Condo Crazies: Murder At The Albatross

by Tina Nicholas

  Clancy looked from one to the other. There was something in the young man’s tone and demeanor when he looked at Bridey, something he recognized from his past that had lasted forty years. And here he thought Prescott Dennison was gay!

  Chapter 76

  Slanted rays of sunlight filtered through the shutters. Kate stretched her arm out to the pillow next to her before she opened her eyes. No one there. Was it all a dream? She sat up and looked around her bedroom. On the bureau, a single gardenia covered a note. Not a dream. Stewart was real. This Stewart was so much better than the old one. She hugged her knees remembering the leisurely, lovely night. A quiet knock on the door broke into her daydreaming.

  “Come in.”

  “Brought you coffee, missy.” Devin set the cup on the night table and cut his eyes at her. “So?”

  “Thanks.” Kate brought the steaming cup to her lips before she answered. “So…it was a great date. It was like dating someone new but someone I used to know before.”

  Devin cocked his head. “Cut to the chase. Are you saying you’d take him back? I don’t need to know the answer but you do. Think about Kate this time.”

  “Don’t worry, Dev. The old Kate is gone. I’m a wiser woman for the experience I went through. I’m not going to rush into anything.” She swung her legs over the side and walked to the bureau. She sniffed the gardenia before she read the note.

  As the song goes, ‘I love you more today than yesterday, but, Darling, not as much as tomorrow.’ Thank you for a wonderful date. How about filling my life with more of last night?

  Will call you later.

  Stewart

  Her expression was thoughtful. Not the giddy excitement of a young girl but the calm demeanor of a woman who’d experienced life and was prepared to handle anything that came her way.

  “Earth to Kate. I’m leaving for the island. See you this evening.” A tiny jab of loss came over Devin. He knew this connection between Kate and Stewart would get stronger, if Stewart really had changed his ways. And that meant she’d leave at some point. He’d miss her warmth and laughter. He started to leave.

  “Dev?”

  He turned around.

  “I will never love you less even if anyone else comes into my life,” Kate reassured him. “You’ll always be my best friend. Never forget that.” In a few quick strides she crossed the room and hugged him tightly.

  Devin patted her back. “And you mine.” He swallowed the lump in his throat. “Gotta go, young lady. The matrons of PB await.”

  “Come home early and we’ll have dinner. I’m making roast chicken with fixin’s,” she called after him.

  “My favorite. I’ll be back at six,” Devin replied.

  Kate’s cell rang just as the door shut after Devin. She didn’t recognize the number. “Hello?”

  “Kate, it’s Bridey. Can you come down to the judge’s apartment?”

  “Is she all right?”

  “The judge is fine. We just need your help with something.”

  “I have time before I have to get to work. I’ll be there in twenty.” She clicked the phone off. Wonder what’s going on?

  She showered and dressed quickly. Maybe the judge wanted another Albatross event catered. She’d hired ten people since Kate’s Kitchen opened and she could see where she’d need someone to handle booking events, workers’ schedules, and payroll. It was a good feeling knowing she was financially independent, able to pay for Alexis’s tuition and her own needs.

  Dating Stewart was fun, but she didn’t need him for her own survival. She hoped he could accept her success. And if he couldn’t…that would be too bad but not devastating.

  Chapter 77

  Kate looked at the tiny vases on the table, each containing a different flower, then at Bridey and Latasha.

  “You want me to smell these flowers and then write down whether any of them remind me of someone living in this building?” She frowned. “I have a good sense of smell but I’m no expert on this.”

  “Prescott said just before he was attacked, there was a strong flower smell an’ he remembers flowers like that in his grandma’s garden. S’pretty simple, Kate,” Latasha explained.

  “And I’m supposed to incriminate someone with my opinion?”

  “No, we’re just askin’ if you remember this scent on any person in this buildin’.”

  “Or have flowers with that scent in their unit,” Bridey added.

  “Okay, I’m ready,” Kate said.

  Bridey pointed to the tiny vases spaced a foot apart. “Start with the vase on the left, sniff it, and take a few breaths before you go on to the next so you don’t mix the scents in your nose.” She nodded encouragingly to Kate.

