A Wish Before Dying - Part 2
“Geez, Saxe. You almost gave me a heart attack.”
Four
Erin insisted I was too tired to drive, so she took me to the hospital. On the way, we dropped Elroy and Clem at her house and I filled her in on the things I’d read in Saxe’s forum files. I felt bad about disclosing his private information to her and said as much.
She was immediately affronted. “I am your star employee.”
“You’re my only employee.”
She shrugged, then smacked the steering wheel. “Technically, you’re an employee too, so that makes me one of two. I’ll say it again, I am your star employee…”
Narrowing my eyes, I glared over at her.
“Seriously, I’m a trustworthy person, Vangie. I signed a nondisclosure agreement, for goodness’ sake. In fact,” she pointed a finger to the floor to drive home her point, “I’m the one who had the bright idea to have that nondisclosure agreement created when we started the forum.”
“Okay, okay. I get all of that and you are, in fact, a very trustworthy employee. And when we first pulled up Saxe’s forum files, I saw that as a part of our business. But now,” rubbing my neck, “Now, he’s gone and made me his ‘emergency contact’ on his medical forms. This is no longer a customer/business relationship. He’s made this personal and I just feel uncomfortable all of a sudden.”
We were silent as she pulled into the hospital parking lot, circling a few times until she found a spot near our entrance. I opened the door, grabbed my bag, then leaned over to peer inside when she didn’t immediately get out.
“You have a point about this sounding personal. I can just stay here while you go see him.”
“You can come in, Erin. Really. I don’t like the idea of you sitting out here alone.”
I saw the muscle in her jaw working, and I knew she was chewing her tongue as she tried to decide. Finally, she switched off the vehicle and grabbed her things. I saw a bit of a spring in her step when she came in beside me.
I didn’t even have to ask her to wait for me when we got to his room. She just plopped into a seat in the little sitting area near the hallway and pulled her phone out, scrolling, “Let me know if you need me, boss.”
I rolled my eyes and chuckled.
Slowly I opened the door to Saxe’s room, squinting to see in the darkness. I heard the low whir of electrical equipment and brief flashes told me the television was probably on, though I heard no sound. As quietly as I could, I moved closer to his bed. While he no longer had the tubes taped to his face and mouth, he still looked terrible. Where he wasn’t swollen from the accident, his cheeks were sunken in. Was that the cancer? How had I never noticed it before?
His eyes were closed so I stood there, gently putting my hands on the bed rail. Then I squealed like a little baby when his fingers suddenly gripped my hand.
“Vangie?”
“Geez, Saxe. You almost gave me a heart attack.”
He issued a wheezing chuckle, though his eyes still weren’t open.
“Seriously. I almost just peed my pants, Saxe. Don’t ever do that, especially to a woman my age.”
“You’re age?” he grunted. “I’ve got at least three decades on you.”
That wasn’t exactly true, but I chose not to point that out. I would take all the help I could get in shedding a few numbers from my age.
“How are you feeling? And why didn’t you tell us you were sick?”
“Well, no one likes to make people uncomfortable. And the c-word always makes people uncomfortable.”
He was still holding my hand and I put my other palm on top, feeling an immediate need to comfort him. It surprised me I had any motherly nature left in me. After our children were out of the house, my ex did just about anything in his power to suck every nurturing instinct right out of me.
“Thank you for coming. I know today must have been a busy day. How did it go?”
“Oh,” I reached behind me for the chair and slid it closer to his bed so I could sit, “A rounding success. We sold lots of books and even some memberships to the forum.”
“That’s fantastic. Your shop is one of my favorite places to be, Vangie. I want it to be a success. You’ve given me a great deal.”
Smiling, I shook my head, “C’mon now, Saxe. I should thank you. You’re my number one customer.”
