Ring Around the Rosy (21 page)

It didn’t take long before chaos
and commotion took over the serene mood, and things went back to normal. Susan
loved watching the scene around her. No one allowed Mrs. Morgan to do anything,
and each child vied to wait on her, outdoing the other with offers of drinks,
pillows for her back, footstool, and anything else they could think of.

Mrs. Morgan laughed at all the
attention, and soon began giving orders as if they were small children,
admonishing their playful punches and competition. Susan wished the day could
last forever.

All too soon, the evening ended.
“Sorry to break this up,” Dave said. “But we have an early flight.”
 
After they kissed everyone goodbye, Rudy
drove them back to the hotel.

“I’ll pick you up at six in the
morning.”

Susan packed her bags, leaving out
only the bare essentials she needed to get ready for the trip home. Dave kissed
her at the door and lingered a moment before he said goodnight. Susan had an
overwhelming urge to pull him into her room. Somehow, she managed to resist.

Chapter Seventeen

Pussy cat, pussy cat where have you been?

He slammed down the phone. Where
did she go? He hadn’t seen her in days. It wasn’t like her to just take off. He
hoped she wasn’t sick or in the hospital, but he’d have heard about that. No,
she went off someplace. Probably with that damn detective.

He opened the nursery rhyme book
and planned his next move.

* * *

Unlike the previous morning, when
Susan leaped out of bed eager to face the day, today, she crawled out slowly,
loathing the thought of leaving this delightful family and fabulous weather.

Dave didn’t say much on the way to
the airport. Susan didn’t care; she was too tired to talk. Rudy seemed
exceptionally quite, also.

“See you back home next week.”
Rudy dropped them at the curbside check in.

“Okay. See ya.” Dave pulled their
suitcases out of the trunk.

“Nice meeting you, Susan. You take
care of our boy there.” Rudy teased.

“Oh, I’ll take care of him, all
right.” Susan teased back. “Nice meeting you, too.”

They arrived home at eleven
o’clock. Dave picked up his car from the airport parking lot and drove Susan
home.

“I’m going in with you.” He pulled
her bag out of the trunk. “We’ll find out if you have any messages, and I’ll
check in with Greenwood.”

Bella met her at the door, excited
to see her, almost jumping into her arms. Even though her neighbor’s son, Todd,
fed Bella and probably played with her, the poor thing had still been lonely.
She hardly ever left Bella for more than a few hours.

She snuggled the cat while Dave
pushed the play back button that blinked rapidly, indicating she had a lot of
messages. Susan’s knees went weak. All the pent-up emotion previous to the
Florida trip exploded into renewed fear.

“Pussy cat, pussy cat where have
you been?” followed by an eerie gurgle before he hung up.

Dave held her as her body
trembled.

The next call his raspy voice
said, “Goosey gander, whither do you wander?” He obviously knew she was gone.
The last call announced he couldn’t wait for her return. “I can’t work my magic
without you to cover the story,” the voice said.

Dave sat her down and made coffee.
“I can see it’s going to be a long day.”

Curled on the chair with Bella
next to her, Susan hugged her knees. All the fun and relaxation of the last
couple of days vanished, and reality set in. This wasn’t over. He was out
there, and she and Dave both knew he’d kill again. He had to be stopped, but
how?

The police had followed up every
lead and turned up nothing. Witnesses were few and far between. The only
suspect had been released for lack of evidence. Then there was the matter of
the roses. Two wilted, dead roses had sat outside her door when they arrived
home. Dave still said he didn’t think it was the killer, so someone else was
stalking her.

There was also a message from
Clare, asking her to call when she got in. Her sister had some news. Dave
brought her coffee and the phone.

* * *

He went into the kitchen and
called his partner.

“I’m back,” Dave said when
Greenwood answered the phone. “What’s going on?”

“Investigation almost complete. I
have a couple questions for your girl. Can you bring her in?”

Dave cringed. “What kind of
questions? Can’t you ask her over the phone?” He didn’t like this. Asking Susan
down to the station didn’t sit well with him.

“Just routine, Dave, nothing to
get excited about.”

Easy for Greenwood to say, it wasn’t
his girl they were investigating. Dave knew better. Nothing was routine. What
could he do?

“I’ll bring her down later.” Dave
hung up without waiting for a response. How was he going to tell Susan?

“Call your sister.” He went back
into the living room. No point in telling about the phone call yet. There was
plenty of time for that later. Let her relax for a while. “I’ll be back in an
hour. I’m going home to unpack.” He kissed her cheek and left.

* * *

Sipping the hot coffee, Susan
relaxed and dialed Clare’s number. Clare answered on the first ring. After the
hellos, how-are-you, and how-was-your-trip trivialities that Clare didn’t
really let her answer, she finally got to the point.

“I just wanted to tell you about
my new client,” Clare said.

Susan rolled her eyes. Clare was
off and running as usual.

“I love my new job. I never
thought working as an accountant would be so exhilarating, Susan?”

“That’s great.” Wow, she actually
got a chance to speak. Not that listening about Clare’s clients was interesting.
In fact, she couldn’t think of a more boring job. But then, she never was good
with numbers.

“Listen to me going on and on.
Sorry, I just can’t help myself. I bet you’re tired. Is Dave still there? How
did you like your Florida trip? I hope his mother is okay. How about his
family? Did you get to meet them? Tell me everything, unless you can’t if Dave
is there.”

“Clare, my gosh, take a break,
already. Your nonstop conversation is giving me a headache. How about if I meet
you tomorrow, and we’ll do lunch.”

