Short Fuse
© 1992/2016 by K Pelle
Chapter 24
I was surprised that sometime during the discussion about the happenings of the last few days Dave grew quiet and sat back watching, almost as if he wanted to dissociate himself from the discussion. Then I realized that the conversation and the speculation were being carried on by Shannon and Jaro, both Noreen and Cindy were relatively quiet and of course since I was watching . . .
I smiled to myself, perhaps Dave was doing the same as I was, simply letting others carry the conversation while I considered the points they brought up.
"But Uncle Santos, the mattress and pillows were chopped to bits," Shannon was saying.
"Well, if the bed was still roughly made up, they mustn't have looked under it at the bottom side or perhaps the jewels are hidden in the bedspring."
"The beds were all chopped to bits, the mattress, the pillows, even the bedspring was slashed open, besides, don't you think the police would have checked all that," Shannon said in an exasperated tone. "Detective Fairchild is trying really hard to find answers, I can tell. He wants to get to the bottom of this mystery just as much as we do."
"Well, I think we've missed a clue somewhere," he shook his head.
"You're just being stubborn, but you don't know everything and you don't know the right questions to ask either," Shannon snapped. "I'll bet there's lots more information that we don't know about."
"So, do you know anything more that you haven't told us about?" he demanded.
"I don't know." Shannon shook her head and rolled her eyes. "How would I be able to guess at something like that? I know lots of things, but I don't know what bits of stuff I know might be important and what other stuff that I know is meaningless. How am I supposed to tell which is which?"
"Well, what about the things you noticed your mother doing lately? Did she change her habits or anything like that?"
"Well, maybe?" Shannon shrugged, then frowned. "For the last month or so she's been so touchy that it was like she was constantly having PMS. I mean she was being really bitchy, even more than usual."
She paused and sighed deeply, shifting uneasily in her seat. "Then when I was fooling around with Charlie Crawford and she caught us kissing and snuggling . . ." she threw her hands in the air. "Well, after that it was like I was walking on eggshells around her all the time. She screamed and hollered about how I was going to ruin my life the same way she did and that I had to be more careful or I'd end up being in a dead end marriage like she was and . . ."
She stopped then and looked at Dave with a hint of tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry Daddy, I didn't mean to tell you that she'd said that."
Dave didn't say anything, he simply shook his head and waved his hand in dismissal, letting her know that he'd already realized how Claire had felt about their married life.
"Oh Daddy!" she almost whimpered and quickly moved over to crawl into his lap and hug him. "I am sorry."
"It's okay, baby girl. It's not your fault," he murmured as he held her on his arms.
Everyone was quiet for a moment, then Shannon sat up and shifted so she could talk to Jaro while still sitting on Dave's lap.
"Mom has always been touchy about silly stuff," she sighed. "But now that I think about it, for the last month or more, it really was worse. I know she started out by being upset with the people at her job. Then one day she went over to Granny Leech's house and didn't want me to come along. That would have been about a month ago, maybe a month and a half. She came back from Granny's place all wound up and almost happy, then the next afternoon when she came in from work she was grouchy again, even worse than before. It was weird, because her moods were up and down like a roller coaster. She'd be all happy and smiling one day, then scowling and screeching like a witch the next, until I felt like I was walking on eggshells all the time."
"So she was suffering from extreme mood swings during the last while?" Jaro asked.
"Unh huh, and she acted worried, like people were out to get her or were at least looking for her or something. Like one time we'd been picking up groceries and all of a sudden she just abandoned a full shopping cart in the middle of the aisle of the store, then hustled me out the door and into the car. After that she drove around in circles before we came home. It was as if she thought someone might be following us and she was trying to shake them," she shook her head slowly. "I figured out that much and looked back a few times, but she screamed at me for even doing that."
"You didn't mention any of this before, at least not to me," Dave said quietly.
"Oh come on, Daddy! Mom was weird and always did strange things," she sighed. "Like how she acted after I told her that a guy named Mr Loo had phoned. First she went kinda white, then she told me to forget his name and to hang up and never talk to him if he called again. But, after a bit she changed that and insisted that I always take any messages from him, but to call her immediately if he phoned when she wasn't home. That's when she started insisting that she had to answer the phone all the time as well. I wasn't supposed to even touch the phone if she was home. Stuff like that, all of it was sorta wierd."