“I never buy what I don’t want. I’m very particular.” the more he talked, the more winded he became. He took a moment to rest, closing his eyes. After a pause, he sighed, then looked at me again, “Now, I’m sorry to have taken you away from the good night’s rest I know you must surely need, but I couldn’t wait any longer to talk to you.”
“It’s okay. What can I help with? Would you like me to go fetch something from your apartment or…”
He was shaking his head before I finished the question, so I pursed my lips and waited for him to explain.
“The Lipton woman was by earlier. They think someone intentionally hit me, tried to kill me.”
“Yes, Detective Lipton told me that. I gather there was a witness. But at the time I spoke to her, I didn’t think she believed there was much to that. Do you know something different?”
He clutched my hand harder. “They got information on the car. She said either intention or a drunk. But it was an accident. It was an accident.”
“Okay, it was an accident.”
He raised his other hand to his head, and I noticed it trembled. “He didn’t mean to hurt me. It was an accident.”
My brows pinched in tight and I bent in closer to him. “Who?”
“Did you look at my files?”
“I did. Who was Sandreen Monroe? And Al Monroe?” I gasped and put a hand to my mouth, whispering, “Did he run you over?”
My heart was thudding as I considered that possibility. Had Saxe uncovered something dangerous? A drug cartel? Human trafficking? Or was it even darker, like some foreign mob connection? Or had I been watching way too many crime shows?
The latter was definitely the most probable.
“He’s my son,” Saxe said softly. “Al is my son.”
I was taken aback once again. Mentally doing the math, I considered that. I knew my friend to be in his early seventies and while I wasn’t certain how old Sandreen Monroe had been when she died, her son was only twenty-four, which was pretty close in age to my daughter Regina. While I was fond of Saxe, I couldn’t imagine being romantically involved with him.
“So, why did he run you over?” I saw him open his mouth to correct me and immediately, put a hand up to stop him, “Accidentally, I mean. Did you have a fight?”
“No, no, we didn’t quarrel. The truth is, Vangie, he doesn’t even know I’m his father. I’ve spent the last three years searching the world over for him. About six months or so ago…”
He began coughing and sputtering, scrambling to grab the rails so he could sit up. I found the control for his bed and pushed him upright. When he could finally breathe again, he smiled and nodded a thank you.
“So, six months ago?”
“His mother was from here, you know. I thought eventually he would come back here, and he did. Moved into the home she’d left him. But he’s in trouble, Vangie.”
I took a deep breath and patted his hand. “He’s been home six months, but you haven’t spoken to him yet?”
“Oh, I’ve spoken to him. I haven’t quite figured out how to tell him who I am, though. And now… now I know he’s into something really bad. When I tried to tell him, to stop him from getting in deeper, he… he just lost it, Vangie. Ran off and when I tried to stop him… well, I shouldn’t have put myself in front of his car. It was my fault, not his.”
“Okay, but what does this have to do with me, Saxe?”
His bony fingers felt for and found mine again. “It was an accident. We can’t let the police find him.”
“But this is silly, Saxe. Just explain to Detective Lipton what happened. Surely she won’t file charges on him if you…”
“No, no! He’s in trouble. Don’t you understand? I need you to find him before the police do so that I can protect him. I’m his father and that’s what fathers do. I have to help him before it’s too late. And neither of us has any time to spare.”
Five
“You know what’s so cool about this?” Erin asked as she drove me back to the shop. “This is just like what happened to your grandma. And on her very first solo case!”
My employee said that as if I were just about to start my own first case. My grandmother was a detective, and I had no desire to follow in her footsteps. My cousin Paul had already chosen to take up that mantle so I certainly didn’t need to I enjoyed reading and watching mysteries. I did not want to go out and solve them on my own. A shudder ran down my spine at the mere thought.
I’d told Erin about my conversation with Saxe only because he’d given me permission to. If I wasn’t mistaken, the old fellow had quite a bit of a crush on Erin and thought it was terribly endearing that she wanted to help too. I wasn’t sure Mr. McCarthy would find the older man’s affection for his wife endearing or offensive, but I figured neither of the McCarthys had to know that fact anyway.
