Mixed Messages (A Malone Mystery)

by Gligor, Patricia

  She took her coffee to the kitchen table and sat down. She felt like her world was falling apart before her eyes and she was powerless to do anything about it. Nothing was working the way it should. She glanced up at the calendar hanging by the phone. Today was Halloween. She would have to take the kids trick-or-treating tonight.

  In the past, David had always gone with them and she’d stayed home to give out candy. But David was in jail. Even if Louise managed to get him out, she couldn’t count on the fact that he’d be home in time; she had to assume that he wouldn’t be. She didn’t know what to do. Then, she remembered her grandmother’s words, “Child, things will work out. God never gives us more than he knows we can handle.” At times like this, she hoped that was true.

  She got up and dumped the rest of her coffee in the sink. She didn’t feel well; her stomach was kind of queasy. I’ll just have to do what I can, she decided. I’ll figure something out. Right now, it’s business as usual. She went into each of her children’s rooms and opened the blinds. “Rise and shine,” she called as cheerfully as she could. “Time to get up!”

  The next hour flew by for her. She fixed instant oatmeal for Danielle and Davey but somehow couldn’t force herself to eat a bite. She packed their lunches and supervised, as they got dressed and ready for school.

  “Mom, don’t forget we have to take our costumes to school for the party and parade,” Danielle reminded her.

  Ann sighed. “Thanks, sweetie. What would I do without you?” She grabbed two plastic Wal-Mart bags from the kitchen pantry and used a black marker to write “Danielle K.” on one and “Davey K.” on the other. As she stuffed the costumes into the bags, she was careful not to wrinkle them, especially Danielle’s fancy witch hat.

  “You two have fun at school today,” she said, giving them each a hug. As she opened the door, a blast of cold, damp air hit her. She looked out but everything was a misty blur. She couldn’t even see to the end of the driveway but she could hear children’s voices, which sounded as if they were not far away. “Nancy?” she called out but there was no answer.

  “Dani, I think I should walk you to school today. It’s awfully foggy out.”

  “Don’t worry, Mom,” Danielle assured her, “I hear some of the other big kids. Nancy’s probably with them. We’ll catch up with them. Anyway, I’ll watch the little monster,” she said, glancing down at her brother and nudging him out the door.

  “Promise you’ll be careful?”

  “Mom!” Danielle said, rolling her eyes. “I’m always careful.”

  I’m sure they’ll be fine, Ann thought, shivering as she closed the door behind them. I hope it’s not this cold tonight. They’d hate to have to wear coats over their costumes. I know I hated that when I was a little girl. She stepped back from the door and breathed a sigh of relief. “One thing down,” she said aloud. “Fifty more to go.”

  She hurried down the hallway, undressed quickly and got into the shower. She tilted her head back and let the warm, pulsing water hit her full force. Relax, she told herself, and she could actually feel some of her tension slipping away. Olivia! she suddenly thought. That’s it!

  I’ll ask Olivia to give out the candy tonight. Why didn’t I think of that before? She turned off the water and grabbed her towel.

  A few minutes later, she was dressed and ready to leave. As she closed the apartment door behind her and stepped out into the foyer, she heard the phone ringing. She hesitated, thinking it might be David calling. She considered going back in but immediately dismissed the idea. I’m not ready to talk to him yet and anyway it’s probably just another candidate for some office trying to solicit my vote, she thought, as she turned to go up the stairs to the Bergers’ apartment.

  She could hear the strains of classical music coming from inside as she knocked lightly on the door. “Coming,” she heard Lawrence call out and, in a few seconds, he opened the door. She noticed that he was wiping his hands on a dishtowel.

  “Is Olivia up?” she asked.

  “She’s taking a bath,” he replied, looking down at the floor, blushing.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. It’s a bad time, I guess. I’ll stop back after work to see her.”

  “No. That’s okay,” he said. “What did you need? Is there something I can do?”

  “Well, I was wondering if Olivia would give out the candy tonight. I have to take the kids trick-or-treating and… David, um, David won’t be able to be here.”

