A Deathly Rattle

by Diana Orgain

  “That still doesn’t sound like Jim,” Galigani said. “He’s a patient man. He wouldn’t just get mad and start yelling at someone over some brownies.”

  No, it didn’t sound like Jim at all. And, not telling me that there had been some sort of incident involving the police also didn’t sound like Jim. He and I never kept secrets from each other. Surely, I was missing something. Had he tried to tell me and I just shrugged it off or wasn’t listening? I had been really moody. I even had gotten snippy with Vicente, and I normally tried to be polite despite his occasionally sexist attitude.

  We sat around waiting for what felt like an eternity. But, it was probably only twenty minutes or so. When Jim finally came walking out, I was relieved, and I hurried up to him. He frowned when he saw me. “Babe, I thought I told you to go home? Everything’s fine, okay? They just wanted to talk to me.” He sounded really annoyed.

  “Jim!” my mother shrieked. “Boy, you have some explaining to do!”

  Jim frowned. “It’s been a long night, Mom,” he said, smiling at her slightly. “I really just want to go home and go to bed, if that’s okay?”

  Sure, be polite to Mom. Mom sighed, but she backed down. Galigani offered to drive Mom back to the theater to get her car. I told Galigani I would get the pictures of Bill and Morgan to him tonight, and he told me he’d be in his office waiting. We had a meeting with Bill’s wife in the morning, after all. We parted ways, and I couldn’t wait to get Jim alone in the car. He and I apparently had a lot to talk about.

  Chapter Seven

  As soon as we got alone in the car, things between Jim and I got… well… weird. Never in our marriage had Jim ever been so distant. He refused to talk to me about the incident with Cassandra. He outright refused. I couldn’t believe it. He never kept secrets from me. “I just don’t understand,” I said, sulking in the passenger’s seat of our car. “You don’t usually get into arguments with people. Especially not a total stranger. Why don’t you want to talk about this if it was nothing?”

  Jim gripped the steering wheel tight. I could tell that he was getting frustrated with me, but honestly, I was just so appalled by the idea of him being escorted off someone’s property by police that I didn’t care. Jim wasn’t a rule breaker. He wasn’t an aggressive personality type. And, the fact that this had happened several weeks before and he never told me made me all the more upset. He glanced my way for a second. “Kate, drop it,” he said.

  “No,” I spouted back.

  “I told you, it wasn’t a big deal, okay?” he said, raising his voice ever so slightly. Jim never raised his voice. “I went to get you some of those brownies you wanted, and Cassandra and I just got into an argument. The argument escalated into shouting, and Cassandra overreacted and called the police. The only reason I even stayed at the shop at that point was because I wanted to speak to the police. They walked me out of the shop. Obviously, it wasn’t even that big of a deal because I wound up going back inside with the police, and she sold me the brownies, and we moved on. I’ve been back there twice since then to get you those stupid brownies, and we haven’t had a problem. So, drop it, okay?”

  He still didn’t tell me what the argument was about. That was what bothered me. “You’re not helping me with my investigation any,” I said.

  “I have nothing to do with your investigation,” he snapped. “Unless you think I killed someone.”

  I sat upright. “Are you serious, Jim?” I questioned. I exhaled, loudly. “You know what, let’s just forget about this for now. I’m done arguing with you.”

  “I told you not to take this case,” he griped, and I chose not to respond because my response would have been loud and angry – it wasn’t up to Jim which cases I took. He was just being uptight, and he didn’t care to share with me why. If he would have given me an explanation as to why he didn’t want me to take the case, I probably would have listened. But, he was being weird and secretive. I didn’t care for it.

  We were quite for a while – which was uncomfortable because we had a descent drive home from the hospital. I had questions I wanted to ask him. Even though I obviously didn’t think Jim was behind it, I still had to do my job. See if he knew anything, but he wasn’t having it. I just sat there stewing in my seat, trying not to let my anger escalate.

