“Yes I am. When you fall over and the whole thing topples down on top of you, I’m sending it in to Funniest Home Videos and will win lots of money.” He thought he was so funny. I looked at Riley and glared. At least he had the decency to look unamused. Walking out to the shower, I wondered how I was going to do this. The tent was very small and stepping inside it, I felt the walls touch my shoulders. My head stuck out the top.
“Riley! It’s not tall enough,” I yelled. Riley came out, followed by everyone else. Danny had his videophone in hand.
“This isn’t going to work,” I whined.
“Sure it is. Just make sure no one walks past and peeks in over the top.” He smiled.
Humph. “Well, don’t all stand there watching,” I huffed.
Making sure the tent flaps were closed, I started to undress and throw my clothes over the top towards the chair sitting near the door. I have to tell you, it was not easy. Every time I moved my arms, the tent would sway from side to side, causing me to nearly fall over. When I was finally naked, I turned so I was facing away from the back door—just in case someone came out—and looked up to see my neighbor, Roger, staring at me across the fence. Giving him a little two-fingered wave, I decided facing the house was probably my best option. I’m sure Danny, Molly and Andrew didn’t want to see me naked…and Riley? Thinking about that had me sweating.
After having the fastest shower in history, I turned the water off and looked for my towel. Shit. I’d left it on the chair along with my clean clothes. I really hadn’t thought this through.
“Molly!” She was probably the best one to call. Unfortunately no one could hear me over the music they had playing. “Molly!” I waited for about a minute, goosebumps breaking out all over me. Shivering, I looked around. No one was looking. Roger had gone back inside—probably to take his heart medication—so maybe I could quickly sneak over and grab my towel. This was seriously the worst idea Riley had ever come up with. Tomorrow I was showering in my swimsuit.
Opening the flap in the shower, I tiptoed over to the chair, and just as I was getting close to it, the back door opened. I screamed, grabbed at the towel and silently prayed it was Molly standing there. But no, of course it wasn’t. Who do you think it was? Yep, you guessed it. It was Riley.
Now, he was a gentleman and turned his back to me quickly, but not before I saw the look of total shock register itself on his face.
“I’m so sorry, Lizzie. I thought I heard you calling out and wanted to make sure you were okay,” he stammered.
Even in the fading light, I could see his ears and neck were red. Wow, I should write a book on 101 Ways to Embarrass Yourself. I’m almost an expert on the subject. By the time Riley had opened the back door and sprinted inside, I was almost in tears. My original plan had been to have a shower and make myself look good so I wouldn’t feel so insignificant next to Molly. Instead, I had embarrassed not only myself, but also Riley. Sitting down on the chair, I put my head between my knees and took some deep breaths.
Ahh! Why did this always happen to me? When the shaking had passed, I stepped back into the shower and got dressed. Now all I had to do was hold my head high, walk back into the kitchen, past Riley and hide in my bedroom for the next decade.
Okay, more deep breathing. If I walk fast, he may not even see me. That was the plan at least.
Opening the back door, I stepped inside to see Molly and Riley sitting next to each other, deep in conversation. I didn’t stop to see what they were talking about and neither of them looked my way as I walked by. I couldn’t tell whether Riley was telling Molly how disgusted he was, or if he was checking out her cleavage and realizing he was working for the wrong sister. Either way I wasn’t stopping to find out.
When I reached the safety of my bedroom, I closed the door and burst into tears. I had absolutely no idea how I would ever face him again. Maybe I should send him a text message saying Thanks for all your work. I’ll post you a check. Bye. At least that way I would never have to look him in the eye again.
Finding a box of tissues in amongst the unpacked boxes in my room, I pulled out a couple and gave my nose a very unladylike blow. As I was wiping my tears, I heard a knock at the door.
Thank goodness. Molly could help me send Riley home without me even having to look at him. But opening the door, I looked out to find a rather coy-looking Riley. Well, there goes my plan about never having to face him again.
