Later that day as Rose was sitting at the dining room table going through three day’s worth of mail she said, “Maybe we should talk to Mattie again and see how it went with Frank.”
A moment later she blurted out, “Holy Bubba Macintosh! I don’t believe this.”
“What?”
Rose held up a white cardboard photo envelope. “One last gift from Peggy. This was forwarded from Vienna and addressed to Occupant, Box 768.”
She opened it and a baseball card slipped out.
“Mickey Mantle?” asked Daisy.
“You betcher! Autographed and dated April 17, 1953.” Daisy said, “Oh crap!”
“Exactly!”
“Are we sure it’s Brad’s card?”
“You think there are two of these hanging around? Besides there’s a note with it.”
“What’s it say?”
Rose read, “This is it, you scum. I don’t have anything else. But you gotta let me buy it back when I find the money.’ It’s not signed, of course, but it has to be from Brad.”
Daisy said, “Fat chance of him buying it back. The blackmailer couldn’t be that stupid.” She thought a minute. “Unless Brad knows who the blackmailer is. How could we track down where this ‘suite’ is? If we made a trip to Vienna do you think we could find out?”
“No. Why would anyone tell us anything? We’re nobody. We have to call Bill.”
“Maybe we should talk to Brad before we call him.”
“I don’t think so. We don’t know him like we know Mattie and Sally.”
Daisy said, “Well, we don’t know them as well as we thought, do we?”
“I guess not, but we don’t know Brad at all, really. All we know is that he’s good at getting rid of snakes. He could be violent. Think about it. He’s willing to hand over a card that’s worth two hundred thousand dollars. I’m guessing he has something really big to hide.”
Daisy hesitated. “What should we do with the card in the meantime? And do we tell Bill about Mattie and Sally, too?”
Rose put the card on the table and thought a minute. “I’ll hide the card in my sock drawer for now. And no, we won’t tell him anything yet. We’ll just give him the card and note and let him figure it out.”
Chapter Ten
The late afternoon had been crazy. Everybody and his mother had come into the shop to chat, to ask what they were supposed to be doing for the Fourth, or to find out what was going on with the murder case.
It wasn’t until after six that Daisy was able to turn the door sign to CLOSED. Rose came out of the office as Daisy was turning the lock and said, “I just got a chance to call to Bill. He said he’d come by around eight tonight.”
“Okay. I know we need to let him in on this, but it really gripes my cookies.”
“I know. So I thought that maybe I should talk to him alone. Your cookies would probably be a lot better-off.”
Daisy laughed and said, “That they would. I wasn’t going to be here anyway. Marc is taking me to Shakespeare in the Park at Montpelier Mansion. I have to hurry and change. We’re going to dinner first.”
“A real date! Are we getting serious?”
“No, I don’t think that’s ever going to happen. After last year’s fiasco with the Maryland Fleur de Lis diamond, I don’t think I could ever trust him completely. But he’s fun and we have a good time together.”
“Hmm. Well, I’m running over to Macy’s before Bill gets here, so I won’t see you until you get home.”
“What do you need at Macy’s on a Friday night?”
“I want to get something new to wear tomorrow night with Peter. I almost bought a dress the other day, but I need to try it on again to see if it really passes the ‘twirling’ test.
“What’s the twirling test?”
“You know. You should never buy a piece of clothing unless it makes you want to twirl around in it. It works. I’ve saved a lot of money not buying clothes I’ll never wear.”
“Ah. Have fun twirling.”
“You have fun, too, and say ‘hi’ to Marc for me.”
Rose went out the back door and came right back in. “Have you seen my keys?” She was digging in her purse when Daisy waved them in the air a moment later and said, “You left them on the hall table.”
“I did?” She shook her head. “I think I’m losing it. I don’t remember going into the hall today at all. ‘Bye again. Have fun tonight.” She sat down quickly for luck, and then left.
Rose waved to Mrs. Hudson on her porch as she crossed the yard to the garage. Then she saw Malcolm sitting outside the ruins of his dog house.
