Broken Vows Mystery 03-In Sickness and in Death (26 page)

Then it occurred to me. Bernie might have had a hand in this. It might be another pity invitation. Maybe Jacob invited Danny because Bernie insisted. If Danny found out, he would be hurt, too.

Tears burned my eyes. Why did life have to be so uncertain?

I finished rolling the meatballs and put the frying pan on the burner. There wasn’t much I could do but encourage Danny to go to the party and have a good time. I’d hope for the best.

Danny and I ate dinner. He had two helpings of spaghetti and, after asking me to identify the spinach, chewed and swallowed his serving of that without complaint. I tried to talk to him about school and the work he did with Cory. He gave short answers designed to discourage conversation. He wasn’t a teenager yet, but he’d picked up all the mannerisms.

After he carried his own dish to the sink, I didn’t ask him to clear the table or wash dishes. Ray would have. I preferred to do it myself, alone.

When I heard SpongeBob come on, I hid in our bedroom and tried to read. The pages blurred as I worried first about Danny, then his father, then Erica, and finally even Maury. I glanced at the clock. Seven p.m. and still no Ray.

I thought about calling him on his cell phone, but didn’t want to disturb him. Maybe he’d find out something tonight that would answer some of my concerns.

I must have fallen asleep. I awoke at nine-thirty to find Ray standing next to me.

I sat up. “Is Danny in bed?”

“He is now. He was watching television when I got home. He’s all excited about Jacob’s birthday party.”

“He is?” I filled Ray in on my concerns. “Do you think it will be okay?”

“Sure. You know Bernie. He can’t stand it if everyone isn’t having a good time. Danny will have a blast. It’ll be good for him.” Ray disappeared into the closet.

I got out of bed and followed him. “What did you find out about the flowers?”

He took off his uniform and tossed it in the clothes hamper. “I saw the dish gardens. They look like the one on Jessica James’ kitchen table, but the only other one the florist remembers Maury purchasing besides Erica’s was delivered to a girl in Canandaigua. I called her. She and Maury dated for a while, then she broke it off.”

“So Maury didn’t give one to Jessica James.”

“I don’t think so, unless he paid cash and no one at the florist shop remembers. But they’re pretty fascinated by Maury, so it’s hard to believe they’d forget.” He pulled on a pair of jeans.

“Did you ask them who else bought a dish garden recently?”

“I did. They’re compiling a list of customers. I asked them to fax it to the department. That’s all I can do for now. Remember, I’m not supposed to be investigating Jessica James’ death.”

Ray headed toward the kitchen. “Anything left from dinner?”

“We had spaghetti. I’ll warm some up for you.” I pulled the leftover dishes out and made up a plate for the microwave.

He sat at the breakfast bar and watched me.

After I slid his plate into the microwave, I leaned against the breakfast bar, my face inches from Ray’s. “Did you hear any more about the partial print on the Camry’s remote?”

“It’s not Mr. Phillips’ print.”

Relief washed through me. Danny’s father couldn’t be tied to the killing, at least not yet. “Whose is it?”

“They’re still running matches and gathering prints from the car dealership employees. They ruled out Mr. Phillips immediately.”

“Is the investigation focusing on him?”

“They’re pushing him hard to talk. His lawyer wants a deal, but the prosecutor isn’t offering one. They think they have a motive.”

“What?”

“Jessica James’ will. She left everything to her closest relative—Danny.”

The microwave dinged as if on cue. I pulled Ray’s steaming plate out and set it in front of him. “I don’t understand how that gives his father a motive.”

“Think, Darlin’. Danny is a minor, so his legal guardian, Mr. Phillips, is probably in charge of the inheritance until Danny reaches eighteen. He might have killed her for the money, house, and possessions.”

“He did get caught in her Cadillac Escalade. Maybe he thought he was entitled to it.”