“Hey,” he said. Looking at my puffy eyes, his expression softened. “I really am sorry, Lizzie. I thought you were still in the shower and something scared you. I didn’t for a second wanted to embarrass you.” He held out a glass of wine. “Thought you may need it,” he said smiling. I took the glass and downed it in one go, hoping the alcohol would kick in nice and quickly. Leaving the door open, I stepped back into the room. I could still feel the humiliation stinging the back of my throat.
“I’m the one who’s sorry, Riley. I can’t think how many times in the last few weeks I’ve embarrassed you. You seeing me naked just tops it off.” Sitting on the bed, I put my head in my hands, unable to look him in the eye.
“You’ve never embarrassed me,” he said, following me into the room and closing the door behind him. His voice had gotten soft and husky as he sat on the bed beside me. “And you have no need to be embarrassed. I didn’t get that good a look, but what I did see was quite impressive.”
I could hear the laughter in his voice. He was trying to make me feel better, I thought, as I turned to look at him. He was sitting close to me, so close, we were almost touching, and those beautiful blue eyes looked at me so intently I felt my breath catch in my throat. I’m not sure if it was my imagination or not, but something in the air had changed. Sitting there, holding my breath, completely paralyzed by his eyes, I watched as Riley searched my face, his eyes lingering on my mouth. As I felt him move closer, never breaking eye contact, the door suddenly flung open and Molly rushed in.
“She’s gone!” she cried. “We’ve lost Grandma Mabel!”
Chapter Seventeen
It took a minute for my body to catch up with my brain, but when it did, I went into full panic. My heart was racing at a million beats per minute, I was sweating and I felt sick. I’d never lost anybody that I could remember. Other than my grandfathers, whom I don’t remember anyway, the only thing I had loved and lost was our old dog, Digger. We’d had to have him put to sleep when I was fourteen and I cried for about a month.
“How?” was the only word I could get out of my mouth.
“She went to seniors club this afternoon and never came home,” cried Molly.
“No, I mean how did she die?” I whispered. Molly looked at me with confusion.
“She’s not dead, Lizzie. We’ve really lost her.”
“What?”
“Mum just rang to say Grandma went to seniors club this afternoon and never came home,” explained Molly slowly, obviously thinking she was talking to an idiot. I felt my temper rise.
“Molly, don’t you dare talk to me like I’m the stupid one. You came running in here telling me we’d lost Grandma. What the hell was I supposed to think?” I yelled, walking around the room, arms waving, and adrenalin pumping.
“Don’t yell at me, Lizzie! I can’t think straight,” she yelled then burst into tears.
I looked over at Riley who was running his fingers through his hair, looking like he wanted to pull it out. Yeah, I understood exactly how he felt. Walking past Molly, I went downstairs to find Andrew on the phone and Danny in tears. What can I say? We’re good in a crisis. When Andrew hung up, I asked him to please explain what the hell was going on.
“I was talking to your mum. She went to pick Mabel up from seniors club at four o’clock but she wasn’t there. She’s rung around all her friends but of those she could contact, no one has seen her.”
“Did she leave with anyone?” I asked. It was now seven-fifteen, so Grandma had been missing for quite a few hours.
“Not that we can f
ind out,” said Andrew.
“Well, what should we do? We can’t just sit here doing nothing!” I was starting to panic all over again.
“Your mum has called the Police but she hasn’t been missing long enough. Because of her age, they are concerned though.”
I knew what everybody was thinking. Recently an elderly man on the news had got confused and wandered off. He was found the next day, hidden behind a dumpster, dead. Well, I for one was not letting that happen to Grandma Mabel. If she was going to die today, it was after we found her and I had my hands around her neck for scaring us so badly. Picking up my car keys, I headed for the door.
“Well, is anyone coming? I’m going looking for her,” I said looking back at everyone in the room. All at once people were moving, grabbing bags and phones. Once outside, we decided mine wasn’t the best car to take, as we wouldn’t all fit, so we took Riley’s truck and headed for St Joseph’s church. It felt like the best place to start.
