by Ann Mullen
Abigail smiled and said, “Take me shooting and I’ll buy you anything you want.”
“I was just kidding, Abigail,” I said. “I don’t want your money; all I want is your friendship.”
“That’s the nicest thing anyone’s said to me in a long time,” Abigail said. “You may call me Abby.”
“Hey, Abby, how much money do you have?”
“Oh, Lord,” Claire said, embarrassed by my attempt at being cute. “Don’t pay any attention to her, Abigail. She was dropped at birth.”
“Abby, I was just kidding,” I said. “Claire already told me that you were rich.”
Claire’s face got as red as a Christmas tree light.
“Take it easy, Claire,” Abigail said to her. “Your sister’s just joking. I can read people, and I can tell you she’s a good person. She doesn’t use people, she’s honest, and she has a good heart. She also has character.”
“You could tell all that about me from one short meeting?” I asked.
“I could tell that about you in the first five minutes,” she responded. “You have an aura about you. I bet you have the sight.”
“I hope I have sight.”
“Abigail believes in ESP and psychics, etc., etc.,” Claire said as she looked at me and rolled her eyes.
“The only thing I have ESP about is that there’s a dead body in Carl’s basement, and I don’t believe it’s him,” I said.
“You don’t think it’s Carl?” Claire looked at me and asked. “Who do you think it is?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “It’s just a feeling I have, but I don’t think Carl’s dead. I do believe he had some kind of plan, but it went south on him. Whoever it is in his basement; it’s not him.”
“You’re just saying that so I won’t be upset,” Claire said. “I know Carl’s dead!”
“You’re not a child, Claire. If I thought Carl was dead; I’d say so. He hasn’t finished screwing with your life. Hey, I could be wrong. He could be deader than a doornail, as the saying goes.”
“We don’t know anything for sure, yet,” Abigail said as she poured the tea. “By the time dinner is ready, they should be bringing the body out. The police work fast around here. Then we’ll know something.”
A few minutes passed and then Abigail said, “Let’s go into my study. Actually my husband and I share it. We can watch for ourselves. We have a dynamite surveillance system.”
Claire and I looked at each other.
“Oh, don’t look so shocked, ladies,” Abigail said. “How do you think I know so much about everybody in my neighborhood? I also have everything on video tape.”
“Ah, you’re into voyeurism,” I said.
“I’m not into the sex part; I just like to watch people.”
“Abigail, you’re a nasty old broad,” I said.
“I told you to call me Abby. All my friends do.”
“Okay, Abby.”
Claire gave me a dirty look and fussed at me under her breath. “She’s never told me to call her Abby.”
“Lighten up, dear,” Abby said. “Where’s your sense of humor?” Abby took me by the arm and led me to the study. “Has your sister always been such a prude?”
“Always,” I said. “I love her anyway.”
We both laughed as Claire followed us with her head hung down. I turned and put my arm around Claire’s shoulder and said, “Come on, girl, can’t you tell the difference between fun banter and the real thing when you hear it?”
“I guess I’m just a little concerned about what’s going on next door.”
I turned to Abby and said, “I’m amazed that the detective just let us walk away. He didn’t ask us hardly anything. I’m surprised that he didn’t put us in handcuffs and lock us in a police car.”
Abby winked at me and said, “He’ll be over soon. You’re with me; he knows you’re not going anywhere. Plus, he probably doesn’t want you over there contaminating his crime scene more than you have already.”
“Maybe we should go look out the window and see…”
“You’ll be able to see what’s going on for yourself in just a minute. Follow me.”
Abby’s study was a large room with two separate desks, wall to wall books, six television monitors (each with a VHS and DVD system), and a table with four full computer systems sitting on it. She also had other gadgets that I didn’t recognize. The room was an electronics geek’s dream.
“What do you do with all this stuff?” Claire asked.
“She spies on her neighbors. Don’t you remember her telling us that earlier?” I said. I watched Abby as she walked around the room, turning on all her equipment. “I bet you have footage from last weekend.”
