A Brilliant Ride (10 page)

“There’s something else, besides the vivid dreams,” I added. “The house feels different. It feels, I don’t know, lighter. I can’t explain it. It’s like walking into a place filled with an electrical charge. It started last week when I was standing in the kitchen.”

“Huh, the kitchen…must be all those spices Blossom uses,” she giggled.

“She thinks the house is haunted.”

“Wow, well I don’t think you’d be feeling so marvelous if the house was haunted. I think you’d be spooked, not all warm and cozy.”

“Yes, I guess you’re right. It’s really crazy.”

Not a moment later, the gym door flew open with a boom and Selena Clinton, dressed in a bright red leotard and matching sarong, rushed in. I gave her a little wave and immediately regretted it. She made a bee line for us.

“Hola! How fablus to see you both heeer,” she flashed her bright white teeth.

Claudia replied in a sickly sweet voice, “Oh, it’s
our
pleasure.” Which is code for: make it snappy and hit the road.

“Si, I am come for my persnal traynoor. You know hem, si?”

“Oh yes; he’s fabulous.” Claudia and I exchanged looks. “You’ll really get a workout with him.”

“Si,” Selena continued, sliding her hands up and down her shapely form, “it is the job of the womans to keep, how you say…so sexy?”

“Yes, sexy,” giggled Claudia.

“Ay yi yi, Jake likes me to stay in the shape.” She winked, and we all looked at ourselves in the oversized mirror.

“Well, we have to get going; see you later Selena. Good luck with your work-out.” We picked up our towels.

“Definitely time to head out,” Claudia mumbled.

“I wonder how Selena keeps her spark alive?”

“I wonder,” Claudia grimaced.

We left the
gym in Claudia’s new Bentley, still giggling about Selena’s
stay sexy
workout
. As we headed north, on Hawthorne, we noticed flashing lights. “What’s that? Looks like an accident,” I said.

Claudia slowed the car. “Wow, there’s a lot of activity, an ambulance, two patrol cars, and a black sedan. There’s another car on the embankment.”

As we neared, I turned to get a better look. A Porsche Boxster was pulled over to the side of the road, and three men were standing around it writing in small notebooks. Two police officers were talking on radios, and a medic was in the passenger seat leaning over the driver. He was slumped over the steering wheel. Claudia let out a scream.

“Oh, my God Pen, that’s Todd…from the club,” she crie
d. “Let me get a closer look.” It was difficult, because the police were signaling for us to move along, but Claudia was able to slow down enough for us to get a pretty good look inside the car.

“Yes, yes, it’s Todd!” A wave of sickness came over me, and I shuddered at the sight of him slumped over. Claudia drove up and pulled over to the side of the road, just past the patrol car. We both jumped out and walked over to where one of the officers was standing. My legs felt week, and I gulped hard as we approached.

“Excuse me, ladies…back up. This is a crime scene; the two of you have to stay back. Please, get back in your car.” The officer was quite abrupt.

“A crime scene,” Claudia repeated, holding on to my arm tightly. “You don’t understand; that’s my tennis instructor,” she explained in a high pitch. “Maybe I can help. Is he badly hurt? What happened? Maybe I can call someone for him.”

The officer raised his eyebrow and shook his head slowly. “I’m sorry; there isn’t any information…not at this time.”

“What do you mean… no information?” Claudia was bordering on hysteria. “He’s hurt, and I’m a friend. I don’t want to leave him here alone,” she pleaded.

“Look, lady, I’m sorry, but your friend is dead. There’s nothing you can do for him. Now move back, and get into your car.”

Claudia and I stood in shock as we heard the words but couldn’t process what was said.

Your friend is dead.
The words hung in the air like thick black smog, a sinister darkness. I stood motionless trying to comprehend the scene while my heart pounded, echoing in my ears.

“Dead! But, his car doesn’t even look damaged. What happened?” Claudia stammered.

“Sorry, can’t divulge.”

“What? I can’t believe this. What’s going on her
e?” Claudia held her head, her hand shaking.

