by Julie Ramson
After dinner, I made my excuses to leave by saying that I was tired and really wanted to just take some aspirin and hit the bed. I gave Katie a hug and told her that Pooey had really made me feel better, but I thought he would be too lonely for Katie if I took him home. She looked relieved and took him back, hugging him to her chest. I thanked Kevin too, but he wanted me to take T. Rex home so I agreed. I gave him a big hug and said I knew that T. would really take care of me.
Mary Grace was still in Mother Mode and packed a take home bag of leftovers for my dinner the next night. “So you don’t have to cook.” Like I ever cooked. She made it sound as if I might though.
At the door, Digs turned and shook Mike’s hand, throwing an arm around Mary Grace. “That was an amazing dinner,” he said, grinning down at both of them. “Thanks so much for including me. I had a great time and your kids are terrific!
Mary Grace smiled and returned his hug. “No, it’s us who thank you,” she said. We really appreciate everything you are doing for Maggie. It’s so great of you to watch out for her,” she gushed. I wanted to gag. Mike was smiling, too. Telling him to come back, great to meet him. Blah, blah.
“MG, you make me sound like some charity nut case,” I started. She just smiled as Mike hugged me good bye. Digs put his hand at my waist to help me out. “Stop that! I can walk on my own!” Yes, I was being a brat. So?
Digs smiled and said, “Don’t worry about Maggie. She’s a little cranky today. I’ll still take care of her.” He had to know that would really, really tick me off. Like he hadn’t ticked me off all night, right? My two little traitors then ran up for good by hugs - and gave Digs hugs first! The final blow. Digs looked at me over their heads and winked. The he wiggled his eyebrows. I just rolled my eyes, hugged the kids one last time and started out the door.
“Thanks again, guys. I’ll check in tomorrow or the next day,” I said as we stepped off the porch.
Once the door closed, I pulled away from Digs and headed to the CRV. I had expected the kids to annoy him and Mike and Mary Grace to have little in common with him. Instead he was the Mr. Wonderful. Charming. Funny. Jerk. I sat in the car with my arms folded, silent. Killer bounced happily in the back seat, having had a full meal of meatloaf and steak bones MG had saved for him. He was grinning a dog grin from ear to ear.
“Nice family, Mag!” Digs rubbed it in. “MG and Mike are great and those kids are terrific.” I just grunted. Digs grinned. “Jealous, Maggie? So unattractive in a woman.”
“I am not jealous you moron! I’m just tired. The day I would be jealous of a fully grown 7 year old! Where did all that phony charm come from, anyway? God knows you haven’t bothered to turn it on for me!” I snarled. “Oh, yes, Mary Grace, oh no Mike” I said in a phony singsong voice. “And the stupid airplane noises have given me the mother of all headaches!”
“Ah, Maggie” he sounded amused. He reached over and covered my hands with his. “Where are your gloves, Toots? Your hands are cold.”
“They are not! I’m fine.” I snatched my hands away. “Just drive.”
We traveled in silence to the apartment building. Killer bounded out the door and headed to the back of the dumpsters for his nightly last duty. Digs followed him. I headed for the building.
“Wait, Maggie! I want to check the apartment.” Digs called but I ignored him. Let him wait in the cold for Killer to finish. I wanted to go in.
I got off the elevator and headed to my door. I unlocked it and walked in, tossing my coat on the couch. I turned toward the dining room and - ohmygod – ohmygod-ohmygod! I let out a scream loud enough to wake the dead.
Digs was there on a dead run, Killer at his heels. I was frozen, staring at the dining room table. I started to shake. Digs came over to me and Killer headed for the bathtub.
“It’s - oh, god - I can’t - it’s......” I couldn’t speak. Digs turned and blocked my view. He put his arms around me and said, “Maggie, go into the living room and sit down. I’ll take care of this.” I couldn’t move. I was shaking.
A heart - a real heart - was in the center of my dining room table with a large knife stuck through it. There was blood all over the newspaper on top of the table.
Digs turned me around and walked me back to the living room. He lowered me on the couch and sat down next to me. He kept his arm around me. “It’s okay, Maggie, I’ll take care of it. Just some small animal, I’m sure. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.”
