The Bogey Man

by Marja McGraw

Pete, Rick and Chris joined my mother and me, and Rick started asking questions. How had we found the body? Why were we here? What was our connection to Jolly? (As if he didn’t know.) Did we know of any reason for him to be bumped off? Obviously, he’d been talking to Chris. Did we know if he had any enemies? Had any of us touched anything?

  His eyes bulged when my mother mentioned wiping her prints off a frame, and the muscles in his jaw got a major workout.

  “It looks like he was about to develop some film,” I said helpfully.

  The jaw muscles moved to a double time workout. “I saw that. Unfortunately, there’s no used film around. It’s apparently all been taken.”

  “Oh.” I decided to keep my mouth closed for a while.

  “Okay, I want you all to get out of here. Go home. Stay away from everyone except each other. If you find another body, it had better belong to one of you.”

  Pete didn’t look happy either. My guess was he didn’t like having his friend speak to us, and him specifically, like naughty children.

  We trooped outside, quietly.

  “Pete, why don’t you meet us at my house?” I suggested.

  He nodded, not saying a word, and headed for his car.

  Chris, my mother and I walked to Chris’s car. My mother didn’t call shotgun this time, but climbed in the front seat like she’d laid a claim on it.

  Chris put the key in the ignition, but let his hand fall without starting the car. He stared straight ahead. “Sandi, I have to admit that when I started following you, this wasn’t what I bargained for. I thought we’d be doing some gumshoe stuff, like following people. Like surveillances. Like background checks or something.”

  “Not as pretty as you imagined, is it?” I asked.

  “No.” He turned around with a huge grin on his face. “But I have to tell you, murder and all, I’m having the time of my life.”

  “That’s the spirit,” my mother said. “I’m having fun with my daughter. The four of us, well, we’re a team. I’m including Pete. We’re going to figure this out and get Sandi off the hook with Rick. He’ll applaud the day he met my daughter.”

  “What’re you? My personal cheerleader?” I hung my head. Things had taken another serious turn, and these two were having fun. At the expense of Purity Patton and Jolly Wade. I’d even allowed myself to have some fun. That had been a big mistake. If I’d been half the private investigator I thought I was, Jolly might still be alive.

  My mother opened her purse and pulled out a pack of gum, offering me a piece.

  “Thanks.” I folded it in thirds and stuck it in my mouth, chewing and thinking.

  “What’s wrong?” Chris was still grinning at me.

  “What’s wrong? I’ll tell you. Two people have been murdered. I couldn’t have prevented the first death, but maybe I could have prevented the second one. And here’s another thing that’s wrong. I nearly convinced myself that Jolly killed Purity, although I hadn’t come up with a motive. If that was the case, then why did someone kill Jolly? Revenge? Not likely. Hardly anyone liked Purity. No, I think something else is going on here. Now I’ve got to go back and start at square one and figure out what it is. There’s obviously more to this than meets the eye.”

  “That’s where our little team comes in,” my mother said. “We’ll help you. And now that you don’t think Jolly left that picture taped to your door, we need to make sure someone doesn’t come after you.”

  Someone tapped on the window next to me and I swallowed my gum, choking on it in the process. I turned and saw Pete motioning for me to roll down my window.

  “Pete, you did it again. You scared me.”

  “Are you planning on leaving any time soon? Like tonight?” He sounded sarcastic.

  Chris started the car. “We’re leaving right now, Boss.”

  “Pete, I know I screwed up tonight. Can we talk at my house?” I felt a fair amount of shame. I’d been taking everything too lightly.

  “Yeah, I’ll follow you over there.”

  I rolled up the window and frowned. How could I redeem myself? Pete and Rick were both disgusted with me. The only way I could put things right was to find the killer, and to do it quickly.

  “Take me home, Chris.”

  He made a clicking noise out of the side of his mouth, pulled on his ear lobe and stuck an unlit cigarette between his lips.

  “All ya gotta do is whistle, Sugar, and this sap’ll take you wherever you want to go.”

  I couldn’t help it. I grinned – and I whistled.

