Molly Dox - Annie Addison 01 - Color Me Crazy (2 page)

After work, Annie walked and fed Pip before heading to Uncle Buck’s to meet Charlotte. Uncle Buck’s tavern sat in the center of town. It had gone through
several transformations over the years, and pictures of the changes covered a hallway wall that led to the ladies room. Otherwise the walls were dotted with beach-vibe items like a fisherman’s net, starfish, shells, and framed photos of sunsets and boats. Her favorite part of the tavern was the booths in the main area that had high backs and gave you the illusion of privacy, even though you could still hear the people in the booth behind you.

Annie was more than hungry and ready for something good. Charlotte waved her over to
the table she was seated at. Annie slid into the booth, and without hesitation, the girls broke into chatter and gossip.

Annie looked up as Patsy walk
ed into the bar and settled on a barstool. Her son worked as the bartender, so she came to have a nightcap before turning in each evening. She might have complained about her son, but stopping in to see him was as much of a ritual as was her evening nightcap. 

Annie went back to her conversation with Charlotte
, and put her order in with their waitress. It all happened so fast, a sudden, loud bang of a body hitting the floor. Everybody turned, the entire restaurant patronage was stunned into silence. The old woman had slumped off her barstool and fell to the ground.

“Call 9-1-1”, Patsy’s son called out. “Mom! Mom! Are you okay?” Greg ran around the bar to get to his mother. Everybody stared.

Charlotte gasped. “Just like that.” Her own mortality started to play in her head. Sixty didn’t feel quite so young anymore.

Annie could only stare. The woman had just been in her shop earlier that day. Just like that, she was gone.

“She’s not breathing, somebody help!” Greg called out in a panic.

“An ambulance is on the way,” the manager yelled across the room.

All anybody could do was wait. Nobody jumped up to give her CPR. There were no doctors in the house, and the few patrons that were dining were all too stunned to move.

The medics arrived a few minutes later and loaded her onto a gurney. It didn’t look good. They couldn’t make the official call, but anybody watching could clearly see she was dead. Gone. Out of there.

Annie couldn’t help but stare. It all happened so fast. And yet, the woman was in her eighties. It’s not like she wasn’t going to go eventually, but still. Greg stayed with his mother as they wheeled the gurney from the building. The sirens wailed in the night air as the ambulance made its way to the hospital just over the causeway. Annie knew too much time had passed.

It took a while for people to start talking about
what happened, and then it was in hushed whispers. Shock hung like a dark cloud over the tavern.

“I can’t believe she’s gone,” Charlotte mumbled.

“We don’t know that yet,” Annie tried to encourage. “Maybe they’ll bring her back, modern technology and all, CPR, oxygen, defibrillators.”

“Honey, if that woman is coming back, it’s going to take a miracle. She’s done gone and checked out.” Neither woman said anything after that. It was as if a moment of silence seemed the respectful thing to do.

“She’s better off dead.” A drunken customer stood and made his way out the door with a parting shot. “That was one miserable lady. We’ll all be better off for it.”

The entire restaurant patronage was stunned on hearing the man’s words. Nobody knew what to say or do.

Annie thought about Pip. “Charlotte, if something happened to me, would you take care of Pip?”

“Of course, and you’d take Kit
Kat?” Kit Kat was her feline companion, and the most spoiled cat on all of the east coast.

“Of course,” Annie answered.

“Though, let’s be honest, I’m going to go before you are. I’ve got a head start, and according to my kids, one foot in the grave, don’t you know.” She tsk-tsked and shook her head.

“Greg must be broken up, having seen it and all
,” Annie said. She couldn’t imagine seeing her own parents dying right in front of her. It must have been horrible for him. It was horrible for her to see, and she only knew her as a client. Even seeing a stranger collapse like that would be horrible.

The women finished their meal, not sure what else to say. Each was lost in her own thoughts. Finishing up, they said their goodbyes and headed home.

Annie drove down the main drag, grateful that the traffic lights were back to their blinking pattern. Once the season was over, they turned off the traffic lights. There’s just not enough traffic to need them off-season. The change was hugely noticeable. With the lights on it could take a full forty-five minutes to get from one side of the island to the other, with them off, she could cover that same distance in half the time. The island itself was attached to the mainland via a causeway bridge that spanned over the bay side of the island. At its narrowest the island was all of two blocks wide, and at its widest six.

September was Annie’s favorite month. There were still a lot of
shops open, the weather was amazing, but most of the summer crowd had left. Once October rolled around and the big lobster bisque challenge in the park finished up, most shops closed up until warmer weather and the crowds came back.

Annie drove to Barnacle Heights,
the northern end of the island near the lighthouse. Her shop was in the busier center section of the island, in Sandy Beach Township. The northern and southern tips were quieter. Holden capped off the southern end. From the beach, you could see the lights of Action City at night. It was a happening spot where a plethora of casinos rose up with mirrored glass, fancy restaurants, and rows and rows of slot machines that were used by seniors who were bussed in from every direction, hoping to win big.

