Poppy Harmon and the Hung Jury

by Lee Hollis

  “Lydia—that’s the woman over there, she is such a dear—well, she told me that Tofu has had an unhealthy attraction toward much younger men for years, boys even young enough to be her grandson!”

  “How did Lydia know about that?”

  “Pretty much everyone knows. It’s an open secret around here. Tofu is not exactly discreet, according to Lydia,” Violet said, waving at her new friend, who adjusted her granny glasses and grinned and waved back as she stood in line for another white wine at the bar.

  “What about Tony? Does he know?” Poppy asked.

  “He tolerates it because, according to Lydia, it makes his life easier. He can have his own dalliances without having to worry about Tofu complaining and causing a ruckus. She would be the world’s biggest hypocrite if she did, so the unspoken arrangement basically works.”

  “The key to a happy open marriage,” Poppy remarked. “More power to them, I guess.”

  “They never had a problem until last year. Lydia, who is about to be a great-grandmother, isn’t that wonderful news; her granddaughter in Phoenix is about to give birth to twins, a boy and a girl—”

  “Violet, that’s lovely, but can we stay on point?”

  “Of course, it’s just that she is the sweetest thing and we exchanged numbers and I am so happy you made me go over there because I hardly expected to make a new friend today—”

  “Violet . . .”

  “Right, sorry. Anyway, last year Tofu went home to Texas for her mother’s funeral, and apparently while she was there she had a brief fling with a local boy, the son of the preacher who delivered the sermon at the memorial service.”

  “Alden Kenny?”

  Violet shook her head. “Lydia never heard his name, but it was quite the scandal. Tony was touring Canada at the time and couldn’t be there, which allowed Tofu to get up to her old tricks! Well, after she returned to Palm Springs, she thought that was the end of it. But it wasn’t. The boy she left behind was head over heels in love with her and couldn’t let her go, and so he followed her out here from Texas like a puppy dog, with love in his eyes.”

  “And by this time Tony was home from his tour?”

  “That’s right! He caught the kid leaving flowers for Tofu outside the gate of their estate and all hell broke loose! Lydia said Tony threatened to kill him if he didn’t leave his wife alone! And so the kid, fearing for his life, apparently did what he was told because that’s the last they heard of him. Lydia assumed he went back to Texas.”

  “But he didn’t. He stuck around. And I’m betting his name was Alden Kenny, who went in on a carpet-cleaning business with a friend in order to make a living. I’m certain if we do a little digging about his past in Abilene, we’ll find out he was the son of a preacher man.”

  “Isn’t that the title of a song?”

  “Yes, Violet.”

  “I did good, didn’t I?” Violet asked, an expectant look on her face.

  “Violet, you are a rock star,” Poppy said, proudly patting her on the back.

  Poppy homed in on Tofu, who was leading Matt by the hand over to the couch, where they sat down to continue their flirtatious conversation.

  How on earth did Alden Kenny wind up as a juror for Tony Molina’s assault trial?

  And how did his history with the defendant’s wife not come out during the jury selection process?

  It left Poppy to wonder, was it sheer coincidence or had Alden Kenny, as she had long suspected, been a plant?

  And did that have anything to do with why he was murdered?

  Chapter 29

  The following morning, Iris was not at all pleased when Poppy strong-armed her into calling Jay Takamura, Alden Kenny’s friend and business partner, and asking him out to dinner. It had been quite clear when Iris had first hired the sprightly eager young entrepreneur to clean her carpets that he carried a not-so-secret torch for her. And so it made perfect sense for the detectives at Desert Flowers to use that to their advantage. Given Iris’s rather remote and brusque personality, Jay at first thought it must be some kind of prank when he answered his cell and it was the elusive Iris Becker.

  “Iris, is this really you?” Jay asked hesitantly.

  “Of course it is me. Who else would it be?” Iris barked as she sat on the couch in the garage office of the agency, surrounded by Poppy, Violet, and Matt.

  “I just didn’t think you were interested in me,” Jay said.