I was in shock. A heart! Oh, god! I straightened up. “Call Sean. I'm fine.” I said.
Digs looked like he didn’t believe me. I didn’t believe me either. He got up and went into the dining room and stopped to look at the table and its grisly contents for a minute. I followed him. His eyes were flat and hard. All business. Then he pulled out his cell phone and punched in some numbers.
“Sean, I think that you need to get over here to Maggie’s. Someone has been in here and left a live heart with a knife through it on her dining room table.”
He paused, listening. “No, we haven’t touched anything. There’s a note but I haven’t opened it yet. Yeah, I’ll see you then.”
Oh, god. Digs was right. Someone had been in the apartment. I started shaking again.
Then I got mad. I was furious at the intrusion of my home. I walked back over to the table and looked again at the heart. Digs was right, it looked like that of a small animal. There was blood soaked newspaper under it. The note had blood on it as well.
“Someone was in here, Digs. Someone was here.” My voice was furious.
“I know, honey. It’ll be fine.” But I didn’t believe him. Someone had been in my apartment.
I don’t know how long it took, but suddenly there was a knock and Sean and Jimmy were there. Sean took one look at me and Digs and then rushed into the dining room. There were several plainclothes cops behind him. Jimmy came directly to me, knelt down and took my hands. He hadn’t even taken his overcoat off. His brown eyes were worried.
“Breathe in, Maggie, then breathe out,” he said, rubbing my hands. “You’re okay.” He spoke in a soft voice. Digs watched him for a minute with narrowed eyes and then wandered over to the dining room table. He and Sean started talking in low tones. The other cops were around the table, taking pictures. Then one of them started sprinkling the black fingerprint powder all over.
“Stop!” I yelled. “Don’t put that black crap all over everything! I’ll never get it out! Just stop!” I was screaming but I meant every word. “And don’t you even think about ignoring me!” Jimmy stared at me.
Everyone froze, then looked from me to Sean. Clearly they thought I was hysterical. Well, maybe I was but I was not going to let them spread that black powder all over my apartment! “You just figure out some other way to do this!”
Sean came over to me. “Maggie,” he said in a low soothing voice, “We have to do this.”
“Oh, no you don’t!” I yelled. “There aren’t going to be any fingerprints on that knife or the note or anywhere else in here and you know it! I'll never get that black powder out of everything! No!” I glared at him. “And I want to know what’s in that note!” I stood with my hands on my hips. “This is my house that someone broke into!”
Sean sighed. He looked at Jimmy, who nodded, then he turned to the cops and said, “Actually, she’s right. This guy won’t have left any prints.” He handed me the note silently. He had used a tweezers and put it into a plastic bag. It was lying inside, flat and opened. I swallowed hard. It was a small sheet of plain white paper. No envelope.
STAY OUT OF THIS BITCH
NEXT TIME YOU
It was made of letters cut from a newspaper. I handed the baggie back to Sean. We just stared at each other for a few seconds.
“We’re going to finish taking pictures, Maggie and then we’ll take it away. I’ll stay and clean it up,” he said.
“Thanks, Sean.” I looked around the apartment. I turned to Digs. “Could you check the bathroom, please? I want to take a showe
r,” I said. I thought I sounded remarkably calm. Angry, but calm. Digs nodded and headed to the bathroom. He returned in a few minutes and said, “Nothing out of place, Maggie. I think a shower is a good idea.”
I got up, went into the bathroom and closed the door. I leaned against it, breathing hard. I couldn’t believe that this had happened, that someone had been in my apartment, that he had left.....it. Killer had gone into hiding in the bathtub when I started screaming and I sat down on the side of the tub. I reached in and patted his head, rubbed his ears. “I know, Killer. I’m scared too. It’s going to be okay.” I kept rubbing his head, probably more for my sake than his.
Finally, I got up. “Killer, out. Only one of us fits in the shower at a time and right now, that’s me.” Killer looked at me sadly. “You can stay in here with me, though, if that makes you feel better,” I said. Killer seemed relieved and circled around on the mat a few times, then settled down. I turned the shower on and stood under the hottest water I could stand. I washed my hair, then washed it again. I scrubbed every inch of me even though I had not touched anything. After what seemed like a long time, I stepped out. I toweled off and put on my old, tattered terry cloth robe. It had been white at one time and now could only be called, charitably, ivory. But it was long and covered me. I belted it tightly around my waist and took a deep breath.
