Chapter Ten
Margot’s purse wiggled, and she elbowed it while keeping an eye out for the woman who had just left the room to answer the phone. She leaned forward to try peeking into the hall, but from her vantage point in the armchair, she couldn’t see.
Tall floor to ceiling windows lined one side of the room where she sat, and the blinds had been opened to let sunlight come pouring in. Margot sighed. The warmth of the beams counteracted the A/C, which had been turned low and made for a nice balance. This was an apartment, she thought, so unlike the one where she lived, and they had a doorman. Envy made her palms itch.
The shoulder bag wiggled again, and she peered inside it. Two oval eyes reflecting the light gazed back at her. “Why are you here?” she whispered.
“Because without me, you’ll muck it up.”
She opened her mouth to retort something back at him when the woman returned. “Sorry about that, Margot. So you were saying about your experience?”
Margot studied the woman who appeared to be about mid- to late-thirties. A thin band on her left hand suggested she was married, and Margot had seen those particular shoes at Saks herself the last time she had visited. This woman was used to finer things such as Margot had enjoyed, but she didn’t have a regular staff.
Now, here Margot sat needing to be hired by her. The knowledge was enough to depress her and bring tears to her eyes, but Margot sucked it in. Even if she were old enough to be this woman’s mother, she had to take a humbler stance.
“Think like a maid,” Odds said, unhelpfully.
Margot started to ask “how does one do that” but recalled not to speak out loud to him just in time. Instead, she pretended to be Judy.
“Yes, ma’am. I worked in a mansion until recently as the personal maid to a very important woman.”
“Why did you leave?”
“Um, why?” Margot repeated. She hadn’t expected this question.
“Because your employer ran off, and the old lady went crazy.”
Despite her resolve, Margot uttered a small cry of alarm. The woman started. “Are you okay, Margot?”
Margot retrieved a tissue from her purse and mopped her forehead. “Yes, I’m fine.”
“My girdle is pinching me.”
“My girdle is pinch—” Margot’s face burned. “Never mind.”
That’s when the look of doubt started to creep in, and Margot was sure she wouldn’t get the job. The rest of the interview was just so the woman could pretend she hadn’t written Margot off. When Margot was back on the street walking away from the beautiful building, Odds wiggled until she had no choice but to let him leap to the ground.
She glared at him. “You ruined everything.”
“You didn’t know what a plunger was and was silly enough to ask.”
“I forgot. That’s all. I’ve seen the toilet stopped up before and the plunger used.”
She was pretty sure she heard Odds snort. “Seen it used. That’s rich. Why didn’t she snatch you right up as her maid?”
Margot stopped walking and faced the cat. “I don’t think we’re working out, Odds. Not one bit at all.”
The cat turned its head to the side as if trying to understand her language. Margot froze and peeked out of the corner of her eyes. Several people were staring at her, and others walking along gave her a wide berth as they passed.
“You did that one purpose,” she muttered under her breath.
Meow.
Tired and grumpy, Margot gave into the luxury of a taxi ride and arrived home just in time for Nancy’s welcome party.
* * * *
“And this handsome gentleman is Mr. William Mercer,” Nancy cooed and bumped an elbow in the man’s side. “Mr. Mercer lives down and across the hall from you, Margot. Mr. Mercer’s been with us for three months? He’s blind, but that’s never stopped him. He just goes and comes whenever he likes and hardly has problems at all, right, Mr. Mercer?”
Margot wasn’t too blind herself to see the pained expression on the older gentleman’s face at Nancy going on and on. She stuck her hand out and touched it to Mr. Mercer’s. He immediately responded to shake hers. “Nice to meet you Mr. Mercer. Like the poet?”
He cleared his throat. “Yes, you can call me Mercer. No need for mister.”
Mercer, who looked to be a few years younger than Margot, maybe late fifties, wore dark glasses that many of the sight impaired wore. He angled his head to the right side, and a slight smile that seemed more tolerant than pleased touched his lips. He wore a plaid red and white shirt beneath a tan sweater and tan slacks, the material of which made Margot wonder if his legs were on fire from the heat in the building. She had worn a dress for her interview. Her thighs were so slippery, she had to walk with them separated lest she do a scissors split and land on the floor.
