Corpse in the Carnations Read online

  Doreen wasn’t sure that was always true either. Something was so adamant and defiant about Cecily, as if she was right and the world was wrong, with no room for a middle ground.

  The woman sneered at Doreen.

  “I guess you didn’t get along with him.”

  Cecily shook her head. “Nothing to get along with. He was an asshole.”

  “Ouch. Most people don’t say such strong things about the dead.”

  “Most people won’t tell the truth. Why shouldn’t I tell the world how I feel?”

  “It sounds like you hated him so much that you’re happy he’s dead.”

  “Absolutely I am,” she said with a laugh. “And, the way she was acting at the end, the same goes for my sister.”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “She took his side,” she said. “That would never go down well with me.” She glared at Doreen from the top step. “I’ve already said too much. Take a hike.” And she walked in and closed the door.

  As Doreen stood with her hands on her hips, almost openmouthed, she could see the curtains closing Cecily off from the outside. “Now that is one angry woman,” she muttered to Mugs.

  Mugs strained at the leash. She walked him to the side of the building, so he could take a bathroom break. She figured the woman would be even more pissed if Doreen let Mugs poop in the garden. But she did have doggie bags to clean up the mess if he had done that. She always cleaned up after him. It was just the polite thing to do. Not everybody was like that, but she was.

  She waited until he’d done his business, then scooped it up and looked for a garbage can. But there wasn’t a public one. There were, however, the garbage cans from the center. She walked over and put the bag in.

  Inside she saw a whole pile of bloody notes and crumpled cloths below. She glanced up at the center, but the curtains were firmly closed. On instinct alone, she gloved her hands with the doggie bags before she snatched the notes, bagging them up, then took the dog back to the car, and drove away.

  She didn’t know what was going on, but she’d seen one thing—bloodstains. And a lot of them. As if someone had used the papers, possibly the cloths, to clean up. But to clean up what?

  Had Cecily seen her sister in the garden and came out to try to save her, then gone inside when she couldn’t? Because maybe Doreen had come? That didn’t make any sense.

  Back home again, she pulled on a pair of gloves, covered her kitchen table with a big plastic garbage bag, and carefully looked at the papers. Crumpled up, they were heavily bloodstained. But whose blood and why? She frowned. Should she contact Mack or not bother him? It was always hard to know what to do with him. If there were fingerprints, or the blood belonged to Celeste, how did it get onto the papers and into the garbage?

  She knew Mack would probably either get angry or frustrated, but she had to do something about this. She called him. “I know it’s your Monday, and you really don’t want to hear from me again,” she said hurriedly.

  “What is it?”

  “I went back to where the dead woman was found,” she said. “I know you don’t want me interfering, and I didn’t want to, but I felt compelled to return to the spot and maybe find a way to memorialize the poor woman’s death.” She sighed. “But then the sister came out of the center. She was not friendly.”

  “She’s a bit abrasive. She’s a very strong-willed, stiff-necked feminist. And she’s not shy about letting you know where she stands on issues,” he said.

  “Exactly. We were talking, but, at the very end, she said that, A, she was quite delighted her sister’s boyfriend was dead, and, B, she was also happy her sister was dead because her sister was converting more toward her boyfriend’s beliefs.”

  “What? So now you think her sister might have murdered her?” he scoffed.

  “No, no. That’s not what I’m saying … exactly.” She stopped and frowned. “Look. I don’t know what I’m saying, but Mugs went to the bathroom. So I cleaned it up, and I took the bag to the garbage. When I put it inside, I saw a bunch of crumpled papers and rags. They were soaked in blood. Cecily had gone into the center and closed the curtains, so I snatched some of the papers out of the garbage and brought them home.”

  She ended in such a big rush it took him a moment to respond. “You did what?”

  She groaned out loud. “I don’t know why I did that,” she said, “but there was a lot of blood, and I mean, a lot of blood, … as if somebody had cleaned up after murdering Celeste.”