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Pete followed us home, not letting us out of his sight for an instant.

  Chris pulled up in front of my house and Pete jumped out of his car and stood on the sidewalk, tapping his foot, while we all piled out of the old green Chevy. Chris corrected me on the way home. It was a Classic old green Chevy.

  Stanley had arrived for his shift and walked over to meet us. “What’s going on? Why is everyone here at once?”

  My mother patted him on the back. “Hello, Stan. That photographer, Jolly something, was murdered tonight. I found the body.” She filled him in as briefly as possible and shuddered for emphasis. I knew she was more upset than she was letting on, but sometimes that’s how she dealt with tragedy. She’d try to make light of it.

  Pete and I strolled up the walkway with my mother, and Stanley and Chris followed.

  “Pete,” I asked, “didn’t you say you had an appointment with Jolly, too? What was that about?”

  “Just a hunch. I kept thinking about the chemical smell, and the pictures disappearing, and it came to me that Jolly would likely smell like developer.”

  “Good hunch. So you called him and made an appointment to meet with him?”

  “No. I called to make sure he was there and then drove over to his studio. I thought I’d take him by surprise.”

  “Well, I called him, too. He more or less admitted he was the one who tried to break in last night, but I can’t figure out why.”

  “What do you mean by more or less?” Pete asked.

  “He didn’t admit it when I accused him, but he didn’t deny it either. He also fessed up to Bubba knowing him because he’d given him treats.”

  I unlocked the door and the gang trooped in behind me.

  “I’ve got it!” I said, stopping suddenly.

  Four of my favorite faces swung around to find out what I was talking about.

  “I know why Jolly tried to break in last night. It’s Stanley’s pictures from the party. I’m telling you, there’s something in one of those photographs. Or, at least, Jolly thought there might be.”

  “Where are they?” Pete asked. “I haven’t seen them yet.”

  “I dropped one set off for Rick, and my copies are in the kitchen.”

  My friends, including my mother, followed me out to the kitchen and seated themselves around the table.

  Thinking about how much I cared for each of them, I turned to retrieve the photos. “Oh no! Someone’s been here.”

  Pete was right behind me. He’d seen it, too. The board I’d patched over the broken window had been pulled off, and the curtain was drawn back across the opening.

  “Like I wouldn’t have noticed the cold breeze blowing through the opening.” I wasn’t afraid anymore because I was surrounded by people. I’d upgraded to angry.

  “What about the pictures?” Pete asked.

  “Gone.”

  “What’s wrong?” my mother asked, walking over to examine the window.

  “The pictures are gone.” This time when I sighed, heavily and deeply, no one tried to stop me. I banged my fist down on the counter. “I can’t believe this.”

  Mother nonchalantly returned to the table, avoiding my eyes and trying to look casual.

  “I’d believe anything about now,” Pete said. “That’s two different sets of photos that have disappeared. Someone really doesn’t want us to see something.”

  I smiled sweetly, realizing my intruder hadn’t really
gotten away with anything except my normal feeling of security. “Uh huh. But that same someone doesn’t know that Rick has a copy of Stanley’s pictures. Unfortunately though, there didn’t seem to be anything incriminating in the photos.”

  “That you know of,” Pete said. “What did you see?”

  “Not much. There were several pictures of the scarecrow burning, and some that were taken inside while Purity was there. And, of course, there were pictures of all of us in our costumes, except for Chris, who hadn’t arrived yet.”

  “As I recall,” Pete said, “Chris arrived around the time of the murder.”

  “You’re right.” I turned to face Chris. “I don’t think I ever asked you, but who did you see outside during the fire?”

  “No one. I was busy trying to crash the party. I was more interested in where people were looking instead of who was there. I snuck in the back door and out to the living room and watched the fire from the window. Then I decided I’d better find the can. I saw Jolly in the kitchen when I was looking for the restroom.” Chris tugged nervously on his collar.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “Nothing. I feel like I should have been more observant, but who would have guessed that someone would be rubbed out at a costume party?”

  “Rubbed out,” my mother repeated. “Don’t you just love that kind of talk?”

