Black Butterfly

by Marja McGraw

  “We found a few things in the vacant house that we’ll pursue, and I’ll patrol your neighborhood as often as I can. You’re sure you don’t have any idea who might have done this?” he asked.

  “No idea,” Meredith lied.

  “Okay, a detective will be by to see you in the morning. Keep your lights turned off and your doors locked.” With that warning, he left.

  Chris walked out with the cop.

  He returned, smiling. “I don’t think we’ll have much to worry about. Half the neighbors are standing on their front porches, trying to see what’s going on. I have a feeling the entire neighborhood will be vigilant for the next few hours. Let’s get some sleep.”

  Meredith brought us pillows and blankets.

  Chris leaned back in the recliner after turning out the lights, and I settled myself on the couch.

  Neither one of us slept.

  We heard a car pull up and the engine shut down.

  Chris and I hurried to the front window and peeked out. It was a neighbor who lived across the street coming home from work.

  “I’m glad I don’t work his shift,” Chris said, softly.

  We returned to our assigned seats, or chair and couch as the case might be.

  After staring at the dark ceiling for what seemed like hours, I finally glanced at the clock. It was just after six o’clock and the sun was beginning its ascent. It was a beautiful sunrise with a golden sky and a few clouds, and I arose and walked to the window to watch it before it was gone.

  “Chris,” I said, looking over my shoulder, “I don’t think we’re equipped to work on this.”

  “No kidding?” His sarcasm wasn’t lost on me.

  “What are we going to do?”

  “I’ll be able to answer that after we talk to Janet.”

  “Speaking of Janet, I’m going to go home and take my shower and get dressed before she shows up.”

  “Okay, babe. I’ll be home as soon as Meredith is up and I know things are safe here.”

  I leaned over and gave Chris a kiss before leaving. “What a night.”

  “Yeah.”

  I walked home and took my shower, and after washing my hair I decided to let it dry naturally. It would take too long to blow dry it. Besides, it was somewhat curly and I’d just put it in an up do for work.

  I was coming down the stairs when the doorbell rang.

  “What timing,” I said to myself.

  Expecting to see Janet, I opened the door and found Sammy, Gabe and Tony standing on the porch. I couldn’t have been more surprised.

  “Jimmy’s disappeared,” Gabe said.

  “Maybe not. Someone shot out Meredith’s window last night.”

  Tony’s face looked pinched, but other than that he didn’t react to the news.

  Gabe did. Without a word he lifted his cane, turned and headed for my neighbor’s house.

  I looked at Sammy and Tony. “I think I should probably let you know that a detective friend of mine will be here any minute. I’m not sure you’ll want to be here.”

  “Is this about the shooting?” Sammy asked.

  “No.” I looked into Tony’s eyes. “They think the Messinas were at the restaurant last night to see me and Chris.”

  Sammy and Tony looked at each other.

  “I think we should leave,” Tony said. “We’ll pick up your uncle on our way.”

  Without another word he turned and walked toward his car.

  “I’m sorry you got involved in this, Pamela.” Sammy sounded sincere. “To be honest, I’m sorry I got involved.” With that said, he followed Tony out to the car.

  I watched them pull away, impatiently tapping my foot. I wanted them to be long gone before Janet arrived. With that in mind, I walked halfway down the walkway to watch what was going on.

  Chris and the other three men stood and talked.

  Chris took his leave and headed home.

  I could see that Sammy and Gabe were having heated words while Tony looked on. Gabe left them standing and went back inside the house.

  Sammy and Tony drove away. Again, what timing. Janet pulled up to the curb and waved at me.

  “I hear there was a shooting down the street this morning,” she said without preamble. “What do you know about that?”

  “Not much. Let’s go inside.”

  Chris walked up behind Janet, smiling.

  Without turning around, she said, “Good morning, Chris. What’s new? Maybe a shooting?”

  His smile disappeared. “Come inside and we’ll tell you all about it. I understand you thought the Messinas were here to see us. We need to clear the air.”

