by Dinah McCall
“When is the sister arriving?” Warren asked.
Trey glanced at his watch.
“Unless her plane was delayed, she’s already here. She booked a room at the Adam’s Mark. She’ll call when she gets settled. I’ll take her to the crime lab for a DNA swab, then she’s been cleared to visit her brother.”
“Okay,” Warren said. “Keep me in the loop. The sooner this is off our backs, the happier the commissioner is going to be. I’m having lunch with him today. I’ll fill him in on what’s happening.”
Before Trey could answer, his cell phone rang. He looked at the caller ID.
“It’s the Adam’s Mark,” he said, then answered, “Detective Bonney.”
Sheree Collier’s voice was a little shaky.
“Detective, it’s me, Sheree Collier.”
“Yes, ma’am. Are you ready for me to come get you?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” she said.
“Be there in about thirty minutes,” he said.
“I’ll be waiting in the lobby. I’m wearing a light blue dress.”
Trey disconnected, then glanced at Chia and David.
“You guys want in on the interview when she goes to see her brother?”
“Absolutely,” Chia said.
“Meet us at the jail in about an hour and a half.”
“Count us there,” Chia said as Trey left.
“Wonder why he’s suddenly being so magnanimous?” David said.
Chia frowned at her partner.
“You know, I’m beginning to understand why Bonney likes to work alone.”
“What?” David asked.
“You’re jealous.”
“I’m not,” he muttered.
Chia nodded so fiercely that her curls began to bounce.
“You are. You’re so freakin’ jealous you can’t stand yourself. More and more, you’re acting like some bitchy girl. If you aren’t careful, next you’re gonna start having PMS.”
Sheets’ face turned a dark, angry red. He pointed at Chia but couldn’t think of anything to say that wouldn’t get him in deeper than he already was. Frustrated, he just shook his head and walked away, leaving Chia with a grin on her face. She did a little two-step, then moved back to her desk.
Sheree Collier saw a tall, good-looking man stride into the hotel lobby. He was wearing blue jeans, a white sport shirt with small blue pinstripes and a brown jacket. She caught a glimpse of the badge he was wearing clipped to his belt and stood.
Trey saw the movement before he saw the woman, but as soon as he looked into her face, he recognized the Lawrence family resemblance. She was well dressed and well kept, and he would have been hard-pressed to guess her age if he hadn’t had access to the files listing her birth date.
“Mrs. Collier?” he asked.
Sheree nodded as Trey shook her hand.
“You’re doing a good thing,” he said.
A crooked smile curled a corner of her lip.
“I’ve been telling myself that all the way here.”
“I know this is rough for you.”
Sheree sighed. “Let’s just get it over with, shall we?”
Trey cupped her elbow. “I’m parked just outside. Are you ready to go?”
“Yes.”
Minutes later, they were en route to the crime lab. The drive was less lengthy than the one he’d made when he’d first taken Marcus and Olivia Sealy for testing. And when he pulled into the parking lot, he couldn’t help but think of the chaos that had awaited them then, compared to the fact that today, no one seemed to care.
Part of it could be chalked up to the fact that the Sealys’ involvement was old news, but also, no one in the crime lab knew there was any connection between his case and Sheree Collier, which meant there wouldn’t have been a chance for any leaks.
“This won’t take long,” Trey said. “We’ll go see your brother directly afterward.”
Sheree nodded, and clutched at Trey’s arm.
He could feel her trembling.
“Don’t be nervous,” he said. “I’ll be with you all the way on this.”
“I appreciate your kindness,” she said. “But there’s nothing you can say that will make selling out my family okay.”
Trey frowned. “Why do you say that? You’re not selling out your family. You’re trying to keep Foster out of prison again.”
“But in doing so, I’ll be pointing the finger of guilt at my sister.”
“You’re pretty sure she’s the mother of one of the children, aren’t you?”
Sheree nodded.
“Why so?”
“Because after we talked yesterday, I started remembering other things.”
“Like what?” Trey asked.
“Like, the fact that the few times I actually saw Laree in the two years before Foster was arrested, there was a child in her house.”
Trey’s heart skipped a beat.
“A little girl?”
Sheree Collier nodded.
“What did she tell you about her?”
“Not much…only that she was baby-sitting for extra money.”
“And you believed her?”
“She was my twin. We’d fooled plenty of other people in our youth, but never each other.”
“I don’t suppose you ever had a picture of them together?” Trey asked.
“No.”
Trey thought, then came at it from another angle.
“If you saw a picture of the child, would you recognize her?”
“Maybe, if the child was the same age in the picture as the last time I’d seen her.”
“How old would she have been?”
“Probably between a year and a half and two years old.”
“I’ll see what I can come up with,” Trey said. “Now, let’s get the test over with so you can go talk to your brother.”
Sheree momentarily closed her eyes. She wasn’t as convinced as the detective seemed to be that Foster would even want to see her.
“Hey, Lawrence, someone’s here to see you,” the jailer said as he opened the cell door and pulled a pair of handcuffs from his belt. “Hold out your hands.”
Foster stayed on his bunk.
