by R D Hathaway
With that, Angie flipped the journal closed and left the room.
Rennie rose up and began to organize her files, notes and materials. When they were collected at one end of the table, she returned the archived files to the boxes. She laid her hand on his attaché case. Flipping open the strap, she reached in and removed the old tin, bound with cord.
“I didn’t get to his letters.”
She glanced at the door. Then she took the tin, put it in her bag, and placed a few files on top of it.
The door opened, surprising her. Angie entered with a small, cardboard box.
“I thought you might need this to carry your …” Angie stopped. “Are you okay? You’re pale. Rennie, you need to rest up. We’ve got a big trip ahead of us. Do you need water or something?”
“No, I’m fine, thanks. I can take care of this. I’ll pack up his things. You should put his journals in a very safe place. I’m especially concerned for them in particular.”
“Sure, I’ll take care of that right now.”
Angie put on an extra pair of gloves and collected Matthias’s journals. “I’ll put these in a special envelope and lock them in a safe. Just lock up when you’ve boxed up the rest of the materials. Rennie, we’ve got a lot of planning to do and quickly. I’ll send the travel details to you. What do you think?”
“I think I need a break from thinking. Let’s talk tomorrow. I need to get myself together. This is all pretty fast.”
“Sure, we’ll talk tomorrow. Remember, start packing.”
Angie stepped up to Rennie and grinned. “Can you believe it? In two days, we’ll be in London!”
“Pretty wild, huh?”
When Angie left, Rennie placed her bag in the box with her remaining files and materials on top of it. She put his attaché case in another box and rested her hand on it. “Professor, we’re coming to help.”
Des Moines, Iowa
VI - 2
On the road to her office, Rennie felt a need to go home. There was much she needed to do at the office, but she didn’t want more stress.
At the next intersection, she swerved into the turn lane that she hoped would bring some peace. She stared at the green arrow indicating a left turn until the car behind her sounded its horn. The world passed by in slow motion. She thought she could hear her own breathing.
Rennie parked in her driveway and sat in the car, enjoying its warm, quiet seclusion. She laid her arms on the steering wheel and rested her head on her hands. She felt a need to cry, but she wasn’t sad or relieved. A new dynamic was happening. She saw her neighbor Cathy examining the lilac bushes that separated their yards. Cathy always had a cheery expression despite her advanced age and illnesses.
Rennie waved and offered a weak, “Hello” as she opened her back door to retrieve the box of files.
“Hello, dear,” Cathy called out. “How have you been?”
“Fine, thanks, and you?”
Rennie lifted the box out of the car and swung the door shut with her knee. She stood for a few moments, listening to Cathy’s comments about the weather and the yard. Rennie looked into her neighbor’s eyes and face as if for the first time. She noticed subtleties of expression and a depth of feeling that she had never seen. Rennie realized that for six years she had lived next to someone she didn’t know.
Here before her was a living person, who had been a little girl, a wife, and a mother. She had known joys and sorrow, pleasure and pain, hope and despair. Rennie could hardly hear what Cathy was saying, but she was completely connected with the woman’s depths of feeling. When Cathy paused to watch a car go down the street, Rennie moved closer.
“Cathy, could I tell you something?”
“Why, of course.” Cathy smiled.
“I just want you to know that God loves you.”
Cathy’s eyelids fluttered briefly, and her smile broadened.
“Thank you, dear. He loves you too.”
Confused with what just happened, Rennie wanted to put down the box and give the old woman a hug. Instead, she just offered a relaxed smile and said, “Thanks.”
She hurried with awkward steps to her front porch, perplexed with her bold comment. She glanced back and noticed Cathy was holding a large lilac blossom. The old woman leaned into it and took a deep breath. Quiet contentment filled the moment.
Stepping inside, she latched a small hook on the screen door into a metal loop on the door frame. She hummed as she entered the dining room and put down the box. When she returned to close the front door, her gaze drifted up to the large, soft clouds in the distance. The world was new and fresh.
She heard a “meow” from the dining room and turned to see Balderdash standing on top of the files in the box.
“Oh, no you don’t buster,” she said with loving firmness. “That’s not your box.”
He jumped out of it and flopped down on the tabletop, rolling onto his back. Rennie walked up and rubbed his belly.
“Are you a happy cat?” she asked.
With unprecedented serenity, Rennie unloaded the files onto the table. She set Matthias’s lunch tin on a shelf in her bookcase near photos of her parents. She repacked the files that were to go to her office, took off her jacket, and kicked off her shoes.
Hours later, Rennie awoke on the couch. The faint light of early evening colored her dining room in gray. Balderdash rested on her forearm. As she gently moved him out of the way, he jumped down and ran into the kitchen. She tried to get up but fell back onto the pillows.
“What happened?” she said, trying to sit up.
She looked at her watch. It was nearly eight o’clock. Determined to get going, she stumbled into the kitchen. Balderdash sat in the corner in front of his empty dish. “Yeah, I know. We’ve got eat.”
Rennie fed him and then herself. She hurried to her computer, read news items from several sites, and checked her e-mail. When she found Angie’s message with their travel schedule, Rennie became fully awake. She moved to the dining room table and made a list of the key activities she had to do in the twenty-four hours before she left for London.
