Brittany Barber lived in a post-war bungalow about five miles from campus. There were three cars in the driveway and a rack in the front yard for about six bicycles, three of which were in residence. Luna figured by its size it couldn’t have had more than two bedrooms. There was no bell for the door so Champion knocked rather hard.
The door was almost immediately flung open and a young white man with dreadlocks stood staring out at them. He had a backpack over his shoulder and a shocked look on his face. Then he grinned and said, ‘Man, you scared the shit out of me! I was just about to head out and, wham! You hit the door! Who do you want?’
‘Brittany Barber,’ Champion said.
The boy frowned. ‘You’re not her dad. Why do you want her?’
Champion again showed his badge. ‘We need to ask her a few questions,’ he said.
Over his shoulder, the young man yelled, ‘Brit! The cops!’ Turning to Champion, he said, ‘Man, I gotta boogy or I’m gonna miss my class.’ He pushed past them and headed down the porch to the bike rack, grabbed one of the bikes, jumped on and headed down the street, leaving the door open behind him.
Champion and Luna moved into what should have been a living room. Instead it was furnished with two mattresses on the floor and a couple of beat-up easy chairs. A young woman came out of the next room – which ordinarily Luna would have thought was used as a dining room, but in this instance, that room, too, contained mattresses but no easy chairs. There were boxes littering the floor with peoples’ names on them.
‘Hey,’ the young woman said, coming into the erstwhile living room. She was of medium height and medium build, with dark brown hair reaching past her waist. She wore no makeup but didn’t really need to. The peaches-and-cream complexion on its own highlighted the bright green eyes. ‘I’m Brittany. You’re the cops?’
‘Yes, ma’am. I just need to ask you a few questions,’ Champion said.
The girl threw up her hands, grinned real big and said, ‘I swear I didn’t do it!’
Champion’s return smile was tight. ‘You were in Professor Winston’s economics class last semester, is that correct?’
The smile left her face as she lowered her arms and tilted her head to the side. ‘Yeah.’
‘Did you know a young woman named Lexie Thurgood?’
A frown developed. ‘Yeah. Is she OK?’
‘Yes, ma’am,’ Champion said. ‘There were two Brittanys in that class and we’re just trying to locate the one who told Miss Thurgood something.’
Again the tilt of the head. ‘OK. What?’
‘About overhearing something Bishop Alexander may have said.’
The young woman sank down on one of the mattresses in the living room. ‘Oh, shit! This is about that murder at the McMillan, right?’
‘Yes, ma’am,’ Champion said. ‘Did you mention something to Miss Thurgood about overhearing a slur uttered by Mr Alexander?’
‘Well, yeah. It was right before winter break. I was hanging out in the quad and this guy Bobby somebody was sitting there with what were obviously his parents, and that asshole Bish – sorry, I shouldn’t speak ill of the dead and all that, but, God, he was an asshole. I mean, look up the word in Webster’s and man, like there’s his picture, you know?’
‘Do you remember what he said?’ Champion asked.
The girl appeared to think for a moment, then said, ‘Well, it was to the effect that he, Bishop, had been waiting for him and who the fuck – his word – did he think he was keeping him, Bishop, waiting? I mean, he was almost screaming it, and then the kid says, like “Hey, man, these are my folks,” and Bishop goes, “Who the fuck cares? You don’t keep me waiting ever! You understand me, you piece of shit?” By this time both the kid’s parents were standing up and the mother’s hands were, like, you know, fists, and I thought for a minute she was going to clock him, but then Bishop goes, “Whatever!” And just walks away.’
‘Did you hear what the parents said to the kid?’ Luna asked, for a second forgetting that this was supposed to be Champion’s show.
‘Yeah, like his father goes, “Who was that?” And his mother goes, “Who the hell does he think he is?” And then the kid just pats their shoulders, going, “He was just kidding. He kids!”’ She shook her head. ‘Can you believe that shit? I mean, man, if somebody ever, I mean ever talked to me like that – in front of my folks or not – I’d …’ She stopped for a minute then said, ‘I was about to say I’d kill ’em.’ She shrugged. ‘Maybe that’s what happened?’ she asked, cocking her head.
