Читать книгу Hangman - Faye Kellerman, Faye Kellerman - Страница 15

EVEN THOUGH IT was beyond happy hour, the bar was packed. ICE was one of those trendy restaurants with its walls and ceilings composed of lit-from-behind panels of pastel colors that changed hues over the course of an evening meal. The tint of the moment was aqua, giving the place the appearance of an igloo. The temperature inside sure could have used a little of the North Pole’s arctic blast. The day had been unseasonably hot and yucky. Even though Marge had dressed for the heat in beige linen pants and a white cotton blouse, she felt sticky, like her clothes had been taped to her body. Over the phone, Sela Graydon had said that she’d be wearing a gray suit, red blouse, and black pumps, so the woman was easy to spot.

The lawyer was draped by a mane of brown, wavy hair that fell to her shoulder blades. Her pose was head down, eyes staring at the bar top, with her chin in her hands. She was being chatted up by a thirtysomething man with a gilding of blond stubble. Every so often, Sela would lift her head, make a swipe at her eyes with her fingertips, and then lower her head and continue to stare at nothing. Marge wriggled through the crowd and snagged the seat next to hers. “Sela Graydon?”

The woman glanced up at Marge’s face. “You’re the police?”

“Sergeant Marge Dunn. We spoke over the phone. Thank you for meeting me on such short notice.”

Sela bit her lip but didn’t say anything. The blond man extended a hand to Marge. “Rick Briscoe. I work with Sela at Youngblood, Martin and Fitch.” Marge took his hand in the briefest of shakes. “I didn’t think she should be alone.”

“Nice of you.” To Sela, Marge said, “How about if we take a corner table. Little more private.”

Sela looked around. “They’re occupied.”

“My partner, Detective Oliver, is saving one for us.”

“Go ahead, Sela,” Rick told her. “I’ll wait here until you’re done. I’m working on the Claridge depositions anyway. Just give a holler if you need something.”

Sela nodded, slid off the stool, and stood up, her height being around five four. Marge brought the lawyer over to table where Oliver was nursing tonic water. He introduced himself and asked if she was hungry.

“No…” She sat down and tears leaked from her eyes. “I can’t think about food. Kathy called me, asking me to come over. I said of course, but I don’t know why. I’m still in shock. I’m sure I’m not going to be any help to her.”

“Kathy is Adrianna’s mother?” Oliver asked for confirmation.

“Yes, sorry. She’s almost like a second mother. It’s going to be so awful.”

“Sometimes the best thing to say is nothing,” Marge told her. “You spoke to Adrianna this morning.”

“I didn’t speak to her,” Sela said. “She left a message on my cell.”

“The call was almost two minutes.”

“She left a long message.”

“What about?” Oliver asked her.

“I wish I could tell you all of it.” A big sigh. “The truth is that sometimes Adrianna kind of rambles and I don’t pay attention. Actually I deleted it before I heard all of it.”

“What was the gist?”

“Something about us getting together tonight because Garth is out of town, but not that his presence would stop her anyway ’cause he’s always gone. Then she started saying that it’s good that he’s gone, and if she was really smart she’d ditch him because he was a drain on her emotionally and financially. And he never appreciates a single thing that she does for him and there were lots of fish in the sea and blah blah blah.” Wet tracks were streaking down her face. “I erased the message when I got to blah-blah-blah part.”

Oliver said, “You called her back, Ms. Graydon.”

“Is that a statement or a question?”

Marge said, “We have her cell phone, so we know you called her back.”

“I did call her back. I left a very short message. I was busy tonight. How about we meet for brunch on Sunday. It’s always easier dealing with Adrianna in the daylight.”

“Meaning?” Oliver asked.

Sela’s smile was achingly sad. “Don’t take this the wrong way. I loved Adrianna with all my heart. But sometimes…especially if she’s feeling low…she has trouble knowing when to stop.” Again, she wiped her eyes. “She was never a mean drunk…but she could get careless with her words.”

“Can you give me an example?” Marge asked her.

“Let me think how exactly to say this,” Sela said. “When Adri-anna drank too much, she started giving advice—that I needed to get out more, that I needed more exercise. She’d try to fix me up with people I loathed. I knew she was tipsy but I could tell that she was saying what she really thought. It got on your nerves.”

Marge nodded.

“She could be really ridiculous.” A flush had come to the lawyer’s cheeks. “I don’t mean to sound snobby, but we’re in different places. And Adrianna kept on equating our stations in life. I didn’t care about that. But even when she wasn’t tipsy, she would say things. Like the time I was complaining to her that I had overbooked a couple of clients and I didn’t know what I was going to do. So instead of being sympathetic, Adrianna said to me, ‘Oh, you have clients. Isn’t that cute.’ I swear I wanted to slug her.”

