Peggy Holloway - Judith McCain 02 - Portrait on Wicker (8 page)

“He sure does.
I had decided to go see Tracy’s boss after I got all this news to give him one last chance. I changed my mind. He won’t hear about any of this.”

CHAPTER 18

I arranged for my practice to be covered, by Dr. Alvarez. I went with Arnold, the chauffer, to the airport to meet Jesse’s plane.

When she got off the plane, we ran to each other and hugged.
She was just a beautiful as ever, but had gotten rid of all the braids. Her hair had been cut very short. Being a Quadroon (What they call someone in New Orleans who is one-quarter black) her skin looks like the coffee you get at Café Du Monde.

She had lost some weight but the thinness and the short hair made her look like a model.
No longer wearing the hooker type cloths, she had on a crisp white blouse and tan a-line skirt. Still favoring the big hoop earrings and bracelets, her ears sported gold loops and her wrist were loaded with bangles. She wore flat sandals instead of the spikes she used to wear.

Her speech had improve
d but I missed the Cajun syntax. I could see Arnold looking at us in the rearview mirror and smiling. We were both talking at once, trying to catch each other up.

When we pulled into the circular driveway Jess
e said. “Holy shit, look where you ended up, girl.”

I laughed, “If you’re going to be a nanny, yo
u’ve got to watch your language, Jesse.”

“Don’t worry.
I know how to behave in polite company now. But when it’s just you and me I might revert back to my old way of talking.”

Mimi hugged
Jesse when I introduced them. I could see they were going to be friends.

When Brad came home from schoo
l and they were introduced, he said, “Why don’t you have any hair? Did you have cansher? A boy at school had cansher and they had to shave his hair off. I hope I never get cansher. Did you know my mommy went to heaven? She might come back one day, though.”

We all looked at each other and I knew this was how he was copping
. It wasn’t unhealthy for a boy his age. He seemed intrigued with Jesse, taking her hand to lead her upstairs to the playroom. Mimi had designed the room for him when he was born. Later Mark and I went up to say good bye to Brad. He seemed perfectly okay with us leaving.

We flew Southwest airlines and arrived at 7:20 that evening.
I had talked to Julia on the phone before we left and she told us to stay at her condo.

As soon as we walked in we knew someone had been in there.
There was a smell of cigarette smoke and a saucer filled with cigarette butts.

I pulled Mark out of the door, “Don’t touch anything,” I said, “I’m going to call John.”

I dialed their number from my cell phone and John answered the first ring. “Whoever this is, call back later. We’re on our way to the hospital to have our baby.”

“This is Judith, John.
I’ll talk to you later.”

“Why did you hang up, Judith?”

“Rosa’s in labor. There’s no help there. It’s probably unnecessary anyway. We don’t need fingerprints. We already know who was here.”

We looked through the condo and saw other evidence of someone being there.
The bedspreads were rumpled like someone had taken a nap without turning the covers down. There was food in the refrigerator, part of a carton of milk and some eggs. I had thrown out everything in the refrigerator when I had gotten to Julia’s a week ago.

Mark opened the sliding glass doors and we stepped out onto the deck.
Gazing out at the mini yard, each of us dreaded to go down the plank walkway to Julia’s studio.

We looked at each other and made a silent decision
. Stepping onto the walkway, we started toward the shed. Before we get halfway there, we noticed a horrible smell. When Mark opened the door to the studio, the first thing I saw was a pool of blood on the wood floor.

CHAPTER 19

It was Mackey Broleen. He had been shot through the head. I dialed 911 from my cell and we backed out. I threw up on a hedge outside Julia’s studio, and made a mental note to tell the police when they got there.

We waited for the police in the back yard, not wanting to disturb the crime scene.
It seemed like only minutes before the parking lot in front of the condo was filled with police cars, an ambulance, the medical examiner, a CSI unit, and of course the press.

I sat on the grass and watched the police trying to keep the press back.
Yellow crime scene tape was strung all around the building and the yard. A couple of plain clothes detectives ducked under the tape and I recognized them. The man was the officer who had arrested me for prostitution when I was sixteen. The woman was his partner, who had aided him in questioning me at the police station later that night.

They walked around the back and went into
Julia’s studio. Bill and Sandy were their names. They were obviously now in homicide instead of vice. When they came out, the medical examiner went in. Bill went over to talk to Mark. Sandy came and sat down on the grass next to me.

“You look familiar.
Have we met before?” She asked.

“When I was sixteen, I was arrested for prostitution at Dave Boudreau’s house.
You and that officer over there questioned me.”

“Oh yeah, I remember you now.
That Dave is now doing some wonderful work. He’s done a complete one eighty. Have you seen him lately?”

“Not since we were all arrested, but Jesse is the nanny for my young cousin.
She just started today.”

“Right. O
ne of Dave’s reforms. Vicky, you want to tell me what happened here tonight?”

“My name’s Judith.
It’s a long story. Mark and I were going to stay here at Julia’s for a few days and then we found him. We just got here from Houston.”

“And Julia is who?”

“She’s my twin sister. Our last name is McCain. She’s in the hospital in Houston.”

“Oh, now I remember reading about this in the paper about ten years ago.
You and you sister had been the victims of the famous kidnapping case, and you were able to bring the perpetrators to justice. Does this have anything to do with that? Do you know who that man in there is?”

