Thirty and a Half Excuses

by Denise Grover Swank

  Defensiveness shot through me. “Don’t be jumpin’ down my throat. I was just calling to tell you what I heard. Excuse me for trying to do my civic duty.”

  He sighed. “I’m sorry. You’re right. I had a rough afternoon in court, and I’m taking it out on you. You did the right thing by calling me.”

  “Thank you.” I tried not to sound miffed.

  “I’ll have Detective Taylor ask some of the other neighbors if they heard anything, but I don’t think anything is going to come from it. There was no forced entry. No sign of violence. She was lying on the floor as though she’d collapsed with a heart attack.” His voiced warmed. “Your neighborhood is safe.”

  After the last several months, I wasn’t sure I’d ever consider my neighborhood safe. “Thanks for believing me.”

  He sighed. “It’s not a matter of believing you, Rose. It’s a matter of whether the four-year-old actually heard something. But like I said, I’ll have Taylor do some checking.”

  “He won’t like it. Especially when he hears it was me who told you.”

  Mason’s words were clipped. “He’ll do his job, and he won’t know it came from you.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Anytime. But just in case…be sure to lock your doors, okay?”

  “Yeah.” He didn’t have to tell me to lock my doors. I made sure to do it every night. Not that it had done me much good. I was pretty sure my back window had a flashing neon Welcome murderers and thieves sign over it.

  Chapter Six

  After I made a sandwich, I sat on the front porch watching Muffy do her business in the yard. I snuck a glance down at Miss Dorothy’s house, wondering why someone would want to kill her. Or Miss Laura for that matter. Mason said that in both cases there’d been no forced entry and nothing had been stolen. How could someone make the old ladies’ deaths look so natural that they didn’t arouse the suspicions of the Henryetta Police? Not that much made the police suspicious of anything. Unless the suspect was me.

  I had to admit that even though it looked suspicious to me, it just didn’t add up to murder.

  Muffy kept looking longingly down the street, and a wave of guilt made my stomach knot. I’d neglected my little dog too much over the last few weeks while Violet and I were making the final push to have everything ready for the opening. The boys next door had “dog sat” her over the weekends, but I knew for a fact they hadn’t taken her on walks. The only thing I had to do tonight was laundry. Maybe a walk would help me sort out my unsettled feelings.

  When I approached Muffy with her leash, she got so excited I had trouble getting the hook attached to her collar. Once she was connected, she took off running, and I nearly tripped trying to keep up. She sniffed and peed over half the surfaces we passed, practically shaking with excitement. My plan had been to take her a square block, but she still had a ton of energy when it was time to turn back. The truth was that I wasn’t ready to go back to my empty house yet, so we just kept going. I spent the next forty-five minutes thinking about my encounter with Jonah Pruitt. I hadn’t been to church since Momma’s funeral, which hadn’t even been a service. I’d turned my back on church, but Jonah Pruitt’s church sounded like everything I’d ever dreamed of in a church. A place where everyone was wanted and accepted. Shoot, I’d spent my entire life looking for that. Violet, Aunt Bessie, and Uncle Earl were the only ones who’d ever truly accepted me until Joe had come into my life.

  Wishing for Momma to accept me had been a wasted effort. Boy would she be surprised to see me now—Rose Gardner, business owner.

  The sun began to rapidly sink toward the earth, casting shadows, and I realized I was close to the park where I’d spent time the night of Momma’s murder. Instead of going home to her, I’d sat on a bench to write my wish list. If things had gone differently, Momma might not have been killed.

  More wasted thoughts.

  I turned Muffy around, and we took the same path I had taken that fateful night. Truth be told, I was sorry Momma got murdered, but my life had changed a lot since that night in May, and I wasn’t sorry about that. Why hadn’t I tried to change things before I thought I was going to be killed?

  A half a block away, I hesitated at the street corner, staring at the house where I’d lived since I was a baby. Tonight was so similar to the night Momma had been killed—same time of day, same path, no porch light on—I suddenly felt sick to my stomach.

