by Anne George
“No. He came late and left early.” Sister got up. “I’m going to get some aspirin.”
“Take it with some Maalox.”
“I’m taking it with some bourbon.” She went inside and pulled the sliding door shut. That’s why, a few minutes later, she didn’t hear the scream, a scream of such desolation and terror that I jumped straight up, the back of my neck tingling, my heart racing. The next scream sent me banging into the glass door, trying to find the handle, finding it and almost falling inside. Mary Alice looked up, startled. “What’s the matter?”
I pointed to the balcony with one hand. The other held my heart in my chest.
“What?”
“Scream,” I managed to say.
“Oh, that’s just kids, Mouse. For heaven’s sake. They do that all the time.”
I shook my head no. Mary Alice looked at me questioningly and walked out onto the balcony. I stayed behind her.
“I don’t hear anything,” she said.
“It was a scream, damn it, right here.”
She came back in and shut the door. “A kid on one of the balconies. Probably on the floor below us.”
“I think it was next door in Laura’s apartment.”
“No one’s there. I just called.”
“Nobody would answer the phone if somebody was trying to kill them.”
“Get real, Mouse.”
Just at that moment there was a loud knock on the door. We both jumped a mile.
“Don’t open it,” I whispered.
“I’ll look before I do.” Mary Alice marched toward the door. “Damn,” she muttered, her eye to the peephole. “It’s that dickless Tracy.”
“And a good evening to you ladies again, too,” Officer Lisa Andrews said, stepping inside the foyer as Mary Alice opened the door. The evening dampness was doing a number on her curly hair, I noticed.
I almost threw myself on her. “Scream! Right next door. Something awful’s happening!”
Lisa Andrews backed up a couple of steps. “What?”
“For heaven’s sake, Mouse,” Mary Alice said. And then to the officer, “It’s kids yelling. You know how it is in the summer. Patricia Anne’s just nervous.”
“I think the scream came from next door,” I said.
But I was ignored. Mary Alice turned to Lisa Andrews. “What do you want? We told you everything we know. We even came home, as you suggested so politely.”
“Have you already told Mr. Weatherby about Mrs. Peacock’s death?”
“No,” Sister admitted. “I’m worried about him. He doesn’t look well at all. We were going to see if we could get the doctor from downstairs to go with us.”
“What’s the doctor’s name?”
“I don’t remember. The Stampses next door would know but they’re not home.”
“Probably murdered,” I muttered.
Lisa Andrews smiled patronizingly at me. “I’ll check it out, Mrs. Hollowell.” And almost as an afterthought, “Mrs. Peacock left Mr. Weatherby a note.”
“A suicide note?” I asked. “Why would she leave it to Fairchild?”
Lisa Andrews shrugged, informing us that she would find the Stampses and Fairchild and tell them about Emily’s death. We didn’t argue with her.
“Might not hurt to have that doctor with you,” Mary Alice said.
Lisa Andrews nodded and informed us that she would get back to us later, that we should stay available. Sister closed the door behind her. “Pissant.”
“I’m just glad she’s the one telling them.”
“Yeah. I’ll go over after while and find out what’s in the note.” Sister sat on the sofa and propped her feet on the coffee table.
“Let her be the one who finds a third body.” I shivered.
“Kids, Mouse. They do it all the time.”
Another knock on the door. This time I looked through the peephole and saw Sophie Berliner. “It’s the child from down the hall,” I told Mary Alice.
“Some child!” Sister said.
But when I opened the door, I saw that Sophie did, indeed, look like a very young teenager. The black robe was gone, and in its place were jeans, sneakers, and a tee shirt with a picture of Homer Simpson on it. “Is Haley here?” she asked.
“She’s gone to The Flamingo for dinner. She should be back soon. Can I help you with something, Sophie?”
“Some turtles are coming in at Navarre! They’ve been spotted in the water, and Millicent and I were supposed to be on patrol tonight.” She paused. “Anyway, Daddy’s taking me, and Haley said she wanted to see them.”
