They always told him, one more stunt like that and he could hurt himself. But did he listen? Noooo. Micky Dolenz never listened to anyone who thought they knew better than him. Micky thought this while sitting in his bed. But he did it anyway. He thought he could balance his drum kit on a small platform behind the band and every one would be able to see him. Micky was a great drummer, but a terrible carpenter. One misplaced nail and the platform crumbled under his weight. He knew he was in trouble when he heard the slight snap as he landed on his right leg.
"Maybe this will teach you not to do dumb stuff." Mike had said when they brought him back to the pad with his wheel chair.
"No, Mike. Peter does the dumb stuff. I do the unnecessarily dangerous stuff." Micky reminded him. A familiar face was there to great them. "Chea!"
"So hows my little Evel Knieval doing?" Chea asked hugging him the best she could. Getting close to him in the wheelchair was hard.
"Fine, baby." Micky said. Chea was Mickys fiancée. She was one of their "Monkee girlfriends" as the fans called them. Mikes wife was Karen. Peters girlfriend was Olivia, called Livvie for short, and Davys girl was Brianna. The three "girls" were out of town attending Briannas high school reunion. She had no family so she brought her best friends so she wouldn’t be alone. But that’s another story for another day.
This was about five weeks ago. Micky had another week in his plaster prison before it came off. Chea was handy to have around, she helped scratch the things that were out of reach.
It was 8:00 in the morning when Micky awoke. He ran a tinny little bell to catch her attention. She poked her head up through the stairs to their room. Micky and Chea had one room, while Livvie and Peter shared another. The other house, once occupied by the girls when they arrived in southern California, was shared by the Nesmiths and Davy and Brianna.
"Are we ready to come down?" She asked.
"As ready as I'll ever be. Whoopie, another day of watching the courtyard. I wish something would happen." He moaned. Chea came up the stairs.
"Don't wish for something, you may be sorry later." She cracked. "The doctor said you can walk down the stairs you know."
"Yeah, but I like you touching me." Micky smirked.
"Bad man!" Chea chided him. "We could stay up here, for a little while." She smiled.
"Yeah, but that plaster nightmare will get in the way." Micky whined referring to his cast.
"Oh well, one more week. Gives you something to look forward to." She whispered. "Lets go."
"Breakfast time." Chea said bringing a tray to Micky at his usual window seat. He had been sitting in the wheelchair at the window ever since he came home from the hospital. Now Micky was on the phone.
"Ah come on, Don." Micky was saying. "I get the cast off in a week. Then the gig is the week after that. There’s no problems."
"What’s wrong?" Chea whispered as Micky chatted on the phone.
"He wants to make the guys play with another drummer." He said covering the mouthpiece. Chea set up the tray on his lap. "What are we having?"
"French toast, ala Micky. Actually ala Chea since I only used your recipe." Chea said tucking a napkin in his shirt. "And..."
"Extra syrup to mop up later. Excellent." He went back to the phone. "I'm still here. Well its not like I'm gonna get up and run. We have to have this gig Don. I'm going crazy. All I been doing is watching the courtyard and its boring!" He handed Chea the phone. "Tell him."
"Its true." Chea said. "I actually thought of getting another job it bored me so much."
"See?" Micky took the phone back. "Another week, I promise." He hung up the phone. "I swear I don’t know what’s driving me crazy, the cast or him!"
"Yeah, but at least you can throw one away in a week." Chea reminded. "So what’s going on today?"
"School must be out." He mused. "Some kids were ringing Babbits doorbell. It was hilarious. I wonder why I never thought of it."
"Cause you can't run in that thing." A voice came from the hallway. It was Mike.
"Howdy!" Micky called.
"How’s it going?" He asked.
"Not bad. Just talking to Don." Micky said cutting up his French toast.
"Still trying to convince you to get us to get another drummer?" He asked sitting on the window sill.
"Still. All he thinks about is money." Micky said. "Not that its bad, we're gonna need some to pay medical bills." Micky noted. "Didn’t we almost have health insurance at your record store job?" He asked Chea. She worked at a record store until recently.
