Then the rustling at my dresser stopped and someone was beside my bed. I opened my eyes wide, completely frozen in terror. There was enough moonlight coming through the window to see it was a man wearing a ski mask. He lunged and pinned my shoulders to the bed, which was enough commotion to wake Su-Jitzu. My ten-pound protector was immediately up on all fours barking and growling with menace. It’s crazy but the next thing I remember was the smell. This guy had taken a bath in cologne.
Su-Jitzu didn’t scare him at all. My intruder swung and hit poor Su with his fist, sending him tumbling from the bed. “Where are they?” he shouted. Immediately his hands began squeezing my shoulders in a vice-like, painful grip..
“What do you want?” I screamed, writhing desperately.
“Where are they?”
Su was right back on the bed in a flash of teeth and fur. He wildly clamped on one of the intruder’s gloved hands.
“Get off me, you little bastard!” My intruder released my shoulders then began to battle an enraged Su with both hands. I sat up, throwing the covers back, struggling to free my lower limbs and feet. Crouched on the bed, I swung with all my strength, my fist colliding with the man’s cheekbone. My attack barely registered with him as he backed away from the bed with Su dangling from one hand. “Where are they?” the man shouted again as he swung Su viciously, beating at him with his free hand. I rolled off the bed and lunged for the door. As I scrambled for the bathroom down the hall I could hear the intruder cursing in anger and Su’s deep throaty growl.
I snatched Uncle Barney’s back brush as a weapon and ran back to my room where I whaled the intruder hard on the back, neck, and head. He dropped Su and thundered off down the stairs, cursing, and burst out the front door. Its slam vibrated through my feet, and the bell shook loose and fell to the floor. Su, standing at the top of the stairs, continued to bark wildly with hackles raised, daring his enemy to return.
I knelt to check on Su. After running my hands over his legs and body, I decided he seemed okay. My relief gave me an indescribable rush of gratitude! I hugged Su to my chest. “You’re a Rottweiler! You’re so brave!” We rocked for a good five minutes before I was able to stand on my trembling legs, pick up the back brush again in case I still needed it, and creep down the stairs, still listening.
Moonlight, falling through the glass in the front door, streaked across the floor towards the stairs where I stood, ready to run back. But the house remained silent. Bookmarks and The Grind were empty. I slowly moved to the nearest light switch and flooded the front entry and Bookmarks in light. Edging into The Grind I found its light switch and turned those lights on too. Oh, thank you, God. Su and I are safe. But who was that? Peering through the café, I could see the back door was open. I made my way to the kitchen but could only step in a little way in bare feet because of glass on the floor. That must be how he got in.
I grabbed Su before he could cut his paws, and carried him back into the dining area. I collapsed on a chair, letting the backbrush fall to the table with a clatter.
The deputy, on night duty, answered the phone at the station. He told me not to touch or move anything and arrived with his red lights flipping in under three minutes. The chief, pulled from his bed, was at The Grind five minutes later.
The chief and the deputy checked the back door with studious care, confirming that it was my assailant’s method of entry into The Grind, and while the deputy went to my bedroom to check things out, the chief sat me down for a chat. I clasped my shaking hands tightly together.
“You’re safe, Ms. Willoughby. It’s all over. Can you think of any reason someone would break in and not steal anything?”
“What’s to steal? Coffee beans?” I gave a shallow laugh. “I can’t think of any reasons for someone to break in besides, well, you know.”
“Did he give you a reason to think that?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know. It all happened so fast.”
The chief gave a weak smile. “Maybe someone didn’t like you asking all those questions around town.”
I frowned. “Instead of hitting him, I should have pulled his mask off,” I said with frustration.
“That would have made things worse. It was a good thing you had your dog with you.”
As if he knew we were talking about him, Su lifted his head from his paws where he was lying near the display counter and watched us.
“He’s a brave little guy,” I answered.
