Casio had to admit that was smart. She led the way from the guest bedroom back into the living room. “Would you like some coffee or something?” she asked.
“No, I have an appointment in a few minutes.”
“A girl?”
“An interview about Miss Remington’s murder.”
“So you really are working on the case?” She shook her head. “Claudia is a wreck about it. I hope you finally get the guy.”
“So do I,” Casio said. “You know, Georgie, I never thanked you for keeping pressure on my shoulder that night.”
He watched the blood rush to her cheeks. “It’s okay. I was happy to do it.” She smiled at him. “I had a big crush on you. Helping you not bleed to death seemed like a date to me.”
Casio gave a short laugh, appreciating her inappropriate sense of humor. “If you’d looked like this in high school, I’d have taken you out on a real date.” The second the flippant words left his mouth, Casio wished he could rein them back in and start over. “Oh, man. I’m such a jerk. I’m sorry, Georgie. That was stupid.” He walked over to her. “I was trying to pay you a compliment and instead I insulted you.”
To his shock, she laughed. And it seemed genuine. “Casio. I know I was a pudgy, strange girl. In a weird way, Miss Remington’s death that night made me realize that life was way too short to live unhappy. That’s when I started working on self-improvement. You were gone before the next school year, but I lost all my extra weight over that summer and started off junior year as a size four. It was life-transforming. My first two years of high school were hell, but the last two were every girl’s dream.”
Casio listened, amazed that anyone had walked away from that experience with anything but invisible wounds. He peered closer at her. “Is that when you decided to go into the medical field too?”
She nodded. “I’d already taken a first-aid class because I was planning to get an after-school job at a day care and it was mandatory. But after that night, I just realized I was meant to save lives.”
“That’s great.”
“So what about you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, once you lost your scholarship for football, you could have done anything. Did Miss Remington’s death make you decide to be a cop? Like in some way you were determined to bring bad guys to justice?” Her voice was laced with teasing, but her eyes kept a steady gaze.
“I hate to dash your noble dream, but the truth is, I went into law enforcement because my old man was a cop. I just did it to try to get his approval.”
Her eyes dimmed a little. Casio narrowed his gaze. Let her be in a noble profession for a noble cause. All he’d ever wanted to be was a ball player. Football was in his blood. The police force had been a fallback plan.
“Well, at least you’re honest about it.” Georgie jerked her head toward the kitchen. “You sure I can’t get you some tea or coffee?”
Casio glanced at his watch. “If I don’t get to this appointment on time, Vic’s going to blow his stack.”
“Claudia’s Vic?”
“Used to be.” He grinned. “She walked out on him, so I’m not sure she still technically owns him.”
Her laugh seemed genuine. “I think he belongs to her until he decides he doesn’t want to. ADA Campbell doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy who’s going to give up very quickly.”
Casio glanced at his watch. “You’re probably right about that. And let’s face it, Claudia’s not the kind of girl a guy can forget so easily.”
“Do I detect a note of regret in your voice, Officer?”
“Do I regret that we broke up?” He shrugged. “We probably wouldn’t have split quite so soon if all that wouldn’t have happened. And speaking of splitting, I have to go.”
“Let me walk you to the door.” Her bare feet padded across the ceramic-tiled foyer, and she reached around him to open the door. “Thanks for coming to the rescue. I was a little too tipsy to drive, and I never really think I am. Good thing Claudia had more sense. At the time, anyway.”
“I’m here to protect and serve.”
“You know, after all these years, don’t you think it’s odd that you and Claudia and I have reconnected at the same time you and Claude’s husband are reinvestigating the murder?”
“It’s a little coincidental.”
“Or providential.” She smiled as he stepped onto the porch.
“You’re religious like Claude?”
She laughed. “Not at all. But I sort of think the universe pulled us together. Maybe it is time to resolve this case so we can all move on with our lives. Get some closure.”
