Long Time Gone

by J. A. Jance

  “Molly?” Heather repeated. “Nothing. I’ve tried calling her. I left messages on her machine. I thought she’d be here. She’s the only one who knows Dillon’s mother’s cell phone number. His dad’s on his way down from White Rock right now, but he doesn’t know the cell number either.”

  “There’s a reason Molly isn’t here.” I said the words deliberately, examining Heather’s every expression as I spoke.

  “What is it?” Heather asked. “Is something wrong?”

  “We found Molly’s body a little while ago,” I said. “She was…crammed into the trunk of Dillon’s Focus.”

  “No!” Heather breathed. “That’s not possible. It can’t be true.”

  Heather’s histrionics didn’t impress me, and I was in no mood to pull punches. “Well, it is true,” I shot back. “I was standing right there when the trunk was opened. And don’t try to pretend you know nothing about it.”

  Heather’s outburst quieted as quickly as it had begun. “But I don’t know anything about it,” she declared. “And I didn’t kill her. I didn’t kill anybody. You believe me, don’t you?” When I didn’t answer, Heather turned beseechingly to Amy. “Mom?”

  “We have to go,” Amy said. And we left.

  We rode down in the elevator and went out through the lobby without exchanging a word.

  I had met Amy’s parents, Carol and Arthur Fitzgerald, but I didn’t really know them. I knew that after selling their Queen Anne home to Ron and Amy, Carol and Art had moved into a water-view condominium project in Madison Park.

  Art, an old-fashioned wheeler-dealer, had made a small fortune as a building contractor. It was his loving care and expertise that had transformed what had once been a derelict Queen Anne mansion into the spacious home where Ron and Amy now lived. Art had figured out a way to install the tiny but effective elevator that made several levels of the home accessible to Ron’s wheelchair. Art was easygoing and garrulous—a guy who got things done. Carol struck me as quiet, ladylike, and dignified. I hated to be going to their home late at night on a mission to deliver such devastating news.

  “You’ll need to give me directions,” I said when we were both belted into the Taurus.

  “Up and over the hill on Madison,” she said. “I’ll tell you where to go. Sorry it was so frosty back there,” she added once we were under way. “It’s been like that around our house lately.”

  I had noticed, but I hadn’t planned on mentioning it.

  “What did he expect me to do,” Amy continued, “throw her out into the street?”

  “Who?” I asked. “Heather?”

  “No, Molly, of course. She burned her bridges with our parents long ago, and when she had nowhere else to go, I agreed to let her stay with us. It was the least I could do. I mean, we had the house. She had nothing, but I had no idea how bad it would be.”

  “What do you mean, she burned her bridges?”

  “Molly and Aaron went through money like it was water. That happens when people insist on putting every dollar they can lay hands on up their noses.”

  “As in coke?” I asked.

  Amy nodded. “My parents bailed them out time and time again. The last time, when they wouldn’t, is when Aaron started embezzling company funds. By selling Ron and me the house at less than market value, the folks thought they were simply keeping things fair. But Molly didn’t see it that way. To her way of thinking, the house should have been half hers. That being the case, she automatically thought we owed her a place to stay.”

  “Was she still using?” I asked.

  “She said she wasn’t,” Amy answered. “But I don’t know for sure. Ron told her that he wouldn’t allow the stuff in his house. She knew he meant it, but being told what to do galled her, especially considering the way she felt about Ron.”

  “What’s wrong with Ron?”

  “I think she thought that with Aaron gone, she and I would go back to being big and little sister, the way things were before. Meaning, of course, that she was the big sister and I was supposed to do things her way. It’s been hell. She and Ron were at loggerheads from the moment she moved in, but I just didn’t have the heart to throw her out. She’s the only sister I have.”

  “But she was undermining you and Ron when it came to the kids.”

  “That’s right,” Amy said bitterly. “Enter Dillon Middleton.”

  “Dillon didn’t look like such great shakes to me,” I said. “So what’s the big attraction as far as Molly was concerned?”

