Too Dead To Dance (20 page)

I stood up about to tell
him that it was his own fault that he didn’t have any friends. He’d
lived here for years. He didn’t have many more friends in the city
where he grew up. But I was too tired to argue. I got him a blanket
and pillow. “You can sleep on the sofa tonight. Find a place to go
tomorrow night. And you’ll have to be out of here by seven in the
morning. I have an appointment.”

“Fine. Fine,” he mumbled,
stretching out on the sofa, turning his back to me. Edwin never did
understand the concept of an attitude of gratitude.

After locking the door to
my bedroom, I noticed the bags from the Christmas Shop. I was about
to stash them on a shelf in my closet when I remembered the pickle
ornament. My curiosity got the best of me and I opened the box and
read the “Story of the Pickle Ornament.”

It turns out that this
German tradition is actually a legend about German immigrant, John
Lower. "The Christmas Pickle" appears to have had its beginning
right here in the good old U. S.A.

The story goes that John
Lower was born in Bavaria in 1842.  He left Germany with his
family and immigrated to the United States.  While fighting in
the American Civil War, John Lower was captured and sent to a
prison in Andersonville, Georgia.  He soon fell ill given the
poor conditions of the prison. 

Starving, he begged of a
guard for just one pickle before resigning to his death.  The
guard took pity on him, found and gave John Lower a pickle. 
Lower family lore declares that the pickle gave him the mental and
physical strength to live on.  After being reunited with his
family he began the tradition of hiding a pickle on the Christmas
tree. The first person who found the pickle on Christmas
morning would be blessed with a year of good fortune... and a
special gift, just as John Lower had experienced!

What a nice story, I
thought as I donned my Sponge Bob sleep shirt, took two more pills
and crawled into bed. No Decker fantasies tonight. Not with Edwin
in the next room. Besides, I had a headache.

I was awakened in the
middle of the night by shadowy figure standing at the foot of my
bed calling my name and shaking my foot. I heard him crunching a
piece of paper, opening it up and crunching it again, over and
over. Then he called my name.

“Jennie, get up. Get up
now!”

I sat up in bed, still half
asleep. Edwin hovered at the foot of the bed shaking my ankle.
“Don’t call me Jennie,” I said, still groggy and wondering why he
was crackling paper.

“Jennie, the house is on
fire. We have to get out of here!”

Confused, I got up, grabbed
my cotton housecoat and donned a pair of slippers.

“How did you get in here? I
locked the door.”

“Never mind. We need to get
out. The house is on fire. Damn it, Jennie, move!”

When I heard sirens coming
closer, my brain finally kicked in and I followed Edwin out of the
bedroom toward the back door. I hit the button to open the garage
door, which slid open effortlessly. We ran through the garage and
out into the night, brightly lit by the flames coming from the
front of my house.

I ran down the driveway
then glanced behind me at the facade of my townhouse. The row of
shrubs lining the front of the structure danced in the blaze. Soon
the attached houses on each side would be flare up as
well.

The fire truck pulled up
and suddenly the place swarmed with people in slick yellow coats
unwinding hoses and spraying water on my house. A firefighter ran
over to us. “Are you alright? Is anyone else in the
house?”

We assured him we were fine
and the only people in the house. “What about the people on each
side of my house? Are they okay?”

He pointed toward the
street and replied, “Everyone is fine. Please step across the
street, behind the truck so you don’t get hurt.”

My slippers slapped against
my heels as I followed Edwin across the street. I glanced up to see
Megan waving to me from the curb. I ran over and threw myself into
her arms. I began to shake, aware of the danger I had
eluded.

“My God, Jennifer. Who
started your house on fire?”

A squad car pulled up near
us and Detective Decker lunged out of the car and ran over to me.
Grabbing my arm, he twirled me around and enveloped me in his
muscular arms. “Are you okay? Are you hurt? Who started the
fire?”

I let him hold me for a few
moments while I assured him I hadn’t been hurt. When he let me go,
Edwin moved up next to me, a haughty leer on his face. “Jennie,
aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?”

I opened my mouth to tell
him to mind his own business, when lightning flashed, and thunder
crashed and the skies opened up. In seconds, we were drenched and
so was the fire.

Megan yelled to us to
follow her and we ran to her front porch. Her farmhouse style home
with its long front porch, the width of the house, accommodated a
wooden glider, several chairs, and a round wicker table. I was on
the second step when Detective Decker grabbed my hand to stop me.
“I see you’re busy. I have to go. I just wanted to make sure you
were okay. I’ll talk to you later.”

Before I could say
anything, he crossed the street, got into his car, maneuvered
around the firefighters’ equipment and turned the corner. What the
hell had just happened? I glanced at Megan who nodded her head and
rolled her eyes toward Edwin. I looked back at him; I shouldn’t
have been surprised at the nasty sneer on his face.

“For a guy with no place to
sleep, you shouldn’t look so smug,” I said, mad enough to
spit.

“Oh, who cares? As soon as
the fire trucks get out of my way, I’ll drive over to Glencoe and
sleep in my office.”

Megan stepped in front of
him. “Edwin Heinz, get off my porch.”

“It’s still raining,” he
protested.

“Who cares?” Megan and I
said in unison. Sometimes great minds do think alike.

Edwin pulled up his collar,
stuck his hands in his pants pockets, and moseyed down the steps
and across the street.

“How could you stay married
to that ass for so many years?”

“I plead insanity. But, I
think I just found out what the urge to kill truly means. Can I
crash on your couch after I get done talking to the
firefighters?”

“Well, ma’am,” the
firefighter said, “We found this glass in the bushes. It looks like
someone threw a beer bottle filled with gas at your house and
started it on fire.”

