A Deathly Rattle Read online

  We knew Sarah was there before she made it to Galigani’s office because he saw her car pull up when he was glancing out the window. We each sat beside one another at the desk, and he told me to answer the door when she came up. I heard the knock, and I hurried over, opening the door and inviting Sarah in. The woman was a petite blonde who looked ten years younger than she actually was. Her face looked like it had never gone through puberty – in other words, she looked like a little girl rather than a forty-year-old woman. I wish I was that youthful looking.

  Galigani invited her to sit, and she anxiously came over and plopped down across from him as I sat down beside him. “I’m… sorry… I’m sorry I’m late, Mr. Galigani,” she said, looking down at her lap.

  “Believe me, I understand your hesitancy,” he said and pulled out a manila envelope from his desk drawer. “Kate was able to get those photographs for you.” He slid the envelope across the desk. “I’m very sorry,” he added.

  Smooth. Calm. Reassuring. I was making mental notes on how to go about this. If I was going to start my own practice someday, I would need to know how to do this sort of thing. It didn’t look fun, and Galigani was so professional while at the same time sympathetic. I wondered then if I could ever pull something like that off. Sarah’s hands shook as she opened up the fil and simply dumped the photographs out onto the desk. She spread them out. There were five. A holding hand picture at a local park, the two of them going to the movies with his arm over her shoulder, and three of them making out at various locations – including a shot through the woman’s window into her living room that was a bit… edgy to say the least.

  Sarah started crying, and I felt physically sick to my stomach. Before Galigani or myself could offer any words of comfort, she spat out, “You know he hasn’t been home in two days? Told me he was taking a guy’s trip. He’s probably off somewhere with that stupid slut! Well, good riddance! I’m filing for divorce today!” She wiped her face. “Who is this woman anyways? I’ve never seen her.”

  “Her name is Morgan,” Galigani said. “And, you’re saying you don’t know her?”

  “No, should I?” Sarah asked, still wiping her face while attempting to control her breathing. She looked both sad and furious – a whole whirlwind of emotions was etched onto her face. Before Galigani could respond, Sarah started ranting. “I should have known. I don’t know why I’m shocked. I think this has been going on for months – maybe longer. First, you know, he just… stopped talking to me about things. He wasn’t lying, not really, just not telling me stuff.”

  “Lying by omission,” I said under my breath, thinking about how Jim failed to mention his little incident at the bakery.

  “Exactly,” Sarah said. “And, then, it just spiraled. I started catching him lies. I found weird emails and text messages he would lie his way around. Then he started taking phone calls late at night – having to go to the office for unexpected reasons. I shouldn’t be so surprised, but you think you know a person… you think they would never hurt you. That they would be honest with you. That they would take their vows just as seriously as you do. But, no. He got tired of me and just… found someone new…”

  My heart was racing. Would Jim ever get tired of me? I think about all the baby weight I have already put on. About what my first pregnancy did to my body with Laurie – how much worse was it going to be with twins? Would I ever get back to even remotely what I could consider normal? Was Jim still attracted to me? I tried to brush those panicky thoughts away, but they were stuck in my head. Jim’s decision not to tell me about his fight with Cassandra really bothered me – more so than I realized. I knew Jim was a good man; he would never stray, but sitting there listening to Sarah say the same things about that creep, Bill, well, it did something to my head.

  I brushed it away finally. It took me a good minute to get those thoughts out of my head, but I knew the man I married. I loved him, and I knew he loved me. I wouldn’t let this crap get in my head and affect our relationship. I refused to.

  “There is something else you should know, Ms. Sarah,” Galigani said, turning his computer screen around to face her. “It is about Morgan, the woman your husband had been seeing.”

  Sarah huffed. “I really could care less about her. I hope they’re happy together and that he leaves her in a few years for someone younger. That’s what she deserves. A false sense of hope that Bill actually could care about someone other than himself.”

  That was bitter, but I couldn’t blame her. Galigani cleared his throat. “That’s going to be difficult. Ms. Sarah, Morgan is dead.”

