Murder in Death's Door County (22 page)

“Tut. Tut. I’m fine. Ninety years old
and fit as a fiddle.” She looked at the faux gothic castle, “Oh good. It looks
like the fire is under control. Anyway, I saw you two girls arrive and go into
the house. I figured Joyce let you in. By the way, I’m glad I could put you in
touch with her.”

“Thanks again,” I mutter, noticing for
the first time that my clothes were slightly singed.

“Oh, not a problem. Glad to do it.
Anyway, I went back to the kitchen to start my tea. When I came back to the
living room, I saw that tall, skinny one—Lizzy, right? Anyway, I saw her racing
out of the house like a madwoman. Then I saw her lose her breakfast, in a
manner of speaking. So, I put on my shoes and was about to come outside when I
saw you dialing your phone, then BOOM!”

“What blew up?”

“See for yourself,” she gestured towards
the second story of the castle-lette. Or, what had been the second story. “It
looked pretty amazing. The fire never really made much headway, what with the
rain and all. You dialed, then the house’s top blew off. I have never seen
anything like it!” She chuckled a little, then sobered up. “Did Joyce make it
out of the house in time?”

“Um, I hate to break this news to you,
Effie, but Joyce was dead before the house blew up.”

“What? I know she wasn’t a pleasant
woman, but who would kill her? Did you find her?”

“Not me,” I said, pointing to Lizzy. “She
did.”

By this time, Lizzy was able to sit up.

“Tsk, tsk, that’s a shame. When the boom
happened, Lizzy and her heavy camera fell on her arm. I think since you’re
smaller (and don’t have as far to fall), you didn’t get as hurt. Does your head
hurt?”

“It did, but it feels better,” I said,
touching it gingerly. “Say, uh, Effie, when the dust settles a little on this,
can I stop by to talk to you more about this latest event?”

“Sure, no problem, Annie. Tsk, tsk, tsk.
Well, I am sorry about Joyce. She was a real pill, but she always knew
everything about everybody. Let me go get you some lemonade,” and before I
could saw it wasn’t necessary, she was gone.

Watching Effie walk back to her house, I
didn’t notice Detective Chad Dupah approach me.

“Miss Malone?”

Recognizing his voice, I winced.

“Miss Malone, may I have a word?”

Reluctantly, I turned around, smiling
sweetly. “Yes, detective?”

“What exactly happened here? Give me the
Cliffs Notes version.”

I gave the summarized version of our
unfortunate visit to Joyce Limburger. He listened intently, his beady eyes
searching mine for any lie. I told him what Effie told me, too. I explained how
she told me that she saw me dial my phone and how the second floor exploded.

“Why were you talking to a neighbor of
Marcos Landrostassis? What business do you have with Joyce Limburger?”

A little shiver when up my back when the
detective indicated that it was Marcos’ house across the street. I tried not to
smile, I didn’t want to give myself away. I drew myself up to my full (and
unimpressive) height and said, “What do you care?”

“Given the fact that you and Lizzy ‘found’
(and, yes, he did do air quotes) Joyce, then the house exploded, I think I have
a right by law.”

I put up my hands in mock surrender, “Honestly,
I didn’t even know it was Marcos’ house until you just told me.” Of course,
there was no way I would tell him the real reason of our visit, I could tell
him a variation of the one we told Joyce.

“As you know, I am working on that
ghostwriting project for Marcos. Anyway, I haven’t been able to get in touch
with him since Harry’s death. This book is my job, so I need to find out what’s
going on with it. I had this address in the notes Harry gave (okay, okay, a
little embellishment, but it isn’t a lie) me. I was hoping that if I came to
the house, I would be able to find out more information about the books’
status, somehow.

Chad grunted. “Do you know what happened
to your phone?”

“No, it must have blown out of my hand
during the explosion.”

“It did, Annie,” he said. Looking at me
very seriously, he asked, “Are you sure that was your phone? Have you dropped
your phone recently, or had it with you in a crowded room?”

