Perplexity on P1/2 (Parson's Cove Mysteries) (28 page)

     “Was he tall or short?”

     Charlie kept on rocking and humming.

     “Can you tell me now who Esther was meeting?”

     Charlie kept up his rocking and humming but there was a secretive smile on his face.

     “You’re too nosey, Mabel.”

     “Some friend you are, Charlie,” I said.

     I stood up and as I started to walk away, he said, “A wedding’s coming up soon, I think.”

     “What?” I screeched and rushed back to the bench. “What are you saying, Charlie? Esther has a boyfriend? Is that what you’re saying?” Without realizing it, I’d grabbed Charlie’s shirt and was shaking him.

     “Ask Esther,” he said.

     “You better believe I will.” I reached my arms around him and hugged. “Thanks, Charlie.” He blushed and started rocking again.

     I called Flori the moment I got into the shop, as you can well imagine. She was beside herself. First, she was horrified and feeling sorry for the poor sucker who got caught but when she started getting all sentimental on me and started blubbering, I told her someone had come in and I had to go.     

     I waited patiently until ten minutes before closing time when Esther made her usual appearance at my store.

     “So,” I said, “anything new with you, Esther?”

     “What do you care, Mabel?” She looked down pretending to be interested in buying the most expensive vase that I have.

     “Oh, I care. By the way, that is my best vase. If you really like it, I could pass the word around. You know, it would make a great wedding gift.” I looked her right in the eye and winked.

     She jerked her head up so quickly that her glasses almost slid off. Her skin turned white and then red.

     “What are you talking about? Whose wedding?”

     “Well, you should know, Esther. You’re the one who’s out there, meeting some man in the bush in the middle of the night.”

     Oh, oh. Not exactly the right words to say when someone is holding an expensive gold plated vase. Her mouth gaped open, she gasped in horror and my beautiful vase fell to the floor.

     As I watched Esther running across the street with her skirt flying, I thought how happy I was to have such good insurance and that this was something I wouldn’t have missed for the world.

Chapter Thirty Eight

     I went to bed early that evening, content in knowing I’d almost driven Esther insane. She deserved it if she was the one who left that phone message for me. It seemed like a decade ago now. Flori told me to forget about it. Let bygones be bygones. Easy for her to say, she didn’t have the nightmares.

     I was trying to concentrate on my book when Phil raised her head and twitched an ear.

     “What’s the matter, old girl? Did you hear something?”

     She stood up and meowed.

     “What do you hear? A burglar?” I reached over and ran my hand down her back. This usually makes both of us relax. Phil views every little sound as a potential disaster and it’s her mission to protect me. “Silly, old thing.”

     At this point, she usually starts to purr, entwines her body around my arm and lies down again. This time, however, she kept standing, watching the door, and meowing.

     “Phil, come and lie down. You’re making me nervous.”

     All Phil did was stare at the open door and keep talking. All of sudden, the other three cats who had been sleeping in various areas in my bedroom, stood up and dashed out the door.

     “Who’s out there?” I called out.

     There was only silence - except for the faint sound of my hallway floor creaking.

     “Who’s out there?” I yelled. Phil jumped off the bed and ran under it.

     The light in the hallway was not on so I could only see darkness beyond my bedroom door.

     A figure appeared in the doorway. I was expecting it but when it happened, my heart almost jumped out of my chest.

     What I wasn’t expecting was the gun in his hand.

     “Ralph,” I said. “What are you doing here? Why do you have a gun pointed at me?”

     “Don’t you listen to the news, Mabel? Everyone in the country is looking for me. There’s a warrant out for my arrest. For killing Grace. Can you believe it?” He grinned. “But, I didn’t need to tell you that, did I? You knew all along. You’re the one who went squealing to the cops.”

     “No, I didn’t. I only told them what I suspected. What do you think, Ralph? That you should get away with murder? And you could’ve, you know. I never would’ve believed it was you. Not in a million years. It was only after I saw the dandruff on Grace’s clothes that I thought it might be. That’s the honest truth, Ralph.”

     “I didn’t mean to kill anyone. Do you believe me?”

