Dead Giveaway

by Leann Sweeney

  I could tell it wasn't okay. ''I think there's far more to what happened the night of the murder than a robbery gone bad. If I can find the truth for my client, maybe that will help Lawrence.'' I paused, and took a deep breath before I said, ''You see, I think my client is your grandson, Mr. Washington.''

  His hand found the .357, tightened around the grip, but not in any threatening way. I sensed that the gun was his friend and he needed to feel its presence. ''My grandson? What the hell are you talking about?''

  I spilled out the whole story, my words coming fast, my mouth growing drier with each passing minute. I had to keep looking away, down at my hands, out the side window, anywhere to stay away from his intent stare. His sadness seemed just as deep and strong as what I had seen at the prison, the same expression that Frank Simpson captured in Lawrence's eyes with his 35mm camera.

  Mr. Washington said, ''You're saying Lawrence has a child, this Will Knight, and we never knew about him?''

  ''Oh, I think Lawrence knew he was about to be a father. He picked up that blanket, after all. Did he have a steady girlfriend?''

  ''Not that me or Clara knew about. You had to understand Lawrence. He was a shy boy. It was only when he was on the baseball field that we saw the other side of him. The aggression. The need to win. He wouldn't have told us nothing about a girlfriend.''

  Aggressive enough to murder? I wondered.

  ''You know something?'' Mr. Washington went on, squinting as if looking back in time. ''I do recall Clara and I thought Lawrence might have had a crush on a girl. He spent a lot of time at that church, and we thought God wasn't the only one he was visiting. She must have been a fair-weather friend, though, 'cause she never showed up to visit him in jail and never went to the trial.''

  ''She was in his youth group, perhaps?''

  Mr. Washington said, ''If he had a girlfriend in that group, she was white. We found out after Lawrence's arrest that they was all white kids over there. Lawrence being a big-cheese athlete, seems they invited him. Place is north of the space place—NASA. Long drive from here, and I don't mean in miles. What bothers me to this day is that if Lawrence hadn't been in that neighborhood, maybe whoever really killed Miss Mason would have been caught. That cop Dugan got himself a scapegoat in Lawrence. Black kid in a white neighborhood? Could it get any better for the police?''

  I hated to admit it, but he was right. ''Officer Simpson did indicate in his notes that the church was close to where Amanda Mason was killed.''

  ''Yup. I go that way for my diabetes checkups. Got a doctor in the Medical Center and then have to visit a lab way in the other direction. Medicare makes some sense, huh?''

  ''Not to me or you. Who takes you?'' I asked.

  ''Joelle borrows her friend's van. Don't know what I'd do without that lady. Got to say, I hate driving by that prissy church. Place gets bigger and fancier every day. I see their ads in the religion section of the paper all the time. Not Baptist like Lawrence was raised, neither. Nondenominational, he said. Clara and I were troubled he wanted to abandon his church home, but he was old enough to decide. God doesn't care where you visit Him, I guess.''

  ''You think a girlfriend might have had more to do with this desire to change his religious affiliation than any conversion?''

  ''Remembering how I was at that age, I would've bungee jumped off the Transco Tower for Clara—if I'd heard of such a thing as bungee jumping and if she'd asked me to.'' He smiled, but it was a small, sad smile, the kind memories create.

  ''No idea who this girlfriend was or if she even really existed?''

  ''Nope,'' he said with a shake of his head.

  ''Did you mention a possible romantic interest to Officer Simpson? Because if he wrote about it in his notes, I missed it. In fact, he indicated Lawrence had nothing going on with anyone as far as he could tell.''

  Mr. Washington hung his head, fiddled with the binding of his plaid blanket. ''I mighta told the police officers there was no girlfriend. Wasn't exactly a lie. See, I was afraid if Miss Mason attended that church, if Lawrence knew her, dated her, well, that would be like pounding a nail in my own son's coffin. I told myself they could figure it out themselves.'' He looked up. ''You get what I'm saying?''

  I nodded. ''I understand, but suppose he did have a relationship with someone in that youth group—not Amanda Mason, which we know for sure—but maybe another girl. Would Lawrence have confided in anyone about her?''

  ''Maybe today he might have, but not back then. Not if she was white. Besides, Lawrence didn't talk much, and never about that sort of thing. He went about his business . . . school, playing ball, planning his future. We raised a fine young man, Ms. Rose.'' Mr. Washington's voice cracked and his eyes grew moist. ''He may have sinned and conceived this child you're talking about—and that whole idea still ain't sunk in—but he would never take a life. Not ever.''

  I believed him. This man may not have known anyone in that church group, but he knew his son, and about now, the scapegoat idea was sounding pretty damn good to me. ''I have the church's address from Frank's notes—the Church of the Reverent Life, if I remember right. You say they're still in the same location?''

  ''Bought up property around them and built an even bigger complex not long ago. They're right off the freeway feeder in south Houston.''

  ''I suppose the ministry there has turned over since Lawrence attended,'' I said.

  ''The assistant minister, the one who visited Lawrence after he went to prison, is still there. Read in the paper he took the big job—Pastor-Teacher or something like that. His name is Rankin.''