“Is it my lawyer?” Foster asked.
“He’s there, but there’s a couple other people there, too.”
“Like who?”
“I’m not your damn social secretary,” the jailer said. “Either get up now or forget about it. However, if I was in the shit you’re in, I wouldn’t be passing up a chance to better my situation.”
It was curiosity that got Foster off the bunk. He let himself be handcuffed, then escorted to the interrogation room. When he saw his lawyer through a window in the door, he shelved the attitude. Maybe there was some good news. God knew he could use some.
The jailer opened the door, put a hand in the middle of Foster’s back and pushed him inside. When he was two steps into the room, Foster saw the cop who’d arrested him, plus another pair of cops, one male, one female. Before he could voice his complaints, a woman he hadn’t seen suddenly stepped out from behind the detective. His frown deepened. He didn’t know who she was, but he was in no mood for a party. Then she smiled.
Foster froze.
“Hello, Fossie…long time no see.”
“Sis? Is that you?”
Sheree glanced at Trey. “Can I hug him?”
Foster was still handcuffed, and the jailer was there, too.
“Yeah, sure.”
Sheree walked slowly toward the brother she’d denied, and when she was close enough to hear him breathing, she stopped.
“You’re bald.”
“No. I shaved it off.”
“Oh.”
There was another moment of uncomfortable silence between them; then Trey glanced at Chia and David, who got the message and moved toward the far corner of the room. At that point, the jailer stepped outside and closed the door.
Foster’s lawyer stayed, but he, too, moved to one corner of the room, gi
ving his client and his sister some privacy.
Trey shoved his hands in his pockets. Foster looked at him. Trey stared back.
“Fossie.”
The old childhood nickname tugged at Foster’s heart. He turned back to the woman, then leaned closer so that he was whispering.
“Sis?”
Sheree put her arms around him then and pulled him close.
Foster seemed to wilt as he laid his head on her shoulder.
“Oh, Fossie…it’s been so long.”
“Sis, which one are you?” he asked.
Sheree was taken aback. She and her sister had always been identical, but family could always tell them apart. Still, twenty-five years had elapsed since they’d seen one another and it stood to reason that he couldn’t be sure which was which.
“It’s me, Sheree,” she said, and when she did, she saw quick disappointment in his eyes.
He nodded. “I wasn’t sure. Funny, isn’t it?”
“It’s understandable. It’s been a long time.”
He nodded.
“Come sit with me,” Sheree said.
Foster let himself be led to the table in the middle of the room. He sat; then Sheree pulled up a chair and sat beside him.
Foster eyed Trey, then her. At that point, he began to frown.
“Why are you here?” he asked.
Sheree sighed. “I can understand your surprise. It’s been so long.”
He smirked, but there was more pain than anger on his face.
“Yeah, I’ve been away. Where have you been?”
“I guess I’ve been away, too. Only I’m here now.”
“Why?”
Sheree’s eyes filled with tears, and for the first time since Trey had seen her, she looked every one of her sixty years.
“How did you get in so much trouble?” she asked.
Foster’s eyes flickered, but he didn’t answer.
“Foster. Was it ’Ree?”
His eyes widened. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I think you do.”
He leaned forward, lowering his voice again.
“Shut up, sis. You don’t know what you’re doing.”
Tears spilled over onto her cheeks.
“Oh, Foster, I wish I didn’t, but I’m afraid I do.”
He looked away.
“How did you get mixed up in this? What did ’Ree ask you to do?”
He shuddered, but he stayed silent.
“Did you know about her baby?”
He jerked, as if she’d slapped him.
“She didn’t have a baby.”
“I didn’t know it, either,” Sheree said. “But I think we both know it now, don’t we?”
He started to cry.
“What happened, Fossie? Talk to me.”
Foster groaned. “Ah, God…it all started because of a wall. She called me to come fix a wall.”
Trey’s belly lurched. Jesus Christ…the lake house.
“What wall?” Sheree asked.
Foster slumped. He would have held this in forever against the cops, but not from her.
“Hell, I don’t know…just some wall. Said she’d been partying with some friends at a lake house, and someone had gotten drunk and knocked a big hole in the wall. She said she’d get in trouble if she didn’t get it fixed, so I loaded up my stuff and drove down from Amarillo.”
Sheree looked up at Trey. “Foster was in construction.”
Trey nodded.
Foster wouldn’t acknowledge Trey’s presence, but a part of him was relieved this was all coming out. He’d carried the weight of the secret too long as it was.
“So you went to fix the wall,” Sheree said.
Foster nodded. “It was some house up at Lake Texoma. Remember when we used to go there for the Fourth of July?”
Sheree nodded.
“Anyway, I got there, and like she said, there was a big hole in the wall. She’d already cut a piece of Sheetrock and was trying to nail it in place, but she didn’t know how to tape and bed, so I cleaned it up for her some, put the finishing on it, and told her that when it dried in a day or so, she could paint it and it would be good as new. I was loaded up and getting ready to leave when this little kid comes out of one of the rooms.”
“What did ’Ree say?” she asked.
