Vindicated (A Jenny Watkins Mystery Book 6)

by Becky Durfee

  “Oh, I’m positive they weren’t; that isn’t the problem.” She turned away from the computer and looked at Zack. “Have you ever taken a probability course?”

  “Is that a serious question?”

  Jenny stifled a laugh. “I’ll take that as a no.” She typed a few buttons and briefly skimmed the information that popped up. “See, it says here that roughly one in a thousand babies are born with cleft lips and palates.”

  “That is pretty rare.”

  After a few more keystrokes, she said, “And about three percent of people have IQs in the mentally retarded range…”

  “I don’t get it,” Zack said. “Are you worried about our baby?”

  She shook her head. “No.” Jenny thought about it for a second and acknowledged, “Well, yes, but that’s not what’s motivating me at the moment.” She turned to Zack. “In my probability class, I leaned that if two events are unrelated, you need to multiply their probabilities together if you want to find the likelihood of both things happening.”

  He looked at her expressionlessly for a long time before simply saying, “Huh?”

  Jenny laughed. “If there’s a three percent chance that a baby will be born retarded and a point-one percent chance a baby will be born with a cleft, then the probability that a baby would be born with both conditions would be point-zero-zero-three percent. That’s three babies out of one-hundred-thousand.”

  “Wow,” Zack said, “I guess poor Nate was pretty unlucky.”

  “If you throw in the chronic infections and the heart defect, then the odds of one child having all of that would be even slimmer.” Jenny held up her finger. “But, you’ll notice I said that’s only true if the conditions are unrelated. I just can’t help but think something bigger is going on here; it’s too unlikely that this one baby would have those four separate, relatively rare issues.” She made a face that reflected her sympathy. “If I had to guess, I would say Nate had only one condition that manifested itself in four different ways.”

  “Well done, Sherlock.” Zack patted Jenny’s leg. “What do you think he had?”

  “That, I don’t know…but I’d like to find out.”

  Zack was quiet for a moment before he posed, “Don’t you think his doctors would have considered this?”

  Jenny shrugged. “Maybe. Probably. But it can’t hurt to investigate, right?”

  Time ticked by as she scoured multiple websites; Zack’s breathing became heavy next to her, and she also found herself eager to sleep, but first she wanted an answer. After what seemed like an eternity, she read an article that finally seemed to have everything she was looking for. With a smile she leaned back into her pillows, pointing at her computer screen.

  “Bingo.”

  “It’s called Chromosome Twenty-Two Deletion,” Jenny announced at the breakfast table, “and all of Nate’s symptoms can be attributed to it.”

  “Really?” Ellen asked. “I wonder why the doctors didn’t recognize that earlier.”

  “Well, it wasn’t discovered until the early nineties, which is when he passed away.” She held up her hand. “Actually, that’s not entirely true. Doctors had noticed that those conditions often went hand-in-hand in the seventies and eighties, but they didn’t know what caused it until later…too late for Nate to ever be diagnosed.”

  “What does cause it?” Zack asked.

  “It’s a chromosomal disorder,” Jenny said. “A little piece of the twenty-second chromosome is missing.”

  “All of that happens because one piece of one chromosome is missing? Dear Lord,” Zack said. “If it’s that easy to get jacked up, it’s a miracle any of us are born normal.”

  Jenny stuck her fingers in her ears and sang, “La la la la. I can’t hear you.”

  “Sorry,” he said, holding up his hand. “Not something I should say in front of a pregnant woman.”

  “Especially since it’s not always hereditary,” Jenny said. “In a lot of cases, it’s just something that goes wrong during pregnancy. It could happen to any of us.”

  “Okay,” Ellen remarked with a look of concern, “I don’t want to think about that. So…it’s great that you found this out, but do you think it will do anything to help your case?”

  “Maybe,” Jenny replied. “I want to argue that Nate’s confession was not reliable. If I can say that he suffered from a chromosomal disorder, perhaps the appropriate people will be willing to find some kind of legal snag that would make his confession inadmissible.”

