Chapter Five
Andrea stepped into her living room. Police were everywhere, dusting for prints, examining the body…Max, not a body. A couple of other men in plain clothes searched every inch of the foyer. My house is under a magnifying glass. She sniffed and then watched as one of them pulled a piece of dust from under her sofa. So much for being a clean freak.
Two men approached Max’s body with a large black heavy plastic bag. She struggled with them as they lifted Max into it, zipped it up, and then placed the package on a gurney ready for transport.
“Miss. Miss.” An officer stood right in front of her. Her eyes shifted to his face. “You can go now. You should be able to come back tomorrow. The crime scene will be cleared by then.”
Crime scene. A shudder escaped. How could she ever feel safe in this house again?. She felt a shiver walk its way down her spine. Was someone watching her. She collapsed into the nearest chair. I’ve gotta get outta here. She grabbed her suitcase and began to walk the short distance to her front door. Blood, everywhere. Poor Max. Now he’s on his way to the morgue. She saw him fall again…and again, like a bad movie playing the out-takes over and over.
She shuddered…then dropped to the floor in a heap. “What was that?” she heard herself begin to scream and within seconds an officer was at her elbow.
“A backfire, miss.” The officer placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
“How do you know that? Maybe…” Her hand shook as if the bones in her body were reacting to an earthquake. She looked into the kind face of the officer who would escort her to the motel. “I’ll. . . I’ll be alright.” She refused his offer to help her stand and grabbed her bag once again.
The fresh air smelled so good. The dogs are outside. They didn’t like Max so she always gave them some freedom when he came over. “I need to get Patches and Pokey from the backyard before their barking disturbs my neighbors. I’ll take them with me to the motel.”
•
The officer, rather short and stocky, watched as the dogs greeted her with tails wagging, tongues drooping from the side of their mouth. The leashes clicked into place and then she led them toward her car. What luck. I’ll know where she’s staying. He smiled, a cover for the thoughts traveling around his head. We’ll have to keep a close eye on this one. The boss will want to know what we’ve done with her. He polished the badge hanging over his heart. Some cover.
•
Andrea stowed the dogs into the back seat. Tears blurred her vision. She plunked down into the driver’s seat. Swiping her hand across her eyes, she swiveled her head and nodded to the police officer waiting in his car to follow. Her spine tingled with an uncanny sense that someone watched her every move. I’m getting paranoid, she thought. Who’d want to hurt me?
Short minutes later, the neon sign for the Days Inn Motel flashed a greeting. She registered, returned to her car for the dogs and suitcase and then with a wave to her protector, she entered the motel for the night. She wrinkled her nose. Stale cigarettes. The door to her room opened first try. She quickly slid her suitcase inside and guided Patches and Pokey to their home for the night. She snapped the lock in place but then noticed her room had an outside entrance as well. She checked that lock to make sure it was secure. She closed the curtains.
Andrea collapsed into the only chair in the room. Tears streaked slowly down her cheeks. She was too tired to sit straight. She wrapped her arms around herself. What happened to my neat little world…my safe world? The nausea erupted again and she contemplated a trip to the restroom. She scratched Patches’ head resting on her knee. It’s funny how dogs know when something’s wrong. “You guys are all the medicine I need.” The dogs wagged their tails.
She remembered the note. She reached into the pocket of her pants, opened the crumpled page and read. They’ve taken Trent and Diane Michner against their wills. If anything happens to me, go to the bank on Main St. & 16th. Blvd. The safe deposit box vault - use a key. Hidden under the flowerpot on my back deck. Your name on the deposit box signature card. Use the information and money inside box to find Michners. Don’t contact police. May be involved.
“He knew his life was in danger!” she squeaked. “They’ve taken Trent and Diane? Who are they anyway?” Her agitation sent the dogs skittering to the other side of the bed with tails drooping. “They’re connected. Trent and Diane are with people who are capable of murder.” Max is right, I have to find them…now. She paced around the small room, bumped into the bed every time she came close to it and nearly stepped on the dogs twice.
“Brian… I need to call Brian. He’ll want to know about Max, the note, everything.” She reached for the phone on the bedside table, all the while arguing with herself. Could she do this? Should she do this? Let the police…but they may be involved Max said. She wondered how Max knew her friend. “Right, he works…worked at Hartford too.” Brian works there too. Maybe Brian knew more than he had this morning about the Michners. She finally dialed the number he had given her.
Before he could say more than hello, Andrea stumbled over words that rushed on top of each other to be heard.
“Andrea. Slow down. Take a deep breath. What time is it anyway?”
Andrea ignored his question and rattled on. “Someone shot Max Shuster on my doorstep tonight, and…he works at Hartford, too. Did you know him? There’s a connection.” Andrea shouted, almost hysterically.
“Andrea…Andrea…slow down. Breathe.”
