My Private Detective

by Rebecca Winters

  If the situation wasn’t so precarious, Gideon would have laughed for the sheer joy of realizing his son was finally growing up.

  “I think maybe she is a little.”

  “I watched you looking at her at dinner. It’s the same way Max looks at Gaby. Like…like you’re really happy.”

  Gideon smiled. “That’s because I had my two favorite people with me. My son and the woman I want to marry.”

  Kevin cocked his head. “Have you asked her yet?”

  “No. I haven’t even told her I love her.”

  “How come?”

  “For one thing the time’s not right. I’m still working to get her friend out of prison. For another she hasn’t told me she loves me. Maybe she doesn’t feel the same about me as I feel about her. You can’t force another person to love you. It has to happen on its own.”

  “She loves you, Dad.”

  “I’m not so sure.”

  “I am. That night in her classroom when you told her you were divorced, she got this excited look on her face. It made me mad,” he admitted quietly. “And then at the restaurant, before you knew I was there, Brad elbowed me and said, ‘Wow—that redheaded babe sure has the hots for your dad!’”

  Gideon shook his head, chuckling silently. “I had no idea.” In fact, he couldn’t believe they were having this conversation. But he was glad of it. The darkness in his soul was starting to dissipate.

  “Dad? From now on I promise to be nice to Heidi.”

  Gideon’s heart swelled, and he gave Kevin another hug. “I can’t ask for more than that.”

  “What if Mom comes over tomorrow?”

  “It’s okay if she does.”

  “Even if Heidi’s here?”

  Gideon liked the sound of that. Acceptance had been slow in coming, but they were getting there.

  “Of course. In time your mother will be reconciled to the situation.”

  “Yeah.” Kevin got up from the bed. “Mom doesn’t have any room to talk. You had to get used to Frank!”

  Well, well, well.

  “Good night, Dad. See you in the morning. Come on, Pokey.” As he left the room, he turned out the light.

  Gideon slid under the covers in a much better frame of mind. If it wasn’t so late, he’d call Heidi to tell her what had happened.

  He wished she was here right now. In his bed. In his arms. He ached for her….

  Ten minutes went by.

  Max still hadn’t checked in with him, which meant something must be going on. Gideon would have to wait until morning for answers.

  Letting out a deep sigh, he turned over on his stomach, willing sleep to come.

  When his phone finally rang, he checked his watch, incredulous to discover that he’d slept through the night and it was already seven in the morning.

  Gideon reached for the phone, figuring it was Max. “Poletti here.”

  “Hello, Gideon?”

  He’d know Heidi’s voice anywhere.

  Her calling this early could only mean there was a problem. He jackknifed into a sitting position, afraid she’d found some excuse not to be with him today.

  “What’s wrong, Heidi?”

  “I guess the life of a detective automatically makes you suspicious of every phone call,” she teased.

  Relief coursed through him. “Guilty as charged.”

  “I wanted to get hold of you before you left the house. My parents would like to meet you. After you drop Kevin off at school, could you drive over to their house? You’re invited for breakfast.”

  His eyes closed tightly. He’d been waiting for the opportunity to get to know them. Hoping…

  “I’m leaving my apartment now to help Mom get things ready. She’s invited the Turners, too. When I told her you’d be getting the results of the autopsy this morning, she thought we should all be together to support them, no matter what Dr. Diaz finds.”

  Gideon heard the tremor in her voice. A lot hinged on the autopsy; no one understood that better than Heidi.

  “I’ll be there by quarter to nine. Thank your mother for me.”

  “I already have. See you in a little while.” The line went dead.

  He hung up, needing to do something about the explosion of excitement he suddenly felt.

  “Kevin?” He leaped out of bed and dashed down the hall to his son’s room. Pokey met him at the door, jumping and barking at the commotion he’d made.

  “Time to get up and shower! Rise and shine!”

  “Good grief, Dad! What’s gotten into you?”

  “I’ll tell you about it on the way to school. Come on, Pokey. Let’s get you some breakfast. Too bad it’s going to be nothing like mine.”

