Chapter 18
“WE HAVE TO BE WRONG,” SAID LOUISE. “Where would Darling find a human bone?” Darling lay down and began to gnaw on the bone and Louise let out a shriek. “No, Darling!”
“Evidence,” said Gilda, and snatched it up, using her handkerchief. “We need to preserve it.” She marched off toward the kitchen.
“Don’t put that on the counter,” Louise called after her. If she did, Louise would never use her kitchen counter again.
A few moments later Gilda was back.
“Where is it?” Louise asked.
“In the fridge.”
“Oooh.” Louise felt suddenly faint.
“Don’t worry. I wrapped it in plastic wrap.”
Now Louise was sure she’d never use her refrigerator again.
“Didn’t you say the woman next door has gone missing?” Gilda asked.
All those mystery and thriller writers were right. A chill really could run down your spine.
“Oh, no,” Louise weakly protested. Of course, she’d entertained the grisly idea that Alec James had bumped off his girlfriend, but being presented with possible evidence was, well, it was so very real. “I did suspect, but seeing possible proof right here before our eyes, it’s . . . horrifying.”
“Happens every day somewhere,” said Gilda.
“I knew he was getting rid of more than just her things,” Louise said. Her voice was trembling, right along with her hands.
“You have to do something.”
“What?”
“Call the police, of course. You can’t find a human bone and not report it.”
“But I don’t know where Darling found it. If he was off in the woods somewhere . . .”
“Who knows where all he’s been. But he’s a digger, right? If he found it next door, there’ll be a hole on your neighbor’s property.”
“We need to check it out,” Louise said with a decisive nod.
“I’ll go look,” Gilda said.
“I’m coming with you,” Louise declared.
Five minutes later she and Gilda were inspecting a hole in a corner of their neighbor’s front yard. Darling the digger, who was shut in the house, had struck again, uprooting a strawberry tree in the process.
“There are no other bones,” said Gilda, sounding disappointed.
“That doesn’t mean anything. Remember the Raymond Burr character in Rear Window—what was his name?
—Mr. Thorwald! That man had butchered his wife and buried her all over,” said Louise.
“No, wait. He buried her body in the river and put her head in a hat box. Was that it? Well, anyway, he cut her up. And we have a bone and here’s the hole. ”
“Good point,” said Gilda. “For all we know, the rest of her could be in the man’s freezer. Like the man in LA.”
They were about to go back to the house when Alec James drove up and pulled into his driveway. Louise’s stomach dove for her toes.
“He can’t take us both down here in broad daylight,” Gilda assured her, and Louise swallowed her terror and raised her chin.
He got out of his truck and started toward them at a casual stroll. “Is there something you’re looking for, ladies?”
“No. My dog found it,” Louise said.
“And what was that?”
“A bone,” she said.
“A bloody bone,” Gilda put in.
“From that hole,” Louise added, pointing to it.
His brows pulled together and he frowned. “A bone,” he repeated.
“A human bone,” said Louise.
His eyes got big. “You’re kidding, right? You think your dog buried a human bone on my property.”
“No, I think my dog dug up a human bone on your property,” said Louise. “What do you make of that?” she added, and watched for his response.
“I think that sounds a little far-fetched,” he said.
“Not necessarily,” Gilda said boldly.
Martin happened to be driving past. He stopped his car and let down his window. “Am I missing a party?” he called.
“It’s not a party,” Louise replied. “Darling is back, and he’s found a human bone. Here,” she added, pointing to the incriminating hole.
That was all it took to get Martin out of his car.
“I find that very odd. Don’t you, Mr. James?” Louise said to her neighbor as Martin hurried over. They had a witness now. Alec James wouldn’t dare touch her. “I’m just wondering how a human bone came to be buried in your yard,” she challenged, and raised both eyebrows.
Alec James stared at her, at first not comprehending, then he gaped. “Wait a minute. You think . . . ?”
She let her raised eyebrows speak for her.
“Oh, yeah, right. I’d murder someone and bury them in my flowerbed.”
“Evidence doesn’t lie,” said Gilda.
“This is nuts. They think I’m burying body parts in my front yard,” he said to Martin as he joined them. “Because if I was going to cut someone up and bury that person, I’d bury part of them in my front yard where everyone could see me,” he finished in disgust.
“Nobody would see you at night,” Louise informed him. Well, except her when she was observing him from her bedroom window. When had he found the time to do it? It must have been very late at night.
And this was only one bone. Where was the rest of the woman? She remembered the scene from Rear Window, with creepy Mr. Thorwald going back and forth from his apartment on a dark and stormy night, methodically getting rid of the grisly evidence. She shuddered and inched closer to Martin.