  Muffy stood next to me, looking up in confusion. Why was I standing still when we were so close to home?

  I was being paranoid. I made myself put one foot in front of the other and crossed the street, chiding myself for acting so silly. I’d had a busy day, and the elderly women’s deaths had me on edge, not to mention all the weirdness about Joe and Mason. All I needed was a good night’s sleep.

  But Muffy had other ideas. She bolted, jerking the leash from my hand, and tore across the street toward Miss Dorothy’s house.

  “Muffy!”

  She ignored me, running between the deceased woman’s house and Thomas’s on the corner.

  I took off, chasing after her. “Muffy! Come back here right now!” But Muffy had her own plan and stopping wasn’t part of it. She sped around the corner and into the backyard. I stood at the edge of the property, letting my eyes adjust. The sun had almost set and the house was completely dark. It didn’t help that Miss Dorothy had sheets hanging on a clothesline in the back, obstructing my view of the yard.

  “Muffy!”

  I heard her low growl over by the house, and my breath came in short bursts. My little dog only growled when there was danger. I considered turning and running for my house, but I couldn’t leave her there, and I felt like a coward for even considering it. Muffy would never leave me.

  “Muffy!” I whispered, but my voice was drowned out by a sudden chorus of locusts. I pushed between two sheets on the laundry line, finding a row of house dresses. Just when I was about to push through those, Muffy growled louder, and a figure burst through two of the dresses, plowing into me. I screamed and fell backward into the sheet hanging behind me. The man fell with me, landing on my stomach and knocking the air out of me.

  Muffy jumped on the man, snarling as her teeth sank into the attacker’s upper right arm. He shoved her away, cursing under his breath, and then jumped up and ran off before I could gather my wits enough to react. I worried Muffy would run after him, but she came over to me whimpering instead.

  Her cries got me moving. I sat up and ran my hands over her body, fearing that she may have been injured when the attacker threw her. But I couldn’t find anything wrong with her, and she stopping whining when I got to my feet.

  Muffy had been whimpering because she was worried about me.

  My butt was sore from the fall, but I was more frightened than hurt. I was on autopilot as I walked home, flipping on the kitchen light before I stepped inside, already planning to run to Heidi Joy’s house if it didn’t turn on. But the room flooded with light. No one was waiting in the dark to finish me off. I breathed a sigh of relief.

  After locking the door, I grabbed my cell phone out of my purse, calling the first number that came to mind. He answered on the second ring.

  “Rose, is everything all right?” Mason’s worried voice filled my ear.

  “I don’t know. Someone just attacked me behind Miss Dorothy’s house.” My voice was strangely calm.

  “Have you called the police?”

  “No. I called you.”

  “Where are you now?”

  “In my house.”

  “Lock the doors and don’t open them until I get there, okay?”

  “Okay.” I nodded, only realizing as I did it that he couldn’t see me.

  “Are you hurt?” His voice sounded tight.

  “Not really. More scared.”

  “I’ll be right there.”

  I sank into a kitchen chair as my legs turned to limp spaghetti. I felt lightheaded, so I laid my head on the table as Muffy drank massive amounts of water
from her bowl. A new fear filled me. “Muffy, you shouldn’t have run off like that. You could have been killed.”

  She looked up at me like I’d just said the most ridiculous thing in the world.

  “I mean it, Muffy. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” My voice broke when I thought about what could have happened to her. Muffy lifted her paws onto my knee, and I rubbed her head. “Good girl. I love you too.”

  Sirens filled the night air, coming closer and clinching my stomach. I wasn’t sure I’d ever get used to the sound of sirens. Especially when I knew they were coming because of me. Instinctively, I had known Mason would call the police, but their presence still made me nervous.

  Pounding on the front door made me jump, but Mason’s voice followed. “Rose! It’s me!”

  I stood, waiting a second to be sure my legs would hold my weight, chiding myself for being such a baby. I’d been in worse fixes than this.

