Suspicious Origin

by MacDonald, Patricia

  “Well, don’t give up on him. Give him until tomorrow. If he doesn’t come in by then, we’ll go hunt him up. Maybe something came up this afternoon.”

  “Alec Lynch is in jail,” said Britt, “and he doesn’t belong there.”

  “He’ll live until morning,” said Ray. “I must say, you’ve changed your tune.”

  “I know what the truth is, now,” said Britt.

  Ray sighed. “Well, I’m happy for you. But I need to get home myself. Why don’t you come by in the morning?”

  Britt hung up the phone, and stood beside it for a moment thinking. Then she called to Zoe. “Have you got that phone number Vicki gave you?”

  “I’m watching my show,” Zoe grumbled.

  Britt walked to the door of the living room. “This is a little more important than your TV show, okay?”

  Zoe looked up at her, wide-eyed. “What is it?”

  Britt was glad she had not told Zoe the whole story earlier. The girl had endured so much heartache and disappointment. This would only add to it. Dave, being a no-show. She shook her head. “Never mind. Just get me that number.”

  Zoe ran to get the piece of paper on which she had scribbled the address and phone number. Britt thanked her, and dialed the number, but there was no answer. A message machine picked up and Vicki’s babyish voice said, “We’re not here right now. Leave a message.”

  “Vicki,” said Britt sharply. “If you’re there, pick up.” She waited a moment, but no one answered. “Look, this is Britt. Dave has got to come in to the Coleville Police Station. I know it’s late now, but I want you to get him there in the morning. Please, for Zoe’s sake.” She sighed, and hung up.

  She thought again about calling the Carmichaels, to find out what time Vicki and Dave had left, but the thought of the baby was daunting. Besides, Kevin had devoted the whole day to questioning Dean Webster. He needed a little peace and quiet with his wife, and the new baby. In the morning, Britt thought. First thing.

  That night, Britt went to bed and endured one nightmare after another. In one of her dreams, she entered a hospital room and found Jean Andersen sitting up in the hospital bed, gazing at her with that cold, detached stare, and laughing her mirthless laugh that turned into a cough. “Leave me alone. I don’t even know you,” Jean said, in the dream. “Why are you following me?” By the time the morning came, tired as she was, Britt was glad to get out of bed.

  Britt pulled into the Carmichaels’ driveway and saw that the cherry-red Toyota was gone. Kevin and Caroline’s cars were parked, one behind the other beside the house, and some smoke curled from the chimney making the air fragrant with the smell of wood smoke. For a moment, Britt envied the Carmichaels. Home together, with their new baby and a fire in the fireplace. It was the kind of contented image that she generally avoided thinking about. She’d never seen that kind of happiness up close in her life. She always wondered if it ever was real. Britt climbed up the porch steps and knocked. After a few minutes the door opened. Kevin, wearing a bathrobe over pajama bottoms and a T-shirt, opened the door. His normally rosy complexion was gray and haggard, and his eyes were bleary. So much for the bliss of the new baby, Britt thought. “Hi, Kevin,” she said. “Britt.”

  “Fm sorry to disturb you. You look a little beat.” “The baby was up,” he muttered. “Pretty much all night.” Britt smiled. “It’s bound to get better. Can I come in?” Kevin shrugged, and opened the door. Britt walked into the living room. Kevin followed her. “Caroline and the baby are asleep. Finally.” “I’ll be quiet,” said Britt.

  “Do you want to sit?” he asked in a tone that said, “Please don’t.” Britt shook her head. “First, I wanted to thank you. For going to the trauma center yesterday. Getting Dean’s confession about the Bayberry cottage fire.”

  Kevin stood in front of the fireplace and stared at the flames, rubbing his face with his hands. “Ray Stern was the one who questioned him,” he said, not looking at Britt. “I was just there to represent Alec’s interests.”

  “Well, all the same, I appreciate you making the trip.”

  “All in a day’s work,” he said dismissively.

  “The reason I’m here,” she said. “I’m looking for Vicki and her friend, Dave.”

  Kevin looked startled. But he recovered quickly. He turned his head and gazed at her coolly. “They left,” he said. “They beat it out of here. Yesterday afternoon.”

