For Sale in Palm Springs: The Henry Wright Mystery Series (23 page)

Henry liked the way she did
that, she ate the chip without messing up her lipstick, she was
very dainty. “Try this wine, it’s from Australia, my friends
introduced me to it.” “To new beginnings, I really mean it.” Rosie
lifted her glass to Henry’s. “You said that the other night, I
agree, to new beginnings.” Henry toasted her. “I think we’re going
to have a wonderful evening, I hope you like steak and grilled
vegetables.” “Sounds great! I’m glad to be here Henry; I agree, I
think we are going to have a wonderful evening.” She took another
sip of wine. “This is good, I like it a lot. Come on, it’s a
beautiful afternoon, let’s go sit outside.”

Henry picked up the bowl of
tortilla chips and they walked outside with their wine glasses.
They sat down at the table under the umbrella and Rosie kicked off
her shoes. She had the littlest feet Henry had ever seen on a grown
woman. “Do you mind if I ask you one more question about Rex
Thornbird and then I’ll drop the subject for the rest of the
evening?” He asked. “No of course not, I feel that Rex brought us
together so how can I refuse?”

“
Please don’t take this the
wrong way, but did you see Thornbird socially?” He looked right at
Rosie to get her reaction. She was quiet for a moment and looked
down into her glass of wine, she glanced up at Henry. “Well, yes
sort of. After his divorce I sometimes went with him to social
engagements where he needed a date. It was strictly business
though, I was an escort for the evening, you know. Nothing ever
happened between us Henry, really.” Her bright green eyes looked
straight at Henry. “It doesn’t matter now though does it? He’s gone
and you and I are here to enjoy this wonderful day.”

“
So you had a how should I
say this, platonic relationship?” Henry asked setting his wine
down. “Henry, Rex Thornbird was only interested in his work. After
his divorce he had no social life, at least not that any of us that
worked with him knew about. He never got any calls at the office
other than work calls; that man spent twelve to fourteen hours a
day working; he went on vacation only once in all the time that I
knew him, all by himself to Puerto Vallarta for five days, though
he may have met someone there, I don’t know; he was very driven and
a workaholic.” Her eyes were full of fire and Henry could tell she
was upset. She took a long drink from the wine glass and when she
looked up again she had regained her composure.

“
I’m sorry to bring up his
memory, but I needed to know.” Henry got up from his chair. “Let me
go in and get the bottle to get you a refill.” “No, I’m the one who
should apologize. I lost my cool; Rex Thornbird was a very
frustrating person to deal with.” Rosie put her empty wine glass on
the table.

When Henry came out with the
bottle of wine in a terra cotta cooler that he dug out of the
cabinet Rosie was sitting on the edge of the pool with her legs in
the water. She looked right up at Henry with her sparkling eyes.
“Let’s go for a swim Henry.”

He refilled her glass with
the wine and set the bottle into the cooler on the table. “Ok, you
can change in the guest room, let me show you where.” He held his
hand out and helped her up, they walked back inside where she
picked her purse up off the couch and he showed her where the guest
bedroom and bathroom were at the other end of the house. “When you
are done, the doors in the guest room lead directly back to the
pool, no need to walk through the house if you don’t want to.”
“Thanks Henry, I’ll see you in the pool in a few minutes.” Rosie
squeezed his arm.

Henry closed the guest room
door behind him and walked back through the kitchen to the other
side of the house and his bedroom to change. He thought he had
obviously upset her by asking about her relationship with Thornbird
but he was satisfied that there was nothing between the two of them
other than she helped out Thornbird for appearance sake. He
remembered what Charles said about Thornbird’s relationship with
women and wondered why he had even bothered asking her. He felt
that he needed to hear from Rosie that there was nothing between
her and Thornbird. He was satisfied.

He got to his room, dug
through his dresser drawer for a pair of swimming trunks and pulled
them on after hanging his clothes on a couple of hangers on the
doorknob.

