The Girl Next Door; A Mystery

832019 The Girl Next Door A Mystery

httpslidepdfcomreaderfullthe-girl-next-door-a-mystery 112



Tis is a work o 1047297ction All o the characters organizations and events portrayed

in this novel are either products o the authorrsquos imagination or are used 1047297ctitiously

983156983144983141 983143983145983154983148 983150983141983160983156 983140983151983151983154 Copyright copy 2012 by Brad Parks All rights reserved Printed in

the United States o America For inormation address St Martinrsquos Press 175 Fifh

Avenue New York NY 10010

wwwminotaurbookscom

Library o Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Parks Brad 1974ndash

Te girl next door a mystery Brad Parksmdash1st ed

p cm

ISBN 978-0-312-66768-9 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-4299-4999-6 (e-book) 1 Ross Carter (Fictitious character)mdashFiction 2 Reporters and reportingmdash

Fiction 3 MurdermdashInvestigationmdashFiction 4 Newark (NJ)mdashFiction

I itle

PS3616A7553G57 2012

8136mdashdc23

2011040880

First Edition March 2012

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1



4

o anyone who says newspapers only print bad news I say read

the obituaries

For the most part obits are the uplifing stories o people

who led long and ull lives enriched communities with their ac-

complishments died at peace with the world and lef behindmany loving relatives And sure the subjects o these articles

have to be more than just slightly dead in order to appear in our

pagesmdashthat part is admittedly a bit o a buzz-kill But otherwise

obits are some o the happiest news we print

My paper the Newark Eagle-Examiner mdashNew Jerseyrsquos larg-

est and most respected news-gathering and content-producingagencymdashorganizes its obits alphabetically last name 1047297rst ollowed

by the deceasedrsquos town and age And I dey anyone even the

most jaded cynic to read one dayrsquos worth o obits without eel-

ing at least a little bit better about the state o the world

Sometimes all you have to do is read one letterrsquos worthmdashlike

say the Mrsquo s You start with a guy like Milazzo Vincent o Eliza-

beth 92 the high school ootball star who served his country inWorld War II then worked his way up to oreman at a lawnmower

CHAPTER 1



983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

5

parts manuacturer beore enjoying a long retirement You work

your way to Monastyrly Jane C o Wharton 81 the beloved

mother o our grandmother o ten and great-grandmother o

eight who was an avid gardener and won the Wharton Elks

Club pie-baking contest 1047297ve times Ten you 1047297nish with Muster

Edward L o Maplewood 77 the son o South Carolina share-

croppers who earned scholarships to college and law school set

up his own practice and became the 1047297rst black treasurer o the

Essex County Bar Association

All the wrinkles o their days on this planet have beensmoothed away and turned into one seamless narrative All

their trials and struggles have taken on the aura o parable All their

successes have been magni1047297ed while their ailures have been

orgotten

And by the time they ldquopassed onrdquomdashor ldquomade their transi-

tionrdquo or ldquoentered into eternal restrdquo or any o those other wonder-

ul euphemisms or the Long Dirt Napmdashthey seemed to haveachieved some kind o understanding o why they walked this

planet in the 1047297rst place

Or at least thatrsquos how I like to imagine it

Terersquos also something about obits that as an unrepentant

newspaperman I 1047297nd comorting Over the past dozen years or

so my business has ceded its dominance in any number o areasmdashclassi1047297ed advertising national and international news sports

scores and so onmdashto the Internet But we still have a monopoly

on obits So while you can go anywhere to 1047297nd out i the Yankees

won you have to come to us to learn i your neighbor is still

breathing It makes the obit pages a throwback to a better day or

newspapers one part o a crumbling industry that has somehow

held strong For me itrsquos just one more reason to love themSome olks especially the older ones scan the obits each day



983106983154983137983140 983120983137983154983147983155

6

to see i anyone they know has died Me Irsquom only thirty-two So

hopeully it will be a good 1047297fy years or so until anyone has to

read about Ross Carter o Bloom1047297eld And it will probably be

orty years until my high school classmates start popping up

with any regularity

In the meantime I read them strictly or the inspiration

So there I was one Monday morning in July sitting at my

desk against the ar wall o the Eagle-Examiner newsroom in

Newark getting my daily dose o good newsmdashonce again rom

the Mrsquo smdashwhen my eyes began scanning the entry or MarinoNancy B o Bloom1047297eld 42