  “Have you never heard of playing hard to get?” Iris asked pointedly.

  “Well, yes, but if that was what you were doing when I was over at your house the other day, then you were playing really, really hard.”

  “I play to win. Do you want to have dinner with me or not?” Iris sighed, getting annoyed at the entire conversation.

  “Yes, I’d like that very much,” Jay said, starting to get excited that this was real and actually happening.

  Violet poked her in the arm and signaled to her to be nicer.

  Iris hated being nice, but she reluctantly went along with the helpful advice. “You are a very nice man, and as far as I can tell you have very good taste if you want to spend more time with me, so we might as well have a meal together and see how it goes.”

  It wasn’t exactly whispering sweet nothings in his ear, but it would have to do.

  The important thing was that Jay was buying it.

  “How about tonight?” Jay suggested.

  “Let me check my schedule,” Iris huffed, putting down the phone, counting to ten, and then picking it up and pressing it to her ear again. “That will be fine.”

  “Shall I pick you up at your place? I still have your address in my phone from when I came over to clean your rugs.”

  “No! I will come to you!” Iris said quickly.

  Jay told her seven o’clock and then hung up before Iris could change her mind. The plan had worked. Iris would go over to Jay’s house, the same house he had shared with Alden, and they would leave for dinner. Iris would make a note of the security code of the house and text it to Poppy, who would be waiting around the corner with Violet and Matt to use the code to gain entry and search for any clues that might lead to why someone would want to kill Alden Kenny.

  Iris had argued vigorously against this cockamamie plan, but once Matt buttered her up by explaining how Jay simply could not resist her classic beauty and sparkling personality, and was clearly blinded by her celebrity as a now legendary golfer in the Coachella Valley, Iris finally relented. She explained her reasoning for finally going along with the hair-brained scheme: “I might as well use this power for good.”

  When Iris showed up at Jay’s house, he suggested they have a cocktail by the pool since their dinner reservation wasn’t until eight, but Iris refused, explaining she didn’t want to sit near a pool where a corpse had been floating around like an inflatable pink flamingo. Jay said he understood and quickly ushered her out the door, suggesting they have a cocktail at the restaurant’s bar instead. Just as Poppy had instructed, Iris managed to memorize the security code and text it to Poppy as they left, and within minutes, Poppy, Matt, and Violet were inside the house with flashlights searching desk drawers and closets.

  After forty-five minutes, they still had turned up nothing. Poppy was starting to believe their efforts had been a waste when suddenly Violet discovered a manila folder of Alden Kenny’s personal papers lying among some other items—a stack of old Prince CDs, a beer bong, and some vintage Playboy magazines—in a cardboard box underneath his bed. As Violet pulled some old store and restaurant receipts from a trash can to go through, Poppy spread the personal papers out on the floor. She and Matt spent the next half hour sifting through them all. They quickly found a few items of interest. According to his recent bank statements Alden’s account had been overdrawn. There was also a threatening note from the IRS and two jury summons. Poppy checked the dates on each summons and gasped.

  “What? What did you find?” Violet asked, poring through her own stack of receipts and wa
dded up balls of paper in the trash can.

  “These two separate jury summonses,” Poppy said. “They’re from the same year. There is one from February, where he showed up and was not put on a trial, and then this second one, which was right about the time of the Tony Molina trial.”

  “So?” Matt asked, not understanding the significance.

  “No one is called twice in one year to serve jury duty. Once you have fulfilled your obligation, even if you are not selected to serve on a jury, they don’t call you again for at least a year. He was summoned four months later.”

  “Maybe it was a clerical error,” Violet said, shrugging.

  “Maybe, but maybe it wasn’t,” Poppy said, suddenly suspicious. “And if it was a clerical error, why didn’t he bring the first summons with him to the courthouse to get out of jury service? Unless he wanted to be called!”

  Matt suddenly jumped to his feet. “What was that?”

  “What?” Violet asked.

  “I heard something,” he said before bounding out of Alden’s bedroom and into the living room.

