Murder on the Great lake

by Sandi Scott

  “Uhm, yes, that’s Bodhi. He’s a pug.”

  “Oh my gosh. He’s so ugly.”

  Kick him out! Georgie squared her shoulders. It never bothered her if anyone made fun of her clothes or the kind of car she drove. But the pug was off limits. These were fighting words.

  “Do you want to see the leak in the roof?”

  “Sure. Lead the way.” Justin chuckled.

  Georgie took Justin to the kitchen and showed him the damage that had leaked through.

  “Looks like you have a leak.” Justin observed. At first, Georgie thought he was just being sarcastic but when she looked at him she saw by his expression, his eyes were narrow and he appeared to be studying the brown stain, he was serious.

  “Right.” Georgie nodded. “Follow me and I’ll show you the leak in the attic.”

  Justin nodded. It was as if he were suddenly trying to be much more professional and serious like he was worried his dad might be watching with binoculars from across the street.

  Having changed the light bulb up in the attic Georgie didn’t have to use her kaleidoscope wand to illuminate everything.

  “I’m sorry I had to move some of my portraits, so please watch your step. I tried to clear a wide enough path for you to have room to do what you need to do.”

  “Did you paint these?” Justin asked, bending over to get a closer look at one of Georgie’s paintings of Freckles.

  “I did.” Georgie replied proudly.

  “Do you sell them?”

  “Sometimes. Sometimes I paint them as gifts. Usually, someone wants a painting of their pet for themselves and they’ll pay me or we’ll make a trade.”

  “A trade?” Justin’s eyes lit up. “Would you paint one of these for me? I have a cat. His name is Dog.”

  Georgie stared in amazement. This man was a representative of a younger generation and it wasn’t looking good.

  “I’m sure we could work something out, Justin. I’d actually like to know what my roof is going to cost me first.” Georgie smiled sweetly.

  “I’m sorry. You’re right.” It wasn’t hard for Justin to find the hole in the roof. It was about the size of a softball but the surrounding material was soggy and would also need to be replaced making the hole more like the size of a basketball. “I can fix this. I’ve got enough materials in my car that I can put a band-aide on this right now if you like. But I’d like to inspect the rest of the roof to see what else needs to be done, if anything.”

  “Well, that sounds fine. I am supposed to meet my sister and we have an engagement. How long will this take?”

  “To patch this will probably take me about two hours plus taking an inventory of the condition of the rest of the roof. I’d probably say I’ll need about three hours.”

  Georgie nodded.

  “I’m going to go meet my sister.” She scooped Bodhi up in her arms. “I’ll be back before you go. You have my number. Call me if you get finished sooner and I’ll get back right away.”

  “Sounds good, Mrs. Kaye.” Justin smiled. “I’ll get my materials out of my car and get started.”

  As Georgie carried Bodhi across the gangway and let herself into Aleta’s house she could hear Justin rummaging through the trunk of his Mustang and pulling out quite a few odd-looking tools. Georgie shrugged and shut the door behind her.

  “I assume it was Justin?” Aleta smiled.

  “It was Justin, Jr. Not the guy who did work for you.”

  “Oh dear.” Aleta read Georgie’s mind. “Do you think he knows what to do?”

  “He seems to know more than me.” Georgie set Bodhi down and watched as he trotted to the couch, hopped up and looked out as if supervising Justin from the window.

  “Well, do you still want to go?”

  “Yes, I need to get my blood pumping and oxygen to my brain in order to know exactly how to handle Mr. Justin Holland, Jr. He asked if I’d paint a picture of his cat. He named his cat Dog.”

  Aleta stopped as she was picking up her purse and looked at her sister.

  “Are you kidding?”

  Georgie shook her head slowly back and forth.

  Aleta tried but couldn’t hold back the giggles that came out. They spread to Georgie as quickly as if Aleta had yawned.

  “Come on, Aleta. Let’s get to Wicker Park so I can get my exercise and come back to see a patched roof.”

  The ladies climbed into Aleta’s Mercedes and were out of sight by the time Justin went back into the house.