“You do remember that one, don’t you?” Erin pressed as she pulled her truck up into the parking lot.
“Maybe,” I shrugged as I looked for my bag.
“Oh, c’mon. Of course, you do. Your grandma Jenny went to go see your Uncle Hugh in the penitentiary. He was on his deathbed and asked her to help his daughter get out of some pickle. A stolen necklace, I think?”
“Oh,” I bit my lip as I got out of the vehicle. I stood there a minute and looked up at the starry sky. “I think she called it the killer Jack case. Or maybe . Does that sound right?”
She pointed to the building. “I could go pull those files if you need them. I know just where they are.”
“No, no, it’s late and I’m sure the man and your farm animals are missing you.”
“So, are you going to help him?”
Shutting the door, I leaned my elbows on the open window. “I’m not a detective, Erin. I’m a bookstore owner.”
She made a derogatory sound and waved her hand at me. I watched her go, then got into my car and started the engine. But I didn’t put it into gear. I just sat there, remembering how Saxe had pleaded with me to find his son. The clock on my dashboard said it was just after nine o’clock. Still early for a Saturday night.
“I’ll just have a look. Just one quick look,” I told myself as I put my car into reverse and pulled out of the lot.
According to Saxe, Al Monroe spent most of his nights at a bar on the east side of town. The Bad Glad Icehouse had once been known for its happy hours and its live music and karaoke. About ten years ago some friends had talked me into going out for karaoke and I swear I’d never been more miserable in my life. Of course, things went south with my marriage after that, so at the time I had no idea what misery could be.
These days, the clientele was much different, and I knew that there had been a few investigations into the owner of the club and some nefarious schemes he was involved in. Still, none of those investigations had ever “stuck,” so my ex-husband would put it.
The parking lot was crammed full of vehicles and I had to park down the street, thankfully under a street light. I still had to walk a good block or so in dark and shadows and I could literally hear my ex castigating me for that and for not carrying a weapon. He’d taught me to shoot and helped me get my license to carry, but during the divorce, I decided it wasn’t a good idea to have a loaded weapon when in his vicinity. Then I never could get back into the habit of carrying one.
I felt like all eyes were on me when I entered the icehouse because I certainly was not dressed like most of the women in the room. My snowflake Roes just didn’t seem to match up with the tight jeans, fancy boots and cute skirts. Maybe I should have brought Erin with me, but I didn’t think that would have made me feel any more at home.
I pushed in at the bar and ordered a beer, then took a drink as I scanned the patrons. I’d spent a lot of time looking at Al Monroe’s pictures, so I hoped I would recognize him quickly. Unfortunately, as I strolled around the building, I was sure he wasn’t there. Maybe Saxe had been wrong about his supposed son’s habits.
“Okay, everyone. Here she is. Miss Jolene Barker!”
The place erupted in applause and whistles, and I immediately turned my attention to the little stage at the back of the icehouse.
I wasn’t sure if Jolene Barker could sing, but she had plenty of other attributes to her credit. Her hourglass shape was fantastically on showcase in a tight black halter jumpsuit. Over that, she wore a rhinestone vest that twinkled with the stage lights. But as halting as she was from the waist down, she also had a face that would stop traffic. The face of an angel? Heck, no. There was nothing angelic about those sultry green eyes and that ivory skin framed by blonde waves.
And then she opened her mouth, belting out an old Tanya Tucker song like it had been written just for her. Yeah, Jolene was good.
I managed to break my gaze away from her stellar performance to get another good look around. I might have missed him on my first search, but now Al Monroe stood out like a sore thumb. He was at a table on the left-hand side of the stage and he was leaning forward with elbows on his knees in rapt attention. If I’d never known what infatuation looked like, I did now.