“Could be.” Casio lifted his hand. “I’ll talk to you later. Don’t let Claude drink anymore tonight.”
“She finished off the bottle at the restaurant, so I imagine she’s down for the count.” She stepped onto the porch after him and Casio could feel her eyes on his back as he walked toward the car. “Hey, Casio,” she called. “Are you guys finished with my dad in regards to the case?”
“We swabbed him.” Casio shouldn’t discuss the case, but she was his daughter after all, and what were the chances Newman truly had the guts to do anything to Miss Remington, even if she’d rejected him? “Waiting for DNA to come back.”
“What sort of DNA could you be looking at?”
“Come on, I can’t tell you that. But I can tell you that I know your dad isn’t the killer. He’s not big enough.”
“Not to mention the fact that he could never harm anyone, least of all her.”
“So you did know your dad had a thing for her.”
Georgie’s face darkened. “Yeah, I knew. I just wish he hadn’t wasted his time.” She shrugged. “Oh well. It’s over. Thanks again. Claudia’s going to be mortified when she wakes up, but I appreciate the help and so will she.”
“It’s good of you to keep Claudia here.” He reached for his door handle. “She’ll come to her senses about Vic soon, I imagine. He’s a pretty good guy.”
As he drove out of her driveway, it occurred to him that he should have interviewed her while he was there. It might have been awkward to ask her about the bracelet her dad had given the schoolteacher, though. They’d eventually need to ask her since she was on the bus that night, but he didn’t like the idea of having to explain to Vic that his wife had to be helped out of Olive Garden dead drunk.
He headed in the familiar direction of Harper’s street, hoping to catch a glimpse of her pretty face. Since yesterday, he’d calmed down. He still suspected her true condition had nothing to do with a virus. And if she wasn’t going to tell him herself, time always had a way of revealing that sort of truth.
She couldn’t hide a pregnancy forever. And the second he could confirm it, he would be able to convince her to come back to him. A baby would connect them eternally.
Sixteen
“Pomp and Circumstance,” the song played at graduations around the country, has always made me cry. There’s just something about wide-eyed eighteen-year olds dressed in their caps and gowns. The long walk to their seats as the band plays mournfully and parents cry because their child is passing from one season of life to the next. It’s the end of childhood, the beginning of something new and wonderful. Maybe that’s why I became a teacher. To re-experience that moment over and over. A time for joy and hope, yet sad too.
I can almost hear “Pomp and Circumstance” playing in my head for Claudia and Casio—if he makes it. They’ll be graduating at the end of this year. I regret that I won’t be there to watch them take that enormous leap from childhood to adulthood with one rite-of-passage ceremony.
My body is beginning to cramp, but there’s no real pain. I suppose it’s the miscarriage. Even though I know I’ll be reunited with my child soon, I still can’t help but feel grief. There’s so much blood already, I doubt anyone will even notice.
If I could wish for anything right now, I’d wish that I could start the last year over. Stay away from a man who couldn’t lo
ve me. Let myself love the one who did.
The heart is fickle and imperfect and foolish. If only we could ever truly understand love. This love I feel now as my life ebbs, oh, it’s the real thing, filling up my whole body, leaving room for nothing else.
In life, love is complicated. Messy. Filled with jealousy and conditions. In the moments before death, it becomes clear what love was intended to be. Different. Divine. Some humans obtain that Godlike love. The Zoe kind of love. But not many. I think if we were all given the chance just once to be brought to the edge of mortality, the world would not know the pain of unbearable love that is unrequited.
I’ve been on both sides of human love. I’ve watched young men fall in love with me, only to be disappointed. And I’ve been on the other end. Just once. I’ve given my heart, soul, and body to a man who isn’t capable of loving.
“Where is she? Oh my God.” I feel myself pulled into strong arms. A familiar embrace that I once thought was all I ever wanted. But now I’m repulsed by his gesture.