When her list reached the bottom of the sheet, she dropped the pad on the table and held her head. “How am I going to do all this?” she yelled at the list.
She drew lines through some of the entries. In front of others, she put numbers.
Rennie threw her pen onto the notepad and ran up the creaking stairway to the spare bedroom. Removing a suitcase from the closet, she paused, and then removed another one. She put them on the bed and hurried into her closet. After several trips between the bedrooms, Rennie closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. “That’s it for now,” she whispered.
Her phone rang. It was Angie.
“Are you packed? I was thinking that you need to brief me on what happened and who was who. I didn’t read all that you did. Be sure to bring your notes with you, okay?”
“Yeah, fine. This is happening pretty fast. I haven’t even talked with my boss, yet.”
“Do you think he’ll object?”
“It doesn’t matter, now. We’re going.”
“Right on, girl. Rennie, I’ve got some great news. Guess who’s going to help fund our little adventure.”
“I don’t know; the library?”
“No, I didn’t think of that. Greg is putting some money into the pot!”
“Greg? Your lawyer boyfriend?”
“Greg was my boyfriend. I’m not sure where that’s at. I called him and told him about our trip. I told him I needed a break to think things over. I said a girlfriend and I decided to do a girl trip. It’s a little getaway to refresh ourselves. He thought it was a great idea. I mentioned some concern about finances, and he offered me a thousand bucks! I’ll see him tomorrow to pick up a check. It will go to the total trip costs so we both benefit.”
Rennie shook her h
ead in disbelief. “You’re amazing. But I think you should use it all. I’ll handle my expenses.”
“No. You spent all those days doing the research, and when we get to London, you have to take the lead there. I sure hope the interns get us more info before we get there.”
“Angie, I don’t know what to say. ‘Thanks’ seems too little.”
“Have you stopped to think about what is in those journals? What happened to the letters?”
“I have some ideas on that, but nothing about this story has been predictable. Could we meet early tomorrow afternoon, instead of late morning? I’ve got so much to do, especially at my office. I’ve got to talk to my boss.”
“Sure, no problem. See you tomorrow.”
Rennie went into the spare bedroom and stared at the suitcases. A sly grin grew across her face. She started to giggle. “Balderdash,” she yelled. “It’s time for the wine!” Her smile vanished when she heard her doorbell ring. She froze and quietly listened.
The doorbell rang again, quickly followed by a knock. Rennie’s eyes flashed with intensity. She took a few hesitant steps, then hurried down to the entry.
A stranger stood about four feet from the door. He checked his pockets and nervously looked around. He was mid-40’s and his protruding gut stretched apart his shirt buttons. His suit coat didn’t match the pants. Rennie glanced at the weak and primitive hook on the screen door that provided her only security.
She marched up to the door and said in an assertive voice, “Hi, what do you need?”
She slid one finger through the small, brass hoop that served as a handle to the screen door.
“Oh,” he said with nervous surprise. “Are you Miss Haran? I’m sorry if I don’t pronounce that right. Miss Haran of the Des Moines Record.”
“And, who are you?”
“Are you Miss Haran? I’m Dennis Cook of DC Bonding. I need to talk with you about an urgent matter. Do you have a few minutes? Could I come in?”
He stepped closer to the door.
“What’s this about, Mr. Cook?”
“I have a client who has expressed some interest in you. Well, not interest in you but about your welfare. Do you have a minute, Miss Haran?”
She studied him for a moment. His awkward composure and unimpressive presence bolstered her courage.
“Mr. Cook, we obviously don’t know one another, so it might be best if we continue this conversation right here. As an alternative, you could come to my office tomorrow.”
“Oh, no, ma’am, that might be too late,” he blurted out. He blinked his eyes as though he was wondering if he should not have said that.
“Just exactly what do you mean by that?”
“I’m sorry. That was probably not accurate,” he said as he quickly looked to the side and behind himself. “Miss Haran, I’m a friend and just need to speak with you for a moment.”
“Okay, friend,” Rennie said in a softer tone as her eyes surveyed the neighborhood. “Let’s talk now and right here.”
Dennis stepped toward the door. “I don’t do much private investigation work; mostly, just bail bonds. But I got a call from a fellow who lives, well far away. He said he is aware you are checking into some disappearance and an old mystery. He hired me to tell you that he suspects that people who might be interested in what you are doing, might, I don’t know how to put this, might be harmful.”
The man turned around again and for a moment studied Rennie’s neighbor Cathy as she walked across her lawn.
“Miss Haran, I don’t know what this is about. All I know is this fellow somehow found me and paid me to warn you about something. He seemed legit.”
Rennie realized she was pulling so hard on the screen door handle that her finger was hurting. She changed it to two other fingers. “I don’t get it,” she began. “Who is this guy who called you and who are these other people? What’s the issue?”
“Ma’am, I don’t know. I’ve told you everything. He just said you should be careful. I’ll leave my card here on the porch and you can call me if you like.”
