Bosom Bodies (Mina's Adventures) (17 page)

“Detective
DeFiore
seemed very concerned about your safety, Mina. Perhaps I’m not up to date with all that’s happening. The fact that he wants to talk to us in his office on a Saturday afternoon is serious enough. How about you tell me your understanding of the events?”

“I’m not sure I know the whole story myself. I’m told some bad people are trying to find something that Barbara Spencer, Bosom Bodies manager, stole from them. Everyone, cops and robbers, is convinced I have it. However, I don’t know what
it
is, neither does
DeFiore
. So, you tell me, where do I look if I don’t know what I’m looking for?”

Adams
nodded, a thoughtful expression on his face.
They
drove the rest of the way to
the police department
without speaking
. Adams parked and they walked in together. They were told
DeFiore
was running late,
and asked if
they
could
please wait
.

They sat.
The P.D. surroundings
intimidated
Mina,
as usual. Ten minutes went by.
As s
he yawned, an older man in a police uniform walked by and
s
topped to speak
to
Adams. They shook hands and started reminiscing about some closed case.

Adams turned to her.
“Mina, do you mind if I go over to Bob’s office? I’d like to look at some photos of a case.”

“No problem, I’m sure
DeFiore
will find you when he gets here.” Left sitting alone on the bench, Mina
’s
restlessness peaked. She got up and walked around. Not much to see, almost every desk had a computer, a phone, papers, pencils. Boring.

A
laugh c
ame
from somewhere down one of the side corridors. A woman’s laugh. Could it be Sam? Mina walked toward the laughter. No one stopped her. Sam sat at a large desk behind a glass partition, talking on the phone. When she saw Mina in the hall, she motioned her to come in, then hung up.

“Mina, what a nice surprise. What are you doing here?”

“I came over with Adams. We are waiting for
DeFiore
. He wants to talk to us.”

“Adams?”

“Oh, you don’t know him. He is a lawyer and a good friend. He ran into a cop he knows, they are somewhere chatting.” In spite of the cheerful tone, Mina felt embarrassed. She hadn’t forgotten that Sam saw her driving around Ginger’s condo complex. Might as well get it over with. “Sam, about Thursday—I don’t want you to think I was snooping. All I wanted to do was to return some stuff to Ginger. Honestly.”

Sam looked at her with renewed interest, “You have things that belong to Ginger? What? Her wig?” She said
wig
with a smile and that lifted the sense of gloom Mina felt.

“No, not that. I stopped by the gym where I first met Ginger and the owner gave me a set of pink dumbbells Ginger had left behind. I mean, not a big deal, I had to drive by her place anyhow. Then I saw
DeFiore
’s green sedan and decided it would be wiser to keep on going. He had warned me to stay out of Ginger’s life. There, now you know.
Please d
on’t tell
DeFiore
or I’ll never get my car back.”

“It’ll be our little secret. What did you do with the dumbbells? Were you able to get them back to Ginger?”

“No. Here’s the thing
.
I was riding with
my friend
Margo.
She works at West Coast Software.
We ate at this joint she likes, and she got sick. She dropped me off at the gate of Bayside and took off like a maniac. I left the dumbbells and my
S
uper
G
lue in the back seat of her car. They are still there because Margo is in bed sick.”

“Super Glue?”

“Yeah, needed to glue a perfume cap Angelina broke, you know, that night.”

Sam nodded and smiled.
I
t was so much easier to talk to another woman than to a male cop.

“Well, Mina, I would love to stay and chat with you a little longer, but duty calls. If Dan doesn’t give you your Volkswagen back
,
you call me. I’ll see if I can help. Okay?” Sam gathered some papers scattered on her desk, ran her hand over her holster as if reassuring herself the gun was there, then escorted Mina back to the original bench and left.

Ten more minutes went by. Except for phones ringing and the large clock on the wall ticking time away, nothing happened. Where was everyone? What a way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

By the time
DeFiore
came marching in, she was
actually
glad to see him.
Adams came back at about the same time
,
and the three of them went into
DeFiore
’s office. He closed the door before sitting behind his desk. He seemed preoccupied maybe even edgy, moving papers around, avoiding eye contact. What was eating him? Adams didn’t seem to help much, no friendly hello, no pleasantries.

DeFiore
spoke first
.
“Well, any time you want to pick up you car, feel free to do so. All the paperwork has been cleared. Wait, I forgot it’s Saturday
, can’t get into vehicle storage
. You’ll have to wait until Monday morning. You can also go back to your condo. We are done. It’s still a mess, but we can’t help that. However, I wo
uld feel better if I knew
you
we
re staying with friends a few days longer.” He spoke to Mina, but
looked
at Adams the whole time. Adams nodd
ed
slightly. A sign of approval? What was going on?

The detective turned his attention to her, “Mina, I need to talk to you about Ginger.”

Shit, he did see her on Thursday!

“What about? Is everything okay?” If he was going to call her on that Thursday, she wasn’t about to make it easier for him.

“No, not okay at all. Ginger is dead.”

