Thursday afternoon she sat in her car, discreetly parked in a lot across from Kristy’s Classics. It was five o’clock and she could tell by the flurry of activity in the lot next to the showroom that they were getting ready to go to the auction. Two car carriers were being loaded with a wild assortment of classic autos, most of them muscle cars. After all the cars were loaded, she watched Eric drive off in his Delorean.
Danielle felt ridiculously adolescent following him to his house, but she had to know if he was getting ready for a date or was in for the night. Shortly after Eric pulled in the long curving driveway leading to the house, another car drove in behind him. In the beam of light from her headlights she saw the silhouettes of two women. Two women! Is he having a party? It can’t be. He’d hardly be throwing a party the night before he leaves for the auction.
Danielle parked her car on a side street. Clutching a tiny flashlight she kept in her purse, she got out and crept along the edge of the heavy woods that extended behind Eric’s property. Darkness fell before five now, the visibility nil in the damp woods. Her imagination flickered back to the shadow she thought she’d seen when she drove by the other night. She shivered, progressing clumsily through the thicket of the woods.
Eric’s property was covered with mature pine and spruce trees, and the house backed up to a wooded area that covered about a square mile. Prime real estate. Eric was a wealthy man. Her determination to snag him mounted.
Glad she’d worn dark clothing, but hoping she wouldn’t ruin her new leather boots or snag her cashmere jacket on the thick, thorny undergrowth, she continued toward the house. Edging quietly onto a patio that ran along the north wall, she peeked into the side of a bay window and counted three people. Two were women. Damn, which one could he be seeing? Both attractive women, one of them even reminded Danielle of herself, except for the dowdy figure. God, the woman must wear a size fourteen. Couldn’t be her, must be the tiny one with the short, curly hair.
Danielle, moving slowly in her narrow heels, stumbled her way back to the car, embarrassed at her behavior. Her mind reeled with possibilities, none of them attractive. As she drove away, she didn’t notice the car parked across from the house with the lone figure hunched behind the wheel.
Hard as he tried to forget about the Peacock woman, Eddie had a difficult time letting it go. Even though common sense told him he was safe from detection, his curiosity about her drove him to distraction. But he’d be seeing Doreen tonight. Maybe an evening out would get his mind off things he’d rather forget.
At six, she called with an excuse about spending the evening with her daughter who needed a shoulder to cry on because her boyfriend dumped her. What was with kids today? They weren’t independent like his generation.
Now what to do with his evening? He had the bar staffed for the night in anticipation of his date. It had been a while since he’d seen a porno-flick; that usually cheered him up. He headed to the adult bookstore to get a video, then on a whim he got on the interstate and drove to the last place he’d seen Peacock.
He staked out the house he’d seen her and her friend drive into the week before after all the excitement at the Mexican restaurant. It wasn’t long before he saw her turn into the driveway in her little car.
After an hour Eddie thought he’d give it another thirty minutes then take off. An old woman walking a dog strolled past his car, giving him the stink eye. Nervous because of her obvious curiosity, he hunched down lower in the seat.
Twenty minutes later, no one had left the house. The hag with the ugly dog still hovered, the dog lifting its leg to anything standing still. Bored, Eddie drove away, looking forward to a quiet night in his recliner with a six-pack and porn. He’d have to think of another way to get info on the broad.
50
When Eric called Danielle before he left, she read into it what she wanted, still believing in the possibility of a relationship with him, yet disturbed that he hadn’t told her what he’d done the night before. What she’d seen in his house was bugging her.
Shopping, a favorite pastime on Friday nights, led her to the high-end boutiques, where she found a great dress for her next date with Eric, a date she was sure would occur as soon as he got back from Texas. But as she drove home on I-94 and passed the exit for Waukesha, she couldn’t resist driving past his house again. There were lights on; maybe he’d left them on for security. But no one left that many on. She told herself she wouldn’t go sneaking through the woods again; last night had creeped her out.
Disgusted with herself, but out of control, she parked on the side street again. She covered the same route to the window she’d peeked through the night before. When she looked in, her stomach lurched. The same people were gathered in the kitchen. They looked comfortable with one another and appeared to be making dinner. What the hell?
Across the street from Eric Schindler’s estate, Eddie Wysecki sat in his car, watching for any sign of TJ. Doreen had bailed on him again, still using her daughter as an excuse. Maybe she was getting ready to move on. Might be for the best if she did. In case he had to leave town in a hurry, running would be easier without any ties. He felt pathetic, sitting here for two nights, stalking some chick he’d never met. And on a Friday night to boot.
Since he got there he hadn’t seen anyone coming or going. Stupid to keep sitting there. He wasn’t going to find out anything this way and his butt was starting to cramp. Maybe another fifteen minutes.
In the kitchen, TJ and Jeff laughed as they made chili, arguing about how much, or if any, cumin should be added to the recipe. Lisa sat in front of the widescreen TV, having agreed that more than two cooks in the kitchen were too many.
When Phanny came around wanting to go out, Lisa took her to the door off the kitchen.