  Kate started with the red rose on the left. She shook her head, cleared her nose with a few sniffs and went on to a tiger lily, followed by a gardenia, lily-of-the-valley, and lastly, freesia. Before she put the vase containing the freesia down, she sniffed it again and stared at it.

  Latasha and Bridey sat quietly, watching her.

  Finally, Kate put the vase down and looked at the policewomen. “Okay, there is one scent I recognize, the last one. One of the residents always has cut freesia in the apartment, in pots on the balcony as well. When I walked into that apartment, I was overwhelmed with the fragrance.”

  Latasha looked at Bridey, then back at Kate. “You sure ‘bout this?”

  Kate sniffed the flower again and nodded. “Yes, it’s the same scent. I’m sure.”

  “Okay, Miz Kate. Give it to us. Who is it?” Latasha asked. She pushed a paper pad and pen across the table.

  Kate reached for the pen and scribbled two words on the pad.

  Both policewomen bent over the table.

  “Wow,” Bridey said under her breath.

  “Now that’s one person I didn’t ‘spect you to name.” Latasha paced around the room. “I’d have said it was anyone else.” She grabbed her shoulder bag. “Magillicuddy, call your dad. He and the judge have gone out to lunch. Tell ‘em to come to the station. I’ll meet them there. You gonna be the perp’s tail for now. Stay close. If you need help, call for backup. I gotta get busy gettin’ a fix on this.” The detective turned to Kate. “This stays here, Kate. Not even to Devin, right?”

  “Of course.” Kate shook her head. “Can’t believe it. You think this is all connected to Delores Pruitt’s murder and—” She gasped. “And maybe even Porfirio’s?”

  Latasha opened the apartment door and looked over her shoulder at Kate. “In this business, anythin’s possible, Kate, anythin’.”

  Chapter 78

  The just-after-dawn sun felt good on his face. Chester didn’t care about wrinkles or sunspots. They had already done their damage. He was angry this morning, at least more so than usual. And bored. He never wanted to move into a damned condo but Nettie insisted. She said she was tired of keeping house, tending the garden, and nagging him about getting to the never-ending rounds of keeping up an eighty-two-year-old house. He got tired of hearing her yammering at him, day in, day out.

  It was easier to give in and move to this hotter-than-hell place where he was imprisoned in a tiny matchbox of an apartment with a hairy cat who hated him. Chester had dreams about grabbing her cat by its scruff and flinging it off the balcony like a flying saucer. That’d teach it to sink its claws into his ankles when he tried to get into bed. Damned cat was jealous of him. Devil cat, that’s what it was. But Nettie loved it. She missed her grandkids terribly and this cat was her baby. Damned nasty-assed cat. He heard the scuff of flip-flops, opened one eye and groaned. The hot tamale was bearing down on him.

  “Good mor-r-r-ning, Chester-r-r-r. Beautiful day, yes?” Valentina purred.

  “Just like any other hot as hell day down here,” Chester grumbled.

  “Ay-y-y, mi hombre gruñó. Life is better than you see it. You have your health, a beautiful place to live, and your wife. So good to have a partner to share life.” She shook her head at Chester, who now opened both eyes and look
ed at Valentina’s voluptuous body in a skimpy, red bikini, wrapped in a gauzy cover-up. The cover-up did nothing to hide her curves. In fact, it made them even more enticing. Her ample bosom spilled out over her barely-covering swim top. She sat down on the chaise lounge next to the old man.

  “What’s a gruñó?” Chester asked, his eyes never leaving her cleavage.

  “Means grumpy. Why are you always so negative?” Valentina poured suntan lotion into the palm of her hand, began applying it to her feet, slowly stroking it upward to her legs and thighs. Her cover-up fell open. She untied the sash and let the garment fall to the chaise before she continued languorously applying the coconut-smelling lotion to her arms and shoulders and, lingeringly, to her provocative breasts.

  Chester’s eyes opened wider. “Damn, woman…you oughten a do that in front of a man,” he exclaimed. “It ain’t right.”

  Valentina turned her sultry, dark eyes on him. “Ah-h-h, Chester-r-r. It’s very right. Makes you feel good, no?”

