Away in a Murder (12 page)

“I didn’t have the chance to ask you. And I was not taking it without your permission,” Pete said.

“We’ll make sure you have access to a set of keys in the future,” I said. “When do you take the bar?”

“I took it today. That’s why I needed to cook. I needed the stress relief. You’ll be eating very well until I find out if I passed.”

“Works for me,” I said.

“Pete, I’ll tell you if I need more information later. If any more evidence turns up against you I’ll let you know,” Marlowe said.

“There won’t be,” Pete said putting both hands in the air. “That’s the only connection I have with that man.”

“Just in case,” Marlowe said.

“Understood, Chief,” Pete said.

We finished off the evening eating cake and talking. It turned out to be a very social gathering. When we were finished Marlowe said good night and left.

“I’m making breakfast in the morning,” Pete said. He looked at Frankie, “In your mother’s kitchen. Ours isn’t fully stocked yet. We’ll fix that later.”

“You don’t have to make breakfast,” I said.

“Oh, yes I do. Part of it is earning my keep and part of it is to calm my nerves. In fact, don’t be scared if you hear noise out here tonight. I might be up baking. I’ll be as quiet as I can. If that’s ok with you,” Pete quickly added.

“No problem. Thanks for warning me before I came after you with some sort of weapon.”

I felt for Pete. The only time I had been that nervous was when I was waiting for my grandchildren to be born. I wished him luck and hoped it was over soon. But not too soon, I loved his cooking and his baking.

“Frankie, let’s take Pete to lunch with us tomorrow,” I said.

“Good idea,” Frankie said.

“We’re going to the buffet restaurant we used to eat at almost every day when we first got here,” I told Pete. “We need to do some sleuthing and the regulars there love to talk. We’ll take a cab, my car only seats two.”

“It’s a date,” Pete said. “When I start practicing, we’ll have to look in to buying a car.”

“Yea, you need one here. It’s not like where we used to live. The bus service stinks,” Frankie said.

Frankie and Pete each gave me a hug good night. Pete reminded me he might sneak down to my kitchen later. I let him know he was welcome.

I got ready for bed but had a little trouble sleeping. I read an Agatha Christie novel until I felt tired enough to sleep. Then I slept and let my little grey cells work on the problem at hand.

During the night I heard the pots and pans rattling. Doors were opening and closing. It wasn’t very loud, but when you live alone sounds in the night seem to amplify themselves. I was actually comforted by the thought that someone was cooking in my kitchen. I fell asleep listening to Pete work out his stress.

I awoke the next morning feeling really good. I knew my son was happy in his relationship. I really liked his… lover? Boyfriend? Pete. I really liked Pete. I put on my slippers and a silk robe and went to the kitchen to make coffee and see what Pete had baked during the night. Or at least I tried to. My door wouldn’t open. I checked the lock. The door was unlocked. I pushed again. It moved a little.

I kept pushing. Little by little the door would give. After several minutes of this it was open enough that I could squeeze between the door and the frame. When I saw the living room, I froze in my tracks. First of all the curio cabinet was against my door. That explained why I couldn’t get out. But why was it there? Who put it there?

When I turned toward the living room I realized, why.  My house was trashed. What did Pete do! I was getting angry. And why in the hell would he trap me in! Did I misjudge this guy? Maybe he did kill Al.

There was a knock on my door. It was Pete. “I came to make breakfast,” he said in a singy voice.

He came in the door and then he too, stopped dead. “Misty, what happened? Are you ok?” All the color drained from his face.

That’s when it hit me. If he didn’t know what happened then it wasn’t Pete. Without a word I went back in to my bedroom and called 911. Pete followed me.

When the operator answered I gave her my name and address and she sent two officers over. She wanted me to stay on the line but since there was no current danger, I decided not to. As soon as I hung up, Marlowe called.

“Misty, are you ok? I just heard what happened over the radio.” He asked in a panicked voice.

“Yea, I thought it was Pete cooking in my kitchen. I was wrong.” I wanted to cry but I didn’t want Marlowe to hear me cry. Not to mention that I didn’t think crying would do any good.

I looked at Pete he looked white as a ghost. Tears were streaming down his face. I gestured to the chair near my bed. He sat down. I was glad; I didn’t want him to pass out.

“I’m on my way,” Marlowe continued. “Your alarm company has been notified and I just heard over the radio that they’re sending over the guy who was on duty last night. I am going to rip him a new one.”

“Might not have been his fault,” I said. I too had to sit down before I fell down. “There are two entrances.”

“Hold, on, I’m at your gate now. We’ll be up in a minute,” Marlowe said then hung up.

