“You don’t have time for all this quilting stuff, girl. We have a murder to solve.”
“Okay, Sophie, let’s look at this logically. First of all, Detective Shields told us to stay out of the investigation ...” Sarah began, but Sophie immediately interrupted her.
“... and you think that’s going to cause us to stay out of it?” Sophie bellowed. “Andy was our friend, and going around looking in his neighbors’ houses isn’t going to solve his murder. I want to know what happened, and I want to know now.”
“Okay, Sophie. Calm down. It’s too early for hysterics. What is it you want to do?”
“I want to see the security tapes,” Sophie responded.
“Why?”
“Because I don’t think the police knew what to look for. I want you and me to go over to the security office and ask to see the tapes. And I don’t want to ask for Shields’s permission.” Sophie’s voice escalated as she talked and took on a tone that dared anyone to challenge her. “This is our community, and those security tapes belong to us. We pay for our security and we pay for those tapes, and we have the right to see them.” Sophie sat up straight in the chair and looked as indignant as her round face, curly hair, and pink elephant pajamas would permit.
“No argument, Sophie. I agree. But I know what Shields will have to say if he finds out what we did.”
“Not interested,” Sophie said, dismissing Sarah’s concerns. “I don’t care what he has to say. I want to see the tapes.”
“Okay, Sophie. Let’s have some coffee ...” as she removed the steaming hot pan from the oven, “... and some sweet buns and talk about how we will go about this.”
Immediately after breakfast, Sarah showered and got dressed while Sophie did the same at her house. They agreed to meet at Sophie’s house at 9:30 and walk over to the security office that was located next to the center. Although there was a community shuttle that circulated around the community providing transportation to and from the center, Sarah always preferred to walk. Sophie, on the other hand, was no fan of walking and complained all the way that they should have taken the bus. “We’ll be too tired to view the tapes,” she complained. Not one to tell other people what was good for them, Sarah often would trick Sophie into taking a healthier approach when she could. Sophie, she felt, certainly needed the exercise and fresh air. If asked, Sophie would have disagreed.
They had decided not to call ahead and ask if they could view the tapes. They didn’t want to give the security folks the opportunity to say no. Instead, they entered the building cheerfully and simply said that they were there to view the tapes for the day of Andy’s disappearance.
“I don’t know if I’m allowed to show you those,” Paul, the security guard on duty, said hesitantly. “We’ve never had anyone ask before.”
“Well ...” Sophie began, being as tactful as she could since Sarah told her to calm down and try to get on the good side of the staff, “... we just want to take a peek and see if we notice anything the police might have missed. We know the people here and just might see something that would help them.”
“Oh, I didn’t realize you were helping the police with this. Of course you can see the tapes,” Paul said, leading them to the back office. Sarah and Sophie looked at each other with surprise but remained as expressionless as they could. Paul had misunderstood and thought they were working with the police. This helped them with being able to view the tapes but sure would not help them with Detective Shields.
“Leave it alone, kiddo,” Sophie whispered as they followed Paul down the back hall. “We’ll deal with the consequences later.”
“You just want to see that day?” Paul asked.
“Yes,” Sarah responded. “Just that day, and you can start in the late afternoon if you don’t mind. We’ll have to watch activity way into the night, and that could take many hours. Is there a way to speed it up?”
“The camera is motion activated, so it only comes on when someone approaches the gate,” Paul offered. “It will go pretty quickly. We don’t have a lot of traffic coming and going through the gates except on weekends.”
It turned out to be a very dull day. Sophie and Sarah watched cars coming and going. Visitors stopped to identify themselves, and the guard occasionally called ahead to verify the visit. The speaker was controlled by the guard and was clicked on whenever he was speaking with visitors.
“Stop it here.” Sophie demanded. “Isn’t that Andy coming in? What’s that car?”
“Just a minute,” Paul said. “There’s audio with this.”
“Hi, Andy. What’s with the new car?” the guard asked.
“Not new. I’m just test driving it for someone,” he said rather abruptly. He wasn’t his usual friendly self. The guard waved him through.
The tapes were a bit grainy, and the women couldn’t tell if there was anyone else in the car.
“Whose car was he testing?” Sophie asked Sarah.
“I don’t know anything about it,” Sarah responded. “I saw Andy earlier in the afternoon, but he didn’t mention anything about test driving a car. Does he know anything about cars?”
“How should I know?” Sophie responded impatiently. “What time was that?” she asked Paul.
“16:10,” he responded, and Sophie frowned. “4:10 in the afternoon,” he added.
“This car left again around 2:00 in the morning. Unfortunately, the driver had his face turned and sped through the gate. The police must not have been very interested in this car because they never talked to me about it. I’ve tried to find out how they’re doing, but that Detective Shields treats me like I’m the killer.”
“He treats us all like that, Paul. Don’t take it personally.”
A few hours later, they viewed the scene Paul had described. The white car sped through the gate without even slowing down, took an immediate right, and was instantly out of sight.