  After a while, he reached over and touched my hand – his silent way of apologizing without actually having to say it. I sighed. “So, we haven’t started thinking up names yet,” I said, patting my stomach with my free hand.

  I saw a smile creep across his face. “We don’t even know if we’re having boys or girls or one of each yet.”

  “Like we waited to find out what Laurie was before we started throwing names around,” I said with a smirk. “What are you hoping for?”

  “Honestly…” he said, glancing at me for a moment. “I just hope one of them is a boy.”

  I grinned. “Me too. Although, you would be an adorable daddy of a house full of girls.”

  “I really want a son,” he said. “But, I’ll be happy so long as they’re healthy.”

  “I hope one of them is a boy too,” I said. “So, what do you think about a junior?”

  He beamed. “Really? You’d like that?”

  “Why not?” I questioned. “I like the name Jim. I’d want to call him Jimmy, though.”

  “I like that,” he said. “Jimmy Junior has a nice ring to it.”

  “Okay, but what if we have two boys?” I ask.

  “First one out is junior,” he said.

  “Okay, but what do we name the other one?” I question.

  He thought for a second. “Well, if we have two boys, I don’t want the other one to feel left out with one of them being named after me.”

  “Should we name the second one after someone else in the family, then?” I asked, and he nodded.

  “What about your dad?” he asked, and I smiled and agreed.

  “That was way too easy,” I said. “We fought over Laurie’s name.”

  “Boys are easy,” Jim said. “Its’ the girls that are always difficult.”

  “So, if we have one boy, it’s Jimmy Junior, and if it’s two it’s going to be Jimmy Junior and NAME after you and Dad,” I said. “Okay, so if one of them is a girl?”

  “Not this again,” Jim said, laughing as we both recounted how we had gone back and forth over girl names with Laurie. “Oh, geeze, what if it’s two girls? We’ll never figure out names for them!”

  We both laughed; we were pulling up to the house now, so we set aside picking out girl names for the time being. Truthfully, I was hoping for one boy and one girl. Paula’s son, NAME, was a handful. I couldn’t imagine twin boys once they reached that toddler age.

  Kenny was sitting on our couch watching television when we entered. He jumped up and smiled. “She’s asleep,” he said. “Are you guys okay? Your mom called and told me what happened.”

  “We’re fine,” Jim said, a little disgruntled – probably wondering just how much detail my mom had given Kenny. Knowing Mom, Kenny knew everything she did.

  “Uhg, it’s late,” I moaned. “And, I have to take those pictures to Galigani tonight before I get to go to bed.” I was already heading towards the kitchen where I had left the envelope full of the incriminating photos. I wanted to get back home and get some sleep before I had to meet Galigani in the morning. Too bad he needed those pictures to review before our meeting with the client in the next morning, otherwise I would have just given them to him in the morning.

  “Hey, Kate, my mom asked me to run down to the ATM for her tonight,” Kenny said. “Isn’t there an ATM by your boss’s office? I can drop it off in his drop box for you.”

  My hero. “You wouldn’t mind?” I asked.

  “No, plus there is a convenient store nearby that sells my favorite energy drink, so I was thinking about going to that ATM anyways,” he said.

  “You are a doll,” I said, and I handed him the folder. �
�This has important information inside, okay? Make sure it gets to Galigani’s mailbox.”

  “Will do,” he said.

  Jim wrote him a check, and Kenny headed out. I was so relieved that I wouldn’t have to drive all the way to Galigani’s office that I had told Jim to write Kenny a little heftier check than usual. We paid him once a week, and the agreement was we could call on him whenever. He was the best nanny we could have hoped for. Plus, a teenager who dressed like a punk rocker toting around a little baby in a pink stroller was always funny.

  Jim and I sat down in front of the tv, putting our feet up for a while. He made us some hot chocolate. Living in California, it was rare to get some hot chocolate weather, but there had been a bit of a cold front that night. Plus, I was craving marshmallows. These twins loved their sweets. We were only watching some television for maybe an hour when we decided it was time to retire to bed. But, of course, we were not so fortunate as to make it to bed just yet. There was a knock on the door.