  ''Pastor Rankin visited Lawrence in Huntsville?''

  ''Yup. I got to the prison early one Saturday and couldn't get in 'cause he was there. Sort of ticked me off him taking away my time with Lawrence, but those are the rules. He was the youth minister back then, and his wife ran the Bible study for the kids. 'Course I had to hear all this from Frank, not my son. God, I wish Lawrence and I woulda talked more.'' Mr. Washington shook his head.

  The would-haves and could-haves. I knew about those, too. ''I thank you so much for your help, Mr. Washington. Guess I need to find out about these friends from Lawrence's group.''

  I walked to the door with Thaddeus Washington wheeling behind me.

  When I opened the door, his chair suddenly rammed into me and Mr. Washington shouted, ''Get down!''

  I fell forward onto the threshold, instant pain blasting through both knees. I squeezed my eyes shut. That's why I didn't see who was shooting at us, though I did hear glass breaking. That's all I heard, because Mr. Washington's return fire deafened me.

  ''Some idiot in a hotdog red car,'' he yelled once I was on my feet and my assaulted eardrums began to function again.

  Damn. I missed getting that plate number again.

  17

  I've been shot at before, and it's not something you get used to. My hands were shaking when I called Jeff and explained what had happened. He said to sit tight, he was on his way.

  Meanwhile, Mr. Washington called 9-1-1, but someone else must have done the same, because a few seconds after I disconnected from Jeff, two HPD squad cars came to a screeching halt in front of the house.

  Fortunately we avoided a SWAT team appearance or helicopters descending on us when a neighbor woman came out and explained what she'd seen to the patrol officers and assured them that Mr. Washington and I were not the threat. The threat had sped away in a red car.

  Then it was all happy reunion time with the four officers who'd responded. Seems Mr. Washington and his gun were well known to these guys. Meanwhile I had two blue-red indentations across both knees and an attitude that matched the pain. I'd missed that Lexus-driving jerk again.

  By the time Jeff arrived, I'd shown my PI license to every smirking, uniformed face, tried to explain why I was here and listened to their skepticism about this assailant being the person who'd followed me yesterday. There were a million red cars in Houston, I was told, and since Mr. Washington had a history of firin
g at drive-by shooters, perhaps one of his old enemies had returned for payback.

  When Jeff and DeShay showed up, the atmosphere changed. Jeff made sure Mr. Washington and I were unhurt before turning his attention to senior Officer Smirk—okay, it said SCHMIDT on his uniform. Jeff said, ''You call out a crime scene unit?''

  ''It's a broken window, Sarge. We—''

  ''Call one. Now. And get the other officers out of here. You can stay.'' The icicles in Jeff's tone must have pierced Schmidt's Kevlar vest, because Schmidt sent the three officers back to their patrol units with a ''Yes, sir.'' Then he called on his walkie-talkie for a crime scene unit.

  Meanwhile a gloved DeShay was pointing with a pencil at a bullet lodged in the wall right above the sofa—oh so close to the place I'd been sitting not thirty minutes ago. ''We need this bullet,'' he said.

  ''You think this incident is related to the case the woman was telling us about?'' Schmidt asked.

  ''Tried to tell you about,'' I piped in.

  ''The woman's name is Ms. Rose and she's working with us,'' Jeff said, looking at the bullet hole, his head tilting right then left.

  ''Guess that's a yes,'' Schmidt said quietly.

  ''I think you'd be right, Schmitty,'' Mr. Washington said from his spot at the kitchen entry. He'd already apologized several times for knocking me down and now held a bright blue plastic ice pack. ''This might help, Ms. Rose.''

  I hobbled over and took it from him. ''Thanks. I think what just went down puts us on a first-name basis. I'm Abby.''

  ''Thaddeus. Just so you know, he wasn't aiming for neither of us.''

  This observation got Jeff's attention. ''What's that, Mr. Washington?''

  ''From what I could tell—'course these things happen in a split second, so I could be wrong—he hit what he wanted to. The window. I mean, he was a damn twenty feet away and missed us by ten.''

  ''A warning shot,'' Jeff said, nodding in agreement. ''Get a look at the shooter?''

  Thaddeus shook his head no. ''Black glove and shiny gun through the driver's side window, that's all. I did hit a taillight, though. You might want your crime scene folks to take a look in the street.''

  Jeff smiled. ''You got off a shot?''

  ''You betcha.''

  Jeff glanced down at me. I was sitting on the floor next to Thaddeus, holding the frozen gel pack across both knees.

  He said, ''Seems Miss Abby Rose is one of the lucky ones. She makes friends willing to defend her wherever she goes.''

  After I gave Schmitty a formal statement, I left at Jeff's insistence, even though I wanted to see what the crime scene people came up with. He told me the house was so small I'd be in the way, so I tried not to pout when I said good-bye. There is nothing more unattractive than a pouting girlfriend unless she happens to be a Playboy centerfold candidate. Those types could chew tobacco and men wouldn't care.

  But if I thought the excitement was over, I was milking the wrong cow. My cell phone rang about halfway home.

