The Cin Fin-Lathen Mysteries 1-3 (38 page)

~

Harry told me to wait up on the dock while he brought the
car.  He arrived, opened the driver’s door and started to help me in.  I looked
at my bare feet and said, “Harry, why don’t you drive.”  I was all but herded
to the passenger side, put in the car and seat-belted in before I could change
my mind.  Harry got in the driver’s seat, and I said, “Let’s drive with the top
down.”

The top went down, and I put in a classic Toad the Wet
Sprocket CD in the player. 

“Let me take the long way home, and I will buy you an ice
cream,” Harry offered politely as he headed the car to the beach road. 

“Sure,” I said.  “Why not.”  I put my seat back and looked
at the stars listening to the roar of the engine just under the soft sounds of
Toad.

Driving along the Atlantic with the warm wind in
my hair did a lot to improve my mood.  My feet were looking angry, and my body
felt as if I had run a marathon.  Harry was handling my car with the spirit of
an Andretti.  I had to remind him constantly to watch his speed.  At one point
I just gave up and closed my eyes. 

What the hell happened to my life of ease and
empty-nest-dom?  Well, the hubby bailed out leaving me alone but not
uncomfortable.  I still resided in our four bedroom house plus mother in-law
apartment out back.  It was half mine according to the sovereign state of
Florida.  The market had fallen and we would have to wait until it was
financially smart to sell the family home.  It was sad thinking about the drift
apart that had happened to Luke and I, so I pushed it away from my mind.

Harry had pulled into an overlook area and got
out to stretch his legs.   The ocean beckoned me, but someone would have to
carry me over the sand, into the water and keep me afloat as I was not up to
it.

I gazed over the water and thought about an isle
in the north Atlantic.  It was a big one.  England drew me to it like no other
place in the world.  I actually felt homesick for the west Country at times. 
Sure, Noelle was there in school, but it was more than that.  It pulled me. 
You would think my recent adventures there would have quenched my thirst for
hedgerows and ale.  I gazed down at one of my battle-scarred feet and could
just see where Ivana had stabbed me with my own knife.  There were other scars,
some flesh wounds but others that would take me even longer to deal with.  I
had killed two people.  Two bad people, but I had killed and there was no way
to cancel clear those thoughts.

“Cin, are you alright?” Harry’s voice penetrated
my thoughts.

I sat up and realized I had tears rolling down
my face.  “I’m fine, Harry, just tired,” I said as I wiped at them with my
hands.  Harry handed me a napkin he had saved from his ice cream cone.  It had
a little cherry dip on it but I managed to avoid painting my face with the
sugar as I dried my eyes.

“I was thinking...” he started.

“Oh, no...”

“Come on, I think it’s time for us to
investigate these murders.”

“Oh no,” I repeated, this time with alarm. 
“Believe me, Harry, this isn’t our business.”

“Listen for a minute.  I have been mule-ing this
over.”

“Mulling.”

“I said mulling...”

“No you said, mule-ing, as in a mule.”

Harry wrinkled up his face and decided to let it
go.  “I’ve been, pondering?  Yes, pondering your situation, Cin, and you are a
suspect.  They are going to wrap all this around your neck if we just sit by
and let them.”

“Why do you think this?” I said, crossing my
arms, worried that the kid was right.

“First, you openly hated Carl and Cheryl.”

“True.”

“Secondly, you have no love lost for Manfred and
Tobias.  Not that I blame you as the two guys freak me out.”

“What about Miles?  He didn’t look too clean
tonight.”

“Nah, you know the guy isn’t clever enough.”

“And I am?”

“Oh yes, plus you had all that bad business in England.”

“I was exonerated.”

“Not really.  Once you have the big M attached
to your name it never goes away.  Look at OJ.”

“You’re comparing me to...” I sat up and
struggled out of my seat belt.  “It was self-defense!” 

“You know that, I know that, but really can you
see Tony ignoring that you are capable, bum arm or not?”  He stopped as
something on the road behind us caught his eye.

