For Sale in Palm Springs: The Henry Wright Mystery Series (20 page)

“
Oh, all right, here Henry,
we have an Australian chardonnay tonight, we like it and the price
is right.” Elliot grabbed a glass from a cupboard, the bottle of
wine from the refrigerator and poured some for Henry. She set the
bottle down on the counter next to Henry.

“
Great, thanks – where was
I?” Henry picked up the wine.

“
I want to know why Anchula
was at work at eight thirty at night when he is worth ten million
bucks or more.” Wayne stirred the chicken around in the bowl with
the marinade and rinsed his hands in the sink. “You know, we talked
a little bit about that and believe it or not, it’s not the money
that drives these guys. They’re thrilled by the idea of taking
nothing and creating something that has value.” Henry explained how
Anchula was working on his third startup company, hoping to take it
public. “His big fear though, was that the police would end up
deporting him if he reported the body in the house on Granvia
Valmonte and that’s why he ran.”

“
You know, it seems like a
lot of people think that we’re a lot more tightly integrated with
the federal government immigration guys than we are.” Wayne said,
pouring himself a glass of wine as well. “Yeah, I suppose that if
everything was working properly, if you pulled someone over for a
traffic violation on the streets of Palm Springs, the government’s
computer would let you know that they were in the country
illegally, and instead of hauling them in for a busted taillight,
you’d end up deporting them.” Henry mused.

“
We’re a long way from being
that well organized. There are too many budgets, too many
bureaucrats protecting their own turf and too many politicians in
the way of that much common sense.” Wayne said. “What else is going
on with you?’ “Me? Nothing much else.” Henry looked into his glass
of wine. “No? Someone saw you at the Blue Coyote Grill having lunch
with a woman.” Wayne said as Elliot stopped working on the salad
and turned to see what Henry would say. “Then yesterday at
breakfast you ordered bran cereal with fruit. Are you on some kind
of health kick suddenly?”

“
Well, yes, I did have lunch
with a woman, but it was purely professional.” Henry explained.
“But then we had dinner a couple of days later, and I must confess,
that was not totally professional.” “Henry, that’s wonderful!”
Elliot clapped her hands together. Wayne smiled, “So who is she,
how did you meet her?” “Well, I guess in a strange sort of way I
can thank Rex Thornbird for introducing me to Rosie. She is the
office manager at Coachella Real Estate and worked with Thornbird.
We met as part of the investigation I’m doing. I don’t know why,
but we hit it off, she is coming to the house tomorrow for a
barbecue.”

“
Henry, you’re moving rather
fast don’t you think, is that a good idea?” Elliot asked. “I also
noticed you’re not wearing your wedding ring anymore either.” Henry
looked down at his hand. “Oh, my ring? That was a total accident
and not related to Rosie at all. I took it off the other day before
I went swimming and then left it on the table when I went in to get
dressed to go out and I was in a hurry – anyway, it’s really not
related with what is going on.”

“
What do you mean moving
fast dear?” Wayne gently rebuked Elliot. “For goodness sake, he’s
been without Irma for a long time; he’s been without anyone for a
long time. Isn’t it about time the man had some company, otherwise
people will start to talk about him and Charles. Rosie the little
red haired gal from the real estate office? We interviewed her, she
seems like she’s really on the ball. Not bad looking
either.”

“
Watch it Wayne. All right,
all right, he’s not moving too fast. By the way, Henry, don’t
listen to what people say. Charles is a nice man, I really like
him. So her name is Rosie, eh? That’s a nice name, is it short for
Rosalynn? When do we get to meet her? Will you bring her over for
dinner next month or can we meet her before then?” Elliot was
obviously excited at Henry’s news. “I hope I’ll like her, it will
be so much fun to do things as two couples, not that you’re not fun
alone Henry, of course I’ll like her, you like her!”

“
I’m not going to make any
plans for next month, I want to take this a day at a time, this is
all very new to me you know.” Henry was a little embarrassed by all
the questions. “I’m not sure where this is going and I don’t want
to put any pressure on her, or me for that matter. I’m just happy
being friends; I enjoy spending time with her. I think I need a
refill on my wine.”