"Yeah but that went down the tubes once it burned down." Chea sighed. "I thought the incense section was a good idea at the time."
"Just one more week." Micky said. "I don't want to talk about this all day."
"Good, cause I ran out ways to say you have one more week left in the cast." Chea said. "Ohh there’s one more."
"What are you guys doing today?" Micky asked Mike.
"Since the girls are out of town, and you are out of commission, rehearsing is out of the question. Peters going to that new store he likes, Davy is surfing. I'm going to this car show at the shore." He said.
"Everyone has something to do besides me." Micky said.
"Read a book." Chea said dropping a book on his lap. "Expand your mind. I gotta go to work." Chea as she went to get dressed.
"Where do you work now?" Mike asked.
"Laundromat. Hoping to really clean up." Chea giggled. "Micky do you want me to put you somewhere else? Maybe in front of the TV?"
"No." Micky yelled as he swatted a fly with the book she gave him. "I can't change the channel anyway."
"Oh yeah, that’s right." Chea said. "Well don’t fall asleep over there. It will give you cramps tomorrow." Chea said as she went to their room. A few minutes later she came out with a uniform on. It was puke green with pink stripes.
"That’s real nice hon but what are you wearing to work?" Micky smiled.
"Heh heh." Chea laughed.
"I gotta go. I don’t want to miss anything." Mike said checking his hat. "If the girls call, say hi to my wife for me."
"Will do." Micky said. "I am all ready to go. I can do everything but dance."
"If you try, we'll find Davys little camera." Mike said. He waved and went out the door.
"I gotta go too." Chea said as she kissed Micky on the forehead. "Be back at two."
"Only two? Thought you worked full time." Micky questioned over his shoulder.
"I'm part part time." She explained. "See you later."
Micky waved at her. The door closed.
"Well me, its just you and me now." Micky said. He looked out across the courtyard. There were several new apartments that were built around their house. He could see into the back window of all of them. There was a dancer. Someone who was a painter, and some couple across the way. The wife was constantly in bed, cause she was also constantly in the bottle. She was also an invalid. The husband wasn’t happy with her. The times Micky had been at the window, he could hear them arguing all the way across the street. He could never hear what the argument was about.
It was so boring here, Micky thought. Not even his fave couple was doing anything. He served her lunch but got nothing but grief doing it. He went into the other room and got on the phone and the wife had stumbled out and some kind of thing happened. Micky sat and watched this for a while, but even this new action couldn’t keep him from falling asleep.
1:35
Micky awoke with a start. He looked around. The living room was darker, but only because there were now some clouds in front of the once bright sun. He raised his hand to his neck. He had been sleeping with his head cocked. Maybe the pain woke him up. But no, he thought to himself. It only hurt just now. A sound had awoken him, he remembered. Not just any sound; a scream. But where did that scream come from? Just as he pondered it, he heard it again. It was quicker but it was still piercing to his ears. It was short, but somehow the sound of it rose the hairs on the back of his neck. Where did that scream come from? More importantly, what was the cause?
"Hey Mick, I'm home!" Chea said as she walked through the door. "The weirdos we get in that place! Must be the hq of weirdo central." She took her jacket off and threw it on the sofa. "Mick? Micky?" She said as she approached Mickys wheel chair from behind. He didn’t seem to notice her but seemed to be focusing heavily on the place across the way from them. "Mick!" She said and touched his shoulder. He jumped upright and wheeled around to see her.
"Don't do that!" He said in his best gangster voice.
"I'm sorry!" She apologized while giving him a quick kiss. "What’s happening?" Chea said. "You were heavily focused on the neighbors. Did I miss something good?"
"You might say that." Micky said. "I think there was a murder. The husband and wife across the street?"
"Oh yeah, I know. Our favorite Bickersons." Chea said as the phone rang. She went to answer it. "What makes you think there was a murder?"
"I heard a scream." Micky said.
"That’s it?" Chea asked.
"I thought that was all I needed." Micky said. Chea nodded and held up a finger as she picked up the line.