  A few seconds later he raced back in. “They’re home!”

  “Already?” Poppy cried, checking her watch. “They’ve only been gone a little over an hour.”

  “They just pulled into the driveway!” Matt urgently whispered.

  Poppy scrambled to her feet as Violet frantically tossed all the papers back into the box and shoved it underneath the bed where she had found it.

  “We can sneak out the back by the pool,” Poppy said in a hushed tone.

  The three of them hurried out of the bedroom into the hallway and were halfway toward the sliding glass door that led outside to the backyard when the front door swung open and Jay, accompanied by Iris, walked inside.

  “I swear I set the security code when we left,” Jay said, confused.

  “You were nervous and trying to impress me so perhaps you just got flummoxed and forgot,” Iris suggested helpfully.

  Poppy, Matt, and Violet were trapped in the hallway. If they made a dash for the sliding glass door now, Jay would surely spot them from the living room. Poppy waved for Matt and Violet to follow her and they quickly doubled back, scurrying into a small bathroom off the hallway.

  “How about a nightcap?” Jay asked Iris.

  “No, as I told you in the car, I just need to use the ladies’ room and then I will be on my way,” Iris said.

  “Down the hall to the right,” Jay said. “I’m going to make myself a scotch. Give me a holler if you change your mind.”

  Poppy could hear Iris approaching. The three of them had piled into the bathtub and whipped the curtain closed to hide. Iris walked in and shut the door behind her. She was checking herself out in the mirror when Poppy slowly drew the light blue curtain back and whispered, “Iris . . .”

  Iris let out a whoop and jumped back, her eyes nearly popping out of her head at the sight of Poppy, Matt, and Violet crowded in the bathtub behind a shower curtain.

  They heard Jay pounding down the hall. “Is everything okay in there?”

  “Yes. Why?” Iris barked.

  “I thought I heard you scream,” Jay said from behind the door.

  “I don’t scream,” Iris growled. “I’ll take a bourbon straight up.”

  “Coming right up,” Jay said, sounding delighted that she had decided to stay a while longer.

  When she was certain he was gone, Iris turned back to her Desert Flowers partners. “What are you still doing here?”

  “We didn’t expect you back so soon. You were barely gone an hour,” Poppy whispered.

  “We had a cocktail, an appetizer, and an entree. You can only drag that out for so long,” Iris sniffed.

  “You couldn’t have stayed for dessert?” Matt asked.

  “You know I have been trying to cut down on my carbs,” Iris said huffily.

  “How are we going to get out of here?” Violet asked in a hushed tone.

  Matt jumped out of the bathtub. He took Poppy’s hand to help her out and then did the same for Violet.

  Poppy whipped around to Iris. “You’re going to have to distract him so we can slip out!”

  “How am I supposed to do that?” Iris asked.

  Matt grinned. “Oh, I’m sure you will think of something.”

  Iris wasn’t sure what he meant at first, but as it slowly began to sink in, she snorted and hissed, “Not on your life. He is half my age.”

  “He’s a third of your age if you want to quibble about it,” Violet said a bit too loudly.

  “Nobody asked you, Violet,” Iris almost yelled.

  “Shhhh! Quiet, everybody,” Poppy insisted. “He’s going to hear us.”

  Matt tried keeping his voice really low. “I’m not suggesting you go to bed with him, just be nice and flirty and keep him busy enough so he doesn’t see us leaving.”

  After a few more minutes back and forth, Iris finally agreed to do what she could, but she stopped short of leaving the bathroom.

  “What is it now, Iris?” Poppy asked.

  “The reason I came in here is I have to go,” Iris said, embarrassed.

  “Go where?” Matt asked.

  The women turned and stared at him and then he quickly got caught up. “Oh . . .”

  “Everybody turn around,” Poppy said, herding Violet and Matt back into the tub and closing the curtain as Iris lifted her skirt.

  “I have never been more humiliated in all my life!” Iris wailed.