Pulling into the pebbled driveway of her small cape cod, the headlights of her car alerted Pip that she was home. She could hear her barking start as soon as she stepped out. Solitude was nice time to time, but having Pip meant she was never alone. And dating was out of the question for now
; she still wasn’t sure she could trust a man again. Not that she didn’t look time to time, but no thank you, she wanted no part of a relationship again. 

Pip greeted her, bouncing up and down like she had a spring beneath her. Annie reached down to rub behind her ears. “Just give me a second girl
.” She tossed her bag on a table and kicked her shoes off. “Okay,” she teased with enthusiasm, as Pip jumped onto her lap. She gave her pup a few quick belly rubs and then put her out to do her business.

Lost in thought, Annie replayed the night at Uncle Buck’s
in her mind. Running her fingers through her hair, she sighed deeply. Life could be taken away so fast. She made a mental note to call her mother the following day. Or maybe the one after. Yeah, she was pretty sure she was fine. She’d talk to her next week.

Annie pulled a sweatshirt over her head and tugged on a pair of shorts. Leashing up Pip, the two of them went for a morning walk on the beach. Singlehandedly, this was the best part about living on the island. Having close access to the beach and ocean, falling asleep to the sounds of the waves crashing, and the quieter months of the season when only the locals remained. September was hit or miss with the weather. Some days were ideal, but the nights grew cooler.

The little home she rented was four houses from the beach, and within a minute her feet were in the soft, white sand. Climbing up over the dune, she headed toward the ocean’s edge where the sand was packed down harder after getting wet. It made walking much easier. Pip loved to dig in the sand and play
at the edge of the water, chasing it as the ocean pulled back only to come closer, chasing Pip in the other direction.

Annie’s mind was still full. The events from the night before still hadn’t left her. She thought about everything she hadn’t done yet, and reminisced on past events, her divorce, and how she ended up where she did. Would she have done anything differently if her time was up today?

Patsy had lived a full life at eighty years old, but what if she still had things left she wanted to do? Annie wondered if she’d stop dreaming after a certain point in her life, or stop making goals.

She was certain she had Charlotte to thank for her sanity. When their friendship formed, she’d just gotten out of her marriage and depression had hit her hard. Time seemed to go by quickly.
Within a couple of years, they’d already gotten so close.

Annie sat down in the softer, dry sand after walking with Pip for a bit.
As she stared out at the ocean, she watched the cascading waves come and go, and got lost in the therapeutic effect of the water. The white noise of the waves and the consistent pattern lulled her into a comfortable numbness. An occasional person wandered by, and hobby fisherman dotted in the distance, hoping to snag a fresh meal for dinner.

After
far too much time, she got up and stretched. It was time to clean-up and head to work shortly. Another day, and life goes on. At least for her it did. Patsy didn’t get so lucky.

Annie stopped at the little convenience store on the way into work. Hot, fresh coffee was exactly what she needed to start her day. It always tasted better when somebody else made it.  Pouring her coffee into the foam cup, the aroma filled her nostrils. She couldn’t help but overhear two police officers talking about the night before. She tried to focus her hearing, to pick up on what they were saying. She couldn’t very well pry
blatantly.

“So, it’s looking like we’ve got a homicide on our hands,” the first officer started. Frisco, otherwise known as Reggie Frisco, but most people called him by his last name, was talking to his partner
, Nick Rossi. Frisco was a good old boy, the kind of guy who’d spent his entire life on the island. He was a big boy with a big belly to match. Nick, on the other hand, was the kind of guy Annie had a hard time looking away from. Not that she was interested in guys at this point of her life, but if she was Nick would be right up her alley.

Nick Rossi, stoo
d tall and proud, with a slick of dark hair that was cropped short. He also sported a golden tan that said he spent plenty of time outdoors. His deep brown eyes and solid broad shoulders left her breathless. It was a silly crush. He was a sight for sore eyes.

“Autopsy says poison. I guess we’d better start a list of suspects. Did they get the son’s statement yet? He was pretty broken up. We’ll need to ask him for a list of people that could have possibly wanted to harm her.” Nick shook his head. “Who’d figure
, eighty years old? Good thing there was an autopsy done, otherwise it would have been written off as heart failure.”

Annie inched a tiny bit closer. Poison? Homicide? She had to fill Charlotte in on the news. It would make good conversation, trying to piece together who took the woman
down.

“Chief Wylie is looking into insurance stuff. Sure would be nice if this was a quick and easy solve,” Frisco said, adding more sugar to his coffee.

“Come on, aren’t you excited to dig into the investigation? Not much happens around here other than routine traffic stops, drunken brawls, and domestics.” Nick wanted the chance for an adrenaline rush and a puzzle to solve.

“Eh, I like the easy life. That’s why I work here.” Frisco
, on the other hand, wanted to sit in his car and listen to the latest ball game. The quieter the workday, the better in his eyes.

“Come on,” Nick said, heading to the register. He tossed a couple of bills on the counter and headed to his car. Frisco followed suit.

