Rocky seemed as happy to be back at Crestwood as I was. I knotted his leash around the metal handrail at the end of a small set of bleachers, where I could keep an eye on him between laps. He turned around twice, figuring out his boundaries. I ducked into the locker room and put my clothes in one of the top lockers, then carried my cap and goggles to the edge of the pool. Alice and Jessica sat on the deck, tucking their hair under thick rubber caps. Jessica’s buttoned under her chin. I waved to the two of them and dug a kickboard out of the metal bin that held the pool supplies.
“Madison! I wasn’t sure we were going to see you today,” called Alice.
“Why’s that?”
“After what happened at the swim club, nobody would blame you if you took a couple of days off. Sixty degree water! That’s crazy!”
I shrugged. “I’m fine now. It was probably the best thing for my knee,” I said and pointed to the swollen joint. “Like taking an ice bath.”
“You’re lucky you’re in such good shape. That kind of shock to your system could have been very bad. I don’t think I would have recovered so quickly at my age,” she said.
Jessica joined in. “None of us would have. In a way, it’s a blessing it was you.” She placed a frail hand on my upper arm. “Take it easy today, dear,” she said. “We’re all glad to be back, but it feels different now that Pamela is gone.”
I nodded but didn’t say a word. I was happy to be back at the pool, happy to have an outlet for my mind and my body, but she was right. I didn’t want to think about what had happened the last time we were all here. I still couldn’t accept how much my life had changed in a matter of days.
I leaned over and ran my fingertips through the water. It was the right temperature. After tucking my short hair under the swim cap and pulling on my goggles, I eased myself into the shallow end and pushed off. Lap after lap I swam. By the seventh lap I was back in my zone.
I used to think as long as I was in a pool, I was safe, but after the cold water at the swim club, that was no longer true. Yet it felt good to be in a secluded tank of chlorinated water, without Tex, without Hudson, without Doris Day movies and angry film students. My worries dissolved into the bubbles around me and I kept going. As long as I didn’t stop, I was fine.
My mind sifted through bits of information and I realized I’d never asked Tex about his personal involvement with Sheila Murphy. It would be a hard subject to bring up, and it wasn’t really my place to do so. But they’d been at that costume party together.
There must be something that he knew, something that he wasn’t sharing, that would shed light on what had happened to her later that night. I understood that there were details I’d never know, not from an investigation standpoint, but it was possible that, outside of his statement, he’d never had an opportunity to vent. And by keeping it all bottled up inside of him, he’d created an emotional prison he might never escape.
I stopped by the end of the pool and rested against the blue tiles. Other swimmers occupied the pool, regulars and a couple of new ones. Whether it was the curiosity of the murder or the incident at the swim club, I didn’t know, but it had created a cross-pollination of the lap swimming public. I liked it better when it was just the people I knew. Our little family.
“You make it look so easy, Madison,” said Alice. She sat on the pool deck dangling her ankles in the water. Even though she was into her eighties, as she kicked her heels against the tiles in a childlike manner, with her hair tucked away under a swim cap, I could see a glimpse of the younger woman she once had been.
“Alice, I hope when I’m your age I’m still swimming laps,” I replied. “You’re a smart lady to keep this up.”
“Ah, yes, but that’s just me clinging to a bit of my youth. I’m an old lady now but the pool does make me feel younger.”
“You’re not that old,” I interjected.
“Madison, please. I’m eighty-four. My best years are behind me. They were good years, and I wouldn’t trade them for anything. I just wish my memory was as good as it once was so I could cherish all of the experiences I had.”
I put a wet hand on top of hers. “You keep telling me you’re going to share those stories someday.” I patted her hand.
“That’s right, I will.” She leaned down close to me. “And I’ll start with the ones from the time Thelma Johnson and I worked together on a Doris Day movie right here in Dallas.”
“Alice! All these years we’ve been swimming together and you never once told me about that?” My mind started to race. “When was this? Which movie?” I hoisted myself out of the pool and landed on the deck with a splat.
“Are you gals swimming or gossiping?” asked Andy. “Cause if I’m taking you to the breakfast buffet I want to get there before the eggs get overcooked.” He zipped up the front of his jogging suit and walked up behind Alice.
“Andy, leave us alone. I was just about to tell Madison about the time I met Doris Day,” Alice said.
“There’s too much talk about her these days. You keep your mouth shut about that, Alice, or that crazy killer who’s obsessed with her might come after you. Now get dressed and let’s get some food.”
“What’s this about breakfast?” I asked.
Alice pulled her ankles out of the water and spun herself around. “He’s so nice, that Andy. Do you know he came over to my house yesterday and worked in the garden with me? Poor thing got all scratched up from the rose bushes. I offered to take him to breakfast to thank him but he insisted it would be his treat.”
“How long are you going to make him wait?” I joked.
“I can always swim tomorrow. Today, I’ll take the morning off and enjoy a breakfast buffet with a nice man who seems to enjoy my company.” She smiled and leaned back down toward me. “Madison, don’t spend all of your free time alone in the pool. Sure, the water can make you feel good about yourself, but sometimes a man can do that, too.” She winked at me and walked to the locker room.
