Pampered to Death

by Diana Orgain

  “You’re right,” I said. “But, honestly, I feel like I’ve gotten behind.”

  He frowned. “Behind on what? I take care of all the bills.”

  I laughed. “No, I know. I meant behind parental duties.”

  “Like what?” he asked.

  “Everything,” I said. “I dunno... should I already have Laurie on a wait list for a pre-school?”

  “She’s five months old,” he retorted with a slight snort.

  “But if we want to get her in a good one, shouldn’t that be something we’re looking into?” I questioned. “Should we have already started a college fund? What if she gets into some smarty-pants school, do we have to tell her no because we can’t afford it?”

  “That’s eighteen years away,” he said.

  “But college is so expensive!” I exclaimed. “And we only have eighteen years to save for it.”

  Suddenly Whiskers scooted across the floor, and I nearly shrieked in surprise, biting my lip to keep from doing so. The little kitten had been hiding under the couch while we chowed down on take out, and she’d suddenly decided to make her presence known. She ran down the hall and stopped right outside of Laurie’s room.

  “That was weird,” Jim said, and almost immediately we heard Laurie start whaling.

  “Awe, Whiskers knew she was up before we did,” I said. “Hold on, I’ll go get her. I missed my little sweetie today!”

  I jumped up and scurried down the hall, opening up the door. Whiskers hurried past me and sat herself down under Laurie’s crib. Whiskers hated it whenever Laurie cried and always wanted to curl up with her to make her feel better. I had been a little hesitant about adopting a kitten with a little baby at home, but Laurie took to the little thing. They were best buddies now.

  I picked Laurie up and took her to the changing table. “Hey, baby girl,” I sang as I pulled down her little fluffy white shorts. Laurie cooed and rubbed her sleepy eyes. “Mama, mama,” I prompted.

  But Laurie only cooed.

  I retrieved a clean diaper from the dispenser. We had a cute little fluffy bunny diaper dispenser – one of the slightly less bizarre gifts my mother had gotten Laurie. You pressed the little bunny’s head, and it shot out a clean diaper from its belly. Apparently it was good up until size three diapers.

  I quickly finished changing her, then brought her out to the living room to snuggle with Jim and I. Whiskers followed suit and jumped on Jim’s lap, curling up to enjoy a relaxing evening.

  Jim found a movie for us to watch and I tried to forget the horrors of the day, and enjoy the love that surrounded me. I even managed to get my to-do list updated before falling asleep that night:

  To Do:

  Spend an evening with Jim

  Call Mom and check in

  Get Laurie to say mama and start college fund

  Follow up with Galigani, see if he has any info from the M.E.

  Chapter Eight

  The following morning, I arose early. Laurie had gotten up at what was 4:30 in the morning. The little angel had gone right back to sleep after some much needed mommy love and a long winded breast feeding session, but as for myself I was unable to drift back off to dreamland. By the time I had gotten Laurie back down, well fed and in a fresh diaper, it was about 5:15. I had desperately tried crawling back into bed just to salvage a few more hours of sleep, but it was to no avail.

  Funny thing about having kids: you either get used to the absurd sleep schedule, or you go completely insane. I was teetering back and forth between the two and had been ever since Laurie was born, but I was finally starting to get used to it.

  Rather, Laurie was starting to get a little more regular with her schedule. My favorite part about Laurie waking me up during weird hours—yes, I had a favorite part, crazy—was that sweet, calming moment right before she drifted off to dreamland. Her little eyes would get heavy, and she would make this adorable little coo.

  When you realize that it’s not going to be like that forever, you can kind of start to enjoy those precious moments together. No matter how exhausted you feel. You can always catch up on sleep.

  You can’t always catch up on lost, unappreciated memories.

  So there I was, not exactly awake, but fueled with energy to investigate never-the-less. I fixed a pot of coffee, and while it was brewing set my laptop up at our breakfast nook to begin background searches on everyone I’d met the previous day.

