A Crying Shame: A Jesse Watson Mystery

by Ann Mullen

“I doubt if that’s going to happen,” Isabel said.

  “Let’s go dig out a couple pairs of jeans and get ready,” Abby said to Isabel. “I’m sure I still own some.”

  “Y’all go get dressed and Claire and I’ll clean up the table.”

  “I’ll go to the study and see what’s on the monitors. We need to know for sure if the cops are out there,” Randy said. “I’ll scope out the area and let you know what I find.”

  “You don’t know how to operate my stuff,” Abby said. “You’ll mess up something.”

  Randy got up from the table and headed out of the room. “Don’t be silly, Mother. I was the one who helped set up most of your stuff.”

  “But I’ve had more equipment installed since then.”

  “I’m sure I can figure it out.”

  Claire and I cleaned up the table while Randy went to the study and Abby and Isabel went upstairs to get dressed.

  “You never did answer my question about what you wanted to get from your safe,” I said to Claire as we carried dishes to the kitchen. “I sure hope it’s worth it, because we’re getting these innocent people involved in our plot. I’d hate to see any of them go down if we make a mistake.”

  “As long as we can get in and out of the house without getting caught, we won’t have a thing to worry about. It could be a little difficult.”

  “That’s what worries me. I could do it without hesitation, but I’m not so sure about you. You have a tendency to freeze up in traumatic situations.”

  “It won’t happen this time. I can promise you.”

  “Whatever is in that safe must be really important.”

  Claire didn’t say anything.

  “Okay, I’ll trust you on this one, but it better be worth it.”

  Fifteen minutes later, Abby and Isabel came down the stairs, dressed in jeans and pullover sweaters. With our coats on, the two of them could easily pass for me and Claire.

  “Here, put on my knit cap,” I said to Isabel. “It’ll cover your beautiful white hair.”

  “I can tell that you’re a P.I.,” Isabel said. “You tell a good lie.”

  “That’s my job.”

  Claire grabbed her stylish, expensive felt hat and silk scarf and handed it to Abby. She helped Abby put it on and showed her how to cover her face with the scarf.

  “If anyone should see you, they’ll think that you’re covering your face to protect against the snow flurries.”

  I looked at Isabel and said, “I’m sorry, but the only thing I have is this wool toboggan. I’m not into stylish clothes like my sister. I wear what’s practical and affordable.”

  “That’s okay,” Isabel said. “Abby has a scarf, I’m sure.”

  “I’ll get you one of mine,” Abby said.

  Claire looked over at me and said, “They remind me of us. They’re sisters, yet they’re so different.”

  “If they were alike, they wouldn’t be any fun,” I joked. “Look at us. We love each other and would stand together through thick and thin, but we couldn’t be more different if we tried.”

  “That’s a sweet thing to say,” Randy said as he walked out into the hallway where we were standing. “I have some good news, and I have some bad news. What do you want first?”

  “Just lay it on the line, Randy. We can handle it,” Claire said.

  I looked at her and smiled. I was so proud of my sister. I’d been jealous of her most of my life, and a little while back I had finally come to realize that I should’ve spent more time just being her sister and less time coveting her lifestyle. She didn’t have the perfect marriage like I had expected; instead, she did the best she could to have the life she wanted. Sometimes they don’t go hand-in-hand. I was hoping the incident with Carl at their wedding was a fluke, but I realize now that when a man acts like that, it only gets worse. She’s dealt with his bad behavior long enough. It was time for her to take control of her life, and if whatever was in that safe could help her, I was willing to go the distance to make that happen. The hell with Carl Benson—he doesn’t deserve forgiveness from Claire. He belongs behind bars, or in the belly of a big old grizzly bear. Too bad we don’t have any of those in our neck of the woods. We do, however, have black bears.

  “I don’t see a patrol car or an undercover car parked out there anywhere, but the security officer who patrols the neighborhood has circled the block three times in the last thirty minutes. That means he’s on the lookout. We have to time it just right or you’ll get caught for sure.”

