Mahjonged (An Alex Harris Mystery)

  “What else do you have for homework?” I asked Henry and Kendall, trying to shake myself out of my self-induced guilt trip.

  “I have to read two chapters of my book,” Kendall said. “And I have to tell the class about them tomorrow.”

  Henry took another gulp of his milk and then pulled a chip out of the cookie and popped it in his mouth. “I have to read the next four pages in my book and then answer all these questions,” he said showing me a sheet of paper with fifteen questions.

  “Okay. I’m going to go talk with grandma and Meme while you finish your homework and then we’ll go out and play in the leaves.”

  Henry drank the last bit of milk and then picked up his book. I left them alone while I went to check on the card players.

  “Are they done with their homework?” my mom asked as I came into the living room.

  “Almost. And then I’ll take them outside for a while and see what damage we can do to Dad’s leaf pile.”

  “They’re adorable,” Jean said. “And Henry is a cutie pie.”

  I smiled and took another sip of tea. “He is that. So who’s winning?”

  My grandmother rolled her eyes and nodded her head in my mother’s direction. “Your mother and Dorothy are cheating,” Meme said trying to get my mother going.

  Mom just sighed and tossed another card down. I knew next to nothing about pinochle despite the fact it was my mother’s favorite game.

  “Are you back at your house yet, Alex?” Jean asked.

  “No. John’s still gone and I just didn’t want to be there alone.”

  “Speaking of John, is he ever coming home?” my mother asked.

  “I talked with him this afternoon. The part got delivered but it was the wrong one. So it had to be ordered again. I think they’re going a bit stir crazy up there.”

  Dorothy looked over at me. “Have you heard anything from the police, Alex?”

  I took another sip of my tea while I decided whether to talk about the murder or not in front of Jean. She still sat firmly on my suspects list if not the police’s and I didn’t want to give too much away, and I didn’t feel like explaining my theory about the first Mrs. Radamaker nor did I want to divulge the Bert and Penelope affair.

  “No, nothing much. Not that they would tell me anything anyway. But I did get a message at work this afternoon. Penelope is going to be buried on Friday.”

  “Well, I guess we should all attend,” my mother said looking around the room. Everyone nodded and I told them where and when it would be held. Reuben Radford, Millie’s boyfriend, would be handling the arrangements.

  “I’m done with my homework,” Henry said coming into the room.

  My grandmother put out her arm and Henry went and stood by her giving her a kiss on her cheek. Henry loved Meme and Sam took the kids over to Meme’s a least one afternoon a week.

  “And how about me,” my mother said to him. Henry promptly went over to my mother and gave her a big hug. When she released him he went and gave Dorothy a hug and then over to Jean, first giving her the once over before he decided she looked okay and he could hug her. She gave him a big hug back and kissed his cheek before he moved over to me.

  “Can we go out now, Auntie? And can I have another cookie?”

  Ten minutes later I lay on the grass covered in leaves. Henry piled them up on my stomach while Kendall made me a leaf pillow.

  “Why does grandpa have to rake them up?” Kendall asked. “They look so pretty all over the ground.”

  “I don’t know,” I said seriously. Before I moved into John’s house I waited until the last minute to rake mine up and then only because my father said I had to. No one ever raked them up at the green in the center of town so I didn’t know the answer to that one.

  Henry looked up at the trees. “I want those leaves too,” he said, getting ready to climb up a huge maple toward the back of the yard.

  “You’ll have to wait another month for all the leaves to fall, but before they do, they’ll be just beautiful.”

  “Here you are,” my sister said. “Grandma’s got a big pot of stew for us,” she told the kids.

  My sister looked down at my leaf-covered body. Wet leaves by the feel of it. She sat next to me. “What did I miss?”

  “Mom is winning at cards and the kids did all their homework. Oh, and there’s chocolate chip cookies in the kitchen.”

