Murder and Mayhem (29 page)

Well, well, who would have thought!

I looked across the room to where Mr. Takamura was
standing on the chair fiddling with the dials on the television. When he turned
around and saw me I thought I noticed a cheeky twinkle in his eyes–but I could
have been mistaken. It may have just been a reflection from the overhead
fluorescent lights, or glittering gemstones creating a kaleidoscope of colors
on the walls–but with those Coke-bottle lenses, it’s kinda hard to tell.

Louanna reached into her
jumbo-size bag and pulled out a box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

“Hep yourself to a doughnut,
Bee?” she said and flipped open the lid to reveal a gourmet display of
sweet-tooth heaven. I reached in and picked out the one covered in blue icing
with whipped cream that oozed from the middle–and felt no guilt whatsoever.

*****

Her naked body lay carelessly draped across Danny’s in
the warm afterglow of their lovemaking. The night sky was black velvet studded
with stars where a small sickle moon was ascending. A light breeze ruffled
through the leaves of the trees surrounding the hotel car park where a car
pulled into a space below their second-story window. When the doors opened,
they heard people talking, a woman laugh.

Nicola ran her fingers along Danny’s nose and felt the
barely discernable bump just below the bridge.

“Surfboard accident,” he offered.

“Does it hurt?”

“No. It happened a long time ago.” He felt the gentle
flutter of her hand as it moved over his cheek and down his throat.

“So, tell me what was it like growing up in a small
town?” she asked, her arms resting on his broad chest, his heart beating
beneath her palm like the steady tick of a clock.

Nicola sensed Danny wanted to talk so she lay quietly
allowing him to choose his own time. She felt his chest rise as he took a deep
breath and let it out with a barely audible sigh. 

“I never knew my father,” Danny began, “and I doubt my
mother did either. We lived in a trailer park outside the town of Sinclair in
south western New South Wales. It had a small rural community that grew
cherries and peaches and plums where transient workers would come for the
picking season. The town had a cannery where most of the locals worked,
including my mother, when she was sober.

“Katy, my sister, was five years older than me and for
her life was pretty tough. When she was sixteen she got herself pregnant to one
of the local boys and ran off and I haven’t seen or heard from her since the
day she left.”

“Oh Danny, I’m so sorry.”

“So am I, but there’s nothing I can do about it, now.
Too many years have passed. Too much water has flowed under those sorry bridges.

“My mother used to drink and when she was drunk she
would beat us with whatever was handy. So I don’t blame Katy for leaving, I
just wish she had taken me with her,” he added with a touch of regret that
still stayed with him, even after all these years.

“My mother always had a lot of men friends coming
around and they’d get drunk and start fighting. When that happened I’d go and
stay with Mrs. Leibmann, an elderly lady who lived on the other side of the
trailer park.” Danny reached down and brushed a lock of hair from Nicola’s face
and kissed her on the top of her head, taking comfort from the familiar
fragrance of her hair.

“Mum never cared where I was when she had one of her
boyfriends hanging around. But sometimes, when she was passed out drunk, the
men would go after Katy. I’d hear her sobbing, begging them to stop and I’d get
so scared I’d race over to Mrs. Leibmann’s trailer, and hide.”

“Oh, Danny, that’s awful!”

Danny looked away not wanting her to see the guilt in
his eyes. He took a deep breath and gathered the threads of his young life
together…

“Every morning I’d get up early and go over to where
Mrs. Leibmann lived and collect the bike I kept hidden under her trailer, and
do my paper route. At that hour my mother would still be asleep, usually in a
drunken stupor, but often Katy would be lying awake watching me get dressed.
One day she said, ‘Good on you Danny. You do whatever you have to do to get
away from this hell-hole.’”

Danny sat on the edge of the bed, the painful memories
going round and round in his head. Nicola wrapped her arms around him and
pressed her body into his.

“Oh, Danny I’m so sorry,” she said.

Danny reached out and touched her head. “its okay,
Nic. Just give me a minute,” then added, “Would you like something to drink?”

Nicola nodded.

He opened the door of the small bar fridge, took out a
half-bottle of white wine and held it up. Nicola shook her head. When he
swapped it for apple juice, Nicola nodded. Danny grabbed a can of Coke for
himself, popped the ring pull and dropped the tab in the trash bin. He
unscrewed the cap and handed the juice to Nicola.

When he took a mouthful of Coke, Danny felt the
bubbles spike the inside of his mouth and hit the back of his palette. He
coughed and wiped the back of his hand across his mouth and climbed onto the
bed. He put the can on the bedside table, gathered Nicola to him and took up
the story where he’d left off.

“I’d stolen the bike from one of the local kids when
they were playing down by the river. They’d left their bikes hidden behind some
bushes so I just grabbed one and took off. I was a loner with no friends, so I
didn’t care. I figured if they left their bikes lying around where anyone could
steal them that was their problem–not mine. I never gave it another thought.
That was just the way it was back then. There were always transients passing
through the town so I figured they’d think one of them had taken it.

“I used to keep the bike hidden under an old piece of
canvas under Mrs. Leibmann’s trailer–along with the money I’d earned from
delivering newspapers, stuffed in an old coffee container because I knew if my
mother found them she’d sell the bike and spend the money on booze. So I took
great care to make sure she knew nothing about them. I knew Mrs. Leibmann would
never say anything. My mother’s reputation was well known throughout the town.”

*****

“That is so sad,” Rosie said.

“The paths we tread are often filled with emotional
obstacles, kiddo.”

“Oh, that is so profound, Bee.”

