Leighton Jones Mysteries Box Set

by N. M. Brown

There was a moment’s silence while Leighton considered this.

  ‘You don’t have to include your name, just a message.’

  ‘That would be better,’ Leighton said.

  ‘Okay – we have standard bouquets at twenty-five dollars or luxury ones at forty-five.’

  ‘Luxury, please.’

  ‘And you want all yellow roses?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Okay, and what would you like the message to be?’

  ‘Can it be, “I miss hanging around you, call me sometime.”’

  Having placed his order, Leighton had some other unfinished business to arrange before Annie got back home. He drove across the city, stopping off only once at the supermarket to pick up some groceries, but before returning home, he pulled into the parking lot of Sunbeam Garden Retirement Village.

  This time when he entered the brightly-coloured reception; the young man he had previously met was engrossed in replacing a black ink cartridge.

  ‘Hi,’ Leighton said, ‘I don’t mean to disturb you. I just want to leave something for one of the residents.’ Leighton placed the bottle of Jim Beam Bourbon on the counter.

  ‘No problem,’ the young man said, brightly, as he wiped his stained fingers on a white cloth. ‘Now which guest is it for?’

  ‘Len Wells,’ Leighton said. ‘I was here visiting him on Wednesday.’

  ‘Oh,’ the young man’s expression conveyed the situation without the need for words, ‘I’m afraid Mr Wells passed away yesterday morning. Didn’t you hear?’

  Leighton was knocked off balance.

  ‘No, I’m not a relative. I’m a cop and he was an ex-cop. I came to him for advice.’

  ‘Ah, he was very ill. I understand he had refused treatment. Said it would be better if the medicine was used on someone younger than him. He used bourbon for the pain.’

  ‘Poor guy,’ Leighton said.

  ‘After you left the other day, Len called up reception and said you had left something behind. He got Laura who was working that evening to go over and get it. Do you know what it was?’

  ‘No,’ Leighton couldn’t remember leaving anything.

  ‘Hang on,’ the young man said, ‘I’ll check.’ He then vanished into the back office for a moment and returned a moment later with the black box file. Leighton recognised it as the one containing Len’s case notes.

  ‘He’s written Mr Jones on the top of it. I take it that’s you?’ the young man asked.

  ‘Yes. Sorry, I must’ve forgotten to lift it when I left.’

  As Leighton walked back to the car with Len’s box file in one hand and a bottle of Jim Beam in the other, he felt like he had inherited the essence of someone else’s life… or mantel.

  It was more than a week later when Leighton decided to raise his game a little with Angela. Partly, it was because Annie was seeming to be increasingly independent, but also because since meeting Angela Blanchette, he had realised that there were plenty more hurt and lonely people out there. It didn’t seem right that they shouldn’t find some company.

  He knew he still had the toy dog to return to Tina. Perhaps if he dropped it off personally, he could invite Angela and her daughter to dinner. Deciding to take his therapist’s advice and shape his own reality, Leighton made a call and booked the table for the following evening at Ruby’s on the Pier; a cheerful diner where the girls would hopefully be entertained by the view of the ocean and the greedy pelicans. It was a relaxing place where the adults could talk for a while.

  Leighton figured that, rather than facing the discomfort of calling on the telephone, he could drive around to Angela’s and then casually invite her and Tina to join him and Annie for something to eat. If they already had plans, it wouldn’t be a big deal. He hoped they could agree to reschedule, but at least it would be progress.

  Annie was sitting in her striped booster seat – happily reading a picture book – when Leighton pulled up his car in the dusty street outside the Blanchette home. He switched off the engine, took a deep breath and then turned in his seat to face his daughter. As he gazed at her small feet tilting from side to side while she peered at the pages, Leighton felt a wave of pure affection wash over him.

  ‘You okay back there, scout?’ he asked, half turned in his seat.

  ‘Uh-huh,’ Annie said then glanced up from her book to gaze around her at the unfamiliar location.

  ‘Why are we at this place, Daddy?’ she asked.

  ‘I just want to say hi to a friend,’ Leighton said with a half-suppressed smile. ‘It’ll just take a moment. I was thinking that maybe I could ask her if she wants to come have dinner with us.’

  ‘Why?’ Annie looked at him intently.

  ‘Well, she’s had a tough time recently, and she’s really nice.’

  ‘What kind of tough time, is she sick?’

  ‘No, she couldn’t find her daughter. I helped her.’

  ‘Did you find her?’ Annie asked.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Good!’

  ‘So, would you be okay with me asking her to dinner?’

  Annie shrugged, nodded her head, and returned her attention to her picture book.

  ‘Great. You happy to wait in the car?’

  Annie nodded again without looking up.

  ‘Okay, I’ll just be standing at that porch,’ Leighton said, then climbed out of the vehicle.

  The early evening air was cooler than in recent days. As he crossed the small yard, Leighton realised that summer was coming to an end. He glanced back to wave at Annie in the car, but she was too engrossed in the book to require any type of reassurance.

  Turning back to face the house, Leighton wondered if the gesture of sending flowers had perhaps been too much. But by the time he reached the door, it was too late to regret anything.

  After pressing the small doorbell, he stood nervously for a moment, glancing down at his scuffed boots. He tried rubbing them briefly on the back of each leg, but it had little effect.

  When the door eventually opened, Leighton found himself looking at Angela’s fresh face and smiling. She was wearing a faded Harley Davidson T-shirt and a pair of denim shorts. A small crusty scrape on her forehead was the only indication of the horror she and Leighton had faced together.