‘Thank you for your time, Miss Barber,’ Champion said.
She stood up from the mattress on the floor. ‘Sure, no problem. But, Detective, for future reference?’
‘Yes, ma’am?’
‘It’s Ms not miss, OK?’ She smiled as she walked them to the door and shut it behind them.
‘No more classes?’ I asked my son.
‘Not until tomorrow.’
‘So how was the seven a.m.?’
‘Early,’ he said.
‘I mean as a class,’ I said.
He shrugged. ‘Got way too much to read. Missing the first day may have screwed me up.’
‘So we go back to the motel and you read,’ I suggested.
As he was driving, he looked my way for just a second then back at the road. ‘I’d rather be finding out who the asshole was that dosed me and killed my roommate.’
‘That won’t help you pass the class,’ I said.
‘Mom, just don’t, OK? Just don’t.’
‘Don’t what?’
‘Do that – that mom shit!’
‘How can I not do the, excuse the expression, mom shit? I’m your mom.’
‘I don’t need Mom right now,’ my son, the ungrateful little creep, said. ‘I need E.J. Pugh, the woman who finds out who did what. That’s who I need!’
‘I’m here,’ I said quietly. ‘I am E.J. Pugh, the woman who finds out who did what, but I’m also your mother.’ I sighed. ‘Let’s compromise. You go to your room and read until Luna gets back. Then we all get together and decide where to go next.’
He made a ‘harrumphing’ sound, then said, ‘If she’ll even talk to us. Seems she just wants to hang out with that asshole detective. Maybe she’s helping him find more shit to charge me with!’
‘You know that’s not true,’ I said, wishing and hoping my words were correct.
‘I don’t know squat,’ he said, leaning forward against the steering wheel, his shoulders hunched. ‘Let’s just get back to the motel. Then whatever.’
We pulled into the parking spot in front of Graham’s motel room. The spot in front of my room was occupied by Luna’s car. With the engine still running, Graham asked, ‘Did she take her car or did Champion pick her up?’
‘Her car wasn’t here when you picked me up,’ I said.
‘Yeah, you’re right.’ He turned the key to the off position and we heard the Toyota’s engine spurt and sputter for a few minutes before it finally died.
‘Shall we go in?’ I asked him.
He sighed. ‘Yeah. Can’t dance. There’s no music.’
I left that line alone and used my key to let us in the motel room. Luna was propped against the headboard of her bed, several pillows behind her back, the TV remote in her hand, flicking through the channels. On seeing us, she said, ‘Boy, there’s a lot of crap on daytime TV.’
‘True,’ I said, throwing my purse on my bed and hopping on, imitating her position against the headboard.
‘So this is what you do?’ Graham asked, arms akimbo. ‘Sit on your asses and watch TV while I’m being harassed by the cops and probably headed for the gas chamber?’
Luna flicked to another channel. ‘We don’t use gas chambers any more,’ she said. ‘It’s the needle.’
‘Thank you, Lieutenant Luna,’ my son said with a bite of sarcasm I was proud to say came from my genes. ‘I feel all warm and fuzzy inside.’
‘Glad to help,’ Luna said, trying another cha
nnel. ‘Don’t they have pay-per-view movies or anything?’
‘Goddammit!’ Graham shouted.
Luna and I both looked up from the TV. ‘Graham!’ I said sternly.
‘Mother!’ he said just as sternly back.
I sighed. ‘Luna, turn off the TV.’
She kept scrolling channels.
‘Please,’ I said.
‘I was just waiting for the “P” word,’ she said as she turned off the TV. ‘Now say thank you.’
‘Thank you,’ I parroted. ‘Now, what did you and Champion find out?’
‘Well, we met with Bishop’s student adviser, Gaylord Fuchs.’ Turning to Graham, she said, ‘You could have mentioned he was a little person.’
Graham raised his eyebrows. ‘Oh, that explains why he’s so short!’
‘Jesus, Pugh,’ Luna said to me, ‘have you taught this kid nothing?’
I shrugged. ‘I’ll admit he’s not terribly observant, but then what twenty-year-old is?’