  As soon as the coffee finished brewing Jim stumbled into the kitchen as if lured by the smell of the freshly brewed coffee.

  “Why are you up so early? You never get up before the sun anymore?” he asked with a yawn, barely able to function himself despite having what I assume was eight hours of sleep. He poured himself a coffee and motioned at me with an empty mug, too tired to actually ask me with words if I wanted a cup.

  “Yes, please,” I said, and he poured us each a mug.

  Jim nodded, yawning again. The man looked like night of the living dead on that particular morning. He slid his feet across the floor, setting my mug next to me as he slouched down into the empty chair beside me. “So... why are you up so early?” he asked a second time as he sipped his mug.

  “Laurie got up at 4:30 this morning, and I just wasn’t able to get back to sleep,” I said. “So I’m doing a little preliminary research on all of the people from the spa.”

  He looked confused. “Do you even know that it was a murder, yet?”

  “No,” I moaned in despair. I glanced at the clock on my laptop. It was still only 6:00 am. “I’m waiting for it to be a decent hour to call Galigani,” I said.

  Jim nodded and drank his coffee. “So, what can you do in the meantime?”

  I smiled at him. “I can eat breakfast.”

  His eyes rounded into wide O’s and he pointed at his chest. “I’m making breakfast?”

  “Scrambled and eggs and toast go great with coffee.”

  He nodded and stood, kissing the top of my head. “I’ll get right on it, mama.”

  While he scrambled eggs, I did pulled up Facebook. After all, that was one of the main engines to start on background information. I wasn’t interest in anyone’s credit reports. I needed gossip.

  I pulled up Merida’s Facebook page and found a really nasty Facebook rant. It was nearly two years old, and it seemed to be from before she and Kelly had become friends.

  Merida had posted an unflattering picture of Kelly and captioned it, “Really, Ryan?” and then had listed off some reasons as to why Kelly was just a “rebound chick.”

  I scribbled a note on my yellow pad to follow-up on Merida and Ryan.

  Jim put a plate of fluffy scrambled eggs and butter toast in front of me. I inhaled the food.

  Why am I so hungry these days?

  I mean, nursing took a lot of calories, sure, but it seemed like my appetite was increasing even though Laurie was having the occasional rice cereal these days.

  Jim glanced at my screen. “What new on Facebook?”

  “Catty ex-girlfriend by one of the groom’s ex’s,” I explained.

  Jim shook his head. “Women are brutal.”

  “Scorned women,” I corrected. “And don’t you forget it!” I said with mock threat.

  Laurie’s loud and sudden wail of displeasure interrupted our playful banter. Whiskers shot into the kitchen looking for a reprieve from the ruckus.

  I started to rise, but Jim gave me a wave of his hand that silently said I got this.

  “You should eat while you can,” he said. “I have to head out and your hands will be full with the baby and the cat.”

  Whiskers rubbed against Jim’s leg, looking for a morsel of food. Jim scooped her up and scurried off to attend to Laurie.

  He’s such good daddy.

  A warm feeling filled me. I felt so lucky and blessed to have such a wonderful family.

  While Jim fussed with Laurie, I finished eating and cleared my plate.

  I noticed on Facebook that Ryan, the groom-to-be was online.
He posted a heartfelt farewell to his fiancé, Kelly. It seemed Kelly was big into volunteer work. She did a lot of work at various homeless shelters. And, since Kelly’s parents were unable to get refunded for the wedding catering, they were announcing a dining experience for the homeless shelter on what would have been Ryan and Kelly’s wedding day. It would be the day after the funeral.

  My heart ached for this poor family. How terrible for Kelly to be struck down so suddenly.

  The comments and condolences were flowing onto Ryan’s Facebook page and I added mine. I read that all the bridesmaids and groomsmen were going to act as waiters at the event. Then the thought struck me.

  I might as well volunteer too.

  What better way to poke around and find some answers while giving back at the same time.

  Ryan accepted my offer immediately.

