“Did you recognize the guy?” Carol asked, suspicious.
“Well,” Ed stretched the word out. “He reminded me a lot of your little girl to be honest with you. And he was real persistent.”
Carol started laughing with that confirmation as to just who bought the house. “Yeah, I bet.” She put a hand on his arm. “Thank you.”
“Well, now, it isn’t up to me to come between a man and his baby girl. Especially one that’s as sweet as that little thing over there. I just thought I’d stop on over and see how you felt about the whole thing.” He stood and slipped his pipe into his shirt pocket. “You just tell her to come on over as often as she does now, and all of this will be okay. Can she swim?”
“Like a fish. And I’ll tell her. Do you need any help tomorrow?”
“I would appreciate it if we could come sit on your porch and watch them do all the work.”
“It’s a deal. I’ll even have a pitcher of tea waiting for you,” she said.
He patted her shoulder and stepped off the porch, stopping to talk to Lisa on his way back to his house. She shook her head, amazed at the turn of events. She hadn’t seen Bobby since he showed up at the church Wednesday. That had been the first time she’d seen him since Sunday night, and she didn’t get much of an opportunity to speak with him then. After choir practice, he just had a few quick words for her – telling her that he had a room at the downtown Viscolli Hotel and giving her the room number – then turned his attention to Lisa. She chuckled again when she thought of him buying the house next door to them. It crossed her mind that she should, at the very least, feel just a little upset that he hadn’t even thought to mention it to her, but she didn’t. She thought it was an incredibly positive statement about his intended role in Lisa’s life.
Carol’s phone rang and she answered it absently. “Hello?”
“Carol, this is Harriet.” Carol’s stomach tightened with nerves.
“I don’t really feel like talking with you right now, Harriet,” she said.
“That’s fine, Carol. I was actually calling to talk to Lisa.”
Carol almost laughed out loud, but stopped herself in time. It was possible to be firm without coming off as mean. “Umm, no. I don’t think that’s a very good idea just yet,” she said casually.
“But I haven’t seen her or spoken to her in nearly a week.”
“Really? That’s too bad, Harriet. A whole week. Not eight years?”
“You can’t keep me from my only grandchild! My life has revolved around her since the day that child was born,” Harriet said, a tinge of hysteria coloring her voice.
“I don’t intend to keep Lisa from you. When she asks about you, I’ll have her call you.” Carol thought that was as fair as she was willing to be right at that moment in time. “Good-bye, Harriet.”
She hung up the phone and sat back in her chair, crossing her ankles. She let Lisa ride her bike until it started to get dark, then called her to come sit on the porch with her. They sat there in the warm evening and talked about the little things going on in life until it was time to go inside and pop popcorn and watch the movie Lisa had picked out.
THE telephone rang again as the credits rolled. For some reason, she wasn’t surprised to hear Bobby’s voice.
“I’m hoping your neighbor spoke with you by now,” he verified.
Carol laughed softly. “He did, just a couple of hours ago.”
“He wouldn’t sign the papers until he cleared it with you, and since the movers are showing up tomorrow, I thought I’d better check.”
“Ed moves at his own pace. Hang on a sec, Bobby.” She put her hand over the receiver. “Lisa, go get ready for bed. You can skip your bath. It’s already late.”
“Aw, mom, just ten more minutes, please,” Lisa begged.
“It will take you ten minutes to get ready. I let you stay up to see the end of the movie. Go now.” She smiled as her daughter ducked her head and dragged her feet as she left the room. “Sorry about that,” she said back into the phone.
“Why would you ever feel the need to apologize for being such a great mom?”
That stopped Carol. “I don’t know.”
Bobby said, “For me, it’s a delight.”
“You wouldn’t say that if you were here. I don’t know why bed time is such a chore.”
His voice sounded very serious when he responded, “Don’t underestimate me. I’d like to give it a try sometime.”
“Well then you’ve got a deal,” Carol said, then jumped a little when her work cell phone rang. “Hang on again. I can’t ignore this.” She set the phone in her lap and dug her other phone out of her pocket. “Hello?”
