Murder in Tranquility Park

by J. D. Griffo

  CHAPTER 16

  Odi, veti et tace, se voi vivir in pace.

  Before the dinner party even started, Jinx knew that she should have cancelled it. One bad omen could be overlooked, but five?

  After Freddy came to their rescue and picked them up, he arranged for his cousin, Dino, who owned his own mechanic shop in nearby Newton, to fix Alberta’s car. Dino confirmed that the brake lines were deliberately cut, and it was only after Alberta agreed to cook him several pans of homemade eggplant rollatini, and bracciole, Joyce agreed to give him advice on which stocks to invest in, and Helen agreed to pray that his ex-wife would grow tired of living in Costa Rica with her new boyfriend and return to him that Dino agreed not to share the information with the police. Freddy was a bit more reluctant.

  “Jinx, I know you enjoy solving crimes with your grandma and your aunts, and Nola’s your best friend, but this is getting serious,” Freddy said while they were snuggled on the couch watching an old rerun. “You could’ve been killed.”

  “I’m touched that you’re so concerned,” Jinx replied, trying to make a joke out of it. She failed.

  “Hey, I’m not kidding around,” Freddy said. To prove his point he pressed a button on the remote control and the TV screen faded to black.

  “I was watching that,” Jinx protested.

  “Stop joking, all four of you could have been killed,” Freddy said.

  Jinx looked at her boyfriend, concern and fear shaping his features, and she never thought she saw a more beautiful face. “I know and to be honest it scared the life out of me,” Jinx confessed. “After I got over being really excited about it.”

  “Excited?”

  “Yes! Somebody went to a whole lot of trouble to silence us, which means we’re on the right track and Nola is definitely innocent.”

  “Of course she’s innocent,” Freddy confirmed. “And, well, I guess it’s kind of exciting in a freakishly weird way. But Jinx, it’s still really scary.”

  Smiling, Freddy kissed Jinx tenderly. “At least we’re on the same page.”

  Jinx threw her arms around her boyfriend and said, “Freddy Frangelico, I think you and I have been on the same page for quite a while now.”

  After several more minutes of kissing, Freddy finally broke away and stroked Jinx’s long black hair, running his fingers through it, feeling the shape of her skull, brushing it away from her face and around her ears. “I know I’m not going to get you to stop investigating and I am not trying to change you,” Freddy said. “But please promise me that you’ll be careful and if you won’t go to the police for help, you’ll at least come to me.”

  An unexpected heat rose up from her belly to her throat, and Jinx felt a little short of breath. She thought it was the most wonderful feeling in the world. “That I can promise,” she whispered. “Now I think we should get back to doing what we were doing before you so rudely interrupted us.”

  “Watching TV?” Freddy asked.

  Smiling devilishly, Jinx replied, “We can do that after.”

  That was the night before the Friday night dinner party when the world seemed perfect and nothing could possibly go wrong.

  The day of the party was another story entirely.

  First, Jinx woke up and discovered that she was having her period. And, of course, it wasn’t a light, carefree kind of day, it was the worst kind of period complete with a heavy flow, cramps, and mood swings. Second, she caught Nola cleaning out her closet and saw that she had all her shoeboxes strewn out over her bed, which is a well-known way to invite bad luck to visit. Third, while dressing in her bedroom, Jinx pulled the chunky Bakelite necklace that used to be her mother’s and was hanging on the mirror over her vanity, and the entire mirror fell to the floor and crashed at her feet ensuring that from that moment on she would suffer seven years of bad luck. Fourth, while scribbling notes about the investigation she realized that adding up the letters in Kichiro and Sharon’s names added up to the dreaded number thirteen. And finally, Kichiro showed up to the party drunk.

  Most people would have ignored these events and probably wouldn’t have even linked them together as coincidences. But as someone who was born on Friday the 13th and whose nickname was based on a series of bad luck incidents, Jinx was hypersensitive to omens of misfortune, and she knew the evening was going to be the beginning of a disaster. Eerily, she was right.