“I was telling Mr. Mercer,” Nancy continued, refusing to drop mister from his name, “that we’re all just shocked and terrified about what happened to Mr. Coley. Why when I think about someone attacking him in our own basement, I can’t sleep.” She stepped closer to Mercer, and he inched away.
“Someone’s looking for a new husband.”
Margot cut her eyes to Odds, who had come to the party uninvited. She told him to stay in her apartment until she came home. He ignored her. Margot had shut the door to Nancy’s apartment to keep him out, but here he was, having gotten in some way.
The doorbell rang, and Nancy floated off to let more guests in. Margot noted the sag of relief in Mercer’s shoulders, and shared a look with Odds. Jimmy entered the apartment along with Kenny and Dottie. Margot strained to see past them to the hall, but Kenny’s mother obviously wasn’t with them, and neither was Zabrina.
“Oh, isn’t Zabrina coming?” Nancy asked Jimmy, her eyebrows creased in worry. “I made a special dish just for her to try.”
“Good luck getting her here,” Jimmy said, “but don’t worry. I’ll eat her portion.”
Nancy frowned. “It’s not for you.”
“Look,” Odds said. “A man the flirty old lady doesn’t like.”
“Don’t be rude, Odds,” Margot whispered, but she had seen the expression of distaste on Nancy’s face. She imagined Nancy had only invited him to the party hoping Zabrina would come.
“Are you talking to someone, Margot?” Mercer asked. She could just see his eyes through the glasses, and they gave her shivers. Staring, wide, but just out of focus. She dipped slow and quiet to the side while staring at his pupils. They never shifted. “Margot? I know you’re there. I hear you breathing.”
“Oh! I’m sorry, Mercer. I…uh…” She clutched her hands together and cast around the room for an excuse.”
Meow.
“Oh, you were talking to the cat,” he said.
“Yes, but he wasn’t answering back or anything,” she blurted.
“You’re terrible under pressure.”
“Be—cause they can’t talk,” she ended, wishing the darn cat had done what she told him.
Mercer chuckled like he thought she made a joke. “Of course.”
“What’s funny?” Nancy asked, smiling.
Margot waved a hand. “Nothing important.”
Nancy latched onto Mercer’s arm. “Let me help you to a chair, Mr. Mercer.” The bell rang again, and she shouted out, “Come on in,” in order to stay by his side.
As they made slow progress, Margot watched them go.
“She’s got a thing for Mr. Mercer,” Kenny said, striding over. “I heard my mom tell her friend that Ms. Nancy met her third husband, and that she was talking about him.”
Margot gasped. “Third?”
He nodded. “Mom said she doesn’t know what Ms. Nancy sees in him.”
“A bald head, big belly, and spindly limbs.”
Margot covered a laugh with a sneeze.
“Bless you.” Kenny’s eyes twinkled. She wondered at first if he had heard Odds, but then realized he must think she found his mother’s comments amusing, which she d
id.
The first young people Margot had met in the building other than Kenny and his sister entered Nancy’s apartment. A man of average height and build accompanied a pretty young woman who looked like his sister but was probably his wife.
The couple both had sandy brown hair, but the man had enhanced his ordinary looks by growing a thick mustache that had begun curling over his lip into his mouth, and he had allowed his sideburns to, well, exist. The couple held hands, prim and sweet, reminding Margot of an age long gone by. She guessed this was Greg and Debra Armitage.
“We’re all here at last,” Nancy called out.
Were these few all that lived in such a big building with so many doors?
“All that will come,” Kenny whispered at her side. “Nancy has offended half the neighbors.”
“Why? She seems like a wonderful person.”
“Has she walked into your house and taken anything?” Kenny asked.
Margot had started across the room and stopped. “You’re saying she does that to everyone?”