Henry walked back through
the kitchen on the way out to the pool and picked up the bag of
chips from the counter so that he could refill the bowl outside.
When he got back outside Rosie was already in the water splashing
and kicking her legs. She had set her wine glass on the edge of the
pool; it reminded Henry that he really needed to get some nice
plastic wine glasses for use outside around the pool. He set the
bowl on the table and dove into the water to join her. When he came
up above the water, she was swimming over to join him and put her
arms around him. As soon as she held him he realized she wasn’t
wearing a swim suit and he immediately felt silly for wearing
his.

“
I hope you don’t mind.” She
said, squeezing her arms around him and giving him a big hug. He
felt a strange longing that he had not felt in a long time and was
glad he was wearing his swimsuit lest he embarrass himself. “Of
course I don’t mind, you should have told me what you were
planning. I thought you had a swimsuit in your purse.” “I do, but I
decided your place is so private that I don’t need to wear one, so
I took a chance hoping that you wouldn’t think I was being too
forward.” She let go of him and swam towards her wine glass. “No,
you’re not being too forward, but I don’t know where this is going
and you need to know that I haven’t been with anyone in a long
time.” Henry swam over to join her at the side of the
pool.

“
Henry, we have all
afternoon, you’re too worried about where “this” is going. We’re
both old enough to understand what is going on, let’s just enjoy
our afternoon together and let’s see what tonight brings.” Rosie
kissed him straight on the lips, took a long drink of her wine,
pushed off the side of the pool and said, “Bet you can’t catch
me!”

They played in the pool for
the next half hour, hugging, talking and sometimes kissing and
having a good time in the water until Henry felt it was time to get
out and get the barbecue ready. He was still wearing his suit when
he walked directly into his bedroom from the pool. While he
certainly saw and felt enough of her in the water, he didn’t want
to watch Rosie climb out of the pool and make it obvious that he
was enjoying looking at her. While he was in his room toweling off,
he heard her get out of the water and go into the guest room on the
other side of the house. He was in the kitchen when she came out
dressed with her makeup refreshed carrying her glass of
wine.

“
Are you sure I can’t help
with something?” Rosie asked. “Actually you can, would you make the
salad, and I’ll go clean up the towels and throw them in the
laundry, we may want to use them again after dinner.” Henry asked
her. “You’ll find everything in the bottom of the refrigerator; I
put the bowl on the counter already.” “Sure not a problem, glad to
do it.” She started humming a song that he’d heard on the radio
while she dug around in the bottom of the refrigerator.

Henry started a habit right
after he moved into the house where when he used the pool he threw
the just used towels into the dryer. Typically, he liked going back
into the pool to relax after dinner and he was hoping to go back
into the water later that evening when the landscape around the
pool was lit up and the setting was more romantic than this
afternoon. Warm dry towels would be nice in the evening
air.

He went into the guest
bathroom and picked the towel up off the floor where Rosie had left
them. She had left her lipstick on the vanity and he picked it up
to give back to her. He looked at it in his hand, suddenly dropped
the towels on the floor and walked quickly out the guest room
French doors and crossed directly across the yard to his own
bedroom doors. He found the pants he was wearing the other day in
the closet and dug around in the pocket until he found what he was
looking for. He stood in his bedroom looking down at his hand and
instantly knew what he was looking at, but didn’t quite know what
to do.

A few minutes later he
walked back into the kitchen where Rosie was now tossing the salad
in the bowl. She looked up when she saw him and said, “I hope you
don’t mind that I dug around in your drawers but I needed some
tongs.”

Henry didn’t say anything
but held out his open hand with the two matching lipsticks in it.
“Oh, did I leave that in the bathroom, silly me – where did you get
the other one?” Rosie suppressed a nervous smile when she saw the
look on Henry’s face. “Rex Thornbird’s bathroom medicine cabinet.
What were you doing in his house? You killed him didn’t you Rosie?
Why did you do it?” Henry looked straight at her; his face had a
disappointed look.

