A Dead Husband (Jessica Huntington Desert Cities Mystery) (17 page)

CHAPTER
15

Jessica p
laced all the insurance papers neatly into the file folder and tucked them under her arm.  She made the short trek down the hall to Laura’s suite and knocked lightly on the door. After waiting a moment she called out.

“Laura it’s Jessica
.  Are you up? Can I come in?”

She heard no response and was about to knock again when the chatter of voices from outside caught her attention
. Someone opened and then shut the sliding door, creating a crescendo and then decrescendo of sound.

“I’ll see what’s up with Jessica
. Then I’ll be back with a pitcher of orange juice.”

It was Bernadette
.  Apparently all the action was taking place outdoors.

“I hear you, Bernadette,” Jessica cried out
. “I’m on my way.” Jessica walked into the kitchen as Bernadette was bustling around, bending over in a cupboard and pulling out a large mixing bowl.

“I
stopped to fetch Laura but it sounds like she’s already up and about.” 

“Yes, she’s talking to Brien after having a swim
. That new suit you bought her is gorgeous.  And it’s a good thing you got that cover up for her so Brien could put his eyes back into his head. I can make you all some breakfast now if you’re hungry.  Brien was hinting about French toast. Like I don’t know what he’s up to. ‘Oh Laura you gotta try some of Mrs. B’s French toast while you’re here.  It’s righteous, the best ever...blah, blah.’ So much smoke blowing I was about to get an asthma attack and I don’t even have asthma.” Bernadette tried to sound put out but she was lapping up the praise. 

“Well you’ve got to admit he’s right
.  Your French toast is to die for! Are you game to fix it if I pitch in?”

Jessica was eager to help. She hoped to wangle the
secret recipe from her. Over the years she had figured out a lot of the ingredients and had tried out several renditions on Jim.  They both agreed. Close, but no cigar!  Of course she didn’t fool Bernadette one bit.

“I can do it
. You need to go keep Laura company so she doesn’t have to listen to Brien go on and on about so-and-so’s heinous surfin’ or about how turburler the waves are.  She’s a good sport, but no match for his mouth this morning given all she’s been through. You can take the pitcher of orange juice from the fridge out there. Get some glasses for everyone if you want to help.”

“Tubular, Bernadette, the waves are tubular,” Jessica corrected, assembling a tray with the orange juice and glasses.

“That’s what I said, turburler. That boy doesn’t use good English.  Half the time he makes no sense.  You go sit with Laura and make sure he cleans the pool.  Even though he’s ‘muscle’ now as he told Laura, he’s still got to keep the pool clean or he’s outta here. I haven’t forgotten about finding him in your room the other day. He better not get too big for his pantalones cortos.”

Jessica knew full well the discussion was over
.  “I do have some things I need to talk over with Laura, sooner rather than later. I’ll go play pool boy supervisor and get him back to work. My mouth is watering just thinking about your French toast and butter and maple syrup and fresh berries...”  Jessica’s stomach growled all the way to the back door and out onto the patio.

Brien was perched on the end of one of the lounge chairs, pool scrubber in hand
. He flipped his hair out of his face as he spoke animatedly to Laura.  Laura looked about as good as a newly widowed young woman could, two days after finding her husband murdered in her own home. Oversized Bulgari sunglasses hid the red rims and dark circles that went with her grief.  The deep red Colleto cover up did not hide the fact that the matching swimsuit fit perfectly! Laura sat quietly with her hands folded in front of her.

She seemed attentive to Brien
stretched out on a chaise next to him.  Her head moved just a little too slowly though. The movement was almost robot-like when she turned at Jessica’s approach. Was she on some sort of medication? Maybe they had sent it home with her when they released her from the ER. Maybe too much tragedy in too short a time.  Or maybe Laura had slipped into some sort of stupor from listening to Brien talk a blue streak.  A few minutes of conversation with Brien went a long way.

“Hey, Jessica
, how are... Wow you look even worse than you did yesterday,” Brien said, sitting back and almost spilling to the ground. Her appearance literally knocked him off balance, apparently.

“
Sorry, Brien.  I guess my sunglasses aren’t hiding the damage very well. I’ll go back and put on some makeup before leaving the house.” He said nothing, but continued to stare. That gave her the pause she needed to rescue Laura. 

“Laura, are you up for doing a little business
while Bernadette gets breakfast ready for us?” Jessica asked, taking the seat on the chaise next to Laura.  Laura nodded somberly.

“Brien can you give us a little privacy?” Jessica asked.

“Uh, sure Jessica, I guess so. I gotta go put my equipment away.  I have another job down the street but I, uh, I thought I’d just sort of hang out for a while and make sure no suspicious characters show up.”

“Sure Brien, but you can
do that from your truck for a few minutes so Laura and I can talk?” Brien nodded but hesitated as he gathered his pool cleaning gear. 

“I’ll
be right out front if you need me, or if Mrs. B is looking for me or anything like that.  I mean she was talking to me about breakfast and all. I don’t want to be rude by leaving without saying goodbye.” Jessica was not puzzled one bit by Brien’s sudden surge of concern for etiquette. 

“Etiquette, my ass,” Jessica thought
. “Brien I’ll make sure Bernadette knows where you are if she asks.  Even if she doesn’t ask I’ll come get you when the French toast is ready.  She’s fixing enough for you too and it
would
be rude to leave her with all that extra food on her hands.”

Brien’s entire demeanor changed
.  “You got that right, Jessica.  Totally great meeting you Laura and I’m sorry about all the bogus stuff going on in your life.  It’s not right.” He was about to say more but Jessica folded her arms, then looked at him over the top of her sunglasses.

