Sadie thought of the ruby lips of the ghost screaming the stuff was his. She shuddered. She’d love to ask Mimi about the ghost but didn’t know how to bring it up without sounding like she was applying to be a roommate at Cedar House.
“I’m sure they’ll be real careful of your stuff,” Sadie said. She didn’t remind Mimi that Paula had already hired Sadie and Zack to have the majority of her mother’s hoard of stuff hauled out to the Dumpster in the driveway.
“It’s my stuff,” Mimi repeated. She crossed her arms across her chest and harrumphed. Sadie realized it was time to leave.
“Well, I guess I should get going. I’m supposed to be having dinner with my own mother.”
“Well, that’s nice,” Mimi said, her face bright again. “Paula never came around to eat with me when I lived on Sunnyside. All because of all my things. That’s what she said. She said it was on account of the stuff.” Mimi sighed. “She coulda just taken me out. Even McDonald’s.” She sighed again.
Sadie agreed. She’d met hoarders before, and she knew they suffered from a mental illness. Mimi couldn’t help her compulsion to fill her house with stuff any more than a schizophrenic could stop the voices inside his head.
Sadie hesitated. Maybe there was a way to ask Mimi about the ghost inside the old woman’s house without sounding crazy herself.
“I’m curious, Mimi. What was Paula’s dad like? I know he died a dozen years ago, when Paula was just fourteen, right?”
“George died in 1994. Paula was twelve.” Mimi’s face clouded over, and she sniffed and dabbed at the corners of her eyes filled with fresh tears like he’d passed on just yesterday. “Paula took it hard, of course. She was an only child and Daddy’s little girl.” She pulled a tissue from her cleavage and blew her nose loudly. “I told George to stop smoking.”
“Cancer?” Sadie asked gently. “Must’ve been tough being a single mom with a teenager.” She paused and then dove right in. “After George died were there, like, um, strange things happening inside the house?”
“Strange things?” Mimi’s penciled-in eyebrows rose in confusion. “You mean all the stuff I bought?”
“Sure, or, you know, even other stuff. Noises. Things falling down without reason.”
Mimi looked at Sadie quizzically. “I don’t think I get what you mean. Are you asking if George haunted us?”
There was laughter in Mimi’s eyes that proclaimed that to be a definite no. Sadie sat down and made a production of searching her purse for more goodies and came up with a roll of Tums. Mimi greedily snapped them up and crunched the chalky tablets like they were candy.
“I can tell Paula looks like you,” Sadie said, deciding on a different course of action. “She’s got your eyes and your nose.” Sadie eyed the old woman critically as if looking for further resemblance. “But Paula’s not very tall, and wasn’t her dad a huge man, well over six feet?”
Mimi shook her head. “Nope, George wasn’t tall. He used to tell everyone he was five foot seven but that was only ’cause I’m five foot six and he wanted to be taller. He was big the other way, though.” Mimi laughed and held out her hands to show a large belly. “From the time he was forty, he looked like he could pop out a ten-pound baby at any second. Why did you think he was over six feet?”
“Maybe I saw a picture at the house or something,” Sadie offered vaguely.
“Oh, wait a second. You must be talking about Moe.”
“Moe?” Sadie asked, her heart skipping a little in her chest.
Mimi nodded. “Uncle Moe. My brother. He lived with us for a few years after George died. He was a real sport about helping out with Paula. He even took Paula and Carole out driving.”
“Carole?” Sadie asked. “That would be the neighbor girl?”
“That’s right.” Mimi nodded. “Bertrude’s girl. Carole and Paula were close as sisters back then. They weren’t of age to drive at the time, but he’d take ’em out to the mall parking lots early, before the stores opened, and let them get a feel for being behind the wheel. Of course, he thought I didn’t know.” She chuckled. “God, I miss him.” Tears leaked down her cheeks again and she quickly mopped at her face.
“When did Moe die?”
“Let’s see.” She crunched the bits of Tums in her mouth and tapped her chin thoughtfully. “In 2005, I believe. His heart. Barely had time to visit him once before he was gone.”
