Gracie's Game: Sudden Anger, Accidentally on Purpose Page 5

  The den was a mess. Drawers and cabinet doors had been pulled open and their contents strewn on the floor. Pillows had been thrown off the couch and chairs and over by the bar she saw a liquor bottle smashed on the floor, its contents having soaked into the corner of the area rug.

  The violence of the destruction began to frighten her. She ran to the dining room but saw nothing out of place. The kitchen and living room looked fine, too. Then she thought about her husband's office.

  Charles' desk had been thoroughly ransacked; drawers had been turned upside down to dump their contents, the empty drawers dropped on the floor beside the desk. Papers were everywhere. She walked through the mess to get a closer look, but knew the cash would be gone. "So much for the trap!" she thought. She was really scared now.

  She made a brief tour of the rest of the downstairs, but saw nothing missing. Her heart was beating so hard she barely had the breath to climb the stairs but she pushed herself to do it.

  Sure enough, the master bedroom looked like a tornado had hit it. Clothing was hanging out of open drawers, stuff had been swept off dresser and tables to litter the floor, and the mattress had been pushed partly off the bed. She snatched up her jewelry box, but it was empty. Likewise the big jewelry armoire next to the dresser. "Oh, God!" she said. "It's all gone."

  She looked around in dismay and suddenly realized the nightstand drawer was still closed. She opened it and picked up a couple pair of earrings, a ring, and a diamond bracelet. She was bad about forgetting to take her jewelry off until she climbed into bed, and often put it in the drawer instead of getting back up. She slipped the items into her pocket.

  As the toll began to sink in she felt sick, and her head was killing her. She walked into the bathroom to get an aspirin and saw it was a mess, too. The medicine cabinet door was wide open and there were bottles everywhere. She spied the aspirin, then suddenly remembered she wasn't supposed to touch anything. "I guess I need to call the police," she said. Then the somewhat disjointed thought, "There should be some aspirin downstairs."

  She headed for the stairs, then realized she should check the rest of the top floor. The guest rooms were undisturbed, as was the bathroom down the hall. Justin's door was open and she peeked in. The kid got snotty about her going in his room, and it was such a pit she didn't want to anyway. Even from the doorway she could see it had been trashed too.

  Jennifer walked downstairs in something of a daze. She felt violated, her supposedly-safe home invaded. Not only was her jewelry gone, but some pervert had dug through her undies searching for more. She'd have to wash it all, and even then she wasn't sure she'd feel right about wearing it again. She shivered just thinking about it.

  She found a bottle of aspirin in the downstairs bath and took it into the kitchen to get a glass of water. She paused a moment to psych herself up to play the role of terrified female, then dialed 911. As she began her report she realized she wasn't playing a part, she really was scared and upset. The 911 operator wanted to know if she was in the house and suggested she should get out. He assured her the police were on their way and offered to stay on the line, but Jennifer told him she'd be OK and hung up.

  Next she called Cindy, still in something of a panic. She'd be glad when Cindy got there; she didn't want to be alone and would need help straightening up. Jennifer got a diet soda from the fridge; she felt a little faint and wished for once that she could have a real soda, she needed the sugar. Though she wasn't much of a drinker, she thought she might just have a drink to calm her nerves after the police left.

  She wasn't quite sure what to do next. It was tempting to begin putting the house back in order, but she knew better. On the other hand, she didn't want to see the mess again and be reminded that this wasn't just a bad dream. She paced around the kitchen for a few minutes. It occurred to her that she should let Charles know what had happened, but she wasn't looking forward to that. He'd be pissed, and probably act like it was her fault. She was sure she'd set the security alarm before she left. She started to dial his office, then remembered the big meeting and called his cell. Thankfully she got voice-mail and left a message without having to speak to him.

  Jennifer decided she ought to go wait outside, but even as she stepped onto the porch she saw the police car pulling up to the curb. At least he wasn't using the lights and siren. A short chubby man with curly dark hair got out of the car and came up to her.

  "Officer Sam Barclay, Ma'am," he said by way of introduction. "You're Mrs. Greene?"