  “Where were they going?” Britt asked.

  “I don’t know. What difference does it make?” he asked sharply.

  Britt frowned at him. He must be one of those people who gets really irritable when he’s tired. Surely, he’s not having second thoughts about parenthood already. “Actually,” she said, “it makes a great deal of difference. It turns out…” She hesitated. She didn’t want to be the one to tell him about Dave’s relationship to his new baby. “It turns out that Vicki’s friend, Dave, is Alec’s missing alibi witness.”

  “Really,” said Kevin. “What makes you think that?”

  “Well, it’s a long story, but, believe me, it’s true. And he promised me that he would go to the police and back up Alec’s story. But he didn’t show up…”

  “Great,” Kevin snorted. “That’s just great.”

  “We have to get in touch with him and urge him to go to the police. Maybe if you were to try to talk to him…”

  “I wouldn’t know where to find him. From what Caroline told me, those two were getting set to burn through that money we gave Vicki.”

  “Is that what they told Caroline? Do you think I could talk to her?”

  “I told you, she’s asleep,” he snapped. “I’m not going to wake her up for this.”

  Britt felt a little irritated by the tone of his voice, even if he was extremely tired. “Hey, Alec’s your client, Kevin. He’ll be a lot better able to pay your bill if you manage to get him released from jail. That’s all I’m trying to do.”

  “You’re right, you’re right,” said Kevin. “Sorry.” He pressed his forehead against his forearm which was resting on the mantel. “I’m so tired. I’ve never been so tired in my life.”

  “I guess it’s a pretty hard adjustment, having a new baby,” said Britt.

  Kevin managed a thin smile. “He’s a good boy. It’s not his fault.”

  “He’s just doing what babies do,” said Britt.

  All of a sudden, the thin, wailing cry of a newborn drifted down from the second floor. Kevin flinched. “Look, Britt, I’m not myself today. Not thinking clearly. Maybe, I don’t know… I don’t know where they went. I’d try Vegas if I were you. Or Atlantic City.”

  Uh-oh, thought Britt. You really aren’t yourself.

  “Well, I’ve bothered you enough. I’ll see what I can do. I’ll um…I’ll be in touch.”

  “Kevin,” called a frantic voice from upstairs.

  “Is that Caroline? Is she up?” said Britt.

  “Just leave her,” said Kevin sharply.

  Britt frowned. “I just want to ask her…”

  “I told you,” said Kevin. “They left. Vicki was in it for the money, and once she got her money…“he said bitterly. “They could be halfway across the country by now. I don’t want them dragged back into our lives.”

  “Kevin, we have to find them. Like it or not, they have to be dragged back. Look, I don’t know how much you know…”

  Kevin peered at her. “About what?”

  “Dave,” said Britt.

  “Kevin,” Caroline cried out again.

  “I can’t discuss this now,” said Kevin, shepherding Britt toward the door. “Maybe this Dave will have an attack of conscience and come back and do the right thing. I don’t know. We can hope he does.”

  Britt could see that he didn’t hope anything of the land, that he couldn’t care less, in fact. It was as if he didn’t have a client in Alec. As if the only thing that existed in his world right now was his wife and the baby Anything outside of that little circle just wasn’t important to him ri
ght now.

  I’ll do it myself, Britt thought. If you won’t help me, I’ll find them myself.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Britt returned to the house on Medford Road, thinking all the while about Vicki and Dave. Of course it was possible that they’d taken off for Las Vegas. But it was also possible that they just wanted to get home and curl up together and turn off the phone. They’d been separated for quite a while. Maybe they went out to celebrate last night, and this morning they would be back at home.

  Home, Britt thought. Where is that address that Vicki gave Zoe? She’d called Vicki on the kitchen phone last night. Maybe the slip of paper was still in there. She went over to the phone, and looked on the counter beneath it, but didn’t see the paper. There was a small bulletin board behind where the phone was, with a few snapshots of the home’s owner and friends, and a couple of take-out menus. Stuffed into the corner of the bulletin board, and affixed with a red pushpin, she saw it. Vicki Manfred, and an address in Montpelier. All right, she thought, it’s worth a try.

