Chapter 15 #2
But they were strong women. They could handle both the good and the bad.
Her cast would eventually come off and she’d be back line dancing.
Zona would slowly right her financial ship.
Bree . . . Louise sighed. Bree would hopefully be able to break through the hard shell she’d formed around herself and realize that while you couldn’t trust everyone there were still a few someones left in the world that you could.
She left a note for Zona that they were on for garage sales in the morning if Zona was interested. Then she went to bed and settled in, Darling jumping on the foot of the bed and making himself at home.
He’d take off later. Zona hadn’t let him sleep with Louise when she first came home for fear he would somehow plop on her injured leg or trip her if she tried to get up in the night.
Darling had switched allegiance and started following Zona upstairs to bed.
But when she wasn’t around, he remembered who his mommy really was.
Once Zona returned, he’d forget again so Louise left the door halfway open so he could go be her shadow.
She liked leaving it halfway open so she could easily get out, too.
When nature called, it was best to make it as simple as possible to answer that call.
She picked up the novel Martin had loaned her and started reading. It was hard to put down and she was wide awake. She’d probably finish the book before she finally fell asleep.
Zona returned home a little before midnight to find her still reading. “You’re still up? That book must really be good.”
“It is. Plus I think I had too much chocolate. It won’t stop me from getting up to go garage-saling tomorrow though. You probably aren’t going to want to go after getting home this late.”
“It’s not that late. I’ll be ready,” Zona assured her.
She kissed Louise good-night, called to Darling, who jumped off the bed to join her, then went upstairs.
Louise decided she’d better try to go to sleep if she wanted to have enough energy to treasure hunt. One more visit to the bathroom first, then maybe she’d make it through the night.
Oh, the things you take for granted, she thought after she’d struggled on and off the toilet and was swinging herself back to her bed. How did people who had to cope with physical handicaps keep a positive attitude? It couldn’t be easy.
She was about to get back in bed when she thought she saw movement next door. What was going on over there at this time of night? She hurriedly swung over to the window and got the curtains parted just in time to catch sight of Alec James striding to his truck.
He carried a pink overnight bag and several shopping bags.
And what looked like a purse, a small one, the kind younger women favored.
Louise couldn’t be sure in the weak light of the streetlight, but judging from the bow on it, she suspected it was a designer purse.
He threw everything in the truck cab and then got in and backed out of the driveway.
Where was he going with the woman’s things? Where was the woman?
Louise’s first thoughts ran toward Hitchcock’s Rear Window. “Don’t be silly,” she scolded herself. And yet . . . who sneaked out late at night getting rid of another person’s personal items? And the purse.
No woman in her right mind ran off and left her purse behind. Especially a designer purse. Something was dreadfully wrong over there.
“IT’S PROOF. THAT man is up to something,” Louise told Zona the next morning as they hurried their way through Zona’s homemade waffles.
“No, it’s proof she’s gone for good and we can stop worrying. He probably wanted to get rid of her stuff,” Zona said.
“So late at night? Don’t you find that a little suspicious?”
Maybe it was time to put Louise on a strict reading diet. Romance novels only. And no more Deathline. Nothing but Hallmark happiness for her and Gilda.
“No, I find it a relief,” said Zona. “The woman got smart and got out of there.”
“But why didn’t she take her things? And why leave in the dead of night?”
Her words gave Zona’s nerves a jangle. “There will probably turn out to be some simple answer,” she said to both her mother and herself, and forked the last bite of waffle into her mouth.
“Yeah, he murdered her. Plain and simple.”
Zona swallowed hard. It had been horrifying enough thinking their neighbor might be capable of hurting someone.
She settled her nerves with a firm dose of reality. “With CCTV, DNA, and nosy neighbors, do you know how hard it is to actually get away with murder?”
“Does he know?”
The doorbell rang, signaling Martin’s arrival. “You need to let go of this idea,” Zona said, and rose to go let him in.
“What if it’s true?” Louise called after her.
“What are the odds?” Zona called back, then cringed. She hated when she slipped and used gambling terms. It triggered all kinds of unhealthy emotions.
She ditched the surfacing bitterness and replaced her frown with a smile for Martin. “Come on in. We’ll be ready to go in a minute.”
He nodded and stepped inside just as Louise was coming out from the kitchen, Darling escorting her. “I just need to brush my teeth,” she told him.
“While you’re doing that, I’ll take Darling for a quick walk,” Zona said. She’d have time. In addition to brushing her teeth, Louise would also be making good use of the bathroom and checking to be sure her makeup was perfect.
