“It’s worthless, I promise you.”
“All the same, I don’t want anybody getting any smart ideas. That was why I had to stop Max and his damn oil study. That can of worms is not going to be opened again.”
Paula opened the pouch and pulled out the document. She spent a minute examining it, the tommy gun resting across her lap. If there was ever a time to make a run for it, this was it. Just as I used my palms to make purchase with the ground to facilitate a leap up, she held the deed over the candle flame. It ignited, causing a burst of bright light that made an escape much more risky.
“What did you mean when you said you had to stop Max with his study?” We were both transfixed on the burning document that started this whole mess.
“Just that, I couldn’t have him going around and testing for oil. I had to sabotage the study to protect the gardens.”
“So all those bad omens, the dead bird and all, that was you?”
“I’m not proud of it, but dear Max can be very stubborn.”
“And what about the power hose that was turned on here in the gardens? Max had a terrible fall, you could have killed him!”
“I was watching closely, if anything serious had happened to him, I’d have been right there. It did the trick and he stopped doing his research so ‘no harm, no foul’ as they say.”
If she would go to that extreme with her husband to protect her gardens, I felt my spine go cold thinking about what she would do to me.
The deed had burned down to ashes, but the moon in the clear sky now provided enough illumination for me to see Paula clearly. And vice versa.
“I’m just reaching in my pocket for a tissue, Paula,” I warned, holding the flap open with one hand while reaching in with the other. I woke my phone up and launched the voice recorder before producing the wipe. I figured that even if she did try to shoot me there’d be some record of what happened for the people who later found me.
“Do you want to talk about Abigail?” I asked her.
“We might as well. She had dementia. It came on slowly for her but then turned much more aggressive during the last two years. The ravages of the disease made her mean, especially to me.”
“That’s too bad.”
“Yes. Abigail was eccentric but I did consider her a friend. She’d always been a loner and rarely talked about herself or her family, but when she got sick, she stopped going out at all. She wanted to die. If I hadn’t brought in groceries each week and meals, she certainly would have, right there in the house.”
“That must have been very tough on you.” I looked up at Paula and saw that she was cradling a small plant shoot that she’d pulled out of the ground. I tried to hide my shock. This showed me just how much of a loose cannon Paula was right now.
“I didn’t mind. I love feeding people. It was her sharp words that got to me. She called me the devil, accused me of conjuring up spells against her and Max. She had all that old carnival stuff around her house; I wondered if her brain was going back to the memories of when she was a child in Venice Beach.”
Interesting.
“What about when Malcolm appeared on the scene? Did she treat him the same way?”
“Not at all, she thought that he walked on water. That week he stayed with her was like giving her a new lease on life.”
So Malcolm is one of the good guys.
“When he was leaving to go and prepare to move in with her, I overheard Abigail tell him about a deed, one that could be worth millions. Well, it had to be for mineral rights, so one night when Max was sleeping, I got down all his documents from the study and searched for clues about this deed.”
“Is that when you read the story about the murder of Jeanne French? In the old Herald-Express?”
“How did you know about that? I removed those pages.”
“Did you kill Abigail Rose, Paula?”
“What? No, of course not. I just helped her pass peacefully.”
“By burying her alive?” I shouted.
“She was dead, damn it. I don’t care what the autopsy report says.”
“Okay, tell me what happened.” I shifted so that the pocket with my phone in it was pointed in her direction.
“After Malcolm left she deteriorated badly. I tried to convince her otherwise, but she was certain that he had abandoned her. She started refusing to eat and was withering away to nothing. The most that I could do was get her to take a few sips of the pea soup I’d made her.”
“Poor thing.”
I watched as Paula gently placed the plant shoot back into the ground and re-covered it with soil. She then dug up one next to it and held it in her arms like a baby.
“A few nights later I was home alone, Max was playing a jazz concert benefit for the museum in Santa Monica. I heard a loud crash coming from next door and I rushed over to check on Abigail. I have her keys so I let myself in. I found her facedown on the rug. She’d knocked over an end table and lamp in her fall. I turned her over, and her frail face was as white as a sheet. I leaned in close to see if she was still breathing.”
I rubbed my hands together for warmth. I had the chills not just from the cool night air but also from Paula’s harrowing story.
“Abigail was dying. Her gasps for air were shallow and raspy and her eyes were totally unfocused. ‘Do you want me to help you cross over?’ I asked her. She gave me a nod. I took a throw pillow from the armchair and placed it over her face. She didn’t struggle or fight me at all. That’s how I knew that I was doing the right thing. I held the pillow until I felt her body go limp. That’s when I knew that she was gone.”
I let out a deep breath. How tragic, Paula had really thought that she was carrying out a mission of mercy by helping Abigail to die. She was on a Doctor Kevorkian crusade. I looked at her cradling the plant and felt tears starting to well up in my eyes.
“So you brought her body up here?” I finally asked.
