Gumshoe for Two

by Rob Leininger

  Ma also wanted to check inside Jeri’s Porsche to make sure it didn’t have anything in it that would point to me being in Fernley with Jeri, watching Bye’s house. The Porsche was where she and I had left it, and it had to stay there. It was part of the story the police would start to put together. Ma gave the place a last look then drove back to Reno. In a Walmart she purchased a cheap cell phone and the least amount of minutes possible. She paid with cash, drove several miles to south Reno, phoned the Washoe County Sheriff’s office, and told them they would find some bodies west of mile marker forty-four north of Gerlach about nine miles off the highway at an abandoned mine, down a mineshaft, and one of the bodies might be that of Senator Reinhart. A mile away she stuck the phone under a tire of the Caddy and crushed it, got out, gathered up the pieces, and dropped them into a trash barrel outside a 7-Eleven a few more miles away. In a dumpster at a random apartment complex she tossed the clothes I’d worn up north, and the towel I’d used to dry Jeri’s shower. When she returned to the Sierra Sky Apartments it was full light outside. She had a Walmart scarf over her head, using it to partly conceal her face.

  Sarah and I were asleep in each other’s arms when Ma came in. While she was gone we had cried, talked quietly, and I’d kissed Sarah’s salty tears, but I’d been awake for nearly twenty-four hours, walked over thirteen miles, and losing Jeri had all but killed me, so I finally passed out. Not long after, Sarah had followed me into sleep.

  “Wake up, you two,” Ma said softly.

  Sarah stirred, then shook me a little. My eyes opened. They felt grainy from all the crying—the salt of dried tears.

  “You can get up and get dressed or stay where you are, but we have to talk,” Ma said.

  I looked a question at Sarah.

  “Stay,” she said.

  “We’re good, Ma,” I told her. “What’s up?”

  Ma drew up a chair and sat. Sarah and I propped up on pillows with the covers pulled up high, then listened.

  “I phoned it in, then crushed the cell phone,” Ma said. “They’ll probably be up there in an hour or two. If they go by helicopter they could be there sooner. It’ll take a while to get Jeri out, but once they do it won’t take them long to ID her, probably a matter of minutes, then things’ll get popping—for you, Mort. They’ll find Reinhart’s remains so the media circus is gonna start up again as well. But right now, Sarah, you have a big decision to make. Huge, actually.”

  Ma laid it out. If we put the police onto Julia, there was a good chance she would escape. The SUV, the Fernley house, the trailer—nothing was in her name. By now she’d probably abandoned the Mercedes after wiping it down thoroughly, or she might’ve set it on fire since that was her way of getting rid of things, although she hadn’t burned down the Fernley house. There might not be enough evidence to put her at the mine in the hills, and even less to convict her of murder.

  “Mort and I are going to track Julia down and . . . get rid of her,” Ma said. “She has no idea who I am or how good I am, but she’s as good as found. It couldn’t be any more illegal, Sarah, but it’s going to happen. Julia murdered Reinhart, your sister, Leland Bye, Jayson Wexel, Jeri. I’m sorry about your sister and, well, I really can’t think about Jeri, not right now. That’s just too much, too horrible. I’ve got too much to do. But if we’re going to get Julia, Mort has to have an alibi for the time Jeri was up at that mine, and it’s gotta be tight. Police will have a good idea of time of death for her, and a lot of people know she and Mort were together, so they’re gonna be all over Mort, and soon.

  “So the question is, can you provide that alibi? Right now you haven’t done anything illegal, but if you tell the police Mort spent the entire night with you here, that could land you in prison.”

  “I’ll do it.”

  “That’s a real fast answer,” Ma said. “Now I want you to think about it. If they bust your story, you’re done for.”

  Sarah stared at her, then at me. “We know she killed Jeri. Did she kill Allie, too?”

  I held her hand under the covers. “Yes. Last night, Julia told us she shot Allie on the highway less than an hour after you got that call from her in the bar.”

  Sarah closed her eyes and took a deep breath, opened her eyes again. “I’m in.”

