Faye Kellerman_Decker & Lazarus 05

by False Prophet

  “Did you find out anything about that?”

  “I went over the Betham case and it does seem frivolous. Apparently Ms. Betham has sued others for the same reason—her hairdresser, a former masseur. I don’t think the suit’s going anywhere. But that doesn’t let Ness off the hook.”

  Decker nodded. “So Jeffers was doing some poking the night of the rape.”

  “Seems that way.”

  “Does he poke the guests routinely?”

  “Pretty regularly, according to the other aerobic and weight instructor. Her name is Natanya Frankel—a little squat thing. Claims she was once on the Czech gymnastic team, but defected in 1985.”

  “Embellishing her past?” Decker asked.

  “Probably, but I don’t think that’s significant. What might be important was her past with Eubie Jeffers. I think they were once an item.”

  “Does she seem like the vindictive type?”

  “No. She was very matter of fact. Just told me that Jeffers has a hard time keeping his pants zipped.”

  “That include Lilah?”

  “That I don’t know. Natanya was less forthcoming when it came to talking about her employer. I’ll say this—the people who work for Lilah seem to like her. Natanya said Lilah’s generous with time and with money. Yet I never got the impression that Lilah fraternizes with the hired help. It was clear that Natanya was talking about her boss.”

  “Did the help have any comment on Davida Eversong?”

  “Kitchen help told me she orders a lot of room service and is a big tipper. They liked her just fine.”

  “What about Davida and this Jeffers guy? Get the feeling that Jeffers’s loose zipper might extend to her?”

  “Pete, Davida must be in her seventies.”

  “Margie, that don’t mean a thing.” Decker filled her in on his interviews with Lilah and Davida. “Mother and daughter are in fierce competition with each other. If Lilah and Jeffers were getting it on, I wouldn’t put it past Davida to steal him away. Just because the woman likes to exert power.”

  “What does it have to do with Lilah’s rape?”

  “I don’t know. I’m just saying this case has the watermarks of an inside job for two reasons. One: We haven’t turned up anyone remotely promising from the outside. And two: The family’s weird.”

  “You said it.” Marge told him about her morning encounter with Brecht and Merritt. “The boys almost came to blows. Ness and I managed to separate them. Merritt was livid until I told him what happened to Lilah. That took the starch out of his sails. He immediately left for the hospital.”

  “His surprise about Lilah’s attack seemed genuine?”

  “I think so.” Marge made a face. “Are you thinking Merritt raped his own sister?”

  “Maybe not directly. But how about this? According to Mom, Merritt and Brecht were always asking for handouts. Suppose one of them hired a couple of scumbags to do a jewel theft. Say the scumbags took the jewels, then they saw Lilah and decided to rape her as an afterthought.”

  “Then what about the memoirs?”

  “Scumbags took the papers for the hell of it.”

  Marge shrugged. “Are Brecht and Merritt in financial straits?”

  “I don’t know. Let’s run a check on them. And the other brother while we’re at it.”

  “John Reed. I don’t know a thing about him. For all we know, he could be a gentleman among swine.”

  Decker said, “Let’s keep it simple for the moment, start with a bank check. See if anyone’s in debt—both personal and business accounts. If one of the bros is in the hole for big bucks, a mill’s worth of jewels is going to look mighty sweet.”

  “Agreed. I’ll get to it.”

  “Now you said something about a first husband?”

  Marge scanned her notes. “Perry Goldin. According to Merritt—who, granted, isn’t exactly credible—the divorce wasn’t friendly. I don’t know who this Goldin is and where he was the night of the rape, but we’d better find out.”

  Decker nodded. “I’ll do that.”

  Marge shook her head. “She imaged these guys, Pete?”

  Decker shrugged helplessly.

  “So the composites are bullshit,” Marge stated.

  Hollander piped in. “So are the IDs in the mug book. Not one of the guys she picked out was within a hundred miles of her house.”

  Decker nodded, wondering just what—if anything—Lilah was trying to hide. Could be just the natural confusion of the victim. Lots of victims imagined things because they were so frightened and addled.