"She was inconsistent then?" Jaro spoke slowly. "What was your grandmother like during the same time?"
"Granny Leech? She seemed to be all happy and glad about things, until a couple of weeks ago, then she got all sappy and kept hugging me all the time. It was almost as if she knew she wasn't going to be able to hug me for much longer," she sniffed and I noticed that there were tears in her eyes.
Then she turned and her arms wrapped around Dave's neck as she began to cry in earnest. I think Jaro thought he was at fault for her tears, because after a moment he excused himself and wheeled out onto the porch. Noreen followed him and I decided that Cindy and I should be somewhere else as well. I motioned to her and we moved to the kitchen to clean up the remains of our meal, then we went into the second bedroom and made up the two beds.
Since Dave was still cuddling Shannon in his lap when we finished making the beds and came out of the small bedroom, I decided we should go for a walk and went outside. Jaro and Noreen were standing at one end of the porch and talking quietly, so Cindy and I walked slowly away from the house and out toward the big tree where Cindy loved to sit.
"Mom, do you think there's anything I can do to make Shannon feel better? Or should I just be there if she needs me?"
"I think that's the best," I sighed. "Both Shannon and Dave are still grieving and everyone handles grief in a slightly different manner, but one of the things they both need to do is to get the sadness, anger and grief out of their system. They're not going to react quite the way they normally would, so we'll have to try to be patient with whatever they do or say, because their emotions are going to be raw and unfettered. At times like this all you and I can do is try to be supportive and do our best not to put them under pressure."
"Okay, I guess," she said quietly. "But, all this wierd crap that Shannon's mother and grandmother caused is part of the problem, isn't it?"
"Um hmm, I suppose it is to some extent, but solving that mystery might be just what they need to clear up their lives. Of course the more they find out, the more complicated everything seems to be, so who know where or how that's going to end up."
"So is figuring out what was happening going to help them or not?"
"I think so. I don't know for sure if it will help them or not, but I do know the police will be happier and much less intrusive once the case has been solved. It would probably get the news gossips and the tv snoops off their backs too, which is definitely part of what has them so uptight."
"Yeah, that's for sure, but that's only part of it," Cindy sighed heavily. "That's not all we're finding out though. For one thing I never knew just how wicked Shannon's mom really was. It doesn't make sense to me that Shannon's mom would be so unhappy with her life, because she had so much to be happy about. I just can't believe that she wouldn't be delighted to live in a nice house like theirs was, with a marvellous kid like Shannon for a daughter and a great guy like Dave for a husband."
"I don't think she was really wicked, just warped by circumstance," I sighed. "From what I understand she was raised by a woman who was suffering from a mental condition, so she grew up with a peculiar attitude toward reality. I think she became a very avaricious woman, who was extremely selfish and had a vicious temper, but I can't say much more than that about her. I'm not even certain that I can understand her attitude, but then I don't know if I want to attempt to look at life from her point of view either. After all she was stealing from her husband and even from her own child. That just goes against everything I believe a married woman with a child should do."
"Thanks, Mom. When you explain it that way, I can understand a little bit, but if that's true, why is Shannon so nice? If the way her mom was raised influenced her personality, shouldn't Shannon be weird too?"
"Oh, but I think in many ways Dave had more to do with raising Shannon than her mother did. From what I've heard Dave and Shannon say about that situation, her mom seemed to feel her daughter was a hindrance to her personal ambitions. I think she became pregnant in order to trap Dave into marriage, but then she was stuck with the care of a baby that she soon regarded as a burden, who interfered with her plans. Then when Shannon didn't develop an attitude that her mother shared, she virtually gave her own child minimal attention. It almost seems as if she was totally selfish and didn't know how to love anyone else, so she treated Shannon like a pet and caring for Shannon became a chore. As a result Dave and his biological family became Shannon's role models, because they showed her kindness, care and love, while her mother wasn't all that interested and ignored her."
"It sounds to me like Shannon's mom must have to be pretty darn hardhearted to treat her own kid that way."
