For Sale in Palm Springs: The Henry Wright Mystery Series (18 page)

Chapter 13

Henry gave Amit Anchula a
ride home that night; he wanted to check some things with Wayne
before giving him back his keys and full mobility. He told Anchula
about his encounter with his neighbor and the large dog and was
told that Lucky, the dog, probably would have licked him to
death.

On Anchula’s recommendation
Henry went to the Hilton Garden Inn on El Camino Real where they
had plenty of rooms available. It was very late and he was tired
when he threw his bag down on one of the beds and sat down on the
other and called Wayne’s cell phone.

“
Henry?” Wayne answered on
the third ring. “Yeah, couldn’t you tell it was me from your
phone?” “You must be in a different area code than earlier, I
wasn’t sure.” “I’m in a hotel in Mountain View; I need you to check
on something for me.” Henry took off his shoes and lay down on the
bed.

“
How did it go with
Anchula?” Wayne asked. “Long story, but he was in the house the
morning after Thornbird was killed.” Henry explained. “So he didn’t
do it? Are you sure?” Wayne sounded unsure. “It’s easy enough to
verify, but he says he flew down the afternoon of the day that
Thornbird was murdered, but to be sure there is something that I
need you to look at for me.” Henry reached for the television
remote on the nightstand; he could watch the late news before going
to sleep.

“
Ok, shoot. What do you
need?” Wayne asked. “Anchula claims that the front door was open
when he got there, Thornbird was dead in a pool of blood and when
he saw the body he spooked and as he ran out he kicked the door on
the way and it slammed shut. Can you have someone go out to the
house and look for scuff marks or something on the door to
corroborate his story?” Henry surfed through the channels on the
television while talking with Wayne.

“
You know what, I’ll go out
personally and have a look around to see what I can find.” Wayne
sounded tired as well. “I can call you back at this number in the
morning. Anything else?”

“
No, just let me know what
you find. Talk to you in the morning.” Henry hung up the phone and
lay back on the bed. He should call Rosie and ask her about
Saturday, where did he put her phone number?

He awoke in the same
position as the daylight was trying to come in through the blackout
curtains, and some way too cheerful young woman was talking about
the local traffic on the television. He didn’t mean to fall asleep
in his clothes; he was just tired after a long day. He was in the
shower when the phone rang.

Fortunately the Hilton had
the foresight to install a phone in the bathroom. Henry picked it
up with one of the big fluffy towels wrapped around him so that he
didn’t drip all over the bathroom floor. “Wayne?” “Yeah, how’d you
know it was me, do you have caller id in the hotel?” Wayne’s voice
was cheerful on the other end. “No there’s no caller id at the
hotel but you’re the only one that knows I’m here.” Henry started
drying off his hair.

“
Well, I’m calling you from
the house on Granvia Valmonte where Thornbird was murdered. The
front door has one of those springy doorstop things on it to keep
the door from banging into the wall. Do you know what I’m talking
about?” “What time is it anyway?” Henry asked. “It’s almost nine;
anyway, there is a large dimple in the wall where the door stop hit
it kind of hard. It was definitely made after the place was
painted.” Wayne explained, “The paint is flexed inward, so it was
still soft when it happened.”

“
So Anchula was right. That
means the real killer left the front door open Wayne.” Henry
reached for his shaving gear in his toilet bag. “That’s right.”
Wayne said, “But the key to the house was in the lock box, so did
the killer put it there, or did Thornbird put it back before going
in?” “I don’t know, will finding that out lead us to the killer?”
Henry asked.

“
True, I’m not sure it is
relevant.” Wayne was thinking on the other end of the phone line.
“Are you done there, are you coming home?” “Yeah, I have to go pick
up Anchula and give him his keys and give him a ride back to his
car. Then I’ll head back out to the airport.” Henry couldn’t find
his shaving cream in his toilet bag; did he forget to pack it?
“There must be a story behind why you need to do that. You’ll have
to tell me tonight – you are still coming over to the house for
dinner aren’t you?” “Oh yeah, I’ll be there.” Henry had completely
forgotten about the invitation from Wayne’s wife Elliot. “Ok, have
a safe flight, I’ll see you tonight.” Wayne hung up the phone. “Ok,
until tonight.” Henry found the tube of shaving cream; it was at
the bottom of his kit, under the deodorant and bottle of
ibuprofen.

