Jonathan Kellerman - Bones

“The police consider him a prime suspect but people keep showing up who consider him a saint.”

“Like who?”

“Debora Wallenburg.”

Brackle and Kelly Vander looked at each other. Burst into sudden, strident laughter.

I said, “Must’ve missed the joke.”

Brackle said, “Saints. There ain’t no such thing, we’re always talking about that. All there is, sir, are sinners of different degrees and what we all need is to learn to forgive ourselves, not wait for some preacher to do it.”

I said, “So both of you met Travis in rehab.”

No answer.

“It’s not a secret that can be kept very long.”

“Travis is entitled to his privacy, sir.”

“Getting help’s not something to be ashamed of, Mr. Brackle. On the contrary. He got himself together.”

Kelly Vander said, “Okay, fine, that’s where we met him.”

I said, “Did you recommend him to Simon as payment for rescuing Larry’s granddaughter?”

Brackle said, “You’re a smart one. Why don’t you use that brain on something important?”

“How long before Brandi’s murder did you meet him?”

“Right before, okay? Six, seven months. I’d already decided to leave Anita because she refused to get better and I knew if I stayed with her, I’d be dead soon. Only thing that stopped me was the kids. Three of hers-including Brandi-and we had one together. That’s Randy. He’s in the service, over in Fallujah, got decorated.”

“Randy’s a wonderful boy,” said Kelly, wistfully.

Brackle said, “We got a consensus on that… yeah, that’s where we met Travis, the three of us trying to get straight. His treatment was being paid for by that lawyer, Wallenburg. I thought it was damn nice of her and told him so. Told him he should take advantage of amazing grace and improve himself. I was using my own dough plus work disability, place cost a fortune.”

Kelly said, “Simon footed my bill. Even though we were divorced.”

“When was this?” I said.

“Twelve years ago, Simon and I had split up three years before but we stayed friends. I put Simon through a lot and he stopped loving me, but he still liked me. No matter what, I never raised my voice to him. Never tried to squeeze any extra money out of him even after he got real rich. I thought I deserved not to be loved so I made sure he stopped loving me. Simone was a teenager, the stress-I wasn’t handling anything, Simon said give it another try, Kell, you owe it to yourself, we’ll find a great place, all the creature comforts. He got me brochures. I liked the one from Pledges, lots of trees.”

“Pledges in South Pasadena?”

“You know it?”

“Good place,” I said. “Closed down a few years ago.”

Larry Brackle said, “Great place. They got bought out by one of those corporations, bastards ran it into the ground.”

Kelly said, “First day I got there, I met Larry. He liked me and loved me but it wasn’t for years that he admitted it ’cause he was still married. And I wasn’t in a receptive state-didn’t see myself committed to anyone.”

“How long have you two been together?”

Brackle said, “Officially, nine years. In here”-patting his heart-“from forever.”

Kelly Vander said, “Instant friendship and acceptance, I never had that with a man. Simon’s a good man, but I knew I was failing him constantly, and you can’t live being a failure all the time.”

I said, “The cops say Travis was a poly-drug user.”

No answer.

“Rehab helped the two of you, but it didn’t work for him. Two years afterward, he was homeless.”

“That’s where I saw him,” said Larry Brackle.

“On the street?”

“Used to work in Hollywood, big apartment building, nice place west of La Brea, assistant super. On my way home, I generally took the boulevard, drove past the Chinese Theatre. One night I spotted Travis there, panhandling tourists. He looked real bad. Compared to when he was at Pledges, I mean. Stringy hair, beard, all hunched over. Not doing too good with the tourists because he wouldn’t get in anyone’s face, that’s Travis, he don’t confront. I drove around the block, pulled up, laid a twenty in his palm. He saw it was me, started to cry, said he was sorry for screwing up.”

Kelly said, “Before we got discharged, the three of us made a promise to change and to reach out to each other when our thoughts turned bad. Larry and I stuck to it, that’s how we succeeded. But we lost touch with Travis.”

Brackle nodded. “I told him, ‘No one’s judging you, man. Come home with me for a meal and a bath.’ He ran off and the next day, he wasn’t there, same for the entire week. But then I saw him again, same deal, his hand’s out, even worse-looking. This time, he agreed to go with me. Anita was pissed off, said you see any extra room in this dump, genius? What with her, me, all the kids, we had a couple of dogs, too. I said I’d sleep outside in the backyard if that made it better. She said maybe both of you should. What ended up happening was Travis used this toolshed we had. I cleared away junk and put out a mattress and he’d come and go as he pleased. I got him a haircut. Once the hair was off, we saw all these pierces he had in his ears. Like a pirate. Especially with that limp, he was like a pirate. Kids loved the pierces, Anita hated them.”

Kelly said, “But Anita came to like Travis.”

“What changed Anita’s mind was he was gentle with the kids. Soon she was letting him tell the kids stories. Then he was holding the baby, being real good with the baby. ’Course, Anita could be unpredictable, what with drinking and weed, so it wasn’t always perfect. But mostly we had peace.”

Deep drag on his cigarette. “Travis really liked that baby… man, it’s been a long time. Now you’re wanting to tell me Travis is some kind of murder-monster? No way, José. I’m no shrink but I know people pretty good and Travis is good people.”

I said, “Tell me about the night Brandi disappeared.”

“She didn’t disappear, sir. She went with him. That garbage we don’t mention by name. Now, that one was evil from the get-go, his own family was scared of him. When Brandi didn’t come back, we went right over to their place-Travis and me. His folks looked scared, said the little shitface talked about visiting with Brandi and the baby, that’s all they knew. Travis and me went searching the neighborhood. Travis took a bunch of streets, I took some others. He found the baby. Saw the blood and took her to the hospital.”

“So he knew something had happened to Brandi.”

“Brandi was hidden-that’s what the cops said, off in some bushes. The baby was out in the open, he was thinking about the baby.”

“Why’d he walk to the hospital rather than contact you?”

“Scared, wouldn’t you be?” said Brackle. “Going to jail once for something you didn’t do, now there’s a baby with blood? Not that he said it, it’s just what I figured out. That boy’s whole life was fear, I’d walk by the shed and hear him moaning, bad dreams. Daylight, there’d be this look in his eyes, what’s the word-haunted. He was haunted by what they did to him. Anyone would be, way they beat his brain around. He probably got all freaked out the cops would blame it on him. But even with that fear, he wanted to make sure the baby was okay.”

I said, “So you never talked to him about it.”

“Nope. Travis disappeared after dropping Brandeen at the hospital.”

“How’d you know it was him?”

“Cops described him. Asked if we knew who he was but we didn’t let on. We were all crazy over what happened to Brandi, didn’t want to complicate things. The main thing was find out who did it to her, and that we did tell ’em.”