Letter to Belinda

by Tim Tingle

  “Yes it is.” The judge’s eyes were still open, but his pupils were now frozen and frosted over.

  “Then it was probably like this earlier, you just didn’t see it.”

  “It probably was. Okay. I’ll deal with him later. Let’s go call the pool contractor right now, to get him started on it.”

  “That’s a good freezer! It looks like he’s frozen solid!”

  “I told them I wanted the biggest and best they had.”

  “You may have to re-arrange him, to get the lid closed.”

  “Okay, I’ll do that. But let’s call the contractor first.”

  They entered the house and went to the kitchen, where a phone was on the counter beside the microwave. “Sit at the phone, and I’ll go get my purse. It has my phone numbers in it.” He sat down and looked at the phone. It had all kinds of options. He pressed the ‘play messages’ button while he was waiting on her. A juvenile sounding male voice came up.

  “Hi Miranda, it’s me again! I was just wondering if you are okay. I haven’t seen you out jogging in about a week now. I hope you aren’t sick or something. I still want to take you out to dinner some evening. I know you get lonely just like me. I know you are not gone on another trip, because I see your car coming and going all the time. By the way, the next time you plan a trip, let me know. I might want to go too. I’ll call you later. Bye.”

  The second message was from her sister. The third was from the bank, wanting to confirm a check she had written. The fourth message was from the same fellow that called before.

  “Hi Miranda! Listen, don’t let me bother you if you have company, but I suspect there might be something wrong with your next door neighbor, Judge Rosewood. I haven’t seen him leave home now in four days, which is unusual. He usually comes and goes daily. I wonder, should I call and check on him? He’s an important man, and I hate to bother him. He once got mad at me when I called him. I saw you and him riding together one day, so maybe you can call and check on him. I am worried, because I know he has a bad heart. I was behind him at the drug store once, when I was getting my breathing inhalers refilled. I noticed that the kinds of prescriptions he was getting filled were for serious heart problems. I know, because I went home and looked up the prescriptions he was getting in my prescription drug catalogue. It was some serious stuff! So what do you think? Am I being too nosey? Call me when you get a chance. Bye.”

  This was the last call on the recorder, and it was finishing up as Miranda returned with her little black book.

  “You’re being a little nosey, aren’t you, Travis? Do you enjoy listening to my personal messages?”

  “Yes, they are very interesting. Particularly this wimpy-sounding guy who has called you twice today.”

  “Oh, that’s just Lenny. He’s harmless. He’s got a crush on me, and he hasn’t got anything better to do than call me. He’s entertaining to talk to sometimes. I made the mistake of stopping to talk to him one day at my mailbox, and now he calls me all the time.”

  “He seems to be quite a fan of yours. Think he’s after money?”

  “No, not Lenny. He’s a little on the dull side. He’s about as sharp as a bowling ball.”

  “I don’t know, he seems pretty sharp in some ways. He keeps up with his neighbors pretty well. And that’s just the kind of person who you don’t need watching you right now. He’s just the kind of nosy simpleton that the police like to question when there is a missing person case. He will tell anything that comes to mind, no matter how small a detail. And some of the little things he just said in that recording could point toward you, if the police question him concerning Judge Rosewood.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Have you listened to his last call?”

  “No, I just heard you playing it.”

  “Then you’d better listen to it.”

  He played it again, and she saw what he meant.

  “You’re right he might call the police, if I don’t call him back.”

  “Who is he anyway?”

  “He’s a physically, and somewhat mentally handicapped young man who lives between here and the main road. His parents were killed when he was a teenager, and left him with a nice house, and a monthly disability check. He is able to live on his own, but he is all alone. He is a good-hearted fellow, but he’s just a dead end. He has nothing better to do than watch what goes on around him. He keeps up with who comes and goes on Kellerman Road.”

  “So, he has no doubt seen me come and go too?”

  “Yes, I’m sure. But a lot of people come up here to go to the Kellerman Country Club. Lenny only keeps up with the regulars. The problem is, aside from taking a boat up the Warrior River, Kellerman Road is the only way of getting in or out of here. I need to call him back to erase some of his suspicions. Hand me the phone. Don’t say anything while I’m talking to him.”

  “Of course not.”

  She punched his number, and got an answer on the first ring.

  “Hello, Lenny! Yes, I got your message from this morning . . . No, I went to town for something. I know, but I wanted to go by myself . . . You are very thoughtful, Lenny. Uh-huh . . . Listen, in the message, you asked about the Judge? I think the reason you haven’t seen him, is because he said he was going to spend a few weeks on the road, while his wife is gone. He mentioned Las Vegas and the West Coast, but I don’t know exactly where he went . . . Yes, he did ask me to go, but how would that look? Me traveling with a married man?”

  (Travis rolled his eyes.)

