Hung Out to Dry: The Misadventures of the Laundry Hag, #4

by Jennifer L. Hart

  “Where to now?” Neil asked.

  “The Dale estate.”

  I called Mac’s cell on the way over to check-in, but she said all was quiet. “My mom said she’d take out her find Sylvia fee in trade. One casserole meal a month for a year.”

  “You McKenzies drive a hard bargain.” I smiled. “Tell her done and done.”

  “She really likes you,” Mac said. “I hold out hope she’ll be more like you when she grows up.”

  “Thanks, kid.” Tears welled in my eyes. After the day I’d had, a little positive reinforcement that I was not the source of all evil, at least in somebody’s book, was a very good thing.

  The driveway was full of cars and music filtered from the open windows.

  “Looks like she’s having a party. Is that Leo’s car?”

  “Yeah,” I said.

  “This can wait,” Finn piped up from the back seat. “Can’t it?”

  I’d already popped my car door. “No.”

  The sound of feminine laughter greeted us as Sarah opened the door. “There you are!” She grabbed my forearm and towed me inside before I could get out another word.

  All the blood drained from my face when I saw the display in the living room. Penny and her sisters playing pin the shlong on the stud. Leo and Sylvia engaged in a heated ring toss for state of the art vibrators. And Penny’s Mom, holy Moses and a bag of chips Penny’s Mom in full dominatrix regalia. This so wasn’t leather boot weather and sweat ran down her beat red face.

  I recognized Lulubell’s owner as she held a riding crop in one hand and a whip in the other.

  Damn it, I’d forgotten all about the stupid Sizzle and Sins party. And the picture before me would haunt me forever.

  Behind me, Neil made a sound that was half snorting, half choking. Detective Finn coughed discreetly.

  Sarah turned back to say something to me when she noticed the men. She blushed to the roots of her hair when she spied Detective Finn. “Oh,” was all she managed.

  “I win, Sylvie-pregtastic,” Leo slurred. He was rip-roaring drunk and brandishing a purple phallus like a weapon. The transparent filter that usually kept Leo’s acerbic tongue in check vanished when he drank. “So suck it. Maggie, you’re here!”

  Sylvia did an abrupt about face and marched off to examine the ball gags.

  “Don’t remind me,” I muttered under my breath. “How much have you had?”

  He held his thumb and forefinger about an inch apart, then thought about it and added another inch and giggled.

  “Okay Sparky, we’re going to find a quiet place for you to lie down now. Upstairs?” I asked Sarah.

  She was trying to hide behind her hair, her face beet red, but she nodded.

  “Give me a hand here, Neil.”

  For his trouble, my husband was hit in the face no less than three times with the purple penis before he slung Leo over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry and hauled him upstairs.

  “Be still my heart,” Leo quipped.

  “I’m more concerned with your hands,” I told my friend as I followed them up. “Keep ‘em to yourself.”

  “Spoilsport.” Leo pouted at me, the gesture less effective since he hung like human moss down Neil’s back.

  Neil took Leo into the first room on the left and dumped him on the bed.

  “I think I’m going to be sick.” Leo groaned, his elation all but gone.

  I rushed for a wastebasket and shoved it under his face just in time.

  Neil gripped my arm and pulled me aside. “Maggie, he’s got a problem.”

  “Of course he does,” I said, stepping into the adjoining bathroom to wet a washcloth. The sound of retching followed us. “He works for your folks.”

  “I’m serious,” Neil said. “Every time I see him lately he has a drink in hand. He needs help.”

  I looked from my husband’s concerned expression to my friend, lying prone on the bed. Was he right? Had Leo crossed the threshold from overindulging once in a while to high functioning alcoholism? “What can we do?”

  Neil ran a hand through his hair. “Right now? Let him sleep it off. We came here for a reason, let’s make sure Finn fesses up.”

  Finn and Sarah were out on the back patio when Neil and I came downstairs. They were settled on chaises overlooking the gardens. Finn’s head was down, staring at the patio and Sarah was focused on him.

