Marja McGraw - Bogey Man 03 - They Call Me Ace (17 page)

Chapter Thirty-two

Watching Judith and Chris, I felt like there should be old west movie theme music playing in the background – something appropriate to a shootout. They’d both moved and they were practically toe-to-toe, with Chris looking down at his mother. She stood with her hands on her hips, almost daring him to defy her.

He blinked first, but she didn’t win the standoff.

“Mother, I’m not your little boy anymore. And we’re talking about my wife’s safety. You and the other ladies should have been eyeballing that house next door to Kimberly’s place.”

I could tell he was softening, at least a little, because he’d used one of his old-time detective words. I couldn’t help but wonder why.

“You do realize that Pamela could have bought the farm, don’t you?”

Judith hung her head. “Yes, Pamela could have been killed and it would have been my fault.”

“No, no, no. That’s not…” Chris knew he’d gone too far, even it if was true.

“Yes, she could have ended up in the hospital, or worse.” Judith sounded close to tears.

“Ma,” Chris said, placing his hands on his mother’s shoulders, “
you
could have been here alone.”

He didn’t have to say another word. I realized why he was relenting. I was okay, but if it had been his mother, she might not have kept herself from falling. Chris was scared, no matter how anyone looked at it. Either way his wife or his mother could have been hurt far worse than it turned out.

Mikey glanced at his grandmother before looking into my eyes. He started to cry.

I pulled him to me. “It’s okay, son. I’m okay and so is Grandma Judy.”

“But…”

“No
buts
. We’ll be a lot more careful from now on. No one will be in this house alone until we have this figured out. And who knows? Maybe Janet is hot on the trail of the bad guy. I’ll call her when we get home.” Giving him an extra hug seemed to help.

“Speaking of home,” Chris said, glancing at his watch before turning to me, “we have to get moving. I’ve got to clean up for work. And, no arguments, you’re staying home tonight. I’ll have my parents stop in at the restaurant and bring some food home for you. You don’t need to be cooking in your condition.”

I smiled at him. At that moment in time, my heart felt like it was overflowing with love for this man. No one had ever cared about me the way he did.

“Come on, Ace, let’s help your mother stand up.”

I groaned as they pulled me to my feet. My headache was worse and my shoulder throbbed. My knees weren’t doing too well either. They were already starting to bruise.

“I’ve got a sling in the motor home that you can use for your arm and shoulder,” Judith said. “I had to use it when I threw my own shoulder out sometime back.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to see a doctor?” Chris asked. “I think you probably should.”

“No, I’ll be okay. I just need to lie down for a while, and I need to take something for this headache.”

“The headache worries me,” Chris said.

“I didn’t hit my head, Chris. I just wrenched my back and neck. Honestly. I’ll be aces by tomorrow.” It made me uncomfortable to have everyone fuss over me. I was usually the one doing the fussing. And yet, I’d hoped he’d baby me a
little
.

We left, with Judith and Chris, Sr., promising to bring Mikey and me some dinner.

Chris and Mikey were helping me down the walkway when Mark came out from next door.

“What’s going on? How come your wife is limping?” he asked.

Chris stopped suddenly, releasing me too quickly. I almost fell over, but Mikey steadied me. “She had an accident. Did you see anyone hanging around the house today? Was anyone acting suspicious?” The Bogey Man put his head back and looked down his nose at Mark. His eyes were suspicious slits. He pulled on his ear lobe.

“No. I didn’t see a thing.” He turned and walked back into his house. He didn’t say he was sorry about my fall, didn’t ask how I was and didn’t seem to give us a second thought. His attitude surprised me.

Mikey climbed into the back seat before Chris helped me into the car. My husband walked around to the driver’s side and stood there, staring at the house just past Kimberly’s place.

I had a bad feeling which only grew when he left us sitting in the car and headed for the white house with blue trim.

“What are you doing?” I called out the window. “Chris, come back.”

