Pier Pressure (2 page)

I chained and locked my bicycle to a palm tree inside the white picket fence and entry gate. It's never smart to leave an unattended bicycle unlocked—not even on Sunday morning. Hoisting the portable footbath and lotions from my bike basket, I headed for the front door. Dwarf hibiscus plants in large clay pots lined the sidewalk and porch steps. Scarlet. Yellow. Orange. Pink. White. They subtly advertised Jass's career and business, her hibiscus greenhouse. I picked up a lavender blossom that had fallen on the porch steps and tucked it in the top buttonhole on my jumpsuit as I waited for Margaux to answer my knock.

All remained quiet. Then, through the window to the right of the doorway, I saw Margaux sitting in an armchair. A copy of
Southern Living
had fallen to the floor near her feet. At first I thought she sat sleeping. Then hairs rose on my nape. Her head lolled slightly to one side. Surely she had heard my steps on the porch. I frowned as I rapped again and my mouth went dry as my sense of foreboding increased.

“Margaux,” I called as I tried the door. “It's me, Keely. Margaux?”

The door swung open and I stepped over the threshold. I had a horrible feeling I hadn't caught Margaux napping. Heart attack? Stroke? Perhaps sudden illness or a seizure had prevented her from reaching the phone to call for help. I stepped from the hallway into the living room and gasped. Blood drenched her white robe and had dripped onto the chair, the carpet.

Then I saw more blood oozing from the bullet hole in her head.

Two

IN A REFLEX action, I rushed to Margaux's side. Maybe she was still alive. Maybe I could help her, save her. I'd taken CPR training last year. Maybe. Maybe. But even as those frantic thoughts raced through my mind, I knew in my gut that Margaux was dead. Now the stench of blood and death that I hadn't noticed at first made me want to run, but shock and nausea held me to the spot. I'd read many times about the unforgettable odor of death. Now I experienced it first-hand. My knees wobbled as I forced myself to stand motionless before her, frozen now by fear and the ever-rising urge to vomit. I grabbed a deep breath, clamped my hand over my mouth and nose, and somehow managed to swallow.

In the distance, bells pealed like a threnody from the Catholic Church. Closer at hand, a dog howled, a car horn honked, and brakes squealed—ordinary sounds, intruding on the early Sunday stillness. A breeze set nearby palm branches in motion, reminding me of gentle rain. Move. Move. My mind ordered my body into motion. Taking care to avoid stepping in the blood that stained the carpet, I bent to touch it. Damp. I jerked my hand back. What had I expected? I wiped my finger on the leg of my jumpsuit, leaving a rust-colored stain.

Then I stepped closer to Margaux. I didn't want to touch her. No. No. The idea repelled me, and my mind recoiled from the thought. But I had to touch her, didn't I? Yes. I had to make sure she was beyond help.

My teeth chattered and my whole body trembled as I reached for her left wrist that lay on the folds of her blood-stained robe. Maybe I'd feel a pulse. Maybe a rescue unit could save her if I acted quickly. Maybe her life at this very moment depended on my swift action, my clear thinking. Maybe. Maybe.

Murder? Suicide? Thoughts jumbled in my mind. Who would want to murder Margaux? I could think of nobody. Suicide? My mind screamed the word. No! Margaux Ashford had no reason to commit suicide. She had everything going for her. Everything. She had it all. When I touched her wrist, I thought her skin felt cold, but my own icy fingers made me doubt my sense of touch. I moved silently, carefully, gently as I pressed my fingers on the underside of her wrist, steadying her arm with my thumb on top of her wrist. No pulse beat. None. Or maybe my shaking had caused me to miss it.

Changing the position of my fingers, I tried again, waiting for the faint beat that would indicate life. Nothing. I straightened up and backed away from—the body. I felt sure Margaux was dead. She had been my customer, not a dear friend, but in that moment I felt a closeness to her and I felt horrified at her violent death. Although I was well practiced at holding back and hiding tears, I felt dampness on my cheeks. I wiped my face with the palms of my hands and the tears stopped as suddenly as they had started.

I backed off another step. What if someone had shot Margaux and fled from the scene? Or worse yet, what if a killer still lurked nearby? This old house offered a plethora of nook-and-cranny hiding places. I could be the next victim! Common sense jogged my fear and told me to get the heck away from this house, to run for my life.