  Ma leaned closer. “You’d better be goddamn sure about that because this isn’t a kid’s game, Sarah. This is your life. Mort’s, too.”

  “I’m sure.”

  Ma looked at her awhile longer. Then she nodded. “Okay, then. Odds are the police or the FBI will be all over this apartment, and that could happen in a matter of hours. Well, maybe a little longer since it’d take them a while to find a connection between you two. In fact, they might not make that connection independently, but once they get hold of Mort, and he says he was here with you, they’ll be all over you and this place like ants at a picnic.”

  “You don’t have to do this,” I said to Sarah.

  She squeezed my hand. “Yes, I do.”

  Words were one thing, the hand squeeze was more intimate, more certain.

  “If they can’t bust Mort’s alibi, then you’re safe, Sarah,” Ma said. “Everything depends on that. So if you’re still in, here’s what’s got to be done. The two of you have just one story to tell, and it has to be the same story, but not using the same words, so listen to me and get this straight. You two spent last night right here, the entire night. By now there’s probably a little of Mort’s hair in the bed. It’d be better if Mort wasn’t wearing anything, but—whatever. You might do something about that. The bed’s got to look right in case they get a warrant and grab the sheets. I don’t know how likely that is, but there’s no point taking a chance. After I leave, the two of you should shower—together, in case you’re not tracking this a hundred percent. This apartment has a story to tell. Mort needs to put his fingerprints in the usual places and then some—kitchen, bathroom, bedroom. You two got that?

  “Now back up. You two ate dinner here last night. You didn’t go out. Figure out what you ate and who cooked, who cleaned up. The remains of a meal have to be in the garbage—cans, wrappers, dishes in the dishwasher, the whole nine yards. Same for breakfast this morning. I saw some DVDs in the other room, so you watched a movie last night. Two movies might be better since that would use up more time. Decide which ones you watched—things you’ve both seen. You didn’t do a lot of talking because you could be asked what you talked about, and that’s complicated. More complicated than you can possibly imagine. You didn’t talk about anything important. It’s hard to remember what since it was so trivial. Mostly you made out a lot, but you didn’t have sex, if anyone asks, because they could even check that, although it’d take a hell of a warrant to get you in for a test like that, Sarah. I don’t see a judge signing off on that, but with the Feds these days you never know. Either way, you don’t offer that information. If they ask, you tell them. If they don’t, you don’t say anything.”

  Ma looked at Sarah. “Where were you yesterday, before you and Mort hooked up?”

  “My last class was at one. I left the campus around two.”

  “Anyone see you after that?”

  “No. I came back here and did a bunch of studying.”

  “Okay, that’s good. So when did Mort come over?”

  Sarah looked at me. “Four o’clock? Something like that?”

  “That works,” I said. “Jeri and I got to Fernley around four thirty. No one would’ve seen me in Reno after four.”

  “Your car’s at Jeri’s place,” Ma said to me. “So how’d you get over here?”

  I looked at Sarah. “Did you pick me up at Jeri’s?”

  Sarah looked at Ma. “Did I? Does that work?”

  “It does. The fact that no one saw it happen isn’t proof that it didn’t. They’d get nowhere trying to prove a negative. So, Sarah, what’s your story here, in a nutshell?”

  She thought for a moment. “I picked up Mort sometime around four yesterday afternoon at Jeri’s. We c
ame back here. We’ve been together here ever since. We spent the night together. We made out, watched a movie, didn’t have sex, and didn’t go out anywhere.”

  “Good. Talk over what you did yesterday after Mort got here. Dirty up some dishes. When I leave, have breakfast. If the police question you about things, paraphrase it so you don’t use the same words. Don’t be too certain about the times you did things. Plus or minus half an hour is good enough.

  “And, Mort, you need to account for your time from the time you got up yesterday until Sarah picked you up. You’re not making up an alibi since nothing happened at Fernley or at the mine during that time, you’re just accounting for time.”

  “I slept in. Jeri was gone when I got up so I went out walking, alone. I did the River Walk, came home and made a sandwich. Sarah and I had previously arranged to meet at four at Jeri’s. She thought she would be through studying by then.”