He put his hand behind his back and waved me off. I knew better than to get out of the car and try to stop him. His mind was made up.

He passed Kimberly’s house and after he turned up the walkway, I couldn’t see him anymore. The house where the little old lady lived was set back too far and Kimberly’s home hid him. I thought about sending Mikey in to get Chris’s father, but decided against it. If two men showed up at the old woman’s door it might actually make things worse.

“Where’d Dad go?” Mikey asked.

“Oh, I think he just went to talk to one of the neighbors. He’ll be back in a minute.”

That seemed to satisfy my son and he sat back with a Hardy Boys book his grandmother had given him.

It felt like Chris was gone for an eternity, but in fact it was probably five minutes or less. He was stomping when he walked back down the sidewalk toward the car.

“What happened?” I asked when he climbed into the car.

He sat, looking straight ahead and gritting his teeth before he answered me.

“The old lady said he wasn’t there. I know he was.”

“How do you know?”

“I could hear him moving around behind her.”

“Maybe she has a dog or something,” Mikey piped up from the back seat.

For some reason Mikey’s voice brought Chris around.

“Oh. No, she doesn’t have a dog. Well, let’s get your mother home.” Chris turned to me and gave me a look that told me we’d talk when Mikey was out with the dogs or in his bedroom.

The ride home was relatively quiet.

“Hey, Mom, this book Grandma Judy gave me is pretty good. You’re going to have to help me with a lot of the words though.”

I smiled, remembering Chris had bought Mikey more Hardy Boys books for his birthday.

“She can help you tonight while the two of you are taking it easy,” Chris said, glancing quickly over his shoulder and then back at the road.

The rain had stopped along with the thunder and lightning, at least for the moment. The sky was still filled with charcoal-colored clouds, but I could see some blue sky off in the distance. The rain had washed the dust and grime off of everything from the trees to the road, and it was turning into a pretty day, even with the clouds lingering.

“Are you sure you don’t need me at the restaurant?” I asked.

“We’ll be just fine. Phyllis and Gloria will be there, and George will be back tonight.”

George Chandler looked quite a bit like George Raft, and the female customers adored him. He’d been gone on vacation for two weeks. I’d forgotten he was due back.

“Okay, you talked me into it. It’ll be nice to have a quiet evening with Mikey.”

As soon as we arrived home Mikey climbed out of the car on the driver’s side. Chris handed him the house key and he ran ahead to let the dogs outside. We decided it would be best if I got settled on the couch so they wouldn’t jump all over me. That was a joke and I knew it. Those beasts believed they were lap dogs, even with Sherlock at one hundred two pounds and Watson weighing in at eighty-six. No one could convince them otherwise.

Before I sat down I went to the kitchen and took something for my headache. With any luck it would help my other aches and pains, too. I finally settled down on the couch. Chris moved some magazines in place so I could put my feet on top of them and up on the coffee table.

“I checked their water and the bucket is still full,” Mikey said. “I decided they should stay outside for a while.”

“They probably should, but the backyard is soaked from the rain,” I reminded him. “You’d probably better let them in before they roll around in the water. I don’t feel like cleaning up a mess.”

Mikey let the dogs back into the house and they immediately ran over to me. Sometimes dogs are amazing. They seemed to sense something was wrong and stopped before jumping up on the couch. Sitting in front of me, they waited for an invitation, something they rarely do. It wasn’t forthcoming and they watched me intently, almost willing me to read their minds.

“Not today, kids. Go lie down.”

“Hey, Ace, why don’t you go fix yourself some lunch,” Chris suggested. “You can make your own peanut butter and jelly sandwich, right?”

“I’m old enough to do that,” Mikey said. “I know how. We never did get our In-N-Out hamburgers, and I’m hungry.”

The dogs followed Mikey out to the kitchen and Chris sat down next to me.

“I asked the lady at the white house if her son was there. She said he wasn’t, but I know he was. She wouldn’t open the door more than a crack, and I could hear him whispering, telling her what to say.”