I whirled around to see a police motorcycle roll
into the overlook, lights flashing.  Officer Dudley pulled his bike behind the
Z3, blocking Harry and I in.  I started to get out of the car, and Harry
motioned for me to stay put.  He waited until the other man dismounted from his
bike and walked over before talking.

“What’s the problem, Officer?”

Dudley pointed to the information sign in the
overlook then to our car and then to his watch. He smiled just before he
flipped open his citation book.

Harry and I whirled around and looked at the
sign.  It read, “Open to Public Sunrise to Sunset.”

I looked to the west, and the sun just hit the
horizon.

“Come on, Dudley, we were just leaving,” I
protested.

Dudley’s eyebrows twitched at the exclusion of
his title, Officer.  That was one strike against us.

“You have to be freaking kidding me,” Harry
complained.

Cursing at a cop, two strikes and climbing.

“Oh this is just payback for the other night,” I
blurted.

Strike three.  Dudley scribbled furiously in his
book.  Just as he finished and was handing the ticket to Harry, another set of
lights, this time attached to the Village of Palm Beach cruiser, announced that
the local boys had arrived.

Harry and I looked at each other.  I was
beginning to think I was guilty of murder by all this attention.

Two beautifully adorned officers of the law
exited their vehicle.  Their uniforms were pressed with military creases.  Each
young man looked as if he had walked off of the pages of a gentlemen’s style
magazine.  One officer hung back, leaning seductively, from my point of view,
on the hood of the cruiser.

The other addressed Dudley, “What’s going on
here?”

“Parked illegally, after hours,” Dudley stated.

“Since when did Coconut Grove police have
jurisdiction in Palm Beach?” the officer asked in disdain.  He walked over and
held his hand out and Harry dutifully put the ticket in his hand.  He scanned it
and pointed out a spelling error to Dudley before handing it to the red-faced
cop.  “Destroy this,” he said to Dudley and turned to us.  “You were just
leaving, I assume.”

“Yes Officer,” Harry said reverently, one
Brownie point for using officer, and two for the feigned respect.

“Good,” he said and motioned to Dudley to move
his bike.

Harry jumped in the car, backed out slowly, and
drove the speed limit until we were off the island.  The last we saw of Dudley
was him getting a dressing down from our Ken doll rescuers.

~

Harry pulled the car into the garage.  I crawled out of the
car as my overworked leg muscles were screaming at me.  “Hot tub,” I said
aloud.

“What?”

“Sorry, I’m used to talking to myself.”  I opened the door
and turned off the alarm.  “Remind me to give you the code.”

“Has it changed in five years?”

“Nope.”

“Then I know it.”  Harry put the garage door down and reset
the alarm.

Harry followed me into the den.  He flopped on the couch,
and I eased myself into the desk chair and contemplated the blinking light on
the answering machine.  “Do I have to?”  I didn’t wait for an answer and played
the messages.  Not too bad.   Just Bernice and Alex checking in.  I sat back. 
I would talk to them tomorrow.  Right now, pizza and beer.  I dialed the local
pizza chain, which Alex still had on speed dial from last summer.  A familiar
voice answered, and I gave the order.  “Mrs. Fin-Lathen!  Do you know this is
your forty-ninth pizza?”

“Um yes, I guess so.”  Note to self, examine diet regimen.
“Tammy, it’s
Ms.
Fin-Lathen, please, or how about Cin?”  I gave her the
order, and after she computed the charge I asked, “I have an unusual request.  Do
you have someone I know on delivery tonight?”  I didn’t want to worry about it
being poisoned.

“John’s here.  You know John Zech?  He went to school with
Alex.”

“That would be wonderful, Tammy.”  I hung up and gave the
phone to Harry.  “Call your mother.”  I got up and left. I needed to clean up
my scratched legs before the pizza arrived.  I got no further than the living
room when the ringing of my cell phone brought me back.  I wasn’t in time,
Harry had just answered it.

“Cin’s phone.  Harry speaking.”  He was nodding his head.  “Yes,
it’s me, Mr. Lathen.  Yes, she’s here.”  He handed the phone to me.

“Luke!”  I did my best to sound chipper.

