If Hooks Could Kill

by Betty Hechtman

  I rushed to Barry’s bedroom. When I saw the elaborate bedroom set and his-and-hers dressers, I was stunned. I started opening drawers looking for something familiar. I picked up a handful of gold jewelry. I thought I heard some kind of noise, but chalked it up to something coming from the street. I looked through the gold chains, stunned. There was definitely something weird going on and I was going to ask Barry about it as soon as I could.

  Suddenly the door slammed shut behind me and I jumped. I tried to tell myself that the breeze had blown it closed, but even so, I wanted to get out of there now. I pulled on the handle and nothing happened.

  CHAPTER 31

  The cop pushed my head down as he ushered me into the back of the cruiser. I just wanted to say yuck at the hard plastic slightly stinky backseat. My hands were behind my back in handcuffs. It had been an awful walk of shame as they led me out of the apartment. It seemed like all the tenants had come out to watch.

  I still had no idea what was going on. When Barry’s bedroom door had finally opened there was a pair of cops on the other side. I tried to explain I was a friend of the owner of the condo and asked them to call. I showed them the key. But who were those people in the living room, glaring at me, saying I’d broken into their home and was stealing their jewelry?

  At the police station, they handcuffed me to a bench and the two cops went off to do some kind of paperwork.

  “You again?” a uniform said from behind the desk. Let’s just say this wasn’t the first or even second time I ended up there, though I’d never actually ended up in a cell. I pleaded with him to call Barry.

  It seemed like I sat there forever, but it was more like an hour. One of the cops came and undid my handcuffs and I stood up just as Barry came in. His usual blank face was twisted in upset.

  As soon as I was released, he put his arm around my back and ushered me out the door.

  I didn’t say a word until we were in his Tahoe. Then I turned to him. “Do you want to explain?”

  He sighed deeply. “I could ask you what you were doing there,” he said.

  “Don’t even try.” I wasn’t about to be put on the defensive.

  “You remember the condo I showed you in Simi Valley?” he began. I certainly did. Barry had shown it to me trying to convince me it was the perfect spot for us to make a fresh start—if we got married. It was far from my job and friends and I had nixed it.

  “I was so sure you’d like it and the real estate agent said someone else was going to make an offer on it.”

  “You didn’t. You bought it?” I said, incredulous.

  “Not quite. I put down a deposit on it and put my place on the market.” He paused. “I never guessed my place would sell so fast. When we broke up, I tried to undo everything. I pulled my offer on the condo in Simi and got part of my deposit back, but the people buying my place wouldn’t let me back out of the deal. I was still trying to work it out when I ended up in the hospital. The sale went through and escrow closed while I was staying at your place. Some of my buddies cleared it out for me. Those people are the new owners.” He blew out his breath. “I haven’t told Jeffrey yet.”

  Now I understood the argument I’d overheard. No wonder Barry had forbid his son to go to their place. “I can sort of understand, you not telling me, but how could you have not told Jeffrey?”

  Barry looked at the ground. “I’m a lousy dad.”

  He’d never seemed so open and vulnerable. I thought back to how he’d flinched when I was struggling with the juvenile shoplifters and for the first time I really understood how much the incident had shaken his confidence.

  “I have taken advantage of your kindness long enough. I’ll tell Jeffrey the whole story and we’ll move to that extended stay place until I can work things out.”

  I started to say something, but he put his hand up to stop me. “It’s done.” He started the motor and pulled out of the parking structure. He stared straight ahead and said nothing. I couldn’t stand the silence so I began to babble about Adele and Eric and the coins and the watch with the weird inscription. He drove me back to the bookstore without saying a word.

  I was shocked to realize it was late afternoon when I walked in. I found Mrs. Shedd and apologized for disappearing. I told her the whole story and she responded with a shrug and shake of her head. She’d gotten used to my crazy stories by now. She might have been upset, but all the business the film crew was bringing in kept her in a permanent state of bliss.