  He sighed quietly. “And I suppose you have those bloodied papers with you now?”

  “Yeah,” she said sadly. “They’re sitting on my table.”

  “And you want me to come and get them to see if they have anything to do with the case, right?”

  She winced because he didn’t sound very happy with her. And with good reason. It was his day off, and he worked enough long hours, and she kept sending him on these wild goose chases.

  “If you wouldn’t mind,” she said in a small voice. “If you figure out they have nothing to do with Celeste’s death, then I apologize. In the meantime, there is a lot of blood.”

  “Oh, for crying out loud.” He went quiet and then said, “Look. I’m not even at home. I’ll swing by in about twenty minutes on my way to Mom’s. I’ll pick it up then. Or at least I’ll take a look.”

  She jumped to her feet. “Thank you very much.” She hung up the phone. As she stared at the papers, she found a weird list of random scribbled thoughts.

  It would be nice to have a child.

  It would be a pain in the ass to have a child.

  I would love to know what motherhood feels like.

  I would hate motherhood.

  She shook her head. “Obviously somebody had a very confused mind-set when it came to parenthood.”

  She wanted to read through the rest of the pages but also knew that, whenever Mack arrived, she’d lose all of them, so she grabbed her phone and took pictures of each page. She didn’t figure there would be any real mystery to the notes themselves. If these were Celeste’s, that would make sense. She was obviously confused as to what was happening with her body and what she really wanted. Maybe she’d had an abortion, then regretted it terribly. But no answers were to be had on that subject, since the woman was no longer available to ask any questions of her. And neither was an autopsy done to get further details.

  But Mack could at least confirm whose blood this was.

  When Doreen finished taking her pictures, she put the notes on top of each other again, stuffing them once more into the doggie bag, and moved her phone off to the side, so Mack wouldn’t get suspicious.

  She heard his vehicle pulling into her driveway. He came up the porch steps and pounded on her door. Mugs barked like a crazy dog at the front door. She opened it up and glared at Mack. “If you knocked like a normal human being, Mugs wouldn’t have a heart attack. He knows who you are by now. But, when you’re angry like this, he’s not real happy.”

  Mack stood with his arms crossed over his massive chest. And to make matters worse, Thaddeus looked at him and said, “Damn thing. Damn thing.”

  Mack shoved his face toward Thaddeus and said, “You’re a damn thing, Thaddeus. Damn bird.”

  “Mack! Don’t speak to Thaddeus like that. You’ll scare him too.”

  Thaddeus leaned forward, touching Mack’s nose with his beak and said, “You’re a damn thing.”

  Astonished, Mack just looked at the bird giving him the gimlet beady eye, and then he laughed. Tears ran down his cheeks before he finally stopped. He collapsed onto the mega-expensive couch and stared at the menagerie around him. Goliath, not to be outdone, jumped on his lap, making himself at home on his knees.

  He looked at Doreen helplessly. “What on earth am I going to do with you guys?”

  “Patience, tolerance, and goodwill would be helpful,” she said with a tentative smile. “I know I’m a challenge, and I know you don’t want anything to do with me when I get my head into
these things, but they’re really hard for me to get out of.”

  “Let me see what you’ve got.” He scooped up Goliath and held him in his arms as he walked into the kitchen. When he saw the papers, he froze. “You’re right. That is a lot of blood.”

  She looked at him. “Right, and even more was inside the garbage can.”

  He shook his head. “Did you see anything else?”

  “Rags,” she said, “either cleaning rags or maybe clothing. I don’t know what they were.”

  He sighed.

  She nodded and handed the bagged-up bloodied notes to him.

  “I’ll go over there to go through the garbage,” he said. “But stop doing this, please.”

  “I will.” But she held back from promising. She watched as he turned around and left without saying another word.

  Chapter 22

  Monday noonish…

  Doreen hoped the garbage hadn’t been picked up yet so Mack could retrieve the rest of the items she’d seen. Considering it was a weekend, chances were good it hadn’t been. But, if Cecily had seen Doreen taking the notes out of the trash can, then she was pretty sure someone would empty it and fast.

