by Diane Weiner
“Good morning, Sir. Sorry to bother you so early in the morning but we have a warrant to search your premises,” said Jackson.
Antonio unfolded the paper, rubbed his eyes, and read it. Twice.”
“Please get your family together and wait here in the living room,” said Lynette.
Antonio looked thoroughly puzzled. ”A search warrant? For our house?”
“Yes, Sir. We’ll start upstairs,” said Lynette.
Just then, Hayley entered the living room wearing a satin robe and carrying the baby. Tony followed behind her like a baby duckling.
“What’s this about?” she asked.
“They have a search warrant,” said Antonio. “I can’t imagine what they’d be looking for.” They sat on the sofa. “This is totally insane. They’ll realize that when they don’t find anything. Let them waste their time.”
Jackson and Lynette headed up the stairs. “This way, Jackson. Mom said the purse was in the closet in the master bedroom.”
“And your mom knows that because…”
“Never mind. In here.” Lynette led him to the closet and turned on the light. Sure enough, there was a gold purse on the floor. Lynette put on gloves, although she knew this evidence had already been compromised. She would most likely have to explain how her mom’s prints got on the purse. Lynette opened it and took out the wallet. Sure enough, there was Vicky’s driver’s license and credit cards. It was Vicky’s.
“Now what?” asked Jackson.
“I think we should continue with a thorough search,” said Lynette. “Let’s go through the rest of the bedroom. I’ll check under the bed. Why don’t you check the dresser drawers?”
Jackson carefully emptied each of the dresser drawers.
“Nothing unusual here,” he said.
“Nothing under the bed either, except for a few Matchbox cars. Let’s check the other upstairs rooms and then go downstairs into the study,” said Lynette. They searched through Tony’s room, the baby’s room, and the guest room but found nothing alarming. The baby’s room is adorable, thought Lynette. If I ever do have a baby, I’ll borrow that idea of painting a forest mural on the wall opposite the crib.
“I didn’t find anything unusual up here,” said Jackson. “Why don’t we try downstairs?” Lynette followed him down the steps and back through the living room where Hayley was giving the baby a bottle and watching a DVD with Tony.
“The study is over here,” said Jackson. Lynette followed him into the tastefully decorated study. It definitely had the look of a man cave with its dark leather recliner, big screen TV, and masculine-looking desk.
“Let’s box up all these files and desk contents. Grab the laptop too,” said Lynette. By this time, another pair of officers had arrived to help with the search. Hours later, Lynette sent the other officers back to the station with the boxes of potential evidence.
“Let’s go question our suspects,” said Jackson. They went into the living room. Hayley put the baby in the playpen and sent Tony to his room to play. Antonio came in from the kitchen munching on a bagel.
“We found Vicky’s purse in your closet. How did it get there?” asked Jackson.
“I’ve never seen it before,” said Antonio
“Me neither,” said Hayley. “I cleaned thoroughly the day before the party. I would have noticed that if it had been in my closet.”
“Stop playing games. Which one of you took it from Vicky’s office the night of the murder? We know you both were there that night,” said Lynette.
“So was half the town,” shouted Antonio. “Hayley, does your Dad have a good lawyer he can recommend?”
“No need for that yet. You’re not under arrest. We’re just having a conversation.” Jackson hooked his thumbs on his pockets. “You were among the first people who arrived in Vicky’s office after she was found dead.”
“Well, then someone would have noticed if one of us was holding Vicky’s purse,” said Hayley. Lynette detected more than a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
“We’re just going around in circles. We’re going to go through the items we took from the house and we’ll get back to you,” said Lynette.
Antonio showed them out and slammed he door behind them.
Lynette and Jackson went back to the station and anxiously began going through the laptop and files from Antonio’s office. They sent the purse and its contents to the lab. Lynette hoped they’d find fingerprints other than her mom’s. “Hey, look at this card,” said Lynette. “It’s addressed to boy toy.”