Not half a minute later I heard her scream.
THIRTY
“Alice! Alice!” I yelled, pulling myself out of the water as quickly as I could. Andy and Jessica and a few of the others beat me to the locker room. Rocky yipped at the commotion from the sidelines. A scattering of strangers stood about on the deck, unsure what to make of the chaos at their new swimming venue.
When I entered the locker room I found Alice sitting on a wooden bench in the middle of the room. She was white. Water from her wet ankles had created a small puddle beneath her. Jessica sat beside her, with an arm around her petite frame, and Andy stood in front of her, clutching a scrap of torn paper.
“That’s it. We’re not going to breakfast, we’re getting you out of Dallas.”
“What? What is it?” I asked the sea of faces.
Jessica snatched the paper out of Andy’s fingers and pushed it toward me. It said: YOU’RE NEXT.
“Where did this come from?” I asked no one in particular.
“It was on my tote bag, sitting right on top of my towel. Is it from the killer? Is this what happened to Pamela?”
“It doesn’t make any sense,” I said, half to myself.
“It makes a lot of sense if you ask me,” said Andy.
“How?”
“She’s part of the Doris Day connection all over the news. She just said so. The serial killer is out to get women who look like Doris Day and she fits the bill.”
I knelt down in front of Alice who was still shaken up. “Alice, you need to give this to the cops and tell them about your connection to Doris Day. Can you do that if I make the call?”
“The hell she has to do that. What Alice has to do is get out of here before your boyfriend can come back and do her in. I saw him snooping around here this morning. For all I know he’s been hiding by the pool, waiting for us to come back.”
/> “My boyfriend? What boyfriend?” I asked.
“The one in the beat up truck. It’s not the first time I saw him hanging around here either. He’s at the heart of this. I’m getting Alice out of town now.”
He leaned down and put an arm around her and gently helped her stand up. Her towel was loosely draped over her shoulders and she looked down, not willing to make eye contact.
“I don’t think I should just leave, Andy,” she said.
“I don’t think you should, either, ma’am,” said a voice from out front.
I was actually happy to hear it.
“Everybody decent? I’m coming in.” Tex walked into the ladies locker room. He didn’t look happy. “Everybody clear out of here, but wait out front. I want to talk to Ms. Sweet alone.”
“Who called you?” I asked. “Shouldn’t Officer Nast be here?”
“I called him,” said Andy. “He was here the morning your boyfriend got Pamela. He’s the one who’s going to catch the bastard.”
My eyes shifted back and forth between Andy and Tex.
“Can Madison stay? And Andy?” Alice asked tentatively.
With the slightest of movements, Tex shook his head no.
“Alice, I have to check on Rocky.” I turned to face Tex. “I’ll be right back.”
When I returned to the locker room Andy and Alice were sitting side by side on the wooden bench and Tex was facing them, perched on top of a folding metal chair with a misshapen frame. Andy’s arm was still around Alice, comforting her.
“And that’s where I found the note, Lieutenant.”
“Ms. Sweet, I think I have everything I need.”
“I’m taking her out of town for a couple of days,” Andy said. “She needs to get away from here. She needs to be safe.”
“I think that’s okay,” said Tex.
Rocky strained against his leash, trying to get closer to his new friend, but I kept him in check. Tex wasn’t reacting the way I thought he’d react and I wondered what was going through his head. Whatever it was, it was masked below the kind of poker face that probably won a lot of hands.
“You need to reach her, you call me. Here’s my number,” the old man rattled off a phone number that Tex jotted down in his notepad. “Alice, let’s get that breakfast.”
“I think you’re forgetting something, Andy,” I interjected. “She needs time to change out of her bathing suit and that means the two of you have to go.”
I waited in the locker room while Alice showered and dressed. Her yellow cotton blouse and matching skirt were more festive than the mood of the morning. She must have been looking forward to that breakfast. I didn’t say anything while she primped but noticed that her hands were shaking as she patted her curls into place.
“Madison, what did Andy mean when he said he saw your boyfriend here?” she asked.
“I don’t know, Alice.”
“Be careful. Don’t let your guard down. I don’t want to be next but I don’t want you to be next, either.” She hugged me tightly and left.
The chlorinated water had dried on my skin. I wasn’t in the mood to shower and change at the pool anymore; I wanted to go home. I spun the dial on the padlock that secured my locker and jumped when Tex’s voice sounded behind me.
“You decent, Night?”
“What do you want now?” I asked.
He entered the locker room and swept it with a broad gaze. “Why are you standing there?”
“I’m trying to unlock my locker. I want to get my stuff and go home.”
“Which one’s your locker?”
“The one with my hands on it.”
“Night, I’m not kidding. Is that yours?” he pointed to the blue metal door.
“Yes. Watch this and I’ll prove it to you.” I spun the dial to the left and back to the right, hitting the combination on the first attempt, and popped it open. A small corner of torn white paper fluttered down to the floor.