At that moment, Lizzy said, “Hey Annie?
These guys are taking me to the hospital. Can you let my sister know? Here’s my
keys,” Lizzy said from her stretcher. The paramedics carried her close enough
for me to get the keys.

“Wait, I’ll follow you. Detective, are
we through here?”

Sighing, Dupah said, “For now, but…”

We said in unison, “don’t leave town.”

Again, I smiled sickening sweetly at
Detective Dupah, then turned around to catch up with Lizzy’s stretcher. By the
time they got her safely strapped in and we left, the fire had been completely
put out. And as I pulled away from the curb, I looked in the rearview mirror
and saw a blonde head peeking out of Marcos’ front room window. Was that Diana?
And what had she seen? How would I be able to interview her?

By the time we got to the hospital, it
was after noon. Lizzy’s sister worked as a kindergarten teacher at the grade
school in Fish Creek, so I called the school to page her. Once she got to the
phone, I explained what had happened. She said she just needed to make
arrangements for Nick to pick up Lucy and tell her principal she needed to
leave, and that she’d be there soon. I reiterated that fortunately it wasn’t an
emergency—Lizzy was conscious and could move. To be honest, they were more
worried she had broken her wrist.

After I finished with Maggie, I asked
one of the nurses for an update on Lizzy. She couldn’t give me specific
information (you know, patient privacy and all), but she did tell me that Lizzy
was undergoing some tests and should be in her room soon. I grabbed a vending
machine coffee and a magazine announcing the Monica Lewinsky scandal in the
Clinton White House. Well, glad to see they kept up with the times. I settled
into the waiting room, and prepared to wait.

While flipping through the magazine from
1998, I heard my name called. When I looked up, I saw Donovan and my eyes lit
up. Then I saw two other agents and realized it was a business call.

“Hey Annie, I need to talk to you about
what happened.”

Even though Donovan wore his standard
blue jeans and leather jacket (seriously, how did I believe he was an insurance
salesman?), his colleagues wore white shirts and dark suits. If possible, he
looked even hotter in comparison to their overly starched appearance.

“Sure,” I said, putting down my
scintillating (not!) magazine, “What do you need to know?” Since he had appeared
with his FBI colleagues, I figured I’d take his lead.

“Well, for starters, why were you
talking to Marcos’ neighbor?” His eyes bored into mine, daring me to tell him
the truth.

As much as I hated to do it, I would
have to tell him the same version of the truth I’d been telling.

“And don’t tell me you were checking up
on Marcos Landrostassis for the book. I know what you and Lizzy have been doing.”

I turned white. Had he read my mind?

Deciding I needed to tread lightly here,
I doubled down on my story. “But, honestly, Don-, er, Agent Archer, I do need
to find Marcos. As you know, this project is my bread and butter! I need to (I
really emphasized ‘need’) find out what’s going on with this book.”

“Humpf,” was all he said. I waited in
vain for him to say something else for a full five minutes. Finally, he cleared
his throat and began, “Since you have put yourself in the way of danger yet
again, I have to assign a guard to you. You have obviously uncovered something
important.”

“Really? But I don’t know who killed
Harry!”

He held up his hand, “Stop. Whether you
and Lizzy realize it or not, you do know something. I’ll need you to share
everything you’ve discovered so far. And you and Lizzy will need to be guarded
from now until we find Harry’s killer and whoever swapped out your phone.”

“Swapped out my phone? Oh, of course,
Dupah must have suspected it—that’s why he asked if my phone had gone missing!”

“Yes, and if you and Lizzy had stayed in
the house, we would not even be having this conversation.” He looked at me
rather sternly, adding, “You both could have been blown sky high.”

My heart fluttered a bit at this small
measure of proof he cared about me. Of course, he cared about our well-being,
but I’d take what I could get.

“What was that?” I asked again. He knew
exactly what I meant.

“It was a remote phone bomb. They
swapped out your phone somehow with a detonated one. They had it wired to go
off when you tried to contact the police.”

“How much danger am I in?”

“Quite a bit, actually.”

