The Cluttered Corpse (12 page)

“That's very nice of you,” I said with admiration.

“I'm happy to do it. She's a wonderful mother. She was there whenever I needed her. Now that she needs me, although she'd never ask, I plan to be there as often as I can. And Kevvie misses his grandma, so it's a special time for us each week.” She paused, perhaps remembering what the question was about. “We were back in the house, less than fifteen minutes, I'm sure. I was hurrying to put the pot roast on for dinner when we heard screaming. Then sirens. Kevvie ran out to see what was going on. He was afraid something had happened to Emmy Lou.”

I remembered Kevin lying grief stricken on the lawn.

“Tony didn't go with you for the visit?”

“Tony? Of course not. To tell the truth, my mother took an instant dislike to him the one time she met him.”

I knew how that felt, but kept my opinion to myself.

“So he stayed behind?”

“He wasn't supposed to be here. We dropped him off at his own mother's place, down near Cherry Hill. He was going to spend some time with her. I was glad to get rid of him for a while to tell the truth. He wasn't the easiest person to be around. I think that mother of his always encouraged him to spend all his time here. But it was good for Kevin to get away from him now and then. I don't know how he got back to Bell Street. Or why.”

Good questions. How and why had he come back? “And did you notice anything unusual when you left?”

“Lately, there seem to be lots of people and cars coming and going on this little street. Patti Magliaro was out walking her cat. Of course, she's always walking Princess, so maybe I'm imagining that. The people on the other side of Emmy Lou's were loading some boxes into their car at the same time we were leaving. The woman's very nice and not too well, I believe. I keep meaning to invite her for a cup of coffee, but I put it off because Kevvie's a bit afraid of the man, so he gets upset when we see them. I think their name is Baxter. Tony probably made faces at them.”

More like gave them the finger, I thought.

She continued. “Emmy Lou was outside puttering around in her yard. She has a service to keep it up. I'd been kind of hoping that perhaps the boys could have done it for her, but when I asked, she'd already signed a contract with the same people who did the landscaping for her. She felt bad though about not asking them. I guess she hadn't thought about Kevin and Tony being capable of looking after her fancy plants and all that new grass. Kids like that can use any opportunity, you know. They're few and far between in this community.”

It crossed my mind that perhaps that had triggered the stunts. Maybe Emmy Lou felt a bit responsible because she hadn't thought about them.

“Were they upset about it? Kevin and Tony? Did they feel cheated out of an opportunity?”

She furrowed her brow, concentrating. “It's so hard for them to find jobs. I think they were a bit disappointed maybe, once I mentioned it. The initiative didn't come from them in the first place. It was my idea. Perhaps I should never have even mentioned it.”

“And when you got back? You said it was a few minutes before all hell broke out.”

“I didn't pay much attention to anything until Kevvie started to scream.”

“But when you drove back home, did you see anything unusual? Any delivery trucks or drivers who might have seen anything? What about Dwayne Rheinbeck? Was he around?”

She closed her eyes as if to remember. “I didn't notice Dwayne. I don't remember his car being there, but I wasn't paying attention. The same with delivery vans and trucks. You tune them out, although we don't get quite as many on a Sunday. But there was something different: a girl with very strange turquoise and black hair sitting on the curb. Kevvie was quite fascinated by her. She didn't seem to be doing anything wrong. Because of Kevvie and other things in my life, I've learned not to judge people solely on their looks.”

That reminded me that I needed to talk to Lilith about who and what she'd seen. And when.

“Good thinking,” I said. Seeing how I'd misjudged Kevin and Tony, I'd begun to think I needed to be less judgmental. “That was Lilith, my assistant. She was waiting for me. Someone called my cell, claiming to be Woodbridge Emergency Services and saying my house was on fire. I was late because of it. I thought my pets were stuck in a burning house. Do you think that Tony might have made that call?”

“Did you say your
cell
phone? How would he know your number?”

