I headed back to the office after an hour had passed. I got right back to work and saw Bonnie had emailed the tax refund resolution to me. I printed out copies to distribute at the meeting. I noticed I knew a few of the names on the list. Village president Marc Coglione, members of the board Winifred and John, and several more names that sounded familiar to me. Now I knew why Marc was okay with adding a late item to the agenda—it was an item that put money into his pocket. I went to a drawer to pull out my current list of volunteers to boards and committees to see if any of the other names were familiar to me because they were involved with the village, but I was interrupted by the sound of my ringing phone. It was a call from the senior center director, Patti Costello.
“Chelsey, you’d better get over here. Babs Todaro is here and she is causing a scene. I don’t know what to do. She keeps asking for you. Maybe you can calm her down.”
“On my way,” I said as I disconnected.
I ran over to the Senior Center and found Babs screaming at people and whacking them in the legs with her cane. She was in a room full of seniors who were trying to eat lunch and Patti was trying to calm her down.
“Babs, it’s Chelsey. What’s wrong?” I tried to ask her.
She pulled her cane back to smack me in the shin and I hopped backwards, out of the way.
“Do you know anyone from her family that you can call?” I asked Patti.
“I wish I did,” she replied.
Babs continued to walk around the room with her cane, causing a scene. She started to shout, “Food fight, food fight.” Then she reached over, took an apple off of someone’s plate, and pitched it clear across the room. It landed with a big thunk. Several seniors packed up their lunches and left the building.
Patti and I looked at each other in bewilderment.
“I think we should call the police,” I said. “I hate to cause a bigger scene, but I don’t think she’s going to listen to me.”
Patti left the room to call the police. I tried to follow Babs around and minimize the damage. I pleaded with her.
“Babs, please, come into the lobby with me. I have a surprise for you.”
She stared at me with a bizarre look on her face for a full thirty seconds, then she charged at me. I jumped back, but she caught me with the cane in my leg. Babs wasn’t very strong at her ripe old age, so it didn’t really hurt.
“That’s enough, Babs! You can’t go around hitting people with your cane! You are going to hurt someone!” I yelled at her.
She whacked me again.
I grabbed hold of the cane. She pulled it as hard as she could, so I let go. I was afraid she was going to fall and break a hip. She swung the cane over her head and took a running start for me. I ran. She chased me around the entire room with her cane over her head.
“She’s trying to steal my cane, she’s trying to steal my cane,” she shouted.
I ran into the lobby to try to get her away from the other senior citizens. She chased me into the lobby and around the couches positioned near the entrance. The police finally arrived after two laps around the room.
“Patti, she’s nuts; she’s going to hurt herself.”
Babs turned, looked at Patti, then clunked her in the head with the cane. Two young police officers entered the building and started yelling at Babs.
“Hey, hey, hey,” one of them said. “You can’t go around hitting people with your cane.”
Babs looked at him and whacked him in the knee with her cane.
The officer looked at her, and said loudly and sternly, “Ma’am, do not touch the blue again.”
She pulled the cane back and smacked him with it again. The two officers picked her up by her arms, took the cane away, and plopped her down on the couch. They told her to sit until her daughter arrived. Babs started to cry. Apparently, there had been a few other incidents with Babs, so the police had contact information for her family.
Babs’ daughter arrived and was completely embarrassed. She explained that Babs had been placed on some new medicine for her dementia and was not responding well to it. She took Babs home. The officers asked Patti if she wanted to press charges for assault, since they had witnessed Babs’ cane landing on Patti’s head. Patti declined. I wanted to get back to work, but I felt a horrible migraine coming on. It had to be from all the stress. I couldn’t help but say to myself, What the heck did I get myself into by taking this job? I went back to my office, found my purse, and popped a couple of pills for my headache. I told Bonnie I needed to take a short break to let the meds kick in.
I went outside and walked the block and a half to the beach. Although it was warm for March, there was still a bit of a chill in the air, so I zipped up my coat. The sound of the waves hitting the sand had always had a soothing effect on me. I thought if I sat down at the bench atop the entrance, I could rest my eyes, inhale the salt air, listen to the beach sounds, and calm down enough to make the pounding in my head disappear.
I sat down on the bench and had enough time to take one deep, relaxing breath before I noticed it: A somewhat large, black object lying in the sand, the waves lapping over a portion of it. It appeared to be heavy by the way the undertow wasn’t able to drag the object back out to sea. I squinted, in hopes my vision would clear enough to make out what the object was. Curiosity got the better of me. It wasn’t uncommon for a dolphin to wash up on the beach at the Jersey shore. I got up from my seat, and trudged down the short path through the dunes to get a better look.
Seagulls swooped down near the object, occasionally pecking at it. Perhaps it wasn’t a dolphin. It seemed similar to a large garbage bag. Each footstep of mine sank in the sand. The pounding in my head was lessening. My migraine medicine was kicking in. I continued my walk, closer to the object. It was a calm and peaceful day. No one was on the beach this time of year. The sun was shining brightly, causing me to raise my hand above my eyes, trying to block out the glare for a better look.