She squatted beside him and said, “Oh, my poor baby. What nasty person did this to your house? We’ll get you a new one on Monday. I promise. Now go inside and cool off, you hairy little fool.”
Malcolm looked up at her with sad doggie eyes and wandered to the pet door and went in.
Mrs. Hudson chirped, “I believe that dog understands everything you say.”
“I believe you’re right, Mrs. H.”
“Is there any news about that fire of yours?”
“No. It was probably kids with too much time on their hands.”
“I expect so.” She fanned herself with her hand and said, “I’ve got to get out of this heat. Good night.” She turned and walked back inside.
It was nearly eight when Rose pulled the car into the driveway. She ran up the front steps and started to put the key in the lock, but the door swung open.
She hesitated, then stepped into the foyer and called, “Daisy. Are you still here?”
Silence. She checked the alarm. Its red light was glowing. She stood there a minute and called, “Malcolm? Roscoe? Anybody home?”
Roscoe came running down the stairs and rubbed up against her ankles. She petted his head and said, “What’s going on, little guy? Where is everybody? Daisy must not have pulled the door shut.”
Rose closed the door and the alarm stayed armed, but silent. “Roscoe, did you break the alarm? It doesn’t seem to be working.” She picked the cat up and hesitantly started up the staircase with her Macy’s bag in hand.
When she got to the top she paused again, then shook herself and said, “This is silly. Come on Roscoe, I’ll get you a treat.”
She left the bag in the living room and carried the cat into the kitchen. As she opened the refrigerator, she heard a noise from one of the bedrooms above her. She stood still, holding her breath.
“Probably Malcolm,” she thought. But Roscoe hissed and jumped onto the counter, his hair standing on end. Then she definitely heard a floorboard creak.
The only way to get to the bedrooms was by a staircase that ran up the back of the house from the basement all the way to the attic. The front staircase was only one flight from the front door to the living room. So Rose grabbed the cat and whispered, “Okay Mr. R. I think we’d better get out of here,” and started to tiptoeing to the front of the house.
She had reached the doorway the top of the front stairs when she heard footsteps behind her. The cat screamed and jumped from her arms. Rose tripped and felt something hard glance off the back of her head as she was falling onto the top step. She sensed someone stepping over her just before everything went black.
Rose woke up, but kept her eyes closed. Her head ached and she wondered how long she’d been out. She lay there trying to get her bearings when she felt strong arms wrap around her and lift her to her feet, pulling her into the living room. She started screaming and then did just what her mother taught her. She reached back and grabbed.
The arms that were holding her let go suddenly and she fell onto the couch.
Bill Greene grunted, then let out a moan.
Rose held her head, but managed to right herself. She looked up to see her ex-brother-in-law bent over, his hands covering his crotch.
“I’m so sorry. But, holy defensive tackle, it works!”
“What are you talking about?” croaked Bill.
“Mother’s self
-defense course. She told me how to escape if someone is pinning your arms. You kind of reach back and grab. Who knew?”
Bill stood up and glowered at her. “Yeah, well, you’re right. It works. Are you all right? You were passed out at the top of the stairs. Did you trip?”
Rose rolled her head back and forth and said, “No. Well, yes, but then something hit me.” She got up suddenly and ran to the door. “Did you see him leave?”
“I didn’t see anyone at all. The front door was open. I came up and found you on the floor. What’s going on Rose?”
Rose told him about coming home, finding the door open, hearing someone in the house, the cat jumping, and then tripping over her own feet.
“I think he hit me with something as I was falling.”
“Okay, I’ll take a look around. You stay here. By the way where is that dumb mutt of yours?”
“I don’t know. He must be outside. I’m getting an icepack and an aspirin. You want one?”
“No thanks. I’ll be right back.” Bill ran upstairs and came back a couple of minutes later. “You’re right. Someone was up there.”
Rose was now holding an icepack to her head. “Down here, too. They’ve been through everything in the office. How did they get in without setting the alarm off?”
