Till the Break of Dawn (8 page)

When we entered the laundry room I screamed and fell backward into Bill. My mind raced, trying so hard to reconcile what I’d just seen.

Bill pushed me gently behind him, trying to shield me from what was already burned into my mind.

“Jesus Christ.”

Mandy was lying in the floor wearing a blue bathrobe, her hair spilled out around her like a golden curtain. She almost looked like an angel. The illusion was ruined by the fact that her throat was torn open. Jamie made a gagging noise and stepped out the back door.

Bill knelt down beside Mandy and checked her pulse, but I knew it was already too late. I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. My heart was beating so hard my chest hurt and I couldn’t breathe. I backed out of the room and pulled out my cell phone.

I could hear Jamie talking, but had no idea what she was saying. I’m not even sure what I said to the police. All I can remember is giving them the address and reporting, “My friend has been murdered.”

*****

An hour later police were still swarming the house. Bill was in shock. After he was questioned one of the officers pulled me aside. His name was Darrell. He moved to town a few years back and had become a regular visitor to Our Place on his days off. He ran a hand through his black hair and I noticed he had started to gray at the temples. Darrell was about fourteen years older than me, but other than the gray he didn’t look it. He was sexy and under normal circumstances I would have appreciated the smile he tried to offer me. Actually, I had never seen him in an official capacity before and hearing everyone refer to him as Lt. Kirkland was throwing me off a bit. I kept forgetting they were talking about Darrell.

“Dawn, we’re about to take out the … I mean Mandy. Could you maybe distract Bill for us, please?”

I nodded. “Sure, Darrell. I’ll take him into the kitchen.” Then I remembered that Bill’s kitchen, like mine, didn’t have a door just an open archway. Normally, I liked houses designed with open areas like this. But now I would have given anything for a door.

“Darrell,” I said, pulling him back by the hand. “Could you please take her out the back?”

He gave me a questioning look.

“The kitchen doesn’t have a door.”

Reality dawned on his handsome features and he gave me a sympathetic pat on the back.

“Sure thing.”

We had considered closing the bar for the night. But after thinking it over we realized that when people heard about Mandy they would need a drink. It wasn’t about turning a profit; it was about being there when your friends and neighbors needed you. Well, they’d need a place to sit around and vent at least. Jamie had decided to go into town and get the bar ready, leaving me to help Bill as best I could.

When I found him in the living room, he was sitting in a corner chair, staring at the carpet. I knelt in front of him and waited for his eyes to focus on me.

“Dawn,” he said softly. “I don’t know what to do.”

I took his hand in mine, no longer caring about the grease. His eyes looked so much like Mandy’s that I had to look away as I pulled him to his feet.

“Let’s get you cleaned up, then we’ll figure something out.”

While Bill washed his arms up to the elbow I looked through the cabinets until I found a bottle of spiced rum. Remembering that Bill didn’t like it straight, I rummaged around in the refrigerator until I found some pineapple juice and poured him a drink. After pulling up a chair beside him, I poured myself one to match.

“She was my responsibility,” he said, his voice still soft. “She was staying in my house.”

I put my hand on his arm and Bill lowered his head. Heavy tears fell onto my hand and my throat felt tight. I wanted to say how he couldn’t have known something would happen. I wanted to tell him that everything would be all right somehow. Not because I believed it, but because that was what he needed to hear. Only I couldn’t speak. Instead I pulled my chair closer, wrapped my arms around him and cried.

After several minutes I pulled away and wiped my eyes before downing half my drink.

“Bill, I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine what you must be feeling, losing both of them like this.”

He looked confused and I knew instantly I had made a mistake. “Both of them? What are you talking about?”

“You mean she didn’t tell you?”

I couldn’t believe that Jamie and I were the only ones to know about Mandy’s pregnancy! I thought that surely living in the same house with her brother she would have shared the news with him. She must have been waiting for David to come to town so they could tell her family together. Well, no sense holding back now.

“She was pregnant.”

Bill looked like I had hit him instead of spoken to him. “My sister was pregnant?” he gasped. “How far along was she?”