  ''This is Blinks Security. Vega here,'' said the caller.

  Yes, Blinks. I still wonder when Brinks will file suit.

  ''What is it, Mr. Vega?'' I had a sick feeling in my stomach. Your security company does not call to say, ''Everything's fine at your place, if you're wondering.''

  ''You've had a break-in, Ms. Rose. West U. police are already on the scene. We arrived first, by the way.''

  I sighed. ''Of course you did, and I'm so proud. I'll be there in twenty minutes.''

  I'd hired the security company and had a system installed after a suspect in another case walked right into my screened-in porch with her trusty gun in hand. A lot of good it did me today. I felt like I'd had my clothes stolen while I was skinny-dipping. Embarrassed, angry and foolish about summed it up. See, I was now certain that someone had gotten someone's license plate number even if I hadn't. Mr. Red Lexus got mine, probably when he ran out of Verna Mae's house the other night. The bastard had been on my tail ever since, and apparently following me had been as easy as catching fish with dynamite.

  I returned home to meet with Vega and the West U. police, a visit that didn't last long. Vega said he'd have my broken lock replaced before nightfall. Then when the police and I did an inventory and discovered the only thing missing was the Washington file, they left as happy as blowflies on manure. Who cares about a pile of paper?

  I sat at my kitchen table, fists supporting my chin. I didn't want to call Jeff and tell him what had happened. I was too upset. The Washington files were gone, the files I had promised Joelle Simpson I'd take care of, stolen while I'd been giving a statement, stolen no doubt by Mr. Red Lexus. Had he shot at and missed us for just this purpose? To delay me across town? Probably. After seeing me with Thaddeus Washington, he put two and two together, created a diversion and headed straight here to find out what I had that led me to Lawrence's father. At least he hadn't hacked into my computer. That would have required time considering how well-protected it was. No, my computer wasn't important to the thief, anyway. I'd left what he wanted in plain sight.

  I squeezed my eyes shut, feeling a headache coming on. Damn. First Verna Mae's scrapbooks and now the files. Someone did not want the old case and Verna Mae's death connected—and that meant bigger secrets were out there somewhere.

  I had to tell Jeff. Despite the disinterest by the local police, the thief could have left evidence in my kitchen. Yeah. Big fat fingerprints all over the place. Probably even spit on the table to make sure we had DNA. Right. Like he'd never seen CSI or Forensic Files or any other crime show that offers crooks recipes for success.

  I sighed and took my phone out of my purse, but before I could even speed-dial Jeff's number, Aunt Caroline rapped on the back door and then came prancing in like she always does. Could this day get any worse?

  ''Abby, I heard you were robbed. What did they take?'' She was wearing a pink polo shirt and golf shorts, her electric beach tan just a little too dark this week.

  The break-in probably happened an hour ago and she already knew. The woman never ceases to amaze me, and I don't mean that in a good way. ''Nothing antique or encrusted with jewels was stolen, but thanks for asking if I was home or I was hurt or any of those less important details.''

  If she hadn't applied so much plum blush I might have detected embarrassment over her being more concerned about material things than her niece. Her reaction, however, was par for the course, and I didn't give a flying flip anyway. How would I explain to Joelle?

  ''Who told you?'' I asked.

  ''The news is all over the neighborhood, so Marion Callaway called me immediately, which is more than you did.''

  ''I only just found out and who the hell is Marion Callaway?''

  ''Your neighbor down the block. You really need to be more sociable, get out and meet people. I met Marion at the country club, we got to talking and I found out she lives right near you. We've been friends for several weeks now.''

  Great. Aunt Caroline had her own CIA agent in my neighborhood. ''Listen, I'd love to give you all the tantalizing details, but there aren't any, and I don't feel much like visiting, so—''

  ''Marion said she's seen that car several times hanging around your place and didn't think it belonged to anyone she knew. Then this happens and she sees the police and—''

  ''She saw the car?''

  ''Oh, yes. Didn't see the driver, but Marion is quite good with numbers. I swear she could keep her golf score in her head. God knows, she always keeps track of mine. I only hope when I'm as old as her I—''

  ''Numbers? What about numbers?''

  ''She remembered the license number. I think she said she was calling it in to the West University Police right after she hung up from me. Unlike you, she knew I needed this information immediately, even before the police.'' Aunt Caroline smiled—the last face-lift was already wearing off, so she could actually smile without splitting her lips at the corners—and for once her smug face didn't make me clench my teeth.

  I called Mrs. Call
away after Aunt Caroline left, and the woman was more than happy to give me the license number she'd already phoned in to the West U. police. She was a talker like Aunt Caroline, and I listened with half an ear while she rambled on about crime and being a good citizen and how my aunt was proud of me for me getting my hands dirty in the real world. This implied that she and Aunt Caroline wore gloves—expensive ones—to keep their hands clean. After I disconnected, I called Jeff with the plate number but got his voice mail, so I left a message.

  But I wasn't done with phones. I'd no sooner hung up when Will called.

  ''How's the case going, Abby?'' he asked. ''Did . . . did the DNA result come back yet?''