  He glanced up. “No problem. I can go ask her. I’ll only be a minute.” He turned and walked out of the room.

  As Ann stood there, she heard him talking loudly, presumably so that Olivia could hear him through the bathroom door. What a life this is for him, she thought. He waits on his mother hand and foot, catering to her every need. He’s spent his whole life taking care of Olivia, cleaning the apartment, shopping and running errands, cooking, doing the dishes. He’s never really had a life of his own. I doubt that he has many, if any, friends; I never see anyone come over to visit him or pick him up to go out. How sad, how horribly sad it is. Well, I hope he gets his reward in Heaven. He’s sure earned it.

  “She said she’d be glad to do it,” he said, startling her. Lost in her thoughts, she hadn’t realized he’d come back into the room.

  “That’s great. Tell Olivia I owe her one,” she said. “Thank you.”

  He grinned sheepishly. “Anything I can ever do for you, you just ask me,” he said, wringing the dishtowel in his hands. “You can always count on me.”

  “I appreciate that. Thanks again. Well,” she said, turning toward the door, “time to go to work. I’d better hurry. I don’t want to be late my second day.”

  “Oh, could you wait one second?” He hurried across the room and came back with a postcard in his hand. “I almost forgot to give you this,” he said, reaching out and handing it to her. “There were two of these in the mail the other day. I guess I picked up yours by mistake. I’ve been meaning to give it to you.”

  She took the card and, assuming that it was junk mail, an advertisement of some sort or more voting information, she dropped it into her purse. “Thank you, Lawrence. You’re an angel.”

  As she pulled the door shut behind her, she didn’t hear him whisper, “No, Annie, you’re the angel.”

  Chapter 34

  OLIVIA GRABBED HOLD OF THE RAILS on each side of the bathtub and hoisted herself up so that she was sitting on the platform, which she’d had built years ago. Only her feet and the calves of her legs remained in the water. For the next couple of minutes, she sat there, thinking about the trips to Lake Cumberland with her father when she was a little girl. She remembered how she would take off her shoes and socks, roll her pant legs up to her knees and sit on the edge of the dock, dangling her feet in the cool water.

  Those were wonderful times, she thought. Every summer, Papa would rent the same cabin and we’d spend days, just the two of us, fishing, swimming and hiking. She smiled. We used to go for long walks through the woods and Papa would tell me stories of when he was a boy. I especially enjoyed hearing about how he spent every summer staying with relatives in Dresden, Germany, where my great-grandparents were born, where our roots were.

  Her father had told her that, at one time, Dresden was referred to as “the Florence on the Elbe” because it was one of the world’s most beautiful cities owing to its architecture and art treasures. His descriptions of the picturesque town, which was located in a valley on the left bank of the Elbe River, of the Ore Mountains, looming in the distance to the north of the city and of Dresden Castle, were so vivid that he made them come alive for me, she remembered. Although I’d never been there, I felt like I had. I always dreamed of going one day, she thought, but I had to wait because Papa had promised to take me when I was older. So, every year, we went to the cabin.

  That’s when he taught me to shoot, she remembered, picturing the empty tin cans her father had lined up on the stone wall at the rear of the property. She could almost hear his voice,
“Now, Livvy, plant your feet firmly,” he would say. “Gut! Now square off your shoulders, extend your arms and take a deep breath. Und squeeze the trigger.” I actually got to be pretty good, she thought. Papa was a good teacher. We had so much fun together back then.

  She sighed. Come on, old girl, she told herself, time to get a move on. She used both hands to lift first one leg and then the other over the side of the tub. Those days are gone, she thought, remembering how, after her accident, so much had changed. Papa and I never went to the lake again and my dream of visiting Dresden never came to pass. She reached for a towel and quickly dried herself. As she struggled to put on her long terry cloth robe and cinch it around her waist, she called out to Lawrence.

  Within seconds, he was there. He pulled the stopper up to let the bathtub drain and carried her to her wheelchair just outside the bathroom door. “I think you’d better go on a diet,” he said as he lowered her into the chair.

