Handcuffs in the Heather

by Dale Mayer

  “Actually I do,” Doreen said. “Not for the same reasons, but I definitely understand being laughed at.”

  “Then why are you even asking me all this? It’s so long ago.”

  “Because they found Manny’s body,” Doreen said.

  The woman looked at her in horror.

  “That’s right. They found his body. And forensics is all over it.”

  The woman stepped back, her hand going to her chest. “You don’t think I had something to do with it, do you?”

  Doreen raised an eyebrow. She’d learned long ago that people often shot off their mouths if you gave them a chance to talk.

  The woman shook her head. “Why would I bother? Manny had been in my husband’s life for so long it was a humiliating nightmare. But it was just one more disgusting part of the life I had to live.”

  “You could have left,” Doreen said.

  “I considered it,” Lynette said. “You bet I did. And then Dean came along.”

  Lynette told Doreen the last part with a smile, a smile that said she got sucked in and fell in love. It told Doreen that Dean had taken Lynette away, like the charming prince he appeared to be, and had converted her life from hell to heaven.

  Doreen nodded. “I guess he didn’t think much of any of it, did he?”

  “No, he told me that I should leave Norbert. That I should leave it all behind.”

  “So why didn’t you?”

  “I didn’t know how,” Lynette said simply. “It would just be so messy.”

  “Getting up one day, walking out of the house, and moving in with your new boyfriend, is it that messy?”

  “You don’t understand,” the woman said briskly, “but I had nothing to do with Manny’s death.”

  Just then a voice behind them called out, “Sweetheart, is everything okay?”

  Chapter 33

  Wednesday Dinnertime …

  Lynette beamed and ran past Doreen, who spun to look at the tall silver-haired gentleman in the doorway. He caught Lynette and kissed her gently, then looked at Doreen, and asked, “Are you harassing my wife?”

  “Not at all,” Doreen said with a bright smile. “Just asking her questions about her role in Manny’s death.”

  The man’s face turned sheer white. “What? What did you just say?”

  “But she clarified a few points for me,” Doreen said. “She said she wasn’t involved, and I believe her now. It was done by your hands alone.”

  The man protested. Lynette turned to Doreen and said, “What?”

  Doreen nodded. “You wouldn’t leave your husband. Your husband was a disgrace. Manny was something that shouldn’t even be allowed to exist according to you, so Dean took them both out of the equation with that lovely black truck,” she said. “The black truck you no longer drive, right? The one without a license plate that’s in the garage?”

  He shook his head slowly, like a bull in a china shop, preparing to charge. Doreen held up her hand and said, “Stop. Don’t even bother. The cops found Manny’s body. They’re all over the forensics on it now.”

  If she’d thought Dean’d been white before, now he had almost translucent skin.

  She turned to Lynette and motioned to Dean’s face. “See? Guilt. He gets Manny to come with him by pretending to be a john, takes him out, kills him, and buries him out at Paul’s Tomb. After that, he waits a few days and hits Norbert with his truck. Norbert doesn’t survive, and everything’s all free and clear. Hell, Norbert probably was stealing from the bank to finance his escape with Manny. Did you grab the money from his car at the same time? You get to keep your assets, and, within thirty days, he’s got you locked up tight as his wife. Nobody’s the wiser.” She turned to face Dean. “What do you call it? Taking out the trash?”

  “That’s not bad,” Dean said. His voice was a deep growl, as if some rage was building inside. “That’s a pretty story. Not that it matters. Neither one of them deserved to live.”

  “I’m sure your wife agreed with you.”

  Lynette stared at her husband, then back at Doreen. Then she took a step back. “Is that right, Dean? Did you run poor Norbert down?”

  “Poor Norbert? That man wasn’t a man, he was a two-timing thief,” he snapped. “You know perfectly well you wanted him dead.”

  “He was under suspicion for stealing from the bank. He was having sex with that thing on the streets and bringing home every disease possible. Of course I was unhappy. But I didn’t want him killed.”