Sadie was thoughtful and wondered if Moe was indeed the angry ghost staking claim on Mimi’s belongings. Mimi jostled Sadie from her thoughts by reaching for Sadie’s purse.
“Check for more candy,” Mimi demanded. She managed to get her hands on the bottle of Vicodin pain pills in Sadie’s purse.
“Nope.” Sadie took the bottle from Mimi’s hand. “Those belong to Zack. He broke his ankle.” She got up to leave for good this time. “When I talk to Paula, do you want me to ask her to bring you some candy?”
“Won’t do any good,” Mimi grumped. “Paula said with all she’s paying for this place, she can’t afford any treats.”
Sadie figured it was pretty cheap of Paula to withhold a couple dollars’ worth of candy when it was obvious the sweets brought her mom such joy. She said good-bye to Mimi and headed out of the building. Sadie felt disappointed she’d missed the opportunity to tell off Paula but at least she was walking away with something: the identity of an angry ghost named Moe.
6
Sadie didn’t want to totally miss the opportunity to give Paula a piece of her mind so she dialed Paula’s cell phone number. The call went straight to voice mail.
“Paula, this is Sadie. Call me as soon as you can.” She repeated her cell phone number on Paula’s voice mail, and then she added, “It’s important, and I’m not calling about you kissing Zack’s foot.” She added emphatically, “Although that was a little above and beyond the call of your friendship duties. Anyway, call me.”
Just to be sure she covered all her bases, Sadie also sent her a text message, and she felt marginally better until she looked at the clock and realized she’d have to hurry. Mom liked to eat at five. Not five thirty. Not six o’clock. Five, and it was inching up to that time now. Sadie whipped into the market, picked up salad fixings, and then drove over to her mother’s house.
“It’s quarter past,” Mom grumped when Sadie walked in the door.
“Sorry,” Sadie said, hustling directly into the kitchen with her bags.
“Relax, Peggy,” Aunt Lynn said. “I just checked the casserole and it still has a couple minutes before it’s heated through.”
Sadie began chopping up the cucumbers and slicing tomatoes.
“No tomatoes for me,” came a voice behind her.
Sadie glanced up and acknowledged her father with a smile. “You always hated tomatoes,” Sadie replied.
“No, I don’t,” said Mom. “Your father’s the one who hated tomatoes. That’s why I never bought them and—” She sniffed. “Guess I can start buying tomatoes now.”
“Oh, God, here come the waterworks.” Dad rolled his eyes.
“Have a little compassion,” Sadie murmured under her breath.
Dad disappeared and dinner was quiet. While mom ate her salad, she determinedly stabbed each tomato on her plate. Every time she crammed one into her mouth, she then let out a little sob.
“I think it’s too soon for tomatoes,” Lynn said quietly.
“Yeah,” Sadie agreed.
The casserole was a mishmash of something resembling risotto and peppers, but the mixture was more like glue because it had obviously been overcooked even before being frozen and reheated.
“I bet this one’s from Brenda Hunt,” Aunt Lynn complained as she scraped food from one corner of her plate to the other. “Brenda’s always trying to make things with peppers, but everything she makes turns ’em into mush. She just doesn’t get that veggies don’t have to be soggy to be cooked.”
Sadie placed her fork in the food but it hadn’t found its way to her mouth yet. Her mind was drift
ing toward ugly thoughts. She was thinking of Zack taking pain pills and drinking vodka while laughing with Paula.
“You’re bending your fork,” Lynn said.
Sadie glanced at the utensil in her hand and realized she was, in fact, causing it to bend with the force she was using to stab the food on her plate. She loosened her grip and forced a few bits of risotto into her mouth before getting up to clear the table.
“Sorry, but I have to get back to work,” Sadie said.
Mom said, “You should bring some leftover casserole to Zack first. A good meal might make him feel better.”
“Except this isn’t a good meal,” Aunt Lynn quipped.
“Still, I’ve seen that man eat, and it’ll warm his belly even if he doesn’t really taste it.”
“I’m not going home. I’m going to work.”