  Since Janet is a friend, not just a cop, we headed for the kitchen and I started the coffee.

  “I think we’re in a jam, Janet, and we don’t know what to do about it.” I set three coffee cups on the table.

  Chris leaned forward. “Can we talk off the record?”

  “That depends on what you want to talk about.” Janet leaned forward, too.

  Our friend is a good cop and a good woman, and she takes police work seriously, as she should.

  “Does this have to do with the Messinas?” she asked.

  “Yes and no,” Chris replied.

  “Let’s start at the beginning,” I said. “Have you ever heard of the Black Butterfly?”

  “In what context?”

  “As in hit lady.” Chris leaned back and waited for a response while I poured the coffee and set the sugar bowl on the table.

  “Ah, that Black Butterfly. Yes, I’ve heard of her. She’s the most famous of all female killers. No one has ever been able to figure out what happened to her.”

  “Except I don’t think she’s a killer,” I said.

  “Then what is she?”

  “A woman who got in over her head and shook the dust off her shoes when she left Las Vegas. Since no one could find her, they used her as a scapegoat for crimes she didn’t commit.”

  Janet’s expression was both skeptical and amused. “You’re trying to tell me that she was framed for several deaths? Tell me more.”

  “Off the record?” Chris asked.

  “I’ll decide that after you tell me the story.”

  Chris and I told Janet Meredith’s story, without including names. We wanted to see how she’d react before fingering our neighbor.

  Janet took notes while we talked, nodding on occasion and shaking her head on others. Of course, I doubted she’d consider them facts, leaning more toward hearsay.

  “You’re telling me that she disappeared in the fifties and took on a new identity, and eventually stole her sister’s identity? That she couldn’t have killed people because she… What? Stayed out of sight so well that even the mob couldn’t find her? The FBI couldn’t track her down? And you expect me to believe your story?”

  “It’s true, Janet,” I said, hoping to convince her. “Let me tell you about her first assignment, or hit job.” I told her about the woman Meredith had left in the desert.

  Again, skepticism filled her eyes.

  “You can talk to Gabriel Rizzo. He picked up the woman and drove her to a bus stop. He was an undercover cop and he knew pretty much everything that was going on.”

  “And you just happen to know where Rizzo can be found? He disappeared, too, you know.”

  “When?” Chris asked. “He lives here in California. He was at the restaurant last night.”

  “Was he? I wouldn’t recognize him.”

  Janet’s attitude bothered me. I felt like she knew something I wasn’t aware of and didn’t want to share the information.

  “What about the Messinas?” Chris asked. “Why did you think we were involved with them?”

  “Because we followed them to your restaurant and you took them back to Pamela’s office. That might have been my first couple of clues.”

  Chris sighed, clamping his lips together. “You were casing the joint.”

  “You’re quick, Bogey Man.”

  “Janet,” I sa
id, “they weren’t there to see us. Sophia Messina wanted to talk to the Black Butterfly to thank her for taking out her husband, Tony Messina. Only M… the Butterfly didn’t do it. Oh, this is just way too involved.”

  Janet smiled at me. “No, it’s not. I have a feeling the elderly couple who sat at your table last night just might be Gabriel and this Black Butterfly woman. I want to speak to both of them, and I want to do it right away. Oh, and since a shot was fired into the house down the street where an elderly woman named Mary lives, I have a feeling I just uncovered the Black Butterfly’s hideout.”

  “Janet? You’re too smart. I mean it. You’re just too quick sometimes.” Was I kissing up to her? Of course. And of course she’s figured things out.

  This situation had become way too sticky.

  Chris and I needed her help.

  Oh, yeah. She was the cop. She probably didn’t want to help us. Of course she didn’t.

  What tangled webs…

  Chapter Thirty-two

  “Do you want to go with me to meet Mary or will you stay out of it?” Janet asked.

  “Her name is actually Meredith Lunsford, and we want to go with you,” I replied.