  “I have no idea,” Amy returned. “Maybe the fact that Ron couldn’t stand him made him that much more interesting as far as Molly was concerned.” She broke off. “Turn left here,” she added. “It’s the building down there at the end of the street.”

  I found a visitor parking spot. “Do you want me to come in with you?” I asked as Amy reached for the door handle.

  “No,” she said. “This is something I’m better off doing on my own.”

  She got out of the car and walked stiffly through the now-misty rain as far as the building, where she soon disappeared from sight in the small lobby. I sat there and considered what could possibly have been Molly’s purpose in doing all she could to wreck Ron and Amy’s relationship. What had she hoped to gain by driving a wedge between these two people, or between Ron and Amy and their children? Was she so embittered by her own unhappiness that she wanted everyone else to share in her misery? That seemed unlikely, and yet what other explanation was there? And what could be the reason behind Molly’s strange obsession with a hopeless gangbanger wannabe like Dillon Middleton? None of it made any sense at all.

  Eventually Amy returned. “How’d it go?” I asked.

  Her chest heaved. “About how you’d expect,” she returned, brushing tears from her eyes. “Mom, especially, is brokenhearted. She and Molly hadn’t spoken for years. Mom always thought they’d mend the rift eventually. Now they never will.”

  I started the car and put it in gear. “Back to the hospital?” I asked.

  “Please.”

  We drove back to Harborview. Upstairs in the trauma waiting room, Tracy had stretched out on a couch with one arm flung over her eyes. Jared was asleep in his father’s lap. A dry-eyed and distant Heather sat across the room in self-imposed isolation from the rest of her family.

  “Now that you’re here, we should probably try to get some rest,” Ron said to Amy. His face was ashen with weariness; his voice strained. Ron Peters had aged ten years in the past week, and he looked as though he was on the edge of despair. “We can’t go to the house. It’s full of detectives. I booked us a pair of rooms down here at the Sheraton.”

  “Is Heather coming, too?” Amy asked.

  Ron shook his head. “I asked her, but she won’t budge.”

  “It’s all right,” I told them. “Take Tracy and Jared and try to get some sleep. I’ll stay with Heather.”

  “Are you sure?” Ron asked.

  “I’m sure,” I said. “It’s no problem.”

  After Ron and Amy left, I went out into the hallway, grabbed a soda from the vending machine, and set it on the table beside Heather. “You look like you could use a little caffeine,” I said.

  She looked up at me gratefully and nodded. “Thanks,” she said.

  While she popped open the can and took a sip, I sat down next to her. “Any word?”

  “He’s still in surgery.”

  “What about his father?” I asked, glancing around the room. “Is he here?”

  “Not yet.”

  We sat in silence for some time while I puzzled about how this young woman, a child who was as close to me as my own children, could possibly be a suspect in a double homicide. No wonder Ron was looking gray and drawn. I probably looked the same way myself.

  “I didn’t do it, Uncle Beau,” Heather said finally, meeting my gaze with an intense blue-eyed stare of her own. “I heard what Dillon said. I heard him say we did it—like he and I did it together—but it’s not true. I never killed a
nybody, I swear.”

  “What did Dillon have against your aunt Molly?” I asked. “Why would he hurt her? I thought Molly was his friend.”

  Heather shrugged. “So did I,” she said.

  A pair of doors swung open on the far side of the room and a man in surgical scrubs strode into the room. He glanced briefly around the room and then settled on Heather and me. The doctor came forward, holding out his hand. “Mr. Middleton?” he asked.

  “No,” I told him. “Sorry. I’m a friend of the family. This is Heather Peters, Dillon’s girlfriend.”

  “Oh,” the doctor replied and then looked around the room, scanning the other two sets of family members still lingering there. “I was given to understand the father was on his way.”

  “He is,” Heather said. “He’s coming down from White Rock, but he isn’t here yet. How’s Dillon? Is he going to be all right?”

  The doctor looked at Heather and shook his head. “I’m sorry, miss. With the new federal privacy rules in effect, I’m unable to release patient information to anyone other than an authorized relative.”