“A Molotov cocktail? Who
would do a thing like that?” I glanced at the bottle and recognized
the label—Leinenkugel.

All of a sudden, Detective
Decker walked in to the lighted area and stepped around the
fireman, “Someone who wants you to stop nosing around. This is
where you step back, Jennifer. It’s too dangerous for you to keep
snooping. Your hubby and I can’t be around all the time to protect
you.”

“He’s not my hubby and he
wasn’t protecting me. He was just being his normal obnoxious self.
Where did you come from? I thought you left.”

“I did but when Edwin’s car
passed me going ten miles over the speed limit I had to make a
choice; either pull him over and give him a ticket or come back
here and be with you.”

My throat closed up and I
willed myself not to cry. “I’m too tired to deal with this tonight.
I’ll come in to the Sheriff’s Department in the morning with Sister
Bernadine. I suppose you think she tried to burn down my house,
too.”

I turned and slowly climbed
the stairs to Megan’s porch. We walked in and when she turned off
the porch light, I looked out the little window in the door.
Detective Decker was still standing there. He stuck his hands in
his pockets and turned away. I bit my tongue to keep from calling
him back while I watched him get into his truck and slowly drive
away.

When the firemen put away
their equipment and the truck drove down the street, Megan and I
took a quick tour of my townhouse. Nothing seemed to be amiss but
the place smelled acrid and smoky. My foam neck brace was lying on
the floor next to the bed. I must have taken it off in my sleep. My
neck felt okay, so I left it there and grabbed some dry clothes. We
opened a few windows and turned on exhaust fans in the bathroom and
kitchen, then locked up.

Back at Megan’s, she pulled
out the sofa bed for me and I gladly collapsed on it. Asleep before
she switched off the light, this night had finally
ended.

20

Monday

Megan shook me awake in
what seemed like two minutes after I fell asleep. “Jennifer, get
up. You promised Bernie you’d go with her to see Jacobs and
Decker.”

I dragged my tired body
into the shower. It woke me up but I still felt as if my limbs were
made of stone. I dressed and was digging my keys out of my purse
when Megan handed me a fried egg sandwich on toast. “Eat this on
your way. Here’s a cup of coffee. Go!” She stuck a thermo cup in my
hand and pushed me out the door.

I crossed the street,
pushing the remote on my keychain. My garage door shrieked open in
jerks and starts. What the heck was wrong with that door? I’d have
to check it later; I had to get to the Sheriff’s Office. I took a
bite of the sandwich and gulped down some coffee before I backed
out and down my driveway.

I met Bernie on the steps
to the station house. We had arrived at practically the same time.
I told her the condensed version of last night’s excitement.
“Unless they can prove you were the one who tried to burn my house
down last night, you should be off the hook, Bernie.”

“From your mouth to God’s
ears, Jennifer. Father Werner had me in his office last night. I
thought he’d blow a gasket but remarkably, he seemed understanding.
He knows I’d never hurt another human being and he even said he’d
come with me today if I wanted him to. Just knowing he is standing
by me is enough.”

We went in the front door
this time. Walking up to the glass-fronted window I was about to
tell the perky young blonde receptionist that we were here to see
Lt. Jacobs when she looked up and exclaimed, “Sister Bernadine! How
are you?”

Bernie smiled. “I’ve been
better. How are you, Angelia? And how’s your mother?”

“She’s much better, Sister.
Thanks for helping us get her into the nursing home. They take
really good care of her there.”

“I knew they would. Is she
making friends?”

“Oh, heavens, yes. One of
us kids visits her almost every day and sometimes I think we’re
intruding. The other day I came right when bingo started and she
made me go with her so she wouldn’t miss it. Thank you so much for
talking to her an making her realize it was best for her to be
there.”

“I was glad to help,
Angelia. We’re here to see Lieutenant Jacobs. Is her
around?”

“I’ll let hm know that
you’re here. You can sit and wait over there,” she said, pointing
to two cushioned benches against the wall. “I’ll tell him you’re
here.” She picked up the phone. This was worse than the waiting
room at the dentist’s office. I hoped Jacobs would call us
soon.

A few minutes later Jacobs
ambled through the door. “Good morning, ladies. Thanks for coming
in.” He waved his arm with a flourish showing us the door he wanted
us to go through.

We were ushered to that
same small grey room. This time it smelled like urine. I wondered
who was here before us.

“Well, Sister, looks like
there’s been some excitement since I last talked to you.” Looking
at me he said, “Are you alright Jennifer?”

When I assured him I was
fine and the damage to my house only minimal, he turned again to
Bernie.

“Okay, Sister, let’s go
over everything again.”

Bernie told the whole story
again with Lieutenant Jacobs asking questions and helping her to be
more specific on a number of points. It took over two hours but
finally Jacobs decided he’d learned everything Bernie was willing
to tell him. He appeared to believe her when Bernie said Marty had
been alive when she left her. He noted time lines and made other
notations in his little notebook.

Before we left, I asked
Jacobs, “Did you check out Bobby and where he was Thursday
night?”

“Yes, Jennifer. I’m afraid
that Sally lied to you. Bobby was at her house.”

“Maybe she just said that
to get him off the hook.”

“Sorry. We checked with the
neighbors and his Camaro was in her driveway until Sunday
morning.”

I shook my head. “I’m glad
he’s not the killer, but I’m so disappointed that Sally lied to
me.”

Bernie looked at me and
crossed her arms over her chest. “She probably lied because it was
none of your business.”

“Bernie, I was trying to
help you.”

“I know. But in the process
you stuck your nose in where you had no business and you snuck into
my office to retrieve information that I had kept in confidence for
years.”

Jacobs and I both looked at
her open-mouthed.