For Sale in Palm Springs: The Henry Wright Mystery Series (22 page)

“
I’m terribly sorry for your
loss.” Henry started getting up to comfort the woman who was
suddenly showing her age. “No, please, I apologize; I don’t know
why this suddenly affects me like this, I was doing so well.” Mrs.
Icklebee blew her nose on one of the tissues and pulled another out
of the box to dry her eyes. Her body shook with crying and she had
a hard time talking. “My sister’s husband passed away earlier this
year right after Harrison died. After a few months of living alone
she decided to sell her house in Carpinteria, up near Santa Barbara
over on the coast, and come and live here near me in Palm
Springs.”

“
So you called Rex Thornbird
so that he could show her some houses here?” Henry tried to be as
delicate as possible, but he felt as though he was getting
somewhere. “I called his office, but Mr. Thornbird wasn’t in. I
talked to the office manager, I don’t remember her name but she was
very nice, she said she would get the message to Mr. Thornbird.”
She dabbed another tear from her eye and blew her nose
again.

“
Rosie? Yes, she is very
nice. Please continue.” Henry smiled. “Well apparently, one of them
called my sister and told her that there was a house that she would
like. It’s only a couple of blocks from here and was also owned by
a celebrity – I don’t remember who. So she was going to drive down
to meet him at the house before coming here to see me.” She started
sobbing quietly again. “Are you all right? Can I get you some
water?” Henry was concerned about how she was dealing with all of
this, losing her husband and then her sister within a very short
span of time.

“
The morning that she was
going to meet him at the place, she got in a terrible accident on
I-10 coming through Riverside. They said she had a stroke and was
dead before she hit the overpass. It totaled her car you know. They
said she didn’t suffer at all, she was in no pain.” At this, she
broke down sobbing again and Henry got up to get a glass of water
from the kitchen. “I’m so, so, sorry.” Henry tried to get her to
take a small sip from the glass of water. “I sat here and waited
for her, I got worried since I didn’t hear from her – she had a
cell phone you know.

Finally the California
Highway Patrol called me in the late afternoon and told me what
happened.” She took a small sip of water and was able to hold the
glass in her hand. “I felt terrible.” Mrs. Icklebee said between
sips. “You shouldn’t blame yourself you know, there’s nothing you
could have done.” Henry said soothingly. “No, I feel terrible
because I never even called Mr. Thornbird’s office to cancel the
appointment.” She sobbed.

“
Well, that’s the least
thing you should worry about.” Henry realized that Mrs. Icklebee
was out of town at her sister’s funeral and did not even know that
Thornbird was dead. He decided that he wasn’t going to be the one
to tell her. Not now. He was worried that she was going to be all
right. “Is there someone that can come over right now and stay with
you?” He asked.

“
No, there isn’t anyone
really. Maybe I’ll go over to the neighbor’s house for a little
while, they’re about your age, and they’ve sort of adopted me as
their mother.” She smiled through her tears. “I’ll be ninety-five
next week you know.” “That’s wonderful, you certainly don’t look
it.” Henry complimented her.

He put his arm around her
and gently guided her out the front door and down the sidewalk to
the house next door. He knocked and the door was answered by a nice
looking man that was indeed close to his age, probably a little
younger, Henry thought. The man opened his arms and Mrs. Icklebee
stepped into them to get a big hug. The man shushed her and led her
inside. He started closing the door, but Henry wanted to ask Mrs.
Icklebee one more question.

“
Janet, could you tell me,
where was your old house?” He tried to ask as gently as possible.
“Up on West Chino Canyon Road, why do you ask?” Mrs. Icklebee
answered. “Just curious, thank you – I’ll check in on you next
week.” Henry held his hand up to the man who nodded at Henry as he
closed the door.

So Thornbird had really
taken advantage of Harrison and Janet Icklebee. He sold them a
house that Rock Hudson had probably never even driven by, much less
seen, and he bought their old place up on West Chino Canyon, most
likely for a song. If Janet Icklebee knew that she had been doubly
cheated by Thornbird he had no doubt that she had the strength to
kill him - that was one tough old lady. When he saw the wall of
photographs he thought that he had the murderer – find the picture,
find the murderer – he remembered telling Wayne at the pistol
range. Now he realized he wasn’t talking to a murderer, but to a
nice old lady that was living with memories of another, happier
time.