  Those turned out to be prophetic words.

  Marjorie Ellis had prepared brunch with everything from succulent ham and eggs Benedict to scones, chocolate waffles and juicy, sweet pineapple.

  Heidi kept plying him with more helpings until he could hardly move. Indeed, he had no desire to move once he’d pulled her next to him on the couch. Everyone had settled in the Ellises’ living room to enjoy coffee. He never tired of the view of the bay.

  In style and décor their home seemed a larger version of Heidi’s apartment. He couldn’t get over how much mother and daughter looked alike. Mrs. Ellis was still a lovely woman; she wore her red hair cut short in a style that suited her features.

  Rowland Ellis stood as tall as Gideon. He had a dignified appearance, with patrician features and iron-gray hair. Between the two of them, he could see where Heidi got her beauty and her charm.

  Gideon found that he liked her parents a great deal. They’d done everything possible to make him feel at home. As for the Turners, he’d already met them and felt a bond.

  Heidi nestled comfortably against him. This would have been a perfect moment—except that Dana’s life still hung in the balance.

  Heidi drew back the cuffs of his shirt and suit jacket to see his watch. “It’s five after ten,” she whispered.

  He knew what time it was.

  Beads of perspiration broke out on his brow. If he was wrong about what Carlos would find…

  HEIDI WATCHED HIM enter the other room to make the call, and she hugged her arms about her waist. To her surprise Dana’s father got up from the chair and came to sit by her. He put a comforting arm around her shoulders.

  “If it weren’t for you, little Rose Red, we wouldn’t be this far along. But even if, with all Gideon’s help, there’s to be no miracle, Christine and I want you to know what a shining light you’ve been in our lives.

  “Dana calls you her guardian angel,” he said in a tearful voice. “God has been working through you, my dear. That’s something we’ll never forget.”

  Heidi turned her head into his chest, and they wept together in the silence.

  She didn’t move until she noticed that her father had risen to his feet. Then she lifted her head.

  Her heart jolted as she saw Gideon standing by the piano. He was very still.

  “What did you find out?”

  After studying her for a moment, he let his gaze settle on Dana’s mother. He walked over to her and sat down.

  “Christine.” He covered one of her hands. “It should give you comfort to know that there was a reason your daughter couldn’t help for the drastic change in her behavior. Carlos found a brain tumor the size of an orange.”

  Heidi’s gasp joined everyone else’s. Dr. Turner got up and walked over to them.

  “That large?” he whispered, sounding dazed.

  “Yes. Carlos called it a meningioma. He was amazed at its degree of preservation. It’s the slow-growing type that probably started in childhood. He’s going to run a test to see if it was benign. The important thing to realize is that its growth would have caused abnormalities in her thought processes and behavior that grew worse with time.”

  “Oh, thank God, we have an answer, Ed!” Christine stood up to embrace her husband.

  Gideon sent Heidi a glance that brough
t her to his side. He didn’t have to say anything. The way he clutched her hand told her there was more.

  Dr. Turner finally looked up at Gideon. Wiping his eyes, he said, “Did you find any trace of drugs?”

  Gideon squeezed her fingers. “Morphine showed up in her bile, liver and urinary tract. It means she’d been on heroin and died of acute intoxication rather than smoke inhalation.”

  “Gideon!” Heidi squealed with joy. “Now we can go to Mr. Cobb and get the case reopened!” Forgetting everyone, she threw her arms around his neck.

  “I know you’re excited—so am I,” he whispered into her hair. “The autopsy has helped us fill in numbers six and seven of our painting. But we’re not home free yet. There are two more questions….”

  The unexpected aside acted like a dash of ice water in her face. Slowly she let go of him. Looking up into his eyes, she said, “I don’t understand.”

  He placed his hand on her shoulder, and she felt the tremor that passed through his body.

  “For one thing,” he said, “we still have to find her supplier. Max is working on it right now.”