“I have footage from months ago,” she said and chuckled. “Jesse, my husband is rich and has enemies. We are constantly being monitored, and in case someone should try to hurt one of us, we’ll have it on tape.”
“What about when you’re in your car?”
“We’re covered,” she responded. “Look at this.”
She pulled up a scene and we saw her car, inside and out.
“That’s pretty amazing. I should introduce you to my husband, Billy.”
“Is he anything like Carl?”
“No way! You’d love Billy. He’s a Cherokee Indian, and he’s the most wonderful man you’ll ever meet.”
Abby looked at Claire and said, “Newlyweds, huh?”
“You got it.”
They both seemed to get some pleasure from knowing more about being married than I did, but that was okay by me. I had plenty of time to find out. “You can both roll your eyes, but what I say is true. Billy is my soul mate.”
“I’m glad to hear that, dear child. Come see me in about five years.”
“I mean it! Billy and I were made for each other and…”
“Here they come with the body,” Abby said as she pointed to the screen. Darn, just what I expected—the body’s in one of those black body bags and we can’t see a thing. We’ve been waiting for almost two hours, and then when they come out, we can’t see a thing!”
“Look at all those police cars,” Claire said, pointing to a different screen. “I count...”
“Your husband was… is a community leader and a big man in the business industry. He has friends in all the right places. Didn’t you know that, my dear?”
“Carl’s an investor. We rarely discussed his job, but when we did, it bored me to tears.”
“Let me clue you in on a few things about your husband,” Abby said. “When you left him, he partied all the time and had a hoard of women coming in and out of his house, until a few weeks ago. Since then, the only woman he’s been seeing is that woman. I’m sure you know which one I’m talking about. You left him because of her.”
“Sherry, the slut; I remember her well,” Claire said, raising an eyebrow.
“Did you also know that her husband was killed in a fiery car crash two months ago? She inherited everything, and then she publicly took up with your husband. I never did think they stopped seeing each other, but who am I to say anything? It was none of my business. Two weeks ago, she brought over some luggage. Might that be her in the body bag?”
“That would mean…”
“That Carl probably killed her,” I said, finishing Claire’s sentence.
“If that’s true…”
“Then Carl’s still alive, he’s a killer, and he’s out there on the loose,” Abby added. “I always thought that he was a little unstable.”
The three of us looked at each other and didn’t say anything.
“Why would Carl kill her if they were an item?” I asked.
“People have fights and sometimes it gets out of control. Perhaps that’s what happened here.”
“Abigail, what are you getting into now?” a woman asked as she walked into the room.
Abby turned to look at her and then introduced Isabel to us. “Isabel is so nosey. She watches me like a hawk.”
“I have
to,” Isabel said. “One of these days you’re going to end up in jail. If the police knew you were spying on your neighbors…”
“I’m not spying; I call it my very own private Crime Watch program.”
“I don’t care what you call it; it’s not right.”
“Isabel, go take a pill or something,” Abby said. “You’re getting on my nerves.”
Isabel quietly left the room.
“Don’t you think you were a little hard on your sister?” I asked. “She seems to care about your welfare.”
“We’re sisters; we fuss at each other.”
“Where have I heard that before?” Claire asked as she looked over at me. “There’s plenty of truth in that statement.”
“Isabel’s husband died two years ago, so she moved in with me. This house is surely big enough for all of us. It helps that Pete likes her. I’d hate to have to choose between the two of them.”
“Abby, you’re in a class all by yourself.”
“I know… and I’m rich. Don’t you just hate people like that?”
“I do if they’re bad people, but you’re not a bad person. You’re just a little eccentric.”
“You don’t hesitate to say what’s on your mind. I like that about you.”
“I don’t mean to put a damper on this little party, but I think we need to call home,” Claire interjected. “We need to let Billy know what we found. If that body turns out to be Carl’s, Billy’s the first one they’ll be coming after.”