  “We’re going in through the back door.”

  “We are?” Claire said.

  “You can’t go in through the front door,” Abby said. “Babs will be watching Carl’s house like a hawk. It wouldn’t surprise me if she doesn’t venture out in the night and snoop around.”

  “Then we’re going to need someone to sit in the study and monitor the grounds,” I said. I turned to Abby. “You said you can hear people talking. Can you also use your system to speak out like you were using a megaphone or a bullhorn?”

  “My system can do everything. Why?”

  “Will you stay here and watch the monitors?” I asked Randy.

  “You don’t think I’m leaving the four of you alone, do you?”

  “Good,” I said. “If you should see anything suspicious like Babs hiding in the bushes, I want you to get on the P.A. system and yell at her. I don’t care what you say, but you have to get rid of her. If a cop comes up and walks around the place, I want you to set off the alarm on Abby’s car. We should be able to hear it inside the house.”

  “You can, “Isabel said. “When Carl bought that new sports car, he kept setting the alarm off accidentally. We heard it all the way over here, and his garage is on the other side of the house.”

  “Are there any other signals we need to discuss before we venture out into the night?”

  My cell phone in my purse went off and startled us all.

  “Lord, what is that?” Isabel asked, her hands starting to shake.

  “Oh, no, it’s my cell phone,” I said as I walked back into the parlor and dug into my purse. Billy’s name came up on my Caller ID. I looked back at everyone and said, “I don’t think this is going to be good.”

  “Just hurry up and answer it,” Abby said. “I’m getting hot in this coat.”

  “Take it off, silly,” Isabel said.

  I put my finger to my mouth and whispered for everyone to be quiet as I flipped open the phone. “Hello, honey,” I said in a low voice as if I was on the verge of going to sleep. “Is everything all right?”

  “I was afraid you had convinced Claire to do something illegal, and I just wanted to make sure that I was wrong, and the two of you were safely tucked away in one of Abigail’s beds.”

  “Actually, we were just hanging around chit-chatting. You know how women can be when they get together and talk about men.”

  “I hope you’re having a good time.”

  “Oh, I am. Abby is a wonderful hostess, and so is her sister, Isabel. We had steak for dinner and cheesecake afterwards. I didn’t eat the cake, because I’m watching my waistline.”

  “We’re watching it, too.”

  “Go to bed. We’re doing fine and we haven’t been arrested, yet.”

  “What?”

  “I was just kidding, Billy. How’s everybody there?”

  “Your mother is so good with children and the animals. She has this place working like a fine-tuned guitar. The kids are in bed and the animals are asleep by the fire. I’m rocking Maisy at the moment.”

  The vision I had in my head of Billy rocking a small infant to sleep brought tears to my eyes.

  “I wish I was there to see that,” I said. “I’ll let you go so you can put Maisy to bed. Thanks for calling, Billy. We’ll talk when I get home. I love you.”

  Billy said good-bye and broke the connection.

  “Are you okay, my dear?” Abby asked as she walked up to me and put her tiny arm around my shoulder. “Why are you cryi
ng?”

  “That was Billy,” I said. “I love him so much. I never thought I could love someone like that. Sometimes it scares me.”

  “Don’t be afraid, my dear,” Abby said. “Embrace those feelings and never let go. I miss Pete when he’s not around, too, so I know how you feel. We’ve been happily married for fifty years.”

  I dried my tears on my sleeve and said, “Where is Pete?”

  “He’s out of town on business,” Abby said, winking at me. “That’s what he told me, but I know he went to play some golf. I don’t know why men feel they have to have an excuse to do what they want to do. I didn’t go with him because I knew he’d spend all of his time on the golf course. I’d rather be at home. Look at what I would’ve missed if I’d been gone.”

  “You might change your mind about that before the night is over.” I scanned the room. “Let’s get our plan straight. Randy will watch the grounds. If Babs shows up, scare her pants off by yelling at her through the P.A. system. If the security guard shows up and gets out of his vehicle, set off Abby’s car alarm. If we encounter serious trouble—like Detective Trainum or one of his men showing up, call my cell phone.” I looked at Abby. “Do you have a cell phone?”

