Mystery on the Tramway

by Albert Simon

  “Charles is terrific, I really like him, but then I knew I would. Show me the rest of the house. And I want to see the garden as well, although maybe we can wait with that until later, I can see that I’m going to enjoy my stay here, your place is magnificent!”

  “Well I don’t have the views of the valley and the oak trees that you have, but I’m very comfortable here and I’m so glad that you like it as well.” Henry smiled; he felt that all his earlier work making the house look spectacular had paid off.

  “Come on back over to the kitchen I just made a fresh pot of coffee, I’ll pour you some.” Henry said.

  “Ok, give me a minute to freshen up and wash my hands and I’ll be right there.” Gloria put her arm around Henry’s waist. “I’m really happy to see you; I have so much to tell you.”

  “Join me in the kitchen when you’re done.” Henry smiled again as he walked back down the hallway.

  Charles was sitting at the kitchen counter as he walked in. “Henry, from everything you told me about her, I knew that she’s a wonderful woman and she really cares about you, but you didn’t tell me that she was absolutely stunningly beautiful.”

  “She’s pretty isn’t she?” Henry smiled again as he reached into the cabinet for two coffee cups. “Will you join us for coffee?”

  “Are you sure I’m not intruding? If I’m not, I’ll join you for coffee. She’s more than pretty Henry, she is a real woman and she looks a lot more like thirty-five than fifty-five. I can so see the two of you as a couple. I’m really happy for you Henry; I hope that the two of you have a wonderful week here.” Charles was genuinely pleased for his friend. He knew that Henry had a rough time after Irma died and even though he lived here with Henry and kept him company, he seemed lonely, and Charles thought his friend deserved to be happy.

  “Henry, you even have my favorite soap for me in the bathroom.” Gloria came back out; she had changed her polo shirt for a sleeveless blouse, and Henry was smitten.

  “Here’s your coffee, black as you like it. Let’s go sit in some more comfortable chairs.” Henry walked with the two cups into the living room and sat down on the couch. Gloria sat next to him while Charles poured himself a cup of coffee and sat in the recliner across from them.

  After an hour of talking and laughing and catching up, Charles excused himself and said he had some errands to run. Gloria asked if he was gong to join them for dinner and Charles agreed he would come back so that they could grill some chicken on the barbecue.

  Henry and Gloria spent the afternoon on the couch talking more than they had ever talked before on the phone or at Gloria’s house. Gloria listened patiently while Henry told her about the mystery of the killing on the tramway; she was intrigued and asked if they could go for a ride up the mountain while she was here. Henry agreed that it was a beautiful trip and perhaps they could go up in the tramway tomorrow on the holiday. He also told her that he wanted to show her Joshua Tree National Park during her visit. He had been fascinated by the desert park ever since he moved to Palm Springs from Wisconsin where they didn’t have anything remotely like it.

  They watched a movie on television and snuggled up on the couch with some popcorn in the late afternoon. The sun was starting to go behind the San Jacinto Mountains when they decided to get their dinner ready. Henry was seasoning the chicken and Gloria was chopping vegetables for a salad when Charles came home with a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies and a glass bottle of Altadena Dairy milk for dessert.

  Gloria went to her room and came back proudly carrying a bottle of Ironstone Winery Chardonnay that she had brought for Henry. Henry told Charles the story of the large winery in the small town in the gold country and the piece of gold that he had gone to see there. They ate outside on the patio, it was still warm but the afternoon breeze made it very comfortable.

  The three friends sat out there and had more wine and it was almost eleven when they finally headed off to bed. Charles went first while Henry gave Gloria a big hug in his garden oasis. He kissed her goodnight and watched her cross the yard and enter the guest room though the French doors. He was tired but happy when he fell into bed twenty minutes later.

  Chapter 7

  Despite going to bed late, Henry was awake at the usual time the next morning. The pool light was still on from last night and he jumped in after tossing his towel on the chaise lounge. His head was a little foggy from the wine last night and held his breath and went underwater to clear the cobwebs out. He adjusted his goggles, started his stopwatch and began swimming.

  He felt much calmer than in the past few days, knowing that Gloria was here and asleep in his guest room made him smile underwater. He truly cared for her and was happy that he felt this way. In fact, it was beyond caring, he thought he might even be in love with her, but he wasn’t sure. He certainly had not felt this way for a long, long time. Six months ago he thought he was going to be a single widower for the rest of his life; he couldn’t bear the thought of being with someone other than Irma.

  Then, the investigation into the real estate agent’s murder became a changing point in his life. He met someone that he’d also cared about, only to have her betray him. Then when he met Gloria he wasn’t expecting anything, even during that first hike at the little mountain lake he was only looking to be friends, but that had certainly changed. Now, even just thinking about her, made him feel a tingle. They did have something special; he thought she felt that as well, she had said so hadn’t she? He’d have to ask her how she felt about him to be sure.

  Gloria occupied so much of his time that he hadn’t thought about the tramway murder at all since her arrival. While they were sitting on the couch yesterday afternoon he told her the story and what had happened, but he hadn’t really done any thinking about the tramway since his swim yesterday morning.

