by Marja McGraw
“Can you tell me what you saw today, uh, uh…”
“Elsie. My name is Elsie Montrose. And yours is Pamela Cross. Now that we have that straight, there’s not a lot to tell. I heard a man yelling and peeked out the window. He was at Addie’s door and they were arguing. He looked mean, if you ask me, but you didn’t.”
“I’d like to know what he looked like,” I said.
“First, let me finish my story. Anyways, they were arguing to beat the band, although I couldn’t hear everything they said. Addie pretty much told him to get lost – I did at least hear that part – which was pure bravery as far as I’m concerned. Her face looked kinda scared. He grabbed the edge of her screen door, like as to pull it open, and that’s when I headed for the front door. He mighta been mean, but at least he’d have two of us to deal with, ya see. But I heard footsteps stompin’ down the walkway and looked out another window. He was climbin’ into a truck – one of those kind with a camper on it – and he started it up to drive away. That’s all I can tell you.”
“Addie’s friends said you never saw her again today. Is that right?”
“Sort of.”
“What do you mean? Did you see her again or not?”
“Well, when this guy was driving away, it looked like the door to the camper was being pulled shut. I coulda sworn I saw Addie’s face just before it closed, but I thought it was all just my imagination. But the more I think about it…” Elsie’s expression was sheepish. She’d had all day to think about what she’d seen, and now it appeared she was sorry she hadn’t said anything.
“So you think Addie was in the camper when the man took off?” I asked.
“It kinda looked that way. She could have ran out of her house and climbed in there after he went by. I didn’t really hurry when I heard his footsteps leaving. I wonder why she would have done that.”
“Okay, tell me what he looked – ”
I was interrupted by someone knocking loudly on the front door.
Elsie sighed and slowly pulled herself up off the recliner. As she trudged over to answer the door, it struck me just how slowly she’d probably gone to the front door when Addie was having problems. My best guess was arthritis in her knees. It reminded me of watching my grandmother try to walk when her knees hurt.
She opened the door a notch and peeked out. “You church nuts again?” she said. “Why aren’t you out looking for your friend?”
“That’s exactly why we’re here,” Jasmine’s voice rang out. “We want to know what you’re telling Pamela.”
“Well, she can tell you when we’re done talking. Now go away.”
“Nope. Our friend is missing and we want to know what you know.”
I could see Jasmine’s foot slide between the door and the door frame. It was rather interesting to watch these two women spar.
Elsie didn’t say a word for a moment, and then she pulled the door open. “Okay, I guess that’s fair. She is your friend, and I like Addie, even if I don’t like you. I wouldn’t like to see anything happen to her.”
Jasmine, standing tall and straight, walked through the door with Lila and May following. “Thank you, Elsie. I know we have our differences, but Addie’s life could be at stake here.”
Elsie made a noise I couldn’t identify, except it sounded like resignation or defeat. “You people may be nuts, but you’re all good women. I doubt if you’ve ever done a bad thing in your lives. But I have, and you should know you’re not gonna convert me tonight.”
“We’re not here to convert you,” May said.
“We’ll do that after we find Addie,” Lila said softly.
“I asked you to wait in the car,” I said, focusing my gaze on Jasmine. “If you want Chris and me to help you, then please do as we ask in the future.”
“We will,” Jasmine said, very off-handedly, and keeping her eyes on Elsie instead of me.
This time I rolled my eyes and didn’t care if the Church Ladies saw me or not. They didn’t, but Elsie did and she chuckled.
“Got your hands full, don’t ya, girlie?”
I didn’t respond to that. “Okay, you were about to tell me what this guy looked like.”
“He was tall, but then everybody looks tall to me. Um, I would guess he was about a foot taller than you. He had black and white hair, like this lady’s.” She pointed at May’s salt and pepper hair. “He had a droopy mustache; you know the kind; the sides were long and hung down. He was kinda thin, but he had a belly on him, like some older men get. Maybe it was a beer belly.”
“So he was an older man?” I asked.
“Not older older, but mebbe late fifties or early sixties. At least, that was my take on him. And he was madder than a wet hen. Whatever Addie did musta really been a doozie this time. I wondered if she tried to preach at him like she does sometimes. I just ignore her, but some people can’t do that.”
“You’ve given me a good description. You’re very observant.”
“Not much gets by me in this neighborhood. I keep an eye on things.”
“I’ll bet you do. Can you tell me what his truck looked like?”
“Well, it wasn’t an old truck, but it wasn’t new either. I think it was a Dodge. A neighbor had one. It was black, and it was one of those trucks that has two wheels on each side in the back. The camper didn’t match the truck. It was white, and it looked pretty big to me. There was a ladder on the back, but half of it was gone, like it got broken off. How’s that? Will that help you find Addie?”
“It couldn’t hurt,” Jasmine said. “Elsie, I know you don’t care for us, but we really appreciate your help. We’d just die if something happened to our friend, God forbid.”
Elsie reached over and patted Jasmine’s hand. “I know, dearie, I know. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to her either. But let me remind you of something. If God takes you to it, He’ll get you through it. So you’ll find Addie.”