Taking a deep breath, she calmed a little and then continued. “As I said, Max is my next door neighbor. . . was my next door neighbor. All I really know about him is his address and his name. And he isn’t married. He travels all the time for Hartford and to the Caribbean occasionally to scuba dive. Sometimes, he borrows something for a recipe he’s preparing. He seems very nice. I guess I should say seemed. It’s so hard to believe he’s dead. One minute he and I are talking and the next…lying in a pool of blood…dead. I don’t even know if he had any family. He wants me to solve his murder! Me, a secretary! He left me a note.” With that said, Andrea sucked in another deep breath.
“What note?”
“He slipped a note into my hand just before he was shot.”
“What’s in the note?” She read it to him. She heard a gasp on the other end of the phone line.
“He said Diane and Trent were taken? By whom?”
“He didn’t say by whom or where they were taken. Just that they were taken. He left me some money.”
She read that part of the note again. “I need to go to that bank after I find a key to a safety deposit box by his back door. What am I going to do?”
“How did he get your name on the safety deposit box?”
“Oh I don’t know. That’s what’s in the note.”
“You are going to take this new information to the police, aren’t you?”
“Max said I couldn’t trust the police. They may be involved. So no, I’ve not said anything to them and I’m not sure I will.”
“Andrea.”
“I know. But what can I do? If the police are involved in this…”
“I don’t like this. What if Max is one of the bad guys?”
“Max is not a criminal. He’s the kindest, gentlest…”
“Yes, but he did say he was sorry. He is involved and you already admitted you don’t know him that well.”
“Look Brian, I plan to go to the bank first thing tomorrow. Since it’s Saturday, they close at noon. Do you want to meet me there?”
“Fine. But if you still feel uneasy about doing the detective work as Max wanted, then will you tell the police?”
“Maybe.”
“But. .”
“Maybe. That’s all I can promise now. Are you coming or not?”
“Okay, okay. Where is it and what time?”
“How about 8:30 tomorrow morning. That’ll give me time to get home, change, and find that key. The bank is the Terrace Bay National Bank, located at Main St. a
nd 16thBoulevard.”
“ I’ll be there. Are you okay for tonight? Do you need me to come over?”
“No, I’m okay. I have my dogs, Patches and Pokey, with me. Anyway, I feel better than I did 30 minutes ago. Brian, you will help me, won’t you?”
“I guess so. If it means finding the Michners. But I still think we should notify the police.”
“And what if they are the reason the Michners are missing?”
“It seems so preposterous. I guess. Anyway, I’ll be there tomorrow, and we can decide the next step then, okay?”
After she hung up, she slowly dragged the rest of her toiletries from her overnight bag and placed them on the bathroom vanity. She placed the outfit she’d worn on a hanger and slipped into pj’s. Her head had taken on the thudding dull achiness of too much crying, while her eyes continued to burn with unshed tears.
She crawled between the cool sheets, pulled the covers almost over he head. Weariness seeped from every pore on her body, but would sleep elude her for the second night in a row? Thoughts of the chaos her life had become roiled in her head like a bubbling caldron. Her mind stewed on first this thought and then that. She needed to make some decisions. I’ve always trusted the police. Never had much to do with them but…could I trust Max? Wasn’t he involved? An hour later the sheets looked like a couple of kids had had a blast jumping all over the bed. She untangled herself, padded barefoot to the bathroom and picked up the packet of sleeping medication that the EMTs had left. That might help.
Andrea lay down again, turned on the television, and curled herself spoon fashion around the dogs. Before long with heavy eyelids, she snapped the remote off and slept. Her eyes popped open. When she looked at the clock, she’d slept for only an hour. Five o’clock. She groaned and reached for the note. What did that safety deposit box contain?.
•
Rubbing sleep deprived eyes, two men watched Andrea’s motel from a distance. Each time a police cruiser passed during the night, they scrunched down to avoid detection.
“That broad needs to be gone.” The larger of the two twisted his back this way and that to relieve the kinks. “She’s gonna get in our face, I just know it.”
“Sure and if we do that, you think the police won’t get in our face.”
“Yeah, well…”
“Yeah well nothing. We was told to watch. So we watch. That’s all.”
“What if we scare her?”
“Like how?”
“Well, she loves those dogs. Why not hurt one of them.” The bulk of him shook with the gleeful thought of hurting anything.
“Maybe…”
“It’ll work. You’ll see.”
“Naw. I don’t like hurting dogs. I like dogs. Think of something else.”
“Maybe a note pinned to her door, letting her know we was here.”
“And exactly what door is hers?”
Well. . . well, then her car. The windshield wiper.”
“Yeah, I like that. She won’t feel safe anywhere and maybe, just maybe, she’ll keep her nose out of our business.”
“What should I write? How do you spell Miss?”
