In Plain Sight Read Online Free PDF Page A

mother. She’d told me her mother wasn’t well. Maybe she’d taken a turn for the worse. Maybe she was in the hospital. Nevertheless Marsha could still have called to let me know what was happening. Did she want my help or not? It would be nice to know because if she didn’t, I’d have to return her money which meant I couldn’t pay off the full balance of my account with Reptiles Inc. and The Pet Food Company. I didn’t want to write the check if I didn’t have enough money in my account. These days bouncing checks was an expensive proposition. I called her house again at four. This time a man picked up.
    â€œHello?” he said. I recognized the voice. It was Merlin, Marsha’s husband. But I asked anyway just to make sure.
    â€œYes it is,” he replied. “But whatever you’re selling I don’t want,” he snapped.
    â€œI’m not selling anything,” I snapped back. “I’d like to speak to Marsha.”
    â€œWell, she’s not here.”
    A twinge of unease shot through me. “Do you know where she is?”
    â€œNo, I don’t. Why?”
    â€œWe were supposed to meet on Monday afternoon.”
    â€œWho is this anyway?” he demanded suspiciously.
    â€œA colleague,” I lied. The last thing I was going to do was tell him who I was or what Marsha and I were going to talk about.
    â€œI wish you people would stop calling,” Merlin whined. “I already told you I haven’t seen her since she left for work Monday morning.” He sounded about as upset as a man talking about getting rid of a wart on his hand. Then before I could ask anything else, he hung up.
    I reached for a chocolate bar. This wasn’t good. It wasn’t good at all. I went through the rest of the day with a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I called Marsha’s house again at nine o’clock before I left the store. Merlin answered. He didn’t sound happy to hear from me. I asked if he’d spoken to Marsha’s mother, and he said of course he had. When I asked for her number he sounded even more aggravated. What was I implying? he demanded.
    â€œNothing,” I told him, which was of course ridiculous because I was implying plenty.
    For a moment I thought he wasn’t going to give the number to me, but he did along with the information that he’d already filed a missing person’s report and that he was doing everything he could and he’d appreciate my butting out, or words to that effect.
    As soon as Merlin hung up I dialed Marsha’s mother’s number and got a nurse with a heavy Jamaican accent who informed me that Mrs. Wise was sleeping now and that if this was the police again, I’d have to wait till she woke up.
    â€œActually I’m a friend of her daughter’s,” I told her as I lit a cigarette.
    â€œI don’t care if you’re the Pope himself. I’m still not wakin’ the poor dear up. After all she’s been through she needs her rest.”
    â€œPerhaps you can help me then,” I suggested, figuring I didn’t have anything to lose.
    â€œMaybe I can and maybe I can’t,” the nurse replied.
    I suppressed a sigh. This lady wasn’t giving anything away. “All I want to know is when Marsha left.”
    There was a short pause while she considered my question. “I guess there’s no harm in that,” the nurse finally allowed. “Mrs. Pennington left here the same time she always does—early Sunday morning.”
    This time I put the receiver down first. I was tired of getting hung up on.
    I made some other calls over the next few days, but none of them panned out. Marsha had disappeared.
    I was hoping she’d run away with a lover.
    Or just run away.
    But somehow I didn’t think that was going to be the case.
    And it wasn’t.
    Marsha surfaced on Thursday.
    Or rather her body did. It was found floating in the LeMoyne