I read on

Nancy B Marino 42 o Bloom1047297eld died suddenly on

Friday July 8

Born in Newark Nancy was raised in Belleville

and graduated rom Belleville High School She was apopular midday waitress at the State Street Grill in

Bloom1047297eld Nancy also had one o the largest delivery

routes in the Newark Eagle-Examiner circulation area

and was proud to serve as a shop steward in the Inter-

national Federation o Inormation Workers Local 117

She is survived by her mother Mrs Anthony JMarino o Belleville two older sisters Anne Marino

McCaffrey o Maplewood and Jeanne Nygard o Berke-

ley Cali and many other riends and relatives

Visitation will be held today rom 1 983152983149 to 3 983152983149

and rom 7 983152983149 to 9 983152983149 at the Johnson-Eberle Funeral

Home 332 State Street Bloom1047297eld A Funeral Mass

will be offered Tursday at 10 983137983149 at St Peter RCChurch Belleville Interment will be at St Peter Parish

Cemetery ollowing the ser vice



983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

7

In lieu o 1047298owers please make a donation in Nancyrsquos

name to the IFIWndashLocal 117 Scholarship Fund 744

Broad St Newark NJ 07102

Even though we were employed by the same newspaper I

didnrsquot know Nancy Marino Te Eagle-Examiner has hundreds

o carriers all o whom work at a time o day when I try to keep

my eyelids shuttered

But I have enormous respect or the work she and her col-

leagues do Te act is I could spend months uncovering the mostdastardly wrongdoing and then write the most brilliant story

possible but we still rely on the yeoman paper carrier to get it to

the bulk o our readers Tatrsquos right even in this supposedly all-

digital era our circulation numbers tell us the majority o our

daily readers still digest their Eagle-Examiner in analog orm

So every morning when I stumble to my door and grab that

dayrsquos editionmdashalways one o liersquos small pleasures especiallywhen it contains one o those stories I busted a spleen to getmdashI

receive a little reminder that someone else at the paper someone

like Nancy Marino takes her job just as seriously as I do

I leaned back in my chair and considered what I had just

read In obit parlance ldquodied suddenlyrdquo was usually code or

ldquoheart attackrdquo But that didnrsquot seem to 1047297t A just barely middle-aged woman who delivered newspapers and waited tables was

probably in airly good shape Something had taken Nancy Ma-

rino beore her time and the nosy reporter in me was curious as

to what

By the time I was done reading her obit a second time I had

concluded that the newspaper she had once aithully delivered

ought to do something more to memorialize her passing Mosto our obits are relatively short items written by uneral home

directors who are ollowing an established ormula But each



983106983154983137983140 983120983137983154983147983155

8

day our newspaper picks one person and expounds on their

living and dying in a ull-length article Sometimes itrsquos a distin-

guished citizen Sometimes itrsquos a person who achieved local ame

at some point or reasons good or ill

Sometimes itrsquos a Nancy Marino an ordinary person who

spent her lie serving othersmdashwhether it was with newspapers or

coffee re1047297llsmdashand whose presence had graced the world or ar

too brie a time

Afer eight years with the Eagle-Examiner I had reached the stage

in my career where I was afforded a air amount o latitude to

write what I wanted Sure I received the occasional assignment

but otherwise I was lef to my own devices It was a trust I gained

the hard way Afer earning a job at the paper thanks to a phi-

landering state senator named Lenny Ryanmdashhis girlriend

crashed his car into a go-go bar at what turned out to be a veryopportune moment or my careermdashI put in several yearsrsquo hard

time in a suburban bureau Afer working my way to the main

city newsroom I 1047297nagled a coveted spot on our investigations

team where I had won the right to pursue the things that inter-

ested me

Not that it meant I had some kind o blank check Yes Icould write what I wanted But i I actually wanted it to run in

