by Lauren Carr
After saying he didn’t, Joshua poked around under the door mat and other places he could think of where Albert would hide a key to use in case he locked himself out of his home.
“There are four newspapers in his paper box,” she told them. “Everything is locked up tight. We have to break in.”
“He’s either out of town, or something happened to him,” Donny said.
“And leave his car behind?” She pointed to the car parked in front of the garage.
“Why didn’t he park it in the garage?” Joshua asked.
“Probably not enough room.” She peered into the lock while working the pick. “The garage looks like it’s filled with junk. Take a look in the window.”
“Maybe someone drove him to the airport.” Hugging himself, Donny stomped his feet to keep warm.
Joshua shook his head. “Albert is one of those people who thinks that if you go beyond Pittsburgh that you’re going to drop off the ends of the earth. He doesn’t go out except for court, church functions, and Sunday services.”
Donny peered through the kitchen window as if it were possible to see through the thick curtains blocking the view inside. “If we break in and he went to Vegas for a vacation, then we’ll be charged with breaking and entering.”
Her hand on the door knob, Cameron stood up. “You know, it’s surprising how easy it is to pick these old locks. We’ll simply open the door. Step inside to make sure Albert is okay. If he’s not here and hurt, then we can leave and lock the door behind us, and no one will even know we were here.”
She pushed open the door and went inside. Her scream brought Joshua and Donny in at a run. None of them had ever seen a scene like that stretched out before them.
Floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall; the house was packed with everything that had ever come through the doors: mail (both opened and unopened), church bulletins, newsletters, gifts still in their boxes, clothes, cushions, books, magazines, blankets, games, newspapers, and anything else imaginable. If it had ended up in Albert Gordon’s possession, it didn’t leave his home.
The side door opened into what was designed to be the dining room. An unused fireplace with a brick mantle filled the far wall. The space inside the fireplace was filled up to the chimney with magazines. The mantle itself contained stacks of papers. On the other side of the room, an archway opened into the living room.
“Oh, my God,” Donny breathed. “It looks like a junk shop.”
“More like a dump.” Regaining her composure, Cameron noticed a sickening odor. It was unmistakable. She had smelled it before at crime scenes of victims who had died and started decomposing.
Covering his face to block out the smell, Joshua picked his way through a path that Albert had cut through over the years. “Now we know why he never invited anyone to his house. I remember coming here when I was a kid. This must have happened after his wife passed away.”
Cameron took a different path through the living room to search for the source of the odor. She covered her face with her hand to cut off the sickening smell, but it didn’t help. In case of the worst scenario, she made sure not to touch anything for fear of contaminating possible evidence. She turned on the overhead light in the living room.
Joshua turned on the foyer light.
As soon as light flooded the foyer he saw it.
It was a hand sticking out from under a mountain of yellowed newspapers. The flesh on the appendage was bloated and cracked.
Albert Gordon’s body was in advance stages of decomposition.
Chapter Two
One Week Later
“You’re not the boss of me, Mildred Hildebrand.”
Upon arriving at Albert Gordon’s home, Doris Sullivan wasted no time in announcing that she had come to help pack up the dearly departed man’s belongings; but wasn’t taking orders from anyone. With that said, she clutched her oversized handbag under her arm and scurried down to the cellar to begin working from the ground up.
Having no children, Albert had left his entire estate to the church. Totaling over a quarter of a million dollars, his sizable bank accounts would prove to be a big financial relief for the church.
His farm proved to not be such a blessing.
It was only upon his death that Albert Gordon’s family and friends discovered the depth of the wound inflicted by his wife’s passing. They could only conclude that between grief and depression, or possibly his inability to care for his home; Albert had let things get out of hand. Every building on the Gordon property was packed with junk, which had ended up killing the elderly man.
Autopsy and forensics investigation revealed that Albert had suffered a stroke from which he could have survived. However, when he had collapsed on the stairs in his home, the newspapers that the lined the stairway fell on top of him to smother him to death.