Mina found herself looking at Adams and
DeFiore
, back and forth. Both returned her stare and she felt like they knew about Ginger being dead way before now.

“Oh.
Dio
m
io
.
” Not Ginger. “How did it happen? When? She is young, was, I mean. Oh, I don’t know what I mean. Please, explain to me what happened.”

Again, the two men exchanged glances. Adams put his hand on her arm. Mina kept her eyes on
DeFiore
. “Mina, it happened on Monday—we think—in New York.”

“New York? What was Ginger doing in New York? She was supposed to be back in town on Monday, from Vegas, I mean. Why New York? How did she die?”

“Cardiac arrhythmia was the cause of death. It happens. Even to athletes, younger and in better shape than Ginger.”
DeFiore
avoided her eyes.

“But? There has to be a
but
. I sense it
.
I feel it. Talk.” Mina’s voice
went up
an octave
and trembled as badly as
her hands. She just knew she was getting the civilized,
sugarcoated
version of the truth. The “here is your car back” was just a grand gesture, smoke in her eyes.

“What, you don’t think I can handle it? I lost my mother to a vicious murder. I’m not a little helpless girl. I want to know the facts. I have the right to the truth. Ginger was my friend.”

“No, she wasn’t,”
DeFiore
said. “She set you up for a fall. She used you.
The purpose of y
ou taking her place at Bosom Bodies was to buy
Ginger
and Barbara extra time to get away. Neither Barbara nor Ginger cared about what would become of you once the ruse was discovered. So, don’t cry for her, for them, and don’t compare their death with your mother’s.”

Mina sat, stunned.

Adams’
s
voice was kinder than the detective’s.
“Detective
DeFiore
is telling you the truth, Mina. You need to pay attention and co
o
perate. We are all trying to protect you from harm.” Adams turned to
DeFiore
.
“Maybe if Mina knew more about the background, something would trigger her memory.”

DeFiore
nodded.
“Before leaving California, Ginger entrusted you with something. Whatever it is, we have to assume it is still in your possession. Ginger flew to New York where
Barbara would meet her
. Barbara never made it
because s
he was killed Saturday night
.
We know Barbara didn’t
give
to
these people
what they
want
ed
because on Monday, Angelina searched your place. Either Barbara or Ginger, maybe even both pointed
a
finger in your direction. It is possible Barbara didn’t know where the ‘treasure’ was
hidden
. She only knew you were the unwilling delivery girl. So…”

“Look,” Mina took a deep breath
,
“
w
ith Barbara and Ginger dead, who ever wanted their stuff is at a dead end. How would they know Ginger didn’t have it with her in New York? Maybe she sold it or left it in a safety deposit box somewhere
.
I see that in the police shows.”

DeFiore
rolled his eyes then looked at Adams. Adams nodded.

“First, this isn’t a show, people get hurt and die for real. These
perps
know Ginger didn’t have anything with her because she died while they were torturing her. Her body was found in a bathtub filled with ice. Both her kidneys were missing. In a twisted attempt at humor, a phone and a note to call nine-one-one was left next to the tub. Without ID it took a little longer for the information to reach California. While it appears she did die of natural causes, it was all brought on by the
torture
. The first incision to remove her kidney was done while Ginger was conscious. That’s what caused her heart to stop. The excision was completed after her death. She may have died before spilling the beans, or maybe she only mentioned your name. We don’t know—

“Y
ou look pale
.” Adams interrupted. “A
re you getting sick?”

Hands over her mouth, Mina nodded.
DeFiore
pointed to the right of his office. She ran off.

She looked at herself in the mirror over the sink
and
splashed cold water on her face.
Dio
m
io.

Real people didn’t do this kind of thing. Why would
DeFiore
lie? Dear God, what was it they wanted from her? Could she have done something to prevent any of this? Adams—he had to have known about Ginger. He was too calm and didn’t ask questions. A lawyer who didn’t ask questions? Where did Diego fit in all of this? She couldn’t hide in the police department bathroom forever. She dried her face and her hands and went back to
DeFiore
’s office.

“Okay,
DeFiore
, you must have something in mind. Obviously, you didn’t get me here to tell me I can pick up my car on Monday. What is it you want from me?”

Adams open
ed
his mouth to speak
.
Mina
held up her hand to stop
him and looked at
DeFiore
.

“Mina, let’s try to figure out what Ginger gave you. It’s something small enough to fit into the small boxes Angelina searched. Something worth about one and a half million
dollars
. The sooner we get it out of your hands, the sooner you get your life back.”

“The only thing
s
I have are the pink dumbbells. Ginger didn’t give them to me. The owner of the gym where Ginger used to work did.”

DeFiore
and Adams seemed to let out a sight of relief. “Good, Mina, very good. Where are the dumbbells?”

“I forgot them in the back seat of Margo’s car along with the Super Glue. When I spoke to Margo today, she said everything was still in the same place.”

DeFiore
got up, “Is Margo still living in the same condo complex?”

Mina nodded. “Are you calling her?”

“No, I’m driving to her place. I need to get someone else to go with me.” He picked up the phone.

“Ask Sam. I was telling her about it before you got here.”