The Perfect Death

NINE

The pretty woman standing behind the counter in the hotel lobby extended her hand to Stallings and smiled politely. “I’m Liz Dubeck and I run this place. You might recall we met last night.” Her sly smile conveyed more than any words could.

Stallings took the hand and nodded, avoiding Patty’s intense gaze.

Patty whispered to him, “Aren’t you glad you told me the truth already? Otherwise this might be an awkward moment.”

Stallings felt like a school kid in a parent/teacher conference as both women turned their attention to him.

Patty took the woman’s hand and introduced herself, then set her battered metal case on the counter and started to take down contact information.

Stallings liked how professional Patty could be on a moment’s notice.

As soon as Patty had finished, the woman looked at Stallings and said, “What was your problem with the man I saw you with last night?”

“Just a miscommunication.”

“You seemed to be making your point very clear.”

Now Stallings felt a physical pressure from Patty’s gaze. He reached across into Patty’s metal case and pulled out a photo of Leah Tischler and laid it out on the counter. “We’ve been trying very hard to find out if anyone saw her in this area in the last few days. We have reason to believe she might’ve used a pay phone at the check-cashing store down the street and she would’ve been looking for a place to stay.”

The woman leaned down to look at the photo closely. Her dark ponytail slipped across her shoulder. Stallings appreciated the attention she was giving the photo as well as the shape of her shoulders and neck.

She looked up and said, “She said her name was Lee and she was looking for a room for a couple of nights. I told her she had to let someone know she was okay. She didn’t have to tell them where she was, but I didn’t want whoever was responsible for her worrying. I could tell right away she wasn’t a street person. She had on a school uniform of some kind.”

Patty turned to him and said, “That must’ve been why she called the music teacher.”

“I offered the phone here, but she said she’d have to think about it and left before I could stop her.” The hotel manager paused. “I hate to ask this, but is she okay?”

Patty took this one and Stallings was glad of it. “She’s been missing a few days and there’s an indication she may have fallen victim to violent crime.”

“Oh my goodness. Is there anything else I can do?”

“You can keep your ears open and let us know if you hear anything.”

It was clear this woman was concerned. “Of course, of course, anything you want. Almost everyone in this area comes through here at one time or another.” She stepped from behind the counter and joined Stallings and Patty in the lobby.

Stallings took in a breath as she walked past and brushed his arm. She gestured toward the couch and two chairs in the corner of the clean lobby. When they were all seated she said, “I work very hard to make this a clean, safe place for people down on their luck. We get a few grants and I don’t always have to charge full rates. I would have let Leah stay here for free if she’d come back after I told her to let someone know she was safe.”

Patty reached over and gave the woman a gentle squeeze on her shoulder. “You did the right thing.”

Stallings looked around the room and said, “It does look like a nice place. That’s hard to find if you’re lonely, scared, and have no money.”

Liz looked around and nodded. “We’ve come a long way, but there are always a lot of things to finish around here. You can see the linoleum is peeling in the corners and throw rugs only cover so much. About half the rooms need new beds and it’d be nice to do some cosmetics like replacing this front window that’s cracked from top to bottom. I’ve applied for several federal grants to help.”

Stallings looked at the bay window and saw a reflection of light from outside and the hairline crack. “There’s only so much you can do, and believe me you’ve already helped us tremendously.”

“I’d do anything to help ease the suffering of a parent worried about a child. Even in your job it’s probably hard to completely realize the anguish of missing a child.”

Stallings leveled his eyes at her and said, “No, I think I can imagine it.”

Buddy sat on a hard, carpeted floor of the dentist’s office way down in the southern part of the county, on the edge of an area known as Mandarin. Instead of the goofy posters of giant teeth most dentists had used when he was a kid, there were framed, signed cartoons featuring Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse. The office was comfortable and the staff had been very friendly. And it was really good money for simply installing one four-foot, etched-glass divider with a nicely drawn dolphin exactly in the middle. There were also three outside windows he was going to change, but they didn’t have the artistic edge this large sheet of glass offered. For some reason he didn’t really mind the mundane job on this bright September morning.