  When Mack phoned her twenty minutes later, he confirmed her fears. “The can is empty,” he said, swearing softly.

  “Of course it is,” she said. “She probably saw me and decided to empty it herself.”

  “We still don’t know that it has anything to do with the case,” he said.

  “No. But, like you said, it was a lot of blood. So short of somebody cutting an artery, taking off a leg or something, the chances are it’s related to her dead sister—a sister she was no longer happy with, who had a boyfriend, who is also dead.”

  “You could be right,” he grumbled. “But, without a warrant, I can’t go in and check the premises.”

  “Would she take the contents inside? I mean, if you think about it, wouldn’t she expect a warrant next?”

  “The only other thing she’d likely have done is put it in her car to dispose of elsewhere,” he said.

  “I didn’t see a car when I was there,” she said. “Maybe the parking is around back.”

  “There is a parking lot,” he said. “But I haven’t checked to see if any vehicles are back there.”

  “Why don’t you make a casual drive-by?” she urged. “See what vehicles there are, take the license plates down, confirm that one is hers, and then maybe I’ll take a look to see where she goes.”

  “And do what?” he scoffed. “You’re back to playing amateur sleuth again. Remember how this is supposed to be left for the professionals?”

  “Yeah, well, the professionals didn’t check the garbage can that was there when you found the body.”

  “I’m not sure the can was out here,” he said thoughtfully. “I won’t know until I go back and scan the crime-scene photos.”

  “Oh, now that’s an interesting twist too. What if somebody else put the cans out for pick up? And why then?”

  “It’s hard to say. Maybe she put it out earlier, thinking it was safe.”

  “But, if it’s empty now, somebody emptied it.”

  “True. I’m seeing movement inside,” he said. “Bye.” And he hung up.

  She chewed on her fingernails, worrying about it. And then she couldn’t stand it anymore. She looked over at the animals. “Who wants to go for a car ride?”

  Thaddeus squawked, “Me, me, me.”

  Mugs barked, and even Goliath jumped into her lap.

  She sighed. “I didn’t really mean all of you.” But she’d mentioned it, had even offered, so now she felt obliged to follow through. She didn’t know when the animals became as important to her as people, or when her promises to animals became as important as her promises to people, but somehow they had.

  She walked out to the vehicle with her cell phone in her hand in case Mack called back and loaded up her critters. As always Goliath took the front passenger seat, almost daring Mugs to fight him for it, and, with Thaddeus on her shoulder, Doreen drove past where she had found the body at the Family Planning Center.

  Interestingly enough she couldn’t see any sign of Mack’s car. The garbage can was still where she’d seen it before. She drove around the building and headed into the back parking lot. It was empty also. But a small red car had just pulled out through the opposite exit. With a female driver.

  Doreen hadn’t noticed the car until then, but, as she watched, it drove to the end of the block.

  On a hunch, she took a right turn and followed it. She had no way to know who was behind the wheel, and, of course, once again, her hunches were just blind guesses.

  Except that Thaddeus urged her on from her shoulder.

  “Thaddeus, we don’t know that it’s Cecily.”

  He gave Doreen a look and tried to hop up on her steering wheel. She brushed him back off. “No, no, no.” Even Goliath sat up and put his front paws on the dash. She glanced at him. “What’s gotten into you two?” She looked in the rearview mirror to see Mugs looking out the side window behind her. “At least you’re being normal,” she joked.

  But then he turned to look out the front windshield and jumped onto the armrest between the two front seats and barked.

  “Oh, boy. That’s enough of that. I can’t think, let alone drive safely and deal with all of you,” she muttered. She tried to get Mugs to calm down, but he wasn’t having any of it. She pulled off to the side of the road. “If you guys don’t stop, I’m not driving.”