  “Not now, Mother.”

  Stanley gave my mother a sympathetic look. She patted his back again. “How are you, Stan? It’s been a long time. Will I be able to meet your new girlfriend while I’m here?”

  Stanley beamed. My mother was interested in his girlfriend. “Felicity? Yes, she should be home sometime tomorrow.”

  Pete interrupted, sounding annoyed. “Let’s leave the social activities for later. Chris, why didn’t you mention seeing Jolly in the kitchen before now?”

  “I didn’t think it meant anything, but I guess it did. Do you think Jolly killed Purity and someone else killed him?”

  Pete snorted rudely. “No, I think Jolly killed Purity and then himself. Of course I think someone else killed Jolly. That gunshot wound wasn’t self-inflicted unless Jolly was a contortionist.”

  “Now, Pete, there’s no reason to be rude to the Bogey Man,” my mother said.

  “Livvie, think about it. If Chris had shared this with us in the beginning, we’d have looked at Jolly as a viable suspect a long time ago.” Pete turned to Chris and gave him a tight-lipped disgusted look.

  Chris gave Pete his best Bogey dirty look.

  Maybe I wouldn’t have to worry about keeping them separated. At the moment they weren’t too happy with each other.

  I almost rolled my eyes, but caught myself and kept my eyes forward. “Will you two quit it? We’ve got to figure this out before someone else gets bumped off. Oh, good grief. Now I’m talking like you two.”

  “You know you love that kind of talk, Babe,” Pete said.

  “Yeah, well…” I didn’t finish my thought. He was right.

  While Pete put the board back up on my window, for all the good it would do, I made coffee. We settled in at the kitchen table to start comparing notes in earnest, but no one could think of anything to say.

  “Hey,” Pete said. “Where’s that dopey dog of yours? Why didn’t he stop the break-in?”

  “He’s over at Dolly’s house. I’ll go get him. She’s probably ready to go to bed anyway.”

  I left briefly to retrieve my dog. It was late, and I’d been right about Dolly. She was ready to call it a day.

  “Uh, Dolly, did you see anyone around my house while I was gone?”

  “Not again. Are you going to tell me someone tried to break into your house again?”

  “Well, as a matter of fact…”

  “I should have known. Bubba was antsy. He must have heard something over at your place. I was busy so I just told him to go lay down. He’s a good boy, and he did. But I could tell he wasn’t happy about it. Come to think of it, Miss Kitty seemed a bit upset, too. I thought it was because of Bubba. I let her out, when I should have let Bubba out.”

  “It’s okay, Dolly. You couldn’t have known.”

  “Oh, yes I could have. We’ve both seen Bubba act up before when someone was around.”

  I left Dolly and strolled home with Bubba. I felt safe with him by my side. And it gave me a minute to think things over.

  When I walked back into the kitchen, I almost had an epiphany, but not quite. “What if the pictures don’t really show anything? What if Stan’s pictures were stolen just to throw us off the track? I mean, Jolly’s party pictures might have shown us who was absent during the fire, but Stan’s didn’t show anything like that. So why take them? I’d be willing to bet that the intruder at least glanced at them since I wasn’t home and he had the time.”

  Pete didn’t agree with me. “Chances are whoever it was grabbed the pictures and beat feet. Your intruder wouldn’t have known that there weren’t any telling pictures in the batch.”

  “Beat feet?” Stan said. “Now you’re starting to sound like the rest of these people.”

  Pete grinned. “I have my moments.”

  “So what’s next?” Chris asked.

  Pete took that question. “You’re all going home. I’m going to take the watch tonight. I think Sandi and Livvie will be okay, but I’ll feel better if I hang around.”

  “Don’t forget about the photo with the Big Red X,” Mother said.

  I cringed. I was hoping everyone would forget about that.

  “I haven’t forgotten,” Pete said, “and that’s exactly why I’m sticking around.”

  Stanley stood up and turned to me. “Pete’s right, Sandi. Even if you take the stolen photos out of the equation, there’s still the matter of the threatening picture left on your front door. I don’t think you realize it, but it appears that in one way or another, you’ve come too close for comfort to suit one of the suspects.”