  Sarah’s eyes shot open. That was probably not news she had been expecting. I imagined that she was hoping to come into this meeting and have us tell her that we couldn’t find anything – that she was just being paranoid. That had been the hope. The expectation had been just what she go – news that Bill was the creep she suspected him to be. But, hearing that his mistress was dead was probably confusing news. I could see it in her face. A part of her secretly glad to hear it. Almost like she had gotten revenge without actually having to do anything. And then that second part, the part that was plastered all over her face, was guilt for feeling that way. “Dead?” Sarah asked. “How? Why? What happened?”

  “The police are still investigating,” Galigani said. “They sent me this video and have requested you take a look at it. It’s from the convenience store across the street – their street camera picked up a mugging that took place in last night in front of my office. The victim was a teenaged boy who happened to be carrying these photos of your husband.” Galigani played the video.

  Sarah’s eyes widened. It was a fuzzy shot, but even I knew who it was. I had trailed that bald creep long enough to recognize his body type. I cringed. I wished Galigani had showed me the video beforehand because watching Kenny get beat up was not what I needed. When I had left Laurie with him this morning, I had wanted to break down crying seeing those bruises. He was a tough kid, but he was still just a teenager. A kid.

  “That’s Bill!” she shrieked and started crying all over again. “Why would he attack that boy?”

  “Like I said, he stole our first copies of these pictures, but we had a backup,” Galigani said. “We believe he might have caught on to Kate – that he realized Ms. Kate had taken pictures of himself and Ms. Morgan.”

  “And, now Morgan is dead?” Sarah questioned, and she became pale. “You think my Bill killed her? No, that’s not right. I know he cheated… but… no, I don’t think he would… he’s not that type of person.”

  I was surprised she was defending him. I suppose she must still love him even though she was planning to leave him. “I understand,” Bill said. “But, he did hurt this boy.”

  “Yes,” Sarah said. “That was definitely him… I just cannot believe that Bill would beat up a kid! That’s not like him. He’s not a violent person.”

  “Is it possible, Sarah, that Bill believes if he covers up what happened with Morgan he could save his marriage? Would he be willing to kill her to keep you?” Galigani asked.

  “Well, it’s too late for that, isn’t it?” Sarah hissed. “First I find out that he cheats and beats up a kid, and now he is a suspect in a murder case? I’m not sticking around for the court hearings when he gets arrested. I’m done. I’m going straight to a lawyer when I leave here, and since he’s apparently a suspect for murder, I should probably see if I can have an officer come to the house to help me gather my things in case that lunatic I’m apparently married to shows up!” She slammed her fists down. “I just… I just cannot believe any of this! I can’t believe this is happening!”

  “If Bill reaches out to you, Sarah, would you please contact one of us, or better yet, contact the police?” Galigani asked.

  “Believe me, I will,” she said.

  “Before you leave, Ms. Sarah, can I get you to write down your statement regarding the video that you do indeed believe that the man who assaulted young Kenneth was in f
act your husband?” Galigani asked, presenting her with paper and pen.

  “It would be my pleasure, Mr. Galigani,” she said and began scribbling her statement down with angry tears streaming down her face. “And, believe me, sir, as soon as I see Bill, I’m calling the police!” She then dug into her purse, pulling out her checkbook. She wrote down her final payment and slammed it down on Galigani’s desk. She looked at me. “Thank you for the pictures. Would you please email some to me? I’d like to show them to my lawyer. And, I want to have them blown up really big. I’m going to put one of the damn billboard down the street from his parents house so they can see whose fault this divorce is without me having to talk to them.”

  I couldn’t help it. I snickered. That was cold, but I kind of loved it. “Of course, Ms. Sarah,” I said, cracking a slight smile at her. I felt Galigani nudge me slightly, reminding me to be professional. But come on, a build board down the street from his parent’s house? That’s hilarious.

  A small smile broke across her face. “My husband’s boss drives by that build board every day on her way into work. Her husband cheated on her two years ago. I’m sure she’ll have a few words to say to the man when she sees it.”

