There is a rhythm and flow to a neighborhood that one learns when walking the streets every day. You get to know who is out when, the pattern, the complexities, and, most importantly, the gossip. Right now, the gossip mill would be running full tilt. Normally, I hated gossip, but today I was feeling generous.
For instance, I knew that Henry and Paige walked their dog Scooter, a large, placid Doberman Pinscher, every morning around 8 am. Henry was an IT manager at a large tech company and Paige worked from home as a reader for a literary agency, so they had the flexibility to walk their dog in the mornings before work.
Between around 9 and 10 am, retirees, stay at home moms or dads, and nannies did their daily constitutional, some with dogs, some with kids in strollers, some by themselves.
The runners and joggers were out either early in the cool of the mornings or around noon, wearing their serious expressions and appearing sleek in their skin-tight lycra. You don’t stop a runner to chat. It’s an unwritten rule.
Those of us who were walkers, though, would all stop to chat, share a funny story about the dog or a child, discuss the weather, gossip about neighborhood goings-on, which was usually about who was leaving whom or the atrocious furniture that Mrs. Denby sold at her garage sale, and then we all went on our way, finishing our exercise and already thinking about what the rest of our day had in store.
If I recalled correctly, and I was sure I did, Nick Silva went for a stroll every evening around 5 PM. A former Human Resources Director for a local computer cable company, Nick was a mild-mannered man in his late 60’s who I often enjoyed chatting with when our paths crossed. Nick was also the Sunhaven HOA Board Vice President and somebody I wanted to bump into.
As I walked with Mr. Tuttles, I breathed in the scent of the day lilies, one of the plants I actually did recognize, and I thought about how it seemed that it was always a beautiful day in the city of Palm Hills. Beautiful, but hot. I was in shorts and a white “I’m just here to pet the dogs” t-shirt, and I was already sweating buckets. No matter. People were out and about until the thermometer went above 100. Maybe I was just a sad little office dweller until a month ago, used to the raging air conditioning of the indoors, because neighbors were out walking their dogs in droves. The blue skies and fully leaved, dark green trees belied the darkness that shrouded our neighborhood. Who would think something so horrible could happen in a place this pretty? Or in a place this hot? I didn’t want to do anything physical in this type of heat, but duty called.
Mr. Tuttles and I wound around the main street, heading for the loop I expected Nick to be walking, up and over the pedestrian path, by the clubhouse, and then on around to the pool. It was a nice, long loop, giving those of who wanted it about two miles of exercise. Mr. Tuttles stopped to lift his leg on every light post, rock, and shrub, causing me to audibly sigh. He looked up to me as if to say, “I own this neighborhood, and I’m going to be sure all of the other dogs know it!”
It’s the problem with being a detective’s dog. He has an oversized sense of his own worth.
“Hello, Kate!” Becca again, but today I was glad to see her. She was one of the best gossips in the neighborhood.
“Hello, Becca!”
“I’m so sorry about Angela. Such strange business, don’t you think?” She tilted her head. “How are you dealing with this? Would you like a hug?” She stepped towards me, her arms out.
Oh, God, no!
I angled my body away and leaned back, just evading her outreach, leaving her in an almost comical position. Never one to be deterred, Becca recovered quickly and settled for touching my shoulder instead.
“That’s very sweet, Becca. I’m doing okay,” I said.
“Have you heard anything?”
“Nope. What do you hear?”
“I was talking to Lexie, and she said there was some sort of dust-up between Cynthia and the HOA manager, Felyne, at the coffee shop!”
Lexie, the owner of the Great Dane, was another huge neighborhood gossip. I sometimes imagined her and Becca both sitting in their front windows with binoculars, keeping an eye on the comings and goings. To me, that would have been one of the most boring things in the world anybody could do, but the two of them obviously got something out of their constant surveillance. I was sure they compared notes daily.
I nodded wisely. “Any idea what the argument was about?”
“No, but here comes Nick. He might know.”
Nick and Edward Diamond, or, as I now thought of him, Olive Tree Man, ambled towards us. Ed walked slightly hunched over with a cane, and Nick had his usual limp. The two walked together often, being well-matched in their slow pace.