  “Yes, and him a Federal Judge at that! . . . Well, he might have invited you, if he knew you wanted to go.” (Miranda rolled her eyes.) “Well, my goodness, Lenny! Do you watch the road day and night? He might have left in the wee hours of the morning. There’s no telling with him. With his wife gone, he just wanted to get away and be a free soul for awhile . . . Yes, I’ve heard her called that too. He told me she was going to be gone for three weeks, so he probably won’t be back until right before she does . . . Uh-huh. Well, listen, Lenny. I appreciate your concern, I really do, but to be honest, you make me feel just a little uncomfortable with the way you watch me all the time! I feel like you are stalking me, and I don’t like a friend who does that! . . . Yes, I cherish my privacy! . . . No, you’re not a bad person, Lenny! Don’t beat yourself up! Just be a good neighbor, and don’t be so nosey! If you will do that, I will go out to eat lunch with you one day, I promise! . . . Oh, nowhere expensive, just some nice sit-down restaurant . . . Well, How about this Friday? Okay, fine. I’m sure you will. Bye, Lenny.”

  “Sounds like you have a real fan there!”

  “The poor fellow, he doesn’t have a spoonful of sense!”

  “I don’t know, he seems to have pretty good observation skills. And that can be dangerous, after the Judge is determined to be missing. Know what I mean? We shouldn’t underestimate him.”

  “I know.”

  “So you agreed to eat lunch with him?”

  “I had to, as a reward for him not being so nosey!”

  “And that will make him be less nosey?”

  “Lenny is very simple-minded. He’s about 35, and was diagnosed as having Down’s Syndrome when he was born. He is pretty smart when it comes to books and information, but he is honest and sincere. If I ask him to do something, or not do something, he always does as I ask.”

  “And how long have you known him?”

  “Since I moved here, six or eight months ago. He can’t drive a car, but he sometimes rides a bicycle up and down Kellerman Road. I went in his house once, to give him a ride to town, and I saw a tripod mounted pair of binoculars at the front window, aimed at the highway.”

  “He sounds like a serious observer.”

  “Like I said, he has nothing better to do. He’s a pathetic creature, but he’s very likable.”

 
“Kind of like a puppy-dog? You like that kind, don’t you?”

  “Well, to be honest, he is one of the most sincere men I have ever met since I won the lottery. He has no devious, dark ulterior motives. Lenny is just Lenny. He’s just a big kid.”

  “That’s going to be cute, him taking you out to eat on his bicycle!”

  “I’ll pick him up to go out to eat. He likes to ride in my car.”

  “Does he know that you and the Judge had something going on?”

  “Of course not. I had not even met Leon until the morning of the day he . . . he . . .”

  “Died?”

  “Yes.”

  “And in that short a time, you and he were planning to run off on a three week, shall we say, ‘adventure’?”

  “I already told you, it was a spontaneous thing! That was our plan, but most likely, I would have backed out of it before the next morning. But I guess we’ll never know, will we?”

  “Well, after you get your pool in, the Judge will occupy a special place in you heart, as well as on your property!”

  “Please don’t put it that way.”

  “I can tell you’re a little touchy about that. So, since our trip to Greece, you haven’t found anyone who is a likely candidate for ‘Mr. Right?”

  “Let’s not go there.”

  “So that’s a definite ‘no’?”

  “Considering the situation I am presently caught up in, you should know the answer to that!”

  “You’re right. I guess it’s hard to find Mr. Right when you are rich. The gold-diggers just come out of the woodwork.”

  “God! Don’t they, though?”

  “What you need to do, after you get rid of the Judge, is to relocate. Go to another region of the country, buy a modest house, get a modest job, just for appearances, of course. Give all your new neighbors the impression that you are just a working girl, trying to make ends meet. And you might want to dress down a bit. Try not to look so glamorous.”

  “Glamorous? Look at me! You call this glamorous? I’m wearing a denim shirt and blue jeans! How can I dress down any more?”

  “Well you’re right. No matter how badly you dress, you are still a beautiful woman, and it shows, no matter what you wear.”

  “Thanks for that compliment, but to me, it’s more of a burden. I don’t expect you to understand that though, you being a man.”

  “I think I do. You are looking for a man with a heart of gold, but you can’t, because your looks keep getting in the way.”

  “You’re right. And the only men who have a heart of gold are all married!”

  “Just keep looking. You’ll find one.”

  “No chance of Janice divorcing you any time soon?”

  “I hope not. I kind of like my life the way it is. Even with the complications that come with kids, and sometimes with friends.”

  “I know.”

  “Miranda, you know the shit is going to hit the fan, when the Judge comes up missing. And because you are his closest neighbor, you know the police are going to question you.”

  “I know.”

  “Are you sure you can hold up to the questions and interrogations without cracking? If they see you sweat, they will concentrate on you, as a suspect. Think you can handle that?”

  “I think so. After all, I didn’t kill him! But even if I do crack, you can rest assured that I will not incriminate you in any way.”

  “That’s not what I was thinking, but I appreciate it.”

  “This is my mess, and if something goes wrong, I will take full blame for it. But I thank you for your help.”

  “We were about to call the pool contractor?”

  “Yes, I have the number right here. So if he says he can’t get to it right away, to offer him cash incentives?”

  “Yeah, money talks, and you seem to have plenty of it, so use it! Even if he’s in the middle of another job, if you make it worth his while, he’ll drop the other job and come put yours in. That’s the way contractors work.”

  “You said you would call him for me.”

