A Dead Sister (Jessica Huntington Desert Cities Mystery) (9 page)

“Frank, it mattered to Laura that Roger’s killer was brought to justice. In her case, though, she was on the list of possible suspects. Laura got closure on some pretty important issues. It’s also a matter of justice, in the larger scheme of things. There’s also the fact that, if Kelly was murdered, that person is still out there and could do it again. I also get it that you don’t want to stir things up unless there’s a damn good reason. That’s a judgment call, and it sounds to me like we don’t have enough information right now to make that call.”

“That brings me to the second reason I wanted to talk to you, Jessica. You’re a lawyer. You could talk to whoever’s representing this guy in the public defender’s office and get a better read on how far gone he is. Or maybe they’d let you interview the perp. If it is Kelly, I’m going to have to keep my distance, given that she’s family. I don’t want
to create even the hint of impropriety. Or do anything that could be used later to claim that the investigation was tainted because a family member was involved. Uncle Don is in the same boat in Palm Springs. So, how about it?” He paused, watching Jessica intently as he went back to drinking his coffee.

Jessica wasn’t certain. She picked up her coffee and sipped it, buying time. If she could do anything that would, belatedly, help her friend Kel
ly, then she should. Like Frank, she also wanted to protect Tommy and his parents from reliving that dreadful event. Or from false hope that someone might be held accountable for Kelly’s death, whether an accident or on purpose. Jessica looked at Frank and knew she had made her decision. She had to try to find out the truth.

“Okay, Frank. How about this? Let’s do what we can without bringing the rest of the Fontana family into it, for the time being. I’ll check it out, as you ask, while you get Art to go another round on his end. We’ll take this a step at a time, and if it looks like we’re getting somewhere, we’ll break the news to the rest of the Fontanas. Does that make sense?” Jessica offered Frank more coffee.

“It does,” he said, sliding his empty mug closer to her so she could refill it. Then she poured herself another cup. “Thanks Jessica. This just sort of dropped into my lap, so I feel compelled to follow up. How bizarre is that?”

Jessica’s skin prickled, recalling that earlier conversation with Bernadette. “This is odd, I’ll give you that. Not just the way you found out about it. But why on earth would anyone have wanted to kill Kelly?”

“I have no idea. We may find out some things about Kelly we’d prefer not to know. She was pretty high-strung and gave her parents plenty of grief. I just presumed that was teenage stuff and she’d grow out of it.”

“My last encounter with Kelly was not a very pleasant one either. I feel bad about that, but it’s also left me wondering what on earth was going on with her. I owe it to her as a friend to try to face the truth, even
if it turns out to be unsettling.”

“I had a similar reaction to her death. I had this uneasy feeling that something was not quite right with Kelly, but by then it was too late to do anything about it. I was so preoccupied with my own studies, and my relationship with Mary, that I didn’t have a lot of time for other family members. She was hard to figure out: sweet and charming a lot of the time, but distant, and even hostile, at other times. She was so talented, and plenty smart, but never interested in my suggestions for how to use that talent or put her smarts to work. I chalked it up to immaturity, even though I was only two years older. You were closer to her than I was and probably knew her better.”

“I wish I could say that was true. We loved each other, but we also fought like cats and dogs. I had so many of my own issues then, too, it’s still hard to sort out my problems from hers. I get what you’re saying about her moodiness. Sometimes it was like this switch flipped and Kelly went from sweet to wild in a flash. Even that wild side was fun and kind of exciting at times. It was also scary depending on the kind of risks she was hell-bent on taking. I was a way bigger chicken than she was, and she just cut me loose at times. Why bring me along if I was just going to be a drag? Laura and I both got left behind, at times, usually when she had a new boyfriend.”

Jessica paused and peered at the coffee in her cup. What she saw, instead of coffee, was an image of Kelly. Her auburn hair set in motion by the ripples in the coffee, a dreamy smile on her face, but a wicked glint in her eye. “She could turn mean, too. The last time I saw her on New Year’s Eve, we went at it. She was drunk, so maybe it was the booze talking. There was so much anger toward me, mostly about things I thought we had settled. All our lives had changed so much. Making the transition from high school was stressful, and we were all flailing about, but Kelly most of all. I figured we had time to work it out later…and then, we didn’t.”