“Later then,” Lynn said, getting up from the table and carrying the casserole dish with her. “We’ll just wrap this up, and you can take it with you and give it to Zack after you’re done working.”
“I’m sleeping here again tonight,” Sadie said, although she didn’t realize she’d made that decision until the words were out of her mouth.
She saw a knowing look pass between her mom and Lynn.
“You can’t let a thing like your dad’s death come between you and your man,” Aunt Lynn said softly.
“She’s right,” Mom said. “We were talking about it earlier. I’m fine. You should go home and be with Zack and stop focusing so much on your dad.”
“This isn’t about Dad. This is about me and Zack. Things have been . . . difficult.”
“It’s a difficult time, and people handle grief differently,” Aunt Lynn sagely pointed out.
“Yeah, except this started before Dad passed away.”
“Tell her about that whore kissing his foot,” Dad said, unable to keep a smirk off his face. “It’ll be fun listening to these two talk about that after you’re gone.”
“Be quiet,” Sadie murmured.
“Your aunt’s just trying to be helpful,” Mom said. “Don’t talk to her in that way.”
“You’re right. Sorry.” Sadie sighed. “I’ve gotta go do a job at the mall. Need anything?”
“Someone died at the mall?” Mom asked, appalled. “Which one?”
“Bellevue Square.”
“That hoity-toity place?” Lynn chuckled. “It was probably the prices that killed them.”
Sadie helped load the dishwasher and then headed toward Bellevue. She had time to kill and felt guilty that she’d left her mom’s so quickly when she still had hours before she had to go to work. But Mom would be fine with Aunt Lynn, and Sadie just wanted some alone time. She stopped for a coffee because she seriously needed to wash down the flavor of overcooked risotto and soggy green peppers. While she sipped her latte, she nibbled a chocolate biscotti and read a magazine. She managed to kill time until it was just after eight. By the time she got to the mall, she should have enough time to have a coffee break with Rosie, if possible, before she got off her shift at Orange Julius. Then Sadie would be ready to start her own job in the mall.
Sadie reached the shopping center and parked her company van in the discreet loading dock area that Earl Farina had suggested earlier. She snagged from the passenger seat a grocery sack in which she’d stuffed the three-ring binder and then headed inside the mall.
“I’m looking for Rosie,” Sadie said at the Orange Julius counter.
“I’m Rosie,” replied an exotic-looking young woman with perfectly tanned skin and high cheekbones.
“Hi. My name is Sadie Novak. I understand you were friends with Boom Boom.”
Rosie’s eyes grew big. “Are you from mall security?”
“No. Can you take a break so we can talk?”
“I’ll ask the shift supervisor.” Rosie walked over to talk to another girl of roughly the same age and then returned to Sadie.
“I can take a fifteen-minute break I’ve got coming to me,” Rosie explained.
“I’ll make it quick,” Sadie assured her, and they chose a seat a little distance from the Orange Julius counter.
“So how do you know Boom Boom?” Rosie asked.
“I don’t know him well, but he did tell me he wanted me to give you something.”
“Oh, God, he died, didn’t he?” Rosie asked, and her perfectly manicured fingers flew to her mouth in horror. “That was him in that changing room that everyone’s talking about.”
“Everyone knows about the person who died in the mall?”
“Sure.” Rosie nodded. “The mall staff all try to keep it hush-hush ’cause, you know, they don’t want to scare shoppers away, but some girls at Lululemon saw the coroner come and then rumors started.” She blinked quickly at Sadie. “So, was it him?”
Sadie nodded and then watched in surprise as Rosie began to cry. Large, beautiful tears tracked down her full cheekbones to her jawline. Sadie got up and snagged some serviettes from the counter and handed them to her, and Rosie delicately dabbed at her face without smudging her makeup.
“I knew it could happen one day, but I guess I just kept hoping he’d get help before the drugs took him.” Her voice was ragged with tears.
Sadie waited a few minutes until Rosie’s tears stopped, and then she pulled up the grocery sack she’d had on the floor at her feet and lifted the binder out. She handed it to Rosie, and the girl’s mouth formed an O of surprise.
