by Sue Grafton
“Seems like the other question is whether the stains in the trunk match the ones on the tarp. A bloody stabbing like that, she might have put up a fight,” I said.
Stacey’s tone was dubious. “Maybe so, but don’t forget, her hands were bound and the coroner’s report doesn’t make mention of defensive wounds.”
Dolan said, “Even so, the guy might have been nicked.”
“Let’s hope. Problem is, we don’t have a suspect for comparison.”
“Correction. We don’t have a suspect yet.”
I raised my hand. “Could one of you ask Ruel about the tarp? I want to know if it was his.”
Dolan snorted. “Why should we ask? Why not you?”
“Come on. You know he’s going to yell at me. He’d never yell at the two of you.”
“Chickenheart.”
“What a wuss.”
I smiled. “I thought that’s what you tough guys were for. To do the dirty work.”
“I’ll tackle him,” Stacey said. “He won’t pick on a guy as sick as me.”
Dolan said, “Wait a minute, Stace. Don’t pull rank. You said you were well. I’m the sick one. Lookit where I am.”
“So you can ask him. Who cares? Point is, we ought to see if we can find out where the tarp came from.”
“How’re you going to do that? Damn thing doesn’t even have a tag with the manufacturer’s name. Besides which, I don’t see the relevance.”
I said, “The killer might have been a long-distance hauler. They sometimes use tarps to secure a load.” I stopped. “Uh-oh.”
“Uh-oh, what?”
“I just had a flash.”
“Of what?”
“If the victim turns out to be Charisse and the body was transported in the Mustang, then your theory about Frankie Miracle is really screwed.”
Dolan frowned. “How you figure that?”
“We know Frankie stole Cathy Lee’s Chevy. So how could he have driven two cars, one from Quorum and one from Venice, and have both arrive in Lompoc at the same time?”
I could see him calculate. “He could have made two trips.”
“Oh, please. What’s he do—he kills Charisse, drives the Mustang to Lompoc, dumps the body, abandons the car, and then hitchhikes to Venice so he can stab someone else?”
“So he had an accomplice,” Dolan said.
“To do what? There’s no link between the two murders, unless I missed a beat somewhere.”
Stacey said, “Dolan hates the idea Frankie’s innocent.”
“I don’t hate the idea, it’s Frankie I hate,” Dolan said, irritably. “But what you say makes sense. How’d you come up with that?”
“I don’t know. It’s like one of those thought problems in high school math. The minute I’d see that sentence about the two trains, one leaving Chicago at sixty miles an hour, and the other blah, blah, blah, I’d start blacking out. I abandoned math the minute I was allowed.”
“You didn’t believe ’em when they said math would be useful later in your life?”
“Not even a little bit.”
In the doorway, Chris Kovach cleared her throat and pointed to her watch.
“We’re just going,” Stacey said, rising from his chair.
“You can come back tomorrow, but only one at a time.”
Stacey followed me to the motel in his rental car and we parked in adjoining slots. I walked with him to Dolan’s room and gave him the key. He unlocked the door and put his duffel on a chair. The room had been made up and the furniture was back in place. It was 9:25 and I was ready to say good-night, assuming he was tired and wanted to hit the sack. “If you like, we can have breakfast together. What time do you get up?”
“Not so fast. I drove straight to the hospital after hours on the road. I haven’t had my dinner yet. Wasn’t that an Arby’s I saw out on Main?”
“Sure, but the Quorum Inn’s still open. Wouldn’t you prefer a regular sit-down meal?”
“Arby’s has tables. I’ve never had an Arby-Q. Isn’t that what they’re called? Now you’ve introduced me to fast food, I have some catching up to do.”
I sat with Stacey, watching him plow through an Arby-Q, two orders of curly fries, and a roast beef sandwich, oozing a yellow sauce that was rumored to be cheese. He looked as if he’d picked up a few pounds in the days since I’d seen him last. “You do this often?”
“Couple times a day. I found a cab company that delivers fast food, sort of like Meals on Wheels. Geez, this is great. I feel like a new man. I never would have known if you hadn’t turned me on to this stuff.”