“And he might have given us the only clue we’ve got to this guy’s identity. I’ll check the hospital for anybody coming in with a dog bite.” He stood and stuffed his notebook into his jacket. “In the meantime you should cover that hole in the backdoor window. Leave your lights on. Is anybody able to come over and stay with you tonight?”
“Why? Do you think he’ll be back?”
The chief shrugged. “I’ll have my deputy swing by a couple of times tonight, but I’d feel better if you weren’t alone.” He rubbed my shoulder. “You’ll be fine,” he said and with that he recalled his deputy from upstairs.
After they left, I thought of calling Nancy but decided Bill would be better and safer company. Besides, it was raining now, and Bill had a car whereas Nancy biked everywhere. He came over almost as quickly as the chief had done.
He rushed through the front door on a draught of cool, pine-scented air, and reached for me, enveloping me in his strong arms. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” I said, hugging him back. “It was scary but I’m not hurt. I think he is though. Su managed to chew on his hand pretty good.”
Bill bent to pat Su who was climbing his leg. “He’s a good protector all right.”
We both laughed, though mine was shaky and high-pitched. “Shall I break your rule? I can brew a pot.”
Bill nodded and sat as I moved to the grinder and poured out some of his favorite beans. “You have any idea who it was?” he asked.
I shook my head. “He kept shouting ‘where are they?’ What do you think he meant? What could that mean?”
“Did he think you had jewelry or something? Or The Grind’s receipts? Maybe he was asking where they were.”
“Yeah maybe … so anyhow, the chief wrote it down. Besides, this is me and The Grind we’re talking about. Everybody in town knows we just scrape by. Couldn’t have been that,” I said as I brewed Bill’s coffee. I turned to him. “Who cares about something I have?”
Bill’s look was one of shock and awareness at the same time. “You mean he wanted the pages back?”
“What else? After I went to see the chief this morning, he said he was going to again ask Allan about what he was after at his house. Maybe Allan was afraid I’d show the chief the pages? That I’d turn him in?”
“Does the chief know about the notebook pages?”
I shook my head.
Bill mused, “You’re supposed to buy the rest of them tomorrow. If Allan refuses to deal, we’ll know you’re right. But either way, it’s time we got the chief involved.”
I brought the fresh coffee pot and two cups to the table. “What good will that do? Uncle Barney will be back home in a day or two thanks to Allan’s testimony. I don’t want to screw that up.”
Bill took the pot and filled his cup. He stared at the black liquid for a few moments and then looked up at me. “We know Allan was involved. He stole his mother’s blackmail papers. Maybe he killed her. For all we know, he killed Dr. Santos too.”
All I could do was sigh. I knew Bill was right.
“I’ve got something to tell you.” I looked directly into the chief’s eyes as I spoke in as calm and straightforward a manner as I could muster. He squinted a little and then pulled back the swinging half-door separating the office from the counter area in the station without saying a word. Obediently, I sidled past him and took the chair at his desk.
“Aren’t you going to take fingerprints at The Grind?”
The chief shook his head. “No point. You said he was wearing gloves.”
<
br /> I grimaced.
The chief eased into his black leather office chair and crossed his ankles on the corner of his desk. He folded his hands at his stomach and stared at me. “What now?”
I cleared my throat. “I’ve done something … that is, I’m going to do something you probably want to know about.”
He continued to stare.
“You aren’t making this easy, Chief,” I said. I cleared my throat again. “This has nothing to do with last night.” I paused. “Well, it sorta does. Okay. So I met with Allan a couple of days ago. I was pretty sure he picked up the blackmail business from his mother…”
The chief gazed at the ceiling, listening.
I started to feel like a misbehaving school kid in the principal’s office. “I should back up. Utta Podeski stole some pages from Dr. Santos’s diary when she worked for him, cleaning his house. I told you that. He wanted to keep whatever it was secret and she started blackmailing him.”
