LLOYD, PAUL R. (4 page)

Micah sniffed the steam rising from
a stack of muffins. An oversized muffin, oozing blueberries, sat on top of the
heap.

Micah reached into the basket.

Denise smacked his hand. “First, a
gentleman offers a lady coffee when she visits.” She placed her hand on Micah’s
Delonghi coffeemaker. “This is nice. Does it make good coffee?”

Micah rubbed the back of his sore
hand. “It will when I remember which box has the Jamaican Blue Mountain. Right
now it’s pouring the best decaf this side of Bob’s Coffee Emporium. Let me find
you a cup.” Micah opened a cabinet door to discover it held plates and saucers,
but no cups. He opened another cabinet, but it held a few plastic storage
containers.

Denise turned to the cabinet behind
her, the one above the refrigerator. She pulled a chair over, stood on it and
opened the cabinet door. She grabbed a mug, turned around and jumped to the
floor as her miniskirt billowed in the breeze. “I wouldn’t keep the coffee mugs
in that one. It’s too hard to reach. I like your mugs by the way.”

“I must have put them away before
heading to the coffee shop for the real thing. A guy in Phoenix makes the mugs
by hand so I bought a bunch. Would you like cream and sugar?”

“You have real cream?”

“Of course.” Micah pulled a
container from the refrigerator.

“And a touch of sugar.”

“Do you mind sharing my spoon? I’d
hate to have to figure out where the rest of them are until I finish unpacking.”

“If I have no other choice.” Denise
stared at the spoon for a few seconds. “Is this real silver?”

“Guess so. I inherited it.”

Denise shrugged her shoulders and
picked the extra large muffin out of her basket. “I made this one especially
for you.”

“Thanks. Aren’t the rest of them
for me, too?”

“Of course, but that one has an
extra portion of my special blueberries with an added dollop of goodness. By
the way, you didn’t tell me why you put cream and sugar in your coffee if you
prefer it black.”

Micah took the muffin and held it
in his hand. “Still warm from the oven. My father drank his coffee with cream
and sugar so I honor him with one cup his way. It keeps me going during the
rough times. I can feel his presence when I do it, and it makes me smile.”

“Not everyone loves their father.”

“I did. He’s gone now.” Micah
lifted the muffin to his mouth.

“Oh, I’m sorry. You must miss him
terribly.”

Micah pulled the muffin away from
his mouth. “I do. He stood by me when no one else would.” Micah took a bite.
“Hmmm, you’re right. This muffin is special.”

“Not even your mother?”

“She died a long time ago. It was
me and Dad growing up.” Micah turned at the sound of loud knocking on his front
door. He set the rest of the muffin on the counter by his cup of coffee.

Denise stirred her coffee. “You better
answer it.”

When Micah passed the staircase, he
caught a glimpse of the pioneer woman climbing the steps.

At the front door, a man in a grey
business suit held up a badge. “Detective Lawson, Naperville police.”

Micah stared at the officer. “I
remember you.”

“You do? I wore a uniform then.”

“I remember every cop on the
Naperville police force.”

“Most of the guys you knew retired.
May I come in?”

“What’s this about?”

“I need to ask some questions.”

“Do you have a warrant?”

“We could do this back at the
station, Mr. Probert. I can get a warrant, but for now I prefer a friendly chat
to see if you can clear up a few things for us. Afterwards, I won’t have to
bother you again.”

“Is this about the body I found?”
Micah’s eyes followed a blur of red movement in the sky. “Can you see that?”

Detective Lawson turned around.
“See what?”

“Nevermind. He’s gone now.”

Lawson gestured, palms up. “Who’s gone?”

“If you didn’t see it, you won’t
believe it. Trust me, he left the area.”

Lawson rubbed his chin. “If you see
things I don’t see, one of us has a problem.”

“You would have seen it if you looked
that way. He’s out of sight now.”

“Who are we talking about?” Lawson
stepped closer to Micah.

“Not sure. Some guy flying across
the sky.”

“In a small airplane?”

“Something like that. A big kite or
glider. Or he sprouted wings and flew. You never answered my question.”

“It’s not about the body you
found.”

