by Marja McGraw
“Where did he go in such a hurry?” Jasmine asked.
“Didn’t you see the black truck drive by?”
“No! We just saw Chris run out and leave in a hurry. If we’d seen the black truck go by we would have given chase ourselves.”
“No, no, no!” I said adamantly. “No following, no chasing, no getting into trouble. We’ve got enough of that already.”
“You can say that again,” Victor called from the window. “Here he comes again, but I don’t see your husband.”
Chapter Twenty-one
Chris wasn’t behind the truck? “Gotta go,” I said, hanging up on Jasmine. She could wait.
“No Chris? Are you sure, Victor?”
I couldn’t understand why my husband wouldn’t be right behind the guy. I ran to the window and snatched the curtain out of Victor’s hand, pulling it back and letting the sun in. I could see the tail end of the truck turning right at the corner, just as Chris drove in from the other direction. Running outside, I pointed to the corner so Chris would follow the goon.
“Go get him,” I yelled through the window.
Instead, Chris pulled up to the curb and turned off the engine. Well, that was anticlimactic.
I ran to the curb and yanked the Jeep’s door open. “Chris, he’s getting away. Again. Aren’t you going after him?” I climbed into the car while I spoke, ready to give chase.
“No.”
“No?”
“We’ve been so busy that we forgot something,” he said.
This time I was the one who was frustrated. “And what would that be? Chris, he’s getting away. What could we have forgotten that would stop us now that we’re so close to him?”
“We forgot to keep an eye on the gas gauge. If we’re lucky, there’s enough to get to a gas station. In fact, I think I’ll ask Victor to follow us in case we run out of gas before we find a station. Maybe he’s got a gas can I can borrow.”
I put my head back and rolled my eyes. No stopping me this time. “I can’t believe we’d be that careless.”
Chris turned his head and looked out the window and groaned.
“Okay, I didn’t say we’re stupid, just careless. You don’t have to turn away from me.”
“That’s not what I’m groaning about.” He pointed out the car window.
“Oh. Yeah. I forgot to mention, the Church Ladies are here.”
Jasmine, May and Lila were hurriedly walking across the street with Florence in tow.
“Is something wrong with the car? Why didn’t you follow that man?” Jasmine sounded out of breath.
“Not enough gas,” Chris said.
“You can borrow my car,” May offered.
“It’s too late,” Chris replied. “That sap is long gone by now, but thank you for the offer. You’re a peach, May.”
By that time Victor had joined us. “You’re out of gas?”
“Almost,” Chris replied. “Would you mind following me to the nearest gas station? Just in case I don’t have enough to make it. And do you happen to have a gas can that I can borrow?”
“Certainly. I told Flo I’d run an errand for her, so I have to go out anyway. Besides, if I’m not home, maybe that guy will quit driving by. He’s beginning to get on my nerves.”
Beginning to get on his nerves? I kept my mouth shut.
Florence had walked around the car and stood next to Victor. “You’re such a good man, always ready to run errands for me.” She patted his back and smiled up at him. “By the way, what man is everyone talking about?”
“Oh,” Victor said, “just a guy driving an unusual truck we’ve seen in the neighborhood lately. Nothing to worry about.” He was a good man. He didn’t want Florence to worry needlessly. We could worry enough for her.
“Chris,” I said, “why don’t you go fill up the gas tank and then come back for me? I’d like to stay and visit with the ladies for a while.”
He turned to me and nodded. I gave him a kiss and climbed out.
Victor pulled his car out of his garage after telling Chris where the nearest gas station was, waved a gas can out the window, and Chris took off with Victor following him.
I walked back across the street to Florence’s house with the ladies chattering in my ear. They wanted details.
“There are no details,” I said, glancing meaningfully at Florence. “There’s been a black truck with a white camper driving around the neighborhood lately, and it’s just odd looking. Nothing to worry about; it’s just a truck. The guys were curious about it, that’s all.”