  Sam reached into her pocket pulling out a cookie. “I know. What I meant was did you find out anything new today?”

  “Nope. Nothing. Except the police were headed over to Bert Cabrizzi’s place just as I left. He and Penelope were, you know.” I raised my eyebrows not wanting to say anything in front of the kids. “Oh, and Penelope’s funeral is Friday. Oh, and the first Mrs. Radamaker must have a passport under her family name so we don’t know if she came here to kill Penelope or not.”

  My sister made the same argument against the woman coming to my home to seek out revenge that Jim Maroni had, so I figured I should just drop it. But she had tons of questions about Bert and Penelope. I promised to fill her in later.

  Forty-five minutes later we all gathered around the dining room table with bowls of stew and homemade biscuits.

  “You guys aren’t still going to keep playing cards, are you?” Sam asked Meme. “You’ve been here all day.”

  “I told Jean we’re not leaving until I win back my money. Your mother took all of my bingo money and there’s going to be a big special over at Saint Anthony’s on Sunday afternoon. They’re giving away a trip to Vegas for two. The honeymoon suite.”

  My father buttered another biscuit and looked at Meme. “You and Fred planning on getting married, Meme?”

  My mother punched my dad in the arm. “Harry, don’t encourage her.”

  “Nah, if I win, me and Theresa are going. Fred snores something terrible and likes to hog the bed,” Meme said.

  My mother gave Meme a sharp stare and I sat there with a smile wondering how Meme knew that Fred snored and hogged the bed.

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  After we gorged ourselves with stew and biscuits and more cookies with ice cream for dessert, I walked my sister to the front door and kissed the kids good night. “I guess I’ll be in the office tomorrow. I’ve run out of people to talk with.”

  “Okay, see you then,” Sam said as she struggled to her car with the kids’ backpacks.

  I turned out the porch light and closed the front door, ready for a cup of tea and a good book.

  With the sound of tires screeching and my sister’s scream, my world stopped. Just like that. For a few seconds everything actually stopped. There were no sounds and no one moved. I think the blood stopped pumping through my body and then my father streaked across the living room and out the front door and the world turned back on and then the darkness came.

  We all ran outside where my sister knelt over a body, but which body? And then I saw Kendall sitting in the van crying and I turned back to where my sister still screamed for someone to call 911.

  Henry.

  I slumped against my mother and felt my grandmother come quickly to my other side, holding me up while my father pulled my sister’s phone out of her purse and called 911.

  All of a sudden I regained my composure and ran to the van reaching in and taking Kendall in my arms.

  “It’s okay, sweetie. It’s going to be fine,” I kept saying over and over to her while tears streamed down my face and soaked into her sweater.

  The sound of the ambulance screaming down our street was the most welcomed sound I had ever heard. They put Henry into the ambulance while my sister jumped in with my father right behind her.

  “Call Michael,” my father yelled to us.

  My mother ran into the house and called Michael. I pulled her car out of the garage. My grandmother jumped into the front seat while I got Kendall settled in the back with Dorothy and my mother who spoke in rushed words to Michael.

  I backed out of the driveway and started to pull awa
y when I saw Jean waving from the front door. We had forgotten all about her. I rolled down the window.

  “I’ll lock up for you,” she shouted, and we took off.

  The drive to Indian Cove Memorial Hospital took forever. No one said a word. My grandmother cried softly next to me, her rosary beads in her hand. My mother sat in the back seat, tears falling down her pale skin, one arm wrapped tightly around Kendall.

  I dropped them off in front of the emergency room and went to find a place to park.

  I couldn’t get out of the car. I didn’t want to go in there. I didn’t want to hear what I knew I would hear and I didn’t want to see my sister in such awful pain. I couldn’t bear it.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” I shouted to myself and got out of the car. My sister needed me and I had to go be with her.

  Inside, my family had all gathered around Samantha who sat on a plastic chair rocking her daughter. Michael sat next to her, his arm around her protectively, tears filling his eyes.