  I hurried over to the answer the door, and I was quite surprised to see Galigani standing there. If he had been planning on stopping by, why in the world would have had me come all the way to his office? Then, I saw a police cruiser parked out in the street. Two, in fact. Alarms started going off in my head. “Hey, Kate,” he said.

  “Everything all right?” I asked.

  “Yeah, for the most part, but I’m going to need some more copies of those pictures you took,” he said.

  Jim was by my side; I felt him touch my shoulder. “What’s going on?” Jim asked.

  Galigani frowned. “Your nanny got mugged out in front of my office.”

  “Kenny!” I yelped.

  “He’s fine,” Galigani said, nodding towards Kenny’s yard next door where I could see him standing and talking to his mom.

  “Geeze, hold on,” I said, exiting the house and stepping out into the dark. I crossed over into Kenny’s yard, and I was outraged when I saw the poor kids face. “Kenny! What happened!”

  His mom put her hands on her hips. “What in the world did you have my son delivering?” she questioned.

  “Mom, don’t be mad at Kate,” Kenny said, defending me. His lip was busted, and his eyes were already starting to bruise.

  “What happened!” I cried, and I gave Kenny a big hug – feeling like this was my fault for sending him off in the middle of the night.

  Kenny pulled back. “I’m fine, really,” he said. “But, some creep jumped me in front of Galigani’s office. He took the envelope you had given me. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay,” Kate said. “I have copies on my computer. I’m just glad you’re okay. Some grown man punched you in the face?”

  “Pretty much,” he said. “Galigani was there, and he ran outside, and the guy took off. But, we’re pretty sure it was that Bill guy you have been investigating.”

  My blood was boiling. Who punches a kid in the face like that? “I’m so, so sorry, Kenny,” I said. His mom seemed to have calmed down. She knew this wasn’t really my fault – I knew it too, but it wasn’t like I wasn’t going to blame myself. How did Bill even know that Kenny had those photos?

  Kenny just wanted to go to bed; I couldn’t blame him. He assured me again he didn’t blame me for what happened, and after talking to the police, he and his mom headed back inside. I headed back into my yard, and from the look on Jim’s face I knew he could tell that I was ticked. “Is he okay?” Jim asked.

  “His lip is busted, and his eyes are already starting to turn purple,” I growled. Jim looked just as furious as I felt. The police came and spoke with Jim and me and Galigani about what Kenny had been delivering, and they assured us that they would handle things.

  After the police left, Galigani followed Jim and me into the house. “Please tell me you had additional copies of those?” Galigani asked.

  I grabbed a flash drive from our home office and handed it to Galigani while we stood in the living room – all very upset about what had happened to Kenny. “Yeah, this pregnancy brain I’ve been dealing with didn’t prevent me from thinking to make copies of the photos. Only problem is my office printer is out of ink.”

  “I’ll get these printed before our meeting in the morning,” Galigani said, sighing. “Poor kid. Maybe don’t send him to drop off your paperwork for me anymore?”

  “Agreed,” I said, shaking my head. “I can’t believe someone assaulted Kenny.”

  “I didn’t see much, but I’m pretty sure I know who did it – who else would want those pictures but Bill?” Galigani questioned.

  “Good point,” I said, not that I didn’t already suspect him myself. “I didn’t think he ever saw me.”

  “You’re new at the PI game,” Galigani said. “You’re going to make mistakes.”

  I sighed. I didn’t like hearing that. “I guess so,” I said. “I feel like I’ve been making a lot of those lately.”

  “And, things are about to get a lot more complicated,” Galigani said. “With Bill’s mistress dead, he’s starting to look pretty suspicious for that extra case you’ve picked up. Now he attacked someone to get ahold of the photographs. He probably knows his wife is about to find out about the affair. We’re probably going to have to work with the police a little on this one because they’re going to want those photographs.”

