Calamity @ the Carwash (Parson's Cove Mysteries) (7 page)

“And nosey Esther Flynn followed you?”

“Yes. I wish it would’ve been anyone
else but her. She went all hysterical which didn’t help because I was already
hysterical.”

“Can you remember what you said to her,
Melanie? Did you give her any reason to think that it might’ve been your
fault?”

At this, she started to cry. In between
her sobs, she said, “I thought I’d killed him, Mabel. There was blood on his
head and I didn’t remember seeing it when I hit him before but there was no one
else.”

“In other words, you told Esther that
you’d killed your husband?”

She looked at me with wide empty eyes.
“I did.”

“And, Esther went to Sheriff Smee?”

She nodded.

“Did he believe Esther?”

“At first, I don’t think he did. He
brought me in for questioning but was sure that it had been an accident or
something. Then, Prunella came in and told him how she’d seen us arguing. I
think Esther told her that she had to. Reg still didn’t think I could be guilty
because I told him that I just picked up a rock and threw it at Bernie. I was
sure it was a rock. Not even a very big one. That stone couldn’t have killed
anyone, Mabel.”

“Who discovered the brick?”

She sniffed and blew her nose. “One of
the boys found it in the bush. Jim, I think.”

I’d been so engrossed in Melanie’s
testimony that I momentarily forgot where I was. Suddenly, from the front room,
I could hear Reg’s booming voice.

“Melanie,” I said. “I have to get out of
here fast. If I manage to escape, don’t tell Reg I was here, okay?”

“I won’t.”

“I’m going to find out who really killed
Bernie. Don’t give up now.”

I walked to the door and peeked out. It
looked like reception area was empty but I didn’t dare try to escape out the
front door. My only hope was the back. Before I could reach it, however, I
heard Reg coming my way, yelling, “And I don’t want either one of you sitting
in my chair, got that?”

I quickly jumped across the hallway,
popped into the washroom and shut the door. The light was off and I couldn’t
see a thing so I moved along the wall. If Reg opened the door, I would be
behind it. If any of them came in to use the facilities, I would be as dead as
Bernie was.

A moment later, there was another
bellow.

“Which one of you boys left this door
open and unlocked? How many times do I have to tell you that this is a jail
cell and it must be kept locked when we have someone in it who has actually
committed a crime? Well, which one of you left it open?”

There was silence and then Scully said,
“It was locked.”

I heard Reg walk into the room and say,
“Melanie, are you all right?” Whatever she said, I didn’t hear but obviously
she didn’t mention my name because next he asked, “Did you happen to have any
visitors while I was away? Someone who came in and left without closing the
door?”

My heart was pounding in my ears so hard
I thought my head would explode.

Melanie must be an excellent liar
because the next thing I heard was Reg telling Scully to run over to the Main
Street Café and bring some lunch for the prisoner.

“I’m going to leave the door open for
you, Melanie, so you can get some air in that cell. If you need anything, you
just give a shout. I’m going to be in the office doing some paper work.”

So much for making sure everyone kept
the door locked in case the murderer might escape.

All three left for the front of the
building. I gave Melanie the thumbs up before I snuck out the back door.

Chapter
Eleven

Flori came into the store the next
morning with a loud announcement. I had planned to spend my lunch hour at the
crime scene but I didn’t dare tell her that. When she insisted on bringing some
of her homemade soup over, what could I say? She would know something was wrong
if I rejected her offer.

“And, not only that, Mabel,” she said.
“I booked a place for us on the seniors’ bus for Friday.”

“You what?”

“I booked a place for us on the seniors’
bus for Friday.”

“I know what you said; I just don’t know
why you did it.”

Right away, I could see that I’d hurt
her feelings.

“But, Mabel, weren’t you the one who
suggested it? You were the one who said it wasn’t fair. You can’t back out now.
Dottie is so excited that you’re coming.”

“You talked to Dottie about it?”

Flori’s eyes started welling up. “I
thought you would be happy, Mabel. I’m sure we discussed it. Remember, you were
so upset because they dump everyone in that park and don’t let them go
shopping? Remember?”

I walked over and patted Flori on the
shoulder. “Of course, I remember. It is upsetting. I didn’t realize you were
all that concerned too.”

“How can you say that, Mabel? You know I
love those old people as much as you do. I talked to Jake about it and he
called the Retirement Home. They’re so happy about us going with them. They
have a new manager there. Sam Kinney. Jake asked him if we could accompany them
every week and he said he’d consider it. I think we could do it, don’t you? I’m
sure Delores would love to come and watch the shop for you. Or, better yet, you
could put a sign in the window to let everyone know you would be closed Fridays
so you could help out the seniors. The townspeople would be so impressed. I’m
sure your business would improve. What do you think, Mabel?”

“First of all, Flori, I would
never
consider going on that bus every week. Secondly, I would not even for one
second consider putting a sign up saying that I was helping out old people and
thirdly, Flori, you know very well I couldn’t care less what the so-called
townspeople think.”

Tears were forming quickly in Flori’s
eyes.

“However, Flori, I will agree to go this
Friday with you.”

“Oh thank you. I knew you would.” She
proceeded to get up off the chair and crush me almost to death. When she
reached the door, she turned and said, “And I’ve booked us for the next Friday
as well.” With that, she opened the door and disappeared from sight.

I’d been had.

There was one positive side to Flori’s
rushing out the door before I could throw something at her (which I would never
do) – I could now visit the crime scene and not have to worry about any
interference.

At five minutes before twelve, I locked
the front door, hung up my closed sign and left out the back door. The back
lane looked clear all the way to the carwash. I would have to get across one
intersection, however, and that could be tricky. It was a slow day in Parson’s
Cove so there was a good chance I could get across without anybody spotting me.