  To guarantee that whatever transpired at the party would be memorialized and not forgotten or misinterpreted, Joyce suggested that they tape the evening. After several discussions as to the best way to go about it and the emptying of one full bottle of kiwi-flavored vodka—which no one thought they’d like, but everyone loved—it was decided that Jinx would plant a bug in her apartment that would be connected to a wiretap machine in Alberta’s kitchen. It was a simple enough plan, but it got off to a rough start when Alberta forgot to mute the volume on her end so everyone in Jinx’s apartment could hear the conversation taking place around Alberta’s kitchen table.

  “Lola! Scendi dal tavolo o sarai cena!” Alberta yelled.

  “What was that?” Kichiro asked, looking around the living room.

  “Me,” Freddy answered.

  “You?” Kichiro replied, hardly believing the comment. “It sounded Italian, I think.”

  “Because I am taking lessons so I can speak my native tongue,” Freddy lied.

  Nola quickly entered the living room from the kitchen with a tray of hors d’oeuvres. “That’s terrific, Freddy, what did you say?”

  Startled by Nola’s comment and stunned that she didn’t understand Freddy was lying, Jinx kicked Nola in the shins so she lurched forward and the tray landed right in Kichiro’s lap. “Sorry, but dig in,” Nola said. “And don’t worry, this is all real food, none of Jinx’s fake vegan, gluten-free nonsense. Those pigs in the blanket are made with real pig.”

  Popping one in his mouth, Kichiro chewed happily, thoroughly enjoying the food. It wasn’t enough, however, to make him forget Nola’s question. “So what was it you were saying in Italian?”

  “What?” Freddy said. “Nothing, nada, just a little Italian slang that’s kind of hard to translate. I’m sure there are a lot of similar phrases in Japanese.”

  Nodding and chewing at the same time, Kichiro replied, “Karite kita neko.”

  Sitting next to Kichiro on the couch, Freddy turned to him and asked, “What does that mean?”

  “People act better when they’re not in their own home,” Kichiro explained. “Literally it means a borrowed cat.”

  “Cat?” Freddy shouted.

  “Lola!” Alberta screamed, her voice once again echoing through Jinx and Nola’s living room.

  “You know you sound like a girl when you speak in Italian,” Kichiro commented. “So what were you saying before? What does it translate to?”

  Jinx took Kichiro’s glass and poured it full of red wine. “It’s a very old saying that doesn’t really make any sense in English.”

  “But the, um, literal translation is something like turn off the volume on the cat because it’s waking up the neighborhood,” Freddy said.

  “It reminds me of another Italian saying my grandma would always say,” Jinx started. “Odi, veti et tace, se voi vivir in pace.”

  Finally, Alberta understood that the machine’s volume was turned on, but of course didn’t know how to solve the problem. She nudged Sloan, who was sitting next to her, and pointed to the wiretap device and through a series of very elaborate hand gestures got him to realize the sound was still on. Quickly, Sloan pressed the mute button on the machine so the rest of the talking around Alberta’s kitchen table would be confined to that room and not be transmitted across town.

  “Jinx is getting so good at her Italian,” Alberta commented.

  “What did she say?” Sloan asked.

  Alberta was getting ready to translate, but Bruno, who was sitting across from Sloan, answered first, “Keep your mouth shut and your ears open.”

  “She’s a q
uick learner, that one,” Helen remarked.

  Not everyone caught on so quickly.

  “That’s hilarious!” Kichiro shouted and then proceeded to laugh loudly and long.

  “What is?” Freddy asked.

  “The saying about the cat!”

  Every time Kichiro’s laughter subsided he would mumble something to himself, throw another mini hot dog into his mouth, and start laughing hysterically all over again. “Two different languages, both preoccupied with cats. I hate cats.”

  In two separate locations, Jinx and Alberta made the same comment at the same time. “How can you hate cats?”

  “Ignore what you hear, Lola,” Alberta said to Lola, who was napping contentedly in Sloan’s lap. “That one doesn’t know what he’s saying.”

  “You don’t know what you’re saying, Kichiro,” Jinx repeated. “Cats are wonderful.”

  “They’re sneaky, they shed tons of fur all over the place, and they’ve got long nails that’ll gouge your eyes out in your sleep.”