Jolene was just finishing her number as I slowly made my way through the crowd to get to him. But she got there first, leaning in to give him a kiss on the cheek before taking the seat he held out for her. Instead of going directly to him, I detoured and found a place to lean against the wall behind them.
“You blow me away, baby. That was terrific,” Al told her, eyes alight with adoration.
Jolene smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. She grabbed his glass and tossed it back. I wasn’t sure what was in it, except that it was the hard stuff. She barely flinched as she swallowed it down.
“Is everything ready?” she asked, breathless as she pulled a mirror from her pocket and checked her appearance.
His expression faltered just a teeny bit, but he nodded and gave her a thumbs up. “All loaded in the back of my truck. It has to be tonight?”
“If it’s not tonight, I’m a dead woman,” she said under her breath. “It has to be tonight.”
“I’m ready. Don’t worry. I’ll get it, I promise. But I still think I should go with you to deliver it. It’s too dangerous…”
“Shhh,” she hissed, looking around, but somehow missing the fact that I was right there within earshot. Maybe I didn’t stand out as much as I’d thought. “It has to be me. If you go they’ll kill us both. I’ll deliver it, then meet you at your house. Now don’t forget. Park away from the bridge, down by the old Girl Scout place.”
“Stop worrying. I’ve got it.”
“All right. I’ve got to go back on.”
“I can’t wait until this is all over,” he smiled, a faraway look in his eyes. “We’ll leave the country and get married just like we planned.”
“Just like we planned,” she assured him, patting his cheek before kissing him and heading back for the stage. I noticed Al took a moment to watch her backside as she climbed the steps, then he pushed his chair back and headed out the door and into the night.
I waited for a beat, tapping my foot, then I swallowed down the last of my beer and headed towards the exit. Only a few more yards and I would have successfully made it, but then a deep, oily voice stopped me cold.
“Well, if it isn’t Evangeline Guillory.”
Standing up straight, I tucked my purse against my stomach and smiled at Webster Wills. His stomach had expanded considerably since the last time I’d seen him, but he didn’t need to be fit to be imposing and dangerous. He had an entire entourage for that and two of them were standing behind him, arms crossed over their muscled chests.
“Hello, Webster,” I said with a forced smile. “Business seems to be good these days.”
He snorted, reaching up to pat a hand over his comb-over hairstyle, “No thanks to that husband of yours. Where is that copper, anyway? Somewhere harassing my employees again?”
“I wouldn’t know,” I slowly pushed past him, “I divorced him, so it’s no longer my job to tag along with him nor to keep tabs on him. He’s all yours, Web.”
That got a great big belly laugh from the ugly man and I took that opportunity to inch even closer to the door. “In that case, why not come on over to my private table and I’ll buy you a drink. We can celebrate your freedom.”
My eyes flicked from him to the taller of the men standing near him. He had a commanding presence and when his black eyes stared into me, I felt an icy chill sweep over my skin. His hair was as dark as his eyes, twisted up on his head in a topknot. When he leaned in a little closer, the light caught the star-shaped stud in his ear. I thought I’d seen his face before, but I couldn’t be sure.
Looking back at Wills, I stretched my smile out wider, “Thanks, but I was just leaving. Long day, early morning ahead. ‘Night!”
I didn’t have to follow Al Monroe to find him. I knew exactly where he was going. There was a bridge over Tanner’s Bayou, an arm of Lake Sorrow. It was a quiet place and when Regina was younger, the building there had been used for Girl Scouts meetings. These days, it was a less than an appealing area of town. If my daughter were still a teen, I would prohibit her from ever getting near Tanner’s Bayou after dark.
As it was, I figured it was probably the perfect place to carry on some clandestine something or other. But what was the something or other?
I parked a quarter of a mile or so down from the bridge, then slowly made my way toward the little building. The moon wasn’t full, but it was bright and provided just enough light that I kept a firm footing even when I veered off into the grass to sneak up behind the place.