  “But that might take a long time. Is it really necessary? Dr. Diaz will testify that she was on heroin.”

  “We want this case airtight so we don’t have to put Dana through another jury trial, don’t we?”

  “Yes, of course.” She swallowed hard. “What else?”

  His eyes darkened in intensity.

  She felt the first stirrings of panic. “Tell me.”

  “If there’s someone out there who knew Amy planned to commit suicide, I want to find that person.”

  “What if there isn’t anyone?”

  “Then the judge might say there’s still reasonable doubt. At that point we’d have no choice but to take our chances with a new jury trial.”

  “Obviously you don’t think our chances are that good.”

  He shook his head. “You never know. It’ll be hard to pick a jury that’s not biased.”

  Heidi bowed her head. “If we’ve learned anything about Amy, it was that she was very shrewd. I’m not sure she would have trusted even Kristen or Stacy with that kind of secret.”

  “Max’ll scare the living daylights out of them if they don’t come clean with what they know. All he has to do is tell them they could end up in prison for being accessories. It usually does the trick.

  “At the very least they’ll give him the name of the person who sold Amy drugs. If we get lucky, they might let something else slip, as well.”

  “I think you’d better tell the Turners all this before they get too hopeful.”

  “Let’s do it right now.”

  With the side of one finger, he removed the tears from her cheeks. She trembled at his touch, took a deep breath and turned around.

  “Everybody? Gideon has a few more things to discuss. Why don’t you all sit down and I’ll bring in fresh coffee.”

  She needed to be alone for a moment to get her emotions under control. When she’d heard that Amy had been full of heroin, she’d assumed it was enough proof to get Dana out of prison.

  That wasn’t the case.

  On her return from the kitchen with a fresh pot, her parents intercepted her. “I approve of him, Heidi,” her dad murmured.

  “Who wouldn’t?” her mother chimed in, sounding emotional.

  Heidi had known her folks would love him the minute they met him. She’d told them all about Kevin. If the boy ever gave them a chance, they’d love him, too.

  “Gideon’s incredible,” she whispered as she refilled their cups.

  “Here. Let me do the rest.” Her mother took the pot from her. “You go back to him.”

  Heidi needed no urging. When she sat down next to Gideon, he slid his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. “I was about to come and find you.”

  She curled up against him, then noticed that the Turners were more upset than she would have thought likely, even with the potential setback Gideon had described.

  “What’s wrong? Why are you both so unhappy?”

  “Because we should have tried harder with Amy,” Christine said between sobs. “I knew she wasn’t…normal, but when Amy refused to go to Dr. Siricca for more sessions, I should’ve forced her to get help. We should’ve had tests done, just to see if there was anything abnormal. Why didn’t we?” Her anguished cry rang throughout the living room.

  “We made a lot of mistakes,” Dr. Turner murmured with tears in his voice. “But I blame myself most of all for not agreeing to an autopsy when Mr. Cobb wanted it done.”

  His wife shook her head. “I couldn’t bear the thought of it, either. It didn’t seem necessary to do that to our little girl.” She rocked back and forth in anguish. “I had no idea it could have helped Dana.”

  Dr. Turner shook his head as the tears rolled down his cheeks. “When I think how wrong we were! Our daughter’s spent all this time in prison because of us.” He stared at Heidi. “If it weren’t for you… You’ve been the one to show us the way.”

  He swallowed. “We’ve talked it over with Gideon and have decided to ask Mr. Cobb to get a date for a hearing right away. By that time maybe we’ll have the evidence Gideon is looking for—the proof that Amy intended to commit suicide. If not, we’ll take our chances with a new jury trial.”

  Heidi turned to Gideon. “But I thought you wanted to go to the judge with an airtight case. If he calls for another jury, what if they come in with the same verdict as the old one?”

  He caressed her arm through the silk blouse she was wearing. “I’d like to believe that with all the new testimony, there’s a sixty-forty chance they’ll see those diary entries for what they really are.”

  Heidi drew in her breath. “But what if they don’t?”

