Dark Waters (The Jeff Resnick Mysteries)

by Bartlett, L. L.

  “It won’t be long before you can come home, buddy,” I told him, and the cat’s purr launched into overdrive.

  I fed Herschel and read Lily’s copy of the morning paper, keeping my cat company for more than an hour before I heard Maggie’s car pull up the drive. Less than a minute later, she came through the communal door, where I met her and Holly, who whined with happiness to see me.

  “Good girl,” I said, petting the dog.

  “How about me?” Maggie asked tiredly.

  “You’re better than good.” I tried to give her a kiss, but Holly jumped up between us, trying to lick both our faces at once.

  “Ugh! Dog germs!” Maggie squealed with delight.

  “Let’s go upstairs,” I suggested. The cramped entryway could not accommodate the three of us.

  “Upstairs!” Maggie said, and Holly raced up the steps for the apartment, while I turned off the lights and locked up Lily’s apartment.

  By the time I made it upstairs, Maggie had shed her coat and had wandered into the kitchen. She opened the fridge and whooped in surprise. “The dinner fairy has visited,” she announced with joy — something I hadn’t heard in her voice for a long, long time. She grabbed a beer for herself and one for me. “I’ve been waiting all day for this. Let’s go sit down in the living room.”

  Holly tried to tell us she was near death from starvation, so before we could settle down Maggie fed the dog, and we finally sat down to the sound of happy slurping in the kitchen.

  Once seated, I gave Maggie a proper kiss, and then we clinked beer bottles, not unlike what I’d done with Richard and Brenda several hours before. But this was different. The three of us had discussed what had happened in the nursery between Da-Marr and me — with Brenda coming to my rescue. I didn’t want to rehash it with Maggie, but I did need to talk. Before I could unburden myself, I had to make sure that she was up to it, and if she wasn’t … then I would just have to keep the rest of the day to myself.

  “I can’t tell you how happy I was to see your car in the driveway when I pulled up.”

  “It’s been a while,” I said, and took a sip of my beer.

  She sighed. “I know I haven’t given you much attention lately, but I got good news today. Lily is making amazing progress. They say if she keeps improving, she might be home as early as next week. And I heard from Gary. He’s coming up this weekend, and he’s agreed to pay for home help until Lily is back in tip-top shape.” She smiled. “It’s been a really good day.”

  I looked away. There was no way I was going dump my load of shit on her.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  I took a long swallow of beer. “I’m glad you had a good day.”

  “But I can tell by your expression that you didn’t. Do you want to talk about it?”

  I shook my head. “It’s not that important. Let’s celebrate your day.” I held my beer bottle up as though in a toast. We both took a sip, and I leaned back farther on the couch. After all that had happened that day, I was too numb to even feel disappointment.

  “Most of the stuff in the fridge can be nuked,” I said. “You should have enough for another dinner and maybe a lunch or two.”

  She gave me a sweet smile. “You got all my favorites. Thank you.”

  I shrugged.

  The silence seemed to hover.

  I got up and crossed to the stereo. A stack of CDs sat on top of the amplifier. I picked out a bunch I knew she enjoyed most and loaded the five-disk player, hitting the ON button. Soon southwest new age issued from the small speakers.

  By the time I sat back down beside her, Holly had finished her dinner and was happily licking her chops. As usual, she pressed her warm body against my leg, settling her head on my thigh and looking at the two of us with adoring eyes.

  “Are you going to tell me what’s wrong, or are we going sit here all evening and make innocuous conversation?”

  “That was kind of my plan.”

  “I can tell by your eyes that something is very, very wrong.”

  “I don’t want to spoil your day.”

  “And I want to make your day better. Please, let me help — if only by listening.”

  I reached over to hold her hand and a warm wave of affection rolled over me.

  “Tell me,” she said softly.

  I nodded. “I don’t know what was worse — the crap with Sam or the crap with Da-Marr. I think I’ll let Brenda explain the latter. I don’t think I’m up to it. But the bottom line is they’re going to ask him to leave.”

