Goodbye Dolly dtdf-2

by Deb Baker

  "I didn't know anything about an estate sale," Gretchen said.

  "We auctioned off the household goods, furniture, dishes, appliances, that sort of thing. Brett caught the little weasel inside the house going through some of Chiggy's personal things and escorted him off the property. If he'da showed up Thursday, I really would have tied him up and left him to squeal." Howie stopped to take a drink from the bottle of beer in his hand. "Ronny Beam had a snake tongue that a rattler would have been jealous of."

  "I'm sorry to hear about Brett," Matt said. "Tough break. He seemed like a nice guy."

  "The best," Howie agreed.

  "Any evidence of foul play?" Gretchen threw it out there to see what developed.

  "Foul play?" Howie said. "Whatever gave you an idea like that?"

  Both men stared at her.

  Gretchen concentrated on running her finger around the rim of the wineglass. "Speculating, is all."

  "Do you really think that little lady driver planned to run over Brett?" Howie said. "I've known him for years, all the ins and outs of his life, all the people he knew, and I never saw her before the accident."

  "Maybe someone pushed him," Gretchen suggested. She wanted to mention the blue truck to gauge Howie's reaction but decided against it. Howie tipped the brim of his Stetson hat. "No disrespect intended, but they grow large imaginations in your family. I know your mother, and you're the spittin' image."

  Gretchen chose to take that as a compliment. She noted that Matt watched her closely, amusement playing on his lips.

  "Detective Albright," Gretchen said, "what do you think?"

  "I'm glad you asked. I want to know how someone who talks as slow and relaxed as Howie Howard can become an auctioneer."

  Howie chuckled. "You have to learn to chant in rhythm and practice tongue twisters. Here's one for you. A skunk sat on a stump and thunk the stump stunk, but the stump thunk the skunk stunk. Go ahead and try it."

  Gretchen knew that Matt had intentionally redirected the conversation, and she appreciated his consideration. But what kind of detective would rather thunk skunks than solve crimes? She gave Matt a withering glance, which he didn't notice, and walked away.

  She smiled with satisfaction when she realized that something really important had occurred: she had connected the two dead men. On Wednesday, one day before Brett died and two days before Ronny was killed, they had been together in Chiggy Kent's house.

  "That was quite a bombshell you dropped on Howie," Matt said to her when their paths crossed shortly after in the kitchen. "He's grieving for Brett and doesn't need that kind of speculation right now."

  "You changed the subject to protect Howie's feelings?"

  "Least I could do."

  "I have information that Brett was pushed in front of that car," Gretchen said.

  "Tell me about your source. According to the responding officer's report, not a single eyewitness came forward. Everyone's attention was riveted on the auction."

  Gretchen felt her face flush and tried to stop it from deepening. "I'd rather not."

  "Are you withholding important information in an ongoing investigation?"

  "Ongoing? Did you say ongoing?"

  "Police business. My mouth is sealed. Now tell me who your source is."

  "I promised I wouldn't tell."

  Matt rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "Oh, please. How about if I promise not to tell anyone else? Would that help?"

  "Only if you cross your heart."

  "You believe that Brett was a murder victim." He folded his arms across his chest. "Here's your chance to prove it."

  "Even though you're going to laugh, somehow I'm involved in all this," she said. "I didn't imagine the scorpion at the doll show, and I didn't imagine the black Jetta. They were real."

  "What black Jetta?"

  "The one that's been following me. The first time it pulled up next to my car and a woman threatened me. She said I would pay."

  "Did you get a good look at her?"

  Gretchen shook her head. "It was dark, and she had privacy windows."

  "You said 'the first time.' What happened the second time?"

  "The same car followed me tonight."

  "Are you sure?"

  "Pretty sure."

  For a moment Matt looked thoughtful. Then his professional mask descended, and he gave her an inscrutable look. "Tell me the rest."

  So she tried. She told him what Daisy and Nacho had told her. About the man who shoved Brett into the street's traffic, about the blue truck, and about Howie leaving the auction in a blue truck.

  "You know how rumors start and spread," Matt said.