  It was flurrying again by the time Britt got on the road to Montpelier. If they weren’t there, at this address, maybe someone would be who would know where they went. She felt as if she was doing Ray Stern’s job for him, and she told herself that it would all be worth it when Zoe had her father back. Besides, she was the only one who really knew about Dave.

  Of course, if Ray Stern had been competent…Suddenly, she remembered Dean Webster warning her that the Coleville police were inept. She wondered how bad his injuries were, and what would happen to him once he got out of the hospital. Then, she willed the image of Dean out of her mind, and tried to concentrate on the task at hand.

  The fact was that Dean was right about the Coleville police. If Ray Stern had located Dave, the alibi witness, himself, Alec would never have gone to jail in the first place.

  Glancing at the address on the seat beside her, and the printed directions she’d gotten off the Internet, Britt managed to locate the street where Vicki and Dave lived. It was a run-down street in a part of town that had a shuttered factory and a wealth of auto repair places. Britt recognized the convenience store Alec had mentioned on the corner, and rolled slowly down the block, passing a series of old houses which might have been charming at one time, but now looked sorrowfully neglected. Paint flaked from the clapboards and the white paint which covered a majority of the houses was gray with dirt. There were a couple of more recently built brick houses, which were dark with grime. Front porches were littered with broken toys and sofas with the stuffing coming out of the cushions. Many of the houses had more than one car in the driveway, although few of the cars appeared to be in working condition.

  Britt pulled up in front of number 23 and got out of her car. The house in front of her was as dilapidated as it’s neighbors. The front windows had the shades pulled low and there were graying net curtains visible below the shades. Britt climbed the porch steps, avoiding a broken riser, and knocked on the door.

  The door was opened, after a few minutes of shuffling sounds from inside, by a middle-aged woman in stretch pants and a sweatshirt. She peered suspiciously at Britt through thick glasses which were being held together at the bridge by first-aid tape. There were a couple of pink rollers stuck haphazardly in her hair. The sound of a television blared from the front room.

  “Excuse me,” said Britt. “I’m sorry to bother you. My name is Britt Andersen. I’m looking for Dave Kronemayer? And Vicki Manfred. Do I have the right house?”

  The woman narrowed her eyes. “Who’s askin’? Are you from the cops again?”

  Britt was momentarily taken aback. “No,” she said. “Why would you think…?” Then she realized that Ray or one of his men must have been here before, must have knocked on every door on this street looking for Dave. Instantly, Britt sensed that she shouldn’t mention anything about witnesses, or the police, or court testimony to this woman. This was a person with a healthy mistrust of the police.

  The woman in the doorway crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Britt.

  “No,” Britt continued. “I just really need to speak to Dave. It’s really important.”

  “Are you from the welfare?” the woman asked suspiciously.

  “No, no, I’m just a friend…of Vicki’s.”

  “You don’t look like any friend Vicki would have,” the woman observed.

  “Actually, I’m a…neighbor of the…uh…family where Vicki was staying.”

  Immediately the older woman looked curious. “You’ve seen Vicki?”

  “I was going to ask you that question. She and Dave were together when I saw them yesterday, and I thought they were headed home, Mrs.…”

  “Dot,” said the woman. Apparently convinced by Britt’s information, she relented. “Well, this is where they live,” she said. “Their apartment’s got its own entrance. Around the back.”

  “Oh, okay,” said Britt. “I’ll try back there. I’m sorry to bother you.” Britt stepped away from the door and walked back toward the porch steps.

  “They ain’t home though,” said the woman.

  Britt turned and looked at her. “Are you sure?”

  The woman nodded. “I don’t miss much,” she said.

  I’ll bet you don’t, Britt thought. “Any idea when they’ll be back?”

  Dot shook her head. “Did she have that baby yet?”

  Britt hesitated. “You know about the baby?”

  “I ought to. She was showin’ when she left here. Then she went off somewhere to have the baby. I think she’s gonna give it away. It’s a sin. He’s broken up about it,” Dot said in a confiding tone.

  “Dave is?”