He finished shaving and
started getting dressed when he called Rosie’s office. He was
surprised when Tiffany didn’t answer the phone but Rosie picked up
directly. “Good morning Rosie, it’s Henry, I’m happy to be talking
directly to you.” “Hello Henry, either we have a bad connection or
you sound like you’re not in town. Tiffany is not in yet, I’m the
first one here in the office.” He hadn’t realized how much he
missed her voice until he heard her.

“
I’m up north by San
Francisco, talking to a suspect in the Thornbird murder. I’ll be
back tonight, I wonder if you’d like to have dinner with me on
Saturday.” Henry took the handcuffs out of his pocket and tossed
them into the bag, he didn’t think he’d need those again. “Oh,
sure, where would you like to meet? Did you find the guy that did
it?” Rosie sounded surprised. “How about you come to my house,
let’s say four o’clock, I’ll give you the address. No, I didn’t
find the guy that did it, just another dead end.” Henry buckled his
belt and reached into his bag for his clean shirt.

“
Four o’clock is perfect; I
have a weight training class at the gym at one. You’re on Mel
Avenue, right?” Rosie asked. “Yes, how did you know?” Henry pulled
his shirt over his head. “Henry, I’m in the real estate business,
your house has a two car garage, four bedrooms, a swimming pool
with a cabana, and you bought it two years ago from Eric Wilson…”
“Ok, ok, you’re in the real estate business, I guess you know where
people live.” Henry was laughing.

“
Well, only people that I’m
interested in.” Rosie answered. “By the way, I thought of something
last night that might help you. A couple of weeks ago, there was an
older woman, a widow I believe, who called the office for Rex, she
bought a house from him about a year ago and is now looking at a
house for her sister who was moving to Palm Springs. I don’t
remember her name offhand but I’m sure it is in the list of
previous sales I gave you, you might want to talk with
her.”

“
Thanks Rosie, you’ve been
very helpful with all this, I really appreciate it.” Henry said.
“I’m happy to help Henry; can I bring anything on Saturday?”
Rosie’s voice sounded wistful on the phone. “Just make sure you
have your appetite.” Henry answered cheerfully, “See you at four!”
“I’m looking forward to it. See you then Henry.” He liked the way
her voice sounded and he slowly hung up the phone.

He finished getting dressed,
packed his bag, checked out of the hotel and made his way over to
Anchula’s house without having to refer back to his map. When he
pulled up in the driveway, Anchula’s neighbor Bob Thomas was
walking Lucky the dog. Bob waved to Henry as he got out of the car
and went to the front door.

The big man opened the door
with a smile and invited him in. “Come in “Uncle” Henry!” Anchula
yelled, waving at Bob Thomas and his dog. “Here are your keys.”
Henry held out his hand with the keys to the house and Mercedes.
“Your story checks out.” “That’s just cool dude, I knew it would. I
told you, I wouldn’t kill the bastard, I kind of admire the amazing
little scam he had going.” Anchula took the keys and dropped them
into his pocket. “You were right man, I talked to an immigration
attorney this morning and they think that within six months I’ll be
legit! What a relief!” “It’s amazing what ten or so million dollars
in a bank account can do with the government.” Henry
smiled.

Henry gave Anchula a ride to
his office and asked if he could come in to use the phone. He
wanted to call the airline to see if there was an earlier flight
and also to ask Charles if he could pick him up.

“
Man, what is wrong with
your cell phone?” Anchula asked. “Actually, I don’t have one,
though I think this trip might convince me to get one.” Henry
shrugged his shoulders. “Well shit man, come on in. If you want,
I’ll have the receptionist help you out, or we can get you into a
conference room and you can make all the calls you want.” “The
conference room and a phone are fine for me.” Henry said turning
off the engine.

