by Terri Reid
“I love you too.”
She watched him pull his car out of the driveway. He waved to her as he drove down the street.
“Okay, Jeannine, what happened next?’ Ian asked.
She paused for a moment. “Oh, I realized it was trash day,” she said. “So I went out to the garage and started to pull the garbage can out to the curb.”
“Started to pull?” Ian asked. “Did something stop you?”
“Yes,” she said. “Mr. Turner, our neighbor stopped me. He grabbed hold of both of my hands and pulled them off the garbage can.”
“What did he do next?”
“He told me Bradley warned him that I might try to do some heavy lifting and he promised Bradley he would watch out for me,” she said. “I explained that rolling a wheeled trash can from the garage to the curb really did not constitute heavy lifting. But, he wouldn’t let me do it. He just pulled it down the driveway himself.”
Mary watched the middle-aged man with the thinning comb-over and slight muffin-top wheel the garbage can to the curb. He pulled a white handkerchief from his pocket and patted his top lip and forehead. “A little warm out here today, isn’t it?” he called.
Mary smiled and nodded. “Yes, it is,” she said. “I hope it cools off.”
He walked back up the driveway and stood in front of her.
“Yes siree, sure is hot out here. A man could sure work up a thirst.”
Mary smiled. “Would you like to come in for some fresh lemonade, Mr. Turner,” she asked.
“Now how many times have I asked you to call me Bob?” he said.
She smiled at him. “Bob, would you like a glass of lemonade?”
“That would be a fine treat.”
They walked into the house and Mary led the way to the kitchen. “I made some cookies yesterday,” she said, as she poured him a tall glass of lemonade. “I know it’s early, but they are oatmeal raisin, so they’re like a breakfast food.”
“Well, can’t see that a couple of cookies would hurt,” he said as he sucked in his abdomen. “Sweets don’t faze this body. Built rock solid. It’s the genes.”
“You are so lucky,” she replied, biting back a smile.
She turned and took another glass out of the cupboard in order to take a moment and school her features. Pouring herself a glass of lemonade gave her another few moments to gain her composure.
When she turned, she was surprised to find Bob right behind her. She jumped back, but found herself pressed against the counter. “Can I help you?” she asked.
Bob stepped back and blushed. “I was just taking another couple of cookies,” he said. “I wanted to get them before you turned around.”
She smiled, but moved away so there was plenty of space between them. “I have plenty. Would you like me to put a dozen in a plastic bag for you?”
Bob nodded and smiled. “That would be great.”
“How long did your neighbor stay?” Ian asked.
“Just a few minutes and then he left, with a dozen cookies in a bag, and a half dozen more in his hands,” she laughed. “He is such an odd man.”
“Odd in what way?” Ian asked.
She shrugged. “Well, he keeps to himself. Never has anyone over to visit. He even works from his home. No one knows what he does. He’s just odd.”
“But he came into your house,” Ian reminded her.
She nodded. “Yeah, he comes over quite a bit,” she said. “I think he’s just lonely.”
“Okay, Jeannine, what happens next?”
“Bob left and Harvey brought some more boxes over and put them in the basement,” she said and giggled. “Poor Bradley, every time he heads toward the basement door I pretend I get a cramp and he rushes over to take care of me. He hasn’t been down there in weeks.”
“What other things do you keep down there?” he asked.
“You know, house control stuff,” she replied. “The fuse box, the water heater, the furnace, the alarm system controls, the vacuum cleaning system…”
“The alarm system controls?” Ian asked. “Do you use your alarm system?”
She shook her head. “Yeah, the house is armed pretty much all the time,” she said. “I think being a police officer makes you paranoid. I have to press a code every time I want to open a door.”
“Did Harvey stay for very long?”
Mary watched a tall thin man scramble up the driveway balancing a number of assorted boxes. “Wait until you see what came today,” he said to her, “The mother board, the thousand gig hard drive, the extra video cards, the core extreme processor and the 12GB Tri-Channel DDR3 SDRAM.”
“Those are good things?” she asked.
“Only if you want CPUs pushed up almost 4 giga-hertz, that’s like two or three additional bin speeds and the highest overclocked speeds available in the gaming industry, as well as being able to power up like three more independent digital displays all while increasing the gaming speed to 100 percent,” he responded.
Mary nodded. “And you want that, right?”
“Oh, yeah, you want that real bad,” he said.
She held the door open and he hurried inside. “I can’t stay too long,” he said. “Mercedes was complaining about cramping, so I don’t think she’s going to stay at the gym for long. So, I’ll just put these downstairs and then head out.”
“Okay, that’s great,” she replied. “Thanks again, Harvey, for doing this. Bradley is going to be thrilled.”
“Hey, it’s a blast being able to put it together for him,” he said with a grin. “The only condition is that I get to play with it occasionally.”
“I’m sure Bradley will be happy to share,” she said, praying that Bradley indeed be willing to share.
Mary opened the door for Harvey and he went downstairs. She heard the washing machine alarm go off and hurried back to the laundry room to switch the clothes from the washer to the dryer.
