The Cluttered Corpse

by Mary Jane Maffini

  I interjected. “The police don’t want me to interfere with the case. You know, talk to witnesses. That kind of thing.”

  “They said that? Why?”

  “It’s a power trip. I’m a civilian, and there’s a bit of history.”

  “But you have a lot of insight. This notion that Emmy feels guilty, it explains everything.”

  “Possibly.” I thought: Dwayne, if you get the police to reconsider Emmy Lou’s motives, you open up the possibility that she may be protecting someone. And that someone could well be you.

  He burbled on. “We can work together. The police don’t need to know where I got this idea. Emmy wanted this project. It was important to her. I want you to go ahead and organize those stuffed animals. I’ll pay whatever it takes. I wouldn’t know where to begin. It will be something for her to look forward to. I don’t mean to get rid of them or anything. I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t like that. This way, I can bring her news about how the project is going. I think it will make her happy.”

  I thought: as happy as you can be when you’re in jail for a murder you probably didn’t commit but for some reason want to take the rap for, like for instance, you want to protect your husband.

  He sounded genuinely pleased to my ear, not that I trusted him. “Do you think I should keep it a secret and surprise her when they let her out?”

  Pepper Monahan wasn’t likely to let Emmy Lou off the hook. She’d made sergeant in record time and was well on her way to being the first female lieutenant in the history of Woodbridge. Letting confessed murderers slip wouldn’t fit in well with her career plan. She would have a solid sheaf of evidence for the prosecution. If Emmy Lou ever went to trial.

  “There’s a hitch. Actually, I can’t do the project without Emmy Lou in the loop. I have to organize them to suit her. And she’ll want it to suit you too, of course.”

  “I told you, the toys don’t bother me. It’s all my fault that she let the collection get out of control. You get started and we’ll take it from there.”

  “I need an inventory. I have a colleague who can help me.”

  “Listen, feel free. We’ve got no secrets. Look everywhere. You want that in writing?”

  “I do actually.”

  “You got it. When can you start?”

  “Whenever you want me to.”

  “Soon as possible. I’ll get you a set of keys made. I’m going to talk to the cops again. Even if Emmy Lou doesn’t want to see that lawyer you recommended, I’ll find someone. I have to do what I can to protect her from whatever she’s trying to do to herself. So let’s get going.”

  I said, “I’ll need your cell number, in case of a hitch. Never mind. It’s showing on my phone.”

  “Are you free this afternoon around three?”

  “Sorry, I have a client booked for that time. How about this evening?”

  “That won’t work. I’m shorthanded at the restaurant. How about tomorrow morning around ten?”

  “Sounds perfect.” That gave me the amount of time I needed to talk to a few more people.

  “Hello,” I said as she came to the door. “I’m—”

  “I know who you are,” Mrs. Dingwall said, looking down at me. She was taller than I’d realized when I’d seen her from a distance. She looked more like a stereotypical American grandmother with her white hair in a no-nonsense blunt cut. Maybe someone from a Norman Rockwell illustration, bright cheeks matching her red, work-worn hands with their large knuckles. Today’s apron was periwinkle blue cotton.

  “Oh.”

  I wilted briefly under her stern gaze. I wondered if she’d been the person to call the police and claim that I’d threatened Kevin and Tony.

  “I’m Myrna Dingwall. What can I do for you?” she said. She sounded curious, not stern.

  “I wanted to see how Kevin was doing. I met him the other day with Tony, and I could see yesterday how distressed he was, when Tony was, um, found.”

  She nodded and let a smile slip out. “That’s very kind of you. Come in. I have coffee on, if you’d like some.”

  She spoke softly, her words almost musical, a storytelling, child-soothing kind of voice.

  I entered, feeling guilty.

