Murder and Mayhem (7 page)

*****

“Would you like to go for a drive into the village?”
Nicola asked.

“A walk around the village would be great. After
sitting in cramped quarters for fourteen hours it would be good to stretch my
legs and clear the cobwebs from my head,” Danny said.

As Nicola backed the car onto the road and headed down
the hill a blue Taurus pulled out from behind a dark green Blazer and followed.

Danny noticed a sign at the end of a driveway as
Nicola negotiated a sharp hairpin bend. It said it was a private driveway, not
a public road. “Seems a bit like stating the obvious,” he said.

“You would think so but some of the roads around here
are extremely narrow and a lot of homes hidden from view so people unfamiliar
with the area often mistake driveways for streets–especially curious tourists.”

“You would think the absence of a street name would be
a clue.”

“Not necessarily. Some of the street signs are a
little hard to see. And besides, I think people are just plain curious and want
to see what’s up there, hidden out of sight,” Nicola said, grinning.

“Point taken, you’re obviously a better judge of human
nature than me.”

 At the bottom of the hill, Nicola turned onto Cascade
Drive and drove down a narrow lane where quaint cottages were set amongst
trees, and a silvery stream flowed under wooden bridges and ran beside paths
that disappeared up driveways where houses were hidden behind giant redwood
trees. The soft riffle of water could be heard through the car’s open windows
as it washed over smooth pebbles on a creek bed streaked with moss.

The sound of running water grew louder as the BMW
rounded a bend. Nicola pulled into a cut-out at the base of the falls and
turned off the engine. “Cascade Falls,” she said smiling extending both hands.

Danny opened the door and climbed out. He shoved his
hands in the hip pockets of his jeans−and looked around. “This is nice.
It’s like something you’d see on a postcard.”

They stood a short distance apart at the base of the
waterfall. Nicola pointed to a narrow path that wound its way through thick
undergrowth and disappeared over the rim at the top. “There are a lot of little
used trails up there. But you have to be careful you don’t get lost because the
water could turn into a raging torrent without warning if there’s a storm
further upstream. It might not look like much at the moment but you have no
idea how suddenly that could change.”

Nicola pointed after a blue Taurus as it disappeared
around the bend up ahead.

“Just beyond that bend, Cascade Drive winds up through
the forest and becomes little more than a dirt track. It’s a pretty drive in
fine weather but not so good in bad. A few hardy souls live there but four
legged creatures tend to outnumber the two legged variety,” she said as a shaft
of sunlight made its way through the trees and turned the cascading water to
quicksilver.

Danny wandered over to the rail on the other side of
the road and wrapped his hands around the old gray timber. He looked at the
water spilling out from beneath the asphalt covered bridge and watched it
tumble over rocks and ferns as it washed against long tendrils of heart’s ease
that grew along the mossy banks flitting between sunlight and shadows. All
around was a quiet stillness as a breeze ruffled through the leaves of live
oaks and maples and birch trees, and sent leaves dancing through the air.

The trill of a songbird drew his eyes up to where the
sun dripped through the treetops. Danny put his hand up and squinted into the
sun and watched a bird glide gracefully through the trees and disappear in the
forest canopy. The air was sweet with the scent of something he didn’t
recognize.

“Is it always this quiet?” he asked as Nicola came up
beside him and leaned into the rail.

“Pretty much. Occasionally some cyclists come here but
because the road becomes a dirt track it’s mainly just locals. We do get the
odd hiker but it’s off the beaten track. They tend to go to Muir Woods or Mount
Tam.”

Danny leaned back against the rail and looked around.
“It’s like something out of a fairytale. Isn’t it?  I had no idea you lived in
such an incredible place. Have you lived here long?”

“A couple of years. I love it here. It’s completely
different to anywhere else.” Nicola watched a squirrel scamper up a tree and
disappear among the branches. “It is nice isn’t it?” When she turned, her bare
arm brushed lightly against his and she found herself looking into soft gray
eyes that seemed to float above her. Her eyes lingered on his for a brief
moment then turned away. 

“Ready to explore a little further?” she asked.

* * *

The black BMW crossed the wooden bridge beside Old
Mill Park and stopped at the intersection. Nicola checked for oncoming traffic
and then turned onto Throckmorton Avenue.

“This used to be a logging area. Mill Valley had one
of the first sawmills in Northern California,” she said as she pulled the car
into a recently vacated parking space outside the Depot Café, and cut the
engine. At the curb she checked the time remaining on the meter, added some
coins and guided Danny down the path to the town square at the back of the
café.

A little further down the road, a blue Taurus pulled
into the curb and stopped. The driver dropped a couple of coins in the meter
and entered the Café. He ordered a tall latte, grabbed a newspaper from the
rack and took it to an empty table by the window that looked out onto the paved
area.

As they walked across the town square, Danny noticed
tables and benches sheltered beneath large trees where gray-haired men were
engrossed in games of chess or checkers, and people sat with books or
newspapers open in front of them while they sipped from take-out cups, and
mothers watched small children playing. At the bottom of the square a
middle-aged man wearing a brown corduroy jacket and blue jeans was sitting
astride a bench seat playing a saxophone. The soulful notes rang pure and clear
in the crisp morning air.

Nicola guided Danny to an empty bench beneath the
spreading limbs of a tree and sat down.

Danny removed his sunglasses and clipped them to the
neck of his T-shirt, spread his legs out in front of him, folded his arms,
leaned back against the bench and closed his eyes. As the sun filtered through
the leaves and warmed his face he relaxed and felt the tension ease from his
body.