“Happy to be of help. Personally, I never thought of junk food as life-affirming, but there you have it.”
Stacey wiped his mouth on a napkin. “Forgot to mention this to Con. I got a call from Frankie’s PO. Dench says he may be in violation. Looks like he left the county without permission.”
“When was this?”
“Yesterday.”
“That surprises me. To hear Frankie talk, he knew all the rules and regs and wasn’t going to be caught out. Wonder what set him off?”
“Might have been your visit. Con said he seemed cool, but you never know about these things. What’s on for tomorrow?”
“Let’s talk to Ruel. I’ve got the perfect excuse. I still have Edna’s quilt. We can ask him about the tarp when I take it back it to her.”
Stacey leaned forward. “Kinsey, we’re cops. We don’t need excuses. That’s for them to give us.”
Sheepishly, I said, “Oh. You’ve got a point.”
When we reached the motel again it was 10:15. The wind had kicked up and I had my arms crossed, trying to protect myself from the cold.
Stacey said, “Hang on a minute. I have your jacket in my trunk.”
I stood by his rental car while he opened the trunk and extracted my bomber jacket, along with a bulky mailing pouch he handed to me. “What’s this?”
“Henry sent it. He said he found it on your doorstep and didn’t think you’d want to wait. What is it?”
I turned the package to the light. “Beats me. Postmark’s Lompoc, which means it’s probably something from my aunt Susanna.”
“I didn’t think you had folks.”
“I don’t. Well, sort of. The jury’s still out.”
“Got it,” he said. “I’ll leave you to open it. Good-night.”
“’Night,” I said.
In the privacy of my room, I turned on the light and set my jacket aside. I left my shoulder bag on the chair and then I sat on the bed, turning the mailing pouch over in my lap. On the back, there was a pull tab that opened a seam along one edge. I pulled the strip and peered in. I removed the leather-bound album she’d sent. I remembered her mentioning family pictures, but never imagined she’d actually send them to me. I leafed through page after page of heavy black paper on which black-and-white photographs had been mounted by means of paper seals affixed to the corners and glued into place. Some of the pictures had come loose and the photos were tucked into the spine of the book. Under each, someone had written in white ink, identifying the subject, the date, and the circumstance.
There they were. All of them. My mother. Various uncles and aunts. The wedding of my grandfather Kinsey and my grandmother Cornelia Straith LeGrand. Babies in white christening dresses that trailed to the floor. Group photos, complete with cousins, servants, and family dogs. In most, the faces were solemn, the poses as stiff as paper dolls assembled on the page. A Christmas at the ranch with everyone gathered in front of an enormous pine tree laden with ornaments, garlands, and lights. A summer picnic near the house, with wooden harvest tables set out on the grass. Long dresses, pinafores, straw hats with wide brims freighted with artificial flowers; women looking buxom and broad-shouldered, their waists pinched by corsets that made their ample hips look twice as wide. Two men had been photographed in the army uniforms of World War I. One of the two appeared at later family gatherings while the other was never seen again. Sometimes the men wer
e in shirt sleeves, dark vests, and black bowlers; sometimes striped summer jackets and white straw boaters. I could see the passing years reflected in women’s rising hems, their arms increasingly bare. Thanksgiving of 1932, suddenly all the little girls were decked out like Shirley Temple. Nothing of the Great Depression seemed to have touched the house or its occupants, but time did march on.
Many of these people were dead by now. The adults had grown old. The children had married and given birth to children of their own. There was my mother in that long white dress again at her coming-out party, July 5, 1935. There were other snapshots of the occasion. In one, I could have sworn the photographer caught my father in the background, his eyes fixed on her. I’d never actually seen a picture of him, but I felt I’d recognized him nonetheless. After that, the pages were abruptly blank, the entire last third of the album empty. That was odd. I thought about it, puzzled that the family history so carefully recorded up to that point should suddenly be abandoned.
Oh. Could that be right?