  Jim returned to the kitchen with Laurie in his arms. “She needs you mama! And I need to get dressed for a client meeting.”

  I happily took Laurie and sat her on my lap for a few minutes just taking in the moment. She started smacking her lips and nuzzling into me –her little way of letting me know she wanted go nurse.

  I welcomed it, and after she nursed I figured it was a decent hour—7am—to call my own mother.

  The phone rang three times before a male voice said, “Hello?”

  “Galigani? Hi this Kate, I’m so sorry I must have dialed the wrong number I was trying to call my mom.”

  He chucked, and I felt my face flush.

  Oh my goodness!

  Was he at my mother’s house?

  “You called the right place. I’m over taking care of her,” Galigani said.

  “Taking care of her? What happened?” I asked, alarm zagging through my body.

  “No, no, calm down. It’s nothing serious. At least I hope not. “She threw out her back.”

  “How’d that happen?” I asked, then immediately regretted asking. Mom was always up to something nutty and I’d learned long ago that this could very be code for something else, and I didn’t want to know; especially if it involved Galigani!

  “That play rehearsal. I guess they were trying to make her fly—”

  “Fly?”

  “I don’t know, like in Peter Pan...”

  “Oh my...don’t tell me,” I pleaded.

  Galigani chuckled. “Well, anyway, she’s fine. I gave her some pain pills and I talked to Jane North, she offered a complimentary massage at Pampered to Death to work the kinks out.”

  A pit formed in my stomach.

  “Is that safe?” I squeaked.

  “I’ve know Jane North for years, Kate. I promise you she didn’t have anything to do with Kelly’s death.”

  “What’s the backstory with Jane?” I asked, gripping the edge of my breakfast table. This was the sort of thing I needed to know, so I could navigate McNearny, but I hated the thought of digging up old wounds.

  “Well, she and Patrick were married for seventeen years. There’s a lot of history there—”

  “He still loves her,” I said plainly.

  Galigani sighed. “I suppose he does.”

  “Why did they divorce?” I asked.

  “Basically, she couldn’t take being a cop’s wife anymore,” he said.

  “Was there an affair?” I asked.

  “No...nothing like that...”

  “McNearny seemed to upset when you showed up yesterday.” I hesitated ““I thought maybe you and Jane...”

  “Jane and I, what?” Galigani prodded.

  “You did have a relationship with her, did you?”

  “No! Goodness, Kate, what kind of man do you think I am?” he demanded. “I’d never have an affair with my partner’s wife! Hell, I’d never have an affair with a married woman!”

  “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to question your integrity. It’s just that they way McNeary reacted yesterday...it seemed like he was upset with you for something...and you’ve mentioned before some bad history with him...”

  “Yes. You’re right,” Galigani said, his voice turned low and soft. “He was upset to see me yesterday. Jane and I had been friends too. Lots of dinners at their place, sort of thing. And she confided in me how unhappy she was...Mac never forgave me. Thought I should have told him, but I thought I had in my own way. Told him to pay attention to her, take her out more, take time off and travel some...but...”

  “I understand,” I said. “Do you have any information from the Medical Examiner?”

  “Not yet. Nothing official, but she did tell me the looked suspicious. We won’t know for certain until she gets the results back from toxicology.”

  I told Galigani about Hannah and the face mask, how she thought it could have been tampered with.

  Galigani took a breath. Hydrofluoric acid could kill someone and it’s readily available, but it doesn’t kill someone instantly. So I don’t think it was the face mask...I’ll mention it to Becky.”

  “I have a little news,” I said. “I snagged an invite to an event that Kelly’s fiancé and her parents are throwing in her honor.”

  “Now how did you manage that?” Galigani asked, surprise in his voice.

  Pride swelled in my chest. “I have my ways.”

  Chapter Nine

  A few days had gone by with my progress and information limited on Kelly’s case. So when the day of Kelly’s funeral rolled around, I found myself itching to attend. After all, I was sitting at home with Laurie and Whiskers and a relatively calm to-do list.