“Hello, anybody…Oh my, God. Mom, where are you?” Frankie yelled from the living room.

“We’re in here,” Pete yelled back.

Frankie stopped in the doorway. “What the hell happened? Did you throw a party and not tell us?” He was trying to make a joke, but I could hear the fear in his voice.

“Frankie, please go let Marlowe and the police in. They’ll be here any moment. I need to change clothes real quick. I can’t let them see me in my pajamas,” I said, my head still spinning.

“It’s ok, Misty, nobody will care,” Pete said.

I stood up and looked at him. “I’ll care. Besides it will make me feel better.”

I changed in to an Adventure Universe polo, a pair of denim shorts, and some comfy tennis shoes. Somehow wearing my park’s logo made me feel better. I brushed my hair and brushed my teeth. Ok, I felt better prepared to face this again.

Pete and I went back in to the living room. There was a police officer taking fingerprints from my furniture. Another was taking pictures. The new forensics guy, the one with German name that was so long Marlowe called him Matt, was bagging items.

When he saw me Marlowe rushed over and held me. His touch was reassuring. I felt safe now. So safe, in fact that I started to cry. I didn’t want to let go of him. I was starting to need him. Whether that was good or bad I wasn’t sure yet.

He pulled away from me and looked me in the eyes. He wiped away my tears and gave me a gentle kiss. “I will find out who did this. No one will hurt anyone I love ever again.”

Did he say love?

Frankie rushed back in to the room. “Ok, the alarm company is on their way. They are doing an emergency install of the cameras. And we’re putting an alarm on the house itself. Before you argue with me, Mom, you could have come out to check on the noise, thinking it was Pete. Then what? You could have been hurt.”

“He has a point,” Pete said.

“They put the curio in front of the door to keep me from getting out. I was safe. If they wanted to hurt me they surely could have done so.”

“So, you were in your bedroom last night. You didn’t see what happened? The thief never entered the bedroom,” Marlowe said.

I shook my head no. “They trapped me.”

“Let’s go in there and talk,” Marlowe said.

Marlowe had the two officers move the curio just enough so that we could get in to the bed room safely. When we entered the room I sat on the bed. Frankie sat beside me. Pete took the chair. Marlowe stood. We told him what had happened after he left. He said he understood why I didn’t react when I heard the noises.

“Do you have any idea who could have wanted to break in here?” Marlowe asked.

“Hell, no,” I said. “Anything of value wasn’t even out there. It’s all in here. In my safe. In my wallet. In my jewelry box.”

“And they didn’t take any electronics which is odd,” Marlowe pointed out.

“Maybe it was the murderer,” Frankie said.

“Don’t say that,” I practically yelled at my son.

“He could be right,” Marlowe said.

“No. Why? What could they want from me?”

“Well, once we find out what’s missing we’ll know.” Marlowe said.

“I think they came in through the back gate,” I said looking at Marlowe. “Unless they knocked out the guard at the front gate. But I’m sure somebody would have sounded the alarm if that happened. I’m assuming they changed guards at this point.”

“They did, remember I told you the guy on duty last night was coming here to answer question?”

Damn, I’d forgotten. The stress of the situation must have been getting to me.

“You’re right, they would have notified someone if the guard was attacked,” Marlowe said. “So it probably was the back gate. I’ll know more after I talk to the night guard.”

One of the officers poked his head in the door, “Chief, if she’s up to it we need Mrs. Summer to take a look at something for us,” he said.

I got up and followed the officer out to the living room. He showed me an evidence bag. In the bag was what looked like a printed e-mail. It read:

“Mr. Lerner,

I beg of you, leave my family alone. Every family has its secrets. How bad they are is just a matter of opinion. I love my son and he loves me. Who are you to judge? Who is anyone to judge?

I will meet with you as per your request at the bar called “O’Mally’s” where we can better discuss this. I will meet your terms. Anything you want. Just leave my family alone.

Misty Summer”

“Where did you find that?” I asked.

“It was in your printer, ma’am,” the officer said.

“I never wrote it. And even if I did, why would I print it out?”

“Frau,” the forensics guy spoke up, “May we take ihre computer and just check it for evidence. If du wrote the letter I’ll know. If du didn’t I’ll know.”

He was combining German and English. Would that be called Germglish?

“Nimm es. Nimm es. Tun Sie, was Sie tun müssen. Ich glaube nicht, gerade jetzt zu kümmern.” I said.

“Sprichst du deutsch?” Matt asked.

“Ja, aber nicht für eine lange Zeit” I told him.

“Vielleicht werden wir zusammen üben.”