There was a truck parked near the water’s edge, but I didn’t see Al Monroe anywhere near it. I knew there was a long pier on the other side of the house, so I slinked around the backside so that I could move that way through the cover of the trees.
The pier was empty too, and I was just beginning to wonder if I’d been wrong about the location. Maybe there was some other Girl Scout house I wasn’t aware of. But if that were the case, then whose truck was that parked over there?
Suddenly, I heard a loud gurgling sound and turned my head toward the area where the bayou opened into the lake. An explosion of bubbles erupted on the surface out towards deeper waters. Sweeping a branch out of the way I moved in closer when I heard a twig snap behind me.
But I wasn’t able to turn around in time. Suddenly, a large bag down came over my face, strangling me for air and light. I fought wildly, reaching behind me with nails bared, trying to scratch at my attacker with everything I had. I found a balled-up hank of long hair on top of his head and grabbed onto it, yanking it hard. The man grunted as he struggled to pin my arms down, but I was having none of it. I added my feet to the melee, kicking and stomping and heaving to get away.
“Remember he said don’t hurt her,” a voice said behind me just before my attacker’s hand clamped on my neck. Within just a few moments, the world went black.
Six
I scrambled my way into a sitting position, head swimming in a way that made me want to lie back again. Resisting that urge, I opened my eyes and took stock of things. I was no longer at Tanner’s Bayou. No, I was in the backseat of my own car parked in the lot of my own bookstore.
I found my purse and rummaged for some ibuprofen and my keys, then got out and stumbled to the door of the shop. My little office fridge had a few bottles of water and a half-finished bottle of chardonnay. For a split second, I considered the wine, then opted for the water to wash down the pills. They would probably do little for the massive headache.
I’m not sure why I didn’t call the cops. I should have, but there was every possibility that Eva Lipton would get the call. Or even worse, they might send my ex-husband to the scene. That would have been too mortifying to even imagine.
What the heck had happened, anyway? One minute I felt that hand pressing into my carotid and the next I was out cold. The clock on the wall revealed it had been a few hours since the incident. Surely that sleeper hold couldn’t have put me out that long. Had I been drugged somehow?
I decided I didn’t have time to ponder that. Instead, I plopped down at my computer and pulled up my search browser. I googled “Al Monroe Port La Pena” and then began scrolling through the results. I found a few listings on sites that supposedly helped find addresses, but none of them pulled up anything local for an Al Monroe. Some of them required money to get the results. This was getting me nowhere.
Rubbing my temples, I tried to force my brain into gear. It reminded me of what Erin had said earlier about my grandmother’s first big case. I knew the story vividly, even if I’d been slow to recall it. Grandma had visited her uncle in the penitentiary, where on his deathbed he’d told her his only daughter was in some sort of trouble. He’d begged my grandmother to convince her investigator father to help him. But great grandpa Pierson had still been on the sauce so to speak, which is how grandma came to take on the case.
Even as a child, I’d never once thought about or envisioned myself as a detective like my family. I liked books and peace and quiet. Marrying a cop was about as adventurous as I got and look what that had earned me.
So why then was I sitting here trying to find Al Monroe instead of calling the police to let them handle this affair? I should be back at home, kicking my feet up and relaxing.
At home.
I sat up again and pulled the keyboard closer to me, pecking out the web address for the county’s property appraisal website. In the search block I typed “Sandreen Monroe.”
And there it was. A house listed under “The Sandreen Monroe Trust.” This was the home Al Monroe’s mother had left him.
I jotted the address down, then tapped it into my phone’s map program as I hustled out of the door to my car. The Monroe house was on the far east side of the county, and according to my map, it would take me twenty minutes to get there.
I arrived on the old country street within fifteen and I was afraid even that had been too late. The orange glow was clear as I made my way down the long stone drive. My fingers fumbled to close the driving app so that I could open the phone keypad.