the newspaper I had to make sure I cleared it with my editor

And there my lie had recently become a little more com-

plicated My previous editor had been Sal Szanto the assistant

managing editor or local news and a gruff old-time newsman

We had orged a relatively easy understanding he had high stan-

dards and as long as I worked tirelessly to meet them we gotalong amously

Unortunately Sal had been ldquoinvitedrdquo (read orced) to take



983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

9

a buyout in the latest Eagle-Examiner herd culling In the consid-

eration o the 1047297scally constipated bean counters who had been

given ull rein over our newspaper Sal was ldquooverpaidrdquo (read

airly compensated) His long experience and many contribu-

tions to quality journalism actually counted against him because

he had accrued so many raises during the good years Now with

the good years long gone he was rewarded with a one-way trip to

early and unwanted retirement

His replacement was ina Tompson the ormer city editor

and my ormer something I would say ldquogirlriendrdquo but thatwasnrsquot right because she made it clear to me she wasnrsquot in it or

that I would say ldquoloverrdquo but that was also inaccurate because

we never quite did that either

My interest in ina was that in addition to being un smart

and quick-wittedmdashin a eisty way that always kept me honestmdash

shersquos quite easy to look at with never-ending legs toned arms

curly brown hair and eyes that tease and smile and glint all atthe same time

Her interest in me was more chromosomal ina whose

age might best be described as orty-minus-one is keen on try-

ing motherhood But she doesnrsquot want to bother with the kind

o pesky annoyances some women take prior to childbirthmdash

meeting a man courting him perhaps even marrying himina had explained to me quite matter-o-actly that she

long ago abandoned the idea o actually having eelings or the

opposite sex She claimed her approach was now more practical

She was looking or a tall blue-eyed broad-shouldered man o

above average intelligence all in the hopes he would pass on

some o those traits to her yet-to-be-conceived child As I pos-

sessed these characteristics I had an open invitation to jumpinto her bed three days out o every twenty-eight

Still I had never taken her up on the offer For whatever you



983106983154983137983140 983120983137983154983147983155

10

may read about the male animal I donrsquot believe in emotionless

sexmdashand even i I did Irsquom quite sure I would 1047297nd it somewhat

less interesting than a game o one-on-one basketball Plus I

never wanted to have to tell my son that his mother chose me

primarily or my nucleotides

inarsquos promotion had eliminated that possibility at least or

the time being Newspaper policy dictated an editor couldnrsquot

sleep with one o her reporters even i it was strictly or repro-

ductive purposes So ina had gone elsewhere in her search or

Mr Right GenomeNevertheless I couldnrsquot shake the suspicion that inarsquos

claims to romantic imperviousness were a alse ront and that

behind them was a woman who really did want to be loved just

like any other human being And i I was being honest with

mysel I regretted that we hadnrsquot at least provided ourselves

a chance to 1047297gure out what we could be togethermdasha ailure I

hoped to rectiy at some point in the utureAs I slid into her offi ce with a copy o Nancy Marinorsquos obitu-

ary in my hand those unresolved eelings were 1047298oating around

somewhere above her desk but below the 1047298uorescent lights

ldquoHey got a secondrdquo I said

ina was a yoga anatic and could usually be ound sitting

in one contortionist position or another Tis time she had aknee drawn up with one arm wrapped around it and another

stretched at an odd angle while she read something on her com-

puter screen Call it an Ashtanga Pixel Salutation

ldquoPlease tell me you have a big story or merdquo she said already

looking deeated by the day ldquoI Lester runs another 1047298oater photo

o some bikini-clad Snooki-wannabe bimbo on the pretense o

it being a slow news day Irsquom taking a baseball bat to the morn-ing meetingrdquo



983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

11

I grinned Lester Palenski our photo editor was a notorious

pervert who dedicated no small amount o resources to docu-

menting the young emale population that migrated toward the

Jersey Shore at this time o year

ldquoWell itrsquos a story Maybe not a big story But itrsquos one Irsquod

really like to dordquo I said then slid the obit page at her ldquoRead

Marino comma Nancyrdquo

ina moved her attention to the newspaper rowning as

she scanned it

ldquoYou want to write a story about a dead waitressrdquo she askedldquoA waitress and a newspaper delivery person yeahrdquo