“Shit.” Tex picked the scrap up and measured it against the note Alice had found on top of her towel.
“What?” Even from where I sat I could see that the two edges of paper were a perfect fit.
“Your locker was directly above where the old lady’s bag sat. That note wasn’t meant for her, Night, it was meant for you.”
“Shit.”
Tex followed me back to my apartment. I asked him to wait in the parking lot with Rocky while I showered and dressed. It was just a matter of time before he discovered I was watching Hudson’s cat, but for the moment I wanted to keep that to myself. If there was one innocent party in all of this, it was Mortiboy. And without me, the black ball of fur had no one to look after him.
It looked like there was no way out of Tex’s companionship now, even if I wanted to shake him. And the way things were going, I wasn’t so sure that was still the goal.
When I emerged from the back of the apartment building it was in crisp blue jeans that were cuffed to mid-calf, black penny loafers, and a red and white gingham checked cotton shirt. I tied a red and white bandana in my hair to keep my short hair off my face.
Rocky sat on the hood of Tex’s Jeep, swatting at the lieutenant’s hand. Tex scanned me from head to toe and let off a low whistle. “Even when you’re butch you’re sexy.”
“I’m going to ignore that.”
“Let’s get out of here. I think I make your neighbors nervous.”
I glanced across the parking lot to the Mexicans. They were rearranging paint cans in the bed of their truck, not making eye contact. I blew off the opportunity to make a joke at both Tex’s and their expense.
“Let’s go to the Metro and get some breakfast. Hop in.”
“Rocky can’t go into a diner, and I don’t feel good about leaving him tied up outside. Hold on,” I said and carried the little dog back into the building. Effie agreed to puppy sit while I went about my day.
The scenery, grey buildings and green lawns, blurred past my window as Tex drove us to the diner. Silence carried us from his Jeep to the interior of the diner, to a booth between a couple of high school kids and a family of five. Tex shook his head and gestured toward a more secluded booth along the back wall. The waitress dropped a couple of menus and two plastic tumblers of water on our table. The silence remained until she walked away.
“So Night, I’m only going to ask you this once. Why are you covering for Hudson?”
I slapped the plastic menu down on the table. “You’re only going to ask me that once? Funny. Because that’s the fifth time you’ve only asked me that once.”
“If you’d just work with me instead of against me this could all be over.”
“I tried that. Remember? And look what happened. How about you answer some of my questions instead?”
“We’ve been over this,” he said in a low voice.
“I’m not talking about your investigation, which you’re not even supposed to be conducting. Why don’t you tell me about the Halloween party? What you and Sheila Murphy fought about before she ran off and got herself killed?”
The words popped out of my mouth unedited. Tex’s eyes bore holes into me, but I matched his stare with the same intensity. I would not allow him to manipulate me into feeling guilty for asking about that night, not after the way he’d used me to try to catch Hudson.
Abruptly, he stood. The plastic tumbler on the table bounced and water sloshed onto the menu. He strode toward the front door, leaving me alone. I wasn’t worried. His code of honor was too great to leave me behind.
The waitress came back to the table. I ordered two cups of coffee and two blue plate specials. Eggs, toast, bacon, sausage, and potatoes. Enough food to distract an angry cop if he returned to the table. Enough to feed a small dog and cat in my apartment if I ended up taking it to go.
The food arrived on the table before Tex came back. I waited for half a minute, letting it cool down while I wondered if it would be rude to start. Hunger dictated the answer. I bit into a piece of bacon then followed it with a forkful of scrambled eggs.
“Damn, Night, you got a hell of an appetite.”
I turned around and looked up at him. He snatched a triangle of toast from the small ceramic plate, then slid back onto his side of the booth.
I wasn’t sure if his return required words on my part. He speared a sausage link and bit into it, while I nibbled on a second piece of bacon, pinched between my fingers. We finished three quarters of our food in silence. He seemed to have picked up on my theory of us getting along better when we didn’t talk. When the waitress came by with our check, he snatched it before I had a chance to reach out.
“What’s my share?”
“It’s on me.”
“No, I’ll pay my half. This isn’t a date, Tex.”
“You think I don’t know this isn’t a date? It stopped being a date the minute you brought up my ex-girlfriend.” He pulled a couple of bills out of a well-worn leather wallet and tucked them under the sugar shaker. “Besides, when we go on a date, it’s not going to be to a diner and you’re going to wear one of your little cotton numbers.”
“‘When’?”
“I don’t know when. Soon.”
“No, I’m not asking when. I’m questioning your choice of ‘when’ versus ‘if’.”
“Oh, it’s a when. But there’s a couple of things we have to figure out before I get around to asking. I don’t like having this thing between us. Let’s get out of here. We gotta talk.”
“Lieutenant, if you think a greasy meal at a diner is going to make me turn against a friend, then you’re mistaken.”
“I wasn’t talking about you, I was talking about me. It’s time I talked to someone outside of the force about what happened with Sheila that night.”
Pillow Stalk (A Mad for Mod Mystery) Page 21