“Give me that. What are you…being polite yet?” The take charge guy wrote quickly, opened the car door as silently as possible and then stealthily crossed the parking lot of the motel. He slipped the note under Andrea’s windshield wiper. Just as quickly, he sat back in the driver’s seat of the black mustang. The engine roared to life. “It’ll be daylight soon. We’ll move the car over there.” The large man pointed to a clump of trees with a road intersecting the vegetation. “We can watch from there.”
“Good. We can follow when she leaves.” He polished his badge again.
•
Andrea slipped into the bathroom and then returned to the warm comfort of the bed. She lay watching the first light of dawn peak through the crack in the drapes. Her leg muscles cramped so she stood quickly, flexing her foot until the pain decreased. She leaned into a stretch to get the kinks out of her back. A shower would feel good.
An hour later, she walked briskly across the parking lot with her suitcase, deposited it into the trunk and then started the engine before she brought the dogs. She looked up as the car hummed to life and saw it. A note stuck under the blades of her wipers.
Sliding out of the car, her fingers grabbed the paper. She turned it over. You’re next. Andrea slammed the car door, left the motor running, and raced back toward the hotel. She’d left the door wide open with the dogs tethered to a chair.
She stumbled to the bed. The murderer was out there. He was stalking her. He must have followed her last night. The police hadn’t seen him or them or…maybe they didn’t want to. Andrea picked up the phone,
“Brian, they were here. The murderer was here last night. They left a note.”
“Huh, oh Andrea. What time is it? Never mind. What’s this about a note?”
“Someone left a note on my windshield. It says I’m next.”
“I’m coming over there. What motel did you say you were at?”
“The Days Inn on 63rd.”
“Andrea, call the police. NOW.”
Andrea hung up, dialed again and asked for homicide. The police sergeant answered in a tired voice. “Hello, homicide division. What can I do for ya?”
“Hello, I’m Andrea Wilton. A friend was shot at my house last night. I stayed at a motel but when I tried to leave this morning I found a note on my windshield. It says I’m next.” Tears began to flow anew as reality hit. “I’m so scared. They’re out there.”
“Miss, stay calm. I’ll have a squad car there in a minute or so.” The phone line hummed as he disconnected and Andrea sat dazed and confused. Why would someone want to kill me? I know nothing about anything. She peeked through the curtains toward her car. All was quiet or so it seemed.
A few birds flew by and streaks of sunlight promised a nice day. Andrea sighed. Just then Brian’s now familiar car pulled up beside hers. He reached into the vehicle, turned off the ignition and looked toward the motel. Andrea rushed to open the door a crack and signaled for him to come in with shaking fingers.
As he approached the door, a marked black and white pulled in. The officer got out and walked over to her door as well. “Are you Andrea Wilton?”
“Yes. That’s my car and this is the note.”
“Oh, I wish you hadn’t touched it. We might have gotten some fingerprints off it. Oh well, let’s see.” He stuffed his hands into plastic gloves and turned the paper to the light so he could read. Then he dropped it into a plastic bag.
Where would we be without plastic? Andrea giggled nervously.
“Who are you?” He looked at Brian.
“A friend. Andrea called. I came.”
“Well, I’ll drive around and check things out. In all likelihood they’re long gone by now. It’s too light and these guys like to keep to the dark places.” He retraced his steps and drove off the lot.
“Brian, thanks for coming. I was so scared.”
“That’s ok, Andrea. I should have come to stay with you last night. ‘ Brian looked sheepishly at the floor. “All of this is just so strange. What happened to normal?”
“I agree. Since we discovered the Michners gone, life has been anything but normal. Brian, this whole business has me so scared for them. These people aren’t just playing. They mean business.”
“There’s the cop. That didn’t take him long.”
Andrea stood close to Brian, slurping up the warmth of knowing she could trust someone. Because the Michners had, she did. It was that simple. The police officer approached.
“I see nothing out of the ordinary. All’s quiet. Why not go home, keep you eyes peeled and all doors locked. Maybe it would be a good idea to stay somewhere else tonight since they probably know where you live. I’ll pass this information on to the detective in charge after last night.”
“Thanks officer.” Andrea grabbed the dogs and began to move toward the door.
>
“Where do you think you’re going?” Brian spoke loudly enough that the officer turned back toward them. He waved and the officer left again. “I’m not letting you out of my sight until after we’ve gone to the bank and I have you settled somewhere safe. I don’t have that many friends that I can lose any more.” Brian’s face looked as serious as Andrea had ever seen him.
“Are we friends?” She felt warmth rise along her collarbone and infuse itself on her face, she was sure, like a beacon.
“Well, I feel responsible for you in Diane’s and Trent’s place. Besides, I do think of you as a friend. We go to the same church so we’re even siblings. You know. Sons…. and daughters of God.”
“Oh Brian, you say the nicest things.” Andrea batted her eyelashes in an attempt at humor. “I do consider you a friend. Maybe not as close as the Michners, but a friend nonetheless. I trust you anyway. Now let’s get out of here.”
* * * * *