by Ann Simas
Andi nodded. “Jack?”
“What?” he said without looking at her, his attention now directed at wiping down the countertop.
“I’m sorry.”
He rinsed out the dishcloth and wiped his hands before he turned to face her. “For what?”
“Earlier.”
He leaned against the counter and crossed his arms over that wide chest of his. “Earlier, as in when I mauled you?”
Andi couldn’t help grinning. “I’d hardly calling it mauling.”
He didn’t grin back. “I was out of line. I’m the one who should be apologizing.”
She sighed. “I liked what you were doing.”
“That’s the problem. I liked it, too.” He pushed away from the counter and shoved his hands into his jeans pockets. “We don’t even know each other yet, Andi.”
“I know enough about you.”
He looked away for a moment. With his eyes back on her, he said, “Ditto, but I don’t carry condoms with me and that would have pretty damned irresponsible of both of us to go all the way without one, wouldn’t it?”
Andi hadn’t thought that far ahead. She didn’t sleep around and, in fact, hadn’t slept with a man for over four years. When you weren’t having sex with anyone, birth control was not at the top of the priority list. “Yes, it would.” Silently, she added a box of condoms to her grocery list.
Jack took his hands out of his pockets and moved toward her. He grasped her upper arms gently and dipped his head.
Andi took her cue from him and tilted her head up. As kisses went, it lacked passion, but it was still the sweetest goodnight kiss she’d ever had.
“See you at Father Riley’s at two. Should I bring anything?”
“I’m bringing dessert and Riley’s serving up stew for lunch. Just bring yourself.” She walked him to the door.
He kissed her one last time, opened the door, and stood waiting on the other side until he heard her slide the deadbolt into place.
Andi turned off all the interior lights and quietly made her way out onto the balcony.
Jack climbed into his Highlander, but didn’t start up the engine.
Under the glow of the light standard, she saw him grasp the steering wheel with both hands and lower his forehead against his fists. He lingered there for at least five minutes and Andi wondered what demons he had to chase away before he found himself fit to drive.
. . .
Sleep was elusive. At four a.m., Andi got up and made a pot of coffee before she sat down at her laptop again. By the time she finished reading everything she could find on mercury, the pot was empty and it was time to get ready for 7:30 mass.
She sat through the service mulling over the new tidbit she’d gleaned from her early-morning research. Some Latino and Caribbean cultures used elemental mercury, which they called azogue, in rituals to protect them from harm and to ensure a life of good health, happiness, wealth, and successful relationships. The azogue was available in botánicas, which were ethnic pharmacies that sold religious and folk medicines.
Poisoning from elemental mercury could leave a person with symptoms like those the Spences had described Sherry as suffering.
The answer is in my teeth!
Despite the fact that she sat in a pew in St. Gemma’s and should have been paying attention to the service, Andi’s mind raced with possibilities.
Somehow, she had to get the answers to two questions.
Had Dawna Stimack traveled to any Latin American or Caribbean countries to buy azogue?
Did she fill teeth with mercury-bound dental amalgam?
. . .
Again, Andi was the last parishioner out of the church. She exchanged a distracted, “Good morning,” with Father Riley and added, “I’ll see you at two with dessert and Jack will meet me here.”
“Everything okay?” the priest asked.
“Yes, fine. I’ve been doing some research” —she lowered her voice, even though no one was around— “on mercury poisoning. Found some new information I want to check into further.”
Father Riley nodded, his voice also a whisper as he said, “I’ll look forward to hearing about it over lunch.”
Andi began a mental checklist of questions while she got a load of laundry started and finished it as she put together a chocolate date cake from her mother’s recipe. A family favorite, she was sure both Riley and Jack would love it if she’d remembered to include all the ingredients. Usually, she could multi-task while thinking, but usually, she wasn’t thinking about mercury poisoning and murder.
Once the cake was in the oven, she only had to leave the laptop twice. Once to transfer the wash to the dryer and once to take the cake out and place it on a cooling rack. She did both almost by rote because her mind was so focused on how Dawna Stimack might have killed Sherry.
