Calamity @ the Carwash (Parson's Cove Mysteries) (10 page)

It’s embarrassing to say but we’ve had
several murders over the past few years in Parson’s Cove. Some residents
started to call our quiet little town Murder City. I’m sure there were murders
in the past but no one seems to remember any of those. Whoever oversees to make
sure justice is done in the land, must’ve thought Reg and his boys needed help
so he or she sent out Maxymowich a couple of years ago. He and his crew have
returned to Parson’s Cove twice since then.

At first, I can honestly say, I had no
use for him at all. Maxymowich, that is. He came across as narrow-minded,
cold-hearted, and brusque. I didn’t even like the way he looked with his white
hair slicked straight back, his slouch, and his wrinkled navy suit. After he’d
solved the crime, however, the Captain came across as a much different person -
almost human. Perhaps, a more accurate statement would be ‘after he and I
solved the crime.’ He always made a point of coming to my house before leaving
town to fill in any details and to sit and have a cup of coffee with me. And,
of course, to have his favorite strawberry muffins. I didn’t really mind him
coming if he could solve the crime but it would be rather nice if Parson’s Cove
could look after and solve its own problems.

My morning was busier than my usual
Saturdays because Beth Smee and Myra Wakefield decided that they wanted to
start up a small intimate book club.

“What we mean,” Myra quietly explained
to me. “We don’t want all the women in town joining in. Perhaps, only five or
six. Do you think you and Flori would like to join? We’re going to meet at my
house every week and talk about the book that we’ve read. Then, we’ll pass the
books around for the next week and see what the other person got out of it. I
think it will be such fun.” She smiled and winked. “And, of course, there will
be wine and cheese. I mean, what’s a club without wine and cheese? Right,
Mabel?” Another wink.

It wasn’t my kind of thing. I’m more
into reading and drinking my wine curled up in bed all alone. Besides, she
probably invited me because I’d be curious about all the books she was buying.
However, I thought Flori would enjoy it, especially the wine and cheese part,
so I said, “It sounds interesting. It’s something Flori would love. I’m not
sure I can make it. It’s almost time for taking inventory but when do you
meet?”

Beth said, “We’re going to get together
on Monday nights at Myra’s house. Reg is always home that night especially now
that Captain Maxymowich is in town, so I want to escape. He’s not the easiest
person to live with right now.”

Before I could ask Beth any questions,
Myra said, “Since this is sort of a secret club make sure you don’t mention it
to anyone, okay, Mabel? Especially Esther. We really don’t want her or
Millicent coming and spoiling it for the rest of us.”

“Trust me, Myra, Esther would be the
last person I would tell. No, I’ll keep it under my hat. You can ask Flori
though - she might like it.”

For the next few minutes, I helped them pick
out some of the old classics that I have packed away in the back shelves and
some of my favorite mysteries. They left happy and I was happy. I’d not only
made a big sale, now I knew when I could catch Reg – Monday evening at home. 

It was almost four when Flori burst
through the door. She entered like a tornado and I knew from the get-go that
something terrible had happened. However, it was difficult to tell if she was
angry, sad, or her hemorrhoids were acting up again. Anyway, her face was very
red and she’d clenched both of her hands into fists. I bet anyone meeting her
on the sidewalk either walked to the other side or started running.

“I can’t believe it, Mabel. Did you hear
the latest about Bernie?”

“Now what? The poor man is dead. He
apparently didn’t get cleaned up the way he should have and his burial had to
wait longer than it should have. What more could happen to the man?”

“The Baptists buried him.”

I wasn’t quite sure how I was supposed
to take this. I knew all of Melanie’s family went to the old Baptist church so
it wasn’t a really huge shock.

“So? Aren’t you glad that the poor man
finally got to rest in peace? What did you want to happen?”

“They buried his ashes, Mabel.” She then
burst into tears. I’m sure she’d been saving them up so she could dump all of
them on me because there were a lot of them. In between sobs and hiccoughing,
she said, “I don’t think Jews are supposed to be cremated.”

