The Girl in White Pajamas (8 page)

A black Escalade pulled up to the curb on Tremont Street about fifty feet away from the corner of Park Street. Retail businesses were located on the first floor of most buildings and the top floors were rented out for office space. But one of those buildings had a metal framed glass door and a metal plaque attached to the outside wall reading Nine Zero. Bogie walked through the glass door, opened the Escalade’s door and got in.

Rose smiled as she looked over his new navy blue suit. She pointed to the floor near his feet. “Your phone’s all charged, and you look like a human being for a change.”

“I felt like a human being before I dropped as much money on a suit as I paid for a leather couch. Then the fuck’n shirt and tie and shoes and stuff I’ll probably never wear again.”

Rose laughed then said, “Did you get hold of Carlos?”

Bogie nodded. “I ripped him a new asshole! We’ve worked like dogs for over three years to get the place going and turn it into something nice, and then he doesn’t answer the fuck’n phone in the rental office. I guess he and Margarita had another dispute over his catting around, and she tossed his clothes over the balcony into the swimming pool. His cellphone was in his pants pocket. I don’t know why she puts up with his shit!”

Rose put her right arm out in front of Bogie and pushed her hand down in a gesture that reminded Bogie to calm down. “Did you go for your run today?”

He nodded. “I made it to Mass Ave and back.”

“How was the hotel?” she asked.

“Pretty good…pretty good! It’s interesting how they turned that building into hotel rooms. At least the rooms are nice and big.”

“Let’s call the Boston Globe! A Bogie McGruder five-star rating for something, anything! That reminds me, did you see the ‘Officer Bud’ headline and picture in the Globe? Bud finally made the front page!”

Bogie studied her. “Does anybody read newspapers anymore? I saw all that crap online. What’s the story on the lovebirds? Shock me and tell me he stayed over with her!”

Rose laughed. “I don’t remember ever being that horny. They’re supposed to meet us at the house at twelve-thirty to go to the funeral home.”

“Why’d you get stuck going?” Bogie asked.

“Ann asked me to come, she’s very fragile.”

Bogie studied Rose then said, “That’s where Mandie gets that stupid expression ‘being fragile’. It’s bullshit! Ann better toughen up and lay off the sauce. She’s the same age as you and looks like she’s a hundred years old. Maybe it’s time for her to come out of that closet and start living.”

“And you think I should tell her this?” Rose asked.

Bogie shook his head. “I already did…last night! Now she’s pissed at me.”

“How could that be? You just go around spreading your gems of wisdom and people get annoyed with you. There’s something wrong here!”

“I know!” Bogie said as they pulled up to the curb near the McGruder brownstone.

“Do you think we should use this vehicle to go to the mortuary?” Rose asked.

Bogie shook his head. “There are six of us and you don’t need to be chauffeuring everybody around. Besides, I think it would be tough for Ann or Herself to get into this thing. No! Have Ann call the funeral home. They can send over a limo.”

“What about Jeannie?”

“She said she has her own ride,” Bogie answered. When Rose raised her eyebrow, he added, “
Ours not to reason why, ours but to do and die
.”

“Thank you, Lord Tennyson.”

Elizabeth McGruder clung to Bogie’s bent arm as they walked into the funeral home on Commonwealth Avenue. She wouldn’t have touched him except her walking stick was back at the house and her legs wouldn’t move. Rose held Annie’s hand tightly as they followed through the reception area with the strong smell of lilies. Amanda and Randy walked side by side with Amanda wearing a new black silk Burberry shirtwaist dress and Jimmy Choo black patent wedges that made her as tall as Randy. Randy whispered to her, “Is this where?”

She nodded remembering the wake for her grandfather, Baxter McGruder, Olga McGruder, and baby Barbara, who had all been killed in the same car accident. But that couldn’t hold a candle to the horror of seeing her six-year old cousin Jennifer displayed in a coffin after her mother had shot her..