Doris Sullivan immediately offered to buy the farmland and house—lock-stock-and-barrel. Even after Joshua and his cousin Tad had given her a tour of the farmhouse to show her the extent of her neighbor’s hoarding, she insisted on wanting the property as-is to combine with her Sullivan Stables.
That seemed like a dream come true to Joshua, the executor of the estate. Unloading a hoarder property at the asking price is unheard of in real estate.
Unfortunately, Tad MacMillan would have none of it. He refused to let Joshua accept any offer until every building on Albert’s farm was cleaned out and any possible family memorabilia confiscated.
Simply thinking about it gave Joshua a headache.
In an effort to save as much money in the estate as possible, the church ladies got together and volunteered to clean out Albert’s house so that it could be sold.
Joshua suspected Mildred didn’t want to help as much as she was anxious to stick her nose into Albert’s business and go through his stuff. To keep a leash on her, Joshua dragged Donny out of bed to go help out.
Cameron jumped out of bed after a late night staking out the apartment of a murder suspect’s girlfriend. Usually, she would be barely functional after only four hours sleep, but her persistence had proven successful. The detective had managed to nab her man when he tried to give the cops the slip by sneaking into the apartment through the fire escape at two o’clock in the morning.
With the thrill of victory coursing through her veins, Cameron arrived at the farm to join Joshua, Donny, Tad, and Jan in hauling furniture out of the house to be carted off either to an estate dealer who had agreed to take it or to the dump.
Wanting to ensure there was no misunderstanding about who was in charge, Mildred Hildebrand was at Albert’s home at the crack of dawn. Dressed in a khaki pant suit accented with sparkling beads in a floral pattern, she stood out as the manager of the cleanup operation. Upon each volunteer’s arrival, she greeted them with a clipboard clutched to her chest to assign their duties.
After Doris rebuffed Mildred’s orders, Joshua went into the kitchen for another dose of coffee where he found Irving perched on the kitchen counter. The cat’s long tail twitched while he glared at the basement doorway through which the renegade volunteer had just stormed to go downstairs.
“I’m glad to see that you’ve found someone else to glare at.” Joshua scratched the top of the skunk cat’s head. Irving shook his head and batted at his ear as if to erase Joshua’s touch before returning his attention toward the basement doorway.
“There must be mice downstairs,” Cameron said while holding open a garbage bag for Jan MacMillan to toss old cans and boxes from the cupboard.
A low growl built up from deep in Irving’s throat. His tail continued twitching.
“Go get ‘em, if you smell mice,” Joshua told him.
Irving skimmed the edge of the kitchen counter, which was the only space clear of cans and boxes emptied from the cupboard. Once he reached where his mistress was holding the garbage bag, he sat down and twitched his tail while staring at Cameron.
“I’m surprised to see Ms. Sullivan here,” Jan said.
“She and A
lbert have been neighbors almost their whole lives,” Joshua said. “He had let her horses graze in his fields all these years, and she’s offering to buy the farm. The sooner this place is cleaned out, the sooner we can close the deal.”
Cameron asked, “What’s she going to do with the house?”
“Renovate it and then rent it out,” Joshua said. “Maybe even sell it. The main thing she wants is the land to expand her horse farm.”
“My point is that I’ve never seen Doris volunteer for anything like this,” Jan said. “I guess you’re right. She does have an interest in getting this place cleaned out so that she can buy it.” She patted her bulging tummy. “Hormones are making me suspicious.”
The bag full, Cameron tied it shut and passed it to Joshua to drag outside. When he didn’t move to take the bag in response to her silent order, she flashed him a seductive grin. A slow grin crossed his face before he took the bag.
After she was alone with Jan, Cameron whispered, “Man, Mrs. Hildebrand sure is bossy.”
“If she tells me that I’ve got a glow about me one more time, I’m going to tape her mouth shut.” When she saw Cameron looking at her, she apologized, “Sorry, hormones make me cranky, too.”