“If you’re taking her out, I’ll go with you,” Jeff offered.
“Thanks, but I’m just letting her out for a minute. She’s good about staying close by.”
Any plausible explanation for why those people were staying in Eric’s house eluded Danielle. Eric had said nothing about having houseguests. She started to back away when she heard a door open. Had someone spotted her? It would be impossible to get back to the woods without being seen. Squeezing into a corner between the side of the house and a large, stone chimney, she hoped for the best, her heart pounding.
Relief poured through her when she saw it was only a black dog being let out to do his business. Damn, was he going to bark at her? Instead, it saw her and ran over, seemingly looking for affection. Danielle gave the dog’s head a quick pat, then turned toward the woods with the dog at her heels. She whispered at it to go home, but the canine followed her into the blackness.
As she moved into the dark woods, her small light began dimming. Without adequate light, the dog’s presence was reassuring. She hadn’t gotten more than fifty feet in, when the dog started to growl. She stopped in her tracks, wondering if she should turn back when a figure rushed out from behind a wide oak tree. Danielle felt herself pulled against her attacker’s body, her arms pinned to her sides as the dog backed away, whimpering.
Strong, gloved hands circled her throat. She clawed at them, uselessly trying to halt the vise-like tightening. Thrashing wildly, she kicked at him in an effort to free herself, praying that the dog would come to her rescue. But the dog was hurrying back to the house, tail pointing toward the ground.
51
When Lisa opened the door to Phanny, the dog rushed in, whining. Lisa tried to calm her as the dog frantically circled the kitchen but Phanny’s strange behavior persisted.
Worried, she said, “I hate to interrupt the fun, but Phanny just came in whining and won’t settle down. I’m afraid something isn’t right outside. Maybe we should go out and have a look around.”
Jeff said, “Call that security guard.”
TJ sprang from the couch. “He’s not going to be here until eleven. I’ll go out. You two stay put.” She put on a jacket, and checked that her gun was in place. Jeff, not
waiting for her permission, put on his coat to follow.
“I think I saw a lantern in the garage. Let’s grab that,” Jeff suggested.
“Fine.” She turned to Lisa. “Stay here. I’ll call you if anything is off.”
Lisa’s cell phone rang only minutes later. “Lisa, there’s a woman’s body out here. I called 911. Do you know if Eric has a gun in the house?”
Lisa had avoided telling them about her handgun rather than explain why she owned it. The moment of truth had arrived. “I have one.”
Not asking for an explanation, TJ told her to find some plastic rope and meet them in the woods about a hundred yards behind the house.
“I’ll be right out.”
After locating the rope and picking up two lanterns she found in the garage, Lisa hurried out to the woods with Phanny leashed at her side. Aided by the light of the lantern Jeff held, she quickly found TJ and Jeff standing over the body of a woman.
The woman was lying on her side, wearing dark slacks and a black leather jacket. Feeling like it would be disrespectful, Lisa didn’t move to where she could see the woman’s face. Instead, she asked, “Did either of you recognize her?”
“No, but she was a damn good-looking woman,” TJ said, wryly. “Give me the rope. I’m going to tie off the area before the scene gets messed up. Don’t get any closer.” Jeff and TJ stepped back, watching as TJ circled the trees with the plastic rope.
After she finished, she said, “Lisa, we’ll stay here, why don’t you go back—someone will have to call Eric.”
Lisa asked, “Someone must have dumped her body here, don’t you think? She couldn’t have been out for a walk in the woods this late. Not dressed like that.”
“She’s still warm. Had to have been killed right here, that’s why I’m trying to preserve the site for the police.”
Lisa wanted to get as far as possible from the death scene. She’d broken out into a cold sweat under her clothes; she’d never seen a body that had been murdered. Clutching her gun in one hand and a flashlight in the other, she made her way back to the house with Phanny, nervously looking from side to side.
She hadn’t been back long when Jeff appeared at the door. The sound of sirens filled the night as Lisa let him in.
Breathless, he said, “TJ wants to know how you want to spin this for the cops.”
“Spin it? Are you serious?”
“TJ’s right. We have to have an explanation ready for what we’re all doing here.”
“That’s easy,“ she said, calmer. “We’re house guests, keeping an eye on the place while Eric’s gone.”
“That sounds kind of lame, doesn’t it?” asked Jeff.
Lisa rubbed her stress-knotted neck. “Isn’t that actually what we are? Why we’re houseguests is what we leave out. If anyone can think of something better, let me know. We should call Maggie and David. This is out of their jurisdiction, but maybe they can give us some advice on how to handle things.”
“Good idea. I’ll tell TJ.” Jeff turned to go back out until the police arrived.
Lisa watched him leave, dreading the call to Eric. The auction in Texas started tonight. He’d probably have his cell phone turned off until he got back to his hotel room. She’d leave him a message to call her when he got in.
Still parked in front of the house, and nearly dozing off, Eddie jolted up when he heard sirens, quickly aware that their wailing was drawing near. Fuck! Had that old lady from last night reported him as a prowler? He had to get the hell out of there and never come back. He’d make sure all his ducks were in a row and blow town if he had to.
