Peppermint Soul (Liza McNairy Mysteries Book 1)

by Dan Glover

  "It's a shame, Allen, but you're right. Too often... lots of times the cops are so intent on building a case they focus in on things with a microscope when instead they ought to be using a telescope... to be looking at the big picture."

  "You must have seen a lot, what with being with the Bureau and all."

  "Too much... maybe one of these days I can tell you about some of it."

  "Hell, Reilly... I got plenty of booze. What's wrong with now?"

  Chapter 54—Fat Sally

  (And the Slim Gym)

  1

  It was a strange feeling—being back in that house after all the years apart. Hearing from Sally Lupo was almost surreal, like she might be dreaming. They'd spent lots of time together back in the day, before... well, before everything fell apart. So to get a call from her with an invitation to do lunch wasn’t so much a surprise as it was a remembrance of things past.

  Walking into the house she felt the same old guilt, though. She'd never been able to reconcile the fact that she was screwing Sally's husband and now that the affair was once again full blown Paula wondered absently if they'd finally been discovered. It'd be like Sally to want to talk things over. Christ, did the woman actually think she was out to steal her man?

  She liked Hank... always had. But she had no intention of playing wife to a detective. She knew the lifestyle associated with that profession... the ups and downs, the vast mood swings from elation to depression and back again and she wanted nothing to do with it. She didn’t mind fucking Hank from time to time but had no desire whatsoever to be living with the man.

  They'd met before Sally came into his life. He was one of the most virile men she ever knew and wasn’t afraid to explore the kinky side of sex, something Allen had always shied away from. Christ, Allen wouldn’t even masturbate in front of her... he was like a little kid hiding in the bathroom. Hank loved showing off as much as she did.

  "Paula? It's Sally Lupo. How are you?"

  How the fuck did she think she was? Her daughters were still missing and after twenty years no one knew where they were or how to find them. Of course she'd learned to hide those feelings... to act like she was actually somewhat near normal.

  "Sally! How wonderful to hear from you!"

  Christ... that's all she needed... to be talking to that fat bitch. She'd probably want to go out to eat, as if she didn’t get enough food at home. They hadn’t talked in what... eight years... many nine? Why was she calling now?

  "I'm doing okay. How about you?"

  There it was... the old pity. God, she hated it. And everyone wondered why she'd become a virtual recluse over the past two decades. Poor Paula... lost her girls and can't seem to find them anywhere.

  "I'm good, Sally."

  The house had changed since the last time she'd been there. Of course the kids were all grown by now... had to be on their own. Used to be such a man sort of house, like Hank was the one in charge of the decorating but now there'd been a definite woman's touch involved.

  Lunch consisted of salad and white wine. Paula kept waiting for Sally to break out the real food until she took a good look at her old friend. The baggy clothes had fooled her.

  "Sally! You've lost weight! What's your secret? We need to go shopping again... get you something decent to wear. Remember how much fun we used to have?"

  Of course the girls were little then and Sally was her old enormous self and Paula secretly enjoyed teasing her about buying clothes they both knew she could never wear, like that leather mini skirt that wouldn’t even wrap around one of her enormous thighs. Wow, though... the woman must have had lap-band surgery or some such shit... she was as slim as she'd ever seen her.

  "I've taken up jogging, Paula."

  "No... really?"

  "Yes... I run nearly every night."

  "Wow... I'm impressed, Sally. What made you start jogging?"

  "The stairs got to be a struggle. I realized either we'd have to move to a ranch style home or else I needed to get back into shape. I used to run cross country in high school. So I thought, why not try it again?"

  "Does Hank go out with you?"

  "Oh please... you know how busy Hank is... besides, it gives me something to do with my time instead of sitting on the sofa stuffing my fat face."

  "Hush now, girlfriend... you know you've always had a pretty face."

  "Right... it's just the rest of me that needed work. Thank you for noticing, Paula."

  "I'm sure Hank must be thrilled at the new you, Sally."