“The weird thing is, I had dreamt of a
phone bomb a few nights ago,” I admitted.

“Really?” Donovan asked, skeptically. “Not
that I believe in that stuff, but what else did you dream?”

Immediately, my face turned bright red
as I recalled the dream-kiss we shared. Instead, I said, “I dreamt that Harry
came back and told me to ‘Beware of the redhead’.”

“Do you know any redheads?”

“No. Nor do I have any reason to be wary
of them.”

“Well, there you have it.”

“Have what?”

“Well, you just proved my point about
being skeptical over dreams. That’s all.”

I grunted in reply. There was still
something I wanted to know from Donovan.

“How could Lizzy and I have bumbled into
something like this? We were just doing some amateur sleuthing,” I said the
last part forgetting that I was talking to Donovan the FBI agent. Clamping my
hand over my mouth, I looked away in mortification. Crap, I had just told him
what we were doing.

I heard footsteps retreating and assumed
Donovan had grown tired of my silliness and left. Suddenly, I felt a hand tilt
my face up.

“Look, Annie, in the short time I’ve
known you, you’ve managed to work your way into my heart. I’ve grown to
appreciate your quirky and fun self. I’m not sure where we’re headed, but I’d
like you to stay in one piece. Leave this case to the professionals.”

Although, his words thrilled me emotionally,
I still wanted to clear my name and get to the bottom of Harry’s murder. Oh,
and figure out why I had been given a mug with jewels in it.

Incredulously, I said, “Like Chad Dupah?”

“No, like me and my colleagues.”

“The FBI?”

“You know that’s why we were tailing you
originally, right? We’ve been interested in Marcos Landrostassis for a very
long time.”

“I see,” I said, glumly.

“Hey, now, don’t be bummed. I promise, I
w-,” Donovan began. At that moment, Maggie found us.

“Annie, Annie! Where is she? Can I see
her?” she asked, not even noticing Donovan at first. She grabbed me and hugged
me like a rag doll.

Donovan, realizing the situation, winked
at me, and opted to exit Stage Left. Darn it, what was he about to say?

“It’s okay. Lizzy’s gonna be fine,” I
reassured Maggie, returning the hug. “Um, can you put me down?” In her anxiety,
Maggie had picked me up completely, to the amusement of some of the nurses.

“I’m sorry, I’m just so nervous, ya
know? Other than Nick and Lucy, Lizzy’s my only family up here since we lost
our folks. Oops, sorry, I guess you know all about that, don’t you?”

With a quick smile, I told her “no
problem.” I explained that in the short time I’d known Lizzy, I felt like I’d
met my long-lost sister. And, really, Maggie and her family had made me feel so
welcome. I had forgotten how wonderful being connected with a family felt. I
felt horrible that Lizzy was stuck in the hospital because we had been careless
in our investigation. I supposed that was partly why Donovan, et al, had warned
us off so many times. Even I started to have second thoughts about this
investigation.

Maggie and I went to the nurses’ station
and found out that Lizzy had just been cleared for visitors.

Maggie put her hand on my arm as we
walked towards the Lizzy’s room, “So, uh, Annie, who was that hunky guy you
were talking to?” So she had noticed Donovan.

“Um, that’s Donovan,” I explained,
turning bright red.

“Oh that’s right. How could I have
forgotten him! Oh, honey, Lizzy was right!” She beckoned for me to join her in
visiting Lizzy. “He looks at you like you’re a glass of water, and he’s been in
the desert for too, too long.”

S
O FOR THE NEXT WEEK OR
SO, WE
settled into a
routine of sorts. With Lizzy’s arm out of commission, she couldn’t work either
as a bartender or a server at the Lighthouse Inn. Since I had some restaurant
experience, and the restaurant got more business from curious people who wanted
to see Lizzy and I, Kitty agreed to let me work Lizzy’s shifts. I split the
tips with Lizzy. Since they had assigned us a guard, Lizzy and I were kind of
stuck together, so it was especially good to get out of the house and hang out
at the Lighthouse Inn.