"Unh huh, I'd have to agree with that to some extent. I think the woman was extremely self-centred and had very little desire to be a mother, but then she didn't seem to care for anyone else either," I sighed softly, then reached out my arm to pull Cindy close and hug her to me gently. "Because of how I feel about you and our family, I have a very hard time understanding Shannon's mom and some of her actions though, so some of the opinions I have about her may be wrong. After all I only saw her for a few brief periods and she was under stress during those times, but I think my impressions have been confirmed by comments that both Dave and Shannon have made. As I said before, I think Shannon's mom was a very unstable woman, with an extremely strange outlook on life."
"Oh, everybody knows that Shannon's mom was weird," Cindy said, then paused and looked toward a splash that came from something in the river.
"Shh," she said quietly only an instant later, then squeezed my hand and whispered. "Look, it's a family of otters, playing on the river bank."
She was right, at least it was a family group, with two full grown otters and three immature kits and although they weren't just playing, otters never let a hunt for food interfere with having a little fun. We stood still and quietly watched them until Cindy sneezed, which alerted the otters to the fact we were there and might be a danger, so they dove into the river to hide from possible predators.
Cindy's sneeze made both of us realise that it was growing chilly, so we decided to head back to the cabin, hoping that Dave had managed to reassure Shannon and calm her by then.
I really didn't know what to say or do when Shannon threw her arms around my neck and cried on my shoulder, so I simply held my daughter in my arms and let my mind wander. I soon realized that Shannon and I were alone, so I knew everyone else had gone outside, leaving the pair of us time and space to calm down. I appreciated that, but I didn't spend much time thinking about it. Actually it wasn't all that often that I had a chance to hold Shannon in my arms, so I was certainly willing to hug her in my arms and try to comfort her for her loss. After all, her mother and grandmother had been part of her life and although their relationship with Shannon and I wasn't ideal, they had been a large part of our lives. Still, both Shannon and I were going to miss them.
I don't know how long we sat there, but I took the time to let my mind wander over the happenings of the last few days. It wasn't that I could make sense of Claire and Granny Leech's activities, so I didn't really try, instead I spent some moments trying to plan for the future and not just the future with Shannon either. Instead I was going to have to include Arlene and Cindy in my plans, so my mind was extremely busy as I mulled over tentative ideas of what might happen in the near future.
Eventually though Shannon shifted, lifted her head and kissed me on the cheek, then pulled back to look me in the eyes. "Thanks, Daddy. Sorry to be such a weepy wart."
"Oh, Punkin," I couldn't help grinning and chuckling slightly. "You have a multitude of reasons for being weepy, but you certainly aren't a wart. A wart is usually an ugly and annoying growth that no one wants, which isn't a fair description of what you're like at all. Instead you're a gorgeous teenager, just on the verge of becoming a beautiful young woman, but right now you're suffering from a huge loss in your life. Your sadness about being forced to live with this situation is natural, so is your annoyance and even your anger.
"On top of that and most importantly, you are my daughter, whom I love dearly and there is nothing I like better than cuddling you when you need my attention. You need to know that I realise how badly you feel and that I will do anything in my power to relieve that pain and will try to protect you from any further pain you may encounter. At the same time though you need to realize that I'm human and not always right, so there are times when I'm not going to make the perfect decision. In other words I have personal opinions that may differ with what you may think I should say or do, but I want you to remember that I am twice as old as you are and have a lot more experience in the real world than you do. That doesn't mean I will always make the perfect choices, but it does mean that I'll be basing most of my decisions on similar happenings that I've experienced during my life."
"Yeah, I know all that, Daddy, but that's not why I'm so weepy though. I am sad that Mom and Granny Leech are gone, but at the same time I'm angry about it too. I'm frustrated because they had so much, yet they were still greedy for more and they didn't seem to care that they hurt us while satisfying their selfish dreams. Mostly though I'm upset because I just can't understand what made them do the things they did. It just doesn't make any sense to me and I find myself feeling so annoyed and confused that I can't seem to do anything else but cry all the time," then she suddenly pushed free of my arms and quickly stood up. "Sorry Daddy, but I gotta go and I gotta go right now."
Then she dashed off and was in such a rush that she closed the door behind her rather noisily. I wasn't really surprised that the slamming of the door drew the attention of Jaro and Noreen, or that they appeared in the front doorway right afterward.
'We heard a big thump, is everything okay?" Jaro asked the instant he came through the doorway.
