Murder at Breakfast (5 page)

Sometimes
during the course of working on a case I make a blunder of tremendous proportions.
The fact that the egregious error was unDekker-like made the consequences even
harder to take. I shuddered as I wondered how I could have been so stupid. I
found myself on the first floor of the apartment building and needing to go to
the second floor. Only an Olympian would have considered the stairs as opposed
to the elevator. If that is the case, I became an Olympian for a few seconds. I
had never done anything so stupid. I must blame my experience on Lou’s Wii Fit
for my desire for a brief moment of exercise. Could it be that whatever had
taken over Lou’s brain was taking over mine?

I
climbed the stairs faster than a man of my circumference should attempt and
used the inside banister to round the corner and hoist myself to the next
level. I don’t know who was more surprised when I turned and encountered the
second floor maid heading down the stairs. She lost her concentration, missed
the next step, and then lunged forward as if that would help her regain her
balance. It was the first time I saw the woman, but already I could tell that
she would have been more at home as a middle linebacker on a football team than
as a centerfold in a magazine. That became more obvious when her shoulder made
contact with my chest and caused my posterior to hit the floor at the same time
my head and back pushed the wall behind me back a couple of inches.

The
shaking of the building and the realization that we didn’t live in California alerted Lou and caused him to take those same steps, instead of the elevator. Luckily
for him, no more maids descended the steps at that moment. I think I had
regained consciousness by the time he arrived. All I know for sure is that I
made eye contact with him at the same time the maid lifted her head from my
chest. She put her hand to her mouth, panicked, and started moving her hand
from side to side on my chest while lowering it in a way that resembled a blind
woman using the Braille system to read my chest. I smacked her hand and pushed
her away. She screamed something about “partial.” I couldn’t help it if she was
suddenly attracted to me. I wasn’t partial to her. I wanted no part of the
woman. She kept screaming, so I pulled out my badge and sent her on her way.

The
Jaws of Life arrived to hoist me back onto my feet. I saw no elevator between
floors, so, after I made sure no more maids were ready to swoop down upon me, I
pulled myself up to the second floor and used the key Lou handed me to enter
the victim’s apartment. I wanted to hide from everyone other than Lou. I would
have liked to have hidden from him too, but that wasn’t possible.  If George
had knocked on the door and handed me his phone that had a video play-by-play
of the maid attacking me, I would have stomped on it until I had pulverized it.
Luckily for both of us, that didn’t happen. I didn’t know what one of those
devices he carried cost, but I was sure it was a few cents more than a Happy
Meal.

A
few days later, after Lou’s sides hurt so much that he could laugh no more, I
gathered enough strength to reach into my shirt pocket and grab a Hershey bar,
which I hoped would help me overcome my pain and embarrassment. I was still
paying for the errors of my ways. I extracted a couple of Hershey bars only to
learn that they too didn't escape unscathed. Not only did I encounter broken
chocolate, but broken almonds. I wished that was all that I had encountered,
but as I reached a second time  into my pocket, my fingers encountered
something slimy. I extracted the slimy thing from my pocket, looked at the
repulsive article, and then motioned for Lou to return the teeth on the wire. I
was sure they must have belonged to the middle linebacker masquerading as a
maid. If on a subsequent trip to Parkway Arms I encountered a sign that says,
“Elevator Out of Order,” I would wait until they fixed it before I mounted any
steps.

+++

Once
I was able to brush my embarrassment to the back of my mind I scanned the room
to see what I could find. I had already received the lab report, at least as
far as the fingerprints were concerned. The only discernable prints belonged to
the deceased. I made a note to ask the maid when she last cleaned the
apartment, then remembered who the maid was, and thought better of the idea.

If
Mrs. Higgins’ food was poisoned before it came up to her apartment, then it was
possible that no one had entered her apartment. Maybe the cook or the manager
made up their stories about no tray in the dumbwaiter and that the door was
secured by a chain. Maybe one of them chained it after she murdered Mrs.
Higgins. I didn’t know enough yet to know if that would help or hurt their
case. I would simulate my information after we received the autopsy report. The
lab boys were through with the apartment, so I locked the window. I didn’t want
to touch it until they had dusted for prints. I continued my search of the
apartment, noticed nothing out of order, but then why should anything be out of
order? With my search completed, I decided I could put off the inevitable no
longer.

+++

Lou
arrived back at Mrs. Higgins’ apartment in a few minutes with the
aforementioned linebacker in tow. He ushered the reluctant woman into the
apartment.  I  apologized to her and made a comment that the building should
have installed mirrors on the staircase to alert those who were ascending and
descending the stairs. The linebacker grunted something indiscernible. I knew
it was her fault. If she had been where she should have been, off cleaning
someone’s apartment, our encounter wouldn’t have happened. I neglected to
remember that she was the one keeping to the right. Could I help it if there
was nothing on my right to catapult me to my destination? Then I remembered a
railing. I had failed to use that one because it meant additional three or four
steps to the top. I always round corners on the inside to save time. Well, I
don't when driving.

“I
have a few questions for you, Mrs. Washburn. It is Mrs. Washburn, isn’t it?”

“That’s
my name, Margie Washburn. I’m a widow.”

“Your
maiden name wasn’t Nitschke, was it?”

“No.
Elkins.”

“Tell
me, Mrs. Washburn, what are your duties here at Parkway Arms?”

“You’re
not trying to get me fired because of what happened on the stairs, just because
you’re a cop?”

“No,
of course not. I’m talking with all the employees and all the residents.”

“Okay,
because I still think it was your fault.”

“Let’s
forget about whose fault it was. Just tell me what you do here.”