"Hello?" She said. "It's Karen." She said putting her hand over the line. "How are you? Do you want me to get Mike?" She asked.
"Is he busy? I think I will leave him alone." Karen asked as Livvie came over to the phone. "Karen that man pinched me!" She heard her saying. "I have to get used to these new mating techniques."
"I think he’s busy writing a new song. I am trying so hard not to let him use this new line he has. I think it was I'll die if she really says yes but I keep trying to tell him its a country song in the future."
"Try and tell Mike anything, good luck making it stick. Kenny Chesney I think its by actually. How’s our boy Dolenz?" Karen asked.
"Fine but I think he’s getting a little stir crazy. He’s seeing things now! Nothing worth going into." Chea said. "See you when you get home." She said and hung up the phone. She walked over to Micky who was trying to move his wheelchair. "What do you want honey? Let me get it for you."
"That pair of binoculars that Davy gave me for Christmas. The ones you never thought I would use." Micky explained.
Chea opened a drawer and pulled out a non descript brown box. "Here they are. What is it you are looking for?"
"The place across the street. A few minutes after I heard the scream he closed both shades. I have been trying to peek in there ever since."
"Micky you know this kind of thing will get you in big trouble." Chea warned.
"You’re not gonna tell on me are you?" Micky said giving her his best little angel face.
"No way, I want in on this. I'm going stir crazy too." She said pulling up a chair. "So anything else happen?"
"No yet so far. He left before you came back in but when he left he had a small bag with him. I think he went around back."
"What’s around in the back of the building?" Chea asked.
"The place they were gonna put the new playground but ran out of funding." Micky explained. "If he had anything that I'm thinking of..."
"Like a bloody severed head?" Chea laughed.
"I'm serious babe." Micky said with a pained expression.
"Me too!" She said taken aback. "I don't want to find that kind of thing. Especially at what could be a playground!"
"I'm sorry but this thing has me weirded out." Micky said. "I'm not even sure anything happened. I mean what if it was just a loud kid."
"Did it sound like a loud kid?" Chea asked.
"I don't know but hearing that scream made my blood curdle." Micky confessed.
"Definitely not a kid." Chea surmised.
They waited a few more minutes. Their patience was rewarded. Suddenly their attention was drawn to the front dooryard area. "There he is." Micky said pointing him out.
"That’s Mr. Geinloch." Chea said.
"You know him?" Micky said.
"Not really." Chea said. "He came over to complain about the noise once. Davy said ok and turned it down, but later on he set a bag of dog poopy on fire in front of the door."
"Did he fall for it?" Micky asked.
"Did he ever. I never saw a grown man cry over loafers before." Chea laughed.
They watched Mr. Geinloch walk into the building. He looked around for a second, checked his mail and went inside.
"Did he have that bag?" Micky asked.
"Besides the mail he was empty-handed." Chea said.
"What do you think?" Micky asked.
"I think, unless that was somehow trash, he has something to hide in that bag." Chea said. "Must be pretty dicey if he wants get rid of it NOW." She thought out loud. She sat there for a minute and a smile crawled all over her face.
"What are you thinking?" Micky asked.
"I'm gonna go over and look." Chea said. She popped her jacket back on. "Is he back in the apartment yet?"
"Its hard to tell." Micky said. "The shades are still drawn."
"Should I risk it?" Chea asked. She walked back over to the window with Micky. He rolled back his chair. She helped him down a step.
"Wait until dark my sweet. In the meantime you can cook me dinner." Micky said.
"Ooh, ok." Chea said. She went over to the kitchen. She grabbed a box of mac and cheese. "What happens if I do find something?"
"Then I'd say Mr. Geinloch has some 'splaining to do Lucy."