* * * *
It didn’t take long to get to the church. At this time of night the traffic was quiet. That pretty much summed up the atmosphere inside the truck. Everyone was lost in our own thoughts about Grandma. Danny, Andrew and Molly had got in the back and I’d got to ride shotgun with Riley. I could hear Danny sniff occasionally and saw Andrew reach out and hold his hand. Molly was sitting very rigid, staring out the window, looking like she was hardly daring to breathe.
We found Father John at home in his small stone cottage behind the church, really handy for visitors like us. He greeted us with warmth as he opened his door.
“Come in, come in,” he said with a small smile. Father John was a sweet man, about fifty years old, and had a kind voice. Tonight, he was dressed in jeans and a blue collared shirt. The only indication he was a priest were the little crosses pinned to his collar. I was always surprised that priests dressed normally when they weren’t in church. I kind of thought they dressed in robes or at least with their dog collar on, but I suppose that was a uniform to them, just like a suit was a uniform to most business men. We walked into his living room and took a seat.
“We’re looking for Mabel,” explained Andrew.
“Yes, Ellen rang me and asked if I had seen if she left with anyone. To be honest, I was so busy helping one of the other members I didn’t really see anyone leave. I assume you’ve done a ring around her friends and informed the Police?”
“Yes. The only person we can’t contact is her friend Eunice. She’s not answering her phone. Was she at seniors’ club today?” asked Andrew.
“Yes, Eunice was there but she left for her daughter’s as soon as we’d finished. It was her granddaughter’s birthday and they were having a dinner for her tonight,” he explained, looking at his watch. “You could try to see if she’s home yet. Sometimes she doesn’t hear her phone ringing.”
That sounded like a good idea. At least it gave us something to do. We all felt useless sitting around doing nothing. Father John got up and moved over to a small antique desk on the far wall, opened a drawer and pulled out a small book. Flipping through it, he looked up.
“Eunice lives in the over 50’s village, The Grange, on Pickett Street. She’s number 142. Do you know where that is?” he asked.
“Yes, I do,” said Riley.
Thanking him for his time, we all piled back into Riley’s truck and headed over to the Grange Village. As Eunice lived towards the back of the village, it took us longer to find the correct unit than it did to actually drive there. Who would have thought a retirement village could be so big?
Winding our way around the narrow lanes, we finally stopped at number 142 and saw the lights were on. Getting out of the truck, we walked up to the door and knocked. The poor lady, you could see the anxiety in her eyes as she opened the door to us, keeping the chain firmly in place.
“Can I help you?” she asked. She looked to be about the same age as Grandma and reminded me of Mabel with her tightly permed hair and long, narrow face. Andrew, being the only one of us capable of explaining the situation properly, said Mabel was missing and asked if she’d seen or heard from her.
“Oh dear, you’d better come in.” She closed the door, released the chain and let us in. Danny was the first to enter and without being offered, immediately took a seat on the couch, his concern over Mabel neutralizing his normally perfect social etiquette. Deciding this was a far better option than standing in the doorway, we followed suit. Once seated, I looked at Eunice to find her smiling at the three of us.
“Well, I can tell you are Mabel’s grandchildren. You all look so much like her.” She smiled.
Danny, Molly and I looked at one another, horrified by what we had just heard. Unaware of the fear her words had created, she continued. “Mabel is such a character, she’s always keeping us entertained with her stories. Only the other day she was telling us how she was going to get a new bikini so she could join the swimming group.” She laughed at the memory. “Oh my, you should have seen the picture of the bikini she was getting. It was some skimpy little thing with pointy breasts. Mabel thought she would look fantastic in it.” That sounded like Grandma. Even though I think she has a grip on reality and knows she’s in her eighties, there’s a part of her that thinks she still looks like she did in her twenties.
“Have you heard from her this evening?” asked Andrew.
“No, but I haven’t been home. She was spending a lot of time with Ben Willet this afternoon. I think he has a bit of a crush on her.” She giggled, reminding me of a teenager.