I opened the door and walked out. Sean and Digs were alone, sitting in the living room. Sean had some blood on his sweatshirt. I gulped, sank down on one end of the couch and looked at them. Sean cleared his throat. “There doesn’t seem to be anything else here, Maggie. We checked all the closets, cupboards and under everything. That was the only thing whoever it was left.”
I closed my eyes. “Yeah, thanks.” I ventured a look at the table. It was immaculate. The heart and bloody newspaper were gone and the table scrubbed clean. “Thanks, both of you. I really mean that.” There was no sarcasm in my voice. It was pure gratitude.
Finally, I looked at Digs. He had a very serious look in his eyes and then he looked at Sean. Some kind of silent communication took place but I couldn’t read what it was. Sean stood. “I’m going now. Maggie, but you know you can call me anytime tonight. Just use my cell phone. I’ll keep it on and next to my bed.” He looked at Digs, raised his eyebrows and said, “Gun?”
Digs nodded. “Of course.”
Sean nodded back. I grimaced. Sean knows I hate guns.
Then Sean came over, knelt down and gave me a hug. “It’s okay, Maggie. We’ll find who did this, I promise.”
With that, there was a knock on the door. I jumped and yelped.
A young uniformed policeman stood there with a bag in his hand. He was African American and had been the poor cop who had tried to use the black fingerprint powder. He eyed me warily.
“It's a new lock, Maggie. Digs will put it on for you tonight.” Sean took the bag from the young officer.
“Okay,” I tried to smile at the young man. “Thanks.”
“You're welcome, Ma'am. You'll be fine now.” He gave me a warm smile.
Ma’am? Good grief.
Sean and Digs stood at the door talking for a few minutes then Sean left. Digs turned to me. “Got a screwdriver, honey? Phillips.” I got up and went to the closet. My tool chest was there, pathetic as it was. I pulled out the screwdriver and handed it to Digs. He grinned and said, “You have to give me a beer too, honey. Otherwise the screwdriver won’t work.”
I rolled my eyes and raised my eyebrows.
“Really. It’s a well-known fact.”
I shook my head and went to the refrigerator. I pulled out two beers - I needed one too - and handed one to Digs. “Ah,” he said as he took the first gulp. “Perfect.”
I sat down on the floor and watched as he put the bolt on the door. I didn’t say anything. Digs finished and turned to me. He wiggled his eyebrows and handed me the screwdriver and the keys to new bolt. I put one on my keychain. “Tomorrow we go shopping for a decent Phillips,” he said. “But right now I want another beer.” I did too.
I got up and walked into the kitchen. I put the spare key on my extra key chain in the junk drawer and then got the beers. I went into the living room and handed Digs another. He nodded as I sat down and huddled on the end of the couch. “Digs, I’ve been thinking,” I said, staring at the bottle I was rolling between my hands.
“Uh oh. That doesn’t sound good,” he teased, coming over and sinking down next to me. He put his arm up behind me on the back of the couch. “You thinking.... dangerous.” He raised his eyebrows and wiggled them again at me.
“I’m serious. This is personal now. I don’t know what I did or why this guy is after me, but I’m not going to be afraid to come into my own home because some nutcase is out there!” I didn’t look at him. I knew this would not be going over well.
Digs' arm fell to my shoulder as he gave me a wary look. “Scary night, honey. I know. But you need to let Sean and the other cops - and me - handle this. You’re right, it is personal. And it’s ugly. I promise you that Sean and I will find out who did this. But you have to stay back and let us. You don’t have the training for this. We do.”
“Yeah? What is your training exactly?” I turned to look at him, searching his face. “I don’t even know your last name - probably not even your real name!”
