Family Can Be Murder

by Karen Singer

  Her phone rang. Hoping it was Mr. B calling back, she quickly dug it out of her purse. It wasn’t Mr. B, but it was someone else she wanted to talk to. “Hi Aunt Sally!”

  “Jenni! Your father just came pounding on my door a few minutes ago and told me you murdered Dad…your grandfather!”

  “No! I didn’t! I just found his body.”

  “Jenni! You mean Daddy is dead? Somebody killed him?”

  “Yes! Where have you been?”

  “Sleeping! I was tired. It was a long day.”

  “Oh, Aunt Sally. I found him. He was lying in the middle of the path, dead. There was a knife sticking out of his back. And now Grandma is telling everybody that I did it. But I didn’t! I just found him.”

  “Jenni, where are you now, in your room?”

  “No. I’m on the beach. I stayed with Grandpa because I was sure the police would want to talk to me, which the first cop said was good, but now they won’t be sending a detective out until morning, so they just sent me back to my room a few minutes ago. I’m on the beach now instead. Aunt Sally? Aunt Sally? Are you crying?”

  “He was my father Jenni. My father!” Sally replied tearfully.

  “But I didn’t kill him,” Jenni replied.

  “I’m sure you didn’t. But that doesn’t change the fact that I just lost him. He wasn’t much. Not the greatest father in the world by a long shot, but he was still my father. Oh Jenni, he’s gone!” She broke down sobbing.

  “I’ll be right there, Aunt Sally,” Jenni told her as she got up from the sand.

  “No! Don’t bother, Jenni. I’ll be alright. I think I just want to be alone right now.”

  “Sure, Aunt Sally. I understand.”

  “See you in the morning? For breakfast?”

  “If they let me.” Jenni now had some real concerns about that. Not only was she worried about being under arrest by that time, but would her family even let her eat in the restaurant anymore?

  Chapter 6

  A loud banging on her door woke her up. Jenni had slept in the same clothes she had worn all day yesterday and all night. She had fallen asleep waiting for the police to show up, now she was guessing they were here. Would they arrest her now? She certainly hoped not. She didn’t do it!

  She hurried to the door and opened it. She could tell that the sun wasn’t fully up yet. The day was just barely beginning to get light. She didn’t know what she had expected when she opened the door, but not the sight of a middle age man wearing a dark blue polo shirt and khaki pants. “Yes?” she asked, because the guy looked nothing at all like a policeman.

  “Oh!” the guy said, looking surprised to see her. “I was told this was Kyle Finch’s room. Is he here?”

  “No!” Jenni replied testily.

  “Then do you know what room he’s actually in?”

  “I’m not Kyle!” Jenni insisted angrily.

  “I can see that. But do you know where I can find him?”

  “Kyle doesn’t exist! He never really has, and he never really will.”

  Once again, the guy seemed to be surprised. “So you don’t know where he is?”

  Jenni closed the door angrily in his face. Some people! She had even made sure the hotel had her real name, not Kyle. And now some hotel guy was here at the crack of dawn with her old name. What did it take for some people to get it right? The quick knocking on her door again irritated her, but she opened it anyway. “What?”

  “Who are you?” the guy asked. “Just so I know who I’m talking to. As far as I know, this is the only room occupied back here.”

  “Jenni Finch. That’s Jenni…with an i.”

  “Okay. Thanks,” the guy replied. “Tell me Jenni, are you aware of what happened last night?”

  “What happened? Why are you asking me?”

  “Because it’s my job.”

  “Your job? Who the hell are you?”

  “Detective Pierce. Miami police.”

  “You’re the detective?”

  “What did you think?”

  “That you were…never mind. Do you have a badge or something?”

  “Of course.” He dug his badge out of his pocket and held it where she could see it.

  “Sorry,” Jenni told him. “I haven’t slept much all night.”

  “Lots going on?”

  “You could say that. Do you want to come in?”

  “Please?”