He squinted up at Nicola, and tried to read the eyes
hidden behind the dark lenses of her sunglasses, and said, “Mmm, this is nice.”

“Are you tired? Would you like to go back to the
house?”

“No. I’m fine. It’s just so pleasant here.” Danny
stretched his arms and laced his fingers behind his head and crossed his
ankles. “Don’t worry, I won’t fall asleep. Talk if you want. I like listening
to the sound of your voice…”

The man in the café looked out through the window at a
couple of children playing with a ball. He removed his dark glasses and lifted
a pocket-size camera up to his eye. The shutter clicked.

*****

I closed my laptop, removed my sister’s arm from
across my body, tucked the blankets around her and kissed the top of her head.

“Goodnight, sleeping-beauty,” I whispered.

* * *

“Mom!” Our peace was shattered as Cody slumped into
the room fresh from the shower, and dropped his nearly six foot frame onto the
bed.

I looked at him and smiled. “Hi,
Cody.”

He gave me a perfunctory glance…
and grunted the way teenagers do.

“Mom, you didn’t buy me any deodorant,” the lanky
teenager whined.

“Cody, we’ve had more important things to worry about
than buying you deodorant,” I chastised him. There’s only one creature on earth
more selfish than a teenage boy–a teenage girl. There were days when I wanted
to lie down on a bed of broken glass, and beg the tanks to roll over me.

“We don’t have time to go to the supermarket, Cody.
What precious little time we have is spent working on your aunt’s book. Use
your brother’s. He forgot to take it with him to Santa Cruz,” Rosie said. She
reached out and ran her fingers through his thatch of unkempt hair.

Cody pulled his head away from his mother’s loving
ministrations and screwed his face up in disgust. “Yuk! That stuff stinks like
tomcat’s piss.”

My sister rolled her eyes.

Unlike her, I was past the eye rolling stage. I’d cut
my teeth on a teenage daughter. Compared to her the front line in Afghanistan
would be like a stroll through the park in the middle of summer.

“Cody, well-bred young men don’t use that word!” I
told him.

Cody cast his eyes sideways and
crimped his lips. “Sorry,” he mumbled through tightly clenched teeth. Young
minds are like sponges–if you train them properly, they’ll learn soon enough.

My sister, on the other hand is more understanding.
She has yet to reach that stage, but as sure as night follows day–it will come,
and when it does she’ll seek counsel from an expert–namely me.

“Cody, there’s a lot of competition at college these
days so your brother needs all the help he can get.”

Cody gave an exasperated sighed and started to leave.

“Don’t forget to comb your hair before you go out,
darling,” I said.

Rosie laughed. “The last time his hair was combed was
when you bathed him.”

Cody’s face turned bright red.

Why is it that teenage boys get embarrassed whenever
you talk about bathing them? They seem to forget we were the ones who brought
them naked and screaming into the world. When Little Sweetie was born, I was
the one screaming loudest! Ahhh…, the fond memories of childbirth.

“That would have been when he was around six years
old. He was so cute then, wasn’t he, Hon?  Do you remember how he used to call
his little willy a fireman’s hose?” My face crinkled at the memory of that cute
little blond-haired angel shooting his hose in the most unlikely of
places–walls, cupboards, plants, shoes, even filled his uncle’s favorite
baseball cap one time–right before Ross put it on. Those were the days...

As Cody slinked away I noticed
he was all gangly arms and legs and my heart went out to him. “Don’t worry
Cody, all the girls will think you’re cute real soon,” I called after him.

When the front door slammed, the
house shook on its foundations. I looked at my sister and shrugged.
“Who can figure out what goes through the minds of
teenage boys these days?”

“You’d need a degree in science to work that one out,
Bubbie.”

“Lucky I just happen to have one right here in my back
pocket.” I made a show of unfolding an imaginary piece of paper… and pretended
to read.

“And the answer is… Teenage girls!” I looked at my
sister and grinned.

“… and their fathers,” she added, matching my smile
with one of her own.

*****

They chatted like old friends as they prepared the
meal together.

“Would you prefer Caesar dressing or Balsamic
vinegar?” Danny asked holding up containers of each.

Nicola stopped chopping parsley and looked up. “I’ll
leave it for you to decide.”

“Then Caesar, it is.”

Nicola watched Danny add garlic croutons to the salad
and thin curls of fresh parmesan he’d sliced with a potato peeler. “You look
completely at home in the kitchen,” she said.

“I should hope so. I don’t have to tell you what it’s
like living alone. If you don’t do it no one else will.” Danny placed the bowl
of salad on the table, and opened the bottle of red wine they’d picked up in
the village. “Glasses?” he asked.

“Second door on the right.” Nicola indicated with the
knife she was using. “I just assumed you would eat out most nights.”

“No, I don’t go out much unless it’s on business.
Occasionally I’ll have a beer with the guys after work but aside from that I
don’t bother. I prefer to eat at home. I quite enjoy cooking. You should try my
devil’s food cake some time–and my light-as-a-feather lemon soufflé is simply
to die for.”

Nicola looked at him strangely. “You are kidding,
right?”

“No, not at all, I took a cooking class some years ago
and found I really enjoyed it.”

Danny removed the blue and white checked tea towel
from the waistband of his jeans folded it neatly and placed it on the bench. He
pulled the chair out from the table and said, “Your dinner awaits, madam.”

Nicola put her finger under her chin and dipped in a
curtsey. “Thank you kind sir…”