Maddie Cochere - Susan Hunter 05 - Windy City Hunter Page 2

  “Look at this,” he said with a laugh. “We’re exiting onto Ohio Street. That will be easy to remember when it’s time to get back on the interstate.”

  He took the exit and turned right onto Ohio. We crossed the Chicago River, and several blocks later, he spotted another sign for the Center which directed us to make a left at North Michigan Avenue.

  I was instantly reminded of the Ohio State and Michigan football rivalries. It made me smile, and thoughts of Mick and our friends at the racquetball club ran through my mind. It didn’t matter if it was a Saturday or a Sunday, we usually had a couple of hours of racquetball in before gathering in the upstairs pub to play cards while watching football on television. A new 55-inch flat screen had recently been installed, and every game seemed much more exciting now. I was looking forward to spending cold winter weekends in the cozy pub.

  Darby was driving slowly because of the weather and the traffic. It was 5:30, and traffic was heavy. Street lights were on, businesses were lit for the evening, and a multitude of white Christmas lights adorned leafless trees on both sides of the street. Seasonal decorations were abundant in shop windows and on buildings. With the snow coming down, it was a Christmas wonderland.

  “Darby, this is beautiful,” I squealed. I wanted to shop for toys, but I was only five and a half months along, and Christmas for the baby would have to wait until next year.

  “I think this is what they call The Magnificent Mile,” he said with almost as much delight as I had expressed. “This is where we’ll want to shop. Everything you could possibly want for Christmas will be on this stretch of road. There’s Macy’s, and over here is Victoria’s Secret.”

  I laughed and said, “Oh yeah, like I want to be shopping at Victoria’s Secret right now. I’ll save that for after I have the baby.”

  “Ok,” he said with a smile. “I can see the Hancock Center. It’s just ahead on your side of the street.”

  We continued to rubberneck, and a few moments later, I said excitedly, “East Chestnut! We just crossed East Chestnut!” He laughed at my enthusiasm, but most of it was because I was elated we were going to be out of the car soon and in a condo with a bathroom.

  It took a few minutes to go around the block and turn onto East Chestnut. We passed Ditka’s Restaurant and a horse-drawn carriage. The horse and carriage were both white and seemed magical in the setting, but out of place, too. I couldn’t believe someone was taking a carriage ride in this weather. It would be beautiful if the snow was falling lightly, but this heavy, wet snow was already piling up on the cars parked along the street. I felt sorry for the horse.

  It was only a minute before Darby spotted the yellow awning, and it wasn’t really yellow. It was a much deeper, richer color, like a dark goldenrod. From what I could tell, there wasn’t anything unusual or special about the building, but the awning to the street, and the matching shades above the open porch area, had a deep indigo swirl design giving the entranceway an elegant appearance.

  There were no available parking spots on the street. Darby double-parked the car and set the flashers.

  “What are you doing” I asked. “I’m sure this is illegal in the city.”

  “Let’s get you and the luggage inside,” he said, “and then I’ll find out where I can park. Uncle Jack said he has a leased parking space somewhere around here that we can use. He left his car at the airport until he gets back.”

  I nodded, unbuckled my seatbelt, and gathered my things. As soon as Darby opened his door, a doorman magically appeared. He ran around to my side of the car to open the door and offer an arm to me for assistance. He was dressed in an overcoat of the same goldenrod color, and he was wearing a typical doorman’s hat with the same swirl design as on the awning. He was a big man, on the jolly side even, and if he didn’t have such a clean-cut baby face, he would have made a good Santa with his twinkling eyes and rosy cheeks.

  “Hi,” I said cheerfully as I grasped his arm. “Thank you so much.”

  “At your service, ma’am,” he said with his own broad smile. “I’m Terry, and I’ll be helping you with all of your travel needs while you’re here. If I’m not mistaken, you would be Susan.”

  “Yes,” I said with a laugh. “How did you know?”

  “I’m the doorman,” he said with a sly smile. “I know everything.”