  Jenni walked into the room and sat in one of two chairs separated by a small table. Detective Pierce took the other chair. “So, you said there was a lot going on last night? Tell me about it. What did you see?”

  “Me?”

  “Did you see anything out of the ordinary at all?”

  Jenni looked at him like he was crazy. “Out of the ordinary? Isn’t finding a dead body out of the ordinary?”

  Pierce was confused. “But I had a report that someone named Kyle found the body. And then they told me this was his room.”

  Jenni was quickly seething again. “My name isn’t Kyle…anymore!” she hissed. “It’s Jenni! Nobody can seem to get that through their thick skulls. Not Kyle, Jenni!”

  “So your name used to be Kyle? Pardon me for saying this, but…no wonder you changed it.”

  “Ha! You’d think everyone else would get the point! But no. Every last one of them out there hates me now like you wouldn’t believe. That’s why they all think I did it. But I didn’t. I didn’t kill him. They just want it to be me because they all hate me so much.”

  The detective was trying to keep up with things, and he had a feeling he was missing something. “Aaaannd…why do you think they all hate you?”

  Jenni looked at him like he was crazy. “You don’t know, do you?”

  “Ummm….no?”

  “Nobody bothered to tell you?”

  “Tell me what?”

  “That I’m transgendered. I used to be a boy.”

  Pierce was flabbergasted. “You were?”

  “Still am I’m afraid,” Jenni added sullenly. “In way too many ways.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Look! I’ve been a girl all my life. My brain has always told me I was a girl, since I was born. I’ve never thought of myself as a boy – ever! But my damn parents wouldn’t even talk to me about it, or let me talk about it with anyone else. In fact, every time I ever even mentioned it, they beat me black and blue. So as soon as I graduated from high school, I moved out. Now they all hate me for it…except my Aunt Sally. She’s who I moved in with. She’s the only person in my entire family who doesn’t give me any grief over the way I’m living.”

  “Your Aunt Sally?”

  “Sally Withers. She’s in room B-11.”

  Pierce pulled out a notepad and wrote Sally’s name and room number on it. “So you found your grandfather’s body, and your name is Jenni…with an i,” he emphasized. “And everyone hates you because you’re transgendered.”

  “Pretty much,” Jenni agreed.

  “And what were you doing when you found his body?”

  “Trying to find something to eat.”

  “Where were you looking?”

  “For something to eat? I was heading for the restaurant first to see if it was still open. If not, I was going to try the lobby.”

  “Um…I noticed that the path to get here from the lobby doesn’t go past where his body was found. What were you doing out that way?”

  Jenni sighed exasperatedly. “I heard all the noise from the bar down on the beach. I went that way first to take a look. I found him when I left there and got to the bird cage.”

  “Did everyone see you down at the bar?”

  “I didn’t go to the bar. I stayed out of the way just to see who was there.”

  “Why didn’t you go to the bar?”

  “And get condemned by everyone else? Forget it!”

  “So you came back toward the birds and found him?”

  “Yeah.”

  “And what did you do then?”

  “I
ran to the front desk and told the night manager. He called the police while I stayed near my grandfather to make sure nobody touched anything.”

  “And why would you do that?”

  “Why? Isn’t that what I should have done? Besides, since I found him, I knew the police would want to talk to me, so I stayed.”

  “That was very helpful of you. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get here until this morning.”

  “Yeah, and I got no sleep, and since I couldn’t have dinner last night, I’m hungry as a…something,” she finished.

  “You didn’t have dinner last night? Too much time on the beach?”

  “Do I have to answer that?”

  “No. I was just curious.”

  “Good!”

  “So all you did was find the body and tell the night manager. Then you stayed until they told you I wouldn’t be here for a while. Is that it?”

  “I guess.”

  He nodded. “Okay Jenni. Just let me get your address please.”

  “Why? You want a date?”

  “No. I…” He finally guessed she was teasing. “Just protocol. It’s required.”