“Well, that means Antonio sent the threatening text we found on Vicky’s phone,” said Jackson.
“Yes but it was just a threat. Unless we get fingerprints on the purse or some other tangible evidence, we won’t have enough to charge him” said Lynette.
“The purse was in his closet. Either he or Hayley had to have put it there. They both knew about the peanut allergy––everyone did. Vicky got the job because of her allergy. Westbrook is a magnet school and they thought Vicky would be the perfect choice since she’d be able to relate.”
“My money is on Antonio since he had a stronger motive. I’m sure he didn’t want it to be public knowledge that he and Vicky were having an affair,” said Lynette.
“But if Hayley found out about the affair she may have been angry enough to kill. She’s more likely to have baked cupcakes than Antonio,” said Jackson.
“But Antonio had more access. He could have given the cupcake to Vicky any time that day.”
“I think we have some more investigating to do,” said Jackson.
Chapter 30
Susan was leafing through her new cookbook––Easy Vegan Meals. She and Mike were not vegan but she did want to learn some new healthy recipes. Hmm, she thought, this one requires sun-dried tomatoes, nutritional yeast, and something called seitan. Too many weird ingredients. She flipped to another one. Hmmm, dice the garlic, chop the bok-choy, and mince the onion. Mince? Too much work. Okay, this one looks good, she thought as she flipped through a few more pages. Pulse in a food processor…Are you kidding? Any recipe requiring a food processor shouldn’t be in a cookbook with the word easy in its title. The ring of her cell phone was a welcome interruption.
“Hello.”
“Mrs. W, this is Carolina.” She was speaking in a quick, high pitched voice.
“What’s wrong? Catch your breath and tell me.”
“The Department of Children and Families was just here. They wanted to see who was acting as my guardian. Since I’m only sixteen, they said it was against the law for me to be living here alone. I told them the housekeeper stayed here but that wasn’t good enough for them. The said they were going to find me a foster family to live with until my dad is able to take care of me.” Susan could tell that she was crying.
“Okay, calm down. I’ll take you myself if I have to.”
“No, they said they had families that were cleared and licensed to take foster children. I said I would get in touch with my grandparents. I don’t have any grandparents who are able to do that but I figured it would buy me some time.”
“I know a social worker. She works at Westbrook. I’ll talk to her about this.”
“Thanks, Mrs. W. I don’t want to live with strangers.”
“Don’t worry, that isn’t going to happen.” As soon as she hung up with Carolina, Susan looked up Jody Decker’s number and immediately entered it into her phone.
“Hi, Jody. This is Susan Wiles, we met at the Petrocelli’s party on Saturday night.”
“Yes, I remember. What can I do for you?”
“Vicky Rogers’s daughter, Carolina, just got a visit from the Department of Children and Families. They want to put her in a foster home because she’s underage and living on her own. They do have a live-in housekeeper. Her Dad’s in rehab trying to get sober. He may be there for several months.”
“I’ll make some phone calls. They do have grounds to place her in foster care but we can try to delay things. Does s
he have any other relatives who could take her in?”
“I don’t think so. Javier’s parents are in Columbia. Vicky’s mom is dead and her father is in a nursing home.”
“Any aunts, uncles, cousins?” asked Jody.
“I don’t think so, but I’ll check with Carolina,” said Susan.
“I’ll make some calls and meanwhile, try to locate a relative. That would be the simplest answer,” said Jody.
“Thank you so much. We both appreciate it,” replied Susan.
“I’m happy to help,” said Jody.
Susan felt a little better. Her head was beginning to hurt so she grabbed some pain killers and a glass of water from the kitchen before calling Carolina back.
“Carolina, I spoke to the social worker I was telling you about. Do you have any relatives who could step in and assume temporary custody while your dad recovers?”
“Not any that I know. Wait, I think my Mom had a sister. She was much younger and I don’t think they were close or I would have heard about her. I’ll go through her papers again and see if I can find anything.”
