For Sale in Palm Springs: The Henry Wright Mystery Series (24 page)

He grabbed the unopened
bottle of wine, got into his car and drove over to Mrs. Icklebee’s
house on Calle Rolph, knocked on the door and went inside for a
late afternoon drink. She was doing well and he spent a few hours
talking with her about the loss of loved ones and getting on with
life.

Sunday was a wasted day.
Henry swam laps, though when he first walked out of his room and
looked at the pool, he thought he would never go in it again, but
he did. He got on his computer to see if he could buy a photograph
of Rudy Vallee on eBay. Rosie had touched him in a way that no
other woman had since Irma. He had to admit that she changed his
life, and while he didn’t have any pictures of her, he thought a
photo of Rudy Vallee would be a memento he could live with. He
didn’t bid on the one that was being offered by “Big Red” in
Riverside County, California. He’d seen that one for sale yesterday
afternoon before he went grocery shopping. He bid on one from a guy
out in the U.K. who was selling it for ten British Pounds, he bid
twenty five, he was determined not to be outbid like
Thornbird.

Wayne called in the
afternoon to see if he was doing ok. He told Henry that Rosie had
signed a confession and had asked for a psychiatrist and would
probably plead insanity. Wayne said he would come by at ten on
Monday; he wanted to hear how Henry had figured everything
out.

Charles came back late
Sunday afternoon and Henry briefly told him that it hadn’t worked
out between Rosie and him. Henry also said that Wayne and the vice
squad were going to investigate the Sons of Dionysus, Charles said
he would help them in any way that he could. Henry suggested that
Charles sit in when Wayne was there Monday morning, that way he
could tell both of them everything that happened. They took
Saturday’s steaks and vegetables out of the refrigerator and the
two friends ate a quiet meal by the side of the pool.

He was about to go to bed,
when he emptied out the pockets of his shorts. He found his wedding
ring and remembered picking it up from the table by the pool and
dropping it into his shorts pocket on Saturday afternoon before
Rosie came over. He looked at it, looked at his finger and started
putting it back on. As it started to go over his knuckle, he
slipped it off again and walked over to his office and put it in
the pencil drawer of his desk. He closed the drawer and said “to
new beginnings” to himself.

Henry was up before the sun
on Monday. He swam laps, showered and went to his office, where
there was an email from the Feds asking for help profiling a case
in Oregon. A couple of kids were murdered while they slept in their
tent. He did some research, but what he was reading wouldn’t stick
and after a while he gave up and made a fresh pot of
coffee.

Wayne showed up at ten
o’clock, smelled the fresh pot and poured himself a cup of coffee.
Charles had been pacing around since eight, he’d heard a little bit
from Henry yesterday but he was dying to hear the entire story.
They took their coffees and sat down outside in the shade of the
large umbrella by the pool.

“
So how did you know?” Wayne
started the conversation off asking. “Well, of course I didn’t for
a long time, but a bunch of coincidences fell into place all at
once.” Henry smiled. “Like what?” Charles leaned forward in his
chair not wanting to miss anything. “From the very beginning, when
I heard how hard Rex Thornbird worked and how many hours he put in
every day I wondered why his office had not called the police when
he didn’t show up for three days.” Henry began.

“
Obviously it would have
been Rosie who would have called and she couldn’t without giving
everything away.” Charles smiled at having figured that out.
“Exactly, she expected Janet Icklebee’s sister to find the body,
when she didn’t because of her unfortunate car accident, Rosie
couldn’t exactly call the police to report a body in a house on
Granvia Valmonte.” Henry explained. “Then I heard from Jerrie Mungo
that Thornbird had been seen around town with her, and I didn’t
want to believe myself, for selfish reasons, that they were a
couple.”

Wayne added, “In her
confession she said that Thornbird rejected her, apparently she
knew about his extracurricular activities as well. You didn’t want
to believe that Rosie and Thornbird were together because you had a
giant crush on her.”

“
I don’t know about a giant
crush, but I will admit that I had some, well, feelings for her.
When I found his gay kiddie porn collection at his house – relax
Wayne, Charles knows all about it – I knew that Thornbird had an
elaborate façade and Rosie was part of it. I suspected then that
there was no romance between Rosie and Thornbird; he wasn’t
interested in her in that way at all. I started thinking then that
they were in on the real estate scam together, but I didn’t really
want to believe it. I confronted her with it during dinner and she
denied it. I feel like an idiot, I was really duped by her.” Henry
shook his head at what he considered his own stupidity.