  Jenni told him her address in Gainesville, and reminded him that she was living with her Aunt Sally.

  “And who do you work for?” Detective Pierce asked next with his pen still paused to write.

  “What if I told you I don’t work?”

  “I’d believe you.”

  “I don’t work,” she told him.

  “I don’t believe you. Who do you work for?”

  “You just said you’d believe me if I told you I don’t work!”

  “I lied!”

  Jenni sighed. “I don’t like people knowing what I do,” she told him.

  Once again Detective Pierce was thrown for a loop. “Why not?”

  “Because some people…well, with the way I am and all, they might get the wrong idea.”

  “And why is that? What does your job have to do with you being…transgendered?”

  “Nothing! Nothing at all.”

  “Then what’s your problem?” he was starting to get irritated with her now.

  “It’s my business!” she told him. “Not anybody else’s.”

  “Fine! Let me have your cellphone.”

  “Why?”

  “Let me have it!”

  “Why? So you can keep it? I need it!”

  “No. So I can get your phone number off of it.”

  “I can tell you my number.”

  “And at the rate you’re not telling me things, I have no way of knowing if I should believe you or not. Now hand me your phone!”

  She stared daggers at him, and he just stared right back at her. “Damn you,” she muttered. She went to her bed and grabbed her phone from the nightstand next to it. She handed it to him and sank heavily into her chair again and fumed while he pushed buttons on her phone.

  “Who’s Mr. B?” Pierce asked.

  “Mr. B? Why?”

  “Who is he? And this other number – Shirley? They’re the most called numbers in your phone, other than your Aunt Sally.”

  “I don’t have to tell you…”

  “Who are they?” he demanded angrily. “And if you don’t tell me, you know I already have their names and phone numbers. How long do you think it will take me to find out everything about them I want to know?”

  Jenni rolled her eyes in frustration. “My boss, okay? Mr. B is my boss. And Shirley is his wife.”

  “What’s his full name?”

  “Bosch. B-o-s-c-h. Robbie Bosch,” she replied disgustedly.

  Pierce wrote it all down, then handed her back her phone.

  “Are we done here?” she asked.

  “For now.”

  “Can I leave now?” she asked.

  “To get something to eat?”

  “No! To go home.”

  “To Gainesville?”

  “Yes, where else?”

  “No. Nobody leaves the island until I say they can.”

  “But I have to get home.”

  “When I arrived, the manager told me everyone on the island was staying until Saturday.”

  “Not me, and not my aunt.”

  “But you’re booked until Saturday.”

  “That doesn’t mean I want to stay.”

  Pierce shook his head as he stood up from the chair. “You’re staying now!” he stated firmly. “I’ll be seeing you.” He walked out, cursing the attitude of some people.

  --- §§§§§§§§§§ ---

  Sally Withers was still sound asleep when Detective Pierce pounded on her door. The pounding came a second time before she got out of bed. “I’m coming!” she called irritably, cursing all the interruptions to her sleep. She opened the door to find a man in a dark blue shirt holding up a badge.

  “Sally Withers?” Pierce asked.

  “Yes?”

  Pierce saw the signs of exhaustion and sorrow that still lined her face. “I’m Detective Pierce. I’m sorry to wake you so early, but this is serious business.”

  Sally closed her eyes for a moment without speaking, then she turned and walked back into her suite and flopped down on the sofa. She put her legs up and propped her head up with her hand. Pierce took one of the nice chairs across from her. “Nice room,” he noted appreciatively.

  Sally shook her head. “Mom put me and my three brothers up in this building. She stuck everyone else out in the other buildings. I guess since we were her kids, she thought we deserved the nicer rooms.”

  “Nice is right!” Pierce agreed, looking around again. “I just came from talking with…uh…Jenni. Why is she the only one out on the other side of the island in building D?”

  “That’s what I’d like to know.”

  “Jenni said everyone hates her. Do you think that’s why she’s away from everyone else?”