  It was their standard joke. As always, she replied, “No, I think maybe you better start working out.”

  “Yeah. Right,” he replied, grinning. He turned to go back into the bathroom to clean the tub and straighten up.

  She wheeled herself to her bedroom and closed the door behind her. I don’t know what I’d do without him, she thought. Lawrence is such a good son. How many mothers are as lucky as I am?

  As she brushed her long, white hair, she admired the fragile porcelain figurines, produced near Dresden, Germany in the early to mid 1800’s, which decorated the shelves on both sides of her vanity mirror. Each lady was enclosed in a glass case to protect the delicate lace adorning her fancy, crinoline dress. More remnants of the past, she thought, as she finished brushing her hair and twisted it into a roll, securing it with a large silver barrette high on the back of her head. Then, she rummaged through her dresser drawers until she found the clothes she wanted to wear. It took her several minutes to get dressed.

  When she finally came out of the bedroom, she remembered Ann’s visit and the fact that she had agreed to give candy to the trick-or-treaters that night. Oh no, she thought, Tina was going to do the séance tonight. How could I have forgotten that? I’ve been looking forward to talking to Jeremy for so long.

  Lately, though, she realized, I’m starting to be a little skeptical. I wonder if Tina might be taking advantage of me, stringing me along. I‘ve paid out an awful lot of money to her and she still hasn’t contacted Jeremy. It’s taken her a long time to “get to know you better so that I can be more in tune with your spirit,” as she told me. What if she’s a fake? What if I’ve spent all this time and money for nothing? She sighed. Oh well, she thought, I promised Ann that I’d give out the candy tonight and that’s what I intend to do. A promise is a promise. I’ll have to call and cancel the séance. I can always reschedule the appointment, if I decide to. I think I would like to give Tina one more chance. I’m not ready to give up on contacting Jeremy yet.

  She rolled her wheelchair into the living room and went straight to the phone. Lawrence was lying on the sofa, reading the newspaper. Briefly, she considered asking him to give out the candy but then she remembered his plans for the weekend. No, I can’t take that away from him, she thought. Going to those coin conventions a few times a year is about all he really has to look forward to.

  She picked up the receiver and dialed.

  * * * *

  Lawrence pretended to read the newspaper as he listened to his mother’s end of the conversation with her psychic. So, David won’t be home tonight, he thought, rubbing his chin. That means that Annie and the kids will be home alone. This could be the perfect chance for me to get close to her. Maybe she’s so fed up and angry with him that she’ll look at me in a new light. Maybe she’ll realize that I’d be a much better husband to her than David is. Maybe I can convince her that that’s true. As Olivia hung up the phone, he sat up on the sofa and turned to face her.

  “Why don’t you call Tina back and tell her you’ll do the séance tonight?” he asked. “I can skip the convention. It’s no big deal. There’ll be another one in a few months.”

  “I can’t ask you to do that, son. I won’t ask you to do that. It’ll be good for you to get away for a couple of days, talk to other people, see different sights, do something for yourself for a change. You work so hard around here. You deserve a break from your old mother. Anyway, I really didn’t care for Tina’s attitude and her tone of voice when I told her. Actually, she was downright rude. ‘A little more notice would have been nice, Olivia. I cancelled other plans to do this for you, Olivia.’”

  “Is that why you didn’t reschedule for another night?” he asked.

  “It is,” she replied, nodding her head. “And, I’m starting to wonder how good Tina really is. I’m beginning to think she might just be a gold digger and I don’t want to be one of those naïve old women that you read about in the paper who falls victim to some con artist’s scam and loses all her money. You know what they say, ‘there’s no fool like an old fool.’”

  “No one in their right mind would call you ‘an old fool,’” he said, grinning, “so, if you want to do the séance, you should do it.”

  She smiled. “No. The more I think about it, it might be a good idea for me to do a little checking up on Ms. Butreaux before I schedule anything else with her. I should have done it in the first place. Oh well, live and learn, I guess.”