“Carol? It’s Mitch.”
Not again. “What have you got?”
“Two things. The autopsy labs finally came back on Daniels. I was about to take up arms against the lab, they were taking so long. They arrived via special messenger about an hour ago and confirm that the same sedative used on Cody was also used on Daniels.”
“So no surprise, really. What’s the second thing?”
“I’m at the townhouse of one Heidi Conried. You’d better get over here.”
“Is it the same guy?”
“Looks like it. How long before you can get here?”
Carol sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “At least half an hour. I need to get Lisa taken care of.”
He rattled off the address. “I’ll see you as soon as you get here.”
Carol put away her phone, then remembered the other one in her lap. She picked it up and thought about pretending nothing was wrong, but she knew he’d heard the whole thing. “Sorry about that, Bobby.”
“My hotel is ten minutes from there. I can come right over if you don’t mind my staying with Lisa.”
She didn’t have to think about it for long. “Of course I don’t mind.”
“I have an appointment with a title agent to come to my hotel room and sign the papers for the purchase of the house. I’ll have to call him and have him come over there instead. Do you mind?”
“That’s fine.”
“Then I’m on my way. See you soon,” he said and hung up before she could reply or have any second thoughts.
Carol put the phone down, then went upstairs to make sure Lisa had gotten ready for bed. She found her in the corner of her room, already dressed in her pajamas and playing with her tea set, her long hair down and brushed.
“Hey, kiddo. You brushed your hair already,” she declared, sitting next to her daughter on the floor.
“Uh-huh. Who was that on the phone?” Lisa asked, stealing a glance from under her lashes.
“Country music superstar Bobby Kent. Well, and detective Mitch.” Carol ran a hand through Lisa’s hair. It was slightly redder than hers, and had more blonde streaks in it. She loved Lisa’s hair.
Lisa frowned. Her entire face reflected immediate displeasure in the way that only an eight year old’s features can do. “You have to go to work now?”
Carol nodded. “Here in a few minutes, and only for a little while. What’s up, kiddo.”
She poured herself an imaginary cup of tea. “Mom?”
“Yeah, babe.”
“I’ve been thinking. Figuring a few things out,” Lisa began.
Carol lay back on the floor and propped herself up on her elbows. “About what?”
“Well, we talked about grandparents a few weeks ago in school, about how some kids don’t have grandparents, and how some kids live with their grandparents. How grandparents are your mom and dad’s parents. And I know Grandma and Grandpa Mabry are your parents.”
Carol nearly groaned out loud, but she just lifted an eyebrow. “Go on,” she said.
“So I heard Bobby Kent call Grandma Kent his mom last week. And later, I asked him if he had any brothers, and he told me no.”
Her daughter had way too many active brain cells. “That’s right.”
“I was wondering if Bobby Kent is my dad.” Lisa stopped f
iddling with her tea set and looked at Carol with such a need in her blue eyes that Carol couldn’t put off answering her, even if she had wanted to do.
“Yes, he is, Baby. He’s your father.”
Lisa looked down, but not before Carol could see the hope spring in her eyes. “Well, like I said, I was just doing some figuring in my head.”
Carol sat up and pulled Lisa into her lap. “There’s a lot to this story, Lisa. A bunch of stuff that I can’t explain to you right now, but I want you to understand that your father didn’t even know he was your dad until the day of your birthday party.”
“Why didn’t you tell him?” The tears in her voice broke a little corner of Carol’s heart.
“I relied on someone else to do that, baby, and they lied to me. They lied to him, too. It was partly my fault, too. Important things like this shouldn’t be left for someone else to handle. But he’s here now, and he wants to be your daddy more than anything in the world.”
Lisa stilled, tense in Carol’s lap. “Really?” she asked.
“He wants that so much that he bought the house next door. Mr. and Mrs. Westbury are moving down the street to the house with the pool, and your daddy is going to move in tomorrow.”
