“It’s not much of a story.”
“Do us a favor and tell it anyway.”
She shrugged. “I saw him walking and I went after him…to ask him why he left without saying good-bye. Asshole gave me a funny look and kept going…ignoring me. He was all pissed off…probably because of that woman. Ain’t my fault, but he took it out on me, you know? A whole different Jack from the Jack in the elevator. I kept walking with him. It was real dark, but I could see the hostility in his…manner. The way he had his arms folded in front of him, looking straight ahead. Like I didn’t exist. That made me super pissed off.”
“Because he wouldn’t talk.”
“Because he was being rude. Being rich doesn’t give you any right to be rude. Uh-uh, no sirree, Mr. Jeffries. The world don’t work like that.”
Her second delusion. The first was thinking she could sing.
Baker said, “It sure isn’t fair.”
She looked at Lamar. He said, “Downright rude.”
“I mean who is he thinking he is? A big fat ugly gross disgusting person who used to be famous but now no one gives a shit about him? Who’s he to go all silent and pissed and leave without saying good-bye? Still, I minded my manners. I said, ‘What’s wrong? Did the tea taste bad?’ ”
Lamar said, “He was being rude but you held on to your dignity.”
“Exactly! Dignity’s what it’s all about. Everyone deserves a little dignity, right?”
“Darn right,” Baker said. “So then what happened?”
“He just kept ignoring me and I just kept walking alongside him. We keep walking and walking and walking and then he stops again and makes a sharp turn…like that’s gonna confuse me.” She let out a laugh. “Except now he has no idea where he’s going and he ends up in this empty lot. I stick right with him. He turns around, not looking where he’s going, and his foot hits a wall. He starts cussing and swearing and then…and then, he starts screaming at me. That I should stop stalking him, can you believe that?”
The detectives shook their heads.
She touched her hair, licked a finger and ran it over her eyelids. “He sounded crazy, I was scared. I tell you, Detectives, that old boy was on drugs or something.”
“Did you try to leave?”
“Too scared.” Gret made her eyes go wide. “It’s all dark and he’s going crazy on me. He starts calling me horrible names- a lyin’ no-talent little bitch, if you must know.”
She sniffed, grimaced, and rubbed her eyes, trying to dredge up some tears. The floor had been dried since Tristan Poulson’s sob-fest. It stayed that way.
“It was horrible,” she said. “No one ever, ever, ever talked to me like that. That’s what I said to him- trying to stop him from being so rude. Then I looked him straight up in the eye and said ‘Shut your mouth for a second and hear the truth. I’m your daughter and you know what, I don’t even care about that, it means nothing to me! And you know what else? I’m lucky you weren’t never in my life, you don’t deserve to ever be in my life, you sorry-ass, has-been motherfucker!’ ”
The room fell silent.
“You told him off good,” Lamar said.
“Wait, wait, it gets better. Then he gets this wild look, this really wild crazy look gets in his eyes, and he says, ‘You’re lying, it’s just another lie, you been a lying little bitch since the moment I laid eyes on you.’ And I say, ‘I’m the daughter of Ernestine Barline. You knew her as Kiki. Remember that night you fucked her all night? The result is me.’ ”
She stopped. Panting, sucking in breath.
Finally, the tears came…a constricted trickle that ended with a gasp.
Lamar said, “What did Jack say to that?”
“His voice got real quiet and he gave me this look. Not the wild-eyed one, but a different one. Scarier. Cold, real, real cold. Like I was nothing…but…dirt. He smiled, but not a nice smile, an ugly smile. Then he said, ‘I don’t remember her and I don’t give a shit about you. And even if I did fuck her, no way you were the result. Know how I know?’ ”
She gasped, covered her eyes. Lamar thought of patting her shoulder, but hesitated. Baker reached over and did it for the both of them.
“I didn’t answer him,” she said. “But he told me, anyway.” She shivered.
Neither detective spoke.
Gret’s hand dropped from her face. For a second, she looked young, untouched, vulnerable. Then the brown eyes sparked with fury.
“The bastard touched me here.” Gret fingered the bottom of her chin. “Chucked it, you know? Like I was some baby, some stupid little baby thing.” Another shiver. If she was faking her emotion, she was Oscar-quality. “Then he said, ‘I know you didn’t come from me because you got no talent. You sing like shit and I’d rather listen to nails on a chalkboard than to hear you screech like a crow. I knew Janis and she’s the lucky one, being dead so she didn’t have to be subjected to that sorry-ass, ultra-fucked-up abortion you did of her classic. Girl, your voice should never be used except for talking, and not much of that, either.’ ”
She took awhile to catch her breath. Stared at both detectives as if she’d seen the afterlife and it wasn’t pretty.
“Oh, man, that’s cold,” said Lamar.
Baker said, “God, what a bastard.” Sounding as if he meant it.
Greta Barline said, “He’s saying those things…those horrible things…cutting me…cutting my singing…cutting my life…I can’t even speak, it’s like I’m bleeding inside.”
She gnashed her teeth, clawed her hands.
“Then he starts pushing at me, pushing- like to get away. Honestly, I don’t know what happened. He was so big and I’m so little and he’s pushing at me, pushing at me. I was so scared. I don’t know how the knife got into my hand, I promise. All I remember is him holding his neck and looking at me and making this gurgly noise. Then, he fell down and made this thud noise. And then he gurgled some more.”
A strange, distant smile skittered across her lips. “I’m just standing there and I’m thinking about that gurgly noise and I say out loud, ‘You don’t sound so good, yourself, Jack Jeffries.’ After that, he got quiet.”
The room felt as if all the air had been sucked out of it.
Lamar waited for Baker to speak, but El Bee had a funny look on his face, kind of glassy-eyed.
Lamar said, “Thanks for telling us, Gret. Now I’m gonna have to read you your rights.”
“Just like on TV,” she said. Then she perked up. “So what do you think, it’s self-defense, right?”
16
Lamar got home at four thirty AM. Sue was sleeping but she woke up, brewed some decaf and sat with him while he ate cold pasta, a couple of hastily fried breakfast sausages, and five pieces of toast.
The usual case-closed munchies.
“Another one bites the dust,” she said. “Congrats, honey.”
After he told her the details, Sue said, “The girl’s obviously disturbed but you can see her point.”
“About what? She cut the poor man’s throat for insulting her singing.”
“If what she said is true, he was brutal, honey, just dumped on her dreams. Of course, it doesn’t justify what she did. But still, to be rejected like that.” She touched his face. “Maybe I’m being a bleeding heart, but I guess I understand her a little.”
“If it’s even true,” said Lamar. “She lies about everything.” But he knew he was denying the obvious. For all Greta Barline’s lies, he was certain she’d spoken the truth about that final encounter.
Jack Jeffries had paid for it. Now Greta Barline was going to ante up.