by Rose Pressey
The guy was calling out numbers again now. I’d made it halfway across the room when Dorothy screamed out, “Bingo!”
She jumped up from the table and started doing a little dance. I supposed that was her victory dance. The room went silent as they stared for a moment. Then they started laughing at her. She didn’t seem to mind. I thought she was enjoying the attention. That was Dorothy and her antics.
When I reached the table, I said, “You won, Dorothy? Are you sure?”
At least now she would have some of her money back. What a relief.
“Of course I’m sure,” she said. “The cash is all mine.”
“Cash?” someone at the table said. “That wasn’t for the grand prize.”
“What? It wasn’t?” Dorothy asked.
“No, it was for the toaster.”
“A toaster? What am I supposed to do with a toaster?” Dorothy asked.
“Make toast,” the man at the table said.
“I have a toaster, for heaven’s sake. I have a nice toaster,” Dorothy said in a loud voice.
“Well, now you have two toasters,” he said.
Maybe it was time for Dorothy and me to get out of there. I’d bribe her by telling her we’d watch The Price is Right. I picked up my bag and turned around. Dorothy was nowhere in sight. Uh-oh. Where had she gone? I glanced over and spotted Dorothy at the snack table. She picked up a bowl and dumped the contents into her giant pocketbook. She was more upset than I’d thought. Yes, it was definitely time for us to get out of there.
“Dorothy, what are you doing?” I asked as I hurried over.
“What does it look like I’m doing, Maggie?” she asked. “I’m getting food. That cheap toaster is a total rip off. They probably got it for free for opening a checking account somewhere. I want my money’s worth.”
Yes, Dorothy was in rare form tonight. Okay, maybe not rare form. Just slightly spunkier than usual.
“Now, now, Dorothy, we don’t need to do this.” I tried to block her from grabbing another dish.
She knocked my hand away. “Oh, back off, Maggie, I’m getting the crab cakes.”
I backed up a few steps, holding my hands up. "Well, at least leave a few for the others.”
Of course everyone watched us. Dorothy had snapped. The stress from losing a large amount of money had sent her over the edge. Thank goodness I finally guided Dorothy to the door.
“She’ll be fine,” I said to the table full of people staring at us. “She just got a little too much sun.”
“Oh, they take more than this every week,” Dorothy said.
“Did you really put crab cakes into your new purse?” I asked.
“They’ll be fine until I get home,” she said.
I was shocked she hadn’t taken the whole chocolate cake someone had brought. I hoped Dorothy didn’t invite me over for a crab cake dinner within the next few days.
Chapter 10
It sure was a bummer that neither Dorothy nor I had won the cash prize. Much to her chagrin.
“That’s okay, Dorothy, we’ll play again next week so the prize will carry over.”
Although I doubted they would ever give away ten thousand dollars, the amount that Dorothy had lost. Nevertheless, I sure hoped that we won for her sake. Dorothy stuffed more tortilla chips into her purse and then we headed out the door. Apparently the crab cakes hadn’t been enough.
“You haven’t seen that man around again, have you?” she asked.
“No sign of him. Like I said, he was probably just checking on a relative.”
“You can never be too safe. There are a lot of weirdos around,” she said as she popped a peppermint candy into her mouth.
“Believe me, I know that.”
“It’s a shame that Jake couldn’t come tonight,” Dorothy said.
“He apologizes and says he’ll be at the next one.”
“Well, he’d better. People will start to think that you two broke up.”
“I know they love to gossip,” I said.
“Exactly. So don’t give them anything to gossip about,” she said.
I chuckled. “I’ll make sure Jake knows that.”
Dorothy and I reached her place. I stood next to my car.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come in?” Dorothy asked.
I couldn’t answer Dorothy because I was staring at my car.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“There’s a note on my windshield.” I pointed.
“Well, go see what it says,” she said.
