Wilmington, NC 05 - Murder On The ICW

Excitedly, they'd told them all about the agent who'd flashed a big silver badge. They couldn't describe him except to say that he was tall and husky, had on a black wind breaker with a hood. He had arrived on foot. They had seen him go into the park but never saw him leave.
    And by then, Ali Shariff was gone and I didn't have his number, although the police said they'd find him and talk to him. See if he could confirm my story, was what they meant but didn't say.
    "How are your knees?" Melanie asked. "Are they healing okay?"
    "Forming some little scabs. I feel like I'm about five with skinned knees."
    The young doctor I had seen at one of those "Doc in the Box" places had been more professional than the cops. He cleaned my scraped knees and elbow, agreed that we didn't need X rays, said I'd be fine, and asked me out on a date. "I make house calls," he had said, and grinned.
    I had to laugh. He was cute. I said no thanks but that I'd be sure not to let any one else tend my scraped knees in the future. Why is it a woman who is taken is more attractive to a man than a woman who is available? And they seem to be able to sense when you are not available. Dr. Phil says that with men the old adage, "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence," is true. Men want what they cannot have. The fair doctor and I parted friends.
    "So where are we going?" I asked Melanie.
    She mumbled something.
    "What?"
    "Joey's apartment," she said, voice shrill, daring me to contradict her.
    Which I did after I shook my head and cleared my ears. "Did you say 'Joey's apartment?' What are you talking about? We can't go there. He's dead, Melanie! What are you thinking of? Breaking into his apartment?" So that's why we were driving down South College Road toward Monkey Junction. Oh, no! Not this again. This is precisely what had started all our troubles.
    Well, if truth be told, I have done a little B&E in my lifetime but only when there was something very vital -- life and death -- at stake. There was no life involved in this situation any more. The man was dead.
    Melanie looked at me. "Watch the road," I said. I had that one memorized. Why did I let her drive? Why didn't I just insist on being the driver when we were out on one of her covert operations?
    "Walt said Joey was into suspicious goings on that no one knew anything about. Remember him saying that?" Melanie asked.
    "Yes, I do. He made that statement on Sunday on The Cruise from Hell. Let's not talk about that experience, I'm trying to forget it."
    "Well, I figured, if we could get into Joey's apartment, we could find out what Walt was referring to, and maybe it was something innocent. Oh, come on. You are the world's biggest snoop. You've done things like this before, don't tell me you haven't. I'll never forget how you set me up to distract poor unsuspecting Mae Mae and Lucy Lou while you went snooping around Mae Mae's house, stealing the poor woman's diary, for pity sakes!"
    Well, she had me there. "Okay," I said. "I'll help you. But what do you care? Joey's gone. What difference does it make?"
    She replied, "I don't like them sullying his good name."
    "If he had a good name," I mumbled under my breath.

    The police had sealed Joey's apartment door with crime scene tape. Yellow tape that said "POLICE LINE - DO NOT CROSS." We were standing on the second floor landing outside his apartment wondering what to do next.
    "Does your plan include how we are going to get inside?" I asked.
    "Hmmm. Well, I thought something would occur to us once we got here. Like, maybe, going to the manager's office and saying we're a housekeeping crew, something like that."
    I gave her a head to toe. "Yes, we do look like Merry Maids, don't we? You in that outfit and me in construction boots. Let's switch to plan B. Which is . . . ?
    "See if those bimbos next door have a key?" Melanie tapped on the door across the landing.
    We waited. No one came to the door. "Probably gone home for winter break," I said. "They looked like freshmen to me."
    I walked back to Joey's door and stared at it. "Okay, let's try the obvious." I reached in through the yellow tape X and gave the door knob a turn. We both gasped when it turned all the way and the door opened.
    "Yikes! Now what?" I had not expected to succeed.
    Quickly Melanie loosened the tape at the bottom of the door, lifted it, and pushed me inside. "Sometimes you think too much."
    We stood inside a tiny foyer. The light was very dim. She closed the door