  “He’s right, Sweetie. You really do need to be careful, and it’s a good thing I’m here to help out.” My mother reached for my hand and gave it a little squeeze.

  Chris nodded, thankfully not saying a word. I felt like they were ganging up on me.

  “Okay, okay. You all go do whatever you have to do. I’m going upstairs to get some sleep.”

  “I’ll clean up the coffee cups,” Mother said. “You go ahead.

  After seeing everyone off, I slowly trudged up the stairs. I washed my face and brushed my teeth, then climbed between the sheets and prayed for sleep, and some answers.

  I was just nodding off when I heard a light tapping on my door.

  “Sandi? Are you still awake?”

  “Yes, Mother. What’s wrong?”

  “I can’t forget the sight of that dead body, and I can’t sleep.”

  My mother wasn’t as tough as she tried to act.

  “Come on in and we’ll talk a while,” I said.

  Chapter Thirty-two

  The telephone rang early the next morning, waking me from a sound sleep. I picked up the receiver and punched a button, hoping I’d hit On.

  “Hello?” My voice sounded deep and groggy. I glanced at the clock and saw a blurry eight and two zeros glaring back at me.

  An overly cheerful young voice said, “Good morning! We’re going to be in your neighborhood offering – ”

  “No!” I punched Off and thought about buying a corded phone so I could slam it down with feeling to make my point. Or maybe I’d buy a safety whistle and deafen the salespeople. I lay in bed for a few minutes and thought of all the other things I could do to discourage telemarketers, in a mean way. The list was long. I needed to remember to add my phone number to the No Call List.

  Too bad, but I was wide awake. I glanced over at my mother. We’d talked until late. I told her about the Lawsuit Queen, about Joshua King and Purity Patton, including Purity’s pregnancy, and about the night of the party. She wanted to see a picture of me in my costume, but I put her off because the only one I had wa
s defaced with that Big Red X. I told her about all the other guests and suspects, diverting her attention from the photo. She listened intently to everything I told her, commenting from time to time, or asking questions.

  She’d said she was chilly and climbed under the covers, but I knew she simply didn’t want to sleep alone. Neither did I, so I left her alone when she drifted off. It reminded me of when I was a child and had a bad dream. I’d climb into bed with my mother and father, looking for security.

  I vaguely recalled waking up during the night because she was tossing and turning. I wondered if she was dreaming about Jolly. We both knew Pete was watching over us, but that knowledge didn’t help.

  I quietly crept out of the bed so she could sleep a little longer.

  By the time Mother came downstairs, I’d cleaned up, fed the dog and started our breakfast.

  “So what’s on the agenda for today?” she asked. She lifted a mug out of the cupboard and poured herself a cup of coffee, adding a little milk and sugar. Casually sidling over to the stove, she glanced at the bacon. Knowing her, she was checking to make sure I wasn’t burning it.

  “I’ve been thinking about something and I have a favor to ask. It’s a big one, but it might be necessary.” I was giving it too much of a build-up. “Now, Mother, don’t be angry with me, but would you mind not taking your hormone pills today?”

  “What? Why would you ask me to do that?” She didn’t sound angry, but she her voice had a tinge of irritation.

  I spoke rapidly. “I want to go talk to Mavis again, and it might really help if at least one of us was able to deal with her on a level she can understand.”

  The look of irritation disappeared. “Oh, Sandi, you’re so funny. I can fake it.” She made a sound like a snort. “Even if I take my pills, I still know what I was like before I started taking them. I can be her equal, and then some.”

  “Mother, sometimes you amaze me. I thought sure you’d be angry with me for even asking about the pills.” I turned the bacon and glanced at her to see if she might be scowling. She wasn’t.

  “No, I’m not. I understand what it is you want. My dear, I know you, and I know you can stand up for yourself. However, from what you’ve described, I would imagine Ms. Lawsuit Queen could use a few hormone pills herself. I can deal with her. Don’t worry. Leave it to Mother.”