The Murder 50-Plus Condo, Book 1

RUBY MOSKOWITZ’S heels clacked on the concrete surrounding the condo pool, jarring everyone from their siesta in the sun. Several people raised their heads from their chaise lounges to see who was making all the noise. Ruby was ninety-plus years old, decked out in her aqua bathing suit with matching heels. A floppy sunhat with an aqua ribbon belted around the crown bounced over her bright red hair.

“You’re getting burned, sonny,” Ruby said to a man lying face down on a chaise. “Your back’s as red as the strawberry jam I used to make.”

The man rolled his head to the side and saw who was talking. “Oh, my gosh,” he mumbled, with his mouth tight, “how old is this broad?”

Ruby struck a pose and smiled with lips smeared heavily in crimson lipstick. Every pointed joint popped sharply toward the young man as she spun around to gain his approval. No one wanted to see what she was displaying. He turned his head in the opposite direction to avoid conversation.

Undeterred, Ruby clacked off, swaying her skinny self for all to view. Her overly tanned skin draped like crepe paper over her bones, wiggling like a puppy under a blanket as she sashayed around to find her chaise lounge.

“Hi, Ruby, come sit by me.” Rachel Barnes rose from her chaise to straighten the cushion in the vacant one beside her.

“Thank you, sweetheart.” Ruby sat down, swung her scrawny legs onto the chaise and leaned back to enjoy the Florida sun. “We’re in heaven, you know.”

“Yes, Ruby, we certainly are.”

Rachel was used to Ruby’s overly inflated impression of herself. She was one of the first people Rachel had connected with, quirks and all when she and her husband Joe had moved to the Breezeway Condominiums six months earlier.

Breezeway was a high-rise condominium designed for people over fifty, stationed on the beautiful shores of Daytona Beach. Each morning, Rachel woke up to ocean waves crashing onto the sand. With a coffee cup in one hand and a newspaper in the other, she sat on her balcony daily and sighed with pleasure. Yes, this, indeed, was heaven.

The couple decided to retire to the beach instead of remaining in their four-bedroom house since their only child was busy with her life and living elsewhere. They had decided that two people in their fifties didn’t need a big house, so a condo had been the perfect option.

“You taking time off from the job?” Ruby asked.

She was referring to the management position of the condo that Rachel had been offered shortly after moving into the spacious apartment she and Joe occupied. Her husband had been a building contractor and plumber, so the condo owners had hired him as a maintenance man. He liked to keep busy, so it seemed a good idea. However, he rarely had a full day off with all the maintenance issues that routinely popped up.

“It’s my day off, Ruby.”

“Your hubby off, too?”

“Nope, he’s currently working on Loretta’s toilet.”

Ruby looked at Rachel incredulously. “You let him work in Loretta’s apartment? I wouldn’t. No husband and I’ve had quite a few, but I could step one foot into her place.”