They entered the large viewing room with the closed mahogany coffin surrounded by more than fifty floral arrangements mixing the fragrances of lilies and gladiolas to form the nauseatingly sweet funeral home smell. Elizabeth McGruder squeezed Bogie’s arm. “I want it open.”

Without looking at her he said firmly, “That’s not going to happen.”

Although a sob escaped from her throat, she held her head up and walked toward the coffin that displayed a large framed picture of a smiling Bud McGruder in dress uniform. She knelt down at the prie dieu and cried softly with her hand on the coffin. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry, Bud! I never meant…”

As her sobbing continued, Bogie remembered coming into this same chapel four and half years earlier wearing dark glasses to hide two black eyes. The bruise on his cheek and cut on his lip weren’t as easy to conceal. The sight of Baxter and Olga painted up and displayed only a few feet apart made him light-headed. But it was the small, closed white coffin that tore at his heart.

Bogie studied the picture of Bud and had to force himself not to smile. Bud had been a handsome guy but probably would have been more so if not for that slight bump at the bridge of his nose. The bump was the result of a broken nose that hadn’t healed quite right. Bogie remembered how he enjoyed every second of beating the crap out of Bud and breaking his nose in the process. That had happened a few weeks after Bogie, the ‘throw away kid’, had been tossed in his father’s direction after his mother died. He understood fully that Baxter and Elizabeth McGruder didn’t want him in their lives. He didn’t particularly want them in his either. But it was that over-fed, arrogant snot Bud who walked around sneering at Bogie like he was shit on Bud’s shoe. Bogie was older and taller than Bud, but Bud probably outweighed him by fifteen pounds. Bogie’s hair had gotten darker over the years, but not as dark as Bud’s hair which was almost black. Bogie’s clothes were close to rags, but he had enough pride and street smarts to promise himself that he would kick the shit out of Bud the first chance he got. He did, and the old man beat Bogie in turn. He still believed it was worth it. Every time Bud looked at him, Bogie touched his finger to his nose to remind Bud he could easily have another broken nose.

Annie turned to Rose. “I thought the coffin was going to be open.”

“No. They couldn’t do it.”

“But why?” Annie asked petulantly.

Irked at Annie’s stupidity, Amanda said sotto voce, “Half his
head
was blown off.”

Annie gasped then sobbed.

Rose left the family and searched out the funeral director. Lots of cops would show up. Rose felt this should be an orderly procession, in and out. Cops from towns all over the State would be showing up for the walk through, and Rose wanted to make sure the line moved smoothly through the front door then out the back. She made a mental note to have the funeral director strategically place chairs for the women, especially the old lady, or they’d be picking her up off the floor in a half hour. Remembering what Bogie told her about Jeannie, Rose figured they’d probably need two chairs for her.

As she walked down the hall, Rose smiled when she saw a bald black man the size of a small house come through the front door. She walked quickly to him and hugged him. “How’s it going, Pop?”

Darryl Jones held his daughter. “I have to come here so I can see you. You never call.”

“You sure we’re not Jewish? You sound like a Jewish mother.”

The large man kissed her cheek. “How are you doing, Honey?”

“I’m okay. Why’d you come so early? The walk-through doesn’t start until one o’clock.”

“I wanted to pay my respects and get out. I don’t need to hang around and socialize with a bunch of suits.”

Rose smiled. “Mr. Congeniality! Come in, Bogie will be glad to see you.”

After soothing the old lady and Annie, Darryl Jones turned to Amanda and gave her a big bear hug. “Lordie, lordie, you’re a beauty!”

“It’s so good to see you, Pop Pop!” Amanda said as she kissed him and hugged him back.

Elizabeth McGruder winced at the display of affection between Amanda and Darryl Jones. Why did her granddaughter call this black man, who was nothing more than her late husband’s partner ‘Pop Pop’? He was no relation to the McGruders! This was the work of that miserable, spiteful Bogie, she was sure. He would do anything to embarrass the family even to the point of suggesting that Darryl Jones could be a grandfather to his child with black hair.

Amanda introduced her ‘fiancé’. Randy blushed as the large man shook his hand.