  "Yes, I am," Jennifer said a bit breathlessly. "Oh, it's horrible! The whole house has been torn apart!"

  "You reported a burglary." It was not a question. "Are you sure the burglar is gone, apparently you've been inside the home."

  "Yes," Jennifer said in answer to both statements. "I just got home and the door was open a little and, you know, I wondered why so I went on in. I saw the den first, but then went all through the house - I never thought he might still be there."

  Officer Barclay inspected the front door and then they both went inside. He noticed the security keypad by the door and noted that the system was off. Though she swore she'd set it before leaving, his demeanor made it clear he was skeptical. She took him on a quick tour of the house so he could see the damage.

  He suggested they talk in the dining room. He could see that she needed to sit down, and hopefully it would be a calming spot since it hadn't been disturbed. He wondered about that when they went into the room, as it didn't look very comfortable to him. The cream walls and gold carpet somehow looked cool and sterile. The furniture was made from some kind of blond wood, and had very simple square lines. Abstract paintings in cool colors on the walls didn't warm it up any, either.

  Office Barclay called the forensics crew to come take fingerprints and any other evidence. Jennifer told him she'd been shopping with a friend, when she'd left the friend's house and returned here. He asked if any other family members would have been home and she told him her husband rarely came home during the day and Justin was at school.

  "Do you keep anything of value in the home?" the officer asked. "Anything that someone might have known about?"

  "We have, I don't know, the usual stuff I guess. Nothing specially, like, important," she said.

  "It doesn't have to be unusual to be worth stealing," he replied a little sarcastically. For instance, do you have silver in the buffet over there?"

  Jennifer said, "Oh!" and jumped up to pull open a drawer. "Yes, the silver's still here," she said. "But my jewelry's all gone upstairs."

  Officer Barclay wrote that down. "Is there anything else missing that you know of?" he asked.

  "Well, my husband often keeps cash in his desk drawer, you know, the one in his office. The drawers were all dumped, he must've taken it." She replied.

  "How much was there, do you know?"

  "No, Charles never said. He, you know, likes to keep some money around just in case. He always gives me spending-money when I ask, he doesn't like me messing around in his office." Jennifer gave the cop her best smile to cover the fact that her last statement might have sounded a little suspicious.

  "So you wouldn't know if anything else was missing from the office then?" he asked.

  Jennifer thought for a minute. "Well, there were the coins. He showed them to me once when we were dating. We've only been married just over a year," she said.

  "A coin collection?" he inquired. "Did he say it was valuable?" He started to ask for more details, but decided she probably didn't know. Clearly she was the second wife, and the husband hadn't exactly married her for her brains.

  "I don't know," she replied a little petulantly. "It was all, like, in little plastic pockets in a big box. Didn't look very interesting to me."

  Officer Barclay wrote that down, too. "Did you have any prescription medications in the upstairs bathroom, Mrs. Greene?" he asked.

  "Um, yeah, you know, some pain meds and muscle relaxers and stuff," she said.

  "I'll need you to c
all your pharmacy and get a list," he said as he added that to his notes. "And if you discover anything else missing, let me know."

  "Um, OK, sure," she said. "I mean, the TV and stereo and stuff are all here, they're worth money, why wouldn't a thief take them too?

  "Right now it looks like they went for the easy stuff. Small items that are easy to carry and yet still worth a lot of money. Cash of course; but the jewelry, coin collection, and drugs are all easy to fence. I know it sounds corny, but he could easily have carried it all out of here in a pillow case."

  At that moment they both heard someone calling out from the front door.

  "Oh, that's my friend," Jennifer said. "Come on in Cindy, we're in the dining room. Don't go in the den, it's scary!"

  Cindy walked into the room and went straight to Jennifer to give her a quick hug before taking a seat herself.

  "Officer, um, Barkley?" Jennifer suddenly realized she wasn't sure of his name. "This is Cindy Stone. She's the one I told you about, I mean, that I was shopping with all day. I called her after I called you, I mean, 911."

  "It's Barclay. Sam Barclay." He shook Cindy's hand across the table. "You were with Mrs. Greene all morning?" he queried.