  Gloria was interested in this mysterious puzzle, perhaps she could go with him to talk to Todd Gregory’s mother. A woman’s viewpoint would be good when talking to the mom; she might even tell Gloria things that she wouldn’t tell Henry. He’d have to tell Wayne that he was going to go see Mrs. Gregory after the holiday. Thinking about Wayne, he also had to tell him about Mario’s suggestion yesterday to check out the gun shows over at the County Fairgrounds. He could probably get a list of all the dealers that were there, tracking them down and asking them about a .38 would be a tedious process though.

  His watch started beeping; once again it hardly seemed like forty-five minutes since he started swimming, he pushed the button to shut it off. He turned over on his back, the sky was turning a light blue while he made a lazy swim to the other side of the pool using his backstroke dog paddle. He stood up, took off his goggles and laid them on the concrete. He wiped his eyes and blinked a few times and noticed someone in a big white robe sitting in the chair at the table.

  “Good morning Henry Wright.” Gloria said with a big smile.

  “Uh… good morning, you’re up early.” Henry said wiping the water from his eyes and focusing on Gloria who had a cup of coffee on the table next to her.

  “You told me that you swim but that’s quite an exercise regimen you have, do you do that every morning?”

  “Pretty much every morning, how long have you been sitting there?” Henry was standing against the wall of the pool suddenly very conscious of swimming laps without a swimsuit.

  “I have a hard time sleeping in a strange bed; I can never sleep well, especially the first night. I’ve been out here a little more than a half hour and I’ve enjoyed watching your entire swim while the sun came up.”

  “I know that we’re both grownups, but I didn’t expect you to be up this early and see me and I, I, feel a little embarrassed.” Henry said sheepishly.

  Gloria smiled the smile that lit up her entire face. “You have nothing to be embarrassed about. Your swimming has obviously paid off; you’re in great shape, you’re very fit and it seems like you’re not even out of breath.”

  “Thank you. Would you be so kind to give me my to
wel, I’d like to get out.” Henry asked.

  Gloria stood up to get his towel from the chaise lounge and as she did so, her robe fell open. Henry noticed that she was not wearing anything under it which stirred those same tingling feelings he had earlier. She held the towel out for him and waited for him to climb out of the pool. She wrapped the towel around his waist and waited for him to take it from her. He stood face to face with her; they were standing so close that Henry could feel the warmth of her bare skin. He started to speak, but she took her finger and pressed it to his lips to silence him.

  “You’re right Henry, we are both grownups.” Gloria smiled sweetly as she took his hand, turned around and led him to the French doors that went directly to his bedroom. She let go of his hand, closed the doors behind them and Henry’s heart skipped a beat as they dropped her robe and his towel on the ground and lay down on his bed. This felt so right to him that he allowed all his other thoughts to flee his mind and they enjoyed each other completely.

  Henry was showered, dressed and in the kitchen when Charles came walking in holding his head in his hands. “Oh, my head hurts, I’m not used to drinking that much wine anymore.”

  Henry chuckled while he was making a fresh pot of coffee. “Well it’s a good thing that you slept in then, I’ll have some coffee ready in a few minutes.”

  “Yeah, I’m not the only one that slept late. Gloria’s door is still closed and I haven’t heard her this morning at all. She must be sleeping in as well.”

  As he finished his sentence, Gloria came in to the kitchen from Henry’s side of the house wearing her robe and toweling off her still wet hair. “Good morning Charles, beautiful day isn’t it? How are you feeling this morning, did you sleep well?”

  Charles didn’t skip a beat and didn’t let on that he was surprised that Gloria came out from what was considered Henry’s side of the house. “I’m a little fuzzy, but I’ll be ok once I have some coffee.” He looked at Henry and gave him a slight nod to let him know that he approved.

  “I have a hard time sleeping in a bed other than my own, but I feel absolutely wonderful this morning. It’s going to be a great day. I’m going to get dressed, I’ll be right back.” Gloria walked across the kitchen and gave Henry a wink when Charles could no longer see her.

  Charles gave Henry a big grin. “Like I said yesterday, she’s a beautiful woman and the two of you deserve to be very happy.”

  “Thank you Charles, I certainly think we will be.” Henry made himself busy with the coffee pot; he didn’t want Charles to see the large smile on his face.

  After having some breakfast, Henry moved Gloria’s pickup into the garage and put his Mercury Grand Marquis out on the driveway. They were going to use his car for the rest of the week, this way they didn’t need to jockey cars around all the time. They were scheduled to be at Wayne and Elliot’s house in Indio at five that afternoon so they decided to ride up to the top of Mount San Jacinto on the tramway.

  They packed a couple of water bottles, threw sweaters for a walk at the top of the mountain into the back seat of the Mercury and headed off to the tramway after saying goodbye to Charles who was leaving to spend the holiday weekend with one of his friends who owned a condo near the Mesquite Country Club..