The table fell silent.

“Oh God, that’s awful of me!” Sela started to cry. “She could be difficult, but she was also the nicest person in the world. I really loved her.”

Marge put a hand on her shoulder. “Of course you did. You were close. And close people know how to push each other’s buttons.”

“It’s horrible that she died in such a tragic, brutal way,” Oliver said. “But you’re not required to extol everything she’s ever done. Mean people die, too.”

“She wasn’t mean, she was just careless.”

“She could be a handful,” Oliver told her. “Her own father said so.”

“She didn’t get along with him.”

“We gathered that. What did they fight about?”

“What difference does it make? He didn’t kill her. I can guarantee that.”

“Just trying to get a complete picture,” Marge said. “Like when Garth was out of town and Adrianna had too much to drink, did she hook up with men?”

There was a long pause. Finally, Sela said, “She didn’t go missing from a bar, she disappeared from work.”

“But maybe she was meeting a pickup from the previous night,” Marge said. “From what she was telling you about Garth, it sounded like she was mad at him.”

“She was always mad at him. But she always went back…one of the reasons I tuned out her complaining. She’d never do anything about it.”

“Maybe cheating was her way of doing something about it,” Oliver suggested.

“How could she cheat with a guy? She worked last night.”

“She didn’t go on her shift until after eleven P.M.,” Oliver pointed out.

“She wouldn’t go to a bar before she worked.” Sela’s eyes were moving back and forth. Oliver could tell she was nervous. “She was dedicated in her job. I didn’t see her last night if that’s what you’re asking.”

Oliver said. “Would you know if Adrianna went out for dinner or a Coke at a bar before she went in to work?”

“I told you, she wasn’t with me.”

“That doesn’t answer the question,” Marge said. “What we’re asking is do you know if Adrianna went out last night.”

“Okay, here’s the deal.” A sigh. “I found out after the fact. Because Crystal called me. Crystal Larabee. The three of us were inseparable all through school. God, that seems like ages ago. Anyway, she told me that Adrianna was at Garage last night and she was flirting with someone. But Crystal insists that they didn’t leave together…that the guy went on to other women after Adrianna left for work. And since Adrianna showed up at work, the guy was probably a dead end. So Crystal didn’t want to say anything, especially to the police, because she didn’t want to get in trouble.”

“Why would she get in trouble?”

“I can’t say for sure, but I suspect she was comping Adrianna. Maybe even comping the guy along with Adrianna. She’s done it before. Crystal probably didn’t want the manager to find out she was giving away free drinks.”

“So why does she continue to comp people?”

“Because Crystal is Crystal. The point is that Adrianna didn’t leave with anyone, so it’s probably nothing.”

“What if Adrianna and the guy she was talking to decided to get together the following morning?” Marge said.

“From her phone call to me, it didn’t sound like anyone was waiting in the wings. She was tired and pissed. She’d just gotten off shift, so she probably wasn’t at her best.”

“Crystal isn’t at work,” Oliver said. “We’ve already called Garage looking for her.”

“She took a sick day off,” Sela told him. “When I spoke to her, she was at home and in bed.”

“We stopped by her place,” Marge told her. “She wasn’t in.”

“Any idea where she might be?” Oliver asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t routinely spy on my friends.”

“We’re just asking if you know where Crystal likes to spend her free time,” Marge said. “We need to talk to her.”

Oliver said, “But she’s not answering her cell phone.”

Marge said, “Maybe she doesn’t like taking calls from a blocked number. So I’ve got an idea. Why don’t you call her up and ask her where she’s at.”

“You want me to fink on her?”

“It’s not finking,” Oliver said. “It’s…locating someone, that’s all.”

Marge said, “And we know, Sela, that you want to do everything possible to find Adrianna’s killer.”

Sela made a point of massaging her temple. Then she picked up her cell and punched in some numbers. “Hey, where are you?…No, I can’t come over, I have to visit Kathy Blanc. Have you called her yet?…Yeah, I promised. I’m sure she’ll want to see you, too…No, I’m not telling you anything, I’m just suggesting…No, it doesn’t have to be now, just…Crys, how wasted are you?…No, I’m not insulting you, but…I know you feel…oh dear…stop crying, okay…I’m sorry, okay…I feel like shit, too, but I can’t come down and drink. I have work tomor—I’ll call…okay…okay…okay…okay, I will. Bye.” Sela turned to the detectives. “Now I’ve pissed her off. Happy?”