  “More than likely, you hit the nail on the head,” Sally replied, yawning as she finished the sentence.

  “Sally. I hate asking this, but since everyone dislikes her so much, why is she here on the island?”

  “Good question! My mother insisted she had to come, or else! Trust me, Jenni didn’t want to be here at all. And because of the way everyone has been treating both of us, we were planning on leaving today!”

  “Not anymore. I’m sorry,” Pierce told her. “Someone murdered your father. Nobody’s leaving here until I know who did it and why.”

  Sally shook her head and laid it down on her arm. “Like Jenni said, this place is hell!”

  “Is everyone treating you badly too?”

  “I’m the one who took Jenni in. Literally everyone else in the family refused.”

  “Why is that?”

  Sally looked at him for a moment, then pulled her feet up off the couch and sat up. She leaned forward. “Did you notice anything at all about Jenni that seemed different?”

  Pierce had a good idea what she was referring to, but the way she had put the question…. “Not really.”

  Sally nodded. “That’s the point. You didn’t, and nobody else who doesn’t really know her would know or see anything either. Detective, that girl, isn’t a girl. That girl is a boy! She’s just been working so hard at making herself look like a woman for the last two years that nobody can tell anymore.”

  “To be honest,” Pierce replied. “They told me Kyle was in that room. I was confused when a woman answered the door instead.”

  “Did she tell you about herself?”

  “Very little, except that she seems to be overly frustrated that nobody recognizes her as being a woman. She seemed to be particularly sensitive about her name.”

  Sally grunted. “That’s Jenni. Nicest girl…or woman…you can meet. I love her to death. She’s the best thing that ever came into my life, and I mean that! But call her Kyle, and she hits the ceiling every time. She hates it!”

  “Why is that?”

  “Detective, Jenni isn’t just one of those transgendered types that decides what gender they are later in
life. Jenni was born knowing she was a girl. Unfortunately, her parents, both of them, refuse to recognize that. They literally beat her half to death over the matter her whole life. Now she’s away from them and living the life she wants…or almost. She wants to be on hormones very badly. She wants to have the surgery to make her a woman just as much. She wants it all so much it’s killing her. But she doesn’t have the money to even find a psychologist to talk to about it. Like the rest of us, she’s struggling to just get by, and that’s even with her living with me.”

  “I thought she had a job. She works for a Mr. Bosch.”

  “Mr. Bosch? Yeah, I knew she worked, but she refuses to tell me what she does. And trust me, I’ve asked often! To be honest, she’s been so secretive about it, that I’ve always worried about what she’s doing to bring home what little money she does.” She leaned forward again. “What kind of job is it? What does she do?”

  “Uh…to be honest, I never asked. We got to discussing other things and it never came up.”

  Sally rolled her eyes in frustration and sat back. “And I still don’t know what she does.”

  “Sally,” Detective Pierce said, “a few minutes ago, you mentioned that your mother insisted that Jenni come…or else. What did you mean by that?”

  Sally grunted again and shook her head. “I really wish I had listened to Jenni and both of us never came, despite what my mother offered us to come here.”

  “What your mother offered?”

  “My mother won a lottery a few years ago. Several hundred million dollars – after taxes!”

  “Wow!”

  “Yeah, wow is right! But every time anyone in the family asks for a little bit of help, we all get turned down flat! My mother won’t part with a single penny of any of it.”

  “But she offered you some…to come here? Jenni too, I assume?”

  “Yeah. Mom’s seventy-fifth birthday is later this week. And for her birthday, she wanted everyone in the family to be there. Actually, she insisted that everyone had to be there. She not only booked this entire hotel for the week, stupid if you ask me, but she’s also paying for whatever meals we get in the restaurant, and she’s paying for our travel expenses too. But all that wasn’t enough for Jenni. Jenni knows how much everyone hates her. So Mom got desperate enough to offer Jenni and me both an additional thousand dollars each, over and above everything else, just to be here.”