“So, let’s say we’re going this first mile for us, as well as for Kelly. We’ll do what we can, even if it’s too late to save her life. If she was murdered, she must have been in more trouble than any of us could have known, Jessica. She hid that from her parents and from Tommy, too, or they would have done something. Tommy would have gone to you or to me, even if he didn’t want to get his parents involved.” Jessica nodded in agreement.

“Yes, that’s true. Would your friend Art get me a copy of Kelly’s file? Maybe something in the file will corroborate or disavow what this guy claims went on that night. Also, if it does turn out there’s a reason to move forward, we’ll be ready. We’ll need to go back and talk to at least some of the people the police interviewed at the time. If I review the file, we’ll know who to put on that list.”

“Or, as you say, maybe there will be something in the file that can shut this down. If this is meth mania, or he’s a lying son of a bitch, I’d like to bring this new chapter to a close as soon as possible.”

“I agree. Does Art have the file?”

“You’d think so, but I’ll ask. If he doesn’t already have it, he can get it. Dad’s in a different division at the Palm Springs Police Department, so Art should be able to get the file from the detectives without contacting Dad, directly. That’s no guarantee Dad won’t find out about it. His co-workers haven’t forgotten how tough Kelly’s death was on him, though. I’m sure they’ll make efforts to keep this under wraps if Art is discrete. Back then, Dad wasn’t a sergeant yet. He was the lead investigator with the traffic bureau, and got called to the scene by the patrol officers who found Kelly.”

“Oh, my God, Frank. I didn’t hear anything about that. He must have been horrified.”

“Yeah, he was. And then he took it upon himself to be the one who gave Sammy and Monica the news. That wrecked him, too. It took him a long time to get over that. Uncle Sammy and Aunt Monica have never been the same.” Frank grew silent, gazing off into space. “How do you want me to get that file to you?”

“I guess that depends on what you find out from Art. Once he gets his hands on it, if he doesn’t already have it, he’ll have to make copies for me.”

Frank nodded. “Some of the stuff will have been saved electronically, but the file itself will contain things like the detectives’ notes, which may be handwritten. I can get him to expedite things by picking up the file himself. He may need a day or so to do that and put a copy together for us.”

“Okay, so let’s say I’ll swing by and pick it up on Tuesday or Wednesday at the Sherriff’s department. Which day depends on what sort of arrangements I can make with the Public Defender’s office and the attorney assigned to this guy. There’s another thing, Frank.”

“What?”

“You do know that criminal defense work isn’t my area of practice, right? So, I’m going to do a consult with a colleague about this. Paul Worthington’s a big-time defense attorney in LA, and he’ll be a great help in cutting to the chase about what we’re up against. I planned to give Paul a call tomorrow, anyway. His firm is opening an office in Palm Desert and he’s waiting for me to tell him if I’m ready to be a lawyer again, or not. He doesn’t know it yet, but I’ve decided to say yes, and take on a few clients. How do you feel about involving him?”

“Jessica, we can use all the help we can get. This case is more than a decade old. For it to have gone cold means that Dad’s colleagues ran out of leads. They knew how distressing this was for Dad, so they would not have given up if they had anything to go on. You’re resourceful, Jessica, but you have your work cut out for you. I’m just glad you’re willing to put yourself out there and tap into your networks to give this thing a chance. Thanks.”

“Don’t thank me yet. We don’t know if this is going to go anywhere. I may have nothing but bad news for you in a couple days. You might not have much to celebrate on the Fourth. Of course, not that finding out your cousin was murdered is a reason to celebrate, either. Don’t listen to me. I don’t know what I’m saying. I just don’t want you to be disappointed.”