Sophie was livid. “How could Detective Shields tell us it had to be an inside job when he knew about this car? Obviously, this car belongs to the killer. He was murdered by whoever asked Andy to test drive the car. Someone must have seen the driver.”
“If that was even the real reason he was driving the car. Maybe he wasn’t test-driving it but had it for some other reason. At any rate, I agree with you that we may have just witnessed the flight of the killer,” Sarah said. Turning to Paul, she asked, “What did the police have to say about this scene?”
“Well, as I said, they never mentioned it. Then, just a couple of days ago, I called to ask about their progress and told him I was wondering about the white car. Detective Shields didn’t tell me anything but asked me to send him a copy of that portion of the tape.”
“Did you send it?”
“Yeah, I sent it, but I never heard a word back. When they’re investigating here in the Village, it’s like we don’t exist. Heck, we know more about what goes on here than they ever will. Some of us were even on the force before we came here.”
“Well, Paul,” Sarah consoled. “I don’t think it’s the way they all feel. There are bad apples everywhere, and it seems we’ve run into one.”
On their way home, they stopped at the coffee shop in the community center for an early dinner. They had missed lunch and were too tired to fix dinner at home.
At Sophie’s insistence, they took the shuttle home. Sophie was quiet most of the way. As they exited the bus, she asked, “What do you think of all this, Sarah?”
“I don’t know what to think, but I’m wondering now about what Millie told us. That afternoon he received a disturbing phone call and left their aerobics class. But I ran into him shortly after that, and he seemed okay. In fact, he told me he would bring his tie quilt by, and he did that.”
“How was he when he came by?” Sophie asked.
“He seemed rushed and distracted. He wouldn’t even come in. He just handed me the box and said he would see me next week. He wasn’t his usual self.”
“I’m stymied,” Sophie said in a dej
ected tone that Sarah had never heard from her. “What in the world was Andy involved in?”
“I can’t answer that, Sophie. But I will say that I totally trusted Andy. He was a good man, and despite the alleged affair with Millie, I still regard him as having been a valued friend and a good person. I know there’s some explanation for all this.”
After she got home, she decided to sit down with Charles the next day and talk to him about it. Even though he was retired, she felt he could help get all these scattered facts into one cohesive story that would make sense.
... And tomorrow is another day.
Chapter 23
The telephone was ringing as Sarah stood up. She had just planted two crimson star coneflowers in what she was beginning to call “Andy’s Garden.” She got inside just in time, wiping the wet soil from her hands on the dish towel hanging on the stove. “Hello,” she answered.
“Mrs. Miller?” the voice asked.
“Yes, who’s calling please?” She wished people would identify themselves when they called. Andy had told her about telephones that had caller ID, and she wished she had one. She brought her old phones with her when she moved to the Village, and it was certainly time to update them. “Get with the times, gal.” Andy had said.
“This is Nancy from the animal shelter. How are you today?”
“I’m doing fine. I was just outside doing a little gardening.”
“It’s a beautiful day for that,” Nancy responded. “I was calling you to check out something. I know you were looking for a dog that could provide protection as well as companionship when you came in last week.”
“Yes,” Sarah responded.
“Well, we brought in a young rottweiler yesterday. That’s an excellent dog if you need protection. They become very attached to you and will protect you from anything.”
“But a rottweiler ...” Sarah said hesitantly.
“Well, there are a few issues I wanted to point out first. For one thing, he’s not very big right now, but he can reach one hundred pounds or more.”
“That’s a lot of dog for me to handle. I’m nearly seventy, and I’m not sure I could manage a dog that big.”
“Yes, I thought about that. Rex is a real sweetie and will make someone a great pet if they treat him right. I thought of you, I guess because I know you would be gentle with him and show him lots of love. He’s already had a tough time in his short life. Rottweilers tend to be intelligent and easy to train. But he’ll grow very large, and he’ll become very attached to you.”
Nancy continued, “The thing that perhaps concerns me is that rottweilers are one-person dogs—very territorial—and I suspect many of your friends are older folks since you live in Cunningham Village. He could possibly hurt someone unintentionally.”
“Yes, you’re right. I think we need to stick with a smaller dog. I could never hold a one hundred–pound dog back if he decided a friend of mine was a threat to me,” Sarah said. “I’m not even sure, anymore, that protection is what I need. I started out wanting that, but as I thought about having a dog, I realized what fun it would be to have a furry friend to take walks with and to keep me company here at home.”
“That’s exactly what a dog can give you, plus that wonderful unconditional love. They’re there for you no matter what,” Nancy added.
“When I came to see you,” Sarah continued, “we had just had a tragedy in the neighborhood, and I think I may have overreacted a bit. I don’t really need protection. I’m perfectly safe here,” Sarah added, wondering if that was at all true.
They agreed that Nancy would keep an eye out for the right dog and that Sarah would stop in from time to time to meet the ones that were there.