  “So you would have been happy if he had just died from a heart attack or some major disease?” Doreen asked.

  The woman nodded. “Exactly. I wanted it all to go away but didn’t want him killed.”

  “Too bad,” Doreen said cheerfully. “Because Dean did it for you.”

  The woman stared at Doreen and back at Dean. She shook her head. “Please tell me that you didn’t. Please. Please, tell me.” She reached up to gently cup his cheeks. “I’ve loved you for so long. Please tell me that you didn’t do this.”

  “Everything I’ve done, I did for you,” he said brokenly to Lynette. “Because you wouldn’t leave him, I had to.”

  Through the open front door, Doreen could see several vehicles pulling up, sirens blazing.

  Dean didn’t even bother glancing behind him.

  Doreen smiled. “Well, you’ll get to say it all over again many times,” she said, “because here’s your ride.”

  Dean glared at her and said, “Do you think I’ll just walk out of here?” He stiffened his back, straightened up, and said, “It’s your word against mine. The cops can go over the truck. I don’t care.”

  “Not just my word against you,” she said. “We have a lot of witnesses now. And, of course, Manny is just now telling his story too.”

  Dean grimaced at the thought and shook his head. “You don’t know anything.”

  “I know that Manny struggled,” she said. “Manny fought for his life. And, at the very end, you wouldn’t even give him the mercy of being found so his family could mourn. And then, when you came back from killing Manny, you were completely casual about the whole thing and never said a word to anybody. After that, you plotted poor Norbert’s downfall. And that was way too easy, wasn’t it?

  “Now here, ten years later, you’ve got it all. You’ve got the fancy house, the beautiful wife, the great job—you’re the king of your castle.” Doreen gave them a smile that would put anybody on edge. Except for Dean, because he was too arrogant to see it. “But you built it all on a crumbling foundation. You made it out of murder and lies.”

  Lynette gripped his hands and whispered, “Please tell me the truth.”

  He reached down gently, kissed her on the forehead, and said, “Don’t worry about it.”

  “You noticed he never said no,” Doreen said cheerfully.

  Lynette looked at Doreen, then at her husband. “Dean, I want you to tell me right now by looking in my eyes.”

  He smiled and cupped her cheek. “Why would you even listen to this woman?”

  “See?” Doreen said. “Once again, he didn’t say no.”

  Behind him, she could see Mack walking up the sidewalk. Several other men headed to the garage. She looked at Dean and said, “You can’t say it because it’s a lie, and you can’t lie to her because you love her. You killed her husband just to free her up so she could be with you.”

  Dean stared at his wife, and his shoulders sagged. He slowly whispered, “I killed him. I had to. You wouldn’t leave him. You wouldn’t leave that lousy sniveling little worm for me. I had to do something.”

  Lynette shook her head, her hand clasped over her mouth, as she cried, “No, no, please, no.”

  He reached out for her, but she took a step back.

  Doreen was just about to congratulate herself on having gotten one case closed without actually getting hurt, when Dean turned, grabbed something from the sideboard that held his keys, and swung it in Doreen’s direction. She took a glass bowl hard in her chest, crying
out as she stumbled back, falling to the floor. Thaddeus squawked and flew free. She was okay, but it knocked the wind out of her.

  She could hear Lynette screaming in the background and asking Dean to stop. But he picked up something else and lunged toward Doreen to smash it into her. As he took two steps, Mugs jumped at him. Only Dean kicked Mugs away. Mugs fell over, whining, as Goliath lunged upward, digging his claws into Dean’s lean belly. Dean roared and tried to brush Goliath off, but Mugs was back at Dean again.

  Not to be outdone, Thaddeus flew onto Dean’s distinguished hair, sending it flying everywhere. He dug his claws in and pecked away. Dean roared in anger, frustration, and pain, as the animals attacked him at all once.

  And finally, over all of it, Doreen felt warm arms wrap around her and help her to her feet.

  Mack’s voice came through the din. “Are you okay?”

  She looked up at him gratefully and nodded. “I will be.”