“He’s moving next door?” she asked excitedly.
“He is. And I bet if you ask him, he’ll let you decorate a bedroom any way you want for your very own room at his house.”
Lisa jumped off her lap and turned to look at her. “Do you think we could call him now and ask him?”
Carol hid a smile. “Well, we could, but why don’t you just wait until he comes over?”
“But mom, I can’t wait all night for something that important. Can’t we call him right now?”
“He’s on his way over to sit with you, baby girl. I have to go to work for a little while.” Carol stood and put her hand on her daughter’s head. “You can stay up while he’s here, but when he tells you to go to bed, you have to listen.”
“Oh, okay. I will.” Lisa did a quick pirouette just as the doorbell rang. “I’ll get it!” she cried, then took off to answer the door. Carol put her hand to her stomach and took a deep breath. She didn’t realize the strain she’d been under keeping information of such import from Lisa. She felt like such a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She smiled and left the room, stopping halfway down the stairs with her hand to her mouth to keep from crying while she watched Bobby kneel and embrace Lisa. She squeezed his neck with every last ounce of strength in her eight year old arms.
“TWENTY-THREE-YEAR-OLD registered nurse. Heidi Conried. Single. Straight. Roommate found her. She’s on the couch in the front room.”
Carol stared at the body on the bed. Heidi wore a navy skirt and blazer with a white and navy striped shirt and matching navy heels. Her auburn hair was perfectly brushed and smooth, and her makeup cleverly applied. Five fat red extinguished candles sat at her head, hands, and feet. Carol walked closer to the bed to look at the violin string around her neck. “These candles are barely burned. Do we have a time of death?”
“Guessing about 24 hours.” Mitch slipped his hands into his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “Doc thinks she was dead before he strangled her.”
Carol raised an eyebrow. “Too much drug?”
“Likely. He’ll know more, of course. But look at her hair line.”
She leaned in and caught the wafting smell of the corpse’s shampoo. When she recognized her own brand, she felt a little skitter of fear. Trying to brush it aside, she accepted a rubber glove from Mitch and parted the hair at Heather’s temple. “Dye,” she said.
“Yep. About 24-hours ago, Miss Conried here was a blonde with long curly hair.”
Carol frowned. “He dyed and straightened her hair?”
“To look like the other victims.”
“So, who is our killer killing?”
“That’s the question, isn’t it?” The voice came from behind her, but she recognized it. Startled, she turned around and saw Jack Gordon. He inclined his head in a greeting. “Good to see you, Carol. Now I know what you meant by you hoped you never saw me on the job.”
Mitch frowned. “You two know each other?”
Carol slipped the glove off and straightened. “We met in a coffee shop a few weeks ago. We very much enjoyed a lunch until I found out Jack was a cop.”
Mitch’s lips thinned in an amused line. “Carol has an aversion to dating cops. My wife admires her intelligence,” he joked.
“So I gathered,” Jack said, clearly not amused. “In point of fact, she made that abundantly clear.”
“Jack’s my new partner,” Mitch clarified. “Been breaking him in all week.”
“Dandy,” Carol muttered. Uncomfortable, she turned her back on Jack. “Where were the women when they last saw each other?”
“At a piano bar named Baby Blues a few blocks away. I have uniforms there now doing interviews.”
“She leave with anyone?”
“Unknown. She was talking to a man when the roommate left with her boyfriend. She didn’t come back here until her shift at the hospital ended tonight.”
“She an RN, too?” Carol opened the flap on the blazer to look at the label, recognizing the expensive designer.
“PA.” Jack looked at his phone, scrolling through what looked like notes. “Worked three to seven today. Texted Heidi here at midnight last night and told her she’d see her tonight.”
Carol nodded. “So if our guy was with her, he’d have known.”
“And would have taken time to dye her hair,” Mitch replied.
Carol gestured at the body. “Does the roommate know if these are her clothes?”