“What are you doing?” my mother asks, because, of course, she’s never heard anything about our relationship.
“I love her.” He buries his face in my neck, his tears burn the cut on my neck where a bullet grazed my flesh. He sobs against me.
Love. His kind of love gave me flowers, stolen moments, secrets. But never kindness, mercy, gentleness, a sense of safety.
Without those things that make a woman feel safe, a man’s promise of love is nothing but pomp and circumstance.
Victor
Casio’s truck pulled up behind Vic just as he arrived at Jesse’s Garage.
“You’re here,” he said as he waited for Casio to jog up to the door where he stood waiting so they could go in together. “I’m impressed.”
“You think I wasn’t coming?”
Vic shrugged. “You never can tell with you.”
“Sorry, I had to help out a friend.”
“Okay. Let’s just do this. I have court tomorrow. I need to study tonight.”
The smell of gasoline and oil filled up Vic’s senses as he stepped inside the garage, making his stomach tight and unsettled.
Blake raised his head from under the hood of a Chevy Impala. “You here for Jesse?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Casio said. “He in his office?”
“Nah, just a sec.” He turned toward the opposite wall where the sound of air-powered tools shook the room.
“Jesse!” Blake called.
“How do these guys work in a place like this all day?” Casio asked.
“A man has to work where he can get a job.”
Casio shrugged, but his reply was cut off as Jesse approached, wiping his hands with an oily rag.
“Thanks for taking the time to see us.”
“No problem. Let’s go into my office so we can shut out most of the noise.”
The quiet came as a relief. Jesse motioned them toward a couple of worn-out chairs, and he took his seat behind a cluttered desk covered in greasy fingerprints.
“Sorry about the mess.” He readjusted his filthy cap. “I don’t notice how dirty this place is until someone like you pays a visit.”
“It’s okay.” Vic pulled out a notebook. “We’d like to ask you some questions about your involvement with BJ Remington.”
He frowned. “Involvement? I didn’t have no involvement with her except for fixing her car a couple of times.”
Casio snorted. “Dude, don’t shine me on. Your dad and brother both said you were dating her. So cut the crap and let’s just get to the part where you tell us about your involvement with BJ Remington like the ADA asked you.”
Impressed, Vic nodded.
“All right, look. There’s something you should know. I wasn’t dating her.”
“But you wanted to, right?” Vic poised his pen over a clean sheet of paper.
“Well, yeah.” Jesse gave a short, sheepish laugh. “I mean, who wouldn’t? That girl was different, special. Sexy, but still the kind you think you could marry.”
Casio narrowed his gaze. “But you weren’t dating.”
“I swear.” He sighed, leaned back in his chair, stretching his legs out in front of him under his desk. “Okay, here’s the deal. I saw her stopped at the side of the road one day, and I pulled over to help her. Turns out her transmission was no good. On the way back to her place to drop her off, we got to talking about how I didn’t graduate from high school but I wanted to get my mechanic’s license so I could start my own garage.”
“And, what? She wouldn’t let you kiss her good-bye?” Casio said.
Jesse frowned. “No, man. It wasn’t like that. She never thought about me that way. I think she was seeing someone.”
Vic sat forward. “Do you know who?”
He shook his head. “She was pretty hush-hush about it.”
Vic looked askance at the detective and then back to Jesse. “Okay, then tell us about your relationship with her. What happened that night?”
“Nothing happened.” Jesse shrugged. “I dropped her off and went back to tow her car to my house.”
“Why your house?” Vic asked.
“That was before I had this place. I did some part-time jobs from my garage. For extra cash.” He sipped from a can of Mountain Dew on his desk, swallowed, and continued. “Anyway, she needed a new transmission. But when I called her and told her how much it would be, she said she couldn’t afford it. But I knew she was a teacher so I offered her an exchange. Tutor me so I could pass the GED and the entrance exam into the mechanic’s school, and I’d fix her car for nothing.”