“Was that horrible Harry?”  Luke started.

“Yes.  Alex sent him over.”

“Why?”

I explained the recent events, editing out the last bit at
the beach.  His voiced calmed down a little.  “Just don’t let him drive your
car.”

I didn’t say anything.

“You already let him drive the BMW?”

“Well, yes.”

“Honestly, you are too indulgent with these friends of the
kids.  It’s your car but please be careful.”

“The village police are supposed to be watching the house.”

“I wasn’t talking about the killer, I was talking about
Harry.”  Luke sighed.  “On a brighter note
we
are stopping over in
London.  We are going to get to have dinner with Noelle.  I called her, and
she’s coming in to see us.”

“That’s wonderful,” I said, trying to keep the acid out of
my voice.  “You may not want to tell her about Harry.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s staying in her room.”

“Why not the guest room?”

“Better view.  I got to go, I hear the pizza man.”

“Take care Cin,” he said hanging up.

“Fuck off, deserter,” I said after the dial tone.  I hung up
and got to the door before Harry.  I didn’t want to explain to half the village
why I had Harry spending the night.

~

Pizza digested, beers drunk, and I was feeling more like
myself.  My brain was functioning on mellow but still functioning.  I decided I
had better go out and get the mail.  It had been sitting in the box for two
days.  Before Harry would let me go outside I had to take a flashlight and put
on rubber gloves.  “Just in case of poison pen letters?”  I teased as he stuck
the ugly yellow kitchen gloves on my hands.  He opened the front door and
looked around before letting me out. 

I felt ridiculous and couldn’t help giggling as I held up my
hands like a surgeon and walked to the mailbox.  I opened the lid and shone the
light in.  Nothing but letters and catalogs stared back at me.  I grabbed the
bunch and ran back up the driveway as a pair of headlights announced a car
moving down the street.  Harry opened the door, and I made it in before my neighbor
pulled into his driveway.

Putting the mail on the dining room table, I began to sort
it.  Bill, bill, junk mail, Victoria’s Secret catalog, bill, bill, letter with
block lettering?  I handed the catalog to Harry and pushed the last bit of mail
around.  No post office box.  The stamp hadn’t been canceled.  It was addressed
to Ms. Fin-Lathen.  No return address.  The big question was should I open it?

Harry was content flipping through the catalog and ogling
the girls.  Leaving the remaining mail unsorted, I walked into the den and
dialed the phone with much difficulty because I still had the gloves on. 

“Curtis here.”  I was beginning to like that voice.

“This is Cin.  I may have a bit of a problem, maybe not.”

“Whoa, what’s going on?"

“It’s the mail.  I have a letter, no return address, no post
office mark, no cancellation, and it’s written in block letters to Ms.
Fin-Lathen.  Could be junk mail, but I don’t feel so good about it.”

“Are you alone?”

“No, Harry is in the other room.  But he doesn’t know yet.”

“You want to bring it in?”

“Nope, I’m pretty tired.  Can we deal with it tomorrow?” I
asked, not really expecting a positive answer.

“Let me call Dave Buslowski.  Leave it alone till I call
back.” 

I left it on the desk and walked back to the dining room,
sorted the remaining mail and began to open the bills.

“You still have your gloves on,” Harry observed.

“Yes, I guess I do,” I commented, not taking them off.

“Any special reason why you still have your gloves on?”

“Well, I received a suspicious looking letter.”

“Where is it?”

“In the den.  Wait. Sit back down.  I already called Tony,
and he’s calling Sergeant Dave.  He told me to leave it alone.”  I didn’t make
eye contact with him.

“When were you going to tell me?”

“When it was safe.”  I could see he was hurt.  “Try to
understand, I know you’re a grownup but you’re like - no, you are - one of my
kids.”

Harry just shook his head.  “I took care of my mother, and I
can take care of you.   It’s time for you to learn to trust someone else.  You
can’t control everything.  This killer is counting on you to do your normal
Fin-Lathen thing.  You have to think different here.  I am not your son, but I
am your friend.  Start leaning on me more.”