“Hey, Pop.” The voice came from behind him.

Darryl turned, looked at Bogie and the two men embraced. “Rose said you looked great. You do. You look fantastic!”

Bogie motioned for Darryl to step outside with him. When they were on the street, Bogie asked, “So, Pop, how’s retirement?”

“It sucks, but it’s better than being on the job. I couldn’t take that crap anymore.”

“So why don’t you work with us?”

Darryl laughed. “Yeah, become a member of Rose’s army! You’ve got to be kidding me!”

“Come to Florida and work with me. Maybe you’ll look fantastic like I do.”

“Yeah, Rose told me. How many units do you have now?”

“Thirty-six total in that complex, twenty-four rented. Still working on the last building, can’t rent those units out till they’re all done. Nobody wants to rent in a building with construction going on.”

“That’s young man’s work. Look how skinny it made you.”

“You afraid you’ll lose your boyish figure?”

Darryl patted his large belly. “Hardly!”

“I’m serious. Come down. Enjoy the sun. Look it over and decide. You’re always welcome. I still don’t understand why you didn’t come for Christmas. If you weren’t going to Germany, you could have come to Palm Beach and spent the holidays with us.”

Darryl Jones shook his head. “I told you before, when I can visit both of your daughters, I’ll visit you and not before then.” As he watched Bogie’s mouth tighten, Darryl added, “You never forgave your father for deserting you when you were three years old. Now there’s a little three-year-old girl out there who hasn’t even
met
her father. What’s wrong with this picture?”

“It’s complicated,” Bogie said.

“That’s bullshit!” Darryl said angrily.

Bogie’s eyes opened wide. He knew that Darryl rarely cursed. Darryl believed that as a deacon in his church it left a negative impression. Trying to avoid a confrontation, Bogie asked, “Is Walter out yet?”

Darryl rolled his eyes and shook his head. Walter Beck was Darryl’s brother-in-law. When Darryl’s wife Gretchen was dying with breast cancer, her half-brother Walter came from Germany to spend time with the family. Once Bogie and Walter met, they immediately formed a bond. Walter taught seventeen-year-old Boghdun how to navigate through a strange new world called the internet. Bogie spent all summer at their apartment. When summer was over, he continued to go there every day after school to the only people he considered a real family. He and Walter worked on some sophisticated hacking techniques that Bogie still used. At that time, Bogie was unaware of Walter’s fame in the internet community. Because no one could catch him, Walter was considered the greatest hacker who ever lived. It took the Feds years of trying and Walter’s love affair with cocaine to bring him down. When Walter hacked into the TJX customer credit files and sold the data, he was at the peak of his performance as a hacker and a cocaine user.

Watching the traffic go by them on Comm Ave, Darryl answered, “I don’t know when he’s getting out. See what drugs and arrogance can do for you?! Knowing how you felt about Bud, I’m actually surprised you’re here.”

“Bud’s dead. I didn’t come to talk to him. I just figured…Annie... and it might be time.”

“It
is
time!” Darryl said firmly.

“Did the cops come up with anything on Bud’s murder?” Bogie asked.

“Matt MacDonald was the one who found Bud and called it in. He was all broken up but never gave a good explanation as to why he just appeared on the scene after Bud was killed. And you know Elizabeth showed up at the scene, too, don’t you?”

Bogie shrugged and shook his head in disbelief. “What the hell’s going on?”

Darryl shook his head. “You tell me, then we’ll
both
know. Oh, I almost forgot. Chan, your neighbor in Quincy.”

Bogie nodded acknowledging he knew who Chan was.

Darryl reached in his jacket pocket and took out a white business card. He handed it to Bogie. Bogie turned it over and looked at a number handwritten on the back. He said, “Tell me this is a deposit and not a final offer.” When Darryl shook his head, Bogie added, “He’s wasting my time! I’ll never sell him the house for that!” Bogie stopped suddenly considering something. “Unless it’s too much trouble for you.”