  She sighed and squeezed my hand. I don’t envy Brenda for having that conversation.”

  “She’s reached the end of her rope, too. If you’ve got time tomorrow, I think she’d appreciate a call.”

  “I’ll make sure of it,” Maggie promised. “So what’s going on with you and Sam?”

  “Have you heard the name Jack Morrow?” I asked.

  She sighed. “Please don’t tell me he has you looking for the guy’s murderer.”

  “No, of course not,” I sort of lied. “But Sam is interested in finding the guy’s hidden assets.”

  “I read about Morrow’s death in the paper. Don’t tell me Sam made you relive it.”

  I let out a shaky breath.

  “Oh, Jeff. Why do you let him pull this garbage on you?”

  I wasn’t going to mention the gun he’d loaned me. Firing that gun had saved Maggie’s life, too, but it would just bring up all the bad memories of what we’d been through some four-and-a-half months before, and that wasn’t a place I wanted to revisit.

  “It doesn’t matter why I agreed to help him, what matters is….” I frowned. What did matter? That I was freaked out by what I’d seen? Maybe I should talk to her about the white light that wanted to swallow me — sucking me into everlasting oblivion.

  “Sam’s taken me to see Morrow’s home and the car where he was killed.”

  “Oh, Jeff,” she admonished. “That had to be terribly gruesome.”

  “Yeah,” I admitted. “It was. And tomorrow he wants to take me to Morrow’s office to see if I can soak up any other vibes.”

  “Please don’t do it.”

  “I don’t know how to say no to him.”

  “You say … no!”

  I let out a long breath. “It’s not that easy.”

  “What on earth can you possibly owe this guy that you’d take on this kind of obligation?”

  I couldn’t tell her: your life; Richard’s life. My own life.

  “It’s a pretty big debt,” I admitted.

  She shook her head, exasperated with me.

  We were quiet for a long few minutes, sipping our beers, listening to the quiet flute and percussion on the stereo. It was one I must have heard hundreds of times before, and yet I — and I knew for sure Maggie — had never grown tired of.

  Maggie spoke first. “So what have you learned?”

  I knew exactly what she was talking about. “Morrow didn’t tell his killer where he hid his money. The guy shot him. But it’s not the end of the story, because like us, the killer is looking for those assets.”

  “How close are you to finding them?”

  “Not very,” I admitted. “In fact, I think visiting Morrow’s offices tomorrow will be a big waste of time, but I feel I have to go, if only to placate Sam.”

  “The guy is dead. His offices have been closed for more than a year. That means the place is probably empty. Goodness knows there aren’t going to be any assets hidden there. Morrow would have moved them.”

  “But Sam thinks I might be able to pick up residual vibes.” I told her about the billiards chalk and all the information I’d gathered from it.

  She shook her head. “You’re going about it from the wrong angle. Concentrating on the killer isn’t going to find hidden treasure. You said yourself, he’s still looking for it.”

  “I know, but I haven’t been able to learn anything of relevance from touching any of Morrow’s possessions, either. I get a sense
of who he was and what he did — but it’s like skimming the surface of the ocean. He was good at hiding things. About himself, mostly. And he apparently hid them from everyone he knew. For a scheme like the one he perpetrated, I guess that’s the way it would have to be. I doubt he felt safe confiding in anyone.”

  Maggie was quiet for a long moment before she spoke again. “I don’t like this. You have bad feelings about stuff — and I have a bad feeling about this.” The lines around her eyes seemed to deepen. “Please don’t go with Sam tomorrow, Jeff.”

  I shrugged. “I don’t see how I can get out of it.”

  She wasn’t going to beg. She never begged. Instead, she nodded. “Then I want you to be careful. Promise me you’ll be very careful.”

  “I will.”

  She leaned over to kiss me, but once again Holly decided that it would be better if she was the center of attention, and she practically leaped into my lap to lick us both.

  “Ugh! Dog germs!” Maggie wailed once again, and we both laughed.

  We gave up, got up from the couch, and headed into the kitchen where food awaited.