  Chapter 7

  “So, do you know how many people will be taking this class?” Georgie asked.

  “Not a clue. I’m hoping it will be a small group, though.” Aleta adjusted her t-shirt and smoothed out the stylish black sweatpants she was wearing. “I see you pulled out all the stops and are wearing your most conservative sweat suit.”

  “What’s wrong with my sweat suit?” Georgie tugged at her jacket.

  “Nothing. I think leopard printed Converse All-Stars and gray and silver sweats are awesome. You look like you really mean business. No pain. No gain.”

  “Funny.” Georgie shrugged. “Considering that florescent hot pink and orange are the colors of choice with this crowd, you are out of line criticizing my All-Stars.”

  Aleta laughed. They made their way to the southwestern part of Wicker Park where Aleta had been told the training session would take place. They quickly spotted a huge white banner with the words FitTrix in fluorescent orange and black letters.

  “Okay, that looks like the place.” Aleta muttered. “But it doesn’t look like any kind of work-out session is about to take place. It looks more like they are prepared for a lecture or something.”

  “Wasn’t FitTrix selling supplements on the cruise?” Georgie asked, “I bet you got the cards mixed up, are you sure you called Deck’s gym?”

  “Of course I did,” Aleta huffed indignantly, “that’s the kind of mistake you would make, not me! Mind you,” she paused thoughtfully, “I was on hold for a long time and I had to explain what I wanted again to the person who finally picked up the phone, maybe my inquiry got sent to the wrong department.”

  There were two long banquet tables stacked with small boxes. Folding chairs were set up in front of it in four rows of six chairs. There was a man pacing back and forth talking into a cell phone and a woman holding a clipboard who was studying the materials spread out on the tables.

  “Hi.” Aleta interrupted the woman who smiled distractedly.

  “Hello.” She snapped. “Are you here for the seminar?”

  “No. I’m here for a free session with the trainer from Fit Family Gym. Is that taking place here or is it at a different location?” Aleta asked sternly.

  “Oh, there isn’t a free training session scheduled for today.” The woman tilted her head to the side, exaggerating her frown. “This is a seminar about FitTrix Supplements. Jake and I encourage people to start the supplements before they join us in our exercise routines. If you’ll have a seat we’ll explain everything.”

  “No.” Aleta shook her head. Georgie stepped in quickly.

  “We really had been looking forward to breaking a sweat. But, if we could talk to Jake, maybe we could make other arrangements for a work-out session.”

  The young woman looked annoyed but turned to the man on the cell phone and waved him over.

  The man tapped off his phone and came marching over.

  “Hey, Tracy.” He said quickly, his eyes darting back and forth between the three women. “What’s up?”

  “Jake, these ladies are here for the workout session.”

  “Oh, we don’t do the workout session today. This is just a seminar for our supplements that...”

  “Yeah. Well, we got your business card at the cruise the other night and would really like a little bit more information on that.” Georgie blinked innocently. “I’m actually pretty serious about making a change and if you guys suggest some kind of additional things to help us get healthy, well, we’re all ears.”
>
  “That’s good to know, ladies.” The man Tracy had called Jake, nodded his head. He was very muscular but Georgie found herself unable to look at his eyes even though they bulged from their sockets. She kept focusing on the vein that pulsed along his temple and down his neck. It was like a pale blue expressway on a map.

  “So, we have our monthly vitamin supplement that includes magnesium citrate, biocell collagen, glucosamine, chondroitin plus half a dozen antioxidants and 200% vitamin D3.”

  “That sounds good.” Georgie said with wide eyes.

  “Those are $150 for two months.”

  “Sounds reasonable.” Georgie elbowed Aleta, nodding her head vigorously.

  “If you match this with a membership to one of our FitTrix gyms you’ll get a discount for a total of $224.99 for both the pills and the membership.”

  “Now that’s a deal.” Georgie flexed her biceps. “What do you think, Aleta?”

  “Yeah. Sounds great.” She looked at her watch.

  “Aleta is in a hurry to lose a few pounds. High school reunion is coming up and Cecil Lamb, her old flame, will be there. He’s a widower. Totally available.”