  When I opened the front door, Mason’s worried face filled the opening. Flashing lights filled the street behind him. “Are you okay?”

  I nodded. “Yeah. I’m fine.”

  He looked over my shoulder, hesitating. “Can I come in?”

  “Of course,” I answered, stepping backward to let him in.

  He led me to the sofa. “Sit down and tell me everything that happened.”

  I sank into the cushions while he sat in the overstuffed chair next to me. “I took Muffy for a walk, and we went farther than I’d planned. So it was gettin’ dark when we started for home. When we passed Miss Dorothy’s house, Muffy jerked the leash out of my hand and ran behind her house.” Muffy jumped onto the sofa and pressed her body against my thigh, resting her chin on my leg. “Miss Dorothy’s laundry was still hanging on her clothesline so I couldn’t see Muffy, but I heard her growling. I was in the middle of a bunch of sheets and house dresses when someone burst through and knocked me down and fell on top of me. I don’t think he meant to attack me. He was just tryin’ to get away. But he landed on me, and Muffy thought he was trying to hurt me, so she bit him. He threw Muffy to the side, got up, and took off. Thank goodness, she stayed with me.”

  Mason listened intently, showing no obvious reaction. “And then you came home and called me?”

  I nodded.

  “Why didn’t you call the police?”

  “You very well know why. The same reason I called you this afternoon: They hate me. And not only do they hate me, but they usually try to pin whatever’s going wrong in this town on me.”

  He leaned forward, resting his arms on his legs, his brow wrinkled in confusion. “Rose, you didn’t do anything wrong. How could they pin this on you?”

  I shrugged. “How could they pin the break-in of my house on me? Surely you can see why I don’t trust them.”

  He sighed, looking guilty. “That was a different situation. You were a suspect in your mother’s death. There’s no reason to think you were involved in anything this time.”

  I wasn’t so sure.

  “Did you get a good look at the guy?”

  I shook my head. “No, it was dark, and he caught me by surprise.”

  “Can you describe him? Was he short or tall? Did you see his hair color or any distinguishing features?”

  I sighed. “Not really. He was dressed in a black long-sleeved shirt and jeans, and he was kind of hunched over when he ran toward me, so I couldn’t tell how tall he was. But he was bigger than me when he landed on top of me.” I closed my eyes trying to remember what I’d seen. “It all happened so fast. Just about the only other thing I remember seeing was a knit hat covering his head.”

  Mason’s hand covered my knee, and I opened my eyes in surprise. “It’s okay. But you might remember more as it all settles in. Do you feel up to going over there with me?”

  I hesitated. “I guess.”

  “It’s perfectly safe.”

  I knew that. Only a fool would stick around with all the commotion going on outside, even if it was the Henryetta police. The police were the reason I didn’t want to go. I was being ridiculous, and I knew it. But knowing something and feeling something are two entirely different things. Still, I wasn’t going to live my life cowering in fear. I’d left those days behind me, and I wasn’t about to pick up old habits now.

  I stood. “Let’s get this over with.”

  “I’ll be with you the entire time.”

  His statement gave me more comfort than I’d expected it would. But he’d been the one to save me in July when Jimmy DeWade had tried to kill me, and he’d offered me comfort then too. Especially when Joe wasn’t giving it to me.

  Muffy wasn’t happy that I left her behind. Mason walked next to me, keeping a polite distance. I showed him where I was standing when Muffy took off and retraced my steps. The backyard was lit up this time, and Detective Taylor and Officer Ernie were there, snooping around the back of the house.

  When they saw me, Detective Taylor approached with a notebook. “What exactly did you see?”

  I swallowed my resistance and told him everything I’d told Mason.

  “Did you notice what direction he went?” the detective asked.

  Shaking my head, I looked behind me, getting a face-full of a sheet. “No, I was more worried about Muffy after he threw her off.” I peeked through a gap in the housedresses. A couple had fallen off the line, either in the attacker’s flight or after the police’s arrival. Ernie was checking out the back door. “Was he trying to get into Miss Dorothy’s house?” I asked.

