Law and Disorder

by Mary Jane Maffini

  “His house. I recognized it. Little Destiny’s bike is still lying on the path,” Elaine wailed. “You were right, Camilla. Bunny’s beautiful little house burned to the ground. Nobody could have gotten out alive.”

  TWELVE

  What is the biggest difference between

  a tick and a lawyer?

  -A tick will fall off when you die.

  Even from the kitchen, Alvin heard Elaine wailing over the phone. He stuck his head around the corner of the kitchen.

  I said, “That’s shocking, Elaine, but Bunny and his family weren’t there. You know I got Joe to take them to a safe place.” I hadn’t told her where Joe Jeremiah had taken Bunny and his family in case she accidentally spilled the beans to Mombourquette.

  “Are you sure they didn’t go back? I don’t see how anyone could survive an inferno like that.”

  “Trust me, they’re all right.” I aimed a calming gesture at Alvin, who was swaying in alarm.

  “The entire house is destroyed,” Elaine said with a catch in her voice. “Everything. They’re still fighting the fire. The neighbouring families had to be evacuated. And a woman was taken away by ambulance.”

  I sat down.

  “I’ll never forgive myself for not taking you more seriously. Oh my god, Camilla. Do you think it was Tonya? I talked to Joe Jeremiah after his, um, task, and he said she didn’t really want to go with him. The little girl was crying too. What if they went back?”

  The same thought had run through my mind. Destiny crying for her doll. Tonya insisting that she needed certain clothing or toiletries. Bunny deciding he couldn’t live without some watercolour.

  “Elaine, talk to Leonard. Make him find out what they know about that woman. It’s important.” Elaine likes a mission and she was off on this one.

  Alvin grabbed my arm. “Lord thundering Jesus, what is it, Camilla? Are you trying to drive me crazy?”

  “Bunny’s house burned to the ground. Elaine is afraid Bunny and his family might have gone home for some reason because emergency workers took a woman, injured or dead, from the house.”

  Alvin goggled. “Burned?”

  “Yes.”

  “To the ground?”

  “Yes.”

  “And a woman may have died?”

  “Exactly. It’s too horrible to imagine. What if it was Tonya?”

  “But we got a joke. The joke didn’t say anything about fire. It was a dog. We were supposed to be worried about a Rottweiler named Hey-soose.”

  “The whole point of that joke is the burglar meets his maker, and the maker is a surprise. I’m going to head out and try to check up on Bunny. You better go see if you can retrieve that surveillance camera without the police catching on.”

  It seemed like a year had passed before I pulled up into the parking lot of the building on Clearwater Crescent. I stayed out of sight behind a pillar in the garage for a while to be on the safe side, until I was sure no one followed me in. I took the service elevator to the 20th floor and walked down to the 16th. Anyone watching the elevator wouldn’t know what floor I’d chosen. These spy antics seemed silly even as I was engaging in them. If Bunny’s house hadn’t just burned down, I might even have laughed. What I had recently considered paranoia, now just seemed like a plan. I opened 1608 with my key after knocking. I walked into the apartment.

  “Don’t panic. It’s me, Camilla.”

  Empty.

  No Bunny. No Tonya. No little Destiny.

  Nothing but echoing empty rooms.

  They had been there. I found a few chocolate bar wrappers in the garbage can. Nothing Mrs. Parnell would ever eat. Behind the black leather club chair, I saw the pink and purple arm of Destiny’s rag doll, lying there, stretched out as if reaching for the little girl. I picked up the doll and stuck it into my immense yellow handbag.

  Where had they gone?

  And why?

  I sank into Mrs. Parnell’s black leather chair. The only sound in the empty apartment was the thundering of my heart. Praying is not my best thing, but I prayed that the three Mayhews hadn’t gone back to the neat little house in Barrhaven.

  P. J. answered his cellphone in his whisper voice. “Can’t talk now. I think I’m on to something.”

  “This is important. Did you know that was Bunny Mayhew’s house that just burned to the ground, P. J.?”

