Marja McGraw - Bogey Man 01 - Bogey Nights (20 page)

“My landlady isn’t any older than I am, but she sure thinks she knows it all. I’m half tempted to go ahead and move out. The theatrics in this place are more than I need right now anyway. Maybe I’ll just come live with you. Ha ha.”

He hadn’t moved out and he hadn’t been able to go live with his sister
. Poor Charles. What happened to him? Other than dying, of course.

Chapter Twenty-two

S
unday night Chris and I went to bed feeling a little melancholy, and we held each other for a long time. Reading those old letters had been a unique experience, although it felt a little like listening in on someone’s private conversation.

Monday morning, however, held one excited little boy
– a long weekend with grandma and grandpa was coming up – and two playful dogs. All the sadness disappeared as we bustled around feeding the dogs, preparing breakfast, and looking forward to detecting. We finally had something to go on.

We were sitting down to
eat when the doorbell rang. Mikey jumped out of his chair and ran to answer the door. He returned with Janet Riley in tow.

“Oh, I’m sorry to interrupt your breakfast,” she said.

“Don’t be silly. There’s plenty here. Why don’t you join us?” Chris said.

Janet took a good long look at a table covered
with plates of bacon, scrambled eggs, hash brown potatoes and toast before pulling up a chair.

“Are you sure there’s enough?” she asked.

“I always overcook, so don’t give it another thought.” I didn’t really, but Chris and I could take smaller portions than normal.

After getting out another plate and some silverware,
I handed her a dish covered with scrambled eggs surrounded by bacon. “Help yourself. Some people don’t think of this as a healthy breakfast, but we sure do.”

“I don’t eat this kind of
breakfast very often,” she said, “but there are always exceptions. And I haven’t had a homemade meal since Don and I came over for the barbeque.”

“How come?” Mikey asked.

“I work long hours and end up eating fast food. It’s a good thing I exercise or I’d weigh a ton.” She slathered blackberry jelly on her toast.

Mikey seemed satisfied with her answer and went back to eating.

“About those letters…” Janet began.

I shook my head no, very slightly,
and glanced at Mikey.

She saw me and didn’t finish her thought, but turned her attention back to the food
. “This is delicious. Sometimes I almost forget how good a homemade meal can be.”

After breakfast, Janet helped me clear off the dishes while Chris helped Mikey find his backpack.

“I’ll take Mikey to school and be back in a few minutes,” Chris said. “Will you still be here, Janet?”

“Probably
. I think I’m too full to go back to work. I may have to spend the day here, recuperating.”

“Hey, wait a minute
. That almost sounds like my food made you sick,” I said, smiling.

Janet laughed
. “Sorry, I should have chosen my words more carefully.”

As soon as we heard the
slam of the front door closing, Janet and I sat down at the breakfast table with two cups of coffee.

“Did you find anything in the letters?”
she asked.

“Actually, we did
. And with your resources, you can probably find some of these people a lot easier than we can.” I went on to tell her about the letters, the names and addresses, and the implications that something had really been going on at the boarding house. I excused myself for a minute and returned bearing the letters and the ledger pages.

Janet took her time reading the ledger pages
. “I see a woman lived there in addition to the men. Alice Frye might have had something to do with the goings on at that place. Interesting that Chance didn’t make a note of her social security number or date of birth. You said one of the letters mentioned possible… No, wait. You said you
surmised
there might have been jealousies.”

“Right
. You’ll want to read the letters yourself, but I’m confident that you’ll reach the same conclusions that we did.”

“Like I told you, I’m working on a high profile case right now, but I can take some time this afternoon to see what I can find on these people
. You never know, some of them could still be around.”

“Chr
is and I would appreciate that.” I heard Chris’s car pull into the driveway. “Speaking of Chris, here he comes now.”

I warmed up our coffee with some fresh
java and poured a third cup for Chris.

“Where are the dogs?” Janet asked.

“Out in the yard.”

“They’re sure a lot quieter than Friday
. She barks at everything.”

“I think Sherlock and Watson entertain each other
. When they were puppies we worked with them a lot, training them and gaining some modicum of control. They’re strong dogs and we wanted them to listen to us.”

“Training worked?
I wonder if I should try training Friday. She’s a good dog, but I’m not always the one in control. Maybe it’s too late.”

“It’s never too late, although it may take more work now, and you’re not home that much.”
I thought for a moment before opening my mouth and making an offer I could come to regret. “Let me talk to Chris and get back to you. I might have a suggestion that would help.”

Chris walked into the kitchen and sat down, picking up his coffee mug
. “Have you told Janet about what we’ve learned?”

“She told me,” Janet said
. “I’m going to try to run some of these people down for you this afternoon. I’ll give you a call this evening if I come up with anything.”

“And when you call I’ll let you know what I’m thinking about your dog
and her need for training,” I said.

Chris raised his eyebrows and looked at me in askance.

“We’ll talk later,” I said.

“Well,” Janet said, standing up, “I’d better get to work if I’m going to get anything done on either case
. I’ll call you. No need to show me out. And thanks for breakfast. It really
did
hit the spot.”

After Janet left I brought the dogs inside and ran them through some of their commands.

“What are you doing?” Chris asked.