  Ellen frowned as she considered the approach. “Sounds reasonable enough, although I have to admit I don’t know anything about the law.”

  “Unfortunately, I don’t either,” Jenny confessed. “This is all just speculation at this point.” The buzz of her phone interrupted her statement; she glanced at the caller. “It’s Kyle Buchanan,” she announced. “I wonder what he wants so early in the morning.” She excused herself to answer the call. “Well, hello, world’s best private investigator.”

  “Good morning to you, my psychic friend.”

  Jenny laughed. “To what do I owe the honor?”

  “Well, I was able to track down Megan Patterson, Stella’s roommate.”

  “Ooh,” Jenny replied with excitement. She flashed a sideways smile at Zack and Ellen. “I guess now I know what I’m going to be doing today.”

  The years had been kind to Megan; her face was relatively free of wrinkles, and her shoulder-length auburn hair looked like it was still her natural color. She sat on the couch, listening to Jenny’s story, looking like she was making a concerted effort to avoid tears. Jenny sat on a leather chair across from her, notepad in hand. “I’m trying to accomplish two things,” she said in conclusion. “I want to prove that Nate Minnick didn’t actually kill Stella that day, and I’d like to find out who did.”

  Looking white as a sheet, Megan cleared her throat and weakly said, “Wow. I have to admit, this is quite unexpected. I’ve spent the last twenty-six years believing the right person was behind bars.”

  “Sadly, I don’t think that’s true,” Jenny proclaimed.

  With her hands shaking, Megan released a slow, anxiety-filled breath. “I hate to think the person who did this has been out on the streets all this time.” She raised her eyes to meet Jenny’s. “I still have nightmares, you know. What happened to Stella—it terrifies me to this day.”

  “I can imagine,” Jenny said compassionately. “I am under the impression you weren’t home when the attack happened?”

  She shook her head. “No, I was at the movies. I’ve often thought that it could have just as easily been me...I could have been killed alongside her or even instead of her, if only I had been home.”

  “You think it was more random as opposed to Stella being the intended target?”

  “I don’t know what to think anymore,” Megan said disconcertedly. “All this time I have been operating under the assumption that Nate had just snapped one day. I didn’t think he had anything specific against Stella, so I always believed I would have been a perfectly acceptable victim had my plans been different that day.”

  “Tell me,” Jenny said as she leaned forward on her elbows, “were you truly comfortable that they had the right person? Did you honestly believe Nate had something like that in him?”

  Megan seemed to give the question some thought. “I do have to admit I was surprised when it turned out to be him—he’d always seemed like a nice kid. I know he was a little slow, but he appeared to be harmless enough. The evidence against him was just so overwhelming that I did believe the jury got it right.” She let out a nervous laugh. “That didn’t stop the nightmares, though.”

  Jenny closed her eyes for a moment; murder never only had one victim. Sticking to the matter at hand, she posed, “If you remove Nate from the equation, is there anyone you can think of who might have wanted Stella dead?”

  Jenny could tell right away that she had struck a nerve; Megan’s expression left no question about that. With a whisper she said
, “I can think of a couple.”

  A couple. This was more than Jenny had bargained for. “Why don’t you tell me a little bit about those people?”

  Megan looked troubled.

  “I won’t judge,” Jenny assured her, “if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  After several moments of wringing her hands, Megan began her story. “First, I want to let you know that Stella was once happily married. She had the life that most of us only dreamed about—great husband, successful career, nice house.”

  This was news to Jenny. “What happened?”

  She drew in a breath. “Her husband was killed in a car accident.”

  Jenny jotted the notes down on her pad. “When did that happen?”

  “About two years before she was killed, I guess?”

  “What became of Stella after that?”

  “Well, she kept her job as a nurse at Saint Mary’s hospital, but she had to sell her house. She couldn’t afford to keep it on her own, which is why she and I rented a place together.”

  “I assume you two worked together?”