“Take this with you, Brien.” Jessica handed him a glass of orange juice.

“S’ later.” Brien said, shifting his pool cleaning paraphernalia around so he could take the juice. In a split second it was gone. Handing the empty glass back to Jessica, he was gone in a flash too.

Laura seemed visibly relieved
. She let out a little sound. It was somewhere between a sigh and a breath of relief.

“That boy can talk
. I hope I didn’t offend him, Jessica. I could not keep up.” 

Jessica sat up on the edge of her chaise and poured two glasses of orange juice
. She handed one to Laura and took the other for herself, wiggling back into position on the chaise next to Laura.

“I doubt he noticed
. He means well, I think, but his judgment is off at times. Something’s going on in the frontal lobe. Maybe one too many wipeouts.  You know, head first off the end of his board?  I’m sorry he was here so early this morning.  You could have used a little quiet time to just float around in the pool without hearing about the most excellent adventures of a surfer boy stranded in the desert!”

“It’s okay Jessica
.  I couldn’t sleep once the sun came up so I got in an early swim.  After that I went back inside for a while. I was going to shower and put on one of the new outfits you bought me but I thought I’d get coffee first. That’s when I ran into Brien and Bernadette.”  She and Jessica both sipped their juice quietly for a moment.

“I guess we just missed each other because I was out here earlier for a swim too
. Fortunately before our surfer friend showed up. If he gets too much for you let me know and I’ll get him to cool his heels somewhere else.”

“No problem, Jessica
. It’s reassuring that you’re all looking out for me, but it’s also a little overwhelming. I’ve never been in a situation like this where everything is so out of control and I’m dependent on others. 
I’m
the nurse. 
I’m
the one who gives help not the one who gets it, you know?”  She stared down into the glass of orange juice as if there was something in there to see.

“Yeah I know exactly what you mean, Laura
.  I didn’t expect to wind up here in Mission Hills at this point in my life any more than you did.  We’ll just have to hang in there until we can figure out what to do about the situations we’re in. It
is
overwhelming to have your whole life turned upside down. We have no choice but to depend on each other until we can sort things out.  Agreed?”

“Sure, and
I know it’s not good circumstances that brought you back here to the desert. I can’t even imagine what I’d be doing if you weren’t here.  So, thank you.”  Laura drained the glass of orange juice and set the empty glass on the side table next to her.

Jessica
figured that was about as close to a silver lining as she was going to find amid the storm clouds hovering over her own life and roiling through Laura’s. That
was
something. Bernadette would consider it providential. One of those God-works-in-mysterious-ways things.  Jessica wasn’t ready to go that far.  The fury she felt for herself, and for Laura, was way too intense not to begrudge any so-called omnipotent being who allowed such senseless suffering to be visited upon them.  Jessica finished her own glass of juice allowing the nourishment, and Laura’s gratitude, to assuage her anger.

“Okay Laura what do you want first the good news or the bad news?” Jessica asked, perhaps a little too abruptly.

“How bad is the bad news?”

“I’m not completely sure yet but Roger’s business was in trouble
. I know you suspected that.  He didn’t exactly have things under control when it came to your personal finances either.  I haven’t had time to reconcile all of the material in the file folders with the information downloaded from his bank accounts, but there’s no doubt his business is in the red.  Maybe there are some outstanding accounts that you could collect on. That’s what I don’t know yet, or what there is to liquidate that could raise some cash.”

“How much in the red?  I mean, how worried should I be?”  

“It’s hard to tell but he’s been running the business on fumes for months. There are a lot of demands for payment that are several months old.  Maybe he had contacted folks and arranged for more time to pay up. There are some items with postmarks as far back as April that haven’t even been opened yet.  The last deposit was made to his business account about three weeks ago. That was a cash deposit of several thousand dollars.  It wasn’t the only one. There were several cash deposits, in similar amounts, posted to his business account before that. Is that typical for clients to pay him in cash?”

“I don’t know, Jessica
.  He grumbled now and then about having to wring money out of clients. Usually that happened when a job was done or nearly done. He hated nagging and when he got the money he sometimes said he hoped this check or that check didn’t bounce.  So, I know he got paid by check at times. Roger had such a good reputation. He was good at what he did. Even when business was hot he got things done on time and on budget, so he didn’t have many unsatisfied customers back then.” Laura paused, perhaps, remembering better times.

“
Like I told you, these days he mostly took on odd jobs from realtors or for banks. You know, repairing the damage done by homeowners being put out of their homes?  Some had let things go because they were on their last legs financially. Others trashed the place before they left.  The kitchens had been stripped, carpets ruined, or worse. Once someone poured cement into the toilets. I suppose he could have been paid in cash for those jobs.  I never really thought about it.” Laura paused again and took a deep breath. 

“Okay so
Roger’s business is in a hole and some of the money he made came in the form of cash. Great, what’s the good news?” Laura asked.

“Well, t
here’s a little more on the bad news front,” Jessica said in a quiet, steady voice.

Laura cocked her head in that quizzical puppy dog way, refocusing her attention on Jessica
.  She removed her sunglasses and placed them on top of her head.  She took both hands and rubbed them over her face a couple times like she was trying to clear away something.

“Okay, I guess I’m ready
. What’s the rest of the bad news,” she said refolding her hands in her lap. 

“Well this won’t come as a complete surprise since
I sort of talked about this earlier. Your personal finances are in pretty bad shape too.  Some things that were being paid regularly earlier in the year seem not to have been paid for the past couple months.”

Laura’s eyes grew wide and wary
.  “What sort of things?” she asked.