Two hours later
Chea was dressed all in black. Almost all in black, she wore a beige-ish scarf around her head to conceal her identity. She flip flopped on whether or to wear black camouflaging makeup or not but decided it would be a real pain to get off. She sat by the back door and waited for Micky to give the all clear to go. Mr. Geinloch went out with a shopping list. He looked like he was going for supplies. For reasons unknown to them both he didn’t turn bedroom light off. Micky shrugged it off. Mr. Geinloch was old enough to have early Alzheimers. As soon as he vanished into the dark Micky gave the all clear to Chea. She nodded and strolled out into the dark. After stumbling over a big trike in the dooryard, Chea uttered a few choice words. Some of them were even unfamiliar to Micky who has been around Davy in his more vocal moments.
"If I’m going to do this spy thing right I cant be noisy!" Chea reasoned as she snuck up to the building. She crawled around the cover out of sight.
Micky took a deep breath and sighed. All he had to do was wait, and with Chea out there, it was going to be very hard.
Chea searched the ground. The first thing she found was a dime and evidence that someone hadn't curbed their dog.
"Yuck." She as she accidentally smeared some on her face. She went a little further down the yard and felt fresh clumps of dirt around her. Dirt that had been dug up. She felt further and found nothing further. She stood up and walked a little forward. She thought she heard something and tripped over something. She tumbled to the ground onto her stomach and knees. She turned around to see what it was she found. She felt around it. It was definitely new. She looked around it. It was too far away from the main yard so it couldn’t be a plant, yet it was too large to bed something a dog would be responsible for. As she tried to decide whether or not to uncover her find, Chea heard soft footfalls behind her.
"Micky?" She whispered. It couldn't be him. He’s not walking. She turned around and saw a towering figure in the moonlight. Chea screamed.
The sound of the scream almost knocked Micky out of his wheelchair. He knew that voice and who it belonged to. Chea! Something must have happened to her out there. He tried to turn his chair around to go to the door but found he had inadvertently put the parking brake on. There was a long silence following the scream that was deafening to him. Micky spun in his seat trying to see if he could get out there to help her.
"Chea!" He shouted. "Your knight in shining armor is..." Micky stopped when he saw Chea walk through the door. She seemed to have something smeared all over her face. Right behind her was Peter apologizing profusely. He carried a paper shopping bag with him. "...coming."
"I said I was sorry! I thought you heard me!" Peter said.
"Peter you don’t go around scaring the living crap out of people!" Chea said flustered. "I was so close to finding the bag then Mr. Lightfoot scared me." She explained to Micky.
"Darn it!" Micky said. "What is that on your face?" Chea flashed him a "Don't ask" look.
"I know it!"
"I said I'm sorry." Peter said. "What else would you have me do?"
Chea and Micky looked at each other. They smiled conspiringly.
"Or maybe I shouldn't have asked." Peter whimpered.
"Ok heres the plan." Chea said. "I go over to try to find the bag. Peter goes over to Mr. Geinloch's place in case we see him come back."
"Right." Micky said. "Do you know what he looks like Peter?" He asked as Peter looked out the window.
"Is it that guy?" Peter pointed. Chea and Micky looked.
"Oh crud he’s back." Chea said.
"Change of plans." Micky said. "Now what?"
"We can't go over. I might look strange digging through his yard...as if I didn’t already." Chea said.
"We'll have to go over later. Until then we have to wait him out." Micky proposed. "Looks like Peters off the hook for the moment." Peter let loose a big sigh of relief. "What do we do in the meantime?"
"Eat." Chea said. "Its time for dinner. What do you guys say I scramble up some eggs?"
"Sure." Micky said. "Do you want in on some Peter?"
"Oh no. I got this gift for Livvie when she comes home with the others." He said holding the bag close to him. "Its a surprise." He said before anyone could ask. He walked upstairs to his room and went inside. Chea smiled and went off to the kitchen.
"You would think after working all day I wouldn’t want to do anything for anyone." She joked. "We don't have any eggs Micky, how bout a burger?"
"That’s fine." Micky replied. He watched the Geinlochs place. Mr. Geinloch seemed to be have put something into a huge trunk. He was now binding it shut with a heavy looking rope. Micky watched him do this chore. He took a deep breath and sat down. He picked up a box and was looking through it as he got onto the phone.
"Whatcha doing?" A voice called out, breaking into Mickys reverie.