'Yep, the noise was just a slamming door. Shannon was in a little hurry, so she misjudged her own strength when she ran to the can," I winked at him. "The doors in this place are heavy, but someone must have recently oiled the hinges, so if someone is in a hurry, slammed doors can happen easily."
"Is she okay?" Noreen asked.
"Yeah, I think she'll be fine. Thanks for clearing out and letting us talk in private though."
"Oh that's good, and we could see that you two needed some time alone, without any nosy parkers listening in on what was said," Noreen smiled.
"Thanks for that," I smiled slightly, then smiled even more as I saw Arlene and Cindy appear through the same doorway.
"Where's Shannon? Is she okay?" Cindy asked almost instantly.
"I'm fine I was just in the bathroom, getting cleaned up," Shannon answered as she opened the bathroom door. "Only I'm feeling very tired, almost worn out, so I was heading for bed."
"Actually that sounds like a good idea," Cindy agreed as she headed for the bathroom. "Hang on a couple of minutes and I'll join you."
So Shannon came over and climbed into my lap for a moment or two, then both she and Cindy gave everyone a goodnight hug or a hug and a kiss before running off to climb the stairs to the loft.
After that the four adults sat talking quietly for a few moments, then Jaro's cellphone buzzed and he pulled it out of a pocket or holster of some kind that hung on the arm of his wheelchair. I hadn't even known that he carried a cellphone and I looked at the holster he was using rather enviously. My cellphone was just as big as his and it was a pain in the neck to carry around. My immediate thought was to ask him where he'd gotten that holster rig, because one like it could hang from my belt and would leave my hands free.
"Hello, Santos here," he said as he turned it on, then paused, frowning slightly.
The way he was holding the phone I could just barely hear the sound of a woman's voice, but I couldn't make out what she said.
"Yes, Peg. I got through that area before they closed the Malahat, but what's so important that you'd need to call me this late in the evening?" Jaro asked, then he sat up straighter as the faint voice explained the reason for her call.
Suddenly Jaro's slight frown turned into a look of concern and he nodded his head. "You say she's already in the hospital?"
There was another short pause and more scratchy whispering sounds.
"Alright Peg. If they call back tell them I'll be there inside of half an hour or so, and thank you for calling so soon. Now, shut off the ringer on the office phone for the night. Let the answering machine take any more calls and get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow," he clicked off the phone and sighed deeply, then looked at me. "Can I get you to open the gate for me please, Dave? I need to go to the hospital in Duncan, because little Betsy Kirman is in the emergency room. I don't suppose you know her, but she was a thalidomide baby and has lived her whole life in a wheelchair, only she tried to commit suicide tonight. She's been my little buddy since she was about four years old and her parents are friends too, so I've got to go."
Then he turned and smiled apologetically at Noreen. "Sorry, Noreen, but Betsy and her folks are old friends and they need my support right now. I'll call you and talk in a day or two, okay?"
"Definitely, and I can get your number from Dave if you forget," she leaned down and hugged him gently. "I could let you out the gate if you want."
"I'd rather it was Dave, since it's dark now and I don't know if it would be safe for a pretty woman be left out at the road at this time of night or not. Besides, I want to bend his ear for a moment or two about another subject," Jaro winked at her, then said goodnight to everyone.
I rolled my eyes at that, wondering what he wanted to talk to me about, but I got to my feet and followed him out to his van, helped him wheel his chair into the back, then made sure the rear doors closed completely. After that I went around the side and got into the passenger seat as he rolled forward and locked his chair in place behind the steering wheel.
"Okay, what's up?" I asked as he was turning around.
"Were you involved in trying to set me up with Noreen, or was it Arlene's idea?"
"No, it wasn't my idea, because I hate doing that to anyone, but I didn't fight it either. I know Arlene likes what she's seen of you, so I guess she was just trying to get you two together. I take it you aren't interested."
"Well, Peg Amabo, isn't just my secretary and receptionist, she's also my lover. We've lived together for several years."
"Oh boy, and you couldn't even tell me that?" I asked quietly.
