sly little smile appearing on his face.

  “Yeah?”

  “Good,” he said, and he scooped me right up. I squealed, laughing hysterically as he literally swooped me right off my feet. I was a little embarrassed that he struggled a little bit to carry me out of the kitchen, but I wasn’t exactly the tiny little girl he had married anymore. He laughed, and the two of us fell onto the couch in a fit of laughter and kisses. I think I needed that. I was overdue for some good attention from my husband, and I think he realized that.

  Such an awful afternoon had turned into such a great evening at home with Jim. After a few hours of some much needed alone time, Jim told me to go put my feet up while he ran next door to get Laurie. I decided to go shower, and when I got out of the shower Jim was waiting for me, all smiles.

  “What are you grinning about?” I questioned.

  “I fed her and put her to sleep,” he said proudly.

  “My superman,” I said with a wink and gave him another kiss.

  We retired to bed. I was exhausted. Something about harboring so much anger and resentment all day only to have it pulled out from under you just leaves you feeling exhausted. Before drifting off to sleep, I grabbed my notepad and pen I keep on my nightstand. I had a lot of stuff to do the next day, so started dotting down my to-do list. Jim didn’t go to sleep right away; he laid on his side looking up at me with a flirty smile that caused me to blush. “What?” I asked.

  “Just looking at you,” he said. “We should do a date night. Soon. It’s been a while.”

  “We went to that play,” I said.

  “Date night does not count if someone dies while you’re out,” he said. “It puts a damper on things. I mean, a real date night. Dinner and a movie. Somewhere nice.”

  I nodded. “That sounds like an incredible idea.” I leaned over and kissed him, and he rolled over – falling asleep instantly. I’m still jealous of his ability to do that. I get too into my head at night – thinking about what all I need to do. The to-do list at the bedside helps to keep me from thinking too much. By the time I was finished and ready for bed, I had a pretty extensive list ahead of me:

  Doctor’s Appointment

  Pick out new car seats for the twins

  Larger stroller?

  Check out the thrift store for baby clothes

  Go through Laurie’s old clothes too

  Call Rita

  Go see Paula today! – bring food?

  Revisit the bakery

  Solve a murder – try not to kill Cassandra in the process

  Ch15

  The following morning, I headed off, Laurie in tow, to a doctor’s appointment. With everything going on, the doctors were being extra cautious about my pregnancy. Not only was it a higher risk pregnancy due to the twins, but I had also suffered that carbon monoxide poisoning last month. Thankfully this time, my blood work came back looking a little better – but they said that my oxygen level in my blood was still a tad low. Not like it had been, so it was improving. It seemed weird to me that the oxygen level in my blood was taking so long to get back to normal. The poisoning incident had been a month before. You would have thought that it would have gotten better by then, but I digress.

  I was sitting in the room up on the little bed after my exam with Laurie in my lap, having gotten her out of her carrier after she had started fussing. I was just waiting for the doctor to come back with some paperwork. When she entered, she handed me some pamphlets about smoking and pregnancy. I was very confused as to why she would hand that to me because I didn’t recall her giving me something like that during my first pregnancy. “What’s this?” I asked.

  “Well, we just like to make sure moms are informed on the dangers of smoking while pregnant,” Dr. Green said.

  “Oh, I don’t smoke,” I said, handing the pamphlets back to me.

  “Are you on a nicotine patch?” she asked me.

  “Um… no?” I questioned, very confused. “I’ve never smoked before.”

  Now Dr. Green looked confused. We were just two very confused ladies starting back at one another. “Are you sure about that, Kate?” Dr. Green asked. “There’s no need to lie to me. I’m your doctor, and I’m here to help you in any way that I can. I can prescribe something for you that could help, and there are other means of dealing with a smoking habit that can be safer for the babies other than a nicotine patch?”

  “Dr. Green, I’m not on a nicotine patch. And, I’ve never smoked a day in my life,” I said.

  “Kate, there was a small trace of nicotine in your blood sample,” Dr. Green said.

  “Well, that can’t be right,” I said. “Something must be wrong. I promise I’m not lying. I’ve never smoked before.”

  Dr. Green didn’t seem very convinced, but she ordered another blood test and wanted the hospital to do it. I sighed and added that to my to-do list. It was always a bummer when you scratch something off your to-do list and then immediately have to add something to it. One step forward, one step back. Not the way I liked to work. Thankfully, I was able to head straight to the hospital. The nurse there was nice and quick, albeit not as gentle as Dr. Green. I would have a bruise on my arm, I was sure. She told me that I didn’t have to wait around because they had a lot of tests they would be running that day and that they would just send the results to Dr. Green.

  Okay, so my to-do list was looking a little better now:

  Doctor’s Appointment

  Pick out new car seats for the twins

  Larger stroller?

  Check out the thrift store for baby clothes

  Go through Laurie’s old clothes too

  Call Rita

  Go see Paula today! – bring food?