"I hate it when people sneak up like that." He muttered. He turned to find Mike and Davy.
"Do you 'ave any of that coconut conditioner left mate?" He asked Davy. Chea ducked her head into to living room.
"Micky? You have coconut conditioner? Is there something I should know?" She joked.
"I have split ends. Davy told me." Micky said. "In the bathroom."
"Is that next to the strawberry soap on a rope?" Davy asked as he went upstairs.
"Shhh!" Micky shushed Davy as Chea tried hard not to break out into a hearty laugh in the kitchen. "Hey Mike. What’s up?"
"What’s up with you two? From what I can tell you have been at the window all day." Mike said sitting down. "Taking up bird watching?"
"No, that’s something Davy would do." Micky said. "Its complex." Micky said waving his hands.
"How so?" Mike asked as Chea came into the room with drinks for all. She handed Mike a tea. He began to sip it.
"We think Mr. Geinloch killed his wife." Chea said. Mike spat tea all over the floor. "Dammit. Where’s that mop?"
After giving Chea a chance to get a mop and Mike a chance to recover, Micky explained.
"I heard some loud screams come from the Geinloch place." Micky informed him.
"They could have been fooling around." Mike said.
"Not the kind of screams I heard." Micky said. "They still give me chills."
"And I feel them when he even mentions them." Chea noted.
"Okay then what? If this is all you have then you two have a pretty flimsy case to build." Mike pointed out.
"I knew I forgot something. Law school!" Chea snapped her fingers.
"He’s been acting pretty strange." Micky said. "He’s been coming and going with small bags."
"Trash?" Mike offered.
"No one makes that much trash. Not even Davy." Chea said.
"I heard that." Davy said coming down the stairs. "I found the stuff."
"And you better put that loofah back when you are done with it." Chea said. "I looked for that thing for two weeks."
"What loofah?" Davy said with a guilty look on his face. He vanished out the door.
"Anyway we thought he might have hid or buried something in the back of his place. We almost found it. I think a dog found whatever it was he didn’t want anyone to see. I was so close when Peter scared the living daylights out of me."
"I said I'm sorry!" Peter said coming down the stairs. "I'm going for a walk." He got a light jacket and went out the door.
"What makes you think he’s hiding something. Or that his wifes even dead." Mike said. "This could all be resolved in a phone call. She could be on a trip."
"Oh she’s on a trip all right. One she didn’t book and one that’s one way!" Micky said.
"Don't call him!" Chea pleaded.
"Why?" Mike asked as he went to the phone.
"He'll think we're nosy?" Chea said with a slight cringe. Mike glared at her.
"As if what you were doing was any better." Mike said. "I know the apartment manager." He said dialing the phone. Chea went over to the kitchen and got Mickys hamburger off the stove. She prepared it on a bun with all the fixings. She put it on a plate and brought it over to him.
"Hello Sammy? Its Mike. Nesmith. Yeah, I was wondering about Mrs. Geinloch....Oh yea? I had no idea." He while Micky took the plate from Chea. He smiled at her. "And she’s been gone a couple of hours. Okay. No, its nothing. Yeah I know I owe you five bucks. See ya." Mike hung up the phone. "Mrs. Geinloch is visiting her sister." He said. "She and her husband are going through bad times so she was glad to go."
"She sounded just thrilled to me." Micky muttered.
"That’s where she is. He saw her leave earlier today." Mike said. "Sammy would not lie to me."
"It just seems strange that an invalid would just suddenly go on a trip." Chea said.
"Look if you want me to I can find out more for you." Mike volunteered. "But to me you two are over-reacting...as usual." Mike turned and walked out the door.
"Maybe." Chea sighed. Micky looked at her. "Well he’s right. We have nothing to go on, and that scream could have come from a movie playing on tv." She thought for a second. "We must look real horrible. We should be happy that a woman isn’t dead. Right?"
"Right." Micky said. "I'm not hungry anymore."
"Well good cause I'm starving." Chea said grabbing the burger. "Good thing I put what I wanted on it."