"I thought you knew," he snorted, then broke into a chuckle. "If your memory was any good, you'd recall that you introduced Peg to me while you and I were still roommates at the University for goodness sake. You and Claire brought her over at one of the team parties and fed her some line about me being the strategist for the football team, then you two took off. We dated for a while, but broke up the next year, then when she applied for the job she has now, we got together again, and that was about three years ago. We've been living together since then, well for all but a couple months right after she started working for me."
"And you want me to be the one to tell Noreen? Do you think I'm nuts?" I asked just as we pulled up to the gate. " She's liable to be pissed with everyone, but mostly with me, even if it isn't my fault."
"Well, actually I thought you could tell Arlene and she could pass it on. I tried to tell Noreen I wasn't available, but that woman just wasn't listening. Besides, while she is probably a great person, we just wouldn't work out. Our personalities and attitudes are just too different," he said just as he pulled up to the gate and I hopped out to open it.
"So what the hell am I going to tell either Noreen or Arlene?" I asked as I paused at his window after I had opened the gate
"The truth, but put it in your own words. Oh and have a good evening!" he said sharply, then accelerated away.
I just stood there staring at his van's departing taillights. I knew he was somewhat upset, but I'll be darned if I could think why. After all, I felt I was the guy who should be irritated, since he hadn't told me about Peg being his live-in girlfriend. If I had known that I would have warned Arlene and Noreen off. Of course he might not have thought to tell me about Peg, so he might have been annoyed with himself over that. Or maybe he thought I should have talked to Peg about their relationship? Who knows?
Oh well, in the four years we had roomed together we'd gone through this sort of crap before and I fully expected we'd git over this bump in the road as well. So with a sigh I closed the gate, strung the chain around the pipe that acted as a fencepost and snapped the padlock in place, then headed for the cabin.
The moon was already up, and I could see well enough, so I hadn't even turned on the flashlight, then I caught hint of movement in the brush on the edge of road and I paused.
Was it a coyote . . . or a wolf . . . or perhaps a bear . . . maybe even a cougar?
I raised the flashlight, switched it on and broke into chuckle.
It wasn't a cougar, but it was a cat alright . . . a house cat. A very fat house cat . . . then I looked closer, nope make that a thin, but very pregnant house cat and it looked like she'd been in a scrap as well. One of her ears was torn and bleeding and she looked almost as if she was on her last legs. She didn't act friendly, but she didn't hiss at me or try to run off as I approached her either and although I definitely wasn't a cat fancier, I just couldn't leave her lying there in that condition. So I took off my shirt, managed to wrap it around her body while making sure her head was free, then carried her back to the cabin. I was hoping that Arlene and her family weren't allergic to cats, because the SPCA in Duncan would be closed at that time of night.
As it happened both Arlene and Noreen recognised the cat though, since it was a regular visitor at the cabin and usually helped keep the mice under control. Arlene immediately dug out an old scrap blanket to make the cat a bed and Noreen went looking for something for the cat to eat. Her first choice was a chunk of ham, but I vetoed that because of the salt. Instead I suggest that the cat needed water because it was dehydrated and for food it needed raw protein. I suggested she give the cat a raw egg, but break the yolk, because an egg would be easy to digest.
"Just an ordinary hen's egg, that's all?" she asked.
"Yeah, a house cat's belly isn't much bigger than that and she needs everything that's in an egg to help her recover quickly. She can have solid food tomorrow or the next day, but for now she needs foods that are easy to digest and she needs to have a bowl of fresh water near at hand because she's probably dehydrated," I advised quietly, keeping the tone of my voice quiet and calm. "Arlene, the cat's bed should probably be out of the way and somewhat protected for tonight. Maybe you could put her back in the corner of the room so she can see any approaching danger, but isn't in the way of foot traffic. The only real injury I can see is that torn ear and she didn't raise a fuss when I picked her up, so I don't think there's a lot wrong with her. Still, we should probably take her to the vet in the morning, just to have him check her over so we can be sure that she's okay."
"I thought you hated cats?" Arlene frowned slightly.