I grabbed the obit rom her desk as she narrowed her eyes at

my mouth

ldquoWere you sleeping with herrdquo

ldquoina Have some respect or the deadrdquo

ldquoWell were yourdquo

ldquoOh yeah I was shagging her rottenrdquo I said ldquoIrsquod throw aquick one in her every morning Her customers complained

their papers were late i I took more than 1047297ve minutes so it was

always wham-bam-thank-you-marsquoamrdquo

ina ofen claimed I had certain tells when I was lying

though she would never say what they were For a while I tried

sticking to the truth but it just made me eel even more sel-conscious Since she became my editor I had changed course

and lied to her whenever possible She knew this o course But

I had to keep her off balance somehow

She scrutinized me or a moment then said ldquoOkay so you

didnrsquot know her Why do you want to write about her againrdquo

ldquoI donrsquot know It would just be a nice story about the kind o

everyday person you donrsquot miss until shersquos gonemdashcall it a Fan-are or the Common Womanrdquo



983106983154983137983140 983120983137983154983147983155

12

ldquoAll right there Aaron Copland knock yoursel outrdquo ina

said ldquoWhat killed her anyway Anything goodrdquo

Only a newspaper editor would describe a cause o death as

potentially being ldquogoodrdquo Only a newspaper reporter would know

exactly what she meant by it

ldquoDonrsquot know yet Irsquom sort o curious about that actuallyrdquo

ldquoWell unless she died o some exotic and heretoore undis-

covered strain o swine 1047298u yoursquore not going to get more than

sixteen on this So donrsquot go crazy and 1047297le orty or anythingrdquo

We measure stories in column inches and the IncredibleShrinking Newspaper had a lot less o them than it once hadmdash

especially in the middle o July the absolute doldrums o the

news calendar It was a bit o a problem or me as I was notori-

ous or writing as i we still published a paper as thick as a phone

book every day

ldquoI wonrsquot go so much as a word over budgetrdquo I promised

ldquoHow many times do I have to tell yourdquo she said as I de-parted her offi ce ldquoI know when yoursquore lyingrdquo

Terersquos no easier way to report a story about the newly dead than

to attend a ser vice in their honor You have to be somewhat dis-

creetmdashsince leaning on the casket 1047298ipping open your notebookand asking or comment as people pass by is considered a tad

gauche But i you show the proper respect and make it clear

yoursquore just there to write a ew kind words about the deceased

you generally get a line o people waiting to chat with you Itrsquos

cathartic or the aggrieved and it gives you everything you need

to write a glowing tribute

My trip to Bloom1047297eld or Nancyrsquos visitation included achange-o-clothing pit stop at my house which was not ar rom

the Johnson-Eberle Funeral Home Ten again since Bloom1047297eld



983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

13

is only about 1047297ve miles square more or less everything in town

is not ar

On a map Bloom1047297eld looks like a bowling alleymdasha long

narrow chunk o land with the Garden State Parkway running

through the middle o it Te town was carved away rom New-

ark sometime in the early 1800s and now serves as the unoffi cial

dividing line between the parts o New Jersey that scare white

people and the parts that donrsquot o the north and west are well-

to-do towns like Montclair and Glen Ridge where people are

mostly concerned about sending their children on to their 1047297rstchoice our-year college o the south and east are rough-edged

cities like Newark and East Orange where people are mostly

concerned about their children getting shot

In the middle is Bloom1047297eld which doesnrsquot always know what

to make o itsel Case in point when you get off at the Bloom1047297eld

exit you see a BMW dealership on one side o the street and a

check-cashing place on the otherItrsquos not quite urban inasmuch as there are no high-rise

buildings yet itrsquos not quite suburban either inasmuch as the

houses are packed together so closely you tend to know i your

neighbor has a cold because you can hear the sneezing

Te citizenry consists o some young proessionals like me

some blue-collar olks some senior citizens and a lot o guysnamed either ony or Vinnie who like to pretend Te Sopranos

was really about them

Te Realtors trumpet the townrsquos diversity because other-

wise theyrsquod have to talk about the property taxes which are lev-

ied by the local chapter o the Barbary Pirates I pay $11000 a

year in tribute in exchange or which I am spared rom having

to walk the plank and I enjoy curbside lea pickupOh and just to get the New-Jersey-What-Exit thing out o

the way 148 off the parkway



Tis is a work o 1047297ction All o the characters organizations and events portrayed

in this novel are either products o the authorrsquos imagination or are used 1047297ctitiously

