The Body on Ortega Highway (9 page)

“
Well, you only have me. I
hope I’m enough?”

“Of course you are, silly. Come in.
Do you want a glass of wine?”

“Sure. That’s sounds great!”

Charlotte notices the
newspaper articles. “Oh, wow! You made the front page. Oh, ‘Local
Hero’. Look at you.”

“You’re my hero,” Clarissa tells
her cousin.

“Moi? You’ve got to be
kidding.”

“
I still look up to you and
admire your career path. Just like I did when I was a
teenager.”

“Well, thanks for saying that.
You’re sweet!”

Charlotte says, “This is just
like old times. When I was driving up here, I drove by the Civic
Center and remembered that time we sat in on that murder trial at
the courthouse.”

Clarissa says,
“
That was fun. I was trying to decide
whether or not I wanted to be a paralegal like you.”

“
We didn’t want to pay to
park, so we left our car in Washington Square and I got a
ticket.”

Clarissa adds, “Oh, yeah. And
that crazy flocks of parrots crapped all over you.”

“
And we ran away from them
and I broke my best pair of heels.”

Clarissa says, “That seems
like only yesterday.”

“
I know. You were straight
out of high school, wondering what you would do with the rest of
your life.”

“
And I went down to the
courthouse and got the transcripts from Dad’s murder trial. I tried
figuring out if Ivan killed him or not.”

“
And you met Dick Santy, the
lead investigator on the case.”

Clarissa says, “And the rest
i
s history.”

Her cousin says, “Dick was a great
guy. But he was way too old for you.”

“He was more like a mentor or
father than a husband.”

“
And he took you down the law
enforcement path, right along with him.”

“I sure wasn’t planning on being a
cop before I met him.”

“
You wanted to be a
paralegal, like me. Or even a lawyer.”

“
I know. I used to go the Law
Library and get information on mock trials. I’d pour over opening
and closing arguments to get an idea of the legal
terminology.”

“
And, you like the voir dire
part of a trial the best, like I do.”

“
Yeah! I like all the
psychology that goes into picking a jury.”

“And you used to call me when you
were reading the transcripts and ask me what different terms
meant.”

“
And I would go to the Law
Library and pester them about it, too.”

“
Do you ever think about
being a paralegal anymore?”

“Well…as a matter of fact…”

Right at that moment,
Ron walks into the house. He sees Charlotte and
says, “I didn’t know you were coming up.”

“Aren’t you glad to see me?”

“
Of course. I didn’t mean to
be rude,” Ron says and walks over to hug her.

Clarissa says,
“She’s going to spend the night and then we’re
going to the spa tomorrow.”

“To Burke Williams?”

“Yes. We were thinking about
it.”

“Are you sure they’ll let you back
in?”

Her cousin says, “What is he
talking about?”

“
I’ll tell you later. Right
now I have to go get dressed for my big ‘Par-Tay’.”

*******

The following morning,
Clarissa and her cousin leave early to go to Burke
Williams. If the receptionists recognize or remember what happened
the last time Clarissa was there, they act like it is none of their
business.

While Clarissa and her cousin
are sitting in the Jacuzzi, Clarissa tells her that she’s thinking
of retiring and going to law school.

“
Hooray!!” her cousin says.
“Do you realize how happy I am to hear this news! I’ve wanted you
to do it for years. I got scared every time I heard that men were
pointing guns at you. And that last time with John Smith, oh my
God. Don’t even get me started on him.”

“Yes. What happened with him was
the last straw for me. He threatened Gumbo. I was a danger to my
family.”

“
Oh, Clarissa I’m so happy.
Finally. It’s what your mother wanted for you.”

“Yes. And she left me a lot of
money for law school which I haven’t touched. I’ve been feeling
guilty about that lately.”

“What does Ron think?”

“
It’s hard to say. He says
that law enforcement needs good people like me, but he’s afraid
from my safety, of course.”

“
When are you going to tell
him that you’re retiring?”

“After you leave tonight.”

“He’s going to think it’s all my
fault.”

“
No he won’t. I’ll make sure
to tell him that the decision is totally my own. Besides, I think
he already knows.”

Chapter Nineteen

Two weeks later, Clarissa is at her
desk boxing up her belongings. The people in the department are
planning a big retirement party for her and they’ve been whispering
to each other all week.

She thinks, ‘I hope they’re
not planning on having a Chippendale’s dancer jumping out of a cake
or anything lame like that.’ There is crepe paper strewn across the
ceiling of their conference room and she sees a keg of beer being
wheeled in.

“Can they do that here?” she
wonders. Then she notices some cases of champagne being
unloaded.

‘Wow!’ she thinks. ‘People are
going to get hammered tonight.’

Most
of the people she works with know that she likes music from
the 1980’s, so a boom box is off in the distance playing Elvis
Costello.

The party is supposed to
start at 5:00 PM. She’s still busy working at her desk, nowhere
near being finished with all of the final paperwork she has to go
through.

“Lieutenant Harris peeks her head
into Clarissa’s office and says, “Come on. The natives are getting
restless.”

“I’ll be right there. I
promise.”

Fifteen minutes later, she’s
still busy at her desk, and can hear the volume of the music and
laughter from her colleagues going up a notch. She hears a tap on
her door and says, “I’m comin’.” When she looks up, she sees Ken
Tanaka, the intern from UCI who helped her with her investigation
of the priest who was murdered at the abbey.

“Ken,” she says. “Hi. I wasn’t
expecting to see you here.”

“Are you kidding? What kind of guy
would I be if I missed my mentor’s retirement party?”

“Well, aren’t you sweet for coming!
I’m really touched. Sit down. How have you been?”

“Good. I’m getting close to
graduating.”

“Are you still going to UCI?”

“
Yes. And I’m still studying
Criminal Justice.”

“Great! What are your plans after
graduation?”

“
I want to work in the D.A.’s
office.”

“My husband works there.”

“
I know.”

“
I’ll be sure to give you a
letter of recommendation, Ken. I never would’ve solved that case
without your knowledge of the different types of Japanese
swords.”

“Thanks!”

Someone’s brought a Karaoke
Machine and Clarissa can hear Raylene singing, “Girls Just Want to
Have Fun.”

“Wow! This is going to be a fun
party,” Ken says.

“
I know. Go ahead: join the
party. I’ve got a few last minute details to take care of and I’ll
be there shortly.”

“Awesome.”

“Bye, Ken.”

She
’s
still working fifteen minutes later when she hears, “Love Shack” by
the B52’s, and wonders who’s trying to sing it. She gathers up her
brief case and purse and tiptoes over to see what’s going on. She
sees Lieutenant Harris and Raylene singing the ‘girl part’ of the
song, and Ken Tanaka is doing ‘the guy part’. Clarissa softly
laughs and continues tiptoeing out the front door and all the way
into the parking garage. She feels on top of her game.

###

Would you like to read the first three
Detective Santy mysteries? Paperback versions are sold on Amazon;
eBook versions are sold at your favorite eBookstores.

Check out the author’s blog at
http://lewishathaway.blogspot.com for more interesting reads.

If you like what you’ve read, please take the
time to rate us at your book store!