I glanced around to see if anyone was watching. The only person watching was Lorelei. She was always watching. Had she left the note? I was pretty sure that I wasn’t illegally parked.
Reluctantly, I walked over to the car and leaned down to pick up the note. I was afraid to find out what this said. I knew it wasn’t a speeding ticket since the white slip of paper was neatly folded.
“What does it say?” Dorothy asked excitedly. “Is it a love note from Jake?”
I could only hope for the best and fear for the worst. I wasn’t sure why, but a flash of that guy at the rec center bingo game raced through my mind.
Slowly I unfolded the note, expecting to see a threat. Why, I wasn’t sure, but nonetheless, that was what I had expected to see. It wasn’t what I found. What I read was perplexing.
“What does it say?” Dorothy asked again, tugging at my shirt.
I handed her the note.
Meet me tonight at ten o’clock. At Bayfront Park.
“Is this from Jake? Is he trying to be romantic and ask for a rendezvous?” Dorothy asked with a raised eyebrow.
“That’s not from Jake,” I said.
“Are you cheating on Jake? How could you, Maggie? He gives all of himself to you and this is the way you repay him?”
“Dorothy! I am not cheating on Jake. I don’t know who this is from.”
“A secret admirer?” She wiggled her eyebrows.
“Well, I don’t know about that, but it’s creepy, nonetheless.”
“Are you going to meet this person? You can’t do that.”
“I don’t know what to do,” I said.
At this point Lorelei had stepped out from her house. I wanted to ask her a few questions. When she saw me headed her way, the scowl wiped off her face and was replaced by an instant smile. It was so weird how she turned off her demeanor with a flip of the switch.
“Good evening, Lorelei,” I said.
“Good evening, Maggie,” she said with a forced smile.
Dorothy took the note from my hand.
“Hi, Dorothy.” Lorelei tossed up her hand.
“Why didn’t you show up at bingo, Lorelei?” Dorothy asked.
“Arthritis in my hands was acting up,” Lorelei said.
“Sorry to hear that,” Dorothy said.
“Lorelei, I wanted to ask if you saw anyone leave this note on my car?” I took the note from Dorothy and flashed it at Lorelei.
Surely she had seen the person. Unless she was only keeping an eye on me when I came around. No way. Lorelei liked to keep track of anyone who came around. She was more eagle-eyed than Dorothy and that was saying a lot.
“As a matter of fact, yes, I saw someone,” she said, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
I’d known it. I’d figured she had been watching out.
“What did he look like?” I asked.
“He was fairly young with dark hair,” she said, pointing at her head.
“Was he in a car or walking?” I asked.
“He was in a dark car. Is something wrong?” Lorelei asked. “Should I be worried?”
“Oh, no, nothing’s wrong. I guess it’s just a friend leaving a note,” I said with a smile.
No way did I want to alert her that something nefarious was going on around Sunny Acres. News would be all over the retirement village before Dorothy could yell ‘bingo.’
“Thank you for the info, Lorelei,” I said.
“You’re w
elcome,” she said with a raised eyebrow. “If you’re sure nothing’s wrong.”
“Nothing at all,” I said.
I hoped Dorothy didn’t tell her the truth later. She had a tendency to let things slip. She was probably the worst at keeping a secret. I looped my arm through Dorothy’s and guided her down the sidewalk toward her house.
“What are you doing to do?” Dorothy asked.
“I’m going to meet this guy,” I said.
Dorothy stopped in her tracks. “What do you mean? Not without me, you don’t.”
“Oh, Dorothy, this is way too dangerous.” I pushed the key fob and my car doors unlocked.
She crossed her arms in front of her. “Exactly the reason why I have to go with you. You can’t go to something dangerous like this on your own.”
“I can handle myself.”
“Well, so can I, so that’s why I’m going with you, and I won’t take no for an answer. I’ll just follow you. I know where you’re going.”
I sighed. “Okay, but you have to take this completely seriously. No goofing off.”
“Always,” she said.