“I’ll take that chance. And that won’t put a damper on a Fontana family Fourth of July celebration. The kids always have such a blast watching the fireworks. Mom and Dad are driving to our house in Perris for a barbeque. It’ll be hot, but not like it is here. You don’t even need to light the charcoal to grill something out here right now...a high of 118 or something like that today! Listen, Jessica, if you make that trip to Riverside on Wednesday, why not stay in town and celebrate with us on the Fourth? I can get you a discount on a room at the Mission Inn. We’ll meet for dinner Wednesday night and you can bring me up to speed about what you’ve learned. That way we can decide what to do next, if anything.” Before she could offer any objection, he rushed on. “If you come to the house for our picnic on Thursday evening Mom will have someone besides me and Dad and the kids to rave about her potato salad and seven layer dip. You’ll make her so happy, unless you already have plans.”

Jessica thought about it for a couple minutes. She was even less happy about the idea of being “home alone” for the rest of the week now that she might be pulled into another murder investigation. And she didn’t have any plans. “Could you really get me a room at the Mission Inn this close to the holiday?”

“No problem. You’re not the only one with connections, Jessica. A friend of mine who manages one of their restaurants said renovations in a section of the hotel were delayed. They weren’t able to make the rooms available in time to fill all of them for the holiday. She was pushing me to get my parents to stay there, at a good discount! Mom and Dad won’t want to miss a minute with me and the kids, so they’ll stay at my place. But if you say yes, I’ll call and have her save a room for you for Wednesday night. Thursday night, too, so you can go see the fireworks with us.”

“Except for the fact that this is all happening because a close childhood friend may have been murdered, this sounds like fun. I haven’t seen your mom and dad for a while and, honestly, Frank I can’t even remember what your kids look like! The last time I saw them they were like 5 or 6. Tiny, I remember, and moving at supersonic speed. They were part of a small herd of children running like gazelle.”

“That sounds about right. Even if you could remember what they looked like, you might not recognize them now. I have to do a double take every now and then to make sure they’re my kids when I go pick them up at school. There are times I wish they weren’t mine. Isn’t that awful?”

“Hell, no! My parents were so fed up at one point, after I got kicked out of Palm Valley
and
St. Margaret’s they were going to pack me off to boarding school. Bernadette convinced them to give me another chance. St. Theresa’s was my last stop before a convent or a boot camp, or the Swiss boarding school equivalent! Thinking about it now, I don’t blame them a bit. I was out of control. Sounds like your kids have a way to go if you only
sometimes
wish they weren’t around. And, I might add, moments ago you sounded enthusiastic about celebrating the Fourth of July with them.”

Frank shrugged a little. “You’re just trying to make me feel better, but it’s working. And I feel so much better about this thing with Kelly. I can’t tell you what a relief it is to not be carrying that burden alone.”

“Will you email me your address so I can map the route to your house? And do you remember the name of the man being held? I’d like to call and see if I can set up something with his attorney.”

“I’m texting you the address right now, Jessica.” She heard that little ‘whoosh’ as Frank sent that text. “As I recall, the guy’s name is Chester Davis. I’ll confirm that with Art Greenwald the first thing tomorrow. The kids are staying out here in the desert with Mom and Dad until Wednesday, but I’m driving back tonight after dinner. Art is in by 8 a.m., so I’ll call you as soon as I speak to him in the morning. I’ll tell Mom to expect you Thursday. She’ll be thrilled.” He stood up to leave. “Uh, Jessica, you should be prepared for the possibility that Mom’s going to jump to the conclusion that we’re dating. I could tell her otherwise, but it would explain why, all of sudden, we’re hanging out together.”

“I don’t want to mislead her, Frank, but I suppose we don’t have to go out of our way to prove things one way or the other. Just as long as your mom doesn’t also jump to the conclusion that I’m some kind of a hussy for dating her son when the ink isn’t even dry on my divorce papers yet.” Jessica stood up to walk him to the front door.

“Jessica, Mom thinks you walk on water. Why not? You’re kind and beautiful, intelligent and well-educated. What’s not to like?” He took a step closer. Jessica caught another whiff of that woodsy scent. It was like stepping out onto the deck area at the top of the Palm Springs tramway, and being hit square in the face by the scent of the Jeffrey pines that flourish at ten thousand feet. It wasn’t altitude that was making her light-headed at the moment.