  “Have a seat. Be right with you.” She gestured to the living room. I would have preferred to follow her, although you can put that down to pure nosiness on my part, but I sat. There was no sign of Kevin. The house was in much better shape than the Baxters’, nothing patched with duct tape, although it was not at all trendy like Emmy Lou’s. It seemed like a nice old family home: well worn, comfortable, and unpretentious. I sat on the sofa and waited. The room was full of framed photos, mostly of Kevin. I got up again and made my way around the perimeter of the room, studying each one: a smiling baby, held by Mrs. Dingwall twenty years younger. Another one of Mrs. Dingwall with a large-eyed, dark-haired infant. I hadn’t realized that Kevin might have a brother or sister. Even then Mrs. Dingwall had been an older mother. Was that why he had problems? I wondered briefly if I should pay more attention to that biological clock. I shook my head to stop that thought. Anyway, Emmy Lou had said it was oxygen deprivation at birth, something like that.

  I leaned in to study a shy little boy holding a lunch pail. A school photo, big grin despite two missing teeth. The little boy morphed into a gangling teenager. A cluster of faded photos going back generations indicated that Mrs. Dingwall cared about family.

  She arrived carrying a tray loaded with coffee, cream, and sugar. I’m an old-fashioned girl. I like trays and blue and yellow china cups. They remind me of a more gracious era.

  “Lovely photos,” I said.

  “Mmm.” She hummed as she poured the coffee and I helped myself to a bit of cream. Why not? I think it reduces stress, and I certainly had been feeling stressed, facing Kevin’s mother and thinking she’d accused me of threatening the boys. It was obvious from her behavior that she had no idea about what they had done to Emmy Lou or about my relationship with them. Whoever had called in that complaint, it wasn’t Mrs. Dingwall. That was quite a relief to me, because it meant we could have a conversation that might produce the information I needed. I decided the baby pictures would be a good place to seek common ground.

  “My friend is expecting her fourth child. She has three little girls. Maybe this one will be a boy. Kevin was a beautiful baby.”

  “He was a sweetheart.” She was almost beautiful when that wide smile cut across her weathered face.

  “I didn’t realize that he had a brother,” I said, pointing at the other picture in which a brown-haired, thinner Mrs. Dingwall held the other baby who stared at the camera with huge dark eyes. “He was adorable too.”

  The smile vanished. “That was Keiran,” she said. “My first. He had a hole in his little heart. He was a brave wee fellow and he put up a good fight, but he didn’t make it. Nowadays, they can do so much; they could probably have saved him, but thirty years ago, well…”

  “I am so sorry.”

  She said, “These things happen more often than you’d think. People love and want their babies and they lose them, and other people throw theirs away. This world can be a strange place.” She busied herself pouring her coffee. “My husband never got over it. I suppose I didn’t either.”

  “How is Kevin today?” I said after a while. “He seemed very upset yesterday.”

  Her smile faded. “Not good. What can you expect? He lost his friend.”

  I hesitated. I wondered how much Mrs. Dingwall knew about Tony.

  She said, “At least he didn’t have to find Tony dead. Didn’t have to see the body. I feel so sorry for you.”

  I blinked.

  She said, “It must have been awful for you.”

  “How did you know that I found him?”

  “The same way I knew who you were. I saw the report on the news,” she added. “Even though we were next door, you couldn’t tell anything with all the police cars and ambulances and the sirens and everything. Todd Tyrell said you fou
nd the body.”

  “Ah yes, of course. I imagine everyone in town will have seen that. And it was terrible.”

  “Would you like a shortbread? Old family recipe.”

  Anyone who thinks that American women are no longer spending time in the kitchen hasn’t dropped in to visit Woodbridge lately, that’s all I can say.

  I accepted. “Worse for Emmy Lou Rheinbeck,” I said.

  She frowned. “Yes. That was very strange. I can’t imagine what happened there. Why would the police keep her in?”

  I said, “She said that she’d killed Tony. Of course, I—”

  “She couldn’t have. That’s impossible. They didn’t mention it on the TV last night. Todd Tyrell said that she was being questioned. I thought perhaps the—”

  “So you know her well then?”

  “Well enough to know that she couldn’t kill Tony.”

  “You didn’t hear anything yesterday? See anything?”