  “Then we’ll keep after that one vital piece of evidence until we find it. Even if it takes months. Or years.”

  She remembered him saying those same words on the first night of class.

  “I don’t want it to take that long.”

  Some emotion flickered in the depths of his eyes.

  “Then let’s get busy. We’ve got more work to do before we pick up Kevin. Why don’t I follow you to your—” His cell phone rang, interrupting him.

  “Excuse me a moment. It’s probably Max.”

  After saying hello, he nodded to her, then got up from the couch to speak to his friend in private.

  The conversation was over in seconds. When he put his phone back in his pocket, she saw the tension on his face and realized something vital had happened.

  Anxious to hear, she rose to meet him. He took hold of her arm. “I have to run down to headquarters to meet Max. Will you be here later?”

  Don’t you know I’ll be wherever you want me to be? her heart cried. She was desperate to show him what he meant to her. But this wasn’t the time.

  “I’ll stay to help clean up, then go back to the apartment.” She fought not to let her disappointment show.

  “Good. Just as long as I know where to find you. Come with me while I say goodbye to the Turners and thank your parents, then walk me to the door. I need to be alone with you for a minute.”

  Between dark lashes, his eyes glinted with unmistakable desire. That look would have to sustain her while she waited for him to return.

  ON THE WAY to headquarters, Gideon pulled out his cell phone. Judge Landers had jurisdiction over Dana’s case. If Gideon wasn’t mistaken, he and Daniel Mcfarlane were longtime golf buddies.

  Since the Turners planned to contact Mr. Cobb immediately, Gideon wasn’t above using every resource he had to get the case heard as soon as possible. He, too, was living for the day Dana walked out of prison a free woman.

  By the time he’d parked underground, Daniel had agreed to get in touch with the judge. He assured Gideon he’d prevail upon Landers to act quickly.

  Pleased by his response, Gideon was still smiling when he walked in the office and saw Max talking to Lieutenant Rodman. Their superior nodded
to him.

  “I hear you’ve all but pulled Jenke’s case to pieces, and it’s only day four! That’s fast work, even for you, Poletti.”

  “I have my reasons.”

  The lieutenant shut the door of his inner office and darted Gideon a shrewd glance. “Like I said before, she must be some woman.”

  “Take it from me, she’s a gorgeous redhead,” Max interjected.

  “A redhead? I guess that explains it,” the lieutenant quipped. “All right, you two. Bring me up-to-date. You go first, Poletti.”

  His boss listened without interrupting.

  “…and since I was just told the results of the autopsy, I’m anxious to hear what Max learned when he talked to the girls.”

  The lieutenant’s gaze switched to Max. “You haven’t talked yet?”

  Max shook his head. “When I phoned Gideon, he was at the Ellis home with the Turners. I told him to meet me at your office.”

  “Then let’s hear what you’ve got.”

  “Yesterday Crandall set up surveillance on Kristen and Stacy, who live in a rented house with four other people, two of them guys. Our talks with the neighbors didn’t give us the proof we needed, so we camped out to make sure we’d catch them before they went anywhere this morning.

  “Kristen came out the front door first. We made our approach. After delivering a few home truths, I told her she and Stacy could talk to us inside or down at the station. They chose to cooperate.

  “They got started on marijuana in high school. Now they’re into the usual stuff you get with the campus crowd. Cocaine, ecstasy, you name it.”

  He pulled an envelope from his pocket and put it on the table. “The conversation’s there on tape. I’m convinced neither of them had any idea Amy was planning suicide.”

  “Damn,” Gideon muttered. “I was counting on one of them for that testimony.”

  “It doesn’t mean Amy didn’t tell someone else,” Max said. “We’ll just have to keep looking. But you’re going to like the next part.

  “The girls became friends with Amy when she enrolled in that alternative drama school. They were the ones who introduced her to marijuana. As time went on, she wanted more and got into LSD. About two months before she died, they said she complained of severe headaches and began snorting heroin because she had an aversion to needles.”