"Typical." Micky said. "What do you want to do now?"
"Watch some tv?" Chea said. "I'm ready for some make believe drama right now."
Chea was about to move Mickys wheel chair when the sounds of some sort of yelling came from outside.
"What’s going on?" Chea asked.
"I have no idea. Find out will ya?" Micky said.
Before she got a chance to go, Peter bounded in the door.
"What going on Peter?" Chea asked.
"There’s a dead dog out there. Out where I found you." Peter said pointing frantically. "I think the poor little fella was too curious." Chea exchanged a look with Micky. "I don't know why the cute animals have to suffer." He said. "I need to get a box. Poor thing was a stray. He's gonna get a proper burial. Poor fella." Peter said as he searched a closet.
"Oh my god." Chea said. "Just when we were convinced we were crazy, this happens." She said to Micky. "I'm beginning to think there is something to this after all." She deduced. She watched Peter leave the house with a shoe box and a small shovel. "I think we got our proof now!"
Chea and Micky watched through the window as Peter had a small funeral for the dog that was found near the Geinlochs place. Peter had gotten Mike and Davy to attend the ceremony even though that Davy let on with the expressions on his face that he thought it was a pretty dumb idea. While this was going on, Micky witnessed some big burly moving men move the heavy trunk out of the apartment.
"Whatever he’s doing with her, he’s gonna be done tonight." Micky surmised.
"That’s right." Chea said. "He’s moving pretty quickly. If we are gonna catch him at this, we have to do it now. And I doubt whatever we thought I saw buried in the ground is still there."
"What do you think we oughta do then?" Micky said.
"Here." Chea ran and got a pen and a piece of paper. "This worked in a movie one time." Chea said. She quickly wrote something on the paper. "All we gotta do is put this in his mailslot in the door."
"What are you writing?" Micky asked as she folded it.
Micky kept a close eye on Geinloch while Chea stole quietly over to the main door that lead to his apartment. Chea snuck into the door and was instantly gone. Micky could feel beads of sweat develop in his palm. If something happened while she was out delivering their secret message, then no one would be able to help. Peter was upstairs with his music. Mike was in his own place with Davy who was last seen trudging off with Cheas hair dryer.
Geinloch was in the kitchen. Micky could hardly imagine eating, let alone make his own dinner after killing his wife. The man had an eerie calm about him, as if this was a normal day. Micky took a good look at him, probably his first ever, and noticed there seemed to be a kind of deadness behind Geinlochs eyes. The expression on his face alone lead Micky to be even more certain that he was his wifes murderer. Micky felt a tap on his shoulder and he jumped a mile high.
"Its just me." Chea said. "Did he go for it yet?"
"Not yet. Does he know the message is there?" He asked.
"No, I thought knocking would be a little too much." Chea snarked. They watched him for a few minutes. He brought his food over to the living room. Just as he laid his plate on the table he noticed the note. He picked the folded note up off the floor and unfolded it.
"What did you write?" Micky asked. He raised his binoculars up and read it. "I know what you did this afternoon." It began. Geinloch looked around. Micky motioned for Chea to turn out the light. "If you want no one to know about this," Micky sight read the note. "then meet me at the sugar shake shack." Geinloch crumpled up the note and looked around. He shoved it into his pocket and went for his coat. He put it on and went out the door.
"What now?" Micky said.
"While he’s going to the sugar shake shack, we have time for me to go over and look for clues." Chea said. "We're our own Scooby gang."
"Who?" Micky asked. Chea turned on the light. "Hon are you sure its all together safe?"
"I'm positive." Chea said as she went out the door. "What could go wrong?"
"Don't ask." Micky said as Chea waved at him from the window. "We might find out."
Chea looked around the front of the Geinlochs place. "There has to be a way to sneak in here somehow. He'll be back soon." She went around the front door and went inside the door she took to deliver the message. She walked up the stairs and went down one door to find the Geinlochs apartment. To her surprise the door was left wide open.
"What luck!" Chea said, suddenly relieved she didn’t have to play Spiderman and crawl up the side of the building. She turned to her right and saw Micky watching her every move.