  Maggie assembled the entrees while I set the table. It would be like going to one of those all-you-can eat buffets, but the truth was I had no appetite, and wouldn’t until this little adventure with Sam was over.

  I didn’t like to think about it, because I had a feeling it would come to an abrupt and not-so-happy end … but for whom?

  Chapter 20

  Never had Richard suffered through such a painful meal. Evelyn had made enough food to feed a battalion, but since Da-Marr hadn’t joined them for dinner yet again, there were tons of leftovers.

  Retiring to the silent study for the evening had also proved a painful choice. Richard tried, but couldn’t concentrate enough to read, while Brenda worked on her needlepoint. The click, click, click of Evelyn’s knitting needles was about to drive him bonkers when Evelyn finally spoke.

  “I’m very worried about Da-Marr. He’s out there alone in a strange city. And he left here very angry.”

  “Well, whose fault is that?” Brenda said, challenging her sister for the first time since her arrival.

  Evelyn glared at Richard. “We still don’t know what your brother did to aggravate him.”

  “I don’t think he had to do anything,” Brenda muttered. “Da-Marr’s presence was just more than Jeffy could take right now.”

  “Sounds to me like your brother,” she kept saying the words as though they were an accusation, “could use the services of a good psychiatrist.”

  Richard was determined not to let her provoke him. He stared at the words on the page before him, worried about where this conversation was going to go.

  “And Da-Marr could learn a thing or two about self-control. Let me guess, he was often in trouble in school for bullying,” Brenda said.

  Evelyn’s lips tightened, but she didn’t acknowledge the accusation.

  “Tell, me, Evie, what is so special about that boy?” Brenda asked.

  “He’s not a boy, he’s a man,” she clarified.

  “He certainly doesn’t act it,” Brenda said, and sorted through her skeins of yarn, choosing a different color. “And you still haven’t answered my question. Why is he so important to you?”

  “I’ve seen too many boys like Da-Marr go the wrong route. I wasn’t going to have it happen in our family.”

  “Don’t you mean Charlie’s family?”

  “Charles,” she corrected. “My husband’s name is Charles.”

  Brenda had told Richard long ago that the man had asked everyone in the family to call him Charlie. He hated being called Charles, and only Evelyn called him by that moniker.

  “I know it’s going to hurt for you to hear this, Evie, but things have got to change,” Brenda said succinctly, sounding more like her real self — the person that Richard had known for the past nine years — the woman he’d grown to love with such an intensity that he couldn’t imagine a life without her.

  “What on earth are you saying?” Evelyn asked, sounding more than a trifle annoyed.

  “Honestly, Evie, what were you thinking when you brought Da-Marr here?” Brenda demanded.

  “The boy needed to see how the successful people live.”

  “Are you saying no one in his own family is successful?” Brenda demanded.

  “Not at all. But none of them are millionaires,” she said, leveling an accusatory glare at Richard.

  “Is that my fault?” he asked, and instantly wished he’d kept the promise he’d made to himself to keep his mouth shut.

  “You didn’t earn it,” Evelyn accused.

  “No?” he asked, incredulous. “You’d be surprised.”

  “And what does that mean?” Evelyn demanded.

  There was no way Richard was going to get into that subject with her.

  “I’m sorry, Evie, but Da-Marr is no longer welcome in our home,” Brenda said.

  “Just because his brother,” she glared at Richard, “is some kind of a basket case?”

  “He’s a trauma victim,” Richard clarified.

  “Victimhood suits him,” she said scornfully, “and you’re both enablers.”

  “We’re getting off the subject,” Brenda said, keeping her voice level. “Da-Marr smoked marijuana in Jeff’s apartment, and he vandalized it.”

  Evelyn turned her gaze to Richard. “I don’t believe it.”

  “Worse, he let loose a couple of wasp’s nests, knowing that Jeff is allergic.”

  Evelyn’s eyes grew wide, but Richard wasn’t sure if it was with anger or disbelief.

  “He snuck out last night and didn’t come home until early this morning,” Brenda finished.

  “Why would you say such terrible things?” Evelyn demanded.