52
Detectives Maggie Petersen and David Lassiter showed up soon after Lisa called Maggie, while what looked like the entire law enforcement population of southeastern Wisconsin gathered outside the house. Maggie and David exchanged glances after they’d been given the details of the night’s events.
Lisa said, “We feel terrible about this woman, but we have no idea if this could be related to what we’re doing.”
When they looked skeptical, she added, “We called you because we aren’t sure what to say to the police. We’re just going to tell them is that we’re houseguests.” She looked from one to the other for some sign of understanding.
David took a deep breath, a deep frown forcing his dark brows together. “Assuming that would pacify them for now, how are you going to explain the security guard?”
“We called the service and told them not to send him yet. When he comes later, it’ll look like a response to the murder.”
Maggie, her face unreadable, said, “That may be overkill. Waukesha is sure to station a car here.” She looked at David, who stood stiffly at her side, his hands in his pockets. “What do you think?”
Looking over the room and its furnishings, he said, “Judging by the looks of this place, Eric’s a wealthy man, so it wouldn’t be a stretch that he’d act to protect his friends by hiring a guard, even with a police presence. But I’m not comfortable holding anything back that could help with the investigation of this woman’s murder.”
Maggie said, “You can tell the Waukesha police whatever you want, but if it turns out this murder is related to your investigation or ambiguous in any way, we won’t have a choice—we’ll have to contribute what we know. As officers of the law we can’t withhold anything that might be evidential.”
The detectives accepted their silence as agreement and went outside to make their presence known.
The relationships among the departments bordering Milwaukee were amicable. As a result, when Oconomowoc detectives Maggie Petersen and David Lassiter, explained to the other officers that they’d come over when Lisa, a friend of Maggie’s, had called them, no one objected to their presence.
As the body was carried away, the officer in charge, a short, burly detective from Waukesha PD, handed them a photo of the dead woman’s face. Neither of them recognized the woman.
TJ, who’d been allowed to remain behind the rope when one of the county sheriffs remembered her as a former Milwaukee cop, walked over to them, her rigid posture the only sign of her stress. The three of them stepped aside.
“Have they questioned you yet?” Maggie asked.
“No formal statement, but yeah, they asked me a few things. Told them I never saw the woman before and that we’re friends of Eric’s, staying here for a while.”
“We’ll give you twenty-four hours. If this isn’t wrapped up by then, we’ll have to share what we know about your interviews.”
TJ looked away. “Gotta do what you gotta do.”
When the Waukesha police came into the house to take the group’s statements, they talked to TJ first in Eric’s office.
When it was Lisa’s turn and she was handed a photo of the dead woman, her face burned with recognition. My god! It’s Danielle, the woman I met in Jeff’s showroom.
Seeing Lisa’s reaction, the Detective asked, “Is she someone you knew?”
“I met her briefly a couple weeks ago.”
“Where?”
“In the showroom at Kristie’s. I was there with Eric. She was looking at an expensive car; I don’t remember what kind.” Lisa took a deep breath, wondering if her suspicions had been right; this was the woman Eric was seeing. Since it was just that—female suspicion—she didn’t feel the need to share her thoughts. “Her name was Danielle. I can’t remember her last name, although Eric did introduce me to her. Sorry, I’m really upset, but I think it’ll come to me.”
The statements were brief since no one really knew the woman. They’d been in the house when she was murdered and heard nothing. It was clear the detectives thought the housing arrangement odd, but the group’s explanation seemed to placate them for the moment.
53
Except for a lone squad car parked in the drive, by 1:00 a.m. the police, sheriffs, and crime scene techs were gone, the only reminder of the night’s violence the bright yellow crime scene tape that circled the trees. The media presence had rushed back
to their caves to report the sensational murder.
Jeff stood at the stove stirring the nearly forgotten chili when TJ walked into the kitchen. She bent over the pot, sniffing the spicy mixture, amazed to discover she was hungry.
Jeff turned to her. “We need to talk about the possibility that this woman’s murder is related to us.”
“Possibility?” she scoffed. “You kiddin’ me?”
Frowning, he put down the spoon. “It’s possible there’s another explanation,” he insisted.
“Yeah, you go on thinkin’ that, and I’ll go on thinkin’ about what I’m gonna do with my millions when I win the lottery.”
Jeff served himself chili, then sat at the island staring into his dish, poking through the food with a spoon. TJ filled a bowl and sat next to him, berating herself for her thoughtlessness. The woman’s murder had to be plaguing him with images of what might have happened to his wife. “Sorry. Just seems obvious to me, that’s all.”
At hour later, a teapot Lisa put on had just started whistling when her cell phone rang.
Eric sounded out of breath. “Is something wrong? I just got back to my room and noticed your message.”
“I don’t know how to tell you this . . . ” she started.
“Is everyone all right?”
“Yes, we’re fine.” She blurted, “We had to get in touch with you before the police did—a woman was murdered in the woods behind the house.”
She's Not There Page 13