Calamity @ the Carwash (Parson's Cove Mysteries) (23 page)

We slid slowly to a stop a few houses
down from Scooter’s garage. Calvin had parked his taxi close to the door so vehicles
could drive past. There was a light on in the garage so the two men would be
inside.

“Come on,” Reg said. “Bring your cat.”

Sammy, who had been thoroughly enjoying
this outing, leaped out of my grasp as soon as the door was open an inch,
squeezed through and jumped to the ground. My heart sank. If ever I felt like
killing a cat, it was now. Not that I ever would, it was a fleeting fancy.

“Mabel,” Reg yelled. “Catch that damn
cat! Why’d you let him go?”

If ever I felt like killing a cop. Fear
not - only a fleeting fancy.

“I’ll have you know, Reg Smee, I did not
let him go on purpose. Lower your voice. Do you want the whole neighborhood to
see us?”

We both looked down the lane. Thankfully
Sammy is the one who has the good sniffer because he’s my only white cat and he
was easy to spot in the moonlight. He was heading straight for Calvin’s taxi.

Reg grabbed a large screwdriver from off
the dashboard and we raced after Sammy.

As before, the cat couldn’t get enough
of Calvin’s hubcaps. He was going frantic, scratching and sniffing.

“Reg,” I whispered. “Do you hear Sammy?
He’s purring.”

Reg bent down and began removing the
hubcap. Sammy was going crazy. The cap fell to the ground with a clatter. We
held our breath. Sammy was concerned. He was ripping away at the paper bag that
held something very smelly.

“Phew,” I said. “Now I know why Sammy
loved the smell of this; it smells like fish.”

“Old dead fish.” Reg stopped breathing
through his nose and started breathing through his mouth. “You hang on to your
cat, Mabel, and I’ll take one of these small packets. I’ll put the rest back.”

Sammy wasn’t too pleased being held
again. “Reg,” I whispered, “Give him a piece of brown paper. I won’t have so
much trouble carrying him to the car then.”

He ripped off a small piece of paper and
handed it to me. “It’s just the paper that smells anyway.”

Sammy was quite content to chew on the
piece of brown paper all the way to the car. I would be content if the smell of
dead fish didn’t stay in my nostrils. What were those men doing? Were they
putting drugs into dead fish smelling bags so the drugs couldn’t be detected?
Surely, they could’ve used some of Betty’s perfume instead.

I sat down and started to buckle up when
I saw Reg racing towards me. At the same time, I saw the garage door start to
rise. It had been a long time since I’d seen my sheriff run that fast. He
jumped in and started the truck up before the door closed. I’m sure his foot
was dangling outside as we made our getaway. The last I saw as Reg turned the
truck around was Calvin standing outside the garage yelling something.

“What happened?” I asked as we sped
towards my place.

“They heard me putting the hubcap back
on,” he said. “I had to give it a kick with my foot and they must’ve heard
that. Darn thing wouldn’t go on.”

“Well, I don’t think he could see who we
were. I wonder if they’ll figure out what we were up to?”

He shrugged. “I don’t think it will take
long. That’s the first place they’ll look now.”

It took only about three minutes to get
to my house. I looked at the clock on the dash. It wasn’t quite one yet.

I jumped out. Sammy went off into the
night with the brown paper in his mouth. Undoubtedly, he’d be bragging to every
alley cat that he could find.

“Let me know what kind of drugs those
are as soon as you can, Reg. Maybe this is where Prunella bought her drugs.
This could be a real big drug bust for you and me.”

“I’ll take them over to the lab at the
hospital first thing in the morning,” he said.

Before he ripped out of the driveway, I
saw Hilda Whinegate‘s lights go on and I knew by ten tomorrow morning half of
Parson's Cove would think I’d been out carousing with some male stranger.

Chapter
Thirty Three

Monday morning

“What, in heaven’s name, were you
thinking?” Flori was yelling in my ear. The phone was about six inches away and
it still hurt. Not the words, the sound.