  “Yes I did. I guess I have time before I go to work.”

  “Here’s the number.”

  Travis called the contractor, reaching him at a job site. He identified himself as ‘Ms. Monroe’s financial advisor’, and laid out the bonus schedule for him. The contractor was so eager to get started, that he said he would be there with a back-hoe to get started later that evening. Travis thanked him and hung up.

  “You made it sound easy!”

  “Yeah, now the basic price is $14,000. You owe him $5,000 for dropping his present job, and coming to yours. The 10th of August is the deadline. It will be finished, and landscaped by the 10th. If he gets through on the 9th, you owe him an extra thousand. Or if he gets through on the 8th, two thousand, and so on. But make sure everything is right, and the pool is filled before you pay him. He said he might have to work around the clock, in getting it dug out, but I told him that was okay. But you keep an eye on them. When they get to the stage where they are ready to pour the concrete, find an excuse for them to stop. You need time to bury the body in the bottom of the site, before they start pouring. In preparing to pour, they will most likely put a layer of gravel, covered with plastic, in the very bottom. You need to fold back the plastic, remove the gravel, put the body in, cover back with gravel, so that it is completely concealed, then put the plastic back over it. You may not have room to put all the gravel back, so get rid of it by returning it to their gravel pile. Watch them as they pour the concrete, so you will be sure in your own mind, that the body is really covered. Any questions?”

  “No, I’ve got it. I just wish you were going to be here, to make sure it goes smoothly! You are good at escaping cannibals, and drug cartels, and killing sorcerers. I need you to help me deal with this too.”

  “Sorry, I’ll be in England by then. And I am about to run late for work, so good luck.”

  “Is that the best you can do?”

  He gave her a big hug before he left, because she needed one.

  6

  Travis was up the next morning at 7 a.m., signing books, and working on his computer. The boys had loaded up their truck and gone camping and fishing for two days, trying desperately to squeeze more fun out of their summer before going back to school in three weeks. Rebecca was gone on a Church Retreat to Mentone for a few days. Jenny was on her own, with her dead-beat husband. It looked like he and Janice were in for a couple days of quiet relaxation, before he and Drew left for England. They were planning to catch up on a little work, and then try to catch a little glimpse of what it was going to be like after all their kids were grown up and gone from the nest. They were planning to later go out for a leisurely lunch, just the two of them, before he went.

  But their plans changed when the phone rang at about 9 AM. Janice answered it in the other room, and talked for a couple of minutes, then came to inform him that she was going to town.

  “Why? Mama needs something from the store?”

  “No, that was actually a strange call. Do you remember Penelope Jones?”

  “The wife of Herbert Jones, who lives down the road?”

  “Well, yeah, Herbert Jones’ ex-wife. They have been divorced for a couple of years now.”

  “I didn’t know that.”

  “Yeah well, you work all the time, and don’t keep up with the gossip. Anyway, that was her on the phone. She is living with a boyfriend over in Arlington for the past two years, since Herbert threw her out. She was addicted to prescription drugs and alcohol. Well, now she wants to go back to Herbert, but she is afraid that her boyfriend will be mad. She doesn’t have a car, so she called me to see if I would come get her and take her back to Herbert, while her boyfriend is still asleep.”

  Travis stopped typing. That di
dn’t sound quite right. “Why doesn’t she call Herbert to come get her?”

  “Because she hasn’t talked to Herbert lately, and doesn’t know how he will react. And besides, Herbert and her boyfriend don’t get along very well.”

  “I guess not. So she has asked you to do what, exactly?”

  “She just wants me to come to Arlington and pick her up out in front of her boyfriend’s house. She said he usually sleeps until about ten, so there is no danger of trouble from him.”

  “She can’t just call a cab?”

  “I guess she doesn’t have any money. She doesn’t have a job, and she hates her boyfriend.”

  “It sounds like a personal problem. I try not to get involved in our neighbors’ personal lives, Janice. It always leads to trouble.”

  “But she doesn’t know who else to turn to. She needs help, and people don’t ask me for help very often. When they do, I try to help them. I’m just going to pick her up and take her to Herbert’s house. Thirty minutes at most.”

  “But there could be trouble, if her boyfriend wakes up. Want me to go with you, in case there’s trouble?”

  “No Travis, you have plenty to do here. Trust me. I can handle this on my own.”

  “Okay, but take your cell phone, just in case.”

  “I will.”

  She left, and Travis didn’t give much more thought to it, because he got busy with other things. At 10:30 he heard the truck coming back down the driveway, and he wondered why it had taken her so long. He looked out the window and saw that Janice was not alone. There was a woman in the truck with her, a rather good looking lady that he recognized as being Penelope Jones. They both got out and came to the porch. Penelope had a gin bottle in one hand, yet seemed to be somewhat sober, though with a ‘spent’ look. Travis went to the living room to meet them, just as Janice brought Penelope in the front door.

  “Hello, Penelope!”

  “Hello, Travis.”

  “Janice says you are going back to Herbert?”

  “Yes, if he will have me. I don’t blame him if he doesn’t. We went by there already, but he wasn’t home. I will try to see him when he gets home this evening.”