Jonathan Kellerman - Capital Crimes

“I talked to Lucille this afternoon. She and my mom are good friends.”

“Like you and Davida.”

Jane smiled. “Second generation…anyway, the poor old woman is having a rough time. I’m spending the night with her…I don’t want her alone.”

“That’s really nice of you, Jane.”

“Actually, I was thinking of moving in with her for a while…just until…”

Barnes waited for more.

“I don’t know what just until means,” Jane said. “She’s not even my mother and I feel the need to look after her. Make sure she doesn’t sink into a bad depression, although who could blame her if she did?”

Barnes nodded.

Jane said, “My mother never needs anyone. So strong. She comes across DAR but back when we had the ranch, she’d be sinking posts with the guys.”

“I know,” said Will.

“You were one of them?”

She didn’t even remember.

He said, “Summer job, I worked at a whole bunch of ranches. Your mom was tough.” Speeding up in that big, pink Lincoln, not a glance at the hired help as the car kicked up dust.

“Do you think it’s weird that I want to stay with Lucille? I haven’t asked her yet. I suspect she’ll say no.”

“She probably will refuse your hospitality, at first. Later on…” Barnes shrugged.

She frowned.

He said, “You feel close to her, it’s no sin.”

“I’ve known her forever. We’ve all known each other so long.” She finished her Scotch and Barnes called for a refill.

He said, “It’s nice to stay in contact with old friends. And Davida and you were very old friends.”

Jane nodded. “We hadn’t been in much contact for about fifteen years. But when I moved back to Berkeley, we picked up where we left off.”

Whatever that meant. “Did that cause any problems with Minette…your being so close to Davida?”

Jane stared at him.

He said, “Being such an old friend. Minette impresses me as the emotional type, with or without a good reason.”

“You’ve got that right, Will. Minette has a lot of problems and jealousy was one of them. She resented Davida nursing me through my divorce. Once Parker lost his money, his entire personality deteriorated. He’d waver between being a vicious bear and a passive lamb, you can’t even imagine. One moment, I was afraid he’d assault me, the next he’d be sobbing on the phone, begging me to come back to him. I’m sure you remember.”

Their big stab at dating had come just as Jane had split from Parker. One of those accidents, Barnes running into Jane on Shattuck, he coming off shift, exhausted, in a down mood. She leaving Chez Panisse. Alone. Needing to talk to someone.

They went for drinks. One thing led to another. She had a gorgeous body but her enthusiasm waned midway through.

He said, “I remember you being nervous about him. I don’t remember you saying he wanted you back.”

“I didn’t want to burden you with sordid details, Will. It was totally my fault that Parker and I got married. When I met him, I admired his machismo and his take-charge attitude. It took about four months to realize how controlling he was. That’s always been my mistake. I hook up with the ultramacho men and get surprised when they turn brutal. Call it growing up with a dominant mother and a father who wasn’t. I suppose I got used to people pushing me around and long for the daddy I never had…that’s what I really liked about Davida. She always let me be me.”

“You two travel together at all?”

Jane lifted her head from her Scotch, looked him square in the eye and didn’t answer him.

Barnes said, “Alice Kurtag said you two went away together for a few days to unwind.”

“Yes, we did.” Jane was still trying to stare him down. “What better way to get your mind off of your troubles? I was involved in a horrible divorce and Davida was stressed about the stem-cell bill. We went hiking and white-water rafting.”

“Sounds like fun.”

“It was the best weekend I’d had in a long time.”

“Jane, I’m sorry to have to ask you this, but were you involved with Davida? I’m bringing it up because Davida was infected with gonorrhea and if you were- ”

“Are you serious?”

Barnes nodded.

“Hah.” Jane shrugged. “She never said a word to me about that. Then again, why would she? I would imagine she’d be embarrassed about it.” She glanced at her watch, finished off her Scotch and started to open her wallet.

Barnes stopped her. “My treat. So you’re okay healthwise.”

“I’m fine. Perfect. And in answer to your question, Davida and I were just friends. Period. I’m sure Minette gave it to her.” She stood up. “It’s getting late.”

“What’s the rush? It’s not that late and you’ve only got about thirty miles to go.”

“All true, Will, but still I’m done here.”

“Ican’t believe you talked to her last night!”

Amanda was clearly pissed. Barnes said, “It was an impulsive thing.”

“First you call around old high school buds, then you meet with one of them who’s a serious witness all by your lonesome. What’s gotten into you, Will?”

He gave the honest answer: “Don’t know.”

Amanda shook her head, rummaged in her purse. Fishing out a Ghirardelli chocolate square, she unwrapped and ate. Not offering him one from her stash, as she usually did.

“Sorry,” said Barnes. He’d parked the car in front of Davida Grayson’s complex. “I know. It was stupid and I apologize. But it’s done. So can we move on?”

Amanda wasn’t about to let go so easily. “Did you at least learn anything other than that Jane’s back in Sacramento? And why?”

No answer.

She said, “Thought she moved back to Berkeley.”

“Guess she moved back.”

“You didn’t ask her?”

“It didn’t seem relevant.”

“Only her sex life was.”

“She claims there was none with Davida.”

“You believe her?” said Amanda.

“Don’t know. Don’t know if it matters, Mandy.”

“Well, as soon as she gets back, I want a crack at her. Just because she denies having the clap doesn’t make it true. And seeing as how you were both drinking none of it can be entered into the case file.”

“No reason for her to lie- ”

“Well, we won’t know until we officially talk to her, will we? Partner. ”

He gave her a few minutes to cool down. She ate another chocolate. Made a show of chewing it slowly.

“Mandy, maybe I’m off but I’m thinking right now, our minds should be on Minette and not on Jane. Per our previous discussion. And unless you can stop glaring at me, we can’t go in and interview her.”

Silence.

“Man- ”

“Forget it, just don’t do it again, okay, Will? For your own sake. It looks bad.”

“You’re right. I was wrong. Shall we move on?”

“Absolutely.”

“Was that a female or a male absolutely?”

“What’s the difference?”

“A male absolutely is absolutely. A female absolutely is I’ll drop it for now but I’ll bludgeon you with it later on.”

“A female absolutely.”

“That’s what I thought.”

The disarray had been cleared, but the condo was far from clean. The kitchen was piled with dirty dishes and the dining room table held cartons of take-out Chinese. At nine in the morning, Minette was still in a terry bathrobe and mules. Her eyes and nose were puffy and red and her hair could have used a good scrubbing. The faint odor of alcohol lingered on her breath and in the unit.

“Thanks for seeing us so early,” Amanda said.

“Sure…” Minette was still dazed. “Have a seat. Anywhere’s fine.”