The Misadventures of the Laundry Hag 00 - Swept Under the Rug

back to the car though, pulling a satisfied laundry hag in his wake.

Twenty One
    L ucas Sloan was dead.
    I knew the second the team of patrol officers, who’d responded to our 911 call, rushed out the front door and simultaneously vomited in the rhododendron bushes.
    I hugged Neil’s arm as the sound of retching drifted toward us. “I’m really glad we didn’t go in there.”
    “She got to him first.” Neil grumbled, watching another city vehicle roll to a stop.
    “No way, it couldn’t have been Candy.” I did my best not to think about Sloan’s now fatherless children.
    Neil turned and stared down at me. “I thought we were on the same page with this, Uncle Scrooge. Candie Valentino equals bad guy.”
    “True, but think about it Neil. Candie couldn’t just be waltzing around town in the middle of the day; every cop and his Uncle Fred are looking for her.”
    Neil nodded slowly. “You’re right. So if not Candie…Amelia Kettering?”
    I shook my head and pointed at the officer wiping his trembling mouth on his sleeve. “Not a woman. Women are sneaky, preferring to use poison over a gun. Whatever’s in there is grotesque enough to warrant the kitty litter to sop up blood, and is making the cops puke at the experience.”
    Neil narrowed his eyes on me, then smiled. “Very good points all, but we’ll have to put the sleuthing on hold for today. School’s out in ten minutes.”
    “One of us should stay here and talk to the homicide investigator.” I bounced up and down on my toes. “You go on and pick up the boys; don’t forget they have karate tonight.”
    “Maggie, we should both go,” Neil bent over so he could speak directly into my ear. “Please, Uncle Scrooge, let’s go about our business. If the feds show up and find you here….”
    He didn’t need to finish that statement. “Let me just make sure they don’t need to question us first.”
    Walking over to the young officer unrolling yellow crime scene tape, I smiled, before realizing how ridiculous the gesture appeared under the circumstances. “Um, hi, my husband and I need to go pick up our kids from school. Is that all right?”
    “Ummm,” The sweat on his upper lip and shifting gaze clearly marked him as a newbie. Many of the law enforcement officers at the Hudson P.D were transfers from the much larger Boston police force, typically guys with families and had decided to get out of the trenches of the larger city. Apparently this poor shmoe had never worked a crime scene before, didn’t know the procedure.
    I used his ignorance to my advantage. “Here’s my card with my cell phone number, if anyone needs to ask any questions.”
    He took the card, glanced at it, then back to me “Well, umm—”
    “Thanks!” And I was off, bee-lining for the open passenger’s side door of the Mini.
    “Let’s roll,” I said to Neil.
    “That poor guy is going to be reamed a new one for letting us go.” Neil said, glancing in the rearview mirror.
    “I don’t think he realized we made the call. There were plenty of neighbors goggling at the scene and quite a bit of traffic on the thru street. I left him my card, but I’ll call Capri as soon as we get home.”
    “So she can chew you out?”
    “No smart ass. Because we know whodunit. We solved the puzzle, let her wrap the case.”
    “The feds won’t be happy.”
    I shrugged, not giving two flying figs about what made Salazar and Feist happy, as long as the body count stopped.
    Josh and Kenny were waiting at the curb in front of the middle school. I had to climb out so they and their bulging backpacks could squeeze into the backseat.
    “How’d it go today guys?” I pivoted on the seat so I could see them.
    “Okay.” Josh said, immediately turning on his cell phone. The school prohibited text messaging and he was undoubtedly setting up a chat session with his pseudo girlfriend.
    “Mom, can we get a dog?” Kenny asked all big-eyed pleading.
    Neil shot me a look. This was a common question which usually sprang up every few months. Neil was pro canine and I straddled the fence. Before we’d moved to Hudson, I’d been able to deflect, claiming it wouldn’t be fair to adopt a pet when right before a major transition. Now, though….
    “I don’t know sport, we’ve got a lot going on right now and a pet is a big responsibility.”
    “Please, Mom, you won’t have to do anything, I’ll take care of him, I promise.”
    Yeah, right. We’d never had a pet before, but I was