I placed my hand on my hip. “Okay, I’ll take you.”
“Seriously?” she asked. “Just let me change my clothes.”
“Why do you need to change your clothes?” I asked.
“We’re going on a mission. I have to be dressed for that.”
“I suppose. But just hurry, okay?”
“This is not going to be good,” she said as she shook her head and walked toward the house.
“We’ll be fine,” I called out.
“Do you want to come in and wait for me, Maggie?” Dorothy motioned as she paused at the door.
“I’ll stand out here. I’m too anxious. Besides, you said it wouldn’t take you but a couple minutes.”
“Just a couple minutes,” she said. “Don’t worry, we can handle this.”
As I waited for Dorothy, of course, I spotted Lorelei standing at her window watching me. I would have waved but that probably would’ve freaked her out, so I just pretended like I didn’t know she was staring. I checked the time on my watch. It had been two minutes. Where was Dorothy? If she didn’t hurry up, I’d be forced to leave without her. All right, so I couldn’t do that to Dorothy. That was the last thing I needed was Dorothy calling Morty and then he’d roll up to the park in his gold Cadillac. I released a deep breath and tried to calm my nerves.
I turned around, ready to get Dorothy from the house. I almost bumped into her.
“Well, watch where you’re going, Maggie,” Dorothy said.
“There you are. How did you slip up on me like that?” I asked.
“I’m in stealth mode now,” she said, gesturing toward her outfit.
Dorothy had changed into a black shirt, black Capri pants, black sandals, and her huge black purse.
“Either you turned into a ninja at a clambake or you’re going to a funeral on the beach,” I said.
“Oh, you,” she said. “Quit making jokes and let’s go.”
Dorothy shuffled around to the passenger side. I jumped behind the steering wheel. Lorelei watched when we pulled away from the curb. I nervously tapped my fingers against the steering wheel as I drove toward the park.
“Are you sure you don’t know that guy? Maybe he really is a secret admirer,” Dorothy said.
“I believe that’s referred to as a stalker,” I said.
Darkness had completely taken over the night sky. A million stars twinkled in the black expanse. The warm air still encircled us. Dorothy and I pulled up to the park. I found a parking spot along the perimeter of the park where we could hide and with any luck this guy wouldn’t see us. We would have a good view of the guy. I knew exactly the spot to go.
“Follow me, Dorothy,” I said, getting out of the car.
“How do you know about this place?” she asked.
“I have my ways,” I said with a wink.
“All right, I don’t even want to know,” Dorothy said. “Wait. Maybe I do want to know. What have you got cooked up?”
“Nothing, honest,” I said.
“Sure,” she said.
“We’ll wait here behind these trees. He’ll probably be waiting over there for us to show up. We can see what he’s up to before actually going over there talking to him.”
She shrugged. “If you say so. I’m just here as your bodyguard.”
“Thank you, Dorothy,” I said.
Dorothy and I each hid behind big moss-covered oak trees. She was behind the tree right next to me. The glow from a pair of headlights flashed across the park. Cicadas filled the area with loud background noise.
“I bet that’s him,” I said.
After the lights shut off, I waited a few seconds and then crept around the side of the tree. With darkness all around, only a bit of light in the distance allowed me to get a look at this guy. Even with those circumstances, but I knew it was him—the same man from the bingo game.
“Is he alone?” Dorothy asked.
She wasn’t even taking a look around the side of the tree. Dorothy didn’t want to let her guard down.
“He’s all alone,” I whispered, as if he’d hear me.
Dorothy peeked over the side of the tree. “What is he up? Why did he invite you here? He should know not to invite a young lady to a dark spot like this.”
Headlights from another car sliced through the dark night. I hurried and hid behind the tree again. My heart beat faster. I hoped they hadn’t seen me.
“Another car?” Dorothy asked.
“I suppose it isn’t so unusual. This is a public park.”