  "Yes, sir," Cindy replied. "She had to buy a new dress for tonight and we spent the day shopping. She took me home about 2:30 and left. She called all in a panic just before three; I was just leaving for work then." Cindy thought through her statement for a moment. "I had to come," she added.

  "Of course," said Officer Barclay kindly. "I know this is all very upsetting."

  They heard a man's voice from the front door. "Hello? The CSI gang is here! Where's the crime scene?"

  Sam Barclay stood up and went to talk with them. As soon as he was gone Jennifer and Cindy shared another, longer, hug.

  "Gosh, Jen, how horrible!" Cindy exclaimed. "What was taken?"

  "You can't imagine how shocked I was," Jennifer replied. "My jewelry's gone, and some pills in the bathroom, and the money in Charles' desk. I haven't had a chance to see if anything else is gone, I mean, I had to call the cops as soon as I saw the place. The electronics are all here, the officer says he was after the little stuff, you know, that he could put in his pocket."

  Jennifer glanced quickly at the doorway through which she could hear the cop talking to the forensics crew. She reached into her pocket and handed the few pieces of jewelry to Cindy. "Here. He missed these, they were in the nightstand. Put 'em in your purse and we can sell them later," she said in a whisper.

  Cindy looked a little nervous, but did as she was told.

  In a slightly too-loud voice Jennifer asked, "Would you like a soda?"

  They went to the kitchen and sat at the breakfast table to continue discussing what might be gone and who might have done it. They could see the forensics team moving through the den, and hear some of them walking around upstairs.

  After some time Officer Barclay poked his head into the kitchen and asked, "Did your husband own a gun, Mrs. Greene?"

  "A gun?" Jennifer asked like she'd never heard of such a thing. "Oh, um, yeah, I think so."

  "We've found a box of shells in his office, but no gun. Did he usually keep it there?" He moved further into the kitchen so he didn't have to yell.

  Jennifer knew very well that Charles had kept a gun in the drawer, but didn't want to appear to know too much about his desk. "I don't really know, I guess so. I mean, if you found bullets there he must've kept the gun there too."

  "Do you know what kind of gun it was?" he asked.

  "A little one, I think. It had one of those round things on it, that's all I remember. I really don't, you know, know anything about guns. They scare me."

  "A revolver, then," the policeman confirmed. "The shells are for a .38. Did he have a license for it?"

  "I guess," Jennifer shrugged.

  "We'll check on that," he said. "Well, we're done now. If we have any more questions I'll give you a call. Oh, and please have your husband check to see if there's anything else missing. You can start cleaning up now, we've got all we need." He looked at the two women huddled 'round the little breakfast table and smiled in a kindly way. "And Mrs. Greene, I'm really sorry this happened. Be sure to set the alarm after we've left. Goodbye, now."

  "Goodbye, Officer. Thank you," Jennifer said. She walked him to the front door and saw the forensic team packing their van. She stood there waving to them as they drove off, a rather forlorn figure. When she could no longer see their cars she shut the door and very deliberately punched the 'on' button on the security key-pad.

  Jennifer walked back to the kitchen to see Cindy pouring two glasses of wine.

  "Here Sweetie," Cindy said. "You look like you need it."

  Jennifer took the glass from Cindy and took a big sip. Her hand shook as she held the glass. "Thanks, Love. I need something! And that jerk ripped off all the Xanax too, so this will have to do."

  Cindy said, "Well, I guess we should get started cleaning up. You want to do the bedroom first?" Cindy was the practical one.

  Jennifer sighed and said, "Definitely. You go get the laundry basket, the creep went through my underwear drawer. Yuck! I'll go get started." She grabbed the wine bottle and walked out calling over her shoulder, "Meet you up there."

  * * * *

  "Liar! You did not," Zack growled. "You're just jealous 'cause of Carrie."

  "Did so!" Justin shot back. "Ask her yourself, she'll tell you."

  "So, did you get any?" was Zack's next question. "If you did, you better go to the free clinic! Heh, heh."