  Revisit the bakery

  Solve a murder – try not to kill Cassandra in the process

  Go get blood test

  There were a lot of fun items on my list – baby shopping was a personal favorite. There was an adorable boutique near the hospital, and that was hard to resist. Unfortunately, I didn’t know if I was shopping for boys or girls or both just yet, so I resisted getting any clothing. However, the boutique did sell some other necessary baby items. I knew I was going to need a large stroller that carried two, possibly three babies. I was trying to decide whether or not a three baby stroller for Laurie and her younger siblings would be worth the buy or if just a stroller for twins would be enough. A three baby stroller would be huge, I figured, but sure enough my favorite baby boutique came through for me.

  They had this adorable umbrella-like stroller that was for three kiddos. It had baby blue décor over the mostly silver stroller, so I felt like it wasn’t too gener-specific. Unfortunately, they only had the one on the floor left, and it was damaged, so they had to order one for me. I didn’t care. I was very excited to have one ordered, and they promised delivery in three weeks – plenty of time before baby number two and three got there. And, I found some affordable car seats that weren’t too big and bulky, so I went ahead and got those as well. I loved this place. It was huge, but it was also very quaint and adorable.

  One of the girls who was working kindly helped me put the boxed car seats into the back of my vehicle, and soon Laurie and I were off. I swung by the thrift store on the way home, and I snagged anything that seemed even remotely gender neutral, and I did so in just about every size up to twelve months – figuring that if mom did a shower for me, I’d just get a bunch of tiny newborn stuff from friends and family. I was really starting to feel accomplished come that time. I headed home at that point, fed Laurie, and set her up to play in t
he living room while I brought everything in from the car. Then I put Laurie down for a nap, and I suddenly had this burst of energy. Something about knocking out half your to-do list fairly quickly really gave you the motivation to keep going. I pulled out all of Laurie’s old clothes, sorting through stuff that I didn’t want to keep and tossing those items into a “sell” pile. I still didn’t know if I would be having a boys or girls or one of each, so I didn’t toss anything based on gender just yet.

  I put the sell items in a bag and put it in the back of my car for me to worry about another day, and then I sat down to rest. Laurie took a short nap that day, but I did manage to get a little shut eye myself on the couch before I heard her crying for me. I had planned on visiting Paula, and I hadn’t had lunch yet, so away I went. I always felt bad when I kept Laurie in the car all day, but she was in such a good mood that day, and she was going through a faze where she actually liked riding in the car. I decided to take advantage of it.

  I swung through a drive-through, texting Paula while I was in line to let her know I would be paying a visit. Paula was working on this apartment complex across town, and she had been bugging me about coming to see it. When I arrived, Laurie and to-go bags in tow, I was really blown away by the elegance of the place. The apartment complex was one of the nicest places Paula had managed to book. She had only had about five clients thus far as she was pretty new in the interior design business, so I was really impressed to see that a place like that had hired her being so new. She met me out front and snagged Laurie from me, giving her a few snuggles until Laurie started to giggle. “My little fellas are with my sister,” Paula said. “She’s been really great about supporting me with this new business venture.”

  “I’m glad to hear that,” I said, and the two of us entered into the lovely apartment building. The lobby looked amazing thanks to Paula’s incredible decorating skills. She had some plants and gorgeous golden pots set up – the hints of greenery really added to the feel of the lobby.

  We sat down and ate, and she thanked me profusely for the food, before we headed up and she showed off all the completely furbished rooms she herself had put together. I was so proud of her. It was a small apartment building, but it was an elegant one. This was the biggest project she had ever done, and I could tell she was excited. “How did you book this?” I asked.

  “Believe it or not, the apartment building’s owner came to your mom’s play,” Paula said. “She called me and told me she loved the set and that the play had been weird but hilarious.”

  “I still feel kind of bad for Domingo,” I admitted. “He and I have had our spats, but he had put a lot of work into that play to have someone twist it into a cheesy comedy.”

  “I agree, as does your mom,” Paula said. “But, I sure am glad to have gotten a job like this out of it.”

  After sitting down in one of the rooms that was done up with a beautiful silver and teal color theme, I pulled out my to-do list. “You and your lists,” Paula teased.

  “You and I both know you have very detailed to-do lists as well,” I said. “How else could you possibly stay sane?”

  “You’re right,” Paula said, smirking. I smiled as I went through my list, scratching things off:

  Doctor’s Appointment

  Pick out new car seats for the twins

  Larger stroller?

  Check out the thrift store for baby clothes

  Go through Laurie’s old clothes too

  Call Rita

  Go see Paula today! – bring food?

  Revisit the bakery

  Solve a murder – try not to kill Cassandra in the process

  Go get blood test

  “Well, look at you!” Paula said, glancing over my shoulder. “You’ve had a busy day.”

  “Yeah,” I said. “It’s been working out pretty well. I had a good groove at the start of the day. I’ve got more energy today than I have had lately. This case is driving me crazy, though. I think I’m looking at it from the wrong angle. I assumed that Morgan had been the intended target, but what if it had been Cassandra? I think I need to talk to her again, but she is the last person I want to talk to. Did I tell you what she did?”