  “I sure do,” she said. “And so does Isabel.”

  “Don’t forget me,” Randy said. “I have one, too.”

  “Can you program my number in Abby and Isabel’s phone and then put their numbers in mine?”

  “Sure,” he said. “It’ll only take me a minute.” He took our phones and went to work. A few minutes later, he was giving us instructions on his handiwork. We were set to go.

  “Are we ready?”

  “Jesse, we need a coat,” Claire said. “I didn’t bring an extra one.”

  I looked at Abby and said. “What do you have that we can wear?”

  “I don’t know. Let’s see.”

  We walked to the hall closet and looked inside. I grabbed a quilted flannel jacket for myself and a woman’s down coat for Claire.

  “That’s Pete’s work jacket,” Abby said. “I’m sure you’d rather have something nicer than that.”

  “I’m fine with this, Abby. We’re going to need a couple of handkerchiefs. Does Pete have any?”

  “He’s a refined man,” Abby said. “Of course, he does.” Abby motioned to Isabel who immediately turned and left the room.

  “You sound like my mother,” I said. “Mom says that a well-bred man always carries a handkerchief.”

  “I keep telling my son the same thing, but he doesn’t listen to me.”

  “Why do we need handkerchiefs?” Claire asked.

  “Remember that horrible smell in the house?”

  “Yes, I certainly do,” she replied. It’s not an odor one soon forgets.”

  “It’s still there.”

  Claire turned up her nose, made a face and asked, “How long do you think the odor will linger?”

  “Until someone comes in and cleans up the mess. You’ll have to hire a professional to get rid of the smell, or you could open all the windows for the next six months and maybe some of it will dissipate. Depending on how long the body has been there, determines how long it will take to get rid of the stench. The smell of death hangs in the air long after the body has been removed. It gets into the walls and the furniture and is almost impossible to get rid of. The longer the stench is allowed to linger, the harder it will be to eradicate.”

  “Actually, they do have companies out there you can hire to come out and clean up a crime scene,” Abby said. “They use some pretty heavy-duty chemicals to sanitize the place after they clean up the blood, guts, gore, tissue…”

  “I understand,” Claire said, obviously repulsed at the thought.

  Isabel returned with two white handkerchiefs and handed them to us.

  “Thanks,” I said to her. I stuffed mine in the pocket of my jeans, and told Claire to do the same. Then I stuffed my cell phone in my jacket. I reached over and pulled my gloves from the pocket of my jacket that Abby was wearing and then looked at Claire. She got my message. She ran to the parlor and got her gloves out of her purse. When she returned, I asked my partners in crime, “Are we ready?”

  “Let me check the monitors and do a quick sweep of the area one more time before you leave,” Randy said. “It’ll only take a couple of minutes.”

  Randy left the room. We stood in the hallway and waited for his return.

  “Oops, I almost forgot,” I said as I turned to Abby. “Do you have a flashlight?”

  Isabel immediately left the room and then returned with a flashlight.

  “Thanks,” I said when she handed it to me. I looked at Abby. “It’s kind of weird to have someone at your beck and call.”

  “I can see you’ve never had servants,” Abby said.

  “Shame on you, Abigail,” Isabel admonished her. “You don’t call the hired help servants. They’re called housekeepers, butlers, assistants, gardeners, handy man, or whatever… but you don’t called them servants. I know you have more sense than that. We’re not living in 1865. We don’t own slaves anymore. Your problem is that you have too much money. It makes you act like a selfish brat.”

  “What are you getting so mad about? You’re not the hired help.”

  “That’s right. I’m your sister, but you treat me like the hired help. It’s getting old. I figured if I let you have your way, we’d be able to get along, but instead you’ve become insufferable. Now stop treating me with such disrespect, or I’m leaving. Just because I don’t have a husband anymore, it doesn’t mean that I’m incapable of living alone. You asked me to move in so we could be together, but the minute I did, you started treating me badly. I thought you’d grow out of it. You act like… what’s that word… oh, yeah… diva. Diva! Diva!”