  I dressed Laurie up in a sweet little black and purple dress and threw on my own appropriate funeral attire. I felt a little weasel sneaking into her funeral and vowed, while sticking Laurie in her car seat, that I wouldn’t attempt any interviews at the funeral unless someone just needed to vent.

  Investigating while at a funeral just seemed in poor taste.

  The funeral home was just a short drive from house, so I wound up getting there early.

  I should probably feed Laurie while I have a chance.

  I crawled into the back seat and pulled her out of her car seat and let her nurse in the privacy of our vehicle.

  Oh, the number of unusual places I’ve found myself breastfeeding!

  The parking lot of a funeral home was certainly not in my top five list, but it ranks in at number nine.

  By the time Laurie had finished up, she had somehow managed to knock the little black hair bow off. I spent several minutes digging around for it under the seats before I finally located it and put it back on her little head.

  She looked fabulous as always.

  I put her in her stroller and headed inside where a small crowd had already started to gather. I spotted Ryan first and went up and introduced myself.

  He seemed overwhelmed. His eyes bloodshot and his young face sagged with grief. His blonde looked unwashed and kept flipping it off his forehead. In a daze, he thanked me for coming and then directed me to a television that was playing a slideshow. He was almost immediately distracted the next person in the receiving line, so I moved forward.

  The slide show was full of images depicting all the wonderful characteristics of Kelly. Kelly on a mission trip in Africa, Kelly volunteering in the aftermath of a hurricane, Kelly and a girl she tutored through a big sister program, Kelly orchestrating a food drive.

  Who would want to hurt this girl?

  I felt sadden and hallowed. I squeeze Laurie to my chest, suddenly overwhelmed by the fragility of human life.

  “I should have known you’d be here,” McNearny grumbled in my ear.

  I started and whipped around, and Laurie, I swear, made a hissing noise in his direction.

  At a girl! Defend your mommy!

  “I should have guessed that you’d be too,” I said. “Here to pay your respects?”

  “Here to keep an eye on suspects,” he said.

  “Who are your suspects?” I asked, and he just grunted. “Seriously? You are not going to tell me? I hope you don’t expect me to sha
re anything I come across if you are going to act that way.”

  “Kate, I don’t expect you to share anything you find with me,” he said.

  I raised a curious brow.

  “Because I don’t expect you to find anything useful,” he sneered.

  I fumed, ready to give him a short history of my successes—despite not having all his experience—when an older couple had made their way over to the television.

  The woman said to McNearny, “Isn’t this a shame? What a shame. Did you know Kelly?”

  McNearny responded sweetly, “No ma’am. I’m the officer working her case. Just here to pay my respects.”

  The woman looked confused, but as the room was filling up we were ushered into the funeral homes chapel to hear the eulogy.

  I walked inside, next to McNearny. “So, there is a case, right? It was a murder?”

  McNearny stiffened, his entire face twitching.

  I laughed. “What’s the cause of death? You may as well tell me. Galigani will find out soon enough.”

  McNearny bit his lip.

  “You must want to clear this fast so you don’t have to see your ex much...or is that the opposite of—”

  “Ethylene glycol,” McNearny burped up.

  I frowned.

  “Antifreeze,” he clarified, ushering me into the nearest pew.

  I made a face of disgust.

  “Actually, he said. “We’re seeing this is a lot. You can buy at any auto shop and it has a sweet taste. So people don’t notice when someone pours it into their beverage.”

  I grew quiet.

  So if someone put this in Kelly’s drink. It had to be someone she knew. A crime of passion...

  Laurie fidgeted as I sat down next to McNeary, so I bounced her on my knee to keep her entertained.

  McNearny muttered to me, “I’ll admit I’m somewhat impressed how you juggle your part time PI gig and do the stay at home mom thing. That’s a pretty serious load.”

  I sat up straighter. “Why, Patrick McNearny, is that a compliment?”

  “Don’t let it go to your head,” he warned.