     “Of course, I believe you. What do you expect me to say when you have a gun pointed at my head? I think you should tell me what really happened so I can talk to the Captain. He’s a very understanding person. Tell me the truth: was it an accident?”

     Ralph’s eyes were red but not from crying. Probably from lack of sleep. His hand holding the gun was shaky.

     “It was. You know, all I wanted was Sally. She’s the only one who meant something to me. Sally found out that Grace had this money. I don’t know where she got it but there must’ve been a million dollars. Her brown bag was full of it. That’s what Sally told me.   Grace had a gun too so Sally stole it and gave it to me. She told me that if I pointed the gun at Grace, she would hand over the money and Sally would go away with me. The two of us would go away together. She promised me, Mabel. We made our plans before the plane landed in Denver. When the plane landed, I didn’t get back on like I told you. I told Grace that I needed to talk to her in private. I told her it was about some stolen money. She had the bag with her then but when she met me and I pointed the gun at her, she didn’t have the bag. I made a fool out of myself for nothing. She grabbed for the gun and I pulled the trigger. I don’t know why. It was just a reflex, that’s all. You understand, don’t you, Mabel?”

     “I can’t say I do. What happened then?”

     “Then? I stood there and watched her die, that’s what happened. She slid to the ground.”

     “No one heard the gun go off?”

     “No. Sally told me about this secluded underpass close to the airport. There was traffic going over and planes at the same time. There was a car rental office close by so I waited until it was dark and then put her in the car.”

     “You sat with the dead body until it got dark?”

     He nodded. “Well, it was almost dark when I killed her. But, I covered her up. There was an old tarp under the bridge. I put that on her so I wouldn’t have to look at her. She kept staring at me, Mabel. Everywhere I looked, she was looking at me.”

     “Dead bodies tend to do that, Ralph, especially if you’ve just murdered them. So, what was your plan after the murder?”

     “Please, don’t call it a murder.”

     “But that’s what it was. You
murdered
Grace Hobbs. That’s what you did. Why did you stay there? Why didn’t you run? You might’ve gotten away with it if you’d left and got onto the plane home. No one would’ve connected you to her if you hadn’t carried her and got dandruff all over her clothes. You do realize that, don’t you?”

     “I couldn’t leave. I was waiting for Sally. She said she’d come to meet me there.”

     “What if Sally already had the money? If she had the money, she wouldn’t need you for anything.”

     “No, she didn’t have the money. I know she didn’t. Besides, she wouldn’t have done that to me.”

     “Don’t count on it. You aren’t too swift when it comes to Sally.”

     The gun was now pointing at the floor but I didn’t want to spook him. After all, if he lifted it and fired, I wouldn’t have a chance.

     “So, you came here to kill me? What good is that going to do, Ralph? The police know you killed Grace so if you kill me, it’s not going to change that. All it’s going to change is how long you stay in prison or if you get the death penalty. That’s all that’s going to do.”

     Ralph looked down at the gun and then let it drop to the floor.

     “You’re right. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” He looked at me, pleadingly. “That Sally. She’s made me crazy, Mabel. I was never like this before. I have a son, for god’s sake. What’s he going to think of me?”

     Before I could tell him that his son was sure to think his father was a jerk, Ralph Murphy was on the floor, in a dead faint.

     Within five minutes, my house was overflowing with cops. And, Flori, of course. She’d seen the flashing lights and followed.

     “I knew it had something to do with you, Mabel,” she said, and hugged me until I thought she’d wring the life out of me.

     Ralph was sitting on a kitchen chair. Water was still dripping down from his hair onto his shoulders and there was a puddle around the chair.

     “Why is he all wet like that?” Flori whispered.

     “Because he fainted,” I said.

     Maxymowich read him his rights, cuffed him and hustled him out.

     Reg hung back. He still didn’t look too good. His eyes were puffy and his nose was red from blowing. He obviously should have been in bed.

     “Thanks, Mabel. Sorry I couldn’t do much these past couple of days. Maxy told me about the dandruff theory. So all you saw were a few white spots on that black and white picture and you figured it was dandruff? Why would you think it was dandruff when it was around her waist?”