  Chester felt a rush of heat starting at his feet and rapidly rising to strategic parts of his body. Was she coming on to him? Hot damn! No woman had done that for a long time. Nettie was always on him. She wouldn’t have allowed it. But Nettie wasn’t here now…Valentina was, and Chester wasn’t going to miss this one. This could be his last hurrah.

  Valentina turned to look at the turquoise ocean. The wind was stirring up the usually gentle water. Little white caps foamed and undulated, lapping at the shoreline.

  “I love the ocean. Do you, Chester-r-r-r? Are you a good swimmer?”

  “I’m a landlubber. Don’t cater much to fightin’ waves.”

  “Oh-h-h, I was hoping you would come with me. I love the ocean but I am muy asustado. Afraid. Can you come with me? Hold my hand?” she asked shyly. “And hold me up?”

  Hot dang. Chester’s old heart skipped a beat. And maybe cop a couple feels.

  “Why not, uh, Valentina?” He rose creakily, paused to get his balance and held out his hand to her.

  Valentina smiled at Chester. She placed her brightly manicured hand in his, slipped out of her flip-flops, and led the way down the brief flight of steps to the beach. Slowly, hand-in-hand, they made their way to the water’s edge, warm sand caressing their feet. It was only seven o’clock. She looked around the beach and up at the condos buildings surrounding The Albatross. The beach was empty. No one was on any of the condominium balconies. The odd couple waded into the warm water.

  “Ah-h-h, it’s perfect,” Valentina murmured. “Do you like it, Chester-r-r?” She squeezed his hand and pulled him gently into deeper water.

  Chester was following the pull of her hand, attached to her curvaceous body, barely conscious of the water rising up over his knees, then waist then shoulders. When it reached his neck, he looked around.

  “Gettin’ deep.” He tried to pull his hand out of Valentina’s tight grasp.

  “But it feels good, no? So good.” She stepped closer to Chester. “I want to float. Will you hold me while I float?” She pressed her body against the old man’s frail frame.

  “I, ah-h-h—” Chester faltered.

  “Just put out your hands and hold me up,” Valentina gave a push and floated herself in front of Chester. “Hold me up,” she repeated.

  Chester did as he was told. He couldn’t believe his luck. He had his arms under her. Her breasts floated in front of him. Then he could feel them against his chest.

  Suddenly, like a shark attacking its prey, Valentina jack-knifed her body, flinging one leg over Chester and around his neck, drawing him into a fleshy scissor.

  His head tightly grasped between her muscular thighs, Chester thought she was getting into a position too incredible for him to imagine. But only for a moment. Valentina tightened her hold and took him prisoner underwater. Chester flailed his arms. His weak legs couldn’t support him. He opened his mouth to scream and water rushed in, choking him. He saw his captor’s face underwater. She was smiling, teeth bared. Chester’s old heart thumped harder. You old fool, she’s killing you!

  ***

  Valentina slowly surfaced, took in air, and looked at the still deserted beach before she submerged again, the old man still tight in her lethal grip. Chester was limp, eyes staring unseeingly at her. He was dead. His miserable days were over. She had done Nettie a favor.

  She let him slip out of her death grip. He floated with her to the surface. Valentina started to swim back to shore. She looked up and saw the lifeguard climbing the ladder to his station. He wasn’t supposed to be there until nine o’ clock. She’d have to play this out. She couldn’t swim away and leave the old man floating.

  “Help! Help!” Valentina screamed.

  She waved one arm to the lifeguard and held on to Chester’s trunks with the other. She saw the guard raise his cell phone to his mouth before he scrambled down from his high perch. He pulled out the floater device attached to a light rope, ran to the water, and plunged in. The hapless couple wasn’t far out. He reached them in a dozen strong stokes.

  Valentina was hysterical.

  “Help him,” she screamed to the young man. With a few deft motions, he fastened the floater around Chester.

  “Can you swim back?” he yelled to Valentina.

  “Yes, just get him back.”

  Valentina let go of Chester’s trunks and the young man swam away, Chester’s limp body in tow.

  Chapter 79

  “It happened so quickly,” Valentina wailed.

  She wiped her eyes with a tissue. She’d been through the drowning at least three times. The coffee was stale. The seats were uncomfortable. She looked around at the police station’s furniture. Not much different from the police station in Havana. Old and rickety.

