Jill Churchill - A Midsummer Night's Scream

"He was our only child — we adopted him," Mr. Roth said softly. "Aggie couldn't have children. I must apologize for her behavior. You mustn't think she doesn't care that Denny is dead. She's simply keeping her armor on — she's good at that."

He teared up again. "I loved the boy from the first. It was a little harder for Aggie. I think she thought adoption wasn't quite 'nice' and that it suggested something was wrong with her. It might have been better if we'd taken a little girl instead. But he was such a good boy. I taught him to play softball. I took him to circuses. I helped him with homework. I…"

He couldn't go on. Mel handed him a box of tissues and went to look out the window for a few moments until Roth said, "I'm sorry. What else do you want to know?"

"Did Denny make friends easily?"

"Of course. Aggie and I made sure of that. She did the room-mother things, made him take dancing lessons, which, surprisingly, he liked. She threw wonderful birthdays and let him invite all his friends. And he always had lots of them. He was happy until…"

"Until what?"

"Until he decided out of the blue that he wanted to know who his biological parents were. Aggie was appalled. He always knew he was adopted but never seemed to care until two years ago."

"Did it hurt your feelings?" Mel asked.

"Not especially. I suspected it might happen when he grew up. I myself was adopted and had wonderful parents, and I never cared who actually sired me."

"Did you or your wife know who Denny's biological parents were?"

"No. The adoption agency offered to tell us the available adoptee's ethnic background. We didn't care."

"How did your wife take this idea of Denny's interest in finding his genetic parents?"

"She hated it. She felt that all that we had done for him had been wasted. She considered it a personal betrayal."

"Did your son have any enemies that you know of?"

"No. Until he got this bug in his ear about finding his 'real' parents, he had nothing but friends. It changed him. It became an obsession and he dropped all his friends to pursue it."

Mel's interview with Mrs. Roth didn't surprise him. First, she was outraged that she had to wait so long, "And the girl who served me tea never came back with the sugar I'd asked for."

So Mrs. Roth had also been rude to the young secretary who brought her tea, Mel thought.

"Well, it's time for your husband to sit around now. Tell me about Denny."

"He was such a nice boy. And we treated him as if he were a prince. He had everything he wanted. Good, expensive clothing, a generous allowance. We even bought him his first car when he turned sixteen and paid the taxes and registration fees for him."

"And then?"

"He took up with the idea of being an actor, of all things. I explained how hard it was to be an actor. All those interviews and classes, and the sort of competition there was. Every good-looking young person in the world wants to be an actor or actress. Very few of them succeed. But he wouldn't listen to me. He actually moved out of our home to stay in some dismal apartments. Can you imagine?"

"What did your husband think of this?" Mel asked.

"He stayed out of it, saying Denny was an adult and had to make his own decisions. And it just became worse."

"In what way?"

"He came home for a Thanksgiving dinner and told us he'd decided he wanted to find his 'real' parents. 'Real' is the word he used. We were his real parents. We'd raised him from the day he was only two days old. I felt as if he'd stuck a knife in my chest."

"Did your husband agree?" Mel asked.

"No. He said the same stupid thing. Denny was entitled to do so, if it meant so much to him."

"Did Denny succeed in finding out anything?"

"I have no idea," she said. "And I don't want to know. If this is all you need to ask us, we need to get on with arranging the funeral. We have three plots in a cemetery here in Chicago we bought while we lived here. One for me, one for Harry, and one for Denny. Someday we'll be there with him again. And we need to know where his things are. His clothes, his books, his checkbook so we can cancel the account."

"They're in boxes. They'll be delivered to your hotel as soon as you want."

"Today," she said firmly, standing up and heading for the door. She stopped briefly, and said, "You will tell us who killed him when you get around to finding out, won't you?"

She didn't even wait for an answer — just slammed the door on her way out.

Mel was simply glad she was gone. During Mrs. Roth's rant, he'd had an insight that might prove worthwhile. He knew exactly which pile of paperwork it was in. The one that he thought he'd never need again. He went looking for it.

Twenty-two

When Jane and Shelley left the needlepoint shop, Shelley suggested they stop somewhere for lunch.

"We're on our last caterer tonight for the dress rehearsal and have to feed quite a lot of extra people. The whole cast and crew. Props people, lighting people, even the scene painters and their teacher will be there."

"Do you think you have caterers for tonight who can cope well?" Jane asked.

"Only if we do it in the lobby, which the college has approved. In fact, most caterers like to feed a real meal to a couple of hundred people rather than the snack suppers they've done so far. That's the real test of their skills."

"We haven't tried Chinese catering, so for lunch, let's go to that Chinese restaurant we always like," Jane suggested. "They have the best jasmine tea I've ever tasted."

When they'd placed their orders, Shelley said,"I went to that Internet site that you told me about. The Annie Silverstone one. She seems to be an attractive, interesting person with a good background in publishing. But there weren't the details I wanted to see."

"Like what?" Jane asked.

"Like who are the writers she represents? We know Felicity is one, but you'd think she'd mention others."

"I think most of her authors wouldn't want to be mentioned," Jane said. "It would invite people with crappy manuscripts to send them, claiming that someone like Felicity had recommended the agent. Even if Felicity had never heard of the person."

"Hmm. I hadn't thought of that," Shelley said. "I suppose it could even happen to you if you were to be listed on the site. You haven't heard from Ms. Silverstone yet, have you?"

"Not yet."

"I'm sure you'll hear from her soon."

"Things in publishing sometimes go very slowly, I think. Especially in August and December. And there are still two other agents who are the heads of their agencies and specialize in selling mysteries."

"Are you interested in seeing the whole dress rehearsal tonight?" Shelley asked.

"Not especially. But if you want to, I'll stick it out. I'd like to see how the costumes and sets

look, if nothing else. You drive this time. I'm starving for spring rolls and you'll get us there sooner."

"But you already ordered them for lunch." "So? What's your point?" Jane asked.

Mel's request to search pawnshops for old golf drivers paid off all too well. They had come in in droves. Eight of them at least. Three were clearly new. A waste of time. He took note of which officers had turned them in. The other five needed to be examined more closely. The more there were, the longer it was going to take. He looked them over and only sent three along to the experts.

If positive results didn't come in, there were two more he'd have to submit. All of them as per his instructions had been bagged and the searchers had tried to find out, as best they could, who had pawned them and where they'd found them.

Jane had eaten two whole appetizers — spring rolls and crab Rangoon, her favorites — and spicy orange-flavored Mongolian beef. Half of which she'd brought home. She'd also gone through four cups of jasmine tea. She stuffed the box with the leftovers in the fridge and nearly ran to the downstairs half-bath the moment she,reached home. As she came out, the phone started ringing.