Luna sighed. ‘He was very open about his dislike of Bishop,’ she said. ‘And yes, your roommate did come onto the guy’s wife and the guy did try to punch him out but missed. He basically said he might be on the list of those who wanted to kill Bishop but that the list was very, very long.’
‘He’s got that right,’ Graham said, sinking down on the bed next to me. ‘I think you’ve met the only two people in the world who liked him. Gretchen and Bobby.’
‘What about other girlfriends?’ Luna asked.
Graham shrugged. ‘No actual girlfriends,’ he said. ‘He’d date a girl until he got in her pants—’ He looked quickly at me and said, ‘Sorry, Mom. Anyway, after that he’d drop them. So I doubt any of them had a great love for the asshole.’
‘So this Fuchs guy,’ I said. ‘Does he seem viable?’
‘As viable as anybody else on campus,’ Luna said.
‘But more viable than me, right?’ Graham said, a pleading note to his voice.
‘We need to prove you were roofied,’ Luna said. ‘The big problem is the fact that you were in the room when he got killed.’
‘How do we prove that?’ I asked.
Luna shook her head. ‘Since Graham’s blood wasn’t tested that morning, we can’t. The only way is to find out who did kill the little darlin’ and doped Graham.’
‘What about that girl Lexie told you about?’ Graham said.
‘We found the girl who told Lexie about Bishop’s behavior with Bobby and his folks.’ She looked at Graham. ‘How could you stand this guy?’
He sank down on the bed next to me. ‘I couldn’t. That’s part of the problem! He was such an asshole everybody thinks I musta done it and don’t really blame me. Except Champion, I guess. Pretty sure he blames me.’
‘Well, we’re looking at Bobby Dunston’s parents. They were pretty upset with what Bishop said, according to this girl who overheard it.’
‘What’s her name?’ Graham asked. ‘The girl.’
‘Brittany Barber.’
Graham shook his head. ‘Don’t know her.’
‘Big campus,’ Luna said.
‘Yeah,’ he conceded. He sighed. ‘So what do we do now?’
‘I’d like a little more quality time with Gretchen Morley,’ Luna said. ‘I like her a lot.’ Turning to look at us, she said, ‘Not as a person, as a suspect.’
‘Good,’ Graham said. ‘I’d have to re-think everything I know about you if you liked that bitch as a person.’
‘Graham, you really should watch your mouth,’ I said to my son.
‘Go away, Mom. We need E.J.’
Luna looked from one to the other of us. ‘Huh?’ she said.
‘Inside joke, sort of,’ I said. Then, remembering, I told her, ‘We saw Gretchen at Threadgills around one-thirty today. She took one look at us and hightailed it out of there.’
‘Guilty conscience?’ Luna said.
‘Could be,’ I answered.
‘So let’s go talk to her again!’ Graham said, getting up from the bed. ‘If she’s scared of us let’s keep it up! Maybe she’ll do something that’ll help us prove she did it!’
Luna didn’t move from her reclining position. ‘Did you see Gretchen in the cafeteria Sunday night?’ she asked.
‘No, but there were a lot of—’
‘People, yeah, you said that. But wouldn’t you have noticed if Bishop’s ex-girlfriend was there?’
‘I don’t know!’ he said, sinking back down on the bed. ‘I mean, I wasn’t looking for anybody. Sorta kept my head down and just grabbed some food.’
‘And we need to talk about your choice of dinner—’ I started, but he interrupted.
‘Go away, Mom!’
‘So what new questions do you have for Morley?’ Luna asked.
Graham thought for a moment. ‘You told her there was a witness to her keying the car—’
‘Yeah, but I lied,’ Luna said.
‘Yeah, I know. But you could lie again. Say a witness has come forward who saw her dose me! Yeah! That’d be good! Say that!’
‘And what if she is involved in some way with Bishop’s death – like she stabbed him,’ I said, ‘but somebody else roofied you. Luna says there’s a witness to something she knows she didn’t do and she knows we’re lying. The jig, as they say, is up.’
‘Nobody says that,’ my son said, his voice sulky. ‘So have you got any bright ideas?’ he asked, staring at me in a not particularly friendly way.
