Peggy Holloway - Judith McCain 01 - Blood on White Wicker (7 page)

It was almost June now. When I thought about it being this late in the year, I felt like crying. Mark still hadn’t come back to get me. He had written several times to let me know he was still tied up at work, something to do with the oil well having troubles and time being a lot of money. Jean gave me his card and asked me to call him towards the end of the summer. I gave him the phone number at Dave’s.

I left the gallery with so many things going on in my head, a girl who looked just like me, the daisies, the unicorn necklace, and my repeating dreams.

So far, the detective that Dave had hired had found out that Henrietta Hendrix had moved to New Orleans in 1967. He hadn’t found out where she moved from. I thought this detective wasn’t trying very hard and so Jesse came up with this idea that we would watch the nursing home and see who visited the old lady.

CHAPTER 6

The plan was to find out when visiting hours were, try to borrow a car, and sit in the parking lot watching to see who came out. We called and found out when visiting hours were. Trying to borrow a car was a little more difficult. First, we tried Dave.

“Do either of you even have a driver’s license? And where are you planning to go in my car that you can’t go by bus or street car? Besides, I don’t lend my car to anyone,” Dave said while looking from one of us to the other.

We ended up borrowing Delilah’s car. She didn’t ask any questions and just handed over the keys. Her car was a 1972 Ford Galaxy. It smoked something terrible and made horrible noises.

We got to the nursing home in time for visiting hours and were sitting in the parking lot when I remembered something we hadn’t thought of.

“How are we going to know which visitors coming out are the one or ones that visited Henrietta?”

“We’re just going to ask them.”

“What if they won’t tell us?”

“Vicky, quit worrying, it’s going to work out. I have a feeling about this.”

“Maybe that’s why Delilah loaned us the car. She had a feeling,” I murmured.

The first person to come out was a tall thin man with glasses. His hair, what there was of it, was light brown and looked like he combed it with an egg beater. Jesse jumped out of the car and threw her shoulders back. She sashayed over. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but it looked like she was shamelessly flirting with him. When he walked away, she looked after him for a few seconds and then returned to the car.

“He works here. He’s a male nurse. He said that the only visitors she ever had was her daughter, who is a middle aged woman with dark hair and eyes, and a bit overweight, and sometimes her grandson who comes with his mother. Her grandson is tall with blond hair, but he hasn’t been here in awhile.”

Visiting hours came and went and we still sat in the hot car.

“God! I sure wish this car had AC. I’m dying up in here,” Jesse said.

We kept waiting and waiting. Just as we were about to give up, we noticed a woman that matched the daughter’s description come out. I was just beginning to comment that I thought it was terrible that not a single person had come today on visiting day, to see anyone.

“Look Jesse, that’s got to be her,” I said and pointed.

Again Jesse jumped out and ran up to the woman. As soon as Jesse started talking to her she started shaking her head and walking away. Jesse tried to follow.

The woman screamed, “Leave me alone!”

She turned and actually ran away from Jesse.

“She claims she’s not Henrietta’s daughter and that she came to see someone else. And I know that’s her and something weird is going on. I’m gonna follow her,” Jesse said while getting into the car.

The woman got into a green Volvo and took off at great speed. I noticed that her license plate had so much mud on it that you couldn’t read it. Our car had a hard time getting started and Jesse was cursing it, until it finally caught and started.

“Which way did she turn at the end of the drive, Vicky?’

“Right, Jesse, go right!”

The woman was drove recklessly, weaving in and out of traffic and she almost hit the front bumper of a Toyota. When a red light caught her, she glanced nervously in the rearview mirror. She must have recognized us because she ran the red light and a Ford pickup truck almost hit her. The driver blew his horn and gave her the finger. It seemed like we chased her a hundred miles until she started across the Huey P. Long Bridge. That was where Jesse stopped.

 
“No way am I driving on that bridge. No way in hell,” she said shaking her head.

The bridge looked rusty with railroad tracks running down the middle. I was glad to not be going over it.

“Now what are we going to do, Jesse?”

She sat there thinking, and then hit the steering wheel, “looks like I have to get close to the male nurse. Tomorrow, I go alone, on the bus. Don’t you worry, sugar. We gonna figure this thing out.”

When we got home, Dave was fit to be tied. “Where the hell you girls been? ”he said, “Vicky, you missed your delivery, and Jesse, you know that Jonesie always comes to see you on the second Wednesday of each month. Marty had to make the delivery for you Vicky and she was madder than a wet hen. I just don’t know what I’m gonna do about her. I don’t need all this trouble. And Jonesee was not too happy to have Rhonda. The poor son-of-a-bitch, if he hadn’t been so horny he wouldn’t have taken the substitute. So, where have you been?”

Jesse looked at me for some time and then seemed to make up her mind about something. She told Dave the whole story about the nursing home and Henrietta’s daughter.

She finished with, “We accomplished more in one day than your private detective has in months. I’m telling you Dave, that guy’s ripping you off. I don’t know what he’s doing with his time. I think you ought to fire his ass.”

“First off, it’s not up to you to decide whether I need to hire or fire this dick. But, on the other hand, I think I will fire him. So, what did you plan on doing next, Jesse?”