  I found him to be completely delightful. We walked beneath the awning, through the doorway, and into a small lobby. To the right were two leather chairs with an end table and lamp between them. An oriental rug with a black, gold, and ivory pattern was in front of the chairs. The small waiting area presented an inviting space. A potted plant was next to one of the chairs, and two more were on the left side of the lobby in front of a small reception area. A dark brown wooden counter with a black marble top separated the receptionist’s area from the open lobby. Across from the elevator doors was a large, beautifully decorated, Christmas tree with blue lights and gold garland.

  A man and woman were behind the counter. The man appeared to be moving things around on the desk, while the woman was buttoning her coat.

  “Andy, Emma, this is Susan,” said Terry. “She’ll be staying in Jack Tapley’s condo this weekend. Susan, this is Andy and Emma, and one of them will always be here while you’re visiting. They’ll help you with anything you need for the condo. If packages arrive, you’ll pick them up here, and sometimes you’ll find messages here, too.

  Before I could say hello, Darby came through the door with our suitcases. Terry rushed over to take them from him and set them off to the side.

  “Darby, hello,” he said with a broad smile. “I’m your doorman, Terry, and this is Andy and Emma. If you need anything while you’re here, just ask. Between the three of us, we can help you with anything. Emma is leaving, but Andy will be here through the night.”

  Greetings were exchanged, and Terry helped Darby bring in the remaining items from the car. I sat down in one of the chairs and waited while Terry explained to Darby where to park the car in the lot next door. Emma and Darby walked out of the building together.

  Terry turned to me and said, “So, you’re in town for the big cooking competition.”

  “Yes, we are,” I said with a smile spreading across my face. I was excited about the contest, and I couldn’t hide my enthusiasm if I tried. “One of Darby’s recipes was accepted, and I’m going to be his sous chef.”

  “Ah, you’ll be chopping all the onions and carrots and things like that, right?” he asked.

  I giggled. “No. He’s baking a cake. He doesn’t really need help, but each contestant is allowed to bring one helper, so I’m helping. I can at least measure ingredients and watch the time for him. We do a lot of cooking at home, and we work well together in the kitchen, so it should be fun.”

  “Oh, I’m sure it will be,” he said. “My dear old mum, God rest her soul, she cooked in the Cook County Cook-Off for a number of years, and she brought home a few blue ribbons. I sure do miss her cooking.” He was smiling but shaking his head in sadness, too.

  Darby came through the doorway again and stamped the snow from his feet while brushing snow from his hair and shoulders. “Phew, it’s really coming down now,” he said. “We’ll be snowed in by morning.”

  “Nah. You’ll see,” Terry said. “These guys are pros at working with the snow here. You’ll be able to get around just fine.” He turned to the desk clerk. “Andy, do you have keys for these two?”

  Andy produced an envelope and handed it to Darby. Inside were two keys to the condo and a note. Terry helped us pile our luggage and bags into the elevator and asked, “Will you be going out this evening?”

  “No,” Darby said. “It was a long drive, and we’re going to stay in and relax. We’re supposed to drop in on Mrs. Fisher around 8:00 for tea. She’s across the hall from us, right?”

  Terry’s face lit up as he said, “Ahh, Penelope, the Queen of Diamonds. Yes, she and your uncle are friendly, and he has tea with her often. I’m glad he made arr
angements for you to meet her. She’s quite a, shall we say, interesting, character. She’s in 18F.” He pushed the elevator button for the 18th floor, and with a wink and a nod, he wished us good night.

  The doors closed. I turned to Darby and said, “What a nice man. I think he’s Santa Claus. The real Santa Claus, only he’s retired now and working in a condo in Chicago.”

  He laughed and said, “You have a vivid imagination, and I think it’s worse now that you’re pregnant.”

  “Everything is worse now that I’m pregnant,” I said with a laugh. “I’m happy one minute, mad the next, and laughing like a hyena two minutes after that. The pregnancy books all say I’m overly sensitive and prone to anger in the fifth month, and I do seem to get irritated easily, but I don’t usually stay mad. It’s hard to keep my emotions in check though.”

  “How’s Mick taking this new side of you?” he asked.