“It seemed like the right thing to do. This had been her land and she deserved to return to it. She was such a slight thing by that point that it was easy for me carry her to my car. I always have my wagon and shovels in the trunk, so I had everything I needed to bury her. I figured that she’d be able to decompose undisturbed since the plot was mine now and no one else could touch it. Plus, the compost would enrich the soil beyond belief.”
I quickly pulled my hands away from the clump of dirt I had been playing with. While Paula was burying her, she had no idea that Abigail was still alive, just barely.
“Paula, I’m so sorry that you had to go through this. What you did was completely understandable, and I’m fairly certain that anybody would feel the same way.”
I had to convince her that I was on her side and that she would not have to face any repercussions from her actions. It was the only way that I was going to get off this hill alive.
“I’m glad that you finally see things my way, Halsey.”
“And then I came along and messed everything up. I suppose that you never guessed that the fact that Abigail was declared missing rather than deceased would hold up the execution of the will. That the plot would remain in limbo until things could be sorted out?”
“Exactly and when the annual fee wasn’t received the plot became available and the girls swooped in and took it right out of my hands.”
“All because of a series of innocent events that amounted to inconvenient timing for you, Paula.”
We both stared at each other, trying to figure out what to do next.
“Well, let’s go back to Rose Avenue and sort this whole mess out,” I said, standing. Paula got up as well, and I felt that this horrible ordeal was finally coming to a close.
“Halsey?” We heard a voice call out in the distance. I looked up to the top of the hill and saw the jerky rays of illumination that meant people were walking while carrying flashlights.
“You tricked me, this was a trap wasn’t it, Halsey?” Paula screamed at me and grabbed the rifle from the ground.
“No, I wouldn’t do that to you,” I said, hoping that those words wouldn’t be my last.
“Halsey!” Another shout went out, this one closer to us.
When I turned to look back at Paula, she was gone.
So was the tommy gun.
Chapter 26
“Over here!” I yelled back. “But be careful, best to crawl real low to the ground, she’s got a gun. I’ll meet you halfway.”
The last time my name was called I recognized Sally’s voice. I hoped that she had brought along reinforcements. I dropped down to the ground and reached for my phone so I could light the way. When I touched the home button nothing happened, the recording must have sapped the last bit of juice out of the battery.
Inching along mostly by feel, I found a clearing that I prayed was the pathway. It seemed to follow a grid pattern but then again the entire hill was mapped out into rectangles. All of a sudden, I heard the whoosh of leaves and branches and saw something lunge toward me. It flattened me and only when I felt the sloppy wet kisses did I realize that it was Bardot.
“Good girl,” I whispered to her, “you went and got help just like we practiced.” I held her close and motioned for her to lie down next to me.
“Halsey, is that you over there?”
“Yes, Sally, but you guys stay down. It’s Paula and she’s got a gun.”
“What in the heck?” Sally said in disbelief.
“I’ll be right back, you guys stay where you are.” This time it was Marisol’s voice that I heard.
“Don’t bother coming back unless you’ve brought the cops with you!” I yelled back.
“Already called them,” Marisol retorted.
I saw a light moving in my direction parallel to the ground. When Bardot started wagging her tail, I knew that it was Sally.
“You do get yourself in the oddest of situations, Halsey,” she said, reaching me. “Boy howdy.”
“Keep your voice down. Paula has Abigail’s antique tommy gun and it’s loaded.”
“That old thing will never work.”
I hoped that Sally was correct.
“Paula admitted to killing the poor old lady. She claims that Abigail was moments away from dying and she was just helping her along. I’ve recorded the entire confession. You can hear it as soon as I charge my phone.”
“What? That’s an awful slippery slope Paula’s on.”
“I know, but I believe her when she says that she thought that she was doing the right thing. It should help her case in the long run.”
“Paula, walk out to the clearing and give yourself up!” Sally shouted into the air. “We’ll help you get a fair and just hearing.”
We heard the deafening BRAT-A-TAT! sound of a machine gun piercing the air.
“Bless her heart; she got that thing to work!”
“Sally, we are sitting ducks here. We’ve got to find our way to safety.”
All three of us started shimmying toward the top of the hill. Bardot, thinking that this was some version of the “play dead” game, kept shoving her nose under me, trying to turn me over.
We stopped short when we heard the sounds of music echoing from the hill. It was coming from a saxophone and appeared to be live. After a few bars I recognized the tune, it was one of my favorites, “These Foolish Things.”
A car’s headlights lit up the access road so that we could see the musician. And that was when I totally lost it.
With tears streaming down my face, I watched Max, pork pie hat and all, serenading his bride. His playing was flawless, and I now understood completely what drew Paula to him on that unseasonably warm day on Venice Beach so many years ago.
Max traversed the top of the hill until he reached about the middle of the gardens and then stopped and played his heart out. Sally and I heard car doors open and then saw Marisol, Augie, and another officer fan out. Bardot gave out a yip and that was enough of a signal to bring Marisol down to us.
“Come on, this way,” Marisol said to us, wielding a powerful flashlight.
Where does she get all these gadgets?