“Trouble?!” Darryl asked. “What trouble? I drive over there and take a look at the place every week or so. It gives me something to do. I think he’s just playing games with you, and I also think you’re right, he’s dissuading potential renters from renting the property.”

“That weasel! He’d love to get his hands on that place for next to nothing so he could rent it out to about fifteen people.”

“I heard the Quincy Police raided a lot of those places and forced tenants out because there were too many of them living in single family dwellings.”

“Problem solved!” Bogie said. Then the corner of his mouth twitched into a Bogie smile. “Anyway, tell him you fought the good fight, but I’m considering having ten or fifteen of my own acquaintances move in there.”

“Speaking of your acquaintances, I got a call from Jack this morning.” When Bogie stared at him without speaking, Darryl continued, “He said he tried to call you, and the call went to voicemail. He said nobody was picking up the office phone in Florida.”

Bogie nodded. “I forgot my charger and left the cell at the shop last night. I talked to Carlos about answering the damn phone! What did Jack want?”

Darryl opened his mouth to speak then smiled. “Speak of the devil, and he shows up!”

A well-dressed man wearing a camel hair topcoat walked toward them. His red curls were pulled back in a ponytail.

Bogie smiled. “Here comes the
gingerhead
man!”

The redhead extended his hand and Bogie grabbed him and held him in a bear hug. Bogie noticed his young, boyish features were roughened, and he sported dark circles under his eyes.

Jack Hampfield shook Darryl’s hand. “I was just telling Bogie that you called me,” Darryl said.

Jack Hampfield shook his head in disbelief as he studied Bogie. “I can’t believe this guy! You look younger than you did the last time I saw you.”

“Good clean living…and sunshine.”

“I’ve been trying to reach you. I left a message on your office phone and your cell went right to voicemail.”

“I forgot the charger, and the clown I left in charge in Florida wasn’t answering the office phone.”

“I finally called Darryl. As soon as I hung up, I got a call back from Carlos. He told me you’d be here this afternoon. You should have let me know.”

Darryl touched Bogie’s shoulder and interrupted saying, “I’ve got to go.”

Bogie nodded, thanked him and turned back to Jack. “What’s up?”

“Bailey. She...she needs your help.”

“She’s ready to tell me I’m the father?”

Jack shook his head. “Somebody’s trying to kill her!”

Bogie stared at him. “What’s going on?”

“I’m going to let her tell you. She wants to meet with you.”

“And she sent
you
?” Bogie asked with an edge to his voice. “She made you her wingman?”

“No! Bailey’s not feeling well.” When Jack saw the stunned look on Bogie’s face, he added, “She had an accident and has a slight concussion. She’s still a bit dizzy and has headaches.”

“What happened?”

“She fell on the ice.”

“What ice? There’s no ice around.”

“There was last weekend. We had a bad ice storm on Saturday night.”

Bogie studied him then asked, “How’d she fall?”

Jack raised his hand. “Why don’t you just let her tell you? She wants to meet with you.”

“Where?”

“She’s working in Rubin’s office. You know, One Boston Place, still on the twenty-sixth floor. ”

“Today, tomorrow?”

“If you could come today, it would be better. She’s terrified for herself and—”

“How
is
Isabella?”

Jack’s face broke out in a large smile at the mention of the little girl’s name. “You’ll see for yourself. She’s a character!”

Bogie tried to smile but his eyes betrayed the sadness he felt at having a daughter he never held. “How’s George doing?”

Jack tilted his hand from side to side. “He had a bit of a setback and hasn’t been able to work full time for the past few weeks.”

“I’m sorry.”

Jack shrugged as if to say ‘so what are you gonna do?’. “I wish you had come to our wedding.”

Bogie put his hand on Jack’s shoulder. “I appreciated the invitation. But I thought it might be awkward knowing Bailey would be there. Your twin sister trumps an old friend. It was yours and George’s day to be happy and not deal with other people’s high drama bullshit.”

Jack shook his head. “She was hoping you’d come. Did I send you a thank you note?”