Though he looked closely at
all the pictures in the entry, there was no Rudy Vallee in the
collection. He wasn’t sure what he would have done if he had seen
it there. At the very least he would have borrowed the picture to
see if it matched the dust mark on the mantle at the house on
Granvia Valmonte. But he didn’t know if he could have had Janet
Icklebee arrested for murder.

He’d hit another dead end
today, obviously he had some more investigating to do, but it could
wait until Monday. This afternoon he was going to enjoy his
barbecue with Rosie and tomorrow, well, he had no plans for
tomorrow yet, depending on how this afternoon went, maybe he and
Rosie could spend Sunday together. Looking into the Sons of
Dionysus could wait until Monday. A secret society of pedophile
porn traffickers sounded very cliché and also like something out of
a mystery novel, but Henry couldn’t take it lightly.

Chapter 16

Henry decided that he had
plenty of time before he had to go shopping and before Rosie would
arrive. He drove home and parked the car in the garage next to an
empty space. There was a note from Charles on the refrigerator to
enjoy his afternoon and that he would be spending the night with a
friend. The note also said there was a surprise in the
refrigerator. He opened the door and saw two bottles of the
Australian Chardonnay that he had at Wayne’s house last night. The
note on them said “In good health and good luck” and was signed by
Wayne and Elliot. He took the note and went towards his office.
There were some things he wanted to research on the Internet before
he went to the store. He thought he had enough time to do
that.

He spent several hours
looking up a variety of topics on the Internet. He couldn’t find
much on the Sons of Dionysus; perhaps he was looking in the wrong
place. Finally he looked at his watch and decided to go to Jensen’s
for some groceries. He came back with several bags of all kinds of
goodies, put them away and headed for the shower.

He was thinking about Mrs.
Icklebee while he was in the shower and her poor sister who had
come started to come down from Carpinteria to start a new life. He
realized that the sister probably would have been the one that
would find Thornbird’s body if she had made it to Palm Springs.
Janet Icklebee and her sister had to be close in age; he sure
didn’t wish the sight of Thornbird lying in a giant pool of blood
on anyone, especially not someone that old. Amit Anchula had been
freaked out enough to run out of the house. Henry himself saw the
huge blood stain on the kitchen floor, which was bad enough; he was
glad that he didn’t see the body lying in the middle of
it.

He stepped out of the shower
and decided to stop thinking about all of this morbid stuff and
focus on a more pleasant afternoon coming up with Rosie
instead.

Henry decided to dress very
casually since it was an afternoon barbecue and not dinner as it
had been earlier in the week. He put on a clean pair of shorts,
sandals and a Hawaiian Aloha shirt. He looked in the mirror and
remembered all the Hawaiian shirts hanging in Thornbird’s closet
and took it off and hung it back on its hanger. He found a golf
shirt from the Indian Palms Country Club and put that on instead.
Now, satisfied with his appearance he went outside by the pool and
checked on the barbecue. Charles used it last and as with most
things that Charles touched, it was left sparkling clean and ready
to go. He really liked having Charles as a housemate, if anything
ever developed between he and Rosie, he would hate to ask Charles
to leave.

He couldn’t see having
Charles live with them though; it probably wouldn’t work out at
all. Though he didn’t have any problems at all with Charles’ way of
life and his circle of friends, he could imagine that Rosie might,
even if she didn’t, it would most likely be awkward. He was putting
the cart before the horse he realized. He thought back that he had
met Rosie just last Tuesday, now it was Saturday and he was already
thinking ahead to living with her!

