divorced divas 02 - crimped to death (13 page)

Everything Flora was saying made so much sense, but I just couldn’t take that for what it was worth. I had to find out for myself. There were too many things about Dr. Russell and Charlie that set off my alarms.

“Okay. I will give you that it isn’t looking good. But we are here and I want to see for myself.” I pulled my hand out from under hers and took the keys out of the ignition. “You don’t have to go with me if you don’t want. But you have to keep watch and let me know if you see anyone coming.”

“I can do that.” She nodded.

Without another word between us, I held my keys in my fist just like Donovan had taught me to do.

Donovan. Shit.

I looked down at my phone. It was almost eight p.m. and he would already be in the self-defense class getting ready to teach. I had completely forgotten to call him. Somehow I would make it up to him after all of this was over.

Quickly I ran behind the house next to the office. A security light popped on. I hid in the shadow hoping no one saw it and if they did, I prayed they thought it was a cat darting around.

After waiting a few seconds, though it seemed like minutes, I tiptoed over to the office. The thought of a dead body there made my skin crawl.

I decided to stay around the back in the shadows of the night. I looked around to see if I could see any video equipment like Ginger was looking in on, but I didn’t see any. Nor did I see any large security lights that Henry might have installed himself.

The gingerbread lattice around the wrap around porch was beautiful. Henry had done a really nice job restoring the old Victorian and I could only imagine what kind of taste Charlie had. She had great taste when it came to her appearance; I could only imagine the pride she had in decorating for the world to see.

She was going to have her hands full with Dr. Russell’s old office.

I slipped under the police tape and darted up the steps. I looked left and right, trying to take shallow breaths and keep my cool. My hands were shaking.

“Calm down,” I whispered and held my hand out in front of me so I could put it on the door handle. I took another deep breath and just went for it. I had the door handle in my hand and turned.

Nothing.

What in the world did I think was going to happen? Did I honestly think that the door wasn’t locked? Did I totally act like the police tape wasn’t strung all around me? So there was no other choice but to use Bernadine’s key, which made me a little nervous because I felt like that was sort of falling under the umbrella of breaking and entering. I wasn’t necessarily breaking anything, but I was illegally entering a crime scene that still seemed to be active.

“What am I doing?” I asked myself and fumbled the key around the key hole.

All I had to do was think of that bloody knife and how Noah knew it had come from Bernadine’s house. But how did it get into the hands of the killer?

The office smelled just like a dentist office, which surprised me. The idea of having an interior decorator made me think it would somehow disguise the smell that so many have come to fear. With the sick feeling of being at the dentist and the idea that there was a murder in the exact same place, I began to feel woozy.

I pulled the collar of my shirt up over my nose and took a deep breath. Secret deodorant was a far better smell than . . .death.

“Eeck!” I screamed when I looked down and noticed a spot had been cut out of the carpet in the reception area. A spot big enough for one dead Henry Frisk.

I used the flashlight feature on my cell to get a better look. It was definitely a cut out of what looked to be the place Henry was stabbed. The exposed subflooring had a large dark spot that I could only assume was the blood that had seeped through the carpet and foam.

My eyes followed the flashlight beam to the cushioned chairs and walls which had numbers written beside them along with some police tape marking the blood splatter. It looked like the murderer might have hit one of Henry’s main arteries and as his heart pumped, the blood shot out onto the walls and chairs.

At that moment, I was thankful Bernadine wasn’t with me. By the looks of the crime scene, there was no way she could’ve done this. She wouldn’t be able to get any part of her outfit dirty. Whoever did this, had to have blood somewhere on their clothes.

Obviously, Noah Druck didn’t know Bernadine very well. . .at all.

I used the flashlight to do a little more looking around, careful not to touch anything. Like Bernadine, the last thing Noah needed was more ammunition to use against another Diva. Then he’d have a field day trying to bring our whole group down.

The artwork on the walls was definitely not like any doctor’s office I had ever seen. They were very contemporary pieces with lots of colors. Even the walls were a bright yellow.

