“When was the last time you saw her?” Harper asked.
“My niece’s birthday party,” Jay said.
“Your niece’s name?” Lane asked.
“Kaylie,” Jay said.
“When was this birthday party?” Harper asked.
“May.”
“Does Cole have a dog?” Lane asked.
“Eddie,” Jay said.
“You’re sure the dog’s name is Eddie?” Harper pulled out a folding keyboard with a tiny screen. When it was assembled, Harper began to type.
“Yep,” Jay said, finally.
Lane looked at Harper who typed and nodded once.
“Are you aware that Kaylie and Charles Reddie are dead?” Lane asked.
“What?” Jay felt numb. “What did you say?”
“Kaylie and Charles are dead,” Harper said.
“No way!” Jay sat back, then leaned forward. His chin touched his chest. Not again, he thought. This can’t be happening, again.
Lane said, “Their bodies were found in a camper.
Were you not contacted about the funeral?”
“I live in my car,” Jay said without thinking. “I don’t have a phone, don’t watch the news, don’t listen to the radio.” He looked up. “Is Cole dead too?”
“No. Cole is alive,” Harper said.
“Was there a fire?” Jay asked.
“Fire?” Lane concentrated on Jay’s reaction.
“You heard me. Was there a fire?” Jay asked.
Lane studied Jay. So far, Jay was telling the truth. He watched the young man in the black T-shirt put his head on his palm. Jay’s hair was a tangled mess from the mask he’d been wearing. Lane tried to remember all he had been told outside the room. The officers had briefed them on the prank the Presidential Brothers and Rosie had pulled off earlier in the evening. Apparently, the young woman down the hall had decided to charm all who came in contact with her. Rex, on the other hand had offended nearly everyone. No one was impressed by the marks he had left on Rosie’s face.
“There was a burned-out cigarette butt. It didn’t ignite the cushion’s fabric,” Lane said.
Jay sat and scratched his head. It sounded like he was going to break the skin. “Cole’s a smart kid. He’s too bright for his own good.”
“What are you saying?” Lane asked.
“If Cole’s still alive, he’s a witness. He knows what happened. He’s a threat,” Jay said.
“A threat?” Lane asked.
“To my sister! Jesus, are you listening? The first chance she gets, she’ll get rid of the threat!” Jay glared at Lane.
“Explain,” Lane said.
“When I was fifteen, my sister was in debt. She’d gambled away whatever she could get her hands on. She and Charles were gonna lose their house. Bobbie came to my parents and demanded money. For the first time in their lives, they said no. The next night, the house burned down. My parents died. I was put in the hospital. My sister came to visit me. She brought Cole. You know what she said to me?”
Lane waited.
Harper looked up.
Jay closed his eyes. “‘I’m so afraid Cole will die in his sleep.’ That’s what she said to me. It’s how my sister makes threats. ‘I’m so afraid you’ll fall down the stairs’ is what she said before she pushed me down the basement steps, when I was eight. When she said she was afraid Cole would die in his sleep, it was a warning. If I didn’t keep my mouth shut, Cole would die.”
“So, what did you do?” Lane asked.
“I disappeared so she couldn’t trace me. Lived with different friends. Got a job. Bought a car and lived in it. Nearly froze to death a couple of times the first winter. Made sure I never missed the kids’ birthdays. That way my sister would know I was still around. I thought that way it might mean the kids would be safe. Shit! I was so stupid.”
“What happens now that Bobbie’s broken the agreement?” Lane asked.
“No one’s gonna believe me. I mean my sister is Bobbie Reddie. She’s on the radio. She goes to church. Some people think she’s a saint. She can make anyone believe anything she wants. Who would believe what a homeless jerk like me has to say?” Jay asked.
There was a knock at the door.
“Come in,” Harper said.
The door opened. The female officer said, “Tommy Pham is here. Says he’s Jay’s lawyer.”
“We were mining gold until the lawyer showed up,”
Harper said after Jay left.
“Still we have a lot more than we had before we talked with him.” Lane put his hands behind his head, leaned back, and stretched.
“You know, we had him for less than an hour and a lawyer shows up. That’s pretty fast,” Harper said. “Especially since Jay was more surprised than we were when the lawyer arrived.”
“I was thinking the same thing. Can we find out who the lawyer works for?” Lane asked.
Saturday, October 24
Chapter 16
ARTHUR HUNG UP the phone. He looked at Lane. “Martha’s being released from the hospital.”
“When?” Lane had the TV on. Paired figure skaters swept from the left of the screen to the right.
“Turn it off. You haven’t been watching anyway. You’re too into this damned case,” Arthur said.
Lane reached for the remote. The screen went blank.
“The test results came in. The cancer has spread. Martha starts chemo on Monday. They gave her the option of being an outpatient, and she took it.” Arthur sat across from Lane.
“We have to tell Matt,” Lane said.
“I know.” Arthur began to weep.
Sunday, October 25
Chapter 17
JAY STOOD BAREFOOTED on the concrete of the parkade. He wore sweatpants and a T-shirt. Steam rose from a puddle of his urine. He tucked himself in. I’ve been in my car for two days, he thought. The twilight stretched shadows. He looked over at the open back door of his Lincoln. Jay moved toward it, climbed in, and slid his feet into his sleeping bag to warm them. He reached up to pull the door closed.
He tugged.
The door stuck.
“You really know how to make an impression. I mean that picture of you taking a pee up against the parkade wall will stay with me forever.”
Jay looked back over his shoulder.
Rosie looked down at him. “It doesn’t smell pretty in there.”
“How’d you find me?” Jay sat up. My breath must smell horrible, he thought.
“I’ve been searching all day. Tony said you lived in your car, so we started checking all the university parking lots. This was second from the last on my list,”
Rosie said.
“Where’s Tony?” Jay asked.
“His Mom grounded him for the weekend. My dad wanted to do the same, but I talked him out of it.”
There was a question in Jay’s glance.
“He told me to come and look for you.” Rosie looked at him. The swelling on her cheek had shrunk. It blended green, yellow, and purple. “What happened when the police interrogated you?”
Jay shook his head. He took a long breath. “They told me my niece is dead.”
“What?”
“Kaylie and her father, Charles, are dead. Kaylie is my sister’s kid. She just had a birthday. She was full of attitude and had just learned to ride her bike. She was so proud she could ride a two-wheeler. That kid was so coordinated.”
Rosie stood still, speechless.
“They said it looked like a murder suicide. No way. Charles was kind, gentle, and really naive. My sister did it. Just like she killed my parents,” Jay said.
“What are you talkin’ about?” Rosie wrapped her arms around her shoulders.
“When I was fifteen, my house burned, and my parents died. My sister started the fire.”
“She’s out of jail?” Rosie asked.
“My sister never went to jail. Instead, she inherited half of my parents’ estate,” Jay said.