Charlie Thompson’s little house is not
far from the carwash. After Charlie’s place, there’s a narrow empty lot and
then Murray McFerguson’s house. Murray must have about an acre because there
are no more houses after his place. The McFerguson’s stick to themselves but
you do see Murray walking around town with his dog quite often. This reminded
me that someone had also murdered Biscuit. Could the old hound have attacked
whoever was in the process of murdering Bernie and got clobbered himself?
Melanie never even mentioned the dog. I wished she’d never made that stupid
confession.

When I reached the intersection, there
was one car puttering down the street. I say puttering because it was Adolf
Klassen. He’s almost blind and as deaf as a rock but since he only drives from
his house to the post office, no one complains. In fact, if Reg took his
license away, probably half the town would be outraged. I say he’ll keep
driving until he runs over someone or something and then everyone will blame
Reg. Once in awhile I do feel sorry for the sheriff.

Since Klassen is blind and I could walk
faster than he could drive, I crossed the street. When I reached the other
side, I heard him yell, “Watch where you’re walking, mister. I almost ran over
you.”

I pretended I didn’t hear and hurried
down the lane to the carwash.

Sheriff Smee and his deputies had left a
few signs to say that they’d been there. There were strips of yellow tape still
clinging to some trees and there was a Styrofoam coffee cup sitting on a rock.

I stood back and surveyed the scene. The
sand by the beach looked like a dozen people had trampled on it. You’d have to
be an old Indian scout to read footprints in the sand anyway. I really had no
idea what I was looking for. I guess anything to prove Melanie did not kill her
husband. Anything to give reasonable doubt. Even that would please me.

Stupid Esther Flynn. Why didn’t she stop
to reason with Melanie before jumping to conclusions? Why did she make Prunella
go to the police? If Melanie had to spend the rest of her days in prison, it
would be stupid Esther Flynn’s fault and I would go to any length to make her
life as miserable as I could. I made that vow as I stood looking at the spot
where Bernie Bernstein was murdered.

It only took a few seconds to make it so
when I finished I decided to walk up to the carwash bay where Melanie had sat
for two hours, waiting to see if her husband would return. Did Reg check to see
if anyone else was getting their car washed at the same time? Maybe a witness
saw someone else walking on the beach. Someone who could easily have come up
after Melanie threw her little rock and that person could’ve hit him with the
brick and killed him. I stood in the bay for a few minutes. It wasn’t a
drive-through bay because on the other side of the carwash, several feet away,
was the lake. You drove in, washed your car and backed out. This is Parson’s
Cove so nothing is fancy like in the city. The water was pumped up from the
lake and I’m sure the dirty water went right back in, although it wasn’t
supposed to - not with all those shampoos and phosphates. There were so many
town meetings regarding pollution and contaminates before the carwash went in
that I stopped going. They were going to do what they were going to do anyway.

I stood there thinking of Melanie
sitting there for all that time with her husband lying dead not more than
thirty or forty feet away. I went out the small door facing the water and
walked down to the beach. There was no blood. There was nothing but the
relaxing sound of water gently lapping up against the shore. I looked down the
beach towards Charlie’s house. Did he know something? One thing was certain -
he would never go to the police. If he told anyone anything, it would be to me.
He said there was some kind of mystery. Did it have anything to do with the
murder?

I walked along the shore towards his
place and McFerguson’s. No one ever comes down to this part of the lake. The
beach area is very narrow and you’d have to walk through private yards to get
here. For sure no one would trespass through Charlie’s yard. Not that he would
harm anyone, he would probably sit and stare and that would make people very
uncomfortable. As I walked, I watched the ground for any clues I could find.
The Sheriff already had the murder weapon. I still can’t understand Melanie not
knowing if she picked up a stone or a brick. The murderer wasn’t too bright if
he left the murder weapon close by for someone to find. Not a professional hit
man, in my opinion.

There was a high fence bordering
Charlie’s place. I remember when some of the men in town built that. Their
wives were afraid Charlie might wander into the lake and drown. Like, he didn’t
have enough sense to walk around the fence and drown. As I said before,
sometimes Charlie has more brainpower than most of them.

I stopped behind the McFerguson’s house.
There was a row of large old poplar trees bordering their lot. The house was
quite a ways back. There was no movement at all. Poor Murray. Imagine having
your dog killed by the same person who murdered your friend. I couldn’t even
grasp how I would feel if someone murdered Flori and then one of my cats.

A well-worn path went from their yard
down to the beach. They had a boathouse sitting several feet out into the water
and a boardwalk going out to it. There was an old aluminum fishing boat tied to
a post and it bobbed up and down with each wave. I don’t know how many times I
saw Murray out in that boat with his dog hanging over the side, his head almost
touching the water. That dog looked so sad but Murray insisted that he was the
happiest dog in the world.

I hadn’t learned anything visiting the
crime scene but it did give me a better perspective. If it hadn’t been so infernally
hot out that day and Melanie hadn’t had the a/c on, she probably would’ve heard
Bernie fighting with someone. If she and Bernie hadn’t been arguing, she
would’ve gone to look for him after a few minutes. Perhaps, she would’ve made
the change for the carwash herself.

I wondered if she was claiming guilt
simply because she was feeling guilty about so many other things.

Chapter
Twelve

Friday morning loomed before me. There
was a dread in my heart as I looked out my bedroom window and saw the dull cloudy
sky and the distant sound of thunder. After so many hot days, we knew this was
coming but I was sincerely hoping it wouldn’t come when I was with a busload of
elderly people.