  “He’s been handling it pretty well. He sticks around when I’m cheerful, but he hides out in his office when I’m cranky. We’re doing ok.” I looked at my watch and said, “Speaking of Mick, I’m supposed to call him at 7:30. Please don’t let me forget. I don’t want him to worry.”

  “Will do,” he said as the elevator doors opened onto the 18th floor.

  I held the doors open while he moved everything from the elevator into the hallway. There were three suitcases, two bags of groceries, a gallon of milk, two bags I had stuffed with snacks and cds for the road trip, and two small boxes of items Darby had brought along for the cooking competition.

  He had the last suitcase in his hand when pounding footsteps caught my attention. I looked down the hallway, and a man in a gorilla mask was running full-tilt directly at us. I let go of the elevator door and jumped back as I yelled to Darby, “Look out!”

  I didn’t know if I should laugh or be afraid. Darby jumped aside and stood in front of me as a protective measure, but the man never slowed down, tripped over a suitcase, and pitched head first into the elevator. He ended up in a heap in the corner just as the doors were closing.

  We looked at each other in stunned astonishment. “Susan,” he said, “that was one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen. I don’t even want to know what that was all about. Here, you take the grocery bags, I’ll take the suitcases, and then I’ll come back for the rest.”

  The condo was about halfway down the long hall. I noticed Penelope Fisher’s condo of 18F wasn’t directly across from our door, but was offset another three feet down the hallway.

  Darby had the door open and was running his hand along the wall to find the light switch. I stepped up beside him and peered into the darkened condo. “Wait,” I said. “Look out the window.”

  The outer wall was windows from floor to ceiling, and they weren’t covered. The view from this vantage point was spectacular. The lights from the nearby buildings, and the Christmas lights along the street below, together with the falling snow, made a beautiful scene. I started to step into the room.

  “Susan, wait,” Darby said. “Let me get the lights on first. The living room is lower than we are, and I don’t want you to fall.”

  His hand found the light switch, and the room was bathed in warm, soft lighting from recessed lights in the ceiling. I was grateful Darby had kept me from walking without being able to see the room clearly as we were standing on a narrow, raised hallway with no railing. A quick look around showed a coat closet to the left of the entrance, a bathroom next to the closet, and two open doors at the end of the hallway showing two bedrooms. Across from the bathroom were three steps down to the living area. The living room was to the right with a small dining area to the left. We could see into an even smaller kitchen adjacent to the dining area.

  “Wow,” Darby said nodding his head in approval. “What a great bachelor pad.”

  “It is pretty masculine, isn’t it?” I agreed.

  The living room had beautiful hardwood flooring. Brown travertine tile covered the dining area and kitchen floors. The walls were painted in earth tones with two walls being a gray color, one beige, and the remaining walls seafoam green. The living room furniture consisted of one sofa and one chair, but they were overstuffed and looked comfortable. One end table, a coffee table, and an entertainment stand rounded out the ensemble. An abstract painting of scarlet, midnight blue, and yellow hung above the sofa and brought some color into the room. Opposite the sofa, a flat screen television was mounted on the wall above the entertainment stand.

  The only Christmas decoration was a tall artificial tree with white and gold ornaments. The small, white twinkle lights had come on at the same time as the overhead lights, and the tree fit perfectly with the bachelor vibe.

  “Let’s check out the bedrooms,” Darby said. “You can take the master. I don’t need as much room as you do.”

  I punched him on the arm. “Stop it,” I said laughing. “I’m not showing much at all, and I’m sure I don’t need as much room as you do.”

  It was true. I wasn’t showing much and only had a small baby bump. My doctor had allowed me to play racquetball with no restrictions for the first five months. It was only in the last two weeks that I had started playing at a slower pace and working on shot placement rather than powering the ball around the court. The continued exercise helped to keep up with my increased appetite, and I hadn’t gained any extra weight.

  He laughed as he peeked into both rooms. “Really, Susan, you go ahead and take Uncle Jack’s room. You’ll be more comfortable in there, and the smaller room is fine for me.”