Poison. Wow. She was murdered. This changed everything. At eighty, everyone just assumed her time was up, but it turns out she predicted her own death. The day prior she’d commented that somebody would take her out. Annie just thought she was being paranoid. Was there a reason? Her mind ticked while her hand dug into her purse to pull out a few bills to pay for the coffee and the snack she grabbed off the cooler shelf.  She begrudgingly chose two hard boiled eggs and celery sticks. What she wanted was a box of soft chocolate chip cookies, but she was determined to stick to her lifestyle changes until she couldn’t stand life without cookies anymore.

Getting to the shop, she was still noodling on the news of the day. Patsy had been murdered. It was hard to think about work when all her brain wanted to do was play amateur sleuth. Pulling out a piece of paper, she jotted down a list of people that she knew at the bar, all the people Patsy had talked about that she could remember, and put a big question mark at the top.

If insurance was involved, the obvious person might have been her son, but that didn’t seem likely. They appeared to have a good relationship, even if Patsy did complain about him, she still went to visit him at work every night to sit and talk. He was her world. Annie didn’t know about her past or Greg’s father. She’d never asked. Maybe it was time to see if there was an ex-husband in the picture. Annie was more than annoyed with her own ex-husband enough times to at least play with the idea of incapacitating him a little bit, not that she’d actually follow through.

When Trish came into work, Annie whispered
as if others might overhear. “Did you hear about Patsy? She died last night, and now they think it was murder.”

Trish gasped. “Our Patsy? Oh dear. Do they know who did it? What happened?”

“She dropped at Uncle Buck’s last night. Charlotte and I were there at the time, we saw it happen.” Annie continued to fill in what little detail she knew.

“Wow, that’s scary. Are they sure it wasn’t just a heart attack or something? She was up there in age.” Trish’s voice trembled with curiosity.

“No, I don’t think so. I shouldn’t say anything, but I overheard the cops talking while getting coffee. They think somebody poisoned her.” Annie was still whispering.

“Huh. I wonder who wanted old Patsy gone?” Trish turned to put her lunch in the small refrigerator in the back room.

The door jangled as Mrs. Bushmiller walked in. “Did you hear? Patsy died.”

“Yeah, I heard.” Annie didn’t say anything else.

“News travels fast on this little island,” she said, miffed that she wasn’t the one to get to share the news first. She loved having the best details and gossip. “Well, anyway, I’ve got to run, I just wanted to say good morning and share the news.”

“Have a good day,” Annie said, catching Trish out of the corner of her eye as she came back
into the room. “Trish? Are you okay? Something seems off.” Trish’s arms were tightly crossed over her belly.

“If I tell you something, you have to promise not to tell anyone. I mean it. I just need to say it out loud.” She
dreaded admitting it, but she just had to get it off her chest.

“Go on,” Annie said, wondering what had gotten into her co-worker.

“I’ve been sleeping with Greg,” she said, almost too quiet to hear. “Rich has been slacking in the boyfriend department, and I’ve been secretly seeing Greg on the side. What if they think I’m involved somehow, because she was his mother?” Her hands started shaking, and she pulled them tighter to her body as her color drained from her face, leaving her ashen pale.

“You and Greg, the bartender? Huh, I didn’t realize
,” Annie said, taking in the new bit of information. “Well, you had no reason to want her dead, right? I can’t see how they’d implicate you. You have no motive.” Greg was older than Trish by a few good years, but it’s not like there were a ton of men to pick from that lived there year round.

“Other than her being a lousy tipper, she wasn’t half bad,” Trish reasoned.

“Do you think, Greg…?” She almost hated to ask.

“Oh, heavens no. Those two were really close. I can’t imagine him doing it,” Trish said.

“Did his mom know about the two of you?” This was good stuff. Annie couldn’t help but nose around a little bit.

“No! She wouldn’t have approved anyway. You know how she is. I just, well, Rich has left me feeling unwanted lately, and Greg and I got to flirting one night. One thing led to another, and next thing you know we’re meeting up secretly
, having a little rendezvous. There just didn’t seem to be a reason to stop.” Trish sighed, realizing what a mess she’d gotten into.

Annie nodded. “Right.” Her brain was working overtime. She wasn’t sure if Trish was capable of murdering someone. She didn’t think so, but what did she really know about the girl other than what she saw at work? It felt odd to even think about her that way. Before this moment, she
had never even considered a situation like this, but now it was like a big puzzle to solve. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t her puzzle to solve, but she could at least think about it on her own. It wouldn’t hurt anything for her to poke around a bit.

“I don’t feel so well,” Trish said
, before turning and running for the bathroom.

Annie watched the woman scramble for the bathroom door. It was like she was seeing Trish with a new set of eyes. She made a mental note to see if she acted weird through
out the day.

When Trish returned, she sighed. “I don’t know what got into me. How’s the book looking today?”

“Pretty sparse,” Annie answered. “You have your three clients, I have four, and we should be able to close early; I’d say by four-thirty.” She’d need more than that to afford her rent through the rest of the season. Hopefully things would pick up as parties and holidays came around.

“Sounds good. Ugh, I must have eaten something bad.” She spun around and ran back for the bathroom.

“I hope you’re not pregnant,” Annie teased, calling out behind her.

Trish turned and glared at Annie. “Don’t even joke. I wouldn’t know who the father is.”