“Okay. Hang in there. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
Susan hung up and realized that Mike would be back any minute. She hadn’t figured out dinner yet and started foraging through the cabinets and fridge. Well, she thought. Pizza it is. She picked up the phone and called Dominos.
Chapter 31
The smell of garlic and oil permeated the kitchen of the Petrocelli home. Antonio was kneading a mixture of wet chopped meat, egg, and breadcrumbs. Hayley threw the pasta into a big pot of boiling water followed by a dash of salt and a splash of oil. The steam brushed her face. Then she started chopping cucumbers for the salad. The rhythmic sound of the knife against the cutting board was soothing. Hayley had avoided getting into a big discussion over the purse incident with Antonio, just as she’d been avoiding confronting him about his affair with Vicky. He still had no idea that she was aware of his transgressions. “Pass me the tomato,” said Hayley.
“Here you go,” said Antonio.
“By the way, when do you think we’re going to hear more from the police?” asked Hayley.
“I don’t know. Probably not until they realize our fingerprints are not on the purse. Then they’ll be calling to apologize,” said Antonio.
“I still can’t fathom how that purse got there. Can you?” Hayley’s voice rose at the end as if she expected a confession.
“I have no idea. I didn’t put it there so I assumed you did, though I can’t imagine why.”
“Are you kidding, you idiot? I was sure you did it. I know how upset you were when she didn’t recommend you for that vacancy last fall. And I know you had other reasons.”
“What other reasons?” said Antonio.
“How stupid do you think I am? Do you think I didn’t know you were sleeping with Vicky? What…did you hope it would get you ahead in your career or were you just turned off by your wife––the wife who’d just given birth and was still carrying around a few extra pounds.”
“No, Hayley, I would never have done that to you.” Hayley couldn’t believe how phony he sounded.
“Don’t even pretend. I have proof and you’ll pay for treating me that way,” said Hayley.
“So that’s what this is about. You took the purse to frame me. You killed Vicky with one of your cupcakes and then planted the purse in the closet so I’d be blamed.”
“Oh, yeah, that’s right. Me. A cold-blooded killer. If ‘I’d killed her, I certainly wouldn’t have put the purse in my own house. I would have disposed of it ASAP or just left it there.”
“Why didn’t you listen to your parents and marry someone rich in the first place? You never thought I was good enough for you. You figured you’d get me thrown in jail for murder so you’d get rid of me.”
“Wow, I can’t believe your acting career never took off.” Just then Tony called form the living room.
“Mommy, I’m hungry. When’s dinner?”
“In just a little while, honey.” She whispered to Antonio, “I don’t want him to hear us fighting. Let’s shelve this for now.”
“For now,” said Antonio. He threw the meatballs in the pan, into the hot oil.
Chapter 32
The winding dirt road seemed much less ominous in the daylight. At least I know where this ends, thought Susan. She’d picked up Carolina early from school so they could visit Javier and try to get closer to finding a relative.
“Thanks for doing this Mrs. W,” said Carolina. “I can’t wait to see him.”
“I’m as anxious as you are to get this settled. There’s no way you’re going to go to a foster home.” The ride seemed much shorter than when she’d come here with Lynette. Before she knew it, Susan saw the rehab sign and pulled into the parking lot.
“Do I look okay?” asked Carolina. She applied a little cherry lip gloss
“You look beautiful, as always,” said Susan.
Carolina had her hair pulled back into a low ponytail. I couldn’t have gotten my big toe into those skinny jeans even when I was sixteen, thought Susan, but she admired how even though they were form-fitting, they looked tasteful. Some teenage girls wore those jeans that were all ripped and shredded looking. They walked into the lobby. Although the rehab could almost pass for a hotel, the hospital smell gave it away. Susan pressed the elevator button and they waited as the orange numbers blinked and the metal door opened. They found Javier’s room and Carolina embraced her dad with a hearty bear hug.
“You look beautiful, mi hija. I’ve missed you so much,” said Javier.
“I’ve missed you too. I’m so proud of you, taking this step.”