“Then come in.” Micah turned back
into the house leaving the officer outside. Lawson opened the storm door and
followed Micah into the kitchen.

“Planning to move, Mr Probert?”

“I registered as an offender so I’m
sure you know I’m still moving in.”

Denise Appleby furrowed her eyebrows
as she stared at Micah.

“I didn’t realize you had company,
Mr. Probert. Can she come back later?” Lawson reached into his blue suit jacket
and snagged a small paper tablet.

“I want her to stay if you don’t
mind, detective.”

“As you wish.” Lawson removed a cheap
ballpoint from his shirt pocket. It was the kind of writing instrument sweaty
sales people give away at tradeshows.

“What about what I wish?” Denise
poured more coffee into her cup, fixed her eyes on the police detective and
smiled. She placed her cup down on the counter and climbed up on the chair in
front of the refrigerator. Micah admired her lower appendages below her short
skirt as she pulled down a cup and jumped to the floor.

“Milk and sugar, detective?” Micah
picked up the spoon and gave it a quick wipe with a towel.

“Black is fine. Mr. Probert, I’ll
come to the point. Can you account for your whereabouts yesterday afternoon?”

“I unpacked some stuff and did some
paint-up, fix-up work.”

“Were you here say between three
and six? By the way, those muffins appear enticing.”

Denise jumped in front of the
muffins. “You may not have any.”

The detective pulled his arm back.
“I didn’t ask for one. I said they appeared tasty.”

Denise checked out the detective
with a nervous grin.

“She made them for me, detective. I
would offer you one, but you might turn into a frog, and we wouldn’t want that
to happen.” Micah smiled.

Denise smacked Micah on the arm and
then folded her arms across her chest. She stared at Lawson.

The police officer took a step
back. “I’ll repeat the question. Would you mind telling me where you were
yesterday afternoon between three and six?”

“I was here.” Micah took another
bite of muffin.

“Can you prove it?”

“Can you prove I wasn’t? By the
way, these are tasty. Sure you don’t want one.” Micah picked up the basket of
muffins.

Denise unfolded her arms and grabbed
the basket. She placed it on the counter behind her. “I saw him here working
yesterday afternoon.”

Micah glanced at Denise. “You did?”

“Yeah. I peeked in through your
window as you worked sans shirt. You’re fun to stare at. I also noticed your
car never left the driveway.” She turned to the detective, batting her eyes. “I
did gawp at him. I was a regular Peeping Tom or Tammy. Will you arrest me?”

Detective Lawson shook his head. “Not
at the moment. I didn’t come to accuse anyone of anything. I want to eliminate
a few names.”

“You mean suspects, don’t you?”
Micah asked.

The detective put his coffee down. “If
you prefer, but it’s a bit early to call anyone a suspect. The pervert killed her
yesterday afternoon.”

“And she’s not the one I found the
other day?” Micah asked.

“No, this is a different case.”

“May I inquire as to what
happened?” Denise asked.

“You’ll read about it in the paper
or hear about it on the news.” Lawson put his pen back inside his shirt pocket.

Denise frowned. “But, detective,
you’re here now. You can’t tease us with a juicy murder mystery and then leave.
What happened? Who was killed?”

“Thanks for your time. Both of
you.” The detective smiled before making his way out of the house.

“So you checked me out while I was
painting?” Micah’s smile grew wide.

“I did?”

“I know.”

“No, it was a question. You think I
peeked at you?”

“It’s what you told the detective.”

“So.”

“Maybe we should have given him a
muffin.”

Denise twirled a finger through her
ponytail. “He’s not good looking enough, maybe a tad too old, and probably way
too married for my muffins.”

“I’m none of those things, but I am
a suspect. Sure you want to feed this muffin to me?”

“You haven’t been here long enough
to murder anyone. If you had come to Naperville to kill a few people, you
wouldn’t have bought a house.” Denise picked up the big muffin Micah had taken
a bite out of earlier. “Here, it’ll feed your heart, your head and your tummy.”

“And it’s tasty.” Micah stuffed another
bite into his mouth.

Denise’s eyes glowed while Micah ate
more of her muffin. “Uhmm, you did buy the house, right?”

“Yes. So you didn’t leer at me?”
Micah swallowed more of the muffin.