I couldn’t bear the pain in his voice. It took all I could do to answer, “Three months. I think she wanted to tell you once David was here. She told me and Jamie when she asked for our help with the wedding.”

He nodded. “That makes sense. All of the signs were there. She was sick sometimes for no reason, slept late when she never did before.” He finished his drink in one gulp and pushed the glass toward me. I took that as my cue for a refill. “Shit. What am I going to say to David? Till now all I could think was what would I tell Dad … But what do you say to a man who just lost his whole family?”

I would never know the answer to that question because I stepped outside to give Bill some privacy to call both David and his father. The coroner had already gone by the time I sat down on the front porch steps. Cops were filing out in twos and threes. Darrell walked over and sat on the step below me.

“How is he holding up?” he asked, gesturing toward the house.

“Good, I think, considering the circumstances. He’s calling their dad and her fiancé. I came out here to give him some privacy.” I paused. When Darrell put his hand over mine I started crying again. “Actually, I’m just a coward. He didn’t ask for privacy but I offered it because I couldn’t stand to hear him tell Jonah that his daughter is dead.”

A few minutes later Bill stepped outside and Darrell and I both jumped at his sudden appearance. He looked pale and older than he had only a few minutes before.

“My aunt is going to drive Dad back tonight. David will be here in the morning. I’ll let you all know about the funeral arrangements as soon as we have time to go over everything.”

I rose to meet him and Bill hugged me tight.

“Thank you so much for staying, Dawn, but you should go.”

“Are you sure?”

“I plan to get stinking drunk and pass out in the floor. By the time Dad gets here I should have thrown up enough to be able to talk.”

Darrell sighed. “Jesus, Bill. Are you sure you don’t want us to stay?”

Bill gave him a half-hearted smile. “You gonna arrest me if I get drunk and pass out in the yard instead?”

Darrell shook his head. “No. But you call if you need me.”

Bill went back inside, mumbling something about needing to find the rum bottle. I turned to Darrell. “I don’t want to leave him like this.”

He shrugged. “Me neither. But what choice do we have? He is a grown man, and he’s not under any suspicion. He’s free to do what he wants.”

“Yeah, but staying in the house where his sister was just murdered? Isn’t that a little grim?”

“I imagine it’ll be a fucking nightmare,” Bill said, emerging with the pineapple juice in one hand and the rum in the other. Apparently he was going to skip the glass this time. He turned up the rum and then chased it with a swig of juice before adding, “That’s why I plan to stay outside.”

“Call Maggie,” I said, making it more of a request than a demand. “I don’t think you should be alone.”

Bill sat down at my feet on the top step and took another drink.

“Eventually,” he said. “But first I’m gonna sit here and get good and drunk and not think about anything for just a little while.”

When I still hesitated Bill patted my leg and said, “I promise I won’t do anything stupid. I need some time.”

His words trailed off. I didn’t have any siblings, so I couldn’t even begin to imagine what he was going through. I only knew that he was hurting and there was nothing more that I could do. I felt helpless.

“Come on,” Darrell said, taking me by the hand. “I’ll give you a ride.”

Jamie and I had taken my car to drop off the catering menu to Mandy and she had driven it into town to open up Our Place. I hadn’t even thought about not having a way back into town until he mentioned it.

Darrell opened the door for me and I realized I’d never ridden in a cop car before. For some strange reason that made me laugh. As he got in he asked, “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing. I just figured if I ever rode in a cop car it wouldn’t be in the front seat.” We shared a smile before I said, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be making jokes right now.”

He cranked the car. “You’re wrong. Now is the best time to remember you have reasons to smile.”

The car smelled like a mixture of Darrell’s cologne and coffee. The combination was surprisingly pleasant. It helped to put me at ease though I couldn’t manage to relax completely.

“We were here to drop off the catering menu for her wedding.” My voice sounded far away, lost. I knew that Darrell had already taken our statements and knew why we were there, but I needed to talk. “I’ve never seen a dead person before.”