“Careful, Marisol, Paula’s out there and she’s got a gun. Crouch down!” I went to her to make sure that she obeyed.
“Get your hands off of me; we’re fine now. All she hears is Max playing that horn.”
“How can you be so sure?” I asked Marisol, knowing something was up.
“He told me when I went to get him.”
“What made you think to do that, Marisol? That was very clever of you,” Sally joined in.
“Don’t encourage her, Sally.”
“Those two were made for each other. I know, we were in a band together for a little while,” Marisol threw out like it was nothing.
I knew I was going to regret asking this. “What kind of band?”
We’d arrived back up at the top of the gardens.
“Jazz of course. Paula played piano and they had a guy on drums.”
I took a deep breath. “And what was your role in this group of merrymakers?”
“I was the singer, what’d you think?”
“I don’t know how I could have missed the obvious, Marisol, it’s been a long night.”
I was going to have to work very hard to expunge the image of Marisol in her denim dress and garden clogs hugging a mike while singing “Fever.”
We saw lights coming from the far end of the hill. When they got in range of the car’s headlights, we could see Augie carrying the tommy gun and then Paula flanked on her other side by an officer. Paula’s eyes were locked on Max’s.
“This is so sad and so romantic all at the same time,” Sally said. “There’s a lid out there for every pot.”
I watched them embrace and then told Augie that he should take my statement. I was hoping to be able to tell this story in the best light possible for Paula.
“Okay if we do that in the morning, Halsey? I want to personally take Paula to the women’s facility and make sure that she gets proper treatment.”
“Of course, thank you for doing this, Augie. She’s not a bad person, just very confused. She thought that she was doing the right thing.”
“I know; I actually had kind of a crush on her when I was a kid and Auntie would let me practice with the band.”
“Was there anybody on Rose Avenue who wasn’t in this band? Okay, I’ll bite, what instrument did you play?”
“Xylophone.”
I just shook my head.
“I can drop by your house around ten tomorrow to get that statement.”
“Sure. Oh and, Augie, one more thing. What was the name of this band?”
“The Diggers.”
Of course.
* * *
Augie listened carefully to the entire audio file. Some of it had been difficult to make out because my phone had been in my pocket and when Paula got emotional, her voice went very soft. But I have software for pretty much everything or I can find it, so I’d had the sound enhanced. I’d also converted the file to a written transcript, which took a lot of patience. I will never understand how a computer program hears the word “Abigail” and transcribes it as “albondiga” the Spanish word for “meatball.”
“What do you think is going to happen to Paula?” I asked Augie, handing him a thumb drive with all the files on it.
“It is very hard to say. The ‘Right to Die’ law was passed in California earlier this year, but it doesn’t apply in this case. Even if Abigail was begging Paula, it must be administered by a doctor and with medication.”
“But this case is hardly black and white, Augie, there must be something that we can do. Paula was being driven crazy with guilt, especially after she learned that she was buried alive,” Sally said. She’d been summoned to tell her side of the story as well.
“No doubt, she is clearly suffering from a form of PTSD. She’s being treated and will be for quite a while.”
“If only she hadn’t shot at us with that crazy gun. I know she didn’t want to hurt us or she could ha
ve killed me at any time up there.” I looked at Augie for some sort of answer for how to help her.
“What do you mean? That gun hadn’t been fired; did you think that it had, Sally?”
“That old thing would never work, I told Halsey that last night.”
“But I—”
I looked from Sally’s face to Augie’s. They were both waiting for me to say something.
“Sound can be distorted in strange ways when it travels up an embankment, especially at night with the rapidly changing temperatures,” Augie explained.
“Sure can,” Sally added. “As Edgar Allan Poe said, ‘Believe only half of what you see and nothing that you hear.’ Or was that Martha Stewart?”
“You both are right, that hill can play funny tricks with your mind at night. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was being haunted by the ghosts of dead rancheros from the 1900s.”
Sally and Augie nodded in agreement.
“One more thing, Halsey, Paula admitted to being the one that searched your house and put Bardot in the bathroom so that she didn’t run out into the street. She said that the door was unlocked, so she went in looking for you. When you weren’t home, she couldn’t resist searching for the paperwork on Abigail’s garden plot. I guess Auntie Marisol interrupted her and she snuck out the back.”
What was Marisol doing snooping around my house while I was away?
“I appreciate the info, Augie, and I must remember to thank Marisol personally.”
It was going on noon and I was exhausted. Sally however seemed full of energy.
“There seems to be only one thing left to do,” Sally declared. I looked at her blankly.
“Bloody Marys at the beach, you betcha.”
“Agreed, and then a much needed rest,” I said.
Chapter 27
It was another day in paradise and this morning we were all packed into Sally’s car and headed up PCH to Malibu. Marisol was riding shotgun, somehow she always manages to score that seat.
I was flanked in the back by Peggy on one side and Penelope on the other. In the far back sat Bardot, breathing warm doggie breath into my ear, and a box of plant shoots from my garden. My cell phone rang.
Murder Most Fermented Page 18