"No, not at all, other than those two spoiled Siamese critters that Claire had around the house. Other than those demonic bitches, I don't mind cats, but I'm more or less ambivalent to them. I do prefer dogs, but when I suggested getting a pup for Shannon, Claire went nuts. She said dogs were dirty, vile animals and once she got those two stinking felines she wouldn't let a dog come anywhere near the house," I growled, not happy about the memory. "In fact the first of those damn Siamese cats of her's caused a huge fight between us. I caught that damn cat in my office, up on my desk and spraying a stack of papers I'd been working on, so I grabbed that cat by the scruff of the neck and threw it out the back door. I should have wrung the damn thing's neck. That stack of papers was the end of term work of thirty-two students I was teaching at the time, and I had to find a way to deodorize each and every one of those papers before I could even grade them. Then I had to apologise to all of those students when I returned their papers.
"Of course Claire went absolutely bananas over the idea that I'd thrown her cat out of the house. That's when I warned her that the next time I caught the cat in my office it was going to the vet and would be euthanised. That's when she took her cat and ran off to live with Mama for a couple of weeks, leaving Shannon behind. Shannon was only about three or four years old at the time and I had to ask my Mom to help care for her. I had to do that because it was the end of term, so I was up to my neck in work and couldn't take any time off. When Claire finally did come back home she had gotten rid of the cat that I hated, but she had traded it off for two kittens, two more Siamese critters that eventually grew to be an even bigger pains in the butt."
"She actually took the cat with her and left Shannon with you?" Noreen asked in disbelief. "Holy shit, what a hard hearted witch!"
"Why the hell didn't you divorce her when she did that?" Arlene demanded almost at the same instant, speaking quite loudly.
"I dunno, I guess I'm soft headed as well as soft hearted, but when Claire came back and was acting all apologetic, I did warn her she was walking on thin ice. I suppose that might be one of the reasons why she felt she'd burned her last bridge with me a few days ago," I said quietly because I'd heard shuffling sounds from up in the loft.
"What's all the noise about down there? You woke me up when you hollered, Mom, and I guess I woke Shannon when I moved," Cindy asked then, looking down over the edge of the loft, then she must have noticed the cat. "Oh, you found Mittens. I was wondering where she was. She usually shows up to greet anyone when they come up here to the cabin, but she didn't show up this time. I even looked for her and called her name, only I couldn't find her anywhere."
"Well, Dave found her on the edge of the driveway when he was walking back after locking the gate for the night. She looks like she's had a fight with something and her ear has been injured, but as well as that she's obviously pregnant, so we're going to make her a bed in the corner of the room for tonight. She's cleaning up a light meal now and she's had a little drink, then we want her to have some undisturbed rest. As well as that Dave thinks we should take her to the vet tomorrow morning to make sure if she's okay," Arlene said quietly, looking up at both girls as she spoke. "Right now I think it might be best if you two go back to bed for the night and try to have a good sleep."
'Okay, but please don't talk so loud, huh," Cindy grinned and winked.
"Goodnight, whelp and I hope you have a good sleep," Arlene answered instantly. "I hope you sleep well too, Shannon. We'll see you both in the morning."
Both girls gave us a wave and wished us a goodnight, then disappeared, so we set out to shift the cat to the old blanket and set it in a warm, draught free corner of the room. Arlene brought over her water bowl and Noreen dug a container of dried cat food out of one of the bottom cupboards in the kitchen and set a bowl of that near the water dish as well.
"If there's cat food here, does she normally live here in the cabin?" I asked.
"In the winter time, she does." Arlene nodded. "They check on her every few days, but she stays here to keep down any rats and mice that might try to hide out around the place."
"Is there a litter box around here somewhere then?" I asked quietly.
"Yep, behind that curtain under the kitchen sink and I checked that when we first came, so it's full of clean kitty litter. I know she's used it before though, so that should be okay." Arlene whispered. "She normally has the freedom to come and go, but you said you want to take her to the vet in the morning, so should I open the cat door for her or not?"
"I don't think so, not for tonight." I offered. "I don't know what attacked her, or if whatever she fought off might still be around, so let's keep her safe by shutting her in for now."
"That makes sense," Noreen said very quietly as we moved away from the cat. "Now, my curiosity has been driving me nuts, so I'm going to break down and ask. What did Santos want to tell you that he didn't want us to hear?"
"Oh, that," I snorted softly. "He chewed me out because he thought I was trying to arrange a breakup between him and his present common-law lover, only I didn't even know he had one."
"Oops, neither did I," Arlene rolled her eyes skyward. "Sorry, Sis. Since Dave didn't know about her, I didn't know either."
