by J. D. Griffo
Alberta found a plastic tray hiding behind some paper towels underneath the sink and put the cups on it so she would only have to make one trip from the kitchen to the table. It was hardly far, but Alberta was hoping to be a more active participant in the interview, not just a de facto waitress.
“Tea with honey for you,” Alberta said, placing a cup in front of Jinx. “Tea with a spoonful of sugar for you,” she said, placing the other cup in front of Adrienne. “And tea with milk for me.”
Alberta pulled out a chair at the table and sat down. “I hope you don’t mind if I sit here,” Alberta said. “There really isn’t anywhere else for me to go.”
Alberta hoped Adrienne wouldn’t point out that she could sit on the couch in the living room, but the young woman proved to be a cooperative hostess.
“Not at all,” Adrienne said. “And feel free to ask me any questions you want as well. Like I said, I have nothing to hide.”
“I wouldn’t want to interfere while Jinx is working,” Alberta said, “but I wonder what you think about Missy’s movies. Which one is your favorite?”
“I don’t have one,” Adrienne replied.
“How can you not have one?” Alberta asked. “You must have a favorite.”
“I’ve never seen them,” Adrienne declared.
It was Jinx’s turn to kick her grandmother under the table to make her shut up and not go off on some tirade about how it was inconceivable that Missy’s only living relative had never seen one of her films. Adrienne was a few years younger than Jinx, and the Daisy Greenfield movies were long gone from the silver screen before they were born. Just because Missy and Adrienne were related didn’t mean there was any emotional connection between the two women. From what Jinx had gleaned thus far, they were more like strangers than relatives.
“Look, family is the most important thing in the world, but Missy Michaels is nothing more than a name from my childhood,” Adrienne explained. “My family rarely talked about her and when they did, it was almost always about her as an actress.”
“Did you know she was coming out of retirement to act once again?” Jinx asked.
“How could I know?” Adrienne replied. “Nothing was in the papers and Missy hadn’t had any contact with my family in years, not since the lawsuit.”
“What lawsuit?” Alberta asked.
Adrienne took a long sip of tea. “I don’t have all the details and from what my grandmother told me the lawyers handled everything.” Adrienne took another sip of tea, then asked, “What else can I tell you?”
They weren’t sure if she was trying to be helpful or avoid talking about her famous dead relative. But neither Alberta nor Jinx wanted to give Adrienne any reason to stop talking or ask them to leave, so Alberta glared intently at Jinx, willing her granddaughter to take a different approach to the interview to ensure it continued. Jinx understood what she had to do.
“Why did you move here?” Jinx asked.
“I had to get away from the Michigan cold,” Adrienne explained. “This past winter was the worst in years, and I couldn’t deal with another one. I thought about moving to Florida, but I know how hot it can get down there, and I felt like I would be going from one extreme to the other.”
“You made the right decision,” Jinx said. “I grew up in Florida and I never want to experience another hot, humid Florida summer for as long as I live.”
“But why New Jersey?” Alberta asked.
“Work,” Adrienne replied. “I decided I wanted to move back to the East Coast, so I applied to a bunch of places and the place in Jersey made the best offer. I do customer service for a company right here in Parsippany. I start next week.”
“Do you know Kip Flanigan?” Alberta asked.
At the mention of Kip’s name, Adrienne’s cup slipped through her fingers, and if she hadn’t caught it at the last second, it would’ve crashed onto the table. “I’m such a klutz,” she said. “I haven’t eaten much today.”
Alberta fought her maternal instinct to feed Adrienne and instead fed her the same question in hopes of getting an answer this time. “I said, do you know Kip Flanigan?”
“No, should I?” Adrienne asked.
“He’s a very nice young man who’s going to be in the show that Missy was supposed to star in,” Alberta explained. “He lives here in Parsippany too and I thought you might know him.”
“Parsippany is a big town, Gram, if you haven’t noticed,” Jinx said.