“Yes and Yes.
His name is Mackey Broleen. He was one of the kidnappers. He’s the one that the judge told us had been beaten to death while in jail.”

“Woo.
Unbelievable,” she said. “But how did he come to be here, dead?”

“I don’t know,” I said.
I knew she was going to guess I was holding something back.

“
You’re holding something back,” she said.

Just then they wheeled the gurney out with the body in a body bag and the medical examiner followed snapping off his latex gloves.

“Hey Carl, over here,” Sandy called.

He came over and sat down on the grass next to her.

They didn’t seem to be interested in introducing me and that was fine. I needed some answers.

It was amazing how he could fold his legs into a lotus position.
He must have weighed about three hundred and fifty pounds and his hair was gray. I wondered if he ever thought about his lifestyle when he autopsied someone who had died of heart failure.

“I would est
imate the time of death about ten-twelve hours ago. It looks like a twenty two caliber but they haven’t found any casings yet. Also, there’s a pile of puke in the bushes over there.”

“That’s mine,” I said.
“When I saw the body, I lost it.”

He turned towards me and studied me for what seemed like a full minute.
Without another word he struggled to his feet and lumbered off.

We watche
d him and then Sandy turned to me. “What time did your plane arrive in New Orleans?”

“Our plane landed at 7:20.
That’s easy to check out.”

“Yes it is.
So, this Mackey Broleen kidnaps you and your sister when you’re three years old. During the trial, after his testimony, he is beaten to death in the shower, in Raiford, or so you’re told.

“Now, ten or so years later, he turns up murdered in your sister’s condo and she ends up in the hospital. Is it a psychiatric hospital by any chance? And what did Mackey say on the witness stand?”

When
I hesitated, she gave a deep sigh. “I can easily look up all of this information. I can get the court transcript from the trial and I can call around to all the psychiatric hospitals in Houston. All of that will take time, so you might as well tell all, Judith.”

“When
Mackey was on the witness stand, he alluded to a pedophile ring involving a judge and some of the older men who take in foster kids. He said that this was taking place in both New Orleans and St. Augustine. Julia is in Westpark Psychiatric Center in Houston.”

“Excuse me a minute,” she said as she got up and started walking towards Bill.

Bill and Mark had been standing just outside the studio talking and it looked like Bill was getting frustrated. Mark must not have been cooperating. When Sandy walked up Bill broke off and listened to her.

As she talked, she used her hands as if to demonstrate.
At one point he glanced over at me and then back to her but then she said something that made him turn and openly stare at me. He broke into a grin and waved to me.

I could feel my face turning re
d as I remembered myself, as a sixteen year old, trying to get the money up front from this man I thought was a john. He would have been my first. He had slapped handcuffs on my wrists and hauled me downtown along with Dave and the other girls.

At one point I saw him hold his hand out as if to slow Sandy down, then they all three walked over to me.

As they sat down he smiled and said, “You look like you grew up real well. Mark tells me you are now a Psychologist. Tell me, did Mackey give the name of the judge when he testified?”

“No, I think he was afraid to name any names or maybe he wanted to hold something back as a major bargaining chip.”

He looked over at Sandy and she gave a slight nod. “I’m going to ask you a question and no matter how you answer it, you have to swear you won’t mention I even asked it. Both of you agree to this?”

After we both agreed he
continued. “Do either of you know anything about Judge Renfroe?”

Mark and I looked at each other and I said, “He’s the judge who placed me in foster care with the Lessiters.”

Bill smoothed his few hairs over his balding head. “I tried to keep track of you for awhile after I arrested you at Dave’s. I thought you had potential. If I remember correctly, you were placed with the Lessiter’s and disappeared from there. Mr. Lessiter came down to the station and filed a missing person report but never followed up on that.”

I really felt I could trust these two and told Mark so.
He agreed and we decided to tell them everything. I told them all about Mr. Lessiter coming into my room and trying to rape me, about me hitting him over the head, and about my escape.

I told them about working as a dancer in a nightclub, about finding my grandmother, about finding Julia
, and meeting Tracy in the home of the Reynolds’. I told them about finding Julia and rescuing her and then Mark took over.

“They murdered
my wife. She was trying to investigate and she was staying at Julia’s beach house in St. Augustine. They set fire the house and killed her.”

He had tears in his eyes.
I felt so bad for him. I felt the tears gather in my eyes also.

“I’m so sorry,” said Sand
y as she put her arms around him. Her bottom lip was trembling as if she too was going to cry. I looked at Bill and he looked teary eyed too.

After Mark finished telling his part of the story, Sandy asked where we were planning to stay since we obviously couldn’t stay at Julia’
s condo. It was now a crime scene.

Mark and I looked at each other and Sandy said, “I would offer to let you come to my house but I have a house full of relatives staying with me right now.
And Bill only has a bachelor pad.” She poked him in the ribs.

We left shortly after that and agreed to meet them for breakfast the next morning.

CHAPTER 20

Mark and I took a suite
at the Hyatt Regency, on the twentieth floor, overlooking the Mississippi River. After checking in, we decided to eat downstairs at Georgie Porgies. Julia had introduced me to this restaurant on one of my visits. They have delicious seafood omelets.

We
ordered the omelet and coffee. Neither of us had an appetite but we ate anyway. I enjoyed the chicory coffee with the boiled milk poured into it. We were lost I our own thoughts. I think we were in shock. Then we both started talking at once. Mark motioned for me to go ahead.