Ring Around the Rosy (27 page)

This is the sixth murder of its
kind, and police still have no leads in the case. A cautious killer, no trace
evidence has been found at this point. Anyone with information that leads to
the arrest of an individual or individuals is requested to call the police. A
reward has been offered by the victim’s families.

She faxed the story, leaned back,
took a deep breath, and closed her eyes.

Peter wasn’t a small man. How had
someone got the better of him? All the victims were strangled. Why that method?
Strangulation was personal. The killer had to look the victim in the eyes. Who
hated these people so much and why? Susan shivered, got up, and paced her
apartment. She had to think of something else, but what? It seemed her whole
life revolved around the murders. And Dave.

What a strange turn of events that
brought her and Dave together. She would have preferred a different meeting,
and even though this helped her career, she couldn’t help wishing they’d met
under different circumstances.

The fact that six people were dead
bothered her, especially since she thought there must be a way to prevent it.
Dave and the police were doing everything possible, and yet he ran free. There
were no witnesses. Friends and family of the victims had been questioned, and
no one understood who or why anyone wanted to hurt, let alone kill, any of
them. They were all upright citizens and good family people who contributed to
their communities.

Why had the killer singled them
out? What was the connection? Most of them had grown up in the same
neighborhood, even gone to the same schools together. But then they had gone
their separate ways, having no connection with each other as adults. None of
them had been good friends or socialized with each other. Granted, they
probably saw each other at Meliti’s Market, maybe even spoke. But, they weren’t
friends. In fact, she probably knew them better than they knew each other.

Too tired to try to figure it out,
she picked up Bella and went to bed. She’d had enough for one day.

Susan sipped her coffee the next
morning and read the paper. Clare had called to set up lunch. Her sister
sounded excited, but said they’d talk at lunch. Susan shook her head and
laughed. It must have been the quickest phone conversation with Clare in
history.

She set the paper on the counter
and rubbed Bella’s head. A story caught her eye about a stalker leaving roses
on the doorstep of a Parma woman. She picked up the paper and focused her
attention on the story.

A Parma man has been arrested in
connection with the stalking of an unnamed Parma woman. Walter Egan allegedly
stalked the woman, placing a single rose on the doorsteps to her home, office,
and her car. He made phone calls to the woman’s home from nearby phone booths
and left messages relating to her looks, the last one threatening. This has been
going on for two months, and the police nabbed him red-handed. Police believe
the man suffers from erotomania, a disease that makes someone think a person is
in love with him and sending him private messages. The victim says Walter Egan
is a stranger to her.

A rush of adrenalin ran through
her body.. Could this be the same nutcase who left the roses at her apartment?
She didn’t recognize the name. And he didn’t live in her area, but Parma wasn’t
far from here. She grabbed her phone and dialed Dave’s cell phone.

He answered on the first ring.
“No, I haven’t seen the paper yet, but I’ll check into it. They were able to
get a partial print from the last flowers. Oh, and Susan, I’m back on the
case.”

“That’s a bit of good news.” Thank
God for small favors. It was her fault Dave was thrown off the case to begin
with. All because of that darn bracelet.

Susan set the paper aside and went
to meet her sister.

She pulled into the parking lot of
Erma’s Restaurant and found Clare waiting for her. After a quick hug and kiss
hello, Clare barely gave the hostess time to seat them before she started
talking.

No way could Susan get a word in,
so she just ate and tried to listen. Clare’s work was going well, but mostly
she talked about Steve. “He asked for a divorce. There is someone else. At
first he didn’t want to discuss our problem, but I insisted. I told him if we
didn’t talk about it I was divorcing him. That’s when he told me about his
mistress.”

Why didn’t that surprise her?
Susan would have bet her life on it when Clare talked about it the other day.

Her cell phone rang as Clare
babbled on. There wasn’t any point in commenting. Her sister was in a world of
her own, and there was no reason to intrude. Clare didn’t even notice the phone
ringing or Susan answering it.

No sooner did Susan hang up when
Clare glanced at her watch. “I’m sorry, I have to run; I have an appointment.”
She kissed Susan’s cheek as they walked out of the restaurant together.

Susan decided to do a little
shopping to help pass the time. She didn’t have an assignment for the paper
until next week, which was fine with her. She had sold a couple of articles to
a magazine, and that would help tide her over.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Susan stopped at Meliti’s to pick
up something for dinner before going home. The smell of the simmering tomato
sauce and the fresh-baked bread, hot out of the oven, hit her full force when
she opened the door. Her mouth watered as she walked around the store. She
could almost taste the rich, spicy sauce and experience the smoothness of the
creamy Alfredo sauce.

Greg came in while she was talking
to old Mrs. Meliti and picking out pastry for dessert.
 

“Hey, Susan, how you doing?” He
smiled and nodded his hello to old Mrs. Meliti.

They exchanged a few pleasantries,
and Susan looked at her watch, pretending she had something important to do.
She didn’t feel like standing here talking to Greg. She said goodbye and turned
to go.

“Hey, wait up, I’ll walk with
you,” he said as she reached the checkout counter.

Great, she thought, there’s no way
around this.

 
“Didn’t you forget something?” She nodded at
his empty hands. “Did you forget to buy something?”

“Oh, uh...” His face reddened.
“Actually, well to be honest, I saw you through the window and came in to see
you.”

Susan’s cheeks burned. Think, darn
it, what could she say to discourage him?

Obviously, turning down his offer
of a date and telling him she was seeing someone didn’t do the trick. What else
could she do or say?