  “But…” Heather objected. “Can’t you…”

  “Sorry,” the doctor told her. “That’s just the way it is.” With that he turned and walked away.

  “That’s not fair,” Heather called after him. “Just because I’m only a girlfriend…”

  But the doors had already swung shut behind the retreating doctor, cutting her protestation off in midsentence.

  “Maybe we should go,” I suggested. “You must be tired. Let me take you home.”

  “No,” Heather insisted. “I’m staying.”

  Which automatically meant that I was staying, too. Lamar Middleton, Dillon’s father, arrived an hour later. He was a man in his mid-fifties, balding, heavyset, and clearly distraught. Heather recognized him as soon as he came through the door, and she hurried forward to greet him.

  “I’m Heather,” she said. “I recognized you from your picture. I’m so glad you’re here. Dillon’s doctor came out a little while ago, but since I’m only a girlfriend, he wouldn’t tell me anything.”

  Lamar ventured behind the swinging doors and came out a few minutes later. “Dillon survived surgery,” he said. “But he’s in intensive care. He’s stable right now, but they don’t know whether or not he’ll make it. What on earth happened? What’s this all about?”

  Heather began relating some of what had happened. It was when she reached the part about Molly Wright that Lamar slumped in his chair and covered his eyes with his hands.

  “My God!” he exclaimed. “I should have known!”

  “Should have known what?”

  “That Molly would be involved in this. Living a lie is always a bad idea. I tried to tell Annette that years ago, but she wouldn’t listen.”

  “Who’s Annette?” I asked.

  “My ex-wife,” Lamar answered.

  “Dillon’s mother?”

  “Not exactly,” he said.

  “What does that mean?”

  “Annette and I adopted Dillon,” he said. “But Molly Wright—she was Molly Fitzgerald then—was his birth mother.”

  For me, that was when a whole lot of what had happened finally clicked into focus. No wonder Molly had been so determined to bring Dillon into the Peters family circle. She knew he was her son even if no one else did. Using Heather as bait, she had been able to keep him close to her. If Heather had moved to Tacoma, taking Dillon with her, that connection would have been disrupted; but still, did a distance of forty miles or so justify committing murder?

  Heather’s eyes widened. “Did you say Aunt Molly was Dillon’s mom?” she demanded.

  Lamar nodded. “Molly had broken up with her long-term boyfriend when she found out she was pregnant. At first she planned to keep the baby. Then she started to date a guy named Aaron Wright. Aaron made it clear from the beginning that he didn’t want to have kids. Not ever. By then Annette and I were already married. Molly came to see us, trying to figure out what to do. For one thing, it was too late to get an easy abortion. When Molly mentioned having the baby and putting it up for adoption, Annette talked her into giving him to us.”

  “Just like that?” I asked.

  Lamar nodded ruefully. “Annette’s always been like that. She tends to get her way—with everybody. I told her I thought it was a bad idea, especially since Molly was such a good friend, but Annette was adamant, and eventually I went along with the program. Molly stayed with us until Dillon was born, then she went back home and pretended nothing had happened. She and Aaron got married eventually, and we kept the baby.

  “The problem is, Annette was a whole lot better at the idea of motherhood than she was at the reality of it. Ditto for being married. She likes the concept, but not the actual commitment part. So she took off and pretty much left Dillon’s raising up to me. I did the best I could.

  “I have to hand it to Annette. Once she left me, she’s managed to marry up every time, so money isn’t a problem—not for her, anyway. So here I was, trying to raise Dillon to be a decent human being, but periodically Annette would show up—often with Molly in tow. The two of them would do the whole noncustodial parent program. You know how it works. They spoiled the kid—gave him whatever he wanted. They told him that my rules didn’t apply whenever they were around, and what kid isn’t going to go for that? Eventually it worked.”

  “Dillon came here?”

  Lamar nodded. “Got into trouble, dropped out of school, and came here to be with Annette—until she took off again. She rented an apartment for him while she headed for the Bay Area with her latest fling. By then, Molly’s life had turned to crap. Having lost everything else, I think she saw one last chance to get Dillon back—and keep him close.”

