by Misty Simon
“Do you need me to help you clean?” he asked.
“Only if you want me to be done sooner.”
“I do. I was wondering if you might accompany me to dinner tonight. I still need to make up for the one we never got to go to the other night.”
“Fancy dress?”
“The fanciest you have.”
“You’re on. Meet me at the house and we’ll get this done.” I gave him the address for May’s and told him I’d see him soon.
This might actually work out better. I could get all the cleaning done while I stuck him with talking to May. I really liked the woman and usually enjoyed our time, but I wanted to be out of there quickly this time, not an hour over tea talking about mundane stuff. I’d make it up to her next time. Max and I could head out in record time. Where was he taking me? Fancy meant what? Were we going to talk about serious things? Or did he just want to see if I cleaned up nice first?
I had never really wished that I’d kept anything from my days as Mrs. Walden Phillips the Third, but right now I found myself wishing for my closet and that I had at least one dress that I’d had custom tailored for all those parties Waldo had made me throw.
I’d find something, though, or I’d ask Gina if I could raid her closet.
True to his word, Max was already at the house and sitting in his car when I got there. He hadn’t gone inside yet, and I appreciated that. This was my job, and I didn’t want him to scare the client by showing up at her front door unannounced and telling her he was the cleaning crew, expecting her to let him in.
“You ready for this?” I asked as he climbed out of his SUV and kissed me on the lips.
“As I’ll ever be. What are we doing with this one? Deep cleaning? Spiffing up?”
“Well, you’re going to be talking while I’m going to be cleaning. Oh, and there are four kids here.”
“Ah.” It came out a little strangled, but he’d manage.
Two hours and ten minutes later—I timed it by the amount of times Max had mouthed “hurry” at me—we were back on the road to my apartment.
When we arrived, my mom was all aflutter.
“What on earth is going on?” I asked.
“Oh, Tallie, it’s the worst thing. The cup tested positive for the poison and now Burton wants to talk to everyone again to see who was working that day and what they might remember.”
“Is he in there now?” Visions of my night out with Max faded into nothing.
“He is, and he’s not happy.”
Of course he wasn’t happy. He almost never was. Just for a brief moment this afternoon, maybe, but other than that, not so much.
“Let’s get this over with.”
Since there had only been my family and Max working that day, we were the only ones who had to be interviewed again. Max went before me, and I was last. No one had seen anything or had anything to add. I knew it hadn’t been one of us. Burton was wasting time when I could have been trying to find out who had come in and poisoned a memorial-goer, or which memorial attendee had known enough to come into the kitchen and act like one of us.
I shared my theory with Burton.
“We’re looking into that, Tallie, but I have to go through the proper channels. I can’t wing it like you seem to like to do.”
“And here you were just offering me a job based on my ‘winging it’ not three hours ago.”
“You will not work for the police department,” my mother cried.
“Now see what you did?” Burton said. “You’ve upset your mother for nothing since I also told you that I would never hire you.”
“Oh, thank you, Burton. I always knew you were a smart one.” Mom patted her hair. “I couldn’t ever understand why Marilyn didn’t see that and married Bud’s brother Sherman instead. Not that we don’t love Sherman, but he can be a pill.”
Was that the reason Burton and Sherman didn’t get along after all this time? I’d always wondered. But Aunt Marilyn had been gone for years, deciding that beach life was far more to her liking than dreary Pennsylvania. Last I’d heard, she had taken herself to the Florida Keys, where apparently, she was living with some fisher and gutting his catch every day. Not what I thought I would ever hear about my aunt, with her perfect manicure and hair styled to within an inch of its life. But she’d send pictures every once in awhile, overalls and top knot bun and a huge smile on her unmade face. One that I’d never seen when she had lived here with Sherman before they’d divorced.
Burton scowled. “We need to get back to business. While I have no intention of employing you, young lady, I do need you to go do something for me.”
I met him stare for stare. Now he wanted something. Wasn’t that typical?
“What could you possibly want? I have plans tonight.”
“Well, perhaps you could take a moment out of your busy schedule and run on over to the Johnson house to get Michelle some clothes. She has no money to buy any more and is refusing to allow Drake to buy her any. She wants her own. Since she’s not allowed in the house, she suggested you, and I was just crazy enough to agree to the idea.”
Hold the presses! Michelle wanted me to look around for clothes in the house that hadn’t been touched since the day Lily had tried to invade? I could also very possibly find so many other things that I had wanted to look for when we cleaned but couldn’t with her hanging around.
I glanced at Max because this would put our dinner back.
He shrugged and I took that as a yes. Any restaurant worth its salt was still open at ten at night and we could easily be there at eight if I was fast and furious in my search.
“Of course I’ll help. I’m always ready to do what needs to be done to keep people happy and clothed.”
Maybe I’d poured it on a little too thick, because Burton narrowed his eyes at me. I jumped up and waved to everyone in the room before Burton could warn me not to touch anything that wasn’t clothes. If he didn’t say it, then I didn’t have to follow it.