983156983144983141 983143983145983154983148 983150983141983160983156 983140983151983151983154 Copyright copy 2012 by Brad Parks All rights reserved Printed in

the United States o America For inormation address St Martinrsquos Press 175 Fifh

Avenue New York NY 10010

wwwminotaurbookscom

Library o Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Parks Brad 1974ndash

Te girl next door a mystery Brad Parksmdash1st ed

p cm

ISBN 978-0-312-66768-9 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-4299-4999-6 (e-book) 1 Ross Carter (Fictitious character)mdashFiction 2 Reporters and reportingmdash

Fiction 3 MurdermdashInvestigationmdashFiction 4 Newark (NJ)mdashFiction

I itle

PS3616A7553G57 2012

8136mdashdc23

2011040880

First Edition March 2012

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1



4


the obituaries















CHAPTER 1



983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

5













orgotten

















983106983154983137983140 983120983137983154983147983155

6





with any regularity






I read on


Friday July 8

















983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

7























to what







983106983154983137983140 983120983137983154983147983155

8








too brie a time











ested me











983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

9































983106983154983137983140 983120983137983154983147983155

10






























983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

11









she scanned it



my mouth


















983106983154983137983140 983120983137983154983147983155

12














book every day















983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

13


is not ar





























4


the obituaries















CHAPTER 1



983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

5













orgotten

















983106983154983137983140 983120983137983154983147983155

6





with any regularity






I read on


Friday July 8

















983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

7























to what







983106983154983137983140 983120983137983154983147983155

8








too brie a time











ested me











983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

9































983106983154983137983140 983120983137983154983147983155

10






























983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

11









she scanned it



my mouth


















983106983154983137983140 983120983137983154983147983155

12














book every day















983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

13


is not ar





























983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

5













orgotten

















983106983154983137983140 983120983137983154983147983155

6





with any regularity






I read on


Friday July 8

















983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

7























to what







983106983154983137983140 983120983137983154983147983155

8








too brie a time











ested me











983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

9































983106983154983137983140 983120983137983154983147983155

10






























983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

11









she scanned it



my mouth


















983106983154983137983140 983120983137983154983147983155

12














book every day















983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

13


is not ar





























983106983154983137983140 983120983137983154983147983155

6





with any regularity






I read on


Friday July 8

















983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

7























to what







983106983154983137983140 983120983137983154983147983155

8








too brie a time











ested me











983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

9































983106983154983137983140 983120983137983154983147983155

10






























983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

11









she scanned it



my mouth


















983106983154983137983140 983120983137983154983147983155

12














book every day















983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

13


is not ar





























983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

7























to what







983106983154983137983140 983120983137983154983147983155

8








too brie a time











ested me











983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

9































983106983154983137983140 983120983137983154983147983155

10






























983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

11









she scanned it



my mouth


















983106983154983137983140 983120983137983154983147983155

12














book every day















983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

13


is not ar





























983106983154983137983140 983120983137983154983147983155

8








too brie a time











ested me











983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

9































983106983154983137983140 983120983137983154983147983155

10






























983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

11









she scanned it



my mouth


















983106983154983137983140 983120983137983154983147983155

12














book every day















983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

13


is not ar





























983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

9































983106983154983137983140 983120983137983154983147983155

10






























983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

11









she scanned it



my mouth


















983106983154983137983140 983120983137983154983147983155

12














book every day















983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

13


is not ar





























983106983154983137983140 983120983137983154983147983155

10






























983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

11









she scanned it



my mouth


















983106983154983137983140 983120983137983154983147983155

12














book every day















983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

13


is not ar





























983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

11









she scanned it



my mouth


















983106983154983137983140 983120983137983154983147983155

12














book every day















983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

13


is not ar





























983106983154983137983140 983120983137983154983147983155

12














book every day















983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

13


is not ar





























983124983144983141 983111983145983154983148 983118983141983160983156 983108983151983151983154

13


is not ar



























Date post:	06-Apr-2018
Category:	Documents
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The Girl Next Door; A Mystery

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