“Das wäre wunderbar.”

Matt and I smiled at each other. I noticed that the others in the room were staring at us, wide mouthed.

“What?” I said.

“You speak German?” Frankie sounded so offended.

“My grandparents were German immigrants. Of course I speak German. Danke, Matt”

“Sie sind willkommen, Frau,” Matt said and went back to his work.

“Damn, I’m impressed,” Marlowe said.

“Mom, could we get back to the matter at hand” Frankie said. “Someone is trying to frame you for the murder.”

“Ok, so they planted the letter. But why trash the place?” I asked.

“So you would call us and we would find the letter,” Marlowe said. “Otherwise when you found it you would have just thrown it away.”

“Very smart,” I said. “Except that the killer obviously doesn’t know me at all. I would have called you the moment I found it. Again, I have nothing to hide. But the killer must think I do.”

“We’ll go to the bar and see if anyone remembers seeing you there. Problem is it’s right around the corner from where the body was found. And we already know that Mr. Learner was there with a woman the night he was killed,” Marlowe said. “But I already have your alibi so I know you weren’t there.” He smiled at me. “I really don’t think you have any secrets.”

That’s when it hit me. I went in to my bedroom and grabbed my keys.

“Mom, where are you going?” Frankie said.

“I have to check something,” I yelled back as I ran down the stairs. “Stay here. All of you.”

I opened the door to the garage and walked over to the “storage” room that I had built there. I unlocked the door and looked inside. Everything was there. Nothing had been touched. I breathed a sigh of relief and locked the door again.

When I turned around all three men were standing right behind me. I jumped when I saw them.

“I thought I said to stay there?” I said.

“Did they get to the storage closet?” Marlowe asked.

“No, nothing has been touched and there are no scratches on the door lock,” I said.

“Good, one less thing to worry about,” Marlowe said.

“Mom, what’s in there?” Frankie said.

“Memories, ghosts long dead. Nothing you need to worry about.”

“I thought I saw mirrors?” Pete said.

I sighed. I’d have to tell them something.

“You did. Along with those memories is a set of ballet practice bars and mirrors. I took lessons from the age of three into adulthood. When I’m stressed I go in there, lock the door and practice. It makes me feel better.”

“That’s right Grandma and Grandpa have those pictures of you. You won awards when you were young. They thought you were going to be a famous ballet dancer. You never told me about the room.” Frankie sounded offended.

“Because it was a private part of my life. My quiet place. My one place to get away from everything.”

My secrets were slowly coming out. How long before I was forced to reveal everything?

Marlowe turned me toward him and he looked at me. “It’s still your quiet place,” he said softly.  “As long as your cell phone works in there.”He took my hand and we walked back up the stairs together.

I looked at the clock. It was nearly eleven. The morning was almost over.

“Oh My God,” I yelled.

All three men turned and looked at me.

“I never called Della and let her know I wouldn’t be in,” I explained.

“Mom, I called her. She’s on it.”

“I should have realized. We make a pretty good team,” I said. I smiled at my son. I knew Della would take care of everything. What would I ever do without her?

“I want to get out of here. Let’s go to lunch like we were planning,” I said.

Frankie handed his keys to Marlowe. Marlowe gave his keys to Frankie.

“Take my car, don’t use the siren. I’ll use Misty’s car if I need one, if that’s ok,” Marlowe said.

“It’s fine,” I said. Although I was suspicious of their just trading keys and then asking. I was wondering if my son and my potential boyfriend had been hanging out together without telling me.

“Besides I might still be here when you get back. I’ve got a lot to do yet,” Marlowe said.

Frankie, Pete, and I walked outside. It was a beautiful Florida day. The sun was shining. The temperature was probably in the 80’s. There was even a rabbit chewing the grass not too far from us. It was an “I’m lucky to live in Florida” moment. Too bad it was marred by the events that occurred over night.

Frankie drove. Pete insisted that I sit in the front seat and he sat in the back. This wasn’t easy for Pete, because Marlowe’s car only had two doors. Obviously he did not plan on anyone ever riding in the back seat.

When we arrived at the buffet restaurant I felt a sense of comfort. Here was something familiar. The food was good. The people were friendly. It had so many fond memories attached to it.

When we got out of the car I looked at Pete. He didn’t seem so sure.

“It’s not as bad as it looks. We ate here a lot when we first arrived,” I said.

“You’re still alive so I’ll give it a shot,” Pete said.

When we entered the restaurant we were warmly welcomed by the hostess.

“Where have ya’ll been? Too good for us now that you’re important people in our town, huh?” she smiled while she said it.