  Hollander said, “You want my unasked-for advice, forget about her images. Go back to good old-fashioned legwork and evidence.”

  “We’d better do it quickly,” Decker said. “Don’t want to displease Morrison.”

  “Did you finally talk to him?” Marge asked.

  “Yep. He was all right. But the message was clear.”

  “Above all, no bad press,” Hollander said.

  “Preferably no press at all,” Decker said.

  13

  The knock on the door was tentative, then firm.

  Christ, what now?

  “It’s open.”

  Squeaking hinges followed by the door closing shut.

  “You got a moment, Mike?”

  Ness remained immobile, face covered by his forearm, legs stretched out, feet hanging over the side of the bed.

  “Mike?”

  “I hear you. I hope it’s quick.”

  No response. Ness heard pacing. He lifted his arm from his eyes and propped himself up by his elbows. “Sit down, Jeffs. You’re making me nervous.”

  Ness watched Eubie Jeffers drag a chair next to his bed and sit. Jeffs was still dressed in his tennis whites, his finger gripped around the handle of his racket. A thin sheen of sweat coated his café au lait face. He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. Guy was as jumpy as griddled butter.

  Ness’s eyes went from Jeffs to his surroundings. The room was furnished with old leftover junk. The bedspread was torn, the dresser’s paint was peeling, and the carpeting was thin. There was only one tiny window in the whole place and that looked out to the pool filter. Still, living wasn’t costing him a dime. And after years of struggling, that was worth a lot.

  “You gonna tell me what’s bugging you or is this gonna be twenty questions?”

  “You talk to the lady cop yet, Nessy?”

  Ness broke into a smile. Jeffers’s hazel eyes were oozing anxiety. He was biting his lower lip.

  “She trip you up or something, Eubie?”

  “That’s bogus. I’d never hurt Lilah. I’d never hurt anyone. I’m a lover, not a fighter.”

  “You’re a motherfucker, Jeffs. That’s what you are.”

  Jeffers cast his eyes downward and moved onto the bed. “Can you say I was with you last night?”

  “No.”

  “It’s important.”

  Ness burst into laughter.

  “Mike. Please!”

  Ness sprang up and grabbed Jeffers’s chin. “Fuck you, man! Hear what I’m saying? Fuck you!”

  Jeffers felt tears in his eyes. “If it gets out, I’m gonna lose my job, Mike! I’m delinquent on the one credit card I have left. I’m two months behind on my rent. You gotta help me!”

  Ness let go of Jeffers’s chin with a shove. “You make me sick, know that?”

  “Please! I swear this time will be the last.”

  “How many white women do you have to pork before you stop feeling black, Jeffs? Hundred’s not enough? What do you need? A thousand? A mill—”

  “Mike.”

  “Jesus Christ!” Ness sat up cross-legged on the bed and shook his head. “Jeffs, I already told the lady detective that I was alone all night. Which I was. If I start changing my story, start trying to cover your ass, she’s gonna look at me with ye olde jaundiced eye.” He looked up. “Stop worrying. If you had nothing to do with Lilah, the cop’ll leave you alone.”

  “I didn�
�t have anything to do with Lilah, Mike. You know that. But what if the lady cop starts talking to the lady I was with? Mike, if that happens, the lady’s gonna get mad. You know how secrecy is to the people who go here It’s part of the game. If she tells Lilah, Lilah will see it like last year all over again. This time for sure I’ll lose my job—”

  “How much she pay you for stud service?”

  “You can have it all, Nessy.”

  “I didn’t ask for it. I just asked how much she paid you?”

  Jeffers paused. “Fifty.”

  “You lie like a politician, Jeffs. Try again.”

  “Two hundred.”

  “Two hundred?” Ness laughed. “Tell the lady I’ll do her in blackface at half the price.”

  “Mike—”

  “Why does the detective think you were with a lady last night?”

  “I…she caught me off guard, Mike. I don’t think as quick on my feet as you do. I knew I was coming off bad so I told her the truth. Or part of it. That I was here last night with a married woman giving her a private tennis lesson. I said I kept it secret ’cause I didn’t want it getting out that I was giving the lady a discount.”

