by J A Whiting
Nicole elbowed her friend with a grin. “Is that how you know stuff? You sniff it?”
Stopping next to the four people looking at the townhouse, Claire ignored Nicole’s joke and asked them, “Are the police inside?”
A tall, skinny young man replied. “Not anymore. They were here for a long time earlier in the evening. They all left.”
“Does it seem like anyone else lives there?”
“No one’s gone in or out except the police so maybe not.”
Claire touched Nicole’s arm. “Let’s walk around to the back.”
They found the small alleyway that ran behind the townhouse and headed up the cobblestone walkway.
“What are you planning?” Nicole asked with a tinge of worry in her voice.
“Nothing. I just want to get closer to the building without prying eyes watching us.” Standing directly behind the brick structure, Claire squatted down near the small basement windows and, placing her palm against the glass, she closed her eyes.
Both Corgis whined and fidgeted.
Taking slow breaths in and out, Claire tried to open her mind to anything floating on the air. She could feel her muscles relaxing and she stayed in the position for nearly five minutes. As she was about to give up, a bright white light flashed in her head and a sensation like something hitting her in the chest sent her sprawling on her butt. Bear and Lady jumped and rushed to their owner, sniffing and nervously darting around her.
“I’m okay,” Claire reassured the animals.
Nicole knelt beside her friend. “What was that? What happened?”
Rubbing her forehead, Claire stayed sitting. “I don’t know what it was.” She described what she’d felt and Nicole’s eyes widened.
“You felt like you were struck on the chest?” Nicole stared at the basement window and crawled closer to get a look inside. With her face pressed up against the glass, she said, “I can’t see anything in there. The basement’s too dark.” She turned back to Claire. “You must have sensed Ms. Lowe getting punched in the chest. The blow must have sent her falling down the stairs. That must be what you felt.”
“That could be.” Claire’s head felt groggy. “But I wonder, though … I wonder if she could have had a heart attack when she was walking down the stairs. I feel something odd about the heart.”
“A heart attack? I wasn’t expecting that.” Nicole sat on the gravelly cement next to Claire. “Well, maybe there was no foul play involved at all. Maybe her death was from natural causes.”
Claire put her hand against her chest and could feel her heart beat falling back into its normal rhythm.
A sudden gust of wind blew small particles of dirt and gravel from the alley into the girls’ faces causing Nicole to groan. “Let’s get out of here. Are you okay? Are you able to stand up? Sitting here in the dark is giving me the creeps. I hope Victoria Lowe hasn’t turned into a ghost.”
Claire chuckled as the young women stood and brushed dirt from their backsides. “If she’s a ghost now, maybe she can help us out by telling us what happened to her. Why don’t we stick around and see if she shows up?” she kidded.
“No way.” Nicole hurried ahead following the Corgis out of the alleyway muttering about how she wished they’d brought a flashlight. “You can stay if you want.”
When Claire looked back at the basement window for a moment, the little hairs on her arms stood up and a cold shiver ran down her back.
What really happened in there?
12
Vanessa was standing in front of the chocolate shop when Nicole, Claire, and the Corgis showed up to meet with her. The dogs wiggled their tails when they were introduced and Vanessa gave each one some cheek scratches. “What nice dogs,” she smiled.
Upstairs in Nicole’s apartment, everyone settled on the sofas while the Corgis inspected the place sniffing around the four rooms. Vanessa’s face looked tired and drawn and the rims of her eyes were red. “Thanks for meeting me. You must have heard the news about my father’s ‘friend’?” She made air quotation marks with her hands when she said the word friend. When I was at work, Maddy texted me to say Dad left a note on the kitchen table that he’d gone away for a few days.” Vanessa rolled her eyes. “Really? If he’s not guilty, he’ll make everyone think he is by his behavior.”
“When did he leave?” Nicole asked.