  “You were in deep water?” Latasha asked. “He was swimming in deep water?”

  “I was in deep water and he was swimming next to me. I kept swimming out before I realized he wasn’t next to me anymore. Maybe it was a heart attack?”

  “We’ll know more after the autopsy,” Clancy Magillicuddy answered.

  “Autopsy?”

  “Always an autopsy in any unexplained deaths.” Clancy explained.

  “Not unexplained. He drowned,” Valentina said.

  Latasha’s desk phone rang. She lifted the receiver and listened. “Thanks.” She replaced the phone and turned to Clancy. “I have to see someone. Can you stay with Miz Lopez until I get back?” She didn’t wait for an answer before she left the room.

  ***

  “Miz Cheney. Thank you for comin’.” Latasha pulled out a chair for Nettie. “I’m sorry for your loss.” She nodded at the young man in the room with them. “This here’s Officer Prescott Dennison. He’s gonna record our conversation.”

  Nettie collapsed into the chair and pressed her crumpled, sodden tissue to her nose. “Thank you. I jes don’ understand what that ol’ fool was doin’ swimmin’. He never done that all the years we were married. He was so scared of water. Never even went into the pool. He made all our kids learn how to swim, he said ’cause he couldn’t. Jes can’t reckon with this.” Nettie fumbled in her big black handbag for another tissue.

  Latasha placed a tissue box in front of her. “You say he couldn’t swim?” she asked slowly.

  “No. Sank like a brick, he always said.” Nettie blew her nose into a new tissue. “Don’t believe he’d go by himself to swim.” She looked up at Latasha. “He was alone, wasn’t he?”

  “No, m’am. He was with Miz Lopez.”

  Nettie’s head snapped up. “He was with that hussy? That piece of man bait? He was always lookin’ at her like she was apple dumplins. She got him to do somethin’ not even his own kids could?” She dropped her tissue into her pocketbook and snapped it shut. “Serves the old fool right. Couldn’t keep it in his pants when he was young. I had eight kids ’fore I got smart. I’d a had one every year if he’d a had his way. Guess it never wore off. No fool like an old fool.” She looked at Latasha through swollen but sharp eyes. “Wh
en can I see him? I want to send him off with an earful. I don’t care if he’s dead. He ain’t leavin’ this life without hearin’ me one last time.”

  Latasha suppressed a smile. The old woman was pissed. Good for her. She wouldn’t be pining away for that ol’ bigot.

  “You’re the next of kin, m’am. We’re goin’ to take you to the morgue so you can identify him. Whenever you’re ready, Miz Cheney.”

  The slight, old woman stood up. “I didn’t think he’d a gone this way. Always thought he’d a died in bed of meanness.” Nettie squared her shoulders. “Let’s get it done. Then I’m gonna pack and get back to West Virginia. We’ll give him a proper burial with his folks. Gonna live with one of my kids and my precious cat. Life’s gonna be worth livin’ again.” She gave Latasha a weak smile. “Y’understan’, I’m gonna grieve for him. Can’t spend sixty years with someone and not have him be a part of you, even if he’s part devil.”

  “Yes, m’am, I understand.”

  Latasha had a fleeting memory of her childhood and the man who beat her mother every Saturday night after he staggered home from the bar. Her mother never left him. He provided a decent living for Latasha and her four siblings. At his death, the woman who withstood his anger said at his funeral, “He couldn’t help it. He wanted to be somebody. Bein’ a poor black made him do what he did.” She still loved him.

  Latasha opened the door and nodded at Prescott. “Officer Dennison will take you to the morgue. Thank you for comin’ here, Miz Cheney. I think you’ll be happy goin’ home to your kids.”

  Nettie stopped on her way to the door, turned and enveloped Latasha in a bony hug. “Good luck, Detective. You’ve got a hard job to do.”

  Latasha watched the tiny woman step briskly down the hall with Prescott’s hand at her elbow. Life had dealt her a bad hand. She sighed and closed the door. Nothing to do now but wait until the coroner’s report came in. Until then, she’d let Valentina enjoy Clancy’s company. She was sure Clancy wasn’t going to fall for Valentina’s womanly wiles. At least she hoped he wouldn’t. With Valentina, you just never knew.