Fortunately it was time to
grill the chicken and the rest of the evening’s conversation was
related to an update on the Johnson’s children and their
activities. Henry admitted that he had not heard from Claire, his
daughter in Chicago, for a number of weeks and didn’t really have
any news from her. He decided that when he was done with this
Thornbird investigation to at least give her a call, maybe even fly
out to Chicago for a couple of days for a visit. Maybe he could
invite Rosie along, he wanted Claire to meet her.

At the end of the evening,
they said their goodbyes and Henry decided to take the slower way
home, all the way up one-eleven with all of its traffic lights. He
realized it really wasn’t all that different from last night when
he had driven on El Camino Real up north in the Bay Area. Maybe
Palm Springs wasn’t a small town anymore after all.

This time driving home from
the Johnson house, he didn’t feel as melancholy as usual. Wayne and
Elliot are a great couple and they were still in love after many
years of marriage and raising their children. A lot about how they
related to each other was very similar to how his and Irma’s
relationship had worked. It was interesting to listen to them talk
and interact. Perhaps he would be in a similar relationship soon.
He didn’t realize how much he had missed it until now when he
seemed to be close to possibly having it again.

It was almost midnight when
he pulled his car into the garage next to Charles’ Explorer. He
walked into the kitchen and saw the living room light on and heard
the television. Charles was stretched out on the couch quietly
snoring with Pierre comfortably napping on his lap.

The television had a talk
show on; guests were lined up on a couch, it was either Letterman
or Leno, Henry wasn’t sure which. As he reached for the remote to
turn the TV off, Charles woke up. “I’ve been staying awake waiting
for you.” “Well my friend, you weren’t awake now, you were sound
asleep!” Henry laughed as he put the remote control back on the
coffee table.

“
I was right about your Mr.
Thornbird.” Charles said proudly now fully awake. “You were, eh?
Interestingly, I heard something from Jerrie Mungo at the Pac and
Ship this afternoon that I wanted to tell you but you weren’t here
and it was too complicated to leave a note on the refrigerator.”
“You wanna go first or want me to go first?” Charles asked soothing
Pierre who had sort of woken up, and was protesting and wanted to
go back to sleep. “Well I want to hear what you dug up, so you can
go first. Do you want anything to drink?” Henry said getting up and
walking to the kitchen.

“
Just a bottle of water
please, thanks. Well, ok, it turns out your Mr. Thornbird had a
double life that he kept very, very private.” Charles was sitting
straight up on the couch now and had put Pierre down on the ground.
The little dog wasn’t happy and went off towards the back of the
house to find another place to continue his interrupted
nap.

“
Ok, tell me everything and
I think its time that I tell you what I know.” Henry returned to
the living room with a bottle of water for Charles and a glass of
milk for himself. “Well, word is that Rex Thornbird’s marriage to
Mrs. Thornbird was purely a business relationship. In order for Rex
to be successful in the real estate business, actually more like in
his little niche of the real estate business, he had to have a wife
that he could show off, talk about and take to functions.” Charles
twisted the cap off the bottle and muted the television at the same
time. “Seems most of the buyers for the kind of properties he was
pushing are retired couples and they were much more comfortable
with a married heterosexual Rex Thornbird taking them around than
the real Rex Thornbird.” Charles bristled a bit at his own
explanation, obviously Rex Thornbird’s need for a double life was a
requirement he would never understand.

“
So what did Thornbird do
after the divorce?” Henry sat down on the armrest of the recliner
across from Charles. “I knew you would ask.” Charles smiled like
the Cheshire cat. “For the longest time, Thornbird pretended that
he was still married. He had his wife’s picture on his desk,
carried it in his wallet, talked about her to his clients, all of
that stuff. Eventually though, he had to go to the opening of a new
exhibition at the Desert Museum where a lot of his past customers
and prospects were present and he needed an escort.” Charles took a
long drink from the water bottle.

