It Started With A House: Lizzie. Book 1 (The Westport Mysteries) (17 page)

Opening the
flap in the shower, I tiptoed over to the chair and, just as I was getting close
to it, the back door opened. I screamed, grabbed at the towel and silently prayed
it was Molly standing there. But no, of course it wasn’t. Who do you think it
was? Yep, you guessed it. It was Riley.

Now, he was a
gentleman and turned his back to me very quickly, but not before I saw the look
of total shock register itself on his face.

“I’m so sorry,
Lizzie. I thought I heard you calling out and wanted to make sure you were okay,”
he stammered.

Even in the
fading light, I could see his ears and neck were red. Wow, I should write a
book on 101 Ways to Embarrass Yourself. I’m almost an expert on the subject. By
the time Riley had very quickly opened the back door and sprinted inside, I was
almost in tears. My original plan had been to have a shower and make myself
look good so I wouldn’t feel so insignificant next to Molly. Instead, I had
embarrassed not only myself, but also Riley. Sitting down on the chair, I put
my head between my knees and took some deep breaths.

Ahh! Why did
this always happen to me? When the shaking had passed, I stepped back into the
shower and got dressed. Now all I had to do was hold my head high, walk back
into the kitchen, passed Riley and hide in my bedroom for the next decade.

Okay, more deep
breathing. If I walk really fast, he may not even see me. That was the plan at
least.

Opening the
back door, I stepped inside to see Molly and Riley sitting next to each other,
deep in conversation. I didn’t stop to see what they were talking about and
neither of them looked my way as I walked by. I couldn’t tell whether Riley was
telling Molly how disgusted he was or if he was checking out her cleavage and
realizing he was working for the wrong sister. Either way I wasn’t stopping to
find out.

When I reached
the safety of my bedroom, I closed the door and burst into tears. I had absolutely
no idea how I would ever face him again. Maybe I should send him a text message
saying
Thanks for all your work. I’ll
post you a cheque. Bye.
At least that way I would never have to look him in
the eye again.

Finding a box
of tissues in amongst the unpacked boxes in my room, I pulled out a couple and
gave my nose a very unladylike blow. As I was wiping my tears, I heard a knock
at the door.

Thank goodness.
Molly could help me send Riley home without me even having to look at him. But
opening the door, I looked out to find a rather coy-looking Riley. Well, there
goes my plan about never having to face him again.

“Hey,” he said.
Looking at my puffy eyes, his expression softened. “I really am sorry, Lizzie. I
thought you were still in the shower and something scared you. I didn’t for a
second want to embarrass you.” He held out a glass of wine. “Thought you may
need it,” he said smiling. I took the glass and downed it in one go, hoping the
alcohol would kick in nice and quickly. Leaving the door open, I stepped back
into the room. I could still feel the humiliation stinging the back of my
throat.

“I’m the one
who’s sorry, Riley. I can’t think how many times in the last few weeks I’ve
embarrassed you. You seeing me naked just tops it off.” Sitting on the bed, I
put my head in my hands, unable to look him in the eye.

“You’ve never
embarrassed me,” he said, following me into the room and closing the door
behind him. His voice had gotten soft and husky as he sat on the bed beside me.
“And you have no need to be embarrassed. I didn’t get that good a look, but
what I did see was quite impressive.”

I could hear
the laughter in his voice. He was trying to make me feel better, I thought, as
I turned to look at him. He was sitting close to me, so close, we were almost
touching and those beautiful blue eyes looked at me so intently I felt my
breath catch in my throat. I’m not sure if it was my imagination or not, but
something in the air had changed. Sitting there, holding my breath, completely
paralyzed by his eyes, I watched as Riley searched my face, his eyes lingering
on my mouth. As I felt him move closer, never breaking eye contact, the door
suddenly flung open and Molly rushed in.

“She’s gone!”
she cried. “We’ve lost Grandma Mabel!”

Chapter
Seventeen

It
took a minute for my body to catch up with my brain, but when it did, I went
into full panic. My heart was racing at a million beats per minute, I was
sweating and I felt sick. I’d never lost anybody that I could remember. Other
than my grandfathers, who I don’t remember anyway, the only thing I had loved
and lost was our old dog, Digger. We’d had to have him put to sleep when I was
fourteen and I cried for about a month.

“How?” was the
only word I could get out of my mouth.

“She went to
seniors club this afternoon and never came home,” cried Molly.

“No, I mean how
did she die?” I whispered. Molly looked at me with confusion.

“She’s not dead,
Lizzie. We’ve really lost her.”

“What?”

“Mum just rang
to say Grandma went to seniors club this afternoon and never came home,”
explained Molly slowly, obviously thinking she was talking to an idiot. I felt
my temper start to rise.

“Molly, don’t
you dare talk to me like I’m the stupid one. You came running in here telling
me we’d lost Grandma. What the hell was I supposed to think?” I yelled, walking
around the room, arms waving, and adrenalin pumping.

“Don’t yell at
me, Lizzie! I can’t think straight.” She burst into tears.