  “So it wasn’t my relatives trying to have me declared unfit? It was you?”

  Finn nodded. “I’m so sorry, Sarah. I shouldn’t have let him get to me like that but gramps just wouldn’t let up about it. He was convinced Chester was murdered because of the German cache and the tontine.”

  “Did you know about the tontine?” I asked Sarah. She shook her head her eyes still glued on the detective.

  “You could have just asked me.” She whispered. “About it. I would have helped you look.”

  Finn blinked. “Why would you do that?”

  She smiled at him. “So I could spend more time with you, of course.”

  “Really?” It was Finn’s turn to blush.

  The two of them stared into each other’s eyes. Ah, what was a little B&E in the face of true love?

  Neil cleared his throat. “So you don’t want to press charges?”

  Sarah blinked up at him as if she’d forgotten he was there. “No, of course not. I didn’t even know for sure that someone was searching.”

  Neil and I made our excuses and left the love birds alone.

  “You think they’ll make it?” Neil asked me.

  “I think his moral compass doesn’t point due north but he cares about her, so yes, I do think they’ll make it.”

  Neil pulled me into a tight hug. “I love that you’re such an optimist. Ready to go?”

  I shook my head. “I want to talk to Sylvia. You take the car, I’ll drive Leo home.”

  My husband eyeballed me. “You have your pepper spray?”

  “Do you really think Sylvia or Penny will attack me?”

  He just raised an eyebrow.

  “Yes, I have it, even though I don’t plan on using it.”

  I tried to give him a quick kiss but he pulled me in tighter for a more thorough embrace. When he finally let me go every extremity tingled.

  “You just want me to buy some of those marital aides,” I gasped.

  He laughed. “You caught me.”

  Wait, what? “Are you serious?”

  The sexy bastard winked and patted my backside. “Surprise me.”

  Just for that, I would.

  I made my way back to the festivities. Penny rushed to my side. “Oh, Maggie, this is so much fun,” she drawled. “Thank you ever so much.”

  “I didn’t do much,” I said because it was the truth.

  “Sure you did.” She hugged me. “I want you to know you’ve been like a sister to me, helping out with Mae and everything. Marty’s not the only one who will miss you.”

  My eyes stung. I wasn’t ready to think about them leaving but asked, “When will you go?”

  “Next week, I think. Mama’s already found us a place to rent and I can go work in the salon with her part-time.”

  “That’s great, Penny. Hey, would you excuse me for a minute, I want to go talk with Sylvia.”

  “Sure, sure.” Penny patted my arm once and flitted off.

  I cornered Sylvia by the punch bowl. “Can we talk?”

  She turned to face me, her mouth set in a firm line. “If you want.”

  I took a deep breath and pushed it all out in a rush. “I’m sorry I’ve been running roughshod over you. Marty and Penny are moving down south and you’ll have your house back. I promise I’m not judging you but I do care about you and if getting back together with Eric makes you happy, then go for it.”

  She blinked and I took my leave before she could say anything. I was too raw at the moment, my emotions too close to the surface. The last thing I wanted was to say something else we’d both regret.

  I made my
way back upstairs to check on Leo. He was in the same position I’d left him, face down and snoring like a buzz saw. Moving over to the window, I stared out at the immaculate grounds when I saw a familiar figure stalking across the lawn.

  What the heck was Doctor Davenport doing here and why did he look so hacked off? Sarah might be a little loopy at times, but I doubted she’d invited her father’s aged physician to the Sizzle and Sins party. I opened the window and called to him but he didn’t so much as budge.

  Pivoting on my heel, I made to rush from the room and ran smack into the grumpy landscaper.

  “Sorry,” I said and tried to rush past him, but the grizzled old guy gripped me by my shoulders. “I have to catch someone—”

  The words died in my throat as I caught sight of his face. Specifically his eyes, the same color, and shape of Sarah’s.