“Where is she?” Marge said.

“At the Port Hole in Marina Del Rey.”

“Thank you very much, Ms. Graydon.”

“It’s Sela and I feel like a fink.” She stood up and picked up her purse. “If she asked you how you found her, don’t mention my name.”

THE MINUTE HANNAH pulled into the driveway, Gabe’s stomach dropped. Although the school was not his school, it was a familiar environment—kids, teachers, classrooms, lockers. At her house, he was an alien. He didn’t want to have to make conversation with her mom. She seemed nice enough, but like most moms, she was a normal mom. His mom was different: part mom, part peer, part protector, part co-conspirator. The two of them were always figuring out ways how to avoid pissing off his dad. Most of the time, they were successful. Sometimes they weren’t, and a pissed-off Chris Donatti was a dangerous thing. Several times, when Chris was drunk or stoned, he’d taken potshots at Gabe for fun. His dad would always say the same thing.

Stop looking so scared. If I had wanted to kill you, you’d be dead.

He loved his mom—really he did—but she had made some poor life choices. He wasn’t too scornful, though. He wouldn’t have existed had she been wiser. There was even a part of him that loved his dad. His parents were his parents. And now they were both gone and he was once again in limbo. In a perverse way, this day had been one of the easiest that he could remember, not having to deal with either of them.

Hannah shut the motor. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” He took off his glasses, cleaned them on his T-shirt, and perched them back on his nose. “Sure.”

“Uh, I think my sister and brother-in-law are here. I mean I know that they’re here. That’s their car.”

“Okay.”

“Just wanted to let you know. My mom is a great cook. It’s probably going to be a shebang with Cindy and Koby staying for dinner. Don’t feel obligated to eat everything.”

“I think I forgot to eat today. I’m kinda hungry. How old’s your sister?”

“Midthirties. She’s from my father’s first marriage. She’s a cop. Koby’s a nurse. He’s a great guy. I think my sister may be pregnant. Maybe that’s why she’s here. I hope this isn’t overwhelming. ”

“It’s fine.” Gabe pulled the door handle on her ancient Volvo.

The two of them walked to the door and went inside the house. The sisters looked alike—both of them tall with long, wild red hair, a long face, and a strong but not unfeminine chin. Both had almond-shaped eyes. Cindy’s were brown, Hannah’s were blue. Cindy was taller by a couple of inches—around five nine—but Hannah probably still had growing to do. The dude was black. That surprised him, although he didn’t know why. Koby was taller than him but shorter than his dad—around six two.

Hannah said, “Cindy, Koby…Gabe.”

Koby stuck out his hand and Gabe shook it.

“Dad should be home any minute,” Cindy told Hannah.

“A family meal?” Hannah looked at her sister’s stomach and detected roundness. She smiled inwardly. “What’s the occasion?”

“The occasion is I haven’t seen Dad in two weeks.” Cindy smiled at Gabe. “I hope you’re hungry. Rina cooked enough for an army.”

“She cooks like an angel,” Koby said.

“Great.” Gabe gave him a forced half smile. “I think I’ll wash up.”

After he left, Hannah let out a sigh. “Oh man.”

Koby said, “Has it been hard for you?”

“No, he’s a nice kid. It must be strange for him. I get the feeling his life is strange.”

“Nice of your mom to let him stay here,” Koby said. “I’ll see if she needs help.”

“I’ll join you in a minute.” After he left for the kitchen, Cindy said, “I think Dad located the kid’s father, but don’t say anything, all right.”

“Okay. That’s good news.”

“I hope it’s good news. I think his dad’s a whack job.”

“In what way?”

“I’m not sure. Did he talk to you about his dad?”

“He didn’t say much…which is what I would do if I were him.”

They both heard the car pull up. Decker unlocked the door and broke into a smile when he saw his girls. “How are my two favorite daughters?” He kissed both of them on the cheek. “To what do I owe this honor?”

“You sounded grumpy over the phone,” Cindy said. “Being totally narcissistic, I figured my presence would cheer you up.”

“It does.” He faced Hannah. “How was your day?”

“Uneventful.”

“How’d it go with Gabe?”

“Fine. He’s in his temporary room. Any luck with his parents?”

“Nothing with his mother, but his father called me.”

“That’s good,” Hannah said. “Any reason why he called you and not Gabe?”

“No idea. I’ll talk to Gabe in a minute. Where’s Koby?”

“In the kitchen with Eema.”

Decker headed for the kitchen and came in just as Koby was lifting an oversize iron-clad casserole from the oven. “Something smells incredibly good.”

“Good and heavy,” Koby said.