I looked over
at Riley who was running his fingers through his hair, looking like he wanted
to pull it out. Yeah, I understood exactly how he felt. Walking past Molly, I
went back downstairs to find Drew on the phone and Danny in tears. What can I
say? We’re good in a crisis. When Drew hung up, I asked him to please explain
what the hell was going on.

“I was just
talking to your mum. She went to pick Mabel up from seniors club at four
o’clock but she wasn’t there. She’s rung around all her friends but of those
she could contact, no one has seen her.”

“Did she leave
with anyone?” I asked. It was now seven-fifteen, so Grandma had been missing
for quite a few hours.

“Not that we
can find out,” said Drew.

“Well, what
should we do? We can’t just sit here doing nothing!” I was starting to panic
all over again.

“Your mum has
called the Police but she hasn’t been missing long enough. Because of her age,
they are concerned though.”

I knew what
everybody was thinking. Recently an elderly man on the news had got confused
and wandered off. He was found the next day, hidden behind a dumpster, dead. Well,
I for one was not letting that happen to Grandma Mabel. If she was going to die
today, it was after we found her and I had my hands around her neck for scaring
us so badly. Picking up my car keys, I headed for the door.

“Well, is
anyone coming? I’m going looking for her,” I said looking back at everyone in
the room. All at once people were moving, grabbing bags and phones. Once
outside, we decided mine wasn’t the best car to take, as we wouldn’t all fit,
so we took Riley’s truck and headed for St Joseph’s church. It felt like the
best place to start.

* * * *

It
didn’t take long to get to the church. At this time of night the traffic was
very quiet. That pretty much summed up the atmosphere inside the truck. Everyone
was very quiet, all lost in our own thoughts about Grandma. Danny, Drew and
Molly had all got in the back and I’d got to ride shotgun with Riley. I could
hear Danny sniff occasionally and saw Drew reach out and hold his hand. Molly
was sitting very rigid, staring out the window, looking like she was hardly
daring to breathe.

We found Father
John at home in his small stone cottage behind the church, really handy for
visitors like us. He greeted us with warmth as he opened his door.

“Come in, come
in,” he said with a small smile. Father John was a really sweet man, with a
kind voice and was about fifty years old. Tonight he was dressed in jeans and a
blue collared shirt. The only indication he was a priest was the little
crosses
 
pinned to his collar. I
was always surprised that priests dressed normally when they weren’t in church.
I kind of thought they always dressed in robes or at least with their dog
collar on but I suppose that was just a uniform to them, just like a suit was a
uniform to most business men. We walked into his living room and took a seat.

“We’re looking
for Mabel,” explained Drew.

“Yes, Ellen
rang me and asked if I had seen if she left with anyone. To be honest, I was so
busy helping one of the other members I didn’t really see anyone leave. I
assume you’ve done a ring around her friends and informed the Police?”

“Yes. The only
person we can’t contact is her friend Eunice. She’s not answering her phone. Was
she at seniors club today?” asked Drew.

“Yes, Eunice
was there but she left for her daughter’s as soon as we’d finished. It was her granddaughter’s
birthday and they were having a dinner for her tonight,” he explained, looking
at his watch. “You could try to see if she’s home yet. Sometimes she doesn’t
hear her phone ringing.”

That sounded
like a good idea. At least it gave us something to do. We all felt useless
sitting around doing nothing. Father John got up and moved over to a small
antique desk on the far wall, opened a drawer and pulled out a small book. Flipping
through it, he looked up.

“Eunice lives
in the over 50’s village, The Grange, over on Pickett Street. She’s number 142.
Do you know where that is?” he asked.

“Yes, I do,”
said Riley.

Thanking him
for his time, we all piled back into Riley’s truck and headed over to the
Grange Village. It took us longer to find the correct unit than it did to
actually drive there, as Eunice lived towards the back of the village. Who
would have thought a retirement village could be so big? We’d even had to stop
at the administration building to get a map.

Winding our way
around the very narrow lanes, we finally stopped at number 142 and saw the
lights were on. It appeared Eunice was home. Piling back out of the truck, we
walked up to the door and knocked. The poor lady. You could see the anxiety in
her eyes as she opened the door to us, keeping the chain firmly in place.

“Can I help
you?” she asked. She looked to be about the same age as Grandma and reminded me
a bit of Mabel with her tightly permed hair and long, narrow face. Drew, being the
only one of us capable of explaining the situation properly, said Mabel was
missing and asked if she’d seen or heard from her.

“Oh dear, you’d
better come in.” She closed the door, released the chain and let us all in. Danny
was the first to enter and without being offered, immediately took a seat on
the couch, his concern over Mabel neutralizing his normally perfect social
etiquette. Deciding this was a far better option than standing in the doorway,
we followed suit. Once seated, I looked at Eunice to find her smiling at the
three of us.

“Well, I can
tell you are Mabel’s grandchildren. You all look so much like her,” she smiled.

