Chapter 22
Once more we found ourselves in the presence of Dotty’s slightly less than delightful neighbor Sybil Garlic. And once again she declined to invite us into her little home, opting to engage us in conversation on her doorstep. It made me wonder what she might be hiding in there.
“‘Good riddance,’ Mrs. Garlic?” asked Chase, reading from his phone. “‘Filthy scum got exactly what they deserved?’ Is that a way to talk about your neighbors?”
“Okay, so I’m not unhappy that she’s dead,” said Mrs. Garlic, giving us a pointed look, as if she didn’t approve of cats in her home any more than she did ladies of the night. “But that doesn’t mean I killed her, now does it?”
“Please try to apply restraint in the things you write online, Mrs. Garlic,” said Chase. “Dotty Ludkin had a family. A father who loved his daughter very much. And a boyfriend who felt the same. Do you really want them to read the kind of stuff you write?” When she didn’t reply, he said, more forceful this time, “Delete it would be my strong advice.”
“And if I don’t?”
“I’d be forced to look a little closer into the vandalism charges that have come to light. And trust me, I’d be inclined to take those very seriously indeed.”
“You shouldn’t be looking at me, you know. I’m not the bad guy here,” she said annoyedly. “You should be looking at those men that were up there all the time. She probably thought no one noticed, but I did. Place was like a darn bus stop.”
“Was there someone up there with Dotty the night she died?” asked Odelia, getting a sudden moment of inspiration.
“Oh, absolutely. Like I said, there were men up there all the time. It never ended. And then laughing and talking and playing their music way too loud. Her bedroom is right over my bedroom, so I could hear her mattress squeak when she was doing her business. I always had to sleep with earplugs orI wouldn’t have gotten any sleep at all.”
“You didn’t happen to take a look at the person who was up there that night, did you?”
We all stared hopefully at the old lady who wiped her hands on her housecoat.“No, I’m afraid I didn’t. Not that night. I usually liked to take a peek through the peephole, just to know what kind of people were entering the building. But not that night. You see, there was a special episode ofHoarders on that I did not want to miss. I heard them arrive, though. Her laughing, him talking. So I knew she had company again.”
“What time was this?” asked Chase, taking out his notepad.
“Must have been… eleven? Something like that? You could check the TV guide. The show had just started, which is why I remember it so distinctly, cause I even raised the volume on my TV, hoping they’d get the message. Which of course they never did,” she added with a touch of bitterness.
“What else did you hear?”
“Well, nothing much. Like I said, I’d raised the volume to drown out her noise.” She thought for a moment, leaning against the doorframe. “I did hear him leave again, though. I’d turned off the TV and was getting ready to go to bed so it must have been after twelve. And this time he was alone, so she stayed up there. But then that was her usual routine, or so I understood. She picked up these men in a bar or whatever, then took them back here and after they were done they left. It was no different that night. Only…” She frowned. “I could have sworn I heard someone go up again about ten minutes later. But quiet like. As if they didn’t want to disturb anyone.”
“Couldn’t it have been a different apartment?”
“Not a chance. Next to Dotty lives Mrs. Gardner, and she’s out like a light at nine, and hardly ever gets any visitors. No, it must have been Dotty they wanted.” She let out a sound of regret. “Now I feel so ridiculous for not taking a look-see.” She eyed Chase excitedly. “Do you think it was the killer?”
“Possibly,” Chase allowed.
“Damn,” said the woman. “Now I could kick myself.”
Judging from the look on Chase’s face, he wholeheartedly agreed, and might even have agreed to be on hand to do the honors himself.
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We’d just made it down in the narrow elevator—another claustrophobic experience—and to the car when Odelia let out a loud cry and sort of collapsed in pain.
“Babe!” Chase said and immediately was there to offer his arm.
She looked up into his face, grimacing painfully.“I think…”
“I know. You’re fine, right? Absolutely fine.”
She shook her head.“Not this time.”
“What do you mean?” he said, and I thought I detected a note of panic in his voice, which to be honest I’d never heard there before.
“Does your offer still stand?”
“What offer?”
“To take me to the hospital?Ouch!”
“Oh, dear Lord,” said Chase, and immediately tucked his wife into the backseat, then ran around the front of the car, hopped into the driver’s seat and slammed the door.
“Hey!” I yelled. “What about us!”
“Chase!” I could hear Odelia shout. “The cats—don’t forget about the cats!”
Chase leaned over, shoved open the passenger door and Dooley and I obligingly hopped in. And not a minute too soon, for moments later Chase was roaring away, his blue police light flashing, his siren wailing, and basically racing through town at an unhealthy speed.
“Please try not to crash the car before we arrive,” said Odelia.
“Breathe, babe,” said Chase. “In and out, in and out.” And to make sure his message came across, he proceeded to demonstrate by breathing laboriously and loudly.
Odelia did the same, and because that kind of behavior seems to be oddly contagious, both Dooley and I also breathed in and out, soon falling into sync with our humans.
And so it was that four heavy breathers raced across town, with Chase weaving in and out of traffic and generally making great haste.
Soon we arrived at the hospital and he jerked the car to a stop so fast Dooley and I both ended up in the footwell. Not that I minded. After all, time was of the essence, with Odelia doing a lot of cursing in between all that heavy breathing, and from to time hollering that this was all Chase’s fault and she was going to get him for this if she lived to tell the tale!
It was all disconcerting in the extreme, I have to say, and even as Chase went in search of someone who could be of assistance, Odelia said,“I swear to God, I’m going to kill him.”
“Who?” I asked, fully bewildered.
“Who do you think!” she screamed, then went into what could only be described as some kind of painful spasm, for her face became contorted and she screamed a long list of profanities I never even knew she knew.
Dooley gave me a look of shock, and I would have covered his ears if I hadn’t been utterly shocked myself. Our sweet human had suddenly morphed into a monster!
“Satan’s spawn, Max,” Dooley whispered. “It’s taking her over!”
I didn’t know about that, but judging from her red, sweaty, swollen features, something was definitely the matter with her.
But then a nurse came with a wheelchair, and transferred her into it and rolled her away. So we decided to hop out, lest we were locked in there for however long it would take Odelia to deliver this baby. We followed the nurse into the hospital, but suddenly found our progress barred.
“No pets allowed!” someone yelled, picked us up and would have deposited us back outside if Odelia hadn’t yelled from her uncomfortable position, “Those cats are mine and they’re coming with me!”
“But…” the person said.
“They’re coming with me!” Odelia insisted, and gave the person such a fierce look, they immediately set us down again and we toddled in our human’s wake.
And so it was that we found ourselves on the precipice of this most auspicious occasion: about to welcome a new person into our family.
Chapter 23
Unfortunately we met one final hurdle, and this one refused to budge: even though we made it all the way to the maternity ward, to allow us in the delivery room was never going to happen. And frankly I didn’t mind one bit. In preparation for the birth Odelia and Chase had watched a documentary the other day and it all looked very unappealing to me.