by Lesley Crewe
Smith shook his wrist and whistled. “The daughters are something, too.”
Harry had enough. He went up to Olson and stabbed a finger into his shoulder. “You judging a beauty contest? These people are in mourning. Keep your mouth shut.”
“What’s your problem, Adams? Suddenly develop a respect for women?” Olson laughed and Smith joined in.
“I won’t tell you again.” He gave Olson an extra poke and walked away before his temper got the better of him. He didn’t want anyone talking about Elsie that way. His Elsie.
It was early on a Sunday morning when Olson knocked on Bunny’s door. She flung it open, almost as if she were expecting someone.
“Oh.”
“Detective Olson. May I speak with you again?”
She looked uneasy. “I guess so.”
He waited for her to move away from the door but she didn’t, not until he was almost on top of her. She seemed reluctant to let him in.
He walked into the middle of her living room. An unfriendly looking Siamese cat gave him the evil eye from underneath an end table. “I just have a few more questions.”
“I’ve said everything I have to say about that night.” She immediately lit a cigarette and blew the smoke in his face. Her hands shook a little. She’d been more together the first time he spoke with her. Why the change?
“When did Mr. Brooks arrive that night?”
“I told you already. Around ten, I guess.”
“And when did he leave?”
Bunny paced back and forth and flicked ashes that weren’t there. “Again. I told you all this. In the morning…about eight.”
“And he was with you all night?”
She turned her back to him and looked out the window.
“Yes.”
“Are you sure?”
“I said yes, didn’t I?” She butted her barely smoked cigarette in the nearest ashtray.
She was a little too touchy. “You know it’s a crime to lie to the police, don’t you Bunny?”
She didn’t say anything.
“Did Mr. Brooks ask you to say he was here all night?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
She spun around. “Will you people leave me alone? I had nothing to do with any of it. I’m sick to death of having my life disrupted by that family. I just want you to go away and stop asking questions.”
Olson took a step closer to her. “Tired of the runaround, Bunny? Does he always tell you what to say and do? He’s not very loyal, is he? But then again, he’s not stupid. All he has to do is get back with his wife and he’s got it made. The old lady was rich. Probably left her money to the family. And Mrs. Brooks is a looker, isn’t she? What man wouldn’t want her? And that house. That’s some house. Do you really think he’d come here to live with you?”
He looked around at the small drab apartment with disgust. He waited for his words to sink in. He could see she was on the edge, and wanted to set her off.
“Is he only over here when he wants…?”
“Shut up.” She crumpled into a heap on the nearest chair and cried as if her heart would break. “You bastard.”
He stood there and waited. He handed her a hankie and she took it. After a few deep breaths she looked at him.
“When I woke up at three, he was gone.”
Olson’s ears perked up. Pay dirt. “When did he get back?”
“Around five.”
That was enough time to leave and get back. The old dame had been shot around 3:45.
“Did he tell you where he was?”
“I pretended to be asleep when he got back. When I asked him in the morning, he said he’d gone for a walk.”
“Had he ever gone for a walk in the middle of the night before?”
She shook her head no.
Olson felt sorry for her. She looked pretty broken up.
“You’ve done the right thing. If he did it once, he could do it again.”
She looked at him. “You think he’ll come after me?”
“I won’t give him the chance. If we can catch a few more breaks, I think we can nail Mr. Brooks.”
She stared into space.
“By the way. Why would he want the old girl dead? Why not just wait for her to croak?”
“She told them there was treasure in that house. He wanted it so he could run away with me.”
Olson nodded. This just got better and better.
“You’re well out of it, you know.”
“Yeah. Sure.”
When Olson hurried off, Bunny got up and walked over to the mirror. She wore a smirk.
“Take that, Graham.”
The Brooks gang sat in the sunroom and had their first normal breakfast since the shooting. The girls made pancakes for their men. Faith had her nose in a journal as she ate her toast. Elsie was enormously grateful that Juliet and Robert went home for a while, but she knew they’d be back. In their rush to get Juliet’s share of Aunt Hildy’s loot out of the house, they forgot Kiwi. Not that Elsie minded.
She and Graham drank coffee on the deck. It felt good to be outside, even if it was a bit chilly. They spent a lot of time together, comforted by each other’s presence. The events of the past week put their differences into perspective—they didn’t want any more drama. They recognized the need to present a united front for the girls and for themselves. Other matters could wait.
They looked at the house on the other side of the back fence and discussed the odds of Juliet being persuaded to live there. Elsie didn’t think it would happen, but Graham said he wouldn’t be surprised, the way their luck had run lately.
The words were no sooner out of his mouth than Detectives Olson and Smith came around from the side entrance and walked onto the deck.
“We rang the doorbell,” Olson said. “You couldn’t have heard it.”
Graham stood. “No, we didn’t. May I ask when this police activity in and out of our home will stop? Can it at least keep until a more convenient time, and not first thing on a Sunday morning?”
“Murder is never convenient, Mr. Brooks.” Smith sounded unfriendly.
Graham backed off. “You’re right, of course.”
Elsie was uneasy with the way they looked at Graham. “Is there anything you wanted in particular, detective?”