Danny, Molly
and I all looked at one another, horrified by what we had just heard. Unaware of
the fear her words had created though, she continued. “Mabel is such a
character, she’s always keeping us entertained with her stories. Only the other
day she was telling us how she was going to get a new bikini so she could join
the swimming group.” She laughed at the memory. “Oh my, you should have seen
the picture of the bikini she was getting. It was some skimpy little thing with
pointy breasts. Mabel thought she would look fantastic in it.” That sounded
like Grandma. Even though I think she has a grip on reality and knows she’s in
her eighties, there’s a part of her that thinks she still looks like she did in
her twenties.

“Have you seen
or heard from her this evening?” asked Drew.

“No, but I
haven’t been home. She was spending a lot of time with Ben Willet this
afternoon. I think he has a bit of a crush on her,” she giggled, reminding me
of a teenager.

“Do you know
how we can contact him?” asked Riley. Danny, Molly and I still hadn’t had the
power of speech return.

“Let me make a
few calls. I don’t know his address but a friend of mine would. I won’t be a
moment.” She stood and walked toward the tiny kitchen. We all waited silently,
hoping we would get a lead on what happened to Grandma. Finally she returned
with an address.

“Now, my friend
Roger says this is where Ben lives,” she said, handing Drew a piece of paper. “Please
let me know if you find her. I won’t be able to sleep tonight if I don’t know
she’s safe.”

* * * *

Back
in the truck, Riley pointed us in the right direction. Ben lived on the other
side of town, so it took a good thirty minutes to get there. By this time it
was nearly ten o’clock at night and Grandma had been missing for a good five to
six hours.

Reaching Ben’s
house, we took a minute to assess the situation. The house was an ordinary
looking single-story affair with lots of colorful flowers in pots around the
front door, all lit by the streetlight on the footpath. The bright cheerfulness
of them seemed in direct opposition to the mood of our group. The lights in the
front of the house were out but looking up the side we could see a light was on
towards the back.

Knocking, we
all stood back and waited as we heard shuffling, followed by the sounds of a
door lock being opened. As light spilled out to greet us, I blinked and took
stock of the man who opened the door.

He was not what
I’d expected. If he was under a hundred years old, I’d be shocked. His skin was
about two sizes too big for him, which gave him the appearance of a Shar Pei
and he had the best tan I had ever seen. But it was what he was wearing that
shocked me the most.

Nothing. He was
wearing absolutely nothing.

It was a bit
like a car crash, when you know you really shouldn’t look but you can’t help
yourself, then you regret it for the rest of your life. I heard Danny inhale
very quickly and looked at Molly, who stood with her mouth hanging open. Riley
and Drew seemed to take it all in their stride and pretended not to notice. Opening
the door naked was obviously a common occurrence for Mr. Willett, as he didn’t
seem fazed by it at all.

“Hello. We’re
looking for Ben Willett,” explained Drew, his eyes never straying below Ben’s
shoulders.

“That’s me. What
do you want?” he snapped.

“Hello, Mr.
Willett. I’m Drew and this is my partner Danny, his sisters Molly and Lizzie
and our friend Riley,” said Drew introducing us all.

“Congratulations.
What do you want?”

Gee cranky old
man. Taken back a bit, Drew continued, “Well, we’re looking for Mabel Phillips.
Would you have seen her by any chance?”

“What if I
have?”

“Well, the
thing is, she’s been missing since this afternoon and we’re trying to find
her.” Even patient Drew was starting to get a bit flustered by now.

“Doesn’t mean
I’ve seen her,” snapped Ben.

I couldn’t take
it anymore.

“Listen, you
cranky old fart. If you’ve seen Mabel, tell us!” It had been a very long
evening and I was running out of patience. Riley reached over and put his arm
around my shoulder. I’m not sure if it was to soothe me or stop me from jumping
across and grabbing Ben Willett by the throat.

“What’s all
this racket about?”

I looked behind
Ben and there was Grandma Mabel, dressed in her bra, knickers and the pink slip
she always wore under her dress. I was so overcome by relief, my knees gave way
and I felt Riley hold me a bit tighter to stop me from falling. Molly started
to cry and Danny ran over to Mabel, pulling her into a big hug. I could see the
confusion on Grandma’s face that quickly turned to irritation.

“What are you
all doing here?” she asked.

“We could say
the same for you, Grandma. We’ve been looking for you for hours, running all
over the place trying to find you!” shouted Danny.

“No need to
shout. I’m standing right here,” Grandma said to him. “And can’t a woman have a
bit of privacy once in a while?” she snapped. From where I was standing it was
pretty obvious what was going on here. Looking over to Ben and Mr. Droopy, I
felt myself shudder.

“Of course you
can, Mabel,” said Drew, being the first one to pull himself together. “It’s
just you need to tell people where you are. Everybody has been so worried about
you. Ellen has even called the Police,” he explained. Grandma started swishing
her teeth. This thought had obviously never occurred to her.

“Hmm. Well you
can take me home anyway. Not much happening here,” she said looking at Ben.

* * * *

Getting
back to the truck, we realized we were one seat short, so I got in the back and
scrunched up next to Molly. Luckily Mum and Dad’s house wasn’t too far away.

“I’m actually
glad you came when you did. Ben wasn’t showing me a good time, if you know what
I mean. Those pink tablets aren’t what they are cracked up to be,” said Mabel.