  I could tell by the pained expression on Chris’s face that he wished I’d kept Meredith’s name to myself. Janet could do her job without me offering information.

  Glancing at my husband, I shrugged my shoulders. “Well? She was going to find out anyway.”

  I turned to Janet.

  “Gabriel Rizzo is there, too. You can kill two birds with one stone.”

  Chris groaned. “I’m going to call them before we walk down there.”

  Janet shook her head, indicating he should stay out of it.

  “Hey! They’re old. I’d rather not take them by surprise and give one of them a heart attack.”

  It was Janet’s turn to shrug. “Do what you want. I can’t stop you from calling, but I’m going down there. Now.”

  “I’m going with you,” I said.

  When Janet stood and headed for the front door, I noticed she looked tired. With her job as a homicide detective, I couldn’t blame her for being exhausted. I was pretty sure Chris and I were only adding to her stress.

  We didn’t talk while we walked to Meredith’s house. I figured I’d lead the way and introduce Janet gently. Like Chris, I didn’t want these seniors to go into shock. After all, Meredith had managed to hide for all of these years, and to suddenly be faced by a cop who knew who she was? I tried to think how I might react, which surprisingly reminded me that my neighbor had a gun.

  “Oh! Janet, uh, Meredith keeps a gun in the house. You know, for protection.”

  Janet automatically reached toward the gun she carried.

  “Don’t freak out,” I said. “She wouldn’t shoot you. I’m sure of that.”

  “Uh huh. And Chris is calling to warn her that I’m coming? One wrong move and I’ll arrest her. Don’t you two have any common sense?”

  “I wonder about that myself sometimes,” I mumbled.

  When we arrived we found Meredith and Gabe standing on the porch, waiting for us.

  Janet approached them carefully, watching their every move.

  I knew someone had to control the situation, and instinctively, I knew it had to be me.

  While Janet stood on the walkway, I hurried up to the porch and gave Meredith a hug before stepping to the side and putting my hand on her back. I was surreptitiously checking for weapons.

  She whispered in my ear when I hugged her. “Sophia will be here around noon.”

  Gabe looked surprised when I stepped over and gave him a hug, too.

  I gave Janet a thumbs up sign behind their backs.

  She sighed and moved forward. Without introductions, she said, “We need to talk.”

  Gabe nodded and held out his hand. “I’m Gabriel Rizzo, and this is Meredith Lunsford.”

  Janet reluctantly shook his hand. “Janet Riley, L.A.P.D. Your reputation precedes you. Let’s go inside. I hear someone took a shot at the house last night. Let’s not give them an easy target.”

  She didn’t mince words, which didn’t surprise me, and she really hit home with her first question after we settled down in the living room.

  “Meredith, I’m going to ask you outright. Are you a killer? Did you murder Tony Messina? Or anyone else?” She watched my neighbor closely.

  Meredith replied without hesitation. “No. I did not.”

  Janet watched the old woman closely, and I assumed she was looking for telltale signs that she was being lied to.

  I didn’t see any such signs, but what did I know?

  The homicide detective sat quietly and studied the couple in front of her.

  They didn’t fidget or act nervous.

  “Did Chris tell you that I’m a homicide detective?”

  “I did,” Chris said from the doorway.

  We’d been so wrapped up in the moment that we hadn’t heard the door open.

  “Come in and sit down,” Janet said without turning. Apparently she’d heard him. “Has anyone ever told you that you have a big mouth?”

  “Yes. You’ve said that on more than one occasion.” He sat down next to me, on the couch.

  I patted his knee, welcoming his presence.

  “I have a hair appointment at noon,” Meredith lied. “Can we get this over with? I didn’t kill anyone, I’m not a hit lady, and I’ve been in hiding since the 1950s. I wasn’t hiding from the police, but from Tony and his gang. I didn’t even know he was dead until I read in the newspaper about his body being found. I didn’t know about being blamed for the murders, either, until long after I left Las Vegas. I was a scapegoat, a victim.