Leaning back, Susan hung up the
phone.

Lord, her sister could talk, but
at least for a few minutes, she had been able to put the other phone calls out
of her mind. Clare wore her out with the continuous babble. Oh, she understood
the excitement of a new job, but sometimes her sister went a little overboard.
She laid her head back and closed her eyes. She just wanted to think about Dave
for a while, wanted to mull over the past couple of days without interruption…

Dave woke her an hour later, when
he sat next to her on the couch and pulled her close. They sat like that with
him holding her, not talking. Secure in his arms, his chest muscles rippling
against her head as he stroked her hair, contentment and relaxation filled her.
She could stay like that forever.

As usual, the ringing phone
disrupted them. The machine answered, and the voice once again spoke. “Welcome
home, I missed you,” the voice sounded harsher, more menacing than the last
time she had heard it. “I’m working on my next victim. Be prepared.” The phone
clicked off, and the dial tone sounded.

Dave stood and removed the tape.
“He’s watching you; he knows your home. We have police stationed at all the
phone booths in the area. He must be using a different phone, or we’d have him,
and he’s not calling from a cell phone.”

Chills racked her body. The hair
on her arms bristled as goose bumps erupted. The realization she was being
watched frightened her. She couldn’t take much more of this. Covering a story
was one thing, but he involved her, made her part of it, and she didn’t like
it.

“Susan.” Dave’s voice sounded odd.

“What?” Susan didn’t like the way
he said her name. Something was wrong; she could tell by the way he avoided
looking at her.

“We have to go down to the
station. Greenwood has some questions for you.”

Susan took a breath. “What kind of
questions? Can’t he ask them over the phone or come here?”

“Just routine.” Dave shook his
head. “I’ll be with you.”

* * *

Dave pulled out a chair and sat
down next to Susan in the interrogation room. Officially, he was still a cop,
and he wanted to see what Greenwood had to say. The look on Greenwood’s face
told Dave he didn’t like it. Not that Dave cared, this was about Susan and he
wasn’t about to leave her alone.

Greenwood set a tape recorder on
the table and pushed the record button. “You understand you’re not under arrest
and that you’re free to leave anytime, Ms Weston?”

“Yes.”

Dave had told her to just answer
the questions, not to offer anything more.

“When was the last time you heard
from the killer?”

“This morning.”

Detective Greenwood sat up
straight. His eyes bored into her.

“This morning? What did he say?”

Dave pulled the evidence bag,
containing the tape, from his pocket. “It’s all right here. Just like the rest
of them.”

Greenwood looked at Dave. “Fine,
but I’m asking Ms Weston.”

“Cut the crap, Greenwood. What’s
going on here?” Dave kicked his chair back and stood.

“Morgan, either sit down and shut
up, or get out.”

Dave stood for a moment and glared
at him. Finally, he picked up the chair and sat down again. Much more of this,
and they were both leaving.

Susan looked at Dave. He shook his
head.

“He said...” Susan took a deep
breath. “He said some kind of riddles. Goosey, goosey gander and pussy cat,
pussy cat. Then he said he couldn’t wait for me to come back so he could work
his magic.” Susan gulped back tears. “The last one he said he missed me and
welcome home.”

Why the hell was Greenwood asking
all these questions? They had the tape. All he had to do was listen to it. What
more did they want?

Detective Greenwood took notes
while they talked.

“You knew Jack and Jill
personally.”

“Yes.” Susan squirmed in her
chair.

Dave drummed his fingers on the
table.

“Do you know anyone who would want
to harm Mr. and Mrs. Shipman?”

That’s it. He had enough. “Damn
it, Greenwood, where are you going with this? They were her friends. She knew
all the victims.
 
What does that prove?”

Greenwood flipped off the
recorder. “If you can’t be quiet, Morgan, I’ll have to ask you to leave.”

“That’s just what we’re going to
do. Come on, Susan.” Dave stood and took Susan’s hand.

“Actually, Dave, I think you
better go talk to the chief. I only have a couple more questions for Ms
Weston.”

Dave sat down and glared at
Greenwood. “I’ll wait.”

Detective Greenwood pressed the
record button. “You’re sure you don’t know who’s committing these crimes?”

“Oh, for crying out loud!” Dave
jumped up again. “Of course she doesn’t know who committed them. How many times
does she have to tell you that?”

“That’s it! Get out!” Detective
Greenwood shot up and stood toe-to-toe with Dave. “I let you stay out of
courtesy. Now I’m telling you to leave.”

Dave shook his head.

“It’s okay, Dave. Go ahead, I’ll
be fine.”

Dave pulled his chair around,
 
sat back down and crossed his arms.

Detective Greenwood walked to the
door, opened it, and spoke to someone outside. “Please escort Detective Morgan
from the room.”

Two police officers came in and
stood next to Dave. The younger of the two slipped his finger around the collar
of his shirt and raised his shoulders. The discomfort was evident in his
action.

Dave stood and looked at her.
“I’ll be right outside if you need me.”

She shook her head.
 

“Go see the chief while we finish
up here,” Greenwood said in a calmer voice. He closed the door after Dave left
and turned back to Susan.

* * *

Susan sat forward in her chair.
She had never seen Dave so angry. Something strange was going on. Dave knew
more than he told her. And she didn’t like Greenwood and his implications. She
felt like a criminal. She turned her attention back to him.

“Now then, are you sure you don’t
know the perpetrator?”