“This afternoon.” Vanessa shook her head. “Why would he take off? It’s the stupidest thing he could have done. Has he lost his mind? The police will want to talk to him.”
“Where did he go?” Claire still felt light-headed from her experience behind Victoria Lowe’s townhouse.
“We have a house in Marblehead. I bet he went there.”
“Should you call him?” Nicole asked. “See how he is? Encourage him to come home?”
“I don’t know what to do.” Vanessa sank back against the sofa’s throw pillows and when tears started down her cheeks, she leaned forward and buried her face in her hands.
Nicole ran for a box of tissues and put her arm around her friend’s shoulders. After a few minutes, Vanessa raised her head and dabbed at her cheeks. “I feel like I’ve been run over by a bus. My mom’s dead and I’m afraid my father caused her death. It’s as if I’m a supporting actor in some terrible, awful movie. I’ve always felt safe, secure, loved. Now I’m free-falling out of the sky waiting to hit the ground. My family, God … what a terrible reversal of fortune.”
Claire understood the sensation of falling, falling into the pit of grief from losing a loved one … her own mother, Teddy. The world shifted beneath your feet while you grasped for something to hold onto and you were never the same person you were before the loss. Gripping her hands together tightly, she wanted to say something comforting to Vanessa, but anything she thought of seemed so pathetically inadequate.
“You’ll get through it,” Nicole said softly as she rubbed the woman’s back.
“I have to be strong for Maddy.” Vanessa brushed the wetness from her face. “I want to understand what’s going on. Thank you for helping, for talking to people for me.”
Nicole and Claire exchanged a quick look. “Um,” Nicole started. “A detective told us that we shouldn’t talk to anyone else.”
Vanessa’s eyes went wide. “Who? Why? The police can’t stop you from talking to anyone.”
“I think it’s more a concern for safety,” Claire told her. “Until they can figure out if the same person is responsible for both deaths.”
The three sat without saying anything for a few minutes until Claire brought up the question she and Nicole had been worrying over. “You know when you told us you were on the train to New York the night of the accident, did you misspeak? Did you mean you were on the bus?” Claire knew very well that there wasn’t a bus heading to New York that late either, but she thought it was a gentler way of broaching the topic than coming right out and accusing Vanessa of lying.
A slight look of panic flashed over Vanessa’s face and she swallowed hard. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t think there’s a late train to New York.” Claire’s impulse was to squirm in her seat, but she managed to stay still. “I needed to get to New York not too long ago and there wasn’t a train that ran so late.” Now Claire was the one who was lying and it made her feel uncomfortable.
“I … I….” Vanessa stammered and then batted at the air. “I lied about it. The police caught me in it, too. I not very good with coming up with a story.”
Relief washed over Claire’s and Nicole’s faces, both glad that Vanessa was going to come clean.
“I wasn’t on my way to New York.” Vanessa let out a long sigh. “I’ve recently started seeing someone and I was heading to Cape Cod to meet him. I was planning to stay with a friend for a couple of days and then meet this guy on his boat. He had a business meeting on the Cape the day after tomorrow, then we were going to meet, spend time on the boat, go to the beach, have dinner. I rented a car. When I got Maddy’s call, I turned
the car around and dropped it off in the city so I could grab a cab home.”
Listening to Vanessa talk, a shiver of unease ran over Claire’s skin.
“Why so secretive about going to the Cape?” Nicole asked.
“Maddy met him once. She doesn’t like him.”
Something itched at Claire. “Why not?”
“She said she thinks he’s full of himself, selfish, only cares about himself.” Vanessa shook her head. “She met him for about thirty minutes one time. I don’t know how she could get that idea in such a short amount of time.”
Claire thought it was certainly possible to get an idea of someone in that amount of time, but she decided not to voice that opinion.
“So I made up the story about needing to go to New York for three days for work. I know it’s rotten, but I’d like to get to know this guy and I didn’t want Maddy upset with me.”