“I said, ‘Who the hell is that?’ And she says… ‘My daughter.’ I freaked. I said, ‘What the hell do you mean, your daughter?’ She laughed this sort of wild, crazy laugh, and the kid started crying, and then everything sort of fell apart.”
“How so?” Sheree asked.
“She picked up the kid, like trying to make her quit crying and all…but the kid was hysterical. Kept screaming for her mama. ’Ree got a little crazy and started holding the kid too tight. I told her to quit, that she was hurting her, but she wouldn’t let her go. I grabbed the kid out of her arms and then sort of slapped ’Ree in the face to calm her down.”
“Did it work?”
Foster nodded. “Yeah. Then she got this real mad look on her face and told me to give her baby back. I asked her if she was going to be rough with the kid again. She said it was none of my business. I told her that I wasn’t letting her go until she told me what was going on.”
“What was the child doing all this time?” Trey asked.
Foster began to rock back and forth in the chair.
“She was crying. She cried herself to sleep in my arms,” he said, then leaned forward on the table and hid his face in his arms.
“Then what?” Sheree asked.
“’Ree took her and laid her down. I followed her into the other room. That’s when I saw the blood.”
“What blood?” Trey asked.
“It was all over the bedroom floor. And there was some on the baby’s pajamas. I asked her what happened here, and she said the kid had a nosebleed. Since I didn’t see any marks on her, I made myself believe she was telling the truth. Then she told me to go. I wish to hell I had.”
“If you were so concerned for the baby’s safety, why did you ask for the money?” Trey asked.
Foster looked up; his skin was gray and pale.
“Damned if I know. A moment of stupidity. A moment of greed. Hell, I guess the devil had hold of me then.”
Sheree was crying now, too. Foster looked back at her. His expression crumpled.
“I’m so sorry, sis. I knew better.”
“I know,” she said. “I know.”
“Finish the story,” Trey said.
“While we were arguing, the baby woke up again and got down from the bed. She was fooling around with an old portable television in the corner of the room and accidentally turned it on. At first we were startled by the sound, then I began to focus on what was being broadcast. It was all about the Sealy kidnapping. They flashed a picture of the missing kid on the screen, and I nearly had a heart attack. I confronted ’Ree. That’s when she told me about the baby’s father. She said he’d promised to take her away, then he dumped her. She said she made him pay for lying. She was going to make them all pay. That’s when I thought she’d already made a ransom call. When I asked her, she said she didn’t intend to ask for ransom because she had no intention of giving the kid back.”
“Dear Lord,” Sheree said. “What must ’Ree have been thinking?”
“She wasn’t thinking,” Foster said. “She was crazy. You could see it in her eyes.” Then he sighed. “So I stayed. After a few days, I pulled the stunt about the ransom. Made the call myself. It was all pretty simple. They paid it. I had the kid with me. I gave her some stuff that put her to sleep, and I left her in the truck in a parking garage. I picked up the money, then I saw the cops on my tail. I lost them, then hid the money in the basement beneath a downtown restaurant where I used to work, went and got the kid from the truck and took her to the mall. I made sure she would be found. I didn’t want anything to happen to her.” He shuddered. “If I’d left her with ’Ree, I don’t know what she would hav
e done to her.”
Sheree got out of her chair, put her arms around her brother and just held him where he sat. She cried for her sister, and for Foster, and for babies whose lives had been forever changed.
“Did you know ’Ree had a child with that man?”
Foster shook his head. “No. I swear to God, I never knew a thing about any of it until a few weeks ago. I get here, thinking I’m going to get my money and make a new start. Instead, I find out I’m wanted for questioning again, this time for a murder I didn’t know anything about. Then I find out that the damn money I’d hidden had gone up in smoke years ago in some fire.”
“Why didn’t you tell the cops all this when you were arrested?” Sheree asked.
Foster looked at her as if she’d gone mad.
“She was my sister. I couldn’t let anything bad happen to her.”
Sheree grabbed Foster by the shoulders and shook him, as if he were a child who wouldn’t listen.
“Foster! For God’s sake, something bad had already happened! You had to know she wasn’t right, or she would never have done anything so awful. Where did she go? Have you seen her since? Do you know where she is?”
Foster dropped his head.
“I haven’t seen her since the day I stole the kid from the lake house. I heard her screaming at me as I drove away, but I never looked back. I couldn’t bear to see her like that.”
“And she never came forward at your trial or sent you word in any way?” Trey asked.
“No.”
Trey cursed beneath his breath. Although they now knew who’d done the killings, they were no closer to bringing her to justice than they’d been the day the baby’s remains were found.
“Why do you think she killed one of the babies?” Trey asked.
Foster looked up at him then.
“Hell if I know. I never knew there were two.”
“There were, and we have to know which one she killed.”
Foster flinched.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“There’s a possibility that the little girls might have looked enough alike that the wrong one went back to the Sealy family,” Trey said.
Foster shook his head. “I don’t know anything about that. I only saw the one kid. The one I let go at the mall.”
Sheree looked at Trey.
“What’s going to happen to Foster now?” she asked.