  “Because they’re true. And now he’s stolen my car.”

  “Borrowed it,” Evelyn clarified.

  “I’m sorry, but we,” she looked at Richard for confirmation and he gave her a smile of reassurance, “can’t go on like this.” Her voice softened. “We’d be very happy to have you stay, but it’s time for Da-Marr to go home.”

  “If he goes, I go!” Evelyn threatened.

  “We’re sorry you feel that way,” Richard said.

  Evelyn stood. “I’ll go pack our things right now. I won’t inflict my company on you any further. As soon as Da-Marr returns, we’ll take a cab to a motel near the airport and be out of your hair.”

  “Evie, don’t be like that,” Brenda admonished, but Evelyn strode out of the study without another word.

  Richard and Brenda looked at each other for long moments and then Brenda seemed to deflate, sinking onto the couch. “Well, I guess now we’ll never be invited to visit the folks back in Philly.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “I’m not,” she said, and strangely enough, she didn’t sound it. “I mean I am, but I’m not — if that makes sense. I love my parents — I miss them terribly, but they cut me off. And now I have a new family here. This is my home, and I don’t appreciate others abusing it or my family.”

  Richard got up from his desk and came to sit beside her. “What a terrible day — for all of us. Evelyn included.” He picked up Brenda’s hand and kissed it. Then she met him halfway for a pretty decent kiss.

  They gave each other a smile and settled back against the couch, both staring ahead at nothing.”

  “What are we going to do about my car?” Brenda asked. “Sometimes I get funny feelings like Jeffy does. I don’t think Da-Marr is going to bring it back.”

  “I’m willing to take a wait-and-see attitude. If we don’t hear from him by morning, we might have to do something — like call the cops, if only to report him as missing.”

  “I don’t want to get Da-Marr in any more trouble than he’s already in.”

  “And that’s the problem; we don’t know what he’s up to, or who he’s with.”

  “What if we don’t find him? What if — ”

  “Don’t borrow t
rouble,” Richard admonished, but he couldn’t help but feel the same way. “He hasn’t got any money — that we know of — and there wasn’t much gas in the tank.”

  “He doesn’t even know our phone numbers, so he can’t call — he doesn’t have a cell phone. We’re not in the phone book, so he wouldn’t know how to get in touch with us.”

  “He could call his parents, and they could contact us. In fact, if he doesn’t show up by morning, we ought to insist that Evelyn call them.”

  “She may not want to. She may feel she’s failed him, and I don’t think failure comes easily to her.”

  “Let’s just wait and see,” Richard again suggested.

  The sound of a throat being cleared behind them caused them to look over their shoulders. Evelyn stood in the doorway, her head hanging.

  “Evie, what’s wrong?” Brenda asked, concerned.

  “I — I didn’t want to believe you,” she said, looking at Richard. “I may have made a hasty judgment. I thought perhaps …. Well, it doesn’t matter what I thought. But — ” She took several steps into the room. “I was packing Da-Marr’s clothes and I found this.” She held out a plastic snack bag that was full of dried green leaves and a packet of rolling papers. “It was tucked into a pair of socks. I don’t know what to say,” she admitted, sounding defeated. “I thought that boy was on the right road. I thought I’d caught him in time. I thought….” Evelyn plodded over to the wing chair and nearly fell into it. “I’ve failed him.”

  “Oh, Evie,” Brenda said, and struggled to lean forward enough to touch her sister’s arm. “For what it’s worth, I don’t think Da-Marr’s a lost cause. How can he be with you on his side?”

  “If he was capable of this,” she proffered the bag of weed, “then perhaps he is capable of tormenting Richard’s brother, and other things I don’t even want to contemplate.”

  Richard and Brenda shared a pained look.

  “You met that young man Da-Marr met at the marina. He must have been the one who gave him the marijuana. Da-Marr didn’t have any money — at least not that I know of.”

  “Da-Marr said his name was Bobby — he never mentioned a last name. He drove a gray Infinity. His father owns a boat at the marina. That’s all I know.”