But hardly anyone came here at nighttime, especially this secluded area. My current situation left me asking myself, was Jake right? He said I liked to live dangerously.
After a few seconds, the headlights had turned off. I peeked out from behind the tree again. Another man had approached the mystery man who had left me a note. The distance made it hard for me to know for sure, but was this the man who had taken Dorothy’s bag?
“There’s another guy now,” I whispered again.
After all, maybe our voices would carry across the night air over to these two strangers. The last thing I needed was for them to see us.
“Who is it?” Dorothy asked.
“I have no idea,” I said.
Dorothy still wasn’t watching, as if that would somehow make this less dangerous.
“What are they doing?” she asked.
“The guy got out of the car and now he walked up to the other one. I guess they know each other. Now they’re standing close to each other. The new guy just pushed the other one.”
“They’re fighting?” Dorothy asked. “Oh, dear. This is dangerous. We should get out of here.”
“It looks that way,” I said.
In a split second, the guy I had been supposed to meet here pulled out a gun. The flash from the barrel streaked through the night as the bullet released and zinged through the air, hitting the other man. He immediately fell backward to the ground. I dashed out from behind my hiding spot over to Dorothy. I placed my hand over her mouth so she wouldn’t speak. There was no way this guy could know that we were here. I couldn’t believe that he had just shot the guy.
If Dorothy released a loud scream, then he might realize we were hiding back here. And to think I had almost met that guy. He probably would have shot me too. But why was he shooting this guy? I peeked out from behind a tree. The guy I was supposed to meet jumped in his car and hurriedly pulled away from the scene, leaving the wounded man behind.
“I have to go help him,” I said. “You wait here, Dorothy, I’ll go help him.”
“Call for help too,” she said.
“I’m calling Jake right now.” I pulled out my phone from my pocket and dialed Jake. Dorothy didn’t argue with me. She stayed put.
Chapter 11
I ran as fast as I could across the dark park, keeping my eye out for that car to return. What if
he had just gone around the block and then came back? He probably assumed that I might show up since he’d invited me. He would be looking for me. Had he asked this guy to meet him as well? Would he have killed me if the other guy hadn’t shown up? When I reached the car, I slipped up around the front and over to the man on the ground. He didn’t move and he didn’t say a word.
“Are you all right?” I asked.
It was hard to see his face since it was turned to the side, but the amount of blood let me know he was probably far from all right.
“Jake,” I said breathlessly when he answered.
I usually kept my calm, but this time, I was panicking a bit.
“Maggie?” Jake asked with panic in his voice. “What’s going on? Where are you?”
“I’m at the park. There’s a dead man here.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he said.
“I’m not kidding you. I watched someone shoot him.”
“Maggie, what are you doing to me?” he asked.
“Just get the police here right away. And an ambulance. The guy might still be alive.”
“I’ll be right there.”
“We’re over by the stone fountain,” I said.
“Just be careful,” he said.
Jake had no idea. And I really had no idea how to be careful. I wanted to stay with this guy, but I didn’t want to either. I wanted to go back and check on Dorothy. First, I had to make sure there was nothing I could do for this guy.
I leaned down close to him. “Sir, can you hear me? Hang in there. I have help on the way.”
He didn’t respond. No movement. Nothing. I pressed my fingertips to his neck. There was no pulse. I leaned back and looked at his chest. I knew by looking at the wound that there was no help for him. I said a silent prayer for him.
A shuffling noise captured my attention. My heart thumped wildly in my ears. Had the killer returned? Of course his car wasn’t there, but maybe he’d parked somewhere else and walked back over. Why would he do that though? There was only one reason I could think of and that was to get me. What did he want with me though?
I calmed down just a bit, telling myself that it had only been the wind. The fear returned within seconds though. I remembered that Dorothy was waiting over there for me. What if the killer had found her? I shouldn’t have made her stay there alone. I scanned the area one more time. I saw no sign of the car or the guy, so I ran back over to the trees. I had to help Dorothy.