“Ah, I remember your husband now,” Abby turned to me and said. “He’s a handsome man. So that’s why you asked about the tapes from a week ago. He was here and he had three men with him. I thought they might be brothers because they looked so much alike… dark skin, long, black hair, and big muscles. One of the guys hid out in the bushes; I figured he was the lookout. I knew what was going on the minute I saw Carl with his kids earlier in the day. Claire wasn’t with him, so I figured he snatched the kids, and those guys came to get them back. I was going to call the police, but decided to hold off until I could investigate further.”
“What made you change your mind?”
“I saw two of the guys carrying your children. I figured it was a rescue. I zoomed in on the kids faces and they looked happy to be with those guys. Carrie was asleep with a smile on her face, but Benny was awake. He had his arm around the guy’s neck and kept trying to talk to him. I could tell that he knew the man, because I heard everything they said. The man placed his finger over his mouth as if to quiet the child down, and it worked. Benny buried his head in the guy’s chest. I also remember the day I called Claire at her mother’s house right after Christmas. I wanted to wish her a Merry Christmas. She’s the only neighbor that I ever liked around here. The rest are old, stuffy hags… money or not. Anyway, we had a pleasant conversation. I talked to your mother, Minnie, for a short while. All she could talk about was her Jesse finally getting married. She said you married a great guy named Billy Blackhawk. When I saw those men, I put two and two together. I’m pretty smart for an old lady. Of course, I got on my computer and fed in the pictures of the four men into my data bank… actually it’s a back door into… well, I won’t say, but I came up with their names, addresses, and all pertinent data I needed. I knew it was the right thing they were doing, so I kept my mouth shut. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for your neighbor on the other side. She has to stick her nose into everything, and she never gets anything right. I think she exaggerates just to make herself look good. She’s not the shiniest apple on the tree. I’d say she’s got a few screws loose, that ditzy broad.”
“Are you talking about Babs Creamer?” Claire asked.
“Now what woman in her right mind would go by the name of Babs at her age? She’s seventy-two years old, for God’s sake. In her younger days, she used to be a stripper.”
“Oh, Abigail, that’s not true,” Claire corrected her. “She was a professional dancer. She was well-known for some of her performances on Broadway. She was a real celebrity at one time. Hey, she might still be one for all I know. She sure had a lot of tales to tell.”
“Don’t you mean lies? She’s filled your head full of them.” Abby laughed out loud. “Claire, you have a good heart, but you’re so gullible. She was a stripper in one of those seedy nightclubs until she met Rex. He took her out of that joint and made a respectable woman out of her… or, at least, he tried to. I always believed that you were born with class; it wasn’t something you could buy. Poor Rex did his best, but sometimes you just can’t change what a person is. She’s a real loser, but he made her better than what she was. Trailer park trash; that’s what I call her.”
“Easy, Abby,” I said. “Just because someone lives in a trailer park doesn’t mean they’re trash. I have friends who live in trailers and they’re not trash; it’s all they can afford right now. I also have an elderly friend who lives in a trailer because she can’t keep up a house by herself. She lives alone and doesn’t have any family.”
“A defender of the underdog!” Abby said. “I love this girl!”
“That’s a bunch of bull,” Claire said. “I talked to Babs a few times and she told me all about the famous people she’d met and worked with. Did you know that she danced on stage with Fred Astaire once?”
“In her dreams,” Abby responded. “The closest that woman ever came to Fred Astaire was watching him on television.”
“You really dislike her, don’t you?”
“I despise her,” Abby said with an eyebrow raised. “She made a pass at Pete at a Christmas party a few years back. After that, I added her name to my list of despicable people. I blackballed her, and she hasn’t been invited to a party in this neighborhood since. None of the woman will even talk to her. She was also thrown out of our Women’s Club.”
“Boy, I sure would hate to have you get mad at me,” I said.
“I can be your best friend, or I can be your worst adversary. Get ready, ladies,” Abby said, pointing up at the screen. “Detective Trainum and his entourage are headed this way.”