  "Still…" He looked thoughtful. "I need the name of the witness who allegedly saw Brett being pushed."

  "I don't exactly have a name."

  "What do you have exactly?"

  "A description."

  "Okay, let's start with that."

  "The man who saw Brett pushed into the street was sitting on the curb."

  "What was he doing on the curb?"

  Gretchen paused. "You aren't going to think he's credible."

  "Try me."

  "He's homeless."

  Matt smacked his head with an open palm. "Jeez, Gretchen, that isn't what I wanted to hear. You know indigents are the worst possible witnesses? First of all, he probably won't even talk to a cop. If he does talk to me, he'll change his story. And a jury… well, I'm sorry if you don't want to hear this, but they won't believe him. Next I suppose you're going to tell me he was drunk. Gretchen, wait, where are you going?"

  Gretchen marched off and joined a group of collectors standing by the makeshift bar. She saw several women encircle the handsome detective as he tried to follow her. Matt Albright was infuriating. Bullheaded, selfabsorbed, cynical, narrow-minded. She had almost shared the cryptic Kewpie doll messages with him. Imagine his response if he'd heard about

  "Wag, the Dog."

  From now on, she'd manage just fine without his help.

  22

  Daisy pushes her shopping cart filled with all her earthly possessions and turns toward the viaduct where Nacho usually sleeps. It's dark now, and so she hurries. Another fruitless day on the hot streets waiting for a talent scout to pick her out of the crowd. Even her new getup, purple flowered sundress and feathered wide-brimmed red hat, like those Red Hat Society ladies wear, hasn't attracted any Hollywood-style attention.

  And the cart! She doesn't need any more weight to push around, what with her back about to break, but tell that to a man. Work, work, work, while they sit around drinking cheap whiskey and telling outrageous lies to each other, leaving her alone to guard the treasures in her cart.

  She struggles along, the beams of light from the overhead streetlights casting a false sense of safety. But she isn't fooled. More than ever before, she needs Nacho's protection through the long, moonless night ahead. Poor Albert Thoreau had been beaten up pretty badly, she's heard. Both eyes swollen and punched black, nose flat and repositioned to the left of center, lips puffed, he laid motionless in the alleyway surrounded by fellow outcasts. Only the sound of irregular and ragged breathing proved that he had not departed for hobo heaven.

  "Lucky he isn't dead," they say.

  And if he has told, she will be next.

  Has he?

  "Cops! Don't trust them," someone in the group had said, disgust apparent in the wad of spit aimed at the ground. "Here's your proof. What did Thoreau ever do to anybody?"

  Daisy has her suspicions about Thoreau's current condition. She hasn't lasted this long on the wild streets of Phoenix without her innate sense of imminent danger. The darkness of the viaduct's underbelly looms before her. Cars roar overhead even at this late hour. The shopping cart's wheels squeal as they jerk forward, and Daisy makes a mental note to find a little oil tomorrow and lubricate them.

  She squints into the gloom as a form materializes from behind one of the viaduct's steel girders, striding toward her, arms swinging lazily, an unlit flashli
ght clutched in a muscular hand.

  "Good evening," Daisy says, fighting the fear. "What brings you all the way down here?"

  23

  Gretchen rose before dawn, fed Nimrod and Wobbles, donned hiking attire, and headed briskly toward Camelback Mountain. Early morning was the only time of day to climb the mountain in relative peace.

  Gretchen prided herself on her ability to tackle the most strenuous trails, so she struck out boldly for the extreme tip of Summit Trail. A quarter mile in, she passed a steep northeast-facing cliff and spotted creosote and brittle bushes clinging to the side. Only a few flowers came into bloom in October, but she did see scattered desert lavenders and yellow blossoms on a sweet bush. A Harris antelope squirrel scurried across the trail, its tail long and bushy, a white stripe along its flank. It stopped at a safe distance and scolded Gretchen as she marched upward. Monday morning. Back to work for millions of Phoenix residents. Soon, downtown traffic would be in gridlock, and sidewalks would crowd with bustling workers clutching coffee cups and newspapers. Except for Brett and Ronny. Ronny had written his last inflammatory news article, and Brett had worked his final auction. What secret did they stumble upon?