  "I doubt he even looks at me any longer. If he does he hasn’t said anything."

  "Men...

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  "They're such beasts."

  "So, Paula... I hear from Hank that you and Allen hired those television detectives... the psychics."

  "Allen hired them, Sally, not me. They've convinced him that they can find the twins. I'm not so sure, though."

  "But you've met them."

  "Oh sure. I even had the honor of being accused of kidnapping and murder."

  "No. Now that just isn’t right. You know that woman... that Liza McNairy... she was running around with Hank back when they worked together years ago. She was with the Sheriff's Department too. I even caught them in compromising positions. Of course they both denied it but I know what I saw."

  She hoped the surprise didn’t show on her face. Paula knew Hank was a mongrel... that he ran around with any number of women... but she had no idea he was involved with McNairy. She could see it happening though. The woman was a looker even now. Ten, fifteen years ago? Hell, she must've been a knockout.

  "I didn’t realize McNairy knew Hank. That must give them a leg up on those cold cases they've been solving, what with inside information and all. Does he help them out, Sally?"

  "Oh, to hear him tell it, he's forced to render aid by his superiors. He claims it's all a public relations ploy. But I know better. Hank still does his level best to bed any beauty that comes his way. I always thought he'd grow out of that shit but apparently I've been wrong all along. Do you know he actually keeps an apartment close by where he takes all his bimbos? Of course he tells me the building is an investment but I had Hank investigated. Sure, he rents out the downstairs but not the apartment upstairs."

  The last thing Paula expected was for Sally Lupo to go into a full-blown rant over Hank's infidelities—she weathered the storm as best she could—and now she was starting to understand. How much did the woman really know? If Hank was being followed by a private investigator, the odds were they'd caught him bringing Paula Picany to his secret rendezvous place... their trysting place, as he called it.

  Was this meeting all an elaborate set up? Sally seemed to be searching her face for telltale signs of guilt. Paula'd read where body language was a dead giveaway in circumstances like that, enough so she knew to avoid certain gestures, a look down and to the left, the crossing of arms, the shuffling of feet, all which might well draw attention to the fact she was lying through her teeth, or at least not as forthcoming as she might've been if she hadn’t been screwing Hank Lupo for the past thirty years.

  "I guess I hit the jackpot with Allen. He's never strayed, at least not that I know of. There are times I wonder, though..."

  "Hey, we wives have to stick together, Paula. Watch out for one another. Ain't nobody gonna do it for us, you know. Oh, look at the time. I hate to chase you off but I've got an appointment down at the gym... I signed up for yoga classes, of all things. But let's plan on having lunch together later in the week. Does Friday work for you?"

  "Friday's perfect, Sally. How about if we meet down at Fandango's... say around one? I should be going too. Allen's expecting me to fix dinner tonight. Thank you for everything."

  Now, driving home, the remorse over her past actions nearly brought her to tears. What the hell could she have been thinking? Sally Lupo was one of her oldest and dearest friends—the woman had stood by her side after the twins had vanished, even helping to organize search efforts—and how did s
he repay her? By keeping time with her husband. It was one thing to have known Hank before he met Sally but quite another to continue fucking him.

  Chapter 55—Dragons

  (Candy and Horseradish)

  "The girls are alive, Liza."

  "I don’t understand how you could know that, DanDan. And if they're really alive, where are they? We need to find them, sweetie."

  "This isn’t like most times, Liza... I know they're alive but when I try to pin down their location, they seem to be everywhere at once. Maybe it's because they're twins."

  "Well, do me a favor, Danners, and concentrate. Forget that they're twins. Think of them as individuals. Do whatever you need to do. Without your help, we'll never solve this case."

  She was right. He'd been falling down on the job. He felt frightened, not of finding the twins, but of discovering the true horror of what had happened to them. They'd been desecrated. Oh, sure, he suspected... but to have his worst fears confirmed was perhaps more than he could bear.