Let someone else find Margaux's body. Anyone else. Someone who knew how to deal with that sort of thing. I could gather my reflexology gear, stow it in my bike basket, and pedal back to Duval Street before anyone knew I had been here. This neighborhood still slept. Nobody would be the wiser. Then my shoulders slumped. I couldn't live with myself if I ran away. Besides, too many people knew of my Sunday morning schedule, my appointments with Margaux. Gram. Beau's kids. And Beau, of course. But more important,
I knew.
I'd have to live with my decision forever.

Fate had thrown me into this situation up to my eyebrows and I had to deal with it. Reluctantly I eased my cell phone from my pocket. Somehow I stopped my fingers from trembling long enough to key in nine-one-one.

“Police dispatcher,” a cool voice flowed across the wire as if from a great distance. “Who's speaking, please?”

“Keely Moreno here.” My throat felt stiff as a steel pipe, and my stress-frazzled voice threatened to fail. The line hummed as I cleared my throat. “I'm calling to report a—a body. A dead body. Please send help quickly.”

“Where are you, Miss Moreno?” the dispatcher asked, her voice still unflustered and sea-water cool.

“I'm at the Beau Ashford home on Grinnell Street. I'm not sure of the exact address. Shall I step outside and look at the house number?”

“No, Miss Moreno. Our people know the Ashford house. Everyone knows it by sight. Please keep calm and stay where you are. Our rescue unit's on its way and will arrive in a very few minutes. You may need to supply some details.”

“Thank you.” I wanted to say something more that would keep our conversation alive and going. I wanted her to talk me through the agonizing moments until help arrived. She was my lifeline, but I could think of nothing more to say. I clicked the power switch, jammed the phone back into my pocket, and paced the room while I waited for the police, the ambulance, the fire truck. Would they arrive with sirens wailing? Maybe I should call Jass, Beau's daughter and my close friend, and tell her what I'd found. Over the telephone? Would that be the kind thing to do? Forget that. Jass was probably still in Miami keeping tabs on her annual entry in the Hibiscus Show. She'd learn the news soon enough.

I backed off from calling Jass's twin, too. Who knew where or with whom Punt might be sleeping? Nor could I bear waiting another minute in the Ashford home. I forced myself to move calmly as I stepped onto the front porch, walked down the five steps, and into the yard. Why was I counting the steps so carefully? For once I understood people like Shandy Koffan who had a compulsive need to count things—everything. I walked through the yard, out the gate, and into the street. In spite of what the dispatcher had said, I planned to flag down the rescue unit, to make sure the driver didn't accidentally pass by the Ashford house.

I had only been standing at the curbing for a few moments when I caught a glimpse of Jude walking away from me on the other side of the street. What was he doing in this neighborhood? Jude lived on Key Haven, several miles from here, closer to Boca Chica than to Grinnell Street. Was he returning to the scene of the crime? I knew that was an unfair thought. Maybe I had discovered no crime other than suicide. Much as I hated to admit it, Jude had a right to walk anywhere he chose to walk—anywhere except near me. Right now his presence rattled me, and I ducked behind a palm tree, fearing he might turn and see me at any moment, but maybe I had been mistaken. Maybe the man wasn't Jude at all. Finding Margaux's body had rattled me. I peeked from behind the palm for another look.

No. There was no mistaking Jude's bulky form, his shiny bald head, and his pale skin. Pale skin's hard to come by in Key West. Why had I ever fallen for Jude Cardell? I had my reasons at the time, but that question often haunted my worst nightmares as I remembered a broken jaw, bruised breasts, and frequent cigarette burns on many hidden and tender body spots that Jude knew would never meet the public eye.

Jude was handsome in a way, with broad cheekbones, a Roman nose, and eyes the color of aquamarines. But since our divorce he'd shaved his head. I wondered what the dignified attorneys at Hubble & Hubble
thought of that. But in Key West, anything goes. Jude reminded me of a giant toadstool, a fungus grown secretly and stealthily in some dank cave. A scary and unsavory fungus.

I thought of the pistol in my office desk drawer. I hated guns. Nikko had bought it for me at the time of my divorce. Nikko's the retired cop who lives in an apartment above my office, and Gram and I know him well. Although he accompanied me to the practice range and supervised my extensive target training, the gun still frightens me. I hate its coldness in my hand, the pungent odor of the spent bullets. I've never used it off the practice range, but somehow, I wished I had it with me now.