Anchula jumped out of the
car and Henry followed him into the building. A girl, who could
have been Tiffany’s twin sister in Palm Springs, was now sitting at
the reception desk in the lobby; she waved at Anchula as he walked
in. Anchula directed Henry into a small conference room and pointed
him to the phone. “I’ll be back in a few minutes Henry, if you need
me before then, let Wendy out front know.” Anchula waved in the
general direction of the receptionist desk and walked off into the
maze of cubicles.

Henry called Alaska Airlines
and after waiting on the phone for a long time, they told him that
the next flight to Palm Springs was the one he was already on. Then
he called his house and had to leave a message since Charles wasn’t
home. He got up and went looking for Anchula and unlike last night,
he found his cube without a problem. Anchula was looking intently
at a computer screen and didn’t notice Henry walk up.

“
I’m going to take off now,
I’m sorry about tackling you last night and embarrassing you in
front of your colleagues.” Henry held out his hand. “Hey forget
about it, you have helped me out so much; I really want to thank
you. If the attorney is right - think about it in six months, I’ll
be able to go home, visit my family and come back into the U.S.
like a real person.” Anchula shook Henry’s hand enthusiastically.
“If there is anything I can do for you, please let me know.” “You
letting me use the phone was a big favor, thanks a lot.” Henry
said. “Next time you’re in Palm Springs, give me a call. I’m
curious how your remodel will turn out.” “Sure as shit, have a safe
flight, can you find your way out?” Anchula started turning back to
his computer screen. “Yep, I’m getting good at negotiating cube
mazes, right at the alligator and left at the Christmas lights.”
Henry laughed; by the time he turned around to walk out Anchula was
busy typing away on his computer.

Henry had a couple of hours
to kill so he started driving around the neighborhood. He thought
it was pretty cool that he was in the middle of Silicon Valley
where so much technology history was made. He drove past the old
Netscape buildings in Mountain View, and tried to find the garage
on Addison in Palo Alto where Hewlett-Packard was started but
couldn’t. As a computer user he was intrigued by the companies in
the buildings he drove past, some names he recognized, most he did
not. After an hour and a half of looking around he realized that
he’d better quit playing tourist and get back to the San Francisco
International Airport, he didn’t want to miss the
flight.

Henry got back on the
freeway, drove north and returned his car to the rental car center.
At the Alaska Airlines security checkpoint he did have to go
through the more intensive security process, apparently the San
Francisco security people were not impressed with his “Deputy”
status. He had a few extra minutes, so he bought a newspaper and
sat down in the gate area to read. He couldn’t concentrate on the
newspaper; he kept trying to think of who would have wanted to kill
Thornbird.

Even Anchula admitted being
upset with Thornbird at having been cheated with the Bette Davis
house, but told him that it wasn’t worth murder. Actually all of
Thornbird’s former customers didn’t seem to mind paying a few extra
bucks to get their dream home in Palm Springs. The Millers were
happy, their hotel was prosperous. Mr. and Mrs. Wadowicz suspected
what Thornbird was up to and didn’t mind compensating him for the
time he spent with them. It hadn’t been to Anchula. What did drive
someone to kill another person Henry wondered?

He’d interviewed several
killers in his career, and he was shocked at the pettiness of their
reasons for resorting to murder. Maybe that was the problem; he was
looking for people who he felt had real reason to want Thornbird
dead. He needed to open his mind, broaden his horizon, think
outside the box, whatever you wanted to call it, he decided to do a
little more basic research when he got home, maybe that would lead
him to the killer.

His flight landed in Palm
Springs exactly as scheduled. By the time he got out of the
terminal, he was carrying his jacket and his housemate Charles was
waiting at the curb.

“
Heeey, stranger. Good to
see you. Did you get cold while you were up there? Hey, it looks
like you played on the grass.” Charles greeted Henry as he opened
the door to Charles’ SUV. Henry looked down at his knees, indeed
his pants had grass stains from his encounter with Anchula and the
lawn he hadn’t even noticed them until now. “I had to convince
someone to talk with me.” Henry explained, “It was probably thirty
degrees colder up there than here. Mind you, it’s nothing like
Wisconsin this time of year, but it is amazing the difference.”
“That’s why we live here.” Charles laughed as he pulled the
Explorer away from the curb and towards home.