Ding Dong Dead Part 20

Gretchen had allowed herself to be marginalized in the past, and it would never, ever happen again. She could and would protect herself and her mother from whatever life threw at them, which was why they were in the library at the moment.

Whether or not it made sense to others didn't matter. It was what she had to do, and her independent mother felt the same way. Together, nothing could stop them. She hoped.

"Did you get the pets?" she asked Nina.

"Matt let us take them, but Wobbles took one look at the crate I was going to put him in, and he did a disappearing act. After I looked and looked without finding him, Matt said he'd stop by frequently and take care of him."

"How is he going to get inside?" Gretchen said. "The only people with keys are you, me, and Mom. Oh no. You didn't? You gave him your key."

"He thought someone had been inside the house."

"What!"

"Matt's keeping an eye on things."

"Is anything missing?"

"Matt asked me to look around. I didn't find anything missing."

"Are you sure nothing's missing?"

"How can I be sure? Your workshop is filled with stuff. The television is still here, though."

Great.

"Matt's taking care of us."

"That's rea.s.suring."

"He wants you to call him."

"Yes," Gretchen said. "I'm sure he does."

35.

Andy Thomasia sat up from a crouched position in the backseat of Gretchen's car. Instinctively a scream of terror rose into her throat. She swallowed it down, tasting bile.

You deserve this, she thought.

She was outside the library, alone, her car parked in an isolated back corner of the lot. Her mother was inside, unaware that her daughter had even left the building. Gretchen hadn't checked the backseat. She hadn't seen him until it was too late. She was already inside the car, checking her cell phone's car charger to see if the phone had full power. Gretchen couldn't possibly have been this careless.

But she had been.

Andy wore the same dark sungla.s.ses and Cardinals ball cap that he'd had on yesterday, but his clothes were different. They were dirty, torn, and too large for his body. Nacho had done a thorough job of turning him into a homeless person.

"I locked my car," she said. "How did you get in?" Did her voice give her away? Could he hear the fear?

Andy held up a long, narrow strip of metal. "I got in with this," he said. The tool was a lock-picking device like those cops used to open locked cars. Andy's voice was neutral, not threatening or overly aggressive. Not friendly either.

The inside of the car was stifling hot, having sat in the sun for hours. She felt a slick layer of sweat against her skin.

"Why did you break into my car?" Gretchen spoke quietly and calmly. She had more than a few questions for the murdered woman's husband. "I told you that we'd contact you."

She had a firm grip on the door handle in case she had to make a run for it. No one was around to help her.

Andy leaned forward. She didn't move. Gretchen had been wary of Andy before. Now she was downright terrified.

"I'm here because I have new information," Andy said. "I need to get it to Caroline. I hadn't expected you to come out alone."

Gretchen couldn't read him, not his voice or his expression.

"I didn't expect you either," she said, turning her body so her back was against the steering wheel, as far from him as possible. "My mother's inside the library. I'll relay the message to her."

"You don't trust me, do you?"

"Of course I do," Gretchen lied. "Otherwise I wouldn't have agreed to help you."

"I didn't kill Allison. I loved her. Even if we weren't able to work out our problems, I would have continued to support her dreams. Allison's fantasy doll line was taking off," he said. "She was starting to make money, finally breaking in. I wanted her to succeed."

"I'm sure you did." Was her tone patronizing? She hoped not. "Did Allison make an earlier trip to Arizona?"

"Yes. She was here in March, doing initial research. I wish she'd never come back here. If only I'd known."

"What did you want to tell my mother?"

Still no one pa.s.sing by the car.

"Nacho made the rounds this morning looking for a guy," he said. "Apparently someone was in the cemetery the night that Allison was killed, who wasn't part of the normal homeless community. But he didn't tell the cops that."

"The street people don't like cops much," Gretchen said.

Andy nodded. "For good reason, I'm finding out."

"And this guy?"

"He's a common crook type who runs some action on the street. Nacho found him. He told Nacho he was hired to rob me."

"By whom?"

"He never met his contact."

"Convenient."

Andy nodded. "This thug was paid to pick my pocket, steal my wallet, remove the driver's license, and replace the wallet. And it had to happen on a certain day."

"What day?"

Andy looked pained. "The day Allison was murdered," he said. "The person who hired him made it very clear that I wasn't to suspect anything was missing. And it worked. The guy was smooth. I didn't notice a thing."

Gretchen watched Andy's face. Was he making this up?

"The guy would get paid double for the next part of the deal."

"Which was what?"

"He was supposed to drop my driver's license in the cemetery at a specific time. The guy ran late getting there though, so instead he threw it in a bush by the entrance when he saw the cops pull up. After that he was trapped and taken in along with all the others that were rounded up for questioning."