  “What?” Paula asked curiously.

  “She has been flirting with Jim. Jim turned her down, of course, but it was a lot more serious than I originally thought. She sent him nudes, and he deleted her off his Facebook,” I said, and Paula’s eyes widened.

  “Oh, wow! You need me to punch her for you?” she asked.

  “No, I’m good,” I said, taking a breath. “Jim and I talked about it, and I feel a little better now. I’m mad and upset, but she’s not really worth it. And, besides, I need to prove to myself that I can be professional. She is a client, after all.”

  “What if whoever killed Morgan was going after the guests?” Paula suggested.

  “That would probably make Domingo a suspect,” I said. “His play had been ruined, but what are the chances that only the employees managed to get poisoned? I don’t know. There is something I’m not seeing.” I checked my phone for time. “It’s almost five. I should call Rita and see if she has anything for me.”

  “There’s never enough time in the day,” Paula said.

  “No, there’s not,” I said, waving my to-do list around. “I don’t think I’m going to solve a murder today.” I took out my phone and gave Rita a call, and oh my goodness. She was drunk.

  “Hey, Katie- pie!” she called into the phone.

  “Rita?” I questioned.

  “Hey, that’s my name!” she yelped.

  “Are you drunk?” I questioned.

  “Shh… it’s a secret,” she said.

  “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me, where are you?” I questioned. Rita was supposed to have been working on getting me a lead, but apparently, she was getting wasted at five O’clock in the evening. Way too early to already be so drunk that she would start singing into the phone.

  Rita gave me the name of the bar, and I demanded she wait on me because I was going to come pick her drunk butt up because she started ranting about her ex. I would make friends with the emotionally damaged cop. Paula asked if she needed to watch Laurie for me, but I told her not to worry about it. I doubted it would be that difficult to go pick up Rita. She sounded drunk but not angry drunk.

  I said farewell to Paula, and I drove down the road to this bar I had never heard of. It was called Lady Luck, and I soon found out why I never heard of it. It was a lesbian bar. I entered, baby on my hip, in search for my drunk cop friend. Rita was talking with some creepy woman, and I cleared my throat, causing the woman to spin around. “Sorry, I’m here to pick up that one there,” I said, nodding towards Rita.

  “Dang, girl, you’re in trouble,” the woman said as she looked at me and gave Rita gentle nudge in my direction.

  “Kate!” Rita yelped excitedly. “I just threw up in the bathroom!”

  “Good for you, Rita,” I said. “Come on, are you paid up?”

  “She’s paid up,” the woman who had been lingering around her said. “Sorry, didn’t know she was with someone.”

  “Uh… yeah,” I said, grabbing Rita under her arm. I’m sure this looked like a lesbian wife coming out to the bar to pick up the other mother of her child. A few women snickered as I dragged Rita out of there and forced her into the passenger’s seat of my car. I hooked Laurie in and pulled out of the parking lot. “Wow, I can’t believe you’re drunk. It’s not even five thirty!” I snapped.

  “I have to work night shift tonight!” Rita said, sitting upright with wide eyes. “Oh, geeze, I forgot I have to work tonight!”

  “You’re drunk!” I yelped.

  “Oh, I’m so fired!” she yelped back, rubbing her temples. “I’m so drunk! Ooh, I want something chocolate…”

  “You’re kidding,” I said, shaking my head. I finally become buddies with a cop – get my inside woman – and she’s probably going to get herself fi
red. “Okay, relax, when do you go into work?”

  “Um… eight…” she said.

  “Okay, plenty of time to sober you up,” I said. “I need to go speak with Cassandra about my case anyways. Since you’re wanting chocolate, we’ll get you something sweet to put some food on your stomach, and I’ll have her make you a cup of strong coffee too. They have a barista station there.”

  “I love you, Katie,” Rita told me, laying her head back. I reached over and smacked her awake.

  I wasn’t about to let her get fired. I needed this drunk goofball, and frankly I considered her to be a friend. I got her talking, and turns out she had done something very stupid earlier today. She had called her ex and had left a very embarrassing message. Something clingy and desperate, and then she had felt like an idiot and had decided to go drink her sorrows away. I called Cassandra, knowing that the shop sometimes closed at six. She answered, peppy as ever, and told me she’d be happy to stay open for us so that we could talk about the case and sober up my friend. I still wasn’t going to mention what I knew about her and Jim; it would only complicate things further with the case.

  When we finally got to the shop, I sat Rita down by the window and told her that her butt was glued to the seat, and she was just drunk enough to believe me. She stayed put while I ordered her a black coffee and a plate of chocolate cookies. I ordered myself a cup of coffee as well. Cassandra sashayed over, putting the plate of cookie down in front of us as well as the two cups of coffee. “We’ll be here for at least another hour doing closing duties,” Cassandra said, nodding towards the two other employees who were still in the shop. The closed sign was already up. “Feel free to hang out at least that long, and we can chat more about Morgan’s case too.”