“Did you get pushy?”

“Not really. I held my temper, and believe me it wasn’t easy. I asked her if he’d been there and if he’d been out at all this morning.”

“What did she say?”

“She said she hadn’t seen him in two days. I’ll be asking Cheryl and Sherry about that.”

“Carol and Coral,” I corrected.

“Whatever. I’m sure they said they’d seen him around the house in the past couple of days. In fact, I’m going to leave a little early and stop to see them on the way to the restaurant.”

“Good idea. Now you’d better go upstairs and change clothes.” At the moment, I didn’t particularly care
who’d
pushed me down the stairs. I just wanted to close my eyes and I hoped my headache would be gone when I opened them again.

“Mom, do you want a sandwich, too?” Mikey called from the kitchen.

“No, thanks, sweetie. I’m fine. I just want to rest.”

Closing my eyes, I drifted off thinking about Kimberly and her boyfriend. I wasn’t sure why they’d come to mind, but they did. Something didn’t feel right, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

I must have been dreaming, because I woke with a start when Kimberly’s boyfriend licked my cheek. It was an ugly feeling, and I flung my hand up to push him away, only to find Watson sitting on the couch next to me, staring at me with her tail flinging back and forth. I wiped my cheek. Yes, Watson had licked me, of course.

On the bright side, my headache was almost gone. Mikey sat on the floor watching cartoons on the television. Sherlock was lying across Mikey’s legs.

“Where’s your father?” I asked.

“Oh, he left for the restaurant a long time ago.”

Glancing at my watch, I saw that it was almost four o’clock.

“He didn’t want to wake you up. Neither did I.” I realized he’d turned the TV as low as he could while still being able to hear it.

“Thank you.”

“Someone called for you.”

“I didn’t even hear the phone. Who was it?”

“One of those dames. You know, the twins. I think it was Coral. I told her Dad told me not to wake you up. She was pretty excited, and she wants you to call her back. I wrote down the phone number.”

Watson was inching her way toward me, ready to climb on my lap. I told her
no
and pushed her away, although she didn’t move far.

“Don’t call women dames.” My son was picking up Chris’s bad habits.

He’d turned back to his cartoons and didn’t hear me. I really didn’t care if he was paying attention or not. I was more concerned about what might be exciting Coral.

Chapter Thirty-three

It took a little work, but I pried myself up from the couch while keeping Watson at bay. She really seemed to want to comfort me, by climbing onto my lap. It wasn’t going to happen. I wanted to find out why Coral had called, and if Watson got a foothold I’d never get rid of her. Besides, I was too sore.

Limping to the kitchen, I searched for the phone number Mikey had written down, to no avail. “Mikey,” I called, “where’s Coral’s phone number?”

“
In my pocket
,” he yelled in reply.

Taking a deep breath, I rolled my eyes and discovered that my headache wasn’t too far off. “Would you please bring it here?”

“
On my way
,” he hollered, sounding distracted.

I waited for about thirty seconds before raising my voice. “
Mikey?
”

He backed into the kitchen, trying not to lose sight of his cartoons, with his hand and a piece of paper behind his back.

I took the paper and reached for his shoulder to turn

him around and remind him about manners, but he was too fast for me. I didn’t feel up to giving chase and decided it wasn’t that big of an infraction.

Reaching for the phone, I jumped when it rang. Before I answered it I glanced toward the doorway, hoping Sherlock wasn’t going to race in and knock me down. Not seeing him, I picked up the receiver.

“Hello?”

“Pamela, this is Coral. Why didn’t you call me back? Well, never mind. I’ve got things to tell you. You’ve been missing all the action over here.”

“Slow down, Coral. What’s going on?”

“Well, before he went to the restaurant, your hubby stopped by and had it out with that weirdo next door to Kimberly’s house.”

“He
what?
You’ve got to be joking.”