     “Because he had to hoist her over his shoulder to carry her when he dumped the body so that’s why the dandruff would be there.”

     “Huh!  Not bad, Mabel. Actually, quite brilliant if I do say so myself.” He stopped to sneeze. When I saw it coming, I shoved his arm into his face so his sleeve would get the full force and I wouldn’t.

     “Sorry.” He pulled out a large red rumpled handkerchief and blew. Afterwards, he shoved it back into this pocket. “I’m not quite over this thing I’ve got. By the way, did he say where this Sally is? Do you think he killed her too?”

     “He apparently doesn’t know where Sally is, or so he says. I wish I could’ve asked him more but you know Ralph – he fainted. By the way, does Maxymowich know why Ralph brought the body here to Parson’s Cove?”

     Reg’s face turned red. At least now his nose didn’t stand out too much.

     “I’ll forgive you for this one, Mabel, but don’t let it ever happen again. When you were getting dressed a few minutes ago and Ralph was confessing, he confessed that he brought the body here because of something you said.”

     “Something
I
said? What did I say?”

     “That you’d had to help solve a murder in Parson’s Cove because the police force here was inadequate. Or, did you say, ‘one old sheriff and two incompetent deputies?’ I believe that’s how you described me and my deputies.”

     “You’re kidding? I said that?” Sometimes words can really come back to bite you, can’t they? “You know I didn’t really mean that, Reg. You did say you were forgiving me, right?”

     He nodded and grinned. “I probably wouldn’t if I wasn’t running a fever.”

     “By the way, Reg, we’re pretty sure we saw Sally at Andrea’s house when we were in Yellow Rose.”

     “You read over my notes, didn’t you? I told you that the phone call came from there. Do you know who lives at 3800 P ½ ?”

     Flori and I stared at each other.

     “That’s Stella’s house. How can that be? That can’t be right. Why would Sally be phoning from Stella’s house?” Flori said.

     “Never mind, Flori, do you realize
when
she made that call? She made it when we were right there in Yellow Rose. How could she have phoned from Stella’s house when we were right there? There has to be some mistake.”

Chapter Thirty Nine

     “What are you telling me, Flori? Stella is gone?”

     “I don’t know. I’ve called and called and there is no answer. Her answering machine doesn’t even come on. Just to make sure, I tried at midnight and then again at six in the morning.”

     We stared at each other over my kitchen table. It was Monday and I’d decided I wasn’t going to make any announcement about closing the store. Sunday night, I ran over and put a sign in the window that said
Mabel’s Fables and Things will be closed every Monday.
It’s true, Flori did have a fit but when I brought out my books and showed her how much money I took in on a Monday, she thought I should’ve closed years ago.

     “Oh, Mabel,” she said. “You could’ve been spending your time with me. Think of all the things we missed out on all these years.”

     Offhand, I couldn’t think of too much.

     “Like what?” I said.

     “Like berry picking,” she said.

     Well, I guess that would have taken care of the Mondays in June.

     I’d phoned Reg after Flori gave me the news and he said he was on his way over. I made an extra big pot of coffee, took out a bag of raisin bran muffins and popped them in the microwave oven. He still sounded congested so I thought I’d give him something a bit healthier than his usual strawberry or blueberry muffin. I’m sure Beth would be pleased. Being a cop’s wife was stressful enough, she didn’t need to worry about his digestive system too.

     A few minutes later, he arrived. The moment he got through the door, he sneezed and sent my cats scurrying for cover.

     “Please, come in and share your germs with us,” I said. Flori had wisely grabbed a tea towel, which she now draped over her face. “Flori,” I said. “You can’t spend the rest of your life with a towel over your face. If you’re going to catch it, you’re going to catch it.”

     “So, what’s this, Mabel?” the sheriff asked in a nasal voice. “This friend of yours in Yellow Rose – Stella - doesn’t answer her phone anymore? You’re sure this is where this Sally person phoned from?”

     By this time, the Sheriff had already poured his coffee and was placing a muffin on a plate.