  “Good. You might want to call off your defenders then, please.”

  She gave a sharp whistle, and Mugs returned to her side, while Goliath shot her a look, as if to say, It was really getting good now. But still, he dropped from Dean’s midsection to the floor and sauntered toward her. Then Mack scooped up Thaddeus and plunked him on Doreen’s shoulder, while they all watched the wreckage of the man in front of them, crying. Dean was still standing, but he was torn and bleeding.

  “Looks like Doreen strikes again,” Mack said.

  Two cops behind him chuckled. “Looks like Doreen and her army strike again,” they said.

  Doreen looked over at Mack and said, “The black truck’s in the garage. You know that, right?”

  “I know it now,” he said.

  “I don’t think Lynette had anything to do with any of the killings, but she tipped me off.”

  Lynette stared at Doreen. “What are you talking about?”

  “You paid Manny money to disappear,” Doreen said. “That made no sense.”

  “How could it not make sense? She was humiliating me! My life was a mess because of her. How could it not make sense to get rid of her?”

  “Sure, but somebody did get rid of him,” Doreen corrected. “And, if it wasn’t you, then who? It had to be somebody who cared. And that led me to the man who loved you enough to kill for you. But, once he got rid of one nasty irritant in your life, he got rid of the one nasty irritant in his life.” She glanced at the animals huddled close to her side. “You see? When you love someone, you’d do almost anything to save them.”

  “But not murder,” Mack said, with a note of warning.

  Doreen laughed. “Never murder. Besides, whoever threw all that stuff into Richard’s garden, they had no idea what they started. Handcuffs in the heather, indeed.”

  “Yeah, so now what? Something starting with I?”

  “I hope not,” she said with a shudder. “The only thing that comes to mind is ice. Don’t like the sound of that. I’m a sun-loving girl. Don’t like the cold much.”

  “Then don’t think about it,” Mack said comfortably. “Maybe you’re done now. Got all this amateur sleuth stuff out of your system.”

  “If that’s the only other option,” she said, as she scowled at him, “I’ll take ice. After all, how hard could it be? The big lake freezes over here, so maybe someone else is lost in the lake.”

  Mack rolled his eyes at her. “Knowing you, you’ll compound the issue and make it an ice pick as the murder weapon.”

  She glared at him. “Knowing me …? Is that an insult?”

  He laughed. “Come on. Let’s get you home. Whatever the next case is, it’s not today’s issue.”

  Doreen let him lead her out to her car, and, instead of helping her in, he took her around to the passenger side and loaded her and the animals up, then got in on the driver’s side. She had to admit, she was a little shaky. So being driven home was a novelty she would enjoy. Besides it gave her time to consider ice picks. Not a bad idea at all …

  Epilogue

  Friday Noon …

  Three days. All Doreen had wanted was three days of peace and quiet. At least that’s what she thought she wanted. But by noon on day two, she was bored out of her mind. She sat on her small deck with a cup of coffee in her hand, but her foot kept tapping the floorboards.

  Finally she jumped up. “This is ridiculous,” she announced to Mugs, who was sprawled out in the sunshine beside her. “We have to get some work done. It’s either that or I’ll go stir-crazy.” She bounded off the deck steps, wondering where her now-full energy level had come from. Yesterday she’d been dragging her sorry butt around the kitchen and trying hard to put all the pieces in her head into place. But now, well, now she was full of energy and ready to go.

  She grabbed the shovel and headed to the garden to start on the next bed. She kept looking back at the markers that were still in her lawn to show where the expanded deck was supposed to go. She hadn’t done anything further because, of course, it would be not just her working; it would also require Mack. Was a project this size doable on a weekend or several weekends?

  Today was Friday, and normally she would be gardening at Millicent’s, but Millicent had again asked Doreen to come on a Saturday instead. After weeks of working on Mack’s mother’s yard, Millicent’s garden was looking decent. So, unless Millicent or Mack had anything extra they needed Doreen to do, it would probably just be two hours, tops, of weeding to keep the gardens in perfect shape.