"Oh well, he's a nice guy and all, but he isn't the only fish in the ocean," Noreen sighed. "I just hope he doesn't think I'm damn fool of some sort. He's the kind of guy I'd like to keep as a friend, even if he isn't available as a companion."
"Well, who is his lover anyway?" Arlene asked then.
"Oh, you've met her," I grinned. "You remember his secretary/receptionist, Peg Amabo, don't you?"
"Yeah, of course. You should see her, Noreen. She's about four feet tall, black as black can be and she has the biggest boobs I've ever seen on a small woman. From what I saw of her she's a really nice person too, but I would never have guessed that she was his lover. I wonder how they met?"
"Actually she was taking a course with Claire at the University and I was with her when she introduced them to each other about fifteen years ago."
"You introduced them, but didn't know they were a couple now?" Noreen looked at me with a frown.
"Nope, as far as I knew they broke up after dating for a few months. I guess they met again a few years ago when Jaro advertised for a secretary/receptionist, then eventually got back together as a couple. I didn't know that, and neither Peg nor Jaro mentioned it to me, so I was completely in the dark about their personal living arrangement, or relationship, or whatever you want to call it."
"Well, he's not annoyed with you over that or anything is he? I mean, he's not just your lawyer, but he's your buddy as well, and I'd hate to be the one to drive a wedge between you two," Noreen still frowned slightly, but managed to look apologetic as well.
"Oh, I doubt if he really blames me all that much. Instead I think he blames himself for not being more open about the fact that he's become involved with Peg again," I shrugged. "We lived with each other as roommates for four years, so we each got to know the other's moods and failings pretty darn well. Besides, the two of us have been through enough crap as friends for almost twenty years that we make a lot of allowances for personal differences. This is one case where we were both a little bit at fault, so it won't take all that much time for us to be back to normal. Inside of a month or two this will be just one more incident in our lives that we can razz each other about."
"Anyone want a cup of tea? I'm going to put the kettle on, then when the tea is ready, I want to go out on the porch to watch the animals out in the meadow," Noreen said quietly. "I like doing that whenever I'm up here at the cabin, because you never know what animals you'll see. At least the moon is almost full this time, so everything will be well lit."
"Last night there were a lot of deer out in the meadow, then Cindy and I saw a family of otters down by the river when we were out there earlier this evening," Arlene grinned and winked at me. "Since you're boiling the kettle, I'll have a cup of tea as well. What about you Dave, do you want anything?"
"Not at the moment, thanks," I answered, wondering what that grin and wink were all about.
At the moment my mind wasn't really considering tea or the deer out on the meadow, instead I was once more mulling over all the facts of what had happened during the last few days. I was positive that somewhere in that muddle there had to be a clue to solve the mystery of the deaths of Claire and her mother, which might explain the theft of money and the missing jewels.
I could understand the two of them being sneaky and I could understand how Claire might have decided to embezzle money out of my bank accounts. I could even understand that the two of them might have felt they had to flee if something went wrong with their plans. But, I simply couldn't understand why the two of them would commit suicide. That was the one glaring fact that just didn't feel right, not with what I knew of their personalities. Both of them were far too selfish and far too stubborn to give up so easily, but even more than that, they feared pain and death more than anything else in the world.
Wait a minute, why had my mind suddenly shifted back to the mystery of their suicides? I had been relaxed and involved in a conversation with Arlene and Noreen about Jaro, then they had changed the subject to making a cup of tea and watching the deer out on the meadow. Why would my mind suddenly shift back to those two deaths?
Was there something about the change of subject a clue that had jumped out at me? The only thing I could think of was Noreen's desire to have a cup of herbal tea before going to bed, but there was nothing odd about that. Even Claire had a cup of herbal tea in the evening before going to bed, but wait a minute, was that the clue my mind had latched onto? Had Claire and her mother eaten or drunk something in the last few days of their lives that might have made them suicidal?
The only person I could think of who might know anything about either Claire's or Mrs. Leech's diet was Shannon, but she was asleep and I didn't want to disturb her. Wait a minute, Dick Fairchild might be able to tell me if there had been something in Mrs. Leech's home that could have driven the two of them into becoming suicidal. Did I dare to call him this late at night? If this just happened to be a clue that would solve part of the mystery, did I dare not to call him?