He reached over and turned his police radio down. “Hopefully, you’ll never have to again.”

“Had you seen one before today?”

“A long time ago, before I moved here.”

Darrell seemed to be concentrating harder than was necessary on his driving. Finally he said, “There was nothing on her.”

I was confused. “What do you mean?”

“No fingerprints. The coroner is gonna check for DNA and that’ll take a little time, but as far as we could make out there were no fingerprints on Mandy or the room. Even hers and Bill’s prints had been wiped clean. The only thing we found was the greasy print on her wrist where Bill checked her pulse.”

“What does it mean?”

“It means that someone planned this, at least to a certain extent.”

Who would have planned to kill Mandy? She was one of the nicest people I knew.

“Who the hell would kill a pregnant woman?”

Darrell looked even more surprised than Bill had been. “She was pregnant? Why didn’t you say something earlier?” His tone sounded accusing and I took offense.

“Because I’d just found the dead body of my friend lying on the floor. It did not occur to me to share a secret she asked me to keep to myself.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, his voice softening. “I didn’t mean it that way. Did her family know?”

“Not until I blurted it out like a jerk. She only told me and Jamie.”

He was quiet for a minute. “Is that why she was getting married?”

“That’s why she was getting married right now, yes. But it sounded like she and David loved each other. This is all so horrible. I keep thinking that I’ll wake up and it will all be a bad dream.”

“This is definitely nightmare material,” Darrell agreed.

As we pulled into the parking lot of Our Place my thoughts were filled with Marcus. Just the mention of his stage name, however accidental, reminded me how alone I was. I thanked Darrell for the ride and went straight to the back office. While I pulled out the emergency makeup kit in the bottom drawer I dialed Jesse’s number.

“Dawn, what’s wrong?”

His question startled me. “What makes you think something is wrong?”

“Because it’s the middle of the afternoon. You’re usually busy during this time and you always tell me if I call that it’s a bad time. So, what’s wrong?”

Chapter Nine

I had just finished telling Jesse everything that had happened and was waiting for his response. During the pause in our conversation I stared at the eyeliner and mascara in front of me and wondered if I should even bother.

“I’m so sorry, Dawn. I wish I could come back now, but Dad’s condition hasn’t improved.” His voice was so soft and kind that it brought tears to my eyes again.

“I understand.” Really I did. I didn’t expect him to leave his father who was in bad health to come to someone’s funeral that he barely knew.

“When is the funeral?” he asked.

“We don’t know yet, but probably this weekend if I had to guess.”

He sighed heavily. “That’s so awful. I wish there was something I could do. Will you be all right tonight? Maybe you should stay with Jamie.”

“I’ll be fine.” I was lying. Bill’s idea of getting drunk was sounding better and better.

“Call me if you need to talk. I’m not sleeping much these days anyway. Call any time.”

“Thanks, Jesse.”

By the time I finished repairing my makeup Jamie came in and asked what I thought about opening early.

“It’s fine with me.”

We were both out of uniform tonight, but I didn’t think anyone would care. Even though Mandy had moved away for several years, she was a part of this community. People were bound to be upset.

“Good,” Jamie said, nodding her agreement. “There are already a few cars in the parking lot. I have a feeling that word is starting to spread.”

Before we could get out the door Earl and Terry blocked our way. It was one of the few times I’d seen them this close to each other without arguing. Terry must have just arrived, because he wasn’t wearing his hairnet. Earl hadn’t pulled his hair back either and as he moved his long blond locks fell forward over his shoulders. Under normal circumstances I’m certain that Jamie would have jumped him where he stood.

“Is it true?” Terry asked.

“Did you really find Mandy dead this afternoon?” Earl added.

Jamie was dealing with the shock much worse than I was. She looked a little green so I answered, “Yes, it’s true. Mandy was murdered.”

Terry shook his head in disbelief while Earl said, “I’m sorry.”

They both hugged us before we all left the office together. Earl followed me to unlock the door, pulling back his hair as he walked.

“I don’t mean to sound insensitive, but could I ask you something specific about what happened?”