Mixed Messages (A Malone Mystery) (14 page)

As soon as
she
walked in the front door, she saw the day’s mail lying on the table in the entryway
.
She picked up the stack of envelopes and flyers and separated it into two piles, one for the Bergers and one for the Kerns
.
There were the usual bills and advertisements, a coin
collecting magazine for Lawrence, several election flyers and a plain white envelope addressed to her
.

She left her stack of mail on the table and picked up the
Berger’s
mail
.
I wonder why Olivia didn’t take her mail upstairs with her earlier, she wondered
.
Oh well, m
aybe the mailman came later
than usual
today.
I
promised to go up for a visit anyway
.
She
went over
to the
staircase
that
led to the second floor
,
and
started up
the steps
.

As she reached the landing at the top of the stairs,
she
saw that the door to the Bergers’ apartment was propped open
.
She knocked softly on the doorframe and
stepped
into the room.

As she always did every time she saw it, she marveled at the beautiful antique furniture and
impressive collection of knick-knacks in Olivia’s living room. It was like stepping back into
another era
.

The settee, as Olivia referred to it, the loveseat and the armchair were a match
ed
set. They were made of a rich, dark mahogany, had
elegant
cabriole legs and were
ornately
carved with a decorative shell design.
She
knew that Olivia had had them reupholstered in the teal velvet material they now were
in order
to replicate the original fabric, which had become worn and discolored with age.

She
especially admired the incredible collection of Rookwood and Roseville pottery
that
filled a large glass display case in one corner of the room
,
and the old phonograph in another corner
.
Although she wasn’t an expert,
she
had
seen
enough episodes of
“
Antiques Roadshow
”
to
kn
o
w that most of the contents of the “sitting room,” as Olivia called it, were
from the
mid to late nineteenth century
.
Everything was in pristine condition and
undoubtedly
worth a fortune to today’s collectors
.
She knew that Olivia had inherited all of these beautiful things, along with the house.

“Come in
.
Come in,” Olivia said
.
She was sitting in her wheelchair directly across the
room from Ann
.
“We were just talking about you.”

At first glance, Ann hadn’t realized that anyone else was there
but, as she took a few more steps, she saw a
woman,
who appeared
to be in her mid to late forties,
sitting on an armchair in the
far
corner
of the room
. The woman
stood up and
ambled
toward her
.
She was “heavy set
,”
as Nana used to say, with dyed red hair and a lot of makeup.

“Hi, I’m Tina
.
You must be Ann,” she said, extending her hand.

Ann shook the woman’s hand and said, “Hello.”

“Come in and join us,” Tina said
.

Ann took a few more tentative steps into the room
.
“Olivia, I’m sorry
.
I didn’t realize
you had company.”

“Doesn’t matter, dear
.
Tina is my psychic
.
She’s come to do my chart
.
I was just telling
her you’d be stopping by and she had the most wonderful idea. Why don’t you let Tina do
your chart?”

“Oh, Liv, I don’t know
.
You know I’m really not into all that,” Ann replied.

“Nonsense
!
It would be fun!”

“What’s your sign?” the woman asked her.

“I’
m
…
a Capricorn,” Ann
replied
.

“Ah, the goat
.
Reliable, trustworthy, steady.”

Ann laughed
.
“That would be me
.
But
I’ve got a lot to do
.
I really can’t stay now
.
Olivia, I just wanted to drop off your mail and let you know I got the job
.
I’ll work part-time as the secretary at St. Pat’s.
I start tomorrow.”

“That’s fantastic
!
Congratulations!
Now, you know, anytime you need me to
keep an eye on
the kids, I’d be more
than happy too.”

“Thanks
.
I appreciate that
.
Well,” Ann said, “I’d better get going
.
Nice meeting you, Tina
.”

As she turned to leave, the woman reached out and grabbed her hand. “Just a quick look,” she insisted. She turned Ann’s hand over in hers and examined her palm carefully. Abruptly, she
dropped Ann’s hand and took a step backwards.

Olivia gasped.
“What is it
?
What do you see?”

The woman hesitated and, after a few long seconds, said, “
I’m sorry, Ann, but t
here is danger awaiting you
.
Pay attention
.
Stay alert
.
And no matter what, d
on’t trust anyone.”