  As he drove, Henry told Gloria more of the story of Terrance Quinn and Robert Silverstein than he had yesterday. He described how sick Silverstein was and how Quinn hadn’t socialized at work and gone home quickly after work every day to take care of him. He said that George Margolis had though it odd that Quinn took young Todd Gregory under his wing at the tramway, it didn’t fit with his regular behavior.

  Gloria didn’t ask many questions, she listened to Henry and nodded occasionally. They made a left off of Highway one-eleven onto Tramway Road and drove up to the Valley Station and after the three and a half mile drive parked in the station’s parking lot. Henry dug the complimentary tickets Margolis gave him from the console and they walked hand-in-hand to the ticket booth. They exchanged their passes from George Margolis for tickets on the next tram and paused to look around the gift shop.

  Henry pulled Gloria into a quiet corner and confided that he was a little nervous about riding the tram. She asked if it was a fear of heights or something else. He explained that it wasn’t the height that bothered him; it was the enclosed feeling of being inside a little room at the end of a cable. Henry said that he’d had the feeling in elevator rides before but they didn’t usually last long enough to make him nervous.

  Gloria was very understanding and asked him if he wanted to leave and ride up another day. Henry didn’t want to do that, he actually thought he might be alright but just wanted her to know how he felt in case he was quiet or didn’t seem quite right. Gloria suggested that he hold her hand and squeeze it if he needed to take a breather or talk about it. She suggested that she go back to the car and get the water that they had left there, it might help calm him and give him something to do to divert his attention.

  Just then the tram arrived and there was no time to head back to the Mercury. Henry and Gloria shuffled into the gondola with the rest of the tourists. The car wasn’t very full, only about thirty people were on board. There was a large amount of room inside the gondola, to Henry’s pleasant surprise. Once the door closed, the operator made several announcements and within minutes they were underway.

  Henry found that his worry and anxiety about riding the tramway was unfounded and he had no problem with the car’s slight sway as it left the station. The view out the windows was breathtaking and the ability to look out probably eased his fear of being in a small enclosed space. He wasn’t sure why he had made such a big deal out of it and now wondered why he had never ridden the tram before in the three years that he’d lived here.

  He squeezed Gloria’s hand and nodded to her to let her know that he was fine. Gloria put her arm around his waist and together they enjoyed the view out as the car slowly rotated and Henry pointed out various sights in the Valley to her. The car jostled slightly as it went over the carriage wheels at the first support tower. It settled down again right away and continued its smooth ride up Chino Canyon.

  They arrived at Mountain Station after the twenty minute trip and went upstairs in the three level building to the cafeteria for a quick lunch. Gloria asked him if he learned anything from the trip up as to how the murder might have been committed. He had to admit that between being nervous about the ride, which he found inconsequential, the scenery and the thrill of being with her, it had not given him any time to consider the mechanics of the murder.

  They finished their lunch and went to the lowest level of the station where they put on their sweaters before going outside. It was seventy degrees here, more than thirty degrees cooler than on the Valley floor. It was beautiful up at this elevation. The air was clean, Henry was amazed at the abundance of nature up here and even though there were a lot of visitors up from the valley on the tram, the place was well maintained and spotless. They took a walk on the Long Valley Discovery Trail; Henry put his arm around her and enjoyed her company and the thin fresh air at the top of the mountain.

  At the vista point, they stopped and sat on a bench to look at the magnificent view and Henry pointed out the Salton Sea to Gloria. It looked silvery and shimmered in the afternoon sunlight as it stretched towards the Mexican border. As they were looking around their heads turned towards each other and Henry kissed Gloria full on her lips. She gave a little laugh and kissed him back, put her arms around him and gave him a big hug and they sat just holding one another.

  They got up and walked back to the station holding hands and talking quietly. They passed a maintenance crew picking up litter and Henry commented that they did a great job and it was appreciated. One of the guys thanked him; he said they didn’t get too many compliments. To the crew they must have appeared like many other couples that were enjoying the park this holiday. No one would suspect that what brought them up here was the murder of one of their co-workers and a mysteriou
s murder at that.

  The incoming tram car was just arriving at the station as they got back, they waited briefly with the departing group as the car emptied of incoming passengers before they were allowed to board for the ride down the cable.

  When the tram left the station Henry briefly had the sensation of falling as the car started its descent. He held on to Gloria’s hand tightly as she squeezed back. The feeling was only momentary and Henry felt comfortable as soon as the gondola stopped its swing and settled into the ride on the cable.

  He checked around inside the gondola and other than the operator’s station and the railing in the middle where passengers who might feel a little queasy could stand, there was nothing unusual about the tram car that would allow a killer to get in while the tram was underway. Henry looked up; there were some air vents and a panel in the ceiling that was labeled as an emergency exit clearly the only way to get to the roof of the car. The outside of the car was rounded and smooth and with the equipment and armature on the roof it looked as though it would take an acrobat to enter the gondola that way. Henry checked out the large tinted windows that were on all sides, they didn’t open, and were sealed shut. The car was completely air conditioned and other than the access panel in the ceiling, there didn’t appear to be any way in to the car except through the door that they had used to enter.