For Sale in Palm Springs: The Henry Wright Mystery Series

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Friday, April 21

Charles was out when Henry got back to the house. He debated leaving Charles a note on the refrigerator, Charles said he would help look into Thornbird's "extracurricular" activities. He knew that a lot of people in Charles' world were very discreet and he wasn't sure if Charles could find out anything at all, especially if Thornbird was as secretive as he suspected with his illegal activities. He thought that Jerrie Mungo's information would help narrow Charles' investigation; perhaps Charles could find out who Rex had been involved with, he certainly didn't find any evidence on his home computer on how he had obtained all of his porn. There were no websites bookmarked, no suspicious emails. He wondered about the other computer that he suspected was around somewhere. It would be nice to have a look at it. It had to be a laptop; why else did Thornbird have the wireless setup in his house? Henry didn't know how to leave all of that in a note to Charles, he felt that it was better that he talk to him in person.

The folder with the list of properties that Thornbird had sold that Rosie had given him was still on the dining room table. He pulled his yellow sheets of paper with his handwritten list of new owners of celebrity owned properties out of the folder and started looking for purchases within the past six months to a year. Rosie had mentioned a widow that had called Thornbird in order to help her sister find a house, but he didn't find any women's names on his list. He decided to call three couples, to see if any of the women were perhaps recently widowed. All had purchased homes from Thornbird in the past year.

His second phone call paid off. Janet Ickelbee mentioned that her husband Harrison had died about nine months ago, shortly after they moved into their new house. She had a neighbor over and was busy getting her dinner ready and couldn't talk, but invited Henry over for coffee the next morning. Janet said she remembered Thornbird well and could tell Henry everything that had happened with the purchase of their home. She mentioned that she thought the stress of house hunting had probably killed her husband, though that was not was his doctor had said. Janet said she was looking forward to meeting and chatting with Henry, she had no other plans for her Saturday morning anyway.

Thinking about dinner, he realized that it was time to head out. He looked through the kitchen cabinet for a bottle of wine that he could bring tonight to the Johnson's and found a nice Merlot that he'd been saving for a special occasion. He grabbed it and headed for the garage. He took Vista Chino all the way out to Date Palm and then headed south on Interstate 10 to Indio. He took the one-eleven turnoff and headed towards the Indian Palms Country Club.

The Johnson's had a beautiful spacious Spanish style house overlooking the ninth green. It was a lot more house than a Palm Springs police detective could afford, but Wayne and Elliot had inherited the house from her parents. Elliot's father, Eugene, was the developer of the country club and the homes that surrounded it. When he died, Elliot's mother moved into a retirement home in La Quinta and Wayne and Elliot moved into the home on the golf course. They'd been there now for fourteen years; Elliot's mother passed away peacefully last year. The Johnson's son and daughter were both grown; William was an architect in Indian Wells with his own family. Lenore was a nurse at the Palm Desert hospital; she was engaged to a medical student at UC Riverside.

Henry pulled his car into the driveway; the Johnson's parked both of their cars in the garage. Henry believed it might have been a rule for their development, there were no cars parked on the street or on any driveway in neighborhood. It made the development look somewhat sterile and impersonal. All the homes were painted a similar color, a standard palette, Henry knew they called it. Perhaps his own neighborhood on Mel wasn't as neat and proper, but Henry felt it had a lot more character.

Henry walked up the walkway to the large carved double wooden doors. Before he could ring the bell, Elliot opened one of the doors.

"Hi traveler, you've had a busy couple of days! How have you been? Wayne is out on the patio lighting the grill, I'm just finishing up the chicken in the kitchen. Come in, come in!" She held out her arms and Henry got a big hug and a kiss on both cheeks. He handed her the bottle of wine.