  My next stop was the kids’ department, hoping I’d find Adele. She was busy arranging some new books about school and fall that had come in. She looked up as I crossed onto the carpet with the cows jumping over the moon.

  “What happened to you?” she said. “I waited for a while, but some of us worry about being at work when we’re supposed to be. I had to leave.” I gave her a brief explanation and asked if she’d brought my bag with. She went back to the cabinet at the back of her department and retrieved it.

  “Pink, you got arrested again,” she said, shaking her head. “If you had the open and honest relationship Eric and I have you wouldn’t have to go sneaking around.” I bit my tongue to keep from mentioning that just that afternoon she’d done something she didn’t want Eric to know about. What would be the point?

  After what I’d just gone through, I needed something normal and was relieved to work on the September calendar of events, though I was counting the minutes until I could leave. I wanted a shower as soon as possible to wash away all the ick I’d picked up in the backseat of the cruiser and on the bench in the cop shop. When I finally left, I didn’t even want to wait until I got home and went straight to Dinah’s instead. Maybe I wanted some sympathetic company, too. I looked down the sidewalk as I went up to her house. The production crew was still busy at work.

  I was glad she was home. She took one look at me and said, “Okay, what happened?”

  “Is it that obvious?” I said as I followed her inside.

  “Probably not to the average person, but to me,” she said with a knowing look. I realized I’d been holding my shoulders in a stiff position and finally let them relax. I could see she was getting ready to go somewhere. I pointed toward the glitter vest she’d put on, not her usual attire.

  “You have something up with Commander, don’t you?”

  Dinah laughed. “I can’t believe the costumes that man has gotten me to wear.” She held out the glimmering green vest and said they were hosting disco night at the senior center. “They love it when we dress up.” She took another look at me and forgot about the vest and her upcoming evening and ordered me to spill.

  “I need a shower first,” I said. My friend didn’t ask any questions, just handed me a fresh towel and pointed me toward the bathroom. Even though I had to put on the same clothes that had been through the ordeal, I felt better after washing my hair and showering. Dinah was eagerly awaiting my story when I came back with a towel wrapped around my wet hair. I thought her eyes were going to pop out of her head when I told her about the condo and the strange people who were living there now, my almost arrest and Barry’s admission.

  “What is wrong with that guy?” she said. I brought up the shooting incident and how I thought it had affected him.

  “But still,” she said not letting him off the hook.

  I went back to how my detour to his place had all come about. As soon as Dinah heard I’d been to Adele’s she wanted to know what it looked like. She shook her head with amazement when I told her about the black-and-white decor. I moved right on to the important part about the coins and the watch and showed them to her on my BlackBerry screen.

  We both figured the Rolex was worth a lot, but neither of us knew anything about coins. We went to Dinah’s computer and she did a search.

  “Wow,” Dinah said looking at the screen. I looked over her shoulder and echoed her sentiment. Coins looking remarkably like the ones I’d seen were worth fifty thousand dollars each. When we’d recovered from the shock, I scr
olled back through the pictures until I got to the quarters we’d seen in the package at Commander Blaine’s.

  “Maybe we should see what we can find out about these.”

  “It’s amazing what you can find on the Internet,” Dinah said doing another search. It took a bit of checking, but she finally pointed to a screen at an auction site. “There’s a coin like them.” I bent down to get a better view. It was nothing compared to the value of the two gold coins, but each of the quarters we’d seen was worth fifty dollars.

  “I think it’s safe to assume that the whole box of flower pins had coins in them. No wonder somebody took them from the bookstore,” I said. “And that’s why when I found them in the storage locker, they were cut open.” I thought back to all the discs with flowers on them. “The bullion stitch was her way of marking the pieces that had gold or silver in them. Even the owl had a few bullion stitches on the front and an expensive watch inside. Which is why I’m sure she never meant for us to sell those pieces at the fair. She shoved the bin on us because she was trying to hide them from the person who came to the door, and sent us out the back way so the person wouldn’t see us.”