  “I’ll send them right over, Sarah,” I said.

  She stood up after signing her statement. She told us to forward her information to the police; she was more than happy to cooperate in the investigation, and she told me to let her know if I had any questions after I informed her I had been hired to work Morgan’s case. Sarah left, and I was glad to see she had a bit of confidence in her step. She had a plan to keep herself afloat after the devastating news – a revengeful one, but a at least she wasn’t curled up in a ball letting the news get the better of her.

  “That was not as bad as I thought it would be,” I said to Galigani once Sarah was gone.

  “You see all types of reactions after you have been at this for a while,” Galigani said. “Unfortunately in the PI business, cheating spouses is the most common type of case you get. Especially starting out. Unlike you, it took me years before I got something like a murder case to go on. When you branch out and start your own practice, this is the type of stuff you can expect.”

  “It sure isn’t pretty,” I said. “But, at least Sarah handled it well. For my first infidelity case, I suppose it could have been a lot worse.”

  “You have no idea,” Galigani said. “One woman, early on in my career, was convinced I had photoshopped the pictures and broke a lamp in my office.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “Dead serious,” Galigani said. “She eventually came around, though. She even bought me a new lamp.” He pointed to the standing lamp in the corner. “It was her apology gift for overreacting. But, I really didn’t blame her. She didn’t want to believe it. I know I wouldn’t have wanted to hear it.”

  “Same here,” I said, shaking my head. Now it was time to refocus. I had a new case to work, and this one was a lot more serious than just tailing someone on their way to their girlfriend’s house. Someone was dead, and I had to find out why. It was going to be a long and difficult case to crack; I knew that already. My first suspect was Creepy Bill. He had been willing to attack a teenaged kid to try to keep this secret from getting to his wife – had he killed his girlfriend too?

  Chapter Nine

  It was just one of those nights. One of those nights where no matter how hard you try you just cannot get to sleep. Where you brain is running a million miles an hour – thinking about the next days to-do list, everything you didn’t get done that day, finances, babies, health, your marriage, and all things that could possibly keep you up late worrying. The thing that was most prominent on my mind that night? Sarah.

  There was just so much about mine and Galigani’s conversation with Sarah that bothered me. For one, she had been so blindsided by Bill’s betrayal. That was probably what pestered me the most about it – she hadn’t really expected. Sure, she had had her suspicions, but it was clear a part of her was expecting for Galigani and I to tell her she had just been being paranoid. That her suspicions were incorrect. But, that’s not what happened. She was shocked. And, the first thing that Sarah said she noticed that was off? Bill stopped talking to her about everything which eventually led into him keeping more and more secrets.

  I glanced over beside me where Jim was fast asleep. His nose was scrunched up slightly, his face pressing into his pillow. So… relaxed. Yet, here I was trying my hardest not to have a complete and total panic attack over one single decision of his to just not tell me something. And, he was acting like it was nothing. Like had hadn’t just planted some seed in my head.

  Deciding that there was just no way I was going to get any sleep that night, I slipped out of bed. I have never been the type of person who enjoys wasting time. If I wasn’t getting any sleep or legitimate rest, I wasn’t just going to stare up into the dark at my bedroom ceiling. I was going to get some work done. I headed down the hall and dipped into our home office, sitting down at our desk and pulling out my laptop. Despite Jim’s reservations about his incident about Cassandra, I knew I had to look into it. Cassandra was one of the victims, and she had been the one to hire me for the case to begin with. Even though I most certainly didn’t suspect my husband’s involvement, I still needed to stay caught up with the police. I needed to know what happened whether Jim wanted to tell me or not.

  I felt a little funny going behind his back, but I would need to talk to Cassandra about the incident as well as about Morgan. She was the deceased victims boss, after all. I had managed to get the woman’s email before she had gotten sick, but I didn’t have a phone number. Email would have to do for the time being. I sent a quick email to Cassandra, asking her if there was an appropriate time we could get together to chat and that I had some questions regarding the case she had hired me to solve.