Adrienne glanced up at the clock on the wall. “Oh, wow! I didn’t notice the time. I’m sorry, but I have to get ready for an appointment. We can schedule a time for you to come back if you’d like.”
“I’ll let you know if that’s necessary,” Jinx said. “But I think I’ve gotten everything I need.”
* * *
“I don’t think I got anything useful out of Adrienne!” Jinx cried.
Joyce refilled her glass with Red Herring and Helen cut her another slice of Entenmann’s cherry pie. Alberta was the only one who didn’t move at the table. She was also the only one who knew Jinx was wrong.
“You got everything you needed out of her, lovey,” Alberta said.
“How can you say that?” Jinx asked.
“Because we know she was lying,” Alberta declared. “I don’t know what she was lying about, but she was definitely lying.”
“How can you be so sure, Gram?”
“Because I don’t care what Adrienne says about not ever talking about Missy,” Alberta said. “No one turns their back on their family like that and never sees them again.”
“That’s exactly what my mother did.”
Jinx’s words landed like a thud on the kitchen table. It was as if the big, old Italian elephant in the room was lifted up and thrown on the table for dinner. Helen and Joyce eyed each other, not sure what to say or do. They knew Lisa Marie was the literal link that connected Alberta and Jinx, but they also knew that link had been severed over a decade ago. Alberta, however, wasn’t upset, she wasn’t angry, she was relieved. She was thrilled Jinx had brought up her mother and hadn’t minced words about how she left New Jersey to start a new life far away from her family.
“You’re right, lovey,” Alberta said. “But I need you to understand that I have not turned my back on your mother. If she ever reached out to me or needed me, I would go to her in a heartbeat, no questions asked.”
“Despite my mother’s silence, I know that she’d do the same thing for you,” Jinx said.
“That’s because we’re family,” Alberta said, the tears falling easily from her eyes. “She’s my daughter and I’m her mother. We have this ... thing between us, but nothing can change who and what we are to each other.”
“Gram, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you cry,” Jinx said, her own tears racing down her face.
“Crying is just a way to wash your heart, lovey,” Alberta said. “Sometimes it needs a good scrubbing.”
“Sanjay told me the same exact thing,” Joyce said. “I think it’s a Buddhist saying.”
The mention of Sanjay’s name abruptly ended the sentimental spell cast around the room.
“You talk to Sanjay now?” Helen asked.
“As part of the investigation,” Joyce said. “I was going to fill you all in after you told us what you learned from Adrienne.”
“We’re finished with Adrienne,” Jinx said. “Tell us about Sanjay.”
“I asked him about the security footage the night of the murder and whether it showed Missy leaving with her escort,” Joyce explained.
“Did it?” Helen asked.
“He doesn’t know,” Joyce replied. “Sanjay said the video is missing.”
“Missing?” Alberta cried. “How could a videotape just disappear?”
“And why are they still using videotape?” Jinx asked. “Hasn’t Sanjay upgraded?”
“Sanjay’s cheap, Jinxie,” Helen said. “An upgrade costs money.”
“He thinks the tape was stolen and he’s hoping
Brandon will be able to tell us more now that he’s back from helping his family,” Joyce said. “He was working the night of the murder and saw Missy leave with her escort.”
“Brandon works all through the night, doesn’t he?” Alberta asked.
“Yes, someone’s at the front desk twenty-four-seven,” Joyce confirmed.
“Then I think it’s time we paid Brandon a visit,” Alberta said. “Let’s go.”
“I’d love to, Gram,” Jinx said, “but if I don’t post five hundred words online before midnight about the new bill on the docket overhauling how Jersey recycles plastic, Wyck will have my head.”
“And I need to work on my blocking or else Johnny’s going to have my head for lunch,” Helen said. “If I sit still, I know all my lines, but once I move, I’m like a silent film star.”
“Then it’s just me and you, Joyce,” Alberta declared. “Let’s see if Brandon can shed some light on this mystery.”
When they arrived at the Tranquility Arms, the only mystery was why Sanjay was standing behind the front desk and not Brandon.