The ladies understood my look and knew that mum’s the word. I knew they’d save their questions for later.
We visited with Florence for about half an hour. She talked about what a nice neighborhood this was and what a low crime rate it had. She said she’d heard that other parts of Los Angeles were scary – her word, not mine.
“A friend of mine who moved away called and said that she hears guns going off during the night. Can you imagine that? I wouldn’t even know what a gunshot sounded like. I have a feeling that they sound different in person than they do on television.”
Chris finally came back and parked in front, honking the horn. I didn’t see Victor, so I figured he was running his errands. I ignored Chris. It wouldn’t be the end of the world if he had to come in and talk to the ladies. He finally gave up and knocked on the door.
“Are you ready to go?” he asked, when I answered his knock.
“No. Come say hello to everyone,” I suggested.
He rolled his upper lip under and walked through the doorway, mumbling. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately.
“Hello, ladies,” he said, putting on his best Bogey smile. He glanced around the table at the tea cups and cookies. “Looks like you’re cooking with gas today. You’ve got all kinds of goodies sitting here.”
“Oh, no,” Florence said. “I have an electric range. In fact, my house is all electric.”
“Florence, in this case cooking with gas means we’re having a good time and you’ve done just the right thing in serving the cookies with the tea,” Jasmine explained.
“I see.” But she didn’t. Her expression was one of confusion.
Chris tried again. “Well, everything looks ginger-peachy to me. Mind if I help myself to a cookie?”
“Please do,” Florence said, picking up the plate and holding it out to Chris.
He took a bite of a cookie and, liking it, reached out for another. Turning to the Church Ladies, he said, “You gals were sure gussied up last night. If I were single…”
“Oh, you,” Jasmine said, smiling. “We wanted to fit in and we’d noticed on our last visit that some of the customers dressed up like they did in the 1940’s. Did we really look okay?”
“You betcha, shweetheart. Those glad rags turned you ladies into real glamour girls.”
Shweetheart was one of Chris’s favorite Bogey words, and he always said it with a crooked smile on his face.
He turned to Lila and surprised me. There was a look of affection on his face. “And you, doll, you set the place on fire with your songbird act. You can warble at our place anytime you want to. Your singing was aces.”
Lila beamed and actually looked Chris right in the eyes. “I do enjoy knocking one out every once in a while.”
I chuckled. Lila had surprised me, too. Was she coming out of her shell?
“Knocking one out?” We’d lost Florence. She had no idea what we were talking about.
“Lila sang at our restaurant last night,” I explained. “She’s got a voice and range that are unbelievable. I heard someone say she hides her light under a bush. But she sure didn’t last night.”
“Well, doll,” Chris said, turning toward the door, “we’d better get moving. I’d like to stop to see Mikey on our way home. He should be out of school soon.”
That got my attention. “I’m seconds behind you.” I set my plate and teacup in the kitchen, picked up my purse, told the ladies to have a nice day,
and followed my husband out the door.
“You know, Bogey Man, you made Lila’s day with your comments about her singing. You’re a good man, too, just like Victor.” I took hold of his hand. “Even your comments about the way they were dressed were awesome. I know she wore that plain housedress, but maybe next time she’ll try something a little classier.”
He smiled down at me. “Thank you, sweet cheeks. I have to admit, I like those ladies, even if they do make me nervous. I think I like Lila the best though. She’s kind of unassuming and sweet.”
“I gather from things I’ve heard that her husband didn’t treat her very well. I think he used to say things to her that made her feel awful about herself. Again, from what I’ve heard, and to put it in your terms, I think he might have been a lowdown heel who did a hatchet job on Lila every chance he got.”
“A hatchet job? What do you mean? Did he ridicule her or what?”
“He made her feel like she wasn’t worth much. From what I’ve heard, and this is gossip, he’d tell her she was plain and ugly and stupid, and not worth the spit in his mouth.”
“Whoa, that’s cold. That kind of treatment shouldn’t happen to a dog, much less Lila.”
