Lizzy Gardner #2_Dead Weight (3 page)

“Call me Lizzy.”

“I need your help, Lizzy. I want to know what Anthony Melbourne is up to. If I didn’t have a family to care for, I would follow him myself.”

“What about this Michael guy?”

“If you want to check out Michael Denton for yourself, go ahead, but if you decide to take this case, I want ninety-ive percent of your billable hours spent on watching Anthony Melbourne. Money isn’t a problem. If you cannot take this job, I’ll be forced to sign with Jon Peterson.”

Jon Peterson was as sleazy as they come and judging by the coy look in her eye, Andrea Kramer already knew that.

Chapter 4

Some Things Never Change

Hayley Hansen sat on the curb across the street from the house where she and her mom had lived all of Hayley’s life. It was a one story, one garage house, 750 square feet. The outside was a puce color, blotchy and faded.

It wasn’t quite noon, but it was already warm, and she could feel trickles of sweat rolling down her back. Hayley took a long drag off of her cigarette and waited until she could feel the cold against her throat before she blew a smoke ring, a thick, perfectly formed ring, which glided across the street. Full bodied tobacco worked best.

Menthol worked well, too.

The smoke ring slowly disappeared, leaving Hayley to think about what she would see when she entered the house. Inside, there was a wall furnace that didn’t work and windows that didn’t open. The carpet had been stained so many times it felt brittle if you walked barefoot across the loor. Every room smelled like old shoes and dirty ashtrays. The garage smelled exactly like the city dump.

If Hayley had another place for her mom to live, she’d burn this place down. But she wasn’t a pyro and her mom didn’t have anywhere else to go, so that was out of the question.

Her mom would never live with her parents. Hayley’s grandparents had moved to Wisconsin years ago, right after her mom threatened to turn her grandfather in for all of the bad things he did when Hayley’s mom was a child. He did bad things to Hayley, too, but Mom was clueless that way and had no idea. Nobody would believe Hayley if she told them about all the sick family members she had. Most families had one or two black sheep, people they didn’t want to talk about, let alone think about. But every member of Hayley’s family was a lost cause.

Back when Mom was sober, Hayley and her mom would dream about the good life, talk about how great everything could be someday. Mom was a good storyteller and Hayley could still remember smelling the ocean and hearing the waves crash against the shore when Mom told her make-believe bedtime stories.

Hayley snubbed out her cigarette and dropped it into the empty ilm canister she carried around for just that purpose. Jessica, an annoying girl she shared a desk with at work, would be proud since she was all about recycling and saving the earth.

Hayley stood, looked both ways, and then headed across the street.

There were no cars in the driveway, so Hayley peeked inside a couple of windows. Nobody appeared to be around.

She tried the front door next. It was unlocked, so she stepped inside.

Everything looked and smelled just as she remembered, like one giant armpit after a long, hard run.

“Honey, is that you?”

Excitement coursed through her veins at the sound of her mom’s voice. God, how she’d missed her. She hurried to the hallway and stopped when she saw her mom standing there, the light hitting her face just so. Her mom wore an old nightgown. The hem was ripped and the pink satin looked wrinkled and stained. “Hi, Mom.”

“Hayley.” She raised her arms and Hayley walked right into her open arms and let her head fall softly against her mom’s frail shoulder.

Hayley hadn’t been home since the incident that had left her with four ingers on her right hand. Sadly, her time spent with a serial killer was nothing compared to her time spent right here in this house. Her mother’s boyfriend, Brian, had raped her repeatedly as payment for her mother’s drugs.

Hayley had no intention of ever seeing her mom again, but staying away seemed impossible. She missed her more than she ever imagined. There was no holding back. Built-up tears she didn’t know she had been storing inside came pouring out.

“It’s okay,” her mom said, holding her tighter. “My little girl is home. I love you so much.”

Hayley wasn’t sure how long she and her mom stood in the hallway huddled together like two lost souls, but it was long enough that Hayley’s neck had begun to kink up. When she inally pulled away, she looked at her mom, loving the way her wrinkles made her look cute, not old. Despite the drug and alcohol abuse, her mother was a beautiful woman. Always would be.

She could smell the booze on her mom’s breath and that made her sad. She looked into her mom’s eyes. “I was wondering, Mom, if I set it up. .if you would go to NA meetings again. I’ll go with you this time. I think if we’re consistent and do it on a regular basis, you’ll stand a chance. What do you think?”