  “You,” I breathed a second before the needle went into my arm. The world narrowed to a pinprick and faded to blackness.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chester Dale’s alive. The thought bounced around in my skull the same way my body jounced around inside the wheelbarrow the old man had dumped me in before throwing a blue tarp over my head. I couldn’t see anything through it, couldn’t scream or move. Freaking wheelbarrows, they caused nothing but trouble.

  Nothing responded to signals from my brain which had me on the edge of panic. What drug had he used on me? And where the heck was he taking me.

  “Did anyone see you?” A nervous voice asked. My stomach soured as I recognized Doctor Davenport. And here I’d thought he was a good guy. I was really sick of misjudging people.

  “No, I used the dumbwaiter in my old bedroom. They’re all drunk as skunks, no one will even know she’s gone until morning.” The voice was cold and gruff. Goosebumps rose along my arms, though the sensation was muted.

  “How long is this going to go on, Chester?” Doctor Davenport asked. “We can’t kill everyone who knows. Who knows how many people the others told?”

  The motion stopped abruptly and Chester rounded on the other man. “It goes on until I say it’s done. If you want to keep your daughter safe, shut your mouth and push this to the spot.”

  The wheelbarrow bumped along and if I was forced to guess, I’d estimate that we’d left the main lawn portions of the estate and were in the woods behind the lake. I couldn’t move but my mind whirled as the pieces of the puzzle clicked into place. Chester Dale had faked his death with the help of Doctor Davenport. From the sounds of things, the unwilling help of Doctor Davenport. Why, though? Why would he bother going to such extremes?

  Suddenly, the motion halted and the tarp was removed. We were under a thick canopy of evergreens. Good thing too because I couldn’t so much as blink as I stared up at the face of Doctor Davenport. The remorse on his face was in stark contrast to Chester Dale’s cold purpose.

  “She didn’t know anything,” Davenport began but Chester threw up a hand.

  “She brought Finn’s grandson here and she found you. That’s enough. Now how long will the paralytic last?”

  “Half hour, at the most.” Davenport turned away and the last flicker of hope that I’d been clinging to, faded. He might be an unwilling participant but he would see the task through. “Better put her inside.”

  Inside? Inside what?

  Chester dumped me unceremoniously from the wheelbarrow. The impact knocked the breath from me and though I couldn’t feel it, I was sure I’d be bruised tomorrow.

  If I lived that long.

  Hands reached for me and turned me onto my back and that’s when I realized the plan. I hadn’t just been dumped on the ground. They’d put me in a casket, I could see the raised lid. They intended to bury me alive.

  Panic took me then, a roaring wave of adrenaline crashing through my frozen form. I had to get out of here, had to work the drug out of my system before they shut the lid and buried me in what I didn’t doubt was Chester’s empty grave.

  Neil would never know what had happened to me. I couldn’t let them…couldn’t.

  The lid closed with a deafening crash. Inside I was screaming, trying to work my mouth, to un-paralyze my vocal cords. Sarah and Detective Finn had been outside and sober, they would hear me. Just one scream….

  “Should we nail the lid shut?” Davenport asked. So much for him trying to help me.

  “No,” Chester’s voice was muted. “I’ll use the backhoe to fill the hole in quickly, the pressure from the dirt will keep it closed. Get the forklift and put her in.”

  The paralytic was finally starting to fade, I could blink and move my lips though talking was still beyond me. Banging on the sides of the coffin made little thuds, nothing that could be heard over the droning engines of big machinery.

  Then the casket was being lifted, jostled for a minute and then finally set down again. The panic was back and I kicked against the lid, hoping I could open it from the inside.

  Buried alive, I’d had nightmares about this very scenario. Trapped, enclosed by darkness and left to suffocate. Terror made me fight the drug, to move and squirm in hopes that it would burn off like fog under a noon sun. It was working, my kicks were getting stronger and I could make little squeaking noises. A scream was building…building…

  Then a sound that chilled my blood, like rain, only a heavier rain than I’d ever known. Dirt falling on the coffin lid. Then silence.