Zona grabbed a doggy-do bag, snapped on Darling’s leash, and let him race her down the sidewalk past Alec James’s house.
His truck was in the driveway, and all was quiet.
It hardly looked like the scene of a crime.
But if a crime had taken place, would it have taken place in that house or somewhere else?
Like one of the trails in the foothills?
Oh, good grief, she was turning into her mother.
Darling was a good boy, and Zona was a good pet owner, picking up after him. By the time they returned to the house, Louise was ready to go.
“Quite a few garage sales today,” said Martin after they were all in his car. “Did you see there were a couple in San Dimas? Those might be good.”
“Oh, yes,” said Louise. “Good hunting for Zona,” she added.
Looking for treasures sure beat indulging in morbid speculation about the man next door. “This garage sale hunting has turned out to be a brilliant idea,” Zona said from the back seat.
“I’m full of good ideas,” Louise quipped, and Zona could hear the smile in her voice.
“Yes, you are,” Zona agreed. Well, she was full of ideas. And most of them were good, anyway.
Their treasure hunting yielded some charming Christmas ornaments, including one with a Boston terrier that Zona was sure would get fought over when she finally posted it. She was equally pleased with the women’s brand-name bicycle shorts and top that she found, which were in mint condition.
“My teenage daughter wanted to get into cycling,” explained the woman selling them. “But she said the seat hurt her butt. She’s into running now. We’ll see how long that lasts.”
“Next year we might find all kinds of running shoes,” Louise joked as they left.
Zona supposed the next year she would still be selling garage sale finds online. And doing who knew what else.
At their last stop Louise and Martin were drawn to two boxes of books marked at a dollar each.
“A steal,” Louise crowed as Martin showed her a vintage gothic novel.
Zona, too, was drawn to the bargains and started looking through the second box. One book in particular practically jumped into her hands. She picked it up and read the title: The Psychology of Dangerous People.
She showed it to Louise. “This might be good research for your book.”
“Maybe,” said Louise, but she didn’t sound all that interested.
“I’ll get it for you,” said Zona.
“We can both read it,” said Louise.
They were done faster than anticipated and it was only midmorning when they arrived back home, Zona laden down with her goodies and Martin following her up the walk with the pile of clothes and mystery novels Louise had found.
Alec James was outside, wearing board shorts and a faded T-shirt, mowing his front lawn. Looking like a regular guy, a non-screaming, non-violent, nice, hot guy. A sheen of sweat made his arms glisten.
Zona told her awakening hormones to go back to sleep and averted her eyes. She was not ever going to allow herself to get interested in their neighbor. He wasn’t a murderer, she was sure of that. But he was verbally abusive. Scarily different from the charmer she’d first met.
She was halfway up the front walk when she realized her mother wasn’t with her.
A little flutter of oh, no in her chest told her to look to her right.
Sure enough, there was Louise, swinging on over to talk to their neighbor.
Zona gave the house key to Martin and sent him on to deposit her mother’s purchases, then hurried over to make sure Louise didn’t say anything that could upset the man.
He had turned off his lawn mower and Louise was talking. Double oh, no. The hurrying turned into bolting.
“We haven’t seen your company lately,” Louise was saying.
Alec James wasn’t smiling. Zona’s heart turned to lead and dropped down to her stomach.
“She left,” he said.
“Rather suddenly.” Louise sounded like an amateur sleuth, trying to grill a suspect.
“She found another place to stay,” he said shortly.
Zona stepped up before Louise could say anything more to antagonize him. “Come on, Mom,” she said, “Martin’s waiting.”
“Have a good day,” Louise said to their neighbor.
He nodded—still no smile—and started his lawn mower back up.
“What were you thinking?” Zona demanded as they walked up their own front walk. She cast a look in Alec James’s direction, half expecting to see him standing by the running lawn mower, glowering at them.
He was walking the opposite direction, but she was sure he was glowering.
“That man has something to hide,” Louise insisted.
“Don’t go looking,” Zona said. Her mother needed to rein in her runaway imagination.
So did Zona. She made the mistake that night of leafing through the book she’d bought at the garage sale. One paragraph in particular caught her attention.
We’re taught from a young age to believe the best about people. The problem with this is that it makes us unwilling to see the worst. A charming smile may hide a narcissistic personality or violent tendencies.
Zona slammed the book shut. She would not be reading any more of this, and she wasn’t letting her mother anywhere near it.
But what if Alec James was hiding . . . something?