Calamity @ the Carwash (Parson's Cove Mysteries) (9 page)

“White and blue are colors,” I say.

However, one store did get my attention.

“Hey, Flori,” I said. “Let’s check this
store out.”

Flori looked up at the sign.

“
SpyTown – Protect Your Spyware
.
What kind of store is that?”

“I think it must sell all those little
devices that detectives use to solve crimes, Flori.”

“And why, pray tell, would you need
anything like that?”

“I’m just curious, that’s all. Aren’t
you?”

Flori shook her head. I’m not sure if it
meant ‘no’ or it was done in frustration and bewilderment.

“I’ll go and sit on the bench here,
Mabel. You go and check out your little spy store.”

I went in with great expectations and
came out deflated. There was nothing there but computers and I imagine
everything that goes with a computer. I didn’t want to appear too dumb so when
the vulgar young man behind the counter asked if I was having problems with
spam, worms, or viruses, I politely told him that I’d never felt better in my
life. Flori asked why I’d returned so quickly and I told her that everything
was much too sophisticated for me. She smiled and said that she was glad I
recognized my limitations.

“It takes a humble person to admit they
can’t be perfect in everything.” She said this with a very smug look on her
face.

Perhaps, it was time to advance to the
next level and buy a computer. I mean, if I can handle a cordless phone with an
attached answering machine, surely a computer can’t be that much harder to figure
out.

I knew Flori would be upset if I didn’t
purchase anything so when I found a store that carried animal toys, I bought
something for each cat. I knew they would stand and look at it for a brief
moment or two and then walk away, never to look again. However, it made Flori
happy.

We had lunch in a cute little
restaurant. Flori kept looking around for some of the old folks but it was as
if they’d disappeared off the surface of the earth.

“I’m getting a little anxious,” she
said. “We haven’t run into any of them. I hope they didn’t get into any
trouble. You know, maybe falling or something.”

“Flori,” I said after setting my cup
down. “Trust me; those people can look after themselves. I’d be more worried
about the people here, especially the store owners. Dolly says she has to hide
everything because there are so many thieves in the seniors’ home.”

Flori looked out and watched the hoards
of people aimlessly strolling from store to store. It was crowded because no
one wanted to stay home on a miserable rainy day.

“I don’t know. I still feel worried. If
anyone gets into trouble we’re the ones who will get hauled up on the carpet,
you know.”

“No, I’m the one who will be hauled up
on the carpet, Flori.”

“I hope all the men don’t think you were
serious about the castrating. Why, on earth, did you say you’d castrated four
men? I couldn’t believe you’d say such a terrible thing.”

“I didn’t say four
men
, I just
said, ‘four’ and that I did - four of my cats.”

“Oh, Mabel, that’s hysterical.” Flori
giggled and the table shook. The man and woman in the next table looked over
and started smiling too. In between her giggles, Flori told them, “Mabel
castrated four.” Tears started rolling down her cheeks. I handed her a handful
of napkins. The man and woman got up and left.

I glanced at my watch. “Better dry up
your tears and blow your nose, Flori, because it’s almost time to meet Calvin.”
I stood up and grabbed the check. “This is my treat. You already spent your
pension money for this month.”

Flori grabbed up her five or six bags
from under the table, I paid the bill, and off we went to find all the folks
from the Retirement Home.

“I think,” I said, “before we do
anything else, we should check the food court. I’m sure that’s where they would
all eat.”

The court was packed and it was noisy.
There was one spot at the far end, however, that was far noisier than any other
area. That’s because almost everyone sitting there was deaf.

“There they are, Flori. I knew we’d find
them here. Before we get too close and they spot us, let’s count to see if we
have them all.”

I left that job up to Flori because I
had no idea how many we started out with. As we walked up to them the women’s
faces lit up but for some reason the men didn’t appear all that thrilled to see
us. Well, most of them greeted Flori and of course, she ran around and gave
everyone a big hug.

MJ got up and with the help of her cane,
walked over to me. She leaned over and said into my ear, “Watch how Mr. Koots
walks.”

I nodded. I would’ve said more but the
whole gang decided to rise up at the same time and suddenly we were propelling
towards the front entrance of the mall. One good thing about leading a group of
elderly, blind, deaf and drooling people is that everyone moves right out of
your way. It didn’t take long and we were all waiting at the entrance for our
bus.

It was almost two before it pulled up in
front of us. By this time everyone had to go to the washroom again so now Koots
had to wait. I didn’t feel sorry for him one bit. When MJ returned, she came up
close to me and said, “Make him get out and walk.”

The rain had stopped but the sky was
still heavy with dark clouds and any minute I knew there would be a cloudburst.
I ran up to the door and waited for Calvin to open it.

“Calvin, would you please come out and
help these folks carry their parcels into the bus.”

“Why should I? I’m the driver here, not
the butler.”

“Listen,” I said and put my hands on my
hips. “Your job here is just hanging by a thread as it is. All I have to do is
tell Jake that you were uncooperative and you won’t be driving into the city
anymore.”

If looks could kill…

He pulled himself off the seat as if I
was forcing him to change a Depends and slowly, like an old man himself,
descended to the ground. I looked over at MJ and she was staring at him with a
tiny smile on her lips.

We both watched carefully as Calvin
begrudgingly carried one bag after another and put them in the bus. My old
English teacher was right. Calvin wasn’t walking normally. What did he have -
pebbles in his shoes?

Chapter 
Fourteen

Flori burst into my shop the next
morning. The rain had run its course and the sun was shining. The temperature
was moderate and the high was going to be about seventy-three so everyone was smiling.
Except for Flori.