“I’ve been thinking
. Janet said she’s having a few problems with Friday because she’s never been properly trained. What would you think about having her bring Friday over here every day on her way to work for a while. We could train her. We trained our dogs, and look how well they behave.”

Chris laughed
. “Sometimes.”

“Usually,” I said
. “Friday is younger than Sherlock and Watson. Maybe they’d be a good influence on her. And until the restaurant is ready we don’t have too much else to do anyway. The three dogs seem to get along, too.”

“We have plenty to do between preparing for the opening of the restaurant and working on Blakely’s murder, but I guess we could squeeze Friday in
. It might be good for her to socialize with other dogs. We’ll play it by ear and see if she responds to training.”

I smiled at my husband and gave him a kiss on the cheek
. “I love you, Bogey Man.”

He grinned
. “Thanks. So what are your plans for today?”

“I thought I’d head over to the restaurant and start setting up the office
. Maybe when you pick Mikey up from school you and he can run by the electronics store and pick up a computer and printer and bring them over to me. If you don’t mind, that is. Also, I was thinking about the filing cabinet we have in the spare bedroom. We don’t really need it here, so do you think you could bring it to the office?”

“
I can do that. Why don’t you take the dogs with you and let them start getting used to their yard. It’s not like you’d have to watch them or anything. You’ll be right there, in the office.”

“You don’t think they’ll get in Big D’s way?”

“Not if they’re in the yard.”

“Works for me
. They’re good company, and Big D likes them. What are
you
going to do today?”

“The first thing I’m going to do is go buy the computer and printer
. Then I’m going to call a couple of agents about bands for the bar. I’ll try to set up some interviews. I’m also going to go pick up supplies for the restaurant kitchen.”

“Isn’t it a bit early to be buying food?”

“No, I mean pots and pans – that type of thing.”

“Do you remember the store where we bought them before?
They gave us a pretty good deal on everything.”

“I’ve already called them,” Chris said
. “They have a record of the things we bought before and they’ll duplicate it for us. They’re going to give us a good discount, too.”

I smiled
. “I don’t know why I even question you. You always have things well in hand.”

“What did Janet have to say about the ledger pages and the letters?” Chris asked.

“She was very interested. The fourth person living at the house at that time was Alice Frye, and Janet thought it was interesting that Chance didn’t have the same information on her that she did on the others.”

“I thought of something, too,” Chris said
. “If there were three men and one woman living there at that time, which one was living in the garage? I don’t know that it matters, but I guess it could.”

“Good question.”
I thought about that for a moment. “You’d think that whoever lived in the garage would have had less contact with the other boarders.”

“Just because he slept there doesn’t mean he stayed out there all of the time
. He could have come into the house and mixed with the others.”

I cleared my throat
. “Actually, if it was nice enough, maybe Alice Frye lived in the garage. I got the feeling it might have actually been like a little apartment, and being the only female boarder, she might have wanted her privacy.”

“Maybe
. Be sure to ask Chance about that when you see her. When are you going to call her?”

“Before I leave for the restaurant
. If she’s up to it, I might go see her before I work on the office.”

Chris finished his coffee and stood up
. “I’m going to head over to the electronics store. Be back in a while.” He gave me a quick kiss and left.

I picked up the paper with Chance’s phone number
on it and dialed. She picked up after five rings.

“Chance, this is Pamela Cross
. I wondered if you might be up to some company today.”

“Why, yes, I think I’d enjoy seeing you again
. Is that handsome hubby of yours coming with you?”

“No, I’m afraid he’s busy running errands and taking care of business
. We’ve got to get things ready so we can open the restaurant as soon as possible.”

“Oh
. Well, you come along anyway. But can we make it tomorrow? I’m not quite myself today.” Hearing the disappointment in her voice, I reminded myself that she was an old woman. She was
not
my competition. However, she certainly sounded like herself. She was hoping Chris would be with me if I visited her later.

“Chance, Chris won’t be able to come with me tomorrow, either.”

She was quiet for a moment before she replied. “Like I said, you come along then. I’ll see him another time.”

We settled on a time and I told her I’d call first to make sure she was up to the visit.

“I’ll be fine. You just come on over,” she said.

I was very proud of myself for not rolling my eyes as I hung up the phone
. Instead, I crossed them. Chris tells me I have very expressive eyes, and it doesn’t sound like a compliment. Oh well…

I loaded the car with office supplies and then called the dogs in and told them we were going
bye-bye
, one of their favorite things. Tails wagging, they waited patiently while I attached their leashes to their collars.

On the way to the restaurant I stopped and picked up more office supplies and a bag full of In-N-Out hamburgers
and French fries. Might as well show up bearing gifts. It couldn’t hurt.

As soon as arrived I put the dogs in the fenced yard and filled a bowl with water for them
. They immediately began sniffing around the tree, and as sternly as possible I told them, “No digging!” They didn’t bother to look up, but kept right on sniffing.

After passing out the burgers and fries, I took my own food into the office and set it on the desk while I unloaded the office supplies, which also included things like order pads for the waitresses
. I planned on using the highboy for storage.

Deciding to check on the dogs, I opened the back door and stuck my head outside
. They were digging again, tails flying furiously. Watson began to whine and dig with more vigor.