  “Really?” Ma gave me a skeptical look that would make a cop proud. “When did you two make that arrangement?”

  Sarah looked at me. “When we were up in that restaurant the evening before, right? We were there nearly three hours. I’m pretty sure the waiter would remember us if he’s asked.”

  “That’s right.”

  “Good enough,” Ma said. “Now explain why the hell you two would meet at Jeri’s, of all places. Why would you throw your affair in her face like that?”

  “It’s not an affair,” I said. “I was gifted to Sarah, she was gifted to me, and Jeri was doing the gifting. Jeri and Sarah are the sort of friends you don’t see every day.”

  Ma smiled. “If anyone doesn’t believe it, send ’em to me, I’ll spin their heads around. And I’m glad we’re getting some mileage out of that word.

  “Okay, you two were questioned up in Gerlach two weeks ago when you found Reinhart’s hand. Then Jeri and Reinhart and all the rest of them are found up there, murdered. Count on being asked about that. A lot. But you don’t know one single blessed thing about it. Two weeks ago Allie’s phone call took you up there to find her. You showed her picture around and a few people thought they might have seen her, but you never found her. End of story.

  “Once I leave here, I won’t be back since I don’t know nothin’ about this place. We’ve been in the Green Room at the Goose from time to time, so let’s meet there tomorrow night at ten. Until then, you two stay together, all the time. Keep an eye out when you come to the Goose—don’t let anyone follow you. I’ll get there around nine thirty. When you get there, don’t sit with me, don’t notice me. Keep away. If anyone wanders in who looks remotely suspicious, I’ll get up and leave. You two stay awhile, have a drink. If that happens, we’ll try again the next night, same time. After a while, if it looks okay, I’ll come over and sit with you, so get a table out of the way, toward the back.”

  She looked around the room. “In case you haven’t noticed, I haven’t touched anything in here that’ll take a print. When I came back I opened the front door using gloves. I was never here. I don’t know where you live, Sarah. But we know each other pretty well. I know all about this ‘gifting’ thing, and it doesn’t bother me one bit since I’m not a tight-assed old broad. Anyone wants to gift me a good-lookin’ guy, I’m ready. That’ll shut down any questions they might ask me about that. My car is parked a quarter mile down the street, not in the parking lot here. And I hid my face with this scarf when I came back this morning.” She looked around the room one more time, then at us. “What else? Did I forget anything? I’m tired. I’m starting to feel mushy in the head.”

  I tried to think, too. It was hard, complicated, but the alibi was the ball game. It had to fly. Then something did occur to me. “What about that conference call we made the other day? All four of us were talking at one point. If we’re asked, what was that about?”

  Ma considered that. “Okay, Allie was still missing. We’ve been trying to find her. I’m a PI and so is Jeri. Jeri asked me for help. And of course Sarah was in on it. We were talking about that, what to try next. Didn’t get much of anywhere with it, but we talked it over.”

  “Why didn’t we get together to talk about it?” I asked. “Why do it over the phone?”

  “We didn’t because we didn’t. There wasn’t any why about it. It’s not like all of us decided one way or another. I did that. I phoned all of you, set it up as a conference call since that was convenient at the time, that’s all. If anyone doesn’t like it, too bad.”

  Ma thought for a moment. “Police won’t know who killed those people. In fact, if they don’t pin it on Julia they’ll never know. But Jeri is in that mineshaft, which puts Mort front and center, maybe me, too, a little anyway, because I trained her, so the rest of the story is that none of us knew Jeri was doing anything regarding Reinhart’s hand. Mort got the package with the guy’s hand in it, which was weird, and that’s all we know about that. That’s all. Don’t give the police any maybes or suppositions, like maybe Jeri was looking into the Reinhart thing on her own, even if it seems obvious. Let the police come up with their suppositions and maybes. The less you two say, the better.

  “You don’t know Allie and Reinhart were found in a mineshaft. You don’t know anything about a mineshaft. It’s likely the police or FBI will put it together that Reinhart was seeing her. It won’t take ’em long to find out she was hooking. You knew it, so you can tell them if they ask, but that’s where it ends. None of us knows a thing about her being with Reinhart. Nothing at all.