“I have duct tape in the trunk of my car. I’ll let you have the whole roll. It’s right next to my bullet-proof vest.”
“You carry duct tape in your trunk?” Jan asked.
“You never know when you’re going to need to restrain someone.”
A high-pitched scream erupted from behind them. Cameron grabbed for her gun only to remember she wasn’t wearing it on her belt.
“Skunk!” Dropping a cooler to the floor, a man blocked the screaming woman with his body while pointing at the cat on the counter.
Irving jumped down from the counter and ran from the kitchen while the screaming couple looked for cover.
“That’s not a skunk. That’s a cat,” Cameron yelled over the hysteria. “You two need to grow some guts.”
“Cat?” the woman replied. “Are you sure? I ain’t never seen a cat that looked like that before. He’s so big.”
When the woman stepped out from behind her protector, Cameron saw that she was a middle-aged voluptuous blonde. Twenty or so years ago, she had probably been a bombshell. With the passage of time and refusal to age gracefully, she had morphed from beauty to sideshow attraction. Her hair was twice as big as her head, and her red sweater had a plunging neckline to reveal sagging breasts. Brightly colored rouge and lipstick, thick mascara, and eye liner and shadow gave her a ghoulish appearance.
Does this woman own a mirror?
“Someone should put a sign on that thing,” the man old enough to be her father said.
Mildred’s daughter, Gail came into the kitchen and pointed at the cooler. “Dad, will you stop fooling around, and put that over in the corner out of the way before someone trips over it?”
A softer version of her mother, except with her father’s reddish-blond hair, Gail was a soft spoken, but assured woman who earned, instead of demanded, the respect of those around her.
“Be careful of your back, sweetie.” The blonde waved a hand tipped with long fingernails that matched her sweater. “You know how sensitive your back is.”
Her hands on her hips, Gail rolled her eyes in Jan and Cameron’s direction. Her disgust made it difficult to believe Ralph was her own father.
The blonde giggled while asking him, “I am getting paid for working today, aren’t I, Ralphie?”
Gail whirled around on her heels to hear his answer.
“Why, of course, Peggy,” Ralph answered. “I wouldn’t call you in to work without paying you.”
Sparks shot out of Gail’s eyes. “This is a charitable operation. No one is getting paid. We’re doing it to help get the house ready for sale.”
Looking Gail up and down, Peggy’s lips curled with arrogance. “I don’t remember volunteering for anything.”
“You didn’t have to come if you didn’t want to,” Gail said. “If you want to spend your day off in bed, then go ahead. I’m sure Dad will be more than happy to keep you company.”
“Actually, my darling daughter, we have a lot of work to do down at the office. So we’re not going to be able to help today.” Ralph looked at the group gathered in the kitchen. “You seem to have enough workers here already. Come along, Peggy. Let’s get to work on those claims.”
“See you.” Like a devoted puppy, the blonde followed Ralph out the side door. “Are you sure that’s not a skunk?” she asked Donny who was coming in on their way out.
“Why don’t you scare him and see what happens?” he called back to them.
Peggy’s laughter was heard all the way from the driveway into the kitchen.
Gail squinted at their departure.
“Hey, Ms. Hildebrand, where’s your mom?” Donny asked.
Pain crept into her tone, when she replied, “I hope she’s not around to see them.”
Through the door, Donny watched Ralph and Peggy driving off. “I’m sorry. Tad wants to know what she wants to do with some of the old furniture up in the bedroom.”
“I’ll go find her to ask.” Gail hurried off up the stairs.
“What are you doing up on that ladder?” Donny asked Jan. “If Tad saw you up there he’d have a cow.”
“Hey, you’re not getting a fight from me.” Jan stepped down, and Donny grabbed the ladder to climb up to take over emptying the cupboards.
“Anybody hungry?” The cheerful call broke the overworked mood in the kitchen.
