Falafel Jones - The Kewpie Killer (7 page)

“You’ve got a nice family.” Eddie said. “You and Kevin are very lucky.”

Sara started to cry and Kim turned back to her table. “Gotta go. Call me. We’re in the book. Love ya.” She waved and ran to console her daughter.

I asked Eddie, “You mean what you said about her family?”

“Yeah.”

“Even with Benjie terrorizing Sara and Kevin being tied to the table.”

“Even good kids get a little cranky sometimes. Could be he missed his nap. Sure, there’re some challenging moments but in the end, it’s all worth it.”

“I guess you have children.”

“Nope, no kids, no wife.” Eddie smiled at me, “… and not even a girlfriend.”

“If you thought I was a suspect, how come you didn’t come with a W.P.D. officer? You’ve got to know you’re out of your jurisdiction.”

“Yeah, well about that… I sort of left the house without checking my wallet… ” Eddie lifted his shoulders and dropped them, “only had enough cash for cab fare to the Chronicle. Did you know the Police station is ten bucks further from the airport?”

“And in Acha-whatever, lunch is always free?”

“No. I’ve got my two buddies here, Visa and MasterCard. Their logo stickers are on the cash register. I am a detective, you know.”

“Have you detected how you’re going to get to your next destination?”

“I guess I’ll have to rent a car after all. You know, the car rental company picks you up or rather, picks me up, unless you’d like to take a ride?”

The waitress re-appeared carrying plates. Eddie looked up at her and said, “Whoa, this looks good.”

The waitress placed our plates on the table and he was right. They did look good and from the way he attacked his food, he must have gone a long time without eating. After a few minutes of stuffing our faces, I asked, “What can you tell me about the murdered clown in Florida?”

Eddie pushed away his plate and reached for his coffee, “Well, as far as we know, the carnival he worked at, Nichols, never came to New York. Their route was West and East. They kept south of the Mason Dixon line.”

“Any fingerprints found on the doll?”

“None that could be recovered.”

“What was the C.O.D.?”

“Blunt force trauma.”

“With the doll?”

“Could be. The doll had a metal plate on the bottom and we never recovered any other weapon. Odd thing though, someone broke the head off the doll. Like they held the doll upside down and hit the victim with the base.”

“You think there’s a connection?”

“Don’t know. The Kewpie Dolls seem to connect things but the Florida victim was a Carny. The New York victims were patrons, plus we have no connection between Florida and New York.”

I smiled at him, “Except for you.”

He grimaced. “Not funny, but I deserved it. How ‘bout I make it up to you? I’ll buy you dinner. You pick the place. My flight home isn’t until tomorrow.”

“OK. Considering you flew here to accuse me of murder, I’d say you owe me.” I wrote my home address on my business card and handed it to him. “Pick me up at 8:00.”

He put my card in his shirt pocket and said, “If only I could always profit this much by paying my debts.”

The waitress cleared our plates and Eddie said, “That was nice. Thanks for eating with me.”

“You really want a ride to the rental place?”

“I was kidding but if it’s on your way, it beats waiting here an hour for a pick-up.”

“I want to look at an apartment that’s not far. If you don’t mind the detour…”

“That’s great. Thanks, lunch is on me.”

I pulled out my Chronicle classified section to check the apartment address. “Thank you.”

“I sort of have to buy you lunch or the bill won’t be big enough for the minimum credit card charge.”

I swatted him with my newspaper.

* * *

The address in the ad was a restored Victorian era house complete with a round turret. When I pulled up in front of the house, a beautiful, gregarious, golden lab bounced up to my car. When he saw us emerge, he buried his nose in Eddie’s crotch. Eddie asked me, “Is this the usual Waalbroek greeting? No one did this at the airport.”

A woman stepped down from the wrap-around porch, clapped her hands and shouted, “Daisy. Stop that.”

The dog turned and ran into the open garage.

“I’m sorry. She gets like that sometimes. You here ‘bout the room? It’d be a bit tight for two.”

I said, “Oh, we’re not a couple.”

“That’s good. You know it’s just a room with kitchen and bath privileges? Those damned newspaper people can’t seem to get anything right. I been explaining this to people all day.”

