I rang the bell and waited. It wasn’t a particularly loud bell, so I rang it a second time. When no one appeared, I examined the lock a moment. It was newer than I had expected, but that didn’t make it impossible. A simple spell, and the lock obeyed, unlocking itself. I pushed open the door, letting Andromeda slip past. He loved looking around houses, truly the curious cat. Closing the door, I relocked it. For a moment, I wondered if Jacob was the only detective around who would suspect a magical if he came across a crime committed on the other side of a locked door. That would be another solution for a locked-door mystery.
I stood in the foyer and looked around.
Jennifer’s house was standard fare. To one side, a living room had been converted into a family room of sorts—wide-screen TV, couches, a fireplace. On the other side was the dining room. I noted that older homes didn’t strive for the “open” look of newer houses. There was a half-bath and then, the kitchen, which was large, although with new appliances. In all, a nice lower floor. And I didn’t know where to start.
Upstairs is an office.
I turned to Andromeda, who had obviously already made a tour of the place.
That should work.
The office was a converted bedroom. I could tell from the closet. And it was Thomas’s office. The heavy desk, the leather chair, the bar, stocked with whiskey testified to a “man cave” of sorts. I guessed that Thomas was a drunk at home as well as in the city. That his desk was messy was to be expected. Drunks aren’t neat by nature. Atop the desk, several manila files were stacked atop each other. Supposing that the most recent files were the most important, I opened the file and found what I hadn’t suspected.
“My darling,” was the salutation, and it didn’t look like Jennifer’s writing, which I was familiar with. I sat and read the letter:
I sit here at my desk and dream of nothing but being with you. I count the days until I file for divorce and leave her behind. You know who I’m talking about. I can barely stand to be in the same room with her. It causes me a pain I can no longer endure.
But I will not fill this page with complaints. I will fill it with regard for you, for your beauty and your wit, for the joy you bring me whenever we’re together. You are the sunshine in my day, the moonlight in my night. You are the heaven in my dreams. The mere thought of your beauty excites me in a way that I know will never flag. I live for your kisses. That we will grow old together is my undying wish.
Do not despair. Our time is near. Wait but a little longer. We shall make the heavens rejoice.
Your devoted lover.
That the letter was unsigned surprised me. But then, an unsigned letter could be used over and over, and while the handwriting could be identified, without names, it could be explained away as just an exercise in prose. I didn’t think that, but I didn’t have much else to go on.
Was the letter to Jennifer?
Had Thomas written the letter?
It was impossible to tell. That Jennifer had a lover wouldn’t have surprised me. Thomas was a wastrel and a womanizer. And if she had a lover, it would have been easy enough to hide. Drunks are notorious for forgetting things, even important things. I supposed Thomas would have been, literally, the last one to know or suspect. Jennifer’s actions in the store told me that her marriage was over. Women often went ahead and lined up the next man before they ridded themselves of the last. That was the prudent thing to do. Had Jennifer been so forward-looking? I sifted through the other letters in the file, and not a single one included names. That seemed very inconsiderate in my view, but it was the best I was going to get.
I opened the next file on the desk and found a stack of unpaid bills. I didn’t dwell on the amounts or the creditors. I merely noted that they were “past due” and in various amounts. Debt was often a major source of friction in a marriage. Few couples could survive the constant hounding of bill collection agencies. I almost felt sorry for Jennifer and Thomas. But then, another casualty of excessive drinking was reliability. The world was filled with men and women who couldn’t balance a checkbook.
The next file was Jennifer’s passport and travel documents. I didn’t need to know anything about that. Let people keep their secrets was what I believed. As far as I was concerned, learning another person’s secret was a burden. You had to take care of it the same way you took care of your own secrets. Who wanted to add another rock to the backpack? I was about to look at the next file when Andromeda called.
Someone is at the door.
That was not good news, not good news at all, even if it did come from Andromeda. I put the files back in order, although I wasn’t at all certain I had placed the letters in their proper order. That couldn’t be helped. I hoped that whoever was keeping the letters wouldn’t notice.
I established a direct link with Andromeda, and as usual, I could see what he saw. Jennifer was, indeed, in the kitchen, and from the look of her, she had been partying. Red face, bleary eyes, a giggle in her throat. I would say she had made friends with John Barleycorn, which was fine with me. I was far from a teetotaler.
Being in the kitchen was my signal to come down the stairs which were far away from the kitchen. As I reached the bottom, I glanced back at the kitchen. I heard Jennifer on her phone. I couldn’t help but note the conversation...well, half the conversation.
“I don’t care what anyone says,” Jennifer said. “I’m going to live my life the way I see fit.”
And she came out of the kitchen. I had two choices, and neither one seemed very good. I could hide in the dining room or the family room. I chose the dining room. After all, Jennifer would watch TV or something, wouldn’t she?
Before Jennifer reached the moment of decision, I did the only thing I could think to do. I used a visibility spell to make myself invisible. It wasn’t a powerful spell. Had I been outdoors, I would have cast a shadow. Indoors, I had to note the light source. And the spell was not long-lasting. I needed to get out of the house soon. I waited, and my luck ran out. Jennifer entered the dining room...and sat. I was trapped.
Making myself invisible did not make me any thinner than I was already was, or any shorter, or any anything. All it did was make me invisible to someone looking at me. And since I was in the corner by the china cabinet, and there was no room to squeeze past Jennifer. If I went the other way, I would have to move the chair, and she would certainly notice the chair moving, wouldn’t she? I knew my spell wouldn’t last until she decided to go to bed, so I was stuck. The only way to get past her was to crawl under the table.
I was petite and thin, but that didn’t mean I could go wherever I wanted. I sank to my knees and every so slowly started to crawl.
I managed to ease myself past the first chair and about to negotiate the next one, when Jennifer stuck out her feet, as if stretching her legs. I had to stop, her feet inches from my face. And the worst thing about the entire exercise was smelling her feet. Oh, lawd! She needed better shoes. It wasn’t enough to make me faint, but it wasn’t a pleasant I experience. I fought the urge to sneeze. That’s all I needed—a sneeze. I pinched my nose and held it, as she chattered about some sort of dress or something. That didn’t matter. What mattered was getting past her. I told myself to be patient which was easy to say and hard to do.
A few moments later, Jennifer pulled back her feet, but she didn’t leave the chair. I moved again, mindful of chair legs and table legs and all the stuff one might run into under the table. Of course, at that moment, I just happened to disturb a big, black spider that dropped down in front of me. It took all of my will power to keep from making some kind of sound, a yelp or shriek or something. I did gasp, but as Jennifer was busy talking, I don’t think she heard. I waved my hand through the spider silk, and the big spider headed away from me, a very good thing. So I followed the spider.