I looked around for Arlene to ask her opinion, but she and Noreen must have already stepped out on the porch, but what the hell? A glance at the old clock on the mantle let me know it was only a little after ten though and my cellphone was sitting right there. Still, I was certain that Dick would still be awake, so I grabbed the phone and dialled his number.
"Fairchild here, who is this?" Dick answered after only two rings.
"Hello Dick, it's Dave Gamble and I'm sorry to call you at this time of night, but you told me to call if I thought of anything important. I was mulling over the deaths of Claire and her mother, because I just can't see either of them willingly committing suicide, so I was trying to think of any reason they might have done something so out of character. I was wondering if there was any way they could have been drugged.
"Now, I knew both of them had trouble sleeping, and although I didn't know they were taking sleeping pills, they took some sort of herbal tea every evening before bedtime. I know they got that tea from a Chinese herbalist, who imported it from somewhere in the far east and I was wondering if that could have been doctored in some way?"
"Herbal tea?" Dick sounded confused.
"Yeah, Claire used to drink herbal tea all the time, but I didn't like the crap. It gives me gas and I get flatulence from it, so Claire wouldn't even let me taste the stuff she drank. When I first met her she always drank camomile tea, but over the years she started drinking other teas, mostly herbal teas from other countries.
"I was thinking about it and over the last six months or a year she's changed quite a lot. She became more difficult to live with and at times she was acting as if the whole world was out to get her. I thought at first it was because Shannon was getting older and more independent, but tonight I realised that it might have started when she switched her evening tea to something new. That new tea came in a fancy package, covered in Chinese characters and when I asked about it, Claire said it was called 'Good Dreams Tea' and claimed that it made her sleep better.
"She's always been somewhat paranoid, but not like she was during the last few months. Up until then I thought she was slowly improving, but then she got worse and worse until life around our house became pretty darn touchy. She's always been crusty and self-centered, but not obnoxious, not like she became in the last while, and as far as I know the tea she drank every evening is the only thing I can think of that really changed," I paused. "Sorry if I'm rambling, but it's been one hell of a day."
"Yeah, but don't worry about it," he chuckled softly. "It's been a long tough day for me as well and I did tell you to call me if you thought of anything I should know about. Now back to that tea, do you think your wife was intentionally being drugged?"
"I don't know about that. I was thinking that the tea may have been contaminated or adulterated in some way, and perhaps that was accidental. I do know that manufacturing standards are much lower in the third world countries, so perhaps it was some sort of heavy metal poisoning or some contaminant that acted gradually. After all, she was drinking that stuff every night for months and months, so if it was a poison or a drug of some sort, it certainly had time to build up in her system."
"Well do you think her mother would have been drinking the same tea?"
"Probably, after all both of them complained about not getting to sleep often enough. So if one of them found a tea that helped her doze off, I'm certain either of them would pass it along to the other."
"Well, it certainly sounds like something that should be checked out then. Now what was that brand name and do you happen to know where she purchased it?"
"It was called 'Good Dreams Tea' and came in a fancy red and yellow package that was covered in Chinese characters. Claire used to buy it from a Chinese herbalist, who probably has a little shop in Chinatown, but I don't know exactly where that shop would be."
"Would Shannon have any idea where it was located?"
"She might have, but she's sound asleep right now and since she hasn't been sleeping all that well in the last few days, I'm not about to wake her."
"Okay, I can understand that, and I doubt if she can read Chinese anyway, but she might know where that Chinese herbalist is located, so if she does remember, give me a call in the morning. Meanwhile I'll put in a request to autopsy about your wife's stomach contents and her blood work to have them checked for poisons or drugs. I suppose I should make it for both of them though, just as a comparison," Dick sounded quite calm. "I doubt if I'll hear anything back tonight or even tomorrow, so I'd advise you to get some sleep too. If I hear anything new, I'll call you in the morning."
"Okay, Dick. I hope you have a good night and I am sorry for calling so late."
"Don't worry about it, things of that sort come with the job," he snorted, "But, I will say goodnight and let you go for now."
Then he hung up, so I did too. Only now I was wondering if I was sending him off on a wild goose chase, but as he'd said, that was part of his job.