  “My sister helped me hide, and when she died I took over her identity. I guess you could arrest me for identity theft, but what good would that do? Are you going to contact the FBI?”

  Janet moved her head back and from side to side, as though trying to get rid of a crick in her neck. Then she sighed deeply.

  “Why are the Messinas here?” She glanced at Chris and me as though telling us to keep it zipped. She wanted Meredith’s answer without our interference.

  Gabe’s baritone voice replied for Meredith. “Sophia Messina wanted to thank Meredith for killing Tony. He was an abusive husband – “

  Janet held her hand up, cutting Gabe off, but she looked at Meredith. “I thought you said you never killed anyone.”

  Meredith pursed her lips. “I didn’t kill Tony, or anyone else, and I told Sophia in no uncertain terms that I’m not responsible for his death.”

  “Did she believe you?” Janet asked.

  “She seemed to. Yes, she did.” Meredith’s face hardened. “I’d already left Las Vegas, so why wouldn’t she believe me?”

  Janet nodded.

  “Does anyone want coffee?” Chris asked, surprising me.

  No one replied.

  He took hold of my hand. “Come help me in the kitchen.”

  Ah, he wanted to talk to me – alone.

  “Janet isn’t holding back any punches,” Chris said.

  “No, she’s not. But why would she?”

  “Sometimes subtlety works best.” Chris searched Meredith’s cupboards until he found some coffee mugs. “Have you noticed that she hasn’t asked Gabe anything yet? She’s feeling them out. Round two coming up.”

  I poured coffee into the mugs, found Meredith’s sugar bowl and fished some milk out of the refrigerator.

  “Why are we in the kitchen?” I asked. “I want to hear what’s going on.”

  “I know you do.”

  “Besides, we need to get this over with because Sophia’s coming over at noon,” I said.

  “You realize from now on the cops will be eyeballin’ this house, right? They’ll know Sophia was here.”

  “I hadn’t thought about that. You’re right.” Sometimes Chris was quicker than me. Sometimes being the key word. I usually picked right up on things.

  “One other thing,” Chris s
aid. “You know we’re going to have to face the music because we kept so many secrets, don’t you?”

  I took a swig of coffee and spit it out. It was terrible, cold and way too strong.

  “Forget the coffee,” I said.

  We returned to the living room.

  “Sorry, no coffee,” Chris said. “It was cold.”

  “We could have heated it up, you know,” I said.

  Chris shrugged and retook his seat.

  Janet had been talking to Meredith, but now she turned to Gabe. “Rumor has it that you were undercover and switched to the other side.” She wasn’t asking a question, and yet she was.

  “Not true,” Gabe replied. “Check my records. Yeah, I made a few connections from my time with the family and I’m still in touch with them, but only to keep my hands in things. They never did figure out who I was, and we were able to take down a few bad guys in my day.”

  Back to Meredith. “Why did you leave Las Vegas and drop under the radar?”

  Gabe spoke up and Janet turned back to him. “Meredith witnessed a murder, but it wasn’t Tony’s murder. They went after her and I helped her escape.”

  “Why would you do that?” Janet asked.

  “Let’s just say that we had a special relationship and I didn’t want anything to happen to her.”

  “Okay, now I’d like to hear Meredith’s answer.” Janet was becoming annoyed with Gabe for answering on behalf of my neighbor.

  “It’s exactly like he said,” Meredith replied. “I was running for my life and Gabe helped me escape. He said he’d find me, but I never heard from him again until a few days ago. I guess I hid too well.”

  “If that’s the case, how did everyone suddenly find you?” Janet tipped her head to the side and waited for an answer.

  “I got involved in a project to help the homeless and the newspaper put my picture in the paper. Gabe saw it and searched me out. Unfortunately, he also mentioned in passing that he’d seen me to someone from the old crew who passed on the information.”

  Gabe took Meredith’s hand. “I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t even think about the repercussions. I had no idea anyone would still be interested in finding you.”

  “Shows how much you know,” Chris said.

  Gabe turned on him. “I said I’m sorry! What more can I do?”