He kept trying to focus all of his attention on the thin edge of the wide glass window as it slid into place. The problem was his mind kept racing as he thought about the girl at the bus stop and the hours he had spent with Jessie, the subject he’d found ten days earlier.

Jessie had been so special. The whole experience was magical. Getting to know her and making sure she was right for his work of art. Those had been a precious few hours. He’d seen her not far off Davis and made sure he parked the van well ahead of her before opening the door. This was an impulse on his part. He had no plans to take any violent action. She came closer with that beautiful wet, tangly hair and a few raindrops staining her white T-shirt. The shirt had the logo on it. A giant bright yellow sun bursting over the horizon with the words HILLSIDE FARMS, OCALA, in blue, under the sun. He made some comment about her being soaked.

The bright young woman turned her head to him and looked in the van. She surprised him by saying, “If I could get someone to give me a ride to Orange Park it would save me a long miserable bus ride.”

He didn’t hesitate. “My shop’s down that way.” He said it calmly and coolly, but in fact he could see the top of his building down the street where he was standing right at that moment.

She got in the van and immediately started to chatter about how much she appreciated the ride and she had a friend who would let her stay the night in Orange Park. The young lady introduced herself very properly and he could already tell she met his requirements for eternity.

He drove around the block and hit the automatic garage door opener to his warehouse.

Jessie said, “I thought you said your shop was in Orange Park.”

“It is. This is just a warehouse for the glass we work with. We have a couple of them around the city. I’ll only be a few minutes and then I’ll take you wherever you need to go.” He kept his demeanor cool and didn’t force anything he said. He invited her to step out and have a soda while he walked past the display glass into his private workspace and selected one of his finished jars. The lid was already made for it, but he had to make the rubber seal that sat inside the glass lid. It only took a second to cut a gasket from a large square of industrial rubber. He never hurried through the warehouse as Jessie sat quietly on one of the stools next to the workbench glancing around the large bay. He had left the bay door open to give her a greater sense of ease, but he knew no one ever walked this far down the street or bothered to look into the boring old glass company’s warehouse. The only people who ever bothered him were Cheryl and Donna. Those visits had been too frequent lately. They had already ruined one chance he had at adding to his masterpiece. Barged in and made his subject scurry away like a frightened deer. He never even saw her again. Buddy looked on the bright side: another five minutes and they would’ve caught him with a dead body in his shop. That would’ve been enough to cancel his lease.

Jessie watched him as he walked back with a small glass jar in his hand and then saw her eyes drift over to the stairway to his private apartment.

She said, “What’s up there?”

“The office.” He liked the smooth sound of her voice. It had an innocent and youthful quality to it. He set the jar down and glanced around to see if there was a cord or strap he might be able to use. “Why’s a girl like you wandering around downtown Jacksonville on a wet, rainy day like this?”

Now she seemed to withdraw a bit. “My ride fell through and I need to get over to my friend’s house. Are we gonna head that way soon?”

He knew she was getting anxious and decided it was time to make his move.

Then a voice shook him out of his thoughts and instantly he was back in the dentist’s bright office installing a sheet of glass.

“How’s it going?”

It sounded like the voice was coming from a fog and it took a moment more to shake him from his daydream about the lovely Jessie. He cut his eyes to the sound of the voice and saw one of the dental assistants leaning over and smiling at him through the opposite side of the glass, the detailed etching of the dolphin obstructing the side of her face.

He had to blink his eyes hard to refocus his thoughts and form a coherent sentence. “It’s going pretty well. I’ll have this piece in place by lunch and start on the windows this afternoon.”

The woman stepped around the glass, keeping that beautiful smile, and said, “I wish I could concentrate like you. You completely blocked me out while you were setting the glass.”

He smiled and let out a laugh. “That’s the idea sometimes.”

The woman’s eyes took a quick scan of the room to make sure they were alone and said, “My name is Mary. What’s yours?”

Now he turned his full attention to the pretty young woman with long hair and said, “My friends call me Buddy.”

It was after lunch and Patty had a doctor’s appointment. Stallings sometimes worried about his younger partner, but she knew the best way to deflect any questions about a doctor’s visit was to mumble something about “female issues.” That tended to shut him up for at least an hour every time.