Mary Alice had come up beside me. “They’re coming in to lay their eggs?”
“Yes, and I’ve got to go. But tell Haley maybe some will come in tomorrow night.”
“I will,” I assured her. “She’ll be sorry she missed it.”
“They’re so big!”
I looked at the child’s face, flushed with excitement, and realized for the first time that she was going to be a beautiful woman.
She turned toward the elevator. “I’ve got to go.”
“Sophie,” I said, “wait a minute. Did you hear somebody screaming a few minutes ago? A real, loud scream?”
She giggled. “That was me doing my Tarzan yell. Daddy was down on the stile and he knows when I do the yell, I need him.” She punched the elevator button. “Why? Did I scare you?”
“I was considering going to someone’s rescue.”
Sophie giggled again. The elevator opened and she stepped in, giving Sister and me a backward wave.
“See?” Sister said. “I told you it was a kid.”
She gloats when she’s right. “Think you can keep down some soup now?” I asked. “Some Chicken and Stars?”
She could, and so could I. In fact, I thought I had myself pretty much under control until Fred called to say he was home, at which time I took the phone into the bedroom, closed the door and bawled. I told him about finding Millicent’s body and how her throat was torn; I told him about finding Emily’s body and how her eyes had stared toward the water. “Oh, Fred,” I ended, sobbing.
“What?” he was saying, “What? Tell me again, honey.”
So I told him again, this time a little slower and a fraction more sensibly. When I finished, there was a long silence. Then Fred said, “I’m coming down there.”
It took me several minutes to convince him to wait until the next day, that I would worry too much about him driving down two-lane Highway 31 in the dead of night.
“Where is Haley?” he asked.
“At The Flamingo.”
“And Mary Alice?”
“She’s in the living room.”
“Y’all stay put. I’ll be down there tomorrow. You and I’ll stay at the Holiday Inn.”
Sister looked up from something she was writing when I came back in. “When’s the knight in shining armor arriving?”
“Tomorrow,” I admitted.
“I figured.” She closed her notebook. “What did he say?”
“He said to stay put until he gets here. He said we’d stay at the Holiday Inn.”
“Don’t be silly, there’s plenty of room here. But, Mouse, that man treats you like a child.”
“I know it,” I agreed. I wasn’t about to say how much better I felt just knowing he was coming. I nodded at the notebook. “What are you writing?”
“I’ve started a new short story. Gets my mind off things. They keep telling us we should write about what we know, so this is going to be about a manic-depressive man who marries two lesbian sisters. At different times, of course.”
“Of course. This is something you know?”
Sister grinned. “You bet. They live in Birmingham.”
I hoped she wasn’t serious.
She got up and announced that she was going to check on Fairchild and did I want to go? I didn’t. To my chagrin, she took the notebook with her. In a few minutes she was back with the news that the doctor had sedated Fairchild, that his blood press
ure was soaring, and that Eddie was there and was comparatively calm. He had told her that the note from Emily said simply “Fairchild, forgive me.”
“For what?” I asked. “Killing Millicent?”
“That’s what it sounds like, doesn’t it?”
“Or does she want forgiveness for killing herself?”
The door opened and Haley called out, “Hey, y’all.” She came into the living room followed by Frances, Berry West, and the man I had seen Fairchild talking to on the stile the night we had walked back from the Redneck, the night before Millicent was killed. He was younger than I had thought that night, probably in his late fifties, but my view had been from above, and the light had been shining on what I had thought was a totally bald head. But there was no mistaking; this was the same man. I had seen his face several times as he looked up toward the apartments.
Berry hugged Sister and then me as I was introduced to him. A handshake would have sufficed, but the hug was nice; he smelled like The Flamingo’s grilled grouper with an underlay of expensive soap.
The other man was Jason Marley, who had apparently accompanied them to dinner.
“I told Jason how much we loved his pink house,” Frances gushed.