  She shook her head. “No, the police have been by asking the same thing. We left around noon. We went to visit my mother. She’s in a nursing home half hour away, and we go every Sunday and take her a nice lunch. I wash her clothing too and I bring that back to her. The laundry at the nursing home can destroy anything in two weeks.”

  “That’s very nice of you,” I said with admiration.

  “I’m happy to do it. She’s a wonderful mother. She was there whenever I needed her. Now that she needs me, although she’d never ask, I plan to be there as often as I can. And Kevvie misses his grandma, so it’s a special time for us each week.” She paused, perhaps remembering what the question was about. “We were back in the house, less than fifteen minutes, I’m sure. I was hurrying to put the pot roast on for dinner when we heard screaming. Then sirens. Kevvie ran out to see what was going on. He was afraid something had happened to Emmy Lou.”

  I remembered Kevin lying grief stricken on the lawn.

  “Tony didn’t go with you for the visit?”

  “Tony? Of course not. To tell the truth, my mother took an instant dislike to him the one time she met him.”

  I knew how that felt, but kept my opinion to myself.

  “So he stayed behind?”

  “He wasn’t supposed to be here. We dropped him off at his own mother’s place, down near Cherry Hill. He was going to spend some time with her. I was glad to get rid of him for a while to tell the truth. He wasn’t the easiest person to be around. I think that mother of his always encouraged him to spend all his time here. But it was good for Kevin to get away from him now and then. I don’t know how he got back to Bell Street. Or why.”

  Good questions. How and why had he come back? “And did you notice anything unusual when you left?”

  “Lately, there seem to be lots of people and cars coming and going on this little street. Patti Magliaro was out walking her cat. Of course, she’s always walking Princess, so maybe I’m imagining that. The people on the other side of Emmy Lou’s were loading some boxes into their car at the same time we were leaving. The woman’s very nice and not too well, I believe. I keep meaning to invite her for a cup of coffee, but I put it off because Kevvie’s a bit afraid of the man, so he gets upset when we see them. I think their name is Baxter. Tony probably made faces at them.”

  More like gave them the finger, I thought.

  She continued. “Emmy Lou was outside puttering around in her yard. She has a service to keep it up. I’d been kind of hoping that perhaps the boys could have done it for her, but when I asked, she’d already signed a contract with the same people who did the landscaping for her. She felt bad though about not asking them. I guess she hadn’t thought about Kevin and Tony being capable of looking after her fancy plants and all that new grass. Kids like that can use any opportunity, you know. They’re few and far between in this community.”

  It crossed my mind that perhaps that had triggered the stunts. Maybe Emmy Lou felt a bit responsible because she hadn’t thought about them.

  “Were they upset about it? Kevin and Tony? Did they feel cheated out of an opportunity?”

  She furrowed her brow, concentrating. “It’s so hard for them to find jobs. I think they were a bit disappointed maybe, once I mentioned it. The initiative didn’t come from them in the first place. It was my idea. Perhaps I should never have even mentioned it.”

  “And when you got back? You said it was a few minutes before all hell broke out.”

  “I didn’t pay much attention to anything until Kevvie started to scream.”

  “But when you drove back home, did you see anything unusual? Any delivery trucks or drivers who might have seen anything? What about Dwayne Rheinbeck? Was he around?”

  She closed her eyes as if to remember. “I didn’t notice Dwayne. I don’t remember his car being there, but I wasn’t paying attention. The same with delivery vans and trucks. You tune them out, although we don’t get quite as many on a Sunday. But there was something different: a girl with very strange turquoise and black hair sitting on the curb. Kevvie was quite fascinated by her. She didn’t seem to be doing anything wrong. Because of Kevvie and other things in my life, I’ve learned not to judge people solely on their looks.”

  That reminded me that I needed to talk to Lilith about who and what she’d seen. And when.

  “Good thinking,” I said. Seeing how I’d misjudged Kevin and Tony, I’d begun to think I needed to be less judgmental. “That was Lilith, my assistant. She was waiting for me. Someone called my cell, claiming to be Woodbridge Emergency Services and saying my house was on fire. I was late because of it. I thought my pets were stuck in a burning house. Do you think that Tony might have made that call?”