The new arrival to volunteer her services wore her ebony hair in a single braid that fell past her shoulders. The top of her head was adorned in a knitted purple cap that matched the scarf she wore loosely around her neck to hang down to her slender waist. The purple in her cap and scarf matched the stripes in her sweater, which accentuated her plump breasts.
Brianne Davenport flashed everyone a toothy grin.
Time had been kind to Brianne Davenport. It took a second look to see the subtle crows-feet and laugh lines that had crept in over the years to adorn her eyes and mouth. Even in her early fifties, she still had a figure that made young men’s mouth’s drop and salivate.
Donny stopped in mid-step on the ladder to gaze at the vision.
“I booked a caterer for the whole day.” Seeing the handsome young man, Brianne’s voice dropped to a sultry tone. “His truck is in the driveway. He’s got food for everyone. Don’t worry about paying for it. It’s my treat.”
“Hey! He’s got chili!” someone called from the other room. A stampede of hungry volunteers rushed outside.
“Skunk!” some of the volunteers were heard to scream.
“Cat!” came the reply from those in the know.
“We’ve only been working for four hours!” Mildred was heard to call after them.
Tad stuck his head in the door. “They have hot chili and sandwiches for anyone who wants them.”
Jan followed her husband out the door. “Thanks, Brianne. I really am hungry. Come on, Cameron. Let’s get some lunch. It’ll feel really good to sit down.” She rubbed her pregnant stomach. “I think even the baby is tired.”
“Come along, Donny.” Cameron touched his arm to break the stare.
“I’ll be right there.”
Disliking the look in the woman’s eye, Cameron didn’t move. “You look hungry.” She was more displeased by his lack of response while looking the older woman up and down. “I’m Detective Cameron Gates.” She wished she had a police shield to flash. “Pennsylvania State Police. I’m afraid I didn’t catch your name.”
“Brianne Davenport.” She took the detective’s hand. “I own the winery across the road. Albert and my father used to go fishing together.” She cast another smile at the tall young man whose path Cameron was blocking. “Is this your son?”
“Friend,” she replied.
“Donny Thornton.” He shot his arm over her shoulder to offer Brianne his hand.
; “He’s sixteen,” Cameron announced in a sharp tone.
“My,” Brianne gushed. “You’re awfully big for your age.”
Cameron could feel the heat from his blush against her neck.
Brushing a lock of hair out of her eyes, Brianne stepped in closer. “Do you have your driver’s license, Donny?” Upon learning that he did, she said, “I collect antique sports cars. I have seven in my garage across the road, including a Ferrari. I’ve been told that it’s the only one in the area. Would you like to see it? I may even let you take it for a spin.”
While Donny chuckled behind her, Cameron stepped in closer to tell her in a low voice. “I have a forty-five caliber Colt semi-automatic in my car. Would you like to see that? I may even let you ride in the back of my police cruiser on the way to the station after arresting you for attempted statutory rape—unless you walk away now.”
The two women’s eyes locked.
The predatory grin dropped from Brianne’s face. “Touchy.” She stepped back. Flashing a seductive grin at Donny, she tossed her pig tail over the back of her shoulder. “If you ever want to go for a spin, Donny Thornton, come on by. I’d be glad to let you go for a ride.”
“That would be great.” He stepped forward to follow her out only to find Cameron’s arm blocking him like a gate. “What’s wrong with you?”
“You stay away from her.” With each word, she made her point by jabbing him in his muscular chest with her index finger.
“Why?”
“She’s bad news.”
“You don’t even know her or anything about her,” he replied. “What makes you think she’s bad news?”
“I can tell.”
“I think you’re jealous because she’s rich and gorgeous.”
“More like I’m suspicious because she’s hitting on a teenager young enough to be her son.”
Donny’s eyes grew wide. “Really? She was hitting on me? Do you really think—”
“Whoa, cowboy!” Cameron grabbed the front of his shirt and yanked to force him to bend over so that she could tell him face-to-face. “You better lasso in those hormones right now. If I catch you anywhere near that cougar—”