“Here, I bought a fresh box of Kleenex
just for you.” I took out the little piece of cardboard and handed her the box.
“When you’re finished you can explain why this has you so upset and why it’s
any of your business.”

Through her sobs and tears, she glared
at me. When she finished up she said, “I’ll tell you why I’m so upset - I think
it’s terrible that Melanie’s family has taken over and they aren’t even
considering his faith.”

“Perhaps, Flori, this was his wish.
Perhaps, he had it all outlined in his Last Will and Testimony. Have you ever
thought of that? Maybe he converted to the Baptist religion. I’m sure it
happens. And, you think this concerns you because…?”

She stopped sniffling and stared at me.
I knew she’d have no answer for that.

“Personally, Flori, I think you are just
as curious as me and to be honest with you, I don’t think you can mind your own
business either.”

As you can imagine, I said this in a
very soft loving tone. She says it often enough to me but somehow, I’ve never
tried putting it on the other foot. For a brief moment, she was speechless.

She wiped her eyes once more and cleared
her throat. “I don’t think you quite understand the situation, Miss Wickles.
Melanie’s family is doing this because they hated Bernie. That’s why.”

“Flori, that’s just crazy. There’s no
way they would do that for that reason. I’m sure they did it like that because
there was no one else to bury him and after all, he is – or was, their
son-in-law. Who told you all this nonsense?”

“Denny Wakefield was talking about it at
the café. Melanie’s brother, Steven, got into a big fight with Bernie not that
long ago. He threatened to punch him in the face if he didn’t stop treating
Melanie so bad.” She stopped talking and waited for that information to sink in
before she continued, “Were you aware that Bernie used to leave Melanie alone
for long periods of time, Mabel? Were you also aware that Melanie was thinking
about getting a divorce?”

“No, I can’t say that I was aware of
that, Flori. If he was mistreating her, she had motive to kill him but if she
was divorcing him, why bother? That wouldn’t make any sense, would it? On the
other hand, if Steven hated him, he might very easily have a motive for
murdering him.”

Flori smiled. “So, that’s probably the
reason why Captain Maxymowich sent Melanie home after the funeral.”

“What? Why are you just telling me this
now, Flori? Are you saying that Melanie is back home? Did Maxymowich drop all
the charges? And, how long have you known all this?”

“Don’t raise your voice at me, Mabel.
The moment I found this out, I rushed right over.” She suddenly burst into
another torrent of tears and through them she stammered, “I thought you’d be so
pleased.” She blew her nose. “I don’t know why we have all this horrible
violence in our town. We never argue about anything except when there’s been a
crime committed, did you know that, Mabel?”

I didn’t have the heart to tell her we’d
argued the night before about when the Post Office had been built. Flori and I
argue constantly. Perhaps, it’s done with more passion when someone’s been
murdered.

“I’m sorry. I should know you’d come
right over to tell me. Did Denny happen to say why Melanie was sent home?”

“Apparently her confession didn’t sound
believable. That’s what Denny told Jake anyway.”

“I’m wondering how come Denny knows all
this?”

“It’s because Myra and Beth are good
friends and I guess Reg told Beth. At least, that’s what I figure.”

“Then Denny tells Jake and Jake tells
you.”

Flori beamed through her tears, “And I
tell you, Mabel.”

“All right,” I said. “I have to think of
what to do next.” I should’ve said this to myself but unfortunately, it was
said aloud.

“What you have to do? You don’t have to
do anything. How many police officers do you think it takes to solve a murder?
The town is brimming with them so I doubt they need any help from you.”

I patted her on the arm. “You’re right, Flori.
I don’t know what I was thinking. I happen to find mysteries so intriguing,
don’t you?”