,br.
Micky raised his binoculars and found Chea. She waved to him. He made a "hurry up" motion. She quickly understood and walked around the apartment. She looked behind the front door at the coat rack. Doing this she also closed the door. Chea didn’t seem to notice this however as she went to the small bureau next to a rickety easy chair. She quickly opened and closed the drawers. They were full of medications, for the wife when she needed them. She wouldn't be needing them anymore. Nothing incriminating so far. She closed the drawer and moved on to search the bedroom. Once she got into the bedroom, Micky could barely see her. The bedroom didn’t have a huge window like the living room did. She looked under the bed, nothing but a few dust bunnies. She got off the floor and stood up. Nothing really struck her as unusual.
"Maybe Mike is right." Chea said. "Maybe she really did go on a..." She stopped cold. "trip." Something sparkly caught her eye. She looked at it. She approached the small set of drawers on the side of the bed. Chea leaned over and picked up what drew her attention: A shiny wedding band. She clasped it in her hand and did a silent victory cheer. She slipped it over the end of one finger so she wouldn’t lose it.
Micky took a sip of water from the glass Chea left him before she went on her little adventure. It was about five or ten minutes since she left the pad. How come she wasn’t back yet?
"If she didn’t find anything she would have been back by now." Micky said, worry starting to grow in his mind. "I wish she would hurry back." He said moving in his seat. "I haven’t been to the bathroom all day and it could be messy." Micky sat up so he could stretch his arms. He put one in the air and then the other. He did a nice hard stretch. As he closed his eyes he thought about how good that feel. He opened his eyes again and thought he saw the door to the Geinlochs apartment shut. He lowered his arms and looked over the windows of the apartment. He found what he thought to be the window leading to the stairwell of the apartments. He saw Geinloch slowly trudge past. Micky grew alarmed as he turned his attention to the apartment. The lights were on in the living room. Maybe he returned to shut them off.
Micky saw Chea trying to get his attention. She had found something. She waved something in the air with a smile on her face. Micky waved his arms frantically. Chea saw the alarm in his face and even from that far away Micky could see her face pale to a deadly white. She put whatever it was in her hand elsewhere as she darted about trying to find a way out.
Chea went to the window and tried to open it. She pulled and tugged with all of her might and it would open. She cringed as she heard footfalls faintly approaching the apartment. With despair she looked out the window and saw Davy lounging by the bedroom window with his hair dryer.
"Davy!" She whispered as if he could hear her. "Davy! Look over here! Davy!" Chea said. "Oooohh you're useless. And I'm gonna ram that dryer in your ear when I get back!" She said. She backed up from the window and backed up into something hard. She turned around and tried to see what she backed up into, hoping it was the bed. No such luck, it was Mr. Geinloch. Chea screamed.
Micky watched the action from his perch. Since he saw Geinloch enter the apartment he got on the phone to the police.
"Please send help, the love of my life is in danger. Yeah, 1336 Beachwood. Please hurry." Micky said. He hung up the phone and leaned forward. Chea tried to get away from the now crazed Geinloch. She saw a hand coming at her mouth. It almost covered it with a tight clamp motion on her mouth. Chea opened her mouth a little wider and bit him. She dashed off to the door. She turned momentarily and flashed a hand at him. She had some sort of ring on her hand. He could not really tell.
"Don't stop, keep on going." Micky waved at her. Chea nodded as though she understood. She turned to go out the door but the lights went out as Geinloch grabbed her from the back. One or the other must have knocked over the lamp or turned out the light somehow.
"No!" Micky moaned. There was nothing he could do to save her. Stupid broken leg. Course if there was no broken leg, then this wouldn’t have happened. They could be playing a gig and never known this was going on. As Micky picked up the phone to call Mike, he would know what to do, he saw the lights of a patrol car approach. He looked over and saw the patrol car pull up to the apartment. They got out of the car and ran in the building. Micky turned as he saw Mike come in.
"What’s going on?" He asked.