  “Except he was going to come to Tacoma with me,” Heather said in a small voice. “He told Molly that on the phone that night. I heard him. He said that if I had to go live with Rosemary in Tacoma, he was going to go there, too. He said he’d find a different apartment. Molly didn’t want him to go. She freaked out on the phone and started screaming and yelling. I could hear her from all the way across the room. It was totally weird.”

  “Maybe,” I said, “since she had already lost her son once, she didn’t want to risk losing him again. Still, having him move to Tacoma isn’t like sending him off to the ends of the earth. I still don’t understand.”

  After that, the three of us were quiet for a very long time. There wasn’t much to say, and I don’t think anyone else understood any better than I did.

  An hour passed and then two. It was after three in the morning when the swinging doors opened again and once more the same doctor entered the room. This time he went straight to Lamar Middleton.

  “I’m sorry to have to tell you this, Mr. Middleton,” he began. “I’m afraid your son didn’t make it.”

  CHAPTER 22

  WITHOUT A WORD, Heather bolted from the room. I charged after her. When I finally caught up with her, she was outside the front entrance, standing bare-armed and bareheaded in the pouring rain.

  “Heather,” I urged. “Come back inside.”

  She shrugged off my hand. “I don’t want to,” she said. “Leave me alone.”

  “It’s cold and wet out here.”

  “Who cares? If Dillon’s dead, I should be dead, too. Maybe I’ll catch pneumonia and die.”

  Then, to my surprise, she stopped talking and fell sobbing against my chest. Comforting her as best I could, I led her to my car and helped her inside. I turned on the engine, the heater, and the defroster as well, then I waited for her to stop crying.

  “Your parents are staying at a hotel downtown,” I told her when she had finally cried herself out. “Do you want to go there?”

  Heather shook her head. “I want to go home,” she said.

  “You can’t. The last I heard, your house was full of cops, so I guess you’re stuck with me.”

  “But…” Heather began. Then she fell quiet. “Okay,” sh
e said finally.

  Once again I took Heather up to my condo in Belltown Terrace. I expected her to head straight for bed. God knows I was ready.

  “Can I use your computer?” she asked.

  “My computer? At this hour?”

  “I need to check my e-mail.” She paused. “Dillon told me in the ambulance that he sent me a message in case he didn’t find me. I need to see what he said. Please.”

  So I led Heather into the den and helped her log on to my clunky old desktop. Then I went out into the living room to give her some privacy. I settled back in my old recliner and kicked off my shoes. My shirt and trousers were still damp, and they stuck to the leather, but I didn’t bother to change. Then I called down to the Sheraton. Not wanting to awaken Ron and Amy in case they had managed to fall asleep, I left a message letting them know that Dillon had died and that I had taken Heather home with me.

  A few minutes after I hung up the phone, I heard Heather crying again. I stayed where I was, figuring that if she needed consolation she’d come looking for it. Then I heard the sound of the printer coming on-line. Finally Heather emerged from the den, wiping a trail of tears from her face. Wordlessly she handed me a single sheet of paper:

  Baby, Molly Wright is a evil woman. Why did I ever think she was my friend? I don’t know why, but she really really hated your dad. She called him a stupid cripple and said he had turned Amy and her parents against her. She told me that night that getting rid of Rosemary would get rid of him, too, because he’d be in jail and that way Molly and Amy would be friends again and we could all live in your house together, since it was half hers, too. I didn’t want to help her, but she told me that if I didn’t help, she would turn me in for selling drugs which, sorry to say, I have been doing because it’s a very good way for me to earn money and I knew if your dad ever found out he would send me to jail. And so I did help her and I’m sorry and scared. I really wanted to go back home yesterday because Canada doesn’t have the death penalty for murder like the US does. When you wouldn’t come with me, I got so mad but I didn’t mean to hit you, I really really didn’t. Molly’s coming over to see me in a little while. She says we should go to Canada together right now, tonight. I told her I would, but that is a lie. If I don’t see you tonight, I hope you have a good life. I’m sorry for everything and I love you. You are the best thing that ever happened to me in my whole life. Dillon.