Taking the dry clothes out, she took the time to fold them and put them in piles. A few minutes later she walked into the kitchen and was surprised to find Harvey rustling through her cabinets.
“Are you looking for something?” she asked.
Harvey turned around quickly, guilt written across his face. “I guess you caught me,” he said.
“Caught you doing what?”
“Searching for cookies,” he admitted. “Mercedes has us on some crazy high grain, low fat diet and I don’t think I’m going to make it. I saw Bob carrying out some cookies…”
Jeannine lifted the front of the bread box and pulled out the container of cookies. She popped open the top and slid them across the counter. “Help yourself,” she said.
Harvey slipped one into his mouth and stuffed a couple more into his pockets. “Thanks,” he mumbled around the mouth filled with cookie. “Thanks a lot.”
Mary laughed as she watched him jog back down the street to his house, stuffing himself with the cookies along the way.
“He only stayed to put some boxes in the basement and eat some cookies,” Jeannine said with a chuckle, “Quite a few cookies.”
“Sounds like you had a busy morning,” Ian remarked. “Did anyone else come by?”
“Yes, Gary stopped by for a few minutes to return some tools he borrowed from Bradley, she said. “We chatted for a couple of minutes in the kitchen and then he had to hurry to his morning appointments.”
“Anyone else?”
The smile left Jeannine’s face and she began to apply pressure to Ian’s hand. “Mercedes,” she whispered. “Mercedes came by with the muffins.”
Chapter Eighteen
Bradley pulled the cruiser into the large front drive of the station house, far enough to the side that if the firemen had to leave in a hurry, he would not be in the way. He walked up to the station door and glanced behind him to see Mike following slowly, hesitantly.
“You okay?” he asked.
Mike nodded. “Yeah, it’s just a little strange to be back here,” he said. “It’s a little sober
ing to see that life does go on without you.”
“Life might go on, because it has to,” Bradley replied. “But never doubt that you were missed. You can’t replace a good man like you, Mike.”
“Aw, Chief, you’re going to make me blush,” Mike said, and then he stopped and met Bradley’s eyes. “Actually, I appreciate it. I really do.”
Bradley shrugged. “Hey, no big deal,” he said. “It’s the truth.”
Bradley entered the station and was immediately met by Jack Williamson, the fire chief. “Chief,” Jack said with a smile.
“Chief,” Bradley replied with a grin, shaking hands with the old fireman. Jack had worked his way up the ranks and was probably near retirement, but he had the best investigative skills in the department and no one, including Jack, wanted to see him out of the firehouse.
“So, what’s up?” Jack asked.
“I took a little trip back to Leroy’s place,” Bradley explained. “Things just don’t seem to be adding up, so I wanted to get your take on it. Got a few minutes?”
“Sure, as long as the alarm stays quiet,” he said.
They walked into one of the rooms off the main room that held the fire trucks and the equipment. It was about the size of Bradley’s office, which wasn’t saying much for it. It had just enough room for a desk, a file cabinet, a couple of chairs and a folding table that held a coffee maker and an assortment of mugs. “Want a cup?” Jack offered.
“No, I’m good,” Bradley said, taking a seat across from the desk. “What do you think about those barn fires, Jack?”
“I think either we got ourselves one of those animal activist who think animals ought to be allowed to run free in the fields and not be warm and dry in a barn, or we got ourselves someone who’s burning down barns, but doesn’t want the farmers to suffer too much.”
“Yeah, someone who feels like he has to burn down the barns, but takes the trouble to get anything of value out of them first,” Bradley agreed.
Jack nodded. “And, I gotta say, usually those activist folks like to advertise what they’re doing. So my money’s on the second guess.”
Bradley sat back in the chair. “You heard we found a body in the last barn,” he said.
Jack nodded. “Yeah, I figured it was some drifter that took a nap in the wrong barn.”
“Yeah, except the guy was dead before he got to the barn,” Bradley said.
Jack’s eyebrows rose. “You don’t say. Well, that adds a little twist to the second scenario. Someone burning down a bunch of barns, so one more won’t be looked at too closely.”
“Yeah, and if the fire hadn’t burned upwards first into the rafters and dropped an old metal trough on top of our victim, the plan would have probably worked.”
Jack rubbed his chin with his hand. “So, you got anyone missing?”
“Checking that out,” Bradley said. “And we’re checking dental records. Hopefully we’ll get an i.d. on our John Doe.”
Jack leaned forward. “Got to tell you, Bradley, those fires were set by someone who knew what they were doing. Just enough damage, but not too much. No chance of spreading over to the farmhouses. No chance of hopping to another building.”
“Who called them in?”
Jack chuckled. “Funny, I was just wondering that myself,” he said. “I’ll call over to 911 and get that information. When you find out about that victim, you let me know, okay?”
Bradley stood and shook hands with Jack. “Yeah, I’ll keep you in the loop.”
Jack moved around his desk slowly, his joints reacting to the cold weather, and put his hand on Bradley’s shoulder. “I never got to thank you for solving the case involving Mike Richards. He was a good guy and one of the best firemen I’d ever known.”