  Shaking her head, Nola walked into the kitchen to open up another bottle of wine, mumbling along the way, “I’m glad I don’t have to pretend to be your fake girlfriend anymore, I love cats.”

  “Whatcha say?” Kichiro asked.

  “I said I’m glad I didn’t get us tickets to see Cats, the musical,” she yelled from the kitchen counter.

  “Is that why you’re wearing that bandage on your finger?” Jinx asked.

  Kichiro lifted up his right hand to look at his index finger, “This?”

  “Yes, that,” Jinx confirmed.

  “Dog bite from a lost poodle, almost as vicious as a stray cat,” he replied. “Way deeper than I thought.”

  Jinx recalled the last two conversations she had with Kichiro about his bandaged finger and realized each time he offered a different excuse. “First you said you cut yourself, then it was a splinter, and now it’s a bite from a rabid poodle.”

  “He never said the poodle was rabid,” Freddy injected.

  “Freddy!”

  Freddy knew from Jinx’s tone that she wanted him to keep his mouth shut and stay out of the conversation. The way Kichiro stared at Jinx, sober as a prohibitionist, he knew that Jinx wasn’t going to stop until he ended the conversation. “I’m accident-prone.”

  Jinx felt that his stare was meant to intimidate, but she wasn’t going to give in so she maintained the stare until he looked away. “You need to take better care of yourself.”

  Following Nola’s earlier lead, Jinx took the platter of food from Kichiro, and started for the kitchen. “I’ll replenish the snacks and give you boys a chance to talk man to man.” She punctuated her comment with a death glare to Freddy just in case he didn’t get the very obvious hint that he should start to pump Kichiro for information before the evening was over.

  “So dude,” Freddy started.

  “Yup,” Kichiro grunted.

  “You and I should go scuba diving, you know, now that you’re not working,” Freddy suggested.

  “I’m still working,” Kichiro corrected. “Just on administrative leave until, you know, this whole thing blows over.”

  “Oh right, sorry. Well, still . . . maybe it’ll help get your mind off of things,” Freddy suggested. “Being underwater, separated from all the crazy stuff on land, always makes me calm and kind of Zen.”

  Looking into the distance and seeing nothing and probably everything all at once, Kichiro’s head bobbed up and down. “I could use some Zen.”

  “Cool then, we’ll plan on it,” Freddy said. “How about next weekend? Saturday, before it gets too cold.”

  “Saturday?” Kichiro repeated. “Yeah, I’d like that. I could use a little time underwater.”

  “It’s a date then,” Freddy blurted out. “Well, you know, not a date, Jinx is my girl and all, but you know a bro-date thing.” Freddy gulped down half a glass of his wine to stop himself from rambling any further and swallowed hard. “Hey, you know what I’ve been looking for to bring on an ocean expedition I have coming up, but just can’t seem to find, is a ladder.”

  “I have a ladder,” Kichiro said, then bellowed, “Hey Jinx, come back with that food!”

  “I’ll be right there,” Jinx shouted from behind the kitchen door.

  Freddy poured himself some more wine and leaned over to fill up Kichiro’s glass as well. “I don’t mean a regular ladder, I have one of those, what I need and I don’t know if you’ve even heard of it, is one of those fancy retractable ladders. They’re a lot sturdier than a rope ladder and way easier to carry around than a regular metal ladder.”

  “Sure, I know what you mean,” Kichiro said. “I’ve got one of those at home.”

  Luckily, Kichiro couldn’t hear the commotion that arose in Alberta’s kitchen.

  “Santa madre di misericordia! Did you hear him?” Alberta shrieked.

  “I can’t believe he just admitted to having a retractable ladder,” Joyce said.

  “Are you writing this down, Bruno?” Helen asked. “This is evidence. Irrefutable evidence.”

  “I don’t have to write it down,” Bruno replied. “We’re, um, recording it on tape.”

  “This is incredible,” Sloan declared. “He practically confessed.”

  “It’s solid information but hardly a confession,” Bruno cautioned.

  “You have to say that because you’re the lawyer,” Sloan said. “But as the boyfriend I can say that I’m quite impressed, Alberta.”

  “Boyfriend?” Helen shrieked. “It’s like I’m listening to an episode of The Romance of Mary Trent.”