  If what Marcy said was true, by taking this case they'd inadvertently kicked a hornets' nest right across Los Angeles County and a cloud of those angry motherfuckers were on their way to make sure they'd go no further in uncovering any more facts. The woman seemed ready to confess and all that was needed to start the flow of words from her was a gentle promise not to implicate her beloved boss, Hank Lupo.

  Now he found himself caught up in one of his dragon dreams again. After dropping Liza at her apartment, Danners went home too, making himself a sandwich lathered thick with Allen Picany's homemade horseradish. After eating, he went straight to bed. The efforts of the long day had drained him and sleep blessed sleep took him down immediately.

  The dragon wasn’t scary. Not at all. Instead, it seemed to revel in helping people learn of their true nature. Danners had known the dragon since he was just a kid though in those days he could see it even while awake. Now the dragon only came to him in his fever dreams. He supposed it had something to do with growing up.

  The dragon was made of red and green M&Ms. Of course Danners had always known that but it never occurred to him that anyone could actually eat them. But there they were: two girls were sitting in a garden facing one another, looking like mirrors. When one moved so did the other. They were eating the dragon M&Ms, popping the candy into their mouths so quickly that their cheeks were swollen with them and yet still on they ate. Neither girl seemed to notice Danners or if they did they simply ignored his presence. Nothing new about that. Pretty girls always shunned him. It was as if they knew...

  Liza was there... Lissi too, as was Paula Picany and another woman who looked just like her. Was Paula a twin too? Quite possibly. Twins ran in families, or so he heard. Danners never knew if the dragon was a girl or a boy. Maybe dragons were both but what fun would that be? It wanted to show him something, the way the dragon always did. But the price was too high. He knew it without asking. Still, he couldn’t look away.

  As the girls sat there eating M&Ms a man walked up behind them, the man he knew as Thomas Johm. The girls didn’t seem to notice him, nor did Paula and her twin. Liza and Lissi stayed in the background. Johm was carrying something in his right hand... a drill... like the old-time carpenters used to use. Not electric. The kind you turned by hand. In the other hand was a razor. He bent down, shaved a small patch of hair off one of the girls, and began boring a hole into her skull. He was like a shadow, there and yet not there. No one noticed him but Danners.

  When the man got done opening the girl's skull he pulled out a long white knitting needle and slowly inserted it into the hole he created. Like he knew exactly what he was doing. As the needle went deeper the girl's expression changed. Her mouth dropped open and the M&Ms drooled out onto her chin and down her shirt... half chewed and colorful. Finished with the one, the man moved onto the next girl leaving the end of the knitting needle poking out.

  A rumble shook the ground and when he looked there were more girls all the same all sitting in neat little rows waiting their turn. Dozens of girls. He want to shout: run! Get away from here! Yet when he opened his mouth he discovered he too had been munching the M&Ms. He also knew once Johm had finished with the girls, Paula and her twin would be next... and then Liza and Lissi, and finally, him.

  The dragon took a deep breath and blew it at the man but only a puff of smoke came out. It tried again with the same sad results. Danners felt sorrier for the dragon than the girls. He wanted to go to it, to console the dragon... to wipe the tears from its face. Yet his feet seemed mired in concrete. He couldn't move.

  When he woke, the room was still dark. For a long moment he couldn’t tell if he was still dreaming or not, but gradually as wakefulness took full effect he flipped on a light, rolled from bed, and stumbled into the kitchen to get something to drink. His throat was on fire and his stomach roiled something awful.

  Opening the refrigerator he pulled out a can of Coke, popped the top, and took a long drink feeling the carbonation burn his throat and sooth his stomach. He stared out the window at a city shrouded in darkness. A cloying notion of being both here and somewhere else at the same time nearly caused him to vomit as he stood over the stink taking deep breaths while sweat poured off him causing him to shiver in the cool of the night.

  He remembered having those dreams before. They always began about the time the visions became more intense... the knowing. Sleeping with Benji each night, cuddling him, talking to the bear before dropping off to sleep helped to bring on the dreams as much as the horseradish. The bear was sad like the dragon. Too quiet. Lonely.

