Citizen Insane (A Barbara Marr Murder Mystery #2) (15 page)

Grabbing several tissues from the box on the dresser behind me, I told her to drop the lo mein noodles and clean her hands. We’d worry about the food mess later. We evidently had a much bigger mess to contend with.

She wiped her hands, dabbed her eyes with some fresh tissues, and sat down on the bed to compose herself.

“I’ll be honest with you, Bunny,” I said, trying to maintain composure. “You’ve been acting . . . a little more than strange lately. Then we saw you arguing with Michelle last night and you did threaten to kill her. But now you’ve brought this gun into my house and I’m REALLY not happy about that. I have my daughters to think about. So I’m giving you two minutes to explain yourself, and then we need to figure out how to get that gun out of here. Depending what you tell me, I may call the police to do it for me.”

Despite my threat to call the police, Bunny had calmed down considerably. She nodded, then started her story. “I don’t know what got into me after the PTA meeting.” She sniffed and dabbed her eyes some more. “I was mad, but I didn’t think I was
that
mad. But when I was talking to Michelle, my whole head felt like it exploded and I had this powerful urge to just scream at her. I even wanted to punch her. I don’t know where it came from. I’ve never been a violent person ever. You know me. I’m a nice person.”

I nodded, but I don’t know why. I didn’t know her well enough to agree or disagree.

“And those awful things just spilled out. So when I got home later, I felt just terrible. Then Michelle called me and said she really needed to talk and was I still mad? I apologized and told her no I wasn’t still mad, and yes, let’s talk. She told me to meet her at Cappuccino Corner. I was almost there when she called me on my cell and said ‘they’ were following her, she was sure of it. She had gone back home and snuck out the back door headed to the little playground in the woods. Did I have a flashlight and could I meet her there?”

“Who’s ‘they’?”

“I don’t know! I had no idea what she was talking about. I was really confused, but she sounded terrified, so I just said I’d come.”

Moms knew about the little playground in the woods. Many of the paths in Rustic Woods led to the delightful park that sat nestled among the trees. It sat next to a stream so kids could swing or slide or look for tadpoles in the water. But it was so deep in the woods that it would be impossible to find at night without illumination.

“Did you have a flashlight?” I asked.

She nodded. “A tiny one I keep on my purse so I can find my keys in the dark. It didn’t help much, but I was able to make my way to the playground.” Her face scrunched all up and she started crying again. “But not in time.” She wept for a good minute before she was calm enough to continue. I was getting worried that the girls would hear her and come to see what was wrong.

“The first shot made me scream. It was just so loud. I’ve never heard anything like it, and then the other two came right after.” She shuddered.

I handed over more tissues. “How far away were you?”

“Not far. I ran about, I don’t know, one hundred feet? Two hundred?” She shook her head. “I’m not good with distances. And there she was on the ground by the slide. She wasn’t making any noise and I was sure she was dead, but I got on the ground and shook her just to see. That’s when she started moaning. I was so relieved. But it didn’t last long. I thought she was dead. I’d run out of my house so fast that I forgot my cell phone, so I got up to run and find a house to tell someone to call 911. That’s when I tripped on something. And I picked it up.” She shook her head.

“The gun?” I asked.

She nodded. “I dropped it, but then realized it had my prints on it, so I picked it up again. I ran with it to my car, terrified that someone would see me with it and think I had killed her. So I drove home and that’s when I called you.”

I was stupefied. If Bunny was telling the truth, Michelle was a living miracle. She must have regained consciousness and, practically on death’s doorstep, managed to walk out of the woods on the path that empties onto Tall Birch where I hit her while driving to Bunny’s house. I couldn’t have written a better, more exciting movie script if I’d tried. But I needed to figure out if Bunny was on the up and up. She did have the gun after all. She could have been fabricating the mysterious “they” story just to throw me off.

“Did she manage to say anything before you ran for help?”

