“Already done.”
“That was quick.”
“I’d tell you it’s because we’re here to protect and serve, but we were just glad to get those suckers out of here.”
As she ended the call, Rogan clicked the Crown Vic’s doors unlocked. “Do I even want to know why you were talking about maggots?”
“I need to schmooze the crime lab. And we need to talk to Adrienne Langston again.”
Chapter Forty-Seven
Thank you, Nelson. Send him up.”
Ramona propped the apartment door open, the way she always did after telling the doorman to send someone upstairs. But then she thought better of it and walked out to the hallway. She wanted to see Casey as soon as possible.
When he’d finally been released from jail the previous evening, he had called her immediately. But she had to be with her mother. That awful box. Cleaning up the mess. Helping Mom pack for the trip to Long Island. By the time she finished, the curfew at Promises had passed, and Casey couldn’t leave.
The least she could do was wait in the hallway.
She was surprised by her own reaction when he stepped from the elevator. This had been the worst week of her life, worse than anything she ever could have imagined. Julia was gone. Her mother was being stalked. The police had falsely accused Casey of doing something he could never do.
But the minute she saw Casey in person, she felt herself smile for the first time since she’d heard about Julia’s death. It was a big smile, the kind that moved through your entire body. And before she knew it, she was hugging Casey. They had never hugged before. Sure, they’d done the hand-on-shoulder, peck on the cheek style of greeting, but now they were really holding on to each other. To her surprise, she found herself burrowing her face into the crook of his neck before quickly pulling away. She hoped he didn’t sense the guilt in her movement.
“I’m so glad they finally realized they were wrong about you,” she said, shepherding him into the apartment. “Are you doing okay back at Promises?”
“You know you’ve had a bad week when you’re ecstatic to be sleeping at a homeless shelter.”
“Maybe you can stay here for a while. I can talk to my dad tonight—”
He waved a hand. “I wasn’t dropping hints for a place to stay. Ms. Ri is trying to get me to see the bright side in all this. My lawyer thinks I might have a lawsuit against Julia’s dad and those security guards, but I don’t really know whether I want to do that or not. Julia’s mom feels so horrible she actually offered to let me stay at their house with her until I get my act together. Plus, the group that got me my lawyer is going to help me find a job. They even asked me about starting college classes. I feel like I might be able to turn this into something positive.”
“That’s great, Casey.”
“Not like Columbia or anything like that. Community college, but whatever. We’ll see what happens. I don’t want to get my hopes up.”
“Maybe you deserve to get your hopes up, after what you went through.”
She saw a hunger in his eyes, and then looked away. More guilt.
They were interrupted by the telephone. It was Nelson from downstairs. Detectives Hatcher and Rogan from the NYPD were here to see her mother.
“Send them up,” she said. “Speaking of last week, I think a couple of detectives owe you a serious apology.”
Ellie was used to dealing with attitude. That was pretty much a typical day in the life of a cop—dealing with attitude. But sixteen-year-old girls had a certain brand of attitude that she found especially trying.
“My mother is out at the beach. She’s working on her book. And hiding from some nutjob who’s stalking her. But at least Casey’s here—now that he’s finally out of jail.”
Apparently Rogan wasn’t in the mood to sit through the tirade. “You done venting, Ramona?”
“No, not really. I told you that Julia would never threaten my mom. I told you that Casey was innocent. And I told you that I was scared for my mother. I practically begged you to listen. I trusted you.”
Ellie wanted to write the girl off as a spoiled brat, but that last remark—that the girl had trusted them, and they had failed her—hit too close to home to ignore. “Is that why your mother filed the police report with the 19th Precinct instead of with us?”
Ramona looked at her feet. “We didn’t think you’d listen. We thought someone else might take it more seriously.”
“We’re taking it seriously. I already cashed in some chips with the lab to get them to rush the analysis of the shoe box. But you’re right. We got waylaid there for a few days. We made some mistakes.”
Ramona started to argue, but Casey interrupted. “No, it’s okay. They did what they thought was right under the circumstances.”
“But that’s because—”
“I know. Trust me—I know what those asshole security guards did to me. Not to mention Brandon and Vonda.”
Ellie groaned at the mention of their names. “If we find those two idiots, I’ll escort them to jail personally.”
“I don’t think they’ll be back. You know, Brandon had the audacity to send me an e-mail this morning, apologizing?”
The news gave Ramona a new direction for her anger. “Right. Because an apology makes up for trying to frame you for murder. Oops. My bad.”
“He said it was Vonda’s idea, which I absolutely believe. Plus, Vonda took off in the middle of the night with all the cash they got from the Whitmires, stranding him in Idaho. Now Brandon’s in Portland. No money. No Ms. Ri.”
“Any chance you can make them come back here?” Ramona asked.
Ellie shook her head. There was already a warrant out for both Brandon and Vonda for obstruction of justice and defrauding the Whitmires out of the reward money, but they’d probably never be extradited to New York.
“Stupid idiot actually thought Promises might take him back in,” Casey said. “He was all, I can’t believe how bad I messed things up. We had a good thing going with Promises and people like Julia and Ramona trying to help us. Way to show your gratitude. Send the police off on some wild goose chase when they should’ve been finding out what really happened to Julia.”
“We do regret the way things have played out. But we’re here now to try to help your mom, Ramona. That’s what we all want, right?” She could tell Ramona wanted to show some more fight, but the girl eventually nodded. “Is your mother out in East Hampton alone?”
“Yeah. My dad’s working.”
“Is that typical—for her to go there alone?”
She shrugged. “Not typical, but, you know, my dad works pretty hard, trying to get his own firm off the ground. So she and I do our own thing sometimes. And lately she’s been more on her own. I didn’t know why until I found out how important this blog thing is to her. All these months, she’s been sneaking off to write.”
Ellie hadn’t thought of it when they’d been talking to George’s secretary about the alpacas, but she didn’t have the Langstons pegged as wealthy enough to own so much property. “Do you guys also have a place up in the country?” Ellie asked.
Ramona shook her head. “Just the apartment and the beach. Oh, and yeah, my dad has that farm up in Pound Ridge, but it’s land he bought with some friends right out of law school. It’s more of an investment.”
“A real working ranch, huh?”
“Yeah. Cattle and alpacas, even. They hire local guys to do all the work, but I think my dad likes the idea of being a weekend cowboy.”
“How about you? Are you infected with the country bug?”