“I’m
the second floor maid. That means I clean whatever needs to be cleaned on the
second floor. We have a schedule. Of course I also do a lot of cleaning on the
first floor, but Ginny and I share that. She’s the third floor maid.”

“And
did you know Mrs. Higgins, who lived in this apartment?”

“Of
course I knew Mrs. Higgins. I cleaned her apartment every week.”

“When
was the last time you cleaned this apartment?”

“Thursday.
Are you saying I didn’t do a good job?”

“No,
I think you did a thorough job.”

“Me,
too.”

“Tell
me, Mrs. Washburn, what was Mrs. Higgins like?”

“Kind
of demanding. Always standing over you to make sure you did a good job. But she
was okay. She didn’t complain too much. That was because I’m a good maid. She
couldn’t find anything to complain about.”

“When
was the last time you saw Mrs. Higgins?”

“Thursday,
when I cleaned.”

“You
didn’t see her yesterday at all?”

“Not
that I can recall. Of course yesterday was a busy day. Yesterday we had to
vacuum and shampoo all the carpeting on this floor. From one end to the other.
That takes a lot of time. Boy was I tired when I finished.”

“So,
you didn’t see her at breakfast, and she didn’t open her door while you were vacuuming
or shampooing?”

“Nope.”

“Did
you happen to hear any noises in this apartment, while you were out in the
hallway?”

“Are
you kidding? My machines make so much noise it’s a wonder I don’t go crazy.”

“Do
you have a key to this apartment?”

“Of
course. I’m expected to clean it each week. Of course I don’t use my key if a
resident’s at home. We have to knock first. Then, knock again if no one
answers, before we are allowed to use our keys. That is unless we’ve been told
that a resident won’t be at home.”

“Did
you use your key to this apartment at any time yesterday?”

“Not
this apartment or any other. Like I told you, I was busy all day vacuuming and
shampooing. I don’t think you realize how big a job that is. You should try it
sometime. Then you’d know. Most folks wouldn’t be able to finish, let alone do
it right.”

“Okay,
so you were busy all day. But you were on this floor. Did you see anyone else
enter or leave this apartment yesterday?”

“Nope,
but then I was at the other end of the building part of the time. Are you
saying someone came in here? Was something stolen? If so, it wasn’t me.”

“No,
I’m not saying someone came in here. I’m asking you if you saw anyone come in.”

“Nope,
and if anyone came in here, it had to be early or late. No one’s allowed to walk
on the carpet after it’s shampooed until it’s had time to dry. And that means
no one. Plus, I’d be able to tell if someone did.”

“So,
does that mean that no one other than you was even on this floor yesterday?”

 “Not
while the carpet was wet. We still do things the old-fashioned way, and this
stuff takes a while to dry. Of course, it’s not a big problem. We only have to
do this once every three months, so everyone can live with it. If I can live
with it, so can anyone else.”

+++

I
finished with the second floor maid, thanked her for her time, and reminded her
not to leave the premises. She gave me a look, but didn’t say anything. After
she had gone, I sent Lou to find the third-floor maid. Might as well account for
both maids. Lou came back a few minutes later with what I assumed was the other
maid. If so, I got tackled by the wrong one. This one probably didn’t weigh
half of what the other one did. Younger, too. I guessed the other maid to be
somewhere around my age. This one was probably on the sunny side of forty.
Maybe mid-thirties.

“Let’s
see, your name is Ginny Adams.”

“That’s
right.”

“And
you’re the third floor maid here.”

“Uh-huh.”

“How
well did you know Mrs. Higgins?”

“I
didn’t.”

“You
didn’t.”

“No,
I only know the ones I clean for, and she wasn’t one of them.”

“But
surely you’ve seen her?”

“Oh,
I’ve seen everyone from time to time, but I don’t know the ones on this floor.
Just my floor. Same with Margie. She don’t know none of them on my floor.”

“But
you have a key to this apartment?”

“No,
I don’t. I only have keys to the apartments on the third floor. Ask Margie. Ask
Mrs. Draper. They’ll tell you.”

“Does
that mean you’ve never been in this apartment?”

“I
might’ve been, but if so it was only once or twice, but I can’t tell you for
sure. Sometimes Margie’ll holler if she needs something, but that’s rare.
Usually she’d holler for Wally, particularly if something needed fixing or
moving. Wally handles all of that.”

“So,
you don’t know anything about Mrs. Higgins?”

“I
didn’t say that. I clean for Mr. Cochran and Mrs. Hunt. They both live on the
third floor. Most of the time we’re in someone’s apartment we’re just cleaning,
but Mr. Cochran likes to talk. So does Mrs. Hunt. I know that Mr. Cochran liked
the woman who lived here, and that Mrs. Hunt liked Mr. Cochran. She once told
me that she didn’t know what Mr. Cochran saw in that old woman. I tried not to
laugh, because I think Mrs. Hunt and Mrs. Higgins were about the same age.”

“I
assume that you vacuumed and shampooed yesterday.”

“That’s
right. I sure was tired when I finished.”

“Did
you see anyone while you did this?”

“Not
a soul. Most everyone clears out of the building or stays holed up in their
apartments when we’re shampooing the carpet, because they know that no one’s
allowed to walk on it until we’ve finished.”

+++

I
dismissed Ginny Adams. We had finished talking to the employees. Only residents
were left, and one of them was dead and two of the others were away. I planned
to talk to each of them in his or her apartment. After lunch.

“So,
Lou, what do you think?”

“I
think it’s too early to be thinking about anything.”

“Even
lunch?”

“Cy,
you know I’ve changed, but I know you haven’t. I’m ready for lunch whenever you
are.”