  And Doreen didn’t really want to drop her income, but she also didn’t feel good about taking money for three hours if she was only putting in two.

  With her first kick onto the shovel, digging into her own backyard, she could feel that same satisfaction rolling through her. She loved working her own land. She loved working on this place. As she moved closer to the house, she looked down at Mugs to see he had not moved. “You’re just being lazy.”

  Mugs opened his eyes but didn’t budge. She looked to see Goliath sprawled on the grass behind her, his tail twitching.

  “Well, at least you’re here beside me,” she said. She bent down, lifted a clump of weeds, gave it a good shake, tossed it off to one side to create a new pile, and kept working as she headed down the right side of her property. Then she realized she had seen no recent sign of Thaddeus.

  She turned and looked around. “Thaddeus? Thaddeus, where are you?”

  There was a flutter of wings, and Thaddeus muttered, “Thaddeus is here. Thaddeus is here.”

  She spun around to see him waddling toward her from the creek. “You know you’re not supposed to go to the creek on your own,” she scolded him. “Not with it rising like it has been.”

  He just squawked and gave a full-winged feather ruffle. She laughed. “Like you care what I say.”

  Looking closely then, she caught a glint of something in front of him on the ground.

  “What did you find?” She stabbed her shovel into the dirt and headed toward him. But, instead of being cooperative, he picked up the small object and bounced backward.

  “No, no, Thaddeus, we’re not making a game out of this.”

  But Thaddeus wasn’t listening—he was too enthralled with whatever it was he’d found.

  She glared at him, knowing the more she chased him, the more he would back up or fly away.

  Goliath walked to her side, studying Thaddeus with great interest.

  “You’re not allowed to go after him,” Doreen snapped at Goliath. He just gave her a slow-eyed look, as if to say, Seriously?

  At that, Thaddeus stopped and stared at both of them.

  “Thaddeus, come here,” Doreen said, and she crouched in front of him.

  Thaddeus started to back away, and Goliath crouched down low, as if to pounce. She put a hand on top of Goliath’s back and neck and said, “We don’t do that to friends.”

  He made a weird chittering sound, and she tapped him gently on the nose. “Goliath, behave yourself.”

  Thaddeus hopped forward, as if willing to gi
ve her whatever was in his beak. It was metal and small. She didn’t understand, but it looked like a label.

  “That’s cool, Thaddeus,” she said, as she held out a hand.

  He looked at her, cocked his head to the side, and then dropped it.

  Doreen snatched it up before he could change his mind. She looked at it, noting the little indents. It was like a little nameplate or something for a tool. “I don’t have a clue what it means but thank you.”

  She popped it into her pocket, got back up, and returned to her digging.

  Only Thaddeus wasn’t happy with that. He squawked at her, “Thaddeus. Thaddeus.”

  “What’s the matter, Thaddeus?”

  He hopped away a few steps. She frowned, dug the shovel deep into the ground again, and took another few steps toward him. Immediately he hopped back toward the creek. “Oh, that’s not good,” she said. “Please tell me that you didn’t find any more bodies.”

  He just turned, gave her that gimlet eye, and kept going.

  She walked around to the end of the path, where the creek flowed but the water level was much lower. She stared at the creek water, absolutely loving the trickling sounds. She asked, “So what were you looking at?”

  Thaddeus hopped over, but he still looked like he wanted her to follow. With her heart sinking, she walked toward the little bridge as Thaddeus hopped across the wooden slats. “Thaddeus, careful, we never fixed that side.”

  He called back, “Thaddeus is fine. Thaddeus is fine.”

  She laughed, and, with Goliath’s and finally Mugs’s attention, she carefully made her way across the bridge. “We’ll have to get Mack to give us a hand with this,” she said. “I know it’s city property, but surely they wouldn’t mind if we fixed the broken boards.” As she was the one who had gone through the wood, she would at least like to stop herself from falling through a second time. On the other side of the creek Thaddeus headed toward the lake.