  “Oh, how sweet.” Tracy tilted her head and clutched her clip board closer to her chest.

  “It’s really sweet.” Georgie continued. “He had a very tragic accident on his farm. He lost part of his foot and an eye. But I know when he sees Aleta with his one good eye, after she loses a couple pounds, of course, I’m sure it will be like senior prom all over again.”

  “They don’t need to hear all about my reasons for getting in shape, Georgie.” Aleta interrupted.

  “That’s right.” Jake interrupted and was clearly not as interested as Tracy in Aleta’s possible love life. “We also have some special packages for people, like yourself, who want to lose a lot of weight quickly.”

  “I think I’ll just stick to no carbs and walking around the block.” Aleta insisted.

  “Well, every little bit helps.” Tracy encouraged. “If you change your mind here’s our business card.” She seemed just as happy to see the Kaye sisters leave as she was to see them arrive.

  Aleta took the business card. They thanked Jake and Tracy for their time and started to walk away from the long table and folding chairs. As they made their way across the grass they saw two huge men, obviously bodybuilders, approaching.

  Jake reached out his hand and called the men by name before leading them away from the table displays and chairs to talk privately.

  “What a weird group.” Georgie huffed.

  “I can’t believe this. All I want to do is move around a little more and it seems like there are so many roadblocks. The granola didn’t work out. That fiasco was a big waste of time. Not to mention...was it just me, or did you get the impression whatever they were selling wasn’t necessarily on the up-and-up?” Aleta said, linking her arm through her sister’s. “And Cecil Lamb? One-eyed, club footed Cecil Lamb, huh?”

  “No. I thought they seemed shady, too.” Georgie agreed adding, “It wasn’t a club foot. He lost part of it in a freak farm accident.”

  “I should know this since I’m in love with him.”

  “Yes, you should.” Georgie teased. “How about coffee? I doubt Junior is finished with my roof. I’ve got time.”

  “You buying?”

  “Yeah since you’ll be broke buying that fancy, new-fangled vitamin plan in order to get in shape for Cecil.”

  THE PERK-ME-UP WAS a quaint coffeehouse in the Wicker Park neighborhood on the bustling corner of North Avenue and Milwaukee Avenue.

  It had the usual mismatched sofas and loveseats, second-hand coffee tables and table lamps and the music was a mellow mix of smooth techno music. The coffee cups were as random and mismatched as the furniture and Georgie chuckled at hers that read Buy Me a Beer. Aleta’s was decorated in red and green Christmas plaid.

  “Remember the not-so-hard-to-get lady at the cruise?” Georgie offered. Aleta nodded as she looked over the dessert menu. “What was the name on the back of the shirt she was wearing? It was some kind of fitness equipment.”

  “AdonisTech Fitness Equipment.” Aleta replied without looking up.

  “I have one of my genius ideas.” Georgie offered. “After we eat our kolaches—I see they have peach ones and you know those are my favorite—you call that Adonis-what’s-its-face and see what they would recommend in a home gym. Nothing too big and bulky. Just a one-woman workout room.”

  “That’s actually a pretty good idea. We could also see what she has to say about the cruise. She was there. She practically threw a lasso around Deck to get his attention.” Aleta remembered.

  As their jelly-topped pastries were delivered to the table along with two refills of hot coffee Aleta wrapped up her phone conversation with the not-so-hard-to-get lady.

  “She was actually quite pleasant.” Aleta replied with surprise. “She invited us to the showroom tomorrow.”

  “I’m going, too?” Georgie wrinkled her nose. “I didn’t realize I was going too. I wasn’t informed that this was a field trip and everyone had to go.”

  “Of course you have to go. You’re going to be using whatever exercise equipment I pick out so it should be something we can both manage. I mean you are the short one of us two.” Aleta scolded.

  “I am only one and three quarters inches shorter than you.”

  “Just say two inches. You sound like a first grader.” Aleta teased. “I’m five feet one and three quarters.” She batted her eyes and wrinkled her nose.

  Georgie laughed and looked at her watch.