Max caught up with me at the back door. “I’d like to go with you. I’d feel better if you weren’t alone. I have a bad vibe about this for some reason.”
“Sure. Do you want to take my car or yours?” Two sets of eyes and hands would help immensely and maybe we could be at dinner at seven. I wanted that dinner and whatever it entailed.
“Let’s take mine,” he said. “In case you find anything that you think might be helpful beyond clothes.”
Ah, he knew me well. I found that I liked that immensely.
* * *
First, we stopped at Drake’s to get the keys. Michelle greeted us at the door, looking very at home even if she was in the same clothes I’d seen her in when she’d been sitting in jail.
Drake stood behind her with his hand hovering at the small of her back. Not quite touching but definitely there in case she needed him.
“I’ve made up a list for you, Tallie.” Michelle handed over a sheet of paper. “It also has where you’ll find the clothes. Some toiletries would be nice, too, if you think you have time.” Her voice was not the coo she’d used when speaking with Craig, or the wheedling she’d done with Burton, nor the anger she’d displayed with Matt. It was even and strong, if a little sad. I had to keep reminding myself that she’d just lost her husband, and no matter if he’d been unfaithful in deed or just word, it still had to hurt to know you were never first on someone’s list of priorities.
“I’ll get it all and bring it back within the hour.”
“Thanks. I’d really like to change.”
“And I told you time and again that I could afford to provide for you, Michelle. Why are you being so stubborn?” Drake stepped into her line of vision but she turned her head away from him.
“Because I want to be independent, and I already have clothes. I don’t need new. I want my own. Until this mess is sorted out I want to be me. Not someone else, not a shadow of myself, not an extension of anyone. Just me. And if you can’t understand that, then I don’t know what to tell y
ou.” She stormed off into the house leaving Drake standing at the door looking baffled.
I’d been thinking hard about her situation and tried to offer Drake some insight. “I think she’s struggling with having given so many years to a husband who might not have even been hers, and putting up with years of being shunted to the side only to find out that everything she thought they were working toward is no longer hers.” I didn’t know if it helped him or not, but I’d been wondering how I would have felt if some other wife had shown up out of the blue when Waldo and I were married. I would have probably been relieved to hand him off to whomever the woman was, but Michelle had loved her husband, flaws and all. And the blow of Lily waltzing into the memorial party was probably not the easiest thing Michelle had ever endured.
Wait. If Lily had sat in the café until the timing was right to announce her marriage, then had she been there the whole time? Or had she been at the memorial?
I was willing to risk Burton’s wrath to ask Lily some pointed questions. If she had heard Brenna wailing about the child, not knowing that it wasn’t true, then we had a player who might have had far more to lose and a whole lot to gain by getting rid of the woman and her supposed child.
We said our good-byes and got back into Max’s car. Heading to the Johnson house, I ran over the list of things I wanted access to.
“I would love to be able to get into Craig’s computer. I want to at least peek into his closet again. He struck me as the kind of person who would have kept track of his conquests. There has to be a list somewhere. And I want to check on the sleeping situation. Is there another bedroom that looks lived in, or were Craig and Michelle really close and she did totally ignore his infidelity?”
Max nodded. “I’m sure we can do all that, but we might have a problem with the police who appear to be surrounding the house right now.”
I had been so lost in my musings that I hadn’t realized we’d crossed the river and were now parked in front of Craig’s house. Along with about ten police cruisers and a fire truck.
* * *
The house was not currently on fire, but it was definitely not in good shape. The roof was smoking and smoke belched out of the windows. Firemen were working on the outside of the house, and every once in a while one would go in dressed in full gear.
Because the house should have been locked up tight, I hoped that no one was in there for them to save.
“Well, I guess we’re not getting any clothes out of that, or anything else for that matter,” I said, slumping in my seat.
From what I could see through busted windows, it looked like the whole inside was charred black. What had happened? How had the fire started? Had someone set it? Was it deliberate? To hide something? Or to take something away from someone else?
Since this investigation would be led by law enforcement in this town, I had no hope of getting any info unless I could prevail upon Burton to ask for me. I didn’t know if they would share information with him, but it was worth trying. I’d put it on my list of things to do after I went back to Drake’s and let Michelle know that there was nothing to salvage, and her house was not only going to need cleaning this time but all-out gutting. If it even remained her house.
We stood there for another hour, just watching the men work and talking quietly about how it could have happened. I heard a few mentions of arson. That wouldn’t have surprised me in the midst of all this chaos surrounding Craig’s death. But who would have torched the place?
It couldn’t have been Michelle; she was at Drake’s.
And I doubted it was Lily, since she thought she was inheriting the house. Why would she ruin her own things? Unless she thought she’d get more out of the insurance money than she would from owning a house where her husband and his woman had lived for all these years. Maybe the reminders were too much for her. But when a fire happened like this, it wasn’t like they just handed you a check. They wanted to know why and how before they’d sign anything.
The fire trucks rolled away and the police left after combing through things. Max and I had returned to his car, but I wasn’t ready to leave yet.