An hour later, she had her suppositions formulated. Unfortunately, she needed to talk to Sherry’s husband before she presented her theories to Jack. That meant he was going to be thoroughly pissed at her for butting in, but she’d deal with the aftermath later.
In for a penny, in for a pound. Jack wouldn’t be any angrier at her for an in-person visit that might result in some concrete proof than he would be if she called Vaughn.
She picked up her phone and dialed. Dotty Tobias, the nanny, answered. After they exchanged greetings, Dotty said, “Vaughn isn’t here right now, Andi. He and the Spences took the youngsters to the indoor play place for pizza.” Her voice caught. “I’m going through Sherry’s things, trying to sort through what can be given to a women’s center and what will go to Goodwill or St. Vinnie’s.”
Andi immediately asked, “Would you like some help?”
“Oh, I wouldn’t want to trouble you,” Dotty said.
Andi still heard the hope in her voice. “It’s no trouble at all. I can be there in ten minutes.”
Andi couldn’t believe her luck. She needed an excuse to get into Sherry’s bathroom and here it was, gifted to her on a silver platter. She sent a prayer skyward and included an addendum, apologizing for not paying attention in church earlier.
She and Dotty exchanged hugs, Dotty with tears in her eyes. “It’s so good to see you, Andi. It’s been so many years. I loved it when you and Sherry and some of the other girls stopped in for cookies. Me with just boys, I missed not having any girls of my own.”
“As I recall, we did more than eat cookies. You had the best board game selection of anyone I’ve ever known.”
Dotty smiled. “Still do. One day, maybe I’ll have grandkids to come play them.”
“I hope so,” Andi said, giving her hand an affectionate squeeze. “So, how can I help?”
Dotty led her to the master suite. It was a huge room, with windows on one wall overlooking a lush backyard. Two easy chairs had been placed in front of the windows, with a table between them. A pair of binoculars and a bird-watching book sat on top. A huge king-size bed was situated against the south wall, flanked by night stands topped with reading lights and a stack of books on each. On the opposite wall was another sitting area in front of a cozy fireplace.
The room was minus any other furniture and a moment later, Andi discovered why when Dotty led her into a short hallway that fed into an enormous walk-in closet with scads of built-ins on one side and a beautiful bathroom of equal size on the other side.
“I’m going through her clothes right now,” Dotty said. “Would you mind tackling her side of the bathroom? I have boxes stacked in the corner. Just use your best judgment of what’s to be thrown out and what might be salvageable.”
“No problem,” Andi said. She’d worn a long-sleeved shirt, so she rolled up the cuffs and stepped into the bathroom. “Let me get the lay of things first, then I’ll get started. I’m guessing from the accoutrements that Sherry had the left side?”
Dotty nodded. “Plus, she was the only one who ever used the soaking tub.” She followed Andi into the room. “Me, I’d think it was too much work to light all those candles
every night, but Sherry said it was supposed to relax her. That and the easy-listening music. They have a whole-house system, so she’d put on the cable music after the little ones went to bed and just relax after a long day.”
“I don’t have a tub like that,” Andi said, “but I listen to the same music and it keeps the cobwebs out of my head.”
Dotty looked around, her eyes tearing up. “I’ll leave you to it, then. Any questions, just ask.”
“I will.” Andi waited until Dotty went into the closet before she closed in on the tub. Candles in all sizes, some in containers, some not, lined the perimeter of the tub. A long-handled lighter was tucked away behind a short stack of towels on a table just outside the tub.
The first thing Andi did was whip out her smartphone and start taking pictures. Of everything that was visible. Distance shots first, then close-ups. The insides of drawers and cabinets came next.
Finally, Andi grabbed an empty box. She had no idea where her sleuthing skills came from, but she knew preserving fingerprints would also be important later. She pulled a thin pair of white cotton gloves from her jeans pocket and slipped them on. She’d bought them when she was decorating her apartment and worn them to frame pictures and artwork, ensuring that the glass would remain free of smudges. She grabbed each candle and placed it carefully inside the box.