Jesse told him her plans.

Dave said, “Invite him for dinner. I have an idea.”

The very next day, Jesse rode a bus to the nursing home and came back with Tom, the male nurse. I watched from my window as they got out of his car. He acted like a real gentleman, going around the car and opening Jesse’s door, and taking her elbow to lead her to the house.

When I came downstairs, Dave was shaking hands with him. “I’m so glad you are able to join us for dinner tonight. After dinner, we can talk. Ah! Here are the rest of the girls.” He introduced us and we started into the dining room.

Dave seemed to be especially nice to Tom during dinner. He kept telling Delilah to fill his wine glass. He kept telling Tom how he was so glad to meet him and that he thought they would be good friends. Dave was sitting at the head of the table, like he always did, and tonight Tom was sitting to his right.

At one point, Dave leaned over and whispered something to Tom and both men looked at Rhonda and laughed. Rhonda didn’t notice. She was telling me about a new purse she had bought and wanted me to see after dinner.

Both Rhonda and Jesse had been nice to me but Marty and I never seemed to hit it off. In fact, lately she acted like she couldn’t stand the sight of me. So, I was trying to pay attention to Rhonda, but I was also trying to see what Dave and Tom were up to.

At the end of the meal, Dave didn’t linger and talk to us girls like he usually did but pushed back from the table and stretched.

“We have some things to discuss in private, Tom. You girls do whatever you want to occupy yourselves,” Dave said as he stood and stretched.

Tom and Dave went into Dave’s office. I wanted so badly to listen at the door, but knew I couldn’t get away with it. After going to Rhonda’s room and looking at her new purse and chatting a few minutes, I went to my room and finally went to bed at about 2:20. Dave and Tom were still in Dave’s office.

The next morning when I went down to breakfast, around 10:30 a.m., Dave was eating his usual enormous breakfast of bacon, eggs, cheese grits, biscuits with red-eye gravy, and French Market chicory coffee. I really couldn’t figure out how he stayed so thin.

He was arguing with Marty, but I couldn’t tell what it was about.

All I heard was Dave saying, “…if you don’t, you’re out of here, no more discussion.”

He dismissed her with a wave of his hand.

When Delilah came into the dining room, I told her I wanted a sausage biscuit and a cup of café au lait (which I had learned was coffee with cream and sugar). I sat there hitting my thigh with my fist, when Dave turned to me with a wide grin on his face,

“Why don’t you just ask, Vicky, instead of beating yourself up? In fact, you don’t even have to ask, I’ll just tell you outright. I never thought I’d live to say this about a nerdy looking guy like Tom, but we really did hit it off. The bottom line is that he’s agreed to work for me, if compensated, of course.

“But, I figured out how to make some money out of this too. So, he’ll be spying for us at the nursing home and you will have more runs to the park to make. Everyone wins all around. The other thing is, he’s head over hills in love with Jesse. I tried to talk him out of it and even offered him Rhonda at one point. But he wants Jesse. That’s the only thing that worries me about this whole setup. But I think Jesse can handle herself all right.”

I thanked him and we ate the rest of the meal in silence. Later Jesse and Rhonda came down for their breakfast, and there was a lot of talking and laughing. This was the closest thing I had had to a family and I felt very happy, until I caught Marty’s eye. She was looking like she could kill me. I looked away quickly, because I didn’t want to have anything to do with her. I was scared of her.

 
CHAPTER 7

It was the middle of June before we started to see any results of Tom’s spying. One evening he showed up as we were finishing dinner. His eyes went straight to Jesse and she gave him a dazzling smile. When Dave turned around and saw him, he excused himself and took Tom into his office.

They were only in there for about fifteen minutes, when Dave called Jesse in. In just a little while, Jesse left with Tom, who was practically drooling. Dave came and motioned for me to follow him. But, instead of taking me into the office, he took me out on the front porch.

We sat side by side in the swing for awhile before Dave started pacing and finally swung around to face me.

“Here’s what Tom said, Vicky. Henrietta’s daughter didn’t come back in to see her mother again until today. Tom had tried calling and going by her house but she had given the nursing home a bogus address and phone number.

“So, today when she came by for her visit, he tried to catch her on her way out. At first, she was friendly, but when he asked her about her address and phone number, she took off. He tried to chase her, but he couldn’t follow her far. He had to stay inside the home since he was on duty. Poor son-of-a-bitch, he couldn’t wait to give me this little bit of information, so he could ask to take Jesse out. He’s got it bad!”

“So, we’re at a dead end?”

“Well, not necessarily. I think between them, he and Jesse can come up with something.”

He looked off as if studying the streetcar that was making a U-turn at the end of the street. When he turned back to me, he looked almost sad.

“The other thing I want to talk to you about is this Vicky. I don’t think Mark is coming back.”

When I started to protest, he held up his hand, “It’s been four months, Vicky; he hasn’t even sent me a check yet this month. It happens all the time, some dude promising to take one of the girls off with him. He could have just taken you with him if he was serious about it. So, I think we have to face facts. Besides, aren’t you happy here with us? You seem happy.”