“It’s unbelievable,” I said, truthfully, shaking his hand.
Sister pointed vaguely toward the chairs. “Y’all have a seat. Can I get anybody a nightcap?”
“You have any bourbon?” Berry asked.
“Sure.”
“Bourbon and water then.”
“Same for me,” Jason said.
“I’ll get it.” Haley headed for the kitchen while we sat down. “Why didn’t you and Mama come to The Flamingo, Aunt Sister?”
Mary Alice and I looked at each other. “Your mama and I went over to Emerald Towers to see if we could locate Emily Peacock.”
“That was early, though.”
Mary Alice, Berry, and I were sitting on the sofa. Jason was in one of the rockers, and Frances had chosen a pillow on the floor on which she was perched as if she were riding sidesaddle. “Wait until she tries to get up,” Sister had mumbled. Now she said, “Emily was dead when we got there. She had apparently committed suicide.”
There was the silence of shock. Then we heard a glass crash into the sink, and Frances came up from the floor with such agility that I was right proud of her.
“You found another body?” She looked accusingly from Mary Alice to me.
I could sense Sister bristling. “Yes, we did, Frances. Too bad you weren’t there.”
“I wish I hadn’t been,” I said.
“You found a dead body?” Berry said. And then, “Jason, are you all right?”
Jason Marley was leaning forward, the palms of both hands pressed against his eyes. He didn’t look up when he said, “God, not Emily. Emily’s dead? What happened?”
“She shot herself, Jason.” Sister’s voice was gentle, but the words were harsh with finality.
“Oh, God,” he said. “Not Emily.”
Haley came in from the kitchen with a paper towel wrapped around her bleeding hand and a glass in the other. “Jason?” she said. “Here, drink this. It’ll make you feel better.” She handed him his bourbon; he stared at it as if he weren’t sure what it was.
“I’m going to get me one,” Frances said, disappearing into the kitchen.
“What’s going on?” Berry asked.
We explained that Emily Peacock lived at Emerald Towers and that we had found her body, apparently a suicide, when we went to tell her about Millicent.
“You’ve found two bodies?” He was beginning to sound like Frances.
“This place is chock-full of bodies,” she called from the kitchen.
“Shut up, Frances,” Sister said. Then to Berry, “Yes. Emily Peacock and Millicent Weatherby.”
“Millicent Weatherby is the woman who owned all the property on the bay?” Berry looked over at Jason Marley.
“Was!” Frances again. I might have to belt her one.
“She was.” Jason took a long drink from his glass. “She was the majority stockholder of Bay Ranch. Emily was a stockholder, too.” He shook his head sadly. “Both of them dead. I can’t believe it!” He turned up the glass, finished the drink, and stood up. “I’m sorry, but I think I’d better call it a night. Berry, I gave you a key, didn’t I? Just come on over any time. You know which room is yours. Thanks, ladies, for the good company. I enjoyed dinner. I hope to see you again soon.” He called “Good night” as he closed the door.
“Well, my goodness,” Mary Alice said. “Reckon he’s all right?”
“I’d say he was just very upset and needed to be by himself,” Haley said.
“Is your hand cut much?” I asked.
She peeled the paper towel back and examined it. “It’s okay. I’ll put a Band-Aid on it.”
Frances had come back into the living room and now she sat in the chair Jason had vacated. “Could Jason be worried about Blue Bay Ranch, Berry? Will the two deaths mess things up?”
“I doubt it. I’m sure everybody in the organization will be emotionally upset but, knowing Jason like I do, everything will be okay legally.”
“But the land was Millicent’s,” Haley said. “Won’t that hold things up until her estate is settled?”
Berry leaned over and put his glass on the coffee table. “No, the land belongs to Blue Bay Ranch Corporation. At least that’s usually the way these things are set up.” He held his fingers in a triangle. “See, this finger is Jason. He wants to develop the land and has the financing to do it. Now,” he wiggled the other finger, “this is Millicent who owns the land. So they form a development corporation with her land and his money.” His thumbs formed the base of the triangle, the corporation. “The land and the money are now the Blue Bay Ranch Coporation, not Jason’s and Millicent’s, except they are stockholders, of course.”
