Charlotte pointed toward an empty pack of cigarettes sitting on a work bench. “He might have had underlying issues, too.”
“I saw that.”
A rattling noise came from the inner door and a second later it opened far enough for a hand to reach out and slap at the garage door control panel on the wall. A white-haired woman peered out, saw them, and gasped. Her eyes were red and puffy.
“I’m sorry. I thought you were all done,” she said, sniffling. “I just wanted to get rid of these people gawking at the house.”
“Understood,” said Frank, but his eyes were on the garage switch. “The door didn’t close.”
“What?”
“Can you hit that button again?”
The woman did. Nothing happened.
Frank looked at the work bench and spotted a rag. He picked it up and put it between his fingers and the garage button’s panel to pop it open. The space where a battery should sit was empty.
“Did you know the battery was missing?” he asked.
“No.” The woman seemed confused. “I just hit it this morning when I went food-shopping and it worked fine.”
“You were food-shopping?” Frank nodded to the mountain of plastic water bottles. “You look like you’re pretty well stocked already.”
The woman frowned. “There’s a hurricane coming.”
Frank continued. “Can you think of any reason your husband would’ve removed the battery?”
“I don’t see it anywhere,” said Charlotte scanning the workbench and other flat surfaces nearby.
“I guess it died,” she said.
Frank pointed to the door the woman held open. “Was that door locked when you came through just now?”
She glanced at the knob on which her hand rested. “It was. That’s strange.”
“You didn’t try to go in that way when you found your husband?”
She shook her head. “No. I ran out front screaming for help and then ran in the front door. We leave it open most of the time. It’s a nice neighborhood.”
Frank reached up and pinched the radio on his shoulder. “Darlene, can you get FDLE on the horn for me? Tell them I need them out here?”
“Sure thing.”
“Who’s FDLE?” asked the woman.
“Florida Department of Law Enforcement,” said Charlotte, pleased to show Frank she’d remembered.
“I’m going to have to ask you to go back inside, ma’am,” said Frank.
“I don’t understand.”
“It’s just a precaution. We’re going to have FDLE come and investigate the scene.”
“What are you saying? You think someone killed him? You don’t think it was an accident?”
“Just routine, ma’am.”
The woman sobbed once and covered her mouth with her hand before disappearing inside.
Frank looked at Charlotte. “We might have to go talk to old Jack again, after all.”
She nodded. “Too many coincidences.”
Her attention drifted back to the stack of water bottles.
“That house with the vultures this morning, they weren’t hoarders too, were they?”
Frank chuckled. “That lady had stacks of toilet paper in the garage. I had the passing thought I might take some for evidence.”
Charlotte looked away, wrestling again with her disturbing thought.
Had messing up someone’s pool not been enough for Gloria?
Chapter Fifteen
“Keep it,” said Special Agent Macha.
Snookie Moore looked down at the gun she’d placed on the agent’s desk. “Really? I could have sworn we just had a big conversation about how I was retiring today. There was cake, people were hugging me... Are you telling me I submitted to a bunch of unnecessary hugs?”
Macha chuckled. “I remember the party.”
Snookie pushed the gun towards her. “Then please, take the issued gun. I have plenty of my own. I don’t need your charity.”
Macha’s eyebrows lifted. “Funny you should mention charity. I need you to go to Charity.”
“On a job?” Snookie unbuttoned her jacket and dropped into the chair sitting opposite Macha. “I’m going to sit down. Seems it’s going to take a while to explain retirement to you.”
Macha opened her drawer and retrieved a piece of nicotine gum. She’d stopped smoking the previous month and Snookie felt confident her old friend was now more addicted to the gum than she’d ever been to cigarettes. If she ever started smoking again she’d have to smoke three packs a day to get the same amount of nicotine into her system.
“You better start easing up on that stuff,” she said, though she’d made the suggestion more times than she could count. “You’re going to be mainlining nicotine pretty soon.”
Macha popped the gum in her mouth. “I know. I’m wearing a patch too.”
“Hopeless. So, back to my retirement. You know I’m going to stay with my sister for a while.”
“Yes. And I’m not trying to sign you up for anything. This isn’t an official assignment. Well, it is, but I’m thinking of it as more of a favor.”
“Okay...”
“I’m wondering if you could stop in Charity on your way to the other coast.”
“Charity is a place? I thought it only existed in your heart.” Snookie put a hand over her heart and looked up and away like a lonesome dog staring at the moon.
“It’s a place, smartass. A town south of here.”
Snookie leaned back in her chair. “All kidding aside, it sounds familiar. Why is that?”
“Because Jamie Moriarty, a.k.a The Puzzle Killer, was captured there.”
Snookie pointed at Macha. “The Puzzle Killer. I remember now. Agent Bingham took her down.”
“Exactly.”
“That’s all that pompous blowhard needed to confirm his suspicions he’s God.”
Macha raised her hand to cover the smile creeping across her lips. “I know I didn’t hear you speak ill of a fellow agent.”
“No, no. That doesn’t sound like me at all. Plus, I’m retired. Did you hear? I’m like a kitten now. All I do is knit and bake.”
“Right. Back to this favor. Long story short, I’m going to delay putting your final paperwork in until you’re officially