I had heard many times Nick’s story of how his knee was ruined playing college football and never having it looked at by a doctor. Now they wanted to do a knee replacement on him, but he said they’d send him to his grave before he let those damn doctors butcher him up like that. In spite of his aversion to the advice of medical science, I’d always liked Nick. He was the sort of man who would stop to help a stranger change a tire on the side of the road, bad knee or not. When Angie decided to run for the HOA Board, Nick ran with her, and it was no surprise to me that the two of them beat Beatrice in the neighborhood vote. The rest of the board voted Angie in as President and Nick as her Vice-President.
Ed wore a dark green cardigan in spite of the heat, and he sported his usual frown. I wondered what drew sour old Ed together with happy-go-lucky Nick that they would often walk together, but I put that aside as one of the many mysteries of the universe that would go unsolved in my lifetime.
“Helloooo,” Nick said. “I suppose you ladies are gabbing about Angie. So sad.”
“Hello, Nick. Ed. How are you gentlemen doing today?”
“Well, my stomach’s been turning like crazy, but Nick convinced me a walk would help.” Typical Ed.
“It’s not only sad, it gives me the willies! Imagine a killer living among us,” Becca exclaimed.
Nick turned to her. “Oh, I can’t believe it was anybody from the neighborhood. What do you say, Miss CEO? Neighbor or stranger?”
“I really couldn’t say. I wondered if you had any ideas. I recall a while ago Angie mentioned something about a forensic accountant. Do you know anything about that?”
“Forensic accountant?” Becca repeated loudly. “What would she want with one of those?”
“That’s funny. She never said a word to me about any accountants. Couldn’t have been an HOA thing,” Nick said.
“I assume you and Angie discussed everything about HOA business, then?”
“Definitely. Angie leaned on me quite a bit for advice. I’ve had a long history of being on volunteer boards, what with my time on the Rotary Club board and all. Nothing got by me when it came to the HOA!”
“Except for that little altercation at the coffee shop,” Becca offered.
“Oh, you’re right! I didn’t know anything about that until much later. I heard that was quite the scene,” Nick said. “I don’t think it had anything to do with Angie, though.”
“What happened?”
“Cynthia and Felyne, our HOA manager - I guess they had a little tiff. Beatrice told me they were at the Rise and Grind Coffee Shop, and, get this, voices were raised!” Nick raised his hands, mimicking raised voices.
Apparently everybody knew about this little argument except me. I needed to get out more.
“Voices were raised?”
“Yes! They were loud, or so I heard!”
“That does sound…um…pretty bad. Any idea what they were arguing about?”
Becca jumped in again. “According to Lexie, there was talk about the Lakers, the basketball team, you know, and then a bit later something about homemade jelly.”
“That doesn’t sound like anything to argue about, does it?” Nick asked.
“If you ask me, women can argue about anything,” Ed said.
“Speak of the devil!” Becca looked past me. “Here comes Cynthia now! Maybe she can shed some light on all this.”
I turned, and sure enough, there was Cynthia walking towards us, sunglasses covering her eyes, with her Chihuahua dressed in a red hat and blue jacket.
Starsky? Spunky? Shoot! What is that dog’s name?
“Cynthia!” Becca threw her arms around the startled woman in a big bear hug. “How are you doing?”
Mr. Tuttles and the ridiculously appareled Chihuahua circled, sniffing each other’s behinds in a dog’s universal greeting of good will.
“I’m holding up.” Cynthia perched her sunglasses on the top of her head. It didn’t look like she was holding up. Her eyes were red and puffy, and she reached down to pick up her little dog, holding him close to her face. “I just got back from the police station.” She looked pointedly at me, her face pouty. “They asked me a lot of very personal questions! I had to dress Sparky here…”
Sparky! That was it!
“…in a Paddington Bear outfit, just to make both of us feel better!”
“What did they want?”
Cynthia shrugged. “I had to give hair and DNA samples and tell them all about why I was at Angie’s on Saturday.”
“You were at Angie’s on Saturday?” Becca gave me the side eye, as though she felt I had held back on her. I gave an innocent shrug.
“Yes, but it was in the morning. Apparently other people saw her after me, so I think I’m in the clear. They did want an alibi for me for Saturday night, though.”
“Did you have one?” Becca asked.
“Of course!” Cynthia wrinkled her face in annoyance. “I can’t believe you had to ask that!”
“I wasn’t implying anything, Cyn. I just wondered how hard it’ll be for them to eliminate you.”
Sure you did, Becca. I was wondering the same thing, except I could have found that out with a text to Dayna.