“You want me to ogle you?”

“If I get to peep back at you.”

Denise slapped his face.

After many years of entertaining
young ladies in need of a little assistance with their grades, the thought of
something new to explore about himself tickled Dr. Lionel Langdon, principal of
Ulysses S. Grant High School (“Your principal is your pal”). Taking advantage
of senior class girls (always after their eighteenth birthday, mind you) had
become boring in recent years. So much so, that he considered abandoning the
practice and simply allowing the girls to flunk math or whatever subject slowed
them down.

He hadn’t planned it. Really, it
was quite an accident. But such thoughts must wait for a more private moment.
For now, he busied himself with the business of gathering leaves and sticks to provide
a temporary covering for the grave evidence of his new-found avocation.

Not until he
was satisfied that Megan McCormick was safely tucked away in her temporary
sarcophagus of leaves and weeds did he dismiss himself. He planned to return later
that evening with a shovel for the burial. Next time, he must prepare better
for the unexpected turning of events. Of course, next time, the event would be
well-conceived with the shovel in the trunk of his car, ready and waiting.

***

“Do you think he killed her here or
just dumped the body?” Denise Appleby touched Micah’s arm while batting her blue
eyes.

Micah kicked a small granite stone
on the dirt path that ran through a meadow located in the forest preserve in
Warrenville. The couple faced the east side of the narrow muddy track where yellow
police tape outlined an area twenty-five feet on a side.

“The TV news guy said it happened here.”
Micah pulled Denise close to him.

Denise gazed into Micah’s brown
eyes and pointed at the police tape. “A smart criminal would have buried her to
hide the evidence.”

Micah waved an arm at the crime
scene. It smelled of innocent forest preserve greenery. “Her killer left her for
a Forest Preserve policeman to discover on his rounds.

Denise stepped over the police
tape. “Sounds like a rape gone bad. If he had planned to kill her, he would
have brought a shovel to bury her with.”

Micah grabbed her arm to pull her
back. Robins whistled in the trees.

Denise swung her arm free and
giggled as she stepped out of Micah’s reach. “He didn’t cut her. There’s no
blood.”

“Probably choked her. Hard to tell
with the body hauled in for the autopsy. If he stabbed her somewhere else,
there wouldn’t be much in the way of blood here.”

Denise shuttered and returned to
Micah. She leaned close to him across the tape. “Poor girl. She was just a kid.
Such a waste.”

“High school senior according to
the news reports.” Micah put his arms around Denise and rubbed her back.

“The police may not have any
clues.”

“They have clues. Criminals are
amazingly stupid. They leave a little something behind. A footprint. A
fingerprint. Telltale body fluids.”

Denise pulled back from Micah. “Yech!
Let’s not talk about it, okay?”
            “Sounds good to me.” Micah took her hand and urged her back across
the police tape. His eyes wandered along the open ground. “Isn’t that Fritz?”

“Where?”

“Look through those oaks to that
weedy area.” Micah pointed towards some underbrush.

Denise took a step away from Micah
and placed her hands on her hips. “Fritz! Here, Fritz. Kitty, kitty, kitty.”

Fritz ran to his mistress.

Denise knelt to receive her cat.
She lifted her head to face Micah. “How do you know so much about the
intellectual capacity of criminals?”

“I spent a huge chunk of my life
among thieves, robbers, murderers and rapists.”

“Were you one of them?” Denise
picked up Fritz.

“I served time with them.”

Denise stood up with Fritz in her
arms. “What are you doing way out here, you naughty thing.”

“Ummm, strolling with you,
remember? It was your idea.” Micah folded his arms across his chest.

“I meant the cat.”

“I know.”

“Which were you in for?”
            “Rape.”

Denise stared bullets into Micah’s
eyes. She dropped Fritz and punched Micah so hard in the ribs that he had to
sidestep several times to avoid falling over. Fritz ran towards the trees.

Micah grabbed his ribcage and glared
at Denise with his mouth open and his eyes wide. “You promised not to hit me
again and besides, did I say I was guilty?”

“How could you do such a thing?”

“Did you hear me?”

Denise pointed an accusing finger
in Micah’s face. “All criminals claim they’re innocent.”