  “The fire in Barrhaven?”

  “That’s it.”

  “Are you sure? The house is in the name of a Tonya Riendeau.”

  “That’s his wife. I need to know if she was the woman who was injured.”

  “Can’t talk.”

  “Sure, but who is the woman they found?”

  His voice dropped to the point where I could scarcely hear him. “They don’t know yet. Told you, I can’t talk now.”

  “Yeah, yeah, where did they find her? Inside?”

  Sounded to me like P. J. had something caught in his throat. I said, “What? I can’t understand you.”

  “If I answer this question, will you leave me alone? A badly injured woman was found outside near the front entrance. The front door was open. Looks like she tried to escape, but it was too late.”

  “That’s horrible.”

  “It sure is. Goodbye, Tiger.”

  “Where are you? Can you find a way to see her? Find out who she is? You must have contacts in ICU.”

  “Are you completely out of your mind? You are really crossing lines here. Even by your standards. I am hanging up now.”

  “But I need to know.”

  Still whispering, P. J. said, “Well, it’s too late anyway. I guess I can tell you the woman died a half-hour ago without regaining consciousness.”

  “And they haven’t identified her yet?”

  “I told you, no. I believe everyone in the surrounding houses is accounted for. It was pretty crazy right after the explosion, but the cops have had time to narrow it down. They seem to be fairly sure it’s not a neighbour. I talked to Constable Wentzell.”

  “Right. The big blonde cop you have the hots for. So what did she say? How did the fire start?”

  “I don’t know, but I’m working on getting someone who will talk to me off the record. You just have to wait.”

  I felt a catch in my throat. I decided to confide in P. J. “Off the record, and I really mean this to be off the record, Bunny and Tonya and their daughter were hiding out.”

  “Where were they hiding out?”

  “Listen, you don’t answer my questions. Why should I answer yours? Tonya was pretty mad because we got a burglar joke. She didn’t want to go into hiding. She was really angry at Bunny. She thought he’d involved her in something.”

  “A burglar joke? You mean this fire was connected with the other deaths? Holy shit.”

  “But when I figure it out, you will be the first reporter I tell. It will be a huge story, but if you let anything slip about Bunny at this stage, you won’t get another word out of me. Clear?”

  “Clear. But was Bunny involved? How?”

  “That’s the thing, P. J. I haven’t found any common ground in this weird joke situation. Returning to our issue, what if Tonya went home to that sweet little house that she loved so much and someone set fire to it? You have only about two minutes to escape from a burning house. She could have been trapped. We have to find out right now who that woman was. We can’t waste any time.”

  “Hey, I said that I’m working on it.”

  “You’re sure no one else was found?”

  “What is the matter with you? I’m not sure about anything. The fire is still smouldering. They won’t know if anyone else was there for a while. There will be a police briefing at some point, but it’s way too early. You think Bunny’s in there too?”

  “I don’t know. You never saw three people so reluctant to leave a place. Can you go and talk to the cops? Find out if there’s any sign of…” I struggled to say the words, “…a child.”

  P. J., tough reporter that he is, gasped.
>
  I shivered in the hot air. An image of Destiny reaching for her dolly kept flashing through my brain.

  Alvin stormed back into the house, bleating. “I can’t get near Bunny’s place, Camilla. There are still cops everywhere. The street is closed. They’re keeping everyone out who doesn’t live there. I think they’re even checking ID. The traffic is backed up for blocks.”

  “Thanks for trying, Alvin. We’ll just have to wait for a while, I guess.”

  “And it won’t be easy. I think the neighbours will be very suspicious of anyone they don’t know.”

  “I can try to retrieve the camera later when things settle down.”

  “Bad idea. You were asking about Bunny, remember? Not that long before the fire?”

  “So?”