Electric guitar power chords, drumming and Daisy’s howling echoed from the garage. The woman faced the house long enough to yell, “Kirk. Stop that till I’m done talking here.” Then she said to me, “You’re not together? Huh, I woulda thought… wanna see the room?”

“No… thanks. I’m going to need something a bit bigger.”

“Sure you do, Sweetie, a girl your age. You know anybody, send them by.” She called the dog and headed back to her porch. As we walked back to my car, Eddie paused and said, “Ya know? I think I’m going to miss Daisy.”

I dropped Eddie at the rental place and went back to work.

* * *

I finished at the office around five, which left me plenty of time to go home and get ready for dinner with Eddie. Eddie. One minute, he’s Detective Franklin treating me like a suspect. The next, he’s Eddie treating me to dinner. Life can be funny sometimes. You look for that certain someone, go on blind dates and then when you’re not paying attention, someone comes into your life in a way you didn’t expect.

I showered and spent the next hour in my underwear trying on outfits. I wanted something that looked provocative but not sleazy, professional but not dowdy. I settled on a mid-thigh cocktail dress with a reasonable neckline and a plunging back, black of course. I did my make-up and slipped into my dress just in time to hear the doorbell.

I opened the door to my mother. My mother? What was she doing here?

“Good evening, Raquel. Aren’t you going to invite me in?”

“Um, I.”

She looked me up and down. “Lemme guess. You have a date?”

“Yes and I need to finish getting —”

“—Let me give you some advice. If you ever have kids of your own, timing is everything. If I didn’t happen by and find out you had a date, would you have told me? Nooooo, of course not, but parenting lessons aside, that’s not why I’m here.”

“Why are you here?”

“I wanted to apologize. It’s not easy being your mother and the Boss both. I’ve got an obligation to the paper and the people that depend on it to make a living.”

“I understand.”

“I know but if a child has a rough day at the office, she can go home and Mom will have an ear and a shoulder for her. Nevertheless, when that bitch in the office is your mother, it’s kind of tough to get that kind of sympathy. I know that and that’s why I’m here.”

“Huh?”

“I wanted to make sure that you knew. I may be the Boss at work, but I’m still your mother at home and you can come to me anytime for anything. So, who is it, that Robby from High School?”

“Mother, please. I’m expecting someone and I have to get ready.”

She peered over my shoulder into Kara’s tiny studio apartment. “Raquel, why stay here? Why not come home? We have so much space at the house.”

“Mother.”

“OK, OK, Gimme a kiss and I’ll go.”

“Mom, I just put on lipstick.”

“OK, OK, Air kiss. Love you kid. See you tomorrow.” She hugged me and left.

I shut the door and went to the mirror to do my final check. Not too bad, I was loading my clutch from my shoulder bag when the doorbell rang again. This time it was Eddie.

As I expected, he was wearing his grey suit. He stepped inside Kara’s apartment and said, “Boy, you looked good at lunch but now, wow.”

I said, “Thank you.” and twirled to show him the low cut back.

I took his arm and when we got to his rental car, he opened my door for me. I reached over and unlocked his side but when he reached for the door, I locked it. He rolled his eyes and smiled. When he shook his car key at me, I let him in.

He drove to the River Lodge, an old riverside mill converted into one of my favorite restaurants. Since it was a weeknight, it wasn’t too crowded and we didn’t have to wait for a table. The maître d’ put us next to a window overlooking the river. We sat close enough to the piano that we could hear the soft jazz but far enough that we could hear each other talk.

A server came over with menus and lit the miniature hurricane lamp on the table.

“Raquel, I’m impressed. I like this place.”

“Thanks. If you like the atmosphere, just wait till you try the food.”

We were reading our menus when Eddie waved at someone behind me. A good-looking woman standing by the door began to walk our way. When she got to the table, Eddie said, “Haven’t seen you for a while.”

The woman laughed and flipped her long straight hair back over her bare shoulder. “Nice to see you again too.” She smiled at me with toothpaste commercial teeth and then said to Eddie, “I guess I’ll see you again later.” She looked back towards the maître d’ podium just as a man approached it from outside. “Gotta go. My date wouldn’t let the valet park his car.”