  He carried my two suitcases into his uncle’s bedroom. The bed was a king-size, four-poster cannonball bed with a simple white comforter and a mountain of pillows. Two nightstands, a matching dresser, and an armoire completed the outfit. Once again, the room was sparse and masculine, but also inviting. I liked Uncle Jack’s style.

  Darby took his suitcase into the spare bedroom. I stuck my head around the corner of his room and said, “I’m going to use the bathroom. I’ll only be a minute.”

  “Ok,” he said. “I’m going to check out the kitchen and see what’s in the refrigerator.”

  Several minutes later, I came out of the bathroom to see Darby coming out of the kitchen with a puzzled look on his face.

  “What?” I asked.

  It hit us both at the same time, and we said in unison, “The boxes!”

  We had been so busy looking around the condo, that we forgot we left the bags and boxes in the hallway down by the elevator. Darby couldn’t afford to lose the boxes. I didn’t know what was in them, but he said they were items vital to his success in the cooking competition, and it would guarantee a baking disaster if he didn’t have them.

  We both ran to the door and out into the hallway. It suddenly became very confusing.

  A man was stepping away from Mrs. Fisher’s door. It appeared as if he had just come out of her condo and was making sure the door was closed behind him. He and I made eye contact, and I almost smiled. It was the good-looking, somewhat scruffy, man who had been in the small black car at the gas station on the south side of the city. The same man who was watching the man in the Cadillac. The same man who gave me the I’m watching you sign with his hand. What was he doing outside of Mrs. Fisher’s door, and what were the odds of my seeing him again like this? There was no sign of recognition when the man looked at me and Darby, so I held back my smile.

  He wasn’t the only one in the hallway. A matronly woman who appeared to be in her fifties was nearly to Mrs. Fisher’s door when we burst out of ours. She didn’t give us or the man a second look, she simply moved past us and used a key to open Mrs. Fisher’s door. Only then did she turn to look at us, and for a brief moment, all four of us stood staring at each other. The woman flipped the lights on in Mrs. Fisher’s condo. Because we were looking through the doorway at an angle, we could see the open hardwood floor space at the bottom of the three stairs. Sprawled in a pool of blood was an elderly woman, who I assumed to be Penelope Fisher.

  T
he woman stepped back from the doorway, looked at the three of us and opened her mouth. It took a few seconds, but a blood-curdling scream came out.

  Chapter Three

  Darby grabbed my arm, opened our door, and we darted back into the condo. My heart was racing and my knees were weak as I walked down the stairs and plopped onto the sofa.

  “What was that?” I asked Darby in disbelief.

  “Susan, I think that was a murder,” he said. “I’m calling the police.” His face was white. Not only had we just seen a probable crime scene, but the woman was a dear friend of his uncle’s. He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and dialed 911.

  While he talked to the dispatcher, I couldn’t help but wonder who the man was who had been in the hallway? Was he the murderer? If so, why didn’t he run? He didn’t appear alarmed when the door was opened, and we saw the body. Had he been in the condo, and did he already know Mrs. Fisher was dead? If he was watching the guy with the pink shoelaces and the man in the Cadillac earlier today, did they have anything to do with this man, and did they know Mrs. Fisher? Were they accomplices?

  My mind was in overdrive, and I was upset, yet exhilarated. This was a lot of excitement to have walked in on.

  “Susan!” Darby snapped.

  “What?” I snapped back.

  “Aren’t you listening to me?” he asked. He was frowning and seemed exasperated. “I’m going to slip out and grab the boxes and bags if they’re still there. I want to get them before the police get here and think they’re evidence or something.”

  I nodded my head. “Be careful. What if that guy coming out of Mrs. Fisher’s condo was the murderer?” I asked with my eyes wide.

  He opened the door and peeked out into the hallway. “No one’s out here,” he said softly. “I’ll be right back.”

  The door shut behind him, and I quickly ran up and opened the door just enough to stick my head out. I wanted to watch to be sure he was ok as he made his way down the hallway. Where were the other tenants? The scream that came out of that woman was enough to wake the dead, but no one had come into the hallway to see what was going on.