  “Did you say your cell phone? How would he know your number?”

  “I left brochures all over the neighborhood last fall. My cell number was on them. That’s how Emmy Lou found me.”

  She shook her head sadly. “A brochure last fall? Tony probably couldn’t have found your regular phone number in the phone book. And did the caller sound like an employee of the emergency services?”

  “Fooled me.”

  “You wouldn’t have been fooled by Tony, believe me. Not for a minute. He would have stammered and giggled. He wouldn’t have the terminology right either. And why would he pull such a horrible stunt?” She continued to shake her head. “This is all so confusing. What was Tony doing at Emmy Lou’s place? I can’t imagine why he’d be in the house.” She reached for her china cup.

  I took a deep breath and started. “Tony had been harassing Emmy Lou, I believe.”

  Her hand hovered above her cup. She stared at me. “Tony? Harassing her?”

  “I was starting a contract for her, to organize a collection.”

  “Those stuffed animals, I suppose.” She chuckled. “Kevvie told me about them. Silly thing for a grown woman with a new husband too.”

  “And while we were there, Tony and Kevin climbed the tree outside her bedroom, with a camera and yelled and made faces in the window. Emmy Lou screamed and panicked when she saw them. They took a photo of her reaction.”

  Mrs. Dingwall’s florid face turned white.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “You didn’t know?”

  Shock flickered on the kind face. “Of course not. I would never have tolerated that. What a terrible thing. They could have been in big trouble if she’d called the police.” She paused. “Are you sure?”

  “I was there. I saw them. During and afterward on your lawn.”

  She was having trouble with this information. “Kevvie too? I could imagine Tony in his stupid way thinking that was funny and not imagining the consequences, but Kevvie loves Emmy Lou.” Her shoulders drooped as if from the weight of this information.

  “I’m sorry. This must be so upsetting. I don’t know what they were trying to achieve. At the time, I thought they wanted to terrify her.”

  “No, that wouldn’t be it. They both thought she was wonderful. It was like teasing the girl next door, I suppose. I’m not saying it w
as right, but it wasn’t meant to harm.”

  “Bill Baxter yelled at them, told them to leave her alone. They gave him the finger.”

  “He is always yelling at them. I think he’s a crank.” The cup rattled in the saucer. “Emmy Lou was terrified, you said?”

  “Yes, and I was angry over that stunt. But she didn’t want me to call the police. She said that sometimes his jokes missed the mark.”

  “That one certainly did. Honestly. This is so hard. I can’t deal with it.”

  “I got the impression that this type of thing had been going on for a while. She was rattled when I got there. And the Baxters both said that she’d been upset by the boys.”

  “I know my son and he would never do anything to hurt anyone.”

  “Perhaps he was being led astray by Tony. You can understand why I’m mentioning these things. If Tony was in her home and she felt threatened, she could have pushed him and it would have been self-defense.”

  “Self-defense? I can’t believe anyone would need to defend herself against Tony. His looks might be enough to frighten you, but he was like a child too. Tony was harmless. I am sure of it, or I never would have let him spend so much time with Kevin. Never. I had no idea they were pulling these stupid stunts.”

  “Friday afternoon I spoke to Dwayne Rheinbeck. He said he’d talk to you about these pranks and ask you to put a stop to them.”

  She stared at me. “Dwayne didn’t tell me. I saw him, let me see, leaving for work Saturday and yesterday. He seems to put in terribly long hours at that restaurant. He never mentioned anything. He smiled and waved hello, like he was real neighborly.”

  I raised an eyebrow. There was something very strange about that statement. “Like he was…?”

  “Those Rheinbecks,” she said darkly, “they’re not exactly what they seem.” She crossed her heavy arms over her chest, and I got the impression that I wouldn’t get any more than that out of her.

  I said, “Dwayne has me working on the stuffed animal project until Emmy Lou gets home again. A nice surprise for her. I hope you don’t mind if I drop by and say hello every now and then.”