“You still don’t have proof. You have proof now?”
“I’m getting to it. That’s why Dr. Santos and Mrs. Podeski didn’t get along. So I went to Allan and told him I knew all about Dr. Santos and that he had other secrets he was using to blackmail people in town. Then I did a little blackmail of my own. I made him sell me Dr. Santos’s pages. I told him I’d turn him in to you if he didn’t.”
The chief pulled his legs off his desk and sat up straight. “You bought these pages from Allan?”
“Half of them. For five hundred dollars. I’m buying the other half this afternoon. Seven hundred more.”
The chief shook his head and began taking notes on his pad of paper. “You obviously read the pages. What did they say?”
“Not much. Nothing that seems worth blackmail.”
“Where are they?”
“Nancy is hiding them at her place.”
“So you think the doc’s secrets are on the pages you still need to buy?”
I nodded.
The chief’s stare was unblinking. “You’ve made a real mess of things, Ms. Willoughby, but at the same time I gotta admit I’m impressed. You’ve done some real detective work.”
I smiled at the compliment.
“But what does this have to do with the death of Utta Podeski or the doc?”
“Maybe Allan put her in the deep freeze because he wanted to take over her blackmail business. She could have ripped a button off his shirt in the struggle. Maybe Dr. Santos decided he was tired of paying and was going to take his lumps. Maybe Allan killed him to keep Dr. Santos quiet.”
“Jiminy Cricket!” The chief started laughing. “More speculation.”
I suddenly remembered something Michael McGee said. I couldn’t remember if it was a novel or an interview. “A good story needs a bit of the wildness about it.”
“You’re right, but there is only one way I’m going to find out. I’m going to buy the rest of the pages and I’m going to ask Allan.”
“Ask him?”
“I’ll describe how I think he killed his mother and Dr. Santos. I’ll try to get him worked up. Maybe he’ll say something incriminating.”
The chief shook his head. “You stay away from him. Leave this to me.”
I reached into my purse and pulled out the mini digital tape recorder I used for keeping track of story ideas. “He’s expecting me to buy the pages this afternoon. I can tape the whole conversation. At least it will prove he’s a blackmailer.”
“If he’s really behind these murders, it’s too dangerous.”
“I’ll bring Bill with me. I’m meeting him in his hotel room. You can wait downstairs.” I looked into the chief’s eyes and smiled. “I trust you, Chief. That’s why I came and told you I was going to meet Allan. It’s called backup, isn’t it?”
The chief sighed. “We’ll have to mark your money to prove he had the papers and you paid him. Even if he doesn’t talk, that will prove he’s a blackmailer.”
I pulled an envelope with seven, one hundred dollar bills inside and slid it across the desk. “Mark away. I have an appointment to keep.”
22
“I still can’t understand why he had to mark your money instead of giving you the cash the police have for these sorts of things.”
“This is Glacier! They don’t have wads of money for blackmail payoffs, Bill.” I snorted at how preposterous that sounded but Bill still looked nervous. Almost as nervous as I felt. What if I really was about to challenge a murderer?
“He’s such a Mickey Mouse cop. I don’t trust him to protect us if something bad goes down.”
I patted my purse and smiled. “He’ll be in the restaurant. His deputy will be outside Allan’s door.”
Bill pressed his lips into one thin, whitened line and shook his head.
“It’s the best we’ve got,” I said.
“You have to turn on the recorder before you meet him,” Nancy reminded.
I nodded. Oh yeah, no way I’m taking this huge risk for Uncle Barney without having it on record.
Allan peeked at me from behind his barely opened door. “What’s he doin’ here?”
I pushed the door and elbowed by Allan. When I did I nearly jumped away at the smell of his cologne. “He’s my insurance. Last night you gave me a reason not to trust you, didn’t you!”