"Chea went over to get some clues, but Geinloch came back." Micky explained as the lights went up in the apartment. Chea stood with her back to the window. She was pleading her case but no one seemed to be listening. "You should have seen her, so brave but that jackass jumped her." He said. Geinloch seemed to be talking now, explaining whatever he thought was going on. Chea looked at Micky over her shoulder wand waved her fingers at him. The ring was there on her ring finger. Innocently. It could have been hers for all the cops knew. Geinloch noticed the motion and looked across the way and saw Micky.
"Get me out of the window, he saw me." Micky commanded as Mike took the lock off the brake of the wheelchair.
Chea left the apartment with the cops.
"Where would they take her?" Micky asked suddenly worried. "I have no money for bail."
"It doesn't look like they are arresting her. There are no hand cuffs." Mike said. "Let me go talk to them. I'll find out more."
"Good." Micky said as he made his way to the bathroom. "Hey Mike is Geinloch still in his..." He yelled out to Mike. He turned his head to notice that he was gone. Micky swallowed a lump in his throat. "...place?" He finished. He stopped moving in his chair to hear. He could hear foot falls, very close, coming to the front door.
"Crap." Micky thought. If that’s not Mike or Chea I am in very big trouble. He backed his chair into the corner near the spare instruments. He picked up whatever he could carry, mostly all his extra drum sticks. He held them close as someone jimmied the lock open. The door opened with a click. It swung open slowly.
"Hello?" Micky naively called out. "We don't want any girl scout cookies, thank you."
"You know who I am." He said. "What do you want?"
"I want a good music career but mostly I want a family...and to live." Micky said.
"You know what I did. What can I do to shut you up?" He said.
"I'm not the only one who knows." Micky said. "She knows. And a few other people." Okay he was going out on a ledge with the other people but there was safety in numbers. "You can't hush that many people. You can't kill that many people."
"I could if I had to." Geinloch said. He began to approach Micky. Micky tossed a drumstick at him. It missed. Micky backed up a little bit and threw another. This time he hit target. Micky continued to move backward towards the deck as he threw more drumsticks. Geinloch at times either was struck hard with one or moved to miss it completely. As Micky tossed the last drumstick he panicked as he felt the wheelchair bump against the edge of the deck. Micky panicked as Geinloch lunged at him. Micky tried to move but the force of him and Geinloch knocked him off the edge of the deck and threw the rail that bordered it. They began to fall the short distance to the beach. Mike, Chea and the cops pointed down to them as the fell.
"Look!" Chea cried out. She ran out to the beach with Mike and the cops close behind them. AS Micky landed he heard a distinct "crack" in his leg.
"Dammit!" He cursed. Geinloch landed nearby, the wheelchair coming inches to conking him in the head. Chea ran to her fiancée'. "Micky!"
"Chea! You're not in jail." Micky said.
"I know." Chea said. "Pretty remarkable." They looked up as the cops pulled Geinloch off the ground. "He got fed up with the wife and thought this was the only solution." Chea supposed.
"It seems Mr. Geinloch wants to take us somewhere. Where he hid the wifes body." One cop said. "Seems he had a place for everything."
"Out back." Chea said. "There was something but..."
"A dog got to it." The other cop says. He wants to take us on a tour of the island. Want to come?" He offered Mike.
"No thanks, I don't want any part of her." Mike said. He stopped as he realized what he said.
Weeks later
Chea got the phone as it rang for the third time. "Oh hi Don. Yeah, I'll see if he wants to speak to you." Chea offered the phone to Micky, he shook his head. "It'll be a while before he’s in the mood to talk. Well he'll be in his casts for another four weeks. He rebroke that leg and the other one when he fell. " A little pause. "I know that’s what you get when you play detective. We'll know better next time." She heard Micky laugh next to her. "Thanks for calling." Chea said. She hung up. "Now what do we do?"
"Take me to the living room. I want to watch some tv." Micky said.
"You don't want to watch the world go by anymore, eh?" Chea asked.
"I get in less trouble that way." Micky sighed. Chea laughed as she wheeled him over. "Now where’s my hamburger?"