Her mom smiled and patted her shoulder as if she was talking about going to the moon someday.

“Mom, I’m serious. You’re only in your forties. You have a lot of life ahead of you. Today could be the beginning of something bigger, better, brighter. Don’t you think?”

“You always were a dreamer. Just like your daddy.”

Hayley exhaled a frustrated breath. Mom never talked about her father. She was fucked up, but Hayley refused to let that deter her from her mission. .the reason she’d come to see her mom in the irst place. She wanted to start over. She wanted them both to start over, together.

The sound of a car drew Hayley’s attention and she ran back to the main living area and looked out the window. It was Brian. Her mom had called out “honey,” Hayley realized, because she thought Brian had arrived. Despite everything that had happened, she was still seeing Brian. And she called him “honey.”

Hayley locked the front door and then passed her mom in the hallway and entered her mom’s bedroom. “Come on, Mom. Let’s get you packed up.” She opened her mom’s drawers, but most of them were filled with rat shit and nothing else.

Her mom stood in the doorway. “Hayley, I can’t go with you.”

“So you won’t go to NA with me either?”

Her mom’s hands were shaking as she rubbed the side of her face. “I can’t do it, Hayley. I’m not strong like you. I’m weak. You know that.”

“Mom. You’re weak because of that hideous man out there. He has you right where he wants you. It’s the drugs and alcohol talking right now. Not you. Drugs make people weak. It’s not your fault.”

Her mom put her hands over her heart. “Hayley, I love Brian. He asked me to marry him.”

“Mom,” Hayley said, her hands grasping her mom’s shoulders. “I don’t know what my dad was like, but this man is a hundred times worse. Brian is the devil. And the devil uses drugs to make people do what he wants them to do. He’s not going to marry you, Mom. I’ve been watching him. I see him going home at night. He doesn’t sleep here, does he?”

Her mom looked worried.

“He doesn’t sleep here, Mom, because he’s with a different girl every single night. He’s a child rapist, for God’s sake, but you already know that.”

Her mom’s hand came up fast and swift, slapping Hayley hard across the cheek.

Hayley didn’t feel a thing. “Every girl he brings home is twenty years younger than you,” Hayley went on as if nothing had happened. “I’m not trying to hurt you, Mom. I’m trying to help you. He’s waiting for you to start receiving social security and I’m sure he wants this rat-infested house, too. He doesn’t love you, Mom, but I do.”

There was a knock on the door.

“I better get that.”

“If you let him in this house, you’re never going to see me again.”

Her mother put her hand to Hayley’s forehead and pushed her hair gently out of her eyes and away from her face. She gazed deeply into Hayley’s eyes, looking at her as if she wanted to remember what she looked like, as if this was truly the last time they would look into each other’s eyes.

Hayley didn’t feel any anger toward her mother, just a pitiful feeling of dark despair and disappointment. Some people were more susceptible to wanting to drink and do drugs too much. It had to do with genetics, as well as family history and life situations. She used to feel hurt, anger, and embarrassment, but not any longer. Only the hopelessness lingered.

Another knock on the door, louder this time.

“Don’t make me choose, Hayley.”

Hayley leaned forward and kissed her mom softly on the cheek.

“You made your choice a long time ago, Mom.”

Hayley turned about and headed for the back door, determined to escape without running into Brian. She would see him soon enough.

Chapter 5

No Delta Breeze

It was another scorching hot summer day in Sacramento. An hour ago, Lizzy had changed into a pair of khaki shorts and a light-colored cami, but her lack of clothing and the fan above her head didn’t stop sweat from dripping down her back. She wasn’t complaining though.

She would take a blistering summer over a mind-numbing winter any day.

Jessica Pleiss, one of two part-time assistants she couldn’t afford but also couldn’t manage without, walked in at that moment, bringing a wave of dry heat in with her.

“Oh, good, I’m glad you’re here,” Lizzy said without looking up.

Jessica laughed. “I’m always here at three o’clock on Wednesdays.”

Lizzy glanced at the clock. “You’re right. Sorry. I’m a little overwhelmed at the moment.”

Jessica walked around Lizzy’s desk and glanced at her computer screen. “Who’s that?”

“Anthony Melbourne, a itness guru and motivational speaker. Ever heard of him?”