“Yup.” Kenny wiggled his hands in the air. “Sticky fingers. She’ll take anything and say she’s just borrowing it if you catch her. If you don’t, you’ll never see it again. Unless you come to one of her parties. Most of us come just to check.”
Margot couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Surely, Kenny was blowing the situation way out of proportion. After all, look how Nancy had fixed her such an elaborate meal the day before. She had also let her take a lot of it home, and Nancy had brought her coffee.
“But the coasters,” she muttered.
“Huh?” Kenny looked at her.
“Nothing. I still think she’s nice, and I want to keep being her friend. I don’t…” Margot grew silent. She had been about to say she didn’t have many friends. The only one from the past who stayed in touch was Edna, but Edna was many miles away in North Carolina.
Kenny shrugged. He didn’t appear to care one way or another. They headed over to the rest of the group, and Margot took a seat among them.
“Margot,” Nancy said, holding court and gesturing like a queen, “this is Greg and Debra Armitage. Greg is a marine biologist, and Debra works as a college professor of English literature at Kingsborough.”
Jimmy made a rude noise with beefy arms folded across his chest. “That’s what they say, but why are they living here? Sounds fishy if you ask me.”
Kenny covered a guffaw with his hand, and Margot thought she heard a chuckle from Mercer too.
“Jimmy!” Nancy’s eyes flashed fire, all sweetness vanished. “I will not have one of my guests insulted. If you have to be mean, you will do it elsewhere.”
Debra had blanched from Jimmy’s comments and had gone as still as a statue, but Greg took it all in fun. “You got me, Jimmy,” he joked. “I’m not really a scientist. I’m an associate at the mall.”
“Yeah,” Jimmy chuckled. Now his cheeks were red.
Kenny whispered, “Jimmy works at the mall.”
Greg’s gaze swung to Margot, and his smile grew. “Good to meet you, Margot. Welcome to our community. Where are you from?”
Margot had expected this question from the start, and she was surprised she had lasted this long and met so many who hadn’t asked. “I’m originally from a small town in North Carolina, Briney Creek. Have you heard of it?”
“Can’t say I have. My wife Debra has people from Virginia, but she’s been here most of her life. Isn’t that right, honey?”
Margot sensed all attention shift to Debra, who still hadn’t spoken or moved since Jimmy had accused her and her husband of lying about their jobs.
“Debra?” Greg reached for his wife’s hand, but she moved it out of reach. Her husband gasped, but she ignored him as she jumped to her feet and fisted her hands while she glared at Jimmy.
“You’re a murderer,” Debra shouted.
Nancy cried out and sagged against her chair. Mercer started and dropped the plate of food Nancy had served him facedown on the carpet. Margot gripped her chair arms in a fright, Kenny dragged a struggling Dottie into his arms, and Jimmy turned beet red.
“What did you say, fruitcake?” Jimmy asked in a deadly tone as he rose to his feet.
Now Greg was on his feet, pushing his wife behind him, but she kept stepping around him. In fact as Margot took them both in, Greg with his slim build was no match for his stouter wife.
“You’re not going to talk to my wife like that, Jimmy,” Greg threatened.
“Oh, yeah, what are you going to do?” Jimmy started forward, but Kenny thrust Dottie into Margot’s arms and ran between them, pushing Jimmy back. Jimmy was a big, solidly built man, but even for a teen, Kenny matched him.
“Whoa, you’re not going to fight a woman, are you, Jimmy?”
“Kid, get out of the way,” Jimmy warned. “You heard what she said to me. I don’t know what you think I did, lady, but you’re wrong.”
“I don’t think,” Debra said. Now she trembled from head to toe, whether in rage or in fear, Margot couldn’t tell. “I know you killed Coley.”
“There are children present,” Mercer squeaked. No one listened to him. Nancy had rushed to the kitchen to get supplies to clean up the mess on the floor. Margot tried to split her attention between the arguers and Nancy, trying to memorize what she used to clean the carpet and how she went about the task.
“You know I did it, huh?” Jimmy said. “Well, maybe I should kill you too!”