Allan looked stunned by what I’d said, so much so he didn’t try to block Bill from following me into the hotel room. Bill patted Allan’s shoulder as he went by and found a spot in a corner opposite the door where he quietly leaned against the wall. Allan checked the hallway before he closed the door and joined me.
“The cop came over again and asked me what I was getting when I went into my house.”
“You thought I said something to the chief?”
“Why else would he be asking me a second time? He already asked me once.”
“They’re cops, Allan. Suspicious. It’s their business.” I tried to measure his scowl. Is that anger or fear? “I’m taking fifty off the top to fix my door.” Allan scowled.
I looked at the bandage on his right hand. “Su-Jitsu’s a great dog, eh? ”
He seemed to relax. “I’ll get even. Don’t you worry,” he said, watching me to see if his threat had any affect.
I grimaced. “Let’s do this,” was my only answer. I pulled the money envelope from my purse and waved it.
Allan looked at it and went right to his closet. I could see his briefcase was already open. He rifled through the files inside it and pulled out the notebook pages. “Then let’s get down to business,” he said, holding the pages up for me to see. “At least this way that cop can’t hassle me anymore.”
I moved to his bed and sat down. It’s still unmade. Allan set up his phone to record video and pulled his only chair to a spot between us where he could keep an eye on Bill and me at the same time. We made our exchange.
“Now you butt out. Clear?
I flipped the pages over, looking but not reading them. “You said somebody besides the dentist is worried about these pages.”
Allan smirked. “You’re paying the cut I could have gotten from the dentist’s old lady for keeping quiet about his real wife in Manila. It’s your pot of gold now.”
“His real wife?”
Allan laughed. “It’s all right there.”
I slipped the pages into my purse. “I’m curious. How did Dr. Santos react when he found out you were taking over your mom’s business?”
“I couldn’t find him.” Allan counted my cash as he spoke. “So I paid his wife a visit.”
“She must have been shocked when you told her what you knew.”
“That ain’t the word for it!” He laughed again. “But she was willing to pay me to keep quiet. I guess you’re her problem now.”
“She must have been upset when you told her.”
“Upset? Hell, she went ballistic.” He chortled.
“But she paid you blackmail?” I said it clearly and leaned his way for his answer.
He smi
led. “It’s been a good week. She practically begged me. The biddy is more worried about what people will say about the dentist being a bigamist and her being a sucker. That would make her little girls bastards, wouldn’t it?”
“You’re bad, Allan.” I shook my head. “Your mother would be proud of you.”
“Leave her out of this.”
“Poor Utta Podeski. Missing out on all the fun,” Bill chimed
“I said shut up.”
“How’d you think she ended up in the freezer? That’s plain weird, don’t you think?”
“We’re done here.” Allan stood up and stuffed the cash I’d given him into his jeans.
“I think you put her in the freezer, Allan. You or your dad. I can’t figure out why. What was that about?” I leaned towards him.
“Or your uncle did it.” Allan’s stare was cold and menacing. “I said, we’re done here.”
“Heck, Allan. She was your mother! Doing that was pretty cold hearted.” I laughed aloud at my pun.
“She was the cold hearted one. Not me. I only wanted a small piece to get me started. That’s all I wanted. She had lots. I knew she had lots. But she wouldn’t budge.”
“You did it because Mommy wouldn’t share?”
Allan stepped towards me but Bill reacted instantly, freezing Allan with a menacing grimace.
“Get out,” Allan shouted. “We’re done.”
23
Deputy Amos had been around the corner, by the hotel stairs, as we descended from Allan’s room, his gun drawn. He was already moving to arrest Allan in his room as we reached the stairs. While Allan was being arrested, the chief was just as efficient. He pushed Bill and me to a restaurant table and held out his hand, demanding the pages! I was shocked by how forceful he’d suddenly become. He threatened to arrest us for impeding his investigation if I didn’t dig the pages out of my purse and hand them over immediately. And then he demanded my recorder and that I accompany him to the station to “finally answer some questions about everything you know”.
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