J.A. Jance - Dead Wrong

As soon as Joanna introduced herself on the phone, Barbara Petrocelli was nothing short of cordial. “I read about Bradley’s death in the paper last week,” she said. “It made me terribly sad. I remember that time like it was yesterday. According to what my parents told me, Lisa left the cleaner’s that day in mid-shift. She left the money in the till, turned off the lights, locked the door, and disappeared. The next thing I knew, Bradley was being charged with murder. It was such a horrible waste. Now he’s gone, too.”

“Mrs. Crystal said you and Lisa Marie were friends.”

“I felt sorry for her to begin with,” Barbara admitted, “but we became good friends.”

“She confided in you?”

“Absolutely” Barbara returned. “The same way I confided in her.”

“Did she mention anything to you about being unhappy in her marriage?” Joanna asked.

“To Bradley? Anything but,” Barbara answered. “She adored him. She may have been worried about his drinking, but she was looking forward to raising a family with the man. She loved him so much. I could never understand how he could betray her like that.”

“As far as you know, then, there wasn’t any particular quarrel that would have provoked him to attack her?”

“Not really, but by the time the murder actually happened, I had been back at school for several weeks. I just wish I had been here. Maybe I could have done something to help Lisa the same way she helped me.”

“What do you mean?”

“If things were going badly with her husband, I could have listened to her, offered her a shoulder to cry on the same way she did for me during my breakup with Rory I mean, if he had been treating her badly and was turning violent or something, maybe I could have helped her find a place to go, a shelter or something.”

At first Joanna was afraid she had been mistaken. “Did you say Rory?” she asked.

“Sure,” Barbara returned. “Rory Markham, notorious snake in the grass, and one of my worst youthful transgressions. I met Claudio and started dating him while I was still on the rebound. Fortunately, it’s a rebound romance that defied all the odds and is still working very well, thank you.”

“Wait a minute,” Joanna said. “You were dating Rory Markham?”

“Yes,” Barbara returned. “And I broke up with him, too. I might not have caught on if Lisa hadn’t warned me about him.”

“Warned you? About what?”

“About his coming into the cleaner’s and flirting with her when I wasn’t around.”

“You’re saying he knew Lisa Marie Evans?” Joanna asked. “That they were acquainted?”

“Of course he knew her,” Barbara said. “I was the one who introduced him to her when he came by to take me to lunch.”

Joanna took a deep breath. No one had ever made any kind of connection between Rory Markham and the long-ago disappearance of Lisa Marie Evans. Now that had changed.

“Did Rory know that Lisa had told you what he was doing behind your back?”

“I may have told him, but it didn’t really matter. I didn’t break up with him because of some harmless flirting. It turned out that was just the tip of the iceberg. He actually had a thing for older women-older married women. One of those Mrs. Robinson deals. I probably shouldn’t be telling you this since he’s still around here and running a real estate office in town, but the woman involved has been dead for a long time.”

“What married woman?” Joanna asked.

“I really shouldn’t say,” Barbara hedged. “Really. People could still get hurt. I mean, he’s married now. Knowing about this would probably hurt her feelings.”

“If it happened long before he married his current wife, why would it hurt her?” Joanna asked.

Barbara sighed. “Because the woman’s name was Ruth,” she said at last.

“Ruth Houlihan?” Joanna demanded. “Leslie Markham’s grandmother?”

“You already know about them, then?” Barbara asked. “In that case I don’t suppose my two cents’ worth will make any difference. Ruth’s husband was a lot older than she was, and Rory was a real hunk back in those days. Old Mr. Houlihan hired Rory to do odd jobs around the ranch, and he ended up balling the missus behind the old man’s back. The two of them would ride up into the hills to an old line shack and screw their brains out. The Houlihans had a daughter named Aileen who was about the same age as Lisa and me. Ruth and Rory both pretended he was interested in the daughter, but that was just a convenient cover.”

Barbara stopped talking for a moment, then added, “I do feel guilty to be gossiping like this, but even after all these years, I’m still more than a little pissed at the man for what he did to me. Thank God I didn’t marry him, though. I can’t imagine what that would have been like. Rory Markham is a real piece of work.”

J couldn’t agree more , Joanna thought.

Her cell phone rang just then. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Petrocelli. I need to take that. Can I call you back later?”

“Sure. Feel free. I’ll do whatever I can to help.”

When Joanna picked up her cell phone, Frank was on the line. “When are you going to be here?” he said. “The cameras are ready to roll, and so is the first batch of puppies.”

“I’m afraid you and I are going to miss the puppy party,” Joanna said.

“Why? What’s going on?” Frank demanded.

“We need to pay a call on Rory Markham,” Joanna said. “Because one of Lisa Marie Evans’s friends has just connected some of our missing dots.”

Knowing there was no way she’d be able to dodge in and out of the Justice Center without being photographed, Joanna took time enough to do what she could with her hair and makeup before she left the house. And she was right. As soon as she drove into the complex, a group of reporters began following her. Rather than leading them to the relative privacy of her backdoor entrance, she stopped directly in front of the building and marched through the throng to the spot near the front entrance where Frank, holding a wiggly pit bull puppy, was doing his best to carry on a press briefing.

He looked at her gratefully. “And here’s Sheriff Brady right now,” he said.

As Joanna stepped to the collection of microphones, Frank took the opportunity to duck inside and divest himself of the puppy. Prepared for a grilling about the fate of the unfortunate animals Millicent Ross had found it necessary to euthanize, Joanna was astonished to find no one was the least bit interested in those. Everyone wanted to know about the puppies. How long would they be in her jail? Who had come up with the idea? Did the inmates mind? Did the guards? Was it true that a benefactor was providing the money to pay for this so it wasn’t coming out of public funds?

When Frank reemerged minus the wiggling puppy, Joanna was happy to turn the briefing back over to him. “With this mob to handle, I can see you’re not going anywhere,” she said. “What about Debbie or Jaime?”

“They’re back up at San Simon,” he said. “But Ernie’s here.”

“Ernie!” Joanna exclaimed. “I thought he was off on medical leave.”

“So did I,” Frank said. “But he turned up first thing this morning itching to go back to work.”

“Where is he?”

“At his desk reading up on everything he’s missed.”

Joanna went inside and found Ernie in his cubicle. “Are you sure you should be working?” she asked.

“I wouldn’t talk if I were you,” he returned. “But yes, I need to be here. Rose said either I came to work or she was getting a divorce. Besides, Frank said you might need some help.”

“It’s the Bradley Evans case. As I recall, you weren’t too thrilled about working it last week.”