“I left brochures all over the neighborhood last fall. My cell number was on them. That's how Emmy Lou found me.”

She shook her head sadly. “A brochure last fall? Tony probably couldn't have found your regular phone number in the phone book. And did the caller sound like an employee of the emergency services?”

“Fooled me.”

“You wouldn't have been fooled by Tony, believe me. Not for a minute. He would have stammered and giggled. He wouldn't have the terminology right either. And why would he pull such a horrible stunt?” She continued to shake her head. “This is all so confusing. What was Tony doing at Emmy Lou's place? I can't imagine why he'd be in the house.” She reached for her china cup.

I took a deep breath and started. “Tony had been harassing Emmy Lou, I believe.”

Her hand hovered above her cup. She stared at me. “Tony? Harassing her?”

“I was starting a contract for her, to organize a collection.”

“Those stuffed animals, I suppose.” She chuckled. “Kevvie told me about them. Silly thing for a grown woman with a new husband too.”

“And while we were there, Tony and Kevin climbed the tree outside her bedroom, with a camera and yelled and made faces in the window. Emmy Lou screamed and panicked when she saw them. They took a photo of her reaction.”

Mrs. Dingwall's florid face turned white.

“I'm sorry,” I said. “You didn't know?”

Shock flickered on the kind face. “Of course not. I would never have tolerated that. What a terrible thing. They could have been in big trouble if she'd called the police.” She paused. “Are you sure?”

“I was there. I saw them. During and afterward on your lawn.”

She was having trouble with this information. “Kevvie too? I could imagine Tony in his stupid way thinking that was funny and not imagining the consequences, but Kevvie loves Emmy Lou.” Her shoulders drooped as if from the weight of this information.

“I'm sorry. This must be so upsetting. I don't know what they were trying to achieve. At the time, I thought they wanted to terrify her.”

“No, that wouldn't be it. They both thought she was wonderful. It was like teasing the girl next door, I suppose. I'm not saying it was right, but it wasn't meant to harm.”

“Bill Baxter yelled at them, told them to leave her alone. They gave him the finger.”

“He is always yelling at them. I think he's a crank.” The cup rattled in the saucer. “Emmy Lou was terrified, you said?”

“Yes, and I was angry over that stunt. But she didn't want me to call the police. She said that sometimes his jokes missed the mark.”

“That one certainly did. Honestly. This is so hard. I can't deal with it.”

“I got the impression that this type of thing had been going on for a while. She was rattled when I got there. And the Baxters both said that she'd been upset by the boys.”

“I know my son and he would never do anything to hurt anyone.”

“Perhaps he was being led astray by Tony. You can understand why I'm mentioning these things. If Tony was in her home and she felt threatened, she could have pushed him and it would have been self-defense.”

“Self-defense? I can't believe anyone would need to defend herself against Tony. His looks might be enough to frighten you, but he was like a child too. Tony was harmless. I am sure of it, or I never would have let him spend so much time with Kevin. Never. I had no idea they were pulling these stupid stunts.”

“Friday afternoon I spoke to Dwayne Rheinbeck. He said he'd talk to you about these pranks and ask you to put a stop to them.”

She stared at me. “Dwayne didn't tell me. I saw him, let me see, leaving for work Saturday and yesterday. He seems to put in terribly long hours at that restaurant. He never mentioned anything. He smiled and waved hello, like he was real neighborly.”

I raised an eyebrow. There was something very strange about that statement. “Like he was…?”

“Those Rheinbecks,” she said darkly, “they're not exactly what they seem.” She crossed her heavy arms over her chest, and I got the impression that I wouldn't get any more than that out of her.

I said, “Dwayne has me working on the stuffed animal project until Emmy Lou gets home again. A nice surprise for her. I hope you don't mind if I drop by and say hello every now and then.”

I figured it would be a matter of time until she told me why those Rheinbecks weren't exactly what they seemed.