My parents had eloped. I’d seen a copy of their marriage license dated November 18, 1935. My grandmother had been horrified. She’d had her heart set on Rita Cynthia’s marrying someone she considered worthy of her firstborn daughter. Instead, my mother had fallen in love with a common mail carrier, who was moonlighting as a waiter on the day of her debut. There was apparently no Thanksgiving that year. And precious little in the way of celebrations since.
19
Saturday morning after breakfast, Stacey and I drove to the McPhees’. The day was clear and sunny. The wind had died down and the desert stretched out in a haze of beige and mauve. Cactus, mesquite, and creosote bushes grew at neatly spaced intervals, as though planted by an arborist. Out there, unseen, the bobcats, foxes, owls, hawks, and coyotes were feeding on the smaller vertebrates. I’d read that jackrabbits constitute half the diet of breeding coyotes, so that when hard times reduce the rabbit population, the coyote population shrinks, as well, thus maintaining the balance in nature’s culinary scheme.
We paused briefly on the street and I pointed across the pasture to the shed where we’d found the Mustang. Stacey said, “I wonder why he got himself in such a lather when the car was impounded?”
“Territorial, I guess. You’d do the same in his place.”
“I’m not so sure about that. Sounds like a man who knows more than he’s letting on.”
“Maybe he’s just another cranky old geezer, used to having his way.”
“Nothing wrong with that.”
“Stace, I wasn’t talking about you.”
I rang the bell and the two of us stood on the porch, waiting for someone to respond. From the backyard, I could hear children giggling and shrieking while a dog barked.
When Edna finally opened the door, she seemed somewhat taken aback. “Oh. I didn’t expect to see you here again,” she said. She averted her gaze politely from Stacey’s patchy head.
“Hi, Edna. How are you? This is Detective Oliphant from the Santa Teresa Sheriff’s Department. Have we caught you at a bad time?”
“I have my Baptist Church Auxilliary Committee here and we’re busy.”
I held out the quilt. “We won’t take long. I wanted to return your quilt.”
She took it, murmuring, “Thank you,” and then moved to shut the door.
I put a restraining hand on the frame. “We were hoping to see Ruel. Is he here?”
“He’s in the garage.”
“Mind if we talk to him?”
With a tiny flicker of irritation, she gave in. “You might as well come through the house and I’ll send you out the back. It’s quicker than going all the way around.”
The two of us stepped inside while she closed the door and then we followed her down the hall.
She said, “Did you talk to Medora?”
“I did. She was great. Thanks so much.”
In the kitchen, there were five women sitting at the table, which was stacked high with flyers and long white envelopes. All five glanced up at us, smiling expectantly as we moved toward the back door. Edna did a brief detour, returning the quilt to its place on the window seat. I noticed she didn’t stop to introduce us, probably reluctant to explain the arrival of an out-of-town sheriff’s detective and a private eye.
On the counter, she’d set up a big Thermos of coffee, a plate of sweet rolls, and a pile of paper napkins. The one empty chair was clearly hers. Two women folded the flyers, while another two stuffed them in the envelopes. The last woman in line licked the flaps and applied the stamps. I recognized this one: the light brown hair, brown eyes, the sprinkling of freckles across her nose. I’d seen her at Quorum High, where she worked as Mr. Eichenberger’s assistant.
I paused, saying, “Hi. How’re you?”
“Fine.”
“I’m Kinsey Millhone. I’m sorry, but I’ve forgotten your name.”
“Adrianne Richards.”
Edna hesitated and then said, “Adrianne’s my daughter.”
“Ah. Well, it’s nice seeing you again. This is Detective Oliphant,” I said, thus forcing a round of introductions. I really hate to be pushy, but what’s a poor girl to do?
One of the women piped up and said, “I’m Mavis Brant. This is Chalice Lyons, Harriet Keyes, and Adele Opdyke.”
Stacey tipped an imaginary hat, which the ladies seemed to like.
I smiled at them briefly, my attention returning to Adrianne. “You’re Cornell’s sister? I didn’t realize that. Small world.”
“Isn’t it?” She offered me a thin smile before she turned to the woman at the end of the table. “Excuse me, Harriet, could you pass me some envelopes?”