  “Why didn’t you just say you were with Natanya?”

  “I didn’t think of her.”

  “But you thought of me? Christ, you’re an idiot.”

  “Yeah, it was stupid. ’Cause immediately I saw that the detective didn’t give a rat’s ass about what I wanted. But she didn’t press it. Then I thought…well, okay, I can’t take back what I said. But suppose I was with you, too. Then you could cover for me and the detective wouldn’t have to bother the woman.”

  “Exactly what do you want me to say, Jeffs?”

  Jeffers took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Thanks—”

  “Hey, I didn’t say I’d do it.”

  “I know, I know. Can you just…if the cop starts getting real nosy, can you just say I was with you from ten till two in the morning?”

  “Too long.”

  “Okay, okay. Midnight till two?”

  “I’ll give you an hour. Midnight to one. And I didn’t say anything to the detective because you were…” Ness sniffed several times.

  “No, no, please don’t mention that. I’m supposed to be clean. Lilah thinks I’m clean.”

  “You had a relapse. You and the woman were doping and that’s why you didn’t want to say her name—hey, that’s why you came to me! You were so upset about your relapse, you had to talk to someone. And I didn’t want to get you involved unless I had to. Hey, I’m a nice guy. I felt bad for you.” Ness smiled. “After all, Jeffs, you’re one sick dude and that ain’t lyin’. You’re an addict.” He held up his fingers and began to tick them off. “A drug addict, an exercise addict, a sex addict—”

  “Mike—”

  “You’ve just got an addictive mentality.”

  Jeffers lowered his head. “Don’t do this to me.”

  “Sob, sob, Jeffs. Betham is suing my butt, not yours. If you hadn’t porked her in the first place, she wouldn’t have gotten mad at me when I said no.”

  “I know, Nessy. Please don’t rub it in.”

  “I told you she was a head case.”

  “You were right.”

  “Who’d you ball last night?”

  “Patsy.”

  Ness smiled. “Little Patsy Levington. What is she? Five feet even?”

  “They all look the same lying down.”

  There was a pause. Both men burst into hard laughter. They laughed until tears rolled down their eyes. Ness wiped his cheeks.

  “So Patsy paid you two hundred, huh?”

  “They all love to fuck a nigger, Nessy.”

  “You ain’t much of a nigger, Jeffs.”

  “That’s why I’m so perfect. Close enough to the real thing to be dangerous, but not so black so’s I’m…”

  “Menacing.”

  “That’s it, man. Whitey don’t like a menacing nigger.”

  “God, I can’t believe she paid you two hundred.”

  “You’re missing gold here. I keep telling you that.”

  “And I keep telling you that if you don’t stop, you’re gonna be out on your butt.”

  “I’m gonna stop—”

  “Jeffs…”

  “I am! I swear I am.” Jeffers laid the racket in his lap. “I’m gonna find a rich white girl—”

  “Yeah, right!”

  “Hold on…I’m gonna find a rich white girl who hates her father.”

  “That’s a possibility.”

  Jeffers smiled. “Get her to think of herself as real baaaad, ’cause she’s fuckin’ a black man.”

  “Go on.”

  “Maybe even knock her up…”

  “There’s a thing out there called abortion.”

  “Yeah, but I’m gonna pretend I want the baby.” Jeffers smiled. “The product of our luv.”

  Ness laughed.

  “Then…” Jeffers pointed his finger in the air. “Then I hit the old man up for cash. Bye-bye spa, bye-bye tennis. I’m outta here.”

  Ness grinned and patted the tennis instructor’s shoulder. “Keep dreaming, Jeffs. It’s good for the soul.”

  Jeffers gripped his racket and stood. “So we’re all squared away?”

  “Almost.” Ness slowly rose off the bed, smiled, and unbuckled Jeffers’s belt. “You owe me, you know.”

  “I know.”

  “You haven’t even repaid me for Betham yet.”

  “I know.”

  “When Lilah asked, I never said a word—”

  “I said I know!”

  “No need to shout, Jeffs. Just setting the record straight.”

