Valerie Wolzien - Death In Duplicate

He raised his eyes from the ground, but his expression didn’t change.

“You’re leaning on my car,” she explained.

“I wasn’t hurting it,” he said.

“But I’m afraid I might hurt you when I back up. I want to make the next ferry,” she explained, wondering why he didn’t just move.

“Oh.” He looked over his shoulder at her car and then back at her. “I’m waiting for someone.”

“Well, if you could just wait someplace else,” she suggested, concerned about how long this might take.

“I…Yeah, there she is.” A smile transformed him. “My girl,” he said, looking over Susan’s shoulder as he moved away. “She works here.”

Susan turned and realized that the young woman who had been sitting at the desk in the entrance was walking toward them. “Do you need a ride?” she offered, seeing another opportunity to learn about the care center.

“No. We’re fine,” the young man assured her, without turning around.

Well, she had tried her best, Susan thought, getting into her car.

IF IT HADN’T BEEN FOR CLUE’S ENTHUSIASTIC GREETING, Susan would have thought her house abandoned when she arrived home. The kitchen sink was full of dirty dishes and she stopped long enough to fill the dishwasher and turn it on before she started upstairs.

Except for the wicker laundry basket full of clean, folded, and sweet smelling baby clothes, the hallway was deserted. Susan thought she heard wind chimes and peeked in the open nursery door. The sight that greeted her was so close to what she had envisioned when she created this room that, for a moment, she thought she had imagined it.

Ethan lay on his back, feet flying in the air, staring up at the nearest knight marching toward the castle, apparently fascinated, and certainly content. Shannon was sitting in the rocking chair giving Rosie her bottle as a CD of the Sonos Handbell Ensemble played. Shannon looked up at Susan and smiled.

“Is Chrissy lying down?” Susan whispered.

Shannon shook her head no. “Out after the dogs.”

“What?”

They both looked down at the babies, who seemed to be completely disinterested in their conversation. “She ran after her dogs,” Shannon explained, turning up the volume a bit. “Someone left the gate to the backyard open and they ran away.”

“Oh no!”

At Susan’s cry, both babies stirred but settled back down almost immediately. Ethan’s eyelids began to close and Rosie sighed deeply before getting back to the serious business of eating.

“When?” Susan asked. “How long has she been gone?”

Shannon looked up at the Cow Jumping Over the Moon clock which hung over the door. “About half an hour.”

“She could be anywhere. I’d better go help her… unless you need me?”

“I’ll be fine here.”

Susan didn’t wait around to hear more. She charged down the stairs and out the back door, pausing only long enough to fill the pockets of her jacket with dog biscuits. Clue trotted behind her and Susan was careful to latch the gate, trapping her dog in the backyard. Susan then ran down the driveway and stopped. There was no sign of either her daughter or Rock and Roll. Which way had they gone? She decided to jog around the block. If she didn’t run into them, or someone who had seen them, she would come home and call the police. The mastiffs had visited Hancock on a few occasions, but they didn’t really know their way around. They could be anywhere.

The afternoon was waning and the warmth of the day disappearing. Susan pulled her jacket tight across her chest and began to speed walk. Early bulbs poked up in gardens, their cheerful color relieving the dull brown that predominates in New England in the spring, but she didn’t stop to admire them. Up ahead, a neighbor appeared, walking a large Irish wolfhound. Susan, who knew the dog’s name was Sage but wasn’t as familiar with its human walker, waved and hurried toward her.

“Hi! Where’s Clue?”

“At home. Did you see two bullmastiffs? They’re brindle and they’re my daughter’s and they’ve run away.”

“No! But if I do…” The woman paused, apparently not sure what to offer.

“If you do, would you call the police and ask for Brett Fortesque and tell him where they are?” Susan asked.

“Of course.” A chipmunk, popping its head out of a crack in a high stone wall, attracted Sage’s attention and he and his mistress took off down the street.

Susan continued her search, but fifteen minutes later she was rounding the corner back to her street and had seen no sign of either the dogs or her daughter. With a sigh, she decided to go home and call Brett. She probably should have called him in the first place.

As soon as she made this decision, he appeared. Susan almost couldn’t believe it as the police chief’s car roared around the corner, lights flashing, and pulled up to the curb. She ran over to the driver’s window.

“Brett! How did you know we needed you?”

“Chrissy called,” he answered.

Susan smiled. Her daughter had everything under control.

“There’s a rig overturned on 95, but we’ll have more officers on the scene in a few minutes,” he said, getting out of the car and starting up the sidewalk.

“That will help. They don’t know the neighborhood very well. I mean, we walk them when they’re here, but not a lot. You know how it is with two large dogs and-”

Brett turned and stared at her. “What are you talking about?”

“Rock and Roll. Didn’t Chrissy call the police to report missing dogs?”

“Susan… Chrissy called us, yes. But she was reporting a body.”

“A what?”

“A body. Apparently your new next-door neighbor is dead.”

“Nadine or Donald?”

“I don’t know who. I didn’t take the call.”

But Susan was already running up the sidewalk to the Baineses’ house. A not-too-accurate replica of a turn-of-the-century Queen Anne Victorian, the house had four different doorways as well as three porches. Susan dashed to the front door and hammered on the brass knocker shaped like a mermaid. Large panes of engraved glass were set in the door and Susan could see Chrissy as she hurried across the wide foyer. By the time Chrissy had the door open, Brett was at Susan’s side.

“Chrissy! What happened? Why are you here? Who’s dead?”

Brett placed his hands on Susan’s shoulders and gently pushed her aside. “Where’s the body?” he asked.

“The kitchen.” Chrissy sounded calm, but Susan realized her face was unnaturally pale. “She’s lying on the kitchen floor.”

“An ambulance should be here in a few minutes. Would you stay here and direct them to the kitchen when they arrive?” Brett asked. “Your mother can show me the way. Can’t you?” He looked at Susan for confirmation.

“Yes. Of course.”

“My dogs. Rock and Roll. They’re in the basement. I didn’t know where else to put them. They’ll scratch up the door,” Chrissy added.

“How did they get in? They didn’t kill…” Susan couldn’t even finish the question, it was so horrible.

“Mother!” Chrissy sounded so much like her adolescent self that Susan almost smiled despite the seriousness of the situation. “They didn’t hurt her. They found her. She… she… she was stabbed. A lot.” Chrissy took a deep breath and turned away.

“Susan, maybe you should stay with your daughter. I can find my way-”

“I’ll be fine,” Chrissy said. “You go with Brett, Mother. It’s been a shock. That’s all.”

Susan hesitated. “You’re sure?”

Chrissy’s shoulders stiffened. “Yes. I’m fine. Really. Fine. You don’t have to treat me like a child.”

This was not the time to assure her daughter that many grown-ups would fall apart if they discovered a body, and Susan led Brett from the foyer as sirens sounded in the distance.