  I frowned. I preferred not to work with the police because they were always so high and mighty like they thought their badge made them invincible. I was trying hard to build up repertoire with the local police; Galigani had years of experience on me in that department. “Uhg, tomorrow is going to be rough, isn’t it?” I questioned.

  “Your first time giving news like this to a client, right?” Jim asked.

  “How do you look a woman in the eye and tell her that her suspicions about her sleazy husband were right?” I asked.

  Galigani sighed. “You get to see how it’s done up close and personal tomorrow, unfortunately.” I thought back to the ludicrous play I had just witnessed that night. According to Domingo’s play, you tell them and then sleep with them. Not exactly what I was planning. That play had been so ridiculous.

  “Great,” I said, shaking my head.

  “You should get some rest,” Galigani said. “We have a busy day tomorrow.” Galigani thanked me again for the pictures, and headed out.

  Jim and I locked up and then made our way back to our bedroom. We both changed and crawled into bed. My mind was going off in a million different directions. I couldn’t shut it down. First, I was reviewing everything we had for Sarah in the morning. We had bugged Bill’s phone. We had text messages, emails, and entire phone conversations recorded that incriminated the man. He probably didn’t’ realize we had all of that in addition to those photographs I had taken of him and Morgan. Second, I was worried about the actual conversation. How was I supposed to tell a woman that her husband was cheating? Third, that her husband’s mistress had been poisoned, automatically making him a suspect for murder – and probably her as well, if we’re being honest.

  It was a lot to think about. I just laid there, staring up at the ceiling. I heard Jim roll over, and I glanced in his direction to see him looking at me through tired eyes. “You all right, babe?”

  Fourth – I was worried about Jim. Why had he lied to me? Well, not so much lie as just omit telling me something important, but still it felt like a lie. Why wouldn’t he talk to me about what he and Cassandra got into an argument about? It made me uncomfortable that he was so unwilling to talk to me about something, and that thought was going to keep me up for a good bit that night. “I’m fine, Jim. Go to sleep,” I said. He nodded, leaned over to kiss my cheek, and then rolled over – exhausted. He was asleep in a matter of minutes. I was always jealous that he could do that. Just shut his brain off and not worry about what he had going on the next day. My brain never worked that way. It was at least an hour before I finally managed to drift off to sleep that night.

  Chapter Eight


  After giving Laurie a million kisses before passing her off to Kenny that next morning, I loaded up into my car and began my drive to Galigani’s office. I was not looking forward to meeting with Sarah. I had not met her face to face up until this point in time. Galigani had booked the client, and I had only communicated with her once or twice through email. How do you tell a complete stranger something like this? I pulled up outside of his office, landing my personal favorite parking spot that was only a short distance to the back entrance.

  I arrived before Sarah, nearly half an hour early as instructed by Galigani. He said his female clients hiring him for things like this – cheating husbands or boyfriends – did one of three things. Showed up ridiculously early in anticipation of the news, showed up ridiculously late because they too anxious to hear it, or pulled a no show because they decided they didn’t want to know. Never, he said, did they show up on time. So, turns out, I didn’t need to be there early. Sarah was a type two – she was late by nearly forty minutes which was just insane to me. I couldn’t imagine keeping someone waiting for that long, and if you were wanting to find out if your husband was cheating, well, I guess I’m a type one.

  Considering the amount of time we had to wait around, it gave Galigani and I time to talk about our new case – well, my new case. This one I had booked on my own, and he was going to once again let me take the reins. But, as always, he was there as my advisor along the way. I was lucky to have him as my partner on any case. With Morgan being the mistress from our last case, it greatly complicated things. For one, the police were wanting our full cooperation already. Bill was already suspect despite Cassandra also falling victim to the poisoning and despite Bill not being anywhere on the premise during the time that Morgan ingested the poison. Already, Galigani had used this to his advantage, though. Apparently, the police had video of Kenny’s assault, and they were going to let us talk to Sarah to identify her husband. Right after hearing that her husband is a cheat, she probably would not hesitate to point out the creep if it was him in the video.