Mixed Messages (A Malone Mystery) (15 page)

She
laughed out loud as she remembered her first “session” with Olivia
.
The séance
:
Olivia’s ridiculous attempt to contact Jeremy, her long lost lover and the father of her son. Tina
could still see the look of disappointment on Olivia’s face when she’d told her that Jeremy was not ready to communicate with her yet
.
She’d convinced the old woman to schedule more sessions so “I can
get to know you better so I can
be more in tune with your spirit
.”
The promise of another attempt to get in touch with Jeremy was all it took to keep the checks rolling in
.
I spend a lot of time with her,
she
thought, but it’s not wasted; it’ll all be worth it in the end
.
A few more clients like her and I’ll be able to retire before I’m fifty
.
Someday, she vowed, I’ll live in a big house
filled with beautiful things
and
I’ll
have people waiting on me.

Then, I won’t have to live in dumps like this, she thought
.
As she entered
her apartment
building, loud rap music and the smell of marijuana filled the hallway
.
She hurriedly unlocked the door to her apartment and
went
into the living room
.
She frowned as her eyes scanned the room:
cheap
mismatched furniture, dingy walls and
worn
,
stained carpet
.
Then she sniffed the air and smiled
.
Something good was coming from the kitchen.

“
Greg
, are you here?” she called out.
“I’m home
, Sweetie
.”

He
peeked around the corner
.
“Hi, Teen.
How’s my girl?
”

She
sauntered over to him and put her arms around his neck, pressing her hips against him
and running her fingers through his blonde hair
.
“Ummm, something sure smells good in here
.
What cha cookin’?”

“I made a special dinner for my special lady,”
he
told her.

“Yummy
!
I can’t wait! Let me go change
my clothes
and I’ll be right back
.”
She gave him her most
provocative look
.
“Unless you want to help me?”

“Go!” he said, giving her a gentle push
.
“You keep that up, you’ll make me burn our dinner.”

As she walked down the hall to her bedroom, she didn’t hear him mutter, “Yeah, like you
need
more
to eat.
”

* * * *

Does she actually believe that those baggy
dresses
she wears hide the fact that she’s a fat
slob
?
Greg
wondered.
He put his hand across his mouth, stifling the sound of his laughter.
They used to call them muumuus, he recalled.
Wow! Moo-moo! Cow! He
shuddered, picturing her sagging breasts and the rolls of fat around her waist and on her
upper arms and
thighs.
It was enough to make a man lose his appetite!
             

He grinned a
s he set the table, dimmed the lights and lit candles
.
She’s gonna think this is so romantic, he thought
.
When really the darker it is, the easier it is to look at her
.
What a pig
!
And could she wear any more makeup
?
God, and that hair
!
Whoever did it must be
colorblind
.
Well, my man, he said to himself, that’s the price you pay for a free ride.

* * * *

A few minutes later, they were seated at the table across from one another.

“So, tell me about your day,”
Greg
said, trying his best to
appear
interested.

“Well, I had my nails done this morning
.
You didn’t even notice,”
Tina
said,
sticking out her lower lip and
pouting.

“Let me see,” he said.

She
held out her left hand
.

He reached out, grasped her hand and
studied
her nails. “Very nice! But,
Teen, you
always look nice
.
That’s why I don’t notice things like this.”

She
blew him a kiss with her other hand
.
“I love you!”

“And you know I love you too
,” he said,
releasing her hand and
leaning back in his chair
.
“
But, tell me, what else did my lady do today?”

“Oh, boring, boring. I had another session with that old bat, Olivia Berger. You know
.
I’ve
told you about
her
.
”

“I’m sorry. Which one is she?”

“Oh, like I have
so many
clients. You never
listen
to me.”

“Wait a minute. I know. The elderly woman who lives in the old Victorian house, over by the
Y
, right
?” he asked.

“Yeah
.
That’s the one.”

“Tell me about it
.
You know I’m fascinated with what you do,” he said.

She rolled her eyes.
“Well, she’s really old and crippled
, pathetic. She spends most of her days either
sitting at
the window as the world go
es
by or watching the people on TV living their lives.
When I go over, she talks a lot about the past.
I guess her memories are all she has because m
ost
of her friends and family are dead
.
” She frowned. “I never wanna end up like that.”