  “As of now, don’t phone anyone. In particular, don’t phone me. Phone calls leave records. Don’t act suspicious, but be aware that it’s possible you’ll be watched or followed.

  “If the police question you, you don’t know where Jeri is. You don’t know she was found north of Gerlach. The only place you’ve ever seen Julia or Wexel is on TV, and you’ve never heard of Leland Bye. Even if the police give you a bit of information, don’t repeat it and don’t use it, act as if it pretty much went in one ear and out the other. At first you don’t know anyone was killed. You don’t know bodies were found. If they tell you bodies were found, you don’t know where they were found, you don’t know who was killed, you don’t know anything about any of this. You . . . just . . . don’t . . . know. And in fact, we don’t know. We don’t know if Julia put Jeri and Bye into that shaft last night. She could’ve hauled them away. Maybe Reinhart and Allie are down there, but we really don’t know that either since Julia could’ve been lying, so again, you don’t know.

  “I’ve got to leave. You two should shower—together—make breakfast, get something to eat. Stay here awhile, then, best thing I can think is both of you go to Mort’s house. Go there to pick up more of Mort’s clothes since he doesn’t have any here. It’s possible the police will be there. If so, that’s when the game will really begin, so be prepared—but at some point, Mort, you’ve got to make an appearance so it might as well be at a time and place that makes it easy for the police. Remember that you’re not in hiding. Not at all. Don’t sneak around. Don’t look around as if you’ve got anything to hide. Let all the information come to you. Don’t put anything out there yourself. Walk around happy, holding hands, smiling. Talk. Laugh. Don’t look like—well, like you do now. You don’t know Jeri is gone. Do all your crying now and get it over with.”

  She took one last look at us, then at me. “Don’t shave, Mort. I’m thinking you might need that briar patch in a while.”

  Then she put on the scarf and left.

  The room was quiet. Sarah rolled back into my arms and held me. “This’s gonna be hard,” she said.

  “I know.”

  She looked up at my face. “I don’t mean this alibi thing. I can handle that. I mean Jeri being gone. Allie, too, but mostly Jeri. God, Mort, I’m so sorry.”

  I didn’t trust my voice, so I just held her. She laid her cheek on my chest. “I’m okay with this. Giving you an alibi.” She thumbed the elastic on my shorts. “You should take this off, like Ma said. It’ll be more like what we’r
e supposed to be doing here.”

  So I did. It still had nothing to do with sex. I held her for a while. Holding her felt good, as if we were keeping each other from drifting away into a very dark place. I even fell asleep for a few minutes. Besides, if you’re going to go out and kill someone, it’s a good idea to rest up.

  Finally, we got out of bed, showered together, got dressed, and did all the things Ma told us to do. Later, we went to my house on Ralston Street where the police finally caught up with us.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  THE STORM CAME and went. It was a lot like Ma had said it would be. I ended up in a stuffy interrogation room with Fairchild and Officer Day and several others. Their eyes were hard and alert as I told them how I’d spent the past twenty or twenty-four hours— with Sarah Dellario, age twenty-four and gorgeous.

  “Gifting,” Fairchild said. A gleam of respect appeared in his eyes. I wasn’t in the mood, but the gleam didn’t last long so I didn’t end up in the county jail on an assault charge.

  Sarah verified my story—which was actually an alibi, but no one called it that—and I verified hers. We didn’t embellish a thing. Ma was good, she’d prepared us perfectly. They verified that gifting thing with her and it didn’t come up again, which might’ve been due to jealousy since they were essentially a herd of pigs.

  Then the FBI had at us because of Reinhart’s involvement, but Fairchild’s interrogation had been good practice. We kept it simple. We didn’t know anything. A couple of them found it remarkable that young, beautiful Sarah would have anything to do with a crusty old relic like me. Sarah lit up at their suggestion that a girl like her couldn’t find me attractive. After they cut us loose, she told me she bit off a few heads, anger that lent much authenticity to her words.