“Yes,” Bunny answered, her face blotched from all of her crying. “She said, ‘In the Pooh Bear’.”

“Pooh Bear?” Bunny couldn’t possibly know that Michelle uttered those same words to me as well. “That’s what she said to me!” I felt ready to jump out of my skin.

Bunny looked confused. “When did she talk to you?”

“Last night. I hit her when I was driving to your house. You didn’t know?”

“No!” Her face lit up with understanding. “So that’s what happened. So she wasn’t found on the playground?”

I shook my head and stared her down. Her story made sense, and I was inclined to believe her. Of course, I’m one of these gullible saps that takes anyone at face value.

“She was still conscious after I hit her,” I explained. “All she could whisper was ‘Pooh Bear.’ I heard today that’s what her husband calls her, so I assumed she was talking about him. He’s being held by the police. They think he did this. Do you?”

She blew her nose. “I don’t know. He doesn’t seem the type. Maybe though. But I’m pretty sure I know what she meant. I think she left a clue.”

Chapter Fourteen

IT TURNED OUT THAT BUNNY had a plan: find the clue.

The plan didn’t involve calling the police first, and while I understood her position, I argued with her anyway. Tell the police where this clue was, I said. Let them figure it out from there. She wanted to find it herself then approach the police after. She thought having proof of her innocence would protect her. I wasn’t so sure we’d find proof of her evidence, but by agreeing to help her, I got both Bunny and the gun out of my house, and I liked that part.

In retrospect, agreement may not have been a sane option, but at the time, I had no idea that some very sinister wheels were already in motion. Basically, I was damned if I did, damned if I didn’t, so sane option or not, Hell was waiting for me right around the corner.

I didn’t want to leave the girls alone in the house. Howard was working (so he said) and Colt was out with friends. This left me no alternative but to call my mother and ask her to take them. I needed a good lie though. The truth just wasn’t an option. I happened to notice the stack of newspapers Bethany was collecting for donation to the Homeless Dog Rescue League. An obituary page crowned the pile. A lie was born. And a darned believable one if I do say so myself.

“Mom?” I said when she answered her phone. “Can the girls come to your place tonight?”

“Why on earth for? What’s going on? Are you and Howard fighting?”

“No, Mom. A friend’s favorite uncle just died unexpectedly. She asked me to take her to Baltimore to be with her mother. She’s too upset to drive.”

“That’s so sad. Well maybe I should drive her. Then you wouldn’t have to take the girls out. It’s a school night after all.”

“That won’t work.”

“Why?”

She would have to ask, wouldn’t she? I hadn’t thought the lie that far ahead. “Bunny’s, afraid of people,” I blurted out.

“What?”

“My friend, Bunny. She’s very shy and nervous around people she doesn’t know.”

“Well, I’m a very amicable person—”

“Thanks, Mom!” CLICK.

Bunny closed up her suitcase and I loaded the girls into the rental van. I told them the same lie and they had no reason to doubt me since Bunny’s face was still red and blotchy from crying. She sat up front, but we put the suitcase way in the back and I covered it with a pile of blankets from the house. I wanted to be as far away from that gun as possible. I don’t know why I thought the blankets would help, but then again, I don’t know why I thought following Bunny’s plan would help either.

Just before leaving the house, I called Roz, and told her that I had Bunny with me, that I wasn’t calling the police just yet, and that I’d be in touch with her as soon as I had more news. She said she thought I was crazy and I said maybe Bunny was rubbing off on me. She didn’t laugh.

It was 7:05 when we pulled away from my mother’s condo parking lot and the purple sky was darkening by the minute. I turned on my headlights. By 7:20, when we pulled in front of the Alexanders’ house, it was officially night time. A car was parked in the driveway and we saw lights on through the windows of the classic, Rustic Woods contemporary style home. We assumed someone was home. Most likely, from what we’d been told, Lance’s sister and Michelle’s kids.

“Are you ready?” I asked Bunny, who had grown jittery during the drive across town.