“So wouldn’t Fairchild inherit Millicent’s shares?” Haley asked.
“I doubt it,” Berry said. “Usually, in a case like this, the original shares revert to the company. It’s for the protection of the development. I expect Millicent had a hefty insurance policy for her husband, though, that the company paid for so he wouldn’t be left out in the cold if she died before the development was completed.”
“A million dollars,” I said.
Berry nodded. “I figured it would be a good one.”
“So any shares Emily Peacock had in Bay Ranch would revert to the company, too,” Sister said.
“I imagine so, if we’re talking about the original charter here.”
Haley spoke up. “So what you’re saying is that now the two women are dead, Jason Marley is the principal share-holder of Blue Bay Ranch.”
“Hell, he may be the only one.” Berry looked at Haley and shrugged.
“What were y’all doing over at Emerald Towers anyway?” Haley asked. Berry had said good-night and left not long after Jason had and the four of us had somehow ended up at the dining-room table. Sister, I noticed, was sipping plain Coke again.
“I volunteered,” Mary Alice said. “Fairchild was trying to locate Emily to tell her about Millicent’s death. He didn’t think she was at home but figured some of her neighbors would know how to get in touch with her at her daughter’s.”
I pressed my fingers against my temples. “It was awful. She’d been there for two days.”
Sister got up. “The Chicken and Stars may make a return visit.” She disappeared into her room and shut the door.
“Do, Jesus!” Frances said. “The surgeon general ought to label this place as hazardous to your health.”
Haley turned to me. “Do you think it was a suicide, Mama?”
“She left Fairchild a note saying she was sorry. Who knows?”
“Maybe we ought to talk Aunt Sister into going home.”
“Fat chance. We couldn’t get your Aunt Sister out of here with a crowbar. Besides, Officer Andrews has informed us we have to stay at her beck and call.”
Haley and I looked at her. She tore another strip and placed it on the stack.
“So?” I asked.
“So maybe that’s what we’ve got here. We’ve got two widowers, already. Fairchild and Jason Marley. Three counting Berry West. Now what are the odds against that?”
“They’re killing their wives so they can travel?” I asked.
“Of course not.” Frances gave me a withering look for being a smart aleck. “It’s got something to do with Blue Bay Ranch.” Another strip hit the pile. “Mark my words.”
“But Emily committed suicide. And she didn’t make anyone a widower.”
“But her death made them richer. Except for Berry.”
True. After we were in bed, I kept thinking of all the wealthy widowers involved with Blue Bay Ranch. Before I put out my light, I did remember, though, to tell Haley that Sophie had come by to get her to go see the turtles coming in to lay their eggs.
“I’m sorry I missed that,” Haley said.
“Well, she said they would probably come in tomorrow night, too. She said she’s on patrol protecting the nests, that Millicent had been taking her.”
Haley put her book down. “That was why Millicent didn’t want to sell the land over on the bay, wasn’t it? I wonder if Jason Marley will remember there’s such a thing as the environment.”
“I hope so. You know, he’s younger than I thought he was. I saw him talking to Fairchild the other night and I could have sworn he was bald.”
Haley giggled. “Mama! You thought that rug was his hair? It wasn’t even on straight when he left.”
“Well, I guess you just inherited your father’s power of observation, not your mother’s.” I turned off my light and closed my eyes. Smartass child!
“Mama?”
“What?”
“I’m really sorry you and Aunt Sister were the ones who found Emily. I know it must have been awful.”
“It was.” I heard the elevator open and close. Probably the Berliners coming back from the turtle watch. The elevator. “Stupid! Stupid! Get in the elevator, you stupid bitch!” I sighed and turned on my side. Damn it! Why did I keep remembering that dream?