“Do you know how we can contact him?” asked Riley. Danny, Molly and I still hadn’t had the power of speech return.
“Let me make a few calls. I don’t know his address but a friend of mine would. I won’t be a moment.” She stood and walked toward the tiny kitchen. We all waited silently, hoping we would get a lead on what happened to Grandma. Finally Eunice returned with an address.
“Now, my friend Roger says this is where Ben lives,” she said, handing Andrew a piece of paper. “Please let me know if you find her. I won’t be able to sleep tonight if I don’t know she’s safe.”
* * * *
Back in the truck, Riley pointed us in the right direction. Ben lived on the other side of town, so it took thirty minutes to get there. By this time, it was nearly ten o’clock at night and Grandma had been missing for a good five to six hours.
Reaching Ben’s house, we took a minute to assess the situation. The house was an ordinary looking single-story affair with lots of colorful flowers in pots around the front door, all lit by the streetlight on the footpath. The bright cheerfulness of them seemed in direct opposition to the mood of our group. The lights in the front of the house were out but looking up the side we could see a light was on towards the back.
Knocking, we all stood back and waited as we heard shuffling, followed by the sounds of a door lock being opened. As light spilled out to greet us, I blinked and took stock of the man who opened the door.
He was not what I’d expected. If he was under a hundred years old, I’d be shocked. His skin was about two sizes too big for him, and he had the best tan I’d ever seen. But it was what he was wearing that shocked me the most.
Nothing. He was wearing absolutely nothing.
It was a bit like a car crash, when you know you really shouldn’t look but you can’t help yourself, then you regret it for the rest of your life. I heard Danny inhale very quickly and looked at Molly, who stood with her mouth hanging open. Riley and Andrew seemed to take it all in their stride and pretended not to notice. Opening the door naked was obviously a common occurrence for Mr. Willett, as he didn’t seem fazed by it at all.
“Hello. We’re looking for Ben Willett,” explained Andrew, his eyes never straying below Ben’s shoulders.
“That’s me. What do you want?” he snapped.
“Hello, Mr. Willett. I’m Andrew and this is my partner Danny, his sisters Molly and Lizzie, and our friend Riley,” said Andrew, introducing us all.
/> “Congratulations. What do you want?”
Taken aback, Andrew continued, “Well, we’re looking for Mabel Phillips. Would you have seen her by any chance?”
“What if I have?”
“Well, the thing is, she’s been missing since this afternoon and we’re trying to find her.” Even patient Andrew was starting to get a bit flustered by now.
“Doesn’t mean I’ve seen her,” snapped Ben.
I couldn’t take it anymore.
“Listen. If you’ve seen Mabel, tell us!” It had been a long evening and I was running out of patience. Riley reached over and put his arm around my shoulders. I’m not sure if it was to soothe me or stop me from jumping across and grabbing Ben Willett by the throat.
“What’s all this racket about?”
I looked behind Ben and there was Grandma Mabel, dressed in her bra, knickers and the pink slip she always wore under her dress. I was so overcome by relief, my knees gave way and I felt Riley hold me tighter to stop me from falling. Molly started to cry and Danny ran over to Mabel, pulling her into a big hug. I could see the confusion on Grandma’s face that quickly turned to irritation.
“What are you all doing here?” she asked.
“We could say the same for you, Grandma. We’ve been looking for you for hours, running all over the place trying to find you!” shouted Danny.
“No need to shout. I’m standing right here,” Grandma said to him. “And can’t a woman have a bit of privacy once in a while?” she snapped. From where I was standing it was pretty obvious what was going on here. Looking over to Ben and Mr. Droopy, I felt myself shudder.
“Of course you can, Mabel,” said Andrew, being the first one to pull himself together. “It’s just you need to tell people where you are. Everybody has been so worried about you. Ellen has even called the Police,” he explained. Grandma started swishing her teeth. This thought had obviously never occurred to her.
“Hmm. Well you can take me home anyway. Not much happening here,” she said looking at Ben.
The Westport Mysteries Boxed Set Page 14