He smoothed back my hair from my face, the gently ran a finger down my cheek. “Hank or Digs is close enough. My last name doesn’t matter. My background is government, one of the alphabet agencies. I’m out now and freelancing. I would have helped Sean anyway, regardless of what he asked me to do. But now I know you too and even though you look like your face went through a meat grinder......I’m going to stay. Who knows, you may even be kind of pretty under all that awful purple and green. Hard to tell.” I rolled my eyes. He gave me a quick hug.
“Gosh, thanks, I think,” I said with sarcasm dripping. “Damned by faint praise....very faint praise.” But my mind was racing. Maybe I could talk Sean into letting me help out with some research, some background. He knew I was good at that and if I did a little more than research, say nosing around and doing some investigating on my own.....well, who was to know? Problem: I needed to convince them I would only do research. I would have to lie. Rationalization: I had every right to know what was in those files. I was entitled. Well, maybe not. I knew my chances with Sean were slim, but maybe Digs? No, probably not. Jimmy. With some flirting and playing on my injuries I could probably talk Jimmy into it. I was going to give this my best shot. And my best shot is usually pretty damn good.
Digs pulled back and narrowed his eyes at me. “I can hear those wheels turning. What? What are you cooking up? Wasn’t tonight enough to make you back off?”
I stood up. “Of course it was,” I said. “I agree with you.” Actually, I was only half listening to him. I was planning my conversation with Sean - and Jimmy. I would go to the police station in the morning under the guise of giving Sean something else that I just happened to remember and then bam! Hit him with the offer of just doing a little computer research. That’s all! If pressed, I was sure I could squeeze out a few tears for him and Jimmy. Once I got the files and more information I would be able to really investigate it all. Right now I just didn’t know enough. I wanted to find Emily and her aunt’s will but I also wanted to know what some guy was doing in Lily’s house, why he attacked me and why he wanted to scare me off. Was there something in that house?
Digs scowled and stood too. “I don’t like that look on your face, Maggie. I mean it, don’t mess with this. This guy got in here, left a heart with a knife through it on your table for chrissake! He’s no amateur!” He grabbed my shoulders. “Mag, look at me! What are you planning?”
I shook him off. “Nothing!” I said. “I am going to try and reach Emily tomorrow and do some research. Keep in mind I have still got a client who wants me to find her aunt’s missing will and I intend to do that!” I checked Digs’ face. Didn’t look like he was buying this. I hadn't thoug
ht he'd be the pushover Jimmy had always been.
“Really, Digs. I’m hardly an idiot. Of course you and Sean and Jimmy have more training for this.”
He continued to eye me warily. “Yeah. That’s something else. Who is this Jimmy? He seems to think he knows you pretty well.”
“Oh, Jimmy and I go way back to preschool. He’s always been there, Sean’s friend. He and Sean used to tease and torment me horribly but now he’s my pal, someone I can always count on. He’s just.....Jimmy!” My mind was focused on how to get what I wanted.
Digs nodded with a thoughtful look on his face. “Not the love of your life, huh Toots?” he smiled with his mouth, not his eyes. His tone was elaborately casual.
“Hardly. I don’t have a love of my life,” I said absently. Too late, I realized what I had just said. Damn! I shrugged elaborately. “Not that I haven’t had them.”
Now he was laughing. “Ah, yes. The experienced woman. I forgot. You have known and loved many, thousands, entire brigades of men. And you promised to hold school and teach me how to improve my technique!”
“Don’t think so, Buster. I never said I would teach you anything. Frankly, you are too arrogant and probably unteachable. Nice try, though.” I moved to get past him.
He reached out a lazy arm and hooked me around the waist. He watched me under lowered lids. “Not true. I am always interested in learning. And the class could take hours.....” he leaned into me. “Literally. Right?”
I snorted. “Hardly. Minutes, maybe. No one spends hours at this.” Damn! I had to shut up!
Digs’ eyebrows went up and stayed up. “What? Minutes? Oh, honey, what you’ve been missing!”
I pulled away. “Forget it. I haven’t missed a thing. Frankly, it’s all vastly overrated anyway.” I turned and stepped toward the bedroom. “Let me get you some sheets and a blanket for the couch.” I had not planned on letting him stay but that was before we found the stabbed heart on the table. Now having him in the apartment didn’t seem like such a bad idea. I just needed to keep some distance, that was all.