Ann smiled halfhearted
ly
and
headed
toward the door
.
“I’m sorry,” she said, turning around
.
“I don’t mean to be rude and I know everyone has the right to believe
whatever they choose but I’m afraid I
personally
don’t believe
in psychics.”

“
Olivia’s told me you’re not a believer but d
on’t be so quick to dismiss me,” Tina countered
.
“You have to admit there are things in this world that can’t be explained with logic.”

“I’ll say this
.
I do believe there are people who have a heightened sense of intuition
or, if you want to call it that, extra sensory perception,
just like some people’s sense of smell is more keen
than other people’s.
B
ut
I don’t believe anyone can predict the future
and definitely not
by looking at the lines on
a person’s
hand. That’s a bit too much.
Only God
knows
what the future holds
for us.”

“We could debate this,” Tina insisted
.
“I could prove you wrong.”

“I’m sorry but I doubt that
.
Now, I really have to go,” Ann said, waving as she
hurried
out the door
.

“Be careful
!
” the woman yelled after her.

As she
went
down the stairs, Ann shook her head
.
That woman is really annoying, she
t
hought
,
as she picked up her stack of mail from the table and went into her apartment
.
She sat
down on the corner of the sofa and leafed through the bills, advertisements and voting flyers until she found the white envelope with her name typed neatly in the center. Her eyes
opened
wide
as she read.

“
Be sure your sins will find you out
.
Numbers, 32:23.
”

“What in the world does this mean?” she said aloud, wondering why Lawrence had
written the Bible verse to her.
“Why would he write this?”
This wasn’t like the love poems he always gave her; th
is seemed almost like a threat.

Chapter 1
5

TINA BUTREAUX BACKED OUT
of the Berger
’
s driveway and drove slowly down the street
.
“Well, you pulled it off again
!
You’re good, girl
!”
At the four way stop sign, she flipped down the mirror on her sun visor and peered into it
.
She smiled at her reflection
.
“Lookin’ good,” she said aloud
.
“You’ve still got it
!”
She thought of the tall, handsome man ten years
younger than her
who was waiting at home
.
“Yeah
.
You definitely still got it
!”

She put the mirror back up and started to pull out into the intersection
.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a blue pick-up truck running the stop sign
.
She slammed on her brakes,
barely
missing it
.
She rolled down her window and yelled, “You stupid
jackass
!” at the top of her lungs
.
The truck kept going
.
She watched as the driver stuck his arm out the window and raised his middle finger
.
“Dumb son-of-a-bitch,” she muttered
.
That bastard could’ve destroyed my pretty little car, she thought angrily.
She patted the dashboard. “Don’t worry, baby. I won’t let anybody hurt you.”

She took a deep breath
.
Calm down, she told herself, as she looked carefully both ways
to make sure no more cars were coming. She turned at the corner and, as she headed down
Harrison Avenue, she passed the beautiful brick and stone houses of lower Westwood
that
were once the homes of
some of the city’s most
affluent doctors and
lawyers
.

Only a few of the houses retained the grandeur of those days, owned mostly by elderly people who had lived there for decades and refused to move
.
Meanwhile, the neighborhood around them
had
deteriorated
.
The houses screamed of neglect and abuse
.
E
ven in broad daylight,
teenage
gangs
with
bandanas
on their heads
called doo rags
and
wearing
oversized
, baggy pants
that
hung
so low
on their hips that it was a wonder they didn’t fall down, loitered
on the street corners
shouting profanities at passersby
.
S
carcely a day went by without a mugging,
burglary
or drug bust in the area.

As she drove,
she
thought about her session with Olivia
.
It still amazed her, after all these years in the business, how easily people were conned
.
They believed what they wanted to believe
.
Olivia was convinced that Tina had the power to
predict the future and, more importantly, to
contact the deceased
.
Amazing
!
Truly amazing that anyone could fall for that crap
.
It’s a good thing they do though,
she
thought
.
Without the Olivias of the world, I’d have to earn a living working in a factory on an assembly line or
waitressing
in some sleazy bar, catering to drunks and perverts
.
She
shuddered
at the thought
.
Thank God for Olivia and all the other fools
!