I grinned. “There’s plenty more where that came from.”

We heard the front door slam and looked at each other.
Ross and Cody were in Cody’s room playing computer games so we knew it couldn’t
be them.

Drew wandered into the room with a smile on his face.
“Hey, girls, how’s everyone doing?”

Rosie sat up, and smiled. “Drew, you’re back.”

“Well, kind of. I’m just passing through for a brief
overnight stay. I’ve got to fly to South Carolina in the morning but I couldn’t
miss the opportunity to see my two favorite girls so I caught an earlier flight
out of Chicago.” He gave my sister a loving smile then turned to me.

“How’s everything going with you, Bee?”

“Oh, the same as usual… all murder and mayhem.”

He grinned. “Glad to hear you haven’t lost that killer
touch.” He looked around, and listened. “Where are the terrible two?”

“Creating their own murder and mayhem. They’re in
Cody’s room battling the forces of evil that are threatening to invade our
galaxy and turn us all into mincemeat.” Suddenly the sound of laughter erupted
from the other end of the house.

Drew laughed. “Sounds like those guys sure are kicking
some alien asses.”

I grinned and shut down the
laptop. “Sounds like it. Can I get you something to eat, Drew?”

“No, that’s okay. I ate on the plane.”

“Well, I think it’s time I did
some ass kicking of my own. I’d better go and see what the juvenile delinquents
are up to.” I smiled and kissed the top of my sister’s head. “Good night, Hon.”

“Night, Bubbie.”

I gave Drew a hug and kissed him on the cheek. “It’s
good to have you home, even if it is only for a short visit.”

He gave me a squeeze. “It is good to be home. I’ll see
you in the morning. Goodnight, Bee–and, thank you.”

“You’re more than welcome,” I said and pulled the door
closed behind me.

*****

Danny slipped his feet into a pair of Dockers then sat
on the edge of the bed and watched Nicola wriggle into a turquoise-colored
skirt and tugged a pale lemon top down over her shoulders. When he looked at
her face, he noticed her cheekbones were not quite the kind that models hang
their careers on, but they certainly were close. 

Nicola stood in front of the mirror brushing her hair.
“It’s all right for you, you don’t have to think about what you’re going to
wear like us women do.”

“Hey, I don’t care what you wear. You look good in
anything… and you look particularly good in nothing at all,” he said–and
laughed. “I’m pretty boring when it comes to clothes. I always wear blue jeans
and white Hanes T-shirts except when I’m working on the bikes or out riding
then I wear black jeans and black T-shirt. That way I don’t have to stop and
think about what I’m going to wear. It makes life so much easier not getting
tied down with all those mundane things, and they’re easy to replace. I can
pick up whatever I need anywhere from Macys to Mervyns, or Wal-Mart. Even my underwear
is boring, standard regulation white Calvin Klein. I like to be comfortable.
There’s nothing worse than sitting astride a Harley wearing uncomfortable
underwear that cuts into your cojones.” They laughed.

“And when you go surfing what do you wear?” Nicola
leaned into the mirror and ran lipstick over her lips. She checked it for
smudges.

“A pair of black Speedos under a black wetsuit; and my
surfboard is a neutral color with the manufacturers name stamped on the end and
my name printed in black on the underside.”

When Nicola sat down beside him, Danny smelled the
citrus tang of her hair. “Mmm... You smell nice.” He stroked her face then
leaned down and kissed the top of her head.

“So do you,” Nicola added dreamily. “How often do you
go to the beach?”

“Oh, I surf every morning pretty much all year round.
I only live a short distance from the beach. At night I lie in bed and listen
to the waves breaking along the shore. I find it very calming. It lulls me to
sleep. What about you, Nic? Do you go to the beach much?”  He trailed his
fingers along the ridges of her spine and over the bony protuberances of her
shoulder blades.

“No. Its years since I’ve been to the beach. It’s not
that I don’t like it it’s just something I never think about any more–not since
I moved to Mill Valley. When I was at college we would go to the beach most
weekends with our friends. We’d surf all day and at night we’d get take-out
beer and Coke, and sit round a bonfire and roast marshmallows; and dance to the
music on a transistor radio. It was great fun,” she said with just a hint of
nostalgia.

Danny hugged her to him. “When you come to Australia
you’ll fall in love with our beaches. The golden sand is soft and the water’s
an incredible color and pretty much the right temperature all year round.”      

“It sounds wonderful.”

The shrill of the phone pierced the air. Danny reached
over and picked it up.

“Hello,” he said into the mouthpiece but all he got
was dead air. “Hello?” He sensed a change in the air current as though someone
had removed a hand from the mouthpiece. “Is anyone there?” He heard a click,
and the phone disconnected. 

“Who was that?” 

Danny shrugged.

“It must have been a wrong number.”

TWENTY-FOUR

“Hi everybody,” we said as we
headed down the room to where Chartreuse and Louanna sat talking. While
Chartreuse was dressed in the regulation hospital gown, Louanna was perched on
glittering purple stilettos with six inch heels I guessed to be a generous size
twelve dressed in a candy-pink see-through top over an orange Day-glo bra. I
couldn’t help noticing the massive cleavage that spilled over the top, like
quivering chocolate Jell-O, and lime-green Spandex low rider Lycra pants that
did nothing to hide the rolls of fat that oozed over the waist-band like undercooked
chocolate pudding.

“Hi Chartreuse, Louanna,” Rosie said making sure she
kept a smile on her face.

I think mine was more a fixed grin. “Hi girls.”

“Hi there, Hon. How you doin’?” Chartreuse asked.