“Where did you meet him?” Nicole asked.
“In a coffee shop,” Vanessa replied. “It was crowded and he sat at my table.”
“Did your parents meet him?” Claire asked.
“No. I told my mom I’d been on some dates with someone, but it’s too new. First, I have to decide if I like him and see if he likes me.”
“What does he do?” Nicole questioned.
“He’s a developer. He owns some strip malls, a few hotels.”
“How did he behave towards Maddy when they met?”
“He was cordial. He’s older. I don’t think he knows how to interact with a teenager. I think he and Maddy would be fine once they got to know each other better.” Vanessa pushed her hair back over her shoulder and gave a shrug. “Maddy can get jealous. She really hasn’t liked any of my boyfriends.”
“Have the police called you about your father?” Claire asked.
“Not yet. They have his cell number. Maybe they’ve already talked to him. I just think running off right after that woman was found dead makes him look really bad.” Vanessa balled her hands into fists. “Could he have killed my mother and that woman? I wish he’d talk to me. I don’t know what to do.”
“Does he have a close friend he might be able to talk with?” Claire suggested.
“He has a close friend at the hospital, another doctor. I don’t know if he’d confide in him.”
“I wonder if you should call the friend,” Nicole said. “Ask if you could meet. Tell him you’re worried about your father.”
Claire nodded. “Maybe between the two of you, you could convince your father to get some counseling. He might need an outlet to talk with someone that doesn’t involve family or friends. Your father might feel that discussing his feelings would only serve to upset everyone more, so he stays quiet and bottles things up.”
“I don’t know,” Vanessa muttered. “Maybe.”
To brighten the mood if only for a little while, Nicole suggested tea and pieces of chocolate mousse cake and they moved to the small round dining table near the window to enjoy the evening snack. The Corgis each got two dog treats and they happily munched on them before settling in the corner while the humans’ chat turned to lighter subjects.
Vanessa’s phone buzzed and she read the text. “It’s the guy I’ve been seeing. He’s asked me to meet for a drink. I’m going to go.”
Nicole nodded. “I think it will be good to take your mind off things for a little while.”
Vanessa gave her friends a hug, patted the dogs, and left the apartment to meet the man in the Back Bay.
“I’m so glad that’s been cleared up.” Nicole took some of the dishes to the kitchen and Claire followed with the cake platter and some tea cups. “I’m so relieved there was a reason she told the fib.”
“Yeah,” Claire said.
Nicole turned around and gave Claire the eye. “You look a million miles away.”
Giving herself a shake, Claire smiled. “Thinking everything over, that’s all.”
“Is something bothering you?”
“The whole mess bothers me.”
Nicole said. “I mean something specific. You look like you’re giving something a lot of thought.”
Claire loaded the dishwasher. “When Vanessa talked about her new guy and spoke about Maddy, I got a funny feeling.”
Nicole’s lips pulled down at the corners. “How do you mean a funny feeling?”
“I don’t know.” Claire held a plate over the dishwasher rack for a few seconds before loading it while she thought about what was picking at her.
Nicole stepped closer. “Where in the conversation did you start to get the sensation?”
“It started up when Vanessa was telling us why she made up the lie. It was an odd feeling of anxiety.” Claire looked off into space. “It got stronger when….”
“When what?”
“When Vanessa mentioned that Maddy could be jealous….” Claire looked at her friend. “I don’t know why, but something about what Vanessa told us made me feel … nervous.”
13
Nicole borrowed a friend’s car and drove Claire and the Corgis to Greendale so they could walk around Vanessa’s family’s neighborhood and take a look in the rear yard of the home where Maddy claimed to have seen someone step into the woods on the night Grace Dodd fell from the window. Vanessa was at work, but she said her father was still in Marblehead and Maddy went to MIT to talk with a professor so the house was empty and no one would be around while they investigated.