“Have you heard the latest, Mabel?” She
was dressed in a lovely yellow, orange, green pantsuit with a matching green
headband. The top was all flowery and the pants were solid green. Her sleek
light auburn hair shone in the sunlight. Her artistically made up eyebrows
arched up under her bangs. Obviously, her appearance didn’t match her mood.

“I hope by the look on your face that
there’s been no more murders or accidents or anything negative at all. What’s
the matter?”

“It’s Bernie.” She burst into tears. I
steered her over to the chair and handed her the box of tissues.

“What do you mean? Bernie is dead. What
more can happen to him?”

“He’s Jewish, Mabel. That’s what’s
wrong.” She moaned, groaned, and blew.

“Flori, since when have you been
prejudiced? You’ve never said anything about anyone’s faith or nationality ever
in your whole life. After you’ve met someone you don’t even remember if they’re
black or white.”

“Oh no, I don’t mean that. How could you
even think that? What I mean is, it’s against their faith to have the body
mutilated. And, they took Bernie to the city to do an autopsy.”

“How do you know all this?”

“Well, Jake heard some of the men
talking at the café. What do you think will happen now, Mabel?”

I poured two cups of coffee, fixed
Flori’s up with cream and sugar, and handed it to her.

“I have no idea. Melanie would know what
to do. Besides, I don’t think Bernie was a practicing Jew, was he?”

“Practicing Jew? I don’t think you can
say that. It’s like saying that I’m a practicing German or American. It’s just
who they are.”

“Well, I don’t know about that but
anyway, what’s going to happen? Are they going to have a funeral?”

“Ben Jacobson says he’ll have to have
this prayer he called it a Kaddish or something. Also, he said his body should
be all covered in water to be cleansed and he should be put in white linen
clothing before being buried.”

“How does Ben know all this?”

“Well, he really isn’t up on all his
Jewish rituals so he looked it up on the Internet.”

“So, who’s going to pray and wash him
when he has no family here and his wife is in jail? Besides, everyone thinks
that she killed him so they might not think it kosher for her to cleanse his
body, right?”

“I know. That’s what’s so upsetting,
Mabel. What’s going to happen to Bernie’s body? Jewish people bury their dead
within a day or two and there’s poor Bernie’s body way off somewhere in some
forensic lab in the city. It’s so mortifying.”

“Well, I know one thing, Flori. It’s not
for you or me to decide anything. There’s no point in crying over it, is there?
There’s nothing that you can do.”

“I know. I know. The whole thing is very
upsetting though.” She wiped away some stray tears and wiped where there were
no tears in case she missed a few. “I guess you heard Reg had to call in the
city cops.”

“No, I did not hear that. When were you
going to share that bit of information?”

Flori blushed. “Well, if you must know,
I wanted to talk about the more important things first. I think Bernie’s burial
is far more important than who’s getting involved in the murder case.”

“So, if this is an open and shut case
with a confession, why bring in the big guns?”

“Oh Mabel, I don’t know. Maybe it’s not
as open and shut as Reg thinks. Maybe he was having second thoughts about it
all. Remember he is planning to retire soon so perhaps this is just too much
for him to handle. Jake says he’s not looking too good - kind of drained and
pale.”

I sighed. “I suppose I could give him a
call.”

“I suppose you couldn’t. He’ll feel
truly embarrassed if he has to ask for your help again. Besides, I think he can
handle it without your interference.”

“I don’t interfere and this is not about
Reg’s ego; it’s about Melanie’s life. Do you want an innocent woman going to
jail just because it might be upsetting to Reg?” 

“Well, it’s up to you, Mabel. All I ask
is that you don’t involve me. By the way, I think you really enjoyed our little
jaunt into the city, didn’t you? I’m quite looking forward to next Friday’s
trip, aren’t you?”

“It wasn’t as bad as I thought it might
be. By the way, Flori, did you notice how Calvin was walking when he came back
to the bus?”

“I never noticed how he was walking
before he got on the bus so why should I worry about how he got off? Why are
you so concerned about the way Calvin walks?”

“Oh I’m not really all that concerned,
just curious, that’s all. Actually, I don’t know how he walked when he got on.
Miss MJ asked me to watch, that’s all.”

“Miss MJ? Why in the world would she be
worrying about that? She can hardly walk herself. Is that why she was
whispering in your ear all the time? I wondered what she was talking about. Who
cares how Calvin walks anyway? To tell you the truth, he’s about the last
person I worry about. I don’t think he’s a very nice person to hire to take
those lovely elderly people to the city. If we hadn’t been there, he wouldn’t
have even helped them on and off. I think I should get Jake to talk to Mr.
Kinney about him.”

“Well, wait until after next Friday. M J
is a smart lady and I want to see what Calvin is up to.”

“Oh, for Pete’s sake, Mabel, you missed
your calling; you should’ve been born as a bloodhound.”

For some reason, Flori struck her own
funny bone and she proceeded to laugh until she completely drained her tear
ducts. While she was busy with that I washed out our mugs and put on some fresh
coffee.

That evening I would give Sheriff Smee a
call. I don’t care what anyone says, when Reg has nowhere else to turn, he
turns to Mabel Wickles.

Chapter
Fifteen

I tried phoning Reg that night at home
but there was no answer and I definitely wasn’t going to call the station. The
next day was Saturday, which is my busiest day at the shop. Somehow I would
have to figure out how to meet or at least talk to Reg without having to
abandon my post. I really need every sale I can make. Flori is always willing
to help in time of need but it would depend on the reason. By ten o’clock, I’d
seen two unfamiliar patrol cars drive down Main Street so I knew the Parson’s
Cove police department was off the case. I couldn’t help but wonder if Captain
Maxymowich had taken Sheriff Smee’s place.