Why Not Murder

61. Harmony

61. Harmony

A lamp shone dimly out through the window of Tara's house in Marhaven. It was a dark night and late. There were numerous cars parked near her house. One had a shadow behind the steering wheel. Maya was hidden in Tara's next door neighbour's shrubbery and watched patiently. When she first got there, the usual gray car and person inside it were not far from Tara's house. Later, another car, this one green, drove up and the usual car drove off. The driver of the green car did not get out. The silhouette of the driver revealed a long feminine hair style. Maya stayed where she was dozing, off and on against her will, stretching her legs and arms to keep from getting too stiff.

Next day, mid-morning, Tara left her house. Some distance back, the green car followed very slowly because it was a playground zone and there were many children running around. Maya followed the green car, relieved to be moving again, and also kept her eye on Tara. After some time, Tara entered a busy mall. A woman with loose clothing exited the green car, pulled up her hoodie and followed Tara. Maya followed at safe distance. Maya thought the woman was keeping a tight watch on Tara, so Maya doubted that the woman knew that she also was being tailed. Maya followed into a clothing store with racks of clothes packed closely together. A sale was on. It was crowded and difficult to walk around. At one point, Maya couldn't see Tara anymore and the woman with the blue hood started to look all around, evidently searching for her. The woman had been on her cell phone nearly the whole time. Then Maya saw Tara go into the changing room area with clothes over her arm. The woman in the blue hood, was searching intently through items on a rack. She selected one and went to the change rooms. Maya was wondering whether to follow her into the change room area when the woman in the blue hood came out and hung the outfit over her arm on the rack there with other clothing ready to be put back into place in the store. The woman with the hood left the mall and drove off in her green car. Maya was on her tail. Quickly Maya commissioned one of the many taxis in the mall parking lot and followed.

The green car drove to a bungalow in a popular Marhaven residential area and parked outside the garage. Maya had the taxi let her off some houses away. At the house next to the one where the green car had gone, there was a child's birthday party going on. Lots of kids yelling and running outside and parents in groups chatting. Dogs that had been tied up were barking. Great masses of balloons were tied to all the trees. The front door opened and a woman carrying a huge birthday cake with candles came out. All the guests and kids were facing her and started to sing, top of their voices, happy birthday. Maya noticed one of the children put a straw-like object to his mouth and blow. A shining marble came out and hurled between the people, heading straight for the lady with the cake. All eyes were on the cake and no one but Maya saw the marble going straight for the lady holding the cake. Then it smacked the woman in the ankle. She cried out in pain. The marble rolled down the steps and into the grass. The woman lost her balance in her five-inch heels and toppled over. The cake fell and smashed to pieces. Everyone rushed to her making a great noisy disturbance.

A silhouette appeared at the window of the bungalow next door facing the birthday party. Maya was at the edge of the people crowding the cake-bearer, not far from the bungalow window. A hand parted the curtains of the window. The sun illuminated the face for an instant before the curtains fell back into place. Maya recognized the face, she thought from the XX Fuel security video recordings. Maya was close to sure that it was one of the XX Fuel assistants working at one of the desks that lined the broad hallways of the XX operations office building. She would check the recording again to confirm. It was lucky Tara had wanted her to keep them. Maya was also lucky that the garden area beside the bungalow garage was unkept and dense with shrub and weed. She hid there, unseen, with a good view of the bungalow main door.