Under the Moonlight collection

by MaryAnn Kempher

  “And why’d she leave the gun there?” Jack asked.

  “I asked her that. She thought she was being clever. She figured nobody would look deep enough at the crime scene to find it, and she was right. She knew that sooner or later she’d get the opportunity to go back for it.”

  Jack thought about what Yvonne had told him. That Diana was ‘itching’ to get into the house, only Yvonne had thought it was to get at Candy’s clothes.

  “She mentioned your visit,” Nolan was saying. “You must have spooked her. She broke into the house, to try to get the gun. You just beat her to it. She was smart, even taking Candy’s dress off, to try to make it look like a man had been there.”

  “Yeah…what’s up with that?” Curt asked. “She had a blanket on when she was found.”

  “I spoke to Mark,” Nolan told them. “Turns out he’s the one who put the blanket on Candy. Didn’t want her found in the condition she was in.”

  “Has Mark been released yet?” Jack asked.

  “Yes…and he quit the force. I spoke with him, told him how sorry I was.”

  “How’d he take that?”

  Nolan shrugged. “Says he understands how bad it looked, but he never wants to wear the uniform again. He’s soured on the job. It happens. I really just stopped by to bring you up to date, and to thank you. If it weren’t for you Jack, he might have actually been convicted, and the real killer would have gone free.

  “It’s all part of the job,” Jack said as he shook Nolan’s hand.

  Jack tilted back in his chair and watched Nolan drive away. “I can’t believe it’s over. I was beginning to think this case would never be solved.”

  “Mark owes a lot to you,” Curt said.

  Jack shrugged. “It was a lot of luck.”

  “No…you did all of that. Even when it looked like he was guilty, you kept trying to find the truth.”

  “I’m just glad it all paid off.”

  “Me, too.” Curt stood, stretched and yawned. “I’m taking off,” he said.

  “You seeing Daisy?”

  “Nope,” answered Curt, “just have some things to do.”

  Jack sat back in his desk, his hands laced across his stomach. “Oh…okay.”

  “What’s with the professor look?” Curt asked.

  “Just curious.”

  “About?”

  “About what you’re up to. You been disappearing a lot lately to ‘take care of some things.’”

  Curt didn’t answer for a moment, seeming to debate with himself. “Fine. I’ll tell you, but you can’t give me grief about it.”

  “I swear—no grief.”

  Curt reached down and opened a side drawer. He pulled out a pair of black patent-leather shoes and set them on his desk. “Here.”

  “What are those for?” asked Jack. He leaned forward, anxious for an answer. “I’m waiting…”

  “Well, if you must know,” Curt said, “they’re mine. I’m taking dance lessons.”

  “Dance lessons? You?” Jack stifled a laugh.

  “You said no grief!”

  “You’re right. I’m sorry.” Jack composed himself. “And this has nothing to do with Daisy?”

  “No. It’s for Theresa, for her wedding. Our father is gone, so I want to be able to dance with her.”

  That was about the sweetest thing Jack had ever heard. “So, should I call you Fred, or Ginger?”

  Curt’s chest puffed a little. “Call me either one and I’ll kick your ass.”

  Jack laughed. “Okay, okay,” he said, “but seriously, I think this is great.”

  “Yeah, yeah.”

  “No, really. Your sister is lucky to have a brother who cares so much.” Curt blushed at that. “So, this is your big secret?” Jack said. “I was hoping for something a lot juicier.”

  “This is it. Sorry to disappoint.” Curt picked up the shoes and walked to the door. “At least I don’t have to hide it anymore.”

  “You never had to hide it in the first place.”

  “Yeah, well, I was a little embarrassed.”

  Jack sipped his coffee, and watched as Curt got into his truck and drove away.

  ***

  Jack locked up the office, put a “back soon” note on the door, and headed home for a late lunch. He dropped onto the couch and took off his shoes, but before he could turn on the television, the blinking light of his answering machine caught his eye. He was used to getting calls on his cell phone, not on his home phone. He pushed the button.

  His heart did a flip as he recognized the voice. The message was from his ex-girlfriend, Amy. She wanted him to call her. He hadn’t spoken to her in the nearly three months, since he’d finished the job on the cruise ship. He remembered their final night of passion, before they ended things permanently. He’d been tempted to take her back…he’d still loved her, but they were just too different to make their relationship last.