  I stilled, the lack of sound was deafening. I couldn’t hear voices or equipment, not even birds or crickets. It was more terrifying than anything ever had been because I couldn’t do a thing. I was trapped, powerless. Anything I tried would use up the air I had left. Would I suffocate before I died of dehydration?

  Tears rolled down my face and I sniffled. Well that was useless, wasn’t it? Might as well hope Davenport had a final attack of conscience and dug me up. But from what I’d overheard, Chester had the man by the short and curlies, threatening his only child, never mind his own role which would surely land him in jail.

  Leo might come to, or maybe Sylvia or Penny would wonder where I’d gone. They were so close and if the backhoe was still there maybe they could get to me in time. If they could figure out where I was. Neil would expect me sooner or later and he’d mount a rescue.

  Being left alone with nothing to do but wait was excruciating. With the drug out of my system, I was aware of every bruise and scrape. Maybe I’d die of infection before suffocation or dehydration. Cheery thought.

  Okay so contemplating how I would die wouldn’t help, giving in to panic wouldn’t help and screaming or banging on the lid wouldn’t help. So what should I do?

  Think about something else. Something other than the fact that I wanted a chance to make things right with Sylvia, that I wanted to be there to help Leo, to see Josh and Kenny grow up.

  That I wanted a baby with Neil.

  The useless tears started again. I did want it, all of it. The diapers and three A.M. feedings. And not because being with my husband wasn’t enough. No, I wanted to meet that unique person that was half hero and half hag, blended into the perfect combination of us. I wanted a baby who would grow up with Sylvia’s child, who Josh and Kenny would adore the way they did Mae. I wanted it the way I wanted nothing else.

  Except to live.

  The last thing I thought was possible, happened. Somehow I managed to fall asleep. A fact that I realized as my tiny darkened world around me shook me back to full awareness. My first thought was that it was an earthquake, rare as they were in New England. Then it dawned on me what was going on.

  I was being dug up.

  “Help!” I shrieked, kicking and pounding on the lid. “Help me!”

  “Maggie?” That was Leo’s voice, full of panic.

  “Yes!” This time the tears rolling down my face were from sheer relief. “Get me out of here.”

  “We’re working on it, Uncle Scrooge.” Neil. That was Neil’s voice. He was there. I sobbed because there wasn’t another blessed thing I could do.

  T
hen the lid was being lifted and air, sweet and fresh flooded in. The scent of dirt was strong and then I was in Neil’s arms, relieved that I got another chance for this kind of joy.

  “I was so scared,” I told him. “So damn scared and I couldn’t do anything.”

  “It’s okay. Everything is okay now.” He held me tighter, then scooped me out of the casket.

  A rope was lowered into the six-foot hole. My arms and legs were numb from my confinement but Neil fashioned a harness around my waist so all I had to do was hang on. He, of course, didn’t have any trouble scurrying up the rope like a chimp.

  My friends and family crowded around me, Penny and Leo and Sylvia too. I hugged them each in turn and then asked the question foremost on my mind. “How?”

  “Sarah,” Detective Finn said, looking smug. “She had a vision and brought us right to you.”

  I looked up at Sarah. “It was your grandfather. Him and Doctor Davenport.”

  She nodded, clearly miserable. “I know I saw them.”

  “Did you know he was alive?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “I’m so sorry, Maggie.”

  “Detective Capri is taking care of them.” Neil had pushed his way back to my side.

  “What I don’t understand is why?” Finn asked.

  “Because of the German treasure. He broke the tontine as soon as he could, took the money and never told the others. Then when they started making noise about splitting it up, he decided to fake his own death.” The pins and needles sensation was growing worse. “Can someone help me up?”

  Neil helped me rise and I stumbled as he tried to help me move.

  “What?” Finn appeared thunderstruck.

  I’d had time to think it all through. “He blackmailed doctor Davenport into helping him fake his death and left the estate to Sarah, knowing she didn’t have the backbone to fire the staff, like the new landscaper. Sorry Sarah.”

  She didn’t look the slightest bit offended, only angry.

  “So why did he try to kill her?” Finn asked. “The carbon monoxide thing was him, right?”