Garwood Village by Robert F. Clifton (romantic novels in english TXT) 📕

“How about a beer?”

“Fosters?”

“Certainly'

“I'll pass”.

“Damn particular Yank”, she said as she walked into the living room.

“I think we have a lot of catching up to do Sharon”.

“Yes, we do. Let's go out on the patio. Right now the weather is ideal. Late spring is like that”.

Outside, they both took seats in lounge chairs then leaned back getting comfortable. “So tell me. After all these years why have you returned to Australia?”, she asked.

“Hell, I thought it was obvious. I came back for you”, he answered.

“You will have to explain what you mean by coming back for me”, she replied.

“Sharon, I love you. I've always loved you. Why else would I stay in touch with you all of these years?”

“I don't know Manfred, why?”

“I want you to be my wife”.

“We went all over this thirty years ago. Nothing has changed. I am an Australian and I won't leave.”

“Do you love me?”, he asked.

“Yes, I'm afraid I do”.

“Then let me tell you, there has been a change. I'm willing to live here with you for the rest of my life”.

“Oh My, you do come right to the point don't you?”.

“I don't see any reason to beat around the bush. This is a hell of a way to propose, fresh off of the airplane with my luggage still unpacked, but I'm asking you to marry me”.

“No, not until I'm sure you will be content here. Once I'm sure then my answer will be yes, but not until.”

“Can I at least let them know back home that we're engaged?”

“Yes, however, I will wait a while before I announce it here”.

“Great, now where do I unpack and where do you want to go for dinner?”

“You can unpack in the guest room and I'm not in the mood to dress for dinner, therefore if you don't mind, we'll eat home tonight”.

Chapter Four

At the stroke of mid-night the year nineteen seventy-six began. Manfred stood on the foreshore of Rockingham Beach. He took Sharon in his arms and gave her a long, passionate kiss. “Happy New Year beautiful”, he said.

“I hope it will be darling, for both of us”, she answered.

As there is a twelve hour difference from Western Australia and Trenton, New Jersey it was twelve o'clock noon in Nautilus Beach.

While Manfred Edwards held Sharon Marshall in his arms as fireworks exploded in the black, night sky, Captain Robert Wallace stood looking at the eviscerated nude body of another female murder victim.

The body lay on a blood soaked mattress, arms out to the side and the legs spread. The eyes were open and appeared to be staring at the ceiling. The woman's throat had been cut and like the others the incision had been made from right to left. The intestines had been removed, but instead of being pulled out and spread down the hallway, these had been removed and simply dumped on the bedroom floor next to the bed.

When he was finished examining the crime scene Wallace turned to Frank Stiles who had stood patiently waiting for his Captain to question him. “Alright, what have you got?”, asked Wallace.

“The victim has been identified as one Joan Aponte, a Caucasian female age forty-eight. She was an unemployed bartender collecting unemployment. She was last seen last night, New Years Eve at the Dude Ranch Bar and Grill. We found her party hat in the living room. And for further information this is the first hit the killer has made in the two thousand block of the Village.”

“I know and it pisses me off. I had the entire one thousand block staked out and the bastard got through and hit in the two thousand address. Did we get at time of death?”

“The coroner estimates it to be three o'clock this morning”.

“Alright, send McKenna to the Dude Ranch. See if he can find any witnesses who saw the victim in the bar last night and who if anyone she was with. Send Myers throughout the neighborhood and find out what we can about the victim”.

“I already assigned Myers to do that Cap. I'll send for McKenna”.

“Good and when Sergeant Campo arrives have her look for semen. Now that the city finally gave the department enough money for the ultra violet black light we are now in the twentieth century. At the same time there is a puddle of water on the bathroom floor. Have her collect it. She'll know what to do with it. As for me, I'll be back at headquarters reporting to the Chief and meeting with the press.”

Sunlight entered the master bedroom of sixty-eight Malibu Road, Rockingham, Australia. At the same time Manfred Edwards raised up abruptly from his sleep as a terrible sound came from outside. His quick movement woke Sharon who although still half asleep, asked, “What's wrong?”

“What the hell is that noise?”, he asked.

Sharon laughed, “It's just a kookaburra. Have you forgotten how they sound?”

“Yes, I guess I did. Noisy bastard ruined my sleep. Sorry for my waking you love”.

“It's time I was up anyway. I'll put the coffee on. What do you want for breakfast?”

“I don't know.”

“How about pikelets and bangers?”

Edwards sat on the edge of the bed. He searched his memory trying to recall just what pikelets were. Then, it came to him. “If they are the same as American hot cakes and sausage then the answer is yes. If they're not, then surprise me”, he answered.

“I can see it's going to be a lot of fun cooking for a Yank”, Sharon replied.

“Hey, I offered to take you out to eat”.

“Wouldn't make any difference. I'll have to read the menu for you”.

“Do I have time to shower and shave?”

“Yes, I have to mix the batter. Take your time”.

Dressed for the day Doctor Edwards took a seat at the kitchen table. When he did Sharon carried the coffee pot to the table and poured the beverage into his cup. “Do you want coffee whitener?”, she asked.

“Is that the same as artificial creamer ?”, he asked.