  Before anyone could comment, the episode turned from a single girl’s romantic entanglements to the fury of a single girl scorned.

  “You have a what?” Nola screamed, running into the living room.

  “Nola, babe, why are you yelling?” Kichiro asked, holding his hands over his ears.

  “Don’t Nola babe me! I’m not your babe! Now answer me, you have a retractable ladder?”

  “Yeah, so what?”

  “Of all the selfish, stupid things you could say,” Nola seethed.

  She started speed walking around the apartment and circled the couch where Kichiro and Freddy were sitting. Kichiro twisted his body to follow Nola’s movements, but soon grew too dizzy to keep up.

  “Nola, please stop, you’re making me sick.”

  “I’m making you sick! Do you know how you make me feel?”

  “This is starting to sound really bad,” Bruno said. “Maybe we should turn off the machine.”

  “Not on your life,” Alberta scolded. “We need to hear what else Kichiro has to say.”

  “I’m not concerned with what he has to say,” Bruno advised. “I’m worried about what else Nola’s going to say. She was supposed to keep quiet and play along, that was the plan.”

  “After everything I’ve done for you this is how you repay me?” Nola screeched. “I spend time in jail, I’m up for murder, and you have a retractable ladder!”

  Done with words as her weapon, Nola decided to use her body next and lunged for Kichiro. She pushed him back on the couch and her hands went right around his neck. His wineglass flew out of his hand, splattering on the floor. Even though he was at least fifty pounds heavier than Nola, her rage and his inebriation meant they were on equal footing, and he wasn’t able to pry her fingers from around his throat.

  “Help me,” he gurgled.

  “What’s happening?” Alberta cried.

  “Sounds like Nola’s finally standing up for herself,” Helen guessed, munching on a cranberry muffin.

  “Or setting herself up for an even bigger fall,” Bruno said.

  “Nola, stop!” Jinx cried, grabbing her friend by the waist and pulling her off of Kichiro.

  Freddy was able to wedge his fingers between her grasp and Kichiro’s skin and finally separate the two. But even apart, Nola was still enraged.

  “Get out! Get out of here Kichiro, and I don’t ever want to see you again!”
>
  Coughing and clutching his throat, Kichiro looked like a wounded child. He couldn’t comprehend why Nola had gotten so violent or what had prompted the attack.

  “Look, everybody knows we’re not really a couple,” Kichiro admitted. “But we’re still friends.”

  “Wait a second!” Freddy ordered. “You broke up with her ’cause she got arrested for murder? Dude, that is so not cool.”

  “She isn’t my girlfriend,” Kichiro insisted.

  “Because dude . . . you broke up with her!”

  “Freddy, I’ll explain everything later,” Jinx interrupted.

  “There’s nothing to explain. No wonder Nola’s ticked off,” Freddy realized. “Jinx, I want you to know right here and now that I would never break up with you if you got arrested for murder and had to spend a few nights in jail. Even, you know, if you had to spend like a whole week behind bars.”

  “Dio mio, I like that boy,” Alberta gushed.

  “He’s a keeper,” Joyce claimed.

  “Also too,” Helen said, stealing Joyce’s catchphrase. “Jinx better not screw this one up.”

  “Thank you, Freddy, that’s really, really sweet,” Jinx implored. “But seriously, I will explain everything later. Right now, we need to deal with Nola and Kichiro.”

  “There is no Nola and Kichiro! We’re nothing!” Nola finished. “Now get out of here before I call the police.”

  Looking around seemingly confused by his surroundings, it took Kichiro a few moments to gather his strength to respond. “I am the police!”

  “Not for long!” Nola spat. “When I’m through with you, you’re gonna be nothing! Now get out!”

  “Come on, Kich,” Freddy said, grabbing his arm and leading him to the door. “I’ll take you home.”

  “I don’t understand, Freddy,” he mumbled. “What’s going on?”

  “It’ll all make sense in the morning,” Freddy said. “Let’s go.”

  The second the door shut behind Freddy and Kichiro, Nola started to cry. “I can’t believe he’s been lying all this time. He has the only kind of ladder that could be used to get into the tree house. Jinx, do you know what that means?”