Murderabilia by Carl Vonderau

Author:Carl Vonderau
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: murderabilia;carl vondreau;carl vonderau;karl vonderau;karl vondreau;mystery;mystery fiction;mystery novel;mystery book;mystery books;suspense;CVR09112018;CVR11132018
Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide, LTD.
Published: 2019-05-22T19:42:50+00:00

35

I heard the soprano singing Carmen even before I pushed open the Haven’s heavy wooden door. It was three thirty, a slow time, and Polly always put on opera in the break between lunch and dinner. Mike had dropped off Jill and the kids, knowing that Polly and her staff would watch over them while he ran an errand. One by one, I identified each member of my family. In the corner play area, Polly and Frieda jumped up and down clutching junior hockey sticks. Jill and Garth, holding their own sticks, shook their heads at a ball rolling inside a plastic net and goal. They were playing Haven Hockey. All were safe.

I exhaled.

A new picture hung from the ochre wall beside me: two women with big hair in leather pants, black muscle shirts, and red heels. Each held the hand of a little boy. The boys looked like twins with their spiked hair, dirty pants, and Superman capes. It was the family Polly had always wanted. Instead, she’d adopted ours.

Jill waved tentatively at me. She must have noticed my somber expression and came over. Jill, Polly, and I sat at a table under a bird mobile. Polly poured the coffee into three baseball mugs from her Padres collection.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Polly said.

I wasn’t sure I wanted to tell them. Outside the half-curtained windows, a car cruised by and a rapper’s voice cut into the baritone from Carmen. The rap faded. Three staff emerged from the kitchen’s swinging door with boxes of cutlery for the tables.

“Well?” Polly said.

It would be so easy to keep it secret. Just make up something. But I didn’t. I told them about my meeting with Vanessa. “I just wanted to freak her out,” I said. “That’s the only reason I told her who my father was.”

“The bitch deserved it,” Polly said.

“But I liked it.”

Polly shrugged, her bracelets rattling on the table. “We all like to intimidate assholes.”

Jill jerked back. “Jesus.”

“Well, maybe it wasn’t your best moment,” Polly said.

“After it was over, I wanted to come get you all and run away. Just like thirty years ago.”

We listened to the alto’s solo and sipped the coffee Polly had brewed. As usual, it was thick as sludge.

My sister set down her mug. “I think you wanted to run away from him, from the similarities you saw in yourself.”

I shook my head. “I wanted to run away from the bank and everything else that’s happened.”

“But what you actually did was come here to be with us,” Jill said.

Polly pulled at the diamond stud in her ear. She gazed at the little barriers around the play area. “Sometimes I wonder if he’s inside me too.”

Jill slapped the table so hard her coffee spilled. “Will you two just move on?” She swiveled her head to take in both of us. “A killer was inside our house.”

My wife’s glare bored into us. Polly swallowed. Her neck reddened and her mouth opened. Then shut.

“We need to take precautions,” Jill said.

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