“That'll be nice,” she smiled. “I can use some company from time to time.”

A
thunk
in the hallway caused us both to whirl. Kevin stood in the living room door, his eyes wide, mouth open. Freckles stood out against his pale skin. It was the first time I'd been close enough to notice them. He leaned forward and pointed a finger at me.

He shrieked. “It's you. You said we would be sorry if we didn't leave Emmy Lou alone. You killed him! You killed Tony!”

I protested to Pepper when she showed up on Bell Street in front of the Dingwalls' less than five minutes later. I was getting into the Miata after failing to calm either Kevin or his mother.

“Of course I didn't threaten to kill him and you know that. So don't pretend.” Must have been the sneer on her face that brought out my next comment. “Surely you can tell this boy is not quite normal, Pepper.”

She was dressed to impress this Monday. Except for her unexpected weekend garb, Pepper always does her detective thing dressed like someone who's just stepped out of a fashion shoot. Today she had on a black-and-white print jacket, sort of a seventies vibe with a bit of sheen to it, and a pair of very stylish black “city” shorts to her knees. She had the legs for them and had obviously spent time at the tanning salon. She was carrying a large glossy purse and stood a bit taller than usual in a pair of open-toed leather shoes with high cork soles. You had to be tall and whippet-thin to pull off city shorts and a jacket like that. Pepper managed it perfectly. She'd be well aware that I would resemble a garden gnome in that outfit.

Never mind. I was glad I'd chosen a pair of silver kitten-heeled shoes. Silver was a big look this spring. I'd picked out my fave swirly little skirt and a fitted twinset in a shade of coral that looked very good on me, but, if my high school memories served, that shade made Pepper look jaundiced.

She said, “All I know is the kid claims you threatened him. He's pretty upset about it. And we'd already had a complaint about that.”

“That's ridiculous. I did not threaten him. I said…you know what I said. I'd already explained the whole thing to you. And I can't understand why you would race out here based on Mrs. Dingwall's call and at the same time you won't even return my messages.”

“Consequences.”

“For what?”

“You are running around snooping. There are consequences to that.”

“Listen, I went over to ask Mrs. Dingwall a few questions. I wanted to find out if she knew what Tony was up to yesterday—”

Pepper interrupted. “Exactly. Snooping. Not your job and not your business.”

“It is my business, because I found the body. And don't forget my client is involved.”

“I'm not likely to forget that. Let's see, ‘involved'? Is that a euphemism for confessed to murder?”

“She didn't murder anyone, so stop trying to yank my chain. I couldn't even sleep last night worrying.”

“And I would care about that because…?”

I raised my chin. “Because I reconstructed the crime.”

“You what? You went back to the crime scene? We had that house secured until well after midnight. If you did that, then your ass is grass, Charlotte Adams.”

“Obviously, I couldn't reconstruct it on the spot. For one thing it was in the middle of the night. I did it, um, conceptually.” I decided to omit the detail about tossing the pillow down the stairs.

Pepper rolled her eyes.

I kept on talking. “And my reconstruction told me a couple of things: one, Tony could have pounced out at Emmy Lou, pulling one of his little jokes, then, naturally, she might have panicked and pushed him away and he could have fallen. That's one scenario. The other one is that he could have really tried to get physical in some way and she could have defended herself, fought him off, with the same result: he tumbled down the stairs and…we know the rest.”

Pepper yawned. Didn't bother to cover her mouth either. How rude was that?

I ignored that. “The third possibility is that he might have been trying to go upstairs or trying to get downstairs. Either way, he could have tripped on those toys on the stairs. He was clumsy and…they were all over the place. I tripped on a couple myself, and whatever my failings, I am not clumsy or accident-prone.”

Pepper muttered something, but I didn't fall into that little trap either.

“So,” I said, “the end result could be the same for someone like Emmy Lou Rheinbeck. She would feel responsible for his death either because she didn't diffuse the situation or because she couldn't control her compulsion to collect these toys. I know this woman and—”

Pepper said, “She's been your client for how long?”