Jack answered. “Looking through the case files this week, the clothes are standing out to me, too. So, I asked. Roommate has never seen them. They don’t seem to match the styles in her closet.”
“Same with the other victims,” Mitch said.
“Which brings us to the original question,” Carol said.
Jack continued for her. “Who is he killing?”
Carol turned to walk back to the front of the house. She glanced at the couch, where a redheaded woman in light blue scrubs sat, legs drawn up, slowly ripping a tissue into little pieces. Her tear-filled eyes met Carol’s. “It coulda been me,” she said.
“What do you mean?”
She took a shaky breath and waved in the direction of the bedroom. “That guy, he ignored her at first. He was flirting with me until I stood up. Then it was as if I hadn’t existed in the first place.”
Carol looked at her, mentally taking in the size of her legs pulled up to her chest, and the small hands. “How tall are you? Five feet?”
The young woman shrugged. “Five-one.”
Turning to Mitch, Carol gestured with her chin. After expressing her sympathy at the loss of her friend, she led the way out of the apartment. In the hall, she looked at Mitch and Jack. “She’s too short.”
“He honed in on her because of her hair. The blonde was an afterthought.”
Feeling a sense of urgency, she replied, “Yes. Which means the hair dye was also an afterthought. You might want to check 24-hour places around here for a man who came in sometime in the last 24 hours and purchased a box of red hair dye.”
Mitch nodded, pulling out his phone. “We might even get some surveillance.”
“Exactly.”
IT was closer to midnight than she wanted when she pulled into her driveway, and she was glad to see the lights upstairs were turned off. Hopefully, that meant Lisa was in bed and asleep. Not only was it several hours past her bedtime, Carol hadn’t been able to leave it all behind her this time, and she didn’t want Lisa exposed to even the slightest bit of the darkness she faced at work.
She didn’t realize Bobby sat on the porch until she had her key in the lock and he spoke. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard his voice coming from her right. “How bad was it?” he asked.
She put a hand to her chest and weakly wa
lked over to the chair next to him, sitting down. “You scared me half to death,” she vented.
“I’m so sorry. You looked right at me. I thought you saw me.”
She set her purse next to her chair and ran her hands through her hair. “When did she go to bed?”
She could see his teeth flash in the dark when he smiled. “Well, I told her we wouldn’t have to tell you, but she informed me very seriously that you knew everything and it’s best if we don’t lie. So, Carol, the truth is she’s been in bed for about half an hour.”
Despite her mood when she walked up, she smiled and leaned back. “You’d best remember that, dad. The mom always knows.”
“I’ll be sure to keep that in mind. Not that I would ever lie to you anyway. I think we’ve both endured enough lies for a lifetime.” She heard ice rattle as he took a sip from the glass he held in his hand. “Thanks for telling her, Carol. It’s been heavy on my heart and mind.”
She tilted her head back and closed her eyes. “I wish I could say that I did, but I didn’t. She figured it out on her own.”
They sat quietly for a while and her eyes adjusted to the low light. Before she could capture the thought, she found herself admiring his handsome profile in the silver moonlight.
“I helped myself to your tea. I love a good Darjeeling. Pour you a glass?” Bobby offered.
Carol shook her head. “The caffeine would keep me up.”
Bobby nodded. “I hope you don’t mind I borrowed your instrument,” he confided, then took another sip.
“What?” she asked, lost in thoughts of the night. She turned her head to look at him.
“Your fiddle,” he elaborated. “I played her a few songs.”
“Oh, my violin. Do you ever do any classical work anymore or is it all Red River Mud?” she teased, naming one of his biggest hit songs.
His teeth flashed white against the dark night, and she heard him try to choke back a laugh, then finally let it out. She smiled at the sound. “I fiddle, mostly. Sometimes, secretly, I play a few pages from Bach or Weinberg or even that old Bartók thing you used to torture. I think it would destroy my image if I was ever overheard playing classical violin. I’m a closet violinist,” he answered. “Anyway, I prefer the guitar, now.”
A Carol for Kent Page 8