“She took her lumps from that weasel, but you made her feel good today, Chris. I’m proud of you.”
Chris’s chest puffed up a little as we climbed into the car. “Yeah, well her husband sounds like a royal pain in the posterior.”
“You’re so polite sometimes,” I said, smiling. “I would have said something a lot worse than that.”
“Let’s take a pass by that mall on our way to see Mikey,” Chris said, changing the subject. “I have kind of a hunch about that place. Like maybe it’s meeting place for the goon and his partner.”
“Could be,” I said. “It’s close to Victor’s house. Maybe that’s why they chose that location. I wish we knew something about the second guy. We have absolutely nothing to go on except for this goon with the droopy mustache.”
As we pulled into the parking lot at the mall, we saw a black truck with a white camper – and several police cars. And the mall cop, who looked up and saw us and waved frantically at Chris.
“Uh oh.” Chris slowed to a crawl.
Chapter Twenty-two
The police wouldn’t let us drive to the scene, so we found a parking space and the mall cop ran to meet us. Chris and I left the Jeep and walked over to him.
“What’s going on?” Chris asked.
“Don’t you know? Isn’t that why you’re here?” he replied. “I mean, aren’t you a police detective or something?”
The light dawned on me slowly. The mall cop thought Chris was a copper, and Chris had never corrected him. I wondered how my husband would get out of this one.
“Wait a minute,” Chris said. “I never said I was a city copper. I’m a private dick. I was watching this guy for someone.”
“You’re getting yourself in deeper and deeper,” I whispered into Chris’s ear. Chris isn’t a detective of any type, private or government.
But the mall copper didn’t look at all disappointed. In fact, he was watching Chris with a renewed respect. “I always wanted to be a private eye,” he said longingly.
“Yeah. So what’s the skinny here? Did the goon finally get himself in trouble?” Chris was rocking back on his heels and acting tough, with his thumbs hooked through his belt loops.
“You could say that,” the mall copper replied. “He’s dead.”
“Dead?” I repeated. “As in bit the dust?”
“You got it, ma’am. Someone shot him, and it was at close range, too.” The mall copper – I really should ask him his name – seemed quite proud that he knew something about the crime.
“Excuse me,” I said, “but what’s your name. I can’t keep thinking of you as The Mall Copper.”
“It’s Wade,” he replied. “Wade Smiley.”
“Well, Wade, are you sure he’s really dead?” I asked.
Almost on command, an ambulance drove away and a coroner’s van followed it out of the parking lot.
“That answer your question?” He watched the two vehicles drive away.
“Hey! Smiley. We need you over here.” A copper was motioning him over. “And tell those lookers to move back.”
“Oh, they’re not – ”
“Let it go,” Chris said quietly, reaching out and shaking Wade’s hand. “We have to get moving anyway. I’ll call you in a while and you can give me the lowdown on all of this.” He gestured toward the crime scene. “The coppers and I, well, we go way back. I don’t want to get in their way.”
Wade nodded and moved off toward the truck and camper.
“You and the coppers go way back?” I asked. “Since when?” I was proud of myself. I hadn’t rolled my eyes this time. I’d looked at Chris and crossed my eyes.
“I just wanted him to trust me. As much as I’ve jawed with him, I think that might do it. He feels like the coppers look down their noses at him because he’s a mall cop.”
“There’s nothing wrong with being a mall copper,” I said. “It’s honest work and they make me feel safer when I’m shopping. I know they’re really security guards, not coppers, and they don’t carry a gun, but…”
“Uh huh. Anyway, I want this guy on our side so he’ll spill his guts when I call him later.”
We were pulling out of the parking lot when I could have sworn I heard someone yell my name. I knew it was probably my imagination, so I didn’t ask Chris to stop.
We drove over to Constance’s house, but she and Mikey weren’t there. Glancing at my watch, I saw we were too early. My son wouldn’t be out of school for another half hour. I was disappointed, but came up with a plan so I could spend some time with him. I’d call Constance and work something out with her. She’s such a good friend to us, and she’d known Mikey and me for a long time because we used to live next door to her. She and Chris had become good friends, too. Maybe we could bring Mikey home now that the bad guy was dead.