Bill shrugged and said, “I don’t know yet, but I’m calling this in. And then you can tell me why you called me in the first place.”
Rose went upstairs while Bill made his call. Someone had been searching her room. The closet door was ajar and the dresser drawers were pulled open. She took her sock drawer out and dumped it onto the bed. The card was gone. She came back down shaking her head and said, “I can’t believe this. That creep stole the baseball card.”
Rose felt tears welling up in her eyes. She sniffed, straightened her shoulders and said, “I’m getting a drink. Can I get one for you?”
“Rose, you probably shouldn’t have any alcohol. You could have a concussion.”
Rose made herself a large vodka and tonic. As she squeezed fresh lime juice into it she said, “Well, I probably shouldn’t have been hit on the head either.”
She lifted her glass and said, “Here’s mud in your eye! I never understood what that means.”
“Me neither. Okay. What baseball card did the creep steal?” They sat together at the dining table, Rose holding the icepack to her head and sipping her drink. She told Bill about the fire in the dog house and running into the burglar at the post office and the mail getting all mixed up and finding the Mickey Mantle trading card in their mailbox with the note in it.
“I know it was Brad’s card. He’s had it hanging in his shop since it opened. He shows it to everybody. It sort of sounded like he’s being blackmailed. So Daisy and I figured we should tell you. You’d know what to do.” Rose rested her head on the table and Roscoe perched beside her and purred into her ear.
“Where is Daisy?”
“Out for the evening. Well, what are you going to do about the baseball card?”
“Let me get this straight. You’ve been getting someone else’s mail.”
“Everybody has. That woman was really losing it. Maybe her eyes were going. She was mixing up everybody’s mail. Malcolm even found an old tote bag filled with our mail lying in the bushes along the bike path.” Rose looked around the room. “Where is Malcolm?”
“I asked you that before.”
“Did you? Sorry, I’m not focusing very well. Let me go check his dog house. Only he doesn’t have a dog house anymore. It burned down.”
Bill face had turned to stone. He growled, “Okay, let’s go look for him together before the tech guy gets here.”
Rose looked at him. “Are you angry, Bill? I really am sorry about the grabbing thing.”
“Rose, you could have been killed! I know we’ve had our differences, but you and Daisy still mean a lot to me. I want to find the bastard who did this.”
“Oh. Okay. Me, too. Let’s go find Malcolm.”
They found the pitiful pooch behind the garage tied to a fence post. Someone had duct taped his muzzle and he was frantically pawing at it.
“Oh, Malcolm! Who did this to you?” cried Rose as she tried to pull the tape away. “I need scissors.”
“Here.” Bill held out a Swiss army knife. Rose took it and managed to get the duct tape off. She picked Malcolm up and carried him back inside.
She gently put Malcolm on the kitchen floor and got him a treat.
She was mumbling to herself as she calmly got out the blender. “Taping my dog!” as she added ice. “Scaring me silly!” as she added rum and triple sec. “Beaning me on the head! I mean…” as she added frozen limeade and water. She smacked the lid onto the blender with such force Bill thought it might crack the glass. She turned on the blender and said, “This is just too much!” She poured the concoction into a pitcher.
Rose put the pitcher, glasses and a bowl for Malcolm on a tray and took it into the living room. She and the dog sat on the couch sipping while Roscoe perched on the table behind them.
“Rose, should the dog be drinking?”
Rose shrugged. “Why not? Life’s short and then someone duct tapes you. He deserves a little pick-me-up.”
They heard a car pull up in front of the house and Bill went down to the door. He came back followed by a harried looking man carrying a toolbox.
Bill said, “Start upstairs, Buzz. Rose, where did you have the card?”
“It was in the top drawer of my dresser. Under my socks.”
“Okay. Start there, both bedrooms, and then do the desk down here. And make sure to get the duct tape on the front door.”
Rose poured herself another glass and whimpered, “Tape on the door? What tape on the door?”