All she could think about was the azogue and the rituals she’d read about that involved putting it into candles. The ethnic peoples who participated in those rituals didn’t realize that their elemental mercury, when heated, gave off poisonous vapors. Sherry easily had two dozen candles surrounding her tub. Had any of them been infused with azogue?
Next, Andy went to the set of vanity drawers on Sherry’s side of the bathroom. The top drawer held toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss, picks, and a tube of prescription fluoride paste. She picked up both the toothpaste and fluoride and added them to the candle box. For good measure, she added Sherry’s toothbrush. She didn’t want to take the hair dryer, in case Vaughn used it for the girls, but she grabbed the hairbrush and comb in the second drawer and wrapped them securely in a hand towel. She’d read that mercury poisoning could be determined in hair. Not that they needed to prove that now, but Andi considered it supportive insurance.
She methodically went through the remainder of the drawers and the cupboards below the sinks. Products that had not been opened went into one box and products to be thrown out, into another. Andi was unsure about half-opened packages like Tampax, so she put those into a third box. Possibly a women’s shelter could stock a bathroom with things like that, since they remained securely wrapped. In a new box, she placed all the opened and unopened bottles of bath gel, hair gel, and face cream, uncertain which had been gifted to Sherry by Dawna.
She pulled a pen and some folded sheets of paper from her back jeans pocket and quickly wrote out the inventory of the two boxes and where the items were found. She took more pictures of the contents and the inventory lists, then slipped the lists inside their respective boxes. Using the packaging tape dispenser Dotty had left on the vanity, she sealed the cartons containing the “evidence,” then picked up the Sharpie and marked the outsides with the date, the time, the location, Sherry’s name, and her own name.
Andi had read about chain-of-custody in evidence collection. She tapped the Sharpie against her lips, thinking. These items couldn’t leave the premises unless Jack removed them. She had marked and documented everything carefully and concisely, hoping her efforts would suffice for preservation. Otherwise, all the opened products, including the candles, would probably be tossed and valuable evidence lost. Jack would need a search warrant to come in and find this stuff, unless Vaughn willingly handed it over.
Therein like the crux of the matter. How to tell Vaughn without freaking him out about his wife possibly being murdered and without Jack burning Andi at the stake like poor Joan of Arc for interfering?
By 12:30, Andi had finished her chore, so she asked Dotty where she could best help next.
“I haven’t touched the shoes yet. Maybe grab a medium-sized box for those. Sherry wasn’t a shoe horse, so there won’t be many pairs to pack.” She choked on her final words.
Andi put her arms around the older woman and murmured comforting words. “Do you want me to finish the clothes?” she inquired gently.
“I’m almost done,” Dotty said on a sob. “It’s just such a terrible, horrible waste, Andi. Sherry was so young, so alive, and her family needs her so much.”
“I know.” Andi closed her eyes as she held Dotty. God, if Dawna Stimack killed Sherry, please help us prove it so she can pay for what she’s done.
After a few minutes, Dotty composed herself and Andi gathered up the shoes. As Dotty had said, there weren’t many pairs, but they were all of good quality. “It’s nice that Vaughn is willing to donate Sherry’s things to various women’s organizations and charities.”
“He wasn’t at first. He was afraid he’d see someone wearing one of her dresses or maybe a pair of her shoes and he’d freak out, but Eddie had a talk with him and pointed out that it wasn’t likely he would.”
“Still, it must be hard for him. Is he keeping her personal things, like her jewelry, for the girls?”
Dotty nodded. “Sally already packed all that up for him. He has a safe in the house and everything went into there, even her costume jewelry. She always let the girls wear it around the house, so Vaughn thought it best to save it. When his grief isn’t so fresh, he’ll get it out for them again.”
“What a nice idea. How’s he doing? Any better?” she asked as she closed the top on the box of shoes.