  “We were co-workers, yes…and friends. We had been working together at the hospital for a couple of years at that point.” Megan looked at her lap. “For a while after the accident, Stella became a complete recluse. She would go to work and back, run just the essential errands, but other than that she never left the house. She never left her bed. She stayed in a state of depression like that for months.”

  “About how many months?”

  Megan scratched her head. “Four? Six? Something like that. It was a long time, and it was very painful to watch. I kept encouraging her to go out from time to time—nothing involving men, mind you, but just a nice dinner with friends or something.” She shook her head. “No matter how hard I tried, she just wouldn’t go.”

  “I assume that changed.”

  “Yes, it did. On her anniversary,” Megan said softly. “Or I guess I should say, what would have been her anniversary. She had that night off from work, but I didn’t. When I came home in the evening, she was just about as drunk as she could be, and she told me she wanted to go out.”

  “Did you?”

  “Yes, we went to a dance club.” She looked as if she felt horribly guilty. “She brought a guy home with her that night.”

  Jenny remained silent.

  “I tried to convince her not to, but she was determined. She just kept saying that the night was too unbearable, and she couldn’t spend it alone. She needed to feel arms around her. I knew she wished they were Pete’s arms, but she was willing to settle for second best.”

  “Did she develop a relationship with this man that she brought home?”

  Megan shook her head. “She never saw him again.” She looked as if she was ratting out her best friend.

  “Remember, I’m not here to judge,” Jenny said with a compassionate smile. “I’m only here to find out who did this to her.”

  A small tear worked its way down Megan’s cheek as she nodded with understanding.

  “Was that man one of the people you believe was capable of killing her?”

  “No,” she replied confidently. “There were many more like him. Too many to count, actually. She went on a bit of a…spree.”

  Jenny found her heart aching for Stella, who clearly hadn’t wanted to live like that. She surely wanted to grow old with the man she had married, but that wasn’t her fate. Jenny could only imagine every stranger she brought home was a desperate attempt at recapturing what she had felt for only one person—a man that had been taken from her too soon. In addition, the world probably didn’t understand her actions; plenty of unfavorable names must have been thrown her way by people who, mercifully, never had to walk in her shoes.

  Life was horribly unfair sometimes.

  Remaining professional, Jenny asked, “So did any of those men make the suspect list?”

  Megan nodded. “Toward the end, yes. She started to get involved with some of them—and by that I mean she had some casual relationships. At the time she was killed, she was seeing two different men. Those were the guys I was thinking of.”

  “Can you tell me a little about those guys?”

  Becoming less emotional, Megan said, “Well, one of them was Doctor Burke.”

  “Doctor Burke?” Jenny wrote as she spoke. “What was his first name?”

  “Shane.”

  “Was he someone you worked with at the hospital?”

  “He was. He was quite a bit older than Stella…and married.”

  While Jenny didn’t outwardly react, bells went off inside her head.

  “Did the wife know about the affair?”

  “I don’t think so,” Megan said. “She had a successful career of her own and traveled a lot. As far as I know, she was oblivious to what was happening back at home.”

  “Did you know Doctor Burke well?”

  “I did.” Megan sighed as she recalled the details. “I worked many of the same shifts that he did, and I also saw him outside of work when he started seeing Stella.”

  “What was your opinion of him?”

  “I wasn’t crazy about him. I mean, he was nice and all, but how upstanding could his character have been if he was cheating on his wife every time she went out of town?”

  Jenny looked up at Megan with just her eyes. “Do you think he was capable of murder?”

  “I never thought so,” Megan confessed. “But who knows? If Nate didn’t do this, clearly somebody did.”

  “Do you think his feelings for Stella were genuine?”

  “Do I think his feelings were genuine?” she repeated as she contemplated. Eventually she settled on an explanation. “I think his ego was genuinely inflated by her interest in him. She was fifteen years younger than him and very attractive, and for that reason she was valuable to him.”

  “So, he didn’t really care about her?”

