Jonathan Kellerman - Self-Defence

"Then why are you still paying her off?"

"Who says we are?"

"The police. And Tom was there to pick her up and take her to the airport. There's obviously some relationship there. Do she and Tom have something going?"

She laughed. "No, he hates her."

"Because she's got a hook in you?"

"It's not like that."

"Not like what?"

"Blackmail or anything like that. She just comes to us when she's broke- its like charity. She's got… a problem."

"Compulsive gambling."

Her head snapped up. "If you know everything, why do you need me ?"

"How long have you been financing her addiction?"

"Off and on. Most of the time she's okay, but then she goes off drinking and gambling and wipes herself out. So we help her- it's a sickness."

Remembering the boys on the lawn, I said, "Does she ever win?"

"Play enough, you're bound to. One time she won big. Fifteen thousand at craps in Tahoe- fifteen thousand. Next day she blew it all at the same table. We feel sorry for her. She's Tom's first cousin, used to baby-sit him. After she got married, she started drinking and gambling."

"How much have you given her over the years?"

"Never added it up, but plenty. She probably could have bought a house, but she doesn't care about normal things- that's why her husband left her. We help her 'cause she's family."

The room was cool but she was sweating, and her mascara started to run. She grabbed a tissue from a box on the desk and took a long time to wipe her eyes.

I understood Doris's hostility to her and Tom, now. The rage of the charity receiver.

"Okay?" she said. "Is that enough for you?"

"Where did Tom take her?"

"To the airport."

"Where did she fly?"

"I don't know. And that's the truth. She just said she wanted to get out of town for a while. You spooked her. She was worried you'd rake things up."

"Did she feel guilty about never telling anyone what she'd seen?"

"How would I know?"

"Did she start drinking and gambling after the party or before?"

"Before. I told you, it was right after she got married. She was only seventeen, then she had her kids."

"Two boys," I said. "One in Germany, one in Seattle."

She looked away.

"What's the name of the son in Seattle?"

"Kevin."

"Kevin Reingold?"

Nod.

"At what army base is he stationed?"

"I don't know, somewhere up there."

"She's your cousin and you don't know?"

"She's Tom's cousin. They're not a close kind of family."

Glancing at Travis, trying to open the box. But the plastic wrap was tight and his fingers struck at it uselessly.

I peeled some plastic back. He laughed and tossed the box in the air. Again, I retrieved it.

Gwen was staring at the shelves.

"So Tom dropped her off," I said, "then caught a plane to Mexico City."

The box dropped again. This time, Travis rejected it, shaking his head and arching his back. I gave him a can of surf wax and he began rolling it between his palms.

Gwen burst into tears and tried to stop them by pinching her nose.

Travis held up the can and shouted, "Aa-ngul!"

She looked at him, first with anger, then defeat. "This is stupid. You've got me feeling like a criminal and I didn't do anything."

"How much more money did you get from Lowell?"

"Nothing!"

"One-shot deal?"

"Yes!"

"How often have you seen him since?"

"Never."

"He lives in Topanga, you're five miles away in La Costa, and you've never seen him?"

"Never. That's the truth. We never go up there; he never comes down."

"Just one five-thousand-dollar payment and that was it?"

"That's the truth. We didn't want anything more to do with it."

"Because after hearing Doris's story you wondered if Karen had been hurt or worse?"

"We just didn't want anything to do with him- he was weird. The whole scene was weird."

"But didn't you wonder at all about Karen? Five thousand dollars in a paper bag, and then he asks you to keep mum? Gives you a phony story? And she never shows up again?"

"I- it made sense, his not wanting the publicity. He was rich and famous. I figured to him five thousand was nothing- okay, I was naive. Twenty-five years old, working since I was sixteen, what was I supposed to do, give the money back and go to the sheriffs saying something was fishy? Like they would have listened to me ? Right. When that deputy came to the Dollar it was wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am, coffee black and a glazed donut. He wasn't taking it seriously. Told us she'd probably left town with some guy, or maybe she'd gone hiking and was up in the hills. They sent helicopters up looking for her; for all I knew she was up there!"

"What about what Doris saw?"

"Doris is weird. She drinks, she blacks out. She blows fifteen thousand dollars in one day. Why should I pay attention to some little kid freaking out?"

"Okay," I said. "Seven fifty to Lenny, Mary, and Sue, another thousand to Doris. That left thirty-two fifty for you and Tom. How'd you parlay that into a business and a beach house?"

"We had more- savings. Five years' worth. We worked hard. Some people do that."

Pulling at the dress some more. The linen had wrinkled. Her face was flushed and moist.

"So who told Felix Barnard about the party?"

"No one."

"Then how'd he find out?"

"I don't know. He probably figured it out. Talking to Marvin- the owner- about Karen's work habits. Marvin told him she was gone a lot; he'd been planning to fire her, he suspected her of cutting work to moonlight."

"Did Marvin tell you this?"

Nod. "As a warning. Barnard came in to the Dollar like he was a customer. He was my table and I served him; then he handed me his card and started asking questions about Karen. I told him I didn't know where she was- which was true. Marvin hated us fraternizing with the customers, so he came over and sent me to another table. Then I saw him sit down with Barnard and I thought, Great, he's going to find out about the party. Then Barnard left and Marvin came up to me, asking me if I knew where Karen was. I said no. He said, That idiot thinks something's happened to her, but in my opinion she's off somewhere having fun or working another job. Then he tells me he doesn't approve of the moonlighting we've all been doing. He'll put up with it from me 'cause my work's good, but Karen was an amateur, couldn't even do one job right. So I figure he told Barnard he suspected a catering moonlight and Barnard kept snooping around till he found out which party it was."

No great feat of detection. The Sanctum party had been in the papers.

"Did Barnard ever try to talk to you again?"

"Never."

And he'd never recorded his talk with Marvin D'Amato.

"Did you warn Lowell that Barnard might be snooping around?"

"No! I told you, I had nothing to do with him after he gave me the… bag."

"Did Barnard's showing up make you suspect anything about Lowell's story?"

"Why should it? I figured her cheap father had finally decided to spend some money on her."

Her arms were across her chest like bandoliers.

"Five thousand dollars, Gwen. Just to avoid bad publicity?"

She tried not to look at me. I waited her out.

"Okay," she said, "I thought it was possible she'd OD'd or something. What was I supposed to do? Whatever happened to her, she was gone. Nothing I did would bring her back."

"Was Karen into drugs?"

"She smoked a little pot."

"What kind of dope was floating around the party?"

"Pot, hash, mushrooms, acid, you name it. People were tripping out, taking off their clothes, going off together into the woods."

Meaning if there'd been a burial it would have had to be far enough away…