I wasn't about to say half an hour and a couple of phone calls, although it was true. Pepper seemed to know this too. She smirked. It went well with her repertoire of yawning, muttering, and eye rolling.

I said, “It doesn't matter how long. Another theory might be that she's protecting someone that she—”

Pepper interrupted yet again. “Any word on Sally?”

I blinked. “Sally? Oh, yes, the kids are starting to feel a bit better. Little Savannah's not quite out of the woods yet. Sal's pretty tired too. We'll give you a call as soon as we're ready to get together for the sort-of shower thingie, gifts and all.”

“I'm
sure
you will. And in the meantime, here's a little gift for you: you don't know anything about Emmy Lou Rheinbeck. So stay away from my witnesses or you'll be sitting in the cell next to her. Got that?”

She got into her unmarked police car and burned rubber. I guess I'd gotten to her, although I had to admit she'd won that round.

I'd been outgunned.

I hadn't had time to tell her that it definitely hadn't been Kevin's mother who called her the first time, claiming that I'd harassed the boys. I didn't know who'd done that, but although I was one hundred percent sure it was relevant to Tony's death, I had no idea how.

Although it was a free country last time I checked, I decided to move the Miata, in case Pepper came back to check and found out I'd continued to work for Dwayne Rheinbeck. I parked behind the giant Dumpster across the street from the Rheinbecks and the Baxters. Despite the Dumpster and the two half-demolished houses, there were no workers on the site. Not too surprising. The current building and renovation boom in Woodbridge made it hard to hang on to skilled trades. Someone else had obviously snagged this crew. The Miata would be fine there.

I checked my watch. Plenty of time before Dwayne showed up. I locked the car door and was ambling over to see Patti Magliaro when I spotted an opportunity. A stooped man who looked to be in his late sixties was emerging from the side door of the garage belonging to the well-kept house across the street from the Rheinbecks, next to the demolition site. I'd seen him before, strolling down the block and watching the scene unfold when Emmy Lou was in full hysteria mode on the street.

I approached and smiled disarmingly. Up close I could see he had large green eyes like Emmy Lou's, although I didn't detect any warmth or, in fact, any emotion in his. I felt an icy tingle in the small of my back.

“Hello,” I said.

I found myself shivering under his gaze. Talk about someone who didn't like small talk. No answer. “I am working with Emmy Lou Rheinbeck. Or with her husband, Dwayne, to be precise.”

His eyes flickered toward 10 Bell Street and then back to me. He knew who Emmy Lou was and where she lived.

“Am I right that she's your daughter?

I thought I saw him shake his head.

“Could I ask you a couple of questions? It could help.”

He turned his back and started toward the house.

I followed him onto the paving-stone walk that led to the house. Maybe he was hard of hearing. I raised my voice. “It's very important. I need to talk to you about your daughter, Emmy Lou.”

He stopped, glared over his shoulder, and said icily, “I am not deaf.”

“Sorry,” I said.

“But perhaps
you
are.”

“What? No, I'm not—”

“I heard you the first time. Let me make myself clear. I do not have a daughter.”

I stared as he turned his back to me for the second time.

“Well then,” I called after him, “is her father around?”

“You're on private property. Better get yourself off it before I call the police.”

He walked along the path, up the stairs, and disappeared into the house without a backward glance. As he opened the door, a tiny woman with a pinched face peeked past him for a second and then they both vanished. The door slammed shut.

Who was that woman? And why did she look so frightened?

Patti Magliaro held her door wide open. “Right on. I see you met the Munsters. Of course, they call themselves the Wrights, but we know better. Come in. You'll need something to warm you up after that. Do you have ice on your ears?”

I glanced around Patti's place. I'd half expected it to be furnished in macramé, peace symbols, and hemp fibers, but it was minimalist and practical. IKEA meets The Container Store. I approved. She had several wall-mounted shelves with a collection of charming vintage teapots displayed. Several of them had a cat theme.