“
Do it, what do you mean why
did I do it?” Rosie’s lip started trembling. “You’re the only one
that knew that Thornbird was going to be at the house on Granvia
Valmonte that morning, you knew the combination to the lock box,
obviously you were closer to him than just an escort on business
occasions since this lipstick was in his bathroom at his house, you
never reported Thornbird missing and why are you trying to sell the
photograph of Rudy Vallee online?” Henry closed his hand around the
two lipsticks.

Rosie’s face slowly changed
from upset to anger. There was fire in her green eyes as she
slammed the salad tongs down on the counter. “That son-of-a-bitch
never realized how good a team we could be. I was ready to stay
behind the scenes and let him take all the credit. Who do you think
came up with the idea of putting the celebrity photos in the house?
That idiot could not have figured that out, that little touch was
mine. Maybe it was his picture on all those signs around this
neighborhood, I didn’t care about that at first, I was the one
behind the scenes making him rich. All I wanted was to share some
of what he reaped with him. Sure, I wanted to be the next Mrs.
Thornbird, and maybe I was in love with him. But that cold hearted
little twit didn’t care at all about my feelings, no matter how
hard I tried to seduce him he couldn’t or wouldn’t respond to
me.”

Henry was worried that she
was so angry that she was going to use something as a weapon and
either hurt him or herself. He moved so that he was between her and
the knife block on the counter. She was so angry she didn’t seem to
notice the knives and continued her tirade.

“
Then just the other night I
saw that little bastard taking home some pretty little young boy
that he’d picked up at the golf course. It was just a kid who
didn’t even shave yet, goddammit, barely even in High School. Oh,
he thought he was subtle and that no one noticed. But I noticed.
That prick had his arm around that boy’s waist as they walked into
his big house on the hill. They kissed when he opened the door. I
was disgusted. Those two probably did it in the bed that was
supposed to be mine, in the room that was supposed to be mine, in
the house that was supposed to be mine. Thornbird was a fool. Yes,
I set him up, yes I lured him out to that house, I hid in that
dirty little closet, yes I did it, and I’m glad I did it. Henry,
don’t you see I had to get rid of him. I can do what he did, I can
sell houses, and I’ll be the Queen of Mid-Century real estate -
that will be my face on all those for sale signs all over
town.”

Rosie was breathing hard and
drained the last of her wine. She was quiet for a moment, then
looked up at him with tears in her eyes and continued in a much
lower tone of voice.

“
You know Henry, you and I
make a much better team than Thornbird and I ever did. You like me;
you respond to my touch, don’t deny it, I felt that in the pool
just now, he never did. Why don’t you call your police detective
friend and tell him that you are stuck with your investigation and
you’ll never know who killed Thornbird. You know, I didn’t leave
behind any fingerprints or anything at the scene, there is no
evidence and no way that a jury will convict me, not after I tell
them what a disgusting pervert Thornbird was. Let’s you and I enjoy
one another and live the rest of our lives enjoying the pool and
each other like we did just now – you did enjoy my body didn’t you
Henry?”

Henry didn’t respond but
continued looking at the lipsticks in his hand, never looking up at
Rosie. “I can make you a happy man Henry Wright, I really can.
Admit it, you like me, I touched you in ways that other women
haven’t.” She tossed her head with pride as she reached for the
wine bottle to pour herself a refill.

Henry didn’t answer her
right away, he considered what she said. Finally he laid the two
lipsticks on the kitchen counter and looked straight into her
flashing green eyes. “You’re right Rosie. I’ll call my friend Wayne
right now.” He picked the cordless phone up from the kitchen
counter, dialed Wayne’s cell phone number and when he answered
said, “Wayne, come on over to the house, I’m holding Thornbird’s
killer for you.”

He looked over at Rosie as
he hung up and she started crying.

Chapter 17

Wayne was there within ten
minutes and led Rosie away in handcuffs. He gave Henry a sad look
as he put Rosie into the back of his Crown Victoria and told him
he’d come by on Monday morning. Henry turned to go back inside and
put the dinner makings back inside the refrigerator. He wasn’t
hungry anymore. He collected the glasses and went out to the pool
to get the bowl of chips from the table. He looked at the pool
where just an hour ago his life had a new beginning or so he
thought.