It wasn’t seven yet and I hadn’t
finished my first cup of coffee. The sky was dark and it looked like one of
those dreary, damp, depressing, dismal days. I was glad I didn’t have to drag
myself to work. Monday was always an unprofitable day for me. Flori was
concerned at first when I closed for the day but when she realized I was
spending more money turning the lights on than what I was taking in, she
couldn’t understand why I hadn’t done it years before. Of course, now that
everyone else decided to follow suit, Parson's Cove is a quiet place on a
Monday.

“What are you talking about, Flori?” I
asked.

“Mabel, you didn’t come home until the
wee hours in the morning. Hilda called me not five minutes ago to see if I knew
anything about it. I can’t believe that you’re leading a double life.”

I waited because I knew what was coming.
The clock said ten to seven. The tears would last five, the coughing and
hiccoughing another five and then the sniffling.

(Through the years, many have asked me
about Flori’s crying habits. Some have even suggested psychotherapy. Since this
has been her personality for as long as I remember, however, it really doesn’t
bother me. She contributes all my idiosyncrasies to being an only child and I
contribute all hers to being an only child for four years and then having six
siblings to deal with.)

At three minutes past seven, Flori
resumed speaking.

“I’m sorry, Mabel, but you’ve been my
very best friend for so many years and you know that I’ve shared everything
with you.”

“I know, Flori. You’ve shared things
with me that you didn’t even share with Jake. And, you’ve shared things about
Jake that make me blush just to think about.”

“Then, why? Why?”

“Why what, Flori?”

There was a stunned silence.

“Why what? Why were you coming home at
three in the morning? Not only that, you were in an old army Jeep with no
muffler and were waking up the whole neighborhood. And, who was the handsome
stranger who dropped you off at your door?”

This was too much. Hilda had outdone
herself this time. I’d have to congratulate her when I saw her. I was laughing
so hard I had to put my coffee cup down.

“Mabel, are you there? What’s the
matter? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“You sound like you’re crying.”

“No. I’m laughing like you. In fact, I’m
having the best laugh that I’ve had in years.”

“Okay, tell me the story. Surely, Hilda
couldn’t get it all wrong. What time did you really get in and who was the
handsome man who brought you home?”

“I have to admit it was late, Flori.
Later than you would be pleased with.”

“I knew it. I knew it. Oh what will the
neighbors think?” The tears started anew. I waited.

When there was a lull, I said, “It was
after midnight and the handsome stranger was Sheriff Smee. The old army Jeep
was his SUV and as far as I know, it did have a muffler. Our romantic evening
was spent doing surveillance.”

“What do you mean, you were doing
surveillance? What, on earth, are you getting involved in, Mabel? Reg is the
sheriff so he can do things like that but you can’t. Do you understand? You
just can’t.”

“Okay, well, it wasn’t really
surveillance. We took Sammy to check out Calvin’s taxi.”

“Oh my word, now I’ve heard everything.
You have your poor innocent cat involved?”

“Well, one thing, Flori, we now know why
Sammy was so attracted to Calvin’s hubcaps and boots - Scooter and Calvin hide
drugs that smell like dead fish.”

“What kind of drugs smell like dead
fish?”

“We don’t know yet. Reg is having them
checked out. We took one stash from the hubcap.”

“You stole one stash? What if Calvin
finds out?”

“Flori, Reg is a cop. You have a
tendency to repeat that but then forget.”

“So, how are we going to get rid of the
gossip, Mabel?”

“I have no idea but I’m sure you’ll
think of something. Why don’t you go along with it? You know, let everyone
think that I have an amazingly handsome boyfriend.”

“Oh Mabel, that’s disgusting.”

“Thanks a lot. You don’t think I could
have an amazingly handsome boyfriend?”

“No, I don’t mean that; I mean calling
Reg, amazingly handsome is disgusting.”

“Don’t tell Beth that, Flori.   

“No, she always thought Reg was a
catch.” She sighed. “I used to secretly dream of Jake being a policeman. Did I
ever tell you that, Mabel?”