Sirens wailing in the distance jerked my attention to the present long before the police car arrived. Wailing sirens are a frightening sound in Key West, although they are frequently an intrusion. Drivers know they're supposed to pull over, stop, and give the emergency vehicle the right of way, but many times a narrow street offers no safe space to do that. Out on Highway 1, pulling over may splash a driver into the sea. On the narrow city streets, pulling over could cause an accident, but no traffic clogged Grinnell Street yet this morning.

The police car arrived, carrying two uniformed officers. Then the ambulance pulled to the curb. Then the fire truck. After that another police car joined the fray, bringing men in suits and ties. Slamming car doors created a cacophony of sound. For a few moments, neighbors peeked from behind louvers and shades before they ventured into their yards to see the action coming down at the Ashfords'. One woman in a polka-dot housecoat and pink hair rollers made a pretense of sweeping her porch steps and front walk. A man leaned on his fence, openly ogling the scene.

I jumped, startled, as a plainclothes detective approached me and flashed his ID. Detective Jonathan Curry. His compact frame loomed over me, intimidated me, but his steel gray eyes carried more power than his height. They bored like laser beams, burning into my brain, threatening to illumine any secrets I might try to hide. I fought a rising panic along with a deep sensation of aloneness. What if I couldn't breathe? What if my words clogged in my throat? I straightened my back and raised my chin. Sometimes that gave me a feeling of needed height. Not this time.

“You Keely Moreno?”

“Yes, sir.”

Detective Curry pulled a dog-eared notepad and a ballpoint from his jacket pocket without taking his gaze from my face. “You're the one who reported the body?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Where is it?”

“Inside the house, sir, but I saw it first through the porch window before I reached the door.”

“You knocked on the door?” His ballpoint flew across the page.

“Yes, sir.”

“Nobody answered?”

“Right. Nobody answered.”
How could she answer when she's dead?
I wanted to scream at him, but I choked the words back along with the sarcastic thought.

“Come with me, please,” Detective Curry ordered.

Although I hated the idea of going back inside that house, I tagged after him up the five steps and through the open doorway. Several more police officers arrived and followed us, their footsteps sounding hollow against the wooden stairs.

I recognized Joe Rankin, the barrel-chested cop who had befriended me after Mom's death and who knew all about my problems with Jude. He's now one of my patients and we nodded to each other.

I also knew Dr. Wantize, the pudgy medical examiner, and Kurt Worthington, a stringbean of a man who worked as police photographer. In a matter of a few moments, the police officers outside got the go-ahead from someone to stretch yellow tape around the Ashford property. CRIME SCENE DO NOT CROSS. I shuddered as I read the black letters from where I stood near the door. Did the tape mean the police suspected murder? Or was suicide a crime, too?

Dr. Wantize examined Margaux's body, doing the stethoscope thing to check for heartbeat, forcing her eyelids open with his thumb, and shining a bright light onto her sightless pupils. Detective Curry stepped between me and Margaux's body, and for a few moments I couldn't tell what the policemen were doing. I didn't really want to know. When Curry stepped aside to talk with Joe Rankin, I saw another cop place paper bags around Margaux's hands like mittens, securing them at her wrists. I could hardly bear to look, nor could I bear to look away as Dr. Wantize worked with thermometers, vials of liquid, and Handi-Wipes. At last, he shook his head and nodded toward Detective Curry.

“Been dead seven or eight hours, that's my guess. That puts the time of death around ten to midnight last night. Hard to tell exactly, but I'm guessing that's a close estimate.”

Detective Curry nodded and scrawled an entry on his notepad. “Suicide? Murder? Your opinion?”

“That's your bailiwick, Jon. I'll give you the pertinent facts. You make the call.”

“With your help and advice,” Curry said. “Looks like this could be a tough one. No suicide note?”

“Not in this area,” Wantize replied. “Don't know about other rooms.”

“My men'll check the rest of the house.”

Kurt Worthington's flashbulb left dizzying circles before my eyes as he snapped many pics of the room and of Margaux's body, before replacing his camera in its case and slinging the strap over his shoulder.