Jasmine’s eyes widened and she looked surprised. Lila giggled, and May put her hand to her mouth.
Elsie chuckled. “I have a computer and I use it. Someone sent me an email that had that saying. And you know what? I think it just might be true, and you ladies should know that better than me. Now leave this old lady to her TV show. I ain’t got nothin’ else I can tell you.”
After a little sputtering, Jasmine and the other Church Ladies followed me outside.
“Okay,” I said, “let’s check out Addie’s house and car.”
“I can’t believe Addie might have willingly climbed into that man’s camper,” May said.
“Me, either,” Lila said, “but since she’s not here, just maybe she did.”
Chapter Four
We walked over to Addie’s house and Jasmine unlocked the front door. She was mumbling to herself, and I had a feeling that Elsie had gotten under her skin.
Turning to Lila and May, she said, “That little woman is right about me. Sometimes I’m too full of myself, and she didn’t let me get away with it. She was preaching to the choir, and this time the choir needed it. Amen?”
“Amen,” Lila and May echoed.
“Am I really that overbearing?” Jasmine asked, sounding uncertain.
“Yes, Jaz, sometimes you are,” May said.
“Amen,” Lila said softly. She slapped her hand over her mouth after the word popped out.
“It’s okay. That stops right here and now,” Jasmine said. “Better to be a good example and only speak up when it’s really necessary. Preachy is out and setting an example is in.”
Oh, good grief, I thought, what are Chris and I getting into here? I picked up my skirt and climbed up the step to Addie’s house, all the while hoping that the Church Ladies weren’t going to preach to me. I mentally rolled my eyes, knowing how ungracious I sounded, even to myself. After all, they meant well.
Jasmine switched on a light inside the house and I looked around. It was so neat it almost looked like a model home.
“You three know her and I don’t. Would yo
u take a look around and see if anything looks out of place?”
Without a word the women did a tour of the house and returned to my side. “Everything looks like it always does,” Lila said. “Not a blessed thing out of place. I should be so neat.”
I saw Addie’s purse and bible sitting on the coffee table, so I knew she hadn’t been back. “Okay, then let’s take a look at her car.”
We trooped outside to the garage and found it was unlocked. I lifted the door and we turned on a light.
“That’s odd in itself,” Jasmine said. “Addie always locks the garage door. She’s very careful about that. You know – thieves.”
I nodded and opened the passenger side door. Her car was as neat as her house. I opened the glove compartment and found a manual describing the attributes of her 1996 Plymouth Breeze. It looked like it had never been opened.
I thought there was nothing else in the car until I noticed a piece of paper sticking out from under the passenger seat. Picking it up, I saw it was a receipt for coffee from the place where I guessed the Church Ladies were supposed to meet for lunch. Taking a closer look, I saw it had the current date on it.
“What made you ladies think Addie didn’t show up at the coffee shop today?” I asked.
“Because when we got there she wasn’t around, and she always shows up early,” Jasmine said.
“Always shows up early,” May said.
“Without fail,” Lila added.
“Well, she was there today,” I said, holding out the receipt. “She must have left before you three arrived.”
“I guess we should have asked the waitress, Donna, if she’d seen her,” May said.
“We didn’t think,” Jasmine explained.
“No, we didn’t,” Lila added.
“Okay, Chris and I will drive over there first thing in the morning and talk to the waitress. You said her name is Donna?” I felt like we should do something immediately, but there was nothing we could do until we knew more.
“Yes,” they said, in unison.
“I’ll also call the police department and talk to a friend of ours. Janet may be able to help us, although she works in the homicide division.”
“Homicide?” Jasmine’s face looked stricken.
“I’m not saying there’s been a murder,” I said quickly. “My friend, Janet Riley, just happens to work in that division. At least I have a connection.”
Relief telling on her face, Jasmine sighed. “You scared me for a minute, but I’m glad to hear you have a connection.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you. It’s just that Janet can look into any investigating that may have been done.”
“Like I told you earlier, the police didn’t do anything but look through her windows and tell us everything looked fine. I don’t think they even walked over and talked to Elsie.”
I glanced at my watch and saw that our restaurant would still be open. “Well, there’s nothing else we can do here tonight.”
I asked Jasmine to drive me to Bogey Nights instead of home.
“What time should we meet you at the coffee shop?” Jasmine asked, when I climbed out of the car back at the restaurant.
“What? Meet us? No, no, no. I’ll contact you after we talk to Donna. In the meantime, if you hear anything from Addie, call us right away.” I reached into my purse and pulled out a business card, writing our home phone number on the back.
“Okay, but what time are you going to the coffee shop?” May asked. “You know, so we know when to call to see what happened.”
“We’ll probably get up early and go in as soon as they open. Time is of the essence when someone has disappeared.” I could have slapped myself across the face as soon as the words came out of my mouth, but I rolled my eyes instead. There was no doubt in my mind that the Church Ladies would be at the coffee shop waiting for us when it opened – probably before we got there. “Besides, I said I’d call you when we know anything.”
They smiled and waved at me, looking so very innocent, while I turned to go into the restaurant. I didn’t look back when I opened the door, but kept my head down and hoped Chris would understand why I couldn’t stop them from showing up in the morning.