“This is an ongoing investigation; I’m sorry.”

“Investigation…what do you mean?”

“Please, back away and get into your car; look lady, I’m not going to say it again.” The officer rais
ed his voice.

“Tell us something,” pleaded Claudia. “Do you have any clues?
Look, he’s a friend.” She wobbled and grabbed onto the officer’s arm. “Please, it’s so horrible!”

“I’ll tell you this much, your friend here…well, this was no accident. It appears to be a homicide.” His eyebrow shot up.

A shiver went through me, and I felt my stomach drop.

The officer walked over to two men with notebooks, and they all turned to look at us. I felt like I was going to faint and leaned on Claudia for support. The two men approached and asked how long we had known Todd.

“He’s our tennis instructor,” Claudia shouted out. “Let’s see, oh, about three years now. He was fabulous; we all loved him...”

I wrapped my arms tightly around myself. “Yes, our tennis instructor,” I mumbled numbly.

“I can’t believe this,” sobbed Claudia, her body visibly trembling. “Why? Who would do this to Todd? This is just all too horrible.”

I looked at the men in disbelief.

“I’m Detective Barry, and this is Detective Pici,” said the taller of the two men. He smelled of cheap aftershave and cigarettes. “Can I have your names please? We might need to contact you later to answer some questions. General questions about his friends, his lifestyle…that type of thing,” he said, peering at us over his small glasses.

“Was it a robbery?” I asked.

“No ma’am. Nothing seems to be missing. His wallet and belongings are all intact. There is something though…” The detective looked at us sideways.

“What?” Claudia snapped.

“Did Mr. Crowe mention at any time…” He stopped and tilted his head, his beady eyes set on us. “Did he ever mention having trouble with anyone…a client perhaps?”

“No, he never mentioned anything to me,” Claudia answered quickly.

“Nor to me,” I looked into the car and trembled.

“Mr. Crowe was strangled with what appears to be tennis string,” said Detective Barry. He looked at Todd’s car and then back at us. “There’s also a tennis ball stuffed in his mouth,” he said fla
tly.

“What! How gruesome,” I whimpered and grabbed Claudia’s hand.

“We also found these.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a clear plastic bag, filled with tiny white tablets.

“What are they?” I asked.

“Well, they look like pills to me,” he shot back, raising his dark eyebrow.

“What kind of pills? Where were they?” Claudia asked nervously pulling at her hair.

“We’ll have to have them analyzed, but I think I have a pretty good idea. They were strewn all over the front seat of Mr. Crowe’s car.”

“I don’t understand,” cried Claudia.

Detective Barry came up close, nose to nose with Claudia, and said, “Obviously this was some kind of vicious attack…by maybe one of his tennis students.” He lowered his glasses and shifted his gaze to me. His piercing eyes sliced through me.

“And then there’s this...” Detective Pici held up a large ornate brooch.

My eyes widened.

“You two recognize it?” Pic
i asked with a smirk.

“No,” Claudia answered quickly. “Why would we?”

“You dames are all connected in this town,” snorted Pici. “It’s a pretty big piece of jewelry, kinda unmistakable, don’t ya think?” he sneered. “Tell you what; we’ll give you two a little time to think about it. Let us know if you remember something.” He handed us his card and shot Detective Barry a look. Then he reached into the pocket of his dingy trench coat and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. Slowly, he put one in his thin lips and lit it. The smoke hit me, and I felt my stomach heave.

“Can we go?” Claudia smoothed her hair nervously.

“Sure, but remember, we’ll be in touch,” Barry answered. He gave Pici a nod and they both turned, heading back to the police officers and Todd’s car.

“Let’s go,” I grabbed Claudia’s arm and we headed for the Bentley.

Claudia’s cell rang,
and we jumped. She found it at the bottom of her handbag and answered it quickly.

“Hello? Oh, Phyllis! You won’t believe this. Todd…Todd Crowe has been strangled…murdered! It’s simply ghastly,” Claudia cried into the phone. “Yes, it’s true; Pen and I are standing on the side of the road…at the intersection of Hawthorne and Pike. It’s crawling with police and detectives! Poor Todd is in his car, slumped over. It’s just horrible.” She fingered the magnificent sapphire stud shining from her earlobe and exhaled slowly.