As she was falling asleep that night, Rex came to her mind. She mulled over the little she knew about him—that he’s had a tough time in his short life—but she decided to remain steadfast in her resolve to not adopt a pet because she felt sorry for it. She would wait for the dog that was the right one for her. I’ll know it when I meet him.
* * * * *
The next day, Sarah and Charles met at the center for coffee and then went to the Resource Room to get class schedules. On the way, she took him around to see the pool. He was interested in doing laps, and they found that there were times set aside specifically for lap swimming. He hadn’t said much about his stroke but did say that his physical therapist would be pleased if he swam regularly. Sarah admitted that she had never learned to swim but thought she would enjoy the water aerobics class. “I’ve just filled my days to the point I can’t find the time to do all of the things I’d like to do.”
“What do you spend most of your time on?” Charles asked.
“Well, there’s the quilting, but that doesn’t really take much of my time yet. And there was the computer class that got me onto the computer and onto the internet. I go to the lab several times a week and write emails and look up things I’m interested in. That has opened a whole new world for me. I think about buying a computer to have at home, but there’s something about coming here to see people and socialize. Social contact is important as we get older.”
“I think you’ve been talking to Vicky,” Charles said with a knowing smile. “That’s exactly what she says I need.”
“It’s exactly what we all need.” Sarah responded, also with a smile. “The more I think about it,” she continued, “I guess most of my time is spent with Sophie and some of the other people on our block trying to piece together what might have happened to our good friend, Andy.”
“Andy? That would be Andy Burgess, the guy who was killed here, right? You knew him?”
“Not only did I know him but he was also one of my good friends. Andy got me into computers. He and Sophie, who lives across the street from me, were instrumental in getting me acclimated to life in the Village. They introduced me to people and showed me the ropes. I was a real sad sack when I came here—at least that’s what Sophie told me the day we met. I’d left my home and the life I knew and moved into what felt like a whole new world. I’ll always have a special place in my heart for all the help those two gave me.”
“It must have been very hard for you when Burgess died,” Charles said sympathetically.
“Well, you certainly saw me at a much worse time, but it has been hard. And because of the connection we all had, Sophie and I have tried to find out what happened to him.”
“Have you talked to the police about it?” Charles asked.
“They’ve talked to us about it, but they don’t seem to want to share much information with us. In fact, we’ve been reprimanded a time or two for sticking our noses in where they weren’t welcomed.”
Charles laughed a deep hearty laugh. “I know what you mean. We cops can be very territorial.” Sarah hadn’t heard him laugh before and was surprised at how his face lit up. His eyes were twinkling and she thought, not for the first time, that he was a very handsome man.
“Funny,” she said. “That’s the second time I heard the word territorial this morning.”
“... and the first?” he asked.
“It was said in reference to a rottweiler.”
Again, he laughed and said, “Well, there are many similarities there.”
I like this man. I really like this man.
They walked on to the Resource Room and picked up the current class schedule. Charles said he would go over it and promised to pick out one class. “I already have a few ideas about what I might enjoy,” he said. “One is the woodworking class ...”
“But you already know woodworking ...”
“Yes, yes, I know, but it would be a way to meet some guys that are into it, too, and you’re the one encouraging me to get to know some people.”
“You’ll be teaching the class before long, I suspect,” Sarah said teasingly. “Shall we get some lunch?”
“Let’s celebrate and have a fancy lunch in the restaurant. Are you game?” he asked.
“Okay, but we go Dutch treat, and you tell m
e what we are celebrating.”
“We’re celebrating a new chapter in our lives.” He guided her into the dining room with his hand gently on her back. His touch brought a slight shiver to her spine that she felt but hoped he didn’t notice.
Across the room, she spotted Sophie and her gang of cohorts. Sophie’s boisterous voice could be heard throughout the room. “Hey, kiddo. Get over here with us where you belong.”
She turned to Charles and, hoping she wasn’t being presumptuous and perhaps a bit forward, said, “Let’s eat alone. I’d really like to talk to you more. Okay?”
“It’s more than okay with me, but go speak to your friends. I’ll get us a table.”
Sarah crossed the room, realizing that she just might be slightly blushing. She greeted everyone and said, “I’d love to join you, but Mr. Parker and I have some business to discuss.” To Sophie, she said, “I’ll see you back home later. Okay?”
“Hmm. They have ‘some business to discuss,’” Sophie said somewhat suspiciously. “Interesting. And just imagine having business to discuss with such a handsome man.” The women at the table giggled and Sarah’s blush deepened.
“It’s not like that, Sophie,” she objected. “He’s a friend, and we just need to catch up.”
“Well, you get your hiney over to my house the minute you get home. You have some explaining to do.” Sophie then burst into her contagious cackle that could be heard throughout the dining room.
Much to Sarah’s surprise, Sophie and her group gave them their privacy, and she and Charles spent an incredible two hours enjoying white wine, a delicious seafood pasta, and light conversation. They were having such a good time that Sarah decided not to approach the topic of Andy today. She did want to talk to him about it, but not while they were having so much fun.
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