  Taylor puffed out his chest. “We’re looking into that right now.”

  Ernie glanced over his shoulder. “It looks like he had just gotten the door pried open before he was interrupted.” He narrowed his eyes at me.

  Mason stared at the back door before glancing back at me. “I’ll walk you home, Rose.”

  “I’m perfectly capable of walking home. It wasn’t like he was after me. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  “That seems to happen to you an awful lot,” Mason muttered.

  “Tell me about it.”

  Neighbors had gathered on the sidewalk when I walked to the front of the house. Miss Mildred was front and center again, looking just as worried as she had earlier in the day. It had to be upsetting to an eighty-two-year-old woman to find her neighbor and friend dead, and then discover the police had been called to her house again. Heidi Joy and Miss Opal were there too, and there were some new faces in the crowd—the younger couple who lived down at the other end of the street and worked during the day and Thomas. He leaned against his muscle car with crossed arms, watching the commotion impassively.

  “What’s going on?” Heidi Joy asked.

  I looked back at the house, surprised to notice that Thomas was looking at me with interest.

  “Someone tried to break into Miss Dorothy’s house tonight. Muffy must have seen or heard something, because she pulled her leash out of my hand and went back there to confront the intruder.”

  Miss Mildred shot me a look of contempt. “I’ll be notifying Animal Control first thing tomorrow morning about your dog running around loose.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I just gave Detective Taylor and the assistant DA an admission of guilt to that very charge. Don’t you think calling the dog catcher is overkill?”

  Miss Opal tsked, shaking her head. “Good heavens, Mildred. Don’t ya think we’ve got more important things to worry about?”

  Mildred scowled but remained silent.

  “What do you think they were after, Rose?” Heidi Joy asked, clutching the edges of her robe to her chest.

  “I don’t know. But I’m sure the police will get to the bottom of it.” I didn’t ordinarily have much faith in them, but maybe they’d get things done with Mason riding their behinds.

  I didn’t feel like standing outside with the crowd, so I went home and checked Muffy out again, just to make sure she wasn’t hurt, and then put on my pajamas. I was still wound up from the excitement, so I turned on the
television. Hopefully it would help me forget about my strange day. I’d just started to get drowsy when Mason knocked on my door. “Rose, are you still up?”

  Cracking the door open, I stayed inside. I’d stirred up Miss Mildred enough tonight without going out in my nightgown.

  His face appeared in the opening. “Did you happen to lose a piece of jewelry when the thief knocked you down?”

  My eyes widened. “No. I never wear jewelry.” The only pieces I owned were the diamond engagement ring my birth mother had left me, a few pieces of costume jewelry, and the crucifix necklace Aunt Bessie had given me when I was baptized in the sixth grade.

  “Okay, just checking. We found a piece out in the grass, a necklace with a St. Jude’s medal with something engraved on the back, and wondered if it was yours.”

  “Do you think it belonged to the thief?”

  Mason shrugged. “Maybe. Or it could have been in the yard for a while, although it doesn’t look weathered. Detective Taylor thinks that it was recently dropped.”

  I didn’t trust Detective Taylor to investigate himself out of a paper bag. “Do you agree with him?”

  “Yeah. I do.” He shifted his weight, looking over his shoulder at her house before turning back to me. “Are you okay? Do you feel safe? I can have Taylor assign a patrol car to keep an eye on your house and the neighborhood. Do some drive-bys tonight.”

  I was sure the Henryetta police would love that. “Nah. I’ve got Muffy as my guard dog. Besides, you’re probably right. I’m sure it was just a random intruder.”

  “If anything else happens or you feel unsafe, promise me you’ll call 911 first. They can get to you before I can.”

  I smirked. “Not tonight.”

  “You’re lucky I was still working.”

  “You work too much.”

  He laughed. “Now you sound like my mother.”