I finally reached the large black object. It was indeed a ginormous garbage bag. I moved around it to the other side, to see what was inside the open flap. I peered in, without touching it, then let out a blood-curling scream that could have been heard for a mile. I ran a few feet away, then lost my lunch on the beach. I couldn’t make out the decomposing face I saw, but it didn’t matter to me. I was too freaked out to think about who it could be. I reached in my pocket, took out my cell phone, and dialed the Coral Beach emergency line.
Within a minute, police and EMS arrived on the scene. A little while later, the coroner. The police took my statement and said I could leave. I had, without a doubt, had my fill of Coral Beach for the day, so I called it quits and drove to my parents’ house, shaking, unable to get that dreaded image out of my head.
Chapter 9
I tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep, unable to remove the image of the decomposing man from my mind, unable to think about anything other than what had been happening in Coral Beach. The next morning, I decided I was going to do some more snooping. I was determined to get to the bottom of all the craziness. Since the newspapers said the body had not yet been identified from the night before, I booted up my computer at work and typed “Vinny Buttiglieri” into the search engine. Not much popped up. I then tried “Vincenzo Buttiglieri.” Articles about his death appeared on the screen. There were a few new things I learned from the articles. I saw that his former wife’s name was Penny. One said he was a current resident of Bordentown, New Jersey, but he was originally from Coral Beach. His mother was still living and she was also from Coral Beach.
I decided to take a chance and do a Google search for “Penny Buttiglieri.” An address and telephone number came up for that name, a person living in Coral Beach. I was hoping Penny didn’t change her name after their divorce, and that I had found the right person. During my lunch break, the urge came over me to call her. I didn’t even know what I was going to say to her.
“Hello?” Penny said as she answered the phone.
; “Hi, Penny. My name is Chelsey Alton, and I’m the municipal clerk of Coral Beach.”
“I know, I know, the animal control officer already called me. I’m late with my dog license. I’ve been so busy, I haven’t had time to take Shmoopsy to the vet to get her rabies vaccine.”
This was a tiny stroke of luck, that I had a valid reason to be calling her, if anyone asked.
“Well, I was calling to let you know that our health department is running a free rabies clinic this Saturday, from nine to twelve, so that you won’t have to pay for the shot.”
“Oh, great. I’ll try to make it. Is it in the public works garage again?”
“Yes, it is. Um, do you mind if I ask you a question?”
“No, not at all.”
“Were you any relation to the former clerk here?”
“Yes, he was my ex-husband.”
“Oh, I see. I’m new to this job here. I’ve only been here a little over a week, and, uh, could I ask you one more question?”
“Oh, please, I really don’t want to talk about my ex-husband. His death has put me through hell and back with all the police officers here asking questions. I thought I was rid of him and anything to do with him when we divorced, but it’s like he’s back in my life with all the drama. I kept sending the police over to his girlfriend’s place. I figured, let her deal with all of this.”
“Oh, geez, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up a sore subject. I didn’t really want to know about him, I wanted to know about my bosses here. It seems a few of them are very difficult to work for and I was wondering if you knew anything about them, that maybe Vinny had told you, that I should watch out for.”
“Well, that Winifred is a real bitch,” she told me. “Tried to get my ex fired on numerous occasions. I think she’s keeping secrets; she always seems to be up to something. Only votes on items to serve her own agenda. She’s never looking out for the residents.”
“Oh, good to know. Anyone else?”
“I never liked that Marc guy either. Him and his Grecian Formula’d hair. He was always a miserable S.O.B., from what I could tell. The rest, I don’t really know anything about. They all came on board after our divorce. I know I should read the newspapers more or keep up on what’s going on in this village, but politics and government bore the heck out of me.”
“Thanks so much for the information. I really appreciate it. Um, you mentioned Vinny’s girlfriend. Out of curiosity, who is she?”
“Her name is Rae Ann Sumners. That’s all I know about her.”
“Thanks again!”
We said goodbye and hung up the phone. I thought about Rae Ann and wondered how I could find her. I didn’t know where she lived or anything else about her. When I arrived back at work from lunch, Nero was waiting in the hallway for me. I walked past him without acknowledging him. He followed me to my office door.
“You can’t come in here, Nero.”
“Please, give me five minutes of your time.”
“Don’t you have a job or something?”
“I’m a computer consultant. I own my own business. I make my own hours.”
“Oh, well, that explains everything. It makes sense that you are part of a Geek Squad.”
“I don’t work for Geek Squad; my company is Nero Computers.”
“You have thirty seconds, Nero. What do you want?”
“I will show you that I’m the guy for you.”
“You aren’t the guy for me. I told you, I’m taken. Please stop.”
“I don’t see a ring on your finger.”
I rolled my eyes, opened my office door, and slammed it in his face.
“He’s still at it?” Bryce asked me.
“Yes, and it doesn’t seem like he is going to give up.”
I trotted back into my office and saw my voicemail light was blinking. I cringed. The only people that ever seemed to call on my direct line were Nero, Babs, and Marc, and none of them were welcome callers. I played back the message.