  ‘Wow, Leighton!’ she said. ‘What a nice surprise. Do you want to come in?’

  ‘Thanks, but I can’t,’ Leighton said, ‘I’ve got Annie in the car. I just wanted to stop by and return this.’

  He held out a hand upon which sat the small plastic dog. He had taken the liberty of dipping it in his kitchen sink and washing away the dust. Now the toy looked as good as new.

  ‘Oh, that’s great – Tina will be so happy.’ Annie took the toy from Leighton’s hand, and the momentary touch of her fingers felt like a small electric shock.

  ‘I think it’s the right one,’ Leighton said with a half-smile. ‘If not, Annie will certainly let me know at some point.’

  Angela looked at Leighton with an expression of clear affection, and he knew that he would take this opportunity to ask her if she’d like to join him for dinner. But she spoke first.

  ‘I’m so glad you stopped by, Leighton,’ Angela said with a sense of genuine warmth in her voice.

  ‘You are?’ Leighton felt a flicker of excitement in his chest.

  ‘Yeah, I’m just so grateful to you,’ Angela said. ‘And do you know what the best thing is?’

  ‘What?’ Leighton smiled, self-consciously.

  ‘Well,’ Angela brushed her hair behind one ear, ‘you remember me telling you about the yellow roses?’

  ‘Yeah,’ Leighton felt himself blush, and glanced momentarily back at his car where Annie remained lost in her small book of happy-ever-after endings.

  Angela, who was oblivious to this, carried on talking excitedly.

  ‘So last Friday, Tina and I got back from the mall to find a whole bunch of them. They’d been delivered while we were out and so the driver must’ve just let them here on the porch. Af
ter all this time. Can you believe it?’

  ‘Did you like them?’ Leighton asked, cautiously.

  ‘I loved them!’ Angela Blanchette’s eyes sparkled with delight as she spoke. ‘They were yellow – the kind he used to bring me. As soon as I saw them, I knew straight away that Tina’s dad must have sent them – you know, when he heard what had happened.’

  ‘But, how–’ Leighton tried to form some words, but Angela’s enthusiasm propelled her explanation forward.

  ‘So I called him up straight away – and – can you believe it, he flew straight down here on Sunday.’

  ‘Oh, wow,’ Leighton said. He felt as if he had been punched in the stomach.

  ‘Yeah, isn’t it amazing? We’re going to try and work things out. So, I guess you didn’t just save Tina; you pretty much saved our entire family.’ Angela held his gaze for a moment, and Leighton could see the sincerity and happiness in her expression.

  ‘Dinner’s ready!’ called a male voice from somewhere back in the restored Blanchette home.

  ‘I’m really happy for you,’ Leighton said and glanced down at his feet, ‘for all of you. Listen, I best be going, I’ve got a little table booked for me and Annie down at the harbour.’

  ‘That sounds nice, but don’t you want to come in and speak to Tina and David? Both of them would love to see you.’

  ‘No,’ Leighton shook his head, ‘it’s okay. Thank you. I don’t want to intrude, and you’ve all been through enough. But hey, you look after yourself, okay. You’ve got a second chance to fix things here. Not many folks ever get that.’

  Angela nodded. ‘It’s thanks to you.’

  She then took a small step out of the doorway, leaned forward and kissed Leighton gently on the cheek.

  ‘See you around, Leighton Jones,’ Angela Blanchette said and then vanished back inside her home.

  Leighton turned and walked back to his car, feeling like he was carrying a burden.

  As he climbed into his car Leighton sighed and used one hand to massage the back of his neck. Annie glanced up from her book, the turned her face toward the house. When she returned her attention to her book, Leighton thought Annie had been distracted. He was wrong.

  ‘Isn’t the lady coming too?’ she asked, as she traced her finger over the picture of the rose covered, fairy tale cottage in front of her.

  ‘No, kiddo,’ Leighton said as he pulled the car away from the Blanchette family home. ‘I’m afraid not.’

  After looking at her book of fairy tales for a moment, Annie glanced up at her dad. ‘You’re just like the woodsman,’ she said with a sympathetic tone.

  ‘Huh?’ Leighton slowed the car and glanced in the rear-view mirror. ‘What d’you mean?’

  ‘In the story, he saved Little Red Riding Hood. At the end she had her family, but the woodsman was just left alone. It’s sad.’

  ‘Ah, but I’m not alone, because I’ve got you.’

  ‘And I’ve got you too,’ Annie smiled, proudly.

  ‘Just you and me, kid,’ Leighton said with an affirmative nod of his head.

  ‘That’s good, right?’ Annie frowned.

  ‘Yeah, I believe it is,’ Leighton said. ‘You fancy going down to the pier for dinner tonight?’

  ‘For pizza and ice cream?’ she asked, excitedly.

  ‘Sure.’

  ‘Then tomorrow we can go to see some birds at the rescue centre?’

  ‘Yeah, why not.’

  Leighton, knowing how much Annie loved fluffy birds, conceded and decided that if anyone deserved his love and consideration, it was his daughter.

  ‘Yes!’ Annie shouted with joy and for a moment the simple infectious happiness of his daughter was – at least for a while – enough for Leighton Jones.

  The car, containing the man and his small daughter, moved slowly off, away from the Blanchette family home, and towards a sun that was already steadily sinking behind the silhouette of some distant black mountain.