She paid for her groceries and
turned to leave. Greg kept up with her fast pace as she hurried to her
apartment. There had to be some way to make him understand she wasn’t
interested in him. But what? Heck, she’d never been in this situation before.

“Have you heard any more from the
nursery rhyme murderer?” he asked as they neared the apartment building.

“No, thank God, I haven’t.” She
turned and almost ran up the three steps to their building. “And to be
truthful, I hope I don’t.”

Greg put his key in the lock and
held the door for her. She pressed the elevator button and waited. Why did it
take so long for the stupid thing when she was in a hurry? She drummed her
fingers on the grocery bags.

“So there’s still no chance of us
going out is there?” Greg stood in front of her and looked her in the eye.

She took a deep breath and sighed.
“No, I’m afraid not.” She didn’t want to sound nasty, but she had to be honest.

“It’s the cop, isn’t it?”

The elevator arrived, and she
hurried to get on. He followed her in and pushed the button for the third
floor. They rode in silence. Susan didn’t see any point in answering his
question. It didn’t matter if it was Dave or not, she wasn’t attracted to Greg.
He walked her to her door and waited for her to go in.

“I’m sorry,” she finally said.
“Yeah, it’s the cop.” There — she said it. Now maybe he’d leave her alone.

She went in and locked the door
behind her.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet eating
her curds and whey. I never wanted to frighten Miss Muffet away, until now,
that is.

This one was special. He hated to
do away with her. Probably the only girl who ever talked to him, paid attention
to him. At least for a while. He had called her, and she agreed to meet with
him. That was something wasn’t it? She knew who he was and still agreed to meet.
She was the only one he used his real name with. She was still beautiful.

“Hi,” she said when she walked up
to him. Just like that — casual, as if they’d seen each other yesterday. For
one brief moment, he almost changed his mind.

“So what do you want? I don’t have
much time.” She looked at her watch.

He raised his hand to her face,
and she pulled back, a look of revulsion in her eyes.

That did it. He grabbed her hair
and pulled her next to the sliding board, hitting her head on the ladder rungs.
She cried out, and he banged it again, put his hand around her neck, and
squeezed. She grabbed his hands and tried to push him away, but she was no
match for him. He lowered her to the ground as he squeezed.
 
Her eyes filled with terror as realization
hit her. At her last gasp for life, he squeezed harder, and then released his
grip. He had to hurry. It was earlier than usual, and he didn’t have a minute
to waste. He picked up her feet and dragged her body to the mushroom-shaped
toys. After he posed her, he cleaned up the scene, got rid of the drag marks,
pulled off his suit and hurried away with a last look at her. Just for a
moment, he regretted what he had done. But just for a moment. She deserved to
die.

* * *

“What was that all about?” Dave
startled Susan. She hadn’t expected him until later.

She set her package on the counter
and went into his waiting arms. “My neighbor asked me out again.”

He stroked her head. His fingers
curled a strand of hair. “You have a message. I didn’t listen to it.”

Not wanting to leave his arms, she
leaned in closer. Who cared about the message? She only wanted him to hold her.
For one day, she didn’t want to think about the killer.

“It can wait.” She reached up,
pulled his face down to meet hers, and pressed her lips to his. Her fingers
tangled in his silky hair.

“Hm, I know what dessert is,
what’s for dinner?”

Susan laughed, pulled away, and
went to unpack the groceries.

Dave joined her in the kitchen and
looked in the bags. “Ah, Fettuccini Alfredo. You’re going to turn me into an
Italian.”

“Promises, promises.” Susan ran
her finger down his cheek and across his lips.

“You keep that up, and we won’t
bother with dinner.”

Dave pulled her to him and kissed
her. His tongue darted into her mouth, and electricity sizzled through her body
down to her toes.

“You’re right. If you keep that
up, we won’t bother with dinner, and I’m starved.” She was starved, all right,
but not for food. Still, she knew better than to give into the cravings of her
body. And it craved Dave big time.

After Susan started dinner, she
played back her messages. The sound of the voice grated on her nerves. “Little
Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet. Will I have my way?” The connection, as usual,
went dead.

Dave’s puzzled look matched her
thoughts and feelings. What did that message mean?

“Wait!” Susan found her phone
book, turned to the listings under “M”. “Only one listing for Muffet, but they
live far out in the suburbs” Darn, she really thought she had it.

Dave dialed his phone, “Morgan, I
want you to find out everything you can about a Robert and Katherine Muffet,
including her maiden name. Find out previous addresses, and where they went to
school. Maybe, just maybe…” Dave crossed his fingers. “We can prevent a
murder.”

 
Susan cooked the fettuccini noodles while Dave
fixed a salad. It was fun having him help in the kitchen. They worked well
together, and conversation wasn’t necessary. He poured two glasses of a white
zinfandel, and they sat down at the small table for dinner.

“Emily wants us to come over this
weekend. I told her I’d check with you and see which day you’re free.”

“Either day is fine.” She moved
her noodles around on the plate, her mind preoccupied by the latest phone call.

“Good. Then how about Saturday?
We’ll go to dinner first. Do you play dominoes?” He buttered a fresh roll and
took a bite.

It suddenly occurred to her that
they had never been on a real date. They had dined together at restaurants,
here and in Florida, but they never actually went on a date. She wondered if
this could be classified as a date.

Somehow, they had just eased into
a relationship without all the anxiety of the first date, first kiss
experience. She was falling more in love with Dave each time she saw him. But,
she also treasured the friendship they had developed. Maybe it would turn into
something more. For now, she was satisfied with this stage, although her body
wanted more. Much more.