Harriet handed a batch of envelopes to Adele who passed them on to Adrianne, who was busy being busy. She must have been married, because if her office name tag had read “McPhee,” I’d have asked if she was related. She flicked a look in my direction and then engaged the woman next to her in conversation.
“Well, we don’t want to hold you up,” Edna said to us, ushering us on.
Stacey and I went out the back door and trooped down the stairs, heading for the garage. Edna’s granddaughter, Cissy, and her two older tow-headed sisters were racing across the yard in the throes of hysteria, a little yappy dog bouncing after them, nipping at their heels. As we watched, the dog caught a mouthful of Cissy’s sock. Growling, he tugged, trying to dig in his paws while she dragged him across the grass. I envisioned dog bites, blood, and tetanus shots later in the afternoon. There was no sign of Justine, so I was guessing the girls had been parked with the grandparents while she was off somewhere.
I smelled Ruel’s cigarette before we caught sight of him. He was in the same wooden desk chair with the same straw hat pushed to the back of his head. He looked small and harmless, and I could sense that Stacey was perplexed that I’d expressed any uneasiness about him. He was close to Stacey’s age, in his early seventies I’d guess. He was watching another television show with all the concentration of a kid. This time, it was a cartoon so completely asinine that even the little girls preferred being chased and bitten by a dog.
Without looking up, Ruel said, “Back again, I see. Who’s your friend?”
Stacey stepped forward, extending his hand. “Stacey Oliphant, Mr. McPhee. I’m a homicide detective with the Santa Teresa Sheriff’s Department. Nice to make your acquaintance.”
Ruel gave him an obligatory handshake. “Suppose you’re here to confiscate something else. It’s a damn shame you can walk in and take anything you want.”
“I can understand your point. Then again, the law’s the law. We don’t make it up; we just carry it out,” Stacey said.
“True enough,” Ruel said. “Nothing I can do about it now. You just be sure that car comes back without a scratch.”
I said, “Wait a minute. How’s that supposed to happen? The car was banged up to begin with.”
Ruel rolled his eyes with annoyance. “I meant, no damage aside from that.”
; Stacey eased back in. “Mr. McPhee, I only drove in last night so I’m new on the scene. If it’s not too much trouble, I wonder if I can ask you to bring me up to speed.”
“Ask her, she’s so smart. I got better things to do.”
“She tells me you made quite a deal on that car.”
Like a recording, Ruel recited the details of his good fortune. “I got that Mustang free of charge back in 1969. Fella left it at the shop to have the seats repaired. Car was stolen and once it came back, he didn’t want anything to do with it.”
“Is that right? Good deal,” Stacey said, as though impressed. “And what inspired you to keep the car all these years?”
“My son and I intended to restore it, though now they’ve as good as told me it was used in some kind of criminal enterprise. Homicide, is that right?”
“Yes, sir. Naturally, we’re interested in taking a closer look.”
“You ought to talk to the previous owner. Feller name of Gant. He could’ve stolen the car himself. Have you ever thought of that?”
“I don’t believe we have. Wonder why he’d steal his own car and then turn around and give it to you?”
“Why does anyone do anything? Man might’ve been nuts.”
“Always possible. Happens he’s dead now.”
“Too bad. Otherwise, you could pester him instead of me,” Ruel said. He paused to light a cigarette with a wood match that he dropped in his jar. “Point is, I don’t know beans about a murder and my son knows less. Cornell should be here shortly to fetch the girls and that nasty dog of theirs. Talk to him yourself. Waste of time, you ask me.”
“That could well be. Police work, we pursue a lot of lines that don’t pan out. For instance, we’ve been curious about a tarp that was dumped with the girl’s body. Anybody mention that?”
“What kind of tarp?”
“Canvas. Looks like a car cover or a drop cloth. Ms. Millhone saw a couple tarps at the shop and wondered if one of yours might’ve come up missing at the time.”
“Nope. Can’t help. Happens I own a bunch of tarps, but I never had one taken and couldn’t care less if I did. Tarps are cheap. Take a stroll through the Kmart, if you doubt my word.”