“I’m doing it for you. When I finish here we will put our family life back together. I know it won’t be the same without your mom but we will be okay.”
“I know.” Carolina’s face relaxed and she smiled. It was the first time since before Vicky’s death that Susan had seen that smile.
“Does either one of you know what’s happening with the murder investigation? I may have had my share of problems with Vicky, but I want to know who did this to her. The killer took away my baby’s mother. He deserves to be locked up in jail for the rest of his life,” said Javier.
“I know,” said Carolina. I won’t be able to even start dealing with this until the murderer is found. I want to know why he killed my Mom,” said Carolina.
“The Westbrook Police Department is working hard on this case. My daughter Lynette is a detective on the force and I know she’ll solve this. She’s brilliant,” said Susan. She remembered the primary reason they’d come here and subtly changed the subject.
“Javier, we need to find a relative to stay with Carolina until you get out or she’ll be placed with a foster family.”
“Foster family?” Javier rose from the edge of the bed. “No way. Isn’t Araceli still living at the house?”
“Yes, but they won’t accept her as a guardian,” answered Susan.
“Then I’m checking myself out right now. I’m coming home with you.” Javier opened the drawer and grabbed his underwear and a pair of jeans.
“No, Dad. You need to get yourself together.” Carolina grabbed the jeans and put them back in the drawer. “I was thinking, didn’t mom once say she had a sister?” asked Carolina.
“Oh, yes, but they hadn’t spoken to each other in years,” said Javier.
“Do you know how I can get in touch with her?” asked Carolina.
“I have no idea, none at all. I don’t even remember her name. I think it started with an R. Maybe it was Regina or something. The best thing to do would be to call Grandpa in Florida. It’s his daughter after all,” said Javier.
“Yes, but according to mom he was in pretty bad shape,” said Carolina.
“He’s in and out. It’s worth a try. I think I even have the number of the nursing home here in my phone. I called to tell him that Vicky had died but I’m not sure he understood.” He scrolled through his phone
and gave Carolina the number.
“Let’s try him right now,” said Carolina. She entered the number and pressed the call button.
“Coventry Assisted Living and Nursing Home. How may I direct your call?” asked the operator.
Carolina explained that she wanted to speak to her grandfather and was connected to his room.
“Hello, Grandpa? This is Carolina. What? I can’t understand you. What are you saying? Grandpa, I need your help. Grandpa?” Carolina paused and then began speaking again. “Yes, thank you, ma’am. Okay. I understand.” Carolina ended the call and turned to Susan and her father.
“Well, I guess we’re back at square one,” said Carolina. “The voice that answered was incoherent. A nurse took the phone and explained that my Grandfather is in an advanced stage of dementia. Although he still has moments when he seems perfectly normal, these, according to the nurse, are getting less frequent.”
“I think you need to fly down there,” said Susan.
“Maybe if you see him in person he’ll be able to focus,” said Javier.
“That’s a great idea,” said Carolina.
“The flight is only a few hours and I’ll even go with you,” said Susan.
“Really? That would be great. Thank you, Mrs. W.”
“Yes, thank you,” said Javier. “I feel so much better knowing you are watching out for my daughter.” Javier gave Carolina a big hug and a kiss on the cheek.
Susan and Carolina headed back home. While Susan drove, Carolina called the airline and booked a flight for the next morning.
Chapter 33
Jody sat down at the Starbuck’s counter and waited for Theresa. The robust coffee smell wafted through the entire store. She preferred a latte to a beer any day. The store itself was buzzing like a triple espresso grande. I already feel more awake and I haven’t even ordered yet, thought Jody. How is it that this place is always booming, even late in the afternoon? She scanned the shop looking for Theresa. Look at that father buying his son a coffee. That kid is maybe ten. As a matter of fact, I think he goes to our school. I hate when parents are so clueless. Doesn’t he know kids shouldn’t be drinking coffee? Caffeine is a drug. He might as well be giving the kid cocaine.