Board Stiff: A Dead-End Job Mystery by Viets Elaine

Author:Viets, Elaine [Viets, Elaine]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2013-05-07T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 20

Helen stumbled out of Phil’s apartment, dazed as a shipwreck survivor, and nearly fell over Margery. Their landlady was weeding the orange-and-yellow coleus plants along the walkway.

“You’re dripping blood on my concrete,” Margery said. Her cigarette was carefully balanced on the walkway’s edge so the ash fell into the flower bed.

“You heard,” Helen said.

“Every word,” Margery said. Her smile could have frostbitten those plants.

“Phil’s furious,” Helen said, trying to hold back her tears.

“He’s got every right to be,” Margery said. “And stop dripping blood on my walk. It’s hard to clean up. Did that cat scratch you?”

“Yes,” Helen said. She moved to the grass and watched the red drops fall on the thick green blades as if the blood belonged to someone else—someone she didn’t like much.

“So Thumbs is mad, too,” Margery said. “I hate cats, but I agree with that one.”

“Was I so wrong?” she asked. All the pain she couldn’t feel came out in that agonized question.

“Yes,” Margery said. Her response was a slap. “You promised to love and honor that man. Instead you betrayed him.”

“But I didn’t,” Helen said.

“Oh, really?” Margery said. “You didn’t trust Phil—the man you married—enough to ask for his help? I call that a betrayal. Why didn’t you call him? He was what? A block away?”

“I wasn’t thinking,” Helen said.

“That’s for damn sure,” Margery said.

“You don’t know what it was like,” Helen said. “You weren’t there, either. It was one shock after another. Rob stormed in drunk, Tommy knocked him out, he came to again and then he was gone like that.”

Helen snapped her fingers.

“We couldn’t believe he was dead. Kathy and I did every test we could think of to make sure.”

“How could you two figure out if he was dead?” Margery said. “Even the best doctors can’t do that unless someone’s hooked up to a zillion machines in a hospital.”

“We did our best,” Helen said. “And then we realized we were in a suburban backyard with houses all around. My sister was frantic to save her son. Kathy swore me to secrecy. I had to keep quiet.”

“You had to?” Margery’s scorn scorched the grass.

“Yes,” Helen said. “I wasn’t thinking of anything but saving that boy. So we hurried up and got Rob out of there and buried him.”

“Did you really think Phil would betray your nephew?” Margery said through clenched teeth. “He loves Tommy and you know it. Little Allison, too.”

“I don’t know what I thought,” Helen said, staring at the blood-spotted grass. “I guess I just wanted to bury the whole awful episode, like we buried Rob, and never think about it again. Except it didn’t work out. Somebody started blackmailing us and I’ve paid a fortune to stop him.”

“How many demands for money did you get?” Margery asked.

“Three,” Helen said. “No, four. I can’t remember if this is the third or the fourth demand.” The harder she tried to remember, the more confused the facts became.

“Why didn’t you tell Phil when you got the first blackmail demand?” Margery asked, tearing out a weed by the roots.

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