“Yes,” she said, tying her black rain coat a little tighter and taking a deep breath. “Ready.”

Once on the front stoop, I pushed the doorbell. I couldn’t hear if it rang or not. I always hate that, when you can’t hear the bell. You wonder, should I ring it again? Is it broken? Should I knock? Of course, you don’t want to annoy people, so you just stand there and wait, not really sure if anyone knows you’re at the door or not. It’s a precarious position to be in. Even more precarious when you intend to burglarize the home you’re hoping to enter.

A long, thin window that flanked the left side of the door enabled me to look inside and see a person coming our way. A moment later the door opened and a small, demure looking woman appeared. By her looks I would have said she was in her mid forties. Her dark, straight hair was pulled back in a pony-tail and she wore plastic frame glasses on a thin and somewhat pointy face. She didn’t say anything, just gave us a hesitant, questioning look as if that was sufficient for us to start explaining our visit.

“Hi,” I said, extending my hand for a shake. “My name is Barbara Marr. This is Bunny Bergen. We know Michelle, and we just wanted to stop by, offer our condolences to Lance and see if there was anything we could do to help. Is Lance here?”

“No, I’m sorry he’s not. I’m his sister, Julia.” Her handshake was firmer than I’d expected for how low-key she seemed. “Would you like to come in?”

That’s what we were hoping for. “Maybe just for a minute.” Once inside, she led us back a few steps to a small living room where Bunny and I sat on a couch and Julia sat in a small Queen Anne chair.

“How is she doing?” Bunny asked.

Julia sighed. “It’s touch and go, truthfully,” she said, just above a whisper. “Michelle’s parents are at the hospital right now, and her brother just took the kids out for supper. They needed some sort of distraction. Poor things.”

I wondered why she was whispering if the kids weren’t in the house. Probably just her way. It did make me worry that someone else might be around though. The fewer people the better for Bunny’s plan to be a success.

Obviously distraught, Bunny grabbed a tissue from her coat pocket. “Do you mind if I use the restroom?” she asked.

“Of course, it’s—”

Bunny was already on her feet. “I know where it is. Thank you.” She was gone in a flash.

“Are you close friends with Michelle?” asked Julia when we were alone.

“Bunny and Michelle were . . .” I jumped when Bunny slammed the bathroom door very loudly. I cringed apologetically, then continued. “They were quite close. I really only knew her as an acquaintance.” I shook my head, mortified when I realized that I had just referred to Michelle in the past tense. “I’m so sorry! I mean they ARE close and I KNOW her as an acquaintance. Positive thoughts, right? I’m sure she’ll pull through.” I was glad I didn’t slip and say I was the one who had nearly done her in myself by running her over in the dead of the night or that the gun used to shoot her was in the back of my rental van. Some things are better left unsaid.

“We’re all praying,” said Julia with as much smile as she could muster.

I was worried about what Bunny was up to down the hall, so small talk wasn’t exactly on the tip of my tongue. Awkward silence filled the air. Luckily or not so luckily, Bunny came to the rescue by wailing very loudly from the bathroom.

Julia sat up straight and furrowed her brow. “Is she okay?”

“Well, she was very upset when she heard about Michelle. And she’s been . . . out of sorts anyway. She probably just needs some time.” I was beginning to regret sending Bunny in on this job. She didn’t exactly have all of her wits about her to pull off a James Bond-like maneuver.

“I hope she doesn’t wake MoMo. He’s been very cranky lately.”

Uh oh.

“MoMo?” I asked, panic setting in.

“My son, Morgan. We call him MoMo. He’s been a grumpy Grumperson all day and finally fell asleep on Michelle and Lance’s bed.”

Holy cow. The plan was for Bunny to get the Pooh Bear from the dresser in their bedroom. If MoMo the brat had set up camp in there we were in deep doo doo. Bunny quieted down, so I pressed on, trying to keep the charade going even though I really just wanted to run out the door and call the police to come gather the clue themselves.