“Someone put brass-colored duct tape over the latch plate so it wouldn’t lock. That’s why the alarm didn’t go off. The tape was thick enough that the door stayed shut, but the lock didn’t engage. You wouldn’t notice unless you really looked at it.”
“Great!” There didn’t seem much to say and they sat in silence for a few minutes. Finally, Buzz came downstairs, dusted the desk and said, “I’ll get the door on my way out. And I’ll need prints from the occupants for comparison and elimination.”
Rose perked up. “We’re already in your database. Just look for Daisy and Rose. And Angela. She’s in there too. We’ve all been finger-printed.”
Bill said, “I’ll get you the prints. Thanks for coming out on a Friday night.”
“Sure. I’ll let you know what I find out.”
Buzz left and Bill said, “I’m going to talk to your neighbors to see if they saw anything. I’ll make sure the door is locked. You stay here. And, Rose, you might want to go easy on the booze.”
“Oh, I might. Then again…”
Bill left and Rose sat there rubbing Malcolm’s head and wondering who could have been in the house. The frozen concoction was having its effect and her eyelids were heavy. Bill had only been gone a few minutes when she heard the front door open and soft footsteps on the stairs.
Chapter Eleven
Rose sat up and gently moved Malcolm to the end of the couch. She looked at him, put a finger over her lips and whispered, “Ssh!” Then she picked up the heavy wooden tray she’d carried the drinks on and quietly moved to the side of the hall doorway.
She was shaking as she raised the tray over her head, ready for the intruder. The footsteps stopped on the landing. Rose closed her eyes and threw her hands back to give some force to the blow. Unfortunately, she hit the door which bounced hard against the wall and smacked her in the head.
Rose dropped the tray and let out a yelp. “Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow. Boy that hurt!”
She opened her eyes when she heard Daisy shout, “Rose! What are you doing? You scared the life out of me.”
“I scared you? Why were you creeping up the stairs? Oh, my head!” She plopped herself on the couch and put the ice pack back on.
“What? I wasn’t creeping. I
was just trying to be quiet. I saw Peter’s car outside and thought you might be, hmm, you know. Why do you have an ice pack?”
“Peter’s car is outside?” She squeezed her eyes tight and tried to focus. “Why are you home so early?”
“Marc wasn’t feeling well. I told him not to order sushi in a Mexican restaurant, but boys will be idiots. Rose, are you all right? What the heck is going on?”
Rose poured a drink for each of them and told Daisy about her night.
“Oh my God! I’ll run you to the emergency room and they can check you out. You could have been killed…like Peggy.”
“I’m all right. I am not going to a hospital. The headache was going away. Thank God I’m a klutz and was already falling when he hit me. But whacking myself with the door is an added bonus I could have done without.”
“I guess we’re both lucky, aren’t we? You’re lucky I wasn’t the burglar. I’m lucky you are a klutz. You could have killed me.”
“I know. Sorry. I just didn’t want to get caught again.”
“Well, next time keep your eyes open.”
Daisy took a sip and sprawled on the sofa next to her sister. “This is getting totally out of hand. I mean, we had a burglar in our house! Did he take anything except the Mantle card?’
“I don’t think so. I did a quick check. The jewelry in our boxes is still there. The TV, my iPad, and the silver are present and accounted for. Of course, I interrupted him. Maybe he just didn’t get to anything else.”
“Well, I think whoever it was broke in here to steal that baseball card. But who would even know we had it?”
She thought a moment, then smiled and said, “Wait, did you say you grabbed Bill’s privates when he tried to help you up?”
Rose gasped, “Holy matzo balls, I did, didn’t I? Ooo!”
“Well, bless your buttons. I hope you got him good.”
“I think so. He yelled pretty loudly. But Daisy, he’s actually been very decent tonight. So try to be civil. Are you hungry? I just realized I haven’t eaten.”
Daisy was just coming back from the kitchen with a plate filled with smoked Gouda, Genoa salami, sliced strawberries, and water crackers when they heard Bill at the front door. She went down to let him in.
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