Corpse Suzette

leftovers, hanging out in a giant refrigerator.
    “How could anybody possibly
like this?” she said. “It’s stark, sterile, soulless—”
    “Clean,” he said. “It’s
clean. Sophisticated, clean lines.”
    She sniffed. “Oh, give me a
break. Clean, my butt. There’s just less to dust here. No knick-knacks. That’s
why you like it.”
    “Hey, it’s a bummer having
to dust all that house decorating crap. This is way better. One swipe with a
dirty tee-shirt, you’re done.”
    “Oh, yeah, you just about
kill yourself dusting all those Clint Eastwood video tapes, empty beer bottles,
and piles of laundry. You slave over that trailer of yours, boy... sla-a-ave !”
    “Shut up. I can like this
if I want to.”
    She softened and gave him a
smile. “Yes, of course you can. Bloomers, boxers, briefs... different britches
for different hineys, right?”
    “Something like that.”
    Savannah walked into the
kitchen and found the same lack of ornamentation there. The marble-topped
counters had absolutely nothing on them: not a toaster, blender, not even a
coffeepot.
    “Hey, check it out in
here,” Dirk called to her from another room.
    She found him in the
bedroom, which was similar to the living room in color scheme, although she had
to admit, the one red wall and the other black one was interesting. So was the
bed, which was spread with a coverlet—red, white, and black-checked.
    Interesting. But she still
wouldn’t have wanted to sleep on it.
    She could, however, see
right away what had Dirk so excited.
    Boxes. Cardboard boxes,
sealed with packing tape and labeled with a black marker: bedroom, bath, living
room, or kitchen.
    Dirk had an excited grin on
his face. “The guy was moving! He was packing up and moving! That tells us a
lot!”
    Savannah thought, fast and
furiously. She didn’t want to be outdone here. The truth had to be obvious.
But...
    “What?” she finally asked.
“What does it tell us?”
    His smile faded. “Hell, I
don’t know. But it’s gotta tell us something.
    “Yeah, well... when you
figure out what, you let me know.”
    “Me? Why do you think I
brought you along, woman?”
    “To do your thinking for
you?”
    “Exactly.”
     
    It wasn’t until four-thirty
in the morning that it came to her. And Savannah figured that if she had been
lying there awake for hours, Dirk probably had been, too. And if he wasn’t
awake, he should be. After all, he was the one who’d started the whole thing.
    She sat up in bed, moved
Cleopatra off her right arm, and reached for the phone.
    He was number one on her
speed dial.
    “What?” he answered, far
grumpier than usual.
    Oops. “You asleep?”
    “Are you kidding me? Of
course I was.” Then he uttered a couple of expletives that definitely would
have gotten him a hide tanning from Granny Reid.
    “Now, now,” she said. “Is
that any way to talk to a lady?”
    “One who wakes me up in the
middle of the first night’s sleep I’ve had in a week? Yes.”
    She felt a stab of guilt.
Actually, it was more like a prick. A very small prick.
    “I know why he was packed.
At least, I think I do.”
    “Oh yeah?” He perked up
considerably. “Why?”
    “I think he was going to
join Suzette. I think she’s somewhere waiting for him.”
    He was silent for a long time,
mulling it over. Then he said, “Even if she was ready to kill him and his
squeeze doll at Rosarita’s the other day?”
    It was her time to mull.
    “I hadn’t thought of that,”
she replied.
    “And if he was getting
ready to go join her, why did he hire you to find her?”
    “Um... maybe not then.”
    “Van,” he said with a tired
sigh. “Do me a favor, babe.”
    “What?”
    “Promise me something. The
next time you get one of these bright ideas in the middle of the night and
think I want to hear about it, remember: it’s probably a stupid idea and I
don’t give a rat’s ass. Don’t call me. Just roll over and go back to sleep.”
    “Okay.”
    He hung up. Dirk had always
been a man of few words... and most of them curt.
    She replaced the phone on
its base, turned out the light, and reached for the recently displaced
Cleopatra. Diamante moved up from her feet and nuzzled under her other hand,
demanding her half of the petting.
    “What do you girls think?
Was Sergio getting ready to fly the coop and go join Suzette?”
    Cleo purred.
    “Yeah, I think so, too. But
why would he hire me to find her, if he’d already made plans to skip town with
her?”
    Diamante