  After washing her hands and applying some hand and face lotion from her purse as well as a spritz of perfume, Iris marched back out like a soldier heading into battle.

  Poppy, Matt, and Violet waited a few minutes, and then Matt opened the door a crack and strained to hear their conversation. He waved Poppy and Violet to follow and they all crept down the hall until they could hear Jay talking.

  “I’m so happy you decided to stay,” he said.

  Poppy peered around the corner from the hallway to see Jay and Iris sitting next to each other on the couch. Jay had an arm draped over the back, his hand almost touching Iris’s hair. She was trying hard to smile but she was clearly hating every moment of this.

  Poppy, Matt, and Violet silently made a move for the sliding glass door. Matt took a deep breath and tried opening it. It made enough of a noise for Jay to notice.

  “Did you hear—?”

  Before he could turn his head, Iris grabbed him by the back of the neck and yanked him forward, jamming her mouth over his. Surprised at first, Jay jerked away from her, but once it dawned on him what was actually happening, he excitedly wrapped his arms around Iris and hugged her tightly as they fell back on the couch, Iris on top, kissing passionately.

  Poppy had to suppress a giggle as they all quietly padded out of the house, and then Matt gently closed the glass door behind them. The three investigators disappeared into the darkness, leaving Iris with her fresh-faced, enthusiastic admirer.

  Chapter 30

  It didn’t take long for Glenda Felson to buckle under pressure.

  Especially when questioned by the imposing, intimidating, stone-faced Detective Lamar Jordan, who hovered over her in her cramped office adjacent to the jury assembly room at the Larson Justice Center in Indio.

  Poppy stood just outside the office, not wanting to crowd the elderly woman, who was short, stout, with an obvious wig and a bit too much makeup. She sat at her desk, which was cluttered with knickknacks and Post-it Notes scribbled with daily affirmations, and stared up at the handsome but stern face of Detective Jordan.

  “Bless your heart, coming all the way from Palm Springs to chat with me,” Glenda cooed. “Especially this time of day with all the traffic. I feel so important.”

  “Well, this is a very serious matter, ma’am,” Detective Jordan said.

  Poppy knew in her gut that she had done the right thing calling in Detective Jordan. After all, she had no client to satisfy in this matter. She was operating on pure curiosity and determination to f
ind out what had happened to Alden Kenny. And now, with the mounting evidence that Alden had been romantically involved with Tofu, that he had been mysteriously called twice in one year for jury duty and had miraculously landed on the jury for the Tony Molina trial, where he had stubbornly refused to acknowledge the plain hard incriminating facts, unlike his eleven other peers, there was something rotten in Indio.

  Instead of dispatching her troops to get the truth from the woman responsible for the two jury summonses sent to Alden Kenny, Poppy felt Glenda might cave more quickly if confronted with an actual police detective who had the authority to place her under arrest for any crimes she was covering up.

  Detective Jordan had been surprised when Poppy contacted him and brought him up to speed on what she had discovered. Instead of scolding her for poking her nose into affairs that clearly did not concern her, he very politely thanked her and assured her he would follow up on the information later that afternoon. Poppy, of course, couldn’t help herself and drove straight to the courthouse, which was a half-hour drive from Palm Springs, and was parking her car in the lot adjacent to the criminal courts building when Detective Jordan arrived in his Nissan Sentra and pulled into the space next to her.

  He raised an eyebrow and shook his head as Poppy offered him a friendly wave while getting out of her car. He scowled at her and she knew he probably would not be as polite as he had been when she initially called him at the police precinct with her information.

  Detective Jordan jumped out of his Sentra and approached Poppy with a sigh. “I don’t suppose you’re here because you’re fighting a parking ticket?”

  “No, if you don’t mind, I’d like to see what this woman in jury service has to say,” Poppy said, following close on his heels as he marched toward the security line outside the building.

  “What if I do mind?” Jordan asked brusquely.

  “I would feel bad because the last thing I want to do is irritate you, but since the courthouse is a public space, and legally I am allowed to be there—”