“Poor old lady,”
he
said.
“That must be tough.”
He reached across the table and patted her hand. “You don’t have to worry, Teen.
You won’t end up like that; y
ou’ve got me.
”

She
smiled
halfheartedly
.
“At least, she’s really rich. You should see
all the antiques in
her house and the family jewelry she showed me today
was awesome
.”

“
Well, that’s something. So, she lives
alone?”
he asked.

“No. Her stupid son lives with her but he’s some kind of albino freak,” she said, jabbing
her fork into her salad
and shoving it into her mouth
, oblivious to the
rivulet of
French dressing
that
was dripping
down her chin.
“And there’s some people who live downstairs.”

“
Who
?” he asked.

“There’s a woman
, Ann Kern,
and her two kids
,” she said, as she chewed. “
Olivia told me she has a husband but he must never be around cause I’ve never seen him
.
Anyway, the old lady wants me to try again to
conjure up
the spirit of her dead lover
.
Can you beat that?”

“Wow
!
That’s interesting,”
he
said,
sitting up straighter in his chair
.
“So, when is this conjuring
supposed
to take place?”

She
used the fingernail of her pinky finger
to try
to get a piece of lettuce out from between her front teeth.
“Well, I’ve been putting her off for
months
but
I think I better do it soon
,
before that Kern woman talks her out of it.
Get
this,
” she said, smirking, “
Olivia
asked me today if I would do it on Friday, Halloween night
.
Isn’t that a hoot?”

“Hmm,” he said, reaching across the table and grasping her hand, “
Well, I think you’re right. I don’t think you should wait. W
hy don’t you call her after dinner and tell her you’ll do it
?
I think
Halloween sounds like a good night for a ghost to appear.”

Chapter 1
6

“FOR SATAN FINDS SOME MISCHIEF
still for idle hands to do,” Louise reminded herself as she
forced herself to continue working
. She certainly wasn’t in the mood to do it but s
he
needed to finish
dust
ing
and wax
ing
the beautiful ornate woodwork in the hallway outside of Father Andrew’s office
.
She was alone in the building now
.
A few minutes after the priest’s meeting with her daughter-in-law, Father Andrew had donned his hat and coat and, barely acknowledging Louise, left the church.
             

She’d never forget the
expression
on his face when he’d opened the door and realized that
she’d been
listening to their conversation
.
How embarrassed she’d felt
!
Thinking about it now still made her so angry
.
The nerve of that girl
!
Airing the family laundry, discussing private, personal matters with someone she barely knew, priest or not
.
Proverbs 11:22, “As a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion
.”

The horrible things she had said about David
.
Lies
!
All lies
!
And telling Father Andrew that she planned to leave him
.
What was she thinking
?
She wasn’t the type who could make it without
someone
to take care of her and her two children
.
How would she support them
?
Unless,
she
thought, she planned to take David to the cleaners in court, claim some sort of mental or even physical abuse, saying she wasn’t able to work because of it
,
and make him financially responsible while she had a free ride
.
Just watch the news or read the paper; people pulled all kinds of things these days
.
Could she get away with that
?
Could that actually happen
?
She is cunning and lazy
.
Why, the woman wasn’t even dressed when I stopped by to visit today and it was almost lunchtime.

She’s a fool
!
Where would she ever find a husband as good as David
?
Nowhere, that’s where
.
Unless she already had another man
.
The thought filled
her
with rage
.
If Ann was involved with another man and left David, she would take the children with her
.

Or, what if
there
wasn’t another man? What if she planned to take the children to South Carolina
and move in with her sister, the big-
shot
attorney, who
had a new “boyfriend”
every time you blinked your eyes
?
Apparently, she th
inks
nothing of sleeping with every Tom, Dick and Harry that
comes
down the pike
,
she
thought.
I don’t think much of that woman
;
s
he isn’t a good example for the kids.
That’s no place for Danielle and Davey to grow up.
God only knows what
goes
on down there.
If Ann were to live with her, well, ‘birds of a feather flock together
.’