  “Yeah, he’s crazy about her. I mean, she’s right they couldn’t take care of the kid. She was on welfare. He works odd jobs, manages to scrape up the rent. Hell, they don’t even have a car. Their car gave up the ghost months ago. He’s been hitchhikin’ off to see her, wherever she’s at. He don’t tell me anything. She was the one always told me what was goin’ on.”

  Britt wanted to encourage the woman’s garrulousness. She figured she’d better divulge a little information. “Vicki was staying in Coleville, actually.”

  “Oh, that’s pretty fancy,” said Dot. “They got a home there or something?”

  “A home?” Britt asked.

  “You know, for girls who get knocked up.”

  “Oh,” said Britt. “No. Not exactly. She was staying with a family. Anyway, she did have the baby.”

  Dot’s face lit up. “She did! What’d she have?”

  “A little boy.” Britt shivered. The temperature on the porch seemed to be dropping by the minute.

  “What’d she name him?” the woman asked.

  “Well, actually the people who adopted him named him Kent.”

  Dot snorted. “I don’t get that. How can you give away your own flesh and blood?”

  Britt shrugged, and rubbed her hands together. “It’s a tough decision, I guess.”

  Dot suddenly seemed to notice that Britt was chilly. “Come on in. It’s cold out there. What’s your name again?”

  “Britt.”

  “Well, you better get in the house,” said Dot.

  Thanks,” said Britt.

  Dot led the way down a dingy, wallpapered hallway into the front room of the house. There was a movie running on the television. Dot sat down with her back to it, insensible to the volume. “Sit down,” she said. “Maybe they’ll be back soon.”

  Britt perched on the edge of an armchair covered in tufted velour and grimy at the arms from use. “What are you watching?” she asked.

  Dot turned and looked at the TV. “Some picture I seen before,” she said, and punched the mute button on the remote control, to Britt’s relief.

  Dot shook her head. “I feel sorry for the guy, you know. Dave’s a good boy. He’s not the smartest guy. She’s the smart one. She’s got it all over him for that.”

  Britt nodded sympathetically. “Well, a go
od heart counts for a lot,” she said.

  “Not to her. She’s always naggin’ at him ’cause he doesn’t make good money. I think she’s givin’ that baby away just to punish him.”

  “It is hard to raise a child without money these days,” said Britt. She glanced out the front window, wishing she would catch sight of the cherry-red car pulling up.

  “You got that right,” said Dot. “And Dave. He wouldn’t know a chance to make money if it hit him on the head. It’s a good thing Vicki doesn’t know about the latest…”

  “The latest?” Britt asked.

  “This happened while she was gone. Don’t you tell her this,” the woman warned.

  Britt shook her head. “I won’t.”

  ‘Well…when was it? The other night. I don’t know A week or two ago. Dave comes in limpin’. I noticed it when he was goin’ up the walk. Like I said, I don’t miss much. So I asked him what happened to you?’ He tells me he got knocked down by some guy in a Mercedes Benz.”

  Britt felt the hair stand up on the back of her neck. “Really?” she said faintly.

  “Yup. The guy was racin’ around a corner and he clipped him while he was hitchhikin’. So, the guy’s all apologetic, and he offers to drive Dave back to town here.”

  “I should hope so,” said Britt carefully.

  “Yeah, I know. But listen to this. I says to Dave, you should sue him. Anybody that’s got a Mercedes has got insurance. You know what I mean? I mean, you don’t drive around in a car like that without insurance, right? Just for occasions like this.”

  “Right,” breathed Britt. She wiped her damp palms off on the front of her pants.

  “So, what does Dave do? He doesn’t call the cops. He doesn’t even get the guy’s name. He lets him drive away. He could be sittin’ pretty by now. That’s what I mean about Dave.” She tapped her index finger against her own wrinkled forehead. “No smarts.”

  “I see what you’re saying,” said Britt.

  “You know when the cops came lookin’ for him the other day, I figured maybe it was about that. But this cop says right away they’re knockin’ on every door around here. Lookin’ for a witness in some police matter, so I kept quiet. I thought about it and I thought, you know this is not like the prize patrol arriving. The cops only come around when there’s trouble. So, I kept my mouth shut. I pretended I didn’t know anything. I figured if they wanted to find him they could go down the walk and knock on the door.”