Dotty shrugged. “At least he went out of the house today. That’s a start.”
Andi couldn’t even imagine losing the person you loved most in the world. Unbidden, a picture of Jack flashed through her mind and she wondered if he’d be that person for her someday. Her soul mate, the person she didn’t know if she could live without.
They heard the downstairs door open, followed by the squeal of little voices and pounding feet. Andi glanced at her watch. It was nearly 1:30 and she still had to swing by her apartment to pick up the cake before she went to the rectory. What to do about those two boxes, since she couldn’t walk out of the house with them?
“Dotty, I need to ask a favor of you.” She gnawed on her lower lip for a moment, trying to decide how to proceed. “I know this is going to sound strange, but two of the boxes I packed up need to stay in the house, and I can’t tell you why.”
The older woman tilted her head at Andi. She studied her for several long moments, then gave her head a quick nod, as if she’d made a decision. She grabbed Andi’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “I won’t ask then. Show me which boxes and I’ll find a place to store them for the time being.” She released Andi’s hand and followed her into the bathroom.
“This one, marked CANDLES and this one, marked, PERSONAL CARE ITEMS.”
“Dawna gave those candles to….” Dotty’s head snapped up and her eyes narrowed on Andi. “I have just the place for these in my bedroom closet where they’ll be safe. Don’t worry, Andi. Nothing will happen to them.”
Andi had the strangest feeling Dotty knew exactly why those boxes were so important. “Thanks, Dotty.”
Dotty picked up the smaller box and Andi grabbed the heavier one. She followed the other woman to her room.
Once back downstairs, the four little Hemmers were excited to see her but danced around and exchanged few words on their way to the family room, where they were going to watch Finding Nemo. Vaughn called after them, “Take off your shoes and I’ll be there in a minute.”
Andi explained that she’d been helping Dotty with Sherry’s things. A brief flash of agony creased his features. “Thanks for doing that. I just…couldn’t.”
“I’m glad I could help. I called at just the right time.” She hated lying, but withholding information that his wife had most likely been murdered seemed even more appalling.
; He gave her a small smile. One of the girls yelled from the family room. “Coming,” he called back.
Andi moved toward the front door. Vaughn opened it for her and said, “Eddie and Sally are coming for dinner on Wednesday. Can you join us?”
Andi had no plans. “Yes, I’d like that. Can I bring anything?”
“No, it’s the girls’ birthday and Sally said she has everything under control, food and cakewise.”
Andi’s eyes lit up. “A birthday party! Do they want anything special?”
“Aside from their mom back?” he asked, his voice rough with emotion. “They always want new books and they both want a new dress. Their mom promised them before….” He looked away, his jaw flexing, tears in his eyes.
“What size?” Andi asked.
He looked back at her. “I have no idea,” he said, his voice chocked with misery.
“Tell you what,” Andi said, “I’ll give Sally a call and find out. I have an idea and maybe between the two of us, we can pull it off as a surprise for the girls.”
“Thanks, Andi. That’d be great. I’m afraid I’m a long way from being up on this mom stuff yet.”
He told her what time to come for dinner and Andi was on her way.
CHAPTER 18
Andi carried the glass baking dish with the cake inside up to the front entry of the rectory. Before she could figure out how to knock with her hands full, Jack opened the door.
“Hi,” she said, getting all warm and tingly at the sight of him.
“Hi, yourself.” He leaned down and gave her a quick peck.
She wanted to grab him by the shirt front and pull him back for more, but said instead, “God, that stew smells good.”
He stood aside so she could precede him into the kitchen. “It does. I think I’m going to have to invest in one of those Crock Pot things if that’s what can be waiting for me for dinner.”
Andi grinned. “I’m sure Riley will share his recipe.”
“Andi, hello! You’re looking a might more chipper than you were at mass. Have a productive morning?” The priest took the glass dish and peeled back the plastic lid. “Oh, my word…chocolate! Young lady, you are going to Heaven one of these days, no doubt about it.”