Ding Dong Dead

31

Gretchen looked out the window of This Great Coffee Place at the same moment that April banged her white Lincoln’s bumper into a parking meter directly in front of the coffee shop. Nina jumped out of the passenger seat and said something to April. Judging from the expression on her face, she wasn’t very happy with her new partner’s driving skills.

At the first sign of real trouble, Bonnie had abandoned them for a weekend in Glendale with a different group of friends. Julie went off to Tucson. Turn up the heat, Gretchen thought, and you find out quickly who can take it and who will abandon you for a more temperate climate.

“Unbelievable,” Caroline said when a traffic cop came into sight in time to witness April’s destruction of city property. He didn’t look pleased as he listened to April, who appeared to be arguing with him.

Nina pushed past April and was addressing the police officer.

“I’m only thankful,” Gretchen said, ducking back from the window, “that I can’t hear what Nina is saying to the cop.”

“She’ll get April out of it.”

“Calamity Jane has an extensive driving record with the motor vehicle department. Springing her is going to be tough. April’s an accident waiting to happen. Why is Nina riding with her? I thought we had agreed that we’d live longer if we didn’t let her drive.”

“Nina stayed with Brandon last night.”

“I know.”

“He decided to surprise her by tuning up her car today. She said he had it ripped apart before she woke up. By then it was too late to stop him. She griped plenty when we couldn’t come and get her.”

April wore a yellow pantsuit, accessorized with an orange ribbon headband tied around her head, its long showy ends trailing down her back. Nina had on a tiger-striped wrap dress and gold heels.

Gretchen rose from the table and chuckled. “I’m not sure if we should split those two up when we start canvassing or stay as far away from the peacocks as possible. I didn’t think to tell them to play this low-key.”

“I can’t partner with Nina,” Caroline said. “We’ll disagree on everything and end up mad at each other.”

“I’ll take her. You and April work one side of the block, we’ll do the other. Let’s go.”

Nina had finished convincing the officer that April didn’t deserve a citation. Gretchen saw him walk away without writing anything.

But her aunt wasn’t finished complaining to April. They arrived outside in time to hear April tell Nina to “buzz off.”

The four of them walked down the street, two of them stomping a little more angrily than the others. They passed the banquet hall and went another two blocks where they turned the corner and stopped in front of World of Dolls.

Caroline spoke first. “If I didn’t know differently,” she said, “I’d think it’s just another work day at the museum.”

“It looks exactly the same,” April agreed.

Nina was staring up at the second-floor windows.

“Looking for your ghost?” Gretchen said.

“She’s watching,” Nina said, not taking her eyes off the house. “I know she is.”

“By the way,” Gretchen said, only that moment remembering all the tiny responsibilities, “where are the dogs? Day care?”

Nina gave up on window gazing. “Doggy day care is closed on the weekend. I didn’t have a choice.”

“They’re at your house?” Gretchen could only wish. Fat chance of that.

“No. Yours,” Nina answered. “They’re keeping company with Wobbles.”

Gretchen and Caroline groaned in duet.

The dogs were wonderfully well behaved, if Gretchen didn’t count Tutu, until they got together. Then their primitive pack mentality got the better of them. The last time they were left unsupervised, the canines had run wild; the house looked like a war zone by the time Gretchen got home.

“Let’s get started,” Gretchen said since she couldn’t do anything about the dog situation. “We’re going to canvass the neighborhood. With any luck, we’ll find someone who has lived in this area for a long time, long enough to know the Swilling’s family history and give us some background.”

Caroline handed each of them a notebook. “Jot down the addresses you visit and the results. We don’t want to waste time by repeating the same houses later. Make notes if you discover anything that could be relevant.”

The women teamed up under Gretchen’s direction. She watched her mother and April knock at their first house before she crossed to the other side of the street with Nina.

Six homes later, after four unanswered knocks and two occupied by owners too recent to be helpful, Nina started complaining about her feet, then about the task at hand. Gretchen glanced at her aunt’s gold heels but didn’t say anything.

“Phoenix, in case you haven’t noticed,” her aunt said grumpily, “is a transient city. Everyone living in the Valley of the Sun is from someplace else these days. We’re wasting our time on a wild-goose chase.”

“Do you have a better idea?”

“I could be spending the day with Brandon.”

“Under the hood of your car? That sounds like a good time.”

“You have a point.”

Nina remained on the sidewalk holding her shoes and wiggling her bare feet while Gretchen knocked on house number seven. Again, there was no response.

From what Gretchen could tell, Caroline and April were having more luck getting doors to open but the same rate of failure finding longtime residents. April called over. “Nothing yet,” she said. “We’re turning the corner up ahead.”

“Whose big idea was this anyway?” Nina wanted to know after putting her heels back on.

Gretchen couldn’t tell Nina that she’d talked to her aunt Gertie. Something about her other aunt’s name brought out the very worst in Nina. And she was crabby already. “We have to at least try,” she said. “We’ll finish what we started by circling the block.”

“Wait,” Nina screeched. “Don’t tell me.” Her eyes became narrow, knowing slits. “You’ve been taking advice from that woman again?”

Nina’s intuition was sharpening, but Gretchen wished she would use it for a higher purpose than arguing with her. Why couldn’t she use it to identify the killer?

“Aunt Gertie made a few suggestions,” Gretchen said. “They seem reasonable.”

“There isn’t anything reasonable about her. She’s dangerous. Practically everyone around her gets shot to death.”

Gretchen couldn’t help letting out a small chortle. Nina was close to the mark. Aunt Gertie didn’t always think before she acted, sometimes creating more problems than she started with. But she always solved her cases. For her, the end justified the means. “You’re exaggerating, Nina,” she said.

As usual.

They stood in front of a house set slightly farther back from the street than the other homes. Gretchen thought it had an unoccupied look to it. Not exactly that its exterior hadn’t been maintained, though it appeared neglected when compared to the others. She walked past it.

“Where are you going?” Nina asked from the sidewalk that led to the house. “What’s wrong with this one?”

“No one lives here.” Gretchen stopped and turned around.

“Really,” Nina said.

“I don’t think so, but I suppose we should make sure.”

Nina had another “incoming message” expression on her face when Gretchen passed her and started up the walkway. “Someone’s inside,” her aunt informed her.

Gretchen was on the porch about to ring the doorbell.

“Don’t!” Nina shouted. “I have a bad feeling!”

What was the matter with Nina? At this rate, they’d be on this block for the rest of the day. Gretchen pressed the button and heard the chime inside the house. “What’s wrong with you?” she asked her aunt.

Before Nina could reply, the door creaked open.

A large woman loomed in the doorway, staring at Gretchen.

“I’m searching for information on a neighborhood family,” Gretchen said.

“Come in,” she said. “We’ve been waiting for you.”