Nicole pulled the car to a stop on a side street and she and her passengers got out. The branches of the mature trees hung over the road creating a green leaf canopy above the sidewalks and the street.
“I hope nobody calls the police and has the car towed.” Nicole locked the doors.
“Your friend will really appreciate it if you get his car towed to a lot somewhere,” Claire kidded. “I think it will be okay. There’s a park up ahead. I bet people leave their cars here sometimes so they can go to the park.” Glancing around, she asked, “Which way is the Dodd’s street?”
“That way.” Nicole pointed. “I’m not sure if the park goes up behind their house or not. After I left town, a parcel of land was donated to expand the park, but I’m not sure how far it goes.”
“Shall we walk through the park and see where it goes or should we go directly to the Dodd’s house first?” Claire asked.
“Let’s go to the house. Then we can walk in the yard and see what’s behind it.” Nicole led the way down the quiet, side street to another road that would lead them to the Dodds.
“It’s such a pretty neighborhood.” Claire admired the large, well-tended homes lining both sides of the street. “It must have been a nice place to grow up … and so close to the city, too.”
Nicole agreed and told Claire about some adventures she and her friends had in high school. “We got into trouble more than a few times. It was never anything serious, just silly teenage hijinks. We had fun.” Approaching the handsome Victorian belonging to the Dodds, Nicole said, “Here we are.”
They stood on the sidewalk looking over the house and gardens while the Corgis sniffed along the wrought-iron fence.
“It’s sure a pretty place.” Claire admired the vivid green lawn, the flowers blooming in the manicured beds, and the large porch sweeping around the front and side of the house. “No one would ever suspect the sadness and turmoil going on inside.”
Nicole and Claire moved into the yard with the dogs and headed for the spot under the third floor window. A bit of broken glass still remained mixed in with the blades of grass. Staring up to the top floor, Nicole let out a sigh. “It’s hard for me to believe that Mrs. Dodd fell out of that window. What the heck happened up there?”
Claire kept her eyes on the window. “Vanessa said the police told her there was no sign of forced entry or any indication of an intruder, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t one.”
“Wouldn’t Dr. Dodd have heard an intruder? Especially if whoever broke in chased his wife up to the third floor. She would have been s
creaming, wouldn’t she?”
“I’d think so,” Claire agreed. “Unless the intruder threatened to hurt Dr. Dodd if Grace didn’t do what he told her to do.”
“God.” Nicole’s shoulders slumped as she turned away from the house. “I can’t look at that window for another second. My heart starts racing from imagining Grace falling from the third floor.” Facing the tree line, she asked, “Do you want to stay near the house a little longer?”
“I think so.” Claire thought she should stand below the window for a short while. “I’ll see if I can sense anything. I won’t need much time.”
“I’ll walk the dogs around the backyard while you’re busy. Come get us when you’re ready.” Nicole headed for the rear of the property with Bear and Lady bouncing along beside her eager to sniff and investigate the new place.
Claire sank onto the grass and noticed a small piece of fractured glass next to her. She reached over and carefully touched it with her index finger, then closed her eyes and tried to chase any thoughts from her mind. After only a minute, quick flashes of images jumped in her brain.
Rushing up the stairs. The blood mark on the woodwork of the third floor bedroom threshold. Dr. Dodd in his office. A person being struck by someone else. A scream and the shatter of glass. The shadow of someone standing near the dark trees. A sense of plummeting like when you’re just about to sleep and you startle awake from the feeling of falling. Claire’s eyelids flew open as she jerked to alertness.
Beads of sweat trickled down her back and her heart pounded with such force she thought it would burst through her chest wall. Pushing up from the lawn, Claire shook herself and went to find Nicole and the Corgis.
“Were they images from what actually happened or from imagining what happened?” Nicole asked after Claire reported what she’d experienced.
“I don’t really know.” Claire’s long, blond curls bounced as she shook her head. “I’ve got a headache from it.”
“Shall we go home?”