‘Follow-up questions for Gretchen Morley,’ I said, grabbing my pad of paper and a pen from the bedside table. ‘Number one?’ I turned expectantly toward Luna.
She shrugged her shoulders. ‘Not my idea.’
‘Well, it may not be your idea but you’re the professional. Surely you have something to say to this young woman?’ I prompted.
‘You mean other than “Get a life? Lighten up, bitch? Stop the hysterics and answer some serious questions”?’
Graham and I both sat up on the bed. ‘Yeah, that!’ he said, pointing at Luna.
‘Exactly,’ I said.
‘Fine,’ she said. ‘But what are the serious questions?’
‘I don’t know—’ Graham started with a little heat in his voice but stopped when his phone rang. He looked at the screen. ‘It’s a Houston area code,’ he said, looking at me.
‘Who do you know in Houston? Other than your grandparents,’ I amended.
‘Their names would come up, not the number.’ He looked from me to Luna. ‘Think it could be Bishop’s mom?’
‘Why would she be calling you?’ I asked.
‘Just answer the goddam phone!’ Luna shouted.
‘Oh, right!’ Graham said, answering it on speaker. ‘Hello?’
‘Graham?’ It was a woman’s voice.
‘Yes?’ he said, looking from me to Luna and back again.
‘This is Adrianne Alexander, Bishop’s mother,’ the voice said.
‘Oh, hey, Mrs Alexander,’ Graham said. ‘I’m real sorry about—’
‘Yes, yes, of course,’ she said, interrupting. ‘I’m on my way to Austin now. Just going through LaGrange as we speak. I need to meet with you as soon as I get there.’
‘Sure, ma’am. Ah, you want me to meet you some place?’
‘I assume you’re not in the dorm room you shared with my son,’ she said. It wasn’t a question.
‘No, ma’am—’
‘Where are you staying?’ she asked.
‘At a motel on IH 35. The Island Paradise.’
‘What room?’ she asked.
He gave her the room number.
‘I’ll be there in less than an hour. Don’t leave.’ And with that, she hung up.
I shook my head at the complete lack of emotion in the woman’s voice. I know people grieve differently but her demeanor had been almost friendly. Surely that’s not normal? ‘Can’t wait to meet this broad!’ I said.
‘You’re going to have to,’ Luna said. ‘I don’t want her to know that Graham’s not al
one. We’re going to stay in here with your cell phone open on speaker, connected to Graham’s cell phone on speaker—’
‘She’ll see it!’ Graham said.
Luna sighed. ‘Put it slightly under one pillow. Make sure she sits on the bed where you put it. And if she asks you if you’re alone, say you called your folks but they’re in Europe right now, trying to get home. Got it?’
‘Yeah. You want me to lie to a woman who just lost her son?’ Graham said.
‘Yes, Graham, I want you to lie. By the sound of her voice on the phone, I’d say the woman has an agenda and you’re part of it. Let’s see what she has to say.’
Graham shrugged. ‘Whatever.’
I looked at my son, taking his hands in mine. ‘Honey, I know you can do it. You’re an excellent liar.’
‘Mom!’
‘Mom’s gone, remember?’
‘Jeez,’ my son said.
‘And you can get in some of that reading for the seven a.m. class while you’re waiting.’
NINE
‘Do I call Champion and tell him the vic’s mom is on her way?’ Luna said, I thought more to herself than to me. I didn’t answer. She turned abruptly and stared at me. ‘Well?’ she demanded.
‘Oh, sorry! I thought it was a rhetorical question,’ I said.
‘I don’t do rhetorical,’ she said.
‘So you want my opinion on whether or not you should call Champion? I thought my answer would be obvious.’
‘Yeah, you’re right. You vote for no. I’m sure Graham votes for no—’
I grinned and spread out my hands. ‘Majority rule!’ I said.
‘Not in a police investigation,’ she said.
‘Yes, but you’re not in your jurisdiction. So you’re not really police here, right?’
‘Right.’ She turned and looked at me. ‘It would be just as easy to tell Champion what we overhear after we overhear it,’ she said.
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