I peeked my head into one of the dental cleaning rooms. The chairs were modern. I stepped in to get a closer look and couldn’t help myself.

“Ahh.” I laid back and used the electronic keypad on the arm of the chair to give me the massage treatment Ginger said she had gotten.  The feeling of having to go pee-pee hit me. “Not a good time to have to go,” I said and opened my eyes.

Temporarily, I had forgotten why I was there and quickly jumped up. I plucked a couple of Kleenex from the counter and tried to wipe off any prints before I rushed out of there and down to Henry’s office.

The office was also modern with a glass desk and chair that was neatly tucked underneath it. He had several
Unders
in there and there was no way in hell I was going to stick my hand in the depths of the dark. But I had a flashlight.

I did a little pee-pee dance and wiggled my way down to the floor. With my butt stuck up in the air, I peered underneath the first
Under
and pointed the cell flashlight. Nothing but dust bunnies so I went down the line doing my routine until I reached the last
Under
where a little flutter of something caught my eye.

A feather. A brown and white feather with a red tip.

Carefully I stuck my hand and pulled it out, keeping the flashlight on it the whole time. Not that a feather was a big deal, but it seemed like a big deal to me.

Now, if I were in my house, there are feathers all over from my feather pillow. I had no idea how those darn things got out of the pillow, but they did and they were everywhere I turned. Lucky for me, there were no
Unders
in my house, so I sucked them up in the vacuum.

I didn’t see any throw pillows and I knew Henry wasn’t farting feathers. I tucked it down in my pocket and got up to find the calendar Bernadine insisted Henry had and his phone.

The desk was as clean as a whistle with only a laptop on it. The darn thing was covered in what looked like to be fingerprinting powder, which Noah was good at using liberally. That meant that they had already gone through the files on the computer so I didn’t waste my time. And I bet they had already gotten Henry’s phone and phone records. That was probably the first thing Noah had done or gotten off Henry’s body.

There weren’t any drawers on the desk. Just a couple of sawhorses holding up a large piece of thick glass. Very modern. Very Charlie.

With the tissues still in my hand, I started to open up all the fancy furniture drawers, but nothing was in them. If he did have a calendar, it looked like Noah had beaten us to it.

Ding.
My phone chimed a text. It was Flora wondering how much longer because she was a little scared.

Now seemed like a good time since there was nothing there. Not even the carpet. I made my way down the dark hall and nearly passed out when my shin hit something in the dark. I used the light on my phone to see what it was. A fire extinguisher.

“Damn.” I rubbed my shin when the pain wasn’t going away.

I passed the bathroom on my way out the way I had come in and decided to slip on in there.  I had to turn on the light to see and I used my shoe to shut the door, but not completely. I figured the bathroom was in the far part of the office and no one would be able to see the light, especially with the door partially closed. Hopefully Noah wasn’t going to come back through and do a butt check on the toilet seat, but for good measure, I laid toilet paper all over it and flushed it down when I was finished.

There was never a time I hadn’t washed my hands after going to the bathroom, but now seemed like the logical time to skip that step. . .only I couldn’t bear to do it.

With my elbow, I turned on the handle of the faucet and quickly ran my hands under the light stream of running cold water. When I went to grab one of the fancy disposable hand towels, I noticed something sticking out from under the sink base. I used the toe of my shoe to drag out whatever it was.

“Weekly calendar?” I questioned the wording on the front of the pocket calendar before I picked it up.

I bet Henry had used the bathroom and when he was leaning over the sink to wash his hands, the calendar had fallen out. But why didn’t he pick it up? Either way, I stuck it in my pocket and headed out the door. I had spent long enough in there and what Noah Druck didn’t find. . .well, as the old saying goes: finders keepers. Especially if it was somehow going to help clear Bernadine from a murder I was sure she didn’t commit. 

“I got it!” I waved the little black calendar in the air and jumped in the car. “I took a peek at it and I can’t make out any of it.”

I flipped through the pages and showed Flora Henry’s horrible penmanship. I had yet to meet a doctor whose writing I could ever read.