  "I know where they are."

  There was no one there but his reflection in the darkened pane of glass and the breath of the dragon echoing softly in his ears.

  Chapter 56—Home

  (At the Picany's)

  1

  Her eyes wandered around the kitchen. The picture of the twins still hung on the wall by the curio cabinet. They were smiling at something the photographer must've said. Radiant, really beautiful. Such pretty girls. They'd gotten wild though. Once they turned sixteen it seemed as if they made a game out of who could screw who first. She told her own daughters to stay away from them... that if she caught them hanging out with the twins there'd be hell to pay. Luckily, they listened. Mostly.

  She'd considered some type of intervention with Missy and Melinda but had no idea where to start. Did Paula and Allen even know the company their girls were keeping? And if they did and yet did nothing to stop it, what made her think they'd welcome her interference.

  Maybe they hid their chicanery from their parents. Lots of kids did that, or so she heard. Not her children, of course... they knew they could always come to their mother with anything and she wouldn’t pass judgment on them. Maybe that's why the twins were more open with her... they sensed they could trust Sally Lupo ahead of anyone. Yet in the end she'd let them down. There, she voiced it. Maybe now the guilt might lessen.

  "I'm sorry... what did you say, Paula?"

  "I said I'm so tired of men. They make me sick. Allen especially. So how's Hank these days, Sally?"

  "Busy, mostly... I can't really blame him. Things are hard. His superiors are all over his ass. I don’t know why he doesn’t just quit. Find a regular job somewhere, or just retire. He has the money. Tell me, Paula, is really it true that you hired psychics to help find the girls? You mentioned it last time we talked."

  "Oh yes... completely true. They've got Allen right in their pockets. He hangs onto every word they say."

  "Have they come up with anything yet?"

  "No... and I doubt they will, Sally. I get the feeling they're faking it. Just hoping something will break for them. Do you know one of them actually stole Missy's Benji bear?"

  "No..."

  "He claims he sees things when he handles personal items that once belonged to people he's looking for. Allen told them to take anything they wanted. Basically turned the pair of them loose in our house... and the man a convicted felon. Allen
doesn’t know but I did a little checking around on them."

  "Liza McNairy and Hank used to work together. Once I got drunk at the office Christmas party and accused her of having an affair with him."

  "She's something, I'll give her that. Do you really think they were sneaking around?"

  "Yeah, no... maybe... I don’t know any more. I used to care but lately if it's not one woman it's another. How about Allen?"

  "Allen is Allen. He drinks. That pretty much consumes his life. I tell you, Sally... I'm too young to settle for that. We haven’t made love in a good ten years."

  "We're the same way."

  "No you're not, Sally. Come on... a man like Hank?"

  "What do you mean by that, Paula? Do you know something I don’t?"

  "Oh God no... that's not what I meant at all, Sally. I just thought..."

  "You thought since he likes to play the field so much he must be hitting home runs at home too."

  "Well... that's not..."

  "Yes it is, Paula. It's okay. You don’t have to lie to me. I know my husband. He likes the women. He always has."

  This house gave her the creeps, like ghosts were lingering in every corner. And now she was getting the same vibes from Paula. The woman was hiding something darkly foreboding. It was more than the affair with Hank. She wanted to say something more but maybe it was better to leave now.

  She finished her drink, stood up, and made to go. She'd made Paula uncomfortable. Good. Served the bitch right for inviting her over here in the first place. It surprised her when she heard herself accept the invitation but now that she was here she wasn’t letting Paula off the hook that easily.

  "Please don’t go yet, Sally... I have something I'd like

  2

  "To show you. How about another drink?"

  Now that was a surprise. What on earth could Paula Picany, slut of the century, possibly have to show her? Oh by the hey, Sally... do you have any nudes of Hank? Because I do. Was this going to be one of those weepy confession moments she enjoyed watching so much on daytime television? Jerry Springer special: I'm sorry I fucked your brother, sweetie... it's just that he reminds me so much of you.