“Yes, Mrs. Brooks. We want your husband.”
Elsie and Graham looked at each other. She got up to stand beside him. “What do you mean?”
“Your alibi has unravelled, Mr. Brooks.”
Graham stood stock-still.
Elsie shouted. “What? What’s going on?” She quickly glanced over to the patio doors and realized her family was in the doorway.
“Miss Bunny Hopkins says your husband got out of her bed at three o’clock in the morning the night of the murder and didn’t crawl back in until five. Which leaves plenty of time for him to run over here, kill your aunt and run back to his girlfriend with no one the wiser.”
Lily ran over to her mother. “Mom, what’s happening?”
“It’s all right, Lily. Calm down,” Graham answered quietly.
Elsie panicked. “That can’t be right, you’re mistaken. Graham would never kill anyone. I know him.”
Olson gave her an impatient look. “He has no alibi and he has a motive.”
Elsie yelled, “Motive? What motive? This is ridiculous.”
Graham turned to her. “Call our lawyer. He’ll know what to do and don’t worry. This is a mistake. You know that, don’t you?”
She nodded. Without further ado, they marched Graham off the deck, down the steps and around the corner of the house. They were gone as quickly as they had come. Everyone looked at one another.
Elsie held her hand over her mouth. “This can’t be happening.”
Dahlia shivered. “What do we do?”
Eli said, “You should call that lawyer. That’s the first thing.”
“Yes, of course.” She rushed into the house.
Mr
s. Noseworthy yelled from her porch as she hung out her wash. “Is everything all right?”
Lily smiled and gave her a wave. “Fine, thanks.” Then she whispered to the others. “Quick. Get inside and pretend like we’re normal.”
They rushed at the door together, creating a bit of a bottleneck.
The first thing Faith did was pick up a cellphone and go into the hall closet to dial Juliet’s number.
“You’re not going to believe this,” she whispered.
Chapter Twelve
Faith saw Juliet and Robert hurrying into the house.
“Is it really true?” Juliet said. “Graham did it? I never liked him.”
Faith hit her arm. “I didn’t ask you here to gloat over Graham’s stupidity. We have to help Elsie. She looks terrible. I’m worried about her.”
Robert gave a grunt. “Since when have you ever worried about anyone but yourself?”
“You’re a fathead, did you know that? Don’t ever move into that house behind the fence or I’ll take a propane torch to it.”
“Sticks and stones…”
Juliet slapped her thighs. “Refresh my memory. Why am I here? If Graham’s guilty, he’s guilty. We pick up and move on.” She leaned towards her sister and said in a loud whisper, “It’s not like he’s technically her husband anymore, so good riddance to bad rubbish.”
Faith held her head. “Why did I think you two could help? Just go home then, before you’re inconvenienced any further. We’ll call you when it’s over.”
“Well, I’m here now,” Juliet hissed. “What do you want me to do?”
Her sister gestured them over to the far window. They bent their heads together. “I read detective novels. You’re supposed to try and make people crack, catch them in a lie.”
Robert pointed to his wife. “She’s good at that.”
“Thank you, I think.”
“We should pay this Bunny Rabbit a visit. Ask her what she thinks she’s playing at.”
Robert folded his arms across his chest. “Maybe she’s telling the truth. Have you considered that?”
Faith tsked. “If Graham were capable of murder, he’d have knocked off you two long ago.”
Juliet looked at her with incredulity. “And leave you alive? I think not.”
Faith tilted her head to look at the ceiling. “Please Lord. Why do I get into these conversations?”
“So you want us to pay this woman a visit, to say what?” Robert asked her.
“This isn’t the story she told the police when it happened, otherwise they’d have dragged Graham off days ago. That means she’s changed her tune and I want to know why.”
Juliet sighed. “You watch too much Law and Order. Besides we don’t know where she lives.”
Her sister said, “I do. I went downstairs and looked it up in his address book by the phone.”
“Why would she talk to us? And why do we want him out of this jam?” Juliet asked.
Faith said through gritted teeth, “Because like it or not, we’re family.”
Elsie called the lawyer. He said he’d meet her at the police station. She dressed quickly and hurried downstairs, ignoring the three musketeers in the living room and headed straight for the kitchen. The kids were around the table.
“Has anyone seen my black pumps?”
“I think they’re in the front porch. I’ll get them.” Lily jumped up and disappeared.
“What should we do, Mrs. B?”
Elsie struggled to get her earring on. “There’s nothing you can do at the moment. Just don’t worry. I’m sure it’s all a mistake. Dee, pass me my purse.”
Dahlia reached over and grabbed it from the window sill. “But what if they ask us if Daddy liked her? We know he didn’t want her here. He always said how nice it would be if she wasn’t around.”
Lily returned with the shoes. Elsie took them from her. “Thanks. Listen Dee, I said the same thing myself a couple of times. She was difficult. She drove us crazy, but none of us would’ve hurt her.” She rooted through her bag. “Where are my keys? I can never find anything. Oh, here they are.”
“But Mom, why would anyone else want her dead? Why wasn’t it one of us that was shot?”