  “He cared that she helped him look good.”

  Jenny’s pen scribbled down notes. “What do you think would have happened if she tried to break up with him?”

  “Oh, I don’t have to guess about that—it actually happened a few times. As soon as it looked like Stella was about to pull away, suddenly there would be flowers and jewelry and romantic weekend getaways.” Megan covered her face with her hands and muttered, “My God, I’m making Stella out to sound so bad.” She lowered her hands and added, “I assure you, she wasn’t a gold-digger. It wasn’t about the material possessions for her at all. It was about that feeling of magic. It was about someone paying attention to her.” She looked heartbroken. “It was about trying to regain what she’d lost.”

  “I’d gathered that,” Jenny said reassuringly.

  Megan nodded in acknowledgement. “Even though I understood why it was happening, it was still difficult to watch. I hated knowing that she was part of an affair. She was better than that, but I was afraid to ever say anything to her about it. I mean, I had a boyfriend at the time—that I later went on to marry—and he was very much alive. I didn’t feel like I could criticize her lifestyle having never lost a man I loved so tragically. Who knows? Maybe I would have done the same thing if I had ended up in her situation.” She shrugged and looked down.

  Jenny was finding this to be painful to watch. “Well, the reason I’m asking about all of this is because an affair might be a motive for murder. Is it possible that Stella may have threatened to go to Mrs. Burke and tell her about the relationship?”

  Megan shook her head. “I sincerely doubt it. Stella was not a vindictive person. She was needy, yes, but not evil. To be quite honest, I don’t think she cared enough about Doctor Burke to try to break up his marriage. That would have implied that she wanted him for herself, and that wasn’t the case.” She raised her eyes to meet Jenny’s. “Stella wouldn’t have had multiple lovers if she’d had genuine feelings for any of them.”

  A valid point indeed. “Well, that leaves Mrs. Burke. Had you ever met her?”

  Megan nodded. �
��Yes, a few times. At work functions.”

  The implications were not lost on Jenny. “Was Stella at these work functions?”

  “She was.”

  “Oh, dear,” Jenny remarked. “How did that go?”

  “Surprisingly well,” Megan said. “It was actually a bit unnerving to see how easily Stella could smile and make small talk with the Burkes at the Christmas party considering she’d been sleeping with Doctor Burke for the weeks leading up to it.”

  For a brief moment, Jenny sympathized greatly with Mrs. Doctor Burke. There was so much wrong with that scenario.

  “Do you think Mrs. Burke had any idea this affair was going on?”

  “Well, she didn’t seem concerned or upset at all around Stella, so I assume she didn’t know.”

  “You said she was a successful businesswoman, though, which would imply she was very smart. Do you really think it’s possible she didn’t know about the affairs?”

  Megan responded only by raising her eyebrows and shrugging.

  After quietly deliberating the situation for a moment, Jenny switched gears. “Okay, you said Stella had been seeing two men when she was killed. Who was the other?”

  “A guy named Colin Barrymore. He lived in an apartment complex behind the house. They’d met at a club a few months earlier, and they had been dating casually ever since.”

  “What was he like?”

  “Young,” Megan said emphatically. “Very young. I think he was twenty-one, maybe? He was still in school…he went to Braynard College full time.” Once again Megan looked sad. “Unlike Doctor Burke, I think this poor kid was very much in love with Stella. You know, the whole successful older woman thing.”

  “Did he think he was the only one she was dating?”

  “I can’t say for sure…well, actually I can.” A troubled expression crossed Megan’s face. “Oh, dear.”

  “What’s the matter?”

  “I’m just remembering that cookout,” Megan said, mostly to herself, as she was clearly immersed in thought.

  Jenny allowed her to fully recollect the memory.

  With a deep breath, Megan explained. “The weekend before Stella was killed, we had a small cookout at the house, and somehow Doctor Burke and Colin both showed up. She was usually much too careful to allow that to happen, but this time she must have gotten her signals crossed.”