“Well, I was with Tony the whole afternoon and evening. We were…discussing things.” I was sure the “things” she was discussing had to do with money missing from some accounts.
“I wonder who else they’ll want to speak with. I’d imagine everybody from the board will be asked to give a statement.”
They all looked at me. “You’re probably right. Who knows? Maybe somebody here knows something that could be germane to the case.”
“Well, I doubt I’ll be called. I wouldn’t know a thing about anything. I’m just going to head on back home.” Ed Diamond turned and shuffled the other way without waiting for Nick.
Becca glanced at her Fitbit. “Oh, shoot, look at the time! I need to go, too. If either of you hear anything, be sure to let me know!”
Cynthia turned and headed towards her own house, still carrying Sparky, and I settled into her pace next to her.
“I hope they weren’t too hard on you at the station. I really did try to smooth it all out for you, but, you know, my breakup with the Chief was pretty bad. He might even have been harder on you because I tried to intercede on your behalf.” Yes, that was all a blatant lie, but it was all in the interest of finding Angie’s killer. I’d lie, fight, and probably kill to get justice for Angie.
Cynthia exhaled as though she had been holding her breath since she joined our little group on the sidewalk. “I don’t know. I guess it wasn’t too bad.” Her voice had a little squeak to it that belied her words. She was upset. “I should tell you I wasn’t quite honest with you about everything this morning.”
I allowed a comfortable silence to drift between us as we walked, knowing it would encourage her. I knew that people spoke more of the truth when doing something, like walking side by side, and not just looking into your eyes from across a table.
“I didn’t just go to Angie’s to go over the budget.”
No kidding.
“Angie was also helping me figure out Tony’s finances, what he was spending our money on. She gave me the name of a forensic accountant.”
Ah, yes, the yellow sticky! That tracked. I made a note to pay a visit to this Peter Barlow.
“I see.”
“And you might as well know now, since I told the police. I’ve been seeing somebody.”
“Seeing?”
“You know, having an affair.” Her words started to come out much more quickly now, as though it was a relief to finally be able to expel all of this information. “I thought Tony was cheating. I still do. And then this guy, Lars, contacted me about trying to get the contract to service the HOA pool. He’s just so kind, Kate! He offered to take me out for drinks, show me how he could save us money, and you know Angie and I have been working so hard to save the HOA money! I’ve never met a guy who listened to me the way he did!”
Inwardly, I groaned. Oh, Cynthia!
“And you told the police all of this?”
She nodded, her eyes cast to the sidewalk. “It didn’t even occur to me that they’d think I might have killed Angie to keep that a secret! I should have just kept my mouth shut!”
I stopped and put a hand out to stop her as well. Her face was a picture of misery, eyes filled with tears.
“Telling the police was the right thing to do. They would have found out anyway, and it would have been more suspicious if you left it out.” She nodded, stroking Sparky’s head. “I have to ask, Cyn. Is there anything else? Anything you didn’t tell the police?”
“No! I swear!” Cynthia’s eyes shot left and right, giving away the lie.
“I heard you and Felyne had a bit of a fight at the coffee shop. What was that about?”
“That was nothing, I swear, Kate! Just a bit of a misunderstanding.”
“Over…?”
Cynthia stammered a bit, “Just, just basketball teams. Felyne is a huge Lakers fan, and I said they weren’t nearly as good as the Celtics.”
“There was mention of jelly?”
Cynthia stared at me with big, round eyes and a slightly open mouth, evoking images of the personification of a deer caught in the headlights. I hit a nerve with that one.
“Jelly?”
I nodded and didn’t speak.
“I don’t know anything about jelly, but I will tell you this. Felyne really didn’t want to change our pool contract from the company that has it now to my Lars, even though Lars’s company would have saved us a lot of money! I think the police should start looking into that! And, I’m sorry, Kate, but I really must leave you. I’m very late.” At that, Cynthia hurried off in front of me towards her home.
“Hmmm…” I thought, as Mr. Tuttles and I watched her walk away.
Cynthia was quick to change the subject when I brought up the jelly. That is something worth looking into. And she had no problem throwing Felyne under the bus when cornered. Why were they arguing in the coffee shop? Was it just about the pool contract, or was there more to it?
I had a lot to think about, but, at the moment, my biggest concern was getting to the airport to pick up Harmony.