I said, “Almost. This Mr. Wright was something. All I did was ask if he was Emmy Lou's father. I explained that I was doing some work for Dwayne so he'd know I was all right.”

“What is it the English say? A nasty piece of work? I love the way they talk, don't you? I'm a total
Masterpiece Theatre
freak.”

I didn't have time to get sidetracked by Patti's many digressions. It was hard enough to concentrate with Princess wrapping herself around my ankles. I wasn't sure how I'd explain that when I got home. I said, “But he looked like Emmy Lou, especially those eyes, so I assumed that he'd be like her. Warm and chatty.”

“You struck out there. He's as cold as they come. You know what? I have no idea how you can walk in those shoes. I'd be lost without my sandals. I'd tumble to my death in those. Oh maybe I shouldn't make jokes like that after yesterday. Kind of thoughtless, but I didn't mean it. Still I don't know how you can walk around in shoes like that.”

My shoes had two-inch kitten heels. It wouldn't take a circus performer to wear them. But again, I wanted to stay on topic. “He said he didn't have a daughter.”

“Did he? I know for a fact that he does. I'm not surprised that he denied it, but I am a bit that he actually answered you. Never speaks to anyone, has that poor little mouse wife of his under his thumb. She looks scared to breathe. I've tried so many times.”

“I got a glimpse of her. I didn't have a chance to ask her anything.”

“And you won't either. She never gets out of his sight. She always looks like that, so it may not be anything in particular. She wouldn't dare contradict him about a little thing like who's a member of the family. He has a real bad aura. Did you notice it? Yours is good. Did anybody ever read it? I'm pretty good at that.”

“Maybe when all this stuff is sorted out. You'd think, even if they were estranged, that they'd want to help her. She is in jail for murder and that's awful.”

Patti said, “For sure. Can I get you a cup of tea?”

I'd already had coffee across the street, but I figured Patti needed to do something. Maybe it would help her concentrate. “That would be great.”

“What would you like? Ginger peach? Chamomile? Sleepytime? Lemon Zinger? Green? White? Jasmine blossom?”

“You pick.”

“Jasmine blossom,” she said. “Special treat.”

“Patti,” I said, “you've lived here for quite a while.”

“I've been here for more than twenty years, in this apartment. Forty years in the Woodbridge area. I was sixteen when we first set up a homestead for a long time. But after George got sick, we had to move into town. Sometimes I miss my little garden. We had carrots and radishes and the best tomatoes you could—”

Time to interrupt. “Was Emmy Lou living at home when you moved in?”

“No. She'd already left by then. In fact, I didn't even realize they had a daughter until she moved back in across the street this year.”

“How did you know she'd lived here?”

“Emmy Lou told me. We were outside chewing the fat a bit one night, and she pointed to the house and said that's where she grew up, across the street.”

“But her parents don't acknowledge her.”

“Guess not. That jasmine tea is real nice, isn't it? I love the way the flower opens up when you—”

“I wonder what made her move back to Bell Street, where she'd see them every day.”

“The father anyway. That mother's stuck in the house all the time. In twenty years, I've never had a conversation with her. I wonder if he knocks her around a bit. I wish I had some cookies or something for you, Charlotte, but you know I'm alone here and I get so much stuff over at Betty's that—”

“But it sounds like such a dysfunctional situation, doesn't it? Puzzling.”

“Maybe she got a good price on that house. Or she thought if she was in front of them, that sooner or later she'd get a smile out of the old bastard.”

“Hmm.”

“Anyway, it never seemed to bother Emmy Lou any. She was always cheerful and smiling. She waved to them every day when she went out. He'd turn his head, and if the mother was around she'd scurry away. They have a beautiful garden. Did I mention how much I miss mine? Emmy Lou has done a nice job on hers too.”