  “Do they know anything yet”” I asked my dad.

  “He’s unconscious. Bruised ribs. Broken leg. Something off of the car must have caught on his arm and took a nice chunk out of it. Lots of blood.”

  “Car?” I asked in a daze. “What car?” I hadn’t remembered seeing any car.

  “Hit and run. I’ll kill the bastard,” my father said and then put his head in his hands and cried.

  My mother came to my side. “Alex, go to the cafeteria and get coffees for everyone. Get a juice for Kendall.”

  I did as I was told, glad to have something to do, anything. I walked down the corridor and passed the front lobby just as Jean arrived.

  “Alex, how is he?”

  “We don’t know yet.”

  “That beautiful little boy,” Jean said. She was crying and I touched her shoulder. “I just wanted to give you the keys. I found them on the kitchen table and used them to lock the front door. I closed the garage as well. Please let me know how he is and if there’s anything I can do.”

  I thanked Jean and continued down to the cafeteria where I ordered six coffees, a tea, and an orange juice. While I waited for the pot of coffee to brew, I sat down and watched as nurses and doctors came and went. I didn’t know how they could do it, dealing with all this pain and suffering day after day and silently said a thank you to them for doing it.

  I had planned to tell my parents and Meme tonight John and I had decided not to have children. We had lots of reason for our decision but this just added to it. How on earth did parents do it? How could you go through your life knowing at any minute something could happen? I knew I wasn’t strong enough.

  “Miss? Your coffees are ready.”

  “Oh, sorry. Thank you.” I took the drinks and in my daze somehow found my way back to the emergency room where everyone stood. I looked down the hallway watching my family, deciding whether I should just turn and run. And keep on running away from the pain I could see hurdling toward me with a ferocious force when my sister saw me and it was too late.

  “Alex! Alex! He’s okay! He’s going to be okay.”

  I had just enough time to put the drinks down on a small table before my sister flung herself into my arms, laughing and crying at the same time and then I saw the look in her eyes and just like that all was right with the world. We had gone to hell and somehow made it back.

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  They caught the bastard six blocks from my parents’ house when he crashed into a street light. Texting while driving and no lights on his car.

  Just as Henry started to get into the van a breeze caught his homework assignment, which he had been showing to his mother with pride, and took it into the street where he promptly ran to retrieve it putting his little body right in the path of the texting bastard. My father found a smashed chocolate chip cookie in the street this morning and it sent him into a rage I had never witnessed. He promptly took off for the police station while I helped my mother in the kitchen. Meme had called Theresa and Francis and they all sat at the kitchen table watching us pull mugs and plates from the cupboard.

  By eight-thirty my parents’ house was full of people. Jean and Dorothy came back, Millie and her mother showed up with several boxes of pastries and fresh fruit. Millie had called Mia, and Connie, who had heard about the accident on the evening news, called Liz and they came over too. Mia and Liz kept their distance, but at least acted cordial to each other.

  After we got home last night I called Mary-Beth because I couldn’t get hold of John and I needed to talk to someone. She immediately came over and spent the night with us.

  Everyone felt giddy from lack of sleep and because Henry had escaped the claws of death. I looked around at all our friends, new ones and old, and felt glad I lived in this community where everyone came running when someone needed help whether they knew you well or not. It’s just what was done. Most showed up with some sort of food item and the dining room table looked like a display case at a bakery. As it turned out, I felt famished and grabbed a Danish and several slices of an orange.

  I watched all these women milling about the table, sipping on hot drinks and saying how thankful they were Henry pulled through and all of a sudden it hit me—with the exception of my sister, who spent the night at the hospital, and Penelope, who was dead, everyone who had been at my party was now assembled at my parents’ house.

  Was this some sort of sign? And if so, a sign of what? Fatigue engulfed me and I couldn’t even figure out what I should do next, or if I even should do anything. Henry had occupied my mind since last night and I wasn’t sure I would be able to garner anything of importance. Maybe food would help, I thought, as I took a very large bite of a very good Danish.