  After spending only a few minutes lost on the internet to kill time, Cassandra responded. At first, I was surprised to get such a prompt response at four in the morning, but I quickly noted in her email that she was staying in the hospital still. The woman was probably just as wide awake as I was at the moment. I had been in the hospital my fair share of times, and I was never able to sleep there. She was probably just sitting and playing on her phone when my email had popped up, I figured. She told me I could come by the hospital anytime because the doctor said she probably wouldn’t be dismissed until late afternoon the following day. I sent another email, asking if she was going to be up much longer. When she responded that she wasn’t planning on sleeping anytime soon, I decided to make use of the wee hours of the night that I had found myself wide awake during.

  Just as I was about to close my laptop to start getting ready for a quick trip to the hospital, I noted Cassandra’s sign off. “Come by anytime – Cassandra Sanders,” she had written, and alarms started going off in my head.

  “Cassandra Sanders…” I said under my breath. I hadn’t realized what her full name was. Frankly, I had thought it was cookies. There was something familiar about the name. “Cassandra Sanders,” I said again. I closed my laptop and stood up, concentrating for a moment. I headed over to a bookshelf and plucked one of Jim’s old high school yearbooks off one of the higher shelves. After just a few moments of flipping through the book, I found the Junior’s Top Dogs page – basically all those best laughs, most likely to succeed – those sorts of awards. And, there was Cassandra Sanders standing next to my Jim – “Cutest Couple.”

  I was livid. And, it was definitely her. There was no denying that hair of hers. My blood started to boil. Not only did Jim keep the fact that he had had the police called on him a secret – but he had failed to mention that the bakery belonged to his high school girlfriend! I had never met her, obviously, and Jim really didn’t talk about her too much. He had mentioned dating a Cassandra girl back in the day, but I didn’t realize she lived in town. That she was the one making me those brownies he oh-so willingly kept running out to get me. Wh
y wouldn’t he tell me this? Unless, he thought he had something to hide?

  I was definitely going to the hospital to speak to her now. I left Jim a note stating that I hadn’t been able to sleep and was going to take care of something work related. I was vague in my note, but I figured there was a good chance he could guess who I was heading off to talk to. He probably wouldn’t be thrilled to wake up to that note, but I didn’t care. I needed answers not just for work but for my own mind. I set Laurie’s monitor next to Jim’s nightstand before getting dressed and heading out.

  My phone buzzed on my way out the door, and I spied a text message from Cassandra with her hospital information so that I would know what room to find her in. Good. Once I got in my car, I went ahead and texted Kenny to come over as soon as he was up just in case I was late getting home. I didn’t want to make Jim late for work watching Laurie. I texted Cassandra that I was on the way and sat my phone in my passenger’s seat. My mind was still all over the place. I was literally on my way to talk to my husband’s high school girlfriend – an old girlfriend he had failed to mention he had obviously been talking to. Jim never kept secrets from me. I didn’t like it one bit. Why hadn’t he said anything to me?

  I’m pretty sure I was white-knuckling my steering wheel the entire way to the hospital. I was mad at Jim. Mostly hurt. And, I kept thinking about Sarah. About how blindsided she had been. And, Domingo’s stupid play was in my head too. The cheating husband. The PI. All of it was just rolling around in my head – toying with my perception of my husband.

  My phone beeped again when I arrived in the parking lot at the hospital. It was an email from Galigani. The police report for Morgan had been sent his way by his buddy at the local station, and he had been kind enough to forward it to me. I liked that he was willing to call his contact for me, but I knew I was eventually going to have to make some of my own. I needed to start being nicer to the police if I was ever going to get stuff like this for myself when I branched out and started my own firm. I read through the report. Morgan had been poisoned via chloroform. The chloroform had been in some brownie’s that Cassandra’s shop had made – the ones coated in bright orange icing. Good thing it wasn’t the purple icing, I thought. Either way, I had had some sort of aversion to the purple brownies that night, so it’s not like I would have been poisoned. That stuff made it in the trash can quick.