“
Let me guess.” Henry
interrupted before Charles put the bottle down. “He brought Rosie.”
“You got it.” Charles said. “Apparently, they were more than just
co-workers; she escorted him to events where he needed to be seen
with a female partner. They spent quite a bit of time together.”
“What do you mean; they were more than just co-workers?” Henry felt
his heart sink through his stomach. “Are you saying they were a
couple? Were they lovers? What you’re describing sounds very, very
platonic.” Charles smiled again. “You’re really hoping that she has
fallen for you, and that she wasn’t romantically involved with
Thornbird right?” “I didn’t know it was that obvious, but
yeah.”

“
Relax, what I’m about to
tell you is not to leave the confines of this room, ok? I also need
to tell you that there is a sub-culture here in Palm Springs that
most people don’t know about, and I want you to know as well that
while I just learned about it, I certainly don’t condone it.
Understood?”

“
This is about Thornbird
being a gay pedophile isn’t it?” Henry looked straight at Charles
who wasn’t surprised that Henry knew and nodded.“Thornbird was a
member of Sons of Dionysus, a very private, very exclusive all male
club that zealously protects its members. They trade porn and are
rumored to even traffic in adolescent boys between members. It’s
all kept very quiet and hush-hush to protect their members. Most of
their members are men who need to give the appearance of leading a
life that is acceptable to society at large.” Charles
explained.

“
Sons of Dionysus? I’ve
never heard of anything like that. How do you know about this?”
Henry shook his head in amazement.

“
Let me explain. First of
all, Dionysus was the Greek god of sensuality and rebellion. He was
androgynous, neither male nor female. Secondly, this organization
exists all around the world, and you would be amazed of who is
rumored to belong, including men in high government positions.
Naturally you’ve never heard anything of it; this is a very secret
organization and as I said this conversation needs to stay between
you and me. I just hear things, let’s face it, you and I do travel
in different circles. Personally I find this disgusting and immoral
and if you and Wayne can bust this organization, at least locally,
Palm Springs will be better off for it.” Charles once again sounded
like the High School history teacher he had once been.

“
Wow, I thought it was just
his dirty little secret and that he was on his own. I had no idea
that it was this established, with a secret organization and all.”
Henry shook his head in amazement at Charles’ revelations. “So you
think that Thornbird and Rosie’s relationship was strictly
platonic?”

“
Henry, I think every
relationship Thornbird ever had with any woman was platonic,
including his ex-wife, I tell you Thornbird liked boys. Young
teenage boys. My gaydar wasn’t off; I was just forty years too old
for him.”

“
More like fifty, but
whatever. So this Sons of Dionysus club or organization or
whatever, is that where Thornbird socialized?” Henry wondered how
he was going to get more information about this group.“Well, it’s
not like the Kiwanis or the Freemasons or that sort of social club,
they don’t meet at Marie Callender’s for lunch once a month. It’s
more a network of individuals who have a common interest and help
one another out by being extremely discreet, a lot of plain brown
envelopes if you know what I mean. Does that make sense?” Charles
said.

Henry breathed a sigh of
relief. “Yeah, I think so. I asked her over for dinner tomorrow
afternoon you know.” “Who, Rosie?” Charles asked surprised. “Yes, I
want to barbecue something for the two of us and talk to her about
perhaps establishing a more permanent social relationship.” Henry
settled back in the recliner, he thought for a second and said.
“Perhaps I need to look into the Sons of Dionysus for Thornbird’s
murderer. That’s probably going to be difficult; I may need your
help.”

“
You want to discuss a
potential social relationship? Henry, why don’t you just let things
kind of happen? It’s not like you’re going to discuss a business
merger or something.” Charles shook his head at his friend.
“Besides, you’re on your own investigating the Sons of Dionysus;
I’ve gone out on a limb telling you as much as I have. Remember,
these people are very protective and have big secrets to keep. You
should probably look at Thorbird’s computer to see if there is
anything related to his activities.”