Ray shoved a forkful of spaghetti in his mouth and chewed for a minute. “That’s the part that bothers me. I can’t believe he’d let himself be found in the car after he killed her. He doesn’t strike me as stupid.”

“All criminals make mistakes eventually, don’t they? Isn’t that how you catch them?”

“This guy’s been caring for Danny for ten years, Jolene. He hasn’t been arrested in all that time, although he has a very spotty work record. It doesn’t fit.”

I let Ray eat the rest of his dinner in peace. I could tell his mind was churning through the events of the last few days, looking for the missing link, just as I had been earlier. With any luck, when he found it, it would not lead to Danny’s father.

Did that mean I was willing to sacrifice Maury Boor, my sister’s husband? I guessed so. But I wished I could talk to Erica about him first. She might have some answers, too.

____

The next three days passed quietly, except for the sound of Sponge-Bob’s laugh. If Danny was going to live with us for an extended period, I would need to find a better way for him to pass the time when he wasn’t in school or at the shop. Either that, or he would have to watch television wearing earphones.

Ray passed his time working from dawn to dusk. From his silence, I knew the department wasn’t making much progress in finding Jessica James’ killer.

Sunday night Danny asked to visit his father. Ray took him after dinner. I tried to watch television while they were gone, wondering what more, if anything, Mr. Phillips would share with Danny about the stolen car, his dead aunt, and his inheritance and how Danny would react to the information. I didn’t have to wait long to find out.

Ray called me at seven-thirty. “Can you pick up Danny?”

“Sure. What’s wrong?”

“Danny’s father has agreed to talk. His lawyer and the prosecution are on the way. The sheriff wants me here.”

“Okay, I’ll be right there.”

I grabbed my coat and raced out the door. Snow had begun to fall heavily and an inch or so had accumulated on the roads. I had to drive the speed limit, and when I got behind more nervous drivers, even less. I arrived at the county safety building full of pent-up frustration. I found Danny alone in the squad room, slouching in a chair with an open soda can next to him.

“Where’s Ray?”

Danny pointed toward the interview rooms. “In there with my dad.”

I sat on a metal chair next to him. “Do you know what’s going on?”

Concern flickered across his face. “My dad’s telling the truth.”

“Do you know what he’s saying?”

“Yeah.” Danny cast a final desperate glance back toward the room where his father was. “I know everything. He never left me at Chuck E. Cheese’s. I was with him the whole time.”

I desperately wanted to know what happened but refrained from asking. It didn’t seem right to pump Danny when his father was in there laying it all on the line. Ray could tell me later.

I stood. “Are you ready to go home?”

He looked at me like I was crazy. “Don’t you want to know?”

I dropped back into my seat, feeling relieved that I wouldn’t have to wait but apprehensive about what Danny might say. “Sure.”

He scratched his neck, leaving a dark red mark. “My dad picked up the Camry at the dealership outside Geneseo. We went to my dad’s friend’s house and loaded all our stuff in it. My dad said we were going to move to New York City. A friend of his had a job for him there.”

Danny glanced at me out of the side of his eyes, and I knew it wasn’t a legitimate job. Although Danny hadn’t admitted it, I figured he knew his dad had stolen the Camry, too. I let it go and nodded, encouraging him to continue.

“We went to see my aunt. I didn’t know she was my aunt. My dad said she was going to give him her Cadillac Escalade to sell. She was going to report it stolen to the insurance company.”

Insurance fraud. A great way to make money, as long as no one got caught.

“We went to The Cat’s Meow. Everything happened there like I said, except when I came back to the car, it was different. My soda and my backpack weren’t in the back seat. My dad’s baseball hat was gone, too. I thought somebody took them. My dad came out. He thought he’d lost his remote. He looked all over the car. He noticed our stuff was gone. He wanted to know what I did with it. I told him nothing. I told him I got out of the car and when I came back, our stuff was gone. He opened the trunk. It was empty. That’s when he figured out it wasn’t our car, because the trunk had dirt and stuff in it. He went back inside and came out again. He said we couldn’t wait for the person who took our car to come back. He said if it was a mistake, they might call the police and when the police checked, they would know it was stolen. He said if they took it on purpose, then one stolen car was as good as another. He said we’d get new stuff. My backpack had all my school stuff in it, but he said I’d be starting a new school anyway. So we left.”