  “Lord thundering Jesus, Camilla. Remember you asked that woman with the stroller if she knew where Bunny was? She saw you clearly, and I’m sure she will have described you to the police. Then you even talked to her about the bird feeder. If you show up and try to get that camera, you’ll be back in an interview room for the third time this week. Bet you anything. Anyway, you’ll miss the girls’ race. They’re on this evening.”

  “No choice, Alvin. I’ll wait until the traffic dies down, but I must get that camera. No need for that expression on your face. Don’t they have another race tomorrow?”

  I found myself pacing. I needed to do something. I called Mombourquette. He didn’t answer his cellphone. Never mind. I had a plan.

  I waited until after seven that evening when I figured the traffic would have eased up. I assumed that the unfortunate citizens of Parkside Circle would have been allowed back to their homes by this point. I drove back to Barrhaven, parked a couple of blocks away and walked to Bunny’s former house. I spotted Mombourquette’s distinctive sillouette in the distance. Why was he still hanging around?

  The thing you don’t expect about a fire is the smell, like a campfire with plastic thrown in. Apparently, it’s worse when it smoulders. The stench of burned vinyl clogged my nose.

  The uniformed officer was disinclined to let me stroll over and inclined to have me hit the road. I stood my ground and said, “Better let the great detective decide for himself if he wants to see me. I have information pertinent to this case. Tell him it’s Camilla MacPhee.”

  Two minutes later, I was nose to nose with his royal furriness. “Leonard, I need you to tell me how many bodies were found here.”

  He stared at me. “I thought you had information.”

  I said, “All in good time. I need you to—”

  “You need me to? Guess I seem to have missed the memo where I take orders from you, MacPhee. You better print me out a copy of that directive, otherwise I just might take exception to your tone.”

  “Maybe that came out wrong, but, listen, this was Bunny Mayhew’s house.”

  “What the hell?”

  “As far as I can tell, Bunny went into hiding. Tonya and little Destiny were with him, and now none of them can be found. And their house just burned to the ground.”

  “I know about the fire, MacPhee. I’m standing next to you in front of the shell of the house. I’m retiring, not slipping into a coma.”

  “Let’s not argue about everything. I need…would sure appreciate finding out if other bodies were found.”

  “And I’d sure appreciate it you told me why.”

  “I’m worried they might have gone back to the house.”

  “You always share way too much information and not nearly enough facts. Why were they hiding? What did they have to worry about?”

  “Maybe they were worried someone would burn down their house.”

  “Hmmm. But not worried enough if they would go back.”

  “Bunny was worried. Tonya was really angry at him for getting her into it.”

  “Into what? Call me nosy.”

  “I don’t know. Whatever caused their house to burn down, Leonard. Someone set that fire and that person has something against Bunny or wants to send a message or is just plain sadistic. Who would set fire to a house that usually has a small child in it? Well, aside from Lloyd Brugel.”

  “I still don’t know where you come in, MacPhee.”

  “I’m not giving up until I find out.”

  “You are loyal to your former sleazebag clients, that’s all I can say.” Mombourquette’s whiskers quivered.

  “First of all, Bunny was never a sleazebag, Leonard. And he hasn’t done anything wrong except ask me to help him. Secondly, his wife and child are completely innocent of any crime whatsoever. So forgive me if I care about this little family. You might try a bit more of that yourself.”

  “Get out of here, MacPhee, before I have you arrested for interfering with an active investigation.”

  I held my head high as I stomped back toward my car. Across the street, I paused briefly to lean against the maple. I took my shoe off and pretended to shake it out. “A stone in my shoe,” I shouted to Mombourquette, who was watching me.

  He turned away in irritation. I took advantage of that to reach up into the maple tree and yank down the camera and the small recorder. I stuck the whole thing into my oversize handbag and I beat it the hell out of there. Even from across the street, I could still smell the chemical odours.

  I was amazed at the quality of the image that the pinhole camera was able to capture. Who knew that the technology was so advanced? There was very little action on Bunny’s street, so the time dragged as I watched. After what seemed like a month, a woman walked into the camera’s view and along to Bunny’s house. She wore a floppy bush hat and large sunglasses, a longish flowered skirt and a loose overblouse. She marched confidently up the paving stone walk, past the pom-pom hydrangeas, the peonies and the tricycle, and up the front steps, a large green stuffed toy dog dangling from her right hand.

