Murder and Mayhem (14 page)

They joined a guided tour through Independence Hall;
inspected the Liberty Bell Pavilion then headed up Broad Street to admire the
thirty-seven-foot bronze statue of William Penn on top of City Hall where
twenty-two-feet thick brick walls had been constructed to carry the great
weight.

At around four, they boarded the street trolley and
rode it to Fairmount Park, above the Schuylkill River.

They wound their way through the park till they found
a vacant bench beneath the spreading limbs of an ancient plane tree. The
dappled sunlight glittered through leaves and created moving patterns on their
bodies as they listened to the twitters of birds and the sound of the river.
The cry of a small child drew their attention as a red balloon caught by a
sudden gust of wind slipped it free of tiny fingers and floated up through the
treetops. 

On a bench nearby, a large man with dark-hair pulled
back in a ponytail, and tattoos that ringed his massive biceps with twisted
strands of barbed wire, pared the detritus from beneath his fingernails with a
penknife. While he worked at his task the sun glinted off the blade and caught
Nicola’s eye. As her gaze washed over him the man looked up with dark eyes
filled with malevolence. From deep in the back of his throat he hawked up a
thick globule of yellow phlegm and spat in the grass. Nicola shuddered and
turned away.

Thinking she was cold, Danny tightened his arm around
her and pulled her in close. 

* * *

They chose a table on the sidewalk overlooking a
fountain and garden beds filled with bright-colored blooms, where small patches
of sunlight still lingered while shadows crawled across the landscape in long
fingers.

As lights came on all over the city, the hostess lit
candles on the marble-topped tables, and shuffled wrought iron chairs to
accommodate new arrivals.

“What a wonderful day this has been,” Nicola said when
the waiter hurried to the kitchen with their order.

“Yes, it has. I’ve really enjoyed our time in
Philadelphia. I’ll be sorry to leave tomorrow.”

“Me too, it’s a lovely city. I’m glad you brought me
here,” Nicola said, and fell silent.

“Did you see that man?” she asked after a while.

“What man?” Danny looked around the restaurant.

“The one in the park.”

Danny frowned and tried to make sense of her words.
“The one in the park?  What are you talking about, Nicola?”

“The big man with the ponytail, didn’t you see him? He
was sitting on a bench under a tree just across from where we were sitting.”

Danny’s frown increased to deep furrows. “No. I didn’t
notice. What about him?”

“Oh…, nothing,” she whispered hesitantly.

“Did he say something to you?”

 Nicola shook her head. “No. He didn’t say anything.”

“Then, what?” Danny asked, clearly confused.

Nicola chewed on the words for a minute not sure how
to answer. “He… he was just strange… that’s all.”

Danny laughed. “The world is full of strange people,
Nicola Madison. I know you’ve led a sheltered life, but believe me there are a
lot of very strange people out there.” He raised his eyebrows and nodded a grin
to emphasize his words. 

The waiter returned with a basket of warm rolls and a
pot of whipped butter and placed them on the table.

“Your meal shouldn’t be much longer,” he said.

*****

“Who was that?” Rosie wanted to know.

“Who?” I asked distractedly as I studied the screen
and wondered if I should include something about the meal.

“You know who.”

I looked up. “Oh… the waiter? 
Don’t go reading anything into that, Hon, he’s just a waiter.”

“No. Not him. The other guy.”

“The other guy...” I said thoughtfully tapping my
forehead. She reached over and thumped me on the arm. “Oh, you mean the one in
the park?”

“Yes him. Who was he?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“What do you mean, you don’t know?”

“Let me put it another way. I haven’t decided yet.”

“But you wrote him into the story so you must have had
something in mind when you did that,” she said with a petulant pout.

“I put him in there–just in case.”

“Just in case of what! Just in case you need an evil
looking creep somewhere in the story but you’re not sure what you’re going to
do with him. A devourer of small birds, and fluffy white kittens, perhaps?”

“Something like that.” I chuckled. “Did you like him?”

My sister, God bless her, looked
at me as though I had suddenly sprouted a large mole on my nose, with a couple
of long black hairs growing out of it.

“Like isn’t the word that
readily comes to mind.”

I gave her a,
whatever
shrug, scrolled down the
screen, and started to edit.

“Uh-hum,” my sister said clearing her throat–loudly.

I looked up, and sighed, equally as loudly. “Is there
something you want?”

“Speaking of food?”

“I wasn’t aware we were speaking of food,” I resumed
editing.

“Well, what do you expect? We were just in a
restaurant. What else do you do in a restaurant except eat?”

“Drink wine? Talk to friends? Make goo-goo eyes at the
cute waiter with nice buns?” I said and shut-down the lap-top. “Would you like
me to make you some soup?”

“Something soft, so I don’t have to chew. Whenever I
eat my tongue feels like it has prickles in it.”

I tried to smile–but it wasn’t
easy. “How would you like pumpkin and sweet potato soup with just a touch of
cardamom to give it zip? I’ll even put it through the blender to get the lumps
out and spoon yoghurt on the top to make it nice and creamy.”

“Don’t crumble any crackers over it. You know I can’t
eat crunchy food like that.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

“Okay. Just checking. Sometimes your mind goes off in
a tangent, and I never know where it’s heading.”