“Hiding in plain sight, like in The Purloined Letter,” said Gilda.
Alec James began to laugh, and Louise’s fear was replaced by irritation. “Oh, you laugh now,” she said. “We’ll see who has the last laugh when I call the police.”
“Let’s look at the bone first, shall we?” Martin suggested. “Where is it?”
“In my refrigerator,” Louise said. Eeew.
“Ready for soup,” cracked Alec James and Louise glared at him.
They trooped over to her house. Darling wanted to welcome everyone, trying first to jump on Alec James, but he walked right into the poor dog, forcing him down to all fours and making him veer away. What kind of man mowed over a dog! The kind with no heart and no conscience.
They all gathered around the kitchen table, waiting for Gilda to produce the bone. “Lay down some newspaper first,” Louise instructed her. The bone was a gruesome sight and seeing that token of death made Louise shudder. Or maybe it was the fact that she was standing so close to a murderer.
Alec James took one look at it after Gilda put it on display and laughed again. “So that’s the human I buried?”
“There’s no flesh on it,” Louise admitted, “but that’s because something gnawed it off.” Please don’t let it have been Darling.
“Lou, that’s a deer bone,” Martin said mildly.
“A deer bone!” Louise exclaimed. “Where would Darling get a deer bone?”
“I’m guessing the foothills. I was walking a trail just last week and saw a cougar. It probably took down this deer,” Martin said. “You can be glad it didn’t get Darling.”
“You can’t know for sure this isn’t human,” Gilda insisted.
“I can,” said Alec James. “I’ve done my share of hunting. It’s easy to mistake a deer bone for a human one though,” he added. Trying to be magnanimous or trying to fool them?
“So you say,” said Gilda.
“So we both say,” Martin said, and frowned at her.
“Who do you think I murdered and buried in my front yard, anyway?” Alec James demanded.
“You had a woman living with you and we heard the fights,” Louise said. “And now all that yelling and screaming have mysteriously stopped and she’s gone.” She hadn’t wanted to do this without police present, but he’d forced her hand.
“Lou, I think you should dial it down,” Martin cautioned. “This is a serious accusation.”
“I know what I heard,” she said.
“Yeah, but you don’t know the half of what you heard,” snapped Alec James.
“I’m calling the cops,” Gilda said, and stepped away, pulling her cell phone out of her sweater pocket.
Alec James glared at Louise. “Yes, I had someone there and thank God she’s gone.
But I didn’t kill the woman. I’m too busy running my business to kill anyone.
And I sure as hell don’t have the energy to cut somebody up in pieces and bury her in my yard.
Good God, that’s sick. Why would you jump to such a crazy conclusion? You don’t even know me.”
“I heard the screams. We know you were being violent, and both my daughter and I heard her say you’re a monster,” Louise said as Gilda shared their address with the police.
Alec James let out a hiss. “Yeah, well, she says a lot of things. But I have never hit a woman in my life.”
So he said.
Gilda had ended the call and jumped back into the conversation. “Then where is she now?” she demanded.
“Staying with someone who’s almost as nutty as she is. And who the devil are you?”
“This is Gilda, my caregiver,” Louise said stiffly. “Physical care,” she added in case he thought she had a bunch of dead brain cells rattling around in her skull. “And I saw you getting rid of that woman’s things late at night.” Mr. Thorwald the Second.
He threw up his hands. “Unbelievable!”
“I’m sorry,” Martin said to him. “She’s writing a mystery.”
“Martin!” Louise protested. Whose side was he on?
“Well, she’s got the imagination for it,” snapped Alec James. He gave a snort, then muttered, “Should have bought that place in San Dimas.”
“Yes, you should have,” Louise agreed.
They all heard the knock on the door.
“That will be the police,” Louise said to Alec James.
“Good. We can give them the bone,” said Gilda.
“Then they can search the foothills for the rest of the body,” said Alec James. “I’m sure they’ve got nothing better to do than look for missing deer bones.”
“I’ll get it,” said Gilda and hurried to the front door.
A moment later she was followed into the kitchen by two burly men in uniform, who introduced themselves as Officer Mead and Officer Trumble.
Officer Mead looked to be in his fifties, and strands of white were burying themselves in his full head of dark hair.
He was built like a tank. His partner was young, probably in his thirties, and one glance was enough to tell Louise that he worked out at the gym on a regular basis.
They’d have no problem taking down Alec James.
She still wished she’d bought a Taser. She’d seen a cute pink one on .
“I understand you found a bone,” said Officer Mead.