Who would clean this mess? And was that something that maybe I should think about offering? I had a brief thought of expanding my company from just me and Letty to fire cleanup or even disaster cleanup, and then pushed the thought aside. I was busy enough as it was.
Once everyone had gone, I got back out of the car to get a clearer view of what had happened.
I had zero experience with fires, though, so I probably looked foolish just standing there. Hopefully, no one would think I was admiring my own handiwork and call the cops back.
Lost in that thought, I missed the woman waving to me from the house next door. The sun was lowering in the sky. Maybe Max and I would have to do dinner another night.
The woman was on the second floor with what looked like a towel wrapped around her body.
“Yoohoo! Yes, you!” she said when I finally turned to her.
“Um, yes. Hi.” I had no idea who she was, but perhaps asking a few questions wouldn’t hurt.
“Come on over. I’m coming down right now.”
I hoped she would get dressed before she did.
* * *
All six feet of her answered the door. Her beautiful, rich, dark skin gleamed with droplets of water and her smile was like sunshine.
“Oh, thank you for coming over. Do you mind coming in? It’s not chilly today, but I don’t want to stand in the doorway in a towel.” Her laugh was deep and infectious. It invited you in just as her hand was pulling me into the house. I grabbed behind me for Max because I was not doing this by myself. I was very happy that he had decided to join me this time.
Jade-green walls were accented with beautiful paintings of exotic locales. The hardwood floors beneath my feet shone so brightly I thought I should probably take my shoes off. But she didn’t give me time to do much more than glance around before she continued to drag me along by my wrist, up the stairs and into a spacious bathroom. I’d tried to pull away several times from both her and Max on the way up the narrow staircase, but her grip tightened and Max would not let me go either.
“We’re in this together,” he whispered. “Where you go, I go.” Wasn’t that sweet? Although I was not exactly happy that he was in a strange woman’s bathroom, with or without me.
Chapter Fourteen
As much as I wasn’t happy about being in the woman’s bathroom, I was floored when said strange woman dropped her towel and stepped back into her full bathtub. At least there were strategically placed bubbles to hide the most important pieces of her statuesque body. I wished I looked even a quarter like that.
“So, um.” I cleared my throat once she’d settled in and was waving bubbles around like a mermaid in some kind of side show.
“Yes, hello. I’m Rose. Sorry I didn’t introduce myself earlier, but I wanted to get back to my lavender bath before it cooled. You understand. Your skin is lovely. You must care for it like I do mine.”
Well, no, not entirely. I used facecloths from the grocery store to wipe down every morning and evening, but that was about the extent of my beauty regime. Still, I thanked her because I wanted to get out of the fragrant bathroom with its naked lady. I truly hoped she had some information that would make it worth having come in here, because at the moment I seriously doubted the wisdom of not running as soon as she opened the door in a towel.
“Thank you.” I looked anywhere but at her lounging in the bath. Max had better be doing the same thing. “You, uh, said you had information?”
“Yes, I did, and I’d like to share it with you. Those men were too busy putting the fire out, and I want this information in someone’s hands before they come back around for me. I don’t like the police at all. An incident from my past, if you must know, and I won’t be answering the door for them, so I expect you to be my mouthpiece.”
I didn’t know if that would actually work. Even if I shared whatever information she ha
d, they would still have to talk with her to collaborate. They wouldn’t take secondhand information if they were any kind of smart.
“Of course,” I agreed anyway. The logistics would be dealt with later. I did wonder briefly why she wanted to tell me anything, but I wasn’t going to miss out on information from a next-door neighbor if I could help it. “What would you like me to tell them?”
She had beautiful small squares of tile inlaid into the wall in a mosaic of a mermaid swimming with a turtle. I counted every one of those tiles while I waited for her to answer.
“There was a person there at the house last night. I like to keep my eye on the neighbors just in case anything untoward happens, and so I use my binoculars if I have to in order to get a good idea of what’s happening.”
How many times had she watched any number of people doing things they shouldn’t, or even things they should, thinking that no one was watching and they could be themselves?
It gave me the creeps and made me even happier that I lived in one of the tallest buildings in town. Other than Gina, I had no neighbors who could see into my living space.
“And what did you see, Miss Rose?” Max asked when I’d stayed quiet too long thinking about the many things she could have witnessed.
“Well, see now, not much ever goes on over at that house.” She scooped bubbles and blew them toward her red toenails. “But last night someone was there, going from door to window to door to see if they could get in.”
“Did you get a good look at the person?” I had a list of suspects a mile long, and if I could narrow it down, then we might start making some progress toward figuring this whole thing out.
“The person was dressed all in black. I couldn’t really tell if it was a man or a woman because only wisps of blond hair stuck out under the ridiculous beanie he or she had on.” She blew another handful of bubbles. This time toward Max. I stepped in between, taking them square in the gut. She laughed and winked at me. “Must’ve been hot in the night with all those clothes on, too. I think it was a woman, from the silhouette. But she also seemed to know where the cameras were. Mrs. Johnson installed those once she figured out how many nights she was sleeping in that house alone down the hall from where she thought her husband was snoozing away.”