The drive home was a quiet one. I knew Chris was thinking things over, and so was I.
“I sure wish we knew who the goon’s partner is. This is going to make things a lot more difficult,” I said. “We don’t know anything about the other guy, including what he looks like. All we’ve been told is that he’s totally average, in every respect.”
“I was just thinking the same thing, doll. Before we leave for the restaurant I’ll call Victor and let him know what’s happened. I need to warn him not to let his guard down. If the partner killed John, then I think things just got worse. We know it’s not a game or a misunderstanding on Addie’s part. John was harassing Victor by driving by and aiming his trigger finger at him. He was dragging it out for some reason – trying to scare him before he bumped him off. Maybe he wanted to see Victor squirm. I don’t know.”
“And now things are different,” I said. “I have a feeling the partner isn’t going to play the same game. He’ll go after Victor and get the job done.”
“Right – I think. It boils down to the fact that we just don’t have enough information to go on. You didn’t call Janet, did you? Do you know if she’s working today?”
“No. I haven’t had time to call her, and I’m not even sure she’s on duty.” I glanced at my watch again. “In fact, I guess I’ll have to call her from work. We’ve got to change clothes and get to the restaurant. I’ll need time to tell her everything. It’s not a conversation we can have in two minutes.”
I never thought I’d end up with a friend who was a homicide detective, but we’d worked with Janet on another case and we’d become quite good friends in the process. We even trained her dog, a chocolate Labrador retriever named Friday, to behave once in a while. Friday is a female with a very stubborn streak, and once in a while was the best we could do. She likes things her way, even though she’s a dog.
I changed into a pair of forties-style slacks and a blouse. The brown slacks had a slightly higher waist than normal and were
full-legged which was popular in the 1940’s. The eggshell colored blouse had a somewhat large collar with pointed ends, and it sported the shoulder pads that were part of the dress of that era. I felt like a football player, but Chris assured me that I didn’t resemble a jock in any way.
Turning my attention to my hair, I wore it in a long pageboy, although I pulled one side back and brushed the bangs to the side. I have some curl in my long, auburn hair, which added body to the style.
On the weekends we dressed to the nines, but this was Wednesday, a day for me to be more comfortable. Chris always wore a forties-style suit, no matter what day of the week it was. His only concession was that during the week he took his jacket off and let his vest or suspenders speak of the forties. He usually had a fedora nearby, but he only wore it outside or in the cocktail lounge.
We put the dogs in the car so they could stay in the rear yard at the restaurant. With everything that had happened, I thought it would be a good idea to have our backs covered. The dogs would take care of that for us.
Arriving at the restaurant, I put the dogs in the fenced yard and made my way to the office to call Constance to ask if she and Mikey would like to join Chris and me at the restaurant for dinner. She was delighted and said they’d be there with bells on.
Before I could contact Janet, Chris walked into the office to call Wade. We wanted details, and the most important one was whether or not the coppers had any suspects or if they’d caught the killer.
While he was on the phone, I made my way through the restaurant, checking napkins, silverware and table settings to make sure everything was in order for the dinner crowd. Back in the kitchen, I found Chef Luis watching over the shoulder of a man I’d never seen before.
“Luis? Who’s your friend?”
“Oh, Pamela. Come meet Nathaniel. He’s preparing a luncheon fit for a king for you and Chris. Chris said he wanted to sample his cooking before you hire him.”
“The timing couldn’t be better. We haven’t had time to eat anything yet.”
I shook Nathaniel’s hand and received a firm handshake in return. Our new luncheon chef appeared to be in his late seventies, but age didn’t matter if he could do the job. Even at his age, he still had light brown hair, which surprised me, although it was thinning. He wasn’t too much taller than me. There was something appealing about him; he had a friendly smile.