  “Of course, you’re right. She had hidden the coins and watch in the crochet pieces, but she must have been afraid the person would find them anyway.” There was a moment of silence as Dinah and I looked at each other.

  “You’re thinking what I’m thinking, aren’t you? The reason someone shot Kelly was because of the coins and the watch,” I said and Dinah nodded in agreement.

  “We keep saying person, but don’t we mean Dan?” Dinah said.

  “I’m still going back and forth about whether it’s him. Whoever it was, Kelly mustn’t have realized how desperate they were. Anyone could have overheard Adele in her drama about the stitch and figured out where the pieces with the coins were in the bookstore and used the bookstore event as a distraction to take them.” “I wonder where Kelly got the coins and watch?” Dinah said.

  I thought back to her father and his design studio. There had been such an eclectic mix of stuff. I remembered the mounted stamp collection and the collage made out of old jewelry pieces and coins. I suggested they might have come from him. “But what’s the difference anyway,” I said. “None of this information about the coins is the smoking gun evidence Detective Heather needs.”

  “I hate to rush you,” Dinah said. “But I have to go.”

  I wished Dinah a fun night with Commander as I left. She laughed about the night part. “To the seniors, night is six o’clock.”

  As I pulled into my driveway, the first thing I noticed was that Barry’s Tahoe wasn’t there. Nor was there a bike in the backyard as I walked toward the kitchen door. I could see Cosmo inside the glass back door waiting for me. The two cats circled behind him. And Blondie was no doubt sacked out in her chair.

  When I opened the locked door, Cosmo greeted me before rushing outside. The cats made a beeline for their bowls, which were empty. The house seemed quiet, too quiet. I heard a key in the front door and a few moments later, Samuel walked in carrying some groceries. “Where are Barry and Jeffrey?” I asked.

  “Gone,” he said setting down the bag and beginning to unload it. I walked down the hall toward the room where Barry had been staying. The bed had been stripped. The top of the dresser was empty. Not even a sock on the floor. I went on to the room Jeffrey had used. It wasn’t stripped quite as bare. The bed looked hastily made. The computer was gone from the desk and the closet was empty except for a dress shirt that had fallen off the hanger.

  I went back into the kitchen. Samuel was putting some peaches in a bowl. “Were you here when they left?” I asked.

  Samuel nodded. “It was all very tense. Jeffrey looked like he was going to cry and Barry seemed upset and in a hurry.”

  “Was anybody helping them?” I asked, thinking of Detective Heather.

  “Some guy,” Samuel said. “I think he might have been Barry’s partner.”

  “Oh,” I said, feeling guilty at my happiness that it wasn’t the attractive blond detective.

  “I guess that’s that, then.”

  “What happened? Why did they leave so suddenly?” Samuel looked up at me with reproach in his eyes. “That poor kid. I felt sorry for him.”

  “I thought you were so upset I’d let them stay here.”

  Samuel went back to emptying the grocery bag. “They kind of grew on me.” He took out a jar of almond butter mixed with honey. “I got this for Jeffrey. He really liked it.” Samuel’s brow furrowed as he looked at me. “Did you do something?”

  I recounted the whole story and waited to see my son’s reaction.

  “So, the guy made a mistake,” Samuel said.

  “Now you like Barry?” I said, incredulous. My younger son had always seemed to be upset about him when Barry and I were a couple. Now he was defending him and I was the bad guy.

  “I don’t hate him,” Samuel said. “And Jeffrey is an okay kid.” Samuel finished putting away what he’d bought, then announced he was going out to hang with some friends. As soon as he left, the house seemed too quiet.

  I showered again, still feeling some ick from my cop encounter, changed into fresh clothes and called Mason. I caught him in his car. “I have to get out of here.”

  “Ah, the detective driving you crazy?” he said with a chuckle.

  “Nope,” I said. “They’re gone. Moved out, kaput. And the quiet is making me nervous. I had quite a day.”

  Mason said he’d picked me up in a few minutes.