  The groomed trail ended abruptly, and the only way up now was over rough rock. Gretchen dug into the red rocks with hands and feet, her mind on the two men. The place to start would be where their paths had converged. How did their deaths link to a murder in Boston? Percy O'Connor's unsolved murder must be connected in some way. She thought of the resplendent group of Kewpie doll collectors visiting from Boston. Helen Huntington and her son, Eric. Margaret Turner and Milt Wood.

  And Steve. Hapless pursuer of unrequited love? Or impulsive killer?

  Gretchen stopped abruptly as she was about to grab a handhold on a large rock ahead of her. She heard the ominous rattle before she saw the snake. A rattlesnake. She froze and eyed the tiny newborn, its single rattle threatening her from two feet away. Gretchen knew better than to underestimate it because of its small size.

  In autumn, rattlesnakes congregated in crevices. She had read about them when she first arrived in Phoenix, educating herself about all the poisonous critters in the American Southwest. Gila monsters, tarantulas, black widows, scorpions, and rattlers. She'd hoped never to encounter any of them. The snake must be migrating along scent trails left by its mother and would winter with hundreds of others coiled for warmth in snake dens.

  Find the nearest hospital within two hours if bitten, the literature read. She'd also read that most people were bitten because they tried to run away. She slowly pulled her hand back, shut her eyes, and willed herself to remain motionless.

  When she opened her eyes again, the snake had resumed its journey, slithering steadily through the rocks. Gretchen shivered, although the October dawn was already radiating increasing heat into the Valley of the Sun. Today the temperature was expected to again pass the one hundred degree mark.

  She stood tall and watched the snake vanish. What course would she choose now? To continue her trek, risking another encounter until she reached the apex, or retreat in fear and admit defeat?

  Yesterday, she might have scrambled back down the mountain, vowing to hug the more civilized paths in the future. Today, with Steve still in jail and herself inexplicably drawn into the bloody puzzle, she set her sights on the tip of the mountain and continued her ascent.

  She'd passed the point of no return.

  Gretchen headed for the Palm Tree Trailer Park with a fresh cup of coffee but no plan on how to break into Ronny's trailer. She brought her doll repair toolbox just in case she needed mechanical assistance, and she brought Nimrod for… what? Company? Certainly not for protection. She glanced in the passenger seat at the happy, bouncing puppy. She'd asked Wobbles to join them as they prepared to leave, but he'd answered with a loud, sharp-incisored meow and narrowed eyes, signs of an unequivocal no. Her increasing conversations with her pets was a sure sign she was losing her mind.

  What if Ronny's trailer didn't produce anything helpful? What if she was arrested for breaking and entering?

  She didn't even have bail money now that she'd lost three hundred bucks and the profits she would have made from the dolls.

  Once she decided to join the dark side, she did it up big. Breaking into Ronny's trailer today, withholding evidence in a murder investigation yesterday. She thought about the messages in the Kewpie dolls. Was that evidence? She didn't know yet.

  Matt Albright could eat bat guano for all she cared. The man popped into her mind when she least expected him to. Quit thinking about him. The very last thing she wanted to do was get involved with a married cop.

  She whizzed down Twenty-fourth Street, watching for unwelcome company in her rearview mirror. The encounter with the rattlesnake had frightened her. Live large, she thought. Life could end sooner than you think. The sign facing the street read The Palm Tree Mobile Home Community and announced several homes for sale in the "Exclusive Community That Draws a Rich Tapestry of Backgrounds."

  Whatever that meant.

  Gretchen pulled in, proud of herself for finding the address without having to ask for directions. She passed by several mobile homes and found the address she had looked up in the Phoenix telephone directory the night before. No private, unlisted number for a man who welcomed gossipy snitches and colorful fabricators into his singular life. She parked next to his carport and got out. "Nimrod, stay," she said. No sense incriminating both of them. Would a credit card inserted next to the door lock work?