“Yes, there are two detectives here. Yes, darling…
murder
! What? Yes. Okay, we’ll be right over.” She clicked her phone off.

Detective Pici called after us. “Excuse me, ladies. Don’t forget, we’ll be contacting you to follow up with some more questions.”

“Er, yes…of course,” we answered without looking back and hurried into Claudia’s car.

“I can’t bel
ieve this; first the waiter at Magnolia, and now this. What the hell is going on?” I felt my heart pounding harder as I tried to wrap my mind around the gruesome attack.

“I don’t know, but Phyllis is waiting for us.” Claudia turned the Bentley at the next corner and drove on. It took six minutes for us to drive to Phyllis’ house, but it felt like an eternity.

Phyllis was waiting
for us in the doorway of her sprawling pink Mediterranean, wearing low-slung jeans and a tight white t-shirt with the words CHOOSE PEACE plastered across the front. As soon as we entered, a wave of garlic hit me. Frank was busy in the kitchen whipping up one of his Italian feasts.

“Quick, come in.” Phyllis took our coats and led
us down two steps into her massive great room. “It’s all over the news.” She pointed to a large flat screen secured on the back wall. The local news channel was showing Todd’s car and the Regal’s indoor tennis courts.

“What a nightmare,” Claudia whimpered.

Frank barreled into the room with a large tray of appetizers - cheese, sausage, olives, and little pieces of Italian bread with his special olive oil for dipping. Frank’s always prepared.

“You girls look frazzled. Sit down and have something.” He put the platter down and opened two bottles of wine, a red and a white.

Frank’s thick black hair was slicked back. He was wearing a dark, button-front shirt and khaki pants. His huge 18-karat watch hung loosely from his left wrist. He poured us each a glass of wine, while Phyllis rearranged the tray of appetizers on the cocktail table.

I threw my drink down and poured another. Claudia asked for a martini.

“Make it a double, Frank.” He kissed us both on the cheek and told Claudia he’d be back with the shaker.

“You two must be devastated,” said Phyllis. “Why would anyone want to hurt Todd? He was such a nice guy.”

“Who knows,” I said. “We didn’t really know that much about him.”

Frank came back with the shaker and poured Claudia a drink in a very large martini glass.

Frank does everything in a big way.

He gave Phyllis a squeeze and sat down next to Claudia.

“Listen girls, I think you should think about protection,” he knitted his eyebrows. “This town is getting dangerous. There’s obviously a maniac on the loose. I don’t think it’s safe for you girls to go out alone.”

“Fran
k, don’t be so damn dramatic. We’re not in any danger. It doesn’t have anything to do with us,” Phyllis answered sharply. “You’re overreacting, as usual.”

“Oh, Frank, you’re a big sweetie.” Claudia patted him on his massive back and gave him a little reassuring smile.

“Look, the way I see it, both of these killings concern people you know and places you frequent. Magnolia is a hangout of yours, and Todd was your tennis pro. Okay, maybe I’m being a little over protective, but I’d feel better if you girls didn’t go out alone.” Frank put his large hands through his thick dark hair and looked down at his imported Italian loafers. “I’m just nervous.” He let out a sigh. “I’ll be going out of town next week, and I don’t feel comfortable leaving with all of this going on. I think I’m going to have one of my guys keep an eye on you, Phyllis.”

“Relax, Frank,” Phyllis barked. “I don’t want one of your goons hanging around. I’ll be fine.” She rolled her eyes and tutted loudly.

“I’ve seen enough of this.” Phyllis turned the television off and sighed. “Besides, we have more help around this house than…”

“Well, too bad, and he’s not a goon,” said Frank. “He’s Gino’s son, and he’s gonna stay in the guest house. He’ll drive for you. No exceptions…I mean it!” He pointed one pudgy finger at her and narrowed his dark eyes. “Listen to me.”