“
So when you found the
lipstick in Thornbird’s place, that’s when you knew she did it?”
Charles was at the edge of his seat again. “No, I didn’t, not yet.
At that point I had heard that maybe Thornbird didn’t like women,
so I thought that perhaps he was a cross dresser and I actually
thought it was his. I think my first clue was finding a Rudy Vallee
picture for sale on eBay when I was on the Internet on Saturday
morning. But even then I didn’t put it all together, not until I
found Rosie’s matching lipstick in my guest bathroom yesterday did
I know for sure.” Henry took a sip of coffee.

“
Did you suspect Janet
Icklebee at all?” Wayne asked. “You know, I did for a few moments.
She had all those pictures; they’re all about the same size as what
we think was at the house. She was small enough to hide in the
utility closet in the house. Thornbird screwed her when bought the
house that she and her husband had built and I thought she blamed
Thornbird for her husband’s heart attack. Janet certainly is strong
enough, even for an old lady, but she couldn’t have done it. She’s
a nice woman who has experienced a lot of loss in a short span of
time. I spent the afternoon with her on Saturday and this morning I
called the grief counselor that helped me out when I first moved
here, he is going to go over to see her this afternoon.” Henry
said.

Wayne shook his head. “You
know we searched Rosie’s condo and found a laptop computer that
belonged to Thornbird. From a first look it has a lot of
information in it on Thornbird’s illegal activities. The lab guys
have it for analysis and the vice guys say it will be very helpful
in their investigation.”

“
You know, I was surprised
when I found his secret stash of videos, but it does explain a lot,
including his split from his original wife and why he was so
secretive about his lifestyle, I mean being gay in Palm Springs is
just not a big deal. I also knew he had to have a laptop around
somewhere, I just didn’t know where it was.”

Just then the doorbell rang.
Charles jumped up to get it. “Don’t say anything more until I get
back, and by the way, being gay anywhere shouldn’t be a big deal.”
He yelled over his shoulder as he walked into the house.

“
The other thing we found
during our search of her place was the photograph of Rudy Vallee
that was in the house. There was still dust on the top of the
frame.” Wayne told Henry.

Henry nodded. “Yeah I’m not
surprised; I thought you might find it there. Saturday morning
before Rosie came over, I was looking around on the Internet for
information on Thornbird’s extra curricular activities and on a
lark I went to eBay and searched for a Rudy Vallee photograph.
There was one being offered by a “Big Red” in Riverside County.
Like I said, I should have picked up on it right away, but I was
still denying to myself that she could be involved.”

“
When she confessed, we
asked her about the picture, and she said selling it was the only
way that she was going to get back some of the money that Thornbird
owed her.” Wayne explained.

“
That seems kind of odd,
that picture is only worth about ten bucks or so, but then people
do odd things.” Henry shook his head again.

Charles came walking back to
the pool with a box. “It’s addressed to you Henry; it’s from
Mountain View, California.” Henry looked puzzled at the package.
“I’m not expecting anything.” “Oh for goodness sake, let’s open
it.” Charles said setting the box on the table. He pulled the tape
off the outside and there was another box inside with a note on
top. He handed Henry the letter and started opening the second
box.

“
To one American from
another – please stay in touch.” Henry read out loud. “Look, it’s a
brand new cell phone!” Charles exclaimed. “It’s from Amit Anchula
that certainly was very nice of him.” Henry looked at the note.
“And this is cool; the invoice says that the monthly service bills
are going to go to Anchula’s accountant – no charge to
you!”

“
Well Henry, welcome to the
modern world and here’s to new beginnings!” Wayne raised his coffee
cup in a toast. “Yes, to new beginnings.” Henry lifted his cup and
touched it to Wayne’s.

Albert Simon has been
writing most of his life, creating and illustrating his first book
in his native Dutch at the age of seven. Since then he has written
technical papers related to the function of distributed databases
and numerous short stories. His essays have been published in the
local newspaper, but he finally found his voice in the Henry Wright
Mystery series that he is now producing. He is a member of the
California Writer’s Club and the Mystery Writers of America. Simon
and his wife, Berlynn, have four daughters and live in the Sierra
Nevada foothill town of Tuolumne when not vacationing in Palm
Springs. For more information on the Henry Wright Mystery series,
please visit
http://www.desertdreaming.com
.