“Yes, I believe you did. My imagination
shut down when you started talking about handcuffs.”

“Oh, Mabel, you’re so funny. By the way,
what are you going to do now? Please, tell me you’re not going to do any more
surveillance - or whatever you call it. I’m so afraid that you’re going to get
hurt one of these days.”

“You don’t have to worry; my next step
is to grab a coffee and a book and head back to bed. I shouldn’t get into too
much trouble doing that.”

“Oh you silly thing, you know what I
mean. I mean, what kind of trouble are you going to get into? I always thought
you and Reg were almost enemies. You never speak too well of him, you know. How
come you’re all buddy-buddy now?” She hesitated for a second or two. “You
aren’t using him, are you, Mabel?”

“Of course, I’m not using him, as you so
nastily put it. I’ll have you know, Reg and I work very well together. Besides,
we have only each other. Maxymowich and his crew have taken over the case.”

“Mabel, I’m going to say something and I
want you to listen very carefully.” She stopped and caught her breath. “You
don’t seem to understand - this is not
your
case. Maxymowich is a police
officer and so is Sheriff Smee but you, Mabel – you are simply a storeowner.
You have nothing to do with crime.” Another brief pause. “Why can’t you
understand that?”

“Everything you said is true, Flori. I
do understand that. It’s just that I have the instincts of a police officer. In
another life, I’m sure that’s what I would be. Not everyone thinks like us.”

“Us? Who’s ‘us?’”

“Well, Maxymowich and me. And, sometimes
Reg. Maybe Miss Marple. Definitely, Chief Inspector Jury.”

Flori sighed loud enough for the cats to
hear. “All right, I know when I’m beat. Go, have your coffee and delve into
your Martha Grimes book.”

“Flori, I’m so proud. How did you know I
was reading Martha Grimes?”

“Don’t make fun. We’re reading
Jerusalem
Inn
for the book club this week.”

“Okay, talk later. Don’t worry about me.
I won’t be getting into any trouble.”

Chapter
Thirty Four

The heat zapped my energy and the cool
dull weather made me lethargic. I’m not sure what was needed to get me moving.
Finally, by noon I overcame inertia and started my usual Monday cleaning. It
consists mostly of cleaning up after the cats. If there were such a thing as
cat hair-filled pillows, I could start up my own business. As it is, all they
do is plug up my vacuum. So, I dusted, vacuumed, cleaned out the litter boxes,
washed out the cats’ dishes and cleaned my bathroom. It was one by then and I
didn’t have the incentive to go on.

I phoned Flori but Jake said she was
indisposed.

“What the heck does that mean?” I asked.

In a subdued voice, he said, “She’s in
the bathroom, crying.”

“I thought she only cried when I talked
to her.”

“Are you serious? She cries when anyone
talks to her. This time, Mabel, she has good reason.”

“Really? What’s the reason? Does it have
anything to do with me and Reg?”

“Oh that. No, it doesn’t have anything
to do with you two; although I don’t know what you were thinking. If Scooter
and Calvin didn’t know it was you last night, they sure do now. The whole town
is talking.”

“Well, they have to talk about someone.
So, what’s with Flori? Should I come over?”

“No, she’ll tell you when she’s dried
up. I’d say in about ten minutes.”

He hung up.

Jake had been right. Ten minutes later,
Flori called.

“Mabel,” she cried. “You won’t believe
what I just found out. Do you know who Calvin took to the city with the retired
people this morning?”

“The retired people?”

“Yes, you know the weekly trip? The
Retirement Home? Have you forgotten already? They told me that I couldn’t go
because they were taking someone else. I thought they would take Erma because I
suggested her to take your place. Well, she isn’t going either. Calvin is
taking some blond bimbo with him. A stranger, Mabel. The Home is allowing
Calvin to take some woman with him who isn’t even from around here.” She
started to sniff. “I’m so upset. How could they treat Erma and me this way?”
She started to sob.