  She knocked confidently at the door. Waited. Knocked again. Waited. She tried the latch, and sure enough, the door opened. Wasn’t it just like our Bunny the burglar to keep forgetting to lock his front door before departing?

  The woman glanced around furtively. Then she stepped through the door and into the house. She may have been in disguise, but I was pretty sure I’d know that back and that walk anywhere. I didn’t need to see her Sunny Choi suit or three hundred dollar pumps to know this was Annalisa Fillmore.

  Minutes later, I sat watching, mesmerized, as a red glow showed through the windows. Curtains on fire? Where was Annalisa? The front door opened and a human figure, hat and clothing blazing, staggered from the burning house. My stomach lurched as she stumbled and lay writhing on the neat paving stones of the walkway a foot away from the pink tricycle.

  A frantic man, a neighbour perhaps, ran up to the figure, now lying still, and backed away, hand over his mouth, seemingly repelled by the heat from the house.

  As the emergency personnel arrived, I turned away from the image, but I knew I’d have it in my head for a long time.

  What the hell had happened inside that house? The more I thought about it, the more Annalisa appeared to be the author of her own destruction. But why?

  By midnight I was still mulling over the huge green stuffed dog she’d been carrying. A dog named Hey-soose? Now I knew who the body was. But where the hell were Bunny, Tonya and Destiny? More to the point, were they still in danger?

  Needless to say, Mombourquette did not respond to my calls.

  I could have used a bit of advice and soothing talk from Ray, but he was on his course and incommunicado.

  Jacki Jewell’s eyebrows rose. For a fleeting moment, I wondered if she found us as difficult as we found her. A second too late, she unleashed a blindingly toothy smile. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “Did I get you out of bed? I’m having trouble reaching you it seems. My messages aren’t returned.”

  “I’m awake now,” I said.

  “Yes, of course.”

  “I had a late night,” I said, not liking the fact that I seemed to be offering excuses to her. I hadn’t bothere
d to pick up when I saw her name on call display or return her messages. It’s not like she was Bunny.

  She paused. “Are you alone?”

  “Alvin’s here. He’s cooking up a storm in the kitchen.” I figured from the air it was to be another chowder day, starting with poaching a few pounds of haddock.

  “That couple I mentioned, the ones who liked the Italian-style murals, they’re with me in the car. I took them by to show them the neighbourhood and the exterior, and they’d like a more detailed viewing.”

  I opened my mouth to say it wasn’t such a good time, but she steamrollered ahead. “Did I mention they’ll only be in town for a few days? This could be your best chance of a sale in this market.”

  I blinked. Really, this woman was too much.

  “How many people are in the house? Are those visitors still here? Is it possible that you could all go up to Bridgehead for a coffee for an hour? Put the pets in the car?” She wrinkled her nose as she said “pets”.

  “No, it is not possible,” I said.

  “But…”

  “Not going to happen.”

  “We’ll have to do something about this. I don’t know how I’m expected to sell this property when it’s always crawling with people and animals. Animals make it very difficult to move a property.” Again with the nose wrinkling.

  What the hell? “The animals stay. The people too.”

  “Well, you really should consider making some kind of arrangements so that the house shows well, because—”

  “Take it or leave it,” I said.

  Her lips thinned out with the effort of saying, “Fine. We’ll be in shortly.”

  “Less than ten years old,” Jacki Jewell was saying. “Designed by one of Ottawa’s foremost architects. It’s a beautiful example of upscale infill housing that respects the original neighbourhood and the character of the Glebe. Very very very easy to redecorate. Just a bit of paint here and there, that’s all.”

  The couple nodded, looking around, acknowledging Alvin and me. Her eyes went right to Alvin’s mural. She smiled. She was hooked all right.