Read Dead in the Water for Free Online Page B

sink.
    “Hmmm.”
    “What did you do?”
    “I broke the window lock. It was nothing but a cheap piece of plastic. How could that keep anyone out of here?”
    “Get down. Let’s go.”
    “Just one more minute,” I said pulling the window open and peering inside. “Not a bad kitchen.”
    “Are you a decorator now? Let’s go.”
    “I need to get in the house, alone, for a few minutes. I want to go through Waddell’s swim bag. There were capsules in a baggie. I didn’t have the nerve to stick them in my pocket when I brought the bag back. If I could find them, Terrel could test them.”
    I propped myself against the open window.
    “There is some unopened mail right here on the counter. Maybe something from the hospital at Lake Joseph. Maybe an itemized bill. Maybe test results.”
    “That’s why we’re here now, isn’t it? You didn’t want her to be here, did you?”
    “You’re right, I didn’t want her here. I’m sure there is something inside; something that, I don’t know, that could explain his death.”
    The envelopes were just out of reach. I leaned in and stretched out my arm. Another inch of two, that’s all I needed. My fingertips almost, almost touched the pile of mail. I was balancing now on the window ledge. My legs and feet were up in the air outside; the top of my body was completely inside.
    Stretch. A bit more. Stretch. Got it. The fingers of my right hand touched the edge of one envelope. I inched in closer until I could get a better grip on it. With the letter in my hand, I slowly moved out of the window. Lena was still sitting on the steps with her arms crossed, staring at me.
    “Trish, what do you care? Let’s get out of here.”
    “It’s become very important to me, very personal.”
    I held the envelope up like a trophy, then turned it over so I could see the return address. It was an advertisement from a local bank.
    “Not what I wanted. Not what I wanted at all. I’m putting it back.” The top half of me disappeared, once again, through the kitchen window.
    Lena hopped off the steps and lunged at my legs.
    “Get out. Now, get out. Trish, I can hear a car coming down the road. Maybe it’s Dick’s sister. Please get down.”
    I hated to admit it, but Lena was right. I could spend the rest of the evening trying to convince Pamela, or even worse, a police officer that I meant no harm. Still holding on to the envelope, I pulled myself out of the window, slid it shut, put the screen back in place and climbed off the chair.
    A car stopped in front of the house.
    Lena and I stared at each other. We looked through a slat in the fence and saw a solid, big-boned, short blond woman get out of a car, pop the trunk open and take out some cleaning supplies.
    “Pamela?” Lena mouthed. She looked like she was going to faint.
    “Probably, but I don’t know. I never met her before,” I whispered. “When she opens the front door and goes in, I’ll flip up the latch and we will quietly walk toward the car.”
    We heard the front door open and shut. Her footsteps moved into the living room. She stopped. We waited. Then she started walking again. That was the cue. I lifted the latch. We crouched down low and snuck out, hiding between the greenery that divided the Waddell home from the next house. Instead of heading directly for the car, which was parked across the street, I grabbed my sister’s arm and led her to the corner.
    “Where are we going? Let’s get back into the car.”
    “Just a minute.”
    We stood there for about thirty seconds. Then, I led the resistant Lena slowly back to the Waddell house, up the winding path to the front door at the side of the house and knocked.

    Pamela Matthews opened the front door and stood there with a garbage bag in each hand.
    “Two down and I don’t know how many more to go,” she said. “Come in. I was expecting you.”
    “Yes. We’re here a little early,” I said.
    “You’re the neighbors who called yesterday?”
    “No, I’m from