Margot forgot the cleaning products to look at Jimmy, and something thumped hard on the floor. When she turned away from the angry man, she found Nancy unconscious with her nose in the spilled macaroni.
Chapter Eleven
“What do we have here?” Peter asked as he traversed the subdued group. No one met his gaze except Margot. She smiled and gave him a little wave. He nodded a greeting.
Everyone from the party was still present except Dottie. When Nancy fainted, Dottie had started to cry, and Kenny took her home. He returned before Peter showed up.
“Nothing? No one wants to explain why I got a call down at the station—several different calls mind you, at the same time—each person accusing someone else of murder and that I needed to come and make an arrest right away? Does anyone here want to explain that?”
He stopped in front of Jimmy, who paled but found an interesting sight outside Nancy’s window. Odds sauntered over to Peter, crouched with his hindquarters sticking in the air, and then took a flying leap all the way up to Peter’s shoulder.
Margot cried out. “Odds, what are you doing? Get down.”
For his part, Peter didn’t even flinch. She wondered if it was a product of his training.
“He smells like a cat. He likes cats.”
She moved closer to Peter. “D-do you like cats, Peter?”
This time he did seem surprised at her continued insistence on the name change. “He’s fine.”
“See?”
Just for a minute, Margot’s doubts fell away, but then she noticed the dress shirt Peter wore had an animal’s hair on it in a couple different places, tan and black hair, not silver like Odds’. She sighed and backed away.
Peter cleared his throat. “At least two of the calls claimed you threatened Mrs. Armitage.”
“I wasn’t serious.” Jimmy’s normally confident if a little angry tone turned whiny. “I was just cheesed she accused me of killing Coley, which by the way I didn’t do!”
He tried glaring at Debra, but Peter blocked his view. “You’re talking to me. Now, why would she say that?”
“I don’t know. She’s nuts.”
Nancy, who had been convalescing in an armchair with an ice pack pressed to the bump on her head, revived enough to speak. “He’s being his usual rude and obnoxious self. He wasn’t invited to Margot’s party, and he ruined everything.”
“I ruined everything?” Jimmy pointed to himself and then to Debra. “She started it.”
“Are you children?” Peter snapped. “Enough! Now w
hat I’m going to do—”
Greg stepped forward. “Detective, I want to apologize for my wife. She took the death very hard. She values all life. That’s why we are vegetarians and why we choose to grow all of our own food.”
“And why you want the third floor apartment,” Jimmy cut in.
Peter silenced him with a glare.
Greg continued. “We are all very different, but we are a close group here. We know Coley liked the bars, and he visited one at least once a week. Some bad person out there must have done this. We know that, so please just chalk those ridiculous calls you received down to temporary hot temperatures.”
“More like hot air,” Jimmy quipped.
“That’s what you think?” Peter asked.
Several heads bobbed yes. What else were they to surmise, Margot thought. She had talked to them and watched them all. Of course she was no detective, but even as angry as Jimmy got, he just didn’t seem like a killer and definitely not for a silly apartment.
Peter studied each of the faces in turn, including Margot’s. Odds curled his tail around Peter’s neck, and the detective reached an absent-minded hand up to pet him. “I’m sorry to inform you all my instinct tells me Coley Patterson’s murder happened a lot closer to home.”
The occupants of the room gasped.
“Let me mention several facts to you. Fact 1: It’s unlikely someone followed Coley Patterson all the way home from a bar to kill him. Fact 2: If they did, it’s unlikely they came all the way into the building and continued down to the basement behind two locked doors to do it. Fact 3: There is no exit from the basement to the street.”
Margot sank into a chair and fanned herself. She would not faint like Nancy did. “The guilty party probably lives here?”
“That’s my current theory. Maybe the guilty person is in this room, maybe not. There’s a strong possibility that my perpetrator lives here at 3939 Albemarle.”
Voices erupted at the same time, shouting over each other. Each claimed they were innocent and happily offered the name of the person they thought was responsible. Margot listened in disbelief. They all thought the people they spent time with, lived with, saw every day were capable of murder? None of it made sense to her.
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