  “When I score big, Mike, you’ll get half. I swear it. Half off the top.”

  “No offense, Jeffs, but I’m not holding my breath.” Ness pulled Jeffers’s belt from the loops. Inside the money compartment was a fold of twenties. Two hundred even. Ness counted out five bills and stuffed them in his pocket. He placed the rest of the cash, along with the belt, into Jeffers’s palm. “Know what I’d do if I were you, Eub?”

  “What?”

  “I’d take a ten and buy a single long-stemmed red rose for Patsy. She’s got another week here. Now, I’d say ten bucks on a rose is a very good investment for the future.”

  Jeffers relooped his belt around his waist and stowed the leftover twenties back in the compartment.

  “Good idea?” Ness asked.

  “Good idea,” Jeffers answered.

  Decker swung his legs over the bed and sat up. A bad night’s sleep and it was slow going the next morning. Too bad people weren’t batteries because a jump start would have been nice.

  The shower helped some; so did the sting of the aftershave. As he dressed, he thought about Rina. She was always energetic, but now she’d progressed into a superhuman industrious phase. She hadn’t only prepared a farmer-sized breakfast but had cooked the meal at five-thirty A.M., humming as she stirred and mixed and fried. At that hour, her only company had been the dog, the birds, and a few mourning doves. Half asleep, he conjured up a mental picture of her outfitted in a simple smock covered by an apron, dancing as she moved from chore to chore, talking to the animals—a pregnant Cinderella. He felt bad he wasn’t more of a Prince Charming.

  Towel-drying his hair, he walked into the kitchen just as the phone rang. Rina beat him to it.

  “Hello,” she sang into the mouthpiece.

  There was a pause, followed by a husky female voice.

  “May I speak to Peter, please?”

  Decker saw Rina’s smile fade.

  The husky voice said, “This is Peter Decker’s residence, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, it is,” Rina answered. “Who is this, please?”

  “Lilah Brecht.”

  Decker saw Rina’s eyes widen.

  “Who is it?” Decker asked.

  “Lilah Brecht.” Rina put her hand over the mouthpiece. “Why is she calling you?”

  �
�Can I have the phone, Rina?”

  Reluctantly, Rina handed him the receiver.

  Decker smiled at his wife and said, “This is Decker. How’d you get my home phone number, Ms. Brecht?”

  “Lilah.”

  “How’d you get my number?”

  “Peter, I’m very sorry to bother you at home. I tried calling the station…I am sorry.”

  He rolled his tongue in his cheeks, glancing at Rina who now seemed more perplexed than angry. “What can I do for you?”

  “I need to talk to you, Peter.”

  “Fine. I’m all ears.”

  “I’d like to speak with you in person.”

  “All right. Why don’t you come to the station house around eleven.”

  “If it’s all the same to you, could you drop by my ranch around eleven?”

  Decker felt his jaw tighten as his eyes drifted back to Rina’s face.

  “Don’t worry, I’m leaving,” she said.

  “Wait!” Decker called out.

  “Pardon.”

  “Hold on, Lilah.” His voice was stronger than he had intended. He placed his hand over the mouthpiece and whispered, “I didn’t ask you to leave.”

  “You have that look on your face.”

  “What look?”

  “The ‘she’s going to overhear something’ look.”

  “Rina—”

  “Forget it, Peter. I’m going to wake the boys.” She stomped out of the room.

  He glanced at the clock. Seven-oh-three and he felt a headache coming on. He returned his attention to the call. “Lilah, I hope to get a good handle on your case very soon. I realize you’ve been through hell—”

  “I didn’t sleep at all last night. I didn’t dare sleep in…the room. It’s still a mess and…I slept in the guest bedroom, but I kept waking up every five minutes…in a cold sweat. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore so I called Freddy down at four in the morning. He bunked out on the couch. I…I just didn’t think it would be so horrible, Peter. And now…” She took a deep breath. “What…what they did was such a horrible invasion for anyone, but it’s especially dreadful for me. I have a business to run, Peter. I have to face people and be healthy and happy and…”