  “Well, if you’re sure,” her son said, “but, if you change your mind, I’d be more than happy to stay home.”

  He picked up his newspaper and held it up in front of him, once again pretending to read. I guess that’s that, he thought. He knew from the expression on his mother’s face that there was no use pushing the issue any further; she wasn’t about to change her mind.

  With David out of the way, this could be my golden opportunity, he thought. I might never get another chance like this to be alone with Annie. But how can I stay home when my mother is so insistent that I go?

  Wait a minute, he thought. What if I don’t really leave? What if I only pretend to leave? I could hide in the basement. That way, I’ll be here if Annie wants me. A smile played at the corner of his lips. If Annie wants me … . If my Annie wants me … .

  Chapter 35

  “SON OF A BITCH!” Tina screamed as she slammed down the phone.

  Greg pushed the mute button on the remote control, silencing the television. “What’s wrong?”

  “Oh, hell,” she replied, “that damn old woman cancelled her appointment for tonight.”

  He sat up straight. “No séance?”

  “No séance!”

  “I thought you said she was so hot to do this. What happened? What changed her mind?” he asked.

  “Do you know how damn much trouble I went to, to set this up?” she shouted, not answering him.

  “Calm down,” he said, grasping the recliner’s worn arms and pushing back the footrest. He got up, strode over to Tina and put his arm around her shoulder.

  “I will not calm down! Don’t tell me to ‘calm down,’” she yelled, shrugging away from him. “I am pissed! The old bat just cost me five hundred big ones!”

  He raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. “Okay. Okay. I get it. You’re pissed. Now, will you please tell me why she cancelled?”

  She put her hands on her hips and said, “She has to give out candy tonight.”

  “Why can’t the woman downstairs with the kids give out the candy?”

  “Because, for some reason, her stupid husband won’t be there and she has to take her kids out trick-or-treating.”

  “What about the old lady’s son? Why can’t he do it?”

  “He’s going out of town!”

  “Where’s he going?” he asked.

  “How the hell should I know? Some stupid convention.”

  “So,” he said, “she cancelled for tonight but I’ll bet you she’s gonna reschedule. Right?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “What do you mean you ‘d
on’t know’?” he asked.

  “I don’t know!” she said, stomping her feet and throwing her arms in the air.

  “Fine,” he said. “Now, can you cool the theatrics and talk to me?” He grasped her hand and began running his fingers across her palm. “Why don’t you know?”

  “Cause, just now, on the phone, I got the feeling she’s backing off. I tried to set up another appointment but she said she’d get back to me. I know what it is; I think she’s listening to that Kern woman. I could tell from her voice she’s starting to have doubts.”

  “What kind of doubts?”

  “Doubts about my psychic abilities. What’d you think I meant? Doubts about the earth being round?”

  “That’s it, take it out on me. You can use me as your whipping boy. I don’t care,” he said.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m worried, that’s all. What if I lose her? What if I never get another client like her? How will I survive?”

  “Oh, Teen, you’re being paranoid,” he said.

  She pulled her hand away and glared at him. “Paranoid!”

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m just not convinced there’s anything for you to worry about. What makes you think she’s listening to ‘that Kern woman’?”

  She frowned. “Because they’re real close and she thinks the world of Ann. She talks about her like she was her daughter and her two little brats like they were the grandchildren she never had.” She started to pace back and forth, clearly agitated.

  “Sweetie, you’ve got to settle down,” he said. “It’s not worth you getting sick over.”

  “You can say that; you weren’t there the other day when I met Ann Kern and tried to read her palm. Let’s just say it was obvious she’s not a believer. She made it very clear, right in front of Olivia. You should a heard the stuff she said. ‘I don’t believe anyone can tell the future from looking at the lines on a person’s hand. That’s just a bit too much. Only God knows what the future holds for us.’ I can only imagine what she says when I’m not there. I know she’s been trashin’ me to Olivia for a long time. I know that’s why Olivia cancelled.”