  I grabbed my carryall and went out the front door to wait. When I saw Mason’s black Mercedes pull up to the curb, I went down the walkway and pulled open the passenger door. I jumped back when I saw the seat wasn’t empty. Jaimee glared up at me as Mason leaned across the seat. “I hope you don’t mind we have company,” he said in a forced bright voice.

  I got into the backseat. “We finally worked out a location for the wedding,” Mason said looking over his shoulder. “We just have to pick out their wedding gift.” He leaned his head toward me. “It won’t take long. Then we can get dinner or something.” I heard Jaimee snort in the front seat.

  “Tell me about your day,” Mason said.

  “Later,” I said. I was hardly going to talk about my ride in the police cruiser in front of Jaimee. Nor did I want to discuss the coins and watch. I almost got out of the car. It was a toss-up, which made me feel more uneasy at the moment. Being a third wheel with Mason and Jaimee or feeling jumpy in my too quiet house. It’s good I didn’t want to talk because I wouldn’t have had a chance, anyway. As we drove across the Valley, Jaimee kept fussing about the arrangements for Thursday’s honeymoon, which apparently was another gift from them.

  I looked out the window as we cruised along the freeway and she went on and on. Personally I thought the annoying tone of her voice was grounds for divorce all on its own.

  “If we do it your way,” she said. “They’ll have to stop in Honolulu.”

  “It isn’t as if they have to change planes. They don’t even have to get off if they don’t want to. It just makes a stop to pick up passengers,” Mason said in a tired voice. “I’m just happier with that airline,” he said. Mason got off the freeway in North Hollywood and went to a warehouse district. Finally he parked and we got out. “Jaimee wanted to go here,” he said gesturing toward a low building. It looked plain on the outside, but when I followed them in, I was amazed. It reminded me a little of Kelly’s father’s place, only much bigger. There was stuff everywhere. Odd pieces like old dress forms, and tables made out of unusual doors. Jaimee rushed off, but Mason hung behind.

  “I’m sorry to have put you in the middle of this.” He took my hand and squeezed it. “But you’re probably keeping me from killing her, again.” Jaimee had gone into a room with large carved horses and life-size bronze statues of cavorting nymphs. “I can think of a lot of other ways to celebrate the detective moving home,” Mason said with a devilish wink.

  �
��It’s hard to feel exactly happy about it,” I said before giving him the details of how it came about. Mason was dumbfounded when I told him about going to see how the work was coming in Barry’s condo and my subsequent arrest.

  “You should have used your phone call to call me,” he said.

  “It never got to that. Barry showed up and straightened it out.”

  “However it happened. It’s good that he’s gone and you can get on with your life.” He turned to look at me and his expression grew warm. “And we can start acting like a couple.” The words were barely out of his mouth, when Jaimee yelled for him to come look at what she was sure was the perfect gift for Thursday.

  “Maybe Barry’s living at my house isn’t the only obstacle.” I said. “Maybe after the wedding.” I let it hang, but I was pretty sure Mason got my meaning. I wasn’t going to be a girlfriend in the shadows. I didn’t want any strings, but I wanted an all-access pass to his life. Being invited to the wedding would demonstrate that.

  “Meeting Jaimee wasn’t enough,” he said with a laugh. I shook my head and followed along through the warren of rooms. Just as we caught up with Jaimee, I noticed a leaded glass lamp and detoured to look at it. Mason stopped with me and it took Jaimee about two seconds to get impatient with the delay.

  “C’mon,” she said in an annoyed voice. She seemed even more upset when the salesman came toward me. “Did I mention that I will probably be one of the housewives on The Housewives of Mulholland Drive?” she said trying to monopolize the salesperson’s attention.

  “It reminds me of the lamp I saw in Kelly’s workroom and later was in the storage locker,” I said as way of explanation to Mason. I turned to the store clerk. “What’s the value of something like this?”

  “This particular one is a Tiffany-style lamp. If you’re talking about a real one. . . .” He whistled to indicate the price was way up there. Jaimee was doing eye rolls in the background. He asked me what the one I’d seen looked like.