“He’s still not back yet!” Sanjay cried. “He texted me to say he’d be back today, but today is now tonight and still no Brandon! I bet that lazy bum is taking a nap at his apartment!”
As Joyce began to placate Sanjay and tell him that maybe Brandon’s family still needed him, Alberta hit Joyce’s pocketbook so it fell to the ground. Alberta bent down to pick it up at the same time Joyce did and whispered in her ear, “Find out Brandon’s home address.”
“Like I was saying, Sanjay, maybe Brandon is taking a nap,” Joyce said, contradicting herself.
“That’s what I said!”
“I have an idea,” Joyce said. “Do you have Brandon’s address? I could go over there and see if he’s home.”
“It’s 492 Maple Lane Road!” Sanjay cried. “And take these, you might need them.”
Sanjay slammed down a set of keys onto the counter.
“What are these?” Joyce asked.
“The spare keys to Brandon’s apartment!” Sanjay shouted. “He kept a pair here because he was always locking himself out!”
“If you had his keys, Sanjay, why didn’t you go over to his place yourself?” Alberta asked.
“Because if I found him there taking a nap, I would kill him in his sleep!” Sanjay exclaimed. “And then who would send money to my sixty-seven relatives back in Mumbai?”
* * *
Standing in the middle of Brandon’s ransacked living room, Alberta and Joyce held on to each other tightly because someone had beaten Sanjay to it. The young man was lying on his couch, his bloodshot eyes open and still looking fearful, a green scarf wrapped and knotted around his neck. From the odor emanating from his body, it was apparent that he had been in that position for several days.
Brandon never left town to take care of a family emergency, he had been strangled to death.
CHAPTER 21
Due omicidi meritano due sospetti.
Joyce let out a cry and turned her back on the corpse. Alberta stared at the young man a moment longer and then did the same. Sometimes the truth was just too hard to face.
“The poor boy, he was so young,” Joyce said.
“I know, he was younger than Jinx,” Alberta added. “It isn’t fair.”
Holding on to Alberta’s hands and shaking her head, Joyce asked, “How could these things happen? Here of all places?”
Alberta squeezed Joyce’s hands tighter. “I ask myself that all the time.”
“I want to do something, but I feel so helpless,” Joyce admitted.
“We can pray.”
Together, hands still entwined, Alberta and Joyce prayed for Brandon. They asked God to have mercy on his soul and to receive him in heaven with a full heart and a loving embrace. They also prayed for Brandon’s family, that they would be able to endure this shock and recover from the pain they undoubtedly would feel to lose such a young member of their family. They still had enough faith to believe God had heard every word. If not, it would have been difficult to remain in the room.
Joyce took a handkerchief from her pocketbook and handed it to Alberta, who instinctively placed it over her mouth and nose as a way to block out the smell that was starting to become overwhelming. Joyce then removed the brooch that was keeping the thick, cotton scarf pinned to her jacket, so she could give the accessory a similar use. She dropped the brooch into her pocketbook and looked around the room.
“Should we open a window, Berta?”
“I’d like to, but we shouldn’t touch anything. For all we know, whoever killed Brandon came in through the window; he does live on the first floor.”
“Honestly, Berta, I don’t know how you keep your wits about you in times like these,” Joyce remarked. “You’ve got the strength of Moses.”
“I also know when to call in reinforcements,” Alberta said.
As they waited for the police and ambulance to arrive, Alberta and Joyce stood in place to prevent any accidental disturbance to the crime scene but look around the room for clues. They felt as if they were playing one of those optical illusion games, straining their eyes in search of things that didn’t belong, not knowing what they were looking for but sure they would know when they found it.
“Berta, over there,” Joyce said. “That’s a VHS case.”
“You’re right, but where’s the video?”
“It might be around here, but I don’t see it.”
“Ah, Madon!” Alberta cried. “That has to be the case for the security footage.”
“You think that’s why Brandon was killed? Because of whatever’s on that footage?”