“Here we go again. And, you want to live in Australia. How many pikelets would you like?”

“I don't know. How big are they?”

“Suppose I make one as I usually do and you judge?”

“Sounds good”, said Manfred as he stirred his coffee.

“What would you like to do today”,she asked as she poured batter on to the griddle.

“That's up to you. What ever you have in mind.”

“I thought that perhaps you would like to see Mangles Bay again. We use to walk the boardwalk there”.

“Sounds good. Why don't we make a day of it. Do you still like the beach?”

“Yes”.

Sharon placed a large pikelet on his plate. He buttered it and looked for the maple syrup. “What do you need?”, she asked.

“Maple syrup”.

“I'm sorry I don't have any. We eat pikelets with yogurt or fruit”.

“Do you have fruit?”

“No. I'm so sorry”.

“Don't be. How about jam?”

Sharon walked to the pantry and removed a glass container then went to the table and handed the jar to Manfred. “This is all I have at the moment. Remind me when we shop to pick up maple syrup.”, she said.

Edwards looked at the label and read, St Balfour Pineapple and Mango Spread. “This is fine dear. Thank you”, he replied.

“You're welcome. We eat pikelets when they cool”.

“I guess that's why we're different. We call them hot cakes”.

Captain Wallace sat at his desk. He looked at the clock on the wall, seeing that it was almost four o'clock. He sat waiting, waiting for results any result. He wanted and needed information, reports from the detectives he had ordered out into the field. What did Myers learn? What did McKenna find out at the tavern? Has Sergeant Campo come up with anything new? Waiting without results aggravated him and he felt his temperament changing. Then, he heard footsteps in the hallway outside of his office. June Campo entered and sat down.

“Let me tell you something Captain. I want you to capture this son of a bitch. Every time I get set to enjoy a holiday this bastard kills someone”.

“Did you find anything?”

“Yep, at last. The black light revealed what appears to be semen”.

“I knew it. It had to be there”, said Wallace.

“Oh, it was there alright, right in the abdomen cavity where he opened her up”.

“What?”

“Yep. Looks like you have yourself not only a sick son of a bitch, but also a sexual pervert. I took several swabs for evidence. At least we now know the killer is a male and we will find out his blood type”.

“Just think, if we had the black light a long time ago we would be ahead in the investigations”.

“True, but what I intend to do is scan the sheets we took from the beds of the other two victims and see what we find. Hopefully, down the line, we'll get a match”.

“Did you get the water from in front of the wash basin?”

“Yes sir, I haven't had time to analyze it yet.”

“Take your time Sergeant, and thanks for the information”.

“You're welcome”.

When Campo left, Wallace wrote down the information she had given him. He then placed the handwritten note in the new file, entitled, “ Joan Aponte-Homicide-Case # 134700”.

As Manfred and Sharon walked to the Holden, Edwards said, “By the way while we're out I need a bathing suit if we're going to the beach while I'm here”.

“Fine, no sense in spending a fortune. We can stop at K-Mart”, Sharon answered.

“I didn't know that K-Mart was in Australia”, said Edwards.

“Oh yes, since nineteen sixty-nine I believe. We'll stop at the one in the Rockingham Shopping Center. It's on our way”.

Edwards walked to the passenger side door.

“Wouldn't you like to drive Dear?”, she asked.

“Not really, I can't get use to driving in the left lane”.

Sharon laughed as she got behind the steering wheel. “Now it looks like if you become a citizen here, I not only have to do the cooking, read the menu, but do all the driving. What will you do?”, she asked.

“Sit on my ass and say thank you. Then at every opportunity make love to the most beautiful woman in Australia.”

Detective Carol Myers sat in a chair glancing from time to time at her notes as she reported to Captain Wallace. “What I found by talking to the neighbors is that only a few women and one man actually knew the Aponte woman. Her maiden name was Bartlett and was originally from Philadelphia. She met and married a Puerto Rican man three years ago named Ernesto Aponte. He left her and went back to San Juan where he got a divorce. The word is that she began drinking because of it. With her being a bartender she was drinking free and between the amount she was consuming and the bar bills she neglected to collect she was fired. Since she worked at the Dude Ranch she told others that she planned on being with friends on New Years Eve. So, that's where she went”.

“Is that all?”, asked Wallace.

“Yes sir”.

“Good, very good. Take your time, type your report and give it to me. Once you do that you're free until tomorrow morning.”

“Thanks Cap”, said Myers as she left the office.

Wallace turned the high back, black leather chair around allowing him to look out through the window. In the distance he could see the slate colored ocean that matched the gray winter sky of Nautilus Beach, New Jersey . Watching the white capped waves breaking then rolling up on to the beach he wondered what Doc Edwards was up to in Australia. Each day Wallace anticipated information of a psychological profile from Doctor Marshall. Each day he checked the answering service on both his home and office telephone. Each day the message didn't come.

The sun was going down over Mangles Bay as Sharon and Manfred sat at their table at Sunsets Restaurant. Sharon sipped a glass of white wine while Edwards nursed a scotch and soda. They both studied the menu. “Do you see anything that you would like dear?”, asked Sharon.

“I'm considering having the paella de Marisco. The