“9-1-1 what is your emergency?”
“The address is 24576 County Road 478. A house is on fire. Send help now!”
“Is anyone inside the residence?”
“I don’t know, I think so. His truck is here so I think so. I’m going to check. Just get emergency crews out here!”
“Ma’am, please don’t go inside. Just wait for the…”
“Again, the address is 24576 County Road 478. Get them here ASAP.”
I hung up on the operator, then grabbed a towel from my bag and made a dash for the house. The door was unlocked and open, but just as I was about to go inside I spotted a spigot to the left of the porch. Quickly, I turned on the water and soaked the towel, then wrung it out before putting it over my mouth and nose as I ducked into the smoky house.
“Al! Al, are you in here?”
I didn’t hear a reply, so I followed the hallway toward the back. The smoke was getting thicker, and I knew I was getting close to the starting point.
And there he was. Through the dark clouds of black smoke, I saw the outline of Al Monroe in an easy chair. His head was lolled to one side and his hands were hanging limp on either side of the armrests. I put my fingers to his neck and found a pulse, so I knew he was still alive.
Grabbing his ankles, I squatted and tugged with everything I had. He slid off the recliner and onto the floor. The flames were getting too close, too fast. I was sweating from the heat and since I had hold of his legs I couldn’t keep the towel to my face to protect against the smoke. Through coughing and gagging for air, I heaved in quick jerks, but only got him a few feet through the room.
I felt around for the wet towel, using it to hold over my mouth so I could get a moment’s relief from the smoke. That’s when I noticed something sparkling beside his chair. A star-shaped earring.
I didn’t have time to worry about that, because it was getting harder and harder to breathe. Despair welled up in me because I could see no way I could get the man all the way to the other side of the hour and out of the door. He might still be alive, but he was unconscious, so it was like dragging a dead body.
A dead body.
Crawling to my feet, I ran for the front door and to my car. There in the trunk, I found the package of furniture sliders Erin had borrowed from me. Once back inside, I rolled Al Monroe up on one side and then the other so that I could tuck as many of the assorted plastic disks underneath him as possible.
When I took his ankles again and pulled, he glided easily across the floor and I said a silent prayer as we made our way quickly through and out of the house. After I had him in the grass and safely away from the inferno, I plopped over onto my back, hand over my eyes as I tried to catch my breath.
“What happened?”
Looking over at Al Monroe, I pulled myself onto my elbows. “I could ask you that too. What’s the last thing you remember?”
He blinked, frowned, and started coughing as he peered over at the burning home. A beam inside must have collapsed because there was a loud crash and flames burst out of one of the front windows. “My house. What happened to my house?”
He looked at me and I chuckled sadly, sniffling because my eyes and nose were weeping from all the smoke and soot I’d breathed, “Don’t look at me. It was already on fire when I got here. I just pulled you out of there.”
Looking even more puzzled, he tipped his head to the side, still panting to take in the clean night air. “You pulled me out?”
“Well,” picking up a slider with one hand, I wiped at my watery eyes with the other, “I had a little help. So, what happened? Do you remember anything?”
“Jolene…”
“Ah, yeah. I figured. She came and got whatever it was you pulled up out of the lake for her, eh?”
“She said… she said an old boyfriend had gotten her mixed up in it. That he’d ditched it and she had to find it or they would kill her. She was supposed to make the deal and then come back here.”
Sirens sounded in the distance, and I glanced over my shoulder. Flashing lights were approaching from about a half mile up the road. “The deal? So, was it drugs?”
The poor guy seemed so utterly confused, I felt pretty sorry for him. He managed to sit up, then put a hand to his arm, “Yeah, drugs. I couldn’t save mom from that world. I thought… it doesn’t matter. Where is Jolene?”
I couldn’t answer that, though I had my suspicions. Those suspicions would have to wait because within just a few moments, fire and rescue arrived and took Al Monroe away.