“That has to be the reason,” Alberta said. “The footage shows Missy being led out of the Tranquility Arms by her escort. But why would Brandon bring the video here? He should’ve given it directly to the police.”
“I hate to speak ill of the dead, Berta, but maybe he was blackmailing Missy’s escort.”
“Now who’s keeping their wits about them?” Alberta asked. “You’re starting to think like a real detective, Joyce.”
“Just trying to keep up with my fearless leader.”
“Whoever escorted Missy to the theatre must have killed her,” Alberta said, “and that same person must have killed Brandon because he was the only person to see the video.”
“If we only knew who this escort was.”
“Maybe we do.”
“What do you mean?” Joyce asked. “You figured out who killed Missy already?”
“No, but look over there, at the base of the floor lamp beside the window.”
It took a few seconds for Joyce to see what Alberta was pointing at. “That’s a rubber band,” Joyce said. “How’s such a common item a clue?”
“Because it’s what Johnny uses to tie back his hair into a ponytail,” Alberta replied.
Even with her scarf covering her mouth, her gasp could be heard in the hallway.
“Everything all right in here?” Vinny asked as he entered the apartment.
“Just a little post-traumatic shock,” Alberta said.
“Tambra, help Joyce outside,” Vinny ordered. “And Alfie, explain to me how you two happened to be in the presence of yet another dead body.”
Alberta explained that they had gone to the Tranquility Arms to ask Brandon about Missy’s escort the night of her murder, but Brandon was nowhere to be found. She filled Vinny in on what Sanjay had told them about Brandon never showing up for his shift, and that he gave them the keys to Brandon’s apartment so they were able to let themselves in when Brandon didn’t answer the doorbell.
In anticipation of what she knew was going to be Vinny’s next question, Alberta said, “No, we haven’t moved from these spots.”
“I guess I should thank you for doing our work for us,” Vinny said. “I was planning on questioning Brandon tomorrow. We tried to reach him in Rochester, but his family said they hadn’t heard from him in months.”
“He wasn’t th
e devoted son we thought he was?” Alberta asked.
“That wasn’t the impression I got from speaking to his parents,” Vinny said. “From what I know of Brandon, he was more devoted to himself, a bit of an opportunist, kind of like the hustlers we grew up with. Not bad necessarily, but they would turn a blind eye to their morals if it meant they could make a buck.”
“Sounds like Brandon had what it takes to be a blackmailer,” Alberta said.
“What are you talking about, Alfie?” Vinny asked.
Alberta pointed toward the VHS tape box Vinny hadn’t yet seen and explained their theory to him. She then alerted him to the rubber band and its potential connection to Johnny. She wasn’t being egotistical, but she knew her old friend would be impressed with her deductions. And she was right.
“It’s time we called Johnny Fenn in for questioning,” Vinny said.
“You should make it a two-for-one sale,” Alberta said.
Vinny had known Alberta for a long time and had become fluent in Alberta speak. “There’s another suspect?”
“Due omicidi meritano due sospetti,” Alberta said. “Two murders deserve two suspects.”
“Don’t keep me in suspense,” Vinny said. “Who’s suspect number two?”
“Kip,” Alberta replied. “He doesn’t have an airtight alibi for the night Missy was murdered, and there is his obsession.”
“Full sentences, Alfie,” Vinny said. “Speak in full sentences.”
“Kip has a whole room covered in Missy memorabilia,” Alberta said. “Jinx found it when we were over at his apartment rehearsing. Honestly, after talking with him I thought it was harmless; creepy and strano but nothing to worry about.”
“You realize Kip has some kind of criminal past, right?” Vinny asked rhetorically.
“Yes, but who among us should cast the first stone?” Alberta mused.
Vinny’s silence led Alberta to believe he was stymied by her biblical reference. She was wrong.
“Me! That’s who, ’cause I’m the chief of police!” Vinny declared. “And I’m telling you what I told Jinx: from here on in, we share whatever information we learn. The next time you stumble upon a room filled with a dead woman’s tchotchkes, tell me about it! No more secrets.”