“Nope. When we realized what was happening we all headed over there to see the action. Well, let me back up. We saw the Bogey Man drive past Turnbal House – that car can’t be missed – and he pulled up in front of the other house. Chris Sr. was the first one to figure out what was going on. Anyway, when he ran out the door, we followed him and watched from the sidewalk.”

“Did my father-in-law wait on the sidewalk, too?” I stopped myself when I realized I was chewing on my lip.

“No. He stood right next to Chris. Okay, so the little old lady answered the door and the Bogey Man asked her to send out her son. She tried to close the door on Chris, but he put his hand up and stopped her, and he told her he meant business. And let me tell you, for such an old woman, she’s got quite a kick on her.”

“What?”

“She opened the door and kicked your hubby on the shin. So the weirdo finally pulled his mother out of the way and stepped outside.

“The Bogey Man asked him if he’d shoved you down the steps, and ol’ yellow tooth said he hadn’t, but he wished he had.”

I sucked in my breath. “What did Chris do? Did he believe the guy?”

“Your hubby was just mad until the guy said he wished he’d pushed you, and that put him over the edge. Chris reared back and decked the little creep. Oh, and he said something about dogs? I think he said that was for throwing rocks at your dogs, too. Your father-in-law stepped in and stopped things before they could get any more out of control.”

It took a moment for all of this to sink in, and then my headache came back with a vengeance.

“Pamela? Are you still there?”

“I’m here. Did anyone call the police?”

“Nope. The old lady asked the yellow-toothed guy if he wanted her to call them, but he waved her off. He said he could handle his own fights. Of course, he said that from his spot on the ground.”

“And then what happened?”

“Chris walked out to his car, climbed in and left for work. Your father-in-law helped the weirdo get up and he went back inside with his mother yelling at Chris Sr.”

“Is that the end of the story?” I hoped there wasn’t any more to it.

“Almost. Your father-in-law got the old woman to calm down and he went inside the house and talked to her and her son.”

“Really?” I was way beyond surprised.

“Ken – that’s the guy’s name – admitted he knew about the treasure. He said he’d even been in the house looking for it before Judy and Chris Sr. bought the house. But he swears he hasn’t gone inside since they started working on it.”

“Did Chris Sr. believe him?”

“I think so, but… Hold on a sec.” Coral covered the

mouthpiece and spoke to someone. “Okay, I’m back. Judy was just telling Carol that your hunky builder will be here tomorrow. I guess
you know where
we’ll
be in the morning.”

“Coral, he’s already spoken for.”
And he’s way too young for you
, but I didn’t say that part.

“Yeah, yeah. Anyway, we think Ken’s telling the truth, but you never know. And that’s the end of the story. I just thought you might like to know what happened before your hubby gets home from work.”

“Thanks.”

“Okay, gotta go. Judy and her husband are going to pick up some dinner for you and your son now. What’s his name? Mickey?”

“Mikey, but he likes to be called Ace.”

We hung up and I sat down at the kitchen table. What was Chris thinking? We could be sued, at the very least. Ken could have turned him in and filed charges. Any number of things might have happened. The weirdo, as Coral liked to call him, could come after Chris.

“Mom?”

I must have jumped a foot. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

“I heard you talking to Coral. Is Dad okay? What happened?”

“Your father is fine. And on a need-to-know basis, you don’t need to know what happened. If he wants to tell you, he will.”

Mikey pursed his lips in a pout, and turning his back on me, left the room. “You guys never tell me
anything
.”

I made a cup of hot tea and sat down at the table with a bottle of aspirin. I’d stiffened up considerably while I napped on the couch.  Sleeping in a sitting position hadn’t helped. The headache wasn’t doing much good either.

Sherlock and Watson walked into the kitchen and sat down in front of me, staring at me and apparently willing me to read their minds. As if I had to do that. “Dinner?”