“Chicken-and-sausage paella.” Rina kissed her husband’s lips. She was wearing an apron festooned with butterflies and her black hair was pulled into a ponytail. “I love one-dish meals.”

“There is also a salad.” Koby plopped the hot casserole onto the stovetop.

“Two-dish meals, then.”

“And all the appetizers. And dessert.” Koby grinned. “Don’t worry, Rina. I will eat it all. I always do.”

“How do you eat so much and stay so thin?” Decker asked.

“I don’t know, Peter. I would say that most Ethiopian men are thin, but most of us in Africa are also on a subsistence diet. I think it’s genetics and luck.” He patted his stomach and picked up a stack of dishes. “I’ll set the table.”

“I can do that,” Decker said.

“You stay with Rina and play sous-chef. My wife and sister-in-law will help. They will probably relieve me of my table setting duties anyway, which is fine with me. I haven’t read the paper today.”

“It’s on the dining-room table,” Rina told him.

After Koby left, Decker regarded his wife’s inquisitive bright blue eyes. She was bathed in a sheen of sweat and looked incredibly sexy. He said, “I’ve found Chris Donatti. Rather, he found me. He’s driving in from Nevada and should be in town by midnight.”

“That’s good…I think.”

“We’ll see. I’ve got to talk to the kid.”

“I haven’t seen him yet.”

“He and Hannah came home about five minutes ago. He’s in the bedroom.”

“Okay,” Rina said. “Will your chat take long?”

“I suspect not. Do you need any help?”

“I was going to ask you to choose a bottle of wine, but I can do it. How about a Sangiovese?”

“Anything as long as it has alcohol.” Decker paused. “But not too much. I’ve got some work to do with a fresh homicide and then I have to deal with Donatti. I need to be on my toes.”

“Yeah, the hanging. That’s horrible. How’s it going?”

Decker blew out air. “It seems the girl enjoyed partying. Nothing wrong with that, but risky behavior widens the net of suspects. We’ve barely scratched the surface.”

“It’s going to be a long evening for you.”

“When is it ever not?” Decker pulled his wife into his arms. “Lucky for me, I’ve got an understanding wife who cooks like a demon.”

She gave him a lingering kiss. “Let me ask you this. What’s more important to you? The understanding part or the cooking part?”

“Depends how hungry I am. Right now, you could be mean to me and I wouldn’t care a fig. Just so long as I get my fair share of paella.”

LYING ATOP ONE of the twin beds, his hands behind his head, Gabe felt his eyes close a few seconds before he heard the knock. It wasn’t tentative, it wasn’t overly strong. It was a detective’s knock. He sat up. “Come in.”

Decker came in and sat down on the twin opposite. “Nothing on your mom, but your father called me about an hour ago from Nevada. He couldn’t get a flight out that made sense, so he’s driving in. He should be here around midnight.”

Gabe felt his voice catch in his throat. He nodded.

Decker said, “How do you feel about that?”

“It’s fine.”

“Is it?” When the boy didn’t answer, Decker said, “No sense being coy. We both know who and what your dad is. How safe do you feel being with him?”

“Safe. He’s okay.”

“He beat up on your mom. Has he ever beat up on you?”

“No.” Gabe paused. “It was the first time he ever beat up on her, you know.”

“Maybe,” Decker said. “But I also know that your dad has way more sophisticated methods than his fists to intimidate. If you really knew your father, you’d be scared to death of him.”

“I know my father.” Gabe licked his lips. “I can handle him.”

“No one should have to live in fear. That’s just basic.”

“The thing is…” He bounced his leg up and down. “If my mom remains missing, my dad’s not gonna stick around to raise me. Even when he’s home, he does his own thing. I’m like a nuisance to him. Besides, I don’t need anyone to raise me. All I need is a place to live, access to a car and driver, and a piano teacher. Chris will give me money.”

“You have other options, Gabe.”

“I barely know my grandfather and I’m not living with my aunt. She’s a slob and I’m obsessive-compulsive. Her habits bother me way more than my dad’s temper. At least he’s as neat as I am.”

“Okay,” Decker said. “If you need anything, just give me a call. You’re certainly welcome to stay here a flew days to figure it all out.”

“Thanks.” He took off his glasses and cleaned them on his shirt. The boy mustered a smile even though his eyes were on the brink on tears. “Thank you very much. I take it you haven’t heard anything about my mom.”

“You’ll be the first to know.” Decker stood up. “We’re about ready to eat. Lots of food. I hope you’re hungry.”

“I am. Be there in a few.”

Decker closed the door and gave the kid his privacy.

He pretended not to hear him cry.