Danny took a swig of his soda before continuing. “My dad dropped me off at his friend’s house so he could go get Aunt Jessica’s car. He drove me to school the next morning in it. It was awesome. Then he got caught. Aunt Jessica reported it stolen too soon.”

Timing was everything. I could imagine Danny’s father’s surprise when the sheriff’s department cruiser pulled him over. I wondered if she had done it on purpose to spite him for some old wound or if it had been an honest mistake. Jessica wouldn’t be able to tell us now.

“Jolene?”

I snapped out of my reverie. “Yes, Danny?”

“My dad didn’t kill Aunt Jessica. He doesn’t know who did.”

“Where’s the Camry your father took from The Cat’s Meow?”

“In a parking lot.” Danny jerked his head in the direction of the interrogation rooms. “He’s going to tell them where to find it. Do you think they’ll go get it?”

“I hope so, Danny.”

“My dad said he would tell them who he sold all the stolen cars to. He thought they might let him go, but then we found out about Aunt Jessica.” Danny’s eyes filled with tears. “Do you think they’ll believe him?”

I put my arm around Danny and hugged his shoulders. “I hope so.”

The pressure on this poor little boy proved to be too much. He dissolved into heaving sobs.

I held him tighter and rubbed his back. He was asking the right questions. Would they believe his father? Would they want to talk to Danny, too? Maybe I shouldn’t take him home yet. Maybe we should wait until they were through. But it could take hours. Then they might not want to talk to Danny. His father had had enough time with him now to coach him on this story. It did sound a little too good to be true, but then truth is stranger than fiction. Could the mix-up at The Cat’s Meow be an innocent but ironic mistake? Or had the killer taken the opportunity to tie someone else to the victim?

The fact remained that someone with the initial P like Danny’s father had most likely switched his car for the one Danny’s father stole from the used car lot. It could have been managed by sitting next to Danny’s father at the bar and laying the two sets of keys side by side. Did he do it on purpose or was it a mistake? Did the
P
stand for the man’s first name or his last? Was it
P
for Peter Flynn, Leslie’s brother? Had he been in The Cat’s Meow Saturday night, the last night anyone remembered seeing Jessica James? Could he be the killer?

Hard to believe. The man didn’t even have a driver’s license, and Ray had said the DMV records didn’t show a Toyota Camry registered to anyone at Leslie and Peter’s home address.

Besides, Ray said the sheriff’s department interviewed all the regulars. Surely Peter was on the list. I wondered who else might be on the list with the initial
P
. Maybe Ray worked with the lead investigators to check those names out.

The only positive spin I could put on the whole story was that this killer with the initial
P
who took Danny’s father’s car couldn’t be my sister’s new husband, Emerson Maurice Boor. He drove a Prelude and didn’t have an initial
P
. Unless, of course, the
P
stood for Prelude. Wouldn’t that be a pip? Maury might just be weird enough to think that way, but I hoped not.

Danny pulled away and wiped at his face with his fists. I dug in my purse and handed him a couple of tissues. He blew his nose loud and long like a foghorn.

The interrogation room door opened. Ray stepped out.

He crossed the room to us. “Take Danny home, Darlin’. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Danny stepped away from us. “What about my dad?”

Ray reached for Danny’s shoulder. “Your dad is talking. He’s got a lot to say, and we’ve got a lot of questions. Don’t worry. We’ll get it all straightened out.”

Danny frowned, clearly doubtful.

I had doubts myself. “Why don’t you go splash some water on your face in the men’s room, Danny? Then we’ll go home.”