“No. I find them very upsetting. By the
way, I found something else out. The bus is going to the city on Wednesday. I
don’t know why it’s so soon but it’s okay with us, right? I told Mr. Kinney
that it was. I’m so looking forward to it, aren’t you?”

Blast! I’d forgotten to ask Delores if
she could watch the store on Friday and now, I’d have to ask for Wednesday. I
guess deep in my heart I was hoping the whole thing would blow over and I’d get
out of going. Oh well, there was always Miss Smith - she and I could watch
Calvin and check out his walk. I wouldn’t mind knowing where he disappeared to
as well. He was up to something no good.

Flori left for home and a few minutes
later, Esther walked in. At least once a week, she does this to me. She comes
in at the last minute forcing me to keep the store open and then she leaves
without buying anything. It sends me home in a foul mood and she knows it.

Once again, she was in this cheery mood
and it was extremely irritating.

Chapter
Sixteen

Sunday arrived, bleak and cold. Not like
a winter cold but anything less than seventy was beginning to make people
shiver. It was a welcome reprieve, however. I opened up all my windows and let
every room air out, even my sewing room, which hides my gin cache. About an
hour later, it started to rain so I had to close it all up again. By that time,
all the cats were sitting on the back step waiting for me to let them in. I
wasn’t quite ready for them yet so they sat and complained. About ten-thirty
Flori popped in for a cup of coffee. She brought along two cinnamon buns. When
Flori brings two buns it might sound like she’s skimping but trust me, she
isn’t. Each bun was at least eight inches across and the cream cheese icing was
about an inch thick. After eating one of those and drinking three cups of
coffee, I didn’t even want to think about eating or drinking for a few days.

“So, what’s on your agenda for today?”
she asked, as she wiped icing off her chin. Flori does this with her finger and
slides it up into her mouth. She doesn’t waste a drop. Unfortunately, I wasted
my dribblings in a paper napkin.

I glanced out the window. The rain had
stopped and it looked like the skies were clearing. “I don’t know. There’s
always something to do around here; maybe I’ll stay in and do some cleaning.”

Flori looked at me as if I were mad
(that is, the old English meaning).

“Really? You’re going to stay inside and
clean? I thought you did your cleaning on Mondays now that your shop is
closed.”

Everything closes down on Monday in
Parson’s Cove – the bank, the stores and even the library. Not that it was
always like this. It used to be that everything stayed open and heaven forbid
you even be late for work. I used to go to the shop if I were half dead because
if I didn’t have a really good reason, Patty Morgan would write it up in the
Parson’s Cove Weekly, which was all of four pages long. Last year I decided
that I was tired of sitting all day every Monday in my shop without one
customer coming in so I hung a sign up in the window saying
Closed Mondays
.
The next week, the town council met and passed an ordinance declaring Mondays
in Parson’s Cove, a holiday.

“Naw, I think I’ll do some cleaning and
maybe bake up some muffins.”

Flori gave me her ‘knowing’ look. “Oh,
silly me, I forgot Captain Maxymowich is in town.” She stood up. “I think I’d
best be going so you can get on with your baking, Mabel.”

“Flori, I really didn’t even think of
him. It’s just that I haven’t baked in ages and my freezer needs replenishing.
For almost three weeks it was too hot to even turn on the top burner of the
stove, let alone the oven.”

Flori traipsed to the door. “Well, say
hello to the good Captain for me.”

Not that I’d admit it to Flori but she
was right. If Maxymowich did happen to drop in, I should make sure I had some
muffins for him. The last time he dropped by after we’d finished solving a
case, Reg devoured all of my muffins. That’s the hazards of solving a murder with
him. This also reminded me that if we were on speaking terms again, I should
have some ready for him, too.

The few bags I happened to dig up from
the bottom of the freezer had freezer burn so I threw them out. Not until after
I’d received my cats’ approval, however. I put one down on the floor and each
one came over to sniff and walk away. Teddy, one of the male cats, tried
batting it with his paw but lost interest after a few pats and the muffin
didn’t roll.