“Don’t say that! I can’t even go there.”
Lily lowered her voice. “You don’t suppose those three idiots in the living room did it?”
Her mother stamped her foot. “Oh, for the love of God, Lily. It doesn’t help me when you say things like that. Now do I need to take anything else with me?”
It wasn’t really a question for them. She looked around the kitchen. “I better go. I have no idea when I’ll be home.”
“Call us when you know something,” Lily shouted at her retreating back.
Once the back door closed, Eli said, “I think those three clowns could’ve done it.”
Lily nodded. “I mean, who else is there? They’re so greedy I wouldn’t put anything past them.”
Slater looked down the hallway. “I can see them from here. They look like they’re up to something. Maybe we should tail them.”
“You watch too many James Bond movies,” Lily told him.
Dahlia grinned. “He knows all about cops and robbers, don’t you Slater? How they tie…”
“We know the drill,” Lily groaned. “How they tie people up, use handcuffs and jump into bed with girls named Pussy Galore.”
“Shh, she’s coming,” Slater whispered.
They were interrupted by Faith, who stuck her head in the kitchen door. “We have to go out for a bit. I don’t know when we’ll be back.”
“Where to?” Lily asked.
“Groceries. See ya.” She disappeared.
“There’s something rotten in the state of Denmark,” she whispered. “Faith’s never bought groceries in her life and besides, Superstore isn’t open on Sunday.”
“What happened in Denmark?” Slater asked.
Eli slapped his shoulder. “Don’t worry, buddy. It’s been taken care of. Let’s go and follow those nitwits.”
They got up and snuck to the window in time to see Robert drive off, so they hurried out to the car.
“Maybe that’s why they wear wooden shoes,” Slater said to no one in particular.
Harry walked down the hall with arrest reports under his arm. When he turned the corner, there was Elsie. She sat in a chair all by herself outside the interrogation room, looking lost.
“What’s wrong, Elsie? Why are you here?” He sat in the chair beside her so she wouldn’t have to look up at him.
Swallowing a few times, obviously in an attempt to keep her emotions under wraps, she told him how the detectives had come to the house and taken Graham away for questioning. “Apparently his alibi fell apart. They think he killed Aunt Hildy.”
“If they thought that, they’d have arrested him. If they’re only questioning him, they don’t have quite enough evidence against him,” he said, trying to reassure her.
“Yes. That’s true. Maybe it’s not as dire as I think.”
Harry didn’t say anything because he knew it could turn serious, very quickly. “You told me Graham was out that night.
Where was he?”
She stared at her hands.
“With that woman we met in the driveway?”
She nodded and looked at him with her big brown eyes full of tears.
“Elsie,” he whispered. “Why does that upset you? You’re going out with me. He’s allowed to see other women, isn’t he?”
“I’m not upset about that,” she said quickly. “I’m upset that the father of my children is a suspect in a murder investigation and if he wasn’t with that woman for two hours in the middle of the night, then where was he?”
Harry didn’t know how to comfort her, so he said the first thing that came to mind. “Would you like to come to my place tonight?”
“I don’t know, Harry. I’m a little pre-occupied at the moment.”
“Of course, of course. Whenever you’re ready.
”
“Thanks for the thought though,” she smiled absently.
“I better go. Call me if you need anything.”
“I will. Thanks.”
As he walked away, he wondered if Elsie really liked him. She seemed awfully upset about Graham. But then she was always something about Graham.
Six people were in two cars parked outside Bunny’s apartment building. The first carload wasn’t sure how to approach her and the second carload waited for the first carload to do something.
Juliet and Faith argued about what they should say.
“I don’t think it matters, because we won’t be able to say anything. No one opens the door to strangers anymore,” Juliet pointed out.
“I’ll tell her I’m a political candidate and ask if could I have a moment of her time.”
Juliet snorted. “A political candidate in jogging pants? You better go to plan B.”
“I don’t have a plan B…unless I say I’m selling Girl Guide cookies.”
“You? A Girl Guide? She’d die laughing. Then where would we be?”
Robert turned the car off. “So you drag us over here for nothing. Let’s just go in the damn place and knock on the door. If she answers then we’ll ask her point blank. If she refuses, we’ll go to No Ifs Ands Or Butts tomorrow morning and catch her in the office.”
They agreed.
“What are those morons doing?” Lily shouted.
“Who’s place is this?” her sister asked. “Do you think it’s The Rabbit?”
Eli said, “Why would they go see her? If they did kill Aunt Hildy, wouldn’t they be thrilled Bunny’s thrown suspicion your father’s way?”
“Maybe they’re all in on it, and now they want to get rid of her before she rats them out,” Slater suggested.
Lily chimed in. “Well, I hope they do kill her. The slag deserves it.”
Dahlia shouted, “Look. Slater’s right. There they go!”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Eli said. “It’s broad daylight. The three of them just went in the front door with their car parked right outside. No one would do that if they were bent on murder. Besides, we don’t even know if this is Bunny’s place.”
Lily said, “We’ll never know if we just sit here. I’m going in. I don’t care about the rest of you.” She dashed out the door.