“The book!” she exclaimed, and her fingers gently caressed the worn cover as if it was made of gold.
“You knew about it?” Sadie asked.
“He talked about it a lot,” Rosie said. Gingerly she opened the cover to the front page. “But I wasn’t sure how much he was exaggerating.”
“So you knew he modeled in his, um, better days?”
“Bryce Boom wasn’t just a model,” Rosie said, awe coloring her tone. “He was a model god. Perfect in every way until a photographer started slipping him a little something to brighten the look in his eyes when he looked a bit tired.”
Rosie shook her head sadly as she thumbed quickly through the pages, barely stopping until she reached the very back of the book where there were miscellaneous paraphernalia jammed into pockets in the back.
“Are you sure he wanted me to have this?” She stroked the plastic covering on the last page with the tip of her finger.
“Yes,” Sadie said. “It was his final request.”
“He always said he’d give it to me when I was ready but, honestly, he was usually kind of out of it when he made that promise, and I didn’t think I’d ever see the actual stuff.”
“It’s yours to keep,” Sadie told her. “Although I don’t know what he expected you to do with it.”
“He wanted me to go back to school,” Rosie answered quickly.
At Sadie’s confused look she continued, “I model. I’m just at the beginning of my career so I’m not nearly as successful as Bryce Boom, but I’ve made a few extra bucks now and Bryce introduced me to his agent. Things are starting to pick up for me, but Boom Boom warned me it was a quick burn. He always told me to get a skill and some sort of career to fall back on so that when the photo shoots stop, I’ve got something else to pay the bills. My agent agrees that they’ll work the shoots around my going to college, but I just never had any money to go through with it. Not until now.” Her tears started again. “Bryce was a good person. People couldn’t see that because they were trying too hard not to see him at all. He was gentle and kind with a good heart.” She swallowed thickly. “He didn’t deserve to die like that. Hiding out in a store under construction just so he didn’t have to sleep outside in the rain. A dog doesn’t deserve that.”
“Yeah,” Sadie agreed, and they sat in respectful silence for a moment until Sadie noticed the other Orange Julius girl was glaring in their direction, obviously wanting Rosie back behind the counter.
Sadie reached over and tapped the binder with her finger. “So, Rosie, how will these pictures help
you go back to school?”
“Oh, not the pictures,” Rosie said. “The tickets.”
She reached into the back pocket of the binder to pull out an envelope tucked away. Very carefully, using a serviette instead of her fingers, Rosie retrieved a couple of tickets from a faded yellow envelope.
“Tickets?” Sadie repeated, confused.
Rosie held them up, and Sadie saw the date, venue, and performer.
“Oh, my God. The Beatles!” Sadie exclaimed in amazement. “Unused tickets for their 1966 concert in the Philippines. Wow!”
Rosie smiled and ever so carefully tucked the tickets back inside the envelope. “They’re extremely rare and worth mega-bucks. Bryce bought them at a charity auction during his heyday, and they were the only thing of value he had left in this world. He saved them for me.” Her face grew somber as she reached for a business card also tucked in the back of the binder. “This is a dealer willing to pay top dollar for those tickets. Thousands. Boom Boom made me promise that if he ever gave them to me, I’d use the money to go to dental hygienist school like my mom suggested. I’m going to do it. I won’t stop modeling, though, but I’ll do what Boom Boom asked. I hope I make him proud.”
Sadie reached over and patted the young girl’s hand. “He was already proud of you. I’m sure you’ll have two wonderful careers.”
Sadie waited in her van until she saw most of the mall workers slip out shortly after nine, and then she called the night security staff and they met her at the doors to help her unload. It was nearly ten o’clock by the time Sadie hauled all the bins and equipment she required into the hallway safe zone that she would use to don and doff her hazmat gear.
Once she was suited up and inside the mall store, she was ready to go to work cleaning the decomp area. First, though, she took a moment to talk to Boom Boom even though she no longer knew if he could hear her.
Dead and Kicking Page 9