  “Okay,” Abby said. “I didn’t realize you were so sensitive.”

  “I’m not sensitive,” Isabel said. “I’m bored with your bad behavior. Get over yourself and act decent. You’re getting on my nerves.”

  “Okay,” Abby said. “I’ll behave myself if you stop calling me a diva.”

  “Every time you say or do something obnoxious, I’m going to call you Abigail the Diva! Did you know that the only reason I cook for you is because your cooking is horrible? It’s awful. The first time I ate your chili, I almost died from heartburn. I burped garlic for two days!”

  “Typical sisters,” I said to them. “You two are just like us. We fight over the silliest things, but when it comes down to the important stuff, we usually work it out. Maybe you could work on your attitude, Abby, and Isabel; I suggest you put Abby in her place when she turns into a diva.”

  “I shrill at the thought!” Abby responded as she turned her back to Isabel. She lowered her voice and said, “Isabel’s only talking like this because you two are here. She’s just showing off.”

  “It’s time to go, ladies,” Randy said as he came back into the hallway. “The security car just passed, so we have about ten minutes for you to get from here, through the yard, and then into the house before he’ll be coming around again.”

  “Let’s roll,” Abby said.

  “Make sure that your cell phone is on,” Randy instructed as he looked from one of us to the other. “I’ve programmed all of them so that all you have to do is punch the number five, and the call will come straight to me. I’ve decided to use me as the home base instead of you all trying to call each other. It could get hectic. Keep in touch with me for an update, and I’ll keep my eyes open for trouble. My main concern is that we don’t get caught, and no one gets hurt.” He looked at Abby. “Drive carefully. You don’t have any special place to go. All you want to do is kill time—not yourselves.” He turned and looked at Claire and me. “If you get caught, you could become a suspect in this murder. Stranger things have happened.”

  “I could tell you a few strange stories, myself,” I said.

  “She’s not kidding about that,” Claire agreed.

  “Okay, I guess we’re
ready,” Randy said. “Be careful.”

  Claire removed a key from the ring and then handed Abby her car keys. After a quick explanation in the use of its gadgets, we were on our way. Abby and Isabel went out the front door as we went out the back. Randy returned to the study to man the surveillance monitors.

  When Claire and I walked out the door, I had no idea that this simple plan would turn out to be not so simple after all. I should’ve known better.

  CHAPTER 17

  The dark air was frigid and the snow pelted our faces as we sneaked out the back door of Abby’s house. By now, the snow was at least four inches deep. I was glad that I had worn my boots, but poor Claire had on leather tennis shoes and I knew it wouldn’t be long before her feet would get cold.

  “Lead the way,” I said to her. “Hurry.”

  We crouched down and trudged through snow and unforeseeable objects hidden by a blanket of the white stuff, until we got to the back door of Carl’s house. We had to crawl under the crime scene tape to avoid disturbing it. My body ached and my back was stiff by the time Claire slipped the key into the lock. A clink later and we were inside what used to be her laundry room.

  “Disregard the fact that this is a crime scene. If you were going to reconcile with your husband, you would have every right to be here,” I said as I shook the snow from my clothes. “But since the two of you are going through a divorce…”

  “Disregarding the fact that this is a crime scene, it wouldn’t matter,” Claire said. “I get the house in the divorce.”

  “What’s Carl doing living here if the house is going to be yours?”

  “When I left him, he moved back in. He was staying in a penthouse at one of those high-priced hotels. I guess it got a little too pricey even for him. During the divorce negotiations, I agreed to let him stay because I was living with Mom, and I was happy. I still am, and so are the kids.”

  “Let’s talk about this later,” I whispered. “Let’s hurry up and get out of here. I feel funny in this house.” I pulled my handkerchief from my pocket and held it up to my nose. “I’m ready whenever you are.”

  Without warning, several lights in the house came on.