“You gave her a transmission?” Casio scowled. “That’s kind of expensive just for some lessons.”
Vic wasn’t sure if Casio was playing “bad cop,” but Vic wanted to tell him to ease up. Casio might not be the sort of guy that was willing to give up everything for the love of a woman, but Vic understood a little bit about how a guy with a garage might find a transmission for a pretty girl and give it to her on the off chance she might actually date him.
Jesse swallowed hard and adjusted his hat again. “I got a cheap transmission from the salvage yard and made sure it worked good. The owner traded me the transmission for some work. He liked to put cars together and sell them.”
“So why did your dad and Blake think Miss Remington used you then dumped you?”
“I guess I kind of let them think we were, you know … together.” His face turned two shades of red. “I felt too stupid to tell the truth. When they saw us hanging out so much, they just assumed. They thought I was actually getting some action with the pretty schoolteacher, and I was trying to be a big shot.”
“And you never told the truth?” Vic said.
“What a piece of work.” Casio gave a humorless laugh. “You know your brother mouthed off to her and got himself a failing grade because of your lie?”
He nodded. “Don’t you think I know that? It’s my fault Blake lost out on his chance to go to college on a scholarship. After that, she died, and I didn’t see the point in clearing it up just for my dad and brother.”
Vic cleared his throat. “So you’re saying that once Miss Remington was already dead, there was no reason to admit to lying.”
Jesse frowned. He nodded hesitantly. “I guess that’s right.”
This guy was definitely hiding something. Vic pressed him further. “Because if you had admitted that the woman you had a crush on wouldn’t give you the time of day, it might have cast suspicion on you. Is that what you meant?”
He averted his gaze to his filthy desk. “I guess.”
Casio relaxed his fingers. He squared his gaze at the mechanic. “When did you open this garage?”
“About a year after … you know.”
“Miss Remington was murdered.” Casio’s tone was sharp, like the jagged edge of broken glass.
“Yeah. I got my GED the week after the shooting—kind of like a tribute to all of her hard work with me—then I went to a nine-month sch
ool. I came back here and opened the garage.”
Vic nodded. He could appreciate the American dream. Who didn’t want to come up from nothing and start his own business? That was his story too in a lot of ways. He never really knew his dad because he was so young when he went to prison. He grew up poor and scared in the roughest section of Dallas. His one saving grace was a mama who insisted he study every night and kept him away from the thugs and gangs. The proudest day of his life was moving his mama into a nice condo in a nice neighborhood.
“Impressive.” He stood. “One more thing.” He pulled the swab kit from his bag. “We’d like permission to take a DNA sample.”
Jesse nodded, but swallowed hard. “What do I need to do?”
“Just need to swab the inside of your cheek.”
“Okay.”
Vic took the sample, thanked Jesse for his time, and he and Casio left the garage.
Casio coughed into his hand. “Man, that place stinks.”
Vic shrugged. “I guess you’d get used to it.”
“No, thanks.” He walked to his truck. Then turned. “Hey Vic, did he seem nervous?”
“Yeah. But that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. Some people get nervous around cops even if they didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I guess.” He shook his head, as though trying to put the pieces of something together. Vic understood. He had the same kind of suspicion. But he didn’t want to jump to conclusions. “Wait until the DNA comes back,” he suggested. “Then we’ll see.”
“You know he picked up the phone as soon as we walked out of the office?”
Vic frowned. “How do you know that?”
“I looked.” Casio reached for his door. “And his eyes were as wide as a kid caught shoplifting. I’m telling you, he’s hiding something.”
“Interesting.” Vic pressed the button to unlock his door. “But like I said, let’s wait and see what the DNA says, and then we’ll lean on him. Even if he’s not responsible, he might know something.” He glanced back at the building. Jesse stood in the doorway watching them, phone pressed to his ear. “Let’s wait and discuss it someplace else.”
The Crossing Page 17