We watched her leave. She looked as good going as she did coming. If Eddie knew women like her, I wondered why he was dating me. He must have noticed me watching her because he said, “It’s not what you think.”

“What do I think?”

“You think, ‘This is his first day in Waalboek and he’s spent it chasing women.’ It’s not true.” Eddie picked up his menu again.

“OK.”

He lowered his menu. “Just OK? I was hoping you’d care enough to want to know how I know her.”

I put down my menu. “OK, so who is she and why does she expect to see you later?”

“Desk clerk at the hotel. Just checked me in a few hours ago. Then she told me where I could find an ATM and gave me directions to your place. All on the up and up.”

“Feel better now?”

“Yes, I do. A man’s nothing without his reputation.”

We had a leisurely dinner. Eddie had a steak, me the fish special and we split a bottle of Bordeaux. When dessert came, I watched him eat the house dessert, a creampuff filled with soft vanilla ice cream covered with chocolate and whipped cream. It was bad enough watching him eat it but then I had to listen to him rave about it.

As we relaxed over coffee, the waiter brought the check and Eddie handed him his credit card. Our talk turned back to the Kewpie killings and I asked, “New York aside, do you have any other leads on that clown’s death?”

Eddie pushed back from the table and said, “I did find one lead. About 20 years before, the dead clown worked for a while at another Florida carnival, where there was a murder suicide, a husband and wife.”

“Yes, I think I read about them. The carny owner and his wife. You think that there’s a connection between their deaths and the clown’s?”

“They knew each other plus the owner, his wife and the clown each had a Kewpie with the head snapped off. We also heard that the clown and the dead owner had a falling out. Seems the clown was a big draw and he left for a bigger show. After that, business at the first carnival started to slide.”

“That sounds like motive.”

“Yeah, but that first case was 20 years ago. The owner and this wife were long dead by then.

The waiter returned. Eddie signed his name and then drove me home. As we sat in the car, I felt natural and easy. Eddie made me feel at home wherever we were. We got out of his rental and walked up the stairs where I stood with my back against my door and faced him. Eddie raised his arm, leaned in and kissed me on the mouth.

When he finished, I put my hand around his neck, pulled him closer and kissed him back.

Eddie asked, “Can I come in?”

I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to hook up but thought I might want something long term. I was afraid to seem cheap.

“You’re hesitating. That’s a good sign.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. If you didn’t like me, the answer would be a fast ‘No’. Also, the fact you’re thinking about your answer tells me you care what I think about you. That’s good because I care what you think about me. Maybe I can come in? We can chat and save the hot, sweaty but wonderful sex for another date?”

“How can a girl refuse a rain check for hot, sweaty but wonderful sex? C’mon in.”

I made coffee and we talked. Then, I made more coffee and we talked some more.

After a while, we got around to how we both grew up without siblings.

I said, “Mom couldn’t have any more kids after me. She felt guilty I was an only child and tried to make it up by playing with me.”

“Lots of parents play with their kids.”

“Yeah, but with her, it was a mission. After a few years, it was obvious. You know how sometimes you arrange your social life to make a point of seeing friends you haven’t seen in a while?”

“So, you remain close…”

“I had to include her in the rotation and do gal-pal things or she acted like she failed me. Then, when my Dad died, it got worse.”

“She thought she had to be both Mom and Dad?”

“Yeah, she felt guilty Dad died. She believed she should have been able to do something to save him.”

“Was she with him at the time?”

“No, that was the year Mom ran for City Council, Dad died in Florida working on a story. She thought she should have been with him, should have spent more time with him instead of campaigning… she dropped out of the race. He spent a lot of time alone then, what with me away at school and Mom trying to get elected.”

“Could she have saved him?”

“She’ll never know. He fell and hit his head.”

“That’s too bad. Even if she went with him, she might not have been with him at the right time.”

“And now, she’s my employer. You know, the result is instead of being a full time mom; mine spends our time together trying to be someone else… my girlfriend, my Dad and my Boss. There are only so many hours in a day. I already lost Dad. I guess I just want Mom to be my mom. I don’t want to share her.”