Murder in the Keys Chapter One

CHAPTER ONE

 

 

            Margaret Regan gasped as she peeked through the curtains of her bedroom window and saw her neighbors having sex on their balcony.  Well, actually it was her neighbor’s wife Hillary and a well built dark haired man she’d never seen before.  “You’d think they could at least be discreet” she whispered to herself, never taking her eyes from the amorous couple.  She fanned her flushed face as she watched him grab Hillary from behind, crushing her breasts in his large hands as he entered her and started pumping away.  “I shouldn’t be watching this,” she sang, starting to turn away but unable to move from the spot. 

            Eventually her neighbor thrashed her head full of platinum hair and collapsed against the trailing, her lover slumped against her with a slight sheen on his muscular back.  She smirked, “I’ll bet Bernie doesn’t know about this,” and walked into the kitchen for a glass of water.

            That night she received a troubling call from Bernie, her visibly absent neighbor, about his wife Hillary.  She hadn’t come home from work and had missed their dinner reservation at Camille’s.  Had she seen her?  What should she say?  “Sure, Bernie, I saw her boinking some beefcake this afternoon.  She looked fine to me; in fact, she looked more than fine”.  Instead she put on her sympathetic voice and frowned into the phone.  “I’m sure she’ll be home soon.”  She glanced at the clock.  It was already 10:30.  “She probably just got held up in traffic.  Have there been any accidents?”  She cringed, listening to his silence, knowing she was grasping at straws.  There was no traffic on US1 coming from Key West to Big Pine Key.  Unless there was a major accident; even then, she wouldn’t have missed dinner at Camille’s.  That’s only five minutes from her office.  She tried to brush off the feeling that something was wrong but was unsuccessful.  “Do you want to come over for a drink, Bern?”  She wrinkled her little button nose and squinched her eyes shut, hoping he would turn her down.

            “Thanks, Margie, but I think I’ll wait here in case she calls.  I appreciate your concern.  I’m sure I’m just being paranoid and she’ll be home any minute.  Thanks again.”  He sighed a goodbye and hung up, waving to her as she stepped back inside and closed the sliding glass door.  She continued to watch him as he proceeded through the well lighted house, losing sight of him as he entered the kitchen.

            “Damn!” she slammed the phone down and stomped into the bedroom.  Bernie was such a great guy.  If that bimbo ran off with some stud just so she could feel young again, she would kill her.  He didn’t deserve to have his heart broken.  She turned off the light and stared out the sliding glass doors at the canal, watching the moonlight’s reflection on the water.  “Damn” she murmured again and hugged her pillow and wished for sleep.