Both tails began swinging wildly and they jumped up. Sherlock turned in a circle, being the dog who enjoyed food the most. His stomach was a bottomless pit.

My body ached, my head hurt, my son was pouting, my husband had turned into a bully, and the dogs were hungry. I began to feel sorry for myself.

If anyone had been watching, I probably would have taken Judith’s Drama Queen crown away from her. I limped down the back steps and checked the dogs’ water bucket. The dogs followed me out and I told them to
sit
and
stay
. Using one hand, I stacked the dogs’ bowls and brought them in to the service porch where I filled them with dog food – all the while holding my arm tightly against my side so I wouldn’t hurt my shoulder. Then I limped back down the steps, taking one dog bowl at a time outside, reminding the dogs to
stay
.  When I told them they could eat, all bets were off and they dug in like they hadn’t eaten in a year.

I returned to the kitchen and sat down, finally taking a couple of aspirin. I was hungry. Mikey probably was, too. Maybe that’s why he was pouting. His attitude was out of character for him, although I reminded myself that he was just a child, and he was entitled to a bad mood once in a while, too.

Taking my tea with me, I limped out to the living room and sat down on the couch. Glancing at the clock, I saw that it was almost five-thirty.

One of the dogs barked at the back door. I recognized Watson’s tone as the one she used when she wanted in.

“Mikey, please go let the dogs in.”

He stood up and headed for the service porch without a word. Momentarily the dogs came bounding into the living room, happy and with full tummies.

Mikey followed behind them. “I’m sorry, Mom. Can I do anything to make you feel better?” This was the Mikey I knew and loved. I’d rolled up my pant legs and he studied my

knees which were bruised. “I’m
really
sorry, Mom.”

“It’s okay, Ace. Why don’t you come sit by me? Maybe Grandpa will tell you what happened when he gets here. I only know what Coral said, and I don’t know if she exaggerated or not.”

About ten minutes later the doorbell rang. Both dogs barked and ran to the door. Mikey followed, ready to open it.

“Make them sit before you let anyone in.” I knew I didn’t really need to remind him, but I couldn’t help myself.

The dogs sat and Mikey opened the door to let his grandparents in. Their arms were full of bags, hopefully filled with our dinner. They headed straight for the kitchen and set the bags on the sink.

I heard Judith pulling plates out of the cupboard followed by the clink of silverware.

“Come and get it,” she called, “before it gets cold. Chef Luis sent you a special dish.”

I could smell the food and my stomach rumbled. “What is it?” I asked, pulling out a chair and sitting down. “It doesn’t look like anything on the menu.”

“It’s his version of Cashew Chicken, and he made it just for you and Mikey. He said you’ll love it.”

I took a bite, and I did. It was delicious. Judith and Chris Sr. sat down and joined us.

Chris Sr. told us what happened over dinner, and other than a few more details, his story didn’t differ from Coral’s.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Junior that angry.” Judith took another bite of dinner. “This is really good. I wonder if Luis would give me the recipe.”

We finished eating and Judith gave each of the dogs a bite of chicken. She told me to sit still and she’d clean up the dishes. Mikey and his grandfather retired to the living room to see what was on TV.

After a moment I decided to follow them, but stopped in the doorway when I heard them talking.

“Why did Dad hit that guy?” Mikey asked.

“Because someone pushed your mother down the stairs, and when Ken said he wished he’d done it, it was more than your father could bear. He was scared.”

“Scared? Men don’t get scared.”

“Yes, we do. Things frighten us. We just don’t let people know it, especially the women. Well, maybe we hold back even more around other men, now that I think about it.”

“Why was Dad scared?”

“Because your mother could have been seriously injured. It could have been a lot worse than it was. And when that locoweed dimwit of a neighbor didn’t show any compassion, your father lost control. Now that’s something we Cross men don’t do often – lose control.”

Mikey nodded, thinking it all over. His grandfather had opened some doors for Mikey that gave him plenty to contemplate.