He stuck both hands into his pants pockets and pulled out business cards, receipts, and dollar bills. Fumbling with it all, he placed a business card on the wicker chair by the door, nervously smiled and hurried off the porch to a car parked in the street. Reaching the car, he paused, looked back at Rennie as he opened the driver’s door, and drove away.
Rennie peered through the screen door to see the card on the chair. She released the door handle and briefly shook her fingers. As she stepped onto the porch to get the card, she noticed Cathy approaching the house. The old woman swung her arms with strength as she crossed the driveway and came up the porch steps.
“Could I ask maybe a nosey question, dear?” Cathy said with a smile.
“Of course,” Rennie answered, glancing past her and down the street.
“Well, it’s none of my business. I wondered if you might be selling your house. I certainly hope not.”
“I’m not selling my house. Why do you ask?” Rennie felt her teeth grinding.
“Oh, I must be an old busy-body. It seemed as though that man who visited you, and the others I’ve seen stop in front of the house and look at your place, they must have been interested in buying it. Really, dear I’m sorry I even asked.”
As Cathy turned to walk away, Rennie reached and touched her on the arm.
“Wait,” she said. “What do you mean those who came here and looked at my house? I’m not selling my house. Who were these people and when did they come here?”
“I’m sure it was nothing.” Cathy said with a worried look. “Earlier today, a man parked in front of your house and just looked at the house for awhile. He drove away very slowly, looking at your house all the time. He was talking on a phone, so I thought he must be a appraiser or something.”
Rennie couldn’t respond.
As Cathy began to walk away, Rennie went with her and said, “Thanks. I appreciate your mentioning it. The good news is that I’m not selling, and I plan to continue to live next to you.”
Rennie put her arm across the woman’s shoulders and escorted her to the driveway. “Thanks again, Cathy. Let me know if you see anyone else watching the house. You never know who’s out there. I’m sure it’s nothing.”
“Me, too. I doubt a nice person like you could have any trouble. Besides,” she quickly added, “this is Iowa.”
As they parted and Rennie returned to the porch, her gaze drifted across all the parked cars on the street. She watched as a young man came out of a house and casually jogged to a car. A young woman leaned out the door and yelled something to him in a cheerful voice. He looked back and responded, laughing.
Once inside the house, Rennie locked the screen door and closed the front door. She studied for a moment the old skeleton key sticking out of the keyhole. With a quick grab and twist, the lock slammed into place.
She leaned against the door. Anger warmed her face. She hurried to grab her cell phone from the table and hit Angie’s phone number.
“Angie, Rennie here. This might sound paranoid, but have you had the feeling that someone might be watching you?”
Rennie held still without breathing.
“Not really. I haven’t sensed that. What do you mean? Is someone following you?”
“I’m not sure. I had a strange visitor a little bit ago, at my house. He said he was an investigator; you know, a private eye. Also, there have been some moments at the library when I felt there were men watching me. Angie, something is up.”
Her mind was racing. “I don’t think I’ve felt that anyone’s watching me,” Angie replied. “Of course, I might like that as a change of pace. I’m sorry. That was stupid.”
“No, it’s okay. Listen, just be a little careful right now. I don’t know if this is real or not. This whole thing with the professor and what he
found may be bigger than what we thought. After all, somebody killed him.”
“I’ll be careful,” Angie said. “You be careful, too.”
“Yeah. See you tomorrow.”
Rennie laid her phone on the table. She listened for any sounds that seemed out of place. Through windows set in heavy dark wood frames, she watched what had been an ordinary, neighborly world. There was something out there, and it was not going to be kind to her.
With a firm and methodical precision, Rennie slammed and locked every window and door. Upon latching the last one, she stepped back and reviewed the accessibility of the house. She realized that none of the curtains were drawn shut. She couldn’t remember ever closing out the world like this.
Soon, she was enclosed by the familiar and hidden from something evil. Yet, she didn’t feel safer than before. Rennie looked at Balderdash, who appeared to be interested in her strange actions. “Hey, listen buddy,” she growled at him. “Don’t look at me like that.”
She pointed at him.
The cat stretched out on the floor and licked its paw.
Rennie knelt beside him, stroked his fur, and scratched his head. “So, do you think I’m going a little far with this?”
Rennie got up fast, scaring the cat. She took the cell phone off the table and ran up the stairs. She packed the suitcases with new energy. Decisively, she selected wardrobe items, shoes, accessories, and her reference materials. Occasionally, when a car or truck could be heard driving by, she paused and listened.
By ten o’clock, she realized she was exhausted. She turned out the light in her bedroom but left the lights on in the other rooms upstairs. She laid on her bed next to her suitcases and went to sleep.
Des Moines, Iowa
VI - 3
Rennie’s alarm clock chimed at 6:30 a.m., but it didn’t awaken her. She was already on the move, planning her day. She had showered, dressed, and made coffee. As she ate a muffin wrapped in a napkin, she checked her e-mail. There was nothing new except spam.
By 7:20, she was at her office organizing her files and notes on Professor Justus. A red file folder held two days’ worth of phone messages and notes from co-workers and from Bud. She casually looked through them and tossed most of them. One note made her stop. She stood up and looked across the network of cubicles toward Bud’s office. With a relaxing breath and smile, she went to see him.