  The ruckus became three times louder. She hit the gas and followed the car again. It still trundled along at the normal speed limit, suspiciously so. Doreen was always five miles over the allowed speed limit. She couldn’t imagine anybody driving spot-on. But this red car seemed to be maintaining the perfect driving speed. If Doreen were driving a car filled with bloody evidence, and she didn’t want to get pulled over by the cops, then that’s what she’d do too.

  As she thought about this, a vehicle pulled up behind her, too closely behind her. Thaddeus turned, squawked once, and then faced forward again. She looked in the rearview mirror. “Oh, shit. Now I’m in trouble, you guys.”

  Then she giggled. Because, if Mack should have expected one thing, it was that Doreen would be in trouble—if not now, soon. She continued following the red vehicle, but she did lift a hand and give him a three-finger wave through the rear window. She knew that would just piss him off a little more, but that was okay too. It appeared to be one of the regular things she did without even having to think about it. Besides, it made her smile—so it couldn’t be all bad.

  Then Mack honked a few times.

  The driver of the red car realized she was being followed. Whether she recognized Doreen’s vehicle or Mack’s, the driver put the gas pedal to the floor and whipped to the right at the next corner.

  Startled, Doreen almost missed the corner but caught it on a wide turn. Mack was right on her tail. But now it looked like the woman in front was desperate to get away.

  She drove hell-bent, taking multiple corners in succession as if trying to shake her tail, and it was all Doreen could do to keep up with her, wondering what this woman was up to exactly. For sure the woman was acting more than slightly suspicious. Finally she pulled into a massive parking lot, dashed out of the car, and ran into the mall.

  And Doreen caught a glimpse of her. Cecily. Doreen had been right. She pulled up beside Cecily’s car and parked. Only then did Doreen realize her hands were trembling.

  She knew Mack would rip into her for this. But, at the same time, she needed to know what the hell the woman was hiding. Or maybe she was just terrified. Doreen hadn’t even considered that. Maybe just the look of a crazy Doreen driving with a parrot on her shoulder was enough to scare Cecily into fleeing into the most public place she could find.

  And, sure enough, a hard pounding came on her window. She rolled it down and went to speak, but Mugs and Thaddeus and even Goliath hollered at Mack as he glared down at her.

 
; The force of the din set him back in surprise. But not for long.

  He leaned forward again and asked, “Can you keep the menagerie quiet?”

  She snorted. “Not likely.” But they calmed in spite of her words. “Besides, shouldn’t you be chasing after her instead of talking to me?”

  “Other cops are on that. I wanted to make sure I had a talk with you first.” He bit the words off as if he were seriously pissed. “If we weren’t in a public place, I could choke you for what you just did.”

  “What did I do?” she asked innocently.

  “You spooked her,” he said. “I was trying to keep back and see where she went.”

  “Oh. Well, I was too,” she said. “But then I figured Thaddeus must have spooked her. But more likely it was you honking at me. Hardly being subtle, were you?”

  Mack shot her a hard look. “Thaddeus?”

  She shrugged. “He looks kind of freaky when he’s leaning forward like that. Every time I tried to pull over or to stop following her, the animals went crazy.”

  This time his expression looked like she was pulling his leg.

  “Honest. You saw me pull off on the side of the road once, right?”

  He nodded.

  “The animals went crazy, absolutely ape-shit crazy,” she snapped. “It’s not my fault that right now they look like sweet and innocent critters.” And they did. They were all just sitting, watching the exchange between the two of them.

  And then Thaddeus hopped onto the open driver’s side window, looked up at Mack, and said, “Hi, Mack.”

  Mack stared down at him. “Wow. Hi, Thaddeus. Since when did you learn to say, ‘Hi’?”

  “Hi. Hi. Hi.”

  Doreen groaned. “Don’t encourage him, please.”

  But Mack wasn’t looking at her. “So, Thaddeus, if …”

  And then Thaddeus walked up Mack’s arm to his shoulder. Just when she thought he would stop there, he hopped over to the roof of the woman’s car and slid down to the trunk.