"So your driver's license is in the cemetery."

Andy shook his head. "The cops have it by now."

What an unbelievable story! Gretchen had to get out of the car, get away from Andy Thomasia, and run for the safety of the building.

He grabbed her shoulder. "Don't you see?" he said. "Someone planned the whole thing ahead of time. Allison's death was premeditated, not some random act of violence. And I was supposed to be arrested for her murder."

Gretchen pulled away from his grip, carefully arranging her face to convey compa.s.sion and understanding. "Then go to the guy who robbed you and make him cooperate. Turn yourself in and have him substantiate your story."

"Nacho said the guy wouldn't help me, and Nacho wouldn't give me his name. And why should the guy help me? He'd be incriminating himself."

"Andy." Gretchen had to make her move to escape before it was too late. "How did you find us at the library so easily?" she asked. Would she have time to grab her phone from the charger? Not likely. She'd have to leave it behind.

Andy leaned back in the seat, which was what Gretchen was waiting for. "It was the strangest thing," he said. "I told Nacho that I wanted to find Caroline. Not long afterward, he gave me your location. It's like there's some kind of communication system, but I don't know how it-"

Gretchen slammed her body against the driver's door at the same time that she released the handle. The door flew open and she was out. If Andy had a weapon besides the lock pick, she hadn't seen it yet.

She broke into a run, aiming straight for the library, relieved that she didn't hear him chasing her. Every muscle in her body was taut, and she was very aware of her exposed back.

She gained the steps leading into the library. Several other patrons were also entering.

The only sound Gretchen could hear was her own ragged, frightened breath.

36.

A librarian tapped Gretchen on the shoulder. "We're closing in five minutes," she said.

Late Sat.u.r.day afternoon and the Birch women had nowhere to go.

Caroline had previously downplayed her old friend's actions. She'd wanted to believe in Andy's innocence; she'd known him for so long as a friend, and as more. But she reluctantly sided with Gretchen after hearing about the incident in the car.

Caroline's defense of Andy ended when she learned that his driver's license had been dropped at the murder scene. Had it happened the way he told it or had Andy lost it after killing his wife? Anything was possible. They would no longer take chances, even when dealing with old flames.

Andy now had the backing of the homeless community thanks to their foolhardy confidence in him. They would have to find Nacho or Daisy and rectify that. Otherwise the homeless people could continue to help Andy locate them.

"Sat.u.r.day night," Gretchen said. "We'll never find them."

"Let it go," Caroline said. "We don't have any proof that Andy is a murderer. Besides, we promised to give him two days. If we don't discover anything useful by then, we'll turn the entire problem over to the police along with the information we have so far."

"We can't go back to the car," Gretchen said. "He might be waiting."

"Even if he's not, Nacho and his tribal drumbeaters know what we're driving." Caroline gave her a weak smile. "I never thought I'd have to hide from Daisy and Nacho's street family."

"Or from Matt," Gretchen added. "I'd like to get my cell phone out of the car, though."

"Really, Gretchen, you're too attached to that thing. We have mine."

They called a cab and gave the driver the address of the banquet hall. On the way, they contacted Nina and April and asked them to meet them there. "Leave your cars someplace else," Gretchen advised them. "As many blocks away as you can comfortably walk. We wouldn't want anyone to pa.s.s the building and see familiar cars parked right in front of it."

Within an hour, the four women were sitting with an oversized Barbie doll on the edge of the stage, eating burgers picked up by the ever-ravenous April.

Tutu, Nimrod, and Enrico whizzed around the room, playing chase games and looking for mischief while Caroline and Gretchen brought Nina and April up-to-date.

"You need to get into witness protection," April said when they were finished.

"I don't think they have those kinds of programs anymore," Nina replied.

Gretchen addressed her aunt. "Why don't you use your psychic powers to help us out? It's worked in the past. Can't you put out a distress call?"

"Mayday, Mayday." April giggled.

"I can't perform on demand. Messages come in randomly, and they aren't one hundred percent reliable."

"Walk backward," April suggested. "I heard it helps stimulate psychics."

"The exercise isn't about walking backward. I'm supposed to think think backward," Nina said. "And it isn't appropriate for this case." backward," Nina said. "And it isn't appropriate for this case."

"What if you held an object and concentrated," Caroline said. "Would that work?"

"Like what?" Nina asked, looking doubtful.

"I know," April said around a cheek filled with burger. "A piece of the skeleton would be good. Except I'm sure the police removed it from the house."

"Yuck. I'm not touching any dead person's bones."

"It should be something connected to the victims," Caroline said.

"What about the photograph?" Gretchen said, remembering that she had a copy of it in her purse.