  "Nah, Man, we just went to lunch." Justin tried to sound casual as he added, "But who knows what might happen later…"

  They were in Zack's car on the way to Justin's house. Zack was over his earlier arrogance, and eager to get the dope deal made so he could get high. Justin seemed more interested in telling how he'd run into Tina and gone to lunch with her. "He must be desperate," Zack thought, "to go out with that skank."

  "Would you forget about nookie for one minute, Dude?" Zack said a bit irritably. We gotta get to your place so you can get the money, we don't wanna be late for this deal. This guy gets nervous if he thinks you're not coming through."

  "Well, maybe we shouldn't do it then," Justin said a little hesitantly. "I know some other guys, we'll go see one of them tomorrow."

  "Tomorrow?" Zack asked in a panic.

  "Yeah, Man. It's not like I'm out or anything, there's a few joints left," Zack replied. "I'm hungry, let's stop for some ice cream or something first."

  "Dude, we can go get ice cream after we smoke. I wanna get this taken care of. Thought you did, too."

  "Oh now you're in a hurry!" Justin said sharply. "If we'd done this at lunch like you said we would we'd be on our way to score right now. It's not my fault. And who's getting the money, anyway?" He was glaring at Zack.

  "OK, OK," Zack said in an attempt to calm Justin down. "So I'm driving and you're paying. It works."

  Zack whizzed around the bend in the street, pulled up to the curb in front of Justin's house and shut the engine off. "Looks like you've got company," he said.

  Justin stopped glaring at Zack and whipped his head around in surprise to look at the house. It seemed to take him a moment to recognize the cars in the driveway. "Um, hey, it's just the step-bitch's Merc, and the old Chevy belongs to that mouse that's always hanging around with her," he said with some relief. "You scared me for a sec, Dude. Thought my old man was here. That would've made it tough to get the money."

  As they got out of the car Zack looked across its roof and taunted, "You don't have the balls to steal it when he's there."

  "Do too," Justin retorted.

  "Do not," Zack said, and shoved Justin.

  "Cut it out!" Justin yelled.

  "Whassa matter, you a sissy? Want me to push you again?" Zack threatened. "You act like you don't wanna do this."

  "Just leave me alone, Man," Justin said sullenly. "Let's get this done and get outta here." Justin unlocked
the door and they stepped inside.

  Jennifer ran halfway down the stairs and screeched, "Turn off the alarm!"

  The boys started at her sudden appearance and furious demand. Justin backpedaled and stared at the keypad in confusion.

  Jennifer moved down a few more steps and yelled again. "Turn it off, you little brat. Don't just stand there!"

  Justin punched in the code and turned to glare at her. "What's your problem? Why's the alarm on anyway if you're home?"

  Zack walked to the bottom of the staircase; he could see Jennifer's face looked drawn and she was wringing her hands. "Are you OK, Mrs. Greene?" he asked.

  Jennifer descended to stand with the boys. "I'm sorry Justin," she said, and sounded like she actually meant it. "It's just that - I mean, we've been robbed!"

  Justin stared at her. "Robbed?" he repeated without inflection.

  "The house was, like, broken into," she sobbed. "It was terrible! I came home and there was stuff thrown everywhere. He took all my jewelry! The place is a mess, Cindy's here to help me clean it up."

  "Oh my God," Zack replied. "Did you call the cops?"

  "Your jewelry's all you can ever think about," Justin said sarcastically. "What else did he take?"

  "Some stuff out of your dad's office. It's so hard to tell right now. I mean, it's a mess, the den's trashed - and he went through your room, too." Jennifer's eyes suddenly took on a mean look. "You'd better go see if you're missing anything important. The cops looked in there, too."

  Justin and Zack looked at each other, obviously somewhat nervous.

  Justin said, "Wow! Let's go check it out, Man." He turned on his heel and headed for the office. "Dad's gonna be pissed," he said worriedly.

  The three of them inspected the damage in the office, and then the den. They went upstairs and the boys peeked into the master bedroom, but it was pretty much back in order. Cindy paused in the middle of making the bed to wave to them, and Jennifer shooed the boys off to Justin's room with a snotty remark about what the cops might have found in there.