“Did you see blood and stuff?” Flora curled her nose.

“Yes. In the reception area the carpet was cut out and there were blood splatters on the wall and chairs.” I did a little shimmy shake. The images were probably going to haunt me forever. I knew getting any sleep tonight was out of the question.

I noted the time. Self-defense class had to be over and driving to Donovan’s was an option. Just to run the clues by him. And maybe get a good night kiss. I put the car in drive.

“That is terrible. I knew I couldn’t go in there with you. Just the idea that someone was killed in there. . .well. . .freaks me out.” She thumbed through the calendar. “What about this?” She set the calendar on the console between us. “How are you going to find a person to decode it?”

“I’m assuming Bernadine can read his handwriting.” It seemed better than an assumption. After all, she was married to the guy for years and I was pretty sure she’d seen his handwriting a time or two. Plus she was the one who told us about the calendar he kept. “Anyway, I have a theory about what happened.”

“Okay.” Flora put her hands on the dash when I took the left turn out of Henry’s street to head back to The Beaded Dragonfly to drop her off at her car. “You might be great at running a business and you are definitely an awesome jewelry designer, but you are not a cop. You need to leave all this investigative stuff up to the real people like Noah.”

“Flora?” I questioned her. “Since when did you turn on the opposite side of the Divas?”

“I just think we need to let Bennie see what he can do for Bernadine.” She crossed her arms over her chest and stared out the passenger window.

“Oh my God! Flora!” My mouth dropped open. “You think Bernadine killed him. Don’t you?”

“Like I said earlier.” She continued to stare out the window. “The evidence is all mounted up against Bernadine and it makes sense.”

“Henry pissed someone off in Swanee and they have pinned the evidence on Bernadine. Plain and simple.” I believed it with all my heart.

“You aren’t Sherlock Holmes. The facts are the facts. He was cutting her off financially. She went in there wielding her knife and slashed him up. Plain and simple.” She huffed and puffed. “I’m not saying she didn’t have good cause to rid that piece of shit off the face of the earth, but I’m not saying he deserved to die either. I’m sure she didn’t go in there to intentionally kill him, maybe only to threaten him.”

“No. I refuse to believe she could harm a fly.” I couldn’t believe I was actually hearing Flora say this. After all the times we Divas had stood by her and the demise of her and Bennie. “Did you forget all the times Bernadine sat in your apartment with you and held your hand when Bennie informed you that he was
gay
?”

“Crime of passion. Bennie can get her a lower sentence on crime of passion.” Flora refused to see it any other way.

I stopped the car in front of the shop and put it in park.

“Please,” I begged her. “Please pretend to believe in her or don’t come around at all.”

“Holly,” Flora gasped. “You can’t say that the facts aren’t the facts. She admitted to sleeping with him right before he was killed which was after his date with the blonde.”

“Charlie. After Charlie.” I corrected her.

Flora did make sense. But that was the problem. It made too much sense. And Bernadine insisted she didn’t kill him and I happened to believe her.

Chapter Fifteen

I didn’t even bother calling Donovan after I dropped Flora off. I was so mad that I just drove straight over there, in hopes he’d offer me a beer and some good insight into what Flora was thinking. It was one for all, all for one for the Divas and Flora was putting that in jeopardy.

The streets of Swanee were quiet. Chills crept up my legs and spilled over onto my arms with the thought that there was a killer out there. Waiting. Waiting to see what was going to happen to Bernadine and if the clues they planted were going to send her to jail and not them.

I sped down Donovan’s street a little faster than normal. Though it was only eleven o’clock, it was still dark and creepy out.

After parking in the driveway and noticing Donovan’s lights were out, I wondered if I should have called first, but quickly put it in the back of my head and got out. He was always up for a late night visit.

After I lightly tapped on the front door, and then a little louder when the night felt like it was putting its grip on me, the front porch light flipped on and the door opened. A shirtless Donovan stood with a confused look on his face. His hair was messed up. His pajama pants were perfectly positioned on his hips right below a little patch of hair on his belly, sending me into a tizzy.