  She'd seen that on television. She should have updated her sleuth skills to include the latest technological advances. Oh well, something from her doll repair kit would have to do. A man in a sleeveless undershirt opened the door of the mobile home next door. In the distant past, the undershirt had been white, although it had probably never quite fit him. An enormous potbelly spilled out from the bottom of it. "What you doin' over there?" he shouted.

  This wasn't the best time to flash her toolbox and master her lock-picking skills. Rule number one for future reference: attempt breakins only after dark.

  "You deaf or sometin?" His screen door slammed behind him. "I said, what you doing?"

  Rule number two. Learn to lie well.

  "I'm… uh… Ronny's girlfriend. I want to pick up some of my things."

  "Like what?" By now he'd shot off his one-step porch and aimed his belly toward her with the precision of a steamroller. His personal appearance didn't improve up close and personal. Were those his boxer shorts?

  "Uh… personal effects," she stammered. "I can come back later if this isn't a good time."

  He studied her openly with bloodshot eyes. "You know Ronny kicked the can?"

  Gretchen nodded and managed to tear up. "I heard."

  "Didn't know Ronny had a girlfriend. How about that. Keepin' you under wraps so the rest of us can't get a chance."

  He stroked his exposed midsection. "How about that?"

  Was it something in the trailer park's drinking water that produced the Neanderthal effect in its male residents?

  "I'll come back later." Gretchen stepped backward toward the Echo, keeping a sharp eye on him in case he tried to grab her hair and drag her off.

  He waved a hand. "No, no, help yourself. Nothing left to steal, I suspect. The cops woulda taken anything worth sometin'. You got a key?"

  Gretchen shook her head. "He never gave me one."

  The beady red eyes drilled into Gretchen's cleavage, then drifted up to meet her eyes. He grinned. "Must be your lucky day, cuz I got one." He held up a key chain brimming with keys. "I'm manager of this exclusive community."

  That worked well, Gretchen thought while he fiddled with the door.

  The hardest part of her charade was convincing him that she didn't need his help.

  "Take your time," he said, eventually giving up. "I'm sure you must be all broke up about losing your boyfriend. If you need a shoulder to cry on, I'm available."

  "You'll be the first one I think of
," Gretchen said. How lucky could she get? Meeting one of Phoenix's most eligible bachelors. The inside of Ronny's trailer smelled like a melange of dirty socks and rotting garbage. Considering that only forty-eight hours had elapsed since Ronny's death, Gretchen had to assume that the offensive odors weren't the consequence of his absence but native to his habitat.

  Feature articles from Phoenix Exposed had been ripped from the newspaper and taped on kitchen cabinets and the refrigerator, like displays of children's artwork. The infamous article denouncing Nina as the leader of the alien dog world hung from a cabinet door directly in front of Gretchen.

  She ripped it down, crumpled it into a ball, and tossed it into a heap of folded paper bags in the corner. Ronny could have opened his own grocery store with the number of bags he collected.

  The bathroom seemed the simplest place to start and the least likely to produce any worthwhile information. Hemorrhoid treatment, hair pomade, and a messy assortment of uncapped toothpastes and shampoo bottles.

  As Nina would say, "Zilch."

  Gretchen had started on the living room when her cell phone rang.

  "Hey," Nina said on the other end. "What's your plan for today?"

  Gretchen picked up a pile of porno magazines from a marred coffee table and dropped them on the floor in disgust. "You're up early."

  "I have coffee in my hand and the world at my fingertips. I wanted to catch you before you started working away in your little beehive. Want to have lunch and discuss today's plans?"

  "I don't know. I'm pretty busy right now," Gretchen said, looking at unidentifiable goo on Ronny's coffee table and wishing she'd brought latex gloves. Rule number three: wear gloves, for a variety of reasons. Gloves protect against the mismanagement of fingerprints as well as against diseases.

  "What are you doing today? Restringing all those dolls from the show?"

  "That, and a few other things."

  "Well, call me if you break free."

  Gretchen wished to break free all right, from this sorry excuse for human existence. The stench alone made her want to burst from the trailer and fill her lungs with fresh air. Instead, she methodically finished searching the living room and tiny kitchen.