“Already?” Claire asked. “It’s only been…”
I looked over at the Grandfather clock in the corner of the room and asked,” Is that clock right, Abby?”
“Of course, it is, my dear. It’s a masterpiece and was hand-made especially for me by my dear friend, Hans, in Switzerland. He’s the best clockmaker in the world. The clock is a one of a kind. I had it shipped here last year. Isn’t it a work of art?”
“It’s fabulous,” Claire said. “I’d love to own one like it.”
“Well, according to it, we’ve been in D.C. for four hours,” I deduced. “I need to call home, just in case we wind up in handcuffs.”
“My, how time flies when you’re involved in a murder,” Abby said as she chuckled under her breath. “Don’t worry, my dear. You’re not going to jail; I’ll see to that.”
“Stall the detective for a minute,” I said to Abby. “Tell him that we’re upstairs resting. Drag the conversation out long enough for me to call home. Then you can come get us. Oh, I need to get my purse from the parlor. My cell phone’s in it.”
“You can use my phone, silly. The first room on the right is a guest room. Use the phone in there.”
“Okay, but you need to keep the cops out of the parlor, or stash the handbags. I have my gun in mine.” I turned to Claire and grabbed her by the wrist.
“This is so exciting!” Abby said. “I love a good mystery.”
“If you think this is exciting, you should see what Jesse has strapped to her ankle.”
As a teaser, I pulled up my pants leg just far enough for Abby to see the gun, and then fled upstairs. We left her standing in the study with the most intriguing look on her face. She had no fear of what was to come. I guess she’d been around long enough, or either she had enough money to make others fear her. Either way, she was having the time of her life.
As Claire and I ran upstairs, she confided in me that she was terrified. I t
ried to calm her down by telling her we had nothing to worry about. We hadn’t done anything wrong.
“Just let me do all the talking,” I said. “You have a tendency to offer information that hasn’t been asked for, and isn’t necessary. You’ll get us into trouble if I let you handle the show. When you get nervous, you don’t know when to shut up and when to talk.”
“That’s not true.”
“Forget it, Claire. We can argue about it later. Right now, I need to talk to Billy.”
“Aren’t you scared,” Claire asked as we walked into the bedroom and closed the door. She sat down on the bed.
I picked up the phone on the nightstand and dialed my house. “I’m about as scared as a skunk being chased by an elephant.”
It took a few minutes for Claire to get my meaning. She had a baffled look on her face. “Why would a skunk be afraid of an elephant? All the skunk would have to do is spray…”
“My point exactly,” I said.
“Then you’re not scared?”
“Nope,” I said. “When we found out that there was a dead body in your wine cellar, I was terrified, but now, the only thing that would scare me would be if that body turns out to be Carl’s. Then I’d worry for Billy. But I don’t think that’s the case here. I think the body belongs to Sherry, the slut. I’m beginning to feel like Abby. We have nothing to fear.”
“Maybe she knows something we don’t.”
“If that’s true; she’ll tell us when the time’s right.”
“How do you know that?”
“I just do,” I said as I placed the phone to my ear. “I trust her. She talks a lot of talk, but she has her head together.”
“I trust her, too, but I wonder if maybe she has her own agenda. Maybe she just likes to be the center of attention.”
“I’m sure she does, and she can afford to be. People with money usually get what they want. I think all she wants is company.”
Mom’s voice echoed in my ear. “Hello,” she said.
“Mom, is Billy there?”
“No, he’s not, Jesse,” she replied. “He’s working on Brian’s case. He said he had to do something while you were gone. He’s worried sick about the two of you. He didn’t want y’all to go, but he knew he couldn’t stop you. He said you were a stubborn `ge ya, and there was no stopping you when you made up your mind about something. Sarah and I are watching the kids while Chief Sam takes a nap. They wore him out. And little Maisy is such a sweet thing. Benny and Carrie love her to pieces. Even the dogs and the cat like her. They’ve stuck beside her ever since you’ve been gone. They’re all having such a good time. What’s going on with you and Claire? Did you find out anything?”