  “If you don’t mind my saying so, you look terrible, Alex,” Jean said, coming up to me. She picked up a warm bagel and spread some butter on both halves and then took a bite.

  “I’m tired. But mostly I’m just so damned happy Henry is going to be okay.” Tears filled my eyes again.

  She touched my arm gently. “I just met him yesterday but it’s amazing how some children can just tug at your heart, isn’t it?”

  I looked at her and smiled because that’s exactly how I always felt about Henry. Henry has always had a special place in my life that was just for him. There was no particular reason, he just did.

  “He’s always been very special to me,” I said. “But my sister, oh my, I just don’t know how she got through the night.”

  “I can’t image,” Jean said, her own eyes misty. “Have you heard from her this morning?” she asked then.

  “She called early. Henry woke up and she gave him a bit of yogurt. She didn’t sleep all night. Just sat there watching him sleep.”

  “Well, he’s going to be fine. So no more worrying.”

  I thanked her just as Connie, Mia, and Liz came over to tell me how happy they were about Henry. After Mia and Liz retreated to the living room, albeit on opposite sides, I took Connie aside.

  “What’s going on with Bert?” I asked her.

  “Nothing. The police talked with him, but that’s all. They don’t have anything on him, Alex, because there’s nothing to have.” Connie kept her voice down, but clearly seemed annoyed with me.

  The truth was I believed her. In my gut I didn’t think Bert was responsible for anything more than breaking into my house. And having an affair with Penelope. And doing shoddy work on her kitchen. I looked at Connie and wondered if she knew. Should I bring it up? I didn’t think this a good time or place, so I dropped it for now.

  Connie refilled her coffee cup and moved on to the living room just as Francis Haddock came to the table in search of more tea. I wanted to talk with her since Saturday night and had never gotten around to it. I got myself a refill of tea and Francis and I went into the kitchen where we could sit in peace.

  “Mrs. Haddock, thank you for being here.”

  “Oh, Alex, when Meme called me with the news, well, I love that little boy. When
your sister brings him over to Meme’s we have the best time. Reminds me of my own little grandson when he was a wee one. How is Samantha doing?”

  “Better. He’s awake and eating. I’ll go over there in a bit and bring her some clean clothes and food. I wanted to talk to you about Friday night?”

  “Friday night? Has something else happened?”

  “No. Nothing. That’s the problem. I can’t seem to figure anything out. You’re so observant, are you sure you didn’t pick up on anything that might mean something?”

  Mrs. Haddock took a slow sip of her tea, savoring it, before putting her cup down. “You mean nosy.” She smiled and I blushed a bit. “I do love to listen in on snippets of conversations and make up elaborate stories about what people are actually talking about, but nothing at all comes to mind, Alex. Just girl talk. I don’t see how any of it could possibly lead to her murder.”

  “What kind of girl talk? I mean anything specific?” I grasped at straws again, but I had nothing else to grasp onto.

  “Well, let me see, she did tell us about how she met Pieter. When she first started at the firm he worked somewhere else, another office. Maybe in Paris, I think. And then he came back to the Amsterdam office and she took a liking to him immediately. I do think she was someone that once she had you in her sights, she was going to get you. And Pieter seemed quite the catch from what Penelope said. Good looking, money, and a partner in the firm.”

  Yes, and it didn’t seem to matter whether her prey was married or not. To be fair, Els had said her parents were already having problems and her mother met someone else, so I guess technically Penelope didn’t cause the breakup of Pieter’s marriage. But I wondered if it would have made a difference to her if he and his wife had been happy? I had a feeling it wouldn’t have deterred her in her quest one bit. But once again, what did any of this have to do with her getting killed, all these years later, in Indian Cove?

  The back door of the kitchen opened and my sister walked in.