“No, but just looking at those rockin’ abs makes me feel as if I should go run a few laps around the park.”

Lizzy smiled. “Yeah, I know what you mean. Sadly, I can’t remember the last time I set foot in a gym.”

“What’s the deal with this guy?”

“Looks like we have another missing person case.”

“Anthony Melbourne is missing?”

“No.” Lizzy handed Jessica the binder. “Andrea Kramer has hired us to ind her sister, Diane. She believes Anthony Melbourne has something to do with Diane’s disappearance. I’m not so sure at this point, but that’s neither here nor there. She’s hiring me to keep an eye on Melbourne.”

“I thought you said you were too busy to take on too much more.”

“True.”

“You’re becoming a softy.”

“Not me,” Lizzy lied. At the age of seventeen, Lizzy had been abducted by Samuel Jones, a madman known as Spiderman. After two months of watching him torture his victims, she’d managed to escape with her life, but at what price? She’d spent over a decade hiding from her own shadow until six months ago when her abductor came back into her life, determined to take care of her once and for all. He killed a local anchorwoman and a young girl who had taken Lizzy’s defense class. He had sliced through a window screen and took her while she lay sleeping; the poor girl hadn’t had a chance in hell of getting away.

Samuel Jones was dead now. And everyone, including Lizzy’s therapist, seemed to think Lizzy should snap out of it—move forward and forget it ever happened. But it wasn’t that easy. She wanted nothing more than to let it go and move on, but the harder she tried, the more difficult it was to do.

Jessica grabbed the mail from the Incoming tray and took it to the desk she shared with Hayley, the other part-timer. “Is Hayley coming in today?” Jessica asked.

“I’m not sure. She talked about having to attend lab at school.”

Hayley Hansen had helped save Lizzy’s niece. Hayley lost her pinky inger in the ordeal and in return gained a new lease on life. That’s what Hayley had told her, but Lizzy wasn’t sure she believed it. There was something different about Hayley. She had always kept to herself, but lately she’d been more stand-of ish than usual. Lizzy thought it might have something to do with Hayley’s mother, a woman who had once used her daughter as payment for drugs and who was no longer a part of Hayley’s life. For the past six months, Hayley had been living with Lizzy’s sister, Cathy, and her niece, Brittany.

Hayley was a smart girl. She had taken the high school pro iciency test, received her GED, and was now taking summer classes at Sierra College.

“These pictures came out great,” Jessica said after opening a large cardboard envelope. “Hayley definitely has a knack with a camera.”

Jessica crossed the room and handed Lizzy three eight-by-ten photos of a man playing tag football with friends and then two more pictures of the same man carrying a stack of lumber to his truck. “I don’t think Mr. H.D. Palmer is going to be receiving workers’ comp for too much longer.”

“These are good,” Lizzy said. “Do you mind dropping the photos at the prosecuting attorney’s office on your way home later?”

“Not a problem.” Jessica took the pictures back to her desk. “Are you going to visit the mother of that missing girl today?”

Lizzy looked at the clock on the wall.
Damn
. “I was supposed to be there five minutes ago.”

“Mind if I tag along?”

“What about all the paperwork that needs to be done on Jim Thatcher?”

“Finished it yesterday.”

“I don’t know, Jessica. Ruth Fullerton is a very sick woman and—”

“I’ll sit quietly in the corner. I won’t say a word. You don’t even have to pay me. I just need to do something other than opening and iling mail.”

“Fine.” Jessica was right; she had become a softy. “Grab the Fullerton file and let’s go.”

***

Mrs. Fullerton’s hands shook as she poured tea. It was way too warm for hot tea, but Lizzy wasn’t about to say anything. Ruth Fullerton had lost her hair due to chemo treatment for lung cancer. Her head was covered with a brown tight-itting head scarf. She was thin and fragile looking; too young to be dying.

“Sugar, cream?”

“No thank you.”

“How about you, young lady?”

Jessica lifted a hand in protest. “I’m fine, really. Thanks.”

Lizzy opened her notebook and as soon as Mrs. Fullerton took a seat in the cushioned chair across from her, she didn’t waste time getting down to business. “I wasn’t able to talk to the lead investigator from your daughter’s case since he retired eight years ago,” Lizzy told her, “but I did talk to Detective Kent Roth.”