“Hi, Chelsey, it’s Kris. I apologize profusely for not calling you sooner. I want to take you out to celebrate your new job. Are you free on Saturday? Call me.”
This message put a smile on my face and brightened up my day. Even though it didn’t seem like we could coordinate our schedules, I liked him…a lot! I hoped he felt the same way about me. The sound of his voice was exactly what I needed today. I decided I would call him back after work and agree to the date on Saturday with him. Needless to say, I walked around in “La-La Land” the rest of the day. Nothing like a gorgeous guy to get a dead one off my mind!
* * *
By the next morning, I had snapped out of my dream world of happily-ever-after with Kris and back into reality. I decided I would do some more snooping. I called Kathy Norcia. I hadn’t seen her since she first gave me the heads up about this job opening and hadn’t spoken to her since I started my new job. I called from my cell phone on my way into work. After a few pleasantries, I asked her if she knew anything about Rae Ann and how I could contact her. Kathy remembered meeting her once when Vinny brought her to a conference, but she wasn’t sure where she lived. She referred me to the municipal clerk of Sanibel Heights, New Jersey, Michele Analoro. She and Vinny had been friends.
When I got into work, I looked up the phone number for Sanibel Heights and saved it into my cell phone. I figured I would give Michele a call during my lunch break. To err on the side of caution, I didn’t want anyone at work knowing what I was up to.
By nine o’clock, Bonnie strutted into my office.
“This place sucks. There are no hot guys here for me to fantasize about. Well, with the exception of Bryce, but he’s more your type than mine. And the only ogling going on is from Dingo, staring at my lung protectors all day long,” she said.
“Sorry, I tried to warn you about him.”
“I know you did. I just miss seeing all those hot firemen in Sunshine. Has Nero bothered you?”
“Not since I slammed the door in his face yesterday.”
“He was here again?”
“Yup. He’s like a wart that I can’t get rid of.”
“More like a vaginal itch.”
“Bonnie!”
“Well, an itch like that is worse than a wart, and a wart just doesn’t seem to do Nero justice. Next time, kick him in the nuts.”
I ignored her suggestion to kick a resident between the legs. “The good news is that Kris called me and we are finally going out on a date this Saturday.”
Before Bonnie could answer me, my phone rang.
“I’ll let you get back to work, but I want details later,” she said as she walked away.
I answered the phone. It was my old friend, Landon Nero.
“Hey, Landon! Congratulations on your wedding!”
“Thanks! I am so sorry that I’m calling like this.”
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“Well, I don’t want you to think I’m crazy or anything, and I already know what your answer is going to be, but…”
“What’s going on, Landon?”
“Um, well, it’s my cousin, Mike. He asked me to call you and see if you wanted to go out with him.”
“What are we? In ninth grade? I already told him no.”
“I know, I know. Don’t shoot the messenger. He begged me to call you. He said he thought you liked him.”
“Seriously? He thought I liked him when I told him I didn’t want to go out on a date with him?”
“I know; he’s strange. I promise you that he’s harmless. He’s just a social misfit.”
“I’m hanging up now, Landon.”
“Oh, okay, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean bother you. I just promised him I would call.”
“Bye.”
I hung up quickly. I couldn’t believe Landon called me to ask me to go out with Mike. At my work, nonetheless. I didn’t have time for childish antics like that and I thought it was completely inappropriate for him to bother me at work.
The phone ran
g again. I rolled my eyes. I was about to say “What now?” because I thought it was Nero or Landon calling, but luckily, I looked at my caller ID first. It was Babs Todaro.
“Good morning, Babs,” I said as I picked up the phone.
“I need to hire some protection,” Babs announced.
“Protection?” I asked
“Yes, protection. The Iceman is after me. He’s going to kill me. I need help.”
“Who is the Iceman?”
“He’s my nephew’s friend.”
“I thought the tooth fairy was your nephew’s friend.”
“Um, no, wait. The Iceman is my nephew’s cousin.”
“Wouldn’t your nephew’s cousin be your nephew as well?”
“You’re trying to confuse me.”
“I’m sorry, Babs, I didn’t mean to confuse you.”
“Never mind,” Babs said, sounding angry, and she hung up the phone.
I asked Bonnie if she thought that I should tell someone about Babs being afraid of someone trying to kill her. We agreed that a quick call to the police chief wouldn’t hurt. If the police thought it was important enough, they could notify Babs’ daughter. Perhaps her medication still wasn’t adjusted quite right. Or perhaps there was no medication that would help. Dementia is a terrible condition and it, unfortunately, isn’t curable.
I left a message for the police chief and then I had just enough time to finish the rest of my work before heading out to lunch. I left the building, got into my car, and went to the local pizza place for lunch. I called Sanibel Heights, but didn’t have much luck, as Michele was out to lunch as well. I walked into the pizza place, and I saw Marc having lunch with Gino Righetti. I quickly said hello before going to the counter and ordering my slice. I thought that they must be close, since this was the second time I saw them having a meal together. I didn’t want to be anywhere near them, so I took my slice to go, and ate it quickly in the car before heading back to the office.
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