  “I wonder if Einstein is finished with my roof?” She grumbled as she took a sip of coffee.

  “Now, that isn’t nice. He probably has that hole all smoothed over and is right now checking for any weak spots and ready to tell you the roof is still in good condition.”

  “I hope you are right.”

  As Aleta pulled into her driveway they both saw Justin leaning against the back of his car talking on the phone. When he realized it was Georgie in the passenger seat he quickly hung up and walked over to the front door to wait for her.

  Georgie climbed out and waved.

  “I’m going to leave Bodhi with you.” She muttered to Aleta. “He called him ugly.”

  “What?” Aleta snapped her head in Justin’s direction and furrowed her eyebrows. “I don’t know, Georgie. You might be right. This might be a mistake.”

  Although Aleta was a cat person she couldn’t help but be as mesmerized as Georgie when it came to Bodhi. The flat face and constant snoring stole her heart too and she completely understood how Georgie could ignore a person who said negative things about the small but loyal companion.

  “We’ll know soon enough.”

  Georgie crossed the grass and Aleta could hear her ask how did it go? Judging by the way the young man’s shoulders slumped she assumed not well.

  “I ran into a few problems along the way.” Justin mumbled.

  “Problems? Like what?”

  “Well, first, let me tell you that the door leading up to your attic was squeaky and not correctly on the hinges so I fixed that for you.”

  “What?”

  “And the window to your attic was stuck too. It would only go up about six inches. I needed it to clear one foot so I managed to fix that as well.”

  “Wait a minute. I didn’t ask you go to take on a bunch of side projects I asked you to fix the hole in my roof.”

  “Yeah, well, that didn’t get done. In fact, as I inspected the roof from the inside I realized that I didn’t have the right tools with me. I’ll have to come back tomorrow with my truck.

  “Maybe I’ll just call a professional to come and fix this.” Georgie said as she stepped into her house.

  “Really, Mrs. Kaye. I can get it done. It will just take me another day. That’s all. I’ll finish up for today and then...”

  “You’re not done? What were you doing on the phone when I pulled up if you weren’t finished?”
Georgie pointed to his car in the driveway.

  “I had to make a phone call.” He muttered like a student being questioned by his principal. “To my dad. I had a couple of questions.”

  Georgie stared at the man. He was obviously embarrassed that he had to call for help but she didn’t care. This was her roof. If he couldn’t do it he should have just said so.

  “I think I should take a look at what you’ve done so far.” Georgie pulled open her front door and Justin followed behind her.

  Once up in the attic she saw the basketball sized hole was more like the size of a manhole cover and the gray clouds overhead peeked in at her as if to say “We’ll have a little surprise for you come tonight when the forecast calls for rain.

  “Oh, my.” She put her hand to her face.

  “I’ve got a tarp so I’ll put that over this for tonight. That can actually hold for several days.” Justin said with confidence.

  “Yes, please cover it with a tarp. Maybe even bring your father tomorrow when you come to finish the whole thing.” Georgie folded her arms in front of her.

  “I’M SO SORRY, GEORGIE.” Aleta said when Georgie came by later in the evening to pick up Bodhi. “I would have never suggested Justin Jr. if I knew. Why don’t you forget your troubles and stay here with me tonight. I think there is a Burt Lancaster movie on Turner Classics. We can have some zucchini boat pizzas with fresh fruit and chocolate dipping sauce for dessert.”

  “That actually sounds good.” Georgie huffed. “I’m not paying that kid for the squeaky door and the window. Is he kidding?”

  “I just don’t understand it.” Aleta poured her sister hot water for her tea.

  “He said he was on the phone with his father when we pulled up. Do you believe that?”

  “About as far as I can throw him.” Aleta replied. “But, then again, I don’t really trust anyone. I’m the more paranoid of us two.”

  “You know what? It’s my kids fault.” Georgie pronounced.

  “What? How can you say that?” Aleta chuckled. “Jonathan moved for work and he’s doing well. Andrew is carving out his own niche in the art world. You have to be proud of that. Catherine takes after her mama raising that beautiful baby. There are Kayes scattered all over the country. That’s a good thing.”