“Well, thanks, but I didn’t do the solving,” he replied. “Mary O’Reilly solved it and saved my life while she was doing it.”
Jack looked at him from the corner of his eye. “Isn’t she that kook who believes in ghosts?”
An empty mug slid across the card table and flew into the wall.
Jack stared at the shattered remains of the cup for a moment and then, eyes wide, turned back to Bradley.
Bradley smiled. “Yeah, that would be the one,” he said. “See ya around, Jack.”
Mike followed Bradley out of the room. “Just when I’m getting teary eyed listening to how much he likes me, he has to go and call Mary names,” Mike said. “What a jerk.”
Bradley chuckled. “Yeah, he might just be rethinking his position on ghosts after your little crockery missile.”
“I always hated that cup anyway,” Mike said.
“Hey, Bradley, hold on for a minute,” Jack called from the office.
Bradley turned.
“You talking to me?” Mike said, turning with Bradley. “You talking to me?”
Bradley rolled his eyes at Mike. “Yeah, Jack, what do you need?”
Jack walked forward. “You saw that, right?” he asked. “You saw that cup fly off the table.”
Bradley folded his arms over his chest and met Jack’s eyes. “Yeah, I saw it.”
“So, if it was like, an earthquake, all of the cups would have flown off the table, right?”
Bradley nodded. “Yep, that would make sense.”
“So, what caused it?”
Bradley lifted one hand and stroked his chin, mirroring Jack’s movement earlier. “Well, it could be the bottom of that glass was wet, so it slid across the table in its own. Could be the porcelain in that particular cup was heated so it would be sensitive to certain sound waves and we just had a sonic boom over Freeport. Or, it could be Mike Richards got pissed because you called his good friend, and the woman who solved his murder, a kook.”
Jack’s mouth dropped open.
“By the way, Mike says he never liked that cup anyway,” Bradley finished and then turned and walked out of the firehouse with Mike floating close behind.
“Okay, even I have to admit, that was great,” he said. “Poor Jack, he’s going to be walking around the station worried that I’m going to jump out and scare him.”
Bradley chuckled. “Serves him right. Thanks for standing up for my girl, Mike.”
“Our girl,” Mike said.
“Our girl,” Bradley agreed.
Chapter Nineteen
“No, dear, I came by with the muffins,” Rosie said. “Me…Rosie.”
“Shhhhhh,” Stanley said. “She ain’t thinking about this morning, she’s thinking about eight years ago.”
“She can remember having muffins eight years ago?” she said in amazement. “Well, then, she doesn’t need to be hypnotized at all. She has an amazing memory.”
“Listen, Rosie, she don’t remember it at all,” he whispered urgently. “It’s the hypnosis; it’s walking her through the day she disappeared. Remember when she was worried about your muffins this morning? That’s because something bad happened with muffins on the day she got took.”
“Well, I know a bad muffin can stay with you for a long time,” Rosie agreed. “Especially a bran muffin. Oh, those can be the worst.”
Ian looked over his shoulder at Rosie and Stanley, shot them a stern look and put his finger back over his lips.
“That’s right,” Rosie whispered. “We are supposed to be quiet. Stanley, stop making noise.”
Stanley rolled his eyes and refrained from saying a word.
“Jeannine,” Ian said. “Jeannine, you don’t have to worry. Remember, I’m here with you. Nothing can hurt you. Now tell me about Mercedes.”
“I was in the kitchen and I finally got to drink some of the lemonade I poured when Bob came over,” she explained. “I realized I had to go to the bathroom. You always have to go to the bathroom when you’re pregnant. I was walking toward the hall, when I heard someone at the door. I almost didn’t go because it was Mercedes.”
“Is there something wrong with Mercedes?”
“No, nothing at all. Well, except for being a nasty, gossiping, mean and
spiteful …woman,” Jeannine said.
“I don’t think she meant to say woman, Stanley,” Rosie whispered.
Stanley turned to her with his finger over his lips. “Hush.”
“So, you answered the door,” Ian said. “Then what happened.”
“She came in with one of her fancy baskets filled with the most disgusting muffins I’ve ever had the misfortune of tasting,” she said. “The only way I was able to swallow it was by gagging down the last sips of lemonade.”
“Then what happened?” Ian asked.
Jeannine paused and Mary’s face turned pale. “I…I got sick,” she said hesitantly. “I felt really dizzy, like I was going to faint.”
“Did Mercedes help you?”
Jeannine shook her head. “No, no, I made her leave. I didn’t want her in the house if I was going to be sick.”
“What did you do next?”
“I needed Bradley,” she said, her voice weaker. “I was so frightened. I was worried about the baby. I needed Bradley.”
“What did you do?”
“My phone. My phone is in the living room,” she said. “I have to get my phone and call Bradley.”
She stopped talking and took some gasps of air.
“Jeannine, where are you?”
“I’m in the hall, I can barely walk. I feel so dizzy. Holding on to furniture and walls, have to make it to the couch for my phone. Finally, I’m there. But, I can’t see the numbers. Everything is so blurry. I feel so sick. Maybe if I just rest. If I just close my eyes.”