“My mind will stay focused on the matter at hand.”

“Well I’ll just close my eyes and have a cat-nap while
you’re gone.”

“I’ll wake you when the soup’s ready.” I pulled the
cover around her, closed the curtains, picked up my laptop and tiptoed out of
the room.

*****

Nicola looked at her watch and noticed it was almost
ten. “These friends of yours keep pretty late hours,” she said.

Danny slipped his black sneakers on. “Not really. Most
of them work during the day so all the deals are done at night and weekends.”

“What’s the name of the guy you’re seeing tonight?”

“Hey Man. He lives across the river in New Jersey,
just outside Pennsauken.”

“Hay-man! What kind of name is that?”

“No. Not H A Y man–as in straw. It’s H E Y Man, as in
Yo, what’s happening dude! Whenever he meets anyone the first words out of his
mouth are “Hey man!”  He probably can’t remember people’s name. In fact I’ve
known him for years and I haven’t a clue what his real name is. Everyone just
calls him, Hey Man.”

“What strange friends you have, Danny. What time do
you think you’ll be back?”

“I promise I won’t be late tonight,” he said as he
gathered her in his arms and kissed the top of her head.

“If I’m asleep when you get back, promise you’ll wake
me.”

“You know I will.” Danny leaned down and kissed her,
grabbed his cap, and was gone.

* * *

She stepped out of the shower, toweled herself dry and
rubbed rose oil on her body. While she dried her hair in front of the mirror,
Nicola wondered how long it would be before Danny returned. She slipped on a
nightgown, climbed onto the bed and caught the tail end of the eleven o’clock
news.

“…fifty-one-year old Dwayne Huxton, a twenty-five year
veteran of the Eastlake Police Force was gunned down today by his estranged
wife. Forty-five year old Lucinda Huxton then turned the gun on herself.
Officer Huxton is on life support, not expected to live.” The background
morphed to a group of uniformed officers standing around a chalked outline
surrounded by yellow crime and black scene tape.

“The small town of Eastlake is in shock. Fellow
officers in the department are stunned by the news. At this stage they are
making no comment but will be issuing a statement after a full investigation
has been completed.” The newsreader hesitated, and then continued, “…The body
of a woman has been found…”

Nicola watched the report for a while and then grabbed
the remote and surfed through the channels until she found a movie she hadn’t
seen before. She glanced at the bedside clock and sighed, plumped up the
pillows and settled back to watch the movie.

* * *

She was woken up by the sound of the key card in the
lock and watched Danny slip quietly into the room carrying another
strange-shaped object wrapped in black plastic.

“Put your toys away and come to bed,” Nicola murmured
her voice husky with sleep. Through heavy lidded eyes she watched him kneel on
the floor, place the plastic-wrapped object in the bottom of his bag and then
shuffled the clothes on top.

“Just as soon as I get out of these clothes and have a
shower. I stink of grease and oil,” he said as he zipped the bag closed.

When the bathroom door opened, Danny stepped into the
light. His damp hair fell in ringlets around his face, his suntanned body shone
like polished teak. Nicola noticed his shoulders were broad, his stomach
washboard flat, tanned legs, long and athletic.

He climbed on the bed, kissed her passionately, and
slipped the gown over her head. Without uttering a word he knew she was ready.
When he entered her it was with a passion so intense it took them to a place
where nothing else mattered.     

                                                                           *
* *

Nicola lay curled up in his arms, her head on his
chest. She could feel it rise and fall with the gentle rhythm of his breathing
as Danny ran his fingers through her hair and enjoyed the warmth and feel of
her body. In the quiet stillness they heard the ping of the elevator doors open
and close. Voices filled with laughter drifted down the hall. A door closed as
a light aircraft buzzed overhead.

The silence that followed left an empty vacuum in the
air.

The drapes on the window were open allowing the soft
glow of moonlight to fall across their naked bodies.

“Tell me about your life?” Danny said. “I want to know
everything about you.”

She remembered when she first told him she grew up in
the San Fernando Valley he called her a valley girl. At the time, she had
laughed it off. But–that’s what she was–a valley girl. She’d lived in the
valley all her life. So she told him what it was like growing up in the San Fernando
Valley–and then moving to San Francisco. And she told him about the last week
she spent with her parents, who were killed two years ago on the One-O-One
Highway, by a drunk driver. But, when it came to telling him about the years in
between it was like opening an old wound–and she found she couldn’t talk about
it anymore.

While she slept the sleep of the innocent Danny lay
awake, thinking about his own past littered with secrets best left concealed.

*****

Ross leaned over and closed the laptop. “I think
that’s enough murder and mayhem for one night, Bethany. Come to bed,” he
whispered.

The sound of my name on his lips
sent shivers down my spine.

“You always did know how to
sweet talk a gal.”

FIFTEEN

Danny locked the seatbelt in place and turned the key
in the ignition. “Ready?” he asked.

Nicola fluffed up her hair, slipped her sunglasses on,
and laughed. “Honey, I was born ready!”

He looked at Nicola, his face suddenly serious.

“No regrets, Nic? No wanting to turn back?”