He took one last look at his
backyard, it looked great. The weather had indeed cleared up, the
morning’s clouds were gone and the sky was beautiful. The bright
sun made the pool sparkle. He rearranged the chaise lounges and
found his wedding ring still sitting on the little table where he
had left it the other day. He picked it up, looked at it, looked at
his ring finger on his left hand where the mark and the white band
that the ring had left was pretty much gone and dropped the ring
into the pocket of his shorts. Rosie made a toast to new beginnings
the other night; certainly this afternoon was a new beginning for
Henry Wright, retired police chief from Eagle River, currently
residing in Palm Springs, he thought, feeling good himself and the
future and at the same time he was unsure about how things were
going to unfold. One thing though, he thought as he felt the ring
settle into the bottom of his pocket, he was not going to go back
to being lonely.

He went back inside to start
preparing the vegetables. He wanted to grill the steaks on the
barbecue. He would serve grilled zucchini, eggplant and peppers and
a salad with it. He liked the way that those vegetables tasted
after grilling them, especially when he charred the peppers; he
hoped Rosie liked them too. He chopped up the vegetables and put
them in a bowl in the refrigerator. He took out the wine so that it
wouldn’t be so cold and took the steaks out of the refrigerator and
took them out of the butcher’s paper. He prepared the steaks with
seasoning and put them on a plate that he covered with plastic
wrap. He grabbed the bag of chips, opened them and poured them into
a bowl that he set out on the counter.

He had just washed his hands
for the umpteenth time and was standing in the middle of the
kitchen admiring all of his preparations when the doorbell rang.
His heart leaped into his throat, he hung the hand towel up and
went to the rarely used front door.

“
Hi Henry, wow, your house
is gorgeous, you look great, I hope I’m dressed ok, the description
of your place on the Multiple Listing Service doesn’t do it
justice, geez, you smell good, what’s for dinner – I haven’t had
lunch – oh, I hope I’m not being rude – aren’t you going to invite
me in?” Rosie was obviously as nervous as Henry was; she was
talking a mile a minute.

“
Hi, you look wonderful.”
Henry said and meant it. She had on impossibly high heels, her
white shorts showed off her tanned legs and a black blouse. She had
what seemed to be a trademark sweater thrown over her shoulder; it
was pale green and looked great with her hair. Her legs were either
really long for such a short person, or her shorts were short, or
it could have been both. It didn’t matter to Henry, she looked
terrific.

He bent down to give her a
hug and she kissed his cheek again. He returned her kiss and
invited her inside. “You know, that you’re doing it again.” She
turned around and smiled a big smile. “I know, I’m sorry, I kept
saying in the car don’t be nervous Rosie, don’t get excited Rosie,
you’re not a school girl Rosie, but since I met you Henry, I’m
excited about my future. I hope that maybe my future includes you.
Oh, this house is beautiful!” She paused in front of the French
doors that led from the living room into the backyard pool. “That
pool looks gorgeous. The one at my condo complex always has little
kids in it. I never use it.”

“
Well maybe we can go for a
swim in a little while.” Henry said, “Would you like to set down
your purse, take off your sweater, and have a glass of wine?” “Yes
to all three.” Rosie said setting her purse on the couch and laying
her sweater over it. “Where is your housemate?” “Charles went out
to visit a friend.” Henry couldn’t help but look at her back, her
blouse was designed so that the back was open and he noticed that
she wasn’t wearing anything under it. She had the same freckles on
her back that he noticed on her nose the other day and he was
fascinated. He wondered what it was like to count the freckles on
her back. Suddenly, he realized he was staring at her and he
quickly went to the counter to open a bottle of the
chardonnay.

“
Oh too bad, I was looking
forward to meeting him. What time will he be home?” Rosie leaned on
the counter. “I don’t know - I actually don’t expect him back until
tomorrow.” Henry put the corkscrew into the bottle of wine. “Too
bad, I guess I can meet him next time.” She said, “Can I do
anything to help?”

Henry was glad that she also
felt that there was going to be a next time. “I bought some chips,
I don’t know what your preference is, but since you like Mexican
food, I though tortilla chips were safe.” He put the bowl of chips
on the counter in front of her. “These are yummy; did you get these
at Jensen’s?” She delicately picked up a chip and put it in her
mouth.