It was nine-thirty and the crowd was thinning out. Our cocktail lounge was basically just an extension of the restaurant, with music and dancing, and that crowd was winding down, too. I found Chris at the front desk, going over receipts.
He glanced up at me when I approached him. “So? What happened? Did you find out anything?”
“A little. The neighbor thinks she saw Addie in the camper when the guy she’d been arguing with pulled away. She gave me a description of both the man and his truck, which might help. And I found a receipt in her car that shows she was at the place where she was supposed to meet the ladies.”
“Today?”
“Yes, today. She left before they arrived. So in the morning we’re going to need to get up early and go talk to the waitress. Maybe she’ll remember something. There must be a reason Addie didn’t wait for her friends.”
Chris turned back to the receipts. “All in all, business was pretty good tonight. Things were busier than usual early on, and now it’s slower than normal for a Friday night. We’re not going to get rich, but we’ll be paying the bills on time.”
Knowing Chris so well, I knew he was digesting what I’d just told him. I smiled at my husband. “Have I told you lately that I love you?”
“Thank you,” he said, sounding distracted and punching numbers into a calculator. “I love you, too.”
“You know I’ll take care of the receipts tomorrow,” I said. “You don’t need to do that tonight.”
“Things are quiet and I thought I could help you out.”
“You really are helpful. I’m going to go out back and see the dogs. I want to make sure they have water, and they could probably use some lovin’.”
I left Chris at the front desk, and after stopping to speak to a few customers, walked back to my office where I hung up my sweater and opened the door to let the dogs in. They were delighted to see me, and when two huge dogs are delighted, they can be trouble.
“Sit,” I half begged and half commanded. I didn’t want them jumping up on my dress and ripping it in their enthusiasm. They stopped short and sat with their tongues hanging out of the sides of their mouths, panting heavily, almost looking like they’d been practicing to do it in unison. I wondered if constant, heavy panting was a trait of the breed. My friend, Janet, has a Chocolate Lab who does the same thing.
“Now keep your distance,” I said, heading for the door so I could go out and check their water. I held up my hand and gave the stay command. My dogs were normally well-behaved, but frequently forgot they weren’t puppies anymore. And the strength of these two dogs is phenomenal, as far as I’m concerned. I recalled that even at six months old, they were stronger than any dog I’d ever been around before.
Although it wasn’t empty, I refilled the dogs’ water dish and set it outside. They ran out and drank like they hadn’t had water in a month. Guilt. They were only dogs, but they understood what it takes to make me feel guilty. I gave them each a doggie cookie, peanut butter flavored, and felt better.
Returning to my office, I found Chris sitting behind my desk.
“It just struck me that you said the neighbor thought Addie was in the back of the camper. Did I understand correctly?”
“You did.”
“Did she get a license number?” Chris asked.
“No, but the truck should be relatively easy to recognize. It’s a black Dodge dually, not too old, but not new, and it has a white camper on it with a broken outside ladder.”
“Yeah, babe, easy to recognize if we ever see it among the million cars and trucks driving around Los Angeles.”
“Good point. But if she really was in the back of that camper, then we need to move fast. The guy who was driving may have already discovered her hiding back there.”
“I can’t
imagine why she would have hidden in the camper like that, and I wish I knew what they were arguing about. None of this makes any sense, so far. Did you ask the neighbor if she heard anything they were saying?” Chris asked.
I thumped my hand against my forehead. “I didn’t ask her. I didn’t think of it with the Church Ladies on my heels and Elsie needling Jasmine.”
Chris looked at me, waiting for an explanation, but I didn’t offer one. I honestly knew he wouldn’t understand any part of it except not wanting to be preached to by the Church Ladies.
“I don’t like having to wait until morning, but it sounds like that waitress might know something, and she’s about the only lead we have right now. We should talk to Janet, too, but if the neighbor isn’t sure about seeing Addie, I don’t think the police will pay much attention to us.” Chris sounded concerned.
“I feel like we’ve walked into a theater in the middle of a movie,” I said.
“It’s hard to imagine some goon putting heat on a little old lady,” Chris said.
“It’s even harder to imagine that same little old lady voluntarily climbing into the camper in order to follow the goon.”
“If it was voluntary, and if that’s what she’s doing. What lame-brained idea could she have had in her noggin?”
Chris and I closed the restaurant around eleven o’clock and drove home, talking about various scenarios while the dogs slept in the back seat.
Constance, who was thankfully a night person, asked how business was and then left to drive home. I had no more than shut the door when the telephone rang.
It was late, and I had that feeling you get when you know it’s not going to be good news.
Chapter Five
The phone rang a second time, jarring my nerves a little.
Glancing at Chris, I said, “Maybe you’d better answer it.”
He was near the kitchen and headed for the phone. Sherlock had a habit of racing Chris to the kitchen phone, and as usual, he stopped too suddenly and slid into the wall, hitting it with a loud thunk. Watson watched with interest from the doorway, but she never joined in the races. I couldn’t understand why Sherlock didn’t learn. Maybe he’d hit his head one too many times.