He decided to use his precious free moments to run a few blocks down and visit his father. In the last four months, since his father had reentered his life after a twenty-year absence, Stallings had learned a lot about poor choices and forgiveness. He’d also learned a lot about his early perceptions of his parents and their relationship. If his mother hadn’t told him she frequently spoke to his father and she held no real resentment toward him, he didn’t think there was any way he would’ve ever spoken to the old man again. But his mother, with her abundant patience and open mind, had explained to him she understood the disease of alcoholism and the pressures his father had been under during his career in the Navy. It’d been a slow process, but his father’s open adoration of Lauren and Charlie had given Stallings the incentive to risk getting to know him again.

Now sixty-four years old, he was a shell of the belligerent bully Stallings remembered as a child. The hard-drinking, loudmouth jerk had evolved into a conscientious and surprisingly funny older man. He had not had a drink in six years and moderated a number of different groups to help the homeless and alcoholics in the wide area of Jacksonville’s southern downtown. The municipal football stadium and St. Johns River bordered the southern edge of his father’s little kingdom. Stallings’s office sat within his father’s kingdom, but he had never run into the old man. Now Stallings realized he hadn’t been looking for him and could’ve very well seen him without recognizing the old man on a number of occasions.

He parked his Impala directly in front of the tall, run-down but stately rooming house where his father had a single room on the second story in the rear of the building. As Stallings walked up the pathway he noticed his father sitting on one of the comfortable chairs on the covered porch of the large house. Two other men sat on a low sofa with a plastic cover.

His father laid a hardcover book he was reading in his lap and smiled as Stallings approached and took the straight-backed wooden chair next to him.

“Hello, Johnny. What brings you by this time of day?”

“Just wanted to see how you were doing.”

When his father smiled and his cloudy eyes seemed to clear, Stallings caught a glimpse of the younger man he had known.

Stallings’s father said, “How’s that girl of yours doing?”

“Which one?”

“The one you married, goofy.”

“Dad, we talked about this. She and I are separated right now.”

The older man looked down and shook his head. “That’s a shame. I really like Helen.”

Stallings was about to casually correct him when he realized the old man had no idea he’d confused Stallings’s sister with his wife. He checked quickly to make sure his father hadn’t slipped back onto the sauce, leaning in to sniff his breath.

Stallings said, “Her name is Maria. Helen is your daughter.” He said it lightly, hoping it would clear his father’s head.

The elder Stallings gave a grin and a quick wink. “Just pulling your leg, son.” He tapped the side of his head and said, “I’m as sharp as ever.”

Even with the comment from his father, Stalling decided to use the visit to make sure the old man hadn’t lost a few steps mentally.

Buddy enjoyed the few minutes he spent talking with Mary. She explained the difference between the dental hygienist and assistant as well as several of the key points of protecting your teeth.

She said, “You have good teeth and a very friendly smile.”

“Thank you very much. I appreciate the compliment. How long have you worked here?”

“Almost ten years.”

“There is no way. You must’ve started here when you were fourteen years old.” He wasn’t just flattering her; she did have a very youthful-looking face.

“You are a charmer. I’ve been here since I was twenty-two years old and graduated from the program out at the community college.”

He liked her friendly manner and now that he looked, she had a few wrinkles, which gave her face a very gentle character. He said, “Maybe we could grab a cup of coffee sometime?”

Her smile already told him his answer. “I’d love to. I’m on vacation for two weeks starting Friday so maybe Friday evening. Otherwise we’d have to wait nine days until I got back from my cruise to Cancun.”

“Who you going on the cruise with?”

“I’m trying something new and spending the first three nights of the cruise alone, then meeting three girlfriends when they get on in Cancun. It was the only way we could all work out being together and I didn’t want to waste a half a week of vacation. It’s very exciting.”

Buddy did the math and realized this was an opportunity he couldn’t ignore. As long as he kept things quiet, no one would realize he’d be the last person she saw before she missed her departure. That would give him several days to spend with the lovely Mary before he had to worry about anyone missing her.

He looked up and forced a gentle smile on his face, saying, “I’d love to meet you somewhere Friday evening.”