  He always deleted the message once he realized who it was. However, he’d told Scott he’d call her once the case was solved, and it was. Jack reached for the phone, his hand hovering over the receiver.

  Chapter Twenty

  When Jack returned from lunch, he was surprised to see Curt in the office. He looked at his watch. “I thought you’d be gone longer,” Jack said.

  “No…it’s just an hour session. I stopped for lunch afterward.” He stopped short. “Look,” Curt said, pointing out the window. A car had just pulled into the lot. As soon as he realized who was inside, Jack jumped up, with Curt following close behind.

  Jack ran around to the car’s front passenger and opened it, holding out his hand.

  Nene Albright beamed. “Thank you, Jack.”

  Jack beamed, too. “Ms. Albright, it’s so good to see you.”

  “How many times have I told you to call me Nene?” she chided him. “Hello, Curt.”

  “Hello Ms. Al…er, Nene.”

  Gaga came around and took Nene’s purse. “Let me carry this,” she said.

  Nene hooked her hand into Jack’s arm as they slowly walked inside. “How are you feeling Ms. Albright?” Curt asked.

  “I’m just fine, but the food? Oh my goodness…it was awful.”

  “You weren’t at a spa, Nene,” said Gaga.

  “But I lost five pounds!” Nene chimed. “Turns out getting konked on the head was good for my figure. I think I’m going to reward myself with a brownie.”

  Gaga rolled her eyes. “You can have a brownie later. I’ll bring you up a whole platter. Right now, we need to get you upstairs.”

  “Bring me a few cupcakes up too, will you Gaga? I’m going through sugar withdrawals.”

  “Can we get you upstairs,” Gaga said, “I’m no spring chicken either, y’know.”

  “I really don’t need all this fuss,” Nene said. “I’m fine…really I am. My head hardly hurts at all anymore. I think it’s because of what good shape I’m in.”

  “Just the same,” Gaga reminded her, “the doctor said you shouldn’t overdo it for a few days.”

  “Bring my barbell up too, I need to do some curls.”

  “Sure, sure,” Gaga answered.

  Gaga turned to the two men. “Don’t go anywhere, okay? There’s something I want to show you.”

  When Nene was situated in the apartment upstairs, Gaga returned. “You know the problem we’d had with our candy or baked goods going missing?”

  “Yes,” Jack said. “Did one of the cameras catch a neighborhood kid on film?”

  “Not exactly,” Gaga said. “It really made no sense to me that the neighborhood kids would sneak in and only take our candy and pastries.”

  “Stranger things have happened,” Curt said.

  “With all that’s been happening, it didn’t occur to me until last night to look at the video footage.”

  “Once we installed the cameras, the shenanigans seemed to stop. There were no more wrappers and no more missing donuts, so we had no reason to look at the footage. Didn’t seem necessary. But I looked
anyway…”

  Gaga ran the video back as Jack and Curt leaned in to get a closer look. At first, they saw nothing. The angle of the camera faced the display case, but the store was dark and empty.

  “Any minute now,” said Gaga.

  They could see part of the door slowly open. Then they saw Nene, in her pink pajamas and robe, walking to the case and taking out a platter of brownies. She took the platter, sat on the floor in the middle of the store and began eating them, one after another.

  “I don’t understand,” said Curt.

  Gaga smiled. “Don’t you see? She’s sleep walking.”

  “Well, I’ll be dammed,” said Jack.

  “So many mornings,” said Gaga. “She’d wake up with a tummy ache. I’d tell her she needed more fiber. Turns out she needed fewer brownies.”

  “But she was on a diet,” said Curt.

  Gaga smiled. “Yeah - a brownie diet.”

  “Mystery solved,” Jack said, laughing.

  Gaga fast forwarded to another night.

  “What’s that she’s holding?” Curt asked.

  “A ginger bread man,” Gaga answered, her voice chilly.

  Jack and Curt looked at each other, smiling.

  “Oh…by the way, Jack,” Gaga said as she dipped behind the counter and pulled out two envelopes. “There were a few letters delivered for you while you were both gone.”

  “Thank you,” said Jack as he took his mail.

  He and Curt went into their office and sat. “Mr. Burch called while you were gone, too.” Curt said.

  “Great…just great. What did he want?”

  “Just to say that with everything that’s happened, the city isn’t putting money into this area anytime soon. So he’s holding us to our lease.”

  “Nice. What a snake.”

  “Yeah,” said Curt. “I guess I’m sorry they’re not going to renovate the street, but I’m glad we don’t have to move. I like it here.” He noticed Jack staring out the window. “Where are you?” he asked.

  Jack smiled. “Me? I’m just thinking about Yvonne.”

  “Is there something you want to share? Have you two decided to…?”

  Jack smiled sheepishly. “No, of course not.”

  “But you’d like to?”

  “Well, sure,” answered Jack. “There’s always been an attraction. She’s beautiful, and smart…that’s a lethal combination.” There was hesitation in his voice.

  “But?” Curt prompted.

  “But she’s in the middle of grieving her daughter’s murder, and I don’t want to be a crutch to get her through this rough time.”

  “Using sex,” said Curt, smiling. “Oh yeah, what a monster you’d be.”

  Jack laughed.

  “No, but seriously,” Curt said, “that’s decent of you.”

  “That’s me: Mr. Decent. She’s a nice lady, and maybe sometime in the future I could see something developing between us. I don’t really know what I want right now.” He shrugged. “When I was with Amy, I was ready to settle down, but she wasn’t. That’s one of the reasons we broke up. Now, I’m sort of glad to be single.”

  “Young and single in Reno,” said Curt with a smile. “What could be better?”

  Jack looked out the window. “Yeah,” he said, laughing. “Mothers lock up your daughters; Jack Harney is coming to ravage them.”

  “Speaking of ravaging beautiful women,” said Curt. “I’m taking Daisy out tonight…we’re going dancing.”

  Jack laughed. “You’re going to try out your lessons on her? Does she know she’s your guinea pig?”

  Curt smiled. “She knows we’re going out dancing, but she doesn’t know about the lessons. I’m going to dazzle her.”

  “Dazzle her, huh? I might still have a pair of steel-toed boots from our days in the Army. Maybe you’d like to loan them to her, just in case you’re not as smooth as you think you are?”

  “Very funny. Her feet will be fine.”

  Curt poured himself a cup of coffee. “What do you think about advertising the office? You know, maybe putting an ad in the paper, or creating a Facebook page.”

  Jack looked around the empty space. “I’m not exactly what you’d call social media savvy, but it couldn’t hurt. We need to do something. Clients aren’t exactly beating down our door.”

  “That’s an understatement,” said Curt.

  Jack picked up one of the envelopes Gaga had dropped off, turning it over to see the return address. It was from Katherine and Scott. He tore it open.

  “Wonder if I should check out that place you’re taking your dance lessons,” Jack said.

  “Why’s that?”

  “Looks like I have a wedding to go to. Some friends of mine have set a date. You met the guy, Scott—remember him?”

  “Sure, I remember.”

  Jack read the invitation. “They’ve set a date. It’s right around the corner, too.”

  “You’re not going to want to loan me those boots now,” said Curt, smiling. “Your instructor will need them for her feet.”

  “Har har.”

  “So when’s the wedding?”

  “March.”

  “That should be nice.”

  “It’s in South Lake Tahoe. They’ll be a lot of snow, you can tag along. We can do some gambling, maybe ski a little.”

  “Sweet,” Curt said. “Count me in.”

  Jack opened the other envelope. His face went white. He held up a small black and white photo.

  “What’s that?” asked Curt.

  “A sonogram print-out,” said Jack.

  “From your friends?”

  “No…from Amy.” Jack read the note that came with the image. “She’s pregnant.”

  Curt started laughing, and couldn’t seem to stop himself. “I guess that means Reno’s daughters are safe, huh?”

  Jack smiled. “Yeah. I guess it does.”

  “So what’s your next move, Daddy-o?” Curt asked.

  Jack shrugged. “Skip town?”

  Curt smiled. “Somehow, I don’t see you as the skipping town kind of guy.”

  “You’re probably right.” He picked up his phone and dialed, smiling as he gazed at the image again. He was suddenly heartsick